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maddiwrites · 3 years

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The Hybrid (I)

Pairing: JJ x Reader

Summary: The Pogues rekindle their friendship with their old childhood best friend and JJ’s first crush, Y/N. Old feelings resurface for JJ and Y/N, possibly leading to a summer neither one of them could ever forget. Due to past trauma, Y/N is reluctant to let anyone into her heart, but JJ never backs down from a challenge, even if he knows it will come back to haunt him in the end.

Note: Thank you for being patient with me as I slowly write this series. I had this idea a long time ago and I’m not finding motivation to write it but the inspiration comes and go. I smile with every comment that is left on my fics and I’m so grateful for this community. Thank you for letting me pursue my creative writing without judgement. Love you guys! (Also, yes. If you didn’t see my last note, I based YN’s family off of the Gilmore Girls characters. That’s who I picture as them.)

Word Count: 8k

Masterlist Prologue

You wake up to someone falling on your bed next to you with a dramatic sigh. Knowing exactly who it is, you choose to ignore her and try getting back to the dreamless sleep you were peacefully having before you woke up.

That is, until she sighs again.

You flip onto your back and stare up at your ceiling fan that’s quickly spinning above you. “What, Rory?”

“How did it go with Andre and that boy?”

You look at her with one brow raised. “You woke me up to hear about Andre’s love life? That hardly sounds like you. You don’t care about high school drama or hookups.”

“You’re right,” Rory says. “But I thought I would ease you into what I actually need to tell you.”

You turn on right side and look at your sister confused. “What?”

She sighs. “The cafe’s basement flooded last night. Mom needs us there to help her clean up and take inventory on what’s salvageable.”

You turn back on you backside and close your eyes, exhaling a deep sigh. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Unfortunately not,” Rory says and pats you twice on your covered thigh as she sits up. “Come on. I made you pre-cafe coffee. It’s sitting in the kitchen.”

You throw your sheets off of you and trudge to the bathroom to brush your teeth and clean your face. It’s about 8 a.m. At least you were able to get about six hours of sleep.

Last night, it was hard to let your brain rest to fall asleep. You kept tossing and turning, thinking about the blonde Pogue who walked you home. You missed how easy it was to talk to someone who you felt truly knew you. Your banter rolled off your tongue easily and you never had to worry about offending him because you knew him like the back of your hand. You knew what he could take and what he couldn't.

Talking to him brought back childhood memories you had hidden deep in your mind. How JJ would constantly poke you until you ripped into a smile on days that were grey. How you used to steal John B’s bandanas until he was chasing you around his house to get them back. How you would draw a mustache and a unibrow on Pope’s face when he fell asleep by the water.

Those days felt like they were decades ago. So far away, you didn’t know if you’d be able to reach for them again. If it was even possible to get back.

You thought about texting him. Thanks for walking me back. We should all get together soon! You had written out. But then you deleted the whole message, telling yourself it was because you didn’t know if he even had the same number. But deep down, you were just afraid of the rejection.

Its been about three years since the four of you had been together in one place. You don’t know what they’ve been through or if they’ve changed. They for sure as hell don’t know what you’ve been through. You don’t know if they're dynamic has changed. Clearly you and JJ can still joke with each other but what about John B and Pope? You heard about John B’s father disappearing at sea, most people believing he’s dead, but John B holding onto hope that’s he’s alive. You always thought about calling him to reach out and offer your condolences. But for the same reason you didn’t text JJ, you never called. It didn’t feel like your place. They had Kie for that now. A little part of you felt jealous of her, like she had replaced you and any memory of you. She seemed nice, but she wasn’t you.

“Ready?” Rory pops her head in to your room as you slip on a cropped plain white zip up jacket over your cropped black tank.

“As I’ll ever be,” You say and snag the car keys out of her hands. “Don’t even think about it. I’m driving.”

Rory rolls her eyes. “I want to get there safely.”

“And I want to get there quickly.”

“Fine. But we’re taking my car. It actually has doors.”

For your sixteenth birthday, your grandparents gifted both you and Rory your own individual cars and even let you pick them out. Rory chose a black 2020 Honda Civic for it’s safety features and reputation for longevity as if she was planning on handing it down to her future kids. And you picked out a white 2020 Jeep Wrangler with a hard top that pops off along with the doors for a very open and thrilling ride. Everyone but you called it a death trap, but you found it to be the perfect summer car.

You park Rory’s boring Honda Civic in the back of the cafe in a lot used specifically for employees. The cafe is already booming with teens and families, waiting for their morning coffees and fresh pastries. Kids your age are running around behind the counter with sweat dripping down their brow bone to get everyone’s orders out in a timely manner.

In the back of the store, your mom walks up the steps from the basement with two large trash bags and immediately notices the two of you. “Oh good. You’re here. Rory, help the girls behind the counter. The dishwasher’s broken and poor Hailey is hand washing everything. Y/N, come with me downstairs.”

“Why does Rory get the fun job?” You grumble and follow your mom back downstairs after she tosses the two trash bags.

“Because she’s actually nice to the customers.”

“Treat others how you would like to be treated. Isn’t that what everyone always says?” You smirk. You never agreed with the phrase ‘the customer is always right.’ It’s complete bullshit and being the employee shouldn’t mean letting yourself getting verbally abused by a ‘Karen’ on the other side of the counter.

The basement is used for the cafe’s storage, lined with wooden shelves Steve put together that hold to go cups, back up espresso machines, boxes of coffee and food and ingredients, etc. Now all the boxes are dark and sopping, creating puddles on the concrete floor.

“Oh my god. Mom. How did this happen?”

“Jenky water pipe busted in the middle of the night,” Steve walks down the stairs and passes your mom a knowing look. It didn’t surprise you that he was here. He’s the jack of all trades. Owns his own automotive shop, builds a lot of his own furniture, actually cooks a decent meal, and has the same outlook on customer service as you do. He was probably your mom’s first call. “Talked to the plumber. They can’t get here until at least noon.”

“Noon? We’ll be underwater by noon. I might as well turn all my employees into a swim team,” Your mom says.

Steve shakes his head. “I was able to hold the leak until he gets here. You should be fine.”

Steve was the first person that actually helped your mother out when's she moved to the Cut. Six months pregnant, she pushed her car into his automotive shop after it broke down on the side of the road. Their banter was similar to the one you and JJ have. He helped save your mom money by building yours and Rory’s cribs, changing table, and dressers. And ever since, the two of them had been connected by the hip, although they both refuse to admit it. You think the pair are just trying to deny the love they clearly share for each other. And you think the main reason for that is because of the incident four years ago with your mom’s ex boyfriend. No thanks to you.

“Look at you constantly building your resume,” You smirk at him.

Steve scoffs. “It’s more than what you’re doing.”

You roll your eyes. Steve is the closest thing you have to a father. He practically helped raise you with your mom. He’s the one you turn to whenever a fight with your mom goes too far, which isn't too often but it happens. He usually lets you stay at his house for the night to let you cool off. But he’ll never sugar coat his advice when it comes time for him to give it. Even if you don’t ask for it. He knows growing up with Rory has been challenging. She was clearly your mom’s favorite, or at least that’s what you thought. She has a 4.0 GPA with a realistic dream to get into Brown University and study journalism. She played by every rule, never got into trouble, and spent most of her free nights getting ahead of her school work or staying late at the cafe with an open book from the library across the street. She was an absolute angel to everyone else, making you look like her evil twin.

You glare at him before turning to your mom with crossed arms. “What do you want me to do, Mom?”

“Actually honey. Can you go to Heywards and grab more coffee filters and napkins. The water soaked right through the plastic wrapping on our last box.”

You nod, leaving your mom and Steve to clean up the basement themselves. Before heading out, you sneak behind the counter and make yourself a quick coffee to go.

“Where you going?” Rory asks as she reaches behind you to grab a banana for her customer at the register.

“Heywards to grab a couple things for Mom.”

“Oh. Make sure to grab toilet paper while you’re out. I think we’re almost out of it.”

“Got it.”

Heywards is only a short drive from your mom’s cafe. It’s the closest convenient store that isn’t crazy pricey. It’s where your mom gets all her supplies whenever she runs out of things before shipment gets there.

You use to always come here when you were younger with the boys, each of you, even Pope, stealing a small bag of chips or a candy bar here and there. Little did any of you know, Mr. Heyward caught your thieving hands every time but never said anything.

The bell above the door chimes when you walk into the store. You know this place as well as you know the cafe, finding the toilet paper and coffee filter immediately.

When Mr. Heyward looks up from the counter, his smile grows. He can pick you out of a crowd anywhere, but he hasn’t seen you in a long time. Last time he saw you, you had braces and overgrown bushy brows. Now you had bushed hair and shaved legs.

“Hi. Mr. Heyward,” You grin shyly at him. You don’t know how he’s going to react to see you, unsure of what Pope might have told him about you.

“Little Miss Y/L/N? Is that you?” Heyward smiles widely, pulling your own lips into a wider smile. “I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy with school and my mom’s cafe...” Both of those things were a lie. You just avoid the Cut to avoid the Pogues.

“How’s the fam?”

“They’re good,” You say as Heyward hands you your bags. “Mom says hello by the way. I’m actually taking these to her store now.”

“Well, don’t be a stranger. We miss your smiling face around her. Anette, too.” Heyward says, mentioning his wife.

“Tell her I said hi.”

“Of course, darling.”

Heyward and Anette always had a special place in their heart for you and Rory. They’re not one for gossip, but they knew a little bit about what your mom’s been through and have heard plenty of stories about your grandparents. They always thought, despite your mom’s background, that you and your sister were raised impressively. Anette always hoped that one day Pope and Rory would get together. Everyone always wanted their child to be with Rory.

As your about to leave the store, the bell chimes again with another customer. Only it’s not another customer. It’s Pope and John B. They don’t see you at first, and you wonder if maybe you can sneak out without them seeing you. But something about that felt wrong. Especially because Heyward would more than likely mention to them that you were here.

Pope sees you first and stops in his tracks. “Y/N?”

“Hey, guys. Long time no see,” You smile at both of them. You bite down on your lip awkwardly when you meet John B’s stare. You don’t know if you should mention anything about his dad’s disappearance. But what would you say? Sorry? What good would that do?

“How’ve you been?” Pope gives you a small side hug, then John B.

You shrug. “You know, living the dream.”

“How’s life as a Hybrid?” John B smirks.

You roll your eyes playfully and groan. “Oh god. Never call me that again.”

You may be considered a Hybrid by everyone else, but you would never put yourself into that category. You grew up a Pogue, the same way everyone else did around you. The only thing tying you to the Kooks are your grandparents.

“Why?” John B smirks. “I wish I was a Hybrid.”

You smirk back. “Maybe you will be one day. I hear you have a Kook of your own for arm candy.”

You saw a faint hint of blush on John B’s cheek at the mention of his girlfriend but you don’t mention it. “Sarah, yeah. She’s not like the other Kooks.”

“I would hope not. Her brother’s a dick.”

“Yeah,” They laugh.

“We miss you, you know.” John B says. Pope looks at you, trying to read your expression. John B’s not wrong. They do all miss you, especially Pope. He felt like you were the only one who really understood him. Of course his other friends are great, but you actually took the time to try and understand his passions. Like forensic science.

“I miss you guys too. It’s been a while.”

“Well, hey. We’re actually all getting together tonight at my place. Nothing big. Just a bonfire and a couple beers. You should stop by,” John B says.

“Yeah,” Pope says, immediately getting hopeful that you’ll show up.

Your smile falters. The invite makes your heart swell and your lungs contract. It’s an invite you’ve been wanting for three years. And now that you have it, you don’t know what to say. It’d be different if it was just the four of you like old times. But now there’s Kie and Sarah and although you have nothing against them, you’re afraid they won’t accept you. The thought of your boys picking them over you terrifies you.

“Okay. Yeah, sure. I’ll try to swing by later.”

Pope smiles wide and looks at his friend to see his reaction. John B grins and nods, almost impressed that you had agreed. But he saw the twitch in your lips when the question was asked.

“Great. I guess we’ll see you later then.”

You nod. “Okay. Bye guys.”

You suck in a deep breath when the fresh air outside of Heyward’s store brushes over you. Your heart thumps wildly with both excitement and nerves when you’re finally able to collect your thoughts. You don’t know what you’ll do tonight, but the possibilities can change your entire summer.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You spent the rest of the day mopping up the cafe’s basement and rearranging the shelves. You smelled of sweat and coffee grounds by the time you were done and dreamt of the shower you would be taking when you got home.

Rory drove you home after the two of you closed up the cafe for the day. Neither of you said much. Rory was exhausted from running around behind the counter and you were too busy thinking about whether you’d go back to the place you used to call your second home.

You took a longer shower than usual, still pondering what your night would be like. Your head was telling you to stay home but your heart pulled you in the direction of the Cut. You yearned to hear about what the future held for Pope, and listen to John B retell stories of when you were kids, and be able to stare into JJ’s bright blue eyes without him noticing.

You changed into a pair of jean shorts and a plain red cropped tank. Rory walks into your room as your brushing out your hair and looks at you as if you lost your mind.

“Are you out of your mind? You can’t wear that,” She says.

You brows scrunch together in confusion. “What are you talking about? I wear shit like this all the time.”

“Not to the Country Club, you don’t.” That’s when it hits you. Today’s been so hectic, you forgot what day it was. “It’s Sunday.”

Sunday dinner at the Country Club is now a weekly commitment forced upon you by your grandparents. Each week, your mom, sister, and you are forced to spend one dinner with your grandma and grandpa. This is basically your mom’s payment back for sending you and Rory to Kook Academy. Only they actually pay for the dinner. It’s usually the longest two hours of your entire week. It’s hard to listen to your grandfather rant about Real Estate and your grandma slyly critique your mother in almost every aspect of her life.

“Shit. I completely forgot,” You say.

“Well, you better change. We’re leaving in about five minutes,” Rory says then plucks a gold necklace from your dresser. “Oh and can I wear this tonight?”

You sigh. “Sure.”

You change into a baby blue wrap around dress and pin your wet hair into a half up half down due. It’s gonna have to work for the limited time you have to get ready. After applying a thin layer of makeup to look the least bit presentable, you meet your mom and sister by the front door.

“Finally,” Your mom says when she sees you.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize it was Sunday.”

“It’s okay, honey. I just don’t think I can handle another late remark from Mom today.” She looks you up and down and grins. “You look great.”

Despite the many fiery fights you and your mom can have, she is also your best friend. It’s kind of like a love hate relationship. Steve says it’s because you’re exactly like your mom - almost like a sixteen year old version of her.

You really hope that isn’t true. You’re not ready to have a kid in two years.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Your grandparents are already sitting at a round table in the corner of the country club by the two tall windows that reach up to the ceiling with a view looking out into the golf course. The best seat in the house for the richest a holes on the island.

“Lorelai,” Your grandmother grins, but you can instantly tell it’s sarcastic. “Did you have to walk here?”

You speak up before your mom could. “Sorry Grandma. It’s my fault we’re late.”

Your grandparents are hard on your mom but easier on you and Rory, especially Rory.

“Well, you’re here now,” Your grandpa says. He’s usually the mediator between your mom and grandma. Although he’s usually sucks at it. “Sit. Sit.”

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, JJ shuffles through his many coworkers with his apron in one hand and a piece of fried calamari from Miss Carol’s appetizer in the other.

“JJ -” She scolds and slaps his hand away from going in for a second piece.

“Good evening Miss Carol,” JJ smirks and makes his way to the area between the kitchen and dining room where most of the servers and bust boys hang out. Some of the boys slap him on the back or shove him by the shoulder, chuckling to themselves. “What’s going on boys? Busy crowd?”

“What are you doing here? You never work Sundays,” His friend, Mitch, says.

Luke Maybank was behind on several bills - worse than it’s ever been. They already shut off their electricity and JJ wanted to make sure the water wouldn’t be next.

But JJ shrugs nonchalantly. “Little extra dough can't hurt.”

“Well, you picked a good day,” Raymond walks up to the blonde, rolling his sleeves. “You got Kook Royalty and their Hybrid offsprings in your section.”

“What?” JJ looks through the small square Plexiglas on the swinging door. He knows exactly where to look and immediately sees you sitting with King and Queen Kook, looking absolutely miserable, pushing around your food with your fork.

“Damn, Maybank. Almost broke your neck - you turned so fast.”

“Shut up, Easterling. I was just seeing how crowded we were,” JJ lied. He really just wanted to see if you were here. And now that he sees you are, he’s a little nervous to do his own damn job.

Raymond Easterling chuckles. “Yeah, I know what you were looking at. But don’t get your hopes up. There’s a reason Kooks call that girl the Heart Sucker. Not even the high and powerful JJ Maybank could get a piece of that.”

The guys around JJ and Raymond chuckle and nod in agreement, hearing the stories of how you’d reject every single guy that’s ever asked you out. Sometimes you’d go on a few dates, trying to push yourself out of your comfort zone, but then things would quickly become too much, and you’d get overwhelmed.

JJ didn’t like the way Raymond talked about you or how the others laughed at your expense. His hands clenched into fists, tempted to throw a punch in Ray’s cocky face. The guy’s just being a jerk because he’s one of the guys that got rejected by you, he thought.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” JJ shakes his head and ties his apron around his waist to distract his hands.

“No?” Raymond challenges him. “You think I’m wrong? You think you could pull the infamous Hybrid over there?”

JJ glances back through the window. You’re looking at your grandma with a clearly forced grin. You’re twirling your hair between your fingers, a habit you picked up when you were little to do when you’re bored. JJ would find you doing that in school all the time.

You’re gorgeous, he thought. It’s no wonder that almost every guy on this island has tried to make a pass on you, including JJ himself, but his remarks always come off as playful, afraid of actually telling you how he feels about you. His fantasies about you went further than just getting you between the sheets. He could picture getting married, having children, and growing old together. Years ago, the two of you would talk about your future. Neither one of you cared about money or fancy jobs. All you wanted was to be free - of this island, of each other’s families, of responsibilities placed on you from birth. You hold the same values as JJ, and he’s never met another person like you.

But JJ has a hard exterior. No one other than his best friends know his true heart, and he wasn’t going to let someone like Raymond Easterling find out about his soft spot for you. He would never hear the end of it.

JJ looks at you one last time. You’re talking to Rory, your face in his direction. This time you’re smiling, probably discussing something other than your grandparent’s expectations of you. He’d kill to see that smile every single day.

What’s the worst that could happen? You reject him? Yeah, that might kill JJ inside, but maybe you’d still be his friend, or continue to be acquaintances like you are now. As long as he gets to see you, he’d be okay. There was always the future. But who knows? Maybe you’d say yes? He’ll never know unless he tries. Right?

JJ fakes the same cocky grin that Raymond wears. “I haven’t failed yet.”

The guys around him whistle and shake their heads with smiles.

“All right, Maybank. Let’s make a bet. I’ll give you one hundred dollars to get Y/N Y/L/N in the sack by the fourth of July.”

JJ scoffs. “You like giving away free money?” He ignored his racing heart at the thought of being that intimate with you.

Raymond nods. “Okay. Let’s put your money where your mouth is. Get her to say ‘I love you’ by the end of the season and I’ll raise you an extra hundred and cover all your dishwasher shifts in September.”

JJ raises his brows with surprise. No one offers to take the dishwashing shift. Sometimes the boys are pulled back there when the kitchen is short staffed and it’s easily one of the worst jobs at the Club.

This bet was almost too good of an opportunity to pass up. “Deal.” JJ says.

The boys shake hands on it and the other guys whisper to each other about how intrigued they are to see this play out.

JJ wipes his sweaty palms against his apron and pushes the door open to approach your table, hoping he can hear you over his thudding heart.

