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the-silentium · 5 years ago

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Wait for me to come home Pt. 7

Masterlist Part 6

Pairing: Eddie Brock x Reader, Venom x Reader

Warning: Angst, fluff

Words: 5160 Words

It can be really cruel how the unconscious plays with someone's mind. It takes your worst fear and turns it against you in a horrible nightmare or takes the thing you want the most in the world and gives it to you in an illusory dream. You enjoy that so realistic dream so much and lose yourself in it. But then the unavoidable moment to wake up finally strikes. All the fantasies crumble down and reality hits you with a harsh slap across your face. You were imagining what never happened. Your reality is so full of shit.

That's what happened to you. Your brother did almost die by your boyfriend's hand. You did call Sebastian for assistance after expelling Venom out of your apartment. You did sleep next to your brother and wake up next to him. But your brother accepting the fact that your boyfriend is the host of an alien definitely didn't happen. In fact, he doesn't even know. Your call to Eddie that day to try to find a solution didn't happen, so is your intimate moment with the symbiote. All the good moments and all the progress were in the end just a bunch of bullshit your mind made up to make you last another day.

The accident occurred 7 days ago. Aiden returned home the day after the event still unable to talk. He asked you to go with him but you refused. You had to argue with him for almost an hour before he finally gave up. He wrapped a scarf around his neck to hide the blue yellowish skin and drove home safely. No need to tell that you got a frantic call this same evening. Aiden's wife, Sarah, was so scared that Venom would come back for you and finish the job that she begged you to come to their house for some time. It took a lot of talking but you got to stay in your home with the promise to call them every evening. Now all you have to do is think about what to do next. And change your door.

Because Venom exploded your door handle. Again. Plus, the door frame has a hole where the latch bolt should go, so the door didn't stay closed. Not feeling like fixing it at the moment, you bought 3 door locks and put them on. It wasn't the best option but you couldn't care less. Your dad would definitely laugh at your crappy work and take the matter in his hands but he wasn't here, so crappy work it is.

You tried to call Eddie, but you always end on voicemail. You knew that you didn't do anything wrong, but you couldn't help yourself but feel guilty. You didn't know why you just know that the feeling kept weighing on your mind. You didn't get much sleep because your brain wouldn't let you a second off. It was weird. You had so many thoughts at the same time, but you felt so empty.

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The air conditioning hit you square in the face at the second the automatic door opens. You make your way in, waving at the security guard before getting in the elevator. You press the 15th-floor button without hesitation and close your eyes to muster up your strength to survive the day. Your only hope is that you will not see him at all. It hurts, even more, when you both glance at each other and he clearly goes out of his way to avoid you. You tried to corner him but you are no match with aliens supersense. He hears you coming from the other end of the building and disappears in a rush.

Signing when the doors open, you put a smile on your face and starts the day with force. You wave at Kayla and goes for your office. You quickly send your last pictures to Sam and take in your new list. Easy ones. Yay. You fill some paperwork before grabbing your jacket and your camera. You double-check that your spare batteries are in the case before returning to the streets and hunt down your subjects.

Few hours pass and your head is far away from your daily problems. You met some amazing people through your photoshoots and you return to the journal with new numbers in your contact list. On your way back, you meet Kayla and you both start to make plans for the week. You were both really excited for the new Lion King movie so you planned a movie night tomorrow night. What better than a Disney movie to return in your childhood and forget all about your adult worries?

Back at your office, a note is neatly written and lies on top of your keyboard. You immediately know who is the author because of the origami swan that keeps company to the little square of paper. Are you in for a little gala in my company? I would love to hear from you darling. We didn't see each other as much lately. I'll wait for your answer in my office. -Kyle

You smile at the offer and immediately you want to say yes. Galas with Kyle are always interesting and enjoyable. What makes you hesitate though is that you have to pass Eddie's office to reach Kyle's. You breathe deeply, grab the little swan and reach the elevator. You smile to the people already in and press the 19th-floor button before trying to make yourself as little as possible. Your finger jump on your hips. Wow, the 4 floors that separate your two departments feel like an eternity today.

Someone gets out at the 17th floor. Another one at the 18th. When the door on the 19th finally opens, you are tempted to stay in and enjoy the ride to the differents floors but people eye you like they know that this is your destination. You slowly step out and take in the calm atmosphere of the journalists area. People are typing at their computer, some are silently chatting in the break room while some others exchange opinions on an article.

Your eyes are attracted towards a certain investigative reporter cubicle. Your heart skips a beat when you take in his tilted head. He looks too concentrated to notice your presence. Before tears drown your eyes you reach Kyle's office. You don't have time to knock that the door opens and his smiley face greets you.

"Y/N! You are radiant as always dear!" He takes a step on the side to let you in.

"Hi, Kyle. Thank you. You are pretty handsome yourself." You get in and take a seat in one of the two chairs in front of his desk. He sits in the other and faces you, letting the door open. "So, we are going to a gala?"

His hands join together in a satisfied motion. "So will you be my other half for tonight?"

Short notice. Again. Journalism sucks sometimes but hey, you got to pass your time with the most gentleman being that ever existed. "You know I love this kind of event." You put your elbows on your knees and smile mockingly at him. "So, details?"

Kyle reaches for a file on his desk. A very primitive part of you feels eyes on your neck. You get a bit uncomfortable and shift in your seat. You have a good idea of who's watching you but you can't help but scratch your neck in discomfort. The feeling passes soon after that and you release a breath you didn't know you were holding.

"The gala is organized by…"

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Eddie tuned out his friend. His right finger is taping uncontrollably on the desk while his eyes glare at the screen without seeing it. To hell his article. He already had a hard time concentrating when you weren't there, now that you are, his guilt resurfaced. With it is now mixed jealousy.

You are once again paired with Kyle for a dressed-up event. You will dress for him and not them. You will dance with him, not them. He will be able to see you smile, but not them. Oh, how they miss it. How much they want to hold you in their arms again. How much they want to feel your lips on theirs. Your absence really weights on the symbiote and his host.

Sure, Eddie refused your calls at first. His guilt was eating him alive and he was so scared that all you wanted to do was scream at them and ultimately end your relationship. It was understandable. He hurt you by hurting your brother and the fear in your eyes when Venom reached for you... it still haunted the symbiote.

They didn't get much sleep the first day. They were too worried to rest or eat. It was a first. Venom didn't bug his host for food for a whole day. The second day has been really hard though. They were both lacking sleep and food. The cocktail resulted in a dozen of missing robbers, muggers and assholes. At the end of the night, when they felt like they drained all their frustration, they stealthily went to your window and watched you sleep for some time. Your brother must have returned home because he was nowhere to be seen and his sent was faint. You whimpered in your sleep causing Venom to unlock and open your window slightly. He wanted to comfort you like he always did but Eddie stopped him. You were better without them he said. They would only bring problems to you. Reluctantly, the alien took a step back and returned amongst the shadows. It broke him to let you behind but his host was most experienced than him in these situations.

Venom knew he did something bad to you and all he wanted was to apologize. Every time Eddie calls him a parasite, things go back to normal when he apologizes, so this situation is no different, right? Error, apology, back to normal. Easy really. But Eddie's stubbornness to stay away from you is complicating Venom's plan and is seriously starting to weight on his nerves. He misses you and his host won't do anything to repair the situation.

Right now, the journalist can't help himself. He stares at your form and feels the symbiote move beneath his skin. It reassures him to know that the symbiote was still watching and not lurking in the pit of his body. They both fell in a quiet routine since Eddie burst Venom's bubble about their probably ended relationship with you.

"I'll pick you up at 7." Kyle's voice forces Eddie back to reality. He doesn't have to turn his head to know that the male has an arm on the small of your back. The low hiss resonating in him tells him all he has to know.

Ours. Venom low growl makes Eddie clench his jaw.

Not anymore.

You don't know for sure. You avoided her like a pussy.

Shut up. Us falling apart… It's the natural way of things after what we've done.

That's stupid.

That's the truth.

"Perfect." Your melodic voice gives goosebump to the brunette. "I'll be ready. See you tonight Kyle." The smile in your voice makes Venom's jealousy reach a peak.

Eddie has to grab his desk with both hands to keep the symbiote in check. His knuckles had turned white by the time you reached the elevator and your smell disappeared with you. He lets out a breath he didn't know he was keeping and Venom settles a bit.

We have a bad feeling about this gala, Eddie.

You are just jealous because she's not going with us.

Eddie fells a low rumble shake his body. It is not jealousy. It is something more.

Humming, Eddie tried to concentrate on his article again. Not to avail. The Venom's feeling was perturbing him too. He really wished that it was jealousy and nothing else.

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19:08. Venom couldn't stay in place and has been chanting hungry hungry hungry for the past 20 minutes. Finally giving up, Eddie let his other take control but he had to promise to not approach the neighborhood of the gala. Grunting, Venom still engulfs his host and gets out of the apartment by the window. The fresh air of the evening invigorates the black alien. He swings through the air from building to building and stops only when your apartment building come to view. He stops on a nearby rooftop and pays attention to what's happening. Your lights are off, windows closed and your camera isn't on its usual spot.

Disappointed, Venom returns to a more troublesome neighborhood with a goal in mind. Fill his stomach while keeping an eye out for you. The feeling in his gut keeps him on edge and every little sound catches his attention.

It doesn't take long for him to find his first meal. A scream brings him to an alley where two men cornered a woman and forced themselves on her. Protectiveness flood through Venom making him barge in the scene like fire was surrounding him. He makes a quick job of biting the head off the first guy and proceeds to pass his anger on the second. He starts to beat the shit out of him, throwing him on the brick walls, crushing his leg under his own foot and terrorizing him with his toothy maw. When an unpleasant smell of urine reaches Venom's nostrils, he decides that the game is over. He finishes quickly in two bites and takes a moment to calm himself down when a hand touches his forearm. His head shot toward the source, baring his fangs, ready to attack.

The woman flinches, fear all over her face. The feeling of déjà-vu freezes the symbiote. At her place, he sees you standing there, scared of him. He immediately hides his fangs and retrieves his taloned hands from near you. He even takes a step backward before the woman speaks up.

"Th-thank you for saving me." She shakes a little but stands her ground. Her hands move to grab the opposite upper arm in a self hug manner.

Venom relax a little and crouch a bit, wanting to be a little less intimidating. The woman takes it as an invitation perhaps, because she moves forward and delicately touches his right cheek. It triggers a feeling the symbiote has been experiencing in the past days. He didn't like it one bit. The silent ache in his heart whenever something reminds him of you. The missing warmth on his skin every time you would merely brush at him.

For days Venom wondered what caused the emptiness in him. He knew for sure that there was no physical hole, he searched for one 3 times. He tried to ask Eddie about it but only got silence as an answer. He tried searching on his host's computer. The thing always seemed to have all the answers to Eddie's questions. Only, the symbiote was met with a vocabulary he didn't understand one bit. Human emotions.

Tonight, though, he finally understood what was wrong. The little spark in his chest was gone. Your spark. He always thought that you were the one who put it there and it made him feel special. Eddie had one too, of course, but now that Venom thinks about it, both of them are missing.

His heartbeat skyrockets when panic takes him over. You took your sparks back? Was it too late to apologize and make things better? The delicate touch on his cheek was now burning him causing him to take a few steps back. No one can touch him like that. Only you. He only wants your spark, no one else's.

He turns on his heels and climbs the building next to him. You. He needs to see you and make things better. He ran from building to building at first and change to web-slinging when he decided that it wasn't fast enough. Now. He needs you now.

Eddie is confused in the black armor that is the symbiote. One moment, he felt guilty and then hell break loose. A tornado of emotions consumed him and his heartbeat is uncontrollable. He tried to talk to the symbiote, tried to calm him down, asked what was wrong, but never get an answer. He could only stay in the backseat and watch.

Again, the bad feeling they both felt when Kyle invited you to the gala plague their minds. Something was wrong. It wasn't jealousy. It was instinct. A 600 million years advanced instinct that told them to hurry their asses.

Venom pushes himself harder when his destination appears in his line of vision. He lands heavily on a rooftop adjacent and jumps to the edge. His eyes widen when he takes in the scene taking place in front of them. Multiple police cars block the entry of the building, agents rushing to evacuate the street, 4 ambulances on standby waiting for injured and the SWAT team preparing themselves for an assault.

This couldn't be happening. They promised to protect their little one. They failed. Twice. They need to get you out of there because they need you. And they need you now.

Just wait a second budy. We need info.

No we don’t.

Yes we do. You can’t just barge in like that. There may be a bomb or somethin’ and a lot of people can die if we don’t do it correctly. The black alien lets out a huff and gets down of his hiding place. He stays in the shadows and concentrates on hearing the briefing of the SWAT.

"-round 200 hostages on the 37th floor. We know for sure that there are 5 kidnappers, but there may be more. The first contact allowed us to know that there are wounded, but no deaths so far." A weight lifted from Eddie. No death. They still have a chance to get you out of there. "They are organized and have no desire to surrender. As soon as they find what they are looking for, they’ll go out in a bloodbath, so we have to neutralize them before-"

A guttural roar escapes the symbiote and he lounges forward, scaring the shit out of the tactical team. He gets a hold of the thin brick portion of the building and starts climbing at a fast rhythm. Counting as fast as he could, Eddie prevents his other went he needs to slow his pace. Surprisingly, the SWAT didn’t open fire on them like Eddie had thought they are merely shouting orders to accelerate the assault. It’s the next floor. Stay hidden.

Following his host’s instructions, Venom slowly gets near the edge of the window and analyze the situation. 1,2,3..7 kidnappers. All equipped with automatic rifle, kevlar vest, and tactical masks. No explosives insight. The hostages are all scattered around the room on their knees, head low and most of them are shaking. The wounded are crowded in the far corner of the room, near the entrance. Venom passes all their face in check and is relieved to see that you are not one of them.

Deciding that now is the best moment to eat heads, Venom shoots a web over the top edge of the window, jump backward and use gravity to enter the room in an explosion of glass shards. Many people scream and rush away from him. Cautious to not hurt any civilian, Venom force his passage by pushing the slower out of his way and get to the nearer bad guy. He only has time to scream and shoot one bullet at him that his head is already missing and his body falls limp on the floor. More screams reach the alien’s ears joined with multiple impacts of bullets. Venom quickly jumps toward another attacker and throw him across the room on another bad guy. They both fly together for a few feets before hitting the ground et meeting a horrible toothy jaw seconds later. 3 down, 4 to go.

Unfortunately, the 4 others prepared themselves. Each one of them got a civilian in front of them with their rifle aimed for the head. You are one of them. Eddie’s blood runs cold and Venom freezes. Your peachy dress is covered in blood on almost all its entirety, tears run down your face and your right ankle is swollen.

"Don’t move or their brains will redo the deco."

A low growl erupted from his chest when his eyes shrink to thin lines. The man is too far for him to neutralize. If he makes a move, you’ll be dead before he reaches you. They can’t think of a way to get you out of here alive and it rises their distress. Your eyes met his and you try to smile at them. It brokes them even further. You look like you accepted your fate already and you are saying your goodbyes. God bless Venom’s sharp sight, the subtle movement behind the man threatening your life catches his attention. A dark-haired man slowly gets on his feet in a crouched position and nod to someone on his right. In his peripheral vision, Venom sees 3 other men doing the same and approaching slowly the kidnappers.

Idiots. Braves. They both think at the same time. The black-haired man silently lifts his hand and show his palm to the others in a waiting motion. Then, he points the alien and Eddie is quick to catch his intentions. They need a distraction. And one they will get. He waits for the good samaritans to watch for his move and then he breathes deeply and makes the biggest roar he ever made. Just when they jump in surprise do the 4 civilians jump for the rifles and fight for it. In a millisecond, your captor loses his head and the other 3 receives the same treatment.

Panting from the mix of fear and action, Venom takes a second to compose himself and turns to where you should be. The room is completely silent, no one sob, no one scream, no one cry. Everyone is watching him closely, waiting for his next move. You are on the floor, the dark-haired man checking you over. Now that Venom concentrates on him, he realizes that your good samaritan is Kyle.

When the journalist sees your sight fixed on something behind his back, he turns around and puts himself between you and the symbiote. Eddie is relieved that you have a friend who would fight for you as much as he would do. Without being your boyfriend. That's his job.

All Venom can think of at the moment is push Kyle aside, scoop you in his arms and return home to cuddle your body all night. That's when he remembers the blood covering you. Refraining his urge to just follow his plan, he tilts his head to meet your gaze.

"Are you alright?"

You nod and tighten your grip on what Eddie thinks is Kyle's jacket.

"I'm fine. Thank you for saving us." Your voice is shaking a bit, but the sincerity on your face tell them that you really are okay. Kyle's strong arms wrap around your shoulders while he moves to be at your side and his eyes meet Venom's.

"Thank you for saving us." His strong tone travels around the room and soon enough, a choral of "thank you" flood the symbiote and his host's ears. Never before did they receive such a big positive reaction to what they do.

The moment abruptly comes to an end when the SWAT team barges in the room. Giving a glance at your form one last time, Venom turns on his heels and quickly make his exit by the broken window he came from. Policemen were still running the street and shouts could be heard when some of them spotted the symbiote.

They didn't even try to follow him, concentrating their forces on the task at hand. Venom find a dark alley and returns back into his host. Still feeling the adrenaline in his vein, the brunette starts a sprint toward the scene and stops at the police barrier. They didn't evacuate the hostages yet.

The journalist analyzes the barrier for a weak spot he could use to break in and meet you when you get out. Not too far from him is an abstracted policeman who is more interested in his phone than his job. Perfect. He approaches stealthily and waits for your appearance.

1 minute later, the first hostages start to get out of the building. 5 more minutes and Eddie can see you being carried bridal style by the dark-haired journalist. Quickly, Eddie passes under the yellow tape, jumps the wooden barrier and avoid the policeman who finally got off his phone. He runs as fast as he could, helped by his symbiote.

Your gaze found theirs and you talk to your friend. He puts you down a second before Eddie reaches you and hugs you tightly. His head finds the crook of your neck when yours meet his chest. Venom is undulating under Eddie's skin, restraining himself to wrap you in his black tendrils. You start sobbing, making their heart clench. He releases his grip on you and analyzes your body for some injury.

"I-I'm f-fine Ed. Just my ankle." You manage to say between your sobs.

Sure enough, your ankle is swollen and a shade of deep blue started forming.

"The blood is from someone else." Came the voice of your friend. "Darling here saved someone's life." He pats your shoulder and smile at them. He looks terribly tired.

Eddie looks down and sees the same tiredness in your eyes. He takes you bridal style, your arms wrap themselves around his neck and your head find the side of his neck.

"I'll get you checked on by a paramedic and we can go home, okay?"

"I'm fine, really." The event really took its toll on you, because your voice becomes heavy with sleep.

"I'll feel better if you get checked on." He can feel your nod on his skin and carry you near an ambulance. 40 minutes later, you are now on your way home after dropping Kyle at his first. The cab comes to a stop in front of Eddie's apartment building.

"C-Can I stay at your place?" You ask him with a little shaky voice. "My door isn't the best description of safe at the moment."

Eddie pays the driver, gets out and take you out of the car in his arms without effort.

"Your place wasn't even an option. You stay with us." Now that nobody was around, thin black lines start to form around your form and keep you steady against your boyfriend.

"I'm sorry." They almost didn't hear you whisper in their neck.

"Sorry for what?" He frowns, trying to fit the key in the keyhole, but give up and let the symbiote do the job.

"For what happened in my apartment." If it wasn't for Venom's head snuggling yours, they wouldn't have heard you.

"Nothing is your fault little one." His head stops moving against yours and holds your gaze. "We should have analyzed the situation before jumping to conclusion." He licks your left cheek.

You smile at him and the symbiote starts purring. Eddie finally enters the apartment and takes all of you in the bathroom. He puts you down on the closed lid of the toilet and starts running a hot bath.

"Wait here." He quickly moves to the kitchen, takes a bag of ice from the freezer and get back to you. Your eyes are closed and your breathing is even. You look asleep, but your eyes open when you hear them. Eddie crouches and cautiously takes your bad foot in his hands. You wince but keep silent. He applies the ice on your ankle and you sigh.

When the bath is almost full, he stops the water and helps you undress before you get in. They stay at your side and both symbiote and host start to wash your body. They are sure that you fell asleep, but your voice breaks the silence.

"Venom, I'm sorry for burning you." Opening your eyes seems difficult, but you manage. The symbiote licks your cheek while tendrils start massaging your back.

"We forgive you little one. We understand why you did it."

Tears start to run down your cheeks. Your hands slowly lift to cradle Venom's right cheek and Eddie's left cheek.

"I love you both."

Eddie's lips meet yours and moves in sync. You stay there for as long as you could before your need for oxygen make you pull back.

"We love you too," Eddie whispers against your lips.

When you started to feel too tired for the bath, they both take you out, dry you with towels and carry you to bed. There, you snuggle to Eddie's chest, black goo wrapping your form almost completely.

"Are we your boyfriends again?" He sounded nervous.

"Did we stopped being in a relationship?" You genuinely ask.

"Eddie said that us falling apart was the natural way of things after what we did."

You snort. "That's just stupid."

"That's what I said!" Now, he sounds so satisfied with himself. He puts his head on the crook of your neck.

"Hey, I felt guilty for what happened."

He heard that your brother was okay. No permanent damage. He felt better, but still, shame and guilt plagued his heart.

"My brother is fine, I'm fine, so there is nothing to worry about. You know, we could have talked about this instead of ignoring each other."

More shame. Damn, he was such an idiot. At the thought, Venom starts purring.

"Yes you are."

Not helping dude. You laugh at their silent exchange and pet the symbiote.

"Oh, Venom." You start. Said symbiote lift his head to meet your gaze. "You really improved your roar. I'm sure the other end of San Francisco heard it." You chuckle.

Pride fills the alien and a huge smile forms on his face.

"Thanks for being my hero." You say before taking his head in both hands and kiss his mouth.

Venom is stunned at first, his eyes widening. Then he regains control of himself and starts to move what would be his lips with yours. If possible, his purr loudens and his black mass starts to wriggle.

You laugh and pull away. His head, without support, fell on your chest and seems to melt a little. Eddie chuckles and pulls you in for a kiss.

Venom didn't sleep that night. He was too occupied enjoying the feeling of your body against his and replay your kiss in his head. He loved how you called him your hero. But most of all, he enjoyed the feeling of the little spark in his and his host's chest.

Tag list: @slither-in-a-half @a-frozen-bag-of-corn @noshi-chan

#venom #venom x reader #eddie brock #eddie brock x reader #venom (movie)#venom being a hero

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petermjdaya · 6 years ago

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My experience visiting the set of FFH.

Please credit if you share! Warning: Potential Spoilers

I only just stopped crying over this weekend, so hopefully I can write about it coherently. And hopefully I don’t miss anything--besides of course, the parts that I can’t share.

I first just want to say thank you to Mir who has been planning this adventure with me for the past two weeks and kept me sane throughout the weekend. Thanks for being the best temporary roommate, for the Dunkin runs, subway swipes, and of course, the adventure of a lifetime. Jessie- thank you for being braver than the US marines, and for being ten steps ahead of us at all times. To Bayley and the Bosco bitches, everyone I got to meet this weekend- I LOVE YOU. I am grateful to have shared it with you. See you soon.

Note: I have been spending the past 10 days scouting locations, getting some right, some wrong. Every time I see a yellow sign on the street or a suburban or a crowd of people now, my blood pressure rises. My anxiety truly won this week. I tried to be as discreet as possible about specifics, telling white lies when I needed to, or avoiding DM’s, which probably came off as very selfish. But I want to say that I was genuinely looking out for the cast and their safety. Seeing fans run after cars, autograph collectors stand outside of their trailers, and even hear people say “if I don’t get a picture with ____ this won’t be worth it” made me really sad. At the end of the day, the thing I realized most this weekend was how much Tom and Zendaya care about their fans. If they interacted with us, most of us put our phones away just to be able to make a genuine connection with them. They look you directly into the eyes and talk to you as if you have been friends for years. I really really appreciate that. I hope you all get the chance to experience the same thing.

Edited to include meeting Tom on Thursday, 10/18/2018.

Friday

It started around 6:40 am on Friday. My best friend Kacey and I met up with Mir, then Jessie, then Liz. We all sat in a Starbucks near the 8th Avenue set, and noticed crew getting ready and moving equipment. While we were waiting for our food, Darnell walked in. WE HAD ONLY BEEN THERE FOR FIVE MINUTES and we did not want to expose ourselves as fans so early in the morning especially since crew members were also there. We ended up just smiling and eating to conserve our energy for what would be an incredibly long day. Then we left to see if the cast had arrived and where they would actually be filming. We camped out in the Duane Reade across the street (in the back of some set photos) for probably 45 minutes before we saw Tom, Zendaya, Harry, and their PA’s. They arrived together (not in costume) and started walking over to their trailer(s). Miranda spotted them first, and we loosely followed them to see where they were going. Zendaya crossed the street first, then Tom and Harry. So we only saw which trailer Tom and Harry walked into. We ended up walking back to set and saw that they had extras sitting on the steps of Penn Station getting directions. Crew members directed us away from the set and we complied. Jessie ended up sitting on the steps and wasn’t questioned until later (and then was kicked out when they realized she wasn’t an extra, hahaha but we applaud her bravery anyway). We walked in circles, breaking into smaller groups so we wouldn’t seem suspicious and then went into the Post Office above Penn Station. We saw the two stunt doubles being hooked up to the crane and joked about how it would probably be a spideychelle scene. Then we saw Tom and Zendaya walk into Penn Station so we walked in as well, but they had gone to a private corridor so Tom could get changed into the spidey costume. Everything after that happened very quickly. Liz decided to sit on the Penn Station steps which was no longer being used for a scene, and luckily, she spotted Zendaya and Tom (in costume) before the rest of NYC. We secured a spot at the top of the steps while they discussed the scene and were hooked up to the crane. I was live tweeting at that point but I did not want to get in trouble, so I hinted that fans would be excited for the scene. I am so sorry for teasing. I am genuinely scared of Marvel and did not want them to come for me. I hope that Marvel does not come after my ass for writing this. Please, God.

Tom and Zendaya spotted us almost immediately, which is funny because we assumed that Tom couldn’t see very far through the mask. The first time we waved, it was basically only us on the steps and Zendaya waved right back. After they filmed a couple of takes of the scene with them going up, then high-fiving, Tom did a particularly good take so we fake clapped. He saw it and tilted his head back (probably laughing) and gave us a peace sign. Zendaya immediately looked over at us too and waved. Ugh. King and Queen. When we took our phones out to take pictures, and see how twitter was reacting to locals’ tweets about the scene, Zendaya pretended to be scrolling on her phone and Tom pretended to be texting exaggeratedly, mocking us. They both laughed at our asses. We were so caught off by this and I hid my phone so quick so they wouldn’t drag me again. We sat on the steps and watched them do multiple takes, which some found to be super tedious but I found super interesting. They would yell “ROLLING!” and the cameras would start rolling, then “BACKGROUND” and extras would start moving, then “CAMERA” and the camera would start moving, then of course, the actors cue, “ACTION!”.

Every time they would finish the scene, Tom and Zendaya would talk, Jon would come over to probably give them feedback on the scene, and when they had time, they would look over and wave to fans. Our group got bigger throughout the day when Bayley, Troy, Maria, etc joined and Tom and Zendaya would always acknowledge us. We truly felt like the chosen ones. Harry even took a picture of us on his camera, and some crew members put us on their stories. We always waved when they turned around, and they smiled. Finally T and Z finished the scene and went back inside, waving at us and the rest of the fans who had arrived. The crew filmed more scenes with extras, then Zendaya filmed a scene, and then Tom came out (as Tom) and walked back to his trailer. He ended up coming back less than an hour later to get changed back into the spidey suit. The lighting kept changing, so they changed positions multiple times. After they would finish a scene they went into a tent to watch it on the monitors. I did not realize that Kevin Feige was sitting inside until he came out to take a phone call. Jessie had spotted Amy Pascal that morning, so both of them were present to see Tom and Zendaya film their scene.

By the end of the day on this particular set, we had moved around quite a lot. We were asked to leave the steps so we went across the street. Whenever the crew told us to move, we complied. At one point we were literally standing next to Remy and only Maria had realized. The amount of times this happened this weekend was literally ridiculous. He eventually went over to Zendaya to say hi and then talked to Harry and another PA. Some guy behind us kept yelling at Harry, which at first was pretty funny until he started shouting repeatedly for a selfie. Harry ended up walking away. Lol. Then we were told we had to move because we were blocking the sidewalk, so we asked a crew member if we could go sit back on the steps. He said yes, so we did. Then we were stopped twice by crew members who told us we couldn’t go back up, but the guy in charge told them that we could. Wow, our power. Shoutout to them for being super nice. <3

One funny story from this is that at one point I had reached up with my shirt to clean the lense of Kacey’s camera, accidentally flashing the cast, crew, as well as the city of New York. The dumbass in me truly jumped out on this day. I am so sorry to all witnesses.

Eventually, they wrapped filming for this location and everyone clapped. It was an amazing feeling and all of my new friends hugged. We could not believe that we saw Tom and Zendaya, that they acknowledged us, that they filmed a spideychelle scene and that it was only 12:30. SO MUCH HAD HAPPENED. Zendaya was standing there talking to Harry and we wanted to ask her for a picture but the crew moved us along. I am the queen of eavesdropping and heard a crew member say the intersection of the next location, so we headed there. We got there early and ended up getting some food, water, and charging our phones.

