#you get to take photos of the other holding the caches

[of-mushrooms-and-men]

I think geocaching dates would be just neat :3

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: William McGurn

Published: Oct 30, 2023

“I just want to remind the world, Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world,” Jordan’s Queen Rania said on CNN last week. “For them to have to go through this is just unbelievable. And equally, I think that people all around the Middle East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world’s reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding. In the last couple of weeks we have seen, you know, a glaring double standard. . . . Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s OK to shell them to death?”

Suddenly the talk of Israeli grandmothers and babies being butchered by Hamas has given way to reports of Palestinian children killed by the Israel Defense Forces. And so Queen Rania asks: Aren’t Palestinian lives as precious as Israeli ones?

Of course they are. But to focus on death counts alone—without looking to how and why people were killed—is to reduce this war to a grim PR battle of photos and numbers.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said this war has entered its second stage. He was talking about Israel, but it applies equally to Hamas. The barbarism of Oct. 7 was only the first stage of the Hamas war plan. The second stage was to force an Israeli response in Gaza that Hamas knew would mean the killing of innocent Palestinians—which boosts the terrorist group’s propaganda.

Whether the IDF is taking the right steps to minimize the loss of Palestinian civilian lives can be argued. But nothing Hamas does is to protect the Palestinian people. Look at how Hamas prevented Palestinians from leaving northern Gaza in accord with Israeli warnings.

Hamas has built a sophisticated tunnel network to protect its members from Israeli bombs and missiles. Has anyone seen a comparable network of shelters to safeguard the Palestinians Hamas claims to be fighting for? Hamas locates its ammunition caches and command centers in these tunnels beneath schools, hospitals and mosques, so that any Israeli fire necessarily will mean more civilian casualties.

The disturbing truth about Hamas’s second stage is this: Palestinian deaths are more useful to Hamas even than Israeli deaths.

Michael Walzer is professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and the author of “Just and Unjust Wars.” He is a self-described social democrat. He is no fan of Mr. Netanyahu.

In an article for the New Republic, Mr. Walzer makes clear that like Queen Rania, he holds Palestinian life precious—and he believes that the IDF has an obligation to act to protect Palestinians, even if it means greater risk for Israeli soldiers. But Mr. Walzer recognizes something Queen Rania doesn’t: “A just victory requires the defeat of Hamas.”

Mr. Walzer considers the creation of a viable Palestinian state part of a just victory. Agree with him or not—I believe Palestinians need the possibility of a decent life more than a state—he is saying that any just resolution requires the destruction of Hamas first.

This becomes easier to understand once the essence of a terrorist is recognized: a war criminal who rejects any limit, including deliberately targeting civilians. This differs from the IDF, which kills civilians as a consequence of its effort to get at Hamas. In just-war teaching this is known as double effect.

It’s a fine distinction that represents a fundamental moral divide. Tel Aviv University historian Martin Kramer, a fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, notes that the argument that there’s no difference between the killing of civilians by Hamas and those by the IDF has a precedent in the so-called Dresden defense.

This was the argument advanced by commanders of paramilitary Nazi death squads, who claimed that what they did up close and on the ground was no different morally from what Allied bombers did from thousands of feet in the air. The Nuremberg judges vehemently disagreed, pointing out that the actions differ “both in fact and in law.” The innocent people killed by Allied bombs were incidental to the military objective. To the Nazis, killing innocent people was the objective.

That’s what makes Hamas members war criminals. On Oct. 7, they executed a plan to target, attack and murder innocent Israelis. Now that they have the Israeli counterattack they counted on, they are trying to use the Palestinian dead to claim victimhood. It isn’t just Queen Rania, either: We hear the same argument at the United Nations, in Congress and on elite American college campuses.

Yes, Palestinian mothers love their children no less than anyone else. But with horrible images from Israel and Gaza now filling our TV screens, moral judgment begins with making the obvious distinctions, not erasing them.

[ Via: https://archive.vn/x6IW8 ]

[bloggerstweet]

Smartphone Security 101: 7 Steps to Keep Hackers at Bay

In an era where our lives are intricately woven with smartphones, the looming threat of cyberattacks is ever-present. Securing your smartphone from potential hacking incidents demands a proactive approach. Here, we present seven strategic steps to bolster your smartphone’s defenses and thwart cyber adversaries.

1. Craft a Digital Fortress with a Dynamic Passcode:

Devise a formidable password comprising a mix of upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters.

Dodge predictable choices like birthdays or common words to fortify your device against brute force attacks.

2. Implant a Cyber Sentinel: Activate Two-Factor Authentication (2FA):

Empower 2FA for your accounts to introduce an extra layer of security.

Require a secondary form of verification, transforming your smartphone into an impervious digital fortress.

3. Execute Regular Software Fortifications:

Shield your smartphone by perpetually updating its operating system and applications.

Embrace automated updates to ensure your device remains impervious to the latest cyber threats.

4. Navigate Permissions Prudently:

Scrutinize app permissions meticulously before installation.

Abstain from conferring unnecessary privileges that could jeopardize your smartphone’s security and compromise your privacy.

5. Mobilize Digital Guardians: Install a Robust Antivirus Shield:

Select a reputable antivirus or mobile security application and maintain its currency.

Routinely scan your device for lurking malware and other potential security breaches.

6. Enforce Wireless Vigilance:

Fortify your Wi-Fi network with an unassailable password.

Activate WPA3 encryption for an added layer of defense, and exercise caution when using public Wi-Fi for sensitive activities.

7. Establish a Data Sanctuary: Regular Backups are Your Guardian Angels:

Institute routine backups of your smartphone’s data, encompassing contacts, photos, and vital files.

In the event of a security breach, the ability to restore your device to a previous state becomes an invaluable line of defense.

Simple advice on phone security

When it comes to rejecting easy hacking attempts, casual phone users should start by following the fundamentals:

Don’t ever leave your phone alone. The first and most important rule to keep by when in a public area is to always have your phone with you.

Modify the default passcode on your phone. Those who know can take advantage of the basic, predictable default password that most phones have. Instead of using the often used “1234,” “0000,” and “2580” codes, try something more sophisticated.

Control the Bluetooth security. When not in use, turn off your Bluetooth service and stay away from unsecured Bluetooth networks.

Safeguard your credit card information and PIN. To store credit card details and PINs, use a secure app, or better yet, never store them on your phone.

Innovative Techniques to Stop Phone Hacking

There are other security precautions you can take if hacking is still a concern. But going too far will negate the whole point of owning a smartphone.

Steer clear of unprotected public WiFi. Hackers frequently use public WiFi to target crucial sites, such bank accounts, which are frequently left unprotected because of low security regulations or none at all.

Disable your autocomplete function. You can stop important personal data from being accessed by doing this.

Delete your cookies, cache, and browsing history on a regular basis. Reducing your digital footprint is crucial for reducing the quantity of information that could be obtained by unscrupulous parties.

Have an iPhone? Turn on “Find My iPhone.” You can find your phone if you misplace it before the hackers get a hold of it by activating the feature in your settings.

Use a security app to improve defenses. Webroot provides an all-in-one Mobile Security for Android app for Android users, which not only gives antivirus protection but also lets you remotely locate, lock, and delete your phone in case you misplace it. Webroot provides a free safe web browser for iOS users to enhance mobile security on their iPhone and iPad.

Android phone security tips

Lock It Down: Set Up a Strong Screen Lock:

Start with a robust screen lock method such as a PIN, password, pattern, or biometric authentication (fingerprint or face recognition).

Avoid using easily guessable patterns or PINs to enhance your phone’s physical security.

Enable Find My Device:

Activate the “Find My Device” feature on your Android phone.

This allows you to locate, lock, or erase your device remotely in case it gets lost or stolen.

Keep Your System Updated:

Regularly update your Android operating system and apps to patch security vulnerabilities.

Enable automatic updates for both system and app updates whenever possible.

Install Apps from Trusted Sources Only:

Download and install apps only from the official Google Play Store.

Avoid sideloading apps from third-party sources, as these can pose security risks.

Review App Permissions:

Scrutinize and manage app permissions to control what data and features each app can access.

Revoke unnecessary permissions for apps that don’t require certain functionalities.

Use a VPN for Public Wi-Fi:

When connecting to public Wi-Fi networks, use a reputable Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt your internet connection and protect your data from potential snooping.

Secure Your Google Account:

Strengthen the security of your Google account linked to your Android device.

Enable two-step verification, regularly review account activity, and use a strong, unique password.

Regularly Back Up Your Data:

Set up automatic backups for your Android device to Google Drive.

This ensures you can restore your data in case of loss, theft, or a device malfunction.

Install a Reliable Antivirus App:

Choose a reputable antivirus app from the Google Play Store.

Run regular scans to detect and remove any potential malware or security threats.

Be Wary of Phishing and Social Engineering:

Exercise caution when clicking on links in emails, text messages, or unfamiliar websites.

Educate yourself about common phishing tactics and avoid sharing sensitive information with unverified sources.

IPhone security tips

Activate Face ID or Touch ID:

Enable Face ID or Touch ID for a secure and convenient biometric authentication experience.

These features enhance the physical security of your iPhone, ensuring that only you can unlock it.

Keep iOS Updated:

Regularly update your iPhone’s operating system to the latest iOS version.

These updates often include critical security patches that guard against potential vulnerabilities.

Enable Find My iPhone:

Activate the “Find My iPhone” feature to locate, lock, or erase your device remotely.

This tool is invaluable in case your iPhone is lost or stolen, providing added security.

Use Strong, Unique Passcodes:

Set a strong alphanumeric passcode for your iPhone.

Avoid easily guessable codes, and opt for a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.

App Store Only: Download Apps Wisely:

Download and install apps exclusively from the official Apple App Store.

Apple’s stringent app review process ensures a higher level of security and reduces the risk of malicious apps.

Review App Permissions:

Regularly check and manage app permissions in your iPhone settings.

Only grant necessary permissions to apps, limiting access to sensitive data.

Secure Your Apple ID:

Strengthen the security of your Apple ID with two-factor authentication.

Regularly review and update your Apple ID password, ensuring it’s unique and robust.

iCloud Encryption and Backups:

Enable iCloud encryption for added protection of your data.

Regularly back up your iPhone to iCloud to ensure you can restore your data in case of loss or device replacement.

Beware of Phishing:

Exercise caution when receiving emails, messages, or calls asking for personal information.

Verify the legitimacy of requests before sharing any sensitive data to protect against phishing attempts.

Here are some of the best tools and apps that can enhance the security of your mobile device:

Mobile Security Apps:

Lookout: Offers comprehensive mobile security with features like malware protection, device location tracking, and data backup.

Bitdefender Mobile Security: Provides powerful antivirus and anti-malware protection along with features like web security and anti-theft capabilities.

VPN Services:

ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or CyberGhost: These virtual private network (VPN) services encrypt your internet connection, ensuring your data remains private, especially when using public Wi-Fi.

Password Managers:

LastPass, 1Password, or Dashlane: Helps generate and store complex, unique passwords for each of your accounts, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Biometric Authentication Apps:

Google Authenticator or Authy: Adds an extra layer of security with two-factor authentication, generating time-sensitive codes for account access.

Anti-Theft Apps:

Find My iPhone (iOS) or Find My Device (Android): Built-in tools that help you locate, lock, or erase your device remotely in case it’s lost or stolen.

Firewall Apps:

NetGuard (Android): Allows you to control which apps can access the internet, enhancing your device’s privacy and security.

Encrypted Messaging Apps:

Signal, WhatsApp, or Telegram: Offers end-to-end encryption for messages, ensuring your communications remain private and secure.

Mobile Device Management (MDM) Solutions:

VMware Workspace ONE, Microsoft Intune, or MobileIron: Ideal for businesses, these tools help manage and secure mobile devices within an organization, enforcing security policies and remotely managing devices.

Ad Blockers:

AdGuard (Android/iOS) or 1Blocker (iOS): Helps block intrusive ads and potential sources of malware while browsing, enhancing your online security.

Secure Browsers:

Brave Browser or Firefox Focus: Focus on privacy and security, blocking trackers and ads to provide a more secure browsing experience.

Device Encryption:

Built-in Encryption (iOS/Android): Enable device encryption to protect the data stored on your device. iOS devices come encrypted by default, while Android users can enable encryption in the settings.

Conclusion:

Your smartphone is not just a device; it’s a gateway to your digital identity. Elevating its security is not an option but a necessity in the face of escalating cyber threats. By integrating these seven strategic steps into your digital routine, you fortify your smartphone against hacking endeavors. Stay vigilant, stay informed, and embark on a proactive journey to shield your smartphone and preserve your digital sanctum.

[globallong]

Apple store instagram for mac

APPLE STORE INSTAGRAM FOR MAC FULL

APPLE STORE INSTAGRAM FOR MAC ANDROID

APPLE STORE INSTAGRAM FOR MAC ANDROID

So, clearing the iPhone cache or Android cache is also suitable for improving your device performance. However, when time passes, the cache on your Android and iPhone devices increases, making your device too. Rather than fetching the data from the live server, it takes it from the cache data on your iPhone and Android. So next time you check the same post or the image, the Instagram cache saved on your iPhone and Android plays a crucial role in loading the item quickly. Once you load any photo or post on Instagram, the app will save them in the device cache. Cache on Instagram is an essential factor that improves the Instagram experience. It is not necessary to clear the Instagram cache on your iPhone or your Android device. Clearing Instagram Cache on iPhone and Android is Neccesary? So, in this case, you need to log in to the Instagram account again. If you click on Clear Data, it will clear all the Instagram data, including login details. Therefore, the only option to clear the Instagram Cache is completely removing or deleting the app.Ĭlick on the Clear Cache option, and it will clear all the locally stored Instagram cache data (It will not delete any other data, including login details). However, on iPhone, we don’t have such an option. It helps clear the cache and data without deleting the app from the phone. Note: We can clear the app data on Android without uninstalling the app. Now tap the Delete App option to remove the Instagram app from your iPhone. Now you will get app settings opinions that contain an option called Remove App with a “-” sign.Ĭlick on that minus sign, and you will be prompted with a confirmation screen saying Remove “Instagram”. First, find the Instagram app on your iPhone home screen, press and hold the Instagram App icon for 3 seconds. It will clear the Instagram cache and increase the performance.Īlternatively, you can remove the Instagram App from the iPhone’s home screen or the App library rather than go into the settings page. You can do the same again after a few months or when the app is loading slowly. Note: An Instagram account is required to use this app.Īny feedback and suggestion please email thanks to Instagrammer for allowing us to use his Instagram photos for app demo.Step 5: Reinstall the Instagram app and start using it without any issue. * View latest following/news just like on your phone (Pro) * Get notification when new feed is available and/or when there is new followers/likes/comments/mentions. * Bookmark allows you to bookmark people (without having to follow them), locations, tags and individual photos or videos (without having to like them). * Like, comment, follow, search people, tags and places. * Switch between multiple accounts seamlessly. * Fastest Instagram browsing experience you will have! * Picture size as well as spacing and background color can be adjusted to your liking. * 4 beautiful layout styles for the pleasure of your eyes Your Instagram photos never looked this gorgeous.

APPLE STORE INSTAGRAM FOR MAC FULL

Works at full screen as well as widget-sized window. * Enlarged view mode allows photo viewing and video playing in large or full screen * Share photos/user profiles/tags/locations via message Grids brings the best Instagram experience to your Mac, with Stories (first and only app that supports stories!), Direct Message and Large/Fullscreen photo and video viewing.Īs featured on TheNextWeb, AppAdvice, iDownloadBlog, DigitalTrends and many others.

[pineraustralia]

Trafe in instashare projector

#Trafe in instashare projector movie

#Trafe in instashare projector install

#Trafe in instashare projector mod

#Trafe in instashare projector android

#Trafe in instashare projector mod

The Motorola Projector Mod also has a built-in battery. So you get an additional hour of projection time*, even if you're phone's power is running low. *All battery life claims are approximate and based on a mixed use profile (which includes both usage and standby time) under optimal network conditions.

#Trafe in instashare projector android

This Android malware bypasses multi-factor authentication to steal your passwords Loud and clear hands-free calls on built-in speakerphone.How to clear the cache on your iPhone (and why you should).Built-in battery for extra screen time.Īctual battery performance will vary and depends on many factors including signal strength, network configuration, age of battery, operating temperature, features selected, device settings, and voice, data, and other application usage patterns. The 5 best Netflix alternatives: Binge-watch elsewhere #Photo mod instashare projector android Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is finally gone.

#Trafe in instashare projector movie

Moto Mods give you options to add a 360 camera, loud stereo speaker, portable movie projector, optical zoom camera, extra battery capacity, wireless charging, stylish shells, and more. The newest Moto Mods is the Polaroid Insta-Share Printer and I've been capturing and printing photos for the last week. The Polaroid Insta-Share Printer mod is currently priced at $149.99. The list price is $199.99, but there is a special 25 percent off holiday sale going until December 23. If you are at all interested in this Moto Mod, now is the time to pick it up. First, I recommend you check out my thoughts below and read some other reviews of this Moto Mod. The Polaroid Insta-Share Printer is a white plastic Moto Mod with the iconic rainbow color stripe subtly positioned between the camera opening and the printer paper exit. There is a large white button that ends up being on the upper right of the Moto Mod when you attach it and rotate your phone into position. The button is used to launch the Insta-Share app and then to also capture an image.

#Trafe in instashare projector install

To use this Moto Mod, you need to first install the Polaroid Insta-Share application. #Photo mod instashare projector android.#Photo mod instashare projector install.This product is really worth the money you pay. Therefore, you can carry it around whenever you don’t want it to be on your phone. It allows you to watch videos and films in a pinch. The Moto InstaShare Projector is suitable for business use. Indeed, it surely has its uses, not to mention a bit on the price tag. Now, you got all the essential information you should know about the Motor InstaShare Projector. Therefore, you can determine when you need to pause to get your charger. This model offers a quick notification once the mood battery is about 15%. To get it right, the unit only has to take 3-4 seconds. Although it has no autofocus, it comes with a turning wheel to cover that. This feature makes it simple to get up and watching. Moreover, you needn’t hook the device up to an external projector. This one can share presentations to watch videos. That’s why it becomes one of the two more pricey Moto Mods. To charge your device, as well as the projector, you need to plug your phone into a power source. Although this one comes with a USB Type-C port, the positioning of the product has this facing down towards the table. It is sure to give you a battery with 1 hour lifetime. Once you do not use the product, you just need to press and hold the button. It also allows every incoming notification to display only on your device. However, you can press the power button to go into the setting. The product comes with automatic keystone image corrections. Also, it is simple to perform this projector. However, its color and brightness are suitable for everything less than a 50-inch diagonal image. It is sure to give you the pretty crisp image in the proper lighting condition. The projector also comes with the standard connector as well as the battery level button. The top includes an abatement for the camera.Ī hinge includes a slim metal piece.

[doc-pickles]

happy endings

Nina wrote a fic that @cicinicole-14 didn’t start?! SAY IT AINT SO?!

no but really this fic has been sitting in my docs folder for weeks. but it’s here now so shut up. also I am actively taking title rebranding suggestions for this fic.

anyways enjoy or whateva

xoxo nina

It feels surreal, sitting on the floor of the loft bathroom holding a positive pregnancy test. Jo has to blink a few times to make sure she’s reading the results correctly. But there’s no denying the two lines, one much darker than the other, telling Jo that her vomiting wasn’t the flu and her weight gain wasn’t all in her head. She was definitely pregnant.

“Hello? Jo?”

Jo pops her head out of the bathroom after having shoved the two positive tests into her box of tampons the second she heard the door unlock. She throws on her most convincing smile, walking over and settling herself in Alex’s arms. She stays longer than she normally would, letting the news of their impending parenthood sink in as she squeezes Alex tightly.

