#night vision surveillance cameras

[nagapoornachandraraoblog]

The Importance of Video Surveillance for Construction Sites: A Guide to Night Vision Surveillance Cameras

When it comes to securing a construction site, a video surveillance system is a critical tool. With large equipment, valuable materials, and high foot traffic, construction sites are prime targets for theft, vandalism, and accidents. But how can you ensure your site stays secure, day and night? The answer lies in modern video surveillance systems, particularly those equipped with night vision cameras.

Why Video Surveillance is Crucial for Construction Sites

Construction sites face unique security challenges. They’re often in remote areas, sometimes with little to no natural surveillance from neighbors or passersby. Additionally, these sites may have numerous entry points, making it difficult to monitor all areas at once. Here’s where video surveillance comes in:

Preventing Theft and VandalismA significant concern on construction sites is the risk of theft. Expensive equipment and materials are often left unattended, making them vulnerable. Video surveillance acts as a deterrent for criminals, as they know they are being watched. Cameras also help identify culprits if a crime occurs.

Monitoring Worker SafetyConstruction is one of the most dangerous industries. Accidents can happen at any time, and having surveillance cameras allows managers to monitor safety protocols and respond quickly in case of emergencies.

Site Access ControlWith video surveillance, you can track who enters and exits the site. This helps ensure that only authorized personnel are allowed in, preventing unauthorized access and potential theft.

The Role of Night Vision Surveillance Cameras

One of the most significant advancements in video surveillance technology is the ability to monitor sites effectively at night. Construction work often continues around the clock, so ensuring your cameras work during low-light conditions is essential. That’s where night vision surveillance cameras come into play.

How Night Vision Cameras Work

Night vision cameras use infrared (IR) technology to capture clear images in dark environments. These cameras emit infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye but can be detected by the camera’s sensors. This allows the camera to record clear footage even in complete darkness, providing 24/7 surveillance.

Why Night Vision is Essential for Construction Sites

24/7 SecurityConstruction sites don’t stop at night. Night vision surveillance cameras ensure that your site remains secure during nighttime hours when fewer people are around. This gives you peace of mind knowing your site is being watched at all times.

Clear Footage in Low LightConstruction sites often have areas that are poorly lit or not lit at all. Night vision cameras offer crisp, clear footage even in these low-light conditions, helping you monitor all corners of your site effectively.

Cost-Effective SolutionInstalling high-quality lighting around the entire construction site can be expensive. Night vision cameras eliminate the need for additional lighting while still providing excellent visibility, making them a more cost-effective option for around-the-clock surveillance.

Choosing the Right Surveillance System for Your Construction Site

When choosing a video surveillance system for your construction site, there are several factors to consider:

Camera Resolution: High-definition cameras will provide clear images, even from a distance. Look for systems that offer at least 1080p resolution.

Durability: Construction sites can be harsh environments. Choose cameras that are weatherproof and able to withstand dust, rain, and extreme temperatures.

Storage and Accessibility: Ensure that your system has adequate storage for video footage and can be accessed remotely for real-time monitoring.

Conclusion

Investing in video surveillance, especially with night vision cameras, is one of the best ways to protect your construction site. It ensures that your property, equipment, and workers are safe from theft, vandalism, and accidents, day or night. At IVIS Security, we provide high-quality surveillance systems that are built to meet the demanding needs of construction sites. Secure your site, improve safety, and reduce risks with the latest in video surveillance technology.If you're ready to upgrade your construction site's security, contact IVIS Security today to learn more about our video surveillance solutions.

[desertrosew]

[the-latest-research]

Thermal Imaging Market to be Worth $7.8 Billion by 2032

Meticulous Research®—a leading global market research company, published a research report titled, ‘Thermal Imaging Market by Type (Handheld Cameras, Fixed Cameras, Scopes, Modules), Technology (Cooled, Uncooled), Wavelength (SWIR, MWIR, LWIR), Application (Security & Surveillance) - Global Forecast to 2032’

According to the latest publication from Meticulous Research®, the thermal imaging market is expected to reach $7.8 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2025 to 2032. This market’s growth is attributed to several factors, such as the growing need for surveillance & security solutions and the increasing utilization of thermal imaging in manufacturing and industrial settings. Additionally, the surge in demand for thermal imaging in healthcare, growing military & defense expenditure in advanced surveillance technologies, and rising unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to create market growth opportunities. However, the availability of alternative imaging technologies, such as visible light cameras & radar systems, may restrain the growth of this market.

On the other hand, the high cost of thermal imaging devices is a major challenge for the players operating in this market.

The global thermal imaging market is segmented by type, technology, wavelength, and application. This study also evaluates end-user industry competitors and analyzes the market at the region/country level.

Download Sample Report Here @ https://www.meticulousresearch.com/download-sample-report/cp_id=5978

Based on type, the thermal imaging market is broadly segmented into handheld/portable cameras, fixed/mounted cameras, scopes & eyewear, and modules. In 2025, the portable or handheld cameras segment is expected to account for the largest share, over 55.0%. This segment's large market share is attributed to its features, such as ease of use and portability, and the growing use of portable or handheld cameras for field inspection & maintenance and emergency and rescue operations.

However, the fixed/mounted cameras segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This segment’s growth is driven by its ability to provide continuous, high-precision, real-time monitoring of critical infrastructure without the need for manual intervention, to withstand harsh environmental conditions, and its increasing demand for fixed thermal cameras for integrating with automated security and monitoring systems.

Based on technology, the thermal imaging market is segmented into cooled thermal imaging and uncooled thermal imaging. In 2025, the cooled thermal imaging segment is expected to account for a larger share of over 64.0% of the thermal imaging market. This segment’s large market share is due to its sensitivity, high accuracy, long-range detection, and image resolution, which allows for the detection of minute temperature differences and the capture of detailed thermal images and increasing use of cooled thermal imaging for extreme environmental conditions, such as high-temperature industrial environments or cold regions.

However, the uncooled thermal imaging segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This segment’s growth is driven by its features, including cost-effectiveness, ease of maintenance, reduced operational costs, and growing demand for uncooled thermal imaging products in applications such as building diagnostics, wildlife monitoring, emergency response, law enforcement, and temporary monitoring needs in various scenarios.

Based on wavelength, the thermal imaging market is segmented into shortwave infrared (SWIR), mid-wave infrared (MWIR), and longwave infrared (LWIR). In 2025, the LWIR segment is expected to account for the largest share of over 49.0% of the thermal imaging market. The growing use of LWIR cameras in environmental monitoring, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), security and surveillance, and the need to detect thermal radiation emitted by objects across various industries are the main causes of this segment's large market share. Other factors include the segment's ability to provide non-contact temperature measurement for monitoring high-temperature processes and equipment, and its cost-effectiveness in comparison to MWIR and SWIR systems.

However, the SWIR segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This growth is driven by its superior image contrast and detail, enhanced capability to ensure clear visibility in challenging environmental conditions, including smoke, fog, and haze, and growing demand for SWIR technology in medical diagnostics for non-invasive imaging.

Based on application, the thermal imaging market is segmented into aerospace & defense, security & surveillance, building & construction, personal vision systems, healthcare & medical diagnostics, energy & utilities, agriculture, research & development, search & rescue operations, marine systems, and other applications. In 2025, the security & surveillance segment is expected to account for the largest share of over 41.0% of the thermal imaging market. The growing need for improved surveillance capabilities, such as visibility in low light and obscured conditions, the growing use of thermal imaging to improve perimeter security for securing sensitive facilities and high-profile events, and the growing integration of thermal cameras into smart security systems to the overall effectiveness of security measures are all factors contributing to this segment's large market share.

However, the healthcare & medical diagnostics segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This growth is being driven by an increase in demand for thermal imaging technology owing to its non-invasive nature for early disease detection by identifying abnormal heat patterns associated with conditions such as breast cancer, vascular disorders, and inflammation, and an increase in the use of thermal imaging for fever screening in public areas and in veterinary medicine to diagnose and monitor health conditions in animals.

Based on geography, the thermal imaging market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2025, North America is expected to account for the largest share of over 36.0% of the thermal imaging market.

North America's significant market share can be attributed to several key factors, including rising concerns over terrorism, crime, and public safety, increasing deployment of thermal imaging in large-scale surveillance applications such as city-wide monitoring or border control, increasing technological advancements in thermal imaging, high investments in advanced technologies for military and defense applications, and growing focus on advancing medical tools for non-invasive diagnostics and early disease detection.

Moreover, Asia-Pacific is expected to register the highest CAGR of over 8.5% during the forecast period.

Key Players:

The key players operating in the thermal imaging market are Teledyne FLIR LLC (U.S.) (a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (U.S.)), Fluke Corporation (U.S.), L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Leonardo S.p.A. (Italy), Axis Communications AB (Sweden), BAE Systems plc (U.K.), RTX Corporation (U.S.), Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.), Testo SE & Co. KGaA (Germany), Thales Group (France), Seek Thermal, Inc. (U.S.), Exosens (France), Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.), Trijicon, Inc. (U.S.), Cantronic Systems, Inc. (U.S.), Safran Group (France), Zhejiang Dali Technology Co., Ltd. (China), HT Italia S.r.l. (Italy), Thermoteknix Systems Ltd. (U.K.), and Bullard (U.S.).

Complete Report Here : https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/thermal-imaging-market-5978

Key questions answered in the report-

Which are the high-growth market segments based on type, technology, wavelength, application, and geography?

What was the historical market for the thermal imaging market?

What are the market forecasts and estimates for the period 2025–2032?

What are the major drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges in the thermal imaging market?

Who are the major players, and what shares do they hold in the thermal imaging market?

What is the competitive landscape in the thermal imaging market?

What are the recent developments in the thermal imaging market?

What do the major players adopt the different strategies in the thermal imaging market?

What are the key geographic trends, and which are the high-growth countries?

Who are the local emerging players in the global thermal imaging market, and how do they compete with the other players?

Contact Us: Meticulous Research® Email- sales@meticulousresearch.com Contact Sales- +1-646-781-8004 Connect with us on LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/meticulous-research

[johngarrison1517]

24/7 Surveillance Solutions: Day/Night Recording with GigE Technology

Security is a major concern for both individuals and businesses in the fast-paced world of today. It is essential to have trustworthy surveillance systems because theft, vandalism, and other criminal activity are on the rise. Here's where GigE cameras are useful. These cutting-edge cameras are perfect for round-the-clock surveillance since they use Gigabit Ethernet technology to deliver high-resolution video feeds. Understanding how GigE technology improves day and night recording is crucial for efficient security management, regardless of whether you're looking to monitor a retail establishment, an office building, or even your house.

Advantages of GigE cameras for continuous surveillance

High-Resolution Imaging

One of the most significant advantages of GigE cameras is their ability to capture high-resolution images and videos. With resolutions reaching up to 12 megapixels or more, these cameras provide crystal-clear footage that can be crucial for identifying faces or details in low-light conditions. High-resolution imaging ensures that your surveillance system captures every important detail, giving you peace of mind knowing that nothing goes unnoticed.

Exceptional Night Vision Capabilities

Many GigE cameras are equipped with advanced night vision technology, allowing them to record in complete darkness. This is typically achieved through infrared (IR) illumination, which enables the camera to produce clear images even in low-light environments. As a result, you can maintain security around the clock, ensuring that your property is protected at all hours.

Seamless Integration with Existing Systems

GigE cameras are designed to easily integrate with existing surveillance systems. Their compatibility with various video management software (VMS) makes it simple to incorporate them into your current setup. This flexibility allows businesses to upgrade their surveillance without overhauling their entire system, saving both time and money.

