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#louisa elliott
withered--s0uls · 28 days
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Solver Shift AU Roles (so far)
Some characters I deem less important to switch around I will keep the same with maybe slight redesigns
N -> Uzi & Uzi -> N & Cyn
V -> Thad & Thad -> V
J -> Lizzy & Lizzy -> J
Doll -> Beau
Yeva -> Alice
Nori -> Tessa
Khan -> Ron
Cyn -> ??? (Maybe Doll if not otherwise)
Beau -> ??? (Maybe Doll if not otherwise)
Alice -> ??? (Maybe Yeva???)
Tessa -> ??? (Maybe Nori if not otherwise)
Ron -> ??? (Maybe Khan if not otherwise)
James Elliott -> ??? (Maybe Khan if not otherwise)
Louisa Elliott -> ??? (Maybe Nori if not otherwise)
I'm debating between fully swapping Doll & Yeva with Beau & Alice, but I also like the idea of Doll being part of the Manor squad so idk. Help?
Nori & Khan I am debating on whether to make them Tessa & Ron or Louisa & James.
Characters that I am not sure whether they'll be swapped or just redesigned:
Sam
Emily
Braiden
Darren
Rebecca
Dolls Dad (might just make Alice a single mom!)
All other side characters I feel aren't important enough to be swapped or redesigned.
Teacher stays Teacher.
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arverst-aegnar · 1 year
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I've seen a lot of Pride and Prejudice Zutara takes, and read this excellent inspired-by-Emma Zutara story, so now i'm thinking about a Zutara Persuasion AU.
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etincellesworld · 1 year
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Lady Ashley and Lyme
Lady Ashley with short hair. Lady Ashley with long hair. Policemen in Khaki. The bright Madrid sun. Jake, and luggage. The upbringage. The propinquity of a taxi. The perfect beautiful line.
I get the urge sometimes to finish The Sun Also Rises. I have finished it much in my Life. In the dark green of forests in the common. In restaurants high up. In the childhood home. In the hope of morning.
I think of the lettres we write to ourselves. Our actionnes folded and unfolded. The bright sun in Gujarati and the cold rain in Kent.
Who doesn't look back to Lyme, think of The Harville's with utmost Love and affection.
Who, among us, does not benefit from the long passionate lettre we are writing to the world. To ourself.
Can't You just see Ann giving in Love; and Captain Wentworth warm in His Love of Her?
The Cobb is our sea break of story and hope, is it not?
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seospicybin · 4 months
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TOO HOT TO HANDLE.
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PART I
Seungmin x reader. (s)
Too Hot To Handle Masterlist
Synopsis: You and Seungmin become contestants in a reality dating show, Too Hot To Handle. (14,6k words)
Author's note: Not much of Seungmin in this part but hope you enjoy it nonetheless :)
YOU: I like my men how I like my drinks, I need to have five of them [laughs] I'm a flirt, even when I'm not flirting, they think I am [bites lips] I hate small talk [groans] I don't want anything serious with anyone. If I wake up in the morning and they're not there, that's great [blows kisses]
-
The weather is good and you're feeling good, when the staff says it's your time to enter the villa, you're ready to go.
The hair and makeup are on point, and the white bikini you're wearing compliments your features and complexion, all of that wouldn't stand out without confidence so you put your best foot forward and walk in confident strides.
Not forgetting to put on your best smile knowing so many pairs of eyes are looking at you as you step into the scene and walk faster as you get excited to meet all of them.
"Hello, hello," you enthusiastically greet and waving your hands at them.
"You guys are so beautiful!" You compliment, hiding your insecurities with a flustered smile.
Once you get close enough, you make a brief eye contact with everyone and start hugging around, introducing yourself to them.
"Oh my God, the eyes," you exclaim as you notice a pair of mesmerizing light brown eyes on a guy.
You're genuinely attracted to those eyes that you can't stop staring at him.
"You have such beautiful eyes," you blurt out without thinking.
He shyly laughs at your indirect compliment, "Thank you!"
You carefully remove the strand of hair caught between your lips before speaking, "What's your name?"
"Elliott," he answers with a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Elliott," you say, offering your hand for a high-five since you already hugged him.
You join the other table, wanting to get to know everyone and get behind a man with a tall figure and long hair like Jesus.
"Oh, my Lord!" You playfully gasp.
The other two people laughing at your pun and when you join them, you can see that he has facial hair too.
"Come and join my disciples," He says.
"Wow. Am I in the right show?" You jokingly say, taking the champagne flute he hands you.
The Jesus twin brother pours the bubbly wine into your glass and puts the bottle back into the bucket of ice.
"I'm Vale," he tells you his name.
"Vale?" You pronounce his name wrong.
"It's short from Valentino," he explains.
"Oh! Vale!" You gasp, finally pronouncing his name right this time.
"I'm Italian," he informs you while tucking a hair behind his ear.
You take a small sip of your wine and smile, "I didn't know Jesus is Italian," you joke again.
He bursts into laughter and you try not to laugh or you'd spit your drink which is not the kind of first impression you plan to make on anyone.
"Oh, look!" You exclaim as you catch another guest arriving at the villa.
She's taking everyone's attention with her beautiful wavy, brown hair that looks and beautiful, rosy cheeks, walking with such elegance like a goddess emerging from the sea.
When she comes your way, you can see the adorable freckles on her nose and you just can't help but say, "Oh, you're such a babe!"
She smiles at your words and leans in for a hug, "Devon!"
"Devon, the babe, got it," you repeat and introduce yourself back.
You're not the only one who's swooned by her English charms, you can see everyone is just as excited to get to know her.
While Louisa is making a toast at the other table, you see the last male guest coming with his shirt flying open, showcasing his sculpted abs.
You're not the type that's crazy about muscles. However, when you see them on someone and they have them in the perfect places, you get a little loopy in the head.
"Blake," he introduces himself to you.
And Blake... oh, not only does he have those muscles in the perfect places, he has this gorgeous brown skin and the plus point is he has tattoos. He sure is driving the girls into a frenzy, meanwhile the boys, they're not that impressed with it.
"They're so hot," A girl next to you whispers and if your memory serves you right, her name is Adriana.
You lowly squeal in response and mutter through your gritted teeth, "I'm drooling."
Now that everyone is here, Vale takes the unopened bottle of wine and pops it open, spraying it at everyone to inaugurate the show.
-
YOU: [Rubs hands together] Let's get it started!
-
There are so many hot options in this villa.
There is Elliott's mesmerizing eyes, Vale's sexy hair, Jeff's tattoos, Tom's big biceps and then there's Blake's body.
God! Blake's body is just so hot, you bet it'll sizzle when you lick it.
"Ooo... sexy!" Adriana gasps as she pushes open the door to the bedroom.
There are ten guests but there are only six beds, well, that's a math problem anyone can easily solve.
"It doesn't make much sound," Tom says after testing the bed by rocking it.
A few laugh at that but you're too busy eyeing the guy you want, throwing flirty glances at Blake as he sits on the end of the bed.
You're very much aware that you're not the only girl having the hots for Blake, you see that Devon has her eyes on him too, well, you're not afraid of a little competition anyway.
After the tour of the villa, the girls are gathering in the dressing room to talk about... well, boys.
"Who do you fancy?" Lili asks, playing with a make-up brush.
"I like Jeff," Adriana is the first one to share her pick out of the sexy bunch.
"Going for the bad boy, huh?" Issa teases, twirling her curls around her index finger.
"What about you, sexy mami?" Adriana asks Devon who happens to sitting next to her.
"Blake," she shortly answers
So your guess is true that Devon is indeed going for Blake and it only means one thing: It's game on.
"He's hot, yeah," Lili approves Devon's pick.
Issa grabs your hand and gently shakes it, sending your bracelets clinking against each other, "How about you?"
Well, you have a man in mind but nothing is permanent yet and there's a lot of time to get to know everyone.
"I don't know," You bend against the vanity table and let Issa play with your hair.
"I don't want to limit myself to just flirting with one guy," you add with a laugh.
The girls are both applauding and chuckling at your honest answer. You realize that you can be competitive when you want to but let's hope it doesn't come to you getting your claws out for a man.
-
YOU: I don't know what I want yet so I can't rule anyone out right now [giggles]
-
The shimmering water of the Caribbean Sea is such a delightful sight, you take a long sigh as you take it all in that you'll be living here for the next 30 days.
Everyone else is either chilling by the pool or starting to mingle with each other or both.
You see Devon is closing in on Blake and it doesn't bother you much, you'll have your chance. You remind yourself that it's a marathon, not a sprint.
Someone comes up to you and joins you in the gazebo, it's the guy with the mesmerizing eyes, Elliott.
"Drinks?" He offers, holding up the drinks in his hands at you.
"Yes, please," you answer, scooting to the side to make some space on the sofa for him.
He hands you one of the drinks to you before sitting down, you both take a little sip of the sugary sweet cocktails.
"This is cute," you comment, stirring the drink with the small umbrella.
"Like you," Elliott teases with a flirty smile.
You giggle in reaction to his words, "You think I'm cute?"
Elliott licks his lips after sipping his drink, "Yeah."
Pulling a trick out of the book, you tilt your head to the side and flutter your eyelids a little.
"And I think you're cute too," you sweetly say, then clink your glass with his.
You have another sip of the cocktail and scrunch your nose when you taste the sour of the lime on the rim of the glass. You catch Elliott staring at you and knowing that he just got caught, he may as well ask, "So, do you fancy anyone?"
With your head still tilted, you do a little look away before looking at him right in the eyes, "Oh, wow, that's a tough question," you pretend to think hard.
Elliott is confidently staring right back into your eyes as he asks another question, "Anyone you want?"
You let out a low chuckle and answer, "I think it's too early to say."
"That's a good answer," he mutters.
Elliott is not taking his eyes away from yours even for a second, his stare is so intense that it makes you nervous. An awkward chuckle escapes your mouth, "Your eyes..."
You look down at your drink and put all of your focus on it instead, "They're making me nervous," you continue.
Elliott triumphantly smiles knowing that his eyes are doing a great job, "I'm just trying to shoot my shot here," he coyly says with a sexy smirk.
You nod and tuck your hair behind your ear, "I understand. You want what you want."
"Mm-hm," he immediately agrees with what you said.
"What I want is right here," he continues, clinking his glass against yours.
Elliott is, physically wise, not your type but he's confident, he has that good chat and he knows how to keep the conversation going.
As the saying goes if at first you don't succeed, then go for your second choice and Elliott would make a great second choice.
-
YOU: Well, if Blake is not going to acknowledge the fact that I'm here then I'm just going to give Elliott a chance.
-
It's loud in the dressing room as everyone comes up with guesses on what actually would happen tonight at the first party of Party In Paradise.
They prepare costumes for everyone to wear for the first party in the villa. The boys are dressed as pirates while the girls are dressed as mermaids and you choose the one adorned with sapphire blue sequins that resemble mermaid scales.
The beach is decorated with properties according to the theme and the drinks are ready so is the music, they're blasting upbeat songs through big speakers.
Everyone is looking hot, they're dancing and drinking, having the time of their life, it indeed feels like a party in paradise.
The good time comes to a halt as Issa initiates a game but it's actually what the staff briefed her earlier about.
"We're going to play X marks the spot," Issa says.
She then pulls lipstick out of the side of the sofa and uses it to make two crosses on each one of her breasts, "These are my best features so you can lick them, bite them, grab them, or even kiss the person if you want," she explains the game.
It's a simple game, with or without marking the spot, everyone knows where to touch or kiss. Issa then walks to the center and stands in front of everyone.
"So who wants a piece of me?" She cutely says while shaking her shoulders.
As everyone is about to hype Issa, Jeff dashes towards her and buries his head between her mounds, rubbing the red lipstick all over his face then plants a hard kiss on her lips. He then returns to his seat, leaving Issa standing there in bewilderment.
Everyone is either excited for their turn or to finally have the chance to make physical contact with the person they're interested in, including you.
You can't tell which one you're more excited for, taking your turn or making a move on someone.
It seems like it's the latter for Devon as Blake is drawing small crosses on his six-pack abs. He raises his hands and puts them behind him, letting anyone come to him.
"Come and get some," he says with a devilish smirk that takes his attractiveness to the next level.
Devon not only puts her claws on him but also sinks her teeth deep into Blake's neck, letting everyone know that it's her territory.
Well, Devon can piss on Blake too if she wants and you'll let her have him, for now.
Jeff whistles as Adriana marks both of her buttcheeks with the red lipstick while the others are howling like animals in heat.
"Whoa!" Lili grabs at your forearm in reaction to Tom licking her buttcheeks as Adriana slightly bends over.
"Oh, my God!" You gasp as they continue with a slobbering kiss, sending the red lips rubbing on each other's faces.