“Good evening folks. May I take those empty plates out of your way?”

You look up at the voice you know so well and a smile raises on your lips. JJ meets your eyes and he winks at you, splattering your heart in flutters.

“Please.” Your grandmother pushes her plate away from her, stuffed with filet and red wine.

“JJ,” Your mom grins up at him. Growing up, your mom always had a soft spot for the blonde Pogue. She’s heard the stories about his father, mostly from Steve, who actually grew up with Luke Maybank, his cousin. As a child, he was sent to live with Luke Maybank and his single father. Lets just say, he’s not surprised by the way Luke turned out. “Look at you. You’re all grown up now. Last time I saw you, Y/N was still pushing your head in the sand for stealing her popsicle.”

“Yeah. I quickly learned no one should mess with Y/N and her food,” JJ says.

“Never stopped you though,” You smirk at him.

“Lorelai. Who is this?” Your grandma asks, disregarding the boy himself.

“Mom,” Lorelai gives her mom a warning look. “This is JJ Maybank. He went to school with Y/N and Rory.” Lorelai knew to play it safe with her wording. She didn’t know where you and JJ stood. It’s been so long since you’ve seen him and she knew better than to ask.

“Nice to meet you,” JJ says politely. “I’d shake your hand but mine are kinda full.” He motions to the plates in his hand.

“That’s quite all right.” Your grandma’s smile is so forced, it makes you uncomfortable.

“I won’t hold you up. Has your server been around with the dessert menu?” JJ looks at you. “We have chocolate cake tonight.”

Heat rushes up your neck. Not because of the cake itself but because JJ remembered your favorite dessert. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. It was safe to save you were a choco-holic. The boys use to make it for you every year for your birthday. It usually came out burnt, none of them ever remembering how to properly make it. But it was all you needed to feel like a very special girl.

“Your favorite,” Rory elbows you.

Your grandma cringes. “Sounds like diabetes on a plate.”

“Mom,” Lorelai scolds.

“What?” She asks, not understanding the concept of a filter.

Now heat rushes to your cheeks for an entire different reason. “He did. We’re not doing dessert tonight. Thank you, though.”

JJ nods but feels disappointed by the way your face flinched at your grandmother’s comment.

“My pleasure,” He says like he was taught to do and excuses himself to drop the plates off in the back before he can say anything else that would probably get him fired.

Your mom looks at your with raised brows. “He’s cute, honey.”

“Lorelai, please. He’s the busboy,” Your grandma says.

“He’s a good kid, Mom.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” You stand up. “I have to use the restroom.”

Rory gives you a knowing grin as you walk away from the table. When you walk into the hallway between the dining area and the front lobby, you immediately feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Sometimes just the presence of your grandparents and their pompous judgements can be suffocating. You do your best to bite your tongue around them, excusing yourself when you feel yourself getting heated.

JJ catches a glimpse of your light blue dress out of the corner of his eye when he rounds the corner to collect the plates off a different table. He looks over his shoulder at Raymond, who’s staring at the blonde watching you, and winks.

“Hey, Y/N,” JJ says, walking up to you.

You look up from your phone and immediately smile. “Hey. I was actually hoping I’d catch you out here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” You nervously tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. “I’m sorry about my grandmother. She can be...”

JJ shakes his head. “Hey. It’s okay. I work for Kooks almost every single day. I’m use to it.”

You sigh. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Don’t apologize for something you can’t control,” JJ says. “Besides, that’s probably the nicest she’s ever been to me.”

You hide your face in your hands. “Stop. You’re making it worse.”

JJ laughs and takes your wrists in his hands, slowly pulling them away from your face. Your eyes shoot up to his, immediately feeling a tingling feeling run through your skin, straight to your heart.

“It’s okay. I promise,” He says softly. His voice is so sincere that you have no other option but to believe him. It almost makes your feel guiltier, wondering how much bullshit he’s been through with ungrateful Kooks that it’s so easy for him to forgive and forget.

“Okay,” Your voice is a whisper, taken off guard by how close he is to you and how he still hasn't let go of your hands.

In that same moment, JJ realizes he’s still holding you and gently removes his hands. He coughs awkwardly and scratches the back of his neck, where sweat begins to bubble. Why is he so nervous?

“So um...” You say, suddenly feeling nervous too. “You going to John B’s tonight?”

JJ’s eyes shoot up in surprise. How did you know that? “Yeah. I’m heading over there after work.”

“I saw him and Pope at Heywards earlier today and they invited me over. I wasn’t sure if I should come or not.”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

Because it’s different now, you wanted to say. But you didn’t because you feel like the elephant in the room would only grow. And you didn’t want to admit you were nervous to meet Kie and Sarah outside of school.

You shrug. “I don’t know.”

“You should definitely come. The boys miss you.”

You pretend like a little piece of your heart didn’t just break when JJ didn’t say ‘we.’

“What time do you get off of work?”

“Around 9ish.”

You nod. “I can pick you up if you’d like and we could go together?”

Your heart races after you suggest it. What if he says no? Why were you feeling this way? This is the same kid you use to make fun of for pouring milk into his bowl before his cereal.

“Yeah. That’d be perfect.”

“Great!” Your phone pings with a text from Rory, telling you that your grandparents are wondering where you are. “Shit. I have to get back. I’ll see you at nine?”

“See you then,” JJ nods and turns back to the kitchen. When his eyes meet Raymond’s, he’s reminded of what he agreed to. Almost surprised how quickly he forgot about it. You were able to take his mind off of anything without even trying. He clears his throat to get rid of the giddy grin he was wearing after talking to you, wanting to look tough and casual in front of his coworker. “Easy.” He says to him. But that felt anything but easy. He could vomit with nerves.

“There’s still plenty of time for you to screw up, Maybank.”

JJ huffs. He’s not wrong.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You drive up to the front of the country club and park in front of the main entrance. It’s 8:57. You’re early and will look eager. So you wait until 9:06 to text him that you’re here.

You changed into a pair of dark washed denim shorts, a yellow cropped tube top, a grey flannel, and navy converse. You changed your outfit about four times before deciding on your first one, not wanting to look too casual or too dressed up.

For the last three years, you wondered when the four of you would get back together as a group. You wondered if it would ever happen. And now that two Kooks are involved, you feel more nervous than excited.

You jump when the passenger seat door opens, lost in the depth of your own head. JJ smiles, not seeing your reaction.”Cool ride,” he says and looks around the interior.

“Thanks,” you say, pulling out into the road.

“I got you something,” JJ says.

You glance at him with furrowed brows. What could he have possibly gotten you since you saw him last? A book mark from the Country Club’s gift shop?

JJ reaches into his backpack and pulls out a plate with clear wrap around it. Your mouth drops when you see the chocolate cake on a plate in his hands, the smell immediately hitting your nose with pure delight.

“You saved me a piece?” You jump in your seat excitedly.

“Had to hide it good too or else Miss Carol would have had my ass handed to me,” JJ jokes and even pulls out two forks. He undoes the wrapping and cuts off a piece. He waits until you hit a stop sign and says, “Open up.”

You look at him and immediately open your mouth. He gently places the fork between your lips and you take the piece of cake off with your teeth. Like a baby.

Your eyes close with pure pleasure. “Oh my god. That’s amazing.”

“Miss Carol does know how to bake a mean cake,” JJ says and takes a bite of his own.

“Another one,” You say, glancing at the cake again. Like you said, choco-holic. “Please.” You say when JJ teases you by holding the fork away from you.

JJ laughs. “I like hearing you beg.”

You slap him in the arm with the back of your hand. “In your dreams, Maybank.”

“You got that right, Y/L/N.”

The two of you finish the cake with only a few bites each. Small but rich in chocolate that leaves you craving more. You were gonna have to meet this Miss Carol woman.

After he puts the plate back in his bag, JJ reaches for the aux cord, but you quickly slap his hand away. “Hey. What do you think you’re doing?”

“You’re seriously gonna make me listen to this the entire way to John B’s?”

You scoff. “I’ll have you know Blink-182 is one of my favorite bands.”

“It’s also soccer moms’ favorite band,” JJ laughs at you.

You turn up the volume, blasting ‘All the Small Things’ and point to your ear. “Sorry. Can’t hear you!”

JJ rolls his eyes but laughs along with you, even bopping his head to the beat. You drive with the windows down, dancing and singing along to a bunch of throwback songs with JJ as if the two of you have been doing this forever.

You pull up to John B’s and park behind his dad’s old van, better known as The Twinkie. When you turn down the music, JJ looks at you with a shake in his head. “Next time, I’m driving.”

“What was wrong with my driving?”

“We’re in the Outer Banks, Sparky, not NASCAR.”

You scoff and follow behind JJ who’s leading the way up John B’s driveway. As you get closer, you smell the smoky scent of a bonfire nearby and eventually hear John B’s laugh mixed in with a female’s. Your smile falters as nerves gather in the pit of your stomach.

“What’s wrong?” JJ asks.

“Nothing,” You say, but JJ easily catches your lie and gives you a knowing look. “What if they don’t like me?”

“Who? Pope and John B? I’m pretty sure they like you more than me even after three years -”

“Not them, you idiot,” You shove him playfully by the shoulder as you two let yourselves inside. “Sarah and Kie.”

“Don’t you go to school with them?”

“Yeah, but we don’t talk,” You say quietly, not wanting them to hear you.

“Hm.”

“What?” JJ shrugs. “Nothing. I just didn’t think you cared about what other people thought.”

“I don’t,” You say quickly. “But they're your best friends. It’s different.”

“You don’t need their approval. You technically were here first.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been replaced,” You try to say it as a joke and even throw a smirk in there.

But JJ stops in his track and looks at you seriously. “No one can replace you. Not even if they tried.”

You open your mouth to respond, but you’re at a loss for words. It’s not a common occurrence that JJ gets all serious on you. Warmth covers you like a blanket and the longer he holds your stare, the weaker your knees become.

“JJ! Is that you?” John B calls out from the backyard.

“Yeah,” JJ yells back. He opens the fridge in John B’s kitchen. “Want a beer?” He offers to you.

You shake your head. “No thanks.”

For the first time, you take in John B’s home. It looks the same as it did three years ago, only a lot messier. The pull out couch looks like its been used recently with blankets and sheets tossed about on it. Empty beer cans and cigarette butts are thrown messily on the coffee tables and the air smells faintly of old marijuana.

JJ leads you out to the back where four people are gathered around a fire. Three out of the four immediately smile when the two of you approach them, but Kie’s eyes narrow and her head tilts with confusion.

Shit, you think.

“You came!” Pope laughs and hops up from his beach chair and embraces you in a hug.

You laugh, not expecting the embrace, but welcoming it all the same. John B’s next, giving you a quick hug and shaking his head.

“I gotta say, I didn’t think you were going to come,” John B says.

“You can thank me for that later,” JJ says jokingly.

“Actually when I heard JJ was coming, I almost changed my mind and stayed home,” You joke and smirk JJ’s way.

“Just like old times,” Pope says, looking between you and the blonde. The banter felt like the yall never separated in the first place.

“Hey, you know Sarah and Kie, right?” John B points to the girls. Sarah stands up to say hi, and eventually Kie follows her, not wanting to look rude, but stays off to the side, keeping her distance.

“Yeah,” You wave awkwardly.

“Hey!” Sarah says sweetly. “I didn’t realize you guys use to all hang out.”

“Y/N grew up down the street,” JJ explains and sips at his beer.

“You want a drink or something?” Pope asks you, not knowing JJ already did.

“No thank you,” You say again.

“You don’t drink?” Kie asks. It was the first thing she’s said to you.

“Not usually,” You say and hold her stare. You try to get a read on her, but she’s had to get a tell on. You can’t tell if she just doesn’t like you or just doesn’t know you. Either way, it makes you uneasy.

“Here, I’ll go grab you a chair,” Pope says and walks to the side of the house to grab another beat up beach chair.

As the night goes on, you feel the tension in your shoulders loosen and your body feel lighter. Most of the night was spent retelling childhood stories the four of you shared. Sarah would laugh at most of them, occasionally rolling her eyes at her boyfriend from the stupid shit he would do, although it sounds like he’s no different to you now.

You talked about the time you and JJ stole a golf cart for a joy ride on Figure Eight, or when you and John B pranked Pope by putting a dead fish in his locker, or how you and John B learned how to play guitar from youtube tutorials.

Midnight came around quickly and exhaustion was slowly taking over your body. It’s been a long day between the cafe flooding, dinner with your grandparents, and now this.

JJ was the first to notice you slowly fading.

“You okay?” He asks you quietly as everyone else is caught up in conversation.

“Yeah,” You say, lazily grinning at him.

“We can leave if you want,” He says.

“You’re not staying?” You ask. It sounded like everyone was planning to spend the night here. And as much as you wanted to, you just didn’t feel comfortable enough yet.

JJ shrugs. “My dad’s out of town tonight. It’ll be nice to have the house to myself.” Before you can say anything, he stands and brushes his hands against his pants. “All right, losers. We’re out of here.”

“Aw, you’re leaving?” Sarah pouts.

“Yeah, I’m beat and Y/N’s my ride home,” JJ says.

You were glad he didn’t call you out for being tired. You didn’t want to look lame in front of everybody, especially Kie.

“Thanks for having me,” You say to everyone. It might have been John B’s house, but it was everyone’s night you intruded on.

John B stands up to hug you. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

You nod. “I won’t. I promise.”

Pope hugs you next. “Text me when you get back safe.”

“I will.”

“Bye!” Sarah waves and Kie exhales a ring of smoke from her blunt.

You wave at them before following JJ back to your car.

“Nuh-uh-uh,” JJ says. You didn’t realize you both walked to the driver’s side.

“What? No.”

JJ nods and holds his hands out for your keys. “I’m not dying tonight.”

“You’ve been drinking and smoking all night,” You say. You didn’t think JJ was drunk or even that high, but you were not going to let a teenager with an ounce of alcohol in his system get behind the wheel. “Next time. For now, hold on to the cupholder.”

JJ sighs dramatically and goes to the other side of the car and hops in the passenger seat.

This time you keep the music quiet, listening to the hum of the radio instead of your phone.

“Take a left,” JJ says.

“JJ, I know where you live. And it’s not left.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

You snicker. “Not in the slightest.”

JJ rolls his eyes. “Just take the left.”

You hold your hands up in surrender and take the left turn. He directs you for a couple more miles until he has you park in front of a 24 hour diner.

“What are we doing here?” You ask.

“I’m in the mood for a milkshake.”

“We just had cake!” You say.

“Come on, Sparky. Show me what that mouth can do,” JJ smirks.

You go to hit him again but he takes off running to the front entrance and pulls the door open. You chase after him, almost running into his back at the front host stand where JJ safely smirks at you in triumph.

“Two please,” He says to the hostess.

The old cranky woman leads you to a booth off to the side next to a window without a word.

A couple minutes later, a waitress walks by and asks if you’re ready to order.

“Yes. One chocolate milkshake and one black and white milkshake,” JJ orders for both of you, already knowing what flavor you’d want.

“And fries, please.” You say. The waitress nods, takes your menus, and walks off. JJ raises his brow at the extra order. “What?” You shrug. “Just showing you what my mouth can do.”

JJ scoffs. “What a tease.”

You playfully kick his shin under the table.

“Did you have fun tonight?” JJ asks.

“Yeah,” You answer. “Felt like old times. The girls are nice too.”

You were about to only mention Sarah, but you didn’t want to cause any issues with Kie. Not yet at least. Maybe she just needed time to warm up to you.

“See? I told you they wouldn’t bite.”

A couple minutes later, the waitress comes back with your milkshakes and fries.

“How’s John B doing? You know, with the whole Big John thing?” You ask delicately, unsure of how JJ would react to you pestering about John B’s business. “I didn’t want to ask and bring the mood down,” You explain yourself although you don’t need to.

JJ shrugs. “He’s in denial I think. Won’t sign a death certificate until he sees a body. He could be worse, though.”

“Yeah,” You say softly. You don’t know what you would do if you were in that situation. In a way you felt lucky that you never knew your dad at all. It would be harder to lose him, knowing who he was.

You take a fry and dip it into your milkshake before taking a bite. This makes JJ freeze and look at you like you have two heads.

“What?” You say with your mouth full.

“I can’t believe you just did that.”

“Don’t knock it till you try it,” You say and give him a look to do it.

JJ reluctantly picks up the fry and dunks it into his milkshake. He looks at the fry questioningly before popping it into his mouth. Somehow the sweetness of the milkshake and the saltiness of the french fry complement each other beautifully and his widen in pleasant surprise.

“Oh wow,” JJ says.

“Told you,” You smirk.

You spend the next hour catching up, trying to fit the last three years into an hour. JJ does most of the talking because you want to know more about what John B, Pope, and JJ have been up to. Your life was so boring and depressing, you didn’t want to bore JJ with the details.

You drive JJ home and talk for a few minutes more when you park. He seems to be procrastinating getting out of the car, but you don’t mind. You could talk to him all night, suddenly not feeling tired anymore.

“All right. I’ll let you get home before the sun rises,” He says and opens the door. He pauses when his feet hit the ground and he looks back at you. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I have to work at the shop, why?”

“Well, there’s a storm coming in. John B and I might go out to surf the surge before it hits. You still surf?”

You scoff. “Do I still surf?”

JJ holds his hands up in surrender. “Just checking. You think you can handle the surge?”

“Let’s not forget who the better surfer is, JJ.”

“I didn’t. It’s still me.”

“You wish.”

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Now you have a point to prove. You have to show JJ that you’re still the better surfer.

“I'll see you tomorrow,” You agree.

“Great, it’s a date.” He winks and shuts the door before you can tell him otherwise.

You giggle to yourself as JJ walks up the front yard and stay there until he you see he gets in safely.

You pull out of the driveway, wishing he had asked you out on a real date. One that didn’t involve John B.

Tag list: @super-funky-bisexual @sunsetswithjj @moniamaybank @throwawayfish @poguestyle17 @5am-cigarette @jjpouggues @fly-away-from-here @buckys2thicc

#JJ Imagine #jj fic #jj maybank imagines #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank #jj obx #jj fanfiction #jj maybank imagine #outer banks imagine #outer banks imagines #outer banks fic #jj maybank one shot

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bluberrystarboy · 4 years

Text

Replacement

This is my first story I’ve posted on here! I wrote this for a class and I really loved it so I decided to share it with everyone. Please show some love!

Disclaimer: This is angst. There is death in the story and things that could be triggering. Please be warned!

1,282 Words

"Jack! Honey, your friends are here to say goodbye!" Groaning, Jack stood up from his place on the floor and walked downstairs to greet his friends.

"Hey guys," Jack said.

"Hey," they said, with a hint of despair in their voices.

"Guys, don't be sad," Jack frowned, walking out the front door, "I'll still come and visit! Plus, I can always text you."

"It's not okay! We are losing one of our best friends! It will never be okay!" Wyatt said, tearing up. Jack looked into his silky hazel-green eyes before ruffling his curly brown locks and pulling him into a hug.

Jack looked over at his other friend, Jaeden, who had his head down with shaking shoulders. Jack started to tear up himself, realizing what he was actually losing. These were his best friends, He wasn't ready to give them up. Not yet.

Jack grabbed Jaeden's hand, pulling him into the hug with Wyatt. He could feel Wyatt and Jaeden's tears staining his shirt. He could care less, his own tears doing the same.

"I'll come back," he whispered," I promise you both, I'll be back."

Wyatt and Jaeden started laughing. Jack looked up to see them both doubling over in laughter. Jack pulled back from the hug and looked up at the tall males, his face contorted in confusion.

