#green screen is still... not my forte... i also did not put effort in

[astralsi]

chrono | latest

#this post had me by the balls and it looks ass #thus no dfm for september im so sorry... #lance reveal tho! #lance flannigan #ts4 #ts4 edit #the sims 4 #the sims 4 edit #demon fm #dfm #demon fm chrono #ep 1 poison heart #tw gun #tw cigarettes #green screen is still... not my forte... i also did not put effort in #but idk im trying not hold myself to any standards #important part is creating and getting the story out there! #if i want to fix things i can do that later :)

[hydraulicfluidinmyteapot]

Pirates of the Caribbean

This is an ask from @shrigma-male​, but i accidentally deleted the ask.. so sorry! I am high key excited to get an ask about this topic, as the Pirates of the Caribbean ride is probably one of my earliest animatronic centric obsessions. not only is it one of the earliest and most impressive feats of Imagineering, it also remains solid to this day. it houses a great many iconic animatronic figurines, all of which work together in perfect harmony to capture beautifully life filled scenes of a cohesive storyline. Its individual ride concept was so strong that it birthed a line of clones and even a famous movie franchise. isn’t that sick? a RIDE was the key source material for a whole movie series! but it’s unsurprising, with the time and care poured into the ride. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you think about it, the ride is JAM PACKED so there is a LOT to talk about. This will only be a super brief post information-wise, but who knows? There may be more to come if this performs well. Apologies, my life’s not going great at the moment and i don’t have a lot of spare time so this is not as high a quality as i would like it to be.

Here’s my fast fact file on it!

Debut: March 16, 1967

Withdrawal: All rides are still operating

Attraction: The Pirates of the Caribbean 

Locations: Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disney (but this one’s heavily modified)

Attraction Type: Dark ride

Riders Per Vehicle: 23–24

Number of vehicles:  50

Animatronics: 119 ish but it depends on the ride version

Ride videos: The entire ride varies from version to version and different people want to see different parts. i’m leaving you guys to find your own ride videos. it’s a very popular ride, just type on in to youtube and you’ll find heaps of nice high quality ones. 

The thing that stands out about this ride is the theming and the sheer amount of effort put in to creating an immersive environment. the ride houses an impressive 119 audio animatronics, 53 of which are animals. There are 630,000 gallons of water in the ride (original Disneyland) and takes three whole days to drain. there are over 40,000 gold coins in the treasure room scene alone. It holds what could possibly be considered Disney’s first themed restaurant which can be seen at the start of the ride. It is objectively one of the coolest things I’ve ever ridden. I want to call specific attention to the boat scene, where cannons fare at each other from opposite ships, creating glowing impacts and throwing water about. the first time I rode it it ensnared my attention and completely suspended my disbelief.The ride system is based on the one used in it’s a small world, due to that rides incredible success in debuting a boat-based transport system. Although I hate it’s a small world with a burning passion and refuse to write anything on it, I must be forced to admit that it did wonders as a test on how to create a good dark ride, emphasising key features such as a high rider capacity, boat-based transport system, and proving that animatronics are an incredibly attractive key event. Since the 60’s when it debuted, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride has gone through many changes throughout its location, including entire scenes being added and removed. but what it has maintained throughout its historic run time is its notoriety and splendour. the key change that I will bring up is the 2006 and 2007 renovations that include more theming from the very successful movie franchise. slightly unrelated, but the song “Yo ho, a pirate’s life for me” was actually first written for the ride. The rides are all being constantly updated in minor ways whether it’s slightly improving the animatronics, touching up background details or changing costuming. I’ll attach here a brief sort of timeline of the ride that I’ve whipped up here, but it only touches on the most notable modifications. sorry about how crap-tier it is..

Now, to talk more specifically about animatronics. The animatronics used on this ride are some of the earliest made by Disney. some are really quite basic, with their full range of motions being a singular full body action such as raising and lowering out of a barrel, but others move heads and arms in (sort of) lifelike actions. Some are newer, (specifically captain Jack Sparrow), but most are the original ones from the 60’s. One of my (and everyone’s tbh) favourites is the redheaded lady. She is (very originally) named Redd. Previously she was being sold off for auction, but in 2018 she was swapped to being an auctioneer. She has stunning red curls and a beautiful dress to match, and now holds a gun. here’s a little before and after.

 in the same refurbishment that changed her the mist screen in the tunnel before the fort battle was removed and replaced with a pirate in a cage who turns into a skeleton via an optical trick as well as an octopus playing with some medallions, along with the original 1967 narration about cursed treasure being restored. Her new version is based off none other than Anne Bonny herself (worth a google, she’s a fucking BOSS (like seriously!! Queer history icon!!! LOOK 👏 HER 👏 UP 👏 )) . She’s also displayed in dead man’s cove in a portrait, which I think is kinda neat. Her Paris version is completely silent, but the others yell about selling rum. Sadly I have never actually seen the new Redd in person, as I have only ridden the ride in Tokyo (where she is still being sold).

Now, the barker bird! oh how I love him so <3 he’s a little green pirate parrot, who spent his days crying about the ride. he was originally in the queue area but got kicked outside eventually to help deal with crowd control. he was then gotten rid of in 2006 in the big movie refurb. He was remarkably similar to the original barker bird who resided outside of the Enchanted Tikki Room; however, the pirate version has a peg leg, eye patch, tattoo on his chest and wondrously villainous hat. he was originally based off of Captain Flint, the parrot from Treasure Island. It is theorised that he has a skeletal clone inside the ride; the parrot belonging to “the Dirty Feet pirate”. 

When you first get on the ride, the first animatronic you come across is Old Joe. he is an animatronic character used in multiple different attractions, including Liberty Belle Riverboat, The Western River and Mark Twain Riverboat. in each version, he lives in a shack and is associated with the banjo. I say associated because it is actually a really common misconception that he actually plays the banjo. he does not, it is just a dark scene and there is banjo music playing around him. you can see the tip of his pipe glowing as you approach it in the ride, lit up alongside the fireflies. he is a small taste of what is to come.

Barbossa replaced the original pirate captain of The Wicked Wench in the boat battle scene in the mass movie renovation. he is my tied favourite with the redhead, as his dialog adds so much to the scene. his character moves in a beautiful fashion, lit up by a spotlight. His face is artfully painted, capturing what I believe to be the most human expression in the entire ride. His boat is fighting a Castillo del Morro fortress of Isla Tesoro, whilst busy searching for treasure and presumably captain jack sparrow. in 2011 his WDW version’s outfit was swapped over to his privateer uniform from On Stranger Tides, to keep the ride tied to the movies. What can be considered quite odd is that in Paris’s later renovation, the Captain did not replace the Wicked Wench captain, and was rather added in to a scene at the end of the ride, in the skeleton grotto. he is standing on the shipwreck beside the skeleton helmsman, carrying a lantern. 

The auctioneer. I don’t like him. greasy man. his eyes are wild. He’s originally voiced by Paul Frees (an icon, a legend) and is inspired by Captain Bartholomew Roberts (considered the most successful pirate in the golden age of piracy. He is also a pirate from the ship The Wicked Wench, and his auction is set up near a canteen called "La Cantina”. very creative. He was originally selling brides (human trafficking, not very snazzy) but now he sells chickens he stole from townspeople. however, this is unsuccessful. In the Paris version, instead of the chickens he is trying to sell a painting of Jean Laffite. Funnily enough, Jean is one of Disney’s sort of “stand in” pirate characters that they frequently just use whenever they need a pirate to slide in. Unfortunately, the auctioneer is always kept relatively up to date with the shiniest, newest technology that Disney can spare, and is always one of the most advanced figures on the ride. doesn’t deserve it, he’s slimy and I don’t like him. I should probably mention that he doesn’t actually have a name other than the auctioneer. There’s also a clone of him used in the haunted mansion for the duelling animatronics. loser. 

This is a very long post, so I shall cut it here. I will leave you with an image gallery, further reading and a possible promise of a part two if this post does well. Thank you!

(ok so i actually haven’t got any further reading gathered yet. give me like 6 hours and ill fix it in an edit. i promise. i just want to get this post out asap)

#animatronic #audio animatronics #Audio Animatronic #animatronics #Disney #disney parks #pirates #pirates of the caribbean #redd #captain barbossa #history #long post

[a65232-joshywoshy]

Colorado Crybaby

Chapter 12

          Penny carefully maneuvered the van out of the parking garage. Having lived in the Denver area all her life, she knew exactly where Buckley was from here. She had glanced at the paperwork in the folder she was given while walking out to the van. They would enter through the main gate on East Mississippi, but from there, she would have to ask. The only other clue from that point was:

     Phoenix Project

     Sunlight Tower

     Nth Floor

     Penny had no idea what that meant. She asked everyone else in the van about it, but no one had been on base to begin to theorize it. Rachael read the papers as they drove. Robert wanted to look at them but got carsick easily, so he decided it was best not to. Kim glanced over the information, but didn’t feel motivated enough to memorize anything.

    “So… Kim. Welcome to Imagine Innovations. I promise you, this is not something that happens all the time around here. You’re very special to go on a trip like this. I’ve been with this company for years and I’ve only just now gone to a special project like this.” Penny seemed slightly in shock that they had gotten this opportunity. She had heard that only the best at the entire company had ever gotten a chance to assist on a special project.

     “I see.” Kim said. “Well, this is definitely a first day of work that I’ll never forget.” She was smiling, happy to be a part of this adventure.

     Rachael was in full detective mode. She studied the papers, trying her best to memorize them. The papers mostly detailed the project goals and staff involved. There was very little detail about this ‘Computer’ they would be working on. Occasionally she would glance up to see where they were, but she was already lost. She hadn’t lived in Denver long enough to memorize any major roads yet. For this particular day, she was relying very heavily on Penny. Even though Rachael was the second most experienced in her department, she felt as though she was least experienced with navigating this city. She wasn’t good at navigating any city, even her hometown, without some kind of assistance.

     “Kim, he said you were good with computers, right?” Robert was curious about her abilities.

     “I’m good at software, and only on certain operating systems. I’m not the best with hardware. Hopefully this is just some kind of server rack or something. I just don’t understand why their I.T. guys can’t figure this out. And if they can’t figure it out, what makes us special?” Kim didn’t really feel like she had anything of value to contribute to the group.

     “And why ask a guy with medical experience for help?” Robert asked rhetorically. “I don’t know if the boss man is a genius or crazy. I’m really leaning towards crazy at this point.”