She then walks back to her seat and plops down next to you, panting while wiping the skin around her mouth with her fingers.
When it's finally your turn, you get so excited that you can't seem to function normally. You can't stop grinning as you walk to the center, carrying the lipsticks Adriana gave to you.
It's time to get some action so you give them no excuses to miss out on you. With the red lipsticks, you draw an X on your inner thigh, your breasts, and the last one, excessively putting the lipsticks all over your lips.
"Let's go, boys!" You say with a hand gesture, daring them to come.
As expected, Elliott is the first one to come out to play. He walks up to you with a sly grin plastered his face and he stops right in front of you, dropping to his knees to kiss your inner thigh.
His soft lips tickle you as he drags them down your thigh and you can't help but giggle. The trail of kisses stops when he reaches your ankle and he finally lets go of your leg.
Elliott gets up and immediately pulls you close, capturing your lips in a deep kiss. The way he eagerly lathers your lips, you can tell how much he wanted it, craved it and it's low-key arousing you.
You gasp for air when he lets go of the kiss and you hurriedly cover your mouth with your hand, nonplussed.
Before you can fully recover from Elliott's kiss, Blake walks up to you and holds you by the waist as he plants his mouth right on the X you drew on your breast.
He licks the red lipstick off your skin and does not waste another second to crash his mouth against your mouth, kissing you so hard.
You open your mouth to catch a breath, but he uses it as an opportunity to put his hot tongue into you, kissing you deeper, tasting you more.
You can hear everyone cheering and hooting as they watch Blake let go of the kiss with a triumphant smile on his face.
"Don't make me compete with you, man!" Elliott jokingly says with his mouth still tainted red from the lipstick.
To say the kiss was good would be an understatement, it was phenomenal, you get a little disoriented as you walk back to your seat.
-
YOU: I just knew he wouldn't be able to resist me [Coyly shrugs]
-
It's a good thing that you have some drink left in your cup as you need it to help you calm down from the madness you were in a while ago. You feel hot and bothered, finding yourself fanning your face from Blake's kiss.
The host of the show finally comes and leads the show, walking so carefully with her heels in the sand.
"Hello, party people!" She begins with a bright smile.
Everyone answers with a cheery howl, louder than the sounds of the crashing waves in the background.
"Are you having a good time?"
"Yeah!" Everyone replies in unison.
"Are you ready to have some more good time?" The host asks, fanning her hand close to her ear to hear everyone's answer.
"Yeah!"
"You know what? I think I know exactly what this party needs," the host says with a kittenish smile.
The fun keeps doubling as the night gets late and it gets everyone hyped for what's to come.
"We have invited a guest to the villa!" She announces with a playful whoop at the end of the sentence.
Your first thought is that they'll bring another guest into the villa but it's a party in paradise which means more people, the merrier.
"This one guest is very special and can change anything," The host hinted with a cryptic smile.
That piques everyone's interest and they're starting to randomly shout names of famous people, trying to guess and manifesting it at once.
"Are you ready to welcome our world-famous guest?" The host asks, also giving out another hint which makes a few of them believe it's a celebrity.
"Yes!" Everyone answers, getting impatient to find out who the new guest is.
You don't want to get your hopes up but it would be nice to party with a celebrity, whoever it is, you're ready to have some fun.
"Give our new guest a warm welcome!"
All of the lights are suddenly off and then a spotlight shines on the curtain behind our seats, you've been thinking that it's just part of the decoration but now everyone's eyes are on it, looking at it with so much anticipation.
"No way!" You gasp in a mix of nerves and excitement.
Adriana just can't stop squealing next to you, holding your hand by the wrist.
It's been a minute now and the curtain is still not open, you feel like fainting with this much anticipation inside you. A while later, smoke starts coming out as the curtain finally opens in one quick pull.
Then there's that melodic chime that you heard somewhere before.
-
YOU: [Groans] Why? [Throws head to the back] Why?
-
You look around and everyone is just as flabbergasted, as in shock as you are at the reveal of the true intentions of this show. All of you have been tricked into thinking that it's a Party In Paradise when it's actually Too Hot To Handle.
As if the sight of the cone is not enough, Lili turns her head at you and meekly says, "We're in Too Hot To Handle."
Now that she says it out loud, you realize that it's real and you can feel that you're already dreading it.
She rubs her temples and says again, "This is Too Hot To Handle."
Oh, no. This is real. You are in Too Hot To Handle.
"As you can see, this is no longer Party In Paradise," The cone begins talking.
"But it's so convincing, the crew got Party In Paradise shirts and everything," Adriana complain as if that would help her get out of this.
"This is Too Hot To Handle."
"Shit... fuck..." you quietly mutter as you rub your temples in stress.
"You have been specially selected because all of you are having meaningless flings over genuine relationships," Lana continues.
Wish you could deny it but you feel called out instead, if that's the case, then you guess, this is your karma.
"Not wrong at all," Elliott agrees with Lana's statement with a stupid grin.
"Since your arrival, I have been gathering data on your wild behavior but from now on, you must adhere to my retreat rules."
-
YOU: Hmm... my coochie is going on lockdown, isn't it? [Sighs]
-
"No kissing."
But that's exactly your plan which is to kiss everyone.
"No heavy petting."
The more you hear it, the harder for you to process it in your head and whether you can do it or not.
"No sex."
And that's it. You can't do it, it's impossible. You'll be staying with a bunch of attractive people in a villa on an exotic island and told not to make physical contact with them.
"And no self-gratification," Lana announces the last rule.
Which is the hardest one for you to accept. It's your own body and you can do anything to it? It doesn't make sense.
"That's crazy!" Blake reacts with his eyes widening in disbelief.
Despite the complaints, Lana continues with her announcement, "As part of your social development, I have allocated a prize of $200,000."
Hearing that much money on the line, you suddenly have a change of mind that maybe it's possible to keep your hands to yourself for 200 grand.
Among the cheering of excitement at the sum of prize money, Jeff makes a bold remark.
"We surely can spend some of it," Jeff sounds excited to spend it more than to win it.
"No, man. Don't mess it up!" Tom warns him while shaking his head in disbelief.
"Just a couple of grand," Jeff innocently says.
"I'm a college student. I need it," Tom says, putting some sense into him.
Jeff indirectly says that he doesn't mind spending some of the money only supporting the fact that it's not going to be easy and your optimism deflates right away.
Another problem is you don't have that much trust in yourself that you'll be able to keep it yourself.
"Welcome to your long, hard, sexless summer," Lana concludes.
-
YOU: It's going to be hard but... since when do I follow the rules? [Smirks]
-
The morning starts rough.
You wake up as soon as the lights are on, dragging yourself out of the duvet, and sit on the bed only to look Devon and Blake on the bed right across from yours.
Lili wakes up not long after you and sitting on the bed, lowly muttering, "I am so horny."
Hearing that almost causes you to choke on your water as you sip it from a water tumbler.
It's like she triggers the cone by mentioning the word 'horny', the cone lights up and chimes.
"Good morning!"
You groan as the truth that you're in a sex retreat hasn't fully sunk in yet.
"You may find this retreat challenging but I am always here to help," Lana offers some comfort on a gloomy, sex-deprived morning.
"And we ask for sex, Lana," Adriana says with a sleepy, depressive smile.
Tom who sleeps with Adriana on the next bed, turns to see Blake and asks, "Are you sure nothing happened last night?"
You act nonchalant but at the same time, stay quiet to hear his answer.
He coyly shrugs and rubs his eyes as he answers, "No."
"I notice the smug," Adriana teases Devon.
She shakes her head in response, "Nothing happens, I swear."
That doesn't quite put you at ease.
There's a big chance that they did break the rules but act like they didn't and if they did break the rules, then you don't want to waste your time pursuing Blake.
However, as you gather all of your hair and tie it into a messy ponytail, you catch Blake looking at you with a faint smile on his face.
-
YOU: I'm still going for Blake but if he's still not showing any signs that he's interested well... I may have to put my focus on someone else.
-
Last night was just as rough.
Everyone was still coping with the grand reveal and just couldn't wait to end the day, choosing their beds where they felt like it. Lili offered to share the bed with you since she doesn’t want to partner up with anyone just yet and you didn’t have problems sleeping with anyone.
But the other reason was that Blake had chosen to sleep with Devon.
Of course, you’re not going to be so adamant about your choice of man but what you can’t help is being tenacious, you have to always get what you want, and you don’t want to know what would happen if you don’t get it.
Since you took the first turn for the daily interview, you get to start your day late. You’re going down to the beach to do some exercises with Vale sitting cross-legged on the yoga mat not far away from you, meditating.
That’s the kind of vibe you got when you first met him that despite his perfect figure and built body, he’s a spiritual person, he’s the type who seeks ‘that’ connection. Unlike you, Vale fits right into this show and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he won it too.
“Hey, come and join me,” He says to you as you take a break from working.
You stop sucking your water tumbler and ask, “You want me to meditate with you?”
“Yeah,” he shortly says.
You quickly wipe your sweat with a towel and sit on the yoga mat he laid out for you next to him. You follow the way he sits, crossing your legs together and putting your hands on your knees, then intently listen to his instructions for the rest of the session.
It works wonderfully and helps you take your mind off things. Once you both got back to the villa, he playfully asks if you want to shower together.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” You tell him as you splash some water on your face in the sink.
As you continue washing your face, you catch the reflection in the mirror as he stands behind you with the towel hanging low around his hips you can see his pelvic bones.
“It’s not against the rules,” Vale simply says, half-laughing.
 “Yes, but…” You suddenly forget what you’re about to say and turn around only to find him dropping his towel before he walks into the shower stall.
Your hands fly to cover your face but continue to see through the cracks between your fingers, “Okay, now all I can think about is naked Jesus,” you jokingly say.
Vale laughs as he catches what you said even though he’s inside the shower stall, laughing as he runs his hands to wash his golden tan skin. You leave the bathroom before you change your mind and join him in the shower.
-
YOU: Can’t believe I got to see naked Jesus [Laughs]
-
In the dressing room, you’re getting your make-up done and going to dry your hair next. You check for your appearance in the full-length mirror, making sure the bikini looks flattering on you when you hear someone coming from the hallway that connects here with the bedroom.
“Hey,” You don’t want to make it obvious that you’re glad to see him but you’re glad to see him.
“Hey,” Blake says back, grinning when he realizes that it’s you.
He stops on his track just checking you out, his eyes traveling up and down your body, “Been looking for you,” he says.
You know better not to fall on such words, “Oh, really?”
“Yeah,” he shortly says with a grin that is both hot and sweet. He then goes to his closet on the opposite wall and takes out a bucket hat, putting it on to show it to you.
“How do we think?” He asks.
You close your closet door and rest your hand against it, “Cute.”
He switches the bucket hat with a cap and puts it on while also making a dramatic pose for you, “How about now?”
It’s hard to look at his face when his abs keep distracting you and you chuckle at how he spreads his arms out, “Try putting it on backward,” you suggest.
Blake follows your suggestion, turning the cap without taking it off, and strikes another pose for you, “Yeah?”
You were right about the hat, he looks hot with his cap on backward, and just like he heard what you’re thinking, Blake spins around on his feet and almost stumbles as he gets back on his feet.
“I know I’m hot but try not to kiss me, okay?” he says.
Well, you can try not to but that doesn’t mean you won’t do it. You shake your head and suck air through your teeth, “Can’t promise you,” you playfully say.
 “Come here, give me a hug,” Blake says, holding his hand out at you.
You take it only for him to pull you close and hug you, burying his head in your neck to catch your scent, “How are you doing?”
You giggle as he rubs his nose in your neck and you get to put your hands on him, feeling his warm skin under your touch, “Good. You?”
Instead of answering, Blake draws you closer, molding his body to you to feel your whole body against him, and lowers his hands to your hips. You don’t mind though, he’s so big and you like how he envelops you whole.
You hear his overwhelmed sigh before he plants a kiss on your neck, “Damn! You smell so good,” he mutters.
“Well, I showered,” you respond with a witty answer.
“I should try that,” he responds with an even wittier answer.
Blake closes the door of his closet and heads for the door, “See you around.”
“See you around,” you say back with a flirty smile.
-
YOU: I know Blake and I haven’t talked much but there’s something there and I can’t wait to explore that.
-
It feels like it was a while ago that you get ready for the day and now the day has turned to night.
You have to change out of your bikini and into a dress, getting help from Adriana to tie the straps on your back. The girls are busy putting on make-up and looking their best to attract whoever they fancy, including you.
It’s not that hard to know that Blake indeed feels something for you, you sense it in the kiss he gave you during the game yesterday and the way he hugged you this morning, or the way he secretly gives you the eyes even though he’s sitting right next to Devon right now.
People can run their mouths all they want but their bodies can’t lie. You can’t fake a physical attraction.
