#lss concert

[ckharchive]

240203 ©Gyugyucute

[koralcove]

APT.

prompt: what the current lads men's reaction would be when they find out you've been obsessed and bopping to this song (and how they would handle lss when it hits them).

a/n: this song has been bouncing in my mind as i was taking a shower, and then bam! brainrot was born.

he was headed to your place, coming back from the bakery as his nose directed him to a delicious scent and decided to purchase a seasonal pastry. his first thought when he purchased the tasty treat was to share it with you.

he's standing in front of your door. a few minutes have already passed, and you still haven't come to answer. on his last knock, he decides that he'll just invite himself in. opening the door, he's greeted by the sound of a beat coming from your kitchen.

as he nears your kitchen, the song comes in full blast from your speaker, the catchy rhythm reverberating around the room and into your bones, evident from the jolly wiggle of your shoulders and hips as your body moves to the beat.

you're currently washing your dishes right now, and you seem to be a bit sidetracked and spellbound by the music, occasionally stopping to soap a dish but mainly getting carried away by music as your body bops to it.

the song is apparently on loop, probably an intentional decision given from the never-ending delight of your body and expression as it keeps playing in the background, with you still unaware of his presence.

halfway through the third loop of the song, you do a little turn and scream as you finally notice xavier's presence by the threshold, soapy hand clutching on the spoon in your hand. judging from the subtle smugness and amusement in his eyes, he's been here for a while, spying quietly on your little display.

"xavier! what the fu... how long have you been there?!"

"long enough to find out that you put the song on loop. this has been the third time it's played."

your ears burn at the horrifying knowledge that he's seen enough of the little 'concert' you had.

you shoo him away from the kitchen, asking why he's there in the first place. he tells you of his little detour before going home and has picked up a pastry to share with you. you tell him to wait by the living room as you finish up the dishes, though you take your time in the kitchen to cool down, speaker now turned off and ears still burning in mortification.

once you're done, you avoid meeting his gaze as you sit down, taking the pastry he offered you. you sit stiffly, body language evidently awkward, and it doesn't help that xavier's eyes bore into you, pressuring your form.

"what?" you mumble, still not meeting his eyes.

"nothing. just visualising your dancing again."

you stop chewing, mouth agape as your eyes snap to his. you groan, lightly kicking his leg. "you weren't even suppose to see that! and isn't it a violation for someone to just walk into someone else's home while they're vulnerable? and talk about you spying too..."

"well, someone couldn't hear me knocking because their music was on blast and they were busy dancing, so i decided to let myself in." amusement dances on his gaze as he sees your face cringe.

from that day on, you made sure to always be alert with the door, especially when it came to xavier. you're suddenly doubting the decision of letting himself feel welcomed into your place...

he didn't let that slide for a few days, and though his teasings were subtle, it always manages to hit the nail in the coffin with his implications.

"your swordsmanship is getting better, although i'd say i'd prefer to see you doing your little dances right now instead."

"you want to do the dishes? am i going to see another concert from you?"

"i'll help you with that. you wouldn't want to get sidetracked with how lively the music is."

he finds himself humming the tune sometimes, but it was never within your vicinity. he was holding consideration for you, because although the blush creeping up on you and the scrunch of your face from the memory was adorable, he wouldn't want you to feel as if he was mocking you and making you uncomfortable around him.

one thing he'd never let you know, though, was the video of you that he secretly recorded. it never fails to bring a smile on his face and light his heart up with the way you were so lost into the music, your expression one of concentrated joy as you feel through the song, along with your adorable dancing too.

on a particular day, he had noticed you humming the same tune and repeating the same lyrics.

at first, he thought it was some form of incantation and wondered if you'd had any encounters with a wanderer that had anything to affect your functioning.

"apt, apt, apt, apt..."

zayne had to give you a quick check up to see if anything else has affected you. his suspicions were abated when he heard the following tune of your chanting. turns out, it was only a case of last song syndrome.

he found your little hummings endearing, especially when it's paired with the slight bop of your head, probably recreating the beat in your mind.

he doesn't mind it much, but a few days later as he's shopping, he hears a familiar chant and melody playing in the background. it turns out, it's a popular song, and as he listens to it intently, he can understand how the catchy rhythm seems to worm its way into your head.

at this point, with his knowledge of the song and your repeated hums and soft singing of the chorus, zayne has become somehow familiar with it. the music has eventually wormed its way into his head as well, but it was mostly because of how it reminded him of your cheerful tune.

unknowingly to him, he's been quietly humming the melody. greyson has noticed this when he was about to deliver a report to zayne, catching up with him until he hears a soft vibrating sound coming from the surgeon.

he's surprised to hear the familiar, catchy tune coming from their ever stoic doctor, but when you arrive at the hospital and greet greyson, asking about the doctor and waving at him with a skip in your step and the lyrics flying softly out of you as you leave, he puts two in two together.

you also eventually catch zayne humming the tune while you're both preparing dinner at his place, ears quirking as you hear the familiar melody in the form of his light, baritone cadence through the sound of him chopping.

"i never knew you liked that song too, doctor zayne. i didn't think it would be your style."

the hand on the knife stills at your comment, making zayne suddenly aware of his action. he blinks slowly, before proceeding to chop again. "i suppose it's grown on me. admittedly, the song is quite catchy itself, but i was more influenced by someone's constant singing of it."

a bashful smile reaches your face. "ah, my bad. it got stuck in my head for the whole day, and that was all i could hear in my mind."

"your condition sounds serious. i'm afraid it's contagious. the only cure for this now would be for you to sing it to me until my brain gets tired of it."

your hand shoots to grab the can of paint that you almost tripped over, sighing in relief from the lack of spill on the floor. you're wondering where in heaven's name rafayel is already.

he's invited you over spontaneously with the alibi of suddenly having the urge to have a painting session together. you figured it would be fun, considering you had nothing to do at the moment.

he also mentioned that he was out to grab a few supplies and that you should help yourself in his studio, but it's already been around forty minutes, and he still hasn't appeared yet. you're getting bored from just sitting out and waiting for him, so you decide to start on something.

once you've prepped everything you needed, you scroll through your phone and look through your playlist to find an appropriate song to get into the mood before starting. a cheery tune comes in and you nod in approval, grabbing the brush and just going off with whatever you feel.

minutes pass by, and you've made some progress with your work. the upbeat songs on your playlist drive the mood of your art as well as yourself, but when it reaches to that particular song, you're suddenly all over the place, the paintbrush now a makeshift microphone in your hand.

"don't you want me like i want you, baby? don't you need me like i need you now?~"

"oh, i definitely need a camera for this."

you trip over the same paint again, its contents spilling out. a slew of curses leave your mouth, grabbing the can before the whole liquid could escape. you look up to see rafayel, with a grin plastered on his face.

"i... you... how..." you sputter over your words, too stunned to even utter a full sentence to him. how long has he been standing there? and how much did he see?

"i came back ten minutes ago and heard the loud music from upstairs. sooo, i saw your performance for about... seven minutes, i'd say."

he walks over to you, taking the paintbrush from your hand and replacing it with a paper bag you haven't noticed on him.

"here, i bought some food for you on the way. i figured you might be hungry from all the wait. it was really busy outside. but don't worry, i always compensate my bodyguard. especially after they'd just had that dance number."

you groan, putting a hand on your face but forgetting about the paint on them, so now you're covered with... a vermillion red, as it says on the can from earlier. the colour is probably matching with your face from how hot it feels.

