#probably for the best the hand cannons got put on the top shelf like the black market was misbehaving toddlers

[nightssideblogofshame]

I love how for this event, nu: carnival really said "we have guns now! There are guns in klein!" for the cool factor and then immediately followed it with "ok the guns are gone now! The guns have been taken away 🤗 by the guards! The guards have taken all the guns away from the black market they famously have very good control over! No more guns in klein! 🤗🤗"

[adenei]

I See You

Had an ask the other day from an anon requesting a fic similar to @headcanonsandmore​ ‘s story “All of Me”. Since Headcanons gave me the all clear, here is my take on Ron & Hermione attempting to learn Occlumency (and also Legilimency because they kinda go hand in hand. Set in the summer between HBP and DH at the Burrow 

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Quick personal message to all you wonderful people out there: I’ve had an influx in asks, please bear with me as it’s taking longer to try and tackle them. I try to stick to the order they come in (ish), but sometimes I open the computer and I start writing whichever sticks in my mind first. I don’t want to push things out too quickly and have the quality go to shit, either. I’d also like to get back to some original ideas I’ve got, and some of your asks actually do reflect things I’ve got planned for my own writing. I don’t want to turn my ask box off for a bit, but I may need to. Thank you all again for entrusting me with your ideas. I hope I am doing them justice ❤

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I See You.

“Ron, I’ve been thinking,” Hermione said as she sat on the floor of his attic bedroom. They’d just finished meeting with the rest of the Order about the initial ideas for a plan to retrieve Harry from the Dursleys. Ron was sitting on his bed, flipping through one of his books on the Chudley Cannons, while Hermione was busy jotting notes down about who knew what.

Ron peered over the book at her. “About what?” he asked apprehensively. 

“I want to try and learn occlumency.”

Ron closed his book and looked at her. “Why?”

“Well, we don’t really know what’s going to happen when we leave for the mission. I’d like to hope for the best, but what happens if we get caught? Or separated? What if our captors try and read our minds to get information because we won’t give it away.”

“They’ll probably torture us instead,” Ron said grimly.

“But still! Shouldn’t we at least try to block our minds? See if we can even do it?” Hermione pressed him.

“Well, sure, maybe, but you’re forgetting one small problem. In order to learn how to shut our minds, we also need to know legilimency. Anyone in the Order who knows is too busy to ask them to do one more thing anyways.”

“I’ve thought about that, too. I have this book that I’ve been reading, that goes into detail about legilimency and occlumency. The theory behind it, how to perform it, and the like.” Hermione stood up and went over to Ron’s bookshelf. 

Ever since arriving a couple weeks ago, she’d sort of taken over a lot of the space in Ron’s already small bedroom. Not that he minded. His bookshelf was always scarce to begin with, so it wasn’t an imposition for her to use the space. He watched her reaching for a book on the top shelf. She was on her tiptoes and her fingertips were barely able to graze the book she wanted.

Rolling his eyes, he got up and grabbed the book for her. “Honestly, woman, are you a witch or not?” his eyes shone as a smirk tugged playfully at his lips. He handed her the book.

“Oh, stop it! That retort is so first year, don’t you think?” Hermione brushed past him and sat on his bed, patting it for him to join her. She opened the book to the theory. “See? So, you would cast legilimens while I tried to empty and clear my mind to block you from seeing anything.”

“So you’re suggesting we practice on each other?”

“Y-yes, I’ve been practicing what Snape told Harry back in fifth year when he was supposed to be learning.” Hermione pretended to be reading through the book.

“...Alright. I suppose you’ve got a point.” Ron got up and shut his door. He locked it and cast silencio so that no one would know what they were up to. He turned to face her. “You’re sure you want to try this?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Hermione asked.

“Well, what if I do manage to see inside your mind, and you can’t block it?”

Hermione bit her lip. She hadn’t really thought about that. “Well, we’ve known each other long enough that I’m sure there’s nothing there that you don’t already know.” She hoped her lie was convincing enough. Honestly, if he did see anything there, then maybe that would be easier than actually admitting her feelings to him.

“Okay..are you ready?” Ron held up his wand as she closed her eyes and did her best to clear her mind. “Legilimens!”

For a brief moment, Hermione felt a small tug in her mind, but then nothing happened.

“I told you it wouldn’t work,” she heard Ron say.

“No! I felt something. There was a small tug, as if a door was trying to open into my mind. Ron, I think you were onto something! Try it again, but really mean it!” Hermione urged him on.

Ron was still a bit worried about invading her privacy, but she seemed so serious about this, so he tried again. This time he saw the tiniest flashes of moments in his own mind. It wasn’t enough to decipher what was happening, but he saw a young Hermione outside, and then Hermione in the dress he thought she wore to the Christmas party. The spell fizzled out, and he was back in his room.

“Whoa…” he said. “You okay?” 

She nodded. “Did you see anything?”

“Yeah, but really quick flashes of things.”

“It’s a weird feeling. Like I’m trying to push against you.”

“Do you want to stop?”

“No, try it one more time. Just give me a second to clear my mind again.”

“Okay.” If Ron was being honest with himself, he wanted to see more of that memory from the Christmas party. He used that desire to drive the spell as he cast Legilimens one more time.

Hermione was definitely fighting back this time, but instead of letting her win, he pushed back with the spell. It was as if the spell found the weak spot in her defense, and pried it open. All of a sudden he saw her at the Christmas party again, and she looked miserable. She was hiding from McLaggen, and he watched her leave the party early and enter an empty classroom with tears streaming down her face. She didn’t say anything in the memory, but he heard her thoughts echo in his own brain, ‘What were you thinking? Of course he’s not Ron! No one is.’ He watched her mind wander back to when she’d asked him to go and wondered what went wrong.

Ron broke the charm. “Shit! I’m sorry!” He said, rubbing his eyes, as if trying to erase what he’d just seen.

Hermione was staring blankly at him, her face burning from a mixture of embarrassment and exertion of trying to fight him off. “You….you fought back,” she said faintly.

“I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-” Ron started to say.

“N-no, you’re right. If it was a death eater, they wouldn’t give up.”

“Do you want to switch?” Ron didn’t necessarily want her prying into his own mind, but at the same time, he felt he owed her as much.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Hermione said.

“It’s fine, really. Reckon you’re right, after all. I should have an idea what it feels like,” Ron admitted.

“Okay, well, try and clear your mind then,” Hermione told him.

Ron shut his eyes and forced himself not to think of anything, which was easier said than done. He heard Hermione say “Legilimens” and felt a weird sensation of pressure on his mind. He found himself saying over and over again, think of nothing, as he tried to keep the door to his mind shut, but he felt her break the wall as he saw himself arguing with Hermione after the Yule Ball. He tried to push her away from it, but he felt Hermione dig in deeper with the charm and more of those memories were revealed. 

He felt the anger and hurt of every time she’d chosen Krum over him when she wrote those letters, saw him try and make up for his stupid jealousy by buying her that perfume for Christmas, as if that was going to make her notice him more than Krum. Then he saw her ask him to Slughorn’s party, followed by the row he had with Ginny a few days after. 

Hermione yelped and broke the charm when she heard Ginny scream, ‘Even Hermione’s snogged Viktor Krum’ and saw Ron sputtering in anger. Her wand fell to the floor as Ron was squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing his temple. “Bloody hell, Hermione!” He should have known this was a bad idea.

“You...you….” Hermione was having trouble forming words. Ron knew this never ended well for him. “Is that why you iced me out? Why you… I’m going to kill her,” Hermione turned toward the door and made to unlock it when Ron strode over and put his hand on the door.

