#people noticed how quickly I type and now just treat me like a dumpster for anything menial that's behind because things are a shitshow

[mst3kproject]

Exo-Man

Failed series pilots were very much part of MST3K’s stock in trade.  We’ve sat through San Francisco International, Stranded in Space, Code Name: Diamond Head and I’m sure there were others.  I generally recall all of those movies being kind of dull and lacking in personality, and I can’t imagine this 70’s superhero mess being much better.  I don’t think anybody in Exo-Man was ever on MST3K but Jose Ferrer (the first Latino actor to win an academy award, for 1950’s Cyrano de Bergerac) was once in a movie called Zoltan, Hound of Dracula, which I am deeply remiss in not having seen yet.  You may also recognize Harry Morgan, who was Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H.

Dr. Nick Conrad is a wacky physics professor of the type nobody has ever encountered in real life.  He’s somehow both smart enough to invent anti-gravity and memory plastic, and stupid enough to chase after a fleeing would-be bank robber.  The latter stunt, set to wakka-chicka Mitchell music, makes Nick the target of a mafia assassin, who kills his lab assistant and leaves Nick himself paralyzed from the waist down.  He wallows in self-pity for a while, but then rediscovers his passion for invention and builds himself a suit of armor that will allow him to walk again… and to take on the mob single-handedly.

I don’t know why they called the movie Exo-Man.  That name is never used in the dialogue.  I guess the more accurate Fiberglass Avenger just wouldn’t have sounded as cool.

The first thing you’re likely to notice from the plot summary is that Nick’s story starts off as Dr. Strange and then takes a hard left into Iron Man.  I’m pretty sure the latter at least was an intentional ripoff, with bits of the first thrown in, knowingly or not, to distance Exo-Man from Marvel’s lawyers. What’s funny is that posterity has actually made it a hat trick: the movie opens with a weirdly homoerotic jogging scene, so now he gets to be Captain America, too!

Exo-Man is a really stupid, often boring, and consistently ugly movie.  The actors are mediocre, the music bland, the effects terrible, and stuff is made to look ‘high tech’ by sticking lots of blinky lights on it.  Way too much time passes before we get to the action and when we do, we find a deep pit of disappointment.  Yet at the same time… I kind of enjoyed it.

A major part of why has got to be the incredibly dopey super-suit the main character wears, which looks less like ‘Iron Man’ and more like ‘Fiberglass Commando Cody’.  It moves really slowly and I doubt the guy in the costume can see very much.  Nick controls the bottom half of it using switches on one sleeve, which appear to have simple functions like ‘sit’, ‘walk’, and ‘jump’ (there is, of course, no ‘run,’ because nothing happens fast in this movie). He puts the thing on by lying down in what looks like a tanning bed (or maybe one of those contraptions from Avatar).  My personal favourite is the warning light labeled malfuntion.

All this is in a movie that sometimes manages to be surprisingly subtle.  We are introduced to Nick while jogging, we watch him play tennis with his girlfriend, and see him maintain this exercise regime even while he’s supposed to be under police protection.  These shots are in brilliant sunshine, and the camerawork is as active as the subjects. Post-injury, Nick never outwardly complains about his inability to participate in sports, but we now see him sitting in his wheelchair in dark surroundings, with the camera held perfectly still.  We feel that he has lost something he loved dearly, and we never need to be told it outright.

We are also introduced to Nick as somebody who is devored to furthering minorities.  His two lab assistants are an east Asian student and a Jewish one (the latter identified as such by a surname, rather than appearance), and the reason he was at the bank was to help a Latino student get a loan.  Again, the script trusts the audience to get this without having to draw attention to it through dialogue.  These minority characters are, of course, still just accessories to Nick’s story. The Jewish guy in particular is there to be fridged – its his death that leads to Nick flaunting his police protection and getting hurt.  But the effort was made to say that minority rights are important to Nick, without hitting us over the head with it.

Theme-wise, Exo-Man is about a man coming to terms with a disability.  I should preface this by saying that I am not disabled, so my perspective is necessarily biased.  If anything I say below is offensive, that is out of ignorance, and please let me know so that I may edit or delete the review and do better next time.  I was actually pretty impressed by how the script and director handled the life-changing nature of Nick’s injury… mostly.  I’ll start with the bad stuff.

The attack on Nick comes with a heaping helping of victim blaming.  As an important witness in the bank robbery, he was offered police protection.  The assassin tries to get around this by putting a bomb in his car, but one of the lab assistants borrows the car for a late-night pizza run, and gets killed in Nick’s stead.  This leads Nick to deliberately place himself in a vulnerable position, hoping to draw the killer out for capture and punishment.  In the hospital with a broken back, Nick blames the police for failing to protect him, but I’m pretty sure the movie wants us to think that this is really Nick’s own fault.  Like the tragic accident victims in Days of our Years, he has nobody to blame for his own misery, or that of his loved ones, except himself.

After that, however, the movie’s treatment of Nick’s disability improves quickly.  His girlfriend Emily leaves him, but that’s not because he’s in a wheelchair, it’s because he’s too busy wallowing in self-pity to even let her into his apartment. Later when he apologizes to her, she takes him back and they resume their happy relationship, and the fact that they can’t play tennis together anymore is not an issue.  She does not treat him as something to be pitied, she speaks to him on his eye level, and they avoid that weird trope of having the abled partner sit in the wheelchair-user’s lap.  Emily loves who Nick is, not what he can do.  His colleagues and students, likewise, treat him with respect and help him with his chair, and never make the latter feel like a burden.

By the end of the film Nick has come to terms with his disability.  The suit he’s built is not a cure for his condition: in fact the first time he wears it out, it breaks down and he needs help getting back to his high-tech armored van.  It’s a tool he has built for a purpose, and he doesn’t feel the need to wear it in non-superhero situations.  Based on what we see, he could have built a legs-only version to wear under his trousers and let him go jogging and play tennis again, but that is no longer who Nick is.  And when and whether to wear the suit is always Nick’s own choice, not something imposed on him from the outside.

Of course, it would also be really helpful in later maintaining Exo-Man’s secret identity, and I suspect the writers were thinking of that a lot more than they were of things like parents forcing questionable ‘cures’ on disabled children.  The secret identity probably would have been a big deal if the pilot had sold, but in this stand-alone story, I thought the suit worked well as a metaphor about a disabled man at peace with himself.

Exo-Man also takes a quick little peek at the morality of vigilante justice, although this comes in pretty late and clearly isn’t something they wanted to get into in any detail.  The first person Nick confronts in the suit is the assassin who actually beat him up. He says he didn’t go into this encounter with any real plan… perhaps he just wanted to scare the guy.  What ultimately happens is that the assassin climbs a drainpipe to get away from the terrifying robot man, the pipe comes off the wall, and the man falls to his death.  Nick feels this is his fault, and so the next time he takes the suit out he does so with a particular goal in mind: he wants to capture the mob boss and provide evidence of his wrongdoing to the police, not to kill anyone.

The mob boss’ name, by the way, is Kermit Haas, which is probably the least intimidating name a movie has ever given to its big bad.

Would that work?  Is evidence a guy in a robot suit left in your dumpster for you admissible in court?  Isn’t where stuff was found kind of important?  I honestly have no idea and I’m not sure how to go about finding out.  People might wonder why I want to know and I don’t think saying it’s for my blog would allay their suspicions.

At the end of Exo-Man, I was more entertained than not, but mostly on the level of laughing at the dumb-looking suit and appreciating the fine art of ripping off comic book characters.  If that’s your kind of thing then this movie ought to put the fun in malfuntion for you. If that’s not your thing, well… this is an MST3K blog.  What are you doing here?

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #exo-man #tw: abelism #70s

[death-himself]

Hidden in Shadows—Remus’s Story (pt. 1)

Summary: What has Remus been doing all this time? And who let him take care of eldritch abomination children?

Word Count: 1,511

Warnings: Body Horror, Homelessness, Angst

Part 2 (AO3 Link)

Failure. What an absolute failure. The darkness wasn’t sure what to do with its creation anymore. Its creation, who had decided to go by the name “Virgil”—and what a human thing it was to want to go by such a name—was going against everything it had taught him to do. He was too weak to kill, too weak to take souls, too weak to do anything.

He acted too human.

It watched as the young monster hid in the corner of a human child’s room, bobbing his head back and forth as if listening to his own music, using a small scrap of paper and a pencil to doodle. It had been a year since the darkness had let him out of the shadows. A whole year had passed, and no souls had been taken.

No matter how much the darkness tried to guide its creation into doing what he was made for, nothing happened. He was a disgusting failure of a monster. So, something else would have to do. And so the darkness began the process all over again, feeding its hatred for humanity and desire for their destruction into a new being.

Another five year wait was ahead of it.

Remus huffed as he pulled his coat tighter around himself. Well, he had expected this to happen eventually. Granted, he had expected his mom to beat the shit out of him, but not actually kick him out. Didn’t know she would do both.

He didn’t really have any friends to turn to; he had met them all online and the closest, his boyfriend, lived a state away. He huddled down into an alleyway in a relatively safe part of town.

Where could he go? He remembered back when his dad was alive and still with his mom there was this uncle that mom had absolutely refused to let come over. Maybe Remus could try to find him?

He shook that thought out of his head immediately. If his uncle was anything like the rest of his family, he wouldn’t want Remus around, either.

He shrugged off his backpack, hid behind a dumpster, and pushed the bag under his head. Maybe he could start making his way to Emile tomorrow. Or at least call him and see if there was anything he could do.

With that thought in mind, he took a deep, steady breath, shut his eyes, and went to sleep.

Remus awoke to a sharp pain in his chest. He opened his mouth to yell, but nothing came out. He forced his eyes open, his vision blurry. What looked to be a ball of light was slowly emerging from his chest.

Remus turned his gaze up slightly to see a hand with needle-like fingers hovering above the ball. The hand was attached to a long, gangly limb, which was attached to a horrifically bony figure, which was attached to a face. The first thing Remus thought when he saw that face was Oh wow, that’s disgusting.

The left side of the creature’s face appeared to be rotting, skin torn up and seeming to bleed a black substance that dripped onto Remus’s shirt. Its eye sockets seemed to be completely hollow, with sadistic glowing toxic yellow irises coming from somewhere inside them. Its lips were split into an unnaturally wide grin that only seemed to grow wider as the glowing ball was pulled more and more out of his chest.

It was horrifying. Remus loved it. With whatever strength he had left in his body, he punched the creature in the rotting side of its face. It reeled back, howling in pain as black liquid fell from its eyes. The ball of light immediately went back into Remus’s chest, and his strength returned.

He leapt to his feet, watching as the creature continued to howl and cry. It was in pain. He noticed the shadows seem to pull closer to the creature and he quickly pulled out his flashlight, turning it on with even louder protests from the zombie-like thing.

“Go away!” It yelled. “Leave me alone!” The voice caused Remus to pause. Holy fuck it has the voice of a child. Remus looked over its body again. It looked like a five year old boy’s dead body had been pulled and stretched into a roughly five-foot tall thing.

He watched the shadows swirl unnaturally at the edge of his light. It wanted to get to the kid, maybe to heal him. But Remus had a bad feeling in his gut as he watched it; he could almost feel its ill-intent.

He kept the light on the kid as he pulled bandages from his bag, then cautiously walked over. The kid was still clearly in pain, maybe the rotting side of his face was a lot more sensitive than normal skin.

Realizing he’d need both hands, Remus put the end of the flashlight in his mouth and gently laid a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

The kid shrieked, smacking his hand away and curling in tighter around himself. “I’m not gonna punch you again, calm down!” With the flashlight in his mouth he was barely understandable, but he got the message across.

“Liar. Humans are liars.” The kid muttered.

“Well, can’t argue with that. Humans are pieces of shit, and I don’t wanna be one of those Not All Humans types of guys. We’re all pretty terrible.” He noticed none of what he said seemed to elicit a reaction from the kid. But, at least he wasn’t screaming anymore.

Remus sat behind the kid, taking the flashlight out of his mouth and tossing it between his hands. “I don’t think I’m the worst human. I mean, I can definitely list at least a hundred people worse than me. There’s Jared from my math class—it’s always a Jared—there’s Bryce, Lucas, those are just three examples and those are just people I know personally. Then there’s also some celebrities like—”

“Is there a point to what you’re saying?”

“No, not really. How’s your face feeling?” The kid looked over his shoulder at Remus, eying him for a moment before looking away.

“It still hurts.” Remus hummed, grabbing a bandaid. “Alrighty, then come here. I got just the thing.”

The kid hesitantly sat up and turned to Remus, looking him up and down cautiously, before creeping closer. Once the creature was close enough for Remus to treat, he took the bandaid and stuck it onto a healthy patch of skin, as close to the area he had punched as he could get. The kid blinked and skittered back in alarm.

“Presto changeo, and you’re healed!” The kid ran his fingers across the bandaid, eyebrows furrowed.

“Really?”

“Nah, it’s this thing called the placebo effect, works great on little kids. I didn’t punch you hard enough to cause any real damage so,” Remus shrugged, “a bandaid works just fine.” He wasn’t sure if the kid had any idea what the placebo effect was, but it seemed to be a decent enough explanation to him.

“...Thank you.” Remus hummed.

“You got any parents to take care of you?”

“Parents?”

“Oh, that’s a no.” Remus went to lie down next to the dumpster, then pat the concrete next to him. “Go ahead and stay here. I’m sure whatever the hell those weird shadows you came out of are are bad news.”

“The darkness takes care of me! It’d never hurt me!”

“Well, then do whatever you want. I won’t stop you.” Remus turned to face away from the kid, closing his eyes and listening closely.

The kid looked into the darkest part of the alley, ready to allow the shadows to bring him home.

But that’s when he felt something angry and frustrated within the darkness. He gulped, slowly backing away towards the human he had just met. He gave himself only a moment to think, before lying down next to Remus and holding tightly onto the back of his shirt.

Remus smiled triumphantly to himself and turned around to look at the kid. “Guess you’re staying with me, then?” The kid clung onto Remus’s shirt, not meeting his eyes as he nodded.

Remus ruffled the kid’s hair. “Well, then it’s good to meet ya. I’m Remus. What’s your name?” The kid glanced up, confused. “Do you have a name?”

“I don’t think so.” Remus hummed in thought. “Mind if I give you a name?”

“Okay.”

“I shall now call you...Ballsack.”

“No.”

“Lil Shit?”

“No.”

“Asshole!”

“I don’t like your names.”

“Alright, alright, fair enough. You can name yourself.” The kid went silent for a moment. Remus checked his phone, seeing just how late it was.

“Actually...let’s save that for tomorrow. Sleep on it, and all that.” He ruffled the kid’s hair again, closing his eyes. A few moments later he heard a quiet huff from the kid, and he closed his eyes as well.

Remus was now the father of a five year old demon thing at the age of fifteen. It was just like in his fanfiction.

#sanders sides #hidden in shadows #remus sanders #janus sanders #monster!janus #bogeyman!janus #you can consider him either #kid!janus #body horror tw #angst tw

[foreverwcnter]

lavender — flowers mini series / peter parker

| teaser | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 |

pairing — peter parker x reader

warnings — none

summary — part 1 in which peter learns that a flower can be more memorable and passionate than the words “I love you.”

author’s note — this is my first mini series so bear with me! this is the first part and I hope you enjoy it! comments and reblogs (w/ comments if you want ) are appreciated but not mandatory.

══════════════════

a heavy huff left peter’s parted lips as he sprinted down the sidewalk, two burly men running after him. he was simply helping an old lady from being mugged, but apparently that was a foil for the real heist which was the catch peter as spider-man. they had damaged one of his webshooters and managed to stab him in the side with a dagger they had in their grasp. peter hurried, pushing past people without any ‘excuse me’ or ‘sorry’. he was scared and needed to get away from the criminals in pursuit. he panted, trying to catch his breath while sprinting down the road.

“why today of all days??? i’m supposed to go have thai with may” he groaned to himself, dodging into an alley and climbing into a dumpster to hide. surely they wouldn’t find him in there. he wrinkled his nose in disgust, the smell of rotten food and trash flooding his nasal passages. his eyes widened slightly when hearing some voices. quickly, spider-man fell silent, holding his breath in case they could hear it.

“dammit, he’s gone.”