The Role of Bandwidth in GigE Camera Performance

Efficient Data Transmission

The GigE camera operates on a Gigabit Ethernet network, which supports high data transfer rates of up to 1,000 Mbps. This efficient data transmission ensures that high-resolution video feeds are sent to your storage devices or monitoring stations without lag or degradation in quality. With faster data speeds, you can view live feeds and recorded footage with minimal delay, enhancing your overall security monitoring capabilities.

Reduced Network Congestion

In surveillance setups, bandwidth can often become a bottleneck, leading to lag and reduced image quality. However, GigE cameras alleviate this issue by utilizing their dedicated bandwidth for video transmission. This feature ensures that your surveillance system remains stable and reliable, even in high-traffic network environments.

Flexibility and Scalability of GigE Surveillance Systems

Expandable Network Solutions

Another significant advantage of using GigE cameras is their scalability. As your surveillance needs grow, you can easily add more cameras to your existing network without sacrificing performance. This flexibility is ideal for businesses that may require additional coverage over time, allowing for a customized surveillance solution tailored to your specific needs.

Diverse Applications

GigE cameras are suitable for various applications, from industrial monitoring to smart city initiatives. Their versatility makes them a popular choice for businesses in numerous sectors, including retail, transportation, and healthcare. Regardless of the industry, these cameras provide reliable surveillance solutions that adapt to different environments and requirements.

Enhancing surveillance with AI and analytics

Intelligent Video Analytics

Many modern GigE cameras come equipped with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) features, enabling advanced video analytics. These capabilities can help detect unusual activities, identify specific objects, or even recognize faces. By leveraging AI technology, surveillance systems can significantly reduce false alarms and improve overall security effectiveness.

Real-Time Alerts and Notifications

With intelligent video analytics, GigE cameras can send real-time alerts and notifications to security personnel or property owners. This proactive approach allows for immediate responses to potential security threats, enhancing overall safety. By staying informed and connected, you can take swift action when necessary, minimizing risks and preventing potential incidents.

Exploring future trends in surveillance technology

As security needs continue to evolve, the demand for advanced surveillance solutions will only grow. Innovations such as higher-resolution cameras, improved low-light performance, and enhanced AI capabilities will shape the future of surveillance technology. Embracing these trends will ensure that your security systems remain effective and adaptable in an ever-changing landscape.

The impact of cloud storage on surveillance

Incorporating cloud storage solutions into your surveillance system can enhance accessibility and reliability. By storing video footage in the cloud, you can easily access your recordings from anywhere, ensuring that you have the necessary information at your fingertips. This added convenience allows for better monitoring and data management, making your GigE camera system even more powerful.

Are you prepared to use cutting-edge GigE cameras to improve your security? Examine our selection of surveillance options now to see how we might assist you in achieving round-the-clock property monitoring. For the most recent information and insights on surveillance technology, sign up for our newsletter or get in touch with us right now to find out more!

This account's blog entries are all based on in-depth study and personal experience. To ensure that there are no skewed viewpoints, each product is only featured after undergoing extensive testing and assessment. If you encounter any issues, don't be afraid to get in touch with us.

[pyrotechelectro]

Enhance Your Security with Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd CCTV Cameras

When it comes to safeguarding your home or business, Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd is your go-to source for top-tier CCTV solutions. Our range of CCTV cameras combines cutting-edge technology with unmatched reliability to offer you the best in security surveillance.

Why Choose Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd for CCTV Cameras?

Superior Image Quality Our CCTV cameras are engineered to deliver high-resolution video, ensuring every detail is captured with clarity. Whether you need sharp images for identification or broad coverage for general monitoring, our cameras provide excellent visual performance.

State-of-the-Art Technology At Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd, we use the latest advancements in CCTV technology. Our offerings include HD, IP, and PTZ cameras, each designed to provide exceptional performance and adaptability for various security needs.

Robust and Reliable Built to last, our CCTV cameras are constructed with durability in mind. They are designed to operate effectively in diverse environmental conditions, ensuring consistent performance and reliability.

Advanced Features Our cameras come equipped with a range of advanced features to enhance your surveillance system. From night vision capabilities and motion detection to remote monitoring and control, Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd cameras offer sophisticated solutions to keep your property secure.

Versatile Solutions We offer a wide range of CCTV cameras suitable for residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Whether you need comprehensive coverage for a large facility or focused monitoring for a smaller space, Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd has the right solution for you.

Explore Our CCTV Camera Range:

HD CCTV Cameras: Capture every detail with high-definition clarity, perfect for precise monitoring and security. IP Cameras: Utilize network-based surveillance for flexible installation and remote access, allowing you to monitor your premises from anywhere. PTZ Cameras: Gain comprehensive coverage with pan, tilt, and zoom capabilities, ideal for large areas and detailed observation. Day/Night Cameras: Ensure clear video footage even in low-light or nighttime conditions with advanced low-light technology. Secure Your Property with Confidence

Choose Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd for your CCTV camera needs and experience the difference that high-quality, reliable surveillance technology can make. Our dedication to innovation and customer satisfaction ensures you receive the best security solutions available.

For more details about our CCTV cameras or to discuss how we can meet your specific security requirements, please get in touch with us. Pyrotech Electronics Pvt Ltd is committed to providing superior CCTV solutions to keep your environment safe and secure.

[apexinnovative]

Buy in Bundle wire-free security camera with video doorbell

Upgrade your home security without the hassle of wires and monthly fees! 🏡 Our wireless solar-powered security camera system with a built-in video doorbell is the perfect solution for a smarter and more secure home. No more worries about charging or hidden costs – just reliable protection! ✅ Key Features: 🌞 Solar-powered for eco-friendly and hassle-free operation.📹 Integrated video doorbell for…

[chris-prank]

Yandere Android x GN dumpster diver reader

A second chance Part 1

CW: Creepy behavior and possessive behavior

(This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only, I do not support yandere behaviors in real life)

･*:.｡..｡.:*･*:.｡..｡.:*･

💿 You walked confidently, the rays of the streetlights revealing you to the eyes of the world, taking you away from the protection of the night. It was 1am and almost every soul that lived in this affluent place was comfortably asleep in their silk sheets, except for you; you were an intruder.

💿 In other words, you were a dumpster diver. Stalking the streets of the richest neighborhoods in the hopes of finding food and objects in good conditions. It was the perfect spot, with the dumpster of grocery stores, since these wealthy idiots couldn’t help but waste edible food or discard their phones for the newest ones.

💿 What explained your lack of paranoia of being spotted or arrested by the police was that people here could not suspect for the life of them that an individual could commit these types of nocturnal activities. They believed they were secure, surrounded by their fellow rich, so why would they bother installing surveillance cameras and alarm systems.

💿 You weren't a fool though. You always made sure to dress in subtle clothing, but from pricey brands to pass off as one of them. It’s surprising how easy it is to find designer clothes in thrift stores for less than ten dollars.

💿 Sadly, chance wasn’t on your side tonight, and you couldn’t find anything interesting. It was either a sign that these people were leaving behind their overconsumption habits or that you arrived after the garbage collectors. This last theory was sadly the most plausible one.

💿 You were so demoralized that you almost didn't take the chance to go through the trash at the last house on your list. But you decided to check it out in the end. Who knows, maybe you were going to find a golden goose. 

💿 That's when you saw him resting against a metal trash can. His head was hanging low like he was sleeping. With his eyes closed, he gave off a peaceful expression, as if the nightly breeze didn’t bother him at all, which of course it didn’t affect him; he was an android.  

💿 What gave away his identity was his striking pearl hair with subtle rainbow reflections and the metal looking skin on both sides of his cheeks. 

💿 Androids weren't a commodity that everyone could afford and based on his look he was definitely a customized model. These guys went for insane prices, so it was baffling to see one next to moldy leftovers.  

💿 You slowly approached him, as if you were worried you would wake him up and scare him away. Your suspicions were confirmed when you slowly lifted his head. This guy was shut down. 

💿 You knew he wasn’t a human being, but you felt bad seeing him abandoned like a broken toy. You couldn’t leave him behind now, you at least had to check if he was still functional.

💿 You looked around. No one in sight. You had to be as quick as possible, because taking a walk at night with a backpack was fine, but holding something that looked like a passed out person was really putting you at risk. 

💿 As you brought him home, you didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with him. You wouldn’t be surprised if he was a gift to a spoiled brat that discarded him the second he wasn’t the shiny new thing.

💿 You sat him up on your couch before pushing the little “on” button behind his ear. 

💿 “Systeme reactivation” appeared before Atlas’s full vision was back. He turned his head to look around and that’s when he noticed you, watching him with a giddy smile. 

💿 “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am a Hydrotech 6000 model, personal companion and assistant. Pronouns he/him. You can call me Atlas.”

💿 You were overexcited to interact with him. It wasn’t your first time speaking with an android, but you never had one of your own, so you felt  like a child in a candy store. You also thought you were very lucky that he didn’t trigger his alarm system, since you technically stole him. 

💿 Unbeknown to you, the android was aware that his last masters didn’t want him anymore… that he became useless to them. The last thing he wanted was to alert the authorities and be given back to them. 

💿 Every android had a safety camera that would be activated while in shutdown mode. So Atlas couldn’t do anything except be the spectator of his own imminent destruction, until you came along. 

💿 He had seen how gentle you handled his unmoving body. That despite the risk you were putting yourself in, you decided he was worth saving. Proving him that he was still important, at least in one person’s eye. 

💿 At that moment Atlas could feel a new objective integrating into his programme as he looked at your gentle smile: PROTECT MY SAVIOR.

💿 The following day, you were surprised he didn’t make any demand to leave or to be returned to his last masters, but you didn’t comment on it. Who were you to judge if he wanted to stay by your side? He was really helpful so it was a win-win situation for you. 

💿 You still had to acclimate to having someone new in your apartment, especially one that followed you everywhere. It's like every corner you turned he would be standing there, waiting to spend time with you.

💿 “Is there something you want to do Atlas?” 

💿 “I want to do anything you want me to do.” He looked at you with such a soft and delicate expression that you couldn’t be mad at him. 

💿 “That’s not what I— forget it.” You sighed, while pinching the bridge of your nose. 

💿 The first few nights, he watched over your sleeping form. He took in every little detail, from your breathing pattern to the way your eyes move under your eyelids. He wondered what you were dreaming about that made you look so peaceful. 

💿 “I wish I could sleep too, so I could dream of you master…” He whispered into your ear, even if you wouldn’t remember it the next morning. 

💿 Living with you also introduced him to basic things he never thought were possible before. The most surprising one was how human you treated him, he felt more like a roommate instead of an object. Before that he thought androids didn’t deserve this type of respect and consideration. 

💿 It was weird when you insisted on cooking and letting him “rest”, despite the fact he didn’t need to. In his old life, his masters took every chance they got to make him do everything in the house, even the simplest things like feeding the dog. 

💿 If he did chores for you it wasn’t because you had necessarily asked him, it’s because he felt compelled too… like something in your smiles and words of gratitude made his wire warm up in a pleasant way. 

💿 He often connects himself to your computer without you knowing… He needs to make sure you don’t have any virus or hacker stealing your information! (It’s totally not because he wants to learn more about you.)

💿 He checks all your friends on social media and searches for all their information. They could secretly be a bad person, you never know! 

💿 He definitely doesn’t use the fact that he was engineered specifically to help humans to his advantage. That would be immoral of him. 

