#so many cool people why did I have to rattle my mouth and have Opinions

[erudipitous]

I'm trying so hard not to obsess over every social interaction I had last weekend

[revenant-dumpster-fire]

Hunter (Revenant x Reader)

Part 1 of 2 of the chapter “Hunter & Prey”. [Full chapter on AO3.]

Theme: The trios game is here, and Revenant's plan comes to fruition after days of planning.

Warnings: Male dominance, threats of violence, descriptions of violence, sharp objects, pain, bipolar, depression, mania, fluff.

Reader's Notes: Revenant (Apex Legends) x Reader, reader is female.

Writing Notes: Can I write non-fluff? Maybe? Or perhaps I need to maximize fluff to balance? I guess you'll find out.

Navigation:

First Chapter | Previous Part (Styptic & Canine)  | Next Part (Hunter & Prey)

Revenant manages to wake you up in the middle of the night with nothing but his incessant nuzzles and purring. His new chassis may be deluxe, but he can't seem to control how much he wants to show off all its features. He's holding you from behind, completely enveloping you in a warm hold, his nuzzles starting on the back of your neck and making their way around to the side of your neck. You've definitely slept some, but not quite enough to feel awake.

You reach up and begin lightly petting the top of his snout. His bovine skull emits a long, deep purr that can only be described as a very happy growl. He almost seems to be in a trance in his new body, as if something in the code is different, and he's acting out of something reminiscent of instinct. It's nice. He's almost like one of his prowlers. You extend your snout pets to reach from nose to the top of his head, and his purrs extend to last the length of each stroke. He leans into your pets, hoping for a firmer touch, which you try your best to comply with.

You roll over to face him, causing him to pull away a little. He looks at you with a little concern initially, like you might be upset, but you quickly quell him by holding his visage in both of your hands, pulling it close to yours. In truth, you're not sure what you're doing, but you can tell he likes it. His new silicone tongue licks your nose lightly, surprising you but not enough to make you pull away. He definitely has some software changes, whether he realizes it or not. He's definitely acting more like an animal. You slip your hands down to feel his giant mane, made of locks of fur. It feels both soft and fluffy; you can't help but run your fingers between each lock as you pet it. You work out any tangles you find, causing him to purr with delight over the free grooming. The tip of his nasal cavity presses into your nose, intentionally tickling you with his breaths.

"You should sleep," he manages to get out in his purrs.

"Nah, I'm just going to be watching the game tomorrow. You're the one who has to work." You whisper to him, massaging his neck through his fur.

He sighs a small moan at your massage, clearly giving up on his request in favor of getting more affection. He reaches out and holds your waist, softly brushing your sides in return. His head tilts up, revealing his throat. You carefully move your hand to touch it, moving all the way from the tip of his chin down to his clavicle with a soft touch. His breathing slows as you caress him, turning his purr into a low hum and vibrating in your hand. Eventually, his maw opens up, emitting a scary but relaxed hum and revealing his fangs. He's clearly enjoying every moment of it.

"Little skinsuit." You hear him mutter quietly. You pause for a moment, acknowledging him. He closes his mouth and locks eyes with you, pushing his nose into your face and huffing in it. He doesn't immediately speak, just nuzzles you on the side of your face, intentionally breathing into your ear to get you to wince from the tickling feeling. He shoves his tongue right on your face, licking you like a dog.

"Ack, what is it?" You lift your hands up to your face to defend your face from further onslaught. He pushes his snout into your hands and licks them instead. "Rev... Are you okay?"

He stops, pushing his snout through your hands and touching the tip of your nose.

"What are you supposed to taste like?" He finally utters. You're a bit taken aback by his question.

"I don't really know, why? Do I taste strange?"

"Honeysuckle. That's what I taste." He pulls you right into him, enveloping your whole body. "I haven't had a real tongue in so long. I don't remember what anything is supposed to taste like anymore." He sounds saddened by his conclusion, but you can't get your hands free to comfort him. You shove your face in his mane instead, snuggling up against him. You struggle to find any words to say, but try to come up with something.

"Hey, Revenant?" He doesn't respond, but it's safe to assume you have his attention. "I like you no matter what." You retreat into his mane as deep as your face can go, unsure of how he will react.

You feel his body heat up, and his claw cup the back of your head. His head tucks around your shoulder, and his legs surround you to pull you into his frame. His spare arm wraps around you, and his body starts to rattle in a purr. You carefully wrap your hands around his waist and softly caress it, unable to press into it like his other body with leather allows. You're stuck otherwise, so you make a small kissing gesture and noise into his mane, unsure if he hears you.

"Sleep, my little skinsuit. Before you convince me to forfeit this game." He purrs in your ear, brushing your hair with his fingers. You're not sure what he means; you've asked him to do no such thing, but you let yourself snuggle up against his heat, easily drifting to sleep as he coos at you.

• • • •

You wake up in a mess of damp fur, mouth open and now dry as a desert. You close your mouth and pull your face away from the sopping mats of fur, emitting a sound similar to a snore as you breathe through your nose again.

"Didn't realize you'd be the one to get me wet, skinsuit." Revenant teases, running his claws through his soaked mane. "Your dreams must be real fun for you to drool all over me like that." You snap to as you realize what you've done.

"Oh no, I'm sorry!" You pull away and try to dry him off with the sheets, to no avail.

"Don't be sorry, this is perfect." You ignore him, sitting up to dry him off at a better angle. He lets you, but you quickly abandon the sheet and go grab a towel from the bathroom. As you rub into his mane, he looks up with you with something that feels like a smile, but you can't be sure. Either way, he seems to be enjoying it. He lets you continue as he slowly sits up, leaning into your rubs and purring under his breath. You get as much of your drool out of his mane as possible, but eventually you finally have to give up and pull the towel away.

Revenant makes his way out of bed, satisfied by your work, although you don't feel the same. He stands tall over you, looking down at you with curiosity and adoration. He pushes his hand into your hair and rustles it.

"Don't look so dejected, you didn't ruin anything." He reads your mind; you feel like you've destroyed his favorite chassis with drool of all things. "Trust me, I was banking on you making a mess. It'll all work out in my favor. Shut off your little brain and let me do the thinking, just trust me." His voice growls seductively as he pokes the tip of your nose with his claw.

"Now, go eat before I force feed you. Your girlfriend should be here in an hour or so to watch the match with you." His voice is so smooth but growly. "I need to go prepare. Take care of yourself, skinsuit. I expect you here when I get back." And with that, he turns heels and confidently glides out the door, gone for the day.

You stare for a few moments, deeply hoping he will reappear so you can stare some more. Even his gait is so alluring, so confident, so strong. He is focused, powerful, and yet so secretive. You may not be sure how to respond to his flirtatious gestures, but knowing he is possessive of you is an honor he clearly doesn't give to many. What did you do? Does it matter? You want him to come back and make your face turn red again, tease you into forgetting about your depression, and treat you like his most prized possession. You want to make him melt with snout rubs, warm him, and delight him with your inherent shyness. You finally feel comfortable, but--more importantly--you feel attached.

You come back to reality, quickly scrambling to find the television remote, turning it on to the main event. They're still talking about Loba from the previous match, throwing up pictures all over the screen. How long can they talk about the same thing and still not run out of things to say? You sigh, knowing they will have to let up as the opening of the game starts.

You move over to the kitchenette and start warming up your leftovers. Chinese for breakfast is the sign of a good day, in your opinion. Some people say it's better the next day, but you can't wholly agree. It's different, not better or worse, but you love both. With your appetite finally back, you almost feel like waiting for it to finish, but you know showering while it heats up and cools off enough to eat is the wise choice.

• • • •

You answer the door, seeing Sherry bashfully waving to you with an unsure smile on her face.

"Hey Sherry, Rev told me he--"

"Put in a request for me to come and keep you company, right?"

"Yeah, I hope it's not too much trouble." You step aside so she can enter, which she does.

"So that's what he told you, but do you know what he really asked?" She reels around, fancying a tease as her finger twirled in the air.

"Oh no..." You trail off, already expecting something embarrassing. Sherry makes her way to the couch, throwing herself down and patting the seat next to her to invite you over.

"Oh, nothing that bad. He specifically asked me to make sure you were having a good time and safe. He requested that I not let you get sad, even if I had to--" she clears her throat, preparing to make a direct quote, "--encroach on my territory again." She giggles at the choice of words not even looking up to see your cheeks turn a light pink. He's definitely partially influenced by his software, that's the kind of thing a prowler would say if they could speak. Although, he is possessive on his own too.

"To be fair, you did shove my face in your tits right in front of him..." You sit down next to her, pulling your legs up to cross them.

"I dunno, the way his head tilted made me think he might have liked it." She throws her arms around you for a hug, relishing in pulling you in despite your pulling away.

"You're just as bad as he is." You sigh, accepting the hug that is forced on you.

"Oh? Maybe I can gang up on you with him sometime."

The innuendo isn't lost on you, making you grimace in further realization that you've surrounded yourself with people who tease you with questionable remarks. Sherry lets you go, turning her attention to the television.

"So, got any insider information on what we're about to see?" She lets you off the hook, for now.

"Well, sounds like our favorites are teamed up, for one." She beams, clearly excited at being able to root for the same team. "Second, Revenant has been teasing some grand plan for a while... apparently he's not fond of--" you nod towards Loba holding Revenant's scarf on the screen, "--that. He plans to erase it from everyone's minds."

"Not going to lie, that's the most exciting thing I've heard in ages leading up to a match." Sherry snuggles into the plush couch. It makes sense, she's been working here since before you started. Heck, she's the one who got you the job. She's probably heard everything when it comes to hype, and is likely unaffected by the commentator's excitement anymore. A Legend having some grand scheme for a match would be way more promising. "I'm just glad Revenant and Wattson are on the same team. It means I don't need to root against your shiny metal boyfriend." She smirks at you.

"You'd date Wattson if you could." You retort, trying to fend off her wit.

"Oh! So you are dating!" Ah, shit. You didn't mean to imply that. "So how is he? Is he everything you dreamed? Does he satisfy you?" She's so excitable, despite your answer being completely predictable.

"It's not like that." You turn away, hoping she won't push it.

"It's not like that--yet." She has to push the envelope, every time. She just can't let anything go. "I think he likes you. I bet he's thinking about you right now."

"When there's blood to be spilt? Fat chance." You finally see an opening for a comeback, and you take it. Sherry looks at you with shock, until it melts into a beaming smirk.

"It's cute how much you like him." She finally says.

"Oh, shut it." You leave it there, happy with the ceasefire, knowing you'll likely lose ground if you push it.

The television starts announcing the teams, showing Revenant with Wattson and Wraith. The camera holds on Revenant, standing in the middle and in front of his teammates in the drop ship, giving the commentators time to fawn over his unusual chassis. The floral language they use to describe the viciousness of his new body makes you chuckle as you think about how much he loves snout rubs. You feel a little badass for once; after all, you've tamed the unholy beast they seem so reverent of.

Revenant turns his head, locking optics with something off screen. The camera pans to see who, and a familiar masked face appears. If Bloodhound could have an intense look, this was it. It was a primal look, a pure determination that could only be described as a hunter locking eyes with a most dangerous prey. This is what Revenant meant. This was his plan. There was no chance this would end without a fight for the ages. His animalistic appearance only added to the allure of this soon-to-be battle.

"Hey, why don't we watch the team channel?" Sherry breaks your immersion in the game.

"The what?"

"Oh my--you've been here almost as long as me! How do you not know these things?!" You shrug, still not sure what she's talking about. "Every room gets a special team-specific feed with communications and everything. We should watch it if Wattsy and Revenant are together." She gets up and grabs the remote, clicking a button as she returns, causing the perspective to shift and the commentators to fall silent. You can hear the team instead, loud and clear. Why didn't you know about this?

Sherry bops you on the back of the head before returning her attention to the television.

The voices come through loud and clear on this channel.

"Are you sure about this?" Wattson asks, looking up at Revenant's massive frame.

"Yeah, this seems like a good way to get knocked out early." Wraith crosses her arms, sounding equally skeptical.

"I don't need you to trust me, but I'm going to be chased down. I need to drop separately and lose their trail. I need you to kit up without me, and I will meet you where you are." Revenant must be referring to Bloodhound.

"And what if we're targeted for landing as two instead of three? Not to insult your intelligence, but this seems particularly unwise." Wattson is always so sweet, even when she's not very fond of who she's speaking to.

"You'll need to drop cold. Drop within running distance to me and I will come to your aid if you're targeted." Revenant insists. Wattson sighs, clearly unsure of how to change his mind.

"Very well, please do not get us all killed, even if it is in your programming." Wattson relents.

They walk over and stand tall near the open hatch, barely keeping themselves up and not falling into World's Edge. The wind makes it impossible to hear the communications, but you see Revenant pointing to a few places and Wattson making hand motions as if to discuss options. Wraith just keeps her arms crossed, looking like a badass behind them.

Revenant steps away from the two to step further inside the ship, leaning against the ship wall and appearing to sigh. You hear a voice pick up on his communications.

"You are not as clever as you think, bráð." Revenant turns his gaze to meet Bloodhound, who is haughtily ignoring their teammates in favor of stoking these flames. "You may have disguised your scent with that of your apprentice, but all I must do is hunt your apprentice in order to find you." Revenant huffs, unfazed. "I will be disappointed if this hunt is unworthy of my skills."

With that, Bloodhound turns away to face their teammates, returning to planning. Fuse and Caustic seem completely okay with Bloodhound's previous absence from the conversation, willingly taking time to catch Bloodhound up on their plans. Revenant moves back to his team, Wattson clearly having noticed the exchange over her comms.

"Making friends, are we? I did not think you had it in you." She chuckles a little. She's a bit sassy herself, no wonder her and Sherry get along.

Revenant blows a puff of breath out his nostrils and into his mic, refusing to acknowledge her question.

"You'd be surprised, I think our local murder machine is going soft on us." Wraith pipes up in a taunting manner. Revenant looks very concerned that she might expand on her statement, but Wraith clearly is just enjoying his somewhat panicked reaction, smirking at him with delight.

"Perhaps this is a story for another day. Our drop is coming up!" Wattson chirps, clearly getting a bit excited.

The comms go quiet, spare for the blowing wind near the hatch, before they all jump into the white abyss, the drone camera attempting to follow. As the camera breaches the cloud line, you can see the trails of the team splitting, two in one direction and the other in the opposite. A message appears on the screen reading: 'calling additional drone' before it follows Wraith and Wattson down below.

"Do you want to watch your big metal hunk?" Sherry teases you. "He went off by himself, so I don't mind watching him. I'm comfortable that Wattsy will just be picking up loot safely in that area. Nobody really drops over there."

"I'm being hunted as expected. Stay alive, you two. I'll be there soon." Revenant's voice can be heard over the television.

"Yes! How do we watch him?!" You pipe up, instantly concerned.

Sherry hits a button on the remote and a new visual appears. This new camera drone isn't at Revenant yet, but staring down Bloodhound instead. Bloodhound is looking back and fourth, clearly flustered. The drone hovers, refusing to move as it may give away positions of either Legend.

Bloodhound runs up to a bunker, opens the door, and immediately puts their gloved hands over their mask, as if they're smelling something pungent. They run over to the control panel, wiping the surface and sniffing their fingers. Suddenly, they look invigorated. Impressed, perhaps? It's hard to say. Bloodhound appears to speak into their communications mic and runs off in a full sprint, disappearing from the drone's view.

The drone watches longingly after Bloodhound's trail before it suddenly jostles, making the view blurred and incomprehensible. The camera slows, eventually able to capture an image. It's Revenant's visage, clearly holding the drone at arm's length while sprinting.

"I know you're watching, little skinsuit. Hug your girlfriend if you get too scared." The drone mic isn't as clear as his team comms device, but he's still understandable. "In fact--Sherry--keep her warm for me. You have my support, but I get her back as soon as this is done. Deal?" His voice is full of vitriolic flirting, if that description makes any sense. He crushes the drone and the screen becomes static. Sherry turns to you with a devious smirk.

"Oh, he's so kinky for you." She uses her deep voice and leans into you, wrapping an arm around your back. Your cheeks burn red. "You must have something special, huh? How else did you end up with a big dom daddy like--"

"Oh my fuck, please stop Sherry!" You burst from embarrassment, burying your face in your knees as you pull into your frame. "I can't handle you two teaming up."

She laughs, but not sadistically for once. She gives you a quick hug, a pat on the back, and changes the channel to the other, working camera drone.

"I'm fine, but I have another favor to ask." Revenant's voice brings you out of your human sphere. You don't recognize this area, it's not considered a hot spot.

"You're really pushing your luck today, rustbin." Wraith stays stoic about the whole thing, attaching a scope to a Havoc.

"Let's hear him out. What is it? I cannot promise I will agree to anything, though." Wattson is undeniably kind, but sounds like she's trying to be stern.

"If Bloodhound survives to the end with us, let me single them out and fight them alone. If I fail to finish them, you can kill them and take the match without me." Revenant plans to do what he originally teased you about: defeat your first favorite Legend. How did he find out it was Bloodhound? Or does he even know?

"The chances of that seem unreasonably low, and it seems quite risky, but if you really want to I will respect your wishes." Wattson says as she rummages through a supply bin, picking up some shield cells and batteries.

"The chances are actually strangely high..." Wraith almost mutters as she loads her Havoc. "Did you bribe some people to throw or something?"

"No, I gave the Hunter a challenge." Revenant says as he begins adding improvements to his RE-45, making a satisfying chunking sound as his mag extender slots in. "My mind is on making a spectacle of our battle, and the only thing on the Hunter's mind is surviving until they can kill me. Call it actualization."

"Yeah, you'd have no reason to pay your way to the top, you enjoy this too much." Wraith tests her scope by looking down the sights, apparently pleased with her meager kit for now. "Alright team, we need more equipment, let's move."

They all begin to move towards an area known as The Harvester. You had been dragged there and touched all the controls, doors, and climbed an excessive amount of the area. It makes you tired to even think about it.

"So, I have some actual questions though." Sherry brings your attention out of the television, so you turn towards her. There's not much point in watching until there are gunshots anyway. Otherwise they're just going to be finding more gear. "What happened to your leg?" She points to the puncture wounds on your calf.

"Oh, um--well..." You accidentally revealed it when you pulled your leg up on the couch. "He has a thing where he can't control himself for a few seconds after he reboots." She pauses, processing your response. It is a really odd string of words to put together.

"So... he's homicidal, and if you don't get away--"

"No, not homicidal. There is zero chance of that. More like possessive and overly passionate about it." You hope it makes sense. She pauses again, trying to process the meaning behind the words.

"So it's a sexual thing?" Of course she gets it all wrong.

"No, more like a 'nobody can have you' kind of thing, and then he got too worked up and clenched too hard."

"So... are you sure about this whole thing? What if this keeps happening? That's not okay." She seems genuinely concerned, and a bit unhappy.

"It was an accident, honestly. Sort of like tripping into someone and knocking them over." You try to make it as mild-seeming as possible, but you know she won't fully buy it. She sighs, crosses her arms, and shrugs a little. That's enough acceptance for now.

"So, follow-up question: are you sure you're safe?" It might as well be the same question, but you relent.

"I'm pretty certain."

"That's a horrible answer!" Obviously she'd be a bit upset that it's not complete certainty, but how can you lie to her? Nothing is completely certain.

"It's complicated, but this is a risk I'm absolutely willing to take." You surprise yourself with your own calmness. "I know this seems insane, but my life has only been better for every crazy decision I've made, and I need this to happen. Life is short these days, even if I die I want to do something better than nothing." Sherry stares at you with a dumbfounded look, apparently impressed by your short speech.

"I guess that makes sense, but if stuff gets too violent... please leave." She averts her gaze, looking down at her feet.

"I promise, but really, I'm quite happy." You hug her, and she hugs you back for a moment.

"So he must be really good in bed then, huh?" She ruins the moment, she absolutely has to. It's practically her purpose in life at this point.

"I don't know, to be honest." You try to sound as serious as possible to avoid further teasing.

"What? Are you kidding? He makes it sound like you guys are fu--"

"Don't say it please." You put your face in your hands, questioning why you're still so easily embarrassed by these things. You're always blushing, which seems to goad people like Revenant and Sherry into teasing you. It is a little fun, though. Their power trip of teasing seems to make them both so happy, and in a weird way you share in that happiness as a willing victim.

"Well, okay, but I hope you get some soon," she snickers, "Honestly I don't think it'll be much longer now, anyway."

Gunshots ring out on the television.

"I've taken hits! If you've got a sniper, try to cover me!" Wraith sounds hurt, despite phasing towards the opponents on a hill nearby. Revenant pulls a Longbow he must have found recently, doing his best to take shots at the opponents while Wraith closes the gap. The scope must not be the best, because you can clearly see his stature get frustrated as he whiffs his shots. The return fire seems just as poor, hitting at Revenant's feet and the wall behind him, leaving gaping bullet holes. Suddenly, you hear a crack as Revenant's shot lands, then another.

"One closest to you is weak," he quickly states.

"Got it, engaging." Wraith barely finishes her statement before she's downed her opponent. Without the fancy graphics of the public broadcast, you're not sure who is on the enemy team, especially with how far the drone is.

"Engaging on the opposite side! Someone is alone!" Wattson suddenly appears on the opposite side as Wraith, immediately engaging another body as Wraith moves in towards the final contender in the middle. The gunshots are really going now, but the camera drone has been staying near Revenant, who is hanging back taking sniper shots.

"I'm down, but he's hurting!" Wattson's voice comes over comms, prompting Revenant to switch to his RE-45 and sprint to close the distance. The drone lags behind slowly, not closing enough distance to make out the opponents.

Wraith curses over the audio as she and her opponent go down simultaneously, leaving one weakened contender to Revenant. He's closing the gap excessively fast; it looks like they're trying to use a med kit.

"I'm not wasting the bullet." You definitely watch Revenant's silhouette stab the other before the med kit is finished, prompting the whole team to be deathboxed. The drone suddenly kicks into high speed, catching up to Revenant. It makes sense that the drones shouldn't give away positions, but this was a little frustrating at times. They either have to stay side-by-side or it has to hang back.

Revenant goes to Wraith first, pulling a medical syringe in his fist. He pauses, looking down on her for a moment. He twirls the syringe in his fingers, stopping it so his thumb lands on the plunger and his pointer and middle finger brace the flange on the barrel. He kneels down to her, pinches the muscle near her shoulder, and injects it quickly. He tosses the empty needle in a different pocket on his belt and helps her to her feet. Wraith is staring at him with a strange but subtle smile. He huffs at her and turns to tend to Wattson.

"So you did pay attention." Wraith sounds soft for a moment, but it doesn't get a reaction out of Revenant, who is doing the same to Wattson.

"Have you ever thought of the long term effects of all these injections?" Wattson asks as Revenant helps her up.

Wraith clears her throat loudly, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, it can do crazy things for sure." Wraith says with a heavy layer of frustration.

"Oh, I am so sorry, I did not mean to dredge up old memories." Wattson shakes her hands in front of her as a motion of apology.

"Yeah, science these days tends to be used to ruin the lives of as many people as possible." Revenant adds.

They all stand there in a circle, silent. It's not an awkward silence, it's a mournful silence. Revenant's stare is deep in the distance. Wraith's body language exudes frustration over past traumas. Wattson looks at the ground, almost like in secondhand guilt for being a woman of science. The stillness hangs for an uncomfortable amount of time, before Wraith breaks it.

"Nothing we can do, we are who we are now." She sighs. "We're top seven now. We need to find some other deathboxes and pick up better gear. We're going to stay sneaky until we're down to the last two." She immediately begins running towards the center of the new circle, close to the giant ice-like structure known as the Epicenter. Revenant and Wattson immediately move to follow. More boring running for a while.

"Who do you think was on that team?" Sherry asks, understanding that there's not much point in watching these segments.

"I'm not sure either. Sneaky play is boring, but I can't argue with the results. I'm going to run and get snacks, do you want anything?" You stand up, wanting to move around after a long while of sitting. Sherry immediately lays down on the couch, taking up all the space you left.

"Sure, give me anything with that cheese powder crack on it." She shoots you finger guns.

• • • •

"Sherry, I'm not getting you more chips."

"Please?"

"No, you've literally had three and a half bags, you're covered in cheese dust, and I'm pretty sure you're an addict. How strong is your metabolism, anyway?" You're brushing dust off the couch, at this rate you might as well get a vacuum. You ate a half, and then Sherry destroyed the rest plus all the other bags you got. You wonder how on earth she keeps her thinner figure like this. She must be cut from a completely different cloth than you.

"I have the same metabolism as all of my tapeworms." She stretches, and attempts to wipe the dust off her pants. "Sadly this has been pretty uneventful so far. They're being so careful. Three teams left now, and it looks and sounds like the other two are fighting it out." The gunshots are weak and in the distance.

"We're kitted as best as we can be, we should approach this like we did last time." Wraith has a 30-30 Repeater now, extremely well-modded.

"Did you notice that we're in the circle and they are not? We should set up a bit of an obstacle course here!" Wattson chirps.

"We can actually use it to attract our opponents and engage them from afar too." Wraith is beginning to smile, seeing a good path to victory.

"Leave Bloodhound for me." Revenant mumbles, just as a reminder.

"You'll get your wish, we've got this." Wraith's smile is unusual for her, but it's hard not to be at least a little happy in the face of such a massive victory.

Wattson begins setting up electric gates in the area as the circle closes in from the distance, creating a strange set of gates around the Survey Camp, trying to get around and weave through cover. Wraith finds a spot away from the tangled mess, Revenant joining her.

