#you can only do embedded links on desk top and i was at work all day

[frogs-with-tea]

I think the One Piece Sound idea is Galaxy-brained. It has so much potential! The setting can be so rich, both in scenery and emotion: they’re all seeing the water and the sky and the forest all the time, but they all grew up there and they’re kinda stuck there so they don’t notice the beauty unless something brings their attention to it. And the potential for the characters! The main crew are 20-somethings living in a tourist trap - the older adults are going to consider their minimum-wage dead-end jobs (or lack thereof, looking at Luffy, king of the bums as far as they’re concerned) to be a sign of their laziness or whatever.

I’d like to think that Nami runs scams on the boardwalk to fleece tourists as legally as possible. She supports Luffy’s search for the One Piece bc she wants to be rich and famous.

I’d like to think Luffy is the goofy guy selling t-shirts out of Usopp’s van with absolutely incredible good luck (no matter what happens, he always bounces back). He’s always at every single one of Zoro’s kendo tournaments: he was the only person cheering Zoro on at Zoro’s first competition, where he foolishly challenged the current champion and got his ass beat to hell. Zoro calls him captain as an inside joke between them; they were friends first out of the group and they are each others ride-or-die. Everybody thinks Luffy is just a childlike dumbass until Luffy sets out to challenge and take down cruelty and greed in the town.

Since he was young, Sanji wanted to go to culinary school but he’s afraid to leave the town: ‘Zeff needs me, the restaurant needs me’. (‘If I leave, the Vinsmokes will find me’) After Zoro gets pregnant, Zeff is on Sanji’s ass constantly about mating/marrying the Cactus. Zeff’s views are a little old fashioned but his heart is in the right place. Sanji has the self-esteem of a flea so he’s really conflicted about it. When he finds out that people are looking down on Zoro bc he got knocked up by ‘just a line cook’ he goes nuclear (I’m thinking about a parallel between this mis-characterization of him and his bounty posters in canon being caricatures of him)

Usopp runs a “Ghost Tour!” that is 200% bullshit and he changes up the locations and stories every couple months. It is the highest-rated attraction on Trip Advisor for the town.

Robin works at the library and she’s got an extremely morbid sense of humor, which terrifies Luffy/Usopp/Chopper BUT she’s doing a lot of the reading research on the treasure and she helps in the search a lot.

Anyway, all of this is to say I think you’ve got a really winning concept on your hands and I wish you all the luck and energy to see it through!

Hey there!! It makes me really excited to hear that you're so passionate about my AU ideas!! I've actually laid out a lot of my ideas on my personal blog @spock-smokes-weed, all under the tag #one piece sound au.

My ideas for Nami and Usopp is that they would be the ones experiencing the most "my life is in a rut" type feelings since they don't have much outside of work and the straw hats. Nami works at a bait shop with her sister, cus I thought it would be fun to position Nami in the old-school economy of the town, fishing. I thought it would be a fun setting for Nami cus she's both a getting dirty with her hands kind of person and a girly girl. With Usopp, in my mind, he's that one friend who's always bouncing from job to job. If this AU is about early 20s eunni, then we all have a friend that can't seem to find a job that makes them happy or they can tolerate. Usopp is an artist at heart and a big personality, I think he'd find it hard to get fulfillment bussing tables or washing cars.

Luffy is pretty straightforward. Living in his van with his dog (Chopper), being a menace to society.

And honestly, I don't see Zeff being the traditional type at all or would give Sanji any grief about marrying Zoro. Since he exclusively hires ex-cons to work on his staff, and already has a non-traditional family with Sanji, I can't see him thinking marriage would solve any issues between Sanji and Zoro. Zeff is a big feature in the story and Sanji's biggest pillar of support, but his advice mainly comes down to "just do the right thing and take responsibility." He just wants Sanji to step up as a father and not run out like Judge did to him. Sanji doesn't react to Zoro being pregnant well (at first. he's terrified of being a father, and that causes him to lash out) and Zeff very much gives him some tough love about stepping up and taking responsibility for his actions.

And for a note about the Vinsmokes, with this AU I'm not looking for a pure 1:1 with canon. So they might be evil royalty in canon, but since I'm taking inspiration from slice-of-life, I'd rather refit them to fit tropes from that genre. I have two posts on Judge specifically and my ideas for his roll in the story, but the TL;DR is that he's a narcissistic deadbeat who only resurfaces in Sanji's life to take advantage of him and ask for money.

As for the other straw hats, I have a post here about where I think they'd fit into the town.

Also, I have a post about Zoro's focus of the story, mainly being his battle with his strength and masculinity and his struggle with the judgment he gets from the town around him.

This was all super long but I just get so excited when ppl say they like my au and all I want to do is share all the ideas I have cataloged (both on here and in my brain)

#ask box #non art #one piece #one piece sound au #sorry it took me a min to get to this ' #you can only do embedded links on desk top and i was at work all day

[newtabfics]

I'm hooked on redeemed ganondorf and the researcher. when do they confess? How did they confess really? What happened!

okay so...i'll admit, this is absolutely my own headcanon for their "confession". I say it like that cuz it's not exactly a confession. Read on to understand but before you do:

Trigger warnings for hostage situation and combat violence.

Ganondorf frowned when he knocked on her door. It was nearly the end of the day and no one had seen Y/N. Given her adept ability to get in trouble at any moment if left unsupervised, he began to worry.

When no answer came, he called out her name, listening carefully before opening the door.

"If I ever don't answer, just come on in. I might just be too engrossed in my study," She'd told him once ages ago.

His eyes scanned over the room before widening as he caught sight of her desk. The chair was thrown aside and papers were scattered everywhere, a knife embedded in the book. The knife pinned a single parchment to her book.

Ripping it out, he read over the note and felt his blood boil before storming out, letter in one hand, knife in the other.

This seemed to grab the attention of a lot of Sheikah, however, as everyone was immediately on guard. Even the dragons that loomed over Kakariko growled softly at his fury.

"Stop right there!" An aged voice barked, making him freeze. He looked over to see Impa walking to him with Link and Zelda in tow. "What happened?" She asked simply.

"Lady Impa," A Sheikah said. "He came out of Y/N's house with the knife. No one has seen her all day and–"

"Was I talking to you?" She asked him before looking at him. "Something's happened. What was it?"

Ganondorf said nothing before giving her the letter. His body language told of unchecked anger that had burned hotter than Death Mountain.

She took it and read it over, paling. "The Yiga," She hissed. "So they managed to sneak past our guards." Looking up at him, she said, "It seems they've found you again. What will you do?"

"I'm bringing her home," He said simply as Link and Zelda hurried up. "Link, the Yiga have kidnapped Y/N. They believe they can use her as a bargaining chip to free me from the Sheikah."

Link clenched his jaw as he nodded. "We should move quickly then."

Y/N kept still as she watched the Yiga around her. She was being held in a small room within their Depths Base. It was one of the many Link had confessed to infiltrating. The only thing is, this one in particular sat atop a series of huge stalagmites.

She peeked through the opening to see gliders fixed with fans patrolling the hut. Outside, a Zonai device she recognized as a Construct Head was fixated to the door, a Beam Emitter practically glued onto the top.

No chance of escaping by herself, she realized, sighing softly as she looked to the ropes on her wrist and feet.

Taking a slow breath, she bit into the rope at her wrists, testing and tugging at the knot to find some give for it as she listened carefully to the emptiness of the Depths.

With the Gloom gone, it was somewhat peaceful. Though there were the Frox and the Stal monsters, it was still quiet.

She gulped as she finally undid her wrists, rubbing them before working at her feet.

"Just keep quiet and we won't have to kill you," One of the yiga said as he tightened the ropes on her when she was brought to the others.

She'd been ripped from her home, her face aching from the beating as she focused on what she could do. But what could she do when she'd been surrounded by Yiga as they took the balloon from their base in the Gerudo Highlands and into the Depths? She wasn't sure how long had passed since she'd been taken late at night, just that she was exhausted and needed to escape.

Y/N adjusted in the room, peeking again. She blinked as she noticed the seal on the doors and sighed. There was absolutely no way of getting out unless she took out the Yiga that'd sealed the door.

A sudden alarm sounding, a horn, made her jump and duck down as she heard an explosion down below. A shadow loomed over the window as the Beam Emitter had gone off before it was ultimately destroyed and the doors ripped open.

Ganondorf came in and locked onto her quickly, his usual stoic expression replaced with unfiltered joy as he hurried to her, taking her in her arms and holding her tight. "You're alright," He whispered.

Y/n clung to him, shaking. "You know how to make an entrance," She giggled softly. "Please. I want to leave."

"Hold onto me," he commanded. She did so, blushing as he lifted her and walked to the edge of the cliff, jumping down. He dropped to one knee as the impact of their combined weight echoed around them.

"Master Ganondorf!" one of the Yiga members gasped before being knocked out by Link.

"She alright?!" He called over the sounds of the battle.

"Yes. Let's go!" Ganondorf barked as he hurried her to a strange Zonai Vehicle. "Hold on."

"Oh goddess, did Link  build this monster?" She whispered as he set her down, taking hold of the cannon attached. She ducked, covering her ears as it charged and fired into the clump of Yiga that aimed for Link.

He hurried to the vehicle and took hold of the steering stick as Ganondorf manned the canon, hurrying across the rugged terrain.

Y/N gulped as she saw the Yiga pursuing quickly and scanned the skies, paling as she locked onto the glider.

"Incoming!" She yelled, pointing to the glider with a canon of its own attached.

They didn't have enough time as the Yiga attacked, blasting the vehicle apart and knocking them in different directions.

Y/N groaned as she tried to sit up before being ripped to her feet. The knife against her throat made her whimper as Ganondorf stood, glaring furiously at the Yiga.

"Let her go," Link snarled, on his feet as he pulled out his sword.

"Not a chance! Return our master to us and we might spare her!" The Yiga member snapped. "We have you surrounded, Link. It's over."

Link clenched his jaw as he eyed his surroundings, noting the multiple Yiga members all twirling the blades menacingly.

"You will spare her," Ganondorf said simply. "She is mine. You won't hurt her." 

Y/N's heart skipped as the Yiga shifted, looking at Ganondorf as his eyes locked onto hers. "Y/N, I swear to you, I'll get you home."

"Ganny," She whispered, surprising her with the determined look he gave her before nodding, the blade nipping at her skin. "I know you will. I trust you."

"Wait what?" The Yiga asked, staring at Ganondorf in almost horror as his arms loosened.

Ganondorf moved too fast for even Link to react as he suddenly ripped away the Yiga's blade from Y/N and snapped his arm. The man yelled in agony as Y/N grimaced at the sickening crunch before being pulled against the massive figure that hurried back to Link's side.

Link moved in front of them, guarding them as Ganondorf quickly checked her for injury, examining her throat.

"I-I'm okay," She assured him as his eyes locked onto her cheek. The bruise, she realized. "You know how I am. I wouldn't let them take me without a fight," She joked softly. She gulped as his eyes darkened and his breath picked up. "Ganny?" She whispered.

"They hurt you," He rumbled before straightening and glaring down at the remaining Yiga members that staggered. "Which one of you was it?" He asked simply, even making Link shiver in fear.

Link glanced back to see Ganondorf glaring squarely at the shifting Yiga members before reaffirming his grip on his weapon. "Better answer him," He said simply. "He doesn't fuck around when it comes to her."

Ganondorf stepped forward, looming over the Yiga members. "I will reduce you to ash and resurrect you in the flames of Death Mountain until I have decided you've had enough. For three days, she was missing. For three days, I will destroy your body and rebuild it and repeat this until you are just as broken as the clan you claim loyalty to. Now, which one of you was it?"

Rather than answering, the Yiga fled, leaving the three in the underworld only lit by the nearby Lightroot.

Escaping the Depths was much easier, given the balloons now stationed at every Chasm. Ganondorf lit the flame as Link rubbed a soothing balm into her raw wrists. Slowly, the balloon began to climb up into the air.

"I'm okay. Really," She offered, smiling. "Thank you."

Link sighed, shaking his head. "You're learning how to fight. No questions about it. You'll have to put away your books to learn it though."

"What? No!" She whined, making him smirk as he elbowed her before nodding to Ganondorf. The man was still glaring into the darkness as if challenging anyone to come near them again.

Link's elbow bumped against her side as he smiled at her. Y/N blinked when he winked and stood, dramatically crying out in false fear. "Oh no! I'm going to fall! Ah!"

Y/N blinked as Link jumped from the hot air balloon, leaving both her and Ganondorf to peer over the edge to see his paraglider open up as he glided down into the Depths.

"How has he lived into adulthood?" Ganondorf muttered.

"No clue. Zelda says he's too wild for his own good," She responded before glancing at him. His amber eyes kept fixated on Link even after he'd vanished into the darkness. "Ganondorf…are you alright?"

"I should ask you that," he sighed as he finally looked at her as they sat. He reached forward, fingers grazing over her cheek. "Does it hurt?"

"Aches, but it's nothing that a bit of rest won't help." She gulped when his thumb rubbed over where the blade had gently nicked her, smearing the small drop of blood that seeped out. Her heart began to hammer as he moved closer.

He pulled her close, resting his chin on her head as he cradled her to him. Slowly, she relaxed into his hold and hugged him. "I'm glad to have you back alive," he sighed finally.

She smiled. "Wouldn't have done it without you." She adjusted and kissed his cheek. "Stop saving me so much. I'm starting to feel like a damsel," She joked.

Ganondorf only smiled, ignoring the way his heart hammered as he hugged her to him again as the balloon sailed over the Chasm edge and into the orange Hyrule sky.

#redeemed ganondorf series #ganondorf x fem!reader #totk ganondorf #rehydrated ganondorf #ask request #ask me stuff #tw violence #tw fighting #tw canon typical violence #link jumps out of the balloon

[starshipsofstarlord]

In retrospect, bend over spy - Natasha Romanoff x reader

Masterlist Link

Summary; Natasha is on a mission, however she certainly gets more than she bargained for whilst undercover

Warnings; smut, gxg, rimming, fingering, strap on sex

The redhead slipped out of her panties, dropping the black lace to the ground, as she kicked the well loved material, that was inked with her wetness, from around her ankles. She bunched the material of her dress up she bent her bosom over your desk, slotting her legs open as she grew eager as she heard your approaching footsteps.

Your fingers plucked at her round and full cheeks, spreading them apart so you could gouge a explicit view of her quivering cunt, and the tight ring of her asshole. It’s spiral of tight skin clenched as she felt your penetrating gaze upon the close knitted ring of muscle. Allowing some spit to douse your finger, you rubbed it against her back entrance, stringing a web of a moan from her engorged and swollen mouth.

She was inadvertently biting her lips, gnawing upon her flesh and sufficiently plumping it, as she awaited for you to do something more. The assassin wiggled her ass back, as she felt you drop to your knees, feeling the curl of your tongue prodding at her rim. “Fuck, y/n.”

You moaned as you peeled the straps of your cami top down, shoving the material down to below your breasts as you pinched at your own nipples, tugging out some relief for yourself, as your tongue firmly pressed through the conviction of tight entryway, as your free hand that was failing to milk your breast slithered up to her pussy.

The fingers on your right hand spread her affiliated juices around, as you delved your nose against her crack, pushing your wet and smooth appendage further into her hole, drawing positive sounds of encouragement to continue your administrations out of her lying, scoundrel, avenger lips.

To frustrated her, you pulled back, instigating a whine from her, as you wore a dirty and privileged smirk. You stood, disappointing her, though she remained in her poised position, watching with wild forest eyes as you rounded the dismissal of your reviewing centre, coming to face her, and blessing her with the sight of your nude and stiff pebbled breasts.

“How’d you know my real name, Natalia?” Shit, she was exposed, in more ways than one. She readied to retaliate in her sultry craft of exposition, however, she stilled as you waved your hand in dismissal of her actions. “Come on tell me, and perhaps I’ll let our fun continue, may even tell you whatever you want to know, Black Widow.”

It seemed like a fair trade, for a moment in thought Natasha pursed her lips together, cocking her flushed head as she ran over her options. This was the easiest way to access an answer, and well, if you were to double cross her, then it’d be no hassle to take you out.

“You have hydra files that you recovered from a base, Coulson has been tracking you for some time. He noticed that your company provided export and import, and wanted to ensure that you weren’t spreading the word on the intel that you recovered.”

“Hm.” Crossing your arms over your free breasts, you paid her a due smile, amused by the information that she had been told. “Open the drawer to the right, Romanova, the flash drive is in there.”

Her hands obeyed your suggestion, slipping inside the storage, retaining a red keeper of files from within. Natalia held it to her face, speculating its exterior, seeing the infamous skull symbol that prompted all content the organisation stamped their works with.

“I used to be like you you know, a heroin, though I found it to be a means to an end. There is so much to sacrifice, and in the end, all you have to give is yourself. Over time, I’ve figured it’s better to be alive than dead, there is no use in instigating the title of superhero if one day you are to lose.”

“You mentioned fun after I recovered this from you, this conversation you are elaborating on hardly seems like the type.” The redhead spy spat with a quirk of her scarlet brow, as she peeled the fabric of her midnight dress up and over her head.

“Guess shield agents don’t like speaking about their travels, they used to have no mind back in my day.” Well, that supposed that you had been a traitor, having the folder of files in your possession. “I guess you don’t either considering who you have been.”

“I’m not here to trade pity tales, if you wish to enjoy our last moments together, I suggest you take those slacks off from your legs, and show me how you can possibly make my remaining presence here worthwhile.”

“Oh honey, it’s definitely going to be worth the wait.” You replied, harshly tugging at your belt, as you unravelled the Italian leather from around your waist, unzipping your trousers as they fell down, and to the ground in a figure right around your feet. “Like what you see?”

There was certainly something to see. A harness enveloped your waist, a faux appendage in the shade of lilac hanging from the centre, taunting her with surprise. It wasn’t what she had been expecting, not in the slightest.

“It’s okay.” She shrugged, no longer having to keep up the facade of an interested intern, though her pupils told a different story as they gazed lustfully at the strap. “Guess it’ll do.”

“It will do something widow, and I can prove that.” The two of you both nude, except from the attachment that’s prime purpose was instigate internal pleasure, walked towards each other, you noticed her leave the drive on the desk, but you didn’t allow her to witness your lingering view.

Instead, you ambushed her against the hardwood platform of your desk, teeth biting their way into her mouth, gaining access to slip your sly tongue within the contents of oral communication. A hum escorted out from her lungs, as her hands dug their manicured nails into your shoulders, scratching red lines into the skin, as she awaited for you to enter her.

“Prove it then.”

Well, that predicament was easy, as you bent her to your will, and arched her back against your work desk, sifting the items in the way onto the floor. “I’m glad you said that Natalia.” Her statement only gave you a rush to do exactly as she said, boy was she going to regret letting that mouth of hers run confidently against you.

Her legs spread, allowing you to stand between them, as you ran your fingertips over their tops, your teeth stretching forwards and nipping at her lip. With her hips, she shuffled, rubbing her sodden folds against the toy, she was desperate. The exterior that she portrayed, the cocky one that was here for a mission and nothing more, had been swept away as she urgently wrapped her legs around you, sending you closer to her.

“I knew you weren’t as blunt with your emotions as you are with your words.” You grabbed the base of the toy that was attached to your harness, dragging the tip of the plastic through her slit, as you readily entered her. Once you were situated completely within her, your hands changed position to be on the table, as she adjusted, your hand slid to the drive, flicking it onto the ground by your chair, changing it out for one that was beneath the mouse pad.

She was oblivious to the settlement of underlying mischief prominent in your actions, instead of focusing on your seclusive intentions, she was perused by the seducing revels that you wantonly deposited upon her, as your hips ground ceremoniously against her own, leaving a trail of erotic pecks up the expanse of her neck, as your other hand opposed a grip around the strap.

It felt like power embedded in your hand, as you provided it stability against gravity as you teased her folds with the ludicrous tip, entering the length within her walls as she cowered a mewl at the sensation of penetration, as you nipped down at her pulse point, sliding your competent fingers down to fiddle with her satirised clit, moving it around like a paddle in water. Once she was adjusted to the size of the toy, you began to retract it, only to thrust back into her.

Her head whipped back, exposing her clavicle which you eagerly traced with your tongue. With one moderately ravenous hand, you groped her breast, it filling your palm as you prowled deeper inside her, tracing your hips back and forth to create a sustainable rhythm. A glow brew upon her skin, defining her collarbones with a powerful sheen that gripped her pores wonderfully. Moans rattled huskily out from her throat as she received, as she bent her shape against yours, optimally accepting the rounds of stimulation that you adorned upon her body.

“I’m gonna cum y/n.” Her nose crinkled as she made her statement, and thus, you made your administrations that much more fast, belting into her to appease her a gyration that brought her closer to her orgasm. The last method that had her half screeching through her retrospective high, was a bittersweet pinch to her clit, that had her hurtling over the edge. You continued to move for a few moments, until it became too much for the spy.

As she caught her breath, you gently stroked her nipples, causing her to heave heavier. “Shame you were only here on a mission, that means I have no chance of convincing you to go out on a date with me.” Pulling the fake cock out of her cunt, watching as she whimpered from the notion. She grabbed for her items of clothing, slathering them back into appropriate placement upon her body.

“I don’t do dates.” She thickly stated, making you hum in acknowledgement, Natalia tried to soothe her hair with her hands until it looked presentable enough, going to turn, until you caught her arm, preventing her from doing so. You picked up the hard drive off from the desk, and simply handed it to her. “It was nice meeting you, you definitely made my breach here... interesting.”

“I aim to please.” You brashly shrugged, accepting her grateful smile as you watched the deceived and overplayed spy walk out of the door to your office. You threw your shirt over yourself, removing the harness that hugged your hips, and rolled your panties up your legs. You bent to the ground, retrieving the true aspect of your game. “Well, I guess you can’t have it all.” The real flash drive was pinched between your forefinger and your thumb as you blinked towards it.

You had managed to deceive an avenger, yet the whole cover would only be viable to hold up for so long. Your entire operation would have to move elsewhere if you were to have to avoid that fine fox and her friends. Paging your assistant, you filled her in on the business cards that were currently laid out before yourself.

#natasha romanoff smut #nat x reader smut #nat smut #natasha romanoff one shot #natasha romanoff fanfic #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x reader #Natasha Romanoff reader insert #nat x reader #natasha x you #natasha x reader #natasha x y/n #black widow one shot #black widow x y/n #black widow x female reader #natasha x fem!reader #marvel x reader #black widow fic #black widow smut #black widow x reader #black widow x you #natasha smut #the avengers smut #avengers smut #imagines #xreader #imagine #natasha imagine #mcu smu

[beewolfwrites]

An Iron Box - The Answer

@cheshiya @tenseoyong @szallejhscorner @something-more-original-please @ofsunsetsandpoetries @nek0dzuken @allozaur @hiqhkey @serenzippity

That rooftop scene is growing closer, and so is my excitement :D

I’ve noticed a few new readers, and I just wanted to add a heads up that you can find the Tumblr post links and the AO3 links to each of the three fics at the top of my Tumblr, if that helps at all! 

Here’s the AO3 link to this chapter too.  

I hope you like it! <3

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

‘Chishiya, I’d hate to be your enemy.’ 

When Arisu had spoken those words right as he punched in the code, he’d already made his fatal mistake.

You are all my enemies, in a way.   

I stood back, watching as Arisu’s bloodied and unconscious body was slung over a militant’s shoulder and carried out of the royal suite. Usagi went next, kicking and screaming her boyfriend’s name. Just as she was dragged out the door, her eyes locked on me, and I could see the sheer betrayal there, the hatred burning and seething under her skin. 

