#this post is literally way too long but i got azzy to look it over and make sure its coherent

[ectopuppy]

which ben 10 series do u like best??!! im a sucker for the original series bc of nostalgia personally, but they are all good in their own ways

this is an impossible question to answer so im just gonna talk about why i love each series im sorry and thank you anon for gifting me this opportunity to ramble about The Hyperfixation (tm) o7

This is going under a cut btw. It's a little under 3000 words of unedited thoughts so like, just a heads up lmao

Why is the Original Series Good?

So first! Before I get into it! I overall just fucking love Ben 10 conceptually in general! I've always loved aliens and sci-fi and superheroes so you can imagine how excited I was to stumble onto this show airing on teletoon when I was just a tiny Kiki.

The OS has a lot going for it, but the big one is, of course, the nostalgia factor. Iconic as fuck! Fun theme song! Max is there! Yay!!

The BEST character in the OS is Max and I WILL die on that hill. Even as a kid I fucking loved him. Ben and Gwen are fun characters, but Max is the much needed reprieve from them constantly bickering. (Which is one thing I'm glad there's a lot less of in later series.)

Ben is a compelling hero, and the OS is an amazing START POINT for him. While he does have character growth in the OS, I would not be THIS obsessed with him if the OS was the only Ben 10 media that existed. He's a kid. A bit of a brat, but always TRYING to do the right thing. Which he's not always great at considering he's, you know, 10, but he really does try.

Something a lot of people seem to brush past when talking about Ben is that at the beginning of the series he was actively friendless and being bullied at school. I feel like that's a huge factor in why the Omnitrix is so important to his identity in later series. (or even in the Xylene episode when he finds out the Omnitrix was supposed to be for Max) He really didn't have much going for him before that. Being a hero is very likely one of the first times he's felt like he belongs somewhere, you know? Anyway..

Gwen is also very fun in the OS. UAF filed down her teeth just a little too much in my opinion. A lot of her personality in the OS is her THINKING she's sooo much more mature than Ben despite also being a fucking grade schooler. (They are literally the EXACT same age, right down to sharing a birthday.) She's is just as immature as Ben, no matter how much she thinks she isn't. It's just that her smug "I know better." attitude doesn't cause outfacing issues as often as Ben being impulsive and a little self centred.

The OS also benefits from being the "spaghetti on the wall" series. Things just kinda worked however the writers wanted at the moment. Big point here: Magic got to just be magic. (I have made a whole ass post RE: Anodite Gwen so I wont get into it here, but I like the retcon. That statement does not conflict with the above.) Gwen getting fed up being sidelined and going "Fuck it I'm learning magic." is so good and I love it.

I feel like it is impossible to not like the OS in some form, because it's the Original Series. Everything that happens later can only have happened BECAUSE of the OS. Is it my favourite series? No. But it's charming and silly and fun and I love it. c:

Why is Alien Force Good?

Alien Force is a tonal downshift for the series. The era it was made in was the era of Gritty Cartoons for Cool Boys, and it shows. Now, this is not a bad thing to ME, but I know a lot of people don't like the heavier atmosphere of Alien Force, especially in its opening arc. Like... episode 1 (or 2 not sure, but it's in the premiere) of AF has a dude straight up just fucking die, which is kinda. A lot. I can see where people are coming from.

HOWEVER.

Personally, I love the entire DNAlien arc, and it's use as a coming of age story for Ben. A big part of AF is Ben realizing that he needs to grow up. In the OS he was a kid. Max was the leader and the beacon of morality. In AF Max is MIA from episode 1. Gwen is more mature, and has mellowed out a lot, but she just isn't a leader. Kevin should never be put in charge of other people, so he's out. So it's Ben. He has to step up and lead, because there IS nobody else.

But, also the show is not gloomy! It has it's moments, and I get why people might watch the premiere and think "Hmm, too dark.", but AF is silly as hell. I will point to the Alien X episode as my basis here. It's smack in the middle of the DNAlien arc, and it's dumb as hell. Again, I have made a whole ass post about this, but the gist is: I love Alien X being a god being with the ability to do LITERALLY anything, but Ben gets so frustrated that he refuses to use it unless the universe is actively collapsing. (Also, the incurseans are there, and they are never not silly lmao)

But to me, the best thing AF did for the series was give it structure. The OS was extremely episodic, but the front half of AF is held together with a tight plot line. The back half not so much, but it does have a lot going for it character wise. Case in point:

Let's talk about Kevin. c:

Kevin was always a fun villain in the OS. Any time he showed up I knew we were in for a fun time, so him becoming part of the main cast (As a hero and friend no less!) in AF was a major selling point to me personally. Unlike with Gwen, I feel like they sanded him down just enough. He's still kinda sleazy and a bit of a shithead, but now he's trying to do better.

I'm aware the explanation for this behaviour is that the Omnitrix energy he absorbed in the OS drove him crazy or whatever, but that's not something we get up front if memory serves. He really does seem like he naturally just grew up and realized acting how he did when he was 11 wasn't exactly getting him anywhere good.

Kevin's arc in the back half of AF plays really well with Ben's arc. Ben is at an all time high after saving the universe, while Kevin gets mutated again and has a really shitty time. Ben getting humbled while Kevin gains confidence just works really well in tandem, I think, and they end AF on somewhat equal footing.

AF also gives us some of my favourite side characters so I really love it on those grounds alone tbh. Mostly talking about Paradox here, but also Albedo, and The Plumber's Kids (especially Alan I love him he's so baby <3), and Sandra. God, I love Ben's hippy dippy granola mom so much it fits him so well.

I could make a whole fucking post about Paradox to be honest, and this post is already insanely long so I'll be brief here. He made it a billion times easier for the writers to play with timeline bullshit without having to sneak retcons past the audience every time. He's also just insanely fun. Silly Time Man. I loves him!!

I also really love Julie and Omniverse did her so fucking dirty, but that's a whole thing and I'm sure I'll get into it when I get there in my rewatch so I'll save it.

Again, I don't know that I would say AF is my favourite series, but I will say AF DOES happen to have my favourite EPISODE of the entire continuity though. "Con of Rath" is the best Ben 10 episode and I will fight you on this one.

I'm about to pivot into Ultimate and seeing as I haven't gotten there in my rewatch I am going to have less to say about it (and Omniverse) since they aren't fresh in my mind and I don't want to be spouting half remembered nonsense or go dig through the wiki to fact check (and spoil myself on things I don't remember). I know this post is stupid long, bear with me a bit longer.)

Why is Ultimate Alien Good?

Every new series of Ben 10 does something to change the status quo in some way. In AF it was aging up the characters and relegating Max to side character status. Omniverse does much the same, giving Ben a new partner and pushing Gwen and Kevin aside. Ultimate changes things in a different way, though, and I'm NOT talking about Ultimate forms.

Ultimate's big shake up is actually the name of it's first episode: "Fame".

Now, in this house we love a secret identity, lemme get that out up top. For Ben, though? The fame works. He never really honestly HAD a secret identity the same way most superheroes do. He'd always just kinda done his thing, and had it work out. All of his villains knew who he was. (To the point that "Hit 'Em Where They Live" kinda makes no fucking sense? Zombozo is dumb as shit so like maybe he didn't? But Charmcaster DEFINITELY did, and Ben was famous OFF earth already? It's whatever, but like ',:| ya'know.)

The important thing about making him famous is that it gives him a new avenue for character growth. As in my dude needs to get his fucking act together good god. Like, it's Ben, when it comes down to it he buckles down and does the right thing, but fuck man. This is a character trait that will haunt the rest of the series. There are episodes of OMNI that focus on Ben needing to get his head on straight wrt being famous.

It circles back to my point from earlier, though. Ben was NOT popular before "Fame". His friends included: Kevin, Gwen, and Julie. That's it. He's on a soccer team (At least at the beginning of AF I feel like it never comes up later.), but he never talks about his teammates. That one bully whose name escapes me is on okay terms with him after "The Gauntlet", but I wouldn't call them friends. But after his identity is leaked suddenly everybody likes him. He's gone from absolute nobody to celebrity overnight. Of course he would love this.

This is also an extension of one of Ben's core character traits: He NEEDS to be a hero. Actually he needs to be THE hero, because that is his entire self identity. It comes across (both in universe and from a meta standpoint) as Ben being conceited and selfish, but underneath it is really just a sad little boy who is clinging desperately to the ONE thing he's ever been that people liked. The Hero.

If Ben isn't the hero then who is he? He clearly doesn't know as of the AF finale. He loses the Omnitrix and completely breaks down. Even though he's an expert tactician and a damn good leader, he doesn't even know who he is without the Omnitrix.

Azmuth of all people is the one to tell him to get his head out of his ass. I don't think any other character could have done it, though. Azmuth does not care about Ben's feelings, but he's also someone who (whether he likes it or not) sees ALL of Ben's worth. Max or Gwen would be too soft and Kevin's words wouldn't hold the same weight. Azmuth is someone Ben looks up to while also being someone who won't pull his punches. If he's telling Ben he can do something it has to be true, you know?

That aside, lets talk about the "Ultimate" in "Ultimate Alien".

The Ultimatrix is... weird. It's interesting, don't get me wrong, but it is so completely and clearly just a marketing gimmick. The Ultimatrix can be as cool as it wants, it is not making it out of this series alive. Also, everything I find interesting about the Ultimatrix gets dropped. The first episode has Ben be apprehensive about using the Ultimate forms, but then it's just never brought up ever again for some reason.

