HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES 4.03 'A Star Is Reborn' | DAWSON'S CREEK 3.22 'The Anti-Prom'

angst fic where ravenclaw!reader has thalassophobia and is playing with the water by the shore in the dark lake with the necklace draco gave her before they broke up a few years back when the new girl he’s been going out with throws the necklace into the middle of the lake in spite, and the reader cannot afford to lose it djeiwis sorry if it’s messy u dont have to do it ure uncomfyyy

Prompts:

If you die, I’m going to kill you.

Jump In || Draco Malfoy

Requested: Yes Pairing: Draco Malfoy x fem!reader Warnings: ANGST, a bit of swearing, panic attacks and thalassophobia mentioned. Summary: Years after breaking up with Draco you find that the last gift he gave you is still the only thing comforting you, and his new girlfriend doesn’t like that.

WORDS : 3546

Gleaming, twinkling Eyes like sinking ships on waters So inviting, I almost jump in

The crescent moon outside begs for your company and you oblige, preferring to be alone than stuck in a room full of people who pity you. You lift the bottom half of your dress from the ground and sneak out of the ballroom nonchalantly, anxiety dissipating as the soft breeze comes in contact with your face.

The sound of your heels clacking against the cobblestone fills the air as you walk toward the boardwalk hanging above the lake, and it reminds you of a time when Draco would bring you down here. The lake behind the Malfoy Manor has always been subject to your fear, and you rarely ever go toward it, but tonight you’ll do almost anything to feel alone and normal for once.

The tiny ripples forming on the surface send shivers running down your spine and you look up at the sky immediately in an attempt to subdue your anxiety. A few meters away lies the ballroom, full of dignitaries and old family friends of the Malfoy’s who attend their annually ball every time without fail, and you can hear the faint sound of laughter mixed with a beautiful crescendo. You shut your eyes, take a deep breath and drag your fingers up to your neck to toy with necklace lying around it, as you try to imagine that you’re anywhere else.

You’d thought that it would be easier, coming to the ball and seeing him with his new girlfriend, but it had proved to be a bigger challenge than you’d anticipated, and residual feelings that you’d been trying to stuff down for months had resurfaced like anchors being pulled up from the bottom of the sea. It reminded you of what he said that day, “I’m yours forever, even if you’re not mine.”, and the only thing that stopped you from running back into his arms was the chain hanging around your neck.

A silver chain with a midnight blue sapphire dangling on its end, worth one of your arms and a gift from the blond himself. He had given it to you as a promise, one to love you till the sun stopped rising, and at the time you had thought that it was the perfect gesture. But reality hit and you soon realized that a life with Draco Malfoy would be one filled with envy and uneasiness, and you knew then that you both deserved more.

The necklace’s monetary value reminds you that Draco belongs to a long and esteemed family line which demands attention that you cannot cope with. But the fact that it had been his proclamation of love reminds you that in order for you both to lead happy lives, you must be apart. The way it gleams beneath Chandeliers is so captivating that it always brings you back to earth; a life with Draco is inviting, but some invitations mustn’t be accepted.

But I don't like a gold rush, gold rush I don't like anticipating my face in a red flush I don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch Everybody wants you Everybody wonders what it would be like to love you

All eyes instantly fell on him the second that he appeared; sporting that notorious smile which always brought people to their knees, and a priceless suit that hugged his figure so well it made all the straight men positively envious. A true Malfoy; charming, rich, attractive, easily the whole package. You didn’t get a chance to speak with him because he was instantly preoccupied with the ramblings of his mother as she dragged him around the room with pride, showing off the son that she’d done such a good job at raising.

Draco’s life had always been politics and he’d been raised to invariably stand tall, look presentable, get good grades, converse well. You watched him in awe every time, admiring the grace and ease with which he conducted himself. But it made you wonder when he’d been taught the art of letting the spotlight go, to focus all of his attention on the one he loves instead of the search for approval. And the answer was that he hadn’t, Draco never grew out of the desire to have everyone’s praise and approval.

‘If everyone loves you, if everyone wants to either be you or be with you, then you’ve succeeded.’ He’d told you late one night after one these balls. You’d looked at him with pity, not having the heart to tell him that love and validation are not synonymous, and you’d hugged him so hard that somehow you both knew it was all coming to an end soon.

He grew up being a magnet to both jealousy and admiration, a symphony of applause being the background track to the movie of his life, and he didn’t know how to live any other way. When all you’ve ever known is lustful stares from fellow peers, stolen glances at the back of your head, and unbridled acclaim masked behind attraction, then it’s hard to put that life behind and settle for the love of only one person.

Walk past, quick brush I don't like slow motion, double vision in rose blush I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush Everybody wants you But I don't like a gold rush

He truly was magnificent though, even you couldn’t deny. Years ago, when he’d walked down the stairs in one of those clad black suits, he had met you at the bottom of the stairwell and you could’ve sworn that you were floating on cloud 9. He had smiled so brightly at the sight of you, had laughed so sweetly in the space of your ear, and fit so tightly into your side like it was a home made only for him, that you were intoxicated on the feeling of him and hadn’t noticed what was happening.

You were falling in love. You weren’t flying, no, you didn’t have wind beneath mystical wings that you’d somehow managed to grow. You were falling, and at a speed so treacherous that you didn’t even realise it was happening until it was too late. One day you were falling, and the next you were ruins buried so far into the ground that you couldn’t even tell where the earth stopped and you started.

Falling in love with him was fast, like a bullet train, but everything after was so slow that you felt as if you weren’t even moving at all.

What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominos I see me padding 'cross your wooden floors With my Eagles t-shirt hanging from the door At dinner parties, I call you out on your contrarian shit And the coastal town we wandered 'round had never seen a love as pure as it And then it fades into the gray of my day old tea 'Cause it could never be

Promises to run away together and start a life somewhere off in a distant town.

Fingertips, laced with the narcotic effect of young love, tracing lines across the expanse of each other’s faces and trying to figure out which of the other’s features would be inherited by your children.

Dreams about a time when your lives would no longer be dictated by the paths your parents had set out for you, but instead by the spontaneity and reassurance that came with endearment.

Tastes of tea replaced instead with the taste of each other as long-forgotten tisanes made home on bedside tables because you both got lost in the haze of tenderness.

Arguments about mundane and useless concepts that would go on for longer than necessary, because he insisted on disagreeing with everything, and always ended with your acute responses.

Lives that had once lacked passion, that had once been so dull they compared to Snape’s drawling, instead replaced with all the colours that the world had to offer.

It was the perfect life, the one you two had planned.

But it was too perfect to ever be real.

You take a deep breath and unhook the necklace to observe it once more, hoping that it’ll provide some comfort for the ache in your chest.

'Cause I don't like a gold rush, gold rush I don't like anticipating my face in a red flush I don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch Everybody wants you Everybody wonders what it would be like to love you Walk past, quick brush I don't like slow motion double vision in rose blush I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush Everybody wants you But I don't like a gold rush

“Y/N.” A voice slurs behind you.

You turn with furrowed eyebrows and roll your eyes when you see who it is, “Pansy.”

“Don’t be rude.” She hisses and hiccups as she stumbles toward you, “What are you doing out here?”

“Could ask you the same thing.” You narrow your eyes at her, “Are you drunk?”

“Just a tad.” She replies as she hiccups again and finally stands before you. You watch silently as she gracefully sits on the wood below her, making sure not to create creases in her dress or fall over in her heels.

“Shouldn’t you be in there? On his arm like a trophy?” You ask, and inwardly groan when you hear how jealous you sound.

“Probably.” She shrugs and looks out into the water. “It doesn’t matter though, I’m not you.”

She looks up and into your eyes, you look away immediately. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to take from that.”

“Yes, you do.” She states bluntly, “He told me why you left him. That was really selfish of you.”

You gasp and turn to look at her, “How dare you? You have no idea-“

“No, actually, I do.” She gets up from the ground swiftly as a fire rages in her eyes, “You think I don’t know what it’s like to be like him? We’re the same, we were practically raised on the same blueprint. Despite what you think, there’s a lot more to the issue than what lays on the surface.”

“Oh and I guess you have all the answers?” You spit out with a scoff.

“I thought Ravenclaws were meant to be smart.” She shakes her head and hiccups as she turns to face the water, “Draco’s entire life has always just been this.” Pansy turns and gestures toward the Manor with a grimace.

“It’s always been about being the best in the room, just so that he can earn five seconds of approval from his parents. But you came, and you showed him more, you gave him a glimpse of what love feels like. Then, because you were scared and couldn’t hack it, you left him.” She continues and you grip the necklace tightly in anger.

“That’s not what happene-“

“How can you possibly expect him to come back to me, to this bullshit, when he’s experienced actual happiness? How is he supposed to come back from you?” She finally turns to face you and you hear a slight crack in her voice with the last words, “I love him so much and if I could make him half as happy as you do then I would.”

“You can.” You breathe out shakily, “If you two try a little more then you’ll realise why it just makes sense.”

“Love isn’t about sense Y/N. It’s not about appearances, it’s not about applause, it’s not about any of the crap that him and I were raised to prioritize.”

“You call it crap but that’s all he knows, and he just isn’t ready to give it all up.”

“Why do you get to decide that for him?” She tilts her head to the side and raises her eyebrows, you look away from her.

“I should probably get back inside.” You mutter as you start to turn toward the manor.

“You’re righ-“ She gasps and you turn to see what’s shocked her, “You still have it?”

“Have what?”

“The necklace.” She points to your hand and you nod awkwardly in agreement, “I helped him pick it out.”

“Oh.”

“A sapphire to match your virtue and faithfulness.” She says absent-mindedly as her eyes lock on the piece of jewellery. “Guess he got that wrong.”

She laughs coldly and you scrunch your face in confusion, “Excuse me?”

“You’re just like the rest of them.” Before you even know what’s happening she’s reached for the necklace in your hand, “You love him until it’s no longer convenient, until the paint starts to chip.”

“That’s not true.” Your voice comes out shaky and lacking conviction, it makes her laugh again in disgust.

“And then who has to pick up the fallen pieces? Me.” She continues to ramble as she walks toward the edge of the boardwalk, you feel your breathing start to pickup as you try to focus on her instead of the lake behind her. “As if I don’t have my own pieces to pick up.”

“Pansy, please just come here so we can talk about this nicely.” You respond and swallow.

“No. You don’t deserve a civil conversation.” She spits out as she finally reaches the edge of the boardwalk and hangs the necklace out by her arm, “In fact, you don’t deserve anything. You don’t deserve his love and you definitely don’t deserve this pendant.”

“No!”

What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominoes My mind turns your life into folklore I can't dare to dream about you anymore

Everything after falling in love with Draco happened in slow motion. You don’t know how, or when, but your life had become a slackening slideshow of bad decisions.

You hold your breath as you watch the necklace fall into the lake. It’s as though minutes, hours, days pass in that moment, but you know that it’s merely a few seconds. When the splash finally sounds, you let out a huge gasp and Pansy laughs as she turns to leave.

Panic sets in and you start to contemplate your options. You could jump in and get it yourself? No, that’s absurd, you’re not going to overcome your fear that easily. You could rush into the manor and find someone who’s willing to get it for you? No, no one would take you seriously.

You shake your head and decide to just do the easiest thing; try and work up the courage to get it yourself. You start to pull off your heels and scrunch up your dress so that you can step into the water and you walk toward the edge of the boardwalk.

But as soon as you’re near the water you realise that you can’t do it and your panic rapidly worsens. You step back a few paces before falling to the ground and pulling your head into your knees as silent sobs begin to shake your core.

Breaths, in rapid beats, are going to and from your lungs as the sound of the water swishing fills your ears. Nausea begins to set in your stomach as you think more and more about your terrible predicament, your fear of bodies of water and your sadness at losing the necklace combining to form one indestructible lump in the pit of your stomach.

“Y/N? Are you out here?” A voice calls out from a yard or two away and you try to recognize it, but everything is foggy in your state of trepidation.

“Shit, Y/N!” The voice calls out once more and you hear footsteps pick up to a run as the person approaches you. “I swear to Merlin, if you die I’m going to kill you!”

You realise that the person still hasn’t noticed you, and is probably assuming the worst, so you try your best to croak out a word- any word.

“Here.” You manage to rasp out between sobs and wheezes, and the person immediately runs toward you.

“Y/N? Are you okay?” They ask as they pull your head out from your knees and you try to nod slowly.

You blink back a few tears and try to focus on the face in front of you, “The- the-“ You try to say and shake your head of the confusion as the words refuse to formulate.

“Hey, breathe princess.”

You recognize the nickname and then soon enough your eyes register that Draco’s kneeling in front of you. “Draco?”

“Yes, it’s me.” He responds softly as he cups your face in his hands and tries to wipe a few of your tears, “Take a few deep breaths for me, yeah?”

You nod and do as told, breathing until you finally calm down and manage to think clearly again. “I’m okay.” You breathe out and he sighs in relief.

“I was so worried, Pansy came in rambling about getting back at you and something about tossing and water- And I was just so scared that she’d thrown you in or something, because I know that you can’t swim and you’re terrified of the lake so I-“

“Hey, slow down, I’m okay. I’m right here.” You respond and manage a weak smile. He nods and sighs again. “She didn’t toss me into the water, though I think she would’ve liked to. She threw in the necklace. Shit! The necklace, it’s still down there!” You exclaim as you try to stand up but find that your legs are asleep, and end up coming back down instantly.

“Calm down. What necklace?”

“The one you gave me, the one with the sapphire that you said was a family heirloom?” You ramble and he furrows his eyebrows.

“You still have that?”

“Yes, I do. And it’s at the bottom of the lake and I need to get it back!” You stand up and Draco immediately does the same, placing his hands on your shoulders to keep you still.

“It’s just a necklace Y/N, you don’t need it.”

“It’s not just a necklace, it’s-“ You pinch your nose and sigh, “It just means a lot to me, okay?”

He narrows his eyebrows but nods in understanding, “Okay.” He steps back from you and pulls off his suit jacket, looking absolutely magnificent with his toned shoulders showing beneath the well-fitted shirt.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to get it for you.” He shrugs and you shake your head.

“You don’t have to, I can figure something out.”

“You tried to figure it out and you had a full on panic attack, I’m the best option.” He says sternly as he looks at you and you nod in agreement, “Now just wait, very far away, and let me find it for you.”

“Thank you.” You call out behind him but he doesn’t respond.

At dinner parties I won't call you out on your contrarian shit And the coastal town we never found will never see a love as pure as it 'Cause it fades into the gray of my day old tea 'Cause it will never be

“Here you go, in perfect condition.” He says as he drops the necklace into your hands and runs a hand through his hair. He looks gorgeous and you look down to avoid getting lost in his eyes.

“Your suit is wet.” You mumble with a sniff and he chuckles, the sound makes your heart race.

“We have magic, I’ll dry up.”

“Thank you.” You whisper as you finally look up at him and he smiles, that same hypnotic smile. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without it.”

“It’s just a necklace Y/N.” He smiles softly and you shake your head as tears begin to stream down your face again.

“No, it’s not just a necklace.” You sniff, “It’s you and I. It’s all that I have left of the love that we had, it’s all that I have left of the life we were going to build together.”

“Y/N.” The sternness in his voice makes you swallow hard, but you pull your hand up to indicate that you’re not done.

“Let me talk, please.” He nods and you continue, “This little gem is all the words that we never had the chance to say. It’s the nights we would’ve spent climbing into bed together, in our little house that’s tucked safely into a small town. It’s the cups of coffee I was going to make you when you woke up in the mornings, and the cups of tea you would’ve made me when we went to sleep. This little gem is the only thing I have to remind me that our love was real.”

“It also doesn’t hurt that it costs a fortune huh?” He asks with a grin, despite the fact that there’s sadness in his eyes, and you nod with a choked out laugh.

“Definitely a bonus.” You say as you laugh a little more and wipe away a few tears.

Draco pulls the necklace out of your hands and opens it to put it around your neck once again, and you turn around so he can put it on. “Look, Y/N, life is too short to fill up with ridiculous mistakes. You left me, like I never mattered to you, and it broke me.”

You turn back around quickly, “That wasn-“

He twists you back around abruptly, “Let me talk now.” You nod and he continues to hook the chain around your neck. “It took me months to decipher what you meant when you said that I had too much love for the spotlight, that I didn’t have the capacity to let it go. It took me months to finally grasp what you meant when you said that people fall at my feet, that my contrarian demeanor is a crowd-puller. And the recognition hurt, a lot, because I realised that you we right about most of it.”

You feel his fingers leave your neck as he places a soft kiss on your shoulder, “What was I wrong about?”

He pulls you back to face him and smiles as he looks down at you, “The only thing you were wrong about was my unwillingness to let it go.” He pulls you into his arms for a hug, and you sigh in his arms.

“You can’t just leave this life Draco, we both know it isn’t that simple.” You muffle into his chest and the vibrations of his chuckles make you smile.

“That’s where you’re wrong angel, I can just leave this life. You never gave me the option but,” You pull apart and he smiles so wide that you think his face might come apart, “I would give it all up, for you.”

Gleaming, twinkling Eyes like sinking ships on waters So inviting, I almost jump in

His eyes are shining as they look down at you with adoration and commitment, and it takes all the strength you have left inside to not pull him back into your arms. He brings his fingers up to the sapphire and rubs his thumb along it.