"Like we would ever want you to come back," Jaeden snarled. Jack looked in to Jaeden's bright blue eyes before looking at Wyatt.

"We never liked you," Wyatt growled," As if."

Jack felt a knife go through his heart. He couldn't believe it. His friends would never say that.

"W-What are you talking about?" Jack stuttered. Jaeden scoffed, shaking his straight chestnut locks.

"Do you not understand? We never liked you. Ever. We just pretended to be friends with you. We were excited to hear that you were moving," Wyatt said," Now leave. And never come back."

Jack felt tears fall down his face. They really meant that? It felt like thousands of needles being poked into his back. So, he ran. Jack shoved past Wyatt and Jaeden and raced down the street and away from the cackling duo. His dark, curly locks were pushed back by the wind as tears blurred his vision.

As he started to approach the end of the street, he stopped. His hideout, a giant tree that he went to for alone time, was gone. Actually, everything was gone. The street faded into white. There was nothing . It looked like a blank piece of paper. Jack walked forward, putting his foot onto the white. He kept going, step by step, further into the nothingness.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake. Jack turned around towards the street, but it wasn't there. Everything was white. He was surrounded in the blinding color taken by angels.

Jack looked down as the ground started to rumble. The floor beneath him started cracking and splitting apart. Jack started to run farther and farther into the vast space, watching as the ground around him crumbled. As he kept running, the ground started to fall away. Jack stopped to look at the giant hole of darkness in front of him. A massive pit veiled in shadow. Then, the ground underneath him gave way, and Jack was falling.

His stomach dropped as he continued to fall, waiting for the impact of the ground to shatter his bones. But, it never came. From fear of his death, Jack passed out.

When he came to, Jack was confused. He tried to standup and look at his surroundings, but saw he was tied to a chair, in the middle of a dark room. Then he remembered, this was the basement in his new house. Memories came flooding back to him. He moved to his new house with his mother. She told him about her biological son, that died at 15. She showed Jack pictures, of a tall, lanky boy with sharp features and a mop of long, curly black hair that cascaded down his neck. His stature, taller than his mothers, towered over her as his chocolate eyes stared back at Jack through the picture.

Jack went to bed that night, feeling less loved than before. There was a chip in his heart.

The next day, Jack woke up to the smell of burning. He ran to the kitchen, seeing the eggs his mother was cooking, burning. He turned off the stove and went to search for his mother. He saw the basement door open, and could hear shuffling. He slowly walked down the stairs, seeing his mother tied to a chair in the middle of the room, with no light except for the upstairs light. That's all he could recall before he was hit in the head and knocked out.

Jack could remember it all. All the events that led to this moment. Remembering his mother, Jack looked around for her. To the left of him, was his mother's cold, pale, lifeless body, lying on the floor. His face contorted into one of horror, before letting a shriek escape his lips.

There was laughter coming from in front of him as he let his tears fall. Jack whipped his head forward, letting his black curls fall over his eyes. In front of him was a ghostly pale version of his mothers other son. A dead version. He still looked the same as the pictures, but his essence of life wasn't there. A part of him was missing.

"Finn," Jack whispered.

"I'm surprised you even know I exist," Finn replied.

"I only found out about you yesterday."

"Of course. I knew she would hide me."

"What?" Jack stuttered.

"Well, my mother," Finn said, with a hint of malice in his voice," decided to replace me, with you."

"I don't think that was-," Jack started.

"Yes it was!" Finn yelled, interrupting him," She replaced me, with you! Do you even know how I died?"

"No," Jack said, fear lacing his voice.

"Let me explain then! I was swimming in the pool we owned, when the vacuum caught my shirt. I couldn't get my shirt out of the vacuum and I was stuck underwater. I could see my mother standing on the side of the pool, just watching me drown. She just stood there! It was her fault I died! Her fault!" Finn yelled," And then, she replaced me, with you!"

"I-I didn't know. I'm sorry," Jack replied, his voice small.

"She deserved what came to her! She did nothing and just watched me die! It's her fault! And you," Finn pointed at Jack, who flinched," You replaced me. She loved you more than she ever loved me!"

"Did you," Jack gulped," did you drown her?"

"Yes, I did. And now, she can watch the thing she loves most suffer," Finn said eerily. Slowly, Finn walked towards Jack, a shadow of darkness cast across his face.

Just as Finn was about to reach him, Jack shouted," Wait!"

Finn stopped with an annoyed expression and asked," What?"

"Was it you?"

"Was what me?"

"Did you, mess with my brain or something? Make me see the vision of my friends, hating me?"

Finn laughed," Did I make you see that? No. All I did was make you see your biggest fear. You seeing your friends hate you, was your own doing."

"I have one more question!" Jack stalled.

"What!" Finn screamed in anger.

"How is this my fault? And what are you going to do to me?"

"That's two questions," Finn replied sarcastically.

"Don't I deserve to know?" Jack asked.

"Not really," Finn smiled, before running towards him. Jack screamed and struggled, before his light was snuffed out.

#jack dylan grazer #finn wolfhard #wyatt oleff #jaeden martell #death #angst #ghost #jack grazer #it cast #it #eddie kaspbrack #richie trashmouth #richie tozier #bill denbrough #stanley uris #fack #jyatt

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rhinozilla · 4 years

Text

Whumptober Day 29: Numb

Summary: Connor is rendered temporarily paralyzed in a slowly flooding basement, unable to even call for help to the other cops just one floor above.

Warning: connection to all mobility functions temporarily disabled.

No damage detected.

Reconnecting…

Connection re-established.

Recalibrating…

Estimated time to recalibrate: 00:05:00

00:04:59

00:04:58

Connor couldn’t feel the cold water pressing in around him, but his internal sensors were still receiving signals and routing them through to his processors.

He knew he was lying on his side, on the concrete floor of the basement of this building. He couldn’t feel it, but his sensors told him that he was.

He knew he was slowly being submerged by muddy water, after the deteriorating basement wall had collapsed, letting in the recent heavy rainwater. He couldn’t feel it, but his sensors told him it was happening.

He knew that the suspect had been hiding in this basement, that he had waited until the other cops had left the room, returning upstairs to the rest of the crime scene. The suspect had attacked him with some kind of…mechanism…that had disabled the connection to all of his mobility functions, rendering him paralyzed from the neck down, unable to subdue or even pursue the man as he fled.

Warning: submersion levels approaching core systems. Closing external vents to seal out water intake.

Lying on his side, the water had already covered his legs and most of his face, but his one exposed ear picked up on the clicks of his outer casing completely sealing itself. His ventilation program shut off, but the chill of the water surrounding him was quickly sapping away every extra degree of his internal temperature.

Attempting to call Hank Anderson…

Unable to connect…no signal detected…

Connor opened and closed his eyes, but the muddy water made it impossible to see. He tried to move, but his limbs would no cooperate. The most he could manage was the slight curling and uncurling of his fingers. The override prevented him from opening his mouth to call out for help, the water level quickly climbing up his face, nearly at his temple now.

00:03:15

By the time his system recalibrated and he was able to move, he would be fully underwater and blind under the muddy water. The suspect would be in the wind, and the rest of the entire crime scene of the basement would be destroyed from the flood water.

“Holy fuck!” Gavin?

Proximity sensors picked up on a nearing form, but his dropping internal temperature was making his processors sluggish. Hands were suddenly on him, roughly turning him from his side to his back and hauling his top half out of the water.

“Fuck! Fucking shit…Hey, HEY!” One of the hands smacked him on the side of the face, not enough to sting, but enough to startle.

Connor coughed, and the override lifted as his system registered that his head was above the water line. He opened his mouth and sucked in air, blinking rapidly to try and clear the mud from his vision.

“God damn, you’re a lucky bastard,” Gavin was saying, pulling him into an upright position on the floor. “The fuck happened?”

“S-Suspect…hid…hit me w-with…fled-d…” Connor stammered, the cold of the rainwater and mud and concrete floor draining the heat from him.

Gavin looked from Connor to the gaping hole in the partially collapsed wall. “Dammit. All right, can you move?”

“N-no…M-mobility s-systems—“

“All right, all right, shut up,” Gavin snapped.

Connor’s vision was blurry from the mud that had seeped into his optical units, and a hard knot of panic tightened in the center of his chest. He felt Gavin shift his position, pulling Connor’s arm across his shoulders. He stood and hoisted him to his feet with him. Without full functionality, Connor’s knees buckled, and he hung as dead weight from Gavin’s neck.

“Goddammit, work with me here,” Gavin snarled, then leaned back toward the stairs. “HEY! I got an officer down in here, and a suspect escaping on foot!”

Flash lights swung into view on the stairs, and Gavin half dragged and half carried Connor through the flooded basement. They reached the stairs as Ben and Person came into view. Person got to them first, reaching out for Connor.

“I’ll take him,” she said, moving under Connor’s other arm.

As soon as his weight shifted toward her, Gavin slipped away, taking the stairs two at a time and shuffling past Ben, already barking orders for the other cops on scene to follow him in pursuit of the fleeing suspect. Ben moved to Connor’s vacated side, and he and Person awkwardly carried the android between them up to the ground floor of the dilapidated house.

00:01:42

“Last step,” Ben warned as they moved onto the landing of the first floor. “Person, get some blankets or something from the car. He’s freezing.”

Person nodded and carefully moved away, leaving Ben to handle Connor.

“Whoa, okay easy, bud,” Ben remarked, steering him toward the empty foyer of the house, over to the steel set of stairs to the second floor. “Sit right here.”

Connor could do little else as Ben lowered him to sit on the steps.

“B-Ben…The susp—“

“Gavin’s on him,” Ben said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket. “Anything hurt?”

“No,” he stated as the older officer wiped the mud from his eyes, mouth, and nose. “B-but I sh-should have r-realized—apprehe-he-hended—“

Mobility functions successfully recalibrated and online.

Connor looked down at his hands in his lap, curling and uncurling his fingers slowly. A prickly sensation was crawling across his processors as the connections were tested. It didn’t…hurt, but it was uncomfortable. Ben put a hand on his chest to steady him, his free hand with the cloth wiping away more mud.

“We’ll get him. Don’t worry about it, kiddo,” Ben assured. “You sure you’re all right?”

“Yes, just…cold…”

Person skidded into view, a wad of fabric under her arms. “I gotcha covered there.”

Ben took the first jacket on the pile, unfolding it and putting over Connor’s shoulders. Connor bowed forward a bit, folding his arms around his chest as his programming initiated shivering to try and create heat for his internal systems. Ben rubbed his hands across his back to generate some frictional heat as well. Person opened up an orange blanket, wrapping it around his front and tucking the sides under the jacket.

“I think Chris keeps some handwarmer packs in his squad car,” she said. “I’ll go check.”

“That’s not nece-ce-cessary,” Connor stammered, but she was already gone.

Ben had a bottle of water in his hand then, rinsing out the muddy handkerchief.

“Lord, you’re soaked to the bone—“ he was muttering, going in for a second round of trying to clear the muddy water from Connor’s face.

“Don’t have b-bones,” Connor replied.

Ben snorted, “That I can’t help you with, son.” He gave Connor a onceover and sighed. “Yeah, you’re done for today.”

“N-No, I can st-still—“

“We’ve got more than enough people here to process the scene. We don’t need you catching android pneumonia over this case,” Ben argued.

Person returned emptyhanded, unable to find any handwarmers, but Ben waved her off.

“I’ll do you one better. Take him back to the station.”

“B-Ben…” Connor tried to sit up straighter to argue.

Ben placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a gentle, firm look. “Take care of yourself today. Solve the case tomorrow, all right?...I can make it an order.”

Connor stared at him, unable to stop the involuntary shivers, and was forced to concede with a sigh. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Ben repeated, bobbing his head. “Get back to the station, dry off, warm up, change clothes, the whole shebang.”

Connor remained seated as he nodded, testing his legs’ response to his processors’ commands to move. They reacted with only a minor delay, something that would clear up as soon as he started walking on his own. Moving slowly with Ben and Person’s help, he got to his feet and found his balance. Person took the blanket as it fell away, and Connor pulled the jacket closer around him.

“Sorry,” he muttered to Ben.

Ben gave his shoulder an affectionate shake. “You’re not the first guy to get coldcocked by a suspect. You won’t be the last. Go on.”

Connor stumbled only the first two steps, and Person kept a steadying hold on his arm until his legs sorted themselves out. They walked gingerly away from the house and into the lazy drizzle still falling from the sky. They picked their way through the muddy driveway to Person’s squad car, and she paused as she dug out her keys.

“You want to lie down in the back seat or sit up front?” she asked.

“Up front,” he clarified immediately. “I’m cold, not dying.”

She snorted, “Okay, smartass.”

She popped open the passenger side door, held it until he had eased himself down into the seat, and then closed the door, moving over to the driver’s side. She turned over the engine and turned the heater to full blast.

“You smell like a sewer, by the way,” she teased in a deliberately light tone.

Connor scowled, holding his hands in front of the warm air coming from the vents.

“Oh yeah, well you…are dumb,” he grimaced at his own lazy retort.

“Wow…weak,” she shot back. “You sure mud didn’t get into your brain too?”

She snickered, backing the car out of the driveway and aiming it toward the main road. Connor grumbled and curled into himself in the seat, taking back the orange blanket and doing his best to burrow into it. Without moving her eyes from the road, Person reached over and aimed more of the warm air vents toward him, including the ones on her side of the car.

He cringed, “I’m sor—“

“Connor, I swear if you apologize one more time—“

“You’ll what?” he challenged, finally getting his teeth to stop chattering.

“I’ll—give you something to be sorry about,” she rattled off.

“Now who has lame comebacks?” he said.

She gawked, pursed her lips, and then shook her head with a grin. “Shut up.”

Connor could admit that this was a strange conversation with no discernible purpose, but the more he forced himself to speak coherently, the more quickly his system was regulating itself out of the sluggish rut that the dunk in the cold had created. His supplementary internal heating program was slowly coming online to restore his temperature, and his thoughts seemed to clear the more that he spoke.

Maybe that was the purpose.

Oh, she was good.

He glanced over at Person, driving along without looking at him.

“Thank you,” he stated simply.

She hummed, putting the car on the straight shot street leading to the station. “You’re welcome…Sewer Boy.”

“…Why are you like this?”

#whumptober2019 #no.29 #dbh connor #dbh officer person #dbh ben collins

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wahbegan · 5 years

Text

Blah Blah Trailer Things Blah I’m So Weary

All right w/e you’d think i was getting paid for this the way i crank them out even when I have no desire to but fuck it as all the ones before, under a read more so you don’t have to scroll and shit and so that if someone makes a super obvious correction in the first few notes i can change it and nobody will be the wiser tee hee hee I am gonna stick to things that haven’t been confirmed so shit we already know like “There are additional flashbacks to when they were kids, Mike still lives in Derry and has been tryna figure out how to kill It through...tripping, apparently? They meet at Jade of the Orient like in the book,” etc. I won’t touch for the sake of brevity. I also won’t go over things I did in the last one

1. The flood of water in the sewer COULD be right after they actually kill It, in the book they kill It in the early morning, and Its death coincides with a massive storm destroying the town, starting with the sewers flooding and backing up

2. Adrian Mellon, post beating and being thrown off a bridge by homophobes, as Pennywise mockingly offers him help before eating him. This is STRAIGHT out of the book, right down to the silver eyes Pennywise is sporting i’m very excited

3. Bev walking in the rain looking shaken up seems to be her right after having her fight her way out of her abusive boyfriend’s place, we know they’re keeping that intact courtesy of the bruises on her arms in the Mrs Kersh trailer

4. Not sure where Eddie’s standing in this child-to-adult montage, i can only guess that maybe Ben is outside that bar he gets shitfaced in before he goes back to Derry? But that’s a shot in the dark. I know Bill’s standing at the storm drain where Georgie got dragged in, which we saw It taunting him in Georgie form briefly in the last trailer, and Mike due to the area and the police lights on his face, seems to be investigating child murders like he was in the book. It’s what prompts him to call the other Losers. Richie is at the Paul Bunyan statue

5. So yeah the carnival seems to play a bigger role than just the backdrop where Adrian first has trouble with the homophobes like in the book, Bill probably follows a lead there, possibly investigating what happened to Adrian aaaaand finds Pennywise chewing down on some kid right behind a glass he can’t get to him from in a mirror maze, ostensibly just to fuck with him. Brutal and sadistic, i gotta say i love it even though it’s hard to analyze further than that since there isn’t anything even remotely analogous to this in the book. Oh, the little swinging punch clowns are done up like Tim Curry’s Pennywise, that’s a fun easter egg. Also Pennywise’s long tongue on the glass is reminiscent of The Leper’s tongue from the book, probably did that on purpose.

6. Oh yeah confirmation Bowers is alive and in a mental hospital, and Pennywise is calling him back, apparently via red balloon instead of the moon which BOOOOOO but whatever

7. Since they changed it from the book a bit to revolve more heavily around Neibolt Street, that seems to have more prominence in this half of the movie as well, with lots of shots of them going into it, whereas I don’t think they touch it as adults in the book. I do like the fridge shaking like It’s about to come out of it like It did in the first movie to eat Eddie. Clearly lots of call backs so that’s fun. Actually, you know what? It could be Stan’s severed head with a bunch of balloons in there cause there’s a scene like that involving a (different) fridge in the adult half of the book/miniseries

EDIT: Okay, according to someone on youtube who saw Comic-Con footage, that IS the case damn i’m right once in a while except in this case Stan’s head...the youtube source didn’t say whose head it was but i’m...there’s no way it’s not Stan’s goes on to sprout spider legs and crawl at them a la The Thing so that’s pretty awesome

8. “I’ve seen all of us die” is an interesting line. Now, in the book, fUCKING STAN YOU FUCKING BASTARD ANDRES MUSCHIETTI YOU LITERALLY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM STAN AND GAVE IT TO A DIFF-ahem. Forgive that little outburst. In the book,...SSsss.....hrng. Stanley Uris is the one who seems to have visions or at least a sense of the future, not, Bev, as well as some vaguely defined psychic somethinerother. Obviously, her kidnapping slash Deadlighting slash empty eyes slash floating thing never happens in the book, so once again, no real way of knowing if it’s a Dr. Strange circa Infinity War thing where she saw a possible or a bunch of possible futures or just Pennywise fucking with her to make her feel hopeless thing. I mean obviously we know they don’t all die so i’m just curious about the nature of her vision she had in Its lair. Obviously some of it came to pass, but...i just don’t know if it was a vision from The Turtle or a trick from It, or possibly a little of both. But it’s one of those

9. Oh yeah right that....that’s definitely Stan’s death scene. Not that there was any question, really, but this is solid confirmation he takes a one way ticket out of Clowntown on the Razorblade-in-a-Bathtub Express

10. Oh I forgot to say about the alien-looking spikes i think that’s the blasted-up exploded remains of whatever it landed in just btw

11. Okay so Bill as an adult back in the basement with a screaming ghost Georgie confronting him in a very similar way to when he was a kid, Bev back in the bathroom where she got bullied and it seems like her childhood bathroom? Filling up with blood and...trying to help someone out of the blood lake? Okay.

I have a theory about all this.

I think it’s them interacting with their younger selves. I think.....

I think The Ritual of Chud is going to manifest differently for every single one of them, and it’s basically going to be them going to some mindscape where they go to their kid selves, to their worst and darkest moments, and are either trapped there in despair or have to save their younger selves. Think of The Haunting of Hill House’s Red Room. I THINK that’s what’s going on here. Judging by...I’m almost positive Bev is reaching out her hand to pull her younger self out of the blood, and you can see young Bill behind adult Bill in the background while Georgie’s going “what the FUCK you’re the worst brother EVER” at him so look i think i’m right, okay?