While we were looking for the location, we split up to see if the cast had arrived yet, and Miranda and I ended up running into Zach and Jacob. We had no idea what to do and did not want to bother them for a picture because we knew it was their day off. So I just said “hii!!” and Miranda said “Hi Jacob and Zach!” Jacob said “oh hi!” and seemed surprised that we had stopped them. They were super sweet and smiled at us. We ended up saying “Hi love you” and walking away. It was honestly super awkward. Jacob and Zach--we are so sorry. Less than 5 minutes later we walked right in front of where they were going to begin filming and I saw a tiny black dog crossing the street. I immediately knew it was Noon and then looked up to see Darnell walking him. LMK WHY I GOT SO EXCITED. I had never wanted to pet a dog so much in my life. I miss you already, king. I hope you are ok after your trip to the vet. (I say as if he will ever read this--wtf).

The afternoon location was pretty anticlimactic. They had blocked off both sides of the road and there was no upper vantage point, so we only saw them film a couple of shots. They also filmed with the crane and you guys probably saw Spider-man swing around a pole, surprise Michelle, then them jump up. They filmed this a bunch of different ways. It seemed that they couldn’t tell whether Spider-man should impress MJ by swinging up to her or simply walking up to her, so they filmed it both ways. The last shot was of Spider-man and MJ jumping up, and again MJ looks a little frightened. So during the last few takes, when Zendaya had a goofy look on her face and Tom jumped up with his legs in an awkward position, we figured they were out of character and just having fun. We started clapping and cheering for them and they did it again. We joked about them having done it just for us. After their last take, we cheered and they cheered too and danced. Then they wrapped, went inside the pharmacy (probably to get warm and see the shot on the monitor).

We walked around a little after this to see if they had moved back to their trailers, and ended up not seeing much, so we decided to split up and go home. As the two groups of us walked separate ways, something told me, Kacey, and Mir to stay. A second later we saw Tom take a picture with fans, literally SPRINT to his trailer, come out with a beanie on, and then leave with Harry. He waved at us and then got into his car. We didn’t chase after him for a picture because boundaries--and because he looked super tired. We stood on the corner for a second and at this point it was Troy, Maria, Bayley, Jessie, me, Karina, Kacey, and Mir. Since we were a large group we were anxious about not being able to meet either Tom or Zendaya. Crowds can be overwhelming so we tried to keep our distance. While walking back we saw Darnell putting Noon in the car, and Miranda greeted him. HE WAS SO NICE YOU GUYS. I want to create a stan account for him. I love him so much.

We stood outside because it was just us and another girl who had met Zendaya already because we figured at the very least, we would see her walk into her trailer. I turned around to watch the crew clean up and put equipment back in the trucks, and by the time I turned back around, Zendaya was standing right there. I probably looked really fucking dumb in this moment because the only thing I could do was smile. I think I said “Oh shit, hi!” and she said “Hi guys, how are you”. It was a little awkward. I don’t know why I expected her to be different, but she seemed smaller in a way. She was out of costume, wearing Storm’s shirt, and her hair was down. If she was wearing makeup, it was minimal. Her eyes were fucking gorgeous, and when she talked to us it felt like we were talking to a friend. She really makes an effort to make eye contact with each person and make sure they all get to say something. When she looked at me, I swear I saw God. She smiled and I think she glanced at my kizzmet necklace, but I was too shy to say anything and didn’t want to take away anyone else’s time with her, so I just kind of agreed with what everyone else was saying. (“of course!” when she thanked us for coming, laughing when she said she had seen us rocking with them all day, agreeing that we got up early to see them work, and confirming that we would probably see them later in the week.) She was so fucking sweet, and thanked us for being there, and said she wanted to come say hi to us all day. Then someone said “I like what you and Tom were doing with your legs at the end of that take, that was funny” or something like that, and she laughed and said, “Someone told us we should do something funny to say hi to you guys, so we asked to do another take.” Like- they really did that for us. I have to cry. I think I said “oh my god, we thought that might be for us, but we didn’t want to assume-” and she said “no yeah, it was!”. Finally we said that we loved her and that she was so beautiful and she said that we were all so beautiful. I must have missed that because my brain stopped functioning every time we made eye contact. I am such a fucking dork…. She took a picture with someone else then I asked Bayley to ask her to take a group photo, because she needed to get home. She said “of course!” and took it on Bayley’s phone. Then she thanked us again and told us to have a good night, so we walked away. We could not believe that had just happened…. And when her car left, we waved, and Tom’s car did too. We freaked out a little. I called my mom.

Then we ended up talking to a really lovely PA who was genuinely impressed that we knew what the project was and all of the locations. We told her about how we all met via Twitter, and she said that she admired our dedication. Mostly, we talked to her about how she got her job (in general, not for this film). Then we thanked her for being so lovely and said that she did a great job with crowd control (because she did, she always kindly asked us to move and was nice when we complied). We also joked around with her because throughout the day, people kept thinking she was Zendaya (lol), but she said that Z was really nice and was really happy that we got to meet her. She gave us her instagram, hugged us and mentioned that it would be a five day shoot. I should note that I said her name in my instagram live, but I honestly regret that now. She ended up making her account private and I felt awful because fans were invading her DM’s. I did not want to get her in trouble. She was so kind to us. Please, if you know who she is, and found her account, do not bother her.

Then we went home. Mir stayed with me that night because she lives far from the school set. I could not believe that I had met Zendaya and that I got to do it with people I met because of Zendaya. It truly felt like a dream, the whole day did. And I hope that everyone reading this gets to experience this as well. I only walked into this thinking that I would *possibly* see them film a scene, that I would *possibly* provide content for you guys. I never anticipated meeting her. I never anticipated the love she showed us all day. Tom either. I will go to bed with a smile on my face for the rest of my life, I think.

Saturday

We were not chosen as extras. So this ended up being a problem when we realized that the set location would be inside and closed. Miranda and Jessie had heard from our PA friend that you could see if they were giving out vouchers to be an extra, so they ended up going inside, kindly asking a bunch of PAs where to go, and then were yelled at by a crew member. Honestly, if there was a secret blacklist for the set, we were probably on it. When the casting notice was advertised by everyone and their mother, fans with no acting or background experience probably flooded their email server. To the poor interns who had to filter through those, I am so sorry. We saw Remy and Darnell in the morning, but did not want to say hi and bother them (this was a common theme this weekend).. The crew was so intimidating and we didn’t want to get in trouble. Plus it was freezing and raining, so we ended up going home. We did not intend to come back, but we kept reminding ourselves that Zendaya told us she expected to see us throughout the week. So like crackheads, we went back to set.

We met Zach who was super sweet, and saw Remy with the crew. I don’t know why but every single time we saw Remy, we were too shy to say hi. I wanted to tell him that I saw Crazy Rich Asians 6 times and that my mom’s cousin was also in the movie, or even just to congratulate him on the film’s success. RIP to that concept. BUT ZACH WAS SO NICE! We apologized for the awkward greeting the day before and he joked that he gets nervous in front of Jacob too. We congratulated him on being in the film and asked him what the experience had been like. He was so happy to talk about it and thanked us for coming and being so respectful. We got a picture with him, thanked him again, and then he asked if we were from NY and we said “we go to school here!” and he said “here?” (asking about the high school set), so we said no and clarified. Apparently he has friends at Mir’s university. We love that.

It was just a few of us waiting by Z’s trailer, until it wasn’t. And then these mom’s and their kids showed up, and autograph collectors too. When Zendaya left her trailer and walked to her car, people started running after her. We were so disappointed that people are so fucking selfish, and we just stood there, waving as her car left. We just wanted her to know that we were there for Day 2 and wanted to support her, but I want to note that we weren’t upset about not being able to take individual photos or anything like that.

Then we saw commotion outside of the wardrobe trailer and realized that Tom had come back to change out of costume. There were probably 20+ people in a group waiting. When he did come out, most people just took a picture with him and walked away, not really saying anything to him at all. He did get to meet real fans that were kind to him and spoke to him. They know who they are and they know that I personally do not think they specifically mobbed Tom. But it was a crowd full of people, and we felt bad, so we left.

Mir, Jessie and I ended up walking over to the PA we had met the day before, and she was with Zach. I said “I feel so bad, they just mobbed Tom” and the PA thanked me because she said the crowd never should have formed in the first place. The funny thing about this was that Remy, Jacob, Zach, and even Angourie were standing right there, and the locals who wanted a picture with Tom didn’t even notice. We said hi to Jacob as he walked by. Remy left. I did not get to see Angourie. Then we talked to Zach about crowds of fans and how for us, when we realized we would not be able to get to talk to Tom we walked away. For us it really wasn’t about getting the picture. I know that sounds like I am putting myself on some kind of moral pedestal, but I genuinely mean that. I only wanted them to know how much it meant to me to see them and how happy I was that they were all together again. Zach thanked us for being respectful, and we got to talk to him a little more about fans and Europe. He was so great, and said thank you, and left. We also saw Tony leave, and then so did we.

Sunday

Sunday there were two locations, so Jessie, Miranda and I went to the Manhattan one. We figured we would stop there in the morning and then the school in the afternoon. We decided to sit at tables near where they were filming, and a PA came up to us, and asked us to move because they were filming a movie. We apologized and feigned ignorance, and moved where they asked us too. Eventually they stopped letting people into that area, so if they got a wide shot, we may have been in it. The scene itself was just a bus turning the corner and pedestrians walking. It was very anticlimactic. On twitter, I talked a little bit about my struggle with anxiety. On Sunday, the lack of sleep, dehydration, and energy got to me. I could not eat or sleep because of how anxious I was becoming and I ended up going home home to see my family. Though I regret letting anxiety get in the way, it was nice to take a deep breath and step away from the craziness for a minute. I gave Miranda a letter that I wrote to Zendaya and asked her to hug her for me. She delivered it to Darnell who said he would give it to Z. Hopefully she reads it. It really just said thank you and that this weekend made me so happy. I talked about how through her I have made friends from all over the world, and then said that it meant everything to support her because of how much she has inspired and empowered me. I meant every word. I signed it from Miranda too. Later she called Miranda and Jessie, along with other fans, her friends. I could not have been happier for them <3

Monday

Monday I got to sleep in finally. I went to a meeting. I planned on going to class. Then Miranda texted and said her evening class was canceled. . . so we decided to skip our afternoon class and go to Newark airport. Someone really should have stopped us. We met up with two other fans but kept our distance because we did not want to appear as a group. We saw the whole cast (including king, Martin Starr) filming an arrival scene. I talked to an extra who actually works for United Airlines, and she was super sweet. She said that they had been filming a terminal scene practically all day. We could not see much of the scene because of all of the extras, but we do know Flash gets picked up by a fancy driver with “Thompson” written on an iPad. The scene itself was quite short, and honestly reminded of the scene in Homecoming when they get picked up after DC. We saw Tom for a few seconds as Peter, and then him and Zendaya dancing in between takes. Also, we may be in the background of that scene as well. Then, they wrapped. We had been there for the wrap at Penn Station and it was exciting, but something about this wrap was different. Everyone was hugging and cheering and we all clapped. I did not realize this until the next day, but that night, the supporting cast had wrapped on the movie. I feel genuinely grateful to have experienced that with them, even from afar. They did not stop for fans before leaving together, but we did not expect them too. Hopefully they celebrated afterwards!

Tuesday

Day 5/5. We knew this was the last day because our PA friend had told us, but when the supporting cast posted about wrapping, and then Tom did as well, it became real. Miranda, Jessie and I met up at 7:30am in Brooklyn and saw the crew setting up. At this point we knew that the crew knew who we were, but what would they have said to us? At times, they made comments such as “you guys are here again?” and we would just say “yup”. It was frustrating that some of the crew did not understand that we were not there to get autographs or pictures but rather to see the cast, say hello and thank you, and watch the production take place. We would have put our phones away if asked. There is a fine line between locals who want pictures with the cast for retweets, autograph collectors who are only interested in making money, fans who are there to get pictures and go home, and fans who were there to support the cast with or without getting a picture. Some people really did not know how to act, and the entitlement and disrespect jumped out multiple times. We tried to be patient and respectful, which I think the crew appreciated.

Our group missed Tom taking pictures with fans by literally seconds. I ended up going home for a 12:15 acting class and missed him filming the scene at Delmar’s deli. Jessie and Mir have tweets about it though, and I am sure you have seen the set photos. I came back around 4. I was so sad to have missed seeing Tom play Peter and shoving doritos down his throat, but I was so happy that Miranda, Liz, Maria, and Jessie got such great photos and videos.

I hope you guys don’t mind, but let me just talk about the group of friends I made this weekend for a second. Troy, Maria, Mir, Jessie, and Liz are practically my family now. Those who get noticed by tomdaya together, stay together. We always shared food, got each other hot chocolates from Dunkin (the amount of hot chocolates we consumed was disgusting… our blood stream was comprised of 33% hot chocolate.), cuddled, and laughed together. At nights we got cold and delirious and laughed at pretty much anything. We also got super emo, and at a ramen restaurant, we went around talking about how much this weekend has meant for us. It was super soft. For most of us, Zendaya, Marvel (and Spider-man specifically) has inspired us, saved us, and given us a reason to wake up in the morning. As dramatic and cliche as it may sound, coming to set even just to watch them film, and hear them shout “Rolling!” gave us something to look forward to. Even if we had bouts of anxiety or depression, we were all here for each other. We hugged and hugged, and headed to the night shoot for the final scenes. Crowds formed, but many were disappointed to learn that Tom was not there. The scene took place at what appeared to be a makeshift homeless shelter, and there were signs saying “The Salvation Army”. There was also a spider-man cutout outside of the shelter. The scene itself was supposed to be “a Sunday evening stroll” so extras simply walked by, the train went by, and two cars drove down the street. Over and over. I laughed because it reminded me of the fanfic Double Life, even though Tom and Z were not on set for this shot. Then it appeared they had wrapped, because the extras went back to holding. We decided to stay, even though fans left to see if Tom was at his trailer. He posted that he was on his way to shoot his last scene, so we stayed on our corner. At this point, it was probably less than 50 degrees (F) outside. We were cold, kind of delirious, but wanted to see them wrap and were hopeful that Tom would come say hi to us. He, Harry, and his PA’s arrived and went inside. The scene was shot on the roof of the building so we could not see exactly what happened. (Sorry!) Then we saw people on the roof hug, and knew they had wrapped. There were maybe 20 fans total there. Maybe. When Tom came out, he waved at us, walked into his car, then came out. We’re pretty sure he was about to come over and talk to us, but one “fan” ran over to his car and literally tried to push past a security guard. If we had a chance of him coming over, it was ruined. He got into the car, then stopped it right in front of us and rolled down the window to wave and say “hi” and “thank you.” We congratulated him on wrapping and then he drove away. He was wearing the varsity spider-man jacket that the cast and crew got today as a wrap present. After he left, our group took some pictures, congratulated crew members, and said goodbye. I miss all of them already! It was such an honor to be there not only to see them film, but to see them from the first take to the last in nyc, and to see them finish the project they have been working on all summer. I could tell they were all relieved to go home.

Thursday

After Tuesday night I tried (and failed) to get my life back together following the craziest 5 days of my life. On Thursday, I slept in late, attended a club meeting, ordered some food, and put laundry in the wash, when I got a text from Miranda that Tom would be on the Jimmy Kimmel show. At first I was super confused, I hadn’t read the text correctly, I didn’t understand that Jimmy was filming in Brooklyn for his show because I knew he generally filmed in Los Angeles, and I didn’t understand why Tom would be on the show. I told her and Jessie that I couldn’t go, because I had class at 4:35 and laundry in the dryer. Nevertheless, I went. I took my roommate with me, and saw a long line outside of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I circled around to see any sign of Tom, and spotted his car near stage door. He was already inside. I weighed my options carefully. It was cold, I was busy, I had laundry in the dryer in a community building. I wanted to go home, but something in me told me I had to stay. My roommate left and wished me good luck, and I decided to text Maria, who I mentioned earlier in this post as part of the group of girls who visited set all 5 days. She was luckily already there. We decided to get on line for Jimmy Kimmel because I knew one of the workers, who used to work on a show I did background work and had attended audience tapings for several times. We talked and I asked if there was a stand by line, he said he would help but could only get us individual tickets. We took them anyway. At first I didn’t even know if Tom would be on the show, but luckily, he did a skit with Guillermo and the crowd went wild. New York truly loves Tom Holland’s Spider-man.

Typically you’re not allowed to leave if you’re filling an audience for a taping of a live show. Somehow we left after Tom’s skit, and didn’t have to explain ourselves to anyone. Thank you, Universe. We went back to where I saw Tom’s car and they were moving it to the Stage Door. There were less than 10 people standing behind a barricade, so we stood there too. The other people there were not there for Tom, and didn’t even know he was on the show. Less than 10 minutes later, Tom came out. He waved, and I said “Hi Tom, how are you?” And he said “good thanks,” and I said “can we please get a picture?” And he said “yeah sure, let me just put this in my car” so Maria and I waited. At that point, the others behind the barricade started asking for pics and autographs (lol) so we waited for them to go first even though both us, and Tom knew we had asked first. He came over and I greeted him again, saying “hi how are you thank you for doing this” and he said “good thanks, no problem, do you want me to take it?” And I said, “yes please!” And handed him my phone. He took the picture, said thank you and then greeted Maria. He had been smiling his typical dorky closed smile that we love so much, until Maria said it was amazing seeing him on set. He laughed into a smile and said, “you did? you guys were on set? That’s awesome” and took the picture, then handed back her phone. I felt like an idiot because I couldn’t stop talking. So I said “We went all 5 days to support you guys, it was so amazing to see you do what you love” and he looked me in the eyes, smiled and said “thank you so much, that’s amazing” and signed another couple of autographs. Then he said he had to go and walked back to his car so we said “thank you, have a good night!” And I said “congratulations on wrapping Spider-man Far From Home! Can’t wait to see it.” And he gave us a ✌🏽 sign. He was lovely. It was a brilliant way to wrap this week. I hugged and hugged Maria, went to Target and bought a pair of pants, then almost got run over for walking across the street with my head in the clouds. We love that.

Overview.

Earlier this year, my RA asked us to make a bucket list for the school year. I wanted to put “Meet Zendaya” on it, but chose not to because I thought it was an unrealistic goal. I did not walk into this weekend thinking that I would meet her and Tom, I did not walk into this weekend expecting to see them film a spideychelle scene. I did not expect to see and meet the majority of the cast. I never ever thought that I could meet so many mutuals and become so close to them within such a short period of time. I could not be more grateful for the past 6 days. It felt like a dream that is so hard to wake up from. I cannot wait to see the movie and cry as soon as I see the scenes that they filmed right in front of my eyes.

As for Tomdaya tea, I will say this. There are a lot of pictures of Zendaya smiling while filming the scene with Tom as Spider-man. I hope you all know that if she is smiling in the picture, that is ZENDAYA not MJ. MJ is frightened during the scene, then a little uncomfortable, then concerned. Her expressions during the scene were serious. But in between takes, her and Tom laughed, joked around, danced, made fun of us, waved to other fans, talked to Jon, Harry etc. It was very windy, so yes Tom helped fix her hair at points. It became a problem during the scene because her hair would cover her face. They would cut, laugh about it, and would go again. However, that video of them play fighting and running in place, then hugging, was just them tiring themselves out and picking up where they left off from the other scene. That does not take away from the fact that it was super cute. Zendaya looked so genuinely happy, and it made ME happy to see her so happy. I couldn’t see Tom’s face with the mask on, but I just know he had a dorky smile on his face the whole time. They both were so comfortable with each other. I cannot wait to see Michelle and Spider-man’s dynamic in the film. We really went from Peter Parker not saying a single line to MJ, (except as Spidey) to them being an iconic duo. We stan. And yes, I have theories about what will happen between them, but for now, i’ll leave it at this.

Thank you all for congratulating us and being so sweet. It was an honor to provide you with content, and of course, DM me or send me CCs if you have questions. Hope you all have a great week, go see Spider-Man Far From Home in theatres July 5, 2019. <3

xo, Marisa

#spider-man #spider-mam ffh #tomdaya #spideychelle #spiderman #spiderman far from home #far from home #ffh #nyc #tom holland #zendaya

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jimonies · 6 years ago

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bts concert experience

hey guys so I’ve been meaning to do this for while now and I’ve finally found some time to sit and write about it ( aka it’s finals weeks and I just want to procrastinate ). Also, this is my second time rewriting this as the first time I accidently forgot to save it so I apologize for any mistakes in advance. I wanted to do this on behalf of the people who are in the future planning to go a bts concert or just want to know what it was like. Before we went, me and my sister did A LOT of research and so I hope this can help give you an idea or answer any questions. I also want to put out there this is MY experience and MY opinions, I can’t speak for anyone else's experiences. I know there will probably be different opinions on different scenarios that I’ll talk about and take it how you will. Going through this experience made me realize a lot of things about social media and how ARMY can be depicted so I hope this also gives you some insight as well and maybe clear up some things you might of heard from the concert. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the read !

Tickets + Seating + Date

I’ll be honest with you, me and my sister got REALLY lucky. We had been planning for GA tickets, preferably the Wednesday Sept 5th date ( Staples Center, Los Angeles ) and by some miracle we got it. I’ve learned that it doesn’t really matter how many laptops or phones you have out, it’s all luck really. We tried buying tickets for other dates like Oakland and Citifield and it didn’t matter if we only used one phone or had 20 out, it’s just the luck of the draw cause we got NONE after that first time. The day the tickets dropped, we had out two macbooks, a tablet, and 3 phones ( two samsung + old LG phone ). Ironically enough, we got both GA tickets on the LG phone ( I always joke with my sister that it was the power of that btsxlg collab that got us tickets !! ).

Camping Out Experience

Both me and my sister had specifically chose Wednesday because we knew camping out was going to be mess. We are fortunate enough that we are on the quarter system for our universities so school or work really wasn’t an issue for us luckily. I would recommend trying to get the first day possible if the concert is multiple days because it can gets messy on the days after. My sister was in a group chat on twitter so she was able to have some of her mutuals hold our spots until our rotation turn. The girls were really nice about the whole thing so we took the graveyard shift the night before the concert.

I know there was a lot of concern regarding camping out in downtown los angeles and let me tell you I was scared shitless at first. My sister goes to university in LA so she’s more accustomed to the city life. I on the other hand am a ball of anxiety and you have to force me to the leave the house. I was so completely terrified of being out there the whole night but I knew if I was with me sister, I would be okay.

Parking was a pretty tricky thing. We had paid for overnight parking inside a parking garage station in downtown and then took an uber to the campsite. As for what we brought, since we were only there overnight we packed pretty minimally. We brought two folding chairs, a container of fruit, a jug of water, small purses with extra chargers + wallets + pepper spray, blankets, and we dressed in layers! It surprisingly wasn’t as cold as I though it would be !

We were lined up across the parking garage for LA Live. Out of privacy reasons, I won’t say our exact numbers but we were within the first 30 people in line so we were basically in the front. We signed in with the girl who was coordinating the line and got an approximate number on our hand. It’s kind of set up in way where you’re in groups and clusters. I say per group it’s about five to eight people at most. Across the street in the parking garage was a bathroom in clear sight open for us to use, less than a four minute walk! I was actually really pleasantly surprised with how clean and stocked the bathrooms were! They only closed for one hour during the night to clean it but other than that, there was staff around that had it opened and cleaned.

Let me tell you, the age range for armys are really diverse. There were actually a lot of parents with their kids so I felt really comforted by the fact that there were a lot of adults around us! Like I mentioned, everyone was in groups or at least with one other person, I don’t think I saw a person alone. Most of the people in the front that I met and talked to were college students ranging from the average age of 18-24 which makes sense when you think about it. There was also a lot of security around the area. I know people are going to have different opinions on this but like I mentioned, this is based on my personal experience. There was a security guard who would walk and patrol the fence behind us and then there was a cop car that would pass by every 45-60 minutes.

Most armys that were around us were really chill and calm. For the most part, everyone kept to themselves and were pretty kind, offering water or snacks here and there. Like I said, a lot of the people around us were college students so most were on their phones chilling or I saw a couple of people doing homework on their laptops. I can’t speak for what was it like the previous days but even early in the night, there wasn’t much going on. I know in like videos and stuff you see people dancing around or doing routines or singing and playing bts music but it was literally just a bunch of us sitting in chairs on our phones and quietly chatting amongst ourselves! It really sucked though because we got made fun of...a lot. So many people would pass by in cars slowly with their windows down and just record us laughing. I think I stopped counting after 31 cars. No one said anything or made a big deal, but you could feel the silent hurt and annoyance from everyone. It was gross having older men or teenagers drive by and scream at us and laugh. Eventually though it did stop. I would say around 10 or maybe 11 people starting going into their tents or around their blankets for the night. IT WAS SO QUIET! Most people took turns on sleeping shifts and this is when they brought out more patrol cars. I’m a night owl at heart so I told my sister to nap and I would stay up. Even though I wasn’t scared anymore, I was still uncomfortable fully falling asleep so I simply stayed awake for the night. I know some people were annoyed but I felt so much reassurance and happiness from this one cop. Earlier in the night, he was all excited and he strolled by playing fire and dope it was the funniest thing! You could tell he was genuinely excited for us and not mocking us. In my section, there was one girl to my left who was awake for her group and another to my right awake and everyone else was knocked out for the most part. When he saw everyone go to sleep, he and his partner passed back and forth in their patrol car. He noticed I was stayed awake and every hour or so, he would slow down in front of me and shoot me a thumbs up asking if I was okay. He had probably noticed how fucking terrified I was but without fail, every hour he came to check up on us.

Now. This is where all the chaos begins. I understand that there were some things circulating around twitter and how some of these things went down and I don’t know everything that happened but I’ll tell you my experience on this.

Around 3 in the morning, news stations starting showing up. My sister had woken up around this time from her nap so we watched in curiosity on how this was going to go down. Listen I know I sound like a broken record but, I can’t speak for all but I will speak for myself.

Camera men with cameras and lights and one or two male and I think later in the morning a female reporter showed up. I know me camping out there kind of subjects myself to the open and leaves me vulnerable but nonetheless, it was still kind of creepy and invasive. There’s all these sleeping girls (and a couple of guys! ) on the floor or in chairs and then you have camera men come by and record us. I know what I was getting into by camping out and I knew this was bound to happen but I know a lot of the people around me felt the same. Me and my sister didn’t want to be recorded or interviewed so we hid under our blankets. Despite seeing that we didn’t want to be recorded, they passed by us numerous times so yeah, there’s a lot of footage out there now of me under a blanket lmao. Since me and my sister were some of the few people awake, they would come over to see if we wanted to be interviewed but we just thew ourselves under the blanket. Ironically enough, the two girls next to me ended up getting interviewed. The media...they really have a way on portraying things to the way they want. I was really proud of the two girls next to me and they handled the questions really well. They tried to make us seem kinda crazy, maybe crazy isn’t the right word but they were trying to paint this exotic story of us. The girls politely disregarded them, telling them that we were here because we love bts and because they have a strong message and they’re worth waiting for. I got to talk to the girls afterwards and they were so terrified of what people were going to say, not only by media but by armys on twitter cause they wanted to do our fandom justice and show media that we are not they depict us to be. As it got around 4 to 6 in the morning, more people were getting interviewed, especially those in the front of the line. Look, I understand how media works and the compelling part of a story okay but it’s just ironic cause they came out here hoping for screaming fangirls but you could tell they were so annoyed and disappointed by how anticlimactic we were acting. I can’t tell you the amount of times a camera man would walk down the line, having to retake the shot because we weren’t screaming or acting hyped enough. It wasn’t that we were trying to be cool or like downplay how amazing it was but like, it was 6 in the morning. We were tired! A little cranky and annoyed from being woken up from lights and cameras! We just wanted our wristbands! We’re not here to be interviewed or be on tv, we just wanted to see our boys lol. This is not to say all interviews were bad or they were malicious, some people looked happy and excited to be interviewed but I can at least tell you from the groups around us, we were just trying out best to stay in our lanes. It was kinda funny though cause my dad texted me that he had been up watching the news watching me and sister hide under the blankets like the loser we were lol. Eventually we gave up and just let them record us so now my dad has a video of us waving to the fam lol.

This went on from 3 in the morning to until we got our wristbands which was sometime around noon or a little before. Not gunna lie, it’s a little fuzzy now that’s it’s been a while and I can’t remember the exact times from this point on but I’ll try my best from checking old text messages. I know for sure by ten we were all put in a line in number order. Also, I want to mention the trash situation ! The girls in the front did such a good job with the clean up. Next to the fences they had trash bags for us and someone would come every couple of hours or so to throw it out !

