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leebrontide · 1 year ago

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Secondhand Origin Stories, Chapter 13

Here's this week's chapter! Reblogs welcome!

For those of you just joining us, I'm posting a chapter a week of my free near future scifi/low neon cyberpunk YA/NA novel, Secondhand Origin Stories, which has been described as

"-a character driven, compelling story full of family, queerness, corruption, brain altering nanites, secretly teen parenting AIs, and taking aspects of the superhero genre to their very human and rarely-explored natural conclusions."

For an index of already uploaded chapters that hopefully I will remember to update, content warnings and more, check here:

You can follow along by following #SHOSweekly

Chapter 13

Opal had no idea how to bring up the day’s revelations to the tower kids. Yael wasn’t even back yet, but Issac was absorbed in his tablet, obviously hard at work for his evil overlord, with a stack of energy drinks on the coffee-table-slash-trunk. Jamie was perched on the back of one of the couches, watching the news.

Opal didn’t know what to do, so she settled on pulling out her gym clothes. They needed washing. Somewhat urgently. She’d have to head back to the laundromat soon.

Did she even need these? If she wasn’t going to be a superhero, she didn’t need to train to fight.

Plodding footsteps heralded Yael’s arrival, sweaty and slouching so badly xe was almost a normal person’s size. Xe closed the door behind xyr, then slowly lay down on xyr back on the concrete floor. “I hate heat.”

Jamie climbed over the sofas towards xyr while Issac got up and went to the fridge. Opal cocked her head to the side. It was completely gross outside. But-- “Don’t you have literal ice powers? Like, aren’t you pretty much immune to heat?”

“Only when my exoskeleton is out. Otherwise, heat is my nemesis.”

“I thought you said cars were your nemesis.” Yesterday, xe’d had to ride here in the back of Aldis’s truck. Xyr larger-than-life frame didn’t fit in the cabin.

“Heat. Cars. Also diet pop and actual evil.”

Issac strolled over and handed a huge Gatorade to Yael, who took it wearily. Well, if Yael’s genetic lineage was secret, xe couldn’t walk around all silver, could xe? Even if refraining meant risking dehydration or heatstroke or something.

Yael shoved xyrself up, leaving a surprisingly complete puddle, and chugged the whole drink in one go. Oh, the joys of Midwest summers. Xe lay back down, and turned xyr head towards Opal. “I need a pizza and a break before we train. Ugh, I miss the pool.”

The VIP suite itself was fully air conditioned and humidity-controlled-- the building housed delicate antiques, and any VIP suite residents got the same thing as a fringe benefit. Yael would cool down soon. There was a bigger concern. “Do we need to train?”

Yael looked at Opal, and then sighed, closing xyr eyes. “Well, I still need lessons…?” Everybody looked at Issac.

He made a face. “You guys can obviously talk to me with the contacts in. Why would you bother?”

Jamie answered. “Because you obviously hate them. Plus, you can’t wear them all the time. I don’t think you should be sleeping in them.”

Oops, had he been? She hadn’t noticed. He seemed like someone who didn’t read the instructions. “Oh, you should definitely not be sleeping in those,” Opal agreed wearily. “One eye patch is cool. Two eye patches, less so.”

Yael piped up with a serious tone from xyr floor puddle. “It has puns. American Sign Language has built-in puns.”

“I am not tempted by puns,” Issac objected with an attempt at contempt.

“Liar,” Jamie answered promptly.

Ah-ha. So puns were the key. “The sign for ‘pasteurized’ is the sign for ‘milk’ passed in front of your eyes.” She demonstrated. He tried so hard not to smirk. Bless his heart.

She liked these guys. Even Issac. That made this all that much harder. “Look,” Opal continued, “I’ll help if you want, while I’m still in Chicago. But it’s up to you.”

Jamie, who unfortunately was still adorable by the bright light of day, watched her sadly. “You’re really leaving?”

Yael put xyr hands over xyr eyes and made a rough and sudden noise of frustration. Opal startled. Issac scowled, probably trying to figure out if his contacts were mistranslating or not. Jamie leaned over the back of the couch.

Yael sat up with a sweeping gesture. “But you’re good! You’re brave and selfless and moral!” Xyr voice was raising, and xyr eyes looked suspiciously shiny. “If you’re quitting--”

Opal was beyond startled by Yael’s vehemence. “It doesn’t mean you can’t--”

“Yes it does! You’re a real hero! You were gonna fight Ezekiel, by yourself with no support, to save a girl you didn’t even know! If you think the APB is too corrupt-- and you know more about what they’re doing than I do--”

Well, one benefit of giving up her lifelong dream was that she wouldn’t have to worry about how mad Helix would be if Opal accidentally talked Yael out of being a superhero. LodeStar had been waiting for Yael to replace him. Now, maybe xe never would. Opal hoped she hadn’t just made things worse.

Issac attempted to console his sibling. “Yael, you’ve been studying the APB since you were like eight.”

“But I didn’t know anything about the prison, not really--”

“The prison,” Issac interrupted, standing a little straighter, “isn’t exactly what it sounds like.” He shot a challenging look at Opal. “They hired me-- and at a very competitive rate, by the way-- to help with rehabilitation.” He looked at his siblings. “You know what that brain injury did to Jenna. Lasansky wants to treat the inmates with head injuries, so they can go back home. Be safe to join society.”

Bull. Shit. “Nuh-uh. No way,” Opal challenged immediately. “They don’t give a crap about the health of the people stuck in there.”

“They care about recidivism,” Issac answered with a tinge of triumph he had not earned. “Preventing second offenses.” Such bullshit.

Yael dragged xyrself back up unenthusiastically. “Nodiah does care about that. He was so angry about the pilot having been recently released early from his sentence.”

Opal’s mouth dropped open. “Early release?” Opal repeated. “That’s-- they never even do that!” She’d never heard of anyone getting out early. If anyone should qualify for that, it should be her daddy. Her nails dug into her palms.

Yael tilted xyr head to the side. “Really?” Opal nodded stiffly, and xe frowned. “But the pilot…Eustus whatever-his-name-was…he was released early. And he has to have come from the Detroit prison.” Yael’s eyes went wide with horror. Xe looked at Issac. “Could Lasansky afford a jet?”

Opal didn’t wait for Issac to answer or to figure out what Yael was talking about. “Yes. They make a fortune off government contracts and prison labor. They’re loaded.”

Yael took a deep, slow breath, gears clearly turning in xyr head. “OK. Nodiah told me Lasansky is a suspect. For something. He’s being investigated-- I thought it was because he’d hired Issac-- but he had access to the pilot, he had access to a jet…what if Nodiah thinks he’s the mastermind behind the attack on the tower?”

“The news said they couldn’t figure out how the pilot had access to a jet,” Jamie added cautiously.

Opal looked at Issac-- the one injured, and the one working for the maybe-suspect. Issac was already shaking his head, but one hand was drifting up to his ear, and he looked haunted. “No. No, guys, you’re being paranoid. Lasansky’s got no reason to want to blow us up, or deafen me, or any of this. Without superheroes, he’d be out of a job. None of you even trust Bridgewater. Even if Bridgewater does think that, it doesn’t make it true. If more people are getting put in prison than they should, it’s on Bridgewater, not Lasansky.”

As if it had to be one or the other. Opal looked at Yael. “What did Bridgewater actually say when he saw you today?”

“Mostly it was a bunch of stuff about needing to look good in front of people and…”

“And?”

“…and making sure to separate Issac from Lasansky before--” Xe winced. “Before he gets too much blood on his hands.”

Opal felt a chill.

Issac snapped, “I am trying to help people!” Opal jumped. She recognized his defensive, angry posture from when he yelled at his mom. This really got under his skin. He almost looked on the verge of crying. And since he wasn’t planning to use his creepy tiny robots on himself…he must really be thinking about what they could someday do for other people. Jamie put a hand on his shoulder.

So Issac was trapped between two powerful men who Opal loathed. The demonstrably horrible jerk who profited off of other people’s forced prison labor, and the demonstrably horrible jerk who was funneling people into Lasansky’s hands. But it didn’t make sense. “Why would those two even be fighting? They’re a perfect parasitic match.”

Her answer came in disorienting surround-sound from all their phones and tablets. “I have an idea.” It was Martin. “The APB just released some press about a new bill being proposed by Secretary Bridgewater on Monday. He is calling it an ‘anti-recidivism’ measure, and it’s aimed at reducing the number of superheroes and prison beds required.”

“What’s the bill?” Jamie asked.

Silence. Issac frowned. “Martin? You there?”

Martin was quiet, apologetic. “It’s a ‘reform’ to sentencing laws for altereds. It…would make any violent crime eligible for the death penalty. In some cases it could be retroactively applied.”

Daddy. It felt like being kicked right through her ribs.

Officially, he was “dangerous.” A violent criminal. No. She felt a crashing tsunami-swell of anger as she spun towards Yael. “Your uncle’s trying to kill my dad!” She knew this wasn’t under Yael’s control. That the feeling of betrayal welling up inside her was unfair. Yael didn’t even go on the defense. Xe just stood there, shoulders slumped-- looking as helpless as Opal felt, but without matching Opal’s fury.

Opal didn’t know what to do with her rage. She could see the glinting reflections of the fear, anger, and pain lighting her skin refracting off the tears in her eyes. She’d come here to protect her dad and the others like him. Now things were getting even worse, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

She’d been planning to give up, and this was what happened. She’d been so busy worrying, she hadn’t even had time to feel ashamed yet of giving up on him when she gave up on being a superhero.

She hadn’t thought his life was on the line. Not like this.

A butterfly-light touch connected with Opal’s shoulder. Jamie, offering an invitation with an open arm. It gave Opal a path to move along. Jamie was still sitting on the back of the couch. She folded herself around Opal in a protective embrace. Opal tried to get herself settled, but really, she didn’t want to let go of this anger, or this fear. They were real and just, and she wouldn’t recognize herself if she couldn’t feel pain like this. Opal could feel a fast, fluttering heartbeat in Jamie’s neck. Jamie, upset by the injustice, or by Opal’s pain. Opal didn’t care which, in that moment. She put one hand on Jamie’s back and pulled her closer. Not to soothe, but to center herself. To feel she wasn’t the only one feeling. Jamie held her tight.

What would happen when Shani heard about this? Or her mom? Did Daddy know?

Issac’s nanites were supposed to affect Issac’s hearing. And they were supposed to go to Lasansky. Who would they test them on? She didn’t think for a second they cared about head injuries. She didn’t know what they wanted them for. But her deaf daddy would make an obvious target for testing. For them to pretend they were helping. Never mind that Daddy wouldn’t want that help. That he didn’t want or need to be fixed.

They said Issac’s nanites had almost killed him. Who would be there to save her dad?

“It’s just a bill--” Issac started.

Opal drew up out of Jamie’s arms to whirl on him. He flinched and put up his hands, but he held his ground. “I mean it’s not a law. Not yet. People will be fighting this. Lasansky will be fighting this.”

“You think he cares? Do you know how many people die in there--”

Issac shook his head vehemently. “He gets paid per prisoner. This could wipe out his business. You don’t have to trust him at all to trust that he cares about his bottom line.”