“we’re going to find him. boss won’t let us return empty handed,” the other male stated in his gruff and deep voice.

peter heard their footsteps grow to a silence as the men walked away and he carefully hopped out of the dumpster, stumbling over his feet, falling against the concrete ground. his side ached and he needed to treat the wound before he bled out slowly or caught an infection. the wound wasn’t too big, but it wasn’t small either. the red spandex of his suit was torn, revealing the wound as the crimson liquid stained his suit and skin. his enhanced healing abilities would help it heal faster, but it was obvious he needed stitches he looked around, his gaze drifting around the area. there was a fire escape and he assumed he was next to an apartment building. spider-man carefully began climbing up the rusty steps, going slowly so he didn’t tire himself out anymore than he already was.

finally, he reached the top, tripping over the ledge and falling against the floor of the roof. he sighed in relief, beginning to push himself up with his bruised arms as he reached up to rip his mask off his head. finally when yanking it off, letting it fall to the ground, he stood up, looking around until his eyes landed on a beautiful young woman, standing beside a garden bed in the multiple rows of plants.

his eyes widened in surprise and he froze. it may have looked like he froze for the shock of someone seeing him without his mask, but it was because the girl standing several feet away from him was absolutely stunning. he was asking himself who this stunning young woman was. that young woman was you.

you had been watering your flowers right before the spider-man had appeared on the roof. you were watering your lavender plants to be exact, ones in which you planted only moments before. the purple buds would get plenty of sunshine on the roof top, along with the many other flowers that were planted in the garden. half of the rows that were built for the garden were covered with a mesh covering to provide some shade for the plants that did not receive full sun. each flower, each stem, each leaf was healthy from your gentle hands. you even had a separate garden in a separate area of the roof for growing foods that you often used to cook.

when peter pulled off his mask and saw you, you already had been staring, not expecting spider-man, the friendly neighborhood spider-man to show up at your apartment building. carefully brushing a strand of hair from your face, you set down the watering can on the frame of the garden, turning to face the youthful superhero. as you observed his features, you couldn’t help but notice a gash on his side where the unmistakable suit was torn. you began,” do you need help with that wound? i don’t think you would want it to get infected.”

“what? oh, that,” peter began, looking down at the gash and wincing at the sight. it wasn’t worst thing he’s gotten, but wasn’t the easiest thing to treat. “i guess, i ran out of antibiotic ointment a week ago so-“

“sit down,” you ordered, pulling off your gardening gloves and setting them on the wooden planks that lined the rows of your garden. you made your way over to a facet that was connected to the stairway and carefully rinsed off your hands. you shook the water droplets from your delicate hands before grabbing a first aid kit you had in your gardening supply.

peter watched you, gulping slightly as you made your way over to him. you sat down beside him and than stated,” you need to take off the top part of your suit.” peter’s cheeks flushed a deep red and he pressed the spider emblem on his chest, loosing the skin-tight spandex before letting it slip off his arms and torso, falling against his legs and around his waist.

you seemed fairly unfazed by the sight of his identity and his toned chest and abs. secretly, you found him to be handsome and even cute, but that didn’t get in the way of your calm demeanor and care for him. carefully you squeezed out some anti-biotic ointment onto your soft hands before rubbing it over the wound gently, making sure not to hurt him. instinctively, peter hissed in pain, knitting his eyebrows together from the stinging sensation. “sorry,” you mumbled gently before grabbed some stitching supply from the first aid kit.

“the wound is a little too deep for me to simply bandage, but luckily my mother is a surgeon and taught me how to do stitches in case of emergencies,” you briefly explained the the awkward superhero before gently pulling the needle through his skin, carefully closing the wound up before finishing off. blood had dried on your hands and under your fingernails, but it was nothing hydrogen peroxide couldn’t fix. you rose to a standing position, looking over spider-man as he pulled his suit over his torso.

“thank you,” he began, staring at you with his mocha brown eyes. “umm... since you... since you’ve seen my face... i’m peter parker.”

a smile lit up your delicate features. “i’m y/n l/n. i’m homeschooled by my dad so you probably won’t see me at any schools.”

peter was in complete awe when staring at you. your eyes seemed to be the actual embodiment of light. they weren’t dull, but bright and full. the way the light hit them took note of the silver and gold flecks in your e/c eyes. he had to clench his jaw slightly to keep it from dropping. your hair fell perfectly against your shoulders and was pushed behind your ear perfectly. you had the cutest smile on your face. it was an awkward one, but you made awkward look really adorable.

“um... so you’re a gardener?” he gazed around at the assortment of many, many differnt plants around the rooftop. your cheek flushed slightly in response.

“yeah, i guess you could say gardening is my hobby. i really love flowers and plants and i have ever since i was a toddler,” you explained, rubbing the back of your neck nervously.

peter couldn’t help but blush at what he was about to say,” well, i think this is a best garden i’ve ever seen.”

“really?!” your face lit up with joy and pride at the compliment. “i’ve worked years on making this garden perfect. just ask my neighbors, they’ll tell you i come up here for hours to take care of all the plants.”

peter felt his lips twitch with a small smile once again, his admiration for you and how passionate you were only growing. never had he met someone so passionate for things so small and simple. he could only imagine how bad it would feel if a bad storm came by and ruined the poor flowers. he stood up from where he sat, gazing over each plant. his thoughts were interrupted by your honeyed voice.

“did you know you can speak using flowers?”

his eyebrow arched in confusion and he shook his head in response. now he was even more curious than before.

“well, i did some research and there is something called floriography. it’s basically the language of flowers. i’ve done a lot of studying on it and every flower, every plant, has a special meaning that can tell someone something. if you ever can’t say something verbally, i find using flowers and plants is a way you can do that.” you gently bent down, running your hand delicately against your lavender plants. “for example, lavender, can be used to express solitude or admiration.”

admiration. the exact thing he was feeling towards you at that moment. while you felt the solitude meaning of it, he felt the admiration. he admired you so much for being so beautiful, so passionate, so gentle, so kind, so bright. you looked on the positive side of things. for once, he didn’t want to go swing through the streets. he wanted to talk to you more and get to know you.

“can i have your number?” he blurted out before quickly shutting his mouth, his face turning as red as his suit. “i-i mean i’d like to be friends with you and get to know you... you seem like an amazing person.”

a smile graced your face. “ of course.” you walked over, taking his phone which he held out to you. the screen was already opened to his contacts. you quickly typed in your information, before saying, “ i’ll shoot you a text later, i left my phone in my room so i don’t want to hold you up by running to go get it.”

he smiled at you, zoning out for a second, notching you had a small flower tucked behind your ear. his lips twitched a little from the smile, but he soon came back to reality at the sound of sirens. “i’ve got to go see if someone needs help, i’ll see you later i guess?” he awaited your response.

“sounds good to me. see you later, spider-man,” you teased before watching him swing off.

as peter flew through the city, swinging by his webs, he couldn’t help but think back on what you said. the lavender had seemed to reveal what he felt for you and to be honest, peter wanted to know more and couldn’t wait to tell ned all about the experience and to speak to you once again.

↳ taglist — @hey-its-grey @natalia-rushman @glimmering-gamora @lovesick-valkyrie @pufflypuffle @uglypastels @learning-howto-be-myselfx3 @spidermansmj14 @simi11 @abby-blxck @lovelyh0lland @bbyaubergine @pxterbpxrker

#elle writes #writing #imagine #oneshot #tom #holland #tom holland #spiderman #spiderman imagines #tom holland smut #tom holland imagines #peter #parker #peter parker #peter parker imagines #fics #fanfic #fanfiction #mcu #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #romance #love #flowers #gardens #i love you #write #words #imagines #enjoy!

[benisasoftboi]

So on Friday night I made this post:

Which I expected that maybe ten, twenty people would see? I didn’t think anyone would really care about a joke about something so old and obscure, and it would just get lost in all the Detective Pikachu stuff. Instead, within five hours, it had become my most popular post. 

I know it’s still not a huge number, but it’s still way more attention than I’ve ever received for anything... ever, so I’ve been thinking about Pokemon Live a lot since. Which has been bad, because this morning I had to take a very important political economy exam, and instead of thinking about Bretton Woods or Marx, I was thinking about Pokemon. I nearly referred to my country’s former Prime Minister as ‘David Camerupt’. It wasn’t good. 

I need to expunge my thoughts. Specifically, my thoughts on one topic in particular - the way this show treats, or rather mistreats, the character of James. Because I truly, truly love Pokemon Live. I do. It’s one of the most glorious dumpster fires I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching a poor quality recording of. But this is the one thing I definitely don’t love.

I don’t expect anyone to read this. I mean, I said that last time, but this time I really don’t. It’s a long essay on a niche topic, and it isn’t even funny. But on the off chance it’ll get you to stick with me, I promise that there will be pictures of Andrew Rannells cuddling puppies at the end. 

So,

How Pokemon Live Mistreats James, and Why It Matters:

The Mandatory Mentioning of The Actor

I’m guessing anyone who knows anything about Pokemon Live also knows that now highly successful, Tony-nominated Broadway and television actor Andrew Rannells was in it playing James. And if you didn’t, now you know why I’ve mentioned him twice now. I’m a big fan of this guy.

He hated this role. Absolutely despised it. Apparently the show was a miserable environment to work in for everyone. The costumes were uncomfortable. The audiences were unbearable. There’s a making of for this show, which can be viewed on YouTube in its entirety - I’ve watched the whole thing more than once and you can see in every cast member’s eyes - there’s no light there. They’re all dead inside. It’s almost heartbreaking.  

To be clear - he’s the only one of these people I, or anyone else I’ve seen, ever makes fun of for this show. And that’s because he’s fine. He’s fine! He’s done very well for himself and talking about it won’t hurt his career, and there’s just always something really hilarious about seeing very successful people in terrible things, isn’t there? Chris Hemsworth in Saddle Club, Zach Braff in Babysitter’s Club, literally everyone in Foodfight. It’s not malicious or in any way intended to be punching down - just poking fun at a really good actor’s really bad early work. It’s not even really making fun of him, more that he was in this.

But there is one reason he hated the role that I don’t find so funny, and that’s that he felt the people that wrote the thing had made James a grossly over-the-top, borderline-to-over-the-line (depending on your tolerance) homophobic stereotype. And... yeah. They undeniably did that.  

Rannells understandably dislikes the character, and to be honest - that makes me a little sad. Knowing that musical!James is probably the only version of the character he (and likely a lot of parents who saw the show, and other cast members) ever really encountered, that’s a huge shame. Because if we go back to the anime the musical’s based on, the one I, and many others, grew up on, James is quite different. In fact, I personally consider anime!James to be the best character in the entire Pokemon franchise.

Why We Love Team Rocket 

Just want to quickly note that I can only discuss the anime up to about halfway through the Sinnoh seasons - I’ve seen basically nothing after that. My childhood was some original series, a lot of Hoenn, and a fair bit of early Sinnoh (somehow skipped over Johto almost entirely, don’t really know how that happened). If any of this is now not accurate, well - it’s not really relevant for this discussion anyway, but I still apologise. 

The Team Rocket trio, James especially, is, pretty queer-coded. This is not unusual for villainous characters in children’s media before the 2010s, so much so that I would guess that a lot of the time it wasn’t even being done deliberately - it was just that common a trope that it was all but expected your show would have at least one flamboyantly effeminate, villainous bloke. And James - especially early James - has no qualms about showing his feminine side:

Notice that Jessie adopts masculine attire to match - she doesn’t always do this, but I like that they have her at least do it sometimes. 

Team Rocket’s disguises became less and less likely to involve cross dressing as the show went on, but it’s one of the things best remembered about them. James also has a strong association with roses, and possesses several other feminine mannerisms. Arguably he’s far more downplayed than most other villains of the type (even more so than others present in Pokemon - Harley’s a great example, who was also, coincidentally, played by Andrew Rannells), but it’s present. And while yes, obviously in real life none of those things should be taken as definitive indication of a person’s orientation, and straight men are perfectly capable of twirling around in pretty dresses - in fact, I fully endorse it - this is fiction. Specifically fiction from the early 2000s. And in fiction, certain things are intended as visual cues and shorthand.

So I really, really doubt we were supposed to think James is entirely straight (I personally have always thought that he’s actually bi, but I’m not opposed to alternatives). You could make the case, but like. Come on.

But how is this different from musical!James? And how is this different than any other villain like him? Very simple. Anime!James has depth.

Not a tremendous amount. It’s a children’s cartoon made to cash in on a popular video game. But he, and Jessie and Meowth, are among the most well-rounded characters in the show’s cast, in a way that’s actually very relatable. It helps that they aren’t actually very villainous people most of the time. I know so many people who grew up with the show that loved, rooted for, and identified with them over the actual protagonists, by a mile. Myself included - I can remember two separate James-centered episodes that made me cry as a kid.

And these three are particularly beloved by young LGBT adults. We know from their backstories that they all came from rough circumstances - Jessie desperately poor and struggling to get anywhere or be recognised, Meowth having changed a fundamental part of himself in attempt to gain love and instead being ostracised for it, and James running away from an abusive household. They’re three people (/Pokemon) who felt alone in the world, that have now found each other. And whether you view Jessie and James’s relationship as romantic, friendship, or found family, it’s far more compelling than any other relationship in the show, at least to me. They may be criminals, but it’s not hard to see why some kids - especially the kids who might already feel like they’re just a bit different - would latch on to them. 

Even if you didn’t know James’s backstory, he still has a character. He’s frequently shown to be the most moral of the trio, he has a stronger bond with Pokemon than honestly even Ash - even more of a running gag than his flamboyance is the fact that his pets love him so much that they just wanna hug him all the time, with inevitable slapstick consequences - he has dorky hobbies like bottle cap collecting, and he’s even occasionally shown to be a bit of an environmentalist. Yes he is in many ways a stereotypical camp villain - but he’s also more. And that’s why we love him. 

And I’d bet anything there probably were some little boys who watched the show and saw James and thought ‘that guy’s like me!’. And yeah, that guy is a villain, because god forbid a maybe-gay character also be a good guy. But more than any other character like him that I’ve seen, he’s also always been a person. And considering how most of the other options kids like that had at the time were either one-note villains or nothing (and even now it’s sparse pickings) - that’s valuable.

And then there’s Pokemon Live.

*long, long sigh*

Oh, Pokemon Live. You beautiful disaster. 

What did you do to my boy?

Is there nothing that better encapsulates it than the bit where James asks Giovanni where Mecha MewTwo (...I know) “stands on campaign finance reform, social security and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”?

First off, I like that James is politically engaged! Good for him! Completely out of character, but still!

And I do find this line incredibly funny, but I want to be very clear about why I find it funny. The line is funny because referencing a real world American discriminatory military policy in a Pokemon musical is just... so completely absurd. It’s super jarring and when I first watched it, I had to pause it so I could stop laughing about the possible implications of Pokemon Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Is there a Pokemon American military then? Pokemon Democrats and Pokemon Republicans? Pokemon Bill Clinton? POKEMONICA LEWINSKY???

It just raises so many questions.

Also Rannells’s delivery is incredible.

But the thing is, that’s not the joke here, is it? The actual ‘joke’ is ‘HA HA HE’S GAY! HE SAID THAT BECAUSE HE’S GAY!’. Which gets even worse when you think about it and realise that this situation is really just a gay man (I don’t think there’s any doubt about it in this particular incarnation, is there) asking his boss whether or not he thinks people like him should be discriminated against. How is that a joke? (The answer is that it isn’t.)

Which makes it that much more inappropriate for a children’s Pokemon musical, which is sort of, in a dark way, almost funnier. It’s that juxtaposition of something kiddy and cute with something that definitely isn’t. 

But hilarious as I find it, given the chance to I would go back and get rid of that line. I dislike what it implies - that being a gay man is nothing more than a punchline - more than I like the absurdist humour. 

And that’s the whole problem with how they chose to write James for this whole thing. They took a really good example of how you can have this type of villain while also making him a good character, and they turned him into nothing more than a stereotype.

You could say ‘but it’s a much shorter story than a TV show! They wouldn’t have time to make him nuanced!’, to which I would say 1. He doesn’t have to be nuanced, he just has to be slightly more than I’M GAY and 2. There have been 21 Pokemon movies at time of writing, two of which came out before Pokemon Live did. None of them, at least of the ones I’ve seen, committed any character assassinations like this. The first one even had another baffling reference to real world America:

That’s so out of nowhere and silly that I laugh every time I think about it (the Minnesota Vikings are an American football team, if you didn’t know). See, Pokemon Live! It’s possible to do jokes like that which aren’t at the expense of a minority group! Wow!

The anime even has examples of how you can do the gay jokes and make them funny. They are very rare in the show (beyond the humour of James’s personality), but remember the whole Flaming Moltres joke? It’s actually great. It’s a couple of good puns, it’s possibly Rachael Lillis’s best delivery in the whole show, and, just for confirmation, I’ve shown the clip to a few actual gay men in my life, who all said that they think that it’s very funny, and totally non-offensive. The joke is still ‘lol he gay’, but it’s also a neat play on words, it feels very in character for both of them, and it doesn’t have the same malicious, taunt-y feel of the Pokemon Live ‘joke’.

