#chapter 97 blew my mind up

[libraryofneith]

Out of Mind - Chapter 9 (Joel Miller x Female Reader)

@hiroikegawa @evyiione @orcasoul @taz-97

*mrs weasley voice* Where HAVE you been?!!!! I know I know I'm sorry for my prolonged absence. I'm in my last year of uni, applying for post grads when all I really wanna do is write about our fav baby girl Joel Miller. If ever this happens again, which it probably will, worst luck I promise I've not abandoned you! I'm loving writing this fic and have big plans for new ones. Huge thank you to everyone who has liked and messaged me, assuring me that I have not been forgotten.

If anyone else wants to be the first to know when this fic is updated let me know and I'll add you to the taglist.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Summary: As you and Joel make the trade, your trust in him is stretched to its limits.

Warnings: [whole fic is 18+ minors DNI], it puts its age in the bio or it gets the block button, cursing, graphic descriptions of violence, attempted sexual assault, i'm going to put *** at the beginning and ending of any descriptions of sexual violence so you can avoid if necessary, Joel is still a dick, not me getting mad at him for things I made him do.

"you know I'd never let them hurt you." "Do I?"

You

An icy wind startled you awake. The tip of your nose and cheeks had frozen where they'd been poking out of your sleeping bag in the night. You blew into your hands and tried to rub some warmth back into them, careful not to move the rest of your body or you'd wake Joel who was pressed up behind you.

You'd split the first few nights out of Boston, one of you resting while the other kept watch, but soon exposure to the elements had rendered caution impossible and you'd been forced to sleep at the same time, swaddled under both of your sleeping bags, desperate bodies clinging onto each other for warmth. Most nights you could feel Joel fighting to stay awake, body tensing up every time you started to relax until you hissed at him to quit it. Whether it was for fear of being attacked or refusal to accept any comfort from you was hard to tell.

Your body stilled as Joel shifted against you and you felt a familiar poke in your lower back. It had become something of a wake-up call recently, gently poking you awake on the rare occasions that Joel slept longer than you. It was a sensation with which you were familiar and you kept reminding yourself that it happened to a lot of people in your current situation and it didn't mean anything. Still, as a long, low moan rumbled in your ear you couldn't help but wonder which mystery woman was plaguing Joel's dreams currently. Tess? A ghostly apparition from his past? Or maybe, just maybe, you'd managed to worm your way into his sub-conscious. But you quickly scoffed at the thought. If Joel had any dreams involving you they probably involved wringing your neck.

Joel

She was in his dreams. Again. He always clutched her to him as if he already knew how she would slip away when he woke up. That was the worst part - spending his dreams coiled around her, nose in her hair, arms wrapped around her body, thrusting his hips, searching desperately for release - then waking up still embracing her but having to tear himself away, thanking whatever heartless God existed that she was such a heavy sleeper.

He pried himself away from her warmth, trying not to notice the way she immediately started shivering without him, prodding her until she woke.

"Time to get up."

"Mfff" was all the response he got.

"C'mon move your lazy ass."

"Go away."

"God, you would sleep all day if I let you. Gotta be the worst smuggler I ever seen." That got her up.

"How much further?"

"Not long, we should be able to reach em before sundown. Now remember when we're in negotiations…"

"You do the talking, I decorate the background."

"What you do is try to be invisible. These folk don't play nice."

"I know, Tess told me." Joel grimaced.

He would've much rather done this on his own but Tess insisted he needed back-up. He'd told her before that Skye was her responsibility, not his, that she would be the only person to blame if she got hurt, but they both knew that was bullshit.

Unfortunately for them, Joel's estimations were exact: it was barely afternoon by the time they got to Marcus's camp. Guards frisked them at the perimeter, he noticed that one of them lingered a little longer than was necessary over her and he had to resist the urge to punch him.

"You ready?" If she was rattled, she didn't show it, just nodded.

"Let's go."

You

As you made your way through the camp, you had a distinct feeling of de ja vu. You hadn't encountered a group like this since before you came to Boston after which you swore you'd never put your fate in someone else's hands again, fat lot of good that did. Now you felt like a fish swimming into a net.

This Marcus reminded you too much of Robert, except while Robert needed to hire bruisers to do his punching, this guy looked more than capable of striking his own blows. He gave a curt nod to Joel then his eyes turned to you and there was a cruel glint.

"See you've traded Tess in for a younger model." Joel cast you a furtive glance, but said nothing.

"You got what's ours?"

"It's still mine till I decide otherwise." But he still opened the trunk at his feet revealing a treasure trove of tea, coffee and batteries. You struggled to keep the greed off your face and you could see that Joel was doing the same.

"We have what we promised" Joel responded, producing the collection of guns and ammo you and Tess had filched from the FEDRA base. At the time you'd been pleased to put your skills in climbing and creeping to use but now you didn't like the idea of giving this guy weapons. When you'd asked Tess what he was going to do with it, she rolled her eyes and said "Some light gardening. What do you think?"

You'd told yourself that everyone needed tools to survive and it was up to him what he used them for, not you, but now as you looked at Marcus you could see the faces of everyone you'd ever lost flashing before your eyes.

"It's all there" Joel said as Marcus rifled through the assortment of weaponry.

"Sure seems that way, but now I'm wondering if this is an entirely fair trade."

"It's not, we're giving you FEDRA level weapons in return for batteries n bullshit. You know as well as I do Marcus, that you're robbin' us blind."

"Might seem that way to you, all tucked away in that cosy QZ but what's the feeling of a gun at your side compared to the feeling of a woman underneath?" Suddenly, you could feel the eyes of every man in the camp on you.

"What're you suggesting?"

"Give me n' my boys a turn with your slice and we'll walk away happy customers."

There was a horrible silence. You couldn't hear anything but the ringing in your ears. Finally, Joel replied:

"I don't share."

"C'mon Miller, don't be greedy. We ain't seen a woman in months."

"Probably cos you scared em all away."

"Listen, I promise we'll give her back the same way we found her, more or less. I'll even throw in a few packs of cigarettes we got off a trespasser a while back. Been saving them for a special occasion."

The men were closing in on all sides now, like walls sealing themselves.

"How many packs?" Your stomach dropped.

"Three."

"Show me." Marcus produced the cigarettes with a flourish.

"J-Joel" you managed to stammer out.

"Shut up" Joel glared at you. "Unless you want a repeat of what happened in Austin."

Austin. That was his signal. Loosely translated, it meant trust me, even though things seem shit at the moment, I've got a plan. You have to trust me. And you did, at least you thought you did.

Joel turned back to Marcus as you cowered behind him.

"At least lemme look at the merchandise."

Marcus beckoned him forward as you could feel his men shepherding you to their side of the camp. You felt a brush on the small of your back and you flinched, looking behind you, but all you could see was a sea of smirking faces.

You watched carefully as Joel went through the trunk. In a flash, you could see a glint of metal. Bullets. Joel must've stashed some in his coat pocket or sleeve. You glanced around, waiting for shouts of alarm or gunfire, but none came. Then Joel was looking at you, just for a second then back at Marcus, and you could see what he saw: a knife strapped to his belt, and a pretty hefty one. Could tear you a new one, or him.

Joel shut the trunk and stood.

"It's all here. I'll be back for her at midnight?"

"Done."

"Right well, enjoy."

"You two boys escort our friend out of camp, I get first go."

You cast one last glance over your shoulder as two huge men prodded Joel with their guns, leading him away from you, as Marcus placed a beefy hand on your shoulder and led you away from him.

*** You swallowed your tears, refusing to give this man the credit of seeing you cry, repeating to yourself, please help me to be brave, please help me to be brave.

"Alright sweetcheeks that's far enough." Bile rose in your throat as his hand forced your head down, pushing you onto your knees. You didn't want to look at him but he grabbed your chin, tilting your head up.

"This'll go a lot easier for you if you don't fight back. I'd hate to return broken to my associate. That's just bad business."

You said nothing, just nodded and started to unbuckle his belt. You ignored his hand stroking your hair in a disgusting display of tenderness and focused on your task until it came loose. You met his eyes one last time, smiled, then stuck his knife into his groin.

His shout was cut off by you sticking your fist in his mouth. Teeth pierced your skin but you didn't flinch. You just grinned and said

"this'll go a lot easier for you if you don't fight back", sticking the knife into his side.***

Marcus groaned pitifully and collapsed. Before you could finish the job, you heard the rattling of gunfire and you took off back towards the camp where you could see Joel, having grabbed one of the men's guns, shooting his way through Marcus's men. Unfortunately one man he hadn't accounted for was sneaking up on his left side. Not his left side.

The man barrelled into him and had his hands around his throat.

"Let go asshole!" You screamed, plunging your knife into his throat before he had a chance to obey your order.

Joel stared up at you with bulging eyes as you pulled him up, then you both dove behind a crate as shots rang out all around.

"Real smart thinking giving these douchebags guns" you quipped, but Joel ignored you, responding:

"You go left, I go right."

*** You nodded, then edged to your left as Joel drew their gunfire away. It was criminally easy to put your knife through the first two guys but as you grabbed the third one and slit the blade across his throat, you felt a fist closing in your hair and yanking you back. You tried to scream for Joel but another hand clamped over your mouth. You thrashed wildly but to no avail, whoever it was had you in a complete grip. Then you were going flying, hitting the ground with a grunt and feeling your arms and legs pinned as you stared, in horror, at the face of Marcus, covered in blood but still very much alive.

"Guess you shoulda finished me when you had the chance instead of running to help your boyfriend."

"Get off me!" You yelled, turning your face away, the only part of your body you could still move.

"I'm gonna enjoy this so much more." You looked around wildly. The sound of gunfire had stopped but you couldn't see Joel, just trees above you.***

Then a single shot tore through the air and Marcus let out a gut wrenching roar above you. Two hands appeared on his arms, ripping him off of you. You remained on the ground, gazing up at the tree tops until a familiar face came into view, tufts of grey and black beard matted with blood.

"Joel." He helped you up, keeping a firm but not ungentle grip as you swayed in the breeze. The sound of a groan brought you back to reality. Marcus was squirming on the ground like a fish on dry land. A gun was pressed into your hand.

"He's all yours." Marcus whined as you approached.

"No wait, please I didn't mean it, take what you want, let me go, I'm sorry, I won't ever do it again, please…"

You steadied your hand and aimed for his forehead.

"This'll go a lot easier for you if you don't fight back" and you pulled the trigger.

"Are you hurt?" You gazed at Joel who was looking at you with concern. You threw your head back and laughed.

"Am I HURT?!" With a scream that you didn't even realise you were capable of making you launched yourself at Joel, punching and kicking blindly, shouting "are you hurt? Are you hurt? ARE YOU HURT?"

Joel caught your fists.

"I'm sorry, it was the only thing I could think of." You kept kicking him. "I had to get their guard down and get them separated from their leader." You kicked him doubly hard in the shin. "Ow, stop, you know I'd never let them hurt you."

"Do I?" You screamed, "DO I KNOW THAT?"

Joel held your gaze as your voice echoed throughout the forest. You were suddenly, painfully aware of the death that surrounded you.

"We need to get out of here." You tore yourself away from him and started searching blindly for your pack."

"Skye…"

"NOW!"

Joel jumped, then followed you as you ran blindly out of the camp.

#the last of us #the last of us hbo #joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller x oc #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x female oc

[pemprika]

chainsaw man charms and stickers!! ugh i like them so much

#chainsaw man #csm #angel devil #power #makima #aki hayakawa #denji #only merch i've been the past couple months were csm merch woops #also the anime!!! confirmed!! super excited #chapter 97 blew my mind up #pemprika

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH97

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

-----

Chapter 97: Castle Cry (XXIV)

"When we reach the rooftop, since it’s still raining outside, that will have an impact on vision and hearing, but you have an advantage; you can sense the demon’s energy, so trust in your perception more. Don't immediately rush at her after the crazy lady appears. Take her attention and observe, remember to save, and be careful."

When the door of the rooftop opened, Qi Leren stepped into the rain.

It was raining cats and dogs, and the Qi Leren was drenched in a few seconds. His mind hovered over the tipis Su He had told him before, and he clenched his dagger in his hand.

The garden in front of him did not have the appearance of being taken care of. Shrubs and weeds filled the rooftop garden after decades of overgrowth. Some trees that had floated here from nowhere grew wantonly in this place, forming a small dense jungle. If it was left to grow again, sooner or later, it would exceed the load-bearing limit of the roof and completely crush the roof of the castle.

She was coming.

Qi Leren felt the strange demon power, which emanated from the dense jungle.

There was a clap of thunder overhead, and the harsh lightning kicked off this decisive battle. Under the pale light, the woman coming from the forest was like a phantom, and neared in an instant. The rainstorm washed away her makeup and made her unrecognizable. She murmured in sadness, joy, and sorrow: "Ah, you’ve come."

Dr. Lu shuddered behind the Qi Leren, and shrank behind Su He.

"Let me have a look at your hearts. Have you betrayed your love?" The crazy lady suddenly appeared beside Dr. Lu, and looked him in the eye. Dr. Lu did not move, as if he had been stunned, and looked at her with a glassy stare.

It was too fast! He didn't react at all! Qi Leren looked at the crazy lady who had appeared in front of Dr. Lu in awe, and then looked at Su He, who shook his head and said, "The story."

Qi Leren felt a little comfortable. It seemed that this was an inescapable fixed story element, but even if it was a story, the speed of the crazy lady's display was really amazing.

The crazy lady sighed and took a step back. She looked at them gloomily in the rainstorm. "You don't love your lover, but you are loyal. I forgive you."

She disappeared in a ghostly way, and suddenly appeared in front of Su He and looked him in the eye.

Su He smiled at her, not surprised, not afraid.

"I cannot see your heart," the crazy lady whispered in confusion.

Su He politely held her hand and left a soft kiss on the back of her fingers: "I hid it in a secret place; even a beautiful and noble lady like you would not find it easily. I would like to dedicate it to my beloved."

The crazy lady's empty eyes softened, and she showed a smile, but it looked distorted and weird by this point. She said, "You are a loyal and elegant gentleman, a person worthy of being loved. May God bless you."

Su He let go and smiled at her: "Bless you too, madam."

The crazy lady turned around and looked faintly at Qi Leren. He could not see any emotion in Nan Lu's eyes. Her black eyes were already filled with another woman's resentment and madness. She opened her mouth and whispered, "Let me see... Look at your heart..."

At the moment when the two people’s eyes met, Qi Leren's mind couldn't control the images of the Witchcraft Sacrifice task! Every frame was his perspective, every frame was... Ning Zhou.

Countless times from the past overlapped in this short moment, whether it was the wet forest, the horrible cave, or the  gloomy underground palace, the time spent with Ning Zhou was short and miserable, but it was also deep and sweet. When this strange and warm emotion burned in the soul, the lonely life was suddenly illuminated… Once tasted, it could never be forgotten.

The picture stilled on the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, the sky filled with light and song, and then suddenly jumped to the scene where he and Dr. Lu chatted with the four NPCs under the tree when the Castle task started.

The crazy lady opened her mouth, her inaudible voice clear and horrible in the rainstorm, and the excitement over her prey was unbearable: "Ah, you betrayed… Such strong and hot love, even my decaying body felt the warmth. But you betrayed your love."

Words as cold as the rain seeped into his clothes, the coolness penetrating into his bone marrow. Qi Leren’s mind shuddered, and all words of defence were instantly frozen in this rainy night.

"Run!" With Su He's order, Qi Leren, who had been stunned, started to run out. The cold rain hit his face, making it hard to keep his eyes open. The light of the flashlight seemed to stretch out into the night. Qi Leren tried to maintain balance and stop himself from tripping over the ubiquitous vegetation, but the crazy lady seemed to have some magical psychic power. The originally flat ground suddenly bulged where he ran, and the strong branches suddenly broke and fell in front of him.

The crazy lady’s ghost seemed to be everywhere. Sometimes she suddenly appeared in front of him, and disappeared with a strange smile after he was scared enough to have a heart attack. Sometimes she fell far behind him, like a wolf driving lambs. She played with her prey gracefully and calmly.

A few times, she approached Qi Leren, but when Qi Leren wielded the dagger and stabbed her, the blade of the dagger could not pierce her body! Her skin was as hard as stone, and she was not afraid of his attack.

The stairs of the rooftop garden lit up with fire, and what Su He said before the fight came to Qi Leren’s mind: "The Devil's sacrifices will be destroyed by Dr. Lu, and the oil I asked you to bring from the kitchen has also been given to him. After you lead the crazy lady to start running, he is responsible for igniting and burning the sacrifices — I'm not sure whether burning the sacrifices before entering the rooftop would cause some uncontrollable accidents, so it's better to burn them on the spot for the sake of safety. And you, when you run from the crazy lady, look for Xiao Hong's body along the way, and we will burn him as well after determining the position."

Dr. Lu opened and shook out the iron boxes one by one, throwing them into the fire. The ignited oil burned in the rain. As the sacrifices fell into the fire, the crazy lady who had been chasing Qi Leren suddenly gave a fierce howl: "No- Stop! You... Stop!!!”

An opportunity!

Qi Leren slammed on the brakes, and the Primary Fighting Skills in the card slot allowed him to twist and throw a miniature bomb at the crazy lady!

At the moment when the bomb flew out, the crazy lady who was holding her head as she screamed suddenly opened her eyes - under the gaze of scarlet eyes, the miniature bomb flying towards her was controlled by the force of her mind and bounced back to Qi Leren’s feet!

