#maybe if enough people do it i can enter all that data into excel and figure out which disorders or illnesses would best explain why i am

[robinsnest2111]

So sorry if this is invasive, don't feel any need to answer, but: are you prone to having manic or depressive episodes? I don't know your mental health history and you don't need to share it with any of us but what you're describing sounds v similar

not at all invasive to me, no worries (with the way i overshare on here pretty much all things related to my mental health are fair game tbh)

just looked up what manic and depressive episodes entail and I can say no manic episodes afaik. but depressive ones for sure! one doctor I've spoken to 2 years ago also kinda told me I miiiight have pmdd (not officially diagnosed tho) because I do get a little more hopeless and suicidal than usual a week before the blood curse (my baseline is casually and passively suicidal and hopeless, been this way all my life tbh, when it gets bad it gets a bit more intense but it's mostly just annoying because it feels like a set back after I spent 3 weeks getting my life somewhat back on track just to get thrown back into the pit for a week to start over again lol sisyphus type struggles)

tho the past couple weeks/months have been extra bad. like early teen years when I was deep in getting at school for my entire everything hell, teachers not doing anything only telling me to grow thicker skin, parental emotional neglect and punishment for annoying signs of depression, and no social contacts whatsoever because I was too difficult or depressing to deal with bad. and tbh idk why it's been this bad lately. there's been no huge shift or other major impactful event I could point to.

it's just been. extra bad. idk.

and when it's like that I write very very uncharacteristically dark and hopeless posts, thinking I've got it all figured out, but then I get a couple hours of sleep and look back at what I posted and wonder why i believed any of it and what kinda brain demon took over to make me write it lol

[shoutingbehindanonymity]

The Venting of a Sad (Maybe Almost) Grad

I am entering the second semester of my seventh year of my personality psychology doctoral program. Despite still collecting data, I need to complete my dissertation and successfully defend it by the end of this year since both my funding will run out and I would go beyond my school’s allotted time to degree should I not.

I am possibly so close to finishing this program and earning that fabled degree. But all I feel is regret, dread, and fear.

Regret: The overwhelming feeling I have towards the last 6+ years is regret for screwing myself over in multiple ways. I am pretty sure that psychology did genuinely capture my interest at one point. However, aside from a slightly more notable yet vague interest in emotion due to my own problems, I did not really have a specific focus in it. I entered graduate school under the program of personality psychology specifically for how broad it is. I ended up making quantitative psychology my minor concentration due to wanting to challenge myself to master statistics and other mathematical aspects of psychological study, only to fall at that spectacularly and end up with somehow less knowledge and confidence in it. I did not work enough to retain the knowledge and sharpen the skills I was meant to develop during courses and I am lost and useless even in my very specific and practically useless dissertation topic, all while taking much more time than I should have and wasting my and everyone else’s time, energy, and hope. And all of this within a field that itself does not lend easily to career paths outside of pedaling the information to younger folk via academia. I’ve grown to resent personality psychology as a whole and much more so myself within it. I’ve wasted the time I should have spent developing professionally in a viable field or trade or skill or anything, as well as developing personally. My twenties are gone, and I have nothing to show for it but worse mental health and debt.

Dread: Even setting aside the regret, as I am sure everyone here can understand, I am filled with dread over the next couple of months regarding my dissertation. As I said before, I am still collecting data (which in itself is proving to be a large administration problem) and need to run the analyses, update my proposal, write the analyses and conclusion, work with my busy advisor for feedback, revise to an acceptable document, get the approval of my committee, and find out an alignment of their schedules for my defense before the middle of April. And I know how I am. Even with things being relatively calm at the moment (although they really shouldn’t be, I should be doing more), I am struggling a lot. I don’t see how I can get myself to get all of this done in time, and then actually pass the defense given my incompetence and the (necessary) critical nature of my committee that I saw during my defense. And to balance this with working as a research assistant with our major project underway, I doubt that I am the type of person to do this, the type of person to actually deserve a degree.

Fear: And even if I do manage to complete this, I am terrified of what is after. I will fully admit; even when I entered this program with the intent of staying in academia and becoming a professor, school has been a buffer for me. It allowed me to stay in the only environment I have really known and knew myself to excel in for too many years. But now even that has deteriorated as I find myself unable to recall even the basic information of my field, let alone conjure any critical or creative thought, while constantly making mistakes in the simplest work tasks. I’m now scared to tell people what I do because it immediately and rightfully prompts them to assume me to be knowledgeable and competent, a point I will soon get to again. And I hear the stories of my colleagues, far more brilliant and determined than I, getting screwed over in the job market once they graduated. About how earning a Ph.D. doesn’t make you a shoo-in for career opportunities but instead thrusts you into a hyper-competitive environment that relies on much more than what your program would have prepared you for, skills that I lack the capacity or competency to teach myself now. It only gets harder. And school has protected me when it shouldn’t have, giving me the leeway for mistakes and lowered expectations and doing nothing on the days where I can barely muster getting out of bed, luxuries I know I will not get again.

So even if I graduate, that just leaves an incompetent man wearing a coat of paint that suggests basic competency in the middle of a landscape demanding hyper-competency. Combine that with how I never filled the gap my dissolved interest in academia left and I am stuck feeling shitty whenever asked about what I want to do once this is done. What all this wasted time and opportunities was for. Why I chose to continue doing this to myself despite how much it hurt. It’s because I’m a coward without a will to go anywhere or do anything. I lack goals or vision or even interests at this point. I say that I can’t imagine myself being in any other position outside of school, but I mean that in the worst way. To be honest, as dramatic as this sounds, even now with a clear forced goal of doing my dissertation, it’s hard to keep going. And if I do graduate and those metaphorical bowling alley bumpers are dropped, no matter how hard or how many times I try, I can’t imagine myself living in the future beyond that point. Let alone a future in which I am actually content or fulfilled.

If you read this, I do actually appreciate it. I know it is just a bunch of whining and I am admittedly afraid of the possible reactions given my previous attempts at expressing this. I know that the problem is likely primarily me and not academia itself. I am not really sure what I am seeking by writing and posting this. Maybe just the chance for someone that knows grad school to even partially see my perspective and maybe show their own side or offer any advice from that point. Just tired of hearing the folk in my program, in their own unique ways, tell me that this is all entirely my imagined and self-generated fault and that nothing is actually wrong, at least nothing that I am justified in talking about.

[regina-del-cielo]

I was thinking about Copley’s Murder Conspirancy Board (mostly to deal with the absolute rage that the scene with Andy Copley and Booker gives me because ‘UGH THESE MEN ARE SO S T U P I D’), and... I may have a Theory about it - which mostly delves into how much Booker and Copley were in actual contact with each other before the events of the movie.

TL;DR: the Murder Conspirancy Board was built with a contribution of Booker’s information, and Copley was Very Confused on the workings of the Guard’s immortality

(the Essay(TM) is under the cut)

This excellent post expounds on how these two Grieving Dumbasses Definitely Did Not Think Their Plan Through, but still what little they did plan was not done in two days. And I would like to think that Booker would have required more than One (1) Persuasive Speech to get him to potentially get his family outed and put in danger for the (tiny) chance of getting a cure for their immortality.

So they’d been in contact for a while, possibly for almost the whole ‘break year’. Copley has lost his wife two years before the movie, so when he and Booker met again he’s one year into mourning. If Andy needed a break from their jobs, I can’t imagine in what mental state Booker must have been.

Copley probably started looking into the Guard because man, that Surabaya mission was a masterpiece, and how come these guys aren’t mercenary superstars? But they’re like ghosts, and the IDs don’t really match their supposed ages... and dealing with his wife’s death made him go into a Nerd Spiral. And then he finds Booker.

So this is how I think it went: they meet again. They talk. Copley is a grieving widower, Booker goes ‘man don’t I relate’. Booker is probably drunk a lot of the time (maybe so is Copley, misery loves company and all that). They enter a positive feedback loop of sharing grief over lost loved ones. Copley probably spills that he knows something, that they’ve done great things and they have a gift obviously. Booker probably answers along the lines of ‘fuck the gift, it sucks. Didn’t save my children when they needed it’. Copley goes ‘well, medicine is much better today. What if you could do it now?’ And the rest is history.

A) Booker ‘helped’ with the Murder Conspirancy Board

We know for a fact that the Conspirancy Board contains information about the Guard ‘from the last 150 years’ which is, approximately, the time photography’s been around. And it makes sense - photos are pretty easily accessible, and Copley knows their faces. He probably scanned them from one of those fake IDs and then used a facial recognition software to find them in historical photographic archives. But we know (and by the end of the movie so does he) that the last 150 years is a nothing in their lifespan. And while going backwards Copley may have found Booker’s original birth and/or marriage records, nothing of the sort would exist for Joe, Nicky and Andy.

Despite how much we joke about the Guard’s faces being Everywhere in museums and art galleries around the world, we can assume that they wouldn’t leave so many traces of them behind. The two known art pieces representing Andy in an obviously recognizable manner, her portrait with Achilles and the Rodin, are in the cave in Val d’Argent. I don’t believe Nicky and Joe wouldn’t have similar storage places, especially for Joe’s own art. Without photographic evidence and before newspapers, trying to pinpoint the three of them across history would be harder than finding a specific needle in a haystack of needles... unless someone tells you where to look. 

When Andy enters Copley’s living room, he calls her ‘Andromache the Scythian, the eternal warrior’. But how could Copley have known that Andy’s “real” name was Andromache? It’s not on her IDs, and it’s not the top choice for a full name that has Andy as a nickname. It’s a literary name, of course it would appear through history in poems or plays or novels. And how could he have associated Nicky and Joe precisely to the Crusades with what he knows of them from the last 150 years alone? For all he knew, they could have been as old as the Punic Wars, or as young as the Battle of Lepanto. Assuming he’d actually caught on on them being together together.

Well, I think Booker told him. Maybe just a thing here or there, while Commiserating on How It Sucks being an Immortal, like ‘Andy’s been around for so long she doesn’t even remember her true age, that’s exhausting’ or ‘Joe and Nicky are ridiculous for two people whose first meeting consisted of killing each other during the fucking Crusades’. And Copley fell into another Nerd Spiral that brought him to understand that holy shit these people are much older than I thought what the fuck.

B) Copley is Very Confused on How Immortality Actually Works

Copley talks to Andy by calling her ‘eternal warrior’ and talking of her immortality as if it was some kind of gift that can somehow be transferred from one body to another (debatable, but... ok). But he’s also flabbergasted by her not healing from Booker’s shot, and later with Nile he says ‘but then why would the immortality leave?’, which is... well, it makes it sound like he thinks the immortals are some sort of Chosen Ones.

Which means that Copley knows nothing about Lykon. He had no idea that at some point the Guard will stop healing.

But why would he not know, since I just conjectured that Booker told him enough about immortality for him to pinpoint the origins of the eldest members of the Guard? Why would Booker not have told him such a central detail of their “power”? (Booker obviously knows about Lykon. We see Andy telling Nile, and you can bet that ‘is this thing permanent?’ is probably the third question Booker ever asked when he met the others. He can’t not know)

I think it’s because despite having bonded over their grief, they are approaching this ‘discovering what the fuck is up with immortality’ from two extremely different sides. 

Copley wants to know if there is some biological aspect to their immortality that may be ‘transferred’ or ‘activated’ in any random human being. He’s gotten into his head that their regenerative powers can end all diseases. Which. I could probably write another entire separate post on how this is far-fetched at best. Point being, Copley never thought his endeavour as taking the immortality from the Guard to give it to someone else. He thinks Andy and the others are going to live forever and ever.

Booker knows their immortality is not forever and ever, theoretically. He knows that at some point, in the future, he’s going to stop healing and die. But he Wants to Talk to the Manager about it, damn it. He wants his death to be a certainty he can quantify, not something that may happen in another five thousand years based on the data he’s got at his disposal. He wants to have the choice to end it tomorrow or in fifty years - if discovering what causes his immortality saves other people, well that’s an undeniable bonus, but it’s not the focus of his motivation.

Just like Booker and Copley didn’t cover all the potential ways in which Their Plan Could Go Wrong (and honestly, has Booker not learned yet just how fast they revive on average? He tells Nile that ‘big wounds take longer’, and still he revived from the grenade in three/four minutes!), I think they also didn’t Delve into their motivations for seeking that knowledge. Booker probably thought that Copley knowing of their immortality being relative was irrelevant, because of course the doctors will find something (the thing that makes them stop healing), and then he’ll die anyway, so who cares? 

And Copley... Copley was probably Convinced that the Guard was a group of superheroes that just needed to be suggested a new investment plan for using their powers, because saving individuals during wars and natural disasters is very noble and good, but come on, it’s inefficient as hell, they can do much better!

(It absolutely sends me that Copley saw the kind of accomplishments reached by the people that the Guard saved, or by their direct descendants, and STILL it didn’t occur to him that there was a pretty decent chance that sometime in the future they would save someone that would find the cure for ALS and/or other shitty diseases! HE’S LITERALLY HINDERING THEM!!!) 

[danniburgh]

Unexpected, unavoidable, unforgettable.

so, i asked if anyone wanted to read something like this and it had 13 notes so i did it

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x f!reader

Summary: Marcus Moreno has a new assistant, a new, very pretty assistant, and struggles to keep it professional, even when she's what he was looking (not that he was looking) for in someone, even when Missy is totally on board with her as her dad's girlfriend, even when she helped them save the world (again) until he can't anymore.

Word count: +8.2k

A/N: ITS FLUFFY GUYS ITS PURE FLUFF OMG IM SURPRISED IT EVEN HAS A PLOT LIKE I IMAGINED THIS SHIT YESTERDAY AKDJNAKDJNA

Masterlist // Read in ao3 // ko-fi

If you said you weren't nervous you would be a complete liar. You were shaking, it was like you were standing in the middle of the street with nothing on but a t-shirt and shorts while it was snowing. You felt exposed, nervous and somehow vulnerable.

It was your first day at your new job. At your dream job.

Even since The Heroics were around you always wanted to be one of them, even though you didn't actually had any powers of your own you wished to the stars almost every night to be part of them, they were, as well as maybe all children's on the world, your heroes.

And now, two minutes before eight o'clock, there you were, playing with the strap of your messengers bag, waiting for the security guard to let you in while he was looking for your name on the list of expected people, wondering how the offices looked like, imagining who you'd be working with.

When they called you to tell you, after a week of trials and interviews, that you got the job, they didn't actually let you know who you'd be working with, what they did tell you was that you'd be someone's assistant. A Heroic's assistant.

And for you that was enough, you weren't expecting more than that, you didn't want any more than that. That was perfect. More than perfect, wonderful, marvelous, even.

The guard let you in and told you that at the end of the day they would have ready your clearance card, so you can enter the building without issue, that made you shiver, you'll have your own card, to The Heroics HeadQuarters. You felt a bit dizzy only by imagining it, you walked (as best as you could on those evil high heels you put on that morning) to the open elevator and pushed the button to the twenty-fifth door, where they'd told you someone was expecting you.

When the elevator doors opened you saw one of the people that interviewed you for the job tapping on her data pad, you walked towards her and she swept you over with her eyes.

"You dressed well" you frowned, looking at your pencil skirt, wondering if she was being amicable or sarcastic "follow me" you nodded and she started walking through the hallway "so your new boss is expecting you, he already knows about you and he already has work for you to do" you walked in front of a glass table with a small datapad on top and a wireless phone on the side "this one is your desk" she said tapping her fingers on the glass, you rushed to let your bag on the table while following her, she stopped walking in front of a fogged cristal door and you with her "please, you went through a difficult selection process, don't mess it up" you shook your head, not knowing what to respond, she knocked on the door and it opened to the side "Mister Moreno? your new assistant is here" you eyes went shut and you let out a small gasp when you heard his name, you were going to be Marcus Moreno new assistant? you were sure this all was a dream, the man was a legend!

"Thank you, Sid" you opened your eyes at the sound of his voice, Sid turned to you and gestured for you to come into the office of the Leader of The Heroics, you gave to steps into the office and were about to pinch yourself on the arm when you saw his tall figure walking towards you and raised up his hand to shake yours "welcome" he said your name and you smiled at the sound of it on his voice "come, sit, we have work to catch on" he turned around to sit behind the desk, you heard the door closing and turned, Sid wasn't there anymore, you stood for a few seconds, trying to process everything that was going on, then you felt an intense stare in your body and looked at your new boss, he smiled at you lifting one corner of his lips and moved his head to indicate the chair in front of him for you to sit.

"Thanks" you muttered as you sat, and as he started explaining his way of working and what would become your basic functions as his assistant, you couldn't stop thinking about all the times you've seen that same man sitting in front of you fight criminals, end wars, save people, hug children and talk to important people all over the world. A few days ago that man in front of you was just an image on your tv (and phone and computer, if you were honest, but no one was counting) and now he was there, in front of you, in the flesh, talking to you, addressing you, knowing you, looking at you. This was one of the best, most unexpected surprised you've ever gotten.

"Is everything clear?" he asked you, you woke up from your daydream and nodded. You weren't sure at what, but you'd figure it out eventually. 

"Yes, Mister Moreno" he smiled again.

"Great, can you do me a favor?" he said, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose, you nodded "can you go downstairs and get Missy? she's training" you nodded a few more times.

"Sure, I can do that" you said, getting up, really unsure of what he meant by downstairs but you didn't want to ask, you walked to the door and it slided open, you turned to him, he was holding the door remote.

"Basement two" he told you, you nodded again "thanks" you heard while getting out.

"No problem" you yelled back, already out of the office.

He saw you walking away and closed the door again, wondering if you'd be able to find your way to the training basement, he thought you could, you seemed to him like a smart girl... like a smart woman. 

He would be lying if he said he didn't liked you at first sight, for him you had something that he didn't know how to describe, but he probably could point out to others, he did think you'd be an excellent assistant by just looking at your resume, that's why he chose you it the end, but when he saw you on the doorstep of his office for the first time he noticed it on you, he didn't know what it was, but it was there, in your eyes, in you, and he liked it.

Wandering through the hallways of The Heroics HeadQuarters looking for the exact room in which your boss' daughter was trying wasn't exactly how you wanted nor expected to spend your first day on the job, but you knew Missy, at least how she looked like, you didn't think she'd be that hard to find.

After what it felt like an eternity (but it was more like ten minutes) walking on your devilish heels you found the room where Missy, along with a blond girl (that looked really small to be lifting fifty pound weights), a stretchy slim boy and a tall floating girl were training, you weren't sure if you were even allowed to enter the room so you stood in the entrance just waiting to be noticed by either one of the kids.

"Who are you?" you heard a small pitchy voice below you, you turned down and saw the small strong blonde girl "my name is Guppy" she said, you smiled.

"Hi Guppy, I'm Mister Moreno's new assistant" you answered, extending your hand so she could shake it with hers "it's nice to meet you" She shook your hand very strongly and ran to Missy, the girl was dressed in a pink shirt and had her brown hair tied up in a low bun, she looked at you and somehow made you feel really small. She approached you and you felt as if she was studying you with her stare "hi Missy, your dad sent me for you" you said, very low, intimidated by a middle school girl.

"You're the new one?" she asked, with a warning look and crossed arms on her chest, you nodded, she took a step closer to you, an action that made her tilt her head upwards to look at you in the eyes, normally looking at a kid like that would make either one of you laugh, but her eyes were deep (as deep as her father's, you noticed) and she had one eyebrow raised. You didn't know what to say, or what to do for that matter, you didn't want to disrespect your boss' daughter, but you were starting to feel very uncomfortable "I'm Missy, it's very nice to meet you" she said suddenly with a smile, taking your hand to shake it. You let out a small, very surprised "oh" when she changed her attitude. She released your hand and started walking, you followed her.

For a slim and small girl she walked really fast, you had to almost run to keep the pace (you were blaming the shoes at the time, after some time you did realise she was indeed very fast), and she was speaking (quite loudly) about her training while walking.

"And Guppy really, really likes to throw those little fish she makes with water at us, even though we told her to stop, but she's cute so she gets away with it" she said, pressing the elevator button to get the doors to open "you know, I'm really glad my dad has someone to help him" she said, entering the elevator with you behind her "maybe now he can finish up earlier and we can have dinner at home instead of his office" she let out with a sigh.

"Don't worry, I will make sure he gets home to have dinner with you" you said, minding more the pain in your feet and glancing at your wrist watch, not actually knowing how important those words were to the girl, you didn't see her smile when you said that, you didn't see the glow rising in her eyes when she watched herself sitting next to his dad, having a half nice, warm, almost cooked dinner at home while watching some movie on tv, instead of sitting in front of him in his office eating take out.

She stood there in silence, you felt her stare, you actually felt her eyes looking at you, all of you, but by that point you didn't even mind, you wanted to sit down as soon as you could and start with whatever your boss told you to do. The elevator opened and you both walked down the hallway towards the office, she knocked the door three times and it opened, Missy entered the office very nonchalantly.

"'Sup, father figure" she said, making you snort, both Moreno's looked at you standing in the doorframe.

"Sorry" you said, and walked backwards to sit behind your desk, you heard the door slide closed and you sighed, it was only nine in the morning and you were already exhausted.

Missy looked at his father, who was looking back at his datapad, she sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, Marcus felt his daughter stare on his head, he looked up to her and took off his glasses.

"What?" he asked her, Missy smiled.

"I like her" the girl said, he glanced at the door and looked back at his daughter, nodding "she's really pretty" she said, making her father smile "so you agree?" she said.

"Missy..." he cut her out, the girl laughed.

_____________________________

The phone rang again, you took the call without looking at who was calling.

"Marcus Moreno's office?" you said still typing on you data pad.

"Hello" Missy said "he forgot to pick me up from school again?" she asked, you jumped out of the chair, looking at your watch.

"Oh gosh, Missy" you gasped, it was twenty minutes after Missy's school day ended "I'm so sorry, he's still on a meeting" you said, thinking of what to do "don't worry, hang in there, I'm coming" you said, hanging up the phone.

You took your bag and ran as fast as you could, you pushed the elevator button several times until the doors opened and pushed the main floor button. While the elevator went down you typed a message for your boss to see when his meeting was over "If I'm not there when you're done, I went to pick up Missy from school". The elevator doors opened and you ran to the tramcar so it'd take you to the parking lot.

When Marcus checked his phone, half an hour later, he felt (once again, for the third time on that week,  and the first time in the day) like the worst father ever. He quickly dialed your phone number (that he'd already memorized) trying to think what to say, trying to think how to thank you for what you were doing, knowing you didn't have to.

"Mister Moreno?" you answered.

"Oh god, I'm sorry" he said "I know it's not your job, thank you so much for going to take her, thank you, I promise you won't have to do that again, and I will make it up to you"

"You're welcome" said Missy, Marcus widened his eyes "I don't mind if she comes to school for me everyday, you know?" you smiled.

"Missy" Marcus muttered, realizing just then he was on speaker and they were on the car. "I'm sorry, honey, I'm really sorry"

"I know that, don't worry" she said, Marcus felt doubly guilty, because his daughter had all the right to be angry at him yet she understood that her dad was bussy "did you know she drives an ecological car?" she asked, turning to you, she was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, smiling widely "it's so cool!"

"I-I didn't know, that's great" Marcus said, smiling at the sound of her daughter's happiness.

"So she's been working with you for two months and you didn't know the car she drives? That is cold, father" Missy scolded him, making you laugh. Your laughter made Marcus smile.

"I'm sorry" he apologized, you didn't know if it was to you or to his daughter or maybe to both, there was a small pause "see you girls here." he said suddenly and hung up the call. Missy looked at you.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked, you gulped, not even knowing you were smiling and glanced at her, Missy noticed how you gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"Nothing" you said. Missy grinned at you.

"Look, I may be a kid, and I may not know very much about things, but I've seen those kind of smiles" she said, playing with a strand of her hair. "my teacher smiles like that when she talks to the soccer coach, and the soccer coach smiles like that as well when she talks to my teacher" you didn't know what to say, or how to act. "do you like my dad?" she asked, you choked a bit on your own respiration and Missy gave you a quick worried glance.

"Missy..." you stuttered.

"It's ok, y'know?" she said, trying to reassure you "I see how he looks at you" you closed your eyes a bit, forgetting for a split second you were driving, feeling your stomach turn at the mere thought of Marcus Moreno even looking at you in any way. "and I really think he shouldn't be alone anymore" she murmured, looking out the window, you looked at her, she was playing with the thin necklace she was wearing, with a small, barely noticeable smile on her lips and a nostalgic stare on the street "he's been taking care of everything for so long, I think he needs to let someone else take care of him" you smiled at that "and you do that when he's at work" you looked at her "besides me, but he doesn't listen to me anyway" she said, returning at her normal sassy, know-it-all self.

A comfortable silence fell upon the both of you, you were trying to process what she told you, trying your best to not focus only on her statement of her dad looking at you, but admiring her maturity, amazed by that girl sitting next to you, barely able to look out of the window of the car, that was so assured of herself and was so aware of her situation that she was thinking about her father's happiness, interest and well being. Then you got self-conscious, was your crush for your boss noticeable? was Missy the only one that had any notion of how you looked at her father? did your co-workers know about how you looked at your boss? You hoped they didn't, because it was nothing, even if Missy just told you he looks at you in some way , it was nothing, you were sure of it. Yes maybe you dreamed about your boss taking you out, maybe when the day was slow you daydreamed of him making you go into his office and getting comfy on the one couch he had on it and just talk to you until he remembered he had something to you, and maybe sometimes you got those dreams that were dirty and steamy as well but it was nothing. Wasn't it?

"You okay?" Missy asked when you parked. You nodded and smiled at her. "you didn't answer my question" she said, looking at you with a funny but serious face.