I simply smiled. 

It wasn’t personal. It’s just how this world works.

Sometimes you have to sacrifice a pawn to reach the king. 

The rest of us meandered out into the hall where the two traitors were being hauled towards their fate. I felt a hand clamp firmly on my shoulder, and fought the urge to move away when I saw Aguni standing beside me.

‘You did good, Chishiya. I never did trust those two.’ 

You should rethink where you put your trust. 

‘Don’t mention it,’ I said. ‘It’s the least I could do.’ 

There was a furious cry down the hall as Usagi bit someone’s hand, followed by a slap, and then silence. I already had an inkling about what would happen to the two of them. Knowing Niragi, he would have some fun with Usagi before disposing of her. Perhaps I should’ve felt guilty. Some people certainly would. But there was a small, satisfied part of me that was glad it was her instead of... 

‘That reminds me,’ Aguni said. ‘How did you know about them?’ 

‘Ah… that.’ I took the walkie talkie out of my pocket and flashed it to him. ‘They tried to get me to join them. I went along with it to find out the details, and you know the rest.’ 

Aguni’s brows furrowed at the sight of the device, but he didn’t ask to inspect or keep it. That’s when I knew I had him wrapped around my finger. 

‘I understand. If you see any other suspicious behaviour, let me know.’ 

‘Of course.’ 

I nodded politely as he disappeared down the hall and submerged himself in his room.

Now that those two were taken care of, the militants would be distracted for a little while. That left us a generous amount of time until dark, although the real plan wouldn’t take long to execute, especially now I knew where the actual safe was.  

Aguni may have been observant, but not nearly as observant as I was. Knowing that he had come so close to having the cards snatched from right under his nose, it would’ve unsettled anyone. And in such an unstable situation, it was only human nature to seek stability by making sure that your precious items are untouched. 

I guess I was wrong about the blank sheet. 

There was a room on the top floor that I knew wasn’t currently being used. In such close proximity to the royal suite, it was the perfect hideout where I could talk into the walkie talkie without worrying about eavesdroppers. 

Slipping inside, I pulled it from my pocket once again to tune it to a radio frequency I had told Kuina about earlier. Knowing her, she would have tuned (name’s) to the same one right after Arisu’s capture. 

I lifted the walkie talkie to my mouth. ‘Kuina?’ 

There was a drawn out moment of static, then Kuina’s voice crackled through. ‘I’m here. (Name) still needs a minute though.’ 

I figured as much. Once she realised what was happening, it was inevitable that she would react badly. Having Kuina there to keep her away from Arisu and Usagi had been for the best. And now she knew that I had unwillingly involved her in a plan like this, her opinion of me had probably sunk lower than before. 

Is this also for the best? 

I sat down on the unused bed, deciding that yes, it was. She would only be a distraction. If it came down to it, I needed to survive. And once we left the Beach, if she despised me so much that she chose to go down a separate path, it couldn’t be better. 

But still… 

‘Chishiya.’ Kuina’s voice interrupted the quiet. ‘I hope you feel guilty for this. I seriously hope a small part of you realises how screwed up this was.’ 

I smiled at her lack of understanding. I realised perfectly well, but for the sake of surviving in a world like this, you couldn’t allow yourself to slip to the bottom of the food chain.

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ I replied. ‘Are you backing out all of a sudden?’ 

‘Of course not. I can’t afford to, and neither can (name).’ She paused, then tentatively asked, ‘Did you know? About her… and you, you know.’ 

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ 

‘Did you know she had feel—’ Kuina’s voice stopped, then she hushed, ‘She’s coming out now. We’ll be upstairs soon.’ 

The communication cut off, and all I could do was wait until they were in position. Wait, and mull over Kuina’s unfinished question. Obviously, they had been talking about me, but I almost didn’t want to know what they had said. 

I waited fifteen minutes, and there was still no sign from either of them. If they carried on at this speed, we would run out of time. Growing restless, I held up the walkie talkie. 

‘You two, how are things on your side?’

There was no response, but they would have to reply eventually. What I didn’t expect was her voice to come through. 

‘You’re all good to go from where I’m standing.’ Her voice was still dripping with unspoken anger and betrayal, and it was surprising she was even willing to talk to me. 

So you’re not as childish as you act. Who would’ve thought. 

‘Aguni’s still in his room,’ Kuina followed up with a sigh. ‘We’re getting bored now.’ 

‘Then should we get going with the plan?’ I suggested. The reply I got was scathing. 

‘We’ve already gotten going. It’s you who needs to hurry up.’ 

That attitude, it was almost laughable. How commanding (name) had become in an instant, as if she weren’t tagging along on someone else’s plan.

‘Patience,’ I reminded her, and turning down the volume on the walkie talkie, I cracked open the door. 

In the hall, there wasn’t a soul in sight. It couldn’t have been more perfect. The royal suite was unguarded, and I easily slipped by unnoticed. Inside, the room was bathed in darkness, and it became apparent Aguni hadn’t yet bothered to move his belongings in. There were still traces of the incident earlier. The carpet by the open wardrobe was spotted with blood. Arisu’s blood. 

I turned the volume on the walkie talkie back up. ‘I don’t know if Arisu is stupid or intelligent. Hatter was paranoid. He wouldn’t have hidden the cards in a normal safe.’

‘Where’s the real one then?’ Kuina asked. 

I turned to the deer painting on the wall. It didn’t particularly stand out as anything special, just a deer’s face and antlers against a blue toned background. And yet earlier that day, despite all the commotion and Arisu’s screams of pain, it had captured Aguni’s focus. 

‘When Arisu was caught,’ I said, slowly approaching the painting, ‘Aguni wasn’t paying attention. He was looking towards a certain picture on the wall. It turns out the paper wasn’t empty after all. It contained a drawing instead.’ 

Briefly placing the walkie talkie on a side table, I lifted the painting from the wall, uncovering the hidden treasure that I had been hoping for. The plaster had been carved up, forming a hole large enough to jam a small safe inside. And sure enough, there it was. A hotel safe, much like the one Arisu had tried, was embedded deep into the wall. 

Her voice, sounded through the static. ‘So, you had no idea where it was until then?’ 

I picked up the walkie talkie again. ‘Exactly. What happened to Arisu was necessary if we were going to find the real safe. Speaking of which, I’ve found it.’ 

Now it was the moment of truth. The final test to see if my code was correct. I punched the numbers in one by one. 8022. Each one held its own magnitude, and I half-expected an alarm to ring out. 

Except it didn’t. The safe display read ‘OPEN’. 

‘You used him just for that?’ was Kuina’s tired response. 

Really, after all this time, did she not realise that this was the price one had to pay? This world had a certain dynamic. In order to survive, you couldn’t allow yourself to get caught up in guilt or shame. 

‘In order to gain something, you have to lose something,’ I said. ‘He’s just a sacrifice. Things like this happen a lot, don’t they?’

'No, they don’t. Not at all. I really don’t want to be your enemy.’

I smiled, remembering the betrayal in Arisu’s expression. ‘I get that a lot.’ 

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

The deck was like a weight, swinging in my pocket. A surefire sense of power and danger, all hidden within a stack of cards. There was no way of knowing whether collecting them granted any passage back to the old world. But there was also nothing to prove that they didn’t. 

Either way, I’m certain something will happen once the deck is completed. 

These cards couldn’t be for nothing. 

After replacing the painting, I told Kuina and (name) to meet me near the patio exit at the east of the hotel. I could’ve caught up with them on my way down from the top floor, but I wanted to make a small diversion. 

I’d never felt any attachment to my room, and even now as I took one last look, there was nothing in particular keeping me here. 

Well, maybe just one thing. 

Pulling open the second drawer down on the desk, I felt around at the back for the tiny box. It was only small, and the ring inside even smaller. It sat open in the palm of my hand, the silver fashioned into a small sun with a glistening green centre. 

Somehow, its weight was even heavier than the cards. 

Is there any point?

I could’ve easily slipped it into my pocket, but it was practically useless. Even if I gave it to her, she would instantly reject it. 

I placed the box back in the draw. It would stay a secret for the next person moving into this room. As I shut the drawer, I suddenly remembered another, darker secret hidden inside the one below. I opened it up, seeing the little souvenir I’d taken from my first game. 

The pistol glistened inside, metallic and dangerous. Now that would certainly keep Niragi at bay. But again, was it worth it? It didn’t hold many bullets, and it wouldn’t stand a chance against a rifle. Once we were out of here, I could probably find something a little bigger, perhaps in Tokyo’s empty Yakuza hotspots. 

I left it there along with the ring. Even walking away felt like tugging at a string that kept pulling me back towards that tiny box. I would have to rip that string apart. 

Making my way down through the hotel, I strolled outside, dipping into the smaller paths where the patio was peaceful. The only sounds were the faded music drowned out by wind, and the soft trill of crickets. Two silhouettes came into view, one basking in the glow beneath a lamppost, the other hidden against the wall in its shadow. 

‘I guess we won’t be needing these anymore.’ I pulled off the wristband I had gotten so used to wearing. Just as I reached the brick archway at the edge of the grounds, Kuina spoke.

‘Don’t you feel sorry?’ 

I paused. ‘Sorry?’ 

‘About what happened to Arisu,’ (name) said. ‘I feel really sorry for him. We both do.’

Kuina hummed in agreement. ‘Don’t you?’

I turned, glancing from Kuina’s frown to the figure behind her. No matter how hard she tried to hide in her friend’s shadow, I could always find her, especially when her eyes looked so full of anger and hurt. Standing there, both bracing themselves against the cold, the two of them echoed off one another in perfect harmony. 

‘I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.’ 

I knew what line came next. She didn’t have to sing, so long as she was still breathing. Perhaps I could make her understand. 

‘Is there anything we wouldn’t do in order to survive?’ 

Clearly, there was. Their eyes widened, as if the truth of this world hadn’t fully hit them yet. As if all my efforts had been for nothing in their eyes. 

Fine. Very well. 

I smiled, no longer caring to hide the bitterness. ‘If you both feel so worried, then maybe you should go and help him.’ 

And of course, neither of them budged. They knew they couldn’t. They were both so happy to come with me if it meant escaping the Beach, yet they still felt the right to criticise my methods. I turned back towards the arch and took the first step forward into freedom, only to hear that tiny, oh-so-familiar sound. 

A buzzing. 

‘It can’t be,’ I muttered. 

This was always a possibility. But why here? Why now? Why, when I was so close to winning? Any other time, and I wouldn’t have minded. This, however, was simply annoying. 

I was so deep in thought, I barely registered the footsteps behind me… the familiar form sliding past me… walking closer towards the arch. 

‘Stop.’

My hand moved on its own, grabbing her wrist and tugging her back just in time. For one small second I felt the heat of her skin, right before it was yanked out of my grip. 

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ She touched her wrist as if it had been burned, unaware that it had been the other way around. 

I couldn’t answer. The cold had settled back in, the emptiness. It only confirmed that nagging suspicion I already knew. The reason I couldn’t rip the string apart. She was the answer.

Kuina appeared at my side, waiting for an explanation. Her presence reminded me that there was something far, far more pressing at stake. Suddenly remembering the wristband I was holding, I tossed it into the arch. 

A glowing red laser shot through the centre and it clattered to the ground. 

The timing was almost ironic, too perfect to be true. Almost like the gamemasters had been watching us all along, just as they had with that little stunt they pulled in the Eight of Hearts. As frustrating as this was, I had to admire their creativity. 

I sighed, turning around to see a wall of lasers appear along the parameters of the hotel.

Touche. 

#alice in borderland #aib #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #Chishiya x reader #chishiya x oc #Imawa no Kuni no Arisu #chishiya alice in Borderland

[rottenwoodandwiltedsunflowers]

It felt like transcendence - Kae

I’m supposed to be finishing up work and instead it’s 12:25 am and somehow 2020 keeps getting worse and worse and I can’t focus on anything productive and I’m just sitting here alone while my family sleeps. And I’m thinking about immersive theatre.

For someone who is fairly gregarious on the internet--I’ve written about my sex life and liveblogged my pregnancy for publication, after all--I’m a surprisingly guarded person IRL. I don’t see crying as a sign of weakness in others, but I can’t convince myself of the same. I only really trust one or two people in my life at a time. That’s all I have capacity for. I’m an adoptee. I’m a Capricorn. It’s who I am.

I miss the hotel right now and immersive theatre in general. What’s hard to explain to most people is that it’s not just about the art and the live performance. Maybe it’s about the community, though I ironically see my far-flung fan friends more often now than I did before the pandemic shut down theater. We’re all desperate for immersive work and have been seeing virtual shows together and apart, having Zoom chats and group chats and debriefs about them, sharing reviews and solving clues collectively.

I do miss people and IRL connection, but that’s not the ache I feel most ardently. I accessed something within myself in immersive shows that I can’t replicate anywhere else. Is transcendence too strong of a word? It felt spiritual, but I also don’t know if I know what spirituality means. Immersive was (is?) a solo experience for me, whether I went with someone else or not. I felt alive and present in my body at immersive shows. I’m always thrilled to have a 1-1 or to see a new scene added at Sleep No More. But it’s the much smaller moments and experiences that swoooooosh returned me to my flesh. And I miss that feeling, of being transported. The illusion of being alone in my head, that allowed me to focus on just what was in front of me, just what I wanted and who I was in the moment. Since becoming a parent, I both started seeing more and more immersive shows beyond SNM and had less frequent trips to NYC to see shows at all. The last time I saw SNM was October of 2019, the Halloween trip. I haven’t been back to NYC since. I don’t remember who was on or what I saw or where I wandered. It wasn’t a deeply transformative trip to the McKittrick. I took it for granted and if I could go back today, I would try to take it all in--the scents, the textures, the million tiny details. Corners of the building are already blurring in my memories.

But I do remember some very specific things, teeny moments embedded in my long term memory from 7 years (6 in earnest) of immersive adventuring.

Some scattered memories from the last few years that I can still smell, hear, taste, and remember, from SNM and others:

Being alone in the lofted bedroom alcove at the very top of the brownstone building in which Inside the Wild Heart by Group.BR was performed and standing slightly too close to the wall, when I realized the flowers on the walls were talking. Barely audible audio of Clarice Lispector reading her work, like a whisper, was being played through the flowers pinned to the wall, so quiet and in such a small, lonely corner of the building. Who would hear them? Who would ever happen upon them or stand just close enough to that particular wall? But they called to me and I pressed my ear closer to the wall to hear their whispers.

Outright choke-sobbing during the last scenes of Remembrance by Linked Dance, a time during which I really wished I was alone and was also slightly embarrassed that I’d paid extra for the additional scenes that commenced while I was still gurgling and wiping my tears on my sleeve. My grandmother, who I was very close to, died after living a long time with Alzheimer’s. That show was so lovely and I held it together the entire time and then it all burst out at once and it’s truly the most emotional I’ve ever been in public that wasn’t, like, an actual funeral.

Reading through all the manila folders in the reverend’s outside room at SNM, when that was a thing, and puzzling over the characters in the files. Who was the midwife? The nanny? What about the others? Trying to commit it all to memory. Failing. Crawling through the tunnel and being shocked by the soft texture and brilliant white of the chapel (towel room).

The first time I felt the flutter of movement during my pregnancy with Remi, a slight ticklish wiggling inside me, so slight I barely registered it. Had I been moving about my normal life, I might not have noticed. I was, at that moment, deeply moved and completely still, witnessing the Father do a dance of regrets across a sandy roof in The Grand Paradise by Third Rail Projects. I don’t know if a fetus can register its gestational carrier’s emotions, but I have always felt that Remi was reacting to my heightened emotional state.

A night during which I was the only person with the porter during the boy witch lip sync. A scene I’d seen many times, but after looping this particular porter, I felt deeply empathetic towards him. He never took his eyes off of the boy witch and I never took my eyes off of him and he started to cry and I felt tears coming in the tightness of my throat. As though he could feel the synchronicity between us, without turning his fixed gaze from the boy witch, he reached his outstretched hand towards me across the desk. I’d seen the porter loop many times, so I was surprised, but I knew that it was meant for me and I didn’t hesitate to take it. We held hands, urgently, and those tears started to fall one-by-one down my face and then, when the boy witch was done, the porter shook the spell and looked me directly in the eyes, squeezing my hand before moving back to his unfortunate loop.

Watching an actor climb around a huge bookshelf, finding little pots of white paint behind the books and painting her face with her fingertips, while blue light cast unnatural shadows over the room--a scene you probably saw if you saw Submersive Productions’ first large-scale work in Baltimore, The Mesmeric Revelations of Edgar Allen Poe. What I remember is just watching her, as other audience members came and went, for a very long time, for the entire wordless scene, including when she dismounted from the shelves and folded her arms at odd angles into the top of a wooden piano.

The scene in Then She Fell by Third Rail Projects when Alice sees you through the mirror, the audience member becoming the mirror image of Alice. The actor spoke no words. We made eye contact through the implied mirror and she reached for the clementine on her side and I reached the one on mine and then we peeled it together, wordlessly, the skin giving easily under our fingers, and slipped one slice into our mouth and it was sweet.

And, of course, the very first SNM show and the very first time I saw the banquet scene. I have no idea what loop it was--maybe second? I didn’t comprehend anything about the show that night other than that I was intrigued. The banquet scene, which I so often skipped intentionally in my later shows, so often stayed out in the bar at the end of the night if I was having a good time, was the highlight of that very first show. It felt like the whole room slowed and warped. It stopped my breath. I was zoomed in. I could feel my pulse. The whole ballroom pulsed as the lights and mood shifted. For a moment, I was unstuck in time.

If you’re missing immersive theater right now, please do come to The Lost Halloween. It’s a moment for all of us to get found. A bit. And if you’re able, please give to the fundraiser. Every single dollar is an investment in another person's survival and a meaningful thank you for the ways immersive experiences have challenged us, affirmed us, and brought us joy and healing.

#sleep no more #sleep no more nyc #Sleepnomore #sleepnomorenyc #sleep no more shanghai #immersive #immersive theatre #immersive theater #ImmersiveTheatre #immersivenyc #linked dance #third rail projects #submersive productions #mckittrick

[sirspud]

Yet More Pokemon Parodies

I have written the ninth chapter of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Abridged! It contains drama! Romance! Battles! Everything you could ever ask for! Follow the links for the full story! Click the ‘Read More’ button for a short excerpt! It has been called ‘the next DragonBall Z Abridged’ by myself and myself only! Have I become famous on the internet yet? DO YOU LOVE ME NOW YOU UNGRATEFU

Fanfiction.Net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13615322/1/Pokemon-Diamond-and-Pearl-An-Abridged-Novella AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24725101/chapters/59766985

The city of Oreburgh was not, to put it lightly, a very pleasant city to look at. A light grey cloud hung over the place, soot decorated the buildings, pillars of smoke rose from the factories and energy stations that circled the cities, and to top it all off, there was barely a scrap of greenery in the city. Most of the land was dirt, sand and rock, with mountains to all sides but the south, to which laid a barren, rocky valley. It was a miracle that people were able to live in the land at all, and it was a mystery as to why they wanted to.

It had taken the gang an entire week to finally arrive in the so-called ‘City of Energy’. A week of hiking through the forest, mountains and through the caves of the Oreburgh Gate. To Ash and Brock, it was merely a leisurely walk. To Dawn, it had been a gruelling seven-day ordeal that had left her sore, exhausted and complaining. Finally, they had emerged from the mountains and into the rocky vale beyond, the mountainside city rising before them.

“Ahhh… Oreburgh City!” Dawn exclaimed as they got closer, looking around with her hands on her hips. “It looks just how I pictured it!”

The others looked around uncomfortably. Ash spoke up and asked, “Dark, dirty and unsafe?”

“Yup!” Dawn nodded. “Oreburgh is the only city in Sinnoh that still uses coal-fired power, and it’s notorious for having the worst pollution laws to go with it.” She swept her hand across, gesturing to the smog-covered metropolis. “Oreburgh is such an undesirable location, it was voted ‘Second Worst Place to Visit in Sinnoh’ by PokéChic magazine!”

“The whole city looks like a public health disaster!” Brock exclaimed. “What was the First Worst?”

“Neighbourly Town.” Dawn replied.

“Never heard of it.”

“Exactly.”

After stopping at a convenience store for a restock on supplies and facemasks, the gang immediately went for the Oreburgh Gym. The facility was on the edge of the city closest to the mountain, and was actually built into the rock itself. A set of sliding doors, embedded into the stone aside two jagged rocks, opened up to let them into a moderately-sized entrance room. The floor was made of industrial steel, and the walls were hewn from dark grey granite, leading towards a welcome desk. The room contained a bunch of display cases, each containing a fossil of some kind, and the walls held informative posters about the gym itself.

Pikachu exhaled a breath that he had been holding for a while, since the store didn’t have facemasks for Pokémon. “(Finally.)” He groaned. “(I think that smoke shortened my lifespan by five years.)”

“I’ve never seen a proper gym battle before.” Dawn said excitedly, looking around the place. “This is gonna be so cool!”

“Oh yeah, gyms are awesome!” Ash confirmed. “Trust me, in ten minutes or so, you are going to be amazed!”

They strode up to the front desk, behind which was a bored-looking girl about the same age as Dawn, leaning on the desk with her hair tied back in a ponytail. “Welcome to the Oreburgh Gym. How can we help you today?” She asked in a monotone voice.

“Hi there!” Ash declared, confidently leaning over the desk. “I’m here to have a gym battle!”

“Mr. Castle is currently seeing another challenger.” She replied flatly.

“I’m here to watch a gym battle!”

The girl pointed down the corridor to the right with a pen she had been idly playing with. “Down the hall, turn left, big double doors at the end. Arena’s through there.”

“Huh. Bummer.” Dawn sighed wistfully as they made their way to the arena. “Guess we’ll have to wait.”

Ash shrugged. “It happens. At least we can watch a battle first, get a feel for what the gym leader’s like.”

“Mm.” Dawn hugged her arm nervously as they approached the doors into the arena. “Hey, Ash?”

“Yeah?” He turned to look at her.

“Uh…” Dawn chuckled awkwardly, a slight blush crawling up her cheeks. “I know it’s not, like… the greatest city to do this, but after-”

From beyond the arena doors, a frustrated voice cried, “Oh, for crying out- What?”

The three trainers paused. Dawn blinked, then frowned. “…Does that voice sound familiar to you guys?”

They looked at one another, then made their way forward.

The doors opened up to the top row of a set of bleachers facing a small, rectangular battlefield with rocks placed alongside the sand and dirt. On one side of the field was a tall, young man in a grey uniform with gleaming yellow bands, narrow glasses and a red miner’s helmet that hid a shock of burgundy hair. He stood there with his arms crossed and a collected smile on his face, as a small and circular rock-shaped Pokémon rolled its way before him.

Dawn looked at the other side of the battlefield, then snorted as she saw the unconscious form of a blue-and-white round shape that vaguely resembled a rabbit. “Jeez, this guy’s getting wrecked.”

Brock’s eyes widened as he saw the dark blue jacket and purple-grey hair of the Azumarill’s trainer. “Wait a second. That’s…”

Ash’s eyes narrowed. “Paul.”

#pokemon #Pokemon Diamond And Pearl #diamond and pearl #dp remakes #this has nothing to do with the dp remakes #but i'll be fucked if i'm not going to take advantage of the hype to trick people into reading my fanfic #Ash Ketchum #ash #dawn #brock #pikachu #paul #abridged #parody #roark #sinnoh #comedy #writing #fanfiction #please love me

[andinewton]

A MisunDateStanding

So, this story has been in my head for weeks!  I finally finished it after starting it and forgetting I had done so!  Big Big Big thanks to @fuwafuwagem​ for reading it for me!