You join Vale sitting on the lounger next to him with a glass of wine in hand, “Cute shirt!” You compliment his colorful printed shirt.
“Thank you,” Vale responds with a bright smile.
You get comfortable and take a small sip of your wine before asking something you’ve been curious to find out, “My sweet Jesus, do you find anyone you fancy in here?”
Vale scratches his beard as he thinks of an answer, “Honestly… no, not yet.”
Vale is gorgeous and hot, you vibe well with him and he’s earnest which tells you that he’s someone that you can trust. Despite all of those qualities, he’s not quite the type you’re looking for and you believe, it’s vice versa.
“What’s your type?”
“I don’t have such things. I think I never limit myself to a certain type of person. It’s whoever attracts me,” he replies and his words carry some wisdom in them.
To put it simply, he’s not attracted to anyone and therefore, it confirms your assumptions about him.
Vale brushes his long hair to the back, sending a few strands falling over his face, “How about you? Who do you fancy?”
You put your glass of wine down and turn your head around for the person you’re looking for, finding him talking to Tom by the firepit.
“For now, it’s Blake,” you answer.
“How about Elliott?” He asks, tucking his hair behind his ear.
“Elliott is... he is cute and all but I like Blake,” you answer, hinting that Blake is your priority.
Vale cranes his neck to see Blake and then slumps back down on his lounger, “It seems like Devon got him on a leash,” he says.
“Yeah,” you say while chuckling.
You turn your head to see Devon putting her leg over Blake’s lap, “but that’s not going to stop me though,” you add.
Vale cracks a laugh, “I like that,” he says.
“Right? I don’t see any rings on it so...” You decide not to finish your words and have a sip of your drink instead.
Talking about Blake gets you thinking to start making a move, separating him from Devon is going to be the hardest part so you decide to take a moment to refresh yourself before executing your plan.
“I’m going to powder my nose,” you excuse yourself as get up from the lounger.
Vale doesn’t reply but helps you by handing you your glass. As you start walking away though, he shouts, “Hey, you’re beautiful!”
You look over your shoulder and blow a kiss at him, “I know.”
-
YOU: From what I see is that Vale is looking for someone he can instantly connect with and I hope he finds it.
-
The heels you’re wearing are starting to irritate you, you switch into a comfortable pair of wedges sandals and then take your make-up pouch with you to the bathroom.
You take a tube of lip gloss and put on a layer over your lips while leaning close to the mirror. You smack your lips together and check if there’s anything you can fix, deciding that a little more blush won’t hurt.
As you’re about to apply it to your cheek, you immediately stop moving as you see someone come into the bathroom.
“Hey, gorgeous!” Devon sweetly says.
From how enthusiastic she sounds, you’re sure the intention isn’t as sweet as her greeting. You put down everything you’re holding and turn around.
“Hey, babe,” you greet back with less enthusiasm than her.
Devon sits on the edge of the bathtub and starts brushing wavy hair with her fingers, “How are you?”
You rest your hands on the surface of the sink and lean against it, “I’m good. You?”
“Good,” she shortly replies.
She plays with her nails and a while later, looks at you, “I love the dress,” she says.
It seems like the compliment is an effort to try to soften you for whatever trick she has up on her sleeve, you put on a smile for her and mutter, “Thank you.”
A moment passes just you and Devon looking at each other and the silence that hangs in the space in between only adds animosity in the room.
“I have something to tell you,” Devon finally reveals her true intentions on why she came here.
You keep your smile on and slightly tilt your head to the side, “Yes.”
Devon bites her lips and fiddles with her bangles around her dainty wrist, “I know you’ve been like... eyeing Blake,” she begins.
“Yes,” you immediately reply, showing her that you don’t mind making it an open competition with her for it.
“I want to be honest with you and I hope you understand that I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings,” she says with a smile, in contrast to her words, she looks rather enjoying it.
“Blake and I,” she pauses to keep you on your toes.
Devon then flips her hair to the back and continues, “We kissed.”
The thing that you fear the most has happened and you don’t want to give Devon the satisfaction, you calmly cross your arms in front of you and nod.
“Okay,” you say with a plain tone.
“Oh, my God! I’m sorry,” Devon says, being dramatic for the two of you.
She comes and gives you a hug which she thinks would cheer you up. You reluctantly accept it even though you know she’s pitying you.
“I just want to tell you that,” she says as she pulls away from the hug.
Devon indirectly tells you that she comes here just to break your spirit and you don’t know how to respond to that. You actually know how to respond to that but you know you’re better than that.
Once Devon left the bathroom, you turn back around to face the mirror again and lowly mutter, “What the actual fuck?”
-
YOU: How thoughtful of Devon on letting me know about their kiss but girl, what the fuck?
-
It seems like Lana is not going to announce any rule breaks tonight. She’s more likely to collect the rule breaks for now and will eventually turn up with the receipt.
You don’t know how you feel about it but you enjoy seeing the sheer disappointment on Devon’s face that she didn’t get the chance to brag about her kiss with Blake.
Talking about Blake, you reckon you should move on but how can you forget Blake in one night?
It’s impossible, not when you’ll always see him walking around the villa looking so fine and tempting. As you get on your bed, you catch him looking at you and slyly smiling at you.
You don’t want to fall back into it but the bad girl in you tells you to not shut him down completely so you decide to put on a thin smile in return.
That should be enough to tell him that you’re not pleased.
You look away and see your bed partner with her arms flexed as she’s braiding her dark hair. You notice that her arm muscles are so defined and it should be from hours spent in the gym working on them.
Curious, your hand reaches for her shoulder and lowers it to feel her lats, “Lil, how much do you lift?”
She’s tying the end of her hair with a scrunchie then looks over her shoulder, “About 140 to 156,” she answers.
“Girl!” You gasp in shock.
Looking at her lean figure and your hard guess at her body weight, she must be advanced in weightlifting.
You allow yourself to feel the muscles on her arms, from her trapezius muscle down to her bicep, “Remind me not to work with you,” you jokingly say.
Tom enters the room carrying a water tumbler in his hand, he stops right in the middle of the room and looks at everyone.
“Did anyone break any rules today?” He asks.
It’s useless to ask, no one is going to say anything unless the situation pressures them to talk. For instance, Blake is shaking his head as Tom is seeking his answer.
“Be good you two!” Tom says to both Blake and Devon, making a gesture that his eyes will always be on them.
Well, good luck with that because they already did break the rules and succeeded in lying right to his face.
“Goodnight, everyone,” Adriana says, blowing kisses around the room right before the lights are out.
Tom was wrong to fear that these people would break rules during the day. What Tom should be afraid of is what these people do in the dark.
-
YOU: What cuddles? I got to feel my bed partner’s muscles in my sleep [laughs]
-
In the morning, Jesus comes to your bed.
The bed quakes as Vale dives right into the space between you and Lili.
“Morning, beautiful!” Vale says, getting comfortable as he puts his hand over your waist.
“Morning,” you sleepily reply, groping around with your eyes closed to touch him.
“Your skin is so soft,” Lili says.
You turn your head to see Lili rubbing Vale’s back. Wanting to prove Lili’s words, you follow suit and rub your hand down his shoulder.
“It feels like a foreplay now,” Vale mumbles with his head buried in your pillow.
You continue your day with a quick workout and a meditating session with Vale. After that, you decide to skip the shower and put on a swimsuit, taking a few laps in the swimming pool.
Maybe it’s because you have someone to avoid that you keep yourself busy, but when you look at the time, it’s barely noon.
As you take a break from swimming and use the opportunity to enjoy the view of the sea shimmering under the morning sun, you hear a splash. You notice someone joins you in the pool and he swims right at you.
“Hey, morning,” Elliott softly greets.
You put all of your wet hair to the back and smile, “Morning!”
“How are you?” He asks, wiping the beads of water gathering under his chin.
“Alright, I guess,” You honestly answer.
You turn to the side to face him while keeping one hand resting on the edge of the pool, “You?”
“I’m great,” he replies with enthusiasm that matches his answer.
The sun hits right on his eyes, making them brighter yet fiercer and they’re just as good as weapons now. You can only hope Elliott knows how to use them.
“Uhm...” Elliott seems to have something to say but hesitates to do so, “I know you have your eyes on Blake.”
Welp, it’s that obvious? You nod since there’s no use in denying it.
“Do you... still have your eyes on him or...?”
So Elliott wants to know if you have given up on pursuing Blake and you can safely assume that he hopes to slide right into his spot.
“I already made him aware that I kind of fancy him but I’m not getting anything back so... I don’t know,” You honestly answer, you feel pity for yourself as you say those out loud.
“Mmm-hmm...” Elliott bobs his head as he takes your answer.
The water trickles down his face as he pushes his wet hair to the back, “And who is your second option?”
Your assumption is true, Elliott is looking for a way to get into you and you appreciate that he didn’t come on to you and make it one big chase. He’s so easy and laid-back, and you like that.
“You,” You answer.
A sweet smile rises on his face and expresses his happiness with a cute shout, “Yay!”
It’s not even a phony answer, if there’s anyone else you want to try to make a connection with, it’s him.
“I haven’t got the chance to ask you about our kiss,” he says, taking a step closer to you.
It’s getting dangerous now that he wants to talk about the kiss in this proximity where you can see that his eyes are green in this light.
“What do you think about it?”
“About our kiss?”
He nods as the smile has been replaced with a grin, “Yes.”
You recall the moment when he kissed you during the game, “That was very cute.”
He suddenly lets out a chuckle and scratches his head. Is he flustered or nervous? You have no idea.
“How much do you think a kiss costs?” He suddenly asks.
Oh. You sense trouble right away but you’ve been craving for a little something. A kiss will suffice, you reckon.
Elliott is intensely staring into your eyes as you consider his idea, grinning at the 50% chance that you’d say yes to it.
“Fuck...” You curse as you let out a sigh.
You try to get yourself out of it by averting your focus elsewhere, fixing your bikini, and reminding yourself of Lana and her stupid rules. However, when your eyes meet again, your mind is set right away.
It; ‘s like your bodies are drawn to each other, Elliott and you come at each other at the same time and kiss. Maybe it’s because both of you are relaxed and there’s no one else watching, the kiss feels much nicer than the one you shared before.
Elliott puts the right amount of everything, the lips, the tongue, and even the teeth, you like how he kisses you, hungry yet gentle.
You hear nothing but the smooching sounds of both of your lips lathering each other and your bodies moving in the water.
“Your kiss is just so good,” Elliott says as he takes a step back from you.
And just like that, you break the rules for the first time in the retreat.
-
YOU: I was bored. I wanted to make Blake jealous and Elliott, I have a soft spot for him so... yeah, I kissed him.
-
There’s just something about doing the things that you shouldn’t and doing it anyway, the rush, the thrill of it... it makes you feel so alive.
Now that you’ve got a taste of it, you want more.
Just like Jeff said, we have so many cookies in the jar, 200 grand of them to be exact, and eating one or two more cookies should be fine.
The next question is who do you want to have the cookies with?
Elliott is the easy choice, he’s cool, he’s so easy-going, he’s following the vibe but that’s also the problem, he’s easy and you don’t want easy.
If we’re talking about Blake... oh, yes, he’s not easy, not when Devon is keeping him on a short, tight leash and that tells you enough that she’s not confident about him.
You steal a few glances at her as she’s doing her makeup on the other side of the vanity table from you, looking at her and seeing how pretty she is, there’s no reason for her to be that insecure.
Or maybe you’re that threatening to her? Well, that thought amused you so much.
“Pick one for me!” Adriana says, showing you two different colors of lipsticks in her hands to help her choose one.
“Uhm...” you take a closer look at the color.
Adriana has gorgeous full lips so you choose one with a deep berry color that would suit her better, “This!”
You watch as she’s about to apply it on her lips when the cone in the room lights up and chimes, startling everyone in their seats.
“Ah!” Adriana squeals in surprise.
“Hello, girls!” Lana greets.
“Hello, Lana,” You put down everything you’re holding, getting nervous that it’s about time for Lana to announce the rule breaks.
“I have given the chance for Blake to go on a date with one of you,” Lana announces.
Oh? Is it finally your chance to test the water and see if Blake is on board? You look around to see if anyone is also anticipating this but Devon is the only one looking a little fidgety on her seat.
“Blake has chosen...”
The real question is: is Blake ballsy enough to break away from Devon’s leash? It’s time to find out.
“... Devon.”
-
YOU: Un-fucking-believeable!
-
Devon is smiling from ear to ear after hearing Blake has chosen her for the date.
You believe Blake is playing it safe by choosing Devon, oh, well, it’s his loss, not yours. You continue with getting ready for the night with the rest of the girls.
You check yourself in the mirror and like what you see, especially the dress that enhances the curves on your body.
“What a waste of an outfit!” You mutter, allowing yourself to feel upset about not getting chosen.