Your smile grew wide, you looked at the girl and somehow knew she wouldn't tell him a single thing you two talked inside that car, you knew that even though she was a kid, and that she was your boss' daughter, she would keep the secret guarded until you wanted. 

"Yeah, I think I do" you said, Missy smiled at you "I like him" she clapped a few times before getting out of the car, making you laugh.

_____________________________

You were so concentrated to get everything your boss told you to write in the email you were typing that you didn't notice the little crouched shadow trying to sneak next to your desk.

"Hi" you heard, you jumped, startled. Missy smiled and stood up straight.

"You scared me" you said, putting a hand on your chest, smiling back at the girl standing in front of you with her backpack hanging from her right shoulder "honey, your dad is busy right now" you told her "he's on a conference call" you pointed to the conference room at the beginning of the hall.

"Yeah, I know, I came to see you" she responded with a more serious tone, you tilted your head in surprise. 

"Oh yeah? what for?" you asked.

"I wanna talk to you" Missy said, walking towards her father's office, waiting for you to open the door with the remote she knew you had.

"Alright then, let's get inside" you stood up with your datapad and your phone and opened the door for her. You both walked into the office and she dropped the bag she was carrying on the floor next to the door, she walked to the couch and sat there, then she tapped the seat next to her with a hand, you closed the door and went to sit next to her. "do you mind if I finish up some emails while we talk?" you said, she nodded.

"Yeah, no problem" you smiled at her response, even so wary as well of her tone.

"So..." she started, you made a small noise while resuming your typing, acknowledging her "how long you've been working here?" she asked.

"Three months now" she made a thinking sound and you saw her putting her hand on her chin. 

"I see" 

"Why?" you asked, sending one email and opening a new draft.

"Just wondering" she said, looking over your shoulder, curious of what you were doing.

"I see" you said, she laid back into the back of the couch, smiling, you crossed one of your legs over the other.

"Do you trust my dad?" she asked, looking at your shoes.

"Of course I do" you looked at her, you noticed her almost spaced out expression "Missy are you ok?" you asked, she nodded.

"Yeah" she looked back at you and smiled, you smiled back "I'm just asking" you hesitated a bit but let out a sigh, agreed to her silent reassurance that she was indeed okay and looked back down into the datapad.

You both stayed there, enjoying each others company for a few minutes, she was looking at you, letting you finish your job, she was thinking at how much better things had gotten since you came to work with her dad because somehow you'd make her dad's life easier, she was thinking at how he put more attention to her than before, and more attention in general, she was thinking at the way her dad looked at his assistant, even though he has told her many (many) times now that he can't look at her in any other way than his assistant because that what she was, even when Missy knew that they both wanted to be something else, she didn't know what, she just knew that the wanted something more, she also was thinking about you, about how it'd be fun to have you around more, about how she would really like to have somebody to talk about stuff she knew she couldn't tell her dad, like the way she was starting to see Wild Card or how her body made her feel sometimes, she thought about how it would be really fun to have someone to mother her, once she saw you hit send to the last response you were supposed to write she called your name.

"Can I hug you?" she asked, you frowned worried and put down the datapad, you wanted to ask her again if she was okay, but when you looked into her eyes you saw that she really wanted it, it was almost as if she was smaller than she appeared to be, she even seemed younger, you didn't respond when you already had your arms around her slim body. You heard her gasp and smile, and felt her small arms around you as well "this feels good" she whispered, you smiled and held her tighter, she rested her head in your shoulder.

"It's everything ok?" you both heard next to you, you broke the hug and you felt Missy reluctantly sitting up.

"Yeah, dad, we're fine" she said, standing up and going to hug him without saying another word. You smiled at the scene, standing up and walking to the door, Marcus looked at you as he hugged his daughter and Missy buried her face into his chest.

"Is she okay?" he mouthed at you, you looked at the girl and nodded.

"Just enjoy it" you mouthed back, looking at him in the eyes, making him smile "I'm gonna go" you mouthed again, and for a brief second he wanted to tell you to stay, he wanted to grab you and hold you with one arm while holding his daughter with the other, he wanted to rest his head on your shoulder just as Missy was doing it just two minutes before and smell your perfume that he liked and brush your back with his hand, he wanted you to say there with them, he wanted to tell you to stay there with them forever. But he remembered where you were, and who he was, and who you were, and brushed of as much as he could of those thoughts and nodded back at you.

They both stood in the middle of the office, hugging, while you got out and closed the door.

"Missy, you're okay?" he said, brushing her brown hair with his fingers.

"Yes, can't I hug my dad?" she said, still inside his arms.

"I mean yeah, but a hug like this on a random tuesday?" he said, making Missy laugh and look up at him.

"When are you gonna ask her out?" Marcus choked at his daughter's question.

"Ask who?" he said, playing dumb, Missy broke the hug and went to sit on one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Ask who?" she imitated him, Marcus smiled at the way she did that, exactly like his mother.

"Why are you asking me that?" he said, sitting in the other chair, next to her, taking off his glasses.

"Because you obviously like her" she said, thinking if she should tell her dad what she knew, wondering if you would get mad if she did, she decided that she wouldn't tell him yet "I mean, you do, right? like her?" she asked.

Marcus rubbed his eyes with his fingers and sighed.

"Missy, there's things that kids don-"

"Please don't do that" she cut him off "don't treat me like I'm dumb... because you and I know I'm not" he nodded "I just want you to tell me truth" 

"Why do you wanna know this so much?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Because I think you deserve it" she shrugged "I think you should go on a date or something"

Marcus smiled and shook his head, putting back on his glasses.

"Thank you, honey" he said "but have you asked me if I am ready to date somebody?" Missy frowned and looked at him.

"Well, are you?" she said, loudly "dad I think you are, but don't want to admit it" Marcus smiled again, sometimes his daughter outsmarted everyone he knew, even himself "besides she's really cool" Missy said, crossing her arms in her chest "and she gives really nice hugs" she finished, in a cocky tone.

Marcus was about to try to give his daughter a rebuttal when an alarm went off. Missy stood up of her seat and looked at him, he rushed to his datapad and Missy ran to grab her backpack.

The office door opened and you stood there wide eyed and clearly scared. That wasn't a fire drill alarm, that was a different one that you've never heard in your life.

"What's going on?" you asked, agitated, Missy looked at you and then at her dad, that was looking at his datapad.

"There's a spaceship trying to land on our territory" Marcus said, Missy ran up to him and snatched the device from his hands, your boss looked at you "it's just one, the guys are gonna take care of it and we'll be f-"

"Dad" Missy said, he looked at her and she showed him the screen "it's not just one, it's more" Missy looked at you and saw you breathing fast and heavily, she ran to you.

"Are you ok?" she asked, scared you shook your head "it's gonna be ok, I promise" the girl said on top of the alarm that was blasting everywhere, and even though you were taller, older and somewhat stronger than her, you believed her and nodded, she helped you sit down in one of the chairs in front of Marcus's desk.

"Marcus Moreno, please report to the Directors office" you heard on the datapad your boss was holding, he looked at you and then looked at Missy.

"Turn on your bracelet" he said to Missy, she nodded you saw the girl tap twice to the bracelet she was always wearing and then saw your boss doing the same with his watch "take her to the bunker downstairs, and then stay there with her until I call you, okay?" he said, Missy nodded and looked at him.

"A bunker?" you whispered, they didn't seem to hear you.

"We're gonna do this together, right?" she asked, Marcus looked at her and took off his glasses.

"We made a deal" he said, Missy rushed to you and helped you stand up, you looked at your boss waiting for him to tell you something, anything "stay with her, she will protect you" he told you, you felt your head spin and nodded as much as your neck let you, Missy took your hand and the three of you rushed out of the office, you saw people running away and towards you, everyone seemed like they had somewhere to go or something to do, while you were being escorted by a little girl to a bunker you didn't even know existed even though it was very obvious they would have one.

You saw Marcus running away from you while Missy pulled you from your arm to a set of stairs that went down way too many floors.

"Wait, wait" you said, Missy stopped and you took off your high heels with one hand, you didn't even bothered to take them with you as you heard a really loud crash on top of you, the alarm ceased and now there was just silence, you ran with Missy until you felt your lungs sting and your breath was getting shorter by the second.

"Missy, they crashed onto the building, please stay in the bunker, both of you" you heard your boss voice through Missys bracelet, the girl looked at you and you both ran the fastest you could, you reached the third basement and started running to the bunkers door, that was already closing.

"C'mon!" Missy yelled, you weren't sure if she was yelling at you or at them, but when the man that was closing the bunker's door saw you it was too late, the door couldn't be stopped and you both stayed out.

"Damn it!" you cursed out loud, Missy looked at you "sorry". The girl talked into her bracelet.

"We were late, they closed the door already"

"Stay there, please" you both heard. Missy frowned and looked down, you were trying to recover from all the running and then saw the girl walking confidently towards the elevator.

"What are you doing?" you asked hurriedly "Missy, come back!" she opened the door and you jogged to reach her, the elevator closed and started moving "where are we going?"

"Back up" you looked at her like she was crazy.

"What?" you said, looking down and just remembering you didn't have any shoes on. You were getting anxious "for what?"

"Do you know how to fight?" she asked, you looked at her back and blinked a few times.

"I mean... a little" you tried to remember when was the last time you went to the gym or some moves you learned when you were a kid and went to karate school and your anxiety grew more with the little number on the elevator screen that showed the floor you were on "what if I don't remember much?" you asked Missy.

"Then find something and hit them with it" she said, stretching her arms.

"Hit who?" you said, almost crying.

"Hit the aliens!" Missy yelled, the elevator door opened between floors and you heard the little girl sigh in desperation, you were trying to process what she told you.

"Aliens? like the last time?" you asked, watching her climb the space to get to the floor that was a few inches below your waist, you could hear people struggling in there and Missy looked at you, crouched on the floor.

"This time they're real" she said, she extended her hand for you to take and she helped you climb as well "stay down" she said and you nodded, still trying to make sense of everything that she said and what was happening, you could see some sort of amorphic four legged beings, with gray skin and three eyes, they were just walking around, didn't seem to notice you slowly walking behind them "dad? we are in the seventeenth floor, where are you?" she whispered into the bracelet on her wrist.

"Outside! do you see them? how many are there?" Marcus said back. Missy looked at you and you counted the ones you could see.

"Eight" you whispered as she got the bracelet close to you

"Be careful, they appear to be deaf, don't let them see you" 

Missy looked at you and you tried to examine the floor, looking for any weapon, you tried to get back to the elevator to go outside. One of the things saw you two moving and walked towards you, you started shaking again and when it tried to grab you Missy kicked its front leg, it then stood in its two back legs and you mimicked Missy's kick, then punched it in the neck and ran back to the elevator while it stumbled backwards.

"Missy, are you coming?" your boss asked.

"Yes, we're coming" both of you crouched back to the elevator and begged for it to work "where did you learn that?" Missy asked you, you pushed the button to the main floor and the machine went faster than before, you braced yourselves to the rails on the side.

"Did you think they'd hire me without me knowing some stuff?" you grinned tiredly.

"Wait, what, we?" Marcus' agitated voice broke the silence.

"Well who else?" you said "both of us" Missy smiled at you.

The elevator opened, this time it did correctly, the first thing that you saw was Guppy, the little girl that really amazed you, throwing one of the four legged aliens into a wall, Missy ran around her and you behind her, crouching, along the main hall was Wheels protecting the entrance while Wild Card electrified two aliens at the same time, no one of the kids seemed to notice you run. You got out the building and saw a huge octagonal shaped spaceship hovering over the building, you could see Lava Girl, Miracle Guy and Shark Boy trying to move it together while Crimson Legend and the twins were fighting (and messing) with a horde of aliens on the left side of the parking lot, on the right side there was Invisi-Girl and Lighting Fury along with Noodles and Marcus fighting to stop some of the creatures that wanted to get inside the building.

Missy ran to them and you ran behind her, concentrated on not falling and also on the way your boss brandished his katanas. 

"Dad!" Missy yelled, Marcus turned to her and frowned one of the aliens grabbed him and threw him into the air, you felt dizzy, Noodles stretched his arms to catch him before he landed on the pavement.

"Thanks, buddy" he yelled when the stretchy arm left it sitting on the floor, Missy ran to him and you were about to go after her when you saw one of the creatures running towards her as well.

Adrenaline started pumping into your body, you saw one of Marcus' katanas on the floor and started running to grab it, for you it all happened in two seconds; you grabbed the weapon and then ran towards the alien, you sliced one of its back legs and it turned to you, it tried to turn around to grab you and you sliced off the other back leg, it screeched in pain and you jumped, lifting the katana and with all the strength in your body perforated its body with it. It stopped moving and you dropped the weapon looking around you, feeling the adrenaline pumping into your head and your chest.

Missy and Marcus were looking at you jaw-dropped.

You picked up the katana and walked towards the other one, picked it up as well and walked towards your boss, he was getting up the floor when you handed him the weapons.

"That was so badass!" Missy yelled looking at you, you smiled at her shyly and then looked at Marcus, he took only one of them.

"Take the other one" he said, his voicetone was deep and you noticed his sweaty forehead and the way his eyes looked all blood pumped because of the adrenaline, you wanted to stay there and look at him until he told you to stop, and you were wondering if, by the way he was looking back at you, he maybe wanted the same thing. Missy cleared his throat and made you wake up from your daze, you nodded and looked at Missy with a smile on your face.

"Does anybody have any idea what on earth do they want?" the voice of Miracle Guy could be heard through the intercoms.

"What if they just want to takeover the world?" Noodles voice was heard.

"It seems possible" Ms. Vox said then, you looked around and didn't see her outside "they look like they're looking for something inside" she said while a sharp g note was heard on the background. 

Missy took your hand and you both walked towards the dead alien in the middle of the parking lot while the others fought its friends.

"What are we looking for?" you asked, Missy shrugged, for you it just looked like a short-necked giraffe with gray skin and an extra eye. Then you noticed a small black piece of metal inside of a hole it had on a side of its neck "Missy" you called her, she came to your side and you pointed to the thing with the katana. Missy raised his wrist.

"Dad? we found something" she said, she reached to grab it and you stopped her with one arm.

"It could be dangerous to touch" you said, shrugging. Marcus jogged towards you, Missy showed them the metallic thing and he got closer to the alien's corpse to see, he then shove his hand into the hole and you and Missy made a grin in disgust. You saw your boss examine the small thing and weighting it in his hand. He turned to Missy.

"Take this to Wheels" he said "go!" Missy nodded and grabbed your free hand to take you with her, Marcus stayed back, he couldn't help but smile at the way his daughter grabbed you and grasped your arm so tight to not lose you, he was surprised at how you were taking the situation and he was so amazed at the way you were fighting, every single extra minute he got to see you he realized he liked you more and more, and by that moment in which you held and gripped one of his katanas, he knew he was screwed.

Up until that moment that you were running with Missy you realized (again) you were shoeless, but somehow it made you run faster, you got inside the building again, the boy's wheelchair was set on the covered part of the entrance, Missy went to him.

"Cover us" she told you, you widen your eyes and even though you nodded you didn't even know how to do that. You glanced around and saw Guppy sitting down on the reception counter, sipping water, while Wild Card walked around the lobby (or what was left of it) amongst two dead aliens "we found this inside the alien" Missy said, handing the metal piece to the boy, he looked at it and then he rested the thing on top of one of the datapads his wheelchair had.

"It looks like some kind of... remote control" he said, surprised, Missy looked at him and then back at you

"Alien!" Wild Card yelled, a creature was running towards him, Guppy jumped down the counter and you ran to it, tried to slice it but didn't reach it the first time, the second time you waved the katana from below and got his upper thigh (or what it looked like it anyway) you saw the boy throw fireballs at it and you called him.

"Can you electrify this katana?" you asked while slicing the alien on one of the front legs, the kid grinned and nodded, you threw it at him and he catch it with no issue.

"Electric powers" he said, making the blade of the katana glow with energy, you grabbed Guppy and ran with her on your arms, you looked at the kid slide below the alien, nailing the weapon inside its stomach with one single push, the thing screeched loudly and the girl in your arms cheered at the boy. He walked towards you and handed the weapon, you let the girl down and she raised her hand to give you a high five.

"They're controlled!" Missy yelled, you turned to her, wiped the sweat from your forehead and walked to her "Wheels found the control inside of that ship" she pointed at the one in the sky, the huge one that Lava Girl, Shark Boy and Miracle Guy were still trying to move. She repeated the same into her bracelet to her dad.

"We're going, you cover us down here" Marcus said, the five of you walked out of the building again, Missy grabbed your hand, you looked down to her and smiled at her. "Wheels, guide us over here, buddy" 

You saw the boy putting down the other screen on his wheelchair and started tapping and speaking to the adults that were about to heist their way into the ship, suddenly all of the aliens outside noticed that most of the heroes were trying to get inside their ship and went onto them, Guppy and Wild Card ran towards them to fight them, you were about to follow them but Missy grabbed your arm and pulled you back.

"Please stay with us" she said, you nodded and watched as below the ship another battle started, you saw Marcus slicing and dicing aliens and in some way that was not at all weird for the moment you felt your stomach turn at the way he was fighting to protect the world.

"I need my other katana" his voice was heard on Missy's bracelet, you felt he was looking back at you, you raised the hand that was holding the weapon and felt it vibrate, you saw him lift is hand as well, calling his companion to return to him, your hand was pulled by some invisible force that took the katana from you, you saw Marcus move his hand and the weapon moved as well, while traveling to him the katana was stabbing and slicing aliens, you smiled as you watched him.

"Show off" Missy said under her breath, you laughed.

The battle continued while Wheels guided his dad and the rest of The Heroics, already inside the ship, to the controller of the aliens, then he guided them on how to dismantle the controls and you saw in awe how all the aliens dropped to the floor, keeling towards the ship. 

Wheels took over the controls on her datapads.

"Get out of the ship, I'm about to send it home!" he yelled, they got out together and the boy beside you tapped some more, made the ship pick up all the aliens and sent it back from where it came from. Missy cheered up and you finally caught a breath.

"Well done, Wheels, really well done!" Missy said, you smiled at the boy and turned to see Missy, she smiled back at you and then turned around to see her dad, she ran up to him and hugged him. 

You could hear him prasing her work as they walked back inside alongside the others. Your boss looked at you and raised a hand to grab your shoulder. You felt a shiver go down your spine when you felt his touch. He smiled at you.

"Good job" he said, clearing his throat. You stood there, blinking. You knew you didn't deserve anything else from him, you knew you weren't entitled to something else than that, because after all he was still just your boss, and you were his assistant... But, to you it was unavoidable, to want something else, to want another thing, to want more. Because you weren't supposed to even be there, brandishing one of his weapons, slicing aliens, getting covered in their weird bodily matter, shoeless, sweaty and tired. That was not your job, and you did it anyway, you did it selflessly and to help but you still felt like you deserved more than just what he was giving you.

"Thanks?" you said, he nodded, tightened up the grab on your shoulder and then dropped his hand to the side, walking past you to the elevators. Missy watched him in disbelief then looked at you, you looked back at her and opened your mouth, not even knowing what to say.

"Really?" she whispered, you smiled, bemused and kind of frustrated by what just had happened.

"I-I don't even know" you muttered.

"C'mon, let's find your shoes" she said, making you laugh.

_____________________________

They'd given you a week to rest after the battle, and they told you as well they would start training you to be an agent, that was, somehow, a raise.

But you weren't as happy as you were sure you should, because after your week-long rest, everything was the same, everything came back to normal. Just you, your boss and your boss' daughter that appeared out of nowhere and lightened up your days.

You checked your watch, longing for the end of the day so you could drive back home to put on the pajama and watch some cheesy movie about a romance that you wanted to live.

"Can you come inside, please?" you heard Marcus' voice through your new intercom, you didn't bother answering, insead you stood up, grabbed your datapad and opened the door.

"Yes?" you said, walking inside the office, you saw Marcus close the door on his end and shifting in his chair "do you want me to bring you anything?" you asked.

"Sit, please" you hesitated for a second before doing it, and waited for him to talk.

You saw him fiddle his fingers and avoiding eye contact, he was nervous, and he was getting you nervous, for a moment the thought that he was going to fire you crossed your mind but you shoved that right where it came from.

"Are you ok, sir?" you asked, he cringed a little and made a grin.

"Call me Marcus, please" he said, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands.

"Are you ok, Marcus?" you said his name with stealth, almost as if it'd wear out if you said it, he looked at you when you did.

"Now I am" he responded, he stood up and walked around his desk to sit in the chair next to you "see, there's something I need to tell you, because I didn't before and that won me a scolding from Missy" he said, grinning, you frowned, amused.

"And what is it?" you asked, kind of hopeful.

"What you did out there" he said, pointing at the window "that was incredible" he smiled, you smiled back, satisfied, because that was what you wanted after all, recognizon (you wanted more, you did, but he couldn't know) "and for me, how you did that to save my daughter, that's unforgettable" he got closed and grabbed one of your hands that were resting on your lap, your body started sending you alarms, what was he doing?, why was he touching you like that?, why was his thumb rubbing slowly the back of your hand?, why were your eyes getting watery?, what was going on? "you were unforgettable".

You let out a sigh, and bolded up and turned your hand to grab his. You noticed how that surprised him, but he didn't take it back.

"I know we probably shouldn't do this" he said, putting his other hand in top of yours "but I wanted to ask you for quite some time now..." you tightened your grip on his hand "if maybe you'd want to grab dinner with me." he said the last part in a mumble, dropping his gaze down, you smiled and got closer to him to hold his chin up with your fingers, he looked at you, amazed by the contact. You nodded.

"I'd love to grab dinner with you" you whispered. He smiled at you.

You bolded up a second time, this time it took out more energy out of you but you knew it was something you needed to do. You spreaded your hand along his jaw and got closer to him, he immediately closed his eyes and leaned into your hand, tearing a smile out of you, you closed the distance between you and pressed your lips against his.

His lips were soft and steady, you let out all the air you had in your lungs when he deepened the kiss, moving his mouth to taste your lips, it was something taken out of the movies, the way his facial hair felt on your skin was almost heavenly, and the way your breaths synchronized into one while he stopped holding your and and leaned in to grab your waist and your back made you melt into his arms.

It was incredible, and at that moment you realized something. Something that you hadn't think of before until his mouth was into yours, his hands were holding you and your heart was racing at double speed.

You were utterly and completely in love with him.

Unexpectedly, unavoidably, unforgettably in love with him

[shini--chan]

THE HERO AMERICA ASK GAVE ME AN IDEA: Okay so imagine this - some star/comet whatever falls on to the Earth in s/o's area and s/o gets some cool powers, (and by some random bs can travel all over the globe) becoming a well known but mysterious superhero. s/o does not want to be in the lime light and tries hard to avoid all of the tabloids, but the people want more! Maybe Alfred is a college student/reporter and he too grows... Curious, shall we say. Bonus: others get curious too, like Arthur

Now why does idea seem so familiar to me? Ah yes, it is because it was semi-featured in the Super Paw Patrol, which I had to watch with one little squirt. Anyways, onto the answer

Yandere Love Triangle: America vs England (Superhero AU)

Given typical luck and the sorts, you would probably be out on a camping trip or an excursion in the wild when you would come across the meteorite. Curious as you would be, you’d approach the site in order to investigate, only to pass out from an electromagnetic impulse when you would be close enough to the thing. It would carry … interesting repercussions with it.

The grass tickled in your nose and poked in the most obnoxious way. Rocks hidden amongst the blades only added to the discomfort. A loud, ghastly groan escaped you as you regained your senses, inwardly cursing yourself for the stiff neck sleeping out in the open had resulted in. Why had you been so foolish anyway.

As you sat up with difficulty, you remembered how you had winded up here; an impressive feat on itself, since you felt like somebody had struck you with an axe between your eyes.

You had fainted while checking out a meteorite. One more glorious deed to add to the list of your life achievements. Yet you felt so extraordinarily strange.

Sure, you felt the pain from toppling over and spending a few good hours dozing away on the hard ground. But there was something else, an electric undercurrent in your veins, a new song that shook your bones and power that vibrated through your being.

Power that yearned to be unleashed, to spring out and alter this reality. Yet you didn’t know how, you didn’t even know what to do with it yet and the sensation of it was already driving you half insane.

Your new powers would both fascinate and horrify you. Fascinate, because in part it would be something you’ve always dreamed off and would open a hundred new doors to you that were closed to you. Horrify, because you would grasp very quickly that your normal, mundane life would be over forever. You would have to live a double life, constantly hiding your powers in fear of the attention you would receive for it if you were to flaunt it publicly, and the consequences of it.

You would do your best to come to terms with your new powers, with all their draw backs and advantages. Clumsily however, since you would be entering uncharted waters with no polar star to guide you.

Now this would be where Alfred would enter the game. See, while you would do everything in your power to keep everything a secret by experimenting and training with your powers at secluded locations or in abandoned buildings, your plans wouldn’t be airtight. And with him being a nosey college student investigating into local rumours, Alfred would be soon to uncover your true nature.

The man would be enticed and absolutely astounded to the point where he would start to become obsessed with you. In the beginning, he wouldn’t let you know that he would be stalking you. After he would have gathered enough data secretly, he would approach you with his findings and play on your fear of being uncovered and vivisected by the government. In end effect, he would blackmail you into being in a relationship with him.

And wherever Alfred the Journalist would be chasing after the next hot story, Arthur Kirkland wouldn’t be far behind. Arthur would take a more scientific as well as clinical approach to your state, but nonetheless be enchanted by you. You would be his natural wonder, and he wouldn’t hesitate from blackmailing you as well. However, he wouldn’t need such a long time as Alfred would need to confront you.