“Hey there, I missed you today,” Alex presses a kiss to Jo’s forehead as she buries her face in his chest. “You okay?”

Jo nods, pulling back from Alex and pressing a kiss to his lips, “Yeah, just tired. I didn’t sleep well.”

Alex nods and Jo is thankful he doesn’t prod any further, “I have to be at the airport in two hours. You sure you don’t want to come?”

As soon as Alex had discovered that his mom wasn’t caching his checks, he’d booked a plane ticket to Iowa. Jo knew that this was a trip Alex needed to make on his own. Now though, she was grateful for the extra time to process the news of her unexpected pregnancy.

“You need to focus on your mom. But I’m always a phone call away,” Jo grins as she grabs Alex’s packed duffle bag. “You’re lucky I went through this, you somehow managed to forget socks and underwear.”

Alex grabs her waist from behind, pressing a kiss to her shoulder, “What would I do without you?”

“You’d stink, that's for sure.”

+

Alex had texted Jo every day since leaving for Iowa a week ago. Usually just an update or a photo of something that reminded him of her. In the time since he’d left, Jo’s pregnancy had become something she couldn’t ignore anymore. Her cravings for cheese went from cute to obnoxious overnight and her stomach had popped out just enough that her scrub pants were beginning to feel tight.

She’s just walking through the door of the loft when her phone rings out, a smile appearing on her face as she checks the caller ID, “Hey stranger, how are you?”

Alex doesn’t respond right away and all Jo can hear is heavy breathing, “Hey beautiful.”

In an instant, she knows something is wrong just from Alex’s labored breathing and the way it sounds like it’s taking everything in him to speak.

“Alex? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just got into a little fender bender.”

Jo’s heart sinks to her stomach, knowing Alex was downplaying things to keep her calm. She can hear sirens in the background of his call as he lets out a loud cough. She picks her purse up just as quickly as she’d dropped it before locking the door and running out of the loft.

“I’m leaving right now, I’m going to get on the first flight to Iowa, and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Jo doesn’t realize she’s crying until her voice cracks. Then, she pauses, leaning against her car and willing herself not to vomit. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Maybe a couple broken ribs, definitely a concussion,” Alex coughs again as the sirens in the background grow louder. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Please don’t- just wait for me, okay?”

“I love you Jo,” his words sound so finite that Jo can’t help the cry that she lets out as she cradles the curve of her stomach. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too Alex,” Jo wipes her damp cheeks, taking a deep breath as she climbs into her car. “I’ll be there soon.”

+

She’s not sure how she got there so quickly, but it feels like the blink of an eye as Jo walks through the doors of Des Moines Medical Center. She’d spent the majority of her flight throwing up or crying, much to the displeasure of her seatmate. Now though, all she can think about is getting to Alex.

“Hi, I’m looking for Alex Karev, he’s a patient.”

“Name and relationship, please.”

“Josephine Wilson, he’s my fiancé.”

The nurse looks up from the desk with an unamused expression, “Family only, I can’t let you in to see him.”

“But-“

“No exceptions.”

Jo is about to scream at the receptionist or start crying uncontrollably or something in between when a voice sounds out, “Jo?”

Standing behind her is a tall and lanky woman, grey hair styled impeccably and a knit scarf around her neck. She’s about to ask how she knows her when they meet eyes. Jo instantly recognizes the warm expression as one she sees on Alex, “Helen. Hi.”

Despite never having met before, Helen moves forward and wraps Jo in a tight hug, the action calming her nerves ever so slightly. When she pulls back, Helen looks her over with a smile, “You’re absolutely glowing. The photos Alex showed me don’t do you justice.”

Jo tries not to read too far into Helen’s words as she thanks her, fiddling with her engagement ring to distract herself.

“Is he okay? I mean, what happened? Alex is so careful, I just….” Jo takes a deep breath before meeting Helen’s gaze again. “I’m sorry for rambling. I've just been a nervous wreck the whole trip here.”

“He’s okay, a truck ran a red light and side-swiped him. They said he spun out and hit a light pole, but he’s fine,” Helen grabs Jo’s hand and squeezes it. “I’ll let him explain all that medical terminology to you, I was never good at remembering that. Let me walk you up, the nurses seem to like me.”

Helen leads Jo past the reception desk and into the elevators. She closes her eyes and leans against the back wall in an attempt to slow her mind down. There’s a brief silence before Helen speaks up, “How far along are you?”

For a moment, Jo freezes, wondering if she should lie to her future mother-in-law, but she knows it’s a futile thought. She thought that she’d done a good job hiding the slight curve of her belly with her oversized sweater but Helen has three children of her own, it probably wasn’t hard to spot the signs in her.

“I’m not sure, I found out right before Alex left and I didn’t want to go to an appointment without him,” Jo swallows back the lump in her throat, trying her best not to cry again. “Maybe ten weeks if I had to guess.”

“He’s going to be fine dear,” Helen’s soft voice is comforting, something Jo hasn’t realized she needed. “And I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled.”

Jo nods, watching the numbers silently climb as she twists her engagement ring once again. She and Alex were a month and a half out from their wedding, they should be planning and celebrating, but instead, Jo is stuck wondering if he’ll be okay enough for their big day.

“He’s in room 412, down there on the left,” Jo is snapped out of her thoughts by Helen guiding her out of the elevator and pointing down the hallway in front of them. “I’ll let you go, sweetie. You can come back and find me when you’re done.”

Her anxiety mounts to a new high as Jo walks down the hallway, reading the room numbers slowly to make sure she doesn’t miss her destination. Finally, she comes to a stop outside of room 412, only hesitating for a moment before stepping inside.

Alex is sitting up in his hospital bed, stitches across his forehead and a frown as he reads the magazine in front of him. Jo is so relieved to see him that she doesn’t think twice about rushing forward and bringing him into a hug. Alex is confused for a moment but quickly reciprocates the hug, pulling her closer to him.

“You had me worried sick, I thought you were dying or something,” Jo doesn’t make an attempt to stifle her tears as she holds Alex close. “Never do that again, that was awful!”

When Alex doesn’t respond right away, Jo thinks she might have shocked him with her entrance. However, when she pulls away, he has tears welling in his eyes. She cups his face, wiping at his wet cheeks, “Alex? What’s wrong?”

“You’re pregnant.”

“What? How...?”

Alex slides his hand to cover Jo’s baby bump and she has to stop the gasp she so desperately wants to let out. Having him feel the small swell that had grown in made everything feel real.

“We’re having a baby?”

Jo can only nod, overwhelmed by the fact that Alex was okay, that they were going to get married, that they were having a baby together. She cups his cheek, meeting his eyes with a serious expression.

“You’re not allowed to drive anywhere until the baby is born,” Jo takes on a stern tone but Alex still chuckles at the request. “I’m serious Alex! What happens if you die? It won’t just be me that’s alone, we have someone else to worry about now.”

“Nothing bad is going to happen to me, I promise,” Alex presses a kiss to Jo’s lips before grinning at her. “Looks like we might need to move the wedding up though. How far along are you?”

“Maybe ten weeks, I haven’t gone in yet,” Alex laughs at the statement and Jo furrows her eyebrows. “What’s so funny?”

“Jo there’s no way you’re only ten weeks. You have a bump already,” Jo leans back from Alex, hand coming to protectively cradle her stomach. “It’s not a bad thing, I’m just saying. Either you’re further along than you thought or there’s more than one baby in there.”

“Don’t you dare even say that Alex.”

[pl-panda]

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 13

MASTERLIST || First || Previous || Next

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 13

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

Marinette wasn’t sure what to expect from school after her reveal. Their plan was to make it public that she was ‘dating’ Damian Wayne, but not her identity as the MDC. That plan failed when she panicked and tweeted about it. By now, pretty much everyone knew about it. Especially after Jagged Stone went forward and confirmed it. She loved the rockstar, but he was like a wild six-years-old when left without supervision. It was impossible to reverse it. 

The other problem that was making her very anxious was the new Hawkmoth. Her class was already called the Akuma Class not without reason. Now, they would be probably split into different groups, which could serve to make her suffer more. Not to mention how much Lila would be making her life a nightmare now. 

She dressed in the standard Gotham Academy uniform and waited for Chloé to finally arrive. The blonde’s arrival was foreshadowed by the sound of a loud rant. 

“...they can’t expect me to wear these rags!? The purple will totally clash with my lipstick! And the black and white? What is it, the Seventeenth century?” She was already dressed, but clearly unamused by what she was forced to wear.

“Hi, Chlo.” She greeted her best human friend.

“Mari-bear! How can you stand by this fashion disaster?!” 

“I don’t mind. We must wear it only at school.”

“Ugh! I need to pack spare clothes then!”

“Or you could… you know, stay in the uniform?” The bluenette smiled. “I mean from what Damian told me, it’s pretty common to see groups of students still dressed in their uniforms after school.”

“These rags?!” Chloé shouted, slightly agitated

“I’ll make you an MDC original uniform once I get my hands on specifications. Deal?” Mari giggled at her friend’s antics. She was supposed to be the one criticizing fashion here. 

“Fine. But it’s ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! After classes, you and I are going shopping for some better make-up for me and actual make-up for you.”

“Sure! We can also visit the Botanic Gardens again. Just the two of us?” The girl suggested. 

“Perfect. Won’t Lover-boy have a problem?”

“Nah. Damian won’t mind. We’re not bound by the hip, you know?”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Chloé smiled.

“You…!” Marinette giggled. “I heard you’ve been spending whole days in the gym with my cousin. What’s that about? I thought you would be more interested in pestering Tim about detective stuff.”

“I decided to start exercising. Cass is a great trainer for your information,” she huffed, but the smile on her face let Mari know it was just Chloé being Chloé. “Besides, have you seen your mother? She is nearing fifty and looks drop-dead gorgeous. My mother would kill for that body at her age.” 

“Suuuree.” The bluenette giggled. “Let’s go. Alfred will drop us at school.”

In the entrance hall, they were met by Damian, who wore his own uniform. Sabine, Tom, and Bruce were there to see them out. After the standard round of goodbyes that awaited children when they were supposed to start a new school (Sabine filling the mother role for Chloé), Bruce looked critically at Damian.

“You know that you can only bring the sword on Tuesdays and Thursdays when you actually have practice?” 

“Tt. I’ll need it today.”

“Damian…” He glared at the boy, only to be met by an equally fierce gaze. 

“Fine. But I’m keeping the dusters.” He bargained. “That’s not negotiable.” 

“You know the rules.”

“Tt. With a madman after my wife, I reserve my right to having means of self-defense.” 

“Fine. But only if Akuma shows up and the two of you can’t transform. I hope I don’t need to remind you that Gotham is not Paris? People are much more observant here.” He warned them. 

“Don’t worry Mr. Wayne.” Chloé dismissed him. “I’ll make sure those two are behaving.”

“I already feel better.” He deadpanned. 

“Hush! They are smart kids and can deal with their problems. Right, sweetie?” 

“I… I hope?” Marinette was not exactly convinced but tried to smile. 

“You’ll do great.” Her father reassured her.

“Okay. Let’s go.” She put on her sunglasses. The thin black frame surrounded the twin large tinted glasses that hid a large part of her face. Nobody would know it was Kaalki in disguise. She would need the glasses to not be bothered by the press. At least she hoped they would help.

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

They arrived with half an hour safety cushion, which made them one of the first on-site. Damian led them to the Principal’s office first to get their schedules. Mr. Hammer was already waiting for them. He wore formal clothes with a green vest over a white shirt, yellow-brown trousers, and to finish it he had a dark-green cape with a white collar made of fur. 

“Ah. Mr. Wayne with his girlfriend,” He spoke the word with utter loathing, which was pretty strange. Marinette never met him before. “I seem to remember to have expelled you last semester”

“Tt. You also expelled me the previous one. Four times. And the semester before. Two times.” He didn’t bother to hide the grin. “Except the paperwork never left your office.” He pointed at the large stack of papers on one of the shelves, with a golden plaquette reading ‘Damian Wayne’.

“Hm… Indeed.” 

Damian stopped himself from interrupting him to educate him on how to talk with and about Marinette.

“Um… Professor Hammer?” speaking of the angel. “Thank you for accepting my class for the exchange program.”

“Yes. Your school was kind enough to send the records of all the students. Yours including.”

“Great. Is there anything…” 

“I didn’t finish.” He snapped at her. “You have a very interesting file, Miss Dupain-Cheng.” He dropped a rather thick folder on his desk. “Class president for three years, engaging in various charities, supporting drama club, brilliant gymnast and martial artist.... thief, bully, conflict child.” He added in an angry tone. “I don’t know about France, but here we often call such girls H.B.I.C., which is an acronym for…”

“Tt. I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to refer to my Angel as such. She is the victim of theft, bullying, and ostracization by her class. If you read the files, you know that each person in that class holds significant sway, and the headmaster of that school is easily swayed. I’ve spent a semester at Françoise Dupont and that establishment is in simple words… lacking.” Damian almost spat the last word. He wanted to tell the headmaster more, but Hammer was ignoring him. 

“In Gotham Academy, we pride ourselves as a prestigious institute that helps students develop their full potential. I don’t care how it worked in your previous school, but I expect you to behave. If you start conflicts with the students, I will be forced to expel you, as per the exchange program regulations that your parents signed. And this time, the papers will leave my office.” He glared at Damian, who in response grinned. “The school is surrounded by a high wall and a river, so you don’t have to worry about paparazzi. If such is caught on the premise, he will be dealt with harshly.”

“What about students taking photos?”

“I’m sure you can deal with them.” It was Hammer’s turn to grin.

“But… But…! That’s unfair! And enabling!” 

“Life is not fair. If it was, I would be living in a castle somewhere in the stormy peaks of Scotland. Instead, I’m here.” He handed both of them their schedules and ushered them out. Chloé was waiting outside.

“So? How did it go?”

“He doesn’t particularly seem to like me. It might’ve been because I’m dating a boy he expelled six times last year.” She glared at his husband. 

“Tt. He just dislikes me because in the first year I accidentally detonated the head of his statue. And then the next year I detonated the replacement.” He shrugged. 

“How do you even accidentally detonate the statue’s head?” Chloé asked. 

“Chemistry homework?” Damian suggested

“Archery practice?” Marinette supplied.

“Science class gone wrong?” He continued

“Secret weapon cache activating by itself?” She added. 

“All of the above.” Damian finished. 

“Okay. Honey, are you sure you want him? We can still return him to the store and find one that is less rabid?” The blonde joked. 

“Tt. Over my dead body.” He growled and grasped Marinette’s hand.

“Calm down, Damiboo,” she grinned at the name, “nobody will be separating you two. But for now, we need to go to the chapel for the welcome party.”

“Tt. Call me that again and I’ll…” He started, but then Marinette’s glare shut him up. 

The girls walked away and Damian almost rethought his stance when the blonde dared to whisper “Whipped” when she was passing him. Marinette didn’t notice, already too focused on describing the meeting with the headmaster.

-----

“...furthermore, the North Hall remains off-limit to all students. You will have your rooms assigned before the lunch break.” Hammerhead finally finished his long and boring speech. The girls were lucky enough to have a peaceful if uninteresting welcome ceremony. Sabine sat next to them, which served as a very strong deterrent from any idiots trying something stupid, like taunting her or bullying. Caline was sweating each time she looked at the other chaperone. Sabine didn’t bother with niceties and could (and would) totally destroy her at moment’s notice.

“Hi. I’m Erica Layton. I’m the school president and it’s my pleasure to welcome you to our great school!” A cheerful blonde walked onto the stage. 

She wore a standard GA uniform, but Marinette recognized it as tailor-made, with high-quality materials. Marinette immediately took to dislike her. She had an aura similar to Lila. Falsehood and malevolence. Her smile was precarious and she swept the students with her gaze. She zeroed on Marinette for a second too long and the bluenette could feel the headache coming. She tried to remember what Damian told her about the school president, but the position was supposed to be held by a girl named Boyle. 

“I hope you’ll fondly remember your time at our school. There are many clubs that you can join. If there is one that you wish to start, you’ll need a group of at least five students and signed permission from one of the teachers. You can find more information on our website. Each of you will be assigned a dorm according to the survey you filled…”

“Excuse me!” Kim, who just received a whisper from Lila, stood up. “From what we were told, we were supposed to stay with host families. What gives?”

“Oh! I’m sorry nobody informed you before. Sadly, we didn’t get enough volunteers, so the plans had to change.”

“But… but… Marinette is staying with the Waynes!” Alya protested before sending the girl in question a hateful gaze. Sabine glared back and the bespectacled girl shivered and quickly turned back to the stage. 

The woman stood up and addressed the class herself. “Marinette is staying with me and I’m staying with my niece and her guardian. I hope that will clear any and all confusion.” Her glare told them that the conversation was over. 

“Yes…” Erica awkwardly started again. “Let’s continue.”

Marinette made sure to note everything the school president spoke about. She was certain her class had more important gossip to focus on and later would have no idea about anything. She would just have Chloé send them the picture later. 

After the event was over, Marinette and Chloé stayed back to photo the notes. Sabine made sure that all other Parisians left them alone, urging them to run to classes. The two left maybe two minutes later, walking calmly to their new classes. The girls would have all the same classes and there was hope that none of the other students from Françoise Dupont would pick the same. 

When walking through the corridor, Chloé finally brought up Alya’s reaction to her mother. The two laughed at how scared she was of Sabine. 

Out of the blue, a hand pulled Marinette to the side and the doors closed behind them in complete silence. She managed to give a weak squeak before that, but her best friend didn’t notice. It would be a moment before Chloé realized her best friend disappeared. By then, the doors had been already locked and she would not differentiate them from other locked doors in the corridor. 

“So… You’re supposed to be the famed girlfriend of Damian Wayne?” Marinette heard once her head finally stopped spinning. She was sitting on a chair with ropes tying her down. Five girls stood there, surrounding her like vultures. 

“Huh? Yeah. Damian and I…” 

“I didn’t give you permission to speak.” The middle one, blonde stopped her. Marinette recognized her. It was Erica!

“Yeah! You think you can just swoop here and try to steal Erica’s man?” One of the companions asked indignantly. 

“Damian was not dating anyone when he came to Paris.” The french girl confidently defended her right. 

“Of course he wasn’t. He is the Ice Prince of Gotham Academy.” Erica dismissed her. “But I had the first claim to him.”

“I don’t exactly follow…” Marinette, for all her shrewd tactical mind and lessons from Damian, was still mostly clueless of how rich, bratty teenagers worked. Chloé was supposed to be a unique case, not a rule. 

“Sorry. We started on the wrong foot.” The lead blonde changed her strategy. “Erica Layton.” She extended her hand. Marinette shrugged, took a deep breath, and tightened her muscles. The rope they used to tie her snapped and she stood up to take her hand. Other girls stared at her with a weird expression. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Her handshake might’ve been a bit too strong, she did it on purpose. 

“Listen, Dupain-Cheng. There is a social hierarchy in this school. I just so happened to be on top. We can be friends and peacefully resolve our differences...”

“I’m sure we can be at least neutral to…”

“I didn’t finish.” Erica seethed. “Of course, friends don’t steal other friends’ men. So, if you’ll break up with Damian, I can get you to the top of the food chain. You will be safe from that Lila girl and untouchable by anyone. It would be a shame if something happened to your online store after all. Or if your social media suddenly ended under attack by bad reviews.”

Marinette stopped smiling halfway through that speech. By the end, she was openly scowling. She broke the handshake and glared at the blonde on the opposite side. Her mother taught her the glare. It was the ‘you’re in over your head’ glare. 

Only one of the girls had the decency to shiver. Others seemed too stupid and too convinced of their own superiority to take Marinette seriously. 