Someone puts her arm around you and says, “Oh! We look so hot!”
You look at both of you and Adriana’s reflections in the mirror and suddenly gain your confidence back. Since when you’re not dressing for other people, you’re dressing for yourself.
Everyone is hanging out in the firepit. You’re sharing the small sofa with Vale and Lili is taking the other end, talking to Adriana and Tom with drinks in hands.
It only takes a couple of days for everyone to get used to each other and you guess it’s because everyone shares the same vibe, everyone simply wants to have fun and they don’t let Lana’s rules stop them from doing it.
Unfortunately, you get called to the interview room and do your duty as a TV show contestant, telling the camera about everything to its tiniest details.
That’s what they need for the TV, something juicy, and the juicier the better.
You promise to keep yourself as genuine as possible and only tell the truth, not fabricating any of it. Not going to lie, you feel tempted at times but you realize that one day, you’ll be out of here and you don’t want to regret something you said or did in the show.
You bump into Elliott on your way out as it’s his turn next and you squeeze his hand as you walk past each other.
“Have fun in there!” You playfully say.
Instead of going back to the firepit, you make a turn to the bedroom, wanting to take a moment for yourself to unwind. You take your shoes off once you get to your bed and take a hearty sip of water.
It’s not life if you always get what you want. Blake enters the room not long after you, his shirt is undone and you guess he must’ve just come back from his date with Devon.
What is it with him with his shirt flies open though? You have a hot body, yes, you get it.
Anyway, you want to ignore him but he smiles the second he spots you.
“Hello,” he softly says.
You put on a small smile and greet back, “Hey.”
You cap your water tumbler and put it on your bedside table, “Back from your date, huh?”
Instead of answering, Blake comes at you and does not stop until his body crashes against yours, taking you with him as he topples on your bed.
You’re giggling as he pins you under and then you gently push him away to sit on your bed. You don’t want to give it to him east, not after he chose someone else over you.
“So, how was the date?” You casually ask while fixing the straps of your dress.
Blake sits next to you, leaning back with his hands propped against the mattress, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what I want,” he vaguely says.
Well, that’s what he gets for keeping his options way too open. Then Blake turns his head at you then continues, “But I know who I want.”
You get it that he’s hinting at you from the way he raises his eyebrow and slyly smiles at you. But you play dumb instead, wanting to hear him saying it out loud.
“And it’s Devon?” You say.
He dramatically closes his eyes and lets out a low sigh, “It’s you.”
You pretend to be surprised to hear it, “Oh, it’s me?”
Blake nods and smiles, he rubs his hand down his abs, trying to make you look at it.
“What do you think?”
You’re sure he’s talking about what he just said, not the abs, and honestly, it sounds not that convincing.
“I don’t know what to feel about it. You just came back from a date with someone else,” you point out the only way that gets in the way of trusting his words.
Blake drags his hand on the bed until he finds your hand and holds it, “I know I have something going on but I wish we did talk more, get to know you more.”
You don’t know what he’s going with it but giving him a chance to explain himself.
“But just know... Just know that I feel something for you,” he says.
It should be a triumphant moment, knowing that the guy you like is liking you back but you feel conflicted instead.
Blake inhales air and then stares into your eyes, “I want you to know that,” he concludes with his thumb gently rubbing the back of your hand.
You want to give him one more chance to prove himself, to prove that he’ll act exactly like what he said to you.
You nod and smile, “Alright.”
But for now, you want to take his words as they are, that it’s simply him telling you what he’s feeling.
-
YOU: There’s something about him that’s calling for you and you kind of want to answer that.
-
As if Lana is aware that the two of you are alone which means there's a big chance of rule-breaking, the cone in the room chimes, making you jolt on your bed.
"Please gather everyone in the cabana," Lana orders.
You're clutching your chest as you walk to the cabana, knowing that it's the time: Lana is going to announce the rule breaks.
The plan is you'll sit there and not going to say anything, and you're aware of how flawed that plan is.
A moment after everyone assembled in the cabana, the cone chimes and lights up as she sits in the middle of the round, glass table.
"Good evening, everyone," Lana starts.
"Hello, Lana!" A few replies in a not-so-enthusiastic tone.
Before Lana talks further, you glance at Elliott and he catches you looking, the anxiety is also drawn on his face.
"The rules of my retreat have already been broken," Lana drops the truth right away.
"Oh, no!" Lili exclaims with her eyes going side to side.
Tom looks upset already with his clasped hands pushed close to his mouth.
"Wow!" he comments with a plain tone.
He takes a deep breath and finally be the one who confronts everyone, "Is there anybody that wants to come clean?"
-
YOU: I broke the rules but I'm not telling anyone shit.
-
You try to avoid looking in Tom's direction but it's hard when he's sitting right across from yours so you look the other away only to catch Elliott looking at you.
Elliott seems not to know how to put on a good poker face, he keeps grinning but the kind that only makes him appear guilty.
Adriana is the first to spot it, "Elliott?"
Elliott lets out a nervous chuckle, "Nah. Not me."
He gives it away as he can't stop grinning and as soon as he glances your way, you subtly give him a head shake, telling him not to say anything. Then you continue to act dumb, playing with your hair like it has nothing to do with you.
"I'm going to come clean," someone says.
All heads are turned to see that it's coming from Jeff and they all seem to see this one coming.
"It was me who initiated it, we had a moment—"
Jeff's explanation gets cut off as Lili interrupts and asks, "Who's we?"
Jeff licks his lips and slowly turns his head toward you, and then you see his eyes flick toward Issa, "Issa and I," he answers.
Issa gets flustered, smiling that everyone now knows who Jeff got it on with. Not that it's a secret but she looks smitten, they're showing a big potential to become an established couple in this retreat.
"This kiss has cost the group $3,000," Lana announces.
It's like taking a shot, hearing how much money lost to a kiss is that bitter aftertaste. But that's not the worst of it yet, you know that the rule breaks don't stop there.
"They were not the only ones to break the rules."
There you go, you mutter in your head and gulp air that people would start digging deeper to find out whoever cost them another $3,000.
"What? No!" Vale says, scanning everyone to spot any guilty faces.
You continue your dumb act, playing with your hair, brushing it with your fingers even though it's looking good. Your luck runs out as Tom notices the error in your behavior.
"You're good? It wasn't you, right?" Tom asks.
It would be nice if he just shot you with a real bullet and you would have died on the spot, that way you don't have to deal with his question anymore.
You put on a calm face, staying quiet and not intending to say anything. You notice Elliott is looking at you and eventually, people connect the dots together.
"Oh, no, you guys kissed!" Adriana says, being the first to figure it out.
The truth is out, all that is left to do is own up to it.
"I did want to tell you guys but I..." you give up on trying to justify your act.
"I'm sorry," you sincerely say.
Elliott looks at everyone and apologizes as well, "We are sorry. We really are," he earnestly says.
"The kiss has cost the group $3,000."
You cringe at the amount of money you spent for a kiss and even though it's not your money, it's still kind of stings.
"Expensive kiss, that one," Vale comments while scratching his facial hair.
"I think that'll be it," Adriana says, or more like hoping that that was just it, no more rule breaks.
Lana hears her and she doesn't intend to stop until everyone committed their crimes.
"That is not all," she says, "There was one more breach of the rules."
Your eyes dart toward Devon and Blake who sit next to each other at the end of the long sofa, it must be the one kiss she bragged to you about.
"Are you kidding me?" Tom reacts with a fed-up tone.
Devon looks at Blake but he seems to want to keep his mouth shut. You're not a lip reader but it's not hard to read what Devon said as she fixes her dress, "Shit."
The tension keeps building as everyone waits for the last confession Lana needs so she can calculate the damage and come up with the bill.
A moment passes and Devon seems to be uncomfortable keeping it to herself any longer, "We should tell them," she says to Blake.
Everyone is exclaiming and yelling at them all at once while Blake is sitting there, taking it all in. Once everyone calms down, he coyly admits everything, "We kissed. I'm sorry."
"These rule breaks have cost the group $6,000," Lana announces.
Tom's mouth hung open, "You kissed twice?"
Blake licks his lips and then nods.
"What the—" Vale doesn't even finish his words, he reclines on his sofa instead and looks up.
You know the one kiss they did and that's thanks to Devon's thoughtfulness, but the other one, you wonder when they did that.
"It was yesterday," Devon says.
"And the other one?" Tom asks.
"On the date earlier," Devon answers.
Wait... so Blake went on that date and kissed Devon, then he came back and told you that you're the one he wants. What the fuck?
-
YOU: I am so annoyed right now.
-
And you're not the only one.
Even though she's just a talking robot, you can tell that Lana is not pleased with these rule breaks. You can hear it from the way she informs the current prize money.
"The prize fund now stands at $188,000."
"What's done is done, guys," Blake coyly says, and somehow, that only pisses you more.
"In the first 24 hours, most of you have already broken the rules."
Tom looks at the people sitting on the long sofa, "Do you hear that, guys?"
"You have left me with no choice. From this point forward, all fines will be doubled," Lana delivers shocking news.
Tom's eyes widen like he's seeing his nightmare turn into a reality. He claps his hands together and leans back, "That's just great!"
Everyone is too stunned by the news that no one is saying anything. While you just can't wait to end the day already.
"Goodbye," Lana ends with a grim greeting.
Lana is indeed pissed and she deserved to be. You even pissed at what you did but what pissed you more than losing than losing $12,000 in one night is Blake.
Fucking Blake won't get away with it.
-
YOU: So Blake is that kind of player... oh, how typical! How boring! [Rolls eyes]
-
The boys are grouping on the terrace instead of going inside to get ready for bedtime so you follow the girls to the dressing room and it’s just perfect.
Telling Devon about what you know face to face, you doubt that she’ll believe you for it, she’d likely think that you’re trying to ruin things for her. This way, with the girls gathered together, you know they’ll support you and see the true intention behind it.
You need to pick your time right, you don’t want to interrupt in the middle of them complaining about the rules and the money, especially when you’re responsible for the $3,000 deduction.
“I mean… I’m trying to be respectful to Lana but some men are worth it,” Devin says while undoing her hair bun.
She pauses to correct her statement, “Not all, but some,” she emphasizes.
The other girls are busy wiping their makeup clean and half-heartedly listening to what Devon is saying and only reacting with short answers.
“Blake and I, we might be able to build something genuine,” Devon says.
Hearing that gets your blood boiling and you can’t keep biting your tongue, you let out a sigh and look at Devon, “You know what, Devon?”
Suddenly, everyone stops everything they’re doing and they probably know that there’s this slight hostility between you and Devon, you wouldn’t be surprised if they think you’re going to fight her.
Now that you have everyone’s attention, you start telling everyone what you know is true. You take a shallow breath before talking, “After he came back from that date, he went to the bedroom and I happened to be there. I asked him about the date and he was like “wish we did talk more, get to know each other more”.”
Lili lets her hair fall and gasps, “No!”
You keep going while constantly reminding yourself to keep calm, “And he held my hand telling me I’m the one he wants right after he came back from the date,” you tell Devon right at her face.
There’s no joy in telling her that she got played, you feel bad for her because you know how shitty that feels.
“That’s muggy,” Issa comments.
“I think he’s trying to have his cake and eat it too,” Adriana says, gripping the hairbrush in her hand.
You look at Devon and she’s in utter shock, you hate to ruin her picture-perfect of what she and Blake could be, but you need her to know and what she’s going to do with the truth is up to her.
“And I’m saying this, as woman to woman, I don’t want you to be that girl who falls for his bullshit,” You conclude.
It turns quiet in the room and everyone seems to give Devon the space to process this, they continue what they’re doing and doing it quietly.
After a moment, Lili tells Devon, “Maybe you should explore other options.”
Devon leans on the table and says, “I think I will.”
-
YOU: Oh, Blake, just know that you fucked it up and you deserve everything that comes to you.
-
“The fuck?” Vale blurts out.
Vale is that one person you feel like you can come and talk about everything with, out of everyone, you trust him the most. You come to his bed to tell him everything about what’s going down between you, Devon, and Blake.
He quickly lowers his voice since Blake is lying on his bed, “And what did Devon say?”
You shrug, “I don’t know.”
 “If she’s smart then she knows better not to…” his words trail off as he puts his hands behind his head as he rests his back against the headboard.
“That’s right,” you agree, kicking your feet in the air as you lay on your stomach.
He plays with his beard as he looks at you, “Then how about your plan?”
You’re so busy being upset about the Blake situation that you don’t think about it until he asks you, you realize you are just as single as he is now.
“Oh, fuck,” you blink your eyes in slight shock.
Vale laughs looking at your reaction, he sees the direness in your eyes, “Is there… uh, anyone else that you like?”