There was a loud roar, and the miniature bomb exploded instantly. The huge impact blew this corner of the rooftop garden apart, and the roof that had been weakened over the years was almost overwhelmed. The smoke of the explosion dispersed in the rainstorm, and Dr. Lu, who was watching the situation from a distance, was so scared that his face changed, fearing that Qi Leren would die without a corpse.

On the messy ground, Qi Leren, who was in the center of the explosion, succeeded in avoiding this fatal explosion by virtue of saving at the moment before the crisis.

Not far away, the crazy lady's shrill cry stopped. She slowly lowered the arms holding her head and looked at him with a crooked expression: "Unforgivable ungrateful people… I will kill you horribly! Tear out your heart and soul!"

As if it were a banshee's howl, her supernatural voice made the surrounding air shake, and the thunder exploded over her head. In the dazzling white light, she screamed bitterly, and the surrounding plants shook like crazy, and the sound of the leaves almost overshadowed the sound of heavy rain.

This is bad! We must get rid of her as soon as possible!

Qi Leren forgot to find Xiao Hong's dead half-body according to Su He's plan. He dug out the ashes from his inventory, and before the second loading time of S/L skill passed, he bravely rushed to the crazy lady and sprinkled the ashes onto her head. The ashes lit, and flames quickly jumped up from the crazy lady. Even heavy rain could not douse the flames on her!

She laughed like crazy. In the strong wind, the rainstorm was ignited, and the burning fire and rain spewed out in all directions under the guidance of incredible power. The shocked Qi Leren rolled on the spot and escaped the wave of fire and rain. The S/L skill’s 30 seconds were running out. Either commit suicide now or…

One tree after another was ignited by the flames, and was pulled up by the crazy lady’s strange power. Countless dirt and stones mingled with rain poured towards Qi Leren, and a flamingo tree was about to hit him. At this critical juncture, Qi Leren put the knife to his neck, and with the stabbing pain in his throat, the pain of being hit by the flying tree was also transmitted to his brain.

File loaded successfully.

After loading the file twice in a row, Qi Leren returned to the crazy lady, not thinking about whether this knife could pierce her body, and rushed up with all his eggs in one basket -

Wind, rainstorm, lightning, thunder... What happened in this castle on this rainy night merged into a horrible distorted afterimage before his eyes, with plants burning, the rainstorm burning, and the crazy lady standing still burning! Fire seemed to engulf everything, dragging everything into a burning purgatory.

The crazy laughter came to an abrupt end as the dagger inlaid with holy runes was stabbed into the crazy lady’s chest. She stared at Qi Leren in front of her, and the appalled expression was unreservedly revealed, making her more like Nan Lu than the crazy lady bewitched by the Devil.

Qi Leren's heart trembled. Nan Lu, possessed by the crazy lady - was there any of her consciousness there anymore?

The dagger was pulled out of the crazy lady’s chest and a flame flew out after it, which seemed to be burning blood. Qi Leren stepped back two steps, staring at the crazy lady for a moment.

The overwhelming raging flames began to droop, and the horrible fiery rain went out. Just like the end of a movement, everything that was burning warmly gradually died out in the rain. There were only a few scattered flames, burning quietly at the crazy lady’s feet.

The rain weakened, and the thunder sounded farther and farther away. The storm clouds that had been circling here all night  finally began to recede, leaving behind a messy world and a group of people who indulged in stories.

The crazy lady's chest was bubbling with "blood", and the burning blood was as dazzling as molten metal, burning like a flame and gradually engulfing her.

"I had a long, long dream..." the crazy lady's hoarse voice sounded in the rainy night, tired and wavering. "You shouldn't wake up the dreaming..."

The crazy lady slowly closed her eyes, and the flames from the chest wound suddenly became blazing and dazzling, engulfing her entirely. Black polluted smoke rose from the flames and dissipated in the air, and the demon power disappeared, leaving a golden box in its place.

The rain had stopped.

-----

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

[monaisme]

One Week Later - Chapter One

This is the sequel to my one-shot, “The Battle”

He had drifted in and out of the consciousness for the first five days-- which he guessed, after the fact, had been a blessing.

His transformation, which had taken three days the first time 'round, still hadn't quite finished seven days later.

He was trying to be patient but, well, it would’ve been nice to sleep all the way through to the end. It seemed he was destined to suffer fits and jags of pain and spontaneous naps to recover from them. It hurt... and it sucked.

Dr. Cho couldn't be 100% certain as she hadn't been around after the bite, but she'd felt safe in assuming that the prolonged change had to do with all of Peter's injuries from both Titan all those years ago and the battle in Upstate New York. The concussion had been pretty significant, according to the doctor. Multiple scans had been taken to keep track of that healing, seeing as he'd been so out of it from the worst of the fever. The broken ribs still had a ways to go towards knitting back together but he could inhale just a little deeper before it hurt so that was a win. And there was no need for stitches for the deeper stab wounds—Mr. Stark’s nanoparticles were taking care of that. The dislocated shoulder, however, still required surgery.

Correction. Another surgery. Peter looked up at the clock on the wall... in about thirty minutes.

Arthroscopic surgery had apparently been performed on the second day after the battle, once all of the other wounded had been tended to, not that Peter remembered much from those first five days. Tendons and cartilage had been damaged to the point that Dr. Cho was certain it needed intervention so she'd done her medical magic per Spider-Man protocols, being as non-invasive as possible, knowing that Peter's body could do the rest-- except that it hadn't.

It had been quite the gong show, in fact—his fever had spiked along with his blood pressure and all sorts of bad things had Dr. Cho plus Mr. Stark and all the rest worried out of their minds.

... but he was definitely on the mend now.

Really.

Peter fussed at his hospital gown nervously and  wondered, not for the first time, if maybe he still had some dust stuck somewhere in him-- gumming up the works like Uncle Ben used to say when their old '97 Pontiac Firefly would stall again and again and again-- or something like that. He couldn't be sure, but yeah, he was definitely curious about it.

"Knock, knock!" The rapping of knuckles against the door frame pulled Peter from his commiserating. "Guess what surprise the most super-amazing best mentor on the planet got for his currently boo-booed Spider-mentee?" Mr. Stark grinned big and slid into the med bay room.

Peter tried to think of something he’d wanted, then brightened immediately as hope flared. He looked to the man and then at the doorway Mr. Stark had just vacated. "Is May here?!" He asked eagerly. He repressed the flinch of pain as he struggled to sit up in the bed. "Did Dr. Strange finally get May here? May?!" He called out.

Peter was too busy trying to look around Mr. Stark to notice the look of regret flashing across his face before he could school it into something more sympathetic. “I’m sorry, kid.” He stepped up to the bed and moved to help Peter lay back down. “I should have been more thoughtful.“ He pulled the blankets back up to the boy’s neck and tucked him in tight. “One of the wizards was willing to make a pit stop and grabbed you a sandwich from Delmar’s before coming back to Wakanda. It came back hot so I’ve got it hiding away in one of the kitchen’s fancy stasis units and is ready for you as soon as you get the all clear from Dr. Cho to eat after they take care of...” Mr. Stark waved toward Peter’s shoulder, “that.”

Peter flushed with embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, I just thought that...” He trailed off, and sighed. “It’s not that I’m not grateful, Mr. Stark, I promise! It’s just that everyone else has family being brought over and I’m sure that everyone is really busy, I only hoped that...” His eyes glistened with tears he was trying so hard to not let fall. He used his arm to brush the wetness away. “I’m just being a baby. Sorry.”

He had tried to tamp down the jealousy he’d felt when Mr. Barton had popped by to introduce himself properly and had gushed about how amazing it was to see his wife and kids after the last five years—not that he could wrap his brain around that bit of information yet, but still—

Where was May?

Mr. Stark interrupted his wandering thoughts with the brushing of his hand against Peter’s cheek. “You’re not being a baby, so stop talking that way. You’re allowed to miss her, and once this is all over and you get the all clear to leave the med bay, we’ll get you to our temporary quarters so you can have a good, long video call with her, okay?” Mr. Stark moved to run his fingers through Peter’s hair, then leaned forward, “Don’t tell anyone I said this,” He whispered conspiratorially, “But the tech here is incredible. When everything is settled, we may need to set up a play date between you and Shuri.” He gave a wink and straightened up as he noticed one of the nurses enter the room with a rolling cart full of medical supplies.

The nurse smiled kindly at the two heroes and then focused on Peter. “I’m glad that you’re awake. Dr. Cho has asked me to get final prep out of the way.” She snapped on a pair of gloves and starting pulling out supplies for an IV. “She’d prefer a new line so we can keep you on the IV nutrients during the procedure,” She assessed his still slinged arm, then moved down the bed to uncover his leg. “I think we’ll do a little reorganizing so we can just get this done quickly and be off. The surgical suite is ready for you, so if you’re good, we can get this show on the road and get you on the mend.”

Peter blanched and looked to Mr. Stark with sheer terror on his face. Being unconscious and having surgery was easy, this was a whole other kettle of fish. “Um...” He struggled to not panic. “Mr. Stark?” His breathing started to pick up.

Both the nurse and Mr. Stark picked up on the cues right away. Mr. Stark grabbed the boy’s good hand in support and gave the nurse a quick look. She backed out of the room without another word and closed the door behind her.

“Hey, hey, kiddo. You’re okay,” Mr. Stark soothed. “Why don’t you take a deep breath me, yeah?” He pulled in an exaggerated breath. “In...” and then blew it out with just as much effort. “... and out.”

Peter tried, then flinched, grunted, and then shifted to try and relieve the pain that flared in his ribs even as his anxiety ramped up and he struggled to catch his breath.

“Oh, shit! Sorry, sweetheart. Sorry!” His hands fluttered around Peter, trying to find something to fix. Mr. Stark looked to be on the edge of his own panic attack but Peter could do nothing. Then Mr. Stark lit up as he apparently came up with another idea. “Okay, kid, this is gonna seem weird, but let’s keep those breaths quick and short, okay?” And then the man was demonstrating, “He-he-he-he-hooo. He-he-he-he-hooo.” Mr. Stark squeezed Peter’s hand in assurance.

Peter tried to emulate him, and after a couple of minutes of lost rhythms and wiped away tears, Peter was calm enough that he felt safe speaking again, “Sorry, Mr. Stark, I...” He dried he cheeks again, “I don’t know where that came from. “It’s not like this is the first time I’ve had to have something fixed and all... I just...”

Mr. Stark smiled down fondly at the boy, “Maybe not, but you’re far from home and your hot aunt isn’t down the hall waiting to chew you out for doing something stupid enough to require surgery—and honestly, we’ve had a pretty shitty week, if you don’t mind my saying. I mean, I’ll be forever grateful that you’re back,” and Mr. Stark leaned over to plant a big ol’ kiss on Peter’s forehead as he said it, “but we fought a literal battle over my demolished compound, you were gone for five years, you were hurt, your powers are out of whack, you are currently situated on a different continent altogether, and the world doesn’t seem to remember that we deserve a little down time after battling for the fate of half a universe.” He ran his fingers through Peter’s hair. “We’re allowed to be stressed, and if it comes out in a pre-surgery freak-out, then so be it.”

Peter chuckled, being mindful of his ribs. “Yeah, I guess. And—um, thanks, by the way for the, uh... the breathing thing.” He was confused though, “Can I ask a dumb question? Was that a breathing exercise for women in labor?”

A blush tinged Mr. Stark’s cheeks and he rubbed at the back of his neck in apparent discomfort. “Yeah, Pete, it is, but it worked so no teasin’ the old man about it, got it?!” He pointed a finger at the boy in the bed. “You were hurting and I couldn’t think of anything to help with the broken ribs and all. Short breaths made sense and it just came to me.” He laughed low to himself, “I think it was pretty ingenious, if you ask me.”

Peter blushed, himself. “I guess it was. I’m curious to know how you’d know—“

A knock on the door interrupted his question. “Hello?” Dr. Cho opened the door and peeked her head into the room. “I’m sorry for intruding, but we’ve only got the surgical suite and staff for an allotted period of time and...“ She trailed off.

Mr. Stark looked at Peter, cocking an eyebrow in question.

Peter hesitated, then nodded ‘yes.’

Mr. Stark smiled at him then gave his still gripped hand another assuring squeeze. “He’s good to go, Helen.” He finally looked towards the doctor. “But you’ve got to hurry this up. The kid has a date with the #5—extra pickles and squished really flat, and we’d like to get that to him before someone in the kitchen realizes we’re hiding the best sandwich in Queens and absconds with it.” 

Peter snort-laughed then closed his eyes to the nurse as she re-entered the room to do her prep. He didn’t want to be rude, he just couldn’t...

Ah, shit! He knew it was coming before it hit, and then—

She waited patiently for him as the pain zinged up his spine, causing him to arch off the bed and whimper as he waited for the episode to pass. She simply stepped away from the bed so Mr. Stark could come close enough to whisper words of encouragement.

“You’ve got this, kid.”

“It’s gonna pass.”

“I’m so, so sorry...”

This episode lasted only a few minutes, but it left Peter exhausted, like always. After taking a second to pull himself together, he gave the nurse the go ahead with a nod and closed his eyes again—trying to ignore the sounds of movement and the poking and prodding at his foot.

“A little pinch.” The nurse whispered, and then there was more than a little pinch, but the second line was in. “Good job.” On what, he didn’t know, but it was done and Peter worked to keep himself from jumping off the table.

Dr. Cho came to his bedside again, “Well, Peter, I’m hoping that we can get everything sorted this last time and give your transformation a chance to finish the job without having to worry about all of this extra work.” She winked playfully at him. “And then I can start doing my regular job of putting you back together with all of the standard superhero stuff. Does that sound like a plan to you?”

He understood that she was trying to put him at ease, and it would have worked, but something was niggling at the back of his brain and he couldn’t understand what was going on. He ignored it. “Sure. Let’s do this,” he replied.

Giving a nod to the nurse on his opposite side, Dr. Cho released the break on his bed and they started moving him toward the door.

“Wait!” Peter shouted in renewed panic. “Mr. Stark?!”

He popped back into view, having kept out of the way as he was sorted. “I’m here, baby. You’re safe.” He bumped the nurse out of the way and took her place as they moved down the hallway.

He tried to look brave, but—“Could you...?”

Mr. Stark didn’t look to anyone for permission. He just answered. “I’ll go with you as far as I can, okay?”

Peter could have cried from relief, but remained strong as he nodded. “Okay. Yeah, okay.” He blinked away the moisture in his eyes and exhaled, “Uh, thanks.”

Mr. Stark ruffled his hair. “You never have to thank me, sweetheart. Do you understand?”

Peter smiled, tentative, “I guess?”

Mr. Stark huffed in frustration. “You guess? We’ll need to have a chat over that sandwich later, okay?”

By this point, they’d managed to find their way to the surgical suite. They parked the bed and Dr. Cho disappeared inside the room for a second.

Peter was about to ask if maybe she’d changed her mind about everything when she popped back out and tossed a surgical cap, mask, and gown at Mr. Stark. “Put that on, and then touch nothing, but Peter once we’re in. If you behave, you can stay with him until he’s asleep, okay?”

Mr. Stark nodded and immediately put on the gown while Dr. Cho entered the room again. He hesitated with the cap though. “No one appreciates the effort I make to look this good,” he complained. “Seriously.” He shook his head and looked down at Peter as he placed the mask on his face. “The things I do for you, kid.”  

Peter grinned at that, and for a moment he could imagine they were back in the lab at the compound and it was just the two of them being idiots while blowing crap up. “You do it because you love me,” he teased.

If they’d been back at the lab, Mr. Stark would have made a crack about doing this to keep Peter from turning to the dark side, or from working for the competition, or anything other than what he’d really said—“Yeah, kid. I really do.”

And THAT was the moment Peter realized that something had shifted in the five years. He’d heard the ‘sweetheart’ and maybe even the ‘baby’ but...

Another nurse came out of the room to address them. “Okay, we’re going in now. Once we enter the room, we’ll transfer you to a different gurney and tuck this bed away for you to use later. The room is sterile and will remain that way if everyone does what they’re supposed to do.” The nurse looked directly at Mr. Stark. “I am to remind you, sir, that you can ask Princess Shuri about the tech and sterilization methods later and that—and this is a quote from Dr. Cho—“you’d better be good, Tony, or you will be out on your ass faster than you can say ‘nanoparticle.’”

Mr. Stark barked a laugh at that and raised his right hand. “I promise I will be a good boy.”

The nurse seemed to believe him so they worked together to pull the bed through the doors and into the chill of the surgical suite. Peter would have been impressed if he wasn’t suddenly terrified.

Peter couldn’t suppress the shiver as he felt the cold press in on him and he thought again about running away—somewhere warm and vibrant and Mr. Stark could come and then—he was being transferred to a metal table, just as cold as the room.

Mr. Stark came into view again, and was again running fingers through his hair in comfort. His heart was in his throat and he couldn’t speak.

“You’ll feel a little chill here, Peter,” Dr. Cho was talking to him as someone off to the side started injecting an anaesthetic into the IV line.  

He felt it as it entered his system, the mix of standard and enhanced drugs because his body didn’t know what the heck it was doing anymore, and then whatever bits of Spider-Man that were fighting to come through did exactly that. Even as his thoughts tried to soften, he battled and ached to come back from the nothingness that was trying to catch hold of him again. His eyes flew open. He couldn’t go again! His drug weakened limbs felt weighted but still fought against gentle hands pressing him to the table, yet he tensed with anticipation of them flaking and floating off into the aether—“NO!” He couldn’t do it again, and his panic flared one last time as the anaesthetist gave one last push. “stop—“ he slurred. “don’—wanna go, ms’r star—“ Tears streamed down his temples and he finally gave up as he whispered, “’m—‘m sorry—“ 

Peter fell limp against the table—

And didn’t see Mr. Stark, as he stood over him, tried to comfort him—wept for him.