     “We should talk to the project lead when we get there.” Rachael was still looking at the paperwork. “James, is his name. He should know how we can help.”

     “That sounds like a plan.” Penny didn’t look away from the road. Most of her attention was on the road. She wasn’t driving recklessly, but she made sure not to sit behind slow traffic. There was an odd sort of pressure to do well for Mr. Pendleton that she felt. It was like she wanted to make a parent proud. He wasn’t her father, by any stretch of the imagination, but she felt it nonetheless. 

     There was some time where they all rode in silence. Everyone was thinking, trying to piece together as much as they could in an effort to solve a puzzle that wasn’t even in front of them. After a few more minutes, they arrived at the main gate.

     “Good afternoon, Ma’am. What brings you here today?” Military Police in fatigues were stationed here, checking all vehicles coming and going.

     “We’re here for the Phoenix project. We’re with Imagine Innovations.” She showed the man her I.D. that she pulled out of the manila folder, then the cover sheet of the documents. The man spoke into his radio, communicating their arrival to some official on the base.

     “Unit three niner, party of 4 headed to sierra 1. How copy?”

     The reply was louder than his voice, simply because the radio was loud. Penny and Rachael could clearly hear the voice on the other side.

     “Copy. Standby for escort. We’re putting fresh eyes on sunlight.”

     “Solid copy. Standing by for escort.” The man looked up at Penny. “Ma’am, If you could wait here, we’re gonna have you escorted in to where you need to go, okay?”

     “Yes, sir.” Penny had never been around this kind of military presence before. Neither had Rachael. They both looked nervous. Kim was paying attention, but had seen too many military movies and knew this was all standard routine.

     “I have a cousin that I visit at Fort Bragg all the time,” Robert said. “This is standard stuff.”  

     A military humvee pulled up on the other side of the gate and turned around to face into the base. 

     “If you’ll follow them. Have a good day, folks.” The officer backed away from the van and Penny drove forward. The humvee drove ahead with Penny keeping pace behind. 

     “I’ve never been escorted into a military base before.” Penny said. She was still slightly nervous, but she also had an excited energy about her now. 

     “It’s just like the movies.” Kim said, smiling.

     They drove only a few minutes before arriving at a tall building where the humvee parked. Penny parked the van and everyone got out. A man stepped out of the humvee who wasn’t wearing fatigues. 

     “Good morning, folks. I’m James Howard, the project lead here. Come on in.”

     Everyone exchanged good morning’s and handshakes, then they followed him inside the building.

     “We’re going to need you to leave all your belongings here. You won’t be needing them.” He motioned to a folding table set up in the lobby as a makeshift staging area. “This includes cell phones, wallets, everything. It’s all in the interest of preserving intellectual property, of course. Okay. With everything here, we’ll head on down.”

     After placing all of their stuff on the table, they followed him down a short hallway to a single elevator with very wide doors. The wood grain in the elevator and the architectural design of the building seemed to suggest that the building had been built in the 1950’s. It seemed to have not been well past that date either, as a few cobwebs lined the ceiling corners. As the elevator doors shut, James put in a key above the buttons and turned it. He then pushed the button for floor “N”. 

     “Finally, some privacy.” James turned to face everyone as the elevator went down, no doubt towards a basement of some sort. “Welcome to project Phoenix, a joint collaboration between Imagine Innovations and the 566th Intelligence Squadron of the United States Air Force. This is the brainchild of Howard Pendleton and Doctor Javier Vasquez. You’ll probably understand this better as a holodeck type device. Basically, the thing on Star Trek where you can tell a computer to put you in any time or space and boom, you’re there. The only problem is... “ James chuckled “it’s kind of embarrassing, but the most brilliant mechanical and I.T. minds in the state can’t figure out how to make it work. So we needed a different approach. Completely off the wall, out of the box ideas. That’s where you 4 come in. You think differently than we do…”

     Behind him, the elevator doors opened to a room with pipes, wires and cables and panels lining every wall. Buzzing and humming could be heard everywhere. LED panels and laptop screens were everywhere. Six technicians were all busy with their tasks, none of whom looked at the visitors. They were all too focused.

     “So… think differently.” James gestured to the room. “I suppose we could start in here, though.”

     In the middle of the room was a smaller room with a single, heavy door on it. Inside the room, the walls, floor and ceiling were featureless save for their dark green color. 

     “This is the room where a user will experience the holodeck type environment. Simplex 1000 can give you a brief overview.” James ushered them in the small room.

     A computer generated voice sounded from speakers buried within a maze of wires and cables nearby. “Welcome to the Phoenix: Post Holographic Optical Enhancement of Neurologically Imaged Xerography. Original designation, Simplex 1000. Programmed to manage the hologram and monitor conditions of human occupants such to allow their continued safety and enjoyment.”

     “Whoa. This is Star Trek stuff.” Rachael said. 

     “Yep. That’s what we do.” James explaining things as if this complicated machinery was his toaster; a simple machine that everyone should know and understand. “Could you all just hang out in there for a sec? We’re going to start one of the support machines. You’ll hear some humming. Nothing to worry about. I need to get something behind the door, too. So I’m going to move it real quick. It doesn’t lock, if you’re worried about that.”

     They stepped inside the large, dark green colored room. It had featureless metal walls, interrupted only by the entry door. James closed the door behind them. It was pitch black.

     "It's so dark in here." Robert said quietly. His voice boomed in the enclosed space. "Why did we agree to this again?"

     "Because money pays the bills and the CEO thinks we’re talented," Penny said. She started to sound a little stressed. She didn't like the dark. She wasn't afraid of it, but this kind of dark was beyond nighttime darkness. There was no light to see at all.

     A humming began and it started to grow in loudness and intensity.

     "I guess that’s the machine James mentioned?" Kim said.

     Everything went white.

     To Rachael's horror, the room was now bright white and everyone was gone. The humming had stopped. There was no sound at all. The metallic smell was gone, too. There was… nothing. Rachael didn't feel anything touching her feet anymore, either.

     My feet? I was wearing shoes. She looked down to see her bare feet. She had been wearing shoes when she walked in. Her pants were gone as well, but around her hips was a diaper. Her shirt was replaced with a yellow crop top with a rubber duck on it. I certainly wasn't wearing that! Her thighs were odd, too. They were much fatter than normal. She looked at her hands and arms, too. Her hands were more bony and knobby than before. Her arms were fatter. What happened? Why did I change? Where's Penny?

     She frantically looked around at everything. There were no shadows, no features, just white. There wasn't even a floor. Rachael wasn't falling, but she felt… suspended, as if in water.

     Where's Penny? 

     Rachael called out. "Penny? Kim? Anybody?"

    Only silence. She looked down again. She was still in a diaper. She slowly reached her odd hand toward the diaper to touch it. Her hand went inside of it.

     A hologram. Her hand had gone inside of it, as if it wasn't there. But what about her hands? Her thighs now seemed much larger as well. She slowly reached down to her thigh. Instead of the skin she expected to feel, she felt the fabric of her suit pants. So I AM still wearing my clothes. I just… look different. Where is Penny?

     She called out to Penny again, louder. She listened carefully for banging or some other kind of noise that might mean someone was here. Still silent. The thought of Penny dying crossed Rachael's mind. It was a terrible thought. I miss her, Rachael thought. I want her back. I need to see her again.

     With that, Penny popped into existence to Rachael's left.

     "PENNY!!! Are you okay?"

     "Rachael!" Penny looked over at Rachael. "Yeah. I'm fine. Whoa. You look, different. That's a cute diaper. Where did you… what happened to your hands and legs?!?!"

     Rachael now knew that whatever she felt, Penny could see what Rachael was seeing. "Nothing, actually. Your diaper's pretty cute too."

     A similar situation had happened to Penny as well. Her breasts got bigger and her legs now had cellulite all over them. Her feet had become much larger. She was wearing a slightly too short baby blue t-shirt.

      "Ah!" Penny blushed as she tried to cover her diaper. "What do you mean, 'Nothing happened'? Look at you!"

     "It's a hologram or something. Watch." Rachael slowly lowered her flattened palm over the front of her diaper. When her hand should have stopped on top of the diaper, it kept going, eventually disappearing completely behind it.

     Penny did the same with herself. "Mine too. This is weird."

     "It's some kind of holographic projection, I guess. The diapers make sense if someone's messing with us, but I don't understand my weird hands and your cottage cheese legs."

     "No way." Penny looked over their bodies again. "I've never told anyone, but I always thought my legs looked fat, and that my boobs were too big for my body. But that means that either someone knows more about us than we realize, or they've got a direct feed into our brains. Where's Kim?" Penny called out to her "Kim! Where are you?"

     "Did you hear me when I was calling you a few minutes ago?" Rachael stopped to think about it. Maybe she's right in front of us. Penny was to my left when we walked in. That should mean that Kim is right in front of us. Rachael tried walking. It was as if something was holding her in place. She could move freely, but there was nothing for her to move on or against.

      "No, I didn't." Penny was trying to move around now, "Why can't we move?!"

      "So Kim probably can't hear us. How long was it before you saw me?"

     "A few minutes?"

     "Did you do anything in particular to get to me?"

     "I tried swimming to you, but that didn't work."

     "What about mentally? Did you do anything special mentally or emotionally?"

     "Not really. I don't think."

      "Hmmm… You showed up right when I thought about missing you. I wonder if I do the same for Kim…"

     Rachael closed her eyes and focused. She hadn't known Kim for very long, but it would still be sad to lose someone to a corporate project like this. She wanted Kim back.

     Penny screamed. Rachael opened her eyes then she screamed. Before them was a black, dragon shaped creature. It had 2 arms like a person, but they were covered in black metallic spines. It stood on 2 legs, with a thick, long black tail behind it. Two horns on its head also looked like they were black metal. It's belly was smooth, with a scar diagonally across it. Below that was…

     A diaper? No way. Rachael studied the dragon creature more carefully. The creature didn't seem to be charging at them or even make any sound to suggest aggressive intentions. The  dragon seemed passive, even though it stood twice their height.

     Kim's hair. It has Kim's hair. 

     The creature had similar hands, though gray, that looked like Kim’s. The mouth was the same, as well.

     Rachael cautiously spoke. "Kim? Is that… you?"

     The large black eyes looked up at her. Then the face smiled. "Hey, Rachael. Penny." The voice was still Kim's regular voice.

     "Kim?!" Penny was in shock. "You're a… dragon… type thing."

