#so thoughtful like I just know she has no clue about esc and stuff but still sends me things 🥺

[generalluxun]

Apropos of nothing, do you remember that idea we discussed where Adrien & Chloe swap parents but keep the same default coping mechanisms/temperaments?

So Adrien spends a lo of time day dreaming & basically lives near full time in a sort of Chat Noir-esc persona minus the hero elements & tends to try and draw others into it.

Meanwhile for Chloe everything is a fight, all the time, but there's also no real victory, its an endless staircase where meeting wining is just the new standard for 'acceptable'.

Let me wondering what dynamics would have emerged in such an AU.

Like,

Adrien is probably more popular than Chloe ever was, but also likely even easier to manipulate or use. With Chloe in canon its mostly directing her anger that is nominally easy, while here it'd be simple to get Adrien to buy stuff for people or give out tickets ETC.

I imagine the 'issue' is that he's not much for social boundaries or restraint so he can become clingy very quickly and get very upset if he feels rejected.

Chloe meanwhile may only be going to school to get away from her father or even as a pride thing, "People will think I only succeed because you pay people" or cos Adrien was going through a rough patch maybe. Probably a combo.

I think her default temperament would be closer to Gabriel or Kagami's. She's colder and more urbane than canon, but still very blunt at best. Still she reserves hostility for competition, where its let out as nearly unchecked but very targeted aggression. She's not as disliked due to not picking a fight with everything that moves & being a bit more restrained, but she basically viewed as an ice queen.

In this regard, Adrien is probably the only person off the cuff to be able to be particularly affectionate or playful with Chloe. Cos he's been around long enough that he kind of exists outside her normal perspective. Similarly, Chloe can be rougher around the edges with Adrien than most others & he doesn't take it badly as he knows she's never leaving him.

I am unsure where Sabrina or Marinette would end up in this scenario, maybe they are friends?

Without having to deal with Chloe's bulldozer personality for several years Marinette may be more confident. Not a Queen Bee exactly, but definitely the go to girl. How well said confidence holds up to a challenge however is unclear.

Sabrina likely is still rather neurotic about needing to feel useful to others given that attitude stems from Roger. So she might volunteer a to in class, and be another "Easy to take advantage of" person.

Kagami, her & Chloe's relationship would be interesting I feel cos it'd bemore overtly a rivarly. But I think regarded very differently by both.

To Chloe, Kagami is a peer, a foe, someone to overcome; someone who can nd has defeated her and she hates it, even if part of her is drawn towards her regardless.

For Kagami she'd start of being like, "Ooh marvelous competition, such an aggressive dueling style!" only to realize Chloe takes 'ZERO' pleasure in this, or almost anything she does. So for her part of it would almost be wanted to crack the shell, or dethaw the ice queen.

Beyond that... Yeah no clue, though I imagine Chloe & Gabriel are on less good terms than Adrien & Gabriel were, but also more subtly.

Like, Adrien was more open expressing frustration or resentment with his father, but still wanted his love and hoped he'd warm up. Meanwhile I feel for Chloe it'd have become so tense and toxic at least since Emilie died that while she wants tp prove herself to him, its another challenge, a contest, a battle of wills to her. here's no real hope for love or warmth, she just wants to win.

ALso realize why I thought of this, low key imagining her having an Akuma with somehting like this happening: https://youtu.be/tWTQyCrq0Ts?si=R5_KSbqtZGd4ok5w&t=290

Start at 4:50 if interested.

We have different ideas of this! So I'll lay mine out.

Adrien: I think you're still clinging to the 'good boy Adrien' of canon and warping what we're doing here to fit that. Adrien i not evil, but he is not *socially functional* here. He is not transaction based, he is escapism personified. Might he be nice to talk to? Yes. But ay any given moment he might tangent off into a lore dump of one of the (many) worlds he's made up entirely in his head. Not only that, he might just start larping it at you without warning and without any indication even *he* is aware he's crossed the boundary.

Think 'ahaha I have ADHD so bad watch my hyperfixate!' only not in the quirky tumblresque manner but in the actual social impairment manner. He's not anti-social he's A-social, and there is a small chance if his 'reality' is challenged he MIGHT get aggressive. Most people can humor hi, and his manner can be fun for a while, but it can also be extremely draining. Only a few people can handle it 'full time'.

Chloé: I think you're adding canon spice here again, keeping the ire-antagonist angle. I see it much more as competition for the sake of the *competition*. She needs another award. Being an 'ice queen' is wasted effort. Being mean would indicate a level of attention to people that most are just not worth.