Peter also didn’t see the glare on Mr. Stark’s tear stained face as he looked at a paled Dr. Cho. “You get in. You fix it. You get out. Got it?”

Peter didn’t see her nod in agreement and start barking out orders to the medical staff in the room.

And Peter didn’t see Mr. Stark lean over to kiss his forehead and then step back into a quiet corner, deciding to not leave the boy’s side unless they dragged him forcibly from the room.

#fanfiction #IronDad and SpiderSon #Avengers: Endgame #Non-compliant #a03 fanfic #OBlossom

[pretend-writer]

Down Below (Chapter 49)

Summary: Y/N Reyes lands on Earth with the rest of the 99 prisoners. Being one of the first people to come back “home” after 97 years of living in space, she learns what it’s like to finally live in this planet.

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader, Raven Reyes x sister!reader

Word Count: 1067 words

Warning: mention of death, 

Down Below Masterlist

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

‘It’s almost time.’ Marcus walked over to me and Bellamy as the ceremony for the conclave ended.

'Can’t believe Luna came back.’ I mumbled, looking down. After Flokru have been wiped and she’s the only left in the clan, she came to the conclave fighting only for herself. She looked furious, now more than ever but I didn’t blame her.

Abby and Clarke conducted a nightblood experiment, drawing blood from her without permission and ended up breaking her trust. To be fair, I’m surprised she didn’t kill us yet.

'Octavia is getting ready if you wanna go see her, Bellamy.’ Marcus looked at him and smiled.

Bellamy sighed, 'I don’t know what to say to her.’

'You being there for her will be enough. It’s better than not showing up at all.’ I squeezed his arm, trying to make him feel better.

'Can you come with me, Reyes? It’ll make me feel better and probably would help Octavia too.’

'Of course I will.’ I smiled.

He nodded, changing his direction to go to where Octavia was preparing at. As we were all walking, I turned to Marcus.

'Hey, how’s Raven? Wasn’t she supposed to be here by now?’ I asked curiously. My mind wouldn’t leave me alone about the fact that there might be something serious going on with my sister.

'Last time I heard, she’s doing fine. Her, Emori and John should be here soon.’ Marcus smiled. Even though I knew he was saying what I wanted to hear, his smile slightly made me feel safer.

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

'Octavia.’ I called her name as we entered the training ground. She raised her head but her smile faded when she saw me walking in with Bellamy.

'What are you guys doing here?’ Octavia spoke monotone as she sharpened her swords.

Marcus smiled, 'Just here to give you some tips. I’ve noticed some weaknesses from the opponents if you want to hear it.’

She looked away then nodded, 'What do you got?’

As Marcus gave some pointers, I looked over at Bellamy. He seemed nervous as he fidgeted with his fingers, switching foot he leaned on.

Eventually, Octavia noticed as well. 'Bellamy if you have something to say, say it.’

'I-I just wanted to say, stay safe O. When Y/N was going to fight we told her to stay put and just kill the last one alive.’ Bellamy blurted.

'You want me to hide?’ Octavia asked.

'It’s strategy.’ Marcus said.

Octavia cocked her head to the side then slowly nodded. Knowing her, she probably wants to go ahead and kill everyone instantly but Bellamy was right. It’s the best strategy to have.

'Champions, to your flags.’ We heard a grounder shout. My eyes turned to Octavia, trying to keep my emotions from spilling out.

She smiled at me as she wrapped her arms around me. 'Again, I’m sorry about what happened in Arkadia.’

'Don’t mention it.’ I said as I hugged her back.

Octavia then turned to Bellamy with a serious face, 'May we meet again.’

'Damn right we will.’ Bellamy nodded.

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

The conclave began as the horn blew throughout Polis. Hearing the warriors screaming from outside, I stood by Bellamy on top of the tower watching the fight from above.

With the candles lit for each of the clans fighting in the conclave, we anxiously watched Gaia, Indra’s daughter view the war zone for the fallen warriors.

After a few minutes, Gaia returned inside the building. Waiting for her to announce which clan’s warrior have past, we watch her walk to the candles.

Nervously, Bellamy grabbed onto my hand praying that it wasn’t Octavia that died in the conclave.

With sorrowful eyes, Gaia blew off the candle that represented Trikru, announcing that the clan has fallen. She also blew out another clan’s candle that represented Ingranronakru.

Marcus turned around and walked towards Indra as she hugged her daughter, showing sympathy that Trikru was officially taken out from the conclave.

Bellamy spoke, 'I thought it was her and I instantly regretted not saying I love her before she left.’

I gripped on Bellamy’s hand tightly, 'She knows you love her. I promise you.’

He stared at me with glassy eyes, as if he was about to cry. I rubbed his arm, reassuring that everything was alright.

Shortly after, he pulled me and led me outside to the balcony.

'Are you sure you want to watch the fight?’ It would’ve probably made me more anxious watching than staying inside.

'Yeah.’ He replied as he grabbed the binocular to peek on the fight.

Several minutes have passed and Gaia continued to announce the clans that have fallen. Octavia was still surviving and fighting for Skaikru.

Leaning against the wall, I watched over Bellamy as he looked through the binocular to check on his sister.

With an angry reaction, he quickly turned to me. 'There was an arrow. Sangedakru was shot by an arrow.’

'What about it?’ I responded back, wondering why he sounded so mad.

Bellamy took off into the building without any explanation, starting to look around every corner of the room. 'Where’s Echo?’

'Oh, I don’t know. She’s been gone for a while I think.’ Bellamy then pulled me to the side, looking stressed more than ever. 'What’s going on?’

'Sangedakru was shot by an arrow and Echo isn’t here. Isn’t that a coincidence?’

It wasn’t a secret that Echo always did things she wasn’t supposed to but would she risk Azgeda like this? If she got caught, the whole clan would be disqualified.

He saw doubt in my expression, 'I know there’s something wrong and she’s behind it.’

'What’s going on?’ Marcus comes and questions us, perhaps we looked worried whispering to each other.

'I’m stopping Echo. She’s cheating.’ Bellamy blurted quietly as he walked out the door.

'Wait.’ I said, following him. 'It’s dangerous out there. If you get caught, it’s over for Skaikru.

'If I don’t stop Echo, it’s over for us either way.’

Marcus sighed, 'Bellamy, wait until the sun goes down. That way, it’s harder for you to get spotted.’

He nodded then looked at me. 'You’re going to stop me Reyes?’

I bit my lips, then shook my head. 'Of course not. Be safe, please?’

Bellamy smirked and hugged me. 'I will as always. I love you.’

'Love you too.’ I murmured as he prepared to sneak out into the war zone.

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

tag list; @jodiereedus22, @coffeebooksandfandom, @bellamyblakemorley, @wisestydia-15, @dbtvluv , @hurricane–amelia , @lexalexy , @olkathefoxi, @lena-davina, @kellbell44, @thehakunamatara, @akelly4477, @morgannope, @littlegirl-fox, @captainam-erika-trash, @greygarbage, @nathaliabakes, @eternal-l-appel-du-vide

#bellamy blake x reader #bellamy blake x y/n #bellamy blake fic #bellamy blake imagine #down below series #the 100 series #the 100 fic #raven reyes x reader #raven reyes x sister!reader #reyes sister reader

[atlantic-riona]

GIA CHILDE I AM HERE TO PROMPT LIKE A CRAZY CHICKEN okay so 4, 24 92, 97, 101, 110, and whatever you want honestly it doesn’t even have to be these pick and choose I AM HERE TO ENABLE YOUR WRITING

EXCELLENT I HOPE THESE SMALL OFFERINGS WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY

(I played fast and loose with the dialogue prompts, so like…in some of these the line doesn’t really get said! Also, I had to replace 97, because that one got a little bit spoiler-y, so instead I went with 13 and 59 (which is a slightly edited snippet I’ve written already but haven’t figured out where it goes yet). And not all of them are complete–most of them are just snippets that will probably appear in future chapters.)

4.“Who gave you that black eye?”

“Who gave you that black eye?” Gwydion demanded.

Alasdair gingerly fingered the area around said eye. “Someone wholooks and feels a lot worse than I do right now, hopefully.” Atleast, he’d be surprised if Val wasn’t curled up into a ball andmoaning to his friends like the coward that he was after the drubbingAly had given him. He’d spent quite a long time waiting to give Valhis comeuppance, and he’d be very disappointed if said comeuppancehadn’t been successful.

“Sit down. Now,” Gwydion said, nearly hissing the commandwhen Alasdair loitered by the door for a half-second too long.

He rolled his eyes, made his way across the tiny room, and floppedbackwards onto the bed. It creaked alarmingly under him. He snorted.“Shoddy workmanship.” Then again, not much was made for someoneof his height and build. But in his opinion, well-made furnitureought to hold up under any sort of person.

“Then build us a new one.”

He considered this in all seriousness, then shook his head indismissal. “You won’t be in Eblana Ladrem long enough for it tobe any use. Plus, I don’t think I could do it in time, what withschool and everything.”

“Oh, the great Aly finally admits that there’s something he can’tdo? Today is an interesting day.”

Kneeling down next to him on the bed, Gwydion leaned over to examinehis eye. In his hands was a small vial of…something.

Alasdair treated it to a suspicious glare. “What’s that?”

“Poison,” Gwydion replied in an absentminded way, reaching out togently trace the bruise. He winced. Even the light touch stung a bit.“And after I give it to you, you’re going to tell me exactly whatyou’ve been up to. Or else.”

“Or else what?”

Gwydion reached out and tweaked his nose, which he knew Alyhated, and grinned. “Or else I get Bran and you can tell himall about the adventures you’ve been having. Pick your poison.”He glanced at the vial. “It’s not actually poison, by the way;it’s an ointment—”

“I know.”

“I was only joking about—”

“I realized.”

“Touchy, touchy. Well?”

Alasdair sighed. “Is there a third option?”

“No.”

“Pity.”

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

24.“We’re playing checkers. If you don’t like it,leave.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Bran watched as his littlest brothersidled closer, nibbling at his lip. He returned his gaze to the boardbefore Conor could notice the attention. This process—which hadbeen going on for the last twenty minutes—repeated for another fivebefore he heard a voice pipe into his ear. “What’s that?”Conor’s tone was curious, but trying not to sound like it was.

“Your move,” Bran said to Art. To Conor: “It’s soldiers.”

Conor shuffled closer. “What’s that?”

This was the tricky part. If he showed too much interest, Conor wouldbolt. If he didn’t show enough, Conor would get annoyed and leaveanyway.

So he kept his eyes trained on his pieces as he answered, “It’s aValaviri game. Everybody plays it on the continent for fun. I wasjust teaching Art how to play.”

Across from them, Art sat back, narrowing his eyes at the board. Forsomeone who had only learned the basics of the game an hour ago, hewas proving to be a challenging opponent. Bran had barely managed tocorner one of his brother’s pieces, and even now he wasn’t toosure that Art wouldn’t find some way to escape.

When Conor didn’t say anything, Bran hesitated. But he hadbeen showing some interest, and he was still here…“Do youwant to know how to play?”

A shrug. “Okay.”

Well, it was something.

While they waited for Art to make his move, Bran explained the way itworked. Each side had a certain number of soldiers—usuallydistinguished by color traditionally, although right now they wereusing pebbles and shells—and the goal was to capture the board, orthe “city,” by trapping the opposing side’s soldiers with one’sown soldiers. Conor didn’t say anything as Bran demonstrated how tomove the pieces around, but he did lean in as Art finally decided tomove one of his pieces on the outer sides of the board, rather thansave the soldier that had been captured. Which left another piece ofhis wide open…

Bran plucked the captured soldier off the board, and was justreaching out to trap Art’s other piece when Conor tapped his hand.“Not that one.”

“Why not?”

Conor shifted an inch or two closer and pointed at another spot onthe board. “Move here instead.”

“Why?”

“Because…” He paused, then jerked his head at Bran andretreated a little ways. Bemused—but also a little pleased—Brangot up and followed him over to the other side of the room. When hebent down, Conor whispered, “Because he’s trying to trap you. Ifyou capture that piece, he’ll be able to get a bunch of yours inthe next ten moves. If you go where I told you to go, you can traphim instead.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

92.“You’re so clingy, I love it.”

The streets were dark and wet. Only the moon shone down upon theslippery cobblestones. Cait hopped up onto the rail of the bridge andstrolled along it as if it were a safe, dry walkway instead of arotting, slick piece of wood.

Lucan resisted the impulse for about a minute before he caved andasked, “Could you not do that? You’re putting horrible visions ofyou falling and dying in my head.”

She twirled, shooting him a smug look over one shoulder. “Jealousof my talent?”

He closed his eyes and waited until the dizziness attacking his headstopped. “Please, Cait, we’re fifty feet up.”

“Only twenty-five,” she corrected, and skidded a little. Hesurged forward.

In apparent bewilderment, Cait examined the hand wrapped around herankle. The cool night air blew the loose strands of her hair backfrom her face as she looked from his hand to his face. Lucan triedtelling his fingers to let go, now that there was no danger, but theyseemed to have other ideas that overrode those mental commands;namely, that letting go would lead to certain death some thirty feetbelow for someone he considered a friend. Someone who could perhapsbe—a good friend. Yes, that was it. A good friend.

Suddenly she laughed: a short, delighted laugh that brought ananswering smile to his face. In one fluid motion she shook his handoff and jumped down. She didn’t land with catlike grace—her bootsmade an echoing thump when she hit the ground, and when shestraightened and started off down the bridge again, her stride couldbe charitably characterized as more of a spirited march than a smoothstroll—but it was graceful, nonetheless, in a way that was purelyCait.

“Wait up,” he called after her.

Already at the end of the bridge, she stopped and turned to wait forhim. “You’re awfully clingy tonight,” she observed.

“Sorry.” Lucan fell into step next to her as they made their waydown yet another unfamiliar street, and found himself wishing that hecould stay to learn its name. To walk these streets with her untilthey became as familiar as the back of his hand. To not know that, assoon as he found his quarry, he would leave and never return. Hestole a glance at her, so as to capture this moment deliberately inhis mind.

Cait’s head was down, and a small smile played about her mouth. Shelaughed again when she caught him looking at her, but more softlythis time. Her eyes crinkled just before she laughed, he noticed. “Idon’t mind,” she admitted. “I like spending time with you.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

101.“Don’t be an asshole. Asshole.”

Marian shoved him. “Hey! What was that for?” he protested.

“For being an absolute menace to the population at large!”

“Marian. Are you calling me a menace for not being able todistinguish between different shades of blue?” Aly’s tone wasincredulous bordering on ‘politely concerned for her sanity’.

“Yes! You shouldn’t do things like that in public!” Shesniffled, only halfway caring how illogical she sounded. As long ashe didn’t realize the true cause of her almost-tears, it didn’tmatter. And for a minute, she thought her ploy would work.

“Well, excuse me for never having set foot in such a ‘highquality establishment’ before, where such lowly beings as myselfget looked down upon for not knowing the difference between blue and,uh, turquoise blue or azure—” He paused. “Thisisn’t about the colors, is it.”

“Of course it is! What else would it be about?”

“Oh, I don’t know, my brother?”

She turned her nose up. “I’m certain I haven’t the faintestidea what you’re talking about.”

Alasdair gave her a long, long stare. “You’re not a very goodliar, you know. I can always tell when you’re bluffing.”

Summoning all the tattered scraps of her composure, she drew themaround herself before facing him. “Who’s bluffing?”

He puffed out his cheeks. “According to you, my skills at dealingwith emotions could use work, so please don’t make me strain themwhile I drag the answer out of you.”

His teasing tone irked her. She wasn’t in the mood right now.“Don’t be an asshole. Asshole.”

He gasped. “Mar! Such language! What would Bran think?” Heelbowed her. “Do you write about me in your diary?”

The subject change had given her such whiplash that it took her amoment to process the question.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

110.“Quit stalling. Where’s your father?”

“Quit stalling. Where’s your father?”

Oh, this was wretched. This was absolutely wretched. Marian lookedwildly to her right, where Bran had flattened himself against thewall, staring at her with wide eyes. He shook his head and mouthed,Not yet. Beyond him, Alasdair hunched over her father’sdesk, meticulously replacing papers as fast as he dared. If he wenttoo swiftly, the rustling of the papers would draw attention.

“Marcus,” the prince reproved in a long-suffering tone, beforeturning back to her with an apologetic expression. “Sorry abouthim. Look, we really need to speak to your father, so if we couldjust…”

Without thinking, she moved to block his path to the door of thestudy. “He’s not in right now.” She was amazed at how easilythe lie came out. Behind her back, she made hasty (and subtle)flapping motions indicating the need to speed things up. “ShallI—that is, I’ll tell him you were looking for him when he getsback,” she said, remembering Bran’s story about misdirection.Phrase what you want them to do as a statement, not as a question,and most people won’t push further. And don’t give them time todwell. “In the meantime, would you like something to drink? Inthe triclinium, perhaps?”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

(I replaced 97.“I don’t need a hero, I need a husband” with 13. “Looks like we’re gonna be stuckhere for a while” and 59. “How do I even put up with you?”)

13. “Looks like we’re gonna be stuck here for a while.”

“Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while,” Artsaid, kicking at the loose dirt. A pebbled rolled off to the side,into the darkness, where it made a surprisingly loud clunk. Somethingshifted above them. They froze.