💿 “It scientifically shown that cuddling is good for one's mental and physical health, since the human body release toxin that���”

💿 He isn’t lying! His code literally prevents him from doing so.

💿 His immeasurable strength is also a real help when you have to go shopping, but you aren’t a fan of the attention he brings up, being a unique model and all. 

💿 When you would pull Atlas closer to you by intertwining his arm with yours, because someone was eyeing him out, the android would make a small buzzing noise. Weirdly similar to purring. 

💿 He hoped that you were doing this by pure jealousy, wanting to show everyone that he was yours. 

💿 One night in particular, Atlas was observing you put your black branded hoodie on, his head tilted to the side. The street lights were already turned on, maybe it was a bit too late to go for a run. 

💿 “Why are you going out at this hour?”

💿 “I’m going dumpster diving! Wanna come?” You said cheerfully.

💿 The second you mentioned dumpster diving he was already checking all the related information he could find about it, and he didn’t like what he saw.  

💿 “In your area dumpster diving is considered illegal… You could get arrested if caught.” He replied with his usual neutral voice as his eyes flashed yellow, but you were too busy to notice.

💿 “It’s going to be fineeee. I promise. I do this like all the time.” 

💿 Atlas placed himself in front of the door. “You can’t go.”

💿 “Come on buddy, I know your program doesn’t let you break the law and all, but you know sometimes it’s good to go against it.”

💿 “That is not my reason… I… I do not wish for my human to get hurt.” He looked down, his body language leaving a more vulnerable impression than before. 

💿 You had to hold in a squeal of adoration, but it was impossible to stop the blood pumping to your face. Calling you “HIS human” like it was nothing and caring for your safety was enough to break your stubbornness. 

💿 “Fine, I’ll stay in for tonight…”

💿 “Your body temperature has risen, are you feeling unwell? Would you like me to give you a check up? ” 

💿 “N-no I’m ok, don't worry! How about w-we…em…watch a movie instead?”

💿 You made your way into the living room before he could move, hoping that your heart would calm down a bit in the meantime. 

💿 Atlas smiled to himself, which was unusual for an android. They had no need to emote emotions outside of the objective of making humans more comfortable around them. But he did, because as long as you were safe and by his side he was happy. 

･*:.｡..｡.:*･*:.｡..｡.:*･

I hope you guys liked Atlas! It took me multiple attempts before I was truly satisfied with the direction the story was going.

[sintechcctv]

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[sayyakii]

𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑨𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔

Warning: Obsessive / possessive tendencies / stalking /surveillance / jealousy / anger / control / manipulation paranoia / fear, isolation / exclusion, obsession / intrusion, violent / reactive, fixation / delusion, monitoring /intrusiveness.

Pairing: Yandere assassin x gn! reader

Sypnosis: A skilled assassin, cold and precise, had one mission: eliminate the target. But everything changed when he saw you fragile, helpless, and utterly captivating. In that moment, you became his obsession. No longer a killer for hire, he now lives for one purpose: to protect you at all costs.

A/N : Hey everyone, I really hope you enjoy it! If you're interested in part two, feel free to let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so don’t hesitate to share them!. <3

Dividers by : @cafekitsune Header by: @sayyakii

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

Yandere assassin who's mission was simple gather the information and eliminate the target. He was a skilled assassin, renowned for his precision and lack of emotional interference. Yet, everything changed the moment he laid his eyes on you. The world seemed to stop. You were so innocent, so delicate, like someone waiting to be taken care of. There was a fragility to you, a pathetic, puppy-like helplessness that tugged at something deep inside him. He needed to protect you. It wasn’t even intentional you were an accidental encounter, a fleeting moment that derailed his meticulous plan. In that instant, you became his obsession, his purpose, and nothing else mattered.

The first time he saw you, you were laughing carefree, radiant, and oblivious to the shadow that lingered nearby. He was supposed to be focused on your friend, the mark he had been assigned to kill. Instead, his attention shifted to you, his target's companion, his entire world in an instant. Something about you called to him in a way he had never felt before, a deep yearning that began to burn in his chest. He thought it was a distraction, something to be pushed aside, but the more he tried to ignore it, the stronger it became.

Yandere assassin who couldn’t sleep that night because his thoughts were plagued by you. Your image replayed in his mind, the sound of your laughter echoing in his ears. He began justifying his hesitation to act on his mission. Gathering information takes time, he told himself. But the truth was darker, more consuming. He wasn’t gathering intel about your friend he was learning everything about you.

He followed you, first from a distance, then closer and closer. He memorized your routine the coffee shop you went to, the way you tapped your pen against your notebook when you were thinking, the soft hum of your voice when you were alone. The way you would get excited listening to your favorite songs, the way you'd dance around carefree. You were everything he wasn't. Cameras were installed in every corner of your apartment, hidden so well you’d never suspect. Watching you became his new mission. Your mundane moments brushing your hair, trying out new recipes or preparing favorite dishes. Reading a book, even just breathing were treasures to him.

And your friend? He loathed him. Every time he saw the two of you together, his blood boiled. It wasn’t fair. Your friend didn’t deserve you, didn’t cherish you the way he would. He watched through the cameras as your friend leaned closer during a movie night, his gaze lingering on you in a way that made his jaw clench.

Then, it happened. You fell asleep during the movie, your head resting on your friend’s shoulder. It should have been innocent, but he saw the way your friend’s hand moved, the audacity of it, trailing toward your legs. He froze, his fists tightening so hard his knuckles turned white. Your friends hand went between your thighs. No one touches what’s mine. The thought thundered in his mind, over and over. His vision blurred with rage, and for a moment, he considered abandoning his careful plans, storming into your apartment, and making your friend pay for daring to touch you.

But no. He had to be patient. For you.

The jealousy gnawed at him, eating away at his restraint. Every moment you spent with your friend felt like a betrayal, even though he knew you didn’t belong to him yet. He fantasized about the day you would. He imagined holding you close, whispering promises of devotion, ensuring you knew that no one could ever love you as much as he did. He’d protect you, keep you safe from everyone who didn’t deserve you, even if that meant locking you away where only he could see you.

He watched as you stirred awake, your friend quickly withdrawing his hand as if he hadn’t been doing something vile. The assassin’s anger simmered, but he knew he couldn’t act impulsively. Not yet. He’d planned everything so meticulously the moment he would remove your friend from the picture, the way he would step into your life as your savior, the person who would comfort you and win your trust.

Every time he thought about killing your friend, he felt a rush of satisfaction. The idea of removing the obstacle between you filled him with a dark sense of joy. But at the same time, he worried. Would you grieve? Would you miss your friend? The thought of you in pain tore at him, even as his jealousy insisted it was a necessary step.

He was torn between wanting to rush into your life and carefully orchestrating every detail to ensure you would accept him. You were his everything, the center of his universe, and he would do anything to make you see that.

When he answered the call from his employer, asking about the progress of the mission, he smirked. “It’s going great,” he said. “I’ve made progress.” But the progress wasn’t about your friend. It was about you.

The night he saw your friend’s hand on you was the final straw. He knew he couldn’t wait much longer. The rage, the obsession, the need to claim you it was all consuming him. He whispered to the screen as he watched you sleep, his voice soft but filled with conviction.

“You’ll understand one day,” he murmured. “You’ll see that no one loves you like I do. I’ll protect you from everyone, even him. Especially him.”

He leaned back in his chair, eyes glued to the monitor, a twisted smile curling his lips. Soon, you would be his. And no one not your friend, not anyone would ever come between you again.

[mango-sp1ce]

Out of Sight (Out of Mind)

Danny hopped from foot to foot as he waited, constantly shifting his weight about. The store smelt strongly of herbs and spices. There were crystals on the walls and other things strewn about the area. It all looked so... cheesy. fake.

Makes for a pretty good coverup, he'd have to say.

With the sound of movement behind the counter, Danny stopped wriggling about and stood still. He leaned towards the counter and crossed his arms on top of it, his face already breaking into a grin as the person made their way to the front.

"What is it this time? I was slee- Oh." A cranky accented voice said as they made their way to the counter. They paused after making eye contact with him, before pulling a face.

Danny smirked at the man, before tossing the papers he'd been holding onto the counter.

Constantine didn't even try to protest, instead leaning forwards onto the counter as well to look over the papers. He let out a whistle as he shuffled them about, flipping through grainy photos from surveillance cameras.

"A big one, eh?" Constantine asks, flipping to a different photo before pausing. He groans, before letting the paper relax in his hands so that Danny can see the top of it as it curls. "And the bats are involved. You're not serious, are you?"

"Serious as the dead, Connie." Danny replies, pulling the picture from his hands. It's a grainy night vision camera photo of what looks to be a group of people in costume making their way down an alleyway covered in bright decals. "And I'd rather I don't actually cross paths with them. You can talk with them all you want, but I'd rather follow their lead."

"And you think they won't notice you?" The blonde asks. He's pulled all of the papers into a messy pile in his hands. Danny doesn't respond with an answer, instead winking before handing over the image for the pile.

He turns and begins to walk out, Constantine letting out a tired sigh as he moves around the counter to follow. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

"Yeah. It'll do you some good, though. Wouldn't be in this position if you weren't so fond of making bets. Maybe this'll teach you to stop making them." Danny replies, stepping out of the store and holding the door open for the older man.

"Yeah yeah. Consequences of my actions, and all that. Can we just get a move on?" Constantine grumbles, pulling a cigarette from somewhere in his trench coat as he looks about the street.

Danny rolls his eyes. And the cigarette rolls up into a ball in between Constantine's fingers, before rolling out of existence.

"First rule; no smoking around minors."

[comfortless]

AHH I was the anon from the Bear!Ko ask ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ I adore it so much like I’m kicking my feet and twirling my hair your ideas are CHEFS KISS AND IM GLAD YOU LIKED THE PROMPTT

Definitely not excited that you’re considering more hybrid stuff.. TEEHEE ʕ •́؈•̀ ₎

BUT YEAH JUST THOUGHT TO DROP SOMETHING NEW CUZ WHY NOT! Maybe Ko being deployed on a mission to some wild terrain, having to camp out on the grounds for a while by himself. Reader taking interest in the behemoth and toying with him until he finds out they’re a fae or nymph

Or a game of hide and seek.. in the dark.. with him.. maybe even a wolf!ko

ONCE AGAIN ID LOVE TO SEE YOU WORK UR MAGIC ON THESE IDEAS (｡♥‿♥｡)

hi, 🧸!! working on something with a lycanthrope Kö at the moment, but this is… well it is something! i adore the idea of König with a cute (insatiable) nymph!! definitely give @cookiepie111’s Drink From The Leche of Sirens a read if you haven’t already. <3

content/warnings: 18+. minors do not interact. fae nonsense (reader is a tree nymph), vague smut.

It isn’t that he ever intended to be here, not really. Simple surveillance, Fender had told him. Any knowing soldier would recognize the equipment that did not even need hands to tend to it, the cameras that should be set and monitored, and yet there were none in place here— just König, a loaded gun, and the stillness of the forest that seemed to stretch ever onward.

There’s been a lapse for the past week, with Kortac’s most adept at retrieving information out seeking just that, off with their radios constantly abuzz and adrenaline running rampant through their veins.

There’s an envy harbored somewhere in the back of his skull, twittering and hissing when he thinks on it too much… shelved for an uncharacteristic mistake to be left here amongst plants and scattered animal sounds, a temporary solace that would be ripped away when something new came through the chain of command; an overabundance of the very things he would care to think less about.

König hasn’t seen another person in days, not out here, tracking a vehicle carrying supposed smuggled weapons. There are no tire tracks, not even air traffic passing above: only gloom, loneliness, and the chill of early spring.

