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babblydrabbly · 3 years ago

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Dinner and a Movie (Sub!Rick Flag x Reader) Smut

𝚁𝙵𝙱 𝚂𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙵𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍: Nervous First Date 𝙿𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐: Rick Flag x Plus-sized F!Reader; Reference to past Rick Flag x June Moone 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 5k 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: Language. Alcohol. Food. Smut. Kissing. Touching. Hand job. Auralism. Praisekink. Fingering (f recieving). Penetration (m/f). Sub!Rick :) 𝙰/𝙽: Oneshot. I'm on a fluff kick and really proud of this one. Somehow, I'm even softer for this man when I'm full of rosé. And if you saw my post from the other day, you know why I had his silly little hat on the brain now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Thank you to the lovely @loverhymeswith for beta reading. Anyway, sit back and have a soft date with Rick Flag <3 𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: Lemon My Rick Flag Bingo Masterlist || My Masterlist

𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 @rickflagbingo

tags: @reysorigins @knivesareout @lunarxeclipse @melody-death @lorecraft @lacontroller1991 @lunaticsandidiots @heart-0n-fire @deadangeluniverse @loverhymeswith @nerdysuperchick

Rick hasn't done this in awhile.

It’s never happened to Rick before.

But he knows it’s your cadence, your calm demeanor. It’s how you ground the others in the face of danger all around them, especially Rick. Your voice comes through the comms with a level command that puts him at ease and distracts him all at once.

You’re one of Argus’s operations coordinators. When it’s not Amanda Waller herself taking charge of the more pertinent missions, it’s you and a select few who step up to the plate. But you in particular- your level-headedness that never breaks or slips into a hollering fury- it’s hypnotic. At this point it’s almost Pavlovian the way you take over the comms when the mission shifts over to your expertise and Rick knows he’s in good hands. He feels comfort and support and your steady guidance all at once.

And it had started to become a major problem, workplace wise. Because after a while, Rick knows he wants you more than a colleague should.

But with a demanding agency like Argus. There was never any time. You were just as busy as Rick before and after an operation. And he didn’t just want a fling. He needed more of you, outside the war room walls, and he needed you badly.

He’s up in comms often enough. He’s caught your glances. Catches them with his own tentative smiles when no one else is looking. He knows it’s not just in his head. You speak in his ear with distinction on missions. Not just because he’s team leader. They’re extra words of comfort. And they draw Rick Flag like a siren song.

You confirm his theory one day as all the analysts talk shop around the operations table. You move toward Rick’s chair silently, until finally he glances down at his elbow and sees you’ve slid a folded Argus memo slip over to his coffee mug without a word. You keep your eyes on the meeting with patient ease. Afterward, Rick pulls the slip out of his windbreaker while he’s alone in the elevator. He bites back a smirk. In your neat scrawl, your personal number.

You couldn’t meet in person, but the two of you could start the conversation.

Rick soon learns there’s a different side to you over text. Where your interactions in person are always professional and to the point, your messages to Rick were sharp, witty, and gave him everything he’d hoped for. He hopes that he, too, gets his own point across. He doesn’t have your way with words, but you never seem to mind it.

[You]

I need a drink.

You send during a particularly rowdy pre-ops meeting. John and Emilia are beginning to shout about the best point of infiltration, while the other minor analysts cower with information at the ready. Across the room, you look neutral, but he can tell. You’re bored at the back and forth; Rick’s learned you’ve got a poker face to rival his own. He sniffs idly, reaching to rub his brow as he sneaks a glance down at his phone under his desk.

[Rick] If these two stop hollerin any time soon I might actually be able to take you out one of these days.

He hits send with bated breath. In fact, he spares himself from a glance in your direction where he hopes you’re typing from behind your clipboard.

Rick’s break up with June had been rough. Shortly after Midway, or rather, despite everything that they'd gone through together in Midway, June blindsides Rick Flag with the talk. It wasn’t him, it was her. He keeps a tight lid on his devastation for months. It had been more than a year since then. But although you joined Argus after the Suicide Squad had developed into a permanent operation, he knows you’ve heard the rumors.

Colonel Rick Flag kicks ass in the field. But keeping his woman happy? The score was widely known. Rick sighs through his nose and flicks his eyes over the room full of desk jockeys. Gossipy fucks.

Rick swallows thickly after the meeting when Waller pulls you and the other coordinators into her office.

He furrows his brow when he looks down at his phone again.

You don’t shoot him back a text, but a file. Rick opens it and sees the operations schedule for everyone over the next month or so. You’ve highlighted the rows with your name and his. It’s clear to see you’ve figured out where your rare and fleeting days off have matched.

Next weekend.

The whole weekend, actually.

Rick sits up in his seat, a little too eagerly, and a little nervous all of a sudden to boot.

Shit- you were lining it right the hell up, weren’t you? A real date night. With drinks in town and maybe dinner. Well he’ll be damned.

Friday night it is.

Rick drags his fingers through his hair, brows knitted together at his reflection in the driver's side window of his truck. He puts his baseball cap back on, then takes it off again, repeating the swipe of light brown locks from his forehead. No, that doesn’t seem right either. Rick considers moving his hair down to the side rather than straight back.

Aw, hell.

When he yanks the cap on and off a third time he huffs, finally tossing it back inside the vehicle all together.

He swears under his breath when his phone buzzes in his back pocket. Rick makes his way to the large garage elevator as he checks your text.

[You] Here. By the fountains.

He'd arrived thirty minutes early, and somehow he was already making you wait.

The Promenade in town is always busy on Friday nights. The storefronts glittered and trees flickered with lights, the tables and chairs outside of each restaurant packed with people. Rick never had a reason to find himself here, but it was mutual ground for the two of you to approach each other for the first time outside of work. It's easy to find the large fountain pools the two of you are meant to meet at.

Rick's got on a plain crew shirt and a bomber jacket, his black jeans new and still pressed straight from when he bought them earlier that week— Just for this. You'd both decided to keep it casual— Keep it real— Much to his relief.

How many weeks would this make it? Nine? Ten? Nearly three months of your back and forths over your phones. Tonight’s new territory for Rick Flag.

Rick had moved on since June, of course. Even downloaded a dating app with only slight apprehension. His first three real matches had ended up being single dates— Hook-ups to be exact. Hook ups he could handle. But this?

Ah shit. Shit shit shit. There you were- you weren’t in your normal comms room attire. You pull a cardigan over yourself against the evening chill, and your blouse flutters a little when you turn. Rick looks you up and down and swallows.

You're standing by the fountain's edge, your eyes searching the people passing by your vicinity. Rick doesn't even have to wave to catch your attention. When you meet his eye, he inhales sharply, the reality of tonight with you finally concrete in front of him.

You brighten. "Hey," you greet first.

Rick stops before you, his hands slipping into his jacket pockets for a moment before he quickly takes them back out. For some bizarre reason, like he’s about to formally meet a peer, his first instinct is to shake your hand. He catches himself before he raises his arm. What was he, stupid?

"Hey." Rick remembers to say with a nod.

You chuckle. "No flag hat?" Your eyes flit over his hair and face. You can hardly see the top of his head from where you stand close to him. Before he can answer, you reach forward and take his torso in a firm hug, ripping the bandaid off. You immediately note the way he smells and feels— Clean and warm and firm.

Rick jerks his hands out of his pockets— Which had nervously retreated— again. He returns the gesture with some surprise.

He envelopes you in his arms, and when he leans down his voice is right beside your ear when he smiles back, "Figured you hated it so much I should just leave it at home."

You pull back with a grin now. Rick sported his American flag cap inside HQ like a second skin. You brought it up often, encouraging that he shouldn't hide his head of pretty hair underneath it all the time. Well, teased it, was more apt.

[You] What is it with 40 year old men and baseball caps?

[Rick] Hey. What's my age got to do with it?

[You] Nothing :) You just really take the whole 'Flag' thing to heart, huh

"I don't hate it." You say, rolling your eyes. And Rick wants to breathe a sigh of relief at how easily the two of you slip into the banter you’ve come to exchange. But it’s one thing to text. It’s another to hear your voice, relinquished from your duties in the comm room, your smile as bright and light to match. You make it obvious you’re in a good mood, and the tension in Rick’s broad shoulders ease.

Now, if only he could hear you better in this damn bar he picked out.

It’s just a short stroll away. The area is warm and vibrant and relaxed. You take a seat at a tall table, the cool night air drifting in through the wide open windows. Your feet dangle on the seat while Rick sits with one foot on a rung, one foot on the ground. Together you order several tapas plates and a pair of drinks to start, and you chuckle when Rick orders himself a Bourbon and Branch.

“What?” He says above the din. You take a sip of a margarita glass rimmed with salt, and Rick watches your pink tongue dart out softly over your lip to catch a piece of it on the rim.

“I’m surprised you order them with water.” You snort. Rick smiles. You loved to tease him.

But on a weekend, the bar is so packed and only gets louder. Finally, after another drink, Rick picks up his stool and moves it closer, perpendicular to you. You grin.

“That better?” He murmurs at you, no longer needing to shout. You feel warmth spread through you from your chest to your toes- partly because of the tequila, but mostly because of the way Rick’s knee presses into yours. The two of you conspire together this way, your cheeks nearly pushing together. Goosebumps spread under his collar at the way you turn to speak directly into his ear, your breath like citrus and mischief at once. You can’t know how much he wants you in his ear in and out of work.

“Here.” You encourage Rick to try something else besides straight liquor tonight. Moving the straw out of his way, you make to pass the glass to him. But instead of taking it, Rick folds his large hand over yours and brings the rim to him. His bottom lip is warm as he presses it to the edge of your thumb. He takes a long pull of the drink and you watch the way his Adam’s apple bobs with each swallow. In return, Rick Flag watches you flush. A thrill passes through him. At the way he can capture your full attention with a simple, physical gesture.

“Not bad.” He muses.

At the movies, the two of you have more luck. He picked the bar, but you picked the flick. When you reach the empty theater Rick wonders if you’ve done it on purpose. It’s an older movie, nearly completely cycled out of showings, and when you get to the top row, there’s no one there to bother the two of you way in back. In your defense, you point out that the two of you never had time to see movies, and maybe you were in luck, catching this last showing.

Except that to Rick’s smug satisfaction, it’s a complete and utter dud.

The artsy display on screen is more… interpretative than you anticipated. And in between the long stretches of silence and droning dialogue, you find your eyes drifting back over to Rick after thirty minutes or so.

He leans into you, chin in hand. Before he can ask if he can make fun of one of the dullest things he’s ever seen, you’re beating him to the punch. You overestimate the distance, and when you whisper into Rick’s ear, your lips brush over the shell, sending a shiver up the Colonel’s spine. “Okay if we talk through this one?”

Christ was it ever. He smirks, a little more alert now. Rick sits up and lifts the arm rest between the two of you, slipping his arm around your shoulders and pulling you closer. You go back and forth, making fun of the dramatic characters with champagne problems. But Rick’s mostly focused on your breath in his ear and your hand on his as he squeezes your waist until the very end.

Finally, the Promenade clears more by the time you’re let out. You and Rick stroll slowly to the end, past a few other couples keeping the night going. Rick can’t help but feel his chest puff out a little when you slip your arm boldly into his, moving closer as the two of you come to a stop by the fountain from earlier.

“You parked in the garage?” He nods over the building across the street, hoping to extend your stroll even further. That and he wasn’t gonna let you walk back to your car alone, that was for sure. But you shake your head. “The street actually. Free overnight.”

Rick cocks a brow, a sly smirk forming. “And why’s that?” He murmurs, playing dumb.

You grin up at Rick. When you tug at the edges of his open jacket he leans down without resistance, meeting you halfway as you push up on your toes. You slot your lips against Rick’s in a warm, chaste kiss, a hum escaping you as he slips both his strong arms around your waist. He pulls you flush to him with ease. The two of you stand there, learning the new sensation of each other’s mouths. Rick had gotten so familiar with the words that left yours over the months, and now he was eager to entice all the sounds out of you left unexplored.

You both agree on Rick’s truck. He’s sobered up- especially after such a sobering movie, he teases you. You’re getting there but, ever the strategist, you know it’s safer to pick the towering soldier over yourself and your little coupe.

When you slip into the passenger side of the truck, you let out a small ‘oop’ when you accidentally sit on something.

Rick glances over when you yank the offending object out from under you.

“Aha! You did bring it!” You burst, waving the flag cap at him. Rick snatches it from you sheepishly.

“Yeah, yeah, alright.” He mutters through his teeth, smothering his grin. He tosses it in the back, and in one fluid motion, Rick reaches up to take your face in both his hands, pulling you in for another kiss. It’s deeper and filled with more passion, now that Rick has no doubt in his mind that you want this as much as he does.

There’s no middle console. Just the smooth upholstery. You both slide over the space until you’re pressed together again, your hands moving to explore one another with a little more privacy. You rake your fingers over his chest and abdomen, humming as you appreciate every hard line. Rick too, wanders your curves. And your heart flutters at the way he runs his touch along your soft sides, fingers making contact with the skin beneath the hem of your blouse.

In truth, Rick isn’t the only one who hasn’t done this in awhile. You, like him and nearly everyone at Argus, pour most of your life into its demanding operation. You had been content with evening drinks in groups and the occasional lunch with some of the other agents; But your eyes and ears had always been on the lookout for Rick Flag. He was a solemn, polite man around you, despite the fact you knew he was more gruff with the squad and other operatives. His tentativeness caught your attention after just a few missions. But what you appreciate most was that he seemed to truly listen to you. On the field, and off.

You chuckle breathlessly when you realize all these months of flirting have led up to not much talking now. Rick hums deeply in question as his hands slip under your shirt, his rough fingers scratching pleasantly against the small of your back. He busies himself with kisses along your neck and you gasp at the way his lashes flutter along your jaw.

“You trying to get me to fool around in your little pick up truck, Flag?” You tease in his ear. He grins against your pulse. A heat rises in Rick’s cheeks, out of your view, and he knows he can’t blame it on the alcohol anymore. Your timbre runs right through him, warm and smooth like honey.

“You don’t think it’s little.” He goads.

You scoff, pushing at his shoulder as he chuckles. But it soon dissolves into a moan when you nip at his earlobe, and Rick’s hold on you stiffens. You marvel in the deep sound you elicit so easily from such a large man. It goes straight to your core, and you curiously do it again as your hand wanders down between his thighs. You run your finger along his inseam until you’re met with what you’re looking for. Rick’s length is thick and straining under your light grasp. – Not little was right. He pauses from kissing your collar bone.

“That for me?” You purr.

Rick’s forehead falls atop your shoulder. “Been needing you all night, darlin’.”

You keep your mouth on the shell of his ear, feeling how hot it’s growing between your lips as you lick and kiss him languidly there. All the while, you stroke Rick through the fabric of his jeans, your own sex hot and wet and wanting. “The night’s not over, Colonel.”

Rick captures your lips with his with more fervor than ever, his fingers pushing through your hair to cup the back of your head to his. You squeeze your thighs together in your seat with a soft moan.

It takes everything he’s got to tear away from you. You buckle up with amusement as Rick puts his hand on the back of your headrest and reverses out of the garage without wasting another minute.

It’s his truck, but it’s your apartment. Your place is much closer than base, just a few blocks away from the Promenade. And Rick will be damned if he’s waiting to roll through two sets of security checkpoints and a long walk up to the barracks to make you his.

You don’t bother with the living room lights, stumbling backwards into your apartment as Rick pulls you in close again. He breaks apart long enough to nod to the couch, “Here?” He murmurs down at you. Your knees hit the edge of the seat but you shake your head, your noses brushing. Your head spins with the way his hard length is pressing into your waist, the scent of your familiar apartment mixing with the utterly unfamiliar and intoxicating scent of Rick Flag. You grin as you continue your walk backward to your bedroom. You slip your hands around Rick’s belt and deftly begin relieving him of it.

“Easy there, cowboy.” You tease him as he fumbles for the doorknob.

The yellow glow of the street lamp outside is enough light. Rick slips his jacket off and lets it fall to the floor as you do the same with your cardigan. You yank the hem of his shirt out of his pants eagerly, and you both tumble onto your comforter before it’s up and over his head. Rick tosses it aside.

He takes a moment to look at you laid out and breathless, your legs wedge between his thighs. Rick then leans down, takes the moment to trail kiss after kiss up your body, and you watch as the sharp geography of his back muscles flex under your touch in the low light. When he reaches the swell of your breasts, you cup his face in your hands and drag him up to meet yours, the need to taste him again overwhelming.

When your name leaves his lips like a plea, Rick drops his hips down to roll against yours. You moan when you feel his cock twitch through all your bottom layers.

“We’ve still got too many clothes on.” You point out astutely. And Rick Flag can’t agree more. He buries his face between your breasts once again, mouthing at your cleavage as he reaches down to yank your button blouse open in one simple tug between his fists. The buttons fall onto the hardwood floor off to the side with a stunning clatter.

“Rick!”

He’s pulling your bra down, taking a nipple into his mouth with ravenous abandon as he thrusts against your thigh again. “‘Said I need you, darlin’. I’m burnin’ up.” He growls.

Your hands find the button on his pants. When you pull his waistband down, his cock springs free, falling heavily in your grasp.

“Mm need you too,” You whisper in his ear. “I need you, Rick.”

The man groans, peppering your neck with kisses. You pump your hand around his hot length once and he rolls his hips into your palm without hesitation.

Rick falls back on his knees and guides your legs up. He makes quick work of your pants, a happy smirk evident as he slides them up off your legs. He kisses your calf slowly, your knee, each open-mouthed kiss sending a shiver through you. Rick puts himself between your legs until your knees are hitched over his strong arms, and he leans back down over you to capture your lips once more. You keep stroking him as he shucks the last of his clothes off, leaving you both bare and ready. Finally, you line him up with your entrance, already so wet with want. You both shudder as he slides into your cunt.

“Oh, fuck, Rick.” You grab his broad shoulder as he sinks into you, your other arm wrapping around the back of his head. You press your cheek to his, your breath hot in his ear and in his head. “Oh, please, I need it. Need you to fuck me.”

Rick whines, his deep voice hitching when he pushes the last of himself inside. You think you almost can’t take all of him, until he slowly presses down and bottoms out. You wrap your legs around his waist, dragging your nails down his back. You stretch around him, your hips eagerly moving to feel that hot slide of friction. He gives you another long moment, until you’re rolling your hips again. You thrust yourself on Rick’s cock with a whimper, and the move ignites the fire you know is lying in wait. Rick swears into the pillow beneath your head.

“Feel so good.” You croon. Rick begins thrusting, mouth latching onto your neck as he braces his arms on either side of the bed. You’re soft and warm and heavenly beneath him, your core molding around him with every thrust so tightly Rick quickly finds himself lost in you.

Despite the fact he can’t seem to keep his eyes open, his breath heavy and gone against your skin, you marvel at his stamina. You continue to whisper in his ear, extracting one desperate, helpless sound from the Colonel after the other. He’d last forever if you told him to. Come right then and there with a single word, if that’s the command you poured into his ear. Rick slips a forearm under your lower back and hikes you up as he keeps fucking you. As if drawing you closer could let him possess you even more- every inch of skin sliding against skin bringing him undone. You moan. You arch your back now, meeting his thrusts at a new angle that hits you til you’re crying out with every breath. “Yes- Just like that. Yes- yes- yes–”

You scramble to keep your hold on his shoulder. “Touch me,” You beg him, “Touch me, Rick, please?’ Rick nods frantically, reaching down between you. You cry out when his thumb meets your swollen clit. Quick, slick circles glide over you. Heat blooms across your cheeks. “Rick, Rick, oh please make me come.”

Rick obeys. His only reply is his breathless, blissed-filled panting. He’d do fucking anything for you in this moment. Follow any command. It’s just as he’s out in the field, in the dark, and your voice is the only thing that’s gonna save him. Your walls squeeze him tight as you come, your mouth right in his ear as you scream lightly, your arms clinging to him in ecstasy– everything he’s needed since he knew he needed you.

Rick comes before you’re even done, joining your breathless pleas with a combination of a shudder and a groan. He punches his hips, once, twice, as you come down, his spend filling you up with a delicious heat.

Rick nearly collapses onto you. Careful not to crush you at the last second with one arm, he props himself up over your prone body, his legs slotting with yours.

“Jesus Christ,” He pants. His face disappears into the crook of your neck again. You take a moment to catch your breath, your fingers pushing through Rick’s hair gently with a smile. Rick nuzzles your neck before placing a kiss on your jaw.

