#someone please get me fifty billion tissues

[cable-salamdr]

Why do I relate to a silly stop motion dog more strongly than to most real people what is this bullshit

Me when that isle sure has dogs

[razieltwelve]

Fishing (Godzilla x Stuff)

“As a member of your board, I am begging you to reconsider.” The dark-haired man was actually on his knees. “Please, don’t do this.”

Vanille flashed the man a jaunty salute and tapped the device on her wrist. A moment later, her power armour hurtled off the shelf nearby and locked into place around her. “Relax. You and the rest of the board have nothing to worry about. I’ve got my power armour. I’ll be fine.”

The man got to his feet. “Ma’am, you’re about to go looking for the most dangerous creature on the planet. I think we’re right to be concerned.”

Vanille raised her right arm and signalled for the crane to drop the crate of radioactive waste into the water. The crate was specially designed to minimise the spread of the waste while still allowing the radiation to be detected. “Look, if you’re so worried, you can take the transport back to land.”

“Ma’am!” someone shouted from the main deck. “We’ve got incoming! It’s big, and it’s fast!”

“Patch the sensor feeds into my armour, please.” Vanile blinked as the data appeared on the display of her armour. “Yep… no doubt about it. That’s him.” She raised her voice. “Everyone, stay calm. He won’t attack unless we pick a fight. Remember, we’re here to collect data.” She turned back to the board member. “Last chance, Jake. If you want off this ship, you need to do it now.”

To his credit, Jake managed to keep his voice from shaking. “Ma’am, if I come back without you, the rest of the board will kill me. I’m staying.”

“Excellent.” Vanille nodded at the massive weapon nearby. “If he does try to kill me, can you shoot him with that?”

“What is that?” Jake blurted.

“It’s a railgun that shoots special projectiles with a vibranium-tipped head and enough meta-stable vibranium in it to level a small city.”

“…” Jake looked about furtively. “Does the UN know we have one of those?”

“Nobody knows… except us. Don’t tell.” Vanille snickered. “I originally developed that bundle of joy to deal with titans after those MUTOs levelled San Francisco. A direct hit should be enough to severely injure one of them, possibly even kill them if its well-placed. Of course, each projectile does cost about one billion dollars, but, hey, how much did it cost to rebuild San Francisco? A heck of a lot more than a billion dollars, that’s for sure.”

“What if I miss?”

“Jake, your target is gigantic. I doubt you can miss. Besides, the whole thing has computer-assisted aiming. Just point it at what you want to kill, wait until the crosshairs go green, and then pull the trigger.”

“Right.”

Vanille patted Jake on the shoulder. “And that’s why you’re my favourite minion.” She leapt into the air, and her anti-grav units and boosters engaged, propelling her higher before she dove down into the water. “Try not to die.”

X     X     X

Vanille kept a close eye on her sensor arrays as she waited near the crate of radioactive material. For someone like Godzilla, the crate would be perfect for a nice afternoon snack. Her sensors began to sound an alarm, and she eased back, giving herself plenty of room.

A moment later, the titan himself appeared, a vast, reptilian mountain that swam with incredible speed. Godzilla circled the area several times, his cries echoing through the ocean. As she expected, he shifted his focus to the crate and its contents when nothing appeared to challenge him.

“Perfect.” Vanille smile widened as her advanced sensors finally got a chance to examine the legendary beast in more detail. 

Based on initial scans, Godzilla was more than one hundred and fifty metres long and weighed more than 90,000 tonnes. Given his approximate volume, that meant his tissue was incredibly dense, which went some way to explaining his incredible durability. His power signature was unreal too. Even though he was barely exerting himself, her advanced sensors were able to detect energy equivalent to several nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. It was tempting to see what he could when he really pushed himself, but she happened to enjoy living. Instead, she let her sensors grab as much data as they could. There would be time to review it all later.

As Godzilla tore the crate open and began to devour the contents, Vanille activated the tiny drones hidden inside the crater. They used the beast’s momentary distraction to get scrapings from his outer scales, teeth, gum tissue, and anything else they could reach before shooting toward the surface for collection.

Once he’d finished eating, Godzilla turned and very slowly and very deliberately looked her way. Vanille chuckled. He’d noticed her… even when she was running on full stealth. Hmm… he must have a way of detecting neutrinos because that was basically the only radiation she was emitting when she deactivated her sensors. For a long moment, the legendary beast simply stared at her before reaching toward her with one enormous claw.