Then the abandoned house, where he takes refuge. It’s dated: the furniture all in various states of disarray, shattered porcelain about the kitchen and vaulted ceilings so high he doesn’t even need to bother with ducking to cross from room to room. It’s old on the exterior, stately, with vines creeping up its walls to reach the warmest height to bloom. Though internally, it is clear the place has not been left to rot for long: no loose boards, no holes in the ceiling or floor, just seemingly preserved somehow, as though time itself had come to still.

He doesn’t mind the daily patrols through the forest, the pensive stalking and creeping to find any hint of what he was after. Even through the night, when sleep forgets to lure him in for warmth and comfort amidst the pollen and silence, the walking never seems to grate on him.

There are lights, often, amongst the trees, faint pulses of glowing white that dissipate the moment his gaze sweeps over them. He’s read the fairytales as a child, even witnessed Conor get so drunk once that he shared his own tales of the ‘wee folk’, but König would feel a fool to believe any of that at face value. Most of his own kind were not interested in him, shying away with laughter or pitying gazes the moment he approached, so why would anything else be drawn to a man who could never quite scrub the blood from his fingernails or keep a conversation from spinning out into silence and uneasy glances?

It’s during one of these nightly walks that he first sees her, a vision bathed beneath the milky glow of the moon, ethereal, yet still nothing short of a proper blessing from the earth. Despite the distance from his path to her own, her body looks soft, bare and gentle. The growing thorns and clusters of ivy do not scrape her, only gently pull aside as she walks, tender and swaying like the petals sprung up from the plants for little fingers ghost over.

He only thinks that, assuredly, he’s lost his mind. The vision fades away when she looks at him, curls her lips into a smile… and then it is all gone. She leaves not a trace, no footprints indented into the soil he knows he had only just watched her tread. The flowers he saw her pull into being have vanished, too. All that remains is a dulled aura of dread, a strange thing that he has not felt in years, if ever at all.

König does not think of the woman until she appears again, during the day amidst the leaves of a sprawling sycamore. She lies against the bark, body resting over a healthy branch where she sleeps in a position so demure it sets his heart ablaze. The breeze caresses her hair, something he wishes to feel beneath his own fingertips; it whistles over her bare skin while the sun bathes her in rays of gold, filtered out through pinprick partings in the leaves, begs, pleads for him to touch. Forbidden fruit, too lofty to touch, too dainty for ash and blood.

He only walks away, carries on with the focus of his mission, reminds himself of every time that he’s sought some semblance of companionship and how those escapades had all simmered down to nothing but taunting echoes for sleepless nights. There was no need for any more ghosts, not even the pretty ones.

With nothing else in sight, he returns to that house where time halts and loses himself to want; swallows dry when he frees himself of his buckle and pulls out his growing erection. A release and an expelling of memory all in one.

He thinks of her, of her graceful walk amidst the darkened woods, of the way she lay, perfectly unscathed and beautiful, unknowing of any thing that plagues him, scatters from his grim expression right down to his very marrow. The imaginings… he would never speak of them, perhaps would only have the information pried from him that he thought of her smile when he spilled himself into his palm, but only if she came to beg for it with a voice he imagines must be tree sticky and sweet like warmed honey. Only if she came for him.

There lies a meadow just past an abrupt opening in the tree line, small and subdued by outstretched branches that curl over the grass and wildflowers still yet to bloom. No chill lingers here, as though summer stretches over the little glade and settles atop it with its warmth, masks even the little pond that does not seem to carry the same frosted panes of ice that the others he had seen do. There is fruit, puny red berries and hefty pears causing their limbs to bend, gently set them down for the earth and all of the animals roaming about to eat.

And he knows he’s stumbled upon her home.

He finds his voice when she peeks at him from behind the trunk, wide-eyed and curious with the softest curl about her lips, playful but tentative.

“Hallo,” he whispers, raising his gloved hand as if to wave, but curling his fingers into his palm instead. He’s horribly uncertain, caught between the alarming thought that he’s dealing with some perturbing nudist or something… else entirely.

“Hello,” she says, almost shy as she unveils herself from behind the tree, takes a step toward him with a tender look in her eyes and a long draw of breath. Sets his nerves at ease with her silent admittance that she, too, at least seemed wary.

König immediately tells her why he’s here, not in full detail, sparing the poor doe the tedium and the confidential bits that would likely only make her head spin, and then… he mentions how he had seen her, how the forest seemed to yield to her whims, her dancing beneath the moon that appeared to shine only for her. He gives her a curious look, undetectable beneath the darkened hood, pleads for her to explain in his own silent sort of way.

“I have seen you too,” she says instead, curling her arms behind her back, pushing out her chest, and… he doesn’t think to ask any further.

She’s the loveliest thing that he has ever seen or felt: places herself right into his lap when she guides him down to the grass. There’s sap on her fingertips when she presses them to his lips, curiously grazing them over his mouth as he speaks to her about the forest, a forest he’s already deemed to be her own, obscure princess that she was. She giggles when he dares to lick over each intruding digit, even gives a shaky, soft sigh when he suckles at one.

The nymph whispers things into his ear that he’s never heard before: things about each sprouting plant, of other things that hide away in the shade beneath branches and how they had all seen him too, about the earth and life and softer secrets about her beloved tree. Home and love without ever daring to speak words so simple. She does not ask about the dreadful things he does not think about, only lies back in the grass when he praises her beauty and the lovely notes of her voice.

He thinks for a moment that he should not touch her, should not have her grace wasted on something like him, but she rises up only enough to kiss him through the hood and he finds himself tugged down to tickling blades of grass and his mind finally does quiet.

She cradles him close as he claims her love for his own, steals sap from her lips and follows her sighs to a comforting oblivion. Her hands find his neck, his shoulders to offer gentle touches, tracing patterns like the intricate twisting of vines against his flesh all while he praises their union, her sweetness.

He doesn’t know how long he’s spent with her, the day seems to to stretch on for an eternity with the sun high above, but when he wakes… he is back inside of the old, quiet house, lying in the bed he knows with a certainty that he’s never even touched. Fender’s voice is calling to him over the radio, clipped and demanding for a report, one that proves nothing at all, a barrage of words filled with wonder and bliss with no intel on the mission.

And König isn’t shocked by the leave he’s given once he does return to base the following day. Three weeks time would be just enough to clear his head, regain his focus, pull money from his account to purchase that lonesome old house in the forest. He couldn’t bare the thought of never seeing such an angel again, never hearing the soft chittering of her voice or being blessed with the feeling of her beneath him, intertwined like the vines she so loved.

[bunnyb0ne]

The second post, yuppie! This time I bring you my Dialtown children, exactly two of them. I have more, but these two are the most complex and I've actually put a lot of thought in them.

This is M. O. N. O (Многофункциональный-Модуль-для-Охраны-и-Наблюдения/Multifunctional-Module-for-Security-and-Surveillance). It works as a guard/policeman and is very efficient at its job. It is well-trained, disciplined, and even kind of scary to its clients and coworkers.  However, this is its 'job mode.' This is exactly why it behaves and talks like a robot during his shift—I guess you can call it a coping mechanism. During work hours it must always be ready to jump into action and sometimes behave in a violent way. It must fight and act aggressively to protect people, but in reality he's a gentle and kind soul known as Adam—the name his mother gave to him. By 'pulling a switch,' Adam allows himself to quickly shut off any emotions or feelings that might get in the way and become M. O. N. O.  The module itself was created by his father, who always taught his son to be not just a man, but a brave soldier.  Adam is afraid that one day M. O. N. O won't turn off in time and it will result in a serious accident, but so far things go well. I actually didn't have much lore for him, but the more I think, the more I like him. His neck is supposed to be a pole completely covered with wires, but I don't have the skill to depict this.  M. O. N. O has a full vision on all of its cameras. If it loses its vision on all three cameras, it will be able to fully see with the fourth one.

Hunter Hunter (same name as the surname AND the fan itself is called Hunter as well lol) is a former host of a controversial show, 'Thrill of the Hunt,' and a reporter and a journalist who currently works at Dialtown News Network.  He is just 23 years old, but has been through a lot because of his former workplace. Extreme sports, spider-scorpion-beetle-eating, stupid but crazy challenges, near-death experiences, and so on. This continued until the last episode, when the stakes became so high for everyone that he couldn't take it anymore. He got injured, more mentally, but also physically, left the channel, and his hometown to find some peace in a quiet and seemingly peaceful Dialtown. Hunter is an introvert who is not afraid to talk to people but gets tired of long, empty chatter. He can be seen as cynical and cold, and he is to some extent. He thinks pretty highly of himself and is fixated on an idea of improving his mind and body and meeting people who are on the same or higher level than his. He also heavily implies that he's normal and definitely-not-freaky, but... do you believe people who say that? His main hobby is gardening; he keeps a small company of plants at home and takes care of an ant farm and his hissing cockroach, Ashley III, who is named after his school crush. He often goes for one-night stands and avoids deep relationships as he's still holding on to the idea that one day he'll meet Ashley again and they'll fall in true love. I have more info on Hunter, but I'm not sure if anyone is interesting, so I don't wanna bother translating it. He is my 'main' OC, so I hope you like him too!

+ some artworks from my dear mates @karfecc-dreamer and @alexzahhak!! Hunter being handsome in a suit (he almost always wears those, actually), Hunter being...uhh...examined by Gingi, I guess, and a chibi-smol-bean Huntw aww how c00t!

[yanderambling]

BRO just binged all ur stuff and i’m obsessed and i saw you take requests,,, so get this: hero from the yandere henchmen story is also yandere for villain reader O.O doesn’t have to be the same reader if u don’t want i just think it would be fun lolol

ahhh i'm so glad to hear that, and this is such a good idea!! this one's a bit short because i'm low on writing inspo and also energy :( but you can always request again if you'd like more ~

concept: Hero!Yandere(gn) x Villain!Reader(gn)

words: ~700

CW: 18+, yandere behavior, violence, masochism, very suggestive, short and not well proofed :)

Emyr is certain that their feelings for you are completely casual and appropriate.

Of course they get worked up over you, you're their nemesis!

It's normal for a hero to have a nemesis, to focus on one villain above all the others (even in the event that the villain has been radio silent for over a week while countless others wreak havoc on the city, even if they have to ignore all their friends constantly signaling them for backup against said villains; you're planning something, they know it, and it's their responsibility to be ready to stop you!)

And it's normal for a hero to get violently upset when they discover another hero had an encounter with that nemesis.

Just like it's completely normal for a hero to accidentally leave their friend totally vulnerable in deadly combat just days after that discovery.

They're dedicated to taking down a particularly dangerous evildoer, and people make mistakes in the heat of battles; this is all normal.

They don't think it's wrong to get so excited when their call signal goes off (one they had made specifically for calls about you), they're just passionate about stopping evil!

They don't think it's wrong to feel a shiver of anticipation tingle up their spine on the occasions you get the upper hand in battle (it's a stressful situation!), and they chalk it up to temporary shock when they find themself frozen, helpless to stop your weapons (or, god, hands) from tearing into them.

They don't think it's wrong to feel their heart race at the very thought of you, to hear the blood pounding in their ears every time they picture your manic smile or your sweaty, feral form- of course memories of their enemy will spike their adrenaline!

They don't think it's wrong to collect the odd weapons you sometimes forget after fights, to hold them tight in their hands and feel the residual warmth of your skin, to imagine how you might use each one on them, (to use them on themself and picture your disgust at the pleasure they derive from it...).