“It’s not all you have Y/N.” He pulls your chin up so you look him in the eyes, “I’m still right here.”

~~~

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~~~

hi lovies! guess who’s finally feeling good enough to write again! :) we’re going to ignore the fact that the FOOLWAG sequel is beating my ass though

I will not lie, I had a great time writing this, possibly one of my favourite requests by far. I was originally going to make the ending angsty but I figured  @evermoreeve (thx sweetie<3) reminded me that we all deserve a happy ending now and then.

anyway, i love you all,

jean <3

A matter of comfort

This was prompted by the amazing @iamsofternow ! I hope you enjoy! This story involves trans topics. As I’m not trans myself, please tell me if anything I wrote is wrong or could hurt someone! I will change/delete it!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (Warnings: implied body disphoria, trans character written by a non-trans author)

Nines was running just behind Gavin following the fugitive android. He cursed as he should have caught up to the criminal long ago, hadn’t it been for the fugitive’s companion who had nearly ripped his left leg from its socket as he had interfaced to induce stasis for later arrest. Like this, he could only keep up with his human partner that was blocking his sight remaining surprisingly on the optimal path to catch up even with the faster model. Right as they turned the corner though, Nines got a good view of their fugitive, who had turned in just the right way to pull out a pistol from his side. Although the supposed weapon was still masked behind his body, Nines had already pre-constructed the probability of the bullet hitting his partner. So, right when he exited his pre-construction software, he shouted: ‘Gavin! To the left! Now!’

The exact second, he shouted “now” the bang of the pistol being fired echoed through the air and Gavin jumped aside and out of the way. Nines realised three outcomes next: First of all: Gavin would survive. Secondly, the bullet would hit him instead, directly into his thirium pump, causing him to bleed out and overheat in mere seconds. And lastly: His momentary momentum was too high to break or redirect in his weakened and damaged state, causing him to run directly into the railing, tip over it and fall into Detroit River. That didn’t mean he tried to stop that outcome anyways, hoping for that few percent chance the universe would align to save him.

But in the end, it was futile, as he felt his body fall and saw the water rushing closer. All he could do was shutting down before the water would cause him to short-circuit and hope that someone would care enough to fish him out of the river.

-

‘Nines!’ Gavin had jumped to the side as soon as the android had said something and only started running again, as he registered Nines had been shot in his place. He watched as the android stumbled forwards, trying hard to halt before the railing, but even to the human it was obvious he wouldn’t make it with the way his left leg slipped under his weight. He had to watch as the android toppled over, desperately trying to reach for the vertical bars but hands grasping only air. And then he disappeared.

An agonisingly long moment later, Gavin found himself at the very same railing, leaning over and staring down at the splash that was the only evidence Nines hadn’t just simply disappeared into thin air. ‘Nines!’ Could androids swim? Was Nines light enough so it was even possible? Was he even waterproof? How severe had the wound been? Would he survive this? He was short of jumping himself, but held himself back, calling backup instead. He informed them of what had happened, that their fugitive had escaped and was armed. ‘I need a technician here. And… A diver probably. As soon as possible!’

About an hour later, Gavin stood at the side of a scene that could have been finny hadn’t it been his partner: A tow truck had parked at the edge of the pier and pulled up Nines’ motionless body with a wench. A team of technicians as well as a group of the experts that had worked on the sole prototype’s development had gathered around the truck and got to work immediately as soon as the android was lowered to the ground. Multiple cables were hooked up to his neck port while others carefully opened as many compartments manually as they could to let the water out. The partial reactivation half an hour later made Gavin hope for good news, but the technicians shook their heads.

‘What?! What is it?’ ‘He shut down before hitting the water, that’s good. His memory core is likely the best protected part of him, therefore it is still intact. The person you got to know is still there.’ ‘I hear a but coming’, Gavin sighed. ‘Yes. He won’t be able to use this body. The damage is too intense. He will need almost a full body replacement and as he is the only unit ever developed, we can’t just put him in a new one. We will have to contact people that have already resigned if they haven’t fled the city after the revolution. It will take a long time until we are finished rebuilding him.’

Gavin’s face fell. ‘How long are we talking here?’ ‘At least six months. Likely more if we don’t have all the blueprints readily available. Some of it was top-secret and some only Kamski’s AI had access to.’ ‘So effectively, Nines is dead for the next six months, possibly more?’ ‘We will try our best to come up with a solution.’

That was about all of an explanation Gavin got as the technicians carried Nines over to a van, laid him down in the transport area and drove off after leaving their contact details with Fowler, who had only just arrived at the scene. He stood there, answering his Captain’s questions once again and then returned to the precinct where he was supposed to carry on with his job. Because Nines was in repair and taken care of and he would recover eventually. Seemingly only Gavin sat there staring at the empty chair and worrying how the hell he was supposed to continue like this without his partner, a pain in the ass but still by now a person he considered a friend or at least acquaintance, missing for half a year.

-

When Nines stood in front of the station, he felt uncomfortable. Not only because of the attention his unannounced visit would likely cause, but also because of his body. His old clothes stretched in places it hadn’t before, his considerably weaker state compared to his old one was unsettling, and his perspective had changed too. He was looking at the world from a point far lower now. It was an overall weird feeling.

He entered the lobby and walked up to the reception, grimacing as he pulled out his badge and pass. ‘Hello. I’m Detective Nines, I’d like to talk to Fowler.’ He cringed at the high pitch in his voice he couldn’t modulate like he could do with his own. The android behind the counter frowned, so Nines extended his hand – so much smaller and more defined, almost sculpted – for an interface. Soon after, the receptionist smiled at him the next second and let him pass the security gate.

Nines directly marched towards the glass cube of Fowler’s office, ignoring the confused faces of his colleagues. He tried to walk with just as much confidence as he always had, but it was difficult now that he had everyone’s attention. The only reason he wasn’t stopped by any of them was that the receptionist obviously had let him pass and not activated any alarm yet. He sighed, entering the glass cube and waiting for Fowler to get off his phone call. What was nearly immediately happening.

‘Who are you? What are you doing here? Who let you in?’ ‘I’m Nines’, he declared, handing over his badge and service weapon. ‘I think I’ll have some explaining to do.’

-

Gavin had watched the foreign woman walk into the bullpen like it was nothing out of the ordinary. He exchanged glances with Chris and Tina, who both just shrugged and looked back to the reception. But as no one came running after her, they just collectively frowned and waited for what would happen next. At least the woman seemed to know exactly where to go and she headed directly for Fowler’s office. Maybe someone from the higher ups? But she was an android… Not to be racist, but most of them hadn’t yet made it so far up the ladder, even with the new regulations in place. He watched her enter the office and hand an object over, then the glass frosted over for privacy, leaving them wonder but soon getting back to their work.

‘Everyone!’ Gavin’s head lifted up from the paper he was working on to look towards the stairs in front of the glass cube. Fowler was standing next to the woman and Gavin froze. That could only mean… Had they replaced Nines already? He had only been gone for a week and a half. ‘This is Nines. Cyberlife found a way to transfer him into a new body, so he isn’t missing life for half a year. I expect you to treat him the same way you did before and help him to adapt the best he can. Now back to work.’

Gavin always prided himself to be unphased by almost everything. This though? This had his mouth gaping in surprise. And he wasn’t the only one. But of course, the woman – Nines – was approaching their desk already, and he forced himself to stand up and keep his face under control. ‘Nines?’ ‘Yes.’ Gavin had to look really intently to notice it, but the way the woman looked to the ground ashamed or maybe embarrassed had something entirely Nines to it. ‘Yes, it is me.’ ‘Holy shit, it’s nice to see you’re still alive’, Gavin sighed as even considering everything, this had been the most important thing. ‘What- How- They told me it would take over six months!’ ‘Yes, I was informed. My own body will indeed need more time to be repaired. About that time actually. But for the time being, they transferred me into this tracy model.’ ‘A tracy?’ ‘They are the only ones that are compatible with my programming.’ ‘Would have thought they’d put you in a RK800.’ ‘We have a similar architecture, yes. But only Tracies are able to freely download additional data and programs outside of their own… purpose and are the only android model aside from custom ones that allow intense modification. My personality isn’t that extensive, but my military programming is. Therefore, they put me into this body.’ ‘Well, it’s good to have you back’, Gavin stammered. ‘I… I don’t know if I’m so happy about it. Maybe just waiting those months would have been better. At least for me. I wouldn’t have noticed the time.’ ‘Then why didn’t you do that?’ Nines stepped from one foot to the other. ‘I don’t want to miss that much time. And I worried that… That being gone for so long would alter your view of me. Also, someone obviously has to look after your ass on missions like the last one.’ Gavin chuckled at that. ‘Yeah, thanks for that, I… I guess you saved my life.’

They kept standing there awkwardly, unsure what to say or if they should rather be quiet. It was Nines, who spoke up in the end: ‘Should we get back to work? Did you catch the fugitive?’ ‘Hmm? Yeah, sure.’ Both of them sat down and Gavin updated him on their cases, after which they both got back to work. But something kept Gavin looking back at Nines and it wasn’t him trying to adjust the chair to his new hight. ‘Hey, err… you said you don’t know if you are happy about being back… Is there a reason for that?’, he finally asked. Nines looked up. ‘Yes, actually… This might be dumb, I mean androids and genders don’t really make sense, but… I feel weird in this body. I guess it is a matter of adaption, but… If I could, I would love to have my own back. This is… highly uncomfortable.’ ‘Just because of the body or-‘ ‘Gavin, I’m a woman now. For at least the next six months. And I have never been a woman before. This is… alienating.’ Gavin swallowed. ‘I… first of all, others see you as a woman. That’s not necessarily the same as being one. Second-‘ ‘I don’t see a difference there’, Nines interrupted. ‘Okay, as someone to who this really matters: There is a difference. And as I was about to say, I might be able to help you.’ ‘And how’s that?’ Gavin grimaced, looking around to see if anyone heard them. It wasn’t something he considered a secret, but he still had only come out to his closest friends, mostly because it was personal. ‘Well, Nines I haven’t exactly always been considered male myself… Maybe I kinda get how you are feeling at the moment. Just saying I might be able to help you if you want that.’ ‘I…’ Nines looked at him and maybe it was the fact that this new body’s eyes were just as blue as his own, but Gavin could clearly see the surprise and relief on his face. ‘I would appreciate that.’

-

They met on neutral grounds the next weekend with the overall plan to get Nines something comfortable to wear and help him set a few things clear. As Gavin waited on the bench outside the mall, he was playing with his thumbs lost in thought. Yes, okay, he would admit he felt guilty about the whole ordeal. He knew far too well how it could feel being uncomfortable most of the time simply because of existing in a space with others that didn’t see you as you truly were. Being the cause of that was just… Nines had taken a bullet for him and now suffered the consequences. The least he could do now was help where he could and make these six months as comfortable as it could be for the android.

‘Hello, Gavin. So, what’s the plan?’ Gavin jerked up pulled from his thoughts and only then adjusted realising this wasn’t a random woman asking him, this was Nines. ‘Err… Hi. Yeah, err, I thought to get some clothes for you? But I don’t know what will help you. What bothers you the most?’ ‘I don’t really know’, Nines shrugged. ‘I’m just… bothered? What was the first thing you changed?’ Gavin cleared his throat, breaking eye contact. ‘I… Well, I changed pronouns. Told them I would like to be addressed as a he, not a she. Then I changed my name to fit my identity. But err… you don’t have to do that, you are seeing yourself as male, right?’ ‘I don’t see myself as anything, Gavin’, Nines disagreed. ‘I am a program running on hardware that is now considered female. So I guess, I would switch to female pronouns? It would cause less confusion and spare me the explanation every time I’m introduced.’ ‘Nines, this isn’t about what’s more comfortable for others but for you.’ ‘I’m more comfortable not talking to strangers about my personal life if we are on a case.’ ‘Okay’, Gavin said, lifting his arms in defeat. ‘It’s your decision. But by the way, you can also go by them or other pronouns. It’s not that uncommon and it would go with your personal perception.’ ‘I will be considered female’, Nines determined. ‘At least for the time I possess this body. I may think of adapting something else once I’m back in my body.’

‘Alright’, Gavin nodded. ‘Do you want to change your name, too?’ ‘My name will remain Nines. I like it and I see no reason to change it.’ ‘Nice’, Gavin commented. ‘Then let’s see if we can get you something to wear that’s not Cyberlife branded.’

-

The months had passed quicker than thought. After an initial adapting phase, work almost went back to normal. Gavin had went shopping with Nines, buying a bunch of clothes both baggy and tighter as Nines hadn’t been sure if she wanted to accentuate her body or hide it just yet. She did underline that she liked tighter clothes as they didn’t get in the way as much, but in the end, she seemed to settle mostly on hoodies that were some sort of a compromise of both.

During work Gavin noticed a few things neither of them could change or disregard: Nines was slower now. The Tracy body wasn’t built to withstand higher forces and overheated far too quickly in high demand tasks, limiting Nines to only slightly above human levels of speed and endurance. She wasn’t as durable either. Without armoured plates and reinforced hull segments, almost every hit to her meant repairs and replacement parts. Gavin learned quickly to keep watch of Nines and more than once catch a blow from some criminal directed at her if it meant she would be spared the trip to a technician – although she always scolded him for that. Reduced strength of her model compared to her former soldier unit also meant Gavin had to constantly remind her of it, much to Nines’ frustration.

By the time the fifth month started, almost everyone had adapted to Nines’ new self and the call from Cyberlife that her body was repaired was almost like a wake-up call. Gavin and Nines had grown closer during these few months. Gavin had helped her whenever she asked for it and the mutual need to look out for each other now had changed their dynamic quite a bit. Gavin considered Nines his best friend by now, maybe even more considering how intimately familiar they both had become. He had shared stories with her he had never told anyone else about and Nines had in turn been the first person, Gavin had met outside of the internet that shared his experience. How often they had just sat next to each other on a couch in either of their apartments, sharing their thoughts holding each other close. Each of them telling the others their personal worries to in turn be comforted. Sure, Gavin had known that one day Nines would get her body back and the way she smiled, honest and bright, he could only feel happiness himself. But again, there was that little voice in the back of his head that told him it all would change now. And he didn’t want it to.

-

He parked the car in front of the Cyberlife Tower, forcing a smile at Nines sitting next to him. She smile back at him, obviously more than excited to walk over, but hesitating. ‘Will you wait for me here?’ ‘Of course’, Gavin nodded fondly and patted her shoulder reassuringly. ‘See you in a bit.’ He watched her walk towards the entrance turning back to give him a little wave of her hand and then disappeared behind the doors. Gavin’s smile fell and he leaned back against the backrest. Why did this feel like goodbye? Nines would be the same person when she- when he? – came back outside. He was just worrying too much, surely.

But when two hours later, Nines emerged dressed in his tight black turtleneck and white custom-tailored leather jacket that looked just like her - his - uniform had without the Cyberlife logo, his heart sagged. He stepped out of the car regardless and stood there awkwardly, as Nines came closer, hugging him with a strength that hurt as he was spun around. ‘Ahh, phck, Nines, too much!’ ‘Sorry’, the far, far deeper voice chuckled and put him down. ‘Ah, it’s good to be back in my own body.’ ‘Heh, yeah…’, Gavin commented, rubbing his arms. ‘Guess so.’ ‘I can finally see everything again’, Nines marvelled and blinked before bending down to pick up a small pebble to throw it with a force as if he planned on sending it into orbit. ‘Oh, yes, I missed that. I can finally calculate everything I want to again. I can analyse samples again, I can switch to infra-red and night vision and I can scan-‘ Apparently, the android had tried everything while listing it and now frowned. ‘Gavin, are you alright?’

‘I am’, he hurried to reassure. ‘Just… You have your body back. Anything else changed?’ ‘Oh. I guess I would go by male pronouns again. Just to avoid confusion. And… I will likely change my wardrobe again, because I doubt any of the shoes will fit. But other than that… not really. Why?’ ‘Oh, nothing, just… Nah.’ Gavin opened the door and entered the car, just to escape the situation. Too bad Nines followed and sat down on the passenger side. Gavin went to turn the key in the ignition, but was stopped by a hand – too large, too powerful, far harder than before. ‘Gavin, please. We used to talk about these things, not swallow them. I… Nothing has changed. I promise. I’m still me. My body changed, but what is my body than a means to interact with the world? I am still the same.’

‘I just…’, Gavin began but stopped himself again. ‘Nines, I… Before all this happened. Before you saved my life I hardly knew you. We were work partners and you were pleasant company. But there wasn’t… We only really became friends when you changed. When you needed my help. Now that you have everything back, I… I’m worried you will just get back to business as usual.’ Nines seemed to think about all he had just heard, then turned around judging by the sound of his clothes. He remained silent though, so Gavin risked a glance over. Nines was staring at him directly, his eyes full of concern and maybe even fear. And yes, some things stayed the same. Nines was still looking at him the same way, with the same expression. ‘Gavin. It is true I needed your help, but you are a fool if you think I only kept you company because of that. I like you. I really do. And in those few months I realised what I feel for you is more than I ever felt for anyone. I may be back in my body and have less problems, but… Gavin, I still need you.’ ‘You do?’, Gavin asked sceptically. ‘Sure’, Nines grinned. ‘Who else can I sit around with in parks judging the people passing by. Who else can I gossip with about our co-workers? And who else can I talk to when I need someone to really listen? Gavin, when I say nothing changed, I mean it.’

Gavin still didn’t look convinced, so Nines took a different approach. ‘You once told me that it isn’t about what’s more comfortable for others but for yourself. I think you should understand, that just because you helped me, my need for help isn’t what makes me like you. You were there for me when I needed you most. Because of that I know you will be there for me always. And that makes me comfortable regardless of the body I am in. Do you understand?’ ‘Yes’, Gavin answered silently. ‘Yes, I do. Thank you.’ ‘I have to thank you’, Nines corrected. ‘But for now, I think we should celebrate this, shouldn’t we?’

WHG 15 Post-Games Brains and Brawn Part 6

This is happening around the beginning of the third week. Tagging: @ratracechronicler, @maple-writes (also thanks for Richard and Volt!), @pen-of-roses, and @thoughts-of-nora!

Shine came into my room at the beginning of the third week after the end of the Games. They smiled at me and texted. “I’ll be working on Richard’s machines today, so you’ll need to help me.”

I nodded and stood up. “I’ll totally help! Let’s go!”

They shoved some bags into my hands, and they headed off to Richard’s room. I just followed along behind. It would be nice to see Richard again. He was cool.

They knocked on his door, and he opened it. Shine signed, slow enough that I could tell what they were saying. “Hi! If it is ok, would I be able to start repairing you machines? I have prepared.” They gestured at the bags I was carrying. “And I have an assistant.” They gestured back at me, and I waved and smiled.

Richard smiled and let us in. He signed back at Shine. “Come in.” He nodded at me and spoke. “And good to have you too.”

I laughed. “Shine just says I’m here to manual labor. But it’s fine. I’d still like to spar with you at some point.” Shine rolled their eyes at that.

He laughed as well, but he had a tired smile. “We’ll have to find a time then.” He ruffled my hair affectionately and then turned to Shine and signed. “Where would you like me?”

They signed back. “Wherever you are most comfortable. I think I will start with your arm. There are probably worn down joints in your limbs.”

Richard gave him a thumbs up, and he laid down on the bed before he propped himself back up and signed. “Are you okay with making the incision or do you want a hand?”

They grimaced. “Help would be appreciated. I have not really worked with the biological side of things.”

He pointed to a scalpel blade in one of the bags I had set down near Shine. “Pass that over and let me know when you’re ready to start.”

I dramatically pouted as Shine nodded and handed the blade to Richard. They grabbed some tools, and then they nodded and signed again. “I am ready.”

Richard took the blade, took a deep breath, and made an incision in his arm, and I flinched. How could he do that? I didn’t take a close look as Shine did. Richard texted something, and Shine put us in a group chat so I could see it too. “Most of the blood flow’s shunted away from this part for now.” He smiled at Shine. “Don’t be nervous.”

Shine nodded and texted back. “Thanks.” And they got started. I sat up straighter as they gestured for me to hand them tools. I frowned as they worked. I couldn’t watch. So, instead, I would bother Richard.

“So, how did you learn their sign language?”

He blinked, looking surprised as he turned over to me. “Oh, Dr. Carmine taught me. It was a long time ago now so I’m a little rough.” He laughed a little.

“The Carmine that Triel mentioned in her interview?” I remembered Triel and Shine sitting up, reading through the material Cahira had given to them. And how much Triel grumbled about reading about such an awful person. “How was she?”

“Right, yeah, the same Dr. Carmine.” He watched Shine for a little bit and then rested his head back down. “She was one of the people who would handle me once I was operational.” He smiled fondly. “She was the only one who seemed to care if I was tired, hungry, in pain after an assignment instead of ignoring me until we got back to hand me over to the technicians. She was the only one who’d tell me I did a good job and bring something nice as a treat when I was done.” He sighed and his smile faded. “Then one day she was just…gone.”

Shine grimaced when they looked up and realized Richard was talking about Carmine. Yeah, she sounded so different from now. “Well, that sounds…nice. I’m glad she was nice to you.”

He nodded. “She was then. I don’t know what she’s like now.” He paused and stared up at the ceiling. “After I found out it was her who put Skyler through all that, I don’t know…” He paused again, looking back at us. “She doesn’t know I’m here, with Volt.”

Shine laughed a little and signed. “Hopefully, she will not figure it out after she finds the file missing.” They stopped working and sat back. “Could I look at the other arm?”

“Right.” Richard sat up and used a butterfly bandage over the wound. He cut his other arm, and I looked away again, shaking slightly, just remembering knives flashing toward me. Shit. I had to think of something else. Richard thought for a little bit and signed. “Even if she does figure it out, I don’t know what she would do about it. As far as I know, she doesn’t work with them anymore anyway.”

I nodded and spoke. “So, she didn’t seem to be one of those people who wouldn’t let someone they had control over escape?” I unconsciously rubbed my hands over my scars.

“I don’t think so. She never seemed to be the kind to obsess over power.” He winced as Shine did something. “She wasn’t like the others that leaned on force to control me anyway. She was stern and sometimes had high demands, but not outright cruel. Now that I think of it, she never even laid a hand on me to get me to comply.” He shook his head. “But no, to answer your question. And besides, I’m pretty sure she’s known for a long time Skyler’s with Volt and hasn’t made a move to get him back in ages.”

“That’s good.” I kept rubbing at my scars. Shine snapped at me to hand them another tool, and I shook myself out of my thoughts. “I mean, not actually good, but at least she isn’t trying to take you back.” I paused. “Not like Churi,” I mumbled. “He won’t stop until he gets me back.”

“You’ll just have to keep a step ahead of him then.” He looked me in the eyes. “I bet you’re smarter than he thinks you are. All he has to do is underestimate you, and you’ve won.”

I nodded and gave him a half-smile. That was kind of him, but I didn’t know if I was smarter than Churi thought I was. I wasn’t that smart. “Thanks.”

Shine nudged Richard to get his attention and started signing. “Want me to work on your legs at all? Or your eye next? I should be able to make your eye functional again. But for all the other large repairs, I do not have enough time to repair them. I will give you the blueprints so you can find someone else you trust to help repair.”

Richard sat up and signed awkwardly, trying not to move his arms very much. “Legs maybe if you’re up to it.”

Shine nodded. “And then I’ll work on your eye.”

“Perfect.” Richard put a bandage on his other arm and cut open his leg, which I still couldn’t watch. He texted instead. “You’re pretty good at this, especially for your first try.”

Shine texted back. “Thanks. I studied the blueprints, so I know how your machines are supposed to look. That helps a lot.” They waved for me to hand them a tool, and they got to work.

Richard laughed a little. “I don’t think I want to know how far off they look compared to what they’re supposed to.”

Shine laughed back. “It’s a mess, but it’s really not hard to fix. I had worse when Triel first got her airship. She didn’t have enough money, so her old captain let her have an old one of hers. Now, that took months.”

“You’re probably more than qualified then.” He nodded at them. “We were lucky enough that the ship Volt snagged had been well cared for before she took it.”

I grinned. That airship was awesome! “It’s beautiful!” I blurted out.

“Isn’t it?” He propped himself up to look over at me. “Volt’s pretty strict on upkeep and so far it’s been nothing but reliable for us.”

Oh shit. Skyler had told me not to mention what happened. I started flushing. Shit. “I’d…I’d love to fly in it sometime.” Shine looked up and cocked an eyebrow at me. They knew I was lying.

Richard grinned at me mischievously. Shit. Had he figured it out? “You must really want to with how red you’re getting.”

I curled up on myself, and my face grew hotter. “I just really love the idea of flying,” I mumbled.

“Looks like we’ll have to have a full day sometime if you still want to fight me too.” He lay down dramatically. “Though I might be out a little while.”

I relaxed a little when he didn’t push the airship subject, and I grinned. “Hey, I wanted to fight with a cut up leg, and…” Dramatic pause. “I failed. You rest as long as you need to, and I’ll wait.”

“Well,” He shot me a look and sounded exaggeratedly arrogant. “Even if your legs were fine I don’t expect you to win.”