"hah, looks like you've been caught red-handed–"

"ugh, don't."

after that embarrassing fiasco and things have calmed down, you and rafayel work on your paintings. he eventually tries to warm you up with playing your songs again, persistently telling you to continue playing them to give the background a more lively vibe. you agreed when you made him promise not to make fun of you from earlier.

when the song plays again, you fumble for you phone to change it to the next queue, but rafayel stops you with a snap of his paintbrush on you knuckles, making you glare at him, and he in turn gives a pointed look at you, making you leave the song on play. you can't stop the small taps and head bops from the catchy beat.

much to rafayel's chagrin, that song has been stuck in his head for the following days. he can't deny how catchy it is, and there's a certain melody that's easily recognisable and playful to it. eventually, he's singing it in his studio now, and blasting it away into the coastal air. yet, no matter how many times he's played it, the tune still rings in his head.

unfortunately for him, it's blocking his creativity, and he can't think of anything but the song. he blames it on you for exposing it to him... until a lightbulb in his brain lights up. it's you! the moment you blared up that music and danced around his studio with your paintbrush mic in hand as if it was your personal stage, the memory of that song and moment locked it in his brain.

his hands eventually get to work, and canvases are filled of you in that moment – the riveting expression on your face as you belt out to the song, the paints scattered on your hands and arms, some unknowingly on your hair, the way your body is thrown back in carefree ecstasy as the music courses through you... he makes that memory come alive again.

he's noticed that luke has been playing this one song in constant repeat on his phone, to the point that the catchy chorus of the song is practically shoved into the forefront of his brain, playing it every now and then.

it got worse when kieran got into it as well, much to luke's delight.

"i thought you'd hate this song and say it's stupid."

"what? no! it's so good that i can't even stop playing it."

"me too!"

now the manor echoes with that song. surprisingly, sylus doesn't mind it. it is quite catchy, annoyingly so that he willingly listens to it on his own as well (but he doesn't let the twins know that).

of course, you also loved that song, and as soon as luke found out, he pulled you along with kieran for a sing-along loop until you all got sick of the lyrics and each other's voices.

unbeknownst to all of you, mephisto is recording everything, and sylus smirks in delight when he sees the three of you belt out to the song non-stop, capturing the way you passionately sing out to it and let your body get lost into the rhythm.

also unbeknownst to the onychinus leader is that luke and kieran had managed to get an audio recording of sylus humming and singing to the song with his infamous tone deafness.

"kissy face, kissy face, sent to your phone... i'm trying to kiss your lips for real–" you and the twins burst out laughing at the audio, clutching on your stomach at how out of sync he is. kieran plays the audio in repeat again, and it never fails to make you all burst into tears of laughter.

"please... i can't breathe..." you wheeze out, grabbing onto luke's arm.

"what seems to be all the commotion around here?" the low baritone voice makes you all freeze, luke and kieran especially. kieran fumbles with the phone, turning it off before addressing to sylus.

"b-boss! w-we were just..."

"they... they..." you fight your words in between giggles, clearing your throat and trying to compose yourself, but ultimately ended up failing as you burst into laughter again.

sylus waits out your fits of chuckles, raising a brow expectantly at you. "what's so funny that's gotten you this breathless, sweetie?"

"hah... it's just... luke and kieran showed me something really funny, is all," you say with a dismissive wave, a grin still etched on your face, eyes sparkling with delight.

"really? and what is this 'funny thing' that they showed you?"

the twins sweat, already trying to fumble with an excuse until you chime in. "nothing, it's nothing. you wouldn't get it, sorry."

before he can make a remark, you stand up to take his hand, leading him away from the twins before he could question them further.

"c'mon, you said we'd go out tonight! what place did you want us to go to?"

an amused chuckle leaves sylus. "you'll see."

turns out, he brought you out for karaoke, which was probably the worst and best thing tonight.

you scream into the microphone with as much feeling and power as you can until your voice is so hoarse that it couldn't even detect your voice anymore.

and sylus... well, he was singing with as much tune as he can, which is... really out of this world, but you still cheer on him, recording him with your phone as he attempts to follow the melody of the song.

after that, you think you need to get your hearing checked.

and as promised, kieran sent you the audio of sylus' singing. now you both have an audio and video to file in your 'crow screeches' album.

[dalkyeom]

hi chia beloved!! can i please get 25, 35, 38, and 40 for the kpop asks please? ilysm and i'm holding you so so gently <3333

xan beloved!!! yes, you may <3 am sending my biggest shua shaped hugs too <333

25. most expensive merch

Seventeen’s Be The Sun crewneck

this is probably my most expensive merch. the sentimental value beats its (already expensive) retail value simply for being my first svt concert merch. I consider it one of my lucky items

35. last played song

Either Way — IVE

38. song that grew on you

Love 119 — RIIZE

I’m never one for chanty-like choruses but the way this is my most recent lss. I love the mv too it was giving coming of age angst; my favorite genre

(also I could not get over the intro bit like I hope this type of melody can be explored in their discography down the line)

40. song that never gets old

Pretty U — Seventeen

it’s the vibes! the feeling of spring’s first love! the $5 and a dream but the way they still perform this years later and still match the energy of when this first dropped

🌷 send me some kpop questions

[dojae-huh]

All the wars between these solo stan 😂 I know they can't survive even for a day as fans of 2nd generation. I watch a lot of super junior content these day, hilarious to watch they grow for 20nd anniversary next year. There's funny fact bout them, so the sub unit called LSS held a concert and cause the target song for concert is 20 and they only have 6 song they sang some song from group (Do, Jae, etc doing it as well) but they performed a song from other sub unit D&E called oppa oppa while the real singer was seat on vip section and shocked they LSS performed their song even without permission from them 😂 and they just make it fun till end even D&E run into the stage and 'make trouble' there. See them make me wondering how 127 will go for 20nd anniversary??? With the lowering amount of fans, maybe some member discontinue their contract, publict concern doesn't bother them again, they look most happy than ever. Last, i know taeyong will give his all stock of love and his 4 tumb see Do concert and he's rapping

Wow now I see some K-TYf being shady lol. Maybe every fandom has overpride problem, they really think their idol has more "identity". And to think about that, last night DY did not even use the DY Track name anymore but they still be triggered. That must be a sign he was successful with the branding haha😂 but for real, this is so stupid.

--------------------

No need to wait 12 years, Wish already performed other unit's songs and Taeyong's solo. And I think WayV also did songs of other units on fancons in the past. And yes, I won't be surprised if in the future neos will perform songs of each other, even if only in karaoke or on tv-programmes and partially.

TY Track is the name of Tae's concert. I suppose that's why it's such a trigger. Tae only had time for 2 shows and is in the military now, while Do is doing a concert tour, and NCT socmed constantly updates with pictures and vlogs with him. Akgaes equal their own importance with that of their chosen proxy champion. They need their bias to be the best and most successful to feel good (read "superior") themselves.

Pity them, heh. They choose to wale in misery instead of celebrating other artists and having more concerts, content and music to enjoy.

[drifting-days]

SKZ-Replay is definitely on Replay

I haven't been really streaming the way fanbases suggest, and not the way most devoted fans do. My ears can only handle so much sounds in a day which is a bummer.

Nonetheless, some solos have been stuck in my head—often playing like a medley of 30 seconds each, depending on how my brain works.

One moment I hear Hyune singing "yeah yeah yeah yeah~" to Lino's heartwrenching vocals. And then Changbin breaks that with doodle, doodle—creativity~! and here's the thing, i don't even remember the lyrics, i never do. I vaguely remember how the lyrics go but i hear the whole chorus play in my head especially the instrumentals!