12. When Bev smashes the mirror, it looks like, you know how in the first one Henry goes to carve his face on Ben’s stomach but only gets the H? In the book that scar disappears when he grows up but then comes back after Mike calls him and it looks here like not only has the scar come back but It has either actually cut the entire name down there or at least made him hallucinate that the entire name has appeared on his stomach. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the latter, some kind of hallucination Bev’s trying to break by shattering the mirror.

13. Yeah so if you hadn’t read the book, that’s pretty much definitely Eddie Richie’s holding, and he’s pretty much definitely dying and his final words are pretty much definitely gonna be “Don’t call me Eds. You know I hate it when you...”

14. Oh yeah right I’m pretty sure the underwater monster is a more decayed Ms Kersh and it looks like instead of turning to candy, her house floods for some reason? And here she is being all spooky and underwater with Bev i do not know why the flooding is a thing but w/e uhhh look it’s not in the first trailer i don’t know where i think i saw this or how I got this impression but i think somewhere there was a brief shot implying the water like came out of a painting or something. Possibly a 1408 reference, actually

15. Gotta be Its lair disintegrating after the completed Ritual of Chud which yeah when they were all holding hands a few shots earlier and looking up at orange light i forgot to say that’s def the Ritual starting

17. Whoever this is, Bill i’m assuming flying through that tunnel to the rectangle of light is pretty close to straight out of the book Ritual of Chud

18. Mike tripping, as per mentioned

19. Given the shit all over them and how emotional Richie is, it seems like this would be at the end after they leave the sewers? Idk his scream could be about several things, but it’s just the kind of scream that says “my best friend in the whole wide world and completely hetero lifemate just got his arm bitten off by a weird giant spider alien thing and bled to death”

20. Andres Muschietti mentioned the underground clubhouse would be part of this movie, as well as the “tripping and coming dangerously close to dying via carbon monoxide poisoning so we can hallucinate about where It came from” part of the book but at the end Pennywise is clearly slamming the door which wasn’t part of that sequence unless i mean they may have just added it in for a scare or it could be one of the adults going back to said clubhouse and having a flashback leading into Pennywise fucking with them, either is a possibility

21. Okay so unfortunately i have egg on my face and this clearly is It (not Henry Bowers like i theorized) previously not in Pennywise form, putting on Its Pennywise form, possibly for the first time in a flashback.

22. Okay i am almost 100% sure Pennywise, Devourer of Worlds and Children, The Spider, The Deadlights, The Eternal Consumption, ends this trailer by saying “Hewwo”

#It Chapter 2

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actuallykiwi · 5 years

Text

Once a Thief... Chapter 4: Loud and Clear

“...okay.. What’s the job?” Cimber asked, looking up at Mercer. “Well, if you’re as good as Brynjolf says you are, then it’s time to put your expertise to the test. I’m giving you the Goldenglow job.”

“Wait a moment, Mercer. Goldenglow? Even our little Vex couldn’t get in!” Brynjolf countered. “You claim this recruit possesses an aptitude in our line of work. If so, let her prove it,” Mercer said, then turned back to Cimber. “Goldenglow Estate is critically important to one of our largest clients. However, the owner has suddenly decided to take matters into his own hands and shut us out. He needs to be taught a lesson. Brynjolf will provide you with the details... Oh, and welcome to the Thieves Guild.” With one last stiff nod of the head, he walked away.

Brynjolf sighed. “Not quite the job I would’ve chosen for you first, but time isn’t exactly our friend right now, lass. I guess you’ll be diving right in.” She shrugged. “Kind of already did that twice today. Just tell me what I need to do.” They both chuckled. “Alright. Goldenglow Estate is a bee farm; they raise the wretched little things for honey. It’s owned by some smart-mouth wood elf named Aringoth. We need you to burn down 3 of the estate’s hives and clear out the safe in the main house.”

“Okay.. what’s the catch?” “The catch is that you can’t burn the whole place down to the ground. The important client Mercer mentioned would be furious if you did.” “Got it, keep arson to a minimum.” She gave a thumbs up and he smirked, shaking his head. “It wouldn’t do us any good to cross our clients.”

“Right. So what should I do about Aringoth?” She asked. “Maven Black-Briar prefers that he stay alive, but if he tries to stop you from getting the job done, kill him. The Guild has a lot riding on this. Don’t make me look like a fool by entrusting you to do this.” “I promise I won’t let you down,” Cimber said determinedly.” “I know. Now, you should probably go talk to Vex, she’s been there before and might be able to help you.”

Cimber nodded and got up to find Vex, who was sitting at the bar. “Any advice on Goldenglow...?” She asked shyly. Vex gave her an incredulous look. “They’re sending you on that job? He must really trust you...” she muttered. “Anyways, it won’t be easy, even I couldn’t get in. That wood elf’s wit, can you believe he more than tripled the guard? There must have been 8 of them in there! It was like he was daring us to come and get him. But there is a way in. There’s an old sewer tunnel that dumps into the lake on the northwest side of the island. That’s how I got in, should still be unguarded.” “Thanks, Vex.” Cimber smiled at her. “Hey!” She stopped and looked back at Vex. “I don’t know why they’re sending you in there, but... good luck.”

On her way out, she saw Brynjolf waiting by the ladder leading up to the secret entrance, looking a little concerned. “I’m not sure what Mercer’s up to, but... be careful, lass. Those mercenaries don’t take prisoners.” She smiled at his concern. “I’ll be fine. I made a promise to not let you down and I intend to keep it.” With a reassuring pat on his shoulder as she walked by, she went up the ladder and into the night.

Cimber couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous as she made her way through the city and around the lake, the estate in sight. She had always had a knack for sneaking into places, especially in the cool shroud of night, but nothing as big, or as dangerous, as this. We’ll start with the beehives first. Maybe the guards will be so distracted by the fire that they won’t notice me sneak in. With a plan in mind, she made her way to the edge of the lake facing the beehives and dove in.

Underwater, she couldn’t tell if it was the cold or adrenaline causing her heart to race. She stopped once for air on a little patch of land, and next when she was safely hidden from view by the rock outcropping, just underneath the hives. As carefully as she could, she hoisted herself onto land and climbed the rocks, doing her best not to slip and making sure the water didn’t give her away. She peaked around the corner of the fence, and when the coast was clear, she bolted behind the third beehive. Heart racing even faster, she summoned a small flame in her right hand, and ran across the 3 outermost hives, her flaming hand brushing across each one. Just as she rounded the corner of the fence, she heard a few guards calling out “Fire!”, and that’s how she knew she had succeeded. Once again, she carefully climbed down the rocks, and slid as silently as she could back into the water. Now she headed northwest, looking through the surface of the water to watch a guard run across the docks nearby toward the ever-growing tower of smoke. She quickly surfaced below the docks and dove for the sewer entrance.

Cimber took a moment to catch her breath and still her heart as she landed on the sewer floor. Once she had composed herself, she unsheathed her bow and began making her way through the tunnels. A few dead skeevers and long-forgotten treasures later, she came upon the exit ladder. She lifted the trapdoor ever-so-slightly and glimpsed around for any signs of trouble. She could see the pillar of smoke beginning to diminish, meaning her adversary was a little busy at the moment. Once she was sure, she crawled to the estate door and quickly picked it open, and like the black smoke still whispering in the sky, she glided in.

If only the guards had supersonic hearing, they could have heard her heart beating aggressively in her chest and had her arrested or worse in mere moments. She wanted to stop to give it a chance to settle, but nowhere was safe in here.She crouched low and slow around the halls, just barely poking her head around corners to look for guards. Her eyes never the left the back of a guard’s head as she sneaked behind him into what looked to be a dining room. Too much light, keep moving, she thought as she moved forward, only stopping when she heard footsteps. A shadowy corner became her solace as she waiting for the steps to dissipate, but they only came closer. Risking her detection, she chanced one eye around the door frame, and was looking right at the guard’s sword in its scabbard. She held her breath and jerked her head back... and silently let it go as his footsteps receded. Now she allowed herself to look fully around the corner and saw a gate, knowing it had to lead downstairs. Tiptoeing, she watched the guard as his back was turned and picked the gate, praying it would be quieter than last time. It was, and she closed it behind her and practically sprinted down the stairs toward the basement.

This pattern continued; ducking around corners, tiptoeing through dark hallways, until she came to the corridor where a guard was facing the exact exit she needed to be going through. Cimber cursed under her breath, and thought for a moment. Then she remembered the invisibility potion Brynjolf gave her. I hope this works... She closed her eyes and gulped the potion down. When she opened them and held out her hand, she didn’t see anything. Gods bless you, Brynjolf. I owe you one. She smiled as her now-invisible body crept directly in front of the guard and down the stairs, stopping right in front of the safe. She became visible once again as she attempted to open the safe, losing a few picks in the process. It took a few tries, but the safe eventually gave way to her.

After clearing the safe out, relief flooded her when she realized the basement exit went right into the sewer tunnel. Once again embracing the cool air of a Skyrim night, she crept around to a blind spot of the island and made her way back to shore.

Brynjolf had now taken up pacing. He didn’t know why, but he was becoming slightly worried about her. What if she was caught inside the estate? If Aringoth got to her before she got to him? What if she didn’t even make it to the beehives? Most importantly, what was Mercer thinking, sending a fresh new recruit to do one of the biggest and most dangerous jobs they had in a long time? If she came back alive, he would owe her, successful or not. His thoughts were interrupted, however, when Cimber dropped down from the secret entrance ladder, a little pale and soaking wet, but alive and obviously immensely relieved.

She grinned tiredly when she saw him. “Anybody want some honey?”

#skyrim #fanfiction #writing #lovestory

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ohdeerlings · 5 years

Text

mushi hime rant hahahhaahfdsjh

just posting my long-winded summary i typed immediately after finished reading to talk about how bad it was; it ended up a lot longer than i intended and now i feel like i should at least keep what i put effort into typing =___=

so it starts with this guy who's been getting recurring nightmares of a girl who shapeshifts into a monster with a huge mouth and teeth eating him

one day a transfer student comes in and looks exactly like her(already outplayed trope of having dreams for no reason of reality that doesnt ever get explained, and it happens lots of times throughout

)around the same time strange events start happening around town: ex, truck driver found by police with markings of a mass insect attack, dogs and pets all getting attacked by swarms of ants and filling up the vet hospitals

the narrative goes back and forth btwn:

- the guy's (Ryoichi's) POV in class where he's just not approaching her and wary of her bc of his dream; he's Not Like Other Boys who get all horny over her bc she's perfect (beautiful, smart, mysteriously quiet, physically adept)

- and btwn this stereotypically wacky/eccentric scientist who was consulted by the police with the first caseturns out the scientist has been tracking down a series of seemingly unrelated murders that follow a clear path ending at Ryoichi's town

throughout the story there's some not so subtle dialogues about the earth going through global warming and species dying

the scientist spiels to some insignificant characters about how humans arent long for this earth, etc etc and how insects are amazing because of their adaptational abilities

he seems to know the transfer student girl, Kikuchi and is trying to track her down

meanwhile kikuchi is character-developed as some clearly dangerous but morally compromised monster-human hybrid who Only Preys on Bad Guys or people around at the wrong time

she gets hit on by some lecherous perv who asks her to karaoke and she actually agrees

there she straddles him and starts kissing him and then these tentacle things come ouit of her throat and go into his mouth

he slumps over and she leaves

the scientist-investigator duo are closing in on her and find the security camera tapes, from that they get a picture and show it around town to try to locate her

meanwhile Ryoichi is still like wow she's Scary and I'm Not Like Other Boys

then he happens to see her just as the old man from the karaoke bar (who seems to have not been killed and is just stumbling around acting drugged) finds her and attacks her

a fucking needle spike comes out of her arm and she defends herself by stabbing him and puncturing his skull and killing him

he sees all that and shes like well guess you're my hostage now and takes him to his house

she's also attracted to him inexplicably, partially because He's Not Like Other Boys and shes like WHY ISNT HE SECRETING PHEROMONES FOR ME(she can smell that

)then there's a weird "erotic" scene where she forces him onto the bed and deep throats him with her mouth tentacles

then there's just a LOT of dialogue thrown at us at once with the scientist just explaining a shit ton to his investigation partner whose character clearly only exists for hte sake of exposition

turns out he had a colleague when he worked on a super secret gov funded experiment called biosphere 2 where they sealed off a forest and bombed it with radiation and pollution n shit

they found that it endured a lot at first and it was because of the bugs (?) that it did until the bugs disappeared and were nowhere to be found, then the forest just died

they looked around and found mutated bugs sleeping inside the earth

his colleague had a daughter back then with a terminal illness so out of desperation he injected the dna of the mutated insects into her, hoping their resilience would change her body to survive the illness

so she lived but she was clearly not human, farming off of her dad - she wasnt able to produce endorphins anymore so her tentacle things would secrete an enzyme to get hte host to produce lots of endorphins and she would take it, creating a dependency

bc she was the only of her species to exist she felt a need to procreate so she also kept trying to mate with her dad

then we find out that her dad had an identical twin who was raised by foster parents - and thats Ryoichi's dad, making Ryoichi and Kikuchi technically cousins, and genetically half-siblings

so thats why she was Inexplicably drawn to that town, and to him

she was wandering through japan because at some point her dad tried to kill her for humanity's sake, but bc of a random flood their town was wiped out and he wasnt able to kill her and she disappeared/survived the flood thanks to her ability to mutate in environmental changes

meanwhile she's been keeping him hostage to feed off of his endorphins and creating a dependency in him for the enzymes she would give him

until his mom accidentally comes into his room and sees, then she runs away and dies falling down the stairs lol

then he's all like ytou're a monster!!!!! and she threatens to kill the girl-next-door character in his friend group who seemed to have a thing for him/vice versa

so he's like: ill do anything just spare her!!!!

so she forces him to answer the door when his friends are like why havent u been going to class and tell them to fuck off/be a dick to them

while theyre walking outside after to go somewhere else the scientist sees the girl (Chiken) and is like hEY you look sad and depressed there's nothing possibly else that could make u feel like that except having your childhood crush abducted by a halfhuman-half locust succubus

he shows her the picture and she recognizes her and leads him back to the house

then he gets a rifle to try to shoot her and theres a whole fight scene where she uses her pheromones to call upon the insects to swarm

ryoichi is useless because he found his moms corpse lying in the bathtub getting consumed by maggots she asked to fully decompose the body

then the scientist gets a couple shots in and fends her off, meanwhile random police get in the way to stop what looks just like a home invasion and she disappears

they take ryoichi into the hospital bc all the endorphin harvesting and brain fuckery has him weak

then ryoichi's dad comes in and is like how do you recognize who i am!! to the scientist who explains

oh yeah that's the point at which we find out ryoichi and kikuchi are related

and then he's still having dreams where she vores him and he's both horrified and wants it

meanwhile entire city is getting swarmed by insects in a disaster scene with society breaking down etc etc

kikuchi tracks them down by following ryoichi's scent (?)

then they have one last battle where they try to use the dad as a distraction bc he looks identical to her dead father

and somehow the scientist just FINDS specific chemicals/enzymes to throw on her and weaken the part of her thats an insect

also earlier before she got there he whips out the mutant insect dna out of nowhere? like the extremely valuable dna that he should have no business just finding/still carrying around

and is like

hey lets inject ourselves with this because humanity is getting wiped out and attacked by insects rn anyway, the only way to live i sto adapt

but no one does it (lmao pointless inclusion)

then they defeat her in a big struggle with ryoichi getting farmed on by her again and instead of just taking it has a Miraculous realization past the drugs that oh no this person is killing everyone i love

and CHOMPS on her tentacle thigns while their mouths are connected

scientist injuects her with more random dna he has to compromise her mutant dna and the insect swarming stops bc of the internal biological shit happening and she's writhing oon the ground

then looks like she dies

they try to escape the basement theyve been in because its suddenly flooding (no reason lmfao)

on the way out they get stopped by a teacher that she pricked with her spike earlier on who's been missing from school and his "insect bite" changed his behavior/ultimately made him into a different part human part bug who tries to kill them

then kikuchi who -surprise- hadnt died!@!! shows up again but now she's blond and looks almost exactly like Ryoichi (who is blond) because the thing the scientist injected in her enabled her to adapt to the water and she's still a mutatn but Less Evil Somehow and he's like i thOUGHT U DIED.... I ACTUALLY LOVE YOU..

then epilogue is the scientist goign through his life normally and the city is recovered from the insect swarm and he sees another random global warming thing in the news and is like

“its only a matter of time before humanity perishes, but now is not that time....we're good.............,,,,,,,for now...and i know somewhere underwater something of humanity's legacy will live on”

and it cuts to ryoichi and kikuchi hugging in a very Shape of Water way underwater with tentacle thigns cause they went to live in the ocean

then there s a bad window for a sequel showing the teacher guy - SURPRISE - not actuially dead and crunching on humans in a sewer somewhere

STILL A FUN READ

#summary #review #manga #insect princess #mushihime #mushi hime #trashpost

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stilinskiimagines · 7 years

Text

Thin Layer//Stiles Stilinski&Void!Stiles

Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall, Derek Hale, Reader.

Stiles was Void. There was no explanation yet, you only knew the term. He was in and out all the time but you were the one taking care of him. Why’d they stick you with the job? Who knows, he didn’t even like you all that much.

“Stiles?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. It’s me.” He sighed as he sat up, he was handcuffed to his bed by his ankles. Derek took the key.

“How are you?” You tried to smile.

“Oh, y'know my body’s possessed so I’m feeling great. I’m jazzed.” He rolled his eyes.

You scoff. “Yeah. Okay.” You sigh and get up. “You hit me earlier…so thanks for that.”

“I hit you?” His face fell.

“Yeah..I..I mean it’s starting to bruise but I’m okay. A black eye doesn’t compare to being possessed.” You shrug and look out the window.

“I hit you…? Like, I punched you?” He tried to get up before remembering the shackles he was in.

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it?” He scoffs. “Y/N, I hit you.”

“You were void, you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“That’s no excuse.” He sighs.

“I’m fine. Are you hungry? Do you want any food or water?” You look at him.

He shakes his head. “Just water.”

You grab him a bottle from behind you and hand it to him.

“Why are you here anyway? I wouldn’t think you’d want to be alone with me.”

“Oh I don’t.” You sit on the bed. “I just would rather be here than at home doing nothing.” You shrug.

“Fair enough.”

You help him open and drink the water. “So when the Nogitsune takes over you have no memory of the things he’s done?”

He shakes his head, “Nope. It’s like someone else’s brain is there. The last thing I remember is where I was when it takes over.”

“Huh..very strange.” You zone out for a bit, when you come to Stiles is asleep. You get up slowly, trying to not make any noise. You gasp when you're grabbed by the shoulder.

“Hello, princess.” Stiles smirks. He stands, slamming you down onto the bed.

“Are you going to hit me again? Because, if you are just get it over with already.” You look up at him, the older boy obviously void.

“No…I won’t hit you.” His eyes quickly scan the room. He grabs a pair of handcuffs off of the desk and snaps them around your wrists. You see him reach for a flannel, he rolls it up and wraps it around your eyes. “I trust you not to scream. You know what’ll happen if you do.”

He picks you up and throws you over his shoulder, carrying you outside.

When he takes the blindfold off it’s dark. You can smell the humidity and you feel sticky. You’re in a basement.

“Hey, princess. How do you feel?” He gives you a lopsided grin. You feel goosebumps rise on your arms.

“Kidnapped. I feel kidnapped.” You sigh.

“No need to be angry about it, baby. If this is about me hitting you, that was all on me. I’m sorry.”

