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maysileeewrites · 5 months

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a helping hand - John Murphy x reader

Summary: „Why are you helping me? I’m the bad guy, in case you forgot.“ Set during 1 x 10 (I am become Death), based on this teaser.

warnings: mentions of blood + injuries, angst, Murphy being Murphy (yes, he does have a soft side in this, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not still a dick); please lmk if I forgot something!

AN: I’m not quite sure whether anyone will still care for Murphy x reader in 2023, but I love my trash son so much, I just had to write something about him. Please let me know if you liked it!

You dip the bloodied cloth into the bucket filled with water, watching as the water slowly turns red. Your hands are bloody as well and there’s dried blood crested under your fingernails, but with all the sick teens around you needing medical attendance, you don’t have time to try to thoroughly wash your hands, so you just dip them into the water, grabbing a bar of soap, watching as the water turns an even deeper red.

Blood.

There’s just so much of it.

You sigh, standing up again. There’s no time for dwelling on your thoughts, not when the whole first floor of the Dropship is full of sick, coughing teenagers that need your help.

You go to Fox and Connor next, checking up on them. But apart from trying to clean them up - they’ve started coughing up blood as well - and getting them to drink some water, there isn’t much you can do to actually help them. You have no medicine, no painkillers - apart from Monty’s moonshine and considering that a painkiller really is a stretch in your opinion -, nothing. Only a few spare blankets you and Clarke gave out earlier, in order to help keep everyone warm.

A sudden wave of anger and irritation at your helplessness when faced with this unknown, dangerous virus overcomes you and you clench your fists in frustration. You allow yourself a moment to try and bury that emotion deep inside - because being this emotionally overwhelmed, you won’t be any help to the others -, closing your eyes and breathing deeply.

When you open your eyes again, they land on Murphy - who’s looking right back at you with his good eye, the other one is still swollen shut.

You gulp, trying to swallow down the nervousness that is suddenly clawing its way up your throat. Murphy’s the one who brought the disease into the Camp.

After being tortured by the grounders for days, you try to remind yourself. After being unceremoniously tossed out of Camp for a murder he didn’t commit. And while he’s definitely a rude asshole that can be a bit unpredictable at times - though you think more often than not he’s just lashing out when provoked, attacked, or in case of the whole Charlotte incident, wrongfully accused - you don’t think that he’s as bad as everyone makes him out to be.

But maybe that’s just you being naive, always wanting to see the good in people. He did try to go after Charlotte, after all. Though, you think, that probably had more to do with him seeking justice - a twisted, self-righteous kind of justice, but still justice - than vengeance.

You sigh, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear. Whatever the deal with Murphy is - and whatever the reason for you to suddenly spend so much of your thoughts on him is - right now, it doesn’t matter.

Right now the only thing that matters is that he’s sick and hurt and he needs someone to help him clean up his wounds and that’s exactly what you’re here for.

So, you take a deep breath and square your shoulders, before walking over to him and dropping down in front of him. His blue-green eyes - the good one at least- meet yours for just a split second, but then he’s looking away again. You dip the cloth into the bucket of water - after helping Fox and Connor you’d gone out to get some fresh water - and reach out for him, but just when you’re about to touch him, he twists away from you.

„What’re you doing?“, he says, his voice low, distrust and irritation evident in his expression.

„Helping you“, you answer, gesturing to the wet cloth in your hands. „Someone needs to clean up your wounds, Murphy.“

He scoffs. „Yeah, right.“

You frown. „Look Murphy, just let me help you, please.“

He doesn’t say anything to that, doesn’t acknowledge your words with anything other than a raise of his eyebrows, but you decide to just take his lack of a verbal response as a good sign - or at least as a sign that he hopefully won’t refuse your help any further.

You wet the cloth cloth again, before carefully reaching your hand out to him again. This time, he doesn’t twist away from you, so you gingerly touch his bloodied and scarred cheek with your fingertips, before carefully applying pressure with the cloth.

All the while, Murphy looks at you, an undecipherable emotion in his blue-green eyes. The intensity of his gaze is distracting, and you swallow, trying to concentrate on cleaning up his wounds, trying to ignore the burning heat of his gaze. Though it’s impossible to really ignore it, with you two being so close that you can feel his warm breath ghosting over your skin, causing you to shiver.

Something shifts in Murphy’s expression then - if you weren’t paying so much attention, you might’ve missed it, but as it is, you can see the bitter smirk that crosses his lips for an instant, before he bites down hard on his lips.

Your eyes meet then. You swallow - you feel caught in his stare, unable to look at anything but him.

„Why are you helping me?“, he asks you, his voice low and raspy and laced with something that almost sounds like desperation. „I’m the bad guy, in case you forgot.“

„Because you need help“, you say, underlining your words by lightly trailing your fingertips over the deep cut on his left cheek. „And because I want to understand you.“ It’s true - you do want to understand him. You want to know how he came to be who he is today, why on earth he set fire to a room on the Ark.

And fuck. This - this is dangerous.

That bitter smirk crosses his face again. „Oh, so you want to know why I’m such a jerk, why I told the Camp’s location to the grounders, is that it?“

„You were tortured“, you say softly, but Murphy only scoffs.

„Yeah, I’m afraid that doesn’t count as an excuse“, he says, voice full of bitterness.

„Wha-“, you start to say, but then you remember that you saw Bellamy talking to Murphy earlier. And yes, that would certainly explain Murphy’s comments about his being tortured not being an excuse for giving up your location.

You sigh frustratedly. Of course you know that Bellamy only wants to protect everyone at Camp, but you also know him well enough to imagine him making some kind of petty remark how he wouldn’t have caved under torture, wouldn’t have given up the Camp’s location.

Which - fuck that. Anyone would eventually cave under torture, even someone as strong-willed and fierce as Bellamy.

Murphy’s hiss of pain when you accidentally linger too long on one of his cuts with your fingertips draws you out of your thoughts. „Sorry“ you say, biting your lip.

Murphy just shrugs and suddenly you’re hit with the desperate urge to help him, even though you’re not quite sure if there even is anything you can do that could make his situation better - apart from cleaning up his wounds, which you already are doing.

„I’m sorry for what happened to you“, you say then, looking at him. „That’s not - I can only imagine what you went through and I really am sorry that that happened to you.“

Murphy looks at you, confusion and irritation evident in his expression.

„And I know that won’t change anything-“

„No it won’t“, Murphy interrupts you, but this time, there’s no venom in his voice - just pain and resignation. „But it’s nothing I haven’t experienced before.“

Now it’s your turn to be confused. As you continue cleaning up his wounds, you mull over his words in your mind, trying to understand what he’s implying with his words. Does he mean that he was tortured on the Ark? But that can’t be right, can it? Yes, the Ark’s council is strict and unforgiving, but you haven’t heard about them torturing somebody.

„Can you even see anything like that?“, Murphy says, interrupting your thought process, and suddenly he’s reaching out with one hand, tucking a stray strand of hair behind your ear.

You swallow, trying desperately not to show how much that one little touch affected you. But your heart is thundering so loudly in your chest that you’re convinced that he’s able to hear it.

Especially once you can no longer pretend to re-inspect the cuts on his face yet again - you really need to take a look at the wounds on his chest.

You clear your throat, trying to sound more confident than you feel. „I - uh - I need to take a look at the wounds on your chest, judging by all that blood I’ll probably need to do some stitches … uhm could you - uh - maybe take off your shirt?“

Kill me, you think, wanting to die from embarrassment. Of course, the first time you’ll see a boy without his shirt on - apart from some of the boys that walk around Camp shirtless in the morning and you don’t think that they actually count - has to be in this weird situation.

As if reading your thoughts, Murphy just smirks, before taking off his shirt. But just when’s almost free of his shirt, he hisses, his face screwing up in pain.

„Let me“, you say, helping him.

For a moment, you just stare at each other breathlessly.

Then, so quietly that you’re not quite sure whether you’ve imagined it, he says: „Thank you.“

You nod, clearing your throat. Not knowing what else to say, you start inspecting his chest, lightly trailing your fingertips over the various scratches and other wounds - trying not to be distracted by his muscles you can feel under your fingertips and his burning gaze.

Murphy hisses again when your fingers brush over a particularly deep wound. „Sorry“, you murmur, leaning in even closer to get a better look at his wound. „This wound needs some stitches, I’m, uh, going to get a needle and some thread.“

You get up and walk over to where all the medical supplies are stored, thankful for this short moment away from Murphy, his intense stare and your confusing thoughts about him.

„Here“, you say, after sitting down in front of Murphy again and hand him the bottle of moonshine you’ve grabbed as well, „you might want to drink this before I get started on those stitches.“

Murphy just nods, taking the bottle of moonshine from you and taking a long, big sip. „Do your worst“, he says, prompting you to roll your eyes.

„Thanks for the vote of confidence“, you murmur, though you can understand why he’d be apprehensive about this. If it were you being in his situation, you’d rather be stitched up by a trained doctor as well, but since you teens are all on your own and Clarke, the only one of you with actual medical training is currently getting some well-deserved sleep, you’re his only option. Unlike Clarke, you haven’t received any actual medical training but you do know how to give stitches - in theory at least - so you hopefully won’t screw this up.

Here goes nothing, you think, getting started on the stitches.

Murphy bites down hard on his lips, though a slight hiss still escapes him.

You cringe, shooting him an apologetic smile before concentrating on his wound again. „Sorry.“

Murphy doesn’t say anything in response, just nods.

You’re both quiet as you continue with the stitches. Then, when you’re almost done, Murphy suddenly says: „I got real sick when I was thirteen … only made it because my dad stole some medicine for me ... course, he got floated for it …“

You swallow, meeting his gaze. You don’t know why he’s suddenly telling you this - you just know that the story he’s about to tell you most likely won’t have a happy ending.

Murphy looks away from you then, laughing bitterly. „My mother … she was never the same after his death … She started drinking. Blamed me for his death. Told me everyday that I’m a worthless good-for-nothing that’s responsible for his father’s death. She died three years after him … and I just-“

He stops talking then, shaking his head.

„Murphy, I-“, you start to say, though you stop as well, not quite knowing what it is that you actually want to say. Murphy suddenly opening up to you is so confusing and his story so heartbreaking, you’re not quite sure what the appropriate words for this situation are, let alone if there even are any.

„Anyway“, Murphy now says, voice tinged with bitterness, „I just - I had all this pai- anger in me and I didn’t know how to handle it, how to let it out. So I set fire to those rooms, got arrested.“

„Murphy …“, you say, your voice hollow, your heart breaking for the broken, angry boy in front of.

He laughs dryly, though the sound has a wheezing quality to it that instantly worries you. „You wanted to know, didn’t you? Wanted to understand why I became such a jerk. Well, there you have it.“

„I do“, you say, putting away the needle and thread and looking at Murphy, meeting his gaze. „I do understand you, Murphy. I still think you’re an opportunistic jerk, but I understand, I really do. I - I know that it’s not worth much, but I am sorry that this happened to you, it’s awful.“

Murphy just shrugs, not saying anything.

But he’s still looking at you and now that you know what to look for, now that you finally understand him better, you see the pain in his expression.

Not just due to the torture. There’s so much more, pain that’s probably been building in him for years and that he turned into sharp, pointed hate and anger, because he didn’t know how to deal with all of his pain.

You want to help him, though you don’t really know how and why. Yes, he is a rude jerk and at Camp he was also somewhat of a bully, but you think that that’s most likely due to him not knowing how to communicate in something that’s not just anger and aggression. But you also believe that there’s more to him - that he’s not just this lonely, broken, rude jerk that that’s probably just a facade he’s hiding behind.

„I understand, Murphy“, you say again, still looking at the storm of emotions in his green-blue eyes. Something shifts in Murphy’s expression then - he’s listening to you and something in his gaze tells you that he believes your words, believes you. „I truly do. But there’s more to life than just pain, anger and aggression.“

With that, you reach out a hand, softly grasping one of his hands with yours. You’re not quite sure why you’re doing it, you just know that you want to be there for Murphy, that you want to help him - and that you want him to understand that you truly mean your words.

Murphy’s arm jerks, as if he wants to rip his hand out of your grasp, but then he grasps your hand, squeezing it lightly. He reaches up with his other hand, tucking a stray strand of hair behind your ear.

Just like before, your breath hitches. But this - this is different than before. This time, there’s no venom in Murphy’s gaze, no quiet challenge, no pent-up anger. Just curiosity and something softer that you can’t quite describe.

„I still don’t really get why you’re helping me“, Murphy says, leaning even closer to you. You’re so close that you could count the lashes on his good eye. You feel his breath ghosting over your skin and you shiver in anticipation.

„But I’m glad that I let you.“ With that, he leans in even closer, searching your eyes and whatever he sees in them, must convince him. He presses his lips to yours and you’re so overwhelmed that you don’t know how to react. But just when you feel Murphy starting to pull away, you kiss him back, bringing your free hand up to his neck.

You feel him smirk into the kiss and if you weren’t currently kissing him, you’d definitely roll your eyes at him. As it is, you continue kissing him, though you give his hand a squeeze that’s probably a bit too harsh.

Murphy just smirks again, deepening the kiss and tangling his hand in your hair. You can feel your heart start to beat faster and there’s a curious sensation in your stomach that feels like those butterflies that you’ve read about in books.

You lose yourself in the kiss, in the feeling of Murphy.

Kissing Murphy feels good, though his lips are chapped and dry and he hisses in pain when you overeagerly lean a little too much against him. But still - kissing Murphy feels good.

And even though you’re still confused and you know that one conversation won’t suddenly make him sunshine personified - you like his dry sarcasm way too much for that - you also know that you want more. You want to get to know Murphy, really get to know him, you want to be there for him. And if there are more occasions to kiss him along the way of getting to know him and helping him, then you certainly won’t complain about that.

Murphy gives you one last, bruising kiss, before breaking the kiss, breathlessly leaning his forehead against yours.

„I - Murphy - what …“, you stammer, still too wound up from the kiss.

Murphy smirks. „That was thank you.“

You can’t help but roll your eyes. „I see“, you say dryly.

„For stitching me up … and for not giving up on me“, Murphy adds, his voice serious again.

You smile softly, reaching up to brush a strand of hair out of his eye. „I’ll be sure to stick around then.“

Murphy grins, though there’s a vulnerability to it now that wasn’t there before. „Doesn’t sound too bad …“

„Yeah, it doesn’t“, you agree, before leaning up to kiss him again.

You feel him smiling into the kiss, causing you to smile as well.

Yes, the road ahead is not going to be easy - this is John Murphy, resident sarcastic, rude asshole, after all - but you’re not afraid to walk it with Murphy.

#john murphy x you #john murphy x reader #john murphy imagine #john murphy the 100 #john murphy #the 100 #the 100 imagine #the 100 tv #richard harmon #john mother fucking murphy #the 100 x reader #the 100 x you #maysileewrites

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dailycass-cain · 1 year

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Thoughts on DCeased: War of the Undead Gods #4

DCeased: War of the Undead Gods #4 has the Cass back at last (she last showed up in #1). So I get to talk about this series again.

I have to say other than ONE subplot not getting teased in this series so far (where is my Talia/Steph finale dagnabit from DCeased: Hope at World’s End), I am enjoying the utter unpredictability this finale has gotten. You have this large intergalactic army taking out worlds and spreading the Anti-Life virus.

The heroes of Earths 1 & 2 attend a galaxy meeting on what to do with the anti-life army destroying life around the universe. The Guardians of Oa solution is well... even in another universe the blue guys are such goddamn dicks (what happened to you Ganthet? You used to be the cool chill Guardian).

I mean you could explain it away given Ares is to blame for “heightening” everyone’s aggression (seriously is he also the god of trolling? besides wars).

Whatever is the case, I like that instantly a certain group of heroes (including a certain someone) raise their voice to this stupid plan of the Guardian’s.

I just love the pose here given to Cass along with just the lightning being held. If anything, I'd kill for a story of Mary showing Cass how to better use these powers. The reverse of DC Unkillables of Cass/Shiva teaching her to fight.

Speaking of DC of Hope At World’s End I feel like this universe needs one more series AKIN to it but this time focusing on the bits between the Unkillables, Dead Planet, and events prior to this one. There's still so much to mine in material in between these stories.

Like how's Punished Jimmy Olsen now seeing Superman as is? Is he still moody? Is he wearing all-black and inner monologuing still? Rose raising her/Jason’s kid? Damian/Cass being the only Bats left (unless Steph is alive via Laz Pit). Harley/Ivy? Ace being the only speedster in the universe (though most save two are in the Speed Force). Speaking of the speedsters in the Speed Force: how are they? What about villains? I’d love to see the Cyborg Superman investigating the Anti-Life virus given his death wish agenda. What of a former Anti-Life possessed being? What’s it like to be in their heads? So many characters to see that still to be seen.

If there's any negative I can have for this particular series is just the sudden quickening in pace it takes with this issue. I feel like next issue bad stuff is gonna go down next issue and LOTS of faces we love are not gonna walk away.

Is this a red flag that Cass will die? Possibly. The whole "god" portion of Darkseid and the fact that Mary/Cass have the powers of the gods. Just makes me think they'll lose it and get ravaged or sacrifice play together.

But the red flag this issue for me is writer Tom Taylor spending time with Alfred and I just get the sense that the death flags are coming for Damian first. Just something about the way the scene is staged between him and Alfred.

It has that mood to me SOMEONE amongst these two isn't seeing the other again alive after this. Doesn’t help either that Alfred has a nightmare of Bruce, Tim, and Dick asking him, “WHY?! WHY DID YOU MURDER US?!” Revisiting that and the dialogue from this and later between Alfred/Damian just suggests to me something BAAAAD is gonna happen to Damian. That and one of the Earths is boned for sure.

But we’re another month away from #5. Until then, I will enjoy the awesome moments we got this issue with Cass. Like Cazzam doing this to Kilowog:

I mean just everything of Cazzam in general with this series leaves me all giddy and happy as heck. Because of that, I ain’t gonna spoil the remaining half of this book. I'm not going to spoil the later twists this issue takes. But gosh darn am I 😮at what occurs at the end. This is up there with Anti-Life Plastic Man of terrified. Even if said character hasn't DONE ANYTHING YET.

Overall, I still think DCeased is Tom Taylor's lengthy DC work. I enjoy his single issues of Injustice more, but from the beginning to currently? I'm still loving this series. I can't wait to see where this goes. Good or bad ending for all. I'm here for this ride.

But the added bonus of Cass being around thru this series helped even more of that enjoyment.

Now if you excuse the other half of me as I await #5...

#cassandra cain #dc comics #psuedofolio #did the glorious spoiler warning

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abalonetea · 3 years

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Just Keep Breathing: Chapter Two

I was partnered with @the-dot for the @originalfictionbigbang! Thank you for working with me, Dot!

Here is the first chapter! I’ve split the first 10k words between four chapters, and will be posting them all in a masterpost in just a moment!

Summary: It’s the height of storm season and everyone in Hi-Banks, Florida is getting ready for the bad weather. It should be a year like any other - but on the tails of a national pandemic, a new disaster strikes. More than one new disasters. So many disasters that Eddie Carver would like to put some of them back, thanks. He’s just a down on his luck guy living in the local trailer park with his boyfriend. He’s not interested in dealing with the revival of an old murder case - which he knows nothing about, thanks -, the storm season of the century, or…zombies?

Yeah. Absolutely not interested in the zombies.

This black-comedy follows the inner workings of a small town as they band together to survive, and the young man - reckless, mean, angry, written off b the big city folk come to look into a cold case - that might hold all of societies survival in his hands.

Forget about society.Eddie’s only interested in keeping his friends alive.

Chapter Two – The Hunt Shop

The Mason family has owned a bait and tackle shop out on the north edge of Hi Banks for almost a solid four generations. It’s a good twenty minute walk from the trailer park, which isn’t that bad when it’s not also pouring down rain. As it stands, they’re both soaked by the time they hit the long dirt road that winds towards it. The sides are pitted out from constant tire tracks, turned into thick puddles of standing water and mud.

The rain lets up to a light drizzle, but it’s too late for that to be helpful. Eddie makes a point of splashing his feet in as many of the puddles as he can.