     "Kim, quick question." Rachael started making connections in her head. "How do you view your inner self? Have you ever done or said something that made you feel like a monster?"

     "It's…" the large black eyes looked away. "It's complicated."

     "No details necessary. I figured it out. Girls, we're looking at our own internal view of ourselves. Like, a digital representation of our mental self... which is why I look the way I do." Rachael looked down at her diaper again. “Penny, Kim popped into here when I thought about missing her. So I need to do the same for Robert now."

     Rachael thought about mourning for Robert, then he appeared. 

     All three girls gasped. Robert’s body was transparent. At least, they assumed it was his body. At first, they saw Robert as himself, the man they met at the office. A shorter woman his same age with red hair on her head then appeared in his place. She wore a long green dress and had a look of disgust on her face. The next person to appear was a male teenager wearing black clothes, short black hair and eye liner. His face looked agitated. Another person was a short Hispanic female who wore cargo pants and a bandana over her hair. She was smiling. Lastly, there was a small male child, dressed only in underwear who looked terrified. After the child, the cycle restarted with Robert’s original self. All of the people were somewhat transparent, as if they weren’t fully there.

     “Robert… you…” Rachael didn’t understand how this could align with anyone’s mental imagery of themselves. “We think we’re looking at our own mental image of ourselves… but you…”

     Robert looked despairingly at each of them, then at his chest to watch the changes happen. Every person that took his place seemed to move exactly as the original Robert did. 

     “D.I.D.” Robert said softly.

     “What?”  Rachael and Penny were even more confused.

     “Dissociative Identity Disorder.” Kim answered for him, with a nod of understanding.

     “Most people call it split personality disorder. Now everyone gets a front row seat to the freak show I really am.” Robert looked at the ground, as did the other people that he seemed to be. “These are my alters. The fractions of my personality.” He said their names as they popped into existence. “This red haired girl is Sarah. She is my focus. Teenage boy here is Luke. He just kinda acts out. Imelda, for when I need to get stuff done. And Robert, and... me.” 

     He said his name when the boy had appeared.

     “The kid has your name?” Penny asked.

     Robert sighed. “The kid is me. 5 year old me that’s about to have his world shattered into a million pieces.”

     Everyone went silent. They understood what he was implying.

     “I’m so sorry,” Rachael said softly.

     “It’s okay. Life sucks. So I guess we got this stupid holodeck going. Now what?”

     Rachael felt a bump from something. It felt like a physical bump, but nothing had touched her. She felt an emotional presence pull on her attention.

     “What was that?” Rachael asked.

     The room went black and the loud humming returned. It started to get quieter and softer as the Phoenix seemed to power down. The door opened and technicians walked in to begin checking everyone’s condition. 

     No one was injured or even uncomfortable. With the light coming in from the doorway, Rachael could see that everyone was back to normal. Everyone was wearing business suits again. Everyone was a normal human being and there were no strange sensations surrounding Rachael anymore.

     “That was our first successful test.” James had walked in. “Is everyone okay?”

     “Yeah. We’re fine. Right guys?” Rachael waited for everyone to confirm. “We’re fine.”

     “Congratulations. That’s a huge step forward for all of us. Thank you. If you’re all good to go, then you’re done for the day. We have a ton of data to crunch now. I’ll let Mr. Pendleton know how things went. Given your success, he may want you back here tomorrow. I have all of your numbers, so I’ll be in touch tonight if we need you again tomorrow or not. Elevator will take you right back outside. Don’t forget your stuff on the way out.”

     James turned to stare at a laptop screen just like the other technicians were. They seemed transfixed by whatever data they were looking at. 

     The four of them got back into the elevator silently and rode it back to the lobby floor. They had just seen each other in an extremely intimate light and the moment was too fragile for talking. 2 friends and 2 near-strangers had a look into each other's minds that is usually reserved for lovers in a romantic relationship. At the very least, those were details reserved for an intimate conversation between the closest of friends. Now that information was on full display. They had been ushered away too fast to ask if what they saw was also seen by the technicians. Such an outpouring of information was even more exposing. Even more compromising. They could ask tomorrow. 

     A ding sounded as they reached the ground floor again. Still silently, they gathered their stuff from the table and walked outside. No one wanted to talk yet. Penny unlocked the van and they climbed inside. 

[dakotakaiskicks]

It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)- TegKota

A/N: This is another (very late) installment of my TegKota series, though I don’t guess you have to read the other ones to understand this one. Also, while the title is an absolute banger of a song by The 1975, this isn’t a song fic, I’ve just had the song stuck in my head and was struggling to come up with a good title. This is basically going to be Tegan being an awkward gay and Dakota being adorable as always.

Things in Tegan’s life had been going exceptionally well lately. She had recently gotten a promotion at her job, her friendship with Shotzi and Candice was as strong as ever, and she had Dakota. Just the mere thought of the Kiwi made butterflies erupt in Tegan’s stomach. Aside from being absolutely gorgeous, she was probably the sweetest, smartest, funniest person on the planet. At least, according to Tegan.

The women had been on a couple of dates since their trip to the fair, but with Tegan working more due to her promotion, they hadn’t been able to see each other as often as they would’ve liked. Still, they texted and FaceTimed every day, seemingly never running out of things to talk about. Which was why Tegan was ready to take things to the next level; making Dakota her girlfriend.

After she and Rhea had broken things off, the Welsh woman was hesitant to let herself feel any romantic feelings for anybody. That was, until Dakota came along. Any hesitation she had about getting into another relationship had gone away the night they had kissed on the ferris wheel. From the way Tegan talked about the older woman, one would thing they had already been in a relationship for a while. But, in the ever-so-eloquent words of Shotzi Blackheart, “Tegan’s too chicken shit to ask Dakota to be her girlfriend.” That may or may not have been true, but Tegan was ready now. She just needed to figure out how and when to do it.

She knew she could just ask next time they talked over FaceTime, but she wanted it to be special for Dakota, who she left deserved the very best. She had asked Candice and Shotzi for ideas, the green-haired woman not really being any help and basically banishing any talk of “mushy, romantic crap” happening around her. Candice was slightly more helpful, but her suggestion was a tad grandiose.

“Take her to Disney and ask her in front of Cinderella’s castle!”

“Candice, she’s asking the girl to be her girlfriend, not proposing!” Shotzi’s snarky response earned her a well-placed punch between the shoulderblades from the shorter woman.

“Well at least I’m making suggestions,” Candice said, rolling her eyes.

“I made a suggestion!” The tattooed woman retorted.

“Telling her not to be gross isn’t a suggestion!” Candice ran a hand through her lilac-colored hair in frustration. Tegan watched helplessly as her friends bickered, her already racing mind being thrown into another whirlwind. “Can you two stop for two seconds? I’m already stressed enough as it is.”

“Sorry,” the other two women said in unison, looking down bashfully.

���You could always invite her over for a movie night. Dakota doesn’t really seem like the type to fuss over stuff like that,” Shotzi suggested. Tegan thought about it, and decided that the less people that were around to witness it, the less likely she was to completely make a fool of herself. Granted, there was always a slight chance of that anyway because, well, this is Tegan we’re talking about here. But, it was significantly less than it would be with a huge crowd around to listen to the younger woman trip over her words.

“You know what, Shotzi? That may just be the smartest thing you’ve said all week,” Candice said, reaching for a high five that would never come from the tattooed woman, who instead rolled her eyes as far back into her head as she could get them.

“I don’t appreciate that but I’m gonna say thank you anyway because it’s the polite thing to do, and I’m a lady, damn it!” Tegan and Candice both shot incredulous looks at Shotzi, knowing good and well that her statement was the furthest thing from the truth.

Tegan’s attention is quickly drawn from her bickering friends to her phone, a wide grin appearing on her face upon seeing Dakota’s contact picture on the screen.

“Hey, Kota!” The sheer happiness in the younger woman’s voice could be heard by anyone around, and while her friends were glad to see her so happy, they couldn’t help but tease her a little. “OOH, DAKOTA!!”, they said, making kiss noises loudly enough to be heard by the Kiwi on the other line.

Dakota giggled at the womens’ antics, making Tegan’s heart soar as it always did. “Hey, Tegs. HI GIRLS!!” The older woman’s voice carried just enough for the other women to hear her, the two of them taking their leave to allow their friend to speak to her (hopefully) soon-to-be girlfriend.

“What’s up?” Despite the two having known each other for the better part of two months, Dakota still managed to make the younger woman nervous. She supposed it was moreso her feelings towards the Kiwi than the woman herself, but she wasn’t sure.

“Well, it’s been a couple of days since we talked on the phone and I may or may not have missed your voice,” Tegan could hear the tone of shyness in Dakota’s voice which made the butterflies in her stomach increase that much more.

“I’ve missed you, too. Are you busy tonight?” Tegan figured it was probably best to try to set up their date now so she didn’t chicken out later.

“Nope, I’m free. Did you have something in mind?”

Tegan cleared her throat before speaking again. “I was going to see of you might want to come over and watch a movie?”

“I’d love that. When do you want me to come over?”

The younger woman would’ve been more than happy to tell her to come over right then, but her apartment was a mess, so she needed time to make it, as well as herself, as presentable as possible. They decided on 6:30, giving Tegan about 4 hours to get her apartment cleaned up, herself looking decent, and get everything else set up for their date. The cleaning part went fairly well, except for Blue knocking her water bowl over into the floor after Tegan had just mopped.

“You’re lucky you’re cute, because you’re definitely not the smartest little thing,” Tegan said, scratching the dog behing her ears after cleaning up her mess. With the cleaning finished, the Welsh woman set off to get herself ready. She showered, then got dressed in a pair of leggings she felt she looked exceptionally good in, and a cropped white muscle tee. She didn’t fuss too much over her look since it was a casual date, but she did throw on a bit of makeup to make herself a bit more presentable.

With about an hour left until Dakota was to show up, Tegan got to work on their setup for the evening. She wanted to build a blanket fort, as well as hang up some fairly lights above them to create some ambiance. Plus, she was sure that Dakota would look beautiful in the dim glow of the lights, but she wasn’t gonna say that. By the time she was finished, Tegan was sure that she had every blanket and pillow she owned in her living room, but it was worth it. She had gone upstairs to grab her laptop and come back down in just enough time to hear a knock on her door.

She opened the door to see Dakota standing there with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a box of pizza in the other.

“I told you not to bring anything,” Tegan said, taking the items from the Kiwi’s hands and carrying them into the kitchen.

