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ashturnedtomist · 17 days

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Keep it Covert Ch. 7

No, Damien’s Right. It IS weird.

Keep it Covert Masterlist

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Summary: In which, Freelancer and Lovely meet, Damien is really frustrated for unrelated reasons.

Based off this post

Read it on Ao3!

Huxley was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement while Damien tiredly sipped on a cup of coffee next to him.

“I don’t understand why you had to wake everyone at 3 am last night to do this.” He mumbles.

Huxley seemed to somehow get brighter. “Because that’s when Lovely called! I had to make sure that everyone knew as soon as possible!”

Damien sighed, seemingly resigned as he took another sip of his coffee.

“…it’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon, how are you still tired?” Damien nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice in his ear.

There stood Freelancer with Gavin just behind. Lasko was rapidly approaching as well.

Damien got his bearings before shaking his head. “You try convincing Huxley to go back to sleep after he gets excited.”

They paused. “Fair enough.”

Lasko finally caught up, seemingly out of breath. “I…sorry…parking…down the street…”

Gavin frowned. “Why didn’t you just park in the parking lot?” Damien narrowed his eyes. “In this part of town? I’d like to keep my tires, thanks.”

Gavin gave him a playful smile. “Don’t be so harsh, Damien.”

Damien’s jaw clenches. “Not in the mood.” Huxley laughs. “C’mon, Dames. We’re here for a good time.”

——

The main room was generally empty, save for a pair of vampires flitting around the room and 2 men in business attire whispering in a corner.

One of the vampires broke away and dashed to Damien and Huxley. “Damien! Hux! How are you?”

Huxley grinned brightly. “Hey, you! How are you?”

They brightened. “I’m good!” They peeked around the earth elemental. “Who’s with you?”

Damien tiredly introduced each individual. “Lasko, Gavin, and the Freelancer.” Lasko gave a timid wave while Freelancer smiled. “Nice to meet you!” Gavin grinned, his eyes glinting with mischief. “Nice to meet you, indeed.”

As if an alarm went off, another vampire was at their side in an instant. Lovely perked up. “Oh! I’m so sorry. I’m Lovely, and this is my boyfriend, Vincent.”

He waved, his sleeve rolling down to reveal his red bracelet. “Nice to meet you all.”

Freelancer’s eyes widened. “Wait, are you both vampires?”

Vincent shifted uneasily. “Yes…” Freelancer gasped. “Ohmigosh, I’ve never met a real one before! I have so many questions.” Vincent looked at Damien questioningly. “Freelancer is humanborn.”

Vincent smiles. “Oh. Lovely was a latent electro elemental before turning.” Freelancer’s eyes got even bigger. “What?! That’s so rare!”

Lovely’s face reciprocated their excitement. “Wait, you’re new to all this too?” The pair eventually broke off from the group, babbling to each other about being relatively new to empowered life.

Vincent sighed before turning to the remaining four. “Why don’t you check out the bar? Most of the staff doesn’t get here until 6, but Lovely wanted you guys to come early.”

Lasko tilted his head in confusion. “What? B-but we don’t even-”

“I asked them to do that.”

All four of their heads whipped around to see one of the men break away from the intense conversation he was holding with the other. He held out a hand. “Morgan. I own this place.”

Damien shook his hand tentatively. “Damien. And this is Lasko, Gavin, and Huxley.” He said, gesturing to each respective person.

The other man approaches. “I’m James. Morgan’s…associate.” He said, his eyes scanning all four of them. He cleared his throat. “I wanted to speak with a few of you.”

——

Freelancer was uncomfortable. They didn’t understand why: a.) this random man was pulling them away from a perfectly good conversation, b.) only Gavin and Lasko were allowed to be in his office with them, or c.) why he even wanted to talk to them in the first place.

They glanced over at Gavin and Lasko.

To the left of them sat Gavin. He sat comfortably in his chair, however, they could see that his usual cool demeanor was slightly fractured.