Look, the Pokemon anime is far from perfect. There are lots of moments where you have to grit your teeth and remember when it came out. But it still gave us a really, really wonderful character, and he absolutely deserved better than this.

Do I Still Love Pokemon Live?

Yes.

Even with all of this, it’s still an absolute masterpiece of unintentional hilarity. In some ways, this makes it funnier. Of course, of course, it couldn’t just have terrible costumes and a nonsense plot and really, really bad rapping - of course it’s also kind of offensive. Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be.

And I would love to talk about all the things I genuinely love about it, and maybe I will one day.

But the thing is, it’s also representative of everything that was wrong with gay-coded characters at the time, something that the show it’s based on came way closer to handling well than most other stuff of its time, no less. And that, as a whole, isn’t funny at all.

So I want to be clear. I love laughing at this show because it’s a weirdly earnest cash-in musical for something that definitely shouldn’t be a musical, with endless bizarre, quotable moments - not because the way it warped this character is actually funny. I love laughing at the character’s lines because they’re absurd choices for a Pokemon musical - not because they’re in any way funny on their own. And I love laughing at the fact that Andrew Rannells was in it because he is so much better than this - not because this is what I think he should be reduced to.

And speaking of, here’s those pictures I promised:

I love one man.

#pokemon #pokemon live #andrew rannells #james pokemon #team rocket #musicals #long post #i cant believe how long i spent on this #ive written academic essays shorter #i think this is probably longer than all my exam answers from this morning combined #long essays about niche topics

[diannaphantomfiction]

Karivarry LifeSwap AU Writing Prompts. Prompt 11/♾: True Love’s Kiss

Prompt requested by @temmie-loony 

Kara always has a Kryptonite arrow and a freezing arrow in her quiver, not for Barry and Oliver but for evil versions of them or should they end up whammied. One day, it's not them but her that gets whammied... 

____________

Kara was used to not asking for help. It wasn’t a trust thing so much as it was a basic habit. She’d forgotten what it was like to rely on people years ago and old habits were hard to beat. So, when she was investigating a series of cases of hysteria and memory loss in which the victims committed a series of thefts. It didn’t occur to Kara that this would be anything more than a rather strange drug, some type of super roofie. She didn’t think that maybe she should call Barry or Oliver, who had far more experience dealing with people with powers.

What she did know was that the victims were getting more powerful as time went on. Not politicians or CEOs, not anymore at least. No, they were too easy to get to apparently. Whoever was drugging these people was going for bigger challenges. A group of Navy Seals. Two female FBI field agents. A couple of CSI agents. A world renowned thief Sara had worked with, apparently. A couple martial arts masters in town for some sort on competition. An ex army sniper. It was like someone was trying to build an army.

It had taken Kara some time, but she was pretty sure she’d found their base. More than one well off family had left National after the undertaking, leaving more than one large, old mansion empty. Whoever they were, they had taken over one of them. FBI agents were highly trained, but there was something empty to them. It made them predictable and it was easy enough to disarm them and knock them out with a hit from her bow. The martial arts masters were equally as easy to take out. Kara had never really mastered any of the styles she used per say, but she fought dirty because she fought to win. She fought to survive.

It was the Navy Seals who ended up giving her trouble. They, like everyone else here, were highly trained, but more than that, there were more of them. And they were much larger than Kara. She had fought them off as best she could, but they got into close range quickly, forcing her to use her bow as a blunt weapon instead of her preferred long range. In the end she had to throw her bow away in favor of her dagger. They took advantage of the situation quickly, using their size to subdue her. One of the pulled her into a very tight headlock, cutting her air supply down so she was forced to wheeze to get any air into her lungs. One of the other ones stripped her of her weapons as she scratched at the one holding her and tried to kick him in the balls.

“Get her hands!” One of them yelled.

Someone grabbed her wrists and wrenched them downward painfully. She felt something cold and metallic wrap around one of her wrists, tight and painful. Then the other. Handcuffs.

“Don’t let up. Give her an inch and she’ll manage to get away. She’s tricky.”

“I got her. Go get the boss.”

The one holding her tightened his grip slightly, just enough that her eyes rolled back in her head a little and she instinctively tried to tilt her head back to get more air.

“Boys, what’s this I hear about a gift?”

The one holding Kara released her just enough so that she could fall to her knees and gasp for air. His arm was still around her neck, but holding her place more than strangling her.

A woman knelt down in front of Kara. She was wearing a militaristic black outfit with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. “The Arrow? Boys, you know just how to treat a girl.”

Kara snarled. The woman grabbed Kara’s hood and in one quick motion, pulled Kara’s hood and mask off.

“My, my, you’re lovely aren’t you. You know, I’ve been looking for a General. You’re perfect, aren’t you?”

Before Kara could react, the woman swooped down and kissed her. Kara’s eyes went wide and she tried desperately to pull away, but she had nowhere to go. The woman forced her tongue into Kara’s mouth and kept kissing.

Something was buzzed at the edge of her mind and it quickly started to take over, even as Kara fought it. It was warm. Comforting. The most welcoming feeling she’d felt in a very long time. This...this woman was amazing and perfect. Of course Kara had to follow her, serve her, she was everything. Kara started reaching to kiss her back. She wanted to touch her, to kiss her, to make her happy. Oh god, Kara loved her.

What about Barry and Oliver?

No. They were nothing compared to this woman. She was everything.

The woman pulled away and Kara’s heart ached at the loss. No! She wanted to keep kissing her!

“Hello Arrow, I am Marianna. Do you know why you’re here?”

Kara’s eyes lit up at the question. “To serve you Ma’am.”

“There’s a good girl.” Kara’s heart soared at the praise. “Let her go boys. She’s with us now.”

The Navy Seals released her and undid her handcuffs as Kara beamed up at Marianna.

____________

Marianna smiled into the Arrow’s neck as they stood in the privacy of Marianna’s Master bedroom. Kara’s heart was soaring at the attention. At the touch and private moment with her mistress. Marianna pressed a kiss to Kara’s cheek.

“You’re exactly what I’ve been looking for. So strong. So powerful. So willing to serve me. You do want to serve me, don’t you?”

“More than anything.” Kara breathed.

“You would do anything for me?”

“Anything.”

Marianna hummed and kissed Kara again, tugging on her braid to get a little moan out of Kara. She smirked at how expressive Kara seemed to be. “I have the perfect job for you, my sweet Arrow. But, I need you to be something else first. I need you to be my perfect general before you can be my perfect consort. Can you do that for me?”

Kara’s breath hitched. “Yes. Yes. I want nothing more than to be perfect for you. Let me be perfect for you.”

“There we go dear. You’ll get to be, I promise.” Marianna guided Kara to her knees and traced Kara’s cheekbones with her thumbs. “Do you want to know the job I have for you?”

“Yes. Please tell me.”

“I need you to kill the superheroes.”

____________

No one noticed when Kara snuck into her base and left with a quiver full of cold arrows and all four kryptonite arrows in her possession. The thing about the superhero community was that it wasn’t a unified community, but rather a group of factions held together by alliances of an unsteady nature. And that was something that would work in her favor. Factions and their alliances were held together by central heroes. Kill the central heroes and alliances would break apart, factions would fracture, and soon the heroes would all isolate themselves. It would make them that much easier to kill.

Still, she needed to be careful. While more dangerous and thus a larger threat, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman wouldn’t hesitate to fight back if it was clear she was trying to kill them. Diana and Clark may be gentle and hold back due to their love of Barry, but she wouldn’t be able to defeat them.

Of course, she could take out the sidekicks easily enough. Nightwing, Spoiler, Signal, Kid Flash, or Stormfire would fall to her arrows before they even knew she was there. But that was too easy, it would never impress her mistress. No, It had to be Barry and Oliver. They would never strike her, never use their powers to do more than bruise her or restrain her.

It had to be them.

____________

Oliver felt the cold before the pain. It wasn’t really surprising when he thought about it later. His body would of course feel the freezing of his muscles, bones, and cells. Feel the lightning that always ran through his cells stop suddenly and vibrate against the one thing that would always stop it. Then he felt the pain in his hip, stabbing, gushing, and throbbing. The arrow tip half buried in his hip bone. Oliver looked at the arrow buried in his hip but even with his blurred vision he recognized it.

It was one of Kara’s arrows.

Oliver pressed on of the buttons that held his jacket closed, the one on the corner of the large lightning bolt across his chest, and activated his communicator. “Felicity! Call Barry! NOW! ”

Oliver gripped a hand around the arrow shaft, carefully trying to keep it in place while he moved. Right now, it was acting like the Little Dutch Boy, keeping the blood inside of him and while it hurt, the arrowhead cutting his flesh over and over again and scratching his hip bone, it was far safer than risking the frostbite spreading and blood running from a wound that the cold would prevent from closing.

He couldn’t stand, much less run, but he needed to get out of the open. Behind a car or a dumpster or something.

Oliver heard the familiar sound of Kara’s bow sliding down a zip line and her combat boots hitting the pavement. Oliver managed to crawl backwards a couple feet as Kara pulled another cold arrow out of her quiver and notched it. She only had three, having used the other two once when Oliver was whammied, but with an arrow in his hip, she only needed one to finish him off.

Oliver heard a familiar rush of air and smiled a little. Before Kara’s arrow could hit him Barry caught it and snapped the cold generator in half with a tiny squeeze of his hand.

Barry dropped the pieces of the arrow and turned to Oliver, he slipped quickly into Speed Talk so only Oliver could understand him. “You good?”

Oliver nodded and Barry turned back to Kara, speeding over as she began to pull a Kryptonite arrow from her quiver. Oliver could really only watch as Barry grabbed her bow, applying the smallest bit of super strength to rip the bow from her solid grip as he knocked her feet out from under her. The kryptonite went bouncing and Oliver watched the green glow through a numb haze as another wave of bitter cold spread through his leg.

Barry had Kara pinned down, holding her by her wrists as she struggled and began to scream.

“Let me go! You bastard! You won’t get away with this! I have a duty to my Mistress and I fully intend to complete it!”

Fear flashed through Barry’s eyes and he tightened his grip just a little. “I’m sorry about this Kara.” He let go of one of her wrists. Just long enough to hit her across the face with just enough strength to knock her unconscious. The cold started to spread from his leg, Oliver couldn’t stop shivering and he began to have trouble concentrating. He knew Barry had spoken to someone, that the flash of swirling light was one of Felicity’s portals, that it was Diggle who lifted  him up and carried him through, but it didn’t seem to register. All that registered as the cold, the pain, and the betrayal.

____________

When Oliver woke up, he was wrapped in warm blankets with an IV in his arm. Usually, speedsters woke up slowly. They slept hard, they slept deep, and they slept long. Mornings were hell and more than once Oliver and Roy had sat down to eat after a long patrol and just...fallen asleep. And after an injury like this? Well, Oliver tended to slip into healing comas. No, the only surefire way to wake up a speedster that didn’t involve constant prying was if someone they love is in danger.

Caitlin stuck her finger in Oliver’s face as he tried to sit up. “You’re leg isn’t healed yet.”

“Kara-”

“Is safely unconscious and strapped to a cot in the Pipeline. Barry’s watching over her. You can wait until your wound closes, but you’re wearing the brace.”

Oliver glared at Caitlin, but laid back down. He hated the braces. They were made of titanium and used to hold his limbs still. Apparently he “couldn’t be trusted with splints” and so drastic measures had to be taken. There was even one for his spine. It would make it difficult to get down the stairs to the Pipeline.

“What about Kara? How is she?”

Caitlin sighed. “If I show you here scans will you stay in bed until your arrow wound closes?”

“Cross my heart.”

Caitlin pursed her blue lips and narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, but still grabbed her tablet and pulled something up with a few quick taps. “These are scans of Kara’s brain. See these bright spots…”

“Her hippocampus, her prefrontal cortex, her pituitary gland...she’s in love?”

Caitlin nods. “It’s not natural love, though. Here...this is her brain during our routine scans, when I asked her about you and Barry...and here it is now.”

The glowing spots were about ten times a large and bright. Instead of the warm, happy spots that appeared in her routine scans, they were so bright and loud that they looked like they were burning. That..wasn’t right. Oliver stared at her brain for a few seconds, slowly piecing it together.

“Someone is using false love to control her.”

____________

About an hour later, Oliver limped down to the Pipeline on crutches, his hurt leg immobilized by the brace. True to Caitlin’s word, Barry stood guard in front of a cell, shoulders tense and still in his suit.

“She hasn’t woken up, yet?”

Barry shook his head, not looking away from Kara’s unconscious form. Worry lined his face and swam in his eyes. Oliver set one of the crutches against the wall and hobbled over to Barry. Barry reacted quickly, putting an arm around Oliver’s waist to stabilize him. Oliver purposefully leaned a little more of his weight than necessary against his boyfriend. Not only could Barry take it, but he would know it was a sign of affection and comfort.

“When she wakes up we’ll be able to figure out how to fix her.”

“I know. I just want her back.”

“Me too.”

____________

It took Kara a few more hours to wake up and within seconds she got to work trying to break herself out without any regard for her own body. Within a few minutes, despite Barry and Oliver’s pleading, she’d made her wrists bleed from struggling. She screamed herself horse about some mysterious mistress and a mission as Caitilin did test after test, mumbling possible cures under her breath. Finally, they had to put her back into the cell, wrists neatly wrapped in bandages and cuffs tugged tighter to try to decrease her ability to struggle.

“Wait!” Oliver called as he limped over to her side. “We will fix this Kara. I promise.”

“Fuck you.” she growled.

Oliver put a hand in her hair and leaned over, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead. Then he backed off and nodded, letting Kara be put back into her cell.

They next time they took her out for tests she was more subdued. She still clearly wasn’t Kara, but she wasn’t screaming about some crazy “mistress” and threatening them.

“Whatever this Meta-Human is using to control her seems to be wearing off.” Caitlin said, showing them Kara’s most recent scans. “It’s possible that it’s something that needs to be topped off regularly.”

Barry scrolled through the scans. “No look. They suddenly changed. If it was something that needed to be topped off, there would have been a gradual decrease in her hormones and brain activities. They just...dropped by half randomly. Caitlin, what did you do?”

Caitlin looked over the scans again, thoughtfully looking over everything. “I mean, I tried a series of hormone treatments, but they wouldn’t work this drastically this quickly.”

Oliver’s eyes went wide as he remembered something. “I kissed her. Right before we put her back in her cell.”

“Of course!” Caitlin exclaimed, “Real love hormones to counteract the false ones! Barry, Oliver. Go kiss your girlfriend!”

____________

Kara woke up to Barry’s lips on her own, a killer headache, and her wrists burning. She blinked a couple times and pulled away from the kiss, not even realizing she’d been leaning into it. She was tied down on a medical cot with reinforced handcuffs and in the Pipeline for some reason. She blinked again and looked around, Barry was leaning over her, brushing hair off her forehead, and Oliver was on crutches, leg trapped in one of his braces.

“What happened? Ollie? Are you okay?”

They both smiled and crowded her, hands in her hair and cupping her face.

“You’re back.” Oliver breathed happily as he pressed a kiss to her lips.

“Yeah. Two questions. Where did I go and can you please untie me?”

#fanfiction #writing prompts #Karivarry Life Swap AU #Arrow #The Flash #Supergirl #AU #prompt #Karivarry #Life Swap AU

[kingfugue]

swan kingdom part 4-- EP

The first thing I noticed was the soft nature of my surroundings. My eyes weren’t open yet, but I felt as though a cloud was giving me a gentle hug, and I squirmed around in disbelief. “Oh,” a voice said from my right.

I opened my eyes to find the speaker, who, to my horror, was Mr. Crosswicks, dressed in a smart lavender sweater vest and holding an open book. “Mr. Crosswicks? W-what happened?” I stuttered. “Did I-- am I--”

“Well, after you passed out, I couldn’t just leave your lifeless body on the floor, could I?”

“Ah. Thank you very much, Mr. Crosswicks, I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“Yes, I’ll make sure of it.” He snapped the book shut and scrutinized my face for a few tense moments before speaking. “When was the last time you ate something?”

How did he know everything I tried to hide? Could he read minds or something? “I’m not sure,” I replied. “How long was I asleep?”

“Approximately fourteen hours.”

“Fourteen--? Oh goodness, I’m so sorry. I really will make it up to you.”

“Answer the question.”

I swallowed, then mumbled, “er… three days ago… I think… or maybe four?”

“Good god. Remind me of your name.”

“Eden… Perelli…”

“You are a fucking idiot, Eden Perelli.” Mr. Crosswicks stood up and walked around the bed to open the door and yell down the hall, “Bellamy, lunch for two, and bring it soon.”