“No...Hermione, don’t. It’s not her fault,” Ron told her. 

“Yes, it is! Are you joking? She ruined everything!” Hermione tried to push Ron out of the way, but he was too tall and muscular against her small frame to make any difference.

Ron took a deep breath, but held firm. He’d had a lot of time to think about that whole fiasco, and it was time he finally admitted it out loud. “No, Hermione, it was my fault. I’m the one who reacted like a bloody idiot. Sure, I was pissed about it, but I was also hurt that you didn’t tell me yourself. I was the only one who didn’t know!”

“So you chose to shut me out instead of confronting me about it?” Hermione questioned.

“Well, yeah, since I always gave you a hard time about Krum, bringing it up wouldn’t have helped anything. Knew that from experience, so I wanted to deal with it on my own.” Ron tried his best to explain it to her so she would understand, but he felt like he was mucking it up.

“But if you had brought it up, then you would have known that I never- well it doesn’t matter now does it,” Hermione said as she gave up trying to leave and walked over to sit on his bed. She put her head in her hands.

“Hermione, I am sorry. I wanted to go to that party with you.” Ron sat down beside her, and reached out for her hand.

“Then why did you snog her?” Hermione looked at him, and all the hurt he’d caused her hit him like a ton of bricks. 

“I- Because she was interested, and wasn’t afraid to show it, I guess. I was only just starting to cool off, and then the whole Felix thing happened, and I just took it as you thought I was rubbish at quidditch and needed a potion to perform well.” Ron couldn’t believe he’d actually admitted that. He supposed she’d already seen everything leading up to it, so he owed her the honesty.

“But-” Hermione tried to say, but Ron cut her off.

“I know,” Ron said. And he did. He knew deep down that she thought he was good at quidditch, but Hermione was never one to outwardly praise anyone. 

“I’m sorry.” Hermione finally said. “I do believe in you, you know.”

“I know that now.” Ron said. “And I’m sorry for not talking to you about it...and rubbing that whole mess of a relationship in your face.”

She looked at him again. “We’re okay, right?”

“Yeah,” Ron offered her a small smile, and against his better judgment, reached his arms around her to pull her in for a hug. To his relief, Hermione hugged him back.

Before she pulled away from him, Hermione said, “Maybe we should leave the occlumency alone after all.”

“Yeah, I’d be okay with that. Wanna see if there’s any leftover biscuits downstairs?” Ron asked, changing the subject.

“Sure,” Hermione said as she closed the book and used magic to place it back up on the top shelf.

[yutaya]

Iron Fist Rewatch: 1x03: Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch

That's so terrifying. You look an entitled asshole in the eyes and say "no" when he tries to pressure you into doing something morally corrupt that would actively hurt another person - one who has specifically asked you for help - and then armed home invaders break in in the middle of the night. Ward is basically the mafia boss that Colleen has just pissed off, from her POV. No wonder she hates him.

Wow, now I want the fanfic where Colleen keeps calling Ward a mafia boss to his face. "Just because I'm under your mafia family's protection NOW doesn't make that time you put out a hit on me any better, mobster." "'Mob-' I never put out any 'hit'. I'm not the mafia." "You don't need to bother with pretence here, mob guy." (Danny helpfully does not point out that Ward definitely put out a hit on him, but the entire room is still painfully aware.)

Danny: Sorry the people trying to kill me broke your lock.

Colleen doesn't for one second find it out of the question that the cops might be in on the whole "corrupt rich white man is doing shady illegal things and trying to have a 'problem' 'fixed'" thing. Danny does, ("I haven't broken any law?") because Danny spent ten years as a rich white boy and then the next 15 in a culture completely separated from the rest of the world's reality. Or: Danny, a rich white boy, trusts the police. Colleen, who tries to make her dojo a safe space for a bunch of underprivileged majority bipoc kids living in the "bad part of town", does not.

Possibly the reason they speedrun us through Ward going up to the penthouse again is to remind the viewers how obnoxious it is to get up there before we see Danny climb the building later?

I forgot about this freaky tube thing. What is that? High tech coffin? lol. There's an implied "you should be unsettled by this" vibe to Harold's whole "it's so peaceful in here, I can't help but doze off" but when I don't know what the tube is the context is kind of lost on me.

Again with Ward calmly asking for an explanation about such a seemingly insane business choice, especially one that he's going to have to explain to people, and Harold brushing him off. Infuriating. And let's just toss in a sprinkling of "Joy has always been and always will be better than you, who can't do anything."

Harold: "Doesn't it occur to you that I'm doing this all for you?" Me: "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP I HATE YOU." He doesn't even just say "I'm doing this for you." No, he has to say "Doesn't it occur to you that I'm doing this for you?" Rather than simply lying, he just has to back Ward into that corner. Ugh. UGH.

Ward: closes his eyes, long huff of breath. I should start a count of how many times he does this.

MY SKIN IS CRAWLING. Freaking Harold. Ugh ugh ugh he's the worst.

Danny you realize you're both disrespecting Colleen AND talking about pretty sensitive subject matter right in front of her student?

Joy: "We need to do the right thing." Me: "You keep telling yourself you're a person who cares about that, Joy."

Joy used to do Ward's homework for him????

Like, what?

Seriously, what?

Was this supposed to be a cute exchange? Because my Asian American upbringing says it's NOT.

Joy: "In another life, this would have been romantic." Danny: "Gross, you're my sister."

"You and Ward, you're the only link to a life that I had. It kept me going under very difficult circumstances." ;___;

Joy talking about clinging to her dreams of Harold meeting her after school and holding her hand and smiling at her in her grief after he died is making me so miserable. To Joy, Harold means comfort.

Danny: *Starts talking about ghosts* Joy: Oh right, he's crazy.

Colleen: "You dishonor yourself when you fight for money."

Jeri, who has literally been mind-controlled, almost got murdered slowly and painfully, and brought a killer to her wife,

Young intern Jeri Hogarth calling the boss's secretary a "hatchet faced bitch" and then bribing said boss's 10yrs or younger kid not to tell is. Well. It sure is a thing.

I still want Danny inviting Jeri to Defenders friend group hangouts and Foggy and Marci both blanching. Jessica and Jeri can snark at each other and Danny can be like "You're friends too! I didn't know!! :D"

Honestly, I would have watched a whole show on the intricacies of classism issues, with the Elite like Jeri and the Meachums teaching Danny how to live and maneuver in that world and Colleen and the dojo and Big Al teaching Danny about the reality of life for the lower class, and our golden-hearted Danny in the center of it, consistently determined to do what's Right,

Joy: lol, isn't this such a fun, teasing, sibling-banter thing we do, me joking about how I'm going to close this deal and you would only endanger it?

Harold: punches trainer full in the face, then casually suggests weapons next time while the guy is still groaning on the ground

Is Gao terrorizing Harold and making him kneel on glass supposed to make me feel for Harold? No one deserves this but that doesn't make Harold magically not a monster.

Danny.... just taking over lecturing the class is not respectful to Darryl or Colleen either.

Danny: "What kind of soldier training is this? They're acting like kids!" Colleen: "That's the POINT! I am not training them to be soldiers, I am creating a safe space for them to be kids when they usually can't be in the rest of their lives." Danny's warped K'un Lun upbringing really shows here. It's heartbreaking to remember that Colleen isn't just some good samaritan either - that she was raised in a cult too and has her own warped upbringing viewpoints.

