#paulina sparks

[simrendipitous]

on her first night in windenburg, paulina went out to the narwhal arms 🍻

she met paolo and flirted a little bit. she bumped into akira and they hit it off very quickly! so much he came over to see her after work...👀

[azulhood]

It all started because of a school project, technically two projects, while it wasn't a world ending threat they set of a change reaction that lead to startling discoveries.

Mr Lancer had given the class the task of looking through their pasts and finding an life changing event that helped shape them into the person that were today and writing about that event.

It was a ten page essay (they were allowed to go over that limit) the more details the better and if you had something from that event to show (such as photos or keepsakes or really anything) you were awarded extra credit.

Danny's choice of event was the school field trip to a nearby museum he went on when he was seven, the space exhibit they had was what sparked his love for the stars and kick-started his dreams of being an astronaut.

It wasn't like he had any other choice (he doubted mister Lancer would accept 'my death' as a good life changing event)

He knew that he had photos of the field trip somewhere with all the other photos taken throughout his life, he just had to find them.

And after digging through thousands of boxes and piles of discarded inventions he handled with care (in case they blew up) he found them tucked inside an old photo album covered in green stains that sat on top of a bookshelf.

Opening the book caused all the pictures to fall into his lap, it seems like his parents didn't get around to actually adding them to the book, Danny resigned himself to spending the rest of his day shifting through old photos.

It wasn't all bad though, he found pictures of when Sam still had blonde hair and wore pink and of that time Tucker wrote an 'I love you' on his parents cars with their keys and many other embarrassing photos.

A treasure trove of blackmail material.

He finally found the picture he was looking for.

All of the kids who are now students of Casper high stood in front of an old building each proudly holding up something they bought in the gift shop (Danny had bought a book on planets that had long ago fallen apart)

It was a normal photo.

And yet, something seemed off.

Sam and Tucker were there with him in between them, Dash was there too.

Along with Kwan, Mikey, Paulina, Valerie, and all the others.

And yet, something was missing.

Then it hit him.

Wes wasn't there.

Danny could've sworn that he had been on that trip, but the more he thought about it the less he was sure.

He couldn't actually remember Wes being there and Danny remembered nearly everything about that trip.

'Maybe he was sick or something?' It was the most logical thing he could think of to explain the other absence, that and his parents not wanting him to go for some reason.

Mystery solved he pushed it to the back of his mind , he had an essay to finish.

Still, it stuck with him.

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

The next school project Lencer gave them was one with assigned partners.

Danny got Wes who, despite not being Sam or Tucker, was leagues better then Dash and he'd take that as a win.

Wes had insisted on studying at his house so he could, and Danny quotes "Keep an eye on you Fenton"

Danny could practically feel the hidden cameras burning a hole into him while he stood in front of the Weston's door, waiting for him to go ghost for whatever reason.

Jokes on him though, Danny asked all the ghosts to leave him along for this month with the promise of giving them a head start the next time they caused trouble, so really Wes was just wasting his time.

"This way." Wes said already heading inside without caring if Danny followed.

Being the first time he had ever been in Wes's home Danny looked at everything and anything.

It was a fairly normal home, not like Danny's which had an anti-ghost defense system or Sam's super rich house.

But more like Tuckers

One of the things that drew his attention was the pictures that lined the walls.

There were so many.

Some with Wes and his mom, some with just him, some with just his mom, and some with people Danny didn't recognise.

But there were no baby photos.

The only pictures Danny could find of a young Wes seemed to be from when he was eight? Nine?

And nothing before.

'Maybe they were put away in storage' Danny guessed, but it still made his brain itch.

He remembered looking at old school photos and not finding any sign of a young Wes at all, he didn't even remember Wes coming to school any time before the year Danny turned eight.

And in a small town where everyone knew everyone that really wasn't possible.

'Maybe they moved here and lost a lot of stuff' Which would explain a lot, well no harm in asking. "Did you loss a lot when you moved here?"

Wes stopped walking and turned around to give him a look that asked if he was insane. "I've lived here my whole life, Fenton."

Danny froze, that couldn't be right, he'd remember that.

Something was wrong.

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

Tim Drake sat in front of the bat computer as the rest of his family patrolled.

He had one monitor displaying the other bats locations while all the other monitors were used to show him files, or rather the lack there of.

Wayne Enterprises had tournaments held for schools and the prize was an all express paid trip to Gotham and tour of WE and surrounding areas, Tim could think of way better prizes that weren't visiting the crime capital of the world but that wasn't the point.

What was the point was that every time there was a winner Tim preformed a routine background check on students and staff (and by routine he means learn their whole live story) just in case anyone happened to be trained assassins set to kill one of them, stranger things have happened.

Wes Weston was one such student whose background Tim had to check.

And he found nothing.

Sure, there were hospital and school documents from age eight and upwards, but other then that nothing.

There was no birth certificate, no evidence of him attending daycare, nothing.

It was as if Wes did not exist before he was eight years old.

And perhaps the most interesting thing.

Amy Weston was listed as Wes's biological mother, DNA even said as much, and yet Amy's medical file said that she had never been pregnant and also had no siblings that could've been Wes's parent.

And yet Wes existed, appearing one day as if he had always been there.

Was it cloning? Aliens? Magic? A changeling? Someone creating false information to hide the truth?

It was a mystery, and mysteries had always been Tim's Kryptonite.

[wexhappyxfew]

because the first part is almost finished i figured i’d add a few more ideas i had circulating ……..

just a few more. don’t mind me. just scoooooooching this by ya ………

decisions, decisions (ie shannon needs help so she made a poll)

CURRENT IDEAS !!!!!!! i’ll be working this afternoon and tomorrow! 😄 but plz feel free to help ya girl out because woowee am i someone who is INDECISIVE AF !!!!!!

[glow-worms-are-believers]

Town Ghosts

Ok, so this is inspired by this post.

Danny almost lost his balance as he turned on Casper High’s street corner. Catching himself in the nick of time, he resumed his uncontrolled dash down the streets of Amity and finally made it to his locker just in time for the first bell to ring. As he looked up from his locker and noticed how sparsely populated the halls were, Danny frowned. First bell indicated they had 5 minutes before the actual beginning of class, and usually that meant a decent amount of stragglers were still chilling around.

“Damn it, do we have an exam?” Danny mumbled as he took out his phone to text Sam and Tucker.

Wheres everyone? He sent

Assembly, came the answer from Tucker to which Sam added, We saved u a seat

Danny didn’t bother answering and instead quickly gathered his things from his locker before hurrying down to the assembly hall. Everyone was talking which meant he wasn’t late, and he managed to catch Tucker waving him over. Danny maneuvered his way to his friends before sagging into the promised saved seat.