While he relayed orders, I observed the space. A wardrobe faced me on the other side, and to my right, a window let rays of sunlight filter inside. One electric light blazed from the center of the ceiling encased in a glass flower. And the walls-- I recognized the lavender walls at once-- I was still in Mr. Crosswick’s house. My face reddened. This man, a renowned scientist, caught me in his arms and let me sleep in his home. In a bed! I couldn’t recall the last time I slept in a bed.

“Do you take tea or coffee?” he asked me over his shoulder.

“Uh-- I’m not sure.”

He rolled his eyes. “Both, Bellamy, please and thank you. Yes, that’s all.”

“T-thank you.”

Without acknowledging me, Mr. Crosswicks closed the door and went back to his chair next to the bed. “So, you told me last night that you had information about IRs. Some information that you assumed I don’t already possess.”

When he put it like that, I realized how pompous it seemed for me to visit. More blood rushed to my face. “I suppose so,” I said.

“Would you care to share your findings with me?”

I decided to start with a preamble. “I’m a friend of Holland Rusk. She helps run the Rusk Bookshop, just north of here, and she gave me your name.”

“Oh, yes, I recall buying a book from her a few days ago. Rather chatty. Intelligent, for a civilian.”

“That’s her. She told me about your research, which is why I’m here.”

“I’m aware.”

“Mr. Crosswicks, forgive me if I sound ignorant, but how many interactions have you had with IRs?”

He considered this. For how rude he acted, at least he seemed to be taking me seriously now. “I have never met one,” he said. “My parents conducted most of the experiments and they died from radiation poisoning. I have utilized previous research or experimented on light forms of radioactivity-- plants, and the like.”

“You know the mutations vary from subject to subject, right? Some humans become animalistic, some humans can still think and communicate?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well--” I sat up in bed and rearranged my blankets, and realized that I was no longer wearing pants. I yelped and yanked the covers up over my legs. 

“Oh, yes. I treated your leg,” Mr. Crosswicks supplied.

“Y-you did?” I lifted the covers a few inches to check. Sure enough, my left shin was wrapped up in clean white gauze. “Oh! Thank you so much, Mr. Crosswicks! I--”

“Yes, yes,” he replied impatiently, “continue.”

I replaced the blankets. “Right. I’m sorry. Well, I’ve spent the last few years searching for IRs and helping them hide from monster hunters. I like to think I’ve got a good reputation among them.”

Mr. Crosswicks pondered this. “Miss Rusk mentioned you,” he mused.

“Right! You see, when I first moved to New London, a humanoid IR was the first one who showed me any kindness, and I knew that that they had to be misunderstood. So I found an old radiation suit in a dumpster, and I thought, I might as well try to do some good-- pay that kindness forward. I tried to be public about it at first. I rallied in the streets with a few IRs to bring public awareness to the issue, but I was arrested. A year later I escaped from prison and I’ve been on the run ever since. Oh, and if you want to turn me in,” I added quickly, “I won’t fight, Mr. Crosswicks, I understand. I just need you to hear me out before that happens.”

He held up a hand to stop me and I fell silent. “I am less interested in IRs and more interested in you.”

“Er-- me? Why?”

“Yes. You say you have lived with multiple IRs?”

“That’s right. Dozens, probably.”

“When did this begin?”

I counted on my fingers. “About-- ten years ago, is when I started.”

“When did you get the radiation suit?”

“That would be nine years ago.”

“You’ve used this suit ever since?”

“I haven’t had the money to buy a brand new one, so… yes.” His eyes hadn’t left me once and it was starting to make me uncomfortable. “Mr. Crosswicks, I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about,” I continued.

“You don’t? Eden-- may I call you Eden?”

“Yes.”

“Eden, by all rights, you should be dead. I could feel the radiation coming off of you the moment you stepped into my study. As I have explained, I have studied various forms of radiation for years now, and I consider myself something of an expert on the subject. According to my research, the radiation suit you dug out of the trash should not have worked as well as you hoped, and your continued interactions with IRs should have killed you.”

So that’s what he meant last night when he told me that I was dying. He hadn’t predicted that the Rat Catcher was hunting me, he somehow felt the leftover radioactivity from the IRs. “Does that mean… I can’t help you?” I asked, feeling my heart sink.

“That depends. How do you feel about being observed?”

“Observed?”

A knock sounded at the door. The woman, Bellamy, came in, balancing a gargantuan tray in her arms, and setting it down with practiced precision on my lap. Fine china plates bearing piles of steaming sausages, arrays of tiny sandwiches, glazed meats, and salad, were spread out in neat rows in front of me. “Thank you,” I said, wondering what to eat first.

“You’re very welcome, dear,” she replied, casting a shifty glance to Mr. Crosswicks, who didn’t return it, and instead waved her out.

The moment she closed the door behind, he ordered, “eat.”

“Don’t you want some? You said it was for two.”

“Yes. I’m betting you can eat enough for two people, considering how long you’ve gone hungry.”

He wasn’t wrong. Without bothering myself with a fork, I began by sampling all of the sandwiches, which were cut into neat little squares and that I could fit between two fingers. Each one fit perfectly in my mouth. I didn’t recognize most of these flavors, but enjoyed each one all the same. Normally, what I ate came out of other people’s trash cans, so this was a real treat.

Mr. Crosswicks had gone quiet, probably because he knew I couldn’t get a word out while I ate. I glanced over at him. He had taken out a notebook to write in. 

I swallowed the sandwich I was working on and asked, “What are you writing?”

“Notes.”

“Notes about what?”

He used the pen in his hand to point at the plate of sandwiches in front of me. “You reached for the cucumber first. Then the chicken, tomato, and finally, the potato salad. Tomato elicited the most positive reaction.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to this. Was he taking notes on me? “Is this what you meant by ‘observing’?” I said.

“Yes. I’d like to learn how you act, what patterns you exhibit, in a controlled environment-- if you don’t object.”

“Would it help your IR research?”

“Very much, I think. You see, the majority of the population is scared of IRs because of their unavoidable radioactivity, and the belief that living in close proximity with them is fatal. You could prove them wrong. In fact--” Mr. Crosswicks put his pen and paper down so he could lean closer. “If you want to pay me back, you can start by cooperating in experiments.”

“What would I have to do?”

“It’s simple. I want to visit you as regularly as possible, in your natural habitat. At your home.”

My heart skipped a beat. Home. “I’m not sure that would be possible, Mr. Crosswicks,” I replied.

He placed a hand on my arm, as though to comfort me, and again my heart fluttered. “You would only have to act as you normally do,” he coaxed. “I ask you questions, you answer. I need a blood sample, you give it to me. And if you want the IRs to keep visiting, I’ll donate an old radiation suit of mine, so I will know exactly what types of radiation you are experiencing.”

“It isn’t that. I would be fine with all that.”

“Then what on earth is the problem?”

“I-- I--” My hands clenched at the blanket. I could never go back to the warehouse, not while the Rat Catcher continued to hunt me. Considering that I planned that last night would indeed be my last, I hadn’t even contemplated the possibility that I might survive another day. Where was I supposed to go now? Straight back to the warehouse to wait for the Rat Catcher to find me, to sit in anguishing wait for death? 

A tear dripped down my cheek and I rubbed it away and swallowed my cries. “It won’t work, Mr. Crosswicks, I’m sorry,” I whimpered.

“Won’t work?” He placed his notes on the floor. I could tell he had no idea why I was crying or how to stop me. “I’m-- Eden, look at me, it’s alright-- I’m offering you the opportunity of a lifetime. You came to me--”

“I know, I did, and I’m sorry. Thank you for everything but I should go now.”

Out of instinct, he reached his other hand for my face, and then just as awkwardly withdrew it, and put it on his lap. “Would you tell me why?” he inquired gently.

“The sad truth is, if I tell you, you may be in danger,” I replied.

“I’ll be in danger?”

I stared down at the tray of food to avoid his concerned eyes. “Someone wants to kill me, Mr. Crosswicks. They know where I live. They follow me. I’m not sure if they know I’m here, but if I go back home, I’ll die.”

“Why do they want you dead?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, they didn’t say. They hunt IRs for a living, I think. Yesterday, I wanted to keep a promise to a friend that I would find you, so I came here after I escaped. That’s where the cuts on my leg came from. So, you see… I have no home to go back to.”

He paused, and rested his hand on my arm again. Goosebumps rose on my skin. “Why did you come here? Were you looking for a place to hide?”

“No, I swear that isn’t it! I made a promise to my friend that I would share my knowledge of IRs with you. He knew how much I wanted to make a change but was too afraid for so many years. I just thought, if I’m going to die, I should die after I accomplish something.”

“Good god. And here I was thinking you were some starving tramp coming to my door to take advantage of me.”

“I would never!”

Mr. Crosswicks chuckled. “Yes, I believe you.”

He was smiling. Actually smiling. Up until this point, a frown stayed painted on his face, and now a little grin emerged from under the facade. 

It was beautiful.

“I-- I wish I c-could help you,” I stammered.

“Perhaps we could help each other. Go on, eat, you need it.”

I didn’t want to remove my arm from his grasp, so I used my left one to fumble around for the fork and skewer leaves of salad.

“You have no place to live,” Mr. Crosswicks began. “If you go outside, you could very well be killed. I want to observe you on a regular basis in order to advance my IR research. Do you understand where I’m going with this, Eden?”

I frantically chewed my mouthful of salad, swallowed, and replied, “not really.”

“I’m suggesting that you live here for a time.”

“Here? Here, as in-- here, here? Your house?”

“Here here.” He withdrew his hand from me and gestured around the room to prove his point. “I have more than enough space for myself since my parents died. I’ll give you this extra bedroom, a bathroom, everything you could need.”

This was too good to be true. Was I dreaming? I just sat there, stunned, waiting for him to add a “kidding!”.

We stared each other down. “I need your consent before I set this up,” he continued.

“Uh. Are y-you sure?”

“Yes. I don’t care if you’re being hunted, my house is the safest place in New London. You agree to be my test subject?”

I didn’t like the term test subject, but I didn’t know how else to define myself now, so I nodded and answered, “yes, I’ll be your test subject.”

“Perfect! Let me draw up the papers and I’ll be right back. Finish your lunch, I want you to regain your health as soon as possible.” He stood up, abandoning his book and notes, and strode out the door, leaving me in contemplative silence.

Test subject. Me, a test subject? Have I gotten myself into something bad?

No, no, I persuaded myself. You can trust Mr. Crosswicks.

Why? Another voice chimed in. Why should I trust him? I only just met him.

And in that time he’s done more for me than anyone has in years without my asking him to. 

Yes, I was sure of it. I could trust him. I would keep my guard up-- not like I had been during lunch when I poured my heart out-- but I could trust him for now.

#lgbtq #novel #dystopian #scifi #nanowrimo

[hansmarx-blog1]

Few Clouds, 5°C

Bommerholzer Str. 9, 58452 Witten, Deutschland

A place you should avoid

Wir sind jetzt dabei, den zweiten Teil unserer Reise durch die USA vorzubereiten. Die Flüge sind gebucht , Harpo hat auch ein Platz im Frachtraum ergattert, es kann losgehen. Am 27. März fliegen wir nach San Francisco, nehmen ein Mietwagen Richtung Sacramento und fahren am nächsten Tag nach Salt Lake City, um zunächst einmal Michelle Simpson zu besuchen, unsere alte Freundin aus Park City. Wir hätten also gerne ein Motel in der Nähe von Sacramento, wo wir auch mit Harpo unterkommen können. Das ist nicht ganz so einfach in den USA. Viele Hotels nehmen keine Hunde, andere werben damit, dass sie Pet friendly seien. Das ist schon mal gut, nicht so gut ist, dass sie sich ihre Freundlichkeit zum Teil fürstlich bezahlen lassen. 50 und mehr Dollar dafür, dass die Töle mit ins Zimmer darf sind da gar nichts. Zum Glück ist das nicht überall so, aber man muss aufpassen.

Das Haus einer bekannten Kette, bei der wir ganz gerne übernachten, machte auf den Bildern einen guten Eindruck Komma aber die Bewertungen auf TripAdvisor hatten es doch in sich. Man wundert sich fast, dass es Hotels auf solche Bewertungen einfach ankommen lassen und sich schon mal gar nicht dafür interessieren. Overall Rating

(13 Reviews) Horror show

March 13, 2019 I'd give no stars if possible and more photos are to come too. My worst experience in a hotel in my entire 58 years on this earth. They disrespected my service to my country as a Veteran. The lady at front desk had no idea of what she was doing or talking about. They have rooms that are so nasty they should be condemned "but as long as the money rolls in who cares" appears to be their moto. Gave us the wrong room and I hobbled to room with my caregiver and the room was already taken and it was OMG like a dumpster and on the one bed was 3 YES 3 little babies I mean like 15 months oldest maybe and for the 3 seconds we stood there it almost made me sick the stink coming out of that room. The weed smell through the whole hotel is like nothing I've smelled before. As I said this is the worst experience I've ever had. I called corporate office and got disrespected again by a "supervisor" and I use that term loosely as possible. The only bright moment in this whole ride through hood trap was speaking to a Jennifer the boss of the incompetent "supervisor who disrespected me. If your a drug addict, gang member or just plain trash do stay here, you'll fit right in and be right at home. I have filed complaints with CPS, The Health Department etc. I've sent all the photos along with a email to every local news station also. This type of behavior cannot be allowed to exist. It's a breeding ground for everything not good for our City and neighbors

Disagree with other reviews here

December 30, 2018 Super friendly staff. Those others must have been fired or something. The parking area and vicinity is patrolled at night and parking was no problem at all there was extra parking unlike other Red Roof locations here in Sac. There is like 10 fast food places within walking distance. (that's me though. For sure, Wendy's across the street. I went to Del Taco like less than a minute drive away. Patricia told me she has been here six months and was very nice letting me know about the veteran's discount. Thanks.

Want Some Heroin with That?!

December 15, 2018 One star only because zero stars aren't an option. I wish I'd checked yelp before booking this piece of sh*t hotel. The lobby appeared clean and contemporary so I figured it was a decent enough place. We came to Sac to see the Nutcracker ballet and when we arrived back at the hotel we were quickly accosted by a turd selling heroin and crack. He even had the nerve to shove a bag of his drugs in my 12 year old daughter's face! To make matters worse, he came out of the office and when I called down there to report him the clerk refused to answer the phone. It appears that the staff is in on the drug selling shenanigans. I called the sherrif's office and reported it. After this I'm posting on Hotels.com, Traveladvisor.com, and contacting the better business bureau and Red Roof Inn's corporate office.

Roaches

November 23, 2018 Reserved a non smoking room but the room smelled badly of smoke. Could have delt with that but the room was filled with cockroaches. Went back to lobby and requested refund. Clerk was polite and processed refund with no issues. So no complaints of the employers. But can't stay in a place with so many roaches. Neighborhood is pretty sketchy too. Did not feel safe parking and staying there.