Carson’s the one who calls out, “truck,” when twin headlights appear in the distance. It’s got a massive dent on the passenger side and the fender looks like it’s held on with duck tape.

Lincoln Wiltshire, the deputy, pulls over. He’s a tall, skinny man with a hooked nose and a scar on the side of his neck. Every time he’s asked, Lincoln tells a different story about how he got that scar. Eddie’s pretty sure it’s something mundane and stupid, like a fishing accident.

“You boys having trouble?” Lincoln asks, rolling down his window and half leaning out it.

“Truck still won’t run,” says Carson. “We’re stuck hoofing it everywhere.”

“And the power’s out at the trailer park,” adds Eddie.

“Shit, already? I was hoping it might stay on a while longer.” Lincoln scratches at his side burns. “Wonder if it’s out where I live, too.”

“Store had power last time I was there,” says Eddie. There’s no need to specify. Everyone just calls it The Store.

Carson asks, “you coming from Red’s?”

“Was getting some more shells.” Lincoln gestures at the brown paper bag in his passenger seat. “I wouldn’t hold my breath on anything with him today, boys. He’s in a rotten mood.”

“Eh, we’ll take the risk. I want something hot to eat tonight, you know?” Eddie says “Shit. You think he might have some of that soup still?”

“Maybe,” says Carson. And then, to Lincoln, “can you do me a favor? I was only at the docks for like an hour earlier, but Clancy didn’t show up.”

Lincoln frowns. “Now that ain’t like him.”

“No, it’s not. He’s always there, doesn’t matter the weather,” says Carson. “Figure maybe you could swing by his place, see if he’s...I dunno. Gotten into something.”

“Sure, sure, I’ll do that before I go home. Thanks for the heads up, Carson. You two stay out of trouble now, you hear me? I don’t want to get any calls out there.”

“That wasn’t our fault!”

“I don’t care who starts the fight, I’m the one that has to pull pants on to come finish it. I’m looking to not leave the house again tonight, so. Behave.” Lincoln jabs a bony finger at them.

Carson rolls his eyes. “Whatever.”

Eddie parrots, “yeah, man, whatever.”

“Maggots, the both of you,” huffs Lincoln, but he makes sure to pull away slowly so as not to splash them in muck.

They get about ten steps before Eddie asks, “so, uh, you worried about him?”

“I mean, yeah. Sort of.”

“Ain’t he a jerk?”

“Sure. But like, not all the time. And it’s weird. He’s always at the docks. Like, I’ve NEVER not seen him at the docks, Eddie. I dunno. I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.” Carson shrugs.

Maybe it makes Eddie a worse person, but he’s not too concerned about Clancy one way or the other. The guy has a mean streak the size of the Grand Canyon, and a habit for acting like he’s the boss down at the docks. He’s not, clearly, but the guy has been working there forever at this point, so everyone mostly just ignores it.

Silence falls over them. The sloshing of Eddie’s boots is the only thing between them, until the shoddy looking wood building of The Hunt Shop comes into view. There’s a massive concrete raccoon statue out front. It gets decorated every time a holiday comes around. Right now, it’s got a massive yellow tarp wrapped around it in lieu of a rain coat.

The front door is propped open, the heavy twanging bass of the radio thudding out. Eddie ducks in first, glancing around.

For the most part, the hunt shop hasn’t really changed in...well, ever. There’s an old singing bass above the gun rack, and a mounted deer head on the wall just behind the front counter. Red is stretched out on a chair behind it, booted foot flung up onto the counter next to the register and an open can of beer.

“Lincoln was right,” says Eddie. “You look pissy.”

“Ey, if it ain’t my favorite scarecrow.” Red thunks his boot back down onto the floor. “Lemme guess, the power’s out.”

Eddie finger snaps at him. “Bingo!”

Carson stomps in just behind him. “Cat broke our damn window.”

“A cat?” Red snorts. “You know, I think you might have worse luck than I do.”

Eddie hops up onto the counter, next to the register. He helps himself to the open, half-warm beer. “Lincoln says you’re in a pissy mood. What’s up?”

“Ugh. This damned weather,” says Red. He uses his foot to push the wheeled chair away from the counter, and then spin around so he can slap a hand against the calendar hanging up behind him. “Look at this. I’ve got two days, and then I’m supposed to be going on my hunting trip.”

“Damn, is it that time already?” Eddie passes the mostly empty can to Carson.

Carson rolls his eyes. “Thanks.” And then, “isn’t that storm supposed to hit this weekend?”

“I’m thinking about just hunkering down out there,” says Red.

“That’s stupid,” says Eddie.

Red slaps the calendar again. “I’ve never missed a trip. I’m not gonna let it get passed over because of some rain. It’s, what, a cat two? I’ve spent worse storms out on the swamp. I figure there’s no power out there anyway, so what would I be missing?”

“The sun,” says Eddie.

At the same time, Carson says, “the hunting.”

Red scowls at them both. “Neither of you know the meaning of the word fun, you know that? I swear, I don’t know when you guys got so boring.”

“Around the same time we started dying from hunger,” quips Eddie.

“Fine, fine, we’ll go get something to eat. C’mon. I was gonna close up anyway.” Red hauls himself out of the chair and around the counter. He leads the way out of the shop – Carson closing the door behind them when he brings up the tail – and around to the back of the building where his camper’s parked.

The radio is already on inside, a woman’s voice, “and as if the predicted overly active storm season isn’t enough, we’re having more and more cases of this unknown virus showing up. We actually have managed to get an interview with Charlie Santero, the governor of Florida, where we get his personal thoughts on the situation.”

“Ugh, shut that off. I hate that guy,” says Red.

Eddie slaps the radio off. “So, food?”

“Chili,” answers Red. He grabs a bowl out of the fridge and shoves it into the microwave.

“Gross,” says Carson.

Red flips him off. “You’re the ones that came over.”

The microwave beeps. Red pulls it out and tosses it onto the little table on the other side of the kitchenette. He grabs three spoons and drops them down, too.

“Alright. Dinner’s served.”

* * *

It’s dark by the time they leave Red’s, all three of them loading up into Red’s old wood backed pickup. They roll the windows down, letting the stiff Florida air into cab.

Eddie sits on the far end, arm flung out so the mosquitoes slap into it as they rush past. “So, think we’re gonna get hit bad this summer?”

Red groans. “Do we have to talk about the storms? I’m trying to think happy thoughts about this week.”

Carson says, “I’ll check up on the shop for you.”

The tires catch in one of the ruts, splashing mud up onto Eddie’s hand. “Gross.” He pulls it in, wiping his palm off on his shorts. “I’m thinking it’s gonna be a small one. Just because it’s always small when the people on the radio talk about it. They’re always wrong and stuff.”

Red whacks the back of one hand against Carson’s shoulder. “Smack him for me, will ya? You’re gonna jinx my trip if you keep talking like that, scarecrow.”

Carson shoves at the back of Eddie’s head, pushing hair into his face. “Don’t jinx him.”

“Ow!” Eddie rubs over dramatically at the back of his head. “Fine, fine, I won’t – hey, knock it off already!”

They pull all the way through town towards the trailer park and are almost at the chain link fence around the place when the flash of red and blue lights come into view. Red cuts the engine. “Alright, nope. I’m checking out. Whatever you two did - “

“We didn’t do nothing,” says Eddie, the words a low sort of whine. “I’m telling you!”

“Looks like you did something,” says Red. “And I’m not interested in being involved. Sorry.”

Carson grunts, giving Eddie the stink eye.

Eddie shakes his head. “I didn’t. I’ve stayed outta trouble and you know it, man. I’ve got – fuck, nothing on me right now.”

“Whatever,” says Carson, slinging open the door. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Red doesn’t have a record, per say, but he likes to steer clear of the local officers all the same. The moment that Eddie and Carson are out of the truck, it peels into reverse and vanishes, a squeal of tires on the pitted pavement and a spray of muddy water up onto the other side of the road.

Carson says, “you’d tell me if I’m about to walk into something, right?”

“Yeah, man, I’d tell you,” says Eddie. “But I swear, this has nothing to do with me.”

“Ugh,” says Carson, and Eddie totally agrees with that. They head up into the trailer park and true to their luck, the sheriff’s car is parked right outside of their little hovel, along with a little shiny black car that doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of Hi Banks.

Sheriff Bianca is sitting on the hood of her car smoking a hand rolled cigarette, short black hair pushed away from her face, the thick scar over her cheek visible even in the wane light of the street lamp. “There you are. We were waiting for you. This is - “

“Agent Smith,” says another woman, long blonde hair pulled back away from her face and an ashy pallor to her skin. “and my partner, Agent Russo.”

“We didn’t do shit,” says Eddie, lower lip jutting out.

Carson shoves him. “Idiot. Stop running your mouth.”

The corners of Bianca’s mouth twist up at the edges, just a little bit, and then instantly take on that hard slant again. She slides off the car, putting the cigarette out on the bottom of one mud caked boot and then tucking it into the front pocket of her uniform shirt. “Boys, they’re here about the Mulborne Case.”

There’s a beat of silence.

One.

Two.

Three.

Eddie lets out a bark of laughter, just can’t help himself. “What, really?”

Smith asks, “does that mean you know the man?”

“Of course I do. Everyone knows Benny,” says Eddie, with a shrug of his sharp, bony shoulders. “Ain’t this thing solved?”

“Yes,” says Bianca, a little tersely.

“On a local level,” answers Russo. “But we’ve recently been informed of something that’s brought the case into a larger light.”

Carson squints. “You two aren’t cops.”

“We’re with the FBI,” says Smith.

Eddie snorts. “Bullshit.”

That takes Smith off guard. “Excuse me?”

“The FBI out in Hi Banks? Yeah, I don’t buy it,” says Eddie. “This town’s barely on the map. What the Hell would send you people out here, huh?”

“We’re not allowed to discuss that information while the case is still under investigation,” says Russo. “You’re - “

“Eddie, yeah, and he’s Carson, and I’m sure the sheriff’s gone over all’a this with you. You realize how late it is? Some of us actually have to work,” says Eddie.

Smith gives him a tight lipped smile. “I’m sorry about the time. We got a little turned around on the way out here.”

“Not my problem,” says Eddie.

Russo says, “it might be. It’s been brought to our attention that you had contact with the men who were murdered.”

“They went missing,” corrects Bianca. “There was no proof of foul play.”

Eddie juts out his lower lip. “Yeah, sure. I fixed up their van when they came through, big fucking whoop. How about I just make this real easy and tell you exactly what I told her?” He jerks a thumb at Bianca, who rolls her eyes. “Their van was trashed. I fixed it. That’s my job, okay? That’s it. They paid in cash, big bills, and then they left and I never saw them again. End of story.”

Carson says, “you should try and find someone smarter to ask about it.” He slings an arm around Eddie’s shoulders and hauls the other man up against his side. “Eddie’s got a brick for brains. Even if something weird was going on, there’s no way he would’ve noticed it.”

“Bitch,” mutters Eddie, but he doesn’t protest. Easy out’s, right?

A phone goes off, some lame shrill tone. Russo excuses himself and steps away from the group and Bianca asks, “did you figure out where the machinery went?”

Carson grunts. “Probably Milo hawked it. Pretty sure his ma’s rent was due this month. We didn’t really look that hard.”

Smith questions, “machinery?”

“Carson works at the docks,” says Bianca. “A few parts went missing earlier this week.”

“Not that it’s any of your business,” says Carson, gruffly. “Look, no offense but we’ve already done this once. We don’t know anything else about it, and I’ve got work tomorrow. Can we wrap this up?”

A car door clicks open behind them. Russo, still on the phone, waves Smith over. Smith nods and then excuses herself, all polite, “thank you for your time. I’m sure we’ll be in touch,” before heading over. They climb in their little black car and leave.

Carson scowls at Bianca. “Seriously?”

“Trust me,” says Bianca, dryly. “It’s not my idea of a good time, either. I thought that we were done with this.”

Eddie snorts, already heading towards their trailer. “Yeah, fuck off about that. I am done with it.”

He’s pretty pleased when Carson just goes on and follows him, not so much as a goodbye tossed Bianca’s way.

#wip jkb #my writing #zombies #writeblr #original fiction big bang

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ryvswb · 4 years

Text

RYvsWB PSA:

Corvid-19

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*RvB guitar jingle plays as the screen fades into Ruby and Simmons, standing in Valhalla*

Ruby: Hiiii! I'm Ruby Rose, from the popular web series RWBY!

Simmons: And I'm Dick Simmons from the same sho-wait a minute...

Ruby: Today, we are here to deliver a very important public service announcement, about Corvid-19...the horrible pandemic that causes all those infected to be hunted down by a murder of 19 crows!

Simmons: Indeed! And we are here to- wait hold on! What was that about crows??? I'm pretty sure thats not how the Corvid-19 virus works Ruby.

Ruby: Yes it is! Its called "Corvid"! Thats the fancy scientific name for crows Simmons! DUH.

Simmons, as the cawing of multiple crows can be heard in the distance: Ruby that doesn't make any fucking sens-HOLY SHIT!

Simmons, running away as he is attacked by crows: AHHHHHH HELP I AM BEING ATTACKED BY A MURDER OF 19 CROWS AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Ruby, watching Simmons run away: Huh. Guess he was infected.

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

*WE ARE HAVING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES PLEASE STAND BY*

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

Ruby: Hi! I'm Ruby Rose from the popular web series RWBY!

Washington, as Simmons can be seen screaming while still running away from the murder of crows in the background: And I'm Agent Washington from the popular web series Red vs Blue!

Ruby: And we are here today to give you 5 steps to survive the Corvid-19 epidemic!

Washington, as a picture of a man washing his hands appear next to him: The first and honestly most important step is...hygiene!

Ruby: Obviously you don't want to catch the virus. And if you already have it, you gotta make sure you don't infect other people!

Washington: Wash your hands, use hand sanitizer and wear a mask if possible! All those things will prevent you from catching or spreading those nasty germs!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Jumpcut to Grif walking out of the bathroom, the sound of a toilet flushing can be heard*

Carolina, the barrel of her gun right in Grif's face, speaking through gritted teeth: I didn't hear you wash your hands Grif.

Grif, walking backwards back into the bathroom without a word:...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington: Step 2: Stay. Calm.

Ruby: Panicking will only make everything worst!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Jumpcut to a city, where is everyone running around in panic as countless crows fly all over the place*

Jaune, running in circle while holding his head: PANIC! PANIC! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIE!

Sarge, knocking Jaune aside with the butt of his shotgun: OUT OF THE WAY SCUMBAG!

Sarge, shooting in random directions: ALL MAN FOR HIMSELF! ONLY THE STRONGEST MAY SURVIVE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruby: Step 3! Social distancing!

Washington: Thats to make sure the virus doesn't spread. Stay in your homes as much as possible. And avoid large gatherings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donut, walking towards Blue base: Heya blues! I ran out of almond milk for my afternoon latte! Do you guys have any?

Donut, as a bullet flies past his head: HOLY JESUS!

Church, from the top of Blue base: STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY BASE REDS!

Donut: Oooooooh riiiiiight, I forgot. Gotta practice social distancing because of the pandemic! Thanks Chur-HEY wait a darn minute! You're an AI! Why would you be afraid of the Corvid virus?

Church: Virus? Pandemic??? What are you on about? I don't need a pandemic to have a reason to keep your dumb asses away from me.

Church, as he shoots at Donut again, causing the latter to run away screaming like a girl: Now fuck. OFF.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington: Step 4: Since you'll be in your house for a long time, you'll have to make provisions.

Ruby: But remember to not get greedy! Think about the other people who might need food and hygiene products more than you do!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blake, talking to the cashier in a grocery store, her shopping cart full of tuna cans: What. Do you MEAN "ONLY TWO OF EACH PER CUSTOMERS"!?!?

Cashier, shaking like a leaf: B-but mam thats the rule I can't make exceptions...EEP!

Blake, grabbing the cashier by the collar: You don't understand. I. NEED. My. Tuna.

Cashier, straight up panicking: M-mam you're holding the line!

Blake: I WANT TO TALK TO YOUR MANAGER!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington: And finally, step 5: Be there for each other.

Ruby: These are hard times we're going through and some of your loved ones might be taking it harder then you would. So make sure you support them in their time of need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caboose, standing on the edge of a building: OH MY GOD! THESE ARE HARD TIMES WE'RE GOING THROUGH! AND I'M TAKING IT HARDER THEN OTHERS WOULD! IF ONLY SOMEONE COULD SUPPORT ME IN MY TIME OF NEED!

Tucker, at the bottom of the building with Weiss, absolutely freaked out: CABOOSE GET THE FUCK DOWN FROM THERE!

Weiss, pleading: PLEASE TELL US WHATS WRONG!

Caboose, shouting towards the sky: THE GROCERY STORE! RAN OUT! OF OREOS!!!

Tucker, annoyed: You gotta be fucking kidding me.

Weiss, running her hands down her face: Bloody hell...

Tucker: WE'LL GET YOU DOUBLE STUF NOW GET. THE FUCK. DOWN.

Caboose:...

Caboose: Can we get a family pack?

Tucker, dismissively: Yeah sure.

Weiss, at Tucker: WHAT!? No! He'll just eat the whole thing within an hour and throw up!

Caboose, shouting towards the sky again: OH MY GOD! HOW WILL I SURVIVE WITHOUT MY OREOS! WOE IS ME!?!?

Weiss: OKAY FINE YOU'LL GET YOUR SODDING OREOS!

Caboose: YAY! THIS IS THE BEST DAY! EVER!

Caboose, jumping off the building: Ok coming down.

Tucker and Weiss, at the same time: CABOOSE!!!!

Caboose, landing safely with his jetpack: Yes thats my name, you sure love yelling it.

Weiss, wheezing and clutching at her chest: You...you had a jetpack.......this......this ENTIRE TIME?

Caboose, casually: Yeah? How did you think I got up there in the first place?

Tucker, at a loss for words: We thought you were....what were you......we though you were going to commit suicide!

Caboose: Nah I don't like Swiss cheese. I just wanted to send a complaint to little Jesus about the store running out of Oreos, but everytime I try calling heaven on the phone I always get answered by some weird lady and then Church gets really mad at me...

Tucker, walking away: What is my life.

Caboose, as Weiss passes out: Weiss? Weiss its not nap time yet silly! The big burning ball in the sky means it dayyyytiiiiiiime. Weiss?

Caboose, crouching next to an unconsious Weiss as the camera zooms out: HELLO? Weiss? Can I get my Oreos now??? WEIIIIIIIIIIIIISS?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington: And thats all the time we got! We hope out tips and advices helped you.

Ruby, as a familiar hand taps her on the shoulder: And remember to stay saf-Oh? OH UNCLE!

Ruby, hugging Qrow: Were have you beeeeeeeeeeen!

Qrow, as Ruby breaks the hug: Hey squirt! I'd love to catch up buuuuut...

Ruby: Buuuuut?

Qrow, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck: I'm...sorry to be the one to break it to you, but your friend over here caught Corvid-19...

Washington: WHAT!? How would you even know that!? I've been standing out here this whole time and not a single crow as attacked me.

Qrow, whispering at Ruby: Are you going to tell him?

Ruby, whispering back: What!? No you tell him!

Washington, loosing his patience: What!? Tell me WHAT!?

Qrow: I know because my name is Qrow.

Washington:...You're kidding me right?

Qrow, relunctantly drawing Arbinger as 18 other iterations of himself gather behind him: I wish I was...

Washington:...

Washington, taking a deep breath trough his nose before speaking: Oh boy.

*The RvB guitar jingle starts playing, jumpcut to an overview of Valhalla, Washington screaming as he is being chased by 19 Qrows*

Washington, his voice echoing from afar as the screen fades to black: WHY IS YOUR NAME SPELLED WITH A Q!?!? OW OW OOOOOOOOWWWW!!!