When it seemed likely that the ceiling wasn’t going to collapse onthem yet, Alasdair reached out—slowly—to grip Art’s shoulder.“Maybe move a bit more carefully, okay?”

His mouth had gone dry. He touched the papers inside his bag, to besure they were still safe, and then nodded. Then he remembered thatit was too dark for Aly to really see the nod, so he said out loud,“Right. Got it.”

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

59. “How do I even put up with you?”

“Who’s a good boy?” Alasdaircrooned. “That’s right, you! You are!” He held the puppy up tohis face with childlike glee.

“He is not a good boy,” she saidfrom her seat by the window. “He is the least good boy I know.”

Alasdair gasped and clutched thepuppy to his chest. “You take that back.”

“I will not,” Marian saiddefiantly. “The little monster chewed up all of my sewing today. Doyou know how expensive silk is?”

“He is not a monster!” Thepuppy’s ears were covered as Alasdair glared at her over its head.“You take that back right now. Apologize to Puppy.”

She couldn’t help it; she threwback her head and laughed. “I can’t take you seriously when youcall it ‘Puppy,’ Alasdair. Give it a real name, won’t you?”

“Puppy,” he said with emphasis,“is not an it. Puppy is a he. And he’s not a monster, soapologize.”

“I refuse,” she said, stickingher nose in the air.

Boots thumped against the floor asAlasdair jumped to his feet. “Puppy and I,” he announced withgreat dignity, “are leaving.”

He was halfway out the window beforeMarian thought he might actually be serious. She rushed over as hevanished outside. “Alasdair?” The night wind, cool and gentle,ruffled her hair. Below, there was only blackness. “Alasdair?”She bit her lip. “I take it back; Puppy’s not a monster.”

“Ha,” said a supremely satisfiedvoice above her. Marian shrieked and stumbled backwards as Alasdair’shead popped into view, his green eyes shining like a cat’s. “Iknew that would work.”She clapped a hand to her chest,breathing hard. In front of her, Puppy panted cheerfully, his tinytail beating a happy rhythm against Alasdair’s chest where he wasbeing cradled ever so tenderly. In deference to Puppy’s sensitiveears, Marian decided against swearing and instead fixed her glareupon an unfazed, smirking Alasdair. “You are the most aggravating—”

“I know,” Aly said sweetly. Heclambered back into the room, obviously pleased with himself. “I’maggravating, irritating, horrible, terrible, no-good, devious, tootall, and I have no taste in shirts.”

“Well, at least you saved me thebreath and time of having to tell you yet again,” Marian sniped.

“And I could fix the shirt problemif you would just let me—”

“The day you pick out my clothesis the day I—oh, wait, that’ll never happen,” Alasdair shotback, still grinning. “Ever.”

“Just a little embroidery—”

Alasdair turned away, cradlingPuppy, and for a moment Marian worried that she might haveaccidentally hit a true nerve in their familiar argument; but then hegrinned at her over his shoulder. “Hush,” he said with mockconcern. “Puppy shouldn’t have to see us fight.”

“Oh, you,” Marian said, morerelieved than she cared to admit. “How do I even put up with you?”

“I have no idea,” Alasdair said,squinting down at Puppy. “I’m told that I can be somewhat of ahandful.”

“Who said that?”

“My professors.”

“Was this before or after youcaused multiple explosions at the university?”

“No comment.”

#my writing #the raven's return #very long post #this ended up featuring a lot of Marian #probably because I'm in the middle of writing her chapter #so I'm used to her narrative voice #also #the one with Cait and Lucan? #I'm 99.9% sure that it's the moment Lucan falls for Cait #XD

[paigenotblank]

The Age of the Wolf (2/?)

Pairing: Eight x Rose

Rating: Eventually Mature (this chapter is teen)

Written for @doctorroseprompts and Eight x Rose August. Prompt: Dimension hopping!Rose meets Eight / What if Rose was with Eight or met Eight during the Time War?

Huge thanks to @fleurdeneuf for the beta (any mistakes are my own as I tweaked it after she got it back to me).

Read it on Tumblr: Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9

AO3  TS

The Doctor stood with his hands clasped behind his back looking out of the window high above the domed city. He silently noted the changes wrought by war. There was more activity on the streets, but there was a frenetic energy to it. People were out, but none enjoyed the beauty around them. They scurried along the streets, heads down, ignoring each other in passing, minds focused inward and on surviving another day.

Fabric rustled and footsteps approached the Doctor. “We’re in the midst of war. You know she can’t be here.”

He glanced briefly over his shoulder. “Romana, it’s not negotiable.”

“The Time Lords will not accept you bringing your companion, your human companion, here. I know it’s been some time since you’ve last visited, but-”

He turned to face his old friend. “She’s not exactly human and she’s not my companion.”

Romana’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean by that? She is obviously both human, 21st century London if I am not mistaken, and she arrived with you on your TARDIS. Doctor, you’re making even less sense than usual, and that is saying something.”

“I...I’m not exactly sure what she is, but she’s more than human, and she’s from my future. She’s a future self’s companion, not originally mine.”

“Doctor! Have you gone mad? As if this war hasn’t nearly shredded the fabric of time, you...oh! She absolutely cannot be here if she has any knowledge of your future! You know that. She must be returned to her proper timeline immediately.”

He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “I can’t.” At Romana’s screech of indignation, the Doctor held up his hands. “I’ve tried. I know how dangerous it is for her to be here. In the last few weeks that we’ve been travelling, since leaving Karn, I tried no less than 6 times to get her home. The Old Girl fought me every time and when it came down to it, she wouldn’t let me do it.”

“Are you still referring to your Type 40 as ‘Old Girl.’” Romana tsked at him. “Can you be serious for once?”

“You travelled with me; you know how she gets.”

The door to Romana’s office whooshed open, and Rose entered with a tall Time Lord and an older Time Lady. With a dismissive glance, Romana continued, “I know you are entirely too easy going on that ship. I can enlist a Type 97 for you to use with the sole purpose of returning your future companion to her correct time.”

“A Type 97? They shouldn’t even be considered TARDISes. No personality.”

Rose sidled up next to the Doctor and took his hand in hers. She turned to Romana and told her, “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

“I’m sorry, Rose. I know what it’s like to travel with the Doctor, but humans are not permitted here right now.”

A deep voice interrupted from the doorway. “She’s not human.”

Romana looked at surprise at the Time Lord that had come in with Rose. “You can’t be serious, Braxiatel.”

“I took the liberty of running a few tests-”

Rose gasped. “You had no right!”

The Doctor squeezed her hand and faced his brother. “And what did you find, Brax?”

Braxiatel cleared his throat. “Well, it appears your young friend has many of the same attributes as humans, it’s even likely that she was born human, but she has high levels of artron and huon particles in her system and the rate of her cellular decay is practically non-existent.”

“Huon! Huon is ancient.”

Romana looked suspiciously at the Doctor and asked Braxiatel, “Cellular decay similar to a Time Lord?”

“Less even than a Time Lord. It’s as if she’s a frozen moment in time, but yet...not. Without further testing…”

“I forbid it!”

“...we have no idea what that means for her body’s ability to repair itself or just how long lasting her life will be.”

The Doctor snuck a look at Rose. She appeared tight lipped and angry, so it was a surprise when she spit out, “I heal fast.”

Braxiatel waited for her to elaborate, and at her continued silence turned to the Doctor with a raised brow. The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Before coming here, we were in a gunship crash. Rose died.”

“I didn’t die...obviously.”

“Appeared to die, but she came back and healed herself...and me too as a matter of fact.”

“She regenerated?”

“No, not as such. I...I don’t know exactly what it was, but it wasn’t a regeneration as we know it. Now, Brax, if that’s everything, we’re just-”

“It’s not. Her timelines are completely unreadable...to everyone, even the readers and Visionary. It’s as if she’s seeped in time and holds every possibility around her. It’s completely impossible.” Rose rolled her eyes. “I think she should stay; she might be a...valuable addition to the war effort."

The Doctor bristled and moved closer to Rose. “She’s a person, not a weapon to be used. Don’t even think about-”

Rose stepped forward. “What’s your job here?”

Braxiatel was taken aback. “Pardon?”

“Your...position. Do you have the authority to permit me to stay? Not as a weapon for the Time Lords, but as a helpmate to the Doctor.”

“Well, I hold a seat on the Council, same as Romana. We can petition on your behalf.”

“That doesn’t sound like much of a guarantee. So get this through your arrogant Time Lord head: I’m not goin’ anywhere, ‘cept where the Doctor goes. Figure out a way to make that happen or I’ll figure it out on my own.” Rose let them see a portion of the power she held as gold flashed through her eyes.

Romana took a step back in alarm. Braxiatel simply looked rather bored.

A gentle throat clearing had them all looking at the other person in the room. The elder Time Lady, who thus far had remained content to observe, motioned for the Doctor to join her.

As the Doctor made his way to her side, Brax pounced. He jumped on the Doctor and wrestled him to the floor. Rose moved faster than a human had the ability to move. One second she was by the window and the next she had flung Braxiatel across the room and into the wall.

“Doctor!” Rose ran her hands over the Doctor, checking for injuries.

“I’m fine. Nothing I haven’t faced from him before, though I must say, Brax, not since we were children.” Rose helped him to his feet.

Brax started laughing from his position on the ground. He dusted his robes off as he stood back up. “I just wanted to see what your...Rose was capable of, Thete.” He bowed to her. “More than even I had hoped for, my dear.”

“Oh, do stop antagonizing your brother.”

Rose gasped and looked from one to the other. There were no similarities at all between the two men.

Braxiatel lowered his head. “Apologies, mother.”

Rose glanced in shock at the Time Lady now smiling at her. “Don’t mind either of my boys. They’ve been competitive since they were loomlings. They would, however, do anything for the other, don’t let them fool you.”

“I…”

The Doctor’s mother took Rose’s hands. “Don’t worry about the High Council. I will stand for you and make sure you don’t have to leave his side. You just watch out for my son.” She looked at the Doctor and smiled sadly before looking back at Rose. “You’re good for him. And thank you.”

“For what?”

The older woman leaned forward and whispered in Rose’s ear. “For loving him. He’s never belonged here, always wanting more...desiring to be loved like you love him.” She pulled back. “I tried to find balance between being a good Time Lady and a good mother, and in doing so was neither. I leave my son in your capable hands.”

She stepped away from Rose and walked over to the Doctor. After a whispered conversation, she slipped something into the Doctor’s hands and turned to leave. “Rose. Remember, you won’t have to leave, therefore it’s your choice. Follow your heart.”

“I don’t understand. What’s my choice?”

The Doctor’s mother smiled and left.

“Doctor? What’s she talkin’ about?”

He stood there quietly and just when Rose thought he’d never say anything, he blurted out, “Bond with me.”

Rose’s breath caught in her throat. “What?”

“Bond with me, Rose. As my bondmate they have to allow you to stay with me.”

“You want me to bond with you so that, what, the Time Lords are forced to accept me here?”

The Doctor’s cheeks pinkened. “No, I want you to bond with me because you love me. I was just hoping you’d see the logical reasons to do it and agree before you made me admit to any feelings.”

Rose’s heart fluttered in her chest. “You still haven’t admitted to any of your feelings; all you did was tell me my own.”

“Ah, is that what I did?”

“Doctor...I love you. I do. An’ I’m pretty sure, no...I know that in the future you love me too, even though you’ve never actually said it. An’ maybe that’s why I feel like it would be betraying you. I mean neither of your future selves were ones for...um, such overt statements of our relationship. I can’t imagine you’ll be very pleased when I get back to that you."

“But there would be nothing to be displeased by. When you return to me, you would have always been wife, well, for as long as he’s known you anyway. What if it was always meant to happen this way?” The Doctor wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “To push you away after my memories come back would do you a grave disservice. And honestly, I’ve known you a short time and already cannot imagine myself doing any such thing. I admit I have loved, in some fashion, almost all of my previous companions, but nothing compares to the feelings that I have for you. My hearts beat for you alone. I swear I was yours by the time you grabbed my hand and said, ‘Run.’ Please, Rose, bond with me...be mine?”

“I’m already yours.” Rose bit her lip. “Are you sure it wouldn't mess up our future? You already being my husband when we meet for the first time? My first time? I mean, you didn’t seem to know me any more than I knew you.”

“I'm a Time Lord; I'll forget what I have to in order to preserve our future, and your past. It won’t be much more than I’d have to anyway since you insist on staying with me, silly girl. But I need you, Rose.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? You won’t regret it one day?”

“Rose...I am the same man, your Doctor, and I’m sure I haven’t wanted anything more in my lives. I could never regret wanting you for my bondmate.”

Rose nodded. “Okay.”

The Doctor looked at Rose in question. “Okay you believe me or okay you’ll marry me?”

She laughed. “Both.”

The Doctor whooped in joy and picked Rose up and spun her around. He looked over his shoulder at his friend. “Romana, grab a length of ribbon. We have a handfasting to perform.”

Romana stood there worrying about all the potential repercussions of the Doctor’s impetuousness.

“Romana!”

“What?”

“Fetch a ribbon.”

“Right now?”

“Yes, right now. I’m marrying my Rose.” He wrapped his arms around Rose and pulled her closer to him. She smiled her tongue touched grin. He groaned and leaned in for a kiss.

Romana frowned at the Doctor; such intimate displays were unbecoming of a Time Lord. Braxiatel cleared his throat to get her attention, and when she looked over at him, he was holding a red ribbon edged in gold. “Where did you…? You knew!”

He quirked his lips. “From the moment I met her.”

Romana took the ribbon with a sigh and approached the happy couple. “Doctor, are you sure-”

“Yes, now get on with it.”

“Very well.” Romana took a deep breath and adopted an air of solemnity. “Time Lords of Gallifrey, honored members of the House of Lu-”

“The abridged version, if you please?”

“It doesn't please me. You are a son of two of the oldest houses on Gallifrey; it is only befitting that-”

“Abridged...but the full marriage bond ceremony.”

“The full…? But we...those simply aren’t done anymore.”

“Romana…”

Romana let out a growl of frustration. “Vey well...Rose, Doctor, do the both of you come freely and willingly to this handfasting? For the purposes of binding yourselves together by the ancient and sacred rites of time everlasting?”

The Doctor smiled at Rose. “Yes.”

She blushed and nodded. “Yes.”

Romana turned to Braxiatel. “Braxiatel, son of the House Lungbarrow, do you stand for your brother and consent to this marriage?”

Braxiatel bowed to Romana. “I consent and give it readily.”

“Rose, since you don’t have a member of your family present, we can-”

“But I do.”

Romana looked at Rose in confusion. Rose motioned to the Doctor. “The Doctor’s a part of my family.”

“Not quite yet.”

“He’s my chosen family. Has been since his ninth self, even before we were properly together an’ still jus’ best mates.”

“None of that has happened yet.”

“It’s happened for me...ages ago. An’ the big things don’t change in regeneration, right? So he is an’ always will be my family.”

“But...but he’s the groom!”

“So?”

Romana huffed and mumbled under her breath. “Lord Rassilon, but the two of them are going be the cause of my next regeneration.”

Braxiatel laughed at her side. “They really are perfect for each other.”

“May the Eternals help us all, if they ever engineer progeny.” Romana took a bracing breath. “Doctor, son of the House Lungbarrow, do you stand for your, er, for Rose Tyler and consent to this marriage?”

The Doctor bowed to Romana. “I consent and give it gladly.”

Romana stepped before the Doctor and Rose, ribbon held aloft. “The vows you pledge today will be as veritable as the ribbon that binds you physically. Do you understand and wish to continue?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

Romana directed Rose and the Doctor to face each other and clasp hands. Raised at chest level, she bound their hands and wrists and tied the ends with a flourish.

“You have both laid claim to a desire to weave the strands of time that plot your path into one. Will you allow the promises you make to each other here today to be the foundation of a union that stretches across all of your years and lifetimes?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Do you vow to hold in honor your partner’s timeline, past, present, and future?”

“I do.”

“Yes...I do.”

“Do you vow to respect each other as equals within and notwithstanding the regeneration?”

“I do.”

“I do.” Rose gently squeezed the Doctor’s hand, and he gave her a knowing grin.

“Do you vow to share your responsibilities, especially those of being time’s protectors?”

“I do.”

“I do.”

“Do you vow to tend to the garden of each other’s mindscape as you would your own?”

“I do.”

Rose’s heart skipped a beat as she thought of her future Doctor being alone in his mind, and she vowed to herself fiercely, ‘Never again.’ “I do.” If the vehemence of her statement surprised the Doctor, he didn’t let on.

“You have bound yourselves physically and spoken your vows al-”

Braxiatel cleared his throat, interrupting Romana. She looked at him askance. He leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“That's not part of the-”

“I believe it is traditionally part of most Earth ceremonies, and in deference to the bride’s origins…”

“Very well. Doctor, Rose, do you vow to...love and cherish each other?”

The Doctor’s look turned heated. “I do.”

Rose blushed under the Doctor’s gaze. “I do, too.”

“You have bound yourselves physically and spoken your vows aloud before both time and Time Lord. May your timelines run together always.” Romana stepped back from the couple and the Doctor tugged Rose by their bound hands toward him. His free hand dropped to her waist to steady her.

He spoke so softly only she could hear, “The next bit is just for the two of us,” and leaned his forehead against hers. He slowly raised the hand at her waist to her temple. Rose mirrored his action and closed her eyes. She felt a gentle press against her mind as he asked, “May I have entry?”