“That’s motive,” Jamie interjected, as if the words startled her. “Bridgewater was in our house, the morning of the attack. We weren’t the target. He was. To keep him from proposing his bill.”

“Exactly,” Martin agreed.

“But Nodiah is fine,” Yael objected. “If Lasansky had tried and failed to assassinate him, then why is he still here, hiring alienated bioengineers instead of getting away?”

“Overconfidence? Greed?” Jamie suggested.

“Or he still thinks he can get it to work.” Opal looked at Issac. “Which would mean he has a new plan. Probably one that involves a desperate and alienated bioengineer.”

“Firstly, everybody stop calling me that. And secondly, he hasn’t asked me to kill anybody, I promise.”

“Hasn’t he?” Jamie asked. “Issac, your nanites. They almost killed you.”

“But they didn’t.”

“Because I was there. But if you wanted to use them to kill somebody, wouldn’t they be perfect for it? Nobody at the clinic could find any trace of them. Even after I told them what happened.”

He looked down at his tablet, which Opal now realized had that stupid little thumb drive she’d given him plugged into the side.

“Perfect for assassination,” Yael agreed, darkly.

Martin surrounded them again. “With a little modification they could mimic stroke, cause a coma, or even dementia. I suspect a little further development could make them ideal for torture.”

Opal felt sick. “So you just handed a perfect murder weapon to him.” And Opal had handed it to Issac. Oh, God. She’d made it worse. She’d made everything so much worse. She’d just been trying to help out.

Her attention was glued to Issac as he slowly pulled the drive out of his tablet. “I haven’t sent it yet. I was still securing the connection.” He looked haunted. Good. Let him take this seriously. He looked up. “I actually do care about safety. I do get that-- I just wanted to help people!”

What could she say to that? She really did think he wanted to help. He was naive, but he wasn’t cruel, and he seemed to try not to be careless. She held his eyes with her own. “Then you can help by making sure he doesn’t get that data.”

“This is all speculation,” he answered, glancing away. She bit her tongue. He wasn’t really arguing anymore. He was just turning the drive over in his hands.

“We need more information,” Jamie agreed.

The fight went out of Yael. “He’s being investigated.”

“By Bridgewater,” Opal growled. So, great, even if they beat Lasansky, the APB would get the thumb drive. The same APB that was trying to kill her daddy.

Opal hadn’t realized Jamie was still holding on to her until Jamie’s hand balled into a fist on Opal’s sleeve. Jamie’s voice was quiet, but solid. “Then we should do something.”

Jamie had suddenly turned Opal’s despair into something else-- something fragile, bright, and terrifying. They all knew this moment from every story about every hero. The moment when you decided to be a hero, or a bystander. To commit completely or walk away. Either way, she’d have consequences to answer for.

If they did this-- if Opal did this-- she’d be making herself vulnerable to the same vigilantism charge that lost her her daddy. The same charge that might cost him his life. Even if they won-- even if they saved the day, Opal could still wind up dead. Dr. Tillman promised Opal legal protection. But that was conditional on Opal guarding her kids. Joining them to guard others-- that was no guaranteed pass.

But these three were who she had here. Jamie was tiny, Yael had already attacked one superhero, and Issac was the root of this whole thing. The four of them weren’t exactly the Sentinels, but she trusted that each of them cared about doing the right thing. And at the moment, the right thing was about protecting Issac’s invention from evil usage, and exposing Lasansky.

It was what Opal had already pledged her heart to. Just like her daddy, she had to do the right thing, and hope her family would forgive her if it all fell apart.

“We have the data,” Opal said. “We have the thing Lasansky wants, the thing that has to be kept out of the wrong hands, right here. Nobody else has that.”

Issac looked down at the flash drive. He looked sick. “Bad guy bait.”

Opal nodded. “Maybe I’m not going to be a superhero. Maybe none of us are.” She glanced at Yael, who said nothing. “But I don’t trust the APB and I don’t trust Lasansky. I trust all of you. And I think, together, we can make sure this ends here. That nobody else has to get hurt. If you’ll help me.”

“I’m in,” Jamie said immediately. Opal put her hand over Jamie’s hand, still on Opal’s arm. Jamie wasn’t altered, but conviction and courage had to count for something. And Jamie had both in spades.

Issac messed up his hair. “Oh, this is so stupid... Fine. I’m in. If I’m going to tank my career at eighteen, at least I’ll be sure my tech doesn’t hurt anybody. Else.”

Just Yael left-- the one with the most to gain from the APB. The strongest of them. Xe watched the thumb drive in Issac’s hand. Xe was silent for long enough, Opal started to wonder what Yael would do if xe decided not to go along with this. Would xe call Nodiah? Yael’s voice was quiet and xyr hands gleamed silver when xe answered. “Superhero or not, I want to protect people. If we can do what the APB can’t, what our family can’t, then I’ll do what I can.”

“Then I think I have the start of a plan.”

* * *

Jamie set up the tablet on the coffee table and sat back on the couch. She should make the call before she had a chance to second-guess.

She never had called home, this morning. Apparently, this was the push she needed.

If Mom was talking to her, she would tell Jamie that she was in a strong position to negotiate right now. Dad had to have realized he'd messed up. He had to know he’d crossed the line.

Did he think Jamie had crossed the line, too?

Jamie glanced over to Yael, who was stretching on the concrete floor. Preparing for a fight. Yael wasn’t mad at Jamie, as far as Jamie could tell. But Yael hadn’t actually gotten hurt.

Opal leaned a hip on the back of the couch. She looked grim, with violets and green flashing in her skin. "Couldn't you call Capricorn or Helix instead? I think that’d be easier."

It would be easier. But it wouldn't get the questions Jamie needed answered, answered. "It'll be fine," Jamie assured, her voice hollow. "Besides, he's in charge of the team."

Opal chewed her lip and leaned over the couch. “I hate that I’m the one telling you guys this…but according to Capricorn, LodeStar isn’t in charge anymore. He’s a figurehead. Capricorn says he’s been giving the orders for a while, now.” Jamie frowned as Opal licked her lips, looking at each of them. “He said that the reason LodeStar’s so messed up is because his joints are pretty much destroyed. Even before yesterday, his shoulders and spine and everything were a mess. And he’s taking serious narcotic painkillers pretty much non-stop. My mom told me that for that to work on someone with an altered’s metabolism, he’d have to be popping them like candy to keep them in his system.” She shifted, uncomfortable. “I thought that you all deserved to know.”

Jamie’s mind went blank. It was as if Opal was speaking a language Jamie didn’t know.

Dad was one of the top superheroes in the country-- a force of nature. He could shatter stone under his feet, fly, and was even immune to aging. Painkillers were for pain. Why would someone as strong as him ever need them?

But Opal wouldn’t lie. Drew would never make up something like that.

And it fit Dad perfectly, didn’t it? She didn’t think any amount of pain would make him stop. He’d never complain. He would always keep fighting, no matter what. And if he had to take something for that pain, he’d do it quietly. He wouldn’t want to draw attention to it. Just like how Issac hated the text on his eyes being visible. Don’t draw attention to weaknesses, as if they mattered. Just keep going.

No matter what.

Jamie’d known there was something. She’d known it. She never would have guessed this, but something was wrong.

Jamie could tell this was as shocking to Yael and Issac as it was to her. She watched empathy and anger brawl in Yael’s eyes. She could see Issac mentally scanning years of memory-- testing this new information against his experiences, checking for a fit.

Jamie’s pocket sighed with Martin’s voice. “Thank you, Opal.”

That put an end to any doubt.

Jamie attempted a smile for Opal. “Thanks. I think I needed to know that.” Opal nodded back. Jamie just wished she had time to really process this before she talked to Dad.

She could call Drew, instead of her dad. Opal had just given her the perfect excuse. But that still wouldn’t get her all the answers she needed.

Jamie re-prepared herself, drawing herself up. "OK, everybody else stay out of the frame. I don't want him to get distracted."

Issac sat on his bed, knees up and elbows braced on them, glowering. "I don't understand any of this."

"Yes, you do," Jamie countered, looking back at the screen. "You just don't like it."

Her stupid heart was speeding up. Was she scared of him? No. She refused. "OK, Martin. Call him, please."

Martin put the call through. It rang. And rang.

Jamie stayed put as the others paused their preparations to turn and look as it kept ringing. As he kept not answering.

That scared her.

She was about to tell Martin to hang up with the screen flickered on.

At first, she didn't understand what she was seeing. Dad sat in the center of his couch, dimly illuminated by the screen of the TV he was watching her on. The blinds were drawn, and only thin slices of light sketched the space behind him. Something was off about the shape of him-- unshaven, wearing a bathrobe and pajama pants, watching her with that grave, motionless intensity.

One sleeve of his robe hung flat, empty. The front of his robe was open enough, she could tell his arm wasn't in a sling against his chest.

It was gone. Like Jenna's. And like Jenna's, it hadn't been designed to come off. Jamie could see black and red bruising creeping up his neck from the shoulder, and the edges of a cast’s network at the edge of his robe.

She remembered the sound of cracking. They must have taken his arm off because his collar bone was...just that shattered. His body couldn't support his metal arm anymore. In all the fights he'd been in, that had never happened before. Jamie's eyes tracked back to Yael. Yael had done to LodeStar what no supervillain had ever managed to do.

No, that wasn't true. It was Dad's right arm, gone. A supervillain had destroyed his original right arm before Jamie'd been born. And both his legs. How many times had he been taken apart, in his life?

"Jamie," Dad said. His voice was tight, clipped. Angry? Or just in pain?

She couldn't read him, and had no idea how he was reading her. She'd have to hope words would do the job anyway. "I need backup," she told him, as matter-of-factly as possible.

She could see him try to sit up straighter. Now she knew to watch more closely. While nothing else in his face shifted, his pupils contracted in pain at the movement. "What happened. What do you need?"

"Issac took a job with Lasansky Securities International. He didn't know they were under investigations for the attack on the tower. But we think they’re trying to weaponize Issac’s nanites, and that Lasansky tried to kill Bridgewater to prevent him from introducing this new bill."

"I can be there in ten minutes--" Dad started.

"Dad, no. Listen. We have a plan. Issac is going to try and get him to confess. And we can get it on security cameras. I'm calling you because we want the team standing by just in case everything goes wrong, and to make arrests at the end. But we want you to wait, Dad. You need to give us a chance to get this done. Without the APB jumping in."

"You can't be serious--"

"Yes, I can!" she held up her gauntleted wrist. "You gave me this. This was your idea. Because you know that if there's a problem I can fix, I'm always going to try. And this means I can help. So I'm going to. Even with how you acted yesterday, I still trust you, so I called you. I didn't have to! We have Opal and Yael. We could have just done this ourselves. But we wanted you to help us make a perimeter. Because your home and your family got attacked, too. I...I know you want to help.” Even though his body wanted to quit, Dad wanted to keep going. Keep helping. Jamie understood that.

“This isn’t what I meant. I meant for you to defend yourself. Not set up a problem deliberately. The professionals can handle this.”