#rwby #red vs blue #ryvswb!au #ruby rose #dick simmons #agent washington #agent carolina #dexter grif #sarge #jaune arc #leonard l. church #franklin delano donut #blake belladonna #michael j. caboose #lavernius tucker #weiss schnee #qrow branwen

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thefangirlslair · 4 years

Text

Free At Last (A Sasusaku One-Shot Fanfiction) x Purple Love VI

Note: Okay, okay. I know it’s been a while. I’ve been busy not being completely mental because of some stuff, and then this corona virus comes up and just messes up with my head furthermore. Ugh! Well, I hope you’re all safe and doing well. And of course, enjoy Sakura Day! It is our queen’s birthday, and I know i’ll never forgive myself if i don’t participate on her special day. So i hope you appreciate this one because i took a break from angst and tried a light and fluffy one. I am sO NERVOUS OMG thanks so much to everyone who keeps on reading these fics i have. Thank u thank u!!!

PS. This is also up on my ffnet! Let me know your thoughts! Again, Happy Birthday Uchiha Sakura!!!!!!!!!! MY QUEEN I LOB U

Excerpt: This might be her second birthday since he knew her, first as her boyfriend, but he feels like he’s known her for a long time. He wants to be there on her birthday every year, forever, as long as she’ll have him.

SasuSaku Pairing (2,578 words)

A Poor Attempt at Writing Fics

Sasusaku Edition XXV

Free At Last

Not even grainy resolutions of webcam cameras and shitty internet connections can ever hide her wide-blown grin. May it be over a monitor, your smartphone or in person, Haruno Sakura’s smile will always be as beautiful as its owner. And it’s even much brighter now that her team is singing her happy birthday through her computer screen.

Boisterous laughter followed after all the singing because was that Lee-san who croaked that last note?

“That was awful, Eyebrows!”, laughed Naruto, some dramatic tears leaking from the corners of his happy blue eyes and his tongue slipping the familiar nickname outside work. “Was that you or you have a pet frog?” The addressed man cannot be seen beyond his webcam because he was busy lying under his desk because Sakura-san! I have failed to sing the best happy birthday song! Shame on me!

Almost choking on her drink, Tenten interrupted, “Hey Naruto, we’re still technically at work even though we’re working from home. Stop with the nicknames until later!”

“C’mon, buns! It’s not as if Boss is here to murder us with his glare! And it’s just another 10 minutes before our shift ends; we need to celebrate Sakura-chan's birthday at least!”, the blond whined as an answer.

“Aww, thanks so much guys!”, Sakura smiled. “Naruto, stop teasing Lee-san. And listen to Tenten, we still need to be professional while we’re still at work. I wish we are together at the office though! I would’ve loved to celebrate with you all, too.”

Another blue-eyed, blonde person answered. “Ugh, tell me about it. I’d rather be at the office right now and listen to Naruto’s obnoxious voice than be with a lazy ass and be bored out of my mind like someone over here..” Ino’s annoyed face and an even more annoyed voice rang through their earphones and speakers, noting the emphasis on some words about her boyfriend who rolled his eyes. In the background, you can hear Tenten’s Language!

They can all see Shikamaru, the boyfriend, who simply smirked, looked sideways at his workmate/girlfriend and lazily drawled, “You love this lazy ass.”

Series of ‘OHHHHHH’ can be heard from Kiba, Tenten and Naruto while Lee choked some more and laid again under his desk. Sakura just laughed at her best friend’s face because Ino was trying so hard not to blush that she covered her almost-red face and slapped Shikamaru’s arm at reach. Sakura even heard the man chuckled under his breath.

“Shika, you smooth fucker,” Kiba teased. “Teach us your ways!”

Tenten growled, “Inuzuka, if you don’t shut the fuck u-”

“Weren’t you the one who said to remain professional and mind our language while at work, Tenten-san?”, Lee’s head came up to peek onto the camera and asked his innocent question. He ducked again when the brunette’s eyes flashed for a second and escaped before she unleashes her rage on him.

Sakura’s laughter was light and happy, her green eyes sparkling with mirth. These people’s faces on her screen belong to not just her team at work but her friends. Her second family. Or maybe third? she thought.

They spend more than 40 hours a week together whether it be stressing over clients at work, drinking coffee at the pantry, pizza parlor visits after shift, and ice creams every payday. And now that she realized that it has been two long months since they worked from home, now at their last day of quarantine, let alone on her birthday, she misses them. Terribly so.

“I miss you guys. Really,” she said, her voice a bit lower than usual, which means she’s serious. Her friends saw it and immediately stopped their bickering. “I didn't have anyone before until Naruto and Ino came along. Then came Tenten, then Shikamaru... until Kiba and then lastly, Lee-san. It’s been 10 years since my first celebration with the blonds, but I feel like I’ve been celebrating it with all 7 of you ever since.” She smiled again, “Thank you for always being with me on my day.”

A few moments passed and finally, a chorus of incomprehensible words were heard through Sakura’s speakers because they all reacted at the same time:

“Sakura-chaaan! Don’t be sad! I’ll be sad too!”

“Cut... hik... cut the drama f-forehead! I d-.. I don’t want it!... hik...”

“Ah... now you want me to fall for you now, huh? Stop, damn it Sakura..”

“Girl, don’t touch my fucking heart like that. You already know we got you always.”

“SAKURA-SAAAAAAAAAN!!!”

Sakura watched it all with glowing eyes and a full heart. She looked one by one on their blurry little faces and she felt love just seep through her pores. She’s finally seeing them next week since the quarantine is finally over and there will be no need to hide from the pandemic that affected the rest of the world.

They’re still busy reeling over Sakura’s mini birthday speech and the rosette is overwhelmed with emotions when they heard Shikamaru asked, “Seven?”

“Huh?”, Sakura confusedly asked back.

“We’re only six here, excluding you, but you said ‘all 7 of you’ earlier.”

All eyes turned to her and she felt nervous. Crap, I slipped!

“Oh,” she started, nervously added an awkward laugh. “I meant six! I might be more tired than usual then. We had to talk to a lot of clients today anyway, right?”

She knew she didn’t convince Shikamaru and the rest of her friends, so she thanked all the deities she knew when her phone rang and Kakashi’s name flashed on her screen. She took it as an opportunity to escape more questions from them and so she said, “I gotta take this call, it’s my old high school teacher.”

She muted their audio of their conference call and opened the window of her emails instead to hide her screen and chat box. Sakura went to the balcony to answer the call.

Little did she know that she forgot to turn off her camera.

“Did you notice she was acting weird?”

“She absolutely did, right? She looked nervous earlier. Do you know something about this, Naruto?”

“No! She tells us everything but for the past few months, she’s been a little secretive, I think. It also doesn’t help that we’ve been in quarantine for 2 months! Is she still my best friend, Ino-chan?”

“First of all, I am her best friend and not you. And second, I agree. Ugh, this Forehead is making my head hurt!”

“Don’t judge Sakura-san! She’s a good friend! If she wants to tell us something, she will!”

“I don’t care about her secret or whatever, all I want to know where her house is because look at her room. So fucking huge!”

“That’s not her house, Kiba. Forehead said she’s staying at her mom’s friend because she’s alone at her apartment.”

“Yeah, Sakura-chan's room is much brighter and full of flowers! The room they gave her now is so boring, look! It’s either black or gray!”

“I wouldn’t mind. The size of that room is almost as big as my entire apartment. That bed looks something I want to break with Neji.”

“Tenten-san!! Control yourself!!!”

“Y’all are so noisy even in chat.”

“Shut up, ponytail!”

A movement from Sakura’s camera caught everyone’s attention. Her computer is located at the corner of the room so they could see a part of the queen size bed and has a direct view of the bedroom door. The knob turned and someone entered the room.

“WHO’S THAT?!!!”

“SOMEONE ENTERED SAKURA-SAN'S ROOM!!”

“Is that her mom’s friend?”

“Stop panicking idiots!”

“THEY BETTER LEAVE SAKURA-CHAN ALONE!!!”

“Wait...”

“Is that....?”

“OHMYFGOFDD”

“IS THAT BOSS TEME???!”

“Holy shit..”

“Damn he’s so fucking hot in sweatpants...”

“Why is he there??????”

“UCHIHA-SAN IS IN SAKURA-SAN'S ROOM!!!!!”

“I see... this could be why Sakura said 7.”

“NOOOO! THIS CAN’T BE! SAKURA-CHAN WON’T DATE THAT ASSHOLE! SHE CAN’T!!”

Stood inside the room is no other than their young CEO, Uchiha Sasuke, dressed in casual gray sweatpants and thin white t-shirt. If not because of his wild black hair and intimidating aura, they wouldn’t even know it’s him. They have always seen him in crisp suits and perfect posture, maybe once in a bomber jacket and ripped jeans, but this is the first time they’ve seen him in comfortable clothes with his usual stiff shoulders a bit relaxed and his hands casually tucked in his pockets.

Another movement from the other corner of the room, and Sakura came into view. They didn’t know she was only wearing a big shirt that barely covered her thighs, and the chat room exploded again.

“Sakura’s so hot, damn..”

“HOY DOG-BREATH, LOOK AWAY!!! STOP HOUNDING SAKURA-CHAN!!”

“YAAAS GET THAT ASS GIRL!!”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! FOREHEAD IS BANGING OUR BOSS! THAT’S SO HOT”

They watched in awe when the two met in the middle of the room and Sakura tiptoed and wrapped her arms around Sasuke’s neck. Their boss leaned down and held her hips, his face hidden within her pink locks.

The scene didn’t have any audio for their mini audience but even without it, they know the two are speaking in whispers, with Sakura’s head nodding and Sasuke’s hands running over her waist and back as indications. They felt like intruders and most of them almost blushed because of the affection and intimacy, excluding one who definitely passed out under his desk, so they decided to leave the two.

“Let’s leave them alone now, things might get pretty hot. I don’t wanna see my best friend shagging my boss, no matter how proud I am of her.”

“INO-CHAN! WE GOTTA HELP SAKURA-CHAN ESCAPE! WHAT IF HE’S HOLDING HER HOSTAGE???”

“Idiot..”

“Sakura can take me hostage any time though..”

“Wait, I just want to see Boss Uchiha topless before we go!”

Sasuke pulled away for a bit to look at Sakura, his birthday girl, and poked her forehead with his two fingers. His two arms wrapped around her waist again after the gesture, “Are you done for today?”

She nodded in affirmative as her hands roam around his shoulders and looped around his neck, “I almost slipped earlier though. They almost knew I have a b-..boyf-”

He smirked. They have been secretly dating for almost 4 months now but she still blushes more than usual when she tries to address him as her boyfriend. He remembered the time he introduced her to his parents as his girlfriend and she was redder than his favorite fruit the entire dinner. That was fun.

She’s his employee, he knows. Sakura’s been working for his company for more than a year now and ever since he laid his eyes on her and saw her potential, wit and charm—he knows she’s his endgame.

It’s been a long pursuit for him, being her boss and all, and her righteous perspective about everything. So when she finally gave in to her own feelings and decided to say yes to being his, he decided to never let Haruno Sakura go. Even if she decides to fight tooth and nail for her freedom from him, he will do the same to keep her. Maybe not as an employee, because that would mean he will be free to take her on lunch dates, but as his lover.

I like that, he thought. Lover.

Sasuke peered at her blushing face, her emerald eyes downcast because of embarassment, her enticing full pink lips on display that she keeps on licking and biting. Sasuke’s eyes twitched because of the sight.

“Annoying,” he almost growled under his breath. Is she aware of her effect on him?

Before she could even ask, Sasuke ducked his head down to press his mouth on hers. His hand went to the back of her head to tilt it a little upwards so he could taste deeper and he was rewarded by the opening of her mouth and the quiet moan that he drank greedily from her.

As much as he wants to call it a night and just bury himself with her and in her, she hasn’t eaten yet because his hard-headed and annoying employee still worked at home on her birthday. He baked a strawberry cake downstairs while she thought he’s busy working with investors on his office. He spent the entire day in his kitchen Facetiming with his mother to guide his baking. He’s never seen his mother so ecstatic because of him.

He came back to his senses when he felt slightly cold hands under his shirt and he fought the urge to throw her onto the bed they have been occupying for the past 2 months of quarantine and just ravish her all night. Sasuke moved both his hands and held her face as he savored more of her lips by a few flicks of his tongue before he gently pulled away.

This might be her second birthday since he knew her, first as her boyfriend, but he feels like he’s known her for a long time. He wants to be there on her birthday every year, forever, as long as she’ll have him. “Happy birthday,” he simply said, tenderly looking at her gorgeous face.

Her smile was blinding and her green irises glimmer against the setting sun. “Thank you, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura softly answered. “I love you so much.”

He pecked her lips again, lingering a bit more, and murmured against her mouth. “Love you.” He felt her smile, and he smiled back.

A small blink from the corner of his eyes got his attention and he noticed the tops of her laptop’s screen with a little light, indicating that the camera is on. Sasuke turned to Sakura, “Go downstairs and wait for me. Let’s eat dinner. I’ll just take a shower.”

Sakura nodded and happily skipped across the room and slipped outside the bedroom to wait for him downstairs. Sasuke stood for a moment looking at the door and slowly walked toward his, their, dresser. He took off his t-shirt and tossed it carelessly on the floor. He took a deep breath and finally approached Sakura’s computer on the side.

He clicked the program that runs the conference call and was greeted by her team’s shocked faces. He saw one window where Rock Lee was supposed to be but he didn’t see anyone aside from the crooked angle of the camera and are those his feet under the table? He scoffed inwardly. Guess you’ll give up pursuing her now. She’s mine.

He did a lazy sweep of his dark eyes one by one on their faces and remembered them in the future if they decide to blame Sakura for not telling this secret. Of course, they both wanted to show the world that they’re together but they still need to be a little cautious. Yes, they’re her friends and her team, but he’s not gonna be lenient especially when it comes to Sakura.

Sasuke thought the look in his eyes were effective because they all sat a little straighter. His job is now done, and now it’s time to shower so he could celebrate the entire night with Sakura. His spine tingled in anticipation.

He looked directly at the little camera above and gave his signature smirk before he logged out her account and closed Sakura’s laptop. He stretched like a feline and his grin went wider as he stripped for his shower.

Let’s just say it was an interesting first day back at the office the following Monday.

~fin~

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jingle-jangled · 4 years

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A date night that goes wrong and you’re a damsel in distress so Rick saves you. But it’s not 1789 so distress isn’t being locked in a tower it’s actually some shit. (Rick Sanchez/Reader)

Summary: You go on a date with a boy, bad things happen. Rick comes to your rescue.

// SFW with NSFW mentions, Angsty, Fuckboys, Rick actually likes you.

TRIGGER WARNING: Humiliation, derogatory terms, and violence.

"Just one more thing." Summer grabbed a red lipstick to match your sparkling dress. She smeared it on and smacked her lips for you to mirror. "You're gonna blow his mind."

You took a last look in the mirror before hurrying down the stairs to watch for your date’s car in the window. Summer followed.

"Where you going looking like the disco ball of a murder party?" Rick muttered as he stepped out of the garage and into the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe.

"Not that it's any of your business, but she's going on a super hot date with a super hot guy named Dan." Summer spat. You had no idea who she was trying to impress, it certainly couldn’t be Rick. He rolled his eyes and snapped your shoulder strap. You rubbed the sore skin and punched him in the arm.

"Dan. Should've guessed from the smell of cheap perfume and breath mints- oh hey if he pops your cherry you might finally chill the fuck out!"

"Oh my god, that's so gross!" Summer groaned and pushed you out of the room, opening the front door to reveal your date's car in the street. You could hear them fighting when the door shut.

Brushing it off, you hopped into the car. The date started fine with a movie and ended even better with a nice dinner and an invitation to his apartment. You eagerly accepted and followed him to his bedroom where he was already getting undressed. The two of you laughed when he pulled you into bed and as your bodies and lips were writhing around, you felt a spark of excitement. You wondered if Rick was watching, however far fetched and fucked up of an idea it was, it made your stomach jump.

"Hold on." Dan hopped off the bed and reached into his jean pocket. He pulled out his phone and held it up, the flash going off in your face. "Give me a smile?" Your body scrunched up as you gulped.

"Why are you taking pictures?"

"To show the guys, need proof to win." He began typing in his phone as you shot up and pulled your underwear back on. He didn’t seem to notice.

"What do you mean win?" The increased panic in your voice was probably the reason he looked back up.

"Oh shit, yeah we've got this bet on who can bed the most chicks. You were the 11th meaning..." he held his phone up to his face and flexed, "I wiiin."

"So... what?"

"You get out." His phone started ringing, "You didn't actually think we were- hah, look at you and then look at me." He patted you on the shoulder. "Out of your league, slut."

Tears bloated and poured as he answered the phone enthusiastically, waving you away. Quickly scrounging up your clothes and bag, you slammed the door and ran down the staircase without caring about actually putting them on. As soon as your bare foot hit the grass your knees buckled. With your body moving on reflexes, you called the only person you could think of.

"What?" Rick mumbled into the phone, chewing on something. Your hands trembled so much you had to use both to keep the phone steady.

"Can you pick me up?" You managed to calm your breath enough to be coherent.

"Why, wasn't your hot date getting you home? Let me guess, it didn't go well? Take the bus."

"Rick... please" You sobbed loudly and suddenly. The other end of the phone was quiet for a moment.

"What happened?" His voice came through like a breath. Things clattered in the background and Beth asked where he was going. He told her he was going out, location unspecified.

"He- He used me to win a bet and now I'm outside his apartment in my underwear!" You cried and clutched your chest, covering up with your dress. The mascara dripping down your neck settled between the folds.; First time wearing it and it’s already stained.

"Fuck, alright I'll be right there. Don't hang up. I'm tracing your phone." You heard the calming sound of his ship starting up and the garage door creaking open.

- - -

"Alright, I see you." He finally announced after a few minutes and you spotted him descending above the trees. The ship tore the pavement in sparks and Rick jumped out, marching towards you. He cursed and wrapped his coat around you before looking you dead in the eyes and demanding the apartment number. You didn’t hesitate to tell him even before he threatened to burn the whole building down.

"Get in the ship.” He then addressed the machine, “Ship, Keep Y/N safe!" You did as told and watched the scene from inside. A silhouette passed Dan’s window, moving towards the front door. Then light from the hallway filled the room followed by Dan crashing through the window in a blue blast. You swore you could hear his bone crack when he landed.

"Help, oh my god help me!" He shrieked when Rick jumped down from the window. His shoes let out a small shock wave as he landed gracefully next to the screaming man.

"Shut the fuck up!" Rick roared and stomped him square in the chest before pulling out his portal gun, shooting it beneath Dan and just like that the screaming stopped.

"What did you do?" You stammered when he hopped into the ship.

Rick wiped his brow. "Isn't it obvious? I blew up his shit-cave and sent him to a dimension of Loobas. Oh and I sent a virus to all his dickhead friends that spawns a wild dingle-doober, should take care of them." He curved off the sidewalk and lifted into the sky as you clutched the seat. You never really got used to flying in what was basically a modified trashcan.

"Thank you, I didn't think you'd care." You confessed to which he rolled his eyes.

"It's not just about you, I can't stand shit for brains like that. If I get a chance to take one out, I'm doing it. Trust me, they don't change. Got a lot of experience with guys like that."

"You dated a fuckboy?" Your tounge slipped.

"I was the fuckboy. The biggest dick of them all, that's why you gotta trust me on this one. Don't think about it. Whatever he might have said or done, you're better than that. Better than most."

You managed a chuckle, feeling your body come back to you and as you watched him focus on the sky, you realized something. You had convinced yourself that you could move on from your feelings for Rick with someone else, but you were just digging deeper. You wanted to make him see you, maybe even make him jealous. As fucked up as tonight had been, you felt warm knowing Rick was just a phone call away. And he actually cared, if only enough to kick the shit out of someone for you.

Maybe that was all you could hope for. Maybe that was enough.

#rick and morty #rick sanchez #rick sanchez x reader #Rick Sanchez/reader #trigger warning #rick and morty fanfiction

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loki-lover84 · 4 years

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Could Be Worse Part IV

A/N: I feel like in this chapter Endverse!Dean might have been closer to Dean in this but let’s face it we all know what every version of Dean is emotional and family orientated and no one can convince me otherwise so for Endverse!Dean he might appear to be out of character a bit but yeah on with the chapter. I’d like to say Y/n isn’t pathetic in this I promise just put yourself in her shoes if this were to actually happen before you could react just btw.