Also this shit:

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN????? WHY IS IT NEVER TALKED ABOUT? 😭

It all just feels so fucking meaningless knowing the Finished Omnitrix is going to replace it. Like, Albedo made this peice of shit. So even if I hadn't watched parts of Omniverse first I would have put together that Azmuth would inevitably replace it, right? But it doesn't really matter I guess. That's my personal gripe with Ultimate forms, though, so I wanted to get it out here. Ultimate's does give us "The Ultimate Sacrifice" which is an episode I remember enjoying though, so its not a complete wash.

The thing with Ultimate as a series it that it's really just Alien force... 2!! to the extent that fans refer to them as a collective. "Ultimate Alien Force" Like, my header up there ^^^ was "Why is Ultimate Alien Force Good?" when I first started writing the AF part, and I only changed it so I had a smooth transition to talk about "Fame". They are so intrinsically linked in my brain that I didn't even blink lumping them into one. It makes it hard to find fault in Ultimate when I love so much of the things introduced in AF that carry over, you know?

Now onto the one I was soooo close to saying was my favourite:

Why is Omniverse good?

Omniverse is very, very special to me. I did not watch UAF as a kid. It started airing just as I was hitting my "I'm too old for cartoons" phase, so I just.. never watched it. I wouldn't have ever really gotten into Ben 10 as much as I have if not for someone talking about how much they liked Omniverse on my timeline when it was airing. I watched a large chunk of Omni before doubling back to watch all of the OS (Which I had only seen bits of growing up.) and then UAF.

I fucking love Omniverse and a big reason is:

Him 👆 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

I would kill and die for Rook Blonko.

He is mine moste beloved boy. My babygirl. My right hand arm etc.

But beyond The Boy 💖 Omniverse has a lot going for it. It's another tonal shift for the series, this time back to the more innocent and silly tone of the OS. Like I said, I like the tone in UAF, but Omniverse is just so bright and charming it's hard not to enjoy it.

The art style is also very fun in Omni and matches that lighter tone really well. (There are some stylistic choices I'm not personally big on, but it's whatever.) Where UAF had scaled back a lot of designs to give off a pretty generically American Comic Book style, Omniverse lets characters look interesting again! I'm thinkng specifically about Animo and Charmcaster here (Charmcaster's UAF design is so boring. Omniverse puts her back in her cool robe/tunic thing from the OS.), but in general the characters in Omni just have more interesting designs than they did in UAF. Like, Paradox isn't just Guy in Labcoat in Omni lol

I also think the ten episode arc structure does Omniverse a lot of favours. It gets to have the fun silly episodic nature of the OS while also holding onto the structure AF gave the series.

Beyond that, based on my memory of the series (which I have not watched since it finished airing so it's not exactly perfect) I don't really have much more I can say about Omni. It's fun, and has good characters and plot lines. It's just a really good entry and was a solid ending to wrap up the whole four series continuity.

And so, finally, I can wrap up this fuck off long post.

Like I said up top, I can't definitively say which series is my favourite. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses, and are good in their own ways. If pressed, I would probably say "Um... Omniverse maybe?", but I love the OS and UAF so so much it's not a confident answer. (having not watched Omni in a hot minute also doesn't help lmao)

Thank you for reading my big dumb post. If you got all the way to the end, I love you. I mean, if you stopped reading it I also love you, but if you managed to get through all, uh, 2800ish words of this post without tapping out, you are on the top shelf. <3

I'd love to hear your thoughts, or answer more specific questions if you have them!

[icey--stars]

BABES! I just had the best thought

okay, so, hear me out,

So, Azzy and reader are in a relationship, right?

but nobody knows about, though it’s really obvious, and one day they’re out on a date or smth and Cassian like, walks into the restaurant and just see’s them and is like “wat?!👀👀” and then it’s just reader and Az trying to convince cassian not to tell the rest of the I.C.

that’s literally all I’ve been thinking about for the past like 10 minutes

okay, byeeee <333

when i tell you how much i love this idea, you would laugh at me. yES i love this. and i have no self control so im writing it. BEHOLD. god i love writing cheeky cassian. *ps ya'll, this aint count as a story, im just lettin it fall into the abyss of posts lmao

↢ 『 ☾ 』 ↣

"How have you been doing today?" I asked, twirling my straw around in my water. I looked at the winged male in front of me, seeing his hazel eyes flash up from where they were staring at the menu.

"Today hasn't been too bad, honestly. How's yours?" Azriel replied, dropping the menu back on the table and reaching out for my hand. I smiled as he grasped it gently in his, just for that little bit of contact. It was one of the things I loved about Azriel. His need to always be touching me. And although it made our "secret" relationship really obvious to everyone else, I still couldn't help the fact my heart burst with affection every time.

"Tiring, I had stupid paperwork," I grumbled unhappily. "Paperwork is the worst."

"I agree," Azriel snorted, smiling wide.

Now, at that moment, both of our dumbasses were completely so locked into each other's eyes that we didn't see when another burly Illyrian warrior sauntered into the restaurant we were having our weekly secret date. And we didn't notice when his jaw dropped open wide after seeing us, and then starting to march over like a male on a mission.

I heard his pounding footsteps though. I looked up, fingers tightening around Azriel’s. Cassian had the most shocked look on his face. He stopped a couple feet before the table, mouth agape and looking between Az and I with swift glances.

“Cass,” I regarded, anxiety now curling in my gut. This was supposed to be a secret.

"You two-" he started.

"Cassian," Azriel growled in a warning tone. "This stays between us, got it?"

Cassian snorted. "Oh yeah, turn on the scary tone, see if it works Az. It hasn't for the last 500 years, don't think it will now. I am so telling everyone. Even if its been obvious this entire-"

"Cassian," I now growled.

"Yes?" The warrior said, a smirk planted on his face.

"Don't tell anyone."

"No," Cassian laughed.

"Please don't tell anyone?" I asked, now in a more polite tone that hid the anxiety curling in my gut. Our relationship coming forth... both me and Az were afraid it would affect the team, and the team could not under any circumstance be affected.

"Cute, but not enough." Cassian was fucking proud of how stubborn he was right now, I realized.

Azriel stood up, still shorter than the other male. "Brother, don't."

"You'll have to stop me-" Cassian cackled, backing away and toward the door.

"Gods-" I swore, standing up as well. "Cassian, get your ass back over here."

I saw a couple others at the restaurant glancing over now and winced. So I marched past Az and grabbed Cassian, dragging him forcefully back over to the table and forcing him into a seat. I saw Azriel tighten his shadows over the male's wrists against the arms of the chair.

"You will not tell anyone," Azriel growled.

"I will tell everyone," Cassian replied cheekily. "So how long has it been official? You both suck at hiding it by the way."

Azriel groaned, sitting down again and rubbing his forefinger and thumb over his eyes, frustrated. I kicked Cassian from under the table.

"Tell no one," I ordered.

"Tell everyone."

"Tell no one."

"Tell everyone."

And that... ladies and gentlemen, and my nonbinary pals... is how Cassian found himself tied to a bedpost, with a gag in his mouth, in his own room.

And Az and I both continued our dinner like nothing had happened. We acted like we hadn't just had to threaten Cassian with his biggest fear.

After all, Bryaxis was my friend.

[mageofseven]

Now it's the younger brothers' turns ^^

The older brothers' post can be found here.

Also, just a little warning, Asmo's section starts out... well, in Asmo's specialty lol. The Avatar of Lust tries to act on said lust before the episode happens and the couple is forced to take a raincheck on it. Just a warning in case that makes anyone uncomfortable.

~

Asmodeus:

Oh boy, was this man terrified.

One minute, he was trying to have smexy time with his girlfriend, trailing down kisses from the top of her belly down towards her underwear, ready to slip it away when the episode started.

MC started screaming and hugging her belly. Since the woman was stripped of most of her clothes, Asmo had clear view of her belly, seeing each kick and jab stretch out and bruise her smooth skin.

The demon quickly jumped back from his human, eyes wide.

"D-Dolly??"

The only response he received was more cries of pain from his girlfriend.

The half naked man rushed out of the room, only to return a minute later with Satan in tow, obviously dragged against his will.

Satan's eye went wide at the scene and his face? Very red. I mean, he was just dragged in by his brother to find a mostly naked MC screaming in pain and with her belly riddled with bruises.

Doesn't understand what's going on, but the blonde makes a mental note to chew the fifth brother out later before rushing up to MC.

Starts trying out different spells on the woman, trying to figure out how to stop her pain, but only after he quickly covered her body with a blanket for the sake of his own comfort and MC's later on.

When the calming spell of all things solved the problem, Asmo pushed past the Wrath demon and wrapped his arms around the human, kissing her head over and over again, tearing up.

Any complaints that Satan shot at him in this moment were completely ignored. All that mattered to him in the moment was that his Dolly was okay.

After the couple had their moment, MC looked to Satan, blushing as she realized the state he had seen her in; that he was still seeing her in.

"I...I'm sorry about this." She said anxiously, wiping the tears from her cheek.

Satan waved away her words. It was an awkward and stressful situation, yes, but he most certainly didn't blame her.

The fourth brother asked the two of them to get dressed and meet him in his room so he could look into this matter more for them.

Discovering that MC's body was struggling with the dark energy absorption and that it was causing great distress within their son made the fifth brother beyond stressed. He tried to smile and pretend he was okay, but even MC could see the anxiety in that smile.

Becomes extremely clingy with his Dolly, more so than usual. Touching her in some way, whether with his arms wrapped around her waist, his hand holding hers, or cuddling up to her in bed, he needed her close; it was the only thing calming the anxiety choking his heart.

Satan was searching for a solution for the couple, but all the lust demon could think about was what if things got worse? What if...what if the pain got worse? What if his son hits some vital organs too hard amidst his panic episodes and ends up killing MC? Asmo was scared for his son too, but his more paralyzing fear was with his Dolly.