You secretly look around the room to look for your second choice but you witness Devon’s dramatic entrance, she turns her head at Blake and cryptically smiles at him before walking past their shared bed.
Everyone feels the tension in the room as Devon goes to Elliott’s bed and gets on it, witnessing the drama unfolding in real time.
You slowly turn your head back to Vale and say, “Well, there goes my second choice.”
-
YOU: Why did she have to take Elliott too? Ugh!
-
This morning, when you come to the bathroom to shower, you find Tom there, counting the condoms inside the little tray next to the sink.
You burst out laughing at the sight, "Having a busy morning I see," you playfully say.
Tom briefly looks at you and puts the condoms back into the tray, "There are eight of them and it's got to stay at eight," he says.
Tom couldn't possibly think that not using condoms doesn't mean that everyone is not rulebreaking. But you have to admit that he's dedicated to his role as the sex officer in the villa.
In the afternoon, you join Adriana sunbathing in the firepit, sharing the sofa.
"I can't believe that I'm about to say this..." you sigh while looking up at the sky with your eyes closed.
Adriana puts her hands on her sides, also looking up with eyes closed, "What?"
"I miss sex so much," you sigh.
Adriana softly sighs then a while later says, "Same."
You gently elbow her side, "At least, you have a man on your bed," you say.
"Yes but he doesn't want to do anything," she grumbles, reminding you that his partner is Lana's top student.
Being single means you have nothing to do with the situation, you want to rule break but have no one to do it with. Meanwhile having a man and not wanting to do anything, is much, much worse.
"Like I need something to happen!" Adriana says with an annoyed sigh.
You suddenly feel bad for Adriana but you also can't help yourself from laughing and she eventually laughs along with you.
When the day gets too hot for a sunbathe, you decide that it's time to cool down. Slowly, you get into the pool and sit on the edge, facing the view of the sea with the blue sky looking like something you see on a postcard.
Someone is swimming and apparently, whoever that is coming your way. You wait until he emerges from the water and sees Blake.
What a way to ruin your good day!
Blake brushes his dark hair to the back and wipes the beads of water around his eyes, he smiles as he fixes his eyes on you, then stands next to you.
"What are you up to?"
You remind yourself that you're a grown woman who can handle someone like him gracefully even though he doesn't deserve it.
"Just admiring the beautiful view," you calmly answer.
He looks at the view and sighs, "Yeah, it's beautiful just like you."
You feel like gagging but resist the urge to, "Thank you," you say with a thin smile.
There are two reasons why Blake is talking to you right now. One is the possibility that Devon confronted him about last night's situation and told him that she heard everything from you. If reason one is true then it's reason number two, he's going for his second option and unfortunately, it's you.
"I think it's about time we have this conversation. I want to see where's your head at," he says.
It's not the words, it's the way he casually talks to you and completely ignores the fact that he played you and Devon.
But remember, gracefully.
"To be honest, I did think you're the hottest person in here when I first glanced at you and I feel this sexual energy whenever you're looking into my eyes," you say.
Blake is grinning as he looks at you, liking what you're saying about him, "I'm open to see where this takes us," he says.
It seems like Devon dumped him and it's reason number two after all.
You shyly smile and say, "I do like you."
You tip your head to the side and continue talking, "But I want to know that I'm forming a connection here and not because I'm available by default."
The glints in his eyes dim as if someone flips the switch off the second he hears what you said.
"I see the other couples and they have this sort of trust in each other. It makes me want to trust the person I'm with," you lay it out as gently as possible.
Because how can you trust him after what he did? Even if you give him the chance, you're not sure that Blake is capable of change.
"For now, I want to be a bit more free, and figure out what I want while also getting to know everyone," you conclude, rejecting him in the nicest way possible.
Blake takes a moment to process your answer and you give him just the space. A while later, he nods and wipes the beads of water on his chin.
"I guess, it is what it is," he coyly says.
You see, this is not the first time you're facing a player like him. In the past, you gave that person a chance thinking that you could change him but it only ended up hurting you and you surely don't want to go through that again.
-
YOU: I think it's about time I get a little bit more careful in choosing people that I want to be with.
-
Days have passed and you can see that couples start forming in the villa.
Jeff has been going strong with Issa ever since that first rule break. Tom, despite being Lana's loyal follower, is having something going on with Adriana. Last but not least, Devon is smitten by Elliott, it's proven by two rule breaks they admitted last night.
And you, you'd better off alone than having to be with Blake. He was hot until he showed his true colors.
"I thought I was going to be the first to rule break," Vale says as you apply sunblock on his back.
"I didn't think that I would be the one missing all the actions," he continues with a crisp laugh.
You add more sunblock for his lower back and lather in on his tattooed skin. You're dry-humping his back once you're done applying sunblock.
"You are getting some actions right now," you jokingly say.
You both laugh and that's how you survive these past few days. Vale has been a very reliable friend, he's trustworthy and earnest, you talk about everything with him because he likes having these kinds of deep talk.
"You know what we need?" You ask Vale then sip your water.
Vale ties his long hair into a messy bun, "What?"
"We need new meat in the villa," you say, pushing the sunglasses you wear up the bridge of your nose.
Vale nods in agreement, then his hand reaches for the cone sitting on the small round table next to him.
"Lana, I know you'll be my main girl but we need new meat in the villa," he pleads while seductively stroking her cone-shaped body.
"I think that should be considered as a rule break," you joke.
Ask and you shall receive, Lana says.
She makes everyone come to the cabana in the afternoon and you share the sofa with Issa, waiting for the cone to chime in anticipation.
"Hello, everyone," Lana greets.
"Hi, Lana!"
You feel at ease knowing that she wouldn't call you out for rulebreaking but you're ready for some drama today.
"I have observed some early signs that connections may be starting to form. Therefore, I am sending two people on a romantic date," Lana announces.
She's going to send the couples on a date? And what about you? Is it really Lana when she delivers good news?
"I'm hoping it's us," Issa says to Jeff.
Everyone is already hyped for the date when Lana is not done talking yet.
"So that I can put your current connections to the test, these dates will be with two new arrivals."
Now that's the Lana you know. You look at the couples and their expressions change into panic ones.
"Did she say new arrivals?" Adriana asks with her eyes almost popping out of her sockets.
-
YOU: Damn! Lana woke up and chose to fuck shit up.
-
"I have allowed the new dates to choose who they would like to take on a date."
It's kind of unfair that the new guests are only allowed to choose from the coupled-up guests but Lana is brewing some drama in the villa and you're here for it.
"They're coming in hot and heavy, ready to fuck everybody," you comment, provoking the nervous couples.
From the other end of the sofa, Vale is holding in his laughter, he knows what you're doing to the others.
"The first new arrival is... Seungmin."
"I like the name," Lili says.
Everyone tries to guess what he'd look like from just his name but you notice that Tom is looking so nervous, realizing that Adriana could get chosen for the date.
"Seungmin has chosen... Adriana."
It seems like what Tom fears the most has just become reality. Tom and Adriana exchange a look that only they know what they mean.
Lana continues with the announcement of the second guest, "The second new arrival is... Cara."
You can't pass the chance to provoke them more, "Cara sounds like she's ready to get wild," you innocently mutter.
Now it's the girls' turn to get nervous, you see that Devon is looking displeased, maybe it's the previous incident haunting her.
"Cara has chosen... Elliott."
It really is not a good day to be either Tom or Devon, their luck will eventually run out but they didn't know that it'd be today.
"Adriana and Elliott, It's time for you to get ready for your dates," Lana orders.
They leave the cabana to get ready for their dates with the new arrivals and you envy them, you want to go on a date too.
Jealousy aside, you're excited for the new guests, especially this Seungmin guy.
-
YOU: Girl, I can't wait to see how the night turns out!
-
It's embarrassing that everyone in the dressing room witnessed you tripping over your heeled shoes and falling on your butt.
Lili is too late to catch you, she offers her hand to help you get up but you lie down on the floor instead, laughing in embarrassment.
"Are you drunk?" Tom jokingly asks.
You shake your head and sigh, "No, I'm just so horny," you joke back.
The boys and the girls are going their separate ways. You follow the flow, walking to the firepit with the other girls and sitting prettily on the sofa, waiting for the ones going on dates to return.
The one who has been losing her sanity the longer her man going on the date is Devon. She's been rambling and grumbling like a fussy child.
"If he did something, I'll know right away," Devon mutters.
You don't know who she's talking to but since you're sitting close to her, you feel obliged to respond to it.
"Yep," you say, validating her.
Devon shouldn't be scared whether anyone knows because Lana will know and she knows everything.
The first one coming back from their date is Adriana and the new guest, Seungmin, linking their arms together as they enter the firepit.
"Oh, here they come," Lili tells everyone of their arrival.
All of the girls' heads are turned to see them.
Your curiosity about this Seungmin guy is finally answered. Tall, with broad shoulders, his dark hair is pushed to the back with a few strands hanging over his forehead and the faint moonlight casts a shadow over his face, defining his masculine features of sharp jaws and high cheekbones.
And when he smiles, you see those facial features turn soft all at once.
-
YOU: Oh, my God! This guy, Seungmin, is cute [Smiles]
-
"If Elliott walks in holding their arms like that, I'm going to cry," Devon sadly mutters.
You're about to say something to comfort her but Lili goes ahead, asking Adriana and Seungmin about the date.
"How was it? How was the date?"
Adriana briefly looks at him and answers it for both of them, "It was nice, romantic even."
"Oh?" You blurt out, sensing that Adriana may switch beds tonight.
"Lana gave him a free pass to kiss but we didn't, I told him about Tom," Adriana says.
Adriana and Tom have been with each other since day one, they're a couple with great restraint so you're glad that Adriana is not tempted to explore more options.
Meanwhile, Devon is starting to look a little green after hearing that the new arrivals are given a free pass to kiss during their dates.
Issa spots the other has returned from the date and blurts out, "Oh, no they hold hands."
Devon's head snaps to the back, looking at where the boys are gathered on the terrace.
She turns her head back and her mouth curls downward. You immediately scoot closer to offer your shoulder, rubbing her back as she starts crying.
You turn your head to see Elliott introducing the new girl to the boys and he's looking all bright and smiley.
"Not going to lie, that's kind of sus," you say.
You didn't even mean to put salt on Devon's wound, you just don't expect Elliott to be that kind of guy, you know, the Blake kind.
Everyone eventually gathers in the firepit and Elliott proceeds with his duty to introduce the new girl to everyone.
Cara is Italian and your eyes dart toward Vale, that this girl can be his type. In response to that, Vale is eyeing Seungmin, hinting that you have one for you too.
This eventful night turns out to be a good one.
Adriana and Tom are still sharing the bed and thankfully, so are Devon and Elliott. You're relieved that Elliott turns out to be not the kind of guy.
The new guests have to voluntarily sleep on the available spots, Cara shares the bed with Blake while Seungmin shares the bed with Vale.
You're meant to look at Vale but Seungmin happens to be there and since he catches your eyes, you may as well smile and flirt with your eyes.
You don't know what you feel about him yet but you hope that he's not the Blake kind.
-
YOU: Not everyone forgetting that new guests also mean new temptations [laughs]
-
"No one is breaking the rules, right?" Tom says the moment the lights are on.
Everyone is not having it but no one is saying anything as they're sleepy and struggling to open their eyes. You quickly sip water to refresh yourself and not skipping the chance to take a jab a Tom.
"The next rule break is going to be Adriana's self-gratification," you say with a grin.
Adriana lets out a dry chuckle and holds all of her hair to the side, "Might be. Don't leave me alone in a room," she says.
Lana chimes in for the usual morning greeting, welcoming the new guests, and ends it with a satirical message.
"Enjoy your day of celibacy!"
Since the boys are taking over the open gym at the beach, you skip working out and go for a swim with Lili. You take a few laps and have a chat with her.
In the cabana, you see that Devon is talking to the new girl, Cara.
"Should we get in there and intervene?" Lili asks.
"No," you immediately answer.
You blow water out of your nose and wipe it away, "But get ready, just in case."
In the other part of the villa, you spot the new guy, Seungmin heading down to the beach in a plain white t-shirt and black swimming trunks.
"Cute guy. 11 o'clock," you lowly mutter.
Lili clocks him right away, she's lowering her head until her chin dips in the water.
"You think he's cute?"
"Duh!" You react with a dramatic eye roll.
Lili chuckles and stacks her hands on the edge of the pool, "Is he your type though?"
Seungmin is indeed cute but truthfully, he's not the type that you usually go for, someone with a bit of an edge to them. You feel some sort of attraction toward him but it's not enough to pull you in.
"On papers? No," you honestly answer.
"Have you talked to him?"
"Not yet," you reply.
You look at Lili and wonder why she asks you all of that when she should be calculating her chance with him.
"Are you going to talk to him?" You ask her back.