A line I need to appear in a Ward/Misty/Claire pov fic: "Colleen tends to seem normal because most of the time she's next to Danny. It's easy to forget that actually, she's completely batshit."

Colleen keeps throwing Danny out for bringing trouble to her doorstep and then not really fighting it when he sticks around anyway (Which: Danny. Danny, this is problematic behavior, Danny.) - it's when he becomes a danger to her students that she gets serious about it. Even if Danny wouldn't physically harm them again, he is now a drain on their mental health: he represents a potential danger, a reason to be constantly on guard, and a removal of their safe space.

Ward clearly has no idea what the heck Joy is doing. It's all very troubling and this family is so messed up.

The way Ward ever so slightly shakes his head at Joy as she bribes Patel with his nephew's actual life.

The blanket into snow is a great transition shot

Joy feels like Ward refuses to tell her things the same way Harold refuses to tell Ward things! But Ward doesn't actually have the ability to tell Joy anything because he doesn't know anything! Ugh!!

On Joy's desk: a photo of her and Ward toasting at some party. She also has a copy on her shelf at home.

Joy poured her blood sweat and tears into Rand. She's proud of it. To Ward, it's a prison.

Wait so their plan is that there's no record that Danny Rand ever existed? Like, besides. The city's collective memory? People know about Danny Rand, guys. You need to delete the ability to connect this adult man to Danny Rand, not young Danny's entire paper trail. I mean, anything linking them would be included in literally everything about Danny but still. Seems unnecessary and suspicious?? I know nothing about crime.

Jeri casually constantly reminding Danny that the Meachums are the corrupt villains of this story must be really messing with Danny's head. Not that she's wrong. Poor boy.

"Isn't it obvious!? I'm not your sister. He's not your brother. We don't want you here." brb crying forever

I have to appreciate that this fight moderator is actually trying to run a semi-safe tight ship behind the showmanship

"Cut the Floyd Mayweather shit." Floyd Mayweather: a former professional boxer, competed from 1996-2015. Often referred to as the best defensive boxer in history, as well as the most accurate puncher. Nicknamed "Pretty Boy" by his amateur teammates because his defensive technique left him with relatively few scars.

That whole Randy biting Colleen (breaking the rules about going too far laid out at the start of the fight) and then her climbing on top of him to keep on punching after he's down was really framed like one of those troubling "the hero loses control and it's bad" type scenes.

I am very curious about Jeri and the Meachums' history. Jeri and Ward snark at each other so much in this meeting. And they definitely seem amused while doing so. Also Joy was like "Hogarth" at Ward earlier, and Jeri described their relationship as "complicated" to Danny.

Ward slumps down in his seat so he's lower than anyone else in the room, despite probably being the tallest. This is probably meant as a show of dismissiveness: Danny's case is so insignificant that he doesn't need to respect them by sitting up straight - but it IS interesting, from a power dynamics in staging perspective.

Ward, who has a constant escape plan of stealing from his employees and running away with Joy, plus was literally talking about leaving and starting over with nothing earlier in this same episode: "It could have been easy. You could have taken the money and had a great life."

The elevator level can be controlled by the lobby man???

Another picture of presumably child Joy on Harold's desk, as a toddler this time. How many does he have?? This is cruel set dressing.

Harold playing on Ward's loyalty again. "I need you to help me. I don't have anyone else."

[lilian-mystery]

Mystery Skulls - Story (part 1)

They passed a bit 'of nest when Lilian left for the university, after finally finishing his studies and having taken his coveted degree, decided to return to his hometown and pay a visit to his dear childhood friend. The girl stopped at the ‘Kingsmen Mechanics’ workshop, she knew that Arthur had moved to her Uncle Lance's house and that one of her employees worked for her. "I can not wait to see him again" he smiled as he got out of his car and headed for the garage, the girl wore a purple headband that adorned her long red hair framing her big hazel eyes, a pink shirt with a shirt sleeveless, purple shorts with turn-ups, white boots in the left hand wearing a purple glove. The place was open, if you need to think twice, the girl enters making the bell ring above the main door ring out, some shelves filled with things, most of them were a piece of equipment for cars, scooters and other means of transport. find a desk with a computer on the side and some scattered. At that moment I felt a strong nostalgia for that place, it reminded me very well that spent a lot of time here together with Arthur, Vivi and Lewis, especially with Arthur. The three of them are his best friends since I was in elementary school, his only friends.

He hears footsteps coming from the other room, she turns her eyes to the door in front of her, I introduce a man a little bass, pointy hair and beard with brown tufts on the head and the tip of the beard, wearing an orange vest with a white t-shirt underneath, blue jeans with a brown belt, and brown shoes. "Benvenutaal Kingsmen Mechanics, how can I-" I stopped the sentence when I look at her, probably having recognized her. "Wait ... Lilian? Lilian Mynstery?" I seem very surprised by the presence of the girl. "Hey Lance, it's been a while since we've seen each other" she starts smiling amused by her reaction. '' Wow, as if you were a girl, I'm glad to see you again. "Lance came out of her, hugging her, she was forced to lower herself a little while she was a little taller than him. "So, how was university gone?" the man asked after leaving the embrace. "All right, I just graduated in engineering" "Wow, congratulations Lilian," smiled Lily with a thumb up. "Thanks Lance" he smiles with unarisatina. For her, Lance was like a father, when she was a child he was caring for her when her mother was busy with her job, and she often expounded as she spent a lot of time with him and the little Artie. "Where Arthur? Or really want to see him" "Artie is in his room working on one of his inventions, so do you know the way not?" I point to the back door of him with a smirk in his face. "Yeah," she giggles.

Before Lilian headed for the door that would take her into the hallway, she felt Lance's grip on her right hand, she turns to him, confused by her action, notices that her eyes were a little dazed. '' Are you okay, Lance? '' He asks in a tone a little 'worried, he looks at me with a strange look,' 'Before you go to him, I must tell you something very important' ', not understanding the reason for his strange reaction she nods, he lays the girl's hand and continues' 'inquest three years that you've been away ... well ... it happened an incident ...' '' 'What kind of accident, something happened digrave?' 'At that point Lilian worried even more when Lance answered his question with a nod of his head' 'and ... c-What happened?' 'Understanding his concern Lance takes his hand,' 'I remember that ... before you left for college ... Arthur, Vivi and Lewsi told you they wanted to open an association of mysteries, called Mystery Skulls, right? "She nods slowly, unable to speak. He's afraid of knowing what he's going to tell him. '' The note in here, you're gone, they went to investigate a cave where it said people disappeared, and ... '' before continuing he sighed, '' and ... Lewis disappeared. '' At that last sentence Lilian white, '' s-disappeared? Lewis has disappeared?!? why did not Arthur and Vivi say anything to me!?! '' She is so shocked that she almost can not stand up.

It can not be true, Lewis disappeared for three years ... and he did not know anything about it, Lance continues to hold her hand understanding his mood "I do not know much about what happened there, but ... he remembers him, as if he had never known him, and Artie ... ended up in the hospital after losing his left arm "" Oh my god ... "Lilian puts Lamano free in front of his mouth. "It's been three years since Arhur family is looking for him without success, more than anything else he is busy researching, sometimes even nights in white to continue the research, and those few times he sleeps always has nightmares, not He never told me what they're dealing with, but you think I know it, so I have to ask you a favor "" Qualsiasicosa Lance "" You've been Arthur's best friend ever since he met you, and I'd like whatever happens to you to get along and comfort him if he needs it" He decidedly decided, would do anything for Artie. After Lance nodded his head, the girl heads into the hallway, climbing a disc ramp to Arthur's bedroom, the door was ajar, making a very low peek inside. The boy is sitting at his workbench, but he notices that he's not working on something, he seemed to ... sleep.