“Let’s make it clear.” The girl started with a very cold voice. “You want me to break up with Damian, just so you can try, and fail, to get him for yourself? And if I don’t comply, you threaten my online shop and my social media? All for protection from Rossi and her lapdogs?” She allowed herself a laugh. “That’s a good one.”

“You little bitch!” Erica shouted. “Do you have any idea who I am? I am at the top of the food chain here. I rule this school. I’m the Gotham Academy’s golden princess!”

“And I’m above the food chain.” She quoted Damian. It took all her willpower, acting skills, courage, and boiled-down anger to continue. “You might be the princess, but I’m the queen here. And you have nothing that you can take from me.”

“Everyone has some dirty secrets. When I’m done with you, you’ll be too afraid to even show up at school!” Erica shouted. Marinette’s cool gaze swept over the room. 

The bluenette didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead, she walked over to the locked doors and grabbed the doorknob. At first, it was locked and didn’t want to budge, but with a stronger twist the old mechanism gave over, and the doors opened. 

Outside, Chloé was already on the phone with someone. 

“...Nevermind. I found her.” She hung up and turned to her best friend. “Maribear! Where have you been?”

“I just met the Rossi of this school. She thought she could offer me friendship in exchange for Damian. Like that would ever work.” She gave a cold giggle. When they turned the corner Chloé found the nearest bathroom and dragged Marinette there. Once they were safe from any prying eyes, shel broke into sobs in the blonde’s arms.

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

Masterlist // Next

[batarella]

I Don’t Hate You - Part 17 (Jason Todd x Reader)

JAY IS BACK MOTHERFUCKERS

WORDS: 6706 WARNINGS: A BIT OF VIOLENCE. JASON BEING AN ASSHOLE.

Masterlist

I DON’T HATE YOU - MASTERLIST

-----

“Just coffee. For two.”

The waitress nodded. “Anything else?”

“No.”

She left. Five minutes later she brought in two mugs and poured in your drinks.

You warmed your chilled palms onto the ceramic. You somehow felt cold. Even when it was ninety degrees out. Especially your hands. You blew into your mug and took a sip. Just to warm up the itch in your throat.

Three weeks ago, Dick gave you that first call. You asked what it was about. He said he needed to talk to you in person. When he showed up to your house, he had a sling in his arm from a gunshot wound.

You thought he didn’t need to explain where he got it from. You knew who he was, as well as Bruce. But then he told you that it wasn’t from Penguin or Riddler or even a common thug. That it came from a new enemy going after Batman.

Still a bit confused why he came all the way to your place just to tell you that, he started bringing in a few documents.

First, he showed you pictures of Jason’s grave with a massive hole where his body was supposed to be. You remembered sweating your hair out at the horrible sight, the chills that ran down your back. It wasn’t from grave diggers. No. It was from someone climbing out from 6 feet under the soil.

Then, he showed you DNA test results.

Jason’s DNA, taken from when he was still alive, and a DNA sample from the Red Hood’s blood they had taken from one of their encounters. It was a match.

You demanded to know what was going on. Because whatever Dick was trying to tell you, none of it made even the slightest bit of sense. Dick wished he could explain more, but even he didn’t know the full story.

You couldn’t sleep that night, and barely the next night.

But then the week after that, Bruce invited you over to the mansion to talk. Dick picked you up, and at the dinner table, you, including Alfred, had a long, difficult talk about how he’d confirmed that Jason Todd, officially pronounced dead three years ago April 27, had been brought back to life by some unknown force, took the mantle of the Red Hood.

With you in the brink of tears, Bruce told you they were still trying trace where he came from, studied his techniques that Bruce was sure Jason didn’t know until now. So far, they found out that the Red Hood had been going around the state before he came to Gotham, formed his own crime ring and has taken over the empires of almost ten different drug lords. He was wanted in over six sectors, has left bodies left and right.

And now, he’s challenging Batman with his new style of vigilantism, which included cold-blooded murder. Every time Bruce, Dick, and the new Robin, Tim Drake, come across the Red Hood, they barely come out of it alive. He really wanted them dead.

And he was good at his job, as well. He’s done more good for the people than anything else. But he was also taking the lives of so many, Bruce wanted to put a stop to it.

You asked to be left alone for a while. For days, you didn’t talk to anyone. You stared at the rooftops. You looked at Jason’s old photos, compared them with the Red Hood’s new photos. You tried with everything you could to understand that the man you still loved even after three years of his death was now back, alive, risen from the dead as if that wasn’t actually insane. You mourned for him for so long. You still did. And what was that going to amount to now? You knew he was involved so many things you never could understand. But this? This defiance of the laws of nature?

You barely slept a wink.

Two days ago, Dick told you they needed your help.

You didn’t want to be involved, and you told him that. You weren’t even sure you wanted to see him like this. If this was even the same Jason before his death.

Dick told you that somehow, you could be of help. You could talk to him. Level him back down and give him the peace he needed to stop all the killings. You weren’t sure if that would work, and if anything, it was risking your life. You had no idea what Jason was capable of now. He could kill you. He could be heartless like that. And he was, from the way he was acting now. It wouldn’t be of any surprise.

But Dick and Bruce, they were running out of options. And even without Bruce outrightly admitting it, they wanted Jason back in the family. They missed him, too. It wasn’t just you.

As if the three years of grief weren’t enough. If any part of him was the same Jason you fell in love with, and still love now, this was the thing of your most impossible dreams, that your dead boyfriend had miraculously come back. It was insane. But you knew, with all your heart, you desperately wanted him back.

But you needed the help. Bruce offered to pay for therapy if that was what you needed, to get your head straight, figure things out before you ultimately decide what to do. Eventually, you agreed.

And now, here you were.

You took another sip from your cup, then Dick came up from behind you.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” You stood up to give him a little hug. His hand patting your back, he sat across from you.

“For you.”

“Thank you.” He took the coffee mug. “You’re looking a lot better.”

You held your drink with both hands. “Thanks.”

“If you’re not comfortable in any way, I completely understand.”

You tried to hold back your shaking arms. You didn’t want him to see just how much this all scared you.

“What brought him back?”

“Ra’s al Ghul. The Lazarus pit. At least, that was after he was already resurrected. The pit just fixed his body and made him stronger.”

“Lazarus pit?”

“It’s uh,” he stuttered. “Ra’s has this League of Assassins with his daughter, Talia. And they own all these Lazarus Pits. It’s a sort of a Fountain of Youth. He bathes in it, and it makes him live for six hundred years. It also heals your body from just about any injury.

“They must have found Jason, bathed him in the pit, then nursed him back to health in an attempt to create this someone to go against Bruce.”

This was far, far beyond what you could have possibly imagined. Some sort of the supernatural had always been real. Magic. Aliens. The Justice League. But now that you were involved? This was too much.

But with Jason… your sweet, loving Jason… You’ll do anything.

“You think he’s heartless enough to try to kill me?” you asked.

Dick drank from his coffee mug, set it down, then swallowed.

“I never got to tell you, didn’t I?”

“What?”

Dick bit his lips. “Jason’s not gonna hurt you. I’m sure of it. I wouldn’t have called if it had put you in any kind of danger at all.”

“How are you so sure?”

He looked out the window, at a rooftop from an apartment building nearby. You breathed into your mug.

“About a week ago, I put a tracker on him without him knowing. Then one day I followed him, just to see what he was up to…”

He held his cup.

“He was waiting for you outside your university. And when you got out, he followed you all the way to your house. He’s been at it almost every single day.”

You caught your breath in your throat and watched Dick with your lips starting to shake.

“And it isn’t just that. He does everything to make sure you don’t get hurt. When you go out at night, he’s still watching you. As the Red Hood. One time before you were about to cross an alleyway where thugs were waiting to rob you, he beat the living shit out of them before you even noticed.”

You gulped down, then you drank even more of your coffee just to ease your nerves. You shifted in your seat, then cleared your scratchy throat.

“How long has he been at this?”

“I’m guessing since he first came to Gotham. A month ago.”

The coffee suddenly didn’t taste so calming anymore. “God… I… This is still so much to process…”

“I know.”

“He isn’t going to show himself to me willingly, is he?”

“I don’t think he will. He makes sure you never see him.”

You closed your eyes.

“That’s why I called you. If you got to talk to him, maybe you can get him to listen.”

He loves you. He still does. And he was a broken soul, protecting you when no one was there to protect him. He needed you.

It was that one, single push you needed.

“I want to do it.”

Dick held your wrist and squeezed it tightly. “Don’t worry. If anything goes wrong, Bruce, Tim, and I will be there.”

“It’s not that I’m afraid of,” you said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen after this.”

Not a clue. Not a single premonition.

“Honestly, me neither.” He finished his coffee. “But it’s worth a try.”

-----

One. Two. Three.

Those fools had it coming.

Barely a word out of his mouth gushing with blood. The Red Hood held his neck, stuck him up against the truck’s container, then pushed his revolver right under his chin.

“When’s Black Mask’s next shipment?!”

“I don’t fucking know!”

He clicked his gun. “I think you do.”

His filtered voice made everything a lot worse. The driver of a weapons cache truck he caught was trembling off his ass. His two other co-workers were lying dead on the ground. And when Red Hood squeezed his neck further, he gasped for air.

“Tomorrow! At the docks!”

He slammed the butt of his gun right to his face. He fell to the ground, unconscious. And just because he had one bullet left to waste, the Red Hood shot his shoulder.

He jumped out the vehicle and stretched out his neck, closing the truck door while the driver continued to scream in pain. The police should be here soon. He’ll have to get out of there.

“Hey there, bud.”

“Fucking shit-“

The Red Hood, in just one swift move, reloaded his gun and aimed right at the top of the truck, at the black and blue figure crouched over staring at him.

“Get out of here.”

“I just want to talk, Jay.”

He wanted to shoot Nightwing’s smug little smirk right off his face. “I mean it.”

“I won't-“

Red Hood fired at the truck’s metal just an inch away from Nightwing’s leg.

“I won't miss next time.”

“Just listen to me-“

“Fine. You wanna play that game, Grayson?”

He took his other gun strapped from his hip. Nightwing jumped off the truck before he started firing at his face.

Dodging the bullets, he started leaping circles around him, getting closer to where he was standing. Red Hood stopped firing, threw his guns to the ground, then charged for Nightwing’s leg just as he got close enough.

His larger figure stopped himself from tumbling to the ground when Nightwing landed a kick to his helmet. He growled, waited for him to pounce again, then Red Hood ducked under his leg, shot up quickly enough to land his powerful fist right against his chest.

Nightwing was down. He rolled to the floor, but resisted pulling out his escrima sticks. He wasn’t here to beat him down. But obviously, Red Hood wasn’t here to talk, either.

He ducked and blocked Red Hood’s succeeding hits, almost rolling around the empty road. He kicked him in the stomach, then Red Hood headbutted him with his much stronger helmet.

“Jason!” Nightwing blocked him with his arm. “This is about Y/N!”

He stopped.

Then his helmet was about to melt at the immense heat his head was boiling to. “WHAT DID YOU SAY!?”

Nightwing leapt up to a pole. Red Hood grabbed his guns, reloaded them, then started firing.

“Stop it!”

“Fuck you!”

He kept firing at Nightwing’s body, backing off when he got too close. He was going to kill him. He wasn’t getting out of this alive. Not tonight. Mentioning your name like that, it’s going to cost him his life.

“She knows! About you!”

“You fucking ASSHOLE.”

More. More bullets. Nightwing went into one of the alleys and jumped up the fire exits. Red Hood kept firing, the bullets bouncing through the walls. He climbed up the escape and chased after him.

“HOW THE FUCK DID SHE KNOW?”

“I told her!”

“oh, you’re dead, Grayson.”

They reached the rooftop, and Nightwing ran all the way to the other side of the ledge. Red Hood sprinted after him, opening fire. He didn’t care where they landed. He wanted his body to put into the shock in the middle of jumping to another rooftop and fall to his death.

“She wants to talk to you!”

“NOT A FUCKING CHANCE.”

“Don’t you think she deserves to know what happened-“

“LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS, DICK.”

He made sure you never saw him alive. You thought he was dead. He was going to keep it that way.

Then he ran out of bullets, cursing beneath his breath, Red Hood threw his guns to the floor and chased him down.

When he caught him, he pinned him to the ground, grabbing him by his neck. “Jay-“

“I’m going to kill you. Right now. You think I’ll hesitate?”

“Do you really want to break her heart again, asshole?”

“You fucking-“ Red Hood punched him in the face. Then Nightwing folded his legs up, pushed him with the heels of his feet, landing him on the ground. He placed his arm right against his neck.

“You of all people can't lecture me on breaking hearts, you jackass.”

Red Hood punched him again, then got off the floor. Nightwing finally pulled out his escrima sticks, and Jason pulled out the last of his guns from his holsters and aimed it at Nightwing’s head.

They paused, stared each other down with their weapons in hand a yard’s distance away.

“Just… talk to her.”

“I can't believe you pulled her into this-“

“This isn’t about our little game. This is about you, Jay. And you need our help-“

He laughed. “Since when did I ask for your fucking help?”

“Since you killed almost a hundred people in Gotham in the last month-“

“Those aren’t just people, you idiot. They’re Joker’s men. Penguin’s. Two Face’s. They all deserve to die.”

Nightwing tightened his grip on his sticks. “Then just talk to her. She deserves that. You of all people should know just how hurt she is.”

He clicked his gun. “Mention her again, and I’ll blow your brains out.”

“She’s waiting for you at the plaza. Behind the cathedral. It’ll just be you and her. Just let her talk to you-“

Just one pull of a trigger. And this son of a bitch dies for ever even speaking to you. He’ll fucking keep his word.

“You think I don’t know this is a trap? What, you, Bruce, and that fucking replacement will be waiting to ambush me in the dark?”

“Not this time. You have to believe me.”

He scoffed. “What are you trying to do? Change all this?”

“Trust me, I get it. You have no intention in mending anything with Bruce. But if you don’t show up, it’ll devastate her.”

“She’ll be fine. Trust me. She dealt with worse.”

“And you really want to subject her into that again?”

Deep, slow breaths. He lightly pulled the trigger, but Nightwing just skidded to the side and dodged him.

They heard something. Coming from below. Police sirens cleaning up the weapons truck.

Staring each other down, Nightwing and Red Hood slowly backed off. He hated him. All of them. His fucking family that never once cared for his ass, or felt any type of remorse for not being able to save him. The family that never thought to avenge him, set their morals aside to do what’s actually right. They look down on what he does, and yet, he’s done more to control Gotham’s crime than Bruce ever had in his lifetime.

Red Hood set his gun down, then they both sprinted to opposite ends of the rooftops.

He was going to clean up their mess. Again.

-----

It ends tonight.

Everything. Your story. Your mourning. Your commitment to your dead, beloved high school boyfriend. Your unhealthy attachment to what could have been. Your reluctance to move on.

You realized, it all ends tonight.

No matter what happens, no matter how this all ends, everything was going to change.

If he doesn’t show up, it’ll pave the way for you to move forward, knowing that Jason, given the chance that seemed entirely impossible just a few weeks ago, had no intention of even speaking to you, let alone change for his own betterment. It should tell you to let him go, despite you not wanting to. It’ll tear your heart into shreds, more than it already was, but if he was alive, and he still wanted nothing to do with you…

You just hoped that won't be the case. You still loved him. Endlessly.

And if he does show up, it could only end as well as you being able to convince him to stop with the killings, be his better self, be the Jason you knew he still was, and it’ll go on from there. The miraculous dream you never thought to be true. Your loyalty to him, rewarded. And no longer will this life go on as if you were merely running in a slow, painful treadmill with no actual direction, other than to keep the promises Jason asked of you. You’ll have him back. As crazy as it still is, you’ll actually have him back.

But that was the most wishful thinking you could do. It’ll almost never end that way.

But, no matter the outcome, if he changes or not, you’ll finally come to the end of you dreaming about the past. You’ll know he was here. Alive.

That alone fixed some parts of your broken self.

So you got out of your car, walked out into the plaza where you told Dick you’ll be waiting. Behind the Cathedral. Where there was no one around but trees and bushes. The next walkway was yards away, and there were almost no lampposts nearby. If what Dick said was true, and Jason would never try to hurt you, you’ll still be safe.

You leaned against the wall, looked around at the vines eating up an old, wooden bench.

And you breathed. Long deep breaths.

You were going to see him. Finally.

Maybe your attachment to him was made for this. Because somehow, deep within you, you knew it wasn’t over. You knew he wasn’t completely gone. As hopeful as it was, it somehow came true.

Deep. Slow. Breaths.

An hour. Maybe an hour and a half. You waited.

You were going to have to be as patient as you could be.

What were you gonna say to him?

A lot of things. Punch him in the face. Scream at him for ever leaving you like that. Yell at him for idiotically going after the Joker by himself. Hug him. Kiss him.

Your mind was boggling. This was never what you signed up for.

But it was everything you could have hoped for.

You’re seeing him again. Jason. Your love. Your first, and still love. Oh, how your heart warmed. You wanted his arms back. You wanted his lips back. You wanted-

Thud.

A noise.

Coming from the roof.

You stepped out from leaning against the wall. Nothing. Nothing above you.

Another thud. On the grass.

You looked around.

Your heart was thrashing hysterically in your ribcage.

“Jason?”

You walked to the other side of the cathedral’s backside. But there wasn’t so much as a squirrel around you.

Then.

Then.

You turned around.

There was a figure.

A large, dark figure, hiding in the shadows. By the trees. A few yards away from the building.

You narrowed your eyes, squinted to get a better look.

It was getting closer.

You wanted to back away, but you didn’t. You were too frozen too move.

When it passed by a single ray of light from a faraway post, you saw it was a man in a dark, hooded jacket. With what looked like armor on his chest.

He got closer. Closer. Close enough for you to see the red bat symbol on his chest.

You took a step back.

He was huge. So fucking huge. This couldn’t be him. Not by a mile.

You took another step back.

And when he got close enough so you could see the red helmet where his head was supposed to be, with white, glaring eyes looking back at you menacingly, you fumbled backing away until you ultimately hit the wall.

The Red Hood.

He walked to you until he was standing so close to your shivering body. You pressed yourself against the wall as much as you could. Your whole body thudding, your head swarming in panic. Your stomach was churching, much like it did when you were terrified beyond belief. You wanted to run away, but his helmet, his chilling red helmet, it stared you down so you couldn’t even move. An inch away from your body, the Red Hood growled.

“Stay… Away…”

You swallowed.

“Jason?”

“Don’t… Don’t even try.”

“You're…” you breathed out, your chest heaving. “You’re really alive…”

He just stared at you, not giving you any chance to move. You were stuck, pressed against the wall, as you stared at him in disbelief.

“How much do you know?”

You were stuttering. Your shaking mouth forced you to. You’ve never been so scared in your life. “A lot…”

The Red Hood slightly turned his head to the side.

You wanted to see him. Really see him. His face… without thinking, you reached up to his helmet.

He pushed your hands away, and you gulped, backing off.

“Whatever it is you're trying to do, stop it. It’s not going to work.”

“I just want to talk-“

“About what? What are you possibly hoping for?”

“Why didn’t you come to me?” you whispered. “Why didn’t you see me first? You have no idea-“

“You think you want to see this?”

He pointed at his chest. “This isn’t what you think it is. I’m not who you fucking think I am.”

Of course he isn’t. You didn’t expect him to.

“You have no idea how much I wanted this…”

“This isn’t what you want. Trust me. Far from it.”

Eyes stuck to his helmet, where his own eyes were supposed to be, you didn’t know what you wanted to say.

“I want to talk to you. I know about what you do… and I still do-“

“Forget about all this okay? As far as you know, I’m still dead.”

This time, as scared as you were, you wanted to punch him.

“Do- do you have any idea how much you hurt me?”

He didn’t answer.

“You fucking don’t.”