It could go well between the three of you, as long as you would be there to smooth ruffled feathers whenever one of them would get prissy. A skill you would need to learn to excel at. Because if they would no longer be content with sharing you, then one of them would kidnap you and the other would blow the whistle just to be spiteful.

[rheawritessometimes]

Albedo SFW Alphabet

{ Albedo x GN!Reader }

{ Summary } The entire SFW alphabet for Albedo.

{ Warnings } Physical Affection

{ Notes } I saw a post asking for the alphabets for Albedo and decided to write for it. I didn't get to the NSFW alphabet. This was a while ago and I couldn't find the post. Masterlist

{ Word Count } 1,303

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Albedo can be affectionate, but he’s not usually the one to initiate affection. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of his work, he’ll accept any affection that you give him. But one thing he always does is kiss you on the forehead before going off to work.

B = Beauty (What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?)

The mind of his s/o is what Albedo cares about the most. He’d like a partner who he could bounce ideas off of, not even necessarily ideas relating directly to alchemy. If they have an inquisitive nature, even better.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

As long as he’s not busy, Albedo doesn’t mind cuddling. Lay on him while he’s reading and he’ll start gently stroking your hair.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Albedo is definitely the type to settle down with someone, he’s not looking for a relationship if it’s not going to be long-term. He likes to keep everything tidy and he cleans quite regularly. Albedo doesn’t let things really pile up and become a mess, he does the dishes right after eating, dirty clothes go in the laundry basket instead of the floor, etc. As for cooking, Albedo can keep himself alive with his cooking. It’s not the best, but it’s very edible! He doesn’t cook anything very complicated, though.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Albedo wouldn’t end things screaming and yelling, he would just say things aren’t working out, whether it be falling out of love or your lives simply going in different directions.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Albedo won’t enter a relationship if he doesn’t think it could last long term. He probably doesn’t care much about marriage, he could stay with someone his whole life and never marry, but love them just the same. But he’s not opposed to marriage, if you want to get married. It would probably take him a few years with a person to be certain that things would work out well enough to get married.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Albedo is a gentle soul, he’d never want to harm his partner. He’s very honest but tries to be kind in the way he words things if he thinks it could hurt you.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Albedo doesn’t mind hugs, they can be very comforting. He’s not often one to initiate them, but as long as he’s not doing anything he doesn’t refuse them. Even though he rarely initiates hugs, he holds his partner tighter than one would expect and sometimes he doesn’t want to let go.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Probably before the relationship even starts. Albedo would most likely wait until he’s certain he’s in love with someone and a confession from him could be him casually saying, “I’m in love with you.”

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Albedo has trust in his partner but, on occasion, he can get a bit jealous. For some reason, it irritates him the most if Kaeya flirts with his partner. But all he does is glare at the offending party.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Soft, slow, and sweet. Albedo wants to take the time to feel and cherish the moment. Albedo gives lots of forehead kisses, but he’s also fond of brushing a kiss against his partner’s knuckles. Give him a casual kiss on the cheek and watch him turn a little pink, and of course, everyone knows Albedo’s absolute favorite place to be kissed is the little star on his throat.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

If Albedo can handle Klee, he can handle any child. A very good babysitter who is especially good at keeping kids safe.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Albedo usually wakes up early. If his partner isn’t an early riser then he might be gone before they’re awake. He still kisses your forehead before he leaves. If you wake up with him, then he’d like to have breakfast with you. Breakfast for Albedo usually consists of two pieces of toast and orange juice, he does have to be at work at a certain time. On days Albedo doesn’t have to work, he sleeps in. He’s so reluctant to get out of bed and these are the times he just wants to cuddle with you.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Albedo is in the habit of eating dinner quite late, so if his partner doesn’t mind eating late they might find themself eating or making dinner with him. He’ll often spend the time before bed sketching or reading, he likes to be productive most of the time. He’s in the habit of going to bed late, so he’ll tell you to go to bed without him. But if you refuse he might be willing to go to bed with you. Refuse to sleep without him so he comes to bed early and gets a healthy amount of sleep at night.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Albedo isn’t secretive, but he tends to reveal things slowly. It’s mostly just a matter of whether it comes up in conversation.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

A very patient man. Albedo tries not to let his emotions rule him and he’s very good at staying level-headed. Most likely, one would have to be intentionally trying to anger him to make him angry. He can get a little heated over serious lab safety violations.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing or do they kind of forget everything?)

Albedo is excellent at retaining information, he may not remember everything but it would be pretty close.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Albedo’s most fond memory would probably be the confession. Whether it was from you or him. The moment he knew his feelings were reciprocated he was euphoric. Thinking about it makes his heart flutter.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Albedo isn’t particularly protective. Of course, he’ll step in if you’re in danger but he’s not the type to be with you at all times to be your bodyguard. If you’re afraid of bugs, he’ll protect you by capturing them and moving them outside. Albedo doesn’t really need any protection, but maybe sometimes you can protect him from himself by reminding him to sleep and not overwork himself.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Albedo cares a lot more than one might expect from him. A lot of people make the assumption that he wouldn’t care so much about anniversaries and little things in a relationship, assuming he doesn’t understand the point of them. In reality, Albedo is very thoughtful and makes a point of showing how much he cares. Every date he plans caters to his partner, he wants you to enjoy your time with him. In terms of gift-giving, he never wants to disappoint you. Especially for more special occasions, if he can’t find the perfect gift, he’ll invent it. In terms of the everyday effort he puts into the relationship, he does his best to make you feel loved. He worries his actions won’t be enough and I can imagine him keeping a checklist of affectionate gestures he should do daily early on in a relationship. 1. A good morning kiss. 2. Make breakfast. 3. Bring flowers home after work… It becomes easier and more natural as he gets used to giving you affection and gauging how much affection you want on a daily basis.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Albedo is very committed to his work, to the point where he may neglect his partner. Of course, he never means to but he doesn’t always realize just how much time he spends working.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Albedo isn’t terribly concerned with his looks, but he does like to dress nicely. Not bothered with the latest fashion trends or anything, usually just wants to look professional.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

No. Albedo is not dependent on a romantic partner, he does fine on his own. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate you, though.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Albedo will use alchemy very casually to help with everyday tasks. Some of the things he does are really impressive and he’s so nonchalant about it. Honestly doesn’t see how special he is.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Anyone who dislikes Klee is seen as an enemy. How could anyone not like Klee? Someone who dislikes Klee may not exist, but if they do they’re Public Enemy No. 1.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Not sleeping. Albedo stays up late into the night working on experiments, looking over notes, analyzing data, reading journals, etc. He runs on four hours of sleep most of the time.

[btsmakesmehappy]

Broken Vase | 1

Genre: Enemies to lover, Angst, Fluff, possible light smut in the future

Pairing: Agent!Namjoon x Agent!reader

Rating: 18+ (Mature Content)

Warning: cursing. public display of affection.

Word count: 5,6k

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4  completed

Series Masterlist: The Company

Summary: You are one of the best agents in the Company, and so do Namjoon. After your last mission with him, you hate him and so do Namjoon. Suddenly, you assigned again with him as a married couple. How can you handle the mission, Kim Namjoon, and your emotional wound?

a/n: Hello! This is my second fiction! After a few considerations, I finally decided to write this! I realized that my grammar is not perfect because English is not my first language. But I hope you understand the main idea of the story. You can also (pleaseee) tell me if I have the wrong spelling or grammar. I will be very grateful <3 Oh and please let me know if you wanna be in the taglist!

edited: 26/05/2020

          You walked faster to your boss’s office. You got a mission this morning on the way to the Company, without any details. Well, it’s not that weird as this is your tenth year working in this field area. But you got a feeling that this mission is weird. You knocked on the door and when you heard the permission, you excused yourself to enter. In that office you find Jimin, your handler, who shared you a smile. And as you turned to your right, you found Namjoon and his handler, Jin.

           “Hello, agent L/n. Fancy seeing you here.” Namjoon smirked. “Tardy as always?” He scanned your body from top to bottom. Your hair tied into a messy bun, you only used a tint on your lips, and your collar is a mess inside your black blazer. Your black pants –which you wear for 3 days- have a faint ketchup stain from yesterday’s lunch in your thigh. Well as he said, you definitely need to use more time after waking up to do your make up and pick a more appropriate suit.

           “Mind your own fu.. business, Agent Kim” You almost cursed in front of your boss, lucky to you, Jimin stepped your feet before you said anything you would regret. “I am sorry I am late, boss.”

           “The important thing is that you all are here.” Your boss cleared his throat. “So, this Company knows that Agent L/N and Agent Kim are both magnificent agents, maybe the best in this Company.” He sighed. “ So you both are assigned in the next mission.”

           “wha-“ you frowned. All of the people in The Company knew that you and Namjoon are rivals. You both have never be assigned in the same mission for the last five years. Both of you two specialize in a different field, Namjoon in the strategical field which usually involves in political things while you usually work in the more aggressive field which involves fighting and guns. And only God knows why your junior and even the higher up in the company always keep comparing both of you. The last time you both worked together, you ended in a very bad fight with him. Even though the mission ended quite well, the emotion and the fight are still there until now.

           “What is the mission?” Namjoon asked. You studied his face at glance. He is also uncomfortable with the thought of working with you. But this is work. You must be professional.

           “I’ve already sent the details to your handlers. In short, there is a threat aimed at minister Lee. It said that it will disclose this nation’s confidential data to the public next week if the minister doesn’t cooperate.”

           “What is the confidential data? And what does the cooperation even mean?” You questioned the insufficient data. “Is the source trusted?”

           “The threat sent to This company, and even the Blue house. At first, we thought, it is not trusted. But if such a threat sent to the most secure places without traces, the higher-ups think that it would be dangerous and could happen. And the ambiguous thing about data and the cooperation are still unknown.” You and Namjoon shared a glance with a furrowed brow. There is nothing you can do with this amount of data, it is basically nothing. The boss continued his explanation. “In a few days, Minister Lee is going to a Tour with his wife in Hawaii. And we assumed that the cooperation should be done at that time. Because we don’t know what that is, we assigned the both of you to join the tour. You know, in cover.”

           “Why should we be on a cover? We can use the security protocol for bodyguards as always.” Namjoon is unsatisfied with this mission and so are you. It is awkward enough already to be in the same room with him or even the fieldwork. But in disguised? That’s terrible. If it’s in your usual fieldwork, you wouldn’t bother to talk to him and just talk with others, but this? You will and only talk with each other. The thought of that only makes your hands go clammy.

           “Because we ONLY have that amount of data so we can’t be careless! So that’s why we decided to do it naturally. We choose both of you because you are the best in this company and we can’t afford to tell many people so we decided to use fewer agents as possible. Even the minister should have no idea about your identity. I hope you will understand.” Your boss looked at both of you apologetically. “I know that you both are not in the great term, but this is work and I hope you can get along well and be professional. Your jobs are to protect Minister Lee and his wife and seek the meaning of the threat. Every clue you got should be sent to the company and we will take care of the rest. Do you both understand?”

           You took a deep sigh. “Yes sir.”

           Namjoon also nodded. “We will try.”

           “Good. You are all dismissed and good luck.”

          “I can’t believe I will work with him again!” You threw your bag in your desk angrily. Jimin, who was following behind you, startled with your sudden anger.

           “You said that you don’t mind!” He angrily sat on your chair.

           “wha- What do you mean? I never said anything.”

           “A few minutes ago, in front of the boss. And you said that you are not mad of him or whatever.” Jimin took out a binder from his bag and put it on your desk. “And besides, It’s not that I can choose who will work with you! You know that I don’t have that authority!”

           You sighed. Jimin is right. There’s nothing you can do for now. The only thing you can do is work this case as fast as possible. You opened the binder and study it. You will be joining the 5 days-tour in Hawaii as Jung Nara, 28 years old. You will go to Hawaii as a honeymoon. You just married a week ago to a man named Jung Yoon Hyung, a businessman overseas of Jung enterprises, specialized in art exportation, aged 29 years old. You knitted a brow. “Jung Yoon Hyung? Who? Don’t tell me that he is-?”

           “Yes. You are going to be Namjoon-hyung’s wife. Well, rich wife if I may add. Maybe this is going to be your luxurious assignment ever, Y/n!” Jimin said, tried as positive as ever with cautious eyes. Jimin has been your handler for 3 years now and so far, he is the only one who always stays in your anger situations and other frustrations. You always listen to him, and if he insists you do this job, you just can’t refuse. Well, not that you can’t refuse in the first place.

           You shook your head in disbelief. This can’t be happening. It is not that you hate him. It is just that you don’t want to be with him. Is it the meaning of hatred?

           Sure he is excellent in his job. He always thinks maybe 10 steps ahead with every different route as a back-up plan. He is the type of guy who is great at negotiation, the best. Namjoon always wants to be in a safe place. He doesn’t want to take a risk. While you are more of an ambush type of agent. That’s why he is different from you. You are a fire, while he is water.

           So after the mission 5 years ago, you both always assigned in different missions. You asked-begged, to not work with him. Yes, you hate him. You hate how calm he was. You hate how he stopped you before. You hate how he told you to trust him. You hate how he ended make you disappointed. You hate how he never apologize to you. You hate how he just talked to you after like nothing happened. You hate how he looked at you. You hate him.

           You sighed. But it is in the past. It is your job. And you have to do it, like it or not.

           “Come on, Joon! It can’t be that bad! You see.. 5 night in a 5-star hotel in Hawaii with all expenses included, you should think of it as a holiday!” Jin tried to calm his friend, who became a huge pile of a mess after reading the binder.

           “You saw her eyes, hyung! How could we look like a couple when her eyes show that she wants to murder me!” he was walking back and forth in his small office, almost knocked down the furniture in the way. Even though he is one of the best agents in the company, it still can’t hide the fact that he is a clumsy guy. So God is fair after all, Jin thought.

           “Firstly, that’s because you always work her up. Just once, for god sakes stop trying to get on her nerves! And secondly, it’s been five years! Why are you still mad with her?” Jin folded his arms across his chest.

           “I just.. We just think differently, and it’s tiring to talk with a hot-headed woman like her.” He sat on his chair, opening his binder again.

           “Well, just suck it up. That hot-headed woman will be yours for 5 days, and please for the love of God, stop the childish bickering. It’s tiring not only for you but for me and Jimin.” He put his hand through his hair in desperation. “And this is just once okay. The higher-ups are also desperate because we don’t any clue whatsoever. It’s not that they want to put two-people-who-want-to-rip-each-other-heads-off in the same mission.”

           “Hey! It is her who wants to rip my head off, not the other way around.” Namjoon yelled.

           “You know what. I don’t fucking care if you want to rip her head, her arms, or even her suit. Just fucking study that. I’m outta here” Jin said as he slammed the door of Namjoon’s office. Namjoon has never seen Jin that worked up since the last 7 years they worked together. The last time Jin’s that mad is when Namjoon complained about how he got wet wipes and beef jerky as christmas present.

           He took a deep breath. Does Namjoon hate you?

           That thinking has been disturbing his head for a while now. He always thinks you are a wonderful agent. You are strong and fast even to him. He has never won if both of you go through sparring in the past. You always have a way to use your small figure to your advantage. He respects you and how you are so passionate about this job.

           But after that mission,- incident- 5 years ago, somehow he lost all of that feeling.

           He hates you. He hates how you are always so emotional. He hates how you insisted to go. He hates how you didn’t trust him. He hates how you made him disappointed. He hates how you never want to talk to him again. He hates you.

           After many heated discussions, the day has come. You both forced to sit with each other in the luxurious car, as Jin was driving you to the airport.

           “I thought you’re rich, why are we in a commercial airport?” you asked sarcastically.

           “Well, I only have an overseas business, not a goddamn country, princess.” Namjoon replied. “and even if I have, I’d rather not sit in the plane with you.”

           You snorted “Like I want to. Just shut the fuck up.”

           “Hey, you started it first.” he gawked in disbelief. “So, shut the fuck up.”

           “For the love of God, please stop this unimportant childish squabble, I am trying to drive here.” Jin sighed and parked the car in the drop off area. He then poked his head to the passenger seat. “I don’t fucking care. As soon as you stepped out of this car, you both are encouraged, hell, forced to act like a lovey-dovey couple, if you want to keep this job.” He eyed Namjoon.

           “Fine, hyung” Namjoon sighed and then stepped out of the car.

           “That warning goes to you too Y/N. Even though I am not your handler, I still can get your ass kicked if you choose not to follow this order.” Jin warns.

           “But-“ your eyes trained to Jimin who sat beside Jin.

           “You should go out too, Y/N, Jin-hyung is right. I wish you very good luck.” Jimin smiled, his eyes turn into a crescent. You finally gave up and go out of the car, as your door opened by Namjoon.

           “Come on babe, let’s go to our honeymoon” Namjoon reached out your hand. His dimple shows as he smiles at you, a smile which you have never seen in the entire time you work with him. At some point you feel the urge to punch him in the face and also want to put your finger in his dimple. And what do you do? The second one. If this is the type of fighting he pursues, you want to make sure that he knows too. Game on.

           It is not the first time for you to act. You always enjoy watching k-dramas and movies. You act while you’re daydreaming before you go to sleep every night. Hell, you have worked in this field for 10 years. You have acted, be in cover, for many times. Yet, this still feels weird for you. Maybe if you kissed with Jungkook when you worked in Macau or danced with Hoseok in governor’s ball bomb incident, you will be glad if those were weird. But Noooo. It is now the strangest, weird, awkward feeling you have ever experienced.

           You have already checked in and put your baggage. So you walked in duty-free shops with Namjoon as he holding your hand. He sometimes looked to you with such loving eyes which makes your knees go weak. How he did this so easily? And why you couldn’t do the same? Why you felt so nervous around him? You despised him, but why this feels right?

           Namjoon used his free hand to put your hair behind your ear. “What are you thinking?” He smiled, not the smile you often see back in the company. But it is the smile who makes you, well, for now, nauseous. You don’t even realize that you are already in the waiting room.

           “Is this necessary though?” you asked softly. Your eyes wandered, never meeting his gaze. Is this affection necessary? Basically anyone who sees us now has nothing to do with the mission.

           He tilted his head to the side and smile, “This honeymoon? Yes, it is necessary since it is maybe the only time we can go on holiday now. And it’s already paid for. And I just want to have a holiday with my beautiful wife.” He kissed your temple softly. I know what you’re feeling. I, too, don’t want to do this as much as you. But we can’t be bothered to have people questioned our roles.

           “Fine.” You sighed as you release his hand, and you wrap your hands on his waist, buried your head in his chest from the side. He smiled and patted your hair. “I just hope Hawaii is nice.” God. If you resigned from this job, later on, you would be accepted to Broadway.

           He chuckled, “I promised babe, and even Hawaii isn’t nice, we just need to spend our time in the hotel, right?” He winked as you hit his shoulder coyly. Your face grew hotter and you swore in your heart you will kill him after this mission.

           “Oh you are going to honeymoon in Hawaii?” A short haired-woman interrupted you. “You are going to love it! Hawaii is a great place!” You studied her face, and you almost shocked as you recognized her in instant. She is Minister Lee’s wife.

           “See babe? Even she agrees with me.” Namjoon laughed, his eyes twinkled. See, this Y/n? “My wife here actually wants to go to Jeju. But I wanted to go somewhere special for our honeymoon.”

           “I just want to be with you, I don’t even care wherever we go.” You pouted as you fixed your gaze to him. You feel him tensed a bit and you smile as you happily knew that he is taken aback with what you’re saying.

           “Oh my God, why are you so cute! You made me remember about my honeymoon too. So how long have you been married?” She asked. Her eyes showed pure curiosity.

           “We’ve been married for a week.” You beamed your most happy smile to her. “Are you going to Hawaii too?”

           “Yes, my husband and I are having a holiday too, so we decided to go to Hawaii.” She then nudged his husband, Minister Lee, and the three of you just bowed your head as a gesture. The boarding announcement rang then she and her husband stood up to go to the gate. “Well, say hi if you cross path with us! Nice to meet you!”

           You waited for some minutes for them to walk away before you squinted at Namjoon. “You saw her before, didn’t you?” Namjoon just gathered your carry-on and shrugged.

           “I don’t know what do you mean, babe. I’m hurt that you questioned my sincerity, you know.” He laughed while took your hand in his, gesturing you to the gate.

           This motherfucker

, how can you survive this 5 days with him?

           If you find Namjoon annoying, then you will find his handler, Jin, is annoyingly annoying. Jin somehow has contacted the stewardess in the plane to give you a 1-week-anniversary cake from your husband who literally had no idea and had to pretend to know. Jin also specially requested the stewardess to make it like a big celebration that ended in you and Namjoon to share a kiss with everyone around you clapped like a seal. You almost screamed and gagged at how this is so fucking cheesy and embarrassing while you needed to act like you are the luckiest woman in the earth, and it is tiring you. You believed that embarrassment will cost you 5 years of your life. And when you whispered this in Namjoon’s ear, he just laughed and kissed your forehead lovingly. Jerk.

           Minister Lee’s wife, who ‘coincidentally’ sits across you always gave a huge smile in her face in that chaotic celebration. It seems that she is a hopeless romantic woman and you amused at how deep Jin and Namjoon investigated her and it gave you goosebumps. Even though they both are a pain the ass, they are still one of the best teams in the company.

           You glad that you got a first-class seat, which made you and Namjoon have a nice amount of distance for yourselves. After an hour, you found Namjoon has already fallen asleep. You, as his wife, casually put his blanket and stroked hair while looking at his face. Namjoon’s snores are getting better, you thought. You remember 5 years ago when you trying to sleep in the same room with him for several days. ‘trying’ as you ended couldn’t sleep because the snores are just so bad. After you thought that was an appropriate amount to act as a loving wife, you lazily picked any movies you saw in your mini-TV.

           “That was so sweet of him! You are a lucky woman.” Minister Lee’s wife said happily.

           “Yes, I think I am. He is a great guy” You laughed shyly. “But sometimes I don’t think if he will do the same 10 years, 20 years later. You know? But that’s not the problem for you I assumed? You go on holiday alone with your husband is just as romantic. It is just like a second honeymoon!”

           “Really? Well my husband isn’t a romantic type of guy. But being asked for a holiday just the two of us, I think is kinda romantic.” She thought. “But I don’t know about the second honeymoon thing. He tells me he is going to work there.”

           “Oh, I see. But it still a nice gesture!” You smile assuringly. “So your husband is a businessman too?”

           “He works at the ministry.” She smiled. “I assumed you don’t live here often?”

           You acted to be as awkward as possible. “Ah, yes kinda. We just came here to get married. But we live in Canada. Well, because of my husband’s job, we are rarely at home too.” You laughed.

           “That’s fun too. Because you are both still young. So what does he do?”

           “He works in art exportation, so we often go to one museum and another. But actually.” Your voice quietened. “I have no idea what he is doing. Whenever he talks about his works, I just nod along.”

           She laughed. “I know your feeling! But my husband rarely talks to me about work. So that’s why I don’t really know why we came to Hawaii. I only knew he wanted to meet his college friend there.”

           College friend. Maybe I will search for it. “Oh my bad, I haven’t introduced us to you properly. I am Jung Nara, and my sleeping husband there is Jung Yoon Hyung. It is really nice to meet you.”

           “Oh my, I didn’t even realize it. I talked to you like a long lost friend you know. I am Lee Dahee and My husband there is Lee MyunSoo. Nice to meet you too.”

           It has been not that long since you came to Hawaii. You loved the ambiance and the salty air of Hawaii. You loved summer since you are a kid, but since your mission two years ago, you just hate it. And this time, with your enemy beside you, you have been nothing but a ball of anxiousness when you first set your foot on this island. Your hands became clammy, and the sun doesn’t help. It is a different mission, you will okay. You always nailed it. You muttered to yourself, a habit you have picked since you got the job in the company. After all, this type of job is full of uncertainty and danger, and the only thing you have is yourself.

          In the arrival, you and Namjoon searched for your names’ placard. When you found it, you realized the one who held the placard is the one you worked with before. As you literally walk faster- almost running to hug the man. “Hey I miss you so much Yoongi!”

           “Hush. No saying real names, Jung Nara ssi.” As he hugged you tighter. “I am happy to see you this fine.”

           The picture of you hugging the other man isn’t a pleasant sight for Namjoon. Namjoon then interrupted “Hi, I am Jung Yoon Hyung. Nice to meet you!”

           “Hi, Nice to meet you too. I heard about you so much.” He said while showing his gummy smile. “Let’s talk in the car then.” Yoongi then took your baggage and walked to the parking spot. Namjoon walked beside you as he put his hand behind your waist to guide you. After you loaded all of the baggage in the car and buckled up, the car started moving.

           Yoongi started as he looked at both of you in the rearview mirror, “So, we decided to put your room a few rooms beside the Minister’s room, because if there are dangerous situations you can act faster. But the thing is, the hotel itself has very tight security, that even Tae couldn’t install our devices in that room. And we couldn’t tell them about the threat because it is still unknown even to us.”

           “Wha- Tae is involved in this?” You gasped. “I thought he is still on leave.”

           “Well technically he is, but when I told him that you were coming here, he flew right away from his leave to Hawaii.” He laughed.

           “Really?” You touched. “Aw.. I miss hi-“

           “So if you couldn’t install our device then what can we do?” Namjoon interrupted. From the sound of his voice, he seems not happy with your little reunion.

           Yoongi turned to his work mode again. “That’s why I need to talk to you. Tae and I didn’t get permission to approach the target. So we hope you can find a way to install it. That’s your first mission.”

           You frowned, thinking. “So have the targets arrived in the hotel?” you asked.