“I swear, if Boxy wakes me up at 2am again to rave about packing peanuts one more time I will put him in Soup Time for a month.”

Sam winced. “Rough night, huh?”

Tucker patted his shoulder in commiseration.

Danny closed his eyes. “At least tell me assembly is taking Lancer’s period?”

“We still have half of it afterwards,” Tucker answered.

Before Danny could groan, the teachers started shushing the crowd. As he looked up to the shoddy stage, Danny could see a blonde woman wearing all black.

“Nice boots,” Sam whispered.

“Hello everyone,” started the woman on stage. “My name is Black Canary, you may know me as a member of the Justice League.”

At that Danny sat up straight, suddenly way more aware. Simultaneously, a wave of whispers started amongst the crowd which was quelled by the numerous teachers shushing everyone. Once silence had been more or less reestablished, Black Canary started again.

“I am here as a spokesperson in our efforts to raise awareness about discriminations against meta humans. This initiative started as a personal project of a lot of the founding members of the Justice League. Did you know that recent studies that show that violence against meta humans is disproportionately more frequent than violence against baseline humans? In fact-”

And one she continued for the next half hour, after which she had some students distribute some pamphlets with different phone numbers on them. There was a little more time dedicated to a few exercises and a video of a testimony from a former meta human criminal. As the presentation progressed, Danny started relaxing more and more, to the point that he was half asleep when time for questions was announced.

“What about ghosts?” Paulina’s voice came through the mic the teachers had passed around, “Are they covered by all those fancy laws you mentioned?”

And yep, Danny was fully back to being awake now.

“Ghosts?” repeated Black Canary, in an even tone but before Paulina could answer, another voice cut through the room.

“Ghosts aren’t people, Paulina.” Valerie’s voice came through sharp and clear.

Paulina’s eyes narrowed in on her former friend. “Says who?”

“Says science!” Valerie exclaimed. “Though I shouldn’t expect a Phantom groupie to understand that.”

“You’re just jealous.” Paulina flicked her hair dismissively.

Danny sank into his seat as he tried to block out the very public argument happening in front of him. Black Canary seemed to be observing the exchange with curiosity, while the teachers were trying to reach Paulina to get the mic out of her hand. There were a few students with their phones out, filming the whole debate and Danny would bet it would be on the school forum by the end of the day, probably sparking yet another Phantom debate.

Just then, as if it wasn’t enough, Danny could feel his ghost sense activating. As he turned his head, he caught a green shimmer at the edge of his vision zooming past the window.

“Come on,” he mumbled. “Gimme a break.”

“Do you want backup?” Sam asked.

“I got it,” Danny grumbled. “Cover me.”

“For sure, dude,” Tucker answered.

Danny stood up and shimmied his way down the rows of chairs to a teacher with Paulina and Valerie still arguing in the background. When Danny reached the nearest teacher he asked for leave to go to the bathroom and by was granted it after which a teacher finally managed to get the microphone away from Paulina. As Danny walked out of the room, he could hear Black Canary’s fading voice asking a question as he got further and further away.

“What do you mean by 'ghosts'?”

[dpxdc-shipping-wars]

Justice League Round 1

[ilkkawhat]

Feel free not to answer if you don't want to, but why cringe at your own Sorjonen fic? I loved the short one you posted.

If you feel beta readers/someone to bounce ideas off might help, there are willing volunteers out here 👀 myself included

i'm sure it's mostly just me being hard on myself and just my low confidence in myself, but I'm mostly worried I'm not writing the characters well enough, not being descriptive enough, and that it's not as long as it should be--like i'm going through it too fast almost and maybe that's on me for expecting more out of myself and equating quantity with quality (a fic like this? i'd target maybe 5-10k and so far it's at 2.5k)

and idk back when i was in the peak of my fic writing a few years ago i feel like it'd just be so easy for me to write and now it's just...not. like i'm dragging the words painfully out of me--but i want to write and it's just not happening fast enough i guess

if you or anybody else is interested in reading what i got so far, here it is below the cut--i marked gaps with brackets of what i want to put between:

He just wanted to check on them, to make sure they were alright. Kari would never admit if he was bleeding, though Niko knew he would immediately tell if his wife or daughter or Katia were. 

In hindsight he should have just listened and gotten out when Taina told him to. He shouldn’t have pressed his luck. He should have listened to his instincts telling him he didn’t belong in the field. He hated fieldwork. Shit like this was why. 

Perhaps it was the trick of adrenaline that made him think that he could walk out of this unscathed, a foolish thought that he could be a hero, sneak up behind one of the assailants and take them hostage. 

Hard to do that with his back up against the wall, staring at a mirror; a deer in headlights and suddenly his muscles seize causing the rush to both rise and sink in and out of his body. 

Katia emerged from a room and stood there, and she looked terrified. He’d be more concerned if she wasn’t.

He gave her a look, hoping she would take the signal and walk away but just as he was, she was frozen to the spot giving ample time for her reaction to become suspicious. His eyes were on Katia and not on the pair of shoes walking swiftly into frame, offering no warning and no time for Niko to react even if he wanted to shoot the man in self defense—

He crumpled like a ball of paper, shrinking into himself until he realized that hurt more, moving in such a way that pressed the bullet further into his body. He wedged himself into the corner of the stairwell, feeling stupid for being so exhausted by such a simple action. 

The pain seared through his bloodstream, synapses pulled and snapped causing eruptions in his head. He kept his eyes closed, his body still as he felt the sting of each sizzling spark. 

He held his hand against the wound, the blood trickled out between his fingers. He thought he could maybe scoop the burning lava pouring out of the hole in his abdomen and shove it back in, but instead he just felt the rhythmic throb of pain that rejected the notion of healing himself. 

“Niko? Niko!” 

Kari’s voice. Kari. Kari. Kari. 

That’s who he came here for. To make sure he was safe. He wasn’t safe. None of them were. 

Kari lifted Niko’s hand away from the wound, quickly examining it before hovering his other hand against his cheek. 

Niko was only dimly aware of what was being said and done around him, using all of his concentration to focus on Kari in front of him, but the man was called away—“I have to answer it and tell them no one died. Niko needs a hospital”—the thought of which shocked Niko, because he was certain that he was dead and this was just his lingering thoughts before fading away for good—

Kari stepped away, and Paulina took his place. She was uncertain of what to do, hesitant to touch but wanting to do something, anything, and Niko wanted to tell her he’s okay. This was fine. He’d be okay, just give him a couple minutes.