"Do you think they'll win?" You hold your breath, not as sure as Wraith is.

"Of course, Wattson is with them!" Sherry pumps her fists together as if she didn't just eat an inhuman amount of crisps. How can she move so jovially with a stomach that must weigh as much as a brick?

Gunshots ring out, Revenant takes sniper shots at the last remaining team as they escape the incoming heat wall.

"Why did you give our position away!?" Wraith punches him in the shoulder, but he doesn't flinch.

"Use your portal to charge them, hit Bloodhound in the leg, and come back immediately through the portal. Let them follow." Revenant has no fluctuations in his voice. He's dead serious.

"This better work!" Wraith yells as she disappears, leaving a strange portal hole next to Revenant.

"Wattson, come throw down your Interceptor Pylon here, we need to make sure they come into the portal after Wraith." Revenant seems to have thought this through, but why does he want to fight up close?

Wattson throws it down and it immediately stops an incoming Knuckle Cluster, barely getting it up and running in time. Some incoming grenades meet the same fate.

"Excellent, thank you Wattson." Revenant sounds excited. Wattson pauses in minor confusion.

"You're... thanking me? You never do tha--"

Wraith appears in front of Fuse, Bloodhound, and Caustic. She pulls out her 30-30 Repeater and nails Bloodhound in the leg, taking many shots herself before retreating into the portal. Bloodhound takes a knee and begins using a med kit as Caustic and Fuse jump into the portal.

Revenant is unarmed on the other side, all his guns, grenades, recovery tools, and ammo on the ground around him. He's holding his sharpened arm right up against the portal's center, practically posing. Fuse first appears and is immediately skewered through the chest, exhaling in surprise. Revenant flicks his entire arm to the side, causing Fuse's corpse to fly off to the side, blood spewing everywhere out of the hole in his chest. He is deathboxed before he hits the ground. Revenant's other hand is already poised for an encore.

Caustic comes through second, taking the sharpened point in the neck. The blood is immediate and generous. Revenant lifts his body off his feet, letting the blood roll down his stabbing arm and drip everywhere. Caustic drops a live Gas Grenade as he dies, spitting blood. Revenant throws his body in much the same manner, and Caustic is deathboxed midair.

"Well, shit, that worked." Wraith has almost healed her injuries completely, Wattson watching over her and armed to the teeth. "I guess the rest is all yours, maniac."

"Do not make us wait too long, please! I am looking forward to this win!" Wattson helps Wraith up and begins to run in the other direction to escape the spreading gas.

Revenant immediately starts sprinting towards Bloodhound in a straight line with no gear of any kind. Not even a gun. He's thoroughly coated in fresh blood and looks like a monstrosity, surely he's going to be shot down.

"Is he trying to die?!" Sherry screams at the television. "They almost have it! What even is this?!" You wish you could defend Revenant, but in truth you have the same questions.

No gunshots come though. Bloodhound stands there, newly recovered thanks to their med kit. They're situated right near the tangle of electrical gates, arms crossed and waiting patiently. It doesn't take long for Revenant to meet them, standing tall and unarmed a few feet away, locking their gaze. Bloodhound begins throwing their guns, grenades, health items, and ammo to the side. They finish, staring down their opponent in a strange silence. You're glad you're on a private channel, this would be ruined by any crowd sounds or commentators talking over it.

Finally, Bloodhound reaches behind them and pulls out a beautiful axe. It looks ancient but well-maintained, certainly a relic from their sordid history as a hunter.

"Congratulations kill leader, how many did you kill to get to this moment?" Revenant asks.

"Fourteen bodies lay behind me." Bloodhound states very plainly. That's an insane number. Revenant growls happily at their answer. "I have fought hard to meet this moment. I will confess, you are more clever than I expected. I am sorry for underestimating you before. You brought your apprentice here and ensured she left her scent everywhere, then disguised yourself with the same scent."

You're stunned into silence. All that running around was to literally make it impossible for Bloodhound to hunt by scent alone. You almost felt happy to be a small part of this, in some way, but also a little frustrated at how hard that day was. It explains why Revenant took your shirt before, why it came back so grimy, why you had to touch everything, and why he wasn't upset that you drooled all over his mane. Is this simulacrum also a conniving genius?

"I noticed you didn't use your sonar to find me earlier." Revenant pries a little.

"It would be disrespectful to the honor of this hunt." Bloodhound is beginning to sound excited in a bloodthirsty manner. "You also have come unarmed, so I meet your challenge as my ancestors would."

Bloodhound shimmers the blade of the axe in the sunlight, proudly caressing its blade. They've got one knife, an axe, and their wits. Nothing more.

Revenant begins to sidestep, Bloodhound sidestepping to match, never leaving each other's gaze. They're circling each other, neither making the first move. Bloodhound breaks the silence with a thunderous declaration.

"May the Allfather bless this hunt!" They lunge forward, axe at the ready.

Revenant leaps to the side, avoiding them, immediately lunging to counter. His giant maw is wide open, going straight for Bloodhound's head. Bloodhound ducks, and plunges one of their smaller knives into Revenant's gut. They push the knife in hard enough that Revenant buckles at the torso and falls backwards, letting the knife slide out in Bloodhound's grasp.

Revenant's clawed foot hits Bloodhound right in the breathing mask, causing them to stumble backwards long enough for Revenant to get on his feet. Revenant lunges again, but uses his arm length to pick Bloodhound up and toss them through the electrified fence. Bloodhound lands on the other side, obviously hurting. A knife comes flying through the fence and chunks into Revenant's chest. Revenant grabs at it, clearly in pain from both his hits so far. He leaves it in despite his pain, knowing that Bloodhound can't have it back this way without getting close.

Revenant strafes to the side to see around the electric fence just to find nothing there. They've vanished in the web. Revenant begins to prowl around the inside of the fence with all its jagged nooks, looking for anything. Revenant keeps turning to look behind him, clearly expecting some kind of attack from behind. The heat wall closes in on the fenced in area, leaving only half of the area available. Revenant watches as the wall moves up close to his face, then begins to turn to leave.

Bloodhound leaps onto Revenant's back from behind the heat wall, their garb charred a bit from hiding beyond it. Bloodhound gets their axe around Revenant's throat and pulls so the handle begins to choke him, but Revenant throws himself backwards into the heat wall, burning Bloodhound. They shove the axe upwards in an uppercut-like fashion, stunning Revenant so they have time to dismount and leave the heat wall before swinging for another blow. The axe lands in Revenant's hip, but Revenant grabs it and holds it in place, lunging forward with his open jaw to bite. Bloodhound jumps back, avoiding the bite, but losing their axe in the process.

Bloodhound shows no fear, immediately lunging for Revenant's lower body, taking advantage of his shifted center of gravity and forcing him to fall forward, right on the knife in his chest. Revenant emits a horrid sound which is only compounded when Bloodhound pulls the axe from his hip. Bloodhound swings for the head, but Revenant shifts so his horn takes the brunt. Revenant grabs Bloodhound's leg and in one swift motion gets to his feet and throws Bloodhound like a ragdoll across the field, away from the fences. Revenant sprints towards them, leaning so far forward that he's nearly on all fours. It's bestial. Bloodhound is able to sit up just in time to save themself from a massive bite, but only by shoving their axe in Revenant's jaw to force it to stay open.

Revenant takes the opportunity to get his hands around Bloodhound's neck, claws fully out. Bloodhound retaliates by using their free arm to pull the knife from Revenant's chest, causing him to reel in pain. He still is unable to close his mouth, and Bloodhound isn't choking fast enough to save him from getting his throat slashed by the now freed knife. Revenant is forced to release Bloodhound completely and staggers backwards, holding his own throat now instead. You could be mistaken, but it looked like the inside of his mouth might have been injured from biting the axe too.

Bloodhound immediately throws the knife again, hitting Revenant in the thigh. He falls to a knee, giving Bloodhound enough time to get up and lunge, landing the axe right in Revenant's mask. With a twist of the wrist, their axe is free and Revenant's mask is cracked. Revenant's pain seems to convert to adrenaline, as he lets go of his throat and grabs Bloodhound's leg out from underneath them, causing them to land on the back of their head before Revenant goes in for a stab. Bloodhound deflects Revenant's arm stab with their axe. Revenant's arm chunks into the ground next to Bloodhound's head instead.

Revenant is making a disconcerting wheezing noise. There's tons of damage all over his body, and the pain must be unreal at this point. Bloodhound is banged up too, taking mostly concussive damage to the head. Their chest rises and falls rapidly, but you can't hear them pant through the breathing mask. Despite all the apparent hurt, you do not expect either of them are done.

Revenant lunges down for the bite and nails it this time, his maw right around Bloodhound's head. Bloodhound is bleeding immediately, but takes the opportunity to pull the knife again from his thigh. Revenant, now wise to the possibilities, uses his whole body to fling Bloodhound by their head to the side. Revenant is finally able to stand up completely, but he limps a little.

Bloodhound's head is bleeding pretty badly now, their blood splattered on the ground from being bit and thrown. They quickly get to their feet but quiver a bit while doing so. They seem confident now having their knife and axe at their side again.

"Allfather is pleased by this battle." Bloodhound states very factually. "Were it not for my weapons, I surely would have lost this fight long ago."

"Hate to break it to you, but you're still going to lose." Revenant's voice sounds wispy from exhaustion. He limps closer, and Bloodhound stands their ground.

Revenant ignores his limp just long enough to lunge, this time claws out and jaw open. Bloodhound sidesteps, but Revenant recovers quickly and turns to lunge again. Bloodhound is ready, and uses both the knife and the axe to stab and brutally chunk into his back as they take a massive bite to the waist, as well as an arm stab to the thigh. Bloodhound just begins wailing his blades into Revenant's back, who seems unwilling to release the hold he has. Bloodhound's waist is dripping blood and the cloth on their outfit is soaked crimson. Revenant's body seems to be giving out on him, but not before Revenant uses his spare arm for a stab towards the chest.

Bloodhound clearly plans to take it. They're unable to dodge or move, but before Revenant can land the blow, Bloodhound plunges the knife into Revenant's throat. Revenant's stab finishes, but his chassis goes limp right as Bloodhound is deathboxed from the stab to the chest.

The final camera shot of the fight is of Revenant's bestial chassis limply hanging off the edge of Bloodhound's deathbox, his head resting on the top like a mourner on a coffin. Then Revenant is deathboxed, ending the match.

The camera shifts to Wraith and Wattson who were watching the fight from afar, now waving in victory to the camera and celebrating. Wattson holds a Nessie plush toy over her head in victory, but where did it come from? As the camera zooms in, you see she's surrounded by a few. What the heck?

Sherry and you sit, stunned in silence. Sherry changes the channel to the public broadcast, and you hear the crowds reeling in cheers at the primal violence they just got to enjoy. The commentators are losing their minds over the ending, calling it 'The Allfather's Hunt' and practically gushing at the seams over the imagery of the Hunter and the Prey dying together. Wraith and Wattson are showered in confetti and champagne, although Wraith doesn't seem as much into the celebrations as Wattson is. Revenant really did make a spectacle out of the whole thing. Nobody was going to care about 'Loba the Scalper' after this.

Sherry seems conflicted. Normally she would be on her feet, screaming loud enough to warrant a noise complaint whenever Wattson wins. However, now she seems worried over what she just saw. She turns to you.

"This guy can and might kill you." She speaks very quickly and quietly. "I just watched him kill with no weapons, just brute strength. He can throw people and crush them and stab them and bite them, and he can absolutely break every bone in your body if he wanted." She looks down at her hands, as if to soak in the frailty of humanity. "I don't want you to end up like that."

"Sherry, I know. Trust me, I do. He's the strongest, most terrifying person I've ever met, but I'm not and will never be his target." You speak confidently. "He finds some kind of comfort in me and has taken a liking to me. He will not intentionally hurt me. Unintentionally it may happen, but he seems to know how to handle that when it does happen."

Sherry sighs.

"Do you love this guy that much?" She asks.

You pause. It's not a word you've really used yet to describe how you feel. Like, sure, but not full-on love. You think about it. You don't like throwing that word around.

"I am that fond of him, yes." You finally say. "I just want to see where it goes."

"If you're sure, just please don't get gored." Sherry stands up, a concerned look still plastered on her face. "I'm going to go clean and decorate Wraith and Wattson's room for them. I would do this one too, but Revenant never seems to like it."

"Thanks for hanging out, Sherry. Don't worry, I'll be okay, I promise."

Sherry nods a little, then leaves the room, allowing you to stretch and relax until Revenant gets back. You wonder how long it will take this time.

• • • •

It's mid-afternoon, by now all the broadcasts should be finished up on all the different planets, where it should be later in the day. Morning matches are a theme here, but it lines up perfectly with the end-of-the-workweek evenings for other planets. It also means the lighting during the match is perfect. Sometimes the broadcast will be held off to make sure it shows at prime time on each planet, but that always means tourism to the planets where it's shown live is excessive.

Right about now, this planet should be clearing out from everyone who wanted to watch the Apex Game live today. Talos probably had it worse today, if you can call tons of tourism worse. After all, they must make bank in souvenirs, assuming the locals are one to sell souvenirs. You question if the people Bloodhound came from would be the type to do so. Probably not. Anyone who is willing to though: they must be rich.

It's been a few hours and despite last time, you cannot shake the anxiety that Revenant might never come back.

There's a knock at the door, to which you quickly go and open it.

"Oh, hello, just dropping this off, as requested!" This stout but strong mustached man with permanently squinted eyes rolls in a large deathbox on a caddy. He must work in a different section of the volunteers than you did, otherwise you would recognize him. He carefully lays the deathbox on the floor. You move to help, but remember when Revenant collapsed on you and realize you're not strong enough for this. This guy is impressively strong to be able to carry it. He wipes a bead of sweat from his head after finishing, and begins to roll his caddy out.

"Have a nice day ma'am!" He waves goodbye and shuts the door after himself. You turn to stare down at the deathbox.

Open it.

You want so badly to open it. You have to know. Yes, you need to know. Does his chassis really have all the parts a human does, or was his flirtatious teasing all a grand bluff?

Open it.

This box may not contain all the answers, but perhaps it can solve that one question. Does he really like you that way? Is it possible that he could like you that way? Or is it possible regardless of his body?

Open it.

Is this an invasion of privacy? Probably, but since when has he given you the same courtesy? If you're lucky enough, he won't be back in time to even notice.

Open it.

However, you don't think it's right. You meander to the bed and sit down, turning on the television to see more of the commotion. They're not going to stop talking about 'The Allfather's Hunt' anytime soon. This isn't a good distraction.

Open it.

Forget it, you start flipping through the channels. There's some sickeningly optimistic and colorful kid's show. Now it's news, listing off dozens of people murdered just in the city streets yesterday, per usual. Now it's a show about an unsolved murder from a few years ago. Now it's a documentary about the Frontier War. This isn't working.

Open it.

You grab your badge out of your pocket and leave the room, freezing outside of the door. Right, there's not a single soul back from the medical bay to talk to. You didn't know Wattson well enough to go knock on her door, and you're not sure where Wraith was moved to after Revenant busted her door. Even if you did, you don't know her that well either.

Open it.

You scan your card and reenter Revenant's room, stagger over to the box, and mess with the latch. Once unlocked, a button releases the door and it springs open.

Tears well up in your eyes. Why did you do this to yourself? He's lifeless, bent up into a tangle of limbs and parts to fit into the box. What did you expect? He looks like an old sarcophagus that was forcefully shoved into a box he could not fit in. His corpse is so beautiful, but so empty and void of life simultaneously, like an art piece left to rot in the elements. You can't help yourself. You have to get him out of there.

You move to one side of the box and leverage your legs to begin tipping the box. It's very heavy, but you have to do this. The box tips over its center of balance and rotates the rest of the way over, spilling Revenant's corpse onto the floor. You pull the box back upright so the opening faces the ceiling again, and get back up to run over to his body. His chassis is laid out now like a more normal corpse would be, although his limbs have fallen where they may.

You crouch down, letting your tears hit the chassis with a hollow thumping sound. You hold his hand, but there's nothing: no squeeze, no sharp points, not even a bashful resistance to such an act of affection. No amount of knowledge that he will come back can fix how you feel right now.

You struggle to pull his body into your lap. This may be lighter than his classic metal body, but it's still difficult to move it around. You silently weep, finally getting his crushing weight on your legs. You lean forward into his nuzzle and rub it, hoping for that awkwardly stifled joy he shows when he likes something. There's nothing, his eyes are void.

You begin to cry out loud.

You carefully cradle his head, ignoring the matted fur in the way. You rock back and fourth, crying into his cheek and begging him internally to wake up. The tears flow around and into the giant crack in his mask. He had wounds all over him, and you trace your fingers around each one. Hope is worthless; it can't fix him. You touch his horns he seemed so proud of. There's a massive break in one of them and the horn is almost loose off his skull. So much damage. So much pain. Your crying gets louder.

Why did you open it? Why did you have to be curious? At first you just wanted to look to see if he was bluffing about this body having sexual mods. You didn't bargain for the excessive and overwhelming grief of seeing him dead. You rock his body, mourning in utter despair, cradling his head so close to your chest that it hurts. You squeeze your eyes shut to try to hold back the tears, but it flows right through. Maybe not seeing the body will help.

You continue to sob and rock him for what feels like an hour. In truth, it's probably only ten or so minutes. It hurts so bad, even with your eyes closed the image might as well be etched on your eyelids. Your nose is stopped up from the crying, but you cannot find the energy to try to wipe it so it can breathe again. Your only air flows through your mouth in painfully hitched gasps between sobs of agony.

Suddenly, something cold and metal begins wiping away your tears.

You wince in surprise, but as you open your eyes you see nothing. You look side to side, panning the entire room, but there really is nothing. The door didn't open, you would have heard that. If Revenant was here, you would have seen him, right? You make sure to turn fully around and look behind you, maybe he's in your blind spot. No, nothing. What even was that? You turn back around.

You take a deep breath and sigh in disappointment, a few more tears escaping your eyes.

Hands cup around your cheeks, drying them again. You look up. He's on the ceiling, attached by his feet, but holding his hands downward to touch you. He's back in his normal, red body. He carefully releases himself from the ceiling one leg at a time, being careful to step behind you. He curls around you in a hug so your back is against him. He carefully pulls you backwards so the chassis in your lap rolls off of you, and he envelops you in his cool embrace. He uses a foot to push the corpse further away from you. He grabs your jaw to force you to face him as he leans his head forward to look at you.

"Why are you crying?" His voice is plain and without emotion, but his face--his eyes--have life. You begin to cry again in some kind of disbelief, forcing your body to turn towards him and hug him back. You grip the red straps on his chest and press your face against his metal torso, letting the tears roll down him. You won't let go. This one is alive.

He brushes your hair with his claws, lightly scratching your scalp as he does. His other hand rubs into your back, careful to press into your spine and knead it. His legs bunch up and cross around you.

"I was secretly hoping you would snoop around in my deathbox, looking for something you shouldn't." He sighs into your ear. "Instead you cry over me. What a disappointment when I was hoping to catch you being naughty. Do you really feel that attached to me already?" He squeezes you a little, but you can't stop crying to answer him. "You must, otherwise you wouldn't cry for me like this, despite knowing I will always come back."

He continues to try to soothe you as best as he can. He's warmed up and is now reflecting heat back at you. He nuzzles his mask into your shoulder. He takes breaks from brushing your hair to try to wipe away any tears that'd don't make it onto his chest.

"Idiot." He lets out a small chuckle. "You're making me soft." You can't respond, but your tears are finally beginning to run dry. "You know, they say the best way to know if you're loved is to attend your own funeral. Obviously, that's impossible for most. Thank you for attending mine, and showing me this." He unwraps his legs, scoops his arms under you, and stands as he lifts you up with him. You refuse to let go of his straps, although your arms have to extend to hold on as you lie back in his hold.

He brings you over to the bed and lays you down carefully. He touches his mask to your forehead, and begins to pull away. He catches on your grip on his straps. You're still trembling a bit and probably still have that ugly crying face you're self-conscious of, but you can't help it. He carefully starts to pry your fingers off of the straps, but you grip even harder. You're not letting go. You won't let go. What if he leaves?

He sighs, recognizing your distress. He lets go of your fingers and scoops you back up again, this time so you're sitting against his shoulder. He's so excessively strong, he barely even seems to be bothered by the weight of you. He walks you over to the computer desk and sits down with you, leaving you in his lap. His hands wrap around you and begin typing on a keyboard. You carefully touch his face, not paying attention to what he's doing.

He pauses, looks to you, and takes your hand for a moment. He pulls it to the ridge of his mask that has a lip-like tint and angle, pressing the back of your hand into it for a moment before releasing your hand and returning his attention to the computer.

For the first time since you opened that deathbox, you trust what you're seeing. He's back, he's alive, and he's okay. You let your body limply lean into his shoulder, release his straps, and let him handle your weight with his body. You close your eyes and remember how to breathe normally. There's no reason to have a panic attack anymore.

"Take a nap. You're more exhausted than I am somehow. I'll wake you up soon." You feel his hand forcefully guide your head over his shoulder where it can rest comfortably. "Don't argue with me, now. Just do as I say."

You really are exhausted from all the excitement and emotion. You snuggle up against him as he shifts his body to fit your comfort. He makes a slow, heavy breathing sound in rhythm with his typing, and occasionally lightly runs his fingers over your bare skin. You're gone soon after.

[journalxxx]

By Hook or by Crook (2)

May 1st, 2270

“Hello, Izuku.” “Hi, dad.” Izuku hadn’t exactly been dreading this conversation, but he hadn’t been looking forward to it either. He’d hoped his mom would do all the talking, having to break the news to his friends had been hard enough. For him. Most of them seemed to have gotten quite the kick out of it. “How are you? Your mother told me you’ve been having a rough couple of weeks.” “Mh.” “Still upset over that visit?” “Mh.” “Speak, son. Sulking doesn’t translate well over the phone.” His father chided gently.

Izuku sighed. “The doctor said I’m never going to get a quirk. I’m sorry.” “Whatever for? It’s not like you have any choice in the matter. Quirks are innate, surely you know that.” “Yes, I do.” Izuku said, staring at the paused frame of All Might’s debut video on the computer screen. The reflection of his own miserable face was superimposed with the triumphant silhouette of the hero. “But I’m sorry anyway. You have such a cool quirk… and mom’s useful too. I could become a great hero with one of them, but I’m never going to get any.” “Again, that’s none of your fault. And I wouldn’t be so sure of that anyway.” “Uh?” Izuku gulped, gripping the phone tightly. “Y-you don’t think I’d make a good hero?” “No, that’s not what I mean.” His father chuckled. “I mean that I wouldn’t lose hope just yet. You’re very young, there’s still plenty of time for your quirk to manifest.” “But the doctor said that all quirks appear before one is four years old. And I’m four. And I have the extra toe joint-” “Tsk! Some doctor they assigned you. As if one could unerringly guess the nature and development of something as unpredictable as a quirk with a single test. An x-ray, of all things. Ancient technology.” “The doctor said there was a study...” “I have an extra toe joint too, you know.” Izuku’s father laughed hearing his son’s surprised gasp. “Studies like the one your doctor mentioned draw conclusions based on the analysis of hundreds, thousands of cases. Those conclusions may hold true for the majority of them, but there are always outliers. Having that oh-so-precious joint and a quirk is indeed rare, but not unheard of.” “B-But…” Izuku’s eyes burned with the feeling of impending tears. He hadn’t expected his father’s reaction to be like this. No one had even remotely doubted the validity of the doctor’s opinion. No one. It almost hurt to hope. “I’m also too old…” “My own quirk didn’t show until I was… fifteen? Maybe sixteen. Way older than you are, anyway. Another important point to consider, don’t you think?” Izuku sniffled. Then cried, quietly. His father remained silent as the boy let the tears flow freely, wiping them on his arm now and then. There was a tangled ball of emotions deep in his chest, that he couldn’t quite unravel. After a couple of minutes though, the sobs abated and he felt better. Better than he had been feeling before his mom handed him the phone. “...Do you really think the doctor was wrong?” “You shouldn’t believe everything doctors tell you. My personal physician keeps calling me ‘the peak of biological and anthropological evolution’, but that’s because he’s been fishing for a raise for years. Clearly you’d expect a Darwinian champion to be able to walk under the sun without protection for more than five minutes without turning into a peeling tomato.” “Uh? Does that really happen to you?” “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that I’m albino? My skin is very sensitive to sunlight, and it burns easily. I have atrocious eyesight too.” “I didn’t know that.” Izuku winced in sympathy. “I’m sorry. That sounds terrible.” “Not nearly as much as you think. I have plenty of skills and tools at my disposal to compensate. It isn’t an inconvenience at all these days, although it did cause me some grief when I was a child.” His father’s tone got softer. “Sometimes it does feel like our bodies are our own worst enemies, doesn’t it?” Izuku hummed in assent, very much agreeing with the sentiment. “I’m happy it doesn’t hurt you any more.” “And I’m glad you didn’t inherit this nuisance from me.” A sudden thought made its unwelcome way in Izuku’s head. “If… If I didn’t inherit your skin and eyes… maybe I won’t inherit your quirk either…” “Izuku.” His father’s tone was kind but firm. There were times when his presence, even just through his voice, felt way more real and solid than that of many people Izuku habitually shared a room with. “Your ability will emerge one day, I’m positive of that. Just give it time and don’t agonize over it.” Izuku nodded, even though he realized that wouldn’t translate well over the phone either. “...Okay.” “Now, what else have you been up to in this past month, other than brooding over a criminally incompetent diagnosis?” Not much, honestly, but Izuku told him anyway. As he kept chatting, his heart grew lighter than it had been in weeks. Mom did always say that his father was a good listener.