I know I’m going to get some mixed reactions on this but I was so happy with the staff running the line. There was this staff lady in the front who was not putting up with anyones bullshit !! There were girls who were trying to cut the line and start a new line and try having groups swarm in but the lady was on top of everything at least for the people in the front of the line. There were people sending them back to the end. SHE WAS A SAVIOR AND STAPLES CENTER NEEDS TO GIVE HER A RAISE BECAUSE SHE HANDLED THAT SO WELL. We lined and and got put in this other queue where after waiting for everyone to line up again, we got our wrist bands. Sorry if this is vague but it was honestly just a lot of standing around. I’m just so damn impressed that SO MANY PEOPLE GOT IN A DECENTLY UNIFIED LINE. YALL DID GREAT SWEETIES ! Amongst this so many things were going on. I do remember a Korean station coming up and filming us and again, we got in trouble for not being loud enough so they refilmed us again :/ They told us that once we got our wrist bands if we were’t planning on stayed for day 2 to pack up our things and leave which most people did. You best believe we yeeted tf outta there! We called an uber, drove back to the parking garage to get our car and headed back to my sisters apartment to grab something to eat and change. Admittedly, it wasn’t a lot of time to get ready. I can’t remember exactly but I think we had to be there back around 4:30 or 5. PARKING BY THE VENUE WAS A BITCH. I dropped my sister off first so she could find could find the new line but oh my God I nearly had an anxiety attack driving around so many people! The street near the merch was so packed and the lines were so long. I was completely devastated I couldn’t get anything. Honestly, if you have someone with you while waiting in line go send them because it was the hunger games trying to get merch. Anyways, I was able to find a small parking lot by the venue a couple of blocks down where I think I paid like 10 bucks to park? It sucked though because I had to walk all the way around the venue towards the back. We waited in line for a bit and then they let us in. There were a couple of scanners stations you could go through. From there, it was a free for all. I remember being so pissed because the scanner for our line stopped working so people were going ahead of us and I was panicking. It wasn’t the workers fault or anything they were so sweet and apologized me and sister just have bad luck lol. Luckily, when we got to the stage, the girls who camped behind us remembered me and my sister and let us go to barricade with them ! We stood on the left side of the extended stage.

( I’m too lazy to rewatermark so I’m just using the pics from my sisters twitter thread lmao, I’ll eventually upload the rest of mine from instagram onto here but for now this will have to do ). LET ME TELL YOU. THE PIT IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED. THE STAGE IS REALLY HIGH SO FOR SHORT PEOPLE LIKE ME (5′2-5′3) YOUR NECK GUNNA BE CRANKED UP. ALSO, YOU FEEL SO SMALL, LIKE REALLY REALLY SMALL. It gets kinda to be a lot once it gets closer to the concert starting cause you can see the venue all the way around you filling up and you realize how many people there are. I don’t even want to know how bts must feel seeing all of us damn, THERE’S A LOT OF US. unfortunately, there is a lot of shoving and hair pulling in the pit rip my hair and you’re pretty squished :( I’m naturally an anxious person but even my sister who isn’t admitted to feeling a little overwhelmed. But not to fear my precious anxious peeps, the feelings goes away cause once the concert starts, you don’t even THINK about the people around you nor do they really continue to fret around cause once the show starts all of yall gunna be star stuck by the sight before you.

Deciding what part of the stage was a little tricky but it all worked out. My sister is Tae biased and I am Jimin biased and we had seen that they are more prone to be on the left side where we were at ! I feel like we got to see a lot of the members except for Jin which was SO SAD :( He was more on the right side of the stage, I think we got footage of him maybe like once or twice. Also, I’ve seen people ask if it’s worth it buying the army bomb. PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND BUY IT TRUST ME IT MAKES THE EXPERIENCE SO MUCH BETTER !! Like doesn’t matter what version yall just get one no one is paying attention to your army bomb version so if you can get your hands on one do it ! Unless you know you’re gunna record the whole entire time then yeah maybe not but I remember when I purchased I kinda regretted dropping that much money but after I was so happy I bought it. This isn’t to say you can’t have a great time without one either though ! I’m just saying, if you have the money and you’re wondering if it’s worth it then I’d say hell yeah it is. ALSO IF YOU HAVE BARRICADE HOLD ONTO THAT SUCKER WITH DEAL LIFE.

It’s been a couple of months now and it honestly feels like this big ole fever dream that I’ve thought up. Let me tell you, the camera does NOT do them justice at all. I apologize as this next part will not be cohesive at all and I’ll probably come back to add to this later as I start to remember and find more pictures on my SD card.

The concert

YALL. THEY’RE TINY. LIKE REALLY TINY. AND THEY DON’T LOOK REAL. They’re faces and bodies are so small and they’re all very thin. Joon to me felt like the only tall one and hot damn his proportions are to DIE FOR. ALSO YES JINS SHOULDERS ARE WIDE I CAN CONFIRM NOW.

I’ve always though that people were exaggerating when they said Jungkook’s eyes sparkle like an anime character but holy fck THEY SPARKLE LIKE AN ANIME CHARACTER. Idk who tf my sister saved in her last life but my sister called out to Kookie and he gave her a thumbs up ajaskljlkfjelkfef (@4:52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdY2txs8HFc) HE REALLY LOOKS LIKE A BUNNY GUYS MY HEART !!!

Me and my sister concluded that they really try their hardest to look at everyone in the audience. Taehyung especially, you could tell, was looking out into the stands almost as if he were searching for the people all the way in the back to let them know he saw them and he was thankful. I really surprised because I’ve heard Tae gives the best fan interaction especially those in GA and I don’t know if it was because it was opening day or maybe because he was overwhelmed but he seemed very focused on the people out in the seats. You could tell he was just trying to take it in it was so heartwarming !!!

RAP LINE IS SO HYPE. We don’t have a lot of pictures for it but WE HAVE A LOT OF FANCAMS. THEY FED US SO WELL. Yoongi ohohohoho, HOBI ESP omg I fell in love so hard he kept coming over and teasing us, and Joon were very active on our side of the stage too his fcking dimples when he smiled all my uwus !! Their stage presence is really something else. It makes me so sad we didn’t go to the wings concert and see the cypher performances :(

Don’t be fooled okay. TO MY BIGGEST SURPRISE, JIMIN IS NOT AS SHORT AS THEY DRAG HIM TO BE. Like, I’m not saying he’s not short but stick with me here, they’re all very small guys in general ??? yes he is smaller but not by a lot.

anyways yall i finally met the love of my life and I can finally die in peace now knowing he’s actually real and I think we made eye contact a couple of times and he’s actually that beautiful like GOD REALLY TOOK HIS TIME WITH PARK JIMIN.

I never ever ever ever ever ever wanna hear someone say that bts is not attractive because all of the boys are so beautiful, handsome ! I think the weirdest part was looking at the screen cause that’s how they look like on like vlives and whatnot but to see them in person is something else like they don’t look like that ??? I kept looking back and forth because it was so overwhelming. I know how my phone works and takes pictures like how it translates and it’s weird to see them on my phone now i hope this makes sense ?? Also, it literally sounds like the boys ate their CDs because their vocals are no joke. I started tearing up around hobi’s performance and then Jungkook when he hit his note in euphoria AND JIN JESUS! ALL OF THEM CAN SING AND DANCE PHEW CHILE.

LISTEN I GOT TO SEE JIMIN PERFORM SERENDIPITY I CANNOT COMPLAIN ABOUT ANYTHING IN LIFE ANYMORE IT WAS MY LAST DYING WISH.

I’m upset because there’s a lot I wanted to say but I’m just blanking now so I’ll definitely come back and add more later on. But every army deserves to come and see the boys, it’s a life changing experience and it will really change you. I walked out sobbing with my sister because I was so heartbroken it was over. They make you feel so loved ! They’re so genuine you guys. It was honestly worth camping out and I would do it a thousand times over if I could. It’s a big celebration and festival being there I’ve never felt anything like this before in my life. There’s not enough words to describe how magical this night was. All I know is that from my bottom of my heart, I hope all of you get a chance to experience this. I’m so so so thankful to be alive and blessed enough to have the privilege to see them. When I die and hopefully if I meet God and he asks me what my most precious memory was I’m not gunna say my wedding, having kids, getting my degree. I’m gunna say with my whole chest the bts concert because this really was the night I met seven angels.

anyways, here’s me & my sister’s fancams if you would like a look ! feel free to shoot me a question if you have any questions or whatnot or if you went the day we did ! these are only a few I have saved on my laptop but I’ll be adding more once I’m on break:

( I recommend watching them on the app on the phone and putting the quailty up idk why it linked the way it did but :( )

BTS - TRIVIA: JUST DANCE @STAPLES CENTER 180905:

BTS - Run @STAPLES CENTER 180905:

BTS - Trivia: Love & DNA @STAPLES 180905:

BTS - Boy In Luv & BST @STAPLES CENTER 180905

BTS - Tear @STAPLES CENTER 180905

BTS - Mic Drop Remix @STAPLES CENTER 180905

BTS - Ending Ment @STAPLES CENTER 180905

BTS - So What @STAPLES CENTER 180905

BTS - Anpanman @STAPLES CENTER 180905

BTS - Answer: Love Myself @STAPLES CENTER 180905

#bts #loveyourself concert #namjoon #jin #yoongi #jhope #jimin #taehyung #jungkook #ill probably be revisitng this post and editing so be on the lookout for updates !

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julia-highstorms · 6 years ago

Text

The Third Park (Damien x OC (Ellie)) - Part 13

Summary: Ellie and Damien have a new lead on Robert Zucko's case, and a double date with him and Lucy, but things don't turn out the way they planned...

Note: (most) characters belong to Pixelberry Studios. Damien is 100% human in here and my Male!MC is named Allen. Ni Ni’s and Santiago Cabrera’s gifs don’t belong to me. Link to previous parts.

Pairing: Damien x OC (Ellie)

Rating: Teen (alcohol, language)

Tagging: @christopher-powell @boneandfur @kennaxval @writtenbycandy @thequeenchoices @client327 @damienazariostan @never-ending-choices @walkerismychoice @laniquelove @confessionsofabrokegirl @dangerous-capri15 @parkerattano @clarissafics @pilitella @hellomynameisdeviblaire @odetomars @cocomaxley @her-imperial-hangman-s @endlesswoods @miss-cordonia If you would like to be tagged, please, tell me!

Word count: 4772

Although it was Sunday and Damien felt exhausted from all that late night activity - party + sex, and lots of it -, Eleanor woke up bright and early as usual. And of course she woke him up too.

“C’mon, we have more work to do!” - she pushed him to sit straight in the bed, talking too loud. He asked himself how the Park cousins could all be so energetic so early in the morning. Didn't they have a switch off button? - "And I have to go back to Freddie! He doesn’t deal very well with loneliness—"

But out of nowhere, Damien turned and grabbed her wrists, pinning Ellie back onto the mattress, beneath him. Her surprised squeal turned into a moan when he bit her neck playfully.

"You smell so good, Ellie..." - he murmured and kissed behind her earlobe. Judging by the hard part of his body pulsing on her thigh, he was already wide awake.

"Yes, because I've already showered." - she informed him, trying to resist his teasing. It was being really damn hard. - "Fuck, D, I'm not paying you to keep me in bed all day."

He pulled out, chuckling softly, and picked some clean clothes from his bag.

"Nadia is right. You're a workaholic."

"Shut up. And go take your cold shower, Nazario." - he still was laughing when he entered the bathroom.

As Ellie had predicted, Freddie didn't appreciate being left alone for the night and destroyed one of her cushions. After changing into something more comfortable, she decided to take the dog for his morning walk and she and Damien had a breakfast in her favorite café, before they were finally back into her apartment again.

"So, what did we find out yesterday?" - she asked, after brushing her teeth.

Damien had already installed himself on her house. There were diagrams and notes scattered all over her dinner table and he was typing something on his laptop. He had even connected his computer to her printer.

"First things first, Robert Zucko is a complete jerk." - Eleanor couldn't agree with him more. - "Second, he's a very protective guy. He has cameras all over his house and his property is heavily secured. But, there's no cameras nor bodyguards near his office."

"And he owns a fucking pistol." - she plopped down on a chair, still terrified by the memory of it.

"Yeah, this too. But what I found the most suspicious was this." - he showed her the table he made based on the picture he took from one of Robert's documents. Ellie saw a bunch of names and schedules.

"What is this?"

"I think these are his employees names." - Damien started searching all the locations listed there on the Google street view.

"Wow, this is an obsessive amount of names."

"Exactly. Why there would be so many people working on a pub?"

"...Unless Robert is not just a pub owner." - she concluded his thought. Damien grinned to himself. Eleanor Zhou could become a good investigator. She had great logical reasoning.

"My thoughts exactly. Do you have a map of Northbridge?"

Ellie came back a few minutes later and they both spreaded it on her dinner table. Damien started circling the places, the pub and Robert's and Lucy's house included. Apparently Robert Zucko had business all over the city.

He read the table again. One of the names ringed a bell, but he didn't quite remember from where he had already heard it. He highlighted it anyway.

"D, look!" - she pointed to a line from the table. Danny Mars, July 28, 11AM, the docklands. - “Whatever the hell this means, this is going to happen this Wednesday.”

“You’re right.” - they analysed the paper further. - “So this is where Robert went yesterday.” - he pointed to the line above.

“When he said he had to go take a ‘package’?”

“You have a good memory, Ellie.”

“I try.” - she grinned back and he couldn’t help but lean in and kiss her softly on the lips. She giggled. - “Okay, so this is about suspicious packages, apparently. What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to follow Robert Zucko and see what’s going on." - his smile faded from his face. - "Listen, Ellie, I think that what we have in our hands is bigger than we imagined. More than Lucy. Maybe we can get him out of her life for good. But it might be dangerous. We still don’t know what and who we’re dealing with, exactly.”

She nodded, with a serious expression too.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to free her from this bastard.” - Ellie’s obstinacy and fierceness were thrilling.

He hadn’t been feeling that impressed since he and her cousins brought Eros down, two years ago. Yeah, it hurt like hell when Allen chose Hayden over him, but he had to admit that the love Allen and Nadia felt for those robots was inspiring.

Maybe it was just another Park trait that he liked: their stubbornness.

"You know, seeing you all angry like this is such a turn on." - he placed his hands on her hips, bringing her closer until they were pressed against each other.

Ellie chuckled as she enlaced her arms around his neck, feeling pressed between the table and Damien.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You say this because I'm not angry at you."

"Maybe." - he smiled mischievously and then planted his lips on hers.

Eleanor immediately kissed him back, pulling him even closer. They deepened the kiss, savouring each other’s taste. When the moment hit both of them, Damien easily lifted her and put a giggling Ellie on the table, pushing Northbridge map and all the other papers aside.

"God dammit, you're so damn addictive." - he said, his breath already heavy, as he bent over her, who was already laying back onto the table. She grinned devilishly at him, with a leg hooked around his waist, pulling his body closer to hers. Oh God, she already felt that heat down there…

“And you’re insatiable, Damien Nazario. Do you know this?” - she told him as she put light kisses all over his face.

“Only for you, Eleanor Zh—”

Suddenly, her phone started ringing, interrupting them. The moment was completely gone. Again.

Damien let out a frustrated sigh as Ellie climbed down the table.

"Lucy? Is everything okay?" - she said with the mobile pressed on her ear. The man watched her while he picked the papers from the floor and put them back onto the table. - "Uh? Dinner? Yeah, we can… Okay, see you there."

"What?" - he asked as she ended the call.

"Lucy invited us to a dinner Friday night… Apparently Robert wants to fix things between us." - Eleanor rolled her eyes, visibly annoyed.

"...Well, this is a great opportunity. Maybe we can get some information from them." - the corners of Ellie's lips turned up in that devilishly smirk.

"That's what I thought too. Come on, we have a plan to make."

They spent the whole day planning on what would they do. Damien decided that he would follow Robert that week, maybe trying to find a pattern. Ellie wouldn't be able to help much, since she had to go work. But they would work together on Friday night, at the dinner with the newly-engaged couple. He went back to New York that same night to pick new and clean clothes and get his trusty old muscle car, so he could follow Robert Zucko and Lucy James everywhere, more easily.

Damien Nazario: “I’m here. Just parked.”

Eleanor Zhou: “Okay! Meet you in 5.”

She put her phone back into her bag, and finished fixing her makeup. It was Friday night and they were about to have that dinner with her friend and that man. Ellie was feeling anxious about what would happen. She would have to spend the next couple hours of her life facing that pig that was Robert Zucko. She took a deep breath. For Lucy.

And she wasn’t alone. Damien was going to be there too. Knowing this made her feel a little calmer. God, since when she was so dependable of him? Stop it, Ellie. He’s just helping you. You hired him, did you forget it? She looked at her own reflex on the mirror, taking a deep breath, before going out.

Ellie left the Mortif Magazine building and easily saw the familiar old muscle car parked just across the street.

Ellie decided to ignore the little leap her heart took when she saw Damien there, casually leaning against his car, with his strong arms crossed over his muscled chest. He saw her too and she saw that stupidly charming smirk of his that made her feel all hot. They had decided to meet there, so they could pass on the plan one more time before the dinner. They haven’t seen each other since Sunday afternoon and she kind of missed him. God, what was happening with her?!

Stop it, Ellie.

You can’t. Not now. Not for him.

“Ellie!” - she heard Poppy Patel walking towards her. - “Glad I got to catch you! I’m going to a happy hour with my friends, do you want to come with us?”

“Thanks, Poppy, but I already have a plan for tonight…” - and then she quickly shot a glance to where Damien was. Poppy followed her gaze.

“Ooooh, he’s hot! Now I can understand why you declined ‘grabbing a coffee’ with Grayson Prescott, the most eligible bachelor of Northbridge.” - Eleanor just rolled her eyes. - “Hello, I’m Poppy!” - she promptly greeted the man who approached them.

“Hello, I’m Damien. Ellie’s boyfriend.” - Ellie didn’t hide her smile when she felt his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. - “Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but we have a dinner to attend.�� - she noticed that he was using that smirk of his that helped him get whatever he wanted. She couldn’t resist it herself.

“I see.” - Poppy grinned to Eleanor. - “Well, don’t let me take any more of your time, guys! Have a good date!” - and she winked to her friend, making Ellie chuckle.

“Thanks, Poppy. See you on Monday.” - and then Damien led her to his car, his warm and big hand on hers, their fingers intertwined.

“So, the Grayson Prescott asked you out?” - he asked casually.

“Were you eavesdropping us?”

“I’m a detective. Eavesdropping is basically my job.” - she rolled her eyes, but chuckled softly.

“Yeah… we met in that party at Prescott Industries that Poppy took me.” - she shrugged.

“And let me get this right: you rejected him?”

“Rejection sounds too harsh. I just gently declined his invitation.”

“Why? He’s handsome, hot and a millionaire. You can’t possibly be so attracted to me.” - he smirked at her and she felt her heart skipping a beat. Oh, if he only knew…

“Maybe my type is detectives with an inflated ego.” - he laughed loudly. She liked the sound of his laugh.

“Touché. Anyway, you always work this late?”

“Some nights.” - she replied with a shrug. It was past 7 p.m., although her working hours were due to 5 p.m.

...And that was a lie. She worked overtime most of the days. And Damien knew it too. He had noticed that she avoided looking to his eyes when she lied.

“Anyway, you dressed up nice, D.” - she smirked approvingly to him, changing the subject. Damien was wearing a slim button-up shirt and a blazer.

“Yeah, I figured that the restaurant we’re going to is one of the fanciest in Northbridge, so I had to step up a little today.” - they both climbed up on his car. - “You’re looking good too.”

“I work at a fashion magazine. People know how to dress up here.” - she said as she put her seatbelt. He started the engine and the car started moving through the city's streets.

“Yeah, but I bet you’ll look even better when I take you out of your clothes later.” - Ellie giggled to his statement. God, she liked his flattering more than she should.

“You must think that you’re such a smooth talker, don’t you, Nazario? Anyway, how is the investigation going? Have you found something? What all those infos in that table meant?” - Danny Mars, July 28, 11AM, the docklands.

"I didn't have much luck. Robert and a bodyguard went towards Northbridge's docklands and met a guy, which I believe is this Danny Mars guy, and they exchanged a few words, but nothing else. The meeting was less than fifteen minutes long." - he gave her a dossier and she saw a few pictures he took from Robert and two other strangers. - "It was a windy day and I didn't have much space to hide myself, so the photos aren't so good. Although there wasn't any kind of 'package' this time, it certainly is suspicious."

"And what happened afterwards?"

"Robert - and his man - went straight home and he just left his home on Thursday night, around 8 p.m. to go to Zucko's Point and stayed there until little after midnight. Today, he went earlier to the pub, around 2 p.m. Although his pub was closed, he had some guests." - she saw more pictures as Damien followed the GPS directions. - "They left the place after an hour. Robert was still there when I left to come pick you up."

She put the pictures back into the dossier and looked at him.

"...And this is why you look so tired." - she concluded. - "You'd been following him everywhere this week. Did you sleep at all?"

"Well, the backseat of this car can be very comfortable..."

"This is not a proper sleep, D! Why didn't you checked in on a hotel? I know that Robert's schedule is a mess, but I don't want my private investigator passing out due to exhaustion!"

Damien grinned to himself, his eyes still on the road in front of them. It was silly, but he felt slightly happy to know that she was worried about him.

"You too. I know you work overtime, Ellie."

"We're not talking about me." - she snapped back at him, with a frown, making him chuckle. He missed talking to her that week. They barely had time to even text each other, since he was following Robert Zucko around like crazy and she was stuck on work. - "And I don't work that much." - she completed, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever you say." - he chuckled again. - "Anyway, here's the plan for tonight. We'll try to get as much information as possible about Robert's life. Especially about his business. And how he and Lucy are doing. Although I'm pretty sure she probably is in heaven right now with this engagement thing."

"You mean engagement bullshit. He did this just to lock her."

"Ellie..." - he said with a warning tone on his voice at her as he parked the car. They had just arrived to their destination.

"I know, I know, I'll behave, don't worry." - she said with a sigh before they both climbed down the car.

"I'm not." - Damien answered her, his hand on the small of her back as he guided them towards the restaurant. - "I trust you, Ellie."

And she grinned to herself.

"Ah! Ellie!" - Lucy James waved as they entered the fancy Italian restaurant. They walked towards the petite blonde woman and her fiancé. - "Right on time, we'd just arrived too."

"Good night, Eleanor. Mr. Nazario." - Robert Zucko greeted them with a tilt from his head. They did the same. - "My apologies, but I forgot to book a table for tonight and it's packed here, so we'll have to wait a little. Why don't we go grab something to drink while we wait?"

"I need to go to the restroom first." - Ellie said, her hands already clenched in fists.

"I'll go with you!" - Lucy said and they left the men alone. Robert proposed to them to go grab their drinks while they waited for the ladies to come back. Damien agreed and they walked towards the bar.

Both men asked for a whiskey. Neat.

"Mr. Nazario, I feel like we started with the wrong foot last weekend and I wanted to apologise about my behavior on Lucy's birthday party. I was being rude."

"Please, call me Damien. And I think the one you have to apologise to is Ellie."

He saw a mocking smile on Robert's face, but the man just said:

"Of course. I will as well."

Damien just glanced at the man next to him, holding himself to not punch that bastard's disgusting smirk out of his face and both men sipped on their drinks, saying nothing else.

Both women were back soon and, thankfully, they got a table, so Eleanor didn't have to make small talk with her best friend's fiancé. As she and D presumed, Lucy was over excited about the wedding. While the women were in the restroom, the blonde one couldn't stop talking about her plans to it. Ellie felt uneasy with all that talk but didn't stop Lucy.

They settled down and no one said anything while they chose what to eat. After they have ordered their food - which both Damien and Eleanor noticed that Robert made the decision for Lucy and it made the Asian woman's blood boil -, the newly engaged woman cleared her throat:

"So! While we wait for our orders, I guess this is the perfect time to announce this..." - she shared a smile with her fiancé. - "Robert and I had decided to marry in November ."

Ellie almost spilled her wine. November?!

"...But so soon?" - she couldn't contain herself. Damien watched her cautiously by her side. - "I mean… I thought you would want to plan your marriage with no hurry..."

Four months. They had four months to free Lucy from that man's claws.

"Well, we don't need to plan much when everything's already settled." - Robert answered her. - "We already know the place and the day of the ceremony. Even the decorations are decided. And to where we're going on our honeymoon."

"Oh really? Care to tell us more about it?" - Damien asked.

While Robert listed everything, Ellie's eyes were on her best friend, who just nodded at the man sitting next to her.

Eleanor knew Lucy well enough that it was far from ideal to her. Lucy James always told her that she wanted a big wedding like in those Hollywood movies. She wanted to go to Greece or Fiji on her honeymoon (and not stay in the U.S., like it seemed to be Robert's plan). She even had created a 'wedding moodboard' on Pinterest when they still were in college!

"...Lucy just need to pick her dress." - he finished his monologue.

Ellie's hands rested on her lap, in fists. Her best friend clearly had nothing to do with that. With her own wedding. Robert Zucko decided everything. He controlled her and her life.

Eleanor felt like screaming. Her rage igniting inside her again. She fucking hated him so much.

She felt Damien's large and warm hand on hers, squeezing it lightly. Ellie didn't notice that she was shaking with anger. She took a deep breath and mentally thanked him. He already knew her so well. It was good having him there. He was so much more collected than her.

"And are you okay with this, Lucy?" - Damien asked her friend.

Lucy slightly looked surprised. She quickly glanced to Robert, who watched her, calmly, before looking back to Damien, who was waiting for her answer:

"Of course!" - she forced a laugh, clearly feeling embarrassed.

"Because to me it feels like you didn't get much say about this..." - Eleanor had to control herself to not kiss Damien right there. She sipped on her drink instead.

"No! I mean, you got it wrong. Of course I agree with all this! Why wouldn't I? I'm marrying the love of my life!" - and she and Robert exchanged a grin. Ellie had to hold herself back to not roll her eyes so hard so she could see her own brain.

"And I didn't get to decide everything. Tell them about it, babydoll." - Robert said while the waiters put their plates in front of them.

"Oh yes!" - the blonde woman squealed excitedly on her chair. - "Ellie, would you be my maid of honor?"

Eleanor shouldn't be so surprised with it. She kind of had a feeling that Lucy would ask that to her anyway.

...But she never thought that it would be with her marriage with someone like Robert Zucko.

"I…" - she took a deep breath. - "It would be my greatest honor." - and forced a smile.

"Thank you so much, Ellie!" - Lucy was so happy that she even had to hug her best friend. Ellie just wanted to scream. Again.

"As you can see, this wasn't my decision." - Ellie glared at Robert. She perfectly understood what he meant with that comment.

"Talking about decisions..." - Damien intervened, his hand on Eleanor's thigh, holding her back onto her seat, forcing her to not slap that rat's face. She decided to focus on her food instead. D was working and her getting all annoyed with Robert wouldn't help him. - "Ellie told me you own a pub, Zucko's Point, right?" - the other man nodded to him. - "You see, my favorite pub back in New York, Archer & Hopps, is not doing so well..."

"Oh, I heard about it. We pub owners know each other. Old man Archer had been losing a lot of money on gambling, right? And everything went worse after Hopps' death."

"Yeah, exactly... And, well, I'm a regular there and was thinking about helping them... maybe become a partner, you know? But I don't know if this is a good idea and wanted to talk to a pub owner first before I make my decision. Is it too much work?" - Robert laughed to Damien's frown.

"Well, it depends. Archer & Hopps is not a big pub, so yes, you probably would become their manager besides one of their owners. In Zucko's Point, I have trusty men to manage it to me, although there are some things that only the owners can do, of course. But how responsibility for keys, money, inventory, etc is worked out, it is up to you. There are many different ways to handle it." - and then he started talking about the logistics of having a pub business. Lucy and Ellie ate their food in silence, each of them lost on her own thoughts.

"Do you have many employees?" - Damien kept asking, recording the whole talk on his phone. Robert Zucko seemed too pleased talking about himself, so it was easy leading him to where Damien wanted him to go.

Zucko had far less employees than all the names listed on that table they got on his office. In reality, what he said mismatched with what Damien had collected about him. Working hours, number of employees, etc.

It was definitely suspicious. Robert Zucko was more than a pub owner.

After what it seemed an eternity to Ellie - her ears were tired of hearing Robert's stupid and super boring babble -, they were finally ready to go home.

"Thank you so much again, Ellie!" - Lucy hugged her tightly, once again. She patted the petite blonde woman on the back. D was the one who led the 'interrogation', but she was the one who felt exhausted. She just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep.

"Talk to you soon, right, Lucy?"

"Of course!"

"I hope the food was up to your tastes." - Robert extended his hand to Damien, who shook it firmly.

"It definitely was." - the detective had that charming grin back onto his lips. - "And thanks for the talk. It was very educational."

"It was my pleasure. Make sure to show up in Zucko's Point any time. You'll see that our booze is way better than Archer & Hopps… or should I say 'Archer & Hopps & Nazario'?" - both men shared a laugh.

The two couples parted their ways. Damien and Ellie returned to his car and waited for a couple of minutes until they saw Robert's Porsche passing through them, heading to the northern and richest part of Northbridge.

Eleanor didn't say a word on the way to her home. She just kept staring out of the window, lost in thoughts. Damien could tell that she was frustrated with the dinner. They didn't get much information, but he was used to it. Investigating took time. They had to be more patient.

But Eleanor Zhou wasn't exactly the patient type.

He parked the car outside her apartment building. Ellie climbed down his car. She noticed that Damien wasn't doing the same.

"Aren't you coming?" - those were the first words she said since they had left the restaurant. He nodded and followed her.