The difference can be highlighted with Kagami for example- Kagami might seek a rivalry(she enjoys them. There's a form of connection and socialization in acknowledging a peer and beating/losing to them specifically) Chloe just couldn't care less. You're an opponent for the length of a match, then the match is over and there's another, and another, until a trophy is won or lost and then it's on to the next competition. There's no reviewing; no bitterness nor pride. As soon as the trophy is won or lost it's worthless as is everything involved in winning it. It's not a snide or dismissive attitude(again, that would take effort) it's just a sort of detched/focused 'Next Quest!' mentality. She is the 'questing knight'.

I don't think Chloe would make connections with most people(for obvious weapons) and could definitely make a terrible first impression. However those who knows her (from a distance obvi) would often have a 'stand back and check this out' mentality. She's not great to talk to but just *seeing what she'll do next* is entertaining, success or failure.

now Sabrina and Marinette

Sabrina: If we're keeping her as knowing and being devoted to Chloe via family ties, then she would be 'Squire' to Chloé's knight. Constantly there with a spare foil, a new pencil, or a towel. She's a one-girl cheering section who takes more pride in Chloé's achievements than Chloé does herself(though she never touts them when Chloe is around, since Chloé takes a negative view on all past victories as 'meaningless') If you want Chloe to focus on you, just pick on Sabrina. You'll feel her eyes boring a hole in you before she tackles you, if you're lucky. If Sabrina is instead attached to Adrien through connections then she'll be his playmate and partner in all his fantasies. She's an 'Adrien Whisperer' who remembers each of his worlds and all the little details for ease of translation. She enjoys her status as the one constant in his worlds, and guards it a little jealously. She's good for his peace of mind, but probably bad for any sense of healthy socialization for him, as she would view any effort to 'bring him into the real world' as bad.

Marinette: In regards to Chloé, Marinette would definitely have some oppositional issues. Marinette likes competition and winning, but she likes it from the social aspect. Rivalry is fun(as long as it's light, Kagami can be a bit intense for her) but all her attempts to engage Chloé slide right off. 'I'll get you next time!' elicits a shrug at best. 'Ha I beat you!' elicits even less. Similarly attempts to ingratiate fall flat. Gifts are unwelcome, praise earns eyerolls. Marinette is stubborn though, so her long term goal would be to figure out this being who is so antithetical to herself. She'll find a way to *matter* to Chloe some how. The worst thing for asomeone with only child syndrome is being ignored. 🤣 With Adrien Marinette would be both enamored and repulsed. It would create quite the internal struggle for her. He's Gorgeous, and he's oh so creative! She loves his little head-worlds and could listen to him talk about them forever. *BUT* when he acts them out, when he brings the imaginations into reality. She gets intense second-hand embarrassment. She projects her own insecurity at being seen as immature onto him and it eats at her. So their relationship becomes a push-pull of: does she pull him out of his fantasy worlds? Does she learn to set aside her embarrassment? Do they meet somewhere in the middle? Does the attraction overcome the hurdles? (Is Sabrina an obstacle?) How does she know if Adrien is attracted to her, or the her in his head? Who is the her in his head? With him having such a vivid imagination she might feel very exposed around him. He *thinks* about her, and she can't hide in his head.

I hope some of this long winded explanation helped.

[jester-dragons-aus]

Ah fuck I've done it again

Amalgam AI AU

I've seen some AUs about the humans being AI instead of Caine and I thought that might be the simplest way to get this monstrosity to happen with a massive glitch without abstraction playing a part.

I think I just really like horror AUs and doing stuff like that is just so fun so I made another one with a better title than "Horror House" cuz c'mon what the hell does that mean lol

The only characters I don't have designed currently are Zooble, Caine, and Bubble but I'll add them soon. Caine will be a human, Bubble could be something to help him out and what not.

Inspired by AUs like Sm-baby's and The Horror Circus AU, but like, different ofc.

Think this: the game wasn't originally supposed to be a horror game, just a game you go through for fun. Like Undertale, I guess? But not quite

[WARNINGS: LOTS OF EYES/ARACHNID IMAGERY, BODY HORROR, EYESTRAIN]

So first and foremost, I think people would wanna see Pomni, though Jax was the first to be designed.

Pomni is supposed to be some sort of anti-virus or some sort of protecting thing. Supposed to fix bugs and glitches and prevent viruses from getting into the game. Like a firewall, I guess? I tried to make her look like "right/wrong" esc thing. She was the last to be designed and it was like 1 am when I designed her. I had no clue what to do with her, I'll be completely honest.

Story wise, she'd be trying to find a way to undo this massive glitch and get the game back to normal before she can even rest. Once Caine pops up to try and fix the game from inside, as a dev himself, she does her best to protect him and help him fix the game.