Plus, Han's "run from my room. run from my town. run from my city. run from my...world" is the peak LSS. Yeah, that's an absolute earworm. Add Connected's club instrumental to the remix and I'm suddenly laughing at "a lock and a key making rumbles"—istg, Chan and his innuendos. (it's now my gay anthem, no turning back, we're connected)

While deep end does play in my head, that's a song that i'd rather play and listen to. The chorus where he layers his voice always gives me the tingles. He wasnt lying when he said playing it on repeat could lull us to sleep, at least for me, that song is the epitome of "cry myself to sleep".

Stars and Raindrops definitely lightens up my mood, like Hug me does—which is basically sad twerking coz the song still had the same "regretful" sad song. Seungmin's voice is ever so iconic with how full it sounds—the last note he dragged definitely had me satisfied, it's like a gift when the note in Can't Stop wasn't sung the same as their concert version LOL

Hug me made me crack up—it's not the song I would have expected from the maknae who'd feel tortured being embraced by his hyungs (ok maybe Felix is an exception). It's a bait! He sings "I will give you a hug" and his hyungs have their arms wide open. He says "Please give me a hug" and they will go after him like a zombie hoard!

I really appreciate Stray Kids for simply existing and sharing their passion. I mean, in every song they release, they share their thoughts, talent, skills, and growth. It's always been like that ever since I first heard Hellevator. I might not have stanned since I was basically just into their songs, not as a group until God's Menu/Back door happened. But yeah, being a stay is basically being spoiled by these bulk of quality songs!

I'm really proud to be a STAY, more so when they develop themselves or showcase wht more they can do.

[thetoastedsiopao]

Thank you, BTS.

I can still remember how I started to become a fan of BTS. At their Festa 2021 Namjoon said that he wanted to know how their fans became an army.

So, here's my story. Last May 25, 2020 at 1:23am I was having a hard time sleeping so I browsed on youtube to watch random things. In my recommended section there's Mr. James Corden has a carpool show with BTS. I was curious at that time why this BTS was always trending on twitter so I watched. Kim Taehyung got my eyes!! He's so handsome and I find his voice unique. Then there's Jungkook, RM, Jin, Jimin, Suga and J-hope. On my first 3 days watching them it was hard for me to memorize all their names, but after 5 days I know their full names including their nicknames, i can't believe it to myself hahaha (i have a hard time memorizing names and faces).

I was LSS in ON and Boy with luv, I played those songs more than 10x a day then I started to listen to all their songs album by album. I watched random videos on facebook and youtube, RUN BTS, BON VOYAGE, and their Docuseries to learn more about them.

It amazed me that they started from nothing. The pain, struggles, low budget company, people that keep dragging them down, bashing or criticizing them, but they never stop to prove themselves. They never stop achieving their dreams. They worked so hard to achieve everything that they have today and I can say that they deserve it.

And I believe that I stand with right group. I love they're songs because they have deep and meaningful lyrics. I'm a Filipino but even if they're singing in korean language it comforts me whatever my mood is. I don't know how and why but they bring so much color to my life. Whenever I'm stressed, depressed or anxious I just watch their random videos and listen to their music then it brightens my day. It takes away all my pain, I know we can't avoid challenges and problems but they are my sweet escape in this world, Thank you.

To my BTS, 

Thank you for your existence. Thank you for all your hard work, please don't think that you're not enough. Thank you for your music, you are my courage to face all my fears and challenges. Thank you for bringing so much comfort in my life, you don't know how happy I am that I found you. Thank you for being my Euphoria. Thank you for reminding me to love myself and chase my dreams. Thank you for reminding me that "The morning will come again. No darkness, no season can last forever.". 

I hope you're taking care of your health. I pray that this pandemic will end very soon so I can go to your country to watch your concert.

Ps. Yes, Taehyung got my eyes but Namjoon got my heart hehe. But don't get me wrong I love all of you guys :) #사랑해요 #borahae #ot7forever

[exvazuo]

Nag try kami sa denki nung piu xx tapos grabe nakakapagod sobra tapos na-lss na naman ako sa fly high ng dreamcatcher tapos dumating si dane hahaha walang pansinan e tapos eto kakain muna kami bago pumuntang concert ng bleckpenk hahahaha joke lang di pala ako kasama hays enjoy na lang sila mamaya itutulog ko na lang to para sa launching bukas haha wala lang trip ko lang magkwento ng dere-derecho gege

[chuacamille26-blog]

Day 55

8th August, 2022 11:14PM

🎵 Bad Decision - Benny Blanco, BTS & Snoop Dog

I seriously hate summer. Sabay tinamaan ka pa ng kamalasan dahil nag-error yung bagong biling aircon. Ilang gabi na kami nagtitiis na walang aircon at fan lang yung gamit. Imagine, the heat tapos fan lang. Halos hindi kayanin ng fan yung init. kaloka. Tried calling the company ng aircon to have them check and fix kung ano man yung problema ng aircon. They called last Sat. eh walang tao dito sa bahay. Next schedule nila sa area is Tuesday (which is tomorrow na) nakakaloka yung sobrang init.

Anyway, sobrang LSS sa bagong song na Bad Decision. Super catchy. I've been checking din kung pano pumunta ng South Korea on October dahil sa Busan Expo. They said na FREE concert daw yun with BTS. Yung chance mo na maka-punta lalo pa na libre pero kelangan pa rin ng visa at may daily quota ang embassy. 🤦‍♀️

[crazyfanofmassculture]

[ckharchive]

240203 ©HaruCici0618

[the-regaz]

Lo Stato Sociale's homage to Skiantos

Okay i know very little italian culture, but here's what i've gathered from interviews and Wikipedia.

Skiantos were a comedy punk band from Bologna, formed in 1975. Apparently some of their live concerts were something like early Lo Stato Sociale tours and performances where, as the regaz say, they had an album of 25 min so they did stand up comedy and basically were fooling around to make the concert last longer. But Skiantos did performances instead of singing on purpose, apparently you could go to a Skiantos concert several times and never hear them sing.

What we see here is a homage to one of Skiantos most famous performances. According to wiki "On April 2, 1979 they participated to Bologna Rock, a punk rock and new wave festival, and their performance caused a lot of buzz. Skiantos brought on stage a kitchen, a table, a TV and a fridge, put to boil the spaghetti and then ate them, without playing anything; the audience protested, and Antoni (Roberto Antoni, leader of the band) responded "You do not understand a fucking thing: this is avant-garde, you piece-of-shit audience."

So it's not only lss making a reference to this thing, but also the song with the lyrics "siete pubblico di merda"

PS. I love lodo so much, when he was chosen to host primo maggio concert, he opened it with mi sono rotto il cazzo - a song that was apparently banned by the orgs in their previous appearances, and he also brought all his indie friends to sing skiantos together bless him

[idyotnaj1409]