“Oops,” Dakota said, grinning innocently at the younger woman. Tegan turned around to look at the Kiwi properly for the first time and her breath caught in her throat, a common reaction at this point.

Dakota had her hair in its natural state, the curls falling just right to frame her face perfectly. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but she had a natural glow about her that was almost startling. She was wearing a t-shirt of a band that Tegan had never heard of, and a pair of gray joggers. A simple outfit, but Dakota made it look amazing, and she made sure to tell her so.

Before Dakota could respond, they were interrupted by the stampede-like running of Blue through the kitchen, the dog stopping to sniff the older woman’s hand and basically demanding pets.

“Sorry about her, she doesn’t really understand the concept of personal space.” Tegan was slightly embarrassed, but grateful that the dog seemed to like the older woman, rather than trying to bite her.

“She’s alright, she’s a cutie! Takes after her mom on that, clearly.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Ms. Kai. Now, let’s tear into this pizza because I am starving.”

The two women quickly disposed of the pizza (and Dakota may or may not have “accidentally” dropped a crust for Blue to eat) before making their way back to the living room for their movie. Dakota seemingly missed the blanket fort when she came in - to be fair, she was kinda done for once she saw Tegan in those leggings- and she was in awe. No one had ever put this much effort in for her.

“This is amazing! You didn’t have to do all this.”

Tegan blushed before responding, “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. You deserve it.”

Dakota was now blushing as much as Tegan was, the two settling into the pile of pillows behind them in the fort. They had decided to watch Captain Marvel, a movie that Tegan had seen dozens of times now, but that just meant she could stare at Dakota more.

The older woman’s attention was fully drawn to the laptop in front of them, and Tegan almost felt bad that she was about to interrupt, but she was almost certain she would wimp out if she waited until the movie was over. She took a deep breath before pausing the movie, causing Dakota to look up at her, her brown eyes shining in the glow of the lights above them.

“Be my girlfriend.” The speech she had prepared earlier had completely flown out the window, replaced by the barely-there whisper of the words that, Tegan supposed, made her point.

Dakota was sure she had misheard, so she asked Tegan to repeat herself. “Say that again?”

To her credit, the secont time she spoke, Tegan’s voice had a tad more conviction to it.

“Be my girlfriend.” Having to repeat herself made Tegan rethink whether or not this was a good decision.

Dakota had heard her loud and clear this time, a face-splitting grin appearing on her face, quietly responding with a simple, “Okay.”

The younger woman couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact Dakota had agreed to be her girlfriend. She looked flat-out shocked, in all honesty. “Wait, seriously?”

“Seriously.” By this point, both women were giggling nervously, excited for what this meant for them. They looked into each others’ eyes as if trying to memorize every shade weaving through them, before leaning in for a kiss, the sparks still there just as they had been the first time they had kissed. Only this time, it was better because they were officially a couple.

They had continued to share small kisses for a few minutes, until Blue decided to make her presence known, busting into the fort and licking both women directly in their faces.

“Your timing is impeccable, Baby Blue,” Tegan said, rolling her eyes before the dog settled in between the two women, falling asleep soon after.

“Should we finish the movie?” Dakota asked, the younger woman nodding as she pressed play on the laptop, leaning her head on her now-girlfriend’s shoulder, the movie being the last thing on her mind. She drifted off with thoughts of Dakota running through her head, thinking about how great the day had been and how she was finally able to call her her girlfriend.

#Dakota Kai #dakota kai fanfic #Tegan Nox #tegan nox fanfic #tegkota

[chanceuseladynoire]

Snow Angel

I started posting my fourth work. You can read it on AO3 here.

Rating:General Audiences 

Category: F/M 

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug 

Relationship: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug 

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Alix Kubdel | Bunnyx, Tikki, Plagg 

Additional Tags: Time Shenanigans, aged-up, Fluff, Angst, Kidnapping, Searching, Getting help from unlikely places, Adrien has gone a little crazy, Adrien is in denial, lost kitty, Bunnyx _really _needs to get a lock for her burrow, Miraculous Wish, Relationship Advice, Worried Friends and Family, Season 3 Spoilers, Chat Blanc Episode Spoilers - Freeform

Summary: Where is Marinette? It is a popular question this morning and Adrien is starting to worry. The 17-year-old lycée student (and teen heart-throb supermodel) can't do anything about it, but perhaps a certain cat-themed superhero can pick up her trail.

*Warning: Season 3 Spoilers Ahead*

Chapter 1: Missing

Adrien dropped his school bag next to his usual desk, took his seat, and waited for class to start. He scrolled through his calendar on his phone. Only three photoshoots this week, and the regular piano, fencing and Chinese practices. A chemistry quiz today, history paper due on Friday. It was actually shaping up to be a pretty light week. He might be able to sneak in a few more patrols with Ladybug.

Or perhaps get Marinette to slip one of Paris’ favorite heroes a few cookies on her balcony. Either option sounded fine to him.

Speaking of Marinette, where was she? Class was going to start in two minutes. She’d been making a special effort to squeak into class five minutes before the final bell since starting their second year of lycée and no longer having the luxury of living across the street from school. She probably overslept again.

The seconds ticked by. The bell rang. The history class started. The desk next to Adrien remained empty.

He didn’t start to worry until class ended and there was still no sign of the bluenette. Adrien hoped she wasn’t ill. She had seemed fine yesterday.

He could text her and ask if she was okay, but he felt that might be overstepping. Besides, he didn’t want to disturb her if she was feeling unwell. He decided to try the next best thing to messaging Marinette directly.

[Adrien] Hey. Have you heard from Marinette this morning? She wasn’t in class.

A reply popped up almost instantly.

[Alya] I haven’t. Give me a sec.

Adrien pocketed his phone and walked down the hall to his calculous class. He set his phone on his desk and unpacked his tablet and stylus. The phone’s screen lit up a minute before the bell rang.

[Alya] She’s not answering her phone. I’ll try the bakery next.

[Adrien] Thanks. Class is about to start. I’ll check back in with you later.

Adrien pushed the budding sense of unease away as the teacher began lecturing about integrals.

With his math class over, Adrien once again packed up to move to classical world literature. They were studying Shakespeare’s sonnets. He was gleaning so much glorious material for Chat Noir to use later. It was almost better than his Sunday night ritual of scouring the internet for new cat puns and memes. Almost.

Adrien did his best not to bump into anyone on the stairs as he headed down to his next classroom with his attention focused on his phone.

He had received six new texts and a missed call in the last hour.

[Alya] I talked to Sabine. She hasn’t seen Marinette since last night.

[Alya] She assumed that she just missed her leaving this morning.

[Alya] Mari still isn’t answering her phone.

[Alya] She wasn’t in our French class last period.

[Alya] Let me know when you see her. Okay?

That uneasy feeling from earlier had lodged itself in the pit of his stomach and was growing.

He typed a quick promise to Alya that he would notify her when he saw their friend.

The missed call and sixth text were from Mme. Cheng.

Adrien rounded the last step and stopped out of the flow of traffic before opening the text. The squirming feeling in his gut was getting worse.

[Mama Cheng] Have you seen Marinette this morning? Alya just called and no one seems to have seen her since last night. Tom and I are starting to worry.

Adrien failed to notice his foot tapping out a nervous staccato against the floor tiles.

[Adrien] I haven’t seen her this morning either. I will have her call you the minute I do.

He pressed ‘send,’ hoping that his optimism in stating ‘when’ not ‘if’ he sees Marinette was not unfounded. He didn’t want to start thinking that way.

He stood there, staring at his phone, trying to decide what to do, as the halls emptied and the next period of classes began. He felt Plagg start nudging his hip from inside his book bag. It was the final push he needed.

Adrien hurriedly stopped by the school nurse and told her that he wasn’t feeling well and asked to be excused from his classes for the rest of the day.

The nurse took one look at his pale face and agreed to let the rest of his teachers know of his absence. Having a reputation for being a model student had its advantages.

Adrien walked out the front doors of the school as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself. As soon as he had the freedom of the pavement outside, he ran to the shadows of the nearest alleyway.

Usually Plagg talked to Adrien from wherever he was lounging at the time, but as soon as they were hidden from view, the kwami of destruction phased through the bag and floated at eye level. His tail was flicking back and forth agitatedly. He crossed his stubby arms over his chest and narrowed his toxic green eyes at his holder.

“Well, what are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?” Plagg drawled exasperatedly, but Adrien could read the subtext after four years of partnership. His kwami was worried.

He finally had a name for that feeling crawling its way up from his stomach and grasping at his throat now. Fear. It was definitely fear.

“Plagg, claws out!”

----------

Five minutes later Chat Noir landed on Marinette’s balcony with a soft flump.

Nothing looked out of place, but something... wasn’t quite right. Chat couldn’t quite put his claw on it just yet.

He moved the information to the back of his mind to let his subconscious work out whatever it was. His attention turned to the skylight hatch leading to his friend’s bedroom. He eased the door open and poked his head inside.

Still nothing seemed amiss. Her bed was unmade (not uncommon with how quickly she usually needed to leave for school after hitting snooze on her alarm four times). Bits of pink fabric were strewn across her sewing desk and pinned to the dress form in the corner. Pictures of her friends were taped to the walls. It all looked perfectly normal for her room.

Chat Noir dropped onto the loft, careful to land next to the bed to keep his boots from dirtying her bedding. That’s when it hit him—the thing that was out of place.

There was an unfamiliar scent in Marinette’s room.

He sniffed around the bed. It smelled mostly of pleasant things that he associated with the young designer, like vanilla and sugar. Underneath the comforting scents was another, unfamiliar one.

Chat Noir wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. It smelled... cold. It was like the sharp sting of ice on a bitterly cold day when the wind bites at your ears and nose and burns your cheeks with snowflakes like shards of glass. The scent stood out in sharp contrast to Marinette who smelled like everything warm and comforting.

He took a few minutes to sniff around the rest of her room. He didn’t pick up the foreign scent anywhere except near the bed. He did find Marinette’s phone under her bed. It was on silent and the battery was nearly dead. She had forty-six missed calls and messages. Chat was willing to bet that most of them were from Alya.

He left the phone where it was and pulled himself back up to the balcony.

The icy scent was on the edge of the hatch door. He also smelled it on one of the many potted plants surrounding Marinette’s oasis. Whoever it was must have brushed against the leaves.

The intruder had entered through the skylight from the balcony, just as Chat Noir had.

A string of events started taking shape in his mind. He didn’t like where they led.