“Well, they haven’t yet. Lasansky is going to underestimate us. Just like everyone always does. And Issac has what Lasansky wants. If you come in before we have a chance to help, Issac might wind up getting arrested along with Lasansky.”

That was what it took for Dad to allow pain to show on his face. His left hand came up, rubbing over his face. “This isn’t what I--”

“Will you help us, or not?”

“Of course I’ll help you,” he nearly snapped.

“Then make sure Lasansky doesn’t get away, and come in if we need you.”

“Yael and Issac agreed to this?”

Issac grunted and shoved himself upwards, stalking around to lean in behind Jamie, where Dad could see. “I made a mess, so I’m fixing it. Jeez, Dad.” Jamie felt Issac stiffen as he got a look at Dad for the first time. Hearing that Dad was hurt and seeing him like this were not the same.

Yael stayed off camera, reaching out to xyr toes, on the floor. Xyr tone was curt. “You’ve been training me for this my whole life. If I don’t protect people from dangerous altering tech, what was the point?”

Expressions too cloudy for Jamie to decipher slid across Dad’s face as Yael spoke. Even if things worked, and they all went back to make sure Martin was secure, there would still be a lot of work to do.

“What about that other altered girl? Where is she.”

Opal slid in beside Jamie, chin up and shoulders back. “I’m right here, Mr. Voss. And I wouldn’t have come to Chicago if I wasn’t willing to do what I could to prevent dangerous technology from being used on innocent people. This is exactly what I came here to do.”

Dad let out a long, low breath. “Your mother is going to hate this. I hate this. But fine. I’ll back you up.”

Everybody used to say that Jamie was just like her dad. As they’d drifted apart, she’d stopped believing it. This was what it took for her to feel that connection again.

Dad was one-armed, fresh from surgery, and probably in worse pain than Jamie had ever experienced. If he was taking painkillers that could cloud his mind, it was because the pain was bad enough to do worse. But he didn’t want to quit. He probably didn’t know how. Just like Jamie.

“Not you.” Finally, her voice sounded like she’d always wanted it to. Sure, clear, and steady. The soprano version of his. Her heart rate slowed, and something in her centered for the first time.

It was like she’d been looking in a fun-house mirror her whole life, and had just now figured out that the real world was right behind her. Dad was a mess. He was just struggling to cope. So was Mom with her missing nails, and Solomon with his hiding. And Drew, keeping other people’s secrets when he knew better.

“Dad, you’re in no shape. Send Drew and Solomon. They’ll be enough.”

In another time and place, Dad’s shocked reaction would have been funny. Not much shocked him. “I’m not going to sit by while my kids--”

“You need to take care of yourself,” Jamie said, her words rock-solid enough to quiet him, at least for a second. “You’ve been doing this for too long. Drew told us what’s going on with you. Yesterday, you stepped over the line. If you can’t control yourself, then you need to sit this out. Send the others, but I don’t want you here.”

Dad was stunned. Warm fingers interlaced with Jamie’s, and Opal squeezed Jamie’s hand, down where he couldn’t see them. Jamie kept her eyes on her dad’s.

It hurt him. But it needed saying. All her life, he’d kept Jamie from hurting herself by over-reaching. Now, he needed the same thing. Issac leaned over the back edge of the couch, and when Dad’s eyes flitted to Issac for a moment, Issac nodded, backing her up.

But he looked squarely to Jamie when he conceded with a tight voice, “I’ll send Solomon and Drew.”

Jamie nodded. She nearly hung up, right then. But guilt gnawed at her. There was always a chance this plan could go wrong, with too much left unsaid.

“Dad, I’m not sorry about pulling the gauntlet out, yesterday. But I’m not scared of you. I want you to know that.”

His eyes softened, just a little. Maybe as much as they could. “Thank you, Pumpkin. I’ll see you when all this is over.”

Jamie smiled back. There was too much to do for her to be happy, but finally, she felt like she had her dad back. “I’ll see you then.”

* *

Issac’s attention flipped to Yael as Jamie’s screen went dark. “Well, congratulations. You’re the first altered to take LodeStar out of commission for an indefinite amount of time in like twenty years.”

Xe sat up. YAEL: What?

“They took his arm off. Because you fucking shattered his clavicle.” He hated this. He hated this more than anything. The whole family was going down in flames. He wasn’t supposed to have to see this. “Maybe he’ll get a crate of his own. We can store Jenna’s with the Christmas decorations and Dad’s with the Hanukkah supplies.”

It wasn’t fair to be mad only at Yael. He knew that. Xe wouldn’t have done that without having some kind of reason. But it was hard to face. Yael looked sick, eyeing him suspiciously. Not wanting to believe it. Xe was the only one who hadn’t seen him.

Jamie had taken on a weird, serene look Issac didn’t like. It looked too much like someone prepared to die. JAMIE: He’ll be OK. She stood up. We can worry about Dad later. He’s safe at home. We should focus on the plan.

“Aren’t you mad at him? You pointed a weapon at him.”

Jamie tilted her head, considering. JAMIE: Yeah. But he doesn’t want me to be scared of him. And now he’s actually listening to me. So it’ll be OK.

“‘It’ll be OK?’ We’re trying to lure a potential terrorist to the place we’re living, taunt him with dangerous experimental tech, and the best case scenario has me handing that tech over to the same organization that’s apparently been feeding our dad serious narcotics for years, and has repeatedly snatched limbs from our family. Where are you getting ‘OK’ from that?” Issac still wasn’t completely convinced that Lasansky was the real bad guy, since Bridgewater seemed to be even worse than Issac had imagined, but Issac still needed a lot of answers before he’d hand his tech over to just anyone.

Opal, at least, had some of the somberness Issac felt the situation warranted. And she was holding Jamie’s hand. Huh. OPAL: We can’t completely win this. This is damage control.

A Kobayashi Maru. An unwinnable fight to test your character.

The flash drive was still in Issac’s hand. He hadn’t set it down since Yael’s suspicions came up.

He turned it over, running it between his fingers.

“I just wanted to help people. This could still help people.” People like Jenna. Maybe people like him.

But, unfinished, it was a lot more of a weapon than a medical intervention.

JAMIE: Jenna would be mad you took this job. Even if Lasansky isn’t a terrorist, testing experimental tech on people who can’t leave, who have to depend on their captors for food, and medical help--

OPAL: --And who can’t always even call home. I haven’t heard from my dad since I got here. They can isolate him whenever they want, for whatever they want. You really think they’d just…be nice about this one thing, and only take willing participants?

Fuck. Jenna would be furious. Mom would kill him.

And they’d both be right. Damn it. Progress without ethics was…like the plot of 50% of the science fiction he’d ever watched, read, or listened to. He knew better. But he’d wanted to help. He’d just…trusted the ethics of powerful organizations too much.

And he’d been too afraid. Too ashamed.

He wasn’t going to put anyone else at risk over his damn feelings.

He’d come this far, in less than two years, before he was even 18.

He could always invent it again, someday. If he could create a place and an organization where it could be made safely. Where an agency he could actually trust would do the job the APB was supposed to.

The only way to win a Kobayashi Maru was to change the game.

He got up and went to the kitchen. He made his mind as blank as he could, trying to ignore the way his heart was a staccato spasm in his chest. Just one foot in front of the other. That was all he had to think about. The drive was the bait. They needed it to lure a confession out of Lasansky.

But they didn’t need the actual data for that.

If Lasansky turned out to be the good guy here, Issac was going to be furious at himself for this.

Issac dropped the drive into the toaster and pushed down the lever before he could second-guess himself.

A few bursts of shocked but not especially coherent text blipped up, and he ignored them. He watched the coils turn a deep, smouldering red. There was no turning back now. It was over. He didn’t have to worry about whether he could go through with it. “Sorry, partner. Maybe someday.”

MARTIN: I understand. This is better. Thank you.

That was Martin. They had nothing to prove to anybody. No ego to soothe. Just a pure desire to imagine, invent, and help.

The coils turned from red to glaring orange. The drive case was titanium. He couldn’t break it. He didn’t even trust deletion. But it had no wireless access, so unless anyone plugged it in, there was no way to tell the data’d been destroyed by the heat.

Even if this whole thing went completely belly-up, Issac wouldn’t leave behind a legacy that could be used to hurt anyone else.

The time went off, and the toaster tried to give him back the useless husk of a thumb drive. But it had fallen into the coils. “Yael, can you dig this thing out for me? I don’t want to burn my hands.”

Slowly, Yael stood, and came over to him. Everyone was staring.

The attention was harder to bear than watching the toaster. His eyes started to itch the way they did when there was too much liquid between cornea and contact. His nose felt runny. He sucked it up and produced the best smirk he could while Yael silently took the appliance, unplugged it, and fished out the drive with a silver-black hand. “Whatever. I’m a genius. Make something better later, anyway.”

Jamie looked proud of him, so that had to be worth something. And Opal looked less like she was going to cry, which was a relief.

“And I do like puns. And androids.” He looked at Jamie and Yael. “Think Mom’ll give me a job fixing shitty software for contacts?”

Yael handed him back the drive, and put xyr other hand on Issac’s shoulder. YAEL: Whatever happens, you’ll have us.

* * *

Yael knew that, really, most battle plans didn’t make it past the first engagement. They were more like optimistic outlines than anything.

But their plan didn’t even make it that far.

Issac had sent a rude email to Lasansky saying that Issac quit and would head home in the morning.

Just like they hoped, Lasansky showed up in person not too long after. Just like Yael expected, he brought uniformed, armed guards. Which, for Yael, completely settled the question of Lasansky’s villainy. You didn’t bring armed altereds to deal with a concussed, unaltered string bean like Issac if you weren’t up to something.

So, all of that was fine. Yael was prepared for all of that.

The problem was the tall figure in neon orange who slumped out after the guards. If the orange jumpsuit wasn’t signal enough, Yael knew his face.

“The pilot,” xe breathed. And he wasn’t cuffed, wasn’t shackled. Lasansky was “transporting” him, but the man was obviously not a prisoner. That was more than enough proof for Yael that they were colluding.

He wasn’t as tall as Yael, but still stood nearly a head taller than the rest of them. His eyes scanned the area along with the guards.

A real supervillain. The one who’d taken aim and knocked Issac into the sky. Who’d wrecked Yael’s home and xyr family.

Xe turned back to the garage, where everybody was in their places, as ready as they could be. Xe couldn’t see Jamie from here. Issac was slouched in a folding chair, one leg bouncing. Him being bait was xyr least favorite part of this. Xe’d sworn to protect him. Opal leaned against a truck nearby, almost casual. Yael whispered, “The pilot is with him-- no cuffs or anything. That proves it.”

It proved it to Yael. And by Issac’s suddenly red face and Opal’s stoic nod through flashing amber lights, it was enough proof for them, too. But they needed more evidence than that for an actual court.

“Yael,” Jamie hissed from her hiding place. “Silver.”

Yael shook xyr head. A lot of the plan hinged on Yael staying out of sight until after they had the information they needed. Opal, who Lasansky didn’t know, would stay in the garage to protect Issac and, if necessary, Jamie. Yael’s job was to keep as many guards as possible from getting into the garage in the first place.