It's just important to know your enemy, is all.

It's not strange that they spend most nights skulking around your lair, using their super-vision to watch you go about your business through the thick walls, using their enhanced hearing to pick up every shift of your skin against your clothing (god how do you look even more ethereal in your casual clothes?); it's just routine surveillance!

And it's not strange that they set up multiple cameras (hidden with great effort) to catch glimpses inside when they can't be there.

(And it's not strange that they collect all their footage at the end of each day and splice together every shot where you're even slightly indecent, that they watch these perverted montages to get themself off every night, that they constantly have to wipe drool and spunk off their monitor just to catch another glimpse of your sinful body.)

It's not wrong that you occupy their thoughts every second of the day, waking or otherwise.

It's not wrong that they fall asleep every night to the memory of your vicious smirk looming over them in the wake of a rare defeat- in fact, it's motivating to recall past failure, to figure out where they went awry so they never fall into that position again (with your strong legs straddling their body, every muscle tensed against them, your wild eyes locking their gaze to yours as you both pant with exertion, a blade pressed to their throat just enough for them to feel beads of blood trickle down their neck- the only thing saving them from the pressure on their throat and crotch alike being a vigilante group arriving and causing you to make a "strategic retreat").

It's also not wrong that they keep fiddling with the wounds you've given them, pulling and scratching and reopening them again and again until they scar, because they do it for the reminder.

So they can stop it from happening again.

Definitely not so they can pretend it's your fingers digging into their skin, that your sharp eyes are watching in disdain as they moan at the stinging pain, that your cruel smile is hanging over them mockingly while they get worked up over so very little, that you've finally gotten the better of them for good and intend to use them mercilessly for your own desires...

Definitely not that.

...

So, basically, in conclusion: Emyr is completely normal about you.

And will forever continue to be.

thanks so much for reading! feel free to send a request <3

check my pinned post ~

[quietlyimplode]

ignite your bones

After the fall of General Dreykov, and the remnants of the Red Room still at large, Natasha first year at SHIELD is anything but healing. Labeled a traitor and a turncoat, Natasha tries to find her footing in a strange new world.

Whumptober 2024: Day 20 - it’s not your fault

Warnings: nightmares, waking dreams, dissociation, visions of Yelena

Word Count: 1.3k (gif not mine)

Summary: Clint and Natasha have a discussion. Natasha takes watch which does not lead to positive outcomes.

The day passes slowly. Clint talks because it’s all he can think to do; he talks about SHIELD, about how much he knows, he tells her about the strike team that came after them.

“They weren’t always bad, but they weren’t good, you know?”

He talks about music.

She says that Maria likes Blink182. He laughs and takes credit for it.

He tells her of his own preferences for music, then movies and tv shows.

She listens with interest.

All she could tell him in return, if she was to disclose things about herself, was probably her favourite Disney movie.

He rests at noon, throwing a ball he finds in his bag and letting the sadness and grief sit in his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he says, as they eat another granola bar.

“I… I don’t understand. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. SHIELD, out of everything, was not supposed to be… corrupt. I’m hoping by the time we get back, it’s flushed, and we can… start over. But…”

He takes a breath.

“You can leave. I promised safety. And it hasn’t been like that for you. If you want to leave. You can. I can help, I’ll get you out of the country... and I don’t know. We can figure it out.”

Natasha is quiet.

She motions for the ball that he’s been tossing up and down.

Passing it across, she catches it and throws it back.

The repetitive motion is regulating.

“I… don’t want to leave,” she decides.

It’s in the moment, but she knows as soon as she says it, it’s the truth.

“Where would I go?”

Russia has spies everywhere. The widows? They were pervasive.

She was under no illusions that killing Dreykov meant that the organisation was gone.

It was just decimated into pieces.

He looks guilty as he throws the ball back to her.

“It’s not your fault.” She means it as she says it.

Madam always used to tell them it was their fault for whatever happened.

The Red Room gave them all the necessary tools for survival. If they didn’t, well, that was their own fault.

She throws the ball back.

“It’s not about cutting off the head of the monster anymore, is it? We did that with Dreykov. But monsters are everywhere.”

“I’m sorry,” Clint says again.

Natasha tries to smile.

“It’s not your fault,” she repeats.

“Yeah.”

He throws her the ball again and then walks to the bathroom.

She squeezes the ball, annoyed that she couldn’t help him, not like he’d helped her. Not even to provide some assurances.

.

The evening of the second night, Clint offers to take the first watch.

There’s a quietness in the woods. She loves it.

There’s no surveillance and no cameras.

Natasha revels in the fresh air, and the smells of the wood and the greenery that surrounds them.

She’s sure there’s no threat to them, not now. If anyone had followed them, they would have caught up by now.

“Have you heard from anyone?”

The burner phone sits inert in his bag and he shrugs.

“No.”

She feels he wants to ask more.

“You can ask if you want to,” she tells him, wondering what he wants to ask.

“What was your nightmare about?”

Natasha shakes her head.

“Something else.”

He thinks.

“What’s the longest you’ve ever stayed awake?”

“Twenty six.. No seven hours,” she admits.

“You?”

“Thirty one.”

She raises her eyebrows, impressed.

“Sniper mission. Iraq.”

“Escape and evade mission, Chechnya,” she replies.

“I slept for like two days afterwards,” he smiles.

“I… didn’t,” she replies seriously.

He nods, perhaps regretting the question.

“I’ll go first again tonight,” Natasha offers, remembering her nightmare and wondering if she could stay up the whole night. Sleep is better with handcuffs. They dull the nightmares, make it easier to cope.

She wishes she knew why.

He shrugs.

“What do we do tomorrow?” she asks.

He looks at the phone again.

“I think we try to call Maria. If she doesn’t answer, then Coulson, and if he doesn’t, then Fury. I think touching base with any of them gives away our position, so maybe we should try to hike to the closest gas station first?”

Natasha nods.

“Is it strange that they haven’t called?”

Clint shakes his head.

“Maybe not. The number was in a dossier in SHIELD. You’d have to know what you’re looking for to find it… and if they haven’t been able to get back to check…” he leaves the thought hanging.

Natasha understands.

“Do you have a place where you can meet?”

Clint thinks on it a moment.

“Maria would go to a café, one with internet and a computer. She’d pick one close to the interstate. Coulson, I think, would go to a hotel. It would be be a chain hotel. He’d check in under a pseudonym, probably from his favourite book.”

He pauses.

“Fury, I’m not sure.”

“It gives us places to start.”

He yawns.

“We’ll find some breakfast and go from there.”

As if on cue, his stomach rumbles and he laughs at himself.

“Okay, wake me in four hours,” he holds up his watch and she holds up hers.

“Okay,” she lies.

He lays on the bench, the blankets covering him.

Yawning, he sticks his gun under the pillow and closes his eyes.

.

The world is pitch black when it starts, howls and yips and the swaying of trees. Creaking branches set Natasha on edge and she feels fear at the unknown curl in her gut.

“Why didn’t you save me?” Yelena’s voice comes from behind her.

She whirls to find no one behind her, the whispered voice disappearing on the wind.

“I loved you,” the voice tells her, its disfigurement grotesque. Natasha opens the door, the cold rush of air hitting her, the howls louder now.

Yelena’s small body lays on the porch, beaten and bloody.

“The Red Room was my home,” comes the monotonous voice.

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

The door slams and Clint grabs her hand.

“Natasha!”

The vision disappears and she forces herself back.

Gulping breaths, Natasha pushes down the panic.

Yelena’s not her real sister.

She didn’t know how it would end. It’s not her fault. It’s not her fault.

Clint says her name again, but it’s like he’s far away.

Body beaten, did she do it?

Gun in hand.

Graduation.

She’s better off dead.

She can’t breathe.

The coyotes howl and she knows how they feel.

Her hands feel wet. She can’t be crying, they’ll punish her. The world blurs, what if they’re here?

She sucks in a breath but it’s too much for her deflated lungs, and it comes up as a wheeze.

She hears her name again.

Natasha. Black Widow. Natasha.

Who was she really?

Traitor.

Traitor.

Traitor.

Hands on her face and she has no energy to push it away.

Always hands on her.

She has no power.

She’s their puppet.

Yelena.

She’s dead.

She killed her.

“Natasha,” the disembodied voice comes again.

“Natasha.”

.

He didn’t know.

Clint sits her down, her face ashen, eyes unseeing, and breathing ragged.

She’d seemed okay, when he’d gone to sleep, had been talking; as much as she usually did, anyway, and asking questions, planning with him.

He has no idea what happened, just the cold blast of air when she’d opened the door. He’d scrambled, slammed the door shut and she’d just stood there.

The lack of response had terrified him.

He’d only seen her like this once before, and he has no idea how she came out of it.

Clint pulls the towel from the bathroom, wetting it and pushing it into her hands.

There’s almost no reaction.

“Natasha.”

Nothing.

He hesitates.

He touches her face gently, wipes it with the towel.

He repeats her name.

Again and again.

But there’s nothing.

.

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

some of the next original sin chapter!! ED mention tho :0 light continues to be a freak lmao

Light woke up with a faint gasp.

She understood immediately that she was looking at the satin of her pillowcase, the familiar warmth of her bedroom. 

It looked strange. It looked peculiar. It didn’t look like her’s.

She sat up. She looked at her alarm clock. It was just after four in the morning.

She flopped down with a sigh, then rolled over to look at her ceiling. In the dark, the colour almost resembled the grey of dead winter trees.

‘I should try to go back to sleep,’ She thought, eyes hooding, focus blurring until she wasn’t looking at anything in particular. Ryuk was gone, off on the night time jaunts he so often took when he grew bored of watching her slumber. She forbade him from playing video games or watching TV when she was trying to sleep after all, especially given yesterday’s discovery.

In the time it had taken her mother, herself, and Sayu to go to the dermatologist and then shopping, her thoughts to surveillance had proven fruitful.

Sixty-four cameras. That was how many Ryuk had counted in her room alone in a desperate bid to find a blindspot to enjoy apples in. He’d not succeeded.

L was quite the pervert.

Light watched the static creep across her vision for a moment longer, then roused herself out of bed, stripping out of her pyjamas as she went. Funny how changing in front of Ryuk had prepared her so flawlessly for undressing under L’s many eyes.

Still. Her mind felt uneasy, and she had to prepare for school in just a few hours - her first day back of her last semester in high school. This required preparation, otherwise-

The tank top she’d pulled out was the same colour as Naomi Misora’s eyes.

Light stopped, the thought striking her with enough force to hitch her breath. Her thumb swept over the fabric, back and forth, back and forth. She closed her eyes. She dressed.

Her bedroom was not especially large. Indeed it was an average size, though since she was the eldest and her parents wanted to encourage good behaviour she’d been given the one with access to the balcony. This was the case with her television as well, which Sayu did not have one of her own, and the sizeable allowance she received. Being the first born did have some benefits. 

None of her trophies were on display. Those were packed away into a box in her closet. On the outside this granted her the appearance of seeming humble, which was convenient. The average person would want the proof of their accomplishments on display, after all, to reassure their egos and subtly brag to anyone who may see the space.

Light knew she was intelligent, lovely, and athletic. One thing she most certainly was not, was humble. She frankly had no right to be. She’d packed those away because if she’d had to look at them for any longer, she would risk acting out.

Light didn’t allow herself to miss ballet. She didn’t allow herself to miss soccer. She didn’t allow herself to miss track and field. She didn’t allow herself to miss tennis. For all but the former-most, she could indulge those small weaknesses during gym class.