Lili purses her mouth as she thinks of an answer, "Maybe. I will," she answers.
There's not much thing happens during the day and somehow, you feel excited for the night.
You put on a black dress, a red lipstick, and before you go out of the door, you take a look at yourself in the mirror, you look ravishing.
It's kind of sad though that you did all that only to sit by the firepit all alone and it's messing a little with your good mood.
It would be perfect for anyone to come and save your day but what do you—
"Hi, how are you?"
You look up and see Seungmin, he looks taller as he's standing over you, "Hi, I'm good."
"May I sit?" He politely asks.
"Please," you scoot a little to the side to make space for him even though the sofa could fit five people.
Seungmin sits next to you, spreading his legs open a little, and rests his hand on his knee. You notice that he has quite big pairs of hands and evident veins on the back of them.
"I came here wanting to talk to you, get to know you," he casually says as if he didn't just tell you right away what his true intentions are.
But you dig that, you like his confidence and the way he's looking at you right now like you're the only girl existing on earth.
"Tell me something about yourself," he says.
"I didn't know I was interviewing for a job," you joke with a laugh.
He laughs and it's the quiet kind, but you see that he's enjoying your joke.
"I'm a videographer," you tell him a piece about yourself.
"Is it the same as a filmmaker?" He curiously asks.
"Not really. Videographers film their own material, we work with cameras, shoot them ourselves, and edit them. It's uh... a lot to explain," you stop yourself before it gets too boring.
"It's not just beauty on the outside, huh?" He coyly says as if he didn't just compliment you and make you flustered.
"Of course not," you cheekily say with a grin.
"Yeah, I noticed," he agrees.
Your cheeks are heating and your body somehow turns to face him, answering his body language all the while his eyes are not straying away from yours, not even for a second.
"How about you?" You ask, trying to keep the conversation going.
"I'm an athlete. A baseball player," he answers.
"Oh, wow!" You didn't mean to make it sound that surprised.
Oh, it's even more embarrassing than the time you fell in the dressing room. You keep yourself together and quickly say something to explain your reaction.
"That explains the uh... broad shoulders," you say.
Your eyes unknowingly flick down at his hand again and your mouth gets ahead of your brain, "And the veiny hands."
Seungmin softly chuckles, he holds his hands out at you and lets you look at them as you please.
"You like them?"
You shyly laugh and skip on answering, barely functioning as his eyes are gazing into yours again.
-
YOU: He has this beautiful smile. He has these beautiful eyes, I am being swept away by his charm [Smiles]
-
Seungmin doesn't have eyes like Elliott's, they're brown yet they have the power to slowly pull you under.
You were so wrong to think that there's not enough attraction to pull you in because Seungmin is not only pulling you in, he asks you to come drown in his warm brown eyes.
Other than that, his eyes have the power to make you say your thoughts out loud.
"You have such beautiful eyes," you say, unconsciously leaning closer to look into his eyes.
"Oh, they're dilating," you gasp, seeing the black in the middle of the brown becomes larger.
Seungmin softly smiles hearing your innocent, almost too naive talks.
"You know your pupils dilate when you see someone you're attracted to," he says.
"Really?"
He nods with the scintillating smile still on his face.
"Does that mean you're attracted to me?" You ask with a mix of shy and seductive smiles.
"Yes, I am, I'm attracted," he confidently confirms.
You finally find the kind of guy Seungmin belongs in. Seungmin is the kind of guy that should come with a warning sign, he looks cute and harmless but a layer is under that, he's a lethal man who knows what he wants and gets it.
"I want to get to know you," he says.
"Me too," you say back.
"I want to get to know you more because I see that you have more beautiful things inside you," he adds.
Not going to lie, that's the sweetest thing you ever heard a guy say to you in a long time. You don't want to overanalyze it, you want to simply accept them as they are. Also, you can see that Seungmin meant every word he said.
"Would you let me?" He asks, tilting his head to the side as he maintains eye contact with you.
"Yes. I'd love that," you tell him.
The smile on Seungmin's face grows wider and it looks incredibly cute on him like he couldn't get cuter than this. His hand reaches for yours and holds it by the fingers.
"How do you feel about sharing a bed?"
No offense to Lili but you've been craving having a man on your bed so you nod at him.
The stare gets intense as he gets closer, leaving a few inches of space between your faces.
"Then how do you feel about sharing a kiss?"
The more you look into his eyes, the more compliant you are to his wishes. It's not like you don't want to kiss him, only that you wish you could do more than kisses.
But a kiss... it should be enough for now.
"I'd love that too," you answer.
Seungmin puts his hand under your chin, gently grabbing at it to bring you closer to him and slowly, he plants his lips on you.
No, it's not because you haven't kissed in the last few days, it's him, Seungmin got you completely charmed that you find yourself returning his kiss with the same eagerness.
"Oh, my God!" You gasp in awe once you break the kiss.
Seungmin is only smiling in response, he knows that you feel it too. The matching energy, the surge of excitement, the sexual tension, the electrifying chemistry, you both feel them all.
"I got your lipsticks all over me, aren't I?" He asks.
"Yes," you hurriedly help him wipe it off clean from around his mouth and nose.
And just like that, you broke another rule only this time you're not doing it out of boredom or avenging someone.
You broke the rules with Seungmin because he feels right.
-
YOU: Oh, we were just so in the moment that we forgot about the rules. Was it worth it though? Yes. Six thousand times yes.
-
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designation-zi · 1 month
Text
Murder Drones Timeline of Events
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Disclaimer: Most of this is speculation based off of background details and conjecture. Subject to change. If you notice anything I missed feel free to comment and I’ll make adjustments :)
Proceeding Events:
Sometime in the Future, around the 31st Century
- Humanity becomes advanced enough to venture into space and establish colonies and civilizations on exoplanets in other solar systems. Some of these include the “Proxima System”, “Plat-Binary System”, and the “Copper System.”
- JCJenson, an interstellar megacorporation creates a brand of autonomous robots known as “Worker Drones” to serve humanity and mine resources on the exoplanets. One of these planets is Copper-9 from the Copper System.
- Worker Drones are heavily abused and mistreated by humans, often being improperly disposed of and thrown into landfills.
- JCJenson is aware of the fact their drones have a chance of self rebooting if disposed of incorrectly, dubbing these “Zombie Drones.” This can happen if the drone and their core wasn’t properly disconnected and destroyed, or the software cleanup program “wdOS_606” wasn’t installed or was interrupted or rejected (even up to five years later.) The company is also aware that among these instances, there’s also a chance of the drone developing “Hazardous Mutations.”
- Camp 98.7 is established in the year 3002 on Copper-9.
Humanity’s Downfall:
Year still unknown, but still in the 31st Century
-Underneath a landfill of discarded drones on Earth, presumably in Australia, a drone with a P/N starting with “CYN” self reboots. A so called program named the “Absolute Solver” seemingly contacts her through her broken visor and appears to make a deal with her, promising not to “discard her.” This is how the Solver gets its first host. It’s not known if the Solver took complete control there or if Cyn’s possession was a process.
- The landfill is close by to the mansion of a wealthy human family known as the Elliotts. Their daughter “Tessa James Elliott” enjoys retrieving discarded drones from the landfill so she can repair them. These drones become part of the manor’s wait staff, but Tessa treats them like people and as her friends, even giving them wigs so they can have identifying traits — much to the annoyance of her parents.
- Among the drones Tessa has brought home three are known as N, V, and J due to their serial designation numbers visible on their yellow armbands. It can be noted that it seems Tessa scratched out the “Marked For Disassembly” on the bands with sharpie after she repaired them.
- One day Tessa finds Cyn in the dump and brings her home. She introduces her to N, V, and J shortly after.
- N treats Cyn kindly, and she refers to him as her big brother.
- An unknown amount of time passes and eventually Tessa seems to become unnerved around Cyn due to the drone’s odd behaviour and mannerisms. J often locks Cyn in the library basement because of this.
- Many of Tessa’s drones seem to mysteriously contract some sort of error which leaves them in a catatonic state with their visors flashing a large yellow X alongside the words “error 606” (note that 606 matches the software cleanup program’s name of wdOS_606.) Because of this they are placed into the library. One of these drones is V, who N regularly visits so he can try and talk to her and read to her.
- The Elliotts’s decide to throw a gala at their manor alongside another family called the Frumptlebuckets (lol.) An interesting observation is that these wealthy humans (or at least those in the Elliott’s social circle) apparently like to dress up and act similar to those from around the Victorian era.
- Cyn escapes from the basement and convinces N to attend the gala, so they head to the ballroom to ask Tessa. This ends up leading to an altercation with Tessa’s mother Louisa where she orders Tessa to dump Cyn and all of her other “broken” drones in the library back into the landfill.
- Cyn talks back to Louisa, but N takes the fall for her and ends up being chained outside next to a dead drone that had been picked apart by a flock of crows. Meanwhile, Tessa has been chained up in her bedroom alongside J and Cyn as punishment. This, alongside an earlier scene where she seemingly rubs her wrist in pain implies this happens fairly often to her and highlights that her parents are abusive.
- Tessa berates Cyn for N taking the blame for her, angered that N may end up dead. However, Cyn seems indifferent and calmly claims she has “backups” of N.
- Cyn transforms into her horrific eldritch Solver form and claims Tessa won’t have to “discard her pets” and that she won’t discard her either. She leaves out the window after warning Tessa to stay away from the gala due to her seeming squeamish, revealing her intent to massacre the humans.
- Wanting to save everyone from being killed, Tessa gets J to break their chains and the two of them sneak out and arm themselves with a revolver and sword respectively. Despite this, after they arrive everyone is massacred anyways thanks to Cyn/the Solver corrupting the other Worker Drones, including J, who shuts the door so Tessa can’t escape.
- It’s assumed N escapes being killed by the crows and walks in on Cyn slaughtering the humans at the gala due to a brief flashback of him seeing Cyn eating a human hand (when he touches the Zombie Drones VHS tape.)
- Tessa is killed, and in a twisted way of sticking to her word of not discarding her, Cyn skins her corpse to graft it onto her drone body. (Due to an image of humans in hazmat suits finding Tessa surrounded by the remains of the people from the gala, it’s not fully known if Cyn also killed her at the gala and then posed as her, or if she was killed shortly afterwards.)
- Cyn converts the drones from the manor, including N, V, and J into deadly “Disassembly Drones.” They are given a “nerfed” version of the Solver that Cyn has admin access over to better remain control over them. Their memories are erased before setting them loose to slaughter the rest of the humans on Earth. Sometime after, the Solver causes the planet to implode into a black hole.
- The other colonies on the human exoplanets catch wind of what’s happened back on Earth, so JCJenson establishes “Cabin Fever Labs” to research the Solver and how to stop it.
- One of these labs is established on Copper-9 at Camp 98.7 and its surrounding mineshafts (and a cathedral that was there for some reason.) Multiple drones are purposely given the Solver, notably Nori (002) and Yeva (048.)
- The other exoplanets of the Proxima and Plat-Binary systems are corrupted and wiped out due to the Solver spreading and the Disassembly Drones presumably being sicced there.
- Nori ends up becoming possessed by the Solver. Eventually the JCJenson scientists on Copper-9 are able to create a Crucifix USB patch that can get rid of the Solver’s hold on its hosts. This patch is seemingly only successfully used on Yeva. Unfortunately, before it can be used on Nori, the Solver uses her to kill all the scientists except for an intern named Mitchell who had mistakenly put on the wrong uniform of a doctor and had been sent to fetch Yeva.
- Before the Solver can kill Mitchell after he returns, Yeva saves him and throws the USB into Nori’s face which frees her from its control, but also leaves her mind scrambled. However, the Solver is still able to create a small black hole with Nori’s hand that Yeva is forced to cut off. It’s sent falling into a pit to the planet’s core that the Solver had opened up prior.
- Copper-9’s planetary core partly implodes which wipes all organic life off the planet and turns it into a frozen wasteland. (Don’t worry. The dogs had been evacuated beforehand.) It seems a group of humans tried to survive by cryogenically freezing themselves in a bunker called “Outpost 3” in one of Copper-9’s cities. This didn’t work due to the computer having an error. This leaves the Worker Drones to inherit the planet and embrace their freedom.
Aftermath:
Year still unknown
- Nori and Yeva escape Cabin Fever Labs, while other test subjects such as Alice (017) are left behind to try and survive the lab’s Anti Drone sentinels. Nori meets a drone named Khan Doorman and ends up marrying him while Yeva also finds herself a husband.
- Uzi Doorman and Doll are created by their parents uploading parts of their code into Untrained Neural Networks and they both inherit their mothers’ connections to the Solver.
- The Doorman family experiences moments of happy family memories until Nori begins to have “kooky insane” ramblings and visions about the Solver and Disassembly Drones which she refers to as “Sky Demons” as a result of her brain being scrambled from the USB patch.