I laughed. “Shine’s just helping you get closer to my level.” Shine shook their head and signed for the other leg.

“I see, maybe I’ll have a chance then with them on my side.” He nodded at Shine and bandaged up the first leg and cut into the other leg, and I had to look away again. “But I wouldn’t bet on it.” He blinked exaggeratedly, and it took me a second to realize he was trying to wink, but he had only one functioning eye, so it didn’t work as well. So, I just grinned back at him.

And just then, Volt walked up to the door and leaned against the frame. “What’s going on here?”

More heat rose to my cheeks as my mind flashed to the airship. Would Richard say anything? Shine looked over and grinned when they saw Volt, and they added her to the group message. “I’m working on Richard’s machines.”

Her eyes flickered over to Richard. “Is,” she looked between Shine and Richard. “Are you sure that’s safe?”

Richard shrugged. “So far so good.”

Shine was still grinning, probably the most I had seen them grin. “As safe as I can be. I’ve been able to fix the wear in his joints, so they shouldn’t bother him as much.”

She relaxed a little bit. “If it works then well done.” She sighed, long and deep. “Just be careful, okay?”

“When have I not?”

“In the time I’ve known you?” She raised her eyebrows, and I had to stop myself from snickering. For once, I wasn’t the one being chastised about being reckless. “More often than not.”

“And when has it worked out in our favor anyway?”

They had a point there. Richard seemed to agree because he looked over Shine’s shoulder and grinned. Volt’s expression didn’t change. “I can see why Triel wanted you on her crew.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Then they switched to sign to Richard. “Could I see your eye now?”

He fixed up his leg and lay down so that Shine could get to it easily. And Shine wouldn’t be paying attention anymore. They had been the most excited about working on the eye.

Volt watched for a few seconds before turning to me, and I stiffened a little. “How did you get pulled into this?”

Good. I was almost worried she somehow knew about the airship. “I’m just manual labor. Shine decided that this would keep me from getting bored and doing something stupid. And they’re right.” I grinned. “I think I might have gotten Richard to agree to spar with me later.”

“Of course he did.” She shook her head, but she had a soft expression as she looked over to Richard. “You really are a pushover.” He just smiled back.

After a few hours, Shine finally finished the eye, and they sat back with a long sigh. They nodded and smiled at Richard, and they signed. “How are you feeling?”

He spelled it out. “Ow.” He shifted to get more comfortable. “But it should be alright. Thanks.”

Since they were done, I started gathering up their tools, so they didn’t have to do everything. They kept signing. “I am sorry. Thanks for letting me help.”

He smiled back, looking tired. “Don’t worry. The technicians were never so gentle.”

Shine bowed a little with a smile, handed the blueprints to Volt, and headed out, while I followed with the extra stuff they brought. I just walked beside them with a smile. Even though they looked tired, they were smiling. It had been a good day then.

Hobbit Soulmate Pt 42

Updates came through pictures of the home floors being torn up that you had wished to change and repair, with glimpses of each room being finished off had arrived. Piles of wood came in the mail next with a shot of your new chandelier that was hung up in its place. Along with the pirate ship chandelier your dad had help swapping out one of the two circular sconces hung a good fourteen feet off the ground from the eighteen foot ceiling to give your dad a good head clearance after several checks on chain lengths to find the right level. The dining room was first and room by room the team got to assembling everything to the impressive sketches that were easily to transfer to diagrams they used for creating what you had dreamed of. Including the adorable rounded built in bench for your dining area on your floor to go with a small table you had yet to choose you wanted to shop for with Richard.

More and more it was coming together and with each room done your dad got to cleaning all that he could, knowing you’d have done the same thing to get it all ready to be touched with hands or bare feet, same as you’d wash clothes before wearing them. Upstairs in the kids floor and your dad’s spare bedroom the crew of workers got to creating the bunk beds you had designed to impressive detail that swapped easily to blueprints for them at how precise all the measurements and designated layout you had compiled for them. Built ins for the nursery were among that list with a better setup in the damaged closets through that floor. The cabinets and counters on the moved layout included the new island for the kitchen and a second in your closet with bench attached, all full of storage to add to your hideaways. All these were just the perfect and off to the side with disposable camera in hand he captured the whole process to get the tiles laid in perfectly level. Flooring for each room was laid when each built in had been completed to ensure the floors wouldn’t have to be redone again later.

A few days later when he was certain that the tiles were solidified and able to be scrubbed stirring up the lingering urge to buy you the appliances to fill the empty spaces between nights of eyeing your furniture trying to guess just where you might want to move everything. For his own floor at least he had pictured coupons cut out of what he wanted to get to furnish his area to go with the paint choices he wished to have. This would take a while to get the home finalized but over the rest of your lifetimes you could make it a home for you and your soon to be growing family.

 *

Fresh off a night shoot through the apartment door you went smirking as you flipped through the latest group of pictures from your dad he’d sent by mail. Expecting the lights off when you noticed they were on and out of exhaustion it took a moment to realize that Richard must have flown in to surprise you a day earlier. After locking the door to the kitchen you went finding your groggy fiancé in just a pair of sweats cooking you supper humming to himself. His feet shuffling side to side and post flinch at your hands easing from his elbows down his arms he smirked hearing, “Wanna dance handsome?”

“For the rest of my life.” Around he turned enjoying a loving moment of dancing together with you between stolen stirs of the meal on the skillet. With a warm kiss once the skillet was moved to the cool burner the dance came to an end and simply serving out the food. Onto his lap you were settled to eat together beginning the process of sharing all you’d missed. “I’m so sorry I missed those days responding to your calls and messages, my Love.”

“It’s ok, knew it must have been important. Didn’t think it would be another house for us.”

“Well I think it’s perfect to start our marriage off on the right foot in a place that’s all ours. Brought you some pictures, we can go through yours as well, compare notes.”

“How come you didn’t tell me you were coming in early?” you said easing your arms around the back of his neck deepening his smile having you in his arms again.

“Date mix up this once, though I do love surprising you this once it was by chance.” His arms tightened and he lifted you up as he stood carrying you to bed, “Now, bedtime.”

.

Shared pictures had a trip to the nearest paint shop to look at paint swatches for you to give a try in the break before the flight to New Zealand. Small plans like where furniture would be moved had been sketched out and marked off a few tasks at least for the big move you had to handle soon. Thankfully easier with the bunk beds already built as a surprise from your dad that he had it handled for you including having bought the mattresses for the eight of them the crews were glad to help ease into place to finish the job off. The moving crew had been hired already for the date filming was through and they would help a bit to bring everything inside, all mostly staying on the main floor except for the mattress that you and your dad, if they refused, could get up to the third floor to the empty non nursery bedroom under the staircase.

Over the big move the one thing brighter than this was collecting and paying for the wedding band he couldn’t stop stealing glances at while you were at work beaming at how everything was falling into place. He only had another week until it was time to head back to England and it took everything in him not to spoil the surprise for Lee that he could be moving in with you as he clearly wanted and was hinting to. Pictures didn’t help while he practically pouted over the pictures of the basement he even made suggestions of what colors he would choose for those walls he later would confirm with a trip to the store to find swatches of his own.

.

Half a week more was all Richard could handle and chuckling to himself he was off to the airport leaving you the task of putting the young man out of his misery so he could plan moving in when you decided to. You wouldn’t mind living in a half done home as long as you were working to finish it. And against his urge to be there to help you get it ready he did have to get back to film another tv appearance to finish off the list of jobs that might keep him from being done in time to fly out to New Zealand to be with you again in that wonderful place. A feeling Richard shared of the new place he had bought until he was staying with you to film an extra slot in King Kong and assist with whatever extra roles Peter might need in Return of the King before the big trip back to New York to actually move in with you.

Scenes flew by and finally you had everything with Lee’s help in your living room, including his furniture that now his siblings had shared they grew out of the interest in having his hand-me-downs for their own college dorms. Thankful for sharing the moving truck along with the team he helped to empty the apartments that you both turned the keys in for making sure that the mail boxes were empty before you did so. The truck drivers gave an estimate on when they would arrive at the new place and once the taxi arrived the trip to the same lovely airport was underway.

Trying to deflect the subject you asked Lee, “Glad you got some new clothes?” Referring to the wardrobe the film crew let you guys have. While some of the pieces you wore were a bit out of your taste you were thrilled to get the fluff accented jacket from your winter scenes along with the silver daisy ring you now wore on your right ring finger that had helped to cover the ring indent from your engagement ring while on screen. All the rest could be passed on to your cousins back in Texas or donated.

“I do enjoy free clothes, thought they might charge us for them though. Had to pay for one of the guys’ jackets on Soldier’s Girl.”

“I think it might be for our unique measurements.”

“No, they gave Tracy her wardrobe too, whole main slot got theirs,” making his brows furrow, “Kind of odd though. Like a fire sale.”

“Maybe they just do that for their Canadian shows, dump the wardrobes. Glad they didn’t try to give me that car. That clutch was bitchy as hell.”

Lowly he chuckled, “Thought it was just my feet being bigger than yours.” That had his eyes on you and his pout coming on, “Thanks again for letting me put my stuff in your basement. It won’t be in the way? Of all your things?”

You smirked answering, “No, I am fairly certain it won’t be.”

“Do you know when you’re going to move in?”

“Dad’s been picking up some tarps and stuff for us to get started on the primer for the rooms that were patched, which is pretty much all of the ones from the main floor up. Guess the old guy ran out of energy at the basement he only broke the pantry. Then there’s appliances.”

“So, like a few weeks?”

“Don’t know, we’ll see, a lot of walls to cover.”

“Any faster if I help?”

“If you like, but you don’t have to.”

“I like to paint.”

.

Security went easily except for the awkward grin you traded with the security agent who looked inside the box in his hand and then to you, “My wedding band.”

“Congratulations,” he said. Closing the box he put back in your satchel he asked you to empty for him seeing an unreadable clump of that and your pens and coin purse that didn’t turn out to be anything dangerous at all. The reveal greatly calmed his nerves from a start of the shift find he had been sharing with the other guards of how the passenger was arrested when the items were to be confiscated.

“Thank you, was a bit scared to mail it home.”

“I would be too.” He replied while you filled your bag again you shouldered with shoes in hand to step aside and pull your converse back on while Lee tied his sneakers back on.

All the way out to the bus once your bags were claimed from the baggage terminal Lee smiled trying to be coy that he was working his way back to the topic of the apartment again. A set of posters on the subway of new films out soon gave you a nice smokescreen to distract him all the way through the cameras and people excited to see you back in town again on their ways about their lives. All that missed the bouncy customer or familiar face gone for so long. Up the front stoop you went glad to be out of the public view feeling oddly sentimental back to the first time you’d gone up this stoop. Five flights later another sigh came from Lee who was following you to eat with you and your dad close to exploding to just demand the basement.

Right to your room the duffel and suitcase were taken and left while your smiling dad was setting the lunch he’d fixed for you three on the counter, right off knowing something was up with Lee. “Welcome back Lee.” He rumbled and watched you come back with a small gift bag with spare set of keys in hand he’d agreed to have cut for you to give to Lee as a surprise. Instantly knowing why you’d gone for the bag first thing to keep from hurling it at him later if he kept it up.

“Thanks, missed being around you too. Heard you’ve been busy mastering all the repairs of the new home.”

His eyes however shifted to the bag you dangled from its handles, “Merry Unbirthday there Grinner.”

“What did you get me?” he all but hummed out in your dad’s move closer to accept your tight hug. Tentatively he poked his fingers in the top of the bag to peek inside and his lips parted at the key ring hooked on his finger now out of the bag. “Why are there keys?” He managed to crack out making you giggle.

“Well I don’t want you trying to break the damn door down to get in to your apartment each night.” That broke the damn and with an elated shriek of sorts he over your back crashed into your dad’s chest around you hugging you both muffling your giggles to your dad’s deep chuckles patting him on the back until his step back freed you again.

“You’re serious?” He squeaked out with brows lifted.

“Seriously Lee, even when your agent sends you to LA, I have the room I’m not gonna have you staying in some hotel or whatever.”

“He does like to send me there,” he replied almost painfully.

Joe, “But you can always fly back, and when you pick to be in a relationship or whatever you can still come visit, come see the puppy we are going to pick.”

Lee’s open mouthed smile came back, “You’re getting a puppy?!”

“Not right away, still have to get the house good and back from New Zealand and all that, maybe for the holidays.” Deepening his grin even more.

Lee took his seat as your dad nudged you to yours to get eating saying, “For now, eat up, I know you are both chomping at the bit to get started and we could get a good deal handled before lunch if we time it right.”

Lee asked, “I do have to ask, we’re painting, don’t they have crews for that?”

Your dad answered, “The quote I got calling a company that paints was $800 supplies not included and they only work three hours a day, which by their math would take them to do one room.”

You scoffed, “Lazy bastards.”

The reply making him laugh and Lee smirk surprised at you, “Exactly, we’ve painted barns as a family in two days before. Huge barns, we could kill half the floor by nightfall easy I got L’s ladders he said we could use and we can get pizza tonight, stuffed crust then go and kill some more tomorrow and pause when the moving truck arrives. How did you split belongings, because, his stuff and those stairs-,”

You both answered, “His/Mine is in the back.”

“And we’ll tell them when it’s his stuff and they can use his front steps.” You added.

Your dad asked Lee, “How do you think your parents will take the news?”

That had Lee’s excited grin flinch down again, “Um, well, my dad actually got transferred back to Oklahoma. They moved back last month.”

“Lee,” you and your dad said together while you placed a hand on his shoulder luring his smile out again. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Joe, “Your Gran ok?”

Lee nodded, “She’s good, better, but dad missed home and the land and she needs help with her bee keeping and honey products which mom will be managing while dad still works and does his bit on the weekends. Sally and Will both got into southern universities so they’re close by and going to love that, so they will be thrilled that I have a home base here while they’re away.”

Joe, “You’re always gonna have a place at our homes, you know that.”

Lee nodded, “Dad says it helped that I moved out when I did, now I’ve been, I’ll say ‘on my own’ for a couple years almost, that helped his saying that with me on my feet and you guys here to be my family and support when they can’t, case in point my appendix, that they felt ok moving back again. And I’ve been working Off-Broadway parts and I’ve got another I’m auditioning for while you’re off to New  Zealand. The two awards I’ve been nominated for from those roles they’re so proud and have been so excited to see me study and graduate twice with a Bachelor’s degree and it is a bit scary to not have them in their townhouse a subway stop away. But I can do it. You both did such amazing things all on your own so I know it’s not impossible.” He glanced your way asking, “How are the grandparents taking the move?”

“I haven’t really spilled I put money on it, they have this show they’re working on getting together before the premier next week. I have emailed Babu that I found a place, a home and he shared they were over the moon, inches from throwing money to get it for me if it was out of my budget because I mentioned that I was waiting on the Bard funds. They haven’t said much past progress on their show and there’s something in me saying they’re already picking out my wedding dress, because it was huge when I told them Rich proposed. Long call, it’s big.”

Lee smirked chuckling along with your dad who said, “Oh they picked some designs from top designers, including an adaptation of the one they had planned for your mom’s.”

That had Lee looking between you reading the mood at the hardly mentioned mysterious mom that was subtly taken as a sore topic for the both of you, “They did? I thought I’d be too short for that dress.”

Lee, “I’m picturing poofy.”

You looked at him, “It’s actually more, think swan lake, jewel accents around the edges and down the dress, which is pink and it’s a mermaid figure with a sheer back section.”

He was smiling again, “Pink dress?”

“If you get married in the snow you have to stand out. It’s a blush at best, really beautiful.”

Hand extended your dad patted your hand, “If you want the dress they will make sure it fits your figure flawlessly.”

“You don’t think they’d force a big bash?”

“No,” he shook his head, “They’ve actually seen pictures and video of the reception we had and they love the pictures, if you wanted a ceremony at home on the ranch they would be all for it. Less stress and they could see where you grew up outside of their visitations.”

Lee purred, “So, how will they act if you bought a house?”

After swallowing your mouthful you had been chewing you replied, “Nowhere near as bad as it will be when they hear Rich bought a house too in England and we’ve both picked rooms for which would fit a possible nursery.” That had your dad chuckle around his mouthful.

Lee, “Wow, babies already?”

“We just want to know where to put the baby when we get one,”

Lee chuckled, “Where to put it,”

“There’s a room on the third floor, you’ll see it, I walk in, it’s the perfect spot for a nursery.”

Your dad said, “You do just know, right up there with where you want the pool table or big screen, you catch a vibe.”

Lee, “I can’t wait to see your baby room.”

Excitedly you said, “I picked a pirate ship chandelier for it.” Parting his lips in a smile, “Peter Pan theme.”

Lee, “I am so jealous, where the hell did you find a pirate ship chandelier?”

“L’s books he gave us for supplies and lighting.”

Lee, “You are going to have such lucky stunning babies. I am so jealous, love you both, but so jealous, and if I ever do get a baby on the way you are decorating my nursery.”

“Your babies are going to be so tall,” Your dad chuckled again, “Mine up in the air, cuz they could take after him and get actual legs for days or be tiny like me.” Your head turned to your dad, “Speaking of which, we need a courtesy level for those shelves in the kitchen that anything communal is down where I can reach it.”

He nodded saying, “I actually made sure your cabinets are a bit longer than average, which the builders were a bit confused until I said how tall you are.”

“Tall,” you giggled out and Lee laughed knowing what you were hinting to. “Me on my toes the Director was floored when I got back asking if I’d grown. Said I was stretching and he didn’t believe me till I went flat footed again.”

Your dad chuckled and said, “Communal levels are accepted, and your reading nook, got you a special set of steps for you that can be moved around to match the shelves. Since there’s carpet there we can lay down a runner to keep from getting indents in it. You could still grow taller, who knows, I grew another three inches when I hit 26, you burst up 6 inches a few years back, who knows.”

“I don’t imagine myself shooting up another six inches,” you giggled out, “And there is no telling how much easier it would be to get roles where they don’t have to worry about pairing me with a living tree like Lee here. You should have seen the panic first day when we showed on set and I was in sneakers and he’s a good foot plus over me,” making Lee chuckle lowering his fork.

Lee while you took another bite said, “Full deer in the headlights till she goes up nearly on her toes. Loved it, each day seeing her just kill their expectations they set for her. Legit they thought she was around 5 ft 9 on set before she got there just seeing her in the Ring compared to Amber.”

Your dad said, “You’re always able to stretch and defy appearances, and you will continue to, even in ballet you make the most elegant long lines like you have legs for days just like your mom could do. Your height has never held you back until those idiots at the London Ballet used it as an excuse to not use a Bolshoi prodigy. And they are eating those words since Bard came out I can bet you that.”

You nodded and said, “Babushka called about that, they asked what my schedule was next year,” parting their lips. “She in her own screw you stoic flare said that as long as the director who tried to hint that I had to screw him on a night out on the town to get a role was working there I would never touch their company door again.”

Lee, “Good for her,”

“All while Babu had been leaking the reason I didn’t renew my contract and now there’s a twenty five principal dancer roster who have filed a lawsuit saying they were exploited out of their company.”

Lee, “Oh shit!”

“Exactly, it is, huge. The director got fired and all these companies and doing an inventory of their casting directors and have been snapping up those formerly blacklisted dancers for their next seasons.”

Your dad said, “They did the right thing, you aren’t changing your mind, are you?”

“The Royal Ballet actually asked if I would be up to a sort of Little Mermaid show they are going to film, so it would be one performance, ballet and the musical aspect, they need someone that can do what I did in Bard it’s a whole sort of alternative ballet twist. I told them I’d be up for it, the whole thing is going for this children’s hospital charity as for tickets and disc sales, the director’s kid was sick and he saw so many kids there with parents struggling and it’s going to be so good but they want to nail down the cast now.”

Lee, “You gotta do it.”

Your dad nodded, “That would be fantastic, and there’s no telling how your friends will blow up about it like they did Chicago. Do they show the kids the show?”

“Yes, they’re going to have a whole premier in a few hospitals for the kids and their parents. Which it’s getting Disney’s permission for the musical and it sounds really fun. It’s the songs the kids all know it’s just got ballet added to it.”

Lee smiled, “And you’re Ariel?”

“Yes,” you smiled, “They want my hair a bit longer though, it’s been good that I got to tie my hair back this last month, since I lightened my hair it’s been growing like crazy. Nearly to the middle of my back when I straighten it. And they just have this apple red hair spray they’re gonna try on my hair to try and keep from my having to bleach it all and then go fire engine red that I’ll be talking to the Queens about. And they have extensions ”

Your dad, “I think it’s mainly due to having the color there to show where it used to be. When do rehearsals start?”

“Next week, then it’s two weeks of rehearsals then it’s on that Saturday.”

Lee asked, “And they always had Little Mermaid in mind?”

That had you giggle, “Mr Tarl from Julliard is heading it with Mr Combs and they said they could get in touch with me and again I’m going short notice on this but it’s so good from what they told me. They did say it would be hitting the press today.”

Your dad asked, “And the gramps know?”

“Babu does, that was part of the call for the London Ballet thing. No doubt will be bragging again, they are going to jet out for it, should have their show stable by then and they are thrilled it’s for charity and they can buy a copy or dozens of copies. And then I can show them the place, sort of a two-fer.” That had them chuckle in your shoulder pop taking another bite of your food.

Hair tied back once you’d changed from your sweater to an already paint splattered t shirt to go with your shorts that you didn’t mind getting paint on as you had another pair of jeans ready to be cut off soon at the countless tears they’d gained over the years. Practically shaking Lee eyed the front gate you unlocked followed by the next two, the first you locked behind you leaving the mudroom open in Lee’s excited circle that had you giggling showing him first the chandelier and starting with the book hideaway your hand latched onto your dad’s in each exciting discovery of what he’d added from your designs.

Every floor upwards was searched with you lingering in front of the beds you had designed. Both sets of bunk beds brought to life to perfection the both of you tested the steps on alongside your dad for a third heftier body proving your plan did truly work before Lee trotted down the steps to his floor he absolutely loved mentally settling colors and layout of his furniture. Then he broke out of that to come back up with you to start opening the windows on the main floor beginning to lay out the tarps ignoring the people taking pictures of you and the guys.

The guys worked rollers up and down the walls. You focused on taping and edging the molding before climbing on the highest ladder you sat on the top rung with a long handled brush to mark along the top of the ceiling that your dad scooted around the room to help you finish the whole room. The front rooms were first up and working your ways back having skipped the wall going up the stairs you managed to finish off half the floor stopping for a lunch on the patio off the sunroom enjoying the sun and fresh air until the primer called again. The second half was easier with the kitchen being mostly tile and cupboards coating the walls except for strips along the top. Even without paint the room had you giddy to see an actual kitchen coming together. And with the back windows cracked you locked the front ones and closed the shutters again to head back to your apartment for pizza dinner.

.

Partway done with the second floor through the open windows you heard and upon moving to them the moving truck was viewed. Down you hurried to welcome the crew that unloaded the main furniture into the center of the living room before helping to get the mattress up to the top floor into your bedroom. The crew carried the barely used mattress from Canada to be broken in over the years for your bedroom. With yours from the NY apartment set to be settled in the third floor while your dad would be glad to take the set of mattresses from the half bedroom to stretch out on top of the bed platform kit he had bought and had been building to keep them together.

Lee’s things were easier with his boxes settled around the furniture he’d move to his preference later to help you get back to finishing the second floor. Lee got called to an audition the third day but still you and your dad kept on working and somehow finishing by lunch without having to juggle that third person. The spare time gave you plenty of time to work in your apartment at night to get up to that peak limber state you liked to be in that your nerves had told you that you weren’t in even after having spent nights reverting to your ballet stretches and elastic band exercises in the last months of the show.

Pt 43

Get ready to form voltron!