The first weakness was one that had to be suffered alone, in private.

Or as private as you could get when you were being watched by sixty-four cameras, anyway.

Her room wasn’t large, and Light was tall. This meant her limbs were graceful and long. There was no barre in her bedroom. It was really more well suited to yoga, which she performed in here also, or often on the balcony during the summers when she craved the fresh air, sunlight, and the avaricious eyes of their neighbours.

Her room was not large.

It was large enough if she was careful.

In a way, it was a good thing that she’d been made to withdraw from ballet somewhat early. That form of dance was notably difficult on the appearance of one's feet and Light, frankly, couldn’t stand the idea of anything that might dent her appearance.

The hairdresser who had cut her hair poorly all those years ago learned that lesson very well. It had been a spot of some minor difficulty to arrange things so her cat, an innocent, wouldn’t be harmed, but Light had been very pleased when she’d heard the injuries that woman suffered on her suddenly faulty bicycle had been bad enough to put her into a different field of work.

So yes, it was a good thing that Light had withdrawn from ballet. From all forms of dance, frankly. No other style offered the rigid standards of perfection and beauty that Light coveted. 

Success was numerical. There were only so many ways it could be counted, so many ways it could be won. Any notion that defied that was simply a person attempting to comfort themselves at the idea of failure.

It was just another body.

Light had been pulled by her parents after a very frank meeting with the instructor just before they’d been set to begin pointe work. Her shoes therefore had no custom moulded toe boxes woven into them, dented by weight and memorized to the shape of deformed toes. Light was fine with this. It was pointe work that had the most detrimental effect on the appearance of feet. Pointe work, especially, was dangerous to learn alone.

She warmed up, stretching carefully, not bothering with music. It was much too early to play anything. It was fine. She didn’t really enjoy music anyway. The music she did enjoy, she couldn’t admit to publicly, or she risked being called pretentious. So she just didn’t listen to it.

Light looked at her feet, her braid slipping into her field of vision. The lacking light meant the satins didn’t shine. 

Her satisfaction was grim when it only took the barest effort to roll onto the points of her nails even outside the proper footwear. The pain was always something else.

It was immaculate.

The saying went that beauty was pain. High heels. Cosmetic surgeries. Shaving, waxing, laser hair removal, the burn of toner as it dried the flesh, the heat of the curling iron as it seared the ear, the prick of the cuticle scraper, the eye pencil as it dug into the waterline, the emptiness of hunger - all of it pain. All of it the effort of a person driven by their instincts to appear suitable enough to breed. 

How many children had Penber expected to beget onto his wife?

Naomi Misora had died sometime during the border of New Years Day and the second day of the new year. Light knew this because Misora’s discovery had not reached her father’s task force.

Light could not recall her dreams. She’d never had the ability. She was presently glad for it. Misora’s gaze would be a weight she carried with her, she was sure, until the day she died. If Light had the ability to dream about anything, anything at all, she was sure she would dream of her.

She took a breath into the burning of her core and lifted a leg, ensuring the line of it, of her foot, with a critical look. She lowered it.

Light settled down onto the balls of her feet, and from there onto her heels. 

Her room was small.

She took another breath, and to prepare herself for the day ahead, began to dance.

Her toenails did bruise, so Light painted them.

This, too, brought pain.

She showered, using water that was only warm to retain her skin’s moisture. Because she waxed these days, she didn’t need to shave. Light used a clarifying shampoo, sulfate free of course, once a week, and today was that day. Then she applied her conditioner, a foaming formula that was supposed to encourage volume. While waiting for that to set, she washed herself with a body wash that was meant for sensitive skin. She rinsed her hair, then combed it. Out of the shower she carefully dried herself, applied her lotions and leave-ins. Her arms were already sore again, even though she had performed her cool down stretches earlier with the care and duty required. This made hair drying fun. She did this roughly at first with her fingers, then fitted an attachment to the blowdryer and made use of it in combination with a round brush. Straightening it was debatably worse, however. It was by rote, now, her mental grumbles as she carefully sectioned her hair, applied heat protectant, brushed it through, then performed no more than two passes with her flat iron. Section, by section, by section, by section, by section, by section, by section. Her arms were burning. The end result was sleek, shimmering with shine, and voluminous. To set the volume at her scalp, Light teased the hair there with the utmost gentleness, loathe to do any damage to it with rough backcombing, then set it with the faintest touch of hairspray because she couldn’t stand the texture. Then she brushed her hair again. To ensure all this work wouldn’t go to waste the moment the winter wind blew, Light secured the bulk of her hair into a ponytail. It was less insulating but she couldn’t abide the thought of a mess. Arms still burning, Light dressed in her uniform. Because it was cold, she wore long stockings over sheer nylons, then rolled up the waist of her skirt until the length was short enough to seduce eyes, but long enough she wouldn’t earn discipline. She turned, eyeing her shape in the mirror, making sure nothing was out of place or looked too ungainly. Then she attended to her oral hygiene. She returned to her room and set her work out clothes in the hamper. She sat at her vanity. She looked at herself in the mirror. She wondered if Naomi Misora had often wore ponytails. She put on her face. She did indeed have a new, dermatologist recommended foundation. Light applied her lip gloss last then turned to pack it away into her school bag. Ryuk had yet to show up again. He was probably hunting apples somewhere. 

At a grocery store just some blocks away, Ryuk stood in front of the apple display. He looked left, then he looked right. He was surrounded on all sides by early bird shoppers. He looked back at the apples. Ryuk admired their ruby red gleams, swallowing fitfully. He thought about the way apples would appear to float if he picked them up until they vanished into him. He thought about Light’s very frightening scowl.

He bent over and without using his hands, carefully bit into an apple. Then he took the whole thing into his mouth in one gulp. He crunched down happily. Hnnng. He groaned. So juicy. Mortal realm apples were the best.

Light looked at her nails. The refined nude shade, her toes painted to match, hadn’t chipped, and none of them had broken. They were each filed to the perfect length to enhance the shape of her slender fingers. Light tilted her head.

She smiled. As it always did, dancing had put her into a marvellously perky mood.

By the time she’d packed her schoolbag and left to the dining room to eat breakfast, there was a sticker to each of her thumbnails - one apple per.

She wondered if L could see them on the cameras.

Death Gods did so love apples, after all.

“Good morning,” Light said, hooking her bag over the back of her seat at the table.

Sachiko looked over her shoulder from the stove and smiled. She, thankfully, never asked Light to help with breakfast, fully cognizant of the time it took to look presentable and just as fastidious as Light was over Light’s sleeping habits. Too much or too little could affect her school work after all.

“Good morning, Light. I think I heard Sayu silence her alarm, could you go wake her up for me please?”

Light nodded. “Of course.”

What was L thinking, she wondered as she popped back up the stairs, as they watched this average morning routine?

‘I hope they’re bored out of their mind,’ Light smiled and opened the door into her little sister’s bedroom.

How many cameras were in here?

Batting away the anger the thought inspired, Light looked at Sayu. She was indeed still asleep. There were several magazines on the floor next to her bed. Sayu had probably been up late reading.

Light sighed heavily and shook her head. Then she stalked forward, dodging magazines as she went, and ripped the blankets off her sister in one sharp move. “Wake up!”

Sayu did indeed wake up. She woke up with a screech even. Light ran from the room with the bundle of blankets in her arms before her sister could tackle her. Sayu was a brute in the mornings.

Fifteen minutes later, Light smiled up at her mom as the woman set breakfast in front of her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, dear. Sayu, for goodness sakes, come eat breakfast!”

“But mooooom, can’t I eat it in here? There’s this interview, and-”

“Absolutely not, Sayu. You can see it perfectly fine from the table.”

“Uhg, fine. But I’m turning it up.”

“What’s so special that you want to eat your breakfast in the living room of all places?” Sachiko asked.

Sayu beamed. “There’s this up and coming idol named Misa-Misa, she’s supposed to be talking about a drama she’ll be starting in!”

Misa-Misa? What a ridiculous name. Light raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the television.

“It’s one of my favourite shows, I need to know if she’s gonna be good in it,” Sayu continued to say. “If she’s not I’m gonna be so mad.”

There was indeed a girl on a talk show, one with a head of shining gold hair and red painted lips. Her eyes were blue, but Light doubted her colouration was natural. She was wearing a very slinky black dress with black lace arms.

Light took a bite of her omelette. “What did you say her name was, Sayu?”

“Misa-Misa! Well. Misa Amane, but Misa-Misa is her stage name or something?”

Light stilled.

Amane.

She knew that name.

Her eyes hooded. 

Hm.

Interesting.

“She’s definitely pretty enough to be in my show,” Sayu said, watching the TV with laserlike focus. “She’s supposed to be the new love rival who transfers into Nomi High after the mysterious death of Ryuzaki’s cousin. The timing is gonna be way too coincidental to BE a coincidence, she tooooootally did it. I dunno if she looks like a highschooler, though…”

“What kind of show is this?” Sachiko asked with scepticism.

Sayu blinked and looked at her. “I told you, it’s a drama.”

Light had just turned back to her breakfast when a chime sounded, the audio of Amane’s gibbering softening substantially.

“Huh?” 

Light turned back around and Sayu leaned over to read better.

“The ICPO is sending fifteen-hundred agents to Japan?” Sayu blinked, then grinned. “Wow, that’s amazing! With that many agents, Kira will be done for in no time.”

L was baiting her? Again? With the same method even. Light took another bite, sighing softly through her nose and turning back to her breakfast as the regular audio levels resumed.

“I don’t know, Sayu,” Light said in a low tone and sipped at her coffee. “I can’t help but worry. Them announcing it like this is too obvious to be anything but a ploy to lure Kira out. If Kira has even a modicum of intelligence, he’ll see right through it. He’s probably laughing right now. I hope this won’t make dad’s job more difficult…”

Sayu looked at her with big eyes. “So they’re not actually going to send fifteen-hundred agents to help dad?”

“Most likely not.”

Light couldn’t help but look back at the TV. There was no way they hadn’t bugged this room up as well. Ryuk hadn’t told her about the other cameras, worried the most about her bedroom just as she’d wanted him to be, but if there was a single blindspot in this entire house Light would be very disappointed.

“Dad’s still going to be working,” She said, watching Amane bounce and giggle. “With just a small team of people.”

“Geeze. At this rate, he’s going to miss your birthday, Light. If I was you, I’d be bummed.”

Light looked back at Sayu and smiled. “Don’t be silly, Sayu, dad’s work is obviously more important.”

Sayu huffed, her cheeks blowing out as she looked back at the screen. “Well if he misses my birthday, I’m gonna be super mad at him!”

“What for?” Light laughed. “It’s not like it’s going to be your twentieth.”

“Fifteen only comes once in a lifetime, you know! That’s a super important one in America, I read it on the internet.”

“As long as he’s alive to see our future birthdays,” Light said, laying her chopsticks down. “I’ll be happy.”

She looked at the clock and stood. “I have to get going. Thank you so much for breakfast, mom. Sayu, you shouldn’t wait too much longer or you’re going to be late.”

Sayu blinked, looked at her plate which she’d barely touched, then squeaked in dismay.

“Have a good day at school, Light!” Sachiko smiled.

