#to be clear i was actually mostly a techie
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extantformoflife ¡ 2 days ago
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the problem with having been a theatre kid in highschool isnt like. any of the normal things like my utter lack of normal socialization or any offputting behaviors i picked up. its just that i listen to death note the fucking musical and start going insane about lighting design
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askror ¡ 2 days ago
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Okay Heirophant, you're up next. Any hobbies in your free time? You still like to tinker with techy things and math equations outside of work, don't ya, big guy?
The broad-shouldered lion glared at the question on the screen sourly. "Nuh-uh," Hangman scolded. "Priestess said I had to answer the thing, you have to too." "I never said you had to do anything, only that it wouldn't matter in the end." Priestess had switched out her paperback for a sheaf of papers held together by a clip. She flipped through them idly with one hand, the other sipping from a chipped blue and white porcelain teacup. "Boss, no offense, but you say that about everything. I've worked with you long enough to realize when you just mean 'shut up and do what I said.' " This earned a little laugh from the howler monkey, but no more words. Hierophant inevitably sighed, realizing he would have to play along with this one way or another.
"I don't know how you -know- that, but yes. I do enjoy doing calculations and tech experiments. These days it's mostly things with ballistics and armor, but I do... Dabble."
"What about the little toys?" Hangman chimed in, sounding so-innocent-he-couldn't-actually-be.
"They're figurines," Priestess said dryly, "But yes, talk about the figurines, Hierophant."
The lion squirmed and looked off to the side, actually sweating a bit beneath his mask. He mumbled: "They're nothing special. They're meant to represent strategy. I use them with maps I make to test out intrusion and extraction plans before missions."
"That's not much of a hobby, but it also sounds a lot like something a leader would do." Priestess was looking at him now; he could feel it even if he couldn't see the tattered face beneath that hood. "Am I incorrect?"
"No. They're just suggestions. I'm no leader. Never. Never again." The lion said emphatically, not even entertaining the thought. Priestess gazed at him for a few moments more before before returning to her papers.
"What a shame." There was clear disappointment in her voice. "I suppose you should tell them about the knitting then."
"Aw, yeah!" Hangman snapped back to attention. "That reminds me! You finished with that new scarf for me yet?"
"Ugh. No. A little more work and it's yours." Hierophant winced at any of this being said out loud. "Why do the mysterious trans-dimensional question askers need to know that when I get stressed I knit like my grandmother used to?"
"That last part to make it extra embarrassing was all your doing, big guy." Hangman sneered and Hierophant just groaned.
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elvenbeard ¡ 2 years ago
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2071
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"Had to drive a thousand miles just to realize that this is where I belong... This is my home. I'm so fuckin' stupid."
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"Some mistakes you gotta make, hermano. How else're you s'pposed to learn from them?"
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Vince left Night City for a little less than a year in 2070. He'd burned too many bridges, in Charter Hill, in Kabuki... There seemed nothing left for him to gain, nowhere deeper to sink. Also, his mother had tracked him down two years into his hiding from her. Even though they parted ways somewhat amicably and Vince did not expect to see her again, a certain level of unrest had accompanied him ever since.
Together with someone he thought he was in love with at the time, he joined the backstage crew of a Korean lazrpop duo touring the NUSA. His actually quite extensive technical knowledge... did not land him the gig. It was mostly the good word put in by his acquaintance that was supposed to get him out of the city. But so, instead of working with the crew's techies, setting up the lights and sound for the impressive shows ahead, he ended up having to haul equipment cases most days.
Needless to say, the experience was underwhelming. Combined with his relationship turning sour halfway into the trip, Vince suffered from the worst homesickness ever - for Night City, of all places, the city and the people that had continued to wrong him so many times over, with their games and intrigues.
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One thing though Night City had done very right: Jackie Welles. The first person who sincerely liked Vince for who he was, no ulterior motives. The first true friend whose intentions he no longer doubted, that would have his back no questions asked, and vice versa.
Bonding with him over their shared experiences with abusive parents, Jackie was to Vince the older brother he had never had. Naturally, Jackie was there to pick him up when Vince returned to Night City in 2071, disillusioned, alone, and uncertain about his future more than ever. But Jackie always seemed to know someone or something that could be done to get Vince back on his feet.
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Night City had changed as much as Vince had during his short-lived, self-inflicted exile. The Unification War was over, Night City a free city. Most importantly though - unbeknownst to both Vince and Jackie still - the old, powerful corporation that had returned to the city's heart with its new, rebuilt headquarters, would forever change their lives just a few years down the line...
Vince through the years (3/9)
For today's behind the scenes ramblings: a few thoughts on something I've been noticing on my VP journey lately...
No matter where you go... I think in any scenic location near Night City, you can see the Arasaka logo somehwere in the background, and I think it's done very purposefully by the environment designers XD It's either the clover, or the whole word "arasaka" spelled out, glowing somewhere on the side of a building or an ad display. It is often there in important story scenes somewhere, too, subtle in the background, a constant, subconscious reminder to V (you know... apart from the constant, subconscious bickering at the hands of Johnny XD).
Arasaka Tower itself is also extremely prominent, unmistakeable with its shape, whenever I'm taking pics lately that are in slightly elevated locaions I look around to see if I can spot it XD And I chose this spot specifically because it's so nicely visible from there, too...
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This was one of my very first shoots with AMM - don't think I ever shared these (and wanna recreate them badly now). Just Vince and Johnny pondering the next move, what they're gonna do and say during the meeting with Hanako, Arasaka Tower in clear view in the distance, almost as if it's taunting them.
This particular spot is very important to Vince... as mentioned, it's where Jackie picked him up after he returned to Night City in 2071, but it's more than that. Jackie showed him the place shortly after they became friends, to give Vince a "different perspective" on Night City he wasn't really aware of then, with his sheltered upbrining and the circles he moved in. It's by the dam, overlooking Rancho Coronado, and in few other places the extreme difference between poverty and wealth appears quite as jarring.
In the years to come after this first visit here, it develops into a favourite meeting spot of Vince and Jackie to discuss all manners of things in quiet and relative private... here is where, just a year later, Vince tells him that he's gonna take on a job at Arasaka 👀 And Vince is drawn back there over and over again, even when Jackie can no longer meet him there.
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It's simply where he still feels closest to Jackie, due to so many important conversations they had here...
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... and he takes Kerry here, later, too, to get away from the city for a little while, talk about the past and the future.
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Sometimes he comes over on his own when he needs some quiet time to think, too. What would Jackie do now? What would he suggest? Does it all even matter in the grand scheme of things? What is really important right now, and what can wait for later?
It's the perfect spot to clear your mind, and gorgeous at every time of day <3
Also, I wrote above that Vince was homesick for Night City... but it was less Night City that he missed, but Jackie's presence.
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porygonlover2009 ¡ 6 months ago
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oh!!! okay! ヾ(≧▽≦*)o i think i have everything all set up! i'll make the coding, like, super duper pretty later but...
hi everyone!!! my name is emilia, but i'd really like it if you guys just call me millie! ヾ(•ω•`)o i'm 15 years old, and i'm an attender of blueberry academy! i've been here for quite a few months now, but you can mostly find me hanging out with the computer club! i have a pretty good league club rank too though, hee~
ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪ i'm a, like, super good techy person who's been playing around with it for as long as i can remember! ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ my teacher is a really great lady, and she taught me all sorts of things that i've been using to help stress test some security measures, for her and a little for the academy, and along with helping other clubs out with their techy stuff! so if you need any help when anything breaks down? i'm your girl! q(≧▽≦q) hee.
my partner, pory, also helps me with some tech stuff too, but they mostly help me with software i'm trying to develop! ♪(´▽`) i wanna help good people and pokemon as much as i can, so i wanna keep making things for people--let me know if you ever need anything!
...
um. i think that's good for now!!! (/▽\) i-i'm not very good at, um. talking. outside of techy stuff. but if you wanna be friends, i'd be really, really happy...!
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//ooc info below!! along with the trainer card.
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HI EVERYONE, SABLE BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH A BLOG THAT'S. kind of a hot mess. she's one part plot device for ren's plot, and another part a kind of. attempting to play someone who's basically been raised by an evil team! lord help us all but especially me.
anyway, emilia has basically been raised to be a neo flare/noriko loyalist! to sum up her deal basically: after noriko properly established her team, a pair of grunts (who are millie's parents) were basically raising their daughter in preparation for the next world that noriko intends to usher in, noriko looked at the child and said "it's free real estate" and basically took her under her wing and taught her so many computer and hacking skills. and basically paid her tuition to blueberry academy anonymously so she can serve as a mole! ...she's kind of. messed up. she's a very good kid who's what every teacher would call a delight to have in class, but there is a very clear. awkwardness. about her. and a hell of a lot of naivete over the world itself.
so. naturally, she's gonna come with some content warnings that'll come up overtime, but i do all in my power to ensure that they're all tagged: living in a cult-like environment/mindset being the primary one, being raised in isolation, and despite her very loving and caring parents and to a certain extent, the care noriko was willing to provide, her inevitable endgame fate is. going to involve physical violence/abuse from the hands of someone she considers an authority figure. (who is. a terrible, terrible person, we're talking "former rocket who's violent tendencies have only gotten WORSE since joining neo flare" levels of ruthlessness.) this will be treated with the gravity and respect it deserves, and will have a kind of bittersweet ending (but no child death!!!), but that's going to be the worst of it. along with just. general team flare mindset of "destroying the world is great, actually".
anyway standard rules apply!
Player is an adult, character is a minor! Do not send NSFW this girl's way or you will be blocked.
Try not to infomod. She's not going to be forthcoming about her origins because it's supposed to be ~super duper top secret~, but I'd appreciate no godmodding in regards to her.
Along that same line. She is not going to be easily convinced that what's going on and what Noriko has planned is wrong. After the plot happens, though, she'll be infinitely more open to considering that, so please do not be surprised if she's very stubborn or stonewalls your character.
That being said! I will also endeavor to not godmod, given that she is technically going to be a boss for someone to overcome. Her Pokemon are very strong, about the mid-80s range (except for Pory, who's lv. 100), but she is defeatable. Just. Come prepared essentially.
Down to interact with just about anything; if you're uncertain, feel free to ask! Millie's very innocent and also. Very much an idiot savant. She'll believe just about anything.