If he lost MC because of this...that would mean his own actions had caused the death of the only person he's truly loved in this way, the only person he's really ever opened up to and let himself be vulnerable with. If she dies...Asmo would be all alone again and the demon didn't think he could bear it.

Hearing that just talking to his son could help calm him and stop MC's pain? The man was overjoyed! Talking is definitely a specialty of his so the relief he felt at this news was immeasurable.

The next episode happened one night in his room while he was doing MC's nails. He was in the middle of painting her thumb when she suddenly flung herself into his chest and moaned in pain, tears filling her eyes.

Asmo dropped the nail polish, causing it to spill over the blanket on his bed, but the man paid it no mind.

He remembered the talk method, but didn't jumped into it right away since MC clung to him so tightly. Instead, he rubbed her back and and talked softly to her, trying to comfort his Dolly enough for her to let go.

After a minute or two, the human let go of her grip on his shirt, only to transfer it to his hand. Azzy didn't mind it all and let her squeeze it as much as she needed, but winced from the strength of it that he never realized she possessed.

Lowers his head down to her belly.

"Hey! It's okay. Go easy on your Mommy, Baby Boy."

Speaks softly and even starts gently rubbing MC's belly as he tells his son that he's causing his mommy a lot of pain, but they still love him and that everything will be okay. Tells his son that it's okay to be scared, but everything will be okay as long as he's patient and trusts his mommy. MC will absorb enough dark energy for him eventually so he shouldn't panic!

Slowly, the demon watched his son calm down, his kicks becoming less hard and less frequent till finally settling down.

Azzy kissed MC's belly a few times before rising from his knees and giving his Doll a kiss as well.

The episode ended in roughly eight minutes, but each one after that took less and less time and eventually, become almost non existent.

Asmo spends so much outside of episodes talking to his son and loving on MC's belly that the episodes almost never occur. It became a normal thing for Azzy to stop and talk to Liam as well as kiss and lay his hands on MC's belly. Their son was getting so much attention daily, feeling so loved and protected that his old panic that led to the episodes of him hurting his mother simply didn't happen like before.

Overall, one of the easier timelines for MC since she has a boyfriend who not only can express his love for their child so easily, but cannot help himself but to be a little excessive with it to the point where the problem all but disappears.

Beelzebub:

The couple was walking back from Madam Screams (MC was really craving chocolate and not only is Beely always down for some food, he's also really sweet and makes her cravings a priority) when it happened.

The woman just suddenly collapsed into her boyfriend, screaming in pain as he held her up, eyes wide.

Kept asking the human what was wrong, but she couldn't really answer. She managed to cry out about her stomach, about their babies, but nothing all that clear.

That was enough for the big guy though. He scooped her up and ran her back to House of Lamentation.

Literally broke down Lucifer's study door because he did not even stop to use the door nob. The oldest didn't even have time to get angry because MC was still crying and begging for her girls to be okay.

Lucifer had Beel sit the human on the couch before working his magic (yes, pun intended lol)

After he stopped the pain, the pride demon turned to his brother before asking various questions, trying to figure out what just happened. Beel was just as clueless as him though so the oldest merely sighed before scolding him for breaking down his door. I mean, Lucifer understood the urgency, but the door wasn't even locked 🤦‍♀️

Has Beel go take MC to lay down and send Satan her way to look into the issue before having him come back and fix the door.

So he did. He brought MC to her room and fixed the door while Satan checked her over, skimmed through book after book, and performed various diagnostic magick.

The sixth brother wanted to come back sooner and hold her hand through the process, but sadly the redhead didn't finish with the door till the tail end of the examination.

Luckily, he was right on time to hear the fourth brother's findings, hearing what happened to his Muffin and his girls.

To hear about the low absorption rate for the dark energy and his girls' fear... it broke the big guy's heart 😔

Satan said he'd need at least a few days to find a safe way to remedy the situation, but that'll be a bit of a challenge. Finding some spell or potion that's fully safe for humans and babies that can fix this problem? It was a taller order than some would think.

Though it wasn't safe in the long term, the couple was able to go to Satan or Lucifer for the calming spell to stop episodes in the meantime.

Getting the news from Satan that talking to his girls should help stop the episodes? The big guy was genuinely surprised. I mean, he's basically been talking to his girls since the very day his Muffin developed a baby bump; it never occured to him to talk to them during the episodes though.

"It's okay. Mama and Papa got you. Nothings gonna happen."

Tells his girls that they are safe in a soft, tender voice. Says that he knows it must scary, but things will get better because their Mama and Papa won't let anything happen to them.

The quickest of all the brothers. His girls were already so familiar with his loving voice that their panic died down rather quickly, ending the episode in about three minutes.

Another brother to talk to his kids outside of the episodes. I mean, he did it before he even knew it was necessary so why stop? In fact, just like with Asmo, talking to his girls became a constant daily thing. Like, MC couldn't even leave to use the bathroom without Beely kissing her belly and telling his girls that he'll 'see them when they come back'. Even little moments like that, the redhead just had to say something to his girls.

Because of the sweet excessiveness of it all, the episodes became incredibly rare, even more so than with Asmo.

Belphegor:

The two were taking a nap up in the attic room when the first episode happened.

Belphie woke up, not just from MC's cries, but from the human frantically slapping his chest, desperate for him to wake up

And boy, what a way to wake up. The sloth demon went from relaxed to panicked within a second.

I mean, he was able to keep his cool more so than Mammon or Levi, but the man was still confused and scared as hell for his girlfriend as she gripped his shirt and begged him to make the pain in her belly stop.

Trapped there by the woman's grip, the demon grabbed his phone from the stand and called Lucifer.

"I'm in the attic. Get up here now." He told the oldest impatiently.

Before Lucifer could ask questions or tell the youngest to watch his tone, he heard MC scream in pain in the background. Belphie quickly hung up and held his human close.

"It'll be okay, Butthead. Just hold out a little longer."

Lucifer was upstairs a minute later, rushing over the bed as MC let out a terrible scream. The two men could even see the painful kicks stretch out her skin even through her shirt.

The babies were extra receptive to the calming spell, even more than the babies in the other timelines, so the twins almost instantly settled within her.

MC buried her face in her boyfriend's chest, trying to calm her breathing as her tears slowed.

Lucifer started asking Belphie questions, but the younger brother didn't know much more than him. After all, he literally just woke up with the situation happening.

MC asked Lucifer if her babies were okay; they were now, but the oldest couldn't say anything else for sure.

This was when Satan was brought in and the couple learned about the slow energy absorption for their twins' souls. It broke MC's heart to hear that her twins were so scared and the woman honestly started to blame herself.

However, Belphie was beyond pissed. The babies were abusing his girlfriend because they aren't getting dark energy fast enough?

Still, the man has learned from his past mistakes. Instead of releasing his anger and flinging the blame on his kids in front MC, he left the room. He knew it would just hurt his Human more if she saw him like that.

The demon went to his own room, closed the door, and almost immediately kicked the wall, leaving a hole.

Belphie then sat down on his bed, head in his hands, and stayed silent for a minute.

Despite the thoughts swirling through his head...he knew they weren't true. This wasn't his kids' fault nor is he truly angry at them.

At this point in the pregnancy, he had already worked through his resentment of the twins because he saw that at the heart of it all, it was really just him projecting his self-hatred onto them and he knew it wasn't right. They never asked to be created; they are here inside their mom because of his own actions; his own choices

But since then, he's just had this empty space within him that he didn't know how to fill. Belphie didn't know how to feel about his kids and this situation almost made him fall back into bad thoughts about them.

Now that he's calmed down somewhat...they're all he could think about. At first, he was only worried about MC, but now that he let the whole thing sit within him, another part of it all stuck with him; his twins were scared.

Even though he didn't know how to feel about them, he chalked it up as another thing that was his fault. He... devil, no matter what, the Avatar of Sloth did not want them to feel that way.

After a couple more minutes, the man let out a big sigh and headed back to the attic to be with MC.

When the demon eventually heard from Satan about the talking method and how it could help the episodes, the seventh brother went quiet.

Belphie is simultaneously the brother who is the most uncomfortable with the method and the one who needs it the most; it really helped him grow and sort out his feelings about his kids.

When a new episode occurred and it was time to talk to his kids, the man was honestly at a loss of words at first.

"Enough. She doesn't deserve this!" He began, but then he looked up at his sobbing girlfriend's face before closing his eyes. He needs to do better; she needs him to. Belphie switched to a softer tone. "Your mom loves you more than anything...whatever it is that you guys need, you'll get it. She's not gonna let anything happen to you...I won't let anything happen to you, alright?"

Focuses on telling his kids just how important they are and how they're gonna be okay. Belphie and MC would never let anything happen to them and the man made sure they knew it.

The episode ended in about eight minutes, but they gradually finished quicker as time when on.

Originally, Belphie wasn't one to talk to his kids outside of the episodes, but sometime towards the end of the pregnancy, he sorta fell into the habit.

Only talked to his kids when MC was asleep though (or at least, when he thought she was asleep).

These talks were the main driving force for him to sort out his feelings for his kids. The demon really did love them, but the fact didn't truly hit him till they were born and he held them for the first time.

[factual-fantasy]

I WANNA SEE ALL UR UNDERTALE ART AND IDEAS🥺🥺🥺I WOULD LOV TO READ AN EXPLANATION OF UR LAST TWO POSTS

...Aight, bet.

I’m going to have to be slightly vague for a few reasons. For one, because people seemed to like this idea, I have been expanding it more and working through it, this means everything is subject to change. Second is if I go too far into detail it’ll take too long.

