#took approximately 4 minutes for him to break out an animal fact

[audible301]

Monet: the girls, gays,and theys are coming over

Brennan, in his coziest dad robe:

[absolutepokemontrash]

MC is Half Demon and They Look Awfully Familiar

(Lessons 1-5!)

Part 1 Part 2 Lessons 5-6 Group Retreat Lessons 10-12 Lessons 13-15 Part 3 Part 4

So we obviously know that things would run a little differently with L!MC instead of a normal human MC, but just how differently do things go?

No Mammon, you are not allowed to babysit!

Unlike in canon, Mammon needs to be kept away from MC at the start. Why? He’s known this kid for less than a day, he’s gonna try and use them for scams.

Everyone else in the house? Well, they’re of... observing MC. This is a first, a half human kid just wandering around the house...

MC and Lucifer, despite their amicable meeting, were in this really awkward beginning stage where they didn’t really know what to do with each other.

“So...” MC resisted the urge to twiddle their thumbs as they followed their father through the halls of the House of Lamentation. This was their home for the next year. It was very grand... and also very creepy in some places. “Where’s my room?”

“Right here.” Lucifer stopped suddenly in front of a door in the hallway, nearly causing MC to crash into him. He opened up the door, the room was very very pink. “Asmodeus decorated, you can redecorate as you see fit.”

MC popped their head in and looked around, there were approximately a thousand pillows scattered around the bed. It was the perfect amount! The very pink colour scheme was... okay. Maybe they’d be able to switch some of it out for a nice blue.

“It’s nice! Thank you,” MC was about to say Lucifer, then father, then just shut their mouth. What were they supposed to call him? They had known each other for like... an hour. He seemed like the type to want to be called father, he was too posh to be ‘dad’ or ‘pops’, and calling their father by his first name seemed way too casual as well... Parental Figure..? Guardian? Sir..? Should they call him sir???

The fact that MC ended their sentence like they were going to continue it left the two in a very awkward silence. A+ job at conversation.

“Anyway,” Lucifer finally broke the silence. “If you need time to settle in, we can pick up the tour later.”

“N-no, it’s okay! I didn’t really bring anything so...” MC was in the middle of mentally cursing themselves out, they thought they had successfully avoided falling into the awkward middle schooler stereotype! “We can keep the tour going.”

“Alright then.” Lucifer turned and motioned for MC to follow. Wow... he was very... curt? Was that the right word to use? MC hoped this was as awkward for him as it was for them.

The next stop was the portrait staircase, Lucifer explained each one down to each minute detail, MC listened in rapt attention.

“We received that one from a painter from the sixth layer of the Devildom, it was quite a rare find.”

“How many layers are there?”

“Nine, we’re in the centre most layer. This is the most highly defended part of the Devildom.” Lucifer explained.

“Oh,” MC smiled. “Cool, so it’s like how Dante described it in the Divine Comedy?”

“Mostly, some changes have been made since that time.”

“Ah, okay.” MC nodded, a thought came to them which made them clear their throat to suppress a giggle. “May I ask a question that might bother you?”

Lucifer turned and raised an eyebrow at them. “You may ask one such question.”

“Why did Dante say you were frozen in an ice lake?”

Lucifer looked around, once he was sure that no one was listening, he turned back to MC, his voice was slightly lower when he answered. “I was ice skating with Lord Diavolo, I fell through the ice and into the lake right as Virgil and Dante arrived. Of course, Dante had to embellish or I’d smite him, if only he left out the ice part.”

To MC’s credit, they didn’t laugh, but they weren’t doing a very good job of hiding how hard it was to not burst into laughter. “Oh my... how upsetting...”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “I’d tell you not to tell anyone but,” his lips quirked up into a smile. “No one would believe you if you said anything anyway.”

MC gasped, but the gasp ended up releasing the laugh they were holding in.

The half demon noticed some of the other portraits on the wall, each of the brothers had a portrait, there were two demons that MC didn’t recognize. So that was their family... they wondered if their picture might be on that wall one day...

“Who’s he?” MC pointed at the portrait between Mammon’s and Satan’s.

“That’s Leviathan, the third eldest, the Avatar of Envy, and the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy.”

‘Oooo, so he’s a military guy!’ MC thought to themselves. ‘And the third most powerful brother? Wow... he must be crazy scary...’

“What about him?” MC pointed at the seventh and final portrait.

It may have just been MC’s imagination, but they swore they saw Lucifer’s expression sour slightly.

“That’s Belphegor, the youngest and the Avatar of Sloth.” Lucifer explained. “He is currently in the human world as an exchange student.”

“Oh,” MC studied the portraits a bit more. “Cool! I hope he’s having a good time up there.”

“As do I.” Lucifer replied. “Now we should move on to the Underground-”

“LUCIFER!” Asmodeus cried. “MAMMON’S BEING STUPID AGAIN!”

Lucifer sighed and dragged a gloved hand down his face. “We’ll continue this tour later, MC. Feel free to explore some more, try not to break anything.”

“Because the things might be cursed?”

“That and the things are old and expensive.”

MC spends the rest of the day chilling in the house with Asmo, who peppers MC with ALL the questions.

They does their best to answer... but it’s clear Asmo was hoping for something a little more interesting.

“So, do you run the human world?”

“No. No I do not.”

Finally, Mammon escapes whatever punishment Lucifer’s got him caught up in and tried to get MC involved in something that’ll probably make them lose their money.

Mini HC! A demon’s wings, tail, or horns might pop out randomly if they aren’t paying attention! The demon doesn’t even need to be in their true demonic form for this to happen. It happens more often with younger demons like MC!

Mammon stops his little scheme when he notices that MC’s wings have popped out and left a few stray feathers lying about... he can hear the CHA CHING sound already.

Our favourite dummy tried to Mission Impossible his way into MC’s room but MC caught him trying to make off with some loose feathers after they came back with a dustpan to clean them up.

Eventually, it was dinner time, and Levi was still camped out in his room. Mammon got sent to get him out, and he decided to drag MC along with him.

“I don’t think we should bother him-”

“Sh! We gotta get him out of his stupid room or he’s gonna stay in there until the exchange year’s over.” Mammon snapped, stopping in front of Leviathan’s door.

“I still don’t think we should-”

Mammon rudely interrupted poor, aghast MC by slamming his fists against the door. “LEVI! GET UP! DINNER’S READY!”

The only response was someone increasing the volume on whatever show was playing behind the door. Wow, petty. MC suppressed a snort until they realized exactly what they were hearing.

Was that...

“Is that the Sailor Moon theme?” MC turned to Mammon and asked. The moment the question left their lips the pair heard someone practically bolt to the door. It swung open and hit Mammon right in the face.

“MOTHER FUCKER-”

“You!”

Ah, so this was the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy. MC didn’t know that track pants and headphones were a part of the uniform.

“You like anime?!” Levi asked, MC slowly nodded.

“Y-yeah..?”

Quick as lightning, MC was pulled into the room, and Levi slammed the door shut, tragically, the door hit Mammon again.

“LEVI YOU ASS-”

Leviathan didn’t seem too interested in Mammon’s chorus of curse words and angry knocks, he was grabbing some figurines off shelves and showing some to MC.

“Do you know who this is?!”

“That’s White Blood Cell from Cells at Work. What about Mamm-”

“How about this!”

“Violet Evergarden from the show of the same name, now Levia-”

“Whose this?!”

“LEVIATHAN!” MC stomped their foot and pointed at the door. “Mammon said we need to go eat dinner.”

“Don’t interrupt me, human!” Levi hissed, MC rolled their eyes and snorted.

“Nice to meet you, by the way.” MC crossed their arms and let their wings appear and puff up behind them.

“...w-whu-WHAT?!”

“We have to go to-” MC was cut off yet again by Levi passing out. Wow... what a day...

Mammon was still pounding on the door, MC rolled their eyes and opened it.

“He passed out, can you carry him?”

Mammon was decidedly not careful with his dear little brother when he dragged him out of his room and into the dining room. When Levi finally woke up, he got an earful from Lucifer, and tried to kill Mammon.

Apparently money was owed that Mammon wasn’t about to pay.

So yeah, MC and Levi’s alliance did not stem from desperation, it stems from otaku-camaraderie.

MC and Levi planned their credit-card hostage situation over a fun evening of watching anime.

Mammon never knew what hit him...

“Okay Mammon, pay up or your credit card gets cut up.” MC playfully opened and closed the scissors before poising them to cut up the helpless credit card. Mammon let out a shriek and shook his head.

“NONONONONO- don’t do that!” Mammon put his hands up and let out a nervous laugh. “MC... wh-what’s with all the animosity..? We’re buddies, right?”

MC snorted and rolled their eyes. “Buddies don’t try and make money off each other’s feathers.”

“You heard them, Mammon.” Levi snickered. “Pay me back the money you owe me!”

“I don’t have the money right now!”

MC shook their head. “Pity... oh well, bye bye Goldie-”

“The money’s in my sock drawer- just please put the scissors down!”

They slowly lowered the scissors. “What do you think, Levi?”

“Hmmm... you have two minutes.” Levi said, Mammon took off in a sprint out of the kitchen.

“Nice job Agent L!” MC chirped, holding their hand out for a high five, Levi looked positively elated and gleefully hit his hand against MC’s.

“We did it! I’m finally going to have enough money to go to the live show! Couldn’t have done it without your help, Agent Near.”

“Wait- why am I Near?” MC asked. “You get to be L and I have to be Near?”

Levi crossed his arms and huffed. “Would you rather be Mellow?”

“No! I want to be Light! We agreed that I’d be Light!” MC hissed. Levi, literally hissed back.

Rude.

Anyway, Levi got paid, and everyone had a very entertaining breakfast. Well, Mammon didn’t have a very good time, but boo hoo he should have paid Levi back sooner.

I think MC felt legitimately bad for Mammon, all the insults and jabs being aimed at him made MC feel a little guilty...

MC took care to be extra sweet that day, and it made Mammon feel a bit better. You know what made both of them feel amazing?

Screwing with the dipshits that were talking crap about the two of them.

MC didn’t need super-hearing to notice that some of the demons at RAD found it to be peak comedy that Mammon got slapped with babysitting duty.

“...do you want to mess with them?”

“What?”

“Too late, I’m doing it with or without you.”

Mammon was totally in, obviously. A little magic to move some of the lesser demons’ things around and voila! They were all at each other’s throats and Mammon and MC got to enjoy a fun lunchtime show!

The Purgatory Hall crew got to meet MC too, of course!

“And this,” Lucifer gestured to MC. “Is the other human exchange student.”

MC popped up from behind one of the rows of desks and gave the three newcomers a toothy grin. “Nice to meet you!”

Simeon’s calm and serene expression dropped almost immediately as he quickly looked from Lucifer to MC. The latter just gave him an innocent smile and tilted their head.

“Is something the matter?” MC asked, through the corner of their eye they saw Lucifer smirk slightly.

“N...” Simeon snapped back to reality. “No, nothing’s the matter, it’s nice to meet you, MC.”

“You awful demons!” A much younger voice yapped. “You brought a human child down here?! Shame on you!”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “I’m overwhelmed with guilt, put me out of my misery.”

“Oh!” MC gasped. “You’re the chihuahua!”

“Wh-what?!”

“What?” MC shook their head and shrugged. “What’s the matter with me being a kid? You look like you’re ten.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m well over-”

“Am I just going to go ignored?” The third and final stranger asked, a cheeky/very suspicious looking grin on his face.

“Right, you.” Lucifer sighed. “This is Solomon, another human exchange student.”

“It’s nice to finally meet the other... human exchange student.” Solomon offered a nod.

“Likewise.” MC pretended not to notice the pause before he said human.

The first bell that meant “haul your ass to next period because if the cleaning staff finds you skipping class you will be maimed” sounded. MC slung their bag over their shoulder and brushed past their fellow students.

“Have a nice rest of your day, everyone!” MC chirped as they and Lucifer headed off to their next class.

“What do you stand to gain by pretending you aren’t my child?” Lucifer asked.

MC snickered. “It’s funny! Didn’t you see their faces?”

Lucifer half smiled and shook his head. “Perhaps.”

—————

“That kid is Lucifer’s.” Solomon said the moment Lucifer and MC were out of earshot.

“Oh thank heavens someone else saw too... I thought I was going crazy...” Simeon sighed in relief.

“Hey! We’ll be late to class if you guys don’t hurry!” Luke called from down the hall.

Solomon chuckled under his breath. “This whole year just got way more interesting...”

A lot of MC’s time got devoted to getting to know their newly found family.

Satan was proving to be very... polite? Almost weirdly so? He’d address MC like he would address a formal acquaintance, not like one would address a family member... or even a roommate.

MC tried the delicate dance of trying to respect his boundaries and trying to get him to like them...

Once the glasses incident happened everything kinda caved. MC had been quite rudely shunned by Satan and they were quite done trying to be his friend! Hmph!

...hmph :(

At least Beel was nice... despite MC being a little intimidated by his size and resting bitch face, MC soon found out that Beel was a massive cinnamon roll.

In return for all the snacks Beel shared with MC, they introduced him to at least five human world cooking shows.

“MC, why is the music so dramatic? They’re just revealing the cooking supplies.”

“It’s a reality TV thing... everything is 10 times more dramatic than it needs to be. The music’s doing its job though, I’m very impressed by that pie dish.”

Overall, MC’s first week at RAD was pretty decent! Until... well... until Friday.

MC could only hide their demonic side for so long...

“That’s them?”

MC slowed their steps and turned to look for the source of the voice.

“Yep.” A second voice confirmed. “Human kid, like I said.”

Ugh... of all the times to have needed to stay late after school... the hallway MC was in was completely empty and they had no clue where anyone they actually knew was-

“Boo.”

MC whirled around to see the two gossiping demons standing right behind them. They instinctively took a few steps back before the taller of the two demons grabbed them by the wrist and yanked them forward.

“Geez, are all humans this tiny?” The taller one asked as he slowly lifted MC off the ground. MC fixed him with the nastiest glare possible, he tried to scowl back, but ended up looking away and laughing to the shorter demon. “Look at them, barely enough for a snack, no wonder Beel hasn’t eaten them yet.”

Turning to the shorter demon, MC gave them a similar glare. “Put me down.”

“Tsk, quiet.” The taller demon snapped, he turned back to the shorter demon. “So if we just nab them now, how much do you think someone’ll take for their soul?”

“I-uh...” the shorter demon couldn’t pry their gaze away from MC’s as they tried to sputter a response. “I don’t think we should...”

“Why not? The exchange program’s still in its trial phase anyway, we kill this human and they’ll just bring in another one.”

The way he was speaking about them made MC’s skin crawl. How dare he? How dare he talk about them like they were just common trash? Who did this... person think he was?

An old familiar feeling bubbled beneath the surface. It had always been there, the intense, sometimes overwhelming desire to let the whole world know that they were better. The feeling coiled its way up MC’s spine and wormed its way into their head where it settled.

“You can’t be spoken to like that.”

Every single time this feeling had flared up, MC had done their best to suppress it. They didn’t know what would happen if they gave in, and frankly, they didn’t want to know.

“Let them know you’re not to be trifled with.”

The burning desire to crush the two demons like ants was almost impossible to ignore. MC felt their hands twitch and sparks snap between their fingertips.

“I’m not going to tell you again,” MC growled. “Put. Me. Down.”

“Human,” the taller demon turned back and cooed, his mocking tone made MC want to rip his throat out. “I said be quiet.”

His grip on MC’s wrist tightened until a sickening crack echoed through the empty hallway.

Bile immediately rose in MC’s throat as they let out an earsplitting scream. Their wrist seared in pain and their heart began to race hammer against their ribcage.

The desire to give in only grew and became harder to control, MC could feel themselves slipping. The feeling only had one simple question to ask, one that MC knew the answer to.

“Are you going to let them get away with that?”

Their face morphed into a cheek splitting grin despite the pain, their head tilted to the left as they stared down the two demons.

“No.”

Horns twisted and burst out of their skull as they dug their rapidly sharpening nails into the demon’s arm. Their teeth grew and sharpened while formerly hidden fangs burst through their upper gums. The agonizing pain of their bones growing, snapping, and shifting in and out of place as their demonic form took hold for the first time numbed as MC revelled in their new power.

Through the reflection in the taller demon’s horrified stare, MC could see their pupils stretch into almost catlike slits. He dropped them onto the floor while he and the shorter demon backed up. MC’s impossibly wide smile only grew as they watched the realization dawn upon the lesser demon as he stitched together what he had just done. The human he had decided to bother wasn’t quite so human after all.

“Oh?” MC cooed as their wings split through their back and unfurled behind them. “Where do you think you two are going? We haven’t even gotten started yet.”

—————

Lucifer was jolted from his conversation by a sharp blast of blue light and the sound of screams from a nearby hallway. He instinctively rolled his eyes.

“Lord Diavolo, pardon me but I need to go deal with a disturbance in the halls.” Lucifer said, Diavolo sighed mournfully on the other end of the call.

“Alright, if you must, but make sure to come over later! There are events that need to be scheduled.”

Lucifer knew full well that Diavolo was making half of the school events up as an excuse for basic social interaction. Oh well, it wasn’t the time to think on his prince’s social woes, he had a problem to solve.

How many times did he have to tell some of those idiotic students to take their petty squabbles outside?

Lucifer made his way over to where the fight was happening, he wasn’t walking with particular urgency, a fight on school property wasn’t too unusual, until a massive shockwave spilled through the hallways and slammed into him.

The Avatar of Pride felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up, that was his magical signature... wasn’t it? No, it was just different enough...

“Dammit.” Lucifer doubled his pace, when he reached the end of the hallway, the sight was just what he feared.

MC stood straight in the middle of the hallway with their back to him, two other demons were lying in crumpled heaps on the ground, one was next to an incredibly dented row of lockers while the other was lying next to an almost completely broken drinking fountain.

Lucifer’s own true form was out in a flash as MC turned to look at him. their eyes glowing a shining blue. Their lips curled into a snarl as they let out an otherworldly growl.

“Go away.”

“MC, calm yourself down.” Lucifer said slowly as he approached them. “Return to your normal form.”

The half demon bowed their head slightly and took a few steps back as he stepped closer. Lucifer almost patted himself on the back for such a show of authority, until MC paused and looked up defiantly. The glow in their eyes doubled as any sense of fear left them completely.

“I said, GO AWAY!”

They lunged at him, which he easily sidestepped, only for MC to quickly turn and latch their claws into his arm.

The child packed a surprising amount of force into their strikes, but he was able to block and redirect almost every single one. If this were any normal fight, Lucifer would have just swatted them away and have been done with it, but this wasn’t any ordinary opponent.

MC was his child, the exchange student, and going through their first transformation. They weren’t exactly rational or directly responsible for any of their actions at that moment.

During a first transformation the demon is almost completely relying on base instincts to function, they’ll go completely ballistic for a while, trying to tear through anything in their way until they run out of energy and pass out. Which is why during a demon’s first transformation usually happened much earlier in their lives under the watchful eyes of parents or guardians.

It was clear to anyone with even casual knowledge of demons that MC had fully given themselves over to their pride and wouldn’t stop trying to prove their superiority until they passed out.

Even though Lucifer was blocking and avoiding most of the blows, MC had managed to get in a few good scratches.

They snapped at Lucifer’s right hand, narrowly missing it and aimed their elbow at his jaw. Almost casually batting the hit away, he hissed in frustration.

“Damn it... MC, control yourself!”

MC snarled and sloppily lunged forward, only for Lucifer to use his wings to bat them to the side. They slid across the floor, their glasses falling off and skidding away from them. MC lay still for a few moments, their chest rising and falling rapidly.

Lucifer stood in place, waiting for any sudden movement. For a few moments, the hallway was quiet, save for the massive gulps of air MC was taking and the occasional groan of pain from one of the demons on the floor. MC slowly sat up and blinked a few times, then looked from side to side.

Something important dawned on Lucifer, he didn’t know just how blind MC was without their glasses.

MC’s rapid breathing began to slow as they continued to squint and search the area around them for their glasses. Lucifer almost audibly sighed in relief as the blue glow in his child’s eyes began to dull.

“MC.” Lucifer allowed his demon form to disappear as he slowly moved towards them, making sure MC could hear him approaching.

The half demon stopped scanning the area for their glasses and looked up at him, they awkwardly covered a yawn with their hand as their wings sleepily fluttered behind them. It would have been much cuter if MC wasn’t spattered with blood.

Lucifer slowly offered his hand, which MC eyed suspiciously. “Come on, let’s go.”

MC blinked a few times, then yawned again and awkwardly accepted his hand. “Mmph... m’tired...”

“That’s good,” Lucifer said quietly. “Everything’s okay.”

MC half nodded and awkwardly stumbled as they tried to find their footing. Lucifer tried to help steady them, but it proved ineffective as MC collapsed into his arms. Sighing, he picked them up and began to walk back to the House of Lamentation.

Just before leaving the school, Lucifer passed by Simeon and Solomon, who looked from MC, who had curled their wings around themselves and was sleeping soundly, to Lucifer, who had a few scratch marks on his face and whose hair was a complete mess.

“Ah, you two, one of you do me a favour.” Lucifer said as he brushed past them. “One of you go to the biology hallway and pick up MC’s glasses.”

Simeon and Solomon nodded and mumbled out an affirmation as Lucifer left the school with MC. Hmph, it seemed MC was right, their confused/shocked faces were quite funny.

MC woke up the next morning with the worst muscle pain they had ever and hopefully would ever feel. On the bright side, their wrist wasn’t broken anymore :D

They had literally built their true form. Their skeleton just stretched and rearranged itself, horns grew out from their cranium, their wings broke through their back and a new set of fangs decided to break through their gums... and then all of that new stuff was gone as MC lay in bed in their normal form like a deflated beach ball.

Not wanting to seem like a wimp, MC dragged themselves to breakfast, and everyone was all: “MC, go back to bed, you can’t do anything when you’re like this.”

“Quiet, I’m fine.”

“MC, if you’re fine, then give Beel a high five, make sure it makes the slap sound.”

“Alright then, Beel, come here.”

Beel didn’t exactly think to take MC’s shorter stature into account when holding up his hand for a high five. He’s tall, okay?

MC then proceeded to grit their teeth and try not to scream as they lifted their arm to weakly hit their hand against Beel’s.

“It made the noise..!”

“No it didn’t, I didn’t hear it.”

“Fatherrrr!”

“Couldn’t hear it, go back upstairs.”

When MC trudged upstairs, Asmo practically squealed and pointed out that MC had called Lucifer father for the first time. It’s a shame no one took a picture of happy/surprised Lucifer.

Side note: after the whole event calmed down, Lucifer was crazy proud that his kid kicked the asses of two grown demons.

Funnily enough, this incident is what kickstarted MC and Luke’s friendship! Luke heard MC got into a fight and brought over get-well cookies! Sure... Beel, Mammon and Levi stole most of the cookies but they were still good!

At school on Monday... hooooooo boy... the two demons that tried to kill MC had lived to tell the tale thanks to MC getting distracted by Lucifer, and now the entire student body knew NOT to fuck with MC.

A few weeks into the exchange year, things had settled into a somewhat normal routine... until one really shitty night in particular.

MC was curled up in bed, their new comforter and sheets were a pain to put in, but they suited MC’s taste much better than the pink that had been there previously. Sighing in contentment, MC felt themselves drifting off to sleep-

Mother fucker who was texting at the ungodly hour of 10:30 pm on a Sunday? ‘Twas the lord’s day and the lord of the house stated that everyone needed to get their asses to bed at a reasonable hour.

MC picked up their phone and put on their glasses. After being blinded by the light of the phone for a brief moment, MC read the text.

Not-Rich Uncle Pennybags 💰🕶: Oi! MC! U want a snack?

Not-Rich Uncle Pennybags💰🕶: I’m in the kitchen! Get down here!

After debating whether or not to throw Mammon to the wolves and rat him out, MC decided that they did in fact want a snack and hopped out of bed to go to the kitchen.

“Hey kiddo!” Mammon said through a mouthful of something in a container, a loose note hung limply from a piece of tape that was stuck on the Tupperware. “Next time, hurry it up, got it? Ya can’t keep me waitin’ like this!”

“Mm...” MC grumbled, rubbing their eyes and looking around the kitchen. “What are you eating?”

“Custard!” Mammon smiled brightly. “Ya gotta try this!”

Oooo, custard! MC grabbed a spoon and practically skipped over to try some. Right before they were about to try a bit of the heavenly deliciousness, MC paused and finally caught a glimpse of what the note said.

‘Property of Beelzebub, you eat it, you die.’

Uh oh-

———————

Okay, the next few bits of this WILL come out in order, I promise! Kinda... not really... eh... but it matters not! I hope you all enjoyed this! I didn’t leave you with a cliffhanger this time considering Lessons 5-6 are already out ^_^

So uh- wanna fight the demons that tried to hurt MC? I’m bringing the pitchforks, who’s driving?

[justcourttee]

hiiiii i don't know if you take prompts or requests or anything, but would you maybe consider writing a sequel to A Moment Too Late? maybe with a happy ending? i love your writing!!

I tried for what I’ll call a happy-ish ending, but I hope you still enjoy it! 

*WARNING* This piece and part 1 mention attempted suicide and can be difficult for some. Please, please, please be sure you feel comfortable reading about this topic before clicking below the title. 

In The Nick of Time

Damian took his first step into the city of love at 4:00 pm.  

He had a general idea of where to begin, but the combination of no sleep and jet lag was taking its toll. He had tried reaching out to her several times on the flight over, but she ignored his every effort. It could have just been the fact that she was in her classes. She may have been suicidal, but maybe she still took her education seriously?

It wasn’t likely, but it helped put his mind at some ease, hoping he still had time. His first order of business was renting a car. Technically speaking, his father had a villa on the outskirts of the city with a multitude of cars to pick from, but seeing as no one knew where he was, he wasn’t eager to tip them off.

He gazed over the taxis lined up, eagerly looking to take advantage of the tourists piling out of the airport behind him. He didn’t want someone to eager, he just needed someone who looked on the brim of exhaustion. His eyes landed on a poor man propped against his car, his eyes drooping like Tim before his first cup of the day. Perfect.

“Excuse me sir, but I’d like to rent your car from you for the day.”

The man peeked one eye open as he glanced warily over Damian.

“Scram kid, it’s a package deal, me and my car. You can’t just rent one or the other-”

Damian smirked as the man snatched the bundle of money from his hand, popping off the taxi light that stood on top of his car. As Damian slipped into the driver’s seat, he motioned for the man to step back over.

“Here’s a couple of extra bills to catch yourself a taxi home.”

The man’s mouth gaped as if he was searching for air underwater. Damian didn’t even bother to see if he would step back from the curb as he pulled off. The one benefit of the agonizing six-hour flight was Tim’s laptop. Damian had managed to hack into each of the high schools around the city until he narrowed it down to three Marinette’s. After looking at approximate ages and distance, he assumed she had to be the first; one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Her family owned a bakery a little less than a mile from the high school and on the off chance she hadn’t stayed for any clubs or activities, she should be arriving there at any moment. Damian tapped the address into his phone ignoring the multitude of messages he had between his father and Dick.