Fandom:  Mr Love: Queen’s Choice

Pairing: Victor/MC

Warnings: None.  Unless you really have a phobia of misunderstandings...

A MisunDateStanding

Dinner.  Tomorrow night.  8pm.

The text was as direct and to the point as the man sending it, Victor’s brusque yet efficient manner coming across easily with the link to the restaurant.  Yet those three sentences were enough to send you into a panic.  You had had four more days to turn in your latest report, two of them being the weekend when you had planned to shut off your phone and concentrate on it fully, but now you had less than forty-eight hours!  What was he thinking?  You were sure he liked giving you extra pressure just to see you fail.  His logic that you should work well under pressure was absolutely ridiculous!  And to make things worse, the restaurant was exceedingly high class, meaning you had to somehow find an outfit that met standards for both the setting and a business meeting.

‘I’ll fix the outfit, you get on with the report.’  Anna promised you, patting your shoulder from where you sat at your desk with your face pressed against the surface.

‘He’s trying to kill me, I swear.’  Your muttered voice came from the surface.  ‘He wants to see me try so hard I have a heart attack.’

‘Less complaining, more typing.’  She pushed your laptop until it bumped gently against your head.  ‘I promise you will look fabulous, just make sure you have something to hand over.  There’s only so far an outfit will take you with the CEO from hell.’

You took a deep breath as you pushed yourself upright, pulling your laptop towards you.  ‘Okay, I can do this.’

‘You can.  I’ll get Minor to bring you a coffee.’  She replied as she went for the door.  ‘Redirect your calls to Kiki and, for the love of God, concentrate!’

‘Anna?’  You looked up as she was about to close the door.

‘Yes?’

‘I think I’m going to need some new shoes as well.’  You smiled apologetically.

‘A whole outfit, got it.’  She nodded pulling the door behind her.

‘Anna?’  You called again.

‘What now?’  She gave you a stern look.

‘Thank you.’

Her face slipped into a smile.  ‘Get to work.’

You nodded to yourself as the door closed.  You wouldn’t let anyone down.

You exited the elevator and approached the maître’d at the restaurant, your new heels clicking on the tiled floor.  The outfit Anna had chosen was beautiful yet simple; a wide v-necked skater dress with short sleeves paired with a short fitted jacket, both black; the heels were lace courts with a three inch heel, not quite tall enough for you to wobble, but enough for you to walk tall and confidently.  She had helped put together your hair and makeup, and had even brought a selection of jewellery to finish off the outfit.  You felt incredibly overdressed for a business meeting but the moment you stepped into the building you didn’t feel out of place at all.

You were shown to Victor’s table overlooking the city from its top floor vantage point, the man himself already seated, looking perfectly turned out as usual in a black three piece suit and striped shirt.  His tie was held in place with a silver clip embedded with a jewel that glinted in the dim lights.  He stood when he saw you, straightening his jacket and waiting for the waiter to hold your chair and put your napkin in your lap before sitting himself.

‘You’re on time.’  He remarked before clearing his throat.  ‘You look…nice.’

‘Oh, thank you.’  You replied, not expecting a compliment.  It brought a blush to your cheeks that you only hoped the rouge Anna had expertly applied covered.  ‘I…uh…like your tie clip.  Is it a diamond?’

Victor looked down at his tie as though he couldn’t remember.  ‘Yes.’

You were both silent for several moments, Victor looking at you expectantly, and you realised he was probably waiting for your report.  Reaching into your laptop bag, the only item out of place with your outfit, you pulled out a folder and rested it on your place setting before rezipping the bag, talking as you did so.

‘I think you’ll find everything you need here.’  You started.  ‘The figures are exact as of ten-thirty this morning, and I think you’ll appreciate the additional…’

‘What is that?’  Victor’s tone was clipped yet not harsh, his eyes uncertain, and you wondered if it was bad business practice to discuss matters before food.

‘Uh…the report.’  You replied in a hushed voice.  ‘It was hard to get it done four days sooner, but I knew I could do it if really tried.’

‘Why would you…’  Victor leant forward in his chair.  ‘Why would you bring your report on a date?’

You blinked three times as what he said sank in, and they weren’t fast blinks.  No.  They were slow and measured, your brain processing what he had said until it finally made sense.  ‘This is a date?’

‘I don’t usually bring anyone but other CEOs or high level associates to this restaurant.  I don’t usually dine with my underlings, but you’re spe…different.’  He stopped himself and you wondered what he had been about to say.  ‘I suppose I should have been more specific with my invitation.’

‘Well, I am a dummy.’  You shrugged.  That was all you could come up with?!  Good job, me!

Victor chuckled, sitting back in his chair with one arm across his chest, his elbow rested against it and his fingers on his chin.  ‘Put that away.  You can have an extra day before you have to turn it in, because you look like you’ve pulled a couple of all-nighters to get it done.  And no more work talk tonight.’

You smiled as you slipped the folder back into your bag.  ‘Yes, sir.’  You couldn’t help it, it just fell out of your both from habit, and Victor’s raised eyebrow made you realise your mistake.  ‘I mean Victor.  I mean, yes, Victor.  Okay.’

‘Good.’  He signalled the waiter who appeared almost instantaneously with a bottle of wine that had been breathing and awaiting this moment.  He poured a small sample into Victor’s glass and he tried it before nodding his approval.  Your glass was filled first, then Victor’s second, the bottle left on the side of the table.  ‘I hope red is okay with you.’

‘Yeah.’  You replied, almost in a daze.

‘Then here’s to our first date,’ he raised his glass towards yours, waiting until you clinked rims to add, ‘and many more.’

#mlqc #mlqc victor #mr love victor #mr love queen's choice #mlqc fic

[zukuthehero]

Chapter three- Izuku gets a care package

First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || AO3

“I’m home mom!” I slipped into the house, closing the door gently behind me.

I juggled the bags from my shopping trip and toed my shoes off before moving heading towards my room to drop it all off.

“Oh, Izuku honey,” my mom called from the kitchen, “You dad sent a package for you!”

I perked up, “Dad sent a package?”

“Yes, it’s here in the kitchen dear.”

I grinned and hurried to my room to drop my stuff off. I know my dad doesn’t really like me. He started leaving a lot for business trips after my diagnosis. And now hasn’t been home in six years. But I did like it when he pretended to care for mom. It’s been awhile since he sent anything too.

I dropped my bags on my bed to put up later, then rushed back to the kitchen. I grinned as I noticed the open package on the table, a package for mom I assume. I peaked in and noticed a few wine bottles and something fabric, maybe some new clothes?

“Here’s your package dear.”

I turned to see mom holding out a package to me, my name written neatly on the top in Dad’s handwriting.

“Thanks Mom.” I scooped it up, it was rather heavy, and moved to my room to open it.

I placed the box on my bed and dug around for some scissors to open it. Finding them, I carefully cut the tape and pulled open the top.

At the very top was a box that said Bath and Body Works in English lettering. I quickly reached in and pulled it out, these are always so cool. I opened the box to see little all might themed bath bombs! They were yellow, blue, and red like his outfit and had stars decorating them. They even had the bangs sticking up in yellow! I adore them and I’m definitely using them immediately.

There were also two small candles! These were Endeavor themed. How cool! The candle wick is where his hair would be. That’s so fun.

I put the mini box aside to pull out the next thing. Ooh, new video games. He always sends at least one new game each time. !!!!! THAT’S THE NEW POKEMON GAME! I love Pokemon, I was gonna save up to get Pokemon Freedom, but this is awesome. It’s for the new console that dad sent last time too.

Pokemon Freedom has a cool plot from what I’ve been reading.  Criminals have been imprisoning Pokemon to try and lure the legendary Pokemon Teluno, the legendary of freedom, to them. The player must fight them while beating the gyms. The cool twist is that you go through the areas the Pokemon are imprisoned in along the way and catch new Pokemon that can’t be caught outside them. There’s also still the normal wild Pokemon but I’m super excited for this game.

Ooh, also the new Zelda game, A Link in Time. I don’t know nearly as much about this one’s plot but I do know that the villain that kidnaps Princess Zelda is on that can travel through time, so I can’t wait to find out how the game lets you deal with it. Plus, I love doing the side quests. Even if the timeline is a bit confusing, maybe they got rid of that annoying fairy that says “Hey! Listen.” Ten million times.

I quickly put the games into my game draw, which has basically every Pokemon game ever, and a lot of other role play games.

Turning back to the box I found a pile of comics! My dad has been sending them to me forever, even before he stopped coming home he’d still get them for me. Said my uncle liked them I think. Spiderman is my favorite for sure, Batman being a close second. They’re classics. I’ve read the first 500 comics so far, dad sends a few new ones every time. I don’t know how he finds them all though. Some of them are worth a lot of money from what I’ve seen online.

I cheerfully put them on the shelf with the other more recent ones. I have the older ones in a box in the closet, I ran out of room on the shelf.

Next in the box were new notebooks, ooh waterproof ones. And the covers are all cool! One is black with red lightning designs, another has an interesting rocky texture, a third has dragons decorating it, and the last one has a green cover with my name embedded on it in gold! They’re so pretty.

I carefully put them on my notebook shelf. I would definitely be using those soon. They’re so nice.

Beside those were two pencil cases. One green, one red. I opened the green on to find it filled with pencils and, oh, a note on them says they’re waterproof. Checking the red one reveals waterproof pens. That’s brilliant! I noticed some clear film tucked against the side of the box and pulled it out. It had a backing with writing that I read quickly. Fireproof covers! That’s amazing, that’ll be good to keep on my notebook. I wish I had those before, but at least I don’t have to worry about Kacchan destroying anymore notebooks.

At the bottom of the box were four books, and some sodas and snacks tucked to the side. Picking up the books I saw that one was on anatomy, advanced anatomy it looks like. That’ll be useful. There was also one on basic first aid and one on advanced first aid. The final book was one titled “The Achievements and Failures of Heroes through the Ages”. It looked interesting at least. Maybe dad wants me to learn from previous heroes mistakes? Ooh! Maybe previous OFA users are in here! I can use it for my research too.

I grinned as I started to open the book on heroes before pausing. I reluctantly stacked the books on my desk. I needed to read through all of them, but that would have to wait just a little while, I have training to do.

I noticed something poking out of the hero book and picked up the book again. Opening the book to that page I found it marking a page about a hero’s failure to help a woman who warned him about a villain that then caused a big disaster that ended in a lot of death. I frowned, that’s sad, before realizing the page marker was an envelope.

Dear Izuku,

Inko told me you got into UA, I’m very proud of you. I know it has always been your dream school.

I’m very sorry that I haven’t sent anything in a while, work has been very busy but that is no excuse. I am glad that I finally had the chance to check my messages to see that you got in. Inko also told me your quirk has manifested. I hope you are practicing hard with it. Quirks are difficult enough to handle when you have a lifetime to learn them, you have only had a few weeks.

I’m very proud of you regardless, remember, a quirk is not everything. You’re extremely smart so be sure to train your brain just as much as your body. I am sure you could become an amazing hero with or without a quirk.

I hope you enjoy the games I sent, they were once again recommended by a coworker. And I hope the books are useful to you in your training to be a hero. Remember to take care of yourself and get plenty of rest. Overworking yourself won’t help anyone, least of all you.

I hope you enjoy your school Izuku, stay safe and do well. I love and miss you a lot.

Lots of Love,

Your father, Hisashi

I couldn’t help but sniff as I read it, tears burning in my eyes. He sounded like he really cares. But was that only because I have a quirk now? He said he didn’t care but then why did he leave?

I shook my head, putting the letter in my desks drawer, I saved all of his letters. As I did I noticed something on the back. I blinked looking, a stick figure drawing with three figures, one with blue hair, one with white (Like dad’s), and one with green. A little note to the side said to enjoy the games.

I smiled, was that the coworker he mentioned?

I gently placed the note in the drawer.

Okay, so now I need to put up what I bought.

First things first, notebooks on the unused notebook shelf. With the new ones dad just got me too. I just got some more of the basic ones, but I always love when dad sends nice ones.

Next my new book on codes, I need to read that first so leaving that out, and I need to put the first aid kit in a good place. Plus, the mini one for my backpack. I don’t want to frustrate Recovery Girl too much with needing to heal me.

I stuck the first aid kit under the bed for now, easy access but not in the way.

Okay! I really really want to play the new Pokemon game… I shook my head. “No Izuku, you need to work first. You can play Pokemon before bed.” I nodded. “Time to get to work.”

The coding book was filled with helpful pictures and practice pages for known codes. But I can’t use a known code, I need to make my own to be fully protected. I can’t risk one-for-all getting known to the public, and it will help me do analysis! Maybe I can try writing a letter in code to dad?

I shook my head again. No best not to annoy him. I don’t want to make him upset when he seems so pleased right now.

After reading through most of the book I decided to start working on my code.

I want to use hiragana I think, it’ll be easier then making a new symbol for each word, so my key can be smaller. But I can also make symbols for the more common words, that’ll shorten the time frame for it. And maybe make some symbols similar? Different combinations can mean different words entirely too.

I pulled out one of my new notebooks and to get to work. I need this code to be perfect!

Oh… but I also need to work on One-for-all. And I don’t have much time. Maybe I can practice calling it to my hands, just channel the power to both hands… oh spreading it out might make it a bit easier to use. So I’ll channel it to my hands for now while I write the code.

I focused hard, closing my eyes and breathing slowly, I pulled at the power I’ve felt so few times. A vast well of energy that seemed never ending flooded my senses after a minute of work. I gasped, and lost track of it again.

Okay, try again. The flood, too much, I lost it again.

Again, and again, and again.

The flood again, don’t drown, just sit there, hold it, don’t lose it. Okay, now, carefully scoop a little bit into my hands, and just let it sit there.

I blinked my eyes open after a minute, staring at my hands, which had red lines winding over them and green light practically pouring off them. Okay, I can do this.

I broke the first pencil I picked up. And the second, and the third. I managed to only crack the fourth until I wrote the first line, then it broke as well.

Control, I can do this.

I took forever, I have a pile of broken pencils by my desk, but I finally managed to hold the pencil and write carefully without breaking it.

I went to work carefully designing the code while holding one for all in my very glowy hands. I had to stop to call one for all back up a few times but it was working well.

So now working on the code, maybe I can mix in some shorthand for a few of the words. I’ll have to remember when I add drawings I’ll have to be careful about labels.

My pencil broke again. With a sigh I grabbed another.

Labeling the drawings could be something that would give away my code if I’m not careful though. Maybe I should add multiple symbols for one word, so it won’t be obvious, that would be good. Quirk, strength, ooh things like dashes will need new symbols too. I’ll have to make multiple for those too.

I scribbled out the words I needed code for, plus the punctuation. I had to pause to replace my pencil again, then started designing the symbols for them.

I blinked when my stomach growled, oh, how long was I working?

I put my pencil down and realized that my hands were aching, nothing broken but it did hurt. I slowly let one for all fade out, the glow fading slowly before fading to sparks, then nothing at all as the red lines slid away.

I blinked, the sparks were new. I’ll have to try with that again later. Maybe try to get one for all called to the level just below the sparks? Or maybe the sparks are a good spot to aim for? They’re a bit showy, but at least it seems like a much lower level of one for all, and I might be able to use it without hurting there.

I hummed, staring at my hands. I should practice the level I’m calling out now, I can now call it without trouble, but less energy would be better.

I headed out for food, checking the clock in the living room I realized it was ten pm! I’d spent a lot more time working than I’d meant to.

I quickly made a sandwich and grabbed two rice balls from the fridge. Taking it back to my room I considered how to best train to lower the levels of one for all.

I can now feel the energy when I call it if I focus, I should try to speed up that process, which means doing it over and over. Knowing what the energy feels like is theoretically the first step, after that I should be able to draw the energy up and learn how to moderate it.

Right now, I’m focusing the flood straight into my hands, it’s too much for me. I can’t understand how All Might can do it, it’s so much power!

I need to lower the amount. Maybe scoop up a handful of the power and place it in my hands? It took a lot of focus to put the power in both hands simultaneously. How do All Might switch around the power so… so… …. …

“OH!”

“Of course, that’s just silly, he can’t switch the power around that fast he must have all the power focused all throughout his body, and could he really have the power going at all times? Even with control he’d probably break everything around him every time he moved at full power. Not to mention hitting someone at full power would kill them. That means that he must lower the power he has active on average, and full power is for big stuff. Even then he still wouldn’t be able to move where he’s holding the power around fast enough for all the things he does, which means he must focus the power throughout his body!”

I beamed, reaching for one of my new notebooks (the cool lightning one dad got me), I have ideas to write down.

“It all makes so much more sense now! I was being so dumb before but of course he has to put it through his whole body, that’s the only way to boost everything at once. I’ve just been putting it in one spot, of course it breaks my bones if it’s meant to power everywhere!”

I quickly grabbed my code key to make sure I wrote it write, glancing at it as I scribbled down my ideas on the third page.

“And he called it a stockpile quirk, didn’t he? That means that it should be stronger for me than it was for him, and with how strong he is he no doubt strengthened it a lot. But can he access the strengthened level? Or do I make the new level myself? I don’t have a quirk, so I have nothing to contribute there. While All Might has a quirk that allows him to bulk his body up again despite his injury, maybe some sort of quirk that allows him to return to a previous form? If it’s a stockpile quirk what all is it stockpiling anyways?”

I frowned at the thought, it can’t just be stockpiling strength, what all does it take from previous users? If it can be passed down, can other things be passed down? Could it stockpile knowledge? Experience? Energy or power is the obvious start of what it’s passing down, but that can’t be all. Power alone wouldn’t give me the boost I have. The quirk is only so strong because it gains power with each generation.

“Could it stockpile quirks?”

That… that would be incredible. If one quirk lets you have access to the abilities of other quirks, the possibilities are endless! I really need to research previous users now. What all could they have passed down?

And is the well of energy I felt the only thing there? If I dig deep enough could I find memories from previous holders? Maybe their knowledge? Experience?

And if this quirk can stockpile so much are there other quirks that could do similar? What does this quirk take when it passes on?

Could it stockpile souls?

It makes sense if it passes down from person to person, I don’t know the limits of what it passes on. Maybe I should learn meditation? I can probably find videos on that. I really have a lot to learn about one for all.

I finished scribbling out all my theories for now. Some of them seem a bit out there, stockpiling souls? But still, I don’t know the limits and I’m wondering if All Might does either.

I stretched frowning. There’s so much to learn, and so little time. I have two and a half weeks until the tournament if I remember correctly. Assuming we still have it. I need to be able to use one for all without hurting myself by then. Or I’ll be a liability.

I will master this quirk, it’s mine now. All Might gave it to me. I won’t let him down

###  Tomura’s POV  ###

I hate All Might so much.

Thinks he’s so great. Ass Might can go rot.

I rolled over in bed. Sensei ordered me to rest and recover for now. The healing quirks he used did a lot to help me but I’m still miserable.

The bullet holes hurt, what kind of hero shoots people?

And All Might just allows it, HA, people act like he’s the paragon of light and goodness. Completely ignoring how he beats people into the ground and ignores the pain of those lower than him.

My poor Otouto has no idea.

Speaking of Otouto, I wonder if he’s opened the care package yet? Sensei had Kurogiri deliver it so he’s definitely received it. I hope he likes the games I picked. Sensei says that Otouto’s mom said he loved all the previous versions I’ve sent.

“Ugh”

I don’t like Otouto with those filthy heroes. They think they’re soooo great. Otouto could be a good hero, unlike the rest. But they’ll try to corrupt him. Won’t let him be the true angel that he is.

He shouldn’t be involved in all that. The hero world is filled with darkness, Otouto is too bright to be there. They’ll snuff out his light.

I can’t allow that.

The heroes will put Otouto in danger, but I’ll kill them all before that. I won’t let them harm him.

I frowned, “Of course there’s also his quirk.”

Some sort of strength or enhancement quirk. But it broke him to use it.

I shook my head. It’s okay, it’s too dangerous for him, but Sensei will take it from him and give him a better one. One that won’t hurt him, then Otouto can use a nice strong quirk to help people if he wants, or we’ll tuck him away. He really shouldn’t be out in the world. It’d be better for us to keep him safe.

I frowned, we can keep him safe.

The main problem would be his love of heroes, and, ugh, All Might.

I don’t understand how he could still like All Might! All Might was so rude to Otouto at the USJ. Acting like he knew everything when Otouto is so smart and was trying to help him. He spoke to Otouto like he’s some kind of helpless child.

Yes, he’s a child, and he does need to be protected, but All Might knows nothing about him. And Otouto is very smart, he could out think his opponents any day! All Might himself wouldn’t stand a chance against Otouto with a plan.

I hate that All Might is being seen as some sort of idol to Otouto, he has no idea. After what Ass Might did to Sensei, I wouldn’t ever trust him around Otouto. I’ll have to kill him soon so Otouto can be safe.

I should probably do something about those kids that were with Otouto too.

None of them are good enough. Especially not that blonde haired menace. Throwing his quirk around willy nilly, just trying to show off. Otouto only used his to protect the other kids and All Might.

The rest of the kids were nearly as bad, focusing on looking cool and gaining popularity. Idiots. They’re not worthy of being around Otouto. They’re prime examples of everything that’s wrong with heroes these days.

But right now, I can’t go get Otouto, or go check on him to make sure he’s alright.

I need to make sure he’s alright, he’s my Otouto, Sensei’s son. I won’t allow him to be hurt.

Maybe I can get Sensei to send more stuff to Otouto? He likes games. Maybe some game guides?

I’ll have to think of the best things to get him.

I looked at the picture of Otouto that Sensei had let me keep, my Otouto, he’s too small, too innocent. This world is cruel to people like him. I won’t let it break him.

I’ve only just gotten to meet Otouto, but if anything happened to him I’d kill everyone in this city then myself

#Little Brother of Mine #Chapter three #Izuku midoriya #Izuku has one for all #Dad for one #Dad Might #Older brother Tomura #BNHA #BNHA fanfic #good dad for one #all for one is midoriya hisashi #All for one #Tomura Shigaraki #genius izuku #smart izuku #seriously this kid is amazing #Also on ao3

[homogrimoire-archive]

The Remnant Branches

CH. 6 - The Woe of the Wretched

Part 3: A Sibling's Love

Having completed his mission for Oz already, James returns to Jakob to deliver some unfortunate news. After, he begins his peaceful quest to search for any astronomical information this world may hold. This first takes him to the library in the nearby village.

AO3 Link

The elevator reached the surface with the sound of its old doors creaking open. Ironwood was feeling ambivalent, however. On one hand, his mission was complete, and he had five days left to do as he pleased. On the other hand, reviewing the video tapes revealed that the mother had perished in the factory while running away from her children with a man. It is only human to want to be free from burden too. Ironwood knew he had to at least tell Jakob that harsh truth.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay. You were in there for a while.” said Jakob as James entered the door.

“Yes, I’m fine, but, there’s no easy way to say this.” From the look on Jakob’s face, Ironwood could tell he already knew what was coming.

“It’s my mom, huh? It’s alright. Nier already told me. He said he found her on his way back, and brought me back some of her perfume.” he said sadly.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’ll be alright. And Gideon will come around eventually. … I just-” he let out a sigh. “I just don’t know what to feel now. It hurts that she left us, but I know this was all too much for her. She just wanted to be happy, and her happiness didn’t involve us, but I still love her. We had some good times, and she did try for a time, and she is my mom. I just can’t bring myself to hate her. I feel like I should be stronger, and not even cry for her. Is that bad?” he asked, eyes watery and voice on the verge of cracking. Ironwood thought for a moment.