Late 2015, nung napanood ko kayo sa gayo daejeon. Wala akong balak magstan ng another group nun kasi okay na sa akin na Girls' Generation at Red Velvet ang ini-stan ko officially. Pero noong napanood ko iyung performance niyo sa MBC Music Festival, na-lss ako sa Me Gustas Tu pero pinigilan ko kasi ayaw ko na nga madagdagan ng group pero ewan ko ba, dumating na ako sa point na hindi ko na napigilan ang sarili ko at nagdownload na ako ng mga kanta niyo at nagustuhan ko ang mga beat. Hindi ko na tanda ang exact date pero ang naaalala ko dali-dali akong nagdownload ng kanta niyo dahil nung araw na iyon ay pupunta kami sa airport para sunduin si Nanay galing America. Doon na ako nagdesisyon na sige na nga, gugustuhin ko na sila. At nung dumating ang showcase ng Rough noong January 25, 2016, doon ako naging official fan niyo at sakto pang nireveal niyo na ang fandom name niyo ay "Buddy". Simula nun, sinubaybayan ko na ang bawat comeback niyo, bawat release niyo ng mga kanta. Lagi kong hinihintay ang mga ballad song niyo sa bawat album niyo. Hanggang sa dumating iyung concert niyo dito sa bansa. Nakailang balik din kayo dito pero ni-isa wala akong napuntahan 😭 umaasa pa naman ako na someday makakapunta rin ako ng concert niyo pero ngayon, hindi ko na alam 💔 Masakit kasi biglaan. Okay lang naman na hindi kayo magrenew ng contract eh pero huwag lang disband pero sabi nga, hindi lahat ng gusto ay makukuha. Pero umaasa pa rin ako na pwede kayong pumirma ng kontrata sa ibang agency pero kung mangyayari nga, siguradong maraming pagbabago. Peroooo, hindi ko na alam 😔 Thank you so much, Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, Yuju, Sinb, at Umji sa six years of being our GFRIEND. Thank you sa lahat ng hardwork at patience niyo para mapunta sa kung nasaan kayo. Goodbye is a word I haven't learned yet and I think I'll never learned. Masakit, sobra. Pero kung masakit sa amin na fans niyo siguradong mas masakit 'to para sa inyo. Please be okay, 여자친구. We will always be your Buddies, GFRIEND or not. I hope may chance pa sa future na maging kompleto kayo at magkapagperform sa iisang stage. Sa ngayon, we'll support you in your individual plans. Please be healthy and be happy. https://www.instagram.com/p/CPJPlX8jIo5/?utm_medium=tumblr

[usn6493]

Master’s Degree Thoughts

I have been looking a long time for a Master’s degree in Leadership or Organizational Management. The expenses for said degree can range from $12K-50K in tuition costs. Why so much? Does it really cost that much to learn about leading and managing your assets in order to meet a common goal?

As I was reading some of the course requirements, I was thinking about all the things I have done over the years and what others like me have done as well:

Leading and managing sailors, contractors and civilians from diverse backgrounds and training to meet the national security missions;

Planning and executing large events like concerts, fleet weeks, hurricanes, national threats, convoys, ship visits, port visits, retirements, VIPS, etc;

Training on leadership through: LSS, TQL, TQM, Covey’s leadership, Maxwell’s leadership principles, process improvements, root cause Anaylsis, and others that were taught by the Navy;

Managing multimillion dollar contracts and providing feedback for those contracts to get funded;

Assisting in grant writings in order for non federal government agencies to receive funding, hoping the collateral will benefit the security needs you lack;

Managing resources and using ideas to save the government thousands of dollars in both man hours and monies;

Collecting data and submitting point papers to leaders above for equipment, training and manning;

Managing over 30 data collection points for the DOD that produce nothing in return, but more questions;

Authoring standard operating procedures, emergency action plans, pre plan responses, and several other documents that meet the mission’s needs per higher directives;

Ensuring training plans are carried out with feedback for improvement;

Overseeing training requirements and ensuring all your employees are meeting those requirements;

Preparing and participating in different levels of assessments and inspections which test current capabilities that are already lacking in the required support to meet the DOD expectations;

Drafting memorandum of understandings, inter service agreements, and standard of forces agreement with local agencies in order to meet the requirements set forth in high guidance;

Taking the time to learn the civilian Human Resources rules and requirements for fair labor and unions;

Mentoring subordinates who want to achieve higher success;

Counseling those who are not meeting the basic requirements and holding them accountable with some type of administrative or disciplinary action;

Managing operating budgets and labor dollars, which are constantly looked at by the comptrollers as an opportunity for cuts;

Ensuring ethical business practices are done;

Justifying our existence to the bean counters who cannot measure security in the sense that when nothing happens that is a good day;

Managing equipment that has either been in service too long for operation, or has no service plan at all and you have to manage a way to make sure they will meet the response times or communication requirements

There are several more examples I could list, but the bottom line is this: money, leadership, management, Human Resources, asset management, ethics, etc, have already been exercised in one form or another with little to no assistance from the chain of command.

So you see, a lot of the security professionals out there are meeting and exceeding the requirements for a masters degree in leadership and organization management based off of real life events. The colleges these days are making money off of their course, and the sad part is a lot of folks I have talked to who get these degrees have not met the stress of the angry foreign national, Admiral, contractor or dependent in real life. They have no idea how to act in the “heat” and if you tell me the degree helps you research, you can rest assure a lot of us have done that already just to save our own behinds or the behinds of our bosses.

There are so many free resources for training out there, and these educational institutions are charging way too much for something that may not add much value to your career to begin with.

Don’t get me wrong, I think education is important for a few of our folks, like doctors, lawyers and such, but a lot of other careers are tried and true by going through processes first hand.

Over the years I have interviewed with a lot of companies and have been asked about examples, and when I lay them out, they are amazed that we are even trained in some of the areas or had been exposed to said opportunities.

I know some of you will disagree, and that is ok. I will save my money and use it for something else.

To all the first responder professionals, keep up the great work and remember it goes without saying that you truly are the best of the best and all of you are Masters in your skill even if you don’t have the certificate.

[sellepresto]

Ben and Ben

Kathang Isip... Nakilala ko ang bandang ito dahil sa kantang ito. Sino ba ang di nagkaroon ng “Kathang isip” in some ways of our lives? Then, boom-boom-boom. Sunod sunod ang gawa nila ng kanta na tagos sa puso. Not a fan that moment. Alam ko lang nage-exist ang B&B. Never pa ko nakapunta sa mga gig nila (up to this date). Nakita ko pa nga si Miguel sa Glorietta Noong November of 2019. Still, that moment, di pa din ako fan ng Bens.

So ito na nga. LOCKDOWN/ECQ ang buong Pinas, then wala akong magawa sa office, nood-nood lang ng random videos. That time, may mga ilan ng naka save sa phone ko na kanta nila. Tapos napanood ko kung pano sila kaabnormal sa Chalk interview. That moment sabi ko sarili ko, “sana maging tropa ko ‘tong mga may saping ‘to”. Ang kukulit eh. Hanggang sa na-adik na ko kakanood ng mga kakulitan-video compilation nila. Halos lahat ng interview nila, pinapanood ko, at kahit paulit ulit, nakakatawa pa din eh. Dati kay Miguel lang ako nagwagwapuhan sa grupo nila. Habang pinapanood ko sila, beeeem, si Keifer, ang lakas ng dating. Mas trip ko sya na walang bigote. Then sya ang taga pray sa grupo nila. Dagdag pogi points. Then, Jam, geeez sarap gawing keychain lalo na pag tumatawa sya na wala ng tumatawa sya na lang ang matagal maka get over sa joke. Super kyottttieee tumawa. Poch and Andrew, super talented!! Nung nagpaulan ng talent, nasalo ata nitong dalawang ‘to eh. Actually, silang siyam. Kahit anong instrument ibigay mo sa kanila, super sisw yung pagamit nila sa mga instrument plus their voice. Pero nakakatuwa yung boses ni Pat. Confidence make her more beautiful! Agnes as a simple pero rock sa stage. Si Toni, parang sya yung matured sa grupo, tipong taga saway, pero di nya masaway kasi makukulit. Si Pao, lupit ng boses nito lupit! 

Base sa napapanood ko YouTube, si Andrew yung taga pagpatawa ng tropa. Si Jam ang taga tawa. Si Miguel ang madaldal sa tropa. Si Pao yung antukin at late makagets ng joke. Si Poch at Pat ang aso’t puso sa tropa. Si Pat at Agnes ang magjowa sa tropa.Si Keifer ang maka Diyos sa tropa. Si Toni ang walang magawa kasi yun yung nasamahan nyang tropa, pero masaya sya. 

