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#Factory Acceptance Test
aqss-usa16 · 1 year
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AQSS-USA in Houston provides high-quality Inspection services and Testing services, with professional and efficient Expediting Services in the USA, Europe, Malaysia, India, and other countries around the world. +1 713-789-0885
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aqtsusa1 · 2 years
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vivian-teil · 2 years
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It has recently occurred to me that almost every gift Doug has given me in Rune Factory has been bread-related foods
Is Doug gifting me bread to get rid of it because he doesn’t like bread but the MC does
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thethief1996 · 7 months
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I can't stop thinking about the news out of Palestine. Israel is sieging al Shifa hospital. Videos of people's limbs being severed off are haunting (graphic video tw). The hospital has ran out of fuel and 39 babies in incubators are fending for their lives by themselves, because Israel has stationed snipers around the hospital and is shooting all medical crew that walks into their sight.
First, the narrative was Israel would never bomb hospitals. Now, the hospitals are Hamas bases. Then, we respect journalists. Now, we have a fucking kill list of journalists because they are Hamas collaborators. First, we are not letting fuel in until the hostages are released. Now, we are not accepting the hostages back because that would stop our ground invasion and let Hamas win. And I could go on about every single lie they're making up. If you look up "Hamas rape" on google, the first link leads to Times of Israel saying Israel has found no forensic evidence of sexual violence, and only one eyewitness testimony out of 3.5k people attending the rave. If you Google "Hamas beheaded babies" the top links say they have no evidence for the claim besides word of mouth from extremist soldiers. Israeli extremists think about the ugliest goriest scene they can make out in their sick heads, tell that to a international journalist and they run away with it like it's gospel.
And children are being killed in the name of these lies. Thousands are being displaced in images that remind me of the pictures of Tantura 75 years ago, with their hands up so the tanks don't shoot them. Amputees are leaving the hospitals in wheelchairs hours after their surgeries because they are being shot at. Elders who survived the Nakba on 48 are having to walk towards Southern Gaza on foot (imagine walking from one end of your city to the other on foot), displaced again. People are cheering for the haunting images of white phosphorus bombs being dropped over Gaza. Gazan workers who were arrested in the West Bank are being thrust back into the bombings wearing numbered labels.
This is not normal. We are seeing the early stages of the settler colonial genocide of an indigenous population. Native leaders who have visited Gaza say its refugee camps look eerily like reservations. We can stop this. For the first time we are able to see wide scale accounts from the hands of the people suffering the genocide, and Israel is so scared of it they have cut all communications in Gaza.
This is our litmus test. I think we have never seen more clearly, with Palestine, Armenia, Congo and Sudan how colonialism has made our world a rotten place to live in.
The South African apartheid collapsed due to boycotts. We have to do everything in our power to stop Israel's hegemony. Even talking to a group of friends about Palestine changes the status quo. There's no world where we can live peacefully if Israel accomplishes their goals.
Keep yourself updated and share Palestinian voices. Muna El-Kurd said every tweet is like a treasure to them, because their voices are repressed on social media and even on this very app. Make it your action item to share something about the Palestinian plight everyday. Here are some resources:
Al Jazeera, Anadolu Agency, Mondoweiss
Boycott Divest Sanction Movement
Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing protests and direct action against weapons factories across the US
Mohammed El-Kurd (twitter / instagram)
Muhammad Shehada (twitter)
Motaz Azaiza (instagram) - reporting directly from Gaza.
Hind Khudary - reporting directly from Gaza. Her husband and daughter moved South to run from the tanks but she stayed behind to record the genocide. The least we can do is not let her calls fall on deaf ears.
You can participate in boycotts wherever you are in the world, through BDS guidelines. Don't be overwhelmed by gigantic boycott lists. BDS explicitly targets only a few brands which have bigger impact. You can stop consuming from as many brands as you want, though, and by all means feel free to give a 1 star review to McDonalds, Papa John, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Starbucks. Right now, they are focusing on boycotting the following:
Carrefour, HP, Puma, Sabra, Sodastream, Ahava cosmetics, Israeli fruits and vegetables
Push for a cultural boycott - pressure your favorite artist to speak out on Palestine and cancel any upcoming performances on occupied territory (Lorde cancelled her gig in Israel because of this. It works.)
If you can, participate in direct action or donate.
Palestine Action works to shut down Israeli weapons factories in the UK and USA, and have successfully shut down one of their firms in London.Some of the activists are going on trial and are calling for mobilizing on court.
Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing direct actions to stop the shipping of wars to Israel. Follow them.
Educate yourself. Read into Palestinian history and the occupation. You can't common sense people out of decades of propaganda. If your arguments crumble when a zionist brings up the "disengagement of Gaza", you have to learn more.
Read Decolonize Palestine. They have 15 minute reads that concisely explain the occupation (and its colonial roots) and debunk popular myths, including pinkwashing.
Read on Palestine. Here's an amazing masterpost.
Verso Book Club is giving out free books on Palestine (I personally downloaded Ten Myths about Israel by Ilan Pappe. If you still believe in the two states solution, this book by an Israeli professor debunks it).
Call your representatives. The Labour Party in the UK had an emergency meeting after several councilors threatened to resign if they didn't condemn Israeli war crimes. Calling to show your complaints works, even more if you live in a country that funds genocide.
FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA: USCPR has developed this toolkit for calls, here's a document that autosends emails to your representatives and here's a toolkit by Ceasefire in Gaza NOW!
FOR PEOPLE IN EUROPE: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace targeting the European Parliament and one specific for almost all countries in Europe, including Germany, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Greece, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Austria, Belgium Romania and Ukraine
FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK: Friends of Al-Aqsa UK and Palestine Solidarity UK have made toolkits for calls and emails
FOR PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA: Here's a toolkit by Stand With Palestine
FOR PEOPLE IN CANADA: Here's a toolkit by Indepent Jewish Voices for Canada
Join a protest. Here's a constantly updating list of protests:
Global calendar
Another global calendar (go to the instragram of the organizers to confirm your protest)
USA calendar
Australia calendar
Feel free to add more.
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violetrainbow412-blog · 5 months
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Hello!
I wanted to order something from Wonka (2023) because I fell in love with it after watching the movie! So if possible, I would like something fluff in which Reader and Wonka are mutually in love but neither has enough confidence to declare themselves and Noodle helps them both to tell each other their feelings. (sorry if I didn't understand, the english isn't my first language)
A little push [W. W]
Willy Wonka x fem!reader
word count: 4.5k
note: first of all, I want to tell you not to worry because English is not my first language either (i'm Mexican, where are u from?) and second, I loved writing this, I had fun and I think I got a little excited with the words count, haha. I hope you enjoy!
taglist: @dyieying @reallysparklychaos [Timothée masterlist]
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“Everything is amazing!” Noodle squealed, as he walked down the stone hallway and looked around with absolute fascination: from the chocolate river to the glass ceiling through which you could look at the blue sky.
After you had gotten rid of the Chocolate Cartel and the rest of the group had returned to their normal lives, Willy had finally started his dream of building a chocolate factory. Now that it was finally finished, you and Noodle had been the first in the world to have the privilege of seeing it. You had stayed in touch, of course, although it was almost always when he went to town in search of some materials for his creations, to sell chocolates on the streets or to work on rebuilding the store at the Galeries Gourmet.