“I wouldn’t talk that way to someone with three guns on him.”

“Go ahead. Shoot me. Kill me. If you insist that’s what you are.”

You saw his shoulders rise, his breath deepened. You bit your lips, and you stepped closer to him. You craned your head up his much taller figure.

“What do you expect out of this?”

“I just want to talk…”

“About what?”

His filtered voice. There was barely anything of the Jason you knew. You couldn’t see his face. His whole body grew more than four sizes larger. You couldn’t hear his voice. It was so hard trying to be gentle to someone who just looked terrifying to look at.

“Stay away from me.”

“No,” you said. “Take that mask off and look at me.”

“Listen,” he walked towards you and pushed you against the wall. “I don’t know what you want. You want us to talk? And what do you want out of that? Something more?” he scoffed.

Your mouth turned dry. You wanted to kick him in the groin until he’ll barely be able to walk.

“You left me,” you whispered. “When you said you never would.”

“We broke up-“

“You. Left me.” you hissed. “You have no idea…”

He stopped, looking to the side at the wall behind you.

“You should’ve moved on-“

“Fuck you.”

Tears. Angry tears. They wanted to seep out. He stepped back. “If you know what’s good for you, forget about all this-“

“I can't believe this is how you are after you fucking died and left me to grieve you for three years-“

“Deal with it. I’m not who you fucking think I am.”

And, as it seems, you started to believe him.

This was a cold, heartless villain. The Red Hood. His helmet, his voice, his body. None of it was Jason anymore.

“I just want to talk… Please…”

He shook his head, not even giving you another glance. The Red Hood turned away from you and walked out into the trees until you couldn’t see him anymore.

You cried too much for him. Far too much.

So you didn’t this time. You let yourself slowly realize this was how things ended.

Your phone rang.

“Y/N?”

You breathed. “He won't talk to me…”

“It’s alright. We did what we could. I can come up there and-”

“Can I be alone? Please? I’m going home.”

“Of course. I’m really sorry…”

You hang up.

----

It felt like it was about to rain, even when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

You went up to your bed, folded your knees up your chest and stared blankly at the cold, empty floor. It was back. All over again. The same loss when they told you he died. That wasn’t Jason you talked to. Far from it.

There was no trace of his sweet, comforting voice, of his handsome face that lit up any room he was in. His arms, now twice as large as they used to be, they didn’t give off that soothing rush that calmed down all your nerves when he’d pull you into his chest. His voice, it was far from some fucking robotic filter that hurt your ears. You hated every part of it. You hated that helmet. You hated what he became.

Jason was still dead. He wasn’t coming back.

You hoped far too much of what was impossible to ask for. Because whatever that was, the Red Hood… You didn’t know what you were even expecting. That wasn’t your boyfriend. He couldn’t be.

You wanted to see the Jason who smiled bashfully when he saw you walk down the steps of your apartment, the one who stuffed his hands in his pockets, eyes glistening as he stared lovingly at you. You wanted the guy who wanted to see you every day of the week, miss you on the days when he wasn’t and push everything to the side just to spend every minute he had with you. The one so obsessed with you that he couldn’t possibly ask you to stay away, or ever make you feel like he didn’t want to see you at all. You didn’t like feeling so unwanted.

You hoped, with that tiny part of you that still had it, that he would have met you, looking exactly the same way he did before he died, and pull you into his arms. The dramatic part of you wanted to run to him, and he’d run to you, and you’d crash into an embrace for hours and hours until he’ll ultimately pull away to kiss you.

And instead, you got a red helmeted asshole who told you to stay the fuck away from him.

You clenched your fists, shutting your eyes.

That part of him should still be alive. A part of him should still be loving you as you knew he did. He followed you around, didn’t he? He protected you.

How could he… after all you went through just to hold on to him… this is how he treats you…

Thud.

You reached for your scissors you had stashed beside your bed. There was someone in your fire escape, standing like a brick wall.

A tall man, face hidden by the shadows of his red hoodie. He stared at you, but he wasn’t moving.

Your hands left your scissors.

You knew exactly who it was. You stepped off the bed.

Your heart was pounding so hard within your chest, you thought of running out of your room. But he didn’t look like how he did a while ago. His head was down, almost like he was looking at the ground.

You walked to your window and slid the glass open.

You still couldn’t see his face. The shadows were too dark.

All the emptiness, the darkness, all that consumed you, it was all finally starting to fade out. When you saw how he didn’t have any weapons on him, no armor, no helmet, this was what you thought to see.

You let out a broken, trembling breath as you climbed out into the fire escape, facing the man closer and closer. He slightly backed away, but his back hit the railing. You stood in front of him, frightened, but not enough to run away.

He flinched when he started for his hoodie, but you didn’t back off. Your nerves were on fire but you wanted to rid the shadows, finally see him as you never thought you ever could again after all those years.

Gulping, he leaned in.

You took off the hoodie.

The same black hair that fell down to his forehead, slight curls that tickled his skin. His jaw, angular and strong. His lips, chapped and scarred. His eyes, that deep, bright blue so beautiful that it tore through you and looked right into your soul. They looked through you so woefully, hurt, broken.

And scars. One that tore through his eyebrow, one on the corner of his lip, and one on his cheek.

You breathed, and a single tear fell down your face.

It was him.

Undeniably.

It was him.

It was Jason.

He’s here.

You clutched to his neck, both your arms pulling him so tightly to you that you swore you’ll never let go again. Oh, his warmth. His body. He was here. He was actually here. You stuck your face into his shoulder, holding onto him so hard that you’ll kill him if he even tried to move away.

Jason.

Jason.

Jason.

“Oh god…” you cried. “It’s you…”

And you could feel just how much he wanted to pull away. He was meaning to. But fuck him. You weren’t about to. His muscles tensed. His breath hitched. You could feel his chest stiffen-

Then,

You felt his incredibly strong arms around you.

And you sobbed. Silently. Not so much with tears but with your broken breaths, your shaking arms. He stuck his face into your hair and breathed in. Yes. This was Jason. This was definitely him.

You could hardly believe anyone could be risen from the dead. You saw him in his coffin. His lifeless body, white and cold. And he was here, back with the same exact warmth and life. He looked different, there was no denying that.

But the moment you looked into his eyes, you knew it was him.

“Jay…”

He tightened his hold on you.

“Y/N…”

And you cried even more. That voice. The same that said your name in the most beautiful way he possibly could in that voice message you listened to over and over again. He’s here. He’s really here.

Your hands on his face, you pulled away so you could look at him more.

And he looked like he was about to cry as well. The light from your room, it shone perfectly on his face. Every detail, you could revel in. His hands squeezed your shoulders and you pressed your forehead tightly against his.

You wanted to kiss him so badly…

He closed his eyes, but you didn’t. You kept looking at him, watching how his face moved.

Jason took your hands, gripped them tightly by the wrist,

Then pulled you away.

“Uhm,” he cleared his throat, taking his hands off from you and stuffing them back to his pockets. “I came to talk. Like you wanted…”

He looked to the ground. And reluctantly, you backed away.

You leaned against the railing beside him and crossed your arms.

“I don’t know where to start…”

Jason turned to you. “How are you?”

You had so many things to say. You could blurt out all your thoughts and you wouldn’t be able to stop. But you settled yourself, calmed your mind.

“I’m not so sure myself.”

“School?”

“Ending my third year. I went to arts college…”

“Yeah… I know. You like it?”

You nodded. “I do…”

You desperately wanted to hold him again, but you just kept to your shoulders lightly brushing.

“How ‘bout you?”

“Horrible. Thanks for asking.”

You shook your head. You wanted to chuckle, but you weren’t sure that’d be the best thing to do.

“Jay, what happened-“

“You really don’t want to know…”

“I deserve to know, don’t you think?”

Jason turned around, placed his hands on the railing and looked down onto the alley. You did the same, but your eyes were locked on him.

“Something happened. Some reality altering shindig in the cosmos. Ripples, as you might say. I’m not so sure myself. It caused a lot of weird shit to happen. Including me. I woke up in that coffin and climbed my way out.”

You swallowed.

“Somehow, the al Ghul’s found me and nursed me back to health. They put me in the Lazarus pit-you know what that is, don’t you?”

“I have an idea.”

“Anyway,” he continued. “They let me spend time in the League. Some sort of brainwash, but I got over it after a while. I went around different cities in Jersey, then I got to Gotham. You know the rest.”

You looked down at the empty alleyway with him. And you didn’t have much to say. You could tell he didn’t want to be consoled.

“Well, you certainly changed.”

He looked out into the rooftops. There wasn’t any wind, so nothing was blowing into his hair. You watched his face so raw, a matured version of what he once was. But it was still him.

“Aren’t you gonna ask what happened to me?”

His lips went through his teeth, gritting as his muscles tensed.

“I listen to your message. All the time.”

You didn’t think he’d be so shocked, but he was.

“It sent?”

“What do you think?”

Jason pursed his lips, shutting his eyes so he couldn’t look at you.

“I kept your promises…”

You held your hands together, and you stared at them. “I went to college for you. I changed. A lot. I’ve been singing for events around the city a lot.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I watched you a few times.”

You breathed out. Slowly.

“Not all of them, though.”

Jason looked at you, and you looked back at him.

“I couldn’t move on…”

“Fuck…” he cursed. “Y/N-“

“I can't.”

“It’s been three fucking years…”

Your heart just shattered at the way he as looking at you now.

“I haven’t even talked to another guy. Not one date. I wouldn’t let them. I told them…” You shouldn’t tell him, but you really wanted to. “I told them I was still with you-“

“Fucking hell.” He stuffed his face into his hands. “I can't believe you…”

You choked. “I lost you!”

“You should have let me go…”

“I can't!”

You held his shoulder, but he flinched away.

“Why…” you cried. “Why this? I’ve done nothing but mourn for you-“

“I wanted you to live your fucking life!”

You turned away, and Jason looked at the streets by the building, at the empty cars and leaves stuck on the road.

“I wanted you to move on…”

You never once thought you’d have this conversation. Not in your life. “I couldn’t think of it.”

Jason closed his eyes, and you hugged yourself despite the heat. Your throat wanted to climb out of your neck. And your uneasy breaths, it choked you.

Jason let out a strong breath and looked at you.

“You know what I didn’t tell you in that message?”

“No…”

He leaned over the railings, elbows on the metal. He closed his eyes.

“I wanted to tell you that if I ever got out of that place alive, I’ll do everything-everything­-I possibly could to get you back…”

You looked up at the sky. Something stung in your heart.

“But I didn’t. I didn’t want to put you in a terrible place. Whether I got out of it or I didn’t, I just wanted you to find what you were really looking for…”

“I want you...“

“Y/N…”

“I still do…”

“You don’t,” he choked. “We were kids-“

“Fuck you, is that what you really think?”

He breathed through his mouth, looking at almost everything around but you.

“This was a bad idea…”

He started for the stairs. And you watched him, feeling him tear your heart out all over again. Just like the first time.

“Jay… Please…”

Just as he took the first step, he stopped when you held his face.

He didn’t pull away. In fact, he leaned into them.

“Don’t leave me again…”

“Y/N,” he bit his lip, leaning closer to you but not close enough to kiss you. “You don’t want this…”

“I do…”

“No-“

“Why not?”

“I’m not bringing you into this. You don’t know who I am anymore.”

“You're worth it…”

“Y/N…”

You brushed his cheek with your thumb. He was about to cry, and you, with your tears already falling, you whispered.

“You are the love of my life…”

He closed his eyes, let you hold his face a bit tighter.

“Do you really want me to forget about you?”

Your breath shaking, it hurt like the world stepped on you when he slowly nodded. “I can't let you hold on to me any longer…”

Everything. It hurt ten times more than you ever thought it could. You never could have thought this would happen.

“Just give me a few days with you… Please…”

“Y/N, no-“

“Please,” you gulped. “I’ve been wanting To just...hold you... for so long. I never thought I’d get to anymore. And now, you're actually here. The cosmos. Whatever brought you back, they sent you here. and if you really… If I can't spend the rest of my life with you anymore, just give me a few days… Please just give me that…”

Jason finally looked up at your eyes, shaking. His eyebrows were up to his forehead, and he looked so terribly beautiful.

“Please… and I swear, I’ll forget about us. I’ll finally move on. You never have to see me again…”

Jason… Your beautiful, perfect Jason…

He took your hands off of his face.

And you turned around before you hurt yourself even more watching him leave you for the second time.

You faced out the building, at the empty sky, then you shut your eyes close before it sank in that this was the reality you had to face. Another nightmare. Just when you thought you could handle it.

You heard Jason’s voice, light and subtle.

“Three days…”

You turned around.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He almost jumped down the fire exit, disappearing before he could possibly change his mind.

-----

I DON’T HATE YOU - MASTERLIST

-----

everyartistwas-firstanamateur  @sarcasmismyfirstlove @damned-queen-of-gotham @idkmanicantenglish @wunderstell @birdy-bat-riya @get-loki@everyday-imfangirling @comic-nerd-dc @multifandoms916 @icequeen208@offendedfishnoises @egdolan @xemiefx @arkhamtoddler @elsenthal@mythicbitchx @supremehaunter @ burning-alive  @lucy-roo  roseangel013bf @ loxbbg  reclusive-chicken-nuggethttp-cherries shadowsndaisiesriver9noble zphilophobiazannoylinglyaries @knightfall05x @l-horizon11

[iwannaban0nym0us]

My grade is planning for a prank day (which is a tradition for our school) and the doc is chaos so here is an [amended] copy of it:

[my grade] Prank Day 

hi guys convos can take up some space but go ahead we can just delete them later

Ideas (that we could use and are actually legal)

purge sound effect (or anything really) through the emergency speaker system or fake fire drill

replace the pop chips with vegetables or something

a fort in the [building name] plaza

shrines for people (bucky barnes, wanda, [grade dean], pop chips, amogus, taylor swift, emperor pika of the greater chu)

clever way to rick roll

obstacle course in the sport court

make utensils all knives (I feel like spoons would be better)

make the lunch a grape

put a gigantic shrek stuffed toy in the middle of the j plaza or an inflatable one

Make a loudspeaker announcement during the day saying something that we vote on

Mannequins…

Cover [science teacher who left’s old room] in photos of [science teacher who left]

Rickroll literally everyone

Send a fake IT alert(we already have a fake tech office email account that I ([my friend]) made last year)

Dino to [newest building]

Send out a form and we do the thing that got the least votes

Announce a whole school meeting where literally nothing happens for 30 minutes (would have [school dean] do this or smth this isn’t possible with covid use your brains theres this thing called a zoom call you might of heard of it we have like csl days that are whole school

Let’s fill the sinks with orbeez

Hang up sharks around the I-lab (this is an FTC reference) (no its referencing the fact that the ilab is underwater) 

switch the outside [cafeteria], inside [cafeteria], and [building name] plaza tables and chairs

Delete the [grade below] they’re soo annoying

 Get a bunch of Mariachi bands to play across the school have them play different songs in different keys and time signatures but while next to each other and at the same time

 Baby on baby

 PLAY IRL CSGO 

 Switch all the class links on the [school name] website with someone else’s in a different grade

 Detour signs that go in a circle

 UWU into intercom

 TP [writing teacher]’s room (& [grade dean]'s?) yes do this please (I don’t even have [writing teacher])

switch all the one way arrows you realise that they are all permanently stuck to the floor then go over them

block the walkways to the [newest building](both of the ones by the [cafeteria]) (just do the detour thing to divert people away from it)

hold up honk if you (dis)like [my grade] signs at drop off (they do this every year we need to do it too)

fill a teachers room with balloons

Also here are some things that got deleted before I copied it:

Ideas (that we could use and are actually illegal)

bluetooth speakers or something + minecraft cave sounds AND MUSIC THAT MAKES YOU POOP in bathroom

Give everyone a kazoo and just constantly kazoo around campus

Give everyone toothpaste oreos >:) no hummus oreos instead, how do we get white hummus? hummus oreos actually taste good

Encourage people to take a bean boozled  “hey guys come eat my mysterious beans very covid safe” good point

Cover rooms with Taylor Swift covers :DD JKJK LOL NO NO NO OKAY IIKIK BUT HAH

who’s a chill teacher that would come to school lat like six am

Prank them by not doing a prank, but then at lunch we do our prank 

make an announcement saying the wifi is going to go out on campus (does it actually go out?) ddos the school (someone get LOIC)  https://sourceforge.net/projects/loic/i was about to send the link to it (it is literally malware but its because its a botnet) (so  download it anyways) (all of you) ask the admins if they give just sl cache permission we are better off just unplugging the wifi then ddosing the school yeah that’s probably a better idea

Can we get like food for everyone like cupcakes or something pleaseeeeee <3 this isn’t a prank IDC IT COULD BE PART OF ONE poison the cupcakes TAKE ME TO THE PLACE WHERE THE POISON IS laxatives (or we could just get food for the people who set up prank day)

Guys we should go to all the bathrooms and hang up a bunch of finneas in the boys and a bunch of billie in the girls bathrooms YES AGREED, and then in the gender neutral ones we can do taylor duh

[kaichan24]

Social Media Favorite Fics

1. Butterfly Effect : Venture Capitalist. Top 10 List of Wealthiest Winter Olympic Athletes of All Time And that is why Victor Nikiforov is on our Number Two.

Now you must be wondering since a while ago, who exactly beats King of Class, Victor Nikiforov? Be prepare to get surprised because you don’t need to look very far.Number One on our top 10 Wealthiest Winter Olympic Athletes of All Time goes to the last Winter Olympic Figure Skating Single Men Gold Medalist Yuuri Katsuki. Surprise? Well, I surely am!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9409112

2. This Curious Condition Called Love. Yuuri has done the transcontinental uprooting of his life twice before and it's never easy, but this time there are photos plastered all over Victor's social media, explorations into Russian cuisine, shenanigans with the Russian figure skating national team, calls and messages from friends and family, and Victor, always.

Victor, on the other hand, mostly copes by watching Yuuri adapt to life in St. Petersburg

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11347065

3. For The Dogs. Victor learns that Yuri used to volunteer at a small dog rescue while in Detroit, and that he used to donate his extra plushies to the rescue so the dogs had more toys. Knowing that it makes Yuri happy they start taking the time after competitions to visit local rescues and provide toys for the dogs. They soon learn that there is an unintended and wonderful side-effect to their visits: Victor's posts of a happy and laughing Yuri amid a bunch of adoptable dogs helps the pups find forever homes.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12553920

4. #viktuuriwedding2k17. When Yuuri wins gold at Worlds, the whole skating fandom proceeds to implode.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14938917

5. Beard Burns and How to Treat Them. Victor retires and grows a beard. Yuuri deals with the consequences. Which is fine. He just wishes #Daddyforov would stop trending already.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13107372

6. Don't Read the Comments. Victor Nikiforov's always nice to his fans and to the media, they say - unless, it turns out, any of them says anything about Yuuri's GPF silver being a mere fluke. Then he verbally rips apart that person with a perfect smile on his lips.

Yuuri Katsuki is shy and soft-spoken and doesn't look like he's even capable of raising his voice. Until a (poor, foolish) interviewer makes the mistake of saying somewhat derogatory comments about Victor right to his face. And then... oh boy.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14897841

7. #transformationtuesday. "His last tweet was over two years ago and his Facebook was always on private, serving as a cache of funny internet videos his friends shared.