You roll your eyes, “Don’t call me baby.”

“So you like princess then?” He sits you in a chair.

“No, but if I argue against princess you’ll just give me another gross pet name.”

He chuckles, “You’re stubborn. I like that. I get what Stiles sees in you.” He ties you up in the chair.

“What?” You look up at him, very confused.

“Oh, you didn’t know.” He smiles and crosses his arms. “This is great.” He ties your legs to the chair.

“God, just tell me already.” You roll your eyes, kicking your legs to fight back.

He grabs your ankle and leans up, inches away from your face. “Don’t fight me, baby. I have no qualms about taking you right here.” He smirks. “See that? Right there.” He places a finger on your jugular and taps it. “I can feel and hear your pulse. It’s through the roof. I know you like this, seeing the boy you’re in love with possessed by an evil spirit. I know that you love seeing him in charge. This is just what you want, isn’t it?” He let’s go of your wrist and grips your chin, turning your face towards his.

You say nothing, just glare at him.

“Answer me, princess.” He tightens his grip on you.

You kick your leg up, aiming for his shin. He doesn’t even flinch at the contact.

“I said answer me.” His hand slides down to your neck

“Yes. Yes, I like when he’s in charge. This is what I want.”

He lets go of you, the bruises on your neck and chin already forming.

“I thought so.” He spat, continuing to tie you up.

You say nothing more, you just sit quietly.

“Did I upset my princess?” He squats in front of you.

“I’m not yours.” You whisper.

“Oh, I think you are. You are now.“

“Why did you pick me anyway? I’m human?” You turn away from him.

“Baby, that’s precisely the point. You’re a weakling. You’ll do what I say because I could kill you with a twitch of my pinky.”

“I can defend myself.”

He chuckles. “It’s sweet that you think so.” He stands up and walks away, doing something on Stiles’ phone.

“What’re you doing?” You mumble.

He doesn’t respond. He turns and looks at you, his face softening. “Y/N?”

“Stiles?” He nods and rushes over to you.

“What did I do? Y/N, I’m so sorry.” He cups your cheek and looks into your eyes.

“Listen, I think he intends on keeping me here. You have to get me out so I can leave.”

He begins to untie you. “Don’t tell me where you’re going. Take the Jeep too.”

“Why not?” You let out a sigh of relief as he releases your wrists.

“He’ll know. Y/N, please be careful. I can’t lose you. Especially not to him.”

“Stiles?”

“Yeah?”

“Why the sudden change in character? I thought you hated me.”

“Y/N, I don’t hate you. I can explain when this is all over, okay? Please be careful.” He releases your ankles. “Go somewhere safe. You know who to call.”

You nod and stand up. He pulls you to him and he hugs you. “Be careful. Please.” He kisses your forehead. “Go. Quickly.”

You nod and grab the keys to the Jeep before running outside.

You drive out to your thinking spot, it was hidden in the woods, behind a big oak tree. Two rocks met and formed a small little cubby, somewhere you’d discovered not long after you’d moved here. You parked his Jeep and walked the rest of the way, just in case.

You dialed Scott’s number and explained the situation.

“Stay where you are, I’ll get Derek and Deaton. I’ll call you when it’s safe, in the meanwhile don’t have any contact with Stiles whatsoever.”

You shiver, the cold already doing you in. "Okay. Scott, please hurry?”

“I’ll do my best.”

You hung up the phone and quickly slipped out of the cubby, jogging to the Jeep. You found a flannel lying in the back and you put it on, the extra layer making a world of difference. You return to your spot. After what feels like an eternity you fall asleep, warmth flooding your body as you close your eyes.

“Scott, is she okay? Scott answer me! Jesus Christ, someone please!”

“We don’t know, Stiles. Okay? Just shut up and let us figure this out.” Derek grunted.

You couldn’t see anything, everything you heard sounded like you were underwater.

You felt someone’s hand intertwine with yours. You felt lips against your hand. “Please be okay. I can’t lose you. Not now, not like this. I’m so sorry, Y/N.” It was Stiles.

You felt heat on you, it was nice. You could feel things without the pins and needles. “Stiles?” You tried to choke out.

“She’s trying to talk. Scott!” Stiles shouted. He squeezed your hand as he pushed hair from your face. “Talk to me, baby.”

“What the hell did you kidnap me for?” You sound hoarse.

He laughs as he helps you up, quickly lifting you up off of your feet. “Oh thank God. Are you okay? What happened? I think I remember some of it this time.”

“Hey, slow down.” Scott approached Stiles.

Stiles laughs nervously. “I’m sorry…I just-..are you okay? Really?”

You nod, his eyes scanning the bruises splattered across your body.

“I did that?”

You don’t say anything.

“Y/N, did I do that to you?”

“Yes…but I mean, it’s okay. I don’t blame you. You weren’t you.”

“Except I was. I remember some of it Y/N.” He looks like he might cry.

“I’m gonna…” Scott points towards Derek’s car before walking towards it.

You watch as a tear rolls down his face. “Stiles..” You walk over to him and he turns away from you.

“I hurt you, do you know how much it kills me to know that you have a black eye because of me? That you have little blue and black marks all over your body? Because of me?”

“Stiles.”

“If I could stop him I would. I really would. I just…It’s like I’m asleep. I can’t control anything. I could only see you.”

“Stiles.”

“I’m sorry that I’ve been such an ass to you. I thought maybe it would help me, but it only makes me feel worse about everything. I thought…I thought I was going to kill you. I would’ve…he would’ve. If not that, I was afraid you’d died out here. It’s below freezing, did you know that? I don’t know why you even came out here, or why Scott let you. I would’ve never guessed you were here.”

“For God’s sake, Stiles.”

“What?”

“Stop crying. Just shut up and let me talk.” You step in front of him, wiping the tears from his face with the sleeve of your shirt. “I..never thought I’d tell you this. I thought we’d graduate and go our separate ways, but being with Void earlier made me realize just how much I love you. I don’t think that that should be pushed away. I think we could have something really amazing here. I don’t care that he did this to me, I care that you’re okay. I want you to get better, I want you to not have to fight to stay conscious. The thought of you being drowned out permanently by him makes me want to die. Literally. So…” You chuckle as you watch more tears fall. “If you don’t stop crying and let me finish my speech, I’ll cry too.” He laughs with you and you wipe his eyes again.

“So, stop feeling bad about things you would never ever do, and feel good about the feelings I have for you. Void told me you have feelings for me, so I hope that’s right…considering I just poured my heart out here.”

“Having feelings for you is an understatement.” He laughs and hugs you tight, resting his head on yours. “I feel like you just said everything I was planning on saying to you.”

“Well, you know what would suffice?” You look up at him.

“Ditto.” The two of you say in unison.

“Stilinski, stop crying.” You laugh.

“I physically can’t, I’m stuck between being happy that you like me-”

“Love you.” You correct him.

“Sorry, love me and being upset that I hurt you.”

“If you don’t stop crying I’ll take my feelings back.”

“Okay, I’ll stop.” He laughs and kisses your forehead.

“We both need showers.” You crinkle your nose.

“Together?” He smirks.

“No, not together. I confessed my love for you like 30 seconds ago. Get it together.”

#teen wolf one shot #teen wolf fic #teen wolf imagine #teen wolf #tw #stiles stilinski #void!stiles #scott mccall #derek hale #dylan o'brien #tyler hoechlin #tyler posey #teen wolf smut #stilinskiimagines

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gnostic-heretic · 6 years

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i actually have an app i use to record my dreams when i feel they have some significance... don’t feel like sharing full journal entries but here’s some choice tags and themes i’ve noticed are recurrent: -towers, skyscrapers, churches, high buildings in general. can also be reverse (”tall” but in the sense of going deep into the ground) like basements deep underground, stairs that go underground. i remember one particularly disturbing dream in which a tower was made out of damp skin and flesh and went all the way into a basement. -eyes and in particular eye gore -bugs, parasites and maggots over me or inside me -fruit and rotten fruit -floods, oceans and drowning. there is one dream in particular i recorded in which i am a mermaid and to be punished i am given lungs so i can not breathe underwater... and i have to choose to either drown or die out of the water -running but i cannot run, like something heavy is holding my feet down or like running underwater except you’re not in the water, you just feel very slow and blocked and heavy, sometimes also with bikes? e.g. i’m trying to ride a bike but it’s so heavy and i have to put a lot of effort just for it to barely move. also paralysis in general (although this tag alone may refer to sleep paralysis which i experience pretty often)

overall... not trying to be edgy/ my dreams are not always this darksided, they’re mostly nonsense but these are the ones i remember more vividly

#the app is called dreammoods if you are interested #potentially upsetting and triggering content under the tag be warned #under the cut* lol lapsus

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ssbuniverse-blog · 5 years

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SUPER SMASH BROS UNIVERSE Part 1, Chapter 2: You Kongo

THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM…

The path to the Toadstool Mansion is now vastly different from what Peach remembers. She realized this when the road started to shake, the carriages were almost on their sides, and Toadsworth was clutching her waist. The carriage twisted and turned so much that the Luma burst at the impact. Midway through the rollercoaster ride she felt Toadsworth drift from her waist, he was knocked out. Then suddenly, after a fierce blow, Peach is knocked unconscious.

IN THE KONGO JUNGLE…

The inside of the carriage is in shambles; seat cushions are on the floor, the window is busted, and one of the doors is off. Peach wakes up to see the mess, there is a ringing in her head so she can’t focus on anything. She looks at her dress which is a little torn. Her body hurts, she feels for injuries. The side of her chest has a deep pain as she sits up. The Queen looks around to find herself in the cabin. Then, Peach runs out the door for Toadsworth, almost ignorant of her energy. Peach exhales as she sees Toadsworth standing outside the cabin, hands behind his back.

“It’s morning?” Peach looks at the sun rising behind the trees. They seem to be in a jungle.

“Seems you had a good nights rest,” Toadsworth says.

“This…is this the Kongo Jungle?” Peach asks.

“Sure smells like it,” Toadsworth ruffles his mustache and looks around.

“Where’s the Luma?”

“I’m afraid we lost her to the impact,” Toadsworth speaks quietly.

“Where is the Chancellor and Toad Minister?”

“I’m not sure Princ- Queen.”

“Well then let’s go!” Peach moves to the back of the carriage, she opens the trunk. “I just need to get my shoes…“ The trunk is empty, so all she has is her slippers.

“You want to go?” Toadsworth creeps closer to her.

“Yes, let’s go.”

“Peach,” Toadsworth hisses. “We do you expect we go? This is the jungle, we will die out there.”

“And we will die standing here,” Peach rips her dress, now it is more like a skirt. “I don’t want to wait for something to find us.”

“I think we find our way back to the castle, we must not be too far off.”

“And neither is Donkey Kong, he can probably already smell my perfume.”

“Please, I would not like to spend the first day of your reign preparing your will, Peach.”

“And I would not like to spend the first day of my reign cowering like I did for the past few years.”

“Listen,” Toadsworth gets quiet. “I know you feel like you have something to prove-“

“I do have something to prove,” Peach interrupts. “And I am not being reckless. The only problem we have in the Kongo Jungle is if we are left alone. Even King K. Rool won’t hurt us.”

“You have a lot of faith in these beasts.”

“These beasts have become my friends over the years.” Toadsworth has nothing left to say. Peach continues; “Right, let’s go!”

AT THE NORTHERN END OF THE KONGO JUNGLE…

Yoshi creeps through the trees and expects to find the river that leads to Yoshi’s Island. Instead, across the river, his native island is crushed against a long plains-like area. This must’ve been a result of the earthquake that happened throughout the jungle that night. Yoshi navigates his way through the trees to get closer to the new position of the island.

Yoshi can see movement as he is closer to the island. He then hears sounds coming from the island. He listens carefully and hears humans speaking. Next, screams from some of the yoshis! Next he smells smoke from a fire. These signs make him creep closer to the island in panic. Now that Yoshi can see better, he sees humans with swords and bows. He hears more screams from his own and from the humans. Yoshi stops. He turns the opposite direction and heads back to Peach’s Castle in fear of what might be happening on the island.

AT PEACH’S CASTLE…

Mario and Luigi stayed up the whole night. Luckily, Captain Toad and Toadette appeared to help out. They rescued the prisoners from the flooding dungeons and put them in a separate room. Some of the toad scientists were working on a scuba diving oxygen tank so Mario and Luigi could breathe underwater. The whole first story and basement of Queen Peach’s Castle is flooded. Everyone has been moved to higher floors, the furniture that could be salvaged has been, and the rest of the toads are camping out in the great hall.

Captain Toad brings Mario and Luigi out on his paddle boat. They coast outside of the main doors and into the long valley to the southeast point of the castle. Everything is flooded and now very muddy. They hear cries coming from the distance. There is a toad stranded on one of the hedges. Mario and Luigi paddle the boat towards him.

“Help!” the toad cries. “I can’t swim!” The toad jumps onto the paddle boat with the others. “What happened!?”

“We don’t know!” Luigi answers.

“Some of the other toads were able to climb the top of the castle wall, there is a huge lake covering the Mushroom Kingdom. They’re calling it the Wedding Lake.”

“What?” Mario asks surprised. “How’d ya get up there?”

“Come on I’ll show ya!” The toad directs them to a part of the rampart where the vines are nicely placed for climbing. “Right here.” Mario, Luigi, and Captain Toad start to climb the vines. “I’ll just stay here, I’m afraid of heights too.”

Then, Mario, Luigi, and Captain Toad climb the tall shrubbery rampart to the very top. Luigi makes the mistake of looking down; he feels his stomach drop. Mario and Captain Toad are mesmerized at the view of the castle from their height. The white castle and red roof shine in the sun, the flags are flapping only feet from them, and they are right next to the birds. The trio turns around to see water.

“All of the Mushroom Kingdom is…” Mario is astounded.

“Hey boss, any idea how this happened?” Captain Toad asks.

“Bowser maybe,” But Mario doesn’t believe that the Koopa King has the power to create a whole lake, right where the entire Mushroom Kingdom used to be.

“Boss?” Captain Toad looks back at the castle and the surrounding valley. He notices that there is a jungle that is awfully close. It never used to be that way before.

“Yeah?”

“Is that the Kongo Jungle over there?” Captain Toad asks.

“I guess it is.”

“It smells like it!” Luigi grabs his nose.

“Gee boss, what is it doing so close?” Captain Toad asks.

“We need to get back to the castle and get Rosalina!” Mario commands.

“Hey M-Mario, do you think you could carry me down?” Luigi asks.

Luigi latches onto his brother’s back Mario carries the both of them down. Mario is thinking that Rosalina will have some sort of perspective on what happened. She must’ve been able to see it all happen from the Space Observatory. They make it back to the boat and paddle back to the castle; returning the stranded toad back to safety.

Once back at the castle, Mario’s finds his Luma so he can call Rosalina. Usually the Luma likes to hide in his office, so he leaps over steps, avoids as many toads as he can, and makes it to his office to find no one. He could check the garden, right –its flooded. Mario runs too his room, one of the toads –Horacitoad? Mario can’t remember any of the governmental toads interrupts him. However, he runs past him anyway. Although Mario is rushing through the castle, he notices all of the goombas, koopas, and toads camped out. He asks them as he runs past them if they’ve seen a fat little star with a red hat on. One of the goombas tells him to check his room.

The doors to Mario’s room burst open from his kick. Looking out the balcony is his Luma snuggling up to his mom; Rosalina. She doesn’t seem to notice he walked in. Mario slows his pace so it seems like he isn’t in a panic. “I knew you’d come looking for me,” Rosalina is smirking. She turns around with the Luma mimicking her. “Seems like being the King Adjunct is a lot more work that you thought huh?”

“Yeah! Ima swamped!” Mario jokes. There is a pause in the room because the severity of the situation warrants a pause. “The whole Mushroom Kingdom is flooded.”

“I saw,” Rosalina responds. “I’m sorry this happened.”

“Yeah, but how did it happen?”

“It was almost instantly. I was away from my computer at the time. When I felt the shaking-“

“Wait! You’re saying you felt the earthquake too?” Mario asks.

“It seems to have been much more than an earthquake. Anyways, after…whatever happened, I looked at my computer and saw that most of the world had changed!”

“What is missing?”

“Everything, the Dry Dry Desert, New Donk City, and Delfino Ocean too!” Rosalina explains. “The only things left are Peach’s Castle, the Kongo Jungle, Yoshi’s Island, Sarasaland…”

“What else?” Mario is anxious, he looks a lot like his brother right now.

“Bowser’s Castle,” Rosalina states. “Birdo’s Luma was just captured and destroyed by Kamek. I don’t know what’s happened to her.”

“Do you think Kamek could’ve done this?” Mario asks.

“I don’t think so,” Rosalina is serious. “Which is why I have reason to believe that there may be a new threat!”

“Do you think Bowser may be back then? AGAIN?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Mario sinks in his chair. After years and years of trying to stop Bowser from tormenting them, Mario thought he finally won. Bowser has never been capable of flooding an entire kingdom. Some other force is at work and it scares the hell out of Mario.

“I’m sorry but there is one more thing I need to tell you,” Rosalina admits. “While Peach was traveling to the Toadstool Mansion, her Luma warned me…there was a crash and her Luma didn’t survive the impact.”

Mario’s eyes start to swell. Rosalina can see him holding back his tears so she goes to comfort him. “I need to go find her,” Mario says. “I need to find her.”

“Sure. I can help guard the castle.”

“No.” Mario snaps. He then wipes his tears and clears his throat. All he can think of are a few words. There are no other thoughts that Mario can convince him of the few words that are stitched in his mind. He says them; “Rosy, there’s not much left to guard. The Mushroom Kingdom is completely flooded. No one is left besides us.”

“Mario…”

“I think we leave Peach’s Castle. Move the rest of the people to the Space Observatory. I’ll try and find Peach with Luigi.”

“I think that sounds like a great plan, Mario. I’ll get everyone together and teleport them to the Space Observatory.”

LATER IN THE KONGO JUNGLE…

The sun refuses to pass through the trees of the Kongo Jungle. Peach and Toadsworth are worried that if they travel for too long then they will be lost in darkness. They found some luggage on their journey, but didn’t find Peach’s shoes. She continues to walk in heels throughout the jungle and it is certainly the hardest challenge she has had to face yet. They are both certain that they traveled farther from the Mushroom Kingdom, so there is no turning back.

Toadsworth is worried about all the kritters and creatures that roam the jungle. They gather large leaves and sticks thinking believing that what they are doing is productive. As soon as they gather a fair amount of supplies, Toadsworth and Peach look at the pile. They don’t know how they are going to survive the night. All they have is a few suitcases and a pile of scraps.

“Peach,” Toadsworth whispers, almost defeated.

“Yes, Toadsworth?” she asks.

“If we don’t survive the night-“

“Don’t say that!” Peach tries to convince herself as much as she does Toadsworth.

There is a rustle in the trees. After being paranoid for so long in the jungle their senses have become heightened. Every slight movement in the trees doesn’t slip past their ears. However, this has only made them more aware of their immediate danger, which puts them more into a panic. The rustling doesn’t get louder but it gets clearer, whoever it is, is moving closer to them. The rustling draws nearer, until its right next to them, then stops.

Donkey Kong comes out of the bushes to see Peach and Toadsworth. There is a huge sigh of relief. Until DK nearly tackles them both, they’re mutually glad to see each other. DK smells Peach and coos.

“I told you he’d smell my perfume,” Peach laughs.

It seems as though DK has experienced some of the loss that the Toadstools have as well. The Kongo Jungle seems much smaller than it usually is. It has never backed up to Peach’s Castle, the earthquake must’ve caused the land to redecorate itself. But the source of this shift is still a mystery.