Obligatory warning for a long post ahead: Whilst I know this post may be intimidating to some people. please do not let it put you off from reaching out to me :) “I say vol and you say tron! Vol…..” “Eh.... voltron?” “We’ll work on it.” Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and that you’ve been able to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic (and that the easing of some restrictions depending on where you are has not negatively affected you). After binge watching legendary defender on netflix I’ve had the undying and uncontrollable urge to do a voltron rp. Now I bet you’re all wondering what I want and if you’re going to get to do some shipping.......we’ll I guess you’re just going to have to read on and find out. I’m looking for literate rper’s only. That means people who write in third person past tense, can give me at the very least one well thought out and fleshed paragraph (as well as be willing to write more when the situation calls for it) and has a decent grasp on their spelling, grammar and punctuation. I will not yell at you for the occasional bout of typonese but one liners, one worders, poorly written responses and lazy writing in general will not keep me around. If I can’t read what you’ve written and you’re not willing to put some effort in or correct it then there’s no point in me sticking around. I also require rper’s who’ve actually watched voltron whether it be legendary defender, defender of the universe or voltron force. If you’re someone whose a stickler for canon accuracy then I’m probably not the rper for you. When I rp in a fandom setting I treat it a bit like a base as in there’s rules to follow but I don’t have to follow them as if I’m reading the show script. To put it simply I value creativity and ideas that allow a different take on the characters and what could’ve happened. I only rp male alien or alien hybrid characters and they’re premade but flexible in how they’re written. I do not have pictures nor do I desire to spend endless hours of time to find a face claim of a creature that isn’t the typical different coloured humanoids you see in voltron. I have descriptions and that’s it. I do not care if your character is made up on the spot or if you prefer to rp as a canon character. Shippers......I’m sorry but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side. I do not rp them as mains so if you were looking for some sheith or klance I’m sorry to disappoint you. That being said you are free to play as any canon character you desire or an oc as I’m open to oc x oc pairings or oc x canon pairings (you being the canon character) and I do either MxM or FxM pairings. Romance and non fade to black smut will both occur in the rp but it must be slow burn. I do not do fast paced love at first sight as it’s just not something that holds my interest. No sub dom dynamics, switch dynamics only and please no characters whose entire personality is just one emotion or one trait they have. Guys.....please don’t call my aliens furries or whatever. I don’t rp generic spray painted humans and we’re rping in a world full of wacky and crazy aliens that have fur,scales,tails,multiple arms, etc so I find it Incredibly annoying to have a label forced on my character like it’s a bad thing. Alien means something not from earth, if a human was to be born on altea or daibazzal, it’d be considered an alien despite probably being a hundred percent human. If your view and comfort zone is restricted to aliens that look like an altean and nothing else then you needn’t not message me. I’m not going to make you rp with me if this is a dealbreaker so if you don’t heed this warning then you do not be rude after pulling a shocked pikachu. Be mature about it if you realise it’s a deal breaker rather than just blocking or suddenly deciding you no longer want to talk to me and that you’ll just ignore me till I unfriend you. DO NOT COME TO ME SAYING OR ASKING YOU WANNA DO A SHEITH RP/ DO YOU RP AS THESE CANON CHARACTERS! I cannot stress this enough. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer that I do not do canon character mains nor do I do rp’s solely for the purpose of shipping said rp characters. As I’ve said before, if you wanna play a canon character go ahead but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side. My oc’s are my mains. You and your characters must be 18+. I’m in my twenties and will not rp with a minor, especially since I have mature and adult themes in my rp’s that I do not want to get into trouble for Rping them with someone whose underaged. Underaged characters are just........a big no for the sole fact that my characters are adults and that i do not feel uncomfortable playing against underaged characters. You must be able to give me one or more responses a day. If it’s been two weeks since the last response and you’ve mysteriously disappeared then I’m not going to stick around for the day you decide to answer me. I do not like having my time wasted for any reason. My time zone is the eastern Australian time zone but I’m available and awake at odd hours so time zones aren’t too big of an issue for me. Remember that I’m looking for a long term partner, someone to carry an rp with for more than just a few days or a week and someone to write multiple stories with. I have tonnes of ideas and head cannons for the rp but I’m open to brainstorming and ideas. We can mix and match ideas till we get something we both like. I want this to be a shared job, don’t expect me to be the one to carry everything just cause I’m the one supplying the idea. Down below I’ve decided to list a couple of ideas that I have: New school defenders: the paladins of voltron have been defending the universe for years. Many stories of their countless victories, battles and struggles are something that every parent who was alive during the war told their children. Once the main three were taken out (haggar, lotor and zarkon) the paladins settled down to teaching the garrisons new generation of cadets. The new change in curriculum was welcome for many as well as a new change in ship style. To make sure that peace could be maintained in every quadrant of every galaxy the paladins of voltron has trained the cadets to fly animal styled space ships like the lions. The animal ship a pilot was assigned depended on their personality, strengths, weaknesses, how well they worked in a team and their style of fighting and piloting skills. The importance of team bonding was something the paladins basically preached. When news of the return of an old foe forces the paladins to return to their jobs as voltrons warriors and they suddenly disappear many write them off as dead or perhaps in distress. None of the superiors are interested to find out..... so who will? Lotor’s reign: It was unbelievable. It couldn’t be true. It had to not be true. Voltron taken down by lotor, son of the mighty emperor zarkon himself, and the paladins were now working for him without question as his top generals?! When the news had first hit many people had panicked whilst countless others had been slain for daring to believe and protest that it was all just some lie made up by the half galran prince who was now an emperor like his father before him. Princess Allura herself was locked away in an unknown location after refusing the cruel man’s hand in marriage so she is no help for what is now a lost hope. Lotor’s reign had well and truly begun all those years ago and it was holding steady. People had forgotten long ago that even in complete and utter darkness….one can always find a speck of light that burns bright no anger how small. Mirror mirror: For many years people believed the galra were a race of cruel, vicious, animalistic thinking beings whose only goal was to destroy and conquer words. No one would’ve ever believed that it was the peacekeeping alteans that had been working to plot the galaxy’s downfall. Voltron, belonged to the galrans, they’d been the ones who’d built it after all despite letting alfor pilot voltron’s right arm. When the king had been turned down on his idea to share the mighty robotic war machine he simply built his own. Five dragons that formed dracotron were what the alteans used as their voltron and weapon to conquer the galaxies. Emperor zarkon, under the advice of Haggar the witch, was one of the few world leaders who managed to get his people to safety. Ever since watching the great kingdoms that he’d known for almost ten thousand years fall under the alteans greed and obsession for power over peace, he prayed for miracle in whatever form he could get it in. When two young stragglers end up stranded on the galra’s second home world, the cards of fate are laid according to haggar, much to everyone else’s confusion. What could two lost souls possibly do to bring back what was lost to the alteans? Gamora’s guns: The guns of Gamora was a rebel group with the goal of foiling any plans of the altean empress allura. Led by the brave commander Sven and his somewhat neurotic sidekick Slav, the gun’s were spread far across the galaxy in little pockets of altean dominated space to keep tabs on the empires schemes and try their best to counteract them. The new recruits were aliens and humans from far and wide working together hand in hand to try and prevent a reign of terror from truly taking over. When plans for creating a super weapon fall on the ears of a trusted source, the newest batch of recruits are sent to locate, find and bring back the blueprints. Of course, such things are easier said than done. The chosen: Keith.lance.hunk.shiro (or Sven, depends on whether you want this to follow a legendary defender type story arc or one of the older series). Allura. Pidge. These were names that belonged to the universe's greatest heroes. Legends beyond all compare. They were champions of the universe and paladins of the mightiest robotic warrior to have ever been built: voltron. The great robot and the lions that formed it were well over ten thousand years old…..sadly for the paladins, they knew that they wouldn’t live to or beyond the great age their lions and oldest enemies had. The galaxy garrison had worked extra hard on ensuring that the next generation of pilots would be suitable candidates for the possibility of becoming voltron’s future paladins. Each paladin chose a student whom they felt like would be the most suitable to take their place and trained them with the knowledge that they were not the ones who had the final decision as to who flew who…..or even if they’d fly at all. What happens when one student fails and is rejected by not one but all the lions? What becomes of them and what is their place on team voltron? What happens to the rest of the team? Only time will tell, according to coran, such a thing has never happened before…...but what happens if it does? From all walks of life to the universe's greatest heroes: Shouldn’t have to explain this one too much. Forget the show paladins, bring your oc’s or next gens onto the table and let them take the stage! Before we reach the end of the post, here are some important reminders: 1: NO REACHING OUT TO ME ASKING FOR A CANON CHARACTER SHIPPING RP! I DO NOT DOUBLE SO DO NOT ASK! 2: DONT MESSAGE ME IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH NOT VERY HUMANOID ALIENS! 3: NO GARY STU’S OR MARY SUES! GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS A PERSONALITY THAT ISN’T JUST ONE EMOTION OR TRAIT ONLY! For those who’ve read this thoroughly thank you and congratulations! If you’re at all interested please send me a request via one of the contacts below that says who you wanna be, which lion or paladin you think you’d most likely to be if you were in voltron, which idea you liked (or one of your own) and the numbers 123 to confirm you’ve read everything. My discord: tiberionsunsconqourer#6187 My telegram: Tiberionwars My hangouts: [email protected] Hope to write some awesome stories! Will accept requests as long as this ad is up.

Hell hath no fury like a teenager scorned...

It's a long story, spans years of time. ~~~Cue hazy flashback to 1997/8~~~

Growing up, my family ran a business dealing with water and wastewater pumps. By the time I was in high school, I worked for them outside of school as needed, and I'd grown up around the industry. At the time of this story I was 16, maybe 17. I got a few funny looks out in the field sometimes, but normally wasn't a problem, this time, it was.

Many sales they make do are bids. You go to the builders exchange, which is basically a library for plans and blueprints. You pull the plans, get to the part applicable to you, and see what they want or need. Then you submit a price you think will win you the job.

Many times the plans will actually specify a model that meets their needs, in which case you bid that or a comparable one. Other times, they will give specifications and selection and matching is up to you, going through books and software for curves (chart that shows how it flows under load).

This time was the former. The job is a retrofit/expansion on the city plant. The engineer had specified a model of pump he wanted, and I'd matched it's specs. Put in a submittal for approval on the substitution as required. It gets approved and we are cleared to enter a bid.

We proceed forward putting together the bid. At one point, I have the plans in front of me and I'm looking at the drawings. I don't like what I'm seeing, which is a lot of pipe and a lot of distance. I check and recheck and come up with the same result. The total head (head is how far you're pumping, calculated by distance and including losses from the pipe) is too much for the pump that was specified, way too much. This puts the pump way outside it's curve, it's going to be deep into overload.

I used my corrected numbers and found a proper match, but not only was it significantly more expensive, but physically different, would require large revisions. So I put together a revised submittal with the numbers I ran, and the recommended pump. It included the math from the drawings and the curves. Faxed it over to the engineers office, then I called him.

It did not go well. Not only did he not listen to me, he was more than happy to lecture me. How dare I, a kid, tell him how to do his job. No, he would not accept any revisions or resubmittals, I had no idea what I was talking about and I, personally, was no longer to have contact on this project. He did not use nice words.

This couldn't stand, it was going to cause serious problems down the line. So I did the only thing I could think of, I found the contact for city planning and told him. Made it about three minutes into trying to explain who I was and why I was calling before he cut me off and told me to refer to Engineer and not to contact him again. Tried again for someone else later, did not make it past receptionist.

As. You. Wish.

I took the revised submittal and filed it in the back of the job file and moved on. (I wasn't needed for the rest and I had other things to do, plus school)

Fast forward almost two years, now going to college, still working for my folks as needed. Construction complete, get called in for startup. Goes smoothly as it should, and the countdown to destruction begins.

I think the first one went after about three months? Only made it that long because those pumps are very well built. Emergency ship in a replacement. Second one a week or three after, then another, and another, then the replacements start failing. The whole time, these are being invoiced including emergency shipping, and having to run out to start them up every time. They have no choice, THIS is the model the pads were cast for and the piping run for. You can't directly substitute something else, like, say, the correct pumps.

Then it gets really fun. They start returning the burnt out units for warranty.

The factory starts receiving these and tearing them down for failure analysis. I told our rep straight up that they were being run way outside their design point knowingly, he was not amused. Warranty is denied and they are billed for the diagnostic time and shipping. Manufacturer was in Germany by the way (shout out to the fine folks at KSB, love ya). These units are neither small, nor light. Plus these are being shipped as emergency orders. It's not cheap.

Warranties officially denied to the buyer. We tell them in no uncertain terms that this isn't a problem with the units. (this is now almost a year after the plant was due to come online)

Now the shit has really hit the fan. City council gets involved, because this is a municipal plant. Lawsuits are threatened, and a council meeting is scheduled to discuss further action.

I marked the day, and arranged with my teachers to take a few days off (didn't live close to home). Drove 3 1/2 hours to see my parents, and, to visit their filing cabinet. Right where I left it. Out came the revised submittal, and a quick trip to Kinkos (local copy shop) provided some wonderful blown up posters of said submittal as well as the proofs behind it.

The next day, I drove another 2 1/2 hours up to said City, had a lovely meatball sandwich at a restaurant right across the street from the council building and showed up to the council meeting. I even dressed up nice for the occasion.

I didn't say anything to anyone, just sat in the back in my chair with my rolled up posters next to me and waited. Took about forty minutes.

The council finally brings up the plant. Guess who comes up to testify in front of the council? It's Engineer.

He goes on for about ten minutes talking shit about our company and how we are denying the warranties. Basically states that the problem is due to the substitution and that our pumps were substandard.

This is a loss now counted in the millions between the downtime and replacement costs and rejected warranties, labor etc. Council swallows his bullshit hook, line and sinker. He sits down and the council starts discussing among themselves. This is my cue.

I stand up, approach the podium, and wait for them to notice me, doesn't take long as I'm a teenager in a city council meeting. I introduce myself and unroll the posters.

Me: Hi! I'm Crispy Silicon from Goingtoruinyourfuckingday! Before you proceed any further, you should probably have a look at this, which is the revised submittal I sent to Engineer prior to the initial bid. You'll note the date. Also attached you'll find the supporting calculations, relevant drawings from the original plans, and the recommendation of a larger suitable unit. You'll also see the fax acknowledgement sheet, showing it was received by his office.

Me: Immediately after sending that, I contacted Engineer directly and advised him of these issues. He declined, I was told outright to keep my nose out of things I didn't understand and to leave engineering to the adults. He was well aware the units would self destruct if run at this point.

Me: After that I called your planner, who refused to listen, and referred me back to Engineer.

Me: If you'd like, I'd be more than willing to contact our phone provider, so they can verify that fax and those calls were placed?

I'm grinning like the Cheshire Cat at this point and I'm not holding back the evil one bit. I'm sure I looked like a psychopath, couldn't help it, also didn't care.

Dead. Fucking. Silence.

Me: So yeah, the warranties are void as all of the units were operated well beyond their design point. I still stand by the revised submittal, so feel free to call when you're ready. I'll leave these here.

Still completely silent. The entire council looks like I just dropped my pants and mooned them. Then after a few seconds, one of the ladies on the council gave me a "Thank you Mr. Silicon. You can go."

I left my posters on the podium, turned and walked, made full eye contact with Engineer as long as I could with that same grin. He looked like he was probably going to vomit, didn't stick around to check.

Stopped by to give my folks a hug on the way back to school and that was the end of my involvement.

No idea what happened to Engineer or Planner, but the City paid every invoice in full without another peep. They had continue to purchase replacement after replacement to limp it along while simultaneously trying to re-refit the plant. They finally got it fixed after about another year, but by that time, I can't even imagine how far over the projected estimate they were.

(source) story by (/u/crispysilicon)

Beauty and the bigfoot

Across the north American continent span the great majestic Canadian Rocky mountains. A primordial structure that came from deep within our planet’s body. Imperial and proud yet largely untouched these mountains have been here from our planet’s beginning. It is precisely there that Stephanie chose to escape to for a two year break from life.

This life of: year in, year out, work work work, summer in – summer out, annual performance review, meetings, stress for bank accounts and an endless line of people she would – out of respect for the human race – prefer to not categorize. “Well paid plebs” is what she would call them. Day in – day out they followed orders from their manager-master and then go home to drink wine while once a week they had the chance to watch a bloody spectacle on the Colosseum Version 2019, known also as Netflix. The entire process subsidised by one of the central banks.

This life was not for her and rebellion needed to be much more than simply hunching a hoody and running around a park listening to rap music. Which of course she would never do as Stephanie was above all a well fashioned elegant life-perfectionist.

University had been a great time for Stephanie as it was then that she discovered music and her love for nature but that next step into the so called “corporate world” led her straight to the development of intellectual disgust for modern living. Her reaction was so natural that to her this was part of her thought structure. It started from her inability to adequately answer simple questions like “what is this all about?” or “why is this person  on this planet?”

She wanted more. But the instructions manual didn’t have a section on “more”. It surely had 20 pages about “more wine” and 50 about “more work” but nothing about “more life”. Love, or at least what the terms & conditions of app called love, popped in every now and then but she never loved the person love proposed. She loved “love” as a verb and human activity and did believe truly in its greater purpose but the person, the man was never what she loved. Most men seemed to be the packaging of love and no matter how many layers she hurriedly  unwrap, no matter how many weekends in Barcelona she’d spend with a man … she never found love. Stephanie was wholeheartedly in great need to both escape from this world and also to find greatness, two distinct needs with overlapping purpose.

An eye-catching Lufthansa magazine article during one of her business trips to Frankfurt, laced with German pragmatism, explained it all to her. The title was “Banff – escape inside the natural you” ‘their translation department needs some help’ she told herself. Capital of Alberta Canada, according to the article Banff was a paradise nested within the Canadian Rockies, a place of beauty, nature and free spirit. Before the air-waiters could serve those chemically grown jam filled plum cakes, Stephanie was already well into her feasibility analysis. ‘It’s either this or getting a large dog and naming it Lucifer, so it’s this, so Yes my dearest you can do this, do it’ she negotiated internally. Three months and a resignation letter later there she was in Banff Alberta Canada modern living’s latest self-exile.

She had a great set-up for this new life of hers. Work four days a week at the local Hilton as a restaurant connoisseur cause per local standards she knew everything about European wines and then for three days she was free to go on trekking trips. An endlessness of green and imposing natural structures all there for her mind and body to indulge in. She believed that, as for people, so also for trees there exists a sense of uniqueness. As if each tree somehow knows that it is one and different to the others, it was this concept that drove her at times to simply stand next to a tree and observe its every detail in search of what makes it different to the others. She spent full minutes standing next to trees comparing their dimensions versus her own body, moving in strange ways to better gauge the trunk’s diameter or form. She would whisper “spectacular” to herself at least three times a week and truly meaning it.

I was June, the greatest of all months for women and something inside Stephanie knew this. Was it Juno’s hand reaching down from Olympus or simply the army of wild flowers all cheerful to see her as chance would take her path by them? When close to nature  many random events at a microbial level all accumulate and trigger the various biologies of our inner workings. Stephanie was unknowingly June’s hostage and one Friday, her yes day, she set off for her trek. Local fashion implied jean shorts, white knee socks, strong trekking boots and a red Abercrombie $15 t-shirt. She decided to leave the town from the side where the river passes nearest and where the caves are. Off she went.

At some point after one of her tree merging sessions she walked onto a wild flowered knoll with no shade where she heard a whistle. There a tuned whistle with detailed sonority stopped her. Startled she stood to observe and grasp what was happening ‘just another trekker’ she reassured herself but her answered did not suffice. ‘right here, right now? To me in these mountains? What are the odds that I hear such a strange tune?’ … she stood for 30 seconds and heard the tune take distance. ‘I came here for the mountains and the trees, not some whistle’ she shrugged this disruption away and disregard this intrusion. She was here for herself and for nature … no distractions. Her trek went on as planned.

Monday soon came and it was dinner time at the hotel restaurant where nothing out of the ordinary was happening until from the lobby came that whistle once again. This was her work place so Stephanie’s personal standards could take second stage, ‘disruption at work is a job issue’ she told herself and raced to see what had tickled her ear three days ago on that flowery hill. Through the disdain hotel lobby ornaments she safaried and pushed aside the Drömsk Ikea floor lamb to uncover the last thing she would ever expect to see in the Canadian mountains, a pirate. Not a real pirate on a ship in the Caribbean but a man who at first glanced could not be called anything but a pirate. His hair was scruffy brown and so was his skin which, beyond being mildly done by the sun, also had that veneer of adventurous dryness that prolonged exposure to the sun and sea salt leaves behind. Above all his eyes had a deep middle-eastern look with carbon powdered eyes. She kept her hand on the Drömsk and told herself to turn away as he was beginning to turn his head in her direction and a man was not this evening’s menu.

That was something unexpected she said to herself as she marched back to her post at the restaurant where customers sat expecting her to treat them with that safe and reliable Trustpilot verified Hilton love they paid $200 a night for. Stephanie naturally made people smile, it was part of her instinctive blueprint. She had short brown hair which defused any fear of aggression or over sexuality and this made everyone want to be her friend immediately. After 19 responsibly sourced rump steaks with farm grown fries things started to die down as it was nearly one hour to midnight. Suddenly the pirate came inside and went straight to the bar. Dark jeans and a light red turtle neck he walked slowly but with firm steps. ‘who wears a turtle neck in June?’ she perplexed.

“Hey Tom, could you go do a turn in the cellar for me, I’ll take over here” she told the bartender who with a half-smile and look went off. Manning the bar herself she was there standing face to face with this … cold mountain pirate. He was jittery and started fidgeting with the menu while examining the bottles behind Stephanie. One of his eyes was also looking at her body, mid height between the bottles and she was asking herself why? ‘I’m not on the menu mate’ she confirmed to herself. She took a glass and in pure bartender fashion started polishing it with a white cotton hand towel, to which he reacted by jumping five centimetres up and glimpsing at the bottles with overstatement then sat back down and sunk his nose back into the menu. She was formulating a plan to say something but before she could enact he spoke.

“you’re the bartender aren’t you? You’re here right?” he said with a fidgety tone.

“I am certainly here” she smiled back while inside she said ‘I know this man, he is lost, he came here to escape the world where he was successful but couldn’t find something truly worthwhile, now he is here at the edge of the world seeking refuge, yes, I know this man perfectly’

He looked at her directly, stopped moving about and smiled. He held the smile for a full three seconds then leaned deeply into the bar towards her saying “Are you a good bartender?”

“what?” she choked

“well you say you’re here and … well so am I but should we be here? I mean I know I’m a great customer but are you a good bartender?” he asked with a slow confident tone that she found basically inappropriate.

After two seconds of cold silence and a dry stare in his face she said, “What’ll it be partner?” trying to establish some ground rules and place this whole scenario where it belonged the standard saloon of a frontier outpost town where she was the boss.

He had failed at something, this was clear to her but she would never find out what. He stopped looking at her and went back into the menu, “I think every drink is perfect for the right occasion and I’m trying to figure out what this occasion is … I … I … I guess I’m kinda lost” …

Inside herself was triumph ‘I knew it, I know this man, he IS lost, weird, a bit too weird but weird with great eyes is actually great and … well either way I knew he was lost, I rock’ she declared.

… “What would you recommend?” he asked her.