July 1st, 2272 “They were talking about it on TV yesterday. It’s an old incident from some years ago, before All Might met Nighteye!” “I see...” “Not many people know about it, because there’s no villain involved, and villains make all the stories more interesting! But it’s a great story nonetheless!” Izuku rattled on enthusiastically, taking advantage of his father’s unresponsive compliance. “Uh-huh...” “So this boy was having some big troubles, I think, and he jumped into a river because he didn’t know what to do about them. But luckily All Might was around! Do you know what he did?” “He offered to cover all the expenses for the years of therapy the boy would need afterwards?” “Uh… They didn’t say that on TV. I don’t know. I think he just rescued him from the river.” “That doesn’t seem to address the underlying problem.” His father commented icily. “Daaad, you’re ruining the story.” Izuku chided him. “Anyway, the funny part is that this boy had a quirk that could turn water into vinegar, and he activated it in a panic while he was drowning.” “Mh. A peculiar quirk...” “So All Might got all drenched in vinegar when he dove in to save him. He made this very silly face in front of the cameras, it was great! And when the boy apologized for causing trouble, guess what All Might told him?” “I’m sorry I’m the living embodiment of this unfair, hypocritical society that has driven you to the brink of despair?” “No. He said,” Izuku continued, breezing past his father’s petty remarks with practiced ease, “It is I who should thank you. My skin’s looking ten years younger now.” “Oh my God…” The man groaned, and a loud thunk-crash noise accompanied his words. “Oh, come on!” Izuku giggled, covering his mouth with his free hand. “It’s so funny!” “Just because they’re called ‘dad jokes’ doesn’t mean I’m legally obligated to laugh at them.” “But it is funny! All Might’s the funniest! Did you know that he just wrote a joke book? It’s called All Might’s Gags and Jokes: A Compendium. It already has amazing reviews! They say it’s warm and relatable and cy.. cyclical…” “He wrote a joke book. A veritable Renaissance man, this one...” His father muttered. Izuku heard something clink in the background. Probably the pieces of whatever his father dropped. “Mom says she’ll buy it for my birthday!” Izuku added, swinging his whole body on his chair in sheer excitement. “That is such a poor use of your remittance. I’ll need to have a couple of words with her…” “It’s for my education!” Izuku enunciated with solemnity, straightening his posture. “There’s a whole chapter of American puns and word plays! It will help me learn English!” “If you want to learn English on your own so soon, please choose a decent source. Start with basic grammar and alphabet books, watch some subtitled shows and movies to get the hang of the correct pronunciation-” “I’m learning a lot from All Might already! The catchphrase he used when he was in college in California was I am here! When he’s surprised, he says Oh my goodness! When he doesn’t believe something, he says Nonsense!” Izuku parroted, taking great care of imitating All Might’s confident, surprised and disbelieving expressions respectively. They would be lost on his father, but he needed to practice them anyway. “If that’s a good American accent, I’m the next Symbol of Peace.” “Dad.” Izuku said, suddenly very serious. He had a very important question to ask, and it had been a long time coming. “Why do you always make fun of him? It’s like… It’s almost like you don’t like him at all.” The words sounded so wrong he almost wasn’t brave enough to say them. Izuku would have been mortified if anyone had moved such an accusation on him. “I suppose he has a sort of… charisma about him.” His father admitted ruefully. “I can’t say it strikes any chords with me though.” “Are you just jealous of him?” Izuku asked shrewdly. “Kacchan also talks a lot of trash about All Might, but it’s obvious he’s just jealous. It’s all right if you are, though, I mean, he’s so-” “I’m this close to hanging up, Izuku.” “But- but how can you not like All Might?! Everyone likes All Might! Boys and girls, children and grown-ups! From age 0 to 100!” “...I guess I just don’t fit the target demographic then.” Izuku huffed. “You’re so boring, dad.” “Says the one who’s been talking my ear off about the same topic for the last forty minutes.” The boy frowned, nibbling at his lip. “...Sorry. Am I annoying you?” “I’ll admit I may have hit my monthly tolerance limit of All Might trivia. Don’t worry about it though.” Izuku did in fact stop worrying, his father’s amusement clearly detectable in his voice. “I think I’ll be able to bear with your unabashed enthusiasm until you hit your mandatory disillusioned teenage phase. Then we’ll see if that obnoxiously cheery act of his will still resonate with you.”

June 2nd, 2274 “His normal body temperature is about two degrees higher than the average. Around 38-39 °C.” “And what can you deduce from that?” Izuku’s father goaded. The boy stared at the scribbles in his notebook in deep thought. “Uhm… that it’s difficult to tell if he has a fever or not?” His father laughed, but not unkindly. “I wouldn’t think so. You just said yourself that that is his normal temperature. Therefore, I wouldn’t call Endeavor’s doctor unless his thermometer read more than 39.5 °C, probably.” “Right.” Izuku nodded. That was obvious, wasn’t it? Why hadn’t he understood that on his own? His father didn’t seem to mind his blunder though. “Try again.” “I think…” Izuku’s eyes were just about to bore a hole into his rough sketch of the hero’s costume. He gave up after the silence started to make him uncomfortable though. “...I don’t know. What can I deduce from that?” “Hm… You did bring up an interesting point. Do you know how fever works, Izuku?” “Yeah. Your body temperature rises when you’re sick. If it rises too much, you can get in serious trouble, you could even die. It never really gets that bad though.” “But why does it rise? What does your body accomplish by doing that?” “Uh…” Izuku frowned. He was sure he’d read or heard something about that, but the details escaped him at the moment. “To help you fight off the sickness, right? You feel worse at first, but it actually helps you get better.” “Exactly. Most bacteria and viruses that infect men thrive and multiply optimally at around 37 °C, which is the average person’s normal body temperature. But the growth of these microorganisms is hindered when the environment gets too hot. That is the principle that makes fever useful for humans. As your body gets hotter, it debilitates the invasors, so that your immune system can remove them more easily.” “..Oh.” It was a pity that his father called him only once a month, Izuku could have easily listened to him for hours every day. He always had so many interesting things to say about so many different subjects, and he always exposed them so neatly. “So. Can you deduce anything new now?” “Uh, uhm… He… I guess he...” Izuku snapped out of his reverie. Right, this was a conversation, not a lesson. He went over the new information in his head as quickly as he could. Higher temperature than normal... Fever... Microorganisms... Immune syst- Oh! “He heals quicker than- no, wait! He doesn’t get sick at all! Because he’s always too hot for the microorganisms! They can’t grow in his body!” “Excellent reasoning!” His father’s warm praise made Izuku’s chest swell with pride. “Obviously he isn’t completely immune to any and all infections, there are lots of exceptions to the mechanism I just explained to you. But yes, I do believe it’s safe to assume that our esteemed Flame Hero suffers from the occasional seasonal maladies far less often than the general population, if at all.” “That’s so cool…” Izuku immediately added the new data to his notes, almost breaking the tip of the pencil in his enthusiasm. “Is that what you wanted me to deduce? Or did you explain that just because I brought up the fever thing?” “I was actually thinking of something else. But, on second thought, it may be too technical a topic for an eight-year-old.” “...Can you tell me about it anyway?” “Of course.” Izuku would never not be grateful for the patience his father had, never denying him any clarification on anything. He was just about the only adult who never got tired of his questions. Even his mom sometimes hid her fatigue behind a mildly insincere I don’t know. “High heat isn’t exactly conductive to the activity of human cells either. That’s one of the reasons why you feel exhausted and achy when you have a fever, your body struggles to keep doing what it’s supposed to do above its normal temperature range. But Endeavor not only is at peak condition at 39 °C, he can also withstand open flames with a much higher temperature. This suggests that his cells must be fundamentally different from the average person’s on a biochemical level, that his quirk must provide some particularly efficient cellular mechanism to prevent heat damage. One example might be some dedicated enzymes to protect proteins from denaturation, but now I’m entering mere speculation.” A pause. “Did you follow me?” “...Kind of.” Izuku said, kind of lying but not entirely. He had followed most of that. He scrawled and circled a couple of terms he hadn’t grasped - Biochemical - Enzymes - Denaturation - on the page. He didn’t want to waste his father’s time by asking him to explain the meaning of words he could easily look up later on his own. “The gist of it is that Endeavor’s Hellflame has at least two facets. Not only ‘creating fire’, but also ‘not incinerating himself’. The first trait would be a fatal liability without the second.” “Got it!” Izuku cheered. Now that he had understood completely. “You sure know a lot about quirks, dad! Like, a lot! About anything, really!” “For the sake of intellectual honesty, it must be said that it isn’t difficult to impress a primary schooler.” His father laughed. “I’m just older than you.” “How much older?” Izuku asked, realizing for the first time that no one had ever told him his father’s age. “Oh, by a lot. Centuries.” Izuku cackled. “You can’t be that old. You still go to work. Our neighbors are 80 and they’re already retired.” “I do try to keep a youthful outlook on life. But yes, quirks fascinate me quite a bit. And they make for the perfect topic to distract you from your incessant yapping about All Might.” “Speaking of All Might-” “No, I-” His father sighed theatrically. “I just walked into this one, didn’t I?” “Yep.” Izuku grinned. “What about his quirk? Do you know anything about it? He never gives straight answers when people ask him about it…” “That may be the single sign of intelligence he’s ever displayed. The more your enemies know about your quirk, the easier it is for them to find your weaknesses. I’m surprised the other pro heroes aren’t as reserved.” “I wonder why All Might does that, though. His quirk is… pretty obvious.” Izuku pondered. “It just makes him strong. Very strong. Like, the strongest ever. But that’s it.” “Allegedly, yes. But as you noticed yourself, if raw power was all there was to it, there would be no reason to skirt around the issue in interviews, no?” “So there must be something else… What do you think it might be?” “I think it would be no less than cruel to deprive you of the thrill of carrying out your own research.” Izuku let out a dissatisfied moan, and his father chuckled. “You are already so very proficient at it. Your mother told me you’ve already filled a whole notebook with hero and quirk analyses.” “Oh, ehr… It’s just stuff I read here and there…” “Mh, I’ve heard enough of your ‘stuff’ to know that there’s more than random factoids in that head of yours. In fact…” Izuku felt his cheeks warm for the compliment. “I think you’ve gotten old and judicious enough to be trusted with my emergency number.” “Uh? What emergency number?” “It’s a phone number I’ll always answer to, on any day and at any hour, in case you may find yourself in a bad situation. Hopefully you’ll never need it, but better safe than sorry. Now…” His father’s voice raised slightly, drowning out Izuku’s impending interruption. “Can I rely on the fact that you are aware that desperately wanting to tell me that All Might saved a kitten from a meteor does not qualify as an emergency?” Izuku pouted. “I know what an emergency is, dad.” “Good. Ask your mother to give you the number then. Don’t save it on your phone or write it anywhere. Memorize it, and be responsible with it.”

December 3rd, 2275 Sorry for the long silence. I had an accident on the job and I won’t be able to speak clearly for a while. We can talk with the included devices. Use your ring finger to activate them. Usual days, usual hours. Hisashi That short note held the first words Izuku had received from his father in the last five months. The first month he hadn’t phoned, Izuku had felt slightly disappointed, but understanding. His father was a busy man, surely something very important must have been requiring his full-time attention. It was fine, Izuku was confident he could manage to sweet-talk him into a double-length call the following month to make up for that. The second month, he had started to worry. His mother hadn’t heard from his father either. It was unprecedented not to hear from him for such a long time. Since Izuku could remember, his father had never skipped one of their monthly calls. They often talked on the first day of every month, and he kept trying to contact them exactly once each following day if his calls were missed. He never failed to reach them past the third day. He always called from a hidden number, so trying to get hold of him was not an option. The third month, Izuku’s mother had decided to use the emergency number. She hadn’t been able to get through to her husband, but the polite colleague of his who had picked up had reassured her that he was indisposed but overall fine, and would get in touch with them as soon as possible… which could still take a while. Curiously, the coworker had also instructed them to collect a sample of their fingerprints and send them to a specific address. Izuku had been mystified by the request, but his mother had readily agreed, commenting that it was “not the strangest thing Hisashi’s ever asked for”. The silent wait that followed had been a little uneasy, but not harrowing. Izuku and his mother reread the message a couple of times before opening the box they’d just been delivered. Inside were only the two mentioned devices with their respective chargers, snuggled among waterproof packaging and stuffing. They looked very much like ordinary mobile phones, except they had no buttons or ports on any side. Some quick experimentation proved that they could be turned on simply by pressing the indicated finger on the touchscreen. The display showed a very minimalistic chat interface, with a fixed red dot on the top left corner. No amount of tapping on the screen could bring up the virtual keyboard though, which was puzzling. There was no way to access the rest of the phone’s functions, if it even had any. It was the third day of the month, so technically still within the familiar communication window. Izuku kept poking and prodding at the buttonless phone for the whole afternoon until eventually, shortly after dinner, the red dot at the top of the chat became green. A minute later, a message popped up. Hello, Izuku. Izuku almost dropped his cup of hot chocolate in excitement, which was quickly replaced by frustration because he still couldn’t type anything in any way. How was he supposed to- Speak. I can hear you. “...Oh! Nice!” Izuku exclaimed. “Hi, dad! How are you? What happened?” I’ve been better. I got decked by a hysterical ape. Izuku frowned. “That’s not funny. Mom and I were very worried.” That wasn’t really a joke. What? What even- “...How? Did you break into a zoo or something…?” Sorry, you’re right. Let me rephrase. I had a violent disagreement with a brute. “Oh…” Izuku was about to ask for further explanations but he waited. The three bouncing dots at the bottom of the screen signalled that his father was still writing. We will have to communicate like this for a while. I hope it isn’t too much of an inconvenience for you. Judging by how long it took him to type even the shortest messages, Izuku thought it was going to be much more of an inconvenience for his father. He felt sorry for him. “No, not all. Is it… is it really bad? Shouldn’t you come home so we can help you get better? It sounds like you won’t be able to work anyway…” I’ll receive better medical treatment here, and I can still get some work done while I recuperate. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll recover fully sooner or later. Izuku picked at the lint of his blanket, choosing his words carefully. “You could… come home anyway. Even if you could work. When you’re feeling a little better. So we could spend some time together.” The three bouncing dots reappeared, but Izuku kept talking. He already knew what his father’s answer was going to be, but he wanted to take advantage of the delay to get a few more words in. “Some of my friends have parents that work far from home too. They’re away a lot, but… they do come back to visit sometimes. Usually for the holidays. At least… At least once.” At least his friends had actually met their fathers once in their whole lives, Izuku completed only in his head. You know how things stand. My job doesn’t afford me this kind of free time. “...What do you even do that won’t let you ever do anything?” Izuku muttered, out of sheer petulance. That was another familiar point of contention, to which his father replied with the same, word-for-word justification he always used. Every detail concerning my activities is classified by the government. We’ve been over this. Don’t be childish. And that was usually the end of it. Any further questioning after the ‘classified’ thing invariably turned Izuku’s father into a slippery wall of smooth deflections. But, considering the current situation, Izuku felt like he could get away with a little more nagging, if he played his cards right. “I know you can’t say anything. But how about…” He physically leaned forwards, trying not to let his tension seep through his voice. “How about I try to deduce something? About your job. Just… for fun.” No new message showed up, not even the typing dots. Izuku decided that it was as much of an approval as he was going to get, so he started to voice his thoughts as they formed. “...Your job is classified by the government. So it’s important, very important, so important that other people can’t know about it.” When he was very young, Izuku had obviously interpreted it as irrefutable proof that his father must be some sort of secret agent. He had exposed his conclusion to Kacchan and his gang once. They had… not-so-respectfully disagreed. Izuku had never brought up the matter with them afterwards. “Your note said that you got hurt on the job. So someone you know from work punched you so hard that, even after five months, you still can’t talk well.” Izuku paused. That was… a scary idea. It dawned on him, for the first time since the beginning of this whole ordeal, that his father may have really dodged a bullet there. What kind of a brute could possibly want to injure someone that much…? Surely a criminal… A villain, maybe…? “Your job is dangerous, and it leaves you almost no free time. It also pays well.” That last item was admittedly a shot in the dark, Izuku didn’t really know much about money handling. But he had noticed that his mother never denied him a gift or a treat on the grounds of its cost (his vast collection of All Might memorabilia was a testament to that), like so many of his friends’ relatives were wont to do. She didn’t need a job herself, and Izuku remembered overhearing a conversation she had with Kacchan’s mom where she had said that they were ‘well provided for’. “You know a lot about a lot of stuff, especially about quirks and heroes. You know a lot of things about quirks and heroes that I couldn’t find anywhere on the internet.” Izuku paused, racking his brain for anything else that stuck out. Before he could come up with more points to make, his father finally wrote back. You sure put some thought into this. I’m impressed. The lack of reprimands was an encouragement in its own right. Now came the hard part. These were all facts that he already knew, now he had to put them together… and no matter how much he tried to come up with different possibilities, there was only one explanation that rang true in Izuku’s mind. “Dad… are you some sort of… undercover hero?” Izuku waited with baited breath for the dancing dots to turn into a complete message. Definitely not. ...Aw, shoot. Although I guess I do happen to deal with heroes quite often in my line of work. Izuku gasped. That was the first real piece of information his father had ever shared with him about his job! And wow, he worked with heroes! And whatever support he lent them had to be pretty vital if he was always so busy and tight-lipped. “So you’re like… a policeman? An informant that tracks down villains for the heroes to catch? Or an engineer bound by trade secret? Or-” Enough, Izuku. I’m supposed to be resting. I don’t think being given the third degree by my own son counts as such. Izuku deflated. So close to the truth, and yet so far… Maybe he could manage to get some other clue out of his father later. But… there was one more thing he simply had to ask. “...Have you ever met All Might?” I’m just going to ignore you after this. Well, it had been worth a try. Izuku finally relented, reasonably satisfied with the result of his investigation. “Okay, okay. Sorry. No more questions. And no All Might stuff. Not that I have much to tell you about him. He hasn’t really been around lately.” Hasn’t he, now? Uh, odd. It wasn’t like his father to miss an opportunity to dodge All Might gossip. Izuku supposed there’d be no harm in taking advantage of this atypical spark of curiosity. “Yeah. It’s been like this for a few months. Rumors say he’s abroad, working on some large scale mission. Something very secret, that’s why there are no articles on him in newspapers from other countries either.” I wasn’t aware of this. That’s very interesting. Although I couldn’t imagine anyone less suited to hushed-up operations. Izuku couldn’t help but snort. In light of the recent revelation, he wondered if his father was so unapologetically critical of All Might because he had worked with him and they hadn’t gotten along… which seemed kind of impossible. How could All Might be the unpleasant type of coworker? Or maybe his father really was just jealous because he couldn’t work with All Might often enough. A sudden thought occurred to the boy. “...Sorry, I guess you don’t want to hear about hero stuff now that you’re, uh… on forced vacation.” Actually, I’d love to. I’ve been a little out of the loop lately, I need to catch up with the news anyway. Fire away all the information you have. Izuku smiled. “Even about All Might?” Especially about All Might.

[cjstalkingstarwarsagain]

hi! i’ve recently decided to rewatch all the star wars movies and take notes on them and then,,, share them with you. so if you’re even mildly interested in my star wars opinions, here you go :)

i’ll divide it into a couple categories so,,,

well start with rogue one!!

shit that made me giggle

"oh look, here’s lyra back from the dead. it’s a miracle."

everything K2 says and does. i love him and he’s perfect.

i love the continuous attempts by K2 to appear imperial and how he fails every time. not a single storm trooper or officer ever believes him when he starts running his mouth.

so sorry but bohdi getting his cable caught and trying to shake it loose is such an adorably human moment. makes me giggle every time.

i honestly thought this section would be longer, this movie made me laugh a bunch. 

stuff i don’t like or doesn’t make sense

why does jyn start believing in the rebellion? there’s no indication that she cared before they found her. there’s no real turning point that we can see. she just,,, suddenly is really into this shit. which is strange because the only reason she ever joined was because she was given a non-choice (either help or get put back in prison). i guess i can kinda see how her father dying could have changed her, but we see none of that on the ship after his death. we just get to the rebel council and all of a sudden she’s the poster girl for rebellion.

saw seems really stable at the beginning of the film, so why did he go seemingly crazy and paranoid? it’s probably explained in the novelization but that’s no excuse to just have a character go crazy with really no explanation or backstory.

that being said, a lot of the character development is pretty lacking. i don’t think i’d care about these characters nearly as much if i wasn’t already a star wars fan.

video game cut scene style general tarkin

bor gullet is supposed to make you lose your mind but bohdi was pretty much fine after like,,, a day

how does the death star,,,, move?? like i know it can but has that ever been explained? is it like little thrusters? like the ones you can see in real life to stabilize things in space? there’s nothing i can visually see. i’m not mad about it i just wanna know.

why does saw insist on staying behind? why doesn’t he come and help?? it would have been so easy to just leave but he insists on staying behind and just watching as death inches closer. i think it doesn’t make sense because we know *so little* about his character. give me more on him, make me understand.

since james earl jones is getting older, vader sounds older. was there??? nothing the audio or editing department could have done about that??? not super mad about this one just because darth vader is really cool and i’ll never really complain too much about darth vader screen time.

when the fuck did jyn become a motivational speaker??

my one gripe about pretty much every star wars movie is the sheer number of times people climb through huge shafts and jump around and shit and they’re always *fine*. no way they wouldn’t fall to their deaths in any normal situations.

can someone?? check the science of the hammerhead corvette?? because there’s no gravity or weight in space right?? theoretically all you gotta do is give that star destroyer a bump and it’s spinning out, right?? i know absolutely nothing about space physics but i gotta be right. maybe i’m wrong. i dunno. i’m dumb as rocks. hear that baby girl?? it’s the spare change rattling around in my skull. i got pennies where my brain is.

absolutely no fucking shot cassian survived a blaster hit AND that fall AND climbed out. my belief simply cannot be suspended that much.

DUDE I FORGOT THAT THE DEATH STAR CAN TRAVEL THROUGH HYPERSPACE HOW DOES WORK SOMEONE TELL ME!!!!!

why doesn’t vader just,,, force grab the plans. i know he sees them. why not just force stop the guy running away with them??

final note now that the movie is over. yes, it’s got a lot of issues. the plot is ehhh at times. the trailers don’t match up with the movie shots AT ALL (i wanna know what happened behind the scenes with that). the character development is lacking in many major ways (that has not stopped me from loving these characters though, but that’s the autism talking). but like i’ll say in the "stuff i liked" section, this is such a damn cool movie. i was once talking about it with an older friend of mine and he said seeing rogue one in theaters felt like watching the original trilogy in theaters back in the 70s and 80s and honestly that’s such a compliment. i love this movie, i really do.

just cool shit,,, you know the vibe

DEATH TROOPERS

krennic is probably one of my favorite imperial officers. for some reason he just really sells it for me, the evil and manipulation that borderlines in try hard. and (i mention it more later because you see it more in the "choke on your aspirations" scene) beyond that just the fact that he’s?? a guy. just a dude. at any given moment he could be described as just hanging out. but he’s trying so hard (for whatever reason, we don’t know his evil motivations) to be this big bad evil dude. and it’s just interesting to see someone *trying* to be imperial and *trying* to be evil, as opposed to a tarkin-type character who’s just naturally an asshole.

i love the rogue one main theme. don’t even talk to me. it’s so cool.

it’s cool to see more about the birth of the death star, seeing other people learn about it. sort of realizing the fear and terror that everyone must have been experiencing. especially after being a star wars fan for so long and being like, yeah it’s the death star it’s just a staple of this universe. it reminds me that "oh god this was a planet killer and this was the first time something like that had ever even been heard of".

there’s gorgeous visuals in this movie.

i like the "i’m wanted in 12 systems" guy cameo (did you know his name is cornelius? i googled it)

when the storm trooper asks for papers?? like fuck yeah show me what life is like under imperial rule. give me that shit.

chirrut is so badass i’ll never get over it

"i’m one with the force and the force is with me" i’m eating that shit UP! salivating over the meal in front of me. i really want more exploration of the guardians and jedi worship in general. like gimme that weird funky space religion.

seeing an at-st just walk around a town. i dunno i like that shit.

K2 saying sorry for hitting cassian. i’m so soft on this robot.

"clear of hostiles,,,, ONE HOSTILE"

jyn stepping in front of K2 to protect him after she (not ten minutes ago) made the comment “i’m just afraid they’ll miss you and hit me”. jyn,,, your soft side is showing,,,,

i like the cool machine blaster that baze has. it’s awesome seeing different blaster styles when originally the only variation we really saw was chewie’s cross bow style blaster.

i really wanna see more of baze and cirruit. i wanna know what happened that made baze stop believing. i wanna know how they met. i wanna see them evolve and grow together.

i like that jyn argues that 16 is too young to be a solider (she’s 21 in the movie). i like that she’s mad that she’s young and has been put in a position to protect herself and then later save the galaxy. (for context: luke and leia were 19 in a new hope. anakin is 19 in attack of the clones, ~22 when he became darth vader, and rey is 19 in force awakens. stop putting the fate of the galaxy in the hands of people who are *barely* adults)

the testing of the death star is awesome. love seeing wicked cool space weapons. when it blocks out the sun? ominous as hell fuck yeah.

it’s interesting that baze says cassian doesn’t look like a killer, that "he has the face of a friend", when one of the first things we saw him do was kill a man. i think about that a lot. does that say more about baze’s ability to read people or does it say more about who cassian is deep down, beyond what he’s done to serve the rebellion?

cassian’s relationship with death and killing is very interesting. you could argue that cassian is just as brainwashed and deep in the rebellion as anyone imperial. i really hope it’s something that gets explored in his stand alone show. he mentions he’s lost everything and has been a rebel since he was 6. gimme cassian andor backstory.