No there is no shipping in this AU, they're just helping each other basically survive. They might become friends over time but nothing more. :V

Next up: Ragatha and Gangle! I actually really like Gangle's design but Ragatha definitely needs a few tweaks I think.

Ragatha, before this massive glitch, would have been an NPC that would help a player out at the start but end up getting lost after a certain point, like a tutorial. She was the most caring character in the game before everything went down.

Gangle used to be someone who ran a little theatre thing in the game, as I've seen from other AUs and took inspiration from, but she's usually nice no matter what mask she has on. More arms means she can help more people at once, right? Game mechanics wise she was like a little shop keeper for costumes if they're needed and she can help with newer mechanics on stage if something new is added. Friendly NPC, you know? Love her design, too!

Now for the first two to be designed, Jax and Kinger!!

So Jax was like a reoccurring villain, I guess. Always trying to make the player quit the game or just scare the shit out of them, despite him not being very scary himself. He's more played off to be a joke character, if I'm honest, always failing with his antics and what not. It's part of the code! I actually like his design, small lil paws and just so shapey over all.

Kinger was like a final boss, I guess? The scariest of all of them at that time. He was a king, ruling over his pawns and such, all of which were also bug themed! I love making Kinger bug related it's so fun. He's a big softie in reality but hits like a train if you ever went against him. He had terrible vision despite all of his eyes and was very slow despite the amount of legs.

Now for what everyone has been waiting for.

The reason for the AU title.

The MASSIVE glitch that caused everything to go downhill.

The Amalgam.

I still think it needs a few tweaks here and there but this is one of four concepts I've had for it.

One time all four of these characters were together, which was relatively rare but possible, a glitch happened in the game. Pomni doesn't know where it started from and none of the game devs understand how it happened, but it did. Some devs think there's a hacker. A massive glitch pulled those four characters together into one terrifying being, always hostile and destructive. All the code of the characters were merged into this thing and somewhat scrambled. The game has now been broken to where once you're in, you can't escape until it's fixed, yet no one knows it, which is why Caine went in.

So much has happened and it's still being fixed, but a hostile blob of characters constantly attacking whenever it's near? It will be hard to fix.

It seems to be guarding something.

Concepts for the amalgam:

You can see in the first one I was going to put Zooble there but I still need a good design for Zooble. Let's see what they'll be.

[tuituipupu]

.

[korra-the-red-lion]

Legends of Tomorrow and the Zarlie Incident: Is it happening again?

As many fans of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow are aware, during season 4 and 5 of the series, the ship “Zarlie”, a pairing of Zari Tomaz and Charlie, became quite popular during this time, especially during season 4.

Zari was a fan favourite character who was introduced in season 3. Throughout the season, Zari kept mostly to herself until she began to warm up to the others on the Waverider. Due to Zari’s closed off nature, she never had a LI in season 3. There were jokes about it, of course. Zari was very attractive to one Mr. Jonah Hex, and honestly. who wasn’t from the Waverider, haha? We’re told them as viewers that Zari is attracted to men. Sounds good.

Then s4 rolls around and Charlie gets introduced to the crew. Charlie takes an instant liking to Zari, affectionately calling her ‘Z.’ Maisie previously played Amaya on the previous two seasons, who was quite close with Zari as a friend, so it only makes sense that there is some chemistry between the two actors since they’ve been friends for awhile now. I wasn’t surprised when people starting shipping the two of them, thus the ship ‘Zarlie’ was born. What I wasn’t expecting was the writers to play into it. They had some pretty close scenes, and by close I mean there wasn’t enough room for two hands between their faces. And Zari made a comment about Charlie picking Amaya’s form because she was hot, implying that she thought Amaya was attractive. Thus the infamous scene happened:

No denial from Zari, just her usual annoyed look she got whenever Charlie started picking at her. Thus, the Bi Zari headcannon was born and mostly accepted by everyone in the LoT fandom. Of course, with Avalance and I believe Constangreen at this time, many people doubted it would become canon. And unfortunately, shortly after, Nate and Zari began dating, which felt sudden to me personally, and Steelhacker was born.

However, Steelhacker canon did not stop Zarlie from continuing. If anything, the writers only added more fuel to the fire so fans could have discussions. This is where I started to get annoyed, because why continue to bait the pair if you have no intention of making it canon? It felt a little dirty to me, even as I enjoyed the banter and chemistry between the two of them. Oh well, I thought at the time, it’s just shipping for fun now.