You capture his lips softly, the kiss a slow and tender thing. You relish the silence of the bedroom- how the only sounds are the ones you’re orchestrating with the man above you. Music in the ether you’ve been waiting to hear ever since you laid eyes on him. You stay like that until you’re drifting; you open your eyes when you didn’t know you closed them, and you know it’s time to sit up a little, move around a little. You crane your neck at the glowing red numbers on your nightstand clock. You can’t remember the last time you stayed up this late without Argus or Amanda goddamn Waller being the sole reason. The action stirs the resting man in your arms as well, and you’re sorry you’ve disturbed Rick from such a blissful slumber.

When he sits up, Rick seems to blink around the dark room, taking in his surroundings for the first time.

It’s an out of place feeling. Rick’s the man to find every entry point and exit in any given room. But here, with you, his attention was wholly enveloped. That’s what you did to him. You watch him curiously as he searches around the floor. When he finds his shirt by the nightstand and picks it up, you raise yourself up on an elbow and arch a brow at the soldier.

“What do you think you’re doing?” You inquire curiously.

Rick pauses with his shirt halfway on. It dangles around his neck loosely, and you laugh at how it’s clear Rick Flag does things a certain way- his muscle memory driving him to get dressed promptly. Efficiently. And with unnecessary haste.

But you’re not insulted. In fact, you’re a little amused. Because you’re confident when you hitch your leg around the back of his thigh that it’s all it will take to make him stay put. Rick is nearly two hundred and twenty pounds of muscle and you delight in the way every single one stills beneath your touch.

You know the uncertainty in his eyes isn’t a reflection on you. You know it from hours of texting. Of the careful, deliberate unguarding of Rick’s thoughts. He’d been hurt, like many people. Like you have, more than once or twice in your own life. You knew about his routine with lesser flings just as he knew about your aversion to the ominous idea of dating in the first place. It’s unfamiliar territory for you both. You level him with hooded eyes, inviting and patient.

“You’re not going anywhere, Rick Flag.”

“I– no?” He tries.

“We’ve finally both got a weekend off. I’m not done with you yet, Colonel.” You reach for the shirt bunched up around his neck and pull him forward. Rick crawls back over you, his small, pleased smirk returning. “That so?”

“That’s an order, actually.” You purr, tossing the shirt off his head.

Rick’s arms wrap around you tightly, the goosebumps along his tattooed biceps making his pleasure at the idea loud and clear. He lies back down with you, slotting himself beside you. His form dwarfs your body as your fingers find that sandy blonde hair you’ve come to adore. The tension eases. In his muscles, in his worries. For the first time in a while, Rick’s not worried about a damn thing.

The habitual thoughts of tomorrow, tomorrow disappear at your behest, replaced with the sound of your gentle breaths. Rick sighs against your jaw.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

#rickflagbingo #rick flag x reader #rick flag x you #rick flag #rick flag fanfiction #dceu fanfiction #rick flag imagine #Joel kinnaman fanfiction #mywords*#plus sized reader #ps reader #plus sized #sub!rick flag

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miss-smutty · 3 years ago

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The Destructive Secret

Chapter 4

Summary- You've got a secret to hide and it's going to cause complete and utter devastation. It's only so long until your lies are going to catch up to you.

Pairing- Chris Hems x Reader x Liam Hems

Word count- 2,211

Warnings- Smut, swearing, angst, cheating

18+ Only!!

Disclaimer: This is an entire work of fiction/AU and has no affiliation to real life what so ever! This is a fictional story about fictional characters who happen to share names and faces with some real people.

Posted: 29th June 2021

Taglist:- @innerpaperexpertcloud @pandaxnienke @chickensarentcheap @mostly-marvel-musings @longlostinanotherworld

>The Destructive Secret Masterlist<

"No not married but you do know her. You know her really well actually." Chris says while avoiding your gaze purposefully...

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife, silence so acute you could hear a pin drop. Liam waiting for an answer, Chris looking at his feet and you looking visibly anxious. Chris had drank way too much and now he was about to let all of your secrets loose. This isn't the way you want Liam to find out, surely Chris wouldn't be so cruel.

"I suppose you're not gonna tell me who it is?"

"Not just yet, see how we go." He looked at you, if he so much as even looked slightly smug you would have slapped him right across his face. Instead you could see the hurt in his eyes, tears welling in the corners. You're both faced with an impossible dilemma, Chris wants you all to himself but doesn't want to lose his brother in the process and you want it all over and done with but don't want to hurt Liam. The latter of both is inevitable but you would take all the blame just so Chris didn't have to lose his brother, given the choice you would lose them both just so that didn't happen.

"Well on that note, I need to go to bed. I've gotta be up early in the morning." You avoid Chris' gaze, you're angry with him but you don't want to cause him more pain.

"Yeah me too. I better get going. Thank you for dinner Y/N, it was lovely."

You risk a short glance at him, you're eyes softening when they meet. The moment broken when Liam speaks, reminding you where you are and who you're with right at this moment in time.

"Are you for real? You're really going to drop a bombshell like that and then leave? Fuck man." Liam runs his hand through his hair, letting air out of his cheeks exasperatedly.

"Sorry bro, I'll save the excitement for another night. I've said too much already." Chris apologises with his eyes as he passes you, his hands twitching by his side's with the need to touch you.

******************

The next morning when you wake, your heart sinks knowing all the turmoil you're going to have to go through just to make it to the hotel without being spotted. All the messing about and hiding you have to do, checking in under a false name at different times. Making sure nobody follows you to the hotel and especially no one follows Chris. Getting caught checking into the same hotel would be dreadful, it wouldn't take a genius for the press to put two and two together, they wouldn't even care if it was true or not as long as they sold copies.

"Right babe, I'm ready to go." You pull your suitcase towards the door, stopping to wrap your arms around Liam.

"Have a good time, I'll see you soon." Wrapping his arms tightly around your waist and lifting your feet from the ground in a squeezy hug. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, bye babe."

"Bye. Love you. Let me know when you get checked in." He kisses you goodbye before watching you leave.

"Will do, Love you." You say over your shoulder, climbing into your silver, Audi convertible.

This is the part you hate the most, the part that made you question whether it was all worth it. It was, of course or you wouldn't be doing it, you wouldn't put yourself through having to pretend to be somebody else and praying your not caught by anyone. It only takes one person to notice you and Chris in the same hotel and it's over. You imagine having an affair is hard work whatever your circumstances but when your boyfriend and your lover are as famous as they are it becomes impossible. It's terrifying.

You spent the car journey constantly checking your mirrors and making sure you weren't being followed. A huge sunhat and even bigger sunglasses covering your face as your heart beated faster than you thought was possible. A couple of laps around the hotel, making doubly sure you weren't being followed before you finally pulled into the carpark.

You had to constantly think, you couldn't let your guard drop for even a moment and it was exhausting. You were ready for it to be over and done with now, this just isn't fun anymore. Maybe you could run away together and start a new life somewhere else. Which one would you pick though? Who are you ready to give up? Would there even be an option to choose? Would Liam even be willing to forgive you if he knew you were sleeping with his brother? In love with his brother.

Your heart beating out of your chest, your fight or flight well and truly kicking in now as you walk up to the front desk. If there's any recognition in the receptionists eyes you're ready to turn right around and leave. The girl behind the desk, with long blonde hair has her eyes on the computer In front of her, thankfully not paying you much attention as you stand and wait for her to finish.

"Hi I'd like to book a room for two nights please." You stutter nervously, subconsciously checking over your shoulder while you spoke.

"Of course, is it just for yourself?"

"Yes please, I'm just here for a work conference. I'd like a double bed if possible though, I haven't been able to sleep in a single since I was young." You giggle nervously, embarrassed that you'd told her information she isn't even slightly interested in.

"No problem, I'll see what I have for you." Her eyes barely left her computer as she spoke, she definitely didn't recognise you. The tension in your muscles relaxed a little as your eyes scanned the lobby.

"What name is it please?" She asked, one of the moments you'd been dreading. You hate lying but luckily you'd already come up with the fake name you were using, one you'd already used many times before in the exact same situation. It never gets any easier.

"Jessica Crawley." The names tumbled from your lips, names that had absolutely no meaning to you.

"Room 101, floor 5. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No thank you, that's great." The overwhelming feeling of relief at completing step one without any problems, rushes over you. Adrenaline spiking, making your legs feel like jelly.

"You're welcome, enjoy your stay. Don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions." The girl says, smiling sweetly at you before going back to her work.

The elevator seemed to take forever to make its way down to you, your feet shuffling as you watched the numbers above the door, counting down. The overwhelming need to get to privacy and away from the many prying eyes of the people in the lobby was severe. Most were business men and women, that were so consumed in themselves they weren't paying special attention to anyone around them. There were also young couples, making their way through the lobby, probably on their way for lunch but the people that worried you the most were the random loners sat in the armchairs scattered around the lobby. They'd chosen the perfect place to watch, some pretending to read newspapers while their eyes discreetly scanned over the top.

They were much more inquisitive, much like yourself they paid more attention to the people around them. People watchers you liked to call them, these are the sorts of people that make you nervous. They see everything, noticing any minor details, you'd spent a lifetime perfecting 'people watching' which is how you knew to be wary. You could pretty much judge a person's personality just by watching them for a couple of minutes. If anyone was to spot you it would be one of these people. You felt thankful you weren't Chris, there is absolutely no way he was going to make it to the elevator without being seen at least once.

*******************

Chris didn't feel quite as nervous as you, this was a every day occurance in his life, avoiding paparazzi was near impossible for him. As long as you weren't seen going in to the hotel then it wouldn't matter about him being seen. Still, he'd worn his baseball cap and sunglasses to at least try and hide his identity. He wasn't nervous about being seen but more about having to face you after his fuck up last night. Now that thought was way more intimidating to him.

Casually strolling into the hotel, he tried to ignore the whispers of the people around him. People questioning if it was really him, young girls barely out of high school giggling at the sight of him. Chris quietly prayed that he would make it up to the room without anyone asking for a photo, not that he usually minded but today all he wanted was to spend every possible minute with you as he could.

The receptionist tried to make a fuss when his identity was confirmed during check in. The pale skin of the same blonde girl who'd checked you in, had turned a rather bright shade of red when she heard Chris' sexy Australian accent. You wouldn't blame her, it still makes you swoon whenever you heard him speak.

"I'm fine honestly, I don't want any special treatment. Actually if I could get away with going completely unnoticed during my stay, I will speak to your boss myself and tell them how accomodating you'd been."

"Oh wow, really? Thank you so much Mr Hemsworth. I will make sure nobody bothers you and if you need anything at all just give me a call, I'll make sure you won't have to leave your room for anything." Chris smiled, pretending not to notice how she seemed to be flirting with him, badly. Tossing her hair over shoulder as she insinuated not so subtly for him to let her know if he wanted any 'special' treatment. Again, you don't blame the girl, infact you would've commended her confidence.

She handed over the keys to the penthouse, watching bright eyed as he walked to the elevator, pulling out his phone as he stepped straight in.

"Hi babe, I've booked the penthouse suite, meet me up there?" Smiling a tight lipped smile at the girl behind the desk, who was still watching him intently as the elevator doors closed.

"Ok, it isn't very inconspicuous staying in the penthouse is it?" You shouldn't be surprised, he does it everytime. You remember the first time you ever saw a penthouse and how amazed you were that it was actually bigger than your own home at the time. That was a memory you shared with Liam, all of your first times had been with Liam, the thought made your heart sink.

"I mean they knew who I was as soon as I walked in, I think it would look more suspicious if I didn't stay in a suite." Chris answered, pulling you from your thoughts.

"I suppose that's true, I'll be up soon." You could hear the sadness in your voice, something you had to snap out of before meeting Chris.

"Good because I can't wait to get my hands on you."

Sinking back onto the spongey mattress of your bed, tiredness washing over you already. The mental exhaustion of constantly having to play games and be on your guard at all times, catching up to you as you're finally alone.

Maybe that's what you need afterall, a chance to be alone to gather your thoughts, to workout your own needs and wants without spreading your attention between the two brothers.

You make a mental list of the pros and cons of both of them knowing deep down if Liam were the one for you, you'd have never have looked twice at Chris. They were so similar in a lot of ways but completely different in others.

Liam was the sweetest man you knew, so gentle and caring, attentive to your every whim and being so young when you first got together he was everything you were looking for.

Now being a woman that has gone through so much trauma in her life that had tainted your soul, darkened it with a lust for more.

Then Chris came along, he was still sweet and caring but less attentive to your needs unless it was in the bedroom. He was cheeky and funny, drop dead gorgeous and oozing manliness effortlessly. He was fire and passion. He was more.

If you let yourself admit it, you wanted excitement, which is how you ended up here in the first place. You didn't want perfect anymore, you wanted a man who could do wrong and then make up for it in the most fulfilling way he knew how. Just thinking about it made your pulse race, Chris had put you through hell last night and now it was time for payback. You imagined Chris only a couple of floors above you, worried about the way you were going to act when you saw him and lord knows how much you're going to make him sweat.

#chris hemsworth #chris hemsworth fanfic #chris hemsworth smut #chris hemsworth x reader #chris hemsworth x you #smut #x reader #x you #liam hemsworth

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anothertimdrakestan · 4 years ago

Text

Heat Waves (TimKon)

Words: 3k

Hi! I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been working on this for way too long and definitely have a pt2 planned out if you guys like part one! I hope you’ll take the time to read this because I spent way too long on it and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

for the like 0.1% of my audience that this overlaps with, yes, i too am utterly obsessed with Heat Waves for DNF and have been listening to this song on repeat for three days straight waiting for chapter 8. But, i figured why not let that amazing piece of absolute art inspire a Timkon fic cuz they have the same dynamic as DNF in my eyes! All credits go to tbhyourelame on ao3!

if you don’t know what heat waves is that’s fine this is just a regular fic but I highly recommend you checkout the amazing song here

It was as hot as death itself in Kansas. Not to mention a farm with no AC was just about the worst place Conner could be forced to “vacation” at. But Ma and Pa had been begging to have him over and the month of June just seemed to overlap, so there Kon was, sweating buckets in the middle of nowhere.

It felt so cold in Gotham. Though, the temperature was comfortable- the most comfortable it had been all year- but Tim always felt colder, lonelier, when Conner wasn’t by his side. The two of them were a duo, fitting together like a puzzle piece, the absolute best of friends and best of heroes. But now, he was using his mandatory away-from-the-tower weeks up while Conner was in Kansas, it was some sort of mandate that Bruce’s kids come home occasionally and instead of suffering weekends in Gotham Tim opted to just grind out a few weeks at the manor, even if it meant dealing with Damian’s unrelenting murder attempts. But it wasn’t all bad, Tim got to patrol with Bruce again, hang out with Jason occasionally, and even see Dick from time to time. “Family” bonding at it’s finest.

“Hello?” Tim’s voice was quiet, Kon constantly felt himself turning the volume button up on his phone just to hear a decibel more of his best friend’s comforting tone.

“Hey Timbers how was your day?” Conner felt himself relaxing to the light sound of Tim breathing, he was laying on the floor, spread like a starfish so that no sticky part of his body could touch and create more sweat.

“Nothing much, no patrol tonight- I guess you remembered,” Tim’s voice was filling his ears. I remember everything you tell me. “Yeah, yeah I did,” Conner quickly replied. “Any boring farm chores today?” Conner heard the familiar rustling, he could hear Tim stand up, he’d memorized the sound of Tim taking him off speaker and resting the phone in between his shoulder and ear. He could hear Tim’s hair, that he knew he was probably growing out, brush the mic. I always liked his hair longer.

“Kon?” Tim snapped him back into the stiflingly hot room. “Oh sorry, it’s really hot here, kinda makes me zone out. Um, I’m alright I got to hangout with the cows today which was cool- they don’t like the heat either but Ma says it’ll be over soon,” Conner rambled, all too focused on Tim’s breath in his ear.

“Sorry for making you zone out, I guess nothing interesting is happening here,” Tim sighed, Conner shook his head, rolling over on the floor, leaning down into the mic of his phone.

“Nothing about you bores me Tim,”

Tim didn’t reply. Conner mentally cursed himself, he was really too tired, too hot and bothered to be this flirtatious with Tim, who was a complete wild card when it came to Conner.

And then he answered, Tim’s voice was higher pitched, the way it ascended when he was blushing- he was blushing. “Well that’s not true, I’m very boring. When I’m doing cases or training or-” Conner couldn’t take it.

“Nothing about you could bore me Tim. I’m down to be with you whenever, doing whatever, you know that,” he felt his tone soften, loving the way Tim’s breath hitched with every compliment.

“Be with me?” Tim shot back playfully, Conner could practically hear the smirk toying on the smaller boy’s lips.

“Did I stutter?” Conner heard a loud noise, a thump. Tim’s voice was high pitched again, “Sorry- uh I dropped my phone,” Conner felt himself growing warmer, if at all physically possible. “No problem. So, what are you doing tomorrow with Bruce?” Conner didn’t like pushing Tim too far, hell, he barely knew how he felt half the time. Tim’s voice brightened, “Oh! We’re gonna go to this old ice cream shop I adored as a kid! It’s been too long since I’ve been there, you remember me talking about it?”

Conner didn’t need a second to answer, “Sub 30, you always get the one with the espresso poured over it,” he couldn’t lie, ice cream sounded absolutely heavenly at the moment. Tim’s voice flooded through the heat, “Right as always- I swear they programmed some sort of photographic memory inside of you,” Tim teased, Conner answered honestly, “I just listen when you tell me things”. The night went on, Tim quickly had to go, believe it or not he did sleep when given the opportunity. “Try not to die of heat exhaustion, drink lots of water throughout the day, not all at once,” Conner smiled, “will do, goodnight Timmy,” Tim answered mid yawn, “night Kon”.

And then he was alone. Alone with the heat, with his thoughts, the latter far more dangerous. He’s my best friend, of course I remember everything. Conner found himself staring at the ceiling, Ma had painted constellations on the walls and ceilings of the room, something funny about alien genes liking the stars. Conner used to be able to find every pattern, name every star, but the only shape he could trace was Tim. There were his eyes, they were pools of deep blue, they sparkled when he laughed but could glare bullets when he tried. If he stared hard enough Kon could find his hair, it’s always soft and smells delicious, layers falling effortlessly- cascading to frame his face. Then there were his lips, Conner found himself constantly mesmerized with the way Tim bit his bottom lip when thinking, the way they scrunched together when he said something funny, how they constricted when he bit the inside of his cheek just enough to hide the emotion he was so scared of portraying. They were perfect.

He let the heat take his mind, flowing with the stars as he thought dangerous thoughts about his best friend. His thoughts danced around Tim’s waist, flowing carefully around his chest, wrapping Kon in every layer of Tim’s personality, every smile, laugh, tear, scowl, it was Tim. Kon’s Tim.

And there, on the floor, he drifted to an uncomfortable, sweaty sleep.

Tim was scrolling aimlessly through his phone, Gotham was surprisingly boring. He once found the city bustling and distinctly alive but now it only left him cold, cold and bored.

“Ice cream as good as you remember?” Bruce’s voice lifted him from his device. “Yup! Can’t believe you let me have espresso at like 10, you basically started my addiction.” Tim threw on a smile, glancing down at the half eaten dessert. “Yeah, can’t say I was the best father but, I tried,” Bruce’s shoulders shook lightly, but the laughter didn’t make it to his eyes. Did you really try? Truly? Tim dove back into the creamy sweet, admiring the bitterness the espresso brought the flavor. His phone buzzed.

K: Did you get the ice cream?

T: yeah, you remembered?

K: You literally told me last night

T: have i been off your mind since?

K: No.

Conner always did this, every time Tim thought he’d throw him off guard with something funny or flirtatious just to have a little fun Kon took it and ran with it. And I’m always the one who ends up blushing. Tim thought, shaking his head. It was really his fault he let Conner get him riled up. They were best friends, flirting or dealing out little sexual quips were natural, and often pretty funny.

“Earth to Tim? I’ve got a meeting you wanna head back while I head to the office?” Tim glanced over at Bruce who was now standing up in front of him. “Yeah, I can work on cases back at the manor, you gonna head to the office?” stretching his arms he stood up, noticing Bruce had put on his business face- the one stone cold and dry that only brought back the worst memories. “Yes.” His response was gruff, Tim suppressed the shudder that tried to dance down his spine. “Uh yeah, I’ll head back, have a nice day B,” he smiled, hoping it made it to his eyes.