DK takes Peach and Toadstool in his arms and starts jumping through the jungle. They swing on vines and glide under the jungle canopy. Toadsworth has never felt this kind of rush before. Peach laughs at his anguish because she used to be like him.

Toadsworth’s stomach starts to turn as DK climbs down closer to the ground. He brings them to Kongo Falls, which has now been cut in half due to the shift. DK sees the terror in Toadsworth’s eyes. He then takes them to his camp. There it is only him, Diddy Kong, and Dixie. The rest of the Kongs are nowhere to be found.

“Princess –I mean, your highness, we can’t do this!” Toadsworth commands.

“Do what? Stay comfortably with our friends instead of out in the wilderness alone?”

Toadsworth ruffles his mustache again and quiets down. Peach climbs the vines into the tree house that the Kongs have built. As she disappears in the house Toadsworth looks around and realizes that he might as well compromise. Toadsworth climbs the vines and joins the others in the treehouse.

IN BOWSER’S KINGDOM…

Birdo climbs one of the spiral staircases to her room in Bowser’s Castle. She dreads doing this every time. She once tried to get Bowser to put a window in her room but instead he clawed a hole in the roof. She is winding up the spiral staircase and getting just dizzy enough to know it is the end. Birdo gets to her room and plops down on the bed. It has been a long day of tending Bowser’s wounds. Before she can even think about food she wanted to lie in her bed for a few minutes.

Birdo pulls out some food from her pouch that she smuggled for Luma. After placing it on the table she calls for her Luma. There is no response. Birdo calls again. But again there is no response. It’s odd, even if Luma wasn’t hungry she would come out from hiding. Birdo gets up to look around; the dresser and under the cushions are all empty. Suddenly, there is a poof! Birdo hears Kamek cackling.

“Kamek, what are you doing here?” Birdo asks.

“I’m coming to give you a message from Bowser,” Kamek says.

“What is it?” Birdo snaps.

“What’s in the dresser?” Kamek asks. He knows something is up with Birdo. “You don’t wear any clothes besides that bow on top of your head!”

“What does Bowser need?” Birdo asks.

“He needs you to stop being a spy for the Mario Brothers!” Kamek says.

“I don’t-“

“DON’T!” Kamek starts. “Try to deny it! I found THIS last night,” Kamek shows Birdo her wedding invitation. “How was it? Lots of mushroom soup?”

“Where’s the Luma?” Birdo asks frantically.

“Destroyed, I know Rosalina has taught those little stars how to whisper to each other.”

“What are you going to do?”

“No, the question is what are YOU going to do?”

“What are YOU going to do?” Birdo quips.

“YOU are going to watch as we fly across the Wedding Lake then go straight to the dungeons!” Kamek laughs. Then with a swish of Kamek’s wand, Birdo finds herself outside.

An airship floats in the sky above Bowser’s Castle, the koopalings all prepare their clown cars as if for a battle. The canons are loaded, the hammer bros have sharpened their hammers, and the horde of goombas is ready to charge. Kamek flies up towards Bowser, who sits at the helm of the ship.

“We ready to go?” Bowser asks.

“Let’s go,” Kamek responds. With that Bowser commands the air fleet to charge forward. As they leave Bowser’s Kingdom they see a great lake overstretch the horizon. “Kamek! What happened to the Mushroom Kingdom?”

“A lake appeared after the earthquake, they’re calling it Wedding Lake. After Mario and Peach’s wedding.”

“Wedding!? Maybe we’ll catch them before their honeymoon!” Bowser’s jaw starts drooling with crave. He’ll be able to challenge Mario once again. Any fatigue he has been feeling since has passed, now the excitement of fighting Mario has given him energy. Hammer brothers escort Birdo to her cell.

The airship reaches the brink of the Wedding Lake and see the flooded castle. Bowser jumps off the airship and crashes into the roof, he breaks the roof and lands in the great hall. No one is around, not a toad is in sight. The wedding decorations are still up too. Bowser walks down the main staircase and sees no one. The koopalings fly into the castle from the front entrance. They have seen no one either. There is a wave of realization that pours over Bowser. For some reason everyone in the castle is gone, the toads, Peach, and Mario have all abandoned the Mushroom Kingdom. Flames pour from Bowser’s mouth and heats up the water in the castle. It now turns into a boiling hot spring.

<< < > >>

#super smash bros universe #two #mario #luigi #peach #yoshi #donkey kong #bowser

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nerd-chronicals · 5 years

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Here’s Something I wrote for my class and wanted to share with you guys because I thought it was pretty good

‘I am a doomsday prepper I am prepared for any catastrophe that can happen’ that's what I thought. I stayed during the evacuation. It was a mistake, I thought I could just ride it out but I was wrong. Everything was gone. The water covered everything. I'm a prepper I thought I had enough supplies and everything would be okay. Well I did have enough supplies but I wasn't ready for the isolation, or for the chaos and destruction that followed.

The day before it hit I pulled about two weeks of non perishables and water from the basement and put them in the bathtub I remember I had three or four jars of peanut butter it keeps well and it can keep a person full for a while. First I boarded my windows outside then I went back in. Once inside I lined all the doors and windows with towels. I made sure that everything was sealed then I went to bed even if it was as bad as it was supposed to be I should be fine. I woke up to the wind screaming. I could heard the siding being peeled off of my home. I was scared out of my mind but I was fine, physically anyway.

At first everything was going well, I mean as well as the situation could. My home was holding up but then water started coming in and I couldn't stop it. I shoved my food into the first bag I could find and climbed the stairs I could feel the water licking my heels. I ended up staying in my attic. The attic is an old hot stuffy room, the worst in the house but it is dry.

I've never been good at keeping track of time. It seems to slip by unnoticed by my mind, and that was when I had a schedule but isolated time means nothing. I think it's been two days since I've seen anyone. I've put a dent in my rations. There's still food but I'm worried about my water, with the heat I’m drinking more than what I saved from the flood water. Ironic I might die of dehydration surrounded by water. I see water out the window all grey and full of debris, the water that climbed my stairs isn't much better its still grey just less debris.

The heat and isolation were unbearable. I didn't have a phone to call my friends and family to see if everyone was okay and no radio or tv to get the news. I never thought being alone could be so draining. With noone to talk to I had no energy and my will to keep trying was starting to slip away.

I heard a helicopter so I climbed onto my roof. They passed me. I could hear the helicopter get quieter as it gets further and further away. I dropped like a stone and just sat there for a while. Then I grabbed old sheets from one of the boxes I could reach and I stretched it out on the roof. After spreading out that sheet I searched the boxes for spray paint, I had some from an old project then spelled out ‘HELP’ on the sheets. When I was done I took a moment be grateful for my packrat tendencies.

I heard an engine, someone was in a boat. I was so grateful to see another person. I recognized the boat, it was Mrs. Donner from down the street when she passed my house I got her attention. After I got down she helped me get into her boat. I had brought my bag of food and water not that there was much left.

Mrs. Donner needed water she had run out the day before so I gave her a bottle and some food. While she drank I moved us away from the house. She had decided to try to get somewhere else, ‘anywhere that wasn't underwater’ she said. I could blame her and I was thankful she decided to help me. She could have just gone on past me and left me there but she didn't.

We managed to get to land. Neither of us were good with directions and with the chaos and destruction, we couldn't figure out where we were. We stuck together for fear of what could happen. I noticed there was a body covered with a blanket on the side of the street and felt sick to my stomach. Before I do anything I heaved, there wasn't much in me to come up but the action still burned my throat. Mrs. Donner on the other hand still had a little food in her system and she puked. We walked around but couldn't find anyone. We went back to the boat when it became too hot to move. I remember the sun beating down and the stench of death was overwhelming.

I remember we were talking about anything and everything to keep our minds off of what we had seen while searching . I learned her name was Amanda. She told me her husband was away on business and that she couldn't get a hold of him after the second day of being stranded because her phone had died. The boat was her husbands and she barely knew how to operate the thing but she was out of food and she couldn't stay where she was anymore. I joked that ‘Well desperation is a great motivator’. I also learned that she was a teacher. Amanda learned that I live alone and since I was more of a reclusive person I didn't have many people to contact. As darkness settled we agreed that someone would sleep while the other stays awake because ‘who knows what could happen in conditions like this’. When it was my turn to stay awake I climbed out of the boat and took the time to help Amanda into the boat. She told me while she was up she heard a noise and told me to be careful. I assured her that it was probably just an animal. During my watch I heard a scurrying noise but when I turned to investigate someone rushed at me knocking me down. My glasses cracked when my face hit the ground. While I was still disoriented he tried to make a grab at the water we had. I managed to push him away. The person took another swing at me and I went down. Amanda pulled him off of me and he ran off. After making sure that he was gone she helped me to the boat. I don't remember anything else that night.

#not gunmen #but still my writing #Please request stuff

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fountainpenguin · 7 years

Note

So... In your "Zone Swap" idea, does Jazz figure out Danny's secret like she does in the main series? And if so, does she try to help keep his secret without letting him know she's figured it out?

Heh heh. It’s not much of a secret, really. I’ll jot out some AU basics here because I’m still trying to figure them out myself and decide where Jazz fits best in the AU. This is kind of a rough draft, so details may change later. Skim to the bold parts if you want to see the answer to your actual question; this first part is just some “ChalkZone” babble as I gather my thoughts on secret identities.

My goal with ZoneSwap is to swap some signature parts of both “Danny Phantom” and “ChalkZone”, but still keep the characters as in-character as possible where I can while taking into account all the ways the worldbuilding has been flipped and taking creative liberties as necessary (like making Tucker a ghost to give Danny motivation to visit and protect the Ghost Zone).

As a result of this swap, Rudy can now “go chalk”, turning into Snap, and even use the magic chalk in the RealWorld (though the effects only last as long as he stays in chalk form, and erase when he switches to normal). I’ve said that he can switch at will, but really, he needs to be standing inside a closed chalk shape like a circle or a square or whatever. If he can’t find one and he doesn’t have chalk of his own on hand, he’s stuck.

He can no longer create portals at will, and has to find them instead. I think they pop up on certain chalk surfaces at random, kind of like the Ghost Zone ones do: for example, instead of drawing the underwater portal in “Water Water Everywhere”, it would have opened itself, flooding the quarry, and Rudy only would have known about it once it started attracting attention.

I can’t decide yet if he would have tried to repair the breach while in regular form or chalk form. Hmm. I’m thinking the ZoneSwap version of this episode would share some similarities with “Life Lessons” from “Danny Phantom”, by which I mean that Reggie would go chalk and try to help Rudy save the town.

Ooh, yes. They go chalk and have to act like they get along in public because the whole town sees them and thinks they’re superhero and sidekick or something, even though they can’t stand each other. Then when the rain finally arrives, he and Reggie end up stuck under a ledge or something in the quarry / nearby area and have to watch the water rise while Penny runs frantically off in search of an umbrella, heh heh.

As much as Reggie doesn’t care for the wonders of ChalkZone, he still appreciates the world as his escape from reality, and he doesn’t want to see it found or destroyed. Presumably, he’d use his cape like a scarf to hide his face and better conceal his identity. Gotta have secret identities! (So, for the most part, it’s Rudy who has the secret identity now, not Danny).

Rudy also has to deal with dangerous Zoners escaping into the RealWorld, and Reggie the Red, Vinnie, and Terry are bigger threats too. Finally, he’ll dissolve in water if he’s in chalk form and it will hurt a lot.

Danny, following his being zapped by his parents’ basement portal, still has ghost powers, but in this AU they only work in the Ghost Zone. Even though the Phantom look doesn’t carry over, he still calls himself by that name when addressing other ghosts, because they feel more comfortable with him that way.

He still has ghost enemies, but makes lots of ghost friends too, including Tucker, who’s been dead for the last two years. He can also create portals into the Ghost Zone through the thermos at will, but only so many before the thermos has to be recharged. Probably by dipping it in the portal in the basement and filling it with “ghost soup”.

ZS!Danny’s entire deal is, whereas Rudy is a fighter now, Danny becomes a lover kind of by default. For some reason or another, ghosts can’t survive outside of the Zone for longer than a few hours or days (not sure how long yet, but preferably hours for plot reasons). This might be because they can’t breathe, or they can’t maintain their connection to the world (the assumption being that the Zone is the only thing that keeps them grounded) and they fade away permanently.

There would need to be a definite negative association with fading for Danny to react the way he does, so perhaps instead of just fading, a ghost becomes “corrupted” when away from the Zone too long. They might start to dissolve, losing pieces of themself and some of their sanity. Ghosts who were once friendly, helpful spirits might transform into bitter nightmare creatures and act like feral or even rabid animals. Yes, now we’re getting somewhere.

Anyway, unfortunately, lots of ghosts either don’t know this, or believe it won’t happen to them (Imagine the stories that get in the news sometimes about parents putting their kids in risky situations at national parks, such as by spreading honey on their children to attract bears. Or compare it to teens who regularly have unprotected sex but don’t consider the possibility of getting pregnant or contracting STDs. That sort of mindset. “This is the kind of thing that happens to someone else”, “I’ll be careful”, “I know what I’m doing”, etc.)

Let’s face it: The Human Realm is attractive to ghosts. Technus wants to get his hands on all the flashy electronics that Walker doesn’t allow in the Ghost Zone. Skulker wants to hunt. Box Ghost wants to add to his collection. Ember wants to play her music in front of adoring teen crowds. Tucker wants to hang out with his friends. Other ghosts want to explore, visit friends and family, or just simply cause trouble.

Danny has watched his parents chase down countless of these “rogue” ghosts that I compared to feral, rabid animals here. And they’re terrifying. After reuniting with Tucker in the “pilot episode”, I presume, he learns some missing pieces from Tuck and puts together this whole “being away from the Zone too long makes these ghosts lose themselves”.

So, he and Sam take it upon themselves to inform all the ghosts about such dangers / keep tabs on which ghosts are out and prioritize which ones need to be caught and returned first. Unfortunately, Danny probably gets pegged as a liar or something, so few ghosts are willing to go quietly back to the Zone and he has to lure them into the portals he creates with the thermos.

And there are some ghosts who are well aware of the danger, but come to him seeking aid, so he has to solve their problems, I guess. Something like that.

Basically Danny’s existence revolves around befriending the restless spirits he can and trying to better their afterlives while having a strict “ghosts are supposed to stay in the Ghost Zone” policy that no one listens to (especially a guy named Vlad who wants to exploit ghosts in some way, possibly by making them pay to leave the Zone? My original idea was that he firmly believed ghosts should be free, but I’m not sure how that will work with this “rabid ghost concept. And later in the series he’d start sending them Danny’s way by painting him as a villain for trapping him… I’m thinking Vlad had a daughter named Ellen who just recently died and he’s also trying to find her. Hmm… Thoughts?)

And of course, on the flipside, Rudy plays hero by keeping Skrawl, Craniac, and various other baddies in ChalkZone while at the same time keeping Vinnie and Terry out of it, and dealing with his school life and Reggie. He has to go chalk in order to draw stuff with the magic chalk, and he’d draw lots of things to fight for him (as opposed to attacking physically) while of course sticking to his oath to never again draw a living thing because he can’t handle the stress.

I’m loosely trying to imagine these two shows as if they were designed and written by the writers of the opposite show, therefore resulting in CZ being a darker and more actiony show and DP being cuter and more focused on world-building. That’s kind of tough though, because I can’t just remove all the awesome worldbuilding from “ChalkZone”, and a show about teenagers and ghosts tends to be angsty by default. I’m trying to find a middle ground.

To answer your actual question, everyone in Amity Park thinks ZS!Danny is a loon who runs around being a goofy ghost hunter like his parents. Since Danny can’t use his powers in the Human Realm, Valerie is Amity Park’s big hero. Instead of Phantom getting his name dragged through the dirt, the citizens of Amity Park by default attribute all of Danny’s good deeds to her, even if she only showed up at the very last minute when the cameras arrived. It’s equally as annoying to him as it was when everyone considered Phantom a villain.

Jazz would have to go into the Ghost Zone to realize that Danny has these ghostly abilities. In the Human Realm, he has to chase ghosts while fully human. Their parents would obviously be thrilled that he wants to join them in the family ghost-hunting business.

BUT Danny is trying to help and rescue ghosts, while his parents want to catch and study them. I think the big secret for Jazz to learn in this AU would be that Danny is using the portal despite their parents thinking it doesn’t work.

She would learn (possibly during that “Snap Out of Water” parody that I nicknamed “Tuck, Tuck, Loose”) that Tuck is a ghost now, and Danny and Sam are friends with him and regularly sneak off to visit the Ghost Zone. I think she would want to be helpful, but her helpfulness probably has its limits.

Jack and Maddie, I guess, would be very worried/upset with A) Danny for befriending a ghost behind their back, B) the fact that he’s been getting in their way and preventing them from catching ghosts, and/or C) having potentially dangerous adventures in the Ghost Zone, or something along those lines. Once Vlad becomes involved, that would add another factor into the equation.

OR! About a year ago, Bill Burnett (one of “ChalkZone”’s co-creators) confirmed that a human who spends 24+ hours straight in ChalkZone will turn into a Zoner permanently, and said that if the show hadn’t stopped airing, we would have met a “British aristocrat kid” who had suffered this fate, and who teamed up with Skrawl in a big special episode (and Bill hints that this is why Skrawl kept stealing magic chalk since only a human can use it, even though we never found out why he was doing this in the show itself).

So, I could take that detail and add it to this AU too- ZS!Jazz might find out through her parents (or probably Vlad) that the more time ZS!Danny spends in the Ghost Zone, the more corrupted and “rabid ghost-like” he’ll become (possibly because he’s half-ghost, so Sam might be immune). She might tell Danny this, but he would be upset, and they’d get into a fight over who knows more about ghosts, since he’s the one who’s visited the Zone more.

Maybe he would begin showing signs of feral/rabid corruption, and she has to keep this from their parents while she struggles to find a cure, despite Danny constantly snapping at her that he’s fine and she needs to get off his back. With him being partly dead, maybe he suffers the same way as the other ghosts when he’s not in the Zone, but his development was delayed. So like, he can’t stay in the Ghost Zone without negative side effects, but he can’t stay out of it without negative side effects either.

If ZoneSwap were a show then Danny would probably show subtle signs the whole season, but the topic of his corruption would probably be the Season 1 finale or something, or maybe Season 2 (Personally I like the idea of Dash building a thermos of his own - possibly with Vlad’s help - as the last scene of Season 1 so he and Danny have the same weapon as a nod to Reggie and Rudy both using magic chalk in “Reggie the Red”, so we’ll make it Season 2).

So yes, in a way, Jazz would discover Danny’s ghost side. Even if he doesn’t become the same exact Phantom he does in canon, he’s still half dead and would presumably be of interest to his ghost-hunting parents, so she does her best to keep him off their radar.

I’m still kind of working out the details, but I’m getting there! I have some vague plans for this AU already figured out, but most of this I’m making things up as I go and get to answer Asks like this~

#ZoneSwap AU #Going Ghost!#Rudys got the chalk!#Ghost Getter Number 1 #asks #Anon #Main Phantom trio #The Val gal #Chalkmeister

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slythsith · 7 years

Text

A Not-So-Small Writing Update on Aiden’s Story

3-08-02

Aiden drummed the table excitedly. Mom had decided to let him start kindergarten today! Of course, she had her rules: wear the bandage, wear layers, don’t let them see the wings.It didn’t matter to him though , he was finally getting to go to school!

He sprung up from the table. He had to find Chase. Chase was his brother, three years older. Mom never had any problem with him going to school; he didn’t have feathered appendages sprouting out of his back. Chase was always there for him, and Mom wouldn’t be home to tell about his day for hours, same with Dad.