Season 4 ends with Zari being replaced by Zari Tarazi, or Zari 2.0 if you will. People still shipped Zarlie, though it was mostly from Zari 1.0. Fans were a little put off when Charlie said she slept with Behrad, but it also called attention to the fact that Behrad technically replaced Zari from the original timeline, meaning that Charlie wanted sleep with Zari, yes? Very confusing, but in a weird way, it was almost like they canonized the ship further.

Maisie had been on record several times acknowledging the chemistry between the two, and how much she wished they could have explore that more. Then of course, the news of the filmed but deleted kiss broke out and everyone from the Zarlie fandom lost their mind. There was a kiss, so in some strange way, Zarlie is canon, but only behind the scenes. From a show that does have amazing queer characters and content came a strangely bizarre queerbait that is now semi-canon, but only because the news of the kiss came to light, otherwise it would be another ship lost at sea, dragging people down with it as it lured them with its content. That should be the end of it, right?

Wrong.

Season 6 came out this season with Astra, the villain being manipulated by the Fates in season 5, being elevated to main cast. Joining her was newcomer Esperanza “Spooner” Cruz. Some people were hesitant because Astra was a bit of a polarizing character in s5, with reason. And of course, with any new character coming in, people are worried on how they will fit into the show. However, Spooner easily became a character that people enjoyed, and she somehow grounded the show, due to her very emotional character arc.

Spooner and Astra didn’t interact much until the animated sequence, when Astra turned her into a fork, much to the fans delight. Spooner actually encouraged Astra and after that, the two slowly became friends. They could have some snarky yet fun back and forth conversations and remarks to another, and the two actors played off each other well. They also connected from their lost mothers, Spooner who thought her mother had been taken by aliens and Astra who lost her mother to hell. They had a sort of emotional vulnerability between them that only they could understand.

Then the bowling episode came out and I think this is when the ship really got rolling. There was the big hug at the end of the match were a much taller Astra scoops Spooner up off her feet into a massive bear hug, smiles between the two. I know this is when I became a solid Esperastra shipper.

The pair continued to partner up after this. They partnered up again during the Clue-esc murder mystery game. Something that is very interesting about this is the pairings themselves. Ava gets killed by Sara right away (lol) and Nate dies shortly after, with Sara following behind. When Sara dies, her and Ava are shot together in a typical lovers pose in death. Makes sense, as they are engaged. Zari 2.0 is paired with Behrad and John, her brother and her lover respectively. Everyone is paired with someone they love. So...Astra and Spooner are paired up. Okay, no comment. JUST KIDDING. They die together, and this is shot in such a romantic way:

I know it’s dark, my apologies. But Spooner is leaning on Astra, and Astra is falling on top of Spooner. I’ve watched and read a lot of stuff, and this is a typical lovers in death position as well. 

Then we get to the final two episodes which see Spooner and Astra pairing up again. Spooner leans on Astra for emotional support throughout these two episodes, because she knows that Astra understands what she’s going through. Astra was devested when she thought she lost both Spooner and John at the same time. Luckily, Spooner did come back and the two shared a very emotional hug.

Now, this is where it gets a little frustrating as a fan. The writers and showrunners have stated clearly that they are Just Friends(TM). It seems like, based on some decisions from this past season, the writers are pushing for Astra/Behrad, which is like, not terrible but a little strange. However, Tala Ashe (Zari), has been on record to say that she thinks the actors have great chemistry and she ships them. So there is clearly a small divide yet again. So, if season 7 leans into this any more, is Esperastra the new Zarlie?

Of course friends can love each other, hug one another, and use each other as emotional support. However in this case, there does seem to be some underlying tension between the two that I wonder if the writers are going to explore. Is Esperastra going to stay friends, or end up becoming yet another queerbaited sapphic couple from Legends of Tomorrow? I guess only time will give us an answer on this. However, I will say, the parallels between the two ships is slightly uncanny, and perhaps even intentional. Zarlie connected by being two people who felt lost without family, and Esperastra may be doing the same thing now that John is gone, who was functionally Astra’s only family left.

Let’s hope Legends of Tomorrow doesn’t do the same thing twice.

[theforgottengn]

Brother Sweet Brother

Characters: Victor, Kilo, Papa, Juliett, Sierra, Holly Wallchester

Word Count: 2,698

Trigger Warning: Violence. Blood. Slight Swearing.

Parts: X

A/N: So here’s an attempt at a part two of this little Sierra Company adventure. I tried my best to write something but I don’t really know how to write these things… (I have no idea why I keep writing these things without fully developing all that good ol’ background stuff anyway.)

Summary: Victor has been abducted so the others scramble to find clues and him. But the one person on the team who actually can is overcome with guilt. Can the team figure out what’s going on before it’s too late? Click the read more if you feel like it.