Very insulting staff and unprofessional lazy manager r December 19, 2017 I just want to start by saying I never write reviews but after the treatment my family received I had to make sure I start good or bad for all deserving businesses. We checked in and was a little surprised how unfriendly and very short (morning) front desk staff was. Tatiana I believe was knowledgeable of her job but short and not friendly. So checking into the room it was clear management didn't check rooms after staff or give *need to fix list for maintenance. There was black hair on bedsheet. Quilt had food stains and other stains I don't wanna know what they were on them. We also noticed black hair in shower. Tub was not clean at all. we called front desk not asking for anything but just telling them for their knowledge. Also, one bulb in living room out and needed few other maintenance things done. Painting, toilet kept stopping up and broken window lock. So my husband had went to grocery store second morning and called front desk to say no service and please don't knock on door because our 11 yr old 12 next week son was there and we told him not open door unless we called to tell him. She said ok, no problems. Third morning we left hotel from bank which is five minutes down the street and it was 1130. We lost track of time but only 30 minutes and told her we were staying. She gave me attitude and said ok but we needed to be there by noon to pay or we would be charged a late fee. Umm ok but we got there by noon. When we got back our son informed us manager had called room and asked him why he was alone and it was against the law. Shocked we went downstairs to find out the problem and asked why they didn't question us when we paid before going up to room. There were two girls who immediatly started scolding us and saying it was against the law and treating us like bad parents. We told them to check state laws because it's at parents discretion after a certain age. And a almost 12yr old was ok alone for 30 minutes to a hour. They then acted shocked and said well they wouldn't do it. So we went back to room and as time passed I couldn't stop thinking about it and spoke to my husband who said it's just those girls and the night shift employee was really nice (a young guy) and security team was also nice and professional we decided to see if anything else would happen as we had one more day on reservation. That night there were sketchy young people outside obviously high and loud. I called front desk and I guess when security is off two days it's party time. Also that night my son had his hand under mattress and pulled out some old candy wrappers. The next morning at breakfast we told Tatiana and she was rude and said maintenance checks all rooms and basically implied we had done it. We even said we didn't expect anything just wanted the management to know they need to walk thru rooms to check on employees. The rest of day went on without incident and we were supposed to check out next morning. So my husband had lost car key and we couldn't find it. We looked all over property and couldn't find it. We made another reservation on line and called front desk (Tatiana again) and told her we made a reservation on line and needed another day. I explained my husband lost keys and she said ok. Our insurance (Geico, and they are awesome) sent a tow truck to us and opened our car. They waited ten minutes for us to search car and leave with them to go and have another very expensive key made. We were at dealership having a key maid when Tatiana called and said they found a car key and it was to a Ford. I was happy but it was to late (not her fault) However, we got back at 12:49pm and went to office to get key. Tatiana said we didn't sign papers by noon and manager charging us $25 late fee. We said we had called before noon to inform them we needed another night and why. She said nope we were supposed to sign by noon and computer started flagging us and charging us late fee. She could've checked us out and had paper there for us to sign and checked us in after we got back. Again, not their problem and manager wasn't there but we could have her voicemail. We were upset and told them we were leaving and we would return to checkout. She said we had 30 minutes or she was keeping our whole deposit. We ran upstairs and five minutes Tatiana calls and says her manager had called Sheriff because we didn't checkout on time. I got really angry and felt like I was being treated extremely poorly by staff. She didn't care and we now only had $10 of our $60 deposit left. I asked why she said 30:and she yelled no, and hurry up. We been informed already of hotel policy's which I thought when I called at noon to tell her we were staying we covered that. She didn't say otherwise. I hung up on her and still hurried out thinking no way a chain like this would let their employees act like this. Then a knock at door and rude maintenance man and two housekeepers stood their until we left, never getting a deposit at all. We waited and manager never came. it was working hours. I know this was long but I will write this review everywhere, every week until refunded deposit and a apology I will stand on Watt Ave and stop business. People gotta know. and as we waited in parking lot a man came out yelling cause he was charged $20 for one dirty towel. Horrible service.

Powered by Journey Diary.

#motel

[gluupor]

A spy AU written for the Andreil Week prompt: video games

When Andrew was a teenager he hadn't been able to picture a future for himself. He assumed he'd either be dead or in prison by this time in his life. He couldn't have imagined that he'd ever have a life like this. He had gone to university, he had a safe place to live, he had a steady job, he had friends, and no one had touched him without his consent since he was thirteen. Sure, technically he hadn't graduated university, thanks to Aaron getting him kicked out. And he didn't own his own house, he lived with his cousin Nicky and Nicky's boyfriend, Erik. And his job was helping computer illiterate people with problems of their own making, as a member of the Nerd Herd at the local BuyMore. And he didn't have friends so much as he had friend, singular, and several acquaintances that he didn't hate. And although he'd come to terms with his sexuality and dated a little, he'd never found anyone who could hold his interest. But, still. His life may have not been the most glamorous or exciting, but it was his. He'd worked hard to get this far and he was content. He didn't appreciate Nicky's attempts at trying to improve him.

Which was why he was hiding in his bedroom to escape the party that Nicky had thrown for his twenty seventh birthday.

Keep Reading

#AndreilWeek2018 #aftg #andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #renee walker #nicky hemmick #kevin day #my fic

[royallyanxious]

Collapsing Star - Chapter 3 // Panini and cafes

Summary: Roman learns a little bit more about Virgil and himself

TW:  depression, suicide attempt, anxiety attack, homophobia, abusive parents, also I curse a lot

Word count: 4281 (meaning long ass shit)

You can read this on AO3

Chapter 1   Previous Chapter  

Chapter 4   Chapter 5

All days seem to be similar to each other recently. Roman gets up in the morning. Checks if the theater was opened on the right time. He watches the rehearsals of the performances, gives actors his advices, he records the number of the people on the audience during last night and he goes back home. Every weekend he visits Patton and Logan. Every weekend he finds out that Virgil's not there. Every weekend he's a little bit disappointed with that.

"So how does it look? Doesn't he have to like checkup on you Patton?" asks Roman one long evening when the three of them, Roman, Patton and Logan, sit over some board game. Patton hums. The name doesn’t have to pop out, everybody knows about who Roman ask.

"No, not exactly. If he sees his doctor, he doesn't have to tell me anything. And I know that he hasn't missed a single visit during last few weeks. Sometimes he calls me to tell me that he's okay and stuff like that but he does it mostly because he knows that I'm worried."

Roman nods. Virgil definitely cares if Patton worries.

"It looked differently when he was younger though." continues Patton "Back then almost every therapy session was conducted with me since he wasn't officially adult. Actually he could legally give up on whole project after his 18th birthday. But he didn't. Both me and his psychologist were delighted with this fact because he was getting through some really rough time back then..."

"What do you mean?" Roman tilts his head and immediately regrets asking.

"He had his suicide attempt." states calmly Logan but Roman sees how his fingers twitch when he tries to explain "He... Virgil was trying to hang himself a week before his 18th birthday." Logan drops his head. Roman stiffens.

"You-you don’t have to tell that if you don't want to guys."

Logan waves his hand off as if it was nothing and Patton nervously shifts on his seat. No one is interested in the game anymore.

"It was me who found him actually..." Logan sighs and takes off the glasses to rub the corners of his eyes "He asked me to deliver some book or maybe it was a magazine to his house. I arrived a little bit earlier because I wanted to avoid crossing paths with his mother. We don't like each other. Actually she doesn't like anyone which is probably one of the reasons of his state."

"Stupid bitch." mutters Patton under his breath and Roman is out of breath. This is the first time he has heard Patton cursing.

"Agreed but back to the story..." Logan coughs to gain back Roman's attention "So I climbed upstairs and I don't know... In the middle of the staircase some bad feeling hit me so I started running. The doors were opened and it made me freak out even more. I remember that there were a lot of papers on the ground and Virgil's cat almost ran away but I couldn't care less. I completely lost my mind and was running from a room to a room shouting his name. I found him in the last room. Oh God I will never forget this..." Logan hid face in his arms and Patton protectively wrapped his arm around his boyfriend. Logan sobbed soundlessly "He was standing there... On a chair... It was white and i remember clearly it was the only white thing in his room... He had this ridiculous purple shirt with tears on and... and... his neck... He was surprised... It was the only emotion that I could see on his face. Surprise. He didn't expect me there. I saw that in his eyes. Maybe that surprise is what let me save him... I've never cried like I cried back then w-when he took off that rope and let me hug him... My... My best friend Roman... He planned killing myself and I haven't even noticed."

Roman remains silent letting Logan cry as much as he wants to. Patton sobs quietly too. Small but  numerous rain drops start hitting the surface of the glass. It sounds like a melody. Roman looks outside. He wonders if Virgil looks at the rain now too. And if he does what does he think about.

---

Next morning is the first morning for Roman when he oversleeps his alarm. All three of them to be more precise. Luckily he arrives to the theater on time but he had to skip the breakfast. And he’s hungry. Like, really hungry. His stomach is louder than the whole orchestra to the point that one of the actors delicately suggests him to take a break and go grab something to eat. Roman fights with the urge to refuse, since the first performance is in few days, but his basic needs win over the responsibility. The weather is nice after the rain, the air is fresh and it's not so cold, so he decides to take a walk to the shopping quarter nearby. He has been there a few times and he knows that there's a place which serves amazing lunch. Roman crosses street after street when suddenly a familiar purple hair grabs his attention. He doesn't know what makes him follow Virgil instead of going to the panini heaven but he does. He follows Virgil carefully, paying attention to keep the distance. To his utter surprise Virgil stops in front of the entrance of a place which looks like... well... like a brothel.

Not that Roman minds. No of course, everybody has their needs but... he's shocked. He didn't suspect Virgil is the type of person to go to get laid at... 10 am. From behind the dumpster he watches as Virgil rocks back and forward on his toes. He looks so small. And so lost. So out of place. Suddenly he takes his phone out of the pocket and quickly types something in. He then sits back under the wall and Roman at this point has really no idea what is going on but he's willing to wait and see. After few minutes the door swing open and Virgil gets up to be almost immediately wrapped in a tight hug by some girl. Roman can't see it clearly from this distance but he looks a little bit older than Virgil. She is wearing short skirt and big jacket. Seemingly she's on a break but Roman can't take that for sure. Virgil says something and girl takes some time to think before reply. Virgil grins and nods. He quickly pulls out his phone and hands it to girl. She types something and disappears back in the building.

Roman frowns trying to connect the dots. Was it that girl who Virgil is "dating" according to Patton? But Roman knows that Virgil has a crush on Patton? So he was playing just distracting himself with that girl? Roman has just casually assumed that Virgil was gay after noticing his crush on Patton but after all... But did the event he has just witnessed implied any romantic relationship?

"What are you doing here?" asks a voice from above and Roman looks up to see very confused Virgil himself. Apparently Roman got so lost in thoughts that he hasn't even noticed that Virgil was going this way.

"I-I saw you in the streets and..." Roman stutters and gets up from the space between two dumpsters.

"And you stalked me?" Virgil's eyebrow raises a little bit.

"No! Nonononono, I was just walking this way!" Roman blushes deeply trying to wiggle out of the awkward situation.

"And two bins were the place where you were going?" says Virgil sarcastically crossing arms on his chest "Sorry, I don't believe you Romeo." he adds dryly.

Roman knows that there's no point in pretending. He should have known that from the beginning.

"Sorry..." he admits bashfully, feeling  hotness blooming on his cheeks. Virgil looks at Roman for a while behind the bangs before he breaks into giggle.

"You should have seen your face." he says finally and Roman blushes even harder. Virgil bits his lips "I forgive you, don't worry." he sighs finally. "It was nice seeing you Roman." he declares and takes a step forward when Roman grabs his hand. Virgil's looks at him shocked "Dude, you gotta stop touching me so randomly, ever heard of space bubble?" he snaps and Roman immediately takes his hand back.

"Sorry, I was... I was just wondering if I could make it all up to you by treating you with lunch." he rubs the back of his neck. He can't remember when was the last time he got so shy so quickly. Because of a minor in addition.

Virgil clicks his tongue. The sound rolls across the empty alley.

"You do realize it's not even noon?" he replies with a question.

"A late breakfast then." Roman smiles shyly and looks at Virgil. To his utter surprise Virgil's eyes travel from Roman's face down to his toes. Is he checking me out?

"Sure why not." puffs Virgil and starts walking down the alley not waiting for Roman. The latter quickly jogs to him. They walk in silence for a while before Roman finally takes courage to ask Virgil:

"Not to sound rude but were you checking me out just few minutes ago?" with a corner of his eye his looks at Virgil. His face expression doesn't change even in the slightest, he still looks like a bored, a little bit sleepy puppy.

"Nope."

"It looked like you were checking me out though..." Roman doesn't plan on giving up so easily.

"You wish..." Virgil smirks slightly and Roman's heart twitches. He shakes his head. He couldn't possibly hope for Virgil to check him out, did he?

"How would you react if I did wish that?" he grins brightly sensing a good moment to tease this emo boy.

Virgil's head jerks up. Roman with surprise notices a pastel pink blush on his cheeks.

"I mean... I-I guess... You know... I mean... I'm not exactly..." he stutters awkwardly and Roman can't help but burst into giggles. His embarrassment was totally worth it. Virgil grunts "Fucking bastard..." he mumbles to himself which causes Roman to burst into another wave of laughter. That was almost too easy.

Roman keeps on giggling and Virgil keeps on grunting angrily until they arrive to the cafe Roman intended to go on the first place. He stands in the line to order something when he notices that Virgil shifts awkwardly on his spot.

"What's up Gloomy? Come, pick something. I will take an order." Roman snaps his fingers in front of Virgil's eyes.

"I... Ekehm, I didn't think you were serious about this. I mean... I should probably pay for myself but I don't really have any cash on me so..." he rubs his arm and his gaze once again lands on the ground. Roman can't help but smile softly.

"Of course I was serious. It's my treat!" he says smoothly "How about I will pick something for you and you will sit down and wait for me?  Okay?" his words somehow manage Virgil to look up for a tiny bit of second before his eyes drop down again. He nods quietly and scans the room looking for some free spot. He finally notices one in the corner of the room and rushes to sit there, when he does so he looks up and sends awkward thumbs up to Roman, before pulling out his phone.

Roman grins to himself. Virgil is really adorable. Despite that whole emo look, he's really adorable. Roman instantly feels that it is just the part of Virgil's personality. Virgil could be 40 and would still give that kind of vibes, no matter how hard he tried to hide that. Roman sighs softly orders two brunches for him and Virgil. He doesn't really know what Virgil likes so he decides to stick with his usual order. He takes the tray and carefully walks to the table, paying attention not to spill the coffee in the mugs. He places the tray down.

"You sure you don't want me to give you money for that?" asks Virgil quietly with his eyes glued on the phone. Roman starts to suspect that this is his defensive position. That way he doesn't have to look into the other's person eyes while talking.

"Yeah I'm sure." chuckles Roman and takes a bite of warm toast with avocado. Virgil puts down his phone and eyes the brunch in front of him.

"So you feed me with greens too?" he asks finally but reluctantly picks up the fork.

Roman smiles.

"Not intentionally. I just got you something I like." he watches Virgil munching the meal and with pleasure observes that his lips twitch up a little bit.

"It's okay... I guess..." hums Virgil and puts another bite into his mouth. "Don't smile at me, you look creepy." he adds and Roman bites his lips. He definitely has a soft spot for some of Virgil's actions. They stay silent until both of them finish eating. Roman glances at the clock, he still have a little bit of time before going back to work.

He props his elbows on the table and rest chin on his tangles fingers.

"So Virgil... Will you tell me what where you doing there?" he asks carefully. Virgil glances at him and takes a sip of his coffee. His purple nails contrast with the white mug he's holding.

"Why would I? It has nothing to do with you." he watches Roman carefully. His dark eyes are half-closed but the whites are still clearly visible between heavy layers of dark make-up.

"I'm just curious." Roman adjusts on his seat.

"Hmm... Curiosity killed the cat Roman. And I would know. I have a cat and she's getting herself into dangerous situations all the time." Virgil look through the window.

"Don't try changing the subject." sings Roman quietly and Virgil snorts.

"You're like Disney prince." he states with a great dose of irony "You sing well, you look good, you have pleasant voice..." his voice is quiet, slowly drifting more and more distant. Roman feels that his cheeks once again grow red. This is a strange feeling because normally he's used to receiving such a compliments. They just sound... oddly satisfying when coming from Virgil.

"Well, if you wanted my number you could just ask." Roman winks, trying to keep up his facade. Virgil glimpses at him and snorts.

"I didn't mean it like that prince charming."

"I know, you're just trying to escape from replying to my question." Roman straightens up and sends Virgil the most angelic smile he can. They stare at each other for few moments before Virgil finally sighs a quiet "Fine".

"It's nothing big though. Cynthia is just my friend. I got to know her through my lovely mother. Just like you saw Cynthia works at her place. She's a little bit like an older sister to me. But not in the annoying way like Patton wants to be my brother or whatever family shit he's up to. Anyway she's my fake girlfriend. You know. In front of my mum. That's all. I needed to confirm something with her." states Virgil calmly. His voice is completely ripped of emotions and icy cold. Roman blinks.

"But... That means that..." he stutters confused.

"Yep. Cynthia's a prostitute at my mommy's brothel and at the same time pretends to be my girlfriend. Hope you're satisfied now." Virgil leans back on his chair and taps his fingers against the table.

"Wait. Let me sort it..." Roman gently rubs his forehead and closes his eyes "So you fake dating a prostitute who works at your mother's... place? Sorry but all of these sounds just pointless I mean..." he opens his eyes trying to find answers in Virgil's ones.

Virgil shrugs.

"It works for me, Cynthia and mum." Roman can sense a little bit of poison in Virgil's voice whenever he's mentioning his mother "Mommy doesn't like the idea of... you know... boys coming anywhere near me ever since she found out that I may or may not swing both ways. Except that I don't. I'm just as straight as fucking polygon.” He laughs, so this is just as Roman has suspected before “Unless the male I know is obviously straight I shouldn't really come close to him. So I figured out that if I fake to have a girlfriend mommy would give me a slack. Cynthia just happened to be right person on the right place."

Roman tries to adjust all the information. So: Virgil's mother owns a brothel. She's homophobic. Virgil is 100% gay. Also has a crush on Patton who treats him as a son and on the top of that Virgil pretends to date a prostitute. That's quite a lot.