This blog is going to be pretty high stakes, especially as Ren's (@/eartheats) plot gets under way, just as a fair warning.
If you don't wanna interact with Millie, please feel free to tell me and I shall respect your wishes. o/
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specialmouse ¡ 7 months ago
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I know you just posted paragraphs but do you have more tidbits about your OCs?
I do ofc ofc.. i'll give you everything i know..
davyne and opal arent all that fleshed out tbh like idk their backstories or anything. The script is about davyne realizing no one is watching her sets anymore so she puts blood capsules in her mouth before performing and pretends to cough up blood during dont let me be misunderstood by nina simone. Davyne pretends shes dying and opal posts the video to tiktok and it goes (relatively) viral (idk if tiktok would actually allow something they thought was real blood up there but idk and idk if this would even go viral LMAO), and the next gig she has the bar is completely packed and people are filming. Then davyne does a dramatic monologue, puts two blood capsules between her teeth and bites them then spits into the crowd, and starts lipsyncing to maybe this time LMAO it’s very heavyhanded. I titled it hard pill
The script with maryam and chunxiu are from is called venture. Chunxiu is 36, mixed as fuck because it’s 200 years later but his mom values her chinese heritage so she named him that. He was born on a wealthy space station and had access to the best education. He’s quite conceited and completely unaware of it; he thinks he earned his degree because he was smart, and he is, but it’s mostly because he was rich and had connections. Maryam is from Lebanon, which technically doesn’t exist anymore but the people there carry the name on (is lebanon an exonym? I couldnt really find an answer in the brief search i just did). They are one of the recipients of the rimco intergalactic scholar awards, which is where they take up 100 kids from earth each year based on their “academic promise”; it’s really a pr thing, because no one goes to school anymore. Maryam has been in space for 9 years when the script starts.
basically they go to a planet that's made just of a gelatinous clear ocean and a beach made of glass shards, with volcanoes on the seabed. it's like, literally nothing. it's supposed to be a one and done mission, in and out. chunxiu at this point has been to 30 planets to scout for a lack of life and he's getting angry at all of this; he's a biologist, he has a phd, he's meant for more than scanning things and finding nothing! he had actually found something a few years prior, several species of cyanobacteria, and it meant he had found alien life in the universe; then rimco had the laws changed as to what constituted life and it meant that he actually hadn't. so he's incredibly salty about that. anyway chunxiu and maryam have a discussion that reveals their disparate backgrounds and it goes into the ravaging of earth that the corporations have left behind, highlighting chunxiu's (and by extension anyone rich enough to life in space's) ignorance to what the corporations are up to, and have done in the past. they go to sleep, wake up, and it cuts to the pilot sent to retrieve them doing "peer review" (lazily doing their job again)-- and out in the ocean they see this blob creature with eyes like the moon that orbits the planet, and they're like HOLY SHIT LOOK LOOK WHAT IS THAT and the pilot kills it immediately. and theyre like WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU and hes like do yall not know protocol..? oh wait i forgot they dont tell the techies shit. and walks away and theyre left there to be like ohhhh fuck. even if we find it they're killing it and we're not even important enough for them to tell us anything. and that's where it ends but i imagine they'd go on to start a revolution or something idk. havent gotten there yet
sooo about the harrisons... i named cash after cash bundren from as i lay dying by faulkner, silas and celeste were from my great-great grandparents and i named andy that because he wants to go by andrew to seem more manly but everyone still calls him andy. i might change his name to laurie/laurence for the same effect. andy is older than cash but cash was always the more masculine one, he was a massive bully but handsome enough and he got more girls and more attention than andy ever did, who was more sensitive and shy.
andy moved out of the town when he was 23 to new york to become a writer (this was in the late seventies, mind) and while he was able to find work as a journalist, he never really became a published author, and wasn't of much acclaim either. celeste was one of the prettiest girls in town growing up but she didn't have much aspiration. everyone in the town was poor but celeste was even poorer. she married cash when she was 18 and cash was 24; andy was 27 at this point. they had a series of miscarriages for five years straight until they had silas. cash had become a cadet in that time and was working his way up the police force. as soon as silas was born, cash's anger turned into abuse; physical abuse as well as alcohol. andy only came home to go to their great-aunt's funeral (used it as an excuse to get out of doing a pop culture piece he found distasteful; i'll figure out what it would be in 1989 with some google searches, idk). in 1997 cash shoots himself in the head in their garage after a drunken bender, but not before penning a three page letter to andy. the content of the letter is nonsense, blaming everyone in his life for his struggles, saying they (celeste, his coworkers, silas, the child celeste is pregnant with (that's not actually his), the dogs) are of the devil, saying he's fighting against children of satan, etc. andy, who is now in his 40s, hasn't had a major relationship in 10 years and is rather worse for wear. he receives the letter, and uses it as an excuse to visit celeste, who is now widowed. he doesn't see this as him taking his husband's widow, but rather him saving her from a life of single motherhood. the script is celeste and andy talking to each other and it becoming increasingly clear what andy's motives are. the conversation gets more and more tense as his not-so-pure intentions are laid bare to the grieving, over-worked celeste, and she throws him out. as andy drives away, he sees a kid beating up another child in the front lawn of the neighbor's. the kid leaves the other on the ground and makes eye contact with andy as he's come to a stop. it is clear (through dialogue from earlier in the script) that this is silas, and that his father's ways have already been instilled in him. end of script!
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opheliazae ¡ 2 months ago
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The Ophelia Chronicles, part one:
Crush. 3224. 01. 15. 
The sudden and violent horizontal thrust forced a pained groan from Zae. They’d, for just a split second, forgotten their focused breathing. Their punishment was their mostly mechanical lungs being crushed before electrical signals forced them to expand again. Automated painkillers coursed into their body through the tubes that connected them and their mech. It hurt bad, and was unpleasant, but another insane amount of thrust followed within half a second of the first. Zae was aware of Cen calling out an enemy position before she let loose a stream of machine gun fire. Zae fired off a salvo of missiles at the same target. 
Fighting a Nano was nightmarish enough. The fact there were two was usually cause for panic. Of course, this panic was only befitting of those lesser than the Red Watch. Unlike almost all other ZEN units, mercenary or national military, they were some of the only pilots capable of stopping a Nano. Of course, they would have been better at it were it not for their- 
“Got it!” Rebecka called with some cheer as she closed on the Nano that was preoccupied with avoiding a hail of machine gun and missile fire. It left no room for it to avoid the closer, much more dangerous, burst of machine gun fire that Rebecka’s mech let loose before boosting off to the side to avoid shrapnel and return fire. The Nano was cut in two, the pieces continuing to fly for sometime before plummeting. Cen sighed and merely turned her mech to the next Nano which was presently being held back by a combination of Red and Ren’s agility and firepower. It was a wordless command which made Zae and Rebecka act, flying off to join the hunt. 
Somewhere in their mind, Zae cursed that they had actually accepted the application that Rebecka had put forward. While an undoubtedly skilled pilot and naturally gifted techie, Rebecka also had a nasty habit of being excitable in battle. While it might be passable in an arena fight or when fighting anything other than a Nano, fighting a smaller, colder and much faster mech that way was a good way to get killed. Or it should be. Rebecka had claimed, in three months of joining Red Watch, five Nano’s. In the year or so since the first Nano appeared, Zae had claimed ten. It bothered them, for some reason.  
“Fuck! Lung just went!” Rebecka shouted with a clear degree of pain. Zae chuckled. Rebecka was good, but had much to learn about living as an augmented ZEN Pilot.
so! this is my first time trying to openly publish anything i've written in a really long time- i hope it was all to taste and i look forward to sharing more <3
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mythgrippa-blog ¡ 1 year ago
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Another morning
Alright, where do I start. Perhaps with the app I've been working on with my team. Alright, where do I start with that... think think think...
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I'm the technical lead for university year long project (its actually 6 months, so I don't know why they would call it a year project) and its essentially a capstone project for my computer science degree.
My team is composed of 5 people, including myself and 4 of those members I've been in another terminal war simulator C++ project with last year and the other member I've met and teamed up with this year.
When we first decided to team up, I didn't want to be group leader again because I'm simply not a leader! Its way too much pressure having to manage people and making sure everyone is doing their work, and in hindsight I still think someone else in my group should have been a leader because I don't like these responsibilities! I'm a techie, an introvert! PICKING ME TO BE A LEADER?!?!? ARE YOU INSANE??
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But nobody else wanted and I hate how everyone thought I was just playing hard to get, bro I'm simply not like that! But alas I gave in since no one bothered to step up, the only leadership quality I think I have is my refusal to fail and my clear sight to a goal. And also my ability to go beyond my limits even if detrimental to my mental health
So, what was the project that I've someone ended up as a leader for? Well, the project was an event photo sharing app and our client was a software engineer from a popular tech company in my country.
We met up with them, discussed ideas for the project, tried my best to encourage my team for the most grueling 5-6 months of their lives and got to work!
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Being a project manager/leader is super hard like oh my goodness, I had to make sure there were constant meetings and that we followed scrum agile framework, it was really hard managing because getting people to do work is not one of my skill sets, I've always been a solo leveler but now I have to tell others what to do. Its hard to enforce accountability for work not done when your members are also friends.
What I wanted for my team is for them to have fun, learn something that can make them more valuable in the long run and ultimately build something they're proud of. Those are the values I tried for but its very hard if nobody listens to me and it feels like a chore to them.
My role was mostly technical leading as in most of the technical decisions were made by me, and also technical support as in if you ran into an issue come to me and I'll help or lead you to someone who can help, and I was also DevOps as in I built the whole CI/CD pipeline for our project with automatic builds, tests and deployments (I've never done this before so I had to learn and learn a lot of github actions), I was also sort of doing full stack (backend/service engineer and integration engineer and ui engineer) and also involved in training an AI model which in the end didn't work but we found a nice python solution. As you can imagine, I was having a lot on my plate? more like table and all had to be done
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The team focused towards the 4 demos we had, each demo was a sort of deliverable where we had to have a certain percentage of the app requirements done. It was exhausting work, I had to work so many nights and give up weeks of holidays and recess to get it done, I started eating more and sleeping less, moving less, always on my computer, coding and designing, day in day out, sacrificing family time to make progress for the sake of the project, why? because I don't want to fail, it was no longer for sake of making the best app in the world, somewhere down the line of development it was no longer for the fun of it, it was for survival. This felt like a Herculean challenge, as if I was Sisyphus or something, it was all I could think about. I thought this project would finally be the time I enjoy myself but it ended with me having to rush to meet deadlines. Pushing myself to the very limit.
