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annewritesfic · 3 years

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Happy Endings Don’t Exist

hey so i don’t really feel like making this like a full, normal, multichapter au but i really am attached to the tlc au (which @anythingbutwallflower helped a ton with because she’s amazing) and i kinda wanna post some of it so um yeah, here’s some

based off chapter 44 of scarlet by marissa meyer

(brief explanation of context at the end)

word count: 2660

triggers: mentions of guns, blood, scalpels, sleeping drugs, death, sacrifice, and murder

As the ship finally made it to neutral orbit, Chess sat back in the chair, rubbing her eyes and releasing a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She gave herself just one moment to sit there, eyes closed, all the aches and pains of the last few days catching up to her, before turning around to face the others.

Kate Dalton was sitting cross-legged against a crate, eyes closed and both hands splayed against the floor, like she was bracing themself. Cairo was still unconscious, spread-eagle on her back, a smear of blood leading to the edge of the ramp. The strange woman was off to the side, also unconscious, laying on her side with her back to Chess, both braids messy and coming undone.

“I’m really glad you’re a pilot,” Kate said, eyes still closed. “Thank you.”

“Your ship does pretty good on its own,” Chess said awkwardly, hands in her lap.

“Thanks!” said the voice from before over the speaker. “I’m Reese. It’s great to meet you!”

Chess glanced up curiously.

Kate stood up and stretched, wincing a little. “Reese is an old friend of mine. She’s… she was an android, but now she’s the ship’s auto-control system until I can find a replacement body for her and a new system for the ship.”

Chess couldn’t think of an answer, so she said nothing. She stood up and limped over to Cairo, sinking to her knees at her side and settling a hand on Cairo’s head.

“She should be all right,” Kate said from behind her. “I think. I’ve never, um, stuck around long enough to see the after-effects of those darts, but…”

Chess bit her lip. “You said you had bandages?”

“Right, in the med bay. I’ll, um… I’ll go get them.” Kate left the room, leaving Chess alone with Cairo and the stranger, both of them unconscious.

Not for long, apparently, though, because the stranger began to stir, then sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes. “Ugh… whererewe?” she mumbled.

Chess almost answered, but then Kate came back, clutching some salve and gauze. “Oh, you’re awake,” Kate said. “I was hoping you’d stay knocked out for awhile. It was kinda nice without you running your mouth.” Despite their words, Chess could see from her expression that Kate was glad the stranger was okay. Kate tossed one tube of salve to the stranger, then handed Chess the other supplies and sat on one of the crates. Chess realized there was a scalpel in the mix and gave Kate a questioning look. “We need to cut out your ID chips, before someone realizes you’re with us and tracks them.”

Right. Of course. Chess pushed away the memory of finding her grandmother’s ID chip, neatly wrapped in cheesecloth, on the dresser, and picked up the scalpel, glad she was right-handed. Neither Kate, nor the stranger, offered to help.

The stranger pulled herself to her feet, but quickly stumbled onto another crate, eyeing Chess and Cairo suspiciously. “Got the wolf on board? You sure she won’t kill us in our sleep?”

Chess glared at her, beginning to clean and bandage the wounds on one of Cairo’s arms. “She’s not an animal.”

“You sure? ‘Cause I definitely heard her pack buddies howling.”

“I hate to agree with Farrah,” Kate put in, “I mean, really hate to agree with Farrah, but she’s right. How do we know she’s on our side?”

Chess started to answer, then hesitated. “You’ll see when she wakes up.”

“Now I feel much better,” Farrah muttered, dabbing a little bit of ointment on the spot where Kate’s tranquilizer dart had hit her.

Chess grit her teeth and kept bandaging Cairo’s wounds.

“Screen, on,” Kate said. The volume was off, but a news anchor appeared, eyes full of fear. The screen behind the anchor showed a man with a crazy grin, face streaked with blood, before the image was replaced with static. Chess tore her gaze away and bent to cut out Cairo’s ID chip, noticing a scar there - almost like it hadn’t been long since she’d received the chip in the first place.

“These attacks are happening in a ton of major cities,” Kate said softly.

Cairo groaned, drawing everyone’s attention to her. Out of the corner of her eye, Chess saw Farrah pick up her abandoned gun and cock it at Cairo’s head, but ignored her.

Chess set both of their ID chips aside and cupped Cairo’s face with one hand. “Are you okay?”

Cairo’s eyes took a moment to focus on her. “Chess?” The name was barely past her lips when she jerked away from Chess’s hand, turning away and vomiting.

“Aces, I’m glad that didn’t happen to me,” Farrah commented.

“Sorry,” Kate said. “I think that might be a side effect of the drugs in those darts.”

Cairo collapsed on her back, one hand over her eyes, then looked at Chess. The wildness from Paris was gone, and there was something familiar, even comforting in the way she looked at Chess. “You’re alive.”

Chess fidgeted with the zipper on her jacket, suddenly nervous. “Yeah, thanks to you.”

Farrah scoffed. “Thanks to her? I’m sorry, whose ship are you on again?”

“Shut up, Farrah,” Kate said shortly.

Cairo turned to look at Kate. “Where are we?”

“A cargo ship orbiting Earth.” Kate stared at a point on the wall behind Cairo, like they couldn’t meet her eyes. “I shot you with a tranquilizer dart. Sorry about that, but I kinda thought you were gonna kill her, so…”

“I sort of thought I was, too,” Cairo said, her voice hoarse. She studied Kate, her gaze catching on her metal hand. “I think my queen is looking for you.”

“And that's supposed to make me feel better?” Farrah demanded.

Chess put a hand on Cairo’s shoulder. “She’s better now. Aren’t you?”

Cairo shrugged Chess’s hand off. “You shouldn’t have brought me here. I’m only going to put you all in danger.”

Farrah released the safety on the gun.

“Don’t be stupid,” Chess said. “It’s not your fault.”

“Chess, if anything happened to you because of me-”

“Do you intend to harm anyone on this ship?” Kate interrupted.

Cairo blinked at her. “No, of course not.”

Nobody moved for three seconds, but then Kate relaxed. “She’s telling the truth.”

“Are you sure?” Farrah asked skeptically.

“Guys!” Reese interrupted. “Eva is going to make an announcement!”

The volume on the net screen turned on, and all four of them turned to face it as the image cut to the empress of the Eastern Commonwealth, onstage in the EC’s press room. She stood at the podium, her dress shirt a little rumpled, eyes red and tired. Kate anxiously started chewing the thumbnail on their human hand, eyes fixed to the screen.

“Kate has a bit of a crush on the empress,” Farrah stage-whispered.

“Don’t we all?” Reese sighed over the speakers. Man, what a personality… Chess didn’t know androids were ever like that.

"I've called this press conference on such short notice to address the attack on Earth that began three and a half hours ago," she said, her voice clear. "I am sure many of Earth's people are begging to know the answer to why this is happening." Eva paused and took a deep breath. "It was my fault."

Kate began to shake a bit. Cairo reached for Chess’s hand and squeezed.

"Many of you are aware that Queen Levana has been threatening war on our planet for nearly her entire rule. She chose to initiate these attacks now, because I have been unable to meet her clear expectations to adhere to a treaty between Luna and Earth. It is my responsibility to end these attacks and prevent a full-scale war as long as it is in my power to do so." Eva didn't look at any of the reporters, instead focusing her gaze on the back wall like she was ashamed of herself. "I have accepted a marriage alliance with Queen Levana of Luna."

"No!" Kate said, launching to their feet. "No!"

"In return," Eva continued, unaware of the effect her words had on the crewmembers of the Rampion, "Luna will withhold further attacks. The wedding will take place on the next full moon, the twenty fifth of September, and will be followed immediately by Queen Levana's coronation as empress of the Eastern Commonwealth. The removal of all Lunar soldiers from Earth will begin the following day, the twenty sixth of September."

"You fucking idiot!" Kate screamed at the screen. She grabbed the bandages sitting on a crate and hurled them at the screen. “No! You can’t fucking do that!”

"My cabinet will provide further updates in the coming days. I will be taking no questions tonight. Thank you." Despite Eva's words, the room filled with the reporters' incessant questions, but Eva ignored them and walked off the stage, holding her head high but looking like a defeated general.

"I fucking told her not to do it," Kate spat. “Levana murdered thousands of innocent people and now she's going to be the fucking empress?" They stepped on the two ID chips on the floor, grinding them to pieces among the blood. "And that won't satisfy her for long. She's going to use the Commonwealth as just a stepping stone to get to the rest of the world, and I told her that would happen, and she's still going through with the fucking marriage alliance! She's going to take control of the goddamn solar system and it'll be Eva's fault!” They sat back down on the crate, head in her hands, shaking.

Chess dropped Cairo’s hand and crossed her arms. “I think this seems more like your fault.”

Kate looked up at Chess with an unreadable expression. Farrah settled her chin on her hand, like she was watching an entertaining TV show, but her other hand kept the gun pointed at Cairo’s head.

“You know why she ordered those attacks,” Chess continued, standing up. “Because of you.”

Kate’s lips parted a little in surprise. “Your grandmother told you, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she did, and it’s sickening that you let this happen in the first place!” Chess said, raising her voice just a little bit.

Kate jumped off the crate, both hands curled into fists, but didn’t make a move towards Chess. “What would you like me to do, then? Hand myself over? Sacrifice myself and cross my fingers it’ll satisfy her? If that’s what I had done, we would’ve ended up here anyway.”

“I don’t mean when you were arrested at the ball,” Chess spat. “I mean before that. Why haven’t you done anything to stop her? People are depending on you! And you did nothing for years!” She threw her hands in the air. “My grandmother sacrificed herself for you, and you’re running away and hiding like a goddamn coward.”

Farrah raised her hand. “Uh, I’m confused. What are we talking about?”

Chess turned on her. “Stop pointing that gun at her!”

Farrah tossed the gun aside and crossed her arms.

Chess looked back at Kate. “She doesn’t know, does she? You put her life in danger - all of our lives in danger - and she doesn’t know why!”

“It’s not that simple-”

“Isn’t it?”

“I haven’t even known for a week!” Kate shouted. “I found out when I was sitting in prison, waiting to be shipped off to Luna to be executed. So between breaking out of prison, running from the entire Commonwealth military, and saving your goddamn life, there hasn’t been a whole lot of time to overthrow an entire regime! So I’m sorry to disappoint you!” They leaned against the crate, head in her hands, breathing hard.

Chess’s mind whirling, trying to fit this new information into something that made sense. “How did you not know?”

“Because your grandmother shipped me off to New Beijing five years ago without bothering to tell me.”

“But-but that’s why you were at the ball, wasn’t it?”

Kate laughed bitterly, a sharp, angry sound, and looked up at Chess. “You really think I would’ve been stupid enough to face Levana if I’d known?” She paused. “Well, maybe… maybe for Eva. I don’t know. I didn’t know.”

“Oh.” Chess sank back to the floor, feeling oddly guilty.

Farrah waved her hand a little. “Um, I’m still confused.”

Kate sighed and looked at the ceiling. “I’m Princess Selene.”

Silence for a beat.

Farrah laughed, but nobody else did, and slowly the realization dawned on her face. “Really?”

“Really.”

Farrah’s eyes widened. “You’re Princess Selene. The crazy cyborg is Princess Selene.”

Kate glared at her. “Are you done?”

“I don’t compute,” Reese said slowly. Chess hid her surprise - she kept forgetting Reese was there.

“Yeah, me neither,” Farrah agreed. “Since when?”

“I should’ve told you,” Kate said. “But… but it was all so new, and I thought… maybe, if I could find Michelle Benoit, get some questions answered… I’m sorry.”

It was quiet for a moment.

“Is your gift intact?” Cairo asked.

“Yeah, but I’m still… still learning how to use it.” Kate sank to the floor and sat against the crate, and suddenly it hit Chess just how young they were - at sixteen, Kate was the youngest in this room by several years. Just a kid, really. And yet there was so much weight on her shoulders…

“She controlled one of the special ops,” Chess offered. “I saw them do it.”

Kate scoffed. “Yeah, barely.”

Cairo’s eyes widened. “You controlled one of the soldiers? While Jael was there?”

Kate fidgeted nervously. “Well, yeah, but it was awful. I barely got to him, and then I nearly passed out-”

“That’s why Levana wants you,” Cairo said, her expression amazed. “You are stronger than she is. Or at least you could be, with a little practice.”

Kate shook their head, hugging her knees. “That thaumaturge had seven soldiers under his control, and I could barely handle one. I’m not even close to being as strong as Levana.”

“You don’t understand,” Cairo said. “Each pack is controlled by a thaumaturge, who controls when the animal instincts the genetic manipulation gave us take control. We’ve all had the physical modifications, but really, it all comes back to a thaumaturge. A normal Lunar citizen couldn’t hope of controlling us, and even the thaumaturges, who could control hundreds of people at once, can only handle up to fifteen. That’s why the special op packs are kept so small.” She grinned. “And you took one away from a thaumaturge on your first try? With no training or anything? Her Majesty might have cause to be afraid of you, Princess.”

Kate glared at Cairo. “Don’t call me that.”

Cairo raised an eyebrow. “Assuming, of course, that you do want to fight her. Which I think you do, judging by your response to your empress’s announcement.”

Kate automatically glanced at the screen, which was now replaying Eva’s announcement, although Reese had muted the volume. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to be a leader, or-”

“But you can stop her,” Chess interrupted. “So many people think you can. My grandmother sacrificed herself for this, and I won’t let that be wasted.”

“And if you really are who you claim to be, that makes you my true queen,” Cairo added. “So you have my loyalty.”

“I don’t want your fucking loyalty.”

“Then what do you want?” Chess asked, trying and probably failing to be gentle.

Kate squeezed their eyes shut, then opened them and glared at the both of them. “I want some time alone to think, without you guys chattering in my ear!” They kicked off her boots and stormed out of the room, her metal foot clanging against the floor with every other step.

Farrah sighed. “I know, I know. They seem a bit…” She crossed her eyes and twirled her fingers around her ears. “But I promise, once you get to know her, it’s all part of their charm.”

ok so a bit of context:

after the fourth world war, there are six nations at peace on earth, plus a kingdom on the moon, called luna. luna has had rocky relations with earth for hundreds of years. the heir to the throne was supposed to be princess selene, but in order to keep her hold on the throne, queen levana tried to kill the princess at just three years old. selene survived and was brought to earth to be kept safe, and is kate dalton, a cyborg mechanic from new beijing. the eastern commonwealth is ruled by the young empress eva, who very recently took the throne after the death of her mother. farrah thorne is an escaped convict who helped kate break out of prison after the ball, when kate tried to stop eva from entering the marriage alliance with levana but failed and was arrested. selene was sheltered for eight years by chess’s grandmother, michelle benoit. and cairo is one of levana’s special ops, and her genetics were split with those of a wolf, giving her special abilities. all lunars have what they call their “gift,” their ability to manipulate biolectricity and control people/make them see something that’s not there/make their appearances different, but the gift only works face to face. and... yeah, feel free to shoot me an ask on my main, @i-don-t-even-care, if you have any other questions!!!!!!!

#we are the tigers #kate dalton #farrah watt #chess watt #cairo adekoya #reese watt #chai #kateva #blood tw #death tw #injury tw #murder tw #gun tw #ask to tag #the lunar chronicles

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faecaptainofdreams · 4 years

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Decided to re-invigorate myself a bit by indulging in a cute crossover...because Tom Holland <3 This goes way off course from Marvel/the MCU, because...again, this is for me and i like simple and colorful. Whatever, ENJOY. Here's his OG head canon, everything follows almost the same but you may need it for context: www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo… ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In this universe, superhero-type people aren't overly uncommon, though rarely they actually get the opportunity to use their powers in a work-related sense. It's almost always an accident, and those who intentionally mutate themselves for one reason or another often face a prison sentence due to the dangers to themselves, others, and their disregard for consequence. And yes, there have been many cases where mutations both intentional and accidental have been fatal or severely damaging mentally and/or physically. At the H.T.U.V., there is a special sector of labs dedicated to studying dangerous materials, as well as creatures that accidentally are harmed or mutated by certain substances. With the environment being more heavily prioritized in the world of SiD, the government is very careful to regulate chemicals and try to keep toxins at a minimum. But even in a government agency, there are bound to be people with conflicting morals and human-based error in thinking. ~~Mutation~~ Everything in Walter's life carries out as normal until the Summer when he's 18. With him having barely been working at the agency for a year, but getting pushed more and more aside, the lead scientist in the toxins lab, named Theo Rupert, became curious about Walter. He figured if Walter was so useless in the gadget lab, maybe he had untapped potential for something else, and thus privately invited him to miss a day of work in order to visit the toxins lab. They told him they wondered if he would be interested in this field. Due to his love of animals, his biomechanical genius and natural gifts as a whole, he actually began to consider the idea of working to help save these animals and find healthy ways to eliminate dangerous substances. This conflicted with his current dream job, however, as he ultimately wanted to help people and potentially influence the way the agency did things. During his tour of the labs, Walter felt a small but sharp sting on his neck, but found nothing there. He assumed it was just him being sensitive, or a casual bug bite and moved on. Later that night, the bite became painful, swollen, and grey, disturbingly. Fearing necrosis of his skin and wondering if he really was bitten by something dangerous in the toxins lab, Walter called the lead scientist and told him what he was experiencing. Theo instructed Walter to apply a cold compress to it, and then accept a referral at work the next day to go back to the toxins lab and see him. He also instructed Walter not to tell anyone about the bite until further notice. Walter obeyed, but had a bad feeling. ~~Illegality~~ The next day, Walter did not show up at work. Rather, he had fallen ill -- so much so that he actually called in. Seeing as how he wasn't showing up, a nervous Theo called Walter and asked why he hadn't shown up. Walter answered drearily with "I can't move." Theo and his team of four packed up a suitcase of medical equipment and lied that they had been called out to inspect potentially hazardous material elsewhere in the city. They left in two of their own cars, and switched their cars out before heading to Walter's house so as not to be recognized. When they got there, Walter had made it to the couch, still in his pajamas, and with young Lovey out and about. He had managed to feed her, and that was it. He couldn't even answer the door, so the team (dressed in civilian clothing and acting as though they were friends of his over for a visit) gently picked the lock on the door and let themselves in. What they found was alarming. Walter was deathly pale, running a fever and showing flu-like symptoms, minus sinus issues. His body ached and felt tingly all over, and he was nauseated. The bite on his neck was still a grey whelp, and now was developing markings around it. Another new development was two lumps on the undersides of his wrists had appeared, also swollen, sore and grey, just like the bite on his neck. Theo and his team drew blood from Walter and quickly ran it through one of the small machines they brought (super scientific world, shit gets done faster). After a few minutes, the test results revealed that there was indeed, a toxic substance in his system, but it was mixed with the venom of a jumping spider. As it is, jumping spiders are relatively docile and their bites are almost never problematic, let alone potentially fatal, but the team was scared stiff. They revealed to Walter right then and there that he was bitten by one of their animal subjects -- an aggressive, mutated jumping spider, that had gotten loose in the lab the day Walter visited. They explained that they didn't even know it had gotten out until a little while after Walter had gone home when they found it wandering about, caught it and put it back in its enclosure. Walter asked what was going to happen to him, and they reluctantly said they weren't sure. Theo and the other scientists huddled in the kitchen and quietly debated what their next move was. They had to either come clean to the agency and its directors about what they had done and how they messed up, possibly facing federal jail time for carelessness/endangering someone, or try to brush it under the rug. Panicked, they decided to try and hide their mistake. They came back to Walter and told him he was going to be fine (which was a lie, as they really didn't know), and that news of this needed to stay under wraps. Theo told him that higher-ups would know about it, but would deny they did if asked about it, as goofs like this were critical to be kept secret in order to conceal it from potentially getting out to the public. They even typed up a fake document for Walter to sign, swearing him to secrecy. He was told to never speak to anyone of what happened, both in and outside of work. Given he had no friends and no remaining family, Walter nervously agreed, still wondering if he would die. As Theo spent time cleaning up his mess, he and the team stayed to monitor Walter's condition. Over the course of the next two hours, Walter managed to break his fever, but his temperature suddenly dropped drastically, as did his heart rate and blood pressure. If he died, the team knew they were in deep, deep trouble. They used what little they had to try and keep him somewhat stable and monitor his vitals. Miraculously, an hour following, the symptoms began to lesson. Blood pressure, heart rate and temperature came closer to being steady again. By 2 in the afternoon, Walter had overcome most of his symptoms. He was a little dizzy, his body still felt tingly and the whelps were still swollen and sore, but it seemed he would be all right. They encouraged him to drink some water and eat a couple crackers to test his stomach, and that turned out to be fine as well. The ordeal left him exhausted and under the weather, but he figured he might be able to return to work the next day. Like the night before, Theo told him to take a referral to the toxins lab when he clocked in and check in with them. They left, but stayed in close touch with Walter up until work time. ~~Suppression~~ With the bite and wrist whelps still inflamed and grey, Walter wore his jacket to conceal them. When he arrived in the toxins lab, he was still ragged out, but completely stable. He complained of soreness in the whelps, and explained that there was a more persistent, widespread ache in his wrists extending into his arms. His palms and the bottoms of his feet also felt very tingly still. Theo checked the sites out, and it was revealed that Walter now had much more significant markings that were a mixture of grey and iridescent pink. Going off of evidence from other people who'd experienced mutations around the world, Theo concluded that certain parts of Walter's body were developing spider-like qualities, of which he wasn't sure yet. He explained that Walter very nearly met death the previous day due almost exclusively to the dangerous toxin that had been injected into him, but the spider's venom had neutralized a certain compound in it just enough to keep him alive when it counted. This, he explained, was how the spider itself had survived the toxin. He allowed Walter to see the spider. Given his symptoms were not getting much worse, aside from some persistent tingling and aching, Theo told him they would be in regular contact. Until this settled down, he was to visit the toxins lab multiple times a week. For once, Walter being neglected in the gadgets lab -- and by the agency as a whole -- served a purpose, as all the referrals to the TL were not questioned. And despite months of visitation to the TL, Walter still didn't make any friends. There was a slight fondness that Theo had for him, but he remained professional and determined not to get attached. A couple weeks after the bite, the whelps finally laid flat, and the bite wound was all gone. Intricate markings were all that was left, and one tiny little bump on the underside of each wrist. Whenever Walter would go down to the labs, Theo and his private team ran small medical tests. They sampled blood, very modest traces of tissue, and took his vitals. The medical records and each find was documented quietly and hidden in a remote file. Still, Walter believed it wasn't a true secret, and became gradually more comfortable. Eventually, they all realized that Walter's hands and feet gained him the ability to cling to most surfaces when he desired, and the whelps on his wrists were actually spinnerets. He produced webs from his wrists, could jump several times the length of his own body, and was sensitive to vibrations, certain touch, and somehow was able to predict danger coming towards him just before it could actually reach him. Thankfully, as x-rays and sonograms showed, he didn't develop any new or strange organs, didn't lay eggs, didn't have an appetite for insects and best of all, did not need to molt. Studies on him went on for months before it seemed every secret had been uncovered. But because of the nature of it all, Theo told Walter he needed to suppress his abilities. No shooting webs, no jumping super far, no wall climbing. He was saddened by this, but again, he obeyed. For the next two years, Walter Beckett stifled everything as he had grown used to doing as it was, and went on with life. When someone asked him about the markings, he said they were tattoos, and that their meaning was "personal." A final consequence of this was Walter was no longer allowed to potentially work in the toxins lab. ~~The Movie~~ Everything played out as usual in the film, but with Walter having markings and simply not even thinking to use his abilities even in dangerous situations. ~~Post-Movie~~ Everything went along as normal (see the HC sheet). While Walter was living with Lance, the closer he got to him, the more he wanted to tell his secret, but he kept quiet. Knowing he was about to be a real agent and the man's partner, though, he figured it would have to come up at some point. Walter got his chance to talk when Lance drove him to the H.T.U.V. on one of their days off to meet with Marcy and Joy to address his issues with compromise and direction. Everything there went as normal, but when it was over, Walter asked to stay back and talk to Joy alone for a bit. Lance and Marcy waited outside, not too far away, and Walter approached Joy. A conversation like this ensued: ------- "Walter: Sooo, now that I'm gonna be an agent, I guess it might be okay to finally bring up the ah... "spider thing"? Joy: ...The what. Walter: You know...! (He shows her his wrists.) Walter: These? Joy: *looks at the marks* ... *looks at him and raises a brow* If...yer askin' if it's all right to have tattoos, the answer is yes... Walter: Hah, wow, when they said you'd deny it, they really meant it! Joy: *more annoyed* Who said I would deny what??" ------- By this point, Walter suddenly understood that she really was oblivious. He hoped she was the only director or higher-up that was in the dark about it. Distressed at having broken the strict rule he was given and almost panicking, Walter had to be re-focused by Joy and calmed enough to nervously explain to her vaguely what happened to him two years prior, and why he never spoke of it. Furious, Joy brought Lance and Marcy back in and briefly explained that she'd just learned about Walter's mutation, and thus he had to explain it a little, too. Naturally, they were shocked and confused, but Joy apologized to Marcy while requesting that she gear up and help her potentially make some arrests. Lance was allowed to come too, just in case he might be needed. ~~Caught~~ Joy and Marcy's team stormed into the toxins lab and confronted Theo and gathered his team. Walter was confused and scared out of his mind. When Joy interrogated them, it didn't take long for them to break and confess everything right then and there. They even gave up the secret files documenting the event and all the recordings since, including Walter's visitations and the dates. The files were seized, and Marcy's team arrested Theo and his close co-workers. Walter felt terrible about the whole thing, but once again, he had managed to evade prison simply due to his innocence and naivete. At the very least, no longer having to hide everything was a monumental, if not somewhat thrilling relief. He was asked to come back later in the week after work one day and recount everything he knew, and the entire encounter to Joy and a few of her subordinates. Theo and his team faced 20 years in federal prison, but a plea deal was set to lesson it to 10. They eventually settled for 15. By this point, the spider that bit Walter had long since died. ~~"Special" Agent~~ When Walter trained for his more serious partnership with Lance, he was encouraged now to use his abilities and figure them out. There was a lot of falling, swinging too far, miscalculated/premature web fires, and over-estimated jumps, but as Walter gained more confidence, it showed in his training. Practice and patience made him keen, and now he had one more thing to tack on to his list of oddities. With help from suit designer experts from the gadgets lab, a team helped Walter put together a breathable, slim-fitting suit that would compliment all of his abilities. The gloves even have an opening for his spinnerets. ~~Today~~ Walter doesn't often have a need to wear his suit outside of fun and training, oddly enough, but it has and continues to prove useful on the field. Certain missions may require it, so he packs it on every mission just in case. Either way, he can still mostly use his abilities in regular attire, though his feet don't stick to surfaces with his shoes being on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#Spies in Disguise #Walter Beckett #Tom Holland #Spiderman #au #I EVEN GAVE HIM FRECKLES