Paulina looked away, watching the shooter walk trudge back up the stairs after checking that nobody was behind Niko. Niko tried to point to his gun which had fallen out of his hand when she looked back.

Fortunately, she got the message, but out of confusion or fear or maybe a mixture of both, didn’t use it herself, or directly hand it to him. She hastily, clumsily shoved it back into his holster before the brothers could see it. A good call, he had to admit. Shooting now with a hot piece in the taller brother, Nikolai, could just make the situation worse. More casualties.  

Above him, Kari was negotiating for his exit. The other brother, Valdek, was insistent that he could get himself out and Niko wanted to laugh at the thought…but understood the reality that he might have to, the thought of which seemed impossible. 

Raised voices resulted in Katia being allowed to take him. The others were held back, ushered into one of the bedrooms away from sight. The brothers seemed to start arguing while Katia hopped down the stairs two at a time, pulling Niko up though she couldn’t move him even an inch. 

“Niko, come on, we gotta get out of here!” she whispered hurriedly, scared that the brothers might change their mind and finish the job. He was afraid of that too, but the second he tried to stand up, he felt as if something tugged hard, fishing for the bullet that ricocheted against the inner walls of his body, tearing the wallpaper down by peeling and ripping it apart. He couldn’t stifle the pained shout, almost a scream that pierced his ears, making every single cell inside stand on edge, an army of goosebumps pushing out, pressing themselves to get away from the eruption in his abdomen. He wanted it to end but instead had to take a step forward that was worse. Searing water coated his eyes while part of him fought every command from his body to just fall back down, to fall into the alluring void of consciousness. 

Katia attached herself to him, propping him up. His legs felt numb, but he took another step down, Katia took it with him. It was an awkward journey down the rest of the stairs but they made it after what felt like an hour. Katia kept looking behind them every so often, the brother with the loaded gun looming above them. Pacing back and forth eyeing his prey. 

The numbness dissipated by the time they made it down the stairs, he held his breath in and focused on moving forward. They could see the flashing lights outside. The ambulance. They were almost there, and then he could rest. Katia’s hand was almost on the doorknob—

A bullet whizzed past his ear faster than he could hear it. The most motion in his body since they started walking, a sharp gasp and flinch of sheer terror while Katia screamed out at the sound of the gunshot. He yelped as she dropped him and he fell to the floor, but he still reached out to her, wanting to pull her down so he could protect her, keep her safe.

Even though he could hardly protect himself. 

Niko tried his best to sit up, interpret the mixture of screams and shouts from everyone in the household. He could barely understand Kari shouting at the brothers, could only hear Katia next to him. He wanted to ask her if she was okay but all that came out was a long, pained groan. 

“You were letting us go!” Katia screamed to the blurry shadows on the staircase. 

“You’re not going anywhere, except back up here!” Nikolai shouted back. “And you leave him there!” he added, as Katia stood up and tried to take Niko with her. 

“He needs a hospital!” he could hear Kari, begging once more. “Valdek, please, see reason here—!”

“What he needs doesn’t matter. You solve this, fast, or he bleeds out.” 

Katia looked down at Niko with wobbling lips. Her eyes shone with an unspoken apology as she ran up the stairs, the bedroom door was slammed shut. The final nail in his coffin nailed along with it. 

Kari pushed through the bothers, ran down the stairs despite their protests. 

“You leave him down there!”

“Get back up here or we kill one of the girls!”

Kari didn’t seem to care, calling the bluff for the moment, he returned to Niko.

“I’ll try to get something to help. I need you to hang on, stay awake,” Kari held Niko’s hand against the wound. 

“Too…tired…” Niko moaned. 

“I know, Niko, I know. I’m going to get us out but please, promise me—”

“Get up, now,” Valdek grabbed Kari by the back of his shirt, pulled him up and forced him back up the stairs. Niko’s eyes drooped, but didn’t close entirely. He tried to focus on something, anything, but all he could think about was how tired he was…and how much it hurt. 

The strobe of the emergency lights blinked through the window panes of the door. Niko blinked with the light, and when he opened his eyes again the staircase was vacant. The house was eerily silent again, just as it had been when he entered. This was his chance to leave the way he came, silent, unnoticed. 

He breathed in and out as quietly as he could, but as deep as he needed. The bleeding wasn’t stopping, his fingers sheathed in a sticky crimson glove. He raised his other hand up, eyes still transfixed on the stairwell as he blindly fumbled for the doorknob. He found it, twisted it, then started to twist himself to pull it open. He bit down on his lower lip, stifling the rising scream as he stretched his body—

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Niko froze, his nerves vibrating the buzzed hairs on his head to rise as high as they could. He swallowed hard as a blinking shadow grew larger and larger on the door before his hand was lifted and removed from the knob, and then dropped carelessly causing his body to tip over onto it. His face fell onto the shoe of the man stopping him, a soft cry escaped his lips. He tried to lift himself up but his body was a rag doll after his attempt at escape drained what little energy he could muster.

“Just…let…me…go…” Niko shuddered, his voice hoarse and strained. Every word was a challenge, he was losing composure with every syllable. “Please.”

“Told you before, pig, you’re not going anywhere. You’re the one who wanted to join the party,” it was Nikolai, who jabbed the side of Niko’s head with his gun. “Try it again, and I’ll blow your brains out…and theirs, too.” 

A shove of the gun thrusted his head against the door, for a split second he heard a spike of chirps in the radios outside. Niko was reminded of his loose earpiece, once Nikolai leaves he can try to put it in, call for help.

“Nikolai, quit playing around,” Valdek called from upstairs. 

Nikolai spat on Niko’s face, and walked back up the stairs. 

[gap, niko agonizing before kari tries to check on him?]

“Niko!” Kari called down. “Can you hear me?”

“What…?” Niko groaned, too low for anybody upstairs to hear.

“Stay awake. Okay? Promise me you’ll stay awake.”

“Wh-why…?” 

“I know it’s the last thing you probably want to do, but we need to keep your brain active. I could use it right now.” 

Are you fucking kidding me, Kari? I’ve been shot…what use am I at all?

But he understood the point. If Niko fell asleep…he might not wake up.

“Stay awake.”

He blinked, and Kari was in front of him. Pointing to Niko’s brain. 

“You don’t need my help,” Niko murmured. “Already tried to and look where it got me.”

“I do need you. Stay awake,” Kari repeated. 

“Yeah, got the message,” Niko tried to sit up, paying for it immediately with a harsh spike of pain in his abdomen, before he slumped back down again. Kari was gone. Was he ever there to begin with? He squeezed his eyes shut, swallowing back a wave of terror that he was losing his mind. His head felt heavy, lolling in all directions with a dizzying lag. The slam against the door must have given him a minor concussion. Or it was the blood loss. Or both. 