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I won't lie, I was starting to feel hate inside my heart because I was burning myself out. Before the project began, one of the assistant lecturers mentioned that the projects will be tough and that it may ruin friendships, I didn't think much of it but now I'm just shook at my team. Not because deadlines weren't being met but because I was being ignored, I felt like I was being an inconvenience, like I was just taking time away from them and when the demo was getting closer and then all so suddenly they look at me like why things weren't finished. I'm sorry but we have deadlines for a reason!!! And now we have to do crunch time and I look like a bad guy.
But those feelings so mostly dissipated in our 4th demo because that was it, our supposed final demo, at least where the app is supposed to be at 100% complete. We finished all of the required features and tried adding extra, and what was the result? Well you can go and see for yourself
This is what we were presenting, the presentation went alright, better than the first 3 but I wasn't satisfied because there were some features I wanted to add but couldn't since we had to make sure the parts we did have were working. We were presenting to our lecturers, not the module lecturers but lecturers for the whole computer science degree, so we were a bit shaky.
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The presentation went alright, two of my members have a dynamic, one of my engineers had a Steve Jobs like talent and the other was a quick learner and were very good at hiding their fears. The lecturers asked us questions, there's something I noticed about these questions... they were ignited by our presentation, but thats something for later. The questions were essentially based on what they taught us in the last couple of years since the degree began in first year and as final years were we able to apply what they taught us.
We were able to answer most of the questions with confidence, however one of my lecturers wasn't happy with our implementation of microservices. But other than that, it wasn't anything major, we did our best. And now we can stop working on the project.
There's a fifth demo in case our 4th demo didn't go well, meaning that we have to make improvements to the app, but we haven't got the results yet. In the mean time, we are focusing on our other modules.
Well I think I've said enough about the project. I'll write more later on what I'm going to do with this new free time because its crazy how much free time we have without this project. I am happy my team was able to push themselves, I've always wanted to be part of a development team where we all code and eat pizza together while working on the app. Discussing ideas with each member and how they should be implemented. This experience was valuable and I don't believe it would have been possible if I wasn't the group leader or with these lovable goof balls.
I do have anger issues, but the normal amount of anger, you know when your buttons get pressed so much, I was the only technical support! I felt like an overworked gateway service! Oh my goosh I was just mad. But hey, there's a good and bad to this, all you need to know I won't be doing any more group leaderly stuff hopefully and I'm not going to be involved in software development for a while and I'm retiring. Its off to cybersecurity now.
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I'll let you know how the results are, but my next post will come out shortly
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ask-neith ¡ 2 years ago
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So you have superheroes, huh? Any supervillains? Whats the scene in general? - Observer
Oooh I- we have both in amounts, you know. Let me rearrange my thoughts about it.
So about every self respecting country has their own governmental team, if they dont they borrow from the allied neighbours. Traditionally(which would be unheard of even a decade ago), the core is three members: Techie, Paragon(the "face" and spokesperson, you get the general idea, most often a serumer, but mutants and I think one Starseed are also in business of doing it) and Third Wheel(who plugs any holes in previous duo), plus whoever of secondary roster is ok for particular time and mission.
Avengers are both American governmental AND international team primarily set up for global threats, and they dont seem to abide by mentioned formula since their primarily roster is much bigger, and their true leader is Techie, Iron Man. I think. Its not so clear.
New Dawn is a formerly British but now international hero team, with general MO of establishing themselves somewhere long enough to do the full (or as close as possible) clean up and then moving on. There is some rivalry with Avengers for bigger targets, i think. Led by my favourite Echo, she is really so cool.
Гвардия and Ménagerie are Russian and French local teams that are up to teamup for nearby out-of-bounds threats.
Masters of Arts not really a team, just key organisation of real mages - overwhelming majority of them are in it, no non-mages are in it. Very reclusive, more neutral than heroes, and there seems to be some sort of schism which Sorcerer Supreme cant really sort out so far.
X-men are respective thing but for mutants. Sorry but I cannot name up their leader off the cuff.
Then here are Aretes, who sometimes shape into very local territorial teams. Under the guidance of Admiral, which is both tenacious and hand-off. Another of my idols, the very meaning of "success".
Of course that is followed by Dragonhears, who go as both heroes and villains, as I said before. They and us clash relentlessly, unless faced with some common goal or enemy. Managed to mass-clone Echo, using the so called Echo Squad as their trump deck. Admiral says it wont repeat, but I dont share his confidence.
HYDRA is still there and dare I even say sort of prospering. I dont know their deal, but they are clearly villains with abnormal capability for rooting out the moles and subverting lesser powers.
AIM seems to be everywhere at once, they are scientist supremacists. No supers but a hella ton of advanced armanents.
Wardogs(or is it separate?) are former Wakandans obsessed with reviving their kingdom somewhere else, very slippery eels.
Miccelany led by Apocrypha is a small roaming villain group with a teleporter on staff and some supers, but mostly doing it through an arsenal of expendable moles.
Yuu Protectorate is mostly local acting in Japan, but there is a drift of various supers to it, so honorable mention. Also the only source of room temperature superconductors and super-durable metals.
Depths Condominium is somewhere, well, deep, but has some ambassadors and has helped us with Null Island blockade.
Boss says I should name Other Realms, but… they arent actually there? Except for Thor and Loki and I think someone else.
Plus there are surprisingly a lot of solo heroes or villains, even if they are short living and-or under someone else`s patronage and-or very mobile. For the city I am in, there are... counting on my fingers... eleven solo villains, unless I missed or counted twice someone. No, ten.
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quickdeaths ¡ 2 years ago
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It wasn't exactly the reception Tsubasa was hoping for, but then again, Naoto gave off the aura of a pretty reserved and quiet person, so they wouldn't hold it against her. "I dunno, it's not that surprising," they murmured, even if the math was certainly against them. At a city this size, there was never any guarantee of seeing someone, and even if one did, it took making a particular impression to ensure memory banks wouldn't already have been dumped. Thankfully, with their dyed hair, piercings, and general fashion, Tsubasa worried little about being forgotten.
As she held out the book for them, Tsubasa took it, even if they weren't especially interested either. "A thriller, huh?" Skimming through the pages made it clear enough that it made no greater impression on them than it had on Naoto. Even if they weren't much of a reader, wasn't a thriller supposed to be... thrilling? It actually seemed kind of dull. "Yeah, well, I'm not sure that's my kind of thing either, unfortunately." Rather than just dump the book somewhere, as they might have done had Naoto not been around, they made the effort to put it back in its proper place.
They shook their head. "I don't read a ton of fiction, to be honest, but my interest lies in science-fiction and techie stuff like that." It wasn't that there was no purpose at all to the past or tradition, but they were far more interested in the future, and stories about robots and super computers and transhumanism stimulated the sensors of their CPU much more strongly. "But, I'll be the first to admit that I like movies and TV shows more than books, most of the time." Their eyes usually strained reading small text for too long.
Naoto wasn't exactly looking at them, which struck Tsubasa as a little rude, but they weren't totally the type of person to judge. Surely some people thought they were rude too, and while Tsubasa did make eye contact, the opaque void of their glasses made it hard to tell exactly where they were looking. "Not reading material though, really. I actually was picking up a few things, including this." They showed off the magazine, mostly proud with only a teensy hint of embarrassment thrown in. "But the main thing is that I'm looking for a picture book."
It took a second for them to register that that sounded kind of childish, and Tsubasa shook their head. "A book of pictures, like, a photography thing." Ah, whatever. If Naoto was a private detective, she was smart enough to figure out what they meant. "A friend of mine got his small break and got some of his photos accepted into a photobook, but it's probably not getting printings outside of Japan, and he recently moved to America." That jerk. Who was going to do their videos now? "So I wanted to get a copy for him, and a copy for myself, but... I'm not really sure where anything is, hehe."
Breaks from work were a rarity and as such, spending it in a quiet bookstore seemed like the perfect way to spend it. No one had stopped her to chit chat or decide it was their right to stick their nose into her business. It was peaceful enough that Naoto stayed longer than she initially anticipated. Most of it was spent carefully skimming through a newly released thriller novel when someone decided to shatter her peace.
The voice was familiar, and Naoto didn’t need to look up to confirm who it was. The skateboarder she had met in Akihabara.
Presently, she wasn’t sure what to feel. Being interrupted was something nobody liked, however, she knew Tsubasa—somewhat—and their previous interaction had been all right, for lack of a better descriptor. Clamming up and pretending they never spoke to her would have been easy and she was sorely tempted to try. Knowing it was incredibly rude played a large part in dissuading her.
“We meet again. Surprisingly.” A terse response with her attention being on the book more than the speaker. ��I was looking through a book. A newly released thriller. It hasn’t caught my attention thus far. Perhaps it would have a better audience with you.” She flipped to the next page and finished the rest of the second chapter. She closed the book shut and offered it to Tsubasa, finally looking in their direction.
And then she went back to looking at the shelves. “Are you looking for reading material as well?”