"So you think?" he asked, smiling. He loved the girl as if she were his little sister and you imagined that her approval would prove to be quite important.
“Of course, it's magnificent,” she assured him. You looked out at the grass and waved at the little orange man (who you now knew was called Lofty) who was drinking from a small cup “Is the river real chocolate?��
“Of course it's real chocolate, who do you think you're talking to?” he murmured, almost offended “Go explore and eat whatever you want. I accept suggestions for improvements” Willy indicated to your friend, who smiled at you apologetically and bolted towards the glass bridge section.
“I think we'll finish the merchandise before the opening,” you joked and then Willy seemed to remember your presence.
His smile was extremely sweet when he turned to you to offer you to take his arm, like a gentleman, and so you began walking, a little slower and a shorter distance.
“It would be impossible, I assure you.”
“How have sales been?” you questioned and then he began to give you a summary of everything.
Abacus was still his trusted accountant so this whole matter was well monitored, which allowed him to make all the movements, purchases, and remodeling. While Noodle (whose name you knew wasn't hers, but you kept calling her that out of habit) was lost in the recesses of the enchanted castle you seemed to be in.
"A flower?" he offered you suddenly, leaning down to pull one of the ones growing on the floor.
"It is eatable?"
“Everything here is edible,” he said cheerfully. “Except me, I guess.”
“Maybe you are, although I think you'd taste quite peculiar,” you said in a soft, teasing voice, hoping he'd catch at least a little of your flirtation.
After everything you had been through at the launderette, as well as the time you had lived together after that, you had become good friends, but little by little you had begun to feel something else blossoming inside you. The boy was handsome, you had realized this from the first moment you saw him, but the more you lived with him you began to realize the great qualities he had. It was much worse when you added to all this the sweetness with which he always treated you and how attentive he was towards everything you wanted.
That's why you threw in some flirtatious comments from time to time, to test the waters, observe his reactions, and thus build an image in your mind to know if you had at least a chance.
“Let's find out,” he said, and your breathing hitched for a moment, but it came out as a chuckle when you saw him lick the back of his hand “Not that unpleasant, though a little salty, I’d say.”
You had to admit that you would have liked to see how your friend tasted differently, but for now you would just let it go. Maybe he was very innocent or maybe he didn't like you. 
“What are you working on now? Something new?” you asked curiously, taking a bite of your flower. It was delicious.
"Yeah! Actually yes. Now I'm thinking about creating a chocolate whose flavor contains the three meals of the day, so people who don't have much money could buy it and have the pleasure of the three foods. Oh, and I want to expand the sweets to sell in the store, not only chocolates, but also gum, candies, gummies... What do you think about that?
“Sounds like an excellent idea, Willy” you smiled. He separated from you when you reached the edge of the river falling from the waterfall, where he theatrically removed his hat to pull out a cup that he filled with liquid chocolate and then held out in your direction.
"Do you want?”
“I can drink a little,” you replied, while you took the porcelain container with your fingers and took a sip of the contents. There was something special about his chocolates that you still didn't understand, but he made them a thousand times more enjoyable. “Hhm-mmm.”
“All the chocolate is in constant motion, which makes it beat better and taste smoother,” he explained to you, as he got completely excited when it came to talking about the chemistry behind his creations. You noticed that he was looking at your lips and you were about to say something when he spoke: “You have a little… over there.”
"Here?" you asked, stretching your tongue in the direction where he had pointed, but Willy continued to look at you with some amusement.
“No, in… right there, uh… wait” he murmured and seeing your failed attempts to get rid of the stain he took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket “Let me help you.”
Willy took a step towards you and you gasped when one of his hands came up to cup your cheek, as if he didn't want you to move your face. The other, with the help of the handkerchief, gently passed the corner of your lips.
You took the opportunity to look at him carefully, trying to record as many details as possible: some freckles that he had on the bridge of his nose, a trace of facial hair that he probably shaved in the morning, his bushy eyebrows above his beautiful eyes framed by long eyelashes and finally her pink lips that were pressed in on themselves as a sign of concentration. He was so handsome and so close to you that you were getting nervous.
He, unbeknownst to you, had his own swirl of emotions. The skin of your face that he was holding was soft and in that position it would have been enough to lean in a little to capture your lips with traces of chocolate, without you even noticing it and, probably, without you being able to deny it for a moment. But he didn't want to do that to you, he knew it wasn't correct and after all he didn't know if you felt the same way.
He hummed a word to let you know he was done and suddenly the two of you found yourself looking straight into each other's eyes, lost in each other's gaze. Just two fools in love who didn't realize it.
"What are you doing?"
You separated abruptly when you heard the voice of the girl, who had apparently been watching you for a few seconds, and looked at her accompanied by Lofty. Both of them were smirking.
“Huh, she… had some chocolate on her face and I…”
“Willy helped me remove it” you completed. You didn't even understand why you guys were nervous, it wasn't like you guys were doing anything guilty.
“Do you guys want to go see my lab?” Wonka murmured, trying to divert attention from whatever had happened just a moment ago. “You're going to love it. “I’ll even let you make a chocolate if you want, Noodle.”
“Okay,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders, but giving you a look that clearly meant: we'll talk about this later. 
When they began to walk, Willy turned for a second to look at you with a feeling that you couldn't decipher and then he returned his gaze to the front, just so that you wouldn't see the blush that had painted his cheeks.
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“Are we going to talk about it?”
"Talk about what?" you asked absentmindedly, punching your pillow to soften it.
You and Noodle shared a room because you still couldn't find a place to settle and, furthermore, you had been hired at the library so there was no problem for Dorothy with you staying with them.
“Talk about how you and Willy almost kissed.”
“We weren't going to kiss!” you screeched immediately, turning violently to look at the girl.
“Well, that's what it seemed like. He had his hand on your face and you were so close.”
“He was just helping me remove a stain,” you defended yourself, although it was obvious that you had gotten nervous.
What if he had tried to kiss you? you suddenly asked yourself. No, it was impossible. 
“But you like him.”
“Noodle,” you squeaked under your breath, “What kind of questions are those?”
“Oh, you like him!” she concluded. For the girl, the fact that you were evading an answer was an answer in itself. “I knew it.”
“You can't tell him,” you said, resigned that the girl wouldn't let the matter go so easily. “You have to promise.”
"Why not? Maybe he likes you too”
“Well, I prefer not to know that,” you lied. It was obvious that you wanted to know, but you were too worried about ruining your friendship with him to do any real research.
"What is it that you like the most about him?"
"Stop"
“I won't tell him!” the little girl said, raising her hands in surrender. “I swear. I just want to know how it feels, I have never fallen in love with anyone."
The excitement in the girl's eyes ended up convincing you to talk to her about your feelings for your mutual friend and after letting out a deep sigh you sat down on the mattress, patting the spot next to your side as an invitation for her to sit too.
“You must swear to me that you will not tell him. Please,” you warned her and she nodded frantically. “I like his eyes.”
“I knew it,” she said again, victorious. “What else do you like about him?”