“You can’t keep calling me while I’m on patrol, it’s not safe,” Tim chastised Conner loosely, appreciating the company as his patrol with Damian was always deathly silent. “C’mon, you’re used to having me in your ear,” Tim gulped, glancing around for Damian who was three buildings over, deeply uninterested. “Kon, oh my god, I’m gonna mute you,” Tim whispered, revelling in the chuckle that stirred in Conner’s chest. It was deep, and warm, so distinctly warm Tim felt the heat budding in his chest.

“So, patrol with the demon? He hasn’t cut your grapple line yet?” Conner’s tone was low and silky smooth. Coughing to clear his throat Tim replied, “nope, he’s most horrific when Bruce is here, when he’s not the punk couldn’t care less whether I live or die,”

“I care,”

“I know Kon,” If only you knew how much I appreciated it.

“Asshole, can you hear me? I said we’ve got a gang robbery on second? You coming genius?” Damian’s disgusted tone flooded over his comm, and Tim quickly turned his attention to the bat-brat who was already grappling towards the alarms and shouts. Conner’s whisper asked, “can he hear me?” and Tim replied, “no, you’re on a separate channel, Dami can only hear me when I unmute. Just be quiet while I take out these thugs,”

“Why? Because my voice distracts you?” Conner’s tone shifted into dangerously flirtatious.

“No, cuz you’re annoying as shit,” Tim smirked, running across the top of a building, letting Damian call the signals so he didn’t get all upset.

“Do I make you uncomfortable Tim? Do I make you forget just exactly what you’re doing, whether you want to use your batarang or bo staff? Do I make you, warm? Because it’s so warm here, so hot, god I’m just so hot I-”

“Shut. Up.” Tim struck the gun out of a scared looking man. Rolling his eyes at the man in his ear.

“Why? Are you too focused? We’ve taken out much harder criminals all while talking. Aren’t we just talking right now?” Kon’s voice was ringing in his head like never before.

“I’m trying to focus but it’s no good when you’re in my ear.”

“And what if I wasn’t in your ear? You remember? When we work side by side, so close- are you an affectionate person Tim?” Tim could feel the heat dripping off of Conner’s voice, but he was taken aback by Conner’s new line of thought.

“Wha- what? Am I affectionate? I don’t know. Sometimes?” Tim almost missed a hit, huffing as Damian blocked what would’ve been a hard blow on him. “Start paying attention Drake,” Damian’s tone was acidic. But he was drawn back into his com as Conner’s voice flooded his ears again.

“Would you be affectionate with me?”

“Yes” Tim’s breathless reply was instant, his brain not giving him a chance to think.

“Good, I like that. You know I’m very affectionate too? I like getting to hold the people I care about close, feeling their warmth. You know I’m very warm right now?”

“I- I know Kon, I bet, are you doing alright? Drinking water?” Tim shook out the thought of Conner lazing out in his room, sweaty, lips parted as he pushed out warm breath- Stop. Focus. Your job is to defend these people. Damian’s doing a good job, You just have to round up the civilians. Tim forced himself back into the real world, taking on one of the gang members with ease, tying him up swiftly before moving on to the next.

“I heard that, I can hear it every time you take out one of those men. This is easy isn’t it? I can’t be that distracting to you. You’re too good.”

“You always do this,” Tim felt his cheeks heating up, his steps felt forced, like he had to remind himself to breathe. Tim carefully rounded up civilians, escorting them to safety as Conner started again in his ear.

“Always do what Tim? Tell you how much I appreciate you? How much I miss you? Do you not think you deserve to be missed? To be loved?”

“Conner” Tim’s tone was harsher than he wanted it to be. But nonetheless Conner continued.

“Why not? Why the hell not? You’re amazing Tim.”

Tim scoffed, playing it off as a cough to the people in front of him.

“What do you need to hear Tim? That you’re amazing? Brilliant?-”

“Oh my god Kon-” Tim interrupted, but Conner wasn’t done.

“Talented? Impressive? [his tone deepended] - Attractive?”

“I’m gonna hang up,” Tim was breathing so hard he was practically hyperventilating. The compliments were all that consumed his thoughts, swirling around his brain, packing it full of deep, dangerously flammable thoughts.

And Conner was ready to let it burn.

“You need to be kissed Tim,” Conner murmurs, throat raw, “so hard that you can’t remember your name- maybe then you’ll understand what I mean.”

The batarang in Tim’s hand clattered to the floor. Damian’s head whipped to him as Tim struggled to regain function.

“I’m muting you, see you in a bit,” was all Tim could choke out before he ripped the earpiece out, unable to let it sit, burning into his skull. You’re almost done here, cool down, finish up. Tim told himself as he manually reminded himself to breathe. You’ve got this.

Conner knew Tim ended the call. But he didn’t have the energy to stop the endless beeping from the disconnected phone.

He was laying on the floor of his room, limbs spread out as he clawed for anything that could cool him down, but all he could feel was heat as he stared up at the stars.

He had to admit, he’d pushed Tim further than ever before. But it felt too right to stop, too good. He couldn’t stop replaying the way Tim’s breath hitched after every word, desperately grasping for the feeling budding up in his chest. It was too addictive to not let the words he’d spent too long crafting pour from his lips into Tim’s heart.

Kon didn’t know how long he laid there, dazed in the heat, just trying to relive word after perfect word.

Until his phone rang.

“Tim?” his voice was ragged and raw.

Tim’s was high pitched and tight. “Conner what the hell was that? Was that funny to you? Saying all those things- flirting with me while I’m trying to do my job?”

“Flirting?” Conner mused, staring at the stars with a tattered smirk on his face.

“Don’t act dumb, I don’t know what kind of sick joke it was saying all that while I’m on patrol but I’m glad you think you’re funny,” Tim’s voice was cold. But not the cooling tone, it was sharp, like the way the freeze of ice can feel so painfully hot when applied too harshly.

“I would’ve said it to you no matter what you were doing,” Conner whispered, resting his phone on his chest, wincing at the sticky noise it made as he tried to adjust it’s positioning.

“So that was just all for you? To let you listen as you screwed with my brain?” Tim retorted.

Conner was done dancing around the truth, all forms of control eluding his mind. “Yes,”

“That’s cruel Kon, can you imagine if I did that with you? Told you how you needed to be kissed while you’re out with Jon or something?” Tim sounded exasperated, but at the end of each quip Kon could hear the deep breaths he was taking. Does- Does he like this?

Tim continued. “Don’t answer that. Shut up, I know what you’re gonna say. ‘Oh Tim it’s not the same,’ just- just get out of my head!”

Conner sat up. He was floating. Floating in the middle of his room, the phone on his chest tumbling to the floor as he scrambled to grab it again, feeling his feet touch the ground as he held the phone as close to his lips as he could.

“What do you mean Tim? How am I in your head?” Do you feel the same way I do right now?

“You- you just know me. So well, and when you say stuff like that- when you’re in my ear saying those things your voice, it’s like fire, it burns.” Tim sounded desperate, his voice painfully strained.

Conner’s head was spinning, “I burn you?” he matched Tim’s desperate tone.

“You melt me.”

Conner’s head slammed against the roof of his room, as he tried to regain control of his senses he heard Tim murmur, “does that make sense?”

“More than you know Timbers, more than you know,” Conner could hear Tim let out a sigh, the kind that told him all would be okay.

As Conner took a deep breath, steadying himself for what was to come Tim spoke first. “It’s so late Kon, I’ve been up to long, I think I need to go to bed,” Tim’s tone was soft again, the cooling, comforting tone that Kon was scared he’d never hear again.

"Yeah, I- uh, have chores in the morning anyways.” Conner answered, hoping to give Tim some peace of mind.

“Okay, sounds good. Goodnight Conner,” Tim said quietly, his tone thoughtful and slow, finally letting the sleep crowd his mind.

“Goodnight Tim, talk to you tomorrow?” Conner let too much hope sink into those last few words.

“Yes, night now,” Tim answered easily, quickly hanging up the call, letting Conner sink down back into the carpet of his floor.

“Tomorrow,” Conner whispered to himself, feeling the intense heat start to creep back in as he drifted into a sweaty sleep.

“Tomorrow,” Tim whispered to himself, trying to swallow the nerves he didn’t know Conner could draw out of him.

“I’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

not my usual fic but I really hope you enjoyed!

taglist: @vintageroses10 @idkmanicantenglish @kishony-the-geek @foenixphire @how--are--you @psych0crybaby @romance-is-tragic @birdy-bat-writes @subtleappreciation @officiallydarkgeek also kita cuz i love u and wanted to try writing timkon more in your style hehehe @river-bottom-nightmare

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tsarisfanfiction · 4 years ago

Text

2020: A [Fandom] Summary

2020 was a pretty rotten year, let’s face it, so now I’m safely away from it for good I’m stealing something @gumnut-logic mentioned to me and summarising all the things I managed to make this year! Let’s start 2021 on a nice positive note... look at all the things I managed to do in the world of fandom!

FANFICTION:

In 2020...

I published 69 works, 66 of which are complete - all for Thunderbirds Are Go

Which came to a total of 268,863 words (Tumblr-only scenes and short stories came to a further 29,764 words which put my grand total up to 298,627!)

My most popular fic on tumblr was Out Patience with 60 notes (wow!!)

My most kudos’d fic on AO3 was Bedtme (Should Not Be 4am) with 62 kudos!

My most favourited fic on FFN was Grounded with 13 favourites!

My longest fic was Long Way From Home, which is incomplete but on 30,902 words published so far (longest complete fic was Grounded on 21,100 words)

(I have not included Tales From The Heart as everything that was posted this year on my blog was written and archived on AO3/FFN in 2017-2019)

FANART:

In 2020...

I posted 12 completed drawings, across 6 fandoms (and across 3 blogs...) - Bleach, D.Gray-Man, Marchen Awakens Romance, Naruto, One Piece and Thunderbirds Are Go

My most popular was “Return of the Dragon” with 114 notes (over a hundred!!! How???)

In conclusion, Tsari has been one very busy bee this year! Links to everything are below the cut if anyone’s looking for a refresher, or thinks they missed something!

And because I am only human and love validation - if you have a favourite thing I’ve written (or drawn) this year, tell me what it is! Can just be the name (although if you want to tell me why that would make my night, I can’t lie), I’d just love to know what people particularly loved :D

COMPLETED WORKS:

Phobos John looks at his brothers, and worries. Rated: Gen/K+. Family. John, Scott Words: 1k; published January 2020

Treasured Family Scott’s day hadn’t gone well, and was about to get worse. John doesn’t care for that, and Alan makes a good accomplice. Episode tag: 3.22 Rated: Gen/K+. Family. John, Scott, Alan, Gordon Words: 2k; multichap - completed January 2020

Wax and Feathers Sometimes limits need to be broken. But a limit is there for a reason, and breaking them has consequences. Episode tag: 3.20 Rated: Gen/K+. Family. Scott, Gordon, Virgil Words: 4k; published February 2020

Hero They say you should never meet your heroes. Failure to comply may result in getting tongue-tied, or a failure of the brain to mouth filter. Episode tag: 3.24 Rated: Gen/K. Friendship. Outsider PoV, Scott Words: 1k; published February 2020

Fall He’s not there, until he is. Episode tag: 3.25 Rated: Teen. Angst/Hurt/Comfort. Scott, Jeff Words: 900; published February 2020

Bedtime (Should Not Be 4am) The first night home should be relaxing, but for Jeff it’s anything but as he readjusts to being back on Earth, and five sons who’ve grown up without him. Episode tag: 3.25/26 Rated: Gen/K+. Family. Jeff, Gordon, Scott, John Words: 3k; published February 2020

Blank Slate Jeff finds that there’s one relationship he can build from scratch. Episode tag: 3.25/26 Rated: Gen/K. Friendship. Jeff, The Mechanic Words: 1k; published February 2020

Apple Juice How hard is it to get a drink? Harder when younger brothers insist on interfering. Rated: Gen/K+. Family. Scott, Virgil, Tracy brothers Words: 1k; published February 2020

Firelight For Buddy and Ellie, camping is a beautiful way to live. Rated: Gen/K. Romance. Buddy, Ellie Words: 500; published March 2020

An Important Part John’s care packages sometimes contain a very special box. Rated: Gen/K. Family. John, Tracy brothers Words: 1k; published March 2020

Grape Juice or Wine A function that serves alcohol and a teenage brother. Just what Scott needed. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott, Alan Words: 700; published April 2020

Chess Master Gordon has a prized possession. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Gordon, John, Tracy brothers Words: 700; published April 2020

Heroes Made of Gas A spaceman and his stars. Rated: Gen/K. Family. John, Jeff Words: 700; published April 2020

Caretaker Scott’s week from hell couldn’t just finish without throwing him a final twist. Rated: Gen/K+. Hurt/Comfort/Family. Scott, Tracy brothers Words: 1k; published April 2020

Riding the Dragon | Return of the Dragon Part 1: Scott was excited, and John was not, but who really got the last laugh? Part 2: Ten years later they’re back, and this time Alan’s up for the challenge. John isn’t about to let Scott forget about their last adventure, though. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott, John, Alan, Tracy brothers Words: 4k; multichap - completed April 2020

Fresh Air When the standard methods of dealing with Scott don’t work, Virgil has to resort to something a little more creative. Rated: Gen/K. Hurt/Comfort/Family. Virgil, Scott Words: 2k; published April 2020

Unexpected When it came to the next generation, Scott didn’t think it would happen quite like this. Rated: Gen/K+. Family. Scott, John, Gordon, EOS Words: 1k; published April 2020

Awe The Shelbys were probably expecting a certain beautiful Lady when Gordon asked to bring a plus one, not an older brother. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Virgil, Gordon Words: 1k; published April 2020

Thrill Seeker “Launching a rocket into space most days not enough of an adrenaline kick for you, kid?” Rated: Gen/K. Family. Alan, Grandma, John Words: 1k; published April 2020

The Tale of Scotty-Bear When Lee Taylor bought a bog-standard teddy bear for his best friend’s baby, he probably didn’t expect it to be quite so popular. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott, Tracy brothers Words: 1k; published April 2020

I Just Can’t Wait To Be Free When Scott gets stuck, Gordon’s the only one around - too bad he can’t stop laughing. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Gordon, Scott Words: 1k; published April 2020

Splatter Scott was going to regret leaving him to handle Gordon alone, especially when paint got involved. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Virgil, Gordon, Scott Words: 2k; published April 2020

Revenge (Should Be Piping Hot) The only aspect of his appearance Virgil cared about was his hair. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Virgil, Scott, Tracy brothers Words: 1k; published May 2020

The Rules of Engagement Even acts of immaturity between brothers have to follow rules. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, Alan Words: 1k; published May 2020

Night At The Opera Surely an invitation to the opera was better suited for Virgil? Or one of his other brothers? No? Okay, then. Wait, what do you mean he had to wear a suit? Rated: Gen/K+. Friendship/Family. Scott, Lady Penelope, Parker, Tracy family Words: 10k; published May 2020

Nothing See: Was space supposed to be this dark? A mission to rescue the crew of a freighter goes horribly wrong. Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Angst. Scott, Tracy Family Words: 8k; multichap - completed June 2020

Strays Her Ladyship collects strays. Rated: Gen/K. Friendship. Parker, Penelope, John, Gordon Words: 1k; published June 2020

Pulse Touch: Earthquakes suck. Badly. Especially when you’re still in an unstable building when the world crashes down. Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Angst. Scott, Gordon, Tracy Family Words: 11k; multichap - completed June 2020

Melt Smell: Snowy rescues are always the worst. Always. Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Angst. Scott, Virgil, Gordon, Tracy Family Words: 11k; multichap - completed June 2020

Silent Taste: They say you should ask for help when you need it, but what can you do except suffer in silence when asking for help will destroy your family? Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Angst. Scott, Tracy Family Words: 12k; multichap - completed June 2020

Tremor Hear: Not everyone worships the ground International Rescue walk on. Rated: Mature. Hurt/Comfort/Angst. Scott, Hood, Tracy Family Words: 14k; multichap - completed July 2020

Hollow Sixth Sense: Two teenagers and a night hike in the middle of nowhere is a recipe for disaster. When trouble strikes the clock starts ticking, but there’s no International Rescue around to pull off a miracle. Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Angst. Scott, John, Jeff, Tracy Family Words: 11k; multichap - completed July 2020

The Six Foot Club Outgrowing Gordon was an inevitability, but Alan hadn’t given much thought about the respective heights of his other brothers. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Alan, Virgil, Gordon Words: 800; published July 2020

Out Patience There are three Tracys in the hospital and only one of them should be out of bed. Rated: Gen. Family. Alan, Scott, Virgil Words: 4k; published July 2020

Grounded Scott didn’t enjoy the trash mine rescue at all, but he enjoyed the consequences of it even less. Episode tag: 3.22/23 Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Family. Scott, Tracy Family Words: 21k; multichap - completed July 2020

Human Scott needs to stop taking his helmet off first chance he gets - one day, his luck will run out. Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Family. Gordon, Scott, Grandma Words: 4k; published August 2020

Not Alone John makes a miscalculation with unexpected consequences. Rated: Gen. Family/Friendship. John, Scott, EOS Words: 4k; published August 2020

Cracks Under The Surface History likes to repeat itself and the human brain likes to find patterns. Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Family. Scott, Jeff, Virgil Words: 4k; published August 2020

Divided, United Waking up bound in a dark room is never good news, but the absence of the brother he saw shot in front of him just makes it worse. Rated: Teen. Angst/Hurt/Comfort. Scott, Virgil, John Words: 6k; published August 2020

For A Brother When it came to protecting family, there were no limits. Rated: Teen. Angst/Hurt/Comfort. Virgil, Scott, Kayo, John Words: 7k; published August 2020

The Only Course of Action John’s job is to watch and listen, but sometimes he’s also the last resort. Rated: Teen. Angst/Hurt/Comfort. John, Scott Words: 4k; published August 2020

Noise Was that racket supposed to be blaring from their comms? Alan hoped not. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Alan, Virgil, Tracy brothers, Kayo Words: 1k; published August 2020

His Collection The Hood knows what he wants, and will stop at nothing to get it. International Rescue have other ideas. Rated: Teen. Humour. Hood, Scott, Virgil Words: 1k; published August 2020

3am A desire for water in the early hours of the morning leads Sally Tracy to a revelation. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Grandma, Scott, John Words: 600; published November 2020

Liminal After the rain comes the sun, but there’s a special moment in between. Rated: Gen/K. Friendship. Parker, Scott Words: 1k; published November 2020

One More Stuffed Toy The arcade is loud and chaotic, but John doesn’t care, because his brothers are with him. Rated: Gen/K. Family. John, Tracy Brothers Words: 1k; published November 2020

After Sundown Scott didn’t let Alan help with the big things, but he didn’t say no to the small things. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Alan, Grandma, Scott Words: 1k; published November 2020

Same Old Song and Dance Dealing with a sick Scott was a challenge that Virgil had honed into an art. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Virgil, Scott Words: 1k; published November 2020

First Time It should be Dad, but it’s John instead and he wouldn’t change it for anything. Rated: Gen/K. Family. John, Alan Words: 800; published November 2020

At The End of The Day After a long, tiring rescue, Virgil just wanted coffee, a shower, and his bed. Gordon had a better idea. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Virgil, Gordon, Scott Words: 1k; published November 2020

Deserving Who looked at the world and said “this deserves to be saved?” A family of youngsters who’d lost too much already. Rated: Gen/K. Family/Friendship. Colonel Casey, Tracy Family Words: 800; published November 2020

His Sons Jeff had been gone eight years. He’d missed his sons growing up into young men, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still the same boys he’d left behind. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Jeff, Tracy Brothers Words: 900; published November 2020

Faulty It was supposed to be a pleasant, quiet evening. Then the multilingual tirade started in the kitchen. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Virgil, John, Tracy Brothers Words: 1k; published November 2020

Indescribable The sky is blue, the grass is green, Scott Tracy is a big brother. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott Words: 700; published November 2020

Simple Success Any success is worth celebrating, even if it isn’t one of the biggest, most impressive feats in IR history. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott, Tracy Family Words: 1k; published November 2020

It Calls Me Scott was born to fly. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott Words: 700; published November 2020

Words Not Said (But Still Heard) Gordon didn’t remember much about his time in the hospital, but he remembered the song. Rated: Gen/K. Family/Hurt/Comfort. Gordon, Scott Words: 1k; published November 2020

Unexpected, Not Unwanted It might not have been her intention to end up with five sons, but that didn’t mean she loved them any less. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Lucille, Tracy Family Words; 1k; published November 2020