To the right, Lasko was practically vibrating in his seat. His eyes darted around the room while he periodically wiped his palms on the fabric of his pants.

They sighed. “Lasko, it’s probably fine.”

The air elemental bites his lip. “Wh-why would he want to talk to us? What-what is so dif-dif-different about us that-that they had to separate us from-from Damien and-and-and-and- Huxley?”

“Worrying like that isn’t going to help anyone, Lasko.”

“B-but-”

“Glad to see you all.”

Lasko practically jolted out of his seat at the sound of James’ voice.

James raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“What do you want with us?” Gavin questions lowly.

James sighs and sits down across from the three other magic users.

“I have some questions for you three,” he says, pulling a file out of his desk. He tosses it in front of him and the photographs that spill out make Freelancer’s blood run cold.

“…about the Inversion.”

——

“No, this is weird, Huxley.” Damien says harshly.

The taller man frowns at his boyfriend. “Try not to stress too much, Dames. I don’t think anything will happen. Lovely wouldn’t bring us here to lure us into a trap,” He glances at them out of the corner of his eye. “…right?”

Lovely nods assuredly. “I promise, I didn’t know James was going to ambush them like that.” They place their hand on their chest, ignoring Vincent’s indignant ‘Hey!’ when they say, “I swear on Vincent’s immortal soul. It’ll be fine.”

Huxley turns back to Damien. “See? It’ll be okay.” Damien grumbles something under his breath, still not convinced.

However, his grumbling is interrupted by the front door of the club swinging open.

“God, I need a drink.” Damien flinches at the familiar voice.

His head swivels around to take in the speaker, and yes, there, in all of their glory was, “…Smartass?”

“Damien?”

Tags—

Notes: I am SO sorry it took so long to post y’all, my life is a shitstorm these days.

(I literally have a friend reporting someone in one of my classes for going into intense detail on how he would shoot up the school, I got a boyfriend, and my grandfather almost died 3 times)

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redactedverse #redacted damn crew #redacted huxley #redacted damien #redacted gavin #redacted freelancer #redacted lasko #redacted james #redacted morgan #redacted vincent #redacted lovely #redacted smartass #keep it covert #forget covert au #ash turns to mist

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sailormoomsbees · 11 months

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Yk what I think being a shifter is SO COOL but like imagine seeing Asher just being a whiny fuck (I love him he’s my favorite baby ever I would never mean that) like HEHEHE

#Keep it covert #redactedverse #redacted asmr #redacted shifters #redacted shaw pack #he’s such a baby #like oml #but I love him tho

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jtl-fics · 7 months

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Fluent Freshman - Part 40

The Winter Banquet.

Where the Spring Championship announcements happen for Collegiate Exy. A formal event meant to allow the ERC to showcase how their stars weren’t just brutes on the court. Look at how beautiful and handsome they all were. Look at how they danced together. Look at the smiles and laughter and-

Wait.

No.

Put that down.

Who had the great idea to put the Jackals next to the Terrapins? Things have been tense between the teams since the Captain of the Terrapins stole the Captain of the Jackal’s date during the Fall Banquet!

I thought we all agreed that there would never be any more steak knives! What was the point of paying for all the pre-cut tenderloins if we’re just going to give them steak knives?!

Really gotta find an intern to pin this fiasco on.

Oh great the Foxes are leaving! Did we even get a picture of Kevin Day in his suit? Fuck it’s going to be a two intern firing kind of day isn’t it.

Someone get an eye on the Ravens before they try and grab some hapless idiot and sacrifice him to revive Riko Moriyama. If there’s even one more damn tabloid with a blurry photo of ‘Riko Moriyama’ to prove that his death was faked then heads will roll.

Honestly, the biopic that some Edgar Allan Film student is making about him seems pretty interesting. The ERC just wishes people would stop taking pics of the ‘lead actor’ and sending it to tabloids as proof that the King hadn’t died.

Fuck, the Foxes left before we got any decent pictures.

Well just great.