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honestgrins · 4 years

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Pretty Good Bad Idea || Klaroline

As the CEO of admitted hellcorp Original, Klaus was used to professional criticism. Caroline, however, was really, really good at it.

The ballroom was full of people, animated and cheery with the holiday spirit. Original's annual corporate celebration grew more lavish by the year, thanks to Rebekah taking full advantage of the expanded budget she'd sweet talked out of the board. Well, she'd sweet talked Mikael, who strong-armed the rest of the members into compliance as a boon to employee morale.

Never mind the numerous proposals Klaus tried to implement in order to actually improve salaries and benefits, he thought bitterly to himself. Heaven forbid the board approve any of his initiatives, he was just the CEO. He should have known Mikael wouldn't allow him to wield any real power within the company; if anything, he was more constrained than ever under his step-father's thumb. Still, he was good at his job and they were all billionaires for it.

He ran the highest valued company in the world, yet he was miserable at his own party. Somewhere, a very small violin was surely playing for him. Groaning at his own self-pity, he made his way to the bar. Whatever specialty cocktail Rebekah had the waiters passing around wasn't nearly strong enough for him.

Ordering a scotch, he leaned back to survey the room. His sister was coaxing her date onto the dance floor; his own date was chatting with his mother. He rolled his eyes at the sight. Clearly, Genevieve was getting too comfortable with imagining herself his girlfriend. If she thought ingratiating herself with Esther would improve her chances, she deserved whatever his mother threw her way. Intimidating the significant others of her children was a point of pride for her, until those that made it all the way to the altar met her complete approval.

Honestly, it was easier to avoid serious attachments altogether than face that kind of scrutiny. He sighed, wondering when Genevieve lost sight of their casual status.

Before he could text his assistant to send a breakup bouquet sometime during the next week, however, his gaze caught on Mikael and a woman hanging on his every word. She was dressed more simply than most of the guests, but her jumpsuit was sleek and well-fitted. Blonde curls gently fell down her back, red lips tilted up in a curious grin.

She was beautiful, and Klaus couldn't take his eyes off her.

But nothing could make him willingly approach Mikael, let alone in public with witnesses to what would surely be a hostile conversation at best. They mostly traded barbs via intermediaries, and their familial relationship had never been better. Her, though, he would have to maneuver an introduction to her.

His moment came when Esther interrupted them to claim a dance with her husband, the younger woman demurring with a nod. No handshake - they must have known each other already. Interesting.

Left alone, she slipped toward the bar, and Klaus couldn't help a sly smirk that he hadn't needed to intercept her at all. Instead, she was walking straight toward him. He threw back the last remnants of his glass, turning to order a refill just before she stepped up next to him. "Can I get a ginger ale, please?"

The bartender quickly went about his business, but Klaus seized the chance of a briefly captive audience. "I don't believe we've met. Klaus Mikaelson," he greeted, offering his hand.

She seemed to be biting back a smile, shaking his hand like she was laughing at him. Eager to be let in on the joke, he was content to bide his time. "Caroline," she responded. "Caroline Forbes. I'm surprised. I was under the impression you don't enjoy company parties."

His eyes narrowed, wondering what tales Mikael had been telling. He had no desire to talk about him, however. "They have their upsides," he hedged. "You're here, for example."

"Charming," she laughed. The bartender finally slid over her drink, but to Klaus's triumph, she didn't move to rejoin the crowd. She watched him shrewdly while she sipped. "Do you flirt with all your employees?"

"You're not one of my employees."

Her expression turned skeptical. "You have hundreds of thousands of employees all over the world," she shot back. "I doubt you have them all memorized."

Klaus smirked from behind his glass, thoroughly enjoying the taste of victory. "It would take some studying and better context, but I'm better at knowing my team than most expect. That said, I do recognize your name, and not from the Original directory."

With a dejected sigh, she gave a rueful smile. "Damn that byline exposure."

"For good reason," he noted. "Your writing is particularly memorable, love. I think I have one of your articles hanging on my wall. 'Nepotism is Alive and Well: Another Mikaelson Assumes Role as Original CEO' was one of yours, wasn't it? I had a few headlines to choose from when I moved into the new office, but I liked the bite of that one." Honestly, he kept that one to remind himself that he ascended to the position despite Mikael's wishes; that others assumed Mikael tacitly endorsed his leadership was just a fringe benefit. "I wasn't aware Rebekah invited press to the party."

"She didn't," Caroline admitted. "My roommate is on your security team, though, and he brought me as his plus-one."

"Josh?"

"Enzo. San Francisco is an expensive city, and you have a habit of not paying your staff an adequate wage to live here."

He shrugged, feigning a lack of concern when he'd been arguing for exactly that to improve retention. It was more a ploy to keep employees loyal to him rather than Mikael, but he was still making the effort. "Yes, I'm sure you're the breadwinner, what, with your esteemed work at the local paper."

Her cold smile burned right through him, and he'd never been so delighted. "At least my pittance of a salary comes with integrity and a firm grasp of ethics. You should stop by our union meeting sometime, see what it looks like when workers actually have a say in their standards."

"My employees are free to petition their managers for a negotiation," he answered easily, enjoying her little, indignant huff.

"And your managers are trained to pass the petition up the ranks until it's nothing more than a bullet point on your morning memo, which you pass off to one of your directors without taking the terms into consideration."

Smirking, Klaus tipped his glass to her. "I assure you, my morning memo isn't listed in bullet points."

"That's not an answer," she insisted, her voice stern.

It only made his smirk deepen. "No, you'd have to talk to my media director for that. She's right over there, doing a poor rendition of the Macarena, I believe. Care to dance, love?"

Caroline rolled her eyes with a scoff. "You know, I also talked to Genevieve tonight. She actually introduced herself as your date, which is so sad that I can't even laugh about it. You should ask her to dance. You're not even worth the calories I burn talking to you."

Oh, how he wanted to change her mind about that. "Yet here you are, crashing my party. What's the story this time?"

Her jaw tightened as she seemed to consider her best course of action. He was pleased when she favored bluntness, a trait he ascribed to her natural personality. "Rumor has it you're trying to force your father out of the business. Any truth to that?"

The room might have frozen with him, not that he was paying it any attention. "For a journalist with integrity, you're putting an awful lot of trust in Mikael Mikaelson as a source," he bit out.

"I am a journalist with integrity," she replied in kind. "That's why I'm verifying the firsthand account of a very high profile source within the company. I can see he's paranoid and holding onto his chairmanship with a white-knuckled grip, and he has a history of twisting media attention to his favor. But then," she paused, watching him carefully. "So do you."

How else was I supposed to wrest the chief executive from him? he wanted to ask, but it would do no good to confirm her suspicion - not while Mikael was clearly making moves against him. Best the board as a whole didn't find a reason to remove him as CEO, and proving how well he manipulated them would surely create a motive to do so. "As I said, feel free to seek comment from my media director. Preferably during business hours, of course."

Her smile returned in full force, leaving him wary and completely taken. "Of course, sorry to disturb you, Mr. Mikaelson."

"Miss Forbes," he nodded. She brazenly held his stare for a long moment before she turned and strode away, the path she cut through the party holding his attention for far longer. That wouldn't be the last time they went head to head.

He'd make sure of it.

#klaroline #klaroline drabbles #kcauweek2020 #day 4 #enemies to lovers #this is more about the enemies part but we all know where it leads #captive audience #fic: pretty good bad idea

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Warrior Season 2 Episode 3 Review: Not How We Do Business

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This Warrior review contains spoilers.

Warrior Season 2 Episode 3

“Not How We Do Business” sums up the latest episode of Warrior in two ways. First, it’s a line that Zing (Dustin Nguyen) lays on O’Hara (Kieran Biew) when he finally breaks away from being a debt collector for the Fung Hai. “Not how we do business” also works on a meta level, this episode only has one Kung Fu fight. That’s weak for a Bruce Lee inspired show. There are two other fight scenes, but they’re scrappy brawls the likes of which can be found in any action drama.

Bruce Lee fans want Kung Fu, and not just any Kung Fu. As part of the Little Dragon’s legacy, it must be great Kung Fu. The lone Kung Fu scene in this episode is good and serves to introduce a pivotal new character, but that’s not enough. It’s not how we do business.

This episode begins with a missed opportunity where Ah Sahm (Anthony Koji) is in the Barbary Coast Fight Pit, facing off against another challenger. That would be great, but the fight is already over. The opening shot focuses upon his burly challenger, but he has already been knocked out and is just standing stunned, then there’s a shot of Ah Sahm, and then the challenger falls.

Seriously? No Kung Fu? Starting in the Fight Pit is fine dramatically but shortchanging the audience out of a fight is not the way to go for this show. It’s a big ripe piece of low hanging fruit left to rot. Bruce Lee fans crave gratuitous Kung Fu. Whenever Warrior goes to the Fight Pit, there had better be a fight.

After that, Ah Sahm’s fight manager Vega (Maria-Elena Laas) teases him with the promise of a bigger purse in some other international arena, a place where Warrior will hopefully go at some point this season, but not in this episode. Chao (Hoon Lee) pulls Ah Sahm aside and implies that he knows about the molasses plot that he and Young Jun (Jason Tobin) are cooking up, and that he’s concerned over Ah Sahm’s rivalry with Mai Ling (Dianne Doan). Chao comments “I don’t see any version of that ending well” which comes as no surprise to anyone. If this all ended well, there’d be no fight scenes.

Enter Hong – the New Guy in the Hop Wei

The centerpiece of the episode is the introduction of a new character, Hong (Chen Tang). Chen Tang just portrayed Yao in the new Mulan. In the original Disney animated film, Yao was Mulan’s hard ass comrade, and in contrast, he’s the shortest character (unless you count Mushu and Cri-Kee). The live action Mulan changed a lot – Yao was still the hard ass, but now he’s 6 feet tall and a less significant role. Nevertheless, Chen is a great addition to Warrior, exuding a southern charm because he was raised in Memphis and has a natural southern accent in real life, but he covers that up for Warrior.

Warrior Season 2 Episode 1 Review: Learn to Endure, or Hire a Bodyguard

By Gene Ching

Hong arrives ‘fresh off the boat’ with a batch of new recruits, hatchet men ordered from China by Father Jun (Perry Yung). Their appearance makes Young Jun nervous that Father Jun might be on to his non-Chinese molasses scheme. He’s also suspicious of Hong’s attempts to weasel his way in with them. Nonetheless, Young Jun and Ah Sahm agree to take Hong to a brothel. There Ah Sahm discovers Hong is gay but sympathetically keeps that secret.

After that, the threesome stumble across some Fung Hai gangsters in the streets and Hong, either eager to impress or just hungry to kick some ass, takes them all out by himself. It’s a good introduction and reveals his expertise with whip chain. A whip chain is a traditional Chinese weapon, one that can be easily concealed as a trusty everyday carry for a Tong man. Chen Tong delivers a decent first fight scene with it. As weapons go, the whip chain requires more skill to wield than a nunchaku. Hong deploys both the whip chain’s striking and entangling methods proficiently, although the scene is in a dark alley and the shadows can conceal a multitude of sins. Chen Tong lists skills in Stage Combat, Karate, Kung Fu and Tai Chi on his resume and claims he did some preparation for the role of Hong studying Chinese whip chain and the Japanese equivalent manriki-gusari.

One of the best things about Warrior is the relationship between Ah Sahm and Young Jun. They have an earnest chemistry as two gangsters being gangsters, delivering beat downs, slinging molasses, and chasing sticky. This camaraderie is commonplace for buddy films and TV partners but it’s exceedingly rare and delightfully refreshing to see this for two Asian men in a Western production. Both Ah Sahm and Young Jun have a lot to prove and their connection is palpable. Hong brings a new lighter tone as the third wheel to their partnership. They already seem to be bonding as a threesome which is promising for the rest of the season.

In the Room Where It Happens

Mai Ling (Dianne Doan) and Li Yong (Joe Taslim) pay a visit to the Fung Hai lair so she can scold Zing (Dustin Nguyen). Walking into Zing’s room is a gutsy move for Mai Ling, but with Li Yong at her side, she’s fearless. Zing agrees to Mai Ling’s terms, but not before she shares a ritual drink of mare’s milk with him. Mare’s milk, or Kumis, is a unique fermented drink because few alcoholic beverages are dairy derived. It’s usually not that strong, nor is it the disgusting chunky chowder depicted in Warrior but the Mongols are stereotyped as barbarians, just as they were in Mulan, so it’s depicted as revolting. Mongolians are poorly represented in film and television. Project their media depictions upon any other race and the generally disparaging tone is evident.

On the way out, a Fung Hai thug gets up in Li Yong’s face and gets throat punched for his trouble. Don’t mess witjj Li Yong. Knowing Li Yong could destroy his crew, Zing calls off his man saying “Be thankful for your pain. It means you’re still alive.”

Much to Li Yong’s dismay, Mai Ling echoes this line towards the end of the episode, making him wonder if his boss is headed down the wrong path like Zing. While everyone in Warrior has their dark side, Zing has emerged as the villain with no redeemable qualities. Taslim brings a guarded nobility to Li Yong as Warrior’s most badass fighter; he’s loyal to Mai Ling, his lover and boss, but not blindly so. This, along with Taslim’s martial expertise, makes Li Yong one of the more intriguing characters. Mai Ling, like most of the rest of the cast, is another character with a lot to prove.

Warrior Episode 2 Review: There’s No China in the Bible

By Stephen Harber

Movies

Best Martial Arts Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

By Gene Ching

Later, Zing, being the barbarous Mongol villain, threatens Chao (Hoon Lee) over delivering weapons. Chao, always the manipulator, discusses Zing with Mai Ling. Then later, Chao meets with Li Yong alone. Over bowls of noodles, Chao proposes a way to avoid war, teasing some coming intrigue to take Zing down. Everyone is aligning against Zing and the anticipation of this inevitable showdown is promising.

Sophie (Celine Buckens) sneaks into Leary’s (Dean Jagger) back room at the Banshee and finds his map of factories that use coolies. While she’s smart enough to realize that Leary is behind the factory firebombing, she somehow overlooks that Mercer Steel has got to be among those circled on that map too. Clearly her sister’s company is on the Irish workers hit list because they were beating up the coolies headed to Mercer until Penny (Joanna Vanderham) hired the Hop Wei for protection against them. Sophie and Leary finally hook up and Leary unwittingly echoes Chao saying, “This isn’t going to end well.” By now, the audience is well aware it’s not going to end well and has their collective fingers crossed that it will end in a massive Kung Fu fight at the very least.

As they have a post-coital stroll, Sophie suggests that Leary get into politics with a nod to Hamilton by suggesting he should “be in the room where it happens.” Leary calls Sophie out when she says she “knows.” She’s an entitled upper-class woman and hasn’t seen the tragedy that Leary has. He tells Sophie of some of the horrors he witnesses, of friends and family starving, and starts to pull away from her until she draws him back. It gives Leary more context.

Given the era, Leary likely escaped the Great Irish Famine (1945-1849). Over a quarter million Irish emigrated to the New World and Leary would be part of that generation. The Irish are struggling too. During that period, Irish immigrants made up most of San Francisco’s working class and about one-third of the city’s population. This is another way Warrior sheds light upon a dark period of history.

Police Beatdowns

The other two fight scenes come from the cops. The first is short. Lee (Tom Weston-Jones) returns to Nora’s (Gaosi Raditholo) tavern where he got rolled last episode to exact revenge. He goes full copper, night-sticking and shooting up the joint until he gets his cash back. With Lee, Weston-Jones is echoing his role as Kevin “Corky” Corcoran, in his previous TV show Copper. Corky was an Irish detective in a period drama set in the late 18th century, the same era as Warrior. This is not so much of a bar fight as it is a cop taking out a few unarmed barflies.

When a debtor’s wife flashes a gratuitous boob at O’Hara, offering him sex to pay her husband’s bills to the Fung Hai, it’s the last straw and he finally quits the Fung Hai. Even though O’Hara has repaid his debt, Zing exacts revenge by sending Tong men to invade his home and threaten his family. This happens right after dinner where Lee had been their guest. Lee comes to the rescue, revolver blazing, and a scrappy bit of violence ensues where O’Hara’s son and wife must defend themselves too. It’s a brutal sanguineous scene, leaving everyone dead or splattered with blood, ending this episode in a bloody mess.

Warrior Season 2 can be seen exclusively on CINEMAX.

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clansayeed · 4 years

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Bound by Destiny ― Chapter 17: The Trial of Adrian Raines

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny ⥽

Nadya Al Jamil (MC) has been struggling from the day she moved to Manhattan, but her new job as assistant to the mysterious CEO of Raines Corp was supposed to turn her luck around. Until she finds herself caught in the middle of a war involving the Council of Vampires who secretly run the city. An evil from the birth of Vampire-kind stirs beneath, feeding on the conflict, and finds Nadya bound to a destiny she never asked for.