XXXXX

Victor was laying on Wallchester’s queen sized bed with his laptop open in front of him. Everything in the room matched with the precision only someone obsessed with appearances could achieve but he didn’t care. He was currently trying to complete the Bear Necessities side quest in WoW. Hunting bears in real life was definitely harder than in the game. Not that Victor could really attest to that since he has never hunted anything in real life. But he could imagine. Kilo had already ducked out for a snack run so he was completely alone. Just him, his laptop, and the game.

Suddenly he hears the door open with a slow creak. Victor’s years of training and field experience taught him the only thing the noise could mean. The thought runs through his mind like a police siren.

That isn’t Ki.

He quickly reaches behind his back for the gun that rests in the holster there. He doesn’t bother putting his gloves on. This is not the time to worry about fingerprints or possibly breaking one of the many HERACLES rules. Not to mention that, depending on what happened next, he could be breaking probably the two most important rules of all.

Never leave a trace.

Never acquire a rabbit.

Sitting on his knees and pointing the gun directly at the closed door Victor barely breathes. He sits so still, his chest hardly rising and falling, that he looks like a statue. If the second rule was broken, as it seemed to be, that wasn’t his fault. He didn’t do anything that could’ve set anyone on the team’s trail. Victor had to admit that he wasn’t the best Cobbler in the business but he was pretty damn good. And he had a secret weapon.

As the doorknob turns Victor smoothly takes a hand off the gun and presses three specific keys.

Esc + F12 + 7

That’ll show ‘em.

Five men storm into the bedroom and two more crash through the windows; all armed. Each one was dressed in all black from their gloves to the balaclavas under their riot helmets. Each of them moves like they have received intense military training, but, they seem a bit rusty. To the Cobbler it was obvious they were ex-SEALS turned hired guns. Bad ones it looked like.

Looks like I’m a bit outnumbered… Not that it matters.

Instead of putting up a fight Victor starts to lower his gun. He gently rests it on the bed. Then Victor does the one thing HERACLES operatives were trained not to do. He puts his hands in the air and opens his mouth.

“I surrender,” he shouts loudly.

Just as the words leave his lips one of the men behind him opens up a pair of handcuffs. The click of metal is louder than normal in the quiet room. Victor agreed to go with these guys, but, that didn’t mean he was going to come quietly. And he definitely wasn’t going to go in handcuffs.

“Looks like you need a break,” he says before thrusting his arm back and upwards in one fluid motion. Victor rams his elbow right into the guy’s nose. The all too familiar sound of cartilage breaking fills the room and is followed by the clang of metal on a wood floor.

Turning his attention to the trigger happy idiot who had begun spraying bullets all over the room Victor groans. Rolling off the bed and sliding underneath Victor hides out until the bullets stop flying. When they do he rolls back out and swipe kicks the man's leg. And kicks hard. The force isn’t enough to make the burly man fall but is just enough to catch him off guard and make him drop the rifle.

He punches the guy in the throat.

As the man staggers backwards in pain Victor sends another kick his way. Finally the man falls to the floor. Victor quickly takes the twin 9mm black Beretta pistols from the ankle holsters and points them at two of the remaining five guys. He knows that these men are wearing protective gear so he aims for areas that aren’t covered by bullet-proof vests or helmets. Shooting at the men’s arms and legs Victor empties a clip from both guns but doesn’t land many of the shots. He was never that good of a shot in the first place. But he lands enough of them to send both men to the floor in pain.

Four down. Kinda... Three to go.

Victor drops the empty guns and makes a dive for the gun on the bed.

But one of the remaining thugs bum rushes him and pins him against the wall before he can stick the landing. The guy is similar in height and weight to the spy so Victor wouldn’t have a hard time getting the man off him. But the guy has his hands wrapped around the blonde’s throat in an attempt to strangle him. Scratching at the man’s arms and wrists Victor doesn’t think. He just kicks. But he doesn’t kick in the direction of his assailant. He kicks backwards against the wall. The sudden pressure against the back of his boot heel activates a mechanism which releases a hidden knife blade. He kicks forward with all of his might and stabs the guy in the thigh. Holding onto the thug for support Victor turns his foot slightly, sharply turning the blade inside the wound effectively deepening it, and then pulls the blade out with a backwards jerk. The blade releases with a gushing sound and a burst of blood just as the man goes down screaming in pain.

“I got a kick outta that. You? Probably not.”

The very last guy starts to make a break for it.