"careful not to choke on your aspirations director" is probably some of the most dramatic-anakin-skywalker shit i’ve ever seen vader do

i like seeing rebel infighting. so often it seems there’s always general consensus about what the rebellion wants, but it’s good to see that they don’t always agree on how to rebel.

i love the consistent "found family" rebel alliance shit in these movies. it makes my dick so hard.

ARTOO AND THREEPIO CAMEO FUCK ME UP THOSE ARE MY BOYS

okay i totally get that the empire is evil, i really do, but rogue one (and lots of moments in the sequels) really reminds me how fucking cool some of their shit is. like death troopers? imperial droids like K2? the base on scarif? vader’s castle on mustafar and his bacta tank?? fuck me UP.

i loved hearing the troopers doing their dumb small talk about the T-15s on the beach.

i think ben mendelssohn is perfect for the role of krennic, no notes there. he’s just like?? a guy and he’s doing everything he can to fit into this evil role and he just wants to be like this big bad imperial boy on campus. i don’t know. i don’t have the words right now to express how fuckin awesome he is. i’ll write an essay about it later.

THE AT-AT COMING OUT OF THE MIST?? CHRIST ON A BIKE. LAY ME TO REST. LOVE IT.

fucking love me some female fighter pilots. the women of star wars are so badass. doing justice to my return of the jedi ladies.

i think a whole lot about jyn giving K2 a blaster. the way he takes it and looks at it and holds it so gently. i think that’s the first time a human has trusted him with a blaster since his reprogramming. he seems so appreciative of that trust.

i love seeing the faces of baze and the other rebels when a few of the x-wings show up and take down an at-at. i’m so very soft for the relationship between these rebels. not to be cliche, but the *hope* that they have. it’s so moving. this movie is just so full of that quintessential rebel feeling.

hey so i’m super emotional about the death of K2 okay? because in the novelizations you learn that in the last second k2 had before a full shut down, he ran a simulation where cassian lived and even though he knew it was impossible, it made him happy. FURTHERMORE K2 is very well known and his name is often listed along side jyn’s in terms of talking about the history of the rebellion.

chirrut and baze’s deaths are so important to me. we know they’re best friends, and even though we don’t know how long they’ve been together, they love each other so deeply. chirrut being the path for baze to return to the force? touching. i so wish these dumb force husbands could have had more screen time. baze calling chirrut back?? chirrut telling him to find him in the force?? baze looking to see the man he loves one more time before he dies??reminds me of the silken quote about dying in your best friends arms because it’s all you know. anywho,,, if star wars canon has any mercy then these two lovers are force ghosts together rn. don’t care how you feel or whether you "ship" them or not. love comes in so many forms and they encompass all that love.

terribly sorry but i think about those two star destroyers colliding with the rogue one main theme playing over it every day. it’s,,,,, so,,,, ( ´∀｀)

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again BEN MENDELSSOHN??? UH YEAH

krennic watching his weapon (his beautiful, successful weapon) power up and kill him,,, the poetic justice of it all,,,,

any time anyone says "may the force be with you" i dunno maybe it’s my religious trauma but i’m head over heels for that good shit

the star destroyer coming out of hyper space as the rebels are escaping and some of the ships hit the destroyer?? one of my favorite things in the new star wars movies is directors and writers saying "oh this can totally happen" and they DO IT

jyn mentioning earlier in the film that she isn’t used to people sticking around when shit hits the fan and then dying in the arms of cassian?? because he stayed?? and for the first time she has someone??

in that same vein: cassian also says earlier in the film that he lost everything too. his connection with jyn is also important to him, just as important as it is to jyn. they need each other. i can’t remember who on this hellsite said it, but someone mentioned that they hope the stand alone cassian stuff coming out doesn’t make him this swindling playboy who fucks around a bunch. i think having him as more of like?? a mandolorian type character would be really cool. like he’s a rebel assassin: make him one. make him independent and badass and cool and DONT give him a bunch of romantic or sexual interests because then that downplays the clear love he had developing for jyn. again LOVE COMES IN FORMS BEYOND BASIC SHIPS. and there’s a lot of love in star wars.

i’ve said it a million times but vader is so cool and over and over again this movie reminded me that he’s actually so scary. i saw star wars for the first time when i was 6 and i can’t remember my initial reaction to him, but i’ve definitely (like with the death star) been desensitized to the fact that if i was in star wars, darth vader would scare the shit out of me. he’s *scary* and that’s cool. i liked seeing vader effortlessly go fucking mad on these rebels. then you understand why they were so scared in that first scene of a new hope.

no i absolutely will not get over the vader scene. i won’t. his saber turning on. his force abilities. his effortless lightsaber work. the choral music over the scene with the hectic orchestra. don’t touch me i’m emotional.

i loved seeing leia. it touches me so deeply every time.

fuck i love this movie despite all its faults.

if you’ve made it this far, thank you!! i hope you enjoyed. please remember that this is totally a safe space for all star wars opinions and you can feel free to disagree with me! i’d love to hear what some of you thought :))

[spookyspaghettisundae]

Steele Resolve

Over 300 billion years into the future.

"Get out," Dallas told Darkwing.

He eyed her suspiciously, then she shoved him—captain of this ship—out of his very own cabin. Punching the control button by the door, the panel slid shut in between them in a flash, shutting out both him and the glaring light from the corridor.

She stifled a laugh as the hypersteel barrier muffled his yapping—something about being a living god, among other things, rattling on as he audibly turned and wandered away, babbling all the way to the Avian's cockpit.

Dallas waited till he was far enough away, then listened at the door even longer. Ensuring she heard no signs of the cat, the psychotic robot, that disgusting engineer, or—most importantly—the girl.

The ship's star-drive churned, causing all surfaces to subtly vibrate while it steadily propelled the combat vessel through space. It meshed with the rushing of blood in her ears. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the cabin, generated only by arrays of glowing buttons, some of them steady, others blinking.

Half a minute felt long enough.

She slid into the swiveling chair that was bolted down onto the floor in front of a quantum entanglement communicator terminal.

The assassin tilted her head back and forth and her neck cracked both times.

With the routine of a spy, she slung out her trusty old ballistic revolver, flicked a concealed switch with her thumb, and slapped the archaic weapon against an open palm.

Then—again. And a third time.

A scrambler chip clicked out of the gun's grip.

She slipped it out and quickly inserted it into one of the terminal's slots. Tapped the power buttons and fired up the device.

The soft blue glow of the screen in front of her illuminated the entire dark chamber she sat alone in. A sigh of impatience escaped her as she awaited the loading bars of the chip's overrides to reach completion on-screen and guarantee her the use of a secure channel.

Meanwhile, a window popped up, listing all recent encrypted text messages she had received from her contacts over the course of the past time units. One of the message subjects read, "DIE BITCH", sent by a certain "Dragon." Many others reflected the bridges she had recently burned and flattered her with other colorful threats and creative insults. Fueled by professional pride, and mixed with a newfound sense of liberty, she smiled to herself and dismissed the entire window with a languid swipe.

Clickety-clackety-clickety-clackety—

Her fingers hacked away at the keyboard with an uncanny speed and precision. Hit the key to transmit with excessive force, a sound of polymers and metal snapping together that cut through the quiet, stale air of the captain's cabin.

Her heart began to race as she awaited response. The ensuing seconds dragged on like molasses, even if they were only few.

A screen, cropped out within the screen, flicked open and displayed a sea of static. The silhouette of her handler turned visible, emerging from within the visual noise, but never fully surfacing in full definition. Masked behind a helmet that emitted an ominous cross-shaped red glow, cast in shadows by a hood.

An agent of the Holy Lahasan Empire.

"Steele? You now also owe me some explanations," said her handler on the other end of the connection, that shadowy silhouette speaking to her from far across the galaxy, distorted by the distance and dampened by the mask.

Dallas leaned back into the chair, unknowingly sinking into it like the many times that the captain had done before, sinking into a spell of deeper contemplation.

She clicked her tongue and finally replied, "Things did not go quite as planned. There were some—complications."

"According to my intel, Agent Reeve was disintegrated in a blast caused by archaic explosives."

Dallas' mien darkened, turning into a frown. "All due respect, but Rourke was an asshole, and—"

"With all due respect, your personal opinions need to leave, exiting through the nearest airlock right now. Not only are you living on borrowed time for your treason against the Empress, but you have a jarring track record of valuable agents dropping dead around you."

"That sounds like your problem, not mine."

The handler's voice dropped in volume, slowed down to a grim crawl. "You remember the cortex bomb I had implanted in your spine, right?"

She scowled at the screen, unable to find any eye contact, instead focusing on the red glow of the cross.

"Come on, I'm too valuable to you. You wanted the best tracker in the universe, which is why you pulled me out of cryo-prison."

"And I am constantly re-evaluating that decision."

Dallas held her tongue. Her chin jutted out and she fidgeted in her seat until her fingers encountered the calming cool of the stainless-steel surface of the old lighter, hidden in her pocket.

"Moving on. Report your progress on retrieving subject K70001-34966."

Dallas decided to play it cool.

She had to play her cards right.

"What a mouthful. We are talking about some girl. Don't you wanna abbreviate that name a bit?"

"No."

Hesitating to answer, she patted her jacket down until she retrieved a palm-sized silvered case from another pocket. She pressed a button on it, and it clicked—also analog and mechanical—triggering its finely-engraved lid to swing open.

Removing a thin cigar from the other three inside it, she lit it up, puffed a few times, and then blew a mouthful of smoke towards the QEC's monitor. The agent awaited her response, but she regained some confidence just in the thought that constantly tested his patience to the point of annoying him.

He had to put up with her.

Threats aside, she was, in fact, the best woman for the job.

"I've gotten pretty damn close. I think it's a matter of weeks, or even days now."

"Be more precise," growled the handler.

"Look, I found out how she's getting around, alright? By stowing away on other people's ships. I'm closely on her trail now. We almost had her too! Sadly, for Rourke, he got killed in that explosion by some idiot that had nothing to do with the job. There was a shootout at this place on—"

"Most of that was in the report. Share more pertinent details, or get to the point," he ordered.

"It's just a matter of time till I can bring her in."

Now he remained silent, processing her meager report. It must have been better than nothing.

"You had best not disappoint. You know we—"

"Yes, yes. Borrowed time."

He said nothing.

Dallas' nostrils flared, blowing smoke out of them.

She squinted and smirked, then asked, "I offed Youssell for you like you requested, right? That wasn't exactly on the books, was it?"

This time, the agent failed to respond.

"Right, and now you're having me track down and retrieve some kid that you lost in the first place."

Though the hood, and helmet, and eerie mask with its cross-shaped glow fully concealed his face, she could practically hear him gritting his teeth as he replied, "Because of your meddling, Steele."

"Well, you have to agree that it's a bit—uh, how to put this—a bit outside of my usual expertise to find people and get them back alive. So, you'll have to kindly stick a thumb up your ass while you wait and give me some time to improvise and succeed. I mean, you do want the kid alive, right?"

More silence followed. Dallas blew more smoke at the monitor, wishing she could be blowing it into his face.

"So, my word—you're getting her alive—or you'll find me as a corpse floating through open space. That is a promise. But if you want this to work out, you'll have to trust me." Saying that, her smirk widened as she feigned every ounce of confidence she could put on display.

With an abrupt flash, the screen within the screen winked out of existence, and the static noise from the scrambled transmission went dead. The handler had ended the communication without giving Dallas any further notice.

"Oh, my. Lovely. Fuck you too, Prince Charming."

She basked in the cold blue glow of the terminal's screen and puffed some more from her slender cigar. She tried to focus on thoughts about how to proceed—of where to go from here. But instead of finding clear ideas and reaching decisive plans of action—something she was usually adept at—pesky memories kept welling up instead.

Thoughts also regularly circled back to the cortex bomb implanted in her spine, but the older memories eventually overshadowed them.

   * * *

"I will not ask you again," said the inquisitor.

His hand crept towards a button on the wall outside the cell.

The girl trapped inside, identified on the monitor next to the white energy barrier as "Delinquent K70001-34966", drooled and writhed on the cold metal floor of that cell. She did not respond to the inquisitor's threat.

He pushed the button once more, causing the girl on the floor of the cell to convulse under waves upon waves of searing pain that washed over her, illuminated by bright yellow, crackling energy. Each surge of electrical discharges caused her to spasm until she threw up. Then she collapsed again, one cheek resting in the tiny pool of vomit. Covered in sweat, she lay there, curled up in a pathetic and helpless heap.

This was the umpteenth time that he had used the interrogation interface to torment the young woman trapped within.

The shock trooper standing guard by the inquisitor looked on in disbelief. Her gaze bounced back and forth in between the inquisitor standing outside the cell, coldly and callously operating this abominable torture device; and the helpless young woman who groaned pitifully as she twitched on the floor of her cell, not once having answered his questions, and not once having begged for mercy.

"I missed the memo on the M.O. of how you handle these things. But it's far from palatable," the guard said to the inquisitor.

The masked inquisitor turned to confront the assassin posing as a guard.

"Memo? Palatable? What the devil are you blathering on about?"

VLA-VLAM!

The barrel of the energy rifle in the hands of the false guard glowed.

She had shot the inquisitor twice in quick succession.

One to the chest to send him reeling, the other to the head to take him out.

To her chagrin, his masked helmet with the glowing red cross emblazoned on its front had absorbed some of the shock from the energy weapon, and he stumbled backwards, reeling—but still quite alive.

Damned energy weapons, Dallas Steele thought to herself, encased in the hijacked power armor of the guard. And this was why you can only count on ballistics, she thought next, even though time had slowed to a crawl.

He was too slow on the uptake though, too slow to raise his weapon and retaliate in time. She jacked up her weapon's cadence with a flick of her wrist, unloading a full salvo into his center mass.

VA-VA-VA-VA-VLAM!

The inquisitor collapsed into a lifeless body in the narrow corridor outside the holding cell, the metal of his armor clanked against the hard floor.

She approached him, poked him with the muzzle of her rifle, and confirmed on her helmet's HUD that his vital signs were bottoming out.

Next, she punched the cell barrier controls. The white force field between her and the girl flickered, then it dissipated entirely.

Hunching down over the young woman inside the cell and holding out an armored hand in offering to help her get back up on her feet, she simply commanded, "Get up."

K70001-34966 took her hand, trembling, feeble, and weakened. The false agent helped the young woman limp along through the narrow corridors, using the powered armor's strength enhancements to effortlessly brace the girl's entire weight as she stumbled alongside her.

A voice crackled, coming in over the false guard's armor-integrated headset, "Agent Heinlein, report in. We registered a weapons discharge in the holding area, and Inquisitor Valstrum is not responding. His vital signs are tanking. What the hell is going on back there?"

"Uh, it was some sort of, uhm, equipment malfunction," Not-Agent-Heinlein lied through her helm's intercom. "Investigating it right now."

"We registered seven discharges and you are moving from your post. What kind of—"

"Factory code zero-zero-zero," she quickly talked over the operator, cutting the communication off with a hard reset of her intercom, and shutting him out.

She dragged the girl along as she picked up the pace.

K70001-34966 was pretty out of it. Drooling, bare heels sliding with squeaks over sleek metal floors.

The dozen or more shocks must have rendered her groggy. No matter—she had nothing to do with the mission anyway. Dallas just had to take a moment to silence that pesky consciousness that was knocking on the mental door, begging to be let in from the prison inside the back of her head.

Once they had reached an emergency escape pod, Dallas shoved the girl inside, causing her to tumble forward and fall back down onto the floor, not unlike she had been in the holding cell. Leaving her no time to recover, the false guard shuttered the docking mechanism and ejected the pod. For a brief few seconds, she saw the girl looking back at her helmet-clad face, going wide-eyed with surprise. A jet of steam shot in between them, obscuring that glimpse.

The next moment, the angular pod jettisoned off at breakneck speed as its boosters activated and it shot off into space, hurtling towards a thriving terrestrial planet pockmarked with a brightly lit complex of clustered urban zones. And all around it, the Sea of Stars.

The intercom in the hallway crackled, whined, and then the operator shouted at her over it, "There will be a court martial—"

VA-VA-VA-VLAM!

Four shots had ripped through the corridor and caused the exposed intercom console to explode into a shower of sparks and fizzing.

The false guard ripped her helmet off in annoyance. Her face was covered in a sheen of sweat.

This job was a bust. She would have to cover her tracks. She would have to kill every single person left on this ship.

As two scout troopers rounded the corner, Dalla popped out of cover to greet them with bursts of hyper-charged plasma shots, cleanly removing the head of one of them in the first burst, and ripping the other apart, cleaving his upper body from the rest of him.

One of them had reflexively shot back with a salvo of his own. The powered armor could only absorb so much impact and energy.

Her leg and ribs throbbed, she coughed and grinned and mostly gritted her teeth to ignore the waves of pain, surging from those uncomfortably hot spots, wondering for a moment if it was worse than what the girl had gone through.

Dallas limped away through the claustrophobic corridors. Her breathing had turned raspy. A maniacal laugh emerged from her throat, ending in a hacking cough.

She had never fucked up a job this badly. She was a killer, sure—but she had some rules. Some principles.

No kids.

That was her only condition.

Why did they have to be torturing a kid aboard of this damned transporter? She wanted to kill the guy who had fixed her up with this "milk run".

Her vision blurred. Next, she coughed, blood splattered on the panel by the door. She punched the controls, it slid shut in a flash. She limped away, towards the droning and deafening noises emitted by the engine core.

Tried to make sense of the engineering console and all its blinking lights and inane strings of letters and numbers that said rather little to a woman of her trade.

The outlines of the blast door glowed brightly as someone tried to force the doorway open, using a fusion cutter, from the other side. Trying desperately to get inside to stop their murderous stowaway from sabotaging their star-drive.

Dallas gave up in her failed effort at trying to override the engine's security protocols.

She aimed the plasma rifle at a set of power couplings, closed her eyes and turned her head away. Pulled the trigger.

VA-VA-VA-VA-VA-VA-VA-VA-VA-VLAM!

Sparks and metal pieces flew all over the place, causing her to flinch.

The weapon not only glowed, but steam also rose from its barrel now.

"Critical system failure," a monotonous computer voice announced over the ship's intercom speakers. It continued to repeat the warning, over and over again. The bright white lights went out, replaced by red lights rhythmically rotating and casting everything in an eerie state of emergency.

A revolving alarm sound began to bleat, piercing Dallas' already throbbing skull. The edges of her eyesight blurred, closing in quickly.

They got inside, but the next moments turned into a haze.

A rush of unfiltered instinct—killer instinct. A perfect storm of honed reflexes, augmentations, and pure skill. A ballet of carnage.

Three more bodies hit the floor, clanking, and clattering, and groaning. One of them even yelled for his mother before she snuffed him out with a sudden stomp from her armored boot.

She remembered leaving bloody handprints whenever she pushed herself off the walls of the corridor, methodically making her way back to the escape pods, locking each and every blast door behind her as she progressed, shutting out the sounds of pursuers, of troopers in powered armor chasing her through the transporter's winding hallways.

Just before she lost consciousness, she remembered seeing the ship shrink. Smaller and smaller, as the escape pod she had jettisoned herself with flew farther and farther away from the imperial transporter.

Only moments after the vessel transformed into bright explosions and space debris within the blink of an eye, her eyelids weighed a million tons and she blacked out.

The next thing she remembered, she was on some forsaken planet's surface with a breathable atmosphere, staring down the barrels of high-powered pulse rifles of MilSec soldiers, surrounded by Imperial attachés.

They already had her wrists wreathed in the purple glow of energy shackles, lifting her up and dragging her off, taking her into custody.

"Hello, boys," she said, groaning, then cackling until it was clipped off by her pained coughing.

Unbeknownst to her then, her future handler stood there, amid the attachés. The ominous red cross glowed from the front of his masked helmet as he watched the grunts do the heavy lifting, peeling her out of the damaged suit of armor and confirming that the emergency gel would prevent her from dying.

At this point in time, she did not know him yet, but he recognized her. Had seen her mugshot as a wanted criminal more than once.

Looking back, she knew. In that moment, he already formulated plans for her.

But first, she had to go into cryo. After that, installing the bomb in her spine would follow.

—Submitted by Wratts

[danddymaro]

Erron Black x Reader | Pt.1

For the most part, this will have quite a bit of sexual stuff, (like, A stupid lot in my opinion) because it was my mood during writing the draft and I figured, why not make this a full-blown story rather than a one-shot thing? There is some plot thou, there really is! It's a bunch of bullshit, but who knows, one of you might like it! 

It starts off slow, but give it a try none the less.

Flashbacks are in italics : Example

Thoughts are italics  in quotes : ‘Example’

Fixed

Word Count:  2466

Pt. 1 |   Easy pray

The young woman trailed her eyes up to the maroon sky, noting it to be nearly identical to the one from the day before, and perhaps the one before that day as well.

A scarce amount of clouds hovered over the sky, most if not all being large and gray, altogether seeming like a heavy fog set upon the land. Nevertheless, she lived on without a worry, knowing that despite the menacing manner which the clouds presented themselves with, their current state was no sign of danger.

Perhaps in another realm it would be something to worry about and fret, but she knew that in Outworld, it was nothing to worry about.

- It never really was.

From time to time, it would thunder, and when it did, it was frightening enough that when the harsh clapping sounds echoed, the booms descended down to the surface, violently rattling every one of the pitiful creatures that roamed the land.

On those days, she couldn't hide the dread she felt. 

Even in the present time, she shivered as she recalled what it felt like to be raked by one of those harsh roars.

Much more, it hit her worse remembering she was alone.

In her little hut, there was no other person to accompany her, and all in all, it made the wretched days much more gloomy. It made the shivers in her body last longer than they should as well, the effects amplified by her solitude.

With a gentle, placid smile, she picked up her watering pail, holding it with two hands by its thin, metal handle, all the while striving to maintain the small expression of contentment she showed out to the world.

She aimed to uphold a positive outlook, but even then, inside her mind, she continued to think negatively, the gloomy thoughts mudding the bright approach she attempted to maintain.

' Alone, as always, I'm here all alone,' she thought to herself, wondering what company would feel like.

'Alone in this world; In this vicious world, left forelone,'  She added.

She was starved to touch another person, to truly feel accompanied in the dark world, and she just couldn't help it. 

She knew her heart was weak and sensitive, far too much for A person native of Outworld. So much so, she couldn't help but wonder if her existence in the realm was nothing more than a mistake disregarded by the gods.

"I always wonder if this is truly my home," She said lowly, having doubt in her heart.

"Is this where I was truly destined to be?"

She also wondered about what lay in other lands, considering what life was in any other place besides her homeland.

Were they all so grey and gloomy, or did there exist one with colors all about?

Colors...Ones that were warm;  ones that could match her heart.

Slowly, her left hand trailed up, barely grazing her chest as it hovered over her soft heart.

She felt like a flickering flame trying to exist in a cold plain, helpless to the icy winds which surrounded it.

Her home, though being one she loved, was filled with many people whose hearts were jaded. However, she supposed that years within ongoing, vicious wars would cause people to eventually grow numb. 

So, she couldn't blame anyone for growing cold. While succumbed to the mercy of a tyrant, it was a miracle if anyone held a positive outlook on life.

' I'm not one to complain,' She reminded herself, ' I shouldn't be one to complain,' She reasoned, knowing that there were many who suffered worse fates.

She was lucky to be unbothered by their emperor. Fortunately, she was no one to him,

'So it's not all bad,' she thought with the single solace, thoroughly fearing Shao Kahn's violent, wicked reign.

'I'd never wish to be at that man's mercy,' She added with plea, hoping they'd never cross paths.

With the small, tin bucket in hand, the very one with a crudely painted Daisy drawn onto the rusted metal, the gently smiling woman let out a small puff of amusement, knowing that what hurt her most were her own doubting thoughts. 

'I should just stop doing that...thinking so much...' She mused.

Sometimes her mind wondered too much.

Sometimes she thought too much outside of reality, stuck in daydreams, pondering over the meaning of her nightmares, or, at least, what little she could recall. 

There wasn't much she could remember, no matter how hard she tried, but there was always a constant, one that both brought her tenderness and pain ;

A voice. 

Just the single voice of an unknown woman brought her both sentiments.

'- But I'm unable to let go,' She added, weakly.

Out of all the things she held onto and simply couldn't forget, it was the unforgettable voice that seemed far too familiar.

'That woman's voice... it makes me feel both warmth and ache within my chest.' She thought to herself. 'It haunts me so much, and though it hurts to recall these dreams, I want to know who she is.

I want to know where I can find her.' She thought determinately.

Sprinkling the cool showers onto the plants, her smile visibly faltered, her mind plagued by the strange person,

'Sometimes she's all that makes me happy. She's the only thing that makes me feel loved.'

"Maybe that's why I always have other realms in mind," She muttered dryly.

'Are you waiting there in one of those many lands?' She wondered helplessly, all while thinking of the low, melodic rumble of the voice.

'I just can't remember. ' 

As far as she knew, she didn't know anyone that matched the voice.

'But at the very least, being by these here...with these little beings, I feel like I'm somewhat close to you.