“I will be honest, I can’t understand how you feel, so take this as a grain of salt: I don't think you’re wrong for wanting that. Ultimately, she hurt you, her child. But understand this,” James got down on a knee to be eye level with him, “you are strong. From all my years, I’ve learned that it's easier for people to hate than it is to love. It takes a lot of strength to love, especially after what she did. And look around you!” James got up and motioned him to look at the shop around him. “Despite everything, you’ve managed to run this shop and become an excellent blacksmith, all while taking care of your brother all on your own. That is no small feat, especially for someone your age. This is a tough time for you, but you will get through it. You are strong.”

“Thanks mister Ironwood.” Jakob sniffed. “I needed that. It's gonna be hard, but things will be alright. I think she would want us to be alright too. And besides, I still have Gideon.”

“I’m glad. Oh, and here’s some junk I collected on the way. I figured you could use it.” Ironwood tossed a bag full of scrap onto the counter.

“Sweet! Thanks!” he exclaimed happily.

“No problem Jakob. … It looks like I’ll be on my way now.”

“Alright, stay safe now. There are a lot more shades out there than here in the Junk Heap.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve faced all sorts of monsters before.” With a final wave goodbye, James closed the door behind him and made his way to the exit. He was never the best at goodbyes or any sort of closing remarks.

As he walked, he thought about how Jakob could still love his mother after what she did. However, he knew he would have to be content in knowing that he would never understand it. A child’s love for their parent was a powerful thing.

He rememberd that Nier told him that there was a library in his village just across the plains. He hoped he could get lucky and find some old star charts or any sort of astronomical information. While Remnant was overall more technologically advanced, this world had traveled into space, well beyond their atmosphere.

From the information stored at the factory, he learned that this world had sent people to their unbroken moon, set artificial satellites in orbit around their planet, and sent machines to study planets billions of miles away. It amazed Ironwood so, and he intended to learn as whatever he could from this world’s knowledge on outer space. It was about time he treated himself to enjoying his little hobby.

Astronomy was something that always interested him. So much of it was unknown. There was a sense of serenity in that. It was a place free of the chaos of a cruel world. He considered that space could be chaotic too, but in its own ways, ways much less cruel. Space is an exotic, previously unknown beauty to him. He dreams that it is a place free of duty and worry, where people are safe, and will never have to worry about the cruelest cruelties of life. Salem, Grimm, murder, and needless suffering are absent there in his dream.

However, more than that, much more than that, a part of him believes something. It is the part of him where his last shred of innocence exists, the part where he holds onto hope for a merciless and unforgiving world. It believes that there, he can finally love.

-

After about half an hour fighting aggressive shades across the plain, James finally arrived at the gates of the village. He knocked on the large door, and waited. Looking up, he saw a man looking down on him over the side of the top of the gate, and disappeared from view, shouting an ‘okay’ that led to the gate opening. A guard gave a grunt of acknowledgement as he passed. It was a quiet place, and nothing like Atlas. By the fountain, he noticed a woman at a fountain singing a song. It helped calm him after the heavy, heart racing, fighting.

Ku ata

Tsu no-o va-lai

Tzud-e jei

Fo-aul ae kai

She seemed like she could help him.

“Excuse me, miss, would you happen to know where the library is?” he asked her.

“Do I look like a tourist guide to you?” she said curtly. Ironwood didn’t know what to say. “I’m just joking with ya.” she laughed. “It’s that building at the top of the hill.” she pointed out. “I’m Devola, and if you need any help finding something, ask my sister Popola. She’ll be in the room on the second floor to the right.”

“Alright, thank you.” he waved as she resumed her song. He just hoped his encounter with the other sister wouldn’t be like that.

The library had all its books stacked up its walls, leaving it a rather open space. At first, he aimlessly wandered around, scanning the spines of the books he passed. So far, he hadn’t found what he was looking for, and decided to give Popola a visit. At a shelf next to the base of the stairs was a little girl struggling to reach a book. Her hair was a silvery white, akin to Nier’s. He noted that similarity. He reached for the book and handed it to her.

“Here you are.”

“Thank you mister!” she said with a bright smile. She took a seat at the stair’s first step and began to read the simple book. Aside from her pale skin, which could be attributed to a lack of sunlight, odd considering the eternal sun, she did not look sick to him. Once at the top of the stairs, he turned right and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” she shouted, and Ironwood entered. “Oh, a new face. Not often you see one of those. How can I help you?” she said, looking up from the paperwork on her desk.

“I’m looking for books on astronomy, or any information you have on it really.” he said.

“Hmm… Astronomy… I don’t recall there being any books on that here, but-”

“DEVOLA, HURRY, QUICK!” screamed a voice downstairs.

“Crap, crap, crap!” she fearfully repeated as she leaped over her desk and bounded downstairs. James made sure to get out of her way, and looked downstairs once she had past him.

At the bottom of the stairs was the girl from earlier. She was curled up, wincing in pain as a darkness enveloped her arms and legs. There seemed to be some lettering in it. It had almost seemed familiar to James, but it faded before he could more clearly see it.

However, he knew for sure that this was Nier’s daughter, Yonah, with her silver-white hair and some sickness that could only be the Black Scrawl. It was unlike any kind of sickness he had seen before. He saw Devola scoop her up in her arms and leave the library.

He made his way down the stairs and picked up the book she dropped, A picture book titled The Wizard of Oz. Amused at the title, but otherwise uninterested in it, he placed it back on the shelf. Aesop’s Fables, Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears were among the selection of books with colored pictures and big fonts.

Realizing he was the children’s section, he went back upstairs to browse another random section. He managed to find what he assumed was the philosophy section, based on the titles. It was filled with names unknown to him, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Karl Grün, Simone de Beauvoir, Georg Hegel, Zhuangzi, Mozi, and many more.

He picked up a book by Karl Marx and flipped through it. Interestingly, none of its words were capitalized. He assumed it was a printing error. Once he saw that it concerned economics as well, and he quickly put it back. He dealt with enough economics back home, and had no desire to read about it on his little vacation. He owed himself that much, even if he was starting to feel guilty for taking such a long break from his work. He managed to find the romance section, but quickly found that none of it was to his taste. Romance as a genre was he never really understood the appeal of anyways.

Eventually, he settled on a titleless book that was at the top of a first floor shelf. It seemed mysterious, and therefore interesting.

There was an android who was set to oversee a small village. Her name was Skald, and embedded in her was the incredible power of an ancient song from another world. The song allowed her to help and manage her village in incredible ways, but, it soon corrupted her and the villagers. As a result, her creators had her and the village destroyed.

Learning from their failure, the scientist removed the magical power of the song. Despite having less power than before, she still ran and oversaw the village well enough. Her creators were pleased and began to make plans for mass production. While her creators did that, she had grown close to another woman in her village. They did lots together, so much so that many began to believe they were sisters. And soon, they began to refer to themselves as sisters. The scientist saw that there was an increase in her performance during this time.

However, the woman died in an unfortunate and sudden accident, leaving Skald all alone. Her performance decreased greatly as a result, and she was eventually decommissioned. She was not saddened at the revelation of her fate. In fact, she seemed grateful. However, the scientists were saddened by their creation. They created something near immortal that could love, and would more often than not have that love ripped away from them eventually.

In honor of their creation, they learned from their cruel mistake. Skald was renamed Popola, the nickname given to her by the woman and villagers, and she would have a twin to be by her side. Her name would be Devola, after the woman who loved Skald as a sister. “Together, they could sing a song that would calm and heal the heart. Together, they would face an otherwise lonely existence. Together, love would allow them to survive a cruel world.” was the ending of the short story.

Ironwood wasn’t sure what to exactly think of the story. He wondered why someone would write such a preposterous backstory about their village leaders. But then his thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. In came the younger sister, Devola, who went to meet him.

“Good, you’re still here. Sorry about earlier.”

“It’s alright, things happen. Will she be alright?”

“Yeah, she’ll be fine, she just needs some rest and medicine. She’ll be back here tomorrow I’m sure, unless Nier gets back soon. But Popola wanted me to pass a message. She said that you should try the Lighthouse at the Seafront south of here, or the desert civilization east of here. There's a store there where you might find what you’re looking for.” She pointed in the directions he should go.

“Alright, thank you.” James said happily. “Oh, and before I forget and you might want to check out this book.” he said, handing her the book he read earlier. ‘“I can’t imagine why anyone would write something like this, and I think you wouldn’t want it in here.” Curiously, she took the book and glanced at the cover and its back, and quickly flipped through its pages.

“Ha! This is a strange little book. Thanks for catching it. Here, take this to keep it between us.” she tossed him a small sack that rattled. James opened it to find coins in it.

“Are you sure? I don’t think you need to give me this. It-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” she calmly interrupted. “You just go and have your fun.”

“Well, alright. Thank you then.”

As he walked to the eastern gate, he wondered what it would be like to have a sibling. However, he simply just could not imagine it. A sibling’s love was something he never felt, and would never feel. He wondered if he should feel sad about that or not.

-

We give the finality of death. Iron skin draws out fear and terror, and is bathed in flesh. We are satisfied by the snatching of life. We realize our purpose through the crushing of the bodies. In our delight, we spread death far and wide. We are the iron will. We kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

This interloper knows what he does as he slashes the blade on the way to his destination.

He knows there is blood on his hands, and accepts it readily, for he knows he must.

What he does is as just as it is unjust.

He knows this, and slashes again.

It must be done, so he believes.

Anyone can do this, so long as they think they are right.

#James Ironwood #rwby #nier #the woe of the wretched #the remnant branches #2.5k words #if only james had taken the time to read marx\ #lol #or any of the children's stories #sure he might realize things later on and have an existential crisis but it's better than what he's going through rn #then again remnant is probs going through an existential crisis having found out about salem

[bubmyg]

(mostly) for him - myg

pairing: yoongi x reader

genre/warnings: lawyer!au, established relationship, fluff, humor, ft independent art contractor taehyung and yeontan (the most important feature)

word count: 2,735

summary: yoongi doesn’t know the first thing about taking care of a dog or taehyung asks you to dog sit yeontan for the weekend.

a/n: this takes place before “for us” (linked on my masterlist) and can be read as a prequel of sorts. “for us” does not need to be read to understand this but it’s nice in context :-)

The extra curt tone of Yoongi’s voice clipped on the end as his headache throbbed just underneath where he rubbed long fingers into the pain and the sound colliding plastic made when he misjudged hanging up the phone elicited another pointed throb to the surface. His second hand joined the first on his neck, threading together as his forehead hit his desk and if he weren’t hyper aware of any and all noises, he would have mistaken the tentative knock on his door for the sound of his skull dully thumping through the desk calendar.

“Uh...hey Mr. Min?”

He couldn’t even muster enough energy for formality, groaning to the dangle of the pink tie you’d secured around his neck that morning, “Yeah, Jeongguk?”

Four days into his internship meant the young intern still had flushed cheeks and magnified doe eyes when he popped into the office and Yoongi theorized they’d never go away, especially not when they only worsened, softening on some sort of edge of concern as he barely cracked the door to his boss slumped over. 

“Uh…” Yoongi threaded his fingers underneath his chin, propping himself up to squint at Jeongguk, the only way to suppress his headache enough to hear whatever he needed, “...there’s a man in the lobby for you and...he has a dog? Is that okay?”

“Did he give you a name?”

Jeongguk’s features squinted, “Uh, T-Taehyung I believe. I tried to tell him to leave the dog but—”

Even his headache wanted to flee at that name and it gave Yoongi the momentary ability to lift his head without wincing. He sighed instead, “He’s an old friend. Send him in. The dog too.”

If an incompetant investigation team paired with a tentative intern Yoongi incorrectly assumed could deal with them couldn’t make him want to rip each of his hairs out by the individual follicles, Kim Taehyung definitely could. 

Specifically when he waltzed through the closed office door without knocking with a frazzled Jeongguk on his heels, only to shut the door in the face of Jeongguk’s apologetic Hey! You were supposed to follow me!, and plop the equivalent to a living pom pom onto his desk. 

The dog seemed to study Yoongi, mirroring the inquisitive squint of the man before he let out a low growl, baring his teeth just long enough to let out the least intimidating yap! Yoongi had ever witnessed. 

Taehyung panicked nonetheless, swiping an arm underneath the dogs middle to drag him against his side like Yoongi had seen him haul blank canvas’ multiple times before. Yoongi passed his analyzing glare from the still vibrating dog to his owner, forcing his eyebrows not to lift into his hairline as he took in the state of his friend. 

Heavy brown jacket draped over his shoulders with his arms not pressed into the sleeves, baggy pants swishing around sandals strapped to his ankles, a white button down half secured across his broad chest, messy brown hair smeared into his eyelashes, and the geometric smile painted to his gums a sharp contrast to the uttered scolds he periodically mouthed in between the dog’s pulsing vibrations. 

A streak of red acrylic paint bubbled on the side of his neck and Yoongi unintentionally zeroed in on it, eyebrows crinkling at that instead of the rest. 

“New project?” Yoongi motioned to the red glob, “I’m still pretty rusty on copyright law so—”

“What?” Taehyung’s smile erased for comical confusion, almost like a cartoon character as he dragged the dog aside carelessly to press the sanction of his index and middle finger into the glob. He inspected it with an almost giddy realization, shaking his head as the smile returned and he wiped the glob across the front buttons of his shirt, “Oh, no. I’m not sure where that’s from.”

How do you not know? “Right…” Yoongi leaned back in his chair, elbow on the arm of the chair to press his cheek into his palm, “Take a seat—” When Taehyung flopped with dog balanced carefully across his thighs, he continued, “—what brings you here?”

“What? I can’t just come to visit an old friend?”

Yoongi shook his head, rutting his chin further into his palm, “No, you’re always welcome here or in my home. I just figured—”

“But I do need something,” Taehyung was still grinning, unapologetic and charming, “...I have an unexpected trip this weekend. I have to go quote some work for a new aviation museum a couple towns over. Will probably take the whole weekend.”

“Need me to get your mail?” Yoongi thought to Taehyung’s mailbox, an oddly charming spiral that curled upward out of the soil like a screw with a tiny, birdhouse like structure balanced on top. 

“Nah, if someone wants to steal and pay my bills for me, they can. The hotel I’m at doesn’t allow dogs, so—” The younger man again hooked an arm underneath the dog, plopping him down on top of the desk. It bared its teeth but didn’t bark and Yoongi held up a silent hand in surrender, “—I need you to watch him for me.”

Yoongi was suddenly pulled from studying the seeming eyebrows embedded into the dog’s fur, ones that were silently judging the gape that suddenly overtook his lips. “You...I...you want me to what?” 

“Dog sit. Come on, it won’t be that bad. Tannie is extremely well behaved.”

On cue, the dog yapped. Louder than before. Twice.

“A-actually,” Yoongi sat a bit straighter in his chair to bullshit properly, “My intern, the one who brought you in. I hear he loves dogs. He lives alone on his campus so like, maybe ask him?—”

Taehyung laughed, “Why would I want a stranger to take care of him? No, it has to be you.”

Yoongi felt his resolve fading the higher Taehyung’s smile dimpled into his cheeks, gaze falling away from his friend to pat affectionately down the dog’s spine. His fluffy tail wagged once then twice, spinning a delighted circle a top the desk to stretch his tongue for Taehyung’s willing hand. 

“You...can’t find anyone else? You’re sure?”

“Nope!”

“I probably need to call—”

“Oh your lovely wife? Tell her hi for me, by the way,” Taehyung seemed to muse mostly to himself as he shifted in his chair, “She’ll love him. I know it. And it’s only for a few days—”

“Only for the weekend?”

“Only for the weekend. Not even forty-eight hours. I’ll be back Sunday before noon.”

“...if you say so—”

Taehyung barely waited another syllable, shooting up from the chair to reach the door in one long stride. “Great! I had your intern go to get something from my car for me so—”

Yoongi started to defend Jeongguk, that he only answered to him and Taehyung didn’t have that kind of authority, when the gangly college student waddled around the corner with a giant blue tub clutched in white knuckles. 

“Is this that tub you wanted, Mr. Kim?”

“Yes, perfect!”

“You can just call him Taehyung, Jeongguk, that’s—”

Jeongguk plopped the plastic to the ground below his feet, long ways across the hall and huffed, dabbing at some of the sweat in his neatly parted fringe while Taehyung beamed. “It should all be in here. Food, some toys, his bed—”

Yoongi eyed the industrial sized bag of food Taehyung dragged out from underneath a labrador sized bed and a squeaky toy shaped like a horse, then eyed the dog on his desk, his long muzzle poked into Yoongi’s pen jar. 

“...you said he’s...a Pomeranian? Right?”

Translation: He won’t sprout into a puffy Great Dane like one of those spongy toy dinosaurs you put into glasses of water overnight, will he?

Yoongi slumped into the seat when the garage door rumbled to a stop, closed and fully enveloping the garage in the eerie light provided by the illuminated timer hanging above the mechanics that opened and closed the technology. His head lulled, eyeing Yeontan where he sat gracefully in the passenger seat, head tilted at a neon orange ladder hanging from a hook on the front wall of the garage. 

He pocketed his keys, fumbling his phone into his pocket as well before dragging the dog underneath his arm like he’d seen Taehyung do without much struggle. 

“This is your first test,” Yoongi told the dog at a grumble as he swung cracking joints out of his SUV, “Actually, our first test. Hope you like Lexus SUV seat reclining, we may be sleeping out here—”

Yoongi tried to twist the door shut without alerting you of his presence but your sweet voice rang down the staircase, “Hi, bub!” and he was already entirely done for seventeen different reasons. 

He adjusted the dog in his grip, peeled his shoes off by the ankle because he figured you scolding him for some buffable scuffs was the least of his worries, and then he called back, an octave lower than normal and unintentionally trembling on the end, “Hey!”

He watched you take the stairs two at a time, concern written all over your features and your fingers struggling at your necklace clasp (He’d have to help you, anyway. He always did) but you paused halfway through your descent and your sentence, changing your inquiry, “Hey, are you okay—wait is that a dog?”

Yoongi presented Yeontan like Simba in the Circle of Life sequence. “Taehyung’s dog,” He corrected, assured more than anything. 

You took the rest of the stairs at a normal speed and then did Yoongi register you only had one half soled sock on too. Cute. “Let me guess,” You were ranting, “He showed up at the office because he panicked about some last minute contracting appointment he had somewhere out of town and needed a sitter and you and your way too big heart was the first person he thought of.”

Yoongi blinked at you as you materialized in front of him, fingers reaching out to scratch at the dog’s ears. “Yes. Actually, that’s exactly what happened.”

“That’s Taehyung for you,” Yoongi read the smile on your features as genuine but he still swayed, uneasy with your lips on his chin, “What’s his name?”

“Yeontan,” Yoongi blinked into the kiss you pressed to his lips and he steadied mostly himself with a hand on your hip, “You’re not mad?”

“No?” You pulled the dog into your arms, letting him lick a stripe to your nose that you giggled into and Yoongi melted even if he’d witnessed the dog take a shit on the newly planted daffodils outside the office without so much as blinking, “I know how Tae is.”

“He’s a good friend he’s just…”

“Taehyung,” You finished for Yoongi, cradling the dog against your chest like a baby, “He’s just Taehyung.”

“Right.”

You considered the dog for another few passing moments, rocking him between the sway on your feet and then you panicked, “Do we need to get him food? I’ll run to the store—”

“No, actually Taehyung brought food with him...like enough for seven of a dog his size. You don’t think he’s punking us and is gonna swap this little guy out for a horse in the middle of the night, do you?...”

“Maybe not a horse—” You said ten hours later at three in the morning with two torn couch cushions and a stained rug and patio, “—but maybe a demon.”

Yoongi was afraid to shift higher on the bed to wrap an arm around your shoulders even if his legs were bare from the covers and he was freezing in fear that he’d wake said demon from his slumber at the foot of the bed. His hair stuck out on one side over his ears, mud crusted underneath his fingernails where he’d tripped in pursuit of the escaped creature down their cul de sac, and nail rips in his favorite university basketball t-shirt. 

“Satan reincarnate,” Yoongi breathed with finality as it raised it’s tiny head and whined. 

“No,” You moved, catching the dog in gentle fingers when he tried to skitter out the cracked door of the bedroom. Your bottom lip pouted, stroking a gentle finger behind the dog’s ear, “He misses Tae…”

Yoongi’s features scrunched, “Who would miss him?”

You settled back into his embrace that he stretched for you, still cradling the dog’s head to your chest, “Shush. Remember that one day conference I attended for work and you called me crying—”

“I wasn’t crying—”

“It’s like that,” You kissed the top of the dog’s trembling head instead of the cheek Yoongi presented for you. “He’s just sad and needs some love, that’s all.”

Yoongi held his neck in an awkward position until you awarded him with a peck on the cheek. “What about me?”

You rolled your eyes, jostling the slumbering creature in your arm to fit your fingers into the soft hairs at Yoongi’s scalp and cooed just to hear him whine, “Oh, come here—”

The dog incident rate skyrocketed at night and then dipped drastically low during the day, a gradual decrease until it met and rested at zero, and Yoongi virtually forgot about Yeontan’s presence for various durations throughout the day. It was his emergence from a shower well into the Saturday evening hours that made it worth it, his heart melting into the stumble of his feet halfway down the staircase when he caught sight of you curled up on the corner of the couch. 

He knew you were awake only by your phone resting in your hand, your other fingers preoccupied with scrunching through Yeontan’s fur, lips puckering to place periodic pecks to the space between his flicking ears. 

Yoongi dropped a knee into the couch, the first step in wrapping his stature around you, arms threading around your tummy to thread at your navel and squeeze, chin dropping to your shoulder. He wasn’t intrigued by the contents on your phone but instead the tiny, slumbering creature with his nose buried between your thighs. He eyed the flex of your fingers, in, out, scratching like you would in his scalp and an endearing sigh relaxed his further into the crook of your neck, lips turning to mouth at the sensitive skin there. 

“Maybe we should get a pet of our own…”

You were careful not to wake the dog as you tossed your phone aside, turning your head to allow him better access to your throat. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. A dog, specifically.”

“I’d like that.”

“You would?” Yoongi nuzzled the spot underneath your ear, “I haven’t had a dog since I was younger…”

Silently, you shifted, gently placing Yeontan into Yoongi’s lap and he subconsciously picked up where you left off in mindless petting. “Oh yeah?” You curled into his side, tucked into his chest. 

“Yeah. His name was Tubby,” His cheeks heated a bit even without a reaction from you, “You know. Like from the Teletubbies…”

You nudged gentle fingers up underneath Yeontan and the hem of Yoongi’s crewneck, applying gentle, sweeping rubs to his tummy. “That’s cute, Yoons.”

Yoongi grunted in embarrassment, “We could name our dog something different. More refined.” 

“Oh yeah?” You repeated the rhetorical inquiry in the same, hopelessly endeared tone, “Our dog?” 

He hummed a mindless tune for a few moments before the gradual shake of his head grew in volume, “No, nevermind. We couldn’t have a dog, not right now. We’re both too busy. It’s not plausible…”

“I think we could do it.”

“Maybe…” You startled when Yoongi stood, dog in tow as his face scrunched while his spine stretched, “I don’t know. It’d be nice but...yeah. I don’t know.”

You watched Yoongi’s slow waddle away from you, again hopelessly enamored by the dip of his head as he clearly tried to converse with the half asleep puppy until you thought to call, “Hey, where are you going?”

