#this was based off of memory can anyone confirm it looks right

[tomodachi4l]

your plushie looks HUH?????????

based off of that one photo. you know, that one photo!!!!!

[littlenahsstuff]

That’s Not You

Bridget x Reader x Daughter!Red

Based off of @agggtmggbbagad ‘s request.

Synopsis: Bridget looks through the looking glass and sees how awful she could become. She confronts Red back in the present. A lot of doubt comes up and you both want Red to know just how much you both love her.

Warning: angst again 😭. Fluff tho! Lots of feels. Not proofread.

2.2k words

Bridget stood there in shock with the looking glass in her hand. She had typically been so sure of herself. Something about how earnest Red had been for her to open the mirror put her off. She had rationalized that it was a quick peak and that even though she loved surprises, she needed to look. She opened it to see a terrified Red sentence what looked to be Ella as an older woman to treason, and her own face staring back maliciously. She slammed it shut. She thought Red looked like they could be related. And when Chloe called Ella mom, she did find it weird.

Red was her daughter it seems the duel red hair all but confirmed it. She would have to confront Red about it… Except she couldn’t. She didn’t get to Red before she left for her own time. The day haunted her for a long time and she didn’t tell anyone, not even you.

The introduction ceremony was beautiful. She had worn her favorite pink and red gown and everything was going alright. Other than Red disappearing right before the speech started. She worried Red would miss it.

You caught the look in her eyes and rest a hand on her thigh. You were worried for Red too. Bridget took out her deck of cards and nervously starting shuffling.

“Do you mind?” Principal Uma asked and Bridget blushed and stood up. She knew doing a card trick for all these people was silly but she knows it’s a fantastic one.

“Mom no, stop!” She here’s Red yell. She tenses and turns around but continues.

“I’m just playing my favorite game; hearts!” The cards burst into lovely pink hearts. She saw a tear leave Reds eyes but something was a little off about her. She decided to apologize and rap up with an extremely quick speech about her not-so- little Red. Everyone burst into dance and congratulations for the new year.

Something was off about Red the entire celebration. She looked shocked to see you there, her own mother and was quieter than normal. She was usually giggling with Chloe but Reds girlfriend was clinging to her mother.

You also picked up on this and took Bridget to the side.

“Um, Bridgy, can I have a quick word with you?” You ask, guiding her to the corner of the room. You asked Red to go get some punch.

“Yes, of course” Bridget nodded.

“Um, have you noticed anything off with Red? She seems a little madder than usual but not in the normal mad way. I just, I know we have to let our little girl go out by herself but… is there a chance she might be taking this transition just as difficult as we are?” You finished, a worried frown etched on your brow. Bridget thought for a second be for it hit her. That was the same outfit Red wore when she saw her all those years ago. You saw Red but sometimes had the memory of a pickle so it just seemed like a funny coincidence to you. More bizarre things have happened in wonderland.

“Oh no.” Bridget muttered and you grasped her hands in yours.

“What, what is it?” You question.

“I- I don’t know how to say this without sounding completely crazy. Um, so did you ever remember when we were just a little older than she is now, we met those transfers that left so quickly? You were sick that week but you saw them briefly the day Uliana got flamingoed. Well, they were Red and Chloe.” She says and you froze.

“I- what- I, that’s impossible” you pale.

“Nothing is, and I know for a fact it’s Red because- well I looked in the looking glass.” She admitted.

“But you love-“

“Surprises. I know, but I’m glad I did. I think the Bridget Red remembers somehow became completely evil. I don’t know how. But it was true,” Bridget explains. You start shaking a little.

“So I- I’ve met Red before, before she was Red?!” You gasp when you hear Red sigh. She comes over and puts the punch on the table next to Bridget and you.

“So, you do remember,” she whispers.

“Uh-“ you say panicked. You didn’t, and now you do. You need to sit down you’re so confused. You can’t, so you lean against the table.

“Yes my sweets,” Bridget lovingly answers. “I know that you aren’t the same Red from before. I know that I’m not the same as your mother from before.” Bridget smiles sadly.

“That’s for sure,” Red scoffs sadly, “but since you know now. Why is Y/n here?” She asks and it’s like a cosmic joke just punchlines through your heart.

“What?” You say, eyes widening.

“Who was she to you originally?” Bridget asks, now worried about another thing too.

“She was the head maid,” Red cautiously continues, “who is she now?”

You choke back your shock, “I am your mother, adoptive but- were we close? Please tell me we’re close.” Red turns sheepish.

“You were nice to me” is all Red says. She feels bad. As awful as Bridget feels for you, she needs to get to the bottom of the original problem.

“Red, after you left I did take a look at the looking glass and I know I was… rotten. Did- was that why you went back in time? Why?” As soon as Bridget says it Reds eyes grow, ever so slightly, harder.

“Yes, you staged a coup today and killed Queen Ella. On the original castlecoming day, Uliana turned to into a monster. No one helped you and it made you twisted, vengeful, and cruel in every way imaginable. Chloe and I stopped Uliana before you got pranked and we came back. Though, we still don’t seem to know anything from this new timeline.” Red admits and Bridget is brought to tears.

“Oh my, I was awful wasnt I? I remember you talking about your mother- me. I am so sorry, I don’t know what could have happened to make me do those things to anyone but especially you. You are my most precious one. I love you for infinity. I realize you will have a very difficult time believing this but truly I love you so much and- and mother and I will try to prove it every day forward” Bridget finishes with tears streaming down her face, “I know you aren’t a hugger, but could I at least hold your hands for now. I love you so much!”

Red nods, still not used to that. It was one thing when young Bridget was being so nice but this now that she actually was her mom it felt even more insane and dreamlike. She wanted to have this so bad. Red gives her hands to Bridget and smiles softly.

“I’m glad your you again.” She says.

***

Since it’s the weekend Red is supposed to be visiting her mother… well mothers. She is still getting used to the whole going from no good moms to two good moms thing. The messages she got daily as well as the magic mail sent cookies were fantastic and love filled. But this would be this first actual ‘family bonding’.

Bridget and you were a bit of a reck. You were trying to make this visit as welcoming as possible. The two of you stayed up the night prior having an entire stress bake-athon. Bridget got Red a couple of gifts and you made her a fun little photo book and journal of her life to help her catch up on things. It was bittersweet seeing all the photos.

In a sense you both lost the Red you knew. She was withdrawn now and sheltered. She still made an effort to get to know you two and would reply with honest answers. She even opened up about how she liked Chloe and how it was shocking to find out they had been dating for months.

You all tried very very hard. Maybe too hard. You were panicky tidying up the main lounge room, while Bridget made sure Reds Room was perfect. It shouldn’t have been taking her this long. You went to go find her when you heard soft crying from Reds room.

You knock and enter, “Honey, are you alright?”

She looks up at you through bleary eyes. “No.” She whimpers. You immediately go and embrace her.

“It’s gonna be okay. Talk to me.” You urge. She exhaled shakily and it takes everything in you not to start crying with her.

“How could I treat her that way? I just, if I am truly capable of hurting her that badly on purpose what kind of mother am I. I’m an awful person,” she sobs into your hair and you caress hers.

“Shh shh, no of course not. You aren’t her and you never will be. Red said so herself that something awful happened to you. It must’ve altered your brain because you would never do those things willingly no matter how beaten or bruised you are. That’s not you. You’re the Bridget that would read stories to her every day and made sure to go to all of her dance classes. You’re the one who had movie nights with her and happily watched the same movie over and over because it was her favorite. You are the same woman that proposed with a cheesy card trick while dancing to music. I love you and I’m sure Red loves you still and will grow to love you more and more as she sees how kind you really are!” You finish with exhale, now you’ve started crying too. She just holds onto you tighter.

She whispers a soft, “thank you,” before the comforting moment is interrupted by Maddox who has a soft smile.

“Your majesties, Princess Red has arrived.” You both break the embrace. You straighten your top.

“Thank you, Maddox.” You turn to Bridget, “Now come on, we have a daughter to love.”

When Bridget sees her daughter come in she grabs the cookies on the table and immediately offers Red one.

“Chipper chuckle chocolate chip!” She says excitedly. You all grab one and take a bite. The three of you moan in contention at the sweet flavor.

“Red, sweetie, do sit down!” Bridget says and sits next to her but at a respectable distance. She sets the platter down on the table.

“So, first of all. We got a little insight from your messages on how school is going but, please do tell us anything about it. What’s your favorite subject so far?” Bridget continues.

Red hums, “well I’m always one for a good art class. The teacher is pretty nice and we will get to work with our favorite medias for the most part this year!” She starts off, surprising herself with how excited she is to talk about herself for once with her mom.

“Spray paint still?” You ask, leaning against Bridget’s side of the sofa.

“Yes… did I also…”

She starts but you cut her off, “Spray paint funny mustaches on our family portraits around the kingdom? Don’t worry, it was pretty funny actually and the whole town got a good laugh. They were so bushy,” you giggle. The fact that the two of you aren’t mad at her for that speaks volumes to Red already. She smiles.

“Good, but I’m now going beyond just a ‘stache and have moved on to pretty symbols and portraits themselves.” Red says somewhat proudly. Bridget coos.

“I’m glad you’re developing such a wonderful skill! Do you have any photos of your works?” Bridget asks. Red nods and pulls out her phone. She scrolls past a selfie of her with Chloe that she blushes for and shows her painting of a gorgeous white rose dripping into red and a very detailed portrait of the family friend, the White Rabbit.

“Ooh!” You say, “such beautiful shading!”

“Oh this is absolutely stunning work Red,” Bridget adds.

Red grins and puts the phone down. “Thank you Y/n, thank you Mom.” She says in a little awe.

“This does remind me though. Y/n and I have some gifts for you! One second” Bridget stands and grabs two decorated boxes from behind the couch and hands it to Red.

Red rips the first box open with haste, immediately pulling out a couple of new high-end spray paints. “This is totally awesome thank you!” She holds them closer for a second and rips open the second package to reveal a massive book with a picture of little her on the cover and a title reading, ‘Red’s story’. She starts to tear up a little and flips through the first pages.

“We wanted to make it easier for you to keep up with everything that may be different in your own life. This is a picture book that outlines every major and or sweet moment of your life,” you say, dropping your head a little. She stands up and immediately hugs the two of you.

“Thank you moms, this is everything I ever wanted.” She cries softly. You internally squeal that she called you Mom again and Bridget internally squeals because she felt comfortable enough to hug her again. The hug was short but it was a major step, one to be remembered. Maddox certainly thought that way as he took a photo of you three. It was definitely going into the book. After all, it had so many blank pages to fill

[bluegalaxygirl]

Amnesia (KidKiller X Reader) P3

Plot: After an explosion reader wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the past few years, her parents want to take her home so she can recover and get back to a normal life while the Kid pirates want her back on the ship where she belongs.

Warning: Bad language, Violence, Blood, Drugs, mentions of torture and Death.

Reader is Female, Poly Relationship, established relationship, Kid X Reader X Killer, Reader is a member of the Kid pirates and is in charge of the money, Budgeting and negotiating the best price.

< Previous part ….. Next Part >

The afternoon sun burned bright in the sky, the white soft clouds slowly floating through the clear sky as birds happy let the light wind take them across the sea. It would have been so peaceful if it weren't for the cannon fire, yelling and metal banging against brick, The Victoria Punk quickly docked at the side of the prison letting the crew off to rampage and free their crew mates while others stayed behind to fire at the prison walls with the cannons. Kid had already left the ship before it even docked and Killer wasn't too far behind, the captain busted open the gates sending shock waves though the floating prison startling everyone inside. Marines run to protect the prison but are either shot, cut or punched hardly standing a chance against the Kid pirates, Kid had no idea where he was going, he just hit and gathered mental as he runs through the base, Killer following behind slicing up anyone who came after them. Wire and Heat know that Kid and Killer would be doing their own thing so the two split up taking a few crew members with them to search the cell area for their crew, it wasn't long until Wire came across the missing crew members. Boogie waves his hand threw the bars seeing his tall crew mate and a few others running down the hall "Wire" The four call out with happy smile's glad to be getting out of this place, the tall man simply nods before using his trident to slice open the bars to each cell letting them out.

The crew around him cheer as they reunite with each other but Wire raises an eyebrow at only seeing the four of them, before he can ask though Bubblegum runs up to him in slight panic "They took Y/n to the infirmary but The Commodore recognized her, he said her father would he furious and to keep her off the records." He quickly explains knowing Wire didn't have the time for long stories, the other three nod confirming what Bubblegum just said. "Get them out of here, I'll check the infirmary , if you see Heat on the way make sure to inform him of all this" The tall man commands the crew he brought with him before heading off to find the medical ward alone, Its true the crew don't know anything about your past, but they never thought to ask and you never brought it up. You had a few strange quirks but then again so did the rest of the crew who come from all over the South blue and some even from the Grand line. Walking into the infirmary Wire looks around seeing several patients in their beds, some tied down while the others seem to be passed out but none of them were you. A whimper catches his attention turning to look at the desk's down the other end of the room, walking over the tall man steps around the main desk to see a young woman wearing a nurses outfit cowering under it, she freezes with a squeak when seeing Wire staring down at her. "Where's Y/N, she was brought in last night or this morning" He asks not making a move towards her yet, he had no reason to hurt her unless she refused to answer his question.

Despite her seeming to know that he had no intention to harm her if she answered, she gave him a response the tall man didn't like "w-we've had no n-new patients" She stutters while trying to move further back in fear but her back is already pressed firmly against the wood, Wire lets out a sigh before bending down to look right at her "My crew said she was brought here so don't lie, where is she?" He asks again becoming impatient his eyes burning into her's making the young girl gulp in fear "I-i'm not lying, I-I can show y-you the records" She pants hoping not to get killed by the tall man. Wire thinks for a second while looking her over, something told him she was telling the truth, but he needed to be sure so using one hand he shoves the heavy wooden desk away causing her to let out a scream, but she makes no move to get up and run, it seems her body chose freeze this time. "Hurry up, i don't have time" Wire gestures towards the file cabinets while gripping his trident in his other hand ready to kill her if she tried to run, with a nod the young woman stands to her shaky feet and makes her way over to the file cabinets taking out the patient records for the past couple of days. Her hands are shaky at best but manages to take them out without dropping them and places them on the other wooden desk thats still standing, Wire steps closer causing the woman to back up to the wall as to not be in his way. Looking over the files it seems she was telling the truth, there isn't any records of any new additions but there were records of the four crew members being patched up then shoved in a cell. So its true that they didn't put you on record but there has to be a trace of you somewhere at least someone who saw you here, the nurse would have told him if she saw you, she's too scared not too.

The young nurse watches the pirate's every move until he shoves the files off the desk and turn to her, thinking she's going to die the young woman closes her eyes and bases for a painful death but instead she hears footsteps walking away. Peeking open her eyes she watches Wire walk towards the door after stepping over the wooden desk that he shoved to the floor and heads down the hall to inform his captain about all this, surprisingly leaving the nurse alive. Killer slices through yet another Marine that thought he could take the masked man on in a sword fight as he follows Kid's mess of destruction, he know's that if he lost sight of his captain all he had to do was follow the trail of bodies and broken walls to find him again. A few marines tried to take on Kid but their weapons where ripped out of their hands as the red head uses his devil fruit to pull them, along with other piece of metal over to him covering his already metal arm making it much bigger and stronger. With a laugh Kid swings the giant arm hitting the marines and the walls around him as Killer finally catches up and stops next to his captain looking around at the mess. Just as they were about to keep going footsteps run up behind them causing the two to turn ready for a fight only to see Wire run around the corner and over to the two. "You find everyone?" Killer asks as the tall man stops in front of them, his breathing is heavy from running, but he also seemed very annoyed or even angry.