Whoever you may be,

Wherever you may be,' she thought with feather-light comfort.

Her focus then was on the little flowers set beside her door. They were tiny, little, yellow faces, all filled with pollen staring back at her with enthusiasm and life. They were strange little things, not native to Outworld, and from what the elderly man had told her, a rarity to come across in their realm.

'Strange and fragile, just as I am,' She thought with a soft, understanding look directed at them. 

A single press of the finger could harm the small life, destroying it. 

Such a delicate thing was in her possession and with all the joy in the world she cared for it, each and every day tending to them.

"Forget me nots," she said softly, "You have so many meanings, all so tender, all so sweet." She started.

 "Perhaps, once, you knew who that person was. Perhaps you know well who she is, and you try to make me remember."

Shaking her head, she then laughed with amusement, going as far as to throw her head back at her ridiculous musings,

" Wouldn't that be strange? ," she said with a giggle, dragging her index below one of the blossoms, scarcely grazing it with tenderness.

"No," she said shaking her head, still chuckling, " Strange is talking to you bunch, all while thinking that somehow you understand,"

'What loneliness can do to a person,' She silently thought, knowing how deranged she might seem to others. 

Yet, there was no helping it. 

"Well, at the very least we have each other, right?" she added pleasantly, her voice touched with sadness.

Farther away, a man observed her, watching each and every movement she made, not missing a single motion of hers,

" Looks like I've found you, little missy," the brunette said lowly, his eyes trained straight with a hawk's glare on the (h/c) haired young lady.

His dark roasted coffee-colored eyes watched the woman, a dark brow slowly raised at her as she continued to pet the small garden. Her mouth then moved, no doubt speaking to the blossoms as she maintained her small smile, unaware of his watchful stalking.

He wasn't hiding, nor bothered to spy from any farther distance, having the certainty that it wasn't needed. Instead, he leaned on a homely fence opposite to her home, his arms crossed over his chest as he continued to observe his target. 

"-Too easy," he huffed, the little piece of wood that was being held in between his teeth soon spat out and thrown to the side, "Entirely too easy," he added with notable disappointment intertwined with his words.

 With a click of his tongue, he adjusted his mask before properly clipping it back on. 

His right hand then slid over his revolver, a low, blue sigh falling past his lips, "Guess I won't need to use you," he muttered, easily coming to the conclusion he wouldn't have to use anything but his own strength and wit on his current job.

"(f/n) (l/n)," He said while testing the name out on his own tongue, "I'd say you're one lucky girl," he then said while stepping forward, advancing towards the home with squared shoulders.

"A very lucky one," he added with a smirk twitching his features, the man feeling a swell of pride at the thought of his previous accomplishments.

Any time anyone made it on his list, it was a guaranteed death sentence, however, in his current target's special case, he wasn't ordered to do any of the sorts, which truly was a stroke of luck for the young woman.

He had the task of capturing her, all in one piece. 

- Not a ding or a scratch, she was to be delivered without a hitch.

Granted, he wasn't one for little errands like the one he'd just been assigned, but then again, he wasn't the kind to turn down such an award either.

Abruptly, he stopped, watching as she startled, jumping and dropping her watering pail before she ran inside her home, far too preoccupied with what she had in mind to close her door fully.

And yet again he thought to himself about how painstakingly easy it was to catch the woman.

Making his way towards the home, he took a firm hold of the linen rope strapped to his side and unattached it as he crossed the doorway of her hut, his predator eyes sharp as they searched for her figure.

'Now where'd she run off too,' He thought to himself while skimming his eyes over the small space.

His nose twitched, a strong, aromatic scent attacking him right as he invaded the space.

A linger of herbs danced in the air too, all intertwined with the scent, pulling his attention to a small room where the (h/c) haired woman stood, her back facing him while she dimmed the fire before her.

"How could I be so careless? " she said with mortification, eyeing the empty pot. All of the water she had started to boil in it was long gone, evaporated.

'This is not even the first time it happens,' She thought with the same dejection, upset that it had happened yet again, all because she had spent too much time overthinking. 

Her hand then slid up her face, holding it as she inhaled a deep breath, 

'I can't keep living this way...' She declared, knowing that all the time she spent pondering was harmful to her. 

She knew it was for the best, yet, slumping her shoulders, she released a shaky breath, her heart tightening at the thought of letting go.

Suddenly, an arm coiled around her shoulders from behind her, while simultaneously, another strong, large arm wrapped around her midsection, quickly pulling her towards a hard body.

With rounded (e/c) eyes, she craned her head up, striving to look back, soon capturing the sight of a masked man as his dark eyes calmly peered down to hers.

Frozen, she watched him with glimmering (e/c) eyes, her face going pale, the female far too aghast to properly function.

"Now, you just hold still, " he ordered her, the deep muffled rumble of his voice causing a violent shake to rake over her body. 

Like the merciless thunder of her realm, it attacked her, shaking her to her very core.

'What's going on?' She wondered, still struck stupid, paralyzed with shock and fright.

'what is he doing in my home?'

It was then that the weight of the situation fell upon her, soon understanding just what the man was doing as he began to press a bind around her,

'No...This can't be...This simply can't be!'

Shaking her head in denial, she squirmed, thrashing around to force him to let go. Her legs then collapsed, and falling onto all fours, she managed to slip out of his hold before he gripped her any tighter.

'I have to get away. I have to run,' She thought with a frenzied mind.

With harshly panting breaths, she stumbled to stand, managing to do so on wobbly legs, hastily making a mad dash out onto the outside world, far away from the stranger.

'I have to run...

I have I hide... '

Leisurely stepping out to follow, the man then sighed. 

Erron shook his head, his right skimming down his side to the holster at his side. 

Soon holding his gun with a steady hand, he aimed, taking his shot. 

The single bullet ricochet, landing right in front of her just before she stepped farther from him.

Falling to her knees with horrified (e/c) colored eyes, she stared at the landed shot before her, unable to find the words to shove out of her knotted throat, 

'That... That could have killed me,' She thought with certainty. ' How did he even do that? ' She added with the same terror.

Her hand shook as it rose up, soon holding onto the lower portion of her face as it squeezed tight, the hand suppressing all her frightened whimpers,

'Is he going to kill me? Did...Did he just miss?'

" That blue whistler didn't miss," He told her, counting his victory as he took long strides to her shaking body. "Just in case you were wondering," he added before stepping behind her, towering her crumpled, defeated form.

"Tongue-tied Darlin'?" he asked her, receiving no reply, just a would-be silence riddled by muffled snivels.

Her harsh pants became louder as she then clutched her chest, his question falling onto death ears, 

'Why...' she thought to herself, ridged coldness gradually swallowing her whole.

"I guess so," he muttered, shoving her down with his left hand, watching as she landed ungracefully, far too numb to move. 

His right hand gripped her arms, unkindly pulling them back before quickly binding her wrists behind her.

Tightly shutting her eyes, she inhaled the dirt beneath her, fiercely struck by the horror of the skilled man, not knowing what awaited her at the mercy of his hands.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Next : A familiar Sense

[damianwaynerocks]

Damian’s Journal - Why I’m Not Allowed to Work With Mystery Incorporated Anymore Even Though I Was Completely Justified in my Actions

 Bruce, on the advice of Dinah Lance, is forcing Damian to start a journal. This series is just that, his journal entries.

This entry is about Damian Wayne meeting the Scooby-Doo gang

Word Count: 1592

A/N: Yo, this is a crack fic. Enjoy.

Masterlist

__

Dear Journal (Not a diary)

So, hello, I guess. My name is Damian Wayne. Grayson, my older brother, suggested I start writing a journal. Of course, I strongly objected to this, however after talking to Dinah Lance, Father agreed that it would help with my 'trauma.'

I'm not allowed to go back and edit this so if there are spelling errors, my apologies.

So I suppose my first entry will be about the mayhem that happened with Mystery Incorporated.

We'd heard reports of reports of a group of people sneaking around Wayne Enterprises so of course we had to check it out. Father didn't want me to go because 'you have homework damian' but Wayne Enterprises is MY birthright so?? Of course I had to go??

I followed Father and Grayson carefully and because I am me, Damian Wayne, they didn't notice me behind them. I caught up to them right as they had surrounded the group of teenagers and surprisingly there was?? No fighting??

Apparently they knew each other??

"Batman!" a boy with blonde hair and an atrocious-looking ascot around his neck yelled.

Seriously who wears ascots anymore?? Pennyworth would faint if he saw that.

Father narrowed his eyes. "Fred," he grunted, "And the rest of you. What are you doing in Gotham this time?"

"Somebody's been dressing up as a vampire and scaring people away from Wayne Enterprises at night," a girl in an orange sweater replied, "So we were checking it out. You seriously didn't know about this?"

"I've had my hands full."

By having his hands full, Father meant going off-world to deal with some space threat because of course Hal Jordan couldn't handle it on his own. The imbecile.

I was away, also, on a mission with my best friend, Jon. He's alright I suppose. Annoyingly positive, but alright. He eats vegan burgers with me, at least.

Grayson had been in Bludhaven so we had entrusted Todd to watch Gotham but of course he missed something as significant as a threat to Wayne Enterprises?? I decided I would have a talk with him whenever he returned.

It was then I saw him.

My body buzzed with excitement. It was a dog.

And then it happened.

THE DOG TALKED.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THE DOG  T A L K E D

"Reah, we were helping!" the dog barked gleefully.

I screamed in excitement and fell off the lamp post I had been holding on to.

I couldn't help it, and you couldn't have helped it either if you saw it.

Everybody looked at me.

"Robin," Batman growled, "I told you to stay behind!"

"Yeah, Robin, you had an essay to do!" Grayson agreed.

"How do you expect me to focus on an essay whenever there is a talking dog!?" I demanded as I walked to the hound.

The dog narrowed his eyes. "Rog? Where?"

"Like, hi Robin," a lanky boy who looked like he lived off marijuana and those ridiculous memes that Drake loved greeted, "This is Scooby-Doo."

"Hello Scooby-Doo it is an honor to meet you I am so excited," I babbled as I scratched him behind his ears. I usually would not act like such a child but. This is a talking dog.

"Come back with us to the Bat Cave," Father said to Ascot-Guy, who must be their team leader which is a terrible decision in my opinion because?? An ASCOT?? In 2020??

So anyways, we then went back to the Cave after blindfolding the group because there was no way we were trusting a team who entrusted their safety to an ascot-wearing buffoon to know the location of the Cave.

Father drove their vehicle, a van that looked like it was painted while lanky-guy smoked marijuana, to the Cave while Grayson rode in the Bat Mobile and I drove my Red Bird.

We got to the Cave and I instantly hopped off my motorcycle and threw open the back of the van where the dog was and enveloped him in a hug. "Let's go, Scooby-Doo, I can show you my sword collection!" I said excitedly before Father rested a hand on my shoulder.

"No time, Robin," he said, "We need a plan on how to catch this vampire."

"Oh, we have a plan," Ascot said with a wave of his hand, "Velma, Daphne and I are going to put a trip-wire down which will drop a barrel on top of him, and then we'll rush forward with chains and tie him up."

"How will you get him to fall for the trip-wire?" Grayson asked.

"Well, we'll use Shaggy and Scooby as bait, of course."

I saw red. I was shaking in fury. They were going to use?? The DOG?? As BAIT????? They were going to put the DOG IN DANGER???

Not on my watch, no sir.

"Absolutely not!" I exploded, "You are not going to put that dog in danger!! What is wrong with you, you ascot-wearing oaf!! I should call the police on you right this instant for animal cruelty!!"

Ascot blinked and took a step back. "S-Sorry Robin, it's just tradition!"

"No way!" Marijuana Man said, "I agree with the scary one! Kind of. Like, no police, but Scooby and I do not want to be bait!"

"Oh no, you can be bait," I said.

"Oh, come on guys!" Orange Girl urged, "I'll give you a Scooby Snack!"

"Scooby Snack!?" Scooby barked, "Roh boy! Rive me on of rose!"

"Like, oh boy, oh boy!" Marijuana Ma- Shaggy, agreed.

My eyes widened. "You would put your beloved friend in danger for a dog biscuit!?"

"Like, try one, kid!" Shaggy said, handing him a biscuit. I scrunched my nose at it but bit into it anyways.

When I tell you that it was the most amazing thing that has ever graced my tastebuds, I mean it.

It tasted like the feeling of working with Richard. It tasted like heaven. It tasted like the feeling of defeating a bad guy. It tasted like the feeling of saving an innocent. It was better than even Pennyworth's cooking.

Of course, I couldn't let them know that, though.

"Give me that!" I snapped, ripping the box from her hand, "I will be confiscating this."

Really, though, I just wanted it for myself and to give to Pennyworth so he could hopefully find some on Amazon.

"I will be bait instead of Scooby-Doo," I declared, "Because clearly you people care more about food than safety."

"Robin, you do know that being bait requires you to act scared, right?" Grayson asked gently. I scoffed.

"Of course it does, and I can act scared!"

I meant it, too. I would just pretend I was watching that Hereditary movie that I went and saw with Todd.

Or that time I walked in on Drake and Brown having coitus in the Bat Cave.

That is the real trauma I need to write in this journal for. Growing up with assassins? Forget it. Dying? No big deal. Seeing Drake's genitals? I will be needing years of therapy for that.

So that's how I ended up outside my inheritance building with Shaggy. I was dressed in civilians clothes with sunglasses to hide my identity.

"Like, you know only weird people wear sunglasses in the dark, right?" Shaggy said, taking a bite of a hotdog he had pulled out of nowhere.

"Incorrect," I disagreed, "My brother happens to say that only cool people wear sunglasses in the dark."

"If you say so."

We were loitering outside the building and I was bored.

"Do you smoke marijuana?" I asked bluntly. Shaggy choked on his hotdog.

"Like, no?"

I opened my mouth to argue with him before we heard a screech. I looked up and saw a poor costume of a vampire coming towards us.

Shaggy screamed and started to run and, picturing Drake's thing in my mind, I screamed and ran after him, through the double doors of the building.

We hopped over the trip-wire, and skidded to a halt in front of the stairs. The vampire was running towards us but gave a weird yelp whenever it tripped.

At that moment, a barrel fell from the ceiling and landed on the creature. Ascot-Man and Grayson jumped out of the shadows, tying the creature up in chains.

"Ah ha!" A lady with red hair- Daphne, I think -yelled victoriously. "Not so scary now, are ya?"

Velma followed her out of the shadows, Father close behind. Velma took off the vampire mask, and revealed- my English teacher??

I wasn't really shocked, though. He was a Trump supporter.

Velma rattled off obvious reasons why he was in Wayne Enterprises and apparently he just?? Wanted into the safe??

There's so many more easier ways to do that than dressing up as a vampire??

So that was that. Kind of. We tied the guy up, calling Gordon, and left and went back to the Bat Cave where we saw Scooby-Doo sleeping on top of the dinosaur.

Scoobysaurous Rex perked up as he heard us come in, and his tongue lolled as he ran down the tail of the statue and jumped into Shaggy's arms.

Father congratulated them but me?? I absolutely did not.

I once again gave them an earful about how irresponsible they were to put Scooby-Doo in danger.

"If I find out you have done that again I will personally have your liver on a platter-"

Grayson interrupted me with a nervous laugh. "He's just kidding!! He'll just send you a strongly worded email!!"

I glared at him before turning back to Ascot-Man. "And another thing!! An ascot!! In 2020!! What is wrong with you!?" I tore it off of his neck and huffed, "There, now you look slightly less idiotic."

And then Father sent me to my room.

So yeah that's what happened there. I've been keeping tabs on them and so far I have seen no sign of them putting the dog in danger.

Good riddance. Because I would have indeed sent them a strongly worded email as well as the liver thing.

- Damian

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Why I won't buy an Ipad: ten years later

Ten years ago, Apple released the Ipad. I was in a hotel room in Seattle, jetlagged and awake at 4AM while my wife and daughter slept.

I had been thinking about Apple's impending Ipad release and what a reversal it meant for everything I loved about tech: taking away your right to decide whose code you'd run -- even your right to change the battery! I wrote about my feelings and many people read it. It even rated a mention in Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs.

A decade later, the Ipad is ten years old and Apple has killed 20 state Right to Repair bills, in part to lock out third parties who might change you batteries for you.

I just reread that piece, and I still stand by it.

Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)

I've spent ten years now on Boing Boing, finding cool things that people have done and made and writing about them. Most of the really exciting stuff hasn't come from big corporations with enormous budgets, it's come from experimentalist amateurs. These people were able to make stuff and put it in the public's eye and even sell it without having to submit to the whims of a single company that had declared itself gatekeeper for your phone and other personal technology.

Danny O'Brien does a very good job of explaining why I'm completely uninterested in buying an iPad -- it really feels like the second coming of the CD-ROM "revolution" in which "content" people proclaimed that they were going to remake media by producing expensive (to make and to buy) products. I was a CD-ROM programmer at the start of my tech career, and I felt that excitement, too, and lived through it to see how wrong I was, how open platforms and experimental amateurs would eventually beat out the spendy, slick pros.

I remember the early days of the web -- and the last days of CD ROM -- when there was this mainstream consensus that the web and PCs were too durned geeky and difficult and unpredictable for "my mom" (it's amazing how many tech people have an incredibly low opinion of their mothers). If I had a share of AOL for every time someone told me that the web would die because AOL was so easy and the web was full of garbage, I'd have a lot of AOL shares.

And they wouldn't be worth much.

Incumbents made bad revolutionaries Relying on incumbents to produce your revolutions is not a good strategy. They're apt to take all the stuff that makes their products great and try to use technology to charge you extra for it, or prohibit it altogether.

I mean, look at that Marvel app (just look at it). I was a comic-book kid, and I'm a comic-book grownup, and the thing that made comics for me was sharing them. If there was ever a medium that relied on kids swapping their purchases around to build an audience, it was comics. And the used market for comics! It was -- and is -- huge, and vital. I can't even count how many times I've gone spelunking in the used comic-bins at a great and musty store to find back issues that I'd missed, or sample new titles on the cheap. (It's part of a multigenerational tradition in my family -- my mom's father used to take her and her sibs down to Dragon Lady Comics on Queen Street in Toronto every weekend to swap their old comics for credit and get new ones).

So what does Marvel do to "enhance" its comics? They take away the right to give, sell or loan your comics. What an improvement. Way to take the joyous, marvellous sharing and bonding experience of comic reading and turn it into a passive, lonely undertaking that isolates, rather than unites. Nice one, Misney.

Infantalizing hardware Then there's the device itself: clearly there's a lot of thoughtfulness and smarts that went into the design. But there's also a palpable contempt for the owner. I believe -- really believe -- in the stirring words of the Maker Manifesto: if you can't open it, you don't own it. Screws not glue. The original Apple ][+ came with schematics for the circuit boards, and birthed a generation of hardware and software hackers who upended the world for the better. If you wanted your kid to grow up to be a confident, entrepreneurial, and firmly in the camp that believes that you should forever be rearranging the world to make it better, you bought her an Apple ][+.

But with the iPad, it seems like Apple's model customer is that same stupid stereotype of a technophobic, timid, scatterbrained mother as appears in a billion renditions of "that's too complicated for my mom" (listen to the pundits extol the virtues of the iPad and time how long it takes for them to explain that here, finally, is something that isn't too complicated for their poor old mothers).

The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a "consumer," what William Gibson memorably described as "something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth... no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote."

The way you improve your iPad isn't to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps. Buying an iPad for your kids isn't a means of jump-starting the realization that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it's a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals.

Dale Dougherty's piece on Hypercard and its influence on a generation of young hackers is a must-read on this. I got my start as a Hypercard programmer, and it was Hypercard's gentle and intuitive introduction to the idea of remaking the world that made me consider a career in computers.

Wal-Martization of the software channel And let's look at the iStore. For a company whose CEO professes a hatred of DRM, Apple sure has made DRM its alpha and omega. Having gotten into business with the two industries that most believe that you shouldn't be able to modify your hardware, load your own software on it, write software for it, override instructions given to it by the mothership (the entertainment industry and the phone companies), Apple has defined its business around these principles. It uses DRM to control what can run on your devices, which means that Apple's customers can't take their "iContent" with them to competing devices, and Apple developers can't sell on their own terms.

The iStore lock-in doesn't make life better for Apple's customers or Apple's developers. As an adult, I want to be able to choose whose stuff I buy and whom I trust to evaluate that stuff. I don't want my universe of apps constrained to the stuff that the Cupertino Politburo decides to allow for its platform. And as a copyright holder and creator, I don't want a single, Wal-Mart-like channel that controls access to my audience and dictates what is and is not acceptable material for me to create. The last time I posted about this, we got a string of apologies for Apple's abusive contractual terms for developers, but the best one was, "Did you think that access to a platform where you can make a fortune would come without strings attached?" I read it in Don Corleone's voice and it sounded just right. Of course I believe in a market where competition can take place without bending my knee to a company that has erected a drawbridge between me and my customers!

Journalism is looking for a daddy figure I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who'll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff. The reason people have stopped paying for a lot of "content" isn't just that they can get it for free, though: it's that they can get lots of competing stuff for free, too. The open platform has allowed for an explosion of new material, some of it rough-hewn, some of it slick as the pros, most of it targetted more narrowly than the old media ever managed. Rupert Murdoch can rattle his saber all he likes about taking his content out of Google, but I say do it, Rupert. We'll miss your fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the Web so little that we'll hardly notice it, and we'll have no trouble finding material to fill the void.

Just like the gadget press is full of devices that gadget bloggers need (and that no one else cares about), the mainstream press is full of stories that affirm the internal media consensus. Yesterday's empires do something sacred and vital and most of all grown up, and that other adults will eventually come along to move us all away from the kids' playground that is the wild web, with its amateur content and lack of proprietary channels where exclusive deals can be made. We'll move back into the walled gardens that best return shareholder value to the investors who haven't updated their portfolios since before eTrade came online.

But the real economics of iPad publishing tell a different story: even a stellar iPad sales performance isn't going to do much to stanch the bleeding from traditional publishing. Wishful thinking and a nostalgia for the good old days of lockdown won't bring customers back through the door.

Gadgets come and gadgets go Gadgets come and gadgets go. The iPad you buy today will be e-waste in a year or two (less, if you decide not to pay to have the battery changed for you). The real issue isn't the capabilities of the piece of plastic you unwrap today, but the technical and social infrastructure that accompanies it.

If you want to live in the creative universe where anyone with a cool idea can make it and give it to you to run on your hardware, the iPad isn't for you.

If you want to live in the fair world where you get to keep (or give away) the stuff you buy, the iPad isn't for you.

If you want to write code for a platform where the only thing that determines whether you're going to succeed with it is whether your audience loves it, the iPad isn't for you.

https://boingboing.net/2020/01/27/nascent-boulangism.html

[afterthelastreset]

Krisei Zodiac Event Pisces Week

Pisces Zodiac Sign Info Gotten From:

https://www.astrology-zodiac-signs.com/zodiac-signs/pisces/

“Pisces are very friendly, so they often find themselves in a company of very different people. Pisces are selfless, they are always willing to help others, without hoping to get anything back.

Pisces is a Water sign and as such this zodiac sign is characterized by empathy and expressed emotional capacity.”

💧Pisces Week

(This the entire element Is water Im going to base the element off that with the au Ocean rune or just water scenes, since in the rules were aloud to do stuff based off the element of the Zodiac sign.)

Day 1:  

The beach. A wonderful place to go on a hot day for anyone with plenty to do and see and so much activities for anyone even if you weren't a swimming person. Building sandcastles. Getting a tan. Going swimming. Just relaxing with a good book or painting the scenery. Volleyball. Collecting seashells. Snorkling or diving and seeing all the cool fish and underwater life. There was also the occasional fisherman and someone doing watersports like surfing, water skying, jet boats, a whole lot of fun on the beautiful waves and deep blue sea- Or if you were the pair of friends in question, you'd be sitting at a picnic table under the shade and snacking on the food you got. Milkshakes ain't got NOTHIN' on the heat here now, except maybe the chocolate ones they served. Chocolate milkshakes was always the best in his opinion as he happily ate and watched all the other people running around and doing whatever they wanted to do on this smoldering hot day, it was too hot for him though sadly. Fur and all but the scenery was really pretty, even more so now that it was sunny and not cloudy like it had been recently. So of course he'd drag his friend out of the house and into the glorious great outdoors!!......Buuut they were a little busy looking at a little piece of drift wood they had found while walking In the hot sun before being dragged to the giant umbrellaed picnic tables of the beach resort. They'd been doing that for quite a while actually.

"Kris?" The human hummed not looking up at the other one across from them. "What are you doing there?"

Instead of looking up from their lap they just shrugged. "Carving somthin'."

he frowned. he knew Kris wasn't a big fan of being in public, but this wasn't exactly what he had in mind for the two of them to do when he dragged the brown haired human out of the house. SO hhe smiled politely and asked. "Really? Whatcha carving now?"

"You'll see. Almost done," they mumbled still not looking up from their position and Ralsei just groaned and sat down into his seat.

he sighed and went back to his coco milkshake then. Watching as people still walked by and once and a while looked up just to see Kris still carving something with their carving knife and keeping it out of sight of the other until they suddenly brought it up and finally held it out to him. And in their hands was a small little carved out fish. he smiled and took the small gift from them and looked at the neatly carved little goldfish he was just handed. If it wasn't obviously made of wood then she would've sworn it was a real goldfish. They always had a nack for this thing and found Kris giving a small smile back, Ralsei couldn't help but stand up to go hug his friend.

"This is beautiful Kris! Thank you!"