A stranger had come to Marinette’s balcony, let themselves into her room, and taken the girl from her bed.

Someone had kidnapped Marinette.

----------

Chat Noir spent the rest of the afternoon sniffing around rooftops near the Dupain-Cheng bakery in an ever expanding radius. From time to time he dropped to ground level as well, but that didn’t seem right for some reason and he inevitably returned to the roofs.

After a few hours, he got lucky. (No one was more surprised than him since good luck was not his forte.)

Someone in a building to the south had left a pool towel hanging out to dry on a balcony railing. A brush of odor on the colorful material matched the one locked in Chat’s scent memory.

He continued searching to the south. He had never put so much effort into tracking before. Why hadn’t he thought to practice before now?

An hour later, he found his next clue. He followed the scent along a straight line of roofs at a full run on all fours. Chat’s mind presented him with two pieces of information as his claws dug into the roof tiles and his legs propelled him forward.

First, the scent was getting harder to follow as more time passed. Second, Chat knew of only three groups who took routes like this. None were great options.

He slid to a stop at the end of the roof line and stood easily on the edge. His breathing was labored and he could feel his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. Anxiety and exertion were flooding his system with adrenaline. Chat’s tail twitched behind him just as Plagg’s had before transforming that afternoon. A low growl slipped past his clenched teeth.

He’d lost the trail.

Chat needed help. He opened the map feature on his baton and searched for Ladybug’s icon. She wasn’t there. It was a long shot anyway. They usually weren’t transformed this time of day unless there was an Akuma attack. Fortunately he hadn’t had to deal with one of those today. Chat could only handle one crisis at a time.

He switched his baton to phone mode and called his partner. It went to voicemail.

“Ladybug, I’ve got a bit of a situation here. Do you remember Marinette Dupain-Cheng? I think she may be a friend of yours, but that’s not important right now.”

He did his best to keep the strain out of his voice. Ladybug didn’t want an update on his emotional state. She only wanted cold, hard facts.

“Look, I think she’s been kidnapped. No one has seen her all day. I went by her house to check if I could find anything and picked up an unfamiliar scent. I’m tracking it south through the fifth arrondissement right now. And, LB, I’m tracking it across the roofs. We might be looking at an akuma or sentimonster, though it’s been pretty quiet for one of Hawkmoth’s games. There’s a possibility it might be a—another miraculous holder.”

He paused for a moment to let that sink in.

“Anyway, call me when you get this. I’m going to keep looking. Bye.”

Chat Noir ended the call and continued his pursuit.

Frustration outweighed his anxiety hours later as the sun started to set beyond the Paris skyline. He hadn’t been able to pick up the trail again. He tracked it as far as he could, but he lost it.

He groaned as he slid down a brick wall protruding from the roof he was currently on. He sat on the plaster and released his transformation. A crackle of bright green energy washed over his body and Plagg sprang from the ring. Adrien handed him a piece of Camembert before the grumpy little cat could ask.

“How’s it going, kid?” Plagg asked, then tossed the chunk of smelly cheese in the air and swallowed it whole. Normally with him it was eat first, ask questions later.

“I lost the trail.” Adrien thunked his head against the bricks behind him. The small pain this caused was a slight comfort in the face of Adrien’s disgust with his tracking skills.

“I know, kid. But, honestly, you did great. It wasn’t an easy scent to find. I’m impressed that you were able to follow it this far.”

If Plagg was trying to comfort him and willingly handing out compliments, it really was the end of days.

Adrien appraised his old friend. “You’re really worried about her, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

Plagg stared off to the south. Adrien was sure the little glutton had heard him, but was declining to comment.

Plagg had always seemed partial to Marinette. Adrien didn’t know why. His kwami had never met the girl, but he did seem to bring her up more than Adrien’s other friends.

“Let’s go, kid. There’s nothing more we can do tonight, and I’m sure Pantsuit is wondering where you are by now.”

Adrien pushed himself to his feet. He had no idea what he was going to tell Nathalie, but he didn’t really care right now. Maybe he would do something crazy and try telling her the truth that one of his friends was missing and he had been out all day looking for her. Telling Nathalie the truth. He scoffed. There was a concept.

“Plagg, claws out.”

#Snow Angel by mostlovedgirl #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fan fic #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #adrienette #marichat #ml season 3 spoilers

[lenaisanerd]

i know it’s expected that i be serene

When Clary texts Simon requesting Fullmetal Alchemist, he knows something's up. But Clary seems to be in denial, and so Simon dispenses the ultimate cure-all: Hanging out with her best friend. (ca. 3500 words)

tunes.

Read on AO3.

 This story was co-written with my darling @raisehades. Please enjoy the hard-earned fruits of many late-night Google Docs comment battles.

Clary: can i come ober

  Simon: Ofc

  Are u okay?

  Clary: yes i just want so talk and cuddle or something

  Simon: Okay. Want me to set up anything?

  Clary: fma? 2009?

  Simon: I gotchu

Simon was slightly worried.

First of all, Clary wasn’t usually this reserved in her texting. Her lack of exclamation points coupled with the request for her favourite show could only mean one thing: his friend was way more down than she was letting on.

But he would deal with that when she brought it up because, well, he was also happy; Clary and him used to do this a lot – go over to each other’s (parent’s) place to hang out and watch something they both more or less enjoyed and maybe even talk about their lives and their feelings and- stuff.

But ever since the whole… half-angel manic pixie dream girl mom reveal (the HAMPDGMR) and everything that went down in consequence of the HAMPDGMR, they simply hadn’t done this sort of thing anymore. Sure, they hung out with all their other friends, at parties at Magnus’ loft or karaoke night at the Hunter’s Moon. And while that was fun, it was different when it was just the two of them.

Even during their brief dating stint, there wasn’t much they did that they’d done as friends. Simon had enjoyed what they’d done together, of course, but looking back it had been obvious that this wasn’t ideal for them.

Ideal was this: Lugging the connector cable for the TV into the vicinity of his laptop, powering both up and then loading a site with English subtitles of Hiromu Arakawa’s masterpiece Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Also ideal: Clary bringing weird snacks with unpronounceable names from the Polish bodega down the street from their old high school. That store had become their first stop after class when they were younger and would sneak candy into movie theatres or curl up on the couch in Clary’s living room and watch Audrey Hepburn flicks with Dot. Simon was almost certain he would be able to eat some and keep them down by now.

Well, actually, in a perfect world, Simon would have loved to cook something for Clary (the food at the Institute was a far cry from what any sane person would call comfort food. Or edible). But one of the results of moving out of his mom’s place just after he’d become a bloodsucking creature of the night was that he owned basically no dishes, or pots, or kitchen utensils.

Even compiling his stuff with Maia’s (who had lived next to a Chinese restaurant for her entire adult life) yielded five plates, one bowl, two chipped mugs, and somehow a ridiculously large amount of cutlery. So cooking anything more than a bowl of cereal was out of the question until they got around to buying some usable stuff. Simon could already see himself and Maia filling their birthday and Christmas/Hanukkah wishlists with basic household items for years into the future. Ah, the joys of adulthood.

Still, this was almost the Saturday morning of his dreams. In the past year, Simon had come to understand that while moments of normalcy were few and far between, when one came along they had to hold on tight for as long as they could. Which was exactly what he was planning to do.

“I’m telling you, Polish Bodega lady has to be a Downworlder. We just have to find out what flavor she is.” Clary started on her new favourite topic as soon as Simon opened the door. She draped her damp jacket over the back of a kitchen chair to dry, dropped a plastic bag on the table, and re-tied her wet ponytail.

Simon started rummaging through the contents of the bag. “Okay, one: I don’t like “flavors”, at all, two: how do you know she’s not just a normal human being who just happens to own a windowless shop where she basically lives 24/7? Oooh, you brought those weird milk drops!”

Clary had her back turned to him while she stretched as far as she could to reach the plates and mugs on one of the high shelves above the sink, not quite managing it. “She never sleeps. Sometimes I come by that store when I’m on patrol, and she must be there all night. Every night. And every day, too. Either she never sleeps, or she has at least two clones.”

“Maybe she has an identical twin sister.” Simon took pity on her and handed her the dishes. Clary took them and ducked out under his arm from between the sink and his body in one fluid movement. Then she set to digging through the fridge for some soda for herself, and a bag of A+ for him, hugging the plates and mugs to her body with her free arm.

“I think I caught her staring at my runes. She definitely at least has the Sight.”

“Oh, so your angel-ninja sense is tingling? Tell me, is there a type of demon that loves to disguise itself as an old lady and watch reruns of Polish soap operas?”

“There’s only so many demons that can be terrorizing Manhattan bankers at a time, you know.”

Simon let out an undignified snort of laughter, of the kind that, had he been drinking at the time, would certainly have made him exhale his drink through his nose. Clary stuck her head over the fridge door grinning triumphantly. Then she emerged fully from its depths with a bottle of coke wedged horizontally under her chin, the plates under her arm, right hand holding the mugs, and left hand holding the blood bag. Standing up was a precarious balancing act, and Simon rushed over to take the bottle from between her chin and collarbone. After he snatched up the bags of sweets from the table they continued their procession into Simon’s bedroom.

Maia and him had moved in together just after New Year’s, into a tiny two-bedroom apartment in Fort Greene. They had decided against sharing a bedroom, though, mostly because of their sleep schedules. As Maia had put it, one partner strangling the other because a certain vampire keeps making noise all through the night while a certain werewolf is trying to sleep is not very conducive to a healthy relationship. Of course, they often spend the night together anyway, although those weren’t the nights when they did much sleeping.

“Come lie down, thought you wanted to cuddle,” Simon said, sitting down on the bed and patting the spot next to him. Clary flopped down and threw her legs over his. Balancing the snack plate carefully on her lap she fluffed the pillows behind her and finally settled down.

It was several skipped episodes, an entire bag o’ blood, and a good two thirds of the coke later when Simon got to find out why  exactly  Clary was in such urgent need for Comfort TV Time.

“Did you know jat Ling’s name doejn’t need the ng sound at all? It’sh Lin in Japanese and”, Simon swallowed the milk drops, “the Chinese translation both, so they just changed it for us for some reason.”

“You’re going to regret eating those,” Clary said with such a comical expression of distaste on her face that Simon couldn’t help but laugh out loud. She rolled her eyes. “Suit yourself. I won’t mop it up, though.”

Simon was still grinning when Clary reached forward to pause the episode on a rather unfortunate still of Major Louis Armstrong in motion.