Aiden walked down the hall and knocked on the first door on the right. “Chase?”

“Yeah?” Chase called from inside his room. Aiden opened the door and stepped inside. His brother sat on his bed, putting together a set of Legos. He looked up. “Oh, how was school?” He asked and smiled. Aiden hadn’t shut up about his excitement since Friday night when Mom said he’d be attending Monday.

Aiden beamed and scrambled up on the mattress to sit with his brother. “It was awesome! Ms. Green says I’m ahead of schedule, most of the other kids can’t read yet!”

Chase grinned. “I’m glad you had fun. Wanna play?” He gestured to the Lego set. Aiden picked up a few blocks and began playing.

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Supper was full of the school centered blabbering of the five year old. Mom had even made baked potatoes- his favorite food- to celebrate. She then promptly sent him to bed at eight. Aiden laid in bed for what felt like forever, too antsy to rest. Images kept sputtering in and out of view in his mind. … Clowns? Spiders? … Death?! It was a little terrifying, but somehow… It wasn’t. He felt fear, but it wasn’t his fear. He focused in on the details of one image, trying to decipher it. It was a room, all white. He stood in the center. Nothing seemed weird; it was just a room. Then, it began to close in on him. The room was shrinking. A chill went down Aiden’s spine and his eyes glowed a bright blue (though he didn’t know that second part.) He couldn’t find a way out. No door, nothing. He was stuck in a white cube that was going to crush him. Why wasn’t he more terrified? He wondered. He didn’t know how to explain it, but he felt a general sense of fear and panic, but not his own. Soon the scene had him completely crushed by the walls, and then it ended. He was back in his bed like nothing had happened. He rolled over, troubled, and tried to sleep.

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3-09-02

Aiden’s mom woke him up for school at 7. They walked down to the dining room, and Aiden sat at the table and pulled on his shoes. His mom made a quick batch of scrambled eggs, then set them in front of Aiden. Chase came to the table a moment later, and she did the same for him. She sat down with them. She looked tired, a little distraught, and far away.

“Mom, are you okay?” Chase asked. Aiden looked up at her with a mouthful of eggs for her response.

“Just had a rough night. Bad dreams, that’s all.” She smiled weakly. Aiden raised a brow.

“I did, too.” Aiden supplied. “But it didn’t feel like me. I wasn’t scared.”

His mother thought this was just typical, brave, boasting five year old antics, and she smiled. “Of course it didn’t scare you, my brave boy. What was it?”

“I was in a room- or, someone was, it wasn’t me. It was all white. And no doors or anything. Trapped. And then the room got smaller, and smaller, until it crushed me." Aiden explained, then looked back at his mother. She'd paled and looked more distressed than before. "Mommy?" Aiden called. He frowned, theorizing. He knew it wasn’t him in the white room, and he couldn’t help but ask. "Did I cause your dream?"

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Aiden got home from school at 2:40pm. He made a Lego racetrack with Chase and (unsuccessfully) tried to race Matchbox cars down it. At five, Dad came home. He said Mom would be home late. She had some extra paperwork to finish. He told Chase to go take a bath, Aiden to go to his room, then switch. He would make supper in the meantime.

Aiden walked to his room and laid down. The images hadn't stopped, but he hadn't searched out any others, even though Mom denied any relation the previous night, but the collection was growing… More and more horrific images flooded his mind. It was harder to ignore or push to the back of his brain. Suddenly, one brought itself forward as an icy chill went down his spine. He hadn't pulled it forward, and he wasn't strong enough to shove it back. He was in water, tons of it. That’s all he saw for miles, and something was pulling him down.

Something heavy was dragging him under the current. He gasped for air and flailed his arms to remain above water. But the water was stronger than him. He was taken under, submerged. He knew, logically, that he could breathe, that he wasn’t drowning, but the situation panicked him regardless and made breathing difficult. He tried to end or stop the scene, but his efforts just resulted in a searing headache. He felt the body in the ocean scene sink.

Drowning.

Dead.

Then it faded to reality. Oh no. Oh no. His mind was racing. That was much more terrifying than the white room, whether it was actually happening to him or not. He checked his clock. It’d been fifty-one minutes since Chase got in the bath. And he was normally out in half that time. Aiden frowned and got up, knocking on the bathroom door.

“Chase, c’mon, I still have to get in there.” Aiden plead.

Silence.

“Chase.”

Nothing.

Aiden furrowed his brows. He knocked a few more times. Chase would do this, every so often, ignore people to get a rise out of them, for fun. It was all well meaning, though. “I’m going to get Dad.” He meant to sound threatening, or taunting, to convince Chase to talk, but residual fear left a tremor in his voice. He walked down the hall.

“Dad?”

Aiden’s father was grilling something on a skillet. “Yeah?”

“Chase is still in the bathtub. I don’t know what to do. It’s been an hour.”

He frowned and turned the stove off. “Go back to your room. I’ll come get you when he’s out.” Aiden nodded and went back to his room. His dad knocked on the bathroom door, essentially repeating what Aiden had done. The continued non-response twisted his stomach. He threatened grounding, even, to get any kind of answer.

Nothing.

And then he opened the door.

The body of a 9 year old boy lay submerged in bloody water. There was a splatter of blood- smeared by his body and a splash of water- on the back rim of the tub, originating from a deep wound on the back of Chase’s skull. A collision wound. He had been thrown down with enough force to split his head open, and was held there, under water, by something stronger than him.

His dad cried loudly. He scrambled to pin a chair against Aiden’s door to prevent the young boy from seeing the horrific scene. He dialed 911, and then his wife. Both arrived expediently.

Aiden pounded on his door. Dad never cried. “Daddy?!” He shouted, panicked. Why couldn’t he open his door? “Let me out!” But no one did. And the increasingly loud sirens were causing him to panic. Something was definitely wrong.

“Aiden, baby, I need you to close your eyes. We’re gonna go outside. But you can’t look on your way out. You hear me?” Mom’s voice trembled, but remained harsh and commanding.

“What’s going on?” Aiden asked, pressing himself as close as he could to the door. Those sirens were definitely for his house. “What happened?”

“I’ll explain everything outside, okay? Just close your eyes.” Aiden could practically hear the tears in her speech. He started crying as well, terrified of whatever was happening. He closed his eyes.

“Okay, I closed them.”

Aiden’s mom opened the door and picked him up. She cradled his head in her neck, blinding him in case he were to peek. She cringed and turned away from the bathroom, not wanting to see it again herself. She set Aiden down outside, on the front patio.

“Can I open my eyes now?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Aiden opened his eyes. His mother’s eyes were sunken in and puffy. “Mommy? What’s going on?”

His mom burst into tears. She tugged her son to her chest in a tight hug. Aiden hugged her back, frightened. She took a deep breath. “Chase…” She shook her head, crying. What about Chase? Is he okay? Aiden thought. “Your dad found him in the bathtub. He wasn’t breathing.” She didn’t see the point in, nor did she want to, go over the gory details.

Aiden’s heart stopped. “No.” He whispered, eyes wide and red with brewing tears.

His mom nodded as her face contorted grotesquely with her tears. She pulled him closer again and they both bawled. But Aiden had more reason than just mourning.

“Mom… I think I killed him…” He breathed raggedly into her shoulder, her sleeve drenched in tears.

“No, baby,” She shook her head.

“I saw someone drowning. I… I felt them. While he was in there. The same sort of thing from last night.”

His mom opened wide eyes, but they were buried in Aiden’s shoulder so he couldn’t see.

The entire scenario made no sense, with physics and logic. The force it would take to break someone’s skull against a tub was way, way more than a slip and fall. And then, by the looks of it, he was pinned underwater. Suffocated. There was no one in the room with him to do any of that. And that’s exactly how she felt last night: pinned and helpless. And if Aiden knew something about this, or was somehow causing it…

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3-10-02

Needless to say, it was a rough night in the Phillips household. No one slept. Aiden was told to go to the basement, and that he could watch movies. His parents called him off school for the following day. They went off to their bedroom, and Aiden tried his best to not hear the crying and breaking voices that tore his heart to shreds. Around nine in the morning, his parents came downstairs. Aiden paused what he was currently watching, a Peter Pan movie that came out a month ago. His parents sat on the couch beside him, careful not to topple his blanket fort. “We think something serious is going on here, and we want to help you.” His mom began. “I… don’t know how, but I do think there’s a relation between whatever you are seeing and the situations going on in this house.”

Aiden looked up at her, then at his dad. He didn’t like how nervous she sounded.

“We did some research, and apparently you aren’t the first to exhibit strange behaviors and abilities and… appendages.” Dad said, looking round to Aiden’s back. Aiden shrunk under his gaze. He couldn’t help still feeling so guilty. Especially after Mom pretty clearly confirmed it. “There’s a company who’s been doing a lot of research, and trying to help and cure people like this.” Cure? Everything about this conversation was going downhill.

“They, uh,” Mom took a shaky breath and ran a hand through her hair. “They need you to go there though. While they’re working with you, you’ll live with them.” Aiden’s eyes widened in panic. No, no, no. They’re sending me away. “We think, for your safety and everyone else’s, it's our best option.”

“Mom, please, no, don’t send me away!” Aiden begged, voice coated in tears. “I’ll… I’ll do better. I can’t… I can’t leave you guys,”

“They’re at the front door with your bags. We need you to go.” His dad spoke. Aiden bawled. This could not be happening. He refused to move, and tried to bury himself into his fort, to become flush with the couch. He screamed when he felt his father’s hands rip him away from the couch, and carry him, thrashing, up the stairs to unfamiliar hands. He heard a deep gravely voice ask a question, and his father reply, but he was too busy trying to get away, too busy screaming, to hear. He felt a sharp pinch in his neck, and then he lost consciousness.

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3-11-02

Aiden blinked. His eyelids were heavy, like he was drugged. He squinted as his eyes took in the bright scenery. His arms were pinned down to leather armrests at his sides. The walls were a sickening, watered down green; the floors a recently waxed black tile. Everything was astonishingly clean: he could see his reflection off the floor tiles, and there wasn’t a speck of dirt or dust in sight. He’d been stripped down to underwear, and put in a scratchy set of cheap sweatpants and a tank top with rips in the back for his wings. Despite the undoubtable panic, he did appreciate the tank top; he’d never worn anything that allowed him to move the wings. His heart raced. He had no idea where he was, and he just wanted to go home to his family.

What was left of it, anyway.

The memory came back so suddenly and he cried. Chase. His head fell limp, chin to chest as he sobbed. All was lost. His brother was dead and his parents disowned him. His body shook as he was overcome with grief and terror. He didn’t even notice the desk behind him, nor the man sitting at it.

“Oh, you’re awake.” The man swiveled his chair around to face Aiden, showing no concern for the boy. “I’m Dr. Rhett King, I’ll be in charge of your case.”

Aiden looked at him through watery eyes. He looked similar to his own father, which twisted the knife in his heart. He looked to be in his early 30s, with piercingly light blue eyes and light brown hair, with a little wave. It seemed to be a short hairstyle, but it had grown some since his last haircut, and was starting to lie flat on his head if combed back. His jaw was covered in a stubbly beard. He looked like a normal dad, only maybe with significant wealth. He wore ironed black slacks and a tan button up, which was tucked into his waistband and had the sleeves rolled up neatly to his elbows.

“Your parents told me about the wings, and that you seemed to cause visions related to fear. Is this correct?” Dr. King asked, putting an unwelcome hand on Aiden’s shoulder. Aiden didn’t reply, still in too much shock to make any social remark.

“Aiden, we are here to help and learn more about kids like you. If you don’t tell me what is going on, how can I help?” He took off the restraints on his wrists, and set a box of tissues on his lap. Aiden let his arms fall limp in his lap, but made no move for the tissues.

“We are- sorry- about your brother’s accident.” He said it so unnaturally, like it hurt to speak the words. “But there are bigger matters at hand.”

Aiden looked up, fire swirling in his eyes. “Bigger matters? Bigger matters?” He screamed then continued bawling, his body shaking with each breath.

Dr. King exhaled and grabbed a clipboard from his desk. “How does it work?”

Aiden felt helpless, and knew this man wouldn’t leave until he got at least something. “What?”

“Your ability. How does it work?”

Aiden kept his eyes down. “I don’t know… I- I see images of scary things and if i focus on one, it happens to someone.”

“When did you get the wings?” He asked, peering around Aiden’s back to examine them.

“Mom…” Aiden cringed at the word, reminded of his loss. “She said it was February 5th.”

“And the first time your ability showed up?” Dr. King scrambled to write on his clipboard as Aiden spoke.

“Monday night,” Aiden swallowed thickly, choking down tears.

The doctor nodded and stood up. He walked out of the room without a word. Aiden looked around, now able to move and see his surroundings.

He was sat in a rubbery leather chair, similar to the ones he’d seen at doctor’s offices. There was a cabinet to his left, with five drawers and just as many cabinet doors right under them. There was a small tray of gleaming silver objects on the counter, and they didn’t look too friendly.

To his right, there was a steel bench with small cushions to give the impression that they might actually be comfortable. In front of him seemed to be a mirror, though upon closer examination, he realized it was one way glass.

He stretched to look behind the chair he was in, and saw the extent of a lavish workdesk. A nameplate with the words “Dr. Rhett King” laid in front of two computer monitors. More tabs than Aiden could count were open, most pages loaded with words upon words- big words that he didn’t know. On a shelf above the computer, was a line of pictures. One with a young boy with shaggy dark brown hair, laying on his stomach with hands under his chin, smiling from ear to ear. The boy looked about his age. Opposite that picture was a younger girl with long hair just a shade lighter, sitting with her legs fanned out to her side. In the middle was a portrait of the two together. Another shelf to the right of the pictures displayed three diplomas and Certificate of Appreciations, all addressed to the same man. Below that was a long cabinet door with faux shutters; Aiden couldn’t see inside them.

Dr. King walked back inside with a small styrofoam tray. A plastic glass of water laid in one compartment, and the looks of a Hot Pocket laid in the center. Beside it was a small medicine cup with a purple liquid, adjacent to a Chips Ahoy cookie. He set the tray on the counter to Aiden's left, then rounded to sit on the bench on his right. He weaved his fingers together on his lap and looked over at the grief-stricken boy.

"That's your lunch, if you want it." Dr. King's tone had changed, not quite sympathetic, but patient.

Aiden did nothing for a moment, despite the fact that he hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours. The last meal he had was breakfast yesterday. Grief had weakened his appetite, though, and he simply rolled to his side to sleep, or process everything that’d happened; whichever came first.

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4-11-02

Dr. King walked in without knocking. Aiden raised a brow, suspicion and unease crawling over his skin. King wasn’t normally in until noon or later; he always sent his assistant in for meals and updates in the morning. Here he was, though, in Aiden’s room, at eight am. Aiden swiveled to sit upright, so he could see the approaching figure.

“Where’s Ashley?” Aiden questioned, regarding the assistant he saw every morning.

“We don’t need her today. I gave her the day off.” Dr. King knelt down to Aiden’s level. He reached over to the boy’s arm, and carefully removed the IV and other medical equipment. Aiden winced but watched him quizzically. He didn’t come in with new supplies; so he wasn’t changing them out…

“Follow me.” Dr. King stood up. He reached for the door handle and pulled it open. Aiden hesitantly stood. This was the first time he was being allowed out of this room. He’d been able to walk around in his own, but nowhere beyond those doors. Truthfully, he didn’t know anything about the rest of this building. He was unconscious when they brought him in.

King led him down a long hallway with white walls patterned with grey rectangles. He looked down at the floor, shiny, waxed black tile, and saw his reflection. It looked smaller than he remembered, thinner in the cheekbones, and probably elsewhere, but he couldn’t see much due to his oversized clothes. A door creaked open and he snapped his attention away from the floor, and his wide green eyes met King’s. He followed inside the room King had opened for them. The new room he’d entered was darker, but still relatively light. A light gray hue on the walls, and concrete floor painted white. A metal table sat in the center, with chairs on all four sides. A boy, maybe a year or two older than him, sat inside the room. He was Indian, with thick black hair in a mop ending above his eyes. King nudged Aiden to sit across from him. He hesitantly did so.

King took a seat adjacent to the two boys. “Aiden, Avi. You both have abilities that, to our understanding, act similarly. So, you’re going to work together.”

Avi didn’t seem nearly as confused or fearful as Aiden. “What do you mean…?” Aiden asked cautiously.

Dr. King, instead of answering, looked to Avi. “Show him what you can do.” He smiled authoritatively, proudly.

Avi in turn took a deep breath and stared at Aiden. His eyes seemed to grow darker- which didn’t seem possible, his eyes were nearly black- before Aiden no longer saw the room he was in, or Avi. He saw a long slideshow of videos and pictures; of a young boy with his mother, at the hospital, meeting a younger sibling for the first time. Pictures flashed in progression until that same boy became, undoubtedly, the boy in front of him now. The pictures sputtered away in a mist, and Aiden blinked hazily as Avi and the room returned to his vision.

“What…?” Aiden looked from Avi to Dr. King rapidly, hoping for any answer. Avi looked like a blank slate, betraying no emotion. King simply swept a finger in the air to point at Aiden.

“Now you show him what you do.”

Aiden's blood ran cold. No. He shook his head fervently, fear bleeding into him expression. Avi looked on with confusion, obviously knowing nothing about what Aiden could do.

King laid a palm flatly on the table, and straightened his posture. “Now, Aiden. Do it.”

Aiden gasped for air. The incident with Chase had made him extremely talented at suppressing this… thing. He didn't want to kill anyone else. Just because he was cursed didn't mean he had to share that suffering.

“We are trying to help you. And we need data to do that.” King explained with hands clasped together. Aiden avoided his gaze. King cleared his throat and slid a sheet of paper onto the surface of the table. “You wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt, would you?” He asked. Aiden curiously looked back in his direction and- oh God, no- wished he hadn't. He felt cold and hollow. Even a five year old understood that those words paired with a picture of your mother on the table was a direct threat. He cringed, gulped back tears. I'm sorry, Chase.

He felt his spine grow icy, and honed in on Avi’s mind. The boy had a strange set up of fears compared to everyone else he'd seen. Most people had a cluster of them, around the same size. Avi had a few small ones, and one huge one above the rest. He actually had a biggest fear. No competition. And that meant, in Aiden's unpracticed ways, that would have to be it.

Aiden delved into the fear, which he soon found to be too familiar for himself. Avi was deathly afraid of losing his little sister, the one Aiden has seen in Avi’s projection. Aiden felt powerless as he showcased multiple scenes of this young girl dying, unaware of his own racing heart or damp eyes and cheeks or Avi’s screams until- wait, stop! He gasped as he was returned to the room, across from a tortured boy and an onlooking, smug man. “I'm sorry,” Aiden swallowed down his own horrified, also sympathetic, cries. He stood up and walked toward the door. King, to Aiden's disappointment, stood up as well, and followed down the hall until they hit Aiden's room. Aiden tugged on the doorknob, jaw clenched as he heard King’s footsteps coming closer. His eyes were hot with tears, and he wanted nothing more to do with Dr. King. Of course, the door had to be locked, meaning another encounter with King.

The footsteps slowed and Aiden saw a shadow fall over him, keeping his eyes focused on the floor tiles. An arm reached around him, presumably to unlock the door. King looped an arm easily around Aiden’s torso, and then Aiden realized the man didn’t even have keys in his hand. “No!” He yelped, as King lifted him off the ground. He screamed and thrashed and pulled as much as he could toward the ground. King hoisted him over a shoulder, and started purposefully down the hall again, Aiden’s wings getting crushed and pinched between King’s and his own back with every step. “No!” Aiden screamed. Terror overtook him and he felt the familiar chill travel up his spine. And for once, he wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure he wanted to fight it.