Trying not to make so much noise enters the room, the boy wears his usual white long t-shirt, yellow pants and brown gym shoes, leaning on the back of the chair where Arthur was there is his sleeveless orange vest, his orange hair and porcupine are all messed up, known close to him above the workbench, there is a small orange hamster that immediately known the suapresenza, greets him with a small gesture with his hand and with unsorrisetto, he reciprocates by emitting a quiet squeak happy. When Lilian was close enough, she noticed that Arthur was actually sleeping with his head resting on his arms as a pillow, his left arm was replaced by a robotic prosthesis, surely if he built it himself after the accident he had, even if he would like to know what happened to him, but the thing that catches his eye is that he has huge glimpses under his eyes, probably one of those times that he slept little to continue his search. He also notes a strange machine leaning not far from him, but he is so messed up that he does not understand what it is.

'Arthur, from Arthur wake up' 'Lilian gently shakes the boy's right shoulder to try to wake him, he makes a few grumbles and turns his head on the other side,' 'you're always the usual ...' 'he crosses his arms puffing , at that point Galahad, the hamster, after coming down from the workbench, with a paw gestures to follow him, and the door in front of a shelf with a mini trumpet on top. '' Do not you think you're too exaggerated to wake him up? '', He crosses his paws and raises an over-eyelash with a serious face, as if to say, 'do you have an ideamigliore?'. In fact, Arthur has a very heavy sleep, and only the cannonate civilizations would wake him, or at most loud noises like this trumpet to wake him, '' you're right, is the best solution if I want to wake him '' so he takes the trumpet and comes back , when he is next to him, he approaches his ear a little and plays the trumpet. "AAAHHH" with a shot Arthur wakes up and fell from the chair ending up with his butt lands "but that ca-" turns to Lilian and remains insilent when he sees "Lilian?" "Hey Artie, I'm sorry but I did not know how else to wake you up," he offers his hand to help him get up and chuckle a little. He touches her hand and once he holds her in a strong outstretch, she returns with a smile on her face. After a while they separated from the embrace, "you do not know how happy I am to be" on Arthur's face a huge smile formed, "I am Arthur too, you do not know how much I missed you when I was at university" she replies returning the smile. "Mala next time, please, try not to wake me up like that, you've made me dull" Arthur rubs his hand on his ear. "You're right, sorry" he chuckles, he too giggle a little.

"So how did it go down? I guess you finished your studies" "Fine images" take a few steps back "welcome the new graduate in electronic engineering!" He performs a theatrical bow as his smile grows wider and wider. "Whoa, congratulations Lilian, after all you did you really deserved it" even Arthur's smile widened more. Galahad heads for Lilian, she picks him up, "and I'm glad to see you, too, Galy," he giggles as Galahad rubs his nose on his cheek. "I see Galahad has become accustomed to his prosthetics, the last time I saw him he could not even stand in" "Yeah, but as you can see now he knows how to handle those little wheels well" rebuttal Arthur thinking back you have the first themes here to built those protected at Galahad since he was born senzale hind legs. "I see you still have the pendant that you horegaled" Arthur indicates the heart-shaped pendant that has alcoholic the girl, he received it as a gift from Arthur when he finished his high school and had just enrolled university out of town, "already, since you gave it to me I never separated it "smiled a little while clutching the pendant with one hand, even Arthur smiled remembering the old times.

"Anyway, what are you working on?" Lilian poses Galahad on the workbench pointing at the machinery. ''In theory it should be a 'detect spectra', but I've never been able to make it work '' you put a head in the head, ''let me guess, you asked Vivi to create it, right?'' She asks, He nods, ''of course, she is always the usual fixed with the paranormal, but do not worry are sure you will be able to fix it, you're very good about this kind said'' give him a friendly pat on the shoulder to comfort him. ''Thanks Lilian'' Arthur blushed slightly for the compliment. Lilian does not want to ruin that beautiful moment, but he needs to know what happened in that cave, puts his hands in front of him and looks at Arthur, ''Arthur... uhmm...'' does not know whether to ask or not question. ''Something is wrong Lilina?'' Arthur asked noticing the girl's eyes, she lowered her gaze for a second, she knew that talking about this would not have been good for Arthur, since in part he is the victim of that accident, but has need to know. Lilian let out a slight sigh and went back to look at the boy, ''Lance... he told me... what happened 3 years ago...'' the face of Arthur frowned a little, ''oh... so, now you know that Lewis...'' turn his head from a latocon eyes down leaning a hand on the mechanical arm, ''yes... I know...'' she replied, returning the expression.

There was a moment of silence before she spoke again, ''Arthur... I know you do not want to talk, and I understand... but... I need to know what happened '' looked at the boy, but he keeps on looking down. ''Artite, please...'' the girl continued to look at him with a worried look, Arthur looked up and looked at her for a few seconds, he knew that sooner or later he would find out for himself. He sighed sadly and decided to speak, ''during his research on the supernatural, Vivi found a news on the internet, he was talking about a cave where strange things happened that the people who went inside disappeared without a trace, obviously she wanted to go to take a look, as your first case'' while he was talking kept on looking down and Lilian listened in silence. ''I was not very sure about it'' continuous Arthur, ''but Vivi was not willing to change his mind... I still remember his excitement in his eyes when he read the news, Lewis reassures me telling me that nothing would happen bad... Mystery also looked at me with a reassuring look... finally I gave up and agreed to go with them... '' Mystery.

Lilian knew that Mystery was not a normal dog, in reality it is a Kitsune, a Japanese nine-tailed fox that has the power to change shape as she pleases, even she has never seen it in its true form, only she knew of her secret. '' Then?... what happened when you got to the cave? ''He finally asked, noting that he had stopped. ''when we arrived...'' he continue ''we entered that cave, and while we were exploring around I felt a strange feeling ... then we arrived at a crossroads and we decided to split up, Vivi and Mystery went in right side ... and ... me ... i-i and Lewsi went ... in the left side ...'' Arthur stopped again, with his human hand tightened his mechanical arm a little, his eyes began to become shiny.

He does not want to remember what happened next, it's too bad to remember him. Lilian heads up the mood, takes a step towards him ''Arthur, if you do not want to continue is fine, you're not obliged if you do not want to... ''Arthur, continuing to look down, as if he had not heard 'affirmation of the friend, I continue to tell the story ''while walking in the alley... I began to feel... strange... I felt a strange feeling..'' while he was talking he was tightening his robotic arm more and more his voice starts to get more and more raucous ''b-but... I-I did not pay much attention to it... p-then... w-we arrived at a cliffs ... Lewis.. L-Lewis he had been looking for a while... to see what was underneath... I do not remember what happened... just remember... I-I woke up on the ground ... in a pool of blood s-without an arm... with Mystery and Vivi c-close to me crying while trying to stop the blood with the suasciarpa... ''of the tears begin to fall on his face ''I- I tried to look back... to-looking for Lewis... but ... ''with the other hand you tighten the other arm continuing sneering. ''Artie...'' without thinking twice approached him and hugs him, he after a while reciprocates the embrace continuing to cry ''if... if only I had told him to go back before...'' keep sobbing, ''shhh... it was not your fault ArtiE... you could not know...'' she squeezes him a little while with one hand strokes his hair and feels his lasgimescendere on his neck. He knows that Arthur is a very sensitive boy, above all on this kind of thing.