Isa pa sa kinatutuwa ko sa Bens, they make song as one. Hindi gawa ng isa lang. Credit sa lahat. Wala lakas lang ng ganun kasi yun yung naging fail sa Queen na group. 

Here’s my top 5 fave music of Ben and Ben;

War

Bibingka

Masyado pang Maaga 

Mitsa

Araw-araw

Pagtingin (plus lang hehe)

Sinusubukan ko din tugtugun sa ukulele mga kantahan nila. Ang saya pag nakukuha ko yung tono. Pero malayong malayo sa bagsakan nila.

During ECQ ko sila minahal. Pinanood ko sa YT ang LSS. Nanghihinayang ako na super late ko sila minahal, pero naniniwala ako na makakanood ako ng concert nila at makita silang lahat in person. Ok lang kahit di ko sila maging tropa. Basta makita ko sila in person. Mas masaya ako kung malalaman kong nasa isang gig/event ang Bens and Parokya. Di malabo yun kasi nangyari na yun. Magaantay na lang akong matapos ang lahat ng ito.

Sana mas magamit pa ang Bens para malabas ang nilalaman ng puso na di masabi. Keep on making music. Keep that lutang/sabaw moments, or natural nyo yan? Mahal ko kayo BEN & BEN!

PS. Currently playing this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QbywkkCqG4 as my background song while writing this blog. Happy listening guys! ♥

Image source: https://images.summitmedia-digital.com/spotph/images/2019/05/14/ben-and-ben-limasawa-street-640-1557817639.jpg

May 26, 2020, 7:26pm

[lightshadowverisimilitude]

For my Stony BINGO square “Smell.” Challenge was issued by @arukou-arukou​

This is a continuation of this werewolf!Tony story I wrote last year. Mind the cut my mobile friends.

Steve moved into the shadow of the archway carefully and peered through the darkness. It was a crumbling ruin of an old castle surrounded by a mostly-standing wall and a wide stretch of overgrown lawn. He crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet. 10,000 feet above him, Tony hovered in the clouds, keeping a careful distance from the castle. The odds that the castle was the one they were looking for was slim, but Steve didn’t want to take any chances with Tony’s tech.

He didn’t need to, but Steve still put a hand to his ear to shield the comm unit from the bitter wind. “You seeing anything from up there?”

“I’m not getting any strange readings,” Tony said after several seconds of nothing but wind. “But then again, I didn’t get any last time either. Nothing on infrared. Think we’re looking at another bust, Cap.”

Steve sighed and let his weight settle down between his heels. They’d gone through 30 abandoned castles and had gotten nothing for their trouble but some photographs. Rhodey and Nat were checking another ruin 50 miles south, and Clint and Thor were in Wales somewhere. The people who’d kidnapped him and Tony the year before had gone to ground hard, and even all of Tony and Nat’s concerted efforts hadn’t pulled them out yet.

“Well, at least I get to practice my photography some more,” Steve decided. “When we do start considering non-castle related options?”

“After we’ve exhausted all the castles,” Tony said, but he sounded just as weary of castle duty as Steve. Jarvis had analyzed the video that Rhodey had tracked down during his search the year before. From faint background details and sounds on the audio that even Steve hadn’t been able to hear, Jarvis had determined that there was an overwhelming likelihood that the Lunar Scientific Solutions Group was operating out of a castle ruin for their less-legal research. The chances of them still being in that castle were slim to none, but they had to hunt down every lead. More and more wolf shifters were disappearing every month. It was just starting to make the rounds through the media.

“Go ahead and land,” Steve said. The corners of his lips twitched upward. “We can camp out here tonight, if you want.”

“You know, Rogers, you’re not funny.”

Laughing, Steve shifted his weight so he could pull his shield off his back. He leaned back against the wall to take advantage of the scarce protection it offered. Once Tony was on the ground, they would clear through the castle on foot. The first approach they’d made on LSS’s legitimate business front had been met with a powerful EMP blast that had left Tony and Rhodey both virtually helpless in the street. He listened carefully for the distinctive whine of Tony’s repulsors and twisted to look up at him as soon as he’d caught the sound.

Against the dark sky, Tony was only visible because he was in motion. To anyone who wasn’t looking for him, he might have passed for a bird or a distant jet. Steve covered his face with one hand, feeling his cheeks heat up – no, he thought with an internal groan of embarrassment, it’s Iron Man!

Tony swung around the castle compound, making a leisurely loop over the grounds. He briefly disappeared behind the half-crumbled remains of the castle tower, and then emerged on the other side, bathed in moonlight. Steve admired him as he made a turn that looked easy. Considering the forces Tony was dealing with, it had to be exceptionally difficult, but Tony managed to look like he was breezing through most things.

Pressing his shoulders back against the wall, Steve shoved his weight back up to the balls of his feet and then rolled forward to stand. Tony curved away from the perimeter as he made the final turn to meet Steve at the archway, and Steve left the relative safety of the shadows to join him in the field.

A searing flash of light exploded from the ground. Steve flung his shield up, ducking down behind it automatically with an afterimage of Iron Man burned onto the backs of his eyelids. He’d barely registered the light before a concussive fwoom! made the ground under his feet ripple like water. He leapt blindly, but his supporting foot went out from under him, and the horrible vertigo rush of falling reached out to grab him.

(Keep Reading)

~*~

Tony blinked his eyes open. The HUD was dark, and the suit was dead silent, but the air inside was still at a comfortable temperature. He couldn’t have been unconscious for more than a few minutes. The last thing Tony had seen was Steve disappearing like the ground had just decided to swallow him up.

“Jarvis? J! Hey, come on, buddy. We’ve taken worse falls than that,” Tony said, but the suit remained dead and heavy around him. Without the power on, Tony was effectively stuck in a 400 pound coffin. He tried to shift the weight of the suit, but he’d landed on an uneven surface. From the pressure in his head, he guessed that he was at least partially upside-down.

“Damn,” Tony grumbled, suppressing a spike of panic. He was stuck in the suit, upside-down and potentially buried under rubble, he had no idea where Steve had ended up – and Steve didn’t have the benefit of a suit to keep him from being instantly crushed. “Stop thinking small,” Tony told himself, sucking in a breath.

1) He was breathing, and not in pain. 2) He was getting fresh air in, and not suffocating on CO2 which meant that the suit’s emergency procedures had functioned well enough to open the external vents when the suit shut down. 3) If he was getting fresh air, he was not entirely buried. 4) He could feel no pressure on his back or legs, so he probably wasn’t underneath anything. 5) No one was better at improbably surviving falls than Steve. 6) Tony had built internal emergency releases for a reason.

Wiggling his fingers experimentally to make sure everything work, Tony keyed in the release sequence to open the back of the suit. Cold air hit his sweat-soaked back and he pushed himself slowly up to his knees. He’d landed in what had probably once been siege pasturing for the medieval castle, but at present looked more like a testing field for explosives. At some point during the fall, he’d managed to get his left leg partially pinned, and his head had ended up facing down the slope of the new crater.

The suit closed up behind him as soon as Tony had stepped out of it, sealing again with soft hiss. He leaned back against the crater, taking stock of himself and mulling unhappily over the state of the armor. There was no way he was getting it out of the ground in the dark, and Steve was still out there somewhere, not to mention whatever – or whoever – had shot him down in the first place. The air around him was still and quiet except for the humming of insects, and the distant hooting of a lone owl.