No sooner than Rose nodded did she feel a swirling presence in her mind. Rose was surprised that on a visceral level she immediately recognized the Doctor’s mind and soul. It was so breathtakingly beautiful, so familiar, so right. She wanted to weep at the feeling of completeness it brought about. It was as if she hadn’t known she was missing him in her mind, until he was there where he belonged.

Rose… His mental voice sighed her name and she felt filled with him, which was a bit strange, but not unpleasant, not at all. Not unlike… She blushed as she made the connection with another type of intimate act. She heard his chuckle spread through her thoughts. There’ll be time for that later.

Promise? She thought the question at him before she was quite cognizant of it. She felt her face heat up further, and embarrassment radiated off her.

I know this is new for you, and I swear I’ll teach you how to control sending through thoughts you don’t want to, but don’t be embarrassed. I vowed to honor, respect and cherish you, and I meant it. You’re safe with me.

I know and I trust you, Doctor. Just caught me off guard is all. But...do you? Promise that...we can...later? LIke this?

Oh, yes. He shared with her his desire for her. She let it flow over her and then tried to send the same back. She was successful if the squeak she heard from him was anything to go by. Later. He managed to get the word out before he withdrew slightly from her mind. She could hear him breathing heavily and could feel him pulling his emotions in order. We...we still need to finish the bonding ceremony.

Rose recalled the presence of others in the room with them. Oh!

The Doctor once again allowed himself to enter her mind, though this time with a tighter rein on his thoughts and emotions. Without either the Doctor or Rose realizing it, Bad Wolf closed the door on Rose’s knowledge of the Doctor’s future.

He made a small home for himself in a corner of her mind and showed her his awe, respect and love.

She followed the bond back and into his mind to try and do the same for him. She heard him gasp and felt his surprise as she entered the cathedral of his mind. How…? You are amazing, my love. She could feel the vastness of the shared Time Lord consciousness, and it made her feel tiny. You’re anything but tiny. Rose, you’re incredible. I’ve never experienced a mind so bright and infinite. You truly are a goddess.

I create myself… The memory echoed through both their minds and they shivered at the small glimpse of the power running through Rose’s veins.

My Rose, you gave me something to believe in, when I thought there was nothing. I love you and I give myself unto you. Mind, body, and soul. The Doctor’s presence in her mind flared brightly and then settled to a soft glow. A chiming melody sang out to her and seared itself across her heart.

Wha’? What was that?

My true name and my vow to you. It is yours, to only be spoken by you, as I am yours, only to be loved by you.

Happiness swelled in Rose until it overflowed and caused tears to trickle from her eyes. My Doctor. You showed me a better way to live and made me believe in myself. I love you and give myself to you. Mind, body, and soul. Forever. At her vow, the Doctor was given a glimpse of their entwined timelines running without end. There were periods of knots and twists, but it always managed to smooth back out. A little of the fear he’d held so firmly to regarding the future eased, and he let the peace of being connected to his soulmate wash over him.

So focused were the two on each other, Romana’s voice as she ended the ceremony sounded far away. “You stand here united by fabric made of fiber, but it is not those strands that will keep you bound together. It is the promises that you have given each other that weave the fabric of your past, present, and future. By the strength of your convictions, I pronounce you bound as one.”

The Doctor and Rose stood wrapped up in each other, and Romana glanced uncomfortably to Braxiatel. He stepped forward and cleared his throat. “You may kiss your bride.”

The Doctor eased back from Rose and when her eyes fluttered open, he leaned forward and captured her lips in a hard kiss. She sighed into him and moved her free hand from the side of his face to the back of his neck. At the first brush of her fingers through his hair, he pulled her more firmly against him and deepened the kiss.

“Doctor!”

They broke from the snog, and Rose buried her face in the crook of the Doctor’s neck. He kissed her on the cheek and wrapped his arm around her. “Sorry, Romana. If you don’t need anything further, my wife…” He couldn’t keep the smile from his voice. “...and I will continue this in our own set of rooms. Come, love.”

“Doctor, aren’t you forgetting something?” Braxiatel stood waiting patiently.

His confusion must have been obvious because Braxiatel mouthed, “Mother’s gift.”

“Ah!”

The Doctor untied the bonding ribbon and slipped it carefully into his pocket. When he removed his hand, he brought with him a small charm. Rose could see that it was inscribed with writing, but it wasn’t English nor the circular Gallifreyan that the Doctor preferred. “What’s it say?”

The Doctor ran his thumb over the surface of it. “It’s Old High Gallifreyan. It’s the mark of the Lost House of Gallifrey.” He raised his eyes to meet hers. “It’s my mother’s gift to you. It’ll afford you a certain measure of protection among the Time Lords.”

“Lost House?”

“Time Lord society was founded by the original three: Rassilon, Omega, and a Time Lord known only as the Other. Omega was killed while bringing the Time Lords out of the Dark Times, so Rassilon co-ruled with the Other. Well, Lord President Rassilon was power hungry - still is truth be told - and didn’t want to share power for very long. The Other knew a plot was afoot to kill him, and so he threw himself into the looms. Afterward, Rassilon had the Other’s true name stripped from the records. Now it’s lost to time. His House, however, was powerful.” The Doctor held up the charm. “Powerful enough to raise empires and destroy gods...or give safeguard to one of its claimed members. That’s why my mother wanted you to have it. You’ll be under the shield of one of the most ancient founding Houses.”

“Is that, erm, Longbarrow?”

“Lungbarrow, but no. That’s my father’s House. My mother is one of the last descendants of the Lost House of Gallifrey. The name of the house is as lost as its founder’s.”

“If there aren’t any people left, except a very few, how does that keep me safe?”

“Old High Gallifreyan, even in its written form, holds a power of its own. You are protected, Rose.”

The Doctor found a length of twine in his jacket and used it to attach the charm to Rose’s wrist. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. “Come, we should move the TARDIS to our quarters, and get ourselves settled. And then I believe we had some unfinished business.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her to make her laugh.

Rose rolled her eyes at the Doctor, but couldn’t help the smile that stretched across her face as he escorted her from the room.

--

Rassilon strode into his private Council Chamber with a scowl. “That idiot had the nerve to bring a human here and bond with her. If his house hadn’t chosen semantectomy years ago, I’d have his name ripped from every record on Gallifrey!”

“Lord President, sir, by all accounts she isn’t fully human.”

Rassilon spun on the Lord Chancellor. “Did I ask for your opinion?”

The smaller man cowered and hung his head. “No, sir. Apologies.”

“And now to hear she’s been claimed as a member of the Lost House. It’s a travesty. She’s unworthy of the status. I want you to have my Guard set up a detail to watch their every move while in the Capitol. I don’t trust any of them.”

“The Doctor and his wife?”

“All of them. That Renegade and the Abomination known as Rose Tyler, but also his brother, mother, and known associates such as Romanadvoratrelundar.”

“But, sir, that is highly irregular! Romanadvoratrelundar is a distinguished former Lady President and the Mother is an esteemed member of the-”

“I can replace you like that.” Rassilon fist met his gauntleted hand. The other man gulped as the Lord President pinned him in place with a glare. “Now, is there a problem?”

“N-no, sir. I’ll have it done straight away.”

“You are dismissed.”

The Lord Chancellor fled the room to do the Lord President’s bidding.

“How dare he!” Rassilon banged his hand on the table and a throat was cleared behind him. He turned to find the General.

“You sent for me, Lord President?”

“Yes. I want you to get rid of the Doctor and his...pet.”

“Get rid of?”

“Find some outpost to send them to. The more dangerous the better.”

The General bowed to his president with a slick grin. “I know just the place, sir.”

#eight x rose #doctorroseprompts #eight x rose august #telepathic bond #gallifreyan handfasting #time war

[practicingmedicine]

Practicing Medicine: Chapter Three

(+)3

COPYRIGHT 2075 ROBCO(R)

LOADER V1. 1

EXEC VERSION 41.10

32K RAM SYSTEM

16213 BYTES FREE

HOLLOWTAPE LOADED: “THE-CARAVAN”

INITIALISING….

SUCCESS!

> STATUS

Battery Level: 97%

Wireless Signal: (?)

Operating Temperature: 82F

> HEALTH

BP: 120/90

SPO2: 100%

Temp: 98.5F

RR: 15

HR: 70

> TIME

Day: 23 SEP. 2279

Time: 15:00

> CLIMATE

Current Temperature: 69F

Atmospheric Pressure: 753 mm

Background Radiation: 0.231 RAD

“Oh, that’s terrible! I mean, I had known that Penny was sick, but I didn’t know that she had cancer !” said Mrs. McBain. She gave my hand a tight squeeze, and then released it. “If there’s anything we can do…”

“There’s one thing,” I said. Both Mrs. McBain and her recovering husband looked up at me. “Look after my momma. Make her nice meals, give her hugs, and send a letter to the followers if anything happens. I hope I won’t be gone for long, but if I don’t come back…” I thought for a moment. “Look for help. If you can’t find any, at least make her comfortable.”

Mr. and Mrs. McBain shared a look that suggested they were worried about me. “Of course, I’m sure that ain’t gonna happen. I just like to plan for the worst!” Mr. McBain smiled at me from his bed.

“I appreciate that kind of thinking, son. Things can go to hell in a handbasket pretty quick,” said the Sheriff. His wife glared at him.

“He’s not going to die, Kurt! Don’t you suggest that kind of thing!”

“I wasn’t suggesting nothin! Just saying that it’s good to have a plan- it’s a staple of being a good doctor, or so I hear,” said Mr. McBain, looking at me again. I forced a laugh.

“Yeah, I guess it is! Now, you two, can you do that? Can you look after my mom for a few weeks?” Immediately, Mrs. McBain nodded. Mr. McBain gave a thumbs up.

“Of course, Isaac! It’s the least we can do, really,” said Mrs. McBain. I smiled.

“Thank you,” I replied, and headed for the door. Mom might come looking for me soon, and this’d be one of the first places she’d check.

“Wait, Isaac- do you want to call your mom before you leave?” suggested Mrs. McBain, putting a hand on my shoulder. I shook my head.

“No. Well, yes, but I’m afraid that she’ll change my mind.” I hung my head. I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity, but I needed to do this. I suspected that I was going to have to make a lot of these kinds of choices in the near future. “Thank you though. I’ll try to repay you somehow when I get back.”

“Isaac, dear, you already have.”

I smiled at that. “If you say so.” A cloud of dust blew in around my legs as I opened the door. “See you folks soon- tell Mom I said goodbye, and that I love her!”

And just like that, I left behind everything I knew, and strode into unknown territory.

-Break-

Well, not really, “ Unknown territor y,” not yet. The next place I went was the town square, which was quiet and empty today. I was thankful for that. I strode past mom’s Casino, which was my next destination, and crouched down next to a little patch of brown grass and concrete between the sidewalk and Bison Steve’s. That was where Father had been shot. After that, he backpedaled for a while, and then ran into the side of the Casino, where he fell down and bled out.

I walked over to the wall. Me and mom had painted it together, before he died and after. I usually left him something; The first time it had been the snow globe he was going to give me, then it had been cactus flowers, and it kept changing after that. Whenever it stormed, the items got swept away, which I was okay with. He wasn’t even buried there, and it wasn’t like he was in any state to need the stuff. I would just start over, leaving something new every time.

But not this time. Not only was that in the past that I was trying to leave behind, but it was also kind of stupid, as I was starting to realize. Instead, I just crouched down next to the spot, put down my bag, and tried to make myself look presentable.

“Howdy, Father- I’m going on a little adventure, out in the wastes. I’d be real grateful if you could watch over Momma til I get back.” I didn’t know much about communing with spirits- still don’t, but it felt like a nice thing to do. After all, I was going to be gone for a while.

And after that, I stood up, wiped away the tears that had been gathering in my eyes, and walked into mom’s bustling Casino. The mysterious new city of New Vegas had taken a toll on business, but Primm still had the most convenient Casino on this side of the Mojave.

“Good evening, Mr. Saller! How you doing- I heard you saved the Sheriff’s life today!” said Johnson Nash, an old, wrinkly-skinned man and the overseer of the Mojave Express mail delivery here in Primm. I smiled as I approached him.

“Howdy Mr. Nash. My mom is dying of cancer. Are there any caravans passing through here?”

Mr. Nash looked surprised. His gaze shifted to the window. “Well, I… Really, Penny? I’m so sorry, boy, she’s always seemed so strong to me! I never would have guessed that she…” he turned his head to look at me again. “Sorry. I’m reminiscing. You just missed an NCR caravan heading up to Nipton. If the schedule keeps going like it has been, another caravan should show up next month…”

“Crud,” I muttered. I thought about saying something less polite, but Mr. Nash didn’t like me swearing.

“Sorry,” said Mr. Nash. Then, his expression changed. He glanced over his shoulder.

“Oh, I almost forgot! There’s an unsponsored one preparing to leave right now, bound straight for New Vegas. It’s a little caravan, three people, a couple of brahmin and a wagon. They’ve run the route a few times, but they don’t usually pass through here. The leader- Gram, I think it was, says he’s with the NCR. He’s got a ranger with him, so normally, I’d be inclined to believe him. But, the NCR never told me about them like they do with the rest of their caravans, and only the ranger wears a uniform.”

I started to walk away. “Thanks, Mr. Nash--where can I find them?”

“They’re out back behind the Casino, sort of over by the hitching posts, but I wouldn’t mess with them. They seem kind of shady to me,” he said. I turned my head to grin at him.

“Oh, I’ll be fine, Mr. Nash. I’m sure they’ll jump at the opportunity to get a doctor on board!”

-Break-

“Hands behind your head! That’s right, don’t move an inch!”

I shouted out in pain and surprise as the great-big person with the ranger uniform pushed their boot even harder against the small of my back, no doubt leaving a bruise. Without even registering it, I had moved both of my hands behind my head.

“Good. Hoplite, search him!”

A stout, bespectacled ghoul wearing a plaid three-piece suit with a tan cowboy-hat sauntered into my field of view. I hadn’t met many ghouls before, but I could tell by his demeanor that he was no spring chicken. Maybe pre war, maybe not, but definitely vintage. Maybe even antique. He stared at me for a while, then took off his hat, and tilted his head in my direction.

“He’s got nothin, Tandi. If he had a gat, he would have tried to reach for it when you spotted him,” said the ghoul. My ribcage felt like it was going to crack open as the ranger put even more weight onto their one foot.

“That’s not what I’m worried about. I bet he’s a legion slave, check his collar, look for brands on his skin!”  

“I ain’t a slave,” I said, and instantly regretted speaking. The ranger laughed, a strange, hollow sound once it got passed through the helmet.

“Well, the kid ain’t a slave! What a goddamn relief!” The cheery Texan twang didn’t mesh with the deep, slavic voice. Every word that the ranger spoke sent chills down my spine.

“Look!” I shouted. I reached for my coat collar, and the ranger raised their foot and jammed their heel into my back again, harder than before. I screamed out something incomprehensible.

“Try it again, slave-boy-“ I could hear the ranger pull the bolt back on their submachine-gun, and I’m pretty sure I pissed my pants a little. “…And I put a round in your kidney! Maybe death don’t scare you, but pain like that’ll make a tough man cry. Ain’t that right Hoplite?”

The ghoul let out a tired sigh. “I’m not about to play good-cop bad-cop with you, Tandi. Let the poor kid go.” The Ranger kept their foot on my back for a few more seconds, pressing just hard enough to give me a sharp pain in my ribcage. Finally, they released me, leaving me aching in the sand.

As soon as I had recovered enough to breath, I flipped myself onto my back and started coughing. My whole goddamn chest was aching, which was an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling. Of course, that wasn’t what I was thinking about. I was instead thinking about how I almost got shot, how I almost died less than an hour into my journey, how I almost failed my momma…

I started crying. I knew immediately that it was a bad idea, so I kept it silent, but I couldn’t help but let a few tears leak down my face. No one seemed to notice it, probably because they were still talking amongst themselves.

“…we do with him? Like, I’d feel kind of bad leaving him here…”

“Whoa, big friggin’ idea right here: why don’t we ask him what he was doing? He don’t look like a bad guy to me…”

“Leave him here. He’s a runt and a coward, and the only thing I-“

“Buzz off, Tandi! No one invited you to this conversation!”

“Yeah, shut up, the adults are talking!”

“What? I am thirty years your senior, Savvy! ”

“… Ladies, please. If we don’t make a decision soon, I think the suspense might kill him.”

“Still time for me to kill him.”

“Hush! I think he’s listening to us!”

All eyes turned to me. After a few seconds of feeling like a bug in a magnifying glass, I threw my arms into the air and craned my neck in what I can only describe as a full-body shrug. The ghoul laughed as my arms and legs thumped against the sand.

“Did that hurt? That looked like it hurt,” said the person who I hadn’t seen yet. I could hear her walking closer to me. I didn’t look up.

“Little bit,” I admitted. She was standing behind my head now, and, not wanting to lift my neck, I strained my eyes to look up at her. I couldn’t see her so well against the glare of the sun, but I could make out the general look; she was a young, heavy-ish woman with a bob of black hair and what I recognized to be some-kind-of-Asian features, wearing a faded floral sundress and a floppy hat. I smiled up at her, and she smiled back.

“Howdy there!” I said, and then regretted speaking so loud. My chest still ached.

“Hi! I’m sorry about our ranger. She’s kind of aggressive,” said the girl. I snorted. “Anyways, what’s your name? And, uh, would you like to stand?”

“Isaac, and no, not really,” I replied. Still smiling, she withdrew her hand.

“That’s okay. What were you doing back here? Was this just bad luck, or were you trying to find us?” I nodded absently.