Bound by Destiny and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Destiny tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

When the Council accuses Adrian of orchestrating the Feral outbreak for selfish and nefarious purposes, a tribunal is held to decide his fate. As witnesses come forward to testify, Nadya learns who can and cannot be trusted.

note: Out of all the chapters written for Bound by Destiny this one is not only the longest (at 9k) but also the largest culmination of this passion project so far for me. It brings together aspects introduced and changes made and address why those changes occurred, but also--at least I think--really fleshes out the trial in a way that wasn’t possible in the visual novel medium. I would really love to know what you think!

[READ IT ON AO3]

“What’s the matter?” She’s back at their side in a beat. Looking Nadya over with concern bordering on anger. “What’s happened?”

“Nadya — hon — talk to us.” Lily cradles her head on her shoulder and Nadya wants to thank her for the gesture but she just can’t find the words.

Then Kamilah comes into blurry, teary view. Cups a hand along her jaw.

“Please. What is it?”

“The… th-throne,” she manages to gasp; both vampires spare it a glance like it doesn’t want to crush their very souls and she’s jealous of their ignorance. “I—I—it…”

She takes in a sharp breath and the words tumble from her unbidden.

“It’s mine. That throne is mine.”

Even saying it feels like a strange dream. Like knowing the answer to a question that hasn’t been asked — with no context.

Lily and Kamilah just stare for a moment. Torn, like Nadya herself, between what they know and their concern for her strange behavior.

Then an unreadable emotion comes over Kamilah as she brushes a bead of sweat from Nadya’s brow.

“Have you been here before?”

Nadya gives a silent, tight-lipped nod.

“When?”

“Yeah, seriously,” scoffs Lily, “when?”

Only she doesn’t know. Doesn’t really have an answer. Sure dreams are supposed to be based loosely on people’s lives, right? There are all those studies about the faces you don’t recognize in dreams actually being random passersby on the street or someone you saw at a grocery store once when you were eleven?

So yes. The painting of that awful man Gaius disturbed the ever-loving bejeezus out of her and she’s been having nightmares about his corpse-strewn floors ever since. But how does that explain that she knows if she turns her head a fraction to the right there will be a fist-sized crack in a crumbled pillar… caused by Kamilah herself?

Another fresh wave of tears are ready to fall but there Kamilah is to wipe them away with a handkerchief. There’s a war waging behind her eyes.

“This is not finished,” she says quietly, even wraps her hands around Nadya’s as she passes the cloth in offering, “but we must put it aside for Adrian’s sake. Do you have the strength to go forward?”

Lily presses their temples together. Holds her tight. Nadya’s been the unfortunate best friend to see her lying in a pool of her own blood but now Lily has the misfortune of being worried out of her mind.

“You don’t have to do this, Nadi’.”

“Yes,” she breathes; gains confidence with every word, “for Adrian — yes I do.”

They help her up but she has to push them off — wants to stand on her own two feet. With a sure nod towards Kamilah they venture into the heart of the cavern.

Six lesser chairs were added all at once — judging by the equal ruination on the stone. These aren’t thrones but a council of seats. Meant to prove no one is over the other. All equal.

The ideal democracy… or so they’d hoped.

In the middle a medieval thing has been placed; like a seat, sure, but Nadya’s pretty sure normal seats don’t involve iron-wrought manacles on the arms and legs with strange runic symbols carved into the surface of the metal.

“They’re going to place him in that like an animal.” Nadya doesn’t ask. She knows these jerks well enough and it sickens her.

“Any of us would sit there if the occasion called for it.” Kamilah answers.

She gestures to a collection of chairs — actual folding chairs like something out of a high school band concert in the gymnasium — off to the side and departs from there. Goes and takes her place on one of the stone seats.

Nadya doesn’t miss that it’s one of the two seats closest to the abhorrent throne.

Lily and Nadya take their seats beside a man dressed like he just walked out of a historical monologue. Nadya tries to place if she saw him at the Ball but nothing about him looks familiar. His half-moon spectacles balance lightly on the edge of his nose as he continues to read the leather-bound book in hand.

Lily helps her do everything she can not to focus on the throne for as long as possible. Luckily it’s just enough to keep her going until other footsteps begin to sound and they turn to see the cavern entrance crowd with familiar faces.

Priya waltzes in first; looks like she just made her way off of a runway and knows it by the curl of disgust in her upper lip with each press of her stilettos into the packed dirt. She doesn’t even spare them a glance while she takes her council seat.

Behind her Valdas and Isseya walk in arm-in-arm. Mutter something between one another not only too quiet for her human ears to pick up but also — from what it sounds like — in another language altogether.

They take two of the folding chairs in the back row. This must be where the witnesses are herded off to.

With the throne at her front and the Trinity at her back Nadya’s losing places to ‘look elsewhere.’

“You’re right,” Valdas answers with his voice raised well enough for her to hear, “she is glowing.”

Before Nadya can say a word Lily turns to her defense. Arm slung over the back of her chair and a middle finger dangling lazily in obvious view.

“Something to say, new blood?” Valdas asks politely. Lily swings her finger upwards and blows a kiss at him with it.

“Hmm how about ‘suck me?’”

“With pleasure.”

“Ugh.”

Vega arrives next; ever the figure of grace under pressure. Only there’s that same smirk when he looks at Nadya that he did on their first meeting and she does not like the way it makes her feel.

Behind him struts the Baron with a large guard flanking either side. Only he’s not two steps in when Kamilah’s voice echoes through every curved and carved wall.

“You know the laws, Cecil.”

The Baron — Cecil, Nadya realizes, and tries not to laugh at his name — grunts. “Yeah well I ain’t the only ones breakin’ ‘em, am I? Ain’t that why we’re here?”

Vega interrupts Kamilah before she can argue — only he’s on her side?

“We are also here to show that we are better — that we follow our own rules. Kamilah is right.”

With what are probably threats under his breath the Baron jerks his head — sends his staff back up the steps. There’s a brief muffled commotion and a “watch it, goons!” that has Nadya turning all the way in her seat.

She knows that voice.

Lo and behold Katherine jaunts down the final steps, with Lester glowering at her back just behind.

“Next time,” calls the vampire to his cohorts as he practically pushes the Nighthunter aside to get to his seat, “she’s under someone else’s watch!”

Vega raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t need to put her up personally, Castellanos.”

“Oh he didn’t — no need to guide me, I’ll find the reject table all on my own — but he wasn’t really happy at the room service bill I racked up.”

Either she knows what she’s doing when she takes up the space just behind Nadya — blocking the immediate contact between her and the Trinity — or she’s just a buffer by nature at this point. She doesn’t look at all surprised at the spontaneous reunion.

“You doing okay?” Katherine asks; actually puts a hand on the back of Nadya’s chair and fixes her with a look of genuine concern. For a moment the facade is down.

Nadya shakes her head mutely. “Yeah — no surprise. Can’t say I’ve ever done something like this either. Just tell your truth and everything will be fine. We know Adrian’s not guilty.”

Something about her bluntness actually helps get Nadya in the right headspace. “I’ll introduce you guys later…” she mutters to Lily.

Five of the six Council seats are occupied — it’s time for things to begin.

And then a strange thought crosses her mind — has Nadya looking around so quick this way and that that her head goes for a not-so-fun spin too.

“Where’s Nicole?”

“Who?” Lily asks.

Behind them Katherine’s caught on as well. “Good question… Why am I not sure I’ll like the answer?”

Nadya flashes her a worried look — doesn’t have time to try and get Kamilah’s attention over it because Kamilah herself is standing; speaking.

“As the eldest member of the Council it is incumbent upon me to preside over these proceedings. I trust I do not need to stress the importance of not only the allegations placed upon the accused but also the duties of the Council to ensure justice is carried out swiftly and fairly.”

Around her the vampires mutter their assent.

“Too many of our own have died — suffered at the hands of this blight of Ferals. I trust I’m not alone when I say what happens here tonight will not only be seen as a trial but as a call to action.” She looks each Council member in the eye — Vega and Priya stare back while Lester and the Baron keep their gazes carefully averted.

“We have come together to protect this city once before. Let us put aside our individual differences and do so again.”

Kamilah takes her seat; gestures with a wave of her hand. “Bring him in.”

Nadya’s heart suddenly starts pounding in her chest, wanting to escape — to flee out of her ribs and back up to Central Park under the stars.

Everyone in the cavern turns as Adrian, bound in chains with similar runes at his wrists and ankles, is shuffled in by unfamiliar suited vampires.

He’s still in the same uniform from the Ball — fabric ripped and frayed in some places and dark spots reflecting dried blood in others. His hair is askew but for the most part he looks… okay?

Then she remembers he can heal. And it makes her think of all the cuts and wounds and bruises that must have healed even between wherever he was being held and here. And it makes her want to yell.

Their eyes meet as he passes. Even with the rings under his eyes and his sluggish heave-ho of bound feet he manages to smile.

I’m glad you got out safe, it says, I’m glad you’re okay.

But you aren’t.

Don’t worry about me. You can’t save me.

No, but I can try.

The guards remove his manacles one at a time — bind him into the chair instead. It doesn’t look like such flimsy wood could hold him but then Katherine leans forward and whispers to them in a dark tone.

“I can’t believe those bastards are using a Corwin Chair on him.”

Lily looks the chair up and down. “‘Corwin’ like… Jonathan Corwin? Like the Salem judge?”

Katherine doesn’t hide her surprise. “You’re not a Hunter, are you?”

“No, I just have a pretty eclectic collection of random knowledge.”

“Catch me up, please?” Nadya asks the both of them. Lily defers to the other.

“A Corwin Chair was, yeah, used by Jonathan Corwin during the Salem Witch Trials. Corwin wasn’t a witch himself but he did have one kept under his thumb. Forced her to bewitch an old medieval chair so that no being trapped in all four locks could escape.”

“Was he a… you know — vampire?”

Katherine shrugs. It’s the extent of her knowledge. She leans back and gestures for them to pay attention to the trial having already begun — each Council member looking down upon Adrian with a different expression. Nadya can’t imagine the pain Kamilah must be in.

“You have exercised your right for witnesses to testify on your behalf. Do you see them all here, Adrian?”

Adrian looks back to where the witnesses are gathered. Something ticks in his brow.

“No, I do not.”

Kamilah nods. “Was due diligence performed by the accuser to ensure his witnesses’ arrival?”

There’s absolutely no surprise left in her as Nadya watches Vega cross one leg over the other.

“Of course.”

“And as for the missing witnesses?”

“Their summons were met by refusal.”

Behind her Katherine mutters something — takes out an old flip-phone and holds it between her legs while awkwardly punching at the numbers.

“We can proceed without them, I should think.” Vega adds. Priya and Lester nod in agreement.

Outnumbered and overruled, Kamilah has no choice.

“Then the trial will begin. Will the prosecution please lay out the crimes to the tribunal?”

Nobody’s surprised when Vega stands; especially not Adrian. The senator adjusts the knot of his tie like this isn’t a life or death situation for Adrian — rather just another meeting or speech where he gets his own spotlight.

“So that’s him,” Lily asks quietly, “that’s the asscanoe who broke into our place?”

Nadya nods — isn’t one to curse normally but you know what, Vega deserves it. “That’s the asscanoe.”

Vega spares a gloating and victorious smile to Adrian before addressing the rest of the Council.

“I’m sure I speak not only for myself but every Clan Leader here — yes even our dear boy Raines — when I say that this Feral problem has gone on for far too long.” Even Kamilah agrees with a curt nod. It would be foolish for her not to. Vega continues, “Almost a year ago we all gathered here as we do now and addressed the barest whispers of such activity. When my fellow Council member leapt to the call of action and volunteered to contain the matter personally, I — like you all — merely took it as Raines enacting his civic duty.

“And perhaps that is what he wished for us to believe. He counted on our belief that we all shared a mutual dedication to what we’ve built here in New York. After all… the decades have been prosperous to us all, haven’t they?”

Again the Council agrees. Adrian remains silent in his torture chair — though his restraint is definitely faltering with every word that crawls out of Vega’s mouth.

Lester huffs. “Get on with it, Adam. The longer you gripe the likelihood of my voting for you declines.”

Vega’s brow ticks but he’s otherwise unperturbed.

“Very well. I have sufficient reason to believe that our own Adrian Raines has not only worked from within to dismantle our democratic authority, but also is the mastermind behind the innumerable Feral attacks within our grounds and without — and intended to use the Awakening Ball to further his agenda and eliminate those on the Council once and for all.”

Whatever pulls the trigger does so violently — brings Adrian to the farthest edge of the chair he can reach with his teeth grit and fangs bared. The runes glow a pale light and the smell of something burning fills the cavern. Nadya has to turn away to avoid coming to the conclusion of what exactly it is.

“How dare you!” Adrian shouts; realizes when he can’t wrestle his way out of his bindings the next best thing is to hurl his rage through words. “You know every word of that is a lie!”

“Is it, boy?” Vega sneers the word; uses it as a weapon to send Adrian lower than he already is. “Or does the apple not fall as far from the tree as he would like us to think?”

“What the hell does that mean?! Why bring him into this?!”

Vega’s accusatory finger jabs down at Adrian in condemnation.

“I suspected your lust for power the moment you demanded he be entombed rather than sent to meet the sun! See it in his eyes, my fellow Council, my fellow tribunal?! A madness brought to the surface, shared by soldier and king! There lies the true legacy of Gaius Augustine!”

His words howl like the wind through the cavern. Everyone gathered holds their breath — the very mention of his name makes Nadya queasy in her seat.

Kamilah slowly leans forward in her seat. Her expression sits grim and dark. “To what end are you accusing Adrian of orchestrating… all of this?”

“To the very same end as Augustine himself. He’s no longer content with democracy and instead seeks to rule over us, as Gaius did! He walks in the footsteps of our Maker and just as we did then we must take action now; we must find him guilty!”

“That is enough!”

Kamilah now stands; taller than Vega not in height but in stature. Despite the way he looks down at her the years act like a gaping chasm between them with Kamilah on the higher ledge. “Your call to action means nothing. This is merely the charge you level against him on behalf of the Council. And no decision will be made until all testimony is heard and weighed. Do I make myself clear?”

But whether or not the words stand they’ve done their damage — Vega knows that. Anyone can see it in the glint of his eyes when he resumes his seat; defers to Kamilah with an inclining nod of his head.

His words are out there in the world and they’re so utterly terrible that Adrian actually looks afraid to have heard them. To know they’re about him. From what little Nadya knows — isn’t supposed to know, is dreaming of, but dreams can’t be real, they can’t be — he has every right to be afraid.

Kamilah gestures to where the witnesses sit. “Scholar Jameson, will you join us?”

The bespectacled man beside Lily closes his book — though judging by the fact that he’s on the same page as when they arrived he’s been far too absorbed in the trial to finish his chapter — and stands. Adjusts his frock coat and walks with an otherworldly grace towards the Council’s seats.

He even offers Adrian a cordial smile. Then bows to the rest.

“As always I am pleased to be of service.”

Priya snorts degradingly. “I can’t believe he’s still around. Figured he would have joined his precious collection by now.”

“On the contrary Miss Lacroix,” and the man named Jameson fixes Priya with a stare that makes her shift in her seat, “I find every fulfillment in taking care of the Musea Sanguis, but have no interest in becoming one of its many displays.”

“On that note…” With another gesture from Kamilah, Jameson nods and appears to situate himself. Ties his salt-and-pepper hair up with a crimson ribbon and tucks up the cuffs of his frilly sleeves as if he’s preparing to do some heavy lifting.

“Bring the first witness forth at your whim, Council.”

“On behalf of the accused?”

Adrian blinks in surprise. But looks grateful that Kamilah gives him first choice.

“On my behalf I would call Nadya Al Jamil to testify.”

Nadya startles — has to do everything (with Katherine and Lily’s help) to not make it noticeable. The Trinity members whisper something behind her.

“M-Me?” she asks. Suddenly all eyes are on her. A boiling cauldron of hatred, disgust, a plea for help.

“Either get up here or stop wasting everyone’s time!” barks the Baron.

“You got this,” Katherine whispers behind her; nudges her up standing. Walking’s a bit easier from there but boy does she not like every step she takes towards that throne.

Nadya comes to stand where Scholar Jameson gestures beside him; between Adrian and the Council. Like a buffer — or a shield. She wishes she really could be.

She looks around hastily. “Uhm… what do I…?”

Kamilah holds up a hand to silence her. “I understand this is your first trial — but my explanation will be brief. You will be expected to answer every question posed to you. You have no right to decline — such right was forfeit the moment you agreed to be a witness. Jameson, here, will probe your mind each time to ensure the truth is heard and spoken. Do you understand this?”

He’s gonna what her mind? Nadya leans away from the kindly man — suddenly looking not so kindly even with his smile — and fumbles before she can answer.

“Y-Yes. Yes I understand.”

With nimble fingers Jameson positions her at his whim. It’s hard enough to turn her back to Adrian when talking about him but when she feels the cold press of Jameson’s fingertips to her temples she barely contains her shudder.

“Begin with your name.” Kamilah directs.

“Nadya Al Jamil.”

“And your relationship with Adrian Raines; the accused?”

“I’m his assistant-slash-secretary…” There’s a hum of discontent behind her and Nadya quickly adds, “and I’d like to think I’m his friend. He’s mine at the very least.”

“When did you come into Adrian Raines’ employ?”

She answers basic questions — it reminds her of a lie detector test she did for a laugh in college; establishing a base line of questions and answers. What she did for Adrian, if she ever came into contact with vampires before Adrian, how exactly that whole thing came about.

“I’d be dead if Adrian hadn’t been there to save me.”

Vega holds up a finger. “Miss Al Jamil, would you have been in the same danger had you not become affiliated with Adrian?”

“Well… probably. It’s not like I was attacked at work or anything. In fact I’d be dead if I didn’t know him, since he wouldn’t have been looking out for me.”

“A statement with some possibility of truth, yes.”

“Excuse me?”

“Now, dear, I’m not blaming you. You’re only human — and those mortal senses only provide you with so much protection from the predators of the world. But Council I propose this thought —” his finger angles down to point at them below, “— that it seems awfully convenient for Raines to have been there at the exact moment to change Miss Al Jamil’s fate. Either he was following her and her alleged attacker for some time — thereby putting her in grave peril — or perhaps there was no Feral at all, and only Raines himself.”

“Bullshit!” hisses Adrian behind her. Makes her turn to see him strain in his bonds that singe his skin yet again.

“Adrian, stop.”

“I won’t let him slander me like this!”

“Neither will I!” And even Vega looks surprised when Nadya rounds on him. “Because that’s a lie! I may not remember the attack but I’m pretty sure you weren’t there either. You’re guessing just like I am.”

It’s Lester who speaks next, to Nadya’s shock. He rubs his chin and shrugs.

“She’s not wrong. Let’s try to keep our imagination to a minimum, ey Adam?”

When Vega doesn’t respond, Kamilah gives a reassuring nod (or, well, she takes it as reassuring, because she needs it right now) Nadya’s way.

“Thank you Nadya. You may sit.”

“B-But what about the Ball, and —”

“Our inquiries are on behalf of an established timeline. Thank you for beginning it for us. You may sit.”

She takes the second time not as a suggestion but an order. Awkwardly returns to her chair and doesn’t stop Lily from throwing her arm around her shoulder and pulling her in tight.

“So, did you feel the psychic guy?” Lily whispers.

Nadya looks back to Jameson; busy wiping his hands with a pocket square. “A… bit, I think? It felt more like I was doubting myself… and then suddenly I knew my own answer.”

Lily makes a heebee-jeebies gesture and it manages to give Nadya the smallest smile.

Katherine goes up next. Unlike Nadya her questions are less personal and more clinical; professional. She explains how and when Adrian first contacted her for her services and about meeting him for the first time at the Gallery — where Kamilah was present.

Lester purses his lips. “I was against bringing your kind in.”

“We are aware.” Kamilah replies with a roll of her eyes.

Priya, who’s looked absolutely bored since she walked in, snaps her sharp nails for attention.

“Just how much did he pay you to turn around and butt-fuck everything you weirdos supposedly believe in?” She shrugs at the looks she gets. “What — I can’t be the only one thinking it. When have you ever heard of a Nighthunter doing anything besides being a pain in the twat?”

“Hey, no, fair point.” Katherine agrees; her flippancy makes Nadya worry her lip while she waits for the answer.

“Answer the question, please.”

She shifts under Jameson’s touch. “Adrian isn’t the only vampire I’ve done business for. Not like I wanted word to get out on that kind of thing, you know. But he wanted to do real good I think. He was up front about everything and you don’t get that a lot in my line of work.”

“To your knowledge are you the only Nighthunter under Raines’ employ?”

“No; when things got sticky I called in… well let’s call him a friend I guess. But he’s someone you want at your back.”

“His name?”

“Nik Ryder.”

Kamilah looks through her to Adrian. “Was this man asked to testify?”

“No,” Adrian replies, “I didn’t meet him for very long and didn’t think he would have anything to say towards my character.”

She’s satisfied by the answer. “Thank you for your honesty. Before the witness steps down is there anything she wishes to say freely?”

Katherine shrugs off the looming presence behind her — turns on her heel to look Adrian up and down.

Nadya briefly recognizes the softness in her eyes — that same kind of sympathy she sent Nadya’s way for seeing an uncultured girl struggling to be taken seriously at an art gallery. It felt like years ago now.

“Yeah I guess,” she speaks loud enough for everyone to hear but at Adrian directly, “I think Raines is one of the good ones. I’ve seen evil — real, pure evil. The kind without purpose and only driven by instinct — and also the kind you think he is; the bastards that play the long con. And he’s neither.”

The Council says nothing for or against her words so Katherine resumes her seat with the rest. The look she and Nadya trade is full of mutual thanks. So far both of them have done what she considers to be well.

So why can’t Nadya shake the feeling that their impassioned speeches are nothing more than dramatic flair?