Dr. King's biggest fears all wrapped around the same subject matter: being powerless. People seeing him as a small, insignificant person; losing his role at Aeron Corp; losing authority. Aiden relentlessly shoved these scenes at King, and felt himself drop out of the man's arms onto the cold tile. He heard whimpering and crying and pleas for it to stop, but no, not now, no-

Aiden felt something familiarly cold and thick pinch his neck, then trace his veins. His body went slack. And then he felt nothing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7-23-02

The next months were much of the same. Aiden found Aeron Corp had at least five other kids residing here, each with different abilities and strange non-human physicalities. Aiden himself had black wings- which had grown to about five feet wide, huge on the tiny frame of a five year old- and could cause fear hallucinations. Avi had a patch of skin on his abdomen that acted much like memory foam, and was orange, and could communicate thoughts through pictures. JJ, she had sort of spikes over both knees, and could see a few minutes into the future. Lucky her, she didn't have to “work with” anyone else, because she could just tell the staff what she saw. Dante seemed to be perpetually covered in ash, as it would rub off on various things he touched, and could manipulate and produce fire. Tristan had gills on the sides of his neck, and could manipulate and control water. They often had Dante and Tristan work together because of that. And Tobias, whom most called Toby, had an area on his head where hair was replaced by a metallic silvery sheen on his scalp, and could manipulate states of matter; liquefy a desk, solidify gasoline, turn water into water vapor… you get the idea.

Aiden had gotten used to the daily grind, but that didn't mean he was comfortable with it. Most days included King threatening Aiden, or someone he knew Aiden cared about.

If you don't train with Avi, then what good is he to us? Translation: If you don't use your power on him, now, we'll kill him.

And of course, the subtle threats to his parents. Which always worked. You didn't have to say much after threatening Aiden's mom or dad; he had high loyalties before, that only strengthened with Chase’s death.

There were also, of course, the threats to Aiden himself. The first time Aiden defied them, and they used this tactic, he was expecting some ‘Bend over my knee’ scolding and spanking like at home. And in a strange way, he would welcome that, as a sliver of normalcy from home. But oh boy, he was wrong.

King had dragged Aiden to his room, and practically threw him in the chair. Aiden knew he could use his power, but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of not using it on Avi, the whole reason he’d gotten back to his room? He didn’t want to hurt people; hurting people was wrong. King must have signalled for help on the way- Aiden couldn't remember- because two men in navy blue polos walked in after them purposefully and stood beside Aiden, one left, one right. After Aiden was sat not-so-comfortably in the chair, they each grabbed a wrist, and bound them with the same restraints he'd woke up in this room with, four months ago. His eyes widened and he squirmed in sudden panic. “No!” He scowled defiantly. He didn't know what they were doing, but he wanted to be able to move his hands! This wasn't fair. They ignored his feeble attempt to stop them, and moved to restrain his legs too, tying something around his ankles. He screamed at them again, and neither looked at him, just left the room.

King came back into view. He set a tray of metal appliances on a shelf, placed just high enough so that Aiden couldn't see specifically what was there. He pulled a wheeled chair in front of Aiden, and sat down. He nodded to someone outside the door that Aiden didn't know was there. The door opened, and Ashley walked in. She took a seat on the bench that was used as Aiden's bed.

“So,” King sighed, “here's how this goes.” He plucked a small knife, something like a scalpel, from the tray. “For every time that I tell you to use your ability on her, and you defy me, this happens.” He pointed to the knife. Aiden looked extremely uncomfortable and scared. He wished he could melt into the seat, disappear. “So, use it, Aiden.”

#my writing #aiden phillips #sprout stories

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spicydadshowdown · 7 years

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@katieshirogane so here are some ideas for my dumb V-O-L-T-R-O-N AU ive been spit-balling for awhile, in no particular order (these are all subject to change/refinement... also i got a real nasty headache today so this is going to be pretty scatterbrained , sorry!)

So basically this is like…. an magic/modern AU lol…so…. here’s just a few things, more will be added on a later date.

Shiro runs a business that’s like … a rescue, rehabilitation, and relocation center for magic beings; both sentient and non-sentient (they only have room to take in small to medium sized monsters though). They primarily specialize in helping sentient beings who’ve lost their homes do to urbanization/ floods/ whatever and try to help them find new homes. Also on top of sheltering magical beings they also fight some nasty monsters. (Shiro specializes in exorcism, also he has space distortion powers.)

Shiro’s shelter is like, this small little hole in the wall that used to be a flowershop. Shiro bought it and renovated it. im debating whether or not i should make it into a flower shop or like…. a candy store?? or somethin’….maybe a bakery actually... cuz u know they gotta make money somehow lol. (All the profit they make goes into keeping the shelter up and running. Also i think im gonna role with bakery tbh)

Lance and Hunk made Shiro cute little business cards for both the sanctuary/shelter and the bakery. i havent decided on the designs for them yet… lol… but if u scratch the logo on the cards (the ones for his sanctuary/shelter) a ‘video’ will play of Hunk and Lance being goofs while trying to advertise Shiro’s business…. its a mess.

They have a alien at the sanctuary, it kinda looks like a frog and shes really chubby and feathery and makes the grossest snorting sounds and drools alot, and Lance and Hunk love her alot... even if shes the size of a great dane and crushes them whenever she tries sitting on them. Her favorite person is Lance. She hangs out in the store (shes got a collar that makes her look like a giant mastiff so the costumers dont get spooked)

In the magical business you dont give out your full name to just anyone - giving out your name to certain magical creatures will give them power over you and its easier for them to curse you and well… make your life miserable in general. Especially if you’re human, so whenever someone asks for his name he gives him his nickname: Shiro....obviously,,, (The rest of the gang also follows this rule.)

Keith lives at the shop, he rents out the spare room in the basement Shiro always tells him he doesn’t need to pay him but Keith kind of shoves the money in his face because goddamn Takashi you are way too nice i’m not gonna freeload on you so just take my money.

Hunk works in the back making the pastries (everyone takes turns making the pastries but Hunk does it the most bc he likes doin it ), he tries his best to not get involved with any of Shiros magical guests. He doesnt want anything to with that nonsense bc magical beings are assholes and theyre super dangerous and he just wants to live a relatively normal life thank you very much. He’s also in college, working on getting his bachelors degree in Aerospace engineering - specifically astronautical engineering.

That being said whenever there are children at the shelter Hunk just... HAS to make them smile and tell them everything will be okay, even if they are magical beings and make him a bit nervous.

Hunk and Lance are great with kids, so whenever there’s a family at the shelter and the kids are feeling real down Hunk and Lance always brighten up their days. They teach them how to knit and stuff and play games with them, Hunk teaches them the wonders of science, ect.

When Lance isnt at the shop/at school he spends his time in the ocean, perusing water dragon caves, talking to fish (mostly sharks), surfing, sometimes goes to underwater parties and hits on merpeople. He can take the form of a tiger shark and a tiger shark merman. (One time after drinking a lil too much he let it slip that he was human and was almost alive eaten by the party-goers.) Lance is in college... though im still not sure what hes studying...

Also one time Keith made a bet with Lance that if he was able to steal some treasure from a water dragons lair - not only would he give Lance one of his cool magical weapons he’d also (metaphorically) kiss his ass for an entire month. So, not only did Lance bring home some Sweet Dragon Gold and gems he also brought home a fucking dragons’ tooth (that he punched out of the dragons mouth. Like, the thing was HUGE - it was half the size of Lance.) Keith....didnt actually think hed do it.... it was a joke....it was a joke.... now Lance will never let him live it down, his life will no longer know peace.

Keith has a moderate sized collection of magical weapons - most of which he’s won at this underground arena Pidge and him go to once a week (its a secret, not even Shiro knows). Also his specialty is pyromancy... of course....

Pidge specializes in curses (mostly with removing them, but she can make some nasty ones too) and magic involving plants. Also, if u need someone to get u through a tough magical barrier Pidge is ur girl. She’s also in college studying nanotechnology (specifically its application to spacecraft) (and/or robotics..... maybe.... nanorobotics....hmmm)

She’s always putting hexes on Keith and playing mean pranks on him like:

making a entire forest grow in his room, bonus swarm of locusts hidden underneath his blanket and inside his pillow.

making everything in his entire room rubbery and doughy, like your walking on goddamn playdough and everything he touches? Playdough.

Hiding giant basketball sized spiders in his closet, double bonus: have the spiders come out of the walls in fucking droves.

Bewitching him with an incorrigible appetite for peanut butter and peanut butter cookies... u name it

He does get back at Pidge though, ruthlessly. They actually have prank wars all the time.

Im still trying to work out the relationship dynamics with the characters... all i know is that Pidge and Keith have.... uh, ,,,, a very physical relationship.......like, they’re not dating or anything, they just hook up ...alot.... MY AU MY RULES.

sooooo thats all i got for now bc im running out of steam fast...so ye... (Oh and also The Holts will be present in this au...still gotta work it out lol)

#au shit #i am.... so sorry.... lol #bye.#mind the typos and stuff

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shirlleycoyle · 4 years

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The Real Robotic Revolution

Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution is a new form of book, a cross between fiction and nonfiction. It is a techno-thriller, following a hunt for a terrorist through the streets of a future Washington, D.C. At the same time, it is a work of research with over three hundred factual explanations and predictions baked into the story, replete with the nonfiction reference endnotes to show their source from the real world. The idea is for the reader to enjoy a vivid story and characters, but also learn about everything from how AI works and its planned applications, to its likely impact on the future of politics, economics, society, and security. As a result, Burn-In has drawn early praise from a diverse mix that ranges from the current or former heads of the CIA, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, NATO, and LinkedIn to the writer of Lost, Watchmen, and the new Star Trek movies.

The following scene takes place about halfway through the story. A series of cyberattacks on dams, water treatment plant, and sewer systems (all incredibly vulnerable critical infrastructure in the real world) have caused a massive flood to sweep across the low-lying areas of Washington DC. In a sense, it is an intentional version of the 1936 flood that remade the city. In the tsunami's aftermath, FBI Special Agent Lara Keegan and the test system that she's been assigned to vet are part of the emergency rescue effort. TAMS (short for Tactical Autonomous Mobility System) is where the software of Siri and Alexa and the hardware of robots will be in approximately 10-15 years. Keegan is uncertain whether she should help train up TAMS or sink the experiment, to help protect her own job down the line… — P.W. Singer

FARRAGUT SQUARE

Washington, DC

Keegan kept her hands on the SUV’s wheel, ready to snatch control as she travelled with TAMS against a steady stream of autonomous ve- hicles fleeing the flooding along the Potomac. Above its historic high water mark, the river spread over the entire basin and had even over- whelmed the barrier walls at Reagan National Airport.

“Send our location to Noritz and the TOC,” said Keegan. TAMS pushed a thumbs-up emoji to Keegan’s vizglasses.

Their destination was the old FBI Washington Field Office building at 4th and G. A notice had gone out that a temporary command post had been set up there after the Hoover Building’s basement flooded and the entire block lost power.

On the SUV’s screen, Keegan projected live satellite imagery of the city overlaid onto a street map. It showed how the flood wave had paid no mind to the orderly gridlike arrangement of Washington’s streets. The initial wave had surged well up to M Street, but then the waters had quickly receded, leaving muddy red sidewalks and sucking cars right out of their parking spaces.

Most of all the view showed how just a few feet in elevation made all the difference between devastation and normalcy. Most parts of the city were untouched, but now a massive moat cut through Washington, DC,’s federal district, turning the southern chunk of the city into an island. The Potomac River’s newest tributary entered the city at the Tidal Basin on the edge of the National Mall before its waters returned back into the main river near the lower elevation of the District Wharf shopping complex. Or rather what had been the District Wharf shopping complex.

The borders of the flood zone reflected the subtle topographic con- tours of a city constructed out of swampland, unnoticed by most residents, but which had originally set its design over three centuries back.3 The flood’s edge ran along Pennsylvania Avenue, roughly miroring the now-paved-over Tiber Creek that had once reached right up to the President’s Palace, before it was renamed the White House.4 It then ran from 15th Street beside the Treasury Department building, down over to the I-395 highway tunnels that opened at the base of Capitol Hill.5 Its southern side ran along Madison Avenue, the lower edge of the National Mall, which had previously been the open canal where Washington’s residents had dumped their trash in the early days of the republic’s capital city. The slight incline of the National Mall protected its green spaces, but the Museum of Natural History and the Justice Department, as well as the other buildings between Madison and Pennsylvania Avenues, now appeared as squares of cement rising out of the brown-red water, like tiny islands.

Keegan zoomed in, seeing tiny dots swarming each of the island-buildings. Some were brightly colored city and federal emergency response drones, but there were also parcel drones dropping packages on the rooftops, an automated rush of requested deliveries and flash-funding charity drops. Panning over to the veterans’ encampment, Keegan saw that the rest of Capitol Hill remained dry.

“Route the vehicle around any areas less than 20 meters in elevation,” Keegan said, realizing the vehicle’s navigation probably didn’t have a scenario for city streets literally disappearing underwater.

They got as close as Farragut Square before the crowds got too thick. Keegan sent the SUV off to autopark up on high ground near H street and they set out on foot. Overhead, a bright yellow FEMA drone loitered in a lazy circle, while a micro-cam drone from one of the newsfeeds landed on the statue of Admiral Farragut to get a better shot. Thousands of people were out in the streets, some with a specific destination in mind, some aimless, and many just to film and comment.

As they wove through the crowd, they passed the Farragut West Metro entrance. Keegan hated that spot more than anywhere in DC. She’d first been there nine years ago, while on leave from the Saudi stability op. It had been in early December, so on her way home, she’d killed time during a seven-hour layover at Dulles Airport to come in and check out the White House Christmas tree and all that stuff that you were supposed to be fighting for. Riding the subway escalator up, though, she had recoiled at the stench, not because it was that bad, but because it was all too familiar. The station had been turned into an encampment for desperate people, crushed together to escape the cold. She was a stone’s throw from the White House, witnessing the abject abandonment of fellow humans that she’d only before experienced in refugee camps. And she knew that her commander in chief would never walk the two city blocks to confront that dark fact.

Today, a stream of men and women, some with children, emerged out of the station, wet and sobbing.

“TAMS, gimme a status check on the Metro,” Keegan said as she headed down to see if anyone below needed aid. The rule beaten into her since boot camp was Marines headed toward the sounds of chaos.6 “The lower-elevation sections of the Orange Line and Blue Line are flooded,” said TAMS. The bot pushed a Metro map with the affected segments to Keegan’s vizglasses. It also marked malfunctions that had apparently locked the valves for the Metro system’s air vents and the DC stormwater overflow pipes that connected to the Potomac River.7 To save money, the designs had piggybacked off each other, but now their malfunction prevented the system from clearing itself.

Peering down the escalator, Keegan could see the effect. Muddy water lapped halfway down the steps, meaning the entire ticketing mezzanine was flooded. Worse, the next lower level where the trains boarded also had to be completely underwater.

“Is everyone out?”

“No. My acoustic sensors indicate there is a female adult trapped below.”

Keegan couldn’t hear anything over the rush of the water and the voices of the crowd above. Her stomach knotted. “Where exactly?”

“I cannot ascertain.”

There was an agent’s booth in the middle of the second level. That might be high enough for somebody to climb up on and get above the flood. She eyed the swirl of muddy water. It was too deep to stand in, and the current would send her down into the Metro tunnels if she tried swimming it.

“Can you reach her?” Keegan said.

“Yes. I am rated to ISO standards for underwater operations for a duration of thirty minutes at 10 meters depth.”

The water reeked of ozone and sewage. If TAMS went in and never came out, that would certainly solve the problem that the deputy director had put in her lap. But it would present another: she would have to find a way to finish the rescue herself.

“Then do it. I need you to reach whoever is down there and lead them out.”

“OK,” it said.

TAMS stepped carefully toward the water’s edge, narrowly avoiding stepping on a tiny frog that hopped up the steps. All sorts of shit down there is going to be forced up, thought Keegan.

“Hey! You need to get out of there! What the hell are you doing?” a man shouted down.

“Good question,” Keegan called back, then she thought better of it.

It wasn’t the time for snark.

“We’re FBI. There’s someone trapped down there!”

A barrel-chested African American soldier in Army fatigues smeared with mud came running down the escalator. He pulled up in shock at the sight of TAMS descending into the water, one hand gripping the railing. “That thing yours?”

“Yeah,” Keegan replied. “It detected someone inside. I think they’re stuck in that booth by the turnstiles, you know, where you ask for di- rections.”

“And you’re going to send the Terminator in after them?” “If you’ve got a better idea, I’m listening.”

“Nah. Just don’t ask me to sign for that when you lose it.”

With the water now up to its neckline, TAMS had stopped to listen to their conversation. Perhaps the soldier’s uniform had triggered some old program.

“TAMS, you’re still cleared to proceed,” Keegan stated. “OK.”

It wasn’t a remarkable set of last words, Keegan thought, as the bot disappeared into the murk in a shimmering blue halo generated by its onboard navigation lights. Her AR glasses pushed a notice: Network connection lost.

“This going to work?” the soldier asked. “Hell if I know.”

“Sergeant Terrence King, Maryland National Guard,” he said. “Your phone app functional? I need to let my wife know I’m OK.”

“Agent Lara Keegan. No, not without the bot boosting the signal.” The man sighed.

Then light washed over them and Keegan looked back up the escalator and saw a line of people gathered to watch, several turning on their lens cameras to record them, even a few holding out old smart- phones to get a better angle.

“FBI! Turn your cameras off!” she shouted back. “Like that’s ever worked,” said King.

Keegan glared at him, then turned back to the water, waiting for any sign of the robot. Neither spoke as they waited, watching another frog hop past their feet and clamber up the escalator. Then they heard a voice.

“We’re coming up! We’re coming up!” a breathless woman shouted from the far end of the tunnel. Then she appeared, a woman in her fifties. She thrashed at the water with one hand, her other arm being pulled by some force under the water. Just ahead of her a faint blue light got brighter and brighter as it approached beneath the surface.

“We’re up here! Watch the steps at the bottom of the escalator,” said Keegan, wading into the water as TAMS came into view, its head barely clearing the surface. She and King pulled the woman out of the water, the polyester of her blue WMATA uniform dripping sheets of water.

King took off his jacket to wrap the woman up and led her up the stairs.

TAMS, meanwhile, waited down at the bottom of the escalator, the water lapping at its waist, its arm locked on the railing. Keegan thought about what exactly the deputy director would order at this moment.

“Come on, TAMS,” she said. “Get out of the water, hero.” “OK.”

As the machine exited the murk, water spurted from its joints and sensor ports. On Keegan’s viz screen, it showed that the connection to the bot’s operating system was still not working.

“Confirm diagnostics, TAMS,” Keegan said.

The robot stood still for thirty seconds, until a message read on Keegan’s vizglasses: System reboot complete. Restore network connection.

That meant taking TAMS up to the street level to get a signal. “Fol- low me to the street and reestablish satellite bandwidth connection.”

“OK.”

At the top of the stairs, she stopped so abruptly that TAMS liter- ally stepped on her heels. Even through the pant leg, the metal edge scraped a piece of skin off the back. “Shit,” she said to herself, but not at the pain.

Waiting there was King, standing at attention. He threw a salute and then started clapping, a steady authoritative rhythm. The crowd of hundreds behind him joined in, wet palms slapping together in applause, humans looking for something good to cling to on a day of awfulness, even if it was a machine.

The Real Robotic Revolution syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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