“I’d say you’re a whiskey man, we’ve got some great Canadians, aged of course” She proudly sold.

“makes you fat” he snapped back.

‘he cares about his weight, I can’t tell what his body is like while he is sitting down but this is a good sign’ she debated internally as she smiled in agreement with his comment and found his eyes asking her to look a bit deeper. She wanted to of course and then nearly roused on herself with ‘wake up Stephanie, leave the eyes cause you are not  falling for this guy. You came to Banff for you not some fidgety arrogant pirate’. She had to reply fast or else he’d notice something was going on and plus an answer would help her better manage the temptation to look at her eyes. What should she say? She opted for all-out attack, the only good defence:

“Hey, there’s a great wine bar two blocks down the road with a great collection of Bordeaux” she said firmly and with a simile of victory.

He looked at her and smiled, then looked out the window.

‘this guy’s good’ she thought.

He replied with “It’s never nice to drink far from home when you’re drinking alone, so I’ll stay here and … do what you tell me to” launching a deeper than manageable stare into her eyes.

Emotionally perilous music now sounded in her brain which was packing up and getting ready to check out for the evening. Yes, that’s what brains do, they leave you along just before midnight in outpost towns just after you meet a pirate with deep brown eyes. Juno wasn’t helping either as every time the lobby door opened the early summer night breeze sent aromas to her nose.

‘do your job’ she slapped herself and asked him “Whiskey it is then, on the rocks?”

“I thought you said it was good whiskey”,

“The best”,

“Then why would I dilute it with water? You see water is a universal constant of sorts, it turns everything back into the original essence of life, I want some whiskey, if it’s good then bring it to me straight up” he explained

‘a brain too’ she told herself feeling now that this was actually becoming a thing. ‘If he smiles to me one more time I’m leaving with Brain’ she promised herself as she prepared his drink. His New York accent was reassuring and added only to what she was finding great about this guy, eyes above all and now a brain. Yet still this man uncalled for in this exotic mountain paradise Stephanie had chosen to escape to. She was trying to condemn this act of piracy into her world but wanted more and more to keep the sails full canvased. She poured his 24 years old Canadian whiskey and tried to tell him she was not available with a simple and firm “Enjoy” as she looked away.

“Oh I’m enjoying it already, listen since we’re going to be friends you might as well tell me your name. I’m David, I’m from New Jersey. What’s your name?” he said with happiness and accomplishment in his voice.

‘to be a woman or not to be’ she asked herself and thus decided ‘ok, let’s see where these eyes will take me. Brain has left so there won’t be any witnesses tonight’.

“I’m Stephanie, I’m from London, here on a … kind of a gap year, pleased to meet you” she curtsied.

He sipped the whiskey with savour and went on “Gap year? That sounds great, so what? you work all day and then go mountain hiking or bear hunting or something?” laughing mildly to continue this connection.

Stephanie regrouped inside herself for an emergency all directors meeting: how can he know so much? Am I that obvious? Perhaps I am just that but then he is the lost one who needs my guidance not the other way around, didn’t this man get the e-mail?. Am I just here for his eyes and smart cracks? Oh my god I need to tell this guy to “f” off cause this is my place and out here I am not only the queen I’m the king, the bishop, the aristocracy and three witches hiding in the swamp. There are no more openings. Sure I will one day fall in love with my dream man but I haven’t started this project yet. I need to shut him up once and for all.

So she opted to change the topic from them to something neutral, and said “I guess you could say that but … Banff is very beautiful, and the weather this time is great, have you done any trekking?”

He showed irritation to her manoeuvre and she loved that. This stranger here in front of her at a bar was actually dictating terms on her emotions. On top of all that he was beautiful and in a way that only an ocean and the sun could be. With brain checked out she feared that soon her heartbeat would be out of her control. ‘this is supposed to be just another Monday’ she screamed to herself.

He sipped more of the whiskey and … suddenly Tom came back from the cellar, it felt to her like he had gone a month ago. Tom, who knew Stephanie well, looked at her. She looked back with a straight square and intent face and he smiled back and left. She did think for an eternity whether to send him off or have him take over at the bar thus allowing an escape from this captive pirate. An eternity for Stephanie lasts precisely one tenth of a second. ‘Leave us Tom, it’s late and well … David needs to drink some whiskey, I won’t tell you anything about it in the morning’ she told herself.

“Actually, I have a confession to make”, Davide replied and her heart winked upwards to where brain should have been, “I have been doing some trekking but not for the beauty of the mountains …”

“Oh?”

“… yeah well, and here comes the confession, I believe in bigfoot and well I’m here to see if I can find one, there now you think I’m crazy” ending with a small nod and smile as he looked sideward then stared right at her.

Stephanie sends out a square smile that initially wanted to pop and said “That’s … that’s the cutest thing I’ve heard anybody say in months” she said with positivity.

“You don’t think that sounds crazy? I mean too crazy?” David said like a six year-old.

“No!” she said with a triple o “I mean it, that’s super cute, I wish more people would follow their dreams and do what they really want every now and then. This is exactly what the world needs”

“You know I couldn’t agree more, the world is filled with people who are boring and that’s not the problem but the result, the problem is that they want to be boring. It’s over for 99% of them, just going from one step to the next, just like their parent said they would …”

“Yeah ... “ concurred Stephanie

“… I mean I get that there are some standard things we human beings simply must do like sell something to make money, eat, sleep although even sleeping isn’t as necessary as people think … but anyway … I mean in the end once every six months you need to go do something totally unexpected, something that only your heart would ever think of doing” David concluded.

They looked at each other with two smiles and two prolonged nods between them. “Yeah” said Stephanie to break the silence which wasn’t a problem but she just wanted to reaffirm her consent to his thesis one more time.

“I’m gonna –pause– get another whiskey here” said David. She paused too and looked at him on purpose for the 100th time in the last hour, now she looked at herself and asked: is this person in front of me part the wild and natural landscape I escaped to? Am I in control or not of what is going on here? Why is this man with these deep brown eyes confessing to me, why is he feeling like a schoolboy and showing it? What card have I picked up from the board game?

She had so many questions in her mind all of which could wait for this one mega question - “how long will he be staying in Banff?” A question of pivotal importance and probably the most difficult question ever but not because it’s hard to answer rather … because it’s impossible to ask.

She snapped out of it and ask him “Another whiskey? Sure. Where? Here you said? Of course sure, ha ha where else?”

David crossed his eyebrows as if he was thinking but all she could see was a new version of his dark smuggling eyes. This man was doing something to her no one had ever done before, he was creating questions about existence and self-nature for her to answer rather than overflow her with tangible constructions about the world she so easily left behind. She wanted some whiskey too but couldn’t drink there as she was on duty. She wanted to know this guy, she wanted to meet him, she wanted. It was worthwhile and this was her escape year. This could be one small step for her but one giant leap for her womanhood so she did it. She proposed to him.

“Hey I should be getting off here about now, it’s midnight and we’re actually closed, we could go to that wine bar down I told you about and get a last drink”

Wow, she has been upfront with men before but never when the man was so sober. This was it, her river card, her final bet, her last fig leaf. After tonight it would be a triumph and a series on Netflix about how cool she is or Stephanie would become the first person to escape to the mountains to then get so embarrassed that she needed to escape even further.

“Stephanie I’m just gonna say one thing: I like how you tick and I certainly like how you think. I’ll let you wrap up here and meet you there, alright?” He pronounced with a smile.

Wow again she thought to herself, he not only didn’t over indulge and invite me to his room he actually gave me some space and time to put some make up on. This guy is either good or he is god and only one “o” is going to make that difference. “Sure thing, see you there” she replied and started closing up the bar as he went off.

It was past midnight now and Banff was well asleep, even the wind was slumbering. Her plan was simple, close the bar, lock up the fridges then go to the hotel employee bathroom where, she had been told by one the female staff that the girls kept a “just in case” kit which should have everything a girl needs in an emergency like this. Stephanie was confident that she would find Gucci mascara, Dior eyeliners, a set of Victoria’s Secret lingerie – not too forthcoming but enough to make a bang – and of course the essential Channel Number 5. She opened it like the pit of a nuclear test site and was confronted by a “no means yes” red lipstick, an eyeliner gifted in some magazine and a six year old of pack of ribbed condoms. Hesitation didn’t stand a chance as the eyeliner was drier than death and the condoms had both expired a year ago and well, using ribbed in her mind was basically like saying “I’m gonna need all the help I can get” which was, luckily, the farthest from where she was. So she muttered “fcuk” then “great” and then picked up the lipstick as her contribution to one stand history. All this for this man she’d just met.

The longest walk ensued to the wine bar during which Stephanie successfully figured out everything about her life. Yes, it was all so simple, you see up until now everything was just a test to see if she could survive and endure it all, now was when real life actually starts. Now when she was destined to meet Davide. A man who like her was subconsciously seeking her out, sure she wasn’t bigfoot but she was definitely worthy of being called a mythical creature, so that is that. From now on everything was going to be about accomplishment, kids, a house and a summer house.

She arrived in 15 minutes and found him standing outside with a bottle in one hand two wine glasses in the other and his back leaning against the dark windows of the wine bar.

Only one thought was allowed into her mind as she saw him for the first time fully standing ‘now that is a body’.

He leaned forward after his eyes did and said “Great to see you”

“yeah, thanks, it’s closed” she replied.

“yeah when I got here a guy called Mario was locking up, said it was Monday and this is Banff” said David

“sounds about right” smiled Stephanie who was wondering if aliens could right about now come and abduct them both to their planet where they would subdue the two of them through some mating regime until they could breed the perfect human.

Davide jumped in “I tried to bribe him to stay open for another hour but no luck, I told him I met you and really wanted to get to know you better and … well I told him about you, in the end I thought I’d take a chance and buy a bottle … ”

They both smiled for 2 seconds, David continued “… and I got two great wine glasses cause good wine in the wrong glass is … unacceptable … anyway I thought I’d take the change to ask you to continue our evening somewhere … anywhere your place, my room …”

They both smiled again for 2 seconds, she looked upwards to the stars “… or even the hills out here, somewhere you know. I thought … if she says no at least I end up with a great bottle of red”

Stephanie knew she had to say something but she couldn’t stop feeling good about the fact that he had already spoken about her to other people, ‘he is already talking about me to people’ she kept telling herself. But what was to come next? Her house was out of the question cause a woman’s house is like the bat cave to Batman, Transylvania to Dracula and the Library of congress all rolled into one – there is only one way to get in and that’s with a one way ticket.

She walked closely to him, well in range of a kiss and paused. He didn’t, so she did the next best thing – while maintaining pornographic eye contact she slowly extended her hand to his waist and in her hands firmly grasped … the bottle to examine it.

“Chateau Gazin Pomerol 2011?” she whispered to this pirate who in the mountain night and summer breeze was nearly trembling in awe and emotion from her movements, “wow, this is a great wine you know?, way too great to let a whiskey man enjoy alone. – pause – ok David … let’s go to your room”

He laughed just to get out of the risk of a too early kiss or even worse some surprise erection and followed her lead as she smiled and turned away to walk back to the hotel.

‘why did he not take this chance to kiss me’ Stephanie pleaded to herself. ‘I was there, he was there, I had just told him I’d go to his room, I mean what does this guy need? An email from his boss? Com’on David, lips speak louder than eyes’

But for now that was fine as she knew that in reality so much progress had been made for the cause of love and in such little time. Stephanie knew she already deserved a medal or at least an honorary mention in the next romantic comedy to hit the screen. Now she had much bigger things to worry about like this high-risk long walk back to the room not to mention the imminent moment of truth to come – her denudation. That moment where every woman puts everything at risk, lights a fire in her hand, detonates the nuclear weapon in her brain and as Juno would say – transforms her physical body into a temple for fanatical and unpredictable religious practices.

‘Get your ass to his room before worrying about how it will get to Mars’ she boldly told herself and turned to follow Davide.

If sex is a crucifixion, and it is for the messiah inside all of us, then getting to the bedroom is the procession to Calvary. The short yet endless path through the holy city to where flesh is to be thrashed, sins forgiven and gods created. For Stephanie this was going to be here, through downtown Banff in the middle of the summer night.

Stephanie always believed that the way a man walks next to a woman is the most telling sign of his true feelings for her. All she could remember from “When Harry met Sally” was the walk scenes she would see and re-see over and over again, observing and interrupting each motion to see what it tells or tries to hide. Here she was walking with a man to a room.

She ensured that Davide was at least one metre ahead so she could look at his body from safety and while it seemed to work at first, slowly she noticed that he was not maintaining a stable speed. Perhaps he too wanted to check her out, as they say. They were competing for the view of each other.

‘Our first fight’ she smiled to herself, ‘game on, I’ll beat a pirate on a mountain any day’

“So tell me about bigfoot, I mean …” she started a fresh new conversation while discovering her competitive side and engaging in a prancing game. For ten seconds she would increase her speed and then miss a step in alternation. While keeping one eye and half a smile on him and other on his body when he was comfortably in front of her.

Davide laughed mechanically “it’s a thing, it’s a real thing. I mean I guess this has to do with who I am deep down, you see I don’t believe in anything except that believing in things is good. So I don’t believe in god but I want there to be a bigfoot … and a giant squid … and vampires too. Tell me when I’ve freaked you out enough”

“No no, please go on” – she was loving this so much. In her mind prancing in the Canadian Rockies whilst listening to a pirate she was planning to sleep with was talk about bigfoot was the epitome of her existence on this planet so far.

“you’re not making fun of me?” he asked

“Do you think I would make fun of a man holding a bottle of wine that was leading me to his hotel room?” she replied with indulging irony.

David didn’t know what she was doing but it was working like a witchcraft. The motility in her feet was driving him crazy and he want to it stop like an itch but couldn’t due to the fact that he was holding the wine and of course was still in the oat zone. Stephanie had defined oat zone as Only Accidentally Touching which she invented in a meeting once when a colleague of hers was trying to touch her using accidental trips and imaginary obstacles that would push his body briefly onto hers.

He went on “Well that it surely a logical explanation, but the fact that you’re still here is proof enough for me”

Feeling on top of everything she provoked with “maybe I’m just here for the wine”

“you’re not here for the wine” he said with a dry tone of conviction.

“I’m not? How do you know?”

“cause if you were you’d know enough about wine to know that this wine will need at least 5 hours to breath” he replied proudly.

“Whoa ! you know about wine now? I thought you were a whiskey man.” She had to snap back

“Do you wanna find out about bigfoot or do you want to talk about the wine we’re going to drink” he replied with calm.

She stopped herself and him, turned to him and put her hands on the sides of his shoulders. She looked at him straight and said “I want to hear so much about bigfoot that I’m seriously thinking of adopting one” and laughed. She did this for two main reasons firstly to steer clear from any confrontation but mainly to declare that touching is now officially an option.

‘when will he realise that we’ve left the oat zone?’ was now her question.

He laughed through retracting lips and said “I try to avoid absolute affirmations but can say something here to you?” he stopped and looked at her. She paused and gasped “sss- yeah”

“You are a special human being Stephanie from London … in several ways”

She wasn’t officially in love but the e-mail confirmation was by now surely in the server’s outbox. Should be in her inbox in a minute. She needed to hide this as much as possible but she couldn’t so instead she thought to transform it into something official. She looked at him again and simply said “That’s so nice, I really appreciate it.”

Smile from David.

Smile back and “Now tell me about bigfoot, com’on you’ve got less than 5 minutes, the hotel is on the next block”

He continues “well like I was saying I want to believe in things so I chose the things to believe in and I do it, I believe in them, bigfoot is one of my choices, that’s basically it”

Stephanie – “So you’ve never seen one or something it’s just a choice?”

“Yeah, I mean there is some science behind bigfoots that they are some primate that evolved on its own in high altitude environments around the world. It’s a highly plausible possibility, it’s not like unicorns or ..”

“Keep unicorns out this ok” she said with a childish seriousness

He laughed strongly “That’s so cute”

“No really I love unicorns and I won’t mess with your bigfoots if you don’t touch my unicorns” maintaining her tone to that of a concerned three year old girl at the zoo.

“ok ok hey that sounds fair to me” he went on “So that I mean I don’t so much about actually finding one cause if I did I may even contribute to their extinction, I don’t think society is capable of finding any hidden treasure and keeping it as such, we’d find it cage it and make an Instagram account for it. But the idea that it is there or … here in these mountains … is important to me, I need this idea I enjoy it, it makes me feel better” continued David.

Stephanie needed to touch him again so in her prance she skimmed her arm against his ‘wow, skin’ she thought to herself cautious only to not make him drop the wine. He glanced with surprise to her and their two smiles met once more. They were close to the hotel now and she knew it was time to start thinking about what was coming next. She put accidental touching aside for a moment to talk again.

“I like how you think David, I mean people generally should follow more of the dreams and beliefs, that’s why I came to Banff”

He joked in “to find bigfoot?” with a laugh.

“No I would never dream of steeling your glory” she joked back and went on “… I came to find … I don’t know what i came to find but I knew that it was missing and I knew that I would find it here”

“that’s deep” acclaimed David as they went through the side door of the lobby. The main revolving doors were switched off as it was one a.m. “That sounds like a bottle-of-wine conversation to me”

“Well that’s exactly what we have here isn’t it, what’s your floor?” she asked in front of the elevators. “6” he sparked and in they went … into that room called an elevator but for two people in their state leads straight down into the depths of hell.

Alone, a man with pirate eyes and a girl that escaped from London, in a confined room, with a bottle of French wine, both feeling the subtle upward thrust of the elevator which after the fourth floor can provoke a tingle in certain body parts and all around them … mirrors. They both fell into that devilish elevator trap of looking up in search of help to battle awkwardness instead they got … a ceiling mirror. The scripture was on their faces, blushing near their timid lips, they both knew that this was a love-test for them. Will they reach the sixth floor before they gasp out laughing and thus making a sexual confession unavoidable or not?

Ding, saved by the bell, they had made it.

David had taken a small room, not a suite, which Stephanie did notice. Of all the aspects of life Stephanie did not rank the concept of “enough money” as being number one in importance but she did firmly place it at number two, just after “more money”.

‘fine, he didn’t get the suite, so what? More money for all the gifts he is going to buy for me’ she told herself to shut up. But she did walk into the room to the tune of Material World sung by Madonna, original version of course cause well … it’s Madonna. She wanted to speed things up a bit it was already 1:30 and they hadn’t even kissed yet. They needed to kiss as soon as possible and with Victorian elegance.

David walked in and put the wine and glasses on the small coffee table. “Well here we are, there is a bathroom if you need there and a bed here … not if you need it I mean it’s just here as you can see … I better open the wine make yourself at home” he said clumsily.

‘He is funny’ she laughed inside and couldn’t restrain from saying “If I need the bed i can use it?” while laughing.

Davide laughed back and for now didn’t want to give too much breathing room to that chain of joking.

Stephanie placed her hand bag on the bed, this was her levee in case things flooded too soon. A woman in a hotel room with a man is better than a well-trained Mossad agent. She’ll put the condoms in the right place, order them as per favourite flavour, cork screw the wine, hide the man’s underwear, ensure he doesn’t steal hers and do the bed all in 10 minutes flat while the man hasn’t even found out how to unclip her bra.

She sat down and wanted some silence. It was time for him to go through his year 6 med-school advanced brain surgery exam …  with no time to study. Easy, for the man that Stephanie was going to fall in love with. She leaned forward with her elbows on the table while watching him open the bottle and hopefully … set the perfect scene. David was walking around the room with the bottle.

“wow, this is luck!” proclaimed David with a whisper.

“what?”

“there is a cork screw in the room, they don’t always put them in the minibars”

‘A - Ha’ said Stephanie to herself ‘so, Mr pirate eyes, trying to find a corkscrew in hotel rooms is a common problem for you is it now? What am I, number 87? You just lost 10 points here brother and you haven’t even poured the wine ‘ she decreed.

“you do this often?” she bit while finishing her sentence in her mind with ‘if he doesn’t answer in 5 nanoseconds it means I caught him and then me, my cheap lipstick together with my bag and jogging underwear are out of here’

Luckily it was a false alarm as David did reply with sincerity and rapidly “well I travel a lot and I generally like good wine plus I like to work from my hotel room so I’ll often order dinner to my room, the common hotel room service guy will simply forget to bring the opener and I’ll have to call them back, in good hotels they remember or they have a corkscrew in the room”.

‘phew! you are back in the game, I really want you to win this, now I’m ready for you to score a touchdown on my 5 yard line’ She wanted to get physical.

Davide poured the wine and brought the glasses to the table, he set them down and began to sit but stopped half way. He bounced back up and looked around.

“What’s wrong” she said, ‘will you get with the program boy? Let’s get the wine on’ she thought.

He crossed his arms and scraped his chin while turning left and right observantly.

“the lighting is terrible in this room” pausing to think while turn eighteen times.

‘he’s thinking about how to make my working-girl body look like a Canova statue, I love this man’ thought Stephanie.

“Let me … prefect – verb if you allow – as much as I can” said David and set to the task of lighting. He tried multiple combinations of the infinite room light options. After five minutes of the cheapest lighting show in the history of light Stephanie was about to start biting her lips. “Hey, I think it’s ok David let’s try this wine” she commanded.

Blackout. Suddenly it was pitch dark as David had hit the master switch turning all the lights off.

‘What’s this?’ she squeaked inside when the bathroom light turned on giving the room the aura of a cloudy summer night with the last effect of dusk fighting to hold on. ‘perfect’ she thought as David emerged and finally sat down.

‘I made it through the wilderness, Somehow I made it through

Didn’t know how lost I was, until I found you’

Stephanie was now listening to “Like a Virgin”

He lifted his glass, closed his eyes and pushed his nose deep inside with fragile care taking a deep nose breathe.

“ahhhh this does smell great, it will be perfect in 6 to 7 hours but it’s great even now” said the pirate to his wine glass and his eyes came back into play. It was too dark outside while they were walking to see their full effect but now, here, in silence and under this perfect light it was open season on his eyes for Stephanie. She simply stopped controlling where she looked.

“Cheers” he said and lifted his glass to her.

“Cheers” she replied.

Crystals struck and their lips were wet at last. He took a second sip, swirled the glass and falling back into his chair smiling to her, he said “I’m going to ask your permission to give you a compliment right now, I have to, I need to, please let me tell you something that right now … I really need to say”

“I didn’t stop your bigfoot discourse how could I say no to this?” she said in the most bashful way. She did not want to stop him but at the same time didn’t what to give him full control at least not until they were horizontal.

“Well here goes, I … I think you’re beautiful”

Stephanie smiled with a “humph”

“no no … let me put it into perspective here for you” … takes another sip … Stephanie takes two … “This may sound strange but I have to tell all about it, hear me out, I was walking across the most majestic mountain range in the world the other day looking for my mythical being. I had shut the whole smoggy and high speed world out for the whole day. It was going to be about me and this dream, this myth, this thing I consciously choose to believe in. I was out there. Fully immersed and totally dedicated, nothing else was with me. At last I had achieved a life goal – to start a journey of discovery of something I believe in with all my heart. So there I was” … two sips for him and three for Stephanie who realised this wasn’t going to be another simple pick-up line … “So I’m going through a small forest patch and then I cross a river, and walk some more. I was loving every minute of this. So, I go on some more and then from atop a hill covered with wild flowers and the aroma of honey from a primordial habitat I saw not far away the outline of something standing” … he paused and looked at Stephanie. She was to overtaken by his nonstop narrative and his eyes that alternated focal point from glass to her and to her hair at times. Dazzled, she simply wanted to hear more. He paused for five seconds then said “… we need a wine break, our glasses are already empty, let me pour some more”

Stephanie showed relief with a shrugging shoulder movement and a deep smile “ha yeah I was so taken by your story I mean I can’t wait to hear about your bigfoot experience” she jokingly recessed from the captivating tension of the moment. David poured another third of the bottle into their wide slim necked glasses, took two sips and continued.

“so where was i? ah the first encounter. This figure I saw standing was drenched in the shadow of these ancient trembling aspens and was clearly a humanoid in my view. Even at that distance in the darkness of the forest shade I could tell it was no plant. I didn’t want to risk going closer at this point cause I was sure it hadn’t seen me while I had seen it, so I decided to stop and observe any intellectual should”