The man ran to the window and started climbing up one of the ropes while Victor was busy with the other one. But he wasn’t going to get off that easily. Victor makes it over to the window just in time to grab the guy by the leg. He starts to pull the man down but he’s met with a ton of resistance. Kicking as hard as he can the guy tries to shake Victor off him. He succeeds and the swings back; kicking Victor in the face as hard as he can. He falls flat on his back but on the shattered glass from when the guys crashed through earlier. He may be down but he’s not out. Victor gets back up quickly enough to see that the guy changed his mind about making a break for it. Just as he is about to punch the last guy in the face Victor is struck in the back of the head by the butt of a rifle.

He falls to floor with a thud.

That was almost half an hour ago. And now Victor sits tied to a chair in a seemingly empty room. His head hung down and his chest moved up and down slowly. A thick rope ran across his thighs and wrapped around two, three, times. Sections of the same rope were tied tightly around his wrists and ankles. The black combat boots had been taken off his feet and so had his socks. His captor had already used his comm to contact his team, to threaten them, and destroyed the device.

Victor was slowly coming to so he didn’t know any of this. Not yet.

Suddenly a shot of cold ran down his back waking him with a jolt.

“Someone’s awake,” a voice next to him said.

The person, to whom the voice belonged, walked around Victor and stepped into the light. The man wore a black suit jacket, matching pants, and a cornflower blue dress shirt. A thin, bridge lead to a pointy nose. His eyes matched his dress shirt to a T and the smile he wore underneath those eyes added to his creepy demeanor. His hair was thin, light brown and balding.

Victor grit his teeth against the cold as the ice continued to run down his back.

“Ice to meet you, too, Bouvier.”

“Looks like it likes puns boys,” the man said to goons Victor couldn’t see.

“Let’s see how it likes the feel of hot iron.”

XXXXX

Papa lay on the bed, on top of the covers, a good space away from Holly Wallchester’s naked, sleeping, form. The Swallow herself only wore a black lace bra and matching panties. They had just finished having relations which meant that Papa was done with her work. She got everything the team needed and the lawyer was none the wiser. Stretching her hands over her head Papa happily sat in satisfied silence. Her brown, green-flecked, hazel eyes closed as she sighed happily.

But then the calm, collected, voice of her fearless leader suddenly erupted in her ear.

Vic’s been abducted.

The Swallow practically jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom. Closing the door and locking it she shielded herself from possible listening ears. Her long, curly, jet-black, hair spun, with her upper body as she turned away from the door, and fell over her shoulder. Papa pressed a finger to her ear comm and responded in the only way she could.

“What the hell?! Who could’ve gotten the drop on us?!”

We don’t know. But I’m betting everything it’s Wallchester’s client.

“What makes you say that?”

Ki. Play it back.

A short pause followed Sierra’s request. Then a voice Papa couldn’t recognize flowed through her comm. The voice was male, soothing yet authoritative with a dash of creep, and with a painfully obvious Swiss accent. A voice that threatened the group and then spoke of the defense lawyer by name.

“That’s got to be Yves Bouvier. What an idiot using his own voice to make a threat like this… Ki’s working on finding Victor, right?”

Of course but you know…

You tell that Holly bitch, Juliett said suddenly cutting off the conversation, that when I see her I’m going to stab her in the trachea.

Jule. This isn’t the time for stabbing threats, Sierra responded with a sigh.

Of course it is!

“I’ll bring her over and find out what she knows. Papa out.”

With that she double-tapped her ear comm and took the small, practically invisible device, from her ear. She laid it on the edge of the fake marble sink and then left the bathroom. Sneaking over to where she had thrown the clothes, and shoes, she wore the night before Papa quickly grabbed them and returned to the bathroom. She was quiet enough on her feet to not wake Wallchester. Once Kilo had changed into the sleek, black, sheath dress with cut outs in both the front and the back, she ran her hands down the front and sides of the garment to smooth out any wrinkles.

Before she did anything else she returned her comm to her ear and tapped it back to life.

Then she bent down onto the tile floor and reached up under the tiles nearest to the bottom of the sink. Removing the false tiles was easier than one would expected. It did help that the team had been in the area for a few weeks prior, preparing, and that Juliett had already switched the real tiles with the false ones. And carved out a large cubbyhole in the floor. Which meant that all Papa had to do was store her goody-bag inside and replace the false tiles.

“Goody-bag come to Mama,” she said to herself as she grabbed the handle of her small, black, duffle. Just as the words left her mouth she realized what she said and stopped herself.

“Oh my god I’m turning into Jule!”

Shaking the thought off Papa removed the duffle. Reaching into the bag, after unzipping the zipper, she rooted around blindly for a few seconds. Then she stretched the sides of the duffle so she could get a better look inside. Eyeing what she was looking for she grabbed it, zipped the bag, grabbed the handle and walked out of the bathroom.

Once she was out of the bathroom she saw Wallchester sitting on the bed and pulling a white blouse over her head.