Wire nods at the masked man before trying to inform the two of what he's just learned "The others are heading back to the ship, Y/n was taken to the infirmary when she got here but-" Before he can continue Kid groans and walks past his tall friend while rolling his eyes "Well what the hell you waiting for?" The captain yells staring to head to the infirmary but is stopped by Killer "Kid wait.. what were you going to say?" The masked man asks knowing something is wrong since Wire would have looked in the infirmary so why was he here without you. "She's not there, there's no record of her ever being here, th-" Wire's interrupted again this time by both Kid and Killer who yell loud enough he swears that everyone back on the Victoria can hear them "What?" Wire takes a breath mainly to clam his own anger and frustration of being interrupted again before turning to the captain. With his arms crosses over his chest Wire finally managed to explain what the others told him while not being interrupted by the two, he also explained how the young nurse had no idea who you were and that the files showed the four others but not you. The only person who might know where you are is the Commodore, but he hasn't been seen anywhere, Kid growls as he grits his teeth not understanding how things can go this wrong. Killer sighs trying to calm himself before thinking how to go about things but it isn't really working "We should find him, if he won't tell us then we'll just have to beat it out of him" The first mate states getting Kid to snap out of his hate filled gaze on his clenched metal hand.

Kid gives a big grin and a quick nod showing a clear liking towards the idea before heading off to find the Commodore's office with Killer and Wire following behind, the Commodore may not be in his office with all the fighting, but they've met marines of higher ranks that would rather cower away and let their lower ranked officers do the work than fight. The three sprint down the hall gradually feeling the aura change as they get closer to a much stronger person, soon enough a white coated marine appears coming out of his office while holding a small yellow bottle. Kid growls, anger boiling through him as he jumps up bringing his fist down on the Commodore who only managed to dodge at the last second, his cheek getting cut by the splintered wood that fly's through the air due to the force of Kid's metal arm hitting the wooden floor. Using the distraction Killer runs in swinging his blades at the white coated man who gasp as it slices his hand off, Wire runs in next bringing his trident down on the man aiming for his shoulder since they need him alive. Despite the situation the Commodore smirks popping the yellow bottle and quickly tipping it into his mouth before Wire can hit him, a burst of energy sends the three flying back, yellow lightning like power causes out of the man who screams in agony. Killer manages to get to his feet quickly stopping himself from sliding too far away as Wire tumbles a little more but uses his hand to push himself up stopping his body from continuing to roll. Kid shield's his face with his metal arm as his feet skid across the floor managing to stop himself before passing Killer.

The blinding yellow lightning and screams soon stops revealing the Commodore who pants while looking very different, the hand that was cut off has healed into a stump already and the mans already large frame was even bigger, his muscles bulging and almost pulsing as thick raised veins run across his whole body, even his face, the clothes he's wearing is ripped to shreds except or a bit around his groin area and the white coat hanging off his back by a string wrapped around his neck. "What the fuck?" Kid asks standing to his full height as the now large man throws his head back in laughter before looking at the three "I know your rash but i thought you'd at least ask me a question first" The Commodore smirks bringing a leg behind him to get into a fighting stance, Kid takes a step forwards with a smirk of his own knowing it's going to be a good fight but doesn't jump in just yet since Killer lightly placing his hand on the captains arm "Where's Y/n?" The masked man calls out even though he knows he's not going to get a straight answer from this man. "I don't know who your talking about" It was a obvious lie since the man clearly rolled his eyes that smirk never fading from his face. Kid rushes in gathering metal around him to make his metal arm large again before punching the marine who uses both of his arms to stop the punch, the captain didn't bother to ask questions instead focusing on the fight. Pulling his hand back the captain continues to punch and grapple with the large marine while Killer and Wire wait on the side lines knowing not to jump in just yet. "Sneak into the office, see what you can find" The masked man glances at the tall man who nods heading of to sneak into the Commodore's office.

Once Wire's out of view Killer joins the fight running over with his blade's spinning and going for the Marines legs, sliding past the masked man turns back only to see the commodore's leg's unharmed even though his blade differently cut though skin since there's blood on his blade. "Answer the fucking question" Kid yells as he blocks the Commodore's punch with his metal arm, some of the metal denting under the force making the captain grunt in annoyance, Killer runs back into the fight, jumping into the air and bringing his blades down on the marines back letting them dig in. The Commodore yells in pain and anger as his wounds try to heal even though there are blades stuck in his back. "Where is she" The masked man yells as the marine tries to reach back and grab him only to be punched in the face by Kid's large arm, thinking quickly the commodore runs backwards hoping to crush the blonde between him and the wall only for Killer to quickly catch on and brings his blades out, jumps off the marines back just before being crushes. Panting slightly the white coated marine swipes as Killer lands about to hit him when a chunk of metal hits his chest forcing the large back back into the brick wall making it crack under the pressure. Metal continues to swarm over pinning the man to the wall while Kid Chuckles walking up to his partners side "Tell us where she is and I'll make your death quick" Kid smirks looking at the struggling and panting marine who seems to have given up,the Commodore slowly looks up at the two letting a sick joyful smile from on his face. "i'm sorry to inform you but she's dead, her wounds were just too much for her" The captain extends his arm purple strings of light flowing from his hand as his eyes burn with anger.

Kid starts closing his fist making the metal around the commodore compress the pain of even thinking your dead makes it hard for him not to kill this guy "Liar" The captain yells but the marine shakes his head while struggling to get free "She's dead deal with it" The commodore yells managing to get one of his arms free, Killer's quick to act running over and stabbing his arm forcing the blades through and into the wall, the marine yells in pain trying to pull his arm away but their combined strength was too much even with what ever drugs he took. "We know she's alive, tell us where she is" The masked man growls using all his strength to keep the commodore's arm in place while Kid continues to try and squeeze the life out of him, before the commodore can answer Wire runs out of the office with an angry look "She's not here" their crew mate yells out causing the two to look over at him in surprise and confusion "There's no record of her but a ship left last night with a bunch of medial supply's and an extra passenger. It didn't say where it was heading though" The tall man explains before turning to the Commodore "But you were the one to order it" Kid growls while squeezing tighter making the marine caught up blood, Killer removes his blades from the mans arms watching as the wound starts to close shut leaving no scar behind. "Where are they taking her?" Kid yells out stepping closer to the large man who's still struggling, but he can tell the marine is getting weaker, the drugs must be wearing off with all the healing its having to do, when the Commodore refused to answer Kid grips harder causing the man to scream out in pain, his ribs cracking and organs being crushed "We can still follow her Vivre card but I'd like to keep him alive, so we can get information" Killer sighs looking to his partner.

The captain thinks for a second before nodding and loosens his grip, the sound of bones cracking back into place echos threw the hall along with a slight yellow glow coming out from under the metal arm holding him in place. "Shit not now" The commodore groans feeling his strength fade away, the yellow light causing through his veins making his large body start to shrink and muscles deflate. With a laugh Kid lets the marine go watching him fall to the floor, his skin turning gray and his lest over clothes hang loosely around his now skinny body, much skinnier than when he was normal. "Looks like you took those drugs for nothing, they couldn't even help you take us down and made you even weaker. Pathetic" The captain smirks before bringing his foot down on the crouched man forcing him to lay on his stomach with little effort. "Well at least it'll be a lot easier to get him to the ship" Wire states walking over to the two and looking down at the weak looking Commodore who's struggling to try and lift his own head up, its clear what ever drug he took has bad side effects but they have no time to think about that now so Killer grabs a nearby cable and hog ties the marine as the captain steps aside starting to head back the way they came. Wire follows close behind as Killer throws the commodore over his shoulder carrying him back to the ship.

----- The Victoria Punk-----

Things had stetted down now that the Victoria is far away from the destroyed and burning prison but what they hoped would a simple job as now turned into a longer and more complicated one. Wire went back to steering the ship using your Vivre card to show him which direction to go in while Heat and Reck where keeping an eye on the Commodore who's currently chained up in a dark room bellow deck. Kid and Killer make their way into the med bay seeing House just finishing up taking care of the crew mate's wounds, there wasn't much to do since the medical staff at the prison did a, ok job but the doctor could tell it was more of a rush job. "Boss" Boogie yells with a smile happy to see his captain again, the other three crew mates turn and smile too slightly cheering for their captain and first mate, Kid grins for a second before becoming serious "Tell me what happened" The captain states walking into the room as Killer closes the door behind them, The four start talking all at once causing the masked man to sigh "One at a time" Killer states as the four look at each other before nodding silently agreeing that Bubblegum and Boogie should be the ones to say what happened. It took a while of explaining since Killer kept asking for more details and what exactly the marines said about you word for word. "So you didn't get anything on her farther?" Killer asks as he leans against the wall with his arms crossed, Bubblegum shakes his head but Emma sits up from the bed she's laying on "we'll we had a talk about it all in the cell, and we all agree that he's not a marine since the Lieutenant mentioned that her farther has no power to fire them."

The other three nod but Kid turns to House who's washing her equipment her back facing them "House… You know anything? She must have told you something" The captain asks making the crazy haired girl jump a little at her name being call, you and her are best friends so it's only right to assume she'll know something about your family but unfortunately she didn't know much. Turning to face her captain and his first mate she wipes her hands clean while looking down at the floor "Only that she ran way because they did something unforgivable and that she renounced her last name" She states but Killer and Kid look at her surprised, they knew you ran away because of your parents but your last name was fake? "What?" The two ask causing the girl to jump again as Killer pushes off the wall to walk over to her, he wasn't trying to be intimidating but House shrunk away, backing up into the counter with wide eyes "I-i thought she would have told you" House tries to defend herself making the masked man realizes his actions, with a sigh Killer places a light hand on her shoulder to reassure her "Just tell us everything she told you, even if you think we know" Relaxing a little House nods as Kid walks over to the two crossing his arms over his chest and waiting for the doctor to talk "She never told me what her real last name was because if she told me then… I'd know too much. She was drunk at the time so i though maybe she was just being paranoid or drunkenly rambling. She said a lot of other random stuff that still don't make sense really" She sighs but the two stay quiet wanting her to go on.

House gathers her courage while trying to remember what you said years ago while drunk out of your mind, you confided in her and told her not to tell a soul, House promised she wouldn't but now she had to break that promise and spill your random and incoherent rambling to your partners. "She said her parents were disappointed she wasn't a boy, that she used to tutor kids even though she didn't go to school. She won a bunch of contests that she's not proud off, She has sibling that she lived with but didn't know anything about them and that leaving was the best destitution she ever made." Kid sighs pinching his nose, it didn't give them much to go on other than your family is most likely stuck up and important in some way, Killer removes his hand from House's shoulder and gives her a nod, it did sound like drunken rambling but it did give him a few hints and maybe something to use in order to make the Commodore slip up while questioning him. "Thanks guy's, get some sleep before dinner, Papa's is cooking tonight since I've got another job to do" Killer states earning groans from around the room that he tries to hold a laugh back at "Papa's is the best out of a bad bunch, so they'll have to put up with it until Killer's free enough to cook again." Kid snaps even though he knows how bad the man's food is, Killer grips onto the captain's while gesturing to the door earning a gruff hum from the red head. Walking out the two hear the yelling of their crew behind them calling out their goodbyes and thanking them before the door is shut "What are you thinking?" Killer asks as the two walk side by side down the hall heading to the dark room where the marine is. "Just… Rich pricks" Kid huffs getting the masked man to let out a low chuckle in agreement.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Five-and-a-Half

Based on the Phic Phight prompt: Danny gets de-aged and Sam and Tucker have to take care of him til he's back to normal without anyone noticing. (from @yellow-rhymes-with-dna)

AO3 Link

[Warnings for mentions of past trauma]

Tucker had gotten used to a lot of strange things over the years, especially with a best friend like Danny. Giant robots controlled by a technologically controlled ghost he could deal with. A blob ghost hunter in a heavily armed mech suit was a piece of cake. An evil ghost king sucking their town into another dimension was more than Tucker alone could take care of, but he could at least keep his cool. Sam Manson showing up at their apartment with a five-year-old Danny was a bit much, even for him.

"Sam, I love you, but what the hell?"

"For the record, this was not my fault," Sam said immediately. "Danny was the one who pissed off Clockwork and got himself kidified. I told him to shut up twice, and we've both told him that the clock tower is not the place to hide from his royal duties."

"Who's this, Miss Sam?" Danny asked, looking up at the goth girl with wide, curious blue eyes. He was so small now that he had to reach his arm almost above his head in order to hold her hand.

"God, your cute," Sam said through gritted teeth, then sighed. "This is Tucker. You remember him, don't you?"

"Tucker?" Danny looked back at his oldest friend, shock written all over his baby-face. The two of them had met in preschool when they were three, and had been together ever since, first as best friends, and now in their little triad with Sam, So even de-aged as he was, Danny should know Tucker. "No way! He's way too big to be Tucker! He's old!" 

"I'm not old! I'm only eighteen!"

"That's so old!"

"How come he calls you 'Miss Sam', all polite like, and he calls me old?" Tucker demanded with a pout. 

"Can you let us in already?" Sam said, rolling her eyes at the question as she pushed past Tucker into the apartment the three of them got together when they started at the local community college. Sam and Danny had both desperately wanted to move out of their parents' houses, and Tucker wasn't about to be left out.

Danny had been so understanding and kind, insisting that they not hold themselves back just because he had to stay near the portal after high school. Of course, Sam and Tucker had completely ignored him and applied to Amity Park community anyway, even though either of them could've gone to a much better college.

"I take it he doesn't have his memories?" Tucker asked, closing the door behind them and going to sit on the couch.

"Nope," Sam confirmed. "He doesn't have his powers either. His body and mind have been completely reverted to his five-year-old self."

"I'm five-and-a-half!" Danny piped up.

"Right," Sam obliged, "his five-and-a-half-year-old self. I figure we'll wait for Clockwork to cool off, finish whatever work Danny interrupted, and then bring him a gift basket of time-pieces or something to butter him up and ask him to put Danny back to normal."

"I'm normal!" little Danny insisted. "I'm totally normal! My sister says so!"

"Of course you are Danny," Tucker agreed. "She didn't mean it like that."

"Until then, we have to make sure nobody sees him like this," Sam continued, "which means we have to keep him here and watch over him, at least for a few hours."

"Do you have any crayons?" Danny asked. "I wanna draw."

"Uh... I think Sam has some markers she might let you use if you ask really nicely," Tucker said, and Sam immediately gave him that look she gave him when she wanted to punch him but wouldn't because she loved him even if he was an idiot.

"Miss Sam, can I pretty please use your markers to draw?" Danny asked, very sweetly, batting his eyelashes the way Jazz used to to get whatever she wanted from grown ups when she was a kid. Sam clenched her fists and her jaw, but, much to Tucker's amusement, she seemed incapable of saying no.

"How did you live like this?" she shouted. Her combat boots pounded on the floor as she trudged to the studio/lab they'd converted the spare bedroom into. "Thank the Ancients I didn't meet him until we were in middle school. He's too damn cute—it's unbearable!"