Freddie greeted them with a wriggling tail. The woman gave him a night snack and headed inside her bedroom, undressing herself carelessly as Damien still locked the apartment's door. He stroked the big dog's yellow fur while Ellie showered. Damien Nazario didn't know what to do.

Eleanor opened her bathroom door again, wearing her pajamas, a big old T-shirt she had since her college times. Slowly, she saw Damien's reflex beside her on the mirror. She gave him enough room to use her sink to do his own night time hygiene routine. He watched her cautiously while they both brushed their teeth. She looked so far away, as if she was on automatic mode. She didn't say a thing. She didn't look at him.

"Are you okay?" - he asked when they walked back into her bedroom.

Ellie finally looked back at him.

"Just feeling a little frustrated. I thought we could get more information." - she shrugged. - "And Lucy's request shook me more than it should." - the detective nodded and gently pulled her into a hug.

"Yeah, I could tell." - he said on her ear, before looking into her face, his brown eyes meeting hers. - "But don’t worry, we’ll get this bastard, Ellie. Just be a little more patient." - the woman found herself slowly less tense. Somehow, his cocky smirk was reassuring.

A small smile tugged on the corners of her mouth.

"I will. Thanks, D." - she said as she cupped his face and kissed him softly. She chuckled when he groaned against her lips. - "Are you going to sleep all dressed up?"

Damien grinned back at her and they quickly discarded his clothes, until he was wearing just his boxer briefs. They both climbed on the bed.

"Thanks for letting me stay here, Ellie." - she giggled to that smirk of his, his big hands already on her hips, caressing the skin under her oversized t-shirt.

“Of course, I won’t let you sleep in you car for another nig—” - and then Eleanor felt his mouth on hers, shutting her up.

She kissed him back and felt a shiver when his hand brought her closer to him as the other traveled down her body, squeezing her thigh hungrily, his tongue already inside her mouth.

Ellie tried to lose herself on the sensation of his hands caressing her body, his warmth enveloping her, his taste, his smell… But it was useless. She just couldn't stop thinking about the dinner. How happy Lucy seemed.

...And how fake it felt.

She softly pulled out, stopping kissing him.

"D… I'm not in the mood tonight." - she sighed. - "I'm sorry."

"Hey… You don't have to feel sorry about anything, Ellie." - he grinned reassuringly to her, caressing her cheek. - "I'm sorry if I pushed you. Do you want me to go sleep on the couch?"

"No, it's okay. Stay with me, I missed you all week." - he saw her cheeks slightly turning pink and he had to hold himself to not kiss her. - "...Can we just cuddle?"

"I don't see why not." - that smirk of his was back into his face, making her chuckle.

They both laid down onto her bed, grinning at each other. Eleanor scooped closer, his arms still around her. It was a nice sensation, just feeling him there. Knowing that he was there.

With all her past partners, Ellie always felt a bit anxious the morning after their first night together. And during the whole night, actually. She always ended up staring at the ceiling. It was a strange experience sleeping so close to someone, even though if they were her boyfriend or girlfriend.

But with him was different. Since the very first night they spent together, Damien Nazario had this strange but welcoming calming effect over her. She slept like a baby hearing his soft snore and feeling his presence there, right next to her.

He felt like home, even though they hadn't known each other for too long.

"Thank you, D." - she murmured, feeling her eyelids getting heavier and heavier as Damien rubbed her back in a comforting way.

"Good night, Ellie." - Eleanor heard him saying before she fell into a dreamless sleep.

#the third park #damien nazario #damien x oc #perfect match #playchoices #perfect match au #perfect match fanfic #choices fanfic #choices fanfiction #playchoices fanfic #playchoices fanfiction

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camigani · 7 years ago

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Update: My Trip to China

Hi, all, it’s been an insane couple of months! Where have I been and why haven’t I been updating? Well, I’ve finally moved in a completely new place all by myself with a new job and lots of pleasant isolation in a tiny town by the sea. Right before that, my family took me overseas to China for a final family trip. I only got food poisoning twice. Oh, and I caught a cold. -v-

LONG POST UNDER THE CUT!!

Things I noticed that generally happen in China:

1) There are a lot of couples! Compared to Japan and Taiwan, I noticed the people here are more open about traveling and showing affection (and discourse) publicly. Where are the lonesome ones? Well, my brother deduced that because Chinese has so many people, the single people stay at home. TvT

2) Women like to cling onto arms or hold hands with their friends or lovers. My Shanghainese housemate was like this, too. I guess it’s a cultural thing.

3) Men tend to smoke, not women. You find women smoking sometimes, but it’s usually associated with being dirty and shameless. The men tend to cough and spit a lot. Everyone openly coughs and sneezes. There are no common words for “Excuse me” and “Bless you/Salud/Gesundheit/etc” in the Chinese language. It feels rude, but that’s how they are.

4) The subways are hi-tech. The navigation is better than Japan and Taiwan. The maps are friendly and easy to read for Chinese and English-literate people. Similar to an airport, however, you have to pass your bags and luggages through a scanning system and have your liquid containers examined before security allows you to board trains. The rides are cleaner.

5) In modern areas, everyone is very well-dressed. They have a fashion style evolved to incorporating modern and slightly retro looks. Unlike Taiwan and Japan, you don’t see people wearing traditional clothing unless it’s for shows or homely occasions.

6) There are cameras everywhere. It’s like London crosses the Patriot Act. Cameras on the highways, cameras on the streets, cameras in the subways. They use facial recognition and license plate recognition. A price of freedom to pay, but because of this system, we were able to track down one of our luggages that we left in a taxi cab. (Haha.) Security checked where my parents got off onto the subway, found the license plate of the taxi cab, and phoned the taxi driver to tell him to meet my parents at XX station to drop off their luggage.

7) They, uh, don’t like Japanese things in China. There are very few Japanese cars, buildings, and brands, going as far as vandalizing Japanese chain stores and boycotting products despite being safer and better. You can say it’s attributed to history and culture. Chinese people view self-humiliation in a different light. They can be quite envious.

8) Infrastructure is king. Not being political; from an objective outlook, the US spends a hefty amount of tax money on military. China invests in infrastructure. There are a lot of building projects going into apartments, museums, preserving historical sites, and parks and recreation. It’s at the point where national parks are completely paved and tiled. (Kinda defeats the purpose of national parks, but at least you don’t have to worry about muddy shoes.)

9) Local vendors that don’t belong to companies or corporations may sometimes be unsanitary, but the food quality is generally cheaper and tastier. Otherwise, if it wasn’t tasty, how would they sell?

10) Hype isn’t always a good thing. Just about every restaurant we’ve gone to where it was packed with people was just okay. Quiet hole-in-the-walls have a personable charm, quicker service, and equally if not better food. Real talk, the original ma po tofu shop serves tofu that is extremely spicy and bitter. Not worth it.

11) Public facilities like museums and libraries are taken quite seriously. The government believes when things are free, people are more civilized. Go figure, yet in my experiences, people were. Not sure about the museums since there’s a lot of Chinese history and culture to go through, anyway, but the public libraries are utilized to the fullest. You need identification to get inside, and every then, you’re only allowed to bring certain material into the library after going through a baggage and metal scan. There are lockers for your things. It was school time next to a university when I visited, so every seat was occupied with a busy Chinese scholar with a stack of books reviewing notes and practicing words or formulas. It was pretty surreal. I didn’t take pictures, but I’ll let you know there were very few fictional books where I visited.

12) Chinese people don’t listen to signs or tourist warning information. Seriously, as someone who’s part Chinese, myself, the tourists can be extremely disrespectful, and it’s super embarrassing. It’s usually the older generation because...well, if you know your history, you might know why they’re like this. But if it says no cellphones and pictures, you’ll find cellphones and pictures. Lower your sound? Someone’s yelling on their phone about the most trivial thing like what they ate for dinner. Stay on the path? Let me just hop this fence and proceed to head towards this dangerous slippery waterfall to take a mediocre selfie. Yeah, it wasn’t a great time. Someone like Germany would blow their brains out.

13) BRING YOUR OWN TOILET PAPER

I cannot stress enough how precious soft butt paper is. The kind they sell in China are sandpaper scrolls on your tender cheeks. Bring your own tp from home if you are to survive the plight of the outdoor public restroom. And soap or sanitizer. There is normally running water in bathrooms, but no soap! What’s the point if the bacteria is going to spread through the water?! Be prepared for squatting, turds, smells, and wet rims. Unless you stake out in your western hotel all day, you WILL find a squat toilet, and there is a high chance it WILL smell or be mysteriously slippery.

Anyway, here are some pictures I lazily took. The descriptions are all on the top of the photos.

We went to Shanghai first. The people are meh at best. But the architecture is interesting because of the heavy western influences. (Missing obligatory picture of The Bund because I exported it somewhere else.)

Beef noodle soup! My favorite! I like it with a little spiciness. They made the noddles with a knee paddle. Only $2 USD!

I’m not sure how to explain it correctly, nor do I know what the exact name of the method used to make the noodles is. I tried to explain it in the crude drawing I made below.

...

This is KFC.

The majority of the trip was spent in Chengdu in Sichuan Province. It’s hot and humid in the summer, but it was just right when we went.

There are a lot of open markets. Look at all the meat and produce! They even had morel mushrooms. Too bad we didn’t have a stove or butter in our hotel.

We visited Kuanzhai Street, a historical alley consisting of wide and narrow paths with historical buildings. Its initial intent is to let tourists experience some of the old culture of China, but nowadays, there are a bunch of vendors who try to capitalize on how many people go there. It gets very crowded.

A most mysterious wall of memes.

Not bad.

Sugar-blown rooster! It tastes like those rainbow lollipops you sometimes see at fairs or candy shops. You get to blow up the sugar, yourself. An interactive show. :)

Burnt sugar rooster! It tastes like the top of a creme brûlée.

Went on a tour to a panda rehabilitation center. Chengdu is a popular spot for earthquakes, and the one in 2017 left pandas injured and traumatized. This place helps them recuperate until they’re well enough to go back to the public zoos. Outside to greet us was a 5-some of panda statues. The one that stood out was the one on the far right with one leg. I thought he was just leaning his leg behind him, but it turns out, his leg is missing! Affirmative action?

(Missing black and white panda because my good captures were all videos.) The red panda tails are so fluffy and gravity-defying. The tails are like a foot long and stay straight in the air.

A Tibetan-like feast! You eat with your hands, and they give you gloves. Everything was fresh and tasty. They served us yak milk. It tastes like if you mix 1 part milk, 2 parts water, so it’s not bad if you don’t mind the watery taste. Over here, your wealth is measured by the number of white yaks you own.

I’m missing pictures, but there was a good number of performances with singing, dancing, and conga lines at our table. My dad got really into it. Because some Chinese cultures are normally reserved, they weren’t used to his disco dancing. Later, they called him Uncle Buddha. And they said he looked high.

Jiuzhaigou. It was closed since the 2008 earthquake due to high levels of mountain and road collapses. It opened recently, so the locals were surprised to hear that it was open again. You can even take pictures wearing local minority Chinese garb. I think it was around $3 USD, but we needed to haul butt.

WATCH THE PICKLE!! We stayed at a decent hotel, but a popular breakfast dish in China is porridge with various kinds of pickled vegetables. I figured I needed vegetables to help me “go” easier during our travels, so I ate a little of everything. So did my dad. My brother and surprisingly my mom, who eats more veggies than anyone in our family, skipped out. Two hours of a bus ride later, I threw up on the street. My dad threw up minutes after I did. We’re pretty sure the old used for the spicy pickle was stale.

Eh, what can you do?

A clear limestone lake. Surprisingly not many people here. It was also very quiet and clean.

We went to Leshan to see the giant Buddha. It’s not too bad of a walk, maybe because it’s at sea level. (Two days prior, Jiuzhaigou was at 7000ft/2100m, so it was really hard to hike without getting tired.) This thing is HUGE. You might be able to see tiny people in the upper right-hand corner for scale. Only take pictures on the Buddha’s right side!

By the way, there are a lot of little statues and tiny Buddha carvings littered on the hike up there. Per Chinese superstition, you are not supposed to take pictures of them. Some either house evil spirits that you can take home with you or you might trap good spirits from spreading fortune.

Very pretty architecture behind the statue. You can drink tea here for about $5, however, it’s a tourist trap! Don’t waste your money and time. See how these pictures don’t have tourists in them? It’s because they were all caught up drinking tea and sitting on their butts.

Aw, the picture rotated. Anyway, here’s a fly modern monk with Nike’s and a smartphone.

Kinda mad I can’t remember this place, but there were many elephant themes in this tourist town we visited. My brother (listed in the picture below with the ONLY pair of long pants and jacket he stupidly packed for the 12-day trip) found a mantou shop that sells these long buns for only 1 YUAN. That’s like $0.17 USD. As a bun advocate, he said they were tasty.

DPRAUNNDKA (Someone was drunk, alright.)

Hot pot! Taiwan was better, and the Guangdong guys were too afraid to try to spicy broth. (Like Hong Kong, haha. Because Cantonese people don’t like spicy food, according to Himaruya.) It was okay, but we only had 30 minutes to eat before catching a show. I don’t have pictures, but the sets and performances were really cool!

Gelatins! Sketchy at best but tasty-looking!

A pleasant view of the hike up Umeishan. Right past this chasm are monkeys! If I panned my phone down, you would’ve seen trash. This is from the monkeys eating tourists’ food. You have to watch your pockets and bags because they’ll go through them for kicks, usually not even for food. And don’t wear red because it intimidates them.

You can hire rickshaw(?) carriers to take you up the mountain. Great for elderly or lazy people. I think it’s about $32 per way.

Famous Emeishan statue thing. You are supposed to take pictures relevant to your zodiac sign, so there are twelve positions like a clock. It’s COLD up there. But the hike makes you warm! And there’s a cable cart that takes you up most of the way.

Zoomed-in luna month friend. It was behind a temple door. The wings looked so soft.

I forgot what this trail was called. The whole hike was about 7 km. Supposed to be 10, but it started to rain, so we skipped the end. Lots of tourists in places, but very nice scenery. Walk fast to avoid smokers. Why do they smoke while walking? :/

Beer Garden in Chengdu City. It’s a strip of bars and clubs where foreigners can sing American pop songs and drink beer. Lots of “trashy” women with rich drunk men. It’s an insane atmosphere with rich-looking people and every bar being full. Seriously. I’d show more pictures, but you really need a video to get an idea of the vibe. Here’s one of Goose Island, whatever that means. Next to it were two hedge sheep. Look at this shit, there’s a picture of the White House on the poster! Ahhh! XD

Chengdu Global Center Mall

Cheese and rice, I thought Tokyo’s AEON Laketown mall was huge. This place has a hotel and a water theme park built into it with a grocery store and food court in the basement. At this point, my family’s feet hurt from all the walking. -.-’

Boo. We came too late. All the boba was sold out. Hey, cat poop coffee on the top.

Just why?

Last full day in Chengdu. Here’s the outside of the museum. You have to wait in line to get screened before going in, however, it’s free.

An underground strip mall. Okay here me out, we tried very hard to look for bootleg Chinglish shirts, but we could NOT find any. The Chinese locals seemed to either snatch them up or we weren’t looking in the right places.

lol and that’s it. We went back to Shanghai for a full day after that, but I caught major food poisoning from something I ate. It was bad. My bowels felt all twisty and uncomfortable. So I spent the entire day in the hotel while my family had a blast eating food and looking at architecture. My brother found a slew of funny Chinglish menus. I wish I had the pictures. If I find them, I’ll pass them along.

Thanks for reading and I’ll try to update stuff when I get settled down in my new place. :3

#china #not hetalia

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journeysintowebcomics · 7 years ago

Text

Worm Liveblog #52

UPDATE 52: Slaughterhouse Nine

Last time the Undersiders were getting ready to leave! But the reinforcements arrived – it’s Dragon with her speed armor. She came aaaaaall the way from Canada to Brockton Bay in, what, a few minutes? Since it’s an armor specifically designed for speedy travel, there’s a chance she won’t be able to hit as hard as she would otherwise, but I’m not going to think that means the Undersiders will have a clean victory. This will be tough!

Dragon’s first move is to fill everything with containment foam, spraying the lobby as if she’s wielding four firehoses and the place is on fire. Say, are the defeated heroes and agents still lying around? Guess they’re going to be even deeper in foam. Parts of the foam gets attached to the Undersiders and swell, making it harder to move.

Hm, Weld is being more like an...a side character in this fight now that Dragon is here. He’s having trouble fighting Shadow Stalker and one of Heckpuppy’s dogs, he doesn’t want to risk injuring his teammate.

The way Regent was having Shadow Stalker fight, there was no self preservation or defense, which worked out to being a more effective combat style than anything else, in its own way.

I’d like to remind you, dear reader, that Shadow Stalker is conscious and seeing what Regent is making her body do. Can you imagine how horrible it must be to feel your own body diving onto Weld and trying to attack him with everything she has? Getting battered and not being able to do anything to stop it? Not knowing just how painful the next blow is going to be? This is some bonafide nightmare fuel, that’s for sure. I’d feel sympathy for Shadow Stalker if it wasn’t for, uh, everything she has done and been during these ten arcs. That kind of got rid of any sympathy I may have.

Skitter is as resourceful as always, trying to use her bugs to fight back against the foam, but a bunch of bugs aren’t very good against something with the strength of a firehose. She had intended to cover bugs in foam and drop them onto Dragon, to hinder her movement. Ah...even if the bugs could carry foam, I don’t think that would do much. I’d be very, very surprised if Dragon didn’t make her armor immune to the foam. That just seems like the right thing to do when you’re shooting containment foam around like you’re shooting confetti at a kids’ party.

The bugs can carry glass, at least!

With this glass, I did my best to catch and block the outlying flecks and drips of spray as it flew through the air, at the periphery of the streams.

Ah, I think I get it, yes. She’s not using the bugs to block the streams – task that already proved to be impossible – she’s just trying to diminish how much foam will be sprayed around out of the hose’s stream. It still seems rather, uh, inefficient even though I understand the purpose, but better this than doing nothing, and also, credit where credit is due: that’s more than I’d have been able to plan in a moment of crisis.

“She’s got a disadvantage,” Tattletale spoke, her voice low, “This suit is meant to fly to serious crises at a moment’s notice, deal with dangerous foes. She’s packing too many lethal weapons.”

Oh, that’s good! Heroes don’t aim to kill criminals, yeah. Even Shadow Stalker and Armsmaster had the decency of trying to hide their attempts to kill villains – at least the minor ones. The Undersiders are waaaay below the level of threat lethal weapons would be required for.

Skitter tries to use the foam she has gathered to impede the armor from moving and seeing, but it’s not working. Hm. What now? Part of the reason why this may not be working is Tattletale’s theory that Dragon is controlling the armor remotely. Makes sense to me.

“There’s someone in there, I tried using my power on her, experimenting, and I felt some kind of nervous system. Too much material between me and it for me to do anything with it, and I wouldn’t really try it while I’m controlling Shadow Stalker anyways. I’d probably backfire.”

Oh, Dragon may be here, after all. Or...at least someone is in there. It’s not confirmed it’s Dragon, but who else could it be? Does Dragon have assistants or something? Will it turn out Dragon is some kind of...I don’t know, team of people working under one name, since apparently Dragon likes to do things remotely?

Then again, she is the best tinker in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has an ace up her sleeve.

Skitter continues directing her bugs to cover the armor with glass, but she’s not placing her hopes on this strategy. It’s not going to stop Dragon and she knows it.

The real issue was that this was too slow, and we were on a tight time limit. Less than a minute, and the Protectorate would arrive.

Tattletale already said it, didn’t she? She said they had no odds of getting out of there before the Protectorate arrived. Heck, even if they did get out of that place, I’m pretty sure Dragon and the Protectorate wouldn’t stand around in the lobby doing nothing, surely they’d pursue the Undersiders. As I see it, it’s impossible there won’t be a confrontation. Maybe it’ll be for the better to get ready for that.

I bet this chapter will end before this ‘less than a minute’ passes. Time sure has a funny way to dilate when things are tense!

Looking for a way to gain time and, you know, not get captured in three seconds flat, the Undersiders get into the gift shop, gaining some reprieve that doesn’t last very long.

Sensing this, Dragon started to advance further into the lobby. Her broad, mechanical feet began hissing with vapor, and the goo my ground-borne bugs were hauling towards her began to run, losing its consistency and stickiness. She set one foot down directly on a pile of foam, and lifted it up again with no difficulty. It was clear: the foam wouldn’t hamper her.

Hah! I knew it! Apparently it’s moot if the armor itself is immune to the foam or not, dissolving the foam with vapor is something that can be done.

It seems Imp wants to fight, and wonders if Dragon can see her. Hm. Given that stuff like security cameras and those watching them can see Imp, I’d say Dragon can, too. My guess is that electronic monitoring kind of...bypasses Imp’s power. She’s not as invincible as it sounded at first – at least in terms of stealth. In middle of a fight she still can be rather effective, in my opinion. Imp doesn’t listen to the warnings and tries to get to Dragon, apparently. It won’t go well, will it?

Dragon’s mouth had opened wide, and she was spewing something like an ignited accelerant into the lobby. With this fluid, she drew a three-foot wide line of flame onto the lobby floor, stretching from just below her to the stairwell door by the front desk. She’d cut off our escape route.

...hm. Completely unrelated thought: where is Grue? Covering him in foam to ensure he won’t get away once he can move again would be wise. I don’t think he was in the lobby, so I don’t think Dragon may have seen him, but if he was frozen there then by now he must be under a bunch of foam, right? Sorry, it’s just that the mention of escapes reminded me of that.

Weld attacks Imp without actually managing to hit her, thanks to Dragon relaying instructions to him – through the earpiece the Wards use, I’d say. Just like I had guessed, Dragon can see Imp. I suppose she’s out of combat, then. With Dragon tattling on her, she won’t be able to do much.

There’s a lot of property damage in this gift shop, what with the foam, the fire, the broken glass, and everything else that surely will happen from now on. Dragon will be willing to pay for all damages – her data is the priority. Makes sense to me! She did show getting her work stolen is a sore spot. Stopping them is far more important than the physical integrity of that shop.

Grue is back again! Just in time, pal, things have gotten a lot more troublesome while you were frozen. He coats Dragon and Weld in darkness. Do Dragon’s sensors work in Grue’s darkness? Maybe not, since his darkness is unlike normal darkness.

“Dragon’s here!?” he shouted, aghast.

Okay, he wasn’t in the lobby. Now that I think about it...do the people frozen in time stay conscious about everything around them? Or to them it’s like fainting and then waking up – like everything around them changed instantaneously, from their perspective. Maybe it’s the second one, or else the Wards wouldn’t be so horrified about Shadow Stalker being conscious while Regent controls her.

Now that Grue is here, they finally can try to get out, and the way they choose is to cross the gift shop and get through the window that leads to the street. Heckpuppy’s remaining monstrous dog leaps through the glass, opening the escape route into the gift shop. My bad, it seems they were in front of the gift shop windows back then, they hadn’t gone in yet.

The electric gun Tattletale uses to try to melt the bars covering the window to the street starts to malfunction, but at least it finished the job. Once she made sure the trigger would stay pressed, and tried to dissuade Dragon from following by aiming the electrical arch at her, she escaped through the window, Dragon right behind her.

Dragon heaved herself over and beyond the electrical surge the gun was still pumping out, chasing Tattletale, swiping with one mechanical claw. I got the sense she was pulling her punches to avoid murdering my teammate, because the attack was slow. Tattletale slipped past, stepping onto the bookshelf to clear the window. Or maybe it had something to do with the bugs I had gathered on her sensors.

Frankly I find more likely it’s the first one. It’s unlikely bugs will be able to cover up enough of the sensors to hinder Dragon. It’s good to see Dragon showing restraint, though. Even though Tattletale is on the brink of getting away with all the data she gathered, she’s still careful about not harming her. In this world where some heroes have showed less then desirable traits, it’s still nice to see some that don’t let the situation stray them from their rules and principles.

Regent and Imp escape shortly after that, even though Dragon’s armor becomes electrified. Only Heckpuppy, her dogs and Skitter are left inside the gift shop, with Dragon trying to block the window to the outside with her armor. Since the spider silk she used gives her some insulation against electricity, she uses Dragon’s foot as leverage, making sure to make as little contact as possible. It was a...it was ‘something risky and borderline stupid’, in Skitter’s own words, but hey, if she escapes and is unharmed, then it’d have been worth it. Fortune favors the bold!

The gamble and assumption I was working with was that electricity followed the path of least resistance. Insulated costume vs. vapor in the air? It would travel through the vapor. Insulated costume vs. metal leg? It would travel down the leg.

I’m not entirely sure, but I think Skitter is right in this assumption. Electricity needs a conduit to pass through, and Skitter simply isn’t very good of a conduit thanks to her costume. This should be fine.

Unfortunately, during her jump she was thrown off balance by something large brushed against her, making her fall towards a side, towards foam. She doesn’t fall face first, thankfully, but her entire arm gets submerged into it, up to her shoulder. It doesn’t matter how much of her body gets covered, what matters is that, well...the foam caught part of her. She’s not getting free from that.

I tried to raise myself to see Dragon looming above, but the foam offered only a rubbery resistance. It had set with the contact, bonded to my costume. I was pinned face down on the ground.

What I did see, as I raised my head as high as I was able? Bitch was astride Bentley, who’d grown large enough to ride, and they were standing near the window leading into the street. I could only see her eyes behind the plastic of her mask, and everything else was communicated through her bearing, her posture, the angle of her head. I’d seen something similar when I’d first met her.

It hadn’t been Dragon that knocked me into the foam.

...

...oh. Well...

...I should...have guessed something like this could happen sooner or later. Heckpuppy was furious and really didn’t want Skitter back. I should have guessed she’d try to get rid of Skitter sooner or later, and here was the best chance for that. The rest of the team had gone ahead, there was a very good way to trap Skitter, and if the rest asked something, she could lie and say Skitter stepped wrongly or something like that. Tattletale may find out what truly happened, but would that matter? The Undersiders aren’t going to risk getting all of them captured just to rescue Skitter.

In terms of getting rid of a traitorous teammate, that was decently shrewd of Heckpuppy, especially for the short window of time that’d be Skitter jumping in the air.

Dragon turned her upper body to strike at Bitch. As she moved, her back leg was close enough that some of the vapor was getting on me, slowly liquefying the foam. It was too slow to matter. Dragon had me.

Hm. Maybe not everything is lost! Most of Skitter’s body is free, if enough vapor gets on her before the Protectorate arrived, then maybe she can get free?

Not lucky enough for that. Dragon can ask Skitter questions, trying to get her to say where the Undersiders are taking the information. I had noticed before that it seemed the Wards weren’t aware the Undersiders worked for Coil, this confirms it further. Would they be able to deduce the Undersiders are working for someone, or would they think they’d make use of that information by themselves? With some luck, it’ll be the latter.

“If they aren’t going to be loyal to you, why protect them?”

Because someone else was depending on it. But I wasn’t going to say that out loud.

Hoh! I don’t mean to demean Skitter or anything like that, but in my opinion, Dinah’s freedom is depending on Skitter herself. If Skitter dies or gets captured, I’m pretty sure nobody in the Undersiders would keep trying to get Dinah out of Coil’s clutches. It just...yeah, Skitter’s the one that whole thing is relying on.

The questions stop when the lightning gun starts whining louder. Is it about to explode?

“Move the insects away from my suit, now,” Dragon ordered me.

...okay, uh, looks like, hm, I was wrong. Skitter’s insects really were hampering her sensors in some way. Alright. When will I ever stop doubting the effectivity of Skitter’s bugs? Because almost every time I doubt it, I get proven wrong.

Since the gun is about to explode and undoubtedly cause a lot of damage, Dragon hurries to cover the gun in a dome, spraying with foam, trying to contain most of whatever will happen. You’re kind of wasting your time trying to convince Skitter to abandon the Undersiders – even Heckpuppy, I bet, despite what Heckpuppy just did.

When the gun explodes a large portion of Dragon’s suit is destroyed. Worried and hoping Dragon survived, Skitter approaches and finds that, yes, Regent was right. Something was inside.

It looked like a fetus, the features were crude, barely humanoid in any sense of the word. The eyes were half-formed, and it had no nose, only a beak-like mouth. The head was half-again as large as the body below the neck. Wires wove in and out of orifices.

Three words: what the hell?

But this means both Regent and Tattletale were right: there was something inside the armor, and Dragon was controlling this remotely. I’m not sure what this...thing...inside the armor was, but it’s impossible it was Dragon. I’m clueless as to how any of this works, though. I suppose the best tinker in the world has methods that are far beyond my comprehension, haha...

To avoid what happened with mercenaries taking parts of Dragon’s armor, it self-destructs, melting the metal and charring whatever that thing was. Say, now that this fight is ending...

...has ‘less than a minute’ passed yet? Because I feel like two or three minutes have passed, what with everything that was said and everything that happened. Did the Protectorate stop for snacks and a bathroom break along the way or something?

Skitter leaves the place, confused as to what she had just seen. Precisely what I’m wondering, Skitter, what the hell.

Had that been someone who was physically affected by their powers? I wasn’t even sure if it was human.

I had a growing, uneasy feeling that this wasn’t related to powers and trigger events in the conventional sense.