"Yuri doesn't post. He looks. Until Viktor makes him post. And that makes him look again.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8671483

8. Hold Me Tight. After Victor uncovers Yuuri's private body pillow collection, he decides it's not fair that he doesn't have the same type of merch of his Yuuri. It turns out what Victor's just done is fulfill an unspoken international need.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23685130

9. #KissOrHug. Yuuri and Victor make #Victuri trend worldwide. Phichit accidentally makes it worse.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8605909

10. Fill the World with Music. where Viktor breaks twitter, Yuuri breaks the internet then pretends to not understand, and together they break their friends

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9181504

11. Reminders. Yuuri has good days and Bad Days. When the world feels off-center, when he can't think past his failures, when he can't get out of bed and try, that's a Bad Day. But Victor was always there to remind him that he is never alone.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12252591

12. What Happens When You Give Skaters The Afternoon Off. Ever wondered what figure skaters do after a competition to unwind? Well your question is answered here! Who knew they like to mess around and have dance parties? Brought to you mostly by Phichit Chulanont.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11206269

13. Skaters and Instagram. https://archiveofourown.org/series/727266

14. 11 Times Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Katsuki's Relationship Was #goals. https://archiveofourown.org/works/9053101

15. Hot Russian daddy fucks a horny Japanese slut [AKA Viktor Nikiforov/Yuuri Katsuki REAL sex tape leaked]. An extremely private video of Yuuri and Viktor gets posted online, sending the internet and general public into a shitstorm.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10165223/chapters/22581719

16. Sex tape. A sex tape of Victor from a few years ago, filmed without his knowledge, is leaked onto the internet.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9252233

17. FuzzBead Presents - Olympian Husbands Say Trans Rights!. KATSUKI YUURI and VIKTOR NIKIFOROV, join us for WHAT DO YOU KNOW? 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20420123

[migeviellardi]

Out Of Comfort

Rottmnt Donnie Centric Fanfic

Genre : Adventure, Action, Humour, Hurt/Comfort

Summary :  Silver has gone to the part where he made Donnie involve in some slightly criminal-related work. Will Donnie regret his decision to ever trust him? Or will his life ends miserably knowing that he should’ve just headed home and not taking any part of Silver’s plan?

Chapter 4 Help Wanted

Run-on-the-mill Pizza place can be a good place to vent for some reason, he always felt better having to just sit down, ordering food, and let go of his thoughts away. The weight lifted off from his chest immensely or is it just that his wisp is his Gram-Gram, sitting on his shoulder to keep him company?

Donnie can’t help smile to see her there, she smiled every he looked at her. It gives him warmth, knowing that he wasn’t entirely alone. At least now he felt a lot better that he took joy to eat his pizza to satisfy his hunger. 

“Grrrr!!” Donnie jumped hearing a growl from the person sitting in front of him. The stranger who called himself Silver, glaring at his phone. His finger tapping hard on the screen. Donnie chewed away as he watched the men frustrated himself with his phone.

Silver gritted his teeth, “Stupid, son of a-” he screamed and threw away his phone. Donnie was surprised to see his phone flew away out of sight. Sia flew after the phone. Silver sighed while shaking his head, he chomps on the pizza he ordered.

“Is-is everything, okay?” Donnie asked.

“It’s not your concern, kid.” Sia flew back with the phone and put it in his hand. Silver saw the phone and frowned at Sia, who scolded him. Donnie saw the wisp flailing angrily at him. Silver shook in disbelief, putting the phone on the table.

Donnie stared at the object. It seems like it just got bought, looks all sleek and new with its black with blue stripes background.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Just some troubles, like many.” he chowed down the pizza, mozzarella cheese melted to his mouth. Donnie can slightly see that the guy somehow had fangs. Until then he realized that he also had a pair of small brown horns. They’re obscured by his unruly hair, which makes him wonder what kind of guy he is.

“Can I take a look on your phone?” he asked. Silver stared at him. He paused for a bit, thinking if he should listen to the kid. 

He sighed and give the kid his phone. Donnie carefully took it and began his inspections. He turns on the phone and found the thing had a hard time finishing the intro. Once Donnie had access to the content, he took his time checking every system, apps, and settings. 

Silver rests his head on his hand, watching the kid gone all quiet, eyes fixated on the screen. He can see the kid in full concentration on what he’s doing, so he didn’t bother to ask anything. 

“Is it okay if I upgrade them a bit?” Donnie offered. Silver raised his eyebrow. The word ‘upgrade’ intrigues and astonished him. Can the kid really upgrade his phone? The kid seems serious about what he said. Although, is it a good idea to let a kid messes with his phone?

But Silver is more curious than worry. Silver gives him a nod. Donnie looked around for Hueso. The skeleton saw the turtle waved at him. He approached him, “If you looking for your coffee, it still in a brewing state.”

“Oh, okay. But also, do you still have my toolbox here?”

“The one that you keep forgetting to bring back with you and instead of you taking it insisting to let me store it for you?” Hueso said in a nonchalant look. Donnie grinned nervously. He sighed, “I’ll go and get it for you.” he walks towards his office.

Donnie went back to the phone in his hand. Silver just watched in quiet, finishing his meal. A waiter with six arms came and put a mug of coffee at Donnie’s side. He quickly took a sip and continue his inspecting. 

Hueso came back with a purple toolbox, he put it next to the mug and went off to do his business. The table shook as the toolbox was set down, how many tools the kid have in that thing?

Donnie put his mug to his other side. He pushed a button on the box and attracted all the tools held by small robot arms. Silver was shocked by the sheer amount of tools that came out of it. 

Donnie opened the phone’s casing. Pulled down his goggles, he types something in his tech bracelet and the robot arms helping him out to do some tinkering. Silver blinked, he observes the kid doing something to his phone. 

He watched the three-fingered hands deftly moves between each tool, once seeing his hand reaching something inside the box and implanting it onto the phone. He waited for the kid to finish as it seems the kid doesn’t want to be bothered while doing his work.

Finally, Donnie plopped back the casing. The toolbox retracted back all the tools, back to its former form. Donnie turned on the phone and give it back to Silver. He took his phone and take a look at it.

“I upgrade the memory storage, which now can hold 200 GB. It’s the biggest one I can get other than stealing it. I upgraded the ram storage, the system processor, the cache settings. Updated further the anti-virus with my own coding, also put a tiny Donnie-blocker to keep off all kinds of mal-ware, aaand installing a new set of cameras for further perfection on either photo or video making ability. Oh, and I give you some unlimited access to the internet. Your Welcome and Thank you!” he smiled with pride and joy. 

Silver nodded in amazement. He explored his phone further and he can already felt the significant difference from before. No lagging, quick accessing, one-second loading. Whatever the kid has done, it did wonders for his phone. “Well, I gotta say, Kid. I’m impressed.” he praised.

Donnie flinched by the appraisal from him. He smiled broadly with tears of joy. How long has he been dreaming for an adult’s appraisals and approvals? Too long perhaps that he can’t contain his smile. Which made Silver cringe at him. Hueso walked past them and saw Donnie glittering in happiness.

“Did you praised him?” he asked.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. Just brace yourself, that’s all.” he added, leaving them alone. Silver pinched his nose-bridge.

###

Silver walks along the Hidden City’s streets with his new modified phone in his hand. The first thing he finds is that the kid had put thousands of songs on the music list. He’s really intrigued with the titles of each of them, noted to himself that he should give them a try.

“So, where are you going?”

He sighed, he nearly forgot that the said kid still on his tail. 

Silver : Why don’t you just go home, kid?

Donnie : First of all, I am not a kid. I’m 16.

Silver : And, I’m 28. So you’re a kid to me.

Donnie : Scoff! I am a teenager, thank you very much! *arm-crossed*

Silver : Why are you saying ‘scoff’ out loud?

Donnie : And, second, I’m not ready to go home, yet. 

Silver : Why not?

Donnie : Well, even though I’ve been here for an hour and fifty-one minutes, but I just got here.

Silver : And, now, you can go home.

Donnie stopped in his track. Silver noticed the lack of sound of the kid’s footsteps, he turned around at Donnie who clearly unhappy, avoiding eye contact.

“I just won’t, alright? You won’t understand.” he shoved his hands in his pockets. Silver raised an eyebrow, the kid still refused to look at him. 

He sure didn’t understand what the kid’s deal is that he doesn’t want to go home. But it’s not like Silver would want to be part of it, especially if it’s a personal matter. He rolled his eyes and continued his walk, eyes fixated on the screen until he heard the kid’s footsteps following him again.

He peered his head back to the kid. Donnie saw him staring and froze. Silver stares nonchalantly. Donnie frowned, looking away dejected. He can still sense being stared.

“Okay, FINE. I’ll go! Stop staring at me like that!” Donnie quickly turned around, grumbling in his hood. Silver watched the kid's leaves, the kid’s wisp flew close to his head, caressing him.

He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel bad, he knows the kid can take care of himself, as long as he stops spacing out. Sia stares at him, unimpressed, which triggered Silver in the way.

“What?” he flatly asked. Sia scolded her living friend, squeaking away like no tomorrow. “The last thing I want other than being stranded here is becoming a babysitter. Okay?”

Sia pouts, she crossed her arms and look away. Silver rolled his eyes, he doesn’t need this right now. “Uuuugh!!! HEY, KID!”

Donnie quickly turns his head. Silver sighed, there’s no turning back now. “Come on, there’s a place that I wanna go. You can help out there if you want.” he walks away.

He didn’t need to wait or looking back to know that kid accepted his offer when he heard a running coming from behind. Donnie joined him on his side, keeping it quiet, in case if the man changes his mind.

He has a lot of questions, but putting them off the table. Keeping it cool as he observed the guy scrolling through his phone. Donnie shoves his hands, trying to obscure his fingers fidgeting restlessly. He’s giddy for some reason, he doesn’t know why. 

What he should do is be cautious, especially when you’re meeting a stranger. But so far, the stranger had been kind to him, despite all the snarkiness. 

He saved his life from a falling boulder which he still doesn’t understand why it’s there. He responsibly trying to make him feel better in case he was shaken from the near-death experience--which he got to be honest, that he was, only a little. And, he let him tinker his phone and upgraded it, and not to mention, appraisal--legitness--for his work.

He can’t help but smile with that thought, this Silver guy sure is an interesting one. He learned that souls can leave a part of their own, remnants of their memories, and formed into these little ghosts called Wisps.

The concept of this little entity really intrigues him, and now that he knows that he has a Wisp of his own, which is none other than his Gram-Gram. And, that hits him,

Donnie : About the Wisps...

Silver : Hm? 

Donnie : Gram-Gram is a part of a family, my family. And, I’m sure that she also loves my brothers. Right?

Silver : Put it this way, you have how many people in one family, and there’s one who passes away and that person loves every single one of them. If a wisp wanted to go back to their loved ones, and there are many, so they’ll follow them all.

Donnie : How?

Silver : The explanatory still confuses me, but a wisp can actually exist more than once in the living. For example, if your wisp is following you now, they also follow the others. Like,...ugh, putting it simply, they can be in two or more places at the same time.

Donnie : That’s......mildly confusing.

Silver : You tell me.

Donnie : Wait, so...if my Wisp actually exists somewhere else and following my family,  that means, she’s also there.

Silver : So?

Donnie : So, that means, if I can speak her language, she can help pinpoint their locations, etcetera.

Silver : .....

Donnie : .....

Silver : Huh, I haven’t thought of that.

Donnie : Really?

Silver : But to be fair, not all wisps had the same case. For example, Sia right here.

Donnie : That also hits me, who is she to you?

Silver stopped, Donnie flinched at him. Silver stares blankly at the phone, although he is sure that he wasn’t staring at it. He was getting worried about how the guy didn’t say anything. He figured it actually hurts him, being asked that question.

Donnie guiltily looked away, rubbing his arm. “Sorry.” He apologized. Sia the wisp turned sad, followed by Karai.

Then, he flinched when he felt his head being patted. He meets Silver’s eyes, he didn’t smile but he’s certainly caressing. Silver let go of his hand and continue his walking. Donnie blinked, trying to process what he just did. He rubbed his head, still confused and took off to catch up.

Silver took a right and went up a stair. Donnie paused to see that he was heading towards what looks like a Museum, Yokai’s Museum. Silver went inside, not waiting around for him. Donnie ran in, until, “OOF!!!” he bumps real hard into a large hand and fell back. 

“Oww!” he rubs his head. A troll-like yokai with massively oversize hands stood guard at the entrance.

“Buy ticket first! Only ten dollars!” he said with a deep croaky voice. Silver showed up from the Museum.

“Go get yourself a ticket, kid! I’m only paying for your food.” he disappeared into the building. Donnie stood up peevishly, raising his shoulders. He sighed, reached out a ten-dollar from his wallet.

The Museum looks somewhat bigger than the outside. On the way in, Donnie picked up a pamphlet from its racks. The Museum contains artworks like statues, paintings, carvings, etc. Even some historical objects and artifacts. 

Donnie curiously looked in every direction. Never in his life went to a Museum legally and full of people and bright lights. Last time he has been in a Museum, he had to fight a psychotic hypo and the Foot-clans, breaking every content within.

Donnie scurries along through to find Silver, he isn’t in the Gallery, which now leads him to the Artifact Room. Donnie peeked into the hallway, he didn’t see him yet. He went further as he took his time sightseeing until he stumbled upon a large circular room.

The room was littered with weird, wacky, and interesting artifacts floats on pedestals. And without Donnie’s goggles, he can still see that some of them had mystic powers lingers within. He assuming they all real artifacts that are no longer in use, despite that some still have little powers to spare.

He found Silver stands and observe a floating crescent-like object. Donnie stood beside him, looking at the name on the info board. Rubbing his chin as he translates the language, “Obliath of Secrecy.”

“It’s an artifact that once used to conceal a massive gate that prevents Oble Troll from entering a farm patch for the early season of Fire Cabbage Festival, thirty years ago. Created by an old fairy farmer who lives with the farm patches.” Silver explains. Donnie looked at him astonished.

“You know about artifacts?”

“No, it says so in this info board.” he points at the board he just read. 

“O-oh...”

“Anyway, we’re not here for sightseeing.” he said, “Come.”

Donnie raised his eyebrow, he looked at Karai, she shook her head, not knowing what it means. Donnie shrugged and followed the men.

As Donnie follows, he saw Silver talk to a tiger yokai from afar. Donnie paused for a moment, he observes as Silver received some kind of a key from the yokai and quickly put them in his inner pocket. As the yokai leaves, Silver turned to Donnie and gesturing him to follow.

Donnie became suspicious, still, he does what he’s told. He approached Silver who’s standing near a big sarcophagus. He looked around, to make sure nobody’s looking and opened the coffin. “Get in.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.” And, Donnie did. Silver followed and closed the coffin, hiding the two inside.

###

Silver slowly opens the sarcophagus slightly, peeking out to the now dark Artifact Room. Sia emerged from the coffin, looking around as she flew away. She went back and nodded, Silver opens the coffin entirely, letting Donnie and himself out. 

Donnie gingerly looks around, unsure of what will they be doing.

“What are we doing?” he asked, only to be shushed by Silver. Silver promptly stealth walking into the empty room. Donnie follows without difficulty as he was trained to be stealthy. Silver leads them both to a turn left to the sarcophagus that leads to a storage room. Silver stopped, assessing the situation.

“What are we doing here?!” Donnie whispered. Silver ignores him and lets Sia come forth first. She flew ahead towards the door until she passed an invisible barrier that reanimated as she came through. Donnie was amazed by the presence of the invisible wall. 

Silver waited to make sure it didn’t trigger any kind of alarm, which it didn’t. He comes close to the barrier, putting his palm onto it. It was solid, as it should be. Donnie looked around to make sure they were alone, getting more worried about this whole situation.

Silver took a breath in and out, he casts an energy flow onto his hand, the bluish energy glows stunningly in the dark. Donnie watched in awe from a couple of feet away. It then formed itself into a long energy stream, condensed into a sword-like structure.

Donnie was surprised by the guy’s capability, it looks different than any mystic weapons he saw. Silver slashed the barrier right down the middle, then proceed to slice the bottom frame. The sword disappeared, Silver opened the barrier like it was a curtain. He gesturing Donnie to get in first.

“Can you please tell me what’s going on?!” he protested in a whisper.

“I’ll tell you when we get inside. Move!” Donnie opened his mouth to speak, “Kid, you’ve gone far to follow me here. And I don’t mind at all that you bail right this second. Your choice.”

Despite him whispering, Silver’s voice was sharp and stern, giving massive goosebumps towards Donnie’s shell. A strike of fear suddenly picking up, Donnie momentarily having a staring contest with the guy.

He could bail, but he needs to know what this guy’s doing. If he’s doing something bad, it’s his job as a Hamato to stop him. He can’t let it slide, he needs to know what’s going on. He stepped into the barrier, no turning back now.

He stopped at the door, Silver came up and use the key on the door. The storage filled with unshowcased artifacts organized in some ways. Silver carefully closed the door behind him and locked it, Donnie took a moment to look around. 

He has seen some of these artifacts in Draxum’s research notes. Few of them extremely foreign. 

“THOOOONG!!!!”

Donnie jumped at the sound from behind him. Silver cast some kind of barrier in bluish and white streams of energy. Suddenly, he toppled over, lying on his side. Donnie jerked up and ran at him. His breathing is normal and his pulse is steady but the guy had fallen unconscious.

“Silver?” he patted his cheeks, hoping to wake him up. Silver let out a groan. Donnie helped him to sit, leaning him to a wall. “What happened? You okay?” 

“I might...have put....too many in....one go.” he said, sounding really exhausted. Donnie looked at the barrier. It looks very sturdy, not sure how many he actually put in one spot. Donnie turned back to him.

“But, you’re okay, right?

“Yeah, just....a little tired.” he hoists himself up, pushing up against the wall to get back to his feet. Donnie ducked under his arm, helping him walk around the storage room. Silver leads them further inside, Sia flew right ahead. She pinpoints the directions around the many crates filled with artifacts, to where they should go and they follow.

Until they reached a large pedestal with an object that floats right in the middle. Silver let his arm go from Donnie. “There it is.”

The artifact shape is a trapezoid, with carvings all over its dark plum coloring. The object felt different than the others, felt threatening in some ways. Donnie frowned by the sight of it as Silver approached the thing. He held his hand out to it.

“Wait, what are you doing?” 

“What does it look like?” he said, “I’m stealing it.”

A paused for a moment.

“Wait, WHAT?!”

[octothorpetopus]

The Scientist (Derek Morgan x Spencer Reid)

When Spencer gets infected with anthrax, Derek’s not willing to let him go without a fight.

A/N: I highly recommend listening to “The Scientist” by Coldplay while reading this

Tags: @rxseinbloom @cha0ticbisexual

At first, Derek couldn’t see Spencer through the glass sliding door. His heart leapt into his throat as he scanned the lab. If he wasn’t here, where was he? If he was dead already, would they have gotten him out so quickly? Then he looked down and saw Spencer sitting with his back against the wall, his left side against the door, just out of Derek’s line of sight. He sat down on the other side of the door, and if not for that quarter-inch of glass, he would have fallen right into Spencer.

“Hey, kid.” Spencer’s head snapped up, as if he hadn’t seen Derek coming. He blinked as if waking up from a very long nap, and shook his head as if manually clearing his thoughts. For a moment, his eyes flitted over Derek’s head to the plastic tent in which a dozen or so government scientists were trying to find a way to get him out. He didn’t respond, just smiled a tired little half-smile. “How’re you doing?” Spencer shrugged.

“You know. Dying.” Derek laughed, but only because he couldn’t really picture it. He actually couldn’t picture Spencer dying, how stupid was that?

“You’re not dying, kid. You found the inhaler.”

“Yeah, and we still don’t know that that was the cure. He could just have asthma.” As if to prove his point, Spencer coughed. The harsh, raspy sound hit Derek’s ears and shoved his optimism even further down into the growing black pit in his stomach.

“You’re gonna be fine, Reid.”

“Yeah? When did you become an expert in biochemistry?”