"Is Miss Sam always such a pushover?" Danny whispered to Tucker.

"Believe it or not, she's usually pretty strict and bossy," Tucker whispered back. "She's just soft on little kids."

"Oh." Danny looked up at him, blue eyes strangely piercing, as if looking right through him.

It was strange. These days, Danny had gotten very good at masking his expressions to hide how he was really fearing. It was a skill he'd learned to hide his fear, to reassure civilians, and to show his enemies he wasn't intimidated, no matter the danger. But over time, that mask had edged into his personal life too. Danny put on a brave face, a reassuring smile, a too-wide grin, but his partners could never be certain what he was truly feeling. It sent a pang through Tucker's heart to see Danny's feelings so openly in his expression.

"Are you really Tucker?" the kid asked. "My best friend Tucker?"

"Yeah," Tucker confirmed. "Actually, I'm your boyfriend Tucker, and Sam's your girlfriend. A few hours ago, you were the same age as us, and then you got turned into a little kid."

"So I get a girlfriend and a boyfriend when I grow up?" Danny asked excitedly. "That's so cool! I must be pretty awesome to get both of them!"

"Tucker!" Sam chided as she came back into the room with her box of expensive, artsy markers. "Don't tell him that!"

"Why not?" Tucker asked. "What's it gonna hurt? It's not like this is his past self, it's his age regressed present self. I'm not changing the past, and if we lie, he'll be upset at us when he turns back." Sam's lips pressed together in a thin line as she considered his argument.

"Fine, I guess it won't do any harm," she relented after a moment. She put a stack of papers on the coffee table, but before she put down the markers she knelt down to look Danny sternly in the eyes. "Now Danny, these are very expensive, and very special markers, and they were a gift from my grandmother. You have to be careful with them and use them gently so you don't mess up the tips because if you do, I'll be sad. Do you understand?"

Danny nodded, brows set in determination. "I got it, Miss Sam! I'll be very careful with your special markers so I don't make you sad, I promise!"

Tucker could almost see Sam biting her tongue to stop from cooing as she put the box of markers on the coffee table and opened it up. She plopped down in front of the couch while Danny knelt next to the coffee table and uncapped a blue marker. "He's... such an earnest kid," she muttered as she leaned into Tucker's side. "It's different."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed softly. "He used to wear his heart on his sleeve. I never thought about it much, but it sucks that he can't really do that anymore."

"We've been by his side for so long, sometimes I forget how much more he's been through than we have." Her brows pulled together in a frown. "Why does he always go where we can't follow?"

For a long moment, Tucker didn't respond. He felt the same way she did. As much as they'd all gone through together, as much as they tried to stay by Danny's side, there always came a point where Danny had to forge ahead without them. "Because somebody has to."

Sam sighed and slipped a little further into Tucker's body, letting him wrap an arm around her. She was undoubtedly thinking of something melancholy that she'd eventually share at a goth poetry slam, but didn't want to talk about with him. Aside from physical reassurance, there wasn't much he could to about it, but he could do that much, and maybe offer a distraction.

"What are you drawing, Danny?" he asked the kid.

"I'm drawing a rocket ship!" Danny chirped, turning his head to grin at Tucker. Then he scrunched up his face. "You can't look yet! It's not done!"

"A rocket ship, huh?" Tucker asked. "Are you gonna draw yourself on the rocket ship?"

"Duh! I'm gonna be an astronaut!" Sam and Tucker wore the same sad smiles when he said that, both remembering the time they had to console him in the aftermath of his first physical exam after the portal accident. He'd discovered that because of his altered physiology, he would never be accepted into any space program, and he'd been utterly distraught. Now he was studying engineering, because he said if he couldn't go to space, at least something he'd built could.

"Can me and Sam be on the space ship with you?" Tucker asked.

"Sure!" Danny agreed cheerfully, his expression back to that beaming smile. "You guys can come with me!"

Tucker's heart ached. How many times had they heard Danny say, "You guys can't come with me. It's too dangerous for you." A dozen times? A hundred? Easily too many to bear, but they bore it anyway.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked. "Is the rocket going to the moon?"

"Nuh-uh," Danny shook his head. "We're going to 51 Pegasi b! They just discovered it a little while ago and it was super exciting! I read in my mom's science magazine that the guys who discovered it got nominated for a Nobel Prize because it's the first planet anyone's found orbiting a star like our sun! Its orbit is just four days long, and they think it might be the core of a decomposed star!"

"That's so interesting, Danny, tell me more," Sam encouraged, and Danny gasped in excitement at the invitation. He hunched over his drawing as he continued enthusiastically babbling about the planet his imaginary rocket was going to. Sam lifted her head to ask quietly in Tucker's ear, "Did he do this a lot as a kid?"

"Yeah," Tucker confirmed. "It's kinda why we got along so well. He would talk a lot about space, and I would talk a lot about computers, and we would go back and forth like it was a conversation, except we were just taking turns talking about completely different topics. Children of STEM parents with highly specific interests gotta stick together, y'know." 

After a while, Danny interrupted his rant about space to show them that he'd finished his drawing. Despite being drawn by the unsteady hands of a five-year-old, they could tell clearly enough what it was. The rocket was gray, and each one of their faces smiled out from one of the three round windows.

"Look, that's me at the front because I'm the one flying the rocket, and Tucker in the middle, and Miss Sam in the back!" he said.

"Wow, Danny, that looks great!" Sam complimented.

"Yeah, I think this one goes up on the fridge," Tucker suggested, eyeing Sam with a devious look. "What do you think, Sam?" She looked back at him with a matching expression.

"Oh definitely," she agreed. Danny was going to be so embarrassed when he was back to normal, and the two of them could practically see their boyfriend's tomato-red face already. Danny grinned and let Sam take the picture from him to stick up on their fridge with one of the little ghost-shaped magnets Sam had bought for them. "Since we're in the kitchen, are you hungry, Danny?"

"I'm hungry!" Tucker said.

"How about some sandwiches," Sam suggested. "What kind do you want, Danny?" She already knew Tucker's favorite sandwich, Turkey, roast beef, and Swiss on rye bread. Since they'd all started dating, she'd even coaxed him into liking some vegetables, though she'd given up on convincing him or Danny to go vegan like her. Her own preferred sandwich was all vegetables, of course. Tucker liked to call it a salad on toast.

"Peanut butter and blackberry jam please!" he asked.

It was kind of funny. The Danny they now knew was so different from the five-year-old awkwardly climbing up onto one of the kitchen stools, but despite all that he'd been through and all that he'd changed, he still liked space and blackberry jam.

"Do you want the crusts cut off?"

"Yes, please!" 

Tucker handed her three plates and cleared his half-finished homework off the kitchen island for them to eat at. He'd been working on it when Sam knocked—she'd forgotten her key and Danny couldn't phase them through the door—and then the situation with Danny had distracted him from going back to it. It was just calculus; he'd finish it later.

Sitting around the island, eating sandwiches, Danny asked them questions about his future.

"Are you guys astronauts?"

"No," Tucker said. "We're in college now. We'd have to finish to become astronauts. I'm studying computer programming."

"That makes sense." Danny nodded. "I remember you like computers and stuff. I'm studying to be an astronaut, right? What's Miss Sam studying?"

"Actually, you're studying engineering," Sam corrected, but when she saw the confusion on Danny's face she backtracked, not wanting to tell the child that he'd never achieve his dream. Once was more than enough. "But engineering is one path to becoming an astronaut." It wasn't a lie, even though she wasn't telling the whole truth. She changed the subject. "I'm studying ecology, with a minor in political science." 

"And we all go to the same school?" Danny asked.

"Yup!" Tucker said. "We go to Amity Park Community College."

"A community college?" Danny frowned. He'd heard enough about college from his parents to know that a community college was not as good as a university, even if he didn't know the difference between the two. "We couldn't get into a University? Mom and Dad went to University of Wisconsin."

"It's not that we couldn't get it," Sam assured him. "We could have gone to much more prestigious—er fancy schools, but we wanted to stay in Amity Park. We have obligations here, at least for the time being."

"What kind of obligations?"

"We hunt ghosts," Sam said, trying to make it sound exciting instead of annoying. Tucker made a cutting motion to stop her from saying it, but it was too late. Danny's expression immediately fell into disappointment and he looked moments away from crying.

"But... but I don't wanna fight ghosts," he said. "Ghosts are stupid!" Sam blinked in surprise and looked to Tucker, only then seeing in his expression that she shouldn't have said that.

"Uh..." she cringed, visibly trying to find a way out of this. She liked kids, but she had no idea how to handle a crying child. Thankfully, Tucker chose that moment to step in.

"Danny, you have to know, that even though we hunt ghosts, none of us are anything like your parents, okay?" Tucker promised, his voice very gentle and earnest, in contrast to his usual sarcasm, a tone which all three of them shared. "Sometimes it's scary, but we would never hurt the ghosts, and we would never try to experiment on them. If they cause trouble, we make them stop, and send them home, safe and sound, okay?"

Danny started to cry, and reached out for Tucker, who picked him up and held him close to his chest, rubbing soothing circles into his back. "I d-don't like ghosts! I d-don't ever w-want to see a ghost!" Danny bawled.

"It's okay, Danny, you're not gonna see any ghosts," Tucker said. "We'll keep you far away from them."

"Y-you promise?"

"I promise."

Slowly, the tears subsided. Danny had tuckered himself out from crying and drawing, and fallen asleep.

"I'm sorry, I thought he'd think it was cool," Sam whispered, so as not to wake the sleeping child in Tucker's arms. "Why'd he react like that?"

"His parents have always been overzealous about ghosts," Tucker responded. "When he was really little, his parents rants scared him a lot. They talked about finding ghosts and running tests, and experiments. Most of their science talk didn't get to him, and he even thought it was cool, but something about ghosts got under his skin, even back then, you know?"

"I wonder why?" Sam said thoughtfully.

"I dunno," Tucker said. He started to shrug, but aborted the action when Danny hummed and shifted in his sleep. "Do you think Clockwork's calmed down yet?"

"It's been two hours for us," Sam said, looking at the clock on the wall. "So probably a year-and-a-half for him? Yeah, probably. The trick is getting him through the Fenton Portal into the Realms without his parents seeing."

"Yeah, and we don't have his invisibility and intangibility to help us out like we usually do," Tucker said. "So what? False tip?"

"Already on it." Sam's phone was already in her hand and she hit the contact for Fenton Works. When she spoke into the phone it was with a low, nasally voice that sounded nothing at all like her own. "Hello, am I speaking to the Fentons, the ghost hunters? Yes, this is Audrey Goldberg, and I have a ghost problem I hoped you could help me with. It's haunting my bathroom. Twelve-nineteen Pine Road. Yes, come as quickly as possible. Thank you." She hung up. "You got Danny?"

"Yup," Tucker confirmed. "Don't forget the key to Fenton Works."

"Right." They headed downstairs and out of their apartment building, walking to Fenton Works since Sam insisted none of them needed to get a car. It wasn't far, even carrying a kid. All the ghost fighting they did had eventually whipped even Tucker into shape. When he first realized he was getting some actual muscle, Tucker had worn sleeveless shirts for weeks. Neither of his partners said anything positive about it, but he knew they secretly love his muscles.

The GAV was long gone when they got there and Fenton Works was empty, allowing them to go in without any resistance. With Danny fully human, thanks to being de-aged, they didn't even set off the ghost sensors. They headed down to the lab and borrowed the Specter Speeder to go to the clock tower.

Navigating the Ghost Zone was a tricky thing, especially since everything within it was constantly in motion, but they'd figured it out, more or less. To be perfectly honest, even they didn't know exactly how they did it, but as long as they got where they needed to go, it didn't matter.

The door to the clock tower swung open when Sam knocked on it and they climbed up to the top, where Clockwork would be.

"Clockwork, buddy, how've you been?" Sam greeted.

"Samantha, Tucker," Clockwork said blandly. "I assume you've come to ask that I revert young Daniel back to his proper age."

"Yes please," Tucker requested. "I don't know exactly what he did to piss you off, but we really can't have our boyfriend as a five-and-a-half-year-old anymore. Humans have laws about that kind of thing."

"Very well, I suppose the Infinite Realms can't have a king so young either, or so human." Clockwork waved his staff and Danny rapidly aged back to his nineteen-year-old self. Tucker's knees buckled under the sudden increase in weight and the pair of them collapsed onto the ground. Danny woke up to sore knees and Sam hunched over laughing at them.

"Thanks so much," Tucker grumbled, trying and failing to sound sincere. "Now that we've got our boyfriend back, we'll get out of your beard."

"From now on, perhaps you'll think twice before coming to bother me just because you're bored, won't you Daniel?" Clockwork asked pointedly.

Danny blushed, and put a hand over his mouth before nodding. "Yeah, yup! Lesson learned."

"You're ears are steaming," Sam teased, even as she offered a hand to help each of the boys up.

"Shut up!" Danny said as she pulled him to his feet before helping Tucker. "Bye, Clockwork. Thanks for not making me go through puberty again."

"And if you don't disturb my work, I never will," the old ghost warned.

The trio headed back down the stairs and to the Specter Speeder. "You guys are gonna take that awful drawing off the fridge, right?" Danny asked.

"Not a chance in all the Realms," Sam said.

"Yeah, no," Tucker agreed. "If you even try to get rid of it, we'll make you regret it." Danny groaned and buried his face in his hand.

"I can't believe I did all that," he mumbled. "I cried like a baby and then fell asleep."

"In fairness, you were five," Sam said.

"I was five-and-a-half!" Danny snapped, put his face in his hands again. "Why did I say that?" His partners just laughed as they climbed into the speeder and flew home.

[havemyheartaziraphale]

Ok so this is for @melbatron5000 and @somehow-a-human mostly because I want input on your theories and my forming theory. Also, @indigovigilance has some decent screen grabs too. Sorry for having a wall of text here, I'm on mobile and still not used to posting on Tumblr

I absolutely agree with something being passed to Aziraphale during their kiss. I have watched the scene several times now and can spot the thing myself. I can see it in the photos you guys have as well.

I also stand by my theory there's a body swap going on. I wasn't entirely sure when it happened, until probably tonight. I know not everyone agrees with me but right now that's fine. Whatever.

Nightingales is DEFINITELY a code word. Got that straight off, wouldn't be able to tell you 100% what exactly for, except to me maybe it's saying "we need to do the body swap again".

Here's the thing: I had to go back and watch the body swap in S1 before I felt confident in this. I will stand by this theory now because I'm pretty certain of it.

There's clearly missed signals and unsaid things. I think the conversation we see is not everything that was said, based on the camera angles, the fact that so many of those lines can easily be pulled for sound bites and not seem odd/off, and the fact that their actions when out of shot don't entirely match up to what's being said. But the gist of the conversation is the same. They eventually come to the understanding that something needs to happen and they're not going to like it.

Here's where I think things change.

Nightingales is the signal that there's a swap that needs to happen. Crowley has already told Aziraphale that he can't leave the bookshop. Crowley knows this, and he also knows that the only way to get to Heaven is by having an angel escort him there. Aziraphale on the other hand will have no problems going whenever he needs to. Crowley needs to be taken, so he needs his Azi-suit.

With Crowley-as-Aziraphale(CAA) in heaven, he'll be able to do whatever mischief he needs/wants to. He can clearly already access files up there still. We know he has to have been a powerful/higher up angel before his Fall. He just needs a way in first.