“On my behalf I call Cadence Smith to testify.”

For all the good it does Adrian might as well have said nothing. She and Lily trade confused shrugs and behind them the Trinity continue to look bored with all of it. Katherine’s furrowed brow catches her eye but before she can ask the woman shakes her head almost imperceptibly. Looks back down at her phone where the screen is dimmed to near black and huffs.

“As the witness seems not to have deigned us with his presence…” Vega gives a flippant gesture Kamilah’s way. She sighs.

“In his absence, your witness has forfeited his right to testify.”

“Wait, please,” there’s actual worry in the way Adrian pleads; looks to each of his fellow Council members imploringly, “he’s not just a witness — he’s an alibi.”

“An alibi for what?” Innuendo drips off of Priya’s tongue.

“For… I… for several things.”

Adrian’s sudden hesitancy is met with a predatory look from Vega.

“For your undisclosed time out of state, yes? I remember your absence from that meeting quite acutely.”

“No shocker there,” Nadya mutters under her breath, “that’s when he broke into the apartment.”

And Adrian had returned, albeit a day later than he had originally said. What was it that he had told Kamilah in the kitchen…? Something about a favor — something she never learned the truth of.

“I’m sorry Adrian, but if the witness isn’t here…”

He hangs his head. Knows Kamilah is only doing her job by presiding over his trial but Nadya can tell it’s putting a strain on them both.

“I know. Still — Katherine was there, she can —”

“You know the rules, boy!” snaps the Baron, “a character witness or an alibi—the bitch can’t be both.”

Katherine seethes. “Who are you callin’ a bitch?!”

Before the Nighthunter can stand Kamilah diffuses the situation with a raised hand. “I’m sure Adrian is aware, and that his outburst was a mistake.

“And in the interest of fairness…” she turns to Vega, “the prosecution may bring forward their first witness. Adam?”

His words make Nadya’s blood run cold.

“On my behalf, the prosecution asks Nicole Anderson to testify.”

She knows nothing, not even her sudden swelling rage and desire to punch something — someone, a very specific someone — in the face, can compare to how Adrian must be feeling. Evil cursed witch trial chair be damned she wants to run out into the middle of the cavern and embrace him; protect him from everything and everyone set out to harm him.

Because apparently there are more people on that end of the spectrum than anyone knew.

Nicole emerges from a shadowy section off to the opposite side of the ruins. Still perfect; still not even a hair out of place. Her heels thud awkwardly on the dirt rather than the usual tile of the Raines Corp. floors. But she doesn’t break stride.

Behind her Nadya actually hears Katherine’s jaw lock in place. Lily looks between them and Nicole and can’t focus on which reaction is more important.

“All right, I’ll bite — pun not intended — who’s Stockbroker Elsa?”

Nadya swallows down all of the worst and most vile curse words she knows to keep them from spilling out. It takes some effort.

“She’s the VP of the company. Adrian’s ally — his friend. Or so I thought.”

So Adrian thought, too, because when Nicole comes to stand with her back turned to him he reopens his burning wounds with a new kind of fervor.

“Nicole…” hissed through gritted teeth, “what are you doing?”

She barely looks at him in profile. Doesn’t get the chance when Jameson steps up behind her to do his duty.

“I’m sorry Adrian,” which Nadya calls bullshit, “but I’m doing what’s right.”

Kamilah recovers from the shock only because she has to. But the damage is done; whether together or separate in plan Vega and Nicole have shaken the Council down and taken the trial with it.

“Begin with your name and relationship to Adrian Raines; the accused.”

“My name is Nicole Anderson. I work as Vice President and CFO of Raines Corporation.” Nicole answers calm and cool; better fit for a business meeting than a life and death trial.

“When and how did you come into the employ of the accused?”

“Ten years ago I was hired to spearhead the Raines Corp. clean energy think-tank. I’m under the impression the accused saw my work and believed my talent was wasted anywhere but within the highest levels of the company.”

The accused. It makes her want to be sick — watching Nicole refuse to say his name.

Kamilah notices it too.

“And you, Miss Anderson, are here of your own volition to testify against your employer?”

“I am.”

“You do this without coercion; without any threats made against you?”

“I do.”

“Obviously, Kamilah,” Vega drawls, “so I think we shall skip such redundancy.”

There’s a hard silence before Kamilah continues.

“Very well. You may begin.”

Nicole curtly nods. “Thank you. As I said I’ve been working under the accused for ten years now. I’ve seen every inch of his company, both inside and out. I know of his numerous personal projects — those pursued with the Council’s permission and those pursued without your knowledge.”

“And what projects might these be?” Vega asks — the lilt in his voice feels like a black mold.

“For the last decade the accused has hired biologists, geneticists, and various chemical engineers at an undisclosed Black Site in Albany.”

“Nicole — don’t —” Adrian warns behind her, but she continues.

“The most recent of his projects has involved the capture of Feral vampires — beginning around a quarter of a year before the Council declared it an ‘infestation.’ I have both firsthand knowledge and physical evidence that shows the accused was allowing his scientists to perform experiments on captured Feral subjects.”

“To what ends?” Lester asks hastily.

“Well it is my belief that the accused intended to find a cure or explanation for whatever fails the transformation process — for what Turns a human into a Feral rather than a vampire. But while the intent may have been a noble one… I believe it to have caused more casualties than would have occurred had the accused not pursued it.”

Nicole has the whole cavern entranced. Even Nadya has to shift back — catching herself leaning forward in her chair.

The Baron puffs his cigar. “Explain.”

“Of course; had the accused not purposefully kept Feral specimens alive and placed vulnerable humans in harms way there may not have been an infestation at all. I’ve provided Senator Vega with classified documents detailing the results of every test performed; needless to say they were all failures and many resulted in workplace deaths — which the accused passed along to me to cover up.

“I’m not proud of what I did for him. I think eventually my conscience got the better of me.” Nicole’s throat catches on her words. “After dozens of death certificates, false news stories… I reached my breaking point when three subjects escaped from the Site. One of which could very well have been the same creature that attacked Miss Al Jamil.”

“That’s a lie!” proclaims Adrian. But Jameson, fingers still on her temples, shakes his head.

“She tells the truth.”

“Jameson?!”

Vega nods. “Indeed — I’ve seen the cover-up paperwork regarding the incident with my own eyes.”

Adrian looks around; a bead of sweat drips down his brow. “That — that isn’t possible! It never happened and I certainly didn’t ask her to cover it up — there was nothing to cover up!”

The Council looks at Kamilah expectantly; waiting for her to silence the accused. He’s not one of them anymore — the longer this goes on the more apparent that becomes.

And Nadya can’t do anything but sit and watch.

“Have you any evidence to your claims? Anything that can disprove the allegations brought forward by the accuser and their witness… Anything, Adrian.” Kamilah insists.

“Don’t forget your place, Kamilah…” Lester warns half-heartedly. He, too, is losing every last ounce of faith he might have retained.

“You would do well not to forget yours.”

“You know I mean well.”

Kamilah doesn’t dignify it with a response. Stares down at Adrian firmly and there is even a hint of a silent plea in her eyes.

Adrian’s racing mind comes full-stop. He slumps back in his chair. Yields to the magical bonds.

“No, I don’t. Nothing the Council could find substantial.”

“Thank you for your honesty.” The Senator looks down on Adrian as though from the top of the Empire State Building. Certainly Nadya feels that small.

“Is the witness attempting to claim this escape led to the events of the Awakening Ball?”

Nicole’s lips ease into a grin before she can remember herself — she quickly schools her features and gives a grim nod.

“I am.”

“This dreadful ‘oversight,’” Vega actually uses air quotes — makes Lily gag mutely, “I am convinced was no mistake at all; but rather an elaborate murder attempt on the accused’s behalf.”

Kamilah deadpans. “Even if he too was at risk.”

“You remember the madness that claimed Gaius’ mind at the end, Kamilah. Better than anyone I would venture. It fits closely — wouldn’t you say?”

She doesn’t have an answer. She doesn’t have an answer.

“Now that you mention it…” Priya taps a pointed acrylic against her stone armrest, “I don’t remember seeing Raines after midnight during La Soirée.”

Before anyone can agree with her Adrian jerks forward again — his last bit of hope pushed outward in a rush of adrenaline.

“I have an alibi! Here — witnesses! I call them forward!”

Lester looks down at him in frustration. “Patience, Raines…”

“I can!” He looks between each Council member — focuses on Kamilah. “Let me call them forward. Please, Kamilah. Please.”

Kamilah inhales. “I will allo —”

But the sudden trot of hasty footsteps on stone fills the chamber. Draws everyone’s attention — from the Council to every witness — to the back of the cavern.

Katherine exhales all the way down deep from her lungs. “Finally; it’s about time he got here.”

“Please tell me we’re about to get deus ex machina-ed all up in this bitch.”

The Nighthunter gives Lily with a look of real hope. “I fuckin’ hope so.”

It would be nice if a magical army would appear at the mouth of the steps — agents of some Vampire-on-High who had ultimate authority, who were there to put this unjust trial to rest.

Nadya knows exactly what she would do: she’d have that awful torture chair burned in the marble fire pit at the Ahmanet Financial rooftop pool, would roast marshmallows crispy black and melty and curl up in Kamilah’s arms and give the woman what’s likely to be her first s’more ever. Adrian would be across from them safe and sound. Lily and Mari would be there, too. Even Jax — since she’s giving fairy tale thoughts a whirl.

Everything would be okay.

But everything isn’t okay. Very not okay — not in the slightest. Instead of a surprise army there’s just a lone figure that has to duck through the stone archway to avoid hitting his forehead as he enters.

So she follows Kathy’s lead and puts whatever little dirt-flecks of hope are left inside all into one pot.

Even if the pot looks sorta-kinda immensely nerdy.

“And of course I’m late, of course,” Nadya only catches the newcomer’s words because he passes them on his way forward — he seems more fixated on dusting himself off and looking presentable than doing whatever saving grace-thing he’s meant to do, “because this city is a bloody nightmare — I’ve solved ancient riddles easier than finding a street — oh, Katherine, there you are. Am I too late?”

He stops right in front of them — offers Kathy a flustered half-smile obscured by a thick curtain of wild hair. He speaks with an accent Nadya can’t quite place and hasty words of apology.

“On second thought, yell at me later. Where do I go to say my piece?”

But a loud and phlegm-coated cough doesn’t give him a chance. Draws everyone back up to the Council seats where the Baron’s red face is like a beacon.

“How dare you enter this space! Someone stake this ratty bastard!”

“Wait, no! Don’t!”

“What he said!”

Adrian and the tall man lock eyes. Despite the sag in Adrian’s shoulders he still manages to look irritated. The little bit of emotion helps with Nadya’s hope.

“He’s here to testify on my behalf.” Adrian exhales.

Nicole practically shoves Jameson away in a temporary slip of her role. Her scowl is plain as day. “Council law is clear — whoever you are, you can’t just storm in and demand to be heard!”

“I believe we are capable of speaking for ourselves, Miss Anderson.”

Nicole rounds on Kamilah — bites her tongue at the last second. Finally the two thousand year old vampiress allows a shred of victory to show through her teeth. “Outburst aside, however… she speaks the truth. Have this intruder escorted out.”

“By any. means. necessary.” Vega adds through gritted teeth.

Any doubts Nadya might have had about what the stranger was are gone in a literal blur — nearly gives herself whiplash following his rapid movement away from the approaching guards.

He holds his hands up in surrender. “A little late I might be — but an intruder I am not! I was sent a summons!”

From the inside of his jacket he procures a folded paper; one Jameson takes at Kamilah’s silent behest. He unfolds the top, scans it briefly, and nods to the Council.

“He tells true. He is the alibi witness Cadence Smith.”

Cadence pushes up his glasses — again, she can’t not wonder, do vampires really need them? — and offers an awkward bow to the Council; tries to give them all the same one at once by turning on his heel but swings a little too wide.

“His legitimacy aside,” argues the Senator, “it is the witness who is to speak on the Council’s command — not the Council who waits for the witness.”

“Here here!” Lester agrees; and while Priya doesn’t say it the look in her eyes says the same.

Kamilah shifts in her seat; crushed between a rock and a hard place. “In the spirit of impartiality I… am inclined to agree.”

Adrian’s face falls. Cadence meets every Council member’s expression with a hard stare.

“I hardly think that’s fair. Not only did you lot spring this on me at dawn—in Louisiana no less—but it’s not as if I was escorted to your meeting site! Were it not for the fact that I happen to be well-versed at tying together historical events of our society I likely would have never found the place at all Now how is that my fault?”

It isn’t just Nadya’s hand that suddenly shoots up but her whole body. Standing on the tips of her toes until it hurts like she’ll reach the ceiling of the cavern if she just believes in herself.

“Yes, Nadya?”

Because Kamilah humors her everyone focuses back on the poor little human. Her heart races in her stomach — everyone in the chamber must know it.

“Every witness has to be in a Council member’s custody a day before the trial, right?” She whirls around with open arms — looks to Isseya and Valdas at the back row and doesn’t even care that she has to snap and wave her hands to get their combined attention. “That’s what you told me.”

Like she never spoke Isseya goes back to looking over Nadya’s shoulder. Ruby eyes glistening in the torchlight — fixated on Cadence since his arrival.

Valdas, too, looks between them before somehow realizing everyone is waiting for their word. But there’s no time to play investigator on their erratic behavior. The Trinity were an erratic duo.

“I — yes. As was dictated to me by Castellanos when we were presented with… with our summons.”

“A-ha!” Nadya regrets spinning again but forces down her nausea for Adrian’s sake; points a finger at Cadence. “So why wasn’t he?”

“Actually yes, why wasn’t I,” after a beat, “why wasn’t I what, exactly?”

“In a Council member’s custody.”

“Oh — yes!” Louder this time and with his arms folded over his chest. “A guide would have been nice.”

“So since he was only late because the rules weren’t followed he should be allowed to speak. He showed up, didn’t he?”

Lily elbows her knee in support — or what she hopes is support because it just ends up hurting; making her sit back down while trying to collect herself like that was her plan all along.

Across the room Adrian mouths ‘thank you’ with wet eyes.

And the look of pride Kamilah’s directing her way — that’s totally just icing on the cake.

“Since one sleight will cancel out the other I’m inclined to allow it.” Go on, challenge me. I dare you. That’s the look she throws to Vega beside her. If he had anything to rebuke her ruling he’d surely offer it — and doesn’t his silence just speak volumes.

Nicole is escorted back to whatever lurks on the other side of the cavern and Cadence steps up to take her place in front of the Council. Just as well, thinks Nadya, because the moment she gets within range she’s going to commit a horrible act of violence against her former supervisor.

He’s the first vampire to speak so Nadya is taken aback when Jameson resumes his duties as living lie detector — watches him reach up through the discomfort of Cadence’s height to ensure he tells the truth.

“Begin with your name.”

“Cadence Smith.”

Behind him Jameson lets out a cry — jerks backwards and cradles his hands like a wounded beast.

“Scholar? What happened?” Vega leans forward immediately — ready to take any opportunity to strike.

Though he recovers quick enough, Jameson shakes his head repeatedly. “A lie.”

“A man who lies about his own name, yet is expected to tell the truth when the evidence damns Raines enough already?”

“I have an explanation,” Cadence protests. Vega’s nonchalance makes him clench his fists.

“Then this ought to be amusing at the very least.”

Cadence mumbles something Nadya can’t quite catch; seems genuinely concerned about the state of the Scholar much to the surprise of the man himself.

“Will this harm you further?”

Jameson schools his features. “I think not.”

“Then let’s try again.”

When Jameson resumes his stance it’s with obvious caution. Cadence, however, carries on like nothing happened.

“The name I have isn’t my own — which I can tie to my purpose here. I suffer from post-traumatic amnesia and have dedicated my life to the search for my real identity. Something Mister Raines — er, Adrian — was helping me with.”

There’s silence — takes Nadya a moment to realize everyone is waiting for Jameson.

The vampire looks like he’s just barely forcing himself through something uncomfortable. A bead of sweat drips off of his nose.

“He’s truthful.”

Only then does Kamilah continue. “When did you enlist the help of the accused?”

“Early last month.”

“And what services has he provided for you?”

“Oh — well, nothing yet. You see, something came up and I had to pause my search. Katherine — her, over there — she can vouch for me.”

“We’ll need something more concrete than…” Kamilah’s voice dies out — ends like she’s on the verge of a question.

At first it looks like she’s staring at Nadya. But she turns to see Valdas standing — expression sculpted into cool disinterest. This close, though, it’s hard not to notice how he struggles to wear the same mask she thought was permanently welded to his face.

Kamilah recovers herself — can’t really do much to continue what with everyone looking their way now.

“Something you wish to say, Valdas?”

“A question for the alibi witness.” He doesn’t wait for permission.

“When did you lose them?”

After several wild blinks and no interruption from the Council, Cadence comes to the conclusion he has to answer; does so with hunched shoulders and his hands in his pockets.

“My memories, you mean? I can’t rightfully say. I only remember waking up in New Orleans. Everything before is a blank.”

“Be specific.”

“I — I’m sorry?”

“When, in specifics.”

Nadya looks to Katherine but judging by the pensive cloud of her eyes there aren’t any to give. Doesn’t make her able to shake the feeling that these questions don’t really have anything to do with Adrian’s trial — and that makes her want to interrupt… but that one dumb brain cell called ‘common sense’ bites Nadya’s tongue for her.

“Well — I was shipped to the States from Europe just before the end of the Great War. But, erm, how exactly does this pertain to my testimony?” He looks between Valdas — who has gone pale — and the Council for answers. “Mister Raines wasn’t there.”

“It doesn’t, so save it.” Lester waves a hand and Valdas actually sits. A sure sign of the end of the world or something equally bad-news. “This is already taking up too much of my damn night.”

Priya clicks her tongue. “I can’t believe I’m actually agreeing with you…”

Nadya watches with growing curiosity as Cadence — silent, maybe contemplating what to say — darts his eyes across the chamber. Stares at every face, even hers, then moves to another in a random order. She doesn’t immediately recognize what’s familiar until she looks down to see Lily comforting herself with jerks of her thumb over the back of Nadya’s hand. The erratic motions of a joystick.

He’s planning. The realization makes her hope. Makes her grab Lily’s hand tighter in hers and hope.

“Alibi — I’m here to give you an alibi.” Cadence says suddenly; swats Jameson away from him like the ancient vampire is no more than a fly. Valdas, too, is forgotten.

“If you are able to provide one, yes.” answers Kamilah.

Beside her the Baron snarls, “And quickly…”

“Adrian Raines spent three days with me in the French Quarter. There was very little time to my memory that we weren’t somewhere in each other’s vicinity. In Kathy’s, too.”

Kamilah meets Katherine’s eyes; the women exchange understanding nods.

“Have you any proof?”

The more freedom Cadence is given to talk — the more he uses it. Speaking fast, almost like he’s on a doomsday clock. They all may very well be.

“Financial records from work receipts, I suppose,” he continues with nose scrunched in thought, “as well as research at my office littered with his fingerprints. And—oh yes—and not to mention witnesses with no personal ties to the accused — erm… Mister Raines, that is to say — who would be willing to testify if given time.”

Vega motions like he’s waving Cadence’s words out of the air in a cloud that hangs around him; disgusted.

“Receipts, documents — such things can be forged.”

“Indeed they can —” and whether Cadence knows it or not the brief glow of red in his eyes as he stares the Senator down could be taken as a declaration of war, “— from both sides of the trial, I should think.”

Nadya and Lily squeeze their hands so tight it hurts. Both of them keeping from cheering, whoop-ing, something to show their approval.

Vega doesn’t take long to realize he’s talked himself into a corner. He brushes over an eyebrow that wasn’t out of place with his thumb and allows a shrug.

“Very well. The Council has heard and accepted the testimony and alibi provided by one Cadence Smith. However,” he holds up a finger, “that does not provide an alibi for the accused during events mentioned by the previous witness for the prosecution. La Soirée, everyone?”

Before them all Cadence holds up a finger, tries and fails several times to speak, but finally gives Adrian an apologetic look.

“Sorry, my friend. But that I cannot do.”

“I believe we have witnesses present who have yet to speak.” Kamilah gestures for Valdas and Isseya to come forward.

In the back of her mind Nadya wants to call out their special treatment — thinks they should be called up separately rather than together — but if this is something that’s going to help Adrian’s case then they can break all the rules they need.

She was there when they admitted to spending that night with him. Kamilah heard it. Marcel heard it. Probably anyone near them with vampire hearing heard it.

And even if it was slow going it was still finally a break. Another crack in whatever wall Vega thought was impenetrable. Cadence had proof. Now Valdas and Isseya would have proof.

Maybe, just maybe, this thing could swing their way.

Tension like a thick, humid heat falls over the cavern. Nadya half expects to look down and see fog clinging to the bottoms of her jeans.

Between the Council seats and the witnesses’ chairs the Trinity cross Cadence’s path. She can’t tell who is holding whom captive in a long stare but it makes the hairs on the back of her neck stand. Makes Lily cough and clear her throat in the way she does when her fangs appear unbidden.

Then it’s gone — like nothing ever happened. Cadence drops down into an empty seat beside Katherine; tries — and fails — to make himself take up as little space as possible.

And up front the Trinity stand side-by-side.

At Kamilah’s behest Jameson moves to step forward but a look from Isseya draws him to a halt. If anyone really wants to protest… they don’t.

Kamilah begins yet again.

“Begin with your names.”

“Valdemaras of Persepolis.”

“Isseya of the Veneti.”

“And your relationship with the accused?”

It’s the only time Nadya can think of that she’s seen the couple standing together without physical contact. It’s discomforting.

Isseya answers for them both, “We were present during the events of La Soirée, the first night of the Awakening Ball.”

“The Council is aware…” Kamilah measures her words carefully — the same way she did at the castle, “however what we ask for is your personal relationship to the accused.”