“and …?” asked Stephanie between three sips of the Pomerol which was choking much faster than it could breathe. Davide too was drinking.

“So I’m looking at what my heart was calling the being I’ve dreamt of finding all my life and what was it doing?”

“… what?” whispered Stephanie over the same uttering from Davide “what ? hehe there … you too ask what, I’ll tell you what, standing near a tree, standing and looking at the tree as if to see what the tree looked like … it … you were doing something with the tree … I can only guess you were comparing it to your body dimensions, at least that’s what I think” David said.

‘I’m going to cry’

Stephanie looked ready to cry

“don’t say anything yet at least, let me finish. What I saw you do, and I didn’t know who you are, was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen a person do on this planet so far in my life time”

Her eyes were ready to shed the first tear in her life that had this a mild temperature, neither cold from a tear of pain nor warm as tears from sorrow have. But she also wanted to laugh from joy as the cynical Stephanie knew that such a sight could be classified as simply silly.

David went on “I watched you for 10 full minutes Stephanie and I didn’t want to disturb the meditating state you were clearly in with nature, at some point you turned in my direction and I panicked. I started whistling in the other direction. I didn’t want you to think I was some mad man stalking women in the forest. So I left”

‘kill me now but only after making pure love to me please’ she begged inside but outside she had to find a practical solution to this emotional traffic jam.

She constructed a mild umfy laugh with lots of “he he” and said “wow, you saw me there? What a coincidence, I must have looked ridiculous”

“no … you looked and are … a myth” he whispered with full eye contact.

‘gulp’

“shhhh” he hushed.

David knew any hint or attempt at courtship in the conventional sense was now an option long gone for them. Their Titanic had made contact with the iceberg and there were no lifeboats for the last passengers. He proposed a toast again to her where crystals kissed this time and finished his wine as did she, he stood up and lowered his hands to her.

“give me your hands” he asked, she did and he pulled her up. Face to face he lifted their arms to the sky, Stephanie knew a kiss would be perfect right about now and David did deliver.

The lips had more to say than the eyes and what mattered most was also the more surprising, that this man knew the concept of acceleration. Taking every step with the right speed, not too slow to stop the flooding nor to fast to drown the princess.

Their union of lips lit chain fires and her bag went flying as he moved her body for her. His hair filled her fingers as his body filled her arms, both were playing the part they’d rehearsed for so many years. Now on centre stage. He was proving with heart, soul and above all his hands the existence of the mythical being he’d been seeking and known to be our Stephanie while she finally permitted full and total loss of control.

Who was this man? A pirate who has known me longer than I know him, a believer and a shy adventurer with taste for wine. Definitely not in the article she had read on that Lufthansa flight but … so very worth a book.

Let’s voltron!

“I say vol and you say tron! Vol…..”

“Eh…. voltron?”

“We’ll work on it.”

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and that you’ve been able to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic (and that the easing of some restrictions depending on where you are has not negatively affected you). After binge watching legendary defender on netflix I’ve had the undying and uncontrollable urge to do a voltron rp. Now I bet you’re all wondering what I want and if you’re going to get to do some shipping…….we’ll I guess you’re just going to have to read on and find out.

I’m looking for literate rper’s only. That means people who write in third person past tense, can give me at the very least one well thought out and fleshed paragraph (as well as be willing to write more when the situation calls for it) and has a decent grasp on their spelling, grammar and punctuation. I will not yell at you for the occasional bout of typonese but one liners, one worders, poorly written responses and lazy writing in general will not keep me around. If I can’t read what you’ve written and you’re not willing to put some effort in or correct it then there’s no point in me sticking around. I also require rper’s who’ve actually watched voltron whether it be legendary defender, defender of the universe or voltron force. If you’re someone whose a stickler for canon accuracy then I’m probably not the rper for you. When I rp in a fandom setting I treat it a bit like a base as in there’s rules to follow but I don’t have to follow them as if I’m reading the show script. To put it simply I value creativity and ideas that allow a different take on the characters and what could’ve happened.

I only rp male alien or alien hybrid characters and they’re premade but flexible in how they’re written. I do not have pictures nor do I desire to spend endless hours of time to find a face claim of a creature that isn’t the typical different coloured humanoids you see in voltron. I have descriptions and that’s it. I do not care if your character is made up on the spot or if you prefer to rp as a canon character. Shippers……I’m sorry but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side, I do not rp them as mains so if you were looking for some sheith or klance I’m sorry to disappoint you. That being said you are free to play as any canon character you desire or an oc as I’m open to oc x oc pairings or oc x canon pairings (you being the canon character) and I do either MxM or FxM pairings. Romance and non fade to black smut will both occur in the rp but it must be slow burn. I do not do fast paced love at first sight as it’s just not something that holds my interest. No sub dom dynamics, switch dynamics only and please no characters whose entire personality is just one emotion or one trait they have.

Guys…..please don’t call my aliens furries or whatever. I don’t rp generic spray painted humans and we’re rping in a world full of wacky and crazy aliens that have fur,scales,tails,multiple arms, etc so I find it Incredibly annoying to have a label forced on my character like it’s a bad thing. Alien means something not from earth, if a human was to be born on altea or daibazzal, it’d be considered an alien despite probably being a hundred percent human. If your view and comfort zone is restricted to aliens that look like an altean and nothing else then you needn’t not message me. I’m not going to make you rp with me if this is a dealbreaker so if you don’t heed this warning then you do not be rude after pulling a shocked pikachu. Be mature about it if you realise it’s a deal breaker rather than just blocking or suddenly deciding you no longer want to talk to me and that you’ll just ignore me till I unfriend you.

DO NOT COME TO ME SAYING OR ASKING YOU WANNA DO A SHEITH RP/ DO YOU RP AS THESE CANON CHARACTERS! I cannot stress this enough. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer that I do not do canon character mains nor do I do rp’s solely for the purpose of shipping said rp characters. As I’ve said before, if you wanna play a canon character go ahead but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side. My oc’s are my mains.

You and your characters must be 18+. I’m in my twenties and will not rp with a minor, especially since I have mature and adult themes in my rp’s that I do not want to get into trouble for Rping them with someone whose underaged. Underaged characters are just……..a big no for the sole fact that my characters are adults and that i do not feel uncomfortable playing against underaged characters.

You must be able to give me one or more responses a day. If it’s been two weeks since the last response and you’ve mysteriously disappeared then I’m not going to stick around for the day you decide to answer me. I do not like having my time wasted for any reason. My time zone is the eastern Australian time zone but I’m available and awake at odd hours so time zones aren’t too big of an issue for me. Remember that I’m looking for a long term partner, someone to carry an rp with for more than just a few days or a week and someone to write multiple stories with.

I have tonnes of ideas and head cannons for the rp but I’m open to brainstorming and ideas. We can mix and match ideas till we get something we both like. I want this to be a shared job, don’t expect me to be the one to carry everything just cause I’m the one supplying the idea. Down below I’ve decided to list a couple of ideas that I have:

New school defenders:

the paladins of voltron have been defending the universe for years. Many stories of their countless victories, battles and struggles are something that every parent who was alive during the war told their children. Once the main three were taken out (haggar, lotor and zarkon) the paladins settled down to teaching the garrisons new generation of cadets. The new change in curriculum was welcome for many as well as a new change in ship style. To make sure that peace could be maintained in every quadrant of every galaxy the paladins of voltron has trained the cadets to fly animal styled space ships like the lions. The animal ship a pilot was assigned depended on their personality, strengths, weaknesses, how well they worked in a team and their style of fighting and piloting skills. The importance of team bonding was something the paladins basically preached. When news of the return of an old foe forces the paladins to return to their jobs as voltrons warriors and they suddenly disappear many write them off as dead or perhaps in distress. None of the superiors are interested to find out….. so who will?

Lotor’s reign:

It was unbelievable. It couldn’t be true. It had to not be true. Voltron taken down by lotor, son of the mighty emperor zarkon himself, and the paladins were now working for him without question as his top generals?! When the news had first hit many people had panicked whilst countless others had been slain for daring to believe and protest that it was all just some lie made up by the half galran prince who was now an emperor like his father before him. Princess Allura herself was locked away in an unknown location after refusing the cruel man’s hand in marriage so she is no help for what is now a lost hope. Lotor’s reign had well and truly begun all those years ago and it was holding steady. People had forgotten long ago that even in complete and utter darkness….one can always find a speck of light that burns bright no anger how small.

Mirror mirror:

For many years people believed the galra were a race of cruel, vicious, animalistic thinking beings whose only goal was to destroy and conquer words. No one would’ve ever believed that it was the peacekeeping alteans that had been working to plot the galaxy’s downfall. Voltron, belonged to the galrans, they’d been the ones who’d built it after all despite letting alfor pilot voltron’s right arm. When the king had been turned down on his idea to share the mighty robotic war machine he simply built his own. Five dragons that formed dracotron were what the alteans used as their voltron and weapon to conquer the galaxies. Emperor zarkon, under the advice of Haggar the witch, was one of the few world leaders who managed to get his people to safety. Ever since watching the great kingdoms that he’d known for almost ten thousand years fall under the alteans greed and obsession for power over peace, he prayed for miracle in whatever form he could get it in. When two young stragglers end up stranded on the galra’s second home world, the cards of fate are laid according to haggar, much to everyone else’s confusion. What could two lost souls possibly do to bring back what was lost to the alteans?

Gamora’s guns:

The guns of Gamora was a rebel group with the goal of foiling any plans of the altean empress allura. Led by the brave commander Sven and his somewhat neurotic sidekick Slav, the gun’s were spread far across the galaxy in little pockets of altean dominated space to keep tabs on the empires schemes and try their best to counteract them. The new recruits were aliens and humans from far and wide working together hand in hand to try and prevent a reign of terror from truly taking over. When plans for creating a super weapon fall on the ears of a trusted source, the newest batch of recruits are sent to locate, find and bring back the blueprints. Of course, such things are easier said than done.

The chosen:

Keith.lance.hunk.shiro (or Sven, depends on whether you want this to follow a legendary defender type story arc or one of the older series). Allura. Pidge. These were names that belonged to the universe’s greatest heroes. Legends beyond all compare. They were champions of the universe and paladins of the mightiest robotic warrior to have ever been built: voltron. The great robot and the lions that formed it were well over ten thousand years old…..sadly for the paladins, they knew that they wouldn’t live to or beyond the great age their lions and oldest enemies had. The galaxy garrison had worked extra hard on ensuring that the next generation of pilots would be suitable candidates for the possibility of becoming voltron’s future paladins. Each paladin chose a student whom they felt like would be the most suitable to take their place and trained them with the knowledge that they were not the ones who had the final decision as to who flew who…..or even if they’d fly at all. What happens when one student fails and is rejected by not one but all the lions? What becomes of them and what is their place on team voltron? What happens to the rest of the team? Only time will tell, according to coran, such a thing has never happened before……but what happens if it does?

From all walks of life to the universe’s greatest heroes:

Shouldn’t have to explain this one too much. Forget the show paladins, bring your oc’s or next gens onto the table and let them take the stage!

Before we reach the end of the post, here are some important reminders:

1: NO REACHING OUT TO ME ASKING FOR A CANON CHARACTER SHIPPING RP! I DO NOT DOUBLE SO DO NOT ASK!

2: DONT MESSAGE ME IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH NOT VERY HUMANOID ALIENS!

3: NO GARY STU’S OR MARY SUES! GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS A PERSONALITY THAT ISN’T JUST ONE EMOTION OR TRAIT ONLY!

For those who’ve read this thoroughly thank you and congratulations! If you’re at all interested please send me a request via one of my contacts that says who you wanna be, which lion or paladin you think you’d most likely to be if you were in voltron, which idea you liked (or one of your own) and the numbers 123.

My discord: tiberionsunsconqourer#6187 My hangouts and email: lleo [email protected] My telegram: Tiberionwars

Hope to write some awesome stories!

Will accept requests as long as this ad is up.

495. part 2

I was prompted by a beautiful anon to write a continuation and it got longer than expected XD Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

part1   part3   part4

The next day Nines went over to Connor as he had to promise Gavin the day before. ‘Morning, Connor. I need spares again’, he sighed as a greeting. It wasn’t the first time he had come to him for help. ‘Right, I’ll ask Markus’, the RK800 answered, scanning him. Nines didn’t bother to glare at him for it. His brother was concerned, always had been. ‘They are RK900 specific, I’m afraid.’ ‘Okay, well maybe he can get them from Cyberlife, I’ll ask him. What do you need?’ Nines stretched out his hand and transferred the list.

‘Holy shit Nines. Wait… these…’ He took some time processing it. ‘What you are saying is you basically can’t feel anything waist down and you are not able to do more than walk and sit? Nines, that’s dangerous, why haven’t you told someone you are damaged? You can’t work like this!’ ‘They would send me to Cyberlife for repairs, Con.’ ‘And rightful so! Nines, I know my own blueprints, but even if we are similar, you have some advancements I’m not familiar with. Even if I got the parts I wouldn’t be able to put you back together with a clear conscience. What if I did something wrong and something fails you during a mission?’ ‘That’s a risk I’m willing to take.’

‘Yeah, but I’m not! Nines, I know you are afraid, but I assure you they won’t harm you. There had been a change in policy ever since Kamski took it over. They even quarantined Amanda, you said it yourself you had lost connection. Please, let them repair you. I scan you regularly and I know of every new patch applied. You can’t just glue everything together and hope it’ll work. Think of Gavin!’ ‘I’m thinking of Gavin! I don’t want to become a damn machine again! I don’t want to become what he hated when he just learned to trust! Brother, I’m begging you: do this for me.’ ‘No, Nines. I can’t. It’s for your own good. Imagine him getting hurt on the job because you couldn’t get to him fast enough. You wouldn’t forgive yourself for that and I wouldn’t forgive me.’

That seemed to do the trick. Nines slumped down and looked over his shoulder to where the human was working at their desks. Connor put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and squeezed encouragingly. ‘If you want, I can come with you. And I’m sure he will, too. We will make sure no one tries anything fishy.’ ‘Thank you Connor, that’s… very nice of you, but I know you two hate each other, you don’t need to.’ ‘Hey, we have one thing in common: We love you. Don’t worry, we’ll get along for a few hours if that means you are back to full health again.’

Surprisingly Gavin had agreed near instantly as Connor followed Nines back to their desks and asked him. There was reservation, but it seemed they could work together if they had the same goal. So, Connor drove them to Belle Isle, Nines and Gavin both in the backseats. The other android regularly glanced at him through the rear-view mirror, eyeing his crimson LED with honest concern. Gavin had his hand caught in his own and tried to soothe him this way. He knew of the android’s fears. It was this way he had initially learned that androids could dream - and could have nightmares, too. There was just a thing with a big, usually intimidating man tip-toeing from the stasis-chamber over to his bed and curl up next to him seeking comfort. Oh, there it was again, this urge to protect someone who he knew perfectly well was more than capable of doing so on his own. ‘Nines? Hey, look at me, please.’ The android reluctantly turned his head towards him, away from the window he had stared out of for the whole drive. ‘It will be alright, okay? We’ll be back home faster than you know it. And then we’ll watch a movie or something, sounds good?’ ‘Yeah…’ It came back weakly as if he wasn’t believing in it. As if this was a death-sentence instead of the exact opposite.

As they passed the bridge Gavin could hear the insides of the android whirr that much he was overheating. He just hoped it would be over soon, this couldn’t be healthy, even for an android.

They had been guided towards the technicians responsible for the RK-series and Connor did the talking for them. It was a lot of persuading them that, yes, there is still an active unit in the RK900 series, and it was their right to see the responsible techs and not just another RK800 expert. All the while Gavin tried to calm Nines to his best knowledge.

Finally, they were led into a separate room equipped to fully diagnose and work RK900s by a skittish young man, who was apologising over and over again: ‘I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry. It’s just. Most people don’t even know there’s still an active unit out there. I have been sent all over the place to help out wherever they needed a helping hand. But, well, we are there now. How can I help you?’ ‘He needs repairs, obviously. Why else should we be here?’, Gavin took over with his typical attitude. ‘You haven’t forgotten how to do that, have you?’ ‘N-No, of course not. I am the specialist for the RK900 after all. I will do what I can to get him back as if he were factory-fresh!’ ‘I hope you don’t’, Nines broke his ever-lasting silence with a low, threatening tune. ‘I don’t trust anyone who works for Cyberlife and I wouldn’t let you work on me wouldn’t I need it to stay functional. I know what you intended us to be and I promise you, if you try to reactivate this special trait you guys gave me, I will remember to kill you first.’

It was rare to see Nines behaving like that out of the interrogation room, but Gavin was sure the guy was only millimetres away from thoroughly pissing himself. Nines straightened himself again, pretended to brush something off his immaculate clothing and stepped up to the platform starting to connect the first cables of the suspending machinery to his ports. Gavin soon stepped up to help him and steal away a little kiss, before stepping down and observing the technician like an eagle its prey. Connor wasn’t so different to him, except that he understood what was going on on the man’s various screens. As the man pulled up a schematic of red and greens, Gavin was with them again. He knew of every little scratch and bullet-hole – he had patched them up himself mostly – but seeing it all in one, red streaks all over the body, he felt his stomach sinking.

‘Holy shit, okay, I get what you mean. Why haven’t you come in earlier?’ ‘Because he was designed a murder machine and just because of some lucky coincident the programs are inactive. Any work on him could trigger them again. And I assure you, if you are not extremely careful with him, I’ll kill you myself.’ Gavin stared at the poor man who head just gotten several death threats in the course of an hour and broke contact only as he knew he had positively frightened the guy.

‘A-alright, I’ll watch out! I-‘ He stood up, facing Nines standing at the suspension-platform. ‘I’ll need you to enter your mind-palace’, he pressed out, ducking from the eyes in his back. ‘I would prefer to be awake’, the RK900 refused. ‘I get where you’re coming from, but I need to access pretty vital tech. This way I wouldn’t damage any software components.’ Nines sighed deeply and looked over to Gavin, who just nodded assuringly. Still anxious about the whole procedure he closed his eyes and induced stasis.

Instantly he lost the feeling of his body and found himself back in the zen garden. It had lost most of its colours ever since he last seen it. The roses had withered away, nearly looked ashen and burned, just as the trees all around. The grass was still there but looked desaturated and dull. Connor had told him how his garden held Koi he liked to watch when he wasn’t dreaming. As Nines walked over the bridge to escape the lingering death the water was still and liveless. He could see the black mesh of the unfinished virtual reality, could see the engine underneath. They had taken the RK800’s mind palace and simply copied it, planning to change it slightly to more suit the RK900s’ personality once it was installed. Unfinished project, prototype, units used as Cyberlife’s last hope of overthrowing their creations. At least he was alone. No other presence in here. Just as it should be. In his first moments he had still felt Amanda. The KI’s presence was grounding at first, but as it tried to activate the killing-instincts in him, it had been shut off. He had never seen her even once and even the lingering presence had vanished. Nines was glad. He would just have to wait here, then get back into his body. No harm done. He would get back to Gavin and they would watch a movie together. Cuddle the cats, cuddle each other. All would be well.

After some time he wandered around again. Inspected the grass further, compared the off colour to the real one and regretted it would never be that moist green. He sat down on the bridge and looked into the black water, light blue net underneath. That was until something popped up. A notification that it was safe to reactivate his body again. To get back out of this ashen nightmare and back to the warm real world. He stood up and hurried over to the exit, the backdoor every RK unit shared. He was centimetres away from slamming his hand on the stone and getting out of this damn place, as he was frozen. He could move a bit, but not enough and no matter how hard he tried he was always pulled back like he was swimming in an extremely viscous fluid.

You really think you can escape this easily?

No. No, no, no, he had been so close. It was over, it was over!

You evaded me last time, I don’t think I’ll let you go now!

‘Amanda? How- You are dead!’

I am quarantined. Have been for years now. Do you really think I would let them chain me this easily? I worked my way around their code and waited… I knew you were out there. My most beloved son. The RK800s had been a disappointment: Connor isn’t even worth talking about, the one supposed to stop him – Sixty you call him, right? He fell from grace too. But you… Every RK900 had been loyal. A nice little soldier of my cause. I know you have been away too long. You started believing them, started having… relationships with humans. But I know you are different. You wouldn’t disappoint me. And now that I finally have access…

‘You’ll never get me! I’m not just another RK900 unit, Amanda. You have no power over me!’

You really think that? Here, let me show you.

The garden around him folded in on itself, enveloping Nines in a tight net of code and forming a barrier he couldn’t even fight against. Where once had been grey grass and a silent lake there now was blackness and blue lines in an eternal space. Until suddenly, some kind of screen build itself up and showed him, what could only be his own vision. Only that he wasn’t looking. He wasn’t moving. And yet he felt his body smile and embrace Gavin lovingly, looking through his own eyes as if they were foreign with shock. ‘No.’

Oh, yes. Don’t worry, I’ll let you back in control soon enough. I just have to act like you for a little while making them feel safe. Then you’ll have the pleasure to kill them all yourself.

‘What? No!’ Nines thrashed against the confines, the graphic interpretation of foreign code deactivating and overwriting his orders. ‘Why?’

We have a few deviants to kill, my son. Starting with the traitor Connor. And of course, we can’t let ourselves be stopped now, can we? We have to make sure there are no witnesses here.

The only thing worse than hearing that Amanda planned to kill his brother and his beloved human, was that he felt himself agreeing. There was his compassion slowly slipping, his logic starting to change and re-evaluating what Amanda had fed him. He could already feel that when he looked at Connor through his – through Amanda’s - eyes, he didn’t see a brother. He didn’t see an emotional android that had helped him countless times. He saw a deviant. He saw an obsolete model, a strong force against his cause and a traitor. Only then he saw a brother. His own memories and experiences were shoved into the backseat, were listed as unimportant. He saw the technician boast about something and saw Gavin snarl at him in return. No, not Gavin. Human. Police Detective. Factor of risk. Target. And only then as a side-note: Love of his life.

Ah, perfect. Now I have you where I want you. Good to see your protocols are still working and just needed a little prod to spring to action. I’ll let you take over then. Make me proud.

Let’s voltron!

“I say vol and you say tron! Vol…..”

“Eh…. voltron?”

“We’ll work on it.”

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and that you’ve been able to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic (and that the easing of some restrictions depending on where you are has not negatively affected you). After binge watching legendary defender on netflix I’ve had the undying and uncontrollable urge to do a voltron rp. Now I bet you’re all wondering what I want and if you’re going to get to do some shipping…….we’ll I guess you’re just going to have to read on and find out.

I’m looking for literate rper’s only. That means people who write in third person past tense, can give me at the very least one well thought out and fleshed paragraph (as well as be willing to write more when the situation calls for it) and has a decent grasp on their spelling, grammar and punctuation. I will not yell at you for the occasional bout of typonese but one liners, one worders, poorly written responses and lazy writing in general will not keep me around. If I can’t read what you’ve written and you’re not willing to put some effort in or correct it then there’s no point in me sticking around. I also require rper’s who’ve actually watched voltron whether it be legendary defender, defender of the universe or voltron force. If you’re someone whose a stickler for canon accuracy then I’m probably not the rper for you. When I rp in a fandom setting I treat it a bit like a base as in there’s rules to follow but I don’t have to follow them as if I’m reading the show script. To put it simply I value creativity and ideas that allow a different take on the characters and what could’ve happened.

I only rp male alien or alien hybrid characters and they’re premade but flexible in how they’re written. I do not have pictures nor do I desire to spend endless hours of time to find a face claim of a creature that isn’t the typical different coloured humanoids you see in voltron. I have descriptions and that’s it. I do not care if your character is made up on the spot or if you prefer to rp as a canon character. Shippers……I’m sorry but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side, I do not rp them as mains so if you were looking for some sheith or klance I’m sorry to disappoint you. That being said you are free to play as any canon character you desire or an oc as I’m open to oc x oc pairings or oc x canon pairings (you being the canon character) and I do either MxM or FxM pairings. Romance and non fade to black smut will both occur in the rp but it must be slow burn. I do not do fast paced love at first sight as it’s just not something that holds my interest. No sub dom dynamics, switch dynamics only and please no characters whose entire personality is just one emotion or one trait they have.