I’m not sure if I should be excited to find out someday, or if I should feel dread. I’m both nervous and eager to find out more.

Ah, there’s the Protectorate! They’re already fighting the rest. Right! And they’re already losing. Well that sure was an inconsequential arrival. Skitter doesn’t care right now, she’s striding straight towards Heckpuppy. This won’t be pretty, will it?

Hm...I could stop right now, but...I don’t know, I think I’ll continue ahead a bit more. Just one chapter more. It’ll mean I’ll have to post this update tomorrow instead of today, it’ll be worth it to have more content.

O-kay, priorities, Skitter: bludgeoning a teammate in the middle of a fight with the Protectorate would be a stupid thing to do. Tattletale barely can do something to stop her, trying to get her to listen, but she can’t get not even two words out before smoke billows around them. It’s not bug spray, at least!

The smoke came from grenades Miss Militia is throwing, surely it’s a way to counter anything Skitter can do. By now they must have ways to deal with the insects before Skitter manages to do some crazy move to get the upper hand, yep.

The bees I had in the smoke were acting funny. I was surprised to find out why. I’d known that beekeepers used smoke to pacify the bees before collecting the honey. My assumption had been that it acted as a tranquilizer, putting them to sleep. In reality, it was forcing them to revert to instinctual behavior. It made them want to eat and feed and to flee. For those near enclosed spaces or even the corners of walls or the foundations of buildings, it made them adjust their wingbeats to divert the flows of oxygen.

If she’d been intending to use the smoke to screw with my insects, she’d underestimated my power. I canceled out the instincts and sent the bugs through the smoke, blind, feeling out for her.

Huh. Really? That’s why beekeepers use smoke? I thought the smoke knocked out the bees, not that it made them use only instinctual behavior. You learn something new every day!

When Skitter alerts the others that Miss Militia was charging towards them, she also alerted her of her position, leaving her vulnerable to shots from a shotgun. Ouch! Even if it’s nonlethal ammunition, that must sting! As payback, she directs the remaining capsaicin-loaded bugs she has, so Miss Militia is the one who feels the sting now. Hah! Get it? Because the bugs have stingers and—sorry, this isn’t time for stupid puns. At least the capsaicin is effective against Miss Militia.

Darkness covers the area. Things go much easier when Grue is around, eh?

Tattletale helps Skitter stand up and guides her out of the darkness, where Grue is waiting. Apparently the smoke makes it troublesome for Grue to see. Pretty smart of Miss Militia, to make Grue unable to see! Good strategy! Speaking of strategies, what the Undersiders want to do now is run away, to achieve that, Skitter tells Grue where the rest of the team is at in middle of the darkness, and limps away.

Protip: if you get shot with nonlethal ammunition, it’d be swell if you told the ‘nonlethal’ part in the first sentence. Grue must have been rather startled for a moment!

The place to hide while everything calms down is in the lobby of an apartment building, three blocks away from the PRT building. Tattletale makes sure to send a message to Grue, most likely telling him where they’re hiding, and to Coil, surely telling him the mission was a success. Once another day of successful villainy!

Tattletale starts apologizing for what happened with the gun, saying she had deduced Dragon would deal with that above anything else – and she was right, yeah – so Skitter rightfully tells her she has nothing to apologize about. She doesn’t say what Heckpuppy did, though. That’s to be dealt with once the rest of the team arrives.

They’re still taking Shadow Stalker around, huh. For how much longer will they keep her? Do they intend to keep her captured or something?

Heckpuppy is surprised to see Skitter and tries to ask how she managed to get away, but Skitter is too furious to say even a word. She strikes her with the baton on the thigh, then backhands her.

It hurt. Damn it, I’d never really hit someone with my hands before. I wondered if I’d managed to break something.

It’s not so easy to break anything with a backhand. I can’t say with certainty, but maybe you’d be at bigger risk of breaking a bone or two in your hand?

Everyone moves to try to stop Skitter, she avoids Grue and Imp’s attempts, and warns Shadow Stalker/Regent from interfering. Not having any other option, Grue demands an explanation. “Ask her”, Skitter says right before shoving her baton into Heckpuppy’s mouth. Well she’s not going to answer any question now, is she, Skitter. Not that she would have.

Once Heckpuppy is shoved down with the baton in her mouth, and Shadow Stalker is away enough and unable to hear anything, Skitter explains what happened. Wow, Skitter is using swears and all! She’s truly furious. Heckpuppy tries to fight back, forcing Skitter to move in a way that’d ensure she wouldn’t get hit in any place where it hurt.

“You’re a coward, Rachel,” I spoke, “You just did the very same thing you hate me for almost doing. You stabbed me in the back. You fucked over your own teammate.”

...uh...well she’s not wrong! Heckpuppy did what they thought Skitter would end doing – betraying a teammate. In terms of actions, Heckpuppy’s sins are heavier, so to say. Can there really be no retaliation for this from Heckpuppy later? Skitter’s trying to force her to not do anything else, telling her to just accept Skitter is back and to just...chew on that resentment and do nothing because Skitter’s not going to tolerate any further backstabbing.

I’m not sure if I approve how clear Skitter is making this be, or if I repudiate her methods. I feel a weird combination of both feelings. I mean, I know Heckpuppy can take the punishment with no problem, so...yeah, maybe if she was doing this to a civilian, I’d be disapproving this much more.

When I spoke next, I bent low and whispered the words for her and her alone, “When you’re tossing and turning and trying to sleep, remembering what I did and said here and getting pissed off about it? Remember that you were the weak one. You embarrassed yourself, fucked up, you were the weakling, the wuss who couldn’t even confront me face to face. And knowing you like I do? I’m betting it’s going to gnaw at you. That’s as much a punishment as I could inflict, I think. That’s on you, not me.

Wow. Just...wow. That’s savage. Savage and most likely effective. She finishes with a threat to break Heckpuppy’s jaw for real if she tries to backstab her again and is unsuccessful at that. Well this isn’t going to cause bad blood at all, nope, no sir! I’m not sure if she’d take this as an invitation to try again or not...

Now that she made very clear what the situation is, Skitter lets Heckpuppy stand up. She’s not immediately attacked by Heckpuppy, I’ll take that as a good sign, although if looks could kill, well, Skitter would be six feet under right now. Sensing she has control over the situation, she extends the olive branch, making clear this isn’t a sign of weakness, of course.

“I fucked up, you fucked up, whatever. Insult for insult, blow for blow, I’d like to think we’re even. So now I’m going to trust you to have my back. I’m going to put myself in more situations where you have a prime chance at fucking me over, backstabbing me, catching me at my most vulnerable. Because we can’t function as a team any other way.

“I’m going to treat you like a damned teammate, Rachel, but I’ll go one step further. You think you can put this behind you and satisfy yourself with what you tried to pull earlier tonight? Cool. Because if you’re willing, I’ll come with you to help take care of your dogs. I’ll bring fucking lunch, if you want it. That’s the deal I’m offering you, pissed as I am right now. I’ll be your damn friend.”

She’s right again, a team can’t work together if they have to watch out for backstabbing all the time. Either they bury the hatchet, or this simply won’t work at all. I don’t think Heckpuppy will ever think of her as a friend ever again, but yeah...continuing the feud isn’t a viable option. I wouldn’t count on Heckpuppy letting you come close of her or her dogs ever again, Skitter. I hope you’re not getting your hopes up on that regard.

But hey, at least she’s trying to defuse the situation, and that’s what matters. Even if it doesn’t work, she tried and that’s what’s important, and everyone else in the team will see she did try. If anything further happens, it’ll be clear Skitter won’t have any of the blame in it.

Surprise surprise, Heckpuppy’s not going to take the deal. Thought so. The matter is closed, though, so...yeah, what’s next? Right, deciding what to do with Shadow Stalker. Imp wants to keep her around, as if this was some random pet picked up from the streets but everyone else wants to let Shadow Stalker go – including Regent, he can’t control anyone while he’s sleeping.

“This kind of mind control is pretty high up there on the scale of fucked upness. People are going to respond to that. It might be the nudge they need to start responding to us with lethal force. Think of how different tonight would have played out if Dragon and Miss Militia hadn’t held back”

Skitter’s making a lot of good points tonight! Truly, it’s in their best interests to keep a relatively low profile in the scale of danger. Is there someone in Brockton Bay who warrants being fought with lethal force? I think the global threats like the Endbringers and the Slaughterhouse Nine would be the only ones who would be a target for such measures, or those capes with powers that’d mean it’d be too dangerous to leave alive – dangerous as in ‘everything will be destroyed’ or ‘a lot of people will die’. I don’t think any villain from Brockton Bay would receive lethal force. Heck, Bakuda planted bombs all over the city, detonated them, killed and injured a couple hundred people, surely caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, and yet she was captured and sent to the Birdcage.

Now that it was decided what would be done with Shadow Stalker, Regent makes her stand in front of him, and liberates her from his control. She drops to the floor, grunts, and stands up again with a bolt ready to shoot. Speed truly is her forte, eh? Not that she gets any time to shoot, Regent stops her rather easily.

“There’s a catch,” he spoke. “My power? Once I’ve figured someone out? It’s a lot easier to control them, after. Any time you come near me, I can do this. I can use my power and retake control in the blink of an eye.”

Oh, yikes. That just right there? She was turned into a liability. Nobody can count on Shadow Stalker to fight the Undersiders from now on, unless some way to stop her from being controlled is invented in the near future. That sure must be frustrating for her, because if there’s something Shadow Stalker loves, is to fight. Physical violence is another thing she’s good at, and now she can’t approach the group she’ll hold a grudge on. That’s going to gnaw at her forever!

Besides, uh, how near is ‘near me’? What’s Regent’s ratio? I wouldn’t be surprised if he controlled Shadow Stalker for kicks and giggles just because she’s nearby, even if she’s fighting someone else, or just hanging around as a civilian. Regent pretty much has Shadow Stalker under his thumb.

Ah, there he goes, he does outright mention Shadow Stalker is now a liability.

“Unless you leave. Skip town. Join another team.”

So...yep, Regent and the rest just obliterated Shadow Stalker’s life. She now has to leave everything behind to go somewhere else, to a place where Regent can’t reach her. I feel a fuzzy feeling of satisfaction, although...this would mean Shadow Stalker wouldn’t appear anymore in Worm, then. I may dislike her a lot, but it can’t be denied that of the three bullies, she’s the one I can say I tolerate the most. She’s the one with the depth and with the ‘heroic’ role, after all. She has a purpose and a reason to be an antagonist to the main characters, the story would change a lot if she didn’t exist. The other two bullies are much less important. Emma is a small fry in every way possible, now that Skitter won’t return to the school anymore, and...and...uh, whatever the third one was called matters even less. Madison, was it? I can’t even remember.

The bright side is that I can’t say with certainty Shadow Stalker won’t appear anymore. Mr. Wildbow has showed he isn’t afraid of messing around with characters, showing some that seem minor but appear again...yeah, despite how this looks, I’m not 100% thinking this is Shadow Stalker’s swan song.

It’s decided Shadow Stalker will be freed once she’s on the other side of the city, to avoid she following them. They still have to meet Coil and give him the information, yep. They’re not going to his hideout, they’ll meet him somewhere else, where he and a lot of mercenaries are waiting.

I’m absolutely unsurprised to hear Dragon has this information encrypted. Coil’s workers are the very best, though, with a whole team working on this they should be able to break the encryption and fill in the blanks the interrupted download caused. That’s a lot of talent! But that’s not what’s important right now, Coil has priorities: files about the Slaughterhouse Nine. Oh, please tell more about them! I’m curious. I have heard the Slaughterhouse Nine are rather popular villains among the Worm fandom, I wonder what kind of villains they are?

I felt a chill, but didn’t say anything. Was he intending to hire them? It would be a huge mistake in my book, if he was.

I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think the Slaughterhouse Nine are the kind of people you can hire. They sound a lot like loose cannons – in a way – and Coil doesn’t strike me as the kind of person that’d be willing to hire people who could turn dangerous in a moment’s notice. Dangerous towards him, I mean.

It’s known the Slaughterhouse Nine have been going around, preying on civilians and disrupting recovery efforts. Preying...hm. I have to wonder if that’s literal. I mean, I don’t mean in a cannibalism sort of way, it’s more like if their powers require killing people, or something like that. In this world such thing would be possible, right?

When Coil asks Dinah how likely it’s for one of his teams to encounter the Slaughterhouse Nine, Dinah asks who they are. Time to reveal one by one what kind of capes the Undersiders will unavoidably deal with in the future!

“Bonesaw.” he spoke. The girl on the screen looked barely older than Dinah, maybe the same age as Aisha. The image showed her wide-eyed, a spray of dried blood painted her face at a diagonal.

That tells me absolutely nothing about her power, unfortunately. ‘Bonesaw’ is quite the ominous name, though. Whatever she can do definitely won’t be pretty.

“Shatterbird.” A dark-haired, brown-skinned woman with a helmet covering the upper half of her face, in a beak shape. I was reminded of Iron Falcon, the boy I’d tried to help, who’d died in the Endbringer attack. From what I’d read, Shatterbird usually used her power as the Nine arrived in a city, to maximize panic and terror. I supposed they were flying under the radar for now. Fuck, I’d have to do something about my costume, just in case.

What power is it, though? Some kind of psychological influence in the population, perhaps? I don’t think ‘Shatterbird’ is a real word, and I’m wary about looking in Google if it really is a word. I don’t want to stumble into spoilers, after all.

It’s strange Skitter is worried about her costume, though...I can’t seem to figure out why.

“Crawler.” No portrait, this time. It was a still from a surveillance camera, a misshapen silhouette, not even humanoid, in a shadowy area. I’d come across stories about him when I’d been researching possible superhero names for myself. Not pretty.

You can’t say something like that and not go into detail, Skitter, welp. Crawler sounds dreadful, just from the fact there’s not even a clear image of him.

“Mannequin.” Another long-distance shot. The figure was standing by Bonesaw in the photograph, with other hulking figures within the shadows of the background. He stood almost twice her height, and he looked artificial. His body was in pieces, each section wrapped in a hard shell of ceramic or plastic or white-painted metal – I couldn’t be sure. His joints were a mix of loose chains and ball joints. A Tinker with a body-modification fetish. I couldn’t say how much of the transformation was his own power and how much was Bonesaw’s work.

Well, it looks like Mannequin was responsible for one of the bodies the Wards found, then. I can already guess what kind of power he has. Body modification, huh.

“The Siberian.” A woman, naked from head to toe, her body painted in alternating stripes of jet black and snow white. She had gone up against the Triumvirate – Legend, Alexandria and Eidolon – on a dozen occasions, and she was still around to talk about it. Or around, at least. From what I’d read, she didn’t talk.

There’s an inherent irony on someone called ‘The Siberian’ going around completely naked. Siberia isn’t really a temperate place, you know. No clue about her power. I wonder if the stripes on her body are something she paints on herself, if it’s related to her power, or if her skin turned like that when she gained her powers?

“Burnscar.” Younger, maybe an older teenager or a young-looking twenty-something. She looked almost normal, with her dark hair badly cut, but then I saw the vertical row of cigarette burns marking each of her cheeks, and a faint glow to her eyes.

Descriptive. I’d be rather surprised if her power has no relation at all to fire.

“Hatchet Face.” This was one I hadn’t even heard of. The man didn’t wear a mask, and his head was shaved. He looked like he had been beaten, burned and just plain abused so often that his face was as much scar tissue than flesh, and he didn’t look like he’d been handsome to begin with.

Kind of an insensitive question that immediately crossed my mind: did the Hatchet Face moniker come before, or after his face was like that? Then I realized that was kind of a messed up thing to think. My bad.

“Jack Slash.” Jack looked like someone on the attractive side of average, his dark hair cut short and styled with gel. His beard and moustache were immaculately trimmed so that each had a serrated edge, and his shirt was wrinkled, only half buttoned so his hairless upper chest showed. He had kind of a Johnny Depp look to him, though he had more of a widow’s peak, a longer face and lighter eyes. Good looking, if you looked past the fact that he was a mass murderer. He held a small kitchen knife in the photo.

Pffft, you just had to namedrop Johnny Depp, Mr. Wildbow, didn’t you. You thought that’d be fun, didn’t you. Now every time Jack Slash is mentioned or he appears in the story I’ll forever picture him as Johnny Depp. Thanks a lot, buddy.

The Slaughterhouse Nine are people that were already pretty messed up before acquiring powers. I wonder what kind of situations were the trigger for them? It sounds like Jack Slash is the leader and Bonesaw is...I’m not sure...a recruiter, kind of, given what it says about Jack being able to keep the group more or less intact and Bonesaw attracts psychos. There are also eight members and they may be looking for a replacement for the ninth member, since the members change quite often.

Okay, uh, what comes is a bit long of a copy-paste, but it needs context, so...

“Mmm,” Dinah said.

“What is it, pet?” Coil murmured.

“It’s him.”

“Who?”

She pointed at the screen, at Jack Slash. “Him.”

“You’re going to have to explain it to us, pet. What about him?”

“He’s the one who makes everyone die.”

I shivered. What?

“Everyone here?”

Dinah shook her head, her hair flying out to either side. “Everyone. I don’t understand. Can’t explain.”

If there were any feeble doubts about the main characters getting in the way of the Slaughterhouse Nine, all those doubts are now gone. It is unavoidable they will. Jack Slash is already being built to be a major antagonist in this story, just from Dinah’s prediction he’s going to kill everyone. ‘Everyone’ and ‘kill’ are not words you want to hear together, after all.

“Sometimes it’s in two years. Sometimes it’s in eight. Sometimes in between. But if he’s alive, something happens, and everyone on Earth starts to die. Not that everyone doesn’t die anyways but they die really fast when that something happens, all one after another, and in a year almost everyone is dead. So I said everyone, if that makes sense and a few live but they die pretty soon after anyways and-“

Global apocalypse, then? And Jack Slash is the one who causes it? No, her wording is a bit odd. If he’s alive something happens. She doesn’t say he’s going to kill everyone. Maybe Jack Slash will trigger something, accidentally or intentionally, that will lead to the end of the world. Maybe his mere existence causes it. Heck, maybe some inconsequential action from him snowballs into something big and bad. All that matters is that something will happen and it involves him.

“His power isn’t all that, I don’t think,” Grue spoke, slowly, as if considering the words as he spoke. “Space warping effect, so any blades he’s holding have an edge that extends a horrendously long distance, all with the optimal force behind the swing. Swings his knife, cuts through an entire crowd. Doesn’t make sense that he’d be able to murder everyone on Earth.”

Well that sure is a fitting power for a superpowered killer. The edge must be rather sharpened, too, if it’s capable of cutting through an entire crowd like that.

“Unless he somehow cuts the planet in half,” Tattletale mused.

Sounds like the natural progression of his power. Who knows, maybe the more time passes, the more powerful he becomes, and in a few years his power is strong enough to be able to cut through kilometers of Earth crust all the way down to the core of the planet. Hey, this is Worm, something like that is theoretically possible.

The odds he destroys everyone are disquietingly high. Eighty-three percent? That’s...way too high! And the odds of successfully killing him soon are not very high. Thirty-one percent of someone killing him. The end of the world still happens, though. Hm. In that case, it sounds more like Jack Slash hastens whatever’s going to happen, it’s not his existence causing it. Welp. Everyone’s hella doomed, then!

If Coil sends one of his teams to kill Jack Slash, well, it’s more likely the team dies. The Travelers only have twenty-two percent odds, the Undersiders have even less. No sending any team, then. There’s no way he’s going to risk the deaths of his teams senselessly.

Oh, there we go! Sixty percent chance the Undersiders encounter some of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Only sixty percent? More like one hundred percent, Mr. Wildbow, you’re not fooling me. They’re so encountering them, and it won’t be pretty at all. There’s no way they won’t encounter them, not after everything you have written and done. At least Coil has the good sense to order the Undersiders to have staying alive as their priority, even if it involves abandoning a job. Hm. Now I have to wonder which ones of the Slaughterhouse Nine they will meet.

Coil may actually contact the heroes to let them know about what will happen. Would he actually do that? Well, most likely, if it’s beneficial to him, and I think the world existing would be mighty beneficial for him.

What follows is reorganization, giving to members of the Undersiders locations to be stations for them. They’re also expected to recruit people. Fantastic, the Undersiders have gone from an inconsequential team to full-fledged villains, now that they’re expected to recruit people! That’s bound to be fun. Everyone receives a territory, Heckpuppy and Tattletale even will have henchmen working for them already. This is going to be really fun, seriously!

Everyone will receive an email at their new location...I’m not sure why, but that sounds kind of sketchy, like they each will receive an order the rest can’t find out about. The Undersiders are dismissed, Skitter requests to talk to Coil in private.

I wasn’t sure I liked that our group was being split up like this. The timing seemed bad. I’d sort of been hoping I could repair the divide, and that would be hard if we were each in our own territories, doing our own things.

I don’t know, I think it may be for the better. The city is pretty much falling apart, making sure it won’t may be more important than mending bridges with the rest of the team. Besides, even if they’re separated, they still can talk to each other. Something could be done.

The reason why Skitter wanted to talk to Coil alone is because she’s now prepared to ask for her reward for helping him, like he had offered in the limousine.

“I asked you to fix the city, you told me you planned on doing that anyways, that I should ask for something else.”

“And you’ve decided.”

“Yeah,” I took a deep breath. “Dinah. Your… pet.”

That’s not going to work. Coil is too attached to Dinah’s power to just let her go because Skitter asks that. No, this won’t stand. And indeed, he won’t. Skitter hurries to clarify, saying that once Coil has succeeded in taking over the city, he should let Dinah go. That sounds a tad more reasonable, I guess...not perfect, definitely not good for Dinah, but eh. It’s more reasonable to Coil than if she outright demands Dinah to be freed right now.

The problem is just how long it’ll take for Coil to take over the city. Months? A year or two? It’s not like there’s infinite time, I mean, the deaths of everyone on Earth is in the near future.

It’s a deal. Skitter now has an incentive to perform really well and help Coil. She goes downstairs, where Grue and Imp are unpacking their supplies for their new center of operations, and goes outside.

I took a deep breath, to calm my nerves. I could do this. Whatever I had to do, I was going to help that girl.

She’s making progress, at least. It’s not a definite solution, and Coil still has complete control over the situation, but it’s a start. I bet Dinah’s freedom will be a big turning point in Worm, like the Endbringer attack was. Given how the Slaughterhouse Nine’s presence seem to be the current focus of the story, I’d say that’s what will bring the most change for now, and once that plotline is done with, the Dinah plotline will be continued and finished.

I think I should end this here. The next chapter is the Interlude, so that means this was the end of Arc 10. Once another arc masterfully executed! I especially liked Dragon intervening, that I never saw coming. This chapter gave her more time to show her personality and convictions, and I liked what I saw. It also sets up plotlines, and shows more stuff is going to change in the Undersiders’ lives. The story continues, the pacing is good, I’m content. I like this.

I would add more points to the plot-o-meter for Worm, but it’s already full.

Thank you for reading!

Next update: in two updates

#worm #worm liveblog #serial novel #liveblog #book liveblog

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lillaxtrigger · 4 years ago

Text

Faded Land: Chapter 24

From outside the walls of the towering laboratory, the constant stomps of a marching platoon could be heard ringing out down to the streets below; the people close by drawn in and wondering what could possibly cause such an alarming echo. The several people that bothered to approach were greeted with a shocking site before them, discovering an entire army of armored soldiers that all surround the very base of the K-labs; the whole squad making it hard to see the general that stands before them all. Lumbering before the front doors of the towering facility be the legendary soldier herself; the red general’s scowling gaze trailing up through the facility’s side until reaching the very clouds themselves, unable to see its crown scrape against the heavens.

As the general continues to stare upwards towards what parts of the laboratory her eyes would allow her to view, a scrawny man in a suit of armor nearing her side as Vira herself questions him with: “Commander Weinstien, are you absolutely certain that the reports that came in are confirmed to be correct?” “Indeed they are ma’am. Following the sparse reports from Mississauga on the night of the blackout, those that came from New Toronto this afternoon; the eye camera’s had confirmed the fugitive we are after had ascended to the very top of the capital city and had entered K-labs somewhere around 4:22.” “Uh, hate how those eyes just float around and gawk everywhere; but they sure as hell do their job.” “Ma’am?” “Have we any sort of intelligence as to what our fugitives overall objective may be from all this?” “Uh, negative ma’am. Outside of pure speculation. None of us can pertain any sort of goal that she may have in mind.” “I see...Well, whatever this bitch plans to accomplish, we have our own duties to fulfill. And we refuse to rest for even a moment until we complete it.”

“And may I ask what our strategy for this mission to be? We have enough forces to race in and storm the inside?” “Do you have your helmet on too tight there, commander? There are countless reality bending experiments being conducted within this very tower as we speak; if all of us just barged right on in and storm the place like a bunch of military raiding jackasses, then it would risk all those fragile and carefully conducted experiments to tear apart the very fabric of our reality. The lab coats in there already got the call ahead to cease any further experimentation, but it will take them awhile to safely dismantle their testing. Which is why I will be proceeding inside with a small squadron of soldiers at my side. We can’t be too careful when concerning the risk to almost everything we know.” “Yes, cause I’m sure you’re the very definition of grace.” the commander softly jests under his breath. “Care to repeat that commander?” “I-I was just wondering what the rest of the troops and I should do while you march inside. Heh heh.” “That should be simple. Barge anyone from entering or exiting this facility.” Saying this does the hulking red general stare back towards the ascending tower; her eyes glued to the visible top that towers the heavens themselves. “I refuse to let this border crossing bitch slip by my fingers again.”

Standing back within the walls of the lab, an unmasked young woman stands before the very man that she tirelessly journeyed far just to reunite with; her entire adventure leading up to this very moment. The young man trembles in his shoes as the holopad held within his hand slips from his fingers; the blonde’s shrinking pupils staring upon the Arabic woman as he shutters out: “C-Clara…?” “That’s right, Arthur. I had to travel through thick and thin, scorching heat and wild rides, even make some heartbreaking sacrifices just to reach you.” the young woman confirms. “I-I thought...I thought you were in the past...” “Nope. I wound up catching you just in time before you jumped with the time orb...Just...What the hell were you thinking messing with it in the first place?” As Clara continues to rant on upon the series of events that had transpired, she proves to wrapped up in her own words to notice the young man before her stumbling closer towards her as she keeps mentioning how: “We were warned countless time to not even go near the damn thing and you went ahead and fiddled with it anyway. And look at all that happened because of it. It’s cause of all this shit is why they warned us not to touch the damn thing in the first. But no, you just had to, didn’t you. You just had to see how the whole thing-”

Suddenly cutting off the young woman’s angry rantings, Arthur tightly grasps Clara waist with both of his arms in a warm embrace; burying his head against her chest as the blonde man lets out sniveling breaths. “I can’t believe you’re actually here in front of me...I heard reports and rumors floating around; but I didn’t think any of them were really about you. I didn’t think that you came with me on this little trip to the future. I don’t think I could be happier to see you.” Feeling Arthur’s sincere embrace robs the woman of any words that she had left to berate out, with the anger that she felt gradually draining away; all that Clara had left to answer him with was: “I’m glad I finally found you, Arthur. You wouldn’t believe all the crazy stuff that happened to be on my way here.” Finally pulling himself off of the young woman’s tear stained coat, Arthur wipes away the snot dribbling from his nose and responds with: “Oh, I can imagine. This world is so much different then ours; so many things that we could only comprehend as nothing but mere science fiction are now a reality, all readily available to us to use as we please. I can’t even begin to describe how incredible all of this is.” “I just can’t believe you wound up working at the top of a place like this in just a couple months.” “Just a few months? Huh...It feels like its been way more than that.” “Yeah, about that. Is everything that I read on the neural network true? Did they seriously just straight up abduct you?” Clara then questions. “I mean most of those articles tend to play up some things up a fair bit; but yeah, most of the base info they say is still pretty much accurate.” “Care to explain in your own words what happened?” “Well, it’s kind of a pretty long story there. I might have to summarize through a lot of it.” “Hey, it can’t be any more lengthy then what I had to go through. Fire way.”

“Okay, so after I finally came to from the time jump; I wound up finding myself on top of this massive hill with nothing but dry wastelands that stretched out for what seemed like miles on end. I was relieved to find that I still had the time orb in my hands though, at least that went and came with me; even if it was out of power. So with no power, no people, and no way to go back; I knew I had no choice but to brave the wastes that spread before me in hopes of searching for any civilization. I practically forced myself to trudge through the scorching heat for what felt like hours on end, just mind numbingly walking straight through to the point where I couldn’t even feel my own feet. I was lucky to have ate just before I made the jump, else I probably would have wound up dying just dragging myself through all that.”