It was a simple fifteen-minute drive from the airport.

Damian exhaled sharply as he sped down the exit. Fifteen minutes was enough time. It had to be enough time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .

“Welcome to the bakery! Is there anything I can interest you to today?”

The woman’s face wore a mixture of fake smiles and exhaustion. It might’ve been enough to fool the average customer, but to Damian, she simply looked one gust of wind from collapsing.

“Uhm, I’m looking for Marinette? Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Is she here?”

Instantly her fake smile dropped and the exhaustion settled into the creases of her face. There wasn’t even a hint of worry at the mention of her daughter’s name from a stranger’s mouth. It irritated him.

“Look, whatever she did now, we don’t have any money for a settlement. Maybe you can work out a deal with her, but we have nothing more to give.”

The woman offered him a half bow before pointing him to a small door at the back of the store. He assumed she meant for him to go through it and without another word, he stepped past her. As he made his way up the countless stairs, his irritation only grew.

He was well aware that there were parents out there indifferent to their children, but his soulmate wasn’t supposed to have one. She was always so happy and carefree when they were younger, abusing the bond whenever she could. He assumed it was because her parents had drilled into her that it was within her right too. But after that short interaction, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Finally, a white door came into view. Hesitantly, he reached out the knob twisting without resistance. Inside was a moderate flat with what appeared to be an attic access. As first impressions went, he thought it seemed like a warm and gentle place to grow up in. Very different from the windowless stone building he began in.

He slipped out of his shoes, placing them beside a pair of light pink ballet flats before taking his first step. Someone was home and by the looks of it, it should be his soulmate. Damian contemplated on whether to call out or not. He didn’t want to frighten her, but he thought it might be worse if he just opened random doors instead. Finally, he settled on attempting their soulmate link once more.

“Marinette? Are you there?”

There was no answer, but he couldn’t be sure if that was just the continued strike from his earlier efforts. Tentatively, he took another step forward, his eyes scanning the apartment. It was pretty much an open concept, so he could see everything quite easily. The only thing that eluded him was the staircase leading above.

That had to be where she was.

“Marinette? That’s how you pronounce your name, right?” Damian sucked in a breath, resisting the urge to hit himself. No matter how he intended it, he sounded like he was some stalker here to kidnap her. “I’m not here to hurt you, I just wanted to talk.”

It didn’t sound any better. Maybe he should've stuck with a gentle introduction through their bond. Speaking out loud only reminded him how terrible he was with people. Animals were easier. Everything that needed to be said could be expressed through body language.

Biting the bullet, he decided it couldn’t get any worse than barging straight up the staircase into the attic. As he pushed open the access, the first thought that crossed his mind was-

“A mess,” clothes were strewn across the floor, remnants of paper scattered within the piles. The walls were a soft pink at one point, but it looked as if someone had taken a paint scraper to them, mere flakes hanging on by a thread. For such a well-put-together apartment, the room almost seemed abandoned.

Pulling himself into the room, Damian left his legs to dangle, his toes longing for the security of the stairs just below him. It didn't seem that she was in here either. He remembered passing another floor, perhaps that was also part of their apartment? Just as he decided to plant his feet back onto the sturdy steps, his fingers brushed over one of the scraps of paper he had seen earlier.

Instinctively, he pulled his hand away from the floor, his eyebrows furrowing. Damian was fairly certain that wasn’t how paper should feel. Reaching back out, he gathered a few nearby scraps. Turning them over one by one, a picture began to form. A group of girls, all laughing completely lost in a moment of time. His curiosity bested him as he pulled himself into the room, gathering each of the scraps he could find.

A half dozen photos was all he could form by the time he collected the larger pieces. Most were group shots, but two were of a blonde guy. Upon further analysis, he determined that he was the son of the fashion dictator Gabriel Agreste. He had seen the boy at a couple of Bruce’s international parties.

Perhaps she thought he was attractive? After all, the photos seemed to be ripped from a magazine, unlike the other four. As he glanced around the room once more, he felt like he had finally found a straw to grasp at. A reason she dropped so far, so fast.

But as much as he gathered from her room, he still had no idea as to where she might be. Her shoes were at the door, but it didn’t seem as if she was anywhere in the apartment. Standing slowly, Damian took a step back toward the access he had entered through when a breeze tickled the back of his neck.

His entire body stiffened as his hand moved slowly to where he kept his emergency kunai.

“Is that you, Marinette? If so, you’re pretty good at masking your presence. I didn’t even sense you approaching.”

There was no response, but now that he knew she was there, it was easier to pick up on her shallow breathing. In one swift movement, Damian flicked his wrist backward, ducking to avoid any retaliation.

A soft grunt earned a glance backward, his eyes widening a bit at the sight. She hadn’t even tried to dodge it. Lodged into her right shoulder was his kunai, and just below it, centimeters away from her heart, was a pocket knife. A bright pink light blinded him and instinctively his arms darted out. When he could see again, a petite figure rested against his frame.

“Marinette?” She was unresponsive, a deep ruby dripping from her wounds. “Marinette!”

What was this panic he felt rising? He’d seen comrades die on the battlefield before, wounds more deadly than this. So why couldn’t he move? Logically, he knew he had to act fast, but his body wouldn’t inch.

“You’re her soulmate, right? Do something!” Damian’s head snapped up, but he couldn’t find where the voice came from. Whoever it was, it was enough to break whatever daze he had fallen into.

“Okay Marinette, I have basic medical training and I can patch you, slow the bleeding, but I can’t remove either blade. Do you understand? I’m going to have to move you, quickly and as stable as possible.” Her breathing was shallow, but her eyelids flickered in what he hoped was a response. As gently as her could, he lifted her into his arms, attempting to avoid moving either stab wound. Her soft grunt pulled at his heart. “Hold on a little longer Marinette, please, I need to apologize.”

The stairs were one agonizing moment after another and as he laid her into the backseat of his rented car, he felt winded himself. Sliding into the driver’s seat, Damian quickly pulled out his phone, cursing as it slid through his hands.

“Dammit, where did it fall?” He frantically searched, his heart rate rising with every passing moment. Was this the world’s way of punishing him? He killed and fought and argued every passing moment of his life. He pushed her away and now that he thought he was making a change, he could just waltz back into her life as if nothing had happened? He wasn’t going to make it.

“Just drive, I’ll guide you.” Had he finally lost it? It was the same imaginary voice he had heard before. Perhaps it was his subconscious, a guardian angel? Could he really trust it? “Drive boy, take a left at the stop sign.”

He couldn’t afford to wait another moment so he did what felt most logical; he drove. The drive was killing him, each painful breath becoming slower, a dagger to his heart as they escaped from her mouth.

“Just leave the car in the front, save my friend.” The only thing keeping him going was the voice.

Damian had barely parked, his feet already slamming on the pavement before the engine had stopped. Gathering her into his arms, he burst through the sliding doors, the fear rising in his throat.

“Help! I need help!” He knew his French was rusty, but he had to try. The nurse tentatively approached him, her gasp needing no explanation. A stretcher was rushed, and as they ripped her from his arms, Damian couldn’t help the anger he felt.

“Be careful with her! She’s going to die if they shift too much!” A security guard stepped over, his hands raised as if he meant to calm Damian. He took another step forward, trying to grip Damian’s arm. “What are you doing? I need to be with her! Marinette I’m right here! Can’t you hear me? I need you Marinette! Please don’t leave me!”

Damian watched as they placed the stethoscope on her chest, grim expressions hastening their step.

“Don’t look at her like that! Help her! Please!” It felt as if his lungs were collapsing, his vision blurring. Why was he reacting like this? He barely knew her. In fact, this was his first time ever seeing her.

“Sir, please calm down. They are treating your friend right now, the best thing you can do for her is sit and wait.”

The man led him to a couch where his legs finally caved, his back sinking into the chair. Damian lifted his hands to his face, wiping the tears he hadn’t even realized he had cried, but it only left his cheeks damper than before. Slowly, he pulled back his hands, his stomach plummeting. There wasn’t an inch of skin left uncovered by the red.

“Oh, oh,” Had he really not noticed how much blood she had lost? He was so focused on getting her here that he didn’t even consider if she would make it. “I thought I could make it, I thought I still had time.”

Damian recognized this feeling rising in his chest. It was the same as when he collapsed on the roof, the same as when he heard from her after so many years of silence. Was this what his mother meant by a soulmate bond being a distraction?

He had never understood why people took the insane challenge of fighting his Grandfather for a chance to leave the league in search of their soulmate. If he was honest, he thought it was a pointless endeavor and he couldn’t begin to imagine how someone believed they could pull it off. But, as his chest tightened with the rising waves of nausea, a realization washed over him.

A soulmate bond was so powerful that even if you just met them, you felt the need to protect them, to care for them. You became vulnerable for them, scared to lose them, terrified of how the world would be without them. It was a terrible weakness and a strong ally.

“Can you walk to the bathroom?” Damian felt his head stir, but it was as if it were being pulled by strings, out of his control. “I’ll explain everything if you could just meet me there.”

How could this voice be so all-knowing? Hadn’t it just surfaced from his subconscious as a way to kickstart his movement again? Yet, if that were the case, why did he find himself rising, stumbling toward the bathroom in a daze?

He slipped into the closest stall, collapsing against the door, the minute it locked. Why did he feel so drained? It was less than 500 feet.

“Do you need to sit down? I know that this must be hard on you.”

Damian’s eyes scanned the stall in search of a source for the voice, but alas, he came up with nothing. Sliding to the ground, he chuckled to himself, his hand clutching his shirt.

“I’ve finally lost it. Todd told me this day would come, but how could a dumbass like him even know?”

“You haven’t lost anything, I’m right in front of you, you just have to push through the veil.”

Damian perked up, squinting his eyes at the space directly in front of him. Slowly, but surely, his eyes focused on a red blur until the floating object came into full view.

“Holy shi-” Two paw-like things pressed his lips together, a disapproving look monopolizing its small face.

“Can you keep it down? And what’s with all this foul language? I can’t say I approve of you being my Chosen’s soulmate with a mouth like that.”

It floated a few inches away, crossing its arms as if trying to push the point across. Damian tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry. He was positive that he hadn’t had anything. Perhaps this was one of those sleepless hallucinations that Drake constantly rambled on about?

“I know that look, I’m not a hallucination, I’m a kwamii! My name is Tikki and I am Marinette’s partner. Together, we merge to become the superheroine of Paris, Ladybug.”

Ladybug? He had heard Bruce mention a Parisian team. They asked for any heroes to stay out of Paris as their villain was one that manipulated emotions, turning his victims into puppets of his own bidding. No wonder Bruce and Dick were blowing up his phone. They weren’t just worried about him running off, they were also worried about him breaking an international treaty.

Damian blinked slowly as he processed the image in front of him. Kwamiis. He had heard the legend of them back when he was apart of the League of Assassins, but he had no idea they truly existed. Why was his soulmate in possession of the most powerful being in the world?

“It’s a long story soulmate of the Chosen. I have traveled long and wide and have had many wielders before, but never one as capable as Marinette. When I first found myself as her partner, she was clumsy and shy, but so friendly and kind, always going out of her way to help people. Together, we defeated the original Hawkmoth, but in the battle, his kwamii was reclaimed by one of his partners and a new Lady Hawk emerged.”

“Why are you telling me this?” The kwamii shot him a questioning look as if the answer was obvious.

“I’m trying to give you the full picture of where it all began. You blame yourself as the catalyst, but you were only a small stepping stone in her downfall, almost not worth mentioning.”

Damian felt an odd swelling in his chest. It almost felt like, relief? Had he really been this worried that he had pushed her down this path? A lonesome tear trickled from his eye, but he was quick to snatch away.

“Marinette had friends, a boyfriend even. She wasn’t completely lost without a soulmate. After all, her parents weren’t soulmates, and her best friend was rejected by their soulmate too. She was happy.” The kwamii paused, her smile reminiscing before it slowly morphed into a frown. But it all changed when a wretched girl transferred into her middle school.”

“Just one girl changed everything?”

The kwamii nodded, small tears forming.

“She was the real catalyst. The reason everything fell apart.”

Damian lost track of how long he sat listening to the small God. When he stood to return to the waiting room, he couldn’t help but clench his fist in an attempt to calm himself. Marinette had to pull through, she just had to. Damian had to show her that there was more to life than this shitty one in Paris. He had to rescue her like his family had for him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was 36 hours before he was allowed back to see her.

She had been lucky, the knife had missed her vital organs and even though it had punctured her lung, she seemed to be on track for a full recovery, one that she needed to take slowly. Damian dealt with the police on her behalf and thanks to Tikki’s information, he was able to help them identify the mugger.

Tikki had gone ahead to talk to Marinette and to give him time to freshen up. He didn’t have much, but the little he had packed at least got him fresh clothing, clothing not stained with her blood. Alfred would not be happy with him once he returned.

Damian was unsure how to approach her. He had found some flowers in the gift shop he thought were nice and some chocolates as well. But as he stood in front of her hospital room, he realized he hadn’t figured out the first thing he should say to her.

I’m sorry? No, that sounded too arrogant after everything she had been through. My name’s Damian, I saved your life? No, that would be condescending. God, he really hated talking to people.

“Are you going to come in or just sit outside all day?” Her voice sent shivers down his spine. She hadn’t always been this cold, but he couldn’t blame her.

Hesitantly, he reached out, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips. She looked angry, slight red emphasized on her pale skin, the dark circles under her eyes protruding as if they dared him to comment on them. There were a million and one wires and tubes poking out in different directions, some hooked to machines, some to random bags of fluid.

Yet, despite all of it, she still looked absolutely stunning.

“Well, sit down or something. You’re creeping me out just standing there.”

Damian shuffled awkwardly to the opposite side of her bed, his legs wobbling as he lowered himself into the chair.

“Uhm, I brought you some flowers-”

“I hate the color white.” Damian felt his eyebrow twitch, but he tried his best to hold back the expression he felt. Gently, he reached back, setting the flowers on the windowsill.

“I-Uhm-I also brought you some chocolat-”

“I’m on a liquid-only diet for the next two weeks.”

Damian could feel the red rushing to his face as he breathed deeply. He knew there was a chance that she would be spiteful, but he hadn’t been completely ready for it. His fuse was short, even if it was his soulmate, he wasn’t sure he could contain the explosion.

“Are you feeling any better?” Marinette scoffed, her eyes never leaving her hands.

“Did you fly all the way to Paris for small talk Damian?” He wasn’t sure how to respond, knowing his next words might be his last. “Ask what you really want to. Like why did I detransform before trying to face the mugger? Or why have I tried to kill myself multiple times even if each time ended in failure?”

“I-”

“Ask me why all my friends left me. Ask me why my master chose the easy way out, forgetting everything before passing on weeks later without even a single message about his death from him or his girlfriend. Ask me why I hate life so much that I just don’t see the reason in living anymore. Ask me if I think you’ll change my mind! Spoiler alert! You won’-”

“God woman, do you ever shut up? Give me five damn seconds to get my thoughts together.”

Damian instantly felt the eyes of Tikki fall upon him, the anger draining from his body only to be replaced by his rising fear. He felt the apology building up, but before he could even let the first word spill out, a bitter laugh cut him off.

“Yeah, I do shut up. But only sometimes. I figured Tikki told you everything. I also figured you’d have questions. I’m not interested in telling my sob story over again and I’m not interested in some knight in shining armor swooping in to save me, Got it?”

Damian tried to speak, but it was as if his voice were caught in his throat. What could he say to her? He wasn’t trying to be her knight? He didn’t need her explanations? Everything sounded so thoughtless, but he couldn’t string together one coherent and earnest sentence to save his life.

“What I am interested in is your nonsensical shouting. You ‘need me’? You just met me, how do you know that you need me?”

If he wasn’t already as red as a tomato, he was certain that was how he looked now.

“I,” he cleared his voice, praying to whatever was listening to keep the crack away, “I just had this feeling swell up in my chest seeing you like that. I was terrified and it scared me. It scared me to feel that way about someone who I had just laid eyes on. I had heard about soulmate bonds and how they affect you. They can strengthen you, but they can also be your downfall. I needed to get to know you, to know how our bond would affect me.”

He paused, the feeling of her eyes on him choking him up.

“I, uh, I know it’s selfish, but I couldn’t let you die. You don’t have to believe me, you don’t even have to listen to me, but I have been where you are before. But before I could even make my first attempt, I had a group of people come into my life, people who lifted me up and saved me. I was scared that you didn’t have that and I arrogantly believed I could do that for you. I’m truly sorry Marinette,  but I refuse to apologize for saving your life. If I could, I would do it over and over and over again as many times as it takes until you decide to keep living.”

The silence was deafening. Even if she just yelled at him and told him to leave, he would take it over this quiet. He didn’t dare look up, he barely felt the urge to breathe. It was as if everything fiber in him was holding their breath, waiting to hear her response, any response.

“You’re really not gonna leave me alone, huh?”

Her voice sounded tight as if she were holding back tears. The urge surged through him to reach forward and pull her into a hug, but he contained himself, defaulting to a simple nod instead. Again, the silence followed, but he was patient. He would wait all day if it meant hearing her speak again.

“Fine. I’m not guaranteeing a damn thing, but I can offer you a start.”

“A start?” Damian risked a small glance up, his heart racing at the sight. She was smiling, a genuine smile. It looked out of place among her tear-stained face, but he would be lying if he didn’t say it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

“Yeah, apparently I’m going to need someone to stay by my side 24/7 when they release me. Someone to take care of me. A stay-at-home nurse if you will. So, I nominate you, Damian. Your response?”

“Absolutely, it would be my honor.” His reply was instant, his smile unwavering even after she chucked her pillow at him, cussing him out in a manner that Todd would be proud of.

Yes, it was just a start. Yes, it didn't mean anything was fixed. But, there was one thing that put his heart at ease.

He wasn’t too late.

No, in fact, he was just in time to save her life. And at that very moment, he vowed to never wait till it was almost too late again.

Despite everything that had happened, he decided he could live with that.

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[aphrodite-would-be-proud]

🕯Anon said: just wanna say I adore your writing and how you write Reiner and the kids and the other warriors is my favourite thing ever !! I just wanna give them all hugs :) do u have any hcs for the types of jobs you see them all doing in modernverse ?🕯

The types of jobs they have in modern au

{Annie, Bertolt, Colt, Marcel, Pieck, Porco, Reiner, Zeke, }

{Implied Reiner x reader}

{ "Porto" 1935 by Renato Natali 1883-1979 }

Annie is an Animal rescue worker.

Having had experience as a dog trainer before, it wasn't hard to find a full time job at her local shelter after graduating high school, having volunteered there before.

With time, effort and a lot of energy she made her way into the position of "animal control officer" now she spends her days busting animal's abusers doors and rescuing injured or neglected pets.

With long shifts and a high maintenance job, her time was all poured into her work. Usually she'd be exhausted after a long day.

Despite that, she's fulfilled and satisfied with her job. Not having to deal with a lot of people is a plus too, it's a hard job yes but she prefers it this way.

Her friends are bumped about not being able to see her a lot but they understand, plus she keeps in touch with them by lurking in the group chat only to send a snarky remark to stir the pot every now and then.

Bertolt sees her everyday because they work at the same animal shelter, even if their jobs are different they still walk home together, she also met some different people like Hitch and Marco at her job.

The kids love her job, they think it's badass, especially Gabi and Udo. Gabi because Annie gets to kick people in the face and Udo because he genuinely cares about animals.

She'd never tell anyone this, but part of the reason she wanted the job was because she felt guilty for her past self and wanted to fight for those who couldn't fight for themselves.

Bertolt is a veterinarian.

Having changed his mind post graduation and going to college instead of with Reiner, he graduated after 4 years of studying and is currently working with Annie at the local shelter while also planning to open his own clinic one day.

He takes some animals under his personal care for weeks or months even till they get adopted, he fears something bad will happen to the weak or ill ones if left at the shelter overnight.

Just like Annie, the job takes a lot of his time, not to mention caring for animals off of work. So he's in the same situation as her, but for the sake of his best friend he still finds time to visit and hang out once a week.

Reiner and him still text daily, it's mostly pictures Bertolt took of the animals, Annie on her break, interesting plants he finds along the way. And Reiner replies with pictures of the kids.

They still find time to play basketball together, they try to keep it a secret from Annie because she will kick their ass in it.

Bertolt is comfortable with his job, he feels like he belongs and likes being needed. Yes the long hours are a con but seeing the fruits of his labour grow and get better day by day makes it all worth it.

The kids like visiting his house because there usually will be a new dog or some animal in there every month or so, Reiner makes sure they don't bother the animals. 

Something he's never told anyone is a big part of the reason he changed his mind last minute was because Animals feel much safer and secure for him to work with than humans.

Colt is a college student working part time.

He's majoring in nursing, being a four years degree he's trying to balance his studies with work and taking care of Falco.

Zeke offered him to work full time after graduation at his clinic, since he's been working part time there for a while and the pay is good, plus it's really convenientnal.

He has worked different part time jobs in the past like a barista, flower shop assistant, tutor, kindergarten teacher, etc.

Between all his responsibilities he barely has time for himself, his courses end right before his work starts and the small bits in-between is spent on Falco and his friends. Zeke and Pieck try to take some of his responsibility but he refuses saying it's the least he could do to Falco.

He's really good at his job like multitasking, reading people, gaining their trust and having high stamina that he could stay for night shifts even.

He relies on coffee a lot.

Falco sees him as a real life superhero, they weren't that close before but after the incident he really started appreciating his big brother. 

Something he keeps inside is that despite pursuing this job because he genuinely wanted to make a difference in people's lives and help the sick, he also felt a crushing guilt after his parents passed away, and so he's trying to save other people's lives now instead.

Marcel is a pilot.

It's a dream he always had since middle school, soon after graduation he joined the military to gain enough flying hours and experience to apply to a commercial airline after taking some mathematics, aviation and some general flying courses.

He was officially hired as a pilot after getting his first class medical certificate to check his health.

His work isn't measured by hours to him but by days, he needs to be available 24/7 in case of an emergency call. Now he's working overseas and far away from his friends.

You've actually never met Marcel, only seen pictures of him and received letters. The person he keeps in touch with the most is Porco.

He likes his work, it's his dream. He doesn't like the work hours and being so absent from his friends and brother, he misses them so much at times.

Pieck is a tattoo artist.

Her shop is actually her old flower shop after she decided to change her career. She's always been good with plants and taking care of them, at that time Colt worked as her assistant. 

It wasn't till later after some years of practice and training under other artists that she was confident enough about her skills to start the project 

Her art is full of life, mesmerising and beautiful. She puts her soul in every piece and has gained a good reputation because of it, plus having really high ratings and strict hygiene rules, no health inspector could ever challenge her.

Having her own independent work meant that she has a very flexible schedule, being mostly free ment she could pursue other hobbies like gardening.

A peaceful and simple life where she can indulge in her art and be happy is all she ever wanted

Porco is a frequent customer of hers that gets a family discount, Zeke came once before and later sent his friend, a really tall and blonde woman who became her most frequent customer.

Zofia thinks her work is really cool and wants to go and just watch her do her thing, but it's frowned upon to have a kid just sitting at a tattoo shop.

Despite changing into this career, the town people still think of her as the sweet flower shop lady.

Porco is a bartender.

That job came to him by accident more than anything, he was working part time as a bouncer in a local bar but a slot was open after the old bartender suddenly quit and he gave it a chance.

He didn't expect to love it so much, neither did he know about his hidden talent in mixing drinks. So he took it as full time and changed to better bars after gaining the experience he needed.

Being naturally charismatic and good at influencing people, while also multitasking in making drinks and keeping a conversation going, he was instantly a hit in whatever place he worked at.

Working the night shift ment he's mostly free in the morning, he tries to help Pieck with her gardening and is actually attempting to grow some plants at his house.

Naturally whenever there's a gathering, he's the one mixing drinks and being the self assigned bartender who openly judges his friends for their choice in drinks. The charismatic persona being thrown out the window and replaced by a no mouth filter.

He genuinely cares tho, he's the one taking care of someone when they drink more they can handle. It's mostly Colt who underestimates his drinks and is left clinging to Porco who drives him home.

Because of his line of work, tattoos and general brash personality, the kids' parents don't like him even one bit. They're suspicious of him no matter how many times Reiner assures them he's trustworthy.

It's actually only Colt who trusts Falco with him, and maybe Zofia's mom who is at the bar every weekend. 

Reiner is a firefighter.

With his mother pushing him into this line of work, he applied for the physical and psychological exams after graduation before getting accepted. He wasn't unprepared per say but actually being in that line of work was more than he could ever prepare for.

It instantly took a great hit at his mental health, so much in fact that he was thankful Bertolt changed his mind last minute and didn't follow him in this job.

It was both everything he ever wanted, like saving people, helping children, animals and knowing it's him who saved them even if it means putting his own life at risk.

But also everything he hated, like the hunting faces and screams of the people who were far too gone for him to save, the recurring nightmares and constant guilt paired with imposter syndrome.

He works a 24/72 shift, meaning he works for a whole day before getting 3 days off. Approximately only working 7-8 days a month, not to mention unpaid leave, sick days and holidays.

So it both gave him a really tight schedule on some days and on others more free time than he knows what to do with, that's why he naturally took the main role of being the kid's caretaker. Looking after his little cousins genuinely helped him and he liked playing the big brother role.

Especially to Gabi, he was the only stable adult in her life. It's common knowledge that you call Reiner first for anything concerning her before her parents because he's more likely to answer and be available.

After meeting you, his life improved to the better as you moved in and became a trustworthy person in his life, someone he can depend on to take care of his little cousins on the days he works.

Not to mention that after you persuaded him to see a therapist, his mental health began improving too.

Gabi may or may have not committed arson at one point, she still wants to be a firefighter despite that and follow in Reiner's footsteps.

He hasn't told anyone beside you this, but he really fears for her, but doesn't have the heart to tell her no.

Zeke is a doctor.

Previously he worked in a hospital but was able to open his own clinic afterwards, Colt was a great help to him at that time when he was getting on his own feet and even worked a lot of unpaid hours.

After that he insisted Colt works an official part time job there with a much higher pay, till he graduates at least. Plus the experience will greatly improve his resume.

Zeke is brilliant at his job, he'd be a perfect doctor wasn't it for the fact he's a huge hypocrite who doesn't follow the advice he gives his patients. 

He does a side job in his free time that honestly no one of his friends know what it is, but they know it gained him a lot of connections and made new friends.

Something he always keeps buried inside was that he really never expected himself to become a doctor especially after what his dad did to his mother, and yet here he is. In some way it's like his own personal stepping stone to prove he's a better man than his father ever was.

Bonus:

Falco: middle schooler

He does volunteer work on the weekends, sometimes Udo joins him.

Doesn't want Gabi becoming a firefighter.

Likes all videogames , just all types.

Likes watching cartoons and medical shows with Colt who covers Falco eyes whenever an adult scene is on

His favourite food is chicken nuggets

Wants to try coffee

Is good at PE

Reads comic books

Likes yellow and blue

Gabi: middle schooler

Takes self defence classes and really wants to go to summer camp

Wants to be like Reiner, aspires to be as strong too.