Discomfort grows inside Nadya into full-on nerves. She chews on the inside of her cheek — bites down so hard she might puncture skin.

The Trinity stay silent. Then, as if steeling herself, Isseya raises her chin and answers for them both again.

“We have none.”

They bridge the gap between them with linked hands. Adrian, too stunned to speak, simply rattles his chair manacles in a brief resistance.

What the heck is happening.

Above them all Kamilah slowly clenches, unclenches her fist.

“You… ‘have none.’” She repeats. Isseya nods curtly.

“That is correct.”

“And you speak the truth?”

“You dare question her?” Valdas advances; the picture of complacent yet with blood lacing his words. Or the promise of it. “Think carefully before you speak again, Sayeed.”

But unlike at the Ball this time Kamilah doesn’t back down. Snaps her red eyes at the elder vampire with a curled upper lip.

“I should advise the same of you, Valdemaras of Persepolis, and will remind you both of the consequences of lying to this tribunal.”

“You accuse us of lying, now?”

Of course she does! What is going on?!

“When I heard the contrary from your own lips with mine own ears — yes.”

Valdas breaks their hands only to take another step forward. It doesn’t divide them like it should — instead Nadya looks at the space between them and it just fades into nonexistence. Like an entire ocean could part them and it wouldn’t even matter.

“As it is your tribunal, your disgrace is forgiven this time, little lotus.”

Nadya’s never seen Kamilah physically recoil from anything before. But the whole room grows cold with a history she doesn’t know — she tries not to fixate on the pet name which sounds familiar when mouthed mutely but she’s sure she’s never heard before.

Because the Trinity is lying.

Valdas continues; doesn’t skip a beat. “We will testify once more — but only once. My Priestess and I have no personal relationship with the accused; Adrian Raines, no matter what he may boast to the contrary. Such is beneath us.”

He turns and gives the man a sneer in profile — makes Adrian tug at his bonds again with gritted teeth.

“Why are you lying?!” He shouts — and might as well be screaming at stone for all the reaction they give him. “Valdas — Isseya — please!”

The crack in his voice says it all. They’re his only alibi for that night.

They were his last chance.

With steepled fingers Vega looks positively giddy. “Thank you for your time. You may step down — or leave at your leisure with the sincerest apologies from this Council for wasting the Trinity’s time.”

Hands sealed back in place the pair depart in a gust of unseen wind. Cadence hastily fixes his hair out of his eyes. Lily looks between where they stood and the cavern entrance with awe.

Nadya sees her own nausea in Katherine’s face.

Kamilah goes to speak but the Baron catches her off guard. “Well, if that’s all they got…”

“Indeed I believe so.” Vega’s boasting isn’t lost on anyone. “Kamilah — as eldest of us I believe the honor of stating the facts to the accused is yours.”

Don’t do it. Kamilah please don’t do it.

Whether she can read the pleading in Nadya’s mind or not — Kamilah’s breath wavers as she speaks. Looks to Adrian and only Adrian with heartbreak in every word.

“Adrian Raines,” she begins, “you have been accused by the Council of orchestrating acts of terror against the vampire community of New York and those who lead it.

“Evidence — the legitimacy of which has not been determined by full Council vote — has been brought to the tribunal’s attention which suggests you were performing illegal experiments on Feral subjects without Council permission or knowledge. How do you plead?”

He looks so tired in his torture chair. Skin angry red and swollen, burned and charred black around his wrists and ankles, peeks through his singed clothes.

“Guilty.”

“You have been accused of covering up human deaths in relation to these experiments. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty.”

“You have been accused of having prior knowledge of the Feral attacks that have plagued the community, the Clans, and the Council. How do you plead?”

“…Guilty.”

“You have been accused of orchestrating the murder of the Council of New York at the Awakening Ball. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty.”

“You have been accused of plotted attempts to usurp the Council’s power — the validity and success of which has not been determined by Council vote. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty.”

Slowly Kamilah stands. Vega beside her, then the Baron, Priya, finally Lester.

If the witnesses are supposed to do anything Nadya refuses. Turns her head away because she catches the light of a tear on Adrian’s cheek and can’t bear to look at him or the wretched Council any longer.

She buries her face into Lily’s shoulder.

“Regarding the trial of Adrian Raines… how does the Tribunal vote?”

Too damned fast. Too damned quick. She wants to stake them all.

“Guilty.”

“Guilty fucker.”

“Guilty.”

“Not—guilty.” Kamilah’s voice cracks on her sentence.

Nadya can’t breathe. Can’t look. Can’t scream. Can’t move.

“By majority vote…” Kamilah pauses — something (or someone) urges her along, “Adrian Raines, you have been found guilty of the crimes of which you are accused. You are hereby stripped of your Council seat and of your ranking position as Leader of Clan Raines. In following Council law your sentence is —”

But she can’t say it.

Nadya looks up just in time to choke back her heart and see Vega snarl the sentence.

“Death by the sun.”

“NO!”

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scrawnydutchman · 5 years

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With Great Power: A Peter B. Parker Character Study

*******SPOILERS FOR SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE AHEAD*********

I already made two posts about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and I’m making a third one because I’m just in a real Spider-Man mood as of late. The abridged version of my other posts is Spider-Verse is amazing and it’s animation is amazing. But for this post I want to talk about a specific character in the film. The OG your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker. To be even more specific, Peter B. Parker, the hero who’s lost his way and became a lazy slob after a series of hardships.

To recap: Peter B. Parker is an alternate version of the Peter we’re introduced to right out the gate in Spider-verse. While the initial Peter Parker is a competent, successful, well rounded and dashing hero who makes a heroic sacrifice in an attempt to save his world, Peter B. Parker is . . . the complete opposite of that. He’s not well rounded. He put his responsibilites as Spider-Man before his marriage. He made ill advised investments to try and make extra cash. He lacked the courage to commit to Mary Jane’s relationship needs (he didn’t want kids) and so he and Mary Jane divorced. His aunt may died. He’s left in a pretty miserable state after all that’s happened to him and he developed bad traits like habitual lying, unhealthy eating, projecting, procrastinating and bits of neuroticism. He isn’t the kind of superhero we like to imagine.

Peter’s newfound flaws may very well be the byproduct of the very thing that made him Spider-Man in the first place . . . and I’m not talking about the spider-bite. I mean Uncle Ben’s famous motto “with great power comes great responsibility”. On one hand, this motto inspired Peter to apply his powers to be a greater force for mankind. He’s taken down bullies nobody else could stand up to, he’s cleaned up crime around new york. He’s become a symbol for doing better and being better. On the other hand, it also put pressure on Peter to be the one with all the answers. Like . . . a LOT of pressure. Relationships strain due to one partner committing too much to work all the time and usually they have to learn to make time for their loved ones . . . but Peter, as far as he’s known for a long time, is the one and only Spider-Man. Of course he’s going to put his work before his marriage and family. What other choice does he have? Who else is going to take down the Rhino while he’s on his midtown rampage or stop Green Goblin before he bombs the empire state building? (Keep in mind this is with the context that there are no other Marvel heroes to depend on). If he’s not Spider-Man when he needs to be, he doesn’t just let the city down . . . he lets his uncle ben down. But Peter isn’t oblivious to the fact that he has a responsibility to his wife and Aunt too. So he tries to make it work. He tries to make some investments to help pay the bills . . that end poorly. He also tries to merchandise his image as Spider-Man . . . that also ends poorly (don’t invest in a spider-themed restaurant). In nearly every interpretation Spider-Man’s main appeal has been that he struggles to maintain his personal life as a freelance news photographer and his life as a superhero at the same time. No superhero’s secret identity has ever been as closely tied to the mask as Spidey’s. While Superman ends the day being the most powerful being on the planet and Batman goes home to being one of the wealthiest men in history, Spider-Man goes home battered and tired and lucky if he can pay rent this month.

Now throw on Mary Jane’s desire to have kids. As if Peter doesn’t have enough on his plate, right? He’s already responsible for the safety of every citizen of New York, now his wife wants kids? Peter dismisses this fear of commitment as knowledge that kids are petty and incompetent and immature . . . but I think it’s more deeply rooted than that. I think Peter is worried he will fail as a father because his life as Spider-Man will endanger his relationship with his kids. So no matter how much Mary Jane wants it, Peter is too committed to his role as the web slinger to take on any more commitments. And of course . . . their relationship breaks.

Compile this with the fact that Peter’s Aunt May dies . . . and Peter has never been so alone. He has nobody to turn to after a long day of being Spider-Man. He has no outlet. The responsibility of his great power has completely consumed him. He tries to find comfort in fast food and lounging around his apartment, but none of it makes him whole. And the worst part? He has nobody to blame but himself. How could he blame Mary Jane? He’s the one who couldn’t make time for her. He’s the one who has to save New York everyday. He’s the one who roped her into his life of perpetual giving and sacrificing until there’s nothing else to give. But more importantly than that, he had the potential to be better but he didn’t fulfill it. He knows this especially after the events of Spider-Verse because the alternate version of him DID make it all work somehow. If that Peter Parker could do it, why couldn’t he? He had all the power in his situation, and so he’s responsible. After all . . . with great power comes great responsibility.

No wonder Peter angrily stopped Miles before he could finish that sentence. The phrase that pushed him to be a better person also completely ruined his life. No wonder he’s so lazy and hesitant to be helpful in the beginning. He’s tired of being the one who loses everything. No wonder he constantly lies about getting in shape and makes excuses for his sweatpants and gut. He can’t admit defeat. He can’t show weakness. He’s Spider-Man. No wonder he fears facing Aunt May so much when they go to her house. Imagine seeing an alternate version of your dead aunt, only for her to see the worst version of yourself. Could you live with the heartbreak of letting her down? No wonder he decides he must be the one to stay behind to save the multiverse and send everyone else home. He thinks this last great sacrifice will vindicate him of everything he did wrong. Maybe he’s convinced there’s no hope for salvaging his marriage with Mary Jane. Peter was never able to take on as much responsibility as he did . . . because no matter how powerful he is . . . . he’s still human. He still needs rest, and love, and reassurance. The attempt at seeming invincible only broke him more.

But there’s one thing Peter never thought to do. Ask for help.

When you’re the “one and only Spider-Man” it’s easy to assume you can’t count on anybody to help you with the burden of being the savior of new york. But Peter realizes that . . he’s not the only Spider-Man. there are lots of Spideys around, actually. In fact, Miles is increasingly eager to do what he can to help him. When Miles says he can’t watch Spider-Man die again, Peter is stunned in silence. He’s never had anybody watch his back in the line of work before. In the finale when Miles is sending all the other Spideys home, Peter vouches to stay behind to hold off Kingpin . . but Miles refuses. Peter tells Miles it’s okay if he still needs help . . . and Miles returns the reassurance. Miles gives Peter the confidence to get his old life back as he fades back into his own dimension.

Peter learns a valuable lesson in all of this. Just because he’s powerful doesn’t mean he’s invincible . . .and that’s okay. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to not have all the answers. It’s okay to give yourself some breathing room. Peter has the motivation to try again, knowing that this time around that he can count on Mary Jane to have his back.

Peter B. Parker is a character I really identified with at this point in my life. I’m a 22 year old who moved out of his parents house less than a year ago. I’ve been feeling all the same pressure any young adult feels. the pressure to succeed, the pressure to be the best, the pressure to meet everybodies expectations. It can be really exhausting and disheartening and it’s so tempting to retreat into immature habits. But none of us are alone. We can all make it a bit easier on ourselves by letting our friends help us when we need it, and in doing so maintaining our relationships becomes easier. I think a lot of people can identify with Peter. Truly, anybody can be behind the mask.

*side note: congrats to Spider-Verse for winning the Golden Globe for best animated film.

#spiderman #spiderverse #peter parker #marvel #animation #cartoons #sony #character study #film #movies #spidergwen #spider-man into the spider-verse

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secretshinigami · 5 years

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Masterlist of Demegawa-chan’s Special Prompts

A compiled list of everyone’s prompts from the exchange – thank you for letting us post them, and we hope you guys enjoy them! Prompts are organized by their submitter, so be sure to give credit if you use one.

niatsuki

Near and Light kissing

Mikami and Light in the rain sharing an umbrella

Misa in a suit

Domestic Mikalight

Matsuda confronting Near on the theory he brings up at the end of the manga

Nate and Light having an obtuse argument, but with romantic undertones

toygowther

Light wearing a crop top, high waisted jeans and fishnets, and a choker.

L having a nice day out in the park eating ice cream with Maki and Near

Musical!Light smiling

Misa in a cute gothic dress doing a finger heart

L and Light wearing Misa Misa merch at one of her concerts.

AU in which Light is actually a woman. The fic would follow how Misa reacts to it and if she would still want to be her girlfriend.

Role swap au. Light as Misa and Misa as Light.

Light and Misa meeting a different way and actually forming a healthy relationship.

spaceblue

L, Naomi & B shenanigans

Naomi, Wedy and Lidner as Charlie's angels (or L's angels?)

Wammy kids as Pokemon trainers

Matt gets the rest of the Wammy kids to play Smash with him

Naomi and L after the end of LABB, after he says his name is Rue Ryuzaki

Drama!L and drama!Raye Penber bickering

hazblogs

your take on A's gender and sexuality, bonus points if they're not a cis man and straight

Mello and sun imagery

Beyond Birthday and his eyes

Near with Hanahaki disease (pick who it's about if you want a specific ship)

Mello and witchcraft, if possible in the canon universe

Naomi interacting with Beyond (au or canon), if possible talking about L or the Wammy kids

L/Light being soulmates, in canon or in an AU

how Matt started smoking (I am comfortable with heavy drug themes)

polyphenols

L learning to garden, paint, cook, do taxes, care for an animal, or pay for a parking ticket for the first time

All the times L has cursed Right In Front Of The Task Force (poor Soichiro)

L alone, dressed for the cold, in a cathedral during midnight hours, gazing at the altar in silent contemplation

Aiber and Wedy at an evening gala on a mission

L and Alessandro Juliani warmly shaking hands

Young Naomi in a darkened room with red string and case clippings everywhere

What chain of events led to Quillsh Wammy deciding to adopt L and care for him?

Matsuda cant swim and he’s knocked into a body of water on a case, one of the task force has to go after him

The conversation that happened between L and Rem before he walked out onto that rooftop

L traveling somewhere exotic for a case, meets celebrity of your choice and becomes unlikely friends, takes down crime circle together

Naomi and L interact side by side as partners during a seperate case

paralllaxes

16 year old Gevanni (normal day or family banter)

Naomi in modern clothing

the SPK in one of those cheesy family pictures.

Naomi thinking about LABB while in Japan

SPK found family stuff / domesticity

Naomi being with the SPK (with or without Raye is the author's choice)

kiranatrix

Light and L in emo/goth clothes or in an emo band

Light in a crown on a throne

Ryuk doing something funny or playing a prank while invisible

L and Light on a road trip

Misa painting Rem’s looooong nails or giving her a makeover

Death Note characters as birds!

Sayu gets a grumpy parrot and Light doesn’t realize it can talk until after he hears it repeat some Kira plan thing, so he has to adopt it to keep it from spilling on him

L and Light talk about something important that happened to them in their childhood

L has to deal with growing amount of Light’s products in their shared shower and tries some out of curiosity with disasterous results

Light accidentally eats the last piece of cake in Kira HQ and L can’t deal at 4am

Lawlight Apocalypse AU of any variety

Beyond breaks out of prison after LABB, where does he go?

47gaslamps

The task force with portentous umbrellas

Halle, symbolically framed between Near and Mello

Naomi kicking Light's butt after he attempts to use force

Matsuda gives Yamamoto a welcome-aboard to the former Task Force /

AU where the drawer IS forced open

Misa has to shield Light from the paparazzi

translightyagami

Light and L in a crowded apartment, obviously lived in, playing piano next to each other

Light sewing something like his father's suit jacket or a shirt Mikami tore

Indulgent ask for my cryptid AU L and Light sitting in a graveyard having a nice time

Light having a smoke before he has to go tell his parents he's moving in with Misa

Light and Sayu having a difficult conversation where they're both saying they're gay without out loud saying it

Near goes to a Lego building event and meets a nice boy who isn't a Wammy kid

almostsane-things

Wammy's kid(s) of your choice sitting on the roof, watching the sky

Beyond Birthday and Candy Guro

DN characters in a rock band, maybe the shinigami are their mascots

Draw a less appreciated character but try something new with your style/medium. (i.e. use different brushes, incorporate a traditional art/craft like painting or cross-stitch, make a collage piece, go abstract, etc)

L in prison

Misa and Sayu becoming friends/ hanging out

The legend of Kira, how has the story of Kira changed over time in universe? Do people believe it was something supernatural, a government conspiracy, a group of vigilantes, or perhaps it's faded to nothing but a cautionary tale for misbehaving kids

A DN character enjoys that thing you really like/ find interesting to learn about, and shares that interest with someone else. (i.e. Matt plays your favorite video game with someone, Linda teaches someone about gardening, etc)

weneedtotalkaboutdeathnote

A hot double date with BBxDemegawa and LxHiguchi

B meeting L (any context is fine).

Naomi and Raye getting coffee together, having a nice time.

L can see ghosts, but he chooses to ignore them. This becomes increasingly had to do when B’s spirit shows up during the Kira investigation.

An Au where L defeated Kira, grew older, and basically disappeared. Older Mello (mid 20sish, now a detective) follows a lead that takes him to the washed up L.

Non serial killer, "Unprivate Detective" Beyond Birthday works on a case with Naomi Misora.

pensulliwen

Misa making Valentine’s Day chocolate, perhaps while daydreaming about a fantastically unlikely result of giving them to Light.

Rem holding Misa as they fly over the city.

Meme redraws featuring Misa, Light, and L. Just go crazy. Any ridiculous meme image, shove these dorks in there instead.

Misa convincing Rem to take her flying, the feelings they both experience in the air together.

Misa and Mogi on a shopping “date” in which the unlikely pair manage to work together surprisingly well.

Light considers eliminating Misa from the equation many times, but there’s always something that stops him. Explore how he views her and the dissonance between how he views her versus how he views himself, as well as the reasoning for keeping her around longer than intended.

izaori

Demegawa in a hot tub but instead of water its money

Mello playing soccer with the other kids (like Matt for example).

Matsuda playing cookie clicker, because he's obsessed.

Young Demegawa when he first got his job, maybe a few months into the job.

Sayu studying for her big exam coming up so she goes to big bro Light for help.

Ryuk discovers sour green apples rather than just the red ones. Maybe Sidoh discovers dark chocolate/white chocolate at the same time.

mikami

High school age Mikami in a high school uniform.

MikaLight out on a date

anything L/Higuchi

A Sakura TV Documentary about the Kiras.

MikaLight office romance, non-Kira AU.

Write me a fic about Demegawa. Can definitely be comedy, but please take the character somewhat seriously.

ghostoftasslehoff

L and Light playing piano together.

L with a kitty

Sayu and ‘Ryuzaki’ meeting, and hitting it off

Matsuda recieving a present or something from a ‘secret admirer’

A day in the life of Matsuda (away from the task force)

L and B’s first meeting (can be shippy or not, whichever my Shinigami prefers)

L tries to engage in punnery with the task force, but only one person engages (preference for Light, but surprise me!)

Sayu’s (or Sachiko’s) thoughts on Light’s new secretive actions as Kira becomes more and more active

tzigi

(All canon-compliant)

L gets first suspicions about a string of heart attacks which may be a new murder case for him

Light’s first day at To-Oh after L’s death

Light’s first day of work at the NPA

Near tries to pick up L’s investigation

Why did Near go back to L’s original font for the “L” logo between chapter 108 and the C-Kira oneshot?

A non-Lawlight rendering of the first evening of Light being chained to L after everyone else has already gone to sleep (preferably in keeping with the One Day one-shot)

Light begging Ryuk for his life

Light’s funeral

catfishmaster

The main characters (plus B) as DND characters

Older Near (like 25-30) with a bunch of cats he keeps for company

Roger bonding with Near after the Kira case.

Beyond Birthday faked his death in 2004 and now lives alone as a poor and pretty miserable theatre actor with a fake name. Oh, and also it's a Kira wins au.

Years after the Kira case has concluded, L takes on Near as an apprentice.

Matt takes Near on a tour of an afterlife-like world they both wound up in. It's more like a dreamscape than anything else but it serves as an afterlife.

#prompt list #death note #deathnote #Demegawa-chan's Sakura TV Special 2019

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rozezor · 6 years

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Better care ocs

@r95irth

Koyuki Kojima

Her personality in five words: extroverted, jokes lover, curious, independent, stubborn

Her Quirk: allows her to remember every seen open space places, from her room to an immense land. She can projects them in people’s mind, giving them the illusion of being there. As long as nothing changes in her illusion, she can use the same imagine again and again. Sometimes after using her quirk she enters in a confusing state: she mistakes places and even people.

Her mother doesn’t like when she uses her quirk at home and Koyuki doesn’t really know why; however, she loves her quirk and when she discovers a new place she always shows it to her friends by projecting it in their minds.

Likes: Koyuki really cares about her appearance, especially her clothes. She is obsessed with korean fashion, both female and male, and her closet is full of male’s pullovers and korean’s long skirts. She is trying to drag her brother Hideki in this “world” but he prefers more his “boring standards t-shirts”, as she says. She likes milkshakes, at Mc she always takes vanilla milkshake with french fries, and love the gross expressions that her friends do when they see her literally drown the fries in the milkshake. Sh isn't a genius at school but she adore studying and she tries to do her best every day. She may have a secret passion for aliens theories.

In general she loves her whole family and life. She tries to find the good side of everything and this may brings her to trust people too easily.

Dislikes: She can’t stand cats, she might be the only girl in the world. It’s not like they are ugly or because she prefers dogs - well, she does really like dogs, but that’s not the point - it’s just that they hate her so why loving someone that hate you?