"How about Patton and Logan though?" asks Roman curiously. I mean, let's be honest Patton is the most obvious gay Roman has ever met.

"I kept them a secret until I was 18. She didn't give a fuck about my therapy anyway."

"Oh." Roman is speechless "I'm sorry..." he adds.

"Don't be. I'm actually glad she's like that. Except you know... like homophobia. But I can deal with that too. She hasn't liked me even before she found out about that."

Roman looks at Virgil puzzled and Virgil grinds at him bitterly. He points his long pale finger at his own chest.

"This emo piece of shit was an accident and is reminded about that every day."

Suddenly Roman regrets he has even brought up the subject at the first place. He frowns and sinks into his seat not knowing what to say. Virgil shakes his head as if he was deeply disappointed.

"Don't you dare to pity me, Ro." he says huskily and Roman looks up. Suddenly Virgil looks like he was at least 10 years older than he is in reality "It's the one thing I can't stand in people. When they pity me. I'm okay. It's my reality Roman, really. It's been my reality for years and yes, I had some major crisis but I'm really used to that. People are a little bit like puzzles. Even if they at the end show one picture, it doesn't mean that every piece clicks with the other. That's how it is between me and my mother." he leans a little bit closer, staring into his dark nails "We create each other pictures but we just don't stick together. I've accepted that long time ago. I just wish I realized that earlier to be honest. When I was a kid for example." He stretches his arms and looks at Roman though the space between his fingers. "So don't pity me. Please. Just take this story and accept it as fucked up as it is." He rests the hand on the table.

Roman opens his mouth to say something when two girls walk over to their table. Virgil immediately sinks into his baggy clothes. Roman raises one eyebrow.

"How may I be in your assistance?" he asks softly, almost sure what the next question will be. Girls giggle quietly before one of them, the taller one with long brown hair leans over the table (completely ignoring Virgil who’s sitting across it).

"I was wondering if by any chance I could ask you for a cup of tea or coffee." she asks smiling sweetly.

Roman tries to surpass a chuckle. Years of being gay and some people still don't seem to catch his rainbow vibes.

"My lovely..." he purrs softly, knowing exactly what kind of effect it will have. He gently grabs girl's hand "I would love to but I'm afraid you may expect some kind of romantic interaction with me. And honey, believe me, this Prince is very, very gay." he smirks watching girl's reaction. Her skin immediately changes color to dark red and she slips off the table.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" she stutters "I've just assumed that..." she glimpses and Virgil "And oh shit, you're in the middle of... Oh my god! I'm so so sorry! Come on Lisa, we gotta go!" she grabs her friend's hand and bows deeply in Roman direction "I'm really sorry!" he adds and disappears behind the door.

Roman smiles to himself and shifts his gaze at Virgil. To his utter surprise the younger male is clearly blushing.

"Virgil?" asks Roman "Did something happen?"

"N-nothing." Virgil hides half of his face behind the sleeve of his jacket.

"Doesn't seem like nothing." Roman leans a little bit.

Virgil does a chaotic movement with his hand, revealing his red shaded face.

"It's just... They assumed that... You know that we're a couple and I... I didn't react and oh gosh..." he hides his face in his hands "That must be so embarrassing to you. I'm sorry I knew that it was bad idea to come here." He chokes on his own words.

Roman instantly gets up and in a matter of seconds his crouches down next to Virgil. He gently touches his crossed thighs and rubs his back. He has lived for long enough to know that panic attacks have many faces but all of them are same terrifying. Virgil leans a little bit, almost lying his chest on his own legs and Roman keeps rubbing his back. From time to time he feels soundless sobs under his fingers.

"Breathe is, breathe out Virgil... That's right... You're doing amazing... In for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, out for 8 seconds." he whispers quietly to his ear, not paying attention to the glimpses they get from people in the cafe. He couldn't care less about it. After few long minutes Virgil finally calms down and straightens up.

"I'm sorry." he mumbles quietly.

"There's nothing to be sorry about Virgil. Are you sure you're okay?" asks Roman concerned before getting up from the ground. Virgil nods and gets up from his seat.

"I would rather leave though."

"Of course dearest." Roman snaps his fingers and quickly pull on his bomber jacket. They rush out of the cafe. This time it's Virgil who leads the way. Roman takes his opportunity and quickly texts his assistant that he has decided to take a day off today. He knows that he's in no obligation to go with Virgil wherever he's going but he just feels like it.

They end up in some old, park on an bench. Virgil clearly knows the place, carefully picking the spot they sit at. Both of his legs land on the bench and he stretches out his arms once again. The sun lights his pale skin through the space between the leafs. Roman suggestively pats his lap and after a moment of hesitation Virgil lies his head down on Roman's thigh. He's not looking at Roman and Roman's not looking at him. They just happen to stay like that for some time. The sun moves slowly across the sky. In the meantime Roman's hand finds its way to Virgil's hair. He play with little purple streaks.

Virgil sighs.

"Sorry for ruining your day."

"You didn't ruin it at all." replies Roman almost immediately.

"Yeah, right. You dreamed of spending a half of a day with unstable child." snorts Virgil.

"You're not a child." says Roman and Virgil immediately shifts his head. His eyes are wide-opened, completely revealed as his bangs fell everywhere around his face. Roman notices that Virgil has really nice, high forehead and his whole face in general is rather... handsome.

"Wow, you're serious." grunts Virgil but bites his lips trying to hide the small smile forming on his lips. Roman finds it utterly adorable.

"You were wrong back then by the way." he takes his chance to clear up the situation. He’s been thinking about that since they left the cafe.

Virgil raises his eyebrow, showing that Roman has his interest. Roman clears his throat and tears his gaze away from Virgil who still lies on his laps.

"I wouldn't be ashamed even if I was in the middle of a date with you. Hell no, I would be proudly showing you off to the world, claiming everyone that you are my emo boyfriend." finishes Roman.

Virgil gets up not looking into his eyes.

"Like hell you would." he mumbles sarcastically, hiding his face between his legs. The position Roman has seen before. Fear crawls down his throat. If Virgil's gonna cry... Roman lies his hand on Virgil shoulder and gently tugs him to face him. To his relief, he's not crying. He just looks... broken.

"What makes you think so?" asks Roman with concern.

"Because the only person who would be proudly dating me is in a happy relationship with my best friend." Virgil's voice breaks a little bit but no other sound comes out of his mind.

"Now, you can't know that Virgil." pouts Roman and brings Virgil's chin up.

Virgil cracks a smile.

"That's exactly what Patton would say." he says sadly.

"Well..." Roman's heart is pounding very loudly and he's almost sure Virgil can hear that "Maybe Patton and I have more in common than you think."

Virgil sighs and moves away from Roman.

"Can't tell that yet." he states calmly and pulls out his phone "Oh, look at the time. I have to go!" he gets up awkwardly "I have a date with Cynthia and my mum." he shoots a quick wink at Roman and quickly runs down the hill.

Roman watches Virgil moving away and away from him before curling on the bench. He has few things to ponder about.

#collapsingstar #chapter 3 #roman sanders #virgil sanders #prinxiety #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logicality

[garretschuelke]

Godan: Omega Wolf Blues, part 3

(As featured on Tuesday Serial. Read part two here)

The first day of December in Chicago was sunny and nearly cloudless—a stunning change to the previous month, in which the city was hammered with near-daily snow storms.

Chicagoan's, while still bundled up, obviously welcomed the changes,. Many of them took the chance to hang out at Millennium Park.

Some took selfies around The Bean, which was slick with melting snow, while others rented out skates and hit the McCormick Tribune ice rink.

Gareth, Nang, Callisto, and Lana were among the latter.

Two teenagers raced past Callisto, causing her to fall. Lana noticed this, and immediately skated over.

“Congrats on your first fall,” Lana said, bending over, “you lasted a tad bit longer than I expected.”

“Well, I've walked on ice before,” Callisto reached her hand up, “so I didn't think it would be that hard.”

Callisto's sleeve slid down, exposing her gray fur-covered arm. Lana quickly pulled her up. “Try to keep yourself covered up,” she said, pulling Callisto's sleeve back into place.

“Sorry, sorry!” Callisto said, hoping that Lana was not mad at her. She started slipping. Lana took her by the shoulders and led them to the side.

“It's cool,” Lana replied. “It's kinda funny though, seeing you hairless from, like, the neck up. It's like those YouTube vids of shaved dogs that I showed you.”

“Ew, no!” Callisto said, sticking her tongue out.

“Ruff ruff to you too,” Lana laughed, taking her vape pen out of her pocket.

“Where's Gareth and Nang at?” Callisto asked.

Lana took a hit as she looked around. “Right there,” she said, exhaling as she pointed at the center of the rink.

Gareth and Nang were holding hands, spinning around slowly. Gareth then pulled Nang to him, and they kissed.

“They made up pretty fast,” Callisto said, folding her arms.

“They've always been combative,” Lana said. “I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons they're attracted to each other.”

“What're the other reasons?”

“Well, they're both superhumans, they both have fangs and claws,” Lana took another hit of her vape. She grinned. “Oh, and Gareth is really good in bed—Haruki and I can attest to that. I wouldn't feel surprised if she feels the same way.”

“Oh,” Callisto replied as she watch Gareth and Nang grab the two teenagers whose antics knocked her down earlier.

“You haven't slept with him yet?” Lana asked.

“What? No!” Callisto shouted. “I'm not into him like that!”

“Quiet!” Lana, said, putting her finger to Callisto's lips as she tried not to laugh.

Callisto moved Lana's finger away from her lips. “Aren't you weirded out with Gareth sleeping with other people besides you?”

Lana shook her head. “Nah, we're just friends. I have other lovers too—he just happens to be the one I live with and, you know, is probably the best out of all of them, being superhuman and all.”

Callisto nodded, and they both watched as Nang lectured the teenagers as Gareth looked on, laughing.

Callisto broke the silence. “So, who is this Haruki person I keep hearing about?”

Lana blew out a cloud. “You don't know?”

“I've seen a picture of him, you, Gareth, and another guy, and I've asked Gareth about it, but he got really sad and wouldn't talk.”

Lana sighed. “The other guy in the photo you saw in the living room was Tucker. They were our friends and housemates.”

“Where are they now?”

Lana took a deep breath. “Here's the sad part that Gare probably doesn't want to talk about: they were kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?”

Lana nodded. “By the Rudkuses—a gang Gareth then pretty much took down. He spent the entire year afterwards looking for them, fighting criminals, and doing other hero-related stuff, but he says he hasn't found any traces of them.” She took a quick hit of her pen. “It was me who convinced him to go back to Michigan to investigate his hometown's werewolf problem, since he was running himself ragged, and I thought him getting out of town for a bit would do him some good.” Lana threw back her hair. “From what he told me, it wasn't.”

Callisto looked at her skates, grimacing. Lana realized what she was implying.

“Hey, you're cool though!” She rubbed Callisto's back. “Really, Gareth and I like having you around!”

“Thanks,” Callisto mumbled.

Lana leaned into Callisto's ear. “I never told you this before, but I do get a kick out of shaving you. It reminds me of the cat I had when I was a kid would throw a shit fit whenever I tried to do it it her.”

Callisto giggled. Lana said “Uh, oh,” as she watched security confront Nang, Gareth, and the teenagers.

“Have you ever noticed that Gareth wears the same clothes all the time?” Callisto asked, referring to Gareth's black sweatshirt, gray sleeveless shirt, gray pants, and black combat boots.

“Yeah, he's not really much for fashion,” Lana said, “and, according to him, he never gets cold.”

“I mean, he wears the same clothes all the time,” Callisto nudged Lana. “Nobody notices?”

Lana shrugged. “Why would anyone care about some random gutter punk?”

Up in Chicago's skyline, Upton watched the four friends, streaming their activities to Mysta, who was using her tablet to check over the final preparations of her plan.

“All right, I think everything is good to go,” She put down her tablet, leaned back in her chair, and watched as Gareth and Nang were led off of the rink by security. “You ready to do this, Upton?”

Upton nodded his head.

“Good. Now go do what—” a figure flew past Upton's field of vision. “Wait, zoom in on whatever just flew by you.”

Upton did so, revealing it to be White Streak, who then landed on a rooftop overlooking Millennium Park.

“Hold on, Upton,” Mysta said. “Things are about to get more interesting.”

“I bet the security over at the Ribbon wouldn't let this shit fly!” Gareth yelled at the security guards who threw them out.

“Please don't ruin our access to that rink either,” Lana said.

Nang's phone vibrated. She took out it out and saw that it was a text from White Streak.

“Seriously,” Gareth said as he sat down on the bench and started taking off his skates. “I didn't act like that when I was his age!”

“Really?” Lana sat down, smiling. “You, of all people, weren't a dickhead when you were a teenager?”

“Nah, I was more moody and withdrawn,” Gareth then thought it over. “Actually, I only skated a handful of times before my Dad put an end to that.”

“Why did he do that?” Callisto asked.

Gareth grimaced. “Forget I mentioned that.”

“I got a text from Sanders,” Nang said, sitting down on the bench opposite of them, “he's waiting on one of the rooftops across the street.”

“Awesome!” Gareth began untying his skates faster. “Last chance, Lana, wanna join us?”

Lana shook her head. “Sorry, my shift starts in three hours.”

Gareth gave a heavy, exaggerated sigh. “Okay, I'll record it for ya.”

Lana giggled. “Thanks, since I obviously don't know how to torrent.”

“My bootlegs feature all the shaking, but none of the malware,” Gareth got up, dropped his skates off at the rental desk.“I'll see you later tonight.”

“I'll make sure there's plenty of salted pork left for you and Callisto when you get back,” Lana joked as she and Gareth hugged.

“What an angel you are,” Gareth kissed her on the cheek,  and turned to Nang and Callisto. “Well, gang, lets hit up the nearest alley.”

Nang and Callisto bid Lana farewell, and followed Gareth outside. Callisto tugged on Gareth's sleeve. “We're really not gonna have to eat that stuff again, are we?”

Gareth snorted. “Fuck no!” he laughed. “That's just something Mary like to whip up for new housemates.”

Callisto sighed. “Good, I don't think my stomach could take another round of that.”

“Let's go down this one,” Nang said, pointing towards an alley.

Gareth and Callisto followed Nang across the street and into the alley. After making sure that there were no security cameras around, they ducked between two dumpsters.

“I'm surprised that we haven't been caught yet,” Callisto said as she and Nang put on their domino masks.

“If we were busted,” Gareth said as his fingernails grew into claws and his hair turned gray, “I would just claim I'm selling you two drugs.”

“Yeah, you know, normal stuff someone would do in an alley,” Nang said.

“Likewise, I could claim I'm prostituting myself.”

Nang pretended to gag. Callisto giggled.

“Admit it,” Godan tied on his mask, “you would gladly pay up to have me.”

“I haven't done it yet.” Nang looked around the corner. “Coast is clear.”

They sprang upwards all at once, hopping onto a fire escape. They then leapt onto different window ledges until they landed on the roof of the building.

“STREAK!” Godan yelled, looking around “WHERE YOU AT?!”

“OVER HERE!” White Streak yelled, waving from the building behind them.

Godan, Nang, and Callisto ran over and joined him. “Got the tickets?” Godan asked as they slapped hands.

“Yes sir, Mister Gray Wolf,” White Streak replied, showing them the tickets on his phone.

“What're we seeing?” Callisto asked.

“A documentary,”

“That's different from the usual crap we go to,” Nang said.

Back in her lab, Mysta gripped her armrest. “That's how we're gonna do it now, Upton. You ready?”

Upton nodded. He started to power up his thrusters, and released a tentacle, as he slowly descended.

“You really don't see the irony in seeing a documentary about mass surveillance?” Godan asked.

“What's the problem?” White Streak asked. “Not interesting enough for you?”

“No, I'm cool with seeing it—I just find it funny that an FBI agent is interested in seeing what is probably, in part, a critical documentary on an activity that you guys engage in every single day.”

“First of all, that's not my department. Nang and I are all about monitoring and stopping superhuman criminal activities here in Chicago.”

“Yeah, mass surveillance.”

“Not the type they're talking about in this film! Second, I do have my own reservations regarding surveillance policies.”

“I'm sure your bosses really cares about your opinion.”

Nang slapped Godan alongside the head. “Stop being a dick to the guy who is treating us to a free movie!”

White Streak released three tentacles. “All aboard the White Streak express! Next stop: Logan Square.”

Mysta watched as Nang allowed White Streak to wrap his tentacle around her. “NOW!” she commanded.

Upton darted towards the group. He shot his tentacle and wrapped it around Callisto. He veered upwards again, knocking over Godan.