           “No, Tae is the one who picks them up and I think, they are still on the way, behind us.”

           Your eyes twinkled. “Great. You should step on the gas then. I got an idea”. Your gazed fall to Namjoon. His eyes showed both curiosity and confusion. “Do you trust me?”

           By the time Minister Lee and his wife arrived at the hotel’s receptionist, you and Namjoon hop off the elevator and went to the receptionist. “Excuse me miss?” Namjoon called.

           The receptionist then signaled Minister Lee and his wife for a moment, “Yes can I help you?” You also nodded and wave to Dahee who is excited to see you.

           “Yes, actually we just checked our room, but it seems that our room has twin beds. We just want to ask you if by any chance you can change our room to a double bed?” Namjoon asked apologetically.

           The receptionist then looked into the computer to check. “I am deeply sorry sir, The hotel is all booked so I am afraid I can’t change your room.”

           Namjoon continued, “Really, can’t you do something for us? We are on our honeymoon so we hope to sleep in one bed but-“

           “Babe, that’s okay. You can’t do anything if the rooms all booked.” You held Namjoon’s hand. “Thank you miss, for checking.” And as you walk away from the receptionist you waved at the couple. The receptionist then gave the key to Dahee and gestured them to the elevator.

           Namjoon held you close from behind, with his chin propped on your head, as you both waiting for the elevator. When the elevator arrived, you both walked in. You pushed hold button when the couple going inside the elevator. “Oh Dahee ssi, what floor?”

           “We are on the third floor, how about you?” she answered.

           “Same with us, we are also on the third floor” You smiled. Your eyes were glassy, and Namjoon just caressed your shoulder to calm you. You wanted Dahee to notice this. When you arrived on your floor, you walk slower behind the couple in silence.

           As Dahee open her room, she called you “Nara ssi! Do you want to trade a room? I got a double bed. You don’t mind trade with them right, dear?” she asked her husband. Myunsoo just nodded and smile.

           You asked warily, “Really? It means a lot for us, but we really don’t want to bother you on your holiday.”

           “That’s okay! Besides we are friends now. Here.” She handed you her key. “You should bring your baggage in now.”

           Namjoon then dashed to your previous room to gather your things. While you stayed with Dahee. “Thank you. Thank you so much! Please let us repay you. Maybe dinner?”

           “It’s okay!” she laughed while dragged her baggage with her to her new room, her husband was following behind her. “You should have a nice honeymoon!”

           The couple and you went to the new rooms. After the room closed. You locked your door, while Namjoon opened the device from the baggage. He plugged the headset and listen to it. After some time, he then gave you a thumbs up. You pulled your work phone to call Yoongi.

           “It’s installed” you said proudly.

           “I literally hope so. If you failed then I will send you the bill of seventeen 5-stars-hotel rooms that you told me to book.” He almost yelled “Alright then. The plan will be continued as before. Have a rest and prepare yourself. I know acting can be tough.”

           “Alright Yoon. See you soon!” you turn your phone off. “Hey, can I wash up first? The cheesiness from before is making me sticky” Namjoon chuckled and nodded. As you went to the bathroom, he continued to listen to the earphone.

           His mind was wandering to the plan you made. The one where you installed all your spying devices in your previous room and made Dahee exchange the room with you. It is impulsive, but it is so you. You always use the power of your friendliness in your job. You really believed that Dahee will give up her room to you. And it is fascinating fo him how you befriended her so fast. If he wasn’t with you, he will just go with the next plans to the next one.

             But you are different. You always try so hard so the first plan is succeeded. For you, changing a plan is losing and failure. Yes, you are that stubborn. Maybe he will put that stubborn thing into the list of what he hates about you. But rather he grew another respect for you. Oh and that glassy eyes in the elevator? He didn’t want to admit to himself that it made him want to pull you in his arms.

           Namjoon and you decided to have dinner in the hotel’s restaurant to follow Dahee and Myunsoo. You put a beautiful summer dress on which Jimin picked for you and for the purpose of your cover, it is definitely an expensive one. Your baggage is full of designer clothes which you don’t recognize. Well, your closet in your apartment back home is full of formal shirts and suits for work, maybe some dresses in the corner. You look yourself from the mirror. The color red matches your skin tone perfectly, and the cutting of the dress accentuates your body curve. You put on makeup thinly and curl your hair into soft curls. It has been a long time since you dressed up like this. You always caught with works so you never hang out with friends.

           You heard a knock from the bedroom, “Y/N, let’s go I am hungry” Namjoon called. You look into the mirror once more and nodded. As you go out of the bathroom, your body collided to Namjoon. You wanted to yell at him but you stunned. Namjoon’s hair styled to the back, as you noted to yourself that it is your favorite hairstyle. He wore a blue shirt with khaki shorts. You always see him with a suit so this is definitely a new sight for you. He looks good. “Ready?” he asked as he grabbed your hand interrupting your daydreaming.

           When you finally sat down on your table, you waved to Dahee from across the room. Again, it is amusing to Namjoon. He watched you enjoying live music. “What?” you asked sweetly, turning into Jung Nara mode.

           He grabbed your left hand and kiss your knuckles. “Nothing.” He smiled sheepishly. “You look beautiful tonight.” His eyes looked to you, unwavering. As you felt your face grew hotter, your eyes trailed away from him. Namjoon laughed at your antics.

           “Shouldn’t we pick a closer seating?” as you glanced at the couple.

           “Do you want to sit closer to me? You should just say so.” He smirked. You kicked his leg and pouted.

           Jerkface.

           You both then eat silently while you subtly glanced at the couple and to the person in front of you. After you ensured that the couple has already returned to their room, you relaxed a bit. Namjoon excused himself to pay, and you took a walk in the lobby.

           BRAKK

           You turned your head to the source of the sound. You found a couple with two kids, the younger ones in the sling, and the older one held the woman’s hand. The man, you assumed is the father clumsily gathered the things he dropped. The pregnant woman, you assumed is the mother wanted to help him, but it seems with her big tummy she couldn’t bend over. You walked to them to give them a hand. But as you gathered, you felt a sharp sting in your back of your neck.

           Cautiously you walked back as fast as you could. Your hand touched the throbbing pain in your neck. Then you saw her smirked at you. You followed your instinct to run away from them. Your legs went weak, and your breath shortened. You felt your throat constricted. Still, you tried harder to run back to the restaurant.

           Luckily to you, Namjoon exited the restaurant and he called for you. “Babe, I am looking for you everywhere. Where have y—“ his words stopped as you fainted just a few meters in front of him. His eyes widened, showing shock and terror. “What- hey Y/N. not funny okay?” he whispered as he shook your body, but you didn’t even flinch. Fuck. He then carried you in his arms, told all of the spectators that you drank too much. He hurried to go back to your room.

           He opened and closed the door harshly, and put you in the bed. His minds went panic as he examined you thoroughly, your pulse’s weakening, your hands, and feet went cold, and your breaths became irregular. Namjoon is no doctor, but after training and work in this field for a long time, he somehow knows one or two things. He then searched for syringes in your bag, after checking the name and sure about it, he lifted your dress up to show your bare legs and injected the drug in your thigh. After a minute, you’re getting calmer. Namjoon reached your wrist and checked your pulse and sighed in relief. He calmed himself as he waited for you to awake.

           “-Joon.” You cried, your forehead’s sticky from sweat. As you control your breath, you reached his hand. He then helped you to sit and sat beside you. His eyes still showed worries. “Someone attacked me.”

[houseisekai]

House Isekai: A Realm Reborn - Part 2, Through the Maelstrom (2 of 3)

House Isekai ARR Masterlist Here

—

Client: Hilda Valentin Goneril

Refusing to work with the newly reformed House Isekai due to Class VII, Duvalie takes her orders and storms off to Goneril territory, trying to get home faster. Not wanting to leave Duvalie completely alone, Raelyn and Fireteam Alpha-Nine accompany her.

Reports indicate of a giant serpent-like beast terrorizing the ocean trade routes near Goneril territory, and an unknown entity accompanying it…

—

(Raelyn) “I will accompany her to ensure their survival. Until then, House Isekai.”

Raelyn turned to the portal and walked through it.

After getting the minimum knowledge required about the Abyss Mages, Buck and his squad followed her through the portal.

(Kazuma) “…Wait a second, none of them knows anything about Fodlan. Why did we let them go anywhere alone?”

(Sitri) “…That’s a good question.”

When Duvalie stepped through the portal, she was still muttering to herself angrily.

(Duvalie) "Ugh, the nerve of those people! As if we can work hand in hand like nothing's ever happened!"

Her ranting continued, even when Raelyn stepped in behind her, looking around his environment.

(Raelyn) "...Duvalie, was it?"

(Duvalie) "And that jackass, Rean! What on EARTH ever made him think we were friends?! I ought to-"

Raelyn sighed and holstered his bolter. Even his footsteps didn't alert her.

(Raelyn) "Cease your complaints."

Duvalie spun around and opened her mouth about to continue until she realized she was only up to his lower chest. Her head tilted all the way up for her to even see Raelyn's helmet.

(Duvalie) "Listen you giant yellow tin can, you don't know what they're like!"

(Raelyn) "They seem calmer than you."

(Duvalie) "Tch, whatever. Why are you even here anyway? I can handle this on my own!"

(Raelyn) "Ah, then I assume you know the layout of the land? The person we're supposed to meet? What the state of the world even is?"

(Duvalie) "...I-I...I can just figure it out myself!"

(Raelyn) "Indeed."

Raelyn turned to the portal and saw the ODST squad walk in.

(Buck) "Right, we got the information we need. As for lay of the land, think one of the locals is about to tag along."

Aigis and Kazuma were on the other side nodding about to say something before the portal suddenly closed.

(Mickey) "...Or not."

...

Everyone was confused on why the portal closed.

Sitri made sure no one was looking at her as she whispered.

(Sitri) "Sothis?"

(Sothis) "Uh, don't look at me. I wasn't even the one who opened it."

(Sitri) "Wait, then where did...?"

...

(Romeo) "Great. Now we gotta wander around and pray to god it's the right way."

(Dutch) "Not even sure the good lord would poke his head out in wherever this is."

(Duvalie) "Wha-DID THEY CLOSE THE PORTAL ON US?!"

(Raelyn) "You were the one who wanted to do this alone."

(Duvalie) "IF I WANT YOUR INPUT, I'LL ASK!"

(Buck) "Enough of the shouting already! Complaining isn't going to do us any good. Besides, we got the data we need, we'll be fine...probably."

(Duvalie) "Fine, whatever."

Duvalie had her hand on the sword sheathe as she stormed off.

(Duvalie) "Let's get going then."

(Mickey) "Wrong way. It's behind us."

Duvalie quickly marched towards the direction Mickey pointed to, muttering something.

Raelyn slowly walked up to the squad.

(Raelyn) "I cannot speak for her, but it is a pleasure to fight alongside you."

(Buck) "Feeling's mutual. Come on, we should hurry before she pops a vein."

The five walked casually behind Duvalie who stayed in the front.

Fodlan, Goneril Territory, Evening...

[Stilness of Night - Trails of Cold Steel 3 OST]

The group eventually found a path leading towards a town inside Goneril territory, and continued on it until the sun began setting.

(Buck) "Huh. Place doesn't look half bad with a sunset."

(Dutch) "Yeah, somethin' you'd see from a storybook."

(Raelyn) "I have not had the pleasure of experiencing a world as quiet as this before."

(Duvalie) "Hm. My world was something kind of like this, but not as primitive to not have lamp posts at least."

(Romeo) "Think you're the most primitive out of all of us here, lady."

(Duvalie) "Excuse me?!"

(Mickey) "Changing the subject, just how far is this place?"

(Buck) "Shouldn't be more than a few minutes. The town according to that Sitri lady is about to come into view right about...Ah, there we go."

They eventually reached the top of a hill and saw a small fishing town with the sunset directly shining on top of it.

(Raelyn) "Excellent. We should reach the town by nightfall."

They all continued walking silently until Dutch spoke up.

(Dutch) "So uh, any idea what that creature is like?"

Everyone had read the report given to them by Sitri, but no one actually knew what they were in for.

(Romeo) "It said a serpent, so maybe an underwater snake or something."

(Mickey) "We aren't strangers to alien life, but I doubt it'd be simple to kill. This place seems to have magic after all."

(Raelyn) "It matters not. If our guns can work, then we can kill it."

(Duvalie) "I'm more concerned about those weird floating chubby things the Knights of Favonius mentioned."

(Buck) "What did they call them...Abyss mages?"

(Dutch) "Think that's it. They don't seem that tough to beat."

(Romeo) "Especially when we can put a round between their eyes from a hundred yards away."

(Duvalie) "If that's the case, then why are they so dangerous?"

(Mickey) "Guess we'll find out soon. Until we actually fight one, don't think we can properly assess the situation."

Finally, they reached the town's entrance. The concrete path shook beneath their equipment, gathering strange looks from the townsfolk.

Some mothers hid their children behind them while some of the men passing by whispered to each other.

(Romeo) "Think we might be standing out a little."

(Duvalie) "You all maybe, I look perfectly fine. Might be mustard bottle over here that's getting all the looks."

(Raelyn) "...You are referring to me?"

(Duvalie) "Duh! Who did you think I meant?"

(Raelyn) "What is 'mustard'?"

(Buck) "Good lord man, just how far in the future are you?"

(Raelyn) "It is the 42nd millennium."

(Dutch) "...Damn. That explains why you don't really seem to lighten up."

They made their way to the center of town, where multiple people kept staring at them.

(Romeo) "Any particular reason why we're standing out in the open like this? Not exactly doing us any favors with the people here."

(Duvalie) "Shut it, trying to find a tavern or something. There's gotta be one here."

Mickey and Buck helped Duvalie look around their surroundings to try and find a tavern. Romeo and Dutch shrugged and made sure the townspeople weren't going to try anything.

Raelyn was about to help when he heard small footsteps approaching.

It was two children who were chasing each other, most likely playing. They had failed to notice the offworlders they were running towards until a girl hit her head on Raelyn's leg.

(Girl) "Ow...! What in-"

Her eyes went wide when she stared up at the 8 foot tall Space Marine looking down on her.

Both the kids look terrified until Raelyn knelt down, trying to get on their eye level the best he could while taking off his helmet. He made sure his Bolter was strapped to his back.

(Raelyn) "My apologies. Are you hurt?"

(Girl) "N-...No sir."

Raelyn offered a hand to the girl. His hand was massive compared to the child, he could effortlessly crush her head with one hand.

Yet, he was extremely gentle in making sure not to harm or intimidate the children, the girl grabbing his hand and standing up.

(Raelyn) "If I can bother you for a moment more, do you know where the Tavern is?"

(Boy) "Um...It's to your right, mister. The building next to the docks."

Raelyn nodded and motioned away from them.

(Raelyn) "Thank you. Get home safe, now."

(Girl) "Thank you, mister."

The two kids appeared to be put at ease despite the size difference, and continued playing as if nothing happened. Something that shocked the adults watching.

The ODST's and Duvalie watched the exchange and were surprised that this walking ton of armor managed not to utterly terrify the two kids.

(Raelyn) "You have your tavern. Let us get to it."

(Duvalie) "...Right."

They continued off to the Tavern, still noticing all the adults watching them, albeit slightly more at ease.

(Romeo) "Now that sweet moment's over, time to see how well you work with a bar full of drunkards, big guy."

(Dutch) "Come on, I'm great with people."

(Mickey) "Sure, you are. How about Raelyn? Actually can he even get through the door?"

Duvalie was the first to enter, followed by the ODST's with Raelyn the last one.

He stared awkwardly at the doorframe, and back to his armor.

Even if he tried to crouch, he would break the doorframe.

(Raelyn) "I...will keep watch out here."

(Romeo) "Put those people skills to work."

(Buck) "Think you should be worried about doing that yourself."

[Another Round - Final Fantasy XIV OST]

Everyone inside the bar stopped talking when they saw Duvalie march in with the ODST's.

Duvalie saw the bartender and sat down on a stool.

The bartender was a bald middle aged man who had clearly seen better days. He had a scar over his left eye and a beard that was barely kept clean.

(Bartender) "...Can I help you with something missie?"

(Duvalie) "We're here on request of...what was her name?"

Buck stood next to Duvalie, making his visor visible so the bartender could see his mouth.

(Buck) "Hilda. Ring a bell?"

(Bartender) "Ah, Lord Holst's sister. And who exactly do I owe the pleasure of speaking to?"

(Duvalie) "I'm Duvalie."

(Buck) "Call me Buck, and this is my Squad. Fella outside is with us too."

(Bartender) "I see. And another question, who exactly ya workin' for? Don't see people dressed like yer group at all."

The people in the nearby tables began whispering. Mickey was the furthest from the group but he was only able to hear snippets of conversations.

(Man) "Hey, you think those are those House Isekai freaks? The ones from the calamity?"

(Man 2) "They sure as hell don't belong here, that's for sure!"

(Man 3) "Worse, they could be spies for the seppies'!"

(Mickey) "Think we might got a problem..."

Duvalie was clearly getting impatient, and before she could open her mouth and start a bar brawl, Buck butted in.

(Buck) "Mercenaries. We work for money."

The bartender raised an eyebrow as he eyed them up and down. Finally shrugging, he dropped the question.

(Bartender) "Fair enough. We'll send a letter to let 'em know people have arrived to take care of the problem. Shouldn't be more than a day or so. Now, ya buying something or am I going to have ta' throw your asses out?"

(Duvalie) "Hmph. Thought bartenders were supposed to be friendly."

(Bartender) "And I thought customers were supposed to be paying."

Now Dutch decided to intervene.

(Dutch) "Apologies for the lady. She's got a temper on her. Surprise us."

(Bartender) "Can do. You got gold?"

Everyone looked at each other awkwardly.

(Romeo) "Oh you have got to be kidding..."

(Buck) "Think we can get this one on the house?"

(Bartender) "This isn't a charity. And you're mercenaries, right? Surely you got some gold on you to get all the equipment on yourselves."

This got more people talking, and it was clear some of them were getting riled up.

Raelyn could hear the conversation from outside, and saw some of the adults from earlier getting a closer look at him.

(Raelyn) "..."

Raelyn's visor picked up more signatures. Some of them were armed. He used one hand to knock on the doorframe, alerting Romeo and Mickey.

(Romeo) "Hey, Gunny. Think things are about to get real ugly."

One of the customers stood up from his table and shouted with an ale cup in hand.

(Man) "Come on, pay the damn drink and quit causing a scene! Mercs always got coin on them! You one of those damn offworlders?!"

(Man 2) "Nah, worse than one, he's a seppie!"

(Man 3) "WE DON'T WANT ANYMORE TO DO WITH YOU, KEEP YOUR SEPARATIST MOVEMENT OUT OF HERE!"

More and more people riled up, making the ODST's keep a finger on their triggers.

Duvalie kept her cool on the outside, ready to lash out if someone dared make a move.

Raelyn grabbed his Bolter and calmly held it in his hands, watching everyone suddenly stiffen up.

(Bartender) "...Well?"

(Woman's voice) "Sorry, sorry. We'll pay, they're with us."

Everyone suddenly turned to a girl who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, putting gold onto the table.

Duvalie made a noise that no one could decipher if it was a swear or a gasp.

Buck turned to the girl who had just saved them from a potential firefight.

[End Song]

(White-haired girl) "They just forgot to bring their gold with them...Again."

(Bartender) "Hmph. Aren't you a little young to be the boss of a mercenary team, kid?"

(White-haired girl) "Could say the same for the second Blade Breaker."

(Bartender) "Hah, got me there."

(Duvalie) "I...You...!?"

(White-haired girl) "If you wanna complain, do it later and not in front of customers. Gives us a bad rep."

(Buck) "...Thanks boss."

Everyone quickly played along.

As Raelyn was about to point the Bolter at everyone, two more people got in front of him, motioning to the left.

(Blue haired girl) "Hey, got our room. Quit standing around all scary-like."

(Orange haired boy) "Come on, it's this way!"

The orange haired boy winked at Raelyn, and having no better idea, he played along.

The blue haired girl looked at Fie and nodded.

The white haired girl slid the gold to the Bartender and sighed.

(White-haired girl) "We'll take it to go. Keep the change."

The white haired girl turned to the group and pointed at the blue haired girl.

(White-haired girl) "Follow her and don't cause a scene again."

Duvalie looked like she was about to scream when she saw the blue haired girl. Not wanting to deal with this mob, Buck shoved her along.

(Duvalie) "H-Hey, what the?!"

(Buck) "Shut the hell up and move it, the last thing we want to do is start a fight!"

The ODST's, Raelyn, and Duvalie followed the orange haired boy to what appeared to be a rented out building. Amazingly, Raelyn could actually fit through the door.

When everyone was situated, the blue haired girl put a device on the door and window, and with a little static noise, she nodded in satisfaction.

(Elliot) "Whew, man! Things looked SUPER bad there..."

(Laura) "Oh...It's you. That would explain how the townspeople became aggravated so quickly."

(Duvalie) "Believe me, you lot are doing the same to me...!"

(Elliot) "Wait...Duvalie?!"

(Romeo) "Jesus lady, just who DON'T you know?"

(Raelyn) "More friends like Rean, I presume?"

(Duvalie) "WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!"

(Buck) "Clearly. Anyways, thanks for pulling our asses out the fire. Where's that white haired one?"

The door opened, and she was carrying some mugs of ale in her hand.

(Fie) "...Hey."

She casually gave most of the group their mugs, leaving Duvalie without one.

(Duvalie) "...Really?"

(Fie) "Figured you didn't want one...Actually, we didn't figure you'd be here at all."

(Romeo) "That's great and all, but mind explaining just who you people are?"

(Elliot) "I'm Elliot! That's Fie and Laura, and we were part of the original House Isekai. Class VII, to be specific."

(Dutch) "And clearly you know Duvalie."

(Laura) "For better or worse..."

(Raelyn) "Seeing the situation we are in, I would rather not alienate the only help at talking to the locals here."

Despite the fact he had a helmet, she could feel a piercing gaze shoot straight through her.

(Buck) "Agreed. So, what brings people such as yourselves here?"

(Fie) "Hm. Long story short-..."

===

Doomguy's Base, 1 Day Earlier...

[Briefing Time - Trails of Cold Steel 3 OST]

(VEGA) "All attempts of establishing a secure line has failed. It appears something is blocking our ability to respond."

Doomguy frowned as he checked the screens. Nothing was damaged on anyone's end, yet he was only able to receive Sitri's distress call.

He said nothing as he turned to the teleporter. It appears someone was finally arriving.

(VEGA) "Signatures detected. Class VII members: Elliot, Laura, and Fie. Authorize access?"

Doomguy nodded as he put his helmet on, letting the three former House Isekai members materialize onto the pad.

The first one was Laura, quickly followed by Elliot and Fie. Elliot appeared to be staggered while the other two were barely fazed.

(Elliot) "Oh man, still not used to that!"

(Fie) "Doubt we ever will."

(Laura) "Instructor. It's been quite some time."

They turned their attention to Doomguy who gave them a nod.

(VEGA) "It is a pleasure to see you all well."

(Laura) "Likewise. I only wish the circumstances were better."

(Fie) "Tried contacting everyone else we could, but they were either busy or didn't respond at all, so for now we're all you're getting.

(Elliot) "We received a distress call from Sitri. Is everything alright in Fodlan?"

Doomguy shrugged and motioned for them to follow him out the room.

(VEGA) "A distress signal was sent out, and normally we would have been able to respond, but an unknown variable has been preventing us from doing so. However, we are still able to keep track of any movement via teleportation of former House Isekai members."

(Fie) "If it has the ability to block dimensional calling, that's pretty strong, whatever it is."

(Laura) "Has anyone else been able to respond this entire time?

(VEGA) "Yes. Rean Schwarzer, Towa Herschel, Satou Kazuma, and Aigis have been the only four to do so."

(Elliot) "That explains why we couldn't call Rean and Towa."

(Laura) "Aigis I can understand, but for Kazuma to show up? That surprises me."

(Fie) "Guessing you haven't been able to ask them what's going on either?"

(VEGA) "Your assumption is correct."

(Fie) "Guess that means we gotta get our hands dirty."

Fie checked her gunblades and stretched her arms.

(Laura) "Hopefully combat won't be necessary."

(Elliot) "Buuut that doesn't really seem possible, if I'm being honest. Trouble tends to follow us no matter where we go."

Doomguy checked his shotgun's ammo as he opened up the door to another teleportation chamber.

(VEGA) "We thank you for responding regardless, but we will ask if you may investigate this phenomenon on our behalf."

(Fie) "Sure. Things are pretty stable back home."

(Elliot) "So, if we're going into Fodlan, how are we going to keep in contact?"

(VEGA) "We are assuming there will be a total communications blackout. If you do not respond within a week in Fodlan's time, we will directly intervene."

(Laura) "All right then. Looks like our goals are to find former House Isekai members and find out what's going on."

(VEGA) "Affirmative."

(Fie) "Mission parameters established then. Let's begin."

(VEGA) "...Strange. There appears to be a teleportation to the Goneril territory."

(Elliot) "What's so weird about it?"

(VEGA) "It was not activated by Sothis, but rather the tower itself."

(Everyone) ?

(Laura) "But there is no one there. Right? Instructor Byleth made sure of that."

(Fie) "Guess that's another thing we gotta investigate. First let's head to where that teleportation took place.."

(Elliot) "That's Hilda's last name, isn't it?"

(VEGA) "Hilda Valentine Goneril. Unofficial retainer to Claude Von Riegan."

Doomguy stood behind a console and pressed several buttons and looked at the members of Class VII.

(Elliot) "So three things to do, got it! We'll see you soon!"