Snap There was a whole mountain of paperwork, but a certain annoying younger brother refused to leave him in peace long enough for him to get it done. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Scott, Gordon Words: 1k; published November 2020

The Box In The Locker Reuniting families is one of the best feelings in the world, especially when one of the ‘family members’ is the child’s best friend. Rated: Gen/K. Friendship. Virgil Words: 800; published November 2020

Night Out Gordon learnt two things that night: Scott was an affectionate drunk, and sometimes people throw bar stools for no good reason. Rated: Teen. Family. Gordon, Scott Words: 2k; published November 2020

In Your Shadow “Tomorrow, they’re not gonna say ‘that’s Gordon Tracy, the Olympic Champion!’ Tomorrow, they’re gonna say ‘that’s Scott Tracy’s little brother!’, and I’m gonna say ‘damn straight I am.’” Rated: Gen/K+. Family. Gordon, Scott Words: 2k; published December 2020

The Sound of Thunder(birds) The sound of a Thunderbird should be a sound of hope and reassurance, but not everyone hears it that way. Rated: Gen/K. Friendship. Scott Words: 1k; published December 2020

Too Far It’s not normally Virgil that Scott has to pull up for misconduct. Episode Tag: 3.06 Rated: Teen/K+. Hurt/Comfort/Family. Virgil, Scott Words: 2k; published December 2020

Steady Hands One boat. Two brothers. A life-or-death game of Jenga. Rated: Teen. Family/Friendship. Virgil, Gordon, Scott, Chaos Crew Words: 8k; published December 2020

Get Some Sleep, Scott There was no cure for self-destructive idiocy, but Virgil still had a trick - or rather, a last resort - up his sleeve when Scott went too far. It hadn’t failed him yet. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Virgil, Scott, Gordon Words: 1k; published December 2020

ONGOING WORKS:

Desert Sands On the way home from a rescue Thunderbird One and Scott disappear from Thunderbird Five’s sensors, leaving International Rescue scrambling to both discover what happened and find them. Rated: Teen. Hurt/Comfort/Family. Scott, John, Tracy Family Words: 13k; Chapters: 7/?; updated September 2020

Long Way From Home His brothers are missing. In their place is a family of strangers, the only explanation that makes any sense is beyond comprehension, and the only solution is impossible. Scott Tracy’s never been so far from home. Rated: Teen. Family/Friendship. Scott, Tracy Family Words: 30k; Chapters: 7/?; updated November 2020

Toffee Gordon is a lover of many things. Toffee is not one of them. Rated: Gen/K. Family. Gordon, John, Grandma, Scott Words: 8k; Chapters: 4; updated November 2020

TUMBLR-EXCLUSIVE WORKS:

Dream A FabFiveFeb2020 ficlet using the prompts Scott+Dream Characters: Scott - February 2020

Short Snippet An abandoned wip with implied character death Characters: Gordon, Scott - April 2020

Heavy Metal A short ficlet inspired by the episode of the same name. Characters: Alan, Scott - April 2020

Random Scene A short scene with dark!John and EOS Characters: Jeff, John, EOS - May 2020

Random Scene A Thunderbirds/Detective Conan potential idea Characters: Gordon, John, Scott - May 2020

Random Scene A Thunderbirds/Percy Jackson potential AU Characters: Percy, Gordon - May 2020

Random Prologue Where Scott ends up in jail for murder Characters: Col. Casey, Scott - July 2020

WIP #46 Scott gets caught in an avalanche. Characters: Virgil, Scott, John, Grandma - November 2020

WIP #47 Scott gets caught in a serious plane crash. Characters: Gordon, Scott, Virgil, Alan, John, Col. Casey - November 2020

WIP #48 The original, and terrible, version of my published work Grape Juice or Wine. Characters: Alan, Tracy Brothers - November 2020

WIP #55 A post-series fic focusing on the aftermath of Jeff’s return home Characters: Jeff, Gordon, Grandma - November 2020

WIP #56 A sequel to my published work Hero. Characters: Neil (OC), Henry, Bee, Scott - November 2020

WIP #59a | WIP #59b | WIP #59c A squabble between brothers results in a whole pile of angst. Characters: Scott, Alan, John, Gordon, Virgil - November 2020

That One Scene | That One Scene #2 Two scenes from a movie rewrite Characters: Jeff, Hood, Scott, Gordon, Virgil, Alan, John - November 2020

Is- Is That My Blood? Scott’s trapped in a cave-in, and there’s too much blood Characters: Scott - November 2020

Random Scene AU Crime drama-esque scene with canonical character death Characters: Grandma, Scott - December 2020

Random Prologue Where Scott is Not Okay and just wants to go home Characters: Virgil, Scott - December 2020

Crack When a storm gets too intense for Thunderbird One to fly, Scott has to hunker down and wait it out. Characters: Scott - December 2020

Holey Scott There is a hole in Scott where there shouldn’t be Characters: Virgil, Scott - December 2020

FANART:

Dragon!TB1 A dragonified drawing of Thunderbird One, based on a Flight Rising fandragon - January 2020

Return of the Dragon A snapshot moment from my fic of the same name - July 2020

Night Out A snapshot moment from my fic of the same name - November 2020

The Missing Hair Gel An imagining of Scott without any hair gel - December 2020

Six Boys, Six Fandoms A collection of six drawings of six favourite boys from six favourite series! - December 2020

Dragon!TB2 A dragonified drawing of Thunderbird Two, based on a Flight Rising fandragon - December 2020

#thunderbirds are go #2020 summary #fanfiction #fanart

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pocketseizure · 4 years ago

Text

Disneybound

Case #0180602. Statement of Ted Nakamura, regarding a strange experience at the Haunted Mansion attraction in Disneyland, California. Statement recorded directly from subject on June 2, 2018.

Jonathan takes the statement of someone whose memories may not accurately reflect the events of his childhood. He then has a short conversation with Martin and learns something (perhaps not so) surprising about Elias.

The events of this story take place after Episode 103, "Cruelty Free" (the one in which Jon reads the statement of a farmer in New Zealand with a monster pig).

( This story is also on AO3. )

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jon cast a level gaze at the American sitting on the other side of the table. He was fit and clean-shaven, and he appeared to be in his early thirties. He wore a wide grin and a bright red shirt depicting Minnie Mouse posing in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Jon sighed and pressed the record button of his tape recorder.

“Statement of Theodore Nakamura – ”

“Call me Ted, please. Or Teddy, if you like. All my friends do.”

“Ted Nakamura, regarding a strange phenomenon he experienced at the Haunted Mansion attraction in Disney World – ”

“Sorry, but it’s ‘Disneyland.’ Disney World is the one in Florida.”

“In Disneyland, California. Statement recorded directly from subject on May 25, 2018.”

“This is exciting! I love the detail you’ve devoted to authenticity. The tape recorder is a nice touch.”

Jon grimaced. “Statement begins.”

A hint of uncertainty crept into Ted’s smile. “I’ve never done this before. Is there a protocol? Maybe some sort of standard introduction I should start with?”

“Just tell me about the incident you came to report. You can start whenever you’re ready.”

“All right, I’ll start at the beginning.”

Ted clapped his hands on his knees and took a deep breath. Jon watched as his eyes made a brief circuit around the densely packed shelves arranged in disorderly rows at the rear of the room before finally coming to rest on one of the objects jammed between the accordion folders and cardboard boxes. He’d witnessed this process often enough that he could pinpoint the object of the man’s attention – a cloudy snow globe with a tarnished metal base. It wasn’t connected to any of the cases on file in the archives, merely something Gertrude had brought back from one of her travels on a whim.

“I guess you could say that I’m not the sort of person who would be the star of a Disney movie,” Ted began. “I’m not an orphan, and I had a happy childhood. My mother was an architect who moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles during the construction boom of the 1980s, and my father went to business school at UCLA and never left. His family is from Seattle, and they made some money in real estate in the 1990s. We’re comfortably middle class, but I went to one of the big public schools in Orange County.”

He paused, seeming to expect some sort of reaction. When it became clear that no such reaction was forthcoming, he continued.

“Even in LA, where everyone tries to stand out, high school was all about belonging to a group. I didn’t have any interest in the grandstanding of my school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, and I didn’t have the looks or the talent for the student theater club, which is where a lot of kids like me spent a year or two on their way out of the closet. Mostly I kept my grades up and my head down as my circle of friends from middle school gradually went their separate ways.

“My mom worked from home, and she made sure our house had the first high-speed internet connection in my neighborhood. I don’t mind admitting that I spent a lot of time online. I posted an embarrassing number of bad stories about cartoon characters on LiveJournal, and I eventually ended up being invited to join a popular Disney fan community moderated by a friend of a friend. All the people I spoke with on the comm were strangers, at least at first, but we gradually got to know one another as we responded to each other’s posts and comments.

“Between one thing and another, we somehow managed to figure out that most of us were the same age. Oddly enough, a lot of us lived in SoCal, so we decided to meet up over the summer at Disneyland. Everyone showed up, and we had a great time. We met again the next summer, and then again after my senior year.

“Nothing bad happened, but I stopped updating my LiveJournal after that. I went to college in New York, got a job in the city, and fell out of touch with most of my online friends.

“I moved back to LA four years ago, not that I do anything glamorous. I manage the back end of a tech company’s website and intranet, mostly database stuff, but I still have an IG account. I started it just for fun, but I joined early and picked up more than a thousand followers in less than a year. Someone suggested that it would be cool for me to visit to Disneyland and post photos, so I thought, why not? Like, I love Disneyland!”

Jon cleared his throat. “And what is this ‘strange incident’ you came to report?”

“Hold your horses, I’m getting to it. It’s important that you know my background, right? What I’m trying to say is that I’d only been to Disneyland three times before. It wasn’t a major part of my life. But it was a good part of my life – that’s important.”

Jon nodded in acknowledgment. “Very well, then. Duly noted.”

“Disneyland was considered to be a little seedy when I was in high school, but it’s gotten fancy in the past ten years or so. It used to be that you could just walk in, but these days you practically have to make an itinerary. So I did some research, got a group of people together, and we went and saw the sights. Everyone wore an outfit to match the style of a character, and we took a lot of pictures. The photos were so popular that I hit 5k followers in less than 24 hours, can you believe it? Everyone and their sister is into DisneyBounding these days, but picking up that sort of following from on-location fashion photos was still a thing you could do in 2015.

“Like I said, I had a happy childhood, but no one ever paid me that sort of attention. It was such a dopamine hit, you have no idea. Or maybe you do?”

Jon grit his teeth. “Please continue with the statement.”

Ted laughed. “Pushy, aren’t you? But that’s all right. It’s weird, but I feel like I can tell you anything. Has anyone ever said that to you before?”

“You’re not the first.”

“Maybe it’s the librarian thing you’ve got going on – or archivist thing, sorry. Puts me right at ease. And I appreciate that. If there’s an adult who willingly goes to Disneyland for fun, especially someone like me, people tend to think that’s creepy. The therapist I was seeing at the time called it ‘Peter Pan Syndrome,’ of all things. I never went to another appointment with her again, but that’s beside the point. What I’m trying to say is that I kept going back to Disneyland, usually with friends but sometimes with my boyfriend, who I met on Insta. We bonded while sharing theories about the Haunted Mansion, which is… Well, it used to be my favorite ride in the park. It still is, I guess, but I can’t go on it anymore.

“It took me long enough to get here, but this is the part of my story that should interest you. The reason I like the Haunted Mansion is because it reminds me of my mother, who passed away from a heart attack while I was living in New York. It was very sudden, completely out of the blue, and I never got to say good-bye. I never cared about the Haunted Mansion when I was in high school – we all thought it was cringe for some silly teenage reason that probably involved how awkward it would be if we were in the dark with each other. It wasn’t until I visited the park again as an adult that I finally went on the ride. When I did, I had this sudden flashback to a childhood memory.

“I must have gone to Disneyland with my parents when I was young, because standing in the dark and listening to the music made me recall being on the ride with my mother. This was during the lead-up, before you get in the Doom Buggies and begin the ride proper. I remember being absolutely terrified by what I thought was an endless maze. I felt like that line, after it entered the building, lasted forever. Kids can be like that sometimes, but my memory of this is crystal clear – the corridor genuinely didn’t end. I felt like there were people all around us, there had to be, but somehow it was just me and my mother, alone in the darkness.

“And then I remember that this terrible thing appeared out of nowhere. I’m not sure how to describe it. It definitely wasn’t a person in a costume, but it was too realistic to be the projection of a cartoon, and it was talking to us in voice that sounded like laughter and crying at the same time. Like it was hurt, but it found its pain amusing. Meanwhile, the walls kept stretching, and as they got taller I started to see awful things in the gaps between the ceiling and the floor.

“My mother held my hand the whole time. She kept whispering to me: ‘It’s going to be okay. You are brave, and you are strong. Nothing in here can hurt you.’ Just that, over and over, until the ride was over.

“When we finally got out, I ran straight to my dad, who knelt down on the pavement on the other side of the gate and hugged me. He and my mother both patted my back as I cried. I was so relieved to be outside again that my tears wouldn’t stop.

“My dad seemed confused by how afraid I was. This didn’t occur to me until I started thinking about it much later, but isn’t it strange that he didn’t understand why a young child would be frightened by a scary ride?

“I moved back to LA almost immediately after my mom’s funeral, but Dad became a little distant with me. We were both grieving, and it must have seemed callous to him that I was posting shots of myself at Disneyland on social media right after Mom died. Really I just needed a break from the move, from my job, from mourning, from everything – and I guess a part of me felt like my mother would never die as long as I kept returning to that memory of her holding my hand in the Haunted Mansion.

“My dad eventually moved on and married a younger woman. She would probably be my evil stepmother if my life were a Disney movie, but she’s actually a princess, and I adore her. I spend more time with her than I do with my dad these days, but I’m trying to do better. I thought I could reconnect with him if I took him along with me on a visit to the park, but he turned down my invitation. He told me he enjoyed my photos, but that he had never been to Disneyland and had no interest in going. Too many screaming children, he said.

“That was a surprise to me, so I told him about my memory of the Haunted Mansion. While I was talking, his face went completely pale. I don’t mean that as a figure of speech – it was like all the blood had been drained from his skin.

“He insisted that he had never been to Disneyland with me and my mother, but then he told me something strange. When I was about five years old, we went to visit his family in Seattle. My grandfather had just taken on management of a property in Capitol Hill, one of the old Gothic Revival mansions that used to be common there before the neighborhood gentrified. It was an old house, almost as old as the city itself, but my grandfather was having trouble finding potential buyers. The property had been designed by the student of a famous British architect by the name of Robert Smirke, and he wanted my mother to come take a look. Do a walkthrough, point out any potential areas of interest and value, that sort of thing.

“According to my father, my mother had a bad experience in that house. She refused to talk about it with him or anyone else, and she never went back to Seattle. She took me along with her on her tour of the property, and I was apparently just as upset as she was when we came out, even though my dad says we spent less than ten minutes inside. If I thought this place was the Haunted Mansion, and if the ride at Disneyland evoked such a strong memory, it makes me wonder – what did we see in that house?

“I checked with my grandfather, and he said the property never did find a buyer. The only person who seemed seriously interested was a British woman by the name of Gertrude Robinson. Shortly after she made inquiries, the place burned down. Imagine my surprise when I ran a search and learned that this Gertrude Robinson was employed by an institute dedicated to paranormal research.

“So,” Ted concluded, meeting Jon’s eyes, “I gave you my statement. I hope it will be useful to you. I was wondering what you could tell me in return.”

“Not much, I’m afraid. As you can see, we’re still in the process of organizing our records. We’ll investigate to the best of our abilities and contact you if we learn anything.”

“I would love that, thank you. Well, you have my information so…”

“We’ll be in touch. I believe I see my assistant Melanie hovering around. She used to have a large following on social media herself. I’m sure she’d be happy to show you outside.”

“So you’re from LA,” Jon heard Melanie say as she held the door open. Ted directed his dazzling smile at her, which she returned before allowing the door to slam shut behind them.

“Statement ends,” Jon muttered as listened to their conversation growing fainter. He ended the recording and leaned back in his chair.

“Any thoughts you’d like to share, Martin?”

“Oh, I, um,” Martin stammered. “I didn’t want to interrupt the, you know. The statement.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he emerged from between the shelves.

“It’s fine, Martin. It was a relief. To know that you were listening.”

“I’m sorry, I… What? It was?”

“I’ve never been good with people like that.”

“People like… Wait, excuse me?”

“People who are so…” Jon made a vague gesture to illustrate his point. “Sunny. Bright. Content. When someone comes here to make a statement, they’re usually upset.”

“Ah, right. I can see what you mean. But he looks like he just got back from a trip to the happiest place on earth.”

“The happiest place on earth?”

“You know, Disneyland Paris.”

“Disneyland Paris? They finished construction?”

“A few decades ago, actually.”

Jon sympathized with Ted Nakamura’s father. Between the crowds and the relentless sunshine, he couldn’t imagine a more ghastly location, and by this point he considered himself something of an expert on cursed geography.

“I don’t suppose we’ll have to go there ourselves to investigate,” he said, making an attempt to smile. He failed. His muscles were still tense from the process of taking a statement, and his face felt frozen.

“Really? You… want to go to Disneyland Paris? I suppose I could come too, I mean, if it’s not…”

Jon was alarmed by how red Martin’s face was becoming. Did Martin want to go to a theme park? Jon didn’t know much about Disneyland – or Paris, for that matter – but his childhood had been unusual, to say the least. He’d never asked, but Martin’s family couldn’t have been much if he had nowhere to sleep but down here in the archives. Perhaps he could use a vacation. Perhaps they both could.

Jon turned to face his assistant. “Martin, I…”

“Did someone say Disneyland Paris?”

Jon frowned. “Does this conversation interest you, Elias?”

“I heard you were planning a trip. You really must go sometime. It’s fantastic, quite the experience. I went myself, back in 1996.”

Elias made a quick series of taps on the screen of his phone before holding it out in front of him. Jon and Martin leaned forward to get a better look.

In the photo, Elias was posing next to someone wearing a Mickey Mouse costume. He wore an aloha shirt over denim shorts, and he was grinning from ear to ear. The camera had caught him in the act of pulling a tall man with a square jaw and a severe expression into the frame. The image quality was poor, but the man seemed far too pale for the summer sunshine.

Jon’s frown deepened. “And that is…?”

“Oh, this is Peter. You’ll meet him soon enough, I’m sure.”

“Do you, um. Do you go to Disneyland often, then?” Martin asked.

“Just the once. Peter lost a bet, you see.”

“Right.” Jon couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had a bad feeling about this.

“I wouldn’t mind going back. We could all go together, make an office party of it. It would be fun. You do know what fun is, don’t you, Archivist?”

Martin’s eyes darted between Elias and Jon. “I don’t think it’s safe to…”

“Come now,” Elias interrupted. “Would you have any reason not to?”

“China.”

“Excuse me?”

“China. I need to follow up on a statement, something Gertrude was looking into before she traveled to New Zealand.”

“Excellent. I’m glad that’s settled. I’ll leave you to your preparations, then.”

“Damn it.” Jon clenched his fists on the table as Elias left. A trap had been set, and he’d walked right into it.

“Don’t feel bad,” Martin said, oddly perceptive. After everything they’d been through, Jon was coming to appreciate that about him. “At least we know that Elias is still human. He likes Disneyland, after all.”

Jon wasn’t convinced that a fondness for theme parks qualified someone as being ‘human,’ but what would he know? He had to admit that Elias was right about one thing – it would do him good to get out of the archives.

“Are you really going to China, then?”

“I suppose I am.” Jon removed his glasses and rubbed his forehead.

“I’ve always wanted to go someplace like that, somewhere far away,” Martin said, his eyes darting to the tape recorder on the table. “I’d like to hear about it. If you don’t… If you don’t mind, of course. Maybe I could, I mean, we could go out for a coffee together. After you get back.”

“All right,” Jon replied, replacing his glasses. That would be rather nice, actually. “After I get back.”

#The Magnus Archives #Jonathan Sims #Martin Blackwood #Elias Bouchard #Haunted Mansion #full episode format #canon compliant #ghost stories #my fic

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irisbleufic · 5 years ago

Note

Happy 2020! Can I tag you to do that 2019 Fic Year in Review thing?