"Your welcome."

Day 2:

*This takes place in the Au OceanFellrune since I wanted to try exploring this au more*

Well this certainly was a pickle wasn't it. Imagine just going for a swim with your best friend and enjoying a nice day at the beach to just relax, simple right? Yeah- Nope. A storm had blown in unexpectedly and swept through the sea just a few hours after they arrived. All he wanted was to just relax around on his floaty, not be swept out to the middle of the gigantic lake with no way back..Well, he could swim but those waves didn't look so promising against his mediocre swimming skills, at least if he stayed on the floaty he could stay afloat and not worry about sinking.

But now he had another problem...The sky was starting to get darker by the minute and he wasn't too sure which direction was the way back to shore anymore. It was kinda hard to tell with the waves being so tall and him getting tossed back and forth like a ragdoll on a beach ball wasn't the best feeling in the world, and he was starting to feel like puking. Man....he was starting to get tired of this-

"HELP!! ANYONE?!" Don't ask why he thought it was a good idea to start shouting for a friend who couldn't help him, might've been just a reflex or a hope but it would soon lead to more bad than good...Or would it? "HELP?! HEL-"

A wave chose that exact moment to rear it's ugly head and crash down over the poor human's body, the wind was knocked outta him like a rock slammed into her. Immediately air bubbles surrounded his form as he unceremoniously screamed from the hurtful impact, darkness surrounded his form as the stormy waves above continued to rattle about like some sort of punisher. It was surprisingly....calm in the dark black surrounding him. Almost like the night. Completely silent. A peaceful way to go if she didn't want to die.

It was when he turned and found two pink eyes and a mouth full of teeth staring at him did he scream again.

You know....It's really troubling trying to find some peace somewhere where there's not a lot available just swimming around, so imagine his luck when he stumbled across a seemingly dumb person just floating about in the middle of his territory. Kinda dumb being all the way out here in the middle of the dam storm, but who was he to judge. A human's a human. A quick wave was able to knock whoever the person was over and into the water where he waited. He grumbled just thinking about it... But that thought soon vanished after seeing her face.

UGH- He hated puny fighters. This one wasn't worth the trouble...Not enough courage on her. He also didn't appreciate the bubbles shoved in his face when she screamed again and started kicking up towards the surface. His face scrunched up in annoyance. Did everyone always have to be so rude when they see a gigantic aquatic goat monster looking at them? Oh well. At least he got to do the scaring part he always liked.

Ounce he made it back up through the swaying surface, coughing and spitting out out hislungs, a dark shadow loomed out from under him. In a split second the shadow had bust through the waves with ease. Water splashed over him, almost sending him down under the water again.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU FOOOOOL!!!" His raspy voice boomed over the noise of the waves and wind. "Those who enter my territory are doomed to DIE! Wha- H-HEY!" He flinched back when he yelped and instinctively grabbed onto him to keep from being drowned down by a wave. "HEY! Do you have a death wish! Those who ever as much as touch me are bound to- HEY! STOP DROWNING WHEN IM TRYING TO THREATEN YOU!!"

With a blub sound another wave sent him under. He groaned. Did his enemies ALWAYS have to make things more difficult like this? He stuck his hand back under the waves and a moment later he pulled the shivering, sputtering human back out of the bobbing water. he coughed and spat out some of the salt water, heaving and looking up at him.

".....*sigh* You know what? Screw this. My voice isn't worth some drowned human."

He began turning in the opposite direction and making swimming through the waves look like a breeze. he gave him a confused. "Where-....W-Where are we g-g-going?"

"Im dumping you on the shore. You're not worth the trouble of straining my voice."

Day 3:

IT WAS HOT!!

A lot hotter than what he was really used to, and to be perfectly honest, he didn't enjoy having the burning feeling in his lungs, or the amount of ssweat running down his body, or the heat baring down on himself. What was wrong with enjoying a nice inside inside and relaxing? Maybe cuddled up together in a nice air conditioned room, watching the live action of Romeo and Juliet? That was a beautiful tale is he did say so himself. But Noooo- he just had to go running today of all days on the beach. When the sun was fricking making it almost 80 DEGREES!! He stopped and heaved his lungs out, hands on his knees and gasping for breath like a fish out of water. Soft foosteps  rang out behind him and soon someone stopped next to him. It took a few moments but he eventually looked up into the smiling face of human.

"W-What art you..*wheeze* smiling at?!"

He laughed. "Ralsei, when was the last time you even took a relaxing jog?"

"KRIS?! Running on the beach with fur is too much. C-can’t we just go swimming instead?)

He laughed again and very easily stood on one foot and stretched the other out into a ballet pose. "Ralsei, exercise never hurt anyone. I know I enjoy it.~''

''THAT'S BECAUSE YOU’RE BUILT FOR THIS!! W-With NO fur!! I-I feel horrible! Why did I bake and eat so many cakes!?”

"Oh don't be so cranky." He rolled his eye not paying him any attention. "We still have half a mile before we can start back."

He heard his lover groan behind him and he chuckled again, well the sooner they finished the sooner they could go back. It was just then he heard wheezing sounds behind him and he turned around....and blinked. His boyfriend was no where to be seen. Until he looked down that is and saw a puddle of exhausted ghost monster on the sand.

"RALSEI!!"

Day 4:

*merman Kris braces legs and goes on land to ask Ralsei a question*

The screams of children swarm about the place as he stood outside the building. He never did like the thought of screaming little munchkins running around him, or their dirty little hands grabbing onto him, or sneezing on him-; He shuddered just thinking about the germs. Funny coming from someone who's eaten raw fish, but he was free to not like what he wanted. But, he was here for a different reason. Not for the kids-

"ACK-"

One of the small buggers crashed into his legs while running around. The little girl shook her head before squealing in delight and getting up to run after another child. Playing tag he presumed. 

"Kris?"

He jumped and whirled around into the curious face of the very person he wanted to see...And who he sometimes got mad with. No he didn't like it when he held his hand. Or when he gently kissed him. Or when he smiled and hugged him- He hissed at himself which made him frown and raise a brow.

"Um. Are you ok?"

"NO!...Yes! Im fine. Im fine!"

His crooked smile didn't seem to faze him more and only resulted in more confusion. This wasn't going as he planned was it? Nope! He could see it in his eyes as he looked him up and down. It was pretty rare to see Kris on dry land, with legs, he seemed to despise legs and preferred to sticking to his underwater domain. ….So why was he here in the first place?

"Ok....Um. What're you doing here? I thought you hated land."

"I do!....I- Uh-" His face flushed a light pink, and he mentally cursed himself for stuttering. "I-....C-Came to see you."

"Really?" He nodded and he became a litle redder. Of course, he giggled at the cute sight as soon as it happened and he groaned. Did he always have to respond with his cute little giggles or when- HOLY CRAP! he grabbed his hand! His eyes shined like little gems up at him, and he actually gulped. "That's so nice of you. Did you want something?"

This was it. This was the moment he came for. So of course he opened his mouth-....And a high pitched squeak came out. They froze. A look of abosolute horror coming over his face. he however went wide eyes and gasped. ….Oh no. Not this. He didn't like where this was going- he squealed in glees and immediately grabbed his face.

"THAT WAS SO CUTE!! YOU SOUND JUST LIKE A BABY!!"

His face blew up a bright red and he sputtered. "I-IM NOT A CHILD!!" he cooed and booped his nose. "S-Stop! I didn't come t-t-to be treated like a child!"

he hummed. "Then what did you come here for?"

"I want a date Ralsei! I h-hate it when...you...….." His eyes widened. " D*MMIT!! Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" he faked innocently batted his eyelashes and giggled once he drowned in the red sea of blush. He was always so easy to fluster like this. So, it was perfectly natural to place a small kiss on his cheek. The result was weird drowning fish noises and him reaching up to try and fail to limply pull his face away from him. he giggled that cursed cute smile. "I'm really honored you came all this way to see me and I'd love to go out with you."

His mouth dropped. "R-Really?!"

he nodded. "But I have to finish work first. Is that ok?";

He nodded silently and he patted his cheek before letting go. A couple children came up to him and wisked him away into a game he didn't understand and he didn't move. Just stand there red faced and silently watching after him...…..He gulped heavily and slowly leaned back up into standing position.

He needed to get better control of his expressions.

Day 5:

*more merman Kris*

What had made him come to this? What lunatic controlling fate made the grand decision of making him fall for such a small weak little thing like him? He would probably never know, but the way he was giggling and holding his very red face right now in his soft little hands. He could always turn around, swim away, and never look back-....but he mustve put some kind of spell on him as he continued to gush at him.;

"I could eat you right know." He gave a small growl, showing on his fangs to give his point. "Know one would know and you always risk yourself by coming you know.''

he smiled. "You won't do that."

His brow raised. "How can you be so sure?"

he smiled wider. "Because your face tells a lot more than you think."

D*M IT ALL TO NEXT HELL!! He cursed himself for being like this, for being so weak and vulnerable around someone who wasn't even a threat to him. What would happen if some danger did come along?! NO! He didn't like the way he looked at him with those big beautiful eyes, or the way he was so patient with his stupid arse, or the way he was always squishing his cheeks in his soft paws and calling him cute- NOPE! NOT AT ALL!! And he definitely didn't spend last night laying awake thinking about how cute and soft he was! Nope! And he definitely didn't hit his head trying to catch him a fish she loved just to see him smile at him-

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

…...Ok. Maybe- But that's a very small maybe.

Day 6:

*even more merman Kris* 

"S-Stop it."

"Why? You're acting like a child."

"Because I don't like physical contact. And I'd like to see you prove me wrong.'' He made a move to pry his hands from his face but that idea was scraped when he felt something small on his face.

OH SWEET MOTHER OF HECK-!! WAS THIS GOATvSERIOUSLY-?! he gave a small kiss on his cheek which he froze at, immediately his face broke out into a watermelon red. His hands were shoved in front of his face as to hide his embarrassment.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH- STOP THAT!!"

She just giggled and gave him another small kiss. More muffled screams followed, before the flustered screaming merman turned around and jumped from the doc red faced still holding his face as Ralsei giggled and waved good bye.

“Bye, Kris. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Day 7:

*ralsei helping Kris with his fear of water*

He shouldn't. He couldn't......HE CAN'T!!

"I can't do this."

The human whimpered out as his red eyes gazed over the body of water that was in front of him. Already he could feel his body sweat and legs wobbling as he stared at it. A small black hand grabbed his making him flinch and look at the smaller demon next to him.

Ralsei blinked his pink eyes at him and smiled. "Oh, come on. It'll be ok." To prove his point, he stepped into the kiddy pool still holding his hand. "See? It's safe and sound."

He shook his head. "I-I don't think t-t-this is a good idea, Ralsei." He gulped down the lump in his throat. "I-I think it would be m-much better if I-I watched..through a window."

Ralsei still didn’t back down as he pulled Kris forwards more and yanked him a bit forwards enough for the human to yelp and freeze when the water came up to his ankles and shuddered at the cool feeling around his feet but managed to smile for Ralsei sake. Making the goat monster smile back. 

“See? I told you it’d be alright”

@krisei-world

[inspired-by-the-music]

Chapter 4: The Date

Ae-Young’s POV

The sun was shining when Kyuhyun and I ended our call with a promise to meet at the restaurant at noon, so I completely forgot his advice about bringing an umbrella until a dark gray cloud overwhelmed the sky soon after I boarded the bus. I was afraid to drive, and I would go to inconvenient lengths to avoid it. To me, walking half a mile from the bus stop to the restaurant in the rain was preferable to confronting my phobia. 

I only questioned my decision once I stepped in from the rain and felt the cool water dripping from the ends of my hair onto my shoulders. There was just enough time to catch my reflection in a decorative mirror and tie my hair in a bun before Kyuhyun delicately tapped my shoulder.

“Did you forget your umbrella?” He smiled as he dropped his into the container in the corner by the door. 

“I—”

My voice trailed off as all of my efforts went into studying him. He was very much like I remembered. He seemed a little taller, and his hair was wavier, but his smile was untouched by time. 

“Yeah.” I nodded as if rattling my head would clear my mind of distracting thoughts. “Yeah, I forgot. I think I’ve inherited Dad’s spotty memory.”

He laughed— or maybe it was just a breath— before turning to the hostess and saying, “I need a table for two, please.”

She was surprised. Her jaw dropped, but she didn’t say anything. After she led us to the table and Kyuhyun pulled my chair out, I watched her walk away from us, half-believing I misread her body language. She sauntered off toward one of the waitresses, said something to her, and then both of them turned toward us and giggled. 

“What are you looking at?” Kyuhyun tried to follow my gaze. 

My blood boiled. I turned to face him and— surprised that he was looking into my eyes— I dropped my gaze. It crashed somewhere onto my menu, and I pretended to be reading it as I replied, “The hostess is talking about us.”

“Oh.” His voice was even, calm, unbothered, but not uninterested or dismissive. “Well, I guess that’s fair.”

I gawked at him. “How possibly? It’s rude to gossip and giggle about anyone— especially strangers!”

He reasoned, “I’ve shown up to this place alone every workday for six years. I bet they’re wondering how I’ve tricked some poor girl into coming with me.”

If he really believed that, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. I didn’t like it, though, the fact that he was seemed to think that their laughing at our expense was okay. It bothered me so much that I didn’t think before determinedly meeting his fixed stare and saying, “You would never have to trick me to come to lunch with you. You only have to ask, and I’m here.”

But he had turned his gaze to the menu, I was certain, to escape me as we discussed the hostess. He looked up, at last, to reply, “Thank you, Ae-Young, but I don’t think you should let things like this bother you— especially not for my sake. When we go out together, people may turn their heads and talk, but who cares what they say?”

As the waiter approached to take our order, I tried to resign myself to his thinking. He was strong— self-assured— and I wanted to be like that too. He smiled politely as he spoke to the waiter, genuinely unaffected by others’ opinions. Does that come with age? How long does it take to become like that?

After requesting the chef’s special and a coffee, although it was a little too late for coffee, I told Kyuhyun, “I just don’t understand what should turn their heads in the first place. What gives anyone the right to look at us like that?”

“I’m sure you’re used to people straining to get a look at you,” he joked. Then, more seriously, with a softer voice, he leaned across the table to explain, “I’m not saying that their behavior is right. It’s just— I understand. I’ve been single for a while, and nobody around here is used to seeing me with a woman— especially not somebody so young and pretty.”

Blushing, I almost thought he flattered me to shock me into dropping the subject. “I’m sorry I called you while you were at work. That was the only number I had for you.”

He said, “I don’t mind.” And in almost the same breath, he asked, “Are you bothered by this arranged marriage thing because. . . it’s with me?”

I hadn’t been able to look away from him, so I saw the flicker of vulnerability in the corner of his mouth when he asked. Even if it had been a lie, the sight of that still would have steered me to say, “No. That’s the only part of it I can tolerate.” And we both bristled at how harsh my explanation sounded. 

Maybe if so many memories didn’t come to the surface of my mind when I looked at him, I wouldn’t have minded. As it was, though, my palms moistened and my stomach churned as I tried to express, “I obviously like you. I just don’t think I’d be a very good wife to anyone right now, and you deserve—”

The waiter returned with our food and crashed my train of thought. I didn’t plan to sort through the wreckage until Kyuhyun asked, “Could you please finish what you were saying?”

I might have refused if he hadn’t raised his eyebrows at me so imploringly. “It’s just so sudden. I just got back from school, and I’m trying to launch my career, and Dad started talking about dying and arranged marriages, and he did all of this over family dinner, right in front of Heechul— and you know Heechul, he wouldn’t stop with the stupid interjections—”

“Hey—” Kyuhyun reached for my hand, but he faltered when I flinched from his touch. 

Why did I do that? I’ve always wanted to feel his hand. Why—

“I’m sorr—”

He returned his hand to the right of his plate and shook his head to dismiss my apology. “We don’t have to get married tomorrow or anything,” he said as if nothing had happened. And I guess nothing did happen. “I promised your father that I would marry you, so I fully intend to do that. The reality of the situation is, neither one of us is in a position to deny his wishes. I could risk my job, and you could jeopardize your relationship with him if we call it off.”

I don’t want to call it off. Was I just lonely? Or did I like Kyuhyun more than I remembered? 

When I didn’t respond because I was trying to sort through my feelings, Kyuhyun leaned forward again, waved a hand in my face, and asked, “Was I too stern with you? I’m not trying to be. I’m trying to say that I’ll court you if that’s what you want.”

“You’ll court me?” I wanted to smile at his word choice, but I was too perplexed. “Like, you’ll go on dates with me?”

“Ae-Young,” he laughed my name. “Why are you so surprised? I literally agreed to marry you, so I clearly don’t mind spending time with you.” 

Still fighting the smile, I squirmed as I tried to learn how to explain my thoughts. “That just seems like more than you bargained for— dating me, I mean. I know you agreed to marry me to satisfy Dad, but—”

“I’m going to start interrupting you when you say nonsense,” he decided, and my mouth closed. “You’re right. We’re in this situation because of your father, and I understand that we aren’t in love, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy spending time together.”

He sat back in his chair briefly as he pulled a small notepad and pen out of his jacket. He gently tossed them onto the table and said, “Here, write some stuff you like to do, and I’ll do it with you.”

I glanced down at the notebook and then back at him. “Really?”

“Really,” he nodded.

Taking the pen into my hand and straightening the notebook’s bent pages, I asked, “Anything I like to do?”

He supported his chin with his hand and thought for a minute. I only realized he was teasing me when he said, “Maybe limit yourself to one international trip.” Once I laughed, committing the sight of him winking and holding up one finger to my pool of memories, and I started writing, he whispered, “I want you to be happy, so maybe I’ll find some way to make you happy with me.”

I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I didn’t try to tell him that I was happy with him in that moment, at the beginning of us, so I just drew a smiley face on the list he asked me to write. 

“Um—” He cleared his throat. “Before I forget. . .” By the time I looked up, he had left a small black jewelry box on the table. I could have sworn a blush danced across cheeks and the bridge of his nose as he said, “Of course you don’t have to wear it until you’re ready. . . “

He fell silent when I dropped the pen to open the box containing a diamond ring. I could only meet his eyes briefly before something fluttered in my stomach and forced me to look elsewhere. Still, looking nowhere in particular, I slid the ring onto my finger.

“I—” He started, but his sentence fell apart when he shook his head. “You never do what I expect.”

[bat-losers-inc]

Beat the Devil’s Tattoo: Chapter 1

“I have a new job for you.” Ra’s’ voice sounds notoriously smug through his comlink. “Not likely,” said Tim, “Haven’t you heard? Bruce is out of the country on WE business—” Ra’s continues over him, “It's got nothing to do with Bruce Wayne. I’m hiring out your services to a business partner. He wants reports on the Red Hood’s nightly activities around Gotham.” Tim paused to catch his breath. “Who does?” His mouth was dry. “Why, Black Mask, of course. I told him you’d be just the person to get it for him. After all, you’re one of the few people he trusts.”

Or a Collisions in the Dark AU, where instead of rescuing Tim from her father, Talia chooses to save Jason’s life, leaving Tim at the mercy, and wrath, of Ra’s al Ghul. Tim eventually wins his freedom, but the price he pays for it? Serving as a double agent for Ra’s, who wants to give Bruce a taste of his own medicine.

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

The Bowery, Gotham City

December 8, 9:47 pm

“I have a new job for you.” Ra’s’ voice sounded notoriously smug through his comlink. Tim paused to catch his breath on the next rooftop.

“Not likely,” said Tim, “Haven’t you heard? Bruce is out of the country on WE business—”

Ra’s continued over him, “It's has nothing to do with Bruce Wayne.”

No doubt Ra’s had picked up on the loud rattling of his breath through the comlink and Tim just hoped that he thought it was from physical exertion instead of a sudden unquenchable bought of panic that left him feeling ever-so lightheaded and unsteady.

He made a quick scan into the distance. Despite the fact that he was patrolling alone, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him… listening in. Though that someone he thought he was sensing was most likely Ra’s himself. He attempted to shake off the nerves, choosing instead to focus on taking one deep breath after another as he continued with his patrol because he’d be damned if working for Ra’s was going to stop him from doing his real job as Red Robin.

Ra’s continued on, delivering his next assignment —  one that could prove to be the death sentence of his vigilante career if he was found out… but what was new about that? “I’m hiring out your services to a business partner. He wants you to report to him on the Red Hood’s nightly activities around Gotham.”

Tim’s mouth was dry. He let the car he’d been tailing make a sharp left and slip away into the rush of cars heading onto the Aparo expressway. “Who does?”

“Why, Black Mask, of course. I told him you’d be just the person to get it for him. After all, you’re one of the few people Jason trusts.”

“I’m not some backstabber-for-hire. I spy for you, no-one else.”

“You are spying for me. Only this time you’re reporting your findings to Black Mask.”

“That wasn’t part of our deal,” said Tim. Despite the pains he took to remain undetected, his family was started to suspect something was amiss. He was playing a dirty game with a limited life expectancy. This assignment might just shorten his time left by half. If that.

If anyone was going to find him out, it would be Jason.

Realizing suddenly how incredibly belligerent his statement sounded, he made a quick attempt to dispel the hostile atmosphere. “I don’t think you’ve fully thought about the repercussions if this goes south. What if Roman decides to tell his friends about this little arrangement? Do you really think you can count on his discretion? Because if word got out that there was a spy inside Batman’s organization—”

“Oh, don’t try to hide behind reason, Timothy,” replied Ra’s. “I’ve shared your company for long enough to know what it sounds like when you try to refuse me. Let’s be frank with each other. If you want to say no then just… say it.”

It was another one of Ra’s little traps. Tim had walked into enough of them during his stay with Ra’s to spot them on sight. The aftertaste of those deceptions still lingered in the back of his throat, acidic as bile and choked with the smell of his own fear.

“I wasn’t—”

“Oh, I’m sure you weren’t. But know this, I have men standing ready to snatch you back to Nanda Parbat if the moment comes when you should even breathe the word ‘no’ in my hearing. Because frankly, I do so miss having someone to share my bed with and at least this way we can revert to our old routine.”

And there it was, the bait and switch only narrowly avoided. His survival instincts had proved themselves right once again.

This arrangement was only ever supposed to be a way out. He wondered to himself how even three months later he could still find himself feeling just as trapped in this devil’s bargain as he did on the very first day he’d made it. What he needed to do was get out… the million-dollar question was, How?

“Trust me, Ra’s. I understand.”

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

Nanda Parbat, Tibet

October 4, 3:28 pm

The guards marched him back into the main chamber with his arms locked in a vice grip behind his back. He didn’t bother to struggle now, in fact, he’d all together stopped struggling two floors into their ascent from the prison wing. What did it matter anyway? The mission was complete, the attack on New York contained, an achievement Jason had paid for with his life. Tim understood that the first person Ra’s’ suspicious eye would fall on was himself, so he did the last thing within his power, setting the scientist’s family free from their imprisonment below the Demon Head’s compound. In his opinion, it was a fair trade— their freedom at the price of his own.

The double doors were pulled open and Tim forced his feet to keep moving and carry him towards the chair where Ra’s lounged like a king before his court.

Ra’s motioned at the guards to either side of Tim. They seized him with a hand gripping tight to each of his shoulders and wrists.

So this is how I die, he thinks, eyes glued to the intricate carpet under his feet. He doesn’t want to look up and see the blade flashing towards him. But despite his fears, it never comes. Before there’s time to register what’s happening, his feet are kicked out from under him, sending him crumpling to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.

His head thumped painfully on the carpet.

Ra’s knelt down beside him where he lay stunned on his back. “Did you think I wouldn’t see your hand in all this?”

Ra’s grabbed him by the arm and planted his knee against Tim’s shoulder, “Or that I’d simply forgive your betrayal because I desire you?“ He pressed down with his full body weight, pinning Tim to the ground. In a horrific moment of clarity, Tim grasped for Ra’s’ leg all the while knowing that he’d never escape the joint lock fast enough.

With efficient and heartless speed Ra’s bent Tim’s arm back across his bended knee. He heard the distinct popping sound of the tendons in his elbow tearing at the hyperextension and the sickening pain of his shoulder dislocating.

He screamed, back arching off the floor. His voice echoed in the large chamber room and bounced off the walls and the unsympathetic ears of the Demon Head’s many servants.

Ra’s lowered himself over Tim’s panting form until his lips were touching his ear. Despite the intimacy of their positions, Ra’s’ voice was detached and cold. “This is the price you pay for loyalty. Tell me later if you still think it was worth it.”  

Tim made a keening noise low in his throat as Ra’s released him. He curled up on his side and pulled his arm protectively against his chest, but the pain was still a heavy throb that radiated through his upper body. He shifted as best he could until he could press his cheek to the cool flagstone floor, trying to focus on its cool touch under his cheek until the pain dulled.

He watched Ra’s’ boots as they walked the length of the hall and disappeared out of view. Within a few minutes, the muted sounds of other footsteps also receded out of earshot and Tim was left alone in the entrance chamber with nothing but the sounds of his own pained breathing and the eerie shriek of wind whistling through the loose seals of the old windows high up along the ceiling. Maybe it was just the cold mountain air seeping in, or his own uncertainty about his future, but the sound chilled him to the bone. It sounded like the ghosts of Ra’s’ many dead enemies were haunting the room, flying around in the rafters.

He didn’t intend to join them.

With a pained effort, he planted his feet on the ground and scooted his body along the floor on his back until he reached the side wall of the chamber, where he struggled up into sitting position. The effort of that along left him breathless and he didn’t look forward to what was to come next.