(VEGA) "Good luck, Class VII."

Doomguy gave them a thumbs up before he pulled the lever.

They were absorbed into a beam of light and were taken to the location VEGA reported...

...

===

(Buck) "So...that portal wasn't theirs?"

(Fie) "No. Something else pulled you here, and we came to find out why, among other things."

(Elliot) "On top of that, we have to find out specifically why you all were brought here. Our group didn't have much reason other than it being chance but yours it seems almost deliberate."

(Raelyn) "I fail to think of anything unique happening to where I'd be brought into a world like this."

(Dutch) "Same with us."

(Duvalie) "Agreed..."

(Laura) "Well, despite the unusual circumstances that has brought us here, the former members of House Isekai ask to join forces with your group."

(Raelyn) "No objections here."

(Romeo) "It's either work together or be stuck in this place forever, so we might as well."

(Mickey) "You got our support."

The ODST's and Raelyn turned to Duvalie.

She crossed her arms, barely able to keep her anger down.

(Buck) "How old are you, exactly?"

(Duvalie) "SHUT UP! FINE! FINE! WHATEVER, YAAY WE'RE BEST FRIENDS! NOW ENOUGH!"

(Elliot) "Hah...g-glad to see she hasn't...changed?"

(Raelyn) "There is nothing about her personality that I have seen thus far that you should be glad about, Elliot."

(Duvalie) "EXCUSE ME?!-"

[TO BE CONTINUED]

[puppyexpressions]

Pomsky - Is It The Right Dog For You?

The Pomsky is a cross of the Siberian husky and the Pomeranian, also known as the Pomeranian Husky Mix. It’s a small to medium dog breed at about 10 to 15 inches tall, weighing between 20 to 30 pounds. The lifespan of the Pomsky is around 13 to 15 years.

The Pomsky, a.k.a. the Pomeranian Husky, looks like the dog of your dreams, especially when she’s very young.

But is this enough to make you run into the first dog shelter you see and find one to bring home?

Is a Pomsky really the right pet for you, and can you handle such a dog for the long term?

To help you get some clear answers to these questions, I’ve put together a list of seven essential things you need to know before buying a Pomsky.

Pomsky Characteristics In a Nutshell

Life Span

As mentioned in the first paragraph Pomskies usually live between 13 and 15 years.

Intelligence and trainability

These dogs are very intelligent, but they inherit their parents’ temperaments and can be significantly harder to train than other dogs.

Temperament

It can be unpredictable, as it really depends on each dog’s parents, but on the whole, they’re described as gentle, playful, and confident.

Caring

Grooming: they have double coats with long, silky hair, and need daily brushing during the shedding seasons, which all up is about six months a year. For the rest of the time, their coats need brushing 3-5 times a week.

Exercise: these dogs need at least a 20-minute walk in the morning, and a longer one in the afternoon, plus one or two play sessions during the day.

Feeding: they need regular, healthy food in moderate quantities, however, they’re not fussy and have no special requirements.

Children and other pets

Some breeders say these dogs are the perfect family dog, while others suggest you should pay attention to small children, and recommend Pomskies only for single people and families with teenagers. A Pomsky can get on well with other pets if you introduce them to each other when the dog is still very young.

Activity level

They’re very active dogs that love to play with their owners but be warned that these little guys need to stay busy, otherwise they get bored and can develop destructive behavior.

Size

As mentioned above they’re generally 10-15 inches high (25-38 cm) and can reach up to 20-30 lbs. (9-14 kg). In some rare cases, they’ve been known to grow as big as a Husky.

Pomsky owners can call themselves pioneers

Maybe it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s not that far from the truth.

The Pomeranian Husky is a new mixed breed obtained by crossing a Pomeranian with a Siberian Husky, and puppies are hard to find and expensive, so you’ll be entering into the exclusive club of Pomsky owners, discovering the pros and cons of this new mixed breed.

Almost all crossbreeds come with several disadvantages, but the Pomsky, in particular, seems to have created a lot of controversies. If you’re ready to take on all the risks of the unknown, then this will be a new and enjoyable experience for you.

Some dog lovers believe that no mixed breed should be created in the absence of a useful purpose and express serious concerns (sometimes a little too emphatically, if you ask me) regarding the ethics behind creating Pomskies.

Furthermore, they’re afraid that the growing popularity of these dogs will generate too many puppies before we know enough about the risks of breeding such unique dogs.

Pomskies are obtained through artificial insemination, always using a Husky mother and a Pomeranian father, to avoid health complications caused by a small mother giving birth to puppies that are too large.

The results are beautiful puppies that in most cases qualify as great companions and excellent family dogs.

It’s important to note, though, that there’s not enough data yet to get a clear image of all their health issues and behavioral problems, so I personally find it hard to tell whether it’s ethical or not to breed these dogs in large numbers.

Despite all the arguments against Pomskies, they’re recognized by the Dog Registry of America (DRA), and there are also two official organizations that promote this new mixed breed, the International Pomsky Association (IPA) and the Pomsky Club of America (PCA).

This gives you an opportunity to buy a healthy puppy with verified origins, which are certified by registered Pomsky breeders so that you can have a complete family history of your dog’s parents.

A Pomsky is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get

Pomskies can inherit any aspect of their parent breeds’ temperaments, and in potentially unpredictable combinations.

So there’s a chance they could develop behavioral issues, similar to the Small Dog Syndrome, which is very often found in Pomeranian dogs that are not properly trained.

Be ready to deal with a stubborn and pushy dog that will probably refuse to follow your commands.

She may also become overprotective when it comes to you and your family, as the Pomsky has good watchdog abilities, but this can lead to her barking every time someone approaches.

With most dog breeds, owners avoid these unpleasant situations with consistent training. In this particular case we’re talking about a mix of two hard-to-train dogs, so your puppy should start training at an early age if you wish to teach her to behave.

It’s a hard job, especially if you have little experience. On top of this, if your dog takes more from the Husky’s temperament and independence, you might need professional help to make her follow the rules.

As Pomskies are full of surprises, it’s entirely possible you could become the lucky owner of the opposite: a trainable dog with zero tendencies towards aggression and territoriality. Unfortunately, that’s something you can’t know for sure when you buy a cute little Pomsky puppy.

Their unpredictable temperament is the main reason why some breeders don’t recommend Pomskies for families with small children. Pomeranians (Pomsky’s father) are usually not good with kids as many of them tend to be jealous animals – he’s number one, not the kids.

They can become stressed, shy, or aggressive when handled roughly, as children tend to do, so, unfortunately, there’s a chance a Pomsky and your small kids won’t get on either.

Most Pomeranian Husky breeders say they only breed Pomeranians with no such behavioral problems, but I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea to take this risk.

No one can guarantee how big a full-grown Pomsky will be

The Pomeranian Husky’s size is one of the key things that makes them so popular; or better said, what most people know about them is their size.

Fans can’t be blamed for that; most images online show cute, fluffy puppies, and you rarely get to see an adult Pomsky in a relevant picture that shows how big she can actually get.

Pomsky’s full grown size can be as much as 15 inches high and reach up to 30 lbs.

These dogs grow up like all other pets and tend to lose much of their “baby Husky” looks, so if the only reason you’re planning to buy this dog is because she’s small and cute you should start thinking seriously about long-term responsibilities.

Breeders are confident about the fact that they’ll obtain Pomskies smaller than 10 lbs. (4,5 kg), but the fact is that no one can guarantee their weight and size and your fluffy puppy might reach dimensions closer to a medium-sized dog, rather than that of a lap dog.

There’ll be no more relaxing on the couch right after work

Pomskies are active dogs and love to play, so you’ll have to make sure she is getting plenty of exercises.

Daily walks, maybe a short trip to the park and a lot of playing is what your Pomsky will be expecting from you every day, including weekends.

Besides the physical activities she also needs mental stimulation, as she’s very intelligent, so you’ll have to come up with games and special dog toys to keep her entertained.

If she gets bored (which is likely), you’ll have to deal with a sad dog and her behavioral problems such as chewing and, in some cases, excessive barking.

Leaving her alone for too long in the yard is not a great idea either, as she loves to dig and, thanks to her Husky blood, she’ll most probably find herself a way to escape once she’s bored.

So if you’re working too much, you should be prepared to hire a pet walker or have a friend over regularly to play with your Pomsky.

 With Pomeranian Husky, you might have to cut down expenses

The price of a Pomsky will generally start at around $1,000, but it can reach as much as $5,000 depending on her parents’ pedigree. And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the costs of having this dog.

According to the American Kennel Club, the average cost of the first year of having a medium-sized dog is around $2,889. The good news is in the following years you’re going to pay a little less than $2,000 per year:

$432 for toys and other accessories;

$435 for food;

$389 for preventative medication;

$650 in veterinary bills.

For now, Pomskies haven’t registered too many hereditary health problems, being prone only to eye disorders (common with both parent breeds), allergies and skin problems.

However, as this mixed breed is relatively new, there’s no way to tell for sure if your dog is going to develop more serious medical conditions when she gets older.

You might want to consider investing in medical insurance to cover potential expensive interventions, so add between $200 and $700 a year to your budget, depending on the coverage and the age of your dog.

Grooming a Pomsky is like taking on a part-time job

A Pomsky has a wonderful coat, generally, in similar colors to her mother’s, that needs consistent brushing (3-5 times a week) starting at an early age.

As you’re having such a beautiful dog, you should also consider taking her to a professional groomer every now and then for that “professional touch.”

These dogs shed almost all year round, with higher intensity during warm seasons. This means that for about six months a year you’ll have to brush her up to twice a day if you don’t want to have hair all over your house.

Your efforts will reduce the amount of hair considerably, but they won’t make it disappear entirely, and even with all this brushing you still have to find time for cleaning.

If you don’t have a powerful vacuum cleaner yet, I suggest you start looking around for one.

Besides brushing, you’ll have to find time to take care of your dog’s other needs:

clean her ears at least twice a month, to prevent infections;

bath her once a month, or when she’s dirty;

clean her teeth once a week.

 You should do some detective work to find a reputable breeder

All dogs should come from responsible breeders only, but with Pomskies this is an absolute must. This being said, as this mixed breed is relatively new, they don’t have official standards, and breeders have little experience compared to other dogs.

So if you want to have a healthy Pomsky puppy with certified origins, you should buy it from a person who puts their dogs’ health before personal profits.

Never buy a Pomsky from a pet store, even if it’s bargain – everything you save on your initial purchase will go in medical expenses and extra training sessions.

Instead, call an official organization such a IPA, and ask for references for registered breeders in your area.

You might have to wait up to a year for your very own Pomsky puppy. But this is the only way you’ll get reliable information about your future dog’s parents, and you’ll have an idea about how your Pomsky will develop.

So are you ready to get a Pomsky?

By now you most probably have an idea of what getting a Pomsky means, so it’s time to ask yourself if such a dog is the right match for you.

You should consider all possibilities, and there’s more than a few when we’re talking about Pomskies:

she can have an unpredictable temperament;

she could grow into a medium-sized dog;

you might need a trainer for housebreaking;

she’ll shed a lot, especially during warm seasons;

you can’t know for sure how your dog’s health will evolve;

you’ll have to put yourself on a long waiting list to get a puppy that will cost you at least $1,000.

As well as all the cases mentioned above, you should think twice about getting a Pomsky if:

you work too much, and you can’t afford a pet walker or dog daycare

you live in a small apartment, with no yard and little space for your dog to burn her energy

you have small children.

Conclusion

I find it hard to make a decision. Pomskies are cute dogs, with no problems if you can get the best puppy from the most responsible breeder.

However, there’s a lot of “maybes” in such a choice, and this makes a Pomsky unsuitable for families with small children, or for people who can’t adapt quickly to the unpredictability.

Most Pomeranian Husky owners love their fluffy dogs, but I’ve also heard complaints about difficulties with potty training and their extra energy, so I’m looking forward to hearing more stories about them.

What do you think? Would you spend all that money to buy cuteness, with an unknown temperament, or would you rather take a safer path? Or maybe you already own a Pomsky?

[sablelab]

Covert Operations - Chapter 120

SYNOPSIS: It has been a couple of days since Jamie and Claire were admitted to Med Lab when Madeline decides to make a visit to ask about their progress. She visits both patients and once she has gone Jamie organises to visit Claire in the dead of night with Fergus’ help.

Chapter 119 and all other chapters can be found at … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

THANK YOU all for your continued support of this story. Much appreciated.

CHAPTER 120

As he walked out of Med Lab, Dr Jeremy Foster stopped in his tracks upon seeing Madeline as it had been a couple of days since either of Section’s leaders had last visited their two operatives. He had kept them well informed as to Jamie and Claire’s progress and was not surprised that Section’s second in command had finally decided to pay a visit to Medical. He hoped that the reason why Madeline was here was because she and Operations had reached a decision about downtime now that they were showing signs of improvement.  “Dr Foster I’m glad you’re still here.”  He gave her a nod of recognition.  “How are the patients?”  "The patients are not in the best of moods I’m afraid. Claire is getting bored and Jamie is … well … Jamie.” Madeline was not at all surprised that James Fraser was far from being a model patient. Section’s top operative was loath to be incapacitated at the best of times and no doubt he was ready to get out of Med Lab.  “Tell me about their progress.” Jeremy Foster held nothing back, knowing that Madeline wouldn’t expect anything less. “Superficially, both Jamie and Claire look as though they are well on the road to recovery. They both have had their intravenous drip removed and their hourly observations reports have been sound. Overall, I’m pleased to say that both of their physical injuries are healing quite nicely.”  “What’s Jamie’s status?” “Considering the state under which he entered Medical on his return from the mission, Jamie has indeed made excellent progress over the last couple of days. He has improved significantly but, as you know Madeline, this is not totally unexpected. James Fraser always seems to heal quickly due to his superb physical conditioning and training.” “Anything else?” “Although his blood pressure is a little elevated, I’m not concerned as his other data has been good. Since his blood transfusions, his anaemia has improved, his wound seems to be healing satisfactorily and there has been no infection. Jamie is still on pain relief as his injury will be tender for a while yet. He also doesn’t have complete mobility back in his shoulder. Unfortunately, this could take some time. He will definitely need some rehabilitation and physiotherapy to help build up his core strength.” He gave Madeline an earnest look before adding, “Despite his operation, Jamie seems to have fared the better of the two.” With her non-verbal reply, Dr Foster was unable to gauge Madeline’s reaction to this current news about Jamie’s condition as her expression was unreadable. No doubt she was mentally weighing up this information and ticking the boxes in her head as to her next plan of action. Glancing at her he reiterated his point once more, “I am pleased that Jamie is showing improvement each day, but I am somewhat concerned about Claire.” This time Madeline answered looking at him for clarification, “Meaning...?”  “It’s the wounds I cannot see to treat that worry me. Physically, although Claire is recovering well, I’m concerned about her mental wellbeing and I’m also worried about her emotional state of mind. She still bears the scars of her captivity. These physical marks are a constant reminder of what happened to her. Under the circumstances it is little wonder that she is emotionally drained. Having been subjected to the kind of prolonged torture she endured, there is no way of telling as to the impact that being incarcerated has had on her psyche.”  Madeline was well aware that the situation that Claire had faced could cause depression and anxiety and given the nature of her personality, succumbing to either of these conditions was feasible. Although Section operatives were trained to deal with such emotions, maybe, just maybe, given Claire’s state of mind and the severity of her afflictions that her wounds were deeper than first expected. Reluctantly she too had come to the same conclusion. Having done psyche evaluations on Claire in the past, it was possible that this mission had had a far greater effect than what her capture and torture by Red Cell had done to her on a previous mission.  She listened as Jeremy Foster continued. “The kind of torture Claire experienced often causes severe mental scars that are much slower to heal than the physical ones you can see. As doctors, we don’t know the damage that has been done to a person's spirit or to their subconscious often until it's too late.” “Yes … I can see your point.” If what Dr Foster had told her was true any psyche analysis she’d planned would need to be postponed until Claire was mentally better. There was no way that Operations would tolerate an operative who was not 100% ready and able to be sent back on such an important mission to capture Sun Yee Lok once and for all. There was much on the line for them. Colum in particular had already given them a succinct directive. It seemed she had few options but she would need to discuss her findings with Operations after her visit. To bring an End Game to this troublesome triad group, they needed Jamie and Claire to be functioning at their optimum level as they were crucial players in the final scenario.  “When can they be released?”  The doctor considered the question for a brief moment before replying, knowing that his answer may be crucial to the decision that Madeline and Operations would make about Jamie and Claire’s recuperation.  “I want to keep them both in for at least another twenty-four hours. If they continue to show continued improvement, I see no reason as to why they should stay under observation any longer than that. May I add that rehabilitation away from Section One would be the preferred option for the maximum success in their recovery. I think you will find that they will bounce back much better if you and Operations decide that this is the best course of action.” Madeline was stoic in her demeanour and did not comment on what Dr Foster had said but merely replied with, “I’d like to see them for myself now.” Comprehensively put back in his box his replied, “Of course. But I wouldn’t stay too long … Claire still needs her rest.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ When Claire Beauchamp heard the electronic “whoosh” of the automatic doors opening and the sound of high heels echo in her room, she immediately knew who had entered. The footsteps came closer and she sensed her visitor’s presence as she stood at the foot of her bed. She was sure that Madeline was scrutinizing her up and down with those unforgiving dark eyes making her own assessment as to her condition. Opening her eyes Claire met the intense gaze from Section’s second in command.  “Dr Foster said that you're doing quite well.”  Claire sat up a little and folded her arms across her chest in a defensive manner as she met her leader’s probing look. “I've been better, but I'll live.”  Madeline gave her a wry smile. “I'm sure you will. You’re looking much better than the first time I saw you.” “Thank you.”  “How are you feeling?” She asked, although her attempt at motherly concern fell on deaf ears.  Claire turned and glanced at her. Madeline looked like any concerned parent for their child, but she knew otherwise. Her superior never did anything out of compassion and she doubted the sincerity of her words and the smile she gave her. Claire was wary of Madeline’s intentions. There was always an ulterior motive and her visit here was no exception. 

Why was she being so nice? Was she baiting her so that she would drop her guard and say something she shouldn’t? You could never tell with Madeline, but what did she have to lose? 

Seizing the opportunity presented to her Claire smiled back and asked nonchalantly, “So … when can I get out of here?” “Probably in a day or two, but that decision is up to Dr Foster.” “Oh …” Her superior noticed Claire’s eyes widen with unspoken questions. She guessed that they were concerning Jamie’s discharge as well.  “Would that be a problem?” Madeline’s eyes focused on Claire’s face trying to read her reaction to her statement.  “No …That’s fine. I’m going a bit stir crazy not being able to do anything. I’m so ready to get outta here.”  Madeline walked closer to the head of the bed. “Yes ... I’m sure you have, but that will change soon enough. Let’s hope Dr Foster thinks you are well enough in a day or two shall we. Until then I guess you’ll have to amuse yourself, I’m afraid.” She smiled at her again. “I’m sure you’ve had some visitors … that should have help with the boredom.” “Murtagh and Fergus have been here.” “Yes …” Madeline’s eyes zeroed in on Claire’s. “… I know.”  With all the surveillance cameras in Med Lab closely monitoring personnel twenty-four hours a day, Madeline was just reminding her that she knew who, when and how often they had visited. To rub salt into the wound knowing that her words would cut Claire to the bone she added, “I’m sure Jamie would have been here as well … If he’d been able.” Each word Madeline had just spoken was like a bard to the heart. Pressing her lips together, Claire closed her eyes thinking of Jamie in ICU. The pain, of not being able to see him, cut deep. Murtagh had said he was doing fine but until she had seen him for herself then she would not be at peace. Claire fought to keep her composure at Madeline’s well aimed taunt. She of all people knew what they’d both gone through on the mission yet she took satisfaction in her vindictiveness coated with concern and veiled kindness to push home a point.

How could she have forgotten that there was always a hidden agenda to what Madeline had to say? Section would always be the winner. There was no room for all the qualities she tried to hold onto because Section wanted to browbeat them out of her.  Madeline scrutinized the emotions that crossed Claire’s face. The tell-tale swollen vein in her neck was a dead giveaway that her heart rate had accelerated and her face had lost its colour. There was something between the two operatives that went beyond mentor and material, and knowing that they were to have some downtime together was gnawing at her craw. It would only strengthen their bond and this could affect their performance in the field. Operations would not tolerate collusion between two operatives … especially their two best field operatives. It could put Section at risk.  Yet when Claire looked at her, her composure was evident. She smiled brightly. “I'm sure he will … when he’s able. Maybe I could visit him instead.”  “Yes … no doubt you are keen to see how he is too.” Noticing that Dr Foster had re-entered the room, Claire put her hand across her mouth stifling a yawn and hoping that he might intervene and cut short Madeline’s visit. He caught her eye and came to her rescue. “I think it is time that the patient got some rest Madeline. Doctor's orders." Without turning around she acknowledged his request, “Of course.” She smiled once more at Claire then gave her shoulder a light tap. “Operations and I will drop by tomorrow to see how you're feeling. He’s anxious to check up on you as well.” “Thank you.” Then turning towards Jeremy Foster Madeline uttered her next command. “I’d like to see Jamie now.”  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sound of the automatic doors opening registered in James Fraser’s mind, but he didn't bother turning his head around at the sound. He knew who it was. There was only one person that he wanted to see ... and it certainly wasn’t Madeline. Obviously she’d been told his recovery was better than the doctors had expected. No wonder she had felt compelled to come down to check on him to see if that was true. If there was any chance of him returning to the Rising Dragons mission quicker than expected then Madeline would grab it with both hands. He’d improved day by day; his strength was gradually returning and he’d finally turned the corner. This Intel would be most pleasing to Section’s leaders as the more time Sun Yee Lok and his triad were left to their own devices to restructure once more, the smaller the window of opportunity Section had to contain them while they were still vulnerable. Regrouping and rebuilding the triad was a possibility not to be taken for granted. The more the Rising Dragons grew in strength the more Section would be on the back foot. Resources were already stretched to the limit with other pending missions. If the Rising Dragons triad reinvented itself by amalgamating with other triad groups, this could mean greater problems also. Hence, Section wanted an End Game to happen as expediently as possible and for that they needed both he and Claire. Jamie also hated being in Med Lab any longer than necessary and Madeline knew this only too well. Was she here to say he was getting out of here? If so, then what about Claire? When would she be out of medical too?  It had been several long, miserable days since he and Claire had been taken into Med Lab and he was determined to see her now he wasn’t hooked up to all the equipment and monitors. Although Fergus and Murtagh had been making visits to see Claire in shifts and had given him progress reports on her welfare, it was not enough. He needed to see her for himself. He had little concern for his own welfare when the person he cared most about was but a heartbeat away … but now Madeline had turned up un-expectantly. He hoped her visit would be brief.  Her footfalls stopped and Jamie could hear her speaking to Dr Foster for a short while. He assumed she was going over the doctor’s notes on his condition. He closed his eyes knowing that Madeline would soon come nearer. He braced himself for her visit. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Jamie was surprised that Operations wasn’t with her. No doubt Madeline was here to ascertain what the chances were of his release from Med Lab and his recovery timeframe back to mission status. As he lay in bed waiting for her to finally speak with him, Murtagh’s words suddenly echoed in his head from his and Fergus’s visit earlier this evening. “I see you have finally decided to visit Claire tonight. I was wondering how long it would take.” But he had also uttered some concern. “Do you think that a wise move in your condition?” His condition was of no consequence. All that mattered was his Claire. He would know soon enough for himself, then he would be satisfied. Jamie had planned to see her as soon as everything was quiet for the night. More than likely Madeline had already paid a visit to Claire’s bedside and now, her impromptu visit had put a damper on his plans for the time being. It was inconvenient but not a total set back. He would prevail when he could. Jamie had arranged for Fergus to deactivate the surveillance cameras in Med Lab but in particular his and Claire’s room for a while and replace them with a recorded feed when he said so. When Operations and Madeline monitored the tapes, as they would, they would find that he was still in infirmary and everything was normal. They would be none the wiser that he had been to Claire’s room and seen her. Instead they would be watching the feed that Fergus had instigated without knowing anything had occurred between the two operatives. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “How are you doing?”  The sound of Madeline’s question roused Jamie back to reality. He turned his head and looked at Section’s head strategist as she approached his bed. “I’m fine.” Jamie’s answer was nothing more than what she would have expected. Madeline knew exactly how he was doing. Dr Foster had told her. She’d read his files to clarify his observations, she and Operations had watched the surveillance tapes. They knew everything they needed to know.  “Good …” She gave him a cheerful look then added. “Claire is recovering well also. That’s good news? Is it not?” Madeline knew Jamie wouldn’t react to her question; she was not surprised with his response. It was good news … in fact it was great news but he certainly wasn’t going to say that. The mission had brought him and Claire closer together to the point where he was now unable to deny his feelings. Unequivocally, irrefutably and completely he knew that he loved her.  “Of course,” he responded with his customary laconic reply.  Jamie’s eyes were vacuous in response not wanting to give his superior any more damning evidence of his feelings regarding Claire Beauchamp for her mental file. His show of concern when he bought her into Medical on their return from the mission was already damning enough. No doubt, it had left Operations and Madeline with just enough uncertainty for them to jump to conclusions about a relationship between the two of them. It would now be necessary for him to negate any thoughts they may suspect of a greater attachment between himself and Claire more than that of mentor and his recruit. Diffusing their attention away from any hidden agenda they may have about them and solely back onto the mission’s end game was his plan. Later that night … Madeline had long gone and Jamie waited until the night medic had finished his last observations and had also left before making his move. Seizing his chance and unable to fight the urgent need to know of Claire’s condition for himself any longer he contacted Fergus. “Covered?”  “Yeah, they're watching the feed; they think you're in ICU.”  “Good.” “The Med Lab staff don’t check on the patients when they are asleep unless they buzz Jamie, so … how much time do you need?” “An hour.” “The tape runs another three hours, but you won’t need all that time. “No.” “If there is any problem … Murtagh and I will cover it.” “Good. How is the feed? Is it clear?”  ”It’s fine. You’ll have plenty of time. I’ll put the cameras back on real time when you’re ready just let me know and I’ll do the adjustment.”  “Thank ye Fergus.” Gingerly Jamie got out of bed thankful that the cumbersome intravenous drip had been removed from his arm this morning. Steadying his body and ignoring the dull ache in his shoulder, he made his way to his Sassenach’s room.  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In the quiet of Med Lab, James Fraser stood like a looming sentinel in the doorway of Claire’s room. It was empty except for one lone cot, but his eyes immediately zeroed in on his love. His breath hitched in his throat as his eyes caressed Claire from head to toe as she lay in bed asleep.  As he slowly walked over to her bed, he couldn’t look anywhere else but on the reposing form of the woman he loved. Moving closer to the bed he was able to observe his Sassenach much better while his eyes took inventory of everything about her. Jamie catalogued every inch of Claire’s exposed features riddled with the evidence of what she had suffered for the Section. He missed nothing. Although her face had been cleaned up, the extent of the injuries she’d endured were still clearly evident. Her beautiful, porcelain skin was riddled with dark lesions that had bruised her delicate face. Jamie studied her more closely. Claire still had deep circles under her eyes and she was far too pale for his liking. Madeline had said that she was recovering well, but to his eyes Claire was not. Any abrasion or blemish that marked her flesh was a kick to the gut for him and a firm reminder of what had happened to her. Now that her lacerations were more pronounced, he could see the lingering result of what was done to her.  He felt physically sick to his stomach for what his beautiful Claire had suffered. Vivid images coursed his mind of their captivity at the monastery. His Claire bore the noticeable scars of the incarceration and torture she’d endured from Jonathon Randall. In time her physical wounds would heal and fade but it was the scars he couldn’t see that worried him more. Claire’s psyche would have taken a telling blow. Without a second thought, he vowed that he would avenge what the Rising Dragons had done to her. Caressing her once more, his lips wanted to kiss away the marks on her face and obliterate any sign of her torture. His feelings ran deep for this woman, deeper than he ever thought were possible and a longing so intense for her overpowered him. Jamie’s body shook with the desire he felt … a feeling so profound and strong it overwhelmed him.  Claire Beauchamp was his everything.  James Fraser ached for the woman who had his heart. She took his breath away. Claire was his lifeline … she was the only ray of sunshine in the hell hole of Section One. She brought lightness to his dark world and made his life worth living. Before Claire, he just existed; his life ruled by Section’s mantra. Missions were the means to an end and if he died what did it matter? Section had trained him to be the penultimate cold operative who killed without compunction.  He was an emotionless, cold-blooded killing machine who had merely been existing in this hell hole that was Section One. His life before Section had ceased to exist. He was emotionally dead and cared not if he lived or died. Not only was he dead to the world he once knew, but more importantly he was dead inside. He cared nought for his own wellbeing and emotionally he was devoid of feelings for others.  However, this mission had helped him realize something that was pointless for him to deny any longer.  Because of Claire … he wanted to exist. She’d made him feel things he had buried deep inside, stirred emotions he had long ago denounced. Claire made him come alive. She had changed everything.  He couldn’t live without her. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~to be continued FRIDAY 15th May