When did the body swap happen?

Good question, and it took me a lot of thinking and rewatching of that flipping kiss to finally decide and work out when it was; the moment Aziraphale "allows" himself to hold Crowley.

What am I on about? I'll tell you.

Rewatch the body swap in S1. They hold hands, time stops, and you see them change back. Obviously CAA and Aziraphale-as-Crowley (AAC) are sat in their usual spaces so the characters are in the wrong seats. Once they're back, they look normal. Everything is tickety-boo.

Except in the KISS, they're very much in the same positions. Of course, Aziraphale places his hands on Crowley briefly, allowing for stability, a time freeze, and the chance to switch round before resuming. Probably gives them a little time to confirm some stuff too. There's so many camera cuts and frame changes that allow for this to be true, otherwise why not just show it from one angle? And why is that dang clock also skipping time suddenly yes I know Neil may have said it's just a continuity error at one point but I don't trust him because he also lies and it's way too obvious with that clock in the background

So what about the bullet/metal ball in CAA mouth? Definitely Aziraphale's memories of his chat with Metatron, and anything else CAA may need. (This isn't a repeat, this is a mirror of the bullet catch. Crowley fired the bullet, Azi caught it. This time, Azi fires the bullet, Crowley catches it.) CAA then says the phrase he knows AAC will understand, and that also sounds like Azi to anyone listening, and AAC responds. Like codes. "I forgive you... Dont bother." Exit: Azi-as-Crowley.

Of course Metatron then swans in and interrupts CAA while he's still getting his bearings, and mentions the Second Coming. I don't think even Crowley expected it to be this. Hence the Look he gives AAC.

Metatron still gives CAA a slightly suspicious look in the elevator, which I don't think many people mention enough. And that whole end credits bit of them as they're heading off is just... Odd. BUT, and here's where I'm certain it's CAA, the look of sheer determined destruction on Azi's face is the same from S1 body swap. I went back and checked, just to be sure. That's 100% Crowley right there. And now he has the bullet in his mouth, access to heaven thanks to being escorted by Metatron, and Aziraphale still able to look after the bookshop in disguise.

Points I also want to make

Crowley would not be the sort of person (demon/being) to just stand there and wait for Azi to go up to Heaven. We've seen he'll just go off without a word. At least twice. (When Azi is in thought about Job, and when Nina talks to him after she confirms she'll be at the Street Traders meeting). Crowley doesn't linger.

Crowley would also not be the one to choose to listen to A Nightingale Sang. That is all Aziraphale babyyyyyy. The Bentley knows them both well enough by now. Crowley likes his rock and Bebop, Azi likes his classical, more soothing tunes. Crowley certainly wouldn't listen to a song if he was upset with it. Azi allows himself to hear it before turning it off. He's the sentimental one.

[tomthefanboy]

Ghost Fog of Guam

I recounted this on discord today and decided I should really write this down for posterity. I've emailed a copy to @spiritspodcast but I want to make sure I have a copy online for my own memory.

My friend's dad, J, was an MP in the Marines and then a cop in Guam for a few years before he came back to the US. Like most dads who served overseas, he had some GREAT STORIES. Notably, he claimed that Guam was the most haunted island in the Pacific. The few US Navy people I've asked about it over the years have confirmed that they also hear more ghost stories from people stationed at/living on Guam than any other port. In college I even looked at some books in the library for Pacific Island ghost stories and Guam always had disproportionate representation.

(If there's anyone native to Guam or with family there, I'd love to know if this is strictly a colonial representation or if it's always been like this)

J said that the most dangerous thing on the island by day was the wild pigs and the most dangerous thing on the island by night was the ghosts. He had stories about people hearing a boar chasing them for blocks even though they were under street lights and there was nothing there to see. Another about how the towns in Guam don't have land for graveyards so they build sets of big concrete mausoleums, and the spaces between these mausoleums was always cold, and that meant fog would form and spread out from between them, and you never went into the fog if you knew what was good for you. I can't recall most of his other stories at this point (it's been thirty years) but the one I do remember has to do with the fog.

The story starts with a pair of soldiers guarding the checkpoint at one end of a compound over night. They had the little red bar for a road block, a little shack with an M60 (big heavy machine gun on a tripod) nest on top, and the compound's cyclone fence on each side. In front of the fence is a little road going off through the jungle. Behind the fence is a parking lot and a big cement wall. The wall was the side of a building with no windows, just 100 feet by 15 feet of painted cement cinder blocks.

One night the fog rolls in and they can only see about 10 feet out from the light on the shack. Not much further with their flashlights. It's after midnight when they start hearing something approaching on the side of the road, heavy footsteps like a big man. They call out for ID and the footsteps pause and start to move of to the side through the brush, staying just outside of the light. The guard on the ground steps out of the shack and shines his flashlight. The heavy steps stop, move a little further away, then head towards the fence. The guard on the ground doesn't want to lose sight of the gunner so he stops and yells an order for whoever it is to come forward and identify themselves or he'll be forced to open fire.

That's when the footsteps move up to the fence.

The fence started shaking all the way to where it's attached to the shack and they can hear it being moved around and bent like something is going over or through it a few dozen feet away. The guard raises his rifle and fires off a warning shot into the ground and when the fence keeps moving he lines his rifle up with the chain link and fires a shot at chest height and shot at head height.

Whatever is moving the fence doesn't seem to notice.

Before the guard can fire again, the fence stops shaking and now they can hear the footsteps on the asphalt of the parking lot. Training kicks in and the guy on the ground calls up that there's a breach (I can't remember the official term for hostile on base) and the gunner calls back confirmation. The guard gets into the shack to radio it in and the gunner swivels his M60 around and begins opening up with full auto bursts.

The guard in the shack is on the radio and the Commanding Officer is asking why he can hear gunfire and the guard can't find the right words to explain. The gunner is firing into the fog, pausing to listen, and then firing again as he hears the footsteps plodding slowly across the parking lot.

The CO tells the guard that the rest of the squads are on maneuvers and they can't reinforce until dawn. The guards at the other end of the compound will be on alert and holding their position. The gunner unloads an entire box of ammunition, spending the last of it sweeping the parking lot from end to end to try and catch whatever it is.

The gunner cracks open a new box of ammo while the guard in the shack listens for any signs of it. The guard radios the checkpoint at the other end of the compound and they have nothing to report. Nothing unusual but the fog. There's no sound but the jungle for the rest of the night.

By morning the CO and a a truck full of troops arrives asking for a sitrep (J said he was in the squad on the truck so from here on I was hearing a first hand account). The guard gives his report and the gunner backs him up. It's getting light out but the fog is still thick, so the the squad forms up and slowly fans out into the parking lot as the sun is coming up.

They get all the way across the lot and find nothing. No tracks, no blood, no body. The sun rises and the fog clears and there's no clues at all. The fence is COMPLETELY intact, not even bent. No tracks in the mud and grass between it and the jungle.

Strangest of all, the parking lot itself and the 100 foot long concrete wall have NO BULLET HOLES. They check the spent shells from the M60 and the ammo box they were in. It was live ammo, not blanks.

The whole box of bullets hit the fog and left with it.

[yourkimjaejin]

A Closer Look At: Jisung and Aurora (#RoJi)

Dance Instructor

Aurora is Jisung’s one and only dance student. 

After learning a new dance, Aurora will take time after practice to  go through each and every move until it's burned into her muscle memory. Sometimes the pace of regular practice is too fast for her but no one complains. Usually by the third practice Aurora had everything down.

That is all thanks to Park Jisung

While all the boys offered to help Aurora learn each dance, Aurora always refused. Citing that Jisung was already helping.

Aurora couldn’t explain. Maybe it was the way Jisung broke down the dances for her. Maybe it was the comforting presence Jisung had in her life. Maybe she just trusted him the most out of all the members. She didn’t know and she didn’t care to find out.

Fans often caught Aurora pulling Jisung aside to ask him for help on a move right before pre-recordings or backstage at festivals. 

The cutest times are when Jisung can predict what Aurora is going to ask. He’ll just randomly dance to one of Dreams songs, Aurora will nod going on to do said move perfectly. 

One time, between Boom!era and Ridin!era, Dream had a new choreographer who didn’t understand Aurora methods. For an entire practice, he just nitpicked her constantly. 

The members all looked around at each other not really knowing what to do. Something like a mean teacher was usually handled by Mark but he wasn’t here. 

After the twentieth time Aurora looked like she was ready to shed tears. Jisung had enough stopping practice to yell, “Look, I will help Aurora after practice and she will have it down pat by the next one. Just leave her alone.” 

The rare sight of an angry Jisung was enough to fluster the choreographer. For the rest of practice, Jisung stayed close to Aurora making note of every step she messed up on to help teach her later.

Roji Time

Aurora and Jisung have their own pair name and it’s Roji or Rosey in English 

This is based of the unconfirmed/confirmed nicknames the two have for each other: Roro and Jiji

These two will just disappear and hours will go by before the older members of AG and Dream realize they sneaked away. 

At first, the groups freaked out searching every corner of each dorm before finding the two maknae’s playing games in Aurora’s room, their feet hanging in the air while their backs lie on the floor. 

After this, the members made up a special signal to warn them of the maknae’s slipping away for some quiet time. It was two rapid taps then a flick on one of their older members shoulders. 

Months after the code was established all of NCT (at the time) gathered at the 127 to hang out. Hours in, Taeyong looked around and did a head count as he often did when surrounded by all his kids. When the number was short, he did it again and was two members short again.

Now, some panic sets in. This time he walked around the dorm counting the members loitering around and still came up two members short. Somehow, in his own dorm mind you, he lost the maknaes. Real panic set in now. Taeyong stopped all the conversation and asked everyone, “Has anyone seen Jisung and Aurora.” When all he got for answers were shugs and puzzled looks, Taeyong’s panic was about to hit the ceiling.

To fend off an impending search, Mark spoke up, saying, “Oh they just snuck off for Roji time.” This caused Taeyong to ask more questions. Only to be placated by Moxy “Don’t worry they're fine. They’ll come out when they're ready or hungry…..or both.”

Minutes later the two silently walked to the kitchen, grabbing all the snacks they could carry then snuck back off. Only then did Taeyong finally breath.

First Kiss

Like the name implies, Jisung and Aurora had their first kiss together 

And Chenle can’t stand it

“I just don’t know why you didn’t come to me?!” 

Anyways, they both figured ‘When would they ever find the time and somebody they actually liked to share this with?’ 

“I would rather do this with someone I’m comfortable with than wait my whole life for the right person to come along.” As Aurora explained, Jisung nodded in agreement, not noticing the look Aurora was giving him 

“Oh you mean me………..OH! You mean me??!”

Jisung was reasonable concerned about their friendship if this were to happen but Aurora helped him relax

“Jisung do you in any way, shape or form have a glimmer of feelings for me?” “No.” “Jesus you didn’t have to say it so fast!” 

It went by  quickly. A light press of lips with no pressure of moving past this level. 

They both moved on like normal. It was everyone else’s reactions that were abnormal. 

A week later, Aurora was over at the fifth floor dorm to bother Haechan, as one does. The other member’s were dishing about their first kiss stories. All the boys cringing at their own horror stories then Aurora interrupts

“How can a first kiss be so bad? Me and Jisung kissed a week ago and it wasn’t anything like that.”

It only took a couple of seconds before the dorm exploded.

“A WEEK AGO!”

“YOU AND JISUNG!”

“I KNEW HE HAD FEELINGS FOR YOU!”

Needless to say, it was a long night of explanations for NCT’s maknae line.

“We both just wanted to get it over with and No Jungwoo oppa, Jisung and I have no feeling for each other whatsoever.” Aurora explained after her older members stopped freaking out. 

Protector

Everyone know that’s Jisung always walks between his hyungs at the airport and Aurora always follows after him

That’s because Aurora is glaring at any “Fan” that gets too close to her maknae line friend (Fan is a word I just loosely in this situation)

Ssaengs always try to use this as a way to lob hatred at Aurora for her “‘mistreatment of fans”

Whenever some isn’t deterred by Aurora death glare she always assures Jisung of what she would do to protect him

“Next time one of those girls gets in your face, I’m laying them out and nobody can stop me” “You can’t just punch people in a public setting Roro.” “I can. I will and I dare ANYONE to stop me.”

During their first Dream Show Tour, a girl somehow got past security and ran at Jisung. Aurora saw and moved Jisung behind her (Which is funny to think about. Jisung’s tall body protected by Aurora's smaller one). Aurora just glared the fan down until security came and moved the fan back. The rest of the way, Aurora dragged Jisung by the hand through the airport

Jisung alway laughs off her bursts of violent protection talk but in his head it’s nice to know what the younger would do to anyone that made him uncomfortable. It made him feel safe

Silent Comfort 

Where Aurora is violent, Jisung is quiet

Aurora know that’s Jisung will be there for her without a shadow of a doubt

For Jisung, he knows Aurora already has ten older brothers willing to drop anyone who puts a frown on her face. Jisung didn’t want to make a place for himself in those ranks. 

So jisung made use of his quiet.

Jisung is Aurora’s rock. Always there to support and help the younger anytime the stress of being a young idol in the spotlight became to much 

Like when Aurora (rightfully) freaked at her original outfit for the Work It music video

Jisung stayed put, even though he himself wanted to go after that stylist like their elder members. He took Aurora’s hand and sat by her side until their noona’s and hyungs took care of the problem.

Jisung is one of the only members who can approach Aurora when she’s having an AB (NCT code for Aurora Breakdown. Did I mention NCT has group wide codewords? cause they doo!!!). Jisung will sit until she’s ready to talk to one of their hyungs. Jisung, even though he’s scared, will sit with his phone and the rhythmic tapping of him playing a game helps Aurora breath and relax. 

A perfect example was during Aurora’s last year of Korean middle school. She was studying for her final exams while working on NCT 2018 promotions. It was a hectic time. Taeyong and the hyung line constantly tried to get her to sit out of rehearsals and take a break. Stubbornly, she refused. Running herself ragged until a week before exams. 

Aurora sat at the 127 kitchen table working thru a study guide a friend put together. Everything was quiet until the residents of the dorm heard glass shatter. They ran into the kitchen to find Aurora, surrounded by water and glass shards, curled up in a ball shaking. Silent tears rolling down her cheeks. Her only request, “I want Jisung.” 

For the rest of the night, Jisung sat next to her as she worked. Holding her left hand until she fell asleep, face buried in her notes. Johnny and Jaehyun were called to move them into Taeyong’s room for the night. None of them having the heart to wake them.

[xydamcg]

Prisoner of 141

Ghost x f character!

Cw: memories of trauma, torture, blood, details for gore, desensitization, fight or flight

Summary: Tatali has to settle in, it will take some time for her to get used to such treatment from the members of 141.

The shower was rejuvenating, she was no longer caked in dirt or dried blood. She smelled like strawberries and cinnamon, not the best combo but she wasn’t complaining anything was better than her state before. Tatali had cut her hair that had grown far too much for her liking. She was use to keeping it short so that’s how she cut it keeping the length right below her ears, it was dark brown in the right light but seemed even darker by under the fluorescent lights of the base. Kate waited patiently, the two hour shower barely seemed to bother her as she scrolled through her work email. Tatali got dressed in some of the clothing in the locker for her. She dressed in simple pair of cargo pants, long socks, boots that she cuffed her pants above, a black large hoodie that was obvious a man’s, and a black tactical vest with numerous of empty pockets.