He gripped the wrist of his injured arm and straightened out his arm. He took a calming breath before pulling it up at a sharp angle. He thought he heard the sound of it setting back into place within its socket over his own screaming, but couldn’t be sure. Before he had time to consider it further he passed out.  

When he awoke it was to the cool slick touch of the flagstone floor again, smelling of earth and other ancient things. The pain has reduced to a periodic ache that radiated from his shoulder down to his fingers. Still, it was duller and more manageable than it was before.

He pushed himself up until he could sit on his knees.

“I was beginning to think you’d never wake.”

Tim spun around. Ra’s was seated at the chair on the dais again, looking bored.  

“I almost had one of the Lazarus Pits readied,” he continued, raising his head off of his planted fist, his elbow resting against the chair arm.

“Why am I not dead?” Tim asked finally. “After everything I did.”

“Because, Timothy, you still need to learn loyalty.”

“I am loyal,” Tim raised his head, “just not to you.”

Ra’s smiled and the sight was not comforting in the least. “Yes, we’ll have to see about that.”

The blow to his head comes out of nowhere and Tim crumpled into unconsciousness once more.

[waterchestnut123]

CH 8 | To Catch A Turtle Dove

Fandom: One Piece Setting: Victorian AU Genre: Action, Adventure, Humor, Friendship, Romance. Pairings: Law/Nami Rating: M - Mature (for language, drinking and alcohol, death and some moderate gore, other adult themes)

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Chapter 8: Speculative Reporting

“Widespread Burglaries at Trafalgar Castle Ball”

“The talk of the town this past month has been the unexpected announcement of a ball to be held at Castle Trafalgar in early December for the most influential families in Flevance—an announcement which was met with great surprise given the Lord and Lady’s strident efforts over the years to maintain their privacy. The affair, which took place last Saturday, was expected by many to be the most glamorous and highly anticipated event of the year.

 "However, instead of eager gossip about the extravagant affair or the opening of the castle for the first time in almost a decade, what has captured the attention of the Province in the week following the Trafalgar’s winter gala has instead been a rash of burglaries which occurred during the ball—right under the Lord and Lady’s noses.

 "Initial estimates by authorities and reports from guests—many of whom did not realize they had been the victim of theft until returning home later that night—suggest the thief stole a variety of items ranging from pocket watches and brooches to silverware and billfolds. While the full scale of the burglaries has yet to be tallied, initial estimates suggest the cumulative value of goods stolen to be near 1 million Belli. Lord Trafalgar has assured the victims and the Capitol Inquirer that he is taking every effort to locate the culprit and see them brought to justice; but unfortunately, according to authorities, the trail appears to have gone cold and no leads have yet been found.”

Franky set the paper onto the table with a crinkling rustle as Usopp whistled lowly, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. Nami, for her part, struggled to suppress a smug smirk, opting instead to raise her tankard to her lips as Frank turned to her with a grin and a slap on the shoulder, causing her ale to slosh against her mouth.

“OW! Nice going, Sis!”

“Yeah, Nami,” Usopp chimed in, scratching his goatee as he observed her with something akin to wonder, ”This is… really, really impressive.”

Nami casually flipped her hair over a shoulder, lips quirked despite her attempts to play it cool.

“They don’t call me the Uncapturable Cat Thief for nothing.”

Truthfully—though she hadn’t told anyone, the unexpected twist to the end of the night had been more than simply an embarrassment; it had rattled her confidence. She’d anxiously kept to the bookshop since the ball, too afraid to be seen in public lest the authorities be out searching for her.

It was only after lying low for almost a week that the article had appeared in the paper. She’d learned of it first that morning over breakfast, Robin reading the good news aloud to her at the kitchen table. She was fairly certain she had never heard words as sweet as “the trail appears to have gone cold”, and enthusiastically deemed it safe enough to venture out into public again; and good thing too, as she was beginning to go stir-crazy in their small apartment.

“Hey—how about another round? To celebrate!” Franky enthused, shaking his empty mug.

“Here here!” Usopp agreed with a grin, hoisting his mug in the air. Nami smiled, turning in her seat.

“Sanji-kun!” she hollered towards the kitchen; and as if immediately summoned by her voice, the cook backed through the swinging double doors, a tray with three fresh mugs already balanced on one hand.

“A step ahead of you, my lovely Nami-swan!” he crooned, crossing the short distance to their table by the fire and depositing three filled mugs in front of them, putting the empty ones on his tray.

“Are you sure you can’t join us, Sanji-kun?” Nami inquired, taking up a fresh mug.

“Ah, how I would love to! But unfortunately, I need to prepare for the dinner rush—hungry customers never wait,” he lamented, before adding with sincerity, “Congratulations, though, Nami-San. Your skills never cease to amaze me.”

He offered her a wide smile before turning back for the kitchen, a hand reaching up to his mouth before lowering to the bar counter, butt in hand, sinking the remains of his cigarette into a waiting ashtray.

Usopp reached for the abandoned newspaper, flipping the page as she returned her attention to the table. Franky kicked up his legs as he took a deep swig of his full tankard, turning her way.

“So what was it like, there? Almost nobody’s seen the castle since it was rebuilt. It’s supposed to be the most beautiful building in all of Flevance, built by a team of master craftsmen with the finest materials.”

Nami leaned back in her seat, a smile tugging at her lips. The first thing Sanji had wanted to know about were all the high society ladies dressed up like little taffeta cakes; trust Franky to be interested instead in the architecture.

“It’s the most beautiful and most ridiculously lavish building you could possibly ever imagine,” she said, hands gesticulating as she attempted to convey it’s stunning grandiosity.

“I mean, just the grand staircase alone cost probably as much as the entire last house I stole from. And the ballroom was enormous! Two stories high, with these amazing hardwood floors like a tile mosaic; and huge marble columns, crystal chandeliers the size of my bedroom, a mural across the whole ballroom ceiling… It was… breathtaking, to be honest.”

Franky looked awed and a tad wistful, thumb absently rubbing the handle of his tankard as he stared into space. “I bet Tom-san would have loved to see something like that…”

Franky rarely mentioned his old master, Tom. As far as she knew, he had been killed before Franky finished his apprenticeship to the man on Water Seven, years back, before it sunk into the sea off the exterior coast of Drum. But much like with Robin’s past, she knew better than to pry into what was clearly sensitive territory.

“I bet he would have loved it, too,” she said softly.

“What I wouldn’t give to see it for myself!” he added, mood lifting. “I bet I could learn a thing or two from a masterwork like that!”

“Oh—oh hey guys, check this out!” Usopp enthused, setting the paper onto the table and spreading it flat with his palms. He pointed to a small article on the third page, and as Franky leaned over to look, his expression soured with distaste.

“There’s a rumor the Lord might be courting someone! It says here that he refused a dance from every woman—except for one; and eyewitnesses say he only had eyes for her. ‘Bout time, eh!”

Nami felt her cheeks heat, quickly raising her tankard to her lips to hide her embarrassment. Really! She assumed people would talk, but an article in the paper? And he hardly “only had eyes” for her; she was seen with the guy once, all night—for fifteen minutes! Talk about speculative reporting.

Usopp scratched at his goatee again. “Maybe that’s why they finally opened up the castle…” he mused, then lifted a thoughtful eye to Nami. ”Did you happen to see her, Nami? The article says nobody knows who she is…”

Nami’s face burned hotter. She hardly wanted to admit it was she the article was referring to. Everyone had been singing her praises all day, and she was loath to contradict that praise with the truth of how badly she’d screwed up in the final twenty minutes.

She was, thankfully, saved from having to respond by Franky’s timely interruption.

“Are you reading the Society Page?” he asked with horror, causing Usopp to jerk in his direction with an ill-disguised blush.

“What?” he demanded defensively, “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to know the talk of the Capitol!”

Franky snorted. “Yeah, if you’re a snooty, undersexed housewife.”

“Oi! There’s a lot of valuable information in the society page—!”

And there they went. Insults and thoroughly unqualified opinions were thrown back and forth, and Nami leaned back in her chair with a relieved sigh. Trust them to forget about Usopp’s question altogether once they became embroiled in a bout of boyish bickering.

She slowly finished her drink as she watched their back-and-forth, Usopp extolling the value of social context provided by the society page’s ‘reporting’, while Franky insisted it was nothing more than a gossip rag for bored housewives. As the last of her ale trickled pleasantly down her throat, she glanced up at the clock over the mantle.

“Alright guys,” she said, interrupting their argument and setting her empty tankard on the tabletop with a thud. “I’ve gotta head out—my second shift starts soon.”

Their boy fight was put on pause and each stood to give her a fierce hug, finding momentary commonality in showering her with yet more congratulations. She met their praise with a smile and appreciative, “Thanks guys”, before turning for the kitchen to bid a busy Sanji quick farewell.

Upon returning to the tavern dining room Usopp and Franky had resumed their argument over the merits of the Society Page, and she laughed lowly as she grabbed her worn tartan cloak from the hook by the door, throwing it breezily over her shoulders. With a quick “See ya later!”, she headed out the door, trading cozy tavern warmth for chill winter afternoon.

Golden sunlight cast long shadows as she navigated the busy streets, late-day crowds and Christmastime shoppers filling the trade district and making her journey back to Robin’s apartment a slow one. She passed the dress shops and tailors and cobblers, young girls oggling the latest silk taffeta holiday designs in the store window. She passed the butcher and green grocery, each advertising holiday turkeys and fresh cranberries respectively. And soon, Geo’s cart came into view and she offered him a cheerful wave as he bagged a customer’s oranges. It was as she passed by that the the bookstore’s awning finally came into view; almost there—and just in time.

As she approached the shopfront, however, her brow furrowed in confusion; for despite the early evening holiday shoppers about, there were no lights on in the store as there should have been. Did Robin close early?

She stepped under the awning and up into the entryway nook, eying a sign tacked to the shop door written in Robin’s precise, elegant handwriting. She cocked her head, gloved fingers touching the note curiously. Ordinarily, Robin wrote in cursive. Nami knew this because she could scarcely read cursive—as much as she could read to begin with. Whenever Robin wrote in her journal or transcribed recipes, she always wrote in that looping, elegant, nonsensical script. And when she sent Nami to the store with a grocery list, or otherwise provided her with a simple written message, it was always penned in clear, precise font instead of her usual cursive.

Just like this sign.

She stared at it closely, slowly deciphering the message word by word: “Closed for the day. Please come back tomorrow.”

Huh. That was… odd. Though she supposed Robin knew she was due to resume her shift shortly—maybe she simply wanted her to know she had the rest of the evening off? Or maybe she was just trying to make her store notices clearer and easier to read for potential customers? There were a lot of children out and about today… Although, that fact alone made it odd that she would close early. The holiday rush was at its peak, after all.

She stepped off the stoop and back out into the street. She supposed it would be easy to find out, as the woman in question was likely right upstairs. Turning, she headed for the narrow, nondescript door to the left of the shopfront. Pulling her key from her pocket, she unlocked the door and pushed it open with with a grating squeal before stepping inside and locking both the door and the sounds of the street behind her.

She climbed the narrow, dingy stairs quickly, stopping at the small landing at the top to flip the keys on her ring and stick the second into the apartment door’s lock. She turned and pushed it open easily, stepping into the apartment’s warmth. The fire was crackling in the living room, a low flame rising from two small logs in the hearth. She pulled her gloves from her hands and her cloak from her shoulders, tossing the winter wear onto a bench by the door. Then, she headed into the living room, calling out.

“Robin? You home?”

Brief silence followed by the clinking of stoneware; then: “In the Kitchen!”

Turning right, she crossed through the living room heading toward Robin’s voice, rubbing her hands to ward off the last of the outdoor chill.

“I saw you closed the shop early?” she queried, stepping into the short hallway; however she didn’t get more than halfway through before the dining nook—and their kitchen table, came into view, causing her to freeze mid-step.

For sitting at the table in her chair beside a politely smiling Robin, a steaming cup of tea in his hand, was none other than Lord Trafalgar.

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[thepinkwriterr]

Creature Comfort // Peter Parker AU Chapter Five

“Where ya’ goin’, Dad?” I asked as my Dad slipped on his coat. “Anywhere important? You going on a mission? Can I go?” I jumped up. “The compound. Tony said he had something he wanted to talk to me about.” He fixed his collar, jostling his arms in his sleeves. 

“Can I come?” I gave him my puppy-dog eyes, pleading desperately. He dead panned, turning to me. “Oh no. Remember what happened to you last time I let you go with me somewhere?” His eyes eyes and tone were serious. “Oh come on, Dad. You’re overreacting.” I tilted my head, looking seriously at him. “I’m serious. Stay here and finish your revision.” I pouted, turning back to my Macbook and textbook. I sighed, sulking into my keyboard. 

Class has been exponentially trivial lately. Sure, I’m studying to be a Doctor, and it’s usually hectic, but all I can seem to think about is Peter. I know I should be studying, but I can’t get him off my mind. The attempt at a kiss was filling my head with thoughts of what we could be. Peter is definitely Boyfriend material; he’s sweet. he’s incredibly smart, funny, and adorable. His smile light up the room. He smiles with his whole face, his eyes crinkling with each up-turn of his lips. His laugh swells my heart. He really is a  national treasure. 

I slammed my Macbook shut and pulled my phone from my pocket. I clicked on the contact ‘Peter  ❤️ ‘. I sighed, hovering over the green ‘Call’ button. I watched it dial. It rang once. Twice. I sighed, accepting defeat. “Hello?” The voice on the line was distressed. “Uh-hey, Peter.” I staggered. “H-hey, Caire. What’s up?” Sounds of carnage were coming from the line. Groans and thuds loudly sounded from his end of the phone “Are you on a mission?” Guilt racked my body and I closed my eyes, sighing. “Uh-kinda. It’s not a big deal, really.” He tried to convince me. His voice was shaky and unsure. “I’ll call back. Be safe, Peter.” 

“I will, I promise. His voice was genuine. “Bye.” I said quickly, pressing ‘End Call’. 

Peter’s POV

“Hey, kid.” Steve’s wide, camera-ready grin greeted me as I got into the back seat of the car. “Oh-hey, Steve.” I smiled back awkwardly. “How was school?” His hands glided along the wheel as he turned out of the parking lot. “It was...pretty good.”  

“That’s good.” He nodded. There was an awkward silence filling the space, creating a thick tension.  Typically I would be nervous or awkward about Captain America picking me up for school, but there was only one thing on my mind.

“Hey, Steve?” I asked, apprehension filling my voice. “Yeah, Kid?” He asked, looking at me in the rear view mirror. I gulped, saliva thick in my mouth. “D-did you ever talk to girls when you were my age?” God, this is stupid. Of course. He’s Captain fucking America.  “Well, I wasn’t too good with the girls, that’s a better question for Bucky.” He answered honestly in his state-of-the-art Cap voice. “Oh.” I nodded. 

“Is there a special girl in your life?” He smirked. “Yeah.” I breathed out. It felt good to say it. Claire and I have something special. I don’t go around just kissing anybody. “Just treat her with respect. Listen to what she says, really listen. And always take her dancing. Women love dancing.” His smile was broad and genuine. I nodded, a smile prancing its way onto my face. 

“Hey, Buck, Peter here is having girl trouble.” Steve said as we walked into the lounge, his hand resting heavy on my shoulder. Oh god. Why did he have to tell everyone? Now people will start to ask who-”Really?” Bucky asked, quirking a brow. “And he asked you?” He further prodded. “Well, yeah.” Steve shrugged. “Steve was so bad with women. He was nervous, and twitchy, and scrawny.” Bucky laughed. 

“No way!” I laughed, picturing Cap’s big ass head on a tiny, little skinny boy body. Steve nodded humbly,”Yeah, he’s right. I was probably as skinny as Claire.” He laughed. My bemused chuckling stopped once he mentioned Claire. “You alright, Kid?” Steve asked. “Oh! You like Claire, don’t you?” Bucky asked. ���What? No!” I tried to play it off. Neither of them bought it. I didn’t either. 

“I used to pull all kinds of chicks. Of course, it was the suit. They all loved my hat. I wore it all the time,” Bucky laughed, scooting back on the counter he sat himself on. He coughed, realizing what he was saying,”No, but really, you should be a gentlemen. If she says no, she means it. We’ll kick your ass if you do anything to her.” Bucky said with a stern look. “Or any girl, for that matter.” Steve added in. 

“Guys, I don’t like Claire, really!” My voice cracked as I shouted. “Okay, okay! There’s no need to use your squeaky voice!” Tony said, bursting into our conversation. I looked terrified as he chuckled. I hope he didn’t hear any of that. “What?” He asked, looking at my face. “Oh come on, I’m sorry.” Tony admitted. 

I liked the advice Steve and Bucky gave me last week, but I felt like it was a little outdated. Maybe I needed a more up-to-date opinion. “Hey Mr. Stark?” I asked as we trailed down the hall, footsteps quiet as can be. “What is it, Kid? Make it good and make it quick!” He said, stressing his point. “Uh-n-nevermind.” I stuttered. He rolled his eyes, sighing as we made our way into the room. 

“Mr. Stark,” I started as we sat in the car,”Have you ever-asked a girl out?” The apprehension in my voice was thick and noticeable. “Like on a date?” Tony asked me. I nodded slowly. 

His laughed bellowed from deep in his stomach. “You’re asking me for girl advice?” He cocked a dark brown. I once again nodded slowly. “My field of expertise.” He smirked, rubbing his hands together. 

“So who’s the girl?” Tony asked. “Uh-it’s not important,” I answered quickly, stuttering. “Okay-well, what is she like?” He asked, sitting back in his chair. My mind searched for adjective to describe Claire. There were so many, I didn’t know how to answer that question. “Um, she’s smart, pretty, good music taste-” I rattled off surface level things I thought about her. “Hold on, how good are we talkin’ here?” Tony asked, holding a hand to stop me. “Her favorite band is Black Sabbath.” I shrugged. “Okay, so really good.” He nodded. I smiled a bit, a chuckle billowing from my throat. 

“Just talk to her. Be one hundred percent yourself when you do it, too. If she’s really a good one, she won’t care about how cool you are. And, I mean, if she likes Sabbath, she clearly has a good taste and will like you back,” He muttered from the side of his mouth, holding the back of his hand to the corner of his lips. Another laugh emitted from my body, causing Tony to smile as well. “Thanks.” I nodded. 

“Hey, Kiddo,” Aunt May ruffled my hair as I walked in the door. “Hey, May.” I smiled back at her. “You alright?” She asked as I walked to my door. I sighed, closing my eyes. Do I tell her? 

[finderskeepersff]

55.

Wiping the sleep form my eyes, I am so tired. I am honestly more tired now than ever before and I get more sleep, I used to be be staying up all night and now I am like this. I expected Sofia to not be in bed, her friends are over, they arrived last night and I was asleep then, I can’t stop sleeping. Maybe it’s a sign of depression, I don’t know. Henry said that to me when I kept on staying in bed, he was a good guy. Pushing the covers off of me, getting up out of bed and sitting on the edge of the bed. Right on time, my phone rings. Well my burner phone that is, as long as it ain’t my dad. Looking at the caller I.D, it is Ethan “I just woke up my nigga” I answered the call “I sensed it, I have her here for you” I love that Ethan listens to everything I do “pass her the phone” clearing my throat, I can’t shake this off at all “sorry about your brother” Celine said down the phone “I was at the funeral and I saw what happened” I knew she would have “then you know, if you fuck on me you know what will happen. I have given you many chances and you know this” which I have “you still care” this is what I mean “no, I felt obliged because you took me in when I was on drugs, you did take care of me when you had the chance to kill me, I was vulnerable so that is why. But it’s the past now, I need you to get your son back. I want you to take him” the phone line went silent “how can I do that? That boy was taken from me, I have no right. Legally I can’t” that is true “fuck the law, I am the law. You take your son back, I will send you the hotel details. You good now, you want him don’t you?” is she crying on the phone, pulling a face “are you crying?” I questioned “I didn’t realise what I had until I lost him, I am right. I saw him at the funeral and he knows me, he does but I wasn’t allowed near him. Thank you Cassius” I am shocked she cried “you do right by my nephew, he need a lot of love Celine. I will be always watching, remember that” I will always know what Bryce is doing “how will I get him?” licking my top lip “it’s funny, I mean not funny but sad. Carnell sold him” it’s not funny but it’s laughable “erm, what do you mean sold him?” every time I speak on this I smoke a blunt “in exchange for some money he will give you Bryce, nothing will come of it. Trash people” lighting the blunt “you bought Bryce from your dad? I am trash, I know I am but that is real trash. You bought my son? I will change, I don’t do drugs. My home is not no drug place anymore. I sold it, I live with my mom now” blowing the smoke out from my lips “cool, Ethan will deal with it. Just know I will be watching you” disconnecting the call, placing the blunt between my lips thinking. I was just playing when I asked Carnell and he did it, I am not buying them any house, he took the money and is giving Bryce up.

Sofia will be so angry with me, so I opened the balcony doors and air this bitch out and sprayed a little something, I just need to have a blunt sometimes, I mean most of the time. Kyle is not here so I am dealing with a lot of it, not a problem though because I ain’t need to work any nights. Fixing my dick in my sweatpants as I made my way downstairs, looking down at my hand. Why do I have my lighter in my hand still, that weed hit differently this time. I am tired again, I need food and a nap. Placing my lighter in my sweatpants pocket and fixing my snapback on my head, I don’t even know the time. Hearing the girls giggle in the living area, walking into the room “I heard you wash hair” Mia said as soon I entered, not even a hello first “I don’t know what you mean?” Sofia slapped Mia “what? Honestly, do you?” Sofia is airing me out like this, looking over at Sofia “do I?” I asked, Sofia pressed her lips into a hard thin line “no” she said in a whisper “wow, daddy is here and now you back tracking. You little liar” Mia pointed, Sofia mouthed sorry. She better be sorry “y’all daddy is here, get it right. Why you boring Cartier with this mess, what is this?” walking over to them “wedding planning” rubbing my bare chest “right, how is that going?” Mia looked up at me “you had a blunt for breakfast?” I just smiled at her “look at him but why don’t you sit your ass down and participate, if Mitch didn’t I would be offended” I sniggered “I guess y’all going to be offended” walking off to get some cereal.

Drinking the OJ from the bottle “not heard of a cup?” Olivia said behind me “yeah” closing the fridge door “you’re such a nigga sometimes, why you playing? Sofia thinks I came to get a drink. She was raving on about you, she was like he really went all out, rose petals. Ran her a bath. You let her sleep in the mornings. She is so happy. Yes we know you washed her hair but she really wants you to help with the wedding. Some input would do nicely, you don’t need to act a certain way with us Cassius. That blunt got to your head, I just don’t like to see my friend sad, she values your opinion the most, you just don’t see it. I know you love her behind closed doors but just be more interested on a day she never thought she would get” I think Olivia and Mia would kill me if I ever did anything wrong by Sofia “and actually I did come for a drink. Get me a diet coke from the fridge thanks” opening the fridge door “she is so proud of you Cassius, she gushed about you for an hour on that couch. Don’t be annoyed with her” holding the can out to Olivia “I ain’t annoyed with her, ever” I simply said, I am not ever angry with Sofia. I may have been a little annoyed that she told but being really angry is a no, I have a lot on my mind.

With my bowl of cereal, I thought I would take myself into the living room and I guess be more interested in this wedding thing. It’s not that I don’t want to get married but I don’t do well with public events I guess, I am not sure “I would have made you something” Sofia said as I sat down across from them “it’s ok, it’s kind of late anyways. So what you doing now?” I will try this “thinking on what to do, should we do it overseas?” maybe I am harsh, maybe I don’t participate like Olivia says, I feel bad somewhat “why don’t we just stick with Hawaii, it will better for people to get there. Well the handful of people, it’s not far and it’s better. We can go away for the honeymoon” Sofia looked at her friends “this is y’all thing” Olivia said “if you think that is better” nodding my head “do it in Hawaii and then we can go away” best way “I will pay for the honeymoon, I want to go Bali” pulling a face “where the fuck is that?” I am confused, Sofia laughed “Indonesia” letting out an oh “I only know America, ok how about we go halves. You tell me how much it is and we can work that out. It sounds expensive. But keep it to Hawaii” looking down at my watch “shit, someone is going to come” getting up from the couch and placing the bowl on the coffee table in the middle “but you ain’t eat it?” Sofia said “I know, I got someone coming” I forgot all about this.

“Cassius! Someone is here for you!” Sofia spat, placing my shades over my eyes. Pressing my hair down, I miss my outgrown hair. Smiling in the mirror, I got a new gold cuban chain, new diamond Rolex and a new gold grill. Jogging down the steps “who is this guy?” Sofia asked with Cartier in her arms “he is a new friend, Nav. My man” dapping him “Cassius, good seeing my brother” Sofia is just staring at me up and down “show me, I am excited” I was upset that my new baby had to go into a garage already but that was because I wanted to change colour “you will be happy Cassius” stepping outside “I like the Bentley and Range, matching and all that” nodding my head laughing “the Range is my girl’ car so she drive that but I want to see the mean bitch” seeing my new Lamborghini being driven off of the back of the truck “ooohhh shiit, look at her!” jogging over to my car as a guy got out of the car “For you” he said “this is fucking dope, I wanted it black. I am sick of white, shit gets dirty too quick. The rims” leaning down and touching the rims “this is dope Nav, you know I got you. I think the neighbours think I am selling dope, ain’t nobody rattled their cage, I don’t think they like the engine noise” dapping Nav again “they just jealous, I thought I would come out for this” Louis is stood right behind Nav, they are so untrustworthy about people “don’t mind him, he is with me” Nav just stared up at Louis “he is scary, damn” he moved to the side of me “not to be messed with but thank you” I got my new car.