You’d think that after all these years of the Foxes leaving early they’d have learned that getting pictures as they arrive is the most important thing.

Oh thank god it looks like the Trojans are starting to mediate the fight. You can always count on good ol’ Jeremy.

Fuck.

A Raven got too close to Jean Moreau and now Jeremy Knox has punched a Backliner. Great. The Trojans have formed ranks around Moreau but the kid’s just too damn tall. Someone has hit him in the head with an especially saucy meatball, he’s not injured, just confused. The Trojans are acting like it’s a gunshot he just took to the head.

The refreshment table just seemed to collapse in on itself and god wasn’t that just an allegory for this entire damn evening.

Anita Flores sighs as she watches yet another banquet go down in a riot. Honestly, she doesn’t know why they think these will end up differently. She finds herself often missing when she used to coordinate banquets for football teams.

She sighs and thinks about her least favorite interns.

Alex had been getting a bit too cocky lately. He’d make a good sacrifice.

***

(Three hours earlier)

The Palmetto State Foxes were on their way to the Winter Banquet. From what FF understood it was categorically always a 90% chance of a shitshow. Honestly FF was surprised that the percentage was that low.

There was a general tenseness in the air surrounding it that went beyond the Banquet’s propensity to become a fight.

This year the Winter Banquet was going to be held up at the Binghamton Bearcat’s stadium. The nation knew the story from the news and FF knew the story from both that and from the Foxes themselves who were there at the time in bits and pieces.

Captain Neil had been kidnapped from this stadium and then he’d been tortured. FF hadn’t even been on the team when it had happened and he was anxious about Captain Neil going anywhere near the stadium.

“He was just…he was just gone.” Matt had said, “Neil was gone and Kevin said that he was probably dead when Andrew got back with his phone.” He continued as the two of them sat up late in the living room of the dorm one night back in early October.

“I thought Andrew was going to kill me y’know.” Kevin had said bottle in hand as FF tried to help him up the stairs because apparently he would 100% guarantee vomit if he was in the nausea box. “I thought that maybe I deserved it, since I didn’t help Neil. I just let him walk to his death.” He said and despite assurances that he wouldn’t puke FF’s shoes did not make it through that journey unscathed.

“We called…we called everywhere.” Nicky had stared up at the ceiling of his hospital room, “Andrew was adamant that he was still alive even though Kevin kept saying he was dead and that dead was the nicest thing he could hope for. I thought that was a terrible thing to say.” Nicky curled up closer to him.

“I told you, Andrew dragged me like I was nothing to get to Neil. I don’t think he even noticed the guns.” Wymack said to Abby as the two sat on the back porch during Aras’ going away party. “His eyes were on Neil.” he gestures towards where Andrew was watching Captain Neil wrestle with Matt.

“He looked like shit.” Aaron had said unable to stomach a diagram of different degrees of burn in his medical book. “At least he was alive.” He adds.

“A hero.” Andrew’s voice had been what could be considered teasing from Andrew, “Someone who looks like her.” he had said touching Captain Neil’s burn scars as they drove away from the stadium after coming back to pick FF up.

Captain Neil had come to him the day before they were set to drive out, “Take me somewhere no one will find me for an hour.” FF hadn’t quite understood what Captain Neil meant, he never hid anywhere. People just failed to realize where he was.

“Ok.” he says instead of trying to explain because being unnoticed means no one hid codes from him.

The roof of the Library wasn’t that much different from the roof of the Tower, only that it was taller and bigger. Captain Neil had shut his phone off after texting something, likely to Andrew, and then put it into his pocket.

FF settled on the roof, sat with his back against a heating vent to stay warm. Captain Neil settled next to him and they sat in silence. It felt like back at the start of this where Captain Neil and Andrew would come find him and just sit in silence.

It was nice. He had missed-

“They act like the stadium is the thing that kidnapped me.” Captain Neil says.

Oh okay, quiet time is over apparently.

FF doesn’t say anything, figuring that nothing he could say right now would be the right thing and maybe Captain Neil just needs to talk through some stuff.