“But after what felt like an eternity through the dry deserts of hell, I thankfully found civilization before me. An old ruined town standing in the middle of the waste, but still had people waltzing through. With the town waving out in the horizon, I had dashed off as fast as my legs could carry my hungering body; thankful to have found my salvation in these vast cracked lands. During my little tour through the town, I stopped in hoping they had something I could munch on; knowing full well my stomach had shrunk 4 pounds during my hungering travels. The bartender there was generous enough to offer me some food in exchange for doing a couple jobs around town for him, but I managed to convince him to let me eat before I got to work. While I was eating, I asked him where I could secure more food and water from out in this hellscape; the man telling me that most people who want all that wind up heading North towards the ruins of Louisville, where some gold guy managed to get things organized and kept people alive. The problem was that I had next to no supplies to make the trip there; if I went straight there with what little I had, I’d be nothing but a dried up jerky corpse for the vultures to try and eat. When telling the bartender, he offered to give me some supplies that would last long enough to get there; I just needed to do some chores. And so I burnt the rest of the day away running around town and doing jobs for the barkeep to build up enough supplies to make the trip. Some of them weren’t exactly that uh...pleasant, but I managed to get on the bartenders good side quick enough to start the trip by night fall. But that first night sleeping in the middle of a baron wasteland, with not even a single soul watching you. That shit’s haunting...”

“Hey, I feel ya. Thought that any moment that something would appear from the shadows and just slit my throat open while sleeping… Hey, when you woke up, did you happened to see a giant crater with a bunch of green glowing lines through it?” Clara cuts off to ask. “Hmm...Now that you bring it up. I did wind up seeing something glowing the distance. I just thought it was a great idea at the time to stay the hell away from it. Why?” “Cause I saw that when I first woke up too. You think that we might have been next to each other when we landed?” “Guess its possible. I might’ve wound up missing you completely before I took off. Heh heh; whoopsie...” the young man claims with a nervous smile; the woman before him letting out a low key growl as she casts an upset glare.

“Anywayyy, I set off towards the direction of Louisville with a fresh set of food and supplies on my back; all the while wondering what sort of dystopian hellscape I had gotten myself in. I then cut straight through the forest ahead, the kind of fauna and wildlife I saw just from the edge of the woods alone sparking my curiosity. And though the sort of territorial beasts that roamed the mutated lands were plenty, I managed to duck my head down while observing at a safe distance; the warped majesty of some of them bringing a tear to my eye. After making out of the woods in one piece, I had managed to make my to the ruins of Louisville; the dilapidated state I saw the entire city in just breaking my heart. But despite that, the bartenders words remained true; I saw countless people bustling through the city ruins, with most of them garbed in torn clothing and rags. While standing among them all, I thought it best to finally try and fish out some answers that my brain had been itching to cast for; like where I was, where I wound up, what happened to everything, etc, etc, etc. Unfortunately my little fishing trip for answers wound up being a bust; the only phrases I got close to any response was for me to eat shit or just silently slug me in the face. Bit rude there, but fine. Though my little quest for answers wound up getting some attention that I could have done without, where the “King” of Louisville and some of his troops tried to tried to catch me. I don’t know what they wanted, but I sure as hell wasn’t gonna let them have it.”

“The King of Louisville, huh? Did you know he was just a kid in an adult sized mech suit?” Clara cuts in with. “At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me anymore. So, I ran as fast as I could from the so called “king’s” numerous goons. All of them trying to gun my ass down like hunters in a game reserve; with packs of wolves hunting my sweet ass down.” “I don’t remember them having any canines when I visited.” “Part of the analogy Clara. But just before any of them could wind up cornering me, a hovercraft filled with people in serious far more advance armor came dropping in and stopped them right in there track. The kings troops didn’t even put up a fight when faced with them; with them on the scene, I thought I was finally in the clear...That is until they forced me into their plane and flew me out of town.” “Oh my god! Did they hurt you!?” Clara worries. “Nah, not really. They were a little rough then I had liked them to be; but overall, they didn’t really bruise me or anything.”

“Yeah, it turns out they were flying in from the other side of the border for their usual surplus drop off. But after they were done unloading all the canned goods, they wound up picking up the leftover chronological energy that was leaking out of the time orb.” “Wait, I thought we fixed that.” “Yeah, I thought so too. Guess we didn’t count for after trips. But really, how could we?” “So let me guess. Those troops bagged your ass and flew you across border for questioning?” “As accurate as always, Clara. Asked me who I was, where I came from, where I got the orb, all that kind of stuff. I won’t lie, I was a tad scared at first. Their military armor is pretty intimidating. But they eventually warmed up to me after a while. So after I told them all I knew, they brought in a whole team of scientific specialists to help further analyze the time orb. And those soldiers jaw’s practically hanged loose when they concluded I was tellin them the truth. Though that didn’t stop them from keeping a close eye on me. I was allow to discuss with the scientists as they were analyzing the orb, and we really hit it off on the subject of what made the whole thing work. All the neurons, particle acceleration, chronological power management; I actually felt like I was speaking to a fellow scientist of ingenuity and intellect.”

“Once the government deem everything under control; they were wondering what exactly to do my sorry ass. The couple of suggestions that I heard be passed around...honestly made my skin crawl. Thankfully before they could suggest anything drastic, life threatening, or borderline dehumanizing; the scientist that I spoke with earlier stepped in and suggested that I come work for them over at K-labs, a suggestion which them all seemed hesitant at first. But after he promised the sort of scientific potential that I could bestow upon them, they eventually budged and let me come work for K-labs...with some proper observation of course.”

“And due to the unique way I was doctored into K-labs, I had to make my start at the bottom...like the very bottom...literal bedrock. As just a simple research assistant, I spent most of those days doing menial tasks like gathering tools, getting coffee, the usual taken for granted assistant bull. And as every one of those days passed I wished so badly to see what lies above the floors above me, just wanting to see everything that this whole place could offer. Then one day during my usual business, I got the chance to prove myself. I overheard some of the researches claiming how they were having trouble with this particular product they were developing; the way they could safely distribute power to the device without it exploding. When I offered to helped, those jackasses laughed at me, claiming I didn’t know any better as an assistant. And when I insisted otherwise, they jested in giving me a shot; claiming that I couldn’t. Boy howdy, did I make them look like a bunch of gaping assholes. That little demonstration caught the attention of those higher ranked; which was the boost I needed to start my journey up towards the top, from assistant to junior in a single day. And ever since then, I scaled all the way toward the top of the pecking order, seeing floor after floor of this heaven on earth on my way up to head researcher. If I continue the good work, I could be joining the higher ups in their ranks my the end of the year. I don’t know if I could be happier.”

“Well, guess you’ve been doing pretty well for yourself since you got here, and all in just a few months too. That drive and commitment of yours is practically a freight train. Though I couldn’t really blame ya. You were always a lot more eager to just delve into projects. Heh heh, I bet you must have spooged yourself the first time you laid eyes on this place.” Hearing this, a small chuckle escapes from the young man’s mouth; jesting with a nervous tone on how: “Ah yeah, yeah. That’d be gross. He he he...” “Arthur, did...did you actually stain your pants?” she bold face questions him.

“Hey uh, moving from that topic; you know the tidbits of news I heard about ya?” Arthur moves along with. Just simply hearing her long lost friend bring this subject up of her causes the young woman to go completely quiet; attempting to faux her feelings while her little accusing glare breaks apart. “I know about how you crossed the border and how it got the military on your tail...but I also heard about something that happened back in Buffalo.” With her adding to this, Clara attempts to conceal the bits of color that drains away from her face; quietly hiding her low key panic as she hears Arthur continue to explain how: “I recall the story being about an American rebel terrorist group that went against the Canadian forces that attempted to build the city back up from its ruins. The story on them mentioned the fact that they had invaded and bombed a power station that was built in the area to help provide people with much needed power; the entire terrorist cell went about slaughtering and gunning down practically every employee that worked there too.” With a silent gulp dropping down her throat, all the scientist could respond with was: “Oh...” “I also heard that...you were among their ranks helping them out during the attack...Is...is that even true?” “……...No...it isn’t.” Giving the young man this fib draws out a smoothed breath from the depths of his very soul; slouching back as he claims that: “Oh my god, I’m so relieved to hear that. For the longest time I didn’t know what to think about all that. The moment I saw your face in the news, I couldn’t believe it. And to think I was so close to believing that you did. I should’ve know that what the news said didn’t sound like you at all. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if you wound up becoming a terrorist. Hell, they probably have the incident that happened in Mississauga pinned on the wrong woman, am I right?” the young man wonders with a sincere smile. “Yeah, pretty much. Never really was too fond of that kind of stuff.” Clara responds with, drifting her eyes away from her friends own.

“Hey, uh. Mind if I ask ya what the guys you work for did with the time orb?” she then diverges to. “Oh, you don’t gotta worry about all that. They kept it safe right above this very division, safety stored at the very crown of this tower.” “Hang on a sec. If...If you knew where it was the whole time, why didn’t you use it to fix all this?” “W-what could there be to fix?” This simple response coming from her friend of all people is all it takes to quickly send Clara in a rage, forming an angered glare straight towards the young man as she in turn responds with: “Are you fucking serious Arthur!? Did you not see all the horrid destruction that left the United states in ruin, the countless lives lost in the pointless war between the neighboring countries, the millions of survivors all clinging to life by a thread!? All of it that we could turn back the clock on and keep from transpiring in the first place!” “Listen, I completely understand where your coming from; I don’t like any of that as much as you. But meddling with the timeline like that could potentially make the situation much worse then it already is. Time travels is a fickle bitch after all.” “Oh don’t feed me any of that crap, Arthur. Not when you of all people up and decided to take a little joy ride through time without any sort of clearance whatsoever. And it’s cause of your little trip through the past, present and future that all this has happened in the first place.” “Excuse me? I didn’t do a damn thing to meddle with the past whatsoever. All I wanted to do was punch in the coordinates to take a peek into the future. That’s it.”

To this admittance does the young woman rage instantly shatter, the revelation hitting her hard enough to make her skin go cold before she repeats: “Wh-...So, you didn’t go back in time...” “Of course I didn’t Clara. If I didn’t neither of us would be talking to each other right now. The chance of us even existing right now would be deathly slim. And even if either of did wind up rolling the dice in our favor and we wound up meeting all over again, neither of us would even remember what happened before we made the jump through.” “Oh my god...So this...this world is...” “That’s right Clara. This world...is our unaltered future. The exact sequence of events that led to all this. It wasn’t caused my some outside force. Humanity drove itself to this conclusion.” Upon finally processing the ultimate truth of this scarred world; the young woman collapses onto her knee’s; her eyes drifting down through the glass floor as her breath trembles while uttering out: “No...” “I know Clara…I really couldn’t believe it either. It took me a while to come to terms with all of it...But even with how bad things may seem; there’s still a silver li-”

Cutting off his attempt to sympathizing with her, the young woman starts letting out a small chuckle while rising back on her own two feet; Arthur growing seemingly concerned as he bares witness to Clara’s grin. “You know what, it doesn’t matter...” he hears her utter out. “Um, what are you-” “It doesn’t matter if this the path that the world took for itself. We can still change its course, we can still fix it all nonetheless. All we have to do is take the time orb and prevent this entire world from becoming a reality.” “But Clara-” “It’s alright. I already know the exact date we have to jump to; I done all the research we need to stop it all from happening. All that’s left for us to come up with is a plan.” “Clara, I-” “I know, I know. The time orb doesn’t have all that much power. We would need something with a plethora of energy just to make a single jump.” “That’s not what I’m-” “But I think figured out a way to get about that little roadblock too. I got this battery in my backpack that should be enough to make one-” “Clara!” the young man finally shouts out. “What? You think we might have missed something with-” “I don’t think its a good idea to go back.”

“Arthur, come on! The United States is a literal nuclear nightmare. How much worse do you think things could possibly get?” “That’s not what I’m worried about.” “Well, what else are you concerned with?” “I...I don’t think the world will ever become this advanced again.” Her friends admittance deeply worries the young woman, Clara’s determined gaze deflating as she questions: “W-what are you talking about?” “Just look around you Clara. Look at the technological heights that humanity has risen to. We constantly build and develop millions and millions of machines and devices that help almost everyone around the globe each every single day. Healthcare and medicine has reached soaring new highs in curing diseases, cancers, and plagues; helping the injured, sick, and dying. World hunger is practically on the verge of being solved through genetic engineering. We practically have the very fabric of reality under our beck and call. When will humanity ever evolve to such heights again? When will we be able to literally reach into the past and watch history unfold before our eyes? To bend the very physics of our world to our whim? To feel the neural connection of our fellow people again? To laugh, to love, to live with one another on the very neural activity within our brains? When will all this ever happen again, Clara...when will we have this again?”

“...Arthur...” “I’m fully aware of how all that makes me sound, and I truly meant it when I said I feel sorry for the countless people that had lost their lives in this war… But I’ve made up my mind...We can’t risk losing all of this progress, risk erasing this revolutionary path that we’ve carved for ourselves.” Left utterly silent from her friends ultimate decision, Clara simply stands baffled while the young man concludes with: “I can help you clear your name. But I couldn’t possibly join you in erasing all of this scientific achievement humanity has reached… I’m begging you with every once of my heart...Please don’t undo all this…Please, join me...” Her friends words cause her to think back to all the hardships that she and the people she had met all had to endure, the dozens of horrors and atrocities committed by her fellow humans all culminating together to finally give the young man her answer. “What’s the point of evolving if we discard our humanity?”

His hope filled gaze slowly falling apart before Clara, the young man turns his back on her; staring out towards the cluster of windows plastered in front of the chamber. “I’m sorry to hear that...” “Arthur...You can still help me fix this disaster and save everyone from-” “Just leave!...Just...before security comes and drags you out.” Without one more word passing through her lips, Clara finally makes her way towards the chamber’s exit; phasing out through the doorway and leaving her friend alone. When finally left on his own, Arthur can no holder hold himself back and collapses onto his knee’s, his weeping breaths echoing through the entire dome.

Finally stepping out from the circular chamber of countless windows through the ages, Clara stands with the door at her back as she digs through her pants pocket; pulling out the old photo of her and Arthur standing side by side. She takes the brief moment to stare down upon the picture of her and her friend and think what might have gone through his head to think that this timeline makes for a better world. To truly be enamored to what the art of science has presented to you and refuse to risk erasing all to save potential millions. Has your passion for science clouded your humanity so? What could be worth to you disregarding such needless sacrifice for the sake of evolution? Even with how far the entire world has progressed, was it worth it for the world to bare such a harrowing scar upon the earth? And if so, why? Are you frightened of what changing it all may entail? To leap into the wild unknown?

If only you had toured through the dozens of harrowing sites that littered the war torn nation; taking in a deeper look to the horrible suffering, the hopeless bloodshed, and pointless agony as well. The poor and dying villages littering the once great plains now struggling to live the next day, the twisted and deranged forests that once boasted waves of lush green, the once beautiful metropolis of Louisville ruled under the tyranny of a petulant child posing as a man and slaughtering countless people for sport, the poor farm family having their will swiped by a pack of vengeful mutant farm animals, the brutal and harsh mutant animal races held along the streets of Columbus ... You know what, it doesn’t matter anymore. If he doesn’t wanna help, then that’s fine. But it’ll be a cold day in hell if he thinks he can’t stop the timeline from changing. I’m sorry Arthur, this world of scientific progression couldn’t be anymore of a paradise to you. But that paradise is not worth this sort of suffering.

As the photo of Clara and Arthur slips out from between her fingers, the scientist puts her hood back up as she continues forth towards the red void ahead; the picture fluttering down as it slips through the chambers doorway. Once the nostalgic photo finally descends down upon the glass floor held within, a lone hand reaches down and swipes it off the floor; the young man who held the picture left staring to the two of them; their hopeful and cheery grins stained by the droplets of his tears.

Now racing through the halls that assemble out before her, the scientist keeps her eyes aimed upwards for any sign of an exit or hatch leading up out from this red void of warped time and clockwork; keeping in mind where Arthur had mentioned the time orb to be stored. The nuclear battery inside the pack should hold just enough juice to make a single jump through time; if it can be hog wired to the orbs circuitry, then it might be possible to make the jump. Just have to reach the top before its too late.

Continuing further through the forming halls, Clara’s eyes can’t help but wander about the crimson abyss that surrounds her; unable to make out what path she should take among the dense sea of red. Its honestly quiet hard to tell where to go around here; outside the halls, there ain’t anything to distinguish where exactly to go around this division. Most of it just looks like a crimson void of hovering gears. But it ain’t like anybody would know where to go anyway; void or not. That ain’t gonna stop this scientist from racing through the final stretch; not when the finish line is so close now. Best bet here would be to just go through whatever tunnel leads towards the very top of the branch and find away to break in to where the orb lies.

Somewhere within the very same floor that the scientist races through, a lone teleportation pad lined with a whole rainbow of others suddenly flashes a bright glow that forms in the shape of a gear; the light within the cog expanding into the shape of a hulking figure. The light surrounding this figure swiftly dims and unveils the legendary soldier herself; the red general garbed in a full set of heavyweight steel armor that clanks aloud as she lumbers forth. In her little trip through the time manipulation R&D division does she soon find a couple of scientists simply strolling through the hallway; one of them instantly going cold upon site of the general and alerting his friend with: “Holy shit!” “What? What’s the aaoohh oohh…” the other scientist wonders as he glances in the same direction, his very speech dying out as soon as his eyes meet with the soldiers red streaked steel. Witnessing the giant woman lumber in their direction, both of the scientist quiver in their shoes as they slowly retreat in the opposite direction; their backs eventually pinned to the wall that forms right behind them. Having no more room to back away, the two lab coats could only quake as the generals shadow blankets both of their entire bodies; flinching when they finally hear her say: “I’m only gonna ask both of you lab rats this once.” Lowering her head down to their faces, Vira looks them both in their quaking pupils and continues with: “Where is she?”

Despite continuing a good ways through the halls that forms out before her, the young scientist fails to reliably determine where in the ever loving hell she was going; the lack of any sort of noteworthy directions making it rather difficult to navigate through this crimson void of warped time. Do these people seriously not have a map hanging out somewhere on this floor? It’s practically been around 15 minutes of running through the same looking hallways that assemble out from the same red void now. How the hell does anyone even know where to go in this damn branch anyway? You’d seriously be better off asking passerby's for directions then trying to find any semblance of a map anywhere on this whole floor. … Ya know what, that does sound like a bad idea really. It’d certainly beat running around aimlessly just wasting time til the military barges in and storm the place. In realizing this does Clara slow her hurrying sprint to a far more leisurely pace, knowing full well that recklessly charging straight towards people would scare anyone into fleeing in the opposite direction.

Her little strolling search through the crimson abyss thankfully doesn’t eat up much of her time, soon enough finding a fellow lab coat strolling her way; a rather withered elder whose faded glare is dressed with a warming smile. With the old man coming her way, the young woman stands before the elder and stops him right in his tracks; politely asking: “Excuse me sir; might you know the way up towards the very top of this branch. I have to report for a temp position there.” Oh, well I must say; you’re quite a lucky woman to have gained a temp job all the way at the top of this towering laboratory. Back in my day, the temps that were sent to the main facility would be lucky enough to get one starting at the very bottom. I remember when-” “Uh, not meaning to be rude sir; but I’m kind of running late here. Need to get to my position before my supervisors chew me out.” “Right, of course. Well, young lady; if I were coming out from your direction, then it would be best to simply keep going until coming to a five way intersection. You’re going to want to take the upper left hallway and proceed straight ahead up a curving staircase that seems to lead downward, but it rather leads further up towards the top. After reaching the end of the stairs do you want to take a right when coming to a fork in the road; you’ll see the hallway before you twist and flip, so keep that in mind as you continue forth. Once it twists right side up, keep heading through until you reach a hall with several doorways forming before you. One of them should be the lab that you’re looking for.” “Thank you so much, I-” the young woman attempts to thank with before being cut off.

“By the by, have you noticed the military stationed at our doorstep?” “Ah! N-no, why do you think they’re here?” Clara questions while maintaining her composure. “Eh, I heard it was cause they’re searching for a spy that was recently discovers. The people at the top are wanting that spy bagged and tagged before they wind up screwing with anything. Can’t really blame them for wanting to get this whole mess sorted out quickly; but I still think its a tad overkill for the legendary soldier herself to have come up here in person.” “V-vira’s here!?” the young woman blurts out. “Oh yes. The military has a good quarter of their squadron searching through every floor of this building trying to find this woman, but Vira came up here all by herself. A couple of scientist’s she ran into claimed that she was searching for the spy cause it was rumored that she impersonated an official soldier. Just the thought of that utterly sickens me. I surely hope that they bring this dastardly woman the true justice that she deserves.” Turning his eyes back to where they were aimed, he attempts to finish off with: “Now I certainly hope that you manage to-” The elder unfortunately finds the lass that stood before her having vanished; glancing back to discover the young woman sprinting off in the direction he had suggested her to take. “Ah...Well, she did mention she was running late.”

Dashing through the assembling hallway faster than she ever has raced in her entire life, the young scientist starts coming to the five way hallway that the elder had warned her about; taking a light turn right through the upper left hall that stands in her way, all while the fear of the red streak soldier boils over within her. Why does she have to be here? If she manages to catch up, than its all over. Even with how old she is, there ain’t no way anybody can stand a chance against somebody like that. Have to get to the time orb before it’s too late. Too late to change the future.

Still dwelling within the spherical room filled with countless windows that peer through time within, Arthur remains dead in the center of the chamber glaring through not even a single portal that surrounds him; his depressed eyes still fixated on the photo of him and Clara together. “Something the matter, my young lad?” he then hears a withered voice ask. The unexpected voice causing him to jump from his saddened stare, the scientist glances back towards the exit to find the very same old man that Clara had ran into earlier; the young man stuttering out with: “S-s-s-senior Director Mathis! I’m surprised to see you strolling around this part of the facility. Surely you have better things to do as a higher up!” “Oh hush with that, Arthur. I didn’t wind up giving you a chance to work here on the day we met by being as stiff and stingy as those vulturous bastards. None of them really know how to loosen up anymore, take some time to reflect on the people they manage and the world they live in. I don’t think any of them really take the time to come down here and simply peer into the past; taking in the amazing views through the ages that this floor gives.” “Right, guess none of them really don’t...” the young man faintly agrees with; his eyes failing to keep from falling back down to the glass they both stand on. “Ah, and none of them would even take the time to ask their employee’s what might be the matter with them; isn’t that right Arthur? It isn’t hard to tell when something’s bothering you. You wear your face as sincerely as that lab coat.”

“Ah...I might have gotten a fight with my friend a little bit ago. A pretty big one at that. It didn’t wind up ending up well.” “Really, and what pray tell have both of you been fighting about?” Mathis questions while slowly approaching the depressed young man. “Well, we used to be a miracle team before; working side by side to solve any sort of problem that laid bare before us. Now both of us want our lives to go in completely opposite directions. She had her plan, and I had my own in mind. But now she’s wanting to take an insane gamble that could effect both of us in ways we couldn’t possibly imagine. I didn’t know what else to do but to say no to her. Even when I was certain I made the right call, I still feel like absolute garbage for turning her down the way I did. She had such determined hope in her eyes; I knew I couldn’t talk her out of it either. And I don’t know if I-”

Before Arthur could continue berating himself any further, he feels the senior director gently grasps his shoulder and stares into the elders withered eyes as Mathis claims that: “Both of you had done the right thing.” “I don’t…what do you mean?” “Lad, nobody in this world can dictate another’s personal choices; especially ones that boil out from the very passions of our own souls. And while that answer may gradually morph and change from the world around us in way that not even the person expects, the answer that erupts out from its depths remains ever true and justified in their eyes.” Listening to the elders explanation, Arthur’s gaze drifts back down towards the glass platform as tears continue to well from his eyes. “I can clearly see from your tears that both of your own concrete answers have conflicted harsh enough to leave a scar on your heart. But the clashing of each others souls is only natural, Arthur. It is simply a part of the grand enchanting journey that we have called life. And though this differing roads may have left quite a severe infraction to your friendship with one another; what matters is that both of you have listened to the depths of your hearts and responded in kind. You have you’re own path, and she has hers to take. It must be something that both of you accept for one another. Do you understand, Arthur?” The elders question causes the young man to hesitate to give him any sort of answer, his site aimed to the photo of Clara and him clutches in his hand.

Piercing out through the planets very mesosphere, K-labs crown sits just below the very stars that twinkle above; adorned with nothing but a spiraling glass dome that separates the inside from the cosmos that hangs above it all. Held within the crowning dome stood nothing but a single steel pillar that stands dead in the center of a simple flat floor; the very top of the column sports a single metallic sphere donned with a clock on its face; the device that lets one sever themselves from the timeline left suspended in a soft, gentle glow. Along the very base of this towering chamber, a single panel planted along the rim of the dome opens wide down to the red void just below it all; a single young woman climbing out from within the crimson abyss. Once her own two feet stand upon the flat surface of the glass room, Clara’s eyes glisten when beholding the device suspended by the shimmering light that towers before her; the very device that she had sought after for so long. Finally, after countless months of travel, blood, sweat, and tears, all of the sacrifice it took to get here can finally pay off. All it for a single chance to turn back the clock and stop all this suffering from ever happening. All that is left to do is climb up and undo it all. As the hooded scientist starts to approach the pillar, the hatch she had climbed out from starts to close on its own; stopped moments before it could shut by a single massive gauntlet.

The woman reaches her palm out towards the ladder leading up as she approaches, her grasp trembling as she closes in on the handle. Just moments before her hands could grasp hold of its steel, Clara feels something barely grace the top of her head; the hood that was concealing her identity now falling into halves. Gazing above to what almost cleaved her, the scientist’s eyes shrink when beholding a massive battle axe bigger than herself lodged into the pillar; quite literally cutting the young woman way up. Clara finally glances back to where the weapon had been thrown, quaking in her boots to discover the axe’s owner to be the legendary soldier herself; the giant general’s blood red scowl piercing through the tiny young woman. “That’s as far as you’re gonna go.”

The scientist’s heavy breath trembles alongside her body as the hulking woman before her slowly begins to near; the young lady pinning her back to the pillar behind her as she witnesses the generals balled gauntlet quake. “I don’t think I can put it into word the borderline contempt I hold for you. Aiding a terrorist bombing back in Buffalo and killing the employee’s within, illegally crossing the border while embezzling mutated wildlife, resisting and evading police and military capture. But none of them, not a single one of those crimes come close to falsely claiming the position of a military officer and leaving your fellow soldiers to die. And all for what!? To stand atop the very precipice of the entire world and come moments away from destroying everything that this nation has worked to achieve; are you that desperate to undo your sins!?” “Vira, listen. You don’t understand, I-” “Shut It!?” the general roars out, stopping dead in her tracks. Left standing paralyzed before the soldier in red, Clara can only listen in silence as the general explains how: “I never claimed to be the most articulate soldier. I never in my life thought myself as particularly wise. And I knew that even some of my fellow soldiers thought the same. But I always proudly held the weight of every good person I come across, risking life and limb for simple citizens that even my own country fought against; all because I believed that they didn’t deserve the chaotic scars inflicted upon their lives. But you...It doesn’t have to take a brute like me to realize that you’re nowhere near like one of those people. Someone that willingly abandons their fellow soldiers couldn’t possibly make a good future for the rest of humanity. And that’s all I need to know out of you to justify my actions. So for you’re harrowing crimes against the Canadian government and to the recovering nation below us; I hereby enact my role as general to carry out your corporal punishment...personally.” Vira growls out, punching her balled fist in the palm of her gauntlet.

Realizing then and there that meager words will not sway the beast before her, the young scientist readies herself as she witnesses the general finally charging out towards her; Clara leaping out to the side before the giant could ram her entire body into the scientist. After rolling along the flat steel floor, the young woman finds the hulking soldier having slammed straight against the iron pillar that holds the time orb high above them both; the quaking impact dislodging Vira’s giant axe right out from its side. Catching her descending weapon right into the palm of her hand, the red general witnesses the perpetrator make a break to the hatch that both of them had came in from; the soldier making an ascending leap over towards the only way out as she readies to hammer her axe straight down. Moments before Clara could take the chance to even open the hatch leading out, she notices a massive shadow quickly engulfing her entire body; glancing over and alarmed to discover her gigantic foe dropping down with axe ready to drop. Having found the general descending down towards her, the scientist lunges right out of Vira’s descending swing. And though her body manages to remain unscathed, the sharp blade of the weapon manages to catch the worn fabric of the scientist’s backpack; ripping its hide and causing the contents within to spill out onto the floor.

Arising from above the only way out, the general leaves her heavyweight weapon lodged between the hatch and the floor; effectively locking her foe in with her as she continues in pursuit of the lab coated scientist. As the young woman flees from the bulking soldier with swift foot, her mind thinks just as fast attempting to figure out a way to stop the giant in her tracks. There is absolutely no way taking that monster of a woman head on is anywhere near a good idea; her bare hands alone could rip the flesh off the toughest of hides. Plus, that armor she’s wearing doesn’t look to have any sort of weaknesses in its design; even the usual openings for a soldier of her size look completely impenetrable. There may be literally no way to stop her. No, there has to be a way, there has to be some flaw to exploit. There always is.