“I have never seen this like in person Cassius, what!?” Mia spat, touching my Lamborghini “beautiful ain’t it?” Mia walked over to my new car “wow, this is beautiful. Oh my god, can I sit inside!?” she asked, I nodded my head “you remind me of a light skinned rapper. Look at you” Olivia said, Sofia just stared at me confused “what is this?” she questioned “my new car, look at it” she doesn’t seem pleased with it “I mean nice but why?” I shrugged “treating myself I guess” picking Cartier out of Sofia’ arms “me and the boy riding in this, you know how we do big boy” kissing his cheek “this shit is so low down but wow, it’s beautiful Cassius. The car looks amazing” Mia complimented “appreciate it, don’t we dada? This is mine and yours” crouching down at the side of the car, placing him in the passenger seat sitting him back “me and you son, forever. We going to show niggas on these streets, ain’t nobody going to fuck with us” Cartier is just looking around his surroundings “who is this big guy?” Olivia asked “Cassius friend” Sofia said “you don’t need to ever dream of something, because I will make it a reality for you” I smiled at him “you have been busy, you can drop me off at work. I need to see Gio” Sofia walked off saying.

I am going to kill him, I told him to not smoke in this room. He says it’s not Cartier’ room but he stays most of the time here, he is so annoying. Throwing the mess of blunt from the side if the bed table into the trash, he is draining at times. I understand he is having to do a lot, he is also getting a lot of money delivered to the home, he is up to something and now I know what. He has been spending, which I don’t mind. It’s his money but people are seeing these big guys outside, expensive cars and duffle bags coming here, he needs to be careful. He has been busy with whatever he is doing and I just feel like I am left with the wedding, he just wants to turn up. Like he doesn’t care and I don’t like that feeling, I want some sort of effort from him. I don’t understand why he is even getting duffle bags when the money should be filtered, I am learning these things. He is doing something more than spending and I don’t know what it is but I am waiting.

I will have a talk with him in the car, if I can because to be honest I think he will be too happy about his new car “do I look ok? I am not that dressed up but am I ok?” Cassius pulled a face “I mean you look good, no denying it but your legs are on show, you got nothing under that?” lifting up his hoodie “I got booty shorts on, you can’t really see anything. It’s a quick meeting. You just need to wait outside for me, thank you” Cassius doesn’t look pleased, I don’t know why and it’s not nice “why do you want me to go?” I just turned on my heels “girls, I will be back. Just need to do this” he will soon follow on, I don’t know what his issue is, there is something bugging him and I know him. Picking my bag up from the side, if I leave this house and he is not behind me I will be angry. Hearing Cassius clear his throat behind me “I will take the new car” he said behind me, I knew he would come up.

This car is so low down, it’s like it’s on the ground. Putting my belt on “do you like my car?” Cassius asked as he put the engine on, it roared as he did “that does sound nice actually” I smiled at him “better than hearing you moan” rolling my eyes at him “sure, I sound better than that” glaring over at him as he put his foot down “Cassius!” I spat, my body flew back into this seat “it’s good though, sexy ain’t it?” he’s only smiling because of this car “it’s just a car that makes a lot of noise, but it’s cute. You know, you have been a little off with me, I said I am here for you. I have told you this, I am here when you need me. Just I feel a little sad with the fact you distance yourself when it comes to the wedding. I don’t feel you are fully there with me, this is what makes me sad and hurt Cassius” I am going to express my feelings whether he likes it or not, he has been a little distant with me “I just have a lot going on, it’s nothing bad” it’s bad when he is not there for me “and you don’t smoke a blunt in the room. What I tell you about that, stop it” he is so aggy at times “it’s my room too, I ain’t do it when he is there. He has his own room Sofia” what don’t he get “I want you to stop having blunts, clearly you don’t know how to act” Cassius rolled his eyes and I saw him do it “I can act, you just fussing” he mumbled “fussing? Is that what you call it, just drive” I said shaking my head.

I hate this car, shit is too damn low and then pulling the stupid door down, I huffed out after just managing to do it “break the door, can’t you just close it like a normal person” he is so sensitive about this stupid car “you know what Cassius, go. Drive off, I don’t need you to drive me back but I mean what I say, stop having blunts” Cassius turned his head not saying a thing, walking towards the building and hearing the engine roar as he went. I rather catch a cab, you never know Gio may take me back home “hey” I said to the receptionist “welcome” she opened the gate for me, I have Cassius on my mind. I know he has so much on his mind but I am here for him. I want him to speak to me, why won’t he just talk to me. He just won’t speak to me, he stresses me out sometimes. I mean he has been the best but it’s like now he is just not letting me help him.

I do think sometimes if it’s good to work here at the building, it seems so nice and chilled. Smiling at this girl as she smiled at me “Sofia, you’re early. I will be with you, see me inside” smiling at him as I made me way to his office “missed your legs” I thought he would be gone “I thought you would be gone by now” sitting down on the chair “I am forever here, in all seriousness. It’s good to see you, how are you?” Jordan is so fake “I am fine” holding my hand up “engaged” smiling at him, he just smiled at me, a pained smile nodding his head “nice, it’s funny what money can buy a woman” I sniggered “buy me?” I pointed at myself “oh no hunny, you can’t afford me. It’s called being in love, I don’t think you have formally met him. If you want too, I will be happy to introduce you both. But I think you should ask your friend before that happens, I am sure he has told you to stay clear” he thinks he is fucking clever every time “Sofia! I am so glad you came” I winked at Jordan as I got up “you know me, I love seeing you” hugging him.

We never speak on work when I come here, I spend more time talking shit to him “sometimes I just want to turn lesbian, men can be so hormonal at times. But I am going to invite you to Hawaii, for our wedding. I mean it is happening, I know I complain but I love him” Gio cooed out “I know you won’t leave him, not because you can’t just meet any man but because you love him and that is sweet. Love is rare but I feel the same way about women, they be so bipolar at times, I am glad to be gay. Oh was you happy with your pay?” Gio asked “oh my god yes, I mean I know it pays well but that is good. Did they really like it? It’s funny because I had so much going on when I did it. But yes, I bought Cartier a little something with it. I was so happy, thank you” the door opened behind us “Gio, this guy jumped the barrier and is not-” the door flew open “you said quick” Cassius walked in “I also told you to go, me and Gio are talking” what is he even doing, Gio rushed around his desk “I know him, it’s ok. Cassius! Looking well, looking like those rich rappers” Gio hugged Cassius and I had to laugh, like this is so funny to me “y’all just drink wine? I thought this was work?” I shrugged “we gossip” turning around in the seat “mostly about how men can be trash, Cassius just go” I did say for him to go.

Cassius didn’t leave which cut the conversation short, Cassius is just sat here being awkward “so this needs to be complete in a month, so this needs to be in by the end of the week” Gio said, nodding my head “I guess so, shall we go?” getting up from the chair, he could have gone and then Gio and I could just talk but no “It was so nice seeing you Cassius, honestly” Gio opened the door for me, Jordan is stood right there and then stepped to the side “you two met before right?” Jordan looked at me like I wasn’t speaking to him “this is my fiancé, Jordan was telling me that you missed my what again?” Jordan froze “uh, I didn’t say such a thing” fuck him, I will snitch “aye!” Cassius said “aye, look at me. You got something to say?” Jordan shook his head “you seemed like a real dickhead in the car park that time, I remember shit like that. Did you say you missed her?” Jordan shook his head, he is such a liar “I will break your fingers and feed it to your dog, and let your dad watch while I do that. You will have no eyes if you look at her again” Jordan’ face dropped “how do you know I have a dog?” He said in disbelief “don’t fuck with what is mines, got it?” smiling at him as I walked off, I am sure he won’t look at me now or say a word.

I guess he did wait so I will go home with him, I slammed the car door shut “why do you do that!?” he spat “I am a little person, I can’t do it any other way” I barked back “I am sorry” he said to me “sorry doesn’t fix your attitude does it?” which it doesn’t “I have a lot going on right now, I have had some decisions I needed to make personally. I get stressed out, it’s hard to be normal and then doing something fucked up. I am not angry at you or anyone else, it’s just hard” turning in the seat to face him “tell me, I am here for you. I am your wife, a wife knows everything” Cassius shook his head “it’s over with” he is lying “but it’s not, talk to me Cassius” it ain’t over like he thinks because his mood is still shit “I got the insurance money from the fire at the house, I took the money and bought this, jewellery and then bought Bryce” blinking at Cassius several times before I could comprehend what he just said “you bought what? That last line needs repeating” I didn’t catch it right “I bought Bryce” he repeated “like you paid cash and got him? Did he get kidnapped? I mean is there something missing here?” I am confused “I contacted Carnell, I said for him to get out of my city and leave Bryce. He said no, then I gave him a price and he agreed. He is going back to his mother” my mouth hung open staring at Cassius “you did the opposite of what I said?” he really didn’t do anything I said “I kill people that betray me, they are alive. That is lucky for them” looking at Cassius in sadness.

This is hard to take in, he bought Bryce. I mean fuck the rest, Carnell sold a child for nothing “how do you know Celine wants him? She can’t be good for him” what if he she don’t want him “she cried on the phone, she wants him. I know” he looks so deflated “I don’t want you speaking to her Cassius, what the hell!? She is the same one making up shit in your mind, she likes you and you call her?” what is wrong with him “I wanted to know Bryce was ok, that is all I care for” nodding my head “ok so you took the insurance money, you bought this. Is there a reason why you wanted to buy?” He doesn’t really buy this much, it’s not him “because it’s mine Sofia, from all of the shit I been through. It’s mine, that home is mine. I was the dad, I ain’t giving shit to them now. I ain’t doing it, I am not their dad, I am not Monique’ husband. I am not doing it, ok?” Cassius voice broke saying that “I ain’t doing it because I am not nice anymore, I think what hurt me is that he took that money for Bryce. He sold me like that, to the streets he did that to me. Just that I made it work for me, but if I wasn’t strong I would be dead. I am not angry at you or anyone else but I have a lot on my mind, I don’t want to upset you. So I am sorry if I did” placing my hand on his arm “Cassius, I just want you to talk to me. I understand why you didn’t, I do. You’re not a bad guy so don’t think that of yourself. I just want you to talk to me about it. You’re a great guy and I love you. Your dad doesn’t scare you anymore, that respect left a while ago now. I support you Cassius, you ain’t done bad” Cassius smiled at me “I do care Sofia, you know me. I hope you do now, I just be trying to do a lot of things” I understand, he just never speaks to me like he should.

Cassius can be very ruthless when he wants to be, I don’t think I have seen that nice boss Cassius in a while now. I am sad for him but I can only support him and I do, reaching over and grabbing his hand that was on his lap “you’re the first girl to be in this car” frowning at him saying that “liar, Mia sat her fat ass in this” so that is bullshit “she don’t count, but yeah I am sorry. Olivia near bit my head off and was like you ain’t making no effort, you’re upsetting my friend. I took it, I ain’t want to upset you. I try and stay away from you with all of that but thank you for understanding, it’s probably annoying on your side” I shrugged “I just like you to talk to me, I like to feel involved. I mean my advice is just dumb anyways but I am always rooting for you, you scared Jordan anyways. Thanks” I am glad he did that, I don’t think he will look at me anymore “he saw me storm onto the floor, like he didn’t say shit. I was annoyed. Ethan called me, and told me that he saw my mom and she had a black eye but it ain’t my problem but I was still heated” my face softened “your mom is a grown woman, she should walk away. This is not on you at all” Cassius bought my hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to my hand “I got my own family now” it will bug him but Monique is a grown ass woman.

Cassius parked his new car on the drive “I think your car does make a nice addition to what we have, she is cute” let me compliment his car and mean it “why can’t you say sexy?” he turned the engine off “because I am the sexy one, that is why” I smiled “but I am saying sexy because you are here in the car with me, come on” I cooed out “thank you baby, you know Cassius with me. I just like to know, or I just think it’s something else” Cassius got his phone out “I know but sometimes I don’t want to drag you in with the bullshit, I find it hard sometimes” he likes to be secretive “I love you baby” leaning over the panel to kiss him “look at me” I whined out “taking a picture of us” Cassius said, looking over at him pointing his phone at us “no way, you’re taking a picture of us? You’re taking a picture of us!?” I repeated “you hate pictures” I am shocked “I am trying, I want to put you on Insta. Can I?” I cooed “yes baby you can, look at me” I said to him, he looked over at me. I pecked his lips “you can do what you like Cassius, just know that I see the changes with you. Just I want to help you” Cassius grinned at me “you mean a lot to me, I don’t know what person I would have been without you” he said, he means so much to me.

[chronicbatfictioner]

Subtle - Chapter 8

Jason, however, did not pay attention - much - to the plethora of superheroes suddenly trying to be friends with him. He was merely thinking of the benefits when his old team regrouped while his new team was unavailable when he needed backups to handle some stuff. And because Jason didn't care, he never asked why they chose to find him at the same time, either. He just relished on the fact that that the two of them being there was beneficial for him.

That is, until his plan kind of glitched when Wonder Woman showed up.

"Your little bird boyfriend is... kind of toxic for our kind." Roy Harper - Arsenal - groused as they tried to get out of the stronghold of a wannabe terrorist group who had disguised itself as a PTA group - unironically hiding guns in cooler boxes and head for their destination as a college football team's tailgating party.

They - the terrorists - obviously didn't think that they would be stopped by Wonder Woman. Who asked them nicely to please stop shooting, she needs to speak quietly with the Red Hood, and then proceeded to wrap their vehicles around them.

"Eh, I'm going to suspend my opinion on the 'toxic' remark. At least we got this done unscratched." Jason commented. "What do you need, Wonder Woman?"

"Well, first of all, maybe for you to be less combative against someone who'd just helped you." she snapped. "There were kids in there that could've gotten hurt if I hadn't interfered!"

"I know! Why do you think I have Starfire out there on standby to grab the kids when it's possible! You didn't honestly think they'll not use those kids as hostages, did you?" Jason shot back, pointing to Starfire who had just landed, looked at the arrested terrorists, then at Arsenal, and both - very unhelpfully - shrugged.

"Won't it be easier just to use those contraptions... cellphones?" Starfire's sing-song-y voice carried on clearly even over the rattling sounds of people trying to un-bend the metals around them.

"You know that would not allow me to see his face, Starfire." Wonder Woman replied, unperturbed.

"It's not like I'm taking off the maaa...-- what the hell put me down!!" Jason yelped as Wonder Woman grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him into the air. He didn't struggle, because what was the point? Plus, he kind of preferred not succeeding in a struggle because they were out in a desert and way up high. "I'm getting kidnapped by Wonder Woman... The Bat is gonna have a field day with this..." he grumbled instead.

"Oh, stuff it, Jason. Even Starfire knows I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just here to talk. Not as Red Hood and Wonder Woman, but as Jason and Diana, please."

"About a certain little red bird that you don't think I'm good enough for... yadda yadda yadda... I get it, mom, if I hurt him, I'd get drawn, quartered, and my head-gets-put-on-a-stake, I get it!" Jason finally exploded, yanking off his helmet. "You know how many people talked to me about that shit in the past month?? I mean seriously, I've got Ra's Al Ghul wanting to know what my purpose is with him! The hell is it with you people??"

Diana frowned, and then cocked an eyebrow. "Honestly, I have known you before I even know of him. And I am wondering if he was good enough for you... You're a battler, a brawler. You live for the front lines. He's... cunning. More of a behind-the-scenes person than you are. He crafted happenstances to benefit him..." she mused out loud. "I care for you, Jason..." she placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. "I don't want to see you hurt."

The helmet fell off Jason's arm to the ground, he was so surprised. But Diana was not done. "I never thought... when you were killed, you know how it went for your father. But I... I'd only seen you a few weeks prior. Everything moved so fast yet so slow. One minute he was so overjoyed to have you, and then he was broken... But regardless," she shook her head. "I have yet the pleasure to meet Red Robin - aside of from his... general reputation. If you can find the time, I would like to dine with you and your boyfriend."

Jason blinked.

"What." He wondered out loud. Diana smiled, and waved - probably calling for Starfire to come fetch Jason.

"Everyone was worried for him, I think I am entitled to stand my ground and express my care, too, aren't I?" she asked before she went airborne, pausing a few miles in the air to talk to Starfire who was bringing Roy over.

"What just happened?" Jason demanded.

"Gee, Jaybird, I'd tell you, but you were the one talking to the lady. Lady - capital 'L'." Roy reminded him.

"Uh.. yeah. I--" Jason sputtered as he bent down to retrieve his helmet. "Anyway! Business done? Did you find the flash drive? So we can actually like, get some cash for this? Even if Wonder Woman was the one wrapping them up?"

"Of course I did!" Roy beamed, showing a flash disk in the form of - Jason had to roll his eyes at the predictability of them rednecks - a tiny gun. "What did she want with you?"

"She said I looked radiant and wished me well, she must be... happy." Starfire - Kory - remarked, almost incongruently.

"Princesses greeting each other a mile in the sky... and I'm far too jaded to even wonder how is it I didn't crap myself. But anyway! What did she want?" Roy returned to his initial question, because even if he has two seconds attention span, Roy could focus on things that interested him.

"She wanted me to bring Tim over for dinner." Jason replied, thanking high-heavens that his helmet's voice-modulator made his voice sounded cool and betrayed none of the giddiness he was feeling. Or the redness of his face as he looked at Roy's gaping mouth.

"Huh, how nice it is for the Amazonian Princess to summon you for a dinner. Please remember to wear a suit." Kory commented. Because of course she would zoom in on the fact that Diana was a princess, like Kory is-- was-- whatever depending on who was talking. Still, she has immediately thought of the situation in the fact that a princess, i.e. Diana - asking a commoner, i.e. Jason - to attend a dinner with her.

"I have no idea what to wear, " Jason admitted. "everything I know of royalty and stuff like that are from books. And I don't think they'd wear chainmails and or armors or stuff like that anymore, do they?"

"I... am not sure of Earth's customs, but I think you would not wear chainmails or armor into an official dining hall, unless said dinner happened in the middle of a combat. Leather, maybe, your best ones." Kory replied glibly, her eyes swept over Jason's jacket. "But! I shall be honored to accompany you and your beautiful boyfriend a trip to the mall to acquire new garbs!" she added excitedly.

"Oh boy," Jason groaned.

"And I shall accompany you three to see if you two has the same disastrous taste as your big bro." Roy grinned mischievously at him.

"No we don't. And we're not going to any malls. My boy-- Red Robin actually has someone to dress him and, need I remind you, Roy, is the adopted son of a billionaire. He wouldn't be caught dead in a TJ Maxx shirt..." Jason pointed out. "Wait, why are we talking about malls? We're vigilantes!"

"I don't think TJ Maxx has come up with a kevlar- and nomex-lined suits, Jaybird. But what do I know..."

[spideyxchelle]

What if jessica jones is michelle's relative?

guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuys. WHAT?! wait. WHAT??? mind blown. holy fuck. guuuys, fam. pls pls pls. ugh, okay. let’s do this. 

MJ was a black woman. this wasn’t up for debate. it was just fact. it didn’t matter that her mother was white and her father was black. it didn’t matter that technically she was biracial. she was black. because when she walked outside the world saw black. so that was what she was. 

but even as a black woman she struggled, you know? like, she never felt quite black enough for her black family and she definitely wasn’t white enough for her white family. but that wasn’t her family’s fault. her family never ostracized her or made her feel unloved. it was just the looks she got when she went out with them. particularly her dad’s white family. but that was society’s fault not theirs. and MJ, pretty famously, loathed society. 

the only person that loathed society more than MJ, she was pretty sure, was her Aunt Jess. her dad’s little sister Jess (well, half sister…it was a long story, her father and aunt jess connected later in life, she’d been kept from her father and his other siblings because of infidelity or something. REALLY REALLY LONG STORY.) was the most badass, awesome person to ever person. like, seriously. she was a private investigator that didn’t give any shits ever. it was fucking incredible. she was MJ’s role model. the women on MJ’s dad’s side were willowy, frail looking people, a trait MJ had inherited. all long legs and skinny ankles. but Aunt Jess took all of that frail bullshit and handed guys their asses. literally.

she was tough. 

and she LOOOVED MJ. which always made MJ feel special. her little brothers were the apple of every aunt and uncle on both sides of the family. but MJ was hard to get along with, she knew that, and most of her family loved her but never quite knew how to talk to her. Aunt Jess? aunt jess didn’t care that MJ was tough or badass because aunt jess was 10x more than MJ could ever be. she was a hard woman. she was an amazing woman.

so when she started to date Peter (because she was a loser and she liked him) the person she was most nervous for him to meet was his aunt jess. she really, really wanted aunt jess to like him. like, if she didn’t she was probably going to break up with him. sorry. she didn’t make the rules. that was just the way the world worked. 

and peter was f r e a k i n g out. meeting MJ’s parents had been rough. he’d been a sweaty, fumbling mess. but all things considered he’d done well. but MJ had been impressing upon him for WEEKS that aunt jess was the opinion she cared the most about and she knew he was panicking. because not to toot her own horn but she knew how much peter liked her and didn’t want to screw this up. impressing aunt jess was important to him. as it SHOULD be.

he changed his science pun shirt four times before he settled on one that said “never trust an atom, they make up everything”. she rolled her eyes but gifted him a swift kiss on the cheek. “you ready?” he shook his head, “nope”. “you’re gonna be fine,” she rolled her eyes. “just in case,” he straightened up, pulled her close and indulged in a long, somewhat dirty kiss. when it was done she cleared her throat and wiped at her mouth, trying not to show how rattled she actually was, “what was that for?” “if your aunt hates me and you dump me I just wanted to get one more in.” she flicked his nose, “loser.”

luckily for Peter, aunt jess didn’t hate him. 

it was much weirder. 

when they knocked on Aunt’s Jess broken window to her office/apartment (it was always broken), she swung open the door with her signature bored smirk and yanked MJ into a hug, “look at this cute face.” “hi aunt jess,” MJ rolled her eyes, “this is my boyfriend pe-” 

“PARKER? IS THAT YOU??” her aunt practically shouted. Peter’s face drained pale. he blinked at her aunt a few times in shock and squeaked, “Jessica?? what…but…how??”

and MJ suddenly felt very misinformed. like, how the FUCK did her boyfriend and her aunt know each other. she tried to get a word in edge wise but suddenly peter and her aunt jess were talking over each other. 

“no freakin’ way you’re allowed to date my niece” “that’s not fair. besides, i didn’t even know you HAD any family.” “i keep things close to the chest. how could you be so reckless. do you have any idea how many enemies you have?? I don’t want MJ wrapped up in that?” “pot. kettle. its not like you don’t have people after you.” “don’t you get smart with me, you little shit. i’ll kick your arachnid ass.” “mr. stark said you’re not allowed to do that anymore.” “you see tony HERE?”

“OKAAY!” MJ shouted. “both of you shut up. let’s not do this in the hallway.” 

the two had the decency to look sheepish, or, well, peter did and aunt jess didn’t fight the request. once the door was closed and the three of them were in the safety of aunt jess’ apartment, MJ tried again, “someone explain to me what the hell is going on.”

aunt jess crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, “you know your boyfriend is spider-man, right?” “yes…” THEN ALARM BELLS WENT OFF IN MJ’S HEAD. “how,” she swallowed, “how did you know that? have you been investigating my boyfriend? aunt jess.” she was filled with red hot rage. she knew her aunt was a PI. but stalking her boyfriend was less than cool. 

she must have looked outrageously furious because peter but his hand on MJ’s arm and she immediately deflated. like his touch alone could soothe her. “MJ…babe, we know each other.” 

and it still wasn’t clicking. MJ felt double annoyed at the lack of information. “what do you mean?” “she’s an…well, she’s an avenger adjacent.” 

aunt jess flinched, “Shelley, its not like that.” “its kind of like that,” peter pipped in. her aunt gave him a look to kill and he shut up. aunt jess sighed, “i’m strong, baby.” “i know,” MJ replied. her aunt was one of the strongest people she knew. no one messed with her aunt jess. “no,” aunt jess shook her head, “i’m strong like your boyfriend’s strong. like one of those meta-humans.” 

her head exploded. it was too much information. and it was too much coincidence. why was MJ’s life filled with FUCKING avengers?!? she could care less about superheroes. what was happening???

“how long?” MJ whispered. “long,” aunt jess shrugged, “since we’re throwing all the cards on the table, your uncle luke is like…invincible or some shit.” 

MJ staggered back into a seat. she needed to think. she needed to ask questions. she needed to throw things at the pair of them because stupid superheros could take a little anger throwing of shoes. they’d get over it. actually, she doubted they’d even bruise.

aunt jess dragged a chair over and sat face to face with her niece, “i didn’t want to put you in danger, Shelley. you gotta believe that. i’m not your dumb boyfriend. also, why the fuck are you dating spider-man?” MJ shrugged, “he goes to my school.” aunt jess rolled her eyes, “of course he does.” “i, uh, love you or whatever, Shell.” “I know aunt jess. I just…a superhero?” “barely. I punch things.” Peter chimed in, “like walls and buses and buildings, though.” “spider-kid I will literally knock your teeth in if you don’t stop talking.” 

MJ cracked a smile and her aunt returned it. “really?” aunt jess asked, “spider-man?” Michelle rolled her eyes, “he’s cute. sue me.” 

behind his aunt, peter beamed, “I’m cute.”