So, the story.

This takes place in a Refinedtale like universe. i.e. Chara, Asriel and Gaster are alive and on the surface after a pacifist run. Now, In this story Frisk, Chara and Asriel are friends with Monster kid, abbreviated to MK. Now they somehow end up in this huge cave system, with tunnels and huge rooms. A HUGE plot hole that made me shy away from posting about this story is I have no explanation for how they got there. They just wake up there separated for no reason. They weren’t doing anything strange or magic related, no they were just sleeping in their beds I guess and woke up in this weird place. No Its not supposed to be back in the underground.

So, the kiddos wake up confused, find each other and decide to look around. They come into a big room and find Toriel standing in the middle. Her outlines are white and the rest of her body is black. Her face is also blotched out, just like Papyrus in the first post. They try to approach her, but she attacks them with everything she’s got. Like really, she is trying hard to kill these kids. The kids fight back and keep trying to talk to her. Asriel manages to slip through the battle and pounce on his mom. He’s sobbing and begging her to stop and that she’s scaring him. She instantly stops. Her lines turn black and her body turns green. She becomes really connected to Asriel and becomes his servant all of a sudden.

The idea is that if one of the kids touch one of the blotched monsters, the monsters lines will turn black and they’ll change to what ever color the kids is. Asriel = Green, Chara = Red, Frisk = Blue, and MK = orange.

Toriel loves Azzy now and carries him around. hence this picture,

The kids are a bit nervous because she literally just tried to kill them. Now after that battle they start to look for more people.. and fine Undyne. Undyne was really intense, but MK managed to slip behind everyone and ram his head into Undyne’s leg, knocking her over and changing her silhouette to orange.

They now assume that a lot of other monsters are around here, and all you have to do to get them out of that state is to touch them. And depending on who touches them, their color will change and they will follow that specific kid around.

So they continue searching and find their next opponent, Undyne lends them each a small spear to protect themselves.. and.. its turns out Sans is next.. this one was really upsetting. I have touched a little on Chara’s inner demons in Refinedtale with this post. In this fight with Sans, the battle is really tense and hard, its a sense of bitter sweet nostalgia for Chara. Sans was always the most interesting battle in the timelines wasn’t he? Sans is seemingly the most harmless monster there is! So small, so frail.. But so powerful too. When Chara remembers the battles with him she feels shame, but also excitement! Sans’s battles were the best ones. Its because it was truly personal. Sans knew she did something. This powerful hatred came deep from within his soul. It was terrifying, and wildly exciting!! Being in this place again, where she could try and kill the comedian once more.. was just.. so thrilling! She couldn’t stop herself, she couldn’t hold back! She lost herself in the madness..

..and went way, too far.

Chara stood there for a moment, panting and smiling from ear to ear.. and then it hit her. The excitement was gone.. and in its place was just dread. Shortly after realizing what she just did, she burst into tears seeing Sans’s head scattered all over the floor. Everyone is shocked, a RESET isn’t an option here, Sans has gotta be dead. Chara crumples to the floor and cries. But next thing you know, Sans’s face shards gravitate towards his body on the floor. His face reconstructs itself, he changes to a light red color and Stands up. In the picture, her knee bumps Sans hand, thus counting as being touched. He walks over to Chara and helps her stand up. He’s now protecting her and loving her like Tori is to Azzy. After a long while of recovering and apologizing, they move on to look for more people. This is when they find Papyrus.

The fight with Papyrus was beyond anything they ever expected. It was like they were fighting Sans again.. but Papyrus was so much stronger than Sans, he was so much FASTER than Sans, it was insane! He could focus on every single one of them all at once! There was a post (that I can’t find) explaining how its very likely that Papyrus is stupid strong- he just holds back on you, anyway.. So this fight goes horribly, everyone is getting hurt. Chara tells Sans to do something, try to get Papyrus to stop, make it so one of them can touch him. So Sans teleports above and behind Papyrus’s head. In the picture above, that’s Sans in the middle of teleporting. He wraps his arms around Papyrus’s neck in an attempt to stop him. Making him lose his grip on Asriel.

Papyrus reaches his arm back, snatches Sans out from behind him, holds him up by his shirt and is about to kill him.. when..

Asriel begs “Papyrus stop!! Stop fighting us!!” Papyrus turns green.. the blasters and bones disappear.. then he gently sets Sans down. Not a word is spoken between the two brothers. But you could cut the fear and tension between them with a knife.

They all do their best to recover from this fight and move on. They keep searching and then find Alphys.

This one was hard because no one could get near her. She would sit completely still and the electricity would just come to them. The idea is everyone distracts her while Frisk sneaks behind her and manages to touch her. She turns blue and they move onto the next monster, luckily not much heart ache here.

Then they get to Mettaton, there’s a slightly angsty yet cool part where Mettaton is attacking Frisk and Alphys jumps in to protect her. Its like the Scientist vs its beloved creation you know? Anyway this is where things start to get fuzzy. I haven’t decided who gets Mettaton or how they get him. But lets just say its MK?

Now, I haven’t been able decide if Grillby will be one of the Blotched monsters. You might say that Grillby isn’t a significant character to the Undertale timeline at all, and you would be right. However in Refinedtale he is. Grillby plays a huge part in Sans’s life and to the overall movement in the timeline. And since this is Refinedtale based I figured it would make sense if he was in this.. but for some reason it just feels a bit off.. anyways, if Grillby was to be in this, he would be right after the Mettaton battle. I feel like Asriel would be the one to get him because he has a bit of a special advantage when it comes to fire type magic.

Next would be Gaster. Just like Papyrus, he was stronger than expected. The kids all kind’a saw him as a weak, broken old man that was way past his prime. Well they were completely wrong and apparently they forgot where Sans and Papyrus’s powers came from to begin with. So the battle is rough, the kids are tired and just manage to snag him. I can see Chara being fed up and charging through his attacks in a fit of rage and throwing him to the floor. He turns red and things are okay for a while.. They rest and try to collect themselves.

..they all know who’s next..

The four kids get carried through the cave system to conserve energy while they look for Asgore. They find him and decide that the kids trying to fight him is a bad idea. They don’t know if they can die here and they’re exhausted. Sans has demonstrated that the blotched monsters cant seem to die so.. they form a plan.

Sans, Papyrus, Gaster, Undyne, and Mettaton will all attack and just try to get him pinned on the floor, then one of the kids will run over and boop him on the nose. Simple! In the meantime Toriel (maybe Grillby) and Alphys will stand back  to protect the kids. Cool right?..

(warning, Gore reading up ahead)

..Well, there’s a reason why Asgore is the king of monsters you know. It goes horribly. Gaster is pinned to the floor by Asgore’s foot and has his rib cage smashed in. Papyrus is impaled in the chest by his trident and is pinned to the floor, destroying his rib cage as well. Sans is pulling hard on Asgores soul with blue magic, trying desperately to get him on the floor and off his family. He’s blasting him in the shoulder with Blasters and impaling him with large bone spears. Undyne has a spear dug into his other shoulder and is bashing him in the head and yanking on his horns. Mettaton is using guns and shooting him from every exposed angle, he’s using his arms to pull on his knees in an attempt to get them to buckle beneath him..

...but he just wont go down.. no matter how hard they try, its not working..

Asgore throws Undyne off of him and smashes her head against the floor, causing it to crumple and shatter. Sans is mercilessly yanked by the arm and thrown hard against the cave walls, causing him to break in every area and the kids to shriek and cry. He kicks Gaster aside and shakes Papyrus off of his trident. He then uses the trident to slash at Mettatons head so hard his head comes flying off.

(Gore reading over)

The terror sets in as Asgore makes his way over to the crying kids. Toriel is literally on fire, Alphys is sparking, (maybe Grillby’s flames are roaring) they’re both(/all) ready to fight. The 5 blotched monsters on the ground slowly regenerate, but they’re not doing it fast enough.

As he steps closer and the crying gets louder, Asriel looks desperately for a way out. He then notices Chara is gone. And Sans has vanished from his place on the floor. Before Asgore can make his move, Chara and Sans drop down from above him and land on his shoulders, Sans’s face hadn’t even reconstructed yet, he didn’t grab on to Asgore and simply slid down on his cloak and collapsed on the floor. Chara gripped tightly to Asgore’s neck and shrieked, “STOP!!”

..He turned red, put down his trident and stopped.

As to what comes after and why this all happened? I don’t know. I imagined the four kids wake up in their beds the next morning and remember all of this, but the blotched monsters don’t. I also thought this could’ve taken place during a picnic. The kids disappear for about 10-20 minutes and show back up running from the forest crying and wounded. I also thought that everyone wakes up on the forest floor and only the kids remember, and everyone else is just confused on how they got there.

Haven’t decided on a beginning or an ending. But that’s pretty much the story in as much detail as I’ve built so far. :} I hope you enjoyed reading this, it came out longer than I intended, but that’s alright I think. ,,^ ^,,

[dragonstoravens]

Babylon Vol. 1: Outside Looking In

(Just one more update after this until the end of book 1! I hope you’ve been enjoying this wild ride with us, and I hope more people will continue to enjoy is as we post book one on Wattpad and start in with book 2 in the new year. In the meantime, I hope you like this little jaunt into what Azzy and Trinity look like from an outside perspective, featuring some side character Kit and I got WAY too attached to.)