Tatali quietly moved toward Kate not wanting to make her wait any longer, Kate looked up slightly before doing a double take at the younger woman before her. Kaye seemed surprised by how much different Tatali looked without the dirt covering her face, hiding most of her features. “All set?” Kate asked standing with a small smile. “Yes.” Tatali confirmed with a subtle nod, Kate once again guiding her through the unfamiliar halls of the base, many people passing eying her curiously. “Today since we don’t want to overbear you with so much at once we’re going to let you settle in and get ready for a long day tomorrow.” Kate instructed from in front of her, Tatali barely paying attention as she took in every detail of each hall they moved through so she didn’t get lost when and if she was ever on her own. After some walking they reached what seemed to be a common room before dorms down a hall. “Most of 141 stay here in this section of the base Soap, Gaz, Ghost and so on. This if your room 548 same as your locker back in the locker room, fridge doesn’t have much but it’s fresh.” Kate informed, Tatali zoning in on the information that was being fed to her. Kate was really nice, much nice than anyone else she came across in this field. “Soap and Gaz should be on their way, I have to go but if you need anything there’s a phone in your room you can call me.” Kate explained before peeking at her watch, on cue Soap and Gaz came shuffling through the double doors. “Nice to see you boys, I gotta run. Make sure she eats something.” Kate ordered pointing between the two who saluted stupidly making Kate laugh before heading off.

Tatali’s eyes wondered the hall around them, the warm lights in the section of the base was almost comforting? “Wanna head to your room?” Soap spoke up, her eyes snapping to her left to look at him. Tatali pursed her lips before nodding, swiveling on her heel and counting the doors as she went finding her room furthest from the main double doors. The door was unlocked as she made her way into the big space of the room. It wasn’t too big, but it was bigger than the cell that held her only hours ago. She took in the space..a small kitchen, the phone Kate mentioned earlier, a mini livingroom, a bed and most importantly a window. Tatali was so tired of the dark and the cold, at least as a prisoner here she would be treated with some actual normality rather than a wild animal like with the Hutu.

The Hutu were an army of woman who had the idea that taking down corrupted business in South Africa was what would benefit the economy which it did in the beginning but power changes peoples perceptions and twists their minds. So the woman that were fighting to pave a way for their people became the one who needed to be pushed out of power. Tatali was raised by the Hutu since she was 12, Kate said she was 26 now? Tatali had been trained to kill since age 12, was initiated into a ‘squadron’ at 13, followed every order—excelled further than most until age 24 before she spent another 2 imprisoned by a different group who called themselves the Red eyes. The red eyes she knew nothing about only that they were rivals of the Hutu and they had managed to capture their best solider. Two years of torture, no contact with the outside word or her people, none of it felt real. It all felt like a foggy memory or fading nightmare, she hadn’t come to terms with anything that had happened to her while she was captured with The Red Eyes. Her body dealt with the trauma by simply storing any type of emotion other than fighting deep into her mind. She had been running on fight or flight for quite some time now.

Even now— the loud clatter of dishes pulled her from her thoughts that left her froze in the middle of the room. Her hand subconsciously moved to the empty holster on her vest before her head lurched in the direction of the noise. “Sorry sorry.” Soap mumbled from the kitchen, Gaz watching her closely his own hand on his weapon out of reaction to her reaching for noticeably nothing now. Tatali slowly lowered her hand before turning it over to show Gaz she wasn’t a threat. She repeated the action with the other since Gaz seemingly wasn’t convinced. Gaz relaxed slightly his hand moving to his chest to rest along the lining of his vest. Tatali moved into the kitchen eyeing Soap, did he know what he was doing? “What are you trying to make?” Tatali asked, her voice was quiet and raspy almost robotic as it seemed to hold no actual emotion. Soap showed her the pack of meat and vegetables before he looked over at her. “Stir fry, ever had it?” He asked her softly as he oiled the pan. “No, not that I could remember.” She retorted leaning back against the counter to watch him. “Lucky for you I make the best stir fry out here.” Soap gushed making Gaz scoff. “Yeah lucky for us, nearly burns down the kitchen every time trying to make anything else.” Gaz quirked teasingly making Soap groan. “It was that one time!” Tatali watched as the two began to bicker her mind drifting again, the pair becoming background noise as she was swallowed by dark thoughts.

“Tell us where to find Fyti and we might just let you go.” The guard growled as she stared at him, her eyes void as blood dripped from the wound in her leg. The handle of the knife still protruded from her thigh, it had just missed the femur bone which meant they made a huge mistake. She could still move, and if she could still move—she could still kill them. “Still not gonna answer eh?” He questioned earning silence from the woman who watched his every move. Tatali was calculating his next move before he even made it, most of the guards were predictable leaving all possibilities closed but one. The other guard who stood near the door was nervous and she only knew that because he kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other and his hands fidgeted with the key ring on his belt every so often. “Maybe i can carve it out of you..” he stated approaching with another knife. Tatali slowly planted her feet as he drew closer preparing herself to slaughter him.

Her eyes dropped to his legs, watching as he stalked closer and closer. “Eyes up here girl.” The male sneered grabbing her chin roughly forcing her to look up at him. Tatali felt her eyes reach his own and she smirked. “Amused are ya?” He asked making her smirk fall instantly. “Yes amused because I’m going to kill you.” She finally announced before peeking around the man before her to the guard by the door. “Even you.” Before anyone else could get a word out, she pulled her hands through the shackles the sweat and blood being a good lubricant for her release. Tatali let out a scream as she pulled the knife from her leg and drove it into the guard’s knee and twisting a satisfying pop and him shouting in pain filled the room. Tatali leaned forward in her chair driving her shoulder into the man's sternum, knocking him back enough to get the space she needed to take the knife from his hand and bury it into the soft flesh behind his chin. "Hold that for me." She snickered as his body dropped to the ground. Tatali pushed to her full height of 5'8 as she watched the man at her feet bleed out. She nearly forgot her audience until she heard the soft click of his gun loading a bullet into the chamber, her eyes narrowed at the trembling guard. He was young, almost too young for her to feel morally okay about killing him.

"If you lower the weapon i won't kill you. You can turn around and-" a shot rang out, Tatali managing to move out the path of it with ease. She took shelter behind the hefty cart of torture devices as the boy released his whole clip stupidly into the side of it. "I really didn't want to do this." She told him as she heard him fumbling with the keys to the door. Tatali rose from behind the cart, her mind filled with a new found anger at him trying to run away after trying to kill her. Coward. She took hold of the cart before ramming it into the back of his legs pinning him to the door, her hand selecting a pair of scissors. "Please no, don't!" He screamed as she drew closer to his crumpled form. "Next time, you better kill me." She concluded before driving the pair of scissors into his eye socket, his screams ceasing immediately.

"Tatali! Hey! Can you hear me?"

Her auburn pupils dilated before constricting again as Soap brought her back to reality. "What?" She asked looking at him, concern written in his features as Gaz watched from his place behind him. "You've been staring at the same spot for almost fifteen minutes now. Are you alright?" Soap asked making her shift under his hand, he carefully pulled back. "I'm fine." She confirmed catching his eyes again, he decided to let it go before holding out a bowl of piping rice and stir fry. "Thank you." she said taking the bowl before taking a seat across the room near the window, Gaz and Soap watching her for a moment before sharing a look.

The food smelled good, almost too good. She looked over at Soap and Gaz who were sitting together at the island chatting, their mouths full of food and funny spoken words. Tatali slowed raised the fork to her mouth before taking a bite, it was her first full hot meal in years. It tasted like- she couldn't quite describe it. Too many flavors to pin point, not enough time to think as she became overloaded with just taste alone. Soap did make a really good stir fry.

[vaguelyno]

Gonna add a slightly more serious few thoughts on this

Tim gets raised by his trusty crew of goons. Criticizing their plans into a small local gang by the time he’s in his early teens (pre J’s death)

They take an area near the edge of the main zones claimed by gangs. Specifically close to penguins territory/one of the richer districts. Tim’s background making him great at white collar and similar crimes. After Jason’s death he’s selling high quality drugs to the rich kids wandering away from the main party areas/their parents with too much money

Tim, probably as Alvin Draper or a similar name still dates Steph (goons very supportive of him trying to achieve normal life goals) Still end up breaking things off as Steph becomes the Robin to a Batman who, for the past few years, has been mysteriously reigned in by a combo of other heroes, and who needs a bigger support system just the same as he did when Tim should’ve arrived (Steph mostly fills Tim’s spot)

(Tim still figured out IDs. He does not use them in his crime work. EVER. No goon knows that his distant loves for the Wayne’s and the Bats are because of what he knows. He does use the IDs to stop a Batman from ruining Robin’s legacy, but thats it. And maybe to give Spoiler Steph a few points in the right direction to earn the respect of the Batfam by IDing them)

When Red Hood crime lord arrives on the scene. Recon Tim sees the flips and tricks and knows a Robin when he sees one. Doesn’t usually pull on super-underworld contacts (stay away from that nonsense for safety reasons) but gets enough info to confirm one Jason Todd’s return (and get on the radar of the Al Ghuls, drat)

Tim’s crew is one of the first to start following Hood’s rules, whether or not he’s in crime alley. Tim tries to refrain from having to make deals with or appearances to Hood but does have to make one eventually or else Hood’d be suspicious that Tim’s an outsider trying to take advantage of Gotham. Tim busts out all his disguise equipment to prevent Hood from knowing Tim’s only like 16-17. Or that he’s the missing Drake kid from all those years ago

(He pushes the bounds of secrecy a little when Jack’s deaths on the news. He hasn’t cared about the man in years but maybe he should have now that he’s risking Tim’s identity with his death. He can’t not make appearances other places, or risk the change in behaviors being suspicious overall. So he’s not leaving his base without a subtlety higher quality disguise)

All of this, just to get to the main idea I wanted to explore. Tim gets got by the Bats. And while delirious calls someone by their name

I feel like it would be Dick, giving them a moment of plausible deniability, but they still gotta interrogate Tim (worse case for Tim. He could escape the cops or the charges [Tim wasn’t the main target]. Can’t escape the Bats)

Could also be Jason, Steph or anyone else (Tim knows everyone’s ID’s, no superhero is safe)

Tim tries to confirm what he said and lie, but Cass is in the room and he knows BB’s abilities. His body language (overly aware of Cass) gives away how much more he knows

I feel like body lang also gives away his Spoiler/Robin who built the Batfam in Tim’s place appreciation/connections (he looks at her like she’s the sun or moon, full of adoration)

The Cass detection system also reveals that Tim’s very boring (little to no classified info, still hits too close to home) insults are an attempt to rile Jason up enough to knock Tim out. Jason thinks this is a crime lord to sudo crime lord thing. Cass knows it’s not. (Jason can have a crisis about what this all means for him later)

Something something mind wipe?

Tim drops the act a little and is like J’on (pronounced subtly correct in a way the average super knowing villain wouldn’t) is not skilled enough to be able to wipe my memories without leaving me brain dead or worse (not telling bats it would leave him at the mental age of like 9) and I could probably figure it out again

Bats are suitable confused by this moral dilemma. They are also nervous because I’ve been picturing they’re in the Batcave or similar Bats only hideout and Tim is clearly cataloging everything he sees, even if it’s just the relatively unshadowed Bats and the holding cell he’s in

Not sure how this is resolved. Maybe Tim convinces them, hey other villains and rogues know your IDs This Is Fine. Or maybe the Al Ghuls who know bust into the cave and yoink one Tim outta there. Turning this into a debate of “do we rescue the crime lord ?” (He looked suitably afraid to all the Bats)

So yeah, those are my more serious take plot points on baby Tim’s homemade crime org

I think I need a “Kid Tim Drake gets kidnapped and held for ransom but his parents don’t even pick up the phone so now these criminals are like whelp, this kid is ours now. Sucks to suck.” Fic.

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

We had a lot of fun this week tracking down a bug in the project I’m working on. It was exposed by slow server response, which was because the service had grown. So the bug was icky. Once we tracked it down on the client side we were able to fix it up pretty quickly. I love doing stuff like this! Finding and fixing bugs is part of any developers job along with writing code.

I hope you enjoy the links.

Natalie Venegas • Newsweek

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' rare warning during a commencement speech about former President Donald Trump, sparked outrage from supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement this weekend.

People are right to continue to warn us all of the dangers of electing Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump to the Presidency.

Anyone who reads this site — thanks to both of you — knows I’m a Liberal Democrat suffering from “The Woke Mind Virus.” 😃 So of course I think a man set on destroying Democracy as we know it is dangerous.

Noah Kirsch • The Daily Beast

Now, former board member Helen Toner is explaining her decision. In a new podcast interview, the artificial intelligence researcher blasted Altman’s lack of transparency and said the board was kept in the dark about key decisions. She accused Altman of “withholding information, misrepresenting things that were happening in the company, [and] in some cases outright lying to the board.”

AI will continue to be controversial and it looks like Sam Altman will be the poster boy for the controversy, at least in the short term.

Keeping a full commercial product rollout from the board seems like a bad idea, doesn’t it? No wonder they fired him.

Mark Tyson • Tom’s Hardware

Popular TechTuber Jeff Geerling has delivered an updated take on the old chestnut about the relative merits of pigeon-based vs internet data transfers.

TL;DR - Data delivery by pigeon is still faster than the internet. 🤣

Kelly Crandall • Racer

In a joint statement issued Tuesday, Tony Stewart and Gene Haas confirmed that Stewart-Haas Racing will cease NASCAR operations at season’s end.

This is a real bummer for NASCAR fans and the sport in general. Stewart Haas had a championship team not so long ago but it’s been a long time since they’ve seen victory lane.

They have four cars on the grid. Three teams field four drivers and it’s my understanding NASCAR is going to limit team size to three going forward.

In 2016 NASCAR switched to a Charter system. In that system teams purchase a charter from NASCAR to be part of the system. Those charters are expected to grow in value so a team would have more than physical goods to sale should they decide to close shop. They’re not cheap. Spire Motorsports bought one last year for $40mm. What will each Stewart Haas charter sell for? 😳

Tuomas Pirhonen - PDF

Writing an NVMe Driver in Rust

The link above is to a PDF for Thomas Pirhonen’s Bachelors Thesis. Rust has really made inroads into systems development and I’m happy to see it. Having memory safe code at the systems level seems like a smart thing to do, don’t you think? 😃

I’d be curious to see how much unsafe code exists in the various Rust OS level projects I’ve heard of. But, you gotta start somewhere!

When will Swift be used to build major parts of Apple’s OS level code? Or is it already being used?

Cocoanetics

I’ve long had a longing to have a Mac Mini as build server in my technics room. After Apple finally updated it to (now) fashionable space grey, it was a must purchase for my company.

I’ve had a hankering to do this very thing. I can see setting up the server much in the way we see here and trigger builds via GitHub Actions to start the process. Heck, I could use Xcode’s built in support for automating builds and kick it off right from within Xcode on my laptop. Yeah, Xcode has a decent enough build system to make it useful. Makes me wonder how much of it Apple is using for Xcode Cloud or is 100% of that custom code?

Anton Zhiyanov

If you work with sensitive data, and want to be 100% sure that there is no trace of the old data after it has been updated or deleted — SQLite has you covered. The secure_delete pragma (off by default) causes SQLite to overwrite deleted content with zeros.