“You quit playing around, too, old man. Get back to work.”

[niko waiting for the dust to settle, maybe fading in and out before he tries calling taina. calls her and then feels guilty, he has to give his gun to somebody to even the odds, making the same mistake that got him hurt in the first place]

“Tuh-Taina…” he whispered into the mic. 

“Niko? Niko, what’s going on? Kari said you’d been shot.”

“Yeah…it’s not good. Listen, I don’t have a lot of time. I’m at the front door. I just…need someone to—”

He heard a worrying commotion. Paulina cried out. Heard a man in pain. 

“Niko? Niko, are you there?”

It had to be Kari, as the brothers shouted. His heart sank. He had to go back up there. If he could hold his gun steady for just a few moments, or somehow give it to Kari or the others, the table could turn in their favor. 

“Niko!”

He ripped the ear piece out of his ear again, leaned himself forward on his good side with one arm cradling his wound while the other reached out, pulled his body ahead.

[niko climbs and then gets kicked in the face and falls down the stairs]

As he reached the top he could see the giants looming above him, Kari with his hands tied behind his back. A bleeding forehead. The punishment he received earlier…for helping Niko? Or something else? 

Finally, the last step, a surge of adrenaline helped him to almost stand up—

For the second time, he missed the pair of shoes that came too fast for him to react. He lifted his head just in time for the shoe to come in contact, the tip lifting his chin up before it retracted, then the bottom of the shoe pushed against his face, shoving him back, he tumbled, his spine bumping hard against the railing behind him, he slid and twisted down, fumbling for something to stop him from pinballing but his head kept getting knocked around, disorienting him, the world was shaken like a snowglobe and he was trapped inside of it—

The hardest impact came when he fell into the same corner splattered with his own blood. Under the flat tone that pierced his eardrums, he could hear women’s screams and a man’s desperate pleas.

“Niko!” Kari shouted, the name having been said so many times in such a short period that it almost felt foreign to him now. Didn’t even feel like his name anymore. Felt like it was the name of a dead man. 

[niko passes the gun to katia so she can shoot the one dude]

Niko grunted, unable to get a word out. He stared at Katia with the most seriousness he could focus into her. He didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want her to have to do this, but it was the only way. 

He led her hand to the holster, and when she realized what she wanted him to do, her eyes widened. But she didn’t protest. He saw Lena’s fire rise within her. 

[ending of the hostage situation. Stretch ending to hospital?]

Eyes fluttered open. 

“Niko!’ Kari’s voice again, this time with less fear and more relief.

“You can go to sleep now. It’s over.”

Thanks for the permission, Niko thought bitterly, but felt the corner of his lips twitch that must have given Kari some more peace of mind. He held his hand up against Niko’s cheek, once again uncertain, before quickly nodding his forehead against Niko’s while gripping his shoulder. A warm wave washed over Niko, if he had anymore blood in his body he’d blush at the gesture. 

[kiyfra]

Chapter 2 of Scorpio is complete! Can be read here or on AO3. PokéRus AU belongs to @monsoon-of-art

“I can bear scorpion's stings, tread fields of fire, in frozen gulfs of cold eternal lie, be tossed aloft through tracts of endless void, but cannot live in shame.”

——————————————

Ingo had come back to the Pearl Clan settlement and was outside Irida’s tent with the other wardens, all of them baying and scratching at the door as they waited for her to join them.

One by one the infected had lost their minds and turned into monsters, lacking even the nobility of animals. They might have superficially looked like pokémon, but they didn’t contain the spark of understanding and markings of a rich inner soul that real pokémon had.

She was going to be the last to turn after Calaba. The two of them had bunkered down in Irida’s living quarters and spent their remaining time listening as the beasts prowled the deserted camp, breaking into storerooms and rummaging through abandoned tents in their search for food.

They could have easily broken in to get at them; the flimsy tents wouldn’t stand up against several determined alphas. But they merely whined and begged for them to join their pack while the last two remnants of the Pearl Clan could only wait for the inevitable.

“It wasn’t supposed to end like this,” Irida lamented with her face buried in her paws.

The Pearl Clan had dissolved under the young leader’s watch, her people forced to leave the grounds where Almighty Sinnoh had appeared before their ancestors. She wondered where they went after they were sent away, if any of them chose to stay in Hisui or if they had all left for better lives overseas. Did they stick together or did the Pearl Clan disperse across the world, it’s people scattered to the winds?

It had been a close race between her and Paulina to determine a successor to lead the Pearl Clan, with Irida winning out in the end. Paulina had been happy for her, even presenting her with the headpiece she was seldom seen without.

Irida had often secretly believed that the older, more experienced woman that had felt more like a parental substitute than a rival would have made a better clan leader than her. Now she was forced to listen to her whimpering and impatient barking at all hours of the day, demanding to know how she could keep her locked out.

“Rarely do we get a choice in such matters. I thought that I had made my peace with that, but life never manages to stop surprising me,” Calaba said.

There was nearly a century’s worth of lived experience behind her words.

The old warden turned towards the young leader. “You don’t have to be so hard on yourself, I’ve made a real mess of things myself.”

Bitter and paranoid accusations were slung about from people that wanted something or someone to blame. A warden with no Noble to tend to was easy to point fingers at, whether they were a foreigner that kept their pokémon in strange capsules or a Pearl borne that refused to force their Noble’s remaining child to take their place.

Calaba’s insistence that a curse had been brought upon the clans had fuelled nasty infighting in the final weeks leading up to the clan’s exodus. They had latched onto her words in the absence of any other explanations and the old warden had inadvertently turned a member of the Pearl Clan into a pariah.

Irida knew the she never wanted that, but it was far too late for her or anyone else to make amends.

“You weren’t the only one who made mistakes. I wasn’t helping when I raised the possibility our predicament was caused by the false Sinnoh the Diamond Clan worships,” Irida said. “I don’t think our words or anyone else’s could have effected the outcome.”

“Don’t interrupt a foolish old lady when she’s going over her regrets on her deathbed. You know I made this far more painful than it needed to be,” the woman turned bibarel chided.

In spite of her misgivings towards the odd man, she never wanted to see him driven out. She suspected that despite his gratitude towards the people that had taken him in, Warden Ingo was never truly happy in Hisui and one day he would want to leave. Such thoughts had not abated over time, even after years had passed. How could Calaba think the man belonged with the Pearl Clan when he didn’t even believe so?

Ingo had dutifully complied with every prescribed exorcism and cure despite his skepticism and Calaba had done everything she could for a patient she believed was a lost cause.