Koyuki loves school but waking up early is something she can hardly handle, especially because she goes to sleep late and the next morning she has two big eyeshadows. Despite being an open minded girl, she gets angry when someone points out that she might being wrong on something.

Her family: Koyuki is the second child of Chiyo and Kenichi Kojima, a strange couple that was bad seen when they were younger. Her mother, Chiyo, is a strict and yet beautiful woman that lived her whole teenage life fighting for her rights. On the other hand, her father Kenichi is a easy going man, with always a smile on his face. Her father has a sort of villain past: her grandfather was part of a villain group in the city of Nagasaki and he used his son for many purposes. After his death, however, a police officer named Taro took away Kenichi with him.

Her parents are very different and the fact they are still together despite all their fights is very shocking for the neighborhood. However, Koyuki is not worried about their relationship: she knows they love each other endlessly.

Both her parents are quirkless; she took her Quirk from her grandmother and her brother Hideki from grandfather - both parents of Chiyo.

Her big brother Hideki is a serious and hardworking young man. His Quirk is “Quick learning” that essentially allows him to understand and remember things really quickly; not casually he was the best student during his school��s days. He isn’t very talkative and at a first sight he even seems to hate people because he avoids them. The reality is that people from his past bullied him for being homosexual and this still hurts him. He isn’t the biological son of Kenichi but he loves his step-dad - and Koyuki, of course. Koyuki and her brother share a strange yet beautiful relationship: they often fight during the day and sleep in the same bed in the night.

Secret Past: Koyuki had a beautiful childhood, so she has no secret or dark past of sorta.

Saddest Memory: During his teenager days Hideki has a very tough moment because of the bullying. At the time Koyuki was just a child and didn’t really understand why her big brother cried every night or why he was always covered in bruises. Her parents were agitated; Hideki and Chiyo often fought and Kenichi was forced to become a wall in order to divide them.

Koyuki could feel her brother suffering - all her family's suffering - and from that moment she hates bullying and sadness.

her relationship in class: in general she goes along pretty well with everybody; her love for life and people doesn’t allow her to notice if someone doesn’t like her. She isn’t very picky but tends to avoid “i know it all” and big-headed type of people.

Ryota Himaruyo

His character in five words: adaptable, artistic, quiet, honest, untidy

His Quirk: “Livin’ Ink”. His skin secretes ink he uses for drawing is 3D dimension things such as everyday life objects, weapons and animals. If he wants to have a total control over an animal he needs to know its typical behavior and limits. The stains of ink on his skin can’t be washed away: he basically has tattoos.

Likes: Indeed he likes a lot of things, but few people really care for them because Ryota isn’t the type of guy that shows off his preferences. He adapts pretty well.

He likes animals, especially dinosaurs - and yes, he knows they are all dead thank you very much -, sweet things and watermelons. Drawing is his number one passion and he’s currently trying to do some portraits of his sister and classmates (without them knowing of course). He and Kussan share a passion and they eventually bounded over it: both love Celtic and Viking inspired music. During lunch time Ryota puts on his headphones and takes a nap while his friends eat and chat.

Dislikes: despite being a quiet boy, the silent isn’t his best friend. In fact, he hates when no one around him talks so he tries to break the silent with music or letting things fall on purpose.

He is also scared of the sea - he doesn’t know how to swim for a reason - and storms. Everytime it rains he becomes moody and nervous, like a cat. He is always afraid of passing for the guy who doesn't care about anything and anyone because of his lay down personality: he's just with his head on the clouds it isn't really his fault; when others throw shades about it he prefers isolate himself for a bit and then come back with a grunt on his face.

Short pencils? He hates them. A clean bedroom? What is it?

His family: Ryota’s parents are divorced and he and his sister live with their father. His name is Jean Gannarie and he works at home as a journalist for a french newspaper that has a settlement in Japan. He moved in Japan twenty years ago thanks to his work and he met his future wife during an interview. At that time Kameyo Himaruyo was the right hand of an important stilist; the two got together three months before Kameyo was nominated as her successor. After the birth of their children, whom took Kameyo's surname, she became more and more busy with her career, letting her husband always alone with Ryota and his sister, the little Julienne. Ryota and Julienne didn't have a bond at all with the mother and the parents fought every night. The two eventually divorced and now the mother is one of the most requested stilist in Asia.

His father's quirk allows him to print his thoughts on his and others skin with just a touch. This is very useful to his job and he also uses it to remember his son important events and/or tasks. This is the reason why Ryota's skin is covered in his ink and phrases such as "remember to wash YOUR dishes", "cousins for dinner tonight", "stop drinking orange juice in the shower".

Ryota is really thankful to his father that always took care of him: the two share a peaceful relationship even though he doesn't appreciate Jean's dad jokes.

Julienne is a little demon but he loves her with all his heart. Her quirk is similar to his even though her ink is red. She is learning French from their dad, while Ryota is just incapable.

His relationship in class: he enjoy the company of big groups, even more if they are extra, noisy and with a good sense of humour. He also talks and interact with more shy and conservative people, of course, but you will always find him in silent in the middle of a pillow fight or something. Noises are a good company and a fine background for his thoughts.

He can bond over music and film tastes, as well as midnight snacks because he is that type of person.

People who watch other people up and down freak him out a little.

He and Kussan don't really talk: they share a silent friendship listening to music.

Kunio (Kussan) Musaware

Their character in five words: mysterious, sarcastic, diligent, introverted, tired

Their quirk: the pores of their skin secret a non lethal gas called Diphenylchlorarsine (say it five times). This gas causes sneezing, coughing, headaches, salivation and vomiting. Kussan need to cover their nose if they don't want to fall in their own quirk.

It is a quite dangerous quirk that needs special precautions in order to not harm his classmates; Kussan and Midnight work a lot together.

Likes: being a very awkward kid, Kussan have special interests and their tastes are sometimes questionable. First of all, everything dark and emo contribute to their aesthetic, from clothes to phone's lockscreens. They find black and purple two “neutral” colours.

They often stay up late at night to watch the moon and write poems; this is why they are always tired though, but it's worth it. They are a music and musicians lover - they can become all crazy inside when they see someone famous on TV.

Kussan is a diligent student and in general like to have everything tidy and clean. An hair out of place, a lost sock and ink on their notebook are not tolerated.

Like sweet things, they have a soft spot for children, birds and strawberry shortcake. Sigh a lot without a context.

Dislikes: Kussan don't fit with gender: they don’t believe in the whole thing “male and female”. People are just people; even talking about them as a transgender make them uncomfortable because it is unsaid that they acknowledge the existence of two genders. They get really annoyed when in presence of feminist and misogynist behaviours and tend to snap a little. They don't like to share their feelings because of their introverted nature and trust issues. Kussan also have a hard time every time they don't get the honours they deserve: they work hard in order to stand out, to be respected as a human being and to be just like the others and everytime people cover their attempts is like a knife in the back.

Really bad tastes in fashion.

Their family: Today, Kussan consider as their family just their grandfather, Jun Masaware, a former doctor. They live with him for about six years now, but before they lived with who gave birth to them.

Their parents were two strict politicians. When they had Kunio were so sure that their kid would have become one of them but they were wrong: since they were a kid, Kunio rejected the “boy education” they were given and even the environment around the kid. They wanted to do as they liked without restrictions of sorta. At the age of eleven they came out as non binary and it fucked up parents minds. Kussan eventually went to live with their Grandpa, the only one that truly loved them since the beginning. Kussan's rare smiles are just for their strong and funny old one. Jun easily get along with everyone thanks to his quirk that gives him a charming personality.

Saddest memory: their relationship with their parents was the worst: always fighting, shouting, throwing things over the room. They wanted the perfect puppet and au contrarie they got a rebel and “strange” creature. Kussan was disgusted by their nonsense speeches about how they were useless and disgusting. They fell in a depression state at such young age and sometimes they harmed themselves.

Fortunately those times are gone but the scars remain.

Their relationship in class: Kussan isolate themselves from others in order to not get hurt in the future. They are truly afraid of get affectionate and then get stabbed in the back; their quite and sarcastic nature sure don't help the situation. They hardly stand everyone because their mind refused to open.

Deep inside they are just a lost kid that needs help.

There you finally go the personalities of my OCS! I hope you like them and sorry for the errors!

#better care #ocs #bnha ocs #my ocs #bnha #fanfiction

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fiiore-blogs · 3 years

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𝐟𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐮𝐬𝐨 ; character study

tws : abuse , mentions of death , homophobia & blindness ( ?? )

BASICS

full name : fiore emiliano luca gattuso

nicknames : honestly just fiore , flower cat boy as a joke by his cousin ( his first name translates to flower in italian , his surname gattuso , derives from the italian word gatto .... which literally means cat kdnvdfjs )

age : 20

date of birth : may 30 , 2000

zodiac sign : gemini

place of birth : tuscany , italy

hometown : rome , italy

location : kingsboro , brooklyn , new york city , new york

ethnicity : white

nationality : italian

religious views : non affiliated , but definitely believes there is a higher power ( or multiple ) of some sort

educational level : high school graduate

occupation : influencer & model occasional sugar baby

living arrangements : lives in a super boujee ass house ( basically mansion tbh ) with his older cousin gio , & his cat , which he very proudly named draco meowfoy

mental conditions : undiagnosed anxiety , very claustrophobic , will literally freak out if he’s in a tight space

physical impairments : he has shit vision , always has . his vision is 20 / 50 without any type of help , which isn’t necessarily terrible , but not exactly great . once you reach 20 / 70 , you’re considered to have low vision , which is technically considered partial blindness . with contacts on though , he see’s a solid 20 / 30 , which again , still isn’t too great , considering the fact the average person see’s 20 / 20 . no one knows his vision is so garbage minus his cousin , & no one has ever ever ever seen him with glasses before . in fact , no one even knows he needs glasses or contacts to see , as he keeps this a secret

addictions : none really , just smokes the usual weed & drinks the usual drink , has tried coke once but didn’t really like it too much

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

height : 5 ‘ 8

body type : pretty damn lanky but slightly muscular ( for actual body claim gifs click here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here & here ! )

eye color : baby blue , but shifts colors in different lighting . sometimes they look more on the green side , sometimes they look sort of grey

hair color : brown

style : he loves a good boujee brand tbh ! catch him wearing luxury brands like philipp plein , balenciaga , hermès , valentino , gucci .... just to name a few . he’s not opposed to wearing cheaper brands & even owns a basic floral jacket from forever 21 , but his main rule is it has to look good . honestly would rather shave off his eyebrows once a month for an entire year than to wear sweats , you’ll simply never see him with those on . in fact , he doesn’t even own a pair of sweats , not even just to be at home . in fiore’s opinion , people wearing sweats have just ‘ given up ’ . this saint laurent jacket right here , is one of his favorite pieces of clothing !

tattoos & piercings : this gemini symbol tattoo on his left wrist , a cartilage piercing on his right ear

scars / birth marks : a notably big scar on his lower left abdomen ( courtesy of his dad ) , birthmark on his upper left cheek ( which honestly .... low key makes him hotter fkdfvnfdsjn )

PERSONALITY

positive traits : determined , confident , witty

negative traits : secretive , narcissistic , dishonest

what do they consider to be the best & the worst part of their personality ? : the best part of his personality is his confidence & his ability to achieve his goals or get his way somehow . he’s not too bright , but he knows how to get what he wants & stops at almost nothing to have it his way , being extremely determined & restless . the worst part of his personality has to be the fact that he can be very dishonest . it’s a defense mechanism mostly , but he has a way of bending the truth to his favor , often times becoming manipulative & inconsiderate of other people’s feelings

are they more introverted or extroverted ? : the very rare case of an extroverted introvert . he really does enjoy talking to people but he loves his alone time as well & sometimes , too many people to talk to gives him anxiety

any talents ? : not really a talent but more of an unknown fact – he has hypermobile joints ( or what most people call double jointed ) almost everywhere . on his knees , on his elbows , on his shoulders , on his fingers . he can bring his arms all the way around & back while holding onto his hands , can touch his thumbs & other fingers to his forearm ( for more info on this , click here ) . he also makes really , really good edibles

what are their fears ? : huge slightly irrational fear of being buried alive , being in a tight space barely able to move or tight spaces in general . no one knows this one , but he also has a huge fear of ending up completely blind . his grandmother , his mother’s mother , has always had terrible vision . she was pronounced legally blind when she was barely 45 , later going completely blind before she turned 60 . fiore’s mother didn’t inherit her bad vision but it skipped a generation & if you guessed it , his grandmother’s shit vision is something he carries . he has a huge overwhelming fear of it getting worse & worse over the years , & ending up like his grandmother did

any allergies ? : corn . will literally have a deathly reaction

do they have phobias ? : claustrophobia

list 3 pet peeves they can’t stand : people chewing with their mouth open , when people have strong unpleasant body odor or bad breath ( no bullshit he’ll call you out for this lmfao ) , dirty fingernails

PAST

best memory : opening up to his cousin about what really happened with his parents & having him accept him with open arms , then later that day going to the beach , smoking one with him & talking about life

worst memory : his parents finding his sex tape with his now ex boyfriend , causing them to disown him & almost beat him to death

biggest secret : his past , as he refuses to talk about anything that happened before 2018 . also , his vision ? definitely a secret too

biggest wish : surprisingly ? falling deeply in love with someone & traveling the world with them , also opening up an edible shop

biggest fear : irrational fear , but being buried alive , crossing paths with his parents again , & turning completely blind at one point just like his grandmother did

first love : alessio cardone ( npc , nathan naenen fc ) , his first love , & so far the only person he’s ever truly fallen in love with . for gifs of his face click here or click here

ROMANCE & SEXUALITY

sexuality : bisexual / biromantic

turn ons : dirty talk , fingering & being fingered , versatile sex , being dominated / dominating someone , lip biting when kissing , hickeys , being spoiled , cuddling , hair pulling

turn offs : people denying or hiding what they really want & desire , know it alls , people treating him like he’s stupid , cheap people , people who talk shit with people around but won’t peep a word when they’re alone , hypocrites

MISCELLANEOUS

speaking voice claim : lorenzo zurzolo vc , or click here !

relationship with mother : he hasn’t spoken , heard of or seen his mother since his parents disowned him when he had just turned eighteen , so well over two years ago . he has no idea if she’s even alive or well

mother’s name : originally martina reina ( now martina gattuso )

relationship with father : same thing with his father . he hasn’t spoken , heard of or seen him since his parents disowned him . despite both his parents being trash though , fiore has always been more afraid & resentful of his father , as he has beaten him multiple times throughout his childhood , while his mother mostly just stood by & let it happen . he’s also done things like lock him in a car trunk for hours as punishment , & would leave him in a tight spaced closet for longer , which explains his irrational fear of being buried alive , & his severe claustrophobia

father’s name : gian gattuso

siblings : none

pets : click here to see his ragamuffin cat he named draco meowfoy

favorite place : any part of spain . honestly loves spain , & loves how shameless some spanish people are

role models or crushes : seth rogen ( he’s not even a role model fiore just loves him skacnbdjs ) , terry crews , tina fey , jamie chua ( this is just ... for obvious reasons lmfao )

favorite animals : a sucker for koalas , cats & dogs ( definitely a cat person though ) . he also thinks red panda’s are possibly the cutest creatures on the planet

favorite books : the five stages of andrew brawley by shaun david hutchinson , a child called it , the lost boy , a man named dave , the privilege of youth , all by dave pelzer ( he has cried reading all of pelzer’s books too , as he feels it hits close to home )

favorite movies : la vita è bella , literally all the sex & the city movies , honestly any movie seth rogen is in , catch me if you can

favorite music : listens to almost anything but his favorites are anything indie / alternative , deathpop & italian music

favorite food : pasta , chicken picatta , authentic mexican tacos

favorite dessert : anything tiramisu , caffè gelato , cannoli

QUIRKS

are they right handed or left handed ? : left handed

what’s a word that’s always on their lips ? : “ oh yeah ? ” usually in a teasing manner or sexual context

what languages do they speak ? : italian , english , spanish , decent sicilian

do they curse ? : definitely

what’s their worst habits ? : lying ( obviously ) , always wanting to have the last word , instantly seeking revenge / getting even when he feels he’s been wronged , chewing ice , & honestly ? forgetting to eat for long ass periods of time . he’ll eat something at ten am , then suddenly it’s about to be midnight & he’s like ‘ well fuck ..... i forgot to eat 🥴 ’

do they drink or smoke ? how frequently ? : drinks & smokes pretty frequently ! is honestly never one to turn down drinking or a smoking session

are they an early bird or a night owl ? : night owl for sure

how tidy is their room ? : usually tidy or decent looking at least . he’s not a neat freak , but he hates his room being messy

how long do they usually take getting ready ? : forever . it takes him at least an hour just to shower , thirty minutes to pick out his clothes , another thirty to do his ‘ fresh out the shower ’ routine , & longer to actually get ready & be satisfied with his look . in other words , a girl takes less time than him

#kingsboro.task #weeewww this was in my drafts for like 2 weeks LOLOL #♡ ⟨ • ◦ ◌ ◦ • ⟩ 𝘧𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘶𝘴𝘰 ∕ musings!#( queuekachu! )#one for aksel is coming today i will b asleep by the time this gets posted bc queue <3333

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tipsycad147 · 5 years

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Circling back to magick: 55 ways to live a more spiritual life every day

Posted by Michelle Gruben on Mar 20, 2019

Working magick can transform your life, but the last time you felt its full power was…well, a while ago. Burnout happens.

No matter how experienced you are, or how dedicated you are to your Craft, sooner or later you will find yourself stuck in a rut. You may feel uninspired or disconnected from what drew you to magick in the first place. It’s time to get back to basics, re-charge, and reconnect with your super-awesome witchy self.

There are dozens of simple rituals and practices that can help the erstwhile Witch recover their mojo. Most people hear “ritual” and think of an elaborate ceremony with candles and chants, but it doesn’t have to be that way. For the sake of this guide, I’ve stretched the definition of ritual to include any purposeful action, no matter how small. The actions are the 55 items in this article, and the purpose is getting you back in step with your personal magickal path.

I compiled this list with the intermediate practitioner in mind. But beginners can use it, too. If you don’t know how to work with energy, draft a sigil, cast a circle, and so on…don’t worry about it. Those are skills you can learn later. In the meantime, just do any of the exercises that appeal to you.

Some of the items on this list require an investment of time or money, but most are things you can do with little planning ahead. The focus is on feeling more magickal right now—not in the future, and certainly not in the past.

A few of the items on this list may not seem specifically magickal, because they’re focused on the basics of self-care. Remember the Hermetic axiom: As above, so below. As within, so without. If your body, mind, and spirit aren’t in top condition, then any metaphysical work that you attempt will yield subpar results.

So here are some tried-and-true ways to invite more magick into your life. You can do these little rituals in any combination and in any order:

1. Get moving! Physical activity clears out blockages and sluggish energy. Finish a home project, go for a run, take a yoga class, have sex—anything active.

2. Take an inventory of your magickal tools and supplies. Refresh and re-consecrate your favourite items. Retire anything that no longer serves your magick.

3. Visit with an elder in your spiritual tradition.

4. Treat yourself to a new magickal book (or revisit an old favourite).

5. Spend time with an animal familiar or pet.

6. Do a solo meditation or energy session. If you have trouble getting motivated on your own, download a video or podcast to guide you through it.

7. Update your altar. Out with the dust, in with fresh items that fit the season and your current magickal mood.

8. Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and read/scry the tea leaves or foam.

9. Take the scenic route. The beauty of the world outside is inspiring, whether it’s a tree-lined road or the marvellous lights of the city at night.

10. Don’t wait on the calendar to do magick: Take note of the current season, moon phase, day of the week and select (or write) a simple ritual that you can do today.

11. Take a sacred bath—complete with salt, candles, and anointing oil to make you feel like the God and/or Goddess you are.

12. Re-visit your dream journal or Book of Shadows. Sometimes, seeing how far you’ve come can be the push that helps you keep going.

13. Soak up some sunlight or moonlight (Witch’s fuel)!

14. Find a devotional poem or invocation that inspires you and read it out loud. (Stumped? You can’t go wrong with the Charge of the Goddess.)

15. Write a note of gratitude to someone who has helped you on your magickal path. This could be an author, teacher, spirit being, or friend.

16. Charge a Quartz crystal under the full moon and place it under your pillow to encourage lucid dreaming.

17. Identify a magickal skill you’ve always wanted to learn (pendulum dowsing or writing chants, for instance) and take the next step. Sign up for a class, grab a beginner’s book, or track down someone who has the knowledge you seek.

18. Teach a beginner’s class or chat with someone who’s just getting started in the Craft. Newbies have an enthusiasm for magick that’s simply unmatched.

19. Smudge your house, altar, or yourself.

20. Practice guerilla magick: Create positive sigils and omens and leave them in unexpected places for others to find. (Please no graffiti or outdoor litter.)

21. Heal your heart. Identify someone or something that has hurt you and perform a ritual to put them/it behind you.

22. Cook a healthy, energy-rich meal with fruits and vegetables from a garden or farmer’s market. Wash it down with a big glass of water.

23. Create a work of art or poetry that honours a favourite deity, place, or person.

24. Go someplace new in your city or town. Keep your eyes open for signs and oracles. Magick can enter your life in many ways—from a found object to a chance encounter with a stranger.

25. Choose an attribute of your zodiac sign (good, bad, or neutral) and give yourself permission to fully embody it for an entire day. Enjoy being an impulsive Gemini, brooding Cancer, or sexy Aries.

26. Do a daily draw from your Tarot deck or rune set.

27. Attend a Pagan festival, Pagan’s Night Out, or Witch’s meetup.

28. Start decorating for Halloween (yes, even if it’s only February)!

29. If your health allows for it, consider a brief fast. A day or two without food can be energetically and creatively stimulating.

30. Clean house. Clutter and unwanted junk can cause energy to stagnate in your home, mind, and body.

31. Browse social media for new witchy ideas for your home or altar. (One caveat: Only do this as long as it feels inspiring. If you start feeling overwhelmed or envious from altar porn, disconnect from Instagram and reconnect with what you’ve got right in front of you.)