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cata-strophes ¡ 3 years ago
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I see your doodle art of human!Techno addicentally adopting blood god!Tommy and now I'm highly curious on what your thoughts is about that au. any of them you wanna share???
oh boy do i have thoughts an ideas for this au!!! its been on my mind for. literal months actually
basically techno is like, just a pretty normal dude just exploring the world and travelling around
he finds these weird ruins and enters them and there just a rly concerning amount of blood and baby in the middle of a pillar surrounded by dead bodies
techno doesnt know this yet, but what happened was that this is the blood god cult trying to bring back their god but misread the instructions and they thought they needed "a pure sacrifice" (which is why infant tommy) when actually they needed "a clean vessel" (just a person who is not blessed or cursed by any other gods and whatnot)
techno takes the baby bc hes not just gonna leave a baby there to die and tommy immediately gets attached and kinda imprints on techno
tommy is a literal infant so he cant rly control his powers but techno being the only person he trusts he kinda blesses him and thats how techno slowly starts to get his more beast-like appearance (tusks, red eyes, pointy ears, a pink-ish skin, he gets more strength or smth too) plus the voices!!
this was very usual for the blood god before to give his most trusted followers to be able to help him at all times and all that
techno rly wants to give him up and tried to at several villages but grew attached to tommy and also tommy kinda compelled him with the blessing since the voices (that are still a bit quiet and mostly mix with his own conscience) keep telling him he has to take care of tommy himself
^ this is definitely something that comes up in the future when techno and tommy finally understand the meaning of a blood god's blessing and theres Angst
since tommy is a child and his body and brain cant rly stand the ammount of power and knowledge of the actual blood god, most of his powers and memories are like. locked, and as he grows up he starts to be able to use more of his powers and relive some memories
anyways since tommy is just a Baby, most ppl actually think techno himself is the blood god, not like, the caretaker of the baby blood god, which he appreciates since otherwise they would try much harder to kill tommy instead of seeing him as a poor victim of the bloodgod or smth
tommy does have some powers though, when hes a toddler, some Evil Dudes kidnap him to gain power over techno Who Is Definitely The Blood God and when techno goes save him he just finds tommy sat in a concerning ammount of blood and tommy just raises his arms and is like "up up!!"
later on phil and techno become friends and phil also thinks techno is the blood god!! bc techno just never thought to clear that up when they first met and then it kinda escaped his mind
so techno introduces tommy who is just like dangling from his arms like a mokey and phil is like "ohh!! i also have a son!!! :D" and he introduces them to wilbur who is like 10 or smth
wilbur is like "im older so u have to listen to me!!" and tommy (a literal blood god who has killed many men) is all bright eyed and excited bc wilbur talks with Big Words and obviously is very smart and strong so yes yes it makes sense he has to listen to wilbur
phil and wilbur still think tommy is Just A Normal Baby
and idk wilbur likes to read to him and play the guitar so tommy immediately loves him and follows him around
(yes techno tries very hard not to feel jealous of a ten year old)
one day tommy and wilbur get kidnapped
wilbur is like "i will protect you bc im Older!" and tommy is like ":0!!"
but then the Bad Guys do Bad Guy Stuff and wilbur gets hurt so tommy is like ">:(!!!"
and once again theyre found in a puddle of blood
phil is like "wh-" and tommy is just like "techie!!! :D" and then immediately gets very sad and is like "wilby is huwt techie :'((("
and then they heal wilbur and thats how phil finds out tommy is actually the blood god
tommy still follows wilbur around tho bc hes Child and wilbur is Big Brother and Older and Reads Very Fast
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bitebackbaby ¡ 2 years ago
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just read through your clone OCs post and i just have to say, i love them, your honor. i've loved getting glimpses of them in the fox in the henhouse series, and now i need to bundle all of them up in warm blankets and make them warm beverages. thanks for sharing your lovely creations with the world <3
i have been keeping this in my inbox like it’s a blanket for my little mouse body that soothes me on these long winter nights, but i suppose i must learn to let go…
anyway IM SO HAPPY YOU LIKE MY OCS!! It might be a little early to begin discussing marriage, but im willing to start the arrangements if you are <3
for real, its super nice to hear that people are enjoying the clones i throw in my fics (here is a list with more information, for the uninitiated!) — each of them is my super special baby who is god’s weakest soldier and i love them dearly. they each have a purpose, too! i enjoy exploring what it means to be military (but not) and the weird state of martial law that Coruscant edges into even before the empire ever rises, and some oc clones makes it easy to dig deeper into different aspects of that without completely transplanting canon characters, though the canon guard members have such little screen time that some futzing doesn’t matter too much…
and i'm rambling. well! as a reward (?) for making it this far, here’s a couple of new characters that will be featuring this month as febuwhump goes on!
JUDGE: [he/him] a techie who (allegedly) works with the Senate air traffic control. this information is mostly guesswork, as anytime someone comes looking for Judge, he tends to be sitting in the break room on his comm, so it’s hard to say if he does any work at all. completely unbothered by pretty much anything, he nonetheless has a reputation around the Guard of being a complete badass because he can make any senator shut up within two sentences. he accomplishes this by being the one in charge of clearing flights to the surface, and any senate workers who invoke his wrath quickly find themselves on hold for the next two hours while he takes a long lunch.
name origin: due to his unflappable nature, he quickly became the go-to trooper to be called upon to mediate petty disputes. there is apparently no rhyme or reason for which side he chooses, but it has become an unofficial rule within the barracks that once Judge has made the final call, the party’s over.
TWO: [he/they] a member of Thorn’s diplomatic escort team, but the rest of them all try to keep Two at the back (preferably with his mouth taped shut) because despite his excellent marksmanship skills and high scores on the diplomacy and hostage negotiations sims, Two is a mean little bastard who would probably dox people on twitter in a modern au. Thorn snatched up Two very quickly, because he knew that his batchmate Moriarty was aiming for the recently-graduated cadet to join the Guard’s T&I division, and Thorn didn’t think Fox’s blood pressure could handle that.
name origin: “Two” is actually short for Two-Faced, and has nothing to do with their CT number. Two greatly enjoys getting the chance to explain this to people, and daring them to say anything about it. be careful, this one bites!
thanks for the ask, and thanks for reading this far!! if anyone ever have questions about my ocs or wants to chat about writing, feel free to hit me up!! i’ll take any chance i can get to talk about my little freaks 🥰
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buckyskorpion ¡ 5 years ago
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Do Something Bad, Too - Part 5
Pairing: Alpha!Bucky x Omega!Reader
Summary: It’s like every single Alpha on the planet won’t rest until they’ve confessed their eternal wish for you to mother their children, and it’s getting old. Luckily, that’s a problem Bucky might be able to fix.
Warnings: language, a/b/o dynamics, mentions of violence
A/N: sooooo..... lets not mention the last time i updated this fic was four years, and get excited that im finally updating!! woo!! i really hope this was worth the wait, im very anxious about letting you guys down. let me know what you honestly think! love u all, thank u for sticking with me
series masterlist | main masterlist | my ko-fi
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You stay in Nat’s apartment in the Tower for the rest of your heat, which lasts an entire week. Nat comes and goes throughout that time to make sure you’re drinking enough water, to make you dinner or run you a bath, or sometimes just to keep you company when you’re capable of that. She doesn’t stay long, though, aware her presence just makes the unbearableness of going through heat even worse. She also doesn’t mention Bucky’s clothes or anything about that first day, which you’re immeasurably grateful for. You don’t think you could talk about it without crying.
To say you’re humiliated is an understatement. Mixed with that is all this guilt and shame and self-hatred for inflicting that situation on you and Bucky. Mostly for Bucky. He had made it so very clear he was only comfortable helping you with the scent thing, and even with that there were boundaries. You had blown through them all by showing up to his apartment, triggering both your instincts to do things you couldn’t control, and now he probably resented you enough to never want to see you again.
You don’t blame him. It doesn’t stop it from hurting so much, though.
You’ve well and truly fucked yourself now. Not only is it omega instincts driving you towards Bucky now, but also your own stupid, naive heart. You miss his giant hands and broad shoulders that block out the world for a second, narrowing your scope to just the two of you. You miss the way you can breathe around him, how the world doesn’t feel so scary and foreign to you when he’s by your side. It’s crazy because you weren’t even close, you weren’t even really friends, but now you never will be because you’re so goddamn stupid it’s actually astounding.
Nat’s plan had not worked. And this time, you couldn’t even blame her for this colossal backfire. This is all your handiwork.
You’re back in your office, returning to work once your fever died down and you could stand to be in the vicinity of other alphas without passing out. Maybe you’re tapping rather aggressively on your keyboard, and maybe all the techies on the floor can hear you sigh and groan in frustration every two seconds and are sending you strange looks through the glass. Whatever, you’re their boss, they can’t say anything. Besides, your boss has requested some rather strange security upgrades and you’re not sure if it’s within your job description to email Tony Stark and say what the fuck?
It turns out you don’t have to, because Tony Stark comes to you. It’s not often he takes part in the day to day workings of Stark Industries - that’s your job, after all. But he comes striding into your office eating an apple and wearing sunglasses during the middle of the day, and points a ringed finger at you.
“You’re back,” he says, and you find yourself glancing down at your baby-blue pantsuit just to make sure you are, in fact, back. Stark takes a very pointed breath through his nose and adds, “You smell terrible. This is great!”
“Great?” You can’t help but sound bitter. Your smell is hardly great to you. Even after sweating out your entire body-weight and taking more showers than is considered healthy, you still smell like Bucky. You can’t escape him - not your thoughts, not your heart, and certainly not the way your skin seems to emanate him like he’s crawled underneath and set up shop. It’s embarrassing and humiliating, because it’s not real, and just serves to remind you of the terrible mistake you’ve made. You hope beyond hope Stark doesn’t recognise the other alpha scent clinging to your pores.
“Yes, great. I need your help,” he says, sitting down in a chair opposite your desk. You glance at the specs you have open on your computer, the strange security upgrades he wants you to make to the Tower, and then back to Stark’s million-dollar smile. It’s unsettling. You feel a headache forming before he even opens his mouth.
“If this has anything to do with these emails-“
“Those can wait,” Stark says, waving a dismissive hand at your computer. He lobs his applecore into the bin beside your desk as if to punctuate his point, then says, “This is a request on behalf of the Avengers.”
“Um,” you say, rather eloquently. Avengers? What on earth could they want with you, unless- you groan, rolling your eyes to the ceiling. “Natasha.”
“She highly recommended your expertise,” Stark says, and that headache brewing in your temples blooms into a full-blown migraine. He stands, smooths out his slacks, and says without room for question, “Follow me.”
This is how you end up back in the residential floors of the Tower, much to your chagrin, which Stark seems to pick up on. The closer you get to Bucky’s floor the more fidgety you become, heart racing and skin turning clammy until you watch the numbers fly by and you leave him somewhere in the clouds above Manhattan. The elevator doors ding open to a floor that seems to go on forever, full of gym equipment and fancy simulation tech you figure the Avengers must use to train. You find Natasha’s red head on the sparring mats, tackling someone to the ground with her thighs, and glare daggers as you follow Stark into the room.