“Do you think Izzy would like this,” she said, suddenly serious.

“Who wouldn’t like Fullmetal Alch- ”

“You’re right. Of course she would. Continue.”

Simon took her vague gesture towards the screen as a command to unpause. About half a minute later she piped up again, this time not even bothering with the pause button. “Her favourite character would have to be Mei-Chang.”

“Really?,” Simon indulged, reminding himself that he had in fact watched this episode several times in his life(un-life?) already and could live (hah) with not catching every subtitle, “I would have thought Olivier, Lan Fan… or maybe Riza? One of the really cool badass ladies.”

“Izzy may be a really cool badass but trust me, she loves little girls with a passion for science. Did I tell you about that dinner party at Magnus’ place? She was off in a corner with Madzie all evening, talking about chemistry or something. It was adorable.”

“Yes, I – I don’t know how I managed to forget. You’ve told me about it... several times now.” Simon was quite proud of his wallowing pause here.

Clary said, “Well.” and when Simon looked over to her she was visibly re-invested in subtitles. He suppressed a fond headshake and decided to let her have this one.

The next time they got through a good fifteen minutes during which Clary only noticeably stopped herself from interrupting twice and Simon started quietly wondering if eating those drops was a bad idea after all.

“Could we invite her to something like this?”

“Izzy, you mean?”

“Ah, yes. I just mean, like, we’ve hung out at the Hunter’s Moon and the Institute and stuff but I don’t know, would she like just… watching anime? Snacking?”

Simon really did put up with a lot, huh. “I don’t know, what do you think?”, he said in his least exasperated voice and leaned forward once again to press pause. He looked over to Clary, who was searching through one of the bags of candy for the last red one with the utmost concentration.

“I think she’s probably never been able to do something like this but that… she’d probably like to try. And I guess it depends on the show if she’d enjoy it. Her attention span is better than ours’ for sure, though. Maybe I’ll ask her.”

“Instead of me?! I’m hurt, Fray.” Simon placed a hand over his unbeating heart and pulled what he hoped to be the most devastating pout since Shrek’s puss in boots. He probably didn’t succeed in that.

Clary repaid his efforts by hitting his shoulder. He whined out an ooow and curled up to smoosh his head into Clary’s side. Her shirt muffled his sigh, and she recoiled from his breath, pushing him away with a giggle.

“Simon, stop that! You know I’m ticklish!”

Instead of letting up, Simon wrapped his arms around Clary’s waist.

“Zis vasn’t my decision.” Simon was using his best Bela Lugosi accent. Clary’s eyes widened in mock horror and the corner of her mouth twitched upward. “You brought zis on yourself. If Izzy is going to be your new best friend now, you must face...ze octopus!” His legs wrapped around Clary’s knees while she wriggled and squirmed and laughed.

“Hang on, what do you mean ‘my new best friend’? Simon Lewis, you’re not suddenly getting jealous, are you?” Clary asked when she had successfully freed herself from Simon’s grasp and they were both lying on their backs, looking at the ceiling.

“Pssh. No,” Simon lied. Clary had the decency to look slightly guilty. “Maybe you just have a crush on Izzy, ever thought about that?”

He had expected a pillow to the face for that tease, or another assault on his shoulder, or a bit of banter. What Simon had not expected was Clary suddenly looking all serious.

“Huh. You know, I’ve never considered that. Thanks, Simon,” she said, and Simon was quite proud of himself for being as good at identifying sarcasm as he was, but he really and truly couldn’t tell what Clary was thinking then. As his friend leant forward to unpause their series he decided she must just be a bit tired of antics for today. Understandable, really.

Yesterday’s summer storm had turned into persistent rain. It pitter-pattered against the fire escape and the windowsill, occasionally cutting through the sound coming from the TV’s speakers. During the peak of the heat wave, Maia and Simon had opened all the windows in the apartment to let in a breeze and had jammed whatever was handy at the time underneath to keep them from closing. There was a guitar foot rest wedged in the crack of Simon’s bedroom window.

“Simon?”

“Yeah?”

“I definitely have a crush on Izzy.”

The pause button had never been pressed so quickly. It would have been a world record, if world record judges liked to hang out on rickety fire escapes peering through windows to see if random teenagers performed laws-of-physics-defying feats from the comfort of their beds.

Simon lay back down, face to face with Clary. She seemed way more casual than what Simon thought was appropriate for the situation.

“So…Izzy. Isabelle. Really tall, beautiful, kinda scary. Terrible cook. We’re still talking about our Izzy here?”

“Yep.”

“Huh.” Simon let that sink in for a minute.

“And, uh. How long have you known?”

Clary let out a hollow chuckle. “Consciously? About 30 seconds.”

Simon sat up. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Clary. I know you won’t like hearing it, but I’ve been your friend for over ten years, so I feel it is my duty to tell you this: You are such a dumbass.”

With a big sigh, Clary rolled over and buried her face in a pillow. Simon could barely make out her voice, but what she said sounded distinctly like a whine.

“What was that?”

Clary came up for air. ”I know.” Definitely whiny. With a very long vowel sound.

“I mean, you’re in so deep that I’m surprised you don’t need scuba gear yet.”

A groan.

Simon bumped her shoulder gently with his elbow. “Did I make you skip to the ‘wallowing in your own misery’ phase of having a crush?”

“No, it’s just...I can’t believe I never noticed.” Clary sat up, her legs crossed, facing Simon. “I only spent, oh, the last year with Izzy, every day. And– and looking back on some… things, it’s becoming really clear that I’ve had a crush on her for a while. And now I just feel like the biggest idiot in the world, and also what the fuck do I do now, Simon?” While she spoke Clary had let her head sink into her hands. Simon was of the opinion that they had just passed ‘wallowing’ and were well on their way to “breakdown”.

Simon leaned forward and, as gently as he could, pried Clary’s hands away from her face and held onto them for safekeeping.

“Hey, slow down, ‘cause this is bringing back really bad memories of pre-finals all-nighters.” This at least got a little smile out of Clary. “Now, can we back up just a bit to the ‘things’ you’re currently re-examining?”

Clary thought for a moment and then answered slowly, as though she was choosing her words with care. “Like, for example, why I love when she does my makeup. She’s really focused and just gets so close to my face and then she does that thing were she bites her lip and narrows her eyes, and sometimes I just want to lean forward and… kiss her?”

Immediately and seemingly instinctually, a grin tugged its way up the corner of Simon’s mouth. “Should I go get that scuba gear?” Clary rolled her eyes in response, but continued her recounting of Isabelle’s many virtues.

“And, uh, I always pick Izzy as a training partner, even though she does not go easy on me, because I kind of like when she kicks my ass.”

Simon only held in a dirty joke by viciously biting his own tongue. Clary was in distress. In distress.

His friend looked up at him from behind a strand of hair as if sensing his struggle but, judging by the nearly imperceptible untrackable movement of her eyebrows, refusing to acknowledge it. She headed on.

“Like, Izzy isn't really like anyone I've ever met before? And it's so - uh, exciting? Just to see her, like, do things her way. From the start she's made me feel like I belong, when, like, no one else really bothered to try?” Clary exhaled and shook her head. “I don't know. Maybe that's a bit much. I mean, what if we start dating and it immediately goes sideways? It’s just - we have too much history together. Maybe that doesn’t make any sense?”

Simon frowned. “No, I get it. She's really important to you.” He tilted his head to catch Clary’s gaze again. “And I know you’re really important to her. I don’t think one bad date could end your friendship. Also, you’ve known her for a year. If you want to call that ‘too much history’, I guess it might be, but when has that ever stopped you?”

Clary barked out a laugh. “Yeah, our relationship wasn’t exactly a success, though.”

“Okay, that’s fair, but Izzy isn’t me. And you aren’t the same you you were a year ago. Things are different.”

Clary looked ready to argue again, but kept quiet. Her body language was singularly vulnerable but her expression was more thoughtful than anything, brow furrowed tightly. She picked absently at her fingers which were still stained with oil paints, green and purple and gold. The rain continued its assault on the fire escape.

Eventually, after a long moment of silence, Clary stretched out on the bed next to Simon and, tugging at his shoulder, gently nudged him to lie down too. Clary tilted her head so it was lying against his shoulder and they lay there listening to the city they had been hearing their entire lives. But it was different now, wasn’t it? Simon had super vampire hearing and Clary had her angel ears and this wasn’t the city they had known anymore, because they knew what hid under the surface. But then, well, New York had never been the city they thought they knew. Simon had meant what he’d said: Clary had changed, and he had changed, and their old world felt lifetimes away. A year ago he would have said this was a bad thing. Today, he... wasn’t so sure.

“Should I tell her, do you think?”

“Hmm? What?”

“Izzy.”

“Oh.” Simon tried to get his train of thought off the existentialist detour track. “Uhh,” he said, intelligently, “I don’t know. Give me a sec.”

“Yeah, of course. Can you think while we watch?”

Simon nodded and Clary unpaused the episode. She propped her head up on her hand to get a more comfortable angle at the screen, and Simon’s eyes caught on the rune on her neck, right against the edge of her jawline. That was the first one, the healing rune that had seemed so out of place the night he’d found her by the church. By the Institute. Now, he couldn’t really imagine Clary without the runes, each a different part of her new life. There were the quick, simple ones Jace had drawn in the beginning, joined by the strong, decisive strokes of Isabelle and the slender script that indicated Alec, and of course Clary’s own hand, elegant and curving. Some for protection and some for strength, for courage and speed, fresh ones and older, darker marks. There was a story for every single one. A bit of experience. A battle won or lost.

He didn’t often dwell on this, but it sometimes occurred to Simon just how strong his best friend was. She had been through so, so much and come out on the other side a victor, maybe through luck, but also through sheer stubbornness. It was one of the things he loved (and sometimes loathed) about Clary. Simon was extraordinarily grateful that, even though both of them had lost a life, they had gained a new one, and one that had the other in it.

“Clary.”

She turned her head so she could look at him. One side of her face reflected the  flickering lights of the TV. “Yes?”

“I think you should do what you think is best. Trust your gut. You’re gonna be fine.”

Clary looked disappointed. “That wasn’t much of an answer, oh great oracle,” she said.

“Well, that’s the only one you’re gonna get. This oracle is closed for the day,” Simon replied. He crossed his arms over his chest to emphasize his statement. Then, very quickly and stumbling over his words a little, he added: “I just really respect you and I think you’re really smart and have good judgement, and you can sort this out for yourself. Also if anything goes wrong this means you can’t blame me, so–” The rest of the sentence was cut off by Clary rushing to hug him. Her shoulder banged into his chin rather painfully. He would, of course, not have it any other way.