It didn’t matter if xe was silver. Nobody would see xyr.

Xe slipped out the back door and ducked into a mound of scraggly shrubs to make xyr way around the building. The gravel and the bushes were impossible to move silently through, but even though it was night, there was some manufacturing noise from the other buildings. That should cover any little sounds.

Xe made it to the front just in time to see Lasansky and three guards enter the garage door they’d left open. That left five guards and the pilot at the cars. Just like Jamie predicted, they didn’t expect anyone here to put up a fight. Xe crouched in the densest part of the bush xe could find.

Then there was a whole new problem. Xe had to wait. Just sit here, with the others out of xyr sight, watching the pilot lean against one of the SUVs with his arms folded and a distant look on his face. Xe wondered how old he was. If he was actually around Yael’s age, or if he was from an age-stable line. What sort of crime had gotten him arrested in the first place? What heinous thing had he done that would make Lasansky team up with him for the attack?

He kept himself away from the lackeys. Maybe he was higher up in the chain of command than them. He was unarmed. Either he was his own weapon, or he was Lasansky’s weapon.

Either way, Yael struggled to stay put. And the damn guards were chit-chatting so much, xe couldn’t make out what anybody was saying in the garage, even though xe could hear voices.

Xyr muscles coiled tight.

If it weren’t for him-- if he hadn’t started it all, xyr family wouldn’t be in tatters. Yael would be at home. Issac and Jamie would be safe. Yael would still be able to trust everyone, and Opal would probably already be a Sentinel.

Yael had killed two men in Hopkins, Minnesota, three years ago. Xe’d done it to protect Issac. Xe hadn’t wanted to.

But it had been so easy at the time.

It was only afterwards that Yael had felt sick. Started feeling those rippling memories under xyr skin.

For the first time, the sense-memory of a brittle, flaking crunch followed by the sluggish ooze of cold blood didn’t repulse xyr. The instincts that knew that violence would always favor Yael projected those memories, and the wet grind of Neil’s bones, out onto the body of the pilot. Like a map to follow. How many more deaths would live under xyr exoskeleton by the end of today?

He wouldn’t be as easy, but there was no way killing him would leave xyr with that sick feeling in the pit of xyr stomach. Xe wouldn’t need to lock the memory of his death away.

Papa said guilt was good. That killing should never be easy. That the fear of guilt kept powerful people in check.

Yael didn’t want to be kept in check. Xe wanted to crush the villain who’d ruined xyr peace.

Xe couldn’t stay still. Xe was shaking with rage. Xyr temperature lurched from hot to cold as xyr exoskeleton tried to cope with the heat of xyr fury. The man who’d caused it all was right there. How could xe care about some elderly bureaucrat with a real supervillain standing right there?

It was more than xe could hold in. Some tiny shift, some grit-toothed breath, some reflection off xyr skin gave xyr away.

He turned to watch the bushes where Yael hid. Yael didn’t move, but xyr mind was spinning out possibilities. See me. Give me an excuse.

His posture changed, sensing danger, preparing for the fight that was feeling closer and more inevitable every second.

He shoved off the side of the van. Took two slow, testing steps towards the garage door. Like Hell would Yael let him get anywhere near the others. It was enough of a reason.

Yael leapt from the bushes, ready to tear the pilot apart. He moved back, and Yael didn’t register the sound of clicks fast enough.

Xe did register the sound of gunshots. Xe didn’t realize till xe felt the air rip behind xyr that xe was the target. Xe’d forgotten about the other henchmen.

Xe turned to dispatch them as quick as possible, but a word ripped through the air like another bullet. “Ezekiel!”

Xe stared at them. They believed it. Just like Opal, the darkly shining silver was enough to convince them that 18 years of death wasn’t enough to hold xyr birth father down.

There were still machining sounds in the distance. More signs of life. More people that might hear that name and believe it. And if they believed it, then anyone seen helping Yael would be at risk from a terrified mob.

The pilot broke rank and ran.

Jamie, Issac, and Opal were here. They needed protecting, but they also needed to not be tied to Ezekiel. Two instincts tore Yael in opposite directions.

Xe let rage cast the last vote, and sped after the pilot, ignoring the sounds of bullets.

They raced through a labyrinth of warehouses and factories. Yael ran harder than xe’d ever run before. Every ground-swallowing step took xyr further and further away from xyr real goal, xyr real purpose, like a tether that might snap.

Yael turned a corner. It dropped xyr into a throng of trucks, crates, and warehouse workers.

The pilot ran through the crowd-- deftly leaping over, darting through, and dodging every obstacle. His prison uniform caused a commotion.

But Yael’s showing up caused a cacophony of falling crates, terrified cursing and evacuation commands. They instantly forgot the pilot. Yael actually paused, first to look for the pilot, then to take in all the fear and chaos xe’d caused. More than the obvious escaped criminal.

In the corner of xyr eye, xe caught one idiot pointing a phone at xyr from inside. Xe scowled at him before xe could think about it.

Nodiah’s warnings rang through xyr head, echoing inside xyr exoskeleton.

This was Yael’s debut-- terrifying everybody. Looking like a monster.

Looking like xe always had, inside.

Xe froze long enough for a few loading dock workers to find their nerve. Xe saw some of them cautiously lifting crowbars, hammers, all kinds of improvised weapons. Xe could just about make out a pitchfork.

It was noble of them. Odds were, hardly any of them were altered. Maybe none of them were. But they saw a supervillain and a mass killer back from the dead, and armed themselves.

If xe went around them, xe’d lose the pilot for sure. If xe went through the crowd, they might attack. Xe couldn’t fight them.

Xe couldn’t cry when xe was silver. The exoskeleton locked any moisture inside it. Xe couldn’t sweat, couldn’t even bleed.

No fighting and no avoiding. One last desperate option available to avoid civilian injuries.

Xe pulled in as much air as heaving lungs could manage, deepened xyr voice, and tried to channel every booming command xe’d ever heard from the team. “Get out of my way! I’m after the terrorist, not you!”

Xe hoped the man with the camera was still rolling.

If only xyr voice hadn’t sounded so wrong.

But they mostly scrambled. Xe didn’t hear any crowbars drop. They cleared a path, only a few of them turned clumsy by fear.

“Move move move move!” xe demanded, running all-out. Xe’d lost sight of him. Had to find him, prove which side xe was on--

The briefest flicker of orange, reflected off a fender facing an alleyway, gave xyr new direction.

Xe found a new reserve of energy, and sprinted after him.

Two turns later, xe had the pilot fully in xyr sights. Three turns after that, he made a mistake.

He’d trapped himself in a dead end, with xyr blocking his only way out of a concrete and iron box.

He turned to face xyr.

#SHOSweekly

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sparebutton · 4 years ago

Text

My gift to @kitua for the Galpalentines 2021 Gift Exchange!

#meant to post this yesterday oops #at least I finally uploaded a picture to ao3 properly #I’m gonna go back and fix the other ones soon #I also apparently never posted the Valentine’s Day gift from last year??#so I might post that later here too #anyways this was really fun to draw #I wanna do the cup cake thing so badly lol #Elsa #Honeymaren #Elsamaren #frozen 2 #frozen #my art #galpalentines 2021

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xrd · 3 years ago

Audio

All of Snipers between round voicelines

#03 #meant to upload these yesterday oops #my tf2

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ask-arthur-and-the-knights · 5 years ago

Note

King Arthur, since Valentines day is coming up, do you have a special someone? ;)

Yay Gwen’s here!!!

#i meant to post this yesterday but it wouldnt upload oop #so just pretend im not a total screw up #spamalot #monty python and the holy grail #holy grail #ask #ask blog #ask box open #king arthur #lady of the lake #guinevere #gwenthur

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mister-weasel · 5 years ago

Photo

when those nightmares really get up there huh

#fallen london #sunless sea #sunless skies #fl #fl oc #sunless sea oc #artists on tumblr #my art #my ocs #oc; nox #meant to upload this yesterday oops

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askthedorkmage · 5 years ago

Note

do you ever think

#I meant to upload this yesterday. oops!#I wanna do tuesday/thursday updates and some inbetween #puyo puyo #schezo #schezo wegey #madou monogatari #ask blog

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prediction-princess · 6 years ago

Text

24/6/18 Dream Log

Synopsis: in the wake of my grandmother’s death (currently living), her house is burgled, as my father and I discover. The only things taken are photograph albums. I walk down a street and see trees and roads, as well as a construction site. There, I encounter a strange man who makes me feel unsafe, I grab a broom for protection.

Symbols:

grandmother: may symbolise hardship; could represent historical legacy and family story

death: the symbolic ending of something

father: requiring advice from others; a symbol of safety, power, and authority

house: Representing the relationship to a person [grandmother]; a garden represents the external persona of myself; walls and windows [shut] represent privacy; a burgled house represents a violation by someone close to me

photograph albums: traditionally, represent a young woman’s want for an agreeable lover; the theft of one might suggest a heartbreak or a lover who is not ‘good’ for me; it can also represent success and true friends but again, the theft of one might suggest failure or enemies

street [walking]: bad luck and worries; to feel unsafe on one, may suggest risk in pleasure or business advancement

trees [green]: can represent new hope, growth, desires or knowledge

roads:

construction site: may symbolise progress being made in waking life

man [stranger]: represents the need to make a decision

broom [not in use; indeterminate age]: thrift and rapid improvement to luck if broom is new

#text #personal #dreams #dream interpretation #free dream interpretation #i meant to upload this yesterday oops

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dreamescapeswriting · 5 years ago

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BTS Reaction || You’re A Youtuber [Request]

A/N: Small warning, Hoseok’s is suggestive

Seokjin:

You'd been a Youtuber for years and nothing changed when you met Jin and began dating. You continued to make more content for fans but it just meant more were coming in because Army wanted to see Jin. It also meant that most of your comments were about him and him alone but you didn't mind, Youtube for you was about the fun behind making videos.

"Are you sure about this?" Jin asked as you set up the camera in the kitchen, he knew how unsure you were about putting him in videos before but you wanted to create content with him for you and your fans.

"Positive." You said as you climbed down from the side, you'd set up on a tripod in one of the cupboards to get a good view of what you and Jin were doing. Another one was set up to capture your faces and another at the back of the kitchen to capture everything else.

"Then let's do this." You smiled and nodded, turning to the cameras and then suddenly feeling nervous, you'd never filmed in front of Jin before. You'd always waited until he was gone for the day or when you did have to film in front of him, it was vlogging with no talking.

"You know you have to talk right?" You stared up at him with a blush on your cheeks and you nodded,

"You make me nervous." You told him, giggling as he playfully rolled his eyes at you.

"I'll do your intro," He pulled you out of the way of the main camera and smiled, you stood at the side arms folded across your chest as he spoke into the cameras.

"Hi! Welcome back to my channel! Today we're going to be doing something different to what we normally do, we're going to be cooking." You stared at him with an eyebrow raised as he continued, turning to you and smiling at you as you shook your head at home.