“She’s alive!” Natasha calls across the room, ignoring your death glare for a knowing smirk. Her voice echoes through the warehouse-style gym floor, drawing the attention of the others in the room. The Avengers, and all of a sudden you feel like an eighteen year old kid watching aliens attack New York on a grainy satellite TV in the desert again. This is like meeting celebrities on another level. Steve Rogers finishes wrapping his hands as he walks over to you and Stark, Sam Wilson beside him, and Natasha gives Clint Barton a hand to help him up from the mats.
“What have you roped me into now, Nat?” you ask, not bothering to hide your frustration. You’ve just about had it with her meddling, but you should’ve known it was a pipe dream to think she would stop.
“We know you’re very busy, we won’t take up much of your time,” Steve Rogers says, extending a hand and introducing himself like he needs to. Captain America needs no introduction.
“I know who you all are,” you say, giving them a nod. “And you’re right, I am busy. So why am I here?”
“You and Nat must get along like a house on fire,” Clint says, earning him an elbow in the gut from Nat herself. You grin, all sharp in the way Nat tells you looks scary in a hot way, and watch as he subtly shifts behind Nat as if to hide behind her smaller frame. It’s only then that you register the scents mingling between them, and realise that Clint Barton is Nat’s omega. She grins at you, beatific and serene, as if she can read your thoughts and knows exactly what you’ve just figured out.
“Let’s not hold (Y/n) up any longer,” Nat says, grinning in a way that always spells trouble for you. “She’s a woman in high demand.”
Stark leads them to what seems to be a large empty space in the training facility, but it’s soon filled with hologram projections from a tiny Starkpad he pulls from his pocket. You fall into step beside Nat, using your height advantage to glare down at her and convey the level to which you want to strangle her right now. She just loops her arm with yours and kisses you on the cheek, frustrating your attempts at intimidation before you can even begin. Bloody Russian spies, you grumble to yourself as you come a halt in front of the holograms.
You’re looking at building specs, that much is obvious. Why, though, is entirely lost on you. The structure is a tall hexagonal building reminding you of a panopticon, with security floors in the centre and what seem to be prison cells surrounding them. Details jump out from Stark’s hologram - security cameras, miniature guards patrolling the floors, thermally sealed doors and electromagnetic force-fields on the cells. It’s a prison, you surmise, and you’re starting to get a bad feeling as to why you’re here.
You turn to Nat and say, “I’m not going back in the field.”
She pats your arm with only a tiny bit of condescension and says, “I’m not asking you to.”
“You’re my Head of Security,” Stark says, then gestures to the hologram building, “If you can design impenetrable security systems, surely you can undo them.”
“You want me to help you break into this place?” you ask. The team all nod, and you look back at the intimidating, virtual-blue building in front of you. “It’s a fortress.”
“Yeah, they really upped the anti on security since I was in there,” Sam Wilson says, earning him a reproachful look from Steve. It does nothing to soothe the anxiety starting to thread through your chest. Failing the Avengers doesn’t seem like an option, but from where you’re standing, neither is breaking into this facility.
“I’ll need to know what it is first,” you say, “Then I can try and help you. Emphasis on try. I’m not a miracle worker.”
“It’s called the Raft,” Steve says, his face growing stony and set as he talks. “It’s a prison designed for enhanced persons by Secretary Ross. After Germany, I broke Sam, Scott, and Clint out. But Wanda-“
“We need to get her out of there,” Clint says. You pretend not to notice as beside you Nat discreetly takes his hand, rubbing her thumb across his bruised knuckles.
“Leave the search and rescue to us,” Stark says, and you watch him shift uncomfortably under some inscrutable looks Steve and Sam are giving him, “We just need your help on how to get into the joint.”
“Simple,” you breathe, but only Nat laughs. This seems like an impossible task, but from the look of  everyone around you, failure isn’t an option. You’re going to have to make the impossible possible. It’s a good thing you’ve had some experience with that - in the military, trapped into sand-filled corners with no foreseeable way out, it really did seem like you were working miracles to stay alive out there. You swallow past a dry mouth and blink through desert-gunked eyes, say, “I’ll need that Starkpad, and some time.”
“You have forty-eight hours,” Stark says. The hologram disappears in a blink as he throws the Starkpad, no bigger than your palm, which you only just manage to catch. Stark clicks his fingers, as if an idea as just occurred to him, and says, “Oh, I almost forget to tell you! The Raft is underwater. Completely submerged, middle of the ocean, super top-secret. Fun, right?”
Your heart drops to your stomach. Fun is not the word you you would use. Only forty-eight hours to break into the most secure facility in the country, if not the world? This day couldn’t possibly blindside you anymore.
As if the universe is conspiring against you, FRIDAY’s voice chimes in from overhead speakers to say, “Mr Stark, Sergeant Barnes is on his way to the gym floor.”
You feel your whole body lock up, heart seizing in your chest - Bucky? Here? You weren’t prepared to see him yet, or speak to him. What would you say? How could you apologise for one of the worst crimes you may have ever committed, and you’ve killed people? Natasha unloops her arm from yours, tries to soothe you with a hand on your back but it does nothing for the anxiety shooting sparks throughout your blood stream.
“How many times have I got to tell that illiterate Soviet popsicle, he’s not on the fucking team,” Stark grumbles, storming towards the elevators with a scowl. Steve clenches his fists, glaring after Stark but Sam holds him back. He mutters something only Steve can hear which makes him close his eyes and exhale sharp through his nose - frustrated, but calming by the nanosecond.
It’s a shame nobody thought to do the same for you.
“What did you just call him?” you say, ignoring Natasha’s warning murmur of your name as you follow after Stark. Maybe you still have some residually elevated hormones from your heat, or you really are just a lovesick idiot who can’t control her temper, but whatever it is has you absolutely incensed. Stark stops dead, clearly caught off guard by the venom in your voice, and spins on his heel to stare at you incredulously.
“Excuse me?” he says, blinking owlishly at you as you lean up into his space. You’re aware you’re overstepping the boss/employee line, but you can’t help yourself. The rage is brewing, and with each laboured breath Bucky’s scent grows stronger and stronger until it’s all you can smell. It settles over your skin like armour, and the urge to protect that hold on you, to protect him, is beyond your control - it’s primal.
“Don’t talk about him like that, ever,” you snarl, watching with satisfaction as Stark’s eyes turn round and wide.
He glances behind you towards his friends and says, “Are we sure she isn’t an alpha? Sheesh.”
“Tony,” Natasha warns, but it’s too late. You use the palm of your hand to slam into Stark’s solar plexus. You kick out his kneecap and he drops on one knee, wheezing and gasping for air. It all happens so fast you can’t even think about the repercussions of assaulting your boss, let alone what’s driven you to do it in the first place.
“I don’t need to be an alpha to kick your ass,” you hiss, glaring down at Stark who looks up at you like you have, in fact, lost your mind.
At that moment, the elevator dings and reveals Bucky practically seething behind the elevator doors. He storms in, larger than life - in the week or so it’s been since you’ve seen him, you’ve somehow forgotten how physically intimidating he actually is. You immediately step back from Stark’s kneeling figure, feeling the strange need to hide your hands behind your back like a kid caught with the cookie jar. Bucky glances wildly between you, Stark on the ground, and the ring of Avengers in different states of attempting to intervene. He heaves ragged breaths and is emitting a scent that threatens to take you to your knees, too. Authoritative, powerful, protective.
That submissive, animalistic side of you makes you really hate being an omega sometimes.
“Why is she here?” Bucky asks someone behind you, probably Natasha. He swings his, frankly, frightening gaze to Stark and demands with just as much venom as you had, “What did you do to her.”
“Jesus Christ, nothing!” Stark wheezes, clutching at the spot on his chest you’ve definitely bruised. He points an accusing finger at you and cries, “She hit me!”
“I’m so sorry,” you say, feeling your hands start to shake where you clutch them behind your back. You look to Bucky like maybe he can explain, which makes you sick to your stomach because he’s not yours to look towards. Now, more than ever, that is abundantly clear. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“I do!” Natasha pipes up behind you, helpful as ever. Bucky glares at her for you this time, releasing you of his burning-hot stare. His gaze has the power to paralyse you, and you need to get away from him, this, all of it - right now. You don’t get a chance to, however, before Natasha once again sticks her foot in it and says, “She was defending your honour, James.”
“Yeah, and I’ve no idea why. One quick google search should tell you he doesn’t need any-“
It takes you a second to realise the snarling, growling sound echoing through the gym is coming from you. Your face burns as you roll your lips together, cutting the sound off completely. For your entire life you’ve been headstrong and confident, but this whole experience with Bucky from the very first day you met him has shaken your entire self-perception. Everything you’ve known has been turned upside down - it was easy when all alphas were assholes, and you were one omega they couldn’t fuck with. Now, you stare down at your shoes and refuse to look in Bucky’s direction because he’s affected you so much you can’t even control yourself anymore. The worst part is that it’s entirely your own doing, because Bucky made it very clear you aren’t the one he wants, so everything you’re doing right now is just incredibly humiliating.
“(Y/n)?” Bucky’s voice makes you shudder. Looking at him would surely make you burst into flames, from embarrassment of the last time you saw him which you can’t even think about, or from the shame of pathetically defending a man who doesn’t want anything to do with you. He doesn’t even want you here, storming up to ask why you’re in his home in the first place.
“I’m gonna go,” you say, giving Bucky a wide berth as you head for the elevators. You can’t get there fast enough, practically sprinting to press the close-door button as fast as you can.
“Wait-“
And then, the absolute worst thing happens. You almost crush the Starkpad still in your hand from clenching your fist so hard - you have to, in order to keep your hands by your sides and not in Bucky’s personal space. Because just as the doors are about to slide closed, he slips in between them and FRIDAY seals you both in. The elevator fills with Bucky Bucky Bucky, just like your heat-addled brain has been chanting at you since you stumbled into his apartment a week ago.
Bucky stares at you wide-eyed, and you stare back just the same. This could possibly be your worst nightmare come to life, especially when the elevator screeches to a halt and FRIDAY’s dulcet tones hammer your fate home.
“I appear to be having some technical difficulties,” FRIDAY says, sounding confused if an AI can sound like anything. “I’m so sorry, I’m trying to fix this. It seems someone is manually overriding my control of the elevator.”