TIL! I’ve used SQLite in quite a few projects, including Stream. I love it for local storage and still prefer it to CoreData, it’s just straightforward SQL. Anywho, I had no idea you could do this. Another nice tool to keep in the toolbox.

JanerationX

Doctor Who returned to TV recently as a “soft reboot” to attract a new generation of viewers. Yeah, okay, but the older generations didn’t exactly go away, and since I am a member of an older generation, I am qualified to say that the show sucks.

I think we’ve all been here when we see a big change to our favorite Television show.

Heck, I’m torn about continuing to watch The Witcher. Henry Cavil is The Witcher and to see him replaced just feels wrong.

Kim Zetter • WIRED

Two years ago when “Michael,” an owner of cryptocurrency, contacted Joe Grand to help recover access to about $2 million worth of bitcoin he stored in encrypted format on his computer, Grand turned him down.

You gotta love these hacker folks. At least he’s using his talent for good.

Viktor Petersson

My Home Server Journey - From Raspberry Pi to Ryzen

What’s up with two server based links today? Guess I’m just in a very hardware mood today.

This reminds me I need to setup my $99 Mac Mini I purchased months ago. It’s an x86 based Mini and fairly old but I want it for media streaming and another local backup system.

David Price • Macworld

Those who miss the days of full-time Apple/Microsoft beef will have been heartened last week by bold claims that the latest Surface devices are faster than the M3 MacBook Air. It’s fun to see Microsoft’s marketing department in a combative mood, but part of me wishes the company would stop trying so hard to show it’s better than Apple.

I don’t know that I’d go this far. Microsoft is just trying to lead the industry into an ARM focused world by attempting to create a new standard of PC.

I’ve been on the Mac, almost exclusively, since around 2006(?) and I love the experience from a user and developer point of view.

There’s still that part of me that loves my old development days on Windows. It was also a great platform to build on.

The new Microsoft Surface Pro looks absolutely amazing and I’ve lusted for one of these computers for years. Microsoft has proven for years and years a tablet/laptop can have excellent touch support and a full desktop class OS underpinning it.

It’s only a matter of time before Apple does it. When it happens all doubt around Apple creating a convertible will disappear and folks will think it’s the greatest thing ever.

Chelsea Troy

Each quarter at the University of Chicago includes nine weeks of instruction. In the eighth week, I ask students to submit questions that they would like our ninth and final session to cover. This quarter, a third of the students in the class submitted some version of the question: “How can I use ChatGPT to get ahead in my programming job?”

I know of a lot of developers at work using ChatGPT to their advantage. It’s not that it’s doing their job, no, it’s just another tool to get started with a thought.

Jordan Tigani

The intended takeaway from the “Big Data is coming” chart was that pretty soon, everyone will be inundated by their data. Ten years in, that future just hasn’t materialized. We can validate this several ways: looking at data (quantitatively), asking people if it is consistent with their experience (qualitatively), and thinking it through from first principles (inductively).

I’m not really into backend stuff like this. It seems kind of boring but it’s good to know some folks are really into it.

Declaring something dead is a bit strange to me, because it was never a living thing, but I get the gist.

I’m sure your mileage will vary but this is a small piece worth a read just to understand his declaration.

BigData, it turns out, ain’t all that big.

[anthonybialy]

The Upside of Nostalgia with Lindy Ruff

I knew that name sounded familiar.  Lindy Ruff is a throwback in multiple senses.  The era conforms with the mentality.  The Buffalo Sabres have regressed as the years have advanced.  There’s never been a better time to indulge in the comfort of recognition.  My favorite part of any Star Wars movies since the original trilogy was the AT-ATs.

If there’s going to be a nostalgia hire, make it this one.  Living in the past is fine if it means bringing back memories of the last time the Sabres made the playoffs.  Ruff didn’t just engineer better records than this team’s grown accustomed to over the time since he stopped working for them: he may still possess the skills to make it happen.

I’m thrilled Devils fans made their best hope the scapegoat.  Then again, I’m a Sabres fan.  Newark’s franchise should’ve found a different goat to scape in their sacrifice to their mascot.  The lack of defensive options would’ve doomed Toe Blake.  New Jersey can’t take it back.

Blaming the coach for the Devils having NHL goalies in name only is a special way to confirm that life is unfair.  Fans may as well get on Josh Allen’s case for not drafting a speedy receiver.

A good leader takes responsibility for what happens on his watch.  A bad one does, too, although by imposition.  New Jersey fans question whether he did enough structurally.  And they dislike the Ramones because Johnny didn’t solo.  Let’s emphasize what we’re good at in the sequel coach’s honor.  Ruff’s focus is on getting the most out of his roster by tailoring strategy to who’s available.  His system is to change his.  Impugning emphasizes the point.

Ruff is apparently supposed to feel guilt based on the crime of having good players.  Detractors still vainly try to tape an asterisk to his name because he’s been successful when he’s had better goalies.  Coaches have some nerve using Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller if they’re available.  Casey Stengel should’ve felt bad for managing all those other people with numbers retired by the Yankees.

I’m looking for a coach who’ll yell at everyone.  It will be on fans’ behalf.  The cathartic wish to scold anyone paid to wear a Sabres jersey could carry the added benefit of consistently dedicated play from players who don’t want to face wrath.  If there’s a roster that deserves to get berated, it’s this one.

The new old guy employs the strategy of being sick of everything going on.  Ruff could be cast as police captain.  He’s had enough of this.  

Timing is everything, like how the Sabres forget to be good until the playoffs are out of reach.  They finally got it down during the offseason by waiting for the Devils to fire Ruff before they made a canning of their own.  Don Granato was once an NHL head coach.  It will always technically be true thanks to a club that’s using him as their rock bottom.

Terry Pegula hiring the only option he recognizes shows how limited knowledge can pay off.  It’s rather rare, as seen by the rest of his godforsaken tenure ruining a team some of us used to enjoy.  But hiring one of the few NHL coaches he knows by name might work out.  Ruff is sure better than every other addition Pegula’s made, even if that’s a paltry accomplishment along the lines of best season missing the playoffs.

The owner vaguely remembers once firing this guy.  It was either before or after he fled to Florida.  It turns out he still owns the hockey team.  The canning nothing personal, which is the lone thing he knows about business.  Someone’s performance can diminish over time with the same company.  Meanwhile, the aspects that made him successful remain intrinsic to his personality even factoring in his initial tenure ending as the roster declined.

This remains the right time to bring back Ruff even if only to show hard feelings shouldn’t infringe on the future.  Sabres fans should acquaint themselves with the Billy Martin principle regardless of whether they view the Yankees as Buffalo’s semi-hometown team or the Bronx’s Death Star.

To confirm, he’ll be behind the bench.  The biggest question was if this was the job he would take.  It was natural to wonder if he would’ve been hired for some sort of executive role.  He could get a promotion after a couple years if he were able to get this unfortunate franchise back on the right track. 

Executive Ruff would have less work to do if he moved from behind the bench around 2028.  A president of hockey operations-type job would mean another salary for an owner who already doesn’t want to pay a new coach.  But someone who knows what he’s doing might bring in enough revenue to justify payment.  It’s never too late for Pegula to learn business.

Sabres fans are experiencing a peculiar sensation.  I vaguely remember it as hope.  There’s genuine excitement around a semipermanent outcast for the first time in awhile.  Experiencing offseason thrills comes not just from knowing the name.

The assuagement of streaming reboots shields from the trepidation brought by the unknown.  But indulging in sentimentality can be beneficial.  In this case, bringing back the last good coach could lead to more than reminiscing.

[king-of-better]

Number.02: Key -RAKAN-

1

In Marseille's warehouse district, Chasseur agents takedown the remnants of Bionet. Akamatsu is annoyed that the official story has to leave out the fact they know Lamia took Thanatos, but information regarding Betterman is normally suppressed. Yang feels it's for the best, although Urchin gets confirmation that Betterman acts on response to Algernon. Also gathered in this meeting are the 3 doctors, Nozaki, Inubozaki and Hirata. Yang indiscreetly enquires into Akamatsu and Urchin's history with the disease. Urchin feels uneasy with the fact his younger brother, Cactus, was essentially eaten by Betterman, although Akamatsu understands the Algernon infectees produced the Animus Flower needed by the Betterman to fight off Algernon, and while it might be distasteful to them, it is a necessary bond, he now understands about the Dive Inspection, Cactus and Kankel. Inubozaki and Nozaki note this importance too, and that Algernon stopped spreading after Kankel was defeated. Akamatsu always carries with him Algernon Watchman #2, although he hasn't encountered anyone with Algernon since inventing it, and has now started wearing Barrier-kun Anti-Radio Gen2. Hirata notes Thanatos having Algernon explains a lot about Bionet's illogical activities. There actions with Jupiter X, Futsunushi, Fake GS-Rides and Initiation Zonder Metal all had a profit motive, but trying to prevent the Global Wall when their own business was equally disrupted made no sense, and Akamatsu has seen this behaviour from other organisations where the leadership had Algernon. The more pressing matter, is that Project Z will resume. Yang has one other private concern. Womb Head recorded Mamoru referring to the Imitation Zonder, that resembled the Conqueror King, as Genesic. While only Mamoru and Ikumi had ever seen Genesic GaoGaiGar, they knew of it's nature from the boy's reports, and yet only now has Mamoru let slip about the Conqueror King resembling it, Yang is unsure if.he should confront the boy.

2

Takanohashi introduces himself to Alouette, but she explains she has regained her memory, so it's a reunion. Nobody she knew on Orbit Base is there now, as even Takanohashi has returned to being director of Gotenyama Science Centre, merely returning to Orbit Base because she was found. GGG France should have been watching her, but she wasn't deliberately targeted by Bionet, simply taken but coincidence. It was Bionet stressing out their captives that caused her to regain her memory. While he would have liked her to lead a normal life, now that that has changed, she seeks to join GGG with his recommendation. He agrees, and she smiles a smile Mamoru can see is genuine, looking her age for once.

3

As the Global Wall project is launched, Alouette is acting as mobile unit operator, her skill makes Hana feel inadequate. The 6 wall rings activate, and the Protect Wall expands at Akamatsu's orders, Tsuguo and Sueo running the technical side. The Global Wall is formed, and Secretary-General Heart makes contact to congratulate GGG. As everyone else celebrates, Yang, despite knowing Yaginuma and Takanohashi made the right choice in abandoning Project Z after the Invisible Burst, he worries the delay will have cost lives, he wonders if he would have had Mizuha continue with Project Z instead. In G-Island City, Ayame and Hajime celebrate, in Kanagawa Keita is promised a big bonus for his foresight,

4

The Global Wall has blocked out the sight of the Conqueror King, and for the first time in 6 years those on the Orbit Base can freely communicate with earth. Reiko, along with Suzuki Wakaba and Tazato Tamayo, are communicating with Hana, Reiki complaining that Sunou keeps screwing up his chances by bragging about his standing. All 4 are now in college. Reiko tries asking Hana about her marriage, joking that after 10 years they're stuck in a rut and should make it official, but is surprised to see Hana looking serious, making Reiko fear their actually are problems, but Hana just had dust in her eyes. Except this is a lie, but Reiko cannot bring herself to intrude further.

5

Ikumi rarely left Orbit Base during his downtime, as he couldn't freely visit his hospitalised mother, and those others he sought to see were too far away, but he makes good use of the communication lines now they exist, assuring his mother he is getting along with GGG and hoping someday she can visit. He then contacts a certain farm in Australia, talking with the farmer's daughter and the farmhands. Yang surprises him, requesting a private meeting, Ikumi, suspicious, agrees, although he thinks he knows what it is about.

6

At the Orbit Cafe, Hinoki's meal has been unexpectedly spicy, and Tamara's too sweet. Kikuho Eir, the lunch lady since the days of Gutsy Geoid Guard, apologises, even though Akamatsu just repaired Ingredient Synthesiser #26, some of the ingredients it has been producing have in fact been others disguised. Hinoki is willing to write this off as an accident, and blame the Chief, but Tamara claims this has been sabotage, and challenges Hinoki to find the culprit before that, Hinoki not catching on to her repeated use of 26 in her speech.

7

Tamara has duty, and Hinoki spots Kamuy, and asks if he knows anything, he suggests hacking. While he checks the records, Hinoki asks if he contacted anyone on earth, he did, the one person he didn't was his brother, who died in the battle at Jupiter in the line of duty. She denies having anyone to contact herself, her family are all dead, Kamuy asking about her boyfriend, she did call him, but he was probably busy and didn't pick up. She's annoyed he hasn't called back, but he can't die to the exorbitant costs of calls to Orbit Base. Kamuy finds #26 has had it's setting randomised, and immediately after Akamatsu fixed it the setting jumbled again, and he finds the tampering was deleted, but can still find the deletion records themselves. Swiftly eliminations possible hackers, he settles on a certain person, and Hinoki is horrified.

8

Yang gets straight to the point, getting Ikumi to confirm the Conqueror King resembles Genesic GaoGaiGar, and that the boys hid this due to fear it would impact Project Z. Yang states to Ikumi that he still thinks Project Z maybe should have been prioritised. There are many reasons the Conqueror King might resemble Genesic, but the worst possibility is that Genesis GaoGaiGar itself is the cause of the Invisible Burst, and Yang does not want to delay Project Z further. He wants Project Z to launch in 162 hours as planned, so he wants Ikumi to tell him everything.

9

A new selection of food is ready for Mamoru, Hana and Akamatsu, while the Main Order Room is manned by Urchin, Sueo and Alouette. Hinoki and Kamuy enter shortly after to find everyone in the cafe incapacitated by the false desserts, except the one responsible Kikuho, smiling broadly. Her face does not match her words, and Hinoki is horrified to see this reminds him of 10 years ago. Hinoki and Kamuy confirm from their investigation only she could have done this, she claims to be a victim, but Tamara appears to refute this, having suspected Kikuho from the start, she set up a spy camera to catch her red handed. Tamara is about to reveal the reason, when Algernon Watchman #26 announces, awakening Akamatsu in the process, that for the first time in ten years, someone with the disease is within 5 metres of him. She tries to force-feed Akamatsu, but Mamoru pushes her away, and she instead flees.

10

Hinoki, Kamuy and Tamara chase, but when they find Kikuho she is unconscious, held by a stranger who looks like a minstrel. He apologises and ducks into a room with her, and when they follow, the room is empty, and there is no signal from Kikuho.

10 minutes later, in the Second Order Room, Hirata reports 140kg vanished from Orbit Base. Tamara checks the footage of the man, and confirms Hinoki heard Japanese, Kamuy heard french, and she heard Ukrainian. The video had no sound. The figure was speaking via Limpid Channel, they are a Betterman.

Akamatsu is distraught Algernon has broken out again, Hinoki is more privately distraught. While it is distressing Algernon is spreading, Ikumi and Yang point out their priority is Project Z, they should leave Algernon to NEO, though Akamatsu is able to get them to accept Algernon Watchman #26 installed everywhere, he fears what could be the cause this time.