"She never cooks for me, ever!" He said dramatically as you pushed him out of the way of the camera and did your real intro.

"I have a special pain in the ass-Oop I mean I have a special guest." You joked pulling him back in front of the camera and letting him introduce himself while you got the ingredients ready.

(X)

"Jin! If you even think about throwing that over my head, you'll sleep on the sofa!" You warned him as he picked up a handful of flour, you could have sworn it was like dating the youngest member instead of the oldest, he continued walking towards you.

"Kim Seokjin!" You warned again but he smirked at you, holding his palm upwards and blowing the flour over you.

"You said not to throw it." You stared at him and then looked at the side, deciding on your choice of weapon. The cake was in the oven so you were both cleaning up,

"Don't." He said as he saw you eyeing up the eggs, you smiled at him as innocent as you could manage and then picked up an egg.

"Jin, that's the difference between me and you, I'm too mature for that." You lied but he kept his eyes on you, watching as you threw the egg into the air and caught it with your other hand.

"I'm putting them away, move." You giggled moving to the fridge and putting the rest of the eggs away, he started loading the dishwasher and you cracked the egg over his recently dyed hair, giggling as it rolled off his head and hit the floor.

"Oh, it's on!" He yelled grabbing an egg and cracking it over your head, making you let out a squeal as you ran away to the other side of the kitchen to get away from him.

"Jin! The cakes are almost done, we should stop." You tried to make him stop but he smirked at you, picking up more flour and throwing it at you.

"I hate you!" You giggled moving over to him and rubbing your floured face on his shoulder.

"We have to cut the main cake in half," You told him, looking up at the camera and smiling. You knew it was going to be a mess to edit but you'd had fun with him all day.

"We've got to look sharp." You heard the kitchen drawer open and your back straightened, you stared at the camera with a blank expression.

"Jin. If I turn around and you're holding a knife I'm leaving you." He stayed silent and you slowly turned around to see him standing there and holding the kitchen knife.

"I'm done." You mumbled shaking your head at him and then going to leave the kitchen but he picked you up from behind, putting you on the floor to make sure you wouldn't leave.

"This is your channel, don't leave it with me." You groaned at him and he kissed the top of your head, coughing as he could taste the mixture of raw egg and flour.

"You're a mess." He told you as he patted the top of your head, you smirked.

"I'm your mess." He scoffed and kissed your lips, making you smile against his and then pull away.

"We have to decorate the cake, let's go."

Editing the video was a mess like you predicted but everyone adored it, your fans and Army all confirming that you and Jin were the cutest couple on Youtube and that you had to do more videos together, especially if it ended up with more food fights and puns.

Yoongi:

You weren't sure that Yoongi was going to want to be in a video with you at first, he knew you made Youtube videos and they were covers but he'd never expressed an interest in it. Sure he was proud of you, you were quite big on youtube but he never came out to collab with you until fans started asking for it. They knew you were dating and wanted to see more of you together, the only thing you could think of was singing/rapping together on your channel and you had no idea how you were going to ask Yoongi about it. That was until he asked you about it, he said he'd seen the comments on your videos asking for a collab and he had an idea. You both spent time in his studio, mashing up Ddaeng and 7 Rings by Ariana grande for you both to do together. Using the backtrack to have Hoseok and Namjoon's part there for it.

(X)

You smiled at him in awe as he started his rap, you were on the fifth attempt of filming because whenever you would start you'd get nervous in front of him. He'd heard you sing plenty of times but this was different, you'd never sung together or sang one of his songs. He smirked back at you as he continued rapping, looking from the camera to you as he did so.

"My new addiction." You harmonized as it got to your turn to sing, he couldn't help but stare as you did the small verse, then it was his time again. The rap for 7 rings was coming up and he'd sped it up when you were editing the songs together and he watched as you started rapping along to it, you began with Namjoon's rap and transitioned into the 7 rings one, smirking as he stared at you with his mouth hanging open, he didn't know you knew the whole rap to Ddaeng.

The video went live and it blew up almost instantly, hitting one million views in one day which was impressive for your channel and Yoongi couldn't be more proud. Fans were going insane for the way that he was looking at you in the video, Tumblr blowing up with Gif sets ''Get someone who looks at you like this.'' Every day was something different on your timeline, making you giggle and sent it to Yoongi who enjoyed them just as much. You both agreed it would be a good idea to do a video together once a month or whenever he felt like doing something with you, and he agreed. But in reality, he just wanted to see how much you could rap, and if you could do Agust D just like he could, and he was going to have to come up with some way to see without being obvious.

Hoseok:

The whole reason you met Hoseok was because you were a dancer on youtube, BigHit had come to you to talk about having you as a dancer in one of the videos and of course, you said yes because who in their right mind wouldn't? The moment Hoseok saw you he fell in love with you, he'd never believed in love at first sight until that moment and then when he saw you could dance it only made him fall harder for you. After shooting with you he asked you out, he didn't want to never see you again, he wanted you in his life even if it was just as friends but you accepted and you'd been dating ever since.

"I know the moves Hobi." You told him as you stood in the dance studio, the cameras set up to capture you both. You were doing a dance cover to 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. Your fans had been wanting you to do something together for a while and this seemed like a good dance. You'd spent weeks coming up with a choreography together and it was finally perfect, for the cameras and now you were getting ready to cover it in the studio but he was convinced that it wasn't right.

"Hoseok, let's just do this." You told him but he was reviewing everything you'd filmed previously on his phone and you took it away from him.

"We've got this, we're both professionals." You told him as he looked up from his hand and stared at you.

"I could kill you right now." He joked watching as you walked over to the speakers and got the music ready,

"Kill me after I've uploaded then." You giggled turning on the music and staring at him, he nodded at you and you rushed over to him and got into your starting position.

(X)

"See I told you everything would be fine." You told him as you sat in his studio, reading through the comments on your video together. It had gone up yesterday and had reached 3 million views already, you were gaining more and more subscribers as Army's joined your fandom. People asking when the next dance cover would be and when Hoseok would be joining you again, you smiled as you read through the comments.

"HA!" You screamed making Hobi jump in his seat and you smirked even more at him,

"What?" He questioned moving away from his chair to join you on the sofa, looking at what you were giggling at.

"Hoseok messed up here." He clicked the timestamp and it was a part where he'd missed one step and you'd hit it.

"We're professionals, it was meant to be like that." He grumbled looking at you, you were still laughing only softer as you noticed how it was annoying him.

"Baby, they know how hard you work, it's a joke." But he got up from the sofa and sat back down on his chair, you locked your phone and walked over to him, rubbing his shoulders as he stared at the screen in front of him you knew this was going to play on his mind so you walked over to his door and locked it. His eyes didn't tear away from the screen as he worked, and you walked over to him again, pulling his chair out and dropping down in front of him.

"I'm going to take care of you, okay?" He smiled down at you and you giggled, kissing his hands.

Namjoon:

Namjoon knew you made Youtube videos and he supported you making them, whenever you would put out a new one he would share it on Weeverse for the fans to go and see which meant 75% of your comments were asking when he was going to be in a video and you'd been wanting to film with him for a while but it was hard. Your videos were mostly vlogs because you liked to show what you'd done that week, or when you went away on holiday so whenever you went away with Namjoon you didn't film. You wanted to spend every moment with him and not get caught up in worrying about camera angles or if you'd caught something for the footage.

"You know you can shoot around me right?" Namjoon asked when you landed in Amsterdam together. He'd decided to take you and him on a small holiday together since he was on a break. You looked up from the camera in your hand to meet his eyes, he was looking at you.

"I know...I just don't know if-"

"If I'm comfortable with you filming me?" You nodded as he read your mind. You never wanted to get him on film, you didn't want him or anyone else to think you were only together for the sake of views because it wasn't true. You'd love Namjoon from the moment you met him and there was nothing that would change that.

"I love you, just film whatever you want." He said as he grabbed both of your bags, taking you through the airport.

"Whatever I want?" You smirked at him and he bent down to whisper in your ear,

"That's just for us," He growled to you and you giggled shaking your head as you walked over to a taxi bay, going to catch a ride to the hotel.

(X)

The vlog was up and Namjoon was sat in his studio watching it, you'd gotten home a month ago but it had taken you a long time to edit it. You wanted it to be perfect since it was the first time he would be featured in a video of yours and there was a lot you'd managed to film. Mostly aesthetically pleasing shots of him in a museum, riding a bike or doing anything. Because Namjoon was one of the most aesthetically pleasing people you'd ever met. There was one clip that everyone was going insane for.

The camera was sitting on the table on the balcony, you were trying to get a time-lapse of the view from your hotel room.

"Namjoon, come look!" You yelled as you ran in front of the camera, looking at the couples all riding down by the river together,

"Have you seen my...Nevermind, it looks better on you anyway." He said as he came to the door, spotting you standing in his red sleeveless flannel shirt and some shorts, he slipped a random shirt on and he came out to you, his hand resting on your waist as you watched all of the couples together, planning to do it together when he had the time.

There was fanart of the clip already, people wanting more clips of you both and you made a promise to release some of the clips you'd cut over time but you wanted to give them what you had for now. Namjoon couldn't stop watching the scene, skipping back over it and thinking about how perfect you looked in his shirt and planning his next trip in his mind.

Jimin:

"I don't think Jimin will be home soon, but when he does I'll ask him." You said to your phone, you were sitting on Instagram live answering fan questions. You'd uploaded a video that morning and wanted to see what people were thinking of it. It was something different to what you would normally post on your channel but they seemed to have a positive view on it.

"I'm home!" Jimin screamed as he walked through the front door, eyes landing on you as you sat on the floor in front of your phone, he came over to your side and waved at the camera. You watched as the counter began to jump as more people came to view it now he was by your side.

"Ask him? Ask me what?" He questioned looking at the screen and then to your face, you kissed the tip of his nose.

"They want you to be in a video with me," You told him as the comments started flooding with messages for him and suggestions for what you could do together in a video and he chuckled.

"I don't want to take over her channel guys." He said to the camera and you poked his cheek, he'd always said that to you whenever you brought up the subject. He told you he didn't want people to expect it from your channel all of the time and for it to turn into a BTS-fest but it already was. No matter what you posted there were always comments about the boys or just Jimin and you understood why. They didn't get much content from the boys and they wanted more and as a fan, you understood it more.

"I'll just ask Jin to do an EatJin with me." You giggled turning to the phone and seeing all of the Yes's coming in and Jimin shook his head.

"I'm way more entertaining than him, what do you guys want to see?" He questioned turning to the phone and scrolling through everything, getting you to write some of the ideas down he had when he saw a comment that caught his eye.

"Q&A?" You looked up from the piece of paper and nodded,

"Could do one now if you really wanted?" You asked the fans which meant the chat was exploding with Yes's yet again. You looked through the internet for a quiz while Jimin run off to have a shower. He'd been at the studio all day and wanted to look fresh for the camera.

Taehyung:

"Tae it's not that big a deal." You said to him as he came out wearing a full aesthetically pleasing outfit for the camera. You told him you were going to film a video trying to do a Bob Ross painting and he insisted on being in the video as well.