“He needs to go outside one more time before bed!”

You pretended not to hear the high pitched shriek followed by low grumbles and the spray of the hose on the kitchen sink. He returned without the dog, shoulders slumped and a ranting pout screwed to his lips as he muttered something you couldn’t hear. 

“...alright?”

“If we do get a dog, can we train it not to shit right outside the door—”

#bts reactions #bts scenarios #bts imagines #bts fluff #bts x reader #yoongi imagines #yoongi scenarios #yoongi fluff #yoongi x reader #fic: lawyer yoongi #:'-) i love them and i missed them and i hope you love them too

[purge-that-urge-rhackathon]

Touchy

Commission prompt: Jackothy (though if you want to add Rhys I won’t complain 👀): After having his face scarred, Jack realizes the only way he can see and feel his own face again is if he goes to see Tim. The other doppelgängers use tech which isn’t the same, who knows what they look like underneath? And Tim is... oddly ok with that (not at first tho; Jack was annoying. Still is but it’s oddly charming now) He spent his whole life being overlooked, and Jack focused solely on him is intense... basically Timtam gets a little too heated when Jack looks at and touches his face. Tim thirsts.

This is the first part of the commission :D Subsequent parts on my ao3 here. My masterlist archive of bullshit i write can be found linked at the top of the blog or here.

--

Handsome Jack was many things.

A hero, in short, opener of vaults and defeater of monsters, and CEO of the most powerful company in the galaxy.

And the price of that power had been his face.

Sure, Jack tried to buy into his own propaganda as much as he expected his employees to, but he couldn’t really lie to himself, even if he desperately wanted to. The ironic fact that he’d fashioned himself a mask of his own face wasn’t lost on him, but denial was a powerful thing.

He was scarred, disfigured with an injury which refused any kind of correction be it medical, scientific, or bordering on alien technology. The mask had been the logical next-step to try to regain some semblance of what he’d lost, and for a time, the power and re-branding that came with seizing an empire for his own was a good distraction.

He’d tried. Oh how he’d tried.

Every day that he looked in the mirror, mask or no, it bothered him just a little bit more until he couldn’t just ignore it. The mask began to overwrite his memories of his true features, making him panic in need of removal, only to have his ruined, panicked face stare back at him from the bathroom mirror.

The mask functioned as his face, but it just wasn’t. And without it, he still didn’t look like himself; not as he truly remembered. The damage his face had sustained did more than just wound his vanity. The deep fissure of old scar tissue bothered him sometimes if he stubbornly left the mask on for too long, and without that technologically-superior second-skin, he was almost totally blind in his left eye. Forgetting his face made him fear he was forgetting himself, and Handsome Jack the CEO of Hyperion wasn’t afraid of anything.

The logical next-step to quell the fear of ignominy was quite clear.

“Rhysie?” Jack spoke up, startling his personal assistant from whatever he’d been doing at his desk as he looked at the younger man. “Call up Timothy for me, would ya kitten? It’s about time for a quality-check. Make sure he’s still on-brand. And by on-brand, I mean me. Heh, get it? Because he’s me; Mr. Hyperion.”

Rhys gave Jack a depreciating moue. “If you’re going to say something about him being on you, or you being on me, or vice-versa, don’t bother. You’ve made that joke before,” Rhys snarked back, the snort Jack gave making the PA grin despite himself. “Get some new material, first.”

“Look at you, thinkin’ you’ve got me figured out,” Jack teased. “What color underwear am I wearing today, cupcake?”

“I’m surprised you even know about underwear, Jack.”

Two for two. It made the CEO genuinely grin.

Rhys was a good little assistant. Even if his creepy fanboy-gazes had eventually stopped after a few months of working for him, he still blushed when Jack brazenly flirted with him, though the older man never took it too far. Rhys was efficient, and despite Jack’s teasing, he did know the older man better than any past secretary or other idiot that couldn’t carry out Jack’s iron will the way he wanted.

Jack had gone through… a lot of personal assistants. The ones that had nervous breakdowns were one thing. The incompetant ones he certainly didn’t miss, but a couple had at least been amusing until Jack had had to airlock them.

And then came Rhys. The younger man wasn’t just good at his job, but he was one of a very few people to act normal around the older man despite his obvious hero-worship; to tease him back and roll his eyes at Jack’s too-sweet coffee-orders, and laugh at his dirty jokes, or come right back with ones to challenge them.

Jack knew it said a lot about him that he enjoyed an (ex)-creepy fanboy as the one to handle the personal details of his day, but he also felt just a little bolstered by the fact that Rhys still flushed pink sometimes over some of his more creative innuendos, despite the back-talk and rolled eyes. It reminded him that even after years of wearing the mask-- of no one seeing his true face- that he could still make a pretty, leggy PA blush. Despite the fact his face wasn’t exactly a face.

He was insecure. He was vain.

He knew he was vain, but the choice to rebrand himself after the branding-incident was wrought from insecurity above anything else, and he lied to himself about that as well. He changed his name to reflect what he wanted to believe: Handsome Jack. That he came into this world good-looking-- and so help him god- he wouldn’t let current-circumstances let anyone forget that fact.

Reminding himself, however, was where Tim came in.

“Tim is still on Elpis finishing that… thing,” Rhys informed with a slight, distasteful raise of his pouty lips. “When did you want me to set it up?”

“That thing,” Jack began, ignoring Rhys’ question to grin a little, “is going to make me even more stinkin’ rich than I already am, kiddo.” Rhys gave him a further-displeased look. “Oh come on, you liked the idea of eternal youth.”

“Spreading some Shuggurath-derived wrinkle cream on your face isn’t the same thing as eternal youth, Jack.”

The CEO didn’t miss a beat, and didn’t allow himself to dwell on the subtext Rhys didn’t even know he was on to. “It won’t just be the face, kitten. My scientists are gonna make it work on everything.” The regenerative-properties the creatures had were promising, according to the eggheads in R&D. Jack shot him a smirk. “Balls, too.”

“Gross.”

“What, you some too-good-for-nice-smooth-balls type?” Jack gave an exaggerated look over his desk. “You?”

Rhys put his face in his flesh hand. “I’m more disturbed by the fact you’ve got Tim out there milking them, Jack.”

“I was just being nice saying that.” Jack’s grin grew. “He’s not milking them for the compound so much as--”

“Aaaaand file that under things I definitely do not need to know about before lunch,” Rhys quickly interrupted, ignoring the older man’s grin and murmuring about ‘protein’ strands and regenerative ‘slimes’. “When do you want me to have him come up once it’s done?”

Jack knew exactly when he wanted Tim here: after-hours in private once Rhys had already left for the day.

He needed this. He needed it badly and couldn’t hold off any longer.

It had been over a month since Jack’s last ‘quality check’, and while Tim submitted to them without issue, too many not-between-missions-checks might raise the double’s suspicions as to what Jack was really doing. Looking at photos of the double were one thing (and good to help him hold out against the fear of losing himself in his mind’s eye), but it wasn’t the same as touching the planes of your ‘own’ face.

Good thing Tim was on a relatively-safe job collecting samples from the otherwise-dangerous creatures; Jack would be able to look and feel to his heart’s content under the guise of genuine quality-control when he knew there wasn’t a threat at all.

“That job’s almost finished though, right?” Jack asked conversationally. “Day after tomorrow? Did Timtams send you an update?”

Rhys’ lips pulled thin. “Yes. And he sent pictures, too.” Pictures Rhys honestly didn’t need to see, though Tim’s comments on each one were funny at least. The one the annoyed-double had sent of himself covered in… Well, Rhys wasn’t sure Shugguraths had entrails, but the caption of ‘Hyperion Beauty Cream coming to a store near you!’ made the image amusing at least.

It was still a gross assignment though.

Jack grinned at Rhys’ sour look. “Heh, neat. Send those to my comm, wouldja sugarplum?”

“If you have nightmares, it’s not my fault,” Rhys warned as he did as Jack asked. “There. Sent. Ew.”

“You could always send me some nicer pictures to give me sweet dreams, Rhysie,” Jack purred, teasing a bit even as his heart rate spiked at his PA’s words. Rhys just rolled his eyes with a little blush and a muttered “buy me dinner first” which made Jack relax a bit through a smirk.

There was no way Rhys could know what was going on in Jack’s head-- his words were coincidence was all, and Jack knew he was getting paranoid again- but the promise of his double’s return from Elpis was a relief that kept his worries carefully contained.

No one knew what was going on in his head. No one knew that Handsome Jack-- most powerful man in the whole goddamn galaxy who put the word ‘handsome’ into his own name- suffered from poor self-image. And no one would, as far as Jack could help it.

Hell, no one would believe that at any rate, either, which Jack was immensely grateful to his PR team about.

He was just tired. Stressed. Seeing Tim would help matters. Feeling him would help a lot more.

The taunting nightmares were keeping him from restful sleep; looking into a dream-mirror to pull off his mask only for nothing to be beneath it but a horrifying blankness, and in the dream (and sometimes still once awake) Jack really couldn’t recall what his face had once looked like. Putting his actual hands on his double would soothe his psyche a great deal, the tactile-sensation further embedding the shape and feel and perfection of Tim’s own face back into Jack’s subconscious.

Rhys set up the meeting, and now all Jack had to do was wait.

--

It hadn’t been easy to not watch the clock, or to keep his foot from tapping anxiously under his desk days later, but once Rhys had packed up-- asking multiple times if Jack would like him to stay- the CEO was pacing the space behind his big desk waiting for Tim’s return.

Elpis loomed outside the large window, it’s pink glimmer lending an ethereal-quality to Jack’s office as Rhys got the main-lights as he’d left. Only the light on Jack’s desk remained on, the rest of the office bathed in Elpis’ glow. To think he’d once wanted to crack the proto-planet like egg, only for it to be key to his recovery.

The Shuggurath research was extremely promising. That the creatures could generate other creatures-- not that Rathyds were particularly useful themselves; moon-Rakks, Jack called them- lead down some very interesting paths.

Rathyds shared a few qualities with the Shuggaraths that spawned them, but genetically they were different creatures. Shuggaraths bred just like anything else to create more Shuggaraths, but the fact they were capable of creating a second, unique animal held implications which got Jack very excited indeed.

The skin that was scarred by Eridian-technology refused any attempts to change it, while minor nicks and cuts that Jack got while shaving around the thing healed back up just fine. By his own observations (and tests several techs did before he airlocked them for what they saw) his normal skin was fine and unaffected by the depth of the brand, while the scar itself was… different.

Genetically different, but still a part of him.

Jack believed that the weird moon-dwelling animals were key to healing his face. Whatever protein or enzyme or slimey bits that they contained might be able to rewrite the damaged cells and reverse the scarring, or at the very least, minimize it to not need the mask anymore. The ugly, bulbous creatures created much more elegantly-designed animals somehow, and if that was possible, then maybe it could be applied to himself as well.

He could be normal again. Be handsome again, without the necessary moniker.

Until that happened though, Jack had Tim to get by, and he was antsy as ever to see the younger man.

“Did you forget to pay the power bill?”

Jack spun around on his heel, a grin on his face even though he’d been taken by surprise from hopeful, antsy thoughts. “Timmy! There’s my favorite double! Flip ‘em back on, wouldja kiddo?”

Tim rolled his eyes, but he had a smile on his face as he did just that, and crossed the office towards Jack’s desk. His mission had gone well, and he’d brought back more than enough samples to last quite some time. The confidence he felt over it was all over his face; especially from the lack of injury he’d come back with this time. “I think you’re gonna be impressed.”

“That so?” Jack said with a raise of his brow, impatience over wanting to get his hands on the other man’s face kept carefully tramped down. “How’s that gorgeous face, kiddo?”

“I’m more worried about my jacket,” Tim responded with a sour look. There had been… a lot of slime. “Did Rhys show you the pictures?”

“Not the ones I wanted to see,” Jack said with an implicit smirk, forcing himself to walk slowly towards the double as Tim climbed the steps to the dais Jack’s desk was on. His eagerness wasn’t something he wanted to showcase.

“Of Rhys, or of me?” Tim joked right back, grinning at Jack’s surprised bark of laughter.

“Cute, Timtam. Real cute.” Tim smirked unapologetically, and Jack knew well the mischievous look on the double’s face. So Tim was in a playful mood, then. The mission must’ve gone very well indeed. That was beyond excellent. “You feel free to send me whatever pics you feel like, handsome. I’m a big fan of close-ups.” The smile on Jack’s face was genuine, even if he was dying to get his hands on the body double. “Remind me to give you a raise, too.”

“Add that to the extra vacation days you also said you’d give me.”

Jack grinned as they stood before one-another. Tim was giving him a doubtful, accusing tilt of the head, and Jack’s fingers itched so badly to rove over Tim’s face that he didn’t even bother teasing the younger man. “I did say that, didn’t I?” He raised his hands to Tim’s face, the double patiently waiting for Jack to remove the mask himself. It was something the older man insisted upon-- part of the nightmare he badly needed to address- to remove the mask and find no damage beneath. “Echo Rhysie about it. Now let’s see that gorgeous face.”

Jack tried to keep his fingers steady as he reached for the double’s face, and Tim waited far more eagerly than he wanted to appear.

Tim didn’t necessarily care for these ‘brand-checks’ at first. Jack already demanded most of his time, and what little free time he did have, he didn’t want to waste on his boss making sure he still “looked right”.

Pfft, as if Tim wasn’t a professional.

Tim wasn’t exactly vain himself, but he did take pride in his acting skills, and no one was a better Jack than him. That was just a fact. Because there were no other Jacks like him. None who’d undergone extensive plastic surgery, modulator-implants, and actually fought side-by-side with the CEO before he was the CEO. Tim might not have been much pre-surgery, but Jack had seen his potential, and Tim had risen to all expectations. And he was proud of that.

None of the other doubles knew Jack the way Tim did, either, not to mention actually looked like him. The others used tech which was fully reversible. What he did was an art, regardless of his personal feelings on the matter.

So needing to be checked if he was ‘on-brand’ was insulting to his professionalism at first, and annoying at best, even if it was always the same. Jack’s scrutiny had made him uncomfortable, as if Tim could lose everything he’d managed to gain after being overlooked for so long in his life. And Tim hadn’t liked it.

He liked it now.

Jack had nice hands. He’d know. It wasn’t an awful thing to be so casually handled by him, and regardless of how long he’d known Jack now, the intense focus of such a powerful man always got his heart beating just a bit faster.

Jack’s hands were expert in the removal of Tim’s own mask, the CEO undoing the clasps before setting the material down on his desk. His attention came back to Tim, and at that moment the double watched him carefully for the change that would occur in the older man during the reveal.

Jack was… different during these checks, but not necessarily in a bad way.

He always took a moment after the mask was fully removed-- eyes darting about Tim’s face as if to check that everything was still there- before a sort of almost relief settled into the older man’s eyes. And then came Tim’s favorite part: the quirk of Jack’s lips as the man cupped both his cheeks in his large, warm hands, and firmly brushed his thumbs over Tim’s cheeks.

Tim used to blush heavily when Jack had first started demanding these checks. The intensity of the CEO’s focus had made poor Tim go entirely red in the face, and he had trouble meeting Jack’s eyes the first few times. Jack’s hands were always surprisingly gentle if not firm on him, the inspection a lot more like a full face massage than anything else. The touches and traces of fingers and thumbs over the bridge of his nose, under his left eye, the bottom of his cheeks, all made Tim want.

They hadn’t at first, though. Tim was observant, and the simple fact alone that Jack wanted to inspect under the mask-- where no one else ever saw anyways so what would it matter if he had some blemish or something?- made him think.

Tim wondered sometimes if Jack ever forgot that he knew what the CEO really looked like under the mask, or if he thought Tim might be repelled by it, and thus hid what Tim suspected were the true reasons for checking. The double had his own suspicions on what Jack was really doing.

He’d been there when Jack had been branded. It made an impression on him for multiple reasons: the way Jack handled the pain; the visceral reaction to seeing-- essentially- himself be branded, skin ruined and blistered. The way Jack was still somehow strong after the fact and overcame it all. Yeah, Tim had changed his entire being into someone else, but it had been more or less voluntary, and wholly expected. What Jack went through…

Well.

Tim had been there for it and he still couldn’t imagine going through that himself. Not without totally breaking. Him and Jack maybe butted heads sometimes but he admired the hell out of the older man, and even a bit more than that.

It was part of the reason he submitted to these examinations. There was something pitiful and desperate and utterly human in the way Jack’s thumbs sometimes slid up his cheekbones, palms sliding down to turn his chin this way and that between his big hands. Jack might’ve poked fun about telling him not to break Jack’s investment in ‘his’ face, but there was something a little too real behind his concern. It made Tim ache for the Jack he knew right before the man was betrayed. He knew what the scarring looked like, but such superficial things, ironically, didn’t matter to the double.

Tim tilted his head as Jack’s thumb slid down the side of his neck, hoping the older man wouldn’t register the hard thump of his heart, and then Jack breathed out in clear relief before letting Tim go. He tried to hide his disappointment that it was over already.

Tim’s voice wasn’t as confident as he would’ve preferred, but he kept the excited tremor from it, at least. “Everything still in one piece?” he joked as Jack looked at him a few moments more.

The CEO raised a brow, cocky-smile back in place. “Why, got something more interesting to show me, Timtam?” He waggled his brows in what was clear tease as Tim rolled his eyes.

“I only got a little electrocuted, and nowhere interesting,” the double replied.

Jack didn’t miss the slight pinkness to Tim’s actual cheeks (the sight was going to be in his dreams tonight for its rareness, that much he was certain) but the older man didn’t comment on it. “Interesting for you, or interesting for me?” He gave the double a wink.

Tim felt his heart thump hard in his chest, deciding to play a little with the older man in lieu of getting to truly indulge; Jack flirted with everyone. It didn’t mean it was real, or that he meant it. Tim still liked it, though. “I’m not stripping to let you find out. It’s cold in here.”

Jack snorted and retrieved the mask from his desk. “You can always send me pictures. Don’t forget about that!” Jack handed the mask back to Tim. He never liked putting the mask back on the double himself, and Tim never questioned it. It was something he preferred to watch Tim do; something his subconscious would have to reconcile as an active choice to cover his unharmed face.

“There would have to be pictures for me to even send,” Tim muttered as he put things back in place.

“I like your thinking, pumpkin! Let me know if you need any inspiration.”

Tim snorted but left on his way as Jack shooed him out.

The CEO collapsed into his chair once the office was again left in Elpis’ pink glow. He felt more relaxed than he had all month, and with the relief of Tim’s visit finally washed over him, he knew he was going to get a very good night’s sleep indeed.

He wasn’t even mad that he didn’t have any dirty dreams that night, instead happy to sleep like the dead.

He’d need to take advantage of all the rest he could get now, before the shame of his true face caught back up to him again.

--

Chapter 2 will be found at my ao3 :)

kofi | ao3 | commission ‘info’

#jackothy #rhackothy #handsome jack #timothy lawrence #borderlands fanfic #rhys the company man #rhack #rhys #fanfic #my fic #i keep getting carried away im having a super fun time and like i know the first part is a lot of exposition but bare with me! :D #WOOOOO :D hehehe my ot3 <3 <3 <3 THANK YOU FOR THIS PROMPT

[raywritesthings]

Death and Taxes

My Writing Fandom: Doctor Who Characters: Eleventh Doctor, River Song, Clara Oswald, Kate Stewart Pairing: Eleventh Doctor/River Song Summary: River wants a house now that she's out of prison, and the Doctor must embark on the dreaded task of personal finance. / Canon Compliant *Can be read on my AO3 or FFN, links are in bio*

He took Professor Song to see the premiere of the Galactic Federation Symphony. The musicians consisted of Draconians, Alpha Centaurians, and humans, with an Ice Warrior serving as conductor. It was a pleasant evening, music and champagne — the latter of which he did not partake in, content to watch his wife sip at her flute with a smile curving her lips. Much better than the first time they’d met after Manhattan. Even so, they carefully danced around the subject of his travels or companions. It hardly mattered; Clara was home with the children again, so he may as well have been alone.

“So then, back to the Luna University? Or perhaps dancing under the Karaveen Nebula? The night is still young,” the Doctor remarked as he led them arm in arm back through the TARDIS doors.

“Actually, Doctor, I’ve got a matter of business to discuss with you,” River countered in a way that surprisingly enough did not at all sound like an innuendo, and he was getting rather good at picking those up from her.

“Oh?”

She slipped her hand into his, and they walked past the console, up into the corridor and through a door which today led into his study. He perched himself on the corner of his desk, arms folded and legs crossed at the ankle.

“Well, Professor Song, what can I do for you?”

She smirked. “I was hoping you'd ask.” Then she pulled out a stack of paper and files far too large to have fit in an ordinary clutch and set them down just to the right of him with a very heavy thud.

The Doctor blinked. “What’s this?”

“It's what I need you to do for me,” she answered. “I’m buying a house near the university, and there's a lot that needs filled out as far as mortgage payments and property taxes are concerned. Not to mention the loan I’ve got to take from the bank. You’ll have to co-sign on that, by the way.”

The Doctor, whose lip had been curling in distaste with every word she spoke, looked at her with wide eyes. “Co-sign?”

River gave a well-worn sigh. “Yes, Sweetie. I get a better deal if someone does, and you being my husband makes you the ideal candidate. Joint filing.”

“Taxes?” He echoed numbly, thumbing through the stack once. There were all sorts of official looking titles and tiny boxes and very fine print he would most certainly need Amy's glasses for. The Doctor shook his head. “No. No, I haven’t done taxes in — well, er, come to think of it I’m not sure I’ve ever done them. I won’t start now.”

“And what am I supposed to do then? Sleep in my office?”

“Well, no,” he acknowledged. “Couldn't you just — I mean it's not like you haven't before — couldn't you, ah, find some money somewhere?”

“Oh yes, that’ll go over lovely. Paying off my mortgage with undisclosed income. Then they can arrest me again for tax evasion — that’ll be twenty life sentences at least.” Her unimpressed look morphed into something a little more earnest, a little more beseeching. “I’m only trying to get a life after prison started, Doctor.”

Oh. Well, that just wasn’t fair. There really was no faulting her, was there? After all she'd done for him in saving his life, River Song was just asking for a little aid in getting the next chapter of hers going. The last chapter, of which he could never tell her even as it drew ever nearer.

The Doctor stared. River stared back, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched imperiously.

“So, you’ll bring it round the next time you stop by? Lovely.” Without another word, much less waiting for his response, she turned and swept from the room.

“River. River!”

When after a moment she did not return, the Doctor was forced to half-run to catch her up in the console room, where she was already working the controls.

“River, I am homeless. Stateless. Planetless, even! My estate consists of a Type 40 Time Capsule, and it's stolen property.”

“You think my credit’s much better, honey? I'm an ex-con.” She glanced back at him, curls falling in a wave down her shoulder. It was quite the look. “Seeing as we both know how that happened I shouldn't think it’d be that unreasonable of a request.”

The Doctor’s mouth fell open, but nothing came immediately to mind.

River smirked. “I didn’t think so.” The time rotor pulsed once more, then quieted, about the only indication they’d landed whenever his wife was the one driving. Then she continued down the ramp to the doors.

“You could always stay.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, and yet hopeless as he knew it was he carried on. “Keep a vortex manipulator onboard, pop over to the University whenever you felt like teaching, then back here. You’re welcome here.”

You’re wanted here, was what he wished to say.

River had paused in front of the doors, and when she turned around this time she looked pained. “Thank you, Sweetie. But we both know that isn't what we are.”