“Both, I think.” I saw the ghoul cast a sidelong glance at the ranger.

“A wise guy? Oh, this’ll be fun. Maybe we should kill him after all,” said the ghoul, and I laughed a laugh that was really just a thinly veiled prayer to God that he was joking. The girl gave him a look.

“Gram, hush. Why were you looking for us? And don’t beat around the bush anymore, I hate it when people do that.”

Normally I would agree with her on that, but I felt like I had a little bit of a right to be insufferable. Given the circumstances.

Don’t push your luck, I thought to myself, you want to join up with these folks. You can still spin this to your advantage! Except, I didn’t really know how I was gonna do that. None of them were taking any sort of pity on me, so I doubted I could play the poor, innocent boy card, and I wouldn’t press the dying momma thing. Past that… well, I wasn’t really sure what to say.

First though, I decided to stand up. I couldn’t have looked very impressive, lying in the dirt like I was. Trying to appear as though I weren’t in incredible pain, I stood and dusted myself off. I turned to face the girl in the dress, who was looking awful unimpressed with me.

“Well, since you asked me so nice, I’ll keep it simple- I need to get to New Vegas as soon as possible. Someone at the casino told me about y’all, so I came to see if you might take me on.” I turned my head to look at the ghoul. “You’re Gram, right? Nash told me about you. Said you were kinda shady, but I trusted that I’d be alright.”

The Ghoul nodded. “Yeah, that’s me. Sorry, but we ain’t taking any new members. We run a taut ship here, and to be honest, I don’t think we need anyone else gumming up the works.” I started to talk, but the ghoul raised a hand to silence me. “And, forget about paying to come along, because this job here is paying enough for my retirement! Don’t think I didn’t see that look in your eyes, kid.”

There went that avenue. I tried not to look defeated.

“That’s alright! I don’t got much money anyways,” I said, which was technically true- I wasn’t very liquid right now. “I was thinking about offering my services. I’m a doctor, see!”

“Nah, see, I already told you, we don’t- wait!” I could see the look on his face change as he registered what I said. “Wait, a doctor? Ah, I should’ve guessed by the coat! You roll with the Followers?”

“No. I’m looking to see them, actually. My aunt Julie leads this here chapter, and my father was a big shot there. Taught me a thing or two, before he died.” I said. I showed him the badge on my coat, which was a little metal circle with a stenciled-on cross with forked ends and a circle at the point where the two lines crossed. He examined it for a moment, then nodded.

“Badge seems genuine, so I don’t think you’re lying about your pops. But, how do I know you’re any good as a doctor? We can’t exactly have you perform a demonstration.”

I had a solution to this one!

“That’s easy! I saved a man’s life this morning, and I can prove it! Name’s Kurt McBain- he’s the Sheriff of this town. Ask anyone in that Casino, and they’ll tell you that I’m not lying. Mrs. McBain shared the news with everyone , so there’s no shortage of people who know,” I said, grumbling the last part like I was disappointed. I was secretly thrilled that she’d told so many people, but I was pretending to be disappointed because it seemed more in-character.

“Cook, why don’t you go check up on that story? Tandi, go check the perimeter, make sure this isn’t some sort of distraction. I think I’d like to talk to the kid alone.”

The other two members of the group departed wordlessly, leaving me alone behind the Casino with Gram, the weird ghoul who spoke like a gangster from one of the pre-war crime novels that my father would read me sometimes. He scared me less than the ranger, but more than the other person- Cook, he had called her. I couldn’t really put a finger on why.

“So, Isaac, let’s assume you’re telling me the truth, for a moment. Just how good of a doctor are you?” asked Gram, walking past me to lean against the peeling Casino wall. I thought for a moment. That was a hard question.

“Well I’m more of a medic, really- general physician in a pinch, but I studied for trauma. Given enough supplies, I can patch up most folks who haven’t got irreversible organ damage,” I replied, thinking back to how I’d repaired the Sheriff’s leaky artery with a stimpack. I might’ve been able to fix it without one, too, if I knew going in what exactly I’d be doing, but I wasn’t sure if I trusted my emergency sutures to hold on their own just yet...

We talked for some time about what I’d done, and what I could do if I absolutely had to. I explained to him that if I set up a pip-boy profile for everyone in advance, I’d be able to get all sorts of information that I’d otherwise have to find out the old-fashioned way. All the while, Gram was scratching the back of his neck, looking over at the back door to the Casino like a deathclaw might come bursting out at any moment. He always kept one hand in his coat.

“Well, Cook’ll be getting back pretty soon, and I’ll call Tandi over the radio once Cook gets back. Assuming you ain’t lying or holding anything back, then you’re on. I’ll give you ten minutes to pack up, and then we’re leaving.”

Despite everything, I smiled- I just couldn’t help it! The sun hadn’t even set, and I was already starting my journey to save my mom. No one could tell me it was just an idea now, because I was taking actions- taking risks, I realized, and it was already paying off. I was elated!

Suddenly, the back door to the Casino opened up. Cook stepped out, her expression unreadable.

“Hey, Gram? So, I asked around, and I’m pretty sure that he’s for real. There were some people who hadn’t heard about the incident, but most of the people who I talked to confirmed that the story was true,” she said. Gram raised one of his bushy eyebrows.

“Hm. How many is, “most?” How was your sample size?”

“Eight out of the Ten people who I asked answered in the affirmative. No one actually denied the story, they just denied knowledge of it. The details didn’t deviate much between accounts, either.”

Gram turned his whole upper body to look at me. He whistled. “Damn, Isaac! Either you’re the fifth best conman I’ve ever met, or you ain’t kidding about the whole doctor thing. I’m gonna go with the latter, because I’ve usually got a pretty good eye for cons.”

“Are you sure, Gram? Not knowing about it is what makes a good con. What if you’ve been getting tricked all the time, and you’re so bad at spotting cons that  you didn’t see most of them- even in retrospect!” suggested Cook. Gram scoffed.

“Please- when you’re alive for as long as me, you learn a thing or two about people and their tricks.” He sounded cross, but I could tell that he was smiling. Cook made a dramatic gesture.

“That’s what they want you to think! It’s how they’ve tricked you for so long!”

“Who’s tricked who?” asked the ranger, emerging around the corner with their barking-iron drawn. Every muscle in my body tensed as I tried not to jump out of my skin.

“Cook was telling me about all the cons I’ve apparently missed. I got a pretty good eye for cons, right, Tandi?”

“How do you know you can trust my answer?”

Cook grinned from ear to ear, and I found myself smiling too- her grin was infectious. “I told you! You’ve been blind this whole time, Gram! I guess living so long has given you some sort of complex…”

Could I wedge my way into this conversation? Did I even want to? The group seemed to run on an awful lot of unspoken rules and agreements, and I definitely didn’t get the impression that I had been invited to this particular conversation just yet.

“Et Tu, Isaac? Has this all been some sort of set up?” Gram asked, throwing his arms out and contriving to look betrayed. I took my invitation and tried real hard to look menacing.

“I’m sorry brother, but you shouldn’t have crossed the mob. You saw what happened to Sunny, didn’t you?” I said, making a little finger gun and calling desperately on my vague knowledge of “The Godfather.” Gram raised an eyebrow.

“First off, that’s not what Pacino sounds like and Michael didn’t kill Sonny. Second, you’ve seen The Godfather?” He sounded more intrigued than surprised. I shook my head.

“Read it, actually. My father read me a lot of books when I was younger. Are you from New York?” I stopped. That was a weird place to end the sentence, since they couldn’t understand the train of thought that led there. “Sorry. It’s just, we were talking about The Godfather, and you sound a lot like the voice my father would put on when he was playing New York mobsters.” Gram looked at me strangely, or at least I imagined he did, then nodded.

“Yeah, yeah I lived in Brooklyn before the war. I’ve been a lot of places since then…” He seemed to think for a moment. “Have you seen what New York looks like nowadays? It’s worse than the Capital Waste. If I hadn’t gotten outta there, I’m sure I would’ve gotten killed by now.”

“Well, I haven’t been, but-“ I started, getting ready to recount one of my many stories about father’s adventures with the Followers. Before I could finish, the ranger stepped between us.

“Beggin’ your pardon, Hoplite, but the sun’s setting, and I don’t want to spend another night in this shithole. Are we taking him or not?”

Gram shrugged. “Depends. Are you sure you wanna come…”

“Isaac,” I said. Gram nodded.

“Right. Now, Isaac, before you agree to anything, I feel like I’m obligated to warn you about the dangers of this run. There are raiders out there, there are legion assassins, mutants, and because of these things there will probably be death. We haven’t had a casualty in years, but you’re still probably going to watch someone die.” That last one hit me like a punch in the gut, but I think I managed to keep my reaction under wraps. I just nodded. “You ever seen someone die, Isaac? Are you gonna shut down on us as soon as someone gets shot?”

“Yes, I have,” I replied, and left it that. Gram looked satisfied.

“Good. Let’s get going. Isaac- as of this moment, you’re hired. I’ll give you ten minutes to pack. Be quick,” he said, shooing me away. I shook my head.

“Actually, I’m already packed.” In retrospect, I probably should have taken a few choice magazines with me, but those weren’t particularly vital. I had my jump bag with me, and I had the clothes on my back.

It was kind of sad, actually, to think that I didn’t own a single item worth taking with me that I wasn’t already carrying. Maybe I just wasn’t thinking hard enough.

“Well, in that case, we’ve got no time to waste- let’s hit the road!”

Under normal circumstances, I’d have felt awful sad, leaving home like this, not knowing if I was ever gonna return. But today, I was satisfied. I’d made a decision, and I was finding a way to carry it out!

“Cya soon, momma,” I mumbled, and loaded my bag onto the back of the wagon. I was leaving all-standing, and the journey ahead of me would surely be long, dangerous, and full of unpleasant surprises. I might even die a horrible death, end up face down in a pool of radioactive waste...

I’d never been more thrilled in my entire life!

[+]

#fallout #fallout fanfic #fallout fanfiction #fallout fandom

[jungkookienoona]

The Meme and His Tutor

Part 35: The Tutor’s First Day On The Job

Co-written with @jiminieblush

Recommended Song: Kiss My Lips by BoA

|All Chapters|Masterlist|

Summary:

It was your first day of teaching at BigHit. From swearing in front of your students to getting distracted by Jungkook, it was safe to say you had an eventful day.

Genre: Fluff, comedy

Pairing: Jungkook X Reader (Y/N)

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 4657

Length: 35/?

A/N: Since both systems are going to be present in more than one scene, we’re going to use two asterisks (**) to symbolise when it’s changed from one system to another. This chapter starts with the new system.

It felt strange arriving at the BigHit building by yourself. Despite the warm smiles of recognition from a few members of staff who passed through the reception, you couldn't help but feel like you were intruding. But you weren't. You worked here now. Time to start getting used to it.

The grinning lady behind the reception desk wasted no time in giving you your official staff ID badge and directions to the classroom you would be holding your first tutoring session in today. Well, it was more like an office than a classroom you realised upon opening the door. There was a solid looking desk with glass top in the centre of the room. An official looking black padded chair sat one side with two leather chairs on the other. It looked you would be teaching two at a time rather than all at once. Your office was located on the upper business floor of the building rather than on one of the lower creative floors where the studios and dance halls resided. Which was probably for the best; the separation would prevent you and Jungkook from distracting each other.

Being you were a few minutes early, the room was empty and you rounded the desk to begin setting up for when the trainees arrived. Taking a seat, you grabbed a folder from your bag which contained a collection of worksheets you'd spent the night before making and printing off. They were essentially revised versions of the sheets you had made for Jungkook. You even included a vocabulary list with the English and Korean to help them to memorize the meanings. You got two of everything out, and placed the first sheet of basic vocabulary in front of the two chairs opposite, and set the rest aside. There wasn’t a computer on the desk, but if need be you always had your laptop that you could bring along.

With two minutes until you were due to start, there was a light knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to two black mops of hair. Since they were trainees, their hair hadn't been coloured yet.

"Good morning seonsaeng-nim." Both boys greeted you in unison with a bow before pulling at the woolly scarves around their necks.

You flashed them what you hoped was a welcoming smile and gestured to the seats in front of you. "I don't think I've met you two yet. You're not part of the main group are you?"

They shook their heads no.

The taller of the two who, bizarrely, you thought you recognised, stepped forward to answer. "Bang PD-nim wants us to debut as a unit of three once we've found a third member."

"And how's that going?"

The two boys stole a glance at each other then faced you with a grimace.

"It's a...slow process."

You gave them a gentle smile. "Hopefully your patience will be worth it. He's probably working hard to find a voice that compliments the both of yours... Do you mind introducing yourselves?"

The oddly familiar one shifted awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck in a way that reminded you of Jungkook. "You've already met my younger brother, the maknae of the other group... the flirty one..."

"Ah, Jinwoo..." So that was how you recognised him. Now that you looked at him properly, they were unmistakably alike in terms of looks. But you could already tell they were worlds apart when it came to their personality.

"Yeah... Seojun told me what happened." He gestured to his friend beside him who gave you a hesitant smile. "I hope that hasn't ruined your opinion of him."

"Of course not! Though I do worry about what Jungkook might do if he keeps it up." You chuckled, "What's your name?"

"Baekwoo... ‘Woo’ is the generation marker so I share it with my siblings... ‘Baek’ means I'm the eldest."

"It's nice to meet you, Baekwoo. Take a seat."

He dropped his backpack beside a chair and unzipped his padded coat, draping it over the back of a chair before sitting down.

You turned to Seojun who had a small smile on his lips. "And you're Seojun?"

He nodded and sat in the remaining seat. "Kim Seojun. Nice to meet you Noo-ah, seonsaeng-nim."

You offered your hand to them to shake before going on to explain what your lessons would be like. Though you noted that the first lesson would run slightly differently as you had given them the vocab needed for that lesson as well as vocab to revise for the next. After that, the lessons would focus on practical use of the vocab they had been given to revise then they would be given a new list.

The boys nodded along in understanding. Based on the file Bang PD-nim had given you, Baekwoo and Seojun had the least experience with the English language meaning you were basically starting from scratch unlike your lessons with Jungkook. But you couldn't complain, you had the opportunity and all the tools in order to do your dream job without being qualified yet.

A part of you couldn't help but think about if what you were doing was even legal. The logical realisation that BigHit wouldn't risk a legal scandal settled your worries though. Maybe they negotiated some sort of ‘on going placement’ with the university.

You cast your thoughts aside at the clearing of Seojun's throat. He bit his bottom lip as his eyes narrowed at the sheet in front of him.

"What is it?"

"I don't understand what I'm supposed to do... there's so many words..."

You pointed to the first section of words. "These are going to be used in today's exercises." Then you pointed to the second section. "These are for you to revise for next week."

He nodded and you told him not to stress over it. "Today will mainly be about me learning more about your skill level so I can help you in the best way possible. So please don't be afraid to tell me if you're struggling."

Both boys got to work on the exercises, often asking you about grammar or what other words meant. They were very much beginners but had good pronunciation. During moments where your assistance wasn't needed, you turned your gaze to the folder containing all the information on the trainees. You found Baekwoo's page and felt your eyes widen in surprise; the teen had been a trainee for almost five years, joining the company at age fourteen.

How long had they been waiting for a third member to complete their trio? By the looks of it he was a 98 liner but born very early in the year. If he was born a couple days earlier he would've been a 97 liner.

You skimmed down his profile, feeling a new sense of pride for the teen when you saw the long list of instruments he played ranging from saxophone to guitar. He was talented, maybe even a fast learner. Only time would tell.

A vibration in your pocket got your attention. Fishing your phone out, you soon saw it was a twitter notification.

"Excuse me for a second boys."

You spun your chair to face away from them, tapping on the app only to be greeted by Jungkook. Jungkook in the red shirt and leather pants ensemble from his little Skype fashion show. His hair was parted to show his forehead, eyebrows drawn together as he bit his bottom lip, a hand pushing his hair back. Oh god. Concept pictures.

"Ah, fuck me..." You muttered only to blush when you remembered who was sat behind you.

After quickly saving the picture, you spun back around and placed your phone aside while asking Seojun how he was getting on. A creak came from the door and out of the corner of your eye you watched it swing open slightly. You caught sight of a familiar pair of wide brown eyes before they vanished, followed by the sound of giggles and footsteps scurrying away.

"That little shit..."

Once again forgetting you weren't alone, you got to your feet ready to go after your boyfriend. Baekwoo clearing his throat made you pause.

"Uh, is something wrong seonsaeng-nim?"

Embarrassed, you hesitantly sat back down. "N-nothing. I just spotted Jungkook in the hallway. I think he's up to no good."

He followed your gaze over his shoulder, chuckling when Jungkook peeked through the gap again. His eyes were narrowed mischievously and you sighed.

"Ignore him. Show me what task you're on."

Baekwoo turned back around with an amused grin.

"I think you should go see him, seonsaeng-nim. Our lesson time is nearly over anyway." Seojun said with a shy smile.

Your eyes blew wide as you looked at the time. "Crap! Give me your work and I'll have it marked in time for lunch."

**

The two slid their papers across the desk towards you. Your lips curved into a smile when you saw Seojun had printed his full name at the top of the page in relatively neat handwriting. Both boys gave you a polite bow then turned to exit the room. Though you weren't alone for long as Jungkook stepped through the doorway, dressed in a white t-shirt and ripped jeans combo. There was a grin plastered on his face that did little to calm your suspicions.

"How was your first lesson?"