“Nat,” you groan, in unison with Bucky. So that’s it. You’re stuck in an elevator with Bucky and are being forced to face the music, by the powers that be. The powers being Natasha, a no good meddler who is going to be in a world of pain when you get out of here. Alpha be damned.
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nonehell ¡ 4 years ago
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Rags to Witches: A legacy challenge? I'm sure someone else has used this legacy name I'm sorry
This is mostly for me as I haven't been able to find a legacy challenge I loved, but if you see this and wanna do feel free! I'll come back and flesh out future generations later - I want to get to playing.
This challenge works best if you own Outdoor Retreat, GTW, Seasons, Cats & Dogs, City Living, and Cottage Living.
Overarching Rules:
Aging should be enabled, but do whatever speed is best for your play style.
Original sim/heir cannot get an actual career, though spouse and children can
Once you select the first lot to move your starter sim onto they nor any future sims can ever move to a different lot
Beginning with the first heir the original house must remain intact throughout the challenge. Windows/door placements, exterior wall material, and dimensions must remain the same. It is fine to add onto or surround the original structure with walls, or even build a different house on the same lot - but the original structure must remain unchanged and cannot be moved.
The heir can be any child born or adopted. Other children should be moved out of the house once they age to young adult.
Don't keep any funds from incoming spouses.
If you don't have a pack I'm using just do your best or ignore that part.
Always complete the listed aspiration for each generation.
Don't cheat to make it easier, where's the fun in that? Cheating to make it harder is A-OK though!
Setting up:
It is recommended that you have MC Command Center installed.
Your original sim can be a young adult or adult of any gender.
The lot should have a run-down theme and appear overgrown at the beginning.
Lot traits: Homey, Sunny Aspect, and Great Soil.
Lot challenges: Off the Grid, Simple Living, and Wild Foxes.
Must place a clothesline, and wash basin once you arrive on the lot.
Start your game in the fall in any non-desert/tropical world.
Generation One: The Rags
Aspiration: Chief of Mischief
Traits: Kleptomaniac, Noncommittal, Loves Outdoors
You've bounced around a lot in your life, moving from job to job and town to town without much of a plan, but when you heard about this huge plot of land being auctioned off it just seemed right. You ended up bidding all of your measly savings and winning, and it was honestly one of the best days of your life.
You start on a new, large, empty plot with a tent and no money.
You can make your money by stealing and selling collectables you find around town.
As soon as possible you should buy a retail lot to sell your (mostly) stolen goods.
You can have multiple partners and there is no limit on children, but it should be one pregnancy per partner.
The child/children should live with the other parent if possible until you have decided on an heir and the heir is a teen, at which point the new heir should move onto the land.
Interact as little as possible with your child until they are an adult.
Build a house which has (at least) 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
Generation Two: The Painter
Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire
Traits: Creative, Unflirty, Loner
You've always loved being creative, but when you moved in with your estranged parent you really fell in love with painting. You spent a lot of time alone while they were working at their "shop", and you filled all that time with travel and painting.
Money should be earned only by selling paintings.
An effort should be made to paint the land, as well as travel often to paint in other cities/areas.
Add a painting studio onto the house either on the second floor or as a stand-alone building.
Some paintings should be saved to pass along to future generations. Any paintings placed on the wall of the home must remain there.
You should ultimately marry the first person you kiss.
Master the painting skill.
Have three children with your spouse.
Generation Three: The Techie
Aspiration: Computer Whiz
Traits: Geek, Gloomy, Active
Your parent never really even looked at a computer, but for as long as you can remember you've been fascinated.
Earn your money through the computer, either by gaming, programming, or hacking.
Add a basement on to the house with a nice computer setup.
Generation Four: The Vlogger
Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity
Traits: Self Assured, Hot Headed, Romantic
You learned a lot about computers and technology from your parent, and you're putting all that to good use in your goal to become famous.
Generation Five: The Collector
Aspiration: The Curator
Traits: Paranoid, Hates Children, Self-Absorbed
Growing up with a famous parent isn't always easy, and you really threw yourself into collecting.. everything. Rocks, figures, feathers, frogs - name it and you've probably collected it.
Generation Six: The Romantic
Aspiration: Soulmate
Traits: Family Oriented, Jealous, Insider
Your parent always seemed to love their things more than they loved you, and you vowed to live your life differently. Found a gardening club. Find true love~
Generation Seven: The Farmer
Aspiration: Country Caretaker
Traits: Romantic, Animal Enthusiast, Cheerful
You cannot believe how long this land has been in your family and no one has done anything with it! Now that it's yours you are clearing the land and getting a freaking llama and no one can stop you.
Generation Eight: The Herbalist
Aspiration: Freelance Botanist
Traits: Vegetarian, Squeamish, Perfectionist
You loved growing up on the farm, and you want to carry on the tradition. You feel more at home with plants than animals, though, so you spend a lot of time working on the garden.
Generation Nine: The Witch
Aspiration: Spellcraft & Sorcery
Traits: Lazy, Genius, Bookworm
You basically grew up brewing potions and you're really not sure why it was a shock to your parent that you ended up getting into sorcery.
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ultraintrovertedgryffindor ¡ 4 years ago
Text
Sweet Pandemonium - Gally (The Maze Runner) Part 13 of 16
Posting this bonus chapter just cause y’all had to wait so long. Eat up kiddos, cause it’s gonna be even longer until the next update 🙃
~~~~~~~~~~
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(Flashback)
Awakening with a sudden jolt, Gally immediately feels a sharp pain in his chest and a dark spot in his mind that he felt where memories should be, but even his strong willpower couldn’t recall anything that happened.
In fact, he didn’t even know where he was...
Gally tried sitting up, but a hand suddenly held him down. 
“Hey, hey, hey, don’t. You’re still recovering.”
Gally looked to his side to see a man, no older than 20, he figured, but life and circumstances caused his face to look worn and beaten down.
“Who the hell are you? Where am I? What’s going on?” Gally roughly had a dozen more questions, but he was cut short by the male to his right abruptly covering his hand over his mouth.
“Chill out, man.” The guy said, but Gally quickly ripped the hand away, trying to sit up once more. “Seriously, dude, don’t. You’re gonna tear the wound if you keep at it.”
Gally’s defined eyebrows furrowed, looking down to realize he was shirtless, a large white gauze covering his left peck. “What...?”
“You were in pretty bad shape when we found you, a gaping hole in your chest. Good news is that the spear missed your heart, but you just have to function with one lung. But I’d say it’s a pretty good tradeoff for the price of staying alive. But hey, that’s just me.”
Gally tried to wrap his mind around what this stranger was saying. He couldn’t remember what happened to him, it was all static.
“Oh, right, you don’t remember squat. My bad.” The man laughed.
Gally had just about enough of this jokester. He suddenly grabbed ahold of the male by the collar of his shirt, trying his best to seem intimidating while still being in a lot of pain.
“Tell me what the hell is going on, piece of shuck, or I’ll snap your shucking neck!” Gally seethed.
The male smirked, only adding more fuel to the fire of Gally’s rage. But it soon didn’t matter, as the world around him started to darken once more. From the corner of his eye, he saw the man holding a syringe. Gally would’ve indeed snapped the man’s shucking neck if only he wasn’t drugged.
“Now, we’re gonna try this again later. Next time, try not to be so hostile when you wake up. Kay? Thanks.”
And next time Gally woke up, it wasn’t with a jolt, but he was still frustrated that he had no idea where he was and what happened.
“You seem more calm.”
Gally could’ve rolled his eyes, but he waited until he saw the man’s face. “Do you get off watching people while they’re unconscious or something?”
The man only smirked. Gally sensed a common theme with this guy. “No, actually. You’re not really my type.” He said, closing a book he was holding and sat it down on a bedside table. “Just doing some light reading.”
“While watching over me it seems.”
“Not like I had any choice.”
Gally scowled. He scanned the room he was in, and he definitely wasn’t in the Glade anymore. The room looked worn, but well made, obviously not made of wood. It looked like some sort of plaster, peeling off around the edges. And he was laying on a bed, but not one made of hay and stick that could easily break apart.
“Where am I? Who-”
“I’m gonna stop you right there.” The man interrupted, making Gally huff and lightly bang his head against the pillow underneath him. “All your questions will be answered soon...maybe. Depends on if Lawrence decides to keep you alive.”
“What?” Gally almost shouted, trying to sit up in a panic, but found that he was unable even without someone else forcing him down. He was strapped to his bed.
“Ash, shut it. You’re scarin’ the poor boy to death.”
Gally snapped his head to the door, a shadowy figure in the frame.
“What? I can’t have a little fun?” The young man, who’s name was apparently Ash, teased.
The shadowy figure stepped into the room, the lamp light on the right of Gally illuminating the other man’s face. He was older, clearly, but what caused Gally’s blood to run cold was the fact that he didn’t have a nose. He looked like something a Griever would spit up honestly.
“Something caught your eye, boy?” The older man’s gruff voice echoed around the mostly empty room. Gally quickly looked away, casting his gaze downward. But he just got even more confused when the man started laughing. “I can see why you like him.” He directed to Ash.
“Can someone please tell me what the hell going on?” Gally snapped, well, pretty much begged.
The man’s easy going attitude turned ice cold when Gally spoke. “Let’s get one thing straight. We ask the questions first, you answer honestly, and we won’t have a problem. Clear?”
Gally refrained from snapping at the older man once more, but he nodded silently.
The man smiled, clapping loudly. “Good! Good. So, first thing: what’s the name?”
“Gally.” He answered monotone, trying not to roll his eyes.
“Well, you obviously don’t know where you are. But do you know what happened before you got here?”
Gally felt the urge to cry, for reasons unknown to himself. He also felt a sort of nostalgia, he remembered Alby and how similar this felt when he first arrived in the Box.
“The last thing I remember...” Your face flashed through his mind for a split second, it was fuzzy, but he could recognize you even if he was blind. But then, he finally remembered something that wasn’t so fuzzy. “I was in the Glade, and I left...”
“And that’s all you remember, just leaving this Glade?”
“Yep.”   
“My people said they found you in a W.C.K.D. compound, a spear in your chest and full of poison. A gun was in your hand, and a kid was shot down next to ya. Remember that?”
Gally felt like he could’ve had a heart attack. “A kid?” He stuttered. “Was it a girl?”