Vanille deactivated her stealth and darted out of the way, her power armour navigating through the water as easily as it would through the air. Even so, she did not activate her weapons. He wasn’t trying to kill her… he was simply curious about whatever was trying to hide from him. Through the comms channels, she could hear Jake screaming something about sending someone down to save her if Godzilla attacked, but she simply told all of them to stay quiet.

For another long moment, Godzilla examined her, no doubt curious about the strange floating humanoid thing. It was a good thing she had her power core properly shielded. If he’d been able to detect the full strength of her reactor’s output, he might have considered her a threat. Finally, the reptilian leviathan seemed satisfied. With one last glare, he turned and vanished, lost in the swirling waters he left in his wake.

“Ma’am,” Jake said over the comms. “Can you come back up now.”

“Sure.” Vanille chuckled. “I can come back up now.” She paused. “Oh… and someone get Monarch on the comms. I’m sure they’ll be interested in having a look at some of my data… in exchange for access to some of their other… friends.”

[massivedrickhead]

One More Year: Chapter 28

All I can do is apologise 9 billion times. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get this out. I've had some bad writer's block and a few busy weekends. I'll try and make things more regular from now on but I can't promise that.

Even though I don't deserve it, please review/like/reblog

Fanfic.net link

I do not own Pitch Perfect or any of its characters.

Chapter 28

After Christmas, time seemed to speed up.

For Beca, the days all to blurred together, but she spent 99% of them with Chloe. Sometimes it was in big groups, but most of the time it was just the two of them. They would study. They would watch movies. They would make out in her truck. They would just be together, and do nothing.

That's why, when spring break came along, Beca suddenly found herself at a loss.

Chloe and Aubrey were spending four days at Barden University. They were going to be living on campus and getting a chance to see what their classes would be like.

"I'll miss you," Chloe had said to Beca when she went to see them off the morning they left.

"It's just four days, weirdo," Beca had replied. "I'll miss you too," she'd added, in a much softer voice as she hugged her.

Beca was at a loss for what to do without her. She spent most of her time in the woods, in her clearing, watching Jasper chase various birds and squirrels and failing to catch a single one.

Beca stood up from her spot under the tree and stretched. She'd been there all day, listening to an audiobook of one of the books they were studying for English. She paused her iPod, and the voice reading Of Mice and Men stopped mid-sentence. She pulled off her headphones and looked around. The leaves had started returning to the trees and the sunlight broke through the canopy in different places. She took a deep breath and felt content. Chloe would be home tomorrow night, and they were going to spend the whole weekend together.

Jasper barked and attempted to once again catch a squirrel.

She whistled and he came running up to her. She attached his leash and the pair walked back home. Her stomach rumbled and she hoped her Dad had started making dinner.

If she had've been paying attention, she would have noticed the strange car parked outside her house. But she wasn't paying attention, so she didn't.

"I'm back, dad," she called into the kitchen once she'd closed the door. She unclipped Jasper and he ran ahead, barking happily as he always did.

If she had've been paying attention, she would have noticed he was making that over excited yappy bark he always did when he met someone new. But she wasn't paying attention, so she didn't.

When she walked into the kitchen, it took her a moment to realise why the stranger sitting at the table with her dad made her stomach flip fifty times.

She even had time to wonder if her dad was having an affair before it clicked.

The woman was almost a complete stranger.

Almost.

A complete stranger, but with Beca's eyes and nose. With Beca's hair. Hair which had once been brightly coloured.

It was like looking at a ghost.

Beca felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Hi Beca," the woman said.

Beca turned and looked wide-eyed and furious at her dad.

"I tried to call," he said, his voice apologetic.

"Are you not gonna come give your mom a hug?"

A cacophony of emotions exploded inside of Beca. She felt like her skull was going to cave in. Whatever was going on inside of her was too much for her to comprehend, so she spun around and left the house, slamming the front door behind her. She climbed into her truck and drove off.

It felt like her head was full of static and white noise. She couldn't breathe. It was coming in small, sharp, gasps, and it felt like someone was sitting on her chest. She could hardly see the road through the tears filling her eyes.

Suddenly, she broke so hard she could smell the burning rubber from the tires. The seatbelt jammed against her shoulder.

Somehow, she found herself parked outside Chloe's house. But, of course, Chloe wasn't in there.

And then she started screaming.

It was a horrible scream. Full of nothing but pain and anger.

She had just looked at the face of the woman who'd abandoned her 12 years ago.

She had heard her speak.

Her voice was achingly familiar, yet completely alien.