[horrorkingdom]

Blindness

It’s true what they say – that when a person goes blind their other senses heighten in order to compensate. Knowing that, and thinking back on everything that happened to me, I still can’t come to a rational conclusion of how these events unfolded around me without my knowledge. Granted, I couldn’t actually see any of it happening, but I never suspected anything of this magnitude when judging solely on the minor oddities that I had experienced.

Sure, every once in a while I would hear noises, but my house was old and seemed to have a mind of its own. All of its pops and creaks had become just as familiar to me as navigating its interior without the benefit of sight. Even when things began to turn more bizarre, I always found a way to rationalize them away. Looking back, I ask myself, “How could I have been so…well, for lack of a better word, blind?”

My mother had tried to convince me not to move into the house alone. “Sarah, a young blind woman shouldn’t be living all by herself,” she’d said. But I wanted to – needed to. I needed to prove to myself that I was strong enough to do it. Besides that, as a twenty four year old, I didn’t want to live with my parents forever. And I sure didn’t want to wait around for a nice man to marry and move in with. That may never happen.

Having lost my sight at an early age due to a freak accident with industrial strength cleaning chemicals, I knew all too well the nuances of learning to create a mental map of my surroundings.

When I first moved into the old house I used my cane exclusively. I waved it back and forth in front of me with every step I took. I knew roughly where all of the furniture was since I was the one that directed the movers on where to put everything. I employed the cane for nearly a week, using its tip to develop a mental image of the layout. The learning process was slow and clumsy at first, but I eventually got to the point that I was able to shed my cane after several days and began walking cautiously with my arms extended. I progressed further and became familiar enough with the territory that by the end of the first month I was able to walk freely without the use of my cane, or arms or any other aid.

I became quite adept at moving throughout the house freely. Not only that, but the house was located in a somewhat urban area which made it convenient to walk to any place I had the need. The grocery was only three blocks away. There was a department store across the street from that, and a bank and coffee shop just a bit further on. I got used to listening to the flow of traffic and timing the lights in my head so I would know when the “Walk” and “Don’t Walk” signals were lit. Occasionally a kind stranger would offer to take my hand and lead me across. I would thank them and we would part ways once we were safely on the next sidewalk.

In those days I was working from home making phone calls to patients that had recently been discharged from the hospital. In essence, I was being paid by the hospital to administer surveys that were then used to improve their services. The hospital was kind enough to provide me with a laptop computer that contained several different voice-command software applications. I spent my days transcribing the recorded phone calls by speaking the customers’ answers into a microphone, and having the data fields automatically populate accordingly in the program.

The first odd event that I remember was on one particular day when I got up from my work desk for a lunch break. As I was headed into the kitchen, I kicked an object in the middle of the living room floor. I heard it slide a short distance on the carpet. I knew that I hadn’t left anything in the way of my path as I had just been through there not even an hour ago, and there was nothing on the floor.

I knelt down and patted around until I located the object. A book. By feeling its Braille title I recognized it as a book on national parks that I kept on my coffee table, some five feet away. I didn’t remember knocking the book off of the table. I stood there perplexed. The longer I thought about it though, the less frightening it became to me. I convinced myself that I must have simply forgotten about knocking the book to the floor, and I must have stepped over it or next to it during my other passes through the room. I returned the book to its place on the table and went about making my lunch.

That night, while lying in bed, I heard a sound that came from the kitchen. It was almost entirely masked by the usual sounds of the pops and creaks from the house settling, but I definitely heard it – faint as it was. It was a very light humming noise. So light, in fact, that an average person without enhanced hearing may not have heard it at all from this distance. I slowly got out of bed, listening intently, the sound increasing as I made my way down the hallway and through the living room.

As soon as I passed through the threshold into the kitchen I knew what the sound was. It was the compressor motor on the refrigerator, and it was substantially louder than usual. I approached the appliance and found that its door was standing wide open. I eased it shut and the hum returned to a normal volume.

“What on earth? Did I leave this open?” I questioned myself in a whisper. Maybe it didn’t close all the way the last time I swung it shut, I thought. I returned to bed, but had trouble finding sleep. My mind wandered and questioned how I could have overlooked the fallen book and the open fridge door when they’d first happened.

The next morning, I decided to go have breakfast at Espresso Express, the little coffee shop up the road. They served excellent coffee, and you could also get a ham & cheese croissant melt that was to die for. That alone was worth the effort of showering, dressing, and leaving the safety of the house to be plunged into a buzz of whizzing traffic, honking horns, and people clamoring on the sidewalks.

On that morning a gentle stranger helped guide me across the intersection just ahead of the coffee shop. I said, “Thank you!” as they released my arm, but there was no response. He or she was lost in the shuffle of people on cell phones, their conversations momentarily audible to me as they passed in front of and behind me. The tinny sound of a bicycle bell alarmed me, and I felt the breeze left behind when the rider whipped past. I entered the coffee shop to a much more serene environment and enjoyed my favorite breakfast at a seat near the plate glass window, bathed in the sunlight that washed in on me.

That afternoon I took a break from making phone calls to use the bathroom. As I was seated on the toilet, I heard something next to me. It was as if something had brushed against the sink – an ever so subtle sound. My heart rate rose and my brow furrowed as I strained to listen closer. All I could hear was my pulse throbbing in my ears. Suddenly a wall clock in the living room chimed four ‘o clock, startling me to the point that I jumped slightly while still seated there. I regained my composure, washed up and returned to the computer to transcribe the data from my phone surveys.

I closed the laptop and went to make dinner at 6:30. Over the years, I had learned to be extra careful when dealing with the hot oven and burners. Once I had accidentally set a plastic plate directly onto a burner that was still hot, resulting in a cloud of noxious fumes that lasted for days – long after I’d finished cleaning up the mess. I was lucky that it had burned itself out and the damage wasn’t any worse. After that close call, I bought a small fire extinguisher to keep on the countertop next to the oven.

On this particular night, I made my dinner without any risk of fire. However, the undertaking wasn’t completely without incident. As I proceeded to make dinner I discovered that the canned goods I needed for the recipe were missing from the cupboard. I have always kept my canned goods in very specific places on the shelves so that I would always know what was what without the benefit of being able to see the labels. I don’t remember using up the items I needed that night, but apparently I already had. So, I opted to make a casserole instead.

I sat at the dinner table enjoying the simple meal I had made. The television was playing in the background, filling me in on all of the day’s news headlines. I finished the first portion on my plate and reached to dip into the casserole dish once more. I scraped the inside of the dish, the sounds of metal on ceramic echoing throughout the kitchen. It was empty.

“I can’t believe it! I couldn’t have already eaten it all!” I said incredulously. I had thought for sure that I’d prepared a bigger portion than that, and I didn’t remember emptying the dish fully onto my plate. Thoughts ran through my head in an attempt to reason out the matter: Had it baked up to be less than I’d anticipated? Had I spilled some on the table while dishing it onto my plate?

In search of the missing food, I placed the palm of my hand on the tabletop and moved it steadily over the area within my reach. As I was doing so there was a distinct movement in front of me. I gasped and my heart rate immediately quickened. I felt the blood pulsing through my neck. This sound was not as subtle as the others I’d been hearing. It was obvious – a sudden motion of something moving across from me. I continued listening, but all I could hear was the much-too-chipper weather man on TV giving the forecast.

Suddenly I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I was no longer alone at the kitchen table. “Is someone there?” I called out, hoping there was no reply.

Silence.

I felt a shift in the air pressure as if something moved behind me followed by the creak of a floorboard. I froze. Something brushed against the back of my hair, gentle as a feather. I recoiled and let out a squeal.

I shot up out of my chair, made my way to the corner of the kitchen and turned to face the interior of the room. “Who’s there?” I demanded. No answer. By this time I was breathing heavily, practically hyperventilating. My chest and throat radiated heat as my heart raced inside, giving me the sensation of acute indigestion. I thought I might vomit.

I slowly made my way to the doorway leading into the living room. I stood there for what seemed like an eternity listening for something, anything that would explain the circumstance. Eventually I moved on and worked my way into the hallway bathroom. I locked the door behind me.

It took over an hour and a half for me to calm down. While in the locked bathroom, I wrestled with my thoughts. I reasoned with myself. I didn’t want to admit that my mother was right, but maybe I shouldn’t be living alone. It appeared to be taking its toll on me. On the other hand, all of these things could be logically explained, I told myself. If I wasn’t blind, I’d have seen whatever it was that caused the noises and it would be so obvious. I’d laugh about how ridiculous it was to be scared of it, I’m sure. At least that’s what I tried to convince myself.

What finally brought me out of the bathroom was the ringing of the telephone. I admit it startled me at first, but only because it had been so quiet for the last two hours. I cautiously opened the door and entered the hallway. My phone was in the living room. I approached it quickly and answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey Sarah, it’s Jill.”

Thank God, it was just my friend Jill. “Hi Jill, how’s it going?”

“Oh, I’m doing good. I saw you at Espresso Express today,” she said in a playful tone, which I didn’t understand initially.

“You did?”

“Mmm hmm. I saw you in the window when I walked by on the sidewalk.” Still in a playful tone.

“Well, why didn’t you come in and say, ‘hi’?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Disturb me? Why would you be disturbing me?”

“Because, silly, I assumed you were on a date. Who’s the lucky guy that was sitting with you?”

My mouth slacked open. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t form words.

“Sarah?” Jill asked, “Are you okay?”

I dropped the phone. I could still hear Jill’s muffled voice even though the speaker was face down on the carpet. I frantically made my way around the house, arms flailing in front of me.

“Who are you?” I yelled into the house. “What do you want?”

I was terrified, but also angry. I felt violated. I didn’t necessarily want to encounter whatever it was, but I couldn’t go on hiding in my own house any longer. I spent hours searching every square inch of the property and found nothing. I finally went to bed after I was able to calm down, but I did not fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning.

A light rustling sound woke me not long after I fell asleep, still in the dark hours of early morning. I wasn’t sure at first if it was real or if I had dreamed the noise. As I was about to get up, I noticed that the sheets next to me were pulled back. I stretched out my right arm into the empty space beside me. It felt warm as if someone had been lying there with me. The events of the previous day flooded back into my memory. My sightless eyes welled up with tears as I began to question my own sanity. Frustrated, I bolted up and out of the bed. I threw on some old clothes and headed toward the front door with the intention of fleeing the house, unsure exactly where I was going to go – maybe Jill’s place. She lived fairly close.

I wanted to take my cane with me as I always did whenever I went outdoors. I searched the house frantically, unable to remember where I’d left it. I almost always left it propped against the wall by the front door, but it wasn’t there. I made my way along all of the perimeter walls, feeling desperately for the cane.

When I neared the kitchen I still had not found my walking aid, but I made a discovery of a much more startling nature – a barely detectable vertical crevice in the wall I had not known about previously. I used all my fingers to follow the crease up the wall, across the top, and down the other side. It was a doorway designed to fit perfectly flush within the wall. I leaned my weight inward against the panel and felt a slight give on its right side. I worked my fingers into the crevice on that side the best I could, eventually prying the panel free. It swung open to the left. I gasped in shock and my pulse quickened. A hidden room right in the center of my house.

How I wish that I would have had sight at that moment. I faced a completely unexplored territory inside my own house with the possibility that someone else was in there with me.

I entered slowly, arms extended. “Is someone in here?” I whispered, afraid to ask the question. There was no response. I stepped forward. To my right I discovered a flat surface – a tabletop. I ran my hands along its surface. On top of the table I was able to make out several unopened cans of food. No doubt these were the missing canned goods I’d been looking for. The table also contained silverware and a can opener that disappeared weeks ago.

My heart rate increased even more and my palms began to sweat. I worked my way forward until I came to a wall that I knew bordered the living room. I found a hole the size of a quarter at eye level. Sweat began to form on my brow as well. I found another similar hole on the next adjacent wall. This wall bordered the bathroom. Tears started to well up in my eyes. I was able to find two more holes on the two remaining walls bordering the kitchen and the bedroom.

I dropped to my knees in absolute horror and disbelief. How long had this person been watching me? How could I have not known? My hands were on the floor in front of me and I felt something soft. I investigated further with my fingertips. It was some sort of comforter or sleeping bag. At one end was a fluffy pillow.

At this point not only was I terrified beyond description, I was also furious. How dare someone spy on me covertly from within my own walls! I knew I had to run out of the house and get to safety immediately, with or without my cane. I decided I would go to Jill’s house and we’d call the police from there.

I made my way to where I remembered the hidden door to be, my arms sweeping the area ahead of me in a panic. Instead of the open door, my hands found the warm torso of a human, a male, standing silently in the doorway. He grabbed both my arms and pulled me out of the hidden room and into the house.

We struggled in the kitchen. I kicked at him and screamed as loud as I could into his ears. I was able to get one arm free and I used it to grasp for the fire extinguisher that I knew would be by the oven. He attempted to pull me away, but my fingers reached its nozzle. I swung it at him, feeling the metal cylinder connect with the back of his skull. He released my other arm and I pulled the trigger in his direction, enveloping him in a cloud of white foam.

I ran into the utility room off of the kitchen where I knew my only advantage existed – the fuse box. I found the box and tripped every lever I could find, eliminating all power from the house. If this perverted psycho wanted to kill me, he’d have to do it on an equal playing field – in the dark.

The intruder had not followed me into the utility room. The fire extinguisher must have dazed him. I remembered the toolbox I kept in that room, and I quickly retrieved the longest screwdriver I could find. I stood in the corner and listened carefully. If he was still conscious, he would not be able to move around in the pitch darkness without creating a noise. I would surely detect his movements.

I held the screwdriver against my chest, gripping its handle tightly with both hands. I felt my wildly beating heart against the side of my fist. After an eternity, I moved forward a bit. I may have knocked him out, or even killed him. I had to make sure.

I left the utility room and entered the kitchen. There was still no sound from anywhere in the house. I passed into the living room and headed toward the front door. Halfway through the room I could feel his presence. Something in the air around me had shifted. Without warning there was breath on the back of my neck followed by a deep whisper directly in my ear, “The showers were my favorite.”

I screamed and swung around, stabbing the screwdriver into empty air. I ran for the door. It was merely a few feet away, but I couldn’t reach it due to the resistance I met when the voyeuristic brute’s arms wrapped around my waist. He wrestled me to the floor and straddled me. I tightened my grip on the tool and plunged it as hard as I could into his side.

I shudder to think about it when I recount the feeling of the steel shaft separating two of his ribs. It was horrid, and I was only able to stomach it knowing that if I hadn’t acted, my life would have ended then.

The man winced in pain and let out a deep, growling grunt. He fell backward and rolled off of me. I turned over onto my chest and pushed up off of the floor, then crawled over to the couch and used it to get back onto my feet. I still held the screwdriver, a warm trickle of blood seeping onto my knuckle.

I could tell that the intruder was writhing around on the floor near the doorway. I would have to exit through the back door. From the opposite end of the living room, I entered the sun room where the door was located. I wasn’t as familiar with this entry point, causing me to fumble around with the deadbolt and screen door locks for longer than I would have liked.

I knew there were concrete stairs there leading to a flat patio. How many steps? Four? Five? I couldn’t remember. I proceeded slowly. The last thing I needed was to fall and twist my ankle. After navigating the steps, I came to the end of the patio, which emptied into a narrow alleyway between the shotgun-style houses behind mine.

My steps were slow and cautious. My hands told me there was a brick wall to my right, and a brick wall about five feet to my left. The sides of the two houses. I was entering unfamiliar territory without the benefit of my cane. My breathing was frantic and the tears continued to fill my useless eyes. I kicked something and nearly fell over. It felt plastic – a child’s toy maybe. I was moving much too fast compared to my level of comfort with the surroundings. But I had no choice as footsteps were approaching behind me.

I picked up the pace, waving the screwdriver out in front to buffer my impending collision with any obstacles. Ten more feet of forward progress and the screwdriver alerted me, with metallic clanging, to the presence of a chain link fence connecting the two houses.

I stopped and cried out, my voice breaking up through my tears, “No.” I turned around, my back to the fence. I began swinging the screwdriver violently.

“Leave me alone!” I screamed.

More hyperventilating.

More tears.

The man approached slowly, and then stopped just a few feet away from me. I got the feeling he could see what he was doing. Either there was an electric light in this alley or the dawn had already crested enough that ample ambient light was available. I didn’t know which one was the case because I had no idea what time it was.

Knowing I was about to die, I just wanted answers. “How long?” I managed to ask. “How long have you been in there?” My voice was angrier than I’d expected.

“Since before you lived there,” he replied calmly, his voice deep. “I got lucky with you – a blind girl. With the others I couldn’t come out in the open when they were home. I couldn’t sit and eat their dinner with them. I couldn’t stand over them while they worked at their computers. I couldn’t go to the coffee shop with them.” There was a pause as he moved even closer. “I couldn’t stand next to them in the bathroom.”

I cried uncontrollably in a whirlwind of emotions. I had never before felt so violated, so angry, and so terrified all at the same time. There was sudden movement again in front of me.

“Don’t touch me!” I demanded as I held up the screwdriver. I don’t know exactly how it happened. I don’t know if he didn’t see the tool or just didn’t care, knowing that he was caught. But as he lunged forward, he managed to impale himself on the screwdriver and pin me up against the fence. My hands were still gripping the handle, but it was so deep inside him that his shirt was touching my fist.

His breathing became gurgled, and his last words to me were, “I couldn’t snuggle next to them in bed either.”

We collapsed together as one unit. The fence tore at my back as we slid down onto the ground. His dead weight nearly crushed me, but I managed to push him off and crawl away. I crawled all the way back to my house, in through the back door and into the living room to my phone. I sobbed hysterically as I keyed in the digits 9-1-1 and fell to the floor.

Credit: moonlit_cove

[jcmorrigan]

Tales from the Scrap Heap: Nothing to Lose but You

I decided to start “Tales from the Scrap Heap” as a little series on my blog for fanfiction ideas that I never got into print. Because my brain is really, really good at coming up with way more long-form plots than I can ever realistically hope to publish. I have to be picky about which plot bunnies I follow and which I don’t. The stories here are the ones that I considered and ultimately didn’t motivate me as much as what I have up on my AO3 account.

For the first one, I’m aware I’m putting myself in the Discourse Box here but it’s a Voltron: Legendary Defender fic. However, it’s for the absolute only ship I have never seen contested, largely because I don’t think anybody remembers these guys: Vakala/Remdax. Something about them really intrigued me (probably that they’re silly x straitlaced, have a size difference, and bicker constantly, which is almost a full row of JCMorrigan OTP Bingo). If you don’t remember, they’re the two aliens who found clone!Shiro on the ice planet shortly after he escaped (this is when we thought he was real!Shiro) and decided ultimately not to eat him and instead to give him a shuttle to escape back to Voltron. Anyhow, one day I just had too much Worldbuilding Juice and decided to come up with a little history for them, and because they’re rebels hiding in a remote location in a seemingly neverending war, it is one of the darkest story ideas I have. There’s a happy ending for our two leading men, but because this is indeed a wartime story, what I came up with to explain why they were on that ice planet and so willing to even cannibalize any Galra who showed up ended up having elements of colonialism, prison/labor camps, fugitive life, and a worldbuild flavoring that implies some noncon happened somewhere at some point. So if these things are not what you want to read in a hypothetical Voltron fanfiction outline, please keep movin’. Anyway, this is the one story I most regret never finishing because I had so much of it fleshed, but my Voltron muse is long gone and I have no enthusiasm, so here’s what I would’ve written, had I the energy.

·      Title is “Nothing to Lose but You” because the point of this story is these two go through the wringer and are literally all each other have. It’s that kind of story

·      I decided to call the planet Vakala and Remdax are from “Taxalai,” and the name for a resident is “Taxalan.” Taxalan society has a heavy emphasis on technology (which is why Remdax not knowing how to work a computer or being able to remember a password is such an oddity and so frustrating to pretty much any other Taxalan), and pretty much everything is computerized to some degree. Screens everywhere.

·      We open on Vakala, who is living in a mansion that used to belong to his family but has since been taken over by an invading Galra general. This was going to be an OC who I could just make nasty, but then I got re-introduced to Morvok, the Galra’s resident black sheep, and I will take any excuse to write Morvok so let’s just say it was he who took over Vakala’s family manor and just sits on the couch all day regaling people with stories of his greatness (none of which are true).

·      Vakala himself is a servant to Morvok, having to bring him whatever he wants and be at his beck and call.

·      One day, Vakala decides he’s done taking orders and declares he is no longer going to be in a position of servitude in his own house. Morvok simply dismissively says to “Take this one away wherever you take the ones that act up so I don’t have to look at him.”

·      And Vakala is arrested by a Galra squadron and brought to a prison camp many, many miles away.

·      It’s night when he’s delivered, so he’s brought right to the cramped barrack where a bunch of Taxalans who have been there longer are stacked in bunk beds. Vakala’s first night there, he screams and claws at the door that’s been sealed behind him, begging to be let out because he’ll follow orders this time.

·      The other prisoners there are veterans, so they all tell him to shut up because they’re never gonna listen. All but one.

·      Enter Remdax. He’s from another part of Taxalai – Vakala’s voice sounds more American to me while Remdax is definitely British, so I assume they have to come from different parts of the planet. They also have different physical structures that may suggest ethnic divides, though their color palette affirms they’re both of the same planetary origin. It’s also worth noting he has both eyes still at this point. This is very important.

·      Remdax is here because he was part of an anti-Galra rebel squad that was largely made up of his friends and family. The Galra found and closed in on their base, and Remdax ran out and got himself arrested for the purpose of slowing down the Galra officers enough that his friends and family could escape – which they did.

·      Anyway, that exposition would come some time later. For now, what’s happening is Vakala is having a panic attack in the middle of the night and everyone’s telling him to shut up because it’s futile. Except for Remdax. Remdax stands up and essentially says, “We’ve all done the same thing when we first arrived. Let him feel what he feels.”

·      And he approaches Vakala to try and calm him down verbally – just by saying his feelings are validated, and yes, it’s really awful, but he’ll survive, and Remdax will do his best to make sure Vakala survives. But he can’t really tell him it’s “okay” because it is quite clearly not.