Happy New Year to you, too! Sure thing. I can’t remember the last time I did one of these; since 2019 is the end of a decade, it feels fitting. Here goes…

14 February 2019: After spending 14 of my 15 years (2020 marks the start of my 16th year) in Good Omens fandom working on it, I finally finished and posted the 75th and final installment of Crown of Thorns [The Walls, the Wainscot, and the Mouse] ’Verse. LiveJournal was still the fandom’s primary posting hub when I posted the first-ever installment, A Better Place, on 1 October 2005. The series didn’t get its second installment (The Walls, the Wainscot, and the Mouse) until 2010, but work on the series from that point forward was pretty much constant. 2012 saw a higher number of CoT updates than any year previous; that was also the year I transferred it to AO3.

25 February 2019: I finished and posted the last chapter of my third Good Omens collaborative fic ’verse with @procrastinatingbookworm, Turn In Your Arms. We couldn’t believe there was no Good Omens fusion with Tam Lin, so we went for it. Given our first collaboration in 2018 was a Good Omens fusion with Groundhog Day (Game Over, Insert Coin), that wasn’t a stretch.

27 February 2019: @aspiringjedi and I posted the first of our two Good Omens meta-essays, Making An Effort: Queer (Trans) Masculinity in the Ethereal & Occult Beings of Good Omens. Yes, it’s 1,990 words due to the novel’s publication year. When you’re just under 2,000 words anyway, why not?

28 February 2019: @procrastinatingbookworm and I followed up Turn In Your Arms with a brief sequel, Burn After Reading. All of our collaborations to date have ended up as multi-story mini ’verses.

25 March - 20 April 2019: I went about as livid over Gotham’s Season 5 as I did over Season 3 and wrote Darkroom to address how dirty the show did Bruce and Jeremiah. I had a stand-alone Season 4 fix-it story (focusing on Oswald and Edward, like most of my other Gotham work) called Triage from 2018 that had never quite felt like it was meant to be a stand-alone. Triage and Darkroom became the first two installments of a series called Playing for Keeps, to which I added another 6 stories by April 20th. Darkroom somehow got more traffic than any of my other Gotham pieces since When You Find It, Run over in DDO ’Verse (although those two stories are keystone pieces in much larger series, they can both be read as stand-alones).

4 April 2019: In the midst of working on the aforementioned, @aspiringjedi posted our second Good Omens meta-essay, Southern Pansies: Subversive (Trans) Masculinity in the Ethereal & Occult Beings of Good Omens.

8 May 2019: Brief blip back into Pacific Rim fic! I posted a missing Anthology correspondence/inset ficlet called L’amour, c’est comme la guerre. For anyone who ever wanted more of the email correspondence in Anthology’s final chapter, this fills in some gaps you didn’t know were there.

16 May 2019: Thanks to some behind-the-scenes persuasion from several really tenacious Gotham readers who didn’t want me to abandon it / shut down DDO ’Verse, I completed The Knights’ Tour after almost a year on hiatus from it. This turned out to light a fresh fuse on DDO, because TTK didn’t end up being the final story in the series like I had once planned.

18 May 2019: The only His Dark Materials fic I’ve ever written, also a Gotham fusion, got a belated new final chapter. Gold Dust is sort of an alternate take on DDO ’Verse, one in which Dust and daemons are present.

23 May 2019: I posted what I thought would be a stand-alone Gotham story called The Meaning of This City. It manages to be a marginally less dark and complicated take on the Bruce-and-Jeremiah situation (than Darkroom over in PfK ’Verse, that is) without sacrificing some of the most difficult features of what they need to overcome. More on why this didn’t remain a stand-alone in a bit.

6 June 2019: Good Omens requests came around, one of which led me to follow the Imagine Hastur Ficlets (which themselves exist thanks to the accidental prompts at @imaginehastur) interlude in CoT with The Imagine Hastur Epilogue. This was a sort of neat in-narrative way to deal with having gradually come out about my biological (inter)sex and (nonbinary) gender identity over the 14 years I worked on CoT.

15 June - 1 July 2019: I posted another Good Omens collaboration-set with @procrastinatingbookworm called Have Faith at the series-title level. The two stories in it, You Bloody Snake and Enough of a Bastard, focus almost entirely on Hastur and Ligur. Seeing Aziraphale and Crowley through different (and less favorable) eyes was a weird pleasure; seeing people indignantly realize they were enjoying fic about Hastur and Ligur was even more of one!

15 August 2019: @verumx persuaded me to watch Jamie Marks Is Dead with her and @one-eyed-bossman, and then implored me to fix it. Using Our Words is the stand-alone that resulted, which is no shock given I can’t resist ghost stories. It’s unique among this year’s stories in that it may be the only genuine stand-alone aside from the Gotham piece called Gold Dust.

17 August 2019: After an experimental in-character snail mail letter-writing exchange that lasted about 6 weeks, @verumx and I transcribed the letters and framed them in a piece of collaborative Gotham fic, We Were All Forgiven. Since about late April, I had been getting progressively sicker and sicker (didn’t know yet that I had cancer). Keeping busy as things got worse helped at least in the psychological sense, but by mid-August my exhaustion and difficulty eating were hitting their peak. I was hiding it from everyone except my partner.

1 September 2019: Returning to two stories I’d written for Batman: Europa, I created a series umbrella called Once Is Not Enough and explicitly placed London (Letting Go) and Five Love Affairs under it as companion pieces. Between Thursday Friday of this particular week, I experienced an increasingly more frightening set of symptoms that landed me in the ER and got a sequence of diagnostic tests finally rolling.

22 October 2019: After receiving a diagnosis of colon cancer on 10/1/19 and starting medical leave Monday of Halloween Week, I decided to complete the sequel to The Meaning of This City, which was a Gotham piece I’d left hanging mid-progress for weeks. The Maze of Your Ingenuity was hard for me to complete due to constant blood tests, CT scans, and outpatient procedures in the lead-up to my Thanksgiving Week major inpatient surgery, but I did it.

23 September - 11 December 2019: My longest Gotham fic ’verse (Delicate, Dangerous, Obsessed, a.k.a. DDO), having refused to die even once The Knights’ Tour was complete, got an entirely new ending stretch of stories focusing on, of all people, Jerome Valeska and Five (514A). They were the only two characters from canon who I had mentioned and/or shown briefly in passing earlier in DDO, but whose arcs from canon (and onward into my fic) I had done nothing to wrap up. Challengers, Thicker Than Blood, Take This Waltz (It’s Yours Now), Finally Fair (In Love and War), and What We’re For (And What We Want) may, collectively, be the best writing I did during the entirety of 2019 (unless you count what I wrote in February to finish CoT). The experience of terrifying, unexplained illness and harrowing treatment was entirely too timely to one of my two protagonists in this set of stories. They were worth their weight not just in distraction, but also in catharsis. Five survived, and so did I.

#good omens #gotham #wayleska #fic year in review #fanfiction

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mvssmallow · 5 years ago

Text

ULTRAVIOLENCE: MERCY

UV OST: #1 Crush

“It was unnecessary.” Yongguk disapproves from behind the dark wooden desk. “Waste your own bullets in your own goddam time.”

Hanbin just sits there, body tense and high on adrenaline/guilt/whatever, silently screaming for Jiwon to keep his mouth shut and just take the berating their leader is dishing out to them.

But he knows better. He knows his partner.

“He deserved it.” Jiwon spits out venomously, “He had kids packing Ice down by the docks. I put a couple of shots in his head. So what?”

Yongguk raises an eyebrow but never raises his voice, the deep calm timbre of his voice more menacing than any kind of shrill volume.

“That deserves wasting time to execute him does it?”

Jiwon snorts. “Wasn’t an execution. It was mercy.”

Yongguk chuckles for some reason but it’s not because anything is really funny. It just gives Hanbin a headache now, sitting here debriefing about a job that should’ve been discrete, simple, neat but turned out to be loud, messy, complicated and personal.

“Mercy?” Yongguk echoes quietly, as if to test that word out. “That what you’re calling your methods these days?”

“I should’ve let him bleed out. The headshots were a mercy.” The way Jiwon says all this, matter-of-factly, conversationally, with all the remorse of a cold-blooded killer, should set alarms going off in anybody’s head but well, it’d be hypocritical for Hanbin to judge him on his intent.

He’ll judge him on the execution. And his lies.

****

Today’s job was the conclusion of a week-long mission to take out one of the drug manufacturers still operating (unauthorised) on their turf. Hanbin had done some groundwork by getting to know the guy running the operations, who only went by the name PK. Apart from the essential information he’d manage to extract during a particularly drunk night out (he faked it, he never gets drunk on the job), he doesn’t tell Jiwon anything else.

And it would’ve been an easy job if they hadn’t spotted all the homeless kids being abused and then used as free-labour to pack all the boxes for shipping. They thought it’d be easy to convince the kids that they were the lesser evil but turns out, there must’ve been a strong case of stockholm-syndrome because a 12yo pulled out a handgun with shaky hands.

They’d both seen it and the shot went somewhere into the ceiling because that kid looked like he’d never shot a gun in his entire life.

Then all hell broke loose. Kids scatter everywhere, confused shouting from guys they hadn’t seen come or go during the recon-stake outs, gunfire raining from every direction. So much for stealth. So much for discreet.

June and his team get the kids out, Hanbin set the charges and goes to find the head of operations and it’s right at that time he realises that Jiwon, who was meant to be covering him, was already way ahead in the distance, standing over an angry bleeding mess on the ground.

Hanbin should’ve stopped him. Stopped him from killing like this, in this needlessly psychopathic and dissociated way, but he didn’t. Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was.....he doesn’t even know. All the does know is that Jiwon has a particularly vicious brand of justice he reserves for those who abuse kids and those who take what’s his.

He always knew this would end up messy.

“You deal with kids now huh?”

“Fuck you.”

There’s a muted crunch that Hanbin recognises as Jiwon’s boot stomping on a rib cage. It’s always followed by a breathless groan.

“Oh I will.”

They all know to expect a lot of things about each other by now, like how Jiwon prefers fists and knives to guns, but since the Accident, things have been violently unpredictable and that even though the crew talk about it hushed tones, it terrifies the shit out of Hanbin.

He doesn’t expect to see Jiwon pulling the gun out of his thigh holster. The silencer muffles two quick shots into each kneecap.

Too bad there’s no silencer for the screams. They should’ve gagged this idiot before he calls out to the calvary.

It doesn’t stop there. There’s another quiet shot into a shoulder that’s followed by an even louder scream.

When Hanbin finally comes to stand next to him and brushes against his shoulder, Jiwon barely moves his eyes and his gun from the bloodied pulp on the ground. PK looks up and even with the black mask covering the bottom half of his face, recognises him straight away and for a split second, Hanbin thinks how it’s a bit of a shame that such a smart guy like PK ended up in this line of work.

“Hey, pretty-boy, you owe me...a date.” There’s a wet wheezy cough and even through all the blood, Hanbin can see the twisted leering smirk.

“What’s he talkin’ about?” Jiwon asks in a cold voice.

“Nothing. Doesn’t matter. We’re done here. Leave him, I’ve got the chargers lit.”

But Jiwon doesn’t leave it. Neither does PK.

In some other world, in some other situation, Hanbin might’ve rolled his eyes at this obvious pissing-contest between the two of them for his honour but right now, he just feels the nausea in his gut. Not because of the violence or the blood, he’s used to those things by now, but the way Jiwon gets so caught up in revenge that nothing is going to snap him out of it.

“Ohhhhh,” PK starts, reading something on Jiwon’s face and then seemingly enjoying all this despite his predicament. “You think you’re the only one....who knows what his mouth.... feels like? You’re not-ARGH, motherfucker!”

PK slumps on the left as a shot pierces through his collarbone. There’s a groan but they also hear the quiet laughter of a madman who knows his time is up but will make everything hurt on the way down. There’s really no honour amongst thieves.

“I want...you to know that... I got to him too. Remember that next time you fuck him-”

The headshot is so fast Hanbin almost didn’t see it coming. It’s followed by two more.

Just in case.

Then another.

June’s clipped tones cuts through his earpiece, telling them the kids are all out and all the charges are in place. It’s only his training that gets Hanbin jolted from this haze.

“B. Let’s go. We’re done here.” He orders. He’s still running Alpha on this job, they still follow his plan but Jiwon’s never really been just another subordinate. He’s never been just a team member. He’s always been some other dangerous category.

Jiwon is stuck in his bloodlust: his eyes dead and black, his mind tunnel-visioned with a singular focus, his body nothing but an obedient and deadly machine. Hanbin places a firm hand on his shoulder and feels it reacting sharply, like it stings.

“Let’s go. That’s an order.”

Jiwon doesn’t move.

June is still shouting in his earpiece so he presses the comms to send back a message.

“Got it, get Gamma squad out. We’re coming.”

Hanbin knows June’s still in the middle of saying something but he quickly cuts off the comms and goes to disable Jiwon’s as well. The action does nothing to move the bigger man, who is still has his finger on the gun as he stares at PK’s dead body.

Jesus. It’s going to be one of those nights.

Hanbin sighs inwardly, coming to stand between Jiwon and the dead body. He pulls off their face masks and reaches up to holds Jiwon’s face in his hands, forcing his vision from the ground.

“Hey? Baby?”

Baby.

It usually works.

It’s a trigger word if anything and Hanbin knows he shouldn’t use it like this, shouldn’t abuse his own power like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures and this is a fucking desperate time.

“Baby....look at me.”

Silent seconds tick by but eventually Jiwon slowly looks up and his eyes tract across Hanbin’s face, reading something, searching for something, before the vision clears, he leaves his bloodlust behind and pushes the hands away from his face.

The kiss isn’t really a kiss. Jiwon grabs Hanbin’s neck roughly and smashes their mouths together so violently that there’s a dull ache of teeth hitting teeth. Just as Hanbin gets sucked into Jiwon’s heat, he’s released and pushed away.

“Let’s go.”

They blow the charges on the warehouse. An anonymous tip gets the kids sent to the local police station to be dealt with and re-homed hopefully. Hanbin knows most of them will end up back on the streets within the year. It’s the circle of fucking life around here.

Jiwon says nothing the entire ride back to HQ. He says nothing when they surrender their weapons to the armory. Says nothing when Soo questions the empty magazine in the guns. Says nothing when Donghyuk asks if they need any injuries checked out. Says nothing when he goes to shower off the blood and shove his dirty tact-gear into the incinerator. Says nothing when they’re in debrief.

It’s not part of his job anyway. Hanbin runs Alpha team and it’s his responsibility to give the reports. Yongguk’s always been a good leader to them and trusts them enough to run their team as they see fit but he does have his limits and has never stood for unnecessary and wasteful personal vendettas. This is a business and businesses should never be personal.

And that’s when Jiwon says something.

****

“Gamma said you stalled. Why?”

They’re sitting in Yongguk’s office, facing him from behind the large dark desk. The cup of tea sends soft wisps of steam into the air and for a few tense seconds, it’s the only thing that moves in the room.

Hanbin takes a breath to speak but Yongguk holds up his hand to silence him.

“No. I want to hear it from you.”

It’s directed at Jiwon, who shifts in his chair, before shrugging.

“You wanted the operation shut down. We did it. That PK asshole is dead. How is this a problem?”

Yongguk hard stare bores into Jiwon’s face and maybe there’s a brief second of defiance before Jiwon backs down.

“You didn’t answer my question. You stalled, why? Gamma were out, the charges were set, you planning on staying inside the building to get blown up? Was that the plan too?”

Jiwon looks away but Hanbin can tell from the way his knuckles grip the arm rest that he’s livid on the inside. That body nothing more than something to contain his rage.

Please don’t have an episode here. Not tonight.

“I wanted him dead. I took my time. He deserved it.”

Yongguk sits back in his chair and takes a sip of the tea. “You make it personal?”

“No.”

“I can tell when you’re lying you know.” Yongguk smiles, a rare thing in itself. “You think you can act without me knowing? You think I’m not already two steps in front of you? You forget who took you in? Taught you?”

Jiwon hangs his head now. Out of shame or tiredness or just trying to calm his thoughts down. Or maybe all the above.

“I know how you think. I know how you act.” Yongguk continues, resting the tea cup on the desk gently. “I’m taking you off Alpha for a month.”

“WHAT?!”

Jiwon whips his head back up to protest, words dying when Yongguk shakes his head that he doesn’t want to hear it.

“That’s final. Hanbin will still run Alpha, we’re sending June over to run point.”

“What about me?” Jiwon asks, sounding for once, like a how normal 23 year old should. “What am I doing?”

“You’re back on wheels.”

“What?!”

Yongguk gets up then, a signal that this meeting is over. Hanbin rises from his chair, bones aching from the entire week, and watches as Jiwon stays seated, glaring at Yongguk.

Come on, don’t have an episode now. Please.

“Jiwon.” Hanbin says, voice both an order and a plea.

The hand on Jiwon’s shoulder is warm and firm. It reminds him of something, grounds him back to something, something good and safe. But this entire week was turning out to be a nightmare so what is the point of something good and safe anyway?

Jiwon shakes the hand off his shoulder, curses under his breath and stalks out of room without looking any of them. Hanbin watches him leave. The guilt setting in like a slow stain.

“You sure you want this? A whole month?”

Hanbin looks across at Yongguk and nods. “I can’t have him out there right now. He’s gonna get me, him and the entire team killed.”

“Hate to think what he’d do if he knew you asked for this.”

“Blame it on you as usual.” Hanbin says with a smirk. “You act like you disagree.”

Yongguk chuckles and punches Hanbin lightly on the arm. “Go. Sleep. New assignment in 2 days.”

****

Jiwon gives him the silent treatment, just grabs a pillow from the bed and walks back out into the living room to sleep on the couch. Hanbin wants to roll his eyes from the melodramatics because it’s not like all of them haven’t been benched for other reasons too, but he knows this is something else.

Jiwon’s not injured. Nothing is broken except for his mind.

“Hey? It’s cold out here, come back to bed?”

“No.”

On most days, Hanbin would just leave this alone and let Jiwon work out whatever chaos he has running through his head but that was before the Accident. These days, he hates how responsible he feels for everything going in Jiwon’s life. Hates how it feels like neither of them have control of it.

“Come on. I can’t sleep properly without you there.”

There’s a scoff that he can hear, even through the pillow. “You don’t have a problem fucking other people to get what you want so why don’t you just find someone else to sleep with you?”

Jesus. This again.

“I didn’t fuck him.”

“He said you did.”

“I wanted information. I didn’t fuck him. I barely kissed him. He was talking shit.” Hanbin says with a weary sigh. “We talked about this. You know this is what I need to do sometimes. It doesn’t mean anything.”

There’s a hand that rests on Jiwon’s leg but he shrinks away from it, curling into himself under the blanket.

“Don’t fucking touch me.”

Hanbin growls in frustration despite himself. A week’s worth of sleep deprivation wears down his patience and softness. He tries but he’s running on empty.

“What do you want me to say?” He asks Jiwon’s turned back. “You act like you don’t do the same thing if it helps the job. I’ve seen you do it. How is that different?”

Jiwon turns over with irritated rage etched all over his face. “I don’t want them to touch you like that! Just shoot them! Why do you have to let them touch you like that?”

Hanbin isn’t even surprised by the outburst. He’s heard 100 times already. The Accident made Jiwon’s possessiveness worse, even when there’s never been any reason for it.

“It doesn’t mean anything. I can wash them off.” Hanbin says softly now, sinking down onto the floor and resting his head on the couch next to Jiwon’s.

“You remember any of it?”

“No.”

“You enjoy any of it?”

“No.”

“I hate it. It’s fucked up.”

“I know, baby.” Hanbin reaches out to run his fingers through Jiwon’s faded brown hair and counts it as a victory when his eyes close with a sigh. “Come back to bed with me?”

It’s easier after that. Some nights are like this. Hanbin hates how messed up they are, like prisoners of Jiwon’s erratic mind, but he can’t hate the reassuring warm weight of Jiwon’s body on top of his as they fuck slowly in the middle of the night.

He can’t hate how Jiwon looks right into his eyes as he thrusts hard and deep, can’t hate how full he feels, can’t hate how Jiwon bites his neck like he’s claiming him forever.

Can’t hate being claimed. Because that’s what he is.

#Ultraviolence #listen to the song first #it's important #i felt like writing something like this today #it belongs to UV #somewhere #it doesn't follow any order #can be read as a stand alone #so many typos oops #i don't have a beta #i should get one #lol

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temmie-loony · 6 years ago

Text

Speedy^3′s kids

They got three kids.