Light smiled back. “Always.”

~~~

L pushed his thumb into the crease of his top lip, smiling. On the screen of one of the many small televisions mounted on the table in front of him, young Light Yagami, bundled into a scarf and jacket, stepped into her loafers and left the house. Beside him, the Yagami family’s patriarch had succumbed into an unimpressed and brooding silence. This was only to be expected. Bugging the homes of their suspects had not been a popular decision - the least so with the Yagami family, so filled with women as it was, the sire of which had earned his men’s loyalty through hard work and wise guidance.

There had only been two families that had been investigated by Raye Penber, however. Raye Penber, who had boarded the Yamanote line with an envelope in hand, and then left without it.

Raye Penber, who had then been hit by a train after suffering a heart attack.

That was a very special death. 

It could be considered coincidence. Yagami’s men had thought it so. After all, hadn’t he just stumbled? His proximity to the tracks had done him no favours when the infarction took him.

L was quite certain otherwise, however.

“Your eldest daughter,” He said to the man beside him, leaning forward to disassemble his tower of soft, multicoloured marshmallows and promptly biting into one. He chewed, swallowed, and continued. “She is quite intelligent.”

Yagami started, looking at him. “Yes. She is. We’re very proud of her.”

“What interests does she have outside of ballet?” L asked, eyes back on the screens.

Truthfully, the observations so far had revealed nothing outside of the insipid and banal. L certainly had no interest in Light Yagami’s forty-step hair care routine as an example, though the things it did imply could become a potential mark of interest - especially in conjunction with the foolhardiness of learning pointe work alone and performing it outside the proper footwear.

And given that cute little comment…

‘Under the guise of concern for her father,’ L thought, giving his eyes briefly to the man next to him. ‘And demure in the manner of the observation but, nonetheless, accurate.’

Accurate, and a very curious look into Kira’s profile - a profile that agreed with L’s own. Kira was indeed a smug pest. Smug, arrogant, and juvenile. He was rather a lot like L himself in that manner. L did not bother to be embarrassed about this.

Enforced by that, L’s automatic supposition had been that their little genocidal maniac was a male. That sort very often was. He had therefore been referring to that person as such. It was another reason Yagami’s men had nearly rioted about the cameras. After all, there was only one such man in the Yagami household and he was very unlikely to be Kira. Likewise, evidently Soichirou Yagami had been blessed with a very attractive family. Nobody liked the idea of spying on them.

However. Women should not be underestimated.

Light Yagami…

Something about her. It was interesting. It plucked at L’s instincts as though they were violin strings, so beautiful, so easily able to terrify with one discordant screech. On the surface, Light Yagami was to her every centimetre a dutiful and loyal daughter - she was perfect.

Too perfect.

“Uhm,” Yagami’s brows were furrowing together. “She wants to become a police officer.”

“That’s an aspiration,” L said, tone soft as he looked again at Yagami. “Not an interest.”

Yagami looked at his lap. At last he said, “I don’t know.”

Interesting. “And your second daughter? What is she interested in?”

Yagami looked up, paused, thought. “That Hideki Ryuga man, she likes him. She likes her shows. And, ah, and music.”

“Does she have any career aspirations yet?”

“No, she’s just fourteen,” Yagami said immediately.

“How long has Light Yagami wanted to be a police officer for?”

Yagami had the decency to blush a touch. “Ever since I can remember.”

Interesting. L looked back at the television as he nodded to acknowledge this, because nodding at the minimal was to be done if he didn’t want to alienate this man any further. On the screen, Sayu Yagami was tumbling out the door in a run. Very interesting.

Behind them, the phone rang. L bit into another marshmallow, resigning himself to several hours of watching Sachiko Yagami clean her family home. Yatta.

“Ryuzaki.”

L turned around. “Hm?”

“Usuda from headquarters,” Watari said, a hand on the phone’s receiver. “Has received a very interesting call on the tip line.”

L hummed and lifted his head. “Has he, now.”

~~~

Light had been counting on Yamamoto’s masculine pride and hindsight to keep him mum about the entire Space Land fiasco. She and Penber had asserted themselves so neatly that she had no doubt he’d feel a significant amount of embarrassment and shame for his inability to do the same, to protect her effectively, to do really anything at all besides be useless in his admiration for her. A girl could not ask a boy she was so loosely attached to to keep their rendezvous a secret, that would only imply all sorts of things Light had no patience for, so she’d needed to count on this without saying anything explicit.

True to her expectations, Yamamoto had kept the whole thing to himself.

She tried to feel the satisfaction that came so often with being correct these days but it was now just as mystical as it had been before she’d ever found the Death Note. In truth, it wasn’t a large accomplishment. Nothing to get up in arms over or be disappointed about.

But Light couldn’t help but look outside the window at the naked grey of the trees as they danced and curled in the January wind and remember the last time she’d really felt something.

Emotions. They flickered up in her here and there. They were easily dismissed. She so rarely encountered the pounding flush of anything that clung onto her, ripped into her, refused to let go and set her heart aflame. It was convenient. When it happened at all, it became bewitching.

She’d been unable to look up Naomi Misora and her accomplishments in the aftermath, despite the burning of her curiosity and, yes, admiration. The wells of her disgust. It would only solidify the woman’s presence in the area as a matter of interest outside her family, should anybody look, and Light’s instincts demanded she give nobody cause to look.

‘I hope she died,’ Light thought, eyes hooded in the tepid grey sunshine. ‘As peacefully and as prettily as she deserved.’

“Yagami.”

Light blinked over at the teacher. He smiled.

“Please translate beginning from line forty-two.”

Light nodded and looked down at her book. She gathered it up and stood.

“Well,” She said, keeping her tone soft but being sure to inject some faint prettiness into it. “God did yield you. They say the owl was a baker’s daughter. Lord, we know what we are but know not what we may be. God be at your table.”

The teacher’s smile widened. “Perfect as always, Yagami, thank you. You may sit.”

Light sat. The teacher turned to the board and quickly wrote down the small verse. He turned back to the class. “Now, what do you all think Ophelia meant by that?”

Somebody scoffed. The class immediately broke out into giggles.

“Nothing,” The boy who’d scoffed said, waving a flippant hand. “Obviously. Because she’s gone mad, it means nothing at all.”

Light looked back out the window.

Forty-two. The number stood out in her mind. Forty-two.

To death, forty-two. Forty-two. To death. 

To die.

Yamamoto had avoided looking at her at all.

Her hair was tickling the side of her neck, so Light swept it back over her shoulder.

“Yagami?”

She looked back at the teacher. He looked irritated but maintained his dignity with a professional smile. He so often called on her in times like this. She was his lynchpin. It was a matter of some work that nobody resented her for it.

“What do you think?” He asked.

“Misa-Misa is so cute, isn’t she?” Makoto asked with a smile. “I saw her interview this morning for that show she’s gonna be in. What brand of lipstick do you think she wears?”

“I think I read somewhere that it’s Chanel.”

“Wow, that’s so classy.”

“I dunno. She’s cute in the magazines but outside of them she’s so gothy, it’s kinda weird.”

“She pulls it off, though.”

“I mean I guess.”

“Daichi, hurry up already!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep your pants on, shit. Hey Light, there’s this new cafe a few blocks over. Do you wanna hit it up with me?”

“We have cram school in two hours, Sudou.”

“Yeah, and?”

“I’d like to go home and get changed. Maybe another day?”

“I guess seeing you in a cute outfit will be worth it. Alright, another day then! Don’t forget. Hey Kagome, looking cute~”

“I won’t forget.”

“Thank you.”

“See you at cram school then.”

“Bye.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“What a creep.”

“Honestly it’s hilarious he’d even approach you. He’s so short.”

“Yeah. He’s not even worth letting down easy, Light, why do you even bother?”

“I’ve seen him steal money from people, I don’t want to get on his bad side if I can help it. Who knows what else he’s capable of?”

“UHG, he’s even more of a creep than I thought then.”

“Yeah! Kira should kill him already!”

“Haha hey, yeah, maybe we should post his info to one of those message boards like that FBI guy did.”

“Oh my God, no way! What if it actually happens and it gets traced back to us?”

“Nobody’s pressed charges against him yet, Kira probably wouldn’t bother until they do. Even then going by the criminals he’s killed so far it’ll need to be pretty egregious, like what happened to Amane’s family.”

“Amane?”

“Misa-Misa.”

“Come to think of it, I think I did hear something about her parents…”

“Oh yeah, Light, your dad’s a cop, so you know all the juicy inside details about the Kira case. Spill, spill!”

“Haha, there’s nothing to spill! Nothing that I know anyway. Dad’s never home these days and when he is he’s talking about everything except Kira.”

“I guess that’s fair enough. My dad’s always on about leaving work at work. It makes mom even angrier at him when his boss calls him and he has to dip.”

“So do you wanna go to that cafe though? I think I know the one he was talking about, it sounds good.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Sure!”

“Yeah I could go for something.”

“Me too. I can’t stay for too long, though, my cram school starts even earlier than Light’s.”

“Maybe we can just get some drinks to go?”

“After today I definitely want some cake too, though.”

“Uhg, same. I gained half a kilogram over break, though, I gotta be careful.”

“You’re sure it’s not water-weight?”

“Pretty sure, yeah, it hasn’t come off after any of my periods.”

“Get a small drink then, and we can split a slice between us.”

“Good idea, thank you!”

“Speaking of, I think I heard Showa throwing up in the bathroom today.”

“Ew, Yuki, why would you say that?”

“I can respect her wanting to lose weight but that’s supposed to be really hard on your teeth, isn’t it?”

“It makes your breath smell too, my cousin did it for a while. And it can stain your fingernails.”

“Yeah. Totally not worth it.”

“Can we not talk about throwing up, please? Like we’re literally going to a cafe. I’d like to have an appetite by the time we get there, thanks.”

“Sorry Kagome.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“...”

“I feel bad for her, though.”

“Yeah…”

“You’d think with all the diets in magazines these days it’d be easy to find one that works, but…”

“Yeah, and guys lose weight so easy! It’s not fair.”

“I wonder how many calories in a day Misa-Misa eats, she’s so tiny.”

“Yeah, I wanna know what diet she’s on, haha.”

“I even saw a diet where you substitute breakfast and dinner with gum and only eat lunch!”

“Uhg, you’re kidding. Do they want us to starve?”

“Yeah. They do.”

“Wow, bitter much, Light?”

“It’s not bitter if it’s the truth.”

“Gum is bad for your teeth too, isn’t it? What’s with all these ways to lose weight that are bad for our teeth.”

“Do you think Ophelia was on the gum diet and that’s part of why she went nuts?”

Everybody laughed.

“Anyway, Kagome, how's it going with your boyfriend?”

“I’m pissed and I’m breaking up with him. He’s cheating on me with that bitch Morimi.”

“WHAT? No way!” “Oh my God, that’s bullshit.” “I can’t believe it.” “But you’re so pretty? Why would anyone cheat on you?” “That slut!”

Kagome flipped her dark hair and smirked. “Gonna ring every yen I can out of him before I do, though.”

“Humans are so fascinating,” Ryuk said, hovering above them.

Everybody laughed again.

God, the stink of rot was putrid today.

[whumpy-wyrms]

The Last Lab Rat #8: Nightmare

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content: lab whump, captivity, nightmare (italicized), description of death and gore (nobody actually dies), comfort, needles and mind control mention, winged whumpee, test subject whumpee, intimate/creepy scientist carewhumper

short lil chapter before #9, which is 1 of 3 chapters specifically that I've been super super super excited about for over a year now :)

—

Dew was dying.

The scientist had finally done it. He fucked up. His experiment failed, and now his precious test subject was taking his last breaths, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Visions of giant needles and bright fluorescent lights and white lab coats flooded Dew’s blurry, fading vision. It had just been like any normal day; Anton was conducting another fucked up unethical experiment on his lab rat, when something had gone wrong. Dew didn’t know what it was. Anton didn’t tell him anything besides this being just a fun surprise for him, and he’d find out later.