After a while the two are separated from the embrace, Arthur has calmed down a little but continues to cry a little more ''Because you did not tell me anything, I could have helped you in some way...'' ''I know ... but you were busy with the studies ... and I knew that the inverse is very challenging... ''lowers the look,'' I did not want to give you other problems...'' ''Arthur... '' ''but now I realize that I behaved like an idiot... sorry...'' '’sigh... it does not matter Arthur what is past has passed ... but now that I'm back I'll help you look for him ''Arthur looks up at the girl '' r-really?'' ''Sure, what questions, Lewis is also my friend'' puts a hand on his shoulder ''you'll see that together we can find it, ok?'' Ago a reassuring smile. He wipes the tears with his hand and returns the smile. The girl came up with an idea to raise Arthur's spirits, ''Hey, I have an idea, what do you say to have a picnic in the park with Vivi and Mystery?'' '’Good idea, she does not know you're back, it will be a nice surprise for her'' ''fantastic!'' she smiles. ''but first I have to bring back all my things at home and ... other things of my invention '' the word 'inventions' Arthur's eyes lit up '' from the throat I deduce that you want to see what I invented '' ''yes noticing, eh?'' he puts his hand behind his head giggling, ''I consort you too well Artie, I know that you love this kind of thing'' she giggles too.

''if you want I can help you carry a little 'things and download them at home' '' 'a little' would not hurt me '' so the two guys come out of the store and go in front of Lilian's car is full of boxes in the boot, in the front seats, on the passenger seat and on the car. ''just a bit 'of boxes, eh?'' Arthur says looking at Lilian arching an eyebrow' 'ok, maybe I'm an ocean' of boxes, hehehe ''she giggles, ''hehehe, ok ok. It would be better to put a few boxes in my van, at least it will be easier for you to drive" she nods. Together he removed the boxes above the roof of the car and those on the passenger seat and placed them all on the back of Arthur's truck. Meanwhile he had sent a message to Vivi telling him that in an hour he would come to the park to make a pic nic together and would have also given him good news, of course, not telling him what he was talking about, she replied that she would come very willingly. After loading half of the boxes into the boy's van, Lilian set her car in motion and headed for her home with Arthur following her driving his truck.

to be continued...

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hey guys, this is my first story on Mystery Skulls, I hope you'll be delighted, and tell me if you want the part 2 bye

[feelsgood-anon]

Eros - Bar AU Chapter 8

DISCLAIMER: THIS PIECE IS A MYSTIC MESSENGER AU.  IT IS HEAVILY INSPIRED BY THE AMERICAN SITCOM CHEERS, A SHOW CENTERED AROUND A BOSTON BAR CALLED CHEERS AND IT’S REGULARS.  EVEN THOUGH I HAVE TRIED TO KEEP AS MUCH OF CANON PERSONALITIES WITH ALL THE MYSTIC MESSENGER CHARACTERS JUST REMEMBER THAT IT IS AN AU AND A FEW THINGS MAY BE DIFFERENT THAN IN GAME OR YOUR HEADCANONS. THIS HAS BEEN FUN TO PLAN AND I HOPE YOU FIND A BIT OF JOY READING IT!  

PG13+ FOR SWEARIN’ AND BOOZIN’.

CH.1 PT.1 | CH. 1 PT. 2 | CH. 2 | CH. 3 | CH. 4 | CH. 5 |  Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Ch. 8 | Ch. 9

“RED!”

Zen’s cry of outrage echoed through the bar causing his fellow bartender to flinch. Cannon, on the other hand, continued his opening duties with a cheerful whistle.  They both knew this reaction was coming after Sunny had set herself to tidy up the office during his weekend off but Red still wasn't ready to give any sort of explanation to his superior.

“Yeah, coming boss!” Red scurried towards the office trying to avoid the inevitable ‘I told you so’ look his brother would undoubtedly give him. He let out a big breath and stepped in with a smile, “What’s up, Zen? Is something wrong?”

Zen stood in the middle of the room, floor completely cleared up, and waved his arms around, “What the hell happened in here?”

Red looked around nodding his head, “Well, it looks pretty clean in here! First time since you hired me. Looks good!”

“Who did this? I can’t find anything!”

“Well, looks like things are labeled. How hard would it be to find stuff?”

“That’s not the point!” Zen growled, “Who is responsible? Was this Sugar? Did he decide to clean this place up while I was gone? I’m going to kill him. Only he would have such an intricate filing system.”

Red bit his bottom lip. He didn’t want to rat out Sunny but he really wasn’t ready to suffer the consequences of lying. “Sugar would do something like this...but it wasn’t him. Who else works here that would dare tread into your space?”

Zen’s expression fell, turning around to sit at his desk, “As soon as Sunny gets in, tell her to come see me.”

“Of course, boss.” He left quickly and after the door closed behind him he heaved a sigh,  “This isn’t good…”

“I told her he wasn’t going to be happy,” Cannon called out, “But did she listen? Nope.”

“Oh shush. He’s sober so he may just lecture her. He’s mad but he won’t go overboard, especially after that one time.”

“All I know is, if he gets too rowdy I’m laying him flat.”

Jingle~!

“Hey guys!”

Sunny walked in a few minutes before they officially opened for the afternoon, a sense of pride riding on her shoulders, “This is going to be a great week, I can feel it!”

Cannon scoffed, “I wouldn’t put money on that, lady. You may have bitten off more than you can chew.”

She stashed her purse away under the bar, mostly ignoring his negative talk, “You think what you’d like but I have a great feeling about today especially!”

“Are you sure it’s a great feeling? Boss wants to see you in his office and he didn’t seem too pleased. I hope you are ready for a conversation.” Red spoke as he pointed to the back, “Good luck, it was nice knowing you.”

Sunny rolled her eyes, “Once I explain everything he will be just fine! Don’t worry about me. If anything I believe he is a man of reason.”

“Reason? Sure. Reason enough to be a drama queen. Hey, if he gets too loud just give a shout and we’ll come hold him down,” Cannon jeered, “We’ve dealt with him long enough to know his fits.”

She stuck her tongue out towards Cannon before skipping towards the office, “We’ll be best of friends once I’m done with him!” Opening the door she smiled as she looked around like a proud parent, “You wished to speak with me, Zen?”

“You seem awfully cheery today.” He said flatly, lit cigarette in one hand and a glass of vodka in the other. A freshly opened bottle of liquor sat on the now clear desk as well. “Have a fruitful weekend?”

“You’re welcome, by the way, for cleaning up. I managed to get most of the tobacco sent from the room but,” She scrunched her nose at his smoking, “I see you want to continue with the smell.”

“I liked the smell.”

“It was unbearable.” She retorted. “Let me explain how this all works. In the top drawer of your filing cabinet are important documents such as employee applications, supply order lists, tax information. You know, things that you will want to find quickly.” Walking around him she opened things as she explained, “The second drawer are receipts from suppliers and other business dealings. Third drawer are papers that I found miscellaneous but may be of importance. You may want to run through those yourself and put them in the correct place. Of course, everything is alphabetized first, then sorted by date.”

Zen sat quietly, sipping at his glass periodically as she continued to talk. She was far too busy going over her system to notice how tightly he had been balling up his fist between drinks.

Sunny slipped to the other side towards his bookshelf, “Now, I alphabetized all of the books on the shelf and moved things around so they look a bit more uniform. This little jar with papers in it...I thought about throwing it away but I wasn’t sure if these were important numbers for business.”