"You have to look the part." He told you as he walked in front of the camera which was already recording. You made a mental note not to cut it out because he was walking around as though he was on a runway.

"You look like an idiot." You joked and he came over to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and kissing your cheek.

"I will make sure the Bob Ross theory is real, kill you and paint where I buried you." You giggled and pushed him away, he stood in front of his canvas and you introduced the video, explaining what was going to happen and why Taehyung was there. Though your fans had been asking for it a while and you knew they were going to be over the moon with your choice in the video, especially since Taehyung loved painting just like you did.

(X)

Tae finished and stepped back from his canvas, happy with his work and then you did the same.

"I want to throw it into the bin and burn it." You grumbled, Taehyung stood behind you as you both stared at your painting. While Tae's was pretty spot on, yours looked as though a child had gotten hold of paints and started trying to paint on a canvas.

"This video will never see the light of day." You groaned laying your head back against Tae's chest and he chuckled, trying to think of something to make you laugh,

"Let's paint a smile on that face." Before you registered what he'd said he took some of the paint and draw a smile across your face and you screamed.

"TAE!" He laughed as paint dropped onto the floor and you looked up to him.

"I'll do a Bob Ross and kill you then." You laughed taking some of the paint from your palette and flicking it in his direction missing and hitting the wall behind him and making him laugh.

"That was your fault." You giggled turning away from him thinking it was over but he came over to you after dipping his fingers into the paint.

"Let's call it even?" You nodded and stuck out your hand to shake his hand but he wiped it across your face and you stared at him in silence, turning to the camera and shaking your head.

"I will not rise to his childish antics." He was laughing in the corner of the room so while he was distracted you got up the rest of your white paint and silently made your way over to him, squirting it onto his hair and making a run for it, grabbing the camera to vlog the actions.

"TAE! I'LLL TELL YOUR MUM!" You screamed as he chased you into the bedroom holding a red and yellow tube of paint, you stared up at him.

"You wouldn't." You were sitting on the white sheets and he took the lids off the paints.

"We both know I will." You stared at him and shook your head,

"Tae it won't come out." You warned him but it didn't stop him because less than four seconds later he was squirting the tubes all over you and the bedsheets, jumping so he was above you and pouring it over you.

"Why am I in love with you again?!" You groaned as you stared up at him and he chuckled, sitting on your legs and kissing you.

"I hate you." You mumbled against his lips, turning off the camera and wrapping your arms around him.

Jungkook:

Jungkook had convinced you it would be a good idea to play video games on your channel. You only played when you were alone with him and it wasn't something competitive but somehow he'd managed to talk you into an Overwatch gaming match.

"I hate everything about this." You said to the camera before the game started, Jungkook telling you what to do and how to do it.

"Why am I dating someone who sucks at this game?" He questioned once the video was over.

"You love me." You pouted as he turned off the console and stared at you as if he was contemplating that he did or didn't love you.

"You're right, someone's got to right?" You threw a pillow at him and he ran away letting you end the video on your own. That was all it took, you decided you were going to get better at the game, practise as much as you could when he wasn't around and beat him at the camera, getting it all on camera as well.

(X)

"Jungkook please, just one more game and then I'll stop." You told him as you got into another match. The last video went up and everyone loved it, telling you exactly what you were thinking, to get better on your own and kick his ass. The night had come and you were bluffing him, you'd been failing at the game on purpose now and he was starting to get annoyed with you.

"Just one," He told you as he sat down next to you again and loaded up another game getting ready to help you, you turned to the camera and winked knowing it was time to kick his ass.

"You need to go over-" He stopped as you killed someone right in front of him and the moved on to keep doing what you had to do.

"Wait-" You killed another one and he stared at you, making him die in the process and you continued the game. Winning and getting the winning kill, turning to Jungkook and smile.

"Did I do good?" You giggled and he shook his head at you, pinning you down onto the sofa and attacking your face with kisses,

"I can't believe you were faking to be bad all night." You giggled and wriggled from his grasp, turning off the camera and coming back over to him.

"It was their idea." He grumbled something and took you onto his lap, kissing you and making you blush.

tagline:

@yoongisdumplingcheeks @snowy-meowl @lynnthevirgo @yourguessisasgoodasminemate @btsiguess-kpop @lyoongx @mitzwinchester @rjsmochii @kpopfanfictionhoes

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vivdlii-blog · 5 years ago

Photo

#kinda good #art?#art #ehhh #lineless #angel but not really #gold #was meant to upload yesterday #oops #fire

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l-loneybun · 6 years ago

Photo

I meant to upload this yesterday but oops;;

well, here’s a summary of my favourite (or only) pieces of each month this year!! I still have yet to develop a style haha

2018 was... not as fruitful as I’d hoped it to be haha;; I wanted to go for that one piece per day challenge, but barely made it over ~50. January was actually pretty good, but I’m pretty sure that’s because I started stocking up on pieces the December prior. Inktober, where I finally had the excuse to upload non-coloured pieces, I uploaded nothing. I was sort of offput by some of the other amazing works people would upload + midterms I guess;; I guess the highlight of this year was that I got to experiment with different styles a bit ~ !

This year I said I would be moving onto other Nintendo things, but honestly, I’m not sure. Zelda, I have quite a few ideas for; but the PKMN fandom seems pretty... non-existent as far as I know?? fanart-wise anyway. Or maybe that’s because I’m mostly into ORAS/human characters. FE has the heroes thing still going on, which is a source for constant new ideas and an active fandom;; but that’s sort of a double-edge thing itself. A lot of FE ideas I’ve discarded since they’ve fallen out of date...

For those of you wondering: yes, some of these pieces don’t appear in my archive/appear on a different month. In May and August’s case, they were both started during their respective months, but never finished until later. They were the only pieces that I had filed on the given months though;; and I was really desperate to fill this out as much as I could;;

ahhh I really don’t know what to say;; anyway, thanks to all of you for sticking around, especially for your uplifting comments/asks ! ! ! Happy 2019 ! ! !

#art summary #update #tall

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asterinjapan · 6 years ago

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Lucky day

Good evening again!

Jetlag is still there, but slightly improving. Dinner is proving to be a bit of an obstacle, but apparently nausea is very common with jetlags, so I’ll just grin and bear it then.

Anyway, today was quite a bit busier than I’d planned, even though I got a late start. As it turns out, shops open a lot later in Tokyo than I’m used to. This combined with the fact I’m staying in Tokyo and don’t have to leave super early to be somewhere at a reasonable time means that I can probably get up a bit later tomorrow, hmm.

My initial plan was visiting Nakano Broadway, but most of the shops there open around 12 o’clock, while I was ready to go out by 10. Oops. I just went to Ikebukuro station and decided to pay the Parco building a visit, only to find that the queue in front of the Pokémon Let’s Go pop up café was non-existent today. For reference, yesterday the queue ran down the stairs for two floors and I spotted an estimated waiting time of an hour and a half. What a difference a day makes! (Or, well, it being a week day instead of weekend helped I suppose.)

Since I had some time to kill anyway, I killed some time looking around in the merchandise shop before entering the queue of 2 whole other people.

They put a lot of effort in this café considering it’s only up for like, 3 months? At most? I got an ice latte with Eevee and a glass parfait with Snorlax. The latter was served with a spoon with a picture of a flute attached, and the waitress actually played the appropriate song in order to wake Snorlax up, haha. Like said, they sure put in effort.

I had kind of overestimated how much I could eat again and couldn’t completely finish it, but I felt bad enough anyway about eating such an adorable treat, yikes. I got two super cute stickers as commemoration of my visit here and then went my merry way to the JR part of the station.

Going to Nakano meant a transfer at Shinjuku station, my absolutely favouritest station in the whole of Tokyo! Nay, the whole of Japan! (Yeah, typo intended, I’m being sarcastic. I do not like Shinjuku station. Not at all.) Sigh. Anyway, on my way there I noticed the weather was actually very bright – the forecast had said rain for most of today, but that was clearly not true. And so I decided to stay in Shinjuku for a bit and walk to the Metropolitan Government Building (Tocho).

You see, there’s an observatory on top free of charge, and I kinda wanted to go up this week anyway to see if the view had improved over summer. And indeed it had! Once at the top, I was almost immediately treated to a view of the ever elusive Mount Fuji looming over Tokyo. Combined with the haze over the city and the clouds just below the summit, it made for a surreal scenery. I immediately whipped out my fancy lens and I called my own photos ‘obviously fake’ as I took them, haha. It really kind of looks like I just pasted two photos on top of each other.

Anyway, I was so mesmerized by the Fuji I almost forgot to take my obligatory pictures of the Skytree and Tokyo Tower, so I quickly fixed that and wandered around the shops here for a bit. After a break, a stroll past the windows at a little past 2 revealed that Fuji had gone back into hiding again, meaning I got super lucky having seen it at all. After all, it was indeed rainy for most of the morning, so Fuji can’t have been in sight for more than a couple of hours.

Happy with my photos, I strolled back to the station and hopped over to Nakano station, a couple of minutes removed. Right outside the station is the Nakano Sunmall shopping street, all decked out in illuminations, leading right into Nakano Broadway. Nakano Broadway is basically a 5 story shopping complex for nerds, haha. They sell a ton of comics and related merchandise, including quite some stores specializing in retro series. So if you ever considered going to Akihabara for the merchandise, definitely consider Nakano Broadway as well. There’s also a ton of gachapon – those machines that you can throw a couple of coins in to get a random 1 out of 5 or 6 different figurine or whatever. They sure have interesting stuff – Christmas hat for your cat, anyone? I ended up with a pug in a cup, haha. It’s actually a solid statue, I thought it’d be plastic but no, feels like rock. (I’d aimed for a French bulldog in that set, but meh, a pug is cute too.)

Anyway, I had a lot of fun browsing and tried to contain myself, ending up with just 2 art books. One came out so long ago I’d forgotten I ever wanted it, and the other one I’d given up years ago because it was already impossible to find then. So safe to say, I’m very pleased!

I went to a café for some matcha latte and a piece of cake before going back to Shinjuku station and hop on the Yamanote line there. Next stop, Shimbashi!

You see, most of Tokyo is decked out in Christmas/winter illuminations, but some places put in more effort than others. Near Shimbashi station is Caretta Shiodome, which has quite a spectacular layout, made even more spectacular by the shows they start putting on every 15 minutes after 5 PM. They have two, both themed after Disney movies: this week is Frozen, and within a couple of days, they switch back to Tangled. Basically, music from the movie is played (in the case of Frozen it’s obviously Let It Go, followed by For the First Time in Forever), and the lights start flickering and changing colour in time with the music. I recorded the full thing twice and made some animated gifs out of it, but I’m afraid you have to see the video to really appreciate it. Fingers crossed I can manage to upload that on tumblr, or else I’ll owe you one!

Anyway, that was pretty amazing and I’ll definitely be back later this week for the Tangled version.