Iris Belle West II

Wally and Jesse’s child

The older fraternal twin of JJ West by twenty-two minutes

She’s the oldest child, born on January 8, 2018

Like both parents, she is a speedster metahuman

Unlike Dawn, she’s still learning the language of the Speed Force

She can understand better than she can speak it and she can’t write anything at all except that stupid “This house is bitchin’” reference

Growing up, she was always affectionately called ‘Kid Flash’ by her Uncle Barry

Her dad has long let go of the hero name Kid Flash and instead goes by Flash but only when he’s with the Legends; when he’s chilling in CC, the locals still refer to him as Kid Flash

So now she’s the newest Kid Flash of Central City in Earth-1

Thank goodness that she didn’t go through the same dilemma about her hero name like her cousin Connor did

Her suit kind of resembles that of her mother’s but has a lot more yellow incorporated in it as a tribute to her father of course

She also added laces at the sides as a tribute to her other mother

She occasionally visits Earth-2 to visit her Grampa Harry, where people over there call her Flash Jr.

Meh she doesn’t complain too much about it

She mostly trains with Team Flash since it’s easier receiving instruction from other speedsters who’ve already honed in on their skills

Sometimes, she’ll head on over to Earth-38 to train with Alex Danvers because apparently her combat skills still suck but only if Dawn is there

Connor, even though she loves him, is a headache

Having graduated from high school early (at fifteen), she chose to attend college over on Earth-2 so she could have multiple majors with no one looking at her funny for being an overachiever

She knows she’s probably slowly burning herself out but she loves the material as much as she loves saving people

Although she does complain a lot about the amount of work she has to do every day to her friends, siblings and cousins

She still has no idea what she’ll do once she’s done with her degrees

Meh she’ll probably end up working for STAR Labs

She just has to figure out if that means Earth-1 STAR Labs or Earth-2 STAR Labs

Iris was pretty mad that Thea got Oliver, Barry and Kara’s kid to be named after her and when Barry confirmed that they weren’t planning on having any more kids, she promptly turned to her other brother and demanded that their first daughter will be named after her

Unlike Dawn though who is referred to by her middle name, she is referred to by her nickname: Irey

Thea tried teaching her archery but she’s so bad at it because grabbing an arrow, pulling back and aiming all take time and she doesn’t like things that take time

She’s an incredible multitasker

And that actually has nothing to do with her speed; she just doesn’t like wasting time

Connor likes to make her race him but, like his races with Dawn, he ends up losing

She’s a bit slower than Dawn but at least she’s still faster than Connor

She’s closest with her Aunt Iris, Pawpaw Joe, Zari, Ray and Grampa Harry.

She calls Wally “Dad” or “Daddy”

She calls Jesse “Mom”

She calls Thea “Momma”

Johnny Jai West

Wally and Jesse’s child

The younger fraternal twin of Iris West II by twenty-two minutes

The middle child, born on January 8, 2018

He was once, in fact, a speedster like his twin

However, after years of already having his powers, Caitlin had belatedly found an anomaly in his DNA

He began to become horribly sick, which seemed to worsen by the day

No one knew why at first until Caitlin, Cisco, Alex and Jesse realized it had something to do with the Speed Force

It wasn’t their parents or any of the veteran heroes that saved him but his twin

“I’m sorry, JJ, but the Speed Force said the only way to save you was to sever your connection to it and...”

“Hey, it’s cool, sis. You saved my life. I owe you one.”

His nickname is JJ

He got his first name by Thea opening up a baby book and blindly pointing at one of the names

He got his second name as a tribute to Jay Garrick, who helped save Wally from imprisonment in the Speed Force by taking his place

He’s affectionately called Johnny Quick by Team Flash, especially when he still had his powers

They don’t call him that as much anymore, out of respect that he’s essentially had an important part of himself ripped away and calling him that would just be a cruel reminder

He’s a brilliant engineer but not so much an excellent student

He’s not the greatest at tests (why do schools rely on memorization as a way of measuring intelligence instead of actually measuring their intelligence?) but you could give him just about anything broken without saying anything and it’ll take some time for him to figure out what’s wrong before fixing that thing better than it ever was in an hour

Having Connor as a cousin and a constant presence had really made him consider not going to college at all but he found this university that cultivates knowledge and favors experience over stuff like tests so he applied and that’s where he’s attending college

Since William’s place is pretty close to the college, William offered him the other guest room since the bigger one is unofficially Connor’s

It’s been pretty dope so far

He really wants to take on the family business of becoming a superhero but ever since he lost his powers, it really felt like he lost his identity and was stripped of his heritage

Obviously, he doesn’t need powers to become a hero but having the Speed Force severed from him was traumatic

He’ll probably take up John Diggle’s offer or even Alex Danvers’ offer of training properly with their respective agencies, but for now he just wants to distance himself from all that insanity and try to live a regular life

Had he still had his powers, he says his code name would have been ‘Impulse’

Like his father, he’s an incredibly talented dancer

When they both have some free time, he’d team up with Dawn for mini-performances for places that would hook them up with a gig

He’s suspected to be dating someone but will deny for as long as he can

He’s closest to William, Cisco, Nate, Felicity, Winn, Curtis and Uncle Barry

He calls Wally “Dad”

He calls Jesse “Mom”

He calls Thea “Momma” or “Ma”

Olivia Laurel West

Wally and Thea’s child

She is the last born but only by a few months

She was born on June 1, 2018

Her parents expected her to be a regular baby, but Caitlin did some tests and actually found the metagene present in her DNA

Her powers started manifesting when she was a toddler

She was definitely more problematic as a child compared to Irey and JJ when they too got their powers

She was a brat and often asked for attention, barely acknowledging her siblings except when she really had to or wanted something in return

That all changed when JJ started getting sick

She was actually the first person to witness JJ’s descent into his sickness when he passed out shortly after vomiting what seemed like the entirety of his lunch and maybe even breakfast too

Then Irey got hurt pretty bad on what was supposed to be a relatively easy mission

Now she’s extremely protective of her siblings, especially when it concerns Irey’s missions or JJ’s love life

Oh by the way, she’s definitely sure JJ is dating someone, despite his claims that he’s not

She has absolutely no proof but...

She just knows okay?

She can feel it

She is most definitely spoiled but not to Dawn’s level

Unlike her siblings, she’s not that great at being an intellectual

She considers herself average

When someone argues that she had straight A’s and did extracurriculars in high school, she points out that she worked hard for them, not because she’s a genius like her siblings

She’ll also be going to college but took a gap year to help her sister (and occasionally her cousins too) as a vigilante

Since Thea retired, she stole inherited her mother’s suit and mask sans the bow

She can do archery just fine; she just prefers using her speed over using arrows

Archery is something she loves doing but only recreationally

Intentionally shooting people is something she has a problem reconciling with

Since she’s not creative at all with names or even have the desire to think of one, she just took the name Speedy but it wasn’t her idea

For a while, she operated without a code name, which was obviously problematic since calling her by her real name on the field wasn’t at all doable

One day, while visiting Team Arrow Jr Team Light Team Light Arrow her brother’s kids team, with Irey and Liv teaming up with them, Thea slammed her hands on William’s desk and, through the comms, angrily told Liv to just take the name Speedy so her civilian identity wouldn’t get compromised simply because they had nothing to call her

So that’s how she got the code name ‘Speedy’

She sees Dawn as a little sister and Connor almost like a best friend (almost only because John Diggle Jr. would kick her ass)

She doesn’t see William as often as she sees Dawn and Connor but she loves him all the same

Connor keeps pushing to have a race with him and the others

She always shoots him down because she knows her limits

She knows she’s definitely slower than both Dawn and Irey

She doesn’t know if she’s slower than Connor though

She doesn’t race them because, in the end, hero-ing isn’t her calling like it is for Dawn, Irey and Connor

She just helps them out because she has the ability to

She’s obviously named after Oliver because Oliver made Thea name her after him

Her middle name is Laurel to honor Dinah Laurel Lance

She goes by Liv

She’s still salty her last name isn’t Queen

She calls Wally “Dad” or “Daddy”

She calls Jesse “Mom”

She calls Thea “Momma”

yep i finally gave thea/wally/jesse kids because i have very poor impulse control okay bye

#speedy^3 #thea queen x wally west x jesse wells #arrowverse #flash #arrow #speedy #kid flash #jesse quick #thea queen #wally west #jesse wells #iris belle west ii #johnny jai west #olivia laurel west #oc #introductions #speedycubed #speedycubed kids

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verdigrisprowl · 5 years ago

Text

June 10 Dancitron Movie Night - Halloween (2018)

Soundwave is in trouble with the Iacon police. Not for accidentally owning a deployer in stasis for seven years. For illegally planting a seed in the crystal gardens. His punishment is community service.

Prowl is slightly disappointed in Soundwave, but mostly thinks the ankle tracker is overkill.

Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:19 PM After attacking the video wall with a repair kit for the better part of an hour, Soundwave finally gets a passable signal to come through. He hopes this is an entertaining film, because otherwise he's going to fill out a whole lot of reports with a lot more iciness than is strictly necessary or pleasant to read. For now, he'll just park himself on the couch and wait. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:22 PM ((when you accept a friend invite from someone you were playing overwatch with, only to find out their like 12 and beg you turn rejoin the game after 9)) Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:22 PM And Prowl will park himself right next to Soundwave. He is pleased to see that Soundwave isn't under arrest. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:23 PM ((aww))

Soundwave is not under arrest, no. He's not a particularly happy camper, but he is, at least, not in jail. That ups his mood by about 5000% from where it could've been. He is going to lean on Prowl straight away and lift his leg. Look. Look at this leg, Prowl. Do you see. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:26 PM ... He sees a leg. His mun, however, is not certain what Prowl should be observing about it. Besides its beauty. He's DEFINITELY observing its beauty though. Soundwave is welcome to demonstrate his leg to Prowl any time he wants. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:27 PM Jazz is wandering in and also curious about the raised leg Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:29 PM There is a THING on that leg. A thing that does not belong there, and has never been there in the whole time either of those mechs has known him. It is ugly, and clunky, and anyone who's had anything to do with the law for more than half an hour should know what it is.

He's gotten in trouble. There is a tracker on him. It's horrible. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:30 PM ((I'll try and keep up with chat, but don't know if I'll watch the movie. Got an ocular migraine starting)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:30 PM There'sa predacon carefully poking her head in and ppering around. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:30 PM ((no problem. if you can't stay with chat don't force yourself to do that either; don't screw around with migraines)) He lowers his leg to nod to the Predacon queen. It's been a while. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:30 PM Prowl is stunned, crestfallen, and devastated, in roughly that sequence. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:31 PM ((hello, rabbit still isn't working for me, hope its okay to peek in)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:31 PM ((five minutes til start, we're goin quick tonight on account of lateness - and ye it's fine)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:31 PM [Rabbit is forever a butt] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:31 PM ((am i the only one here who's gonna see the movie)) Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 8:31 PM ((possibly)) KwehToday at 8:31 PM ((I am! jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:31 PM ((I get them often enough that it's more annoyance than anything. What sort of moovie is this?)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:31 PM ((halloween (2018) )) ((with all that implies)) KwehToday at 8:32 PM ((will decide on a character once I'm done crying about Lea Salonga's beautiful voice Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:32 PM ((IT'S ME AND KWEH, THE LONE AUDIENCE)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:32 PM ((I'm hopfully getting much better internet in a few weeks or month)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:32 PM [Blaster has rabbit open beside me, but I've got Fringe on while sewing. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:32 PM Jazz snickers a bit. "What ya do to get in trouble, wave?" Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:32 PM ((better internet! good luck!)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:33 PM [I'm always here for the company. :blue_heart: Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:33 PM Soundwave doesn't need to look at Prowl to know that's the sequence of emotions he just experienced. He knows what a stickler for the law Prowl is. He knows how he's disappointed the mech. There is shame. Shame! ... But not too much shame. Just a little. A scrap.

[[He decided to tell an officer of the law about something reprehensible but unintentional and came away with this.]] jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:33 PM ((I know nothing about this movie. Is it more like Halloween town or horror?)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:33 PM ((horror. lots of horror.)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:34 PM Ice Quuen carefully settles herself and looks...happyp tired, keeps her wings closed for now, not sure to 'realease the non scary beasties.' Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:34 PM Is this Prowl's fault. Did they arrest him because he didn't know a Minicon was on his shelf. This is an abhorrent miscarriage of justice but what can he do about it?? He can't possibly get involved without implicitly abusing his authority. This is a travesty. A tragedy. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 8:34 PM ((so much horror Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:34 PM [Horr-or jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:34 PM ((Ah. Nope, nope. Not even leaving it open to listen along.)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:35 PM [[Fortunately, bail was low and he can spend some time cleaning up the Praxus gardens as penance. Still. He doesn't like anyone knowing where he is.]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:35 PM ((horror? eep)) Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:35 PM He sends Soundwave a couple of apology pings and takes his hand. He's so sorry. This is his fault. How could they be so cruel to Soundwave. Well, he knows how. But WHY. It's unforgivable. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:36 PM Soundwave tilts his head and looks at the hand, slightly confused. What's Prowl apologizing for? But a hand is a hand. He'll snatch it up and lace their fingers together. It's them against the world of horrible, horrible other cops. ProwlToday at 8:36 PM It's fine, the abhorrent miscarrier of justice finally decided it was time to visit Dancitron again. Getting over awkward offenses is easy once you've slapped a tracker on them! Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:37 PM Fiend! Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:37 PM Is there still a peeking Predacon at the door? She might get picked up on the way in. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 8:37 PM Oh for the love of....well. No, don't do things like that. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:38 PM "... Is community service and a tracker the only punishment you came away with?" Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:38 PM [Also, hiiii Icy!] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:38 PM The predacon was just entering with a hatching or two under her wings trying to peek out. ((hiii!!)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:40 PM No pick up then unless the smalls want uppies. [Nice to see ya around. :3 Still chatting with Fatala/Jeanne?] Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:40 PM [[Yes. They couldn't find any reason to give him a harsher punishment for planting a seed in a garden without permission.]] Hmph. Looking at his own world's Prowl. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:40 PM Prowl blinked. "... What?" Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:40 PM ((off and on, she seems to be really busy)) ProwlToday at 8:40 PM Prowl does not address Soundwave or the Captain for the time being and takes a seat at one of the empty tables. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:42 PM If he can pick up Icy, there will be several intresting sounds no one has heard from her since she was a hatchling. and the tinies would be THRIILLED. Icy? confused as hell but won't bite. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:42 PM [The work stuff of insurance and con prep for next month is prolly keeping her very busy.] Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:42 PM Soundwave waves his unoccupied hand. [[Someone noticed the Harmonex tower seed growing in the Praxus gardens. He couldn't deny it. What if they'd decided to tear it out?]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:42 PM ((yeah, she was going to commistion me bor a themed catcher set but had to stop it)) Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:42 PM "Oh! Then—the punishment isn't for the deployer?" Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:43 PM Primus can pick up anyone. All a matter if she'd want to be raised up like a trophy for the sake of fun. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:43 PM ((also i am sorry ahead of time for what stuttering/desyncing there is; i'm having to stream this from browser instead of through theirs because rabbit and vudu don't get along)) Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:43 PM Swoop drags his very banged up self through the front door, chirping and looking around. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:43 PM [[What? No. No, she was quite sensible about that.]] jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:43 PM Jazz is considering offering to help spoof the tracker so that Soundwave can make it look like he's wherever he should be, but given the number of Prowls present he'd probably get in trouble for offering. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:43 PM [Aw. Your dreamcatchers are very pretty.] Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:43 PM That's what private comms are for, Jazz. ... Also, you assume he didn't already consider that. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:43 PM ((also please do pick Icy up, she still has no idea who Primus really is, primus. just that mech that played with her hatchlings)) Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:44 PM Swoop hops, skips, limps, and skitters about. "Bird?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:44 PM [[Greetings, those who have entered lately.]] At Swoop and Primus and others. [[No, no Bird tonight. Next week, perhaps.]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:44 PM Swoop deflated, going so far as to stick is sad lil lower lip out at Soundwave. ((I love this theme song. It just gets me pumped every time.)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:45 PM ((hell yeah)) [[Did you think it was about the deployer? Is that - is that why you apologized?]] Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:46 PM VICTORY FOR VEGET- Wrong character. Icy is going to go UP. "Hi." Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:46 PM "Oh. Good, that's—that's good." He paused. "They put a TRACKER on you for unauthorized gardening??" jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:47 PM "For a seedlin'? Is it considered an invasive species there, or somethin'?" Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 8:47 PM Quick nod to his alternate. Then going to prod at Primus. "Seriously?!" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:47 PM [[It's from one city and he placed it in another. So, yes.]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:47 PM In the absence of a bird-friend, Swoop stands in place, completely unsure of what to do with himself. He didn't plan this far. There isn't a next step. He lives in this exact spot now apparently. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 8:48 PM Jazz snorts at the youngling and pats the open spot next to him. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:48 PM [[That, and something to do with his constantly traveling to another planet. Afraid he'll stay there, he imagines.]] [[Swoop, do sit.]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:49 PM That'll do. Swoop takes a few long steps and plop himself next to Jazz. This is where he lives now apparently. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:49 PM He gives the tracker a distasteful look. "I'd consider it... excessive." That was the politest word he'd give it. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:50 PM ((I love the quiet badass energy she's got POURING off her already.)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:51 PM ((she looks like she'd like to slap both of them into next week already)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:51 PM There is something like a half mew of a cat and a startled owl sound that came out of the big predacon as she;s hefted up. Wings snapped out in reflex, one would like smack the lord of light and the other bonking the ceiling. It freed her tag alongs to scramble and one jump ship to keep from falling off.Ice Queen had no shame in giveing yipping chirps like if she had been the hatchling instead, one leg kicking in the air. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:51 PM [[Is five a large number for humans?]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:51 PM ((She's tryign to decide if $3k is enough or if she could beat them up for more)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:51 PM [[It seems a lot for such a short-lived species to accomplish, but he doesn't know.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:52 PM "For murders? It's five more than most humans." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:52 PM Soft huff. That's fair. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:52 PM "... Five more than most Cybertronians, before we all became soldiers." Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:52 PM Swoop pulls his legs up underneath himself. He rocks a little in place, cause holding still is for nerds. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:53 PM [[Why don't you mind your own business, human.]]

[[Ah. Yes. War does tend to color one's perception of murder.]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:53 PM "Me Swoop can murder people." He's contributing to the conversation now. You're welcome. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:53 PM [[Five in one night?]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:54 PM "Five NOTHING! Keheh. That one combiner. No big deal." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:54 PM [[It is a big deal if they are all together at the time.]] Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:54 PM That was an unexpected sound that was rather amusing. No harm was done to the building, though he did 'ow' being smacked in the face. Looks up at the Predacon held in victory with a bemused chuckle. "Been a long while, hm?" Puts Icy back down so she could gather the little runaways before they got into anything. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:55 PM "Us Dinobots fight Devastator a LOTS of time." : > Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:55 PM Grimaces at this talk of combiner murder. "Devastator's six, not five." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:55 PM Oh, hm. That was somewhat insensitive of him, wasn't it. Apology ping. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 8:56 PM "Five, six, same whatever kehehheh." ProwlToday at 8:56 PM Prowl finally speaks. "The Crystal Gardens are protected and the introduction of a possible invasive species has the potential to destroy what little regrowth had occurred since the planet's revival."

She pauses, weighing her next sentence.