"It went well until I got distracted.” You rolled your eyes as you tidied your folders into your bag. “You should've warned me that the concept pictures were coming out today!"

You pouted and he rounded the desk to pinch one of your cheeks. "But then you wouldn't have been surprised."

"Exactly! I swore in front of my students!"

He threw his head back to laugh and you folded your arms across your chest waiting for him to finish.

He quietened down and ran one hand through his hair while resting his weight on the desk. "So~ what did you think?"

You held his gaze for a second, ignoring the flip your stomach did when he bit his lip and raised an eyebrow in anticipation.

"I think you're the biggest little shit."

He scoffed and waved a hand dismissively. "But you love me anyway. Now tell me what you really thought."

You looked away, unsure of how to put the strange mix of feelings you felt into words. "...You looked... good. I don't know if I want to punch you or kiss you."

"Yah! Why would you hit me if I look good?!"

"Because!" You couldn't help stomp your foot even if it made you look like a toddler. “You're...you're making me feel things!!"

As the realisation dawned on him, he cocked a brow and smirked. "Feel things... are you... frustrated? Is this the grey to your ace-ness showing through?"

"No!...maybe...I think so..."

He stepped forward and unfolded your arms, wrapping them around his waist. You sighed and buried your nose in his neck, trying to make sense of all the new emotions conflicting and confusing inside of you.

"You can tell me...or kiss me. I'd rather that than you hit me, Jagi."

Gah! You were so torn.

He threaded his hand through your curls, an action that instantly soothed you. "It's completely up to you. You get to chose what you want to do. I won't force you to do something you don't want."

The two of you stood there for a minute or so, his fingers twirling strands of your hair. Slowly, you turned to place a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Sorry for saying I wanted to hit you. I just don't know...I've never felt like this before."

"It's fine. Why do you think teenage boys get into so many fights? It's because they go through what you're experiencing right now... though unlike you they eventually calm down after discovering porn."

You cringed at the thought of porn. You tried watching it before but it just seemed so nasty. His chest rumbled with laughter at your expression and you felt your cheeks go warm.

"I don't know when I'll finally get used to all the feels."

"You will eventually. And I'll patiently wait for you to... express those feels."

He laughed again as the heat in your cheeks intensified. You couldn't help but slap his chest out of embarrassment.

"After all that you still got to hit me."

"I'm expressing my 'feels'."

His hands came to cup your cheeks, squishing them slightly as he pecked your forehead. "We're in this together. You can tell me anything, okay?"

"You frustrate me," You mumbled honestly, cheeks still squished.

"You frustrate me too but at least I deal with mine-" His eyes became as wide as saucers as his face turned red, realising the implications of what he said a second too late.

His hands fell from your face, one going to the back of his neck as he glanced away and cleared his throat before speaking.

"I-I didn't mean...sorry. I didn't think before speaking."

A laugh bubbled out of you before you could stop it. "At least I know you find me attractive," you muttered more to yourself than him.

His hands went to your shoulders, pushing you back to look into your eyes. "How could I not find you attractive? You're beautiful with illegal dimples and thick thighs."

You puffed out your cheeks to conceal your dimple and shook your head. "My thighs are only thicker cause I walk everywhere."

He scoffed. "You have no idea...no idea... I'll make you see what I see."

He leant down and placed a chaste kiss on your lips, "adorable" being uttered just before contact was made. There's was no way you'd ever accept that someone as good looking as Jungkook thought you were beautiful. That kind of thing only happened in fairy tales.

The trainees returned to the room just before lunch for some feedback on their work. You spent half an hour going over it with them while Jungkook behaved himself in a chair in the corner of the room playing a game on his phone. Then, once Baekwoo and Seojun headed down to the cafeteria, Jungkook convinced you to stay a while at the company with him and the other members since your afternoon was free and you were at the building already.

So that's how you ended up being pulled down an unfamiliar hallway with an excited Jungkook holding your hand.

"I can't wait for you to see it! I wanted to show it to you earlier but it wasn't finished."

You giggled, completely enamoured with his dimpled grin. He came to a stop at the end of the corridor and Jungkook steered you by the shoulders to face a large black door. 'Golden Closet Prod.' was printed professionally onto the wood and you grinned up at him.

"Is this..."

He opened the door to reveal a minimalistic studio, sparsely decorated with a few photos framed on the walls. On the desk was a production set up complete with keyboard and MIDI pad.

"It's my very own studio, Kitten!"

He urged you inside and pulled the door shut. You stood in the centre of the room, a goofy smile on your face as your gaze fell on a row of Marvel figurines lined up on an otherwise shelf.

"What do you think?"

"I can't believe you got your own studio..."

"Neither can I... it could use some more decorating, though. Maybe I should fill it with pictures of you to inspire me."

You laughed at the absurd idea. "I don't know what inspiration you could get from me."

He pouted and went over to his desk, picking up a frame which sat beside his computer. He held it out to you.

"You're here directly in my line of sight so I can see you as I work."

It was a photograph of the two of you taken outside of Geungjeongjeon Hall when you visited Gyeongbokgung Palace.

You smiled fondly at it. "We need to go back soon. You said we'd see it for every season. It's autumn now so the leaves are bound to be carpeting the ground with such lovely colours."

He hummed in agreement, turning you to face away from him so he could hug you from behind and rest his chin on your shoulder.

"I promise we'll go after album promotions end and I have some time off. Before the first snowfall."

"You better."

You moved out of his embrace to put the picture back and turned around to find him sat on a small two-seater sofa with a fluffy blanket draped over the back. You hoped he wouldn’t be taking too many power naps here like Yoongi did in his studio. He hugged the penguin plushie you bought him at the aquarium to his chest making you giggle.

"I wondered what you'd done with that."

He stroked the penguin on the head. "Pingu lives here now."

"Noot noot, motherfucker."

He gasped and covered the stuffed penguin’s ears. "How dare you swear in front of Pingu!"

You smirked, deciding to borrow one of your old friend’s phrases. "I dare because I can."

He poked his tongue out at you before patting the space next to him. You fell onto the sofa with a sigh and rest your head on his shoulder, taking in the full view of the room.

"This is a really nice studio, BunBun. Congrats."

He wrapped an arm around your waist and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

"This is partly thanks to you. Namjoon-hyung showed Bang PD-nim the CD I made for you, he was impressed by it. And then there's the songs I help with in this album..."

You tilted your head up to look at him. "You've been involved with this album?"

"I've been quite inspired lately." His nose scrunched up as he booped it against yours.

"That's good then." You returned his boop with an added nuzzle.

He hummed, the hand around your waist squeezed your hip to pull you closer to him. The gesture made you flinch as his fingers pressed against a particularly sensitive patch of skin.

"Yah, move your hand."

Jungkook gave you a confused look. "Why?"

"It... it... nevermind."

Understanding dawned on his features before morphing into an evil grin. "I just found your ticklish spot."

You shook your head and attempted to peel his hand away from your hip as his fingers began to move towards the hem of your t-shirt.

"No I- Ah!" You squirmed as his fingers worked over his targeted spot.

Giggles bubbled out of you without your permission. You tried to push him away but he was too strong and stayed firmly in place. Curse the muscle pig. Next, you tried to wiggle your way away from him... which backfired. Instead of getting away, you succeeded in falling backwards onto the sofa and dragging him with you.

"Kookie! Stop~"

You pathetically pushed at his shoulders but he wouldn't budge. Both his hands slipped beneath your t-shirt and you soon found it hard to breathe as you continued to laugh despite nothing being funny at all.

It had to stop. Your position lying down allowed you to slip your legs around him, then used them to help flip positions. He let out a wheezy groan as he fell back against the sofa. Your hands were planted either side of his head, caging him beneath you.

"I told you to stop."

"... So... are you gonna kiss me or hit me?”

You held his stare for a moment before your eyes flickered to his lips, so pink and plush looking. Should you? The situation seemed rather... intimate… You were very much aware of the fact that you were hovering over him, only inches away from touching. His hands slowly moved to rest on your thighs just above your knees. It was almost as if he was testing the waters, not initiating anything but not taking back his question either.

The first move rest on you.

Maybe he had endured enough abuse for one day... Maybe it would be healthier to explore the feelings you had instead of bottling them up. How were you meant to move on with your life if you stayed stuck in one mind set?

Without giving yourself a chance to second guess yourself, you softened your elbows and leaned down to press your lips to his. You assumed your decision came as a shock for it took a second for him to respond to the kiss. His arms came up to wrap around your midsection, pulling you down onto him gently. It was new. You had never been in this kind of situation before. All the other times you’d kissed you were either standing up, sitting down or led next to each other. Never had one of you been... on top of the other.

You pulled back ever so slightly to let out a shaky breath before moulding your lips back to his with a tad more force, feeling yourself beginning to relax against him. Jungkook made a surprised noise at the back of his throat. He must not have been expecting you to go in for a second kiss. But it faded quickly as you felt his lips move against your own. One of his hands skimmed down the length of your back, warm against the patch of exposed skin where your t-shirt had ridden up. A shiver involuntarily tingled down your spine. All your senses were alive, registering everything from the sweet taste of his cherry lip balm to the divine scent of his perfume.

So this was what a 'passionate kiss' felt like. You had only read about them until now. No kiss you’d ever had before, with anyone, felt as right as this. A small groan was heard. From him or you, you couldn't tell. The slightest brush of his tongue against your own had you flushing all over. One of his hands came to rest on the back of your head as your own lightly gripped his hair. His groan was muffled against your lips. You gave another gentle tug, noticing the way his other hand twisted in the fabric of your t-shirt.

**

The sound of a throat clearing had you splitting apart immediately. There stood Yoongi, Jimin and Hoseok. Your cheeks burned under their gaze as you led there frozen in place.

Yoongi wore a smirk as he turned to the other two. "Pay up."

They let out simultaneous sighs and stuffed a hand in their pockets for their wallets. You glanced away before you could meet their eyes and buried your face in Jungkook's neck.

"The fuck were you betting on this time?" Jungkook was clearly annoyed, speaking through gritted teeth.

"Yoongi-hyung made a bet that we'd walk in on you making out one day." Came Jimin's simple reply.

Jungkook huffed. "You won now tell me what you want or get out."

You squeezed your eyes shut, praying that they would forget it and leave.

Hoseok's voice was the one that greeted your ears in response to Jungkook. "You were meant to join us in the dance studio after lunch remember? We figured you may have come here. We just... uh... weren't expecting... this."

You sighed, growing impatient. Jungkook pat your back as if telling you just to hold on a little longer.

"We'll be down in a bit. So, if you wouldn't mind..."

There was a chuckle followed by, "Don't do anything I wouldn't" from Yoongi before the door was closed again. Jungkook shifted so that he was once again led on his back with you on top of him.

**

He sighed and rubbed a hand down your back. "First of all, sorry about that. Second, holy shit."

You groaned and raised your head from his neck. His cheeks were flushed and his lips a tad swollen from the kiss. You expected you looked similar.

"That was so embarrassing."

He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. "I know, Kitten. I'm going to try and get a lock installed asap like Yoongi-hyung. Especially if you kiss me like that more often. Wow."

A nervous giggle bubbled out of you. "T-that was okay?"

He nodded, eyes bright and wide in the dim studio lighting. "I'll never object to your kisses. I think that counts for about three or four."

Him and his silly kiss counter.

"Where are we at now?"

"To be honest... I've lost track..."

You giggled and Jungkook drew you back in for one more kiss, sitting up as he did so.

"We should join them otherwise they'll interrupt us again."

He sighed but allowed you to climb off his lap and got to his own feet. Before he started towards the door, you reached up to brush his hair back into place from where you'd been running your hands through it.

He chuckled. "I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to kiss me like that. Feel free to do it more often if you'd like."

Colour dusted your cheeks as he adjusted your top that had risen up to reveal a band of skin.

"I liked it," you mumbled shyly for admitting so. But honesty was the best policy and communication is key when exploring new things- especially together.

He placed a kiss on your forehead when he was finished. "That's good. We'll go at your pace, okay?"

"Okay."

He gave you a curt nod and you giggled while following him out the door.

"I'll ask hyung who fit the lock for his door. Maybe get a doorbell or a pin pad- oh! Maybe a fingerprint scanner like you see in movies!"

"You're such a baby sometimes."

He took your hand with a grin. "Yeah... but I'm your baby."

There was a teasing glint in his eye and you refused to blush at his words, instead searching for a way to make him go red for a change.

You awed. "Are you Noona's baby BunBun?"

He nearly tripped over his feet. "W-what?"

"My precious Baby Boy." You came to a halt and cupped his cheek for extra measure. He continued to stutter and stumble over his words, you could feel his cheeks warm under your hand.

You pinched his cheek with a grin. "Is Baby embarrassed about being called Baby even though he said it himself?"

He moved your hand away from his face and kept hold of it. "I-it sounds a b-b-bit too g-good."

You giggled as his blush travelled down his neck. "If you like being Noona's Baby Boy that's just fine."

You were practically cheering on the inside. Ever since he'd dyed his hair darker he'd looked extra fluffy and you'd found yourself mentally referring to him as 'baby boy'. Now you had an excuse to verbalize it.

He swallowed, brows drawing together as if trying to stop his blush with sheer will power. "Almost sounds like you have a thing for being called ‘Noona’."

You felt your jaw drop and was quick to snap it shut, biting down on your lower lip to stop yourself from doing something stupid like agreeing.

He hummed. "Is that why you got upset when I stopped calling you it? Because you have a thing for it?"

"No... I was just so used to hearing you call me it."

He smirked, bending slightly to make direct eye contact with you. "Using it to refer to yourself suggests otherwise."

"I-I..."

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he giggled. "One month. That's all you have to wait. Can you be patient for one month Jagi?"

You gulped. Would you even survive with him calling you Noona again?

"I can wait."

He stole a kiss on the cheek and pulled you back down the corridor. Curse him! Curse him and his ability to get away with it. You were smitten and he knew it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This work of fiction is copyright © JungkookieNoona and protected under UK and international law. All rights reserved. Any unauthorised broadcasting, copying or reposting will constitute an infringement of copyright.

#boop #tmaht #jungkook #jungkooknet #jeon jungkook #BTS jungkook #jeongguk #jeon jeongguk #jeon jeongkook #jungkook scenario #jungkook fanfic #jungkook fluff #bangtan #bangtan sonyeondan #bangtan scenario

[hsews]

Should you wished a entrance seat to the monetary disaster, you could not have accomplished higher than the ground of the New York Inventory Change, which is the place I used to be in the summertime of 2007 and into 2008.

The federal government’s refusal to bail out Lehman Brothers pressured it to file for chapter on Sept. 15, 2008, and precipitated a disaster that not solely modified the U.S. economic system, it blew aside a lot of the Avenue’s buying and selling knowledge.

I began my Dealer Discuss weblog in the summertime of 2007, and I lately sat down and skim my posts from these two essential years. What struck me was how the disaster began with what appeared like a minor challenge — the failure of the subprime mortgage trade. Nevertheless it proved to be a domino falling in a protracted row of dominoes.

On the time, it was tough to know how interconnected seemingly unrelated property and markets would show to be.

Listed below are 5 private takeaways from the disaster and the way it modified standard knowledge:

1. Buyers don’t act rationally in a disaster. All of us buried Adam Smith economics in 2008, the concept that rational actors make rational selections, shopping for low and promoting excessive. We noticed that individuals do not do this.They panic and promote at any value. They purchase excessive and promote low. They did this with actual property, they usually did it with the inventory market.

Within the week of March 6, 2009, which was almost two years after the disaster started, the S&P 500 hit 666, an ominous quantity and a drop of greater than 50 p.c off the latest historic excessive hit in late 2007. Nobody knew if that was the underside (it was), however the one factor everybody I spoke with agreed on was that the U.S. economic system was not going to zero. Should you had not bought by then, it definitely made no rational sense to take action.

Sadly, lots of people didn’t share that line of considering. Outflows from mutual funds (which had already seen greater than a yr of outflows) accelerated within the first quarter of 2009. Investor cash didn’t begin flowing again in till later that yr.

I bear in mind being crammed with despair once I noticed that buyers have been nonetheless promoting with the market down 50 p.c. It was like watching the infant boomers flush their financial savings down the bathroom.

This out of the blue made behavioral economics trendy. It purported to indicate how people actually behaved, not how they have been alleged to behave. In 2017, Richard Thaler received the Nobel Prize in economics for exploring how “cognitive bias” can sabotage investor decision-making.

2. The disaster debunked the concept that consumers and sellers can at all times agree on a proper value. Whereas many components contributed to the monetary disaster, it was at coronary heart a credit score disaster fueled partially by predatory and in some instances fraudulent lending.

CNBC spent the summer season of 2007 explaining how mortgage backed securities had been repackaged into collateralized debt obligations that had been break up into totally different threat ranges known as tranches. These deemed “most secure” received very excessive rankings and the bottom yields, these deemed “least secure,” received greater yields and decrease rankings.

The issue got here when defaults within the subprime housing mortgage market worn out the riskiest tranches, and the “safer” and “most secure” tranches seized up as nicely, partly as a result of there was not a lot liquidity in any of those CDOs however primarily as a result of nobody may determine simply how dangerous any of the tranches have been within the first place.

With no settlement on costs, the mortgage market seized up, and that affected different credit score markets.

The lesson: The markets are sometimes mispriced, notably in a disaster, nevertheless it’s devilishly laborious to determine simply how mispriced they’re.

three. Growing complexity doesn’t lower threat, it will increase threat. The idea monetary disaster may very well be “managed” utilizing the suitable instruments took maintain within the 1970s and ’80s. Lowering dangers in monetary property by slicing them into simply manageable tranches would unfold the danger out, for instance. This proved to be terribly fallacious.