Likes shooter videogames or really hard ones.

Likes watching Anime and cartoons

Her favourite food is Pizza

Wants to try energy drinks

Is also really good at PE and surprisingly good at puzzles.

Likes red and pink 

Udo: middle schooler

Takes music classes at the weekend, wants to go to science camp

Kinda wants to be like Reiner or an astronaut.

Likes calming videogames

Likes watching anime and Minecraft let's play

His favourite food is mac and cheese 

His favourite drink is strawberry milk

Is good at language classes and creative writing, he also just likes animals a lot.

Likes green and black

Zofia: middle schooler (could've been in a special program)

Takes music classes with Udo

Wants to be a lawyer

Likes co-op Videogames 

Likes watching true crime and youtubers drama

Her favourite food is Donuts

She likes strawberry milk and ice tea 

Is good at all classes

Likes white and purple

[mcwriting]

The Marriage Project (3)

Anddddd I’m back with this bby. Sorry I’ve been slowing down some of my content. Last Friday I had to deal with family health matters on top of schoolwork and a sorority function I had to be at. Anyways. 

High school AU. Tom Holland. Yeah.

Story Masterlist

Warnings: mild language

Rating: Between T and M

Word Count: 2351

% approximately the 3rd week of September %

You’d had two away volleyball games that week and Tom had an away football game, so by Saturday you were exhausted. Your Friday game hadn’t been too far, but the football team had traveled a decent distance, so you figured they’d gotten home late.

You still showed up at Tom’s on time, though, as planned the day before.

Nikki opened the door at your arrival.

“Oh, hey, y/n! Come on in!”

You returned her greeting and entered, looking around expectantly.

“If you’re looking for Tom, he’s not up yet. They got home pretty late last night.”

“I figured that would be the case.”

You noticed that on the dining room table were a few grocery bags.

“Oh, do you need help with those? I can wait on Tom,” you offered.

“No don’t worry about those bags, but if you’re looking to do something, I was about to make some apple pies for a get together tomorrow. I’d love your help.”

You agreed and followed her into the kitchen. After peeling and chopping apples for a few minutes, someone else walked into the kitchen.

“Well who’s this? I don’t remember having a daughter,” Tom’s dad said. You turned to look at him and smile, then continued cutting fruit.

“Oh Dominic you know y/n. She’s the one Tom’s always talking about, competing and whatnot. They’re doing that marriage project together.”

Your face heated up so you continued to look down at the apple.

He talks about me? Like how much he hates me or what?

“Yes of course, how could I forget? You’re one of the best soccer players I’ve seen! Good to see you again,” he said.

“Nice seeing you, too, Mr. Holland.”

“Please, call me Dom. Now how come you’re down here and not with Tom?”

“I was waiting for him to get up. Plus, Nikki promised me a slice,” you grinned.

“Well I’d definitely call that a fair trade. Nikki’s pies are the best in the world,” he turned to his wife, “I’ll be back in a bit. I’m meeting with the publisher today.”

“Good luck, honey. I’m sure you’ll be great,” Nikki encouraged, giving her husband a quick peck.

“Thanks, dear. Once again, it was nice seeing you, y/n. Feel free to come make desserts here any time,” he joked and you just laughed and waved.

A few minutes after he’d left, Nikki spoke up again.

“You know, y/n. I’m glad you and Tom were paired up for this project. I’ve really liked having you around the past few weeks, and it seems like Tom has learned a lot from you. I mean, He even went out and bought some pads and tampons and things for his bathroom this week.”

Now your face really burned. 

“He did?”

“Yeah. He said he’d better be safe than sorry. I’m glad you two look out for each other like that, even if you are rivals. By the way, I made sure he didn’t get the cardboard ones,” she added. With that, you fell into rhythmic silence.

Not long after, you heard footsteps coming down the stairs. From the hall, Tom’s voice called out.

“Mom? It’s almost 2. Have you heard anything from-” he walked through the kitchen door. “Oh. You’re here. What are you doing?”

You grabbed a towel to wipe off your hands as you turned to face him.

“I got here at 1 but felt bad about you getting home late so I’ve just been helping your mom make pie. She promised me a slice.”

“You’re really gonna give her some mom? She doesn’t even deserve to see how they’re made!”

“Oh Tom I swear. Y/n is a nice girl, just get over yourself. But, if you two want to go get to work I think I’ve got it handled from here. I’ll bring you both some when the first one’s done.”

You grabbed your bag and headed up behind Tom and got to work quickly. Eventually you took a break when Nikki brought up pie and ice cream as promised with a couple waters. 

You ate in silence, Tom leaned against his bed and you against the wall across from him, when something she had said earlier popped into your head.

“Hey, Tom?”

“Yeah princess?” he replied, not looking up. You rolled your eyes and continued.

“Your mom said something earlier that I wanted to ask about.”

“If she told you anything incriminating it’s not true.”

“Suuuureeee. Anyways, she said you, uh, stocked up your cabinet in the bathroom. That’s really cool of you.”

“Yeah, well, can’t have you bleeding everywhere now can we? But, em. Yeah. The fact that you were so panicked over something that seems so trivial spoke pretty loud. I thought it’s better to just stay safe.”

You sat in silence for a little bit, just eating.

“Mind if I ask you something?” he said.

“Shoot.”

“What does it feel like? You know? They don’t mention that stuff in health articles.”

You contemplated for a little bit before answering.

“Well… like I said before, it’s different for everyone, but I’ll try my best. Cramps are kinda like being scratched and punched from the inside all at once. Freebleeding just feels like… wet and sticky. I find it disgusting so I wear mostly tampons.”

“Interesting. Thanks, princess.”

Once finishing off your snack, you got back to work. By the time you were done, it was almost 4.

“See you Monday, y/n”

“Yep. Oh, by the way, I have a small volleyball tournament next weekend so I can’t do Saturday. Is Sunday okay or do you wanna get together another day?”

“Can you do Thursday? We just have morning workouts that day.”

“Yeah I have practice last period so I’ll just shower and meet you in the parking lot? We can go to my place.”

“Can’t. I have to take the boys home.”

“If you want, you can take them home and I’ll pick you up. It’ll give me time to shower and change and then we can just carpool.”

“I don’t know. Sure you even know how to drive?”

“I’ll have you know I passed that test with flying colors sophomore year.”

Eventually he agreed and with that you were back out the door, giving one final thanks to Nikki.

%

By Wednesday you and Tom had finished your little quilt and Mrs. Flynn loved it. 

You and Tom obviously didn’t play when it came to grades, even if it was home economics.

Thursday, you were leaving your last class before practice and reminded Tom you were picking him up that afternoon, to which his friends looked at him funny and kinda messed with him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

When you pulled up into his driveway after school, he plopped into the passenger's seat and held out a foil-wrapped object in his left hand.

“What is that?” you asked.

“My mom wanted you to have it. She made bread.”

“Oh. Well thanks. I’ll have to thank her for it next time I see her. You can just set it in the back seat for now.”

You drove back to your place, pulling into the garage and leading Tom through the door. Your parents were still at work, so you told Tom you’d just work in the living room.

“I don’t want them to say anything weird about us being home alone in my room,” you explained.

You sat on the floor quietly typing when you remembered something.

“Hey, how did you do on the calc test?”

“95. You?”

“Damn. 94. I’ll make a comeback next time,” you joked, earning an eye roll.

After a half hour, your mom came home.

“Hey honey, how was your day? Did you beat Tom in whatever you were competing with him in today?” she asked, part joking since she knew of your rivalry well.

“It was fine, and mom. We have a guest, remember?” you said through gritted teeth.

She looked over the couch, where she found Tom waving at her awkwardly.

“Oh. Hi there. I forgot you were coming over today. So sorry about that.”

“No worries, Mrs. y/l/n. I beat her by a point today so it evens out,” he joked. You were annoyed at his banter with your mom and cut it off.

“Okay, well, Tom. Let’s go finish this in my room now that my mom’s home,” you said, getting everything and carrying it to the bedroom.

You tossed your bag and papers on the floor and quickly picked up some random things laying around, such as a pair of volleyball shoes and stray athletic socks. You especially rushed to snatch a rogue lace bra.

From the corner of your eye, you could see Tom standing still, looking around the room like you had the first time at his house.

Your walls were light grey but covered in your paintings and other art. One shelf mounted to a wall held all of your ribbons and trophies from sports, quiz bowl, and art fairs. Your bedspread was baby pink and sheets light yellow, and the same pink was strewn around the room in the form of desk accents and other blankets. You had a large plush cat resting near your pillows.

“Wow. So you’re like… a real girl. Huh.” he stated flatly. You stood up from tossing everything into your closet.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, like, you’re all tough and smart and sporty but you have pink everywhere and a stuffed animal on your bed.”

“You do realize women are complex creatures right? Considering we’re human and all?”

“Yeah, of course. I guess I’ve just never seen this side of you. I shouldn’t have worded it that way. Sorry.”

It surprised you to hear Tom apologize over something so small. Usually he would stand his ground, wave you off, or just move on. 

“It’s fine. I just hate when people stereotype, you know? Like I can love science, art, sports, pink, sweatpants, and skirts all at the same time. And I do. And I’m not trying to sound like the ‘I’m not like other girls’ girl, because I am a girl, but I’m more than just one side or the other.”

“So why do you hide the ‘typically girly’ stuff? I’ve never seen you at school wearing a pink dress and makeup. I mean even at dances you always wear dark colors and at parties I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in something other than jeans or shorts.”

You shrugged as you made your way onto the floor next to your computer, Tom following suit.

“I guess I try to stick to one aesthetic. I mean, it already seems to shock the administration that I’m good at and enjoy doing two sports, art, and honors stuff. I don’t think they could handle another layer of me,” you chuckled. “Isn’t there anything you hide?”

He thought about it for a few seconds, leaning his head against the wall.

“Well, I guess you know this now, but I like Spider-Man.”

“Yeah, but it’s considered normal for guys to like comic book characters. When I tell people I like Spider-Man, they just assume I have a crush on the actor. Come on, there has to be something you don’t show off at school.”

“Okay fine. I’ve got a couple. One, I actually like to cook. A lot. It almost kills me to be partnered up with the guys sometimes because they’re so clueless in the kitchen. And two, I love dance. I did it for a bit as a kid but got embarrassed and decided to go the normal sports route. I still go to the Nutcracker every year, though.”

You found yourself smiling at his honesty.

“Really? You know my mom put me in little kid ballet classes for a while, but I was really disruptive in class because I had too much energy, so I got into other sports instead. Has the football team never done a ballet class? I know some schools make them.”

“One summer. Maybe two years ago? We were doing a team building thing and they made us take one. I couldn’t make myself pretend to be bad so I just let everyone believe I was a natural talent,” he laughed, causing you to do the same. “You should’ve seen those guys. That’s probably one of my best football memories.”

You both sit in comfortable silence for a while. You couldn’t remember a time that you both were open to each other without the slightest bit of tension.

After a few more moments, you both got back to work.

%

You didn’t realize that it was past 5 o’clock until your mother was at your doorway telling you dinner was ready.

“Feel free to stay. We’d love to have you for dinner, Tom,” she offered, then went back to the kitchen. 

“Do you mind? I can just walk home if not.”

“Just stay, man. What’s one dinner? I’d feel at least somewhat bad to make you walk all the way home. We’re done for the week anyways, so I’ll just drive you after we eat.”

You led him to the kitchen, where your mom had cooked some ravioli and tossed a salad. You built your plates and thanked your mom, then sat at the dining room table.

You ate in awkward silence since your parents were in the living room. Your dad had greeted you and Tom when he came home from work, not really realizing who Tom was.

Once your plates were practically cleaned, you cleared the table and took Tom home.

“Thanks again for dinner and driving me. Good luck this weekend.”

Who is this guy and where did he take Tom? He never wishes me luck.

“Yeah no problem. Thank your mom for the bread. And good luck on your game tomorrow, too. I hear it’s gonna be a tough one.”

”They just haven’t met me yet,” he joked, then got out of the car and headed to the door. He tossed one last wave back as you pulled away.

%

A/N: I’m happy to be posting the next part and with the free time that I have at the moment of formatting this I’m hoping that I can reedit ch 4 and have it up by next week. As always, love you all and thanks for reading!

If you want to be added to TMP or my permanent tag list, please send an ask/message so I can verify that you get added!

Story Tag List: @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @l0lmk, @primadonnasdream, @bookworm06, @thenoddingbunny-blog

[spiderman-homecomeme]

day one - pull out pt. 1

ROAD TRIP AU

A/N: GUYS!!! Spideychelle Week is finally here!! We made it!!! hell yeah!!! I have been so excited to see what everyone’s been working on while also being very stressed trying to figure out what I’m working on, you know?? Anyway, I couldn’t wait to post this one. It’s the first part of two, the conclusion being with day 7. And i know, the title is a little suggestive, but the spicy stuff doesn’t come until the next part! 

Huge thanks to @spideychelleweek​ for setting this up!! 

okay!! hope you all enjoy some 2.7k of peter being a little shit, mj being an absolute saint, and some fluff mixed in!!

Read here or on AO3

-

“You almost ready?” MJ asks from the living room.

“Uh—” Peter runs both hands through his hair, mussing it up out of a mix of both frustration at himself and panic. He stares down at his now empty backpack, all of the contents he’d originally packed dumped unceremoniously onto the bed. “Yeah!” He shouts as he starts to stuff the wrinkled t-shirts and shorts back in haphazardly. 

“Are you sure?” 

He jumps at her voice suddenly entering his room. Spinning around, he smiles sheepishly. “Almost!”

MJ leans against the doorframe, her own duffle bag slung over her shoulder. “Need any help?”

Peter exhales sharply through his nose before scratching the back of his neck. He goes to one of his biggest decision-making problems, holding up two near-identical pairs of swim trunks, both blue, one a lighter shade, and one a darker shade. “Which one of these should I bring?”

MJ fixes him with a deadpan, unimpressed stare. “The light blue.”

Peter nods, almost resolute. “Yeah… Yeah… But I mean…” He sighs. “I do like the dark blue.”

“So bring the dark blue.”

“But you said the light blue.”

“Okay, then bring the light blue.”

Peter stays silent, his gaze flitting between the two similar pairs of shorts. 

“Bring both.” 

He looks up at her, letting out a nervous, embarrassed laugh. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right. Good idea.”

MJ stares at a spot on the wall just above his head, and he assumes it’s because she’s silently asking whatever higher being is watching them right now for another ounce of patience. 

“Sorry,” Peter says after a beat, his hands wringing the last t-shirt he plans to pack. “I know I can be a pain in the ass, so… Thanks. For putting up with me, I guess?”

Her stony expression doesn’t last long, falling as she lets out a quiet huff of laughter. She turns back around, heading into the living room again, and although he can’t see her face, Peter swears he can hear the hint of a smile in her tone as she calls back to him, “You’re good!”

His stomach flips, and he feels himself falling deeper and deeper into the pit of catching feelings for his best friend. It’s dangerous territory, he knows, but it’s not as if he can help it. MJ’s just… so… 

So...

She’s so  MJ.  

And he just likes her  so. Much.  

She makes him laugh, both times when he needs it and times when he least expects it. 

She’s such a wildly cool person, he’s not even sure she’s real sometimes. 

And although she has this hard, deadpan exterior, he’s seen her when she’s at her mushiest and softest. 

And today, he’s seen her today, as they get ready for their three day long trip to Virginia beach.

MJ had so graciously agreed to wait for him to be done with class before they’d head out. Why she was so willing to put up with that, he had no idea. He didn’t get out of class until 4:20 PM, giving them not very much daylight for the seven-and-a-half hour drive ahead of them to Betty’s parent’s beach cottage down in Virginia. Now at this point, nearly 5:00 PM, they wouldn’t be getting in until a little after midnight, and that was at the earliest; if they took out bathroom breaks, speed limits, snack stops, etc. 

Part of him, a tiny, tiny part of him, wants to think she might have originally agreed to this because of the minute possibility that she could feel the same way about him that he felt about her. 

But then that part of him is crushed by the realization that perhaps she was doing it because she’s a good person and a good friend. 

Of course, there’s been moments where he’s been sure—absolutely sure—that she felt the same way. Eye contact that’s lasted a bit too long, said too much; touches that have lingered and burned when they shouldn’t. 

And again, the rational side of his brain bursts in like the Kool-Aid man, rubbing it in his face that he’s just imagining things, that all of that stuff he thinks he’s seeing is just himself getting his hopes up.

It’s thoughts like these—the good and the not so good—that make the idea of spending seven-ish hours alone in a car with her seem like a really, really,  really  bad idea. He’s not sure how he’s going to function the rest of the day, and honestly, the next three days. How he’s not going to say something stupid and get himself in deep shit, he has no idea. 

Right now, as they get into the car, MJ climbing into the driver’s seat, Peter in the passenger seat, he figures the best way to deal with this—his feelings for her, his dumbass brain, everything—is just to avoid, avoid,  avoid.

His main objective is to not spend any time alone with her outside of this drive.

He’s lost in thought, planning out the sleeping arrangements—Betty had said that she and her sister and two cousins always stayed at this house, so it had four sleeping spots—so much so that he barely registers the car engine roaring to life, doesn’t even notice MJ pulling-out of the parking lot and onto the highway. 

“Dude?” 

MJ’s voice, once again, yanks him out of his thoughts. 

“Uh… What—huh?” He sputters.

She passes a glance in his direction, the corner of her mouth twitching upward briefly. “You good?”

He seems to have forgotten how to speak for a moment, stammering incoherent sounds that are only vaguely human before he’s actually able to answer her. 

“What? Yeah!” He says perhaps a bit too dramatically. “I’m fine. You good?”

MJ’s eyes shift between him and the road in front of her. “Uh-huh.”

“Good!” A wide, borderline too-excited smile stretches across his face. “Great!”

Again, she glances at him. “I don’t know. I mean, you look kinda pale. You seem jumpy. You’re not gonna puke are you?” She lightly teases, though it’s evident that there’s some genuine concern there.

“What? No, no.” Peter shakes his head vehemently. “No. No no. No. I’m fine.”

“Okay, good,” MJ gives a single nod. “Because I don’t wanna have to make you pay to have my car detailed again.”

Peter lets out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah—Yeah. Me neither.”

Already, he feels as though he’s not doing so great. He’s too much in his head. But… he doesn’t want to risk saying something stupid…. And yet… staying silent only lets him listen to his thoughts even more, and then he just keeps thinking about this whole situation. 

He just needs to distract himself. 

For the first hour of the trip, he has a hard time coming up with anything that isn’t talking to her, or listening to the faint music on the stereo. He tries looking at his phone for a bit during hour-one, but that only proves to make him the teensiest bit carsick, the contents of his stomach lightly sloshing as he attempts to read through his Twitter feed. Then, he tries to sleep a bit, closing his eyes and letting the gentle hum of the drive help him to drift off. 

He tries pointing out every farm animal he sees in hour two, and that proves to help just a little, giving his brain something else to focus on while also keeping his eyes on the moving world outside so he doesn’t actually vomit. 

“Cow,” he says, approximately a million times as they drive through a small bit of countryside in Maryland, pointing at every single one he sees. “Cow. Ooo, horse! Wait—” He stops. “It’s a cow. False alarm.”

“Cow.” “Cows!” “MJ! Another cow!”

Every time, MJ gives a slow, deliberate blink. 

“Oh my God. Cow-puppies!”

“You mean calves, Pete?”

“No,” He shakes his head, mumbling under his breath. “Cow-puppies.”

He’s not sure if MJ laughs at that, but he can definitely see the slightly-pained humor in her eyes as she glares at him. 

“Did you know that a cow can walk up a flight of stairs, but it can’t walk back down?” Peter even starts reading off a list of fun cow facts from different farming websites. 

Again, anything to keep him distracted.

Anything.

“The average domestic cow sleeps only four hours a day.”

“Cows are devotional mothers and are known to walk miles to find their calves. Aww that’s cute!”

“There are more than 800 different breeds of cows around the world. Wow. That’s… That’s a lot.”

“Cows drink the equivalent to an entire tub of bathwater each day.”

“You know, most people think that cows have four stomachs, but apparently that’s not true. Get this—” Peter starts when he gets to the end of his list of fifty fun facts. “It’s one stomach. With four chambers. Crazy, right?”

“Mmhmm,” MJ hums, staring straight ahead at the road. She seems to relax at the few seconds of silence that follow. “You seem really interested in cows today.”

Peter struggles to answer at first. “Oh, oh yeah. You know. They’re just… a super cool animal. Super… Super, uh… interesting.”

MJ’s mouth hangs open a bit as she passes him a side-eye glance. “Uh-huh.”

Finally, when they reach the half-way point, they switch drivers, Peter thanking God herself for giving him the chance to focus on something that’s not MJ. Or cows. It’s much easier at that point, driving being something that easily takes his mind off of everything going on. And MJ does help with that to some degree; she reads for a while in his first hour of driving—how she’s able to do that and not want to hurl all over the dashboard, he has no idea. 

And it still seems fine, normal even, when she puts her book down, stretching while suggesting they find something new to listen to. “Ned made us this playlist to listen to on the way. Said something about how it’ll ‘hype us up,’ whatever the hell that means,” she snorts. 

Peter grins, his hands relaxed at ten-and-two. “Ooo yeah. Sounds good.”

“Or, we can always just listen to Old MacDonald on repeat. You know, since you seem to love cows so much.”

Peter sighs in slight embarrassment, lips pressing together into a thin line to suppress a smile.

When the first song that comes on is  Let’s Stay Together, and Al Green sings the words  I, I’m so in love with you,  Peter thinks once again that he might be in trouble. 

Peter quickly tries to turn it down, but MJ stops his hand. “Wait, wait. I like this song,” she says as she pushes his hand back to the wheel.

He just keeps telling himself that it’s not a big deal, it’s just a song, and soon, a new one will play. Everything will be fine. He doesn’t need to worry. 

But then, he thinks he might actually kill Ned when  My Girl  comes on, and then again when the Beach Boys start singing  Wouldn’t it Be Nice .

He might really do it. 

In a panic, he just shuts off the music completely. 

“Hey—” MJ starts, reaching for the volume button again. 

“—Music distracts me,” Peter spits out hastily, a bit too defensive to be convincing. “I can’t—I can’t concentrate on the road. Just uh—Just need some quiet.”

He can actually feel her doubtful gaze burning into him, and he doesn’t have to look to see that she’s probably raising a very disbelieving eyebrow right at him. Even so, she doesn’t say anything else, settling back into her seat, bringing a knee up to her chest as she watches the fields pass by. 

The silence, as he had anticipated, doesn’t seem to help. He cringes, mostly at himself. He’s been trying to hard to make this casual, to be nonchalant, and he’s pretty sure he’s done the exact opposite in the nearly five hours that they been stuck in the car. He wants to apologize, but he holds back, afraid that saying anything at all would bring too much attention to how he’s been acting. 

But he also knows that it’s only a matter of hours, minutes, or seconds before MJ calls him out on all this bullshit. Frankly, he’s a little surprised and confused as to why she hasn’t already. 

Maybe she’s just accepted that one of her best friends is one of the weirdest people on planet Earth. 

So, why in the world he thinks it’s a good idea to say what he says next, as they’re driving along more countryside at night, he’s not quite sure. 

“You know that…  Manatees are considered the cows of the sea.”

“Oh, my GOD,” MJ groans. “What are you on?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” 

“I know you said you were good, but you’re acting really loser-y right now,” MJ glares, but her tone still has that slight hint of worry in it. “Like, way more than usual. Are you okay?”

“I mean, yeah?” Peter sighs. “Kinda. It’s fine. I’m sorry. I just—” He flinches, lips twisting as he tries to think of what to say without giving anything away. He passes a brief glance in her direction, seeing the faint concern in her expression, her face glowing prettily under the blue light of the dashboard. 

He lets out a sharp exhale. “I’m just tired,” he lies. 

She watches him for a moment, and he knows—just knows—that she doesn’t quite believe him. Being tired explains nothing about his behavior. 

But thankfully, she lets it go, or at least she seems to. 

“We can turn the music back on,” Peter speaks again, softly, nodding his head in her direction. “I’m sorry. Again. I’ll—I’ll stop being weird.”

MJ lets out a short sigh before shaking her head with a tired huff of a laugh. “It’s fine, man. Don’t worry about it.”

He flips back on the stereo, trying not to let his heart race as Electric Love plays.

The rest of the drive is spent in a much more comfortable silence, yet there’s still the hint of tension hanging between them after Peter’s weird behavior earlier on. This, he thinks, is something that will keep him up for nights to come. It’ll be that one embarrassing memory his brain decides to remind him of as he’s trying to fall asleep, torturing him. He’ll cringe, wondering why he couldn’t just be cool like any normal person. 

As they get closer and closer to the beach house, and as the time gets close to midnight, with still an hour left, he can see MJ falling asleep in her seat from the corner of his eye. But he can also see her fighting it, trying to stay awake.

And then he wonders if she’s only trying to stay up so she can keep him company. 

“MJ,” He says, voice soft. “You can sleep. It’s fine. I got the rest of the drive.”

With her eyes closed, she lets out a deep breath. “I’m not sleeping. I’m just resting my eyes,” she mumbles sleepily. 

There’s another flip in his stomach, his chest warming as he tries to fight back a smile, not able to think anything else besides how cute she is right now. 

He grins. “Okay. Sure.”

She reaches a hand out to smack him, but she misses. He chuckles under his breath. 

MJ doesn’t have to energy to try again, and soon she seems to have succumbed to her body’s need for rest. 

Peter lets his hand fall to the gear shift between the seats, relaxing. 

But he tenses, feeling MJ’s hand meet his, her skin soft against his own. She doesn’t seem to be awake enough to notice, as she doesn’t move away. He gently moves his hand again, letting his pinkie rest next to hers, his heart swelling, his head swimming in the feeling of just how nice and warm it feels to have her hand with his. 

What he doesn’t notice, however, is the way MJ’s lips curl into a small, soft smile as she finally drifts off to sleep.

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapter 224-226: Pirates, serial killers and a killer rabbit’s much awaited backstory.

For the sake of time, I will combine my summary of the past few chapters that I missed while I was traveling and I don’t want to break it into smaller bits.

Chapter 224 had a color cover featuring none other than our favorite solitary wildcat sniper Ogata.  I personally love the retro look for this!  It looks like a classic comic from the 1960s with the odd color scheme and the handwritten shaded boxes.

The one box highlights the “100″ in Ogata’s first name as the kanji hyaku and the rest in latin letters. 

The text refers to “Come on, Let’s Go! On wildcat Ogata’s sure-hit express! (one step forward!).  Thanks to discussions on discord the phrase is in reference to the cat moving and delivery company in Japan, Yamato transport aka 黒ねこ (Kuroneko).  A huge shout out to tsurumineko for translating the pun based on their “target hitting/sure hitting” level of service.  I was previously familiar with the company in part due to my love of cats and noticing it everywhere when I’ve visited Japan.

Here is the official logo with a mom cat carrying a kitten and their official HQ (from wikipedia).