His crimson eyes immediately shot upwards to look at her, “You didn’t throw them away? Good. At least you aren’t that stupid.”

She huffed slightly as she whirled around, “I didn’t throw anything away! I should have, as you have a lot of junk in here. I’ll leave that job to you, though.”

“You should have left the entire clean up to me.” He let out in a low tone, still staring at the girl, “I didn’t ask you to do this. If Sugar asked you then I will speak with him personally and all is forgiven.”

“Why does everyone think I did this because someone asked? I wanted to help! You work so hard here at the bar and I wanted to do something nice for you. I’m sure being surrounded by a huge mess doesn’t help with your mood swings.”

He blinked slowly a few times towards her words, fighting with every piece of him not to yell, “Mood swings? Sunny, I appreciate your efforts and I’m sure Sugar will be satisfied that this place is finally in order. Now please leave me be. I will be out momentarily.”

Sunny pursed her lips and nodded but before she could leave she couldn’t help but speak out, “I know you are upset but it will pass and you will like how the place looks. There is a calming aura to a clean room.”

“In time, I’m sure I’ll adjust.”

She nodded and turned around to leave but once again, before she stepped out she began to speak, “I had one more thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Zen shut his eyes, taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling, “What is it?”

Sticking the tip of her finger in her mouth as she thought of how to word her next few sentences, she walked over to a few boxes in the corner of the room, “I really want you to trust me and be able to talk to me about things. If you’ve gone through some rough patches then I understand how you can be so sensitive about things. I want to change our relationship! I want to be there for you!” She sat on the floor and gave him a big smile, “Let’s be good friends! We can talk about anything! There are a few things I wanted to ask about. Things I found while cleaning. Come on, you can tell me! Who’s that girl you have a lot of articles and pictures of? Do you have a crush on her? Oh, are you stalking her? I won’t tell~” Sunny teased in a light-hearted manner.

His eyes immediately snap open and he smashed the cigarette into the ashtray. The glare that he gave her sent shivers down her spine as he loomed over the desk, “Where are they? What did you do with them?”

Sunny swallowed thickly, hands reaching for the box where she had compiled all of the items pertaining to the woman she spoke of, “I put them all in this box, along with the envelope with pictures-”

Zen stormed around the desk and snatched the box from her grips, his tall form towering over her, “Get the hell out and never touch my things ever again. You hear me?”

Her limbs trembled momentarily as her first reaction was to be terrified of him coming towards her so suddenly, but that quickly dissipated and she grew angry herself, “You know what, Zen? How about you just tell me why you’re so mad instead of trying to intimidate me? Do you really think it’s attractive to be such an asshole? Or perhaps you feel it necessary since I don’t fall for your stupid charm? You think you’ll be able to form any sort of lasting relationships with that attitude of yours?” She puffed her chest out a bit to attempt some sort of confidence, “I bet whoever that woman is would leave you standing on the street if you came at her the way you do to me. Hell, she’d probably run for the hills if you got drunk and yelled at her like that one time with me! Ever think of that, Zen?”

The sides of his mouth tugged upwards to an odd smile. He brought his hand up to his face, covering it slightly as his shoulders shook. She heard soft chuckles that escalated into a full blown maniacal laugh. “What do you know about anything? You think you can figure people out that easy? I have one thing to say to that.” He stopped laughing and threw the box to the far wall. It’s contents flew everywhere as the carton burst upon impact. “Fuck you, Sunny! You don’t know a damned thing! You think you can waltz in here and just fix everything? Is that what they teach you in school? Well here’s a real life lesson.  That’s all bullshit!”

She back up into the couch, eyes wide as he began to tear any pages that had floated near him, “Is this what concerns you so much. Sunny? Let me just get rid of them all then you won’t have to ask anymore questions! Out of sight, out of mind!”

His hands started trembling as he continued his destruction and subsequently his tirade, “You were right about one thing, though! She did run for the hills. This woman that I stalk. This woman you think I have a crush on...she didn’t much like me getting drunk and yelling at her either, so she left me. Does that make you happy, Sunny? Does it make you happy to know?!”

Sunny sat speechless as her chest tightened. Her eyes wandered towards the article that had landed near her feet to which the headline read something along the lines of that woman possibly being in a relationship with some other singer. “Oh Zen…” She exhaled softly. Is that what had been on his mind? Was he still pining for this old flame?

Zen slowed his movements and looked down at the floor with defeat plastered on his face, “Please just leave me alone, Sunny. I made a mess of this office after you just cleaned it, let me at least fix it in peace.”

She slowly crawled closer looking up to him. Her hand reached out to touch his leg as she noticed the glossiness of his eyes and the deep furrow of his brow, an expression of pain and sadness that she had seen many times before in those that had lost something dear to them. Getting to her feet she instead put her hands on his cheeks to force him to look at her, “You think I can leave you alone when I know you feel like this?”

He looked over towards her as she moved his face, “I don’t feel anything. Just go.”

A softened smile spread across her lips before she reached up on her tiptoes to press a long kiss against his mouth. Zen froze in place as he felt her against him, not sure at first how to react but soon gave into the warmth that struck his entire body. Instinctively his arms wrapped around her waist to pull her in closer forgetting everything that had made him upset in the first place.

Sunny pushed him away quickly, “Wait, this is wrong.”

“If this is wrong, I don’t want to be right.” He moved to pull her in once more only stopped by her hands waving at him, “No no no. Now Zen, this is a very delicate situation. We were caught up in emotions!”

“Yes, yes we were! We still are!” At his second attempt to go in for more of her kisses she turned around to tap a finger along her chin, “Now hold on, let’s think logically about this. You are upset about your previous girlfriend and I was caught up in how I wanted to make you feel better.”

Zen hopped around her desperately, “Yes, and it worked! I’m much better! I’m not even mad anymore, see?” He gave her a big smile, “You kissing me made me very happy!”

She let out a sigh, “There’s only one problem with this.”

“No, princess, there is nothing wrong! Come on!” He whined a bit as he was finally able to catch her waist to turn her around. She finally turned around and shook her head, “No, there is definitely something wrong. I just didn’t feel anything when I kissed you. I thought I would, but I think I was just swept up along with your emotions.”

He dropped his hands from her waist, staring at her in disbelief, “You kissed me because you felt sorry for me?”

“It’s not that!” She replied hurriedly, “I thought I felt some sort of romantic attraction to you but I guess I mistook that for sympathy pain.”

Zen took a few steps back as his face flushed a deep shade of red. If it was embarrassment or fury was a mystery. “Get out. Now. I don’t need your or anyone else’s pity affections.”

She bit her lip and attempted to get closer to him, “It’s not like that-”

“GET OUT!” he roared, the girl letting out a yelp and rushing out of his office.

As she slammed the door closed behind her Cannon came to stand in front of her, “Do I need to kick his ass? I heard him yelling.”

Sunny shook her head slowly, “No, that was definitely my fault. I think I really messed up this time.”

He took her to by the shoulders and led her towards the bar, “It’s okay, he’s been super sensitive lately. I’m sure if someone sneezed the wrong way he would get his panties in a bunch.”

Jingle~!

“Afternoon, everyone.”

“Sugar!”

He made his way to the bartop as Red set a glass of wine out for him, “Thank you, Red. Where’s Zen? Shouldn’t he be back already?”

Sunny cleared her throat as she poured a few beers from the tap, “He’s in his office, and I may have upset him quite a bit.”