You thought the real question was: was there anything you didn't like about him?
“I really like that he is so kind to everyone. And I like that he is a dreamer, I like his curly hair and his strange clothes. I like when he’s cordial with me and I also like that he talks so… I don't know, so softly, you know what I mean?” you asked and she nodded excitedly.
Talking about it with someone was, in a way, very liberating and once you started you couldn't stop. You spent a long time talking about him, gossiping about the little moments that you thought meant some sign and listing your fantasies, while your friend listened attentively.
As the words left your mouth, you convinced yourself more that it wasn't just a crush, but that you were actually in love with that boy. And it scared you, to be honest.
“Will you ever tell him? “You would make a nice couple.”
"That's what you think?” you asked amused. You had already attacked a stock of chocolates that Willy had given you when he left the factory. “Well, I don't know, Noodle. If one day the conditions are right and he gives me some sign, I guess so."
The girl laughed to herself and registered her information in her mind, certain that very soon you would receive that signal and she would personally take care of it.
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“Willy!” The man listened and when he turned in the direction of the voice, he found the unruly hair of his little friend.
“Darling, hello,” he greeted cordially, while he bent down a little to give her a hug “What brings you here?”
“I had a break at the library and I wanted to come see if you were here,” she smiled. The store was packed with people, as always, but they were in a quiet enough section “And I also wanted to ask for your help.”
“Sure, whatever you want”
“It's about Y/N,” Noodle said. Noticing that the man's posture straightened a little, she smiled victoriously, because the mere mention of your name had already captured his attention “But you must promise not to say anything to her.”
“My lips will be sealed”
“Well, it's about a boy”
There was silence, where Wonka frowned perceptibly. Noodle couldn't be happier.
"A boy?"
“Yes, I think he likes her. He goes to the library every day just to see her and he talks to her for hours and even helps her organize some of her books. You should see them, they are so cute together. And I want to organize a date for them”
“A date?” he screeched. He felt betrayed by the girl, although she clearly couldn't read her mind and therefore she didn't know about her feelings for you.
"Yeah! I want your help because I want you to make some delicious chocolates that will make them fall in love or something like that”
“My chocolates can't make someone fall in love with someone else,” he said immediately, although that wasn't entirely true. “And why do you want her to go on a date with that guy? Does he even treat her well? What does he look like?”
It was evident that he was, to say the least, affected by the information she was giving him. She could almost say there was some anger in his voice. Or maybe it was just jealousy.
“Wow, wow, calm down Willy. I thought this would excite you.”
“Why should I get excited?” he asked, honestly confused. Noodle had the boy right where she wanted him and he wasn't realizing anything. It was perfect.
“Because she's your friend and I thought maybe you'd like to help me get her a boyfriend. I don't know, for her to be happy and all that”
Willy Wonka remained silent. He seemed to be holding something in his chest that he didn't want to let out and judging by the look on his face she believed that even he might cry. Suddenly the girl felt the man's hand take her arm to take her to an even more secluded place, far from all the curious ears.
"She likes him? You know that?"
“I don't know, she hasn't told me anything.”
Lies, pure lies. She clearly knew that you were madly in love with the boy in front of her.
“I can't do you that favor you want,” he ruled. “But could you do one for me?”
"What do you want?" she asked, pretending to be confused. He took a moment before daring to speak.
“Please distract that boy. Don't let him get close to her."
"And why?"
“Because I like her,” he finally breathed out.
Bingo, she had gotten just what she wanted.
"No way! Are you talking seriously?"
“Yes, but you can't tell anyone, do you understand?”
“Well, it wouldn't be any use for me to tell someone if she is in love with that boy.”
“Don't you dare think about it,” her friend whimpered. There was no such thing as a suitor of yours and she felt like laughing, but she stopped herself. “She seems very interested?”
“Well, not that much, but he will be soon if he keeps acting like that with her.” Noodle snorted and then he pursed his lips and cursed under his breath, “Unless…”
"That?"
“No, it's nonsense”
“Tell me,” he asked, obviously distressed. He really liked you and he didn't want there to be a chance of someone else winning your heart.
“Well, I think she might lose interest in him if you tell her what you feel, don't you think?” she argued.
“What if she doesn't like me?”
“You won't know if you don't tell her!” She mumbled, feeling the same frustration she felt when she had that conversation with you. “Listen, you remember the flamingos at the zoo, right?”
"Aha"
“And do you remember that they didn't fly until they knew they could escape? If they hadn't flown, they would still be there. They had to do it to discover that there was a world out there, you know what I mean?”
“I don't think so,” he replied, concerned, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“What I'm trying to say is that you should tell her if you want to know if she feels the same way. And who knows, maybe so” she murmured. If you knew what she was doing you'd probably be strangling her, but she just hoped everything turned out okay.
The man thought seriously for a moment, with his gaze lost as if he were immersed in his own world, and then he looked at the youngest.
“Well, how do I do that?”
Noodle jumped a little with excitement and pulled her friend to her until they reached a place to sit, prepared to talk to him as much as necessary for him to confess his feelings for you. Willy listened very carefully and by the end of the afternoon they already had a small plan drawn up, that with some luck she would be able to unite her two best friends into a perfect couple.
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Willy felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest when he started to look for you in the library, after more than a week of his conversation with Noodle, ready to confess what he felt to you that same afternoon or die trying.
He found you in the history section, carrying a stack of books and looking for the right place to put them. Even without trying you looked very pretty and a sigh escaped him at that, while he thought why it had taken him so long to consider telling you how much he felt for you.
“Huh, hello.”
"Hello, how can I help y…? Willy?” 
“That's me,” he said timidly. 
“How are you?”
“Well, everything is very good” as you left the books on a shelf and approached him you noticed that he was holding a solitary flower in his hand and you asked with your eyes the reason for it “Oh, this one is for you. It's not chocolate, it's just that I saw it on the way and it reminded me of you, because I know that's your favorite color and because... well, because it's pretty."
“Ow, thank you,” you said tenderly, reaching out to take the present and becoming a little embarrassed. “Were you looking for Noodle?”
“No, I wanted to ask you if once you finish you would like to go for a walk to hang out and… chat. The weather is warmer than ever and spring has beautiful sunsets,” he noted. You didn't understand why he seemed so nervous, nor did you know if you were misunderstanding the situation, but you felt your face turn a barely perceptible shade of red.
“I would love to, actually. But I have to cover a shift and…”
“I'll cover it for you,” someone next to you said quickly. It was Noodle, who had seemingly arrived out of nowhere. “You guys go have fun.”
“But your mom…”
“My mom won't say anything. Come on, go” she insisted, pushing you in the direction of the exit. You didn't know what that girl was up to, but you suspected she was up to no good and gave her a warning look.
“Huh, in that case I guess there is no problem anymore. Just let me go to my room to put on some other clothes and I’ll be back, okay?” you said with a smile. You looked at the girl again, as if searching for an answer, but this time she didn't even notice your look, so you went straight to what you needed.
Once there you took the opportunity to comb your hair, put on some cologne, brush your teeth, put on a pretty necklace, and things like that, hoping to look a little prettier for him.