Taglist (ask to be added or removed!): @charlottedotexe​ @glitterandstarshine​ @rainbowcoloreddays​ @the-starlight-chills​ @erased-in-stone​

General: @elywritesbydarkness​ @residentofthedisc​ @humour-and-hyperfocus​ @skyfirewrites​ @viawrites-andacts​

21. Outside Looking In

    Everywhere those two went,  Jericho and Garza, they matched. It wasn’t a common sight at these events, to see a pair so constantly at each other’s sides. If it hadn’t come on so suddenly, Frederick may have thought Jericho had actually found himself someone willing to overlook how cold he was. But showing up very suddenly with a bombshell like Camilla Garza on your arm was an impressive feat, especially for an upstart like him. And keeping her around would ordinarily have been impossible, with the types of vultures and trophy collectors Jericho kept in his company. No one knew who she was, but he brought her along out of the blue and she’d done nothing but electrify rooms ever since. This night was no exception, and he was convinced this would be the night he’d at least speak to her. Figure out where she’s from, what she does, something.

    Rumors said she was anything from a gold digger, to an escort, to an heiress, to a blackmailer. As far as he was concerned, she could be any of those. She’d spoken to him once, in passing. Flashed him a charmingly crooked grin and made some off hand joke about the champagne he wished he could remember so that he could use it. It had been truly, genuinely funny, which was very rare to come by. Maybe it had all just been in the delivery. 

    Speak of the devil, and she shall appear in something bright red and low cut. He let his eyes wander over her form from afar as he sipped his drink. Even from here, he could feel the static as she moved about the room, her expression stubborn except for her eyes. He’d noticed her eyes were always soft. Faraway, like she was thinking about something else. Her body moved around people like water, hips swaying enticingly, always looking ready to stretch out over the nearest surface with a slouching grace you just never saw in people that came to these dinners. He couldn’t help but recall the arch of her back on the dancefloor as Jericho had dipped her, long and low and romantic in the way that made bystanders look away, feeling they had trespassed on something too deeply personal for prying, voyeuristic eyes to behold. That moment alone had nearly turned Frederick off the idea of speaking to Camilla entirely. But with two months gone by without so much as a hint of that same passionate romance between Camilla and Jericho, Frederick had allowed his hopes to rise once more. Shame that she was always stretched out across Jericho’s shoulders, like a grapevine draped along the length of a trellis. It made her nearly impossible to get to.

    He finished his drink and set his glass down. Adjusting his tie, he strode across the room to get her attention. He was going to talk to her. Just see what she was doing, where she came from.

    He made it almost within speaking distance of her before he saw Jericho. At her side, like always, but half turned away to set his drink on a passing tray. This was his chance-- or as close to it as he was going to get. He tapped her on the shoulder. Little sparks flew off her as she looked up at him.

    Jesus, her eyes were dark. It felt like she was looking straight into his mind, he couldn’t tell where his gaze started and hers ended.

    “Can I help you?” She looked him over warily, assessing his every molecule. He didn’t think he’d ever felt quite so exposed. He covered his surprise with a cough. Her voice had a gentle drawl to it he hadn’t remembered, a genuine note of curiosity he hadn’t foreseen. 

    “I was just hoping you’d join me for a song once the dancing began.”

    Before she could open her mouth to respond, a quiet clearing of the throat pulled Frederick’s attention quite a ways up from Camilla’s face and to the left. Jericho. He addressed his date, ignoring Frederick entirely-- except for the fact that his eyes never left Frederick’s face for a second, like a predator watching something he hadn’t quite decided to make prey yet.

    “Ready to go, dear? We have some... important people to speak to still.”

    She turned her head to face the man whose arm she occupied with a smile. Lopsided and beautiful. Frederick hadn’t ever seen that smile before. He hadn’t seen really anyone like her before. She looked back at him with an apologetic glance, little sparks jumping off the tips of her fingers, and then nodded to her date, who whisked her away. As he turned away, he tipped his head down close to Camilla’s ear, saying something Frederick couldn’t make out-- just two words, maybe, the slightest movement of his lips, but she laughed aloud, almost snorting, and Jericho’s face broke into a grin unlike anything Frederick had ever seen on him before. It was almost… warm. Familiar? Comfortable. Frederick sighed, picking up a glass from a passing tray and draining it. He’d done his best. Maybe he’d try again later, some other day. For now, he’d resign himself to taking in Camilla’s figure from afar, imagining just what kind of person she was that she could smile like that.

***

    It wasn’t as if Delilah hadn’t been interested in Trinity Jericho before. She’d always admired what others reviled in him. The coldness he seemed to show in front of others was either simply being uncomfortable with the attention he was forced to have on him or a stroke of business genius, and she was inclined to believe it was both. And it didn’t help that he was handsome as hell, too. She’d happily cut herself on his cheekbones anyday. She’d never wanted to approach him at an event, though. She saw how many women tried and were rebuffed, how many hung off of him while he ignored them completely. She’d done her share of the same to men who were only after her for money or looks. Instead, she’d just tried to think of a way she could talk to him for real-- maybe a business proposal, or something else he’d have to look at. Until the day he showed up with a woman no one had ever seen before, a woman who cleared away other suitors like some kind of bug zapper for overly interested ladies. 

    Somehow, this only made Delilah want to talk to him more. She knew it was possible Trinity had just happened to find someone, she knew better than most that his cold, hard exterior was an act. She’d seen it break before, in small moments when he was on the phone or away from the crowds, or even once when he’d dipped Camilla nearly to the floor in the middle of a crowded ballroom-- and despite Miss Garza’s frustrating presence in that last one, it always made her heart pound to catch just a glimpse of the soft Jericho that lay hidden. However… she couldn’t exclude the possibility that the bug-zapping function was what this woman was really here for. Maybe, just maybe, if she could get past whatever it was about this woman who scared all the others away, without being obnoxious or rude, it would make Trinity stand up and pay attention. She at least had to try.

    Azzy scanned the crowd. All things considered, it had been an easy day on the keep-Trinity-free front. No hangers-on, no overt staring. She leaned into his side, a rare moment to relax. Her mind wandered wherever it pleased, face looking largely uninterested. She kept a vague ear out for the sounds of approach she hadn't planned for, her arms around him sparking slightly as she tuned out whatever business drivel he was occupied with. From within, it was a moment of rest.

    From outside, she looked pissed.

    Delilah made her way across the room towards Trinity, not paying much mind to the woman on his arm. That was the first part of her plan-- whatever Garza did to scare off other people, maybe it would show off something of Delilah’s true nature if she was able to just ignore it. She ignored it so well that she didn’t notice anything off until the hair on her arms started to stand on end, as if electrified. Confused, she broke from the plan just slightly a few feet from speaking to the man she’d been crushing on for months, glancing down to his right.

    Azzy locked eyes with some pretty thing on her way over. She blinked, head tilted. Something behind her eyes turned as she thought about what she should do, but she figured in the end it was only one. One woman wasn't going to ruin anything, and she at least looked like she had something to actually say. Much better than the horrible sly small talk, maybe even someone for them to actually make a worthwhile acquaintance with. She rolled her shoulder and turned away, only slightly nervous that she'd also probably have to talk. Sparks flew off her a little more as she stood on tiptoe to whisper in Trinity's ear. A fair warning he might have unforeseen company.

    Delilah’s eyes locked with this woman’s nearly black ones, feeling them bore into her, and literal sparks flew. The set of her jaw looked like she’d happily tear Delilah apart if she took one step closer to Her Man, she rolled her shoulder like she was getting ready to start swinging, and… ok, those scars on her arms were clearly not just for show, and one of them looked fresh. Delilah involuntarily gulped, taking half a step back. If this was what she was here for, then… damn, was it effective. Had Trinity hired an actual bodyguard to be his arm candy? A fucking pirate?? But she couldn’t fail. Delilah Peterson did not fail.

    She surged forward with her last burst of courage, trying to keep her movements graceful as she pulled a business card out of her purse and held it out. “Mr. Jericho, Ma’am. I just wanted to inform you that the Peterson business would be delighted to work with you any time. You can reach me as a representative at my personal number.” She dropped the card into whichever hand reached out for it first, smiled as sweetly as she could manage, and scampered. God, she hoped it didn’t look like she was scampering. 

    Azzy blinked after the woman who had so quickly entered and exited their shared field of view. 

    “She was in a hurry, huh? What an elevator pitch.”

    Trinity frowned, and shrugged. “It was actually kind of refreshing. I think I’ve heard of her. Their company does bulk material supply, I think? I’d rather work with her than some blowhard who tries to sell himself to me all night.” He took the card, glancing it over and pocketing it.

    “Pretty gutsy to just slam dunk a card into your hand and call it good. Can’t imagine why she looked so spooked, though.” Azzy rolled her shoulder once more.

    Trinity brushed a few sparks off of his suit jacket with a smirk. “I think perhaps you’re doing your job too well.”

    She glanced at her hands. “Y’think? I thought I was bein’ friendly, I’m not glarin’ at anybody.” She thought for a brief moment, and he saw the lightbulb go off in her head. “Its that thing with my jaw, ain’t it?” In response, Trinity just chuckled.

    Delilah couldn’t help but turn back once she’d made it a safe distance away from Trinity’s apparent pirate girlfriend. She watched the woman relax, her face no longer set in an expression of murder, practically draped across Trinity’s shoulders, and say something she couldn’t make out from this distance. Whatever it was, it elicited a smirk from him, and Delilah’s heart fluttered. She wanted to get him to make that expression herself. She watched as he glanced over her business card, and tucked it into his shirt pocket, and allowed herself a tiny smile. Maybe all wasn’t lost, even if this strange bodyguard could break his mask in public in a way she’d never seen anyone do before. At least she could hope.