- Nori tries to warn the other drones and tells Khan to build doors to shelter themselves from the upcoming dangers.
Return of the Solver:
Sometime before the year 3071
- Cyn/The Solver sends squads of Disassembly Drones to Copper-9. Their memories are wiped and they are made to believe they were created and sent by the humans of JCJenson to eliminate the rogue Worker Drone population. Their directive also involves piling their kills into a “Corpse Spire” and locating Cabin Fever Labs. Cyn also wants to kill all other Solver hosts for an unknown reason.
- The squad consisting of N, V, and J lands close to the bunker of Outpost 3 and begin killing any Worker Drones they come across.
- V is seemingly the only Disassembly Drone that has retained some memory of Cyn and the Solver. She keeps this to herself and follows her directive so Cyn will leave her alone. Additionally, she also pretends to forget about N, believing this will protect him.
- A colony of Worker Drones takes shelter in Outpost 3 where Khan starts to build protective doors like his wife had requested. Around this time Nori is stung with a Disassembly Drone’s nanite acid. Khan uses a wrench to put her out of her misery. However, unbeknownst to anyone else, Nori manages to survive in her Solver core/heart form and goes back to Cabin Fever Labs so she can look for the Crucifix USB Patch.
- V kills Doll’s parents. Doll witnesses this while hiding and the trauma seemingly causes her Solver abilities to begin manifesting.
- The “Worker Drone Defence Force” is established in Outpost 3 with Khan as the leader. Unfortunately, they don’t really try to defend anything and just play cards behind the doors.
- The other Disassembly Drone squads that make it to Cabin Fever Labs are killed by either the Sentinels or Alice and (presumably) her son Beau. Alice scavenges parts from Disassembly Drones and Worker Drones to add to herself and Beau since he is stuck in an Untrained Neural Network body. She also learns to put the Solver cores in heat as it “makes them sluggish.”
Year 3071
- The events of episodes 1 - 7 occur
• Recent Revelation: At the end of episode 3 Cyn arrives on Copper-9 impersonating an older Tessa. She is accompanied by a backed up copy of J who was previously killed by Uzi in episode 1. It’s currently unknown if J is aware that Tessa is actually dead.
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oldshrewsburyian · 10 months
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I love this ask! A Persuasion Campus novel please. (Must go lie down at the thought of Ciarán Hinds as a college professor.)
So, to address your parenthetical first: you've seen Circle of Friends, right? I didn't love it, and his role, iirc, is not sympathetic; however:
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The academic gown over the three-piece suit is just gratuitous. AHEM. A Jane Austen campus novel AU is tricky, I think, because I have to undo most if not all of the family relationships in favor of other connective nexuses (nexes? nexii? help). Here goes. I might have spent too much time thinking about this over my morning tea.
Sir Walter Elliott is, inevitably, the college president. He's photogenic. He loves uttering empty and incorrect platitudes about his own achievements. He loves schmoozing with important people. Unfortunately, he's perfect for the job.
The Admiral and Sophy have been at the university for ages, and the Admiral loves to tell the story about how he was her spousal hire in 1987, not the other way around.
Elizabeth is using family money to take a never-ending PhD in fashion history. She's always weirdly vague about her project, and finds a way not to participate in chapter exchanges. Rumor says that it's Sir Walter's influence keeping her from being kicked out.
Mary took an M.A., married money, and has been (dis)contentedly living on the UWS ever since. It's not quite true to say that she's never looked back. She visits colloquia and other open department functions with a depressing persistency, and appears not to notice that this is sometimes awkward for people who are united by their passion for a subject in which she never excelled.
Louisa and Henrietta are grad students, and remarkably carefree with it. Somehow their work does, in fact, get done.
Harville is, I think, Wentworth's sailing club buddy.
Mr. Elliott will be a smarmy visiting academic at another area institution. Unfortunately, I know his type. Eventually it will come out that he's eternally "visiting" because of a plagiarism scandal in his past.
Lady Russell is, of course, Anne's PhD supervisor. Who else would be in loco parentis and giving prudent and unwelcome advice?
Anne administers the interdisciplinary center in eighteenth-century studies. While she is several decades younger than those who usually take on such jobs, this works out well for several reasons. She has a head for detail, and is conscientious to a fault. Also, the faculty are (almost) all extremely fond of her, and the importance of this in getting academics to comply with bureaucratic necessities cannot be overstated. She's an alum of the program, and did finish her PhD. Lady Russell still sometimes sighs, a little too audibly, when she sees her erstwhile star student being competent in the front office. But care-taking duties during her mother's long illness meant that Anne's progress through the degree was slow, and international conference travel to boost her reputation didn't happen. The job market, with its precarity and long-distance upheavals, didn't either. So here is Anne, still in the department. Anne herself may not have the career or the life she dreamed of, but she has employment and health insurance, which is more than many recent PhDs can say. She sings in a choir. She tells herself that she has a good life.
Frederick Wentworth was Sophy's student. (I will miss her big sister energy, but a PhD supervisor also has the lifelong privilege of dragging you and telling you to get your life together, so here we are.) Lady Russell thought he was always going to burn out. Sure, he looked good on paper: a bright scholarship student from a state school in the fields of nowhere. But his project, studying contested empire and constructions of masculinity in the Atlantic world using network analysis, was always too ambitious. Until it wasn't.
With several fellowships, a postdoc, and a visiting position at a SLAC behind him -- the OUP monograph is in press -- Frederick Wentworth is back. Lady Russell wasn't on the search committee. But not only is Frederick Wentworth competent to teach the gender studies courses the department wants and the survey courses the university wants, he is also willing to take on the military history courses that the jocks want. "Thank God," says Sophy bluntly, once he's accepted the offer, "I won't have to read their opinions of my haircut in the student evals anymore." Also, there's that OUP monograph. No one quite says out loud that they have in their midst that rarest of creatures, the photogenic male historian who actually is a historian. But the consciousness runs through the halls like a current. This, for the department, could be a beginning.
For Anne, it is something else. It's not that they dated, exactly. It was never that formal, or that limited. Only in retrospect, really, did she realize that it was odd to spend an entire day walking around looking at architecture, or to end up with intertwined ankles on a museum bench, or to cook freely in each other's kitchens, before having an understanding. The understanding came. It was a November night, and they were sitting on a bench in Riverside Park, and she didn't feel the cold. They had agreed that they'd go on the job market together. They would read each other's applications the way they read each other's dissertation chapters. And they'd move to wherever one of them got a tenure-track job first. And then everything fell apart. Anne still thinks that Dr. Russell was right, that it wouldn't have been fair to hold him. More, she thinks that she herself could not have borne to lose what they had in a slow death of long-distance phone calls, too-brief visits, awkward negotiations of what they could and could not expect. Better to be sensible. Better to make a clean break while they were still young, still resilient. But she has never felt resilient. And now Frederick Wentworth is back.
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ellenembee · 2 years
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I agree with all the posts out there talking about the Persuasion "adaptation's" character assassination. From what we can see (though I fully admit trailers aren't always true to the movie), Anne is not the calm, reserved, rational, reliable, sensible, and above all self possessed woman of the books, but rather some kind of modern construct built from Austen's more popular women like Lizzie and Emma. (In reality, Anne, Elinor, and Fanny Price would be on a blanket sipping tea while Lizzie, Emma, Catherine, and Marianne were off vexing men and making trouble.)
One thing I haven't seen mentioned, though, is that from the context of the times, Anne was not just being swayed because she valued her family's continued support and Lady Russell's opinion, but because Lady Russell's concerns were real and frightening. Marrying Wentworth *before* he made his fortune was an *incredible* risk to her safety and wellbeing. Throughout the book, we see countless manifestations of "what if" scenarios:
Mr. Elliott as an example of how she likely would've been disowned by her family if she'd married Frederick anyway
Anne's old school friend Mrs. Smith as an example of her life if she'd married anyway, been disowned, and Frederick had died or become injured enough to not be able to properly support her
Benwick and Fanny Harville as an example of what might have happened if she'd kept the engagement but agreed not to marry him until he'd made enough to support them
Her sister Mary's comfortable life as an example of what she might have had if she'd said yes to Charles Musgrove.
Louisa Musgrove as an example of how Anne might have acted if she'd been less risk averse and less prudent in her youth.
You can argue the validity of Anne's situation compared to these manifestations (likely Lady Russell would have risked angering Sir Elliott and taken Anne in with the idea of an eventual reconciliation), but there are countless other examples throughout the book. They are meant to reinforce the point that Anne is reconciled to her own actions, much as she might regret them.
This is not a book where Anne blames herself or her family. She did the "right" thing by breaking it off with Frederick. She just now wishes with her whole being that she hadn't done the "right" thing.
"... but Anne, at seven-and-twenty, thought very differently from what she had been made to think at nineteen. She did not blame Lady Russell, she did not blame herself for having been guided by her ... She was persuaded that under every disadvantage of disapprobation at home, and every anxiety attending his profession, all their probable fears, delays, and disappointments, she should yet have been a happier woman in maintaining the engagement than she had been in the sacrifice of it."
And later, to Frederick:
"If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk."
In hindsight, she sees all the risks and all the examples of her possible life choices, and thinks now it would have been worth the pain and risk. To be disappointed by fate would have been far better than the constant estrangement from the man she has loved for eight years.
Anne sees all the possibilities of how her life might have played out in the people around her, and she accepts it.
And the best part is that Frederick acknowledges that Anne was right to be cautious.
"He had imagined himself indifferent, when he had only been angry, and he had been unjust to her merits, because he had been a sufferer from them ... He had learnt to distinguish between the steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self-will, between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind ...
Fredrick knew he'd been resentful and proud. And he owns up to his mistake of thinking ill of her for so long. He admits he was his own worst enemy when it came to his happiness with Anne. And Anne reinforces this with her words to him near the end:
I have been thinking over the past ... and I must believe that I was right, much as I suffered from it, that I was perfectly right in being guided by [Lady Russell] ... Do not mistake me, however. I am not saying that she did not err in her advice. It was, perhaps, one of those cases in which advice is good or bad only as the event decides ...
Anne is calm. She follows her conscience. She is sensible and, yes, resolute when she needs to be. She's amazing as she is and doesn't need to be made into something she's not.
She is appealing because of who she is, and it's also why she's my favorite Austen woman. To divorce Anne of these things is to create a new character and inherently alter the story.
So call it something else. Say it's "inspired by" Persuasion if you want. But don't pretend that you can alter the main character's very personality and still call it Persuasion.
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glitchylaptop · 3 months
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I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this but
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This character somehow reminds me of and seems like the ghost version of Louisa Elliott from murder drones
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fishesmaniack · 1 month
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I am so close to making a "Cyn: most misunderstood character" video my goodness. Not good at making videos so probably won't but going to write all my notes here.
Personally I have no idea how the line "they are not broken, we can no longer be thrown out." can't be Cyn's real personality, that doesn't feel like something that the Absolute Solver would care about.
Like it's a program to fix broken worker drones, having more material to fix said discarded robots would be a win win for it so that line feels personal with Cyn and something I don't think Solver would say. Also the start of it feels more personal as she is standing up for both N and Jay not just herself.
Then a line I hear a lot of people bring up is the "I have backups" when Tessa is worried about N dying outside from the crows. People use this as a way to say she never really cared all that much about N which could very well be true but I feel like waking up in piles upon piles of robot corpses and then seeing both James Elliott and Louisa Elliott treating their drones as disposable probably makes her dissociate when it comes to drone death. Also this could be a Solver line instead of a Cyn one if there's a duo/fused personality thing going on because the "bakeups" very clearly is the Solver doing what it was made to do and rebuild N although with there being parts of J and V even if we seen other drones working at the mansion meaning that in some way, Cyn/Solver values them.
The last line I want to talk about is really just one I really like, the whole "you will not have to discard your pets and I will not discard you." which is saying Cyn/Solver was planning to kill Tessa's folks so the problem of N, Jay, V, and her being discarded will be gone and the ending part "Best stay away from the gala, you seem squeamish." is making it even more clear what she's planning to do although the line about her not discarding her is far more important as it is pretty much saying that if she doesn't interfere then she'll be spared.
All and all Cyn is very hard character to understand but I feel like she's a lot more nuanced than just a one note villain. Also as a side note, deadass cringe when people say "she clearly has feelings for N" (quoting/paraphrasing Cartoon Universe) because like no, found family is a thing and her seeing him as a brother is just fine so I don't know why people are acting like it's anything more.
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yellowjacketslesbian · 3 months
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5 songs + a questionnaire!!!
thank you @majesticdirewolf for tagging me!