“Since I started hanging out with you.” Spencer grinned weakly and leaned his head against the glass. Once again, Derek couldn’t help but realize that if the glass weren’t there, his head would have fallen onto Derek’s shoulder. “You know, it’s funny. I never thought about all the things I wish I’d done until now. I don’t really like looking back, I don’t usually see the point, but now-” he sighed. “Now, I wish I’d gone out for drinks with Emily and JJ when they’d asked. I wish I’d gone to all those hockey games you asked me to. I wish I’d said yes when Rossi invited me to dinner. I never thought I’d be one of those people who had a ton of regrets when they died, but now, I guess-”

“You guess nothing, because you’re not dying.” Derek didn’t say anything about all the things he’d regret if Spencer died. The things he wished he’d said, the things he wished he’d done. “Look, Spencer, I gotta tell you something.” Hesitating, he pressed one palm against the door. Goosebumps prickled his arms as his hand touched the frigid glass, but he didn’t shiver. Spencer held up one slightly hand and put it right where Derek’s was on the other side of the glass. His hand was thinner and bonier, and Derek had a feeling that if he could hold it, it would be freezing despite the heat.

“What’s that?” Spencer murmured, barely audible through the glass and under the din of everything happening around them.

“It’s just… with all this talk about what you regret… well, if you die, which you won’t, I’ll have some regrets of my own.”

“Morgan, whatever you’re trying to say, just say it. I’m too tired to profile you right now.”

“Well…” Derek tapped his forefinger against Spencer’s through the door. “If you die, I’ll never get to tell you how nice I think your hair always looks, even when it was long. Or how I get butterflies in my stomach when you fall asleep on my shoulder on plane rides home. How much I like to listen to you ramble about whatever it is you’re on at the moment. I’ll never get to tell you how much I love you, Spencer.” His voice cracked, but he kept on. “As a friend, and… well, I love you, kid. And hey, I don’t expect you to say anything back; especially not now. You don’t owe me anything. But I don’t want any regrets, and I want you to know you shouldn’t regret anything. Not with me. I’ll be here as long as you are, kid, and when they get you out of here, I’ll be with you. I’m with you to the end of the line, Spencer, whether that’s now or in fifty years. We’re ride or die, right?” Derek thought back to the night they’d taken the train to Atlantic City and gotten drunk tattoos together. Ride or die. That’s what they said. He rolled his sleeve up to show Spencer, to remind him. Spencer smiled weakly and put his hand over his collarbone, where Derek knew his only tattoo was hidden.

“I really wish I could get out of here now.” His voice was far too raspy to be his own, and it broke Derek’s heart.

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because I’d give anything to kiss you right now.” He put his forehead, pale and sweat-covered as it was, against the glass, and Derek matched it, willing himself not to cry.

“You will, kid. I promise you, you’ll get out of there and I’ll be right with you.”

“I never knew. Why didn’t you say anything earlier? Did you have to wait until I was on my deathbed?”

“First of all, you’re not on your deathbed, so shut up about that. Second, I thought I was obvious, and third, how was I supposed to know you felt the same way? You’re not exactly forthcoming, Spencer.”

“Yeah. Maybe that one is on me.”

“No, it’s not. You have nothing to blame yourself for. Not now, not ever. You’ll get out of here, and you’ll see.”

“Derek.” Spencer spoke deliberately now as his eyes fixed earnestly on Derek. “I’m serious. If I don’t get out of here-”

“You will.”

“If I don’t. I left a message for my mom, but someone still needs to go see her. And… if I don’t see the others again, tell them… tell them there’s no other way I’d rather have gone. And that it’s not anyone’s fault but mine, so they shouldn’t blame themselves. Especially Hotch and JJ, because they will. And you. It’s none of your faults. Make sure they bury me in Nevada. This is my home, but I want my mom to be able to come see me. And, uh… I’ll miss you. All of you.” It was as if a dam broke inside him, because as soon as the last word was out of Spencer’s mouth, he broke down in sobs, his thin shoulders shaking. Derek instinctively moved to put an arm around him, to comfort him, but smashed his hand against the glass door. He was helpless to watch as Spencer buried his face in his hands, trying to suppress his tears but failing miserably. “I don’t want to die, Derek,” he cried. “I don’t want to die.”

“I know, kid, I know,” Derek murmured, willing the door between them to dissolve so he could wrap Spencer in his arms and hold him. It didn’t. “We’re gonna get through this, you and me. We have to. We have to,” he repeated, over and over and over until Spencer finally calmed down, and someone came over to tell him he had to get back so they could start the extraction process.

“I’ll see you in a minute, kid,” he said, pressing his fingertips to his lips and then to the glass one last time.

“Derek!” Spencer called out. “My mom. Promise me you’ll make sure she’s okay.”

“You’ll do it yourself, now-”

“Derek. Promise me.”

“...I promise.” Derek let out a shaky breath and stepped back. “And I love you,” he added mentally. He wished he’d said it out loud, but Dr. Kimura was already helping Spencer into a hazmat suit of his own. Come on, kid. You’ve survived so much. This won’t- this can’t be the thing that gets you. But as the doctors led him over to the heavily secured plastic tent, Spencer looked as if he could barely walk. Derek turned away. He couldn’t watch. He had come to the realization that whatever would happen was already going to happen, and he wasn’t going to get a say. That’s life. Derek was not an avid churchgoer, and to his knowledge, Spencer had never been, but with his back turned to the operation behind him, he closed his eyes, and began to pray.

The hospital was quiet, clean, and cold, just like Spencer. Derek sat by his bedside, feet kicked up on the edge of the hospital bed, hands folded together and resting on his chest over his heart.

He was going to be okay, that was what the doctors thought. He’d be out of commission for a few days, and any respiratory illness for a little while could have potentially fatal repercussions, but for the most part, he would recover.

That didn’t stop Derek’s heart from pounding while he waited for Spencer to wake up. He had already read the four very old Food Network magazines from the waiting room, cleared out the photo cache on his phone, called his mother, and played 17 games of sudoku by the time Spencer finally cleared his throat.

“Hi,” was all he said, the rasp in his voice no longer striking fear into Derek’s heart.

“Hi.” He pulled the chair closer so he could lean against the bed. “How are you?”

“Eh.” Spencer coughed. “I’m not dying, so…”

“I told you.” With considerable effort, Spencer lifted his hand and held it out to Derek, who got it immediately. He pressed his palm against Spencer’s, a thrill jolting through him at the skin-on-skin contact now that there was no door between them. “I told you.”

“In my defense, I’m the one with three PhDs, so if anyone knows anything…” he trailed off, his face making it clear he realized it didn’t matter. Derek bit his lip and squeezed Spencer’s hand.

“I think we should talk.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Do you… you don’t remember?”

“What? That you love me?” Derek flinched at how easily he said it. “Derek.” With his other hand, still pale and clammy but strong enough, Spencer reached up to cup Derek’s face. “What’s there to talk about? It’s love. Serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin. I could talk about the science behind it for hours, but that wouldn’t matter to you, because we don’t feel chemicals. We feel love.” We. We feel love. Derek was overwhelmed by the urge to kiss Spencer, and realized at once that he could. There was nothing now, no door, real or metaphorical. So he did, he kissed Spencer. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined their first kiss would take place in a hospital, but it didn’t matter. Spencer was freezing to the touch, but through his thin hospital gown, Derek could feel his heartbeat. Spencer pushed his lips into Derek’s insistently, pulling him down with his hand on the back of his neck.

“Spence, I- oh!” Derek and Spencer flew apart at the sound of JJ’s voice. JJ, along with Penelope, Emily, Hotch, and Rossi stood in the doorway, every single one of them with their eyes wide and mouths open in shock. Spencer blushed a deep red and Derek covered his face in his hands. JJ cleared her throat. “Spence, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah. I made you cookies.” Penelope held up her tupperware and the team filed into the room, smiling and laughing but without a word about the kiss. Derek and Spencer shared a wordless glance, suppressing smiles. Quietly, subtly, they linked hands. Chemical or feeling, love had beat death today, and in Derek Morgan’s book, that was a win.

[tealin]

Basler to the Beardmore 2: Errands

As always, no matter what Tumblr does with it, this post is available in its intended presentation at twirlynoodle.com/blog along with the rest of my Antarctic travel diary.

On this flight to the heart of Antarctica, I was only a hanger-on.  We had two errands to run before entertaining me and my historical interests, the most important of which was restocking a fuel depot at the base of the Transantarctic Mountains.

There are many busy science teams in Antarctica, and while some renewable energy sources are starting to be used, the fact is that everything runs on a reliable supply of fossil fuels, mostly petrol.  The aircraft that keep people and their essentials moving around the continent have a network of fuel depots, both for relay stops and for emergencies.  Contrary to some conspiracy theories, anyone can fly to and around Antarctica if they have the money and resources to get there, and many do.  As the national science programmes have a very tight margin, and their fuel depots are expensive to maintain, they cannot afford jet-setters raiding their supplies, so the locations of these depots are kept secret.  Therefore I am not going to tell you where our first stop was.  The chances of a private pilot reading this blog are slim, but it may be possible to deduce from my photos where this particular cache is: if you are that outlier, I hereby ask you please to do the decent thing and leave the fuel alone – or if you absolutely must access it, then let the USAP know what you've taken and make good on it as soon as you can.  Everyone in Antarctica looks out for each other, and that includes you.  OK?  OK. 

So, we've taken off, and done our acrobatics to get the skis up, and are now facing a couple of hours' flight time before we reach our primary destination.  There is, quite frankly, nothing between Williams Field and the Transantarctic Mountains, besides hundreds of miles of the Ross Ice Shelf. This was known as 'The Barrier' to the early explorers, because when James Clark Ross sailed down to explore in 1840 it was a great while wall that prevented his ships from going any further. In later years it wasn't so much a barrier as a highway – clear and flat, and not much off sea level, it provided a route deep into the high latitudes without the perils of the high windy Polar Plateau.  Among people who frequently travel out there, it is sometimes referred to as 'the Flat White' – my impression is that this term came from the Kiwis, and the espresso drink of the same name is also antipodean in origin, so I wonder which came first.  It is undeniably Flat, and White (though the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals makes it look anything from peachy to periwinkle, depending on the angle), but none of its various names communicate just how big it is.

I have flown over the Canadian tundra many times, and over the Greenland ice cap, but the view from 35,000 feet is like looking at satellite view in Google Maps compared to flying at cloud level, where the parallax with the horizon gives you a much keener sense of distance.  The Barrier is BIG.  In fact, 'big' is too small a word to communicate it.  'Massive', 'mammoth', and 'gargantuan' are more melodramatic than descriptive.  Its vastness puts all of human consciousness, never mind vocabulary, in proper perspective.  For my money, it outdoes the night sky as a visual approximation of infinity. 

Getting a sense of its size, especially in a still photo, is difficult without an object for scale.  For your education and my good fortune, we happened to fly over the RAID convoy as they made their way from the Minna Bluff site to where the Ross Ice Shelf meets the Antarctic continent.  Rapid Access Ice Drilling has been supporting various scientific projects for a few years now, whether their interest is in the ice itself (its trapped air gives a record of Earth's atmosphere in millennia past) or what's underneath (marine environments far removed from the open sea; the bed of an accelerating glacier).  Their units are about the size of a shipping container, and are pulled by enormous tractors, so if they are this dwarfed by the Flat White, imagine how much more puny a sledge party would be. 

Before too much longer we were at the depot.  Landing at an Antarctic field airstrip is even more complicated than taking off: we circled once, to do a visual check, then skimmed it with the skis to make sure no hidden crevasses had opened up since the last time someone landed here, then finally touched down for real on the third go-round.  The plane crew rapidly got to work unloading the fuel drums; I offered to help but was assured I wasn't needed, so spent the time taking photographs and mucking around in the snow.

The first thing that struck me was how beautiful the mountains were in colour.  The best photos I've seen of them have been black and white, so the rich variety in shades was remarkable.  What you can't see in this small photo was how the lighter rock was banded with strata of blue-grey and orange-brown sandstone, giving it a luxurious marbled effect. 

I've read a lot about how conditions on the Barrier are so much different than on the coast.  This was far deeper into it than I was ever expecting to set foot, but I was surprised how tame it was.  Now, it was an idyllically calm and sunny day – had it been any different we would not have been there – so the only time I realised that it was actually much colder than McMurdo was when a slight breeze wafted past my bare hand and broke the warm spell that the sunshine had cast.

 What was different was the snow.  Around McMurdo, the snowbanks which did build up had been repeatedly blown over with volcanic dust which warmed up in the sun and made the snow gritty, icy, and rotten – if you live in a snowy city, think of the texture of snowbanks alongside busy roads.  Out here, there was nothing but snow, all the way down to where it became ice – powder blown off the mountains, maybe even off the Polar Plateau, deposited here to be compacted in the sun and polished by the wind.  The crust made by these processes was smooth and, in many places, thick enough to support my weight, so I hardly left a footprint – a 'good pulling surface' as sledgers would have it – but without warning there would be a thin spot where my foot would break through and sink in the sugar-like snow below.

Before long, the crew had finished their restock, and playtime was over.  After our exciting takeoff manoeuvres, we started climbing the mountains to the second of our tasks for the day. 

The Transantarctic Mountains, according to our pilot, are still something of a mystery.  They are a very high mountain range, but unlike the Rockies for example, they show little or no sign of buckling or other geological forces – they seem to have been lifted whole, keeping their layers of sandstone and coal and fossil-rich deposits mostly flat, with occasional intrusions of igneous rock. The range acts as a sort of massively oversized dyke, holding back the miles-deep polar ice cap from spilling over West Antarctica, the Ross Ice Shelf, and the Ross Sea, as the mountains cross the continent.

Ice appears to be solid, but it actually behaves more like a stiff jelly or fondant icing – if it finds a change in altitude it will flow, very slowly, downhill.  This is what a glacier is: snow gets deposited over many years without melting, turns to ice, and when its volume can no longer be held at elevation, starts to creep down the valley. The ice of the Polar Plateau finds gaps in the Transantarctic Mountains and pushes through them, forming glaciers which pour out onto the Ross Sea and, merging, form the Ross Ice Shelf.  The Beardmore Glacier is one of the largest of these, but there are hundreds of smaller ones, and many tributary glaciers that feed these.  In flying over the lower Transantarctic Mountains, there were plenty of opportunities to see ice dynamics at work: 

Our destination was up near the head of a narrow glacier, where it broadened out into a snowy plain called the Bowden Névé – névé being a term for young snow which has not yet compacted into glacial ice but is in a position to do so.  This was CTAM (pronounced see-tam), a geology camp established to be a hub for teams doing work in the Central TransAntarctic Mountains. The névé afforded an open, soft, flat place to land planes carrying supplies and people, who could then move on to less accessible places overland.  At least, it did, until a wind event a few years ago scoured deep furrows in the landing strip.

As we flew over, doing the visual check, I was astonished the site could be spotted at all, as it was only a small clutch of bamboo poles in the vast expanse. 

Having proven that the landing strip was landable, the next task was to see what condition the building was in.  What building, you ask?  Why, the one completely covered in snow, under the markers.  Once upon a time it was a couple of modules standing on the surface of the glacier, but Antarctica gradually swallowed them up, so now one has to dig down through the snow to reach the roof hatch, eight feet above the floor. 

On the way from the Basler to the camp site, I was treated to one signature snow effect I had missed out on, at the depot.  'The Barrier Hush' is frequently mentioned in journals: it was described as a 'whoosh' or a 'hush-shh-shhhh' that sighed out from underneath the walker as he broke through the top crust into a pocket of air underneath, where the loose snow had settled after the top crust was formed.  The pocket could sometimes extend quite a long way from where the crust was broken and the sound followed the exchange of air as far as it went.  It would startle the ponies and excite the dogs, until they learned there was nothing to chase and catch.    

I was walking some way behind the plane crew as they made for the camp with shovels, and suddenly heard what I thought was a small whirlwind – a sharp and intense, almost whistling sound that seemed to race across my path.  This being the sort of place one would expect to see dust devils (or snow devils, I suppose they would be) I looked around to see where it was, but the air was as still up here as it had been down on the ice shelf.  It was only after the second or third time it happened that I realised what it was – it was so completely not how I had imagined the Barrier Hush to sound.  If you make a little whirlwind sound by whisper-whistling whshwshywshwhwwsh with your lips really quickly, that's what it sounded like.  Having heard it, now, I can completely understand how the dogs would have thought there was a small creature scurrying around under the snow.  It sounded much more animate than it had been described.  I felt so lucky to be let into that secret. 

The crew got the hatch open and the first of them climbed down into the pitch darkness to report everything OK.  The rest followed, and invited me along, but I am not the most coordinated travelling artist, and couldn't see a way down for me that didn't end in a concussion.  So I stayed above while they explored the submerged camp, and enjoyed the view.  It was really spectacular – not just the stunning mountains but the thin, brittle blue of the sky and the hardness of the sunlight, as if the whole world were a taut drumskin. 

And, best of all, from here the horizon was the Polar Plateau – another Flat White stretching to the South Pole and beyond.

[subzerobts]

Thoughts on the Eighth Member of BTS

A/N: No pairings or warnings for this, except that it may throw you into a sudden 8th member fanfic spiral. When I tell you I was reading 8th member fanfic for the majority of my day, I mean like a good six hours. It wasn’t good.

Okay, so I feel like a lot of people have talked about an eighth member and it being a girl and stuff so I figure I should add some stuff to the ever growing cache of things about the eighth member.

This was like 2300 words and I have no regrets.

~So if there was I feel like she would be slightly younger than most of them and would have come in after their first few albums

~Maybe she was raised in New York with her immediate family being mostly Korean and hella feminist and she’d have older brothers and be super chill

~So like maybe the company would be worried about the lack of fast growing traction with the group and have a girl added in

~First things first: it would be awkward as heck for the guys to suddenly have a girl there and would make living situations even more difficult, with having to share rooms and such. So, they’d probs alternate who rooms with who and who gets the couch, especially for her rooming with a guy

~Not to mention if she catches them talking about some sort of issue with the sleeping situation and then being nervous about it

~Eventually, I feel like she’d kind of get tired of all of the tiptoeing around her and be like

~‘Guys! I don’t even care! Unless you guys have some sort of creepy thing you’re trying to avoid, just treat me like one of you guys’

~Things would chill out basically immediately. Like the next few days, the boys were super relaxed and that was a problem because they just started walking around in just underwear and she would be like:

👀😒 um ew?? Put a shirt on?

~They’d clean it up a lil bit and walk around in like boxers and t shirts, which was fine she had older brothers, she could deal with that

~She’d respectfully bow out of the choreographed hip thrusts and things of that nature at first, like maybe they’d thrust and she’d like make a gagging motion or something(only rarely because the company would be like no) at some point she’d get extremely comfortable with just doing the hip thrusts herself

~The company even found that during interactions with fans she got just as much, sometimes more, attention and screaming as the boys

~Eventually she’d get used to dressing androgynous, like the stylist unnies would put her in skirts and she’d get kinda pissed and the guys would all agree that she’d be better in just what they’re wearing(i.e. pants)

~(Also, just a quick side note, before they even realized what was happening, they’d be super protective. Like unwarranted protection.

~Especially during interviews and talk shows any heavily toxic feminine questions related to her would be met with complete headassery(is that a word?) Just any kind of bullshit the guys could come up with.

~Like it wouldn’t happen immediately, but like after a few interviews and them seeing how uncomfortable it made her to answer the weird questions(coming from female OR male interviewers) they’d kind of come up with an unspoken agreement to answer any and every sexist comment or question with an answer just as shitty)

~ Into specific dynamics now:

~I feel like she’d be evenly split to each other member’s interests because in the first few months, that’s how she bonded with them, busy finding somethings she had in common with each of them and building on it

[we’ll go youngest to oldest]

~She is close with all of the boys, but each get her undivided attention when the moment serves.