·      Vakala eventually gives up and goes to sleep, quite depressed and for good reason.

·      The following morning, Vakala is put to work on an assembly line making Galra weaponry. This is what all the Taxalans in this particular camp must do. It’s very mechanically inclined, not many screens, not the way Taxalans usually work.

·      I don’t know if pacing-wise, it would be better to have this happen the first time or later, but Vakala ends up trying to pick up a cooling metal part way too soon and burning his palm horribly. He has to finish the rest of his shift one-handed.

·      Again, the other imprisoned Taxalans avoid this situation, largely because anxiety is high as-is, but Remdax steps forward once more, trying to care for the burn as best as he can. And he has zero supplies, so the best he can do is run a whole lot of cold water over Vakala’s hand and wrap it up in fabric he tore off his clothing.

·      Vakala ends up underperforming because of this injury and receives some punishment later. I didn’t think too much on exactly what – had I fleshed this out fully, I’d at least imply strongly what happened

·      Remdax has a bit of a crisis over this because he invested in protecting this guy, he failed, and there was literally nothing he could do. He’s in here for self-sacrifice in the first place, so he keeps thinking there’s always something he could do to help someone else if he gives something up for himself. But sometimes, he doesn’t even have an opportunity to do so, and it’s driving him into panic.

·      It’s shortly after this that he starts getting into his head that maybe the only way to help Vakala and himself is if he finds a way to escape.

·      There’s a day in which Remdax and Vakala are assigned to work outside on the grounds, and down comes an inspector from another sector on a shuttle. Remdax sees the opportunity and waves Vakala over.

·      They only have one shot, and it will unfortunately mean leaving the rest of their people behind, which is a horrible sacrifice, but it’s either they go on their own or nobody goes at all.

·      Remdax rushes the Galra inspector and attacks him. They get in a physical brawl while Vakala hurries in and hijacks the ship, which isn’t difficult for his technologically-inclined mind.

·      During this fight, Remdax either knocks out or kills the Galra inspector, but in the process, the inspector stabs one of his eyes completely out.

·      Remdax hops onto the ship and they have to go right away or else lose their freedom and maybe their lives forever. Vakala is freaking out because Remdax’s eye is bleeding, but Remdax is trying to act casual and make jokes about it because Vakala needs to be calm enough to drive.

·      They get off Taxalai on that stolen shuttle and land on the nearest planet, which I never named.

·      They’re aware they’re fugitives at this point.

·      They end up in a metropolitan area, where they check into a hotel so they have somewhere to sleep. I hadn’t worked out how they pay for the first night – maybe with favors, because Vakala eventually ends up a receptionist at this hotel and earns good wages, so maybe he gets his foot in the door by saying “I’ll do anything” and the receptionist is already pulling double duty and just goes “Do the second half of my fourteen-hour shift”

·      They have to finish wrapping up Remdax’s eye in that hotel room as best they can. Thankfully, it doesn’t get infected.

·      Immediately their first thought is to go out and find a way of bringing in income. As I said, Vakala makes a good receptionist and is excellent at filing client data on computers, so he ends up with a good-paying job that way.

·      Remdax takes a job down at a garage working with vehicle mechanics and engines, since that’s what he’s better at. Not in the manufacture of those parts (never again), but in fixing up broken vehicles. (I would’ve made it something more interesting than simply cars for this planet because Voltron planets are all about interesting possibilities for new civilizations.)

·      There’s some down-time where they live rather domestically this way, just earning enough to buy simple food and extend the stay in their small and shabby hotel room, but also bonding and becoming better friends.

·      A lot of people assume they already are a couple. Remdax in particular gets asked about his “husband” at the garage and he has to keep denying it.

·      There’s one night where they’re just having a relatively good time, taking a night to relax and appreciate that they can do nothing and be okay, and Remdax very gingerly brings up he wants to ask something of Vakala that might be too much. Vakala agrees to hear him out, and all Remdax wants is to be hugged for a bit while he thinks about how far they’ve come. So they hold each other, just lying on the bed and muttering to each other about the way things used to be, the way things are now, how lucky they are to have each other.

·      It’s actually some time later that they start seeing each other in a romantic light. Before this, they were a lifeline to each other, and in the heat of the worst moments, they couldn’t even really think about romance – they had to be preoccupied with survival. But now that their life is settling down and they’re starting to pack away funds for a small house, they start thinking…we’re basically life partners. Are we attracted to each other?

·      Answer: yes.

·      They kiss one night over a pretty meager dinner spread out picnic-style on their bed.

·      Shortly after this is when the Galra troops come into the city, looking for the two fugitives who attacked an inspector and fled custody.

·      Vakala and Remdax end up having to escape out the window, flee down the fire escape, and hijack a ship from Remdax’s garage.

·      They’re floating between worlds yet again.

·      They are eventually found by another ship, and they fear the Galra have finally captured them – but it’s a ship of rebels who’ve had similar stories. Vakala and Remdax are two of the Galra’s most wanted, and these rebels realized they would make great additions to the team in exchange for some stability.

·      So they work out a plan where Vakala and Remdax man an outpost on the ice planet, one of the most remote they have, that monitors Galra communications.

·      The rebels drop in supplies regularly and also have left a shuttle in case of emergency.

·      Vakala and Remdax both haaaaate the cold and so use the first week or so as an excuse to snuggle a lot.

·      And things go pretty okay. Remdax is still technologically illiterate and Vakala is just like “Are you even a Taxalan”

·      This is where they start bickering, which they like because finally, finally the stakes are low enough where they can afford to just rag on each other and still like each other at the end of the day.

·      They get more physical at this stage, too, but of course I can’t write a lemon to save my soul so it’s just a lot of implications

·      Things start going wrong when a Galra officer finds the base on a planet. This is far too dangerous and they both know it. If this guy gets two steps further, their location is blown and they are both dead. So Remdax kills him.

·      It’s been a while since their last supply delivery. And they figure it’s best not to waste anything…so they decide the Galra they killed has to go into food reserves.

·      Vakala nearly has a full-on panic attack while cannibalizing another person, even if that person was dangerous.

·      Some time later, another Galra shows up, but this one’s different. She claims to come in peace, and introduces herself as Acxa.

·      Remdax is ready to murder again, but Vakala holds him off because he can recognize Acxa isn’t a full-blooded Galra and in fact, he’s pretty sure there’s Taxalan in her genetic makeup based on how her face looks.

·      Acxa confirms. Her grandmother was a Taxalan and forced to be a servant of a Galra commander who impregnated her (here is the strongly implied noncon).

·      Acxa offers to help, swearing to secrecy. Vakala and Remdax deny her help but let her get away with her life, wondering if they’d made the right decision.

·      A month with no contact and they’re fairly secure Acxa didn’t snitch.

·      Then in comes Shiro, and canon events happen. These would be briefly recapped.

·      The important thing to note is that they let Shiro have their only shuttle, and that was a boo-boo, but it’s okay because the rebels are gonna drop off supplies anyway, so they shouldn’t need it.

·      And then the other rebels never show up.

·      I’m not sure if I’d have them literally be dead or leave it up in the air, but their supplies are cut off. They ration out their remaining food for the next few years. There’s at least one more Galra who shows up that they have to eat. And it does last a few years, until the end of VLD canon.

·      They’re starving to death. Skin and bone. And we get them eating their last ration over the fire and since they’re both used to cannibalizing Galra by now, their minds are on the obvious. Each is ready to kill himself so the other can live longer.

·      For dramatic effect I might have let them get close to pulling the trigger before the sound of someone showing up alerts them

·      They go outside, hoping they’re saved and not screwed…

·      And wouldn’t you know. It’s the paladins of Voltron. Also Acxa.

·      Allura has already been exchanged for the restoration of all realities (which Vakala and Remdax have no idea happened because when you’re in a reality that disappears and reappears, that has no bearing on your memory because you literally did not exist and suddenly existed again with no idea of the gap)

·      Altea and Daibazaal have been restored and now the paladins are working on bringing peace all over the universe

·      And Shiro remembered the two who helped his clone out because of…memory merging?...and Acxa brought up “We really need to check on those two”

·      They get Vakala and Remdax on a warm ship, find them food, get them cleaned up

·      And then bring them back to Taxalai, which has just been liberated from Galra control. We see the more unforgivable Galra getting their due punishment. The camp administrators are now incarcerated. Morvok is doing community service scooping poop at the zoo or something horrible because it’s Morvok

·      Shiro is considering his retirement, but first, he addresses Vakala and Remdax, asking if they want to govern the reclaimed Taxalai and help make it a beautiful place where their people can flourish

·      Vakala is trying so hard not to break down and cry, but it’s Remdax who hits his knees and starts bawling first

·      The final line would be about how they were finally “home” for the first time in their entire lives

[greyias]

FIC: Smoke and Mirrors - Chapter 8

Title: Smoke and Mirrors Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Rating: T Genre: Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn Synopsis: Something’s rotten on Carrick Station, and Theron won’t rest until he finds out what. But picking at the frayed threads of suspicion quickly unravels a conspiracy much larger than even the Republic’s top spy can handle on his own. (A mostly canon-compliant retelling of the Forged Alliances storyline, as seen through the eyes of Theron Shan.) Author’s Notes and Spoilers: See Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 |  Chapter 7 | Crossposted to AO3

The strike team’s flight back from Korriban was just long enough to take a sizable break and get some rest. Theron had meant to leave the operations room that Darok had commandeered for their mission. Maybe stretch his legs and unwind a bit, but he’d gotten distracted with sorting through the data he’d absconded from the Sith Academy. He wasn’t really doing more than giving it a cursory look, just double and triple checking to make sure there were no nasty surprises in the code before he took any of it out of quarantine. It may have been paranoid to think that Sith would try and set a digital booby trap in their closed system — but better safe than sorry.

Darok had spent a majority of the time pacing, coordinating between the team left on Korriban and checking on the status of the package as it zipped its way across the galaxy. Theron had seemingly become invisible to him at this point, and hardly a word had passed between them since the strike team had entered hyperspace. It was just as well, since Theron preferred getting lost in the endless flow of data rather than having to listen to the strident tones of the colonel.

He hadn’t even really noticed the passage of time, until the door swished open, and Highwind strode in, cape fluttering behind her. Theron’s shoulders protested as he stood back up straight, a knot having formed from his hunched position. That round of celebration drinks was sounding really tempting right now — although it was difficult to tell if the guest-of-honor was still up for that. She had the carefully composed neutral facade typical of a Jedi in place as she met both his and Darok’s eye.

“Welcome back, Master Jedi,” Darok intoned, “I’ve heard congratulations are in order.”

“I don’t know about that, Colonel,” she said cautiously, pulling out a datacore, “but I retrieved the data from the Dark Council chambers as requested.”

“Excellent,” he accepted the item in question. “Do you realize that you just succeeded in a mission that many people never dared to dream was possible?”

A keen blue gaze studied the much larger man, although Theron wasn’t quite sure how to interpret the guarded expression. Whatever meditation she had done over the course of her flight, it was unclear if she had found the answers she’d been seeking.

“Anything is possible with the Force,” she said smoothly, and Theron quirked a brow. She glanced his way. From his position behind the console, it was impossible to read the expression. “But sometimes extra assistance goes a long way.”

He didn’t quite know what to make of that. “You’re welcome… I think.”

The neutral expression slipped for just a moment, and he thought he saw her lips twitch as if she were suppressing a smile.

Darok paid the silent byplay no mind, instead stowing away the datacore as he turned his full attention back to the Jedi. “Today we just proved that victory—true victory—is within our grasp. We’ve proven that Korriban is not an impenetrable fortress, and may have just retrieved the key to ending this war once and for all.”

“That is a nice thought,” Highwind said cautiously, “but the Sith have proven to be quite tenacious. It does not pay to underestimate them, despite whatever knowledge is contained within that datacore.”

“That’s very practical thinking, but it’s still a great day for the Republic nonetheless.”

A light on the console in front of Theron began to flash, pulling his attention from the conversation. It was from an auxiliary comm channel. He frowned. Usually those were reserved for emergency broadcasts and distress signals. It was odd for it to be routed to Carrick Station. He pulled up the feed and began to scan through it — and his stomach dropped.

It was from Tython. The message was short, and consisted only of several clipped phrases as if whoever had sent it had just barely had time to get their message through before it was cut off. 

Iso-5 bombs — strike team — Jedi Temple under attack — need help

A face immediately flashed through Theron’s mind — an older woman valiantly trying to protect her home and students. That face shouldn’t have mattered to him, and yet still it felt as if someone had begun to tighten a vice around his chest. His mind should have immediately focused on the problem, but it took him a few more moments to process everything before his brain suddenly kicked back in. Without hesitation, he keyed in the code to sound the alarm.

“What the devil is that?” Darok demanded.

“It’s Tython,” Theron snapped, “they’re under attack!”

“They’re what?” Somehow the Jedi Master’s quiet voice cut through the loud whoop of the alarms, eyes wide with shock.

“Imperials forces just hit — they’re ransacking the temple.” Unbidden Satele’s image flashed through Theron’s mind again before he quickly banished it. “They need our support now.”

Darok gave a curt nod, immediately keying in his comm channel. “Blue Squadron, I need you to finish refueling and launch immediately with any troops not injured from Korriban.”

“How is this possible?” Highwind asked.

“We can find out when we get there,” Darok said, “if you and your team are still willing to help.”

“Of course we are, but I think we need to—”

“Shan,” he barked, “you gather whatever sensor data we can get and forward it to all forces. Everyone needs to be en route in five minutes. Now move!”

Theron gave a curt nod, fingers already dancing across the keys as he pulled in every node and scrap of data in. His brain was already racing, trying to map out what relays were available, what was compromised. Knowing Imperial protocols, they would have knocked out all communications. It was a miracle that someone had managed to get a distress signal out at all—

“Hold on, Colonel,” Highwind’s voice cut through tension in the room like a durasteel blade, “something about this isn’t right. We need to take a moment to think before rushing in.”

“Think? This is your home base being attacked, Master Jedi, and you want to sit around think? Let the Empire capture and ransack your people’s temple again?”

“We just attacked Korriban,” she shot back, “at the exact same time the Empire chooses to strike Tython?”

It was as if her words had thrown a bucket of cold water over Theron. His head snapped up and watched the byplay between the two commanding presences in the room. His fingers on the keys stilled as the panic that had been tightening around him dissipated. Now that it had been pointed out, Theron couldn’t not see the connection. This. This was what had been off about the whole mission — and he hadn’t figured it out until too late. He almost cursed aloud, but caught himself at the last moment.

“This cannot be a coincidence,” she insisted.

“You can meditate about coincidences later,” Darok snarled, “but my people and ships will be leaving in five minutes. That is, if you would like to join them.”

Her perfect mask of calm slipped, and for just a moment Theron caught a glimpse of the real woman underneath. Raw determination and anger bubbling just underneath the surface as she didn’t bother to hide her suspicion or indignation at the colonel’s words.

“I cannot stand by while others suffer,” she said firmly, meeting Darok’s eye, but there was an unspoken sentiment hanging in the air. Something else was going on here, and she wasn’t going to rest until she figured out what it was.

And she wasn’t the only one.

“I’ll pull up every scrap of data we’ve got,” Theron cut in, deliberately catching her eye and giving her just the barest of nods, “and talk you through the whole way.”

For a moment he wasn’t sure if she had caught his signal, but she paused, frowning ever-so-slightly before returning the tight nod. It was impossible to ignore the crisis at hand, and of the two of them she had the better chance at retaking Tython. But Theron could keep an eye on things here — especially the surly SpecOps officer shouting out orders over the comm.

“I will gather my crew and meet your men at the shuttle, Colonel,” she said tightly.

“Good. I’ll arrange for every available resource while you’re in transit.”

She let her gaze slip from Darok back to Theron, the severe expression lightening some. “I will be in touch.”

“I’ve sliced into every available sensor,” he said, not breaking eye contact with her as he added, “I should be able to keep an eye on everything from here.”

“We will get Tython back,” she promised, tone so fierce and filled with determination, that not even Theron could doubt that she meant it. “I promise.”

A brief thought of his mother flashed through his mind, but he quickly banished it. He had to focus right now, not get distracted by thoughts of his estranged family. Instead he gave her what he hoped was a confident smile, although it felt too tight and uncomfortable to be real. “Watch your back.”

[sunny-hopewell]

#2 - Helena Stinchcomb

posted by sunny hopewell on sept. 12th, 20XX

DISCLAIMER: Please note that, just by reading this, you may succumb to the very phenomenon described here. My hope is that the next people or intelligent life who read this are either themselves resilient to it, or that enough time has passed that the sheer weight of this knowledge no longer causes such a heavy impact on the reader.

This is an attempt to record the phenomenon, once referred to colloquially as “ghosting,” that has resulted in a mass decrease in the Earth’s human population. More specifically, the latest estimate (prior to the disappearance of professionals who had counted) was that only 0.002% of human life remains.

In this series of accounts, I document interviews with remaining survivors of this phenomenon. For more details on the nature of the phenomenon itself, please click here. Otherwise or afterwards, read on at your own risk.

I encountered a woman by the name of Helena Stinchcomb when I saw the fourth floor of a large office building entirely lit up. Thinking perhaps it may have been an outpost containing multiple survivors, both my mission and my curiosity led me to that floor.

I rang the fully-functional doorbell at the back entrance of the first floor. I would consider breaking in only if I received no response, but just shy of a minute later, the very articulate voice of a young woman spoke, asking how she may help me. I explained that I was hoping to ask some questions relating to her take on recent events, but expressed that I understood if she declined to speak— multiple people had already done so for me at this point. You would understand my pleasant surprise when I heard the door bolt unlock, and I was invited in. The woman told me to come on in, explaining she would need to allow me to the fourth floor with her own badge, so she would meet me just inside shortly.

The office lobby seemed unremarkable, aside from its emptiness. The lights seemed to come on as soon as I walked in— likely on a motion-sensor.

It wasn’t long before a young, dark-haired lady emerged from a door that seemed to conceal a concrete staircase. She smiled at me as though I was a visitor to her office, urging me in with an energy that was both friendly and professional. She wore a dark, pin-stripe pantsuit, and her thin, black wireframe glasses only added to her aesthetic.

She showed me upstairs, thanking me for my patience. She explained she was in a meeting until just a few minutes ago, and that the speaker system that allowed me to speak with her outside was across the office. Of course, I asked her how many people were stationed on that floor. To my own disbelief, she estimated nearly 30 folks were in-office that day. 

At this time, we entered the fourth floor’s reception area, which appeared entirely empty. She waved to the empty reception desk on her left briefly, not ceasing her conversation with me about the work they did there. She explained that she worked for a newer kind of advertising firm— when in the 2020’s, social media and technology users realized the extent to which their information was being used without their consent, such firms opened up, acting as a middleman between web users and advertisers who wanted their attention. In essence, she explained, users would come to these firms seeking to sell their web usage data to these advertisers, and the firms would act as representatives for these individuals to advertisers, who they often partnered with for competitive pricing. 

As she finished explaining this, we entered her office. She asked me to wait just a moment while she typed away— a quick message, she said, to one of her part-time work-study students, asking if she could bring the two of us some bottled water and cookies. As she finally closed her laptop, she thanked me once again for my patience and gave me her full attention. The transcript of our interview is as follows:

SH: So, tell me about yourself. What’s your name?

HS: My name is Helena Stinchcomb. I serve in senior leadership here at The People’s Information firm.

SH: It’s very nice to meet you. How has the Ghosting Phenomenon impacted you?

HS: Do you mean personally, or professionally?

SH: Oh, uh— both, provided you’re up to speaking to them.

HS: Sure, I’ll start with personally, since that’s less complex. A few people close to my circles apparently ghosted, but I’ve yet to have anyone in my innermost circles ghost, themselves.

SH: That’s fantastically fortunate, given the numbers.

HS: [laughs] Yeah, I guess you could say that. It’s hard to trust the numbers anymore, though.

SH: How do these people in your circles spend their time?

HS: [hesitating] I— you know, I’ve been so absorbed in my work lately, I really should reach out to them and ask instead of answering that at this time.

SH: Sure thing, thank you for that. Let’s talk about work, then. How has the Ghosting Phenomenon impacted workflow?

HS: Honestly, it’s mostly the same. Lots of people are hiding out in their homes, and are trying to work less at times like this. This, as you can imagine, drives their web usage way up. We’ve since fortified our model for online communications with clients so they never have to meet us in-person. This is the perfect recipe for helping them earn some money just by using the internet.

SH: Have you, personally, been able to reap any benefits as a result of your strong model’s success?

HS: Well, I’m in the process of giving everyone else in this office a sizable raise to recognize our efforts.

SH: That’s fantastic. You must be very proud of your team.

HS: Thank you, I am.

SH: How many folks did you say are in-office, today?

HS: Hmm, I’d say probably just under 30.

SH: All holed up in their office, I take it?

HS: Some of them are a little concerned with ghosting and are isolating there, yes, but not all of them.

SH: What of the others? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else here yet, today.

HS: [briefly hesitating] I haven’t seen many, but our receptionist Patricia waved to us just in the door. You must have just missed her.

SH: Ah, I see— my mistake. Maybe I’ll catch her once we’ve finished up here and apologize for that.

HS: I think you’d love her— she’s always smiling. Very sweet woman.

SH: So, enough about business— what do you do when you’re not working?

HS: [laughs] Sleeping? We keep pretty busy here, so I work long days, six days a week.

SH: So you just hang loose on your one day off?

HS: Typically, yes. I have three little ones at home— Jack is six, Joseph is seven, and Elena is twelve. They keep me busy in other ways. I’m thankful to my partner for sticking around at home to watch them.

SH: A stay at home parent, then?

HS: Yes, and I’m grateful that she is so willing and capable.

SH: I’m sure she’s lucky to have you, too.

HS: Thank you. [smiles] I like to think so.

SH: If I may ask— [I was cut off by the sudden manifestation of bottled water and small bags of chips on the desk between me and Helena]

HS: [looking at an empty space adjacent to her desk] Ah, thank you, Patricia! Sunny, I’d like for you to meet our receptionist.

SH: [Greeting the empty space] Hello, it’s so nice to meet you. Sorry I missed your hello, earlier.

HS: [After a momentary silence in the room, smiles and chuckles] That’s excellent, Patricia. Thanks so much for bringing this by!

(As if some invisible entity had left the room, Helena’s attention returned to the interview.)

HS: Sorry, what were you saying?

SH: No worries. I was going to ask if you could speak on your perspective of the Ghosting Phenomenon more specifically.

HS: [letting out a deep sigh] I think local leadership has been excellent, given the circumstances of it all. I know it’s still a touchy topic for some people, but I’m still certain that there have been massive exaggerations about the impact of the Ghost Phenomenon on society. Am I saying it’s fake? No. I’m saying it was being used as a ham-fisted tool for social control.

SH: I see... Yes, I can see that causing a mass panic surrounding the phenomenon is usable as a strategic power-move.

HS: I’m so glad you agree. I feel like people are going crazy over a phenomenon that has long since passed.

SH: When was the last time you heard news of a ghosting?

HS: [pausing to think] It’s been a pretty long time… Probably nearing two years, now?

SH: Two years…

HS: I could be a little bit off, but probably by no more than a couple of months. It came and went like that. [snaps her finger]

SH: Ah, I see. Well, before I wrap this interview up, is there anything else you’d like to say to my readers?

HS: Don’t believe everything you hear. Trusting people can be too easy. It takes discipline to distinguish delusion from reality.

SH: Thank you so much. Readers out there, be sure to check out The People’s Information Firm if you’d like to make a little extra cash by just browsing the web.

At the conclusion of this interview, Patricia and I exchanged a few formalities before she showed me back down to the door at my request.

Just to make things absolutely clear: There was not a soul in Helena’s office space apart from the two of us. She spoke to thin air when a Ghost had evidently brought us those snacks— likely in response to the message she had sent out earlier. As stated in my previous post, the general work completed by ghosted individuals in their pre-phenomenon lives remained mostly unchanged. I recall reading about bosses who would send emails to their ghosted employees with assignments, only for the assignments to be completed somewhat quickly. These bosses would scarcely receive reply, but if they ever did, it was in the form of an incoherent, word-vomit sort of email, much like many of the messages you might see online today.

Helena seems to have survived this phenomenon by deluding herself into believing all of these people never vanished. Although nothing could be farther from the truth, I couldn’t bring myself to try and question that reality of hers during our interview. Should I have succeeded in casting doubt on the coping mechanism she had developed, she would have likely ghosted shortly thereafter. My hope is that she continues to live happily as such, blissfully unaware of the empty society in which she lives.

‘Til next time,

- sunny hopewell 

----

tags: #ghosting #hope #humanity #nonfiction #bliss #lifegoeson

[sparklyjojos]

CARNIVAL recaps [9/13]

Today’s recap: Nessie the killer, a Dot on the run, and a game of truth and lies.

--

SEVENTEEN

12 Oct 1996 — 18 Oct 1996

LOCH NESS

--

The Trans-Siberian Express crashes into Baikal, but the vast majority of the passengers survives thanks to quick rescue only possible due to Hanto Maimu’s prediction. Drexel Uryakov is declared dead.

A week later Maimu predicts that the next case will happen at Loch Ness. The lake is known for its alleged cryptid Nessie, one of the world’s most famous UMAs (Unidentified Mysterious Animals).

--

[Swap to first person narration.]

It’s a mystery what kills all the people who have gathered at Loch Ness that day, but the footage found by the police in a victim’s video camera shows an astounding scene. From the surface of Loch Ness rises a head resembling that of a giant turtle, nearly twenty meters in length. It takes a look at the gathered people and swipes at them like a deadly whip, crushing them against the walls of Urquhart Castle until no one is left.