5 songs:
(I chose the 5 songs that I've been listening to the most lately)
soft - babygirl
softly - clairo
I can't get my head around you - billie marten
true blue - boygenius
say yes - elliott smith
Questions:
3 Ships: taivan (yellowjackets), jesslupe (aloto), & leighton x alicia (slcg)
First Ever Ship: I can't really remember, it was either rory x paris (gilmore girls), bella x alice (twilight), stalex (wizards of waverly place), kat x patrick (10 things I hate about you), or jori (victorious)
Last Song You Heard: first time by hozier
Favorite Childhood Book: little women by louisa may alcott (jo march should've been a lesbian)
Currently Reading: carmilla by sheridan le fanu (fic research), the locked tomb series (fiction), and gender trouble by judith butler (nonfiction / theory)
Currently Watching: lost girl (I hadn't heard of it until like a month ago)
Currently Craving: chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
Taglist: @transpidergwen @lavendersnakee @xaymacafemme @thereisnowyou @harundraws
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mdoccallcenter · 5 months
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Meet The Crew
So, here are all of my Murder Drone OCs for this blog
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Kate: You may ask her about her adoptive siblings or maybe you could get to know more about her past
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Cyra: You may ask her questions about solver drones or any questions relating to her adoptive family
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Nora: You may ask her Nuzi/Biscuitbites related questions or questions relating to her friends
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Juliet: Pretty much the same as Nora but Oilrose
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Daisy: Same as Nora and Julie but Doll x Lizzy/Dizzy
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Serial Designation K: You may ask her things about disassembly drones or perhaps some things about her past when she used to be a maid at the mansion
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Lucy: You may ask her any questions that her other friends cannot answer
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Katra Louisa Elliott: The only human in the cast, you may ask her about her past In Elliott manor with K and how they both ended up on Cooper 9 after escaping the manor when Cyn massacred the gala in episode five
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Cyanna: You may ask her things about her “mother” Cyn and her creation
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How It Works
The ask pretty much come in the form of a call to the characters and they answer your calls (major inspiration from @tadcccallmyocs ran by @know-it-all-and-all)
I may draw their responses whenever I can make the time for it
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withered--s0uls · 26 days
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I'm working on "Blood & Bats" and that includes surnames and characters races and Ethnical backgrounds.
Send me your Race & Ethnicity hcs as well as surname ideas for the MD characters please? (This includes side characters like Uzis class & Ron!! Please send those!!!)
Disclaimer: the story doesn't take place on earth. The generation of the parents & grandparents are moved to Copper-9 due to overpopulation. In this AU C-9 never had an exploded core and is still inhabited by organic life. This is for their families backgrounds from when they moved from earth & to add some details like cultural foods in the narrative
So far in the AU I settled on the following;
Doorman Family:
Uzi - Blasian (see parents for specifics, you can't talk me out of making her Blasian bc I love that common hc)
Nori - Filipino, Japanese
Khan - Black or Blasian, undecided (The name Khan is a Turko-Mongol surname [apparently not commonly used as first name], so I might have Turkish and/or Mongolian in there. But it's also commonly found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Iran. So I'm unsure what to go for)
Dolls Family stays Russian, needs a Surname
Elliott family:
Tessa, James & Louisa stay Australian
N & Cyn - British
V - Dutch
J - mixed, undecided
Teacher-Family (need Surname):
Thad - Filipino (Teachers Step Son)
Ron - Filipino (Thads maternal uncle)
Lizzy - either fully Filipino or mixed (Thad's half sister)
Teacher - either Filipino or smth else
???, deceased (Thad & Lizzys mom) - Filipino
Need help for pretty much anyone else and anything I listed needing help with here.
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friedap · 1 year
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Review: You should be watching Rational Creatures.
Persuasion has always been my favorite novel by Jane Austen. Sadly, there was no Persuasion in the wave of YouTube modern adaptations that started a decade ago with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Not only did adaptions of Emma (Approved) follow, there were two adaptations of Northanger Abbey (Northbound and The Cate Moreland Chronicles) and an attempt at the unfinished Sanditon, well before it became a PBS series. Mansfield Park became From Mansfield With Love, the very best adaption of Austen’s least popular novel. I kept thinking Persuasion would be next. But after a few years, the YouTube literary adaptation had lost its bloom.
Rational Creatures  debuted in 2019. Its slightly minimalist aesthetic beautifully captures the tight plotting and the melancholy tone of the original novel. The short episodes sometimes feature more meaningful glances underscored with music than actual dialogue. The series is shot as a film rather than a vlog. This makes it possible to more subtly suggest the inner lives of Ana Elías (a Latina Anne Elliott) and Fred Wentworth, who fell in love as teenagers but parted badly. She went to college, he became a famous travel blogger. Ana’s high school YouTube videos provide flashbacks of their relationship and feel appropriately old-fashioned.
The changes to adapt Persuasion to modern times are deftly handled, and the acting across the cast is uniformly compelling. The circle of friends that Fred returns to after many years of travel is queer and bisexual, and thus genders of characters have been changed. Louisa Musgrove is Louis, and Ana’s sister is married, but to a wife not a husband. Missing characters and other details from the novel show up in stray references, inside jokes for those familiar with the original source material. The writing for the remaining characters is perhaps kinder to them than Austen’s often biting satire, though without them losing their core features. Louis, in particular, has a notable new depth as does Ben (Captain Benwick). Fred is not simply a modern version of Austen’s conquering naval hero. He is someone who has traveled the world but finds himself strangely stuck and unhappy. It’s heartening that Ana is not the only one with lingering feelings from their ended relationship and a sense that her life is not going anywhere.
The first season of Rational Creatures had thousands of viewers. Although crowd funding subsidized season two, the pandemic hit, making production impossible. Three long years later, the series has resumed, like Anne and Captain Wentworth’s relationship, finally fulfilling its original promise. Yet sadly, while Netflix’s ridiculously terrible Persuasion generated international attention, a smaller number of viewers are enjoying seeing the YouTube rendition play out. I imagine that they, like the makers of Rational Creatures, are the best company: clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation. You should join them.
Creators of Rational Creatures: Ayelen Barrios Ruiz Pagano, Hazel Jeffs, Jessamyn Leigh, and Anya Steiner.
Above: Ben (Benjamin Mills) and Louis (Derek Quesada); Ana (Kristina Pupo) and Fred (Peter Giessl).
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weaponproficiencies · 4 months
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Miss Elliott as Circe - Daniel Gardner (c. 1778)
Mrs Nesbitt as Circe - Joshua Reynolds (1781)
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Lady Hamilton as Circe - George Romney (c. 1782)
Circe (Kate Keown) - Julia Margaret Cameron (1865)
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Geneviève Vix in costume as Circe - Lèopold Reutlinger (c. 1907)
Circe - Beatrice Offor (1911)
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Tilla Durieux as Circe - Franz Von Stuck (c. 1913)
Circe and the Sirens - Edmond Brock (1925) Edith Chaplin, Marchioness of Londonderry, and Her Three Youngest Daughters
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Miss Audrey Stevenson as Circe - Mary Cecil Allen (1930)
Lady Alexandra Henrietta Louisa Haig as Circe - Madame Yevonde (1935)
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rhodeybugg · 10 months
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//LOCAL DEER FINALLY GETS THEIR BUTT IN GEAR AND STARTS WRITING.
Before The Dawn: Chapter 1; Repose.
J was the first. She had been with Tessa from the start.
"James?"
Lousia called out into the hallways of the manor, clutching her robe around her shoulders as she cautiously roamed the dimly lit halls of the manor.
The lightning dancing in the night sky had awoken her first.
Realizing that her husband was no longer in bed with her was what snapped her awake and brought panic.
A thought snapped into her mind as another streak of lightning illuminated bits of the carpet in the hallway before her.
Tessa.
Her room was a mere few doors down from the master room she and James shared. If she had been awoken by the storm, her parents would have been able to hear her cries.
And Louisa's heart dropped when she realized that Tessa wasn't crying.
"JAMES! WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE Y-"
She stopped just shy of Tessa's bedroom door, focusing on listening to the gentle noise coming from her daughter's room over the fierce winds and rain tapping against the roof and windows.
"Fall asleep and forget all your troubles
Dream of laughter and old friends and lovers.."
James was standing in the middle of Tessa's room, cradling the infant, holding her close while he swayed and quietly hummed. She could make out the form of a worker drone, still asleep at the side of Tessa's crib. Tessa, who had been lulled to sleep by her father's voice and rocking, lay snuggled up in his arms, one of her small hands holding on tightly to his shirt sleeve
It took him a moment to notice her silently leaning against the doorframe, a tired, but loving smile greeting him.
"Is she alright?"
Louisa tilted her head to see Tessa better, lowering her voice so as not to wake the child as she moved to be at James' side.
He nodded.
"She just got a little scared."
"You scared me." She crossed her arms, trying to hide her smile- and failing, as he leaned over to kiss her temple.
"I didn't want to wake you."
James carefully re-adjusted the sleeping infant in his arms, keeping her close as he took slow steps towards the crib, making every effort not to re-awaken his sleeping daughter as he lowered her back into her bed, continuing to speak to his wife.
"You've been stressed enough about her lately. You need to rest as well."
"I'm her mother." Louisa countered.
"It's my job to worry about her."
"And I'm your husband." James turned around, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her into a gentle kiss.
She hummed, laying her head against his chest as he pulled away, reaching down to take her soft hands in his own, both standing quietly for a moment.
"She'll be alright."
He reassured her, allowing Louisa to watch over Tessa for a moment, making sure that she was, indeed, sound asleep again and comfortable.
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-
J's head raised as she heard the quiet creaking of the door, looking over to see that it had been returned to it's half-closed state as Mr and Mrs. Elliott left to return to their own room.
She took a moment to stretch, feeling her metal joints pop into place as her mind booted up from her earlier slumber, curiously peeking over the side of the crib.
She wondered what the small human had dreams about. She wondered if she was really comfortable laying on her back with her arms swaddled at her sides- if she felt safer that way, or if her tiny limbs being restricted made her feel scared.
This was her human.
James had picked her out specifically to act as a guard for the infant, and that she did.
Wherever they took her in the manor, J followed. Whenever Tessa slept, J stayed awake, watching over her and her surroundings, making sure nothing stood even the slightest chance of hurting her.
And as the thunder continued to shake the manor every few minutes, she decided she needed to be closer- to keep Tessa safe, to keep her comfortable.
The sleeping child winced in her sleep at a particularly loud crack of thunder, reinforcing the worker drone's thoughts.
Physical touch usually brings comfort to humans, right?
She was careful as she crawled into the bed beside her, making sure not to accidentally injure or wake Tessa as she slept, curling herself around the tiny human and laying her head at Tessa's side, happily sighing.
J closed her eyes as Tessa's little hand reached out in her sleep to grab a lock of her synthetic hair, arm relaxing, but keeping a gentle grip.
She didn't mind. J knew she meant no harm.
She didn't exactly plan on going anywhere soon, anyway.
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mixed-up-multiverse · 9 months
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@disassnbler plotted starter.
Elliott manor, 1:21 AM.
That must have been one heck of a party last night.
One or two of the other drones they worked with were lucky to sneak a few glances through the door cracks... At this party there was a lot of talking about how happy the Elliotts were for their latest most successful... whatever, V had not been around for most of their mentions of what they did. All she knew was that she was just one of their dogs that they got from the dumpster. One of the ones that little Tessa was shamed for all for the oh-so horrible crime of liking their company.
But we're getting off track.
The party had apparently been a big one, with lots of talking and drinking and what seemed to be the result of a few fights because some of the party-goers were so inebriated. What was it that the humans drank that made them act like they had computer viruses? It was scary to think about, but not as scary as what some of them would do to some drones with their fists and utensils. V even got flashbacks to what had happened to poor Evenlyn when Lord Frumptlebucket had so many glasses of... uhh... "whisk-keys"...?
By now, the humans were asleep. And she remembered her task given to her and her friend N by Miss Louisa from a few hours ago; "Clean up this mess before I wake up, or there will be hell to pay". Even though it was hours ago, those words echoed through V's head as she felt the dents and scratches and scars on her chassis. Some of them had come from Louisa, while others were from the other humans. But it still felt like they'd happened only yesterday...
Right now, the worker drone was on the floor with a dustpan and a broom, sweeping up some glass pieces. She felt that getting rid of those would be best, considering how humans get cut easily on them. She straightened the dustpan slightly to keep the broken bits from sliding off as she slowly got up after finishing sweeping them up.
As she got up, she took note of the CD Player on the chair next to her, right by where the glass was. She'd heard a few tunes from it before, some of which she liked, but sometimes didn't have time to stay and truly listen to them for very long.
...Maybe that could be different.
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"..." Her temptation beginning to take hold, V placed the dustpan down and reached a single metal hand towards the player, hoping to turn it on and maybe see if she could get it to play one of those really nice songs...
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