I can’t help but wonder if this implies that Ogata is a very reliable character in regards to performing his duties or that he hopes to one day make sure bring his own “kitten” home.  Will Ogata be the one to take Asirpa back home to her kotan, Huci and her family? Either way, it implies that Ogata will get the job done, just like Kuroneko will deliver that package on time for you!  He’ll snipe that target, he’ll get that info, he’ll make sure your mission is a success etc.

The retro look also makes me think of comics like these:

Batman works a bit outside of the law and has that dark edgy feel to it and Ogata also wears a cloak!  Plus, look at the style of Batman and Robin, they’ve got quite the build just like our GK boys do.

Anyways, the cover is a combination of Kuroneko delivery and Batman.

Chapter 224 starts at the Uryu river as Asirpa is lighting a fire to attract a swan to it so that they can have it for dinner.  For some odd reason, Noda chooses to rehash the Asirpa is going to kill a cute/beautiful animal for dinner.  She pulls Sugimoto’s head when she sarcastically replies to him that they will gently grab the swan. . . .

I don’t understand this need to return to early Sugimoto-Asirpa humor.  Shiraishi has returned from pooping and a swan approaches as the two of them freak out upon noticing the other.  I personally find Shiraishi’s concern valid - swans are total assholes, so I’d also want to be upset at a swan at close range.

Asirpa beats it and they begin to prepare it for dinner in a temporary shelter as early on in the manga.  This is a repeat of when they first started working together and ate the deer that Sugimoto failed to shoot.  The three of them in Asirpa’s tent cooking some dinner.

Keep in mind Sugimoto didn’t want to eat the otter head etc etc and he still has issues with things beyond brains.

This time Asirpa really highlights the need to give it the Inaw offerings and place the head in the river.

Sugimoto still can’t eat animal heads and still looks awkward.  However in contrast to chapter 25, after eating Shiraishi begins to explain what he’s observed from Heita’s belongings.  He explains to us in a flashback what Heita told them about gold panning.  He knows now that gold from different rivers looks different so there is a way to identify where it came from.  And now, we get to see Shiraishi shine as he begins to help them lay out a new strategy for finding the gold without the skins.

He first off explains what we already know about the “Noppera-bou incident” which I find interesting based on the fact that he uses Noppera-bou - I wonder if Shiraishi thinks someone else killed the 7 Ainu men and Wilk was moving the gold, but not involved as Wilk told that to Sugimoto.

Shiraishi points out there may be people who know where the gold is hidden - and since supposedly Wilk moved it all by himself, he wouldn’t be able to move it that far. 

He then continues to state, they just need to find the region where the gold dust was from and look close by.  Sugimoto is not convinced by Shiraishi’s line of reasoning at all.  He has a look of total annoyance and he’s like - “we” can’t identify a hidden gold dust stash etc.  I’m disappointed that Asirpa simply chimes in that he’s an idiot as she eats the swan head that Sugimoto wouldn’t.

Shiraishi has to remind them what they learned from Tanigaki back when he was injured and recovering with Huci at Asirpa’s kotan.  Part of the gold was taken from the stash by Wilk and the boat capsized on Lake Shikotsu.  Therefore, they know where a sample of the gold is.  As soon as Shiraishi reminds them of what they know from Tanigaki, he catches Asirpa’s attention and she takes him seriously.

She then summarizes where he’s been going with this - they likely won’t have the skins so they need another game plan.  Bravo Shiraishi!  He has created a plan B for them, better than Sugimoto’s “um maybe we will sweep in and steal the skins from Hijikata or Tsurumi . . .”

Sugimoto immediately rejects Shiraishi’s plan on the fact it is too hard and whines about it.  Asirpa at least has a well thought out and rational reply that the lake is too deep, so they can’t get the evidence.

This leads into a flashback with Heita and our pirate convict at Lake Shikotsu the previous year.  We get a “typical” reveal of his character as he’s completely in the nude about to dive into the cold spring water.  Boutarou the Pirate’s real name is Oosawa Fusatarou and this reveals some of his background as a talented swimmer and diver.

He’s got some rather unique eyebrows - reverse Koito ones and he reveals that he’s going to dive for 35 minutes.  He then uses special breathing techniques to get as much oxygen into his system and he’s got large feet, webbed hands (due to cell death not occurring between his digits during fetal development btw) and he became a convict by drowning people and stealing their stuff.

By having a rope tied to his ankle, Heita can signal to him when his time is up and he can come up from his deep free dive.

The chapter then returns to Shiraishi pointing out that Heita and Mr. Pirate already found the gold.  This means that Shiraishi took the time to look at all of Heita’s samples and that they know the location and it is linked to one of the still remaining convicts.

Shiraishi then reveals that he knew that there was a guy who was intense, physically robust and pushed himself to the limits - so if he could dive to find the gold - he would be the most likely to succeed. The flashback shows that he was able to dive down to Wilk’s canoe and that Heita found at least 4 locations for the gold dust.

With the list of rivers, it means the gold dust found in the canoe can be traced to these four rivers: Toppu River, Saru River, Sorachi River and Shiriuchi River.  I have labeled each of those rivers on the map of Heita’s description of rivers that can be panned for gold and included a few cities for reference.  In yellow is the current approximate location of Asirpa, Sugimoto and Shiraishi on the Uryu river.  The rivers where the gold dust is from are in magenta.  The Toppu River is the closest one to them and the Sorachi and Saru Rivers are reasonably close.

The only river that is further away is the Shiriuchi River fairly close to Hakodate.  Google maps has the Shiriuchi River labelled as the Chinai River (I checked with translator GlassHouses for clarification - apparently it can also be read as the Chinai River and there is one located in Shikoku - thanks for the help!) so if you try to find it in English it won’t be labelled correctly.  Lake Shirotsu is the large lake on the map just next to my arrow pointing to Sapporo.  Only put on a few cities for easy reference, Otaru, close to Asirpa’s kotan, Ashikawa and Kushiro. 

The chapter then ends with Sugimoto holding the list of rivers as his eyes are white.  He figures if they head to those rivers, since the pirate knows where the gold is from they just need to catch a pirate [and skin him].  Stop looking so well murder-y Sugimoto.

The tag line at the end states that every river eventually leads to the sea . . . I guess this must be true in Japan perhaps, but if you live in a basin, or in the Great Lakes region of North America the lake does not lead to the sea . . . . but I digress.  This likely has to do with the pirate reference or something.

Recall that in 223, Hijikata is the one who remarks that Boutarou the pirate is making his move.

with the end of 224, it is confirmed that Boutarou is another faction entering the quest for the gold. 

Quick observations and predictions from this chapter.

1.) Ogata is about to become a key player based on his color cover (if you don’t already get that Ogata is important).  Momma cat needs to take her kittens home.

2.) Shiraishi has laid out their plan to look for the pirate.  This may lead to an alliance or Sugimoto just trying to skin him based on the ending page.  I personally think an alliance with Asirpa-Sugi-Shiraishi and Boutarou to be the most interesting. . . .

3.) Hijikata is not surprised by Boutarou’s move to enter the quest.  He was working with Heita and now we know he will likely have his own faction as well.

4.) Based on my map, some of the parties will need to visit each of these rivers in order to gather information.  With the much farther away Shiriuchi River, it takes the cast close to Hakodate.  I can see this being key in future events involving Hijikata (due to his historical death during the Battle of Hakodate), Koito, since he was kidnapped in Hakodate by Tsurumi with the help of Ogata, Tsukishima and Kikuta.  It seems like some sort of confrontation at Hakodate is in the cards.

Chapter 225 - Another convict enters the story.

So chapter 225 starts out with a clear reference to the infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper who targeted prostitutes in Victorian London and was never caught.  Oh yay, another serial killer - just my fav type of convict. [rolls eyes] The chapter title slums seems to refer to the slums of Sapporo where alcohol and prostitution were the few releases and the area was ripe with disease and violence. 

An older woman is walking back to the inn of her client, he’s a much taller man wearing a western style of dress and a top hat.  The woman is chatting away, she explains that she used to come from a wealthy family in Nagoya, since she’s in Hokkaido, it either implied her family was on the losing side during the Meiji revolution or that her late husband was on the losing side sent up to Hokkaido.

She’s clearly flush with drink and she turns to notice that he may be Japanese based on her “Huh? You’r Japa . . .” as he then grabs her by the face and proceeds to slit her throat and then cut up her body.  As she struggled we get to see her hand pulled his jacket open a bit revealing yet another tattoo - so yep, another convict.

The following morning shows Sapporo police officers trying to keep the press away from a covered corpse, the woman covered with a straw mat.  A member of the press is confirming what happened with a very suspicious looking police officer. Apparently, there was prostitute who was killed in the same location within the past month or less e.g. indicated by the 31st of last month (we don’t know how far into the current month things are).  The man is revealed to be a criminal inspector and he has a shaded face and interesting wrinkles under his eyes.

From the start, this criminal inspector seems to be quite tall compared to the reporter.  The next page reveals his identity as he’s trying to get a scoop on the story by bribing the inspector with food.  The inspector’s face is covered as he simply tells him to shut up as he turns away.

The action then shifts to the temple where Hijikata and Co. are staying as we the readers are reminded that the man is Ishikawa Takuboku, the reporter who meet up with the group back when they had their photos taken before Abashiri in Kitami.  Most of the group went to the photo studio with Hijikata while Shiraishi went off to the red light district with Takuboku instead as they hung out with sex workers and got very intoxicated on Hijikata’s money.  The drunken Ishikawa blurts out that Hijikata is going to buy up newspapers to control the press.

Shiraishi knew that the Russo-Japanese war resulted in sales of papers but Ishikawa revealed that the change was due to the addition of pictures!  Hence part of the reason why having a photo of Asirpa will be important to his Republic of Ezo plan.  Again this exchange between Shiraishi and Takuboku-chan illustrates that Shiraishi is a pretty observant and smart guy.  He’s def aware of more things than people give him credit for.

He’s finally back reporting to Hijikata and asks for more spending money.  Unfortunately, he’s trying to get money from Nagakura who is having none of this and reminds him bluntly that if he wants money it needs to be information not printed in the papers.

Ushiyama makes a comment on how gruesome the murders are and wonders if the man has some issue with whores.  Ishikawa comments that it is “unfortunate” since he hopes the man is apprehended quickly since he currently has a prostitute in the area that he is rather fond of.  Wow, way to show how you care about women trapped in sex work Ishikawa . . . that the were likely sold into but I digress.

The English translation has Ushiyama refer to sex workers as whores, and Ishikawa’s use of prostitutes implies a little more respect, but maybe not since he’s concerned his current interest in Sapporo may get his fav woman killed and he won’t be able to sleep with her any more.  What is clear is both men seem awkward in their opinion of how women in sex work should be perceived.

This is clear based on Nagakura’s reply to Ishikawa’s statement that he hopes he dies in a ditch.  Hijikata completely ignores the info and just asks Kadokura if there was a convict in Abashiri who fits the description for the current killer.

Kadokura doesn’t reveal the name of any other information about the killer.  Clearly, this information will be revealed when it becomes relevant and Hijikata is concerned that if this man is a convict and he is making such violent headlines that Tsurumi and his men in the 27th will certainly realize that they should investigate as well.  It seems after Abashiri, Hijikata is taking Tsurumi as seriously as possible as well as the arrival of Ariko into his group after he was beaten up by Usami.

Hijikata’s reference to the 27th hunting the possible convict leads to another mallard flying.  The final part of the panel shows Ogata aiming at the duck.  Ogata fires at the duck.

The duck flies on, but Ogata simply exhales as he works the bolt with his left hand.  He’s looking smug yet determined again.  We don’t seem him exhale like this frequently, but it does remind me of his “I shot the woodcocks” proud face or a focused “hmmph”  this is what I expected look.

The final panel shows two tail feathers from the duck fall to the ground both having been shot by Ogata.  It is clear that Ogata is pleased with his progress on re-learning how to shoot ducks with his left eye.  He’s making good progress - I’m not sure if we will get to see him make a successful kill in the manga or if Noda will keep it for a big reveal scene where he makes an amazing shot.

There are two ways to look at this i.) Ogata knows he’s getting better and he’ll let others see that he can still snipe and that he’s still a sniper.  ii.) Ogata gets better, but publicly doesn’t want others to know he’s back to “normal” and uses his injury as a way to hide his regained sniping ability as his wildcard.

Both of these can be advantages for Ogata - everyone assumes he’s a sniper and forgets about all of his other skills.  Or he makes others assume he’s weaker and than uses that to defeat them - an obvious sucker is Sugimoto - Sugimoto would look at one-eyed Ogata and think, “well if I can get close enough to break his arm again I can totally finish him off . . .” as Ogata then snipes Sugimoto again . . . (okay, not likely to happen just like that but you get my idea).

The chapter then shifts to an unnamed village along the Sea of Okhotsk.  This is a vague descriptor, and as my map indicates it can be along this entire coast of the northeastern part of Hokkaido.  Yay!  The panel is quite simple as it shows a dead horse laying down.

The final panel shows Usami looking down upon the horse.  Stares down at the horse as his eyes are white around the iris. As his head shifts a little to his left.

It is clear by the next page that Usami is the likely cause of death for the horse.  A random man yells “Who did this?  Who killed my horse!” as it shows Usami shuffling off rather quickly to avoid being caught in the act of horse murder.

Tsurumi is then outside of a shop that sells newspapers reading a newspaper with great interest. He then speaks to Kikuta who is nearby, telling him that the murders in Sapporo appear to be the work of an escaped tattooed convict.

He orders Kikuta to go to Sapporo to look into the convict.  And that he should take Superior Private Usami with him.  Wherever Tsurumi is along the coast is unclear, but Tsurumi seems to think staying on the eastern coast will allow him to find Asirpa from that area.  Plus, he has sent Tanigaki in search of them as well. . . Kikuta replies yes sir rather calmly in a typical Kikuta fashion.

Usami walks up behind him with completely black eyes when Tsurumi tells him to take Usami with him. . . Kikuata can’t be too happy wit this as his reply is hesitant . . .” . . . yes, sir . . .” as he gives him the stink eye. 

Usami then speaks up highlighting that he really doesn’t want to go with Kikuta.  This is quite bold from a superior private, but Usami seems like he can get away with this in front of Tsurumi and Kikuta almost smirks as he feels the same way.  Tsurumi doesn’t even turn to reply to Kikuta, he simply replies that Usami will be of use to him in Sapporo and Kikuta looks curious as to in what context Usami will be helpful.

Tsurumi figures that Hijikata’s group will also move there to investigate due to the newspaper coverage and that they should avoid them if all possible.  Tsurumi doesn’t want them running into each other. 

This is interesting as Kadokura is currently in Hijikata’s group and can easily recognize Usami so that may come into play.  Usami beat the crap out of Ariko so he’ll be tied to the situation.  Ogata is back with Hijikata for now and has a previous work history with Kikuta and there is enough information for the two of them to have some sort of showdown/reunion etc.

With somewhat erratic screen tones behind Usami and a equally creepy font he declares that running into Hijikata’s group is fine.  He concludes that Ariko will be a useless spy and that he will just kill them all and steal everything - problem solved.

And with that Usami gives off super creepy vibes at 110%.

He and Kikuta don’t get along at all - when they were chasing after Toni Anji which required a well thought out plan he was useless and whiny and Kikuta couldn’t take it and also trusted Ariko to succeed.

When they were chasing Asirpa off of the ferry - Usami’s solution was to simply kill Huci and Kikuta was clearly appalled by how Usami’s mind seems to work.  It was clear when Usami beat up Ariko that Kikuta was both hurt and torn about the entire situation.  This likely is setting up some sort of disagreement between the two men.  Kikuta is a sauve, sexy man, who appears a bit cocky at times but he gives off a vibe of really caring for others and avoids harming others who are not involved in things.

The next page reveals that indeed both groups are hunting down the convict in Sapporo.

Hijikata has brought his entire entourage.  He leads the group followed by Ushiyama and Nagakura.  Kadokura, Toni, Kantarou, Kirawus and then Ariko follow behind.  Ariko looks back at Ogata watching them from a distance and taking up the rear as he prefers.

Kikuta leads with Usami behind, his face partially obscured by his visor of his army cap - Kikuta is too sexy to every wear a hat and mess up his excellent hairstyle.

It is interesting that even when you zoom in a bit, Ogata has his blank expression as Ariko nervously looks back at him.  He was nervous to see Ogata and he likely thinks Ogata is onto him as a spy or maybe even thinks that Ogata is still working for Tsurumi.  

It looks like Kirawus is watching Kadokura - I wonder if he’s onto Kadokura playing dumb.  The two of them may get drunk and joke around, but I think Kirawus has been watching both Kadokura and also used him to get closer to Hijikata.  I think both of these men are carrying secrets that will be important as time progresses in the manga.  I just can’t shake the feeling that Kirawus knows more about the Ainu murders and I have a theory that he keeps his forehead covered b/c of some scar or something from the incident where the 7 Ainu men were murdered.

The next page has present day Tsurumi thinking of something disturbing based on the screen tones around him and it reveals a flashback, in Meiji 28 (1895) and back in Tsurumi’s home area of Shibata, Niigata.  The flashback starts with someone asking Tokushirou, Tsurumi’s first name, about how the battlefield was.

The next page reveals Tsurumi talking with a man who appears to be his martial arts teacher for jujitsu.  Tsurumi tells his teacher that he observed something interesting in war.  Despite the vast amount of training that soldiers underwent before battle, most of the men actively avoided trying to kill the enemy soldiers.

Tsurumi goes on to state that during the American Civil war troops went to great lengths to avoid killing each other (as the nature of a civil war that split families apart at times) and he spends the rest of the page discussing that most humans will really try to avoid killing each other, even in the case of war.

This really is the heart of one of the major issues of GK.  What happens to men who go off to war and the actually kill others?  How do men do this and how to they move forward (or in the case of many of the elite men of Tsurumi’s 27th) how do those men get sucked into killing and do all of the dirty deeds for him.

This gets at the concept of how a person can be turned into a killer and be able to go to great lengths to kill and in this quest for the gold - who can serve Tsurumi best.

After perhaps working or training with his sensei, Tsurumi has changed into his uniform and is telling children nearby (perhaps students of the dojo) to be careful of Master Takeda’s horse is ill tempered (confirmation of the identity of the man he was just talking to) and that it may kick them.  The fact that Usami killed a horse in the present time and then there is a flashback about a horse seems to indicate this will be something to do with Usami’s past.

A voice then calls to Tsurumi, calling him Mister Tokushirou, indicating a person familiar enough with him to call him by his first name but with respect.

This flashback now has revealed not one, but two people close enough to Tsurumi to use his first name either as a senior, his sensei and this unknown yet clearly younger person.  Tsurumi responds, that he recognizes who the person is - revealed to be a younger Usami.  He tells him that he’s gotten taller again, and then calls him by his first name, Tokishige.

Usami is blushing as he looks at Tsurumi before he replies yes, still blushing with black eyes as it reveals that he is Usami Tokishige, 14 years old. This means Usami was born in 1881.

Of course the editorial tagline mentions that he is yet another of the boys pining for Tsurumi.

Chapter 225 ends with several things as the main points:

1.) The next convict is a serial killer and is in Sapporo.  This will lead to a likely encounter between Hijikata’s group and Kikuta and Usami.

How will this showdown happen?  I’m hoping that Kadokura notices Usami and tips off the rest of the group and KIkuta and Ogata catch up.  They seem to be more morally centered members of the 27th concerned about others who can get caught in the crossfire.

2.) The manga is back to the concept of the ability to kill, what makes a killer? what makes a murder? and what makes a soldier?  Tsurumi wants men willing to go into the depths of hell with him to accomplish his goals.

Tsukishima will see this to the end - he’s officially dead on the outside and inside after his Koito confrontation.

Nikaido is losing all of his humanity to be a test subject for a new and improved solider.

Usami has clearly had a vibe that something is totally off with him since he was first introduced.  The fact that Koito was groomed by Tsurumi when he was 14, means that Usami’s age and blush shows that he was a previous and older Tsurumi fanboy.  The chapter ends with the idea that Tsurumi likely was involved in grooming him.

Usami is clearly a great soldier and killer for some of Tsurumi’s goals - this chapter is making it clear that Usami is “special” in the context of murder.  Or that he lacks some sort of moral compass or control in regards to murder and killing.

3.) That criminal inspector at the Sapporo police department is shady as all hell.  He could be the convict in disguise - and he’d fit the trope of the murderer working in the police so that he can’t get caught.  Or he’s a total red herring.

Chapter 226 -Sacred Ground

The chapter starts out with a brief update on the status of the Asirpa-Sugi-Shiraishi-Vasily group.  They are stopping by an Ainu kotan and Sugimoto notices another dog that looks exactly like Ryu, but isn’t Ryu.  Shiraishi is the one to remark that Ryu stayed behind as Tanigaki gave Cikapasi Nihei’s rifle so he won’t be going anywhere.  Interestingly, Sugimoto remarks that he hopes that Cikapasi and Ennoka treat Ryu well so he “let’s go” of his attachment to the rifle and move on. 

This is an odd remark from Sugimoto, since he himself needs to move on from a lot of stuff ~ he can see it in a dog’s life but not his own.

This leads to a key comment from Asirpa about Ainu dogs, that their loyalty towards owners can be a bad thing since they get jealous and ill tempered.  A Japanese man owned one and the dog was well treated but he ended up scolding it due to poor behaviour and went hunting without the dog.  The dog’s reaction to rejection was to kill of off the man’s chickens . . . Shiraishi then comments that people will do the same thing for the love of another.

The following page is the title page with the title and a young Usami and Tsurumi. Based on the fact that we know Usami is very loyal to Tsurumi and he has killed for him - I think it is clear the story about the loyal dog is Usami and Tsurumi is the man with the chickens. . . oh great - this chapter is surely getting to the root of his creepy vibes!

Usami tells him that he’s there even on a day to not train even though after he performed housework and chores to help his family he is more than willing to walk 2 hours one way to come to that very spot on the dojo grounds.

Usami’s face is completely shaded so clearly something dark is tied to that place.

The next page reveals that Usami refers to that spot as “our sacred place” as the wind dramatically blows by as Tsurumi looks at his back.

This leads to a flashback in the flashback, 2 years earlier so 1893, showing Usami’s family.  He’s 12 and he appears to have his mother and father, an older sister, younger brother and another younger sibling on his mother’s back as well. 

His father asks him if things are going well at the dojo and with his training.  He replies that Mister Tokushirou told him he’s the most talented of all the students that he’s seen there before.  Therefore, at the age of 12 he was comfortable enough to call Tsurumi by his first name - san! 

This catches the attention of his older sister and his mother as they look at him in shock and awe, his mother stopping her mending of clothing while his sister blushes.  His sister asks excitedly “Mister Tsurumi Tokushirou = Tsurumi Tokshirou-san?” followed by her having a teenage fangirl moment over him while his father looks on with shock and concern.  His mother confirms that he’s got to have talent since his father was talented too . . . I guess this implies that Tsurumi’s father was a well know ladies man and it is clear that Tsurumi is also seen as a ladies man in the area.

So, Tsurumi is clearly a charismatic, charming and a confirmed ladies’ man and is the 4th son of another man who was also very well known and must have been an important samurai family.  Usami is happy that his family are glad to hear he’s attracted the attention of an important local man.  Their family is large and it looks like since his mother is mending clothes they aren’t the richest family but they must come from a more noble/samurai background than some of our other cast members.  It looks like the Usami household is a happy and fertile one.

Clearly, Tsurumi is interested in getting to know Usami and some time later, Tsurumi is working the water wheel that his family uses to pump water for their rice paddies.  Tsurumi clearly is doing some sort of research into him and he seems to realize that using the foot powered water wheel leads to the develop strong legs.  Usami is explaining how hard the work is based on their location etc when he is interruped by another young boy.

This other boy is introduced as Takagi Tomoharu another 12 year old boy.  He really reminds me of Sugimoto a bit, that slightly messy hair and friendly look.  He clearly is another Tsurumi fanboy.

Tsurumi also calls him by his first name and asks if his father is doing well and the boy responds excitedly as Usami silently smiles with his eyes closed in the background having Tsurumi’s attention focused on another person.

Sometime after school, Tomoharu tells Usami to stay over at his house since they have training at the dojo and they can go to school the next morning.  He then adds that Tsurusumi will be at the dojo that evening!  This immediately gets Usami’s attention and he runs to the dojo yelling “Hurry, hurry!” so Usami is excited by this!

The next page shows the dojo and both boys want Tsurumi’s attention to train with each of them and Tsurumi just smiles back, again Usami’s eyes are closed.

Sometime later it shows Tsurumi in winter leaving the dojo - we don’t get the full conversation, just that Tsurumi is responding to something that Usami said. Usami will be graduating - I guess based on his age primary school - and Tsurumi who’s face is obscured asks if he will keep training at the dojo.  Usami responds with his eyes closed again stating he will have to help his father work on their family farm so it may not happen.

Tsurumi then turns and looks at him in a very friendly way telling him to continue at the dojo to become much stronger - he’ll be able to surpass Tsurumi as well based on his skills with time.

Tsurmi then states he won’t be able to visit the dojo soon, with the impending Sino-Japanese war he’s about to go off to (with Tsukishima) and finally Usami opens his eyes with concern in them as well as light in his eyes.  Usami is clearly worried about Tsurumi leaving.  All of a sudden his friend appears interrupting him and Tsurumi again telling him to go home together.  Again we don’t know what else Usami was going to say to Tsurumi . . .

The winter gives way to spring, when the school year ends and another one will begin.

We get a scene where Usami is able to pin Tomoharu down and someone tells them to stop for the day . . . maybe Tsurumi maybe not.  It is clear that just like Sugimoto’s friend Toraiji - Usami is the natural martial artist while Tomoharu will always lose to him.  Tomoharu is sulking in the dojo and Tsurumi has to ask him what’s wrong so that he and his sensei can lock up.  He reveals that he’s never been able to beat Usami before he leaves.  Tomoharu then cases after Usami who is waiting outside for him.

It looks like he told Tsurumi that he’s leaving and Tsurumi got him to approach Usami to tell him about his departure to high school? in Tokyo.  However, Usami is not surprised as he already knew his friend was leaving and tells him that he really doesn’t want to spar with him one last time.

Usami from a very dramatic angle tells hi that he doesn’t want to lose on purpose b/c he’s worried about his feelings . . . and before he finishes Tomoharu yells his reply that he shouldn’t, that wouldn’t be a real friendship, it would end it.  Usami has light and sparkle in his eyes as he says his lines and his friend sounds like a passionate young Japanese man with fighting spirit.

Tsurumi tells him that he will watch their match in the corner of the yard - the sacred place which Usami will say to Tsurmumi 2 years later. . .

The next two pages are a montage of memories of Tomoharu with Usami as he thinks to survive alone in Tokyo requires him to defeat him.  It seems that Tomoharu really enjoyed his time with Usami - but I really get the feeling that Usami just tolerated him.  It really does have this vibe of a one sided friendship, I could even see him staying over at Tomoharu’s place just to be closer to the dojo and by extension Tsurumi.