I woke up the next day with Y/d/n curled up against me, for the first time since the Croatoan virus started I’d actually managed to voluntarily sleep through the whole night and feel well rested. Y/d/n looked so comfortable I couldn’t fight the smile on my face at the sight of her blissful slumber, she’s never experienced sleeping on an actual bed before it must be nice for her to finally know comfort.

There was a light tapping at the door which caused Y/d/n to stir slightly, cautiously I manoeuvred my way out from her side causing as little disturbance as I could before placing the pillow I’d been using to where I was laying to keep my daughter from rolling off the bed as I went to answer the door.

“Good morning. I was wondering if you wanted a tour around the camp to acquaint yourself with everything.” It was the shortest of the bearded men from yesterday, “Oh yeah, I’m Chuck by the way.” He said offering me a bright smile.

“Y/n, I’m sorry for the hassle Y/d/n put you and your friend through yesterday she’s like that to everyone but me, if we were staying long enough though I’m sure she’d probably end up loving you guys.”

“So you aren’t planning on staying?” He asked.

“Not really, I already discussed it with Dean I’ll be helping out around here in any way that’s required until we are fully recovered then we’ll be on our way.” I smiled kindly at him.

Chuck gave me a look as if he was aware of something I wasn’t as mischief and amusement glinted in his sparkling blue eyes.

“Well you may as well get to grips with this place because you aren’t leaving immediately.” I was about to take him up on his offer when.

“Mummy.” Y/d/n called out to me sleepily whilst she rubbed her tired eyes with her tiny fist.

I hurried over to her picking her up and lowering her onto the cabin’s floor before getting her a helping of our rations out of my backpack.

“You know you’re more than welcome to a sharing of our rations while you’re here, don’t you?” Chuck asked as he smiled softly at us.

“I’m trying not to-”

“You won’t be a burden you’ve already said you’re going to help out around here as much as you can before you leave which means, you’ve more than earned access to our food.” By this point Y/d/n had finished eating her food and hurried over to my side holding my hand.

“What do you think, you want to get a better look at this place?” I ask gazing down at her as she nods her head enthusiastically.

We followed Chuck around the enclosed community as he pointed out key locations such as the general inventory cabin, the first aid cabin, the washing facilities and the food cabin. He gave us various bits of information about each place he pointed out and occasionally made comments about some of the residents especially when some glared at my daughter and myself. Eventually we got to a more secluded sort of location and I stopped to take in the sight of a beautiful black car hidden under various leaves and branches. Letting out a low whistle I couldn’t resist the urge to compliment it as I got closer to it.

“She’s stunning, haven’t seen one like this since 2010 she looked exactly like this one...” I trailed off slightly thinking that it might possibly be the same car before vanquishing that idea from my mind.

Chuck lead us away from the car and toward the front gates as the scavenging team began to show up so he could show me how they sorted inventory around here. Each person in the rustic Jeeps were still armed to the teeth as members on the back kept their fire arms up as they kept a look out for any straggling Croats.

“Dean!” Y/d/n squealed as she tugged herself out of my grip and ran in front of the large vehicles before I could grab her.

“STOP!”Chuck and I screamed in panic to the driver.

There was a blur and my daughter was out of sight. My heart stopped, every part of my body went numb as I fought to stay standing. The colour drained from every fibre of my skin, the urge to throw up was irrefutable but my breathing was strangled enough as it.

Dean’s POV

I’m certain I heard Y/d/n call out my name making me glance around for her before I heard the blood curdling screams of “STOP!” I’d briefly caught a glimpse of Y/d/n running out in front of my Jeep, instinctively I leaped over the bonnet of the Jeep and hauled her out of harms way just in time. Her quiet cries grew into heavier and harder sobs over all the chaos from the past few seconds, I picked her up properly and held her tightly to my chest bouncing her gently in my arms whilst approaching the driver.

“When someone in our camp screams at you to stop, you fucking stop immediately! You don’t ask questions! You don’t ignore them! You fucking do it and then if necessary you can ask questions later!” I growled at the man glowering at him murderously. “You were nearly responsible for the death of this child!” Jake was cowered at my tone as I forced him to hear the truth of his absent minded actions.

I know the height and size of our transport is dangerous especially when there are children running around and yes, the majority of the children had been warned to stay away from them but that would never be a one hundred percent guarantee. For fucksake though when frantic voices scream orders at you, you obey because there’s usually a good reason for the panic.

“I-I’m sor-sorry but she-she and I...I didn’t-” Jake struggled to get out his apology and failed to make up an excuse for his almost dire actions.

I rubbed my hand in a soothing circular motion in attempt to ease her cries as I made a note to discuss an appropriate punishment for Jake with Chuck. I began to quietly hum to Y/d/n once I was out of earshot of my surrounding followers, at the same time I was keeping an eye out for Y/n because if Y/d/n was here there was no possible way that Y/n would be far away. I caught glimpse of Chuck crouching on the ground next to someone, I jogged over to him trying to keep Y/d/n steady as I did so. As we got closer it became clear that the person on the ground was Y/n.

“What happened?” I demanded more harshly than required considering it was Chuck.

“Well when her daughter broke free from her grip and ran to greet you then everything happened before she could make a move to stop it, she ended up collapsing.” Chuck calmly explained even though he was clearly concerned about her.

“Get Cas, See if he’s able to pull some things together to make her feel better. Sweetheart I’m gonna need you to walk beside me so I can carry your mom back to your cabin, okay?” She nodded eagerly obeying as I gently wiped away a few of her stray tears before turning to pick up Y/n.

Y/d/n stayed as close to my side as she could whilst we walked the familiar route to her temporary home. Cas and Chuck were at the door by the time we’d arrived, upon seeing us Chuck hurried to get the door open as we headed inside to attend to Y/n. Carefully I placed her onto her bed as Cas rearranged her pillow boarder to make her comfortable.

“Chuck explained the situation on our way over here, she’s probably just in a state of shock but we’ll still have to keep an eye on her.” Cas deduced moving her body into the recovery position to allow easier air flow and prevent choking just in case.

Taking in the pale sight of her unconscious mother Y/d/n began to tear up her young innocent mind probably jumping to the worst case conclusion. I picked her up and held her humming to her, it seems to be the only thing that stops her from crying. Y/d/n hugs me as tightly as she can her cries persist so I hum louder for her, something I feel comfortable with doing now that only Cas and Chuck are present they knew me before this, they know how I used to be. Cas manoeuvred various parts of her body scanning for any injuries before turning to us with a conclusion of his analysis.

“Well good news other than a growing bump on the side of her head from the impact and a developing bruise on her arm she seems fine, her heart rate is a bit off but it is returning to normal. She’ll be dizzy and disorientated to start with but she’ll be back to normal after plenty of rest.”

“I’ll keep an eye on them for the remainder of today. Chuck you and your team check in the latest inventory and Cas you’re going to need to put off your ‘spiritual sessions’ and keep an eye on everything like I’d normally do if anyone gives you any crap tell them to take it up with me.” I ordered as the pair of them left.

“Is mummy okay?” Y/d/n asked tears still evident in her big green eyes as she chocked back a sob.

“Don’t worry Sweetheart she’s going to alright. You should be more careful though and stay close to her at all times, even if it is me you’re coming to see. You scared her earlier when you pulled away from her.” I explained putting on my calmest friendliest tone I could as I stroked her hair gently, I hadn’t been like this in many years. “I want you to promise me two things though,” I said gently placing her on the bed next to Y/n as I crouched before her, she nodded and wiped away a few of her remaining tears, “first I want you to say sorry to your mom when she wakes up and second, now this one is very important, I want you to keep an eye on her make sure she’s okay from time to time, can you do that for me?” I asked gently before turning to gaze at Y/n.

“I promise Dean.” She responded holding out her tiny pinkie finger for me to take in mine, I couldn’t help but smile at her normalcy not many children around the camp knew about pinkie promises or other globally childish behaviours before Croatoan, I’m glad Y/n has taught her some for the first time in quite some time I felt a sense of hope for the future as daft as it sounds.

All of this over a pinkie promise, I must be going soft.

“Thank you for helping my mummy!” Y/d/n said snapping me out of my haze and hugging me as tightly as she could.

After gently rubbing her back I stood up and went to get a chair to watch over them that was until, three dull thuds caught my attention. Turning around I saw her wide green eyes looking up at me as if begging me to join them on the bed. There was something about her that I couldn’t say no to so I silently joined them on the bed only to have her crawl onto my lap and fall asleep in my arms.

I wonder what Sammy would think if he saw me now, he’d probably be glad that I was able to have moments like this during the Apocalypse. He’d probably give me his ‘I told you so face’ before smiling. Son of a bitch Sam! Why’d all this have to happen, why’d you have to say yes to Lucifer? Maybe we could’ve avoided all of this.

Y/n’s body twitches slightly as she lays on the bed. Overcome with a strong undeniable urge to hold her in some way, I reached out with my free hand and gently held her smaller one whilst caressing the back of her hand with my thumb. I don’t understand it! These two are strangers and yet... they feel like... family. There was an undeniable, indescribable pull to them since our first encounter but, I can’t get close to them. Can’t give Lucifer anyone else to take from me.

Y/n’s POV

I stirred slightly my entire body fighting against me, every movement felt like a challenge. Opening my eyes felt like the hardest fight I’d ever had to fight.

“Dean?” I mumble grasping the mans attention.

“How’re you-”

“Y/d/n... where is she... is she-” Dean shushed me quietly as he turned to fully face me so I could see my sleeping unharmed daughter in his arm.

“She’s perfectly fine don’t worry. get some rest and I’ll get you two some water.” Dean placed her next to me and then grabbed a pillow to act as a wall to keep Y/d/n on the bed securely.

“Thank you Dean.” I sighed before succumbing to the urge to rest.

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justal0wk3yg4mer · 4 years

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Things I’ve Said: Dishonored (Some Spoilers)

My words *Player/My actions* Character dialogue

I’m beginning to think that Unreal has a kink for darkness, steampunk, and protagonists that work in the shadows.

‘Rat Plague’? Do you mean the ‘Black Plague’?

A water elevator?! That’s pretty cool.

You know, I think I’m gonna recant my earlier statement. Everything is hella bright, and this dude is apparently a Lord.

Aw, that’s adorable. A tutorial in the form of hide and seek.

Oh I like her. A monarchy that actually gives a shit about ALL her people. Also, the title Empress? That’s more badass than Queen.

WTF! That was the quickest game progression I’ve ever been through, those fuckers are defiantly the villians. Who happens upon a murder, sees a man who is obviously upset about the death of his Empress, which I’m beginning to wonder if she was something more to him than just his Empress, and think ‘Oh yeah. He killed her.’

Guard: This meal comes from a friend. Oh does it now? The poisoning kind or the file in the food kind. *A few seconds later.* The kind that know how to hook a brother up!

Are the rats following me? Do I have some kind of connection with them like they help me or something? :D *Proceeds to watch as a group of rats attack and eat two grown men.* Nope, hungry. They are hungry. :(

What kind of black magic BS.

Thanks for the burn mark asshole, also all this power but at what cost. If this stuff is gonna make me go mental, I don’t want it.

Watching me with great interest? Okay, you do you boo.

Granny Rags, you are a delight. I hope I see more of you.

I’m sorry, you can’t be a doctor and have infected rats running around your home. That makes no sense.

Aw thank you Granny Rags, you’re such an angel! Even though you just had me poison most of the gang population.

*Reads graffiti* Not gonna lie, I thought that said send nudes.

Samuels, I feel like you’re the real OG.

Wait, I was just fucking with the mask’s optics just a minute ago. Now you’re physically putting the mask on which would mean I wasn’t wearing it when I was messing with the optics? That’s so weird GamingSins would sin that.

Slackjaw: Somebody put plague in the brew. Wow that’s terrible, I wonder who would do something like that. Now are you gonna help me or what?

First of all, you still don’t know who has it out for you and if you think it’s Granny Rags then I can’t help you there. Second, you said that you would get me into the Golden Cat. You gave me a key to the building beside the Golden Cat. Now I have to go to the roof of said building, get onto the Golden Cat’s roof and then I still have to find a way into the Golden Cat. You are useless to me.

*Looks all over the Golden Cat first before doing the mission.* Upstairs? I was just upstairs and I didn’t..............*thinks about it for a minute and realizes that I didn’t check a room because I thought a prostitute was in there and I didn’t want to waste a sleeping dart.*........ I am such a dumbass.

Excuse me? I just saved you, no way am I going to let you wonder off-- *Emily disappears* Disrespectful little shit.

I am an independent highly chaotic man who don’t need no Lord Regent.

*Kidnaps the physician and then ‘blinks’ my way down to Samuals* Not gonna lie, I feel like I just cheated the game.

Physician: My will is strong. Bitch, I got rats.

Tallboys? That’s too easy. *A few deaths later* Fuck tallboys, fuck ‘em.

I really don’t want to kill this chick, where is the nonlethal mission at? *Does the nonlethal mission and puts Waverly in a boat with a clearly obsessed man.* Maybe this was this a bad idea............... oh well not my problem now.

Emily, honey, I would die for you.

*I was on my 15th time trying to get into the Lord Regents building with NO health potions and trying my damn hardest to be sneaky* Fuck me. I CAN’T. No nonlethal alternative for you bitch.

If the Lord Regent really doesn’t know who I’m at this point, I’m gonna laugh.

I am definitely earning this high chaos rating.

I know I said no nonlethal for the Regents earlier but I’ve got this bitch’s confession tape and now I really want to put this on full blast and listen to his dumbass explanation. So it’s off to the broadcasting station!

*Walks around the party, talks to people and notices Corvo’s vision fading in and out* Corvo, I am so much younger than you and it takes me several drinks before I begin to get even slightly tipsy. What the fu-.........poison. They poisoned you didn’t they? *Scene cuts to the guys confessing that they poisoned Corvo.* You idiots.

Samuals you really are the real OG.

Corvo, Emily better be your fucking kid. Even if she isn’t, claim her as a dependent then get the fuck outta dodge.

I’ve only seen you fuckers (assassins) once when you attacked me out of the blue. Why are you a problem now?

Assassin: We have to watch out. This ones clever. *Me who is done with everyone’s bullsh*t and holding a full whale tank from a high vantage point.* You forgot vindictive.

*Woman tells me about the plague wagon.* Ha! Bring out ya dead! (Monty Python anyone?)

Granny, honey? What the fuck are you doing?

Can I please be done? Like seriously, most of this is not necessary.

*Enters the lighthouse* You know, for once, I would like to enter a place and not be assaulted by an orchestra. Also love the marbling.

Havelock’s diary! What juicy rumors will we read about today? *Reads for a few minutes.* And surprise, surprise. Corvo, you are the father.

*Saves Emily* Emily honey I’m so glad you’re okay! Don’t know how your doing mentally, but physically you look okay! Emily: I’m going to be Empress now. ................That tone you’re using concerns me.

All and all it wasn’t too bad of a game, it just got a little tedious for me towards the end. I did get a kick out of the fact that I was playing a game that had a virus that was very similar that what we have now (not exactly funny but more of an odd coincidence). Anyway, the tally for this game was kinda stupid. I didn’t exactly say this lot but I was stupid enough to say it, so I figured everyone would get a kick out of it. For those that are not familiar with the game, Corvo get superpowers (cult powers? IDK). Whenever you use them, there is a voice that says something (I have a ps4 so the voice came through the controller). That voice scared me.............many times (I really am stupid sometimes). So ladies and gents here is your tally for dishonored:

What did my controller just say? : 25

#Things I've Said #video games #gaming #dishonored #corvo #emily

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emberbent · 4 years

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Book 2: Air | Chapter 3: The Spirit Room

[Content warning: Death of a child]

“I’m concerned about you.” Jinora lifted her tea cup to her lips and sipped at her tea pragmatically.

Shinza pushed her rice around with her chopsticks. “Why?”

The Elder eyed the Avatar through the steam that came from her tea. “Lo Sang tells me you progressed quickly in the beginning. You even showed a strong aptitude for the foundations, until your accident. Ever since then, you haven’t progressed at all.”

Shinza said nothing. Jinora was spot-on. Since the day she’d learned that her parents had hid her status from her, she hadn’t been able to produce a single gust of wind. She was having trouble meditating, too. Behind her eyelids, thoughts came to the surface that she couldn’t make disappear: visions of the light circling her head, of Amrit’s look of disappointment when she couldn’t produce a flame.

“I don’t know what to do with myself,” Shinza replied after a beat. “I don’t know what to do with this anger.”

Jinora set her tea cup down and gazed sympathetically at Shinza. “You’re being overly hard on yourself,” she soothed. “While it’s true you don’t have all the time in the world, you’re forcing yourself through something that will clearly take more time than you think.”

Shinza’s eyes flashed upward at Jinora for a second. The kindness she saw in her dark brown eyes was too much, and she looked dejectedly back down into her bowl.

“Will you take a walk with me?” Jinora requested.

Shinza felt like walking back to her room and crawling into her bed, despite the fact that the sun wouldn’t set for another hour or so. “Okay.”

Crickets chirped their evening melody as the two of them strolled in silence. Jinora held onto Shinza, who walked slowly so that Jinora could keep her pace, despite the pain in her joints. Eventually, they came to Jinora’s favorite place in the temple. The meditation circle was a patch of packed dirt in a grassy clearing, twenty yards in diameter. Around the perimeter, enormous stone monoliths jutted from the earth, towering over the two women. On each stone, the ancient air nomads had carved the symbol of their element. Stepping over the threshold, Shinza immediately felt the potent spiritual energy that permeated the space. The little hairs on her arms stood on end.

“Have a seat,” Jinora instructed gently. Painstakingly, she settled down on a patch of moss growing in a crescent-shape around the center of the circle. Shinza settled across from her mentor.

Jinora studied her for a moment. Then she said, “You feel overcome by your emotions.”

“I guess I do,” Shinza sighed.

“The true mind can weather all lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed,” Jinora recited. “Avatar Aang, my grandfather, received this advice when struggling to decide how to proceed on his journey. He passed it down to my father, who passed it on to me.”

Shinza scoffed. “So you’re telling me I need to get over it?”

“Not at all,” Jinora replied patiently. “By all means, you should take the time you need to process this new information and the way it makes you feel. What I’m saying is that it’s important to remember that your emotions are pieces of information, just like truths. Just like lies. Study the emotions you feel as if they are not your own, as if they are bottled in little glass jars. Accept them. Catalog them. And then let them go. A fully realized Avatar understands that emotions should inform, but they should never dictate.”

“What you’re saying makes sense,” Shinza replied as calmly as she could, scarcely veiling the frustration in her voice. “I just can’t see past this resentment. This disgust.”

Jinora snorted amicably, surprising Shinza. “You remind me of Korra,” she said. “Perhaps you should speak to her.”

Shinza’s brows furrowed. “How do I do that?”

“Through meditation,” Jinora instructed. “Do you remember the way you reached inward and found my name within you when you first arrived? You can reach Korra the same way.”

Jinora was already hoisting herself up onto her feet, waving away Shinza’s protests. “I’ll give you your privacy,” she said. “I’ll make my own way back.” As she passed by, she put a friendly hand on her shoulder. “I wish you luck, child.”

Shinza sighed heavily, begrudgingly crossing her legs and seeing out of the corner of her eye that Jinora had left a stick of incense and a holder behind. She leaned over and pinched the end of the incense to light it. Fragrant smoke wafted around her. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

Korra, she thought. She reached out into the empty space inside her mind. I need to speak to you.

“Dude, lower the volume.”

Shinza startled, opening her eyes and finding herself in a room whose layout was suspiciously similar to the meditation circle. She sat on a comfy cushion facing the middle of the room, smelling the incense that burned beside her on the physical plane. Across from her sat Avatar Korra, and in her arms wriggled a small boy, no older than a year and a half.

“I… what?”

“You’re so loud,” Korra replied. “I can hear you just fine.”

Shinza’s vision slowly adjusted to the dim light, and she settled in the comfortable atmosphere. “Sorry. I didn’t know it’d be so easy to find you.”

Korra snorted. “No trouble. I had the opposite problem when I was the Avatar. Couldn’t meditate to save my life.”

Shinza studied the young woman across from her; sinewy, athletic build, casual Southern Water Tribe clothing, vivid blue eyes. She smirked. “So you’re her. My past life.”