It was getting pretty late now, but I still had one more thing to do. I got off at Nippori station on my way back to Ikebukuro and went to the Keisei section of the station. I almost forgot I have a plane back to the Netherlands next week, and I kind of wanted to be sure I had a seat in the Skyliner train to make it to the airport… Anyway, ticket secured, I finally boarded the train again, this time all the way to Ikebukuro. I made the full Yamanote line circle today, haha. (It’s a loop line.)

I got started on my convenience store dinner way too late, oops. My stomach doesn’t really like this salad, but at least I also had some chicken nuggets and eggs, so I’m not completely without food. Shame, though. I’d hoped my stomach was doing better today, but although I can feel improvement, I don’t feel confident enough to go out for lunch or dinner yet.

Oh well. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. At any rate, the weather should definitely be nice tomorrow, so I’ll go for some outdoors sightseeing.

Good night!

#report #report: tokyo 2018 #tokyo 2018

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avaquet · 6 years ago

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Twins: A Blast to the Past

Another that should’ve been posted to the day 2 prompt list, hehe whoops. Thanks for dealing with my late shenanigans XD

EDIT: added picture, meant to for these but I kept forgetting when I uploaded 😅

Familial relationship between Sara and Scott, this one is the effect on how looking through an old photo album has on their current relationship. Another shortie, being honest I had a hard time being creative with this one.

Scott scared the hell out of me when he landed an old photo album on my chest and woke me up. “Look what I found!” He said. “It’ll be fun!” He said.

“Scott!” I yelled. “You know you can’t do that shit anymore! Fight or flight instincts, remember? Does changed ring any bells?”

He frowned, “Oops. Old habits are hard to break, ya know?”

“Fucking, hell.” I laid back down in hopes my heart would stop panicking. I put one arm over my face. “Wait, what’s so important to wake me up like that?” I grunted.

I felt him sit on the bed beside me. “Old photo album. Like a traditional one. Not just some documents saved on a datapad or disk. Physical pictures.” He took it off of my chest before the sheets caused it to slide off. “And best part is, it’s Dad’s. Like, not even past generations in this one. Just, our family. He wanted a physical copy of these, I guess.”

I slowly opened my eyes back up, “Like the ones I found in his helmet?”

“Yeah.” He opened the album. “Wanna look?”

I responded by sitting up and looking over his shoulder. “It’s a bit bigger than I would’ve thought.”

He snorted and I smacked his arm. “Yeah yeah, still twelve.”

“We all are.”

The pictures weren’t old and tattered as if they were vintage. They were all maintained very well and look as if they were taken just yesterday. It went in chronological order, like Dad had gotten it before we were born. Each picture had a caption under it, too. “He really spent time on this, huh?” Scott said.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I guess it’s the best you can do if you’re high ranking in military and always away from home. See how most of this says taken by Ellen?”

Scott grunted, “He could’ve left and came home. It wasn’t like we weren’t desperate for money. Mom had a stable job.”

Scott, as time went on, started to resent Dad. “Why did you join the military, Scott?”

He huffed and sighed. “I… I wanted to go on adventures, like Dad. But, I didn’t have a family to take care of.”

“Family isn’t a one man’s responsibility, Scott. And Dad did it more than just adventuring, he was saving thousands of lives. Hell, he made this. And SAM to try and save Mom. He cared a lot for us.”

“He has a damn funny way of showing it. Besides, I thought you were mad at him?”

“I am.” I confessed. “But, I can’t help but try and understand why he did things.”

“This is why I’m concerned for you.” Scott sighed. “Dad was toxic.”

“How?” I interrupted.

“He pressured you into trying to join the military, Sara. Remember when he got so mad that you refused? The absolute guilt trip he put you through? The way he lied to us about Mom, and disobeying Mom’s wishes by bringing her here? You were so pissed off he made you Pathfinder, that it was illogical.”

“I still am. I see what you’re saying, and I know he’s done bad but-”

“But what?” He gave off a frustrated chuckle. “You wouldn’t know toxicity if you drank poison.”

“Let me finish, Scott.” I raised my voice. “Trying to understand someone doesn’t necessarily mean I forgive or condone their actions. I’m curious and I just want to know why.”

“How long will you subject yourself to that kind of treatment just to answer that question?”

You seem to mimic a lot of what you hated in Dad, despite you spending your whole life away from home and from him, ironically that’s exactly what Dad did too… I sighed. Don’t say it, Sara. “Fine, you win. Can we just...look at the album now?”

He seemed pleased and agreed. “Though, I’m still concerned for you. It’s why I kept questioning Jaal.”

“Pictures, Scott. Look! Family shot. All of us in a professional photo shoot. Mom looks so happy.” I nudged him.

“I hope we can get her cured, soon.” He turned the page. “Our first cat. Hah! Lookie, it’s Echo as a kitten. And you bottle feeding her.”

I chuckled. “She was like my familiar.”

“We all knew that.”

The album brought up mostly happy and fond memories, though most of them not having Dad seemed to fuel Scott’s disdain for him more. Which, made the positive side of me escape into the void. “Hey, Scott, can we finish this later? I’m getting really tired, and I need to rest before we take off.” Not really, but, I was emotionally tired.

He closed the album. “Yeah, sure. I should probably get back to the Hyperion, anyways.”

Scott left with the album, even though leaving so abruptly felt empty and awkward. I noticed since he woke up from his coma that there have been changes in the both of us. Mainly me, and I’m not sure if I’m to blame for the distance we’re experiencing. I’m not sure if we will be as close as we once were. Hopefully closer after all of this is through. These are harsh and trying times, we’re all on edge. Not even happy family photos brought us out of a more harsh mood. If I don’t deal with the distance between Scott and I, then we will remain distant forever. If I do deal with it, well, we deal with it, then there’s just a chance that the gap will close. I guess I could try and close the gap, but I see so many parallels between him and Dad, and he keeps telling me Dad is, well, was toxic. Maybe I don’t know? I love Scott, and maybe he doesn’t truly know he’s acting this way? I sighed and threw myself back down on the bed. I’m confused.

#merweek2018 #merweek #Sara Talia Ryder #scott draco ryder #familial relationship #oc ryder

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veterveter · 3 years ago

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Hey hey, it's gay bike anon again! I'm more than honoured to get my own tag!!! I definitely would like to keep talking to you <3 And only love for you too <3

I'll gladly wait for your response to my ask (or asks??? we'll see one day ehehehe)! I feel you, when people cite some of my text messages from a few months (or more) ago I'm often like "nope, nah-ah, that's not me, you're wrong". Same for older essays, I often can't believe I wrote those. And even with things I wrote late at night a few weeks ago, sometimes I'm like "I wrote that? That monstrosity??? Okay, I need more sleep before writing". (My capacity of writing in correct English grammar usually goes to sleep before I do, same goes for varied word choice). But sometimes I'll see this project I've worked on YEARS ago and exactly recognize the pieces I wrote? Since the ask would be fairly recent, I suppose I would recognise my writing style and word choice and since I didn't wrote it whilst sleep deprived (I hope??) I'm setting my chances of recognising it pretty high. But we'll see one day, the mystery will marinate for a while... [I am rereading this in the daytime, and this is EXACTLY what I meant, at night I make the weirdest word choices?? I’m definitely not changing it though because I might find it kinda funny]

I snorted so hard about the way you talked about your almost-name, I'm giggling here like crazy. Apparently my name means something alike 'dedicated to God', but my parents aren't really believers, so gotta love that. The meaning of my sibling's name is 'summer', but I'm the one born in the summer, whilst my sibling is born in autumn, oops. Guess my parents never checked one of those sites/ books where you can find the meaning of a name hahaha.

I love how my ask was so weird and chaotic that you sent a screenshot to a friend. I LOVE that she had no idea what was going on. Then again, I watched the semis (obviously hahaha) but I had no idea what was going on either... But honestly it was peak Dutch culture, water and bicycles, I would just add an ode to 'hagelslag' and voila, the entirety of Dutch culture summed up... [Also: if you don't know: 'hagelslag' is just sprinkles which we eat on bread, yes, on bread, we do not not only eat sprinkles as on cake or on donuts, like in any other country, no, we put it on bread. It's actually a really popular sandwich topping here. My ultimate favourites are the chocolate ones, but you also have them in several fruity flavours (like forest fruit) and anise flavour.] Thank you, perfect chaotic energy is an ultimate goal I strive towards *bows like I'm Victorian royalty or something*

You're absolutely right, it went EXACTLY like that. Specifically, I would be studying for my exams, explaining topics to myself like I always do, so I'd tell myself "The six possible origins of economies of scope are indivisibility, specialisation, marketing, research and development, GUESS WHAT.. SUBWAY DRIVER GANDÍA... ehhh... what was I doing again??" OR: "one of the most detailed and most used models of responsive regulation is Brathwaite's piramid. His enforcement piramid visually shows, nope not important, SUBWAY DRIVER GANDÍAAAAAA" And I'd laugh, continue explaining theories and calculations to myself until my focus started lessening again and my thoughts would wander off again. I am VERY glad I'm not the only one who thinks about it from time to time, and I'm glad you're not suing me for any mental harm yet.

Yess, those pictures I saw from Promising Young Woman look so beautiful and aesthetic!! I'll probably watch it somewhere after the 16th, because I'll most likely have finished my last exams by then. I'll tell you what I thought about it! Thank you SO SO SO much for all the luck wishes!!!! I had an exam last Friday and I absolutely rewarded myself, because it went better than I expected and I passed an earlier exam and a paper too! I didn't buy myself a tricorne (yet), but I did buy funko pops (my inner economist said it was 100% rational because it was a really good deal hahaha). I still have two exams to go, so I could always buy a tricorne for finishing either of those, OR. EVEN BETTER. I'll ask my parents (or my grandparents) for one for my birthday. I mean, that would be hilarious. They'd be so confused. They've never seen S3 and S4 of LCDP so they'll have no idea, even if I tried to explain it. It would be so incredibly funny (and really really weird for them), I am laughing like crazy just at the thought of it.

I've never been in Finland before, but those temperatures do not sound legal indeed. I have no knowledge of Finnish law, but maybe article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the prohibition of torture, would work? If I was the judge I’d 100% agree, so we should all sue the weather sksksks. I'm glad to have brought you rain though (and that I apparently possess the power to do so - magic weather controlling pirate seems like a nice enough job to me)!!! I hope the temperature has become at least somewhat lower. You're right, climate change should just... stop... right away. The weather is pretty weird here, right now: one day it will be super sunny and (at least) around 27 degrees and almost melting away, and the other day it will be raining and I'll be wearing my warmest sweater. Like, why the extremes??

I love that I am able to make you lose your coherent thoughts (that's probably why we have one brain energy about Underwater, because I, too, have the ability to make myself lose my coherent thoughts). I'm glad for your faith in my impersonation of Martín. I even started Duolingo Spanish again, and now know the phrase, "Yo bebo leche" (I drink milk) which obviously would be very important to him. Now I'll just need an Argentinian accent to go with it. Leaning menacingly on a cane would be GREAT, I love the idea. I'll open job applications for a Denver. Maybe my cat could help me, she, much like Denver, is super loud and she is super aggressive towards other cats, so there is potential there. And guiding dogs and even tiny guiding horses exist, why not a guiding cat?