Tomoharu cries as he knows he’s fighting hard but still ends up defeated by Usami.

This scene is very much like the Sugimoto’s flashback in chapter 35 - courtship.  He met Toraji at his burnt down house on his wedding day and he attacks Sugimoto who promptly defeats him.  With his eyes full of tears, Toraji refuses to give up and goes for another round with Sugimoto as he roundly defeats him again.  This clearly is linked back to Shiraishi’s comment about humans and the people that they love.  Yes, Sugimoto is a dick to show up, make Toraiji upset, beat him and then congratulate him on his marriage which only makes Toraiji more annoyed.

Yet, in their second round ends with him declaring that he may have lost to Sugimoto in kendo and judo, but he won in the battle for Umeko’s heart. . .

This is clearly a parallel with Usami and Tomoharu and this is linked to Sugimoto.

Anyways back to 226.  Tomoharu despite being defeated pulls on Usami’s shirt and states that he’s not done yet.  The next full page panel shows Usami’s reaction -

full on murder rabbit!!!  He’s gained the white along the edge of his black pupils as he’s drooling, his veins are bursting and his entire face is contorted in rage/anger/i don’t know what else.  I call him a murder rabbit based on a nickname that the lovely Merdopsuedo came up for Usami a long time ago.

She calls him the The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, based on the rabbit that lives in the cave and kills many men in an excellent scene requiring the use of the Holy Hand grenade of Antioch in “Monty Python and The Holy Grail”.  This flashback has confirmed all of our fan jokes and theories and was a much better nickname the previously proposed one of “Thumper” the rabbit from “Bambi”.

Tomoharu only gets a glance of his face as he raises his foot before he firmly kicks him in the throat with his bare heel.

This action is enough to even shock Tsurumi!  We see Tomoharu make his last gasp for air as Tsurumi, the man who watched his family die in Vladivostok, perhaps killed by his own actions or those of Wik, Kiro and Sofia.  Tsurumi is a broken and twisted man by this point before he even heads off to the Sino-Japanese war, but Usami’s actions have completely caught him off guard.  He thought he was helping out with a teenage issue and he’s just resulted in the death of Tomoharu by accident.  Look at those wide open eyes, sweat on his forehead and those stress lines!  Tsurumi is completely shocked.

It is clear a man who has seen terrible things like Tsurumi (as we don’t know what his spying and previous military service was like) he is shocked by Usami’s violence that he uses as he clearly struck a killing blow on his friend.

And with that the chapter ends!

Wow!  Usami’s backstory is clearly revealed to be super creepy as I was always afraid of.  At the age of 12 he killed the boy who on the surface appeared to be his best friend.

Final thoughts on chapter 226

1.) Usami may be a natural born killer rabbit who always wants to please Tsurumi.  Chapter 227 will likely further explain why that part of the dojo is sacred to both of them.  Sei Kobiyama also mentioned on twitter that due to both Tsurumi and Usami practicing jujitsu/judo indicate they both came from samurai families.

Tsurumi has alluded to the fact that his family was once wealthy when he was young and we know he’s the 4th son and they lost the wealth.  It is clear based on Usami’s families reaction to him the Tsurumi family was well known.

Usami is clearly not in a wealthy household that has to work very hard to survive, yet has a connection to samurai habits and culture.  This may be a link to chapter 225 referring the the slums of Sapporo and how the murdered woman was from a once wealthy family that lost it - likely a pre-Meiji era samurai family.

Is Usami jealous of Tomoharu?  Or does he want Tsurumi’s attention all to himself?  What motivates him?  He seems off the entire time before he kills Tomoharu so I think there is more going on than we realize just yet.

Does this information from Sei Kobiyama imply that since Sugimoto and Toraiji also practiced kendo and judo that they were also from poor samurai families also fallen on hard times in the Edo area?

2.) I believe that Usami and Sugimoto are supposed to be compared in some way with this flashback.  Both men are talented in judo and when they kill both men are demon or animalistic in the way that they fight and kill.  Yet, one killed his crybaby best friend while the other one as far as we know was unable to save his friend.

Noda has kept away from Sugimoto’s past and his unresolved issues surrounding Toraiji and Umeko for a long time.  This may lead to the reveal of more of Sugimoto’s past and what really happened when Toraiji died and Sugimoto clung to his dying body, giving up the sled for Tsukishima at Mudoken.  It keeps alluding to a potential situation where Sugimoto is either indirectly or directly related to the events that result in Toraiji’s death.  And keep in mind in the flashbacks his nickname is Tora-chan or Tiger.  If Kiro is Tanigaki’s tiger, we’ve discussed that Toraiji is Sugimoto’s tiger . . .

Sugimoto currently has a broken wrist and maybe he will have to rely on Asirpa, Shiraishi and Vasily his non-friend, not-enemy-ally.  I think Usami may be a link to more background into Sugimoto.

Keeping that in mind, I suspect that Kadokura will lead to more background into Ogata as his father would have been a contemporary of sorts with Koito and Hanazawa, but on Ogata’s mother side.

Well that is all I have for now with the chapters!  I’ll work on getting a few more meta up hopefully in the next few days including as long delayed cover analysis and some Koito meta!

[phinnsyreads]

Item #: SCP-050

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: So far, all attempts to contain SCP-050 have proven fruitless. Testing to contain SCP-050 has been discontinued at this time. At present, whoever has possession of SCP-050 is to leave it in an office they use with regularity. Attempts to leave SCP-050 in unused offices have resulted in it following its owner home. This is a violation of regulations and not to be allowed.

Description: SCP-050 appears to be a statue of a monkey reading a book, approximately 1 foot tall. On the bottom of the statue are engraved the words "To The Cleverest" in cursive script.

The statue has so far proven resistant to all forms of damage. As such, there is no accurate method to date the object. Attempts to damage SCP-050 have resulted in increasingly lethal 'pranks' on the part of SCP-050. As of this writing, destruction testing is discontinued.

When left alone, SCP-050 has shown itself to be both useful and antagonistic to its current owner (See Document 050). Although never seen to move, no matter the manner or amount of recordings, any room it is left in becomes very clean, to a polish whenever possible. Paperwork is filed, trash is emptied, and in general, clutter is removed. However, SCP-050 also has a tendency to leave traps for its owner, so current holders should carefully check their offices upon returning.

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

Document 050

"The Great Researcher Prank War"

On 01/██/20██, During an attempted capture of SCP-963 by Chaos Insurgency agents, Dr. Bright made use of 963's intrinsic capabilities to make fools of the attempted kidnappers. When Bright returned to his office, he found a monkey statue waiting for him. His office had been tidied in his absence, and everything filed away, which came as something of a shock for the naturally messy Dr. Bright.

Upon further investigation, it was found that — despite the apparent tidiness of his office — all of his pens had been drained of all but the last bit of ink, and several important documents had been translated into Aramaic.

Dr. Bright immediately began the usual testing of this new SCP, but found himself going nowhere, until Dr. Rights, as payback for something unspecified, smeared his desk with one half of a compound epoxy, and applied the other half of the compound to his utensils. At this point, SCP-050 vanished from Dr. Bright's office, reappearing in Dr. Rights' office, whereupon 050 began the cleanup again.

After several tests, it became apparent that SCP-050 was easily contained, as long as no one outside the Foundation proved to be cleverer than the Foundation scientists. Of course, this led to many of the Foundation scientists seeking to claim the title of 'Most Clever' for themselves.

And thus began the "Great Researcher Prank War."

Memorandum 050-A: No good will come of this. — O5-█

---

Entry 1: Bright  —> English

Dr. English accesses SCP-705. 705 is allowed access to approximately one hundred pounds of similarly colored play dough. After several minutes 'conversation', the new army retreats to the ventilation shafts. No footage of Dr. Bright's room exists, but several hours later Dr. Bright stumbles out, covered in little red welts, and red play dough, swearing and muttering. SCP-050 transfers ownership to Dr. English.

---

Entry 2: English —> Isendorf

At 11:30 pm on ██/██/████, Agent Strelnikov is seen exiting his room in full rage, carrying a machine gun. Smoke pours from the open door of his quarters.

Senior Researcher Isendorf is later found to be in possession of 050, proving that a good enough prank will attract 050's attention no matter the target.

---

Entry 3: Isendorf —> Kondraki

At 10:25 am ██/██/████, Dr. Isendorf returned from a brief coffee break to discover a typed note sitting on his desk, which read.

Dr. Isendorf, It seems there was a problem with the Class-A Amnestic you requested following your SCP-231 assignment. Please hop on the next plane leaving from the site, and wait until someone comes and picks you up so that we can get this all sorted out. Cheers, O5-3.14

Despite factual and stylistic errors in this note (inappropriately informal style, the fact that there is no O5-3.14), Dr. Isendorf apparently took the note seriously and became highly distressed. Dr. Isendorf boarded the next airplane leaving Site-23, which turned out to be a regularly scheduled flight travelling to Site-19.

Dr. Isendorf apparently did not realize this until landing, at which point he still waited over eight hours outside the site, before a guard found him and asked him what he was doing. Dr. Isendorf soon confirmed that he had never been asigned to SCP-231, and quickly worked out what had happened.

SCP-050 was observed in the office of Dr. Kondraki later that same day.

---

Entry 4: Kondraki —> Kald

At 7:28 pm, █/██/2009, Dr. Kondraki was called away by Assistant Researcher Haus, under the pretense of an SCP-173 containment breach. Security cameras recovered footage of the ensuing prank.

Upon returning to his office, Kondraki pauses briefly when he reaches his door. Moments later, he is seen backing slowly out of his office, keeping his eyes fixed on something inside.

It was later revealed that Dr. Kald had placed a replica of SCP-173 in Kondraki's office, positioned in such a way that it faced the door, establishing "eye contact" with whoever might enter the room. Kondraki continued to retreat until slipping on a hitherto unnoticed puddle of cooking oil.

The replica of SCP-173 (made of wire frame, papier mache and spray-paint) was relocated to Doctor Josef Kald's office, shortly followed by SCP-050.

---

Entry 5: Kald —> Yoric

Upon returning to his office on ██/█/2009, Dr. Kald was surprised to find the statue replaced with a note, reading: "I can't believe no one's thought of this!" The statue was later located in the staff locker of Agent Yoric, who had simply stolen it.

---

Entry 6: Yoric —> Kald

Statue returned to Kald. Yoric's living space in utter disarray. Agent Yoric is found unconscious, the words "TO BE EARNED" tattooed in block letters on his forehead through unknown means.

---

Entry 7: Kald —> Light

From ██/██/2009 to ██/██/2009, maintenance teams were called twenty-seven times to Dr. Kald's office while he was out, all having received orders to install, repair, or remove a piece of furniture from the office, apparently at random. Dr. Kald became increasingly paranoid about these intrusions, considering his possession of SCP-050, and at ██:██ of ██/██/2009, decided to bring his paperwork and the SCP back to his quarters and work from there. Upon entering his quarters, Dr. Kald was doused by the contents of a bucket carefully balanced on the entrance's doorjamb.

Ownership of SCP-050 changes to Dr. Light.

---

Entry 8: Light —> Coleman

On ██/██/2009, Dr. Coleman was seen pinning a notice to the breakroom notice board which read, "Due to the effects of SCP-███ all personnel who have received an amnestic of any kind within the past six months are required to report to Dr. Light immediately." This was signed and notarized by no fewer than 17 members of O5 command and senior staff. After seeing this an email was immediately sent out retracting the information and causing mass panic among some of the Foundation’s more paranoid employees. After what can only be described as a "bum rush" on Dr. Light's newly refurbished office resulting in the destruction of many items contained within, SCP-050 was found on Dr. Coleman's desk.

---

Entry 9: Coleman —> Okagawa

On ██/██/2009, Dr. Coleman was called out of his quarters by an email from an unknown source. Five minutes later, security footage showed Dr. Okagawa entering Coleman's quarters, carrying a bag with unknown contents, and leaving the room a few minutes later without the bag.

Upon returning, Coleman discovered a dead rodent which appeared to have been slathered in the secretions of SCP-447. Personnel in adjacent rooms reported hearing a stream of profanity, followed by a thud. Worried researchers found him passed out on the floor, while the slime was later identified as green gelatin from the kitchen, and the "dead rat" as a rubber toy.

SCP-050 was later found in Dr. Okagawa's office.

---

Entry 10: Okagawa —> Chepelskii

Video Log: ██/██/2009, 12:34 PM. Dr. Okagawa leaves for the cafeteria (presumably for lunch/late breakfast). Researcher Chepelskii is seen entering Dr. Okagawa's office, carrying several testing vials and SCP-███. Chepelskii left the office five minutes later, closing the door behind him rather hurriedly.

Okagawa returns ten minutes later, opens the door, and is snagged by a large tentacle which pulls him into the office and shuts the door behind him.

A security team is dispatched to Okagawa's office, and discovers him entangled by a giant squid. The team is seen trying to neutralize the cephalopod and free Okagawa. The animal's remains were subsequently destroyed.

SCP-050 has been located in Researcher Chepelskii's office.

---

Entry 11: Chepelskii —> Jones —> Chepelskii —> Jones —> Bright

Entry 11-1: On ██/██/2012 Researcher Chepelskii came into work at approximately 0800 and promptly received a pie in the face, courtesy of Project Director Jones.

SCP-050 was found on Project Director Jones' desk later that afternoon.

Note: What? That wasn't original at all! — Dr. Bright

- Entry 11-2: On ██/██/2012 Project Director Jones reported to his post researching SCP-███. Upon entering the facility he was met by Researcher Chepelskii, who threw two pies at his face.

SCP-050 was found in Researcher Chepelskii’s office ten minutes later.

- Entry 11-3: On ██/██/2012 Chepelskii entered his office to find Project Director Jones waiting for him with three pies, which he promptly threw at the researcher’s face.

SCP-050 appeared in Jones' workplace that evening.

Note: Guys, I think we broke it. — Project Director Jones

- Entry 11-4: In the middle of the work day, Dr. Bright entered Jones' research lab with four pies, which he threw in his face. As he was leaving security footage records him saying “This better not fucking work!”

SCP-050 was on Dr. Bright’s desk upon his return.

Notes: God DAMMIT — Dr. Bright Okay. No more fucking pies, alright? — Project Director Jones

---

Entry @#: Bright —> SCP-732

On █/██/ 2012, an error occurred in the Foundation Main Database, reassigning System Technician Kent to a squad dea #&@Stoping teh dred lord asaTofh!!1!^)##*@gside the cleaning crews. During the !(*@seging of castul helfire^!(#gnment, Joshua Kent was ordered to !+=`~save th princes aShlye from the barron Blakstaf!!11!2!{\@(aw sewage, with several gallons of feces, ^3~_>,GOLD AND PLATINUM$9(=1#on his head.

During the second half of the assignment, !0&@Sir Ketn and his freinds the magikal night bob*!! had to test several *%@# super majick wepons!)!$ despite the odor. During this time, a routine system sweep had found a(@$!barrel of pur AWESUMNESS@$%@ in the Database. Despite the numerous nearby systems that could have been infected, SCP!)$@-1337 fout the dred lord on a volcanno!!1@(%* concerning System Technician Kent's assignment.

System Technician Kent was returned to Site 23 largely unharmed. SCP-050 was discovered sitting by a hard drive heavily infected with SCP-732, with the statue seeming to consider the virus its new "owner."

---

Entry 13: [DATA EXPUNGED]

---

Entry 14: [DATA EXPUNGED]

---

Entry 15: SCP-732 —> Light

On ██/██/2012, Dr. Light connected the SCP-732-infected hard drive to a scanner, and asked 732 if it could produce "LOLCAT" images on request. Its response, presented in the form of an 8000-word erotic story featuring itself (in the form of a man named "Lord Kickass"), Dr. Light, and [REDACTED], was that with the help of SCP-050 it can do anything.

Dr. Light provided SCP-732 with scanned photographs of several SCPs that take the form of, or can potentially take the form of, housecats, including SCP-577, SCP-529, SCP-607, and two instantiations of SCP-331. SCP-732 produced 10 "LOLCAT" images for each photograph.

Dr. Light then provided SCP-732 with SCP-637 in the form of a drawing by SCP-637-2. As a result of this, SCP-732 was rapidly overwritten with an estimated 63 GB of text describing SCP-637's actions and appearance; whether this information could have filled all available computer memory is unknown, as the last actions of the "Lord Kickass" instantiation were to induce total mechanical failure to its hard drive, accompanied by catastrophic uncontrolled oxidation.

SCP-050 was found in Dr. Light's office the next morning.

Note: SCP-637-2 reports that SCP-637 was not harmed by its venture into SCP-732, but that its fur was "really messed up".

Note: Other copies of SCP-732 seem unaffected by the suicide of "Lord Kickass".

===

[The voice of O5-█ was provided by @lapis-liberalis.] [The voice of Dr. Bright was provided by Brittany Carlton.] [The voice of Project Director Jones was provided by @phantomancer.] [The voice of SCP-732 was provided by @navox-the-weary.]

===

[Enjoy the podcast? Consider supporting us on Patreon! Patrons get access to bonus Joke episodes, outtakes, and can even request episodes on specific SCP objects.]

[yarnings]

A Chance Encounter

The latest installment in Le Tricoteur. With the plagiarism issues that are going on right now, I would most definitely like to acknowledge that this was inspired by a random comment made by @missclairebelle

Previously

As luck would have it, Ian was very grateful that he had gone to see his aunt and uncle so soon. The very next morning, on his way to open up the shop, he stopped in at the café down the street to grab a muffin and some tea. (He had a kettle and a selection of mugs and tea at the shop of course, but he found that his mornings went more smoothly if he didn’t need to wait until he was awake enough to make tea before he got any tea.) As his glance passed over the attached co-working space, he noticed Rachel Hunter sitting there, engrossed in something on her laptop screen. He stood for a minute, watching her and wondering if he should go and say hello, but decided that she wouldn’t appreciate an interruption when she was busy, especially from someone she didn’t really know.

As Ian was paying for his order, he realised there was someone standing behind him. When he turned to look, he saw that Rachel Hunter was standing behind him, with a scone and a mug that she had filled at the self-serve station.

“Linda, can you add those on too?” he asked, gesturing at the items in Ms. Hunter’s hands. The barista nodded and put everything through. Ian tapped his card and turned around, only for Ms Hunter to step up to the counter. “I’ll take a pay-it-forward token then, thank you.” After she paid, Ms Hunter took the little chit, which could be redeemed for a hot drink and basic pastry, and tossed it into the basket by the door, where they were available for people who needed them.

“Oh, I wasn’t trying to make you do that. I was intending the coffee more as a ‘Welcome to Inverness’ gift.” In a rush, Ian added, “And, let me assure you, that sounded a lot less creepy before I said it. Let me explain how I’m not hunting down information about you behind your back. I was visiting with my Auntie Claire last night, and she works with your brother, and told me that you and he had just moved.” Technically all true. He would just not mention the fact that she had been the point of the visit rather than just another customer who came up in conversation. “She’s the one who recommended the store to him,” he added desperately as Ms Hunter’s face lit up with an avid interest.

“Your aunt is Ms. Beauchamp-Fraser? She’s why Denny wanted to take this placement in the first place. He’s been very impressed with her. He says she’s demanding, but really helpful, and he’s learning a lot. And she’s been very helpful with little bits of advice like about your store.”

Ian grinned. “That sounds like her. I was more than a little scared of her when I was young, but she’s actually quite supportive and helpful. She’s scary-smart, but never expects you to be too. Even though I just know yarn, and not surgery like her, the only time she’s ever intentionally done something that makes me feel stupid, was when I was actually being quite stupid.”

“Well, your yarn knowledge is certainly not a “just”. You know more than enough to leave me behind. Speaking of which, I have a note from my brother that he tells me you will be able to decipher, saying what he wants in the way of yarn. So you’ll be seeing me by the store again at some point. I had originally planned on taking a break when I finished this report, but that went faster than expected, and it’s too early now. I’m not very good at remembering to take breaks in the middle of things, so we’ll see how when I surface again.”

Ian laughed. “I fully understand getting immersed in a task. If you want to give me the note, I can try and pick something that matches it in a grey, heathered, British wool yarn. That way when you do come in it won’t take you as long.”

“Oh, that’s really kind of you. But I’ve also got instructions to go through that binder of charity projects you have and pick something out for him first.”

“Well… if that’s all you’d be doing, why don’t you come over to the shop with me now? You can look through the binder while I get ready to open? If I know what pattern, I can still bundle things together for a quick transaction.”

Ms Hunter looked thoughtful at this. “That would actually be really convenient, if you’re sure it’s not too much bother. I could use a bit of a change of scenery.”

Ian gave her an easy grin. “No problem. I’ll head over now, but I assume you need to pack up? I’ll leave the door open for you. If it’s locked when you get there, I just forgot. Give the shop a ring and I’ll let you in.”

Unsurprisingly, Ian did indeed forget to leave the door open. When Ms Hunter called he got the door for her with an apology, which she brushed off. “You’re already interrupting your routine for me, I’m not expecting you to be able to easily change something you do that often.” She was briefly distracted by the cabled keyhole scarf on the gift display, but followed Ian into the store quickly enough when he got her attention.

Ian showed her the table at the back where he had already put the binder for her. He explained that it was approximately sorted by project complexity, and how to check the recommended skill level, and went back to his opening routine. Once he turned the computer on, he ducked into the washroom. While he was in there, Rachel called through the door.

“I’m sorry, I just got a call, I have to run back. I’ve marked the pattern I was interested in, and left you the note. Thank you again, I’ll be back probably sometime in the afternoon.”

When Ian had a chance to look at the binder, he noticed that there were two patterns marked. One was with a business card that she had probably grabbed from the desk, and the other had the note from her brother. Presumably she wanted the one with the business card, but he decided to grab supplies for both anyhow. He looked at the note to see what her brother was interested in. Fortunately either Ms. Hunter had written it herself, or her brother had surprisingly good handwriting for someone with a medical degree.

A basic yarn in a 4 to 10-ply weight – no bouclé, nothing with a halo, no excessive twist. Washable is probably best. 100% wool, maybe a small amount of acrylic or nylon blended in, nothing fancy Pick up appropriate needles. If tension matters, pick up recommended and one size smaller (already have old number 9’s, but replacing those wouldn’t be a bad thing)

Ian checked the two projects that were marked. The first one was just a request from the local animal shelter for squares to make into blankets. Any weight of yarn would work, but there were instructions given for 10-ply, so he grabbed a hank of that. The other project was a request for hats for young adults who had aged out of foster care, and came with a few suggested patterns, any of which could be made with yarn that met the specifications. He picked one of the patterns at random, and bundled the pattern, yarn and needles for each project in its own bag, then put the two bags behind the counter with a sticky note labelled “Rachel Hunter”, and left it there while he went about his day.

It was reasonably late in the afternoon, around what Ian was vaguely aware was quitting time for people who worked office jobs, before Ms. Hunter came back. He was busy with another customer at the time, but he had scheduled Iona, his newest employee, for the afternoon, so while he regretted the loss of another chance to interact with her he knew that she was in good hands. Out of curiosity, at the next lull he asked Iona which of the projects had been the right one after all.

“Oh, was she supposed to pick one? I just rang everything in those bags through and she didn’t have any complaints.”

Ian gave himself a mental smack upside the head. He had been so looking forward to getting to see Ms. Hunter again that he hadn’t properly prepared for the case where someone other than him was helping. Oh well, presumably she would figure out her mistake and bring whichever one she didn’t want to the store. He could apologise then.

Next

[donewithjeon]

Downfall [25]

Characters: Jungkook x Reader

Word Count: 4,094

Genre: Assassin AU

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26

It’s disorienting, the feeling of opening your eyes only to realize that you have no idea when you even closed them, what time it is, where you are.

If you’re even actually awake.

The answers to many of those questions usually return after a few minutes or even seconds of regaining consciousness, but this time, the material isn’t so quick to find its way back to you. Instead, you’re left in a limbo of white noise and static vision, as if your existence is just a television channel that’s perpetually stuck without a connection.

Slowly but surely, your senses start receiving signals; they’re weak, but each one opens up the images in front of you and the sounds around you. Little by little, the world starts to move and shift again, and the cogs inside your mind begin to process that yes, you are alive.

And frankly, it’s a horribly unpleasant feeling.

The atmosphere you’re in seems strangely muffled, as if there’s a slight but constant ringing in your ears that is preventing you from fully focusing on the other noises. Your head feels like it’s filled with cotton, and your blurry vision is only able to discern the ambiguous shapes and colors around you. You’re surrounded by bright white, but you detect a discrepancy floating about in your periphery that appears to resemble a figure of some sort.

The more you feel yourself drift out of your unconscious state, the more you expect everything to clear up, but nothing quite does all the way. It just stays in a similar state, draped in a veil of haze.

You try your best to speak up to see if you are indeed sentient enough to, but your voice barely comes out as a scratchy whisper, almost as if the entirety of your throat is covered in dry sand. Fortunately, it’s enough to gain the attention of the person closest to you, because you see a swift, head-turning motion before the figure closes in to take a better look at you. In turn, you are able to get a better look at him.

A man is staring down at you from what you assume is your bedside, although you still can’t be too sure about either of those details with how much you are struggling to keep your eyelids from squeezing shut again.

“Can you hear me?” you recognize a male voice speak from above you, and while the sound hits your eardrums in an obstructed way that makes you want to answer no, you can still understand the question enough to reply accordingly.

“Yes,” you manage to squeeze out of your vocal cords before clearing your throat to get rid of the rusty sensation. The noises that emit from your throat are pretty ghastly, but at least you know that you’re still able to speak.

Lifting your head up to accelerate the process of gaining your senses back, you attempt to push yourself upright to get a better view of where you are. The figure beside you leans forward, and at first you think he’s trying to stop you, but instead, you feel his hands helping to prop you up into a better position. When you flit your eyes up to face the man up close, you’re met with the distinct features of Jin, your supervisor’s identity becoming more obvious by the second.

Automatically, you feel yourself start to relax, because his presence means that you are not in danger.

Taking a few seconds to then glance in front of you, you see several more figures sitting past the foot of your bed, some of them reclined against the wall or even tucked in the far corner. You can hazard a guess that these are some of your teammates, which means that you have approximately two seconds to figure out how to avoid the bombardment of coddling questions you’re dreading. You can probably go the rest of your life without hearing another “are you okay” or “how are you feeling”.

“Who are you guys?” you find yourself asking before you can think of another way to bypass the undesirable conversations. Your voice is still a bit raspy, but your words come out perfectly comprehensible enough to get your point across.

It seems as though that was the key to getting what you wanted, because none of those sympathetic questions are being directed towards you. Instead, you’re sitting there in one of the tensest silences you have ever experienced. You almost think that everyone is holding their breath with how quiet the mood of the room has become.

“Just kidding,” you are quick to follow up, feeling that you’ve tortured them enough. Besides, it’s the reveal of the joke that you are hoping will ease the mood a bit, but your moment of feigned amnesia seems to have created opposite effect.