***

    Frederick spent the rest of his evening over an ever-refilling flute of champagne. He watched silently as Camilla glided along with Trinity across the floor, the two of them in their own world as he looked on. They stuck out like a sore thumb, speaking in low voices, Camilla occasionally laughing at something no one else would ever hear, clearly having a grand old time. He sighed and glanced around him, only to find a woman looking in largely the same direction as he was. 

    Delilah, in a similar fashion, had stationed herself for the remainder of the night over near the bar, and once the dancing started she’d found a place to stand where the only person nearby seemed far too absorbed in watching the dancers to pay attention to her. The last thing she wanted was some creep telling her to ‘smile, you’re prettier that way’ when she had absolutely no intention of doing so. She was shocked slightly out of her reverie when the man actually turned and noticed her, looking about as dejected as she felt.

    “They look like they’re having almost too much fun, don’t they?” He looked forlornly back at the dance floor, as Jericho twirled Camilla and she giggled into his arms.

    “Yes.” She sighed, taking a long drink from her wine glass. “Rough night for you, as well?”

    He followed suit, draining his own glass. “Oh, I’m sure come the morning I’ll realize I’ve had worse. Dancing’s silly, anyway.” A nearby waiter replaced his glass, which he took without comment.

    Delilah just nodded in agreement. She paused, finishing her drink and setting the glass down as the silence stretched. “Would you like to, anyhow?”

    He raised a brow and set his own glass down, relief all over his face. “Oh Jesus, anything is better than looking sad against a wall all night.” He offered her his arm, which she gladly took.

    At the very least, it was something to do.

[demonhuntersuggestion]

((Had an idea, and wrote a follow-up to this thing. Time for plot))

People were... much harder to deal with than demons. Some unidentified monster in the middle of the woods? Riddle it with bullets, cut it limb-from-limb. Nobody knows it lived, nobody knows it dies. People though? 

“How much time do we have?” Aurelio questions the recon specialist. 

“I’d give you about.. Thirty minutes. Any more, and...”

“Yeah, I know. Suspicious people and shit. Go keep an eye out.”

People problems came with all kinds of complications. 

Say, if a renowned-but-not-respected private investigator went missing without a trace after losing his family, reputation and general happiness to misfortune. How long would it take for someone to look into it? How long would it take for a missing persons report to get to the police? How long would it take for the police to stumble onto his last case and start looking out for a band of suspiciously nocturnal criminals? 

The Hunters couldn’t let that happen. But they had to work differently. Separately. Secretly. There was only so much they could accomplish without raising suspicion, without attracting the attention of the proper authorities.  They would most certainly taken note of a long string of tampered-with crime scenes in Fairbairn. 

They had to stay discrete. Unseen. Which is why Aurelio found himself in a missing person’s home, in the dead of night, under orders and obligation to flit in and out of the scene like a fucking ghost. 

Easy, right?

“Azzy,” he mutters under his breath. “Look around.” Aurelio feels the demon leave his side, quietly moving to search somewhere else, with all his intangiblity to keep him undetected. Aurelio himself, thick cleaning gloves on his hands and plastic bags strapped over his boots, went off to conduct his own search. 

He’d concluded that Reginald Harper Dickman, despite having a name as fucking awesome-sounding as “Reginald Harper Dickman,” was either one of the plainest old men he’d heard of, or that whatever happened to him was covered up well. Ideally, Aurelio would find evidence pointing to the latter.

Aurelio did not live in an ideal world.

There’s death in the air, Azazel’s cryptic conclusion reaches Aurelio. Recent. Stay alert. 

“It’s never fuckin’ simple, is it?” Aurelio sighs. “Tell me you’ve got something?” From the window, the reconnaissance guy (Lio really should’ve paid attention to his name) gives Aurelio a wary look. He knew about Azazel, then. “Eyes on the street, security,” Aurelio says dismissively, and the agent begrudgingly focused his attention toward keeping watch. 

Traces of blood on the ceiling. High up on the wall by the door, too. Someone tried to clean it off, but they were too short to do it effectively. 

“Seriously?” Aurelio half-snickered, looking up at the spot Azazel indicated. There might’ve been blood up there, invisible to the naked eye. 

You have a blacklight? Luminol? 

“No. And what the fuck is ‘luminol?’“

Don’t worry about it. The blood is there. Spatter looks like impact stains. Low velocity.

“From... What, blades? Bludgeons?”

Can’t tell. Not without a body. 

“So, there is a body.” 

Probably. 

 Aurelio turned to the rest of the room. “Need more information.” 

As he returned to his own search with renewed (and irritated) determination, he noticed more and more things in Dickman’s living room that pointed toward foul play. Furniture that hand long sat undisturbed wasn’t re-placed perfectly, leaving relatively cleaner shapes in the dust and dirt on the floor. Innocuous-looking spots in the house were wiped clean: no prints, no dirt, no nothing. Azazel was picking up traces of blood from all over the floor, concentrated in one specific spot. 

“Something definitely happened here,” Aurelio notes. 

Something that drew a lot of blood. More than a mortal could afford to lose. 

“Someone moved all the furniture from the center of the room, then back.” 

They needed room to do it-

“But what did they do?” 

“What the fuck are you trying to get at?” the other hunter in the room left his post, signalling to Aurelio that they needed to leave, immediately. He had a rather impatient look on his face. Aurelio didn’t ask whether it was from the question or the need to exfiltrate the area. 

Aurelio took one last look around the room and moved to follow him. “Our guy definitely died here.” 

The recon guy gives him a look. “Definitely?”

“Most fuckin’ likely,” Aurelio gives. “Whatever the case, we’ll need to conduct a fuller investigation.”

They push open the door to the backyard, pausing to pull the gloves and bags off their hands and feet before they move to a more visible area. “I need to make a call,” Aurelio states. 

“To who?” 

“Not important.” 

The recon guy frowns, but doesn’t press the issue. They split up, Aurelio making his way toward his truck a couple blocks away, recon guy going wherever he holed up. 

In the relative privacy of his truck, Aurelio clicked Marcus on his phone, pulling into the street as it rang, once, twice. Then his contact picked up. Aurelio skips the pleasantries, “Marcus, I looked into your thing.”

“What’ve you got?” Marcus’ cool baritone voice responded. 

“You definitely need to have someone look into this more. Seems important,” Aurelio shifted into vague-talk-but-with-just-enough-context-for-the-one-guy-to-understand speak. 

“How ‘important?’“ 

“Like, ‘missing teenage daughter report’ important. Except, y’know, with an old white guy.” 

“Aurelio?”

Aurelio stops at a red light. “Yeah?”

“Speak fucking clearly,” Marcus deadpanned. 

“Well excuse me for trying to be discrete, ass-hat!” Aurelio retorts, only slightly miffed. The light goes green, and Aurelio keeps driving.

“You’re not being ‘discrete,’ you’re being a suspiciously-vague piece of shit. The call’s secure. Do I have to go on?”

Aurelio sighs. “Fiiiine. Dickman’s probably dead.” 

“Dickman?” 

“Yeah, I thought it was funny too,” Aurelio huffs amusedly, turning onto another street, “But no, that’s his actual name.”

Marcus paused to think about it. “What makes you say he’s dead?” 

“Found a shit-ton of blood all over the place. Haven’t found a body yet, but there was definitely too much blood there for any human to survive losing.” 

“...The place was cleaned out, wasn’t it? Nobody saw any blood, anywhere in there.”

“Yeah, I used, uh... ‘Specialized investigation tools.’ Hey, do you know if we have any ‘luminol’ in our supplies?”

“Luminol?” Marcus pauses, and Aurelio hears typing in the background. “That’s specialized forensic investigation shit. Did you get your hands on some?” he asks.

“Uh, no. Just curious.”

“Sure,” Marcus concedes, suspiciously-but-mostly-ambivalently. “You figure out anything else?” 

“Nothing. Whoever killed him must be good.” 

“If someone killed him,” Marcus corrects him. “No concrete evidence yet. But alright, I’ll have someone else look into this,” he continues, the admin in him resurfacing. “Also, I’ll need you to come back in. Got another tip that I need you to look into.” 

Aurelio’s interest is piqued. “Another investigation?” 

“Yeah.”

“Two in one night, huh Marcus? You do know I’m more of a fighter than a detective, right?” 

Marcus makes an annoyed noise and a face that Lio can’t see through the call, but definitely can envision in his mind’s eye. “Yeah, I fuckin’ know. But they asked for you. Specifically you.” 

What? Aurelio purses his lips. “You sure?” he asks, doubtfully. If people ask for him by name, they look for his prowess in a fight, and most likely not for his (admittedly lacking) deductive ability. “What, like, ‘the hunter kid with the red hair?’”

“No, literally. Some guys came into the bar, asked to relay a message to you. Think his exact words were ‘the Morgenstern boy with the demon pet.’“

Aurelio almost runs a red light. “What the fuck?” That more or less confirmed it. Somebody had eyes on him. And Azzy. For better or worse. 

“Says they have information, on this missing persons case. Wanted to give it to you. Personally.”

“Personally,” Aurelio repeats. grip tightening on the wheel. Somebody’s aware of his existence. And, more importantly, his demon. Somebody other than the three, possibly four people who should know. 

“They’ve set up a meeting. Tomorrow night.”

“Understood,” Aurelio tensely replies. He definitely had to meet this person. Friend or foe, anyone who could find out about Azzy was dangerous. And needed to be looked into. 

Tomorrow night? Aurelio could do that. Get the time. The place. Case it, secure it. Get ready. Aurelio changed his route, there were places he had to drop by now. “These people who contacted you... They happen to mention who they are?” Aurelio asks, warily. 

There was an unsettling pause. “Yeah... Uh, yeah. The Wilk Clan.” 