11

The Somnium have lived on earth since ancient times, and are beyond human understanding, the only reason they don't rule over humanity is their perpetually low population, and instead they hide in Sepulchrums, areas humans cannot normally perceive. One such Sepulchrum is in Yokohama, first settled by Somnium in the 15th century, originally sparsely populated by outcasts, it is now one of the biggest Somnium refuges. The area this Sepulchrum lies in is now Chinatown. In the Sepulchrum now is the body of seifuku-clad teenage girl, with 4 massive holes. And yet the girl is alive. Across the Limpid Channel see senses something. Her name is Sara, and she confirms to Lamia that others are returning. The effect on her body, the holes appearing in her body and growing and contracting, is due to a special ability of hers using the rare Animus variant, Socius, which Lamia had known he needed for the Conqueror King, and finally recovered one from Doctor Thanatos, one of the first humans to use THE POWER. Four figures emerge from the holes in Sara's body, each holding a human corpse, the last arrives with only an Animus crop. Gajumaru, looking like a boy, who did this, holds no reverence for Lamia, and did his not to ease Sara's burden, merely for efficiency, except she can tell this is a lie. The gates close, and her for now appears normal. She uses Pextofolex Socius, and successfully produces another Socius seed, a blessing given how hard it was to find the first. Sara wears a red cape, looking like a young girl, and kept a katana shaped staff. Yewya, in a dress resembling the jellyfish Mamoru saw Lamia with, reports she has made arrangements, Hiiragi, large in a polar bear pelt, has also succeeded, as has Rice, the minstrel, who is in the habit of actually moving his mouth. All traveled via Socius Road to recover these Animus seedbeds. Kikuho has produced a Forte seed, which confirms Lamia's fear their foe is a Kankel wonsurpasses Kankel. After losing his comrades 10 years ago, Lamia had to gather these 5 new allies for the new threat, although one is still missing. They need Rakan, the Key to Victory, and the Forte Seed swells.

12

Some Sepulchrum are inhabited by only a single Somnium, although this one in Bolivia is unusual in the fact it's resident shares it with animals from otherwise extinct species, who all fear it. The sole inhabitant not to fear it declares they are coming, it appears like a thin, hazy thing, with a cross of light for a forehead. A large storm dragon like entity crosses, the Somnium is surprised to see a successor to Turbo after Bodaiju has passed. Lamia, Rice and and Sara leap down, and Gakumaru emerges from Betterman Turbo, refusing to cocoon himself. Lamia greets Rakan, who wears native dress and has a 6 ft metal staff. Rakan says nothing, but the haze speaks, noting Lamia has come to Rakan as the one entrusted with the future by Pachira. Rakan seems not to care for the fate of this world, even when told his place will fade in time, but he is curious when Lamia says the time of Patria is coming. Sara is a rarity, it has been 2000 years since a Somnium able to use Socius was born. When Rakan notes he sees Lamia wants to fight the Conqueror King at this time of resistance as a species, one is shocked, one angry Rakan didn't respond to being summoned, and other implacable, each and their own thoughts. Lamia argues that the Conqueror King will make all into light, but Rakan thinks he can eradicate it even if Patria comes, rejecting the antique Somnium, so Lamia instead must challenge him, the winners will be carried out.

13

Rakan dodges Pectoforex Rubrum, and goes to stab, but Lamia dodges and uses Pectofolex Viride, Rakan disperse this, but does nothing about Pectoforex Flavum. Rakan sees this as weaknesses as uses his own Pectoforex Sanctus, which disassembles his extinct beasts, and lets him fuse with them, Sanctus is something none of the others have seen before. King of Beasts Rakan swings powerful attacks at Lamia, who opts to counter by consuming Forte. King of Beasts Rakan's right fist is the jaws of an Andrewsarchus, but Forte stops it chomping, he flies using wings of Argentavis Magnificent, and kicks using the legs of platybelodons, but Forte pierces the foot with the Sliding Saber, and uses Psycho Glory. The beasts return to normal, but Lamia demands to see Rakan's true power, as what he has used this far would be nothing to the Conqueror King. And so he produces his own Forte seed.

14

Rice is shocked a Forte was found, though Lamia recognises this is the result of intense study, and imitation Forte, created using Sanctus to recombine human genes to recreate the Kankel conditions, although he has only succeeded in producing one. Rice is inspired to play his instrument at the sight of two Forte in battle. Lamia is pale red to Rakan's light green, it seems both are equal, and both ready Psycho Glory, and both Sliding Sabers are shattered, both Forte are gone, the opponent's stand across from each other. Lamia uses Rubrum, Rakan Sanctus, and they put eachother in stalemate, except Rakan merges with Titanoba and Smilodon on his arms, and declare victory and tells Lamia he will fulfil Pachira's will, only for Lamia to tell him he has lost, he finds he can't move, effected now by the early Viridie and Flavum, specifically it was the animals that were affected. Rakan is left in admiration, and Lamia uses Album to heal him. Rakan pretends to merely have accepted their aid, but they have the key, something the mist, which appears to have long pink hair, repeats.

15

Akamatsu Sakura declares they have the key from the Manage Machine. Despite her comatose state she often speaks, though Hinoki finds she sounds joyful on this occasion.

Project Z resumes in 50 hours, and all preparations aboard Orbit Base are complete. Hinoki often takes care of checking up on Sakura and the Manage Machine, having taken on duty at Orbit Base Round the time Akamatsu became Chief and brought Sakura aboard, and always takes care of her, making sure her hair is brushed despite no one else seeing her. Hinoki tells her they're heading to Jupiter, even though she knows the words she speaks are probably not her own. Officially she's with GGG as a potential asset, though Akamatsu hopes THE POWER can awaken her, neither Akamatsu or Hinoki could know that the physical form of Sakura's consciousness was currently in an inexplicable area of Bolivia, on the form of a haze.

Alouette has taken it upon herself adjust Kakuseijin GaiGou's software, working off Leo and Liger's work, decreasing Final Fusion time by 5.72 seconds. She then wants to work on something in Orbit Base she finds nostalgic, which no one can use, Akamatsu allows her to tune it's software, he will handle the hardware.

Yang, currently in charge at the Main Order Room, is distressed to receive an amendment to Project Z from the UN Council. Reading though, he learns probing Jupiter is to happen as scheduled, but they are now to immediately extract a sample of THE POWER to research creating a gate, but the power development plan is now suspected, instead researching the cause of the Invisible Burst. Given this was what Yang wanted all along, he happily calls Akamatsu and Urchin, aware of who must have arranged this.

Isogai Sakura had earlier that day put a motion to the Energy Development Council, backed up by documents from the Space Development Corporation, which had seen the council vote in this amendment. Secretary-General Heart invites her for a celebratory drink, but he respectfully leaves it when she declined. Cherry is aware of her superiors affections for her, but does not seek to take advantage. She has sought to keep up the fight Taiga left behind 10 years ago, the opposition to THE POWER Usage Project, while still seeking the safe return of the lost Braves, and the man she loves.

[glow-worms-are-believers]

Danny had majorly underestimated the security around here. Sure, Team Phantom had confirmed the assassin base they were infiltrating didn’t have anti-ghost tech beforehand, which in retrospective was probably the only reason he had made it this far.

Though Danny had thought the lack of tech meant he would just go through walls until he got to the ectoplasm-like substance it seemed that these assassins were paranoid enough to have freaking emf sensors in every single room. And that had completely thrown the plan off-rails which was why he was now walking through some hallways, trying his best to look like he belonged there.

“Wait!” Danny tensed, hoping against hope he had not been made. He slowly turned around to face a woman dressed head to toe in black clothes.

“Yes?” The halfa said as he straightened up, trying to look less like a fourteen-year-old in a balaclava ski mask and more like an assassin.

The woman approached him before asking impatiently, “What are you doing here?”

“I got lost,” Danny said, doing his best not to make it sound like a question.

“No matter,” she said sharply before grabbing Danny’s arm. “Lady Nahla called for her assistant to come back, the prince is crowning.”

With those mysterious words (was there a coronation going on?), she started dragging him down the hallways almost into a run. As they turned the corner to yet another corner, Danny could hear faint screams resonating in the distance and to his mounting dread, he realized the woman was dragging him towards the sounds. Oh Ancients. Was “crowning prince” code for torture or something? Because if so, he was 100% going to faint.

“Come,” the woman said impatiently when she noticed him slowing down. “Lady Nahla is waiting for you.”

With that the woman pushed the door and pulled Danny inside. He looked up and almost fainted right there. Not because someone was getting tortured, no. It was somehow much worse.

“You’re here,” said the woman sitting on her knees between the legs of a very pregnant, screaming lady. She did not look up from whatever she was doing as she continued, “The prince’s head is engaged. Come here so I can prepare the equipment for resuscitation.” Then, she looked towards the face of the still screaming woman, “though it is only a precaution, My Lady.” The pregnant lady didn’t show a sign of having heard but Lady Nahla only patted her thigh in a conciliatory manner.

Danny was rooted on the spot, and it was only the guard’s push that got him moving. Without quite knowing how he got there, he was down on his knees with his hands splayed open as if ready to catch a football. Through his all-consuming panic, Danny wondered how big babies were supposed to be compared to footballs but all that vanished like smoke as the baby started getting out. The next few minutes felt like a blur of a scream-filled, stress-fueled nightmare. His knowledge of baby-caring was limited to ‘keep away from ectoplasm’ and ‘support the head’ so he focused on the latter. As Danny held onto the last thread of his self-possession as he blocked out any sensory input that wasn’t the baby’s head in his hands until finally, he was left with a small wrinkly baby held awkwardly in his arms.

“Congratulations My Lady,” said Lady Nahla from above Danny’s shoulder. “It’s a boy.”

Danny fell into a daze as the midwife took the baby to clean him up and swaddle him before giving him back to his mom.

“Go fetch that hot water, now,” the midwife said to Danny.

Danny nodded, walked out of the room and started speed-walking away from the room. On the way he crossed path with a girl about Danny’s height wearing all black who nodded to him, which he copied. Danny waited until he turned out of sight into an empty hallway to finally start running full speed as he tried to repress any memory of what had just happened.

He patted his jacket pocket for the vial of green stuff and promised himself that he would never speak to anyone about this.

DP x DC prompt #119

Danny sneaks in and infiltrates the League of Assassins. Apparently, he chose a great time to infiltrate the League of Assassins since the leader's daughter is currently in labor.

[thetruthlsoutthere]

A Sad Thought

if i play into the 'idea' because I am not going to believe it as if it's fact when there is obvious a 99 percent possibility that I am human with one heart and a human lifespan and not a time lady/timeless child but IF i played into the idea based off the dreams I got

regardless of the relationships i seem to have with the Doctor, the Master, the Rani, etc. in my dreams and how they seem to play in my reality and not just the relationships but the other things listed below, including how i have felt at times like i just may have two hearts because i felt more than just one heart beating because of what i felt in two different sides of my chest where two hearts would be. idk.

other things have been dream confirmed and continuous in my dreams that arent Doctor and Master related: I am a time lady or a timeless child, i have or had a tardis, and i saw and got vibes of more than one regeneration. This current self of mine playing into those 'dreams' as well as still feeling ME despite the voice, personality and appearance change, and dreams relative to Gallifrey.

the sad thought IF i play into this idea:

if the matter of fob watches or anything that could hold your real self {apparently doesn't have to be a fob watch or locket, it could be anything?} containing your true self after using the chameleon arch is real to change and rewrite your DNA with a new species and history, then where is mine?

a) if it's out there somewhere, does someone have it? if that is the case, then who has it and why? Additionally: IF this were ever the case: will i ever get my true self back?

b)/ actual three: What if it was destroyed? I will explain why in 4.

the sad thought possibility: if it were possible to willingly have someone or unwillingly force someone to do the whole rewrite fob watch process... IS it possible to destroy the fob watch so the person never gets their real self back, or after the process is done, the real self has no where to go because no fob watch, and the person never gets their real self back that way, or i wonder obviously if the process wouldn't work without that being available for that energy to go into. Or worse? if you had that person unalived, then the memories released but it couldn't go into a dead human being unless the energy into the corpse can bring it back to life as it really is, their human self gone? THIS PROBABLY MAKES NO SENSE in any way. BUT that is a sad thought no matter what regardless of mentioned circumstances because you're losing your real self, your whole history and life of love, loss, memories, happiness, sadness, angst, living the way you had, your relationships with everyone you met and are close with, being able to be with them forever, etc. and you're just... stuck in this new identity and always feeling like something and anyone is missing but you feel like no one or anyone can ever understand the depth of your feelings about it. No matter the good in your identity, you feel disassociated because you feel like you're happy and you're home and you have any amount of a great life but at the same time, you aren't truly happy and don't really feel home. IF That makes sense. You just want to understand what and who you are because there has been mystery in so many ways surrounding you/your life for as long as you can remember still to even this day. WHICH IS ALWAYS EXACT WITH ME.

additionally, if it was a willing process to go under the chameleon arch and rewrite my biology, put my real self into something, and have a new 'life', then why did I do it? is it possible it's been with me or family this whole time, but because I am 'human', i wouldn't recognize it? where would it be then? what would it look like? As far as feeling odd about a certain object that could be it? I would have to think on that one because nothing is coming to mind right now.

An interesting thing to note, if it is worth mentioning: show version? The Doctor, when at the time, he became John Smith, during the time of their Tenth Incarnation, had: a journal of 'impossible things' of his real self's life, and im sure that his real self was shown to him through his actions, personality, any thoughts and feelings, and through his dreams.

Now: the only journal i have of impossible things: is the tardis style journal i have that has written things about this life with me and my experiences, in it and online with this blog. But as far as actions, traits/personality, any thoughts and feelings and through dreams? THat is the same with me.

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

At the end of this ramble that is a post i felt like making: make of this what you will.

Lastly: There is a lot more to tell since the time a person or persons sent asks about updates. I want to make another update post and I will try again soon. Have to think and get it all together first.

[bamsara]

“You’re not going to settle for that. Not if I have anything to say about it.” Oooo this one sounds like it could make for some fun shenanigans~ Or something angsty? Honestly this one seems like it could go either way. <3

Sun Centric | Wordcount: 814 | AO3 Version

Based off a draft scene I had for Solar Lunacy, so you may see this scene again in a future chapter of SL. (Slight spoilers)

"What happens to animatronics when they get decommissioned?" You ask the question on a Thursday afternoon, in the quiet corner near the security desk that Sun leans back on. Children are playing in the jungle gym, and the Daycare Attendant's attention switches to you. You add onto your sentence. "Like, does it mean you guys just go to a different location then here? Or is there a storage wing or some other location you go to if you're no longer working here."

Sun hums, voice chipper as ever. "What a morbid thing to ask! Wrong too!"

"What? It's a genuine question!" You lean further across the desk. You highly doubt any children would over hear you at this distance, but your voice is low when you talk still, just in case. "What? Is it a sensitive topic or something?"

"We are deactivated and dismantled." Sun answers, tone much too full of default mirth for something so plainly stated. "Sometimes, if we are recycled or repurposed, the memory will be wiped and the endoskeleton resuited."

Your face must be some sort of slight surprise or horror, because the Daycare Animatronic's head tilts to you, saying nothing, but with the look of someone who just told a child that santa clause isn't real. You clear your throat, speaking casually. "Isn't that....illegal?"

The Daycare Attendant's eyes are upturned. "We're Fazbear Entertainment property! All trademark and copyright rules apply."

You send him a look. "Sentient robots have been gaining citizen ship and recognition as intelligence life in a lot of places, you know."

"I know! What a facinating time we live in, isn't it? We're constnatly living on the progression of history!"

"So...." You drawl out. "It's...immoral. To do that, I mean. They can't just-

"They can." Sun's smile is sharp when it cuts you off.