You placed the flower on your shelf with special care and smiled at the boy's kind gesture towards you. When he said that it reminded him of you because it was pretty, was he calling you pretty? God, you hoped so.
Once you returned to where you had left him you noticed that he was waiting patiently in a chair and Noodle was nowhere to be seen, so you announced your arrival and both of you were ready to leave.
“I'm sorry I arrived unexpectedly” was the first thing he said, once you were outside. He wasn't lying, the atmosphere had started to get warmer.
“It's okay, you don't have to worry. I like surprises”
“I hope so,” he said, more to himself than to you.
You walked in silence through some houses and you took the opportunity to admire the landscape, without really knowing where you were going, but with some curiosity.
“Do you want to go to the pier?” he spoke again, because that was one of the destinations you could reach with the route you had taken “The sunset can be seen from there.”
True, he wanted to show you one of those spring sunsets.
"It's a good idea"
“Okay”
Then the man began to talk about something else, to distract his mind and to distract you, and that talk filled the silence of the entire road. When the sea was in front of you, you leaned against a white wooden railing with the sticky salt-smelling air hitting your face. You noticed that the sun had already started to set.
“The sea is huge,” you said suddenly. He leaned next to you, quite close, and this time he looked a little more confident. “Especially when the tide comes in, at this time.”
“Have you ever traveled by ship?”
“No, no,” you responded quickly. “It would be a disaster if I did that. I get dizzy easily and I would be afraid of drowning.”
“You get dizzy at first, but as time goes by you get used to it,” he assured, sounding amused at your response. “It's a good experience.”
“Did you see a lot of sunsets when you were at sea?” you asked, turning to look at him for a second and then returning your gaze to the natural spectacle.
“And sunrises too. The worst were the storms, you would imagine. But in general, there were very beautiful landscapes”
“I bet so,” you smiled. Your hair was blowing in the wind and Willy could only stare at you.
“Although I don't think any of them were as beautiful as you,” he murmured, in a tone so low that you thought you had imagined it.
You were silent for a second, watching the waves crash against the rocks, and then you were able to speak.
“You called me pretty twice today, did you even eat one of those wine-infused chocolates?” you tried to joke, to mask the fact that you were surprised and nervous in equal parts.
“No, it's not that,” he said, with a seriousness that worried you, as you were hoping he would divert the topic. “I really think you're pretty, very pretty actually. But… I mean, that's not the most important thing about you, I don't want you to think that. You were beautiful inside and out, like… your personality. It's brilliant"
“Oh, nonsense.”
“No, I'm serious.”
You could feel the few rays of sunlight that remained, in the distance, hitting your face, and when you looked at him you realized that it reflected a certain golden glow in his eyes. He was precious.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Everything around you took a backseat to the possibility that those compliments weren't just that, but something more, and then he took a deep breath before answering you.
“It wasn't a lie when I said I wanted to talk to you. It's something important to me and... well, I hope you're okay with this, because I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable in any way."
"With what?" you insisted. A part of you told you that you were just misunderstanding everything, that he couldn't be referring to what you believed.
“Well, with the fact that I think you are a great person, that you are charismatic and kind and beautiful and that I like all of that a lot. I like you a lot"
The world stopped for a second and so did your heart. You wanted to pinch yourself to make sure it wasn't a dream, but it wasn't necessary because you knew that the breeze, the sun, and the sound of the waves couldn't be the work of a dream, just as the boy in front of you who was waiting for an answer couldn't be one either.
"Really?”
“Sure, why would I lie to you?” he expressed, sincerely bewildered. An involuntary smile lit up his face and then your hand went to hold his. It was big compared to yours, and it was warm.
“I don't know where all that came from, but I'm glad you said it. Because I like you too. Like, really a lot” you said shakily, and then he could breathe again.
“You don't know how happy it makes me to know that,” he smiled, while he brought your hand to his lips and gave you a sound kiss. Suddenly his hands went to your waist and he gently lifted you off the floor, giving you a spin in the air that made you laugh. “You like me too.”
“That's right,” you said, overjoyed to know that you were reciprocated. Had Noodle had anything to do with this confession? You knew it most likely was, but you would make sure to question her later.
“I was so nervous that you wouldn't like me.”
“How could I not like you, huh?” You exclaimed, raising your hands to his cheeks to force him to look at you. “You are perfect and even sweeter than your chocolates. Of course I was going to like you."
Willy blushed at the compliment and suddenly leaned in to hug you, hiding from your gaze captivated by him as he felt unworthy of it. You smiled widely while you stood on your tiptoes and let yourself be held tightly, while you saw the sunset in the distance and you left a soft kiss on his cheek, whispering a soft Love ya in his ear, hoping that that moment would remain engraved in your memory and that it was only the beginning of many more.
Noodle, from home, was smiling just imagining what you two would be doing and, in her mind, by this point you might have even kissed.
And while it wasn't like that, either way, watching the sunset in each other's arms was much more romantic and memorable for both of you.
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saromglobal · 2 years
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Factory Acceptance Testing Consultant for Better Plant Performance
As a leading factory acceptance testing consultant, we focus on identifying any flaws and problems that can restrict plant performance. Contact us.
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simate-scooter · 2 years
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vampirebloodie · 7 months
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Little Help | Mark Hoffman x Reader
Summary: John makes Hoffman help you and he almost kills you (with pleasure)
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Warning: NSFW Smut, creampie, degradation kink, puller hair
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After having survived one of Jigsaw's tests after making some bad choices in life, John Kramer saw enormous potential in you due to your willpower to survive being different from anyone else tested, you had the strength of an apprentice, as well as Amanda and Lawrence. As you didn't have many things to lose, you easily accepted John's invitation to become one of his apprentices and help him with the next games, even though it was almost like signing other people's death warrants, you saw it as a job, you just don't receive any payment for it.
Amanda wasn't with you today at the factory, so it was just you who was putting together a new trap and John who was drawing some new models in a notebook. You had been making some mistakes for a few days now, which made him start keeping an eye on you to look for some good solution.
“I called Hoffman to give a little help for you. I see that you are having a lot of difficulties.”
John said, still drawing. You felt your heart stop for a few seconds after hearing that. You hated Hoffman just as he hated you too and you knew that very well, he made a point of always making it clear when you saw each other, which fortunately was rare.
"You what? Hoffman? Are you kidding me? What about Lawrence?”
Unlike Mark, Lawrence liked you and you liked him too, you always got along well and always helped each other.
“Lawrence has a family, and he's traveling with them. Amanda is not available, you stay with Hoffman, the end.”
He closed the subject there and you huffed in frustration, the hours there with the detective would be terrible.
.........
It was almost dusk, John had gone home to rest in his room while you had stayed to wait for Hoffman, sleep had consumed you and you soon dozed off on the table, only to be woken up by a loud knock on the table that almost made you have a heart attack.
“Finally! I thought that besides being stupid you were also deaf.”
You rubbed your eyes and looked up to see the devil, aka Mark, staring at you.
“Fuck you.”
“You can curse me later, cutie. We have a lot of work to do.”
He went to the other table where there was the trap that you needed to assemble but there was something wrong with the pieces, since every time you tried to fit it to your body it simply came apart and you had to do it all over again.