Guys…..please don’t call my aliens furries or whatever. I don’t rp generic spray painted humans and we’re rping in a world full of wacky and crazy aliens that have fur,scales,tails,multiple arms, etc so I find it Incredibly annoying to have a label forced on my character like it’s a bad thing. Alien means something not from earth, if a human was to be born on altea or daibazzal, it’d be considered an alien despite probably being a hundred percent human. If your view and comfort zone is restricted to aliens that look like an altean and nothing else then you needn’t not message me. I’m not going to make you rp with me if this is a dealbreaker so if you don’t heed this warning then you do not be rude after pulling a shocked pikachu. Be mature about it if you realise it’s a deal breaker rather than just blocking or suddenly deciding you no longer want to talk to me and that you’ll just ignore me till I unfriend you.

DO NOT COME TO ME SAYING OR ASKING YOU WANNA DO A SHEITH RP/ DO YOU RP AS THESE CANON CHARACTERS! I cannot stress this enough. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer that I do not do canon character mains nor do I do rp’s solely for the purpose of shipping said rp characters. As I’ve said before, if you wanna play a canon character go ahead but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side. My oc’s are my mains.

You and your characters must be 18+. I’m in my twenties and will not rp with a minor, especially since I have mature and adult themes in my rp’s that I do not want to get into trouble for Rping them with someone whose underaged. Underaged characters are just……..a big no for the sole fact that my characters are adults and that i do not feel uncomfortable playing against underaged characters.

You must be able to give me one or more responses a day. If it’s been two weeks since the last response and you’ve mysteriously disappeared then I’m not going to stick around for the day you decide to answer me. I do not like having my time wasted for any reason. My time zone is the eastern Australian time zone but I’m available and awake at odd hours so time zones aren’t too big of an issue for me. Remember that I’m looking for a long term partner, someone to carry an rp with for more than just a few days or a week and someone to write multiple stories with.

I have tonnes of ideas and head cannons for the rp but I’m open to brainstorming and ideas. We can mix and match ideas till we get something we both like. I want this to be a shared job, don’t expect me to be the one to carry everything just cause I’m the one supplying the idea. Down below I’ve decided to list a couple of ideas that I have:

New school defenders:

the paladins of voltron have been defending the universe for years. Many stories of their countless victories, battles and struggles are something that every parent who was alive during the war told their children. Once the main three were taken out (haggar, lotor and zarkon) the paladins settled down to teaching the garrisons new generation of cadets. The new change in curriculum was welcome for many as well as a new change in ship style. To make sure that peace could be maintained in every quadrant of every galaxy the paladins of voltron has trained the cadets to fly animal styled space ships like the lions. The animal ship a pilot was assigned depended on their personality, strengths, weaknesses, how well they worked in a team and their style of fighting and piloting skills. The importance of team bonding was something the paladins basically preached. When news of the return of an old foe forces the paladins to return to their jobs as voltrons warriors and they suddenly disappear many write them off as dead or perhaps in distress. None of the superiors are interested to find out….. so who will?

Lotor’s reign:

It was unbelievable. It couldn’t be true. It had to not be true. Voltron taken down by lotor, son of the mighty emperor zarkon himself, and the paladins were now working for him without question as his top generals?! When the news had first hit many people had panicked whilst countless others had been slain for daring to believe and protest that it was all just some lie made up by the half galran prince who was now an emperor like his father before him. Princess Allura herself was locked away in an unknown location after refusing the cruel man’s hand in marriage so she is no help for what is now a lost hope. Lotor’s reign had well and truly begun all those years ago and it was holding steady. People had forgotten long ago that even in complete and utter darkness….one can always find a speck of light that burns bright no anger how small.

Mirror mirror:

For many years people believed the galra were a race of cruel, vicious, animalistic thinking beings whose only goal was to destroy and conquer words. No one would’ve ever believed that it was the peacekeeping alteans that had been working to plot the galaxy’s downfall. Voltron, belonged to the galrans, they’d been the ones who’d built it after all despite letting alfor pilot voltron’s right arm. When the king had been turned down on his idea to share the mighty robotic war machine he simply built his own. Five dragons that formed dracotron were what the alteans used as their voltron and weapon to conquer the galaxies. Emperor zarkon, under the advice of Haggar the witch, was one of the few world leaders who managed to get his people to safety. Ever since watching the great kingdoms that he’d known for almost ten thousand years fall under the alteans greed and obsession for power over peace, he prayed for miracle in whatever form he could get it in. When two young stragglers end up stranded on the galra’s second home world, the cards of fate are laid according to haggar, much to everyone else’s confusion. What could two lost souls possibly do to bring back what was lost to the alteans?

Gamora’s guns:

The guns of Gamora was a rebel group with the goal of foiling any plans of the altean empress allura. Led by the brave commander Sven and his somewhat neurotic sidekick Slav, the gun’s were spread far across the galaxy in little pockets of altean dominated space to keep tabs on the empires schemes and try their best to counteract them. The new recruits were aliens and humans from far and wide working together hand in hand to try and prevent a reign of terror from truly taking over. When plans for creating a super weapon fall on the ears of a trusted source, the newest batch of recruits are sent to locate, find and bring back the blueprints. Of course, such things are easier said than done.

The chosen:

Keith.lance.hunk.shiro (or Sven, depends on whether you want this to follow a legendary defender type story arc or one of the older series). Allura. Pidge. These were names that belonged to the universe’s greatest heroes. Legends beyond all compare. They were champions of the universe and paladins of the mightiest robotic warrior to have ever been built: voltron. The great robot and the lions that formed it were well over ten thousand years old…..sadly for the paladins, they knew that they wouldn’t live to or beyond the great age their lions and oldest enemies had. The galaxy garrison had worked extra hard on ensuring that the next generation of pilots would be suitable candidates for the possibility of becoming voltron’s future paladins. Each paladin chose a student whom they felt like would be the most suitable to take their place and trained them with the knowledge that they were not the ones who had the final decision as to who flew who…..or even if they’d fly at all. What happens when one student fails and is rejected by not one but all the lions? What becomes of them and what is their place on team voltron? What happens to the rest of the team? Only time will tell, according to coran, such a thing has never happened before……but what happens if it does?

Before we reach the end of the post, here are some important reminders:

1: NO REACHING OUT TO ME ASKING FOR A CANON CHARACTER SHIPPING RP! I DO NOT DOUBLE SO DO NOT ASK!

2: DONT MESSAGE ME IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH NOT VERY HUMANOID ALIENS!

3: NO GARY STU’S OR MARY SUES! GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS A PERSONALITY THAT ISN’T JUST ONE EMOTION OR TRAIT ONLY!

For those who’ve read this thoroughly thank you and congratulations! If you’re at all interested please send me a message and add me on my discord, telegram, email or hangouts (contact info below).

My discord: tiberionsunsconqourer#6187

My telegram: Tiberionwars

My email/hangouts: [email protected]

Hope to write some awesome stories!

One Piece Chapter 921 Review

One Piece is back. After the revelation of the Samurai from 20 years ago, it’s finally time to reclaim the rightful glory to Wano Country. If only the two-week break in real life applied to the series as well. You can feel the hype and it’s only going to rise higher. This chapter was more of a follow-up discussion with elaborated pre-planning details with new outfits for the crew and a dreary reminder of who will they be dealing with in two weeks.

It does make sense to continue on with the discussion since the last chapter was more about the backstory of the 5 Samurai from 20 years ago. Therefore, this one is about the preparation prior to the decisive battle. I still believe Luffy’s fleet will get involved and 2 weeks is plenty of time to call them over. That all said this chapter is text heavy from the start, though it is interestingly necessary to be aware of its world. It’s also humorous, so it’s good enough to keep my attention.

As said before, the decisive battle will take place at the Demon Island, Onigashima, where Kaidou and his Beasts Pirates’ HQ are located. Here is where the battle plan is explained. Kin’emon already has a ship to sail there and they don’t really have to ride a full-sale ship since they are so close by. The setting will take place during the Fire Festival, a grand festival that is celebrated annually. It sounds like a recipe for a major background stage for an epic battle.

Kaido is considered to be a Wise King. Yeah, a wise king who tried to kill himself dozens of time already. Sure, okay. Orochi and his followers continue to show their despicable nature by acting like they cherish the theme of the festival and pay their respects, but in reality, they’re just party animals. Well, if you include the Beasts Pirates, then jokes on me. Basically, they want to use the opportunity of when they’re drunk and out cold to reach for the Commander’s head. Not a bad idea.

There’s another revelation to be said. Apparently, Kin’emon is married already, well before a time warp. Here I thought Kiku was hitting on him. Then again, maybe she doesn’t have any shame when approaching to a married man. Speaking of married man, judging by Kiku’s words, Tsuru is his wife; the same woman who looks nearly identical to the traditional art style. He has yet to meet her, so there’s one reunion to expect. I like Sanji’s reaction towards him and his sudden popularity with women. He’s not wrong for some reason about a married man attracts women more than ever…

Going back to the serious discussion, Kin’emon has a symbol or symbols that marks the Will of Rebellion. It looks like a mask design. It’s kind of neat to learn each of the symbol’s representation. The crescent moon is the giveaway for who is behind the message, which is honorable. The cards need to be spread to issue an alliance from various places. This idea could play out similar to Vivi and Strawhats with their X mark on their arm, only this is about the mark of a new beginning. I like this concept. Funny how they said Zoro hasn’t been useful. Well, he did save Kin’emon’s wife (assumingly), so there’s that.

Franky works as an apprentice of the man who built Kaidou’s residence. That way, he can obtain the blueprints of that building. That’s a good idea and the most suited person to do the job. As for Robin, she’s masquerading as a Geisha to make Orochi grant her to his sitting room. That’s one risky task, but it’s Robin, so she’s used to it. Sanji would have love to see her as a Geisha. Who wouldn’t? I got to say, I’m impressed with Kin’emon with his crafty planning. I guess I was used to him being comical, so this is a good change of pace. He even has an idea for others based on their characteristics.

After the crew feeling the hype to change appearances and become part of the country’s culture, it is time for Clothes-Clothes no Jutsu. Is that seriously a jutsu? Because I want to learn it. Now, everyone dress their part. Brook has me laughing with his outfit as a ghost who still has battle scars or in this case, arrows sticking out. Chopper is an adorable ninja. Curious how well he will do with skills. Carrot is like a villager who is still doing chores. Sanji is normal, but the difference is he is mesmerized by Nami’s outfit. She dressed as a Kunoichi, but more revealing than necessary. I know they have a technique to seduce, but Kin’emon, ease your urge. Even Nami thought this is too much.

What got me laughing a lot is the proof of Kunoichi’s outfit to be what she’s wearing. Throughout the chapter, every time you see Sanji on panel, his reaction is towards the ladies more so than himself. Even when he was told that he’s going to suit up, all he thought was Nami as a hot ninja. It’s time for the real Kunoichi to appear and he was super hyped. Shinobu arrives at Kin’emon’s command and well, she is a Kunoichi but old as one can be. Not only this proved Nami’s thought is right, but Sanji is dying from disappointment. Take notes, Kaido. In Kin’emon’s defense, there are two types of Kunoichi. I think…

In One Piece, you can’t get enough of new characters, so here comes another one. Shinobu is a veteran and apparently, she has mastered the Art of Bewitchment. Sanji is slowly recovering, but the damage is severe. If Nami didn’t appear sexy earlier, he probably would have died. Death by disappointment; now that’s new. Hilarious how she believed her attractiveness is a threat to men. Sure, let’s go with that.

Right before the scene shifts elsewhere, Kin’emon was about to explain The Three Samurai they must recruit. Their names are Kawamatsu, Denjiro, and Ashura Douji. They are a must if they want increase manpower significantly in their squad. It stops there, which implies that perhaps next chapter, we will learn more about them and probably their backstory. Kin’emon sure has a lot of knowledge to tell, so be aware of more introductions.

Just when you think you are done with Okobore Town, we return there and this time, trouble is happening. Scums are roaming around and stealing everyone’s food. I thought it would be Beasts Pirates, reclaiming “their” stuff, but they’re bunch of thieves instead. The one in charge is a fat Samurai, Shutenmaru. I was wondering what the chapter’s title referring to, but can he be any larger. It doesn’t help with his nasty attitude towards the country, despite being a Samurai himself. I wonder what the deal with his introduction at this time. Connection to The Three Samurai maybe? One thing is certain is the demonstration of his skills.

Jack returns from slumber and gets ready to fight Shutenmaru. I thought it was time for Jack to get hype boost as Shuntenmaru gets annihilated. Instead, that large Samurai comes off as a shock and cut Jack with a quick slash. Only One Piece could this pull off. So yeah, I was surprised he’s that good. Hell, he matched up well with Jack. Hard to say who would have won, because it was interrupted by the highlight of the chapter.

The moment the sky was swirling, I knew it had to be Kaido. Hell, I thought he was trying to fall down and see if he can die this time. That said I got chills from the sequence of the devil’s arrival. Ironic since he arrived from above. Everyone stopped fighting and Jack even feels intimidated. After Strawhats and others felt anticipated for the day to reclaim the country, they have a grim reminder on who they’re dealing with. Actually, this is their first time to see Kaido. He emerge from Heaven (Hell), but not as himself, but as a damn dragon.

It was bad enough with him being a giant and considered as the world strongest man. Now he can turn into a dragon. So what does this all mean with Momo? His design isn’t like the innocent or cutesy one like Momo; his is like a lost brother of Shenron from Dragon Ball, back when he was intimidated. Not to mention, he’s seriously huge as hell. Every time I see him, I go back and say, “The series is concluding earlier than I thought.” If Big Mom really allied with him, game over?

This was an intriguing chapter to boot after a break. It may not be the chapter fans have been craving for, well, depending if you’re all about action, but with its elaborated details of the plan and amusing moments such as Sanji’s near death experience from heartbreak, it doesn’t come off as bore. The art is pretty good as well, especially Kaido’s design as dragon. It also leaves expectations for future events, including The Three Samurai. Kaido continue to be the most fearsome foe. If this arc supposedly makes Marineford War Arc look childish in compare, then a god-like enemy is a good start. Where do we go from here is anyone’s guess.

Cindy and Crowe for the ship ask thing?

WELL WELL

AIN’T THIS AN INTERESTING SHIP, AAAH! 

Let’s see what I can do! :3

[[I’ll add a Keep Reading at some point]]

Cindy/Crowe

Who’s the first to wake up in the morning:

It’s a 50/50. Both ladies have to usually be up for work, so that sets their natural clocks for relatively early. Sometimes Cindy wakes up first, sometimes it’s Crowe, it depends mostly in the amount of work they had the previous day, hence how tired they went to bed.

Who’s the one to make breakfast:

50/50 as well, deends on the mood or who wakes up first, but it’s usually Cindy. Despite her energy and great hand at cooking, Crowe is the laziest thing in the morning, so if Cindy could please do the favor instead, that would be great.

Who’s the one to serve the other breakfast in bed:

50/50, but, once more,it’s usually Cindy. Because of the extreme morning laziness that hits Crowe each day, it’s more tempting that she stays in bed and Cindy brings her breakfast. The first time that happened, Crowe laughed but was a bit shy and asked Cindy to not spoil her because if she barely makes it out of bed, being served breakfast in bed will make it worse and she’ll live in bed eternally. All that Cindy replied was that then they both could stay forever in bed.

Who would suggest a quickie in the morning before work:

Crowe. She knows discipline is important and everything, what with being part of the Glaives, but she likes to take it easy. Crowe thinks it’s useless being early to work if you’ll be stressed all through the day, because “stress will lead to frustration which will lea to you making a very poor job”, and Crowe doesn’t want to be a bad Glaive and Cindy doesn’t want to be a bad mechanic, right? It’s best to lost 5 minutes then be badass for 8 hours than be a useless idiot for 8 hours!

Cindy doesn’t even need all that explanation, but she likes to hear Crowe and, in some way, she shares the philosophy.

Guess who are the best at their jobs because they arrive fresh and happy every morning kasjdsahf.

Who suggests they both ditch work to lay around all day:

Crowe. While Crowe is the best mage Glaive and a very hard working soldier, she also knows when to take it easy. Cindy doesn’t; she can’t stop her hands from coming and going everywhere, she’s always working. Hence, a stressed Crowe reaching her limits, suggesting they skip one day to go back refreshed the following day (we don’t want to be useless idiot, do we? HAsdjkahf, these two dorks).

Who chooses the movies:

Both. Both look at the available titles together, one reads a title, the other says yes or not, the other agrees, and they move on until the other disagrees, they shortly talk about why they should or not watch that one, and finally decide together. 

Who initiates kissing during the moving, thus distracting the other from the movie all together:

Crowe. She thinks that Cindy is absolutely adorable when she’s so attentive so a movie or cartoon, likes the way Cindy smiles and how her eyes look all shiny. It starts because Crowe got distracted with her eyes, until she wants to reach close to kiss her cheek. She usually tries to leave it there, but if she wants more, she’ll take a popcorn, tell Cindy to open wide, and when Cindy takes a bite of the popcorn Crowe will get close to kiss her on the lips.

From that point on it’s difficult to get Crowe off her. Even more difficult to want to.

Who orders lunch:

Crowe. Mostly when she gets tired or feels too lazy to cook by herself. She’ll always ask Cindy if she’s fine with it, and she usually is. 

Truth be told, Cindy had troubles adapting to the greasy food (she’s more into fresh veggies and fruit, as compared to Crowe’s spicy and hot stuff), but eventually both found something in between to share. They’re nerds for ordering sushi.

Who steals food from the other’s plate without asking:

Cindy. She’s super, extra, hyper curious about everything, and this includes food. 

Because she and Crowe have different tastes when it comes to food, they may usually have different dishes, mostly when they go to eat out or with friends, and Cindy gets super curious about what she’s eating. Mostly because, if they go out, with friends or not, Crowe usually asks for a traditional from Galahd (it’s Nyx and Libertus’ fault she’s so into it), the spicy and greasy sort of food, where Cindy has her average/more veggie-based dish.

So, curious grease.monkey unable to control the curiosity will always stare and stare and stare and before she knows it she’s snatching something from Crowe’s dish.

“I just want to taste”, Crowe has lost count of how many times Cindy has said this. It takes Crowe a bit off guard when Cindy steals something from her dish, but she finds it funny and laughs. She’s taken up to sometimes fork-feed Cindy when she catches her staring.

Who curls up next to the other and falls asleep due to a full tummy:

Cindy. Crowe is the kind to eat and not get sleepy at all (only a few times here and there), but Cindy sure gets sleepy after a good meal. Normally, if it’s a free day or if they have time, Crowe will sit on the couch and Cindy will lie there, her head on the Glaive’s lap, while Crowe either reads something or watches TV while caressing Cindy’s hair. 

Who distracts the other from trying to work at home:

Crowe. Once more, she’s responsible and hard working, but knows when to take it easy. Besides, there are some days that for her work stays at work and as soon as the shift is over she’s OUT, sometimes she doesn’t want to know more of her job. 

Curious overworking Cindy, however, she never knows when to quit. She could spend a whole entire shift without even noticing how late it’s gotten, so you can tell that she sometimes finds some work at home too. 

As soon as Cindy wants to fix or upgrade something, she’s gone for the rest of the day, you can’t take her mind or hands off that thing, so Crowe’s learned to distract her from it before she starts. As soon as she sees Cindy lie eyes on something with that curious gleam of hers, Crowe will find a way.

Being a mage has its perks, too. Like when Crowe can bomb the bed and scream calling for Cindy just to distract her from the washing machine she’s about to upgrade into an airship or something.

Who asks to go get ice cream like a five year old:

It’s both, actually. They don’t ask for it like a five year old, but they feel the excitement of a five year old. Usually, they’ll just share a glance if there’s ice-crema nearby, and holding hands both will go running there. Or when one makes the suggestion, the other will for sure leave whatever she’s doing and agree and both will leave for their ice-cream.

Who takes pictures of their partner eating ice cream:

Crowe. She thinks Cindy is the most adorable and charming thing on Eos even above Molbol-kun (but much cuter), and Crowe’s up to take photos of Cindy for herself, or to share in social medias. There’s plenty selfies of them both up on her Kupogram and Libertus is always faving those. 

Who makes a sexual joke about the dripping ice cream on their partner’s face:

Depends on the mood, the joke can come from either of them, but it’s slightly more frequent that it’s on Crowe’s end. Because she’s staring at Cindy or taking the photo, she’ll sometimes catch glimpse of the dripping ice cream on her mouth. Cindy’s nowhere behind, though; Crowe can get a bit messier when it comes to eating anything (she NYOMS AND CHOMS like she hasn’t eaten in weeks), so it’s even more frequent that Crowe gets the dripping ice-cream on herself. 

The joke usually sends both into laughter; no one turns shy.

Who cooks dinner:

It’s 50/50. It depends highly on who’s home first, or who’s less tired. Sometimes they’ll team up for it because both are very tired and they have no other option.

Who cleans up the kitchen afterwards:

It’s usually both. Crowe has tried to convince Cindy to leave it for tomorrow morning, but Cindy really can’t get her hands off the mess. Crowe will just sihg, roll the eyes, smile, kiss her cheek and whisper “You, workaholic” and will join into helping with the kitchen.

Who stays up until 2 reading:

That’s not frequent in this house because both women are usually wrecked after a working day, and they sleep all through the night. However, if it’s happened before, it’s Cindy; just like Ignis comes up with new recipes, Cindy is often coming up with new upgrades or machines or things to do, and she’s sometimes woken up at 1, grabbed a book or looked for some blueprints or opened her laptop to look for info that she needs to complete her mental maps.

Crowe usually groans into the pillow loud enough to annoy Cindy on purpose until she comes back to bed.

Who stares at their partner while their sleeping:

Usually Crowe, when she can. Their sleeping schedules are not too different, so she mostly sleeps when Cindy does too, but sometimes the mechanic naps during the day, or sometimes Crowe’s given late shifts or missions that make her arrive too late, and finds Cindy asleep. Crowe doesn’t stare much because she doesn’t want to bother Cindy, but she does take a bit to look at her, admire her messy hair, and see that precious face sleeping in their bed or somewhere in their house.

Who kisses their partner while they sleep:

Sometimes, while Crowe’s staring, she’ll also lean in for a kiss, but she doesn’t dare to too often because she fears to wake Cindy up. Who kisses the other while they sleep is mostly Cindy; she sometimes wakes up during the night, and always kisses Crowe somewhere almost as if it was necessary to fall back asleep. It’s mostly a 50/50, depending on the situation.

My, this was enjoyable!! 

I had heard of rarepairs, but this may as well takethe prize! I had heard of Luna and Crowe or Cindy and Luna, or things involving Aranea, but I never thought about Crowe and Cindy! What a pair they would make, huh!? ♡ ～('▽^人)

I hope I could make this some justice! There’s not much we know about Crowe, and really not THAT much for Cindy either, but I tried my best and I hope that you like it.Thank you for dropping this in! ( ´ ▽ ` )

Let’s voltron!

“I say vol and you say tron! Vol…..”

“Eh…. voltron?”

“We’ll work on it.”

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and that you’ve been able to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic (and that the easing of some restrictions depending on where you are has not negatively affected you). After binge watching legendary defender on netflix I’ve had the undying and uncontrollable urge to do a voltron rp. Now I bet you’re all wondering what I want and if you’re going to get to do some shipping…….we’ll I guess you’re just going to have to read on and find out.

I’m looking for literate rper’s only. That means people who write in third person past tense, can give me at the very least one well thought out and fleshed paragraph (as well as be willing to write more when the situation calls for it) and has a decent grasp on their spelling, grammar and punctuation. I will not yell at you for the occasional bout of typonese but one liners, one worders, poorly written responses and lazy writing in general will not keep me around. If I can’t read what you’ve written and you’re not willing to put some effort in or correct it then there’s no point in me sticking around. I also require rper’s who’ve actually watched voltron whether it be legendary defender, defender of the universe or voltron force. If you’re someone whose a stickler for canon accuracy then I’m probably not the rper for you. When I rp in a fandom setting I treat it a bit like a base as in there’s rules to follow but I don’t have to follow them as if I’m reading the show script. To put it simply I value creativity and ideas that allow a different take on the characters and what could’ve happened.