32. Create a labyrinth with stones on your property. A labyrinth is a tool for contemplation that can be big or small, indoors or outdoors. Walk it with your feet—or fingertips!

33. Practice automatic writing or drawing.

34. Visit a craft store or vintage market and dream up magickal uses for mundane items. An old planter could become a magickal faery herb garden, a piece of costume jewellery might be your new scrying ring.

35. Do a simple prayer/ritual to thank your ancestors for the blessing of life and for your magickal gifts. (Don’t worry if you don’t know who your all your ancestors are—they know who you are.)

36. Create and charge a sigil that represents a current goal.

37. Energy practice is like kegels—you can do it anywhere, anytime, and (probably) no one will know. Flex your chakras on the bus, at the grocery store, sitting in traffic.

38. Cast a circle (or your version of sacred space) just because.

39. Hug a tree. Play in the dirt.

40. Re-watch a movie that inspired you to become interested in magick, and feel the thrill of discovery all over again. (Was it Practical Magic? I bet it was Practical Magic. Mists of Avalon? Harry Freakin’ Potter? Go ahead, we won’t judge.)

41. Visit a cemetery or memorial park.

42. Explain something about your path to a person who doesn’t participate/believe in witchcraft. Get in touch with your own convictions. Practice not worrying about what others think.

43. Choose a special outfit or piece of jewellery that you will only use in a magickal context. Bless this item and store it in a safe place.

44. Burn something! Fire evokes transformation and change—so meditate with flame, whether it’s a single candle or a backyard bonfire.

45. Get excited about the next Sabbat. Select recipes and words for a solo ritual, or plan ahead to celebrate with your community.

46. Make friends with your neighbourhood Fae and nature spirits. Make gifts of your labour, reverent attention, and material offerings (when appropriate).

47: Choose a Tarot or oracle card that stands for something you want to draw into your life and display it on your altar.

48: Learn about the magick of a group or culture that’s unfamiliar to you. Read a book—or, if possible, sit in on a ritual. Every civilisation in history has had its own Mystery traditions and studying another system can put you in touch with what’s true about your own.

49: Get a psychic reading from a friend or professional.

50: Create a special ceremonial beverage with ingredients that are significant to you and your magick. Charge the mixture and consume it alone or with (consenting) others.

51: Craft a mojo bag or talisman and carry it with you. Try a Lunar charm for psychic awareness, Mercury for increased energy flow/communication, or Jupiter for wisdom and opportunity.

52: Take a trip to your local metaphysical shop and see what’s new.

53: Your body is a temple—remember to treat it that way. Gift yourself with a new outfit, haircut, orgasm, massage, favourite food, or whatever else makes your vessel feel fabulous.

54: Light some incense: Frankincense-Myrrh, Copal, or Amber are all magickal fragrances that call up deep ancestral memories.

55: Meditate or do energy work with a partner. Afterwards, take a few moments to talk about your experiences.

56 (extra credit): Create a simple magickal routine that feeds your spirit and that you can—realistically—stick to. Try your damnedest to make it a daily practice.

As you perform the rituals on this list, I hope you will seize the opportunity to fall in love again with your spiritual self. When you’re stuck in a blah daily existence, you may wonder where the magick went. The answer, of course, is that the magick has been there all along—it was you who stepped away for a bit.

Living in the mundane world doesn’t make you less of a Witch, it makes you a balanced human being. Psychically dormant and latent periods are part of learning and growing in the Craft.

Above all, don’t blame yourself for lapses in your magickal practice. Guilt and regret are enemies of the ecstatic self-love that is the basis of all constructive magick. Just pick up where you left off, and coming home will feel all the sweeter.

https://www.groveandgrotto.com/blogs/articles/circling-back-to-magick-55-ways-to-live-a-more-spiritual-life-every-day

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kyeleereads · 7 years

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WK 3: WATER (OCEANIC)

Week three will focus on Oceanic research, environmental conditions, and recent efforts by cities to address sea level rise. Resilient by Design efforts will be studied and considered in the context of Hong Kong and Asian Cities. The film “Plastic Oceans” will be required.

The study of the ocean is vast, let alone the process of potentially controlling parts of the ebbs and flows of such large bodies of water. To try and design even a city-wide initiative will take incredible amounts of time, money and efforts - but what I find so intimidating is the unexpected, the 1 in 500 year weather events, just one event may overturn all efforts.

Water seems to be a friend to most situations - we want to be close and live close to such a life sustaining resource. We must understand water is “everywhere before it is somewhere” (Design in terrain of water, preface). It blurs boundaries, crosses elements of cleanliness and changes form. To contain water, to use water is a skill or to even let water be is a large scale effort.

This week we observe recent efforts by cities and the conditions of our oceans at this moment. How and what we are trying to observe, prevent and solve is frighteningly complex.

I would like indicate a few keywords that I find relevant

· Gyre - A gyre is a large-scale system of wind-driven surface currents in the ocean. The gyres referred to in the name of our organization are the five main subtropical gyres—located in the North and South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean—which are massive, circular current systems. (5gryes.org)

· Thickening

· Soft / Hard Infrastructure

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Marine debris have been collecting since we started dumping rubbish into the ocean, in particular, plastics. Due to the currents in the sea, they gather vortexes, bounded by the North Pacific subtropical Gyre. As plastics are light, debris sits near the surface of the ocean. This is where plankton and algae are situated, which leads to complications in the marine food web as tiny organisms are threatened. Whales, birds and other marine animals which rely on surface-level organisms as sustenance are therefore affected.

There are several important processes to acknowledge -

Ghost Fishing - Plastic fishing nets are constantly discarded into the ocean. Animals are stuck in complicated webbing.

Consumption of Plastic particles - Plastic is not biodegradable. Many animals mistaken small broken off pieces of plastic as a source of food and thus toxic chemicals may leachate into their biological systems, or even just stuck in their digestive systems.

Cargo Ships - Once cargo is lost to the ocean, the products can be caught in these garbage patches. These plastics do not wear down, simply break into smaller pieces of debris.

It is difficult to research or to resolve - as these spaces are large and expansive, sitting below the surface of the ocean and ranging in depth, the notion of documenting or collecting such data is difficult. The float and travel in depth - 70% of marine debris will eventually sink to the bottom of the ocean. It is also far away from land - no one country will fund any research or cleaning up of this phenomenon. International organisations have taken the task to prevent the patch from growing.

There have been many initiatives, ranging from research expeditions to design ideas such as the Ocean Cleanup and large NGOs such as The 5 Gyres. Each organisation have a different perspective and role in this phenomenon:

5 Gyres: Promoting the reduced usage of plastics - Polystyrene bans,

Hurricane Sandy Design Competition - REBUILD BY DESIGN in partnership with 100 resilient cities

A competition supported by numerous organisations was called for after Hurricane Sandy affected 13 different states in the United States of America. 13 different cities and states were awarded $1 billion USD which were funded by the federal government. They have 7 currently funded projects, most of them on the east coast.

Flood Risk Assessment in Hoboken - Hudson River Project: Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge - OMA with Royal HaskoningDHV; Balmori Associates; and HR&A Advisors.

These projects promote a large scale interventions, from teaching communities and designing with a multitude of stakeholders. A lot of research has to be done - about the coastline and flood risk assessments, about the water management strategies, Financial analysis, stakeholder management etc.

It seems to take so much effort to even start to think about what to do with a situation - a landscape that will be devastated in the near future. Small moves such as creating permeable sidewalks can lead to even more larger systems of failure such as over saturation of the water table -> which leads to flooding -> require infrastructure to pump out the water table into the ocean -> or to find ways to store this excess freshwater. It seems to be a perpetual cycle of inability to find solutions which somehow leads me to think - is relocation a solution? Are we not meant to be in such places? Must we spend to build infrastructure for the inevitable? Can this overflow of water be used for other processes such as energy generation or also to create new jobs or boost the economy?

Rising Currents

In collaboration with MoMA, rising currents reiterates the immediacy of the issue. The complex relationship between cities - human - water creates a connection that must be balanced. Currently, the rigidity of our cities prevents one from connecting to the natural processes - hence phenomenons such as freshwater flooding occur more and more frequently, affecting the cities more so.

This book documents an architects-in-residence program convened by MoMA and PS1 Contemporary Art Center about New York City’s Harbour. 5 interdisciplinary teams to research, propose and design systems to re-envision the coastlines of New York.

Very much the same site as the Hurricane Sandy Design Competition held by Rebuild by design x 100 resilient cities, the focus and deliverables are highly different.

The text briefly describes 5 projects x teams proposal, then leading into an Oppenheimer declaration of the world’s condition. There are international projects introduced, and each designer is encouraged to write feedback to the five proposals.

Most of these projects provide an inbetween space - a frontier almost. Physically through forms but also on an ecosystem level. There is always talk of the thickening, the softening, the harnessing. I tend to imagine space of separation almost between the city and the water - a place where it seems untouchable - but humans should let this new ecosystem exist and work. It is the creation of systems which fascinates me and confuses me at the same time. Who are we to say that we can command these new heterotopias to exist? Can man truly define each step of the process or are they singular in use? Do we have the power to intervene to provide new processes for the next 100 years?

New Urban Ground - Permeable ground which leads to the thickening of the harbourfront.

Is there an extent to our interventions?

We also observed several potential projects referring to these large scale issues. They all seem optimistic- referring to nature as the giver, us as the manipulator.

Wave Garden - Yusuke Obuchi

Despite the scary rendering, Wave Garden by Yusuke Obuchi was a master thesis project at the Princeton University’s School of Architecture (2002). It is a prototype for a dual function - Power Plant and Public Park - using waves as a methodology of creating energy.

It has a designed time aspect - Monday through Friday it is a energy plant. On the weekends it becomes a public garden. The form changes and allows boats to enter the space.

LAGI

The Land Art Generator Initiative is a beautiful website, promoting inventive ways of utilising issues of renewable energy. In the annual competition - this year it deals with water shortage in California. Each proposal must include a site-specific artwork which harnesses energy from nature into electricity and/or provide drinking water for Santa Monica Pier, CA.

All of the competition entries include some element of referring to the wind and wave - also making use of modern day technologies such as patented technology (WindBelt / Onyx Solar etc.) to be incorporated into the design.

Here are a selection of the projects I enjoy-

This was the second prize - Cetacea The project uses wind harvesting technology, reverse osmosis, photovoltaic panels. It looks naturally embedded onto the seabed and shore front.

Horizon Lines - The transparency of energy

This project uses transparent solar cell by Onyx Solar and has an annual capacity 625 MWh. It frames a certain view but provides translucency between. It tries to identify there is a separation between the elements, and somehow creates a monument for the sea. The intrusion into the water is obvious, but we see through this energy generator – creating a new sense of heterotopia – a thickening and an inbetween.

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rachelcarsoncenter · 5 years

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By David Munns

*Featured image: Mars Rover. Image: Idaho National Laboratory, [CC-BY 2.0], via Flicker.

We need a “hardy, soiled kind of wisdom,” Donna Haraway wrote in her recent book Staying With the Trouble, if we are to avert disaster from climate change even a little bit. Challenging and controversial, the wisdom Haraway seeks comes from string figures, nonhuman companions, and her own garden—and, she hopes, will produce a time when the Earth possesses at most 2 or 3 billion humans. Haraway’s call to “make kin, not babies” has garnered reviews disturbed by her radical positions. In confronting climate, there are difficult choices ahead, with voluntary childlessness one effective solution: If we are going to reduce our carbon emissions, why not also reduce our biological presence?

Haraway’s call for a steady, controlled, and peaceful population decline over a century or more, in fact, seems hardly confronting in contrast to the wisdom learned during the heyday of the Space Age. Haraway’s call to not make babies echoes the overriding metaphor for environmentalists in the 1960s, “Spaceship Earth.” In Spaceship Earth, all resources were finite and thus the idea broke with easy and complacent notions of unlimited bounty, resources, or growth. The Earth was likened to a closed ecological space ship, lunar base, or Mars station, wherein air, food, and water become supremely rare and precious commodities. Confrontingly, from the earliest days of the Space Race, NASA administrators knew as well as science fiction writers that no material could be discarded as waste just because it became urine and excrement, or indeed the deceased body of one’s crewmate. Time magazine’s science editor in the mid-1960s (quoted by famed science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke) even suggested that, in order to ensure complete closure of an artificial environment for long-duration space travel, “cannibalism would be compulsory among interstellar travelers.”

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The first astrobiological missions in the late-1950s launched dogs, mice, and monkeys into low-Earth orbit for just hours or a few days. By the early 1960s, large-scale experiments attempted unsuccessfully to replicate a working closed environment where material and energy moved continuously through the components and cycles of a complete ecosystem. NASA understood the gravity of the problem of creating and sustaining a closed environment in which life could be sustained. NASA’s earliest closed environments failed because toxins rapidly built up over just days and poisoned everyone in them; they were verily the forecast of Rachel Carson about the reality of living in an increasingly concentrating, rather than diffusing, toxic environment made real. Ecologists like Harold and Eugene Odum readily described new ecosystems, but it was the engineers and life scientists of Boeing, Lockheed, and General Dynamics, all contracted by NASA to build a closed environment, who actually built them. Visionary biologist Lynn Margulis said that “human voyages into deep space require ecosystems composed of many nonhuman organisms to recycle waste into food” in the 1970s,[1] but that was a decade after NASA and its contractors discovered an environment to be a complex, multilayered, cyclical, and interdependent thing (as my recent paper with Kärin Nickelsen explores). In one notable example, NASA and its contractors struggled with the realization that carbon dioxide, methane, and even water vapor could be, if sufficiently present in too large a quantity, toxins every bit as fatal as those that came from industry and flowed out to poison an environment, as Rachel Carson highlighted. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a waste product produced by all animals from breathing, but equally CO2 is simultaneously a nutrient for respiration by plants. It is not its existence that is the problem, only its concentration and context: at six percent inside a greenhouse CO2 will help plants grow faster, but the same amount inside Apollo 13 nearly killed everyone.

In a recent RCC Perspectives volume, The Good Muck, pioneering environmental historian Donald Worster has come to the conclusion that historians have not paid enough attention to excremental histories, bowdlerizing environmental history by focusing on where food comes from and not where the waste goes. Environmental history, so impressive at illuminating how nature is understood and has been used, stops short when it confronts unsightly and odorous waste. David Soll’s Empire of Water, for example, is marvelously detailed on the evolving story of how New York City consumes nearly a billion gallons per day of water but says almost nothing about the outflow of those same billion gallons. Equally silent about waste have been histories of consumption: unrivaled consumption without thought to waste production is one of the most significant social shifts in human history since just the 1950s, with people in the United States (and elsewhere) embracing the idea that “waste” could just be thrown away.

Image: MPCA photos [CC BY-NC 2.0], via Flickr.

These days, courtesy of the work of Michelle Murphy and Naomi Klein, it seems obvious that the emergence of the “throw-away” society remains the era’s most pernicious legacy. Now horrifying to millennials, the baby boomers took pride in a time when everything was disposable: as illustrated in the iconic period drama Mad Men, when the protagonist Don Draper and his family go for a picnic to a park in Season 2, episode 7, “The Gold Violin.” At the end of the meal, his wife Betty first checks the cleanliness of her children’s hands before shaking off from the picnic blanket the unwanted containers, drink bottles and caps, paper plates, and napkins. Leaving the “trash” strewn across the grass, everybody walks unconcernedly back to the car. In the same episode, Draper’s advertising staff are trying to put together a campaign to sell Pampers diapers, which while expensive, have one key advantage: “You get to throw them away.” As Haraway has already said, environmental waste was intimately connected to human reproduction and childcare.

My coauthor, Kärin Nickelsen, and I are exploring how “waste” was reconsidered in the Space Age in the ongoing attempts to build an artificial environment to live in space. Our forthcoming book, To Live Among the Stars, offers the stories of the many inventions to let space travelers drink recycled toilet water or eat algae grown from feces. Unexpectedly, it is the Space Age—not ecologists or environmentalists—that first created equipment to regenerate useful materials from waste products. Just like NASA and its military-industrial contractors, Soviet space scientists and engineers concluded in 1971 that life support in a closed system “consists of the members of the system eating each other’s metabolites.” At NASA’s Langley Research Center, oxygen reclamation studies took place next to a million-dollar facility devoted to building a life support system capable of supporting four men for one year by recycling all water. Over at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, people were working on food and waste management.

The International Space Station’s complex water recycling system reclaims wastewater from astronauts and the environment, turning it into potable water. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted this image of part of the device with the remark: “Recycle Good to the last drop! Making pee potable and turning it into coffee on @space station. #NoPlaceLikeHome.” Image credit: NASA

NASA has been obsessed by waste for decades now: in the 1990s, Wendell Mendell of NASA’s Mission Science and Technology office told an audience that “one might even consider establishing tourist facilities as long as they pay their way and leave their waste!” as a way to economically move material into space. Mendell could make such a claim because on Spaceship Earth, just as in a spaceship orbiting Earth, there is no waste. “Sewage” is not a pollutant to be eliminated or disposed of but rather a valuable and available source of unprocessed nutrients to be reused, recycled, and returned to a crew. Yet, decades after the world was made aware of the dangers of global climate change, the global glut of waste, and overpopulation, those same problems that the Space Age faced in the 1960s have barely been mentioned, let alone addressed. For all our efforts in recycling or limiting CO2 emissions, closing cyclings of waste from our bodies to make food for our bodies is invisible or unmentionable. As we all travel in Spaceship Earth, waste remains a diseased by-product to be eliminated, not a source of nutrients to be recycled back to ourselves. My claim, then, is that humans must go to Mars to demonstrate that they can correctly engineer the problem of living on Earth. The lack of substantial progress in this field has chronically delayed not only the further exploration of space but the potential for its habitation, and has lessened our hope of our own continued habitation on Earth.

[1] Our thanks to Luis Campos for this reference.

The Case to Go to Mars—And the Hope for the Earth By David Munns *Featured image: Mars Rover. Image: Idaho National Laboratory, [CC-BY 2.0], via Flicker.

#artificial environments #life support systems #space travel #technology #waste #waste management

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bolbianddolanhouse · 3 years

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BNHA self insert AU [Book 3]

Binge read the last two Books to get you up to speed! Book 1 * Book 2

Chapter 16: Drive Safe by Rich Brian

It’s graduation day and I am so washed over with relief that I’m just floating...literally. Everyone except Lili are in attendance to see me walk the stage twice for my double degree. Beizu and I could hardly sit still for the ceremony, holding hands until it was time to receive our diplomas. The moment we were able to walk out, we bolted out the door to scream out our new found freedom! Our families met up with us for the food part of our celebration, but before that, the usual suspects came up to us.

“IIDA-KUN!” yelled Gon “Don’t leave without saying goodbye!”

“Yea! Lets stay in touch!” Kage said with a smile “I know you have big things ahead of you, so don’t forget about us okay?”

“Aw guys, I don’t think I could if I wanted too” I joked “But I have to thank you guys for making my time in hero class worthwhile! I don’t think I’d do much if you guys didn’t push me to the challenge or pester me into doing the sports festival.”

“Bro, you inspire me” Gon was moved by my words “Invite me to your housewarming and wedding bro! And I’ll invite you to ours.”

“Ours?” I raised my eyebrow “you’re dating someone?”

“Oop maybe I’m getting ahead of myself” Gon turned red “Anyways! We’ll see you later Iida-kun!”

“See you whenever I do!” I waved them off, then turned to Beizu “I hope I do see again, they’re good people.”

“Come on Iwata, Beizu” called over mom “we don’t want to be late to our reservation!”

We excitedly jumped into the car to go to the best dim sum place this side of the country! Mom has been ordering from this place since it was just a street cart vendor, now it’s an established restaurant with many culinary awards. We go on special occasions as a family and they serve us like royalty. As we ate, I really reflected on everything I’ve gone through in these three years. Nothing like I thought it was gonna be but at least I didn’t go through it alone.

“Hey Bei” I said as I split my beef roll “I feel like I don’t tell you how much I appreciate you sticking through things with me. Couldn’t have survived these three years without you.”

Beizu raised a brow and chuckled “Why so gracious out of nowhere?”

“I dunno, I just was thinking about it now that it’s over” I put half a beef roll on his plate with telekinesis “I didn’t dread waking up or doing all that work everyday, because I had you to make things not suck so much. Heck, I wouldn’t even consider applying if you weren’t going to be there! So thank you Beizu, for everything.”

Beizu smiled “I can’t go without my best friend, you’ve made this leg of our lives that much more significant. Thank you for loving and wanting me to be part of your world.”

“Not to ruin the moment but can you pass the scallion pancakes?” Tensei’s voice cut in from across the big circular table.

“Oh sure! Sorry!” I levitated the plate of food to him.

“That reminds me!” Mom gasped as she grabbed her purse “We have a graduation gift for you two. Mei and I thought this would be the right time to give you such a gift.”

Beizu and I receive a large envelope from my mom. We exchanged a look and opened it.

“What is this?” asked Beizu confused to see a letter and two train tickets.

“Well, since you two were a little nosy about Beizu’s father” Beizu’s mom explained “We arranged for you two a vacation to Saitama, where Beizu’s dad is from, to learn more about him.” She turned to her son “I know you want some closure, in the letter are directions to his parent’s lodge that’s still functional. You can ask all the questions there and I’m sure they’d be happy to see that he didn’t let his legacy die.”

I was dumbfounded by the thoughtfulness of this gift. We didn’t know how to express our thanks other than crying and hugging our mothers. We really wanted to know how was this man we were named after. So fast forward a week later, we hopped on the early train to Saitama. Apparently this lodge is so obscure, I couldn’t find any reviews or information on them other than it’s approximate location and what trail to take to get there. We had to hike the rest of the way there once we got to the little town that was described in the letter. But it was a quaint town, not too noisy and not too bustling with tourists. Hand in hand, we hiked our way up the trail. It became clear that we needed to get out in nature more often, just two city boys getting winded and distracted by wild animals! Longer than intended, we finally made it to the lodge after three hours!