Sugar raised a brow as he took a sip of the wine, “Oh? He wasn’t happy about the clean up? I’ll go talk to him in a moment and calm him down. On a brighter note, I only have the payment to be cleared and you all have a band to play. I set them up for Saturday night so be sure to be on your best behavior, all of you.”

“That’s great, Sugar! Who is it, anyway?” Red asked, leaning against the counter.

“I’m not at liberty to say just yet but I assure you they are wonderful. It will bring a good amount of people in and if all goes well I can try to set up a regular schedule for them to play at least once a month.”

Red patted Sugar a few times on the shoulder, “That’s our man, eh? You sure do deliver!”

Sugar frowned a bit, “Of course I deliver. I won’t have terrible live music in this place. At least not while I still have a lot invested.”

Cannon snickered as he passed by, “I can practically smell the money falling out of his pockets.”

The raven-haired man looked down at his trousers, “Oh my, is my wallet not secured?”

Sunny slid next to Sugar to whisper in his ear, “So, you know how you told me I shouldn’t mention some things to Zen? Well I kind of did and I think I really drew out something pretty nasty.”

Sugar raised a brow and looked towards the office, “Ah, well I have far more damage control to attend to. If you will excuse me. Oh, Sunny,” He spoke towards her, “I would avoid him at all costs for a few days. Be sure to just do your job and stay out of his way.”

He made his way to the room, knocking a few times on the door. He heard a firm ‘go away’ from inside and opened the door anyway, “Are you brooding in here now? Oh, what a shame. You’ve already made a mess of the place.”

Zen looked up in annoyance at the sound of the voice. He had lit another cigarette and was now drinking straight from the vodka bottle, “What do you want? Here to give me a hard time too?”

“On the contrary, I was coming to see if you were okay.” Sugar closed the door behind him and sat himself on the couch, adjusting his suit jacket careful not to spill his wine, “I heard you had a rough start.”

“You didn’t stop her, Sugar. You know I don’t like my things touched.”

“Why would I stop her? This place needed to be organized and she was simply doing you a favor out of the kindness of her heart.”

“You know what I mean, Sugar. You didn’t tell her to leave certain things alone.” Zen narrowed his gaze towards the other man, “You could have at least done me that one favor.”

Sugar let out a sigh, “I advised her to not bring it up. If she did it was on her own judgement.” He shifted himself to rest an ankle on the opposite knee, “You’re still hung up on her and you only have yourself to blame.”

“Oh get off your high-horse. I don’t need your shit too.” Zen took a long swig of the bottle. Sugar frowned and stood up to walk over to him, ripping the bottle from his hand, “This won’t make any of it go away, and you know it. What’s your problem? May I remind you that it’s been two years since you’ve spoken to her because you chose to ignore her. Still regretting your decisions, I see.”

Zen scoffed and grabbed a photo of the woman, holding his cigarette near it, “You’re right. It is my fault and I should let everything burn.” He took a long drag and blew the smoke out through his nose before holding the lit end to the corner of the picture to let it light on fire, “Cheers, eh?” He threw the burning photo into the ashtray, watching it disintegrate to a pile of ashes, “Can I finally be left alone now?”

Sugar closed his eyes and shook his head, “Fine, if that’s what you wish. I’ll be out at the bar if you need me.”

Zen waved Sugar off and as soon as he left pulled a bottle of whiskey from his desk drawer as the vodka was taken from the room. “I don’t need anyone,” He muttered to himself as he took a drink. Leaning back in the chair he stared at the ceiling, a mixture of smoke from the cigarette and the now burnt picture danced around him. He could hear the sound of the jukebox outside and the laughs from what he assumed were Red’s timely jokes. He closed his eyes and took another long drag, “Damn, I wish you were here right now though.”

tag, you’re it!: @illneverrecover @zenscrotch @suzunesays @serensama

[originaldetectivesheep]

A Life of Riley Part 3: The Very Last Place On Earth ch 1

start from the beginning if you’re not caught up

I

I cut the cards and knocked the piles against each other, tapping the stacks against the floor to keep everything even.  I bent up the corners and pushed them in to shuffle, then had to pick up the sticky, not-sliding-together mass and squeeze the cards past each other, flexing and pulling to make sure the deck mixed back again without tearing any of the cards apart.  It was the rain – the rain at least was staying outside our cinderblock bungalow, but when the raindrops splashed down in the wet sand outside, they almost bounced back, and there was nowhere to get away from the humidity.  Everything felt damp, even inside here where we weren't getting rained on: at least it was warm, warm enough that it didn't matter, unless you had something against living in a steam bath.

I put the cards over to the side, on top of the peg board that nobody was using either; I didn't really know why I was bothering to shuffle, because it wasn't like anyone was going to play.  Simon, Yuping's fluffy-topped Brazilian boyfriend who was the reason we were out here, was folded up in front of a shortwave radio, listening to more bad weather forecasts coming out of Hawaii and sinking into depression.  Sajitha was in a snit and wedged into a corner, reading papers on copper deposition and resist striping on her phone and not talking to anybody because that was the easiest way to not talk to Remy, who she was mad at because she still couldn't convince herself that if they hooked up and broke up later, she'd be able to be cool with him again.  And Yuping and Remy, because they were being ignored, were restless and involving each other in stupid things, but not involving me.  Like this; they were over by the bathroom door, hiding behind the lintel, looking inside like there was a monster in there.

"Jesus, that thing is a monster," Remy said, shaking his head.  "I took a swing at it with one of the shower clogs, and seriously it bounced off. What do you do about that?  Do we got insecticide?"  Okay, something like this, I was okay not being involved.

Yuping shook his head.  "Got, but maybe won't work.  Many cockroach, now immune insecticide."

Remy shuddered. "And shit, this thing is immune to shoes. What do we do?  Do we just let it have the bathroom and go find a shovel to go crap outside?  I think one of those guys, the ones with the pigpen on the road back to Hahenebe, had like a BB gun or something; think we ought to go try and borrow it?"

Yuping wrinkled his nose behind his glasses.  "Borrow gun means go outside in rain – and walk, because Riley take motorbike.  Good plan, but…"  He turned away from the door, looking back over at me.  "Carolína, can borrow machete?  For kill bug?"

I snatched up my machete from the shelf before someone could come pick it up and hugged it close.  "No way – this is a good machete, for cutting up coconuts and other plants, and things that wash.  I'm not gonna let you break it whacking it on tiles trying to kill a cockroach – and I don' think Simon would like you hacking up the bathroom at his observatory's station.  Go get your clog again, and if the first hit bounces off, just hit it again and don' stop hitting till the shell breaks."  That got them to back off a little; if they wanted to wreck our bathroom attacking bugs with a machete, they should use their own.

Remy looked gingerly into the bathroom, like he was measuring the distance to his clog, like he was worried the cockroach would get to it first and thwack him one with it. "Yeah, I dunno – I don't gotta go so bad after all, I guess.  Maybe we ought to just wait and hope it goes back down the drain or wherever – find something else to do and give it some time to go away."  He shivered, then looked up over at Simon, knocking on the wall to get his attention.  "Simon, yo!"  Simon looked up from the radio, sliding the earphones down.  "Simon, is there any chance we might be able to do your observations tonight?  Is there any news about the weather clearing?"