“That stadium is where I thought I’d have my last good memory.” Captain Neil explains, “I’m not scared of it and yet Andrew’s acting like I’ll die if I’m left alone for more than 2 seconds while we’re there. Every time we go there they all act like the most important thing in the world is that I get on that bus at the end of the night.” Captain Neil explains.

FF does remember how Andrew had grabbed Captain Neil after their October game up in Binghamton. How Captain Neil had complained bitterly but had gone after looking at Andrew.

“He’s dead!” Captain Neil exclaimed and FF couldn’t help but look over at the entrance and hoped no one heard them. “He’s dead! I watched him get shot! He can’t kidnap me again!” Captain Neil continued to yell and FF couldn’t help but worry that they’d be heard below, or worse bother a student trying to study below.

FF reached out and touched Captain Neil’s arm and bright blue eyes turned to him, “We’re on a library. Don’t yell.” FF said and Captain Neil looked at him incredulously.

Then he laughed. He laughed and laughed and FF was worried that he’d gone and broken his Captain.

He suddenly felt bad about his own bout of hysterical laughter a while back.

“Thanks Smith.” Captain Neil had said with a smile.

They had sat up there until it was dark and Andrew had started calling FF’s phone and Captain Neil took the call to say he was coming back.

Now they’re on the bus, dressed nicely, and on their way up to Binghamton’s stadium. Captain Neil and Andrew are hidden in the far back of the bus with Andrew looking far more like a watchdog than anything else the closer they got to their destination.

Captain Neil had seemed largely resigned to this treatment at this point. Eventually they were at the stadium and shown to their seats. They were sat across from the Trojans and it seemed like the rest of the team was quite pleased with that.

“Smith!” Captain Jeremy Knox is smiling at him, “Nice to see you again bud, nice name change too.” he says.

“It’s nice to see you too, Captain Jeremy.” FF says and doesn’t notice how Captain Neil’s head whips around to look at him.

“You two know each other?” Nicky asks looking between the two of them with excitement.

“Of course! We offered Smith a spot at the USC Trojans.” Captain Jeremy says and FF feels his stomach cramp at the memory.

That had been terrifying.

Coach Rheman and Captain Jeremy wanted to sit down to make their offer with his parents. He was still 17 and unable to sign anything legal without their permission. He’d tried to decline and move past them and Captain Jeremy had put the final nail in the coffin at the time for any thought that he could go to college on the power of his apparent Exy capabilities.

“I saw in your file that you have brothers! USC always gives a second look at student applicants who already have siblings in the university. You could go to school with your brothers!” he had smiled brightly like he wasn’t issuing FF one of the most terrifying threats he’d ever heard in his entire life.

He had given the firmest ‘No thank you, I’m not interested in playing Exy in college.’ he could and was running to his Grandma’s to breath into a bag for twenty minutes.

“I see you changed your mind about playing Exy in college.” Captain Jeremy said with the same smile that still feels like a threat.

“Coach Wymack and Captain Dan were convincing.” he says and looks to see if there’s any way he can move further away from Captain Jeremy’s attention.

“Can I ask what convinced you to be a Fox?” Captain Jeremy asks, “I’m always trying to see what support we should be offering. I found out last year that we missed out on Andrew because we didn’t offer spots to Aaron or Nicky. I thought since you had brothers that’d be the thing that got you.” Captain Jeremy leans across the table but stops when he notices the Foxes all tense. “Whoa, what’s up?” he asks.

Jean Moreau sighs from next to Captain Jeremy, “Not everyone wants to go to college with their family, Jeremy.” Jean says, “Did it not cross your mind that he changed his entire name?” he asks with a raised brow.

Jeremy blinks, “Oh,” he looks at FF, “I guess that wasn’t the right thing to offer.” he says leaning back in his chair.

“I guess I should thank you for offering that?” Nicky says wryly before turning to look at FF, “You look better in orange anyways.” he says.

“Thank you Nicky.” FF returns loyally.