As he climbed up the edge of the impact crater, he review the last few moments before he’d been shot down. There had been only a blip of warning as the energy gathered, and then a bright flash of light, a rumble like thunder, and a sharp impact on his chest. He hadn’t been fired on until he’d curved away from the perimeter wall, so it could have been an automated defense. Whatever it was, it shouldn’t have been enough to knock his suit offline without doing more damage to him, unless it had been accompanied by an EMP.

Tony shoved himself over the lip of the crater and ran for the wall. His left leg cramped badly, and he felt an automatic snarl ripping out of his throat. He was good at suppressing his wolf in stressful situations, but he’d apparently reached his threshold. His chest burned with the heat of an impending transformation, but he shoved it down and kept running. He absolutely did not need an uncontrolled shift when he was still wearing his skin-tight ballistic undersuit.

Flattening himself to the wall a dozen yards from where Steve had disappeared into the ground, Tony listened for any reactions to his movement. The bugs continued their nighttime racket, and the owl mocked him, hoot-hoot, for his trouble. Testing the ground carefully as he went, Tony crept closer to the hole that had swallowed his packmate. Steve was nowhere to be seen, and the crater dropped away into darkness.

“Steve?” Tony called, keeping a careful leash on the anxiety that made him want to whimper and pace. “Steve! I know how much you love hide-and-seek, but don’t you think it’s a little silly out here?”

Ears straining for any familiar noise, Tony gave into the urge to whine. The sound rasped against the back of his throat and came out high-pitched and louder than he’d intended. He nudged a pebble through the opening to judge the depth, but it hit in under a second. He could survive the fall. Provided that the pebble hit the bottom and not just another rocky outcropping.

“Fine,” Tony said under his breath. “Pepper is always saying I should get in touch with my wolf side. You better not suck at this,” he warned his wolf as he started stripping out of the undersuit. The moon wasn’t quite half full. Ever since his and Steve’s impromptu camping trip, Tony had started shifting more often than the required full moon, but it was still a rare enough occurrence that he felt a mingled thrill of anticipation and dread. It was accompanied by the familiar embarrassment that he’d never really gotten over. He cast a useless glance around the dark landscape, and dropped down to all fours.

Shifting on purpose had never been as easy for him as every other shifter he’d met. It was difficult to relax the iron control he kept on his beast, and it always felt horrifyingly like he was losing control of his bladder. His skin prickled, fever hot, and he imagined that the wolf was just under his ribs, twisting and struggle to escape its cage. He gagged, squeezing his eyes shut against the disorientating blurring of his vision. All at once, he felt like he was floating free of the ground. Sensation faded – the hard rocks and overturned earth under his knees, the cold wind, even the mocking hoot of that damned owl – and Tony was left adrift in the void, lost to pain and heat. He started to panic, scrabbling desperately for control, for air, but the wolf had its jaws in him.

Reality came back all at once. Tony found himself panting on his side, paws kicking weakly at the ground. It was different than transforming on the full moon, where he lost all sense of self and completely submerged into the wolf. He was still aware of who he was, and where he was, and what he’d been doing, but all of those things were distant. Unimportant. He rose up to all four legs and shook out his fur, casting off the last twinges of pain.

The world was soft blue, purple, gray, though identifying the individual colors was ultimately unnecessary. In many ways, everything was simpler as a wolf: things simple were. They didn’t need to be classified and broken down, and reasoned to death. They existed. That was all.

Lifting his muzzle to the air, he scented the wind. The owl had fallen silent, but he could smell it in the trees, along with dozens of other prey animals. Pines, cool water, a distant stench of decay. Closer to the ground he could smell pack. Moonbright pack human. Steve, he thought sluggishly. Tony cautiously followed the scent to the hole in the ground, prancing around it as he picked through the stones. The moonlight limned the edges of the rocky protrusions and cast deep shadows that made it difficult to judge the depth between footholds. His ears twitched as he followed the sounds of the night, conscious that there was a possible danger, but not of the variety the wolf could easily understand. Could be, and what if, and maybe, and future were all difficult concepts when he was in his shifted form.

Sticking his muzzle in the hole Steve had fallen in, he sniffed the air. It was damp, and smelled pungently of earth, and mildew. And also of Steve. He whined again, and then yipped twice. He couldn’t hear Steve at the bottom of the hole, but he could smell him somewhere close by. With his wolf eyes, he could just see the smooth floor, as well as a partially collapsed wall that served as a sort of ramp. He judged the distance carefully, muscles bunching underneath him, and then leapt. Tony hit the slant of the collapsed wall and scrambled in a bid for balance, claws raking across the hard stone and sending pebbles scattering down in his wake.

Jumping again before he rolled out of control, Tony hit the ground hard on his forepaws. He smacked into the opposite wall, and slid down into an awkward sprawl. Panting, he took a moment to take stock of where he’d landed, and then cautiously got back to his feet. He was sore from the impacts, but the pain was minimal and would fade. His human wouldn’t have had such a good time of it, because his human was fragile and not well balanced. Satisfied, he shook himself out and scented the air again.

Steve’s scent – like sunrise – was a strong beacon among all the musty smells of a place left abandoned. Tony made a circle of the room, examining a flat rock that was heavy with Steve’s scent, and then spending a long time sniffing worriedly over a smear of blood.

The scent trail led off into the darkness through an opening in the wall. Even his wolf’s far superior eyes wouldn’t be able to pick out much in those depths, but it didn’t matter. Where Steve’s sunrise scent went, Tony would follow.

~*~

The tunnel was straight and smooth. It was too dark for Tony to know its dimensions, but that wasn’t important. He kept himself pressed closed to one wall, and his nose to the ground, following Steve’s trail. In the close darkness, there was no sound except the huffing and sniffling of his own breath, and the scrape of his nails on the stone. Other than the bright scent of his packmate, the place smelled musty and abandoned.

When the wall beside him stopped, Tony slowed. Ahead of him was only the sense of open air. The wall turned off to the right, but Steve’s scent was in a cloud all around him, as if his human packmate had stopped to rest, or paced for a while. Tony investigated the open area cautiously. He put his nose to the ground and crept forward a few steps into the open. The ground remained solid. He couldn’t hear the rush of air over a sudden drop, or smell anything other than the same musty-abandoned scent and Steve. He went in a circle, nose brushing through the dust, investigating Steve’s steps.

Tony knew with the distant foggy understanding of his human brain that Steve would have stuck to the wall if he’d been unable to see. He would have gone around the corner and continued going right. He knew with the same human-thought that Steve would have been carrying a light. If he’d moved away from the wall, he still had the light with him. Tony bumped into another wall, and rose up on his hindquarters to sniff at it – Steve had leaned against it for a while. Dropping back to all fours, Tony continued in a circle, trying to make sense of the scent pattern. Had he doubled back and taken a different corner on the other side of the tunnel?  

Sitting around wouldn’t get him anywhere. Tony moved away from the cloud of Steve’s scent, venturing down one tunnel until he was sure that Steve hadn’t gone that way, and then turning around and picking another. The third tunnel was the way Tony had come from, so he passed it to the fourth and picked up Steve’s scent, stronger, against the wall several body lengths down. It was accompanied by another smear of blood. Tony growled and picked up his pace, sniffing furiously. Steve’s scent was no longer following one wall, but weaving unsteadily between the two. The tunnel was narrow, and Tony’s packmate had either been moving too quickly in the dark, or hadn’t been able to keep his balance.

A low growl built in his chest the further he went and drops of blood became more common, until he was snarling almost without pause. His packmate was injured and too silly to sit down in one place and wait for Tony to come get him. Sometimes humans were frustratingly stupid. His pace built up to a lope as Steve’s rests grew closer together, and almost didn’t hear the distant scrape of footsteps over his own growling.