“Well, no,” Korra replied, sticking her hands under the small boy’s armpits to lift him up and set him on her lap. “This guy is. Avatar Yeong.”

At the mention of his name, Yeong looked up at Korra and followed her gaze over to Shinza. Immediately intrigued, he wriggled away from Korra’s grasp and toddled toward her. Shinza held her arms out to him, feeling a complex knot grow in the pit of her stomach. “Hi there,” Shinza whispered. He stared at her, dark eyes glimmering with wonder as he reached out and palmed her dark braid.

“Ah?” he said.

Shinza nodded seriously. “Yes. Hi.”

“Ah.”

Looking at his small hands and the fine, downy tufts of black hair on his little head, Shinza couldn’t bring herself to imagine that he had died so young. He plopped his little bottom into her lap and contented himself with tangling his fingers in the end of her braid.

“It’s tragic, isn’t it?” Korra said soberly.

Shinza replied, “I don’t want to think about it.”

“Had he had a chance to live, he would have been insanely powerful,” Korra said. “His mother had a very hard time with the pregnancy. She was all alone, you know - his dad wasn’t in her life anymore, and she had no money. No family to help her. Once he was born, she started noticing that Yeong wouldn’t look away from the fireplace. He’d stare and stare. And then the bricks around the hearth start to crack. Soon after that, she noticed she was being followed.”

“Lo Sang told me he died of an illness,” Shinza replied. “What was it?”

“It was no illness. It was a biological weapon meant to assassinate the Avatar and his mother.”

Shinza’s heart dropped into her guts. “The Organization?” she whispered.

“You bet your fuckin’ ass it was The Org,” Korra spat. “Check the newspaper articles from the time. They tried to make it out like it was a contagious virus, but there was no outbreak of any kind in Ba Sing Se at the time.”

Yeong had stuck Shinza’s hair in his mouth. She looked down at him, into his eyes, and felt the same connection to him that she’d felt to Aang’s statue in Yue Bay, and the same connection she felt to Korra sitting across from her. She felt her arms circling around Yeong protectively. In Korra’s face, she found a reflection of her own abject disgust.

“I don’t understand how anyone could murder a child.” Shinza struggled to keep her voice even. “In Fire Fountain City, The Org has been spreading rumors that the Avatar eats children to maintain their power. But it’s them. They’re the murderers. I just can’t believe they’d be willing to go that far to end the Avatar cycle.”

“There has always been someone out to get us,” Korra replied. “In Aang’s time, it was Firelord Ozai. In my time, it was Zaheer. And now you have to deal with The Org.”

“Every time I make a little progress,” Shinza started, “Every time I think I start to understand my place in all this, I learn something that sets everything back. Sometimes I think maybe the world doesn’t deserve an Avatar. Not if they kill children.”

Korra looked on. “Maybe some people don’t,” she replied. “I know I encountered my fair share of people who didn’t deserve a damn thing. But most people do. Yeong deserved to stay alive, and so did his mother. You have to find a way to stop them, Shinza. No matter what it takes. If you let them kill you - if you let them kill the Avatar state - their deaths will have been in vain, and there will be no fixing the chaos that will ensue. Those few undeserving will destroy everything.”

Yeong squirmed and grunted as he removed himself from Shinza’s lap, content to trot around in the room they occupied. Korra pinned Shinza with an intense gaze. “Promise me you won’t let them win.”

“I promise,” Shinza hissed with resolution. “I swear on my life. On all our lives.”

Korra launched herself forward and surprised-embraced Shinza in a long, tight hug. “I’m sorry it has to be like this, but I’m so glad to finally meet you,” she gushed.

“You too,” Shinza replied. “You’re the first past life I’ve ever spoken to like this.”

“Yeah, well,” Korra snorted. “Sorry about that. It’s kind of my fault you can’t talk to the others. But I’m always around if you need me. All you have to do is reach out. Quietly.”

Shinza settled back on her pillow.

“One more thing before you go,” Korra said. “Jinora and I have this Pai Sho game going in the Spirit World. It’s been running for decades. Will you tell her it’s her move?”

Shinza promised she would. Then she brought herself slowly back to her body.

The next morning at sunrise, Shinza came to the mountaintop wearing the Fire Nation clothes she brought with her to the temple, with her small pack slung over her shoulder. Lo Sang took one look and knew what was happening. “I think you should stay here,” the young one advised from her cross-legged position.

“I know you do,” Shinza replied, “And I respect your position, Sifu. But I need to find my own way to get past this.”

Lo Sang scanned her pupil’s face. “Did speaking to Korra not help you?”

“I found a letter on my bed last night after I spoke to her,” Shinza replied. “It was from the contract Dai Li agent that suppressed my memories and my bending. She regrets her actions and wants a chance to apologize in person.”

“I see,” Lo Sang sounded. She unfolded herself and stood, looking way up at Shinza. Her teacher-mask dissipated, and concern made her pale eyes glimmer. “I can see how this might help you work past it. I just want you to be careful.”

“I will,” Shinza promised. “I’ll come back as soon as I’m finished.” Then she whistled for Xia, mounted, and rode west.

Gaoling, in the southeastern region of the Earth Kingdom, was a small but thriving town. As Xia brought her to the outskirts, Shinza slid off her back as a misty rain began to fall. “Thank you,” she said to the dragon, pressing her palm affectionately against her scarlet scales. Xia’s whisker brushed Shinza’s cheek. Be careful.

She made her way into town at a brisk pace to outrun the rain, which started pouring down in sheets just as she ducked under the awning of a nearby stretch of shops. Pulling the letter out of her pack, she reread the address, comparing it to the street signs she passed. By the look of it, she was headed toward an inn. What business did this woman have in this town? She wondered. Why weren’t they meeting someplace like a restaurant? Once she found the building, she paused, breathing deeply and preparing herself. For what, she wasn’t sure. The innkeeper scarcely noticed her as she strode past the front desk and down a long hallway, stopping at door three.

She knocked. No one answered.

She knocked again, and when there was still no answer, she tried the doorknob, finding the room unlocked.

“Yanyu?” she called, stepping carefully inside. Something was wrong. The room looked to be empty. Then the door closed behind her with a creak.

“Shinza,” purred a woman’s low voice from the shadows. “You are a good, quiet girl. You are not a bender.”

Her vision faded. Her pupils widened, drowning out the red-brown of her irises. “I am a good, quiet girl,” she repeated, falling to her knees. She felt earthen cuffs gripping her wrists, felt herself being dragged along the wooden floorboards. “I am not a bender.”

___

@chromecutie @my-remedy-is-euphoria @hetapeep41 @jaymzbush

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ebaeschnbliah · 5 years

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M O N S T E R S I N C

________________________________________________________________

... and it’s stunning similarities with Sherlock BBC

MONSTERS, INC is a computer-animated comedy from 2001, produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. A modern fairytale, so to speak. I stumbled across this movie by accident while researching the ‘221b door’ tag on my blog and found an old tweet from Arwel Wyn Jones (x) posted during the filming of Series Four. Watching the movie turned out to be quite the eye-opener. :)

It’s not so much the plot of that movie but rather certain images which remind me strongly of Sherlock BBC. A lot of images, to be precise, but also some dialogues and one distinct voice. Watching MONSTERS, INC really left me speechless at times.

Related posts: The Monsters are loose (initially I’d chosen to name this post ‘Monsters Inc’ but that was before I watched the movie) Overlaps Playing with skulls (soon) Laughs or Screams, additional informations

The ‘monster post’ is waiting below the cut for the fearless …. :))))

For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie: MONSTERS, INC mostly plays in Monstropolis, a city in a parallel universe. The only places where the monster- and the human-world can connect, are the closet doors in children’s beedrooms. Here skilled monsters - the ‘scarers’ - appear at night to harvest the screams of terrified kids. Just like in the human world, the majority of the monsters aren’t evil, nor mean they any harm to the children. Monsters are actually more scared of human kids than the kids are of them. The harvested screams are badly needed because they provide the energy which is necessary to power the monster’s world. And because children are constantly becoming less easily scared, the screams decrase more and more, which means that an energie krisis threatens.

Initially the storyline for MONSTERS, INC had been a different one though:

Pete Docter's (director and writer) original idea revolved around a 30-year old man dealing with monsters, which he drew in a book as a child, coming back to bother him as an adult. Each monster represented a fear he had and conquering those fears caused the monsters to eventually disappear. (X)

The logo of MONSTERS, INC, the powerstation where screams are harvested to light the Monster’s world, combines the symbol of the eye and the letter M. I simply can’t help unsee a certain similarity with the logo for TheGameIsNow. That’s quite thought provoking, to say the least.

The two leading characters in the monster world are scarer James P. "Sulley" Sullivan and his best friend and roommate Mike Wazowski, who is also his assistant at work. A big blue, fluffy guy wearing horns and a short, one-eyed, green guy who prefers to sit in a green egg-chair …. a bit similar to the one from the stagnight scene inTSOT.

Sulley holds the top position among all the scarers of Monstropolis. With military-like training Mike takes care that his friend stays in best form.

Hey! Less talk, more pain, marshmallow boy! Feel the burn! You call yourself a monster?

The most successful scarers are celebrated like stars. Everyone knows them. They can’t go anywhere without being recognized and asked for autographs. And when they enter their company it looks like a hero parade.

Future scarers have to undergo a special training in a high-tec simulation room. Here they are taught everything of importance, including the art of scaring children most efficiently in order to get the perfect scream.

Listen to the lady in front of the surveillance screens who teaches screaming (at 01.40) …. but beware … she sounds an awful lot like Eurus Holmes ….

youtube

And this is the big boss, the chairman of MONSTERS, INC … Mr. Waternoose. He is very proud of his job, which has been passed down through his family for three generations. He acts as Sulley’s mentor and holds great faith in him as a scarer. Additionally …. he reminds me very much of Mycroft in TAB.

The monsters believe that harvesting screams is enormously dangerous, because children are deemed to be toxic, that their touch could kill them. Agents of a special task force - the Child Detection Agency - are on constant alert to neutralize any contamination with objects belonging to the human world.

As soon as anything suspicious has been detected, the ‘big bad bouncy red alert’ goes off, cameras zoom in and then CDA agents enter right through the skylights to take care of the problem. Like AGRA in Tiblisi , really! I couldn’t help a yelp watching this little scene below ….

And then ..... shaved by AGRA … sorry, by CDA, of course …. :))))

The day comes, however, when the unimaginable happens and a human child enters the monster world. And Sulley, the most famous scarer of all, is almost scared to death. I’m really tempted to call this an ‘Eurus-efffect’ ...

Thankfully, Sulley also has a heart of pure gold. He overcomes his fear - a little bit - and takes the human child home. His partner Mike is definitely not amused but helps anyway. Courageously, the friends prepare for the worst case scenario ...

Sulley, the Viking, with shield and horned helm and Mike, who seems to have ransacked the kitchen Cabinet instead. The little ‘killer-girl’ though is completely unimpressed ...

The evening starts rather chaotic, which results in some remarkable accidents … I guess I know now where the idea of shoving a big pack of cigarettes into Sherlock’s mouth comes from …. and maybe Sherlock’s spraying attack on the CIA agent in ASIB as well.

Finally the situation calms down. Sulley beginns to supect that human kids might not be toxic after all. The little girl has a real crush on the fluffy, blue monster. She believes Sulley is a big cat and starts calling him ‘Kitty’. Looks like ‘killer girl’ is a cat lover. :) Against Mike’s advice, Sulley decides to give the girl a name as well. He settles for ‘Boo’ because she likes nothing more than to scare him.

And Boo likes to draw …. Spoiler: Boo doesn’t burn down the house.

Eventually Boo gets tired. A trace of goodies (not breadcrumbs) leads the little girl to bed.

By the way: The book based on the film gives Boo's "real" name as Mary Gibbs, the name of her voice actress. (x)

The architecture of Mike’s and Sulley’s flat … the wide arch in the living room and in Sulley’s bedroom (Mike’s bedroom is never shown) … instantly reminded me of the very similar structure chosen for the 221b Baker Street livingroom set in PILOT.

What would any fairytale be without a good old-fashioned villain. In this case it’s a villain who looks suspiciously like a Chinese dragon. And naturally, where there is a dragon there needs to be a dragon slayer as well.

Randall, the dragon-like monster is one of the most wicked characters in Monstropolis. He works as scarer but holds only the second place on the company’s success-list behind Sulley. Randall’s envy is huge. He is driven by his desire to displace his opponent from the top of the list. One can safely say that ‘murderous jealousy’ is a good description of Randall’s motivation. But his plan to capture the all-time scare record, only scratches the surface of his sinister agenda.

But before it comes to the ‘slaying’, the nasty reptile tries to torture Mike, to find out where the missing human child is hiding.

Randall: SAY HELLO TO THE SCREAM EXTRACTOR! (Jim in TAB: Well, say hello to the virus.)

This is what Randall has created in a secret lab to prevent the looming energy crisis of his world … a machine to harvest the screams of children by force and not through the acting skills of trained scarers. Mike’s unimpressed answer to this realisation:

Mike: WELL, SOMEBODY'S CERTAINLY BEEN A BUSY BEE (Mycroft in TEH: You have been busy, haven’t you? Quite the busy little bee.)

That’s not a joke … and the way down to the secret lab looks strikingly familiar as well ...

Needless to say that Sulley arrives just in time to rescue his friend … but that’s not the end of the story and also not the end of similarities with Sherlock BBC.

Some nice little images in-between: a fish mobile from Boo’s bedroom in which Sulley gets tangled up in, a toy train, a toy ship and a toy plane from the high-tech simulation room. Rater similar items can be detected in Sherlock BBC as well (TST, MHR and TFP). Especially the plane reminds me of the one Eurus’ plays with near the brook.

More familiar images:

the prominent display of the letter M - often in combination with an eye

a precious littel thing ... Boo, who wears pink underneath her disguise as monster, hides in a bin

a rather ‘big G’ painted on a wall

And there are eyes wherever one looks ...

Even contact lenses can be found ...

Mike’s love interest is a lady with hissing snakes for hairs, who works as receptionist in their company ….

At one point the hero’s life is threatened by a deep fall, caused by his opponent, Randall, the nasty ‘dragon’.

Seeing Sulley’s life threatened, Boo overcomes her fear of the reptile-like monster. She attacks him violently. This gives Sulley the time he needs to get out of the critical situation.

And WOW!!! What changeable creature this villain is ……. even Jim ‘I’m so changeable’ Moriarty would be inmpressed.

Randall’s exceptional talent for any kind of masquerade is also demonstrated in a little scene involving a portrait of the company’s chairman, Mr. Waternoose.

The face of a chairman, covered by something related to a dragon … this reminds me instantly of TBB and Sir William, the former chairman of the bank, whose face had been covered with the yellow spray-paint, applied by a member of the Yellow Dragon Circus.

To their dismay, Sulley and Mike discover that Randall isn’t just a jealous colleague. What is far worse, the changeable villain doesn’t work alone. His partner in cirme turns out to be none other than Mr. Waternoose, the big boss of the company. The two of them intend to use Boo for their experiments with the scream extractor, while Sulley and Mike get banished from Monstropolis and are sent into exile .. to the Himalayas. No return expected.

There is no plane involved as in Sherlock’s case, but strictly speaking, the way in which the ‘sending into exile’ happens, can indeed be seen as a variation of ‘flyihg’ …

Snow falls at the place where they land, somewhere in the Himalayan mountains.

While the Himalayas, more precisely Tibet, is closely connected to Sherlock’s hiatus after Reichenbach, the falling snow can also be found in TAB, the place Sherlock finds himself in, as a result of his ‘going into exile’ at the end of HLV … London in the winter 1895.

And it doesn’t take long before the dark shadow of a scary creature falls over them … a seemingly monstrous creature which is covered all over in ‘bridal white’ fur ….

May I introduce you to …. Yeti, the ABOMINABLE snowman!

"ABOMINABLE"! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? DO I LOOK ABOMINABLE TO YOU? WHY CAN'T THEY CALL ME THE ADORABLE SNOWMAN OR...OR THE AGREEABLE SNOWMAN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD? I'M A NICE GUY.

He is really a very nice guy and helps Sulley and Mike to get back where they came from and where they are badly needed by Boo. Randall is not amused but this time it is him who looses the game.

Yeti’s nickname was inspired by the Abominable Snowman from the 1964 animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (X). Knowing this, one could view that bridal-white character also as a sort of Christmas connection. :))))

And have I mentioned those horns?

Some more lovely images: a shot from the inside out of a small box (without a severed head in it though), no fire-extinguisher but it looks like one, silhouettes behind glass, safety helmets (X) and ... flickering screens ….

At the story’s finale, the simulation room from the beginning - a bedroom on a stage with a ‘fake’ victim lying in it and with a moving wall - I’m not kidding - becomes the ‘confession room’ for the main culprit. And of course, every word of his confession gets recorded. Somehow this reminds me strongly of another scene … another film … what was it again? It’s on the tip of my tongue ….

It turns out that chairman Waternoose had already been under close observation by CDA undercover agent 001 - code name Roz (not AMO). An elderly, quite steely lady, who turns out to be his superior. Waternoose gets arrested and Sulley becomes the new chairman of MONSTERS, INC.

Now the time has come for Boo to return to the human world. Sulley takes the little girl back through the closet door into her room, where they part after a big good-bye hug.

Then the closet door which leads to her bedroom gets shredded, to prevent any future contact. But Boo’s short visit to the monster world had a huge impact. It proved that a child's laugh has ten times the power of a child's scream. The energy crisis of Monstropolis is solved. From now on laughter is harvested instead of screams and the power generated this way, is enormous. Mike turns out to be best harvester for laughs ever.

Because Mike knows how much Sulley misses the little human girl, he collects and secretly reassembles the pieces of Boo's shredded door so that it can be activated again.

The End

The song "If I Didn't Have You" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Mike: ♪ But I must admit it. Big guy, you always come through. I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have you. ♪ Mike and Sulley: ♪ You and me together. That's how it always should be. One without the other don't mean nothin' to me. Nothin' to me. ♪

Sulley: ♪ I don't have to say it. 'Cause we both know it's true.♪ Both: ♪ I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have... I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have... I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have you. ♪ Mike: ♪ You! You! A-E-I-O... That means you. Yeah. ♪

And doesn’t this almost sound like …. ‘just the two of us against the rest of the world’?

Hopefully you enjoyed the rather long ride. I can highly recommend this movie to anyone. It’s so much more fun watching it with ones own eyes than just reading a summary. This said, I leave you now to your own deductions. Thanks for reading that far. :)

August, 2019

#monsters inc #images #comparison #sherlock bbc #similarities

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crushedbyhyperbole · 4 years

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Feeling’s Mutual

Summary: When Bucky Barnes agreed to join The Avengers he didn’t know what to expect. There was kindness and support, more than he could have hoped for, and understanding. There was also misunderstanding. Dr Veronica Edwards is a hurdle Bucky can’t seem to get past. Why she doesn’t like him, he has no clue but it’s obvious to him that she really doesn’t. When routine testing on the new prosthetic arm puts him in Dr Edwards med-suite he finds himself angry at the lengths his new team will go to in order to keep him on a leash. After that, Bucky decides that maybe he doesn’t like her much either.

Word Count: 4284

Warnings: Self-loathing and a smattering of PTSD with some mild language thrown in.

A/N: This is part one of my Muscle memory series..POV Bucky Barnes, first person. Set between CA:CW and A:IW, with some of the later story mixed in. I do what I want, okaaayyyy.

“Good morning, Sergeant Barnes.”

Dr Veronica Edwards’ smooth voice surprised me. She was standing in for Dr Harvey while he was off sick with a stomach virus. I wasn’t expecting to see any of the ladies here this morning, so I hadn’t bothered with anything more vigorous than a quick wash and a cursory brush of my teeth. You know how you regret not doing something just when it’s too late? Yeah, this was one of those.

Being dapper had been part of my persona, from back before Hydra, before trigger codes and before the war; a man should always make an effort when ladies are present. I supposed that was all out the window now my reputation had changed and I wasn’t James Buchannan Barnes, ladies man, any more. I was Bucky Barnes, Winter Soldier.