“What would we have done without such a knowledgeable medicine woman treating everyone tirelessly? I wouldn’t have fared nearly as well as I did without you,” Irida insisted.

Calaba was always one of the people she turned towards for advice, along with Gaeric and Paulina. Her parents had been one of the causalities of a famine that had ravaged the ice lands in a cruel winter many years ago. Irida was too young to remember them, neither did she have any grandparents to raise her. She spent her childhood moving between the care of different adults and being supervised by older kids well into their teens. Most of them considered themselves babysitters with a few that took it upon themselves to act as mentors.

Paulina showing her how to care for and bond with the eevee her parents left behind, Gaeric teaching her how to endure the cold and not let it bother her, and Calaba guiding her through recipes for medicine and meals.

If Irida forced herself to try and remember her parents, they were the only people that came to mind.

Calaba remained doubtful and looked as though she was about to argue, but thought better of it. Sensing the line of conversation was going nowhere, she decided to change the subject.

“Was there anything you wanted to say or get off your chest?”

Irida pondered the question for a moment before shaking her head.

“I can’t think of anything in particular.”

A harsh cry mixed with a scraping sound came from outside and made Irida jump. The dissonant wailing of a glalie originated from Gaeric who was begging to be let in and banging on the door to make his displeasure known.

Calaba barely reacted to his forlorn crying, merely scowling and clucking her tongue as she felt a headache coming on. The old bibarel walked towards Irida’s kitchenware to put on the kettle, hoping some tea would calm their nerves.

She turned back to the glaceon, returning to the matter at hand.

“It could be any trifling thing.”

Irida thought back to when she was little and her eevee had gotten a scratch on its eye. She didn’t see what caused it and had run over to Calaba’s tent in a panic with her partner dangling from her arms.

Ursaluna’s warden calmly assessed the damage before concluding it was a minor and easily treated injury. She crafted two medicines for her eevee, one to speed up the healing and prevent infection, another to relieve the pain.

When she was older, Calaba taught her several common remedies, spending many evenings gently correcting her on dosage and how long to let plants simmer.

“Thank you for teaching me how to cook for myself and make medicines. And for always being there.” Irida looked away from Calaba and down at the floor.

“I wish I could be thanking Lina too.”

Calaba seemed momentarily at a loss, wondering where this was coming from before her expression softened in understanding.

“I was happy to do so and I’m glad you found it useful. Thank you for staying by my side when I was so sick.”

Calaba had fallen gravelly ill several years ago, leaving her so weak that she had been rendered bedridden. At her age it could easily prove fatal and it was an unspoken understanding by her and the rest of the Pearl Clan that she was at the end of her life.

Irida was busying herself with preparing a damp cloth and medicinal tea for the warden while forcing down a sickly anxiety when she called the girl over to her bedside.

She told her that she was happy with how she lived her life and she didn’t have to cry for her. It was Sinnoh’s will whether she stayed or left and that wasn’t something Irida could control. Why fight against the inevitable?

Everyone was quite surprised when her fever broke and she made a full recovery, Calaba most of all. Her death would come one day and it served as a sobering reminder that it may not be far off. It almost made Irida appreciate the Diamond Clan’s reverence for time.

A wavering whistle came from the kettle, rising in pitch to signal the water was ready.

Calaba carefully looked through her host’s tea selection before settling on one. It was a nice one from overseas, one Irida purchased from the Ginko Guild and had been saving for a special occasion.

After the tea finished steeping, she poured out a cup for each of them, making sure one of them was wide enough for Irida to lap out of. They drank their tea in silence for a minute before Calaba smirked to herself, amused by some private joke.

“I want to thank you for the buneary you brought me. It was quite thoughtful of you.”

Irida nearly snorted into her tea and the tips of her ears grew warm with embarrassment. Warm for a glaceon, anyways.

She had returned during a memory lapse one morning with a buneary she had apparently managed to hunt and left it on Calaba’s doorstep. It was certainly awkward trying to explain that to the warden and anyone else that witnessed her off putting behaviour. What exactly her thought process was in bringing that to a species that was strictly herbivorous remained a mystery.

“Lord Ursaluna was very appreciative of the offering. He wanted me to let you know,” Calaba continued, somewhat facetiously.

Irida pulled her ears down and hid her face in the flaps from her crest, wishing she could sink through the floor.

“Ugghhh... no...”

The warden chuckled at her mortification as she resumed drinking her tea.

The near incessant scratching and banging from the former humans grew louder and their yowling more pained and indignant. Irida worried their patience had run out and they would try to force their way in.

If Calaba was perturbed by the ruckus, she didn’t show it. But her gaze grew more distant and expression more somber.

“I’m not afraid of dying, I haven’t been for a long time. My greatest fear was being in pain.”

Tent framing started to creak as the howling reached a fever pitch, claws catching on fabric with the constant pawing that could tear a hole in their shelter. The clan leader’s eyes grew wide and her fur started bristling at the monsters looking to force the two of them out.

Calaba merely sighed and looked down at her cup morosely.

“I wouldn’t expect someone your age to easily come to terms with something like this. You did the best that could have been done and I’m proud of you.”

They were shoving each other out of the way for their turn to pound at the door, fighting amongst themselves for the chance to break it off its hinges. Irida desperately tried to think of some way out, her nerves completely shot.

Could they run away? The beasts had them surrounded and they would stand little chance in a fight. She wasn’t sure Calaba would be inclined to try either, still sitting down and sipping away at her tea in the very picture of resignation.

The frantic pounding and caterwauling carried on for a long time, long enough for Calaba to pour and finish a second cup. Irida listened anxiously for the cracking of timber or the tearing of cloth, twitching and jumping at every sound before the commotion finally slowed down and devolved into the usual pathetic whimpering.

The clan leader remained on edge, worried their reprieve wouldn’t last and the frenzy would flare up again. It was nearly an hour before she allowed herself to relax somewhat.

Her half finished tea had gone cold and Calaba collected their cups to wash and put away.

“...Thank you. If it’s alright, could we just pretend things are normal?”

The warden nodded in agreement and the two of them talked about anything and everything that came to their minds well into the night, falling asleep to the background noise of relentless crying from the mad alphas. The next morning, Calaba was gone. She had slipped out sometime in the middle of the night to join the caravan of beasts, leaving Irida as the only one left.

She spent a few more days holed up in her tent hearing her wardens yowling, not understanding why their leader wouldn’t join them and her blackouts growing more and more frequent.

Irida woke up one morning and knew deep in her soul that today was the day. She felt eerily calm as she accepted her fate; there was nothing she could do and nothing she could have done. Why fight against the inevitable?