~ With Jungkook she’d notice his quiet side during the beginning and willingness to please. So she’d always assure him, in a not so obvious way, that he was accepted. Just quiet validation from her court to his.

~So she’d set up gaming nights with Jungkook when they didn’t have strict schedules or just sit around on their phones

~ The fandom would eventually come to know them as the meme lords of the group.

~Their inside jokes are way too many to count and don’t even come close to being forgotten.

~Can’t forget GCF cause she would be in every single one of them that she could. She’s endlessly supportive of the videos and wants to be in all of them, she even suggests music and things(sometimes before he’s even thinking of doing another one)

~She disapproves when he pushes himself too hard. When she knows it’s happening, she’ll involve on of the hyungs( probably Jin) or they’ll talk to a manager if things get super serious.

~That being said, if he doesn’t have the dance down, or they’re both struggling, she’s the first to volunteer to run the dance with him multiple times and is always the voice of reason.

~When he says ‘one more time’ she says ‘food first’ or like ‘how about a water chugging contest really quick?!’ (bc we all know his competitive nature) ‘Jin probably has some left overs in the fridge that we can reheat, late night snack time!’

~They definitely argue a bit about being the “Golden Maknae.” She’s a bit competitive in that aspect. Because they’re both so talented and she’s just a half of a year older than he is.

~For Taehyung, I feel like she’d grow to love art with him. His quiet adoration for things of beauty, conventional or not.

~(They have a joke,mostly his own that he refuses to let die, that she’s his favorite piece of artwork, eventually she retaliates with him being her favorite piece of artwork and it just sticks.)

~They’d be the classy duo, but with matching boxy smiles. Elegant and poised, their visuals are basically unmatched and during photo shoots, they’re always the ones finished way before the others.

~There are no bad sides for the classy duo. (I’m basically imagining model material for both of them, like just ethereal. Visual god and goddessssssss)

~Also his need to fall asleep holding something, I feel like she’d match that with just being okay with anything when she’s asleep or almost asleep(like she’d fall asleep in the car with the boys or something and be difficult to wake up, so they’d just carry her and she wouldn’t even stir)

~So Tae would lay beside her and they’d be chilling and eventually fall asleep and then later wake up holding onto each other.

~Both of them are shameless damn flirts. They’re attractive and they know it and they will absolutely use it to (not literally) kill ARMY

~Jimin is a bit harder to think about(idek why) but I feel like she’d be his buddy in quiet studying. Like he’d come find her if he wanted to do some reading, but not be alone and she’d be totally down( same with Joon but hold on)

~and either she’d read her own book or she’d do some sketching(mostly because she’d want to have her own unique thing that the others weren’t too interested in)

~Jimin would be her ideal model in these moments. She never gets tired of sketching any of the boys, but in those moments, Jimin is the least likely to change face or position and thus be the perfect study.

~she’d also ask him for homework help in the earlier days with like mathematics and he’d always be more than happy to help

~Jimin is a brat and I feel like when the two of them spend a bit too much time together, the rest of the group can only expect the worst.

~(Low key the Lil-Shit Duo™️)

~Joon is next and here’s where her position in the group comes in. Since she was raised in New York, she’d be fluent in both Korean and English and, as such, would help with the interviews and translating.

~It’s a huge load for Namjoon to carry and with her, being by his side and helping with rephrasing things to the boys during interviews really eases him.

~Along with that, he always makes sure that she knows how much he appreciates her after difficult interviews or just every good while he’s just endlessly doting and complimenting her and things. She always tells him that it’s unnecessary, but he never stops thanking her.

~So they’re like the Leader Duo™️ and are consistently doing damage control between the boys(almost like group therapy) or rephrasing the boys’ answers(in those moments where the boys give weird answers to questions in interviews)

~When not in the public eye, they are coming up with ways to better interact with ARMY or they’re expanding their horizons by reading and stuff.

~Her favorite thing with Joon is working on learning a new language or just English with Joon and making up little tongue twisters and sayings and debating proper ways to phrase things. Which brings us to:

~Being a part of the rapline. So Joon, Hobi, and Yoongi are her peeps. When she’s not entertaining the maknae line, she’s with the Hyung line.

~Hobi and her have a cute dynamic. He babies her a little bit and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t love it at least a little.

~they like coming up with dances together, even when they are supposed to be taking the day off, just goofing around and coming up with dances for little snippets of songs is fun

~they’re like the sunshines of the group. So he’s J-hope and she’s his ‘little hope’. How cute.

~She’s constantly encouraging his little quirks and things that he does(the sound effects and just being him) and being right there with him in being the lights of the group.

~I feel like her and Jungkook get the same bit of his attention. Like the cuddly bits of it

(and my heart skips for cuddly JungHope so like imagining the three of them being cozy and mellow together and just watching the rest of the group do whatever. Agh my heart)

~My boy Yoongles is next and let me tell you I’ve been excited as hell for this one.(trying real hard not to let bias love seep through)

~When moving to a more spacious apartment, they decided to give her her own room. (She’s grateful.)

~And so when she wants to tamp down the wildness in the apartment, get a moment's peace, she retreats to her room.

~While she’s endlessly supportive of all six of the others, encouraging their wild quirks, her room is the quietest. Her room has a ‘no noise’ rule.

~Yoongi shares a room with Jin still at this point and not that Jin is a bad roommate, or particularly noisy, it’s just that the maknae line patronizes him a lot. And Yoongi has very little patience for that.

~So her room is where they’ll often find him. She has a comfy couch that she took Yoongi with to pick it out(because it was basically for him.)

~Point is, she’s mellow when she wants and needs to be and Yoongi is drawn to that chill side of her.

~When the rest are wild and he wants mellowness, he seeks her out and when she wants to be a bit rowdy, she leaves and closes the door.

~He has a gigantic soft spot for her. Not even kidding.

~The boys will always pull her into the situation if they think Yoongi might get too angry or a prank goes south and does more harm than fun amusement.

~They mention that she was involved and she goes with it because she doesn’t want the boys in too much trouble and Yoongi won’t hurt her like he would the boys(not actually hurt but you know like “beat them up”) or scold her too harshly.

~As soon as he finds out she’s involved the anger either dissipates or he removes himself from the situation so as not to hurt anything(but you bet your ass she scolds the maknaes from time to time on Yoongi’s behalf)

~And he definitely helps with her mixtape which the fandom is waiting for. Basically, chomping at the bit. She gives Yoongi and Joon so much credit tbh

~They definitely nap together. Mostly because they’re up at ungodly hours during the night, either working on songs or just talking because that’s definitely a thing that happens.

~They have similar views of the world(I’m mostly thinking of Interlude: Shadow here) but being lonely while being famous is definitely a view they share and are drawn together from that. Despite all of their wants to be on the top of the world, they want to not be lonely.

~Along with her keeping up well with the rowdy bits of the group, she’s definitely introverted like Yoongi. She does what she has to to further the group, but she does get drained and just kind of shuts everyone out some times.

~This is where Jin comes in. (Not to be that cliché bitch who’s always like Jin’s the mom of the group omg) but in this case, he makes sure she’s eating and taking care of herself when she does this.

~They all have locks on their doors and she keeps hers locked a majority of the time, but Jin and Yoongi are the only people she absolutely trusts with coming in unannounced.

~Despite always laughing at his dad jokes and being totally supportive of that, he knows when to turn on being serious and not taking her bullshit about “being fine” if she’s not.

~He forces(more like needles annoyingly) her to eat even when she says she’s not hungry during those times

~Makes sure she’s taking care of herself like showering and brushing her teeth and things.

~During the earlier years when she mostly stayed with the boys, very little contact to her mother in New York, Jin absolutely made sure he had cramp medication on hand and feminine products stashed in spots around the house. Well hidden obvi so the boys wouldn’t just stumble across them, but still there. (She does these things on her own now, but she’ll never forget the thought he put into making sure she was cared for)

~She’s definitely requested a majority of the time on EatJin. ARMY just likes to make sure that she’s eating(just like all of them) and they want to see the two of them talk.

~All in all, the boys are her family and she wouldn’t trade them for the world.

[laptopwikis-blog]

7 Ways to Improve Your Computer Performance

Its inevitable that all computers will experience slower speeds at some point. As software becomes more demanding, the way in which your PC reacts to these changes can have a big impact on its performance. The operating system you have and whether you have chosen to upgrade to Windows 10 can also make a big difference.

While you can make some

upgrades to your laptop

to make it run faster, there are some improvements you can make that are more cost-effective and straightforward to do. These minor adjustments may not seem like they will speed up your computer performance, but combined they can make it possible to keep your PC functional for a number of years.

There are also several types of software available that can help you to get rid of old files while locating applications that you don’t use often and may want to uninstall. These programs can also alert you to files and software that may be the

causes for a slow computer

and may ultimately be worth deleting.Here are seven ways you can improve computer speed and its overall performance.

1. Uninstall unnecessary software

Your computer comes preloaded with a number of applications that many people won’t use but that can eat up system resources. You can usually identify these when you see a pop-up prompting you to update a program you’ve never used before.

Remove them from your computer and free up disk space

Click on the "Start" button and visit the “All apps” menu

Here you can view a list of the applications you have installed - and the ones you haven’t

Once you find the program you want to uninstall, right-click on the icon to see the "Options" menu

Or, you can right-click on Start and visit Programs and Features. Windows assistant Cortana can also be helpful because it can perform a search for “Programs” in its search box. From there, you’ll find a record of which apps you’ve used recently and which take up the most space. After surveying what’s installed, you can decide which programs can be deleted to help improve system performance.You’ll also want to know which programs are required for your computer to run properly and which can be discarded. One of the reasons these applications slow down your PC is because they often start up automatically when you boot up your computer.If you aren’t sure whether you want these applications permanently erased, you can take a more an in-depth look at the applications you want to remove within the aforementioned menus.

2. Limit the programs at startup

Along the same lines, you can also determine which applications run when your PC boots up. Windows 10 has an updated Task Manager that makes it easier to determine what you want running in the background and what you can start on your own.

To access Task Manager, press Ctrl-Shift-Esc

A box will appear that lists all the applications you have installed on your computer

It also gives you a detailed account of the amount of RAM each program uses when you start your PC

To make an adjustment, just right-click on the application you want to change to tell it not to run until commanded

You can always change the settings if you notice that a program is no longer running that impacts how you use your PC. If in doubt, you can always restart your computer and see how it runs without certain applications available at startup.

3. Add more RAM to your PC

In terms of memory usage, Windows 10 uses less RAM than previous versions, but

increasing RAM memory

has been a tried-and-true way to speed up devices for years.If you have a

convertible or detachable laptop

, you’ll likely need to settle for what came in the box. Some business and gaming laptops make it possible to add RAM, but it can still be tricky.It’s much easier to add more RAM to desktop computers, and it’s much cheaper, too. Anyone with a basic idea of the interior of a desktop tower is capable of installing more RAM in an hour or so.You can also take your computer into a professional shop to have more RAM installed. If you’re worried about potentially compromising your system or doing this incorrectly, then having an opinion from someone who knows what he or she is doing can ease your mind and make adding extra memory easy.

4. Check for spyware and viruses

It’s almost impossible not to pick up a virus at some point while browsing the web, but the new Windows Defender software has made it easier than ever to find malware that may be causing major issues on your PC. Third-party programs are also easy to install and can be just as effective in removing any spyware or viruses you may have picked up.Some applications are better than others and some can take up more space, which can then cause issues with speed. Ideally, you want to find software that is efficient and removes malware completely, but that doesn’t take up too much space on your PC.

Consider installing two types of software for computer performance monitoring. Malware cleanup programs can solve lagging or blatant issues with speed or popups. However, you should also look into applications that offer ongoing protection and run in the background. Again, keep in mind that these antivirus programs take up space, so you want to choose one that is designed not to affect performance. A little research can help you to find the software that works within your budget or with your specific type of operating system. There can be compatibility issues if you’re downloading free software, so double-check everything before installing it so you don’t run into additional performance problems.

5. Use Disk Cleanup and defragmentation

Every computer has a number of files and programs on its hard drive that haven’t been used in a while or are unnecessary. Disk Cleanup allows you to find which applications and files can be deleted from your computer, freeing up drive space for the programs you will use.It is incredibly easy to access Disk Cleanup.

From the Start button or Cortana search box, you’ll be sent to the program

A quick scan will show you the temporary files, installer applications, and web pages that you haven’t used or no longer need

From there, it will automatically delete them and clear up some space

Disk Cleanup’s effectiveness depends on how much RAM you have on your PC, which can also cause your computer to run slower than it normally would. If this is the case, it may be a good idea to install more RAM on your device.You should also schedule disk defragmentation on a semi-regular basis so you can be aware of how much hard-drive space you have. Windows has an Optimize Drives tool, which you can access from the Start button or your Cortana search box. There are also a number of third-party programs that can be helpful in clearing out files that you don’t use anymore.

6. Consider a startup SSD

When you want better performance, a startup

solid-state drive

(SSD) can go a long way toward taking some of the pressure off the processor when your computer boots up. If you tend to run a number of applications at one time or use photo and video editing software, then a startup drive can go a long way toward making these programs run smoother and load faster.While they’re most commonly installed on desktop computers, SSDs can be used on some laptop models as well. When you don’t have the option of using an internal SSD, you can always purchase an

external drive

that connects to your PC with a USB 3.0. This drive can give you the extra push you need at startup to accomplish tasks and give you a boost for apps that need more temporary memory to run properly.You can find a number of SSD options that work within your budget depending on how you use your PC. Storage review sites online can be valuable sources of information when you want to choose the right drive for your computer and you need to know that it is compatible with your operating system.

7. Take a look at your web browser

Minor adjustments can often make a difference with the speed of your PC. Something as simple as which browser you use can slow down or speed up the rate at which web pages, videos, and images load. If you have been using a certain browser and notice that there is a lag time, consider an alternative to see if the loading speeds are better.The type of browser you use is not only the thing that may be slowing down your computer when you’re using the web. If you have a full cache that has not been emptied in a while, then you’ll want to visit your settings and make sure that it’s empty.Your cache comprises what you pick up when you are visiting various websites. Many sites use cookies in order to figure out your browsing habits and the ads you may click when you visit a site will leave one too. A cache holds these files as information and if you spend a lot of time online, these files can accumulate and cause your computer to run more slowly. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix. There are two ways to do this in the more popular web browsers:

[laurazepamwrites]

The Chemicals between us ~ Ch.10

The Italian government had taken great steps to preserve the beauty of Venice, tourists now roamed the streets sampling the local Gelato and Pizzerias, taking romantic walks along the many canal sides and enjoying relaxing Gondola rides. If one was to scratch the surface and peer under the sophisticated culture and peaceful environment Venice had to offer they would see the vicious underbelly that lived unnoticed among people and Omnics alike. A decade had not even passed since the infamous Rialto Incident, a covert mission gone wrong that was a turning point for both Overwatch and Talon. For Overwatch the mission had been a disaster and eventually became its downfall, For Talon it created a power vacuum that was quickly filled by Akande Ogundimu the ‘successor’.  It was in the long deceased Antonios office that the formidable terrorist leader now stood behind the rich mahogany desk and watched the unassuming Venice below from the very window Gabriel Reyes had shot the former occupant through. To the right of him, barely visible from the shadows, a living memory of a woman stood, her cold eyes watching Akande's guest from where he stood the other side of the desk. She had smirked when he refused to sit, Men of all kinds liked to play their power games.

‘You promised Akande.’ A metallic voice spoke.

Akande took a moment to reply as he watched an Omnic Gondolier help a young family on to his boat. The child happily took its hand as she climbed aboard, no sense of fear, no mistrust. She was born in happier times. ‘      Ignorant.’ he thought, turning to his guest. ‘I remember exactly what I promised. I hope you do not insult me by thinking Talon will not deliver. I am Talon and I will reward my allies. As long as they are patient and continue to play their part.’

The silence hung heavy in the room and the woman's fingers twitched with impatience. ‘Give me the name.’ She thought.‘Give me the name and he will not leave this room.’  Yet eventually and to her disappointment the light glinted off the metal of the guests body as he nodded his understanding, at that moment a heavy hand knocked on the large double doors of the office.

 ‘That will be our meeting over my friend.’ Said Akande, holding his hand out. Shrike, the leader of Null sector, considered before taking it and shaking once. ‘Enter.’ Akande called and the doors opened slowly revealing Reaper. He and Shrike ignored each other as they passed, Reaper remained silent until he heard the door close behind him.

 ‘Gabriel.’ Akande said ‘If you please?’ He gestured to the empty chair.

 ‘I’m not staying.’ He replied, he heard the woman in the shadows scoff.

 ‘As you wish.’ Replied Akande as he returned his attention back to the view outside. ‘Like my new windows? Double reinforced.’ He smirked as he tapped them with his knuckles. He heard a growl from behind him. ‘A joke to lighten the mood Gabriel, and I have much reason to be unhappy. You have not obtained my prize.’

 ‘Its under more protection than we thought.’

 ‘Ah yes..the Junker. Then dare I ask why have you not brought him?’

 ‘ He’s under more protection than we thought. Somehow Overwatch has got him.’ Reaper growled.

 Akande laughed and walked over to a beautifully carved drinks cabinet and selected a vintage whisky. He glanced at Reaper as he poured two glasses, ‘So that's what happened in Darwin, and now you mean to tell me the last remains of overwatch bested my soldiers and indeed you?’

 ‘They were prepared. Your men were arrogant, that's why they are all dead.’

 Akande placed the glass of whisky in front of him and took a sip of his own. ‘Yet here you still stand.’

 ‘I went for recon, not for battle. I've learned who the target is with.’

 ‘And have you learned where the target and Overwatch are? What was the last watchpoint they used?’

 ‘That watchpoint is long abandoned after I stole the agent files, they would be foolish to remain there. Sombra scans every watchpoint weekly and has come up with nothing.’

 ‘She is on thin ice.’ Akande stated. ‘I feel her allegiance wavers.’

 ‘You would lose your best hacker over feeling than fact Akande? Let her play her games and she delivers, she is your best bet at finding them.’

 ‘Is that trust I hear Gabriel?’

 ‘No more than I have for you.’

 Akande smirked and took another sip. ‘It's quite the vintage’ He said as he studied the amber liquor. ‘A pity you are too ashamed to remove your mask to sample it. I thought O’deorian did a remarkable job.’

 Reaper ignored the slight and looked toward the strange woman who in turn was watching him with curiosity. ‘Why is she here?’

 ‘Bad behaviour.’ Stated Akande. ‘Killed four men whilst she underwent her treatment. She screamed for her husband and drove a pen through one of the scientist's eyes when he told her she herself had murdered him, I admire her creativity.’

 ‘They taunted her.’ Snarled Reaper. ‘Amelie is not a plaything!’

 ‘Is that sympathy for your deceased friend's wife, Gabriel?’

 ‘Realism. She knows too much of our mission to risk her slipping.’

 ‘It is already being dealt with. Our good doctor will take her back into her care soon enough then she can return to work.’

 Amelies eyes widened with fear and she looked desperately to the door, Akande noticed and snapped his fingers at her, the crack in her mask disappearing as quickly as it appeared as her eyes glazed over once again and she cooly returned her gaze to the two men before her.

 ‘Hmm’ Akande grunted ‘Much easier to quell then Siebren..’

 ‘My orders?’ Reaper asked, sounding bored.

 ‘Now that we are certain of Overwatch's return I want you personally in charge of wiping them out for good. Despite their lack of resources and men they have still got in our way and more importantly they have the target, our vision can only go so far without the final piece.’

 ‘If he even has it.’

 ‘One thing I am certain to find out in my mission of goodwill, my friend. Keep in contact, soon Shrike will engage phase two and on my return the council will be summoned.

 Reaper groaned as he made to leave. ‘Just don't sit me next to Moira.’