Tony skidded to a messy halt at the sudden sense of movement. A metallic-sweet smell that his human-thoughts recognized as vibranium burst into the air. Tony flattened himself to the ground awkwardly, and it flew over his head, moving fast enough to shriek with the wind of its passing. It hit the wall behind him with a painful clang, and Tony leapt away on instinct just before the object hit the ground and flew back at him.

“Stop where you are,” Steve rasped out.

Tony pressed himself to the wall and quieted the snarling in his chest. His packmate was human and humans had terrible senses, and his packmate might not recognize him. He crept forward, issuing a high-pitched yip, trying to tell the human that it was him. It occurred to him that if he shifted back to his human form, he could talk, but the wolf didn’t want to be upright, and he didn’t want to talk. He wanted to make sure Steve was unharmed. Besides, as a human, Tony would be just as stupid in the dark as Steve. He yipped again, lowering himself to his belly and sliding through the dust.

“….Tony?” Steve said finally, scent spiking with anxiety and relief. “Is that you?”

Tony barked. Barking was for cubs, but humans needed special consideration. He heard Steve hit the wall and sag down to the floor. Tony keyed in on the sound and wiggled forward, keeping himself low to the ground just in case Steve got jumpy again. His tail swished madly across the ground as he got within touching distance of his packmate. Steve held up a clumsy hand and knocked into Tony’s muzzle. Tony licked him. Steve curled forward so he was laying his entire weight across Tony’s shoulders. He was shaking and smelled strongly of blood and sweat.

“I am so happy to see you,” Steve said, and then started to laugh. “Feel you,” he amended, and then buried his face against Tony ruff and inhaled. Somewhat weakly and still laughing, he said, “Smell you. I didn’t know what had happened to you. I tried to call for you back at the hole, but the comms were fried and you weren’t responding. I thought you must have fallen in somewhere.”

Tony huffed.

“I know. I should have stayed where I was, but someone shot us down. I wanted to make it difficult for them to find me.” He curled his hands in Tony’s fur and scratched vigorously. It felt nice. “I heard you a ways back and I thought maybe you were the bad guys. Sorry.”

Rolling his eyes, Tony butted his head into Steve’s chest. He was rewarded with another rough scratch down his neck, and Steve shifted closer to cuddle against him. Tony struggled out of his hold enough to sniff at the human’s face and neck, looking for the source of the blood. He licked at what he’d found – metal tang and dirt, but clean – until he found the injury behind Steve’s ear. Steve tried to pull away from him, but Tony set his teeth around his packmate’s shoulder until he stopped moving. Though it made him laugh and squirm, Steve submitted to being cleaned after that, and Tony set diligently to the task.

“It’s just a cut,” Steve told him, but didn’t try to escape again.

Once Tony was satisfied that the wound was clean, he inspected the human for other injuries. He found no other open injuries, though Steve shifted away from him when pressed his nose to the human’s side. Tony growled unhappily, which got him a few firm pats to his ribs and a rough rub to the belly.

“I’m fine,” Steve said. “Thank you for the bath.” He sounded amused. “Since you’re still furry, I’m guessing you’re going to stay this way for a while?”

Tony wuffed out a breath. Since Steve didn’t seem inclined to let him go, he settled himself more comfortably across the human’s lap. In his wolf form, he was easily Steve’s equal in size, though his human-thoughts had never been comfortable with that. His human was small and lithe and good at things that the wolf was not. The wolf just happened to be better at things that mattered.

After several more minutes of sharing body heat and enjoying Steve’s pets and scratches, Tony gave Steve a final lick across the face and stood up again. They couldn’t stay down in the tunnels forever. It wouldn’t be possible to get back up the way they’d fallen down, so they needed to find another way out before water and food became an issue.

Steve huffed out a breath of his own, and then climbed up to his feet. “I’m turning the flashlight on,” he warned.

Flashlight was a concept for Tony’s human, but he understood enough to close his eyes. He opened them again cautiously after he heard the click of the flashlight. The tunnel was bathed in cold light, which meant little to Tony except that Steve would have less trouble navigating. Steve patted him affectionately between the shoulders, and then started walking. Tony trotted at his side, scenting the air as they went. Far down the tunnel, he could just hear the faint tinkle of water.

“I’ve been looking for a way up,” Steve explained, sweeping his light from side to side and occasionally pointing it toward the ceiling.

Tony didn’t bother to follow the progress of the light. He could tell by the way the sound of their footsteps echoed that there was no break in the tunnel for at least some distance ahead. Steve didn’t continue to chat as they walked, and easily kept up with Tony’s pace. When the wet-mildew scent grew stronger, Tony sped up. He found the water drizzling down the wall just before the end of the tunnel and stopped to investigate. The water was not clean, and it had made a puddle on the floor. Tony rose up his hindlegs and braced his forepaws on the wall. A slight breeze hit his nose. Tony wuffed and scratched at it.

“What did you find?” Steve asked as if Tony could answer him. He stepping up next to Tony and shone his light on the wall.

Tony pressed his nose to the source of the breeze. Water dripped over his nose. He sneezed and jerked back, shaking his head. Steve nudged him out of the way so he could feel along the wet wall.

“There’s a groove here,” Steve said. “And air…” he let his hand drift up the wall, stretching to the ceiling, and then down to the floor. He started pushing on the wall. Tony cocked his head, watching curiously as Steve shoved and pushed at what seemed to Tony to be a solid rock. Still, Steve seemed to have a purpose, so Tony eased up next to him and started digging at the ground.

Steve laughed. “You’re not helping, you big mutt.” He nudged Tony out of the way with one leg and kept up pressing on the wall.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, his human-thoughts snarled in indignation, though he wasn’t completely sure why. There was an abrupt grinding sound and Steve stumbled forward as the wall gave away under his hands. A small flood of water rushed out to soak their feet. Startled, Tony snagged the human by his belt and dragged him back. Steve nearly tripped on him, but was able to bend backward until he could touch the wall behind them and pushed himself back onto his feet.

Shoving Steve out of the way, Tony investigated the opening. A set of stairs led upward beyond the range of Steve’s light. Water leaked down the walls and trickled over the steps in a steady stream, gathering on the floor in bad smelling puddles. Steve squeezed around him into the space, pointing his light upward. Tony eyed the stairs uncertainly. The steps were narrow, and steep, and slippery. They would be difficult for him to use.

Steve put a cautious foot on the lowest step and leaned forward to look up the curve of the staircase. He stepped back. “You better go in front of me,” he said, pressing himself to one of the stinking walls. He gestured up the curving stairs and gave Tony an unnecessary cuff on the shoulder as he padded through the slimy puddles and up to the stairs.

Tony couldn’t smell much of anything over the stench of standing water, but he listened carefully as they went. He slipped twice, but Steve stayed close behind him and shoved him back up before he could lose much ground. He was thoroughly tired of the tiny slippery stairs by the time they made it to a door, and was only too happy to shoulder it open. The timbers were rotted and water was pouring out from below them. One shove from Tony’s shoulder, and it flew outward to hit the wall. Cold air rushed into the stairwell, flattening the fur on the top of his head. Tony’s paws were already soaked in the stinking water. He splashed through to the open air landing and let Steve pass him with his light.

The air had a strange burning scent that made his hackles rise. Tony followed Steve down another steep staircase onto a broken stone floor. He heard the skittering of a rat running for cover, the burnt scent grew stronger, but other than the wind screaming through the stones, there was nothing. Steve moved swiftly through the open space, crouched low as he went. Tony approved as he ran along beside him, and wondered why his human didn’t let him run like this more often. He and Steve were pack and they would hunt well together.