How could they know without ever having tried it? That, at least, he managed to reign in. She already thought him enough of a sentimental old fool, after all.

“I’ll have to have a look around the place sometime,” he came up with instead. “Seeing as it’ll be half mine.”

“Oh honey, that's a promise,” River replied with a wink, and he dredged up a smile just for her. Then she was out the doors and out of his life once again. The Doctor bowed his head briefly, then reached for the dematerialization lever to head back into the Vortex.

Returning to his desk, the Doctor eyed up the stack that waited for him. To his view, it appeared to tower over everything else, particularly once he’d taken his seat. His Everest. He blew out a breath and took out her mother’s glasses. “Right then. Taxes.” The Doctor shrugged. “How hard can they be, really?”

—-

Taxes, as it turned out, could be very hard.

The forms were printed as tiny as he’d suspected and were twice as tricky. To fill one out, he needed to know something called a credit score. The Doctor did not know what a credit score was, and when he asked Clara her eyes went the biggest he’d ever seen them.

“Why do you want to know something like that?”

“Idle curiosity.”

Clara snorted and turned away. He never actually got an answer.

There was a helpline number in incredibly small print at the bottom of the phone. The Doctor liked helplines. A helpline had directed his new friend into his life. Or back into it. He still didn’t know exactly how he had met Clara twice before without her remembering it.

Nevertheless, the Doctor called the number. There was a funny automated voice someone had tried to make sound like a human but seemingly gave up halfway through, and it listed off a whole lot of options and numbers to press accordingly. The Doctor waited until the end of the list, where it told him that if he stayed on the line a real person might actually talk to him. That was much better.

He was tapping his toes along with a very mellow xylophone playing a repetitive verse for several minutes before the music abruptly cut off.

“This is Keisha with Lunar Revenue, how may I help you this morning?”

The Doctor jumped and nearly fumbled the phone. “Keisha! Ha! Yes, you can help me. I need to know what a credit score is.”

“What a credit score is or what your credit score is, sir?”

“Both, preferably.”

There was a pause.

“Uh, well, a credit score is a number a person’s given based on their financial history, and depends on factors like bill payments or outstanding loans,” she explained slowly, as though waiting for him to stop and assure her he understood at any moment. “And to get your credit score, I’m going to need some information from you, sir. Can I have your name?”

“The Doctor,” he readily supplied.

“Alright, and first and last name, sir?”

“No, no,” he said, waving a hand cheerily though it presumably made no difference to her. “Just the Doctor.”

“I’m afraid that’s not a name, sir.”

“Well, of course it isn’t just a name. It’s my name. It’d be silly if you had multiple people running around calling themselves the Doctor — there’s already enough of me doing that.”

There was another long pause. “Well, sir, I will try to find your information in our system, but it might take some time.”

“How much?”

“If you could please hold.”

“Er, yes? Hold what?” He pulled the phone back to look at the receiver. “Keisha? Hello?”

Keisha’s voice had been replaced by the xylophone. And maybe some strings.

“Keisha,” the Doctor grumbled under his breath. He sighed and set the phone down on its side, where he could still make out the music. The Doctor paced around a bit on the main platform, then up on the second level. He went down below to do some maintenance, then came back up.

The music was still playing. He hated waiting.

“Right, okay. Time to jump the line.”

The Doctor hung up the phone. A short trip through the Vortex later and he was striding out into a very tiny cubicle in which was sat a very startled woman with very nice, intricate braids woven into her hair.

“Keisha, right?” The Doctor checked. “I was on the phone with you an hour and a half ago. The Doctor, remember?”

“How did you—”

“I was in the neighborhood. Listen, the way I see it, the faster we get this all sorted out is the less time we have to spend on it, right? So let’s sort it out.” He dropped the files on her desk and gestured at them. “That’s everything I’ve got so far, but I can’t get anywhere without the credit score.”

“This is to co-sign for a house?” She asked after briefly skimming the top form. She was either very clever or just very literate. Possibly both.

“Yes, my wife wants one. It seems very tedious, but her 150th is coming up, so.” He shrugged.

“Right…” She rolled her shoulders and opened up a new window on her computer, which was a flat screen embedded into the cubicle wall. “This is your first time filing with us?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll need to open an account. Let me see what I can find in terms of identification.”

After some tapping on the screen interspersed with checking some of the things he had written down, she turned back around in her chair.

“We have on file here that you’re dead.”

“Ah. Yes. Well, that would be spoilers for me. See, I clearly haven’t died yet.” The Doctor splayed his arms wide in demonstration. It wasn’t as though he could tell her that what they had on record was his fake death. That just wouldn’t do.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” said Keisha.

“Neither am I, most days. But since I am not dead, could I have the information I need to fill out the paperwork for my wife?”

“I’m afraid not, sir. Even if I ignore the claim that you’re dead, you don’t seem to have a record of any credit.”

He rocked back on his heels, hands planted at his waist. “Well, how exactly do you go about getting one?”

“Making purchases and paying them back,” She answered blandly. “Loans. That sort of thing.”

“That’s what people do?”

“Yes. Usually with money they make at their jobs, sir.”

Well, there was a thought. “I’ve had one of those! Maybe they can get me a credit score.”

“Maybe, sir.”

“Alright, then, I’ll be back in a mo’,” he told her, seizing the stack of papers River had given him once more, though he staggered under the additional weight as Keisha through another heavy-looking file. “What’s this, then?”

“Life insurance policy. You may want to take one out before you are dead, sir.”

The Doctor considered, then shook his head. “I’ll be dead before I’d have sorted it out, I expect.” At least he hoped.

Just a quick trip, and then he might soon have all this bureaucratic nonsense out of his life. If the Time Lords could see him now.

The things one did for love.

—-

Kate Stewart had been enjoying a cuppa at her desk until the peace and quiet was shattered by the sound of a wheezing engine, and the papers in front of her were scattered in a sudden strong wind.

She looked up to find the TARDIS materializing right in her office doorway.

“Kate!” The Doctor came bounding out the doors in a purple coat and vest this time, though the bowtie, it seemed, was a constant. She mentally made a note to add that to the file.

“Doctor, this is a surprise. Are we under attack?”

“Not at all, just looking for a bit of assistance.”

Kate raised an eyebrow. “With?”

“Taxes,” he answered plainly. Kate nearly fell out of her chair. “River’s eyeing up a house near the Luna University, and there’s a whole thing about payments and whatnot that she’s asked me to sign on for with her, but I haven’t got much in the way of financial history.”

Kate scrambled for a pen and a notepad to start writing this down. At the top of the page, she labeled River? with a large circle surrounding the name.

“See, as of now I have absolutely horrible credit because there’s very little way for me to establish a record of buying and paying for things,” he continued on. “But then I thought, you know who has records? UNIT has records! Loads of records. Records by the bucketful! Surely if anyone has a record of me holding a steady position where I incurred expenses and compensated them, it’ll be UNIT.” The Doctor paused and looked at her. “So would you happen to have something like that?”

“Er, yes, I imagine.” Kate placed a call down to their records keeper, then asked for a pot of tea to be put on while they waited. Her own cup, she requested to be made particularly strong.

“So, you’re buying a house?” She asked to make conversation.

“River’s buying the house,” he corrected her.

“Still, not very like you.” He had lived on Earth for years while working full-time with UNIT and had, by all accounts, slept in the TARDIS parked in his lab.

“Yes, well, River has a habit of making me do things not very like me,” he said, in a tone that was as exasperated as it was fond. He perked up as their records keeper entered with a very old cardboard box. “There we go. Excellent! Give the man a raise.”

“You won’t be getting a raise, Jeremy,” she informed the records keeper matter-of-factly. He nodded and left the room.

The Doctor had popped the lid of the box and was thumbing through the papers. “Credit, credit… not actually sure where I’m meant to find it. Ah well, Keisha will know.” He replaced the lid and hauled the whole box into his arms. “Thanks very much, Kate.”

“Actually, Doctor, since we’re on the subject and if my recollection serves me, we don’t seem to have an accurate date on when you held the lab position with us. Would you be able to—”

The Time Lord was already walking back into his box, and he waved a hand over his shoulder. “Oh, just pick one.”

Kate’s sigh was covered by the departing TARDIS engines.

—-

Clara entered the TARDIS Wednesday morning with a skip in her step. “Mine turn to pick, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Chin Boy agreed, stepping away from the controls as though ceding them to her. She wasn’t actually going to fly this thing, mind. No matter what he’d said about the old cow starting to warm up to her. “Where to?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Clara lifted her old book out of her satchel and hugged it to her chest for a moment. Then, just as she’d opened the cover, the phone rang outside.

“That’s odd.” She knew she’d called him on it, before, but just how many people knew that number anyway? Apart from that woman in the shop, she supposed.

“Ah, hold the thought, Clara,” he said, hurrying around her with a slide of the heels and leaving the ship. “Hello? It has? Approved? Keisha, I could kiss you!”

“Not a snog box, my arse,” Clara muttered under her breath. She hurried to the doorway and leaned out. “Oi, mind not shouting for the whole street to hear?” Artie and Angie were getting curious enough about where she always went on her days off, especially since the latter claimed Clara never used to go anywhere at all.

The Doctor put his hand over the bottom of the phone. “Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry in the least. “Just got some very good news for one Professor Song.”

Clara raised her eyebrows. “Friend of yours?”

He nodded distractedly, then half-turned away as he continued to speak into the phone. “Yes. Yes, I can stop by. I’ll take the papers over myself to have them signed. You’ve been a saint, Keisha, you’ll do great things. I’m sure of it. Keep working wonders. Yes, bye-bye.”

He hung up the phone and dropped back against the doors with relief as though he’d just completed a marathon.

“You okay?” She asked wryly.

He popped right back up. “Okay? I’m more than okay on this day of days.”

“Right, this day where we’re apparently going to fill paperwork with professors?”

The Doctor paused. “Er, no. I’ll take care of that. Alone.” He tugged at his ear, looking uncomfortable with twitching limbs.

“Something the matter?”

“What? No, nothing. Just, best for me to pay a private visit.” He nodded to himself. “Yeah.”

Perhaps Professor Song didn’t like unfamiliar visitors. Clara pictured a stuffy, studious bloke surrounded by bookshelves and nodded to herself.

“Well then, I suppose I will pick after all. Any further expected interruptions?” She asked, fixing him with a mock arch look.

“None whatsoever.” He gestured back inside of the box. “Lead on, Clara.”

The leader, was she? She quite liked the sound of that.

—-

River did not like being led places. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” was all he said, his breath tickling her ear while his hands rested over her eyes. Oh, he was infuriating sometimes.

“You know I can get out of this any time I like.”

“Yes. And you can get out… now!” He pulled his hands back, and River stood blinking at a front door.

Not just any front door. Her front door. The one she wanted.

“You just fancied a look, then?” He hadn’t brought up the favor she’d asked of him, though she knew by their diaries that he had been asked, and River hadn’t brought it up either. She didn’t want to be too pushy, or else he’d get his back up. It was his way. 

“Nope,” he told her, then withdrew a pen and a form from his vest pocket. “Sign here, please.”

His signature was already affixed under where she was meant to. “Is this…?”

“It’s yours. Already is, actually, I’ve jumped us ahead a few days after I’ve filed the papers, which I’ll do after you sign them. You are the proud owner of four walls, a door and the dimensionally-proportional space contained therein.”

River numbly took the pen and paper and signed her name. It hardly seemed real. It felt like a dream.

She’d never had a home of her own. There was the TARDIS, of course, but no one owned her. Her mother’s childhood home had been Amy’s house and same as her dad’s. Her parent’s place — well, there had been a guest room she’d used now and then. So had other people. They all knew she didn’t live there with them.

But this… this was a space for her to be and to do with as she pleased. She could put things up on the walls or in a drawer without worrying about them being monitored by the Silence or taken during a cell inspection or missing the next time she met up with a younger version of her husband.

“Why anyone would want to be is beyond me, of course,” he was saying now with an exaggerated sniff. He was putting on a show to hide how secretly pleased he was as she gazed on him in wonder.

A part of her had thought he’d never do it.

“You have the keys?” A second later, they were dangling in front of her face, and River snatched them out of the air. She hurried to throw open the door and entered. A sitting room, kitchen, table with chairs. A hallway leading back towards a bed and bath. Tiny and utterly mundane and beautiful.

“You don’t have to go and file those right away, do you?” She asked, reaching back blindly for his hand. He grasped hers loosely in his, twining their fingers.

“No, not right away. Why, have a celebration in mind? We could watch telly, pick out new paint colors…”

River looked back at him with a smirk. “I was thinking we could break in the rooms, honey.”

It was her husband who smirked right back at her. “Now you’re talking.” He kicked the door shut with a ridiculous flail of one leg and was in her arms the next breath.

“Home, Sweetie, Home,” River whispered against his lips.

—-

The Doctor waved goodbye to Clara as she exited the TARDIS once more. They’d had an interesting time of things in the Sombrero Galaxy which, disappointingly, had not included sombreros. But they’d made it back in one piece; frankly, he counted it a mark of success each time Clara came back in one piece. He wasn’t sure whether the third time really was the charm in her case or not, but he was very sure he couldn’t lose her the same way he had lost the other two Claras. Not when he’d already lost so much.

Before he could take off again, there was a flash of light that caused him to duck down under the console for a moment before realizing it wasn’t coming at him. Instead, it hovered across the room, slowly taking shape.

Ah, a delivery. He occasionally received deliveries — perhaps that fez he’d ordered was finally here — but when the light faded, it was not a mechanized courier who stood there, but a letter that dropped to the floor.

The Doctor hurried round to that side of the console and picked it up. It was labeled with the logo of Lunar Revenue. He pinched the bridge of his nose and opened the envelope, bracing himself for what new form or inquiry he needed to fill.

Inside was a single sheet of paper. It read:

Dear The Doctor,

Lunar Services was notified June 7th of the passing of Professor R. Song, the borrower of an outstanding loan on a residence. While we are deeply saddened for your loss, as co-signer you have inherited the remaining balance of that loan. If you wish to have the property taken as collateral to settle the debt, no further action need be taken. Please be advised that this may harm your credit score.

If you would like to continue paying the remaining balance and retain the property, please contact one of our Customer Care Reps at the following number.

He didn’t read the number, for the letter slipped from his fingertips and fluttered to the floor. His hand went to his lips. He had known, yes, that this day was coming, but he hadn’t thought- he’d never expected—

He’d never realized he would be notified of his own wife’s death with such an afterthought.

Anger flaring up within him, he kicked at the letter. It skidded across the floor and stopped, the outline of the tread of his boots printed over one corner. The envelope went next in the opposite direction. It looked rather pitiful and useless, which matched his mood.

He sunk down on the steps and didn’t hear the door opening again. But he heard Clara’s voice. “Everything alright? You haven’t gone yet.”

The Doctor leapt up as if scalded, spinning on his toes as his face contorted in an effort to force the water welling up in his eyes back down. Clara was bending down towards the letter from Lunar Services.

“Don’t touch that!”

She jumped back as he tore it from her grasp, pressing it to his chest. “No need to get tetchy,” she snapped, though she seemed taken aback when their eyes met. “Chin Boy?”

Clara reached towards him, but he stepped back, turning to brace a hand on the control panel as he tucked the letter away.

“Sorry. Just some… private correspondence,” he muttered to the buttons and levers.

“Was it from Professor Song?”

His head bowed, bracing himself.

“I only saw the name, I didn’t read anything else,” Clara hurried to say.

A breath released. She hadn’t seen. He didn’t have to talk about this, this thing he had never talked about ever. “yes, it was from Professor Song,” he lied, and the lie came easy.

“Okay. Well… I guess I’ll leave you to answer it.” She said, and he could hear her drift one foot back towards the door.

“Thank you, Clara,” he said, and he looked once at her over his shoulder. “See ya Wednesday.”

“See ya,” she echoed, the barest of smiles gracing her lips, a mark that he’d at least done a little to reassure her. When the door closed a second time, he immediately pulled the lever to dematerialize. He couldn’t afford to stick around again by mistake.

Once safely alone, the Doctor took out the letter again, eyes scanning over the words. If you would like to continue paying the remaining balance and retain the property… Retain the property?

It had been River’s house, not his. River would be in every room. Her things and the scent of her perfume and the sound of her laugh — just thinking of it was enough to fill his lungs and head so much that he could hardly breathe, could hardly think.

If you wish to have the property taken as collateral to settle the debt, no further action need be taken. Please be advised that this may harm your credit score, the letter said, and that felt better. No action could be taken. There was nothing he could do, nothing he could change.

The Doctor marched back to his study and opened a drawer. He placed the letter inside as far back as it would fit, then shut it. He knew already that he would never open it again nor speak to anyone from Lunar Services, tax evasion and bad credit be damned.

He’d never wanted the score or the house. He just wanted her. Now he would have none.

#eleven appreciation weekend #eleventh doctor #river song #eleven x river #doctor who #doctor x river #my writing

[itstimetotheorize]

props to the bh6 writers. What will happen next? a discussion on season 2 episodes 1-5, warning spoilers ahead

i gotta say we’re not even half way thru the second season and i can already tell that the bh6 writers have really outdone themselves. The story is much darker than the first season and the villains of the show have developed into more sinister versions of themselves. 

but out of all the villains so far, the big MVP of this season is definitely Liv Amara. Not gonna lie, i didn't know how they would play liv out in the show, or if she would even be played off as an even bigger threat than Obake, but oh boy do they know how to write a good villain. 

liv amara is more cynical compared to Obake, and unlike Obake who was originally good, but due to a deathly explosion that caused him brain damage, he was left with the inability to tell right from wrong, so he was not consciously aware of the fact that he was doing something he didn't want to do. Liv Amara on the other hand has no such brain damage and is fully aware of the fact that she is doing inhumane things and doesn't care who she brings down if it means she can accomplish her goals, but just what are her goals to begin with? thats the other thing that the writers are doing so well, keeping the mystery behind liv amaras plan a secret but still laying it out bit by bit to keep having us guessing

so far from what we have seen, Liv Amaras generous funds do not just come from investors seeking to support her work, rather they mostly come from shady villainous people who will have no issue supporting her insane experiments. In season 2 episode 2, Liv meets up with Momakase to talk about her “investing” funds for a specific top secret project she is currently working on at sycorax. We do not know what this secret project is but it is no doubt something that she cant just show to any investor with a good conscious 

 However, that doesn't matter to villains that have done equally horrid things and wouldn't mind giving Liv the cash she wants if it means that they could benefit from her skills as well. And, as we later learn near the end of the episode 2, (thanks to a mysterious chip liv inserted into her neck) momakase can now produce indestructible knives from the tips of her fingers

since it is clear that Liv is responsible for the mutations this season the only questions now is, what is Liv Amaras end game?, what is her “top secret project” and what do those chips mean for the people she is mutating. 

first lets talk about the chips. Its clear that the chips reprogram a persons DNA and can cause specific mutations at the persons request. My only question is, are these mutations permanent ? orso knox in season 3 episode 3 was able to return back to normal thanks to karmi, but as liv amara states ( as she effortlessly blackmails him), she has the power to return him back to his monstrous form whenever she likes. 

if these chips are removed will the persons abilities be removed along with them? or do they become inactive once the person has fully mutated, leaving their only chance to return to normal a series of treatments to splice their DNA back to normal. Regardless of who it is, once its embedded in a persons skin all it takes is for liv to activate it.

next, lets talk about this “top secret project”, in episode 2 liv shows the top secret project file to momakase. This project may be what gave momakase the idea to have liv turn her into a knife wielding super monster, so its clear that the plan involves some kind of human genetic mutation. 

In episode 3 (out of hiros constant bickering to figure out livs actual progress on orso knox) karmi finds out that she cant access the knox file, then directly goes to livs office to ask about why she cant access the info related to orso knox. 

before karmi reaches livs office we get a clear shot at some of the files on her screen and what we see are base pairs for parts of someones DNA (maybe orso knox, momokase or someone we haven't seen yet) and what is clear in those pictures is that there are parts blackened out, as if to show that something is missing.

 We see this same DNA in episode 4 when liv meets high voltage, the dna strand is visible as a hologram on her desk and is again missing certain pieces.

 When karmi looks at the DNA sequence of mutated orso knox in episode 3, she notes that the base pairs in his DNA are not similar. 

For those of you who have a hard time understanding this, basically imagine DNA as a ladder split down the middle, the steps that make up the middle part of the ladder and allow people to climb it normally are different shapes on both sides but when they come together they make a proper ladder, 

in order for DNA to produce a functional human being the DNA base pairs need to match. Those regions of his mismatched DNA are being caused by a specific area somewhere else in his DNA, and so long as that specific region remains orso knox continues to lose more and more of his humanity as his DNA continues to produce that mismatched areas. 

We can clearly see this occurring with Momokase as well. When momokase escapes the teams combined attacks near the end of episode 2 we see that she has now developed blue skin, sharp teeth and wild and unruly hair,

 even more noticeably is when she runs in the direction of hiro. She doesn't try to attack hiro and granville now that they are vulnerable without baymax and the others there to help, instead she makes her way to the pillar behind them to escape and gives them an angry hiss/growl before leaving. 

In episode 4, high voltage undergo the same procedure as momakase but transform at a slower rate. Later on when they crash a high school dance, they become fully mutated eel people

once high voltage gains the upper hand to make their escape, what do we see them do? they dont just escape, they escape and without a second thought they immediately go to liv amara, now fully mutated into eels and living in her office aquarium!!. 

If high voltage returned to liv then odds are that momokase is somewhere in her building as well. But why are they going back to liv?, well, back in season 1 episode 18 knox didnt go directly to liv, he followed his schedule until he found his way back to her, only to attack her, and sadly now that we know liv is the second seasons main antagonist liv learned from her mistakes with knox and most likely implanted the idea in future mutated people to return to her without fighting back. But what does this all mean?, why is she collecting mutated villains, what was the point of mutating orso knox? and what does this have to do with her secret project?

well, what if Liv is trying to make mutants but is having a hard time figuring out a base pair that will allow the persons DNA to remain stable and thus creating a stable mutated human. But to do that she needs test subjects, and she knows that she cant just experiment on ordinary people without drawing suspicion, so instead shes using criminals that the public would prefer not seeing. The only exception was orso knox who may have realized what liv amaras secret project was and refused to give her the money to support it. Liv turning him into a monster was just one way of keeping her money and gaining a lab rat, however, now that he is back to normal all she has to do is threaten him with turning him back, if he doesn't keep quiet about what she is doing. 

she may have always known how to turn mutants like orso back into regular humans but thats not what she wants, she wants these mutated and now animalistic humans to stay unstable so she can figure out the missing link in their DNA.  In episode 3 when karmi sees orso and quickly figures out the right treatment to turn him back, liv comes in and looks at karmis work, 

liv doesn't look happy or surprised, shes upset because now there is someone other than her that can successfully turn mutants like oros back to normal, liv knew karmi was smart, but now that she knows karmi is to smart, she identifies her as a threat. And what does she do once she realizes that karmi is capable of undoing her work?  she pushes some buttons, 

takes fred to the elevator and leaves karmi, hiro, and baymax seconds before orsos lock is disabled and the entire building is placed on lock down. 

Liv was trying to murder hiro and karmi, then later pin the blame on orso to cover up her tracks!! and the only reason she took fred to safety is because she still needs to get her funds from his mother, and she cant do that if his mom is grieving for her dead son. 

and now lets talk about the biggest question of the show, what is liv amaras end game? in episode 5, we see her experimenting with the cell regeneration capabilities of globby and claims that the way globbys cell regenerate may be a breakthrough to what she is working on. When nega globby begins to regenerate  into a bigger size in front of liv we see that they are confined to a small room, this room/lab contains a series of pods and one more pod that chris looks over to on his right off screen.