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

 The briefing room was buzzing with conversation and excited chatter over the success of the latest mission as everyone talked -and shouted- amongst themselves.

‘Reinhardt why does your armour have a huge dent in it?’

‘I earned it from strength and valantry my young squire!’

‘It was a wall.’ Said Zarya.

‘- And their mech had nothing on us right Fareeha?’

‘We were lucky, and actually you were-’

 ‘Pure skill Lucio!’

 ‘-Bring ya back a souvenir next time i'm out Frosty? How’s bout a snow globe.’

 ‘I'll throw it at your head!’

 ‘Reckon she's still pissed with me Hog..’

 ‘Children, behave!’ Ana clapped her hands for attention as she entered with Jack and Winston,

 when they approached the table jack remained standing to address the team. ‘First I want to offer congratulations for our recent mission, as I'm sure everyone now knows it was predominantly a success. The weapons cache was destroyed and We’ve gained valuable information and more avenues to work from. One thing in particular we will certainly be investigating,  Athena? Play the viskar security file.’

 ‘What?!’ Exclaimed Lucio, jumping from his chair and leaning in to stare intently at the holographic footage of the Talon weapons compound welcoming Sanjay Korpal. Athena paused the footage on Sanjay's smiling face.

 ‘This is Sanjay Korpal, he is one of the head officials for the Vishkar corporation, recently he has been seen meeting with Talons accountant Maximillien and very recently he was at the Bryansk weapons compound flown in by Talon aircraft. We have little idea as yet to his reason for visiting but Ii think I can safely say he could be one of the council, with this lead we can-’

 ‘I  KNEW IT!’ Lucio shouted triumphantly, slapping the table for effect, ‘I knew it! This is amazing! We can bring Vishkar down with this! Yeah man up top!’ He high fived Junkrat sitting next to him. ‘Commander Morrison! Sir! You gotta let me in on this, I….i’m gonna sit down and be quiet now sir, my bad, sorry..’ He slunk down in his seat under Jack's unamused eye.

 ‘All done? Good. With this lead we can focus on Vishkar and look for more evidence on their connection with Talon, this could be an isolated incident and Sanjay is working alone or the entire company is involved. Getting to Sanjay will be near impossible but we may be able to infiltrate one of their offices. Winston will talk you through the plan.’ He nodded to Winston as he took his seat and the Great ape cleared his throat as Athena changed the footage to a photo of one of Vishkars many office buildings. ‘Here we have the Viskar corp Offices based in Turkey, conveniently its the closest one to us and Athena has flagged up that vishkars most decorated Architect has recently been stationed there, her name is Satya Vaswani. Interestingly she was last to be seen at the Oasis university where  Dr Moira O’Deorian is minister of genetics.’

 Angela made a distasteful noise and muttered under her breath which was shared by many of her teammates who knew the scientist as once one of their own until her greed for knowledge twisted her and enticed her to join Talon where she was free to do as she pleased regardless of human cost.

 McCree uttered a curse and rubbed at his beard, ‘We know where that witch is. Why not go get her? Hell, I’ll happily tie that woman to a stake.’

 ‘Unfortunately she is well protected by her position as a minister as well as her status within Talon.’ Ana answered. ‘Which may also implicate Oasis as having Talon ties but we can't investigate every single place they step foot in, they hide well and cover their tracks.’

 ‘Not unless you are Sanjay.’ Genji chuckled darkly.’Maybe just wait it out and Talon will assassinate him themselves for blowing his cover.’

 ‘I’d prefer him alive but as we have no idea where he currently is following his trip to Bryansk our best bet is his architect, he is personally in charge of Vaswani and she may know something.’ Said Morrison

 ‘Bet she does.’ Lucio interrupted. ‘Someone that cold and ready to destroy good peoples lives can’t be on a moral level.’

 ‘Yes thank you Lucio dear.’ Ana said patiently.

 ‘How do we get into a Viskar building?’ Asked Fareeha. ‘A company that size and with Talon connections must be well guarded.’

 ‘It will be quietly done.’ Answered Morrison who ignored McCree’s chuckle, ‘No teams, no storming the building, one person undercover.’

 Junkrat nodded in apparent understanding, ‘I’m sure Winston will do a great job.’ He grinned at his successful joke as Hana and McCree burst out laughing.

 ‘Very good Jamison, but it shall be myself taking this task.’ Ana smiled, ‘And please don't look at me like that Fareeha. One day you’ll find out there are at least some quirkes to being a woman my age.’

 ‘How do you propose to get in?’ Asked Genji.

 Ana smiled mischievously and tapped her nose, ‘I have my ways children, I have my ways.’

 ‘Let's move on.’ Said Morrison as the holograph disappeared, he paused before continuing and weighed his words. ‘I know there's divided opinion to Omnics within the base but I will ask you all to remain amicable, especially with what I am about to show you. Athena?’ There were murmurings of curiosity as the AI began to play the found footage of the captured Omnics. A range of emotions showed around the table from shock to impassiveness and in Junkrats case, boredom. Soon his mind began to wander and he started to fidget, a glint caught his eye and he found himself studying Mei’s hair pin. He wondered how it kept her hair up, then he thought it would make a good improv weapon then suddenly the thought of her stabbing him with it if he pushed her far enough. Wonder what her hair looks like if she wore it down, how long was it?...Suddenly his stomach growled lightly. He had forgot to eat again. A nudge from roadhog.

 ‘Huh?’

 Roadhog nodded towards Morrison who had apparently been talking the entire time. What was he on about again?

 ‘Why give any thought to some random missing Omnics?’ Asked Zarya. ‘Surely we have bigger issues?’

 ‘I agree.’ Grunted Torbjorn.

 ‘Do we know why they are taking them?’ Questioned Angela. Ana shook her head sadly ‘I’m afraid not, it seems they were just in Bryansk temporarily and moved on quickly to who knows where. Talons' flight movements are heavily encrypted and there is only so much Athena can unearth.’

 ‘We believe Talon had at least three groups of Omnics move through here, some er..remains were found.’ Said Winstons.

 Junkrat scoffed ‘Spare parts’ he muttered under his breath.

 ‘This could well be an isolated incident.’ Said Ana ‘And if so we don't have the resources to find out what became of these Omnics, it is up to the local authorities to follow up the disappearances..unfortunately that is unlikely. However there could be a pattern here, other disappearances, reports maybe. I need a volunteer to research and..yes Mei dear?’

 Mei's hand was eagerly up in the air like a student trying to get her teacher's attention. ‘I’ll do it ma’am!’

 ‘Very good. Thank you Mei we shall await your findings.’ Mei settled back into her seat looking pleased, finally she had a task at hand that held some importance. She smiled shyly to herself as Jack stood up once more to address the room. ‘Hang on a minute Jack.’ Said McCree lazily lifting his arm in the air, ‘I think we’re overlooking a rather important detail here..Just who the hell was that guy that tried to grab the kid?’

 ‘Probably just one of Moiras freaks guarding the place. No doubt the explosion finished him off.’

 Torbjorn said dismissively. Jack and Ana gave each other a dark searching look before Ana eventually nodded. Jack sighed and raised his hands for silence. ‘His name is Reaper.’ He said solemnly, ‘He is an assassin for Talon and the one responsible for attacking this base and stealing agent information. Me and Ana have been tracking him for months now before he kills any more of our own. Some of you here have had dealings with him before and lived to tell the tale. The fact that Fawkes is still here and not dead confirms he’s wanted alive.’

 ‘What's under the mask Jack? Do we know who he is?’ Winston asked.

 Jack thought of his words carefully, ‘I don't know who the man behind that mask is.’ Ana raised her eyebrow at him from behind her steeped fingers yet remained silent. ‘All we know he has orchestrated many Talon attacks including this base, Volskaya and tried to steal the doomfist Gauntlet. Winston and Tracer fought him off but in his failure he then proceeded to free Akande Ogundimu  ‘The Successor’. Lena shuddered in her seat and lightly touched her chronal accelerator, vividly remembering the powerful gauntlet snatching her from the air and crushing her anchor.

 ‘Whoa back up a fucking minute mate!’ Said Junkrat, ‘Youre saying this goth fuck knows we’re here?!’

 It was Winston who answered. ‘Not exactly. I was the only one here when Reaper and his strike team invaded to steal the data. After the fight I immediately sent the recall and with Athena we fortified this place as much as possible. We have beacons set around the base within a mile radius that give off a ‘cloaking effect’. It basically shields us from spy drones and gives the illusion of abandonment.’

 Junkrat nodded his head as he tried to get his head around this new information. ‘Okay..okay..so      You're     the one to blame if he rocks up at the front gates.’

 Winston looked offended, ‘Well in the very rare circumstance that one of the beacons happened to malfunction there may be some responsibility but blame is a strong word and i don't appreciate-’

 ‘We’re protected for now Fawkes. Leave it at that. If you want to leave you know what you need to do.’ Interjected Jack. To Junkrat this seemed to be the perfect time to slouch back into his chair, fold his arms and scowl, Jack chose to ignore him and continued. ‘Now that Doomfist is free he has shaken up the hierarchy of Talon and has become head of the council with Reaper at his side. Me and Ana last saw him in Egypt, from there we lost his trail and got word of Winstons recall.’

 ‘And now we’re all one big happy family again.’ Drawled McCree, ‘Missing a few folks and adding a few of course.’ He drew a cigar from his pocket. ‘Is this meeting done?’

 ‘Oh i fucking hope so.’ Muttered Junkrat.

 ‘All dismissed, return to your duties. Mei? Lets have that report by tomorrow AM.’ Said Jack. Mei smiled and nodded as she got up to leave, Ana remained seated with her fingers still steeped in front of her and a slight frown on her face. When the room had emptied Jack turned to her. ‘Go on then, say your piece Amari.’

 Ana sighed, lowering her hands and looking up at Jack. ‘Why did you not tell them that Gabriel is Reaper?’

 Jack was ready for this, ‘The same reason you didn't. It wasn't the right time.’

 ‘And when is the ‘right’ time?’

 Jack sat down next to her. ‘Honestly? I don't know. I don't know if we should even tell them. Half of the team don't even know who he is.’

 ‘But half of them do Jack. He was their friend, comrade. He played with my child, he was Jesse’s mentor!’

 ‘And how do we explain to them that he has murdered our own?’

 Ana had no answer for him. They both sat in silence for a few moments lost in their own thoughts, eventually Jack spoke again. ‘I know we will have to tell them the truth sooner or later Ana..but not like this. It has to be done delicately.’

 ‘I know..they’ll be angry with us Jack.’

 Jack laughed bitterly, ‘Just blame it on me Ana, God knows i deserve it.’

 Ana tutted ‘You're not responsible for what Gabriel has become.’

 ‘Aren't I?’

 ‘No.’ She stated firmly. ‘He chose this path Jack. You were both in that explosion..did you feel the need to dress up in a costume, become a serial killer and join the same terrorist organisation you tried to bring down?’

 Jack smirked and then a thought occurred to him. ‘Do you think Talon knows who he is?’

 ‘I believe so, he’s a weapon against us in more ways than one and a huge advantage to them.’

 ‘....I’m going to kill him Ana.’

 ‘For revenge or to put him out of his misery?’

 ‘Both I suppose.’

 Ana sighed and stood up to leave. ‘I think Gabriel died in Switzerland Jack, whatever wretch he is now is no longer redeemable...but i don't believe you could ever bring yourself to kill the man who was your dearest friend.’

 ‘I suppose we will find out soon enough.’ Jack replied, her words in his mind. Could he really bring himself to do it?

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

 Finally feeling encouraged and a task at hand, Mei had headed straight to one of the smaller computer labs and began the search for any news of Omnic disappearances. Much of the team would think it was a waste of time but Commander Morrison was right, If Talon was involved it couldn't be good. Besides, she was a firm believer in Omnic rights and doing what was right and good, and this was certainly the right thing to do to help these omnics and possibly give closure to the families of the missing. A sudden intrusive thought entered her mind of her teammates' families, desperate for closure when they discovered the Cryostasis had malfunctioned. ‘They hate me.’ She thought. ‘They hate me for surviving instead of their loved ones.’ Her droid, sensing her sadness snuggled against her. Mei took a deep breath to compose herself and gratefully petted her little friend. ‘Thank you Snowball. Don't you worry about me, I'm fine. Honest.’ Snowball made a sceptical emotive at her but Mei had already turned back to the screen and was typing away eagerly. Ten minutes had passed with no results, had no one made any reports at all? Maybe Bryansk was too much of a hot zone for Omnics for anyone to care, maybe their families felt it no use to report the disappearances. Maybe she was just wasting her time here..the thought made her miserable. ‘Hey Snowball? Happen to know of any missing Omnics outside of Russia?’ She asked glumly. The little droid shook side to side and a message of ‘sorry.’ flashed on its screen. Mei sighed, ‘Guess you're just as out of the loop as I am..’ She turnt to the sound of the door sliding open behind her. ‘Oh great..’ She thought.

 ‘Aw why so sad Frosty?’ Junkrat asked as he sauntered in and sat down heavily on a spare seat and draped both his legs over the armrest, he gave Snowball a suspicious glare. Mei ignored his question and typed away more fervently, ‘What do you want?’ She asked.

 ‘I’m on free time Frosty, I’d say I earned it. With my successful mission and what not.’

 ‘Yes I heard how you oh so bravely destroyed a building.’ She replied sarcastically.

 ‘Now now no need to get all snippy cos you're jealous, I'm sure you're getting your fill on your silly little quest here. How's that going by the way?’

 Mei shot him a glare, ‘You're not in here because you care.’

 ‘Too right I don't, think you're wasting your time personally. No one cares bout some missing bots.’

 ‘Of course they do! I do!’

 ‘Yeah? Having much luck finding missing Bots from a place currently at war with them?’

 ‘Just get to the point.’ Moaned Mei, rubbing her eyes behind her glasses.

 ‘No one said those Bots n bolts even came from that place, fuck they might not even be from Russia. Those Ruskies have the right idea about bots, far as I know hardly any of em live there.’

 ‘Look if your just here to spew your hate then you can-’

 ‘Whats that stupid city called in Africa? Numble something or fucking other?’

 ‘Numbani. You're thinking of Numbani’

 Junkrat waved her off. ‘Whatever, point is they live with Omnics there right? Like.. peacefully..? I calls it bullshit but anyways, If Omnics are going missing or being taken by Talon then  maybe they know more about it? If not then it's probably just a random thing and you can forget about wasting your time here with your shitty little icemaker.’

Snowball flashed red and a tirade of insults crossed its screen making Mei smirk, but he had given her food for thought. Maybe she was missing the bigger picture. She turned back to her computer and searched for omnic disappearances on a Numbani journalist website, She felt Junkrat scoot closer on his chair to better see. Headlines flashed up of Omnics being attacked and businesses vandalised but nothing struck out about Omnics missing or kidnappings. Mei groaned in frustration. ‘Fine. Just say it! Im wasting my time!’

 ‘Just fucking hang on a minute and stop moaning.’ He retorted, half standing and leaning over her.

‘You smell like bonfire.’ She wrinkled her nose.

‘That would be from the bonfire I started.’

‘What?! Where-?’

‘Relax, I left Hog to put it out.’ He replied lazily as he typed.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Helping.’

 Mei snorted, ‘Oh that's what you call it.’

 He ignored her as he typed away, Mei felt annoyed and scowled unbeknownst at him for invading her personal space but she made no attempt to move back herself. ‘At Least he had a shirt on today.. ‘ His arms are rather muscular..What?! Why did I notice that? Just..Just keep scowling.’  

 ‘You're not going to find anything I wouldn't have done.’ She snapped.

 Junkrat grinned, sat back down and finger gunned at the screen. ‘Eat those words Frosty!’

 Mei looked at the computer, a recent article loaded about ‘Liberte’ the revolutionary Omnic artist famous for his political street art.

     ‘You need only to travel the Quartier Omnic to see the incredible  

     Art of Omnic artist Liberte. His thought provoking pierces strike a cord  

      of Omnic and humans alike with his distinctive technique…’  

 Mei stopped reading. ‘I don't get it? So you found some Artist, never would guess you would appreciate anything like that.’

 ‘Harsh. Look just read the article woman. It's gone AWOL.

 ‘But that could mean anything.’ Mei argued, ‘Maybe he’s…’

 ‘What? Under the weather? Come down with something? Been fucking nicked?’

 ‘It's really not likely you just so happened to pick a missing omnic out a haystack.’

 ‘No but I reckon no ones gonna give a shit if some random Bots go missing, but It raises a few eyebrows if a kinda famous one goes off radar. If you bothered to read the rest you’ll see he’s missed his last three events. The last rally was even cancelled because some Null sector bots got caught nearby.’

 ‘Wait what? Really?’

 ‘Oooh now she's interested!’

 ‘Sssh!’ Mei scanned the article quickly, sure enough Three rallies were cancelled, two due to ‘personal reasons’ but the other because Null sector, the extremist Omnic group was found not two towns over. It was certainly suspicious. Mei quickly searched the social media and news outlets of the town in question, Calais. Her breath caught in her throat,  there were three social media posts looking for information on Omnics not seen for 48hours, four days, Over a week. Mei let out a squeal and clapped her hands in excitement as Snowball did a flip in the air.

 ‘Aww, I’m happy when Omnics go missing too..’

 ‘No its-! Shut up I found something! I can work on this!’

 ‘ I found something.’

 ‘Ok fine you helped.’

 She began printing out pages of what she found and couldn't help but smile, Commander Morrison will definitely be interested If Null sector was involved in any way.

 ‘Oi can I look at your pin?’

 The question came at a surprise and shocked her out of her thoughts. ‘Excuse me?’

 ‘Pointy thing in your hair.’

 ‘Erm..?’ She lightly touched it, the smooth shiny red bauble on the end to the pointed metal snowflake. ‘Why?’

 ‘Dunno, looks nice i guess..like..I dunno. Just asking.’

 ‘I..erm..’ Mei looked uncomfortable and had visions of him dropping it as soon as she handed it to him. ‘I’m not sure..My dad gave it to me.’

 ‘Alright, Fair do’s say no more.’

 ‘Sorry, it's just..It's      really     precious to me.’

 ‘S’alright I'm not gonna break it, I'm surprisingly delicate.’ He giggled. ‘Kinda have to be with what I do.’

 ‘I meant no offense.’

 ‘None taken. If i had something like that id let no fucker touch it.’

 She looked at him for a second, a question on the tip of her tongue..’Don’t you have..?’ She shook her head, she didn't want to be insensitive and she had heard Jamison could be defensive. ‘Nevermind.’ She stood up and collected her printed pages. ‘I'm going to take these to compile a report for the commander..and erm..thanks?’

 Junkrat folded his arms behind his head, ‘Ya know..you should tell him you’re gonna go to that town to investigate.’

 ‘I ..I did think..should I?’ Mei looked unconvinced.

 ‘Why the fuck not? You wanted the task to get more info, you did all the legwork. Why stay here at the last hurdle?

 Why      should    she remain here? She did have all the information to devise a mission plan. Junkrat was right though it pained her to think it.

 ‘You know what..Im going to tell the commander im going to Calais!’ She said feeling encouraged.

 ‘Atta girl, stick it to the man!’

 ‘I will!’

 ‘Hope it does turn out to be a waste of time.’

 ‘I...wow! You just had to ruin it didn't you?’ She snapped.

 Junkrat laughed, ‘Go on, fuck off to the Old man.’

 ‘Fine I will.’

 ‘Good.’

 ‘Good!’

 ‘Good!’ He said mocking her voice

 ‘Ugh!’ Mei tried hard to slam the sliding door but it refused, closing painstakingly slowly and making her feel like she had truly lost that round as she turned on the spot trying to save the last of her dignity. ‘Act your damn age Mei Ling!’ She told herself.