Aurelio froze. “Oh, shit.” 

[dragonstoravens]

Babylon Vol. 1: I’m an Idiot but At Least I’m Fun

[ID: a blue patterned banner with text reading “BABYLON.” End ID.]

BIG CW for this one: Blood, mild body horror.

(Totally ran out of time to post this yesterday, so here we are a day late again! For the 2/3 people that actually see this on tumblr lol. Just one chapter, and not a mega long one, but be safe while reading and feel free to message me for a summary or sections to skip if you’re worried about the content warnings. Hope you enjoy!)

Taglist (ask to be added or removed!): @charlottedotexe @glitterandstarshine @rainbowcoloreddays @the-starlight-chills @erased-in-stone

General: @elywritesbydarkness @residentofthedisc @humour-and-hyperfocus @skyfirewrites @viawrites-andacts

16. I’m An Idiot But At Least I’m Fun 

    There was a steady dripping from the edge of the table she sat on. Azure sighed and then held her breath, digging the scalpel into her arm once more. She’d missed the intended node once already, and this was getting a little dicey. It crossed her mind that she really should consider an assistant for when she did her more complex updates, but then she’d have to deal with their concern for her wellbeing and that really only ever did more harm than good for her efficiency. A twinge of pain shot up from her elbow, and she reached behind her to carelessly flip a switch on a box wired to her ankle by about four yards of copper wire. The pain subsided, and she set the scalpel down in exchange for a pair of forceps. Time to dig. The dripping continued, blood running onto the ground and towards her workshop drain. She paid it no mind. She’d eat a cookie later. 

    But still, something burned at the back of her mind. She looked at the clock on her monitor, brow furrowed as she wiped a bloody gloved hand on her shirt. She was forgetting something. The faulty node was still blinking beneath all the blood, taunting her. Suddenly, a spurt of blood crossed the room, and some wiring escaped her arm, snaking slowly out of her open incision. She grit her teeth. That was never a fun feeling, blood-warmed metal exiting her body. “Fuck, oh, goddamn it-” Another spurt of blood, this one dripping down her arm and to the ground even though she had her free hand clamped around it. She grumbled low in her throat, words coming through the forceps she now held between her teeth. “Sonofabitch, I swear everytime I try-”

    “Bluemom, You have a visitor.” Her floating personal assistant bot, Bean, hovered over to her, his front display reading out her current rate of blood loss and the time. “He had an appointment.”

    “I don’t recall my brother or Turq or even Smalls needin’ appointments to see me. Just send ‘im in, whoever he is he’s seen worse I’m sure.” She waved the bot off and he hovered away, whistling his customary exit tune. She used the hand on her currently bleeding arm to open a drawer and rummage through its contents. “Gauze, gauze, gauze….”

    The door slid open, and a voice, not that of any of her shipmates and yet all too familiar, said, “Jesus.” 

    “Your Three O’Clock is here!” Chirped Bean. “Trinity Jericho has arrived.”

    She looked up to see Trinity standing in the doorway, hands on his hips. She could practically see the loading screen behind his eyes as his brain searched its databanks for an appropriate reaction or facial expression in response to the bizarre scene in front of him.

    She was a mess, blood running down her arm and all over her white tank top, a spare coil of fine wire hanging around the shell of her ear. A strange contraption was slithering its way out of her wound, the inside of her elbow flayed open. She’d have blushed in embarrassment, but she couldn’t really spare the blood, so she settled on smiling sheepishly. “Oh, uh, hey?”  More blood, this time escaping her fingers and splattering weakly at her feet. “...I’ve got gloves in that drawer right there behind you, would you mind helpin’ me for a quick sec? My hands are occupied right now.” Her tone was conversational, as though she was asking him to grab something from a fridge as opposed to putting on gloves to shove wires back up into her bicep. She continued using her lacerated arm to dig for gauze, blood dripping from her elbow and onto her bare feet.

Rather than figure out how to react, it looked like Trinity had decided not to react at all. His face was exceedingly casual, save for his slightly raised eyebrows, as he went over to the desk and removed the gloves, pulling them on. “Should I even ask?”

Something between a human laugh and a pig snort left her mouth. “Only if it’s necessary. I think I just nicked a vein. I’m more concerned with these connectors, they’re not supposed to be connected this loosely, which means they really shouldn’t be hangin’ out my arm like a hound dog out a pickup truck window.”

“Just nicked a vein,” Trinity mimicked, affecting a higher pitched southern drawl that combined with the slight disbelieving tone to his voice. “Ok. Ok, you’re completely insane, and probably only partially from blood loss. Now, tell me what to do.” He turned his attention to the wires, examining them closely with an expression that rivaled his focus when looking at a particularly interesting problem in one of his own production lines. “I think I see the basics of what’s going on here, but you’d know best.”

“It’s just the coolin’ lines, they kinda just gotta be-Oh!” She pulled a roll of gauze and some medigel from the drawer she’d been digging in. “Found ‘em.” She looked back up at him, arm stretched out, still applying pressure. “I’m not insane until I lose a full liter, by the way. We’re not even a quarter of the way there. They’re just coolin’ lines, you can just shove ‘em back in. I’d have done it already if I didn’t need to keep my blood in my body.” The cooling lines glowed a faint purple and continued to slowly snake their way out. She beheld her own mess with interest for a moment, puzzling something out. “Wonder if I could…”

“Let’s save that little curiosity journey for later, yes?” he interrupted, just the slightest hint of panic creeping into his tone that stopped short whatever she’d been about to come up with. “Maybe best to explore all the other experiments you could run on yourself when you’re not already bleeding all over the floor.” He started pushing the wires back into her arm, probably more gently than she would have done herself. “And, for the record, you’re insane with all your blood in your body. But I’m sure you know that already.”

“It’s what makes me fun!” Her irreverence for her own safety could almost be seen as endearing, if it wasn’t so dangerous. She grabbed a spray bottle marked ‘alcohol’ in big red letters, a roll of duct tape on her wrist. “Here, put pressure on it once it’s all in there, I’ll secure it back down later. Musculature will hold it for now.” She put the spray top of the bottle of alcohol between her teeth and bit down, twisting to remove it and dumping some of the contents over the open wound, no sign of a grimace. “Quickly dude, or we’re gonna be covered in blood. My heart’s still beatin’. God this would be so much easier if my limbs were detachable.”

Trinity almost said wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been covered in blood, or detachable limbs are another thing we don’t want to explore right now, but he was a little too busy to worry about snappy comebacks. He got some disinfectant a little more directly to the wound by covering a bandage in medigel, and set to work sealing the edges together temporarily with glue that he knew should work like stitches. The alcohol had luckily done the double job of cleaning away the excess blood, so all he had to do was swipe away the fresh blood that had just welled from it with a piece of gauze and apply the bandage. On top of it he folded a few more pieces of gauze for extra pressure, and he secured the whole thing with medical tape. It was quick, but rather well done for a rush job nonetheless. Azzy blinked at the result.

“Oh, I was gonna slam some gauze and medigel in there and throw some duct tape over it but that works too.”

“I know that’s what you were going to do, which is exactly why I didn’t do it. Might as well make use of an extra pair of hands.” Said hands, though gloved, were a bit of a bloody mess now, and he walked over to a sink with a bin for biohazard disposal to clean up. “Luckily I know something about cybernetics and first aid. I know you do too.” Unspoken was the implication that not everyone did-- that most people would probably freeze up or panic at such a sight. Beneath even that lay certainty that she did this often. Despite his jokes about her being insane, she’d been perfectly calm. This maybe wasn’t how all her repairs went, with the blood and all, but it wasn’t a surprise, either. He thought maybe that should scare him, but instead he simply accepted it as fact. What else could he do?

“Can’t see how it matters too much, can’t avoid the scarrin’ anyway. Thanks, though.” she looked up at him with that same lopsided smile before bending her arm a couple times. “I forgot you were comin’, lemme get this shit cleaned up and we’ll get that maintenance outta the way.”

He shrugged as he finished washing his own hands and disposing of the gloves, and started to help her clean up. “Scars, those don’t matter. Everyone has them, visible or not, you don’t make it far in life without them. But in this kind of world… I think you might as well save yourself a little pain and danger any time you have the chance.” There was an honesty in his voice that drew her attention, but he was facing away from her. He cleared his throat awkwardly and turned with a crooked grin. “So, what nefarious plans do you have for my eye today?”

She was already across the room in front of a pair of doors, arms crossed over her front to pull her shirt up and over her head. She was facing away from him, her back tan and striped with thin white scars all the way up her spine, ending in one final splintering burst at the base of her neck. Barely visible at this distance was the white ink tattooed across her back to make the whole mess look like a dandelion puff. The shirt fell to the ground with a wet flop as she hit a button to open a closet full of more white tank tops, these ones pristine. Her hands were clean already. “S’not like I feel it anyway, that’s what the ankle wire’s for.” She grabbed a shirt and tugged it over her head, fixing her beanie as she turned to face him again and grabbed a mop from the corner. 

“Ankle wire?” He glanced down, mechanical pieces fitting together behind his eyes. “Of course. You electrocute your nerve endings to suppress pain. Makes perfect sense.” Was she imagining the tiny edge to his voice? “And to think you lectured me before about the external charging I was doing. Don’t you ever worry you’ll fry them, go numb permanently? Although…” He shook his head, the joking tone back to his voice. “Never mind, you could probably fix that if it happened, anyway.” 