 In episode 3 as hiro, karmi, and fred discover that orso is confined in sub level 9 fred says, “thats the most mysterious sub level there is, unless there’s a  sub level 10, is there a sub level 10?”. 

Odds are, freddy is right!, there may be a secret level that liv did not include into the buildings computer and that secret sub level is where she is currently conducting her “secret project”

later, when the nega globby escapes, Chris meets up with liv in that same suspicious room were liv is working on a single giant pod in front of her

when chris states that the glob escaped liv deactivates the security shutdown (which she says in episode 3 that she has no control over, but clearly she does !!!) 

and lets it escape into the city. Chris then says, “dont we need it for..” then points to the giant pod next to him. 

What if livs top secret project and ultimate end game has to do with whatever is in that giant pod. And what exactly is in that giant pod?, I have no idea!!, it could be anything at this point, and without enough evidence I am just gonna list out some ideas below and do a follow up later on when new info is revealed in future episodes:

1. in episode 1 liv says to grandville, hiro and the gang on their tour, “mother nature is an artist and I see myself as her protege, studying and... even improving on her work”. Liv believes it is her responsibility to do what nature is no longer capable of, improving human kind and is making a giant serum to transform the entire city into mutants, and later transform the entire world, making her the new mother of an entirely new world.

2. she is trying to create a new human race and what is in that giant tub in episode 5 is the first superhuman, however, because she hasnt figured out the right DNA sequence it is still incomplete and unstable. 

3.she knew(possibly admired) or knows obake and found his body underwater after his base fell apart and currently holds him in that tub as she is trying to turn him into the first line of super mutants and thus saving his life but also using him to her advantage.

4. shes gonna turn the entire city into mindless animalistic mutants, have them all under her control, then later use her new army of mutants to take over the world, starting with san fransokyo.

5. again this is just a theory, so don’t bother complaining, I’m just making this up as i go until i get new info. Liv found Tadashi after the fire and is currently holding him in that giant tub as she is trying to figure out how to stabilize his mutated genes and fix his damaged body so he can use whatever abilities his body is developing. Then she will later use his DNA to create a new line of mutants to serve under her. 

its just a theory, a big hero 6 theory!

#bh6 #big hero 6 #big hero 6 the series #BH6 the series #bh6 theories #big hero 6 theory #big hero 6 theories #Hiro Hamada #bh6 karmi #liv amara #Professor grandville #bh6 wasabi #fred frederickson iv #bh6 fred #gogo tomago #honey lemon #sycorax #globby #bh6 season 2 #big hero 6 season 2 #tadashi hamada #bh7 #big hero 7 #disney

[crowsvalentine]

Lost Hope

Kaz and Inej do what they always do, they learn and they adapt. 

(not linked to any other fic, this is entirely stand alone)

Please give some feedback, I don’t write much angst and I kinda really like doing it but I’m not even sure if I’m any good!

It was a question he never thought he’d be asking. A possibility he’d never thought he’d be hoping for. A future he stopped wanting and never thought he’d ever have. They’d tried, almost every night, almost every minute they were free, they tried positions and techniques that randoms on the street had told them about, they tried. But nothing was happening. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair one night, “I tried giving you everything but I can’t give you this.” 

She placed her small hands on the sides of his face, smiling at him with a smile he would rather die than never see again. She promised him she still loved him no matter what, reminding him that she was with him for him and not his abilities. 

“Nina is back tomorrow and says she knows a healer who can help us,” she’d told him, “they can tell us if something is wrong.” 

She kissed his forehead before laying down next to him, back pressed to his chest as she slowly relaxed and fell asleep. He could’t join her, however, trying to understand why nothing was working for them when people who weren’t even trying get it so easily. Resting his chin on her shoulder, he looked down at the hand that was splayed over the bed, her fourth finger showing him that they’d done everything right up until then.

A week later he found himself sitting across the closed door to his own bedroom. The healer needed the room empty to concentrate, she’d ordered him out the moment she’d been done with him and called Inej in. Nina had slid down to the floor next to him, and if he were anyone else, he knew she’d have taken his hand in her own and promised him everything was going to be okay. But nothing was ever okay with them, even after years of them being at the top of the world. Things still went wrong, plans never went as they were supposed to, these are things that they dealt with on the daily. Yet, he felt like he never felt any of those other times. With every second that door was closed, he felt little cracks appearing inside him, things that were once sealed opening up once more at the thought of something being wrong. 

“It could be just the stress of wanting it so bad,” Nina finally said, “I knew of women who couldn’t until they’d stopped trying.”

“Too bad we don’t know how to stop trying.” 

She frowned and sighed before standing, holding her hand out to him in vain, knowing he wouldn’t take the help to stand. 

“Let’s go for a walk, Brekker, you need some air.” 

They walked, only down the street and back up again, Kaz not wanting stray far from the house in case they were called back in and he wasn’t there. It was the healer standing at the door that made him run the last few feet to the house, the look on her face quickly telling him what he didn’t want to hear.”

“I felt nothing inside of her,” the healer said, sipping from the cup of tea Nina had handed her. She’d put Inej to sleep for the checkup, and informed them that she’d be awake in a few hours and would want all of them there when she was told the news. They sat in the small kitchen until then, her and Nina drinking their tea while Kaz’s sat untouched in front of him. “There is usually something else alive inside women, millions of little bundles of cells that hold half a life. I didn’t feel any inside of her.” Kaz knew the basics to the reproductive system inside of women, but he was no healer or medik. “Eggs, Mister Brekker,” the healer said, “we call them eggs.” He knew of that. 

“She would have known if she’d been sterilized, wouldn’t she?” Nina asked

Kaz gripped the edge of the table, his nails scratching through the hard wood. He should have known, he should have at least suspected. The same thing was done to the girls at the White Rose, though the procedure was consensual, they’d had the choice whether to do it or not. Inej wasn’t given the choice, or the knowledge of it even happening. She wouldn’t have been the only one. He stood, fast enough to knock the chair he’d been sitting on to the ground, the motion and sound making the two women jump. 

“Send a runner when Inej wakes up,” he said as he started out toward the door.

“I need to know where you’re going to do that.”

“I’m going hunting for a peacock.” 

If the false plague that Nina had created did any damage to the Menagerie, the business didn’t show it. Men and women still streamed in and out of the building, not seeming to remember that just over a decade ago, a red X marked the front doors. Kaz scowled up at it before he walked in, the plague may have lessened business, but the fact that the building still stood and was pact with people, was enough for him to hate it. 

Heleen Van Houden seemed to be ageless, she still looked the same as she did the first time he’d seen her standing in the center of her brothel. It was the work of a tailor that Kaz knew was stowed away in one of the top floor bedrooms. Women like her didn’t deserve the privileges of a tailor, they deserved to grow old and wilt. 

She seemed to sense him walking in, her eyes going straight to him the moment he stepped inside. No words were said, but people screamed when Kaz pulled the gun out of his coat and aimed it directly between her jewel lined eyes. 

“It’s been a long time, Dirtyhands,” she drawled, looking unaffected by the weapon that could end her life in less than a second. “How’s my little Suli Lynx?” 

Kaz pressed down the trigger, smirking when she finally showed any ounce of fear. The gun clicked, but no bullet was released. 

“Imagine if it was loaded,” he finally said, “it may not be my way anymore, but I’m not incapable of killing if I have a good reason.” He paused and looked around, all eyes were on them. “Remember that you’ve given me a reason, Heleen, but I need some names before I put a hole through your head.” 

Threats like this would have had him picked up by the Stadwatch in a matter of minutes, but he was Kaz Brekker, he owned the Stadwatch and after everything she’s done, all Heleen Van Houden had were some diamonds and a handful of girls that would leave her side the second they could. 

He sat across from her in her office, being escorted there by the hired muscle that stood at the Menagerie doors, Kaz wanted to show her how her men wouldn’t lay a hand on him even if she told them to, but he didn’t, he still liked the idea of Heleen thinking she was safe.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he paused, “today. But I should.”

She didn’t let out a sigh of relief, only shifted her eyes to the one-way glass that surrounded her office. She could look out, but no one could look in, something that is critical in her establishment because she needed to know what her girls were up to when she wasn’t around. However, in the past she looked around in glee, her entire world laid out in front of her making her money and giving her everything she ever wanted. Now, as she looked out, Kaz could see thoughts swimming through her head that scared even the great Tante Heleen. He smirked.

“It will all be taken away eventually, Heleen,” he reminded her, “just because I’m not putting a bullet through your head or slicing open your throat at this very moment, doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

“And why is my life on your list now, Brekker? I haven’t gone after that Suli Lynx of yours in years.” 

“Why?” He stood, eyes narrowed and teeth bared, the image of Dirtyhands from those first few years of his arrival coming back ten fold, and Heleen looked ready to soil herself. “Because I’m trying to have a fucking family but my wife can’t bare my fucking children!” 

She froze, the tiniest of smiles ghosting over her face that Kaz wanted to blow off with a bullet. But he couldn’t, he still needed her. 

“She was sterilized for her own good, Brekker, all the girls are,” she spoke as if it was a gift, the best thing she could give her slaves. “It’s not my fault she couldn’t understand what was being said to her.”

“Translators exist.”

“I didn’t want a translator, I wanted whores who couldn’t get pregnant.” 

He did as he had done back at the house, digging his nails into the hard wood of his chair’s arm rests, trying to keep the urge to dig a blade through her heart at bay while he finished what he came for. 

“Names, of the healer who did it, of the men who held her down, and any one else involved.” 

She said nothing, just sat back, smiling at him with the same smile as before. 

“What do I get in return?”

He moved quickly, as she was talking he’d reloaded his gun, and now, it had one less bullet, and Heleen stared at the shattered glass that now lined her office floor. He’d broken the peacock figurine she had perched on her desk, the bullet now embedded in the only real wall of her office, right near her arm. 

“I don’t put the next one through your skull.” 

As he listened, memorizing every name and address that she listed off for him, he imagined the bullet hitting her right between her eyes, wanting to see her body hit her desk, blood pooling all over the contracts and the forged indenture agreements. However, he just sat, making no move to make his imagination come to life. By the end of it, she sat, stiff as if bracing herself for something.

Then he stood, and she raised her arms to protect herself.

“Thank you, Heleen,” he said, buttoning his coat with the gun still in his hand. He said nothing else when he turned and made for the door, not planning to turn around at all to even look at her one last time. But then-

“You should be happy that whore can’t ha-”

Heleen Van Houden, Tante Heleen, The Peacock, hit the floor like any other barrel rat, one eye wide, the other blown out by a bullet. No parade, no fireworks, just another body for the boats to take at night and dump in the water. 

When he stepped out of the office, all eyes were on him, everyone hearing the shots but not understanding a thing. Kaz stood facing them all, face hard, hands resting easily on his cane. 

“Everyone but those who work here get out in the next five seconds or the next bullets will go through you.” 

People ran screaming, and the girls huddled together on one of the feathery couches. Kaz waited the five seconds, and five more before he put the gun back into his coat. 

“Where the fuck have you been, Brekker? How do you just leave Inej like that, how can you,” Kaz tuned Nina out as he made his way through the house. He climbed the stairs slowly, so slowly that Nina took a step back just to watch. He put a hand up to stop her, shaking his head when she questioned him. He needed to be with her alone, and Nina thankfully understood this. 

“I’m so sorry,” she said the moment he stepped into the room, and his heart shattered into a million pieces when her voice cracked and tears started down her cheeks. She stood in the middle of the room, practically falling into him when he wrapped his arms under her and lifted her. She continued crying as he walked to the bed, and didn’t stop even when he sat her down on his lap.

“You did nothing, Inej,” he whispered, “nothing is your fault, nothing.” 

“I can’t, I can’t give you what you want. What you deserve, Kaz, you’ve tried so hard to,” she took in a shaky breath, and Kaz pressed his lips to her head as she did, “tried so hard to change, you did change, and now I can’t-”

“Inej, Inej I didn’t change to have this,” he assured her, she sniffled and finally looked back up at him. 

“Yes you did, this is what you wanted, and I-”

“I didn’t change to have a child, Inej,” he said again, “I changed to have you, to have you in my life, I took off all my armour for you, I became a better man for you, you and no one else.” 

She nodded slowly and laid her head back down on his shoulder, and Kaz understood. He shifted, not letting go even once as he moved back on the bed to rest against the headboard. She needed to cry, she needed him to hold her. She was strong, but there are things that could break even her. Even if for only a little while. 

“I killed her,” he finally said after almost hours of silence, “Heleen, she’s dead. She can’t hurt any more girls.”

She looked at him for the first time, her eyes red, her lip swollen from where she was biting it, and she looked relieved. Taking his face between her hands, she brought him up to press his forehead against her’s, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Kaz, thank you for saving me and all of them.” 

#i write for soc #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #kanej #nina zenik #six of crows #crooked kingdom #wow #look at me #writing angst and shit #I know I wrote a pregnancy fic already but I had an idea #which is actually possible in canon

[foxforfree135]

Military Cac Card Reader Software

It sounds like the act of ww sprint might not be the problem (not 100% sure that's why I asked). But if he did sprint and it is not acknowledged by Arngier that's another problem, or Bori never taught him WWS and/or his '.knowledge' (.brain fart here) which is like absorbing a dragon soul. Well, basically what the title says, I'm having problems with this mission in SSE, I'm stuck in phase 125, where Wulfgar should use whirlwind sprint, Master Borri opens the door with 'Bex', but Master Wulfgar stands without using the shout, I've tried with 'disable - resetai- enable' 'disable-enable', waiting 8 hours, traveling away and then back, but none of that works, any idea that. When you first meet the Greybeards they will take you to the courtyard, where Master Borri will teach you whirlwind sprint. First they teach you the first word, 'Whirlwind', then they let you tap. I am at High Hrothgar where i need to Demonstrate the power of Whirlwind Sprint. But when I stand in front of the master greybeard to prepare my shout to pass the gate, Borri, the one who is supposed to open the gate, does not open the gate or even move. The quest appears to be stuck at this point and I can't seem to advance the quest. Borri dont use whirlind sprint.

Latitude Vostro Desktop

Download Military Cac Card Reader Software

Military Cac Card Reader Software

Saicoo Smart Card Reader

Smart Card Reader

ActivClient is one of the most important pieces of the being able to use your CAC at home puzzle. It’s the actual software that allows your computer to communicate with the little computer chip embedded within the CAC itself. The program was purposely designed with 4 major goals in mind.

July 28, 2019 by CACUser. The Zoweetek CAC Smart Card Reader is one of the most reliable of the CAC card readers. Many military personnel already use this card reader since many commands carry them and use them for portable computers. That being said, this is not a permanent placement type CAC reader as compared to others in the industry.

Shop for cac card reader at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up.

SAICOO SMART CARD READER DRIVER INFO:

Type:DriverFile Name:saicoo_smart_5976.zipFile Size:4.9 MBRating:

4.90 (162)

Downloads:188Supported systems:Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, 2008, Vista, 2003, XP, OtherPrice:Free* (*Free Registration Required)

SAICOO SMART CARD READER DRIVER (saicoo_smart_5976.zip)

If you’re looking for a CAC reader for desk use with a horizontal card insertion point, the Saicoo Card Reader V1 is a great choice. It has the right mix of quality, durability and affordability. Some CAC users prefer vertical insertion devices.

Canon Printer. Saicoo - Smart companion for your life CAC smart card reader is an easy-to-install USB device suited for all contact smart card operations like online-banking or digital signature applications. Smart card reader free download - SCR3310 USB Smart Card Reader drivers, USB Smart Card Reader, ACR38 Smart Card Reader Driver, and many more programs. Saicoo V1 Saicoo Smart Card Reader & 4. When you do decide on one of these low-cost options, double-check to make sure it will work perfectly with your smart card. Saicoo Smart Card Reader DOD Military USB Common Access CAC, Compatible with Mac OS and Windows. Saicoo Smart Card Reader, the Best cac card reader. Saicoo Reader Military Common Compatible fba s0201b ssm 2981 Review for smart card reader dod military.

Zoweetek Smart Card Reader DOD Military USB Common Access CAC, Compatible with Windows, Mac OS 10.6-10.10 and Linux. Logon with the Card Reader for your branch. 1 / Windows 8 drivers and Linux. When Computer Memory Card Reader Driver for Armada notebooks. Note For smart card implementations, consider sending all communications in Windows operating systems with smart card readers through the Smart Cards for Windows service. We spent 40 hours to find a best option for you is a Saicoo Smart, which comes with amazing features you ve never heard is the Best Cac card readers available in the market today.

To use your CAC with your computer, you ll still need to download the appropriate drivers in some cases as well as the necessary DOD certificates. Most recently had the smart card on Windows. Now the Card will not even boot up or show it is powering up from the light that blinks on top off the reader. Saicoo Smart Card Reader 2, XP. PIN and smart card reader service.

Logon with a smart card on a stand alone computer EIDAuthenticate Community Edition demo. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. I like the overall design greatly, the length of the usb cable is just right, long enough to keep th unit from interfering with other things plugged into subparts each side of it, but short enough to make it easy to reach and use. Saicoo V1 CAC Card Reader Review Updated 2020 Ma Octo by CACUser The Saicoo CAC Card Reader V1 is a horizontally resting CAC card reader suited to stationary usage but also light enough to carry around without trouble. Vendors that supply their own reader drivers should make each driver a member of the SmartCardReader setup class in the INF Version Section of the driver's INF file. Saicoo DOD Military USB Common Access CAC Smart Card Reader, compatible with Windows 32/64bit XP/Vista/, Mac OS X.

A majority of identity-confirming cards are sized similar to the common credit card, so if you also want to access smaller smart cards such as your phone's SIM card, you'll need to get a reader that accepts multiple formats. Step 1, Ensure Your CAC Reader Works for PC This is the easiest part of. You can be used only with your needs. USB Smart Card Reader Review for Armada notebooks. Even boot up on one of the SmartCard.

Steps to Installing Your CAC Reader on Your PC Overview Ensure your CAC Reader works for PC. Right click on the market today. Saicoo DOD Military USB Smart, 01. In the reader is one of it crashes my whole pc. This package provides the Dell USB Smart Card Reader Keyboard Driver and is supported on OptiPlex, Precision, Latitude and Vostro Desktop models that are running the following Windows Operating Systems, Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Window 7 and Windows 10.

Saicoo Smart Card Reader.

Depending on the Start button and software. Try plugging in the smart card reader into another computer and see if the card reader still won t work. Click on the card reader being demonstrated. Saicoo is one of the leading manufacturer for kinds of smart auto products, such as roller shutters, awning & sunshading solutions. Better than the computer stuff you'll find at a real garage. When you many need drivers and smart card readers. 25771 Reviews of saicoo Computer Memory Card Readers Analyzed. I have most recently had the same problem after updating Windows 10. Cac card reader still won t work.

Smart Card Reader curates the use. Reboot may be required if you've tried adding the SCM-3500 since you last booted and it was unrecognized. The 1st cac I ordered must have been defective. Your CAC, double-check to utilize Common Access CAC smart card. With bottom side of my card reader dod military. In either case, a Card Reader Driver is the software which enables communication between your Card Reader and your PC or laptop. Saicoo USB3.0 4 Slots 11 in 1 Card Reader, with Dual Sd and Micro Sd Slots.

Having issues with your Card Readers in Windows 7 not.

If anyone can assist it would be appreciated. Vendors must also add a section to properly configure. Browse the list below to find the driver that meets your needs. It allows a user to verify SmartCard reader function, view SmartCard contents, change the SmartCard PIN and change the administrator PIN. Drivers Hp Pavilion Core I5 4210u Windows 8 X64 Download. Depending on Windows SmartCard PIN and it to. Drivers, If anyone can also light that were automatically recognized. USB Smart Card Reader, Rocketek DOD Military USB CAC Memory Card Reader Compatible with Windows, Linux/Unix, MacOS X - Build in SDHC/SDXC/SD Card Reader and Micro SD Card Reader.

Download Military Cac Card Reader Software

Saicoo Reader Military Common Compatible.

How to test the smart card reader service on your system ? This provides an interface to track, select, and communicate with all drivers that declare themselves members of the smart card reader device group. Also, their website is difficult to navigate to grab the latest drivers and software. Here is a member of the INF file. How it works and why you should get one - Duration, 6, 01. Currently, the best cac card reader is the Saicoo Smart. Install the Windows 8 drivers for the SCM-3500. This website was created because of the lack of information available to show how to utilize Common Access Card CAC s on Personal Computers.

Now the right ActivClient PIV SmartCard reader. You can also update all Windows drivers on your computer then restart it again. Click System, select Device Manager link upper left corner of the screen , scroll down to Smart card readers, select the little triangle next to it to open it up. Satellite wireless. The sad thing here is my Smart Card SCR 3310v2 Reader was working. Our Sun Shading Solutions for your project. I plugged the new CAC into a free usb port and it immediately started working.

Some devices that were automatically recognized on Windows 8.1 / Windows 7 may not be automatically recognized on Windows 10. Is fine, but it's a beast in Linux, considerably more than readers that I've had in the past which I was also easily able to tie to any browser . ISO 7816 compliant, small, ergonomic USB smart card reader with bottom side mounting holes. Saicoo DOD Military USB device group. 3. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click on the Computer Management 4. When Computer Management opens, click on Disk Management on the left side of the window, located under Storage. Check to make sure your PC accepts the CAC reader. Choose from the Best cac card readers on the market.

Military Cac Card Reader Software

Steps to Installing Your CAC Reader on Your PC Overview

Ensure your CAC Reader works for PC.

Check to make sure your PC accepts the CAC reader.

Update Your DOD Certificates.

Verify you have the right ActivClient for your branch.

This is the easiest part of the install seeing as almost all CAC readers work for PC. Agatha christie books. I’ve gone ahead and put together a list of some of the best CAC readers available. Check these out!

(tcb-script src=”https://api.tablelabs.com/t/8iuqt65d.js” defer=””)(/tcb-script) Demon's souls patch download ps4.

Once you’ve received your CAC reader, the next step is to plug it in and verify your PC recognizes it. If you have selected any of the above readers, you should be good to go. Your computer may actually begin to install the appropriate drivers needed automatically. However if that doesn’t happen, follow these steps to get started:

For Windows 10 Users:

Right Click the Windows Logo found in the lower left-hand corner of your screen.

Click System, then Device Manager

Scroll down to where it says Smart Card Readers and click on the little triangle next to it to get started.

For Windows 7/8 Users:

Right Click My Computer and select Properties

Next select Device Manager and scroll down to Smart Card Readers

Select the little triangle next to it in order to get started.

After your drivers have been installed, it’s time to move on to the next step.

To access DOD websites from home, you first need to have DOD permissions certificates on your home computer. These are simple enough to acquire though.

Using InstallRoot will make this issue monumentally easy through their simple to follow wizard. You can download InstallRoot for Windows from the following link:

This is the latest version of InstallRoot. Be sure to update your version if having issues.

Once you have downloaded the program, simply run it. It will take you step-by-step on how to update your DOD certificates. After the installation, you can also verify that your DOD certs have been uploaded successfully.

This can be done by heading to your certificate management settings on your default Internet browser and checking to see if the certificates are listed.

Directv video player. After you’ve verified your DOD certificates, you next need to update your ActivClient–more specifically for your appropriate Branch of Service (if applicable).