Maybe Dawn and the Galaxy Team would find a solution in the end, but it was entirely out of Irida’s hands.

She didn’t have any beliefs about what would happen next, but she truly believed Almighty Sinnoh hadn’t forsaken them. Aide or comfort would be doled out solely at it’s discretion, in this life or the next in all of its divine wisdom.

Hopefully the Nobles would find it within themselves to carry on their duty to the clans and watch over them, for their sakes and for anyone unfortunate enough to be a victim of their madness.

She spent several hours making sure everything in her living quarters was tidied up and put away in preparation for her last meaningful decision. If she was praying for the grace and mercy of Sinnoh, the least she could do was not leave her space a mess.

When she was satisfied, she set about attending to her final matter of business. Working patiently, she twisted her head around and used her teeth to untie the knot in the back of her robe. She managed to get a tooth under one of the loops and tugged, loosening the cord holding the outfit together and sliding it off. Irida would no longer have any need of it.

That too was put away and after taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she leapt up to open the door with as much dignity as she could muster while scrabbling at the knob. The door swung open and Irida strode purposefully into the crowd of beasts, their ceaseless baying falling quiet at last. All of them regarded her silently as she walked towards the centre of the camp.

Ingo was perched atop a tent like an unmoving gargoyle, save for his eyes following her, with no doubts about where he belonged. Calaba, Paulina, Gaeric; there were no hints of recognition or familiarity in the eyes of any of the wardens, just the expectation that she would fulfill her obligation towards them.

The inky shadows that were now omnipresent in her mind were angrily threatening to suffocate her, to drown and snuff out her psyche.

It could do so whenever it pleased.

Far across Hisui, a young man came to a similar decision, relieved the waiting was over. Two clan leaders sat poised before their pack of wardens, ready to join them and ready to let their minds slip away into the darkness where they might never be found again.

[soap-opera-daily]

Shocking Return: 'The Pawn' Makes Explosive Comeback in Days of Our Lives

Prepare for a whirlwind of drama as May Sweeps descends upon Salem in the latest Days of Our Lives spoilers. Tensions rise as relationships are tested, secrets are unveiled, and nefarious schemes unfold.

First up, brace yourself for a tangled web of romantic turmoil involving Alex, Theresa, and Kristen. Theresa's discovery of Alex and Kristen's intimate encounter ignites a fiery confrontation, exposing the complexities of their already troubled relationship.

Meanwhile, Konstantin's plans hit a snag when Maggie insists on a prenuptial agreement, prompting him to seek Theresa's assistance in navigating the sticky situation. But amidst the chaos, Konstantin activates "The Pawn," setting the stage for a series of ominous directives.

As Chanel's health takes a perilous turn, Johnny and Paulina grapple with mounting concern over her well-being. Will they find a cure in time to save her from the ravages of radiation exposure?

Elsewhere, sparks fly between Eric and Nicole as they collaborate at The Spectator, drawing the ire of a jealous EJ, who schemes to keep them apart at any cost.

EJ's troubles multiply when Leo threatens to expose a damning secret that could unravel his carefully constructed façade. With Leo holding leverage over him, EJ resorts to desperate measures to protect his interests and prevent Nicole and Eric from growing closer.

In the midst of the chaos, Kristen and Stefan forge an alliance aimed at toppling EJ and uncovering evidence to clear Gabi's name in Li's murder. But as they embark on their mission, the odds of success remain uncertain.

As the tension mounts and alliances shift, Salem braces for the explosive revelations and shocking twists set to unfold in May Sweeps. Stay tuned to Soap Opera Daily for the latest updates and developments in the world of Days of Our Lives.

[simrendipitous]

paulina shared the big news with akira about her pregnancy!

[eddysocs]

Wednesday OC Masterlist

Name: Belladonna Stillwell

Face Claim: Giorgia Whigham

Love Interest: Larissa Weems

Fic Title: Nothing But Trouble

Plot Summary: There’s only one student the causes more trouble than Wednesday Addams and it’s Jericho's own Belladonna Stillwell. Born of a mortal mother and a demon father, she’s an outcast in a town where outcasts are tolerated at best. Aside from trying to blend in at her job working the night shift at Uriah's Heap, Donna is pretty much isolated, until she finally receives her chance to attend Nevermore Academy. Once there, she doesn’t lose her rebellious streak, but her bond with Principal Weems does certainly tamp it down a notch.

Name: Fern Avondell

Face Claim: Paulina Chavez

Love Interest: Marilyn Thornhill

Fic Title: Heart And Soil

Plot Summary: Fern has never been a very good siren. She can’t control her Siren Song, but she has always been able to control plant life. Her parents named her Fern because nearby plants reacted to her mere presence. Being the thing she knows how to do best, that’s what Fern gravitates towards. Spending more time on land than the rest of her family, they eventually decide to send her away to Nevermore Academy. While Fern still clings desperately to the plants she loves, she also gravitates towards Nevermore's plant expert, Marilyn Thornhill. Both with secrets to hide, Fern and Marilyn have an uphill battle in front of them.

Name: Josephina Mallard

Face Claim: Sadie Soverall

Love Interests: Morticia Addams

Fic Title: Dark Temptation

Plot Summary: Josephina has spent her life as a siren like her mother, and she knows every little trick when it comes to using her Siren Song. But when sparks come shooting out of her fingers, her mother knows it’s time to tell her the truth. Her father possessed powers like the ones she’s exhibiting now. Scared for the first real time in her life, Josephina wants to learn to control it, but her mother can’t help her and her father isn’t around to, so that leaves Nevermore Academy. Only, branching out from her home and being with peers just brings out Josephina's wild side. Reprimanded severely by the end of her first week, it’s either expulsion or spying on Wednesday Addams to retain her spot at the school. Josephina knows which one she’s choosing.

[dertaglichedan]

House votes to censure Rep. Adam Schiff over Trump-Russia probe

The House voted along party lines Wednesday to censure Rep. Adam Schiff for amplifying claims that Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia.

The censure resolution against Schiff (D-Calif.), the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was approved by a vote of 213-209 with six lawmakers opting to vote “present.”

Reps. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), David Joyce (R-Ohio), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), John Rutherford (R-Fla.) and Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) – all members of the House Ethics Committee – voted present, as did Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.).

Sparks flew in the well of the chamber after the vote when several House Democrats crowded near the dais and chanted “shame” as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) attempted to read the resolution.

“I have all night,” McCarthy said as he tried to ask for Schiff to present himself so he could be censured.

The interruption lasted for roughly five minutes.

An initial resolution to censure Schiff failed 225-196 last week, with 20 Republicans voting to kill the effort.