Please don’t be her...please don’t be her...
“Some chubby, curly haired kid apparently.” The man noticed how the boy’s face fell, looking relieved but self loathing at the same time. “Knew him, I take it?”
“...Chuck.” Gally didn’t know what to think. He’d never kill Chuck, he was just an innocent kid.
The man frowned, but looked to Ash. “Fix him some water.” He nodded, quickly obeying and leaving the room. “Let’s move on, shall we?”
The longer Gally was awake, more of his memories came flooding back, even some from before the Glade. But he remembered something that put things into perspective. “I was stung...how am I okay right now?”
“Yeah, you were. But thankfully, we don’t like W.C.K.D. too much and had some of their supplies already on hand when my guys found you.”
“Who exactly is we?”
“We call ourselves the Right Arm. We’re against W.C.K.D. and their methods of doing things. We got a team that saves kids like you and take them to a safe place.”
“My friends.” Gally interrupted. “They must’ve escaped. Did you guys take them?”
“We don’t know. Word don’t spread ‘round too fast when you’re constantly hiding from those techy bastards.”
Gally huffed once more. He just wanted to know if you were safe, that’s all. But no, he was stuck talking to Voldemort.
“Where am I then?”
“Denver.”
“Yeah, I have no idea where that is.”
“It’s right outside the Last City.” The man mused.
Gally felt like he knew the name, but he was pretty shit at geography considering he only remembered living in the Glade. And enough memories had resurfaced for him to know he wasn’t all smart in general. But the Last City part made his ears perk up.
“Wait...the Last City?”
The man smirked. “You’ve got a lot to learn, kid. I’m Lawrence.”
After learning pretty much everything he needed to know about the Right Arm, Gally felt he couldn’t leave, not after learning what W.C.K.D. did and was still doing to innocent kids like him.
Ben was dead, Alby was dead, Zart and countless others that were Gally’s friends who have died because of W.C.K.D. He killed Chuck, and he knew he could never atone for that. So, he couldn’t leave. He couldn’t leave to some haven when that messed up company were still making all the calls, killing kids and sending them into dangerous tests in the name of science.
He couldn’t leave without knowing if you were alive or not. 
When he finally found out that you were indeed alive, that you were trapped with Minho, he finally felt that he had a mission. Something extremely important to him. A mission that he knew he could lay his life down for if need be. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t try.
So when he finally found you again, you were safe in his arms, he felt complete. He felt happiness that he hadn’t felt in his whole life.
When he realized he had to let you go, just one more time with the threat of you getting hurt, he could’ve broke down and he almost did. He wanted a 100 percent guarantee that you would be okay, but couldn’t have one. Not even your words of almost reassurance, it didn’t ease his nerves at all.
So he held you tight, so badly wanting to keep you, but he knew he couldn’t. You wouldn’t allow it when Minho was waiting on the group.
He was forced to see you walk away from him...again.
~~~~~~~~~~
Spain without the S
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builder051 ¡ 3 years ago
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Grammar, oh grammar…
Talking about this on this blog because I think the writing public resides mostly over here. If you don’t care for this concept, do feel free to scroll on.
I’ve spent, like, ten years trying to write it, though, (figuratively, of course), so maybe give it a glance?
I have a thought (and this, my friends, may be a very dangerous thing). What if… I made a tiktok… to teach people about grammar?
Now, before you fall off your bar stool and die laughing, let me make a few things very clear:
-I’m old. I’m a millennial, barely hanging onto my 20s, and I absolutely do not know how tiktok works. I can play MS flight simulator. I can fly a legit HH60G flight simulator. I assume the app is relatively intuitive, for techie peeps, at least. Maybe less of a disaster-without-a-guide than SnapChat? (I do not actually know the capitalization conventions for the name of the app… dinosaur, I am.)
-I have good intentions at heart. I don’t want to be a classist or elitist or whateverist grammar nazi. Grammar isn’t required for clear communication. I neither speak nor hear well. I recognize that AAVE is a dialect of English that I don’t grasp firmly, if at all. There are many other similar (and very different) whips and passes going on that I haven’t had a chance to experience. I know that I don’t know everything. I want less to tell people what to do as I want to, sort of, subtly spread the word? I know that I have no control over what people do, if they put information they receive into use, or if they absorb it at all. I don’t have a care factor in essay improvement or AP English stats anything. It’s about making knowledge readily available in a fun way, for a creator and a consumer.
-I went to public school in the 2000s, and regardless of the state or district or voter population, I wound up in a classroom with an amazing teacher who made one thing very clear: Publications, for the most part, are written following a set of rules known as grammar, usage, and mechanics. To be a functional, informed, and employable adult, it would be best for you to get to know them. I know that not everyone received this opportunity, and I know it’s a privilege that I had access to it. I also think it’s something of a fluke, for I had plenty of teachers who “handed out assignments” instead of actually teaching. There’s a huge difference, and it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with accreditation, pay rate, years’ experience, race, student/teacher ratio, or a thousand other things. Some things are huge interrupting factors, and I recognize that. But quality teaching is, I believe, something that comes mostly from the natural effort and attitude of the teacher, the quality of the teaching techniques and assignments they use, and the way those things connect with the students. Statistics don’t always tell the whole truth, but generally, student surveys trend in a single direction. If a lot of kids like a teacher, they’re usually doing the right stuff. Lots of bored faces, discipline problems, poor grades, etc., and all of it coming from across the board rather than the same small group of students? That’s more indicative of a systematic issue. Not to make this a soapbox or anything, but from kindergartners to doctoral candidates, folks like it better when the instructor puts up a picture slide and tells them about it instead of putting up notes and reading them out loud. Asking “what do you think happened next?” before turning the page is amazingly stimulating. For little kids, stuff like,“Mr. L got horribly turned around. He forgot where the calendar is. Who can do calendar today to help out?” is a riot, and it’s usually a super rewarding skill show. Little things. Things that don’t cost money. Sure, some people are naturally better at it than others, and cool resources are passed around in sneaky, weird ways, but a wholehearted and thoroughly presented idea can reach into the back rows with more success than a higher degree or whatever the people in power are looking for these days.
In my random, magical, public school situation, I was taught grammar rules using fun, memorable manipulatives that we put through physical situations to help us not only learn, but actually understand the meaning of proper phrases.
For example, imagine you have a moose. In it’s path is a giant flower pot.
The teacher puts the bitty play moose and the flower pot on the desk and invites students up to act out their ideas.
How many ways can you make the moose interact with the flower pot?
He can go under it.
Around it.
Beside it.
Above it.
Over it.
He can give it to you.
After a while, you’ve got a pretty good list of prepositional phrases, all of which the students have come up with themselves. As they play the game, they strengthen understanding of how prepositions link subjects to objects.
I don’t think I can perform spells quite like that. At least not yet. Not over an app I have no idea how to use. And not without training from an actual teacher. I’m a business/tech writer. My degree is in C&J, meaning broadcasting and publications, and (jokingly, around here) that I have creds in telling people what to say. Which is, truly, to say nothing whatsoever, since no company currently employs me to hold my skills over their collective heads.
Here’s where I see my place: keeping the little, grating, everyday stuff from turning huge, and doing it with simple understanding before it takes off with popularity and imitation. What eats me up the most is seeing the list of “new” words added to the dictionary at the end of the year, and then realizing that one or two or more are incorrect usages that have become so widespread that they are actually re-entering the lexicon as new or alternate/correct turns of phrase.
I’m not talking about “ain’t,” or MTV, or things of bygone days, but the things I hear off the lips of teenagers… which then I hear from celebrities… which then are said by newscasters… and before we know it, there’s legitimate debate as to whether or not a word is used correctly in a document. And that costs someone their college admission. Job opportunity. Court case. (Seriously, the Oxford comma won a legal case recently, and some dairy delivery drivers were awarded a hefty pay increase due to the new, properly read terms of their job agreement.)
I remember the exact year, it was 2014 and “when” and “whenever” suddenly became interchangeable in street speak. They are not. When means ‘an instance,’ and whenever means ‘every instance,’ so “Whenever I went to Starbucks this morning…” is not actually a sentence. It’s not slangy. It’s not cute. It’s making the word longer to use it incorrectly. I don’t get it.
Gwen Stafani was quoted in a magazine and interviewed on The Today show after her breakup with Blake Shelton. She reportedly said she was “dead, literally dead,” after the two parted ways. A person can certainly feel dead. But I have never seen proof of a deceased person participating in a televised interview. No crash cart, no screws and lightning bolts, and no eating brains. No reporting on the miraculous return to life of a “literally dead” patient. That should’ve broken more headlines than the famous singer splitup. Am I being ridiculous? Yes, absolutely. But misusing a word to mean its erm, literal, opposite? Depression bites; extemporaneous speaking is challenging. Adjectives? They fly the coop sometimes. English teachers gritting their teeth as they cross out extraneous misused words in their students introductory essays, though? Yeesh.
So to get back on track with my original point, what if I were to make little videos with cute manipulatives that showed proper usage of commonly erred phrases? Combining my school experience with my urge to scratch my pet peeve, and using my tech writing skills as a base for scrips, I imagine something like this:
Gather up some cute art stuff I have for the kids.
Put poms on a tray. Watch my hand go down with a plastic cup to catch the poms as text appears: The poms are based on the tray.
Cut scene.
Put tray on table and arrange poms around it. Watch my hand go down with a plastic cup onto the tray, unable to catch the poms, as they are placed around it, too far apart to reach. Text appears: The poms are based around the tray. Big red X comes up. This does not work. This sentence is not grammatically correct, no matter how many times you hear people say it.
There are a few that really bug me.
-Based on/based around (X)
-Composed of/comprised of (X)
-When/whenever
-All (of a population) vs. all (at the same time)
-Can’t as a substitute for will not/do not/prefer not/refuse to try— iffy, I know, and not a requirement to tell a life story to explain an allergy or prove a handicapped placard, but I HATE it when someone’s like, “Help, I can’t get up, the cat’s on me!” and you drop what you’re doing and put on 10lbs of feeding pump in a backpack to go see that the cat is, like, adjacent to their shoe?? And they’re like “Oh, what a relief, I’m slightly allergic, I might’ve sneezed…” and you’re like… “Yo. Feeding tubes. Multiple. 10+ major surgeries, ambulatory wheelchair user, thank you very much.” Preferences and requests respected, by all means, but, give a little, take a little, you know?