"Ultra Magnus felt he was a flight risk against my recommendation in an effort to appease the governors." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 8:56 PM Mumbled thought. [[This one has all the tact Frenzy can bring to bear.]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:57 PM "A looong time...." Ice Queen said, her head pulled back and staring with a wide optic at thenew mech. Racer was clinging to his head and.... um, where did the other one go? Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 8:58 PM Well, he hopes the other little one is not getting into trouble. But, he's still giving Primus a look. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:58 PM "A flight risk over one seed." Tsk. Somehow Prowl didn't quite buy that excuse. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:58 PM "Good to feel young again." Pets Racer to calm him down. Have you tried his legs or back? Plenty of spaces to hide a small mech. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:58 PM The new one is just sitting on a chair mewing confused. little feline one. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 8:58 PM "... Is the garden alright?" Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 8:59 PM Oh, there they are. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 8:59 PM RAcer is offically draft horse size now so, hope that's okay. He's a little dragonic predacon like icy. just 'small,' and clings to new perch. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:00 PM [[Hmph. Big words from a youngling who knows nothing of being hunted.]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:00 PM Oh! This movie was pretty boring. Suddenly, Swoop is VERY into this. "Her pretty good shoot!" ProwlToday at 9:00 PM "Our botanist is still determining that." Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:01 PM Little cheetah cat-insulted look if that was aimed at him. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:01 PM Doesn't have any issues in the slightest. He is Primus. And is listening to the conversation near Soundwave[Slendy] while feeling very berrated by the closer Soundwave[CC]. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:01 PM "Who 'it'?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:02 PM [[She ought to be a good shot if she spent forty years practicing. And they are referring to the human who tried to kill her four decades ago.]] ProwlToday at 9:02 PM "Michael." Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:02 PM "Me Swoop almost forty!" Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:03 PM Smokescreen is coming in, not bothering with a cloak to hide his missing doorwings tonight, looks at the screen, and is just about ready to leave. "Soundwave? This- uh, is this the movie?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:03 PM [[Yes. You're a bit late. Do you require catching up?]] Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 9:03 PM And he should. Five steps in. Five. Steps. And Primus is already spooking others. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:04 PM Ice Queen is refloding her wings, hope she has not smacked anyone. Looks up to check if she did a dent. Looks up at Primus and her hatchling, puzzled chirps comes out. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:04 PM "Forty years is over half a human lifespan. But, in return, it looks like she hasn't been... living during those years. It's correct that she's prepared for the worst; but in preparing, she has little of a life worth living. Both she and her... offspring's offspring have valid perspectives." Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:04 PM "Uh. Maybe. I, uh, saw the earlier movies the other day." Granted, it wasn't a fun experience, and it led to his doorwings coming off in the first place, but he still saw them! Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:05 PM Swoop gives Prowl a weird look. He's very unclear on this whole topic. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:05 PM [[Hm. Perhaps. Still, they seem uninclined to help.]] Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:06 PM Giving Racer scritches as if this was perfectly normal behavior. "Yes?" Looking at Icy. Mentally nudges Smokescreen. You okay...? Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:07 PM Smokescreen finally realizes he's been standing at the door for a few moments now, and heads on inside, nodding at Primus, maybe sticking close to Primus. Very close. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:08 PM Eeeeeeeeeeeeever so slowly, Swoop sliiiides down off the couch like he's melting onto the floor. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:08 PM [[Well, if you decide you need to know, tell him. Find a seat somewhere comfortable.]] Judging by what led to Smokey's doors coming off the last few times, he's going to assume the mech's back hurts. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 9:08 PM Smokescreen had better be on the other side then. Because he's attempting to keep the deity out of trouble. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:08 PM [[Stay in the vehicle, child.]] Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:09 PM Wraps one of his wings around Smokescreen of he's that close. Would nuzzle, but his helm is a host to a big/small Predacon child. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:09 PM New subject to absorb. Jazz has zeroed in on the new Prowl. "So.. with the gardens. The seedlings need to be kept sort of regional for climate reasons, right? They don't always grow well in other places. Is there a garden renewal program with the place the seedling is from? Or a way to move it to a climate controlled area for it?" Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:10 PM The queen.. isn't sure but remembers to get her bulk out of the way, Racer is leaning into the touch happily and is not stressed, so no over protective predacon. Ice queen checks on the other hatchling...who has taken over the chair. That's his spot now tank you. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:10 PM He is now a puddle. He is a liquid pteroborb. Just all over the floor. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:10 PM Jazz is giving Swoop a perplexed look. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:10 PM Limbs everywhere. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:11 PM "The child has terrible gun safety." jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:11 PM "You okay, bitlet?" Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:11 PM Smokescreen's at the other side, looking at Primus, and then Soundwave, leaning back against Primus' wing. "I'm pretty comfy here, Soundwave! But thank you!" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:11 PM [[The place the seedling is from is a pile of rubble created from a bigger pile of rubble. As with a few other places on Cybertron, no one has settled there yet. He has a few other seeds, but they are in stasis.]] Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:12 PM Swoop continues splaying out on the floor, oblivious to the fact he's apparently a bitlet. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:12 PM [[And he doesn't think the child needs to worry about gun safety anymore. Unfortunately.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:12 PM "The guy he shot could have benefitted from the child's gun safety." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:13 PM [[That is true.]] Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:13 PM Changes which servo was giving scritches to Racer so Smokescreen could have some too. Good boys. Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:14 PM Smokescreen is shutting his audials off for a moment, but leans in as he's scritched. He's good? He's really good? Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:15 PM Ice Queen will just sit and then loaf on Primus' other side, still not sure who he is. but her hatchling likes him. Racer will perch happily and hang onto the head with his tail too....it may or may not cling to his face or over the otics as RAcer shifts to look around from Epic Pertch. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:15 PM [[Yes. Yes, that is what you should do.]] jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:15 PM Jazz is just gonna scoop up Swoop and put him in his lap. He's not paying enough attention to the movie to know what caused the apparent melting, but he's going to give the wings soothing pets. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:16 PM From the floor comes a chirped, "Halloween!" ProwlToday at 9:16 PM "There is, though I'm not involved aside from volunteering, so I couldn't tell you the exact details of the renewal program and what steps will be taken." Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:16 PM And by floor we of course mean sofa. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:16 PM Prowl starts fiddling with Soundwave's fingers. He's not doing anything specific, just checking them out. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:17 PM ((if y'all have teeth-related fears look away when he sticks his hand over the stall for about 15-20 sec)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:17 PM Smokescreen is a very good boy. Really needs to stop getting himself into such trouble, but he was a very good boy. Can't exactly see much due to Racer, so he can't observe much anymore. Does know that Soundwave[CC] may have been dislodged from his spot by Icy. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:18 PM The predacon can just be Loafing near! Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:18 PM ((oh man... tooth stuff.)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:18 PM Soundwave doesn't quite know what to make of this. Prowl's never really - this is different than usual. He doesn't mind; it's kind of nice to be examined. He places a small blue question mark on his visor and leans forward, curious. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:19 PM He answers the question mark with an affection ping. Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:20 PM Smokescreen turns his audials back on, realizing it's much, much more effective to look away from the screen. "Oh yeah- sorry, Soundwave, I didn't bring cookies or anything this week. But I can still treat myself to drinks and stuff like normal, right?" Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:20 PM ((WHOA was there a frame of Michael's face in there????)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:20 PM ((when??)) Oh! Is this just admiration? Did he start Prowl off on that with the leg thing earlier? That's nice; he'll happily indulge Prowl on that. Maybe offer up the other hand and bob his head. There are a few small wear differences between them. He uses one more often for typing and one more often for repair work. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:20 PM ((He like turned really fast to pull the dude around and I swear there was like one solid frame with a face.)) Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 9:21 PM He is going to huff, and keep watch. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:21 PM Hm. Comparison time. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:21 PM ((quite possible; there is in the original too i think - and they do a lot of mirroring since he's basically trying to restart the night over)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:21 PM ((sorry if I missed something)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:21 PM [[Yes, of course you may. ... Get a few extra if you need.]] At Smokescreen. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:22 PM Swoop yaaaaaaaaaawns. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:23 PM ((fuck's sake. give us a second y'all)) jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:23 PM ((sup?)) Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:23 PM ((rabbit crapped out)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:23 PM ((oh my)) Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:23 PM "Really? Thanks, Soundwave! Any special occasion, or do you just need to get rid of some snacks?" Smokescreen is slowly moving from under Primus' wing towards the snacks, using any nearby furniture to support himself. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:23 PM Slowly, Swoop turns to look around at the whole room. Who is here? Not Bird, that's who. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:24 PM ((vudu is the one that went pbblbbt, gimme a sec)) [[Just plenty of snacks to share.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:24 PM ((the one time it WASN'T rabbit)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:25 PM RAcer is carefuly hopping down to a shoulder, still trying to hold onto Primus with his head as he flods his wings up. feels safer there, and total shoulder predacon now. Swoop (medicalmurdersaurus)Today at 9:25 PM ((Ahh. This movie is a lot of fun but I'm fading fast. Let's just have Swoop zonk out too. Feel free to get up to all sorts of hilarious shenanigans with the past out dino lol)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:25 PM Smokescreen, would you like temporary doorwings to help with balance? They'd be there but not. And hello, Racer. You're his parrot now? Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:26 PM ((aaaaaah goodnight ;; )) ((finish it some time if you never have seen it! it's good)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:26 PM ((rest well!)) racer is a parrot on primus's shoulder. he can jump down though! he's a LOT bigger now though ProwlToday at 9:27 PM Prowl perks with interest at the reveal there. How clever. jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:27 PM Jazz now has a dinobot sleeping on him. Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:27 PM Actually, that would be nice! Smokescreen would probably be overjoyed if Primus did that. Absolutely overjoyed. For now, though, he's just made it to the snack table, and is grabbing as much as his hands can hold. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:28 PM If Prowl is interested, the hand with the sharper claws is the one he uses for repairs. Comes in handy when you don't have a wire stripper around, y'know? Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:29 PM "Before getting kicked out, she could have at least bothered to inform them WHOSE bus crashed. They could have at least known to lock the doors in case." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:29 PM [[Yes, she does fail to make that clear. Then again, he doesn't know there's anyone else she would be paranoid about.]] Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:30 PM Racer can jump down to his momma if he wants. Primus looked over to Smokescreen with a soft hum. Moves one of his servos for guidance to 'return' Smokescreen's doorwings for the night. Unless he'd want them to be permanent? He's bee very out of touch and doesn't want to make Smokescreen unhappy with this. He's already got Soundwave[Slendy] unhappy for reasons he's unaware of. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:30 PM Prowl's noticed one hand is sharper than the other—that's the fun hand—but he's never really carefully compared them like this. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:30 PM (("the fun hand" ahaha)) Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:31 PM "... How long are you being tracked?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:31 PM [[Two days. Then it's decided what he'll have to do.]] An irritable vent. [[It's horrible.]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:32 PM RAcer falls off, thumps on ground and rolls before popping up. He meant to do that. Really. Racer grooms hismself while his younger sibling laughs at him. He dos get a lick from his carrier. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:32 PM "I thought they already decided? Or are you at risk of more punishment than community service?" jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:32 PM "Ah. Two days is short, though." Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:33 PM While he'd love to have them back now, he's actually getting some new ones soon! So it's fine, really, probably. Still, the moment he has them back for the moment, he's spinning around the main area, taking a few jumps, and maybe a fall, just to enjoy them again. "Frag yeah! Frag yeah! Did, uh- how'd you do this, Primus, sir? Are these, uh, the same ones that I lost?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:34 PM [[He's already doing his work by connection so they can't find out what he's doing and where he's going over there. A good thing Ravage signed on as a proper employee; he can handle tracking by himself for a while.]]

[[The current decision is for interfering with the gardens without permission. What to do about the invasive species bit is another matter.]] He'll probably bribe the gardens and try to get the seed back. They can't complain then, right? [[It's only short if you have nothing to hide from other mechs.]] jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:36 PM "It's short if you've had a much longer parole before." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:36 PM [[Long sentences and breakouts. No paroles.]] Soundwave looks to Prowl. [[You didn't hear the second part of that first sentence.]] jazz(unkillablejazz)Today at 9:37 PM "Did those too." Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:38 PM That's very good news! "In a manner of speaking, yes. It isn't too difficult to track down your signature. I'm very familiar with it after all." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:38 PM Tiny sneer. [[Abandon the fool.]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:38 PM Racer starts sniffing about, may he visit a few mechs? Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:39 PM [[Good.]] What were they saying? [[And what were you given long sentences for?]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:39 PM "I'll let it slide." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:39 PM A huff. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:41 PM "What's a breakout or two when I already knew that you're a dangerous rogue gardener." He tapped Soundwave's tracker with his foot. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:44 PM Soundwave's mouth opens and shuts once before he determines that this is a joke. He bops Prowl's foot back with the tracked leg.

[[A terrible criminal, him. A threat to pristine grounds all across Cybertron.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:45 PM Huff. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:45 PM And then a mild frown. [[He supposes this puts an end to his idea of planting one in Iacon.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:46 PM "Not necessarily. You just have to get permission and ensure that it won't take over the local flora, correct?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:47 PM He has no idea. He didn't even think about invasive species being a dangerous thing the first time, let alone look things up. He glances to the other Prowl. Help? ((putting the jack o lantern in an aquarium to douse it, how petty)) Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:47 PM Turns out looking away still means hearing the sound, and Smokescreen really isn't for that during the more intense scenes, and is going to pretty much cling to Primus during all of the scary-sounding scenes. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:50 PM Smokescreen will get back rubs between the doorwings. "Not my sort of movie either." Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:51 PM Racer puts a paw on Smokescreen's leg, not so tiny predacon sniffs at him. remembers him! ProwlToday at 9:52 PM "The Captain is correct. Local flora in Iacon is scarce to begin with as it is and there are fewer citizens to interfere with your seedling's growth." Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:53 PM "What is it that you're trying to plant?" Ice Queen asks from her spot. Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:54 PM "I mean, I enjoyed the first movie when I watched it, it's just- it kinda reminded me of slag." He's resting himself against Primus, probably not about to let go for the rest of the night. Still! Racer gets a pat on the helm! Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:54 PM "And if it's a nearly extinct plant, it would probably merit protection." ProwlToday at 9:54 PM "It would." Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:55 PM "Slag? The Dinobot or the metal trash?" Nuzzles Smokescreen's helm. Strokes the back of it soothingly. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 9:56 PM "Are there no semi isolated or isolated villages or places on you cybertron that can handle this plant?" Ice queen askes, "Or an inside tank or guarden room?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:56 PM Oh, that's... that's actually sort of exciting, in a quiet way. Little satisfaction glyph on screen and everything.

[[A Harmonex tower seed.]] To Icy. [[Difficult. They have to be well tuned and shaped as they grow.]]

But if they can be protected... [[Perhaps he could hire someone to tend to it. We earn more than enough in excess for that...]] Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 9:57 PM "What? No, no- a phrase. It reminded me of stuff that, uh, happened when I saw the original movie." The petting helps, but his optics are not coming back on until the music stops. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 9:58 PM "Oh." All good, Smokescreen. Primus isn't judging you for the 'nopenope' at the movie. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 9:59 PM ((god damn it. hold on it did the spinning thing again)) Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 9:59 PM ((*taps rabbit)) ((oh there it go)) ProwlToday at 9:59 PM ((punts vudu)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:00 PM Racer walks carefully over to sit near, but not too close, he does want to say hello to soundwave and prowl, show off so to say. But only if its okay. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:00 PM Soundwave hasn't seen Racer in forever. He pats a knee. Would Racer like to come up for a moment? Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 10:01 PM Prowl glances over. "Pbbt." And returns his attention to one of Soundwave's hands. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:03 PM Something that's almost an actual chuckle. He missed hearing Prowl make that noise. [[What are you looking for, if he might ask?]] Usually when someone gives them this much an inspection, they want to know one thing. [[The mid-finger seams are where they open and fold to rearrange the joints when the deployers dock...]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:03 PM RAcer would love to! He trots over and shows that he is...tanker then before. The brown predacon hatchling is more youngling, about the size of a draft horse instead of pony! he puts his head up on soundwave's leg first. Not everyone wants a big dragonet on them now. ProwlToday at 10:03 PM "This won't end well." Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:03 PM "Pbbbt!" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:05 PM Soundwave is much stronger than he looks, and he's used to being piled on by smaller bots. There's plenty of room next to him on the couch for Racer to hop up. Pat pat the space. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:06 PM The youngling hops up neatly, wiggles around to loaf, his wings are under control now and shamelessly plots head on soundwave's leg again. "Hi." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:07 PM Exclamation point. He speaks? [[Hello. Doing well, youngling?]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:08 PM "Ye! Yes! New clutch! new friends!" Racer chirps, he can talk much better, but not all the time. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 10:09 PM "Nothing in particular." But at the suggestion, he traces the seam. "Can you do it when a deployer isn't docking?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:09 PM ((puff you're gonna wanna look away)) ((ok it shhhhhould be ok. there might be another brief flash of it next time they show the cops, i don't remember)) [[Ah! That is very good. You must be a proud older sibling.]]

And then, glancing at his hands. [[He tends not to, if only to conserve energy and protect the mechanisms. But, in the interest of medical demonstration--]] He stares, flexes the fingers... and there they go, splitting and rearranging the sections to show the very delicate insides and a hidden joint. [[These spaces here are where the relevant portions of Rumble and Frenzy's armor lock in.]] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:14 PM Racer holds very, very still just in case. But he does radiate young pride, and glances where the new hatchling is still catting on a chair under Icy's watch. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 10:15 PM Prowl pulls his hands back, to avoid potentially damaging the sensitive parts that weren't meant to be exposed. He just looks, studying. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:19 PM [[There used to be more under here.]] Nodding to the revealed components. [[But we streamline where we must to balance the strain. It is so elsewhere as well.]]