"Do it"
He handed the materials into your hand, but you didn't take them.
“How am i going to fix it if i don't know where im going wrong damn? i've tried several times.”
Mark took a deep breath and placed the tools on the table again, carefully picking up the trap.
“Don't be a stupid girl, just open your fucking arms.”
You ignored his rude manner and looked at him suspiciously, opening your arms, then you felt the trap being placed around your waist and your neck.
“Hey hey, what are you doing?”
You despaired for a few seconds thinking he was going to fix it and use it on you.
“I'm not going to kill you with that ugly thing you did. I need a model to be able to see the error. Unfortunately, i only have you.”
You ignored the offense and stayed quiet, he bent down a little in front of you and looked at the pieces, you held your breath when he looked at the part of your neck and ran his hand over it. You could swear he squeezed your neck on purpose.
"Thats it."
He spoke and took one of the tools, where he placed it near his neck and fixed the error that was in the support of the equipment. After that he released the trap again and removed it from his body, placing it on the table. You felt your neck tingle.
Mark ran his long fingers along your neck, where the metal had left a mark due to his grip, you tried to control your breathing when you realized how close your two faces were to each other. You looked at him again.
“Don’t look at me like that…”
"Like what?"
You tried to hide the sexual tension, turning your head, only to feel his hand pulling your face back to look at him, at his blue eyes.
“I know you don’t really hate me, do you think i don’t see you staring at me every day?”
“I stare at you and imagine myself killing you in various traps.”
You tried to finish the subject there and he laughed sarcastically.
“Oh sure. Do you know what i imagine when i look at you, Y/n?”
He got close to her ear and whispered:
“I imagine myself every day fucking that tight pussy of yours right on this table and you screaming my name.”
You closed your legs on impulse as soon as you heard that, only to see a smile appear on his face, he grabbed your hair from behind, giving a light tug making you let out a moan.
“Why don’t you make it a reality then, detective?”
"I will”
You felt his tongue invade your mouth with precision while his arms pinned you against the table, Mark held your waist and placed you sitting on the table, where this time he attacked your neck leaving some marks, your hand pulled his tie. Hoffman took off your blouse, squeezing your breasts and then removed your underwear, he took off his blazer and threw it in a random corner of the room and pushed you against the table, opening your legs, you shivered when you felt his fingers pass through your intimacy.
“You don’t know how many times i've thought of you in this position just for me.”
He squatted in front of you and removed your panties, leaving you completely exposed to him, before you could say anything you felt his tongue invading your pussy making you scream in surprise, his tongue worked so well inside you that made you roll your eyes with so much pleasure, Hoffman stuck two fingers inside you and started moving them while sucking your clit, you pulled his hair, you felt your stomach tighten.
“H-Hoffman, I...”
“No.”
He realized you were going to cum and pulled away, making you moan in frustration, he grabbed your neck and unzipped his pants, exposing his member, which made your eyes widen a little due to its large size, Mark positioned his member at your entrance and forced himself into you, the tip hitting your cervix, which made you squirm at the new sensation.
He placed both hands on your hips and began thrusting hard into you. Completely invading you with each blow. You grabbed his arms and moaned loudly. Hoffman pulled your hair and squeezed your neck, starting to choke you as the loud sound of your bodies crashing into each other filled the empty room. Your face started to turn red due to lack of air and he seemed to enjoy it.
“You look so perfect when im choking you, you fucking little slut!”
He said irritably and began to move even harder and released your neck, making you gasp for air quickly, Hoffman squeezed your waist tightly, which would probably leave marks later, the two of you moaned loudly and together. His fingers began to make quick movements on your clit, making you almost cry with pleasure.
“Be a good girl and cum for me while you scream my name, hm?”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, fuck, Mark!!”
"Good girl!”
You screamed, cumming and feeling your legs weaken and shake, Mark grunted and soon you felt him coming apart inside you, you breathed for a few seconds before he came out inside you, watching the semen drip from your pussy, he licked his lips. Mark took you off the table and helped you get dressed again.
“It won’t change how much i hate you.”
You said and he laughed.
“Please remember to say this when i fuck you again .”
He gave two little slaps in your face and put his blazer back on.
“I'll give you a ride. Hurry up. Cmon"
You put on your boots and picked up your bag, walking alongside him, even though your legs still felt sticky to each other. God, what have you done?
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bananadramaaa · 16 days
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Idk if you’ve got any ideas or backstory for Alastor’s sisters, but I love the designs for them and have kind of taken some ideas about them and ran with it, mostly about the eldest, Adeline, though:
• Adelice was definitely a protector of the whole bunch. Alastor helped protect the younger sisters and worried a lot about his older sister, but Adelice would make a target out of herself to make sure the younger kids faced as little of their father’s bad days as possible.
• Leonore and Bertilda (the younger two) still experience a lot of the family drama, but it’s a little less than what their older siblings do since they try to keep them out of the fire, so while the older two seem to mature way too quickly, the younger two stay kids for a bit longer. This, however does piss off their father, who takes every moment to ridicule them on their inability to act like their older siblings when their older siblings aren’t able to keep them out of the fire.
• Adelice also gives off Tiana from Princess and the Frog vibes. She’s got a Dream and she’s gonna work hard every day to make it happen.
• Alastor Worries™️ and thinks she’s pushing herself too much, taking on the brunt of their father’s anger, taking on so many jobs, and trying to get as much of an education as she can for as cheap as she can get it. So he becomes her Distraction, constantly dragging her off to parties and out drinking and listening to music. Anything to get her to chill tf out.
• He’s also a hypocrite though, considering he takes on a ton of “side jobs” by the time he’s 15 before he starts working in radio to try to help out their maman. He somehow manages to get all the fun jobs though. She’s out here working in restaurants and factories and he’s playing piano at the speakeasy and working at a nearby gator farm during the summers. And even the jobs that shouldn’t be fun, he manages to turn into a blast, like apprenticing at the butchers or working the graveyard shift at the cemetery. He thinks he’s so damn funny, while his bosses low-key wanna strangle him. This somehow makes him more likable as a radio host.
• Eventually, Adelice manages to find herself a nice, rich, Creole man who she and Alastor run through the wringer trying to test just how wholesome of a man he is before she’ll accept his hand in marriage. This man is confused, but he is dead set on winning her heart. He offers her the money to achieve her dream, he offers her the happy and stress-free life that New Orleans won’t afford her, he offers a life where she’s free and not trapped by anybody, himself included, and most importantly, he offers to take her whole family away from their father and the impoverished life that keeps them with him.
• Their maman can’t fathom a life without her husband, but she can see why they’d want to leave.
• Alastor doesn’t want to lose his sisters, but he knows someone has to watch out for their maman and he’s far to attached to New Orleans to leave it now.
• Before all his sisters leave, Adelice jokingly says she’s gonna name a son after him and he politely declines the offer.
• They move to Alabama or something and he never sees them again, but Adelice has a bunch of happy children that she loves who know all about him :)
• Bertilda also gets married, but Bertilda and her husband find themselves unable to have kids so they adopt a cute little red-headed girl and her green-eyed little brother.