You suddenly hear the sharp scraping of a chair against the floor before seeing someone stand up from the seat on the other side of the room. That certain someone begins storming off towards the door, and another figure jumps up from the adjacent seat to hurriedly chase after the former.

“Taehyung, wait!” you hear the latter shout, and you immediately recognize the voice to be Jimin’s. Judging by the slam of the door before the name is called out again in a subdued state, you can assume that the pair has now left the room.

“That wasn’t funny,” Jin criticizes, bringing you back to the situation you put yourself in.

“Not even a little?” you ask, although you already know the answer.

“If Namjoon were here, there would probably be a hole in the wall.”

“Fist or bullet?” you try to quip again, trying to salvage the situation.

Reaching up once more, you try to rub the exhaustion out of your eyes to the best of your ability. After a couple more blinks to clear up your vision one last time, you look up and see that the first thing you’re greeted with is a grave and serious glare from your supervisor.

“Sorry,” you promptly apologize. “I was just trying to break the ice.”

“If you keep it up, more than the ice is going to be broken.”

You nod understandingly as a sign that you’re yielding. They are all probably angry with you for the stunt you pulled, but you can live with that—it’s better off this way. The disapproving glare is something you’re used to, and you would much rather have that than the pitying stare you were dangerously close to getting. You just so desperately want to skip all of that nonsense. It’s already bad enough that everyone is witnessing you in this battered state, sitting around to take care of you like you’re some kind of wounded animal.

You never want them to see you weak.

You much prefer it if they’re not there whenever you need to recover, which is why you appreciated the solitude Namjoon gave you in Yongsan after the incident at City Hall. It took so much time and effort over the years to build up the strength and experiences to back up your competence, and it just feels like all that work is being torn down in a matter of seconds—and to think you only just woke up.

Thankfully, no one dwells on your stupid prank for much longer—there is a lot to be done and said, after all.

The first thing you’re subjected to is an examination of your current condition. As the doctor enters the room, that’s when your brother finally makes an appearance from wherever he was hiding. The moment he walks in, you notice that there are bandages wrapped around his hands; they don’t look to be orthopedic casts, but the injuries he sustained seem to be enough for the white dressings to cover most of his fingers, starting from the tips before continuing up into his jacket sleeve.

Your second thought that speedily replaces your observation is that you’re afraid he’ll start his lecturing right away, but he merely spares you a glance when he first enters. He seems to have a different objective as he beckons to Jin, mentioning some sort of meeting he has been called to. Your supervisor then leaves you to deal with your own devices as he heads out the door, but Namjoon and the rest of your teammates who are left don’t appear to have any intention of following him out.

No matter the fact that you gave up your privacy within the team years ago, it still makes you a bit warier for Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok to be right there as the doctor relays somewhat personal information to you.

Apparently, you were out cold for the entirety of the night and early morning. The place you are currently staying in is the medical ward of the Yeongdeungpo division’s office, as you guys are utilizing this location for the reason of proximity. It’s pretty unbelievable and a little humiliating how fast you’re making your rounds through the organization’s locations these past few weeks.

After the general briefing of where you are and how you got here, you brace yourself for any lasting damage that may have occurred, but the doctor doesn’t tell you anything that you don’t already know. You have yourself a case of minor hearing loss due to the large blast damaging to your eardrums, but thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be long-term. It looks like throwing yourself into the safety position behind your makeshift shelter actually saved you more than you were hoping it would. Any other wounds you have, regardless of size, are mostly superficial—some gashes here and a few bruises there—and are expected to heal up pretty nicely within the next few weeks with proper care.

It’s quite a bit of a miracle, to be honest.

It would also be another miracle if you actually got off the hook for what you did to receive these injuries, but unfortunately, you’re only allowed one at any given time.

“What were you thinking?” Namjoon sternly asks once the doctor has completed your examination and left the room. You knew you would get an earful if you made it out alive, and living up to your prediction, your brother starts off the scolding session strong.

The truth is, you don’t know what you were thinking.

Actually, the only thought that crossed your mind in that moment before the explosion was that you’ll take cover and that will help you make it out in one piece. Technically, you weren’t wrong, seeing how you are still alive and kicking with all your limbs intact. Now, you’re more concerned about if you’ll get through this interrogation in one piece.

“I was thinking about following orders and finishing the mission,” you answer simply, refusing to break Namjoon’s gaze no matter how deeply analyzing it is.

Of course, that wasn’t the reason for diverging from the original plan, but once you were caught, you had full intentions of carrying out the mission no matter what happened. It wasn’t that you were trying to be some kind of hero by sacrificing yourself—the recognition from that wouldn’t matter if you were dead. No, it was just pure instinct—a reactionary principle built up throughout your lifetime. You refused to have a job fail by your hands, and nothing else mattered in that instant.

“Did we succeed?” you immediately inquired, realizing that you have not yet been informed about the outcome of the explosion.

“Yes, but what you did wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Well, plans change,” you swiftly refute. “It’s better to bend than break.”

Before Namjoon can continue staring you down, his eyebrows wrinkled with what looks like a great deal of concern, the doorway to your room opens up. In walks Jimin with a similar expression etched across his face, and you notice that a particular ace assassin isn’t following in behind him as he closes the door.

“Where’s Tae?” you question, glad to have something else to change the subject to.

“He’s heading back to HQ—said he didn’t want to come back in here.”

It’s your turn to show your worry with a frown as you watch Jimin walk across the room to sit back in the original seat he was occupying. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Your little joke earlier didn’t really go well with him.”

You pause for a moment at that information. In hindsight, you probably should not have gone through with the prank, as if you even gave the idea more than a second’s worth of thought before enacting it. You should have known that it was tasteless to toy with memory, especially the loss of it, when Taehyung was involved. Even if he will never admit it, you can tell that it’s a sensitive topic that should not be messed with.

“We can resolve that later,” Namjoon interrupts, not being fooled by your distraction. “Let’s talk about your initial mistake, shall we?” he continues, no doubt referring to what got you here and making bad jokes in the first place. “How did you manage to get discovered?”

“I guess I was a bit careless,” you promptly speak, but your brother does not look the least bit convinced by the perfunctory answer.

“There must have been more to it,” he presses on, but you only frown and shake your head.

“It’s not that complicated—I wasn’t quick enough, so I got caught.”

Without even truly realizing it, you’re not just lying in front of your team, but you’re lying to them. To be fair, what you said isn’t necessarily a whole lie—you definitely weren’t quick enough which then ultimately led to being discovered. While it wasn’t your intention to withhold the truth from them, your responses just came out impulsively. You’re not sure what the main reason for doing so is. Maybe it’s to save your own skin from reprehension for straying from your original assignment. Maybe it’s to save everyone time by moving past what could very much turn out to be nothing.

Maybe it’s something deeper.

Whatever it is, it just feels right to keep your findings to yourself, especially now that all the evidence of it has been successfully destroyed. Without anything to back up what you have the desire to say about your time snooping around in the building, you have a very high chance of causing more harm to yourself than good by bringing it to light. Until the gut feeling you had since the briefing of the mission dissipates, it is concluded that this will be your plan of action.

Although, you highly doubt it will go away on its own.

“Is this one of your jokes again?” Yoongi pesters from his spot, earning a confused look from Namjoon who was not present to witness your wonderfully effective icebreaker.

While your brother has taken to standing next to your bed during this questioning, Jimin and Yoongi are sitting two seats from each other across the room near the back wall. Hoseok, on the other hand, is sitting in the far corner on his own, appearing as if someone put him in a time-out. The atmosphere is still markedly stifling, but you decide against another one of your exceptional mood-lifters.

“No, I swear! I mean, I did just get blown up. Give me a break here.”

“Maybe you need another blow to the head to set things right,” Yoongi retorts in a manner that is very much his own.

As if Hoseok didn’t look crestfallen already, his head lowers further as he stares at the floor sullenly. Jimin just seems to be lost in his own thoughts, staring distantly at the foot of the bed with an expression you don’t quite recognize. Meanwhile, Namjoon gives Yoongi such a hostile look that you’ve rarely seen him display, it makes you feel even more uneasy. The sniper’s words linger in the air to muddle the mood even more, and no one is attempting to alleviate the discomfort.

Is this how the others felt when you made your joke?

“Whoa, guys. Why so serious?” You break the silence, throwing out the question to anyone who has the inclination to answer. There are a few more seconds of soundlessness while you examine the different scowls on all their faces before someone takes you up on that offer.

“You almost died.”

It’s Jimin who speaks up, although not as assertively as you would have thought. His voice is soft and downtrodden with exhaustion, but you don’t blame him—it’s been a long night. Hell, it’s been a long month.

“So? We almost die all the time. It comes with the job description.”

“You don’t understand,” he interjects, staying uncharacteristically calm. “We thought you were a goner. It was a miracle that Namjoon found you in the rubble, but you were pinned under it pretty bad.”

At that revelation, you can’t help but glance down again at Namjoon’s hands, and with the sight of them hidden behind the layers of bandages, you feel an unspeakable amount of guilt, something you were doing well to evade. You understand the situation more now and why the boys are all packed inside this small, stuffy room. You guess it’s not every day that one of you guys gets caught in the middle of an explosion, but the odds are certainly less that you’re living to tell the tale—or hide the tale, in your case.

“But I’m still alive,” you state with clarity. “The mission was successful and we all made it out. You’re all acting like I’m dead.”

No one has anything else to add, but it’s reasonable—they’re worn out. You were lucky enough to be unconscious throughout the whole debacle, but as for the rest of your team, they had to deal with the full reality of the mess you created.

Before you can allow yourself to feel worse about the situation, there is a knock at the door. The entryway swings open shortly after as Jin makes a reappearance to walk into the room.

“Sorry to break up the party, but I need to speak with her alone.”

“Fine by me,” Yoongi replies with not a moment to spare. He gets up from his seat rather sluggishly, making sure to stretch out his back a bit before heading out the door.

“Try to get some rest—all of you.”

With your supervisor’s words of security, the rest of the boys file out of the room one by one. Namjoon is the last to walk out, but before he does, you see Jin place his hand on the former’s shoulder as he passes by. It seems to be a pat of assurance rather than to signify a job well done, and you swear they exchange a knowing look before your brother leaves, closing the door on his way out.

With no one else left but you and him, Jin pulls up a chair from across the room and places it beside your bed, facing your direction. He settles into the seat to get comfortable, but judging by the way he doesn’t quite let himself lean into the backrest, you can tell that this isn’t going to be a casual chat.

“I’m going to cut right to the chase,” he suddenly says, leaving you no time to wonder what this private discussion will be about. “I need you to walk me through what happened in that building.”

Just as you expected. You didn’t doubt that this would be what he wanted to talk about, but much like with Namjoon, your supervisor will just have to be disappointed by your lackluster answers.

“The first thing I did was plant the explosives, just like I was supposed to.”

“And you managed to do that unseen?”

“Yes,” you reply. Jin gives you a head tilt of approval to continue with your account. “Then, I tried to secure an escape route, but I was discovered before I could find one.”

Jin nods faintly throughout your explanation, carrying a thoughtful expression as if mulling over your reply. “So, you were detected by an enemy, and that’s when you called for the detonation?”

You nod back at him as verification.

“But that wasn’t your initial contact with the enemy.”

The moment you realize that what Jin said isn’t a question like the ones posed prior but a firm, almost accusing statement, your blood runs cold.

“What do you mean?”

There’s a slight pause that feels infinitely longer than it should as you’re left looking into Jin’s unblinking and watchful stare.

“It was brought to my attention that some of the bodies that were found in that room had pretty impressive wounds—namely, from a sharp blade.”

For the first time ever, you feel displeased that the cleanup crew did their job a little too well. You’re surprised that there’s even any evidence left over for them to retrieve and study; you were hoping that all of it would have been splattered on the walls, if there were even walls left.

“They were the first ones to find me,” you clarify without a hitch. “I tried to kill them before they could alert the others, but I think you know how that turned out.”

Your mind is shuffling through all the possible follow-up inquiries that Jin may have and trying to come up with all the necessary answers to back up your claim. You fully anticipate him to push the subject more, but after a few more seconds of silent staring, he leans back into his seat, seemingly convinced—at least, he’s doing well to act like he is.

“There were a few discussions today regarding our current state of affairs, and after some consideration, it’s been decided that you will be taken out of the field for a while.”

Now you have a good idea of where Jin went during your physical checkup, and you don’t doubt that Namjoon was missing from the room for the same or similar reason. Your eyebrows crease as you try to decipher the vague ending to the mandate.

“How long is a while?”

“Until they deem that you’re ready to go back.”

They. You’re sure that he means the higher-ups, although you’re not sure how far up the rankings this issue was taken. Somehow, Jin’s elucidation doesn’t make you feel any less apprehensive about your status. You’re certain that this doesn’t have to do with your physical condition; even when injuries do occur on the job, hiatuses are usually decided within the team.

“But, I’m completely fine. The doctor said—”

“I know.” He cuts you off, his face not giving away any sign of changing his mind; it’s not exactly something he has the power to change, anyway.

“Then what’s the problem?” you ask with some extra force. You’re not a big fan of beating around the bush, but thankfully, you can always count on Jin to be candid with you—at least, to whatever extend he can allow himself to.

“You need to stay put for the time being,” he explains, managing to give you both what you want to hear and what you don’t. “You should already be aware that the organization doesn’t take lightly to deviating from orders.” You grimace at the admonishing nature of his speech, but you can’t say that he isn’t right. “Just know that we had to pull a lot of strings for you.”

You were correct in thinking that Jin wasn’t actually convinced by your account of the mission. If you had done your job the way you were supposed to, there was no way it would have gone this awry. There’s no point in making an argument, because you’ve already lost this round. Especially considering the last detail that your supervisor mentioned, he isn’t the one you should be filing your complaints to.

This is the best he can do.

“Alright,” you comply, if not just for the sake of Jin’s stress level. You know that you’re guilty of spiking it way too high every so often. “I’ll wait.”

Good thing you’re an expert at the waiting game.

So much of your personal growth and advancement was due to waiting, or more so what you did while you waited. If they aren’t going to give you any new missions, you’ll just have to go and complete your own. Respectively, this is the best you can do, and you know exactly where to start.

From the beginning.

[marjorieterry90]

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[shipaholic]

Omens Universe, Chapter 4 Part 1

gasp! a snake in (im)mortal peril.

Link to the next part at the end.

(last part)

(chrono)

Chapter 4

“Crowley? Can you hear me?”

“Mmmmngr.”

“We’ve got a problem.”

“Mmmmnph?”

Aziraphale hauled Crowley upright. The demon’s head lolled like it was stuck in a different, more enjoyable time zone to the rest of him, and had no desire to catch up.

“Mmmmang’l? Wh - wh’ happened?”

Aziraphale miracled a splash of water into his face. Crowley spluttered as some of it ran up his nose.

“You took a bit of a tumble.” Aziraphale looked shifty. “And, er, got kicked in the face.”

“By a bloody horse!” Crowley wrangled himself upright. The memory seemed to sharpen him up. “When did humanity go mad for horses? Horrible stompy dinner plates… mad as a mule and twice as stupid I ssswear…”

He frowned and touched his face. A livid hoofprint stood out on his right cheekbone, with the smashed gem right in the centre. Aziraphale held his breath.

“...Angel, I feel weird.”

“Yes, you, you, here’s the thing Crowley it broke your gem,” Aziraphale blurted.

Realisation set in Crowley’s eyes as he parsed the distinction between ‘cracked’ and ‘broken’ and realised he’d got the buggered half of the equation. His fingers traced the snapped edges of his gem. The break spider-webbed over a collection of shards held together by splinters and dust.

“That’s… that’s not good. Angel that’s not good at all.”

Crowley had never sounded scared before. This was worse than when he’d talked about Hell. Aziraphale tried his hardest not to flutter and babble and all the other nonsense he knew he was prone to. He heard himself say, “It’s going to be all right.”

The confidence in his voice shocked him. Calm sank into him like the weight of a reassuring hand on the shoulder. He reminded himself he was, in fact, an angel. When he told people things would be fine, there was an above-average likelihood of it coming true.

“You will be all right.” He smiled down at Crowley. “You silly thing. We just need to get you back Downstairs, that’s all there is to it. Come on, up you get.” He offered Crowley his hand.

Crowley didn’t take it. He looked up with wide, worried eyes. “Angel, am I… shattered?”

Aziraphale’s heart squeezed. “Don’t be daft. It’d take more than that to shatter you. You’ll be right as rain after a little bath in sulphur or what have you.”

“Hellfire. Needs to be Hellfire.”

Crowley let Aziraphale pull him up. He staggered once he was on his feet. Aziraphale looked down at his wobbling legs and realised he was the only thing keeping Crowley from overbalancing. Whatever had happened to his gem, the effect seemed very much like vertigo.

“Angel, I can’t go back Downstairs.”

“Why not? I recall you boasting, back in… I can’t even remember the year, it was all so long ago. ‘Everything’s a portal to Hell nowadays’. Can’t be hard to find one.” Aziraphale looked around, as if a portal to Hell might conveniently open up in the side of a nearby cow.

“Portal won’t work. They read y’r gem… can’t ssssee a broken one, the algorithm doesssn’t work…”

“Ah. Technology.” Aziraphale wrinkled his nose. “Well, never mind. We’ll do it the long way. Like when you helped me, remember? On that horrible bumpy cart? Let’s see, where’s head office from here…”

“C-can’t. We cannnn’t go to head office together. They’ll kill you.”

“I’ll drop you at the front gates. It’ll be fine! You can make the last little bit on your own, surely.”

“Don’t. Don’t think I can walk.”

Crowley’s mouth sounded sticky, as if it had lost its shape. His hair fell across his face, hiding it, but his hair was slickening and melting into his skull, like fat breaking down on the bone.

Aziraphale gave no sign he had seen any of this. “Well, this is a sticky wicket. I hate to suggest it, but… what if you were discorporated? Could I drop off your gem anonymously? Does Hell have a safe deposit box?”

Crowley snorted. [1] “Yeah. ‘S a great way to end up stuck at the bottom of Ligur’s desk drawer for the next ten centuries.”

“Oh dear, that won’t do.” Aziraphale sighed. So much for modern conveniences. “I’m running out of ideas, rather. Are there alternative means of requisitioning Hellfire? Any… demonic churches around where they serve it up in the font?”

Crowley fell silent.

He said, “Yes.”

Aziraphale blinked. “...Really?”

“Not in a font,” Crowley said, impatiently. “That would be ssstupid.”

Aziraphale was stung, but also relieved he wouldn’t have to explain to Gabriel how he let that one slip under the radar. “Do explain.”

Crowley rumbled. His form undulated in a way that dizziness couldn’t explain.

“There’s… a way to get Hellfire on Earth. We sssset it up a while ago. Near here. B’fore Arthur…” He waved an arm at the landscape, as if implying King Arthur had personally requisitioned the fog, the mud and the cows.

“That’s wonderful news!” Aziraphale clapped Crowley on the shoulders, and only winced slightly when his hands sunk in. It was also worrisome news, he supposed, but there was no time for that now. “Lead the way - oh. Sorry. Erm - perhaps you could point?”

“Couldn’t tell you which way’s up at the moment,” Crowley said, gloomily.

“Well, just give me a landmark or something, I’m sure I can figure it out from there.”

Crowley drew a shaking breath, and told him.

It did not involve any directions a human could follow. Aziraphale shivered as forbidden knowledge lit up a path within him. He folded it up among the dust and books that made up the comfortable core of him, and let it burn itself out until it was cool and inert. Just a map. [2] Crowley needed help, and now he knew where to go.

All they needed now was transportation. He looked around, and saw Galahad’s horse eating grass and looking utterly unconcerned about the trouble it had caused.

“Reckon you can cling on?”

Crowley sighed. “Not like it can do any worssse to me now.”

Aziraphale steered them towards the horse. He felt like an adult at a dance, letting a child stand on his feet. Crowley’s footsteps glooped across the grass. His armour was apparently human-made, rather than being generated with the rest of his body. It kept its shape, more or less, while its inhabitant oozed out of every crack.

“You’ll be good as new in no time,” said Aziraphale. He failed to keep the worry out of his voice this time.

Crowley made a warning gurgle. “Thisss won’t be a fun field trip, angel. We’re heading into demon territory. You know what Hellfire can do to you, right?”

Aziraphale sniffed. “I’m aware. I wasn’t born yesterday, Crowley.”

“Jusst… don’t get close to it.”

They reached the horse. Aziraphale stroked its neck and hoped the calm he’d bestowed earlier was still in effect. It raised its head and looked askance at the pair of them, in the way only an animal with side-facing eyes can do.

“Hello, old chap.” Aziraphale looked closer. “Apologies - dear lady.” He leaned in close and spoke in the horse’s ear with the certainty of the angels. “God will be very pleased with you if you help me. Lots of sugar cubes in the eternal paddock. Hay o’clock and no shouty men with spurs. Oh, yes. Who’s a good horse? Oh now, who’s a good horse?”

The horse’s visible eye narrowed. She decided she could tolerate this condescension for infinite sugar cubes. She allowed the angel to help his friend made of living nightmares in the approximate shape of a person onto her back.

“Barf,” Crowley said, because he felt he had to.

Aziraphale radiated smugness as he swung up behind Crowley. He nudged the horse’s sides politely, avoiding any part of his armour that might jab.

As they struck out towards a destination untouched by mortals, Aziraphale remembered Galahad.

“Bugger,” he said.

“What?”

Aziraphale hesitated.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, and urged the horse onwards.

Galahad would be fine. Fortune looked out for him.

Crowley, on the other hand…

Aziraphale rode on. He didn’t look back.

---

[1] Probably. It was getting hard to tell.

[2] Aziraphale was fine with maps, after a couple of false starts, and maybe stopping after twenty minutes to furtively turn them the right way up without his travelling companions noticing.

(next part)

[wildlyhardphilosopher-blog]

tips on potty training | how to train my puppy to roll over

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tips on potty training | how to train my puppy to roll over

KOMO Cams Food & Recipes ATD is a non-profit 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible. 262-542-8851 [email protected] Save up to $70.00 Starting at $24.95 $29.95 $24.95–$29.95 Flyball 2 Doreen Tovey Course Categories Edina, MN 55439 Proponents of limiting drilling in Colorado say contractor wrongfully took at least 15,000 petition signatures Therefore, high quality food results in your dog producing fewer stools each day which is obviously ideal when house training. Pond Care I feel I must crate her or tether her after 30 minutes of freedom.  When I tethered her to me the other day, she peed 45 minutes after elimination (I thought she was being a good girl sitting, so I didn’t catch her before she finished).  I am not certain if I am making the situation worse taking her out every 45 minutes to an hour (does she pee to get a reward and thus not learn to hold it longer?)  On the other hand, it seems unreasonable to put her in the crate after only 30 minutes of freedom.  Since I don’t pick up on her signals when she’s tethered to me, I don’t trust that method.  I have kept daily records from day one and the only patterns I can see is that she had accidents often enough at 45-60 minutes following elimination that I can’t expect her to hold it longer and that I MUST regulate her water intake.  I don’t understand why she rarely rings the bell to go outside to pee, but she has a high rate of ringing the bell to let me know to poop–doesn’t it make more sense that the more opportunities she has to practice ringing the bell to go outside to pee (and get a reward), she should have learned that behavior before she learned to ring the bell to let me know she’s got to poop?  Guest Commentary: Save Red Rocks from the plague of development Do not play with or talk to your puppy until she has done her business. Instead, cue her to pee using the same word or words. Could just be “go pee” or something like this North Boulder Park, Boulder CO CAMPS However, I’ve purposely made this ‘how-to‘ guide as complete and standalone as possible, so reading the previous articles isn’t essential. May 28, 2018 at 1:13 pm How To Use a Dog Crate – When and When NOT To Crate Your Dog JW Pet A Litter tray is easy to clean with highly absorbent litter soaking up the waste and the high sides of the tray doing a good job of keeping everything contained. It also looks better than a spread of newspapers.

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fbq('track', 'ViewContent', content_ids: 'dogtraining.dknol', ); Not Helpful 40 Helpful 71 Product & Services Training Click here for my free and detailed guide to crate training your puppy. As your puppy’s head moves up, her rear end will lower towards the floor About Jolanta Benal, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA Wesco Pet Opinion Most importantly, this book will show you how to teach your puppy to respect you so that he actually does what you say. You can download the book immediately, or have the printed book sent to you in the mail. Introduce a cue word. To encourage toileting on command it doesn’t take much extra work to introduce a word while your dog is urinating or defecating. So when your dog starts toileting say ‘wee wee’ or whistle (or introduce a hand signal) so that the behavior is paired with a command. This means on those cold wintery nights, or during toilet breaks on long road trips you have a way to quickly get your dog to urinate/defecate on command. Place it on your puppy when you feed him or as you are playing, this provides a bit of a distraction from the collar. He’ll probably roll around trying to dislodge it, or try his best to scratch it off. When he is doing this it is important that you don’t take it off him. Wait till he has settled down and forgotten about it before you take it off. If you do not respond properly….. well, unfortunately that’s why so many teenage dogs are turned over to rescue groups and animal shelters. Golden Retrievers TagWorks The Boxer Your dog wants to have more of what he likes and less of what he doesn’t like (don’t we all?). GETTY IMAGESKITTI PHNGS HMGN PHRM SAEN / EYEEM We just love the fact we can go to Prevention is worth an ounce of cure. That’s why it’s a good idea to stick to a limited “roaming-free” schedule, meaning that you will only let your puppy roam free for about 20-45 minutes before putting them back in their “no mistake” zone. This also gives a puppy parent a break to go back doing other things without worrying about what their puppy is up to. Pin Slumber Party May 4, 2016 Rockaway Park, Rockaway Beach, Breezy Point, Queens South, Bayside, Forest Hills, Woodside, Maspeth, Glendale, Ridgewood, Howard Beach, Whitestone, Douglaston, Belle harbor, College Point How to Potty Train a Dog with an Unfenced Yard Military Breeding Do You Kiss Your Dog? After a few days, you should start noticing patterns in your dog’s elimination, and will begin to recognize his pre-elimination behaviors. You will see how many times a day, on average, he needs to go potty. Note approximately how many times he needs to urinate and defecate each day. Use this information to create an elimination schedule that will benefit all family members (two and four-legged!). So, set up a chair outside, wait for a scheduled potty time, go outside with them, have them on leash so they cannot wander off and just sit and wait. Play with your phone a while, or read the newspaper. Just wait. 10, 15, 25 minutes, who knows how long, just wait, but your puppy WILL have to wee at some point. You want to make sure it’s outside and you’re right there with them. How Long After Eating Do Small Puppies Have to Go to the Bathroom? Exclusions apply. Offer expires 8/1/18. BUNDLED PACKAGES Air Pumps & Airstones Outdoor Bird Baths ^ Jump up to: a b Marlo 1999, p. 101. the vet for even the simplest of Every dog owner needs a good pooper scooper to pick up after their pup when they go for a walk around town. Of all the scoopers we researched, the Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack is our top pick. With rolls of bags and a clip-on bag holder included, you have everything you need in one kit. 1 of 2 The Principles of Dog Training Here’s the trick to a clean poo pickup… turn the bag inside out, place your hand inside and grab the poo. Fold the sides of the bag up around the poo, turning it right side out, and tie the bag tightly. That wasn’t so bad, was it? Cat advice Help us build a new shelter! September 25, 2013 3:53 pm My Account Grooming Salon Expert Dog & Puppy Training Hi Amanda, After your puppy has these steps down, try the same setup with a family member on the couch or bed: Deciding when to exercise, train and play with your puppy is entirely up to you. You should fit it around your lifestyle and commitments, but try to make it the same times each day if you can. Lisa Smith says The term “observational learning” encompasses several closely related concepts: allelomimetic behavior or mimicking where, for example, puppies follow or copy others of their kind; social facilitation where the presence of another dog causes an increase in the intensity of a behavior; and local enhancement which includes pieces of social facilitation, mimicking, and trial-and-error learning, but is different from true observational learning in that the dog actively participates in the behavior in the presence of the other dog and/or other environmental cues.[53] Four necessary conditions for observational learning are: attention, retention, motivation, and production. That is, the dog must pay attention to the dog or person performing the modelled behavior; retain the information gathered about the behavior during the observation; be motivated to reproduce the behavior in a time and place removed from the original; and finally, produce the behavior, or some reasonable facsimile thereof.[53] As soon as the poop/pee is complete, immediately praise him, quickly give him several treats and then play. Be civil Starter Kits Location Example: New York, NY Maximum of 255 characters. Autocomplete available, press the down arrow to hear options ✔ ✘ Humane Education Fund Charities and Organizations If your dog is having trouble with one specific aspect of potty training, make sure you focus in on that aspect and reinforce good behavior when he does get it right. You’ll have a different word like ‘walkies‘ for other more fun times outside and your dog will eventually learn the difference and set their expectations of their time outside accordingly. 10 Most Popular Dog Breeds Hill’s® Prescription Diet® w/d® Canine Perches & Swings Drives & Instincts How do you potty train a dog in an apartment? Avoid getting the puppy over-excited. If he starts biting and doesn’t respond to a squeal (to tell him it hurts) then get up and leave the room. Only return when the puppy is quiet. Alternatively, play in 15 second bursts with a calm-down period of a few seconds in-between, so that he doesn’t lose all control. 360 61024 Puppy of Achievement But certainly by 16 weeks old your puppy will be able to last a 7 hour night without needing to potty if you do not feed them for 3 hours or provide water for 2 hours before bed time and allow them to empty themselves right before you lay down for the night. 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By Mara Bovsun | Sponsored by Purina® Pro Plan® Facebook Credit: Illustration by Barbara Frake Puppy Leaks is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com puppy training how to | how to stop puppy barking puppy training how to | puppy barking at me puppy training how to | how to train puppy not to bark Legal | Sitemap

[tmariea]

Blind Date, ch 4

So - this now has a full trajectory and intentions on being a long project!