In the middle of pondering all of this, the giant on her tail finally manages to catch up to the fleeting scientist; swinging her thick steel arm right towards the small woman’s side and delivering an insanly intense blow right against the left of her upper torso. The very moment that the giants fist clashes with her side, a thin blue barrier erects out from the fabric of her lab coat; pulsing against the generals incredibly strong strike. Nevertheless, the blow proves strong enough to send Clara flying across the chamber and send her slamming straight against the glass dome that separates both of them from the mesosphere right outside; the entire dome trembling from the impact. Slowly rising off the metallic floor, the scientist feels not a single bit of pain from the blow that she had just endured; noticing the blue barrier that envelopes her entire body vanishing before her eyes. “Don’t get two comfy there. That’s coats shielding was meant to mostly ward off radiation; it sure as hell wasn’t built for combat like this. I wager that weak little coat can only take a few more blow before it gives out on your sorry ass.” Vira explains. While hearing the general elaborate this, Clara’s eyes venture past the hulking beast’s body to find the contents of her ripped backpack that litter the floor right behind her foe; her gaze locked to the reflective onyx case containing the battery. Her armor, no matter what it has installed inside it, its base shell is made of pure steel. When exposed to radiation, it can make metal like that insanely hot; hotter than even the cap of a volcano. That punch she threw earlier boasted a tone of force behind it though; way too much for the battery itself to take; but maybe not for the case to take. Perhaps applying the right amount of pressure should garter the exact results needed, just need to work fast and flawlessly to pull this off.

With the piece of her plan coming together, the tiny scientist suddenly dashes out towards the hulking soldier that towers before her; Vira watching as the young woman that approaches her lowering herself and reaches her arms downwards in turn. Once getting close enough to the crouching red general, Clara suddenly leaps up and vaults over the soldiers armored backside; sliding against the giants back plate as the scientist she passes right over her hulking foe. After landing right behind the giant soldier, the young scientist lunges out for the onyx case that lays on the floor in front of her; the general swiftly turning back and reaching out for the small lass in turn. With her arms stretched out as far as they could reach, Clara tightly grasps the sides of the shinning black case set before her; the scientist small smile shattering when feeling something clutch one of her legs. Glancing back does the young woman find the soldiers thick gauntlet taking a tight hold on one of her legs; Vira soon dragging the small scientist closer and lifting her overhead with but just a single arm. Right at the very moment the scientist is lifted over her massive foe, Clara takes the onyx case held in her grasp and smacks it against the side of Vira’s helm as hard as she could; the blunt force of the impact proving enough to cause the generals grasp on the young woman’s leg to slip and unintentionally fling the scientist forth.

Left to roll across the hard iron chamber floor, Clara’s body smacks against the tall columns sitting right at the very center; the scientist gazing to her hands to find the battery case still tightly held in her palms. Aiming her site ahead of her, the young woman comes to witness the giant that tossed her aside charging out to her once again; ready to deliver a powerful punch straight to the scientist. With everything that she had anticipated coming together, Clara shields herself with the onyx case that contains the radioactive battery right as the massive soldier readies to thrust her fist straight into her. As soon as the generals punch hits the case’s very surface, its glistening shell shatters apart in an intense flash of bright green; the burning glow powerful enough to send the soldier reeling back towards the rim of the chamber.

Once the intense lime luminescence starts to dim, the scientist opens her eyes to discover her lab coats built in barrier visible once more; its shielding the most visible when facing the exposed nuclear battery that lays before her. Hearing a pained growl sound off, Clara glares out to the rim of the dome to find the hulking soldier kneeling down while covering the visor of her helm; slowly pulling herself off the floor as she curses out: “Dammit! What the hell did you just do!?” Uncovering her helmets visor, the red general finally discovers the lime green nuclear battery that glows in the scientist’s palm; the UI in her visor reading the energy irradiating off the glass cylinder. “Class S nuclear radiation? Where the hell did someone like you get you’re hands on-” Before Vira could speak any further, an alarm pops up on her visor of her suit to warn of it having absorb far too much radiation to reliably handle; the internal temperature gauge beginning to swiftly rise. Upon those warning does the soldier start to feel the inside of her suit starting to heat up; the warming sensation soon transforming into searing pain as the inflicted radiation cooks the general from within. Left writhing in utter agony from the growing heat, the U.I in her helm advises that she take her armor off immediately before reaching critical temperature; Vira screaming out from her pained shrieks: “Armor. Release protocol #49!” Roaring out this order causes the air pressure keeping her suit on to release in a scalding cloud, an explosion of steam launching every steel piece of her armored suit off her hulking body; the back plate slamming straight against the glass behind her and leaving behind a small crack along its surface. Once stripped of every piece of her armor, the clouds of steam that drift off her start to waft away and reveal the soldier to be dressed in a leather hide suit; her beat red face starring dagger eyed right at the scientist.

Alright, managed to stripe the bitch of her reinforced armor; without it, her massive body has a ton of spots to take advantage of. Jamming something sharp in her sides should distract her long enough to go for the orb. But what to use as a weapon? Taking a far off glance to the spilled contents of her bag, Clara’s eyes dart through the numerous objects and tools that litter the floor; failing to find a single thing among them all that could be reliably used as an effective makeshift weapon. Dammit! There’s not even anything here remotely sharp enough to pierce through her leather suit; let alone shove into her side. Okay, Clara, this ain’t over yet, just gotta think of something.

Telling herself this, she witnesses the stripped soldier finally take charge out towards the scientist; Clara rolling out of the generals tackling strike and letting her slam against the column sitting in the middle of the room. Coming back on her feet, the young woman immediately sprints out towards all the modest equipment that lay scattered along the chamber floor; her mind thinking a thousand miles an hour on how to defend herself with what little she has. A wooden box, an empty plastic bottle, a cracked mug, a compass, some rope; How the hell is anybody meant to fight back with any of this stuff!?

Its in thinking how to use these tools before her effectively that her ears catch the loud thumps of stomping boots echoing out; quickly glancing back to find the red soldier herself once more sprinting her way. Acting on her feet, the young woman swipes the empty plastic bottle off the floor and tosses it towards the approaching giant; swatting away the worthless piece of plastic with but the back of her hand. In the very next moment does the red ranked soldier see her small pursuit having leaped right in front of her; Clara then thrusting her old glass compass straight into the hulking woman’s naked eyes, its glass shards sprinkling along the very surface of her pupils. With the remains of her compass causing the giant to reel back from the horrible sharp pain, Clara takes the opportunity to dart straight back to the column holding the device she covets above the both of them; the scientist stopping at the very base when discovering the ladder leading up to the top having been broken beyond any sort of use. She couldn’t even reach the part of the ladder that remain untouched. No, how the hell is anybody supposed to get up there now!?

Its in that moment that she hears an angry roar screaming out from behind her, turning back to witness the blinded general swiping the back plate of her discarded armor off the floor and flinging the hot piece of metal like a heavy throwing disc. Clara hits the deck and ducks before the oncoming piece of armor could split her head open; the very edge of the suit piece digging itself straight into the side of the metallic pillar, with several sparks dropping down from the harsh impact. Gazing back up, the young scientist starts to notice the sort of punishment that the metal column had taken throughout this whole ordeal; the towering pillar slightly bending out a good ways, with a couple of loose wires left cut and hanging along its sides. A look at the top shows the light that holds the time orb in place flickering, the very site making an idea glow out within the woman’s head.

An enraged hiss escapes from between her teeth as Vira wipes the glass shard out of her bloodshot eyes, with the soldier’s recovering vision wandering throughout the entire chamber for any sort of sign of her pursuit; soon laying her pupils upon the young woman as she grabs hold of a length of rope of the floor. Her bloodshot site locked onto her tiny target, the red general sprints off in the scientist directions in a furious charge; keeping her eyes locked onto the lass as she witnesses her lunge forth towards her and start sliding along her back. Just as Clara began to slide cleanly between the general’s legs, she loops the piece of rope right around her gigantic foes ankle; her arm then grasped by the hulking woman’s massive hands. Lifting the scientist off the floor with just a single hand, Vira brings the young woman up to her burnt red face and asks her: “Did you really think that shoving glass in my eye would work?” Questioning her this, the behemoth of and woman lifts the small lass overhead and tosses her down towards the floor as she finishes with: “Cause all you managed to do is piss me off!” Her entire body slamming straight onto the hard iron floor, the poor woman’s harsh impact winds up being severe enough to leave a sizable dent where she had been struck down; the overwhelming slam down leaving her fumbling across the chamber floor. When Clara’s body finally stops against the glass dome, the young woman slowly pulls herself back up as she gazes upon the piece of rope still in her grasp; her eyes trailing along its length to discover it still hugging the giants ankle.

Finding her hulking foe slowly beginning to approach, the young lady looks to her feet for anything she could use against the nearing she beast; quickly swiping up the cracked mug beside her as she finally arises on her feet. Its in standing back up is she taken aback when finding the red ranked general coming right in front of her; her thick muscular arm threatening to grab hold of the young woman once more. Acting quick on her feet, Clara slips right under the soldiers arm and stands right behind the soldier; taking the opportunity to leap above the hulking general and smash the mug over her foe’s head. With the cups shards raining down along Vira’s backside, the legendary trooper proves to be only a tad dazed by the blow against the back of her noggin; the giant swinging her arm back and slugging the scientist straight in the stomach, with the lab coats barrier that had been protecting her finally shattering. The incredible body blow alone sends the small young woman careening across the towers crowning chamber and straight into the glass dome, with her back hitting the very same crack that Vira had ran into not long before.

With the crack in the transparent surface spreading a little more, Clara lands flat on her stomach onto the steel floor below; the beaten young woman is barely able to lift her entire body off as she hears the soldiers approaching footsteps alongside Vira wondering aloud: “How much pain do I have to give you to make the fact go through your head? With or without my armor, with or without even my eyes; you won’t ever come close to beating me. I’ve train for countless years under the service of the Canadian military before you’d even been born; all to hone my body and spirit to the very peek of physical prowess, all to serve the people of my country and those cling to life in the war torn U.S. Compared to you, someone like me is practically like going up against an entire mountain. I don’t need any piece of my armor or even a single weapon; my very flesh is as resilient and as deadly as pure steel itself. You’re trapped with the very example of Canadian might, so why do you still insist on playing this little game of ours and delaying the inevitable?” Finally prying her beaten and bruised body off the floor, Clara drifts her eyes over to the general that towers over her and finally answers her with: “I’m not as cornered as you might think.”

Saying this does the scientist lunge out with as much strength as she could muster; dashing out towards the other side of the chamber with the end of her rope still left in hand. When finding the giant soldier still insisting on chasing after, the young lady races around the dome’s inner rim to gain some distance until suddenly dashing back to the metal pillar sitting in the middle; jumping up to the piece of armor still left lodges onto its side. Right when Clara lands right on top of the flat back plate, she feels the slab of steel tremble right beneath her; glancing below her feet to discover the red general prying her own piece of armor right out; flinging the scientist aside when dislodging the steel out from the side of the column. Sent hurdling through the air, the young lady is barely able to land on her own two feet as she slides right to the glass behind her; looking over the hulking soldier to notice the hole left in the pillar exposing the sparking circuitry held within. Just about got it close to coming down. One more big blow should send it plummeting down and the time orb along with it.

With the assurance of her strategy falling into place, the scientist witnesses giant beside the bent pillar try her luck again in tossing her discarded back plate right at her, Clara ducking down as the hot piece of steel is flung her way. The slab of metal zooms right over the young woman’s head and thrusts right onto the cracked dome behind her, the blunt impact causing the cracks along its transparent surface to grow further out. Pulling herself off the floor, the scientist gazes back to find the hulking soldier having vanished before her; failing to see even a single sign of the giant anywhere in site. Noticing a hint of darkness underneath, Clara glances down to see her own shadow strangely growing bigger; soon realizing where the general is and immediately rolling off to the side. Meager moments were left as the scientist evades Vira’s crashing downward stamp by the skin of her back; the dent that the soldier makes in the floor proving at least 2 feet deep. Standing back up, the scientist notices the length of rope she had looped around the crimson still hugging her ankle; Clara sprinting off towards the direction of her spilled stuff to enact the final piece of her little plan.

Vira finally pulls herself out of the dent she had made in the floor just in time to witness her tiny target sprint off towards the column once more with a wooden box in hand; the red soldier fiercely pursuing after. Once quickly catching up to the scientist, the red general prepares to tackle the scientist down with every inch of her body; watching closely as the lady then swiftly turns back and throw the wooden box straight towards her face. Fully expecting this sort of counterattack, the soldier swats the box aside and reaches out to her front to foil the young lady trick she had done before; left caught off guard when finding her small foe dashing right along her side. Once sliding right behind the lunging giant, Clara tugs at the piece of rope nestled in the palm of her hands as hard as she could; tighten its grip around the soldiers left ankle and jerk at Vira’s footing. The last piece of Clara’s plan quiet literally falls into place as her gigantic pursuer tumbles right down into the base of the metal pillar behind them; the generals weighty impact proving more than enough to offset the towering column. The bright light that held the time orb high above them finally blinks out, causing the mcguffin to start plummeting down towards the bottom of the chamber; the scientist frantically dashing out to where the device would drop in hopes of saving it from breaking into pieces. Taking one huge lunge forth, Clara slides along the floor with her hands held out as far as she could reach; the scientist’s face beaming when her one ticket in fixing this whole future lands safely in the palms of her hands.

That very same relieved smile shatters in but an instant when she feels something take a choking hold on her entire torso; the scientist glancing back to find the gigantic general wrapping her thick, hulking arms around her small fragile body. While struggling to free herself from the soldiers oppressive grasp, the time orb slips out from one of her palms; attempting in vain to break herself free as she hears the general go on to claim out: “Normally, I’d have to drag your sorry ass all the way down this whole tower to let the courts decide your punishment. But with the inexcusable charges of destroying both the Buffalo and Mississauga power plants, illegally taking in the guise of a soldier, and infiltrating the country’s capital laboratory with the intent of stealing government kept reality bending technology; I bet they’ll let the infraction slide if I deal with you myself.”

Upon declaring all this, the lumbering soldier start to strangle the scientists entire body with the titanic bulk of her arms; Clara’s struggling grunts transforming into pained screams as she feels herself being squeezed tighter by the beastly woman. Her agonizing outcries are accompanied by her bones audibly breaking as the giant squeezes her ever tighter; their harsh snapping ringing out through the entire chamber as the soldier strangling her torso declares that: “I commend you for eluding the military’s grasp for so long; but this little story of ours is about to come to a crushing conclusion.”

Mere moments before the hulking general could finally break the young woman trapped within her titan grasp, she suddenly feels an intensely sharp pain pierce through her stomach; the unexpected jab making Vira drop the small scientist onto the floor. Slowly gazing down through the left of her torso, the general discovers the handle of the mug she had been hit with earlier shoved deep through the side of her stomach; the blood stain around the handle growing bigger with each passing second. Stumbling past her laying foe, Vira is left to grasp the punctured side of her stomach while staggering out towards the crack left in the dome; her faded vision finally escaping her as her pain growls begin to deafen. “Damn...this aging body...” Once finally reaching the very dim of the dome, the legendary soldier falls upon the glass that separates them all from the towering mesosphere waiting outside.

Despite feeling her entire skeletal structure barely holding itself together, Clara slowly forces herself off the floor and trembles on her feet; shuffling over to where the time orb had rolled over to while pulling the nuclear battery out from her pocket. When reaching for the spherical device, the bruised and beaten scientist picks up her coveted mcguffin and turns it over to reveal the plastic lid on its back; Clara shoving her long fingernails into the side of the cover and prying the square piece of plastic right off. With the back plate falling onto the floor, the wires and couplings exposed within the device are left bare for the scientist to see. Bring the battery she plans to use up beside the orb, the beaten woman finds a small crack left scratched along its glass shell; bits of lime green glow leaking out from within and onto the floor. With whatever senses she had left to work with, the young scientist reaches within the time orbs inside and stretches out the wires that are within and straight to the other end of the battery; her fingers crossed when hooking the coupling up to the edge of the nuclear powerhouse. A weak smile cracks between her cheeks when witnessing the screen placed on the front of the device glow alight; a U.I soon appearing before her and requesting an exact date, time, and location to travel to.

While the beaten young woman is busy punching in the recommended date she had researched, the red generals body that lays beside her starts to make the glass she sleeps on start to finally give out; the cracks that lay spread right along the surface grow further and further along its surface until it finally shatters. Hearing the distinct break of the glass, the scientist turns just in time to witness Vira’s body plummet out from the chamber; the length of rope that had been tied to her ankle sliding down with her. Trailing her eyes along the receding end of the rope, Clara finally realizes the other end left loosely around her own legs; the young woman too late to take them off as they tightly clasp around her bottom half. Even without what little strength she has left within her, the dead soldiers body proves too heavy for the scientist to fight back against and is dragged right out of the chamber along with her; desperately grasping the time orb before she could join the general in her unplanned descent.

Down from the towering laboratory’s very crown, the broken young woman feels the winds of the mesosphere bellow against her entire body as she descends back towards the earth below; her body tumbling through the air to give her a view of the planet waiting below. Using what consciousness she had left, the scientist finds the time orb falling out right next to the towers surface; the leaking battery still attached to the device gliding alongside it. When laying eyes upon her only hope of escape, Clara desperately swims through the air as she continues to fall down towards the planet; falling down into the stratosphere as she reaches her hands out to the mcguffin with each stroke. The combination of the raging winds and her beaten body makes it rather difficult to keep herself conscious; breathing as hard as she can as her vision blinks in and out of reality. But nevertheless, the young woman finally manages to grab hold of the precious orbs plastic surface; turning its screen over to her face as she finds it telling her how the device is ready to jump. Covering the screen with the palm of her hand, Clara uses whatever strength she had left to spare to push the front of the orb inward; the entire sphere emitting a powerful bright light that starts to envelope her arms.

In that brief moment before the light could consume the rest of her body, time and space around her seems to freeze all around her in but a single instant; the hovering woman gazing out to her side for her eyes to meet with her friend’s own; both Clara and Arthur staring at one another with tears welling in their eyes. From then on could only two words escape from her body in this chance encounter before the growing light could silence her; Clara weakly uttering out to her weeping friend: “I’m...sorry...” That apology is soon swallowed alongside her and the young man; both Arthur and Clara’s bodies disappearing under the glow as it continues to consume all that surrounds it; swiftly devouring the tower that stands beside it.

Down below in the dim streets of Mississauga, the platoon that stayed behind just finished cleaning up the rubble of the powerhouse’s broken remains; a good chunk of the crew huddled around three armored bodies that they pulled from the wreckage. A giant in pink, a tall thin one in green; and a small youth dressed in white; all three of them mourned by their comrades. Their darkened night is then enlightened by a powerfully bright light that shine upon the entire city, the entire squadron gazing up to discovering a blinding luminescence descending from the very heavens.

Out along the very end of a branch that stretches out from a massive tree, a dirt ridden elder looks out to the midnight sky that lay bare before him; a smile cracking between his cheeks as he takes in a deep breath of the cool nightly breeze. The pupils of his withered eyes glisten when the growing light pierces through the clouds that scrape above the dead oak; his warm smile remaining until he himself was consumed by the invading luminescence.

Nestled along the rural countryside of Southeastern Canada, a pair of Indian man share a swinging seat alongside their lovely daughter; enjoying the moment of peace as they gaze to the glistening stars that hang above their home. That moment of peace is sadly shortened when the little girl notices a small glow that encroaches closer to her and her family, the lass grabbing her dads attention and pointing out in the direction; both men finding the light threatening to engulf them and their humble home.

Along the very edge of the nations borders, a single chromatic home stands utterly beaten and destroyed from within; mere moments before it too will be swallowed by the light. The only thing left untouched being a single photo of a small man and a muscular woman left hanging on the wall.

Out on the other side of that very same wall, a man made from exposed flesh and torn metal stands atop a partially restored tower and starts out towards the country that lies beyond the barricade; both his artificial and organic eye staring out towards the glow that invades their shared skies.

That very same light shines straight down the holes that litter a great canyon along the side of the lake; shinning upon dozens of stalactites that make up an entire underground city; the people that dwell within these rocks gazing out of their windows and out towards the light that nears them all.

A small town left to rot in the middle of the irradiated nation is left abandoned with not a single soul left among the broken sprayed buildings and cracked suburban streets; nothing the rodents that remains scurrying all glare up to the sky as a beaming light approaches.

Out from the doors of a near ruined grocery store, a single man dressed in an apron and clown makeup comes out to look around the streets outside; his painted smile beaming when finally finding the small arachnid bear cub waiting for him at the side of the store. The man kneels down as the cub scuttles his way, petting the baby beasts head as it licks his cheeks. The two of them then witness the intense light that grows out from the cloudless midnight sky: the man holding the cub in a tender embrace as they await for the luminescence to take them.

A pile of ashes that bury a myriad of bone is left spread across the crack ground and the side of a forgotten farmhouse; not a single living thing left to observe the light that engulfs the land set before them.

Out from the tallest window in the tallest tower in what remains of Louisville, a lone muscular woman garbed in but a dirty cloak can do little but stare out upon a throne as the brilliant light approaches the entire city. The woman gazing away from the light and out to a pile of golden armor pieces that litter the corner of the room; a small smile cracks under the shadows of her hood as the glow reflects off the shinning gold.

The remains of a once secluded and unassuming town pulled out from the past now lays bare as dozens of mutated people all mindlessly wander along the glowing green streets; their numb minds only able to glare out towards the light that approaches from the horizon, ready to consume them all nonetheless.

The blinding light shines through the deformed and mutated tree’s that litter across miles on end; the figure of a smiling person left trapped within the heart of a massive tree remains ever grinning, even as the light above swallows the entire forest that surrounds him.

Along the edge of a deep crater that glows out radiation stood nothing but a quaint little home with nobody but an old man on the porch sitting utterly motionless as his head stares out to the illuminating horizon. A line of dried blood leads down from the back of a wooden chair and trails down right to its very bottom; a dried puddle of crimson left stretched out right underneath a red stained pistol.

In just a few short moments does the invading light expand to swallow both of the neighboring nations; soon to engulf the entire world in its glow. Despite swallowing the earth, the growing light refuses to stop at just the single terrestrial planet; its luminescence reaching out to the worlds that neighbor it as well. Even when consuming the entire milky way, the light refuses to cease growing as it engulfs entire galaxies within its luminescence; continuing to expand out towards the very edge of the universe. Eventually does the all consuming light finally erasing everything in this existence until absolutely nothing remained. Nothing…

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This story has been nearly two years in the making. I wanted to have a complete original story under my belt; something to look back to that wasn't just awful Wayside fanfiction, and though the beginning of this whole project was rough as all hell, I think it turned out well enough. I want to thank all of you who had stuck around from the very first chapter all the way to this story's last words; the desire to create and ease the burden of others is a path I wish to someday go on. To make creations in this world that will bring others happiness in this confusing and bleak existence, that is the what drives me to create, to write. I don't know if I'll ever reach that far; but I'll be damned if I can't bring entertainment to those who actually take the time and see the kind of stuff that I write, even if its something so small, silly, or unimportant. Again, thank you for this opportunity to share this experience with you.

#faded land #lillaxtrigger

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youmightaswell · 5 years ago

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LIVE

Vacationing at the TWA Hotel - AKA The Queens Riviera

After crossing Montauk off as my summer vacay spot due to bouts of both Lyme Disease from a tick, and more recently this summer, meningitis from West Nile Virus I caught from a mosquito bite at Gurneys, I decided to have a quick getaway in a less nature-y spot.

Enter: The Queens Riviera aka The TWA Hotel

There’s nothing I like more than black, white and red mid-century decor, the price was right and it is just a short cab ride from the Upper East Side. Sounded like the perfect recipe for a staycation.

A friend and I booked a room with two queens beds overlooking the runway. I figured if all else failed I could simply lay in my bed and stare at planes taking off all night like a true mental patient.

And while that was certainly fun, there is so much to like at the TWA Hotel that we almost didn’t have enough time to do it all.

Overall the stay was great and the hotel is super trippy and definitely an IG poster’s dream. However, there were some noticeable oddities and things that need to be fixed.

So here is a run down of the things the TWA got right and some it got very wrong.

RIGHT

- I arrived super early -- at 10:30am -- even though check-in isn’t until 4pm, but they had my room ready and sent me right up. I really appreciate when a hotel allows you to go to your room very early. The place is like a ghost-town in the hotel area so I assumed most rooms were empty. It was easy to get restaurant and bar reservations as well.

WRONG

- There are no bell boys or any help whatsoever with luggage. And normally that wouldn’t be such a hardship, especially because most people checking in aren’t staying more than a night or two, but the check-in area is super far from the room elevators and up stairs. There are two different wings - ones facing the runway and one not -- but both are very far while lugging bags. Not only that but after lugging a heavy suitcase up multiple stairs there is an extremely long way to the elevators up a red carpet that does not make it easy to pull a roller bag, especially when also carrying a duffle. I saw older people, and families staying after a long European trip, struggle for quite a while with no help offered. Our room was $350 which is about right for a luxury hotel and while the decor is indeed luxurious, the lack of service is decidedly not.

WRONG

- Service overall is a bit iffy. When I first made my online reservation I followed it up with a call directly to the hotel to see if guests were allowed to use the pool prior to 4pm check-in. The guy who answered the phone was barely paying attention and was giggling with someone else in the background. Finally he said he didn’t know and I could check when I got there. I tried to explain I wouldn’t arrive so early if I would be prohibited from waiting at the pool area. He was totally unhelpful and not knowledgeable. A few days before my arrival a friend posted on Instagram that the pool was closed and drained. So I emailed this time and got a great, quick response from a manager there. Pro tip: Do not call with questions, email. Upon checkout clerks were overwhelmed and didn’t seem to know how to use the system very well. My friend and I wanted to settle changes from our stay. We didn’t want to split them, but rather wanted to charge $103 on mine and $183 on hers. The clerk said it was not possible and we were there a good while until finally another clerk walked over to see what the trouble was and trained her.

RIGHT

- The hallways are adorable and everything is immaculate.You feel like you are on the set of a movie or back in time.

The room was small but clean and the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Jet Blue check-in area and runway were amazing.

WRONG

- The room comes with no closets or drawers. Even though we were staying just one night it was really annoying to have no place to put clothes, especially because the room is so small there is no place to keep two open suitcases without tripping over them and each other. I even called to see if we had somehow mistakenly been put in a day room (the hotel offers 10-6pm stays for those hoping to catch a plane and how just need to freshen up) and was told that there simply are no closets or drawers. Bizarre! I spoke to a Dutch family at the pool who said that the family of three had multiple bags and had been staying for two nights and the lack of closets was painful.

WRONG

- My goal in checking in so early on a Thursday was to spend as much time at the pool as possible. I got there at 10:30am and every one of the paltry 10 lounge chairs were taken. This was super frustrating because the chairs never became free, and TWA sells day passes for the pool for $25. So while the hotel itself is not crowded, there is a constant stream of people who head to the pool area and it is tiny. There is no place to sit even if you pay the $25 and people were forced to put down towels on the concrete or simply stand.

RIGHT

- Still, the pool was warm and fun. (Especially if you are gangsta like I am and bring your own float.) In fact, because there were no chairs I befriended a family and asked if I could use their young daughter’s chair while she swam. The girl initially had a fit even though her mother said sure because her daughter stayed in the water all day. But I took out the float, blew it up and offered it to her in trade for her chair. She was thrilled. It was sort of like using cigarettes in prison to get an extra honey bun. I’m street smart like that.

Pro-tip: Always BYOF - Bring your own float.)

The next morning I got to the pool at 9:15 and staked out two chairs. They were all filled by 10:45 again.

RIGHT

- The pool menu is small but really good. I appreciated it offered mostly healthy food and that prices were not astronomically high. In fact, I’d say the hotel got pricing right overall.

Food in the pool bar as well as in the Jean Georges restaurant, Paris Cafe, was synonymous with that of Manhattan eateries. Drinks ran about $16-$19 which are not cheap, but certainly within the range of how much one pays at a nicer bar or lounge. The quality of food and drink is top-notch as well. We ate salmon at Paris Cafe that I am still dreaming about. Both my friend and I mentioned it was the best salmon we had every had, The sauce that accompanied it was amazing and both sushi items were noteworthy as well.

RIGHT

- The Connie - a bar in a 1960s TWA jet was super fun. We dressed to impress but any dress code is acceptable all over the hotel.

WRONG

- Security is a bit off as well. Upon entering the pool area you are told to put all your stuff in a clear tote bag provided so they can see all your stuff. Yet, a friend came to visit us for the day, made it to us with his full backpack and was not even asked what room he was staying in or if he had a guest pass. Because you are sitting literally a few feet form the airport runway it seems security practices should be a bit more stringent. There was also a man with a big video camera who stood by the pool areas the whole time we were there filming places taking off and landing and videoing the check-in areas. While I”m sure he was there officially it did seem strange.

RIGHT

- The place is huge with so many fun areas to explore. With 512 rooms, there is ample seating indoors for triple all those guests even if at maximum capacity. There are great little rooms to snap pictures in and tons of areas to catch some quiet and relaxation.

WRONG

- That being said, the usage of space is bizarre and very off. The aforementioned pool area is tiny and yet it is one of the true highlights of the stay. And the roof the pool is on is shared with an eatery that takes up triple the amount of space the pool does. So while people were trying desperately to find somewhere to lounge by the pool there were tons and tons of empty tables that no one could use unless they had lunch reservations. The space would have made way more sense with at least triple the amount of pool lounge chairs and a greater pool deck area and way less bar/eatery space. One older guy entered in his swimsuit and was frustrated there were no lounge chairs at all and started yelling, “I paid $25 to stand for hours at a pool?”