She remembered being in her bedroom, on her knees, praying. Praying so hard. Her fingers interlocked so tightly that her nails had dug into her knuckles.

"Please bring my Mommy back. Please. I'll do anything."

Then she started punching her steering wheel.

"Please. Please, I won't be loud anymore. I promise. I promise I'll be good."

She knew she'd punched the car horn a few times but she didn't care. She didn't stop.

"I just want my Mommy to come home."

She was still screaming, still crying, still trying to punching the wheel, when the car door opened and someone took her hands.

"Beca," a familiar voice said. "Stop."

And she listened.

She fell silent and her whoever had her hands was holding them tight enough so she couldn't hit the wheel anymore.

She became aware of her own breathing, which was still fast and shallow, and she tried to calm down. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe slower, but she was still crying hard.

"It's okay," the voice said.

She opened her eyes and saw a redheaded woman reach into her car and remove the keys from the ignition.

Her heart leapt for a second, thinking maybe Chloe had gotten home early, but when she blinked away more tears, she saw it was Chloe's Mom.

"Come on," she said, unbuckling her seatbelt and taking her hand.

Beca let Chloe's Mom lead her from the car and towards the house. When she got closer to the front door her steps faltered slightly.

"It's okay," she said, "no one else is home."

Beca soon found herself at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee and a box of tissues in front of her.

At no point did Mrs. Beale pressure her to talk, or ask her what was wrong. She just carried on ironing and folding clothes until Beca was ready to speak.

Beca took a sip of the coffee which was so strong and sweet she almost winced. It did seem to clear her head though, so she took a second drink.

"Where is everyone?" Beca asked. Her throat hurt from all the screaming.

"The twins are at their grandparents. Lucy is in town with some friends. David and Johnny are both still at work. And obviously Chloe is at college," she said. "So, are you going to tell me why you were fighting your car outside my house?"

Beca looked back down at her coffee, and watched the steam rise.

"I didn't mean to come here. I just drove. I didn't know where I was going," Beca said. She clenched her hand and felt pain shoot through it. "My… Mom came back. She was just sitting there in my kitchen."

"Oh," Mrs. Beale said. She abandoned the shirt she was folding so she could sit down next to Beca. "You didn't know she was coming back?"

"No," Beca said. "I didn't even know she was back in America." She clenched her fist again. "Who does that? Who leaves their six-year-old kid and then comes back twelve years later without so much as a letter?" She wiped her eyes impatiently on her sleeve. "What am I supposed to do?"

"What do you want to do?" She asked.

"I don't know," Beca said. "I want her to go away and never come back. But I also want to ask her why she… why she left me."

Mrs. Beale was hugging her before she even realised she was crying again.

"I hate her," Beca said through tears. Mrs. Beale held her tighter. "I begged her not to leave, but she just did it anyway. Why should I let her back into my life now?"

"I don't know, sweetie," Mrs. Beale said, ending their hug. "You didn't deserve that. You didn't deserve what she did to you."

"What if I did?" Beca asked. Her voice was small and sad and suddenly all Mrs. Beale could see was a confused and frightened six-year-old sitting across from her. "What if I did deserve it?"

"Of course you didn't," she said. "You could have been the most misbehaving six-year-old on the planet, and you still wouldn't have deserved it. I promise you."

Beca opened her mouth to speak but her phone started ringing in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw her dad was calling. She put it on the table without answering. She wasn't ready to speak to him yet.

"Can I?" Mrs. Beale asked, gesturing at the phone. Beca nodded so she picked it up. "Hello, Beca's phone?" Beca could just about make out her Dad's voice on the other end. "I'm Maggie Beale, Chloe's Mom." Beca wiped her eyes again and drank more coffee. "She's here with me now but I'll be honest she's a bit upset." Beca wished more than anything that Chloe was with her. "Okay. I'll pass the message on. Goodbye Mr. Mitchell." She hung up the phone and handed it back to Beca. "He said she left."

"Oh," Beca said, feeling a mixture of relief and anger. "Of course she did. That's what she does."

"Did you want her to stay?"

"No," Beca said. "I just… I don't know. I don't know what I want." Beca finished the last of her coffee. "I should go. Thank you for… Everything."

"Anytime," she said. "Are you going to text Chloe about it?"

Beca thought for a second before shaking her head. "She's having fun. I don't want to ruin it for her. I can tell her tomorrow when she comes home." Beca stood up from her chair. She was about to leave but she hesitated. "If I could pick who my Mom was," she said, "I'd have picked a Mom like you."