The banquet gets started shortly afterwards. Food is served. The bar is opened. People are talking. FF finds himself relaxing the longer the conversations around him go on. Matt is talking with a backliner on the Trojan line named Todd in good cheer. Captain Neil, Kevin, and Jean are all talking about the latest updates with Ichirou in French with the occasional gesture towards FF. Jean Moreau looks at him with a raised eyebrow but gives him a single nod when Captain Neil explains what happened.

Jeremy is chatting with Jack and even Jack was finding it hard to maintain his usual level of rudeness in the face of such unbridled positive energy. Nicky was talking with Katelyn and Alvarez. Aaron was chatting with a fellow med student college athlete who was an offensive dealer.

It was shaping up to be a good night.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

#Fluent Freshman AU #Jeremy Knox essentially threatening FF on accident #With a huge smile #Fucking kills me #Winter Banquet getting into full swing #Ya'll know where it's heading but not all the parts that happen #Foxes are on high alert #No one likes Neil being in Binghamton #There was definitely an all-hands meeting about how Neil is not allowed to go anywhere alone #That if a security guard approaches Neil you treat that security guard like an active threat #Nicky just thinks it's Andrew wanting an excuse to hold his BF's hand all night #Andrew: “Smith you're on covert operations. Keep an eye out for threats.”#FF: “Aye aye Captain.”#Neil: “OH SO NOW HE'S A CAPTAIN TOO? WHAT'S NEXT?!”#Neil is butt hurt about the whole “Captain Jeremy” thing #He could accept it for Dan #But JEREMY?#Neil's gonna need a lot of TLC to get over this betrayal TBFH #In adult news #My closing is next week Friday!#Wooo #I really speedran the whole owning property thing #Thank you bullshit luck #AFTG #AFTG AU #AFTG OC #Andreil #Wow 40 parts on this thing #Still wild #Thanks for joining me on this ride

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thatineffablewitch · 3 months

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Feeling angsty about the Angel again…

Aziraphale was horrified to give Crowley holy water. He wouldn’t hear of it, he was terrified at the thought of Crowley using it. He didn’t want to give Crowley “a suicide pill,” in his own words.

He was always terrified what Hell would do to Crowley throughout history. If Hell found out they’d been consorting and fraternizing…“They’ll destroy you.”

He was holding onto Crowley in Edinburg, totally and hopelessly in love having watched Crowley display more kindness and compassion and self-sacrifice than any angels Aziraphale knows, when Hell quite literally ripped him out of his arms.

He fell in love with Crowley the moment he met the Starmaker. Even then, he warned Crowley of the dangers of questioning God. Aziraphale has always just wanted Crowley to be okay, to be safe.

Think about it… Aziraphale met Crowley Pre-fall. Aziraphale wanted to keep Crowley safe even back then, “word to the wise,” and couldn’t protect him. He saw or heard about the Fall—one day Crowley was there, the next Aziraphale is hearing (or worse: watching) him be cast down to this new place full of unspeakable and terrifying horrors called Hell. Crowley’s fall was obviously traumatic for Crowley and the fandom does a wonderful job acknowledging that, but how traumatic is it to watch someone you love Fall? To be totally helpless in that scenario?

To watch this beautiful creature be cast out and labeled as unforgivable, to hear them accept that and start calling themselves unforgivable when you never thought they did anything to warrant a need for forgiveness in the first place. “I knew the Angel you were.” I know you didn’t deserve any of this.

All he has ever wanted is for Crowley to be ok, to be safe. I read another meta where someone said Aziraphale purposely made the Bentley “our car” so Hell couldn’t pop in and grab Crowley anymore (property of an Angel + Shax couldn’t pop in anymore = safety), and told Crowley to watch the bookshop since he’s safe in there. Honestly I wouldn’t put it past Az to think that far ahead (he is intelligent and gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide).