• Leonore dates a lot of people before she finds the perfect gal for her and they move in together as “friends.” Their maman was a bit progressive in some ways and taught them not to judge, where most others would do when Adelice and Bertilda don’t make a big deal out of it when they find out about it.
• All three of them keep an eye on the news regarding New Orleans and whatever can be said about their famous radio host brother from far away.
• The only times the lot of them return to New Orleans is when they hear about Alastor’s death and their maman’s death.
I've talked briefly about them in this ask :3 And I really enjoyed reading your version of their story. It seems more wholesome compared to what I have in mind for them (like Adelice definitely won in this one) XD
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aqtsusa1 · 2 years
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i-cant-sing · 2 years
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Just thinking about a deadly disease spreading throughout the RE8 village and reader being one of the unfortunate to get infected. Its a supert painful disease that kills you very slowly. Chances of survival are next to none.
Poor reader is just having the worst time of have her life because this disease is eating her from inside out but she doesn't even have the time to rest or process it because she's still on her mission to find Rose.
Her only comfort is Handsome, the zombie cyborg growing more distressed by the hour. Your skin is turning pale, you're losing weight faster than you're consuming calories, you're feverish, breaths are shallow and you can't even seem to hold your own weight, having to lean on Handsome for support, all while chanting "Rose. Rose. Need to find her."
Eventually though, you pass out in his arms.
Handsome doesn't know what to do other than provide you some very basic care, but it worries him when you don't wake up. So, he caries you towards Heisenberg's factory, where Heisenberg is having yet another argument with Lady Dimitrescu. But they drop it the moment their eyes land on you.
Soon, word spreads to the other Lords as well that you're sick and they're all gathered together to find a cure for you because no way are they gonna let you die.
But it's agonising to watch you suffer through it. You're feverish, in extreme pain, in and out of consciousness and yet you're still incoherently mumbling your sister's name.
As more time passes, your symptoms worsen. The disease feels like its eating up your organs from inside, your head feels like someone is hammering nails in it, and your bones feel like someone is snapping them very slowly.
You may have a high pain tolerance but now, you wanted to much rather die than spend another second through this curse.
So you begged them. You begged them to kill you.
"Pleass- please, just do it. I don't care- I don't care how, but please do it!"
Alcina tried to soothe you. "Sweetie, no. It's gonna be okay! We're finding you the medicine. You're gonna be all good in no time!" She smiled, wiping the sweat off your forehead with her handkerchief, but you knew the truth.
"Y-you're lying- you're lying. You don't have the cure- don't have any medicine for me-" You started coughing, blood staining the rag you'd hacked up into. "I'm gonna die anyways. Why make me suffer through it?"
Moreau shook his head. "No, no! We are working on the cure!"
You chuckled dryly, wincing as your throat hurt. "Yeah? I bet you're gonna propose she turns me into a vampire."
Alcina peeked from under her hat. You shook your head. "Dont bother. If I became one, dad would never accept me."
Silence fell over the room at the mention of Ethan. It was no surprise that they all loathed him, maybe even more now than before.
Heisenberg left the room, his hands shaking in rage. He didn't want you to become a vampire, he didn't. But if that was the only way to save you, he'd do it.
Yet all you could think about was Ethan, the man who abandoned his one daughter in favour for another. He bets Ethan isn't even worried in the slightest about you right now, or trying to track you down.
Donna is going through all of her father's books to find anything useful in it for you, while Angie is crying with the Dimitrescu sisters.
Moreau is testing medicines upon medicines upon other infected people from the village, sighing as he crosses off the drugs as more people die.
Alcina and Heisenberg are both extremely frustrated because of your wish to die. How can they kill you when they've never even imagined of hurting a hair on your head?
You're still a child for fucks sake! You're too young to die, too young to even think about contemplating death.
And it broke their heart to hear you beg for them to do it.
"Handsome?" You called out to the man standing silently in the corner. His drill whirled in response. "Can you do it?"
He walked closer to you, wanting to know what you're asking.
"Can you kill me?" He didn't reply. "I know you can hear me, Handsome. Please, just- you know what? Give me the gun. I'll- I'll do it myself. Yeah, I'll do it-" you cut yourself with another coughing fit and he rushed to give you sine water.
Handsome didn't sleep a wink that night. How could he, when all he could think about was you waking up and picking up a revolver to off yourself. He couldn't trust you to not hurt yourself, not anymore.
After a few more agonising nights, your health started to return, and a week later, you were normal again, and soon you were back on the road to find Rose again with Handsome.
However, you also had many others following you around in the shadows. It was the Lords, because they couldn't bare to be at rest now (or ever again) after all they had seen you go through.
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Oof imagine how Chris and Leon would react to a sick reader. Like I can see their anxiety going through the roof, Chris is coaxing you to drink the warm soup and drink your medicine while Leon is threatening one doctor after another to find a cure.
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thezombieprostitute · 1 month
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Hummingbird - Epilogue
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Summary: You didn't want to break into someone's party but you were desperate to see the art at the gallery before it was gone. You're so busy trying to make sure no one sees you that you miss the ever present gaze of Steve Rogers who is wondering why you crashed his party.
Word Count: ~1k
A/N: This takes place after Sparks Fly & Changing Minds. Reader is AFAB. No physical descriptors used.
Warnings: Implied violence, Pregnancy and related topics. Please let me know if I missed any.
Part 8
Series Masterlist
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“It really feels like we’ve invited a lot more fights to our doorstep,” Sam sighs. “Between our people messing with Clark Kent and helping a witness against Wilford & Gilliam, then hiring said witness, we haven’t done ourselves any favors.”
“There aren’t any direct ties to us,” Steve retorts. 
“None that would hold up in court,” Bucky offers. “But people know.”
“Our Garbage Men have kinda gotten out of hand,” Sam huffs. “They’re supposed to clean up messes, not make them.”
“I don’t know about that,” Steve objects. “They’ve been doing what they need to. Well, maybe Nick. I’ll give you that he screwed up a few things. But even then, he’s done the impossible and made a dent in the Man of Steel. A dent we can take advantage of.”
“I’ve already got Union Reps and supporters at work at his factories,” Bucky nods. 
Sam adds, “I’ve also got some reporters on tap, eager to add to the case against Kent, should any hint of union busting come up.”
“Wilford & Gilliam were already at odds with us,” Steve comments. “But they’re clearly on the way out. We just need to be extra careful until they finally topple.”
“Franco the Elder needs to be stopped,” Sam curses. “He’s been on a rampage and the other families are looking to us to deal with him since one of ours set him off.”
“Can we get Nat to take him out,” Steve ponders.
“I’ve already got G on the scent,” Bucky assures. “He’s a lot more affordable and he’s associated with us. Shows the other families we’re working on it.”
“We should probably also prepare for a power vacuum once they finally fall,” Sam adds. 
“The Garbage Men are keeping tabs,” Steve assures. “All ripple effects are being tracked to the best of their ability.” The other men nod in acceptance. “In lighter news, I’ve got promises of support from the Odinson, Wayne and Spector families. Apparently our handling of Lloyd and Rumlow reaffirmed their trust in our abilities.”