That resolution featured a provision to fine Schiff $16 million, half of the money taxpayers doled out for special counsel Robert Mueller’s collusion probe, according to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who sponsored both bills.

The resolution voted on Wednesday scrapped the fine and made other modifications to win over members of the House like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky), who opposed the initial version.

FULL STORY...

***BURN you POS!

[emilia-jasinska-producer]

SINSAY director & director of photography: Michał Sierakowski | BLUEBIRDS ARTIST @michalsierakowski | @bluebird.artists photographer: Ola Walków | @valklove

cast: Zua, Eva, Wiktoria, Filip, Gustaw, Józef, Alicja, Franek, Aleksander | Moon Kids @moonkids_warsaw Dominka | Vanilia Models | @vanillamodels.pl vo artist: Zofia Zoń, Raluca Nestor

client: SINSAY @sinsay | Jaśmina Sołtysiak, Piotr Przewodowski, Magdalena Banacka Natalia Knuta-Topolska | @kwieciste_imie@nat.kt penone

producer: Kamila Boruc-Adamska, Bartosz Gil | TRUSKAVKA | @boruc_adamska production manager: Emilia Jasińska & Marilyn Szczudło | TRUSKAVKA | @emiliajasinskaaa | @marilynsz production coordinator: Mateusz Muszyński | TRUSKAVKA | @mateusz_muszynski_ production assistant: Magda Pietrucin | TRUSKAVKA

set designer: Amanda Anulewicz | @amandzidzia mua: Paulina Kopa | @kopamakeupart mua assistant: Klaudia Majcher | @majcher.makeup stylist: Daria Biedrzycka | @dariabiedrzycka stylist assistant: Joanna Tracz & Judyta Tracz @ashkatracz

focus puller & camera assistant: Huber Chybowski @focushubi gaffer: Remigiusz Białek @albertbialek sparks: Maciej Bąk & Michał Haśko photographer assistants: Jakub Marciniak | Zachód Studio | @kubamarciniak | @zachodstudio

offline editor: Weronika Bystrowska @werbystrowska@bluebird.artists color grading: Piotr Putko @piotrputko_colorist online edit: Łukasz Zyskowski @zpost.studio sound design: Dozo Music Studio @dozomusic

camera equipment: Masiak Media | @masiakmedia light equipment: Big Bang Film | @bigbangfilm.pl transport: Paweł Cienkusz, Piotr Sybistowicz wardrobe: D&W Automobile Catering: Miło Mi | Wrocław production insurance: MAKonLine

[tonin-terets]

Sendcloud Animation from Agent Pekka on Vimeo.

Client: Sendcloud Production: Agent Pekka Producer: Caroline Svensson Judge Art Direction: Linn Fritz, Joe Sparkes Animation Direction: Henrique Barone Animation: David Stumpf, Javier Ibañez, Paulina Juárez Mandujano, Gabriella Jardine Sound Design: Sanctus and THNDR

[scuffle-with-spirals]

Visors Can't Blind an Ant

@THE WITCHING HOUR

[6/6] [Entry Masterlist]

Trigger/Content Warning: The follow story contains images of murder and imagery relating to tightly squeezing the human body, as well as a heavily implied narrative of paranoia. The drawing below the cut also contains a lot of bodily fluids (NSFW) some people may just not be comfortable with. Please stay safe and take care of yourself.

Word Count: 1,977

In the crowning year of XX87, space travel technology was abundant and booming. Retrofuturism, like many aesthetics of decades, centuries past had made a comeback; partially out of love for the look, a fondness toward simpler times, and to market the financial benefits of sending the uninformed for hostile exploration to line the pockets of the wealthy. In the house of Gregory and Bobby Hill, two identical twins in a long family line of those sent out into the world beyond the stars, interest in space came naturally as knowing how to read and write. Good luck struck when they were both accepted in tandem for the 84Fable-2-B.in shuttle, with Bobby as mechanic and Gregory as co-pilot. The 84th or 84 as they'd named was a missionary craft designed to house six astronauts with the intent of spending around 90 days studying and mining several minerals on a newly mapped dwarf planet. Many crystals, if deemed fit for human biology, were often sold as trendy accessories and jewelry to help sweeten the appeal of the Earth's intergalatic romance.

The other four members on the crew included Lisa, Andy, Paulina and Joseph. All relatively newer cadets in terms of tenure with Joseph, of course, having the most experience but only with five years in the stars as opposed to the remainder's three, two, and one — the latter being for Paulina, Joseph's wife, and Gregory and Bobby— first-timers.

Mining for materials was considered elementary level fieldwork, and not to mention, easy money. Taking on such a long-standing offer meant that their wallets would be plentiful by the time they returned home, making way for them to blow the money easily and find themselves boarding their next flight soon as possible.

With such advanced technology, crew members could afford to walk around the shuttle without spacesuits a majority of the time. This, of course, barring an enclosed changing room into suits for boarding off the ship. However, they were all equipped with a Body Identification , Digital Chart & Stabilizer (BIDCS, or beads, among the crewmates) that helped not only track everyone's location, and important vitals, but also stabilize said vitals quicker after outdoor trips (as more recently discovered planets had the potential to chill and heat some crew members even when inside their spacesuits. This made the near 24/7 wearing of the BIDCS non-negotiable for safety purposes, minus a short reprieve for cleaning and baths.

The first thirty days of the fieldwork go by without a hitch. Gregory, equipped with a brand new visor Bobby had bought him before the flight to wear indoors, truly was beginning to feel like the star pilot of his childhood, even if he was only second rate to Joseph's masterful leadership. Joseph was, upon first glance, meticulous and level-headed. He fanned himself with all the cards and the die only rolled for his enjoyment. He was, to Gregory, an idol he'd only ever seen on TV.

Of course, with such a drive for perfection in everything, Joseph could only go into overdrive when he perceived an error.

"Please...Don't take this as an insult to her, guys, but...Paulina doesn't look the same after we left 84 the last time, does she? It's like I don't even recognize her face."

With all the sparks and stars and shining eyes, it became very easy to forget mysteries of the extraterrestrial had long since been proven and common knowledge.

Gregory tried to suggest alerting ground control, only to be dismissed with remarks about how he shouldn't tell him how to do his job. Joseph even took it upon himself to password lock everything himself. Only he could communicate with Grounds, only he could access confidential information, view the beads monitors, take inventory for crystals, etc. etc.  And with both he and Gregory being required to give updates at least thrice per day, Gregory could only worry his job was already on the line.