I always assumed I would follow a more... you know… legal... career path, maybe even literally a career in law. But, my accounting professor also showed us how to manipulate financial statements ("so you can notice when people are doing this", uh-huh sure, sure that’s why) and another professor of mine also said that a criminal career sometimes could be the more rational, rewarding choice over a legally acceptable career. So, I suppose I should not be surprised by this sudden change of career plans. I should have seen this coming. And what better way to be able to avoid the laws than by knowing exactly what they are and how far you can go. And if that plan doesn’t work out, the books of law I have (they’re combined in two huge hardcover bundles) are really heavy and you could probably harm someone with them if you hit hard enough… Well, I suppose you can even leave “hard” away, just by hitting someone softly with those books you can bring serious harm to them… Ah, and like that one professor would say: in this scenario it would be a rational choice to become a pirate instead of a privateer. Oh dear, not Arturito :/ Mutiny would seem like a good option, I’ll take over the ship and become Palermo the Pirate. Sounds much and much better than “Arturo the Pirate”, since that isn’t an alliteration, sooo mutiny is reasonable even for that reason. And then there’s the fact that it’s Arturo, I mean, that says enough.

YOU LOVE UNDERWATER TOO????!!!! I completely forgot that you posted that! It seems we do indeed already have one shared braincell energy my friend <3

Last week has been pretty good (except for having to make a test at 9:30, what a godless time, I’m usually barely awake by then ehehehe), I think I aced the test I had, got back some good grades and finally got my first Covid vaccination (and only shortly slight dizziness as a side effect, so that's pretty great). And thanks so much!!! For now I’m safe from Gandía, but somewhere in mid-July I’ll have to take an exam on campus, so I’ll might be able to bring out my inner Palermo then.

How was your week? If the weather is still unkind to you (well, also if the weather *is* kind to you), treat yourself to your favourite ice cream and a break every now and then <3 Do you already have holidays or hasn’t your academical year ended yet?

You’re also right - this is conversation and we’re friends now <3 And I absolutely do like cookies! I would say my favourites are american cookies (though stroopwafels are reaally good as well) but honestly there are only a few kinds of cookies that I don’t love that much. And anything with chocolate in it is GREAT. I do also love apples and bananas, though grapes (which I just had) are even better! What’s your favourite kind of cookie?

Also, I know I have been giving you so many prompts already, but I saw this one in that list you reblogged and it gave me so much Berlermo energy: you live in an apartment with your best friend. the two of you always fall asleep in each other's arms, but one day, your friend isn't there. they've fallen in love with someone else. it's your other best friend, who recently moved in with you. and that's when you realize, that those nights you spent together, weren't so platonic after all. I would love it if you’d write it, but if you decide not to that’s absolutely fine too, no worries <3

By the way, I was going to post this quite a bit earlier, but my laptop (unlike me) decided yesterday night, when I was finishing writing this, that it was time to sleep, so I had to quickly dump this whole rant in Google Docs (it’s almost two and a half pages what the heck) and I was busy all day so I only was able to upload it just now. I swear I can ractually espond faster than after a week :) Have a lovely evening, much love from the gay bike country <3

Heeeeeeey you are back!!! How happy am I to see my favouritest gay bike anon return to my inbox!!! 💕 [Author's note: You can tell I started this reply right away because you've sent me three or four asks since this one and one can tell you are indeed back hahaha]

Yeeeeeees this is how one makes friends!! You know, I was just thinking the other night of how "gay bike anon" shortens to GBA, like the Game Boy Advance, you know. Make of that what you will, but it pleases me to know that you can also have a cute nickname for your cute nickname. Nicknameception.

Yes, exactly that, "I did not write that, and if I did in fact write that.. No I did not." Also, "the mystery will marinate"??? That's an amazing word choice and some day I will absolutely use it for something, just you wait. I think it just goes to show that you should write everything while tired, haha.

Haha I love that naming convention for you. It may make very little sense, but....... but. Also, happy birthday for whenever it is, presumably in the nearby past or future!! Lots of love!! You're the summer child while your sibling is... a summer child, but like, different.

Since you appreciated my almost-name story, I'll reward you with the rest of it: so my name is Tuuli, which is Finnish for "wind". My mum originally wanted to name me Pilvi, which means "cloud". And then she was like oh no this child is not at all serene and cloud-like??? and thus, a new me. I'm glad she had second thoughts, although I wonder if having such an ill-fittingly chill name would've done anything to alter my personality? Nomen est omen and all. There's some kind of an alternate universe where all of that played out, but I'm glad it's not this one.

Yeah either you watched the semis and have no idea, or you didn't watch them and have no idea. There is no way to get what was going on there, I'm certain they themselves also didn't get it. I had no idea about hagelslag but thjipgnhefjpihjo that's amazing, I love that for you!!!! There was absolutely no reason to go there but you as a country just... did that. Amazing. Please have some and report to me so I can live through you. And also, you are absolutely legit Victorian royalty [or something] *bows in return*. Also, I do love how you say "I watched the semis (obviously)." Imagine if you didn't and this entire time I was tragically misinterpreting the nature and intentions of your ask and you were just rolling with it because you've no idea what I'm on about but are also too polite to tell me that. Khhhhhhh

Your brain has priorities!!!! And they're honestly beautiful. Well done, brain. Subway driver Gandíaaaaaaaaaa~~~ My brain is filled with Berlermo quotes that come @ me at random times during the day and leave me just a tad shell-shocked, remembering how it all went down. I'm eating my morning yoghurt and my brain goes yo te propuse fundir oro juntos, and I'm just there like :)))))) Real nice, brain.

Have you had the opportunity to see Promising Young Woman yet? Hhhhh it's so pretty, every time I work on this reply [it's a lot of times, okay, I'm very diligent about this, I stare at this ask and craft snazzy replies in my head all the time, that's why I'm so slow in... actually replying] I'm reminded of that. I'm not a very visual person but the colours and the framing... that was really nice.

I am somewhat glad you've not been to Finland yet, you must hit me up when you come visit, I'll take you for coffee!!! It's actually cooler now (bless!!!!!!!!!!!), the last... four days have been reasonable 14-20 degrees, after four consequtive weeks of 25+. Kkhhhh thinking back to it makes me feel a little ill, but now beret weather is back. I own a lot of berets, dear gay bike anon. I'm going to my university city for the weekend and I'm already wondering which beret(s) I should bring with me. This is an important decision with potential long-lasting consequences. I don't know if you've played any of Telltale's games (The Wolf Among Us and the first two seasons of The Walking Dead are the best ones, fight me), but when you make a decision and the game goes "This character will remember that." and you instantly go oh no what have I done??? That's how I feel about choosing the perfect beret for my city outing. But yes, weather extremes are just the worst. We've been having the longest drought I've ever seen here (it's still not properly rained, for the record, on Tuesday it rained for an hour or so) while in other places there's awful flooding. That's awful.

Ahhh I'm so happy you're continuing your Spanish-learning!! I took a beginner's course at uni in the spring semester, I'm going to take the next one when uni resumes in September. And yes, I'm studying it for LCDP. I mean I love languages in general, but I never had a particular need to study Spanish, until this year I suddenly did. I'm also Duolingo-ing it! Very slowly and steadily. Also, I adore the idea of your cat being your Denver. What's your cat's name??? What do they look like?? Tell me everything, you can't just leave it at my cat, you simply must allow me to meet them. Also, you know why guide cats aren't a thing? Because cats are the worst. I love cats, but you can't just teach them to do useful things. They'll do them if they want to. As I type this, my cat is trying to catch flies at my feet. Her name is Muusa.

I studied accounting for my undergrad!! So I can join you in [[[preventing]]] tax fraud and [[[recognising]]] tampering with financial statements. We can make a totally legitimate business out of it. No but truly, I'm certain we were taught some of those things with the expectation that our future employers would expect it of us. Capitalism is so fun :)))))) And you shouldn't be surprised, academia is but a stepping stone to crime, honestly. Any dark academia book will tell you this. You start out learning Latin and wearing turtlenecks, you end up with murder. That's just how academia works. And you seem to have already chosen your weapon... you're well on your way. :) Palermo the Pirate sounds great!!! I support your mutiny. I don't think I said, but this is my favourite word of the English language. Mutiny. Mutiny????? It doesn't sound very serious. It sounds cute, actually. I love it.

I'm so happy to hear you got your covid vaccine!!!! I had mine a month ago or so - I typed you a reply to the subway Gandía thing on the train ride back, actually. I was really stressed about getting it on my right arm, because I'm left-handed, and last time I got a vaccination (like a decade ago) they insisted on giving it on my left arm and I was sad :( But this time!! I got it on my chosen arm and was very pleased. So anyway, that was a segue. I'm glad you got your covid shot and were side effect -free!!!

My week has been good, thank you!! I went to my uni city for my niece's birthday on Monday, and as said I'm going back on Friday (tomorrow). So this time in between has felt like exactly that, time in between. I started reading Call Me By Your Name. I had my Korean class last night. Now I'm hanging out with my cat (she has stopped chasing flies and climbed to my lap) and talking to you. My holidays started already in May! And uni resumes in the beginning of September, but I'm a tutor for new students so I need to show up three weeks earlier for the orientation weeks. Yes, we do three weeks of orientation (read: three weeks of drinking). It's a bit insane.

Now I need to ask you again how your week has been, since I'm so slow. How has your week been?? Are you free from your exams?? When does your uni resume?

Stroopwafels are so good ahhh I'll have to buy them when and or if I see them. Possibly when I'm in central Europe but haha I can hope to be lucky and see them at a store with imported stuff, you know. My favourite cookies??? Omg maybe these ones - they have this truffle filling, and they're fun to eat (this is important in cookies, you see):

And of course they're Fazer. Because Finnish people have only one setting, apparently. Or maybe that's just me. But all cookies are great, honestly. I like making American cookies, that's always a fun pastime (and you get to have cookie dough, that's like half the fun). I've actually not made them for a lifetime??? Maybe I should, soon. I'll keep you updated. Also, brookies. I love making brookies, they're great.

I really really appreciate being given prompts, I hope you know that!! Thank you!! Consider me pocketing this prompt and maybe eventually some day theoretically getting back to you about it!! You're right - it has Berlermo energy. Insofar as either of them actually have other friends. :)

Thank you for this kind message, dear gay bike anon <3 I'd apologise for my slowness in replying but I think I'd rather you just assume that I'll get back to you, and thank you for your patience <3 Your kind and funny and chaotic asks always brighten my day. I hope you'll have a great rest of the week and just... all the nice and fun and good things and great vibes in life. All the best, dear gay bike anon <3 Take care!! And greetings from Muusa as well - she just yawned and I presume that means "greetings".

#only love for gay bike anon #the timeline became accidentally somewhat restored with this one #I may have intended to reply to medieval snails first - I was writing these two simultaneously even though that makes very little sense #- but I finished this one first #strange!!!!!! but yes all the best to you my friend I hope you'll have a great day and a best rest of this week!!#asks #I'm scrolling to check that the formatting didn't break and the random box of cookies amuses me

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