Papa dropped the duffle bag on the floor and climbed onto the bed, carefully hiding something behind her back. Snuggling up behind the other woman Papa began to nuzzle her face against Holly’s neck. Slowly she snuck the hidden object closer to its intended target. Grabbing Holly’s face with her free hand Papa kissed her passionately.

And while the woman was distracted Papa brought the needle of the syringe into her thigh. Then she pushed down on the plunger.

“Ah!” Holly screamed, “What the hell was that?”

“Ketamine. You should be feeling its affects in a few minutes.”

The Swallow scowled at the criminal defense lawyer as the sedative worked its magic.

XXXXX

Sierra and Juliett sat on Holly Wallchester’s ruined black leather sofa.

Hotel had dropped them off a few minutes or so after Kilo told them what happened. But he didn’t stay to freak out with the rest of them. He did what he always did when things got a little too stressful. He drove. And since Echo wasn’t needed on this mission and was back home that left the knife-loving-slight-pyromaniac and half-inspirational speaker half-mom to help calm things. Problem with that was Juliett was the last person to calm any situation. The woman just sat and watched Kilo pace as she spun one of her many knives in her hand, throwing it up every few seconds, with the expertise one only gets from years of practice. The team decided to leave the place in the disarray that Victor’s captors left it in. The destruction would make the Cleaners’ job a lot easier. Especially if Papa was bringing the criminal defense lawyer back to the apartment.

But none of that information calmed Kilo at all. While the two women sat she paced worriedly, biting her lip and, muttering to herself. After telling Sierra what had happened the Musician suffered a bit of a freak out. She screamed loudly and threw her tech with all the angry strength she had. And now all her equipment lay scattered about the room. It was busted but not broken.

It would work if Kilo wanted it to.

When Sierra and Juliett arrived they entered to a scene similar to the one that played out in front of them. The only difference was that Kilo was up and pacing not crumpled on the floor. She wasn’t crying anymore either. But her long hair was still a slightly tangled mess, her eyes were still puffy and red-rimmed, and her voice still scratchy.

“It’s all my fault. Vic is gone. Who knows what these dudes are doing to him. It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault.”

“Kilo. If you just sit down and put your mind to it you’ll find him,” Sierra said in the most reassuring voice she could manage.

“I can’t.”

“Then Vic’s dead. And we’re also dead. Great going Ki, you killed us all,” Juliett stabbed the blade of her knife into the only standing wooden leg of the coffee table for emphasis.

Sierra shot Juliett a death stare and then turned to Kilo. They really needed Kilo to be on her A game if they wanted to find Victor. Which meant that Sierra had to do what she did best; lead.

“Don’t listen to Jule. She’s crazy. But we really need you to do your job.”

Kilo continued to pace as if she was contemplating what Sierra said. As she paced she bit her bottom lip. In fact ever since she entered the penthouse apartment to find Victor gone she hadn’t stopped. The skin began to split and bleed from her nervous habit. But Kilo had a right to be scared since she was the one who got that blonde, pun-loving-game-obsessed, idiot into this mess in the first place. Whatever happened to him was on her.

After a few minutes she stopped and sighed.

“Fine. I’ll do it. But I’m doing this for Vic and nobody else.”

[novaindreamland]