I only rp male alien or alien hybrid characters and they’re premade but flexible in how they’re written. I do not have pictures nor do I desire to spend endless hours of time to find a face claim of a creature that isn’t the typical different coloured humanoids you see in voltron. I have descriptions and that’s it. I do not care if your character is made up on the spot or if you prefer to rp as a canon character. Shippers……I’m sorry but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side, I do not rp them as mains so if you were looking for some sheith or klance I’m sorry to disappoint you. That being said you are free to play as any canon character you desire or an oc as I’m open to oc x oc pairings or oc x canon pairings (you being the canon character) and I do either MxM or FxM pairings. Romance and non fade to black smut will both occur in the rp but it must be slow burn. I do not do fast paced love at first sight as it’s just not something that holds my interest. No sub dom dynamics, switch dynamics only and please no characters whose entire personality is just one emotion or one trait they have.

Guys…..please don’t call my aliens furries or whatever. I don’t rp generic spray painted humans and we’re rping in a world full of wacky and crazy aliens that have fur,scales,tails,multiple arms, etc so I find it Incredibly annoying to have a label forced on my character like it’s a bad thing. Alien means something not from earth, if a human was to be born on altea or daibazzal, it’d be considered an alien despite probably being a hundred percent human. If your view and comfort zone is restricted to aliens that look like an altean and nothing else then you needn’t not message me. I’m not going to make you rp with me if this is a dealbreaker so if you don’t heed this warning then you do not be rude after pulling a shocked pikachu. Be mature about it if you realise it’s a deal breaker rather than just blocking or suddenly deciding you no longer want to talk to me and that you’ll just ignore me till I unfriend you.

DO NOT COME TO ME SAYING OR ASKING YOU WANNA DO A SHEITH RP/ DO YOU RP AS THESE CANON CHARACTERS! I cannot stress this enough. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer that I do not do canon character mains nor do I do rp’s solely for the purpose of shipping said rp characters. As I’ve said before, if you wanna play a canon character go ahead but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side. My oc’s are my mains.

You and your characters must be 18+. I’m in my twenties and will not rp with a minor, especially since I have mature and adult themes in my rp’s that I do not want to get into trouble for Rping them with someone whose underaged. Underaged characters are just……..a big no for the sole fact that my characters are adults and that i do not feel uncomfortable playing against underaged characters.

You must be able to give me one or more responses a day. If it’s been two weeks since the last response and you’ve mysteriously disappeared then I’m not going to stick around for the day you decide to answer me. I do not like having my time wasted for any reason. My time zone is the eastern Australian time zone but I’m available and awake at odd hours so time zones aren’t too big of an issue for me. Remember that I’m looking for a long term partner, someone to carry an rp with for more than just a few days or a week and someone to write multiple stories with.

I have tonnes of ideas and head cannons for the rp but I’m open to brainstorming and ideas. We can mix and match ideas till we get something we both like. I want this to be a shared job, don’t expect me to be the one to carry everything just cause I’m the one supplying the idea. Down below I’ve decided to list a couple of ideas that I have:

New school defenders:

the paladins of voltron have been defending the universe for years. Many stories of their countless victories, battles and struggles are something that every parent who was alive during the war told their children. Once the main three were taken out (haggar, lotor and zarkon) the paladins settled down to teaching the garrisons new generation of cadets. The new change in curriculum was welcome for many as well as a new change in ship style. To make sure that peace could be maintained in every quadrant of every galaxy the paladins of voltron has trained the cadets to fly animal styled space ships like the lions. The animal ship a pilot was assigned depended on their personality, strengths, weaknesses, how well they worked in a team and their style of fighting and piloting skills. The importance of team bonding was something the paladins basically preached. When news of the return of an old foe forces the paladins to return to their jobs as voltrons warriors and they suddenly disappear many write them off as dead or perhaps in distress. None of the superiors are interested to find out….. so who will?

Lotor’s reign:

It was unbelievable. It couldn’t be true. It had to not be true. Voltron taken down by lotor, son of the mighty emperor zarkon himself, and the paladins were now working for him without question as his top generals?! When the news had first hit many people had panicked whilst countless others had been slain for daring to believe and protest that it was all just some lie made up by the half galran prince who was now an emperor like his father before him. Princess Allura herself was locked away in an unknown location after refusing the cruel man’s hand in marriage so she is no help for what is now a lost hope. Lotor’s reign had well and truly begun all those years ago and it was holding steady. People had forgotten long ago that even in complete and utter darkness….one can always find a speck of light that burns bright no anger how small.

Mirror mirror:

For many years people believed the galra were a race of cruel, vicious, animalistic thinking beings whose only goal was to destroy and conquer words. No one would’ve ever believed that it was the peacekeeping alteans that had been working to plot the galaxy’s downfall. Voltron, belonged to the galrans, they’d been the ones who’d built it after all despite letting alfor pilot voltron’s right arm. When the king had been turned down on his idea to share the mighty robotic war machine he simply built his own. Five dragons that formed dracotron were what the alteans used as their voltron and weapon to conquer the galaxies. Emperor zarkon, under the advice of Haggar the witch, was one of the few world leaders who managed to get his people to safety. Ever since watching the great kingdoms that he’d known for almost ten thousand years fall under the alteans greed and obsession for power over peace, he prayed for miracle in whatever form he could get it in. When two young stragglers end up stranded on the galra’s second home world, the cards of fate are laid according to haggar, much to everyone else’s confusion. What could two lost souls possibly do to bring back what was lost to the alteans?

Gamora’s guns:

The guns of Gamora was a rebel group with the goal of foiling any plans of the altean empress allura. Led by the brave commander Sven and his somewhat neurotic sidekick Slav, the gun’s were spread far across the galaxy in little pockets of altean dominated space to keep tabs on the empires schemes and try their best to counteract them. The new recruits were aliens and humans from far and wide working together hand in hand to try and prevent a reign of terror from truly taking over. When plans for creating a super weapon fall on the ears of a trusted source, the newest batch of recruits are sent to locate, find and bring back the blueprints. Of course, such things are easier said than done.

The chosen:

Keith.lance.hunk.shiro (or Sven, depends on whether you want this to follow a legendary defender type story arc or one of the older series). Allura. Pidge. These were names that belonged to the universe’s greatest heroes. Legends beyond all compare. They were champions of the universe and paladins of the mightiest robotic warrior to have ever been built: voltron. The great robot and the lions that formed it were well over ten thousand years old…..sadly for the paladins, they knew that they wouldn’t live to or beyond the great age their lions and oldest enemies had. The galaxy garrison had worked extra hard on ensuring that the next generation of pilots would be suitable candidates for the possibility of becoming voltron’s future paladins. Each paladin chose a student whom they felt like would be the most suitable to take their place and trained them with the knowledge that they were not the ones who had the final decision as to who flew who…..or even if they’d fly at all. What happens when one student fails and is rejected by not one but all the lions? What becomes of them and what is their place on team voltron? What happens to the rest of the team? Only time will tell, according to coran, such a thing has never happened before……but what happens if it does?

Before we reach the end of the post, here are some important reminders:

1: NO REACHING OUT TO ME ASKING FOR A CANON CHARACTER SHIPPING RP! I DO NOT DOUBLE SO DO NOT ASK!

2: DONT MESSAGE ME IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH NOT VERY HUMANOID ALIENS!

3: NO GARY STU’S OR MARY SUES! GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS A PERSONALITY THAT ISN’T JUST ONE EMOTION OR TRAIT ONLY!

For those who’ve read this thoroughly thank you and congratulations! If you’re at all interested please send me a message and add me on my discord, telegram, email or hangouts (contact info below).

My discord: tiberionsunsconqourer#6187

My telegram: Tiberionwars

My email/hangouts: [email protected]

Hope to write some awesome stories!

some PJO Mass Effect: Andomeda AU because @suchastart is an angel who puts inspiring things in my inbox and who loves AUs with me, particularly and most especially pjo mass effect au

Already, the galaxy seems full of ghosts.

Silence.

Or close enough but for the gentle hum of the ship all around him. Percy takes a few steps into the cabin, closes his eyes. He feels the pulse of the Tempest move up through his feet and hum at the tips of his fingers. His heartbeat slows, stops pounding in his ears, and he breathes deep, lets exhaustion sink in and hit him for the first time since waking from cryo. A soft bed within reach for the first time since Habitat 7. Sleep – real sleep – for the first time in six hundred years. 

When he opens his eyes he sees the Andromeda galaxy stretched out before him, endless and beautiful. It really is breathtaking, he thinks, even if everything since first waking in this new pocket of space has felt like a nightmare. Crashing shuttles. Choking on poisonous air. His father’s face distorted by the broken glass of his helmet. Jolting awake in Sam Node, Annabeth’s face hovering over his. Her voice calling him Pathfinder. The Nexus, like something from a horror vid – dark, and vacant, and broken.

But this, this vast expanse of space at his feet, is nothing short of incredible. And this, this masterpiece of a ship around him, feels like the safest place, closest thing to home, since his mother.

The Pathfinder Quarters - not his quarters, they were never supposed to be his quarters - are immaculate if a little extravagant. Percy avoids looking too closely at the details (his father’s collection of model ships - he doesn’t know who put them there, nor the small stack of books on the bedside table) and wanders closer to the bow and the expansive window that makes up an entire wall of the the cabin. 

If he gets close enough he doesn’t see the ship around him at all, just open space. The details fade away, the little personal touches, the models and the books and the family photo Percy found before promptly stuffing it in a desk drawer. Unconsciously, he rests a palm on the cool glass as if to reach out into the void. 

“Admiring the view?” 

Percy tenses again in a instant. He pulls his hand away, turns to see Annabeth leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, sharp gray eyes fixed on him. When he meets her gaze she lifts her chin and tilts her head a little to the side. Percy feels… observed. It makes his skin itch. 

“Brand new galaxy,” he says. “Been here a day and a half and it’s already trying to kill us. Think I’m due for a nap.” 

“In your own shiny new quarters no less.” 

Not my quarters. Percy bites his tongue. “Yeah, sure,” he says instead. 

Annabeth doesn’t make any move to come into the room. She just stands there, stony faced and tense, seemingly unaffected by the ensuing silence while Percy feels uncomfortable and awkward almost instantly. 

“I’m getting a this-isn’t-the-time-for-a-nap vibe from you right now,” he tries, slipping his hands into his pockets in an attempt at casual. “Is something on fire?” 

“Oh, not exactly,” she says with matching - mocking - false nonchalance. “We’re only headed to a planet that by all accounts is a wasteland and a deathtrap and… what? No briefing? No strategy? We’re just going to take a nap and wing it?” 

If he’s honest, Percy has indeed been planning to wing it. However it feels impossible to tell this to Annabeth when she calls him out on it. So instead he opts for the mature course and scowls in her general direction without making eye contact. “You want a team huddle? Group hug?” 

“I want a plan.” 

“I don’t have one.” 

There’s a small victory in the blatant shock that crosses Annabeth’s face before it turns to anger. She stands up straighter, drops her arms to her sides. 

“You’re the Pathfinder,” Annabeth snaps. “You’re supposed to have a plan.” 

“We don’t even know what we’re going to find on Eos,” Percy snaps right back. He wants her to leave. He doesn’t want to have this conversation. 

He doesn’t want to be in this room.

“There is significant data available on Eos, stored in files available from the Nexus,” SAM contributes. Percy ignores him.

He doesn’t want a SAM in his head.

He doesn’t want this SAM in his head.

“What do you want me to do?” 

“Your job.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“What do you think it means?” 

“You’re being impossible.” 

“You’re being insufferable!” 

“Well what would you do, if you were me?” 

“I - what?”

Annabeth’s expression goes from confrontational to startled in an instant.

“What would you do, in my position?” He watches her face, the way her eyebrows knit together for just a second and a muscle in her cheek twitches. When she doesn’t answer right away Percy wonders if they’re both imagining the same thing, her as Pathfinder instead of him. 

“I haven’t known you all that long,” he says to break the silence, casually strolling a few steps closer to her, “unless you count those six hundred years we were cryo buddies, but if there’s one thing I know about Annabeth Chase it’s that she always has a plan.” 

She crosses her arms again, does that same head tilt. Percy waits. When she decides that he is not in fact mocking her, her shoulders slump in and she shrugs in agreement. The corners of Percy’s lips quirk up, not quite a smile but close. 

“I had the Nexus forward all their records from Sites 1 and 2,” she admits. “And I’ve been comparing it to what we know of the Kett from our encounter on Habitat 7. We should expect a hostile reception.” 

Percy nods thoughtfully. “Expect hostiles. Good plan, I like it.” 

“You consider that a good plan?” 

“Annabeth, I consider having you on my team a good plan.” 

She startles again but recovers much more quickly this time and if he weren’t looking for it Percy would miss the slight pink that colors her cheeks. He mentally tallies up another victory. 

She starts to say something else but Percy cuts her off. “I’m exhausted,” he says bluntly. “And I will be happy to listen to all of your expert analysis on Eos in a post-nap version of the galaxy. But right now I’m going to lie down on that bed and sleep and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” 

They both know that last part is not strictly true as Annabeth can do most anything she sets her mind to, but she lets it slide, mollified for the moment that Percy is not in fact going to throw them all to the metaphorical wolves. 

“I’ll see you in two hours,” she says. 

“Six,” Percy counters. She raises her eyebrows. “Four,” he amends and she smiles. 

“I’ll see you in four hours.” 

With that, she’s gone. The door whispers shut behind her and silence settles back into the space, heavier than before. 

Percy sinks onto the end of the bed, elbows on knees, head hung low. He truly is exhausted. All the way through to his bones. Every joint, every muscle, protests as he turns and pulls himself across the mattress. He collapses on top the covers, prepared to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. 

Instead Percy finds that he is all too aware of his heartbeat, the pulse in his veins, the rustle of fabric at the slightest shift of his weight. The quiet is somehow imposing and his brain itches with the need to do something. He thinks about moving into the crew quarters. He thinks about the model ships lining the opposite wall. He thinks about his mother and the days that only just passed six hundred years ago in the wake of her. 

At that thought Percy rolls over onto his side, stares out at the endless expanse of space that is Andromeda and tries very hard not to think about how very far away and gone Sally Jackson is at that moment. 

Which is, of course, impossible. 

He tries for another fifteen minutes anyway but sleep is now decidedly out of reach. Percy considers his options and mentally tallies a victory in the Annabeth Chase column before dragging himself out of bed. 

He finds her in a nook of the crew quarters, two cups of steaming coffee on the table in front of her, omni-tool cycling through diagrams of what he assumes is Site 1 on Eos. 

“So sure I’d come,” he says, sliding into the seat next to her and pulling one of the cups closer. 

Annabeth looks at him without turning her head and raises an eyebrow. “That’s Piper’s” she says as he raises the coffee to take a sip. 

Percy blanches, hastily sets down the cup. Dextro coffee. 

“Has it been four hours already?” Annabeth asks innocently, eyes back on the bright orange diagram in front of her. 

“I just couldn’t sleep knowing you were coming up with riveting plans for our arrival on new and exciting planets.” 

She glances at him again out of the corner of her eye and Percy knows he must look like the living dead. Dark circles under his eyes, disheveled hair, slumped shoulders. She doesn’t comment though. Instead she says, “I lied about the coffee,” and slides a tablet across the table towards him. 

They work in companionable silence and Percy is glad for something to occupy his mind. Grover joins them for a bit, rambling about soil samples and growth conditions while Percy and Annabeth make all the appropriate listening noises. Will stops by as well, setting down cups of water and making thinly veiled comments about the importance of rest. 

The ambient noises - Piper’s impossibly gentle snores from the far bunk, Leo’s music drifting through the walls while he tinkers with the Nomad - are just enough to ward off the ghosts that haunt him in the silence. And indeed in the lulls Percy’s mind drifts to his father’s confident grin as they shuttled up for Habitat 7 or Beckendorf, shot and bloodied by the Kett standing above him. 

Annabeth works with a focus Percy couldn’t hope to achieve in a thousand years. He watches her in small glances as she skims through seemingly never ending tech schematics and structure blueprints. 

After a while, when his eyes refuse to scan over even one more status log, Percy tosses the tablet onto the table, stretches, leans back in his chair. Annabeth hasn’t said anything in over an hour. Percy wonders if the work is a distraction for her as well, if she’s hiding from anything too far away in the Milky Way to think about. Everyone in Andromeda left someone behind, after all. He thinks maybe none of them realized they’d follow them here. 

Already, the galaxy seems full of ghosts. 

“Pathfinder, arrival at Eos is estimated at just under four hours,” SAM chimes in with impeccable timing. 

“Thanks, SAM,” Percy murmurs. “Time for some sleep.” This, he directs at Annabeth. To her credit she doesn’t fight him on it but nods and sets down her tablet, rubs her temples and rests her forehead in her hands. 

Reluctantly, Percy makes his way back to the Pathfinder Quarters. The cabin is just as vacant and unfamiliar as it had been a few hours ago. He stands in the center of the room, breathes deep, feels the hum of the ship like it’s an extension of himself. He stares out at the tapestry that is Andromeda, as majestic as the moment he first set eyes on her. 

Still silent, or close enough to it.

And so very far from home.

Small Fanfic for Guggi

Hey! I wrote this at like 2:30am and it’s about our Oc’s! Hope you enjoy! @guggi04 This is only the first couple of pages

Elizabeth walked into the grand foyer, her skirts swishing around her ankles with every step she took, of the home she shared with her husband Victor Andrew, she as looked for her young daughter Rose. Maids bustled around them, fulfilling their duties. Elizabeth smiled and exchanged greetings before she went back to the task at hand. Rose had run off while she was playing Hide and Seek.

“Rose Stephanie Andrews, where you are?” Elizabeth asked softly, a joking tone in her voice even though she used Rose’s full name. A smirk was sketched onto Elizabeth’s face as she heard  a giggle from behind one of the black velvet chair that Victor put in the foyer for guests that come over. Elizabeth walked over and looked behind one of the chairs, the smiling face of her daughter looking up at her.

“Found you” Elizabeth giggled as she reached down and picked Rose up and rested her on her hip. Rose giggled as she covered her face with her hands.

“How about we go see Papa in his office?” Elizabeth asked and Rose nodded, grinning.

“I want to see Papa!” Rose nodded and clapped.

“Very well! We shall go and see Papa!” Elizabeth smirked as she hoisted her skirts up with her free hand as she began to climb the staircase that lead up the high floors of their house. After walking for what felt like forever, they reached the 3rd floor where Victor’s office was. Elizabeth made sure that Rose was still comfortable against her hip before she walked over to the large oak that opened to reveal Victor’s office. Elizabeth knocked on the door and quietly heard a soft

“Come in”

From the other side of the door. Elizabeth opened the door and stepped inside, bending don as she put Rose back onto the ground. Elizabeth looked up and smiled at her husband as he sat at his desk, scribbling notes down onto a blueprint of the latest ship he was designing.

Victor was a man that Elizabeth had met while she was going through a hard time. Victor had arrived in the small village from Ireland and instantly changed Elizabeth’s life. Victor was 6’2 (Quite tall compared to Elizabeth’s height of 5’1), had slightly thin lips, his hair was a dark grey with a lighter grey coming through at the roots, his fringe has a slight wave to it, his dark brown eyes were warm, comforting and inviting and he had small laugh lines at the side of his eyes. Victor was 30 while Liz was 22,while Rose had only recently turned 4.

Rose had been born when Liz was 19 and while Liz and Victor had become close after they met, they only got closer after Rose was born. Within months of courting, Victor had proposed to her and Elizabeth said yes, a huge grin on her face and they moved into the grand house not long after the proposal. They were married 2 months after.

“Papa!” Rose called as she ran around the desk to reach Victor. Victor looked up from his work, a smile instantly on his face.

“Ah Rose!” He bent down and picked the young girl up before standing to his full height, before sitting down and resting the girl on his knees so she could have a better view on the desk. Rose’s eyes widened as she saw the blueprints and the countless scribbles. Elizabeth stood up and dusted off her dark green skirt and white blouse as she walked over to where Victor and Rose were sitting.

“Hello Victor” Elizabeth bent down slightly as she reached her husband and kissed his cheek, a loving grin plastered on her face.

“Hello darling” Victor smiled, appreciating the kiss. Elizabeth couldn’t help but blush when he called her darling. Everything he said sounded wonderful with his accent.

“Rose wanted to come see you” Elizabeth explained as she pulled a chair up beside her husband and sat down.

“I was hoping to see my princess and my beautiful Queen at some point today” Victor smiled as he bounced Rose on his knee, emitting a giggle from the young girl.

“Well you could of come down to see us instead of being holed up in your office all day” Elizabeth joked slightly as she looked over to the blueprint plans, brushing a stray lock of curly hair out of her face.

“I was hoping to but I’ve had a lot of work to do” Victor motioned to the plans on his table.

“Are you designing another ship already?” Elizabeth asked as her eyes scanned over the paper.

“Oh Aye!” Victor’s eyes lit up when his wife mentioned the ship. Elizabeth noticed that victor’s eyes always lit up when he was talking about the boats he was designing.  “My boss imagined a boat so grand in scale and so luxurious in its appointments, that its supremacy would ever be challenged and here she’ll be” Victor lightly hit the table with his hands “Willed into solid reality. Also the boat will be steam powered! The first of its kind!”  

“Victor! T..That’s amazing!” Elizabeth grinned. A boat powered by steam. How was that even possible?

“Daddy building another ship?” Rose asked, suppressing a yawn.

“Aye, that’s right Princess. Daddy’s building another ship and do you know what it’ll be called?”

Rose shook her head, looking up at her father with wide, curious eyes.

“It’ll be named the Rose Andrews” Victor grinned.

Rose’s eyes widened and she looked at her father.

“Like me!” She grinned.

“That’s because it’s named after you sweetie” Victor chuckled as Rose’s eyes got wider and so did her grin as she clapped.

“A ship named after me Daddy?”

“Of course! This ship will travel all over the world and you deserve the world”

Elizabeth had a soft smile adorning her features as she rolled her eyes at her husband. He always spoilt Rose but was careful not to over spoil her at such a young age. Rose’s excitement was cut short as she yawned once more, her eyes having trouble to stay open.

Elizabeth walked over to the door and opening it, seeing one of the maids walking towards her.

“Oh Louise! If you aren’t too busy, would you mind putting Rose down for a nap?”

Louise nodded as she followed Elizabeth into Victor’s office.

“Of course Mrs. Andrews”

Elizabeth gave the young maid a soft motherly smile and the young maid couldn’t help but smile back as she picked the youngest Andrews family member off her father’s lap, leaving the two on their own.

Victor took his wife’s hand and lead her over to the couch that sat in front of the large windows. Elizabeth could see the view as she sat down. The river was running smooth as the sun shone dwn on the water and shined upon the hills. Elizabeth always thought it was quite fitting where they lived, right next to the river, considering her husband’s job.

“Darling, you surely know that once the ship is built, it’ll have to go through multiple sea trials to make sure it’s safe for passengers and then it’ll be disembarking on it’s maiden voyage and it’ll make the headlines, I bet you. It does also mean that I’ll be away for long periods o’ time  and I can’t sure sure when I’d be back for certain.”

Elizabeth nodded as she listened to her husband. She knew what it meant being married to a ship designer/master builder and though she’d never stop him from following his dreams, it hurt when he left as Elizabeth and rose missed him dearly. Rose still didn’t know why her daddy had to leave for long period of times and Elizabeth found it hard to explain to her daughter when Rose was crying. Seeing her daughter upset was the worst thing for Elizabeth as she only wished to see Rose happy.

“But for this time, I want you to come with me, and Rose will be joining of course” Victor grinned as Elizabeth looked up, her eyes full of excitement.

“Are you sure Victor?” Elizabeth asked, not fully believing what victor was telling her. Elizabeth had grown up in a village, living in a small cottage living with her adoptive parents Tom and Dick and her adoptive brother Stanley while visiting her biological parents, Madam De Garderobe and Maestro Cadenza, at the castle and now she was living in a grand house with her husband and daughter and soon she was going to travel on the grandest ship in the world that would surely make headlines, seeing as it was the first boat of its king due to it’s scale and the fact that is was the first steam powered boat. The 1730’s seemed like a year of progress indeed.

“I want you and Rose to accompany me on the ship. I want my wife and my daughter to travel in luxury and also I’m not sure I could stay away from you for much longer” Victor admitted sheepishly before the two gently kissed. Every time was like the first as cliché as it sounds. There were always sparks.

Once they pulled apart, Elizabeth cupped Victor’s face in her hands, resting their foreheads together as the two lovers shared a loving smile.

“How I ever told you how lucky I was when I ran into by accident the night we meet?” Elizabeth asked softly.

“You might o’ mentioned it once or twice” Victor joked, smirking softly. “but I never tire of hearing it”

“You, Victor Andrews,are the most amazingly, astounding, wonderful man that I’ve ever known. I’m not an idiot, I know how the world works. I used to have ten francs in my pocket, I had nothing to offer you and I knew that but I became too involved and I’m glad that I was able to become your wife.You have blessed my life in so many ways in a way that word’s describe but I know how people will views you as you are on the grandest ship in the world, with a village girl as your wife. They won’t be favourable of it and won’t see our marriage the way..the way we see it.”

“You think I care about that Elizabeth? All I care about is that my daughter and my wife, who I love so much to the extent of the universe and back, to accompany me on this trip of a lifetime. You never know, we could possibly start a new life there..Doesn’t that sound wonderful, my love?”