“Thank you, Simon. I love you.”

Simon smiled into Clary’s shoulder. “Love you too, Fray.”

#shadowhunters #shadowhunters fanfiction #clizzy #simon lewis #clary fray #brotp #shadowhunters writing #fanfuckery #finally got this posted on the tunglr as well

[ourdarkcollectorrunawayme]

PacificRim!AU BatB fic

Throwing it out there if anyone wants to pick it up and make it into a real fic.

with hints of Evangelion

Adam was sepifically trained for the sole purpose of being the sole pilot of the jauger called the Beast

only it blew up in every faces in that he still needs to be drift compatible with someone, especially with rumors of that his experiemented on him as a child for this purpose Cogsworth was a scientist who mentor Adam's mother, who was both a pilot and scientist

Lumiere is someone, whom after the accident, they thought they he be drift compatible with Adam, only he wasn't and turned out he was drift compatible with Plumette

Belle is a nurse who gets assigned to the base

Gaston is a soldier that they are hoping will be drift compatible with Adam

Lefou is another scientist who also arrives with him

Maurice is a mechanic on base

It's during drinks with Cogsworth, whom he becomes good friends with, there secrets that are revealed. Cogsworth reveals that in the first months that Adam's mother was pregnant with Adam, she was still piloting

and it was when she was pulled out of active duty that she and her husband were rumored to be experimenting on their child. Cogsworth had brought this concern to her, but when Adam was born, he seemed perfectly normal. His mother named him Adam saying: "If we are living in the end times, then he shall be named Adam. He shall be the first of humanity's next chapter."

Maurice says after hearing this: "I didn't mean it to get this heavy. My biggest secret is that Belle's real name is Lulabelle"

Lefou then does some digging and finds out Adam's parents grafted Kaiju DNA into Adam's blood when he was in utero

And that they therorized that the kaijus would overrun earth and the plan originally began that Adam's kaiju enhanced DNA would only allow them to fight back against the kaiju, but also the father of a new line of humans who could stand against the kaijus

the construction of the Beast jaegur was that as a last ditch effort, would be a vessel to house the new chapter humanity, as well as anyone in it. When it turns out Belle is drift compadible with Adam, you can do the math where the next logical conclusion is

one of the advantages of Adam's kaiju enhanced DNA is that he can kinestically predict the kaiju's movements

it's also when Belle is in the drift, though Adam she can see what the kaiju are thinking

the downside of it is that the kaiju then become more interested in Belle (b/c hivemind shit you know) and then begin almost having an influence on Adam, especially after he and Belle begin taking it to the next level, relationship wise

I'm picturing a scene where the kaiju are now in Adam's head, and just want to explore the base and see what this body can do, he comes to the Hothouse (it's the bases greenhouse/park that pilots and personelle can relax in) and finds Belle. It's night, blue flowers effected by kaiju attacks are glowing, and Belle is sitting on the green, eating from a bowl of figs, reading a red book of William Blake's poetry. Seeing him, she begins reading aloud Tyger Tyger, as Adam stalks towards her. He then lowers himself to her level, as if he is looking at her for the first time, and is the most amazing creature he's found. Fires light in bottom of their stomachs, then they begin to kiss, their hands roam eachothers bodies, and in the waves of pleasure as Adam loses himself in her, Belle can't shake the color of his eyes. They are kaiju blue

And another scene: they have a red light shined over his head. It's the only light in the dark interigation room they have Adam in. Strapped to a an uncomfortable looking chair. The only light, beside Adam's that glow that inhuman blue. Belle doesn't understand why he's restrained when they are sitting behind a screen in an observation room. Lefou therorizes that the kaiju could use Adam's strength and access his memories to escape if he wasn't restrained. They're recording this whole ordeal, the red lights blink repeatedly. And why wouldn't they, the kaiju have chosen to speak through Adam.

Cogsworth begins the conversation, asking them dates of attacks, about the kaiju's goals. The voice that is using Adam gives Cogsworth non-answers, complaining how ugly human language is. It then begins asking Cogsworth about him questions that Adam knows the answers to. They know the kaiju hivemind can tell the difference between humans, it interrupts them, saying how it's cartigorizing insects, that there maybe slight variation among different families but they are all the same. Agathe then takes over, she asks it what they're next plans are. They respond that there is one of their own undernieth the base, and that they will exchange Adam for it. Its then that they begin reciting Tyger Tyger. It is looking directly at Belle through Adam's eyes. "Did it turn blue?" they ask. Belle knows what the things behind Adam's mind are referring to. The pregnancy test in her pocket.

Forte as the psychiatrist Adam's father assigned to make Adam non drift compatible

the cast finds out that the kaiju that Adam's parent grafted the DNA on to Adam from is underneith the base and it's alive (to some degree)

Forte also put post-hypnotic suggestions in Adam's subconscious 

It comes into play after they find out that the kaiju Adam's parents used to graft DNA onto Adam 

Forte wants to see Adam reach his full potential as the first human-kaiju hybrid 

Meanwhile, Gaston is juicing on kaiju blood to compete with Adam 

Forte uses the trigger words to take control of Adam to force his father to take them down to Castle Rock (the name of the base) to where the kaiju is being held the kaiju then begins to wake and Adam merges with the kaiju 

Kaiju!Adam then kills Forte and his dad, climbs through the levels to where Belle is, to get her and then merges with the jaeger the Beast, with Belle in cockpit cavity. Gaston, with kaiju blood in his body up to his gills, then begins to merge with the jaeger Adonis, with the intent to kill Adam, and he's so roided up on kaiju blood doesn't realize Belle is in the Beast.

#batb2017 #fic prompt #Pacific Rim!AU #the more it moved around in my head the more it took a sharp turn into HRGiger #and Hideki Anno #up for grabs #adelle #plumette

[anavoliselenu]

This man chapter 5

As I walk down the stairs, I see my car keys lying on the door mat. So, the man’s seen sense and freed my car. Does this mean he’s also seen sense and given up pursuing me? Has he got the message? Perhaps he has, because there have been no calls or texts since he steamed out last night. Am I disappointed? I don’t have time to consider this.

‘I’m off,’ I shout through to Kate. ‘My car’s back.’

She pokes her head around the door of her workshop. ‘Great, good luck. I’ll be there later to drink all the expensive champagne.’

‘Oh, yes. See you later.’ I run down the path, halting when I see a cheap mobile phone smashed to pieces in the middle of the pavement. I know where that’s come from. I kick it into the gutter and continue to my car. Oh, it’s good to have her back. I load my things into the boot and jump into the driver seat, only to find myself miles away from the steering wheel.

Laughing, I shift the seat forward so my feet reach the pedals. I start her up and jump out of my skin when the stereo blasts Blur around my car. Christ, is his lack of hearing an indication to his age? I turn it down, faltering when the words of the track register. It’s Country house. I fight the small part of me that wants to laugh at his little joke and remove the disc from the stereo. I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone so conceited in all my life. I replace the unwanted CD with a Ministry of Sound Chill out Session and head for St Katharine Docks.

When I pull up outside Lusso, I present my face to the camera and the gates open immediately. I park up and see the caterers unloading crockery and glasses as I get my work case from the boot and head into the building. I’ve been here a million times, but I’m still completely stunned by the pure extravagance of the place.

As I walk into the foyer, I see Clive, one of the concierges, playing with the new computer equipment. He’s part of a team who’ll provide a six star hotel-style service, organising anything from grocery shopping and theatre tickets, to helicopter charters and dinner reservations. I cross the marble floor, which has been polished to within an inch of its life, and head towards Clive’s huge, curved concierge desk.

I spot dozens of black vases and hundreds of Italian red roses, placed carefully to the side. At least I won’t have to chase the delivery of those.

‘Good morning, Clive.’ I say, approaching his desk.

He looks up from one of the screens, the panic on his friendly face clear. ‘Selena, I’ve read this manual four times in a week and I’m still clueless. We never had anything like this at The Dorchester.’

‘It can’t be that difficult,’ I soothe the old boy. ‘Have you asked the surveillance team?’

He throws his glasses down on the desk in exasperation, rubbing his eyes. ‘Yes, three times now. They must think I’m daft.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ I assure him. ‘When do they start moving in?’

‘Tomorrow. Are you all set for tonight?’

‘Ask me again this afternoon. I’ll see you in a bit.’

He smiles. ‘Okay, love.’ He turns his attention back to his instruction manual, muttering under his breath.

I traipse across the floor and punch in the code for the penthouse elevator. It’s private and the only one that goes to the top floor.

I set about transporting and spreading the vases and flowers between the fifteen floors of the building. Arranging these will keep me busy for a while.

At ten thirty, I’m back in the foyer and arranging the last of my flowers on the console tables that line the foyer.

‘I have flowers for a Miss O’Shea.’

I look up, seeing a young girl gazing around at the impressive lobby. ‘Sorry?’

She points to her clipboard. ‘I have a delivery for Miss O’Shea.’

I roll my eyes. Don’t tell me they’ve duplicated an order of over four hundred Italian red roses. That really would take incompetence to a whole new level.

‘I’ve already taken delivery of the flowers.’ I say tiredly, walking towards her. I notice the van outside, but it’s not the florist I ordered through.

‘Have you?’ She looks a bit panicky as she flicks through the papers on her clipboard.

‘What have you got?’ I ask.

‘A bouquet of calla lilies for Miss…’ She looks at her clipboard again. ‘Miss Selena O’Shea.’

‘I’m Selena O’Shea.’

‘Cool, I’ll be two seconds.’ She runs off, returning swiftly. ‘This place is like Fort Knox!’ she exclaims. She hands me the biggest spray of calla lilies I’ve ever seen – stunning, white, clean flowers surrounded by stacks of deep green foliage.

Understated elegance.

My stomach does a few cartwheels as I sign the delivery girl’s paperwork and take the flowers from her, finding the card among the forest of green.

I’m so sorry. Forgive me, please. X

Is he? He already apologised for his inappropriate behavior and look where that got me. I start to wonder how he’d know I’m here, but then I remember him picking out Lusso in my portfolio. It wouldn’t take a lot of effort to find out the launch date and figure I would be here. My contentment of yesterday evening, after Justin left the house, is slowly dissipating. He’s never going to give up, is he? Well, he can knock himself out. I smile to myself. Knock himself out? Where did that…I flatten that thought immediately.