Of course, this arose concern in the others. Andy had boarded several crews missions with Joseph in the past with Paulina and rarely had he ever seen him this worn thin. He questioned his train of thought, but as the man put it himself, he had more experience. Better safe than sorry.

This heightens in the form of an off-hand comment Lisa makes after a nice bath.

"That was really refreshing...I needed all that after hearing some rocks scrape against the shuttle all night."

Joseph immediately referenced the outer cameras of the ship. All around, all night, not a single asteroid even grazed the ship's orbiter. The rooms were divided by gender.

The procedures for an alien on-board were an in-depth and expansive living document, unfortunately. And yet all procedures were ignored as Joseph began to expand his theories through hushed instructions peers. Rally the effort before preparing to strike. Plotting out possible move and option.

"It's not Paulina, it's just...Taking the form of her. I say we just make it painless either way. Raise no suspicion...And I'll perform an emergency beads shutdown tonight."

Out all of the crew left aghast, Bobby was the only one to speak up. He insisted to Joseph in private not to cause a scene that to jump to such extreme measures was inhumane — especially with so little foundation and grounds control being left completely unaware. He, like Gregory, was ignored.

Joseph couldn't even bring himself to toss the corpse off the ship. Andy was instructed to do the deed and clean all the remnants of blood. Lisa was forbidden from forgoing missions, sickened by the fact a friend of hers was dead and thus shouldering the guilt and blame based on an offhand comment. All, while dire, seemed to return to status quo. Paulina's cause of death was only informed to grounds control after the fact. After being met with scalding anger by the flight controller for not following protocol, their mission is cancelled immediately as they're ordered to return home. This is a blow to Joseph's ego he could not handle.

Gregory is awoken in the middle of the night by a restless captain.

"There's...'rocks' scraping the ship again, Gregory." He mumbles. "And I think it's coming from Andy."

Joseph starts to unravel, leaving Gregory in charge of piloting the ship for unhealthy stretches of time in order to peddle more theories to Lisa and Bobby about how the blood of Paulina's corpse transmitted alien DNA to Andy, and now he, by some sense of blood transfusion, was no longer Andy. He was an alien, and if slowly shutting down the beads didn't help him, then they needed to get more personal. Someone had to kill Andy with their head on.

Lisa is appalled by Joseph's behavior and demands that he fork over the password to grounds control. The situation is quick to escalate when Lisa retrieves an emergency weapon from cargo, pointing it and Joseph to intimidate him into compliance. When Andy arrives, however, the diversion is long enough to help Joseph divert the weapon in her hand to shoot Andy on spot. With enough force to definitely kill a small alien, Andy is eviscerated on spot. Gregory, who had briefly left the pilots chair in fear of what was happening, had the force of shot falter his balance and leave break his visor as he collapsed to the floor. Retreating back to the pilot's chair, he stops commanding the ship with the sole purpose of cracking the code to ground control, the screams and chaos ensuing behind him doing little to soothe his brain.

It's at this point Bobby's own rationale had faltered considerably since Joseph had first started taking his shapeshifting paranoia to heart. With everyone coated to some degree in blood, even more-so with the knockback with close proximity of the gun, he felt terrible at the brief sense of relief he felt when Joseph seized the gun and aimed at Lisa. She had gotten real sick all of a sudden, after all; nevermind the excruciating grief. Perhaps he was thankful he hadn't been next. There were only three men left now. And with two bodies accompanying them, Joseph and Bobby couldn't help but notice there was only loud scraping instead of a deafening silence.

Joseph took the scraping as not even the advanced weaponry having worked. He runs toward cargo to find another weapon, but Bobby is not only able to outrun him, but disarm him of the gun, accidentally shooting him in the process with his bloodied, slippery fingers when he threw him to the ground.

Gregory's hands flew across the keys. He tried everything he could think of. Joseph was a proud man. A confident man. He came from the same vein the Hills' had in the sense that his family lived and breathed space travel. He had married a woman like Paulina, or "Paulie" as she was a rich childhood sweetheart who always wanted to dive headfirst into the action instead of just wear the end result. The 84Fable-2-B.in was a three year long project, a sequel to the original 84-Fable meant to mine the same and similar planets, with this one being the first spacecraft carriers to include the BIDCs in its system. Before their takeoff, he prattled on and on about he had boarded the original Fable as a mere cadet. And look at him now.

He rattled across the board: Joseph_Paulie84

The entire terminal unlocked. Gregory could barely articulate his happiness. He contacts grounds immediately, but they can barely hear him over the sounds of the scraping. Gregory can barely hear himself over Bobby crying.

He listed the numbers. One — three gunshots. Unless he was actively dying, it was only him and Bobby now. The BIDCS squeezed his body like a human tourniquet. He navigates to the BIDCs monitor. Crying his eyes out, he panics. He can barely see, even out of the broken part of his visor. But the push of the echo of someone— something trudging down the halls pushes him over to preforming an emergency shutdown on his brothers vitals. Too riddled with cowardice to face the squelches and cries behind him. Bobby is dead within minutes.

"Yes...Yes this is the 84-Fable-2-B.in, Gregory Hall,  copilot and I'm...Uh...Oh my God, there's an emergency — there was an emergency here. Everyone's dead."

"...Mr. Hall, what happened?"

"An alien. Th-the commander, Joseph, h-he told us aliens were all shapeshifting, taking the forms of everyone else. There have been at least two emergency bea—BIDCs shutdowns—"

"I'm reviewing the data from the Fable now Mr. Hall, there isn't a thing on there."

"...What?"

"Not a single foreign dot on the grid. Well, unless you want to count those crystals. There's so damn many of them not stashed away to protocol at all. Didn't anyone tell your captain how loud of a racket those things make when they haven't been polished or sterilized?"

"...This isn't right."

"How many are dead, Mr. Hall. Now, I see five bodies but the briefing says six boarded the ship."

"This isn't right."

The mic is wrestled from the controller's hands right as he begins to spout curses at Gregory's incompetence. Before a metered, calm voice of a woman takes the reigns however, Gregory cut the signal. He was left staring at a vivid screen. The same he always wanted to be in front of, up close, watching sci-fi shows and flicks with his brother.

Gregory felt a pit in his stomach. Something was missing here. A piece of him; an entire half, ripped straight from the bone.

His dry eyes stung behind the visor, despite the dim lighting. The light green colors no longer felt 'cool' to him.

Gregory collapsed to the tiled floor. He didn't feel like himself anymore.

Laid bare, isolated and alone, he felt like at the end of it all, only he felt like he truly wasn't himself anymore.

[whitepolaris]

You seriously deranged if you find standing up for the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ dangerous than there’s something wrong with you. Needs to leave the country and never come back!