12/28/18

My Family and I are sitting around a fire and I'm playing with this thing where you slide 10 different switches and then you get a random item. The world around me seems like home not like it's made up. I think that it was our fireplace room but with different couches. I figure out that after fiddling with this contraption that it will just keep giving me stuff every time that I complete it. So i just keep doing it, then a family friend walks by and ask what it is and I explain what I've learned so far and then they walk away. After doing it a bunch of time the family friends dad walks over and says something along the lines of that's a lot of stuff how are you going to move. At this point I was so focused on the thing in my hand that I dint realize that the room had changed into a dark dungeon type of place with a bunch of like idk how to describe them other than alchemy ingredients. Basically just a bunch of random things. I try to get up and move but I have over encumbered myself so I can only move slowly. I look around the room and there is this weird mad scientist looking guy just standing in the corner, there is also a bunch of crates that are holding these ingredients that are all placed on old wooden shelves. The person that told me that I have too much stuff suggests that I should try and off load some of it in one of these chests. So I slowly walk around the room visually look an the crates to see which one doesn't have these ingredients in it. I looked for a good 2 or 3 minutes and the person I was with finally points one out to me. After he points it out I remember that if you put your items in someone else's chest that you cant get them back with out stealing them. But I put my stuff in there anyways and try to take it out after and there was no steal option so I figured I was good. I only kept one thing and that was a butterfly knife that was a shiny grey silver color. We go out side to a rocky mountain esc place. The door to the place we came was old and wooden, it was hidden under some rocks. We start to walk around and we see an elk just chilling on a ledge below us, so I jumped down and stabbed it in the head. All of a sudden I feel the ground shaking and hear a rhythmic sound of hooves clipping on the ground. I look up and a heard of elk are running through a valley filled with grass and flowers and like shrubs. They are being followed up by what looked like a blue elk with snow on the tips of its fur. I said to the person that I was with that I wanted to get that one. At this time they had made their way past us. As we turned around we saw the blue and white elk. But it actually wasn't an elk it was a bear and it was perched on the cliff that we had just jumped down from. It looks at us and growls and opens its mouth, we just kinda look at each other and book it down towards the green valley. As we get closer to the valley I notice that there is a house and a barn and something else tucked away in the corner. The person that I was with has already made it to a safe place but they have locked the door behind them. I look behind me and the bear is about 10 feet back, I run to the house and climb on to the roof. I turn around and the bear is no where to be seen. After looking around to see the coast is clear i hear a yell that comes from the barn that is a little ways away. And me being the idiot i am decides to jump down and help them knowing that it is probably going to be the bear attacking someone in the barn. I come around the corner of the barn with my butterfly knife in hand and I see this big brute like figure attacking someone. So I jump at it and smack it on the back of the head and it gets knocked out. There were three boys in the barn two were hiding in the hay and the last one that was really tall and built approaches me and says thank and introduced himself. I go to shake his hand and he withdraws his hand into the sleeve of his coat and says that hes a germaphobe and doesn't shake hands. So I first bump his hand in his sleeve and continue on out of the barn. When I get out side the scenery has kinda change it has become more flat and rocky and there are a bunch of people standing in a circle. I don’t remember them talking to me but I just start to follow them there was this really beautiful girl that I followed all I remember is that she had black coarse hair and was carrying a really big gun the pulsed a purple pink color out of the barrel. We all walked along the stone path for awhile and I talked to this person the whole time, they were really nice and easy to talk to and we got along pretty well. All of a sudden as we were walking along there were these 3 or 4 alien space ship type things. They were all white and had pulses of pink/purple coming out of three half circles on the bottom of them, just like the girls gun. We all run and hide in a bunch of spread out caves. I notice that one of the ships has landed and is walking around on some crab like legs that it had sprouted out of the bottom of the ship. So I run out of the cave with my dinky little butterfly knife and jump onto the dome of the ship and start stabbing at it. As I stab liquid starts to ooze out with every plunge of my knife. This substance was the same purple/pink color that I had seen on the bottom of the ship. After stabbing it multiple times it finally just collapsed on its side with its legs giving away underneath it. At this point it had made it's way with me on it's back down in to the bottom of a ditch with walls that were shear rock on either side. I look into the things inventor and all it had were these purple/pink orbs, about 20 of them. I have no clue what they are but I thought that the girl might be able to use them so I leave them where they are. I look up after closing the inventory and on the cliff side there she is standing there smiling down on me. I tell her about the orbs in the thing she kinda doesn't acknowledge it and helps me out of the ditch. We then see another one flying in the air and she Is able to shoot it with her gun. It starts to smoke and falls to the ground a little ways away. I ask her if she wants to come with me and check it for loot and she says something along the lines of her boyfriend is coming and that he would get mad if she went with me. So I go alone to the place it crashed. I find this really cool back pack that is blue and yellow, I take it as my own. But as I'm walking back to the others I meet up with two other guys and as we are trying to get back we have to climb this fence/cliff that is no more than 7 feet high and while we are trying to figure out how to climb it one of the two guys try to steal my nice new back pack. He grabs me by the straps of the bag and pulls me to the side. He tells me that it's a really nice bag and that he really found it first. I tell him that he wasn't even there when I found it so how could this be. He then threatens to beat me if I don’t hand it over to him. I don’t give it to him and he proceeds to try and hit me. This whole time the other guy that was there just kinda stands back and watches. We get into a scuffle and it ends with me stabbing this guy in the neck with my knife. The other guy doesn't say or do anything just kinda exists in the corner. I grab the bag off of the ground where it had fallen and then the two of us proceed to try and climb the fence but I cant cause the holes are too small for the toes of my boots to fit into. So I take off my boots and throw them to the top and proceed to climb by sticking just my big toe into the holes of the fence. We get to the top and the whole gang is there sitting by a fires. I see the girl is sitting on a log by herself and looks really sad. I ask her were her boyfriend is cause she was going to get him. She says that he wondered off with his friend and has not come back. I then realize that I had just killed him and that's when I wake up