Simon blinked and shook his head mournfully.  "Probably not.  The skies should still be right, but we can't get to them – they're saying this same rain front is going to be over us into tomorrow." His shoulders slumped.  "I'm sorry – I'm really sorry, I'm probably the most sorry out of all of us that I've got you all out here and it's raining so much that we can't do anything.  But that's why they sent a student team; we can just stay in place forever and ever and ever until we get our chance."  It was obvious that he didn't completely believe that, but was more on the converse: that students could get stuck out here forever because they weren't doing anything else important, and could just be marooned in the middle of the Pacific with no data service for as long as it took the observations to get done.

And it helped if, say, the students on station were running away from something, so they'd be good with living on a remote island far from process servers, outside the direct jurisdiction of the United States.  Like us.  Before we tried so find the demon in the basement of our condo complex, and convince it to stop eating people's furniture, Riley had asked around about ways to get out of the country fast, in case some or all of the power supplies melted down and set the place on fire.  Ordinarily, as the Applied Physics lab, you didn't worry too much about the consequences of setting places on fire, but Riley didn't have the cleanest tenancy record and another big complex fire would be a bad thing, and then I think that someone had maybe given us a warning after the cannon thing, so even when we didn't set the apartments on fire, enough weird things happened to draw enough attention that we had to go.

Simon was in astronomy, and according to Yuping on the drive out to the airport that morning, he had been looking for a long time for a crew to fly out to Wellman Island and help him make some observations; the way I heard it, it would be some very basic pictures to test if the university could put an observatory there.  The catch was that Wellman was outside the US, technically, in the Marshall Islands, and it was so far away from everything that there was no phone or data service, and with only about fifteen hundred islanders who mostly just farmed and fished, there was nothing to do.  I could see why Simon had a hard time finding college students who wanted to go there.  But for us, we were outside the US as soon as the plane took off from Honolulu, and if we had to go in to Hahenebe, the one town, and wait in line at the post office to send an email, we wouldn't be geotagging ourselves in beach selfies to call the cops or whoever to come extradite us.  It was a perfect place to cool off and wait for Leo, who didn't have a passport and was stuck back at the university watching our stuff, to let us know when it was all clear; it was even warm, and it'd been getting cold back at school as it got into October.

The only problem was the rain.  We'd been here for two weeks, and I could count the number of breaks when it stopped raining for at least an hour on one hand.  Simon was kind of okay with it – the observatory, if they put it in, would do most of its work in the dry season when it wasn't raining like this all the time – but it was getting to everyone.  Everything was damp, and we had to churn or spill out standing water so we wouldn't get mosquitoes, and more than anything we were all just cooped up in the underfinished bungalow that the astronomy department could afford for six students, getting stir crazy and getting on each other's nerves.  Something had to give: even if we couldn't go out and do what we'd come for, we had to go and do something, or we'd end up having a big go-to-pieces fight – and out here at the back end of nowhere was the last place in the world I'd want to have that kind of fight with a bunch of people who ought to be my best friends.

Out through the front door, I heard an engine coming; the drone of a small motorcycle engine, getting closer.  I stood up to look, and saw Riley sliding in across the puddles in the sandy dooryard, parking the Super Cub we got with this place under a palm tree and throwing a tarp over it. Like it wasn't pouring rain, or like it didn't particularly matter, Riley just walked over in to the house, standing dripping under the awning to get out of a trash-bag poncho that was probably going to just get thrown out rather than reused.

The others had heard the noise and came up around me.  "Hey, yo, Riley," Remy said, holding up a hand.  "What's up? Where you back in town?  Anything from Leo?"

Riley shrugged.  "Not as such, but at this point no news is good news; it takes so long to get a letter or even, hell, a cablegram out here – shit, did you know Western Union still sends actual telegrams to the post office here?  What the hell, huh? – that if we had anything, it'd be because the cops or whoever found the dislocator and had extradition warrants cooking.  No, we're still stuck here, for now and for the foreseeable."  I could feel all the energy sagging out of everyone, Remy and Yuping and even Sajitha and Simon behind me, getting depressed that we were still stuck with the rain and the damp and the rain and everyone cooped up on everyone else's business and nothing to do but sit around and get bored and get mad about it.

Riley noticed it too, and flashed an eyebrow up.  "You all don't look so good – you're probably as bored as I am about sitting in this dump waiting for the three minutes a day when we can set up the telescope and hope there isn't clouds, or go over to the beach.  I didn't get anything from Leo when I was over in town, but I did get a line on something else for us to do."  That got people going. "So, who wants to get naked and dig taro?"

"Excuse me," I said, reacting while everyone else was stunned dumb, probably because I knew what taro was and they didn't.  "Dig taro?  You're renting us out to go drag lumpy roots out of somebody's swamp?  And why do we have to do it naked?"

Riley gave me a look.  "Look, if you don't want to do it, just say so. You can sit around here and play cribbage with the cockroaches if you like; anyone else?"  There were no takers; on a good day like with no rain, or one where I knew we were going to get paid, maybe have a pig roast with other hands, or in some place where I could speak Spanish with the hands rather than not speaking Marshallese, I was probably the only person in this crew who would actually go and dig taro.  In the rain, organized by Riley, in what would probably be a mangrove swamp, was kind of the opposite of that – and that was even without going into the "get naked" part.

Riley looked around, back and forth, hands on hips.  "Jesus, tough crowd here.  I thought you'd jump at the chance to do anything outside; you people keep talking about that when you're bored all night, but I guess 'anything' doesn't go as far as I thought it did. Change of plans: who wants to get naked and hunt for buried treasure?"  That had a rather different and immediate effect.

"Buried treasure?  Word; I am in." Remy already had his shirt off, and was working on his pants.

"I'm interested in the 'buried treasure' part," Sajitha said, reaching a hand for Remy's waistband to keep his pants exactly where they were.  "I'm not so sure about the 'naked' part, but I would like a little more information."

"I'm not too crazy about the 'naked' part either," I said, "but yeah, can we get some more explanation?  What kind of treasure? Where?  Do we even have the stuff to find it?  It's definitely something to do, and if the 'naked' part is flexible or negotiable, then we should definitely do it.  Apologies to Simon, but we can't just sit here forever waiting for the skies to clear." I looked over at him, to make sure we were cool, and he nodded, Yuping's hand on his shoulder.  So it was cool; he was down for this to keep his team happy, and he probably also wanted to stretch his legs a little, see some more of the island instead of staying tethered to a radio that never had any good news.

Riley leaned in for a quick look at the clock on the wall, then nodded back.  "Good; we kind of have to start moving right now if we want a shot at it, but the good news is that we might be able to do some of Simon's observations on the way.  Pack up your machetes, maybe one shovel max, the Mak telescope, Simon, your camera and your control laptop, and the short tripod.  Split it up between you; I've got some other equipment that I'll be carrying up myself.  I'll explain about the treasure and stuff on the way over.  And 'naked' is kind of an exaggeration; it's raining like crap out there, so you probably want to go up in your bathing suits – anything else'll get soaked and get too heavy."

"Aw man," Remy said, tugging his warmup pants in place. "Dis-appoint.  But –"  He turned his head to kind of half-look at Sajitha, and she cut him off.

"But basketball shirts will shed water pretty good too, and Simon's got a couple extras, so I can wear one over my suit."  She looked at Simon like this was decided and he didn't have the option of objecting.  "I'll get one for you too, Carolína, don't worry."  She ducked out and into the hall to the bedrooms; everyone else was getting over the 'naked' part and starting to put gear together.

"Thank you, Simon," I said, kind of helplessly.  "Thank you, Sajitha."  So it was still going to be awkward, but it was going to be awkward outside in the rain for a change – and maybe, maybe if Riley was telling the truth, there might even be some treasure to be awkward over at the end.

Chapter 2