This time, it’s an all-nighter study date, plus perhaps a bit of sleepy Mik and an ounce or two of distraction

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If anyone were to ask, Mikleo could say with confidence that three AM was not his favorite hour.  He had visited it before, on a drunken evening or two over the past year with Rose and Lailah, but those were the kinds of visits where one didn’t get the chance to get to know the hour, barely even noticed its passing.  Thus, he did not consider himself and three AM to be friends, or bosom buddies, or any other term of endearment.  And yet, here he was, staring at the lit numbers on Sorey’s microwave, and he could swear it had taken a solid ten minutes to move from 3:00 to 3:01.

The reason Mikleo was awake at three AM and occupying his time by watching the clock tick by sat hunched on the other side of the coffee table from him, firmly buried in a textbook.  He didn’t even look up when Mikleo leaned back against the base of the couch and muttered under his breath, “‘Let’s pull a voluntary all-nighter during our finals study days,’ he said, ‘we’ll get so much done,’ he said.  Lies.”

Nope, Sorey didn’t even twitch, aside from the motion of his hand as he copied down notes for his Ancient Tongue final.  Mikleo hadn’t expected that.  ‘Energetic’ was certainly amongst the first words that came to mind when thinking about Sorey, but it turns out he was just plain good at directing that energy.  That came at the price of tuning out the rest of the world, and an apparent inability to keep track of writing utensils.  In addition to the pencil in his hands, he had one tucked behind his ear just above the frame of his glasses, and one held lightly between his teeth.  These two others had migrated over the course of the night, and been promptly forgotten.

Mikleo wondered what would happen if he stole one.  Would Sorey even notice?  What if he used his teeth to steal the one right out of Sorey’s mouth?  What if he kissed him, used his own lips to take it away, and wow it was really a strange time of night.  Three AM brain Mikleo seemed to think it was a good idea, but he knew that waking brain Mikleo probably wouldn’t go for it, so he held off for now.

He glanced back at his laptop screen.  There sat five pages and an outline for what was supposed to be an eight to ten page paper on the ritual practices of the early peoples of Hexen Isle.  Proof that despite his grumbling, he really had been productive up until a few minutes ago.  If he got back to work, he could probably knock the rest of it out in an hour or two.  Stealing a pencil from Sorey still sounded much more interesting.

True to his estimation, he didn’t notice when Mikleo plucked the pencil from his fingers, and then casually laid it by his laptop, as if it had been there all night.  He only realized when he turned from his textbook back to his notes.  A perplexed look crossed his face, and Mikleo was having a hard time keeping a neutral expression.

“Do you know where I put my pencil?”  He asked, somehow managing to talk around the one in his mouth without recognizing its existence.

“No idea.”

Sorey shrugged and grabbed his pencil bag from where it had been resting near his knee.  He opened it, and the look of confusion increased.  “Mikleo, could I borrow one?”

That was it.  Too much.  Mikleo started laughing.  “Maybe you should start with the one behind your ear.  Or the one in your mouth.  Or even the one I just stole.”  He held out the offending pencil as a peace offering.

Sorey snatched the pencil back with a glare and a, “hey!”  It was said with enough emotion that the one in his mouth tumbled out and into his lap, which did not help with Mikleo’s laughter.

He took a moment to pull it together in order to say, “I could use a break.  What about you?  I have no idea how you’ve kept it together so well.”  It was astounding, really, considering Mikleo was contemplating opening energy drink number two, while Sorey hadn’t even touched caffeine.  Instead, he seemed to be running on willpower alone.

“Ah, well,” he said, while one hand worked up to the back of his neck and his eyes darted to the side, “I stay up too late a lot.  But I could take a break, sure.  What did you have in mind?”

“Have you been to The Inn yet?”

“What, that all-night diner that everyone says is a dive?”

“That’s the one.  And it’s not quite that bad, but definitely essential experience for every Elysia student.  What do you think?”  Before Sorey even answered, Mikleo picked up his phone and opened his text messages.  Sorey wasn’t the only person he knew who was likely to be up at odd hours.  With any luck, Rose might give them a ride.  He typed her a quick message.

From: Mikleo

Do you want to go to The Inn for 3am milkshakes?”

“Sure, that sounds good,” Sorey replied at the same time as Rose messaged back.

From: Rose

Hell yes!

From: Mikleo

Great, can you drive us?

From: Rose

Yeah, I knew there was an ulterior motive.  Do you want to meet me in the lot in 10?

From: Mikleo

I’m at Sorey’s, actually.

From: Rose

Ohohoho

From: Mikleo

We’re STUDYING

From: Rose

Man, making me drive out to get you when there isn’t even anything fun going on?  Fine.  I’m bringing Dezel

From: Mikleo

Sure.  Text me when you’re here.

“Rose is going to come pick us up in a few minutes, and Dezel’s coming too.  You haven’t met him before, right?”  Sorey shook his head.  “He and Rose have known each other since Elementary School.  Quiet, but very obsessed with animals.  I think you’ll get along.”

“Alright, I won’t worry then.”  Sorey stood and stretched, long and languid.  “It’s probably good I got up.  I’ve been sitting too long.”

“Probably right.”  Mikleo wouldn’t say no to that view.  But then Sorey ruined it by starting to tap one foot frantically, as if it had fallen asleep.  Mikleo huffed an approximation of a laugh at all the wriggling and extricated himself from between the couch and the coffee table.  His essay was left to idle, with the cursor blinking forlornly.

Within a matter of minutes, they had bundled up in coats and scarves in preparation for the late November chill and stood by the door awaiting Rose’s text.  Mikleo had no warning as a set of arms snaked around him from behind.  That surprised squeak he made certainly never happened, but one hand came up to cover his mouth anyway.  Through all of their layers, he could only feel the pressure of Sorey holding him close to his chest, and none of the heat, but that didn’t stop the flush in his cheeks, either.

“What’s that for?” he asked, letting the hand over his mouth fall behind him to lightly swat at Sorey’s side.

Sorey rumbled a hum in his chest, and he felt that despite the coats.  “I just wanted to thank you for staying up with me, even though you look tired.”

“Well of course,” Mikleo replied casually.  He let himself lean further back into Sorey’s hold, since he didn’t seem to have intentions of moving any time soon.  And a little further after that.  He was lucky, really, to have such a comfortable boyfriend.  His eyes started drifting shut.

“Hey, don’t fall asleep on me.”

Mikleo hummed noncommittally.  He was totally going to fall asleep on him.

“If you fall asleep, you lose.”

“Since when is this a contest?”

“It wasn’t,” Sorey said, “Until you started falling asleep.  But now, if you can’t stay awake until sunrise, I win.”

“Fine,” he said and wriggled out of Sorey’s hold, with a glare for convincing him to stay up.  It was good motivation though, along with the buzz from his pocket heralding Rose’s text.  “They’re here, anyway.”

Sorey locked the door behind them as they left, and then it was two sets of stairs down and a scramble through the freezing cold to Rose’s car idling on the corner.  Dezel already occupied the front seat, so the two of them slid into the back, with no complaints.

“Alright love birds, keep it PG back there,” Rose remarked as she pulled away from the curb.

“What, not even a hello first?” Mikleo said.  He could feel Sorey’s fingers slide around his own, and he shot him a look with one raised eyebrow.  It was met by a self-satisfied grin, despite the fact that the action was nowhere near raunchy.

“I haven’t heard a thank you yet for picking you up, either.”

Mikleo sighed and said, “thank you,” at the same time as Sorey did, resulting in a mini-chorus.

“Hi guys!  You’re very welcome.  Also, Sorey, this is Dezel,” she waved one hand in his direction before placing it back on the wheel.

“Nice to meet you, Dezel!”

“Same,” he grunted, and then offered nothing else.

Sorey looked over again, a question in his eyes.  Mikleo gave a shrug that hopefully conveyed that he was just not very talkative.  He seemed to accept whatever he got from that motion.  They were silent for a moment as they watched the street lights roll by, and the headlights of two other cars crazy enough to be out at this hour.  Then Sorey added, “I just thought of it, but will there be things for you to eat there?  All-night diners don’t strike me as very vegetarian-friendly.”

Rose snorted a laugh from the front, “What, you think we’re going to be healthy and order real meals?  No way.  This is strictly a milkshakes and fries run.  There is no convincing me otherwise.”

“You could get a meal if you want.  I’ll be fine in the milkshakes and fries camp, though,” Mikleo reassured.

“Nope.”

He sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.  “Rose, you can’t tell Sorey what to eat unless you’re buying it.”

She seemed to contemplate this offer for a moment, accompanied by the tick of the blinker as she turned into the diner’s parking lot.  “Alright, I’ll make an exception.  But only if he eats something really greasy.”

Sorey held up a placating hand even though Rose couldn’t see.  “It’s fine.  Milkshakes and fries sound great.”

“If you’re sure,” Mikleo said before stepping out of the car.  The world around them was strangely quiet, with barely even the whoosh of other cars to interrupt the silence.  The large, pink neon sign for the restaurant cast its light down on the snow that had been plowed into piles in a corner of the parking lot, lending it a surreal air.  He was quick to hurry around the side of the car and join the group as they pushed through the chrome-lined glass doors.

Inside, The Inn was a classic diner – complete with grungy linoleum floors, more pink neon, and retro metal paneling on the ceiling.  The kind of classic that was really that old, rather than a stylistic choice, and starting to show the age, in the cracking leather in the booths and the smell of soda and frying oil which by now must have seeped into the walls.

It took a moment for the half-asleep waitress to look up from the coffee she was clutching like a lifeline, and then bring them to a table just on the other side of the counter from the open kitchen.

“This place is so cool,” Sorey said as he slid into the booth, trailing his fingers across the Plexiglas top.  Enshrined underneath, like some strange museum to the effects of time on old college towns, were ads for businesses at least twenty years closed.  Mikleo slid in after him.

“Yeah, and they make damn good fries,” Rose said, settling in on the other side with Dezel, and making no moves to open her menu.  Mikleo knew she was here almost weekly, although usually not at these kinds of hours.  “So, Sorey,” she continued.  He glanced over the top of his menu to indicate that he was listening.  “Keeping our Meebo up all night?”

Mikleo narrowed his eyes and groused, “Do not call me that.  And I already told you, we’re studying.”

“Yeah, we’re doing an all-nighter.  Well, sort of.  The plan is to work until sunrise and then sleep until noon.”

“So you actually are just studying all night?  Can’t say it isn’t in character, but man you guys are no fun.”

“It doesn’t seem like you were out partying or anything,” Mikleo remarked, closing his menu as he spoke.

“Well, uh, fine.  I was studying too,” Rose sighed.  But then she perked up again.  “But if you’re staying up until dawn, does that mean you’re sleeping over?”

He flushed and looked to the side, consequently right at Sorey, who didn’t look as if he had minded the comment at all.  Innuendo was not his forte.

In the grand scheme of Deus ex Machina, Mikleo was not going to complain about having the waitress appear at that exact moment to take their order and spare him having to answer.  He was granted a few merciful moments as she listlessly scribbled their order on her pad.  A strawberries and cream milkshake for Rose along with a basket of fries to share, Mint brownie for Dezel, and chocolate for Mikleo.  Sorey had spent a long while surveying the menu and the array of interesting choices offered, and yet surprised no one when he ordered vanilla.  The waitress collected the menus and went to put in the ticket, leaving them alone once again.

“So,” Rose picked up as if the conversation had never been interrupted, “are you going to be the gentleman and sleep on the couch, then?”

Sorey, who managed to miss the ulterior motive on the question, said, “No, my bed is big enough to share.”

Rose rounded on Mikleo to give him a pointed look, even as she said, “It is, huh?”

He made an unflattering noise of surprise as he felt heat creeping across his face.  He treated Rose to a glare and Sorey a sharp elbow to the side, which resulted in a yelp. “Why do you have to be like this tonight?”

“Because it’s” she paused to check her watch, “Three nineteen AM!  Three nineteen AM practically demands pervyness!”

“It does not!” He exclaimed.  Sorey’s hand sought his on the seat between them and gave a gentle squeeze.

At the same time, Dezel gave a long-suffering sigh and a warning, “Rose.”

“Fine, fine, ruin my fun.”

Under the reassurance that she would, probably, leave them alone, and Sorey’s thumb stroking the back of his palm, Mikleo’s annoyance trickled away.  Left in its place was tiredness, and he was glad when the waitress arrived with their order; sugar was due.

Even as he picked up his spoon and set into the whipped cream on top of the shake, he could feel himself starting to droop to the side.  Sorey gave him a small, sweet smile as he came to rest against his shoulder, and then skillfully went to work distracting Rose and Dezel by asking about Dezel’s major and classes.  Between bites, he managed to tease out information bit by bit on his self-designed program in animal behavior in hopes of one day training service animals.  Mikleo couldn’t quite remember if he’d ever heard Dezel say so many words in one sitting, and it came to him then exactly what a wonderful person everyone at Ladylake University had managed to miss.

He snuggled a little closer to Sorey and gave the hand still held between them a squeeze in appreciation.  Sorey glanced at him, his green eyes mixing between curiosity and happiness.  Mikleo just shrugged, because he wasn’t sure he could voice those feelings, especially not with the others around.  He was content, though, and relaxed enough that his eyes threatened to slip closed again, even as he leaned forward for another sip of his milkshake.

“No falling asleep,” Sorey scolded.

Unfortunately, this also captured Rose and Dezel’s attention, which was far more effective at waking him up than the scold.  Dezel didn’t seem interested, which was not unusual, but Rose certainly was.  She leaned forward, at the same time grabbing a few fries and popping them in her mouth.  “Oh man, only think of the nicknames Edna would think up if she was here to see this.  Maybe I should take a picture?”

“That is not necessary,” Mikleo said, bristling, and scooted away on the bench.  He finally brought his hand away from Sorey’s and used both to clutch his milkshake glass like a shield.  With any luck, his expression and body language would convey to Rose that she should not do this, on pain of, well, some kind of pain; his brain was too fuzzy to think up a proper revenge at the moment.  But it would be bad.

“Yeah, seeing you bristle up like an angry prickle boar was probably fun enough.”

Mikleo groaned but decided it would be in his best interest to let the topic drop.  Instead, he turned his attention back to drinking his milkshake.

Everyone finished and paid not long after, and then tramped back out to Rose’s car.  He tried valiantly, he really did, to stay awake there.  But it was dark, with the gentle motion of the car and Sorey’s solid presence beside him.  A presence which was good about nudging his shoulder every time he started to droop.

By the time they said goodbye to Rose and Dezel and climbed the stairs to Sorey’s apartment, he was starting to feel more alert, though.  It could have been the bright lights, the sugar, or a combination of both.

They had a few moments of awkward scramble both trying to shed outer gear in the small entryway.  Sorey finished first, and collected a pillow from the couch to sit on before returning to his spot on the floor by the coffee table.  Mikleo expected him to get right back to work, given his earlier diligence, but he twisted to look at him instead.  As he made his way over, Sorey reached up to grab his wrist, and said, “I don’t think I want to get back to work just yet.”

Despite the fact that Mikleo felt like he probably could be productive at that point, he wouldn’t mind a few more moments of distraction.  “Did you have something in mind?” he asked.

Sorey tugged on his wrist just a bit.  “Come down here?”

Mikleo obliged.  He dropped to the floor and settled cross-legged between Sorey’s outstretched legs.  He was faced with bright eyes and a bright smile, and an idea of perhaps what Sorey was getting at.  “Is this what you had in mind?”  He leaned forward for a kiss.

Sorey hummed contentedly against his lips as an answer.  One hand came up to cup his cheek, and then slid into his hair to pull him closer.  Sorey was a soft, slow kisser.  He seemed unhurried, and content with even the simplest contact.  He was also not bad at it, for someone who had admitted that his kissing experience was limited.

Mikleo was usually the first to press his tongue lightly to Sorey’s lips, though, to trace them before bringing their tongues to meet.  He still tasted faintly of vanilla and salt from their late night snack.  Mikleo broke away after a moment to better situate himself across Sorey’s lap, so that he could curl his arms around his shoulders and play with the fine hairs at the nape of his neck.  The blush across Sorey’s cheeks darkened, and this time he was the one to press forward into another kiss.

Mikleo picked up where they left off.  He took his time to explore, taste after taste, only parting for small breaths.  He could feel the gentle contentment of it blooming against his heart and his lungs, and the way the corners of his mouth kept trying to twitch up despite their occupation.

The next time, Sorey was the one to pull back in earnest.  He turned his attention to kissing along Mikleo’s jawline, from under his ear back to his mouth.    Mikleo breathed out a heavy sigh at the sensation and curled his fingers the smallest bit.  Sorey seemed to like it by the way he murmured his name against the skin of his cheek.  It was a somewhat ticklish feeling, and Mikleo allowed himself a small laugh before turning his head for another full kiss.

Just one more, though.  They had spent enough time on distractions.  The next time he felt the need for a deeper breath creeping up, he let them part.  His hands smoothed down Sorey’s back until he let them drop, and then sat back.  Sorey’s hand uncurled from his hair as well.  He made a cute picture, with his pink face, pink lips and slightly glazed eyes.  It was almost tempting enough to go back for more kisses.  Mikleo shook his head and said, at least partially for his own benefit, “Okay, okay.  We’ve had our break.  And although we needed it, we should get back to work now.”

Sorey pouted, but then his face brightened again.  He reached out to tap Mikleo’s nose with a finger, and said, “Luzrov Rulay.”

Mikleo had been busy going cross-eyed to see the finger on his nose, but he looked back out to meet Sorey’s eyes.  He looked incredibly proud of himself.  It took a moment for Mikleo to piece together a translation, because he hadn’t taken any Ancient Tongue since last spring, but when he did, he shot him an incredulous glare and asked, “Did you seriously just call me ‘Mikleo the Enforcer?’”

“Yep!  It’s your new nickname.”

He used a hand to gently brush Sorey’s finger away and then put his palm to his forehead.  “Edna is bad enough.  Don’t you start too.”

“But I kind of like it.  ‘Luzrov Rulay.’”  Sorey’s voice dropped lower and full of implications.  He wasn’t talking about being a homework task master anymore.  Maybe it could have even been sexy if he hadn’t gone and followed it up with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle.

“Oh no.  No.  No way.”

Sorey laughed, loud and raucous and a bit too long, the way laughter becomes after close to twenty-four waking hours.  Mikleo tried to keep it together.  He really did.  But before long, he was spilling out giggles that tumbled into full blown laughter, too.  Sorey rocked back onto the floor, and Mikleo dropped to join him, one hand coming to rest on Sorey’s chest, where he could feel the laughs rumbling.  For a little while, whenever they would fall silent, one or the other would let out a snort and then they would be off again.

When they managed to calm down for good, Mikleo still had a wide smile and giddy feelings swirling about in his chest.  It was difficult to find the line between the late night and infatuation, but he wasn’t going to try too hard.  His time would be better spent basking in the fact that he was stupidly happy.

But only for a moment, because they really should do some more work.  He gave Sorey’s chest a light pat and then pushed himself up.  “Come on, this time for real.”

“See, I told you – enforcer.”

“No.”

For all his teasing, Sorey slipped back into his studying again as soon as he laid eyes on his textbook.  Mikleo returned to his essay and made steady progress now that he’d gotten over that exhaustion wall.  Every once in awhile, when he found his mind straying or his head drifting lower, he would stand up to refill their water glasses, or share tidbits that he learned about his essay topic.  It worked well to keep Sorey from falling into a complete study trance, too.

He finished the last few sentences, after struggling for roughly half an hour with the concluding paragraph in between sneaking glances at the slowly lightening sky, around 6:30 am.  With only about twenty minutes left to sunrise, and a brain the consistency of mush, this seemed like a good enough sign to throw in the towel.  Any editing done now would be entirely ineffective, so it could wait until later.  He pulled out his earbud, and closed his laptop with a satisfying click.  As his music cut off, he could hear the birds beginning to chirp, despite the fact that the sky was still a deep blue-grey.

To kill time, he wandered into Sorey’s bedroom, where he’d stashed his overnight bag, in search of pajamas and a toothbrush.  Once changed and prepared to sleep, he shuffled back out to the main room, where Sorey was still diligently working.  He’d changed projects about two hours ago to an annotated bibliography for his Era of Asgard class, which meant the floor around him was a minefield of open books and article printouts.  Mikleo picked his way through, and then shifted a few so he could drop down behind Sorey and rest his head on his slightly slouched back.

Sorey jumped minutely, and made a small noise of surprise.  At this point though, Mikleo was too tired to do much more than huff out a single laugh and then readjust himself.

“You’re not tapping out on me with ten minutes left to go, are you?”

“No, just resting here.”

“That sounds like quitter’s talk.”

“Fine,” Mikleo grumbled and hauled himself up.  He made his way back around toward the couch, where he gathered a blanket over his shoulders and sat with an arm propped on his knee and his chin propped in his hand.  Then he met Sorey’s eyes.  “See, still awake.  Now get back to work.”

“Geez.  Enforcer.”

“Stop it.”

“Although looks like your motivation is long gone.”

“Yep.”

“Hmm, well perhaps I should pack up too, then.”  Sorey started gathering books and building them into an impressive stack on the table.  Mikleo just made a noncommittal noise and watched with drooping eyes until he was done.  Outside, the sky had worked its way to golden, dotted with deep pink clouds, all large and heavy with impending snow.  Sorey wrapped up his task and gave his piles a satisfied nod.

“Bed time?”

“Not quite yet.  Come on, we need a picture with the sunrise!”

Mikleo could feel his mouth drifting into a small, fond smile.  How Sorey could still have energy or desire to do cheesy things like take selfies at dawn he had no idea, but it was still cute.  He could let him have this cheesy moment.  The blanket came with him, though, as he hauled himself off the couch and walked over to the window, where Sorey was waiting with his phone already out.

The image that stared back at them showed two bedraggled, tired boys.  Not flattering in the slightest.  Mikleo found he didn’t mind though, and leaned together even a bit more.  Sorey shifted the camera angle for a moment, trying to capture at least some of the colors of the sunrise, even if the sun itself hadn’t crested the buildings in the background yet.  He snapped one, and then just before the next, leaned in to kiss Mikleo on the cheek, the same as Mikleo had done for him a few times.

Much to Mikleo’s satisfaction, he was too sleepy for blushing or surprise.  He let Sorey snap his picture, glad that he wouldn’t be immortalized as a blushing mess.  Just a regular mess.  Once Sorey lowered the camera, he stood to make his slow way toward the bedroom.  “I’m climbing into bed now,” he said, which certainly he would be more embarrassed about if he was more awake, since he’d never slept in Sorey’s bed before.  Right now, he didn’t care about much beyond hitting a mattress and fast.

Sorey chuckled, and said, “I’ll be there in a minute,” before heading to the bathroom to brush his own teeth.

True to his word, Mikleo clambered under Sorey’s dull-orange comforter, and let his eyes drift across the dim room as he waited for Sorey to join him.  Old books on a prefab shelf, maps and prints which probably were too valuable to be hanging on the walls with Command Strips, and a flourishing aloe plant by the bed.

“What do you think of Maotelus?” Sorey asked as he entered the room and caught the direction of Mikleo’s gaze.

“Maotelus?”

“Yep!” Sorey reached out a finger to stroke one of the aloe plant’s leaves.

“You named your plant after the Lord of all Seraphim?”

“Well, sure.  Aloe is healing, and having one in your room is supposed to help you sleep better.  Fits the legends, right?”

“It is very you.  I like it.  Now, turn out the lights so I can sleep,” Mikleo grumbled.  At least part of it was to cover the smallest trickle of nervousness.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept in the same bed with someone; probably with his mother when he was eight.

“Sure, sure,” Sorey said, far too cheerfully for their lack of sleep, and flicked the switch by the door.  In the small sliver of light that trickled under the thick curtains, he looked almost a bit shy too, and that helped Mikleo feel better.  “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” he whispered, as if the change in light merited a lower tone.  “Like Rose suggested, I could sleep on the couch.  It’s pretty comfortable, so I would be fine.”

“It’s alright.”

He nodded and lifted the blanket so he could climb under also.  The bed was full size, so it didn’t require being on top of each other like Mikleo’s tiny, dorm room twin would, but they were still very close.  If Mikleo moved his head an inch or two forward, their foreheads would rest together.  He decided that he should.