These are a lot of half-baked ideas but I hope y’all see what I mean: Aziraphale wants Crowley safe because he has loved Crowley for 6,000 years, and in turn worried about Crowley for just as long. He just wants to take care of his love but the current systems of power in place make that utterly impossible and I think that breaks his heart every single day. I think the worry has been eating away at Aziraphale for 6,000—having such constant real and intense fear for your loved ones well-being is traumatic.

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islandofohara · 3 months

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Taylor Swift demands Jack Sweeney stop tracking her jet - The Washington Post (archive.org)

^ Link to the article without paywall

This honestly does it for me. After all the TS oversaturation the past year (and yes, I did enjoy Eras and supported her music until Midnights; Lord knows I've listened to her since I was a preteen), I'm surrendering my [casual] Swiftie card. I've tried to like her as a person/brand (brand is the better word) but now I cannot dissociate her image from her music anymore (I can't "kill" the artist from the art anymore).

How she straight-up acted in the Grammys (the Celine snub then PR cleanup, making the awards show all about her, the strategic announcement of TPD, I could go on objectively but yeah) might just be the tipping point already. And who am I, right? What's one less listener? What's one less woman who denounces TS's white feminism and performative/selective activism?

I've ignored the M*tt H**ly debacle, the Ice Spice tokenization, the Olivia Rodrigo royalties issue which I knew against my will, the Person of the Year hot water, the brat pack upgrade featuring Republican Lana Del Rey, the 'self-made' origins myth debunked, the rubbing elbows with Mahomes, the ever-growing rabid fanbase out for blood, and so on, so on.

As a person of color I just want these things out. If 'feminism' is enabling this billionaire to get away with her crimes (yes, she's a climate criminal now for me, what with using her jet as a taxi to see her newest boytoy across the globe), then I'm not seated. If 'feminism' is shrugging off her response or lack of action towards the fan, Ana Clara, who died in the Brazil leg of the tour, then I am speaking now.

I guess, it's finally been exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.

#ongoing updates to the post for sources #if a swiftie mutual sees this i'm sorry but i assert for my blog to be a safe space #i won't entertain aggressive asks if there need be #and if a conversation must happen may it happen maturely #i've loved her music all these years but i can't keep turning a blind eye #anti taylor swift #covert narcissism disguised as altruism something something #sel.txt

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houseswife · 5 months

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wilson is like one of those bitches who puts nicotine patches on their partner in their sleep so that they’ll subconsciously crave their presence and associate their time together with the gratification of it. except instead of doing it sneakily, he openly (even reluctantly) exists as the main source of house’s vicodin prescriptions, not only providing him with the high but maintaining this pavlovian dynamic where he actively contributes to house’s pain relief & survival. he’s essentially his lifeline. and for the most part, he doesn’t even do it on purpose!!! because aside from the literal drug connection, that’s what his friendship is to house, too. what bonnie said about how wilson just tries to be a Good and Normal friend but ‘once you’re the subject of all that attention, it’s addictive’. in season 8, he says “I cannot be responsible for the happiness of gregory house.” and then has the audacity to look shocked when foreman replies, “You are responsible, though.” it’s like he’s painfully aware of their fucked up codependency but simply turns his face away from it. he’s even in denial until the very last moment, until it’s not only his upcoming death on the horizon, but the knowledge that they’re both free. I always found his smile after ‘I’m dead, wilson’ a little chilling. because it feels like he knows what that means — the larger, lethal implications of house disregarding any worry about his own future — and only then is he done fighting it.

#sorry if this is incoherent #house md #hilson #house/wilson #james wilson #greg house #gregory house #I can see house doing the nicotine thing fr but I can’t see wilson doing it covertly #simply because he can never keep it quiet when he pulls off a covert little manipulation #he’s too proud of himself #most of the insane boundary-violating things that house has done he’s only done to satiate his own curiosity #but wilson does them specifically for house’s validation #like the antidepressant thing or the healthy eating #he knows house loves it when he’s a manipulative bitch #so he’d never keep it a secret #whereas house has probably violated every law of privacy towards him w/o ever mentioning it #I need to study them under a microscope etc etc #also can you tell that my personal experience is bleeding into this a little bit #I used to give my (prescribed) adderall to druggies for free in high school because it made them like me more 😬#and I gaslit myself into thinking I was doing them a solid / doing a positive thing #as if I wasn’t just depriving myself of medication that I needed as well as feeding the addiction of unhealthily high-reliant kids #processing my own issues via james wilson meta >>#I’m also now realising that this teeters into the horrors of mortality a little bit more than just doomed old man yaoi #i’m sorry i’ve spent a year in the hannibal fandom I forgor we’re not meant to casually drop references to percieved suicide pacts #between our blorblos