Sam snorts, “not surprised Wayne supports us. He and Kent have been frenemies for quite some time. But Spector?”
Bucky interjects, “him and Wilson might be crazy but you can trust them to keep their word. If Spector says they support us, we don’t have to worry about them. If we accidentally piss them off, they’ll warn us before attacking.”
An alarm on Steve’s phone interrupts the meeting. Steve turns it off and stands up, “are we good for today? Anything else pressing?”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Sam assures, Bucky nodding in support. “You go take care of your lady.”
“Wishing you both the best at the appointment,” Bucky agrees.
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You try to keep from wringing your hands but you’re all nerves. You were more than eager to start your family with Steve but encouraged him to hold off until after the wedding and after you were both screened for potential genetic disorders. He had the money to cover the costs and you didn’t want to go into this blindly. Something he appreciated and respected.
Thankfully the testing hadn’t been too invasive. Now you just had to wait and you were doing your best to not be a nervous wreck. Unfortunately your best wasn’t great. You kept checking your phone, making sure you hadn’t missed any phone calls or messages. You tried to put your nervous energy to work but that only led to you cooking up a storm in the kitchen, making more meals than you and Steve could eat in a week.
When he walks into the kitchen and sees the chaos, Steve knows he has to do something. He walks up to you, his voice soothing as he calls your name. You’re scrubbing dishes but stop when he places his hand on the back of your neck. 
“Sweetheart,” he intones, “you need to calm down.”
“I’m trying.”
“We’ll be sending people home with food for the next few days to keep it from going bad.”
“I know, I know. I just—”
You’re cut off as he pulls you in for a hug. He knows you feel safest with his arms wrapped around you and you find yourself breathing a little easier. 
“I just want to make sure any kids we have get the best chances.”
“I know, Hummingbird,” Steve hums. “And I love that you’re already considering having more than one.”
You chuckle, “well I can count on you to be supportive and caring the whole pregnancy and while the kid is growing up so. I don’t know, that just makes it easier to contemplate having a couple of kids instead of just one.” 
Before Steve can comment your phone rings and you escape his arms to answer it. The doctor’s words are clear, though your brain has a little trouble processing them. You thank the doctor and hang up the phone. Steve looks at you expectantly.
“We’re in the clear,” you smile as you hug him hard enough he almost loses his balance. “Looks like we’ll be starting up a new adventure together.”
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You’re finally back at your apartment, done with work for the day, and you’re still in daze after the phone call from the doctor. Everything feels surreal, like you're moving through thick fog, as you unlock the door. The unreal feeling isn’t helped by seeing your man on one knee in the living room, holding a ring box. 
You freeze at the sight and his cheeks turn a little pink, “I know it’s kinda soon but I also know you’re the one. If you’ll have me.” He looks back at you with those puppy dog eyes you can never say no to.
All you can say is, “I’m pregnant.”
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Part 8
Series Masterlist
Tags:
@alicedopey; @aryhyuuga; @cynic-spirit; @icefrozendeadlyqueen @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory; @ktficworld; @leryg0; @rayofdawnworld; @rebekahdawkins; @texmexdarling
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driftsart · 4 months
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craving info about you AU's robo-ladies 👁️👁️
Sure ;D ⬇️
One of the main characters in my au, Hot Rod!
She's one of the younger autobots, and one of the only ones that isn't afraid to stand up to Sentinel. When she was "born," she was assigned to Ultra Magnus, taking care of her was supposed to help him have patience and calm the terrible temper he had. She's currently learning how to steer The Ark (and she's not doing so well), as well as having to deal with Sentinel wanting her to be Prime (so that he can keep her under his control). She's curious, and may be the key to stopping the war... Who knows... :)
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Next one is Elita-One!
Elita-One, as awesome as she is, she can be the most annoying autobot out there. Depends who you ask. She's a skilled fighter and loyal to the autobot cause, she's saved Optimus in battle countless times, but she's always had an obsession with Optimus, even back when Optimus was still called Orion Pax.
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Next up (and one of my favorite), Megaempress!
She's actually Megatron's sister! She and Megatron were created at slightly different times yet they're related! She had a way better life than him though (Her parental figure was Termagax btw), and she never met him until she headed to Earth for a "pit stop" to refill her ship with a supply of energon and other things and stumbled across The Nemesis. She's way more outgoing and energetic than Megatron, and she's tough but friendly. She's leader of a small group of bots who left Cybertron during the war, her second in command being Slipstream!
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Next one is Slipstream! (Not official design, I'm changing it up a bit)
Slipstream is actually Starscream's sister! Born at different times though just like Megaempress. She's second in command to Megaenmpress and she's a tough cookie. She and Windblade had some past together but she's moved on. She may be small but she can put up a fight!
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Next up is Arachnid! (I made this design a long time ago, I may tweak it around a bit)
(I may combine arachnid and arachnia into one), she's a decepticon since she had no choice but to follow them when she was rescued. She was actually a scientist, but not a good one. She experimented on other cybertronians, to see how future generations could be upgraded. One of her subjects was Blitzwing, where she was trying to upgrade the t-cogs and other parts needed for a transformation so that Cybertronians could change into more than one thing. Blitzwing was her first test for this, and it didn't end so well, he couldn't control the transformations and he was just suffering in general. But after a few more tests on other cybertronians, she was successful. Now most of the young bots can transform into more than one thing because of her.
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Next up is Arcee!
A smart bot, she was destined to do great things before the war, but she followed her "heart" instead. She and Skywarp were together for a while and she was happy, but their first official date, was also the day she could've been been accepted into the academy of her dreams. She loved Skywarp so much that she let go of her dream for him, but he never showed up. After that night, she promised that she would never love anyone again.
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Next up is Thrust!
Underestimated by her brothers, Ramjet and Dirge, she was abandoned inside an abandoned factory when she was just created. Luckily, Shockwave found her in time before the whole building burned down. She always works her hardest to prove to her brothers that she's just as strong as them.
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Next up is Smokescreen!
She's a smart bot! She's one of Hot Rod's closest friends and very close to Optimus. Optimus wanted to give the matrix to her after him, but the matrix didn't choose her, it chose Hot Rod instead. (She goes by any pronouns technically)
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Next up is Termagax! (I made this design a while ago, I may change it up a bit)
She was Megaempress's mentor and mother figure!
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There's some more, like Cyrak, Windblade, Red Alert, Flamewar, Chromia, Shadow striker, Miko, Nova Storm, Nacelle, etc.
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thebluestbluewords · 4 months
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and soon it’ll be spring
testing out some character voices. Set in a vague future timeline, fandom-typical discussions of child abuse.
+
Carlos hasn't seen his mother in years. Hasn't spoken to her since he left the isle. There's phones, and computers, and mail service to the isle, and sometimes the reception even works now, but he hasn't reached out. 
Evie sends letters to her mother sometimes. She addresses them to her old castle, encloses herbs and chocolate and eyeshadow. She doesn't read the responses that come back, but her mother sends them anyway, and Evie keeps sending her packages even though she can't bear to see whatever her mother has to say back to her. 
Carlos can't even do that. 