Azzy began cleaning, ignoring the edge to his voice. This was why she never let anyone assist with her cybernetic self experimentation. This, and the process of the reset. She let herself sound cocky. "Of course I could fix it. Anyway, I have an update for the cooler, so it'll adjust with your body temp, like a real eye. Good for if someone's lookin' atcha with thermal imagin'." She hit a button and hopped onto a counter, the edges of the floor beginning to flood slightly with water. "I also thought maybe I'd upload this real spicy book I read last week to it, in case you get bored. You’ll love it." She snorted, unable to keep a straight face.

He laughed quietly along as he lifted himself onto the counter next to her. It was odd-- even through genuine humor he was looking at her like he was considering something, searching her for the answer to some unspoken puzzle. He let his gaze wander again just before the point where consideration became outright staring. “Feel free. That thermal imaging sounds like a great idea.”

The floor was done flooding, washing the remaining blood down a drain in the center of the room. She hopped back down, crossing the room and grabbing her boots off a shelf. Can't mess with people's eyes with your bare feet just out and around. She looked up from her feet with a curious expression, like he'd given her a brain teaser. "What was that look? You were thinkin' about somethin', and it's almost definitely not the alien erotica I'm puttin' in your peeper as soon as the standard tune up is done."

He shrugged. “I’ll tell you later. There’s some research I want to do first.” He slid off the counter. “First things first, heat regulation and alien erotica.”

"Don't have to tell me twice. Get on the table, I'll get the hookups. Pop that sucker out too, I need to check the retina." She pulled a clean pair of gloves on, snapping the cuff against her wrist. The sensation ricocheted up her arm. Her elbow and wound sparked. Her freshly patched arm swung out of its own volition, landing squarely on Trinity’s backside. Azure blinked, tips of her ears turning bright scarlet as her mouth twitched. “Oops.”

Trinity turned to look at her and blinked bemusedly. “...Getting an early start on the erotica part?” he quipped, but his already pink cheeks flushed darker as he spoke.

Azure giggled in response, pulling her arm back the moment she realized she’d left it there in shock. “Sorry. The node’s been misfirin’, if I hadn’t missed the incision point I’d have replaced and calibrated it by now, my bad.” Her eyes flickered briefly downwards and then immediately to her desk, smirking as she rolled her shoulder and shook her hand to get out any further bursts. “...Glad to know you don’t skip your squats. It’s a nice ass, now that I’m lookin’ at it instead of the wires in my arm.”

“A misfire, sure.” Trinity smirked back. It was easy to tell she was being serious about the misfire-- a lie would have come with a lot more stammering and awkward pauses-- but it was a prime opportunity to tease his friend that he wasn’t about to miss. “Your powers of observation are astonishing. Here.” He popped out the cybernetic eye, deceptively simple looking detached from its complex inner workings. He grinned, and tossed it lightly in one hand, waiting for her to turn back to face him. “Catch.”

She held a jar of fluid for his eye in her hand already as she turned, brow raised. As she faced him, he smirked and tossed the eye towards her, an easy to intercept underhand throw. “Ohfuck-” Snatching it out of the air and setting it gently in the jar, she pouted at him. “Dude, I’m not makin’ you another one if that one breaks.”

“You didn’t make the first one.” He smiled. “It’s fine, I knew you’d catch my eye.”

She stared at him blankly for a moment, then set the jar down and cracked a smile, some small hint of a blush on her cheeks. “Very funny Hotshot, well done. Don’t throw your fuckin’ organs.” Digging out a small monitor and some wires, she glanced over her shoulder with a smirk. “I’m sure all the girls tell you that though, right?”

He scoffed, amused at the idea of the women at the events he attended saying anything about organs out loud. “Just you. It’s a bit of an honor, really.” 

“Flatterer. Don’t think I don’t know about your eight illicit rendezvous with five women in the last two days. Sara Mitchell told me all about them last time.” She rolled her eyes and stood, handing him the bundle of tech and tugging at his shirt collar to plug something into his port. “They’re tryin’ harder every time, I swear. I can see why you wanted the backup more ‘n more, I can’t imagine how you got anythin’ done at those things.”

“Mostly by ignoring anyone I didn’t want something from,” Trinity replied casually, opening his shirt a few more buttons to let her access his port more easily. The motion revealed those tattoos she’d already noticed a few times before when doing repairs-- the birds in flight, the trinity knot, the wall, the crumbling tower. Again she considered that their placement, so close to bone in most places and with so many heavy black lines and detailed patterns, must’ve really hurt. A phantom pain shot down her own spine in sympathy at the thought.

“Well, I guess that explains it just fine.” She flipped a few switches, monitors whirring to life. “Not very nice, but then again neither is listenin’ to them gripin’ because I won’t tell ‘em your-” She stopped herself, face reddening as she dropped a heartbeat sensor in his lap. A nasal feminine voice replayed in her ear, begging the question how big is it, really? She picked her sentence back up with a rambling vigor, trying her absolute best to drown her own thoughts out. “-current plans. Nasty, all of ‘em. Super nosy. Can’t blame you for ignorin’ it. Wanna put that on your finger? Don’t matter which, any of ‘em are fine, I gotta make sure the readin’s are accurate.” 

He gave her a look like he wanted to question her about the hesitation, though she was certain he had a pretty good idea what the ladies had actually been asking her about. However, he simply quirked an eyebrow in her direction as he slipped the sensor onto his pointer finger.

Face still red, she hooked the eye up to a different wire. Something hummed and buzzed, and she heaved a dramatic sigh. “Sorry, you don’t have enough space for the porn. You have all of it allocated for images and text files made by the unit itself.” She made a few keystrokes and turned, looking at everything but him. “Okay, that’s updatin’. Lemme see your empty eye socket, your nerve is registerin’ some weird readings.”

Trinity turned his face up to hers, exposing the scarred inner socket of his eye. He’d never said what had happened to it, but it didn’t look pleasant. “The optic nerve? It should be fine, it’s totally cybernetic. It’s not degrading again, is it?” There was a hint of nervousness in his voice at the thought.

“It’s probably just one busted cell. It’s still machinery, sometimes parts need to be replaced.” She grabbed a pair of foreceps and clicked them together where he could see with his good eye. “Tell me if you feel this, because you’re definitely not supposed to.” She poked around at the back of his socket. “Anythin’?”

“No. I think your mother poked around in there enough when she was installing it that it won’t feel much ever again.”

“Then your actual nerve past the cybernetic and into your brain is fine, its just a couple of cones tryin’ to be data transmitters.” She poked at something else and made a small noise of triumph. “I’ll have it replaced, shouldn’t be hard. I think I made a couple extras when I was up all night last week.” The foreceps went back to the table and her face reappeared in his line of sight, beaming. “Your whole business is just as busted, but it’s no worse than when you came the first time. Matter of fact, some of the burns from when your eye wasn’t cooled properly have healed pretty well, like they weren’t even there.”

“Oh,” Trinity responded, pleasantly surprised. “Yes, I tried to do some first aid to keep it from scarring the way my leg did when I used to charge my taser externally.” He didn’t meet her eyes, even though he’d only done it a half dozen times, and all long before he’d met her. The second reminder of his own carelessness with his remaining nerves made him feel a bit guilty for sniping at her about her own. “I took the eye out when I could, used some burn creams and medigel, that kind of thing. Anyway, I’m glad to hear that there’s nothing wrong with the organic nerves.”

“Yep, if nerves had feelin’s they’d be happy as hell. Strong impulses, not too much overtime. Whatever took ‘em out the first time, you’re recoverin’ pretty well given that you lost your whole ass eye.” She returned to her computers, hands flying deftly across the keys and screens as she looked for more anomalies. 

“Well, it’s been a couple years at this point. I let it degrade for a while before I sought out your mom, but… it’s good to hear that damage didn’t last.” At least those nerves had recovered. Others hadn’t, but that was going to be the subject of his research for the next few days. Despite what he’d seen earlier when Azzy had been working on her own cybernetics, he trusted her implicitly with his. If anyone could fix his problem, she could.

“It makes sense, the brain doesn’t like leavin’ things so close to it busted. Optic nerve is pretty close.” Her tongue poked out at the corner of her mouth and she squinted at her screen. “....Hey, want a wider zoom on your sensor?”

“Why not? Whatever you think, I trust your judgement.” He leaned back slightly, relaxing, and let her work. She stood quietly for some minutes, occasionally humming a quiet tune that was almost familiar. 

Eventually, she was satisfied with her work. She unhooked his eye from its wires, passing him the jar. “There you go, go ahead ‘n smack that back into its place and you’re all set. Recalibrated it’s temperature sensin’ and the coolin’ system to be a little more sensitive to ambient heat. Don’t go swimmin’ in super cold water, though. Might be a little too ambient for it for now.” She had that same smug look she always did when she was done doing maintenance, eyes bright.

“Of course. Thanks, doc.” He said the last bit with a slight smirk, and popped the eye back into place. It rolled around for a few seconds before settling. “See you at the next event?”

“Only if that guy with the braid’s there, I hear he’s kinda fun.” She took her gloves off and waved him off the table. “Get outta here, I gotta reset my arm.”

“Alright.” He stood, a quick pat on her non-injured shoulder his goodbye. “Be careful of that wound. I bandaged it so well, it would be a shame if you messed up my handiwork.”

“I have three doctorates, of course I’m gonna mess it up.” She gave him a quick pat as well, her smile genuine. “I’ll go easy on it. Bean’ll take you back, careful none of my scary vigilante’s eat ya on the way out.” The small bot hovered over his shoulder, beeping a hello tune.

He grinned, and nodded. “I’ll try to steer clear. Let’s go, Bean.” He followed the little bot from the lab, with one last wave towards Azzy, not looking back. She heaved a sigh and grabbed a wire, connecting it to one of her ports once the door closed behind him. She had a limb to test and reset.