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tboymordred · 6 hours

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“Seeing it now, this crown of swords...Guinevere is the only one who knew where it was.”

for @queer-ragnelle's May Day Parade (May Queen Guinevere)

#queen guinevere #and mordred's there i guess technically. whatever. its not about him #arthuriana legend #arthuriana #didnt think i was gonna be inspired for this one in time but i double checked the context fo the quote and OUUGH #Obssessed with the implication the alliterative has that quinevere could be some kind of caretaker for clarent #literally the coverted representation of rulership of the land and she keeps it in the back of the wardrobe #go queen betray your husband or something #my art #may day parade

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howdidthisevenhappenanyway · 11 months

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ok so hear me out. rex deserves this

sauce:

#captain rex #star wars memes #star wars headcanons #he keeps getting the comm codes of massive beings somehow and slipping away to meet them on shore leave #his troopers have no idea how he does it #because he’s covert af about his hookups #rex prefers partners who are good with their hands #discrete #snd bigger than god #those bunny montrals are not realistic in the way montrals work in my head but they suited the meme #sorry there was supposed to be a read more in there but I guess the new tool doesn’t work :/

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starlitangels · 1 year

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Empowered Internet

Okay. Most of y’all have probably seen me playing around with polls, pretending we’re all empowered, right? Tagging things as “#Keep It Covert” to be cheeky and acting like I’m asking questions to “Empowered Tumblr”

But let’s think about that for a second

Gavin says there are apps for empowered people, which is cool and I wish someone would have elaborated on that by now but what about accessing the internet from your computer browser?

After the Inversion, Erik posted the Department’s official statement on the tragedy with a remarkably convincing fake CloseKnit “ad” right before it

It looked almost just like standard YouTube

But there is A) no way the Department would make that video public where unempowered people could happen across it. The Department maintains covert as its number 1 priority. And B) no way the Department and maybe even the rest of empowered society would bother making a whole separate YouTube just for themselves when YouTube is already right there

So. Obviously there’s some way to access empowered portions of the internet from the standard unempowered internet

Like when you make a YouTube account you put a code into your channel name box (like “EmpoweredID#123456789Covert”) that disappears but unlocks the empowered side of things or something along those lines. Something unempowered people wouldn’t be able to find accidentally

And that’s where you find empowered spaces

Podcasts, vloggers, musicians, ebooks by empowered authors, Facebook groups for shifter packs and vampire clans, empowered-only Discord servers, and so on and so forth

Probably not accessible on every website, but the biggest ones like YouTube and Twitter and Facebook definitely have that feature. If the Department gets enough requests for other websites, they’ll go to said website’s developers and get that access added there too (Tumblr hasn’t been approved yet because I think that’s funny—but the empowered users of Tumblr definitely figured out hints to show each other who’s a fellow magic user) and wipe the developers’ memories of ever doing it, potentially

So yeah. Empowered internet

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #thoughts with Star #I love over analyzing lore #keep it covert #that’s definitely one of Empowered Tumblr’s main tags

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ashturnedtomist · 8 months

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Keep it Covert: Ch.6

Brand

Keep it Covert Masterlist

Previous | Beginning | Next

Summary: In which, Freelancer tried to see the silver lining.

Based off this post

Read it on Ao3!

TW: Discrimination

Gavin wasn’t typically a worrier. He usually left that to Lasko.