Across the broken stones, a door shoved open and a dark figure stumbled out backwards. Tony barked and sped up. Steve threw his metal disc as they ran. It whistled as it spun through the air, and then there was a yelp of pain and surprise. The figure dropped the box they’d been carrying. The disc hit the wall and returned. Steve caught it without breaking stride, and Tony opened his stride to pass his packmate. Another figure came running from the darkened doorway just as Tony hit the short stairs. He leapt, aiming for the human’s throat. They both went down in a tumble, his prey screaming with animal terror.

Tony got his teeth into the human’s shoulder so they wouldn’t run, and dragged them back out the door.

“Good job, Tony,” Steve praised. He had one knee on his prey’s spine and was tying their hands back.

Screaming, Tony’s prey tried to struggle away. He bit down harder on the tough hide, worrying his head side-to-side to subdue them. Tony had the human back down the stairs and nearly to Steve’s side by the time he’d finished with his own prey.

“I’ve got him,” Steve said, patting Tony roughly on one side. He grabbed Tony’s screaming prey by one arm.

His human-thoughts were telling him to let go, but this was Tony’s prey. He growled unhappily.

“Iron Man, let him go. Tony!”

At the sharp bark of Steve’s voice, Tony reluctantly let go and backed away. Steve rolled the screaming human onto their stomach and pulled their arms back. Tony’s ears pulled back and he felt himself growling in displeasure as Steve tied their prey up and started going through their pockets. He came up with a small object and started poking at it.

“Clint, it’s Steve. Oh – Good. Okay.”

Tony twitched his head curiously while Steve talked at the box. Tony could hear the box talking back – his human was not confused about it, and Tony didn’t think it was important. One of the prey rolled over and tried to inch away from Steve’s feet. Tony let him get a few feet away and then stood up and walked over. He planted one paw in the middle of the human’s back. Steve nodded to him. Tony watched the other one while he settled his weight more firmly on his whimpering captive.

“Yeah, Tony’s here with me, but he got hit with another EMP or something, so we’re going to need help getting out of here. Can you call Rhodey? I… borrowed a phone from one of the local ‘residents.’ We’ll secure these two and search the rest of the castle. Not sure, but we’ll find out.”

Steve put the box away. He looked down at the prey under Tony’s paws. “Clint and Thor are already on the way. They headed this way when we went dark on comms, and they should be here in about twenty.”

Crouching down at Tony’s side, Steve asked, “How many of your buddies am I going to find in that castle?” When the prey didn’t respond, Steve tapped him on the shoulder. His stiff protective clothing had been torn open by Tony’s teeth, though the skin underneath was unmarred. “You know he’s a shifter right? That’s Iron Man standing on your spine.”

“Fucking shit goddamnit mother – ”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Steve interrupted.

For some reason, Tony’s human was amused. Tony let his tongue lull out of his mouth and then leaned forward enough to lick Steve across one cheek.

“It’s just us!” the prey squeaked when Tony shifted to lay more of his weight across the human’s back. The human had to struggle to breathe around Tony’s bulk. “Just… cleaning out the gear! Swear.”

Steve considered that for a moment and then gave Tony an affection scratch behind the ears. “I’m going to leave my teammate here with you and go see if you’re telling the truth.” His voice was bright and cheerful, but he finished by saying, “I sure hope you are.”

~*~

The other human-packmates arrived in a flying box that made an annoying noise. Tony eyed it from his place with the captive prey and wondered if he could do enough damage to it to make it stop. He growled. Underneath him, the prey sobbed and moaned. It was a very strange creature, even for a human. The annoying sound slowed and then stopped, though a fast tickticktick remained as a familiar pack human jumped out of the box.

“On four legs and everything, huh, Stark? Someone musta really pissed you off.”

Tony yawned and took his weight off the prey. The human gasped and rolled onto its side so it could pull its legs up. Tony thought about sitting on it again, but decided not to. The pack human approached – he smelled like a bees’ nest, oil, and pine trees.

“You’re not gonna bite me if I come over there, are you?” He put a hand to his chest. “Clint. You remember me?”

Huffing out an irritated breath, Tony left the prey to Clint with his bees’ nest scented fingers and went in search of Steve. Above ground and without the mildew scent to confuse his nose, Steve was easy to find. One intact hallway led to a door that smelled newer than the surrounding stones. It was standing open, and Steve was inside, staring down at a handful of papers. He looked up as Tony shouldered past the door.

“We need to find these people,” Steve said. He was a human and he couldn’t really growl, but his voice sounded like it as he clutched the pages in his hands. Tony sat down and watched him, growing bored now that there was apparently no more danger and their pack had arrived. Steve drew in some ragged breaths, and then set the pages down and smoothed them out. “Once you feel like being on two feet again, we’ll go over these together.”

Tony quirked his head. He didn’t want to give up the body so soon. It felt nice to be out in the air in his fur. Usually he just had the confines of his den. The toys were nice, and there was always plenty of food, and new things to smell, but he liked being outside. Steve grabbed a box and started loading papers into it. Other papers were scattered around the room like fallen leaves. Tony scratched at one until he got it off the floor enough to get his teeth around it, and then carefully brought it over to drop in Steve’s box. Steve rewarded him with a pat on the head, and Tony went to retrieve another page.

~*~

The prey had been tied up and secured against one wall of the flying box, and all of their toys had been piled up in another corner. Other than Steve’s box of papers, there had been other boxes of all sizes in a larger box that smelled like stale food and musk. Tony had torn the cushions apart just for being offensive while Clint had laughed. His human’s metal clothes had been dragged into the flying box and left on the floor by Thor – who smelled like rain and lightning and spice – and Steve was seated at one of the benches with a book in his lap. He’d taken the book from the prey’s toybox.

Tony butted his head against Steve’s hand. When Steve didn’t take his attention off the book, Tony reached up to drop a paw on his forearm. Steve finally moved the book out of the way so Tony could put his head on Steve’s knee. He yawned and heaved out a breath. He was hungry, and smelled like stagnant water, and wanted to sleep. Steve put a hand on his head and ran his fingers over Tony’s ears – that was the good thing about humans. Their hands weren’t very good for running or digging, but they were good for petting.

Before Steve, Tony hadn’t gotten petted often. Sometimes his nightdark human-pack Rhodey had played with him and scratched his neck, and sometimes his sunbright human-pack Pepper had rubbed his belly or petted his back. Tony’s human didn’t let them very often. He hated the wolf. Steve was different – moonpale and sweet metal scent, and whenever the wolf was allowed out around him, Steve would pet him all night. Once they had even slept in Tony’s den together.

“If you’re going to stay like this for a while, you’re getting a bath when we get home,” Steve said.

“Wow, you are feeling brave tonight,” Clint said. He was sitting in a different part of the box, pushing and tugging and pulling at it.

Clint and Thor and the other human-packmates were new. Tony still wasn’t sure if he trusted them, but Steve trusted them, so it was alright.

“Tony will have a fit tomorrow if the penthouse smells like sewer water,” Steve said back.

“Tony won’t have to be annoyed with it at all if Tony just changes back into Tony.”

Tony’s ears twisted at the sound of his name. Steve scratched them. His fingers were cold, but Tony didn’t mind much, even when Steve decided to pet his muzzle and drag his fingers down between Tony’s eyes. He scooted closer, starting to get cold with the water seeping through his fur and the whistling sharp-smelling air of the flying box. It still made too much noise. He sighed.

“Ignore him,” Steve said, curling over and wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck. “You’re fine in whatever body you want to be in.”