“Iwata Family Lodge, an oasis in the mountains” Beizu read the sign at the front of the lodge “It’s so weird to see your name in a different context here. Keep forgetting that your mom gave you my dad’s last name as a first name.”

“I like to not think about it too much” I chuckled as I finished my little stretch “Ready to go in there?”

Beizu took a deep breath “Will you hold my hand the whole time?”

“Of course” I held his hand “Until I need to pee tho.”

“Nah I hold your hand as you pee” jested Beizu.

“You nasty” I wheezed as we walked down the stone path to the front door of the lodge “A ver if you’re down because I need to pee and I’m not peeing in front of nature.”

We push open the doors and the warmth of the lodge rushed over us. The inside was so homely, yet a bit industrial in it’s design. Like this used to be a house that got turned into lodge and it’s gone through a few expansions over the years. The sound of rushing footsteps came from a nearby hallway.

“Hello, welcome! So sorry nobody was here to greet you!” said a woman as she bowed in apology “Are you here to rest for a while or rent a room?”

“Oh um actually” I dug into my pocket to take out the letter “We have a special reservation, under the name of Beizu.”

The woman stopped smiling, face turning white “Beizu? No...it can’t be!”

Beizu took a step forward and took off his beanie “Hi, I’m Beizu Hatsune. Beizu Iwata’s son. N-nice to meet you.”

The woman just looked at his extended hand and just ran into the hallway where she came from.

“Ya know, I expected fainting and crying” I spoke up “I don’t know if I should get in fight mode or call my mom, we followed the instructions on the letter to the T.”

“Maybe they don’t believe us” sighed Beizu in defeat “I knew it was too simple and too good to be true! Like, of course you’d not believe that your family member that died almost 20 years ago SUDDENLY has their almost 20 year old son show up with a random dude!” Beizu exclaimed in exasperation “God what are we doing?! Let’s just...go.”

“Bei, don’t be like that” I go in for the hug “Lets sit in the lobby and if they kick us out, oh well that’s our cue to truly leave. Please? I know you’re tired from that hike.”

“Fine, only because I’m tired” Beizu caved into my embrace “Can I have some water from the canteen?”

We hung up our coats and took off our hiking boots to sit in the lobby. I looked out the window to see the other facilities this place has. There’s an onzen, a slope to sled on, outdoor lounge and dining area. If we’re welcomed here, I’d love to hit the onzen. But back to the matters at hand, Beizu was getting anxious with the amount of time that passed and nobody came back out. Almost an hour passed and still nobody!

“Lets go Iwa” Beizu said standing up “I feel like we’re not welcomed here. I guess we’ll see where to stay once we get back to that town.”

“Oh well, would’ve been nice to have a soak in that onzen” I floated over to the coat rack “It’s really cold here!”

“Wait! Don’t leave!” cried out a voice from the hallway.

We turned around to see a man and woman, both gray and aged, coming out of the hallway.

“Please, we have to apologize for not coming out sooner” said the older woman “It’s just that we’re shocked to hear that name again. You have my son’s name” she pointed to Beizu, walking slowly toward him “I haven’t seen him in so long but I know my son’s face when I see it.” she wrapped her arms around him “You look so much like him! Please don’t leave us again so soon!”

“I can’t deny that you’re not the spitting image of my oldest son” spoke up the old man “Please, sit a while in the lobby. I’m sure you came for questions.”

“I did, I have so many!” Beizu responded, overwhelmed by everything.

“Cool, mind if I use the restroom?” I spoke up as I spotted the sign to the men’s room “I’ll be right back Bei.”

Beizu sat with his grandparents, not knowing where to begin.

“The pink looks nice on you” his grandmother spoke up.

“Oh thanks! It’s natural” Beizu fingered a lock of his hair “my mom has pink hair and yellow-gold eyes.”

“Natural?! What else is different?” questioned the grandfather, astounded that pink hair is genetic.

“Hmmm, I guess my studies? I recently graduated from UA-”

“UA?! My goodness you must be a super genius like your father!” gasped the old couple “What’s your hero name?!”

“Oh this is awkward, I actually pursued the agent route” Beizu let them down gently “I’m one of the top three agents of my class and I’m going to work in contracted agent work in my region.”

“Not a hero eh?” chuckled the old man “Not that different from your dad.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ll admit, I put a ton of pressure on your dad to either be a hero or be in construction like me. That kind of pressure put a strain on our relationship and it drove him away from here.” the man sighed “He made it out of here as a sidekick for a top hero right out of hero school. But he really wanted to be an engineer and help others with technology, that’s how much of a genius he was. Always tinkering with scraps to make robots and I’d yell at him to put his skills into something more worthwhile. When he told us he was finally pursuing his dreams to be an engineer, I got very angry that he was throwing away his hero title to play with robots. At the time, I didn’t think he was going to make a living doing all that and I didn’t want him to starve to pursue this dream. But that was the final straw and he cut ties with us.” He looked at Beizu “How stubborn of me to just hold on to this grudge, even when the company he worked for took off. And even when the day came when this gorgeous woman with curly hair came in to tell us he passed away, I said that I didn’t want anything to do with that man. But as the years rolled by, I found myself missing him and realizing that I wasn’t considering the times were different and it was better for him to be in engineering. And I should’ve been more supportive and maybe he’d still be here, and we would have been in your life.”

“I’ve wondered how is that curly haired woman” the old woman spoke “She looked so professional and passionate about his death, I thought for a while that maybe she was the woman he was courting.”

“Oh um about that-”

“Yo that bathroom has a bidet and I feel like I’m at my old house!” I said stomping in.

“Hey why don’t you introduce yourself!” Beizu motioned toward me.

“Oh right! How rude of me!” I clear my throat “Hi, I’m Iwata El Roca Iida. I was raised with Beizu when we were infants and stayed together ever since.”

“Iwata? Like our family name?” muttered the old woman “How?”

“Iwata here was named after my dad out of respect. His mother is CEO of the company he worked for.”

“Yup! My mom told us how amazing he was and that she wouldn’t be where she is now with the company without him” I said as I sat next to Beizu “He designed all the functionalities of the robot companions and personally installed security systems in most of the major hero agencies.”

“Oh my, don’t tell me that-”

“His mom was the curly haired woman that you yelled at grandpa” Beizu said as he snatched the hat off my head, revealing my curly hair “Fun fact, he was in the womb when she came here to tell you the news.”

“This...is a lot to take in” the old man slumped back into the couch “It’s all the ghosts of the past are here to kill me themselves! Now I really regret the things I did.”

“Oof, do you think it’s in poor taste if we tell them our news?” I whispered to Beizu.

“What news?” the old woman asked curiously “Please do tell! I want to know what’s going on with my grandson.”

“Well, if you insist” I held Beizu’s hand “We’re engaged and going to live together.”

“Okay, I’m going to go take a nap” the old man stood up and briskly walked to the hallway “because there is no way today is real!”

We watched this old man fume his way down the hall and heard a door slam.

“Is he alright?” asked Beizu

“He’s just overwhelmed is all” assured the old woman “But we’ve just met you and you’re getting married?! I’m so excited, I love weddings! And I’m sure I’m going to have some lovely in-laws.”

“Oh you’ll love my parents and three other siblings!” I added.

“Yup, I’m also very excited to take his last name” gushed Beizu.

“Aw, not keep your last name?” she asked confused.

“Nope, I want him to marry into my family so I can share my inheritance with him” I clarified “My dad is part of the Ingenium hero lineage and-”

“A HERO LINEAGE?!” she screamed “oh please forgive me, but I suddenly need to lie down too.”

I waited until she was out of sight “Well, at least she’s not homophobic!”

“It was a lot to take in” Beizu slumped back “Now I feel like taking a nap.”

“If you’d like, I can open up a room for you two” said the woman from earlier “You traveled quite a ways and they just need some time to recoup. Come follow me.”

We followed them down the opposite hallway and into a room with a large bed and faux fireplace. We put our bags down and admired the view from our window.

“There’s towels and robes in the bathroom cabinet, extra blankets in the closet and some bottled refreshments on the table.” the woman turned to leave “I’ll have a meal ready for you when you wake. Please get some rest.”

“Thank you.” We thanked politely.

Beizu threw himself on the bed face down and started screaming into the comforter.

“Was that an excited, tired or frustrated scream?” I asked as I sat at the edge of the bed.

“It was a mixed one” Beizu rolled onto his back “Kinda see why my dad left, the communication in this family is awful. But at least grandma is nice.”

I laid down next to him “See? You’re already getting comfortable with the labels!”

“Yea but... the whole excusing themselves from the conversation is making me feel like shit” Beizu sighed and closed his eyes “Maybe a nap will do me good, we did jump into things too soon.”

I check the time “Its only 3pm, lets rest then” I spooned them from the back “I’ll be here when you wake.”

We took a short rest, only to be woken up by the sound of children giggling and running up and down the hall.

“Okay either this place haunted or theres a family that just arrived” I said as I sat up from our nap “And I believe the haunting more than the latter.”

We walked out to see 4 children of different ages in front of our door. All of them scattered at the sight of us. Confused, we walked out to the lobby and met with the woman again.

“You’re up, sorry if the children woke you” she walked out from behind the front desk to show the children wrapped around her legs “They heard from their grandma that they have an older cousin here in the lodge.”

“Oh wow I have more cousins!” Beizu leaned down “Hi! I’m Beizu, I have the same quirk...see?”

The children gasped at the sight of Beizu stretching his limbs.

“But can you touch the ceiling?!” challenged one of the older boys “I nobody can beat me!” he stretched a good 6 feet “Beat that!”

“Boy you underestimate me!” Beizu did a little warm up “I’ve been training my quirk at the highest ranked hero school, the ceiling is nothing!” Beizu jumped up and stretched to touch the high vaulted ceiling with ease “Tadaa!”

“Woah! So cool!” cried out the boy that challenged him.

After a while, the woman leads us to a dining room with a late lunch set for us. She sat with us, observing Beizu.

“You know, after your dad left” she broke the silence “he kept in contact with me. Even after the big fight, he’d send me money and call once a week. He told me that his partner was pregnant with you and he planned to come back to introduce you to us once you were big enough.”

“He kept in contact with you? How come you didn’t come to visit?” asked Beizu.

“I couldn’t leave the lodge, our parents were getting too old to run things on their own.” the woman explained “Father didn’t put the same pressures on me to study or find a worthwhile job, it was already assumed I was going to run the lodge, marry a local man and have children. And don’t get me wrong! I’m perfectly happy with that! It’s just that, I idolized my big brother and of course I’ve bit my tongue and kept you secret from my parents for him.”

“What? Why keep me secret?”

She started to pick up the dirty dishes “Father is very stubborn and I was so afraid he’d reject you too. Over the years he softened up to start mourning the loss of his son.” She put the dishes on the bussers cart “It was around the time my oldest son started talking that he came around. But it was too late to really fix things, so he just spent his days sitting in his workshop, remembering when he spent quality time with his son.”

“...Well, what if I told you I can help him look back?” Beizu offered.

“Bei, you brought the device?” I asked through my mouthful of omurice.

“Yeah, I figured that if we did find the place and they let us in” he explained himself “maybe they’d like look back at the good times. Plus I’d get to see how my dad was as a kid.”

I swallowed my food “Fair enough, that’s why you’re the smart one.”

“Hmm? I device?” asked the woman curiously.

“Umm I can explain later aunty” Beizu held back “er- can I call you that?”

“Of course! I am your aunt” the woman burst into laughter “my name is Naomi and you can call me however you want.”

I quickly finished my food as they were talking “Soooo, is the onzen open?”

Beizu and I spent time together for the rest of the day. Fully touring the place and contacting our moms that we made it safe to the lodge. In the morning, Beizu was preparing himself to show the device, basically pacing in anticipation.

“Aunty, I-”

“Hup! Whatever it is” stopped his aunt, plates in her hands “sit and eat.”

“But-”

“Sit. and. eat. Beizu.” She waited for Beizu to sit at the table “Good! I hope you like fried pork and eggs in congee.... And that goes for you too Father.” She sternly flashed a look toward the open doorway “What is with the men in this family and skipping breakfast?!”

“Dad did it too?” Beizu asked.

“Oh he’d bolt out the house in excitement almost every morning” the old woman walked into the dining room “And it’s always something he thought up in his sleep and didn’t want to waste time because the dream was still fresh in his head.” She sat down “Your grandfather would be the first one up to do some sort of work on the lodge and wouldn’t stop until the middle of the afternoon.”

I turned to face Beizu “Now that they mentioned it, you do wake up and get to work-mode.”

“Yea and I have to drag you out of bed every morning so you can do your little skincare and hair ritual” Beizu mocked me and turned to his aunt and grandma “He can’t go anywhere if his hair isn’t done! So high maintenance.”

“Curly hair is hard to manage” I huffed as I levitated the coffee pot “Just wait until we have children and we have to care for their curls! Complain then Bei.”

“Oh my, I can’t imagine it!” the old man put his cup down to put his head in his hands “Great-Grand children?! Pink and curly haired with god-knows quirks.”

“Father don’t think about it too much” the aunt sat down “They’re still too young to have children. Besides, they might be quirk-less like me.”

“You’re quirk-less?” I asked, hiding my palm pistons in my sweater sleeves.

“Yup, that’s why I admired my big brother so much” she smiled “He had such an amazing quirk and I wish I had it in me to do the amazing things he did. But sadly, no quirk, hence why all my children have quirks.”

We talked more over breakfast and I noticed how much more open the grandfather was to Beizu. It made me very relieved that things weren’t tense anymore, which made the next event that much easier. Everyone was gathered at the lodge workshop with Beizu and the device in the middle.

“Okay, give me at date” Beizu flipped the device on.

“...try March 9th, 30 years ago.” spoke the grandfather “If I remember correctly, that’s the day I finished the room expansion on the far side of the lodge.”

“Alright...starting image, now!”

Beizu pressed the button and the device took a little while to produce the hologram, as it’s the furthest date it’s been inputed. But finally the image of a male child with an adult man at the work table came up.

“...and that’s how you fix a door knob.”

“Wow! So cool daddy!” gasped and clapped the boy “Can you teach me how to do the thing with my fingers?!”

“You mean make the lock pick?” said the man as he knelt down “Sure, hands out.”

The boy eagerly held his hands out and observed how the man molded his fingers into two thin, needle like hooks.

“I did it!” the boy exclaimed “look daddy! Now I know 5 tools!”

“You sure do, I’m very proud of you son” the man chuckled and pat the boy’s head “You’re learning so fast, someday you’ll surpass me!”

“I wanna grow up and help people. I want to learn as much as I can!”

“Like a hero?”

“Like you daddy!” beamed the boy “You’re always helping people by building houses and clearing safe trails for hikers. I want to help too!”

Beizu stopped the image and looked back at his aunt and grandparents.

“He knew way back then his calling” his grandmother spoke “And he never lost track of it, we just didn’t know it was going to be with robotics.”

The grandfather walked up to the still of the past “I shouldn’t have pushed you away, would you ever forgive me?” he asked the hologram like it could respond.

“I think he would’ve forgiven you” Beizu walked up to him “I’ve peeked into the past, the time before I was born and he was prepping the house for my birth. He would talk to himself that he wanted to take me back to where he grew up. That maybe if comes back with a lot to show, he’d show that old man that he made it pursuing his dream.” Beizu turned to see the image of his dad as a boy “I didn’t know what that meant but I get it now! He wanted to show you how capable he was with his dream. A thriving career, a house ,a loving partner and a child...he wanted to make you proud of him at the end.”

That statement made everyone cry.

“The hologram is fading” I spoke up, pointing at the corner that started fading.

They all gathered to watch the last few seconds of their loved one, like they were finally letting go of any bad feelings and regrets. I could help but smile at them finally acting like family, like they were never apart. The next few days we spent there were us learning about the area and helping around. The morning we were due to leave, the grandfather approached me.

“Boy, may I see your hands?” he requested bluntly.

“Um, sure” I held out my hands, confused on why he was asking me to do so.

He took a closer look at my pistons “Two quirks?” I nodded in response “Ahhh, what a rare gem. The gene pool is going to be nice and strong! Please take good care of my grandson” he folded my hands together with his cupped around them “You have my blessing to marry him, but I have a feeling you were going to regardless on what I had to say.”

I chuckled “What gave it away?”

“The way your mother told me that she was going to honor my son’s death to spite me that day” he got visibly nervous “I got very nervous when I saw that curly hair, thinking you’re just like her. So this whole week I was just waiting for you to yell at me over something.”

“Oh I don’t do outbursts unless I’m in battle! Don’t you worry your little gray head oji-san” I reassured him “I promise to take care of Beizu and to remind him to call every so often.”

I walked with him to the front desk, where everyone else was.

“Ready to go?” Beizu asked me as all his cousins were latching onto his legs crying “Come on guys, I gotta go home.”

“Are you sure you have to go? You’re more than welcome to stay as long as you want” the grandmother offered.

“I wish we could but we have important trainings coming up in the coming days” Beizu responded, peeling his cousins off him “On top of that, we’re still looking at places to move into once Iwa gets his inheritance money in a few months.”

“We’ll visit as much as we can!” I promised as I picked up my bag “We’re family after all, I wanna see what’s going on at the lodge.”

“We’ll always have room for you two” the aunt said as she hugged us “Take care, send me a message when when you get home safely.”

We said our final goodbyes and walked away hand in hand. I had to savor these moments with Beizu, the real work was starting soon for us. He knew it too, so we didn’t let go of each other the whole way home. And even then, we had to get pried away by our moms at that were waiting to take us home when we arrived at the station.

Many months later, I finished packing my belongings to move out of my parent’s house. It’s spring, I just had my 20th birthday and Lili is newly engaged to Hoshi. The brats are in their 3rd year of middle school and Beizu is making good money at his agent job. Me? I’ve taken up work with Sir Nighteye’s agency and it’s an impressive first job I’d say. I walk down stairs with the last of my boxes to load onto the rental movers truck that uncle Jin has yet to come back. I see my mom sitting at the couch by herself, I float over to her.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

“Hmm? I got texts from work and I’m just now getting around to them” she responded as she was typing “Are you all packed?”

“I am, just brought the last of my stuff” I sighed and sat next to her “Mom, I’m nervous. I know this is different from moving away to dorm and I’m not going to be alone. But I can’t help it! What’s going to happen now?”

Mom put her phone down and held me “Oh my baby boy, I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that one. This is the beginning of your adult life, your fate is entirely in your hands now.”

“How was it when you started your adult life?” I asked, looking up to her.

“I was basically like how you were, moving into a place with my significant other and making our place like a home” she smiled and stroked my hair “Except my heart was torn between what happened between your dad and I. My fate was ruled by my next move, no syllabus nor clear future! Hence the mess that happened that lead to reuniting with your dad. But you’re in better standing than I was at your age, you’re living with the love of your life and have enough in savings for anything that might happen.” She squeezed me close “You’ll be just fine Iwata, enjoy your newfound freedom and cherish the little things. Because the time will pass so fast that you’ll be bringing home your first born, wondering were all the time went and how you spent it.”

“Its that how you feel know that I’m the second one to move out?”

“It feels like last week I was watching you take your first steps and now I’m watching you leave my nest” she chuckled, then paused to listen to the shuffling outside the house “Oop, your dad and uncle Jin came at the same time, better go yeet those boxes into the truck before your dad starts crying again.”

So I was speed running my move out, like mom said, my dad cries so much whenever his kids do anything. Uncle Jin was generous enough to not only drive the truck but also help us bring our new furniture up to our apartment. It didn’t really hit me that this was our new place until I saw the amount of boxes that were piled in the living room.

“Well, time to get started” sighed Beizu as he handed me a box cutter “I’ll do the furniture assembling, you unpack the kitchen and bathroom stuff.”

Half way of unpacking, I looked at a frustrated Beizu trying to assemble a desk “Ya know, this unpacking and moving in shit is way harder than when we were in the dorms. Lets just...not assemble the bed today.”

Beizu stopped his struggle and looked at me “You saying what I think you’re saying?”

I gave him the look “Ya sabes babe, pillow fort bedroom!”

When we got around to unpacking the bedroom things, out of all the boxes we packed, all there was three comforters and the rest were pillows. I couldn’t help but to laugh at the amount of pillows we brought to our place! It was enough to fill our bedroom, or as Beizu put it, enough to build a pillow castle. So we did just that and crawled inside of it to finally rest.

“I don’t mind if we never assemble the bed frame” Beizu said as he put his head on my chest “Our parents can’t tell us to tear this down!”

I looked up at the ceiling fan, finally taking in our situation “Just like this, forever in love and young at heart. In our little love nest.” I closed my eyes and felt Beizu cuddle closer “I love you so much.”

Thoughts of our future danced in my head as I drifted to sleep. I was very excited to make my way through my adult life. Who cares what’s going on outside right now?! I have all I need right here and nothing is going to change that.... Wonder what those brats are up to now?

-Book 3, End-

<Previous - Book 3 Master Post - Book 3 FAQ

#bnha #mha #self insert au #Book 3 chapter 16 #not canon #will update regularly #ask me anything #//Palma-sama Speaks #FINALLY! the end of book 3! with the emotional lead up #Yall like that family part? It was too good not to cut! Plus I have to resolve that death with a good ending.#A few time skips but I summarized the important parts.#Open ending to elude Book 4 with the twins! Expect Lili and Iwata to have their lil cameos in that one.#For everyone asking...yes we'll get some 'where are they now' in a separate book on all the kids #BIG thanks to everyone that messaged me about this chapter! I forgot to queue it but I got it now :3 #I'll be back with Book 4 early March! Reread all of book 3 or all of book 1 in the meantime?#Thanks for reading! See yall soon!

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