It is wonderful how lengthy everybody was in denial. On July 27, 2007, I used to be quoting bulls who have been arguing that “housing and credit score points don’t symbolize systemic threat to the worldwide markets.” They have been fallacious.

four. Markets will not be as environment friendly as everybody assumed. It is an outdated Wall Avenue noticed that the markets are environment friendly at pricing in all accessible knowledge. Possibly that is true among the time, however there was ample proof of market dangers growing in credit score and being ignored by the market. And when the information got here in approach off expectations, markets reacted swiftly.

The week of Aug. 1, 2008, Normal Motors reported a lack of $11.21 per share. The analyst estimates have been for a lack of $2.62. Merrill Lynch reported a lack of $four.97 a share. The analyst estimate was for a lack of $1.91. Every week later, Freddie Mac — then thought of the important thing to the housing restoration — reported a lack of $1.63 per share (its fourth straight quarterly loss); a lack of 41 cents was anticipated. AIG reported an working lack of 51 cents a share, a achieve of 63 cents was anticipated.

These losses have been magnitudes of order off what each analyst and strategist have been anticipating.

Wall Avenue was shocked. “What is the worth of analyst estimates?” I wrote in my weblog that week.

Markets could (or could not) be environment friendly at pricing in all accessible knowledge, however when the reported knowledge is magnitudes of ranges off the anticipated knowledge, look out under. We discovered that Wall Avenue had very poor visibility for what was happening. Firms have been seeing enterprise deteriorate on nearly a day by day foundation, and poor communication and knowledge sharing from the businesses themselves exacerbated the issue. Many firms offered little if any steering and shared as little info as potential.

5. Daring, swift motion works higher than sluggish, indecisive motion, or no motion in any respect. The Federal Reserve stepped in to verify banks wouldn’t fail, and that lastly stopped the free fall, although the financial fallout continued for a few years.

In a way, John Maynard Keynes received out. Keynes had argued many years earlier than that in a real disaster (just like the Nice Despair), simply regulating the cash provide — the Federal Reserve’s major instrument — shouldn’t be sufficient. Authorities must step in, prop up essential establishments and spend some huge cash. That’s exactly what Congress, the president and the Federal Reserve below Ben Bernanke (himself a notable scholar of economic market collapses) did.

Keynes’ interventionist concepts received out. World central banks in Europe and Japan started shopping for up property, and governments ran large deficits. Dire warnings that each one this stimulus would ignite large inflation have been ignored.

Simply how lengthy to proceed that type of extraordinary stimulus shouldn’t be clear. It’s nonetheless being debated. This stays one of many dangers for monetary markets sooner or later.

There are a number of key questions. Is the monetary sector too large to fail? (The reply up to now is sure.) How a lot regulation ought to banks be topic to? What limitations needs to be positioned on monetary improvements that will pose a systemic threat to the markets? How lively ought to the Fed be in deflating asset bubbles? How a lot scrutiny and regulation ought to “nonbanks” or “shadow banks” which have grow to be vital gamers within the monetary markets obtain?

Stick round a number of extra years, and we could have higher solutions to those questions. And, most certainly, we are going to kill a number of different Wall Avenue chestnuts alongside the best way.

Supply hyperlink

The post Classes I discovered watching the monetary disaster unfold from a front-row seat at NYSE appeared first on HS NEWS.

#Breaking News

[cliveboney]

#i hope the read more works. if it doesnt uhh im sorry #text posting #mp blogging #ugh i guess #vent post

[pretend-writer]

Down Below (Chapter 1)

Summary: Y/N Reyes lands on Earth with the rest of the 99 prisoners. Being one of the first people to come back “home” after 97 years of living in space, she learns what it’s like to finally live in this planet.

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader (later on in the series), John Murphy x reader, Raven Reyes x sister! reader

Word Count: 2687 words

Warning: cursing, violence

Note: It starts off with John Murphy x reader then eventually throughout the series we’ll see Bellamy and reader get together. 

Down Below Masterlist

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

Being a Reyes was hard. Despite Raven and I only sharing half blood, people still knew that we were still sisters. Raven was the smart mechanic that can fix anything and I was the useless one that didn’t quite get what life really was; But I accepted that mostly because I believed it.  

I woke up with a guard standing next to me, demanding me to get up. Highly confused on why the guard was in the Skybox so early, I stared at the guard.

‘Didn’t I tell you to get up?’ the guard shouted. ‘I’m not telling you again.’

‘I heard you the first time, sheesh’ I sassed.

‘Smart ass.’ 

‘I get that a lot’ I smirked.

As he shoved me out the door, another guard led me to an unknown place that I’ve never been before. Being a little afraid of what might happen to me, I panicked. ‘I’m not 18 yet, so whatever you’re thinking of d–’

‘Shut up and keep walking.’ the guard yelled at me as he pushed me.

As I prepared myself to be floated, I realized that I was being taken to an unknown ship. Before I can process what was going to happen to my life, the two guards shoved me into the ship. 

‘Careful!’ I shouted as one of the guards glared at me and walked away.

‘It’s no use Y/N, they don’t care about us’ a familiar voice spoke. Knowing who it was the second I heard the voice, I turned to him. ‘Finn!’ I beamed as I hugged my best friend.

‘Aye easy now. Let’s save the chit chat for when we get to Earth. We don’t want the guards t—’ 

‘Earth?’ I questioned him with my eyebrows raised up. I’ve never even imagined stepping my foot outside the Ark let alone a planet. Even though I always wondered what it was like on the ground a hundred years ago, I never pictured myself leaving the Skybox.

‘My mom told me.’ A blonde girl who sat next to Finn interrupted.  ‘Apparently they’re doing this for an exchange to pardon us. I’m Clarke by the way.’

‘Y/N. Y/N Reyes.’ I smiled.

‘Skywalker’ someone yelled as I heard several laughter following the statement. 

‘Hell yeah, I’m a skywalker.’ I turned around and saw that I recognized the boy who called me out. ‘And what did you get arrested for again? Drugs? At least my crime was worth it.’ I smirked as I made the boy’s face turn red. 

‘At least my parents care about me’ he scoffed. 

Finn jumped in, knowing that my parents are a touchy subject for me. ‘Easy.’ he yelled. Before I opened my mouth to embarrass the kid again, Chancellor Jaha appeared on the monitor.

‘Prisoners of The Ark, hear me now. You’ve been given a second chance…’ Ignoring Jaha’s speech about the crimes that we committed and the information about living on Earth, I fastened my harness on. 

Even though I always put up with people who made fun of me for being the “dumb Reyes”, I was very sensitive when it came to my parents. When my so-called father was with Raven’s mom, he had an affair with my mother and left her. Funny story was that he got two women pregnant at the same time. Although my father was a douchebag, I will forever be thankful for creating the best sister I can ever ask for.

‘Raven’ I whispered to myself. I never had a chance to say goodbye to my sister. 

Then it all happened so quickly. The ship was moving. Fast. I started screaming at the top of my lungs. ‘We are definitely going to crash’ I thought to myself. As I closed my eyes wishing that this terrifying fall was over, the ship stopped moving. 

I opened my eyes when I saw two people hugging and reuniting. Thinking to myself that that moment could’ve been Raven and I, my heart ached; Her visiting the Skybox may be the last time I saw her again.

‘That’s Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor.’ I heard some girl say in the background. 

Octavia. She was famous in our community; everyone talked about her. Although Raven and I were technically sisters, it blew my mind that there were siblings in the Ark. 

I took a deep breath as I watched Octavia separate from her brother. As she stepped her foot onto the ground, she shouted with her hands up in the air. ‘We’re back bitches!’

With excitement of freedom and being on the ground for the first time, I quickly removed my harness. ‘Can you actually believe that we’re here? On Earth?!’ I beamed as Finn followed me outside.

‘We’re free!’ Finn shouted as he hugged me tightly. The feeling of not being in that cell, not being in the Ark and reuniting with my friend made me think that there were something good coming my way. This was a start of something new.

‘Hey, Y/N.’ Finn pulled away from the hug and pointed behind me. ‘Look.’

As I turned around, I gasped. ‘John.’ Ever since we both got locked up in the Skybox, we haven’t seen each other at all. I always believed that there would never be a day that I'd ever see him again.  

‘John!’ I yelled as he turned around and looked at me with a huge grin on his face. Running as fast as I could, I jumped on to him and wrapped my legs around his waist. 

He held me tightly, wrapping his strong arms around me. ‘Y/N, I missed you so much.’

Pulling away from the hug, I held his face with both my hands. ‘I missed you more’ I smiled lightly before I kissed him. Oh, I missed his smell, his lips, his hugs, his everything. 

‘We got problems.’ I heard a boy speak with a concerned tone in his voice, interrupting my moment with John. ‘The communications system is dead. I went to the roof. A dozen panels are missing. Heat fried the wires’

John puts me back down, then we both approach Clarke and this boy. ‘Wait.. so we can’t communicate with the people in the Ark?’  I needed to talk to Raven and let her know that I was down here. 

‘Maybe there is a way, in Mount Weather. We need to get there if we want to survive’ argued Clarke. 

‘Well, maybe you and “smart boy” Wells over here should go find this... Mount Weather then. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change’ Octavia’s brother cut in.

Who was he to judge whether someone suffered or not. Just because someone came from a  “high ranked family” doesn’t mean that they didn’t work as hard as anyone else did.

‘Why don’t you go since you’re so mighty and tough?’ I said sarcastically as I looked up to Octavia’s brother. Something about his personality just irked me and there was no was I was going to let this slide.

‘Woah there, no one talks to Bellamy Blake like that’ he smirked. ‘Besides, we’ve always been looked down on so if someone should help, it should be them.'

‘Okay “Bellamy”. You’re so full of yourself.’ I rolled my eyes as I air-quoted his name.

He chuckles to himself and continued. ‘Lemme guess? You’re one of the privileged and you take my words personally?’ 

A sudden chant from behind distracted us as we both stopped talking. As I turned around to see what was going on, John and Wells were arguing. Before I was able to step in between them, John tackled Wells to the ground.

‘Johnathan, what the hell?’ I wailed as I stormed off towards him and quickly grabbed him by his arm. Even though I knew my boyfriend hated being called Johnathan, I didn’t give a crap. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ 

‘He got what he deserves.’ 

‘And what did that boy ever do to you?’ I was beyond upset that John would do this to a kid he barely knows.

‘I– uhm he–’ he stuttered, unable to think of an excuse. 

Clarke suddenly rushed up to me. ‘Five of us are going to find Mount Weather if you want to come?’ 

‘Count me in.’ I smiled at Clarke.

‘Hey wait babe, we haven’t seen each other in what? God knows how many months and you want to leave?’ John whined but at this point, I didn’t care. It seemed like John messed up Wells’ leg pretty bad and the last thing I wanted to do was have “lovey dovey” time with him.

‘I really don’t have time for this John. Whatever is going on, fix it’ I walked off with Clarke, her leading me to the rest of the gang.

‘Wait, wait, wait Y/N c’mon’ John caught up to me, grabbing my arm to stop me. ‘Please.’

I sighed and nodded, feeling slight sympathy from him. ‘Okay, I’ll stay.’

‘Alrighty then. I’ll see you in a bit’ Clarke smiled as she leaves with Finn and the others. 

 As I watched them walking away, I sensed flirtation between Finn and Clarke. Even though I knew that maybe it was just all a misunderstanding, something about it didn’t feel right. For now though, I knew that I had to trust Finn.

John sighed, ‘Look, I’m sorry okay? I don’t know what came over me.’

‘Did something happen when we were locked up, John?’ I looked at him as I read his eyes. He looked desperate, like he needed saving. I was angry and upset about what happened but at the same time, it saddened me that I was never there by his side this whole time. 

He shook his head and smiled,  ‘No, I’m fine.’ 

‘I can tell when you’re fake smiling, you know that right?’

‘I’m not faking it, trust me. I was just angry, I guess... I’m sorry okay?’ 

No matter what excuses he threw at me, I didn’t believe him. ‘Johnathan, you can trust me, I’m your girlfriend. I just want to help.’ Knowing that he wasn’t the type of person to throw random fights, something definitely bugged him. All I wanted to do now was to catch up from loss time and be there for him. 

‘Baby, I’m fine. I promise.’ 

I sighed, giving up on trying to have him talk to me. ‘Fine, but I’m always here for you if you need anything.’ 

‘Of course, babe.’ John smiled then gave me a peck on my lips. ‘I’ve missed you so much, you know?’ 

‘I really missed you too, John.’ I hug him tightly, like there’s no tomorrow. When I think about the times I’ve been in prison without no human contact, without knowing how my loved ones were doing, it made me feel miserable; The thoughts made me tear up.

He pulled away from the hug as he noticed my sniffling. ‘Hey, I didn’t know you were that upset about how I hurt Wells. Y/N, I’m so sorry.’

‘No, it’s not that.’ he ran his fingers under my eyes to wipe my tears away. ‘I thought on your 18th birthday, you’d be floated and I’d never know. Never thought that I’d ever see you again...’ 

John grinned, ‘How did I get so lucky to have you as my girlfriend, Y/N.’ 

Atom, John’s old friend walked by as they both greeted each other. He then turned to me, ‘Hey Y/N, long time no see. I guess you’re still dating Murphy, huh?’

‘Of course I am. It’s going to take more than this suicide mission to tear us apart.’ I beamed. 

‘Well if you’re bored with Murphy, I’m ready whenever you are,’ Atom jested as I playfully punch his arm. ‘Mind if I borrow Murphy for a bit, Reyes?’ he chucked.

‘Of course. Don’t do anything stupid.’ I waved at the both of them before I headed towards the dropship. As I opened the hatch, I greeted Wells who was sitting by himself.

‘Hey, it’s Y/N right?’ he asked.  

‘Yep. By the way, I’m really sorry about what John did to you earlier?’

‘It’s not your fault. I mean, I know my father did some crazy shit that I don’t approve of but what people never get is that it’s not my decision. I hate what my father does as much as they do.’ 

I nodded, ‘I’m not making excused for John and what he did to you but he had some rough past. I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you.’

Wells shook his head and chuckled. ‘And you’re so sure of this because?’

‘That little rebel, uh is my boyfriend’ I slightly laughed. 

‘Ah, I’m sorry.’ 

‘No, it’s okay. I understand why you’re pissed at him. I’d be mad too if someone hurt me for something I didn’t do.’ 

whatever the hell we want, whatever the hell we want... The chanting became louder and closer to the dropship.

‘I wonder what’s going on.’ Wells said as we both left the dropship and approached the campfire. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I questioned Bellamy as he sang with Atom and John.

‘We’re liberating ourselves. What does it look like?’ He said as he showed his wrist; the wristband was gone.

‘It looks like you’re trying to get us all killed. The communication system is dead. These wristbands are all we got. Take them off, and the Ark will think we’re dying’ Wells stated, irritated with the situation.

‘That’s the point, Chancellor. We can take care of ourselves, can’t we?’

I rolled my eyes and pulled John away from the crowd. ‘John, what are you doing?’

‘I’m in charge now! Well, not really Bellamy’s in charge but I–’ I cut him off. ‘Wait, Blake? In charge?’ I laughed sarcastically. ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘Hey, he’s cool once you get to know him. I’ll introduce you to him.’ 

‘No, John. I don’t trust him and I don’t like how he’s leading these people. Our people.’ 

‘Y/N, trust me it’s going to be fine.’

Bellamy interrupted our conversation, ‘If you have a problem, you can take it with me. No need to bring Murphy into this.’ 

‘I have a problem with you dragging my boyfriend in your stupid plan’ I rasped. 

His eyebrows raised, ‘Murphy, this is the girl you’ve been talking about?’

‘She’s amazing once you get to know her, Bellamy. Give her some time.’ 

Ignoring their conversation, I ranted. ‘You think you can lead these people with your insane ideas? You really think taking these wristbands is a good idea?’

‘Look, I don’t need you to tell me what’s right and what’s wrong. No one is here to tell us what to do. We make our own rules.’ He blurted.

‘It doesn’t matter. Seems like people listen to you, Blake. You can stop it. Is this what you really want? Chaos?’ Wells implied.

Bellamy smirked, ‘What’s wrong with a little Chaos?’

‘This is a bit too far. There’s other ways we can solve this.’ Wells stressed. 

‘It’s easy for you to say, once the rest of the Ark is here you don’t have to worry about anything.’ yapped John as he slowly walked towards Wells. 

‘John, please.’ I pulled into John’s arms but he jerked it away from me. 

‘This is for my father’ John yelled threw his fist into Wells’ face, causing him to fall on the ground. He continued to punch him until Wells pulled him down to the ground and sat on top of him, throwing punches in John’s stomach and face. 

‘Blake, please. You can stop this.’ I practically beg him, even if I didn’t want to but I wanted this to end. 

‘Stop? We’re just getting started’ Bellamy chuckled as continued watching the fight. 

‘Wells!’ I hear a voice from afar; It was Clarke back with her friends. ‘Get off of him.’ Wells quickly got off of John and wiped dirt off of his clothes. 

Bellamy reached out to John, helping him get up. ‘Where’s the food?’

‘We didn’t make it to Mount Weather’ Finn said. 

Clarke continues. ‘We were attacked. And they took Jasper’ 

#bellamy blake x reader #the 100 fic #down below series #john murphy x reader #raven reyes x sister! reader #reyes sister #omg im so excited #and nervous #bellamy x reader #murphy x reader