But nothing was more worrying than watching his Deviant spiral like this.

He watched them pace back and forth in their living room. The others left hours ago to call loved ones and to see if they heard anything from D.A.M.N. They had nearly bitten their nails down to stubs, something they had long since given up after they met him.

“Deviant, you’re going to wear a hole into the carpet.”

They paused and turned to face him. “I just- I don’t- what is going on?”

Gavin only sighed and opened his arms. They were quick to bury themself in his embrace.

He rubbed their back. “I don’t know.” He murmured in their ear. “I don’t know.”

They were trembling. “Gavin, I’m scared.” He frowns. He can feel their knots, growing tighter and tighter. “It’ll be fine.” He whispered, not knowing if his words have any truth.

——

Freelancer squinted at their orange bracelet as they held it up to the sunlight, the gold one residing right under. They glanced at their friends’ wrists too. Most of them brandished a gold one as well, for elemental magic, but Gavin’s was pink. For demons. They let out a loud sigh.

“At least they’re pretty.”

Damien snorted. “Of course that’s what you’re focused on.”

Huxley frowned. “Aw, c’mon. Don’t be like that Dames. They’re just trying to find a silver lining.”

The fire elemental crossed his arms indignantly. “I don’t see how practically branding us has a silver lining.”

Gavin heaves out a deep sigh. “For once, I’m going to have to agree with Damien on this one. These aren’t really…my type of bracelets.”

Lasko blinks. “Wh-what is your type of bracelet?”

“Don’t answer that.” Damien cuts in before Gavin can even open his mouth.

The incubus smirks. “Don’t be so boring, Damien.”

Huxley lets out a small chuckle while in the background, you can hear a small “I’m so confused.” from Lasko.

Freelancer smiles.

‘The more things change, the more they stay the same.’

——

“Did you hear? They’re letting that school stay open.”

Freelancer stood in line, waiting for coffee.

“What? The magic one?”

They blinked. Are they talking about D.A.M.N.?

“Yeah! Isn’t that crazy? To think, they’re still going to let those people learn how to use their powers.”

Oh.

“Yeah! Like, what if they turn against us or something. We weren’t all born with the ability to set things on fire and shock things, you know? They make me feel unsafe.”

Freelancer tugs the long sleeve of their sweater down, suddenly feeling like the bright orange metal on their wrist wasn’t so pretty anymore.

Maybe Damien was right.

Maybe it was a brand.

——

Freelancer woke to their phone ringing at 3 am. Gavin groaned from beside them.

“Ignore it.”

Against their boyfriend’s wishes, they reached for their phone, checking the caller ID.

“It’s Huxley,” they murmured in a raspy voice. “I have to answer.”

Gavin grumbled for a few moments before submitting to his partner’s will.

They hit answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Freelancer! Are you awake?”

Huxley’s enthusiastic voice trilled from the other line.

“I am now.” They said sleepily.

“Awesome. Anyway, me and Dames got a call from an old friend—turns out they’re a vampire now, crazy huh?”

“Wait, what-”

“Anyway! They told us about this suuuuper cool club that’s one thousand percent empowered friendly and I was wondering if you and Gavin wanted to check it out with us. Lasko already said yes.”

Freelancer blinked. They rubbed at their eyes blearily.

“I mean. Sure. I’d have to talk to Gavin when he’s more coherent but-”

“Awesome! See you tomorrow night?”

Freelancer blinked again.

“…sure.”

“Cool. Bye!”

The phone beeped, signalling the end of the call and Freelancer flopped back down on the bed.

That was weird.

Note: Y’all, I am so sorry this took so long, but I am literally falling into the fanfic writing stereotypes 😭 School started, and then we had a bomb threat, and then I was having transportation issues, and then my grandfather has been in and out of the hospital for WEEKS, so I’ve just been all over the place.

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed!

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redactedverse #redacted damn crew #redacted damien #redacted huxley #redacted gavin #redacted lasko #redacted freelancer #forget covert au #keep it covert #ash turns to mist

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