Other areas of the property seem disproportionate as well. There is a 10,000- square-foot gym. It is literally insane. There is a full spin class room, about 25 medicine balls, and enough weights to keep 100 bodybuilders happy for days. It’s bigger than any City gym and is completely empty. We checked it out multiple times and there was at most two people in there. It’s a huge waste of space, didn’t offer any group classes in yoga or Pilates and is just way too much gym for a travelers hotel. There was a lone person staffing it.

RIGHT

- The gym does offer brand new ON Cloud Swiss sneakers to use complimentary while working out. Great idea seeing that travelers may not have packed gym footwear.

RIGHT

- The branding of the place is on point. Everything is immaculate (the hotel just opened two months ago so that is to be expected) and looks perfectly retro.

There is a fashion exhibit chronicling TWA flight fashions.

Classic cars line the entrance.

There is an aviation museum. A reading room.

RIGHT

- It was fun to see a bunch of people dressed in ‘60s garb. This is definitely the place to get your craziest vintage fashion some wear.

RIGHT

- By the gym is a gift shop and it offers amazing wares, all TWA branded. The prices are amazingly good, especially for a hotel shop. Huge beach towels are just $12, sweatshirts are about $40, even leather sneakers are just $65! There are lots of little gifts under $5 like airplane wings, pens, stickers, etc. What’s a bit odd is that they empty it out nightly and have to reset it up every morning. Again, a lone staffer manned it and no one working at the hotel seemed particularly engaged.

WRONG

- The bizarre use of space is further highlighted by these big empty areas or excessive seating areas and yet there is no children’s play area. Kids were running around at the pool and inside and overwhelmed parents seems to be at a loss of what to do with them. There is certainly more than enough space that is underutilized to offer a great playroom.

WRONG

- There is also no spa. Less gym space, more services please! Weary travelers would eat up a sauna, Jacuzzi, steam room and would love to book massages. The facility should also offer manicures, pedicures, waxing, etc. I was achy and tired after our long day and really wanted a massage or at least a foot rub. TWA, you let me down!

WRONG

There is no store onsite for basics. There is a tiny, unstaffed shelf that offers chocolate and tampons with a sign direction patrons to pay by check-in. Bizarre! My friend was getting a cough and had to walk into the Jet Blue terminal and go to a Hudson News to buy cough drops, nasal spray and other personal care items. It would be nice to have a shop in the actual hotel to sell a wide variety of magazines, pharmaceutical items, and things needed for air travel.

RIGHT

- Who would think watching planes take off all day and night would be so meditative and therapeutic? My friend and I are not aviation buffs but we quickly became mesmerized. We marveled at the intricate designs on different planes’ tails and were intrigued by seeing airlines we had never heard of.

WRONG

The vibe is just bizarre. Almost Lynchian. The congregation of such a weird mix of people can be jarring. At the restaurant for dinner there were people in gowns seated next to tourists in shorts and flip flops. In The Connie -- a bar made from a real 1960s TWA jet, there were fashionistas alongside toddlers and 10-year olds. The hotel seems to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder. What is it? Is it a luxury destination? Is it a hipster’s paradise? Is it a crash pad for weary travelers? The whole feel is very confusing and surreal.

WRONG

- I had ordered a car service to get there and the driver had no trouble finding it. He mentioned he had seen signs and always wondered what exactly it was. However, upon departure the same car service was late by nearly 15 minutes. I kept calling and they kept asking what I was wearing -- that the driver didn’t spot me. I kept trying to explain that even it is Terminal 5 in JFK I was not actually in the airport area. I was at the TWA Hotel. Obviously this is not the hotel’s fault but it would make a lot of sense to have a Taxi station by the parking lot for hotel guests. There is no way to hail a yellow cab from the hotel. If my car had not finally figured it out I would have had to get an overpriced Uber or tried to drag my luggage on the Air Train.

***

Overall we had a great time and hope the hotel works out some of its kinks. I just wonder if it could ever actually make enough money to actually profit. The renovations are so extensive I can’t imagine the revenue the spot brings in will ever even touch that. I made a bet with a friend that it would be sold, changed or out of business within two years. Only time will tell, but I do plan on doing another over-nighter next summer.

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endlessarchite · 6 years ago

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#145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have

This week we’re digging into a survey that reveals the top homebuyer regrets – as in what features their homes have that they ended up not loving (and the results may surprise you!). A new study also concluded some shocking-to-us things about millennial dads versus their baby boomer counterparts – and we have some big feelings about one aspect of the results. We’re also sharing a crappy situation (literally) at our beach houses, and the weird measures we’re taking to resolve it. Plus, more design norms from around the world and our picks for summer entertainment.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Since I’m not about to show you a bunch of bird droppings, in that photo above you can see the “bird city” behind the duplex fence that caused quite the mess on the duplex patio, outdoor furniture, and even the duplex itself. Even our cleaning lady marveled at how much “stuff” was on the windows.

Thankfully these decoy owls have encouraged them to stop doing their business in the duplex’s tiny backyard, and we’re grateful for the quick resolution.

We also grabbed a pack of these reflective bird deterrent discs, which actually don’t look half bad hanging from the trees. We even put some over at our pink house because we started to notice things were getting “spotty” over there too.

And if you missed our previous discussions about trying to prevent the deer from munching on our landscaping, check out Episode #99 and our recent update in Episode #142.

Game Time: Homeowner Hindsights

If you want to see more stats from that study we mentioned about homeowner regrets, you can check out the summary here.

We talked a lot about hardwood floors, and Sherry promised some links to posts about how miraculous it is that even super old damaged hardwoods can be shined up to look like new. Like the duplex floors below:

And the beach house floors – which are 100+ year old heart pine. This is them before…

And here are the very same floors after a few days of refinishing!

Also, if you’re curious what it’s like living through having your floors refinished, you can learn about the experience we had when we had our downstairs redone a few years ago.

Updates

Here’s the Business Insider article about the rationale behind the Charmin Forever Roll we discussed in Episode #143. Speaking of which, our friend was VERY excited about his prize for guessing who would reign at the end of Game of Thrones.

And speaking of things made for Millennials, you can hear our original discussion of things our generation is “killing” in Episode #92.

This Buzzfeed article summarizes the discussion of Millennials not using “scary weird” doorbells anymore because they just text when they’re at the door (and of course, there’s that Wall Street Journal article that was written about the trend back in 2017)

I especially loved this tweet that Buzzfeed highlighted, considering Sherry’s description of hiding when our doorbell rings.

Lastly, here’s the NY Post article claiming that “Millennial Dads Have Pathetic DIY Skills Compared To Baby Boomers” which was based on an Alarm.com survey.

And because we’re still a little surprised a third of households don’t own screwdrivers or a hammer, here’s a simple tool kit that’ll solve that for just $12. Sherry is still seriously disturbed over here.

Global Design Norms

Those are some of the photos I found when Googling “Dutch Stairs” like listener Erin suggested (source for top, source for bottom). I think I just got vertigo looking at them, so I can’t imagine actually scaling them!

I also mentioned that Amazon Key service that turns your garage into a smart garage that Amazon delivery folks can access to leave packages in (it comes with a security camera too!). It’s the high tech version of listener Allison’s in-house mail delivery norm in rural Vermont.

We’re Digging

Okay, so here are all those things that’ll help keep you busy and entertained over our podcast’s summer break.

First up, our friend Sabrina Soto’s new podcast “Redesigning Life with Sabrina Soto” which we’re interviewed on this week! You can find her show pretty much wherever you listen to ours.

If you missed Sabrina on our podcast, she was our very first interview waaaaaay back in Episode #2 (!!) and she was super candid about what it’s like to film a makeover show.

And in Episode #4 our second interview was with Orlando Soria, whose new show Unspouse My House is such a funny and fresh series for HGTV. You can watch a snippet of the show’s intro below (which legit made me spit out my drink). We’re so grateful that HGTV didn’t strip out the randomness and hilarity that is Orlando.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Orlando Soria (@mrorlandosoria) on Jan 14, 2019 at 4:53pm PST

And if you’re looking for a newsier podcast, we both loved The Dropout from ABC News, which tells the story of Elizabeth Holmes and how she duped the world with her healthcare startup Theranos (which I can’t hear without simultaneously thinking of a Thermos and the Avengers’ villain: Thanos). Anyways, it was a riveting story!

Lastly, I loved reading the WWII story Unbroken (it has over 25,000 5-star reviews and spent 4 years on the NYTimes Bestseller list!). It’s not a book I would’ve thought I’d get so engrossed in, but I was FULLY engrossed. So much so that I think I might dive into the author’s other big book, Seabiscuit.

And if anyone has seen the Unbroken movie, let me know what you think. I liked the book so much I’m worried the movie won’t measure up.

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Grove Collaborative for sponsoring this episode. Sign up at Grove.co/YHL and spend your first $20 to receive a FREE 5-piece Mrs. Meyers cleaning set!

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have appeared first on Young House Love.

#145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

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truereviewpage · 6 years ago

Text

#145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have

What’s New

Thankfully these decoy owls have encouraged them to stop doing their business in the duplex’s tiny backyard, and we’re grateful for the quick resolution.

And if you missed our previous discussions about trying to prevent the deer from munching on our landscaping, check out Episode #99 and our recent update in Episode #142.

Game Time: Homeowner Hindsights

If you want to see more stats from that study we mentioned about homeowner regrets, you can check out the summary here.

And the beach house floors – which are 100+ year old heart pine. This is them before…

And here are the very same floors after a few days of refinishing!

Also, if you’re curious what it’s like living through having your floors refinished, you can learn about the experience we had when we had our downstairs redone a few years ago.

Updates

And speaking of things made for Millennials, you can hear our original discussion of things our generation is “killing” in Episode #92.

I especially loved this tweet that Buzzfeed highlighted, considering Sherry’s description of hiding when our doorbell rings.

Lastly, here’s the NY Post article claiming that “Millennial Dads Have Pathetic DIY Skills Compared To Baby Boomers” which was based on an Alarm.com survey.

Global Design Norms

We’re Digging

Okay, so here are all those things that’ll help keep you busy and entertained over our podcast’s summer break.

First up, our friend Sabrina Soto’s new podcast “Redesigning Life with Sabrina Soto” which we’re interviewed on this week! You can find her show pretty much wherever you listen to ours.

If you missed Sabrina on our podcast, she was our very first interview waaaaaay back in Episode #2 (!!) and she was super candid about what it’s like to film a makeover show.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Orlando Soria (@mrorlandosoria) on Jan 14, 2019 at 4:53pm PST

And if anyone has seen the Unbroken movie, let me know what you think. I liked the book so much I’m worried the movie won’t measure up.

And lastly, a big thank you to Grove Collaborative for sponsoring this episode. Sign up at Grove.co/YHL and spend your first $20 to receive a FREE 5-piece Mrs. Meyers cleaning set!

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have appeared first on Young House Love.

#145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

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additionallysad · 6 years ago

Photo

#145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have http://bit.ly/2MN0zib

What’s New

Thankfully these decoy owls have encouraged them to stop doing their business in the duplex’s tiny backyard, and we’re grateful for the quick resolution.

And if you missed our previous discussions about trying to prevent the deer from munching on our landscaping, check out Episode #99 and our recent update in Episode #142.

Game Time: Homeowner Hindsights

If you want to see more stats from that study we mentioned about homeowner regrets, you can check out the summary here.

And the beach house floors – which are 100+ year old heart pine. This is them before…

And here are the very same floors after a few days of refinishing!

Also, if you’re curious what it’s like living through having your floors refinished, you can learn about the experience we had when we had our downstairs redone a few years ago.

Updates

And speaking of things made for Millennials, you can hear our original discussion of things our generation is “killing” in Episode #92.

I especially loved this tweet that Buzzfeed highlighted, considering Sherry’s description of hiding when our doorbell rings.

Lastly, here’s the NY Post article claiming that “Millennial Dads Have Pathetic DIY Skills Compared To Baby Boomers” which was based on an Alarm.com survey.

Global Design Norms

We’re Digging

Okay, so here are all those things that’ll help keep you busy and entertained over our podcast’s summer break.

First up, our friend Sabrina Soto’s new podcast “Redesigning Life with Sabrina Soto” which we’re interviewed on this week! You can find her show pretty much wherever you listen to ours.

If you missed Sabrina on our podcast, she was our very first interview waaaaaay back in Episode #2 (!!) and she was super candid about what it’s like to film a makeover show.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Orlando Soria (@mrorlandosoria) on Jan 14, 2019 at 4:53pm PST

And if anyone has seen the Unbroken movie, let me know what you think. I liked the book so much I’m worried the movie won’t measure up.

And lastly, a big thank you to Grove Collaborative for sponsoring this episode. Sign up at Grove.co/YHL and spend your first $20 to receive a FREE 5-piece Mrs. Meyers cleaning set!

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have appeared first on Young House Love.

#additionally sad home renovations

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buckygirl-fanfiction · 8 years ago

Text

Sparks Chapter 5

Pairing: Bucky(POV) X Reader(POV) ft. other members of the avengers team

Word Count: 3.6K

Summary: y/n goes clubbing with the girls and after viewing her snapchat story Bucky spots Hydra agents lurking. Bucky goes to y/n’s apartment to warn her. He brings her back to the tower and she spends the night at his apartment. They casually share a bed and Bucky has a night terror episode which he is embarrassed/ashamed about. y/n on the other hand isn’t scared or disgusted by her friends night terror. Their friendship gets stronger and Bucky starts to face new feelings about y/n.

A/N: This is a story about two people building a great friendship and then slowly falling in love. y/n is a strong, independent, and smart scientist. She meets Bucky when she wakes him up from cryo sleep and they become friends. This is going to have all the angst / best friends falling in love / fluff / drama / & eventual smut ;) that I can possibly fit in it. This fic is going to be looong! So far my document is like 66 pages. So editing is hard If you catch any grammatical or formatting errors let me know.

August 28, 2015

Bucky’s POV

It’s been almost 2 months since the incident and y/n told me she’s finally healed up enough to take me up on my offer to spar. We have been going out on morning runs for about three weeks now all orchestrated by Steve who is now my ex-running partner. I think the man is secretly very happy that i’m being more outgoing than I was 3 months ago when I first woke up. y/n is good for the soul. I think everyone could use a friend like her. She’s genuinely kind-hearted to everyone and never boring. Despite her kindness, the girl is surprisingly strong. She wasn’t kidding when she said she could kick ass. Which she is proving to me right now. We are at the gym in the tower on a mat. Her leg comes around and before I can move she knocks me to the ground. I do have to admit even though i’m going easy on her she’s knocked me down a couple more times than i’d like to admit to. She stands over me offering me a hand.

“Not bad y/n,” I say.

“Not bad? I was awesome,” she replies. She’s quick i’ve got to give her that.

“Again?” I ask.

“Eh, I’m getting kind of tired,” plus I have to be in the lab in like 20 minutes. She says checking her watch.

“Alright, we still on for our run tomorrow?” I ask.

“Yeah, but it’s saturday and I may be hung over so can we go at like 12 instead of 10?” She asks.

“Hung over?” I ask curiously?

“Yeah i’m going clubbing with some of the girls,” she says. “I would invite you but it’s strictly a girls night and I don’t think I can sneak you in. Well maybe if you curled your hair and I did your makeup” She says jokingly.

“As fun as that sounds, i’ll pass.” I say. We say our goodbyes and part ways as I watch y/n walk to the locker rooms to shower before going up to work. We’ve gotten a lot closer during our time together and i’m really starting to consider her a close friend.

…

Its around 1am and i’m in my room looking through my phone. I open the snapchat app that y/n introduced me to and go through her story. It’s a bunch of selfies of her, Wanda, Nat, Cho and a couple other girls I don’t know. y/n seems lively as ever and about 10 times drunker than usual. She also posted videos of her in the club dancing with flashing lights going off around her. I watch her entire story when I spot something out of place. I almost didn’t see it. It was just a glimpse and I had to replay her entire story again just to make sure. She’s in a crowded club surrounded by people sitting on a bar stool taking shots. Behind her in the distance in a very grainy video clip is a man. A very familiar looking man that I recognize. At first glance he seems like any other guy at a club wearing a blazer. But I knew him very well during my days at hydra, or at least I knew of him. I crossed paths with him in the late 90s. He was a headhunter of sorts. Hydra used to contract him out on recon missions to gather intel from high level government agents. His information gathering techniques weren’t as nice as simple question and answer time. It doesn’t take long to fill in the blanks. Wanda and Nat are high level field agents no way he’d go after them, plus going after them would involve infiltrating the tower which he can’t do. The other girls in the group are civilians, he wouldn’t care about them. Cho and y/n are the most likely targets. Working in the labs they would be the ones with the most information. I check the timestamp on the video and it was posted an hour ago. I quickly put out a SOS and the first person to arrive back at the tower is Tony. I explain the situation Tony does his usual tech stuff to run through video camera footage at and around the area of the club. I try to get any of the girls on their phones and fail. y/n’s phone keeps going to voicemail and so does Wanda’s while Nat and Cho don’t answer. y/n can take care of herself I know that, but Cho. Not to mention y/n’s probably off her game from the drinking which leads me to run through some scary possibilities facing both of them. Tony is tapping away at a keyboard along with two other agents on call tonight. After about twenty minutes of failure to contact them, Steve walks into the large security room with Nat and Wanda and says, “I found them, they just got back.”

“Whats going on?” Nat says.

“You had a tail tonight,” Tony says explaining the entire situation to them.

“Where is Cho and y/n?” I ask.

“Uh, they both got in an uber to go home,” Wanda says. “y/n’s phone died she caught a ride with Cho.”

Steve and I looked at each other, “You get y/n, i’ll get Cho,” Steve says. I run out to the garage and get on my motorbike speeding through the streets to y/n’s apartment. I’ve been there bored twice it’s not far just a 3 minute ride. I don’t want to draw attention to myself so I park a couple buildings away and check my surroundings. If he’s going after y/n I don’t want to spook him away. I want to catch him now and take him in. I stealthly make my way up y/n’s fire escape, she’s on the 7th floor. I slowly and quietly open a window and go through it. I’m in her bedroom it’s empty. Maybe she’s not home yet. Then I hear someone walking towards the room. It’s a woman’s steps, I hear the clicking of her heels. It’s dark in her room and i’m still standing by the window right next to the door.

y/n’s POV

I’m really tipsy and i’m praying I make it to my bed without falling. I throw the key on the table by the door and lock my door. I wobble towards my bedroom. Unzipping the back of my dress as I walk. Its tight and uncomfortable but man did I look good tonight. But i’m too lazy to take it off now. So, I settle for just unzipping the back. I walk into my bedroom and make my way to the bed. Wait something’s not right. Then I realize there’s a figure standing next to my window blocking some of the moonlight.

Bucky’s POV

y/n doesn’t see me at first but then she does and she’s quick even when she’s drunk and she turns around throwing a hard blow to my neck. Ouch. I reach back around her grabbing her arm and shoulder. I wrap my arm around her pulling her back towards me. I quickly cover her mouth with my hand. Her back is pressed to my front and I can feel that the back of her dress is unzipped. I whisper, “it’s me, Bucky.” Before she can say anything we hear another noise coming from the kitchen a clang, someone’s knocked something over. She stops moving for a second. “I think someone's in here with you, we think he followed you.” My hand is still over y/n’s mouth and she mumbles against it. “Shh” I say in response. I see a shadow moving towards the door and I get ready to attack. y/n paws at my hand and the entirely dramatic moment ends in a white cat walking through the bedroom door looking up at us with a meow and then proceeding to walk past us towards y/n’s bed. y/n pushes off me and I release the hand over her mouth.

“What the fuck Bucky the only person who's in here is you,” she says glaring at me in the dark. I walk over and turn the lights on. I walk through the apartment double checking to make sure no one else is in here. “Bucky!” she says following me.

“I didn’t know you had a cat,” I say the only two times i’d come around here I didn’t notice a cat.

“I don’t it’s my neighbors she visits sometimes,” y/n says still glaring at me. “Why the fuck are you here? You scared the daylights out of me.”

y/n’s POV

“Cho,” he says before pulling out his phone and dialing someone. “He’s not here, did you get to Cho’s?” I walk over to him and rest my head along side his to hear who he was talking to on the phone. In heels i’m almost as tall as he is. I can faintly hear what sounds like Steve’s voice on the other side of the line.

“We intercepted her Uber before she got home, I picked her up right now. She’s safe.” Something happened to Cho? No, I think to myself. Well she’s with Steve now. What was going on? My brain felt fuzzy and my eyes were tired. I was leaning my head against Bucky’s right hand where he was holding the phone to his ear. I was trying to better hear what was going on, on the other side of the line.

“Okay, good i’m with y/n now. I’ll meet you back at the tower.” Bucky says before hanging up. He turns towards me and our faces are millimeters apart, I look up at him and he says, “you smell like vodka.” I smack him right on the back of his head with my palm. “Ouch, what was that for?” he says with puppy dog eyes.

“Of course I smell like vodka I’ve been drinking it all night. Now tell me what’s going on.” I say.

“I promise I’ll tell you everything once we are back at the tower,” he says looking around. “No first go pack a bag you’re going to need it.”

“No,” I say taking a stand, well a metaphorical stand because I don’t think my legs can hold out any longer so I take a seat on the sofa. “tell me whats going on,” I demand.

“Fine I’ll do it for you,” he says making his way to the bedroom. I’m way to out of it to follow him and try to stop him. So I narrow my eyes at him and steadily hold my position on the sofa.

Bucky’s POV

I walk into her bedroom, the white cat is still comfortably situated on her bedspread. I open her closet and find a tan backpack and grab it. I grab along with it some jeans and a couple t-shirts. I walk to her dresser and find her interesting lingerie collection. No time for comments, I chide my thoughts and shove some undies into the bag along with a couple bras. I walk over to her bathroom grab her toothbrush. I walk back out to the living room put her laptop into the bag and her chargers and zip it up. Her eyes on burning holes into me as I toss her the bag. “Come on let’s go,” I say.

“I’m not moving till you tell me what’s going on. What happened to Cho?” She says. She looks tired but still amazing, I haven’t seen her this dolled up since… well ever. She looks a lot different than the y/n I see everyday.

“You’re stubborn when you’re drunk,” I say. She answers me with silence. I sit down across from her on the wooden coffee table and put my hands on the side of her knees. “We, the team and I, think someone followed you to the club. Some I know from my Hydra days. It was only reasonable to assume he was after either you or Cho. Now come with me back to the tower before we have a nasty run in with a superspy headhunter and i’ll explain everything to you in detail.”

She gets up and turns around, “zip me up.” I zip up her dress and she turns back around facing me, “thanks.” She sighs and then leans over grabs the backpack and puts it on. She walks over to the door slipping her heels off and slipping on a pair of sneakers. “Let’s go,” she says grabbing her keys and phone off the table. I follow her out. Down the stairs and out to my bike. Crap my bike, I realize I should have brought my car. A motorcycle ride with a drunk girl not a good idea. Almost as if she can read my mind she says, “I’ll be fine, i’ll just… I don’t know close my eyes.” I get on and she gets on behind me wrapping her arms around my chest tightly. It’s only a short 3 minutes ride and we are in the garage.

y/n’s POV

It’s a short ride but it still scrambled my brain about 10 times more on top of the being woozy already from drinking. The bike slowly comes to a stop and my body is still pressed flush against Bucky and i’m fighting the urge to throw up. My cheek feels cool resting against his leather jacket. We sit there in silence for about 2 more minutes like this.

“y/n,” he says. “Are you okay?”

“Mmmmm,” I moan slowly peeling myself off his back and getting off the bike. The urge to barf has subsided but my head's still spinning.

“Want me to carry you?” he says. I can’t tell if he is teasing or genuinely concerned.

Either way I say, “No, I am perfectly capable of walking thank you,” and make my way towards the elevators slowly. We ride up to the security floor and find Nat, Wanda, Steve and Tony all scanning through security footage and a equally hungover Cho sitting on a chair staring up at the ceiling. I walk towards her and take a seat next to her. “You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says weakly. Tony explains the situation so far. Agents are out at both our appartments keeping an eye out to see if any sketchy figures show and Tony is trying to trace the Hydra agents footsteps from the club through security footage. I honestly stopped caring what was happening after I saw Cho was okay but I do my best to listen to the progress reports. About a hour later Wanda and Cho leave to go to crash in her room. Whilst Steve is hot on the trail of the Hydra agent with Nat. Somehow no matter how much Nat drinks she’s still at the top of her game. Tony’s facial recognition program picked up the Hydra agent, known as Maddox, running a red light about 20 minutes away from here. Nat and Steve went to investigate while Tony runs point from the security room. I want to know what’s happening so despite Wanda’s offer to stay with her I volunteer to stay in the security room to keep myself updated. Around 40 minutes in I’m sound asleep, my head against a desk.

Bucky’s POV

It’s almost 4am and Steve and Nat just called it quits on tracking Maddox the man was good, definitely good enough to avoid security cameras. y/n was sound asleep on a security desk when Tony called Steve and Nat back in from the field.

“Looks like she’s out,” Tony said pointing to y/n.

“Yeah, i’ll get her to bed,” I say. I grab the backpack she dropped and put it over my shoulder. I walk over to y/n and slowly and carefully lift her up from the chair she’s on. I walk towards the elevator and make sure not to wake her as I carry her. But halfway through the ride wakes up and squints her eyes at me.

“Put me down,” she says in a dry voice. She strong and she's stubborn and in the couple weeks i’ve known her i’ve come to realize she hates looking weak. Even if that means accepting help from others.

“No, sometimes you have to accept the fact that you need help y/n. You can’t do everything alone.” I say.

“You’re one to talk,” she mumbles back. I walk to my apartment and sit her down on my bed.

“I’ll take the sofa,” I say making my way to the door.

“Don’t be such a baby, we are two grown adults. We can share a bed Buck,” she says. If it wasn’t so dark i’d say she was rolling her eyes. She slips off her shoes and digs through her backpack. “You forgot to pack pajamas,” she says.

“Would this work?” I say walking over to my nightstand and tossing her one of my grey t-shirts.

She grabs it and says, “turn around,” I hear the distinct sound of her unzipping her dress and tossing it on the floor. Then I hear the sound of my covers. “Okay you’re good,” she says. She’s cuddled up on the right side of my bed and I don’t have the heart to tell her that the right side is usually where I sleep so I just take the left. She drifts off before me and i’m left facing new emotions that I don’t think I’m ready to face. So I put them away and bury them deep down.

y/n’s POV

I hear a pained moan that pulls me out of my sleep. I look at the bedside clock but it’s not there. What? Wait i’m not in my bed. The events of last night come back to me and then I turn to see Bucky covered in sweat tossing in his sleep mumbling something. I rub my eyes and reach over to shake him awake. I barely touch him before he grabs my wrist and pins it down above my head. He is awake, or not I don’t know. But his eyes are open and they are frantically staring down at me filled with fear. He’s half on top of me and he’s heavy. I almost knee him but then I stop myself and realize he is probably having some sort of night terror. Instead I talk him out of it, “Bucky, wake up” I whisper. “It’s me y/n,” slowly he snaps out of his episode and recognition fills his eyes. Then what can only be described as once again fear.

“Shit, i’m so sorry y/n,” he begins what I can tell is going to be a very long winded apology and I’m just way to sleepy to hear it.

Instead I say, “Can you get me some water?” He jumps up and in a few seconds he is back with a glass of water, which i’m very grateful for. I drink the entire thing and set the glass on the nightstand. I look across the room to find a clock which reads 6.54am. I look back up in the dark to find Bucky still standing in front of me at the side of the bed. I can already tell what he’s feeling. And as much as I’d like to have a long conversation at 7am in the morning about insecurities. I’m hungover and tired so I simply just say, “you can lie back down. I don’t bite.” To which I get no response. There only one way i’m going to get him back in bed so I just say it. I say it even if I don’t mean it because I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable or bad about the episode he had just had. “Bucky, i’m hungover and sleepy and i’m going to be honest i’m a little scared because some Hydra maniac is after me. So can you just get back in bed because I really don’t want to be alone right now.” I move over to the left side of the bed and stare at him. He doesn’t say anything instead he just slips back in under the covers and I drift back asleep.

Bucky’s POV

That’s when I knew I was in trouble. When she sleepily uttered those words. I recall them while staring at the ceiling it’s 7.03am and her breathing has slowed back down indicating that she was fast asleep: “I’m a little scared because some hydra maniac is after me. So can you just get back in bed because I really don’t want to be alone right now.” I remember it word for word. And I knew it was all a lie when they came out of her. I’ve know y/n long enough to know she isn’t scared of many things and even if she was she doesn’t like to admit it. And she definitely isn’t scared of Maddox attacking her while she’s in a secure tower. She said it because she wanted me to feel comfortable, she said those words to let me know that my little episode earlier hadn’t bothered her. And that’s when I knew I was in trouble. All those feelings I buried only a couple hours earlier came bubbling up to the surface. And boy was I in trouble. This girl who sleeps peacefully next to me this very second. This girl who hates asking for help or admitting to fear. Just lied to spare my feelings then proceeded to fall asleep peacefully, she wasn’t scared or disgusted, and that was beautiful. She turned in her sleep, her back was to me now. She was on the other end of the bed and I was so tempted to reach out and touch her. Just to make sure she was real and not some grand illusion. I had to make sure. I reached out and poked her shoulder very gently to feel the soft material of my t-shirt and pulled my finger back immediately.

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