Sorey took a moment to look surprised, and flushed, and then a smile spread across his face.  His eyelids had fallen halfway closed, but he held Mikleo’s gaze as he asked, “Would it be okay if, uh, if I held you?”

Now it was Mikleo’s turn to blush.  “If you want, that would be alright, too.”

Sorey nodded, which he could feel against his forehead.  Then an arm looped around his back and pulled him in closer.  It was a sudden movement, and so Mikleo did not have time to situate himself.  He wound up with his arms scrunched up against his chest.

“This isn’t going to work.”

“Oh, sorry, we don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable,” Sorey said, and began to pull back his arm.

“No, no, I meant this isn’t going to work,” Mikleo wiggled his trapped fingers against Sorey’s chest for emphasis.  He shifted so he would have enough space to roll over onto his other side.  Then he drew Sorey’s arm back over his waist.  “Much better.”

Sorey moved forward the last inch so that Mikleo could feel the warmth of him against his back.  His eyes slipped closed, a wonderful relief after so much waking, and he said, “Goodnight, Sorey.  Or good morning, perhaps.  But at any rate, I’m going to get some sleep.”

“Goodnight, Mikleo,” Sorey murmured into the back of his hair, and then squeezed him closer for only a moment.  It sounded like there were other words he meant to say, but he left them unspoken.  Instead, his breathing drifted into a light snore.  Mikleo smiled faintly, and fell away, too.

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Try, Try Again (pt. 8)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 2) | (Cpt 3) | (Cpt 4) | (Cpt 5) | (Cpt 6) | (Cpt 7) ||  (AO3) Thanks to everyone that left such lovely comments on the last chapter! You guys made my whole week :D

Also, I forgot to mention this last time, but Bonus Points to anyone that can guess why the ship is named the Gemini.... Chapter 8 (3314 words)

ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO

Bianca opened the door with one hand, carefully balancing her newest spaceship in the other. Finn would like this one, she was super sure.

Dad had helped her with the really tricky bits, since some Legos were still too small and finicky for a seven year-old to use, but she had built most of it herself. Plus, she had done all the stickers and decorating as well. 

Looking down the stairs, she couldn’t see any sign of her brother. Tentatively, she set the Gemini aside, placing it on top of one of the many shelves lining the side of the staircase. 

“Finn?” She called out his name as she flounced downstairs, running a careful hand along the banister. The basement was silent in response, aside from the low rumble of the dryer. 

In her brother’s absence, Bianca’s attention turned to the large table where his Legos were set out. The city of Bricksburg looked pretty much the same as when she’d last seen it, which was to say that it looked pretty rough. The last time that they’d “played” together, they had ended up arguing over a particularly cool minifigure and Bianca had accidentally smashed her elbow into one of the taller skyscrapers, totally destroying it. And then, when Finn tried to swoop in and catch the top of the building, he had only succeeded in toppling its neighbor as well. 

Bianca frowned at the memory. She hadn’t meant to break the tower, and she hadn’t meant to make Finn so grumpy either. It seemed like everything she did made him mad though, and he never wanted to play the same games as her either. 

She looked over towards where Finn kept his favorite minifigures. He almost always played with the same ones, and he never let her play with any of them, even though he had so many. 

Bianca reached over, plucking Batman’s figure from where he’d been positioned behind some kind of turret gun. 

Batman was the coolest of all Finn’s superheros, Bianca thought. Her brother had given her some other ones, like Wonder Woman and the green guy, a while back so that she’d stop bothering him about it. And then, he hid Batman for a while. She didn’t know how long, but it seemed like approximately the amount of time it takes to produce a feature length animated film... or something. 

Regardless, he was back now. 

Bianca liked Batman because he seemed lonely, like he needed a friend to give him hugs or throw him a party. Sometimes she felt lonely like that, but she had her mom and dad, and from what she’d heard, Batman didn’t. 

Holding him in her hand, Bianca wondered if Batman missed his superhero friends. They were all up in her room, maybe she ought to take-

The door to the stairs opened with a bang.

“Bianca?” Finn called out as he raced down the stairs. “You better not have broken anything. That new tank took me hours to build.”

He pulled up next to her, inspecting the area for damage. 

“I didn’t break your dumb tank.” Bianca stuck her tongue out at his back. “I just came down here to show you something.” She turned to go retrieve the Gemini when Finn suddenly whipped around. 

“Where’s Batman?” He exclaimed. “He’s supposed to be piloting the whole thing.”

“He’s right here!” Bianca extended her arm, the plastic figure still clenched in her hand. 

“Give him back!” Finn grabbed her wrist with one hand and began to pull at Batman with the other.

“Hey!” Bianca yelped. “Let go!”

Finn released her arm and pressed the fist holding Batman against his chest, as if to shield it from her. “You’ve got to stop taking my guys, Bianca,” he muttered darkly.

“I wasn’t taking him,” Bianca bristled. “I was just looking!”

“Uh huh,” Finn scowled. “The same way you were ‘just looking’ at the Justice League?”

“You gave me those guys!”

“Did not!” Finn rebutted. “And I want them back.”

“You can’t do that,” Bianca wailed.

“Can so.”

“Argh!” Bianca tugged at her hair and screamed just a little bit. “You’re the worst!”

Angrily, she stomped up the stairs as loudly as she could, and slammed the door behind her.

Finn’s expression sagged. Quietly, he turned back to his worktable and placed Batman into his seat. As he did so, his attention fell on the little vehicle nearly obscured by Batman’s tank. Gently, he picked the little car up, opened the door, and removed Emmet’s figurine. 

Holding the construction worker tenderly in his palm, Finn couldn’t help but remember all the cool adventures he had made up for his little buddy. About a month ago, when they were shopping for new school supplies, his mom had bought him a big notebook just for writing down some of his stories. He had already filled out a good handful of the pages and had even let Bianca draw in some illustrations. 

He had taken the notebook with him when he went to middle school orientation last week. When the teacher had made his small group go around and share, he had told them that his name was Finn and he liked to play with his Legos and write stories. 

Afterwards, a couple of the kids had asked to see his notebook, and he’d nervously complied. They read through the first few pages, and then most of them seemed to get kind of bored. One kid flipped through the whole book really fast, stopping abruptly on a picture of Unikitty that sprawled messily across both pages. 

The kid laughed, and Finn felt his stomach churn. He suddenly felt like the whole world was ending and the only thing that would stop it would be to snatch his notebook back and hide it somewhere far away. But, the other kids were still holding it and so he’d probably just rip it if he tried. 

“Um, actually,” he stammered, “that one is my sister’s character. Mine, uh, mine has huge fangs and huge claws and uh, can shoot missiles.”

The kids tittered appreciatively at the thought of missiles and cool explosions, but it didn’t make Finn feel as good as he thought it would have. 

Looking down at Emmet, all Finn could see now were the things he couldn’t do. He couldn’t shoot missiles, or do backflips, or take out bad guys, or impress anyone. He wasn’t cool or tough or important or interesting or special. He was embarrassing. 

The sharp plastic edges of the figurine started to jab into Finn’s clammy fingers uncomfortably, causing him to realize how tight his grip had become. Dimly, Finn knew that he wasn’t really upset at Emmet, that it was silly to be upset at a toy. But given that he was a ten year-old boy, the idea of disliking a thinly veiled self-insert was a much more palatable concept than the alternative. 

Setting Emmet back down, Finn turned away, walking up the stairs and out of the basement. As he did so, he failed to notice the newest addition to the downstairs’ collection, and so the Gemini was left to collect dust. 

*******************

“Wow, Nova,” Emmet grinned. “That was a really great story. And so well told, too. I’m really glad I heard it and not like, some kind of fourth-wall breaking, real world analog instead.”

“Pssh,” Nova scoffed, an embarrassed flush rising on her ears. “It was whatever.”

Suddenly, her comm blipped loudly. Nova reached down, pressing a button on her belt to accept the call, and Catastrophe’s voice blasted out. 

“HELLO? NOBLE?” 

She sighed. “Literally who else would it be, Major?”

“GOOD POINT.” Catastrophe coughed awkwardly, causing a jolt of feedback. “ANYWAYS, I HAVE RETRIEVED THE REST OF GROMMET’S CREW AND WE’RE WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BY THE MAIN ENGINE.”

 “Oh!” Nova’s expression brightened. “Alright, we’ll be down in a minute.”

“ALSO PLEASE BRING SOME BAND-AIDS.”

Nova said something in response, but Emmet didn’t hear it. 

The main engine, he thought. That’s what I’m supposed to destroy. Nova’s story still echoed in his mind however, and he couldn’t help but feel ashamed for thinking about destroying a lost and unarmed ship. 

His guide turned toward him, oblivious to his current thoughts. “Come on, dude,” she smiled gently. “You’re gonna love this.”

Quietly, Emmet followed.

*******************

The engine was big. 

Logically, Emmet had known this. He’d seen it on the map earlier, and he remembered thinking to himself wow, that’s pretty big. 

However, seeing it in person, he was utterly struck with the realization that the engine was BIG. 

It was at least two, if not three, stories tall, and it seemed to stretch back infinitely into the ship. The fact that it was constructed out of millions of intricate interlocking pieces only added to the illusion, giving it complexity and depth. 

Even though it was completely off, the way that his eyes couldn’t help but trace the convoluted gears and tracks and tubing of the machine gave it the illusion of movement.

Beside him, Nova nudged his shoulder. “It’s pretty, isn’t it.”

Still bewildered, Emmet couldn’t do much more than nod in mute agreement.

“When it’s on,” she pointed up towards an array of delicate shapes and figures littering the engine, “those all dance and twirl and spin around.” Half turned towards her, Emmet could see how her amber eyes seemed to glow with raw adoration. She was smiling, really smiling, and in the light of the engine room, he suddenly noticed that she had a spattering of light freckles that sprawled across her dimpled cheeks like constellations. 

“ATTENTION EVERYBODY.” Catastrophe addressed him and the five raptors that were standing morosely in the corner of the room. 

“I UNFORTUNATELY CANNOT TURN ON THE ENGINE FOR YOUR DELIGHT AND AMUSEMENT. AS SUCH, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU TO PLEASE IMAGINE THAT IT IS WHOOSHING AROUND AND BEING REALLY SUPER COOL.”

They gave a stiff bow. “THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.”

For a few minutes, they all stood quietly in front of the engine. Emmet tried his hardest to imagine it in motion, like the Major had requested, and frankly it did seem super cool. Eventually though, Catastrophe spoke up again.

“ATTENTION AGAIN, PLEASE.” They rasped. “IT IS NOW BEDTIME. NOEL, PLEASE ACCOMPANY THE BITEY ONES BACK TO THEIR ROOMS, AND I WILL ESCORT EMILY-”

“Emmet.”

“YES, OF COURSE. I WILL ESCORT HELMET BACK TO HIS ROOM.”  

“Ugh,” Nova grumbled. “Yeah, yeah, alright.” She grabbed the first aid satchel back from the Major and started to herd the raptors out of the room.

“SO,” the Major took Emmet by the elbow and started to lead him down the opposite corridor. “WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE ENGINE?” 

“It’s awesome,” Emmet beamed. “I kinda wish I could see it in action.”

Catastrophe stared at him for a moment, just long enough to make it awkward. “I SEE,” they eventually wheezed before leading him towards his bedroom in relative silence.

When they reached the room, the door hissed open automatically. Emmet stepped into the doorway and couldn’t stop himself from gasping. It was like a luxury hotel room, spacious and well-furnished. He turned back to ask the Major if they’d gotten the right room, but they were gone.   

Alone now, Emmet wandered over to sit on the bed. It was absurdly soft and he couldn’t resist the urge to lie down, pausing only to brush off a few of the decorative pillows and stuffed animals that were taking up the majority of the bed’s surface. In a flash, all his exhaustion caught up to him, and he realized that he probably wasn’t going to get back up until morning.

Absent-mindedly, he picked up one of the stuffed toys that was digging into his side. It was a blue bear, like the one he’d had as a child, long before the world had ended twice-over. 

He frowned. Everything had been so simple this morning, when the Gemini was just a vague threat and there was a straightforward plan to follow. But now, he couldn’t be sure what to do. If he didn’t destroy the engine, then he would fail the seminar and let all his friends down. But if he did destroy it, then Nova and Catastrophe could be stuck here forever. 

Laying on his back, Emmet let his worried thoughts roll through his mind again and again until he slipped into a vague sort of sleep. 

*******************

Apocalypseburg was crumbling. The buildings, the vehicles, even the ground itself was fracturing into a thousand tiny shards. The world was ripping itself apart, accompanied by a symphony of distorted screaming voic-

Lucy fell to the ground, hard. A yelp escaped her lips before she could help it. She looked up, her face twisted in pain, a trace of blood trickling past her brow. There was fear in her ey-

The Rexcelsior streaked through space, its engines gleaming, clearly working at full power. Suddenly, something unseen struck its side, exploding against the hull in a brilliant blast of light. The ship shuddered, rocked by the force of the explosion, sending small sections of ship careening into the void. Its attacker swerved around, avoiding the debris, their guns shimmering as they prepared another volley.

It was the Gemini.

Fully operational.

Its rear engines were spinning, smearing a shimmering golden trail against the backdrop of spa-

Emmet jerked awake. His heart was pounding in his chest, threatening to leap past his ribs altogether. 

It was just a dream, he thought. A- a nightmare maybe. Either way, it wasn’t real. 

But… it had felt real. 

Suddenly, Emmet realized that he was incredibly uncomfortable. His bed was too warm, despite the thinness of the blanket. He needed to get out.

He stood up, feeling the chill of the night air in the sweat on his back. For a moment, he considered calling Rex, telling him about the dream. It usually helped to talk about these things, but… Emmet couldn’t impose. 

It hadn’t been that bad of a dream, he told himself. He could deal with it himself. He’d just go for a quick walk, just to get his mind off things. That was all. 

He stepped out into the hall. The overhead lights were off, but a thin strip of LEDs near the floor emitted a faint blue glow that allowed him to see well enough. He tried to walk gently, so as not to disturb anyone that might still be sleeping. As he was pacing past the bridge, he stopped to look out the vast window. 

It was so quiet and still. Outside the window, glastroids floated by, slowly spinning past one another. The stars in the distance glimmered, and Emmet felt a little better just watching them. He leaned against the dashboard, cupping his cheek in one hand as he stared dreamily out of the window. 

Suddenly, a light on the dash illuminated. Startled, Emmet pulled back, looking frantically to see what he had accidently touched. But, as he searched, he couldn’t see anything that had been disturbed. 

The light blinked again. Beneath it was a label reading “Engine Status”, and beneath that was a readout displaying the word “ACTIVE”.

Emmet stared at the light in confusion. The cold sensation of dread percolated in the back of his mind. Abruptly, he turned on his heel, stalking out of the door and down the corridor towards the engine room. 

As he approached, he crept quieter and quieter, sticking as low to the ground as he could. He could tell he was getting closer, as the ambient light and noise was steadily increasing. Stopping at the entrance, Emmet peered carefully around the doorway.    

Inside the room, he could see Major Catastrophe pacing in front of the vast engine, which had begun to slowly but steadily turn in an intricate motion. Behind them, Nova was bent over, kneeling in front of the machine, performing some kind of maintenance on it. 

As Emmet watched, she grunted and stood up. The engine started to accelerate, and the metallic hum filling the air increased in both frequency and volume. She walked over to the Major’s side, and Emmet suddenly recognized the piece she had been working on - the fuelcell of the Rexplorer. 

“FINALLY,” Catastrophe rubbed their hands together. “WE WILL MAKE IT TO APOC-LICKS-BURG. FINALLY WE CAN SHOW THEM WHAT WE’RE CAPABLE OF!” 

They begin to laugh, a maniacal and distorted sound. 

“Yeah,” Nova agreed, excitement clear in her voice, “I can’t wait!”

The engine twirled faster now, and the activation lights started blinking from red to green. For a long moment, all three characters simply watched the lightshow.

“Do you think,” Nova asked hesitantly. “That Emmet will be upset?”

“MAYBE.” Catastrophe’s mask was illuminated starkly by the glow of the engine, which continued to grow brighter. “BUT HE WON’T BE FOR VERY LONG.”

In his hiding place, Emmet felt utterly betrayed. He turned away from the upsetting scene, pressing his face into his hands. He had trusted them. He had trusted them, and they had stolen his crew and his fuelcell, and they really were planning on attacking his friends just like he’d seen in his dream.

He pressed his palms into his eyelids, trying in vain to stop the tears that were welling up behind them. 

The things that he’d seen… Apocalypseburg being destroyed, Lucy being hurt… he had to stop it. He had to stop the Gemini. 

With a burst of determination, Emmet wiped his face and rose to his feet. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see that Nova and the Major were still preoccupied with restarting the engine. He would show them that he wasn’t as naive as they thought. 

Setting his expression into something hard, Emmet strode into the engine room.

“You stole our fuelcell?” His voice rang out over the drone of the engine, clear and accusatory.

“Emmet?” Both aliens turned to face him, their shock clear on their faces. 

“EVAN,” Catastrophe started, “YOU DON’T UNDERST-” 

“No!” Emmet shouted, ignoring the heat of tears that had somehow snuck past his anger. “No, I understand PERFECTLY. You thought you could trick me, because I’m… because I’m not tough.”

His voice caught in his throat. “B- But, you’re wrong! I am tough. And I’ll prove it to you!”

Buoyed by his rage, Emmet ran towards the engine, easily slipping past the others. 

WHAT MAKES YOU MAD, EMMET?

Trinity’s voice rang in his ears, louder than the engine, louder than his pounding heart.

WHAT MAKES YOU MAD?

That people doubt me, Emmet thought. That people don’t accept me. That people pity me.

W H A T   M A K E S   Y O U   M A D ?

That people don’t think I’m worth anything.

His fist hit the center of the engine. Under his knuckles, the metal screeched. Instantly, the lights flickered, growing to a blinding intensity before dying completely in the blink of an eye. The clockwork pieces and elaborate decorations that had only begun to move seemed to leap from their perches to the unforgiving floor below. There was the sound of things shattering and breaking, the sound of the huge machine grinding to a halt, the sound of its gears chewing themselves to death. 

And then there was silence.  

Panting, Emmet rose to his feet, brushing dust and debris off his suit. Without looking at the others, he moved towards the fuelcell, pulling it effortlessly out of the wreckage. 

“We’ll be leaving now,” he said, his voice cold and flat.

“You… ” Nova fell to her knees, her eyes wide with disbelief. “It can’t be gone.”

Beside her, the Major turned to stare at him with pleading eyes. “BUT,” they wheezed. “WHY?”

Emmet walked past them, trying to remember where they’d placed his crewmates. He looked back, just for a second, at the wreckage. 

“You shouldn’t have taken my stuff.”

[theupsidedownunderblog-blog]

THE NULLARBOR - IT'S ANYTHING BUT PLAIN

No place in Australia can capture the imagination like The Nullarbor. An epic adventure across two states, renowned for desert solitude and the wild Southern Ocean Bunda Cliffs. In a country where we just don't do small, The Nullarbor Plain—also known as the Nullarbor Desert—manages to take it a step further. It breaks a number of world records. The Nullarbor Plain  is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north.

Australia's longest straight road (146.6km) is part of the Eyre Highway crosses the flat terrain of the Nullarbor It is the world's largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, and occupies an area of about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi). At its widest point, it stretches about 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) from east to west across the border between South Australia and Western Australia. Affectionately known by Australians as the Nullar-boring, it is believed to be a dried up sea bed. For all its lack of visual stimulation this is easy to imagine. But scratch the dry surface and be prepared to unearth many legends, a rich history and stunning scenery along the 1200 km that makes the Nullarbor. Crossing the Nullarbor Few Australians have traversed this road, but those who have, will never forget the experience...

Australia's Longest Straight Road "Crossing the Nullarbor", for many Australians, is a quintessential experience of the "Australian Outback". Stickers bought from roadhouses on the highway show "I have crossed the Nullarbor", and can be seen on vehicles of varying quality or capacity for long distance travel. The process of "beating the crowds" on overbooked and overpriced air services at the time of special sporting events can also see significant numbers of vehicles on the road.

Stickers bought from roadhouses on the highway show "I have crossed the Nullarbor", and can be seen on vehicles of varying quality or capacity for long distance travel. Feel the wide open space of Australia's vast Outback beneath your wheels on one of the world's greatest adventure drives, across the vast, semi-arid Nullarbor Plain. It stretches across the southern edge of Australia between the goldfields of Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.

The Nullarbor - About 2000kms of sealed roads connecting the southern coasts of remote Western Australia with South Australia. You can connect to this journey from Adelaide or Perth and drive west to east or east to west along the Eyre Highway. While this is a sealed road, it goes through remote areas and the trip requires thorough preparation. You should carry extra petrol and plenty of water and food. You'll need a 4WD vehicle to venture off the highway. The name comes from the Latin for nothing (nullus) and tree (arbor)  but in reality the Nullarbor is covered with bluebush and mulga scrub, and even wildflowers after rain.

You should carry extra petrol and plenty of water and food. You'll need a 4WD vehicle to venture off the highway. You'll see plenty of wildlife, including wild camels, kangaroos and emus (be careful at dusk), meet eccentric Outback characters and even discover space junk that fell to earth. Go whale watching on a clifftop lookout, visit vast cattle stations, and play the world's longest golf course – an unbelievable 1365 kilometres (848 miles) long, with a hole at each town or roadhouse along the way. The Bunda Cliffs Along the Great Australian Bight the Bunda Cliffs extend 200kms, between the Head of the Bight and the border with Western Australia. They are the southern edge of the limestone slab which forms the Nullarbor Plain and extends far inland. Along the base of the cliffs is lighter in colour as this white, almost chalk like material is Wilson Bluff Limestone. This material formed as part of an ancient seabed some 65 million years ago, when Australia began to separate from Antarctica. Over an 85km stretch of the Eyre Highway, there are signed, gravel access roads leading to each of the five main lookouts. The Bunda Cliffs are 20 kilometres to the east of Nullarbor Roadhouse.

Bunda Cliffs are the southern edge of the limestone slab forming the Nullarbor Plain which extends far inland. Interesting Facts about the Nullarbor The road which people drive across the  Plain is called the Eyre Highway. This stretch of road originally got its name from a man named John Eyre who crossed the Nullarbor in 1841. The Eyre Highway is approximately 1675km long and takes approximately two days to cross. The name Nullarbor originated from the Latin terminology nullus arbor meaning ‘no trees’ because quite literally you are lucky to see any surviving tress along this desert plain. The Nullarbor Plain is home to the earth’s largest piece of limestone. The first motorcar crossed the Nullarbor Plain in 1912. Another form of transport to cross the Nullarbor is by the Indian Pacific Train. This train runs twice weekly from Perth to Sydney via Adelaide and takes 3 nights to cover the 4352km journey. The Cocklebiddy Cave on the Nullarbor Plain held the world record for the longest cave diving distance in 1983. The Cocklebiddy Cave entrance was formed when the cave roof collapsed to reveal a system of massive underground caverns and more than 6kms of underwater passages. Even though the Plain has very harsh weather conditions it is home to a surprising amount of animals. Kangaroos, emu’s, wombats and even camels. The Nullarbor has up to 100,000 wild camels which were abandoned there after their use in building rail roads. The Nullarbor is home to the World's Longest Golf Course The Nullarbor Links Golf Course The Nullarbor Links is an 18-hole par 73 golf course, said to be "the World's Longest Golf course", situated along 1,365 kilometres of the Eyre Highway along the southern coast of Australia in two states (South Australia and Western Australia), notably crossing the Nullarbor Plain at the head of the Great Australian Bight. The idea for the course came from Alf Caputo and Bob Bongiorno, both active in the Eyre Highway Operators Association, over a bottle of red wine at the Balladonia Roadhouse. The course officially opened on 22 October 2009, although public play began on 15 August 2009.

The Nullarbor Links is an 18-hole par 73 golf course, said to be "the World's Longest Golf course". The course begins and ends (depending on the direction of crossing) in the goldmining town of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and the coastal town of Ceduna, South Australia. Professional golfer Robert Stock, from Manchester, England, consulted on the design that incorporates 7 holes from existing courses and 11 holes created at roadhouses and roadside stops. Newly constructed holes have tees and greens that use artificial grass, with natural desert land between. The shortest hole (Brumby's Run) is 125 metres, par 3. The longest hole (Dingo's Den) is 538 metres, par 5. The average distance between holes is 66 kilometres. Two of the holes are almost 200 kilometres apart. The 520m, par 5 Wombat Hole commemorates the nearby, largest colony of southern hairy-nosed wombats. The Skylab Hole at Balladonia commemorates that pieces of the spacecraft fell in the area in 1979 when Skylab entered Earth's atmosphere. The Don Harrington Tee at Border Village, South Australia is named after the late Don Harrington who was a major shareholder of five roadhouses along the highway before passing away in March 2010 A History of Crossing the Nullabor The first motorcar crossed the Nullarbor Plain in 1912. The first non-Indigenous person to walk across Australia from the west to the east coast, Henri Gilbert, crossed the Plain on foot, with no support team or stock, in the middle of summer. His walk across Australia, from Fremantle to Brisbane, was achieved between August 1897 and December 1898. In 1998, runner Robert Garside ran across the Nullarbor without a formal support crew, as part of an authenticated run around the world. Unconventionally, Garside obtained water and other support from "passing traffic" who would leave water cached ahead for him at agreed drop-offs, to achieve the feat.

In 1998, runner Robert Garside ran across the Nullarbor without a formal support crew In 2010, columnist Dan Koeppel ran the 200-mile (320 km) heart of the Nullarbor with a friend the same way, to vindicate Garside. Garside commented in his diary, that... "the key to running the Nullarbor turned out to be Australian hospitality", and Koeppel concurred that... "From an armchair it is completely impossible to run the Nullarbor. Once you're out there, however, there is a way. Robert Garside discovered it. So would I".. On 25 December 1896, after an arduous journey of thirty-one days, Arthur Charles Jeston Richardson became the first cyclist to cross the Nullarbor Plain, pedaling his bicycle from Coolgardie to Adelaide.  Carrying only a small kit and a water-bag, he followed the telegraph line as he crossed the Nullarbor. He later described the heat as... "1,000 degrees in the shade".

It took 31 days for Arthur Charles Jeston Richardson to cross the Nullarbor. During their three-year cycling trip around Australia between 1946 and 1949, Wendy Law Suart and Shirley Duncan became the first women to cycle across the Plain. Between 29 June and 3 July 2015, brothers Tyron and Aaron Bicknell recorded the fastest known crossing of the Plain on single speed bicycles. Their ride took advantage of the cold temperatures in the Australian winter months and was completed over 4 days, 5 hours and 21 minutes, making it one of the fastest bicycle crossings and the fastest done with a single geared bike.   Sources: http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/the-nullarbor-plain.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor_Plain http://www.australia.com/en/itineraries/crossing-nullarbor.html http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/campervan-trips/adventures-in-our-backyard/the-nullarbor.html http://www.nullarborlinks.com/ http://www.nullarborroadhouse.com.au/tourist-attractions/bunda-cliffs/ Click to Post