Here’s where I need your help.
If you’re in the writing crowd, you know, the folks who enjoy poking fun at this stuff with only the best of intentions at heart, do you have any tips for making it work? Or feel free to talk me out of it, if that’s more your deal. I’m thinking of a very small, low-tech side project here. Keeping my hands busy? Brain wired? Jumping off into the great unknown while I’m on a mental high? Viewers would be great, educating the tiktok-using public would be awesome, but, based on my previous social media experiences, I have low expectations.
If you’re all of the above and, eh, maybe, like, a bit younger than me?? Like Zillenial (are they calling it that these days?) Or older Gen-Z (idk, like, 1995-2005ish birth year? 18ish to 26ish, I guess? I don’t math; I write.) What grammatical challenges do you have? What annoys you about your peers’ writing? What’s some new slang I don’t know? I live with other millennials and some homeschooled kids, and our orbit is basically ballet, medical appointments, and cinema. We don’t interact with “the great public” very often, and, strangely, we’re in a place where regionalism tends to infiltrate over pop-talk. Unless we end up with, like, a brand new medical assistant who’s a fresh college transplant, we have pretty much no contact with young and hip people from whom to learn the great and terrible trends.
Additionally, we’re mostly deaf, med complex, and tube-fed, so we speak medical shorthand, mumble-grumble, is-that-a-happy-cry-or-a-sad-cry, and family-ism. (For example hand sanitizer = hanitizer and Sour Patch Kids candy = wiggle hands). Nobody has a standout accent (you know, apart from “American broadcast”), except for the obviously missing hearing/speech sounds some of us struggle with. Our roommates grew up in sort of “backwoods” areas and can pull our a twang, but we all have the US public schooling sound to us. If I wind up making videos, I don’t want them to have sound, because I never turn the sound on for videos I watch on my phone. Subtitles or text on screen is preferable, so that’s the direction I think I want to go…?
So… you maybe read that, maybe you didn’t. What do you think? Opinions? Tips? Is this something to do, just for fun? Idk. It’s going to he a low- effort deal, and it’s going to fade away, I know, but I just thought I’d test the waters first. Over here. By completely over-explaining myself to folks who largely don’t care. It’s my M.O. (And yes, it should be punctuated as such, because you pronounce the letters instead of reading them as a word. 😉 NASA, good job. D.A.R.E., please, take note.)
Loves
Always
Too much
Laur :)
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starlocked01 ¡ 4 years ago
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Eye to Eye
AO3
Masterpost- Previous- Next
Summary: Patton was born with brown eyes and figured he never had a soulmate to begin with. All it took was one theater production to prove him wrong.
Content Warning: Alcohol use
Day 17 PattonxVirgilxRoman- Everyone is born with dichromatic eyes. When you meet eyes with your Soulmate, your eye reverts to its natural color instead of the color of your soulmate’s eyes.
Patton was born with brown eyes. His mother cried over him most nights, studied those eyes looking for any hint of a difference in shade. When he was older, others pitied him for having brown eyes his whole life. "It must be so hard," they whispered behind his back with meaningful glances.
Patton learned to not make eye contact with anyone, and even when he was old enough to pretend he'd met his soulmate already, he still found it hard to look others in the eye.
Virgil was born with one brown eye and one blue eye. This was not out of the ordinary. Bullies found other reasons to single him out and tear him down. He grew out his bangs and dyed his life black in protest of their cruelty. No soulmate was worth the pain of being seen, so he didn't make eye contact with others often. Soon the whispers turned from his clothing to how sad it was he still hadn't found his soulmate. He learned to ignore the gossip.
Roman was born with one brown eye and one blue eye. He was excited to figure out which one was his natural eye color and which one belonged to his soulmate. He eagerly greeted everyone with a smile and met their gaze with confidence, and yet nothing changed. He had faith he would meet his soulmate someday and continued to tackle life with all of his energy.
Patton still wasn't sure how Janus had roped him into assistant directing the community theater production but there he was taking notes on auditions while Janus directed the hopeful actors. Roman Prince sure was giving it everything he could, but Patton was uncomfortable with how often the actor tried to make eye contact across the empty auditorium. Yeah, there weren't many people to focus on but it was unnerving for him.
Of course, Janus was impressed and had Patton star the man's name for the callback. Lovely.
After the auditions, actors and crew were milling around the stage and auditorium, not in a hurry to go anywhere. Patton wished they would leave because he wanted to go home and Janus had tasked him with locking up.
"Hey, Patton?" one of the techies tapped his shoulder. Patton put on a fake smile and turned around.
"Yeah, what can I do for you?" he asked sweetly.
"Some of us were planning on going out for a round of drinks to celebrate the start of the show. Would you like to come along? I'm already Designated Driver," the man barely looked up. Patton found that pretty sweet.
"Virgil, right? Yeah, I'll come along; I just have to lock up the theater. Let me clear this place out first," Patton grinned and stepped to the middle of the stage, projecting his voice to thank everyone for coming and to watch for callback and casting announcements. Most people got the hint and left and Patton gently asked the stragglers to move along.
"Now I'm not one to drink much," Patton was already on his second beer, "but you all are gonna be so fun to work with!"
Virgil snickered. The assistant director was incredibly cute when he wasn't avoiding human interaction. Not that Virgil had any right to critique anyone else's introvertedness, but he was very glad Remy had pushed him to ask Patton along. He felt warm inside just spending time with the man.
"Hey, Pat, who do you think is gonna get the lead?" Virgil probed.
"I dunno, that's what callbacks are for, Virgie," Patton giggled. He was playing up the effects of inebriation just a bit to get on the crew's good sides and it seemed to be working. Especially with Virgil.
Patton felt relaxed for maybe the first time in months. He was actually looking forward to working with everyone on this show. He glanced up at Virgil with a grin and the two locked eyes for a moment.
Something in the back of his head clicked, like flipping a light switch. Patton watched as Virgil’s blue eye swirled and turned brown. The look on Virgil’s face transformed from slightly put out by being the sober person in the bar to utterly confused.
"Patton, your eye…" Virgil couldn't really believe what he was seeing. Patton had brown eyes and he'd assumed that meant Patton had met his soulmate already. Why was one eye now blue?
Patton looked confused and pulled out his phone. He was startled to see the dichromatic eyes staring back at him from his camera. He never had a blue eye, why was his eye blue?
"Virgil, your eyes are both brown now… but mine are different colors? They've never been different before," Patton marveled at his eyes and Virgil pulled out his own phone to check his eyes.
"Woah… cool."
Patton put down his phone to grin at his soulmate. The other brown eye was apparently a mystery he could solve later.
Callbacks were a week later and Roman was flustered beyond belief. He'd made sure to clear his schedule well in advance because there was no way he wasn't going to get the best part he could. He practiced in a mirror and his smile only cracked once, seeing his different colored eyes. He loved his job and he loved theater; he did everything he could to lead a fulfilling life, and yet he had not met his soulmate yet. It was frustrating. They had to be out there somewhere.
The callback went smoothly and Janus posted the cast list the next night. Roman was ecstatic to get the part he wanted. Virgil prepared for the rehearsal process and Patton said a prayer that things wouldn't crash and burn.
Patton now had much more of a reason to look forward to the show as he would be seeing Virgil pretty often before and after rehearsals. Janus had even figured out the two were soulmates and often asked Patton to be the one to parlay with the tech crew.
Sometimes during rehearsals, Patton would watch the actors from the tech booth as Virgil used the blocking process to plan the lighting plot.
Virgil blushed under his foundation anytime he caught Patton watching him work. Rehearsals took too much time to plan dates but they definitely made the most of the time before rehearsal started and after Janus had dismissed everyone to get to know one another.
One night, a few weeks out from performance week, Roman suggested a cast party to celebrate the director. The whispers were kept backstage to preserve the surprise for Janus.
"Ah, Patton?" Patton turned at the sound of the actor's voice.
"How can I help you, Roman?"
"Do you know about the party?" Roman glanced around as he was asking. The theater was mostly cleared out.
"Yeah, Virgil told me about it. Tomorrow after rehearsal right?" Patton grinned, still busy trying to repair a prop.
"Yes! We need you to distract Janus while we set up, keep him from leaving, you know?" Roman grinned.
"No problem, Kiddo!" Patton looked up with a grin and the two made eye contact.
Just like with Virgil, Patton watched as Roman’s blue eye swirled and turned brown. He felt the switch in the back of his head and figured his brown eye must have turned blue.
Roman gasped, "Patton, I- your eyes! They're beautiful!"
Patton marveled, "thank you Roman. How is this the first time we've made eye contact? We've seen each other every day for a month now," he reached over and gently rested a hand on Roman’s cheek.
"Hey, is he bothering you, Pat?" Virgil emerged from the shadows of backstage with a scowl on his face, having just finished his nightly clean up check.
"No," both Patton and Roman replied at once. Patton grinned over to Virgil and Virgil’s breath caught in his throat seeing two blue eyes.
Roman grinned and reached out to take Virgil’s hand, "I hope you don't mind sharing him."
"I don't have much of a choice," Virgil smirked. He took a deep breath and met Roman’s gaze. Neither of their eyes changed visibly but both felt the same sensation they had when they met eyes with Patton.
"Well, who knew? Two soulmates each," Roman sighed happily, "and I found them at the same time!"
"We would have never found each other without Patton," Virgil pointed out, "his blue eyes were crucial."
"All eye know is that I'm so happy! I grew up thinking I didn't even have one soulmate, much less two. I love you guys- I hope it's not too much to say that already," Patton could feel himself tearing up.
"Well, this definitely isn't normal but I think we'll make it work," Virgil grinned as Roman gave them each a hug.
The party and the performances went well with most things running smoothly each night. Roman and Virgil spent the cast party after the last performance trying to drink each other under the table while Patton laughed and joked around with them and the rest of the cast and crew.
It was much easier to plan dates once the show was over and Patton couldn't be any happier. His soulmates' brown eyes never failed to light up his smile. He never thought he'd love brown eyes so much.
Tag List: @stoicpanther @ifrickenhatedeverythingaboutthis @idontgiveafuckaboutshit @tsshipmonth2020
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