He's a bad son, probably. An ungrateful brat. Useless. Worthless. His mother could have drowned him as a baby, killed him like an unwanted puppy, and they'd all have been better off without the bother. He's been a bad son since he was born. Weak. A vulnerability. 
He breathes, keeps his voice steady. "Yup. That." 
Diego moves in a flurry of violent motion. He's facing away, towards the river, but Carlos still has to suppress the urge to flinch. Diego wears heavy boots, steel-toes even though he's never been in a real factory in his life, and every Isle kid's seen the damage they can do. 
The rock he kicked goes flying into the river. 
"Fuck." his cousin snaps. "Fuck! I remember that." 
Carlos can't laugh, but there's a sort of bubbling fear that's catching in his throat, and he can let some of it out. "Hah. Yeah. Um, I sort of — I cried a lot, that summer? It was hot and awful and you wouldn't come by the house, and I wasn't allowed to be at yours, so we started looking for a better hideout that year. D'you remember when Ivy found that place by the forest—" 
"—the one with the metal roof, where we got trapped by Kaa and you rigged a crossbow out of guitar strings." Diego finishes. "Fuck. I knew we found a new hideout that year, but I thought it was 'cause we got those drums for Sierra and couldn't keep them quiet down in the warehouse." 
Carlos shrugs. He's always been the little one, the tag-along. Diego's gang didn't tell him anything when he was a kid, and they still don't really talk. He's magicam friends with Sierra and Ivy, but Mia won't even accept his follow request. They didn't want him then, they don't want him now, and it's not even really a sore point anymore. He's got his own pack. No teenagers really want a little kid hanging around them, especially a kid who's already showing that he's a weak point.  "Might'a been. I dunno." 
"Nah, it was 'cause dad didn't want you hanging around the house anymore," Diego says firmly, shaking his head. "We found a new place so you'd have somewhere to go'n hide when your mom went ballistic. You were tiny, y'know."
It's sort of a logical leap, but sort of not.
 "I'm still short." Carlos points out. "You don't feel compelled to protect me now, right?" 
"Hah. Hah. Very funny, nerd." 
"I'm just saying—”He ducks the hand that shoots out to scrub his hair into a rat's nest. Score one for Isle kid instincts. "I'm say-ing," Carlos continues, undeterred. "That you didn't have to protect me back then. I could've taken care of myself." 
"You were a kid." 
"And you were what, twelve? Thirteen?" 
"Older," Diego says firmly. He's still looking out towards the water. "Old enough to protect my baby cousin." 
"Mom didn't kill me. I'm still here." 
Diego's arms are smooth and unmarked by the round cigarette burns that cover Carlos's arms, hands, chest, belly. Anywhere he was soft, she liked to burn. 
"She could've," Diego rasps out. "She almost did. I wasn't big enough to stop her."
"The spell—”
"FUCK THE SPELL." he shouts. Too loud. People are looking at them. People in Auradon love to stare and judge VKs, even when they're dressed just like anyone else in the city, but shouting was a reason to stare even back home. 
Diego notices, and drops his arms down, swinging the cup in his hand back and forth like a melting pendulum of coffee and sugar.  "Fuck it," he repeats, quieter. "If Auradon wanted us alive so bad, they should've put in the work themselves instead of relying on the barrier to keep bouncing us back." 
Carlos lifts one shoulder in agreement. He's pretty sure that the spell does a lot more than just keep them in their bodies, what with the healing factor and the way it won't kick you back in unless you've got a body to go back to, but it's a solid enough argument if you don't go into specifics. Claudine and the religious types at Dragon Hall had a whole rant on tap about how the barrier was being used to bounce their souls out of their path to heaven, so that they'd rejoin their bodies again and keep them alive even longer, but thinking about the concept of souls makes Carlos feel an emotion that Mal calls "stabbing" and Jay calls "a working bullshit sensor." Evie calls it "a rational emotional response to religious guilt-tripping bullshit", which sounds better than stabbing, but like, the point still stands that souls aren't real and listening to Claudine's lecture about them makes Carlos feel mostly doubtful, and also sort of like he's a shitty person. Which is probably the point of religion.
"S'not really bouncing," he says quietly, keeping his voice low and face turned down. People stare less if they're not obviously talking to each other, because Auradon has different standards for communication and watching VKs shout-talk directly at each other makes people stare. "It's not like we ever really die."
Diego levels a flat look at him. 
"Okay, yeah, they should've put more work into keeping us alive," Carlos agrees, because it's true. Auradon locked them up and threw away the key, and didn't even bother to check on their island of villains once they'd settled down from the initial bloodshed and power scrambles. "But the scientific basis for being bounced back into our bodies by the spell just isn't there. If they're using the barrier to trap our souls or whatever in an impenetrable bubble, then how're new souls getting in for the kids born on the Isle? If it's a true closed system it doesn't make sense. And I know--" He sucks in a breath before Diego can get a word in edgewise, because he knows. The souls aren't the point. The magic isn't even the point. "It doesn't matter how they're keeping us there so long as there's still kids starving and being killed on that rock. I know. But I can't push the wheels of government any faster, because I'm not the fucking king, or a representative, or anything. I'm a testimony at best,and it's not like being born on the Isle gives me the power to do anything about it."
Diego snorts. "Wow, you can't fix twenty years of systematic disenfranchisement on your own? Call the presses, my genius cousin can't fix something in five years that took twenty to break in the first place." 
The guilt that lives in the place where other people keep their feelings swirls up in Carlos's chest again. "I could've tried." 
"In between what, surviving high school? Petitioning the king to listen to us? 'Cause it seems like we're a lot further than we'd've been without your crew's work." 
"I built a machine to break the barrier," Carlos tells the river. "Back home. Before we left. It nearly worked." 
Diego kicks another rock into the river. "I know." 
Carlos feels his heart stutter-stop. "You—what?" 
"I know," Diego repeats. "You built shit all the time. You'd talk about it in your sleep. I stopped by that treehouse of yours one time, and you had the whole thing torn apart. You were talking to your crew about it. I listened for a while."
"When?"
The cold bottom of his cousin's coffee cup bonks into Carlos's skull. "Before you left, genius. I dunno. You didn't have it working yet."
"I thought I was being sneaky about that."
"You were. I'm just sneakier. If you'd been reverse engineering the whole barrier, you'd've built it better right?" 
"I would've given us the dignity of dying, if that's what you're asking." 
"Yeah." Diego says quietly, and then. "Fuck. That's morbid." 
Carlos shrugs. Maybe thinking about better ways to die makes them morbid, but it's still comforting to think that if he'd been the one to engineer their prison, that he'd've been able to give them the mercy of actually dying. "We're villains. It's our speciality. We're supposed to be all about death, and murder, and stuff." 
Diego laughs. They laugh the same way, the two of them. More of a bark than a real laugh. There's probably some irony there, if they wanted to go digging for it. "Didn't you hear, little cousin? We're supposed to be good now. No more murder. We're reformed villains, no more claws and fangs." 
They're reformed, but Diego still calls at 3am sometimes, just to make sure that he's still breathing. 
"Damn, guess I'll have to return the axe I bought," Carlos drawls, hefting his cup up like it's a weapon. "And the rat poison, and the chains for the dungeon..." 
"Kinky." 
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