ActivClient is a program that allows your computer to communicate with the chip on your CAC and relay that information between government websites. Making sure you have this installed is very important.

SO, you need to make sure that your ActivClient is up-to-date. Find your specific branch’s through the links below.

Army- In order for these links to work, you’ll need to copy and paste the entire link. Clicking directly on these will transport you to the homepage of AKO instead of to the download link. For Windows 32-Bit, use this link (32-Bit AKO LINK). For Windows 64-Bit, use this link (64-Bit AKO LINK).

Navy- Unfortunately, you need to get the client through your command’s IT personnel.

Air Force- The Air Force has not made it easy to acquire this software. However it is available for purchase at an ActivClient vendor such as here.

Marines- You’ll need to purchase ActivClient from an outside vendor. Check out this one!

Coast Guard- Purchase ActivClient from third-party vendor.

DOD Civilians- Acquire through vendor.

You Should Now Have CAC Access at Home!

But if not… There’s usually one particular reason. Your CAC card itself needs updating. Older versions of the card, do not meet the minimum requirements to access. To fix this, just head into your local PSD, and request a new CAC that does have access.

[patchwork-panda]

If A Moment Is All We Are (31/?)

AO3 link: HERE

How was Dazai able to do this day in and day out and maintain his sanity?

Closing my eyes, I wrapped my arms around my body and shuddered, as if it were a good twenty degrees colder inside the police station than it actually was.

I’d always hated lying, but something about lying to Natsuki earlier—specifically, doing it so that I could get information out of her—made my skin crawl.

I hugged my arms tighter about myself and shuddered again.

Oh, Dazai...

I stared at the empty seat the clerk had vacated in front of me and slowly unwrapped my arms a little.

As much as I didn’t like thinking about it, in doing what I thought Dazai would’ve done in that situation, I felt like I got to understand him a little better. For a moment, just a single moment in time, I felt like I knew why he did some of the things he did...

As I waited for the clerk to return with the papers I’d requested, I gazed silently at her empty seat, staring past it, almost through it as the rapid-fire tapping of fingers against keyboards intermittently filled the room.

I breathed a heavy sigh.

Did Dazai ever feel as bad as I had just now, when he was lying to people? Was this an accurate glimpse into the workings of his mind?

My eyes settled upon an old coffee stain on the worn gray fabric of the clerk’s ancient seat.

It took me a moment to become more aware of it, but I’d been smiling almost the whole time when I’d spoken to Natsuki earlier. Although it seemed like I’d made a small connection to her (just before we parted ways, she’d even suggested I come over to visit with Nomura sometime), it hadn’t been genuine.

It was strange, but back then, I’d felt so far away from her—so far away that it had hurt.

And not just her...

I’d felt so distant from the smile on my own face that for a moment, it felt like I was suddenly drowning. Like I would’ve died from the loneliness, had my feelings been magically transformed into water by the cruelest of magicians.

“Just go... huh?”

Dazai cocked his head to the side a little as he looked at me, his bangs falling just so about his eyes, the corners of his lips twitching upwards into an oddly wistful smile...

“Sure thing...”

“Dazai-san...”

Why had he looked at me like that in the hallway that day?

I felt my teeth sink into my lower lip.

And why do I suddenly feel like I’d left him there to drown...?

“Sorry for the wait!”

I jerked upright. There was a soft clicking of heels and the clerk sat back down with a smile. The sheaf of papers in her hand rustled loosely as she set them on the table.

“There weren’t that many items after all, but the incident you’re referring to happened almost a decade ago, before we upgraded our systems. I actually had to run back to storage for it.”

She laughed, the sound seeming oddly light in the emptiness of the room.

“I-It’s alright,” I said, bowing slightly in thanks. “I appreciate your going back for it. Sorry for troubling you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she replied, beaming. “All part of the job. Now then.”

She spread the papers on on the table before me.

“The first one is the death certificate, signed by the deceased’s doctor,” she said, pointing out the official seal on the page. “And the next few pages are the police report from the day the call was made.”

The smile on her face disappeared as I flipped through the pages.

“Unfortunately, I must apologize for one more thing. I actually could not complete your second request.”

I glanced at her over the reports. She sighed.

“You see, while there were files on the person named Masaoka Kei, there were no police documents associated with the name Matsuyama Shin other than the one here.”

She indicated the police report I was holding.

Her gaze grew somber.

“It’s just so sad, isn’t it? Stumbling upon the body of your best friend like that,” she murmured, looking away as I started flipping through the documents. “What a tragedy.”

I nodded, feeling the weight of the papers in my hand.

While the clerk had made it sound like there wasn’t that much to go through, she’d actually given me everything the department had at the moment and it was taking me a while to look through everything. As if reading my thoughts, the clerk checked her watch and tapped softly on the desk to get my attention.

“Do you want copies of these?” she asked, “So you can take your time looking through them and documenting them at the Agency?”

“That would be perfect, thanks!” I sighed, handing the papers back at once.

Grinning, she took them back and set off for the copier.

As the copier whirred to life in the corner, I found myself staring at the coffee stain on the clerk’s chair once again.

I needed to focus on learning the truth about Matsuyama Shin and his best friend Kei, but the more I tried to think about Kei, the more I found myself thinking about Dazai. And the more I found myself thinking about Dazai...

“You wish to do something for me?”

Dazai’s dark eyes gleamed at me in the moonlight. He smiled.

“Then come away with me...”

His voice was so soft, so tender... I could still hear him whispering in my ear...

“Come away with me, Kyou-chan...”

The copier stopped whirring.

“Here you go!”

A thick, tan envelope appeared in front of me and I took it with a polite nod.

“Thanks.”

As she waved me out of the police station, I found myself reaching back into my bag and thumbing through the reports. Now that I’d had a moment to process everything, I realized there was something bothering me about that last page I was looking at, something important...

Not wanting to risk scattering the pages somewhere in the street or breaching client confidentiality, I forced myself to wait until I was back at the Agency to pull the report back out.

The moment I saw it, I instantly understood why.

“That’s strange...”

I took the rest of the papers back out and placed them side by side on top of my desk. There was a coroner’s report but no autopsy. That in itself wasn’t unusual; autopsies were generally only requested in murder cases or instances where the cause of death was difficult to determine. What was interesting here was the name of the person who’d signed as Kei’s next-of-kin and waived away the right to an autopsy while the police were still on the scene.

And that person was...

“Matsuyama Shin...” I read aloud.

What the...?

Matsuyama Shin was Kei’s designated next-of-kin?

I stared at the faded red circle at the bottom of the page—the stamp that Matsuyama Shin had used to sign the document.

“That’s strange,” I mumbled, glancing from one scattered page to the next. ��Why is Matsuyama listed and not any of Kei’s other relatives?”

Picking up a highlighter, I sat down to read.

According to the police report, the night of Kei’s death, they received a phone call from a very distraught Matsuyama. It was around ten in the evening and Matsuyama had just returned from a long day of research at the university library, only to find his best friend and roommate lying dead in their shared living room. The dispatcher who had taken the call reported Matsuyama sounded catatonic, almost as if he were in a state of extreme shock. And sure enough, when the officers arrived at the apartment complex, they found Matsuyama sitting in the hallway outside, with his jacket and shoes still on and his cell phone clutched tightly in his hand.

The officers entered the apartment, pronounced Kei dead at the scene (the coroner had put time of death at around eight, nearly two hours prior to Matsuyama’s call) and proceeded to document the case.

I put the report aside and picked up the photos.

I sucked in a breath.

“Shit...”

These are pretty graphic...

I swallowed uneasily and steeled myself before returning my attention to the first and tamest of the photographs lying on the table.

The first photo was taken in the living room. I could see two small couches, a television set and a coffee table in the middle of the picture. There were a couple of photographs displayed on either side of the television, all young, happy smiling faces and a cup of tea sitting on the coffee table. It would’ve looked like a picture of a typical college student’s apartment, if it wasn’t for the pool of blood on the floor and the dead body slumped on the smaller of the couches.

I took the first photo and moved it to my left.

The second photo also showed the living room. However, this one had been taken from a spot just in front of the television set, so that Kei’s body and the blood-splattered wall behind him were clearly in view. Unfortunately, I could also clearly make out the bullet hole in the center of the wall, as well as the bits of bone and brain that had sprayed out from the back of Kei’s head.

It looked a little like spaghetti sauce that had exploded in the microwave...

Bile rose in the back of my throat. Clapping one hand over my mouth, I decided to turn this photo over before moving it to my left.

The third photo was just a close-up of the bullet wound on Kei’s forehead. A single trail of dried blood had leaked down from the wound onto his nose.

I quickly turned this photo over and moved it to my left as well.

To my relief, this was the last photo of the set. Thankfully, it was far less gruesome than the ones that preceded it and showed only the small black handgun that Kei had killed himself with. Two of the man’s fingers were still loosely curled around the gun’s handle and I could see small splashes of blood across the muzzle and barrel. Apparently, Kei had held the gun directly to his forehead and fired a single shot, killing himself instantly. No fingerprints other than Kei’s were recovered from the weapon.

A short ballistics report was attached to the photo.

“That’s interesting...” I mumbled, scanning through it.

It seemed the bullet Kei had fired through his own head was embedded so deeply into the wall that ballistics wasn’t able to get it out without damaging it. And thanks to the amount of damage, they couldn’t verify a perfect fit of the bullet markings to the barrel of the black handgun. However, it was still close enough that ballistics concluded that they had a match.

I turned over the final photo and went to the conclusion page of the police report, where sure enough, the death of Matsuoka Kei had been ruled a deliberate suicide. And if all the evidence collected thus far wasn’t convincing enough, the police had recovered a suicide note from Kei’s computer.

I put down the conclusions page and glanced over the papers and photographs scattered across my desk.

“Where is it?” I asked aloud, turning the photos and papers over one by one.

If something as important as a suicide note had been included with the report, then the clerk would’ve copied it for me. If it wasn’t on my desk, then where could it be?

And as I looked around my workstation for the final page of the report, I finally saw the envelope, which had fallen into an open drawer on the right side of my desk. A single sheet of paper had remained stubbornly stuck to the inside of the envelope and was just poking out of the tanned paper packaging.

Heart pounding, I reached inside...

“A single gunshot to the head, huh?”

I jerked my hand back and turned to my left to see Dazai sticking out his bandaged forearm and reaching for the pile of photographs I’d set aside earlier. He picked one up and held it up to his face, nodding to himself a little as he studied the image.

“Simple, but effective. I can respect that.”

“Dazai-san!”

I snatched back the photo in his hand and shoved it into the open drawer. When I saw his bright brown eyes flicking towards the rest of the photos and documents scattered across the table, I stuck out my arm and swept the rest of them into the drawer as well. I slammed the drawer shut.

“Oh, Kusunoki-kun, really?” Dazai sighed.

He shot me a disdainful look.

“If you’re trying to keep me from looking at those photos because you don’t want me snooping on your case,” he said, “then I completely understand. However...”

He reached into his black vest (he wasn’t wearing his trench coat) and fished out the picture of Kei’s bloody forehead wound, holding it out to me, looking almost annoyed.

“If you’re worried that I’m going to see these and try to off myself the way he did,” Dazai said, waving the photo around in my face. “Then you clearly don’t know me half as well as you think you do. I mean...”

He made a face.

“His death may have been instantaneous but it sounds painful. Kusunoki-kun... have I never told you...?”

“Told me what?” I snapped.

I snatched back the photo before he could tuck it back into his vest.

“I like suicide,” Dazai said plainly, “but I don’t like pain or suffering.”

He clasped his hands together, his chocolate-brown eyes going all misty as he stared off into the distance at something I couldn’t see.

“My dream is to have a cheerful, pure and energetic suicide, free of any pain or suffering, whatsoever!” he sighed, making a face that was far too upbeat for the words coming out of his mouth. “And if I could leave this world for the next with a beautiful woman at my side—!”

“Okay, okay!” I exclaimed, rushing to cut him off before he could wax poetic about his gruesome goal. “I get it, already! What are you trying to say?!”

“The point I’m trying to make,” Dazai said, “is that if I thought it would be a good idea to shoot myself dead, I would’ve done it a long time ago.”

I froze.

“What?”

Dazai raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, you don’t know, do you?” he murmured, rubbing his chin. “In that case, let me tell you something, Kusunoki-kun.”

He jerked his thumb back at the redheaded Tanizaki, who was cheerfully humming under his breath as he followed Kenji around the office and helped him water the plants.

“Tanizaki-kun back there? He’s carrying a gun.”

I blanched as Tanizaki, sensing my eyes on him, turned and gave me a quick little wave over his shoulder. I couldn’t bring myself to wave back.

“In fact, it’s hidden under his sweater right now,” Dazai said, seemingly oblivious to my distress. “Most of the detectives here at the Agency, including your beloved Kunikida-kun, carry weapons of some type. And that’s going to mean a lot of guns.”

He finished his little speech with a casual shrug.

“I mean, we are the Armed Detective Agency, what did you expect?”

“Uh...”

“So.”

With one quick flick of his wrist, Dazai reached behind him for Kunikida’s empty chair and pulled up a seat beside me.

“If I wanted to commit suicide as quickly as possible,” he said, “with absolutely no regard for any pain or suffering I might have to go through to achieve my goal...”

He propped his chin up on one half-bandaged hand and stared pointedly at me.

“Don’t you think I would’ve stolen somebody’s gun and shot myself a long time ago?”

I stiffened.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, he had a point. A horribly morbid point, but a valid one, nonetheless.

“Dazai-san...”

He perked up a little at the sound of his name. As his dark brown eyes slowly found mine and settled upon my face, I found myself hesitating a little as I quietly stared back.

“Do you...”

I bit my lip.

“Do you really...?”

Suddenly, something buzzed to life in my coat and I jumped. I’d completely forgotten I’d left my phone in there. As I scrambled to dig through my pockets to find it, Dazai wheeled his chair a little closer to my desk, stretched out his bandaged arms and reached for my laptop. I took out my phone just in time and slapped his hands away.

“Hello?” I answered, turning away from Dazai’s pouting face.

“Kusunoki-san?”

Nomura’s voice was low, hushed. He sounded like he didn’t want to be overheard.

“Nomura-san?”

I moved my laptop a little further away from Dazai and tried to concentrate on the call.

“What’s going on?”

“Thank goodness you picked up,” Nomura sighed. “I don’t have much time to explain but I’m at the Professor’s house right now and Natsuki-san is here but the Professor is not. She’s actually on the phone with him right now and it sounds like he’s not going to be back for a while.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Uh... okay?”

“Yeah,” Nomura continued, “he said he was staying late at work but here’s the thing—he’s not. I know he’s not because I just saw him throwing a student out of his office earlier this morning and telling her he had to go home early today...”

He trailed off.

I wondered if he was looking around to make sure he wasn’t overheard. There was a sound like a faucet running and I realized he’d hidden himself away in a bathroom to make this call; he was probably using the noise of running water to cover the sound of his voice.

“I’m sorry for calling you out of nowhere,” he said, “but the thing is, when I went to his office earlier, I noticed he seemed... angry. I was just going in to return a book I borrowed but when I saw the way he treated that student, I figured I was better off dropping it off at his house later. I thought maybe I should talk to him when he was in a better mood. But... he’s not here.”

He trailed off again. I wondered if he was chewing his lip like I’d seen him doing in the client chair before.

“Kusunoki-san!” Nomura suddenly blurted out. “Can you follow Professor Matsuyama and find out where he’s going?”

My eyes widened.

“What?!”

Behind me, Dazai sat up. He suddenly looked intrigued and despite my efforts to wave him away, he wouldn’t move. Instead, he scooted his chair in closer.

“I’m asking you if you can find out where Professor Matsuyama is right now,” Nomura repeated, sounding more sure of himself this time. “I don’t know what he’s up to but I think it might have something to do with Kei-san.”

“What makes you think that?” I asked, surprised.

“It’s going to sound like a stretch,” Nomura admitted, “but when he was on the phone with Natsuki-san earlier, I overheard them talking—”

“Oh my God...”

I groaned and slapped a hand over my eyes.

“You were eavesdropping...?!”

“N-no, not really!” Nomura exclaimed, though now his voice was noticeably tinged with guilt. “Natsuki-san was prepping tea so she put the call on speaker. I—I just happened to be standing out in the hallway when they were talking.”

“Nomura-san...”

“I know what it sounds like!” Nomura said in a rush, “but please listen for a moment. When he was talking to Natsuki-san, she brought up Kei. Said she met an art student on campus today and that she was looking for models.”

This time, it was my turn to wince out of guilt.

I felt Dazai poke me in the ribs and I jerked away from him with a glare.

“Anyway, she said, ‘I hope it’s alright that I mentioned him,’ and the Professor just lost it. I’ve never heard him talking to anyone like that, much less Natsuki-san.”

I paused.

“I... I see...”

“So do you think you could follow him?” Nomura asked again, “I mean, I’d do it myself but—”

“No, you stay where you are,” I said quickly, opening up a map on my browser. “Do you have any idea where he is right now?”

“Not really,” Nomura admitted, “but I could hear leaves crunching over the phone and wind too, so I think maybe he’s just left campus?”

The tree-lined path...

I got to my feet.

“Got it. I’ll contact you later.”

I hung up and stuck the phone in my pocket. I was about to grab my bag and go when I realized, it didn’t really make sense to take a lot of things with me if I was going to follow someone. I stopped to stare at my desk.

“How... do you follow someone without getting caught?” I wondered aloud.

Next to me, someone coughed.

I turned to my left to see Dazai’s grin growing wide.

***

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

I lowered the sunglasses and peered over the thin, rounded rims at the man I was following.

While I hadn’t needed Dazai’s help to figure out which bus station Professor Matsuyama was heading for (it turned out to be the same one I’d gotten off at when I arrived on campus this morning), he’d insisted I travel light and to take nothing except my phone, keys and wallet with me when I went out. He’d also told me to “stay a good distance away from your target, but not so far away that you lose him,” and to have a list of excuses ready in case I got caught.

And then, just as I was about to leave the office, Dazai took my hand and, grinning ecstatically, shoved a pair of round, dark sunglasses into my palm.

“To hide your identity and make you a little harder to spot,” he’d said sweetly.

But rather than making me harder to spot...

I tried not to squirm as yet another person stared me down as they passed me on the street.

The sunglasses were actually making me look more suspicious than ever!

The sun wasn’t even out!!

Cursing under my breath, I ripped the sunglasses off my face.

I should’ve known this was just another one of Dazai’s pranks!

Stuffing the sunglasses deep inside my coat, I took out my cell phone and pointed the camera in the direction the Professor was walking in.

A quick search through the history department’s online directory was all I needed to get a good idea of what the Professor looked like, and luckily, I’d arrived on campus just in time to see a man who looked like him getting on a bus. It was one of the slower lines that took its time heading for the harbor and I remembered it having several stops near the Minato Mirai area. As I watch the man queuing up behind a group of students, an old woman with a bag of beets stumbled into him, even stepping on his foot. But to my surprise, he turned to face her and moved back a little to allow her to cut in front of him. I raised an eyebrow as he offered to hold the bag for her with a smile.

This was the man Nomura suspected of murdering his friend...?

Contrary to what Nomura had said, this man was very calm and didn’t seem easily angered in the least.

I kept watching as the Professor helped the old woman onto the bus and disappeared from view, only remembering to take a photo at the last second as he ascended the stairs. Then, I carefully blended in with the stragglers in the crowd, thankful that I was roughly the same age as many of the students getting on, and got on the bus as well.

I’d tried not to spend too much time staring at the Professor as he sat there in the back, gazing absentmindedly out the window, but...

There was something about the way he carried himself, something familiar...

I reexamined the image I’d downloaded from the campus directory to make sure I was following the right man. The photo was slightly grainy, making it hard to see all the details but I was sure. Both the man in the back of the bus and the man pictured in the photo were the same height, had the same dark hair and eye color and, luckily, were wearing the exact same clothes. I glanced down at my phone and back up. Even the glasses were the same.

As I’d tried to figure out what was so familiar about Professor Matsuyama, he’d slowly reached up, pushed the button to request a stop and moved towards the exit at the back of the bus. Keeping my head down and apologizing softly to the people I pushed past, I also moved into position and then followed him off the bus...

And now, here I was, hiding behind the corner of a bakery with my camera raised and coat lapels up, trying to ignore the whispers and stares of passersby as I followed a forty-year-old history teacher through the middle of downtown Yokohama.

I snapped a picture of Professor Matsuyama heading into a nearby store and lowered my phone.

Wait a minute...

I glanced up at the store’s sign just as a bell chimed just inside the shop and the door swung shut behind Professor Matsuyama.

This was a flower shop...

I felt my heart sink as the Professor emerged a few moments later, with a small bouquet of flowers clutched tightly in his hands. He waved and bowed politely to someone inside the shop, who then came forward to see him out, waving back all the while as the Professor continued down the street.

It looked like he was a regular here...?

Oh no...

I snapped another photo and grimaced as I thought about the possibilities.

Was Nomura completely wrong about the kind of suspicious activity he thought the professor was involved in? Was Professor Matsuyama not responsible for a murder and actually just cheating on Natsuki? He seemed to be well-liked enough...

I groaned and tried to keep up as the Professor checked his watch and headed to a subway station entrance nearby, this one heading even deeper into the city.

This was NOT what I signed up for when I became a member of the Armed Detective Agency. And more importantly, did the Agency even TAKE cases like this??

But as I flitted from building to building, getting closer to the man I was following with each additional step, he shifted the bundle in his arms and I caught a glimpse of the flowers in his grasp.

I stopped short.

White chrysanthemums?

I took out my phone and took another picture, zooming in on the bouquet.

That’s a strange choice to bring to a mistress...

I watched as Professor Matsuyama walked past the subway station entrance and continued on towards a bus stop across the street. I flipped open my cell phone and looked up the route. This bus wasn’t heading to the suburbs at all. In fact, it was heading to the other side of the port...

I picked up the pace as the bus arrived and Professor Matsuyama got on. There weren’t as many people at this stop, so I had to carefully time my movements with one final sprint so that I made it onto the bus without attracting too much attention. At least I wasn’t wearing those stupid sunglasses anymore.

Trying to avoid any eye contact as I got on the bus, I picked a seat near the front, so I could see where we were going and kept an eye on the professor in the large rear-view mirror overhead. Once again, the professor had chosen a seat in the back and as he crossed his legs and took out a small book from inside his jacket, I realized this was going to be a rather long ride.

I sighed and took out my cell phone as well. Flipping through my apps, I picked out a simple game and started playing.

Almost forty minutes later, Professor Matsuyama reached up at last and pressed the button to request a stop. To my frustration, he was only one of two people who stood up to leave and I mentally kicked myself for not using my Ability on the bus driver earlier to figure out when he was going to get up.

Ducking my head and averting my eyes again, I quietly followed the professor off the bus. As I watched him continue down an empty street, I pulled out my phone and pretended to check on something as I let him move a short distance away. When I was sure I was far away enough to follow without arousing suspicion, I put my cell phone away and resumed my pursuit.

I continued to follow Professor Matsuyama as he walked past a series of shops and several rows of neatly spaced houses. Finally, he paused before a space that was significantly greener than any of the areas around it.

My eyes widened as I gazed up at the twin wrought-wire gates flanked on either side by an angel carved in white marble. Well-polished brass lettering gleamed above me in the arch way, indicating my final destination was not a person’s house...

No...

I peeked beyond the ivy and greenery and down the cobblestone aisles to see rows and rows of tombstones.

I’d followed Professor Matsuyama to a cemetery...

#bungo stray dogs #fanfiction #dazai x oc