“THE FUCK—” Godan yelled, scrambling to his feet.

“GARETH!” Callisto yelled. Godan looked over and saw Upton, hovering a few feet away, with Callisto struggling to free herself.

Godan froze, and blinked a couple of times. “Upton?” he said, staring at the gang leader he thought he had defeated over a year ago.

“Who the hell is that?!” Nang asked, whipping off her coat, revealing her usual uniform.

“I don't know,” White Streak zoomed in on Upton's face. “Wait, is that—”

“UPTON!” Godan, filled with rage, launched himself towards the android.

“Come back to base,” Mysta commanded. “Use one of our underground tunnels.”

Upton nodded, and headed southward, narrowly avoiding Godan's slash. Godan growled, and gave chase.

“WAIT UP!” White Streak yelled. He made sure Nang was properly secured, and they flew off after them.

“Upton...” Nang said, taking a small metallic tube out of her pocket, “that name sounds familiar.”

“I've briefed you on him before,” White Streak said, tying to catch up with Godan as he hopped from rooftop to rooftop, trying to grab the android. “He's the former leader of the Rudkuses.”

“Oh, yeah,” Nang twisted the tube, transforming it into her spear, “but Gareth said he killed him.”

“I believe him,” White Streak started streaming and recording what was occurring, sending out a signal to his FBI contact, “but it looks like Upton got himself the same type of “upgrade” that I did!”

Godan made another leap at Upton, who just raised his hand and fired an energy blast at him. It hit the Gray Wolf in the chest, sending him plummeting towards the ground.

“CATCH HIM!” White Streak yelled.

Nang shot a web at Godan, catching him by the shoulder. She braced herself. Godan grabbed the web and steadied himself.

They entered the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Upton sent out commands to a nearby garage, which immediately opened up. He flew into it, with Callisto screaming for help.

“He's not getting away from me!” Godan yelled, slashing the web line off of him. He landed, and dashed into the garage as the door closed behind him.

“Hang on tight!” White Streak  yelled, bringing Nang closer to him. Nang shielded herself. White Streak aimed his arm at the door and blasted it. The door exploded, and they flew through the smoke.

“Excellent choice, Upton!” Mysta said, getting up from her seat and heading up onto the platform. “Now lead them here.”

“What is this place?” Nang asked, looking around. “Some kind of bunker?”

“Could be that,” White Streak said as they flew down the large, illuminated tunnel. His com buzzed, indicating that his FBI contact was trying to reach him. He accepted the call. “Red Seal, we got a problem: Upton's still alive—he's been turned into an android, and he has Callisto, the other wolf girl I told you about.  Myself, Agent Tu, and Godan are in pursuit in some tunnel located in the Back of the Yards.”

“Let me see if I can tag him,” Nang said, thrusting her palm forward.

“DON'T!' White Streak yelled. “You might hit Godan!”

“Like that's ever stopped him before!”

White Streak groaned. “Lock onto my location,” he said to Red Seal. “What's that? Yeah, send her over too. I'll take whatever help you can manage.”

“Who's Red Seal sending?”

“Our new recruit.”

Nang rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on—not her!”

The tunnel suddenly became darker. A door opened. Upton boosted his thrusters, and entered. The door immediately closed.

“Goddammit!” Godan yelled, winding up, He punched the steel door, putting a huge dent in it. He recoiled, holding his hand.

“You all right, Wolf,” White Streak asked as he landed.

“I'll heal in a sec,” Godan shook his hand. “I should have obliterate this door with one blow.”

The lights suddenly turned back on, revealing the end of the tunnel to be lined with pods built into the wall.

“Oh, God,” Nang said, cringing as she scanned the unconscious, grotesque subjects encased in the pods.

White Streak gulped. “These are the same exact pods that I was imprisoned in.”

Godan's attention from the door changed towards a pod that was next to him. The subject inside looked like he had been stitched back together. He looked closer, and saw the subjects face, which featured noticeable fangs.

Godan's eyes widened. He growled, and got into a battle stance.

“What?!” Nang said, joining his side, her spear at the ready.

“It's Ruthven!” Godan said, “That vampire Wolf Savage and I took out in Kalamazoo!”

White Streak checked out the vampire. “He looks like he's in the worst shape out of all of them.”

“How is he even alive?!” Godan glared. “We blew him the fuck up!”

“How do you know he's alive?”

Lord Ruthven suddenly opened his eyes. Upon seeing Godan, he smashed himself again the glass, fangs bared, his screaming only slightly muffled by the preservation fluid.

“SHIT!” White Streak yelled, aiming his palm at the vampire as he jumped back.

Godan bared his own fangs, ready to fight.

“WELCOME, SUPERHUMANS!” Mysta's voice blared out of a speaker. A screen above the door came to life, showing her sitting at a desk, grinning. “You kept up pretty well with my Upton. Guess I'll have to increase his speed later.”

That's the woman I've seen on the news, Godan thought, remembering the night he thought he defeated Upton.

“Mysta Avon,” White Streak said, lowering his arms. “Thanks for revealing yourself like this—it confirms all the bureaus suspicions.”

Mysta laughed. “It seriously took the FBI this long to find about my activities?” She pressed a button on her console. “Looks like I was paranoid for nothing.”

“I saw her on the news before,” Godan whispered to Nang. “Who is she again?”

Nang glared at him. “Come on, Gar,” she said , shaking her head. “Famous Chicago-based scientist, entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, head of Mysta Industries...”

“Weapons manufacturer, gangster, human trafficker,,” White Streak interrupted, “and my personal favorite: mad scientist.”

“That's me, all right,” Mysta confirmed, leaning back in her chair. “But enough talk about my rep—there's lots of things I admire about you, Godan: your strength, your speed, your durability, and that incredible healing factor,” Mysta sighed, seemingly lost in thought, “but your intelligence and morals could use some improvement.”

Godan growled. Nang put her hand on his shoulder and told him to calm himself. She heard the sound of marching behind them. She turned around and looked down the tunnel.

“What have you done with Callisto?” White Streak asked.

“Oh, she's right here by my side,” Mysta reached over and turned the camera towards Callisto, who was bound to the wall by her hands and feet, her mouth covered with tape.

“Let's get this door open,” Godan said, walking past White Streak. He put both hands on the handle, and began to pull.

“Oh, please try!” Mysta said, pointing the camera back towards herself. “I made that door with your strength level in mind—as I could calculate, at least. You've dented it a bit, so I was a tad bit off—but I still think I did a good job.”

“Godan, Streak,” Nang got into a battle stance.

“She's got a point,” White Streak said to Godan as he pulled on the door in vain. “If it's so strong that even you can't get through it, then we have a problem.”

Godan stopped pulling. “No shit, Einstein,” he muttered, breathing heavily.

“GUYS!” Nang said, backing up.

“You got two immediate problems, actually,” Mysta said, resting her chin on her hand.

Nang turned White Streak around. She then grabbed Godan by the hood and yanked him from away from the door.

“WHAT!” Godan yelled.

Nang pointed her spear down the tunnel. Before them was a group, decked out in black hazmat suits, marching towards them.

“What the fuck are those things?!” White Streak asked, raising his arms towards them.

“They're some kind of zombies,” Godan got in front of them, claws up. “I dealt with them last year.”

“Very scientific explanation,” Mysta said. “ I simply call them 'Assistants'. How about we see if you three can take them on while trying to get the door open?”

“I can't tell how many there are,” Nang said, readying her spear.

Godan spread his arms out in front of them.”You guys get the door open. I'll handle these freaks.”

“Think you can manage them all?” White Streak asked.

“Oh yeah,” Godan flexed his claws, “I'll tear them apart!”

“Wait, we need you to open the door though.” Nang said.

“You heard the mad scientist—the door was made to match my strength.”

“How the hell are we supposed to manage then? We're not as strong as you!”

All at once, the Assistants stopped marching. They reached into their side compartments and took out batons.

“Fine—work on it until I take them out. I need a break from yanking on that handle anyway.”

Nang nodded. Godan gave them a thumbs up, and rushed towards the Assistants.

“He needs a break,” Nang sighed, putting away her spear.

“Come on, let's get this door open,” White Streak said. He went up to the door and saw that the doors space was expanded after Godan dented it. He stuck his hands in it, got a grip, and began pulling on it.

Mysta hummed.”Maybe I should have equipped them with guns,” she said, zooming in on Godan, who was easily tearing through the Assistants. “No, that still would have been a bad idea, with all the subjects I have stored along the walls.”

Callisto tried to say something, but her voice was muffled by the tape.

“You're absolutely right!” Mysta looked down at her android. “Upton, I'm not mad—I should have been more specific—but next time you lead high-powered superhumans to me, please go though a tunnel that doesn't have any experiments, expensive tech, and whatnot in it. Got it?”

Upton nodded.

“ It's nice having a silent servant, but nothing beats honest feedback, right?” Mysta looked back at Callisto, who glared at her.

“Should have thought of this sooner,” White Streak said, backing up. He aimed his arms at the other side of the door, and unleashed a thin, steady stream of energy at it.

“My turn,” Nang said, cracking her knuckles and taking up where White Streak left off.

“How's Wolf doing?” White Streak asked, increasing the strength of his energy beam.

Nang looked down the tunnel. She saw the ravaged bodies of the Assistants littering the floor. Further back, she saw blood and body parts flying everywhere as zombies surrounded Godan.

“He's having the time of this life,” Nang said, as she began to pull.

“It won't be long now,” Mysta said. She switched to another camera, which showed a lone Assistant standing back, observing the battle. “Good, he's in place.”

Another baton hit Godan in the back of the head. Enraged, he roared, turned around, and swiped at the Assistant, cutting its head off. Another Assistant wrapped its arms around the Gray Wolf's neck and his foot in front of his leg, sending them to the floor. The other Assistants piled on top of them.

Godan gagged on the smell of decaying flesh and rancid blood. “All right, I'm done with this shit!” he mumbled.

He quickly got to his knees and, swinging his arms, sent the Assistants flying off. He broke away from the Assistant that had him in a choke hold, and put his fist through its head. Godan then sped around the area and cut off the heads of each of the remaining Assistants before they could recover.

“God, what a mess,” Godan said, wiping his claws on his pants and looking around. He saw the lone Assistant still hanging back.

“How many of you freaks did Mysta make?!” Godan yelled, preparing to charge at it.

The Assistant began walking towards him, revealing that it was wearing a gray hazmat suit. It took off its gloves, revealing claws.

“Well, this might be different,” Godan said, getting into a battle stance.

The door moved slightly. Surprised, Nang stopped pulling.

“Keep going!” White Streak yelled.

“Just catching my breath, boss!” Nang said.

They heard a loud crash. They looked over, and saw Godan flying towards them. They got out of the way, allowing the Gray Wolf to smash into the door.

“GODAN!” Nang yelled, kneeling down next to him.

“Thanks for the save, guys,” Godan mumbled, scrambling to his feet.

They looked over and saw the Gray Assistant rushing towards them, claws at the ready. Nang shot a web at it. The Gray Assistant easily tore through it.

“I've got him!” Godan said, getting up and charging at it.

“We should help,” Nang said.

“No, we almost got this door open!” White Streak unleashed some tentacles and began pulling at the door with them. Nang returned to her previous position and went back to pulling as well.

“Perfect!” Mysta said as she watched the fight between Godan and the Gray Assistant continue. “Well, maybe I'm calling it perfect too early, but it looks promising.”

A loud squeal caught Mysta's attention, and made Upton get into a battle stance. The door that White Streak and Nang were pulling on slowly moved, creating a larger gap.

“It's about to get really fun in here,” Mysta stood up and looked at Callisto. “I can tell you're just as excited as I am.”

The Gray Assistant stomped Godan's foot. “REALLY?!” Godan yelled, hopping back on one foot. The Gray Assistant suddenly appeared in front of the Gray Wolf, elbowing him the chin. Godan swiped both claws at it. The Gray Assistant jumped back.

“That Mysta woman made you smart enough to do cheap shots,” Godan said, peeling the fabric off the one claw that connected with the zombies hazmat suit.

The Gray Assistant did not say a word. It got into a battle stance similar to Godan's. Godan snicked, and rushed at it.

White Streak saw Nang begin to breath heavily. He stopped blasting at the door frame. “Let me handle the rest,” he said, nudging his way between Nang and the door. He took a hold of the gap with both hands, breathed deeply, and began pulling again.

Mysta sighed heavily, “I'm sick of waiting.” She bent down and opened her desks bottom cabinet. She took out a smooth, thin crown that looked like an upside down horseshoe, and put it on her head. She pressed the button on the back to turn it on, and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, a red light appeared in front of the crown, followed by a beep.

Mysta opened her eyes. UPTON, CAN YOU HEAR ME?, she asked telepathically. Upton looked up at her and nodded.

“Excellent!” Mysta pressed another button on her console. The door of the lab suddenly opened, sending White Streak to the floor.

Godan threw the Gray Assistant at the pod containing Lord Ruthven. He raised his fist and ran at it.

COME TO UPTON'S SIDE, Mysta commanded the Gray Assistant. The zombie nodded, stood up, and ran towards the lab.

Godan's fist went through the pod door. Lord Ruthven took the opportunity to bust through the nearly-shattered glass.

“SHIT!” Godan said as he was showered in fluid and glass. He grabbed Lord Ruthven by the throat and, ignoring the vampires claws piercing his shoulders, threw him down the tunnel.

“LET'S DO THIS!” Nang yelled, whipping out her spear. The Gray Assistant zipped past her. “Who's—” Godan then zipped past her as well.

“Congratulations, superhumans!” Mysta said, arms outstretched. Upton and the Gray Assistant stood in front of the platform, arms crossed. “You're all officially the second, third, and fourth guests to ever visit my underground lab!”

White Streak aimed his arm at her. “Mysta Avon, you're under—”

Mysta's desk phone rang. “Hold on a sec, guys.” Mysta picked it up. “Yes?”

Godan saw Callisto tied up. With a growl, he leapt towards her. The Gray Assistant leapt upwards in front of him. It threw a punch. Godan crossed his face with his arms and took the blow, sending him back to the ground. Nang immediately threw her spear at Mysta. Upton unleashed a tentacle and swatted it away.

“Okay, I'll send up some of my Assistants to stop her,” Mysta said. She saw White Streak shoot an energy blast her way. She pressed a button, which brought down a glass dome, encasing the platform. White Streak's blast dissipated upon impact. “Yes, yes, I'll contact the authorities—just relax, and tend to your gunshot wounds the best you can.”

Mysta hung up the phone. “Sorry about that—it seems I have an unwelcome guest upstairs.” Mysta narrowed her eyes. “Scratch that—TWO unwanted guests.”

A loud, pained scream came from the hallway. They all turned around and saw Lord Ruthven dashing towards them, eyes bulging.

“This is getting way too out of control!” White Streak said, Godan and Nang prepared themselves.

“I got this,” Mysta pressed a button that closed the door just as Lord Ruthven was near the entrance. The vampire smashed into the door. Mysta laughed. “There, that's better.”

“Like I said before, Mysta,” White Streak turned back around, “we're taking you in!”

“Let's get real here, Agent Sanders: none of you are leaving this place.” Callisto began to struggle. Mysta smacked her. “You're all MY subjects now!”

“LET HER GO!” Godan yelled, baring his fangs.

The center of Mysta's crown glowed. “I want you to try and stop me.” Upton and the Gray Assistant advanced towards them. “It'll be easier to control you when you're dead.”

Nang broke away from the group, grabbed her spear, got into a battle stance.

“Oh, you don't have an opponent, do you?” Mysta's crown blinked. “Allow me to change that.”

The door next to Nang exploded, sending her skidding across the floor. Godan bent down and caught her.

A large android, equipped with a minigun for one arm, and a flame thrower for the other, entered the lab.

“It's a Man of War!” White Streak said, unleashing four tentacles. “I thought we got rid of them all!”

“You did,” Mysta stretched her fingers. “this is just my take on them. What do you think?”

Godan focused on the face, which was half-scarred with burnt flesh. His eyes widened.

“His name was Fold—a muscle for the Rudkuses. You might remember his as the one who massacred everything in that Boystown convenience store over a year ago.” She looked at Godan, “including those two friends you been searching for, Gray Wolf of Chicago.”

Godan tensed up, and began breathing heavily.

“Calm down, Gareth,” Nang whispered.

“You know, I think I'll give Upton and my Assistant a break. This will be a good chance to see what Fold can do, now that he's a true berserker!”

Fold raised his minigun.

“GET BACK!” White Streak yelled. Godan and Nang did so as White Streak blasted the floor, creating a smoke screen and a crater. Fold began shooting at them.

“THE FUCK KIND OF MOVE IS THAT?!” Godan yelled, crouching down behind the debris.