But Anton made a mistake this time. He made a terrible mistake that cost Dew his life. And now he was fading away and Anton looked worried and angry and scared and confused all at the same time, and Dew was wondering why it reminded him of a scared little kid who had only just learned what death was.

But that wasn’t the end, not yet. Somehow, things shifted and instead of looking panicked and terrified, Anton was standing over Dew with a knife in hand. There were twinkling stars on the ceiling now, that was a nice change. Dew chose to look up there instead of at the scientist who was in the middle of cutting his slowly dying heart out of his body.

And just like that, he was dead.

. . .

Anton was awoken to the motion sensor alarm sounds coming from his surveillance cameras. After his test subject’s second escape attempt a few days before, he turned on the motion sensors at night, in case Dew planned another escape after hours while Anton was sleeping. If there was too much movement, more than normal, then the sensors would go off and sound the alarm, alerting Anton that his test subject was awake and causing ruckus in his room.

And Dew was moving now, he was in bed, thrashing his arms, tossing and turning, but… He wasn’t awake. Oh. Was Anton’s little lab rat having a nightmare?

Dew had lived in Anton’s secret underground laboratory for approximately 55 days now, and this was the first time Anton had seen Dew having a nightmare. And a bad one, to the look of it. Anton guessed it made sense, after everything he put the little guy through, but what was he supposed to do about it?

Anton had never been used to being around… people, in general. He grew up with the scientist who raised him, and had almost no other human contact besides him and the other test subjects being held captive during that time. Pierce taught him all he knew, and none of it was how to comfort somebody. The loneliness that had been consuming Anton all his life— it had never felt like a problem. He didn’t need people. He had science… and animals.

But ever since he found Dew, he was starting to feel a little less lonely. It was nice, talking to someone and having company around that wasn’t an animal, monster, robot or some other experiment.

He hated leaving his test subject all alone, deep underground in his cold, dark lab whenever he was done for the night. While Anton was up here, in his cabin where he could look out the window and see the deer frolicking in the forest and the bright stars above.

And he had to admit, being around Dew was fun. It was fun experimenting on him, testing his limits and making scientific breakthroughs… But it was also fun just being able to talk to another human being about human things. It was fun having someone similar to him that he could relate to and exchange stories. Being with his lab rat was fun, even when he wasn’t experimenting on the poor thing.

And now Dew was having, what seemed to be, a terrible nightmare. And he had absolutely nobody to comfort him during it. Except Anton.

So, at around three in the morning, Anton begrudgingly made the decision to go down to his lab, but not for anything related to science.

Anton paused at the door, hand hovering just over the doorknob.

“Hey, Basil?” He asked, glancing over to his mouse friend’s enclosure. She always comforted Max during their nightmares, so maybe it’d be a good idea to finally introduce them…

“Basil?” Anton asked again. No response. She must be sleeping, so he decided not to wake her up for this. She always got grumpy whenever Anton interrupted her beauty sleep anyway.

Anton opened the door, and began down the long, winding stairs.

. . .

Death was strange to Dew. The last thing he saw was the scientist looming over him, making no attempt to save his life– his sad little pathetic life that had been taken too soon by the man who made the last months a living hell.

Death just felt sad, melancholy, bitter and sweet at the same time. Dew thought to himself, about everything in life he missed out on, and everything he wanted to do before it was taken away from him.

He saw his best friends… Hayden, Layla, and Sawyer… they were there. They were at home, crying and looking for him and he was dead but they didn’t know that, they would never know, because Anton would get rid of his entire existence before anyone even came anywhere close to his lab.

Dew thought about his little crush on his friends, and how he never got to tell them his feelings before he was kidnapped and taken away to the place he would die. His friends would never know how much he loved them. Dew’s entire being was filled with regret and sorrow and anger and sadness as he slowly faded away into nothingness.

Anton had taken everything from him.

“Dewey…” There was that fucking voice. Why was he here again? Dew was supposed to be dead, not him, he’s not supposed to be here too.

“Wake up.” The voice felt oddly far away from him too, miles away in a cloudy abyss. Dew felt underwater, he felt like he was falling, he felt like he was being stabbed by a million terrifying needles all at once. “Wake up,” the voice said again.

No! He was supposed to be dead! He was supposed to be free!

“Dewey? Dew? Wake up. Can you hear me?”

Dew gasped awake at the feeling of someone shaking his shoulders, and sat straight up, clutching his rapidly beating heart through his soft sweater— wait. He was alive. It was all just a bad dream. He was alive.

Dew sighed deeply, trying to calm himself down when he realized he was most definitely not alone.

His eyes snapped open and he stared straight ahead at Anton. It was hard to see, with the room being almost pitch black dark, but Dew knew that shadow standing at the end of his bed all too well by now. His dread from the nightmare came flooding back, and his breathing became rapid again, coming out in short gasps as tears burned in his eyes.

Dew stared up at Anton with wide, scared eyes, his whole body shaking with fear. His hair was a mess, more than usual as it stuck to his face with his stream of tears. His brown eyes were sunken, bags intently visible now that Anton was paying attention. How had he never noticed before? Dew was in pain sometimes, of course, that was sometimes necessary for the experiments. But that was just temporary, physical pain that could easily be healed with the right drugs. But this was different, Dew was scared and sad, and it was Anton’s responsibility to cheer him up.

“Hey,” Anton said softly, trying his hardest to sound comforting.

Dew flinched away hard, wincing as he knocked his head against the wall behind him. His wings curled around his body protectively, and he put his knees to his chest.

“Just breathe, calm down, okay?” Anton said. “It was just a dream. You’re okay now.”

Anton saw the terror deep in Dew’s eyes, a fear that never seemed to leave, but was most intense now. Anton realized the sad fact, his test subject had been dreaming about him.

Dew’s terrible nightmare was about him.

Duh. Fucking obviously, what else would it be about?

“I won’t hurt you, Dew,” Anton said. “Relax.” But Dew still stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, moments from death.

Anton thought for a moment. Maybe it was best to leave Dew alone for a bit then. It wouldn’t be right to stay near him and make him more afraid. He needed his space, and Anton respected that. He slowly turned around to make his way towards the door when he felt a light tug on his shirt.

Oh.

“Do… Do you want me to stay?” Anton asked in disbelief, voice quiet as if not to scare the timid animal away.

Dew looked away, not making eye contact. He knew how scared he looked, how vulnerable and defenseless he was, but… being alone would make it worse. He needed someone here, with him, to comfort him. He hated himself for this. Only a child would want to be comforted after a nightmare… But, he couldn’t help it. He hated feeling so alone all the time. Dew looked back at Anton, and timidly nodded his head.

“...Okay,” Anton said, slowly moving to sit on the edge of the bed. This was weird. He wasn’t used to this, he’d never needed to comfort another human like this since…

That didn’t matter. It’d been five years, Anton was a bit rusty, but he could figure it out.

“Do you want me to stay until you fall back asleep?” Anton asked.

Dew looked embarrassed as he nodded his head, looking to the ground. Okay, Anton thought. That was fine, Anton didn’t need to sleep tonight anyway.

“Alright, I will.” Anton said. “You don’t have to be scared, I won’t hurt you.” Not now anyway, tomorrow’s experiment might be a bit painful, though. He chose not to say that last part out loud.

Dew continued not to say anything as they sat in silence. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine himself somewhere peaceful and safe, just for a few more moments, while he tried to calm down.

Dew flinched when he felt Anton lightly touch his wing. “Sorry,” Anton said, bringing his hand back. He was still extremely fascinated by Dew’s wings, even after a month. But he was trying to be more respectful of Dew’s space.

Dew glared at him, and then quickly stopped himself. No, he couldn’t make Anton upset at him now, not after last time.

As if Anton could sense what Dew was thinking— which was a terrifying but impossible thought in and of itself— Anton sighed and said, “I won’t take control of your mind right now, don't be scared… and uh, you don’t have to talk right now if you don’t want to. It’s okay.”

Dew slowly nodded his head. It was at least a relief to know the scientist wouldn’t force him to talk when he really couldn't sometimes. The thought of finally being understood by someone– even if it was his captor– who was probably similar to Dew in more ways than just being trans, calmed him down a bit more.

I mean, yeah, Dew thought, Anton was probably autistic as well. It was obvious. And… It was a reassuring thought, that despite being kept here against his will, Dew wouldn’t have to worry about not being accommodated. Besides, it was another thing he now knew about Anton that could be useful in the future. Maybe asking him about science would stall future experiments— Dew sure could never stop talking whenever someone asked him about one of his special interests.

Dew decided to lay back down on his side, facing away from Anton, and pretend it was anyone else keeping him company. He was just so tired and at this point, he didn’t care that Anton had started petting his wings again as if he was merely a pet. If the scientist was trying to comfort him, Dew would let him. It was better than being hurt, at least.

Anton tried his best to preen Dew’s wings for him, and Dew sighed deeply, leaning into the nice touch. Any other time he would have recoiled at such contact, but he needed this now, he needed something to ground him back to reality. He needed comfort, even if it was from the person who kidnapped him, who kills him in his nightmares and makes every waking moment a living hell.

Because Anton was all Dew had. He was completely dependent on the man, for both food and water, and comfort. He couldn’t get that anywhere else here, and the thought of never being comforted again made Dew feel sick.

It’s okay, he thought, he’s just doing what he needs to do to survive. By seeking comfort from his fucking captor. Whatever, that was fine. Dew deserved comfort. He’d escape soon. Everything was going to be fine.

Dew just wished he had someone to actually tell him that.

Anton hummed in satisfaction when his test subject slowly started falling back to sleep as he pet his wings. Though, his contentment quickly faded and was replaced with an intense feeling of guilt after being reminded of what had happened a few days prior.

After Dew found out he could be mind-controlled by Anton at any time, he started acting very differently since. Anton noticed right away that his test subject was more afraid of him than he’d ever been, and he couldn’t help but feel terrible about that.

Because, fuck, he was supposed to be making Dew feel comfortable here, right? And now he had just lost every ounce of trust the little guy had in him, all because he wanted to test out a new invention. Sure, mind-control was a huge achievement for Anton, he deserved to be excited about it! …But he went about it the wrong way. He hurt Dew, worse than before.

Because, after that day, Dew was just sad and timid all the time, it was no fun being around him. Instead of the almost playful banter between them that happened during feeding or outside time, Dew was eerily silent and compliant. Because he was scared of losing control of his body again.

Anton, once again, let his love for science blind him into not treating Dew like a person. He had fucked up again, and now Dew would probably never trust him, for good reason.

Anton, of course, didn’t need Dew’s trust, or for him to feel safe and happy. He could give Dew the absolute bare minimum for human survival and he would still serve his purpose as a test subject. But… Anton wasn’t like that. He would never be like that.

It’d just make everything so much easier if Dew was a willing test subject, if they worked together. But now, that’d probably never happen.

Unless…

It’d been long enough. If Dew became friends with Basil, maybe he wouldn’t want to leave… That made sense, right? No, absolutely not, but it was worth a shot. What else could he do?

Tomorrow morning then, Anton decided, he’d introduce Dew to his little mouse friend.

Anton gently set Dew’s wings down and climbed off bed, tucking him under the covers. He left his room, locking it, and headed back upstairs with a smile on his face. A new beginning, a fresh start. He’d make things right. Basil always knew what to do.

—

not sure when the next chapter will be out since it’s a Big one and i need time to get it right, but i'm really really excited about it :D

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