I winced as the shadow of a memory flickered in my minds eye like a film reel running too fast, showing snippets of the film in between its skips and jumps on the projector; a murder here, a massacre there, they all flowed together in a tapestry that was as blurry as it was busy. The reel skipped off completely and I refocused on her face.

Dr Edwards smiled warmly, moist-looking nude lips curling upward gently making the peachy complexion of her cheeks seem radiant and her green eyes sparkle with kindness. I knew that was just her bed-side manner, so to speak, to be kind and considerate to all of the people she assisted, but honestly it made me feel a little uneasy. In my extensive experience, niceness was either a weakness, a grave miscalculation or a form of manipulation, and I trusted none of it. But I was trying to change that with the help of Steve and the folks here at Avengers Central.

Striding further into the room, looking thoroughly classy in my black jersey sweatpants and crumpled white t-shirt, I squared my shoulders and tried to push the uneasy feeling aside. I regretted wearing the two-day-old clothes, but the Doc didn’t seem to care how scruffy I was.

Dr Edwards was always pleasant, courteous and respectful. She was also confident and empowered, and it made me feel pretty vulnerable. She knew who she was, and what she wanted. That kind of strength was rare and it made me feel, uhhh, inadequate.

“Shirt off please.” She held eye contact for a moment longer than was comfortable. “Take a seat when you’re ready.” She gestured to the blue, leather-cushioned examination table to her right.

Hopping up, as instructed, I stripped my shirt off to reveal musculature that I was proud of (super-soldier serum aside - I’d worked hard to stay in shape), and the scarred juncture where my flesh ended and the arm began. I bunched the shirt up at my side and shook out both arms, getting ready for the exam.

Dr Edwards, had conducted my monthly exam only three times in the past. Each time she had neither been impressed nor distracted by my semi-naked glory. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why she made me uneasy. In the past, women had always thrown themselves at my feet, without my asking them, they’d been there flirting and giggling and vying for attention.

Not Veronica, she was in her own category, she didn’t even bite at the little flirtatious jibes I sometimes made towards the ladies on the team. With the exception of Nat, Wanda, and Pepper, all of the female SHIELD agents and Stark Industries staff were either terrified of or swooned after me. Well, me, Steve and Thor. It was hard to compete with the two big blonde guys but Nat said I still had it. Whatever it was.

Shame my sex drive wasn’t the same as it had been before, well, before hydra.

“How are you finding the latest modification?” Dr Edwards said, holding her hand out casually asking for permission to examine the arm.

I lifted the tech arm, laying the wrist into her palm lightly. I could feel so much more through the articulated metal casing than I could before, it almost felt like she was really touching my skin. Her hands were cool, smooth and soft, and her fingers were delicate as she deftly turned the metal hand over in hers until our palms were touching.

“It’s fine.” I said gruffly, the feel of her skin on the metal was distracting and oddly intimate.

“It’s taking you a while to get used to the enhanced tactile responses I take it?”

I’d worn a leather glove over the metal hand since Shuri had come up with this new upgrade. It was like sensory overload, overwhelming me with intense feeling that my brain could hardly cope with.

I simply nodded, for want of a better response. She was so intuitive. I’d hardly spoken with her but it was like she could see right inside me and pick out the parts that she needed to know. How could anyone defend against that? Maybe she had a telepathic power. Steve would know. I decided I’d ask him later when we both hit the gym.

“It’s ok to be overwhelmed. I can turn the sensitivity down for you today if you’d prefer, or you can continue wearing the glove and just ease yourself in slowly?”

In truth, I didn’t really like to be tinkered with. And I only went along with this monthly exam because Steve had made it mandatory in order to make everyone feel safer, and for my own good, apparently. That’s what he’d said anyway. I couldn’t argue with his reasoning really. I had a past that was impossible to escape and a reputation for murder and brutality that went with it.

“I’ll just do it myself.” I’d succeeded on my own for so long, so I should be able to overcome a few issues with feeling things.

“No problem.” Veronica said, plugging a ribbon cable into the port just inside my metal armpit. “Right then, show me your range of motion. Start with fingers, then wrist, elbow, and shoulder. I’m looking for improved flexibility in the rotator cuff from last time when we fixed the pinching at the shoulder.”

I wiggled all the parts she asked me to with no discomfort at all. The tech felt the smoothest it had ever been, almost like it was a real arm but I would always see it as foreign, never think of it as mine. It was something I wore, like shoes, necessary and functional. I knew I’d feel off-balance without it, and fighting would be difficult.

With the arm Bucky Barnes was a fully functioning member of The Avengers. Without it he was a pity case, or at least that’s how it felt.

“Step up to the testing machine, please Sergeant Barnes.” She didn’t look up from her tablet, but she stepped confidently to the control panel with the ease of someone who had memorised the space and knew exactly what was where.

I had never seen that machine before. It looked a little like a mini hydraulic crusher. Eying it suspiciously, I slid off the exam bench and approached, shirt forgotten on the table. The diagnostic cable was still plugged in under the arm and although I couldn’t feel the physical connection, I could feel the flow of power as data passed from the arm to the tablet in Dr Edwards’ hands.

“This is new.” I licked my lips, slightly nervous.

New things made me uneasy. New things were variables, variables were risks, risks were dangerous.

“It’s a custom-made tensile strength machine, made just for you.” She smiled brightly as if I should be flattered that they’d come up with a new way to scrutinize me. “Only instead of testing the strength of the metal your arm is made from, it measures the crushing ability and the strength of your arm in a way we can compare easily with other things for example the tensile strength of structural steel is around five hundred mega pascals. Human skin is around twenty mega pascals. Vibranium, well, vibranium is significantly higher at fifty giga pascals but that doesn’t reflect the force you can apply with your arm, if you know what I mean.”

I didn’t. Not really, but I wasn’t about to ask her to elaborate. She was smarter than most of the techs working at Stark Industries, I’d heard the iron-skin-suit call her brilliant but until now I’d never seen her as anything more than a junior tech.

“You made it?” I asked with a frown.

“Helped design it yes.” She held my gaze almost as if she sensed my disapproval.

Trust a woman to come up with new ways to test and torture me. As if I hadn’t had enough of that my whole super-soldier life.

“What do I have to do?”

Veronica ran through the protocols and procedures, and I got the feeling she dumbed it down a little when she described it as ‘weight training for your enhanced limb’.

Slotting the arm into the device, I patiently waited for her to check and double-check the alignment and safety measures. The commands of pull and squeeze seemed simple enough to follow.

“Are you ready to start the test, Sergeant Barnes?”

I nodded with another frown. She was going to start thinking I hated her, and probably start calling me ‘him’ instead of just my military title. It wasn’t lost on me that Veronica was one of very few people who never called me by my preferred name ‘Bucky’, she was always so formal.

“Ok, and pull for me.”

I compressed the arm in a bicep curl, feeling the machine’s tension counteracting my efforts. It was like pulling an oar through water to begin with.

“And again.” She commanded. “Keep repeating until you meet maximum resistance.”

“How will I know when that is?” I curled again, feeling the weight against the arm increase.

“You and the machine will reach an impasse. You won’t be able to pull any more.”

I mumbled a nondescript acknowledgement and continue to work the arm. At first it was easy, I curled quickly but after a few minutes I found it much tougher. The machine ramped up the difficulty quickly after my initial efforts and then I was grunting, sweating, and straining against the mechanism.

“Good. Good!” She praised and I felt a little hotter in the face with either a blush or sweat, it was hard to tell right then. “Keep going, you’re doing great.”

After a few more curls the machine locked up and I couldn’t move it any further. I strained and yanked at it, grinding the mechanism until the arm was locked up too. I glanced at Veronica, panting and flustered from my exertion. She disengaged the machine and, with a hiss, the hydraulics powered down. She took notes quickly before setting up the next task.

With the arm still fixed in the device, I couldn’t move anywhere. It was like that time that Steve caught me in some factory machinery and forced me to remember who I was. I was eternally grateful to him for never giving up on me but the feeling of helplessness wasn’t something I enjoyed a replay of.

Sweating, and with regret, I wished I could reach my shirt to blot my face. I hadn’t realised the exam was going to be so physical, and goddamn if I hadn’t been clenching just about every muscle in my whole body whilst fighting against the damn thing. Even my crack felt sweaty.

“Is there anything I can get you before we start the next stage?” Her voice was soft with concern. It was unnerving how well she read me. “Do you need to rest?”

“I’m good.” I said, pride making a fool of me.

“Ok, well let me dry you off a bit. The port is still connected and should be dry when open.”

I blushed hard at that. She was telling me that I was too sweaty. Gross. I frowned, embarrassed, and shied away from her touch when she brought a wad of paper towels to my brow. It had been the very thing I had wanted but not from her.

Her hands were still quite cool but she felt colder against my heated skin. Too close, she leant over me to smooth the moisture from my body. Swiping the tissues over my face, neck, shoulders and chest, Dr Edwards watched me curiously. She had to know she was tormenting me. How could she not notice my flared nostrils and ragged breathing? This kind of physical contact wasn’t something I felt comfortable with.

Tense and scowling, I held my breath, tolerating the contact as much as I could. She continued with her ministrations until she was satisfied with the dryness of my skin. It had been too personal in contrast to the formality of her pervious interactions with me. Never more than polite yet professional conversation, zero contact outside of the examination room or combat training, limited off-duty interaction. It made me feel confused and uneasy. There was something about her that put me on edge, made me listless.

“The second part of the test is to gage the pressure you can generate with your hand.” She said, creating space between us that I welcomed. “I’ll do come calibrations after that if needed and we can have a chat about your needs.”

“My needs?”

My heart thudded once, twice, three times before I got it under control. Why did I have to talk about myself with her? Dr Harvey was unassuming and easy to ignore. I didn’t mind talking to him because… Why? Because I didn’t feel… Feel what? Because he wasn’t… Wasn’t what? Because she made me feel… Oh for Christ sakes, WHAT?

She made me feel threatened, made me feel nervous. Veronica made me feel like she didn’t really like me all that much. The coldness she gave me when she was friendly with everyone else, first names, laughing, joking, and the ease of casual contact.

“Come again?” I sought clarification.

Oh, Buck, why did you have to make it sound like that. Like what? Like that?

The way she eyed me then, I didn’t know if it was hatred or something more predatory.

“I don’t follow.”

“Some people prefer to have prostheses that do what they tell them. Unless you have a penchant for crushing instead of caressing.”

I’m sure my mouth was flapping in the non-existent breeze. Agape and floundering, I had nothing to say. Stuck in the idea that flirting and bitterness were one and the same thing to her, or maybe it was too subtle a difference for me to separate the two, I blushed crimson. Then it struck me that maybe she was goading me about my past. It was no secret that The Winter Soldier had crushed more than a few windpipes in his time.

“Fine.” I said, swallowing dryly. “I’m ready to carry on.”

“Very well.” And just like that, her stone-faced stoicism was back, with polite professionalism draped over the top. “Please let your hand relax and fall open. Good.”

A device with five finger shaped recesses arranged around a silvery ball lowered and rested in the palm the metal hand. I could feel the metal on metal contact creating a strange thrumming vibration through the arm. It felt like when I had handled Steve’s shield; a tell-tale sign that vibranium had been used to make this device.

“I’m going to ask you to hold an object, and I would like you to use your muscle memory to create the pressure with your prosthesis. The machine will respond, mimic the item and measure the results. It sounds harder than it is. Ready?”

I nodded, just wanting to get this over and done with. The sooner this was over, the sooner we could have our ‘chat’ about my needs, and the sooner I could hit the gym with Steve. The punching bag was definitely going to get ruined today.

“An apple.”

The device in the not-my hand seemed to have the same resistance against my grip as would a firm green apple. I held it, turning it in the not-my fingers.

“Good. See, you got it.”

Dr Edwards’s praise was both frustrating and pleasant. I didn’t like the feeling of wanting to please her, but at the same time it was nice to hear her soften towards me, even slightly.

“An egg.”

The machine adjusted slightly and I could feel the fragility of it against the prosthetic fingers.

“A feather.”

I pinched my thumb and forefinger, holding the imaginary feather in between.

“The hand of a loved one.”

Well, shit, if that didn’t throw me for six. The way the machine moved around my hand gave me chills. It slid between my fingers, and almost felt real for a second before I managed to distinguish the materials from real skin. I hardly touched skin with the prosthetic anymore, except my own.

“A mouse.”

The machine wriggled against my palm. I held it loosely in the cage of my fingers, just firm enough that it couldn’t escape.

“Excellent.”

The test carried on like that for several more minutes before Dr Edwards removed the mimicking device and switched to something that looked like a hand dynamometer.

“Ok Sergeant, I’m going to ask you to squeeze as hard as you can. This will create a maximum pressure output for me to work with. What I’m going to do afterwards is set some values into the prosthesis’ programming that will allow you to quickly achieve an exact pressure to accomplish a task.”

“Like what? Break a bone?” I scoffed, and before I even looked at her face I knew that was exactly what she had meant.

“Not just that. But also how not to break a bone.” She had the sense to look a little abashed.

Dr Edwards had read my file, of course she had, they all had. She knew when she agreed to run these tests that she were going to be programming instant kills into me or programming me to stop just short. My money was on the latter.

“And you couldn’t just tell me that this was what it was all about? Nerfing me so I don’t lash out and kill someone.” Irritation seethed up my spine and settled as heat in my face. “I get it, I really do. But I’m a person, not a tool. Would it kill ya to include me in decisions about, well, me?”

“James…”

“Don’t.” I shut her down. “Get the test finished. I’m done after that.”

When she said my name, my heart almost stopped. Gone was her formal, guarded façade. In its place was concern and a look of such sadness that I just didn’t know what to do with myself. How do you deal with a switch like that? And fuck me if I wasn’t simultaneously happy as a school boy on the first day of the summer holidays and irritated enough to rip that damn machine apart and storm out of the med wing. Steve was gonna get a tongue lashing from me before the day was done.

Her face was pale and remorseful as she started the machine off on its cycle. I squeezed that damn thing as if I was squeezing the life out of the sonofabitch who turned me into a killing machine, squeezed like I was crushing all of the hatred I felt for myself, squeezed like my life depended on it. Who knew, maybe one day it would.

Dr Edwards sent the data to my prosthesis and closed me up. She was silent but continued to search my face for something, hope maybe, I dunno. She wasn’t going to find anything. I was about ready to shut down and stay the fuck away from everyone and everything until I got a chance to have things out with Steve.

I got up to leave, scooping my crumpled white tee off the exam table as I went.

“Good day, Sergeant.”

I closed my eyes as her coldness returned. Stood in the doorway shirtless and feeling used, I paused, not looking back.

“Dr Edwards.” I nodded curtly, showing my face in profile only, before striding off in search of something to beat on. She didn’t need to receive my frustration, she wasn’t the only person, or even the main person, to oversee everything ‘Bucky’. Rogers and Stark, each had equal hands in this.

“We didn’t think about it that way, Buck, I’m sorry.” Steve said.

He held the Everlast bag still for me as I slogged into it.

“That’s the thing about being a weapon most of your life.” I said smacking the bag hard enough to make the stuffing start to crumble out of the seams. “Everyone sees you as inhuman, even yourself.”

“That’s not how I see you, man. You’re my best friend. I want what’s best for you.”

“And what’s best for me, Steve? Programming? A kill-switch? Cyanide implant? You’re acting just like HYDRA.”

“Whoa! No-one said kill switch or cyanide.”

I pummelled the bag until the seam split completely and the broken filling plumed out onto the floor. Stepping back, I saw Steve was genuinely upset.

“Sorry punk. I didn’t really mean that.” I held my hand out. “I’m just pissed off.”

He tagged me and smiled dryly. All was forgiven.

“I’ll get them to lay off on the hardcore controls. To be honest I didn’t even see that mandate in the requisition forms so I’ll look at that again. Just please tell me you didn’t terrorise Vee. She’s one of the best we have and she’s cool.”

“Dr Edwards?”

“Yeah Veronica. You didn’t scare her, did you?”

“Nah, I was angry but not that angry.” Had I scared her though? “I doubt she’d take much notice of anything I said anyway, she doesn’t like me…”

“Whatever, dude.” He said dismissively.

“…And she’s not the sort to rely on the opinions of others to fashion her idea of her own self-worth.”

“Wow.” Steve half laughed, blinking his shock away. “You know her well.”

“We hardly speak. She’s always so formal. With you it’s Steve this and Steve that, or Cap, yeah she calls you Cap. And you’re like ‘oh Vee you have to see this movie’ or ‘Vee can you come explain this report to me’.” I nattered like a bitchy college girl slating her BFF. “With me it’s Sergeant Barnes, or just Sergeant.”

Steve laughed. “Are you jealous, Buck? Have you found a woman who you can’t charm?”

“Haven’t tried. You know when you can tell that someone hates your guts? Besides, my charming days are over.” I waggled the metal arm.

“Some people are gonna find that hot.” A sultry voice interrupted. “Can you make it vibrate?”

Natasha flashed a flirtatiously shocked ‘oooh sir!’ face which had me busting out laughing and Steve groaning.

“Don’t worry Barnes. You’ve still got it.” She licked her finger and touched her chest, making a ‘tsssss’ sound before she mouthed the word ‘hot’ and sauntered away to the locker room.

“She really knows how to play on my insecurities.” I said deadpan, making Steve crack up.

By the time we both stopped laughing, I actually felt better. The kind of camaraderie we shared was one of the things that kept me going, through all of this. Nat was one of my closest friends and even though she loved to mess with me she also knew when not to push. That stunt she had pulled, maybe an hour earlier, might not have gone down so well. Her timing was impeccable, unlike mine.

After cleaning up and winding down I met Steve back in the kitchen where he was making a protein smoothie.

“Want one?”

I nodded, sitting at the counter. I wasn’t gonna turn down a free smoothie. Life was full of little gifts, like food you didn’t have to make yourself and, apparently, people who wouldn’t drop a damn topic.

“Seriously though, you need to get over this thing where you automatically assume people don’t like you, man. Maybe try to open up a little. Have a little fun.”

“Yeah, ok, Marilyn Hickey. Sure, a little bit of good old Christian fun sounds like just the ticket.” I slapped my thigh and winked.

“Fuck off, Buck!” He blitzed the smoothie maker, trying to drown out my retort, no doubt.

“Ooooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” I said, chuckling. “I miss Nick, where is he when you need him, huh?”

“Stop deflecting.”

“I dunno what you’re talking about, buddy.”

“Not what, who.” He slid the smoothie-filled glass over to me. “Talk to her.”

“Drop it, Steve. I don’t care if she doesn’t like me. I’m getting along just fine without an extra person up in my business.”

I downed the thick pinkish goop in the glass, it didn’t taste half bad but it wasn’t a steak.

“And to be honest, all this extra stuff with the arm and the testing just makes it easier for me not to like her right back.”

The noise of a door closing loudly made me jump. Steve was out of his seat and rushing out of the kitchen only to return a few minutes later with a grim look on his face.

“You’re an asshat.” He said picking up his glass and walking away.

It didn’t take much to put two and two together and figure out that Dr Edwards had overheard me talking about her, but did it really make a difference? So what if we both didn’t like each other.

It is what it is.

#Bucky Barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes x OFC #bucky barnes recovering #muscle memory #frenemies to lovers #slow burn #mcu fic #bucky barnes fic #bucky is bae #denial of feelings #bucky fanfic #bucky fic #bucky pov #my writing #cloudy's writing

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ryder-s-block · 5 years

Text

Jaig Eyes (Ch 9)

Jaig Eyes (Ch 9/?)

Always available here

Chapter Nine: The Blue Shadow Virus

“Kida,” Padme whispered to me, my eyes opening slowly. I became aware of my surroundings suddenly, my arms tied behind my back and my body sore from sitting on the hard ground. “Kida, are you alright?”

I cleared my throat, letting out a small cough. “Yeah, I think so. What...what happened?” I became aware of the mask still over my face, my breathing labored within it.

Padme, who was tied to the same post as myself and Representative Binks, went to answer, but was cut off.

“Ah, she awakens!” the scientist cried with glee, steepling his fingers as he moved to examine me.