Your mouth curls downwards further. "That's-"

"Killing us?" Sun chuckles when he says this, hand raising and tapping your nose with his index finger. He rests it there, just on the tip of your nose and grins at you. "There you go, thinking we're people again. It's silly of you."

Some child screams, and his vision darts momentarily just to confirm that it wasn't a scream of pain but rather one of distress because they got tagged 'it', before turning back to you. You're still staring straight ahead, processing his words even as he taps your nose the way someone would knock on a door to check if anyone was home.

Your brows have furrowed. "I don't like it when you say things like that."

Sun's two fingers are 'walking' up your nose, your forehead, and back down again, as if to amuse himself. "Sure, thing. Won't mention it again, sweetheart."

"What are you going to do if they want to decommission you?" You don't even register the nickname. "Why can't they just, I don't know, let you go? Maybe not in this country but...automation rights are a thing now."

"Bit of a dreamer, aren't you? Moon likes that." The fingers 'walk' down to your chin, and Sun taps the bottom in the universal 'cheer up' motion he's done probably hundreds of times by now. "Nothing we can do. We're robots. We'd be decommissioned."

You lean away from his hand, just a bit. "So, you'd just give up? Be a hunk of scrap in a warehouse somewhere."

Sun says nothing, he makes a small 'hmm' of aknowledgement, hand still raised, head tilted at an angle.

Your tension feels heavy, so you smile lightly and bump your knuckles against his own. "You won't have to settle for that, not if I have anything to say about it."

"Oh, how bold!" Metal fingers wrap around your own, a thumb running over the thin skin over your wrist in a mindless, casual carress. "And how am I supposed to thank my darling savior knight?"

You raise a brow at the tone. "Sun, I'm serious."

"Oh, I can tell. I know, I know." His face never drops from the light heartedness, a light laugh underlying in his voice. "We're getting used to hearing your spout your disagreeable, dangerous decisions." A thin smile, he watches your own drop. "Those last few words was a bit of a tongue twister, wasn't it?"

You open your mouth to retort, but you're inturrupted by a child's scream. Both of your gazes instictly dart to the sound's source; a pigtailed child crying while a boy wearing Monty glasses holds a beloved Moon plushie over her head. Sun makes a noise equivalent to a sigh, and lifts himself off the desk. "Pardon, it's my turn to save the day!"

The hand leaves you, and he all but bounds away to the scene, movement full fo whim and jestering behavior. There's a coldness in your fingers, so you stuff that hand in your pocket and lean back against the security chair, and watch.

[hyeque]

warnings: unprotected sex, fingering, mutual masturbation, cum eating, oral fixation, lots of kissing and french pet names, slight choking, fem body parts

notes: literally based off my own post. it took me days to write this because i wanted it to be right, so it’s a bit long. i know a lot of people don’t read for him, but i love this character so i had fun writing him. if you read this then i want to say thank you and i hope you enjoy!

11:36 a.m.

you didn’t think you would end up here in the situation that you’re in, but you’d be lying if you said that you’d want to be anywhere else.

clothes scatter the ground, other activities forgotten as the two of you are too consumed in each other to even focus on anything else.

tendō satori broke up with you when he graduated from high school. you were just a year behind him. it was unexpected, unplanned, unneeded—at least to you. apparently, he had been planning to break up with you for some time according to wakatoshi.

“it’ll be hard.” satori explained that unfortunate day, “i’m going to be miles away from you, you’ll be focused on school and graduating like you should be.”

you frowned because tendō was never one to back down from a challenge. you had seen it in the way he played volleyball. why couldn’t that translate to your relationship?

“it will be hard, but we can make it work, can’t we?” you argued, gripping his hand tightly. a part of you felt like he would have disappeared right before your very eyes.

“we can’t.” he answered plainly. he didn’t look at you when he did and that’s how you knew he felt guilty.

you felt your eyes sting with the brink of tears. “‘tori what are you saying? are you really just going to throw away our relationship like this? are you saying you don’t want to try?” you became exasperated, fists clenched and unclenched but it didn’t calm you down. “are you that ready to walk away from everything we have?”

and when he did, you couldn’t go into description with how much it hurt you. how much you struggled when he stopped answering your calls and texts. how it all really felt when you were told he left japan. he was gone, and you were nothing but a memory now.

so imagine tendō’s surprise a year later. he was not expecting anyone of particular to come into his shop, so when he saw you walk in, his breath nearly got caught in his throat.

“b-bienvenue.” you’d never seen him this pale before. “how can i help you?”

when looking at him, you’re surprised to see that he had shaved his head. while different, he didn’t look any less handsome to you before. in fact, he looked more mature. more refined. and that made him even more attractive.

“so this is where you’ve been hiding.” you said, admiring the sweets on display. you turned toward him and smiled. “i’m glad that you’re doing well.”

he whispered your name, almost like you were a ghost. “what are you doing here?”

you shrugged. “decided to take a vacation. wanted a change of scenery.”

tendō thought you would’ve long forgotten him by this point. after all, he wasn’t there to celebrate your own milestones like you were with him. and for that, he could never forgive himself and he hoped you didn’t either. it was what he felt like he deserved.

suddenly you were in front of him and the scarlet-haired man didn’t know what to do with himself. you were just as beautiful—if not more—as he could remember. the pictures sent to him from his former teammates didn’t do you justice at all. simply put, you were breathtaking.

“w-wakatoshi told me that you didn’t want to see me.” he said, his hands shaking as they smoothed over your face. he wanted to confirm that you were here. that you were real.

you didn’t flinch or pull his hands off of you, but you also didn’t reach out and reciprocate like you normally would.

“i didnt.” you said, peering up at him. “but one of us had to not be stubborn enough to see the other. did you really expect to get rid of me so easily?”

if tendō could count how many blessings he had in his life, he wouldn’t have many. but you, you were the biggest. he didn’t know what he did to deserve to have an angel like you walk into his life not once, but now twice. it seemed the world kept balancing things to be in his favor and he only kept fucking it up.

“tendō,” he flinched at the sound of his surname coming from your mouth, “i really just want to know why. i came here for closure. it’s the least i can get, right?” you gave him a sad smile as you stand there in front of him.

there was a long silence and then he realized he was still touching you and pulled his hands back. “right.”

“i’m—im sorry, i got scared and didn’t know what would happen with us. i didn’t think it would be fair to drag you with me. you have your own ambitions, your own dreams. i couldn’t stop you from doing that.” he looked at his shoes, “i didn’t think that i was worth doing all of that running around for. plus, most high school relationships end and i was scared of what would happen to us. what if you met someone better? more attractive than i was?” he laughed bitterly to himself, “hell, i was scared ushiwaka would steal you from me.”

it always takes a lot of tendō to confess his actual feelings. so many times he hid them behind jokes and his nonchalant attitude he always had. that’s why you knew there was something else when he initially told you why he broke up with you.

you laughed too, shaking your head. “you’re an idiot, i would’ve gone anywhere with you. you know that? and even if i couldn’t, i was ready to make long distance work. i would’ve called, i would’ve video chatted. i was scared too, you know. but i knew that as long as i was with you, that didn’t matter.”

“do you…still have feelings for me?”

you huffed. “is that not obvious from me being here?”

“i-i mean would you let me have another chance? i know i should’ve explained and given you the answer that you wanted, but that’s something i can’t change. but i know that i can try to make things right, now. at least if you let me try.” he stared at you with an expression that holds so much emotion, one that wants to say so much but can’t.

you hummed, running your hand over his nose before booping it. “do you think you deserve one, tendō?”

he whined, leaning into you, “satori. call me ‘satori’, or ‘tori’, or ‘handsome’—”

“why would i call you that? i thought you said wakatoshi would steal me from you?” you asked teasingly.

tendō would be lying if hearing the sound of ushijima’s first name hadn’t hurt his ego.

“no, he can’t have you. ever.” his eyes brimmed with tears.

you wrapped your arms tight around him. “i’m only teasing, ‘tori. i’m sorry. if you cry, i’ll cry too so please don’t.” you gave him a small smile and your heart skipped a beat when seeing his smile. his eyes glanced down at your lips before meeting your eyes again.

“can i kiss you?” he asked, his hand steadying your waist. “please?”

you only responded by pulling his face down to you and he eagerly followed, capturing your lips against his. you murmured something against his lips and he tilted his head in question. “eh?”

“your haircut. it makes you look really handsome. i love it.” you ran your hands over his shaved head, your eyes holding nothing but admiration.

you watched his face flush from your comment and he didn’t say anything. he only kissed you again, hiding his flustered reaction in feverish kisses. you giggled, whispering and telling him how ‘pretty’ he is. your eyes couldn’t help but roam his chest and arms. he still retained some leanness he had from volleyball.

eventually tendō pulled away from you and immediately you were disappointed from being deprived of his touch. he walked over to the front door before locking it and shutting all the blinds.

“what are you doing?” you watched him flip the sign on his shop so that it says closed. he walked back over to you and there’s a hungry look in his eyes.

“come here, you.” he tugged you by the waist so you were in front of him and he lifted you up on the counter. he moved a leg between your thighs, dipping down so his mouth could capture yours.

you gasped against him. “here? ‘tori we can’t-”

“who says we can’t? it’s my shop. plus no one else is here right now.” he grabbed at your clothes and his fingers itched to take them off. “unless you don’t?”

you spreaded your legs slightly, looking up at him through your lashes. “yes, please. i want you tori.”

he hurried to peel off your shirt, and his eyes admired the newly exposed skin. “i’ll make it up to you properly. i promise, paradise.”

“i know you will.” you said, laughing. you both kicked off your shoes and pants and kick them out the way.

so when you say you didn’t think you’d end up here you only expected to talk to him. to at least get closure. but to be held in the arms of the man you loved since high school? nothing could be better.

you press your forehand against his, “you still love me?”

“i never stopped, ma cheri.” he nuzzles his face in your hand, kissing it. “you’re always on my mind.”

“good,” you grip tighter on him when you feel his hard on against you. you pull at his uniform shirt, “c-can i take this off?”

you know tendō is a little self conscious about being shirtless but over time when you both were still together he grew comfortable being nude.

he takes off his shirt, his blush returning again but you kiss all over his collarbone and chest. you can’t wait to leave marks all over. it had been over a year since you could paint all over your canvas and you aren’t waiting any longer.

his slender fingers rub you through your underwear and you gasp, arching up into his touch. he pushes the fabric aside and traces your clit, collecting up juices before pushing in his fingers. your hands reach inside his briefs to stroke his cock. his hips jerk at the feeling of how cold your hands are but press harder against you.

for awhile the two of you get each other off, moans and the obscene sound of wetness in the air. you can feel your orgasm building up, but you don’t want to cum just yet.

“‘tori put it in, don’t make me wait anymore.” you whine, gripping at his arm. you both pull away from each other and you watch him suck his fingers clean before his pulls off your underwear. he rests his cock on your pussy teasing you a bit as he rubs his length over you.

“of course, anything for you, mon amour.” he coats his tip in your juices and pushes in slowly. “s-shit, you’re so tight…”

your jaw slacks at just how big tendō is. being on the longer side and only slightly thick, he always manages to reach spots your fingers can’t and that’s part of what drove you up the wall when he was gone.

“i missed you so much,” satori moans once he’s fully in you. “missed everything about you.” he buries his face in your neck, his lips leaving sweet kisses down it.

“you’re only saying that because you’re balls deep in me.” you scold, and he laughs, kissing up the column of your neck.

“i mean, yes but no,” he moves his hips back before fully sheathing into again. the movement is so sudden that your argument gets lost in your throat and you struggle to hold onto him.

“yes, i missed this pussy,” he thrusts shallow and deep. leaning into you he catches your lips in another kiss and mumbles, “but i missed just having you in my arms even more, petite fleur.”

thinking about how much you missed him, you feel your eyes brim with tears and you lean into him, resting your forehead against his, “don’t ever do that to me again.”

“i won’t,” he says, breath panting as he adjusts to your cunt and it’s tightness, “i promise i’m not letting you go again.” a chaste kiss is placed on both of your cheeks after he wiped your tears away, “too beautiful to let out of my sight ever again.”

he slips a thumb in your mouth and watches you suck on it as he drives his hips into you at a faster pace. your eyes roll back at the euphoric pleasure.

“très très jolie,” he murmurs, “best thing that ever happened to me. should start calling you belle.”

you whine at his slightly teasing comment and feel your face burn.

for the first time you see his characteristic, mischievous grin on his face. “oh? you like when i call you belle? when i tell you how beautiful you are? wish you could see how good you look with my fingers in your mouth when you’re stuffed full of my cock. i should put you in the louvre.”

that line makes you clench around him and he groans, the squelch and slapping of skin from where you two are joined driving him crazy.

“feel so good around me, you’re it for me. no one else. you got that? and if i have to spend everyday making that up to you then i will.” his hands move over your body, reaching up to fondle your prominent nipples. his teeth nibble and bite at your ear before moving to mark up your neck.

you cry and find yourself sobbing at his words, unable to do anything but nod as your first orgasm hits you. knowing that he wants you and only you set something off and sent you over the edge.

tendō gasps, a loud moan escaping him as he feels you convulse around him. “fuck baby, you’re squeezing me so tightly. can barely move, gonna make me cum. do you want it?”

“love you so m-much, want it all inside,” you wrap your legs around his waist. you barely came down from your first high but you don’t care. you want more. “want to feel it all inside me.”

“yeah? you love me?” his hand sneaks up to grasp your throat, “you want me to cum inside? you want to be filled up? like a cream filled chocolate?”

“don’t say that.” you groan, flicking his forehead.

“i’m kidding,” he grins but then you feel his cock twitch and throb, “not really.” he moves his hand from your throat to in between the two of you where you’re both joined.

“need you to cum on my cock again, pretty girl. not gonna fill you up until you do. can you do that for me, jolie?” his slender fingers move on your clit just in the way he knows will drive you crazy. it’s almost like despite how long it had been its embedded in his mind on just how to make you feel good.

you nod rapidly, legs shaking and trembling. a whine escapes your throat, “y-yes tori, please i’m so close, ‘m gonna cum. please let me cum.”

“do it for me, been so good to me it’s what you deserve. look the prettiest when you do.” you squeal as your second orgasm hits and you feel yourself gush all over his abdomen.

“good girl—good fucking girl. feel so good milking me like this and making such a mess too.” he groans loudly, his voice melodic to your ears. he still fucks you through your orgasm but eventually feels himself spill into you. his hands grip your hips tightly and he slows down, not completely stopping until he feels overstimulation start.

you kiss him, albeit weakly, but he pulls you to him to reciprocate. slowly pulling out, satori’s eyes watch as his cum trickles out of you. he hums with approval, his fingers shoving it back inside of you.

he gets on his knees, moving your legs over his shoulders. he wastes no time going to eat you out. his eyes roll back at the taste of you both. yeah, he could get used to this.

“i-i’m sensitive!” you whine, feeling him smirk against your cunt as you try to push his face away.

“good, taste better that way.” he mumbles.

you think he’s done teasing until he says, “better than any chocolate i’ve made. you should be proud!” he beams. ��my little jelly filled donut~”

you groan. the journey to fully loving each other again would be a long way, but in the mean time what are you going to do with him?

do not copy and or repost. likes, reblogs, and comments are appreciated though! (c) 2022 hyque

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