After the attack, the three of us leave the Billion Killer skull at the scene and go back to the Morgue, the area of the Sanctuary where we Dots live. I go back to my dark empty room and use the automatic belt conveyor system that runs in the walls to get a drink. Then I watch as the experts on TV try to explain the Loch Ness case. It seems one of the victims survived for long enough to confirm that it really was Nessie who attacked them.

It’s strange that someone survived. Had His Excellency RS predicted that this would happen, or had they somehow missed it?

Dots don’t know anything about who the Billion Killer is, what tricks he uses for the cases, or what his connection with RS is. We are only supposed to leave the skulls at the right places, to help RISE purge the Beasts in preparation for the era of Gods, and not ask questions… but sometimes one can’t help but wonder. Humans live to solve mysteries.

The video footage was surely meant to be found. The sole survivor could have been a planted Dog, or maybe RISE messed with his head to convince him his testimony was true… but would Billion Killer do something as simple as just using a fake witness?

The Billion Killer case was probably designed to seem unsolvable. In this sense it resembled a magic show a lot; what looked like a miracle was just careful engineering and preparation behind the scenes, and all the marvels would lose their charm if everyone could guess the methods easily. Normal people should never be able to figure them out… so the truth can’t possibly be something as simple as a fake testimony.

If we assume there was actually no Nessie at the lake, then RISE had to plant their own Dogs as the victims and kill them in cold blood… which isn’t unbelievable, but I don’t want to think about RISE treating their underlings like disposable tools, even though I’m a Dot. It’s better to believe that the Billion Killer somehow manipulated Nessie, and the ones gathered around the lake were normal people.

Dogs at least have families and friends who would grieve them. Dots don’t have anyone—because we have already “died” once. The previous “us” don’t exist anymore, and we no longer need things like personal differences, gender or age. The same undistinguishable “I”, like characters in a novel. We thought that RISE would bring us into a new age, but in the end we are just tools.

--

[Back to third person narration.]

The three Dots who assisted with the Loch Ness case are called to the Dragon’s Center, where Black Rook tells them they did well and are to go to the Cosmic Room to talk with RS. Seeing one of the Dots worried, he reassures them that it’s the usual procedure.

After they leave, Black watches the displays for a while, paying most attention to the secret live feed of the detective Ryuuguu Jounosuke. Then he checks the progress of brainwashing of “that Beast captured at the Cape of Good Hope”: as always the man in question is lying down with a strange helmet covering his head, all data showing that the process should be entering its last stage.

--

Black goes to the Cosmic Room. RS, as always dressed like a minotaur, already knows what Black is going to ask—why were the Dots left alive this time?—and tells him to go to the Dark Room of the Sanctuary if he wants to know... and if he wants to learn why RS doesn’t worry about the “Pregnant Genius” either.

RS reminds him once again that they know everything and cannot be betrayed. Even if Black is trying to secretly plan something, he can’t hide it from RS. Not that it would matter either way; RS knows that Black has only sixty-three more days to live, and changing one’s destined lifetime is impossible.

“You, Black Rook, the Master of the Sanctuary,” RS addresses him seriously, but then as if correcting themselves says, “no… Ryuuou. Don’t forget you’re carrying the greatest responsibility. Die as the person you are. Don’t worry your head with Ryuuguu Jounosuke.”

It’s been a while since RS used Black’s real name.

As Black leaves the room, he answers so quietly he can’t be heard:

“Mein Fuhrer… lord Tsukumo Jaki.”

--

Black goes to the Dark Room—as the name implies, it’s kept in complete darkness—and discovers headless bodies of the Dots inside.

But only two bodies. The third Dot fled. No doubt RS had already known this would happen. The reason why the Dots weren’t killed on site was so that this one could escape later.

It’s pointless to try to avoid the all-knowing gaze and prophecies of RS. Black knows that. But maybe there is a way to turn those prophecies in one’s favor.

--

EIGHTEEN

02 Nov 1996 — 08 Nov 1996

BOROBUDUR

--

A man called Elfi Geppen [or however you romanize ゲッペン] works as a driver of a cycle rikshaw that tourists hire to get to the temple Borobudur in Central Java. One day, a mysterious Japanese tourist wearing a strange black coat and hat approaches him and addresses him as some “Suzukaze Unomaru”, apparently mistaking him for a friend. Elfi has a feeling like he had heard the name Suzukaze before, but can’t place it.

Elfi isn’t good at Japanese, but fortunately the strange man calling himself Ryuuguu Jounosuke can speak fluent Indonesian. He explains that ever since he was born he’s been travelling all over the world with his parents and naturally picked up many languages. He believes that his native Japanese is the hardest to learn, and in a way could be regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Ryuuguu works as some kind of a detective (and certainly he has a way of looking right through Elfi that makes him feel uneasy.) Ryuuguu says that the way Elfi speaks in broken Japanese is odd, almost like he’s only pretending not to know it.

--

[Second person narration.]

You offer Elfi a bet. If he wins, you’ll pay him additional money for driving you to Borobudur and showing you around the place. You say you don’t actually need a guide, but want to blend in with the tourists, so that nobody will notice you searching for someone—for a man without a name.

The rules are as follows: during the conversation, each party will answer the other’s questions with only lies, but may mix in some true statements here and there. If one person correctly guesses the other is telling the truth, he wins. If the guess is wrong, he loses. They have time until noon.

Elfi agrees to the terms and you start moving towards Borobudur. (Of course, your actual goal here is something else than money. You win no matter the bet’s outcome.)

“Are you Japanese?” Elfi starts.

“Hmm, however one looks at it, Ryuuguu isn’t a Japanese man. Ryuuguu is only a projection of a living person and doesn’t quite exist. Nothing more than a story character.”

“So you’re saying you live in a book? But then why is your body so real?”

“Oh, it’s borrowed. A temporary thing. Ryuuguu actually comes from an underwater palace they call Ryuuguujou. Has Geppen-shi heard about it?”

“Well, I’ve heard about the sea prince Ryuuguu Jounosuke that resides in it, which would be you.”

“Are you Javanese?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m the same kind of person as you.”

“So a story character? Could it be you come from Ryuuguujou too, Geppen-shi?”

“I’m not a person, but a character, a pawn created by an author. I do not come from Ryuuguujou, unfortunately, but I am not quite Javanese, just like you are only pretending to be a Japanese man.”

“Then where did you come from?”

“Ryuuguujou is a castle in the sea, but I came from the castle in the sky. Elfi Geppen is only a temporary name.”

“Ryuuguu has never heard about it. Wouldn’t a castle in the sky be quickly discovered?”

“That castle cannot be seen. I came from there three weeks ago.”

“And got into the rikshaw business so fast?”

“Well, just like you guessed, I’m actually pretty good at Japanese and can reliably get Japanese clients.”

“Is that really true? This question is outside the bet.”

“Is what true—that I can speak Japanese?”

“They don’t necessarily have to speak Japanese in that castle in the sky. Isn’t there some other common language?”

“Well, there’s the R language. That’s what I’m best at speaking. What language do they speak in Ryuuguujou, I wonder?”

“What a coincidence! The R language as well. ...Ryuuguu understands now where Geppen-shi is from. That castle in the sky is called the Sanctuary, isn’t it?”

“...yes, is it,” Elfi says and goes pale, but you pretend not to notice.

You arrive at Borobudur. The bet will have to continue during sightseeing. Geppen seems to be unraveling a little psychologically under all the questions.

(...you understand that. Sometimes, when playing “Ryuuguu Jounosuke”, you take a conscious look at “yourself” and see a big difference between the two, that you really work hard to bridge.)

--

[First person narration.]

I end up guiding Ryuuguu around. He seems to enjoy this bet and getting answers out of me… how much does he know?

“Are you really one of JDC?” I ask. “If you come from Ryuuguujou, why would you become a detective?”

“It was a lie. Ryuuguu is actually a member of RISE, the ones responsible for the Crime Olympics.”

“Was that about a nameless man also a lie?”

“It was true, but Ryuuguu isn’t searching for him out of detective duty, instead to get rid of him for the sake of RISE.”

Then Ryuuguu notices a blind man walking around the temple, so I explain that it’s Old Man Pongo. Nobody knows his true name, so in a way he is nameless. He has spent so many years living the same way every day—walking from his home village to the temple and back—that he can still do it even without sight.

Noon approaches, so it seems the bet won’t be won or lost by either of us. I say that as long as I get the normal payment it’s fine with me. Ryuuguu says that it seems awfully like I’m trying to get away from him, so I quickly add that I just have something urgent to do. Ryuuguu retorts that now it just sounds like I’m about to commit a crime. I answer that hey, it’s Ryuuguu who said he’s with RISE, and the hour’s getting close to 1 PM on a Saturday. Ryuuguu laughs, finally pays me and goes away.

But it still feels like I’m stuck in a story. That man without a name that Ryuuguu mentioned—that’s me. But how did he know that? The IDID he showed me looked real, but what if he really is with RISE? But if he was, there’s no way he would let a runaway Dot like me to just walk away.

Had it all been predicted by RS? Did the Sanctuary make a stop at Sumatra back then specifically so I could run away? Either way, I have no choice but to try realizing my plan to stop RISE.

--

The next Billion Killer case was so unusual it almost got overlooked: a person nicknamed Old Man Pongo fell down the stairs of Borobudur and died. A few tourists claimed that he tripped over a Billion Killer skull, which was then stolen away by a man.

Even though the tourists claim that, I know I stole that skull before the old man could even approach the stairs. The witnesses must have been planted by RISE. I thought that if there was no skull in place, the Billion Killer would lose his perfect streak, but it turned out to all have be planned. Instead of helping, I just became a suspect. If I disappear, nobody will ever know the truth.

I can’t help but wonder—why was this one case so... normal? And if there was no skull to trip on, why did the old man fall down the stairs that he climbed every day?

--

A month later mass media announce that the JDC detective Ryuuguu Jounosuke has died in a plane crash. For some strange reason, I feel like I lost an old friend. Maybe it’s because when they show a photo of his smiling face, I recognize that glimpse of loneliness in his eyes. Sadness behind a happy facade. Sadness of a man without a name. In a way, maybe the person Ryuuguu had been looking for the most was himself.

Then I remember where I heard that one name, “Suzukaze Unomaru”: it was the man brought inside the Sanctuary after the Cape of Good Hope case. The one who had ordered to save him was Black Rook—and with this thought, I realize that the eyes looking at me from behind the black mask were the same as Ryuuguu’s. Not just similar; the very same.

Black Rook and Ryuuguu were the same person.

--

Some time later, as I try to get through rioting crowds in Jakarta, the Billion Killer skull hidden in my backpack like always, I’m violently attacked and await my death on the street. Just another little death that nobody cares for in the grand scheme of things. As my consciousness fades, I recall the events in Borobudur and suddenly realize what truly happened.

What the Billion Killer actually did wasn’t pushing the old man to his death; it was extending the giant stairs by one step. The change wasn’t noticeable to most people, but a blind old man who relied on his memory would make a wrong step and fall to his death.

--

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

[desktopdust]

Phantom Network: Antiviral Renewal

So, quick show of hands: who here has been blasted through a wall before? One, two…nobody?  Really?  Just me? Okay.  Well then, let me tell you, kiddos: it’s not fun.

I groaned loudly as I pulled myself out of the rubble, sounding off just to let the world know it hadn’t killed me quite yet.  My fog coat was caked with dust and grime, but the gunmetal alchemar beneath, though not exactly giving off the same shine it gets after a good polishing, remained intact and undamaged.  The debris shifted as I moved—a block fell on the end of my green silk scarf, pinning me for a moment until I pulled it loose—but eventually I got to my feet, shook the dust from my domino mask, and took stock of my surroundings.  The space could be deemed “cramped” horizontally, but vertically, it went on for ages; it was hard to tell exactly how far, the service lights blinking along the walls didn’t entirely stave off the darkness, but I had enough to deduce I had been thrown into an elevator shaft.  My point of entry was only three stories up, I realized, thankful it hadn’t been any higher.

Right, crazy situation, how’d I get here, et cetera.  A couple days ago, a fellow Phantom Thief who goes by “Witch Doctor” approached me for help in a heist she was planning: our local megacorp MiliGrand had recently unveiled a new miracle drug effective in curing over 200 different diseases, and managing the symptoms of at least a thousand more. Problem was, they held exclusive rights and were selling it for millions of dollars a pop.  Doc wanted to bust into their compound, steal the drug, and get it into the hands of people who need it but don’t have the money to buy a new yacht every quarter, and thought she should get some backup to make sure things went smoothly.  Sounded like a good cause, so I agreed.  It was only after that I found out who else she had recruited…

“Roche?  Still breathing, darling?”

My eyes rolled upward.  Leaning into the shaft was an athletic woman with medium brown skin and bright red, shoulder-length hair dangling around her smug face.  Her alchemar was silver and looked very lightweight, the armor itself being very sleek but accentuated by a knee-length half-skirt and off-the-shoulder shawl, both made of smooth pink fabric.  In answer, I let out a loud sigh.

“Excellent,” she said.  “Say, while you’re down there, be a dear and get us into the bottom level, would you? No point in going the long way and wasting even more time.”

“Wonderful suggestion, Kari,” I said.  “I’ll get right on that.”

Kari winked before ducking out into the hall.  Resigning myself to my task, I faced the wall and activated my alchemar, beginning the delicate process of manipulating the force of gravity acting on it.

See, I’ve worked with Kari a handful of times prior to this, and every single one has ended in me getting screwed over in one way or another.  When we sabotaged the test run of an elites-only bullet train, she used me as a distraction so she could rob the facility’s safe on the way out.  When we were contracted to recover a list of museum exhibits, she swapped my list with a fake, made me look like a fool just to be sure she was the only one building goodwill with the client.  Hell, she more or less left me to die the last time I saw her, yet here she was, spewing the same fake charm as ever like none of that had ever happened.  She hasn’t changed, and I doubt she ever will.

Still.  There were a lot of people who needed this drug.  I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave them to it just for the sake of my own comfort.

I curled my fingers as I finished bending the gravitational fields.  Taking a step back, I willed the centermost field I had created to head in the same direction; the wall shuddered, bulged slightly, and finally gave, a huge circular chunk of it floating out to reveal the hall on the other side.  Carefully setting down the hunk of wall, I deactivated my alchemar and looked back up to where I had entered the shaft.  Kari leaned against the side of the opening, polishing her gauntlet as she waited.  Next to her stood Witch Doctor, a woman of similar age and skin tone who looked a touch more frail, face obscured by a surgical mask and massive glasses with blacked-out lenses.

“You sure you’re ready to be on your feet, Doc?” I asked.  “You took some pretty bad hits in that scrap just now.”

She straightened the faded gray robe she wore, almost covering the scorch marks on the thin, pale blue alchemar beneath.  “I’ll be fine, Roche, thank you.  We can’t afford to waste any time.”

Doc shakily held one arm out.  Just as I was about to say something, Kairi tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Allow me.”

Without waiting for a response, she scooped up Witch Doctor and jumped down to the bottom of the shaft.  Doc panicked a little, and honestly, so did I; Kari seemed to be enjoying that fact. I said, “Yeesh, would you take it easy?”

Brushing right past me (and still carrying Doc), Kari said, “You heard her: we can’t afford to waste any time.  Besides, weren’t you concerned about her health?  This way she doesn’t have to strain herself.”

“Yeah,” I grumbled as I followed her into the hall, “and instead you give her a heart attack…”

“Oh, need you be so dramatic?  You’re fine, aren’t you, Doctor?”

Doc didn’t respond.  Craning my neck, I could see she was still staring up at Kari; hard to be sure of much else with her whole face covered, but if I had to guess she was having some difficulty processing what was going on.

Kari chuckled.  “Adorable.”

“Hey, give her some space to breathe.”

Throwing a smirk over her shoulder, Kari asked, “My, is that jealousy I hear?”

“Hah!  Maybe Doc can check your hearing once we get back.  It’s this way, right?”

Somehow I was fortunate enough to have relative quiet the rest of the way to the lab.  The first door didn’t look particularly fancy, just a sliding metal door with a scanner next to it.  Once Kari finally set Witch Doctor down and let her regain her bearing, the Doc reached into her robe and pulled out an eyeball.  I turned back to the door and--

...Wait.

No, yes, that was an eyeball she was holding.  My shock was apparent, it seems, because she said, “Don’t worry, it’s synthetic.  Pardon me.”

She held the very real-looking but apparently fake eyeball up to the scanner, and a few seconds later the door slid open.  Putting the eye away, Doc peered into the next room, and I did the same: it was a pretty spacious square of a chamber, though probably not as big as it looked since it was entirely empty.  On the far wall was a much bigger, more imposing, cooler-looking door than the one we were currently poking through, flanked by a series of panels that blinked and beeped sporadically.

“Alright,” Doc said.  “The bulk of the floor here is made of pressure plates, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to obtain accurate data on the safe path through them.”

“Easy,” Kari said.  “I’ll just zip right across.”

She took a step forward, but Witch Doctor shook her head furiously.  “No, wait!  If the plates recede for even a fraction of a second, an alarm will trigger!”

“Mmm...how small a fraction?”

“You want to burn your entire charge right here?” I asked.  “This is what I’m here for.  I’ll change you and Doc’s personal gravity and you jump over the plates.”

“Oh? So our fate will be in your hands?”

That’s real damn rich coming from her.  “I’ll keep a close watch as you go and make alterations if needed.  Hurry up and get ready.”

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Kari stepped just into the room along with Doc. I switched on my alchemar, using its power to loosen gravity’s hold on the two of them just a bit.

“Go.”

Kari put a bit too much into her jump—I had to act quickly to increase her gravity slightly and prevent her from smacking into the ceiling. (Which I mean, is something I’d like to see, but...time and a place for everything.) Doc, on the other hand, didn’t give quite as much of a push as I expected, so I had to reduce the pull on her even further at the same time.  It wasn’t easy, but in the end I managed.  Both of them landed right in front of the other door, and Doc immediately pressed her ear against it, alchemar lighting up.

She may not be much of a fighter, but Witch Doctor has a precision control over her alchemar the likes of which I’ve never seen.  Metal is her preferred element, usually for creating scalpels out of thin air to be 100% sure they’re sterile, and she’s trained herself to manipulate all the moving parts of nearly any physical lock.  From what she’s told me, though, it uses up a lot of the armor’s energy, and she was already wounded—I guess she expected something like this could happen, which is why she brought the fake eye for the first door. This one must’ve needed a password or something else she couldn’t circumvent.  Whatever the case, it was open in no time flat.

I couldn’t see much of the lab from where I stood, but as soon as the door was open Kari slipped inside moving at inhuman speeds.  Mere moments later she was back, holding in her hands a small tube containing roughly a dozen white pills.  I winced, waiting to see if she had set off some other security measure with her impatience, but fortunately no such thing occurred.

“Anything else while we’re here?” Kari asked.

Doc took the tube in her hands, beaming through her mask.  “Finally...we can do so much good with this!”

Now doesn’t that just warm your heart.  Well, not for Kari, judging by the way she was looking back into the lab with an air of appraisal.

“Okay,” I said, “we got our mark, now let’s get the hell out of here. Ready?”

I got them back across the room and turned to leave.  About three steps past the door, a piercing alarm went off. This sort of thing is so frustrating, really: this constant blaring noise throws off your focus, and there’s usually some flashing red light that distracts you too.  Not to mention it means you’ve kinda failed and put your whole job (and potentially life) in jeopardy.

“What?  How?!” Doc asked, clutching the tube tightly to her chest.

“Those guards we battled earlier must’ve regained consciousness,” Kari said. “Best we get moving, hm?”

I’d like to think this is her fault somehow.  Regardless, moving was indeed the best idea at this juncture, so the three of us dashed back towards the elevator shaft only to be cut off by a wall of security guards who immediately opened fire.  Doc and I deflected their bullets while Kari threw both hands forward and exerted her own power.  Instantly, time froze for the guards, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to hold so many for long.  And we still didn’t know what might be waiting for us past this point…

“Split up,” Kari said through clenched teeth.  “I’ll draw them back towards the lab!”

That didn’t sit well with me.  But, Doc was already moving, and I certainly didn’t want to still be standing here when these trigger-happy twits rejoined us in normal time, so I ran off down a side hallway and hoped for the best.  Soon I could hear the gunshots resume.  Up ahead I could see a large vent in the ceiling, so I reversed gravity to land next to it and climb inside; a bit of crawling later and I emerged in the same elevator shaft as earlier.  I quickly hopped back up to the wall I had been blown right through and prepared to retrace my steps.  That’s when I saw something that brought me to a screeching halt.

The three alchemar-equipped guards we had been fighting earlier?  They were still out cold, strewn across the room at random.  No way they were the ones who sounded the alarm, as Kari had suggested.  Isn’t that suspicious.

“All units, co—"

A radio clipped to one of the downed guards was bursting with sound and static. Snatching it up, I adjusted the dial to get a clearer signal.

“Repeat: intruder has doubled back towards main elevator!  Requesting backup!”

I ground my teeth in anticipation.  Sure enough, it was only a matter of seconds before Kari came bounding out of the shaft, stopping short with wide eyes when she spotted me standing there.

“What’s up, Kari?” I asked.  “Looks like it wasn’t these pricks who set off the alarm.  Got any other ideas?”

Kari put on a smile as she casually walked off to the side.  “Roche...didn’t expect you to head this way.  Well, uh, who knows?  Maybe someone spotted them, or…”

She trailed off as she realized I was increasing gravity on her.  “Or.  Maybe someone with a time-bending alchemar moved so quickly she was able to tap a pressure plate before her associates had a chance to notice.”

The next instant, Kari was right in front of me pressing a gun into my forehead. “Fascinating theory.  Supposing it’s true, what would you do next?”

“Oh, I don’t know, ask her to explain her evil plan probably.”

“Hehe, ‘evil’?  That’s adorable.  You’re expecting something far more elaborate than what your associate is going for, darling.”  She tapped her skirt with her free hand.  “I just pocketed half the pills I found.  It’ll take the good doctor a bit to reverse-engineer them, and in the meantime, I’ll be able to turn a profit unloading my own inventory.”

I should’ve expected as much, really.  Gritting my teeth, I said, “I dunno, still sounds pretty evil to me.”

Kari rolled her eyes.  “Oh, lighten up, Roche.  Look at it this way: a few people are going to have access to the drug a little sooner than planned, and at a lower price than MiliGrand is asking.  Is it so wrong that I get a little bonus out of it?”

“You really don’t get it.”

Nearby yelling alerted us to the approaching guards.  Kari pulled back with a smirk, and the two of us dashed back towards the entrance we had used, narrowly avoiding bullets all the way. Kari stayed more than a few steps ahead—doubt she would have heard me even if I had said anything.  Eventually we made it to the meetup point, finding Doc already waiting there, exuding relief at the sight of us.

“I’m so glad you two are okay!” she said.  “That was a close call, wasn’t it?”

“Nothing to worry about, darling,” Kari said.  “Escaping a place like this easy for any proper Phantom Thief.”

“Yeah,” I said, “and you too, I guess.”

Twirling her gun in her hand, Kari said, “Goodness, Roche, no need to be so petty. Let’s go back to HQ and celebrate a job well done.”

I turned to Witch Doctor.  “She pocketed some pills.”

Pain.  Thankfully alchemars’ protective fields can be left on even when the main power isn’t active, keeping us alive when greedy assholes shoot us in the side of the head, but the bullet still hurts like hell.

“You just had to spoil the good mood, didn’t you?” Kari said.

Doc jumped and backed away.  “K...Kari! What are you doing?!”

“I gave him fair warning, and it’s not like he’s dead.  Look at what you’ve done, Roche: she’s distressed.”

It might not have been quite on par with getting blasted through a wall, but getting shot still proved enough to push me over my limit.  “Kari, why the hell did you even join the Phantom Network?! If you’re only in this for the money, then you don’t understand what sets us apart from the elite bastards we’re stealing from!”

Kari seemed unimpressed by my display.  “I’m sorry, have I hampered your noble cause in any way?  It’s not as though I’ve taken all the pills for my own, or swapped them out with fakes or any such thing.  I’m simply—"

“Securing more money for yourself, I know.  You weren’t satisfied with what Doc had already promised you, so you didn’t see anything wrong with helping yourself to whatever else you wanted.”

“No, I don’t.  As I just said, the numbers—"

“It’s not about the damn numbers!  That’s my entire point!  We may need to turn a profit to make ends meet, but the rest of us are doing this because we care about what the Phantom Network represents! We’re surviving this system to do our part to bring it down, but you’re trying to use it for your own benefit!”

She shot me again.  I didn’t really care.

“You don’t even know what ‘honor among thieves’ means.  You’re just a common criminal who doesn’t care about anyone but herself!”

Kari was taking aim for a third shot when Witch Doctor shouted, “Stop!  That’s enough!”

We both went still.

“...Please.  Let’s just head back.  All that really matters is that we’ve got the drug.  I don’t…”

She trailed off.  My frustration had waned a bit by now, so I was actually feeling just a little bit guilty. Kari holstered her gun and said, “Excellent idea.  Shall we, Roche?”

Tempting.  Quite tempting.  “Fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

And I did.  Doc paid us and got right to work reverse-engineering the drug, and in less than a week she was taking it to contacts in medical facilities around the world.  I’m sure Kari had sold out her inventory well before then.  Much as she pisses me off, the fact is that what she does just isn’t any of my business, so I’m not gonna tattle on her to the Network Admin or anything. But there’s no way in hell I’m working with her again.  Even a wonder drug wouldn’t be enough to get her to change.