“What did you do to me?” I asked through gritted teeth. While I felt relatively normal, I knew something was wrong. Something deep inside me, whether it was my own body or the force, was telling me that something terrible had happened.

“I am performing an experiment,” the Faust said, holding up his spectacles to peer at me. “I infected you with a small dose of my virus. Contained to your mask, of course.”

“What have you done,” Padme gasped. “You’ve murdered her!”

“Have I?” the doctor asked rhetorically, his hands pulling my head to the side in thought. “She’s been infected for over an hour, yet despite initial loss of consciousness at the potency of the dose, the specimen shows no signs of infection.”

“What?” Padme breathed, shocked.

I wrenched my head to the side, pulling free of his grasp. “I guess your little virus doesn’t work as well as you’d hoped, Doctor,” I mocked.

He steepled his fingers with a smile. “I assure you, it does. Though I admit, I am excited to watch what my virus does to your biology. There were rumors that your kind once held certain...immunities.”

“My kind?”

“What do you mean when you say ‘her kind’?” Padme asked for me, her brows furrowed.

The Faust let out another strange laugh, his head thrown back. “I wonder if the process will just take longer. That would be more painful,” he mused, ignoring our questions. “But I’d love to watch.”

“I’m Correllian, you dinii,” I spit. “My biology is human!”

He held up a single, slender finger with a smile. “Part human.”

I opened my mouth to demand clarification when the entire bunker rattled, the echoes of an explosion racing down the halls. The Faust rushed to a panel as the room rumbled.

“We have a breach!” he cried, sirens sounding. “All droids to hatch number one!” I glanced at Padme, the force rippling with a familiar presence. Feisty. Strong-willed. Intelligent. Ahsoka. “Friends of yours, I assume,” the doctor continued, snatching up a bio-helmet. He pulled it over his head, the air filtration systems engaging with a hiss. “They arrived quicker than I would’ve thought.”

The bunker continued to rumble as I felt more force signatures enter the area. A noble presence. Wise. Cunning. Sarcastic. That must be Kenobi. A third familiar signature arrived that billowed strength, the force practically rippling around him as he neared the area. I’d recognize Skywalker’s presence anywhere. It was hard to miss, frankly.

Ahsoka’s presence drew closer. She was in the bunker. And someone flanked her. A presence I hadn’t felt in months, but could recognize at the drop of a pin. Kind. Curious. Noble. Strong. Determined.

Rex.

The sounds of fighting echoed through the halls, the Faust locking down his control room and calmly pacing as he waited. The powerful presence of Skywalker approached, the jedi soon appearing behind the translucent door and cutting through it with his lightsaber. The door fell in, Skywalker immediately halting as he saw us all tied up.

“Padme!” he called, clearly panicked.

“Take another step,” the doctor, clad in his bio-helmet, threatened. “And your friends die!” He pulled a lever, the pillar we were attached to electrifying. Padme and Jar Jar screamed in agony, my teeth clenching against my own yells. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been electrocuted before. I could handle a lot of pain, after all.

Of course, it still hurt like hell.

“Drop your weapons,” the scientist demanded smugly. The clones didn’t seem ready to comply.

“Wait,” Skywalker stopped them, his gaze intense on our writhing figures. “Do as he says.”

As the electricity stopped coursing through my body, the doctor moved about the room, leisurely storing away some of his virus as the droids lined up the clones and the jedi. “I realize I won’t be able to hold you for long, Jedi,” he said casually. “That is why I’m going to give you a choice.”

“Fine with me,” Skywalker spit. “As long as one of the options is killing you.” I breathed heavily, my body sore and tiring. Was that the virus taking effect? Still, nothing could keep me from thinking how un-jedi-like Skywalker often acted.

“How about,” the Faust returned, approaching the lever again. Oh boy. I braced myself as he reached for it. “Capture me, or save your friends?” He pulled the lever, the electricity sparking back to life immediately. The doctor ran from the room as Skywalker rushed forward.

The jedi dove between the droids, all of them opening fire immediately. I tried to watch as he pulled his lightsaber to him and began to destroy the droids, his soldiers jumping in to help, but my vision was beginning to blur.

Suddenly, the pain stopped, Skywalker having thrown a destroyer into the control panel. “Are you okay?” I glanced up through hazy vision to see him gently holding Padme’s cheeks. His eyes were wide. Desperate. Afraid.

“Ani,” Padme sighed. “How about the next time you rescue me before you kill all the battle droids.”

He scrunched his nose, but was clearly amused, gently rubbing his knuckles over her cheek. “A little ‘thank you’ would go a long way.”

“Thank you,” I butt in, tilting my masked head to see him fully. “But could you get me off the pole of death now?”

Anakin severed the chains that held us with his lightsaber, helping Padme to her feet. “Grab your blasters,” he said to his soldiers. “We need to find that doctor.”

“Anakin, wait,” Padme argued softly, touching his shoulder. “Kida…” She paused, making them both look at me, still clad in my mask. “She’s been infected.”

“What?” He seemed shocked. “How?”

“The mask,” I answered, tapping the side. “He put the virus inside the mask. Said he was running some experiment.”

“What do we do?” Padme asked. Anakin didn’t look like he knew an answer that would please her, so I stepped in.

“For now, nothing,” I said curtly. “I keep the mask on so no one else gets infected. We can’t have this getting loose. For now, I’m okay. So we find the doctor and stop him from hurting anyone else.”

“But you-sah-” Jar Jar went to argue, but I held up my hand.

“We can figure out me later. Right?” I looked at the jedi, who nodded his head with determination.

“Let’s go,” he said, leading us all out of the control room. Still, as we ran through the labyrinth, I could feel Padme’s mix of emotions. Anger. Anguish. Fear. I pushed it away so I didn’t start feeling the same way.

Skywalker’s wrist comm pinged, Kenobi’s voice coming through. “Anakin,” he said, sounding annoyed. “I’m guessing you didn’t capture the doctor.”

“I’m working on it,” Skywalker said, equally annoyed. “Do you have the bombs?”

“I’m working on it,” Kenobi returned with sass. “Doctor Vindi has remotely activated the bombs. They’re counting down!”

“That’s great.”

“And on top of that,” the jedi master continued through the comms. “One of them seems to be missing.”

“Well, it’s down here somewhere. Ahsoka, we’ve got another situation.” He glanced at me. “Send all the clones to search the facility. We’ve got a miss-” he stopped suddenly as we slowed, nearly running into Ahsoka and her squad...who included Rex. I kept my gaze away.

“Master?” Ahsoka asked.

Anakin continued as if nothing changed. “We’ve got a missing bomb and the trigger-happy mad doctor on the loose.”

“Senator,” I whispered. “The servant droid.” Her eyes widened before turning to Anakin.

“Missing bomb?” she jumped in. “We saw Doctor Vindi give a little droid a bomb.”

“An LEP servant droid,” I added in from behind the senator, giving Ahsoka a nod in greeting. She seemed confused at my current facial attire, but said nothing.

“You guys split up,” Anakin ordered. “Find that droid.” The jedi and his men ran by us, Padme and Jar Jar staying put.

“You heard him,” Ahsoka shouted to her own squad. “Let’s move!” I felt Rex’s gaze stay on me for a moment before he followed his commander, but I ignored him. I was going to die. Why allow myself to further the strange connection I’d felt since I first met him?

“Might as well try and find that bomb,” Padme mused out loud, gesturing for us to follow. We raced in the opposite direction the others had gone, my muscles beginning to feel sluggish. I pushed it away, not wanting to let the senator know that I was beginning to feel the effects of the virus.

Jar Jar slowed ahead of me as Padme kept running, but I was grateful for it. My body was tiring quickly. An excuse to stop was nice.

“What is it, Jar Jar?” I asked as he started sniffing around and entered a room on the side. “Senator!” I called, Padme turning to see we’d stopped.

“Ooo!” Binks exclaimed excitedly. “Something smells good in here.” He entered a room filled with plants and I rolled my eyes. He stopped for a snack. Of course.

Still, as if the stars always wanted me to be mocked by Jar Jar, I heard a faint ticking before feeling a spike in the force from Padme. “Hey there, little guy,” she said, kneeling to see below a table. Jar Jar and I approached from behind, spying the little LEP droid crouching with the missing bomb. “How about you hand that over to me?”

It seemed to contemplate for a moment before letting out a feral-sounding yell--something I wasn’t aware a droid could achieve. Padme and Jar Jar backed away, the Gungan’s leaping body slamming me backwards into a table.

“He’s getting away!” Padme cried, Jar Jar leaping off of me and lunging after the droid. He wrestled with it, successfully pulling it away before accidently chucking it across the room. Thankfully, Padme caught it, her face victorious. “Ahsoka,” she said into her comms. “I found the last bomb.”

“Stay there,” came the padawan’s voice. “I’ll get the bomb squad.”

Padme placed the bomb down on the table, watching it carefully while Jar Jar went back to looking for bugs. My knees nearly buckled as a sudden wave of nausea came over me, but I fought it away, disguising it as casually electing to lean on one of the table opposite the bomb.

By the time Ahsoka and Rex raced in with the bomb squad, my breathing was getting more difficult, my body just wanting to sit down for a second. Especially now that it was over. That I didn’t have adrenaline pulsing through my veins. I didn’t have to save anyone anymore.

The thought donned on me that I might not be saving anyone ever again. I was going to die. There was no cure for the virus, and while it seemed the effects were taking longer to set in on me...for whatever reason...they were definitely happening. What if Vindi had been right? Would whatever my apparently weird biology was make this even worse? It would just be longer and more painful?

Typical. As all other things in my life had been.

“You alright?” Rex asked as the bomb squad went to work, his helmet coming off. “You look pretty upset for someone who just won.”

I wiped the despaired expression off my face and gave him a forced smile. “Captain,” I said warmly. “It’s nice to see you again. How’s your shoulder?”

He gave me a small grin. “Good as new. It’s also been some time, you know.”

“Yeah,” I breathed, looking back as the bomb ticked down. “I know.” I also knew we were making small talk to mask our nerves about the last bomb.

One of the clones-one from Obi-Wan’s 212th division-revealed some wires and snipped them clean, the bomb ceasing in its countdown. “There,” he grunted, looking back at us with relief. “And plenty of time to spare.”

The room let out a collective breath of relief, Jar Jar even going so far as to collapse. Despite my rather grim situation, I couldn’t help but smile gently.

“Ahsoka, are you there?” Skywalker’s voice asked through the padawan’s wrist comm.

“I’m here, Master. The bomb has been deactivated. Did you find Vindi?”

“Deactivated as well.” He sounded smug. “Have you seen Padme?” I rolled my eyes. They were the furthest from discreet two humans could be. Still, I couldn’t help but feel warm at the genuine smile that came to the senator’s face when he asked about her.

“She’s right next to me,” Ahsoka answered, seeming disgruntled. “I’m okay, too. Thanks for asking.”

They logged off, Ahsoka going about organizing her men to the cleaning up of the illegal lab. I assumed Skywalker and Kenobi would deliver Vindi to the Republic while Padme remained to watch over the operation here.

“Kida,” the senator spoke softly, approaching me. “Maybe you should go with Anakin. Coruscant hospitals may be able to-”

“Padme,” I said gently, cutting her off. She seemed surprised I used her first name in front of everyone. “With all due respect, you and I both know that they don’t know of any cure for this.” Some of the clones’ heads turned my way in shocked curiosity. I found myself glad that Rex had left with Ahsoka already. “So if it’s alright with you...I’d like to stay here with you. I’ll serve you for as long as I can.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Padme said, shaking her head. She sighed sadly, looking down before gently grabbing my hands and holding them between us. “Don’t you want to go and...be with family? Friends?”

I thought for a moment. I thought of my club that was basically running itself now, since I was almost consistently somewhere with the senator. I thought about Boba...who hated me for letting his father die.

“I already am,” I responded, wanting to stab myself for being so sappy and emotional. But hey...I was going to die. So who cared anymore?

Padme swallowed thickly before nodding, giving my hands a final squeeze, and putting on a brave face. Ah. Maybe now I could understand how she managed to be queen of Naboo. Jar Jar approached, gently touching my shoulder in attempt to be encouraging. While I thought he was a buffoon, he was a nice buffoon, so I smiled.

“Senator,” one of the bomb squad clones called from the table. “You should see this. It’s one of the virus bombs.” He showed it to us, revealing it to be empty.

“It looks like the chamber that holds the virus is missing,” she thought aloud.

“I bet I can guess what took it,” I mused, looking up at the clone.

He understood what I meant. “That droid must have taken it!”

“Sound the alarm!” Padme called. The siren erupted through the compound as the clones split off to search for the damned droid. My senses began to spike. Something was happening. And it was very very bad.

The compound rumbled, the floor shaking below my feet. The green colored alarm shifted to red, my eyebrows shooting up. “Uh oh,” I voiced. “That’s a virus leak.”

“Seal the room!” Padme ordered, to which I immediately reacted. I raced to the panel, locking down the botany room we were alone in. Reading off a computer, I sighed in relief.

“No contamination in here, Senator,” I called to her. “But you two might want to put on your hazard suits.” They both nodded, donning the suits on the walls while I tried to access the rest of the lab from the panel. “It looks like Ahsoka managed to shut down the lab. Nothing got out.”

“Good,” Padme breathed from inside her suit before activating her comms. “Anakin, can you hear me? Anakin?”

“Padme,” he responded immediately. “I’m here. Are you alright?” Jar Jar raced around the room, panicking as he tried to find his helmet.

“Yes, for the time being.” I grabbed Jar Jar by the collar and shoved the helmet over his head, snapping it into place for him. “Jar Jar and I were in a safety chamber when the alarm went off. We’re wearing protective suits.”

“The virus is loose,” Anakin sighed, though I could hear his relief. “But Ahsoka has sealed off the entire facility.”

“Yes, but any remaining droids will try to break out.” Padme made a good point, my eyes immediately floating to my gear that one of the clones had fetched for me. “I’ll do what I can to stop them. I cannot let that virus escape.”

“Be careful,” Anakin pressed.

“Don’t worry, Skywalker,” I finally said, speaking up as I donned my pistols. “I’ve got her back.”

I heard the jedi hum. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I was infected with a deadly virus,” I joked darkly. “But I’m not one to go down easy.”

He was quiet for a second before sighing. “I don’t doubt it. I’ll do my best to find a cure.” I didn’t respond as they signed off, Padme leading everyone to the door.

“Come on,” she called to the us. “We’re going to find Ahsoka. We’ll need her help to find those droids.”

The doors hissed open, blue mist pooling in around us. I followed the senator out, one pistol drawn. We rounded a corner, a few droids clanking down them in a confused line. “Hi!” I shouted, making them turn before I opened fire. It took longer than usual. “Kriff,” I cursed to myself.

“Are you alright?” Padme asked, her hand touching my arm.

“Fine,” I breathed, despite feeling tired and worn. “I just can’t see with this damned thing.” I knocked the mask with my fingers a few times before realizing a terrible truth. I sighed slowly before removing the mask, breathing in the contaminated air.

“What are you doing?” Padme gasped.

“I’m already contaminated,” I said aloud. “Might as well be able to see the damned droids, so I can shoot them before I die.”

Sure, the humor was grim, but it was that or sit around in despair. And it got Padme off my butt.

“Is anyone out there?” Padme said into her open comms. “Can anyone hear-”

“Senator Amidala!” Ahsoka’s voice called through the channel. “We’re trapped in a safe room at the end of complex B.”

“We’ll be right there!” Padme responded, giving me a hopeful smile, despite the sadness in her eyes whenever she looked at me. Apparently my face gave her a thought. “Are you contaminated?” she asked softly, her voice dreading the answer.

It was silent for a moment before Ahsoka responded. “I’m afraid so.”

MANDO’A

Dinii -- lunatic

#fanfiction #fanfic #star wars #star wars the clone wars #captain rex X OC #captain rex

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deadlybeautydbz · 5 years

Text

“Behind Enemy Lines” - Sneak Peek!

The other week, I mentioned my long-fic I’m working on. Set in a future universe that is being destroyed by the androids, Goku has died from the heart virus and there are no dragon-balls to help. This will be a K/18 story like no other and with a twist that you wont see coming.

In this scene, Krillin finds himself coming face to face with 17 and 18 for the first time. Let me know what you think and if you’d like to see more! This scene is about 3000 words, and so far I’ve written about 30,000 (which is maybe 1/3 of the intended total length) so there’s plenty more where this came from!

Read below the cut. And please ignore any spelling/formatting errors, this is still very much a WIP

Another explosion, closer this time. More frantic screaming.

“No. Those people need my help. You go. Now!”

With that, Krillin turned around and ran. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel for Yamcha, he did, honestly, but right now, there were people who were in more serious need of his attention. He ran as fast as he could, feet pounding against the broken pavement, quickly covering the few blocks between himself and the Androids. His heartbeat quickened as he approached, not from exertion, but from fear. So far Krillin had managed to avoid a face to face confrontation with these monsters and he’d been hoping to keep it that was for as long as possible. There was literally nothing he could do to stop them. When it came to his power level verse theirs, he was as useless as any ordinary human. Hell, even Vegeta couldn’t put up a fight against the two of them, so what hope did he have?

Standing idly by wasn’t an option though. He knew he couldn’t take the Androids on, but that didn’t mean there weren’t people there he could help. Rounding the final corner, Krillin came to a screeching halt and felt his heart lurch up into his throat.

‘Okay,’ he surveyed the scene. There they were, right there, no more than 50 meters away. The Androids. Gohan and Vegeta had described them to him, but to see them here, 17 and 18, in the flesh – so to speak… it felt surreal. They looked like, well, like normal people. Krillin didn’t know what he had been expecting, something straight out of The Terminator maybe? Maybe that they would sound or move like the robots of bad 1950’s sci-fi? But here they were, standing right in front of him – they hadn’t noticed, or at least acknowledged his presence yet, and so Krillin was able to observe them for a tiny moment. Everything about them seemed, from this distance at least, unremarkable. If he hadn’t of known what to look out for, these two could have easily been mistaken for average survivors. A shiver ran down Krillin’s spine at the thought.

The girl, 18, stood on the sidewalk, arms crossed over her body, scuffing the tip of her boot into the ground. She looked bored. And 17, he was… oh no! He was holding a poor woman, who was too petrified to even call out for help, by the scruff of her shirt; a bright blue ball of energy sat in 17’s other hand. His crazy laughter echoed down the otherwise silent street.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as what happened next unfolded.

“Noooooooo…” Krillin cried, alerting the Androids to his presence. Both twins turned to look directly at him. Two pairs of icy blue eyes piercing right through to his soul. He tried to run, to save that woman, but Krillin could only move at a snails’ pace. Everything around him happened in an instant, and it was taking hours for his brain to even make the connections. The woman was dead before he had even taken a single step towards her. Her lifeless body slumped to a heap at 17’s feet.

Time sped back up.

“Shit.” Krillin was a sitting duck, standing right here in the middle of the road, two killer Androids staring him down. Beside him, was the burnt out husk of a car, and without much more of a thought beyond surviving the next five seconds, he tucked and barrel rolled behind it, out of the line of sight of his predators.

“Where did he go?” A male voice, dripping with sarcasm asked, making Krillin’s face blush a shade of red so bright, he was probably creating a glow. What a fucking idiot he was. These weren’t toddlers he was dealing with, they understood the concept of object permanence. All Krillin had managed to do was make himself look like an incompetent moron in front of them. Great. Classic Krillin.

Krillin took a long, deep breath, trying desperately to calm his racing heart. “Okay,” he said to himself, “okay.” Beads of nervous sweat trickled down his neck as he willed his mind to come up with a plan. Something, anything would do at this point. The Androids were closing in on him, the sound of their footsteps grew louder with every inch of ground they covered.

“Come out, come out where ever you are,” 17 taunted Krillin, as he slammed his fist down into the hood of the car the small human was cowering behind. Krillin yelped in surprised fear, the pathetic sound that came out of his mouth was not one that he was proud of. Yet another thing to add to the list of stupid things to do on the last day of your life. The twins cackled with laughter as he leapt up from his ‘hiding’ place and tumbled out onto the road where he narrowly avoided crashing right into the pair.

“Found you!” 17 exclaimed with delight and clapped his hands. Krillin was bemused by the display to say the least, a reaction that he hoped wasn’t too evident on his face. Maybe he was dealing with a toddler after all.