A glance to Racer. [[It doesn't scare you, does it, young one?]] Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 10:19 PM Don't mind him. He's just...going to try and stay awake. He's paying the movie no attention, and Primus is staying out of trouble. For the most part. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:20 PM "....no." The young predacon has been groomed by insecticon madables and acarriar with fangs bigger them him at one point, he's not scared, but confused, "Different?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:20 PM [[Only to some. No stranger than most partial transformations, in his opinion.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 10:22 PM "You can close it. Thank you." Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 10:22 PM Well Soundwave[Slendy] is busy with Prowl, and now Racer, so he's not had the chance to talk. He has a feeling that'd bring up a conversation best left until nearly all but three were there. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 10:22 PM ....that wasn't a challenge. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:23 PM A nod. They seal up and return to the usual two segments. He wiggles them to make sure everything went back in the right place before offering them up again. If there was anything else Prowl wanted to see, that is. He doesn't know. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 10:23 PM Trouble happens. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 10:23 PM Do not Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 10:23 PM He's seen enough for now. He takes Soundwave's hand. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:24 PM Soundwave hums a quiet note or three, soothed. Now to see what happens in this final hunt of the masked one's... Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:24 PM Ice Queen can help with trouble later on if wanted! shedoes have a ship full of pirates. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 10:25 PM As if he wants to cause trouble! Something happened and he just wants to know what it was that made him feel alienated. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:25 PM and hatchlings Racer is debating on being daring, but he STILL remembers that kick. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 10:25 PM "... The youngest one should get a gun too. In case." ProwlToday at 10:26 PM Laughs shortly at the daughter's trick. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 10:27 PM Primus, you're going to be the death of him at this rate. ProwlToday at 10:27 PM "Clever." Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 10:28 PM Says the one who doesn't have to keep track of him. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 10:28 PM "Do they still have guns? I feel like they should shoot him a couple times through the bars. Just to be sure. He's remarkably durable." ProwlToday at 10:29 PM "I think they left them in the basement." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:29 PM [[Quite.]] To the first Prowl. [[And he would fire several rounds, himself. Yes.]] To the other. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 10:29 PM Doesn't. But is trying to. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Today at 10:30 PM Racer noddles his neck and head over the could to peer at peeds, and then blinks at the mentioned thing before..... is that a chew toy? Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 10:30 PM [[Rather satisfying. Closure for three generations. How fortunate they are to have found it together.]] Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 10:31 PM You know he can just teleport you back to your proper universe, yeah? Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 10:31 PM Don't Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 10:32 PM Hmm... Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Today at 10:32 PM It's rude so do not do it Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 10:33 PM Smokescreen finally looks at the screen again, "Wait, wait, it's done?" ProwlToday at 10:33 PM "Yes." Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Today at 10:33 PM "Frag, that was, uh, good!" He had to look away for the whole movie, whoops. "That was, er, fun, Soundwave! Thank you!" Primus [the-lord-of-light]Today at 10:33 PM Soundwave[CC] is moved a foot to the side. Such rude he is. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 10:34 PM A puzzled sound coms from Ice Queen, how did that happne? ProwlYesterday at 10:35 PM "They should have shot him." Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Yesterday at 10:35 PM Well, now he's mildly disoriented. "Can you not do things like that?" Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 10:35 PM "A few more times, yes. And used a method of elimination that didn't necessitate leaving the building without confirming his death." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 10:35 PM [[You're welcome, Smokescreen.]] He'll offer a polite fiction. He knows Smokey couldn't pay attention to most of it. ProwlYesterday at 10:35 PM And on that lovely note, she's going to disengage from the video and stand up to leave. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 10:36 PM [[They really ought have stuck around to check the ashes.]] He'll give Prowl a nod farewell. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 10:36 PM "I could." You tempted him to be a spiteful child. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 10:36 PM "Evening, alternate." ProwlYesterday at 10:36 PM Pings Soundwave, alternate, and Smokescreen goodbye before leaving. Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Yesterday at 10:37 PM He pings Prowl back! Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Yesterday at 10:37 PM Very tempted to give him a mental jab for that. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 10:38 PM Myeeeh. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Yesterday at 10:40 PM Behave, damnit. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 10:41 PM Huff. Pets Smokescreen. Just has to talk with your alternate, that's all. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Yesterday at 10:42 PM Wonderful Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 10:45 PM Soundwave shakes his head. Bit of mental static coming off Primus there for a second. Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Yesterday at 10:45 PM Smokescreen leans into the petting, still clinging to Primus Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 10:48 PM Helm pets. "You going to head back home, Smokescreen?" Glances towards the couch. It has quieted down post-movie, but it still is a bit too crowded to speak up about whatever happened two weeks ago. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 10:48 PM He's feeling Watched. He squeezes Soundwave's hand. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 10:49 PM Squeeze back. He can feel the glance too. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 10:49 PM Racer chirps at prowl. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 10:50 PM ((public stream end in about 5 minutes y'all, i forgot to mark time but that's roughly it)) Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Yesterday at 10:50 PM "I guess- I guess I will. Eventually. To the medbay. Do you wanna come with me, Primus, sir?" Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 10:50 PM He nods at Racer. Ah, yes, hello—Prowl was distracted by Soundwave's hands, wasn't he? "Are you heading home now?" Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 10:52 PM "I've got something to do first, but I can join you afterwards." Smiles at Smokescreen. Kisses his forehelm. "Do you want to pick out a movie we can watch together? I'll stay with you until you get your new doorwings then, if you want." [Smokescreen is best snuggle buddy for Primus.] Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 10:53 PM Racer thinks so, but slowly noodles his head over to head bump at prowl's hand. "Pbbt." Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 10:53 PM He pulls his hand back, not sure what Racer wants with it; but then uncertainly sets it down on Racer's head. "Pbbbt." Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 10:56 PM Very pleased little predacon, gives the hand a blep and, "hi! I'm big!" Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 10:58 PM Oh, he's being licked. He's taking his hand back now. "Yes. You are." Comparatively speaking. But from Racer's perspective it was probably the biggest he'd ever been, so. "Were you upgraded?" Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Yesterday at 10:58 PM "That would be awesome, Primus. I don't know what movie I'd like to go for, but- maybe we can watch a musical? Have you heard of Starlight Express?" Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 10:59 PM "I have not. That sounds like a very enjoyable musical though." Smiles. "You've seen it before now?" Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:00 PM "I grow!" The blep is still there, he didnt mean to lick. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:00 PM Prowl very slowly nods. "I see." He's heard of that happening in some universes. This is the first time he's SEEN it, though. Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Yesterday at 11:02 PM "It is! It's got trains! I've been meaning to watch it with Astro, but I can see it with you again." Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:04 PM "Ha, does it now?" Rubs Smokescreen's helm with a chuckle. "Head back and set it up. You better be seated by the time I arrive or I'm not going to tell you an embarrassing story about Alpha Trion after the movie~." Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:05 PM "He's goi g to get at least twice his size before stopping for a while." Ice Queen offered, watching racer for a moment. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:07 PM "How does he get the mass to increase his size?" Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:10 PM "We eat metals, ore, minerals and things likenthat." Ice Queen chuckled, tilting her head at them, get him to open his jaws, his denta are heading up. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:12 PM "Oh? Seems... difficult." Wouldn't it be easier to forge bigger parts and armor than to construct them internally? Combining the processes for keeping a body functioning AND the processes to make it grow in one frame seemed crowded. Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:15 PM "Its mostly all we've known. I make sure the young get the easiest things. Dusted and sanded metals mixed with energon. " the predacon was being honest, it would be easier, but they just didn't have access to any parts or medics. Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:18 PM Light mental nudge to Soundwave[SW], then pings. {You're more quiet than usual. I still want to talk, but I feel tonight is not polite, yes?} Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:19 PM ((if we're gonna get into a Discussion, if we don't get into it soon, i'm gonna have to ask that it be put off for another night. i'm going to bed in 40 minutes)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:21 PM ((We can do it another time, or prowl can come to dreaded wings. I'm going to bed soon too)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:21 PM [Puff must sleep.] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:21 PM ((i meant with primus and soundwave actually lmao you're good)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:21 PM ((i'm honestly super dazed rn and am in favor of postponing fancy discussions until next week and then absolutely tackling them at that time)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:22 PM [gentle pets noodle Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:22 PM ((....I'm sorry. I'm going to go take my sick self away now. Good night)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:22 PM [Icy nuuuu [You feel better though. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:23 PM ((SORRY i'm not trying to run you out, we've been delaying a chat for a couple of weeks and i just wanted to get us coordinated)) ((i didn't want us to try to start it five minutes before i went to bed, is the thing)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:23 PM ((icy you didn't do anything, don't worry,)) ((but if you are sick please rest soonish)) Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:24 PM ((I've been miss reading things all night though, plus dyslexia and being sick is just, I know I might have been annoying)) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:24 PM ((nah nah)) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:24 PM [Never annoying friend Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Yesterday at 11:24 PM ((you're good, don't worry Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:25 PM [Lot happens at once on movie night Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:25 PM ((tired waves I'm going to pass out after cold meds. Just have icy take the kiddos. )) Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:25 PM [Rest and recover <3 Icy (Omicrontheicequeen)Yesterday at 11:26 PM ((Do I just leave the server? Was that in the rules?) Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:27 PM Soundwave glances toward Primus at the nudge and ping. He's... still not quite in the mood to talk. He got interrupted from his original thinking by all this mess with Slugfest and the outcome. [[Perhaps next week.]] Maybe he'll have worked out which gifts are safe and which ones aren't by then. Unless something ELSE is secretly a bot and he doesn't know it. He hopes not. ((it'll prevent you getting pinged with all sorts of unnecessary bleeps but honestly nobody remembers so i stopped chasing about it)) Smokescreen (ask-smokescreen)Yesterday at 11:28 PM ((shoot i got distracted by art asdzxcnc Primus [the-lord-of-light]Yesterday at 11:29 PM Nods in understanding. Shall scoop Smokescreen up then and take him back to where he belongs. Soundwave (corruptedcomms)Yesterday at 11:32 PM Well. With Primus gone, he's going to leave as well. Goodnight. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:33 PM Goodnight, alternate. One day he'll get to talk to you without Primus making trouble in the background. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:41 PM "... Are you sure you'll be ready next week?" Could they prepare for worst case scenarios by then? Was it possible to prepare for a worst case scenario with a spurned god? Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:42 PM [[...Well, he can at least try to listen. He would like to know what is so important that his alternate has to babysit a deity. Whether he responds or not is another matter.]] Maybe he can work the outcome of his listening into his overall determination about the situation? He's hoping, anyway. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:44 PM "Do you think he plans to talk? Or to demand answers?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:45 PM [[He doesn't know. If he demands answers, then... that says something, he supposes.]] [[And if he is angry, then he imagines we'll have a chance to find out whether that grimoire of ours works on a god.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:46 PM "Yyyes, it does say something. It says that we could immediately be in a hell of a lot of trouble if we don't provide the answers he wants on his terms." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:47 PM [[True. Very true. But he does not know if it is wise to keep a potentially angry god waiting. Damned if we do, and damned if we don't.]] Well, he can buy them 24 hours, if nothing else. He does know that much. ... Though he'd rather not do that. Might lose the spark shard if he does that. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:49 PM "Which is why we should be prepared before then. As much as we CAN be prepared, at least." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:49 PM [[He doesn't suppose you could calculate and create a bridge large and safe enough to move Luna Three over in an emergency.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:50 PM "... I don't think aiming Luna three at your own planet is... a viable plan. But yes. I could." Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:51 PM [[So we bridge him into space first.]] That sounds like it should be a joke of sorts, but there's no humor in his mental voice there. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:52 PM "Can we? That's just his avatar, right? Like mine. Would hitting his avatar do anything?" Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:53 PM [[Disrupt him for a short period of time. Serve as a warning. Even a few minutes would help, at that point.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:54 PM Prowl's gonna reach over and take Soundwave's other hand. He hoped it wouldn't come to that. He felt like he didn't need to say that. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Yesterday at 11:57 PM He didn't need to say that, no. Soundwave understood. He will take the hand, and tug Prowl into his arms if allowed. A reverse of the first night this mess started. He'll make sure at least one of them will be okay, whatever happens. And the deployers. They're staying in Iacon while that talk happens. Just in case. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Yesterday at 11:58 PM It's absolutely allowed. Prowl slides into his embrace, and holds him tight. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 12:00 AM Good. This is safety. They can rest like this, as much as rest is possible at this stage. They already took down Unicron. What's another god, if it really does come down to that?

A nuzzle and an affection ping. Just to beat back at the tide of nervousness. Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 12:01 AM Ping, ping, ping. Soundwave (Slenderwave)Today at 12:04 AM Hmm, good. Important to know that's true even now. It wouldn't be, with a lot of other people.

He'll keep watch for now with the occasional pet. Maybe bring Ravage down to help stand guard.

[[Goodnight.]] Prowl (verdigrisprowl)Today at 12:04 AM A nuzzle, and a light kiss. "Good night."

#chat

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shellalana · 6 years ago

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June 10th: Defence

Ernest’s comm device was buzzing off the hook, its vibrations sending it tumbling to the floor from off his nightstand. He’d tried to ignore it, hoping that whoever was calling would give up and go back to bed. He had things to do in the morning, and being exhausted wasn’t one of them. Just when he’d started to doze off, it buzzed again with that awful ringtone Benedict had put on it. Ernest had no idea how to go about changing it back. “Mhello?” he slurred into the device as he dragged clawed fingers down the side of his face. “This better be important or I’m filling your as-” “Mister Ernest, sir?” The timid voice of the only other flightless aviant broke Ernest out of his mood and shook him from the dregs of drowsiness. Toby never called unless it was absolutely necessary, never wanting to be a bother. “What’s up, Toby?” He slapped his face a few times to wake himself up some more. “Can you... come down to the police station? I might’ve got myself into a bit of trouble.” He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. “S’Reyna too busy?” “I... don’t want her to know. Can you hurry? Please?” Ernest sighed and started searching the room for his pants. “Sure, kid. Gimme five.” The streets were mostly empty this time of night, and it was hard to miss the single “police” station situated on the Ring. Why it even had one, he didn’t know. Probably to present some semblance of normalcy and order in a place that wanted anything but. One of the officers soon led him back to the holding cell where the small helmeted aviant sat, his flippers in his lap. “Oh my god, you really came! I’m so glad to see you.” He sprinted up to the bars, his eyes rimmed with red and... was that alcohol on his breath? “... what did you do?” Ernest tried not to sound accusatory, but it was hard to think of anything that would have warranted Toby getting locked up. The guy was a pushover! “I...” He cowered away from the bars, realizing he wasn’t quite out of the woods yet. “... I might have had a little too much to drink. And punched a guy. Maybe knocked out his tooth. Or his eyeball, I can’t remember.” The thought of him being in a fight and winning forced Ernest to hold onto the bars for support as he laughed his ass off. This was too rich, and it would be a waste not to share this story with someone else. Not that they’d believe it anyway. “I’ll take care of him,” he mumbled to the officer between his chuckles, and forked over a few credits to make bail. “C’mon kid, time for you to sleep off the rest of your buzz.” The cell door was barely open when he felt the tiny form crash into him, and looked down to find Toby’s face pressed against his stomach, his flippers around his waist in a hug. “Thank you thank you thank you!” “... yeah, don’t mention it, kid.”

#prose #fanfiction #battlebarn #battlebornpride #bbpride #ernest #toby

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toongrrl-blog · 5 years ago

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“The Mommy Myth”: Revolt against the MRS (Part One)

MRS: As explained, “Today we acknowledge that women inhabit many identities throughout the day, and they can be in conflict with each other, so we are constantly negotiating among them. But what the feminine mystique exposed was that all women, each and every one of them, were supposed to inhabit one and only one seamless subject position: that of the selfless, never complaining, always happy wife and mother who cheerfully eradicated whatever other identities she might have had and instead put her husband, her children, and the cleanliness of her house first. Once you grew up, you were supposed to encase yourself in this subject position as if it were a wetsuit, and never take it off. This asphyxiating and disciplining subject position might best be called Moms ‘R’ Us, or MRS, the wife/mother...”

The Women’s International Conspiracy from Hell (WITCH), Mother’s Day, Cleveland, 1969. Broadsides were posted on telephone poles reading:

Today, one day of the year, America is celebrating Motherhood, in home...church...restaurant...candy shop...flower store. The other 364 days she preserves the apple pie of family life and togetherness, and protects the sanctity of the male ego and profit. She lives through her husband and children. She is sacrificed on the alter of reproduction...she is damned to the dreary world of domesticity by day, and legal rape by night...She is convinced that happiness and her lost identity can be recovered by buying--more and more and more and more.

“Wages for Housework”

We clean your homes and your factories. We raise the next generation of workers for you. Whatever else we may do, we are the housewives of the world. In return for our work, you have only asked us to work harder...we are serving notice to you that we intend to be paid for the work we do. We want wages for every dirty toilet, every painful childbirth, every indecent assault, every cup of coffee, and every smile. And if we don’t get what we want, then we will simply refuse to work any longer. Now you will rot in your own garbage. We want it in cash, retroactive and immediately. And we want all of it.

Gloria Steinem’s hopes for the future in U.S. News and World Report, 1975

Responsibility for children won’t be exclusively the woman’s anymore, but shared equally by men--and shared by the community, too. That means that work patterns will change for both women and men, and women can enter all fields just as men can.

The late 1960s for women:

Men got paid more than women for the same exact job.

Women could get credit cards in their husband’s name but not their own.

Many divorced, single, and separated women found it hard to get credit cards at all.

Women could not get mortgages on their own and if a couple applied for one, only the husband’s income was considered.

Women faced discrimination in education, scholarship awards, and on the job.

The collective marriage property was legally the husband’s.

Women kept out of various jobs, like: doctor, college professor, bus driver, business manager.

Knocked out in the delivery room.

Birth Control options were limited (and abortion was illegal).

1960 statistics (it’s not all Leave It To Beaver)

40% of the work force were women, even with young children.

It was not reflected in the law or the media.

“Yeah flirting is fun. A man opens a door for me, I thank him, he smiles---and electricity ripples through us both. A year later I’m flushing out a diaper and he’s opening other doors.” Carold Hanish and Elizabeth Sutherland, Women of the World Unite--We Have Nothing to Lose But Our Men!

In March 18, 1970. Several feminists came into the offices of Ladies Home Journal to stage what would be an 11 hour sit-in to suggest changes to it (and after that, all women’s magazines) where they asserted as the magazine was a magazine for mothers and wives, they needed to establish an on-site childcare center for employees with young children and it’d be run entirely by women and that “the magazine seek out nonwhite women for its staff in proportion to the population”, then added minimum wage and worker participation in editorial decisions. The Editor in Chief, John Mack Carter agreed to an eight-page insert in the August 1970 issue.

The insert contained articles and sidebars entitled “Housewives’ Bill of Rights” (demands for paid maternity leave, paid vacations, free 24 hour childcare centers, social security benefits for years of labor in the home, health insurance”. “Help Wanted: Female. 99.6 Hours a Week. No Pay. Bed and Bored. Must Be Good with Children” talked about the inequities of homemaking and the less glamorous parts of homemaking and with all the work to make the home comfy they are greeted by smirking husbands asking what they have done all day.

“Babies Are Born, Not Delivered”, the writer/new mom documented what happened in the maternity ward (to Susan Mayfield, Karen Wheeler, Mrs. Sinclair, Claudia Henderson): pubic hair shaved off, being wheeled into a room on her lonesome, being told by a resident when she would actually have the baby, being told her pains weren’t real and she’d have to wait for the doctor, when about to deliver an anesthesiologist appeared and gave her a spinal despite her protests, doctor pulled baby out with forceps.

The articles spoke to the readers like they are comrades together rather than “I am the expert and you’re not” tone.

In 1972 (first appearing as an insert in the NYT in 1971), Ms. Magazine was born. Letters to the Editor had women of all ages and backgrounds flooding the section with letters about their grind with sexism. Jane O’Rielly wrote her famous essay “The Housewife’s Moment of Truth” with her “click” moments where she writes that:

I thought that most of my clicks were behind me, but tonight, as I cleared the table, I had a new one. I was complimenting myself (since no one else had) on a meal I’d gone to some trouble to prepare. I began to wonder why so many of us wait trembling for “the verdict” at every meal; why my mother and so many others risk antagonizing their families by asking outright if everything is okay.

I decided it’s not just neurosis. We really know they’re judging even when they don’t say so. Housewifing is an occupation in which every single waking act is judged by the persons who mean the most to you in the world. Is the house clean? Is the food good? Are the children well-behaved?

A thousand times a day our contracts come up for renewal. No wonder our nerves are shot.

Here are some following article titles from actual Ms. articles:

1973 had “Job Advice for ‘Just a Housewife’” in the November issue and it’s May issue devoted to motherhood with Letty Cottin Pogrebin writing “We care deeply about children whether we have our own or not. We work to improve educational curricula, child-care facilities, health services, and the childbirth experience. We are saying that men are parents too; that fatherhood need be no less important or time-consuming than motherhood...Truly, feminists are talking about choice: about making the decision to become pregnant and choosing a motherly role that is right for ourselves and our children.”

1974 had articles titled “New Help for Mothers Alone” (February), “How the Economy Uses Housewives” (May), and “Surviving Widowhood” and “Must We Be Childless to be Free?” (October).

1975 had “Kids in the Office, and What-Else-Is-New with Child Care” in March, “How Hospitals Complicate Childbirth” (June), and a special section on mothers and daughters in June.

Earlier that decade, writer Alix Kates Shulman (of works like Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen, the ultimate Karen Wheeler book, and planned the 1968 demonstrations outside of the Miss America contest) wrote about that her previously equal companionship with her husband deteriorated when they had children.

Now I was restricted to the company of two demanding preschoolers and to the four walls of an apartment. It seemed unfair that while my husband’s life had changed little when the children were born, domestic life had become the only life I had”

His work demanded more travel and late nights, so they wrote a marriage agreement where they asserted that “each member of the family has an equal right to his/her own time, work, values, and choices...The ability to earn more money is already a privilege which must not be compounded by enabling the larger earner to buy out of his/her duties and put the burden on the one who earns less, or on someone hired from outside” and that domestic jobs be shared 50/50 and any “overtime in any domestic job, she/he must be compensated by equal extra work by the other” and had a job breakdown that included childcare duties like: waking, getting clothes ready, making lunches, seeing notes and homework and money and passes and books must be collected, getting babysitters (hours of phoning), calling doctors and checking symptoms and filling prescriptions, staying home with sick kids, providing activities. Shulman and her husband became happier, she wrote more books for adults and children, and her husband after 4 months of the agreement heard their daughter say “You know Daddy, I used to love Mommy more than you, but now I love you both the same.”

Soon magazines started writing sample marriage contracts with even Glamour magazine featuring an article how to write your own contract. There were also men staying home as househusbands with one telling Time magazine in 1974: “I love my son Adam, but I can see how taking care of a kid can drive a woman up the wall.” Dr. Spock (and other childcare experts) were taken to task for assuming that whatever happened with kids was Mom’s fault and her responsibility. Gloria Steinem cited Department of Labor stats that put the value of a housewife’s work value to be around $8000-$9000 a year because that is what would cost her husband to pay for the services of a housewife, including prostitution (see Marital Rape and faking orgasms). Naturally people cried “Communism!” or “offensive to middle-class sensibilities”. McCall’s magazine citing a study from Chase Manhattan Bank economist noted that for a man to hire a cook, laundress, nursemaid, chauffeur, and gardener he’d be paying $10 grand a year back then and nuns did about the same work as housewives but were entitled to Social Security. Clare Booth Luce, in 1977 for The Saturday Evening Post, wrote that the work of housewives and mothers was now worth $20,000 a year.

Childcare became a hot topic, even though President Nixon claimed there was no need for national child development programs and such a program was anti-family. Also the idea of artificial pregnancies became attractive sounding to some (hey think about it, maintaining dress size and drinking booze and eating whatever and riding roller coasters?). Shulamith Firestone, author of The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, argued women will always be kept down until they were freed from “reproductive biology by every means available” and until artificial wombs were created, moms should be compensated for labor and dads be involved, Ted.......Also that children would benefit by being cut loose from dependency on parents who’d pass their issues on to their children and more kibbutz style households over the nuclear family model. In contrast, Jane Alpert, wrote “Mother Right” where she insisted motherhood was a source of female power and be harnessed in service for liberation and that mothers can pass on the values of empathy, pacifism, cooperation, intuition, protective feelings towards others to counter competition, individualism, and aggression.

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