“The kind of move you do when you don't know what to do next,” White Streak said.

“Godan may not be a fan of it, but I applaud your quick thinking!” Mysta said.

There was another explosion, destroying the door on the other side of the room.

“GODDAMMIT!” Nang yelled, covering her head. “NOW WHAT?!”

Mysta telepathically commanded Fold to stop. He did so, and everyone directed their attention to the smoking hole in the wall.

“Okay, who the hell just blew up my stairwell?” Mysta asked.

“Don't worry, I just blew up your door,” a voice said. “I didn't feel like messing with the lock.”

Out from the smoke stepped Dia, wearing a business suit and a utility belt, with a Desert Eagle in each hand.

“You've finally made it, Agent Patrick,” White Streak yelled.

“ 'Agent Patrick' ?!” Godan glared at him. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Unfortunately, he's not,” Nang sighed.

“Well, what a surprise!” Mysta clapped her hands. “Tell me, Dia, are those vampiric abilities I gifted you still working out? How about all that fur I removed—any grow back?”

Godan grabbed White Streak by his shoulder and pulled him in. “What are thinking, man?!”

“Hey, she wanted to become an agent after I had dinner with her. She's taken to it better than I thought she would!”

Dia saw Callisto hanging on the wall, and glared at Mysta. “Let my sister go, Doctor Avon.”

Mysta shook her head, and grinned. “You know, after all the good I've done for you, you could at least let me have one werewolf to play with!”

Dia began shooting at the glass. Bullets ricocheted everywhere—one of which hit Godan in the shoulder. Godan covered the wound with his hand, and growled at White Streak.

“I didn't say she was perfect,” White Streak said. They heard Dia shout 'SORRY!' at them.

UPTON, TAKE CARE OF WHITE STREAK IN THE OTHER TUNNEL, Mysta telepathically commanded. ASSISTANT, TAKE CARE OF GODAN IN THE MORGUE.

Upton and the Gray Assistant nodded. Upton blasted the debris they were hiding behind, obliterating it. Before anyone could react, White Streak and Godan were taken hold of, and whisked them away.

“STREAK!” Nang yelled, looking around. “GODAN!”

“You all right?” Dia asked, joining Nang by her side.

“Nang glared. “DO I LOOK LIKE I'M ALL RIGHT?!”

Dia backed away. “Excuse me for actually being worried about you!”

Fold walked up to them. He aimed his minigun and flame thrower at the agents.

“I should probably start worrying about things that actually matter,” Dia said, aiming her guns at the Man of War.

#garret schuelke #tuesday serial #godan #serialized fiction #fiction #superheroes #superhero fiction #pulp #chicago #bakunin incorporated

[thexwickedxones]

                          Part two - The crowned Prince

Kaleb sat at his desk till the early hours of the morning, working on different paperwork, from actual office work, to death realm work. When he was finally in bed, there was a soft knock on the door. Slowly sitting up, he rubbed his hair and looked at Theo as he stood in the doorway. “Sorry, did I wake you?” He questioned awkwardly. “No, it’s alright. I wasn’t asleep yet, what’s wrong?” Theo stood there awkwardly, causing Kaleb to roll his eyes. “Theo, it’s three in the morning. What’s the matter?” Theo let out a sigh and looked at him. “I wanted to thank you for giving her the ten days.” It was then that Kaleb climbed out of bed and walked over to his brother. “Just remember, she’s going to die like the others. She’s human, she will be dead in nine days.” A stern expression was on Kaleb’s face as he looked at his little brother. “Do not get attached.” Theo looked at his brother and nodded a little. “Goodnight Kaleb.”

By the morning, Poppy hadn’t had much sleep. Looking at her alarm, she saw it was only five in the morning. Climbing out of bed, she went into the bathroom and took a shower, even if she had to wear the same clothes, she was going to at least be clean. Putting her wet hair up into a bun, she got dressed and made her way downstairs into the kitchen. “Morning.” Looking up, she grinned softly. “Morning Bex.” She smiled softly as Bex placed a cup of coffee in front of her. “Is there poison in it this time?” She questioned, receiving a laugh. “No, don’t worry. I’ve held the poison. When our fearless leader makes a decree, with stick to it.” Poppy let out an awkward laugh and smiled. “Good to know.”

Bex served up some food and then placed a plate in front of Poppy, before eating her own. “So, how are you feeling?” Poppy shrugged her shoulders. “That is complicated if i’m honest, i’m not really sure how I am.” Bex nodded softly. “Understandable.” Glancing at her watch, Bex stood up. !  have to get going I have to get to work. “But, don’t you work in a bar?” Bex laughed. “No, that was just a front. I am actually a funeral director, Ruben is a teacher, Lucas is an art consultant,Theo is journalist.” Getting up, she pushed her hand through her hair. “And Kaleb is a lawyer.” She nodded softly letting Bex know she understood. “Yeah, we have to pay the bills somehow. Anyway, see you later.”

A few minutes later Theo arrived in the kitchen as Bex made her way out. “Morning Princey.” Looking around in confusion, Poppy looked at Theo. “Have you not told her yet?” Ruben asked as he entered the room and winked at Poppy. “This one and our fearless leader Kaleb are the crown princess of the demon realm.” Looking at Theo surprised, Poppy hoped her leg was being pulled. Neither of them looked like they could be a Prince, then again Kaleb did hold himself like one so she wouldn’t have been too surprised if he was actually one. “He’s telling the truth, Kaleb is the crown Prince. When our father steps down from the throne, Kaleb will be taking over.”

Poppy didn’t have time to answer, as someone had wrapped their arm around her from behind and lifted her up. Struggling as she was pulled from the kitchen, she heard an annoyed sigh. “Kaleb?” She asked as he put her down. “Who else would it be?” She instantly shook her head. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, that you treat me like a rag doll.” She snapped looking up at him as he shook his head and sighed. “Look, we need to discuss the rules.” She slowly nodded looking up at Kaleb. She’d not really realised just how attractive Kaleb was until she was stood this close to him, but this wasn’t about romance, or anything like that, this was about living for nine more days.

“What are the rules then?” She questioned clearing her throat. “Rule number one, do not go anywhere without my permission, I need to be able to keep an eye on you and protect you from the agents. I hate agents, I hate having to deal with them and it would be far easier than having to deal with this crap.” She nodded slowly. “I can imagine, it must be hard for the Crown Prince.” At that Kaleb rolled his eyes. “Theo has been running his mouth again then, stay out of my business and everyone else’s you’re only here for nine days, I don’t need you messing in things that don’t concern you.” Poppy opened her mouth to respond to him, but thought better and closed her mouth and just nodded softly hoping to hide the twang of pain she felt as she thought about the fact that she only had nine days left.

“Come on, let's get to work.” Poppy nodded, but stopped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Poppy?” Slowly she turned around and looked at him. “Yes, Kaleb?” She questioned softly. “We don’t do this because we like it, we follow fate. Fate decides and we follow it. We’re not just killing you because we want to.” Looking up at him, she nodded softly. “I know, I understand.” Walking away from him, and into the kitchen to pick up her bag. “Poppy?” Looking up as Theo said her name, she smiled. “Yeah?” Theo stepped closer and went to place a hand on her shoulder, but stopped at the last second. “If you need some clothes, I can go pick up some for you if you like.” Poppy stared at him a little surprised. “That would be great, thank you.” Theo grinned widely at her, then rushed off leaving Poppy stood with Lucas. “Morning.” Poppy said with a bright smile, only to be ignored by Lucas as he made his way out of the room to head off to work. “Poppy, hurry up!”

The walk to work was quick, Poppy struggled to keep up with Kaleb. He seemed to take large, quick strides as he made his way to the office. Poppy struggled to keep up with him, each step was two or three for her. There was no talking either, Poppy could tell Kaleb wasn’t the type that liked to talk on the way to work, so she stayed quiet. By the time they got into the elevator, Poppy was rather puffed out, she stood against the wall and took a deep breath. “Remember, don’t go anywhere without me!” Looking at Kaleb, Poppy nodded softly. “Of course.” Kaleb nodded softly and looked away as the doors opened and the pair of them both stepped out.

Poppy had forgotten about their supposed date, but by the time Leah caught the two of them getting out of the elevator, it all instantly came back to her and the fact that she was wearing what she wore yesterday, this looked back. Instead of saying bye, she rushed off to her desk and took a seat to start doing work in the vain hope that Leah wouldn’t come and start asking questions.

It didn’t take her long, she arrived with coffee about ten minutes after you’d clocked on and began working. Poppy really didn’t want to talk about last night, however she seemed to. “So, how did it go? Was it amazing?” She asked, causing Poppy to let out an exasperated sigh. “No, nothing happened, we had a drink, then he took me home. However there was a problem with my apartment so he was kind enough to look after me. Sorry to disappoint you, he was a perfect gentleman.” Poppy stood up at this point, ready to head to the printer. “Oh, alright. Did you want to have lunch today?” Poppy wanted to say yes, but she knew she should. “I can’t, i’m sorry.”

As Lunchtime arrived, Poppy could feel her stomach starting to churn, she was starving. Letting out a sigh, she got up and picked up her wallet. “Kaleb won’t mind, if i just get some food.” She uttered to herself as she got into the elevator and made her way downstairs. Leaning back against the cool metal surface she thought about where to go, figuring the best place right now to go would be somewhere close, she decided on the Thai place across the road.

Getting outside into the warm sticky air, she looked around and shrugged. There was no one that looked like an agent… not that she knew what one looked like, but that wasn’t the point. There was no sign of anyone that wasn’t buying food. Rushing across the street, she noticed the amount of people inside the place she was about to enter and decided against it. Letting out a sigh, she turned and started to head down the street, heading to small cafe nearby that her and Leah often went to.

She kept walking, enjoying the warmth of the world around her. She tried hard to ignore the fact that this was her last week alive, she would only have a few days in this beautiful sunny weather. The happiness that she felt, turned to sadness. It was something that caused her to not notice at all the two that were tailing her or the pair of eyes that were close by waiting for her to turn the corner. “I’m about to die.” She uttered, it was something that she’d yet to think about and process, but even how she wouldn’t have a chance to.

Rounding the corner a hand grabbed her quickly. “Run!” With Kaleb already running the moment he’d spoken, Poppy had no time to ask what was going on. Instead she did was she was told and followed him down an alley. “What’s going on?” She asked panting slightly. “Shhh!” Grabbing hold of Poppy, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and moved behind a dumpster. Her cheeks started to flush as he held onto her. “What are you doing?” She uttered, doing everything in her power to not stammer. “Shhh, i need to focus.”

Once he’d finished speaking, Poppy started to feel dizzy, it felt as if all the air had been knocked from her lungs as she held onto him. “K-kaleb…” She said softly, earning a hush from him. “Save your strength.” He uttered. Her arms became heavy as she held onto him, slowly dropping to her sides.

“She was right in front of us, how can you lose her, Mason?” A woman’s voice came first stopping near the start of the alleyway. “I didn’t lose her Natalie, we lost her. There is a big difference!” A guy snapped back at her. Poppy could hear them, but it sounded like she was underwater. Whatever Kaleb was doing to her, it made her feel very weird.  “I can’t even feel her soul anymore.” The man spoke again. “Neither, come on. She can’t be far, let’s find her.” The sound of running came next, causing Poppy to feel Kaleb’s body to relax against her.

A moment later she was fine, looking up at him, she shook her head. “What was that?” She questioned as she saw him stumble. Deciding to get the answer later, she moved quickly to catch him, her hand holding him as he looked at her. “I told you not to wonder off, I told you to stay near me.” He stood up with Poppy’s help, she looked at him with a mix of confusion and sadness. “I’m sorry, I was only going across the road, but it was packed.” Kaleb placed a hand up to silence her, looking at him with a hint of annoyance on her face, she let it drop after a moment.

“Get back to work, now.” Poppy nodded and walked back to work without saying a single word, she felt bad that he’d had to save her, none of this would’ve happened if she’d listened. She sat back down at work, not bothering to think about how hungry she was right now, she needed to focus on work and following rules, even if she really wasn’t very good at them.

The day came to an end and Poppy met Kaleb at the elevator, she couldn’t help but notice that he looked exhausted. “Come on, let’s head home.” His words stopped her in her tracks. “Do you mind if we go and see my sister?” She expected him to protest, say not after what she did today, but instead he smiled softly and nodded. “Come on, let’s go. Lead the way.” Poppy couldn’t help but smile a little as they started to walk down the street toward where her sister lived. “So, the pin. Is it the royal family crest?” She asked curiously, he nodded softly, hardly looking at her, instead looking around to make sure everywhere was clear.

Falling silent after a moment, she was surprised as he spoke. “You and your sister, you’re close aren’t you?” Poppy grinned and looked down, a small smile appearing on her face as she nodded. “Yeah, we are. My parents travel a lot, so it was always me and Jenny home alone, she was older so she taught me most of what I needed to know. She was like a mother to me.” Poppy explained as they arrived outside of Jenny’s door. “Oh, just to warn you, her hormones are all over the place, sorry if she gets a little crazy.”

“Poppy!” Thank god you’re here.” Hugging the man who opened the door, Poppy smiled. “Hey Alec, it’s good to see you. How is Jen?” He nodded. “Alright, insisting on cooking everything in the fridge and freezer. Oh, who is this?” Poppy went to introduce him, however Kaleb stepped forward and held out his hand. “Kaleb Darke, one of Poppy’s co-workers, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Alec smiled at him. “Firm handshake, i like that.” Poppy shook her head and slipped past the two of them and went to see her sister.

“Hey you, how are you feeling? Anything I can do? Any sign of it coming soon?” She asked question after question, only to get a laugh from her sister. “Come on Poppy, i’m not due for nine days and even then with the first it might be late.” The words hit Poppy like a ton of bricks, she didn’t show any emotion however, but to hear that she might not even be alive for the baby, even after all this, it broke her. “Let’s hope he or she comes on time.” Poppy smiled and hugged her sister tightly. “Do you want to stay for dinner?” Poppy shook her head. “I can’t, I have a friend waiting, i’ll come back on the weekend, be safe.” Kissing her sister on the forehead, Poppy left quickly, trying to not cry as she feared her sister would figure out what was wrong if she saw her getting emotional.

No one was home when they got back, Kaleb instantly sat down on the couch and leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment. “Are you okay?” Poppy asked softly. “Can I get you something?” Kaleb sat up after a moment and shook his head. “I’m alright, it’s just that doing that, takes a lot out of me.” Walking into the kitchen, not listening to him, she got the pair of them a coffee, before sitting down on the edge of the couch and looked at him. “What was that you did back there?” Taking his coffee, Kaleb looked up at her. “I lowered your life force.” He explained. “Agents pick up on life force, so by lowering yours, it helped them lose your trail. Ironically if you’d kept your usual routine, they’d have had less chance to find you.”

Poppy slowly sat back and let out a gentle sigh. “You’re telling me if i’d not blown off Leah, like I did, this wouldn’t have happened?” He nodded softly, causing Poppy to scoff. “Typical. No matter what I do, it seems to go wrong.” Poppy mumbled, before standing up and walking into the kitchen and starting to cook. “Are you hungry?” She questioned from the kitchen. “Starving, we just order take out usually though.” He explained, causing her to shake her head. “No way to live.” Poppy commented as she pulled things out of the fridge and pantry and began making food.

Half an hour later, she placed a pot down along with two bowls. “Dinner’s ready.” She smiled softly, as he sat up and sniffed. “What is this?” He questioned curiously. “Stew.” She replied with a grin as she got both of them a bowl and offered him one. “Thanks.” The pair sat in silence as they ate, neither of them daring to say anything until the first bowls were finished. “Mind if I have another?” Kaleb asked, Poppy let out a laugh and nodded. “Help yourself to as much as you want.” She finished her own bowl and then had another small bowl.

Poppy was surprised as Kaleb put away four bowls and basically drained all of the stew that she’d made. “You were hungry.” She said with a soft giggle. “Thank you for dinner.” Standing up, he gathered the things to go wash them. “It’s alright, i’ll do it, it’s the least I can do seeing as you saved me today.” Kaleb looked down at Poppy as she spoke, his fingers reached up and pushed a piece of hair out of her face. “Good night Poppy.” Nodding softly, Poppy gave him a weak smile. “Good night.”

Washing up done, Poppy sat down on the couch and rested her head on the arm, her eyes staring off into the distance not bothering to put the television on. She had far too much to think about, he didn’t even bother to yell at her running off like that, was she imagining things or was the dynamic between the two of them changing? Did it matter? Not with only eight days left.

#**immortal Chronicles** #***ic*** #DO NOT REBLOG #DO NOT REPOST