18 was done, she’d had enough of 17’s moronic behaviour for one day. It was time to get down to business. “Knock it off,” she elbowed her brother in the ribs, and shot him a nasty glare, not so subtly reminding him that they were supposed to be intimidating and scary.

Receiving his sister’s message loud and clear, 17 cleared his throat, straightened his posture and put on his best detached, murderous psychopath look of nonchalance. It worked, Krillin was about ready to soil himself.

“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure,” 18 turned her focus away from her immature brother and towards the man she had been stalking for a large chunk of the afternoon. “18,” she introduced herself with a coy smile.

“K…Kr… Krillin”

“I know who you are!” 18 snapped, silencing Krillin’s pathetic attempt at verbal communication. She would never stop enjoying the thrill of luring men into her trap with her sweet and innocent act before revealing her true, cold self and demolishing them. With looks like hers, it wasn’t hard. She fully intended to murder every living being on this planet, and still, men fell in love with her every day.

Krillin strained his neck to look beyond the pair, trying to spot any survivors further down the road, despite his better judgement and years of martial arts training screaming at him that now was the time to focus. Never take your eyes off your opponent. That was combat 101 right there. What would Goku say if he ever found out about Krillin’s lack of discipline? What would Vegeta say? They weren’t too far from Capsule Corporation and Krillin could feel the Ki signature of the Sayian superpower closing in on them; he must have sensed the sudden influx of Krillin’s power. He’d be here any minute.

‘Ok, great!’ Krillin thought, pepping up. All he needed to do was not die for a few more minutes, and then Vegeta would be here and he would be able to sneak away to find somewhere to hide – and cry, there would most certainly be crying. For a brief second, a relieved smile wormed its way onto Krillin’s face. It vanished as quickly as it appeared though, when the tall blonde standing before him cleared her throat and locked her dangerous eyes onto him, commanding his full attention.

Who the fuck did this guy think he was? Ignoring them? Ignoring her? No man had ever dared look past her, and she wasn’t about to let them start now.

“Hey,” 18 bent over at her hips, bringing herself to eye level with Krillin. She was well aware of the fact that the scoop neck of her teeshirt was hanging in such a way that it allowed a perfect, unimpeded view of her perky, and very ample breasts - which were barely contained as they strained against a silky red bra. “I’m talking to you. It’s rude not to look at someone when they’re talking you know?”

‘Please,’ Krillin said a quick prayer to himself, eyes darting frantically up, down, left, right, anywhere but straight ahead. Of course he’d known the Androids were ruthless, but he was only human and this was just cruel! Why was 18 doing this? Obviously the second he looked it was lights out for him. But 18 was waiting, and he didn’t really see any other choice. Oh well. Krillin surrendered. He was most certainly going to die, and really, as far as final images went, this one was pretty good. With a loud, nervous swallow, Krillin looked directly ahead, copping an absolute eyeful of undeniably spectacular cleavage, before moving his gaze up a few inches and meeting a pair of the iciest blue eyes he had ever come across.

“Enjoy the show?” 18 asked, as she stood back up, a big victory smirk sitting smugly on her face.

“Uh, sis, I think he’s about to be sick,” 17 took a curious step forward, apparently not at all phased by the threat of vomit. “Looking a bit green there, short stuff.”

“Really?” “Definitely.” “Ugh. Gross.”

18 let out a sound that was half groan, half sigh and all frustration as she took a step towards the queasy looking Krillin and in one swift movement, kicked him square in the gut. Not too hard, she didn’t want to kill him yet, but with just enough force to knock him a block or so down the street. Not even 17, who was usually pretty good at reading his crazy sister, had seen it coming and he couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the small bald warrior fly through the air, a stream of literal projectile vomit following behind him.

They watched until he landed with an unceremonious thud in the middle of an empty intersection. Show over, 17 was finally able to turn away from the spectacle, and towards his sister. His one arched eyebrow said more than any words he could produce would be able to.

“I didn’t want him to get it on my boots,” 18 answered his question before he had even asked it. She shrugged her shoulders as she turned her back on the messy scene. “I like these boots.”

Krillin pushed himself up onto his elbows, pain shooting through every fibre of his body as he tried to piece together what in the hell had just happened. His brain was still cowering behind that car 50 meters up ahead, it needed a few seconds to catch up. That was okay, Krillin had time to wait. It wasn’t like he was completely helpless and alone with two sociopathic killers or anything. What the hell was taking Vegeta so long? If he showed up with a Slurpee or something, Krillin would be so pissed!

“Hey!” apparently his brain had also detoured for an icy treat, because Krillin did not remember standing up, or shouting out to the Androids, who had already lost interest in him and were walking away. Yet here he was, doing exactly that. What was wrong with him? Why was he so hell bent on dying today? “Hey, stop!”

Krillin could feel that vomit coming back up as the twins stopped in their tracks and spun back to face him. He was a good distance away from them now, too far to hear what they were saying to each other, but close enough to know he was still in big trouble.

“Or what?” 17 called, his voice echoing down the empty road. Even from here, Krillin could see the sadistic grin on the Androids face. He swallowed nervously.

“Or I’ll blast you into the next dimension!”

‘Oh thank god.’ The sound of Vegeta’s voice made Krillin weak at the knees. Relief flooded through him and he may have felt a few tears stinging at the corners of his tired eyes, not that he would ever admit it.

“Oh, great,” 18 rolled her eyes. Vegeta was a cocky piece of shit who had no right to swan around acting as high and mighty as he did. Sure, he might have been the most technically accomplished fighter this planet had to offer, but he was still no match for her.

“Vegeta,” she spat out his name like it was a bad taste in her mouth. Honestly, she wasn’t in the mood for a real fight today, she just wanted to pick off weaklings like Krillin without ruining her outfit. “You take him,” 18 said to her brother, “I can’t be bothered with that buffoon today.”

“With pleasure!” 17 was like a kid in a candy store as he leapt off the ground and charged up into the sky towards Vegeta. A fierce battle broke out between them immediately. It was a flurry of lighting quick kicks and punches, much too fast for the normal eye to keep track of. 18 held up hands up above her eyes, as a sort of make-shift sun visor, it was a bright day and she wanted the best view possible, it was always fun watching Vegeta get his arse kicked.

What was happening up above was of very little concern to Krillin right now. He could hear the sonic boom like crashes as arms and legs collided, the familiar crackle of a charging Ki beam and more than a healthy amount of swearing, but he was much more interested in what was happening on the ground.

18 had all but forgotten than he existed as she watched her brother clash with the only person on this planet who was any sort of real threat to them. This was his chance to escape.

Carefully, with the stealthiness of a ninja, Krillin tiptoed his way out of the intersection. 18 either hadn’t noticed his departure, or she didn’t care that he was running away, but he was able to slip around the corner of a building and out of her immediate sight with relative ease. For the first time since he’d offered to go on this stupid mission for Bulma – lesson learned there - Krillin let out a sigh of relief. He felt his muscles starting to relax as he rested his back against the cool brickwork and closed his eyes, he hadn’t realised how tensed up he was. Thank god the Androids didn’t actually engage him in a fight, he was not prepared.

“Help!”

What was that? Krillin’s eyes shot open and he instinctively dropped his body into a battle position. “Help!” he heard it again, a loud whisper. Normally, Krillin would have raced blindly towards the cry, ready to help whoever it was who needed him. Now though, after the cruel encounter he had just had with 18, he wouldn’t put it past her to play mind tricks on him, and so he preceded slowly with weary caution.

Following the sound of frightened whimpering, Krillin ventured into the guts of the building he was hiding behind. Like most every other structure in the city, and the whole world probably, it was mostly collapsed and in no way a safe place to seek refuge, but when the Androids showed up, you hid where you hid and worried about structural integrity later.

“Hello?” Krillin whispered into the darkness, carefully stepping over broken office furniture and collapsed cubical walls. As his eyes adjusted to their new dark surroundings, he was able to make out a figure huddled behind a makeshift forte of old desks which had been pushed onto their sides. Two figures actually.

“Please, sir, help us.”

A woman, maybe in her early twenties popped out from behind the desks, she had a small child, who looked to be about three or four with her, clinging tightly to her leg. She was wearing tattered clothes which were covered in a thick layer of grime, but that wasn’t what caught Krillin’s attention at first. It was her eyes. They were wild with fear. “What’s wrong? Are you alone?”

“Yes,” the woman nodded, seemingly grateful to have found someone kind in this cruel world. “Yes, it’s just me and my son, please, we need supplies. Food, water, anything. Can you help?” She wrung her hands together nervously, already preparing for a no.

Instinctively, Krillin went to reach for his backpack before remembering he’d given it to Yumcha. He had nothing. But he couldn’t do nothing. Not with that woman’s scared eyes burning right into him, begging for help.

A sound interrupted Krillin just as he was about to reply to the woman’s heart wrenching plea. A sizzling noise he knew all too well. “Watch out!” he yelped and lunged towards the woman and her child, knocking them both to the floor. He managed to reach out and scoop the boy into his grip as he was falling, pulling all three of them into a tight huddle, and as he did, a stray energy ball came careening into the building, missing them only by meters. By using his own body as a shield, Krillin was able to protect the pair from the danger of the flaming debris that was falling all around them. It burned through the thin jumper he was wearing as it hit him, scolding his skin, but he had been through worse before, and knew worse would be coming after, so he grit his teeth and took it, knowing that he was capable of surviving much more than this.

“Are you okay?” he asked, lifting himself up off the pair as he did, and trying not to wince at the long forgotten, yet intimately familiar pain of fresh burns.

The poor woman wrapped her arms around her wailing son and pulled him close into her, she stroked his dark hair and kissed the side of his head over and over, fully aware of how close to losing him she had just been. “Thank you” she said through tears, “Thank you, thank you. You saved us. I’m Nora, this is my son, Ronin.”

“My name is Krillin,” he smiled a warm, honest smile at the pair, but it was short lived. They were still in very real danger. “We need to get out of here. We’re not safe.”

Carefully, Krillin lead the mother and son towards the exit of the dark building. The explosion had blocked their original path, but with some careful rearranging of obstacles, they were able to make it back out into the bright sunlight. Up above Vegeta and 17 were still trading blows, it was hard to tell who had the upper hand from down here, but Krillin had a feeling it wasn’t Vegeta. This whole area could be nothing more than a smoking hole in the ground any second, they needed to get away.

Where the hell was 18? Krillin’s eyes darted around frantically, he had no idea which way to go. Not that it made much difference really, it wasn’t like they were going to outrun her if she decided to toy with them. “This way,” he arbitrarily picked a direction and began to run.

#krillin #android eighteen #k18 #fanfiction #fanfic #otp #dbz #dbs #Dragonball z #Dragonball super #wip #deadlybeautyfanfiction

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imwithmars · 5 years

Text

Flaunt Magazine 2004 interview

David Fincher – “It goes kind of like, ‘How can you tell when Jared is lying? His lips are moving.’”

Rock & Roles –

Flaunt Magazine, by Shari Roman

December 2004

“This is fantastic,” murmurs Jared Leto as the relentless Moroccan sun sears destiny into his bronzed, bare skin. He is sweating under his tight armor. His dark horse, Mateo, quivers beneath him and paws the ground nervously. A signal is given.

Leto howls a great animalistic yowl straight from his belly to the ears of the gods. There is another howl, then another. Thousands of voices fuse into one animal cry. A legion of alpha males surges forward to meet the enemy, Leto, blond hair hair streaming past his shoulders, muscular thighs gripped bareback on his galloping horse, rides hard into the thick of a bloody combat. His sword cuts through all who oppose him.

This is the filming of Oliver Stone’s Alexander and the legendary battle of Gaugamela, Alexander’s greatest victory over the Persians - a turning point in his conquest of the known world. Stone’s sweeping historical saga charts the life and the legend of one of the greatest figures in world history. The story is an epic that is a daring and ambitious as its subject, a relentless conqueror who, by the age of 32, had amassed the greatest empire the world hade ever seen.

Through the clouds of dust, Leto can see Colin Farrell as Alexander the Great, his massive blade slicing into flesh and sinew. There is the director, Oliver Stone, shouting, moving rapidly behind the camera line. There are hordes of men bellowing, bleeding, bodies everywhere. On the fringes lurks famed military trainer and Stone cohort, Captain Dale Dye. Today, the Captain isn’t wearing his favorite T-shirt emblazoned with the motto: “Pain is weakness leaving the body,” but Leto needs no reminders.

Leto has always propelled himself into physical extremes to live inside a character. As the champion runner Steve Prefontaine, he bled his feet to the bone. In the drug-fueled Requiem For A Dream, he reportedly swore off sex (with then girlfriend, Cameron Diaz) and lost 28 pounds to play a junky. Then there was Fight Club (he’d been recommended for the part his friend, fellow pretty boy, Brad Pitt.), in which he begged to have his angelic face beaten to a pulp by a jealous Ed Norton to prove his fealty. Suffering, pain, causality, creation through transformation. Leto has pledged himself above and beyond to those epithets years ago.

“Killing people face to face for a living, that was their job,” explains a laidback Leto a few months later from a low-key restaurant in Southern California. It’s early afternoon. His clothing is relaxed and he looks pleasantly tired.

“It’s not jet lag. I’m over that. I just couldn’t sleep.” It’s not due to time spent with his (purported) new, luscious It-girl Scarlett Johansson. He’s been concentrating on working on some new songs for his band, 30 Seconds To Mars, taking meetings between rehearsals before he heads off to New York and South Africa for three months to play another aggressor of sorts - an arms dealer - in the film Lord of War, with Nicolas Cage and director Andrew Niccol (Gattaca).

He is still pretty tan, making those pioneering blue eyes even more startling. His long, blonde warrior-god locks are gone now, dyed and clipped into a light brown Erik Estrada-style shag for the new movie. But there is still a trace of the Irish lilt he took on for Alexander. (Aside from gearing it toward Farrell’s natural tones, Stone’s rationale for the accent was that historically, the Macedonians were to the Greeks what the Irish have been to the English.) Most of the 15 pounds of muscle weight that he strapped on for the six-month shoot has slipped from his slim frame. Even so, the intensity of that experience is still on his mind and in his body.

“The film has plenty of f***ing and fighting and killing and death and blood. My job was to murder people and stand by Alexander.” who, according to history, was his best friend since childhood, and his lover.

“Hephaestion, the character I play, and [Alexander] have a really special connection. It’s a strong, strong relationship. I don’t think there is a term we have today to define their relationship,” he says, deliberately muddling around the oft-asked erotic question.

Farrell says, “There was no term for 'bisexuality’. It was just the way society was. People made love to men and women. It was only later on you had to pick one side of the fence.”

“But I promise you, in the film,” Leto teases, despite the magnetic charms of Farrell, and costars Rosario Dawson and Angelina Jolie, who play Alexander’s wife and mother, “the only kiss I gave out was to my horse. My one true love.”

He takes the tape recorder and places it gently against his chest, which holds within it the soul of a man who many have tried to reveal before. “I always tell the truth. What else do you want to know? What do people really want to know? What is the truth?” His face is a pure cheeky choir boy dare. “When have I ever not told you the truth? How can you tell that I’m lying?”

I remind him that the last time we met, he told me he owned three Uzis, that the first girl he kissed was a 47-year-old tranny named Jorge, that he was 19, raised by circus performers, and that he studied art at the American University of Paris for a semester, but was booted out when he wouldn’t give in to the attentions of the headmaster. And he wouldn’t back down to any of those “facts”.

He laughs. “Really? As Ronald Regan used to say, 'I have no memory of saying such things.’ ”

Says producer/director David Fincher, who worked with Leto on both Fight Club and Panic Room, “When it comes to his acting, he is beyond method. He gets into this whole image of his character. It is interesting how that kind of pain and sacrifice can translate. I mean, look at Requiem. I wish I had 100 Jareds working for me. He was amazing.

"Jared definitely strives not to be a victim of his genetics. On the films we did together, he was the guy who is constantly curious, the one you couldn’t bottle up. The one who wouldn’t hit his mark. He was like, 'Hey, I’m living it! Over here!’ But he does like to tell stories. It goes kind of like, 'How can you tell when Jared is lying? His lips are moving.’ ”

Leto, who prefers to see his playful fibbing as a way to keep his private life private, was born the day after Christmas, 33 years ago, in Bossier City, Louisiana. His mother was an artistic soul, and with his father out of the picture, he and his brother, Shannon (who is also in 30 Seconds To Mars), traveled a great deal while they were growing up. After a stint at New York’s School of Visual Arts, he says, he came to Los Angeles around 12 years ago with a couple hundred bucks in his pocket, no friends, and nowhere to stay. For awhile, he slept on Venice Beach. Then kaboom! a role on television’s My So-Called Life (opposite Claire Daines) and for the next few years, he reigned as a teen pinup - a tag and a look he has been successfully living down ever since.

According to Leto, “Luck is the residue of destiny.” It’s a phrase he’s heard which he likes very much. He feels it means that we can get caught up in so many things, but the world has what it has for us. That, in our natural state, everything is the way it’s supposed to be - free and joyous - and that our own insecurities get in the way of all that. It’s an idea which could be applied to his early life.

“When I was young, all that traveling was exciting,” says Leto. “You do develop an ability to read people more quickly. You have to learn to adapt to whatever comes along, to survive. Maybe the way I grew up is why I’m drawn to acting, to different characters. From film to film, I’m constantly finding myself, reaching different places outside and inside myself. I want to change, to morph into something else.” To be able to do that for Oliver Stone is a gift, says Leto. “He is one of my f***ing heroes. He is a great man. Present, connected, very physical. I find his way very endearing.”

To work with Stone, he traveled to Morocco, where the oncoming sunset had turned the world orange, into the color of dark rust. But the sky was growing dark, the golden scorpions were scuttling under the rocks, another sandstorm was moving toward the camp, fast.

Within moments, Leto, wearing his usual training gear - a T-shirt, tight shorts, boots covering his calves - couldn’t see two feet ahead of him. The sand whipped raw against his skin as he made for his tent. Inside, he tightened the flap and listened to the wind howl. He had switched off his cell phone, his e-mail. He hadn’t spoken to anyone in the U.S. for months. Apocalyptic fantasies crowded his brain. Many in the cast had already been horribly sick. There was a virus in the dust. His tent was next door to the latrine and he could hear cast and crew heave by the dozens.

One night, Leto got so sick, he thought he was going to toss a spleen.“I lay in bed for a couple of hours staring at the stars, just breathing really slow, willing it away. I fell asleep dreaming strange, surreal dreams. When I woke up, it was gone. That’s the desert.”

Says Dawson, “It was beyond primal, all those men bonding - horse training, fighting, all buffed up wearing nearly nothing. And as soon as a woman came on set, the energy was so damn erotic.

"One time Jared came to visit the hotel [where women stayed]. He was so happy to be there. He got to take a shower, have some proper food.So he’s talking, sitting there, and just sort of adjusting the package, not sexually, but in this slow, languorous way, like there was no one else around.It was all suited to his character, but I was like, 'Hey dude…’

"And he was like, 'I’m sorry! We’re out there in our underwear and boots all the time… maybe it’s got us a little too relaxed.’ Maybe. But it was all good.” She bats her eyes.“It was wonderful being around that kind of really masculine environment.”

“Oh, Rosario,” responds Leto, “she is so beautiful. Such a great woman.” He drops his head, smiling, not exactly asking for forgiveness.“Working on Alexander was an amazing experience. It’s all about connectivity. There is an old saying that the greatest leader is the servant of them all. Meaning, you are the most powerful when you are giving.”

“I think that as an artist, in any kind of expression of creation, that you must have to be in love with the process. It is the most exciting part of the work, and that if you have a desire for greatness, you will have to be willing to f***ing bleed. I think it’s true for me.That’s what drives me.”

He claps his hands over his face. “F***. People are going to read this and think, 'What the f***? Is weirdo Leto on crack? Hitting the old acid tab again.’ But honestly, it’s what I believe. One of my favorite things about getting older is that my intuition is often wrong.To me, it means I’m uncovering something new about the world.

#flaunt magazine #jared leto #2004 #interview #did i ever post this?#he used to give great and funny interviews

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