"So she wants to meet me?" Beca asked her dad that evening. They were both sitting eating pizza in the kitchen.

"That's what she said," he said. He looked tired and unhappy. "She turns up on our doorstep after 12 years and just expects us to welcome her in with open arms."

"So why did you?"

"I thought maybe you'd want to see her," he said.

"Well, I don't," Beca said. "She's had 12 years to get to know me."

"I know," he said, sighing. "But you should sleep on it. Don't make any decisions tonight."

"I'm not gonna change my mind," she said.

He stood up and kissed her on the head. "You might," he said. "Goodnight."

"I grew up without a Mom because she couldn't hack it," Beca said.

Her dad paused at the doorway, and turned around with a sigh. "I know, Bec."

"I don't owe her anything."

"I know," he said again. "All I'm asking you to do is consider it."

Beca did consider it.

She considered it all night.

She stayed up until the sun came up, sitting cross-legged on her bed, considering it.

Her fists were throbbing from where she'd hit the steering wheel, and her eyes were tired and itchy.

But how was she supposed to sleep?

Not for the first time, she wished Chloe was with her. Chloe always knew the right thing to say.

She thought about texting her, but talked herself out of it. She was having fun with Aubrey at college. She didn't want to ruin it for her.

So instead she lay on her bed and watched her room grow steadily lighter around her. She could hear birds chirping.

She thought about her Grandmother, and just how much she missed her. She wished she could ask her for advice.

She thought about her dad, sleeping a few rooms away, and how he must have felt opening the door to see his ex-wife standing there.

She thought about Chloe, and how desperately she wanted her.

But most of all, she thought about her Mom. About how much she'd hurt her. And how much Beca had missed her.

She tried to find some happy memories with her, but she was struggling to pick them out. Her birthday's had once been fun, but she couldn't really remember. She assumes Christmases would have been too. Had there been bedtime stories? Trips to the park? Vacations? She couldn't remember anything like that.

All she could remember was the feeling of her Mom trying to pry Beca's tiny hands off her leg.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because she was jerked awake at 3pm by her phone ringing.

It was Chloe.

Beca cleared her throat and tried to sound normal.

"Hey you," she said when she answered.

"Hi Becs," Chloe replied, practically squealing with excitement. Beca felt herself smile at the sound of her voice. "I've missed you! I'm gonna be home in a couple of hours, can I come over?"

"Of course," Beca said. "I thought you weren't getting back until tonight?"

"Change of plans," Chloe said. "Are you okay? You sound weird."

"Um, I'll tell you about it when you get back," Beca said, knowing there was no way she could lie about what had happened.

"Becs?"

"Don't worry about me, okay? Just enjoy the rest of your day and I'll fill you in when you're here," Beca said, worried she was about to start crying again. She flexed her fist and felt pain shoot through it again.

She showered and dressed and then sat in her room waiting for Chloe. She knew she still had a few hours yet, but she didn't feel up to going downstairs and seeing her dad.

Not that that mattered, because her dad came and knocked on her door anyway.

"Hey," he said, sitting on her desk chair.

"Hi."

He put a scrap of paper on her desk. "If you do decide you want to see her-"

"I don't."

"If you do decide," he said, ignoring her interruption, "her email address is on there. She's gonna be in town for another few weeks."

"Okay," she said, looking at the scrap of paper like it was a cockroach that had just walked across her table.

"I'll leave you to it then," he said, standing up. When he opened the door this time, Jasper came running in and leapt onto her bed.

"Hey buddy," Beca said, ruffling his fur before lying down beside him. He snuggled close to her, sensing that she needed comforting. It wasn't long before she fell asleep.

She didn't know how long she slept for, but her room was almost dark when she heard a quiet knock at her door.

"Come in," she mumbled, sleepily.

She heard her door open and close and then felt the bed dip. She then felt someone climb over her, and then wrap their arms around her waist, pulling her back into their front.

"Hey baby," Chloe said softly.

"Hey," Beca replied. She wiggled around so she could see Chloe.

"My Mom told me," she said. She had tears in her eyes.

"Oh," Beca said.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you," Chloe said.

"It's okay. You didn't know."

"You should have told me."

"I didn't want to ruin your trip," Beca said.

"You're more important. And what happened yesterday was a really big deal."

"Can we… Can we just not talk about it tonight? I'm so tired, and I've missed you so much. I just want to forget about her," Beca said. "Can we just lie here and talk about something else?"

"Yeah," Chloe said, kissing her forehead. "We can do that."