I place the flowers on the concierge desk. ‘Here, Clive. Let’s pretty up all this black marble.’ He looks up briefly before returning to scratching his head, looking overwhelmed. I leave him to it, getting on with my walk through to ensure everything is in place and ready.

Victoria turns up at five thirty, looking her usual immaculate self – all blonde hair, blue eyes and overdone.

‘Sorry I’m late. The traffic’s a nightmare and there’s nowhere to park.’ She gazes around. ‘They’re all reserved for guests. What can I do, I’m so excited!’ she sings at me, while stroking the walls of the penthouse.

‘I’m all done. I just need you to do a walk through to make sure there’s nothing that I’ve missed.’ I lead her into the main space.

‘Oh my God, Selena, it looks amazing!’

‘It’s great, isn’t it? I’ve never had such a colossal budget. It was fun spending so much of someone else’s money.’ We giggle together. ‘Have you seen the kitchen?’ I ask.

‘I’ve not seen it complete. I bet it’s incredible.’

‘It is, go and take a look. I’m going to get myself ready in the spa. I’ve done everything in the other apartments so concentrate up here. This is where the action will be. Make sure all the cushions are plumped and in place. I want the peppers on the chopping boards shiny. Use Pledge! The mini Dyson is here. Hoover up any stray bits on the bedroom carpets,’ I hand her the fully charged, hand held hoover. ‘Just use your initiative. If there’s anything you’re not sure of, make a note. Okay?’

She grabs the hoover from me. ‘I love these things.’ she revs the Dyson, posing like a cowboy in a standoff.

‘How old are you?’ I ask on an eye roll.

She screws her face up, grins and sets off to follow through on my instructions.

An hour later, after utilising all of Lusso’s fancy spa facilities, I’m ready. My dress is creaseless and my hair is behaving. I take a little wander around. This will be my last time here, and it will soon be crowded with business people and high society, so I make the most of my last opportunity to savour the sheer magnificence of the place. It’s mind-blowing. I still can’t believe this is my work. I smile to myself as I stand in the colossal open space on the first floor. Bi-folding doors lead to an L shaped terrace, with limestone paving, a decked area, sun loungers and a huge Jacuzzi. There’s a study, dining room, a huge archway leading into a ridiculously large kitchen, and a back-lit onyx staircase that rises to the four en-suite bedrooms and a massive master suite. The spa, fitness centre and swimming pool, on the ground floor of the building, are exclusive to the residents of Lusso, but the penthouse boasts its own gym. It’s stunning. Whoever’s brought this place definitely likes the finer things in life and for a cool ten million, they’ve got it.

I make my way back to the kitchen and find Victoria, still armed with the Dyson.

‘All done,’ she declares as she hoovers up a stray crumb on the marble worktop.

‘Well, let’s drink.’ I smirk and pick up two glasses of champagne, handing one to Victoria.

‘Here’s to you, Selena. Stylish in body and in mind,’ She giggles, raising her glass in a toast. We both swig and sigh. ‘Wow! This is good.’ She looks at the bottle.

‘Ca’Del Bosco, Cuvée Annamaria Clementi, 1993. It’s Italian, of course.’ I raise my brow and Victoria giggles again.

I hear chatter coming from the entrance hall, so I wander out of the kitchen, finding Tom gawping like a goldfish and Patrick smiling proudly.

‘Selena, this is some serious special, darling!’ Tom runs at me, throwing his arms around my body. He pulls back, looking me up and down. ‘Love the dress. Very tight.’

I wish I could say the same for Tom, who takes colour clash to extreme levels. I squint at his bright blue shirt and red tie combo.

‘Put the girl down, Tom. You’ll crease her,’ Patrick grumbles, gently shoving him aside and leaning down to peck me on the cheek. ‘I’m very proud of you, flower. You’ve done a marvelous job, and between me and you –’ He leans into my ear and whispers. ‘The developer has hinted they want you on board for the next project in Holland Park.’ He winks at me, his wrinkled face wrinkling further. ‘Now, where’s that champagne?’

‘This way,’ I lead them into the huge kitchen, hearing more cooing from Tom. The place really is that special.

‘Cheers!’ I chant, after handing them all a glass of champagne.

‘Cheers!’ They all raise their glasses.

I spend a few hours being introduced to high society and explaining my inspiration behind the design. Journalists from architecture and interior magazines swan around taking photographs and generally poking about. Much to my displeasure, they hustle me onto velvet chaise lounge for a shot. Patrick drags me from pillar to post, proclaiming his pride and insisting, to anyone that will listen, that I’ve single handedly put Rococo Union on the designers map. I blush profusely, repeatedly playing down his declarations.

I’m thankful when Kate shows up. I usher her into the kitchen, thrusting a glass of champagne in her hand and take another for myself.

‘Bit posh, eh?’ she muses, gazing around the plush kitchen. ‘It makes my place look like a cluttered mess.’

I laugh at the referral to her cute, homely town house that looks like Cath Kidston has vomited, sneezed and coughed all over it. ‘You mean impressive, I’m sure.’

‘Yes, that too. I couldn’t live here though.’ she says with no shame at all. I’m not offended. While I’m proud of the finished result, the sheer vastness of the place intimidates me.

‘Me either.’ I concur.

‘I saw Matt earlier.’ She downs her champagne, immediately scooping up another from a tray as a waiter passes.

‘Oh, I bet that was nice for you.’ I tease, imagining Kate hissing and spitting like a cat at poor Matt. It’s no less than he deserves.

‘No, it wasn’t. The part where he told me that you were going out for dinner with him was particularly unpleasant.’ She purses her lips at me. ‘Selena, what are you thinking? I’m here to threaten you.’

‘Oh, and there was me thinking you’d come to support your friend in her working triumph.’ I raise my eyebrows.

‘Pah! Your working life is not an area in which you need support. On the other hand, your personal life is very interesting lately.’ She jiggles her eyebrows up and down suggestively. I know what she’s getting at, and she’s not heard the half of it. Damn Matt as well. We’re not even together anymore and he still can’t resist winding her up.

I feign a hurt face. ‘You needn’t worry. I assure you, I’m not going back to that. I’m enjoying being man free, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Anyway, for the record, Matt’s winding you up.’ I sip my champagne.

‘Not even for tall, handsome, slightly older blondes?’ She grins.

I narrow my eyes on her. ‘Not even then.’ I confirm.

‘Oh, don’t be such a bore.’

‘Excuse me?’ This time, my hurt expression isn’t feigned. Boring? I’m not boring. Kate’s Wild! I look at her in disbelief, genuinely hurt by her harsh remark. I wait for her to back track, but she doesn’t. Instead, she’s looking over my shoulder with the biggest smirk on her face.

Impatient and quite pissed off with her, I swing around to find out what’s caught her amused attention.

Oh no!

‘He’s like a bad penny, isn’t he?’ she remarks coolly.

Chapter 8

Oh, she has no idea.

I’ve not even filled her in on any of the developments since she met him at lunch. And here he is again, stood chatting with the acting estate agent, wearing a navy suit and pale blue shirt, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a file. He looks, as always, like a f**king God. And as if he can sense me staring, he looks up and our eyes meet.

‘Shit!’ I curse, turning back to Kate. She drags her gaze from Ward and onto me, her eyes dancing with delight.

‘You know, I was going to go home and cry into my Haagen-Dazs, Bridgette Jones style, but I think I’ll just hang around for a bit. You mind?’ She sips her drink through her grin, while I snarl at her. ‘This is not the behavior of someone, supposedly, unmoved by a certain someone, Selena.’ she teases.

‘I went to The Manor on Tuesday and nearly slept with him.’ I blurt.

‘What!’ Kate splutters, grabbing a napkin to mop up the trail of champagne that’s dripping down her chin.

‘He apologised for the text he sent. I went back to The Manor and he had the big guy lock me in a room. He was waiting for me half naked!’

‘Get out! Oh my God. Who’s the big guy?’

‘Well, he’s not a butler. I’ve no idea what role he plays. Trapping women for Ward, maybe.’

‘Why haven’t you told me this?’

‘It was a disaster. I ran out when I heard his girlfriend calling him. Ward screwed and turned up at the house last night making demands.’ The urgency to bring Kate up to speed has me spitting out the basic facts in a rush.

‘Fuck! What sort of demands?’ She’s shocked. She should be. It’s shocking.

‘I don’t know. The man’s an arrogant arse. He asked me how loud I’d scream when he f**ks me.’

She spits more champagne. ‘He what? Fuck, Selena, he’s coming over, he’s coming over!’ She shifts on the spot, her eyes still skipping with amusement.

Why is he here? I start planning my escape, but before my brain can even instruct my legs to move, I can feel him stood behind me; I can smell him.

‘Nice to see you again, Kate.’ he drawls. ‘Selena?’

I remain with my back to him, knowing all too well that if I turn to acknowledge him, I’ll be hauled into the hazardous place that is Justin Ward’s realm – a place where I struggle to maintain any rational thinking. I drained my reserve tank of strength last night, and I’ve not had a chance to replenish it yet. This is not good news. He said I wouldn’t have to see him again. If I told him what he didn’t want to hear, then I would never have to see him again. I met the terms of his demand, so why is he not keeping to his end of the bargain?

Kate’s eyes are darting between us, waiting for one of us to say something. I certainly won’t be.

‘Justin.’ She nods at him. ‘Excuse me. I need to powder my nose.’ She places her empty on the worktop and beats feet. I mentally curse her arse to Hell.

He circles around me so he’s stood before me. ‘You look stunning.’ he murmurs.

‘You said I wouldn’t have to see you again.’ I challenge him, ignoring his compliment.

‘I didn’t know you would be here.’

I look at him tiredly. ‘You sent me flowers.’

‘Oh, so I did.’ A smile tickles the edge of his lips.

I don’t have time for his games. He’s really met his match in me. ‘Please, excuse me.’ I go to side step him, but he moves with me, effectively blocking my path.

‘I was hoping for a tour.’

‘I’ll get Victoria. She’ll be happy to show you around.’

‘I would prefer you.’

‘You don’t get a f**k with a tour.’ I snap.

He frowns. ‘Will you watch your mouth?’

‘Sorry,’ I mutter indignantly. ‘And put my seat back when you drive my car.’

He grin’s a real boyish grin, and I’m even more furious with myself when my heart speeds up. I mustn’t let him see the affect he has on me.

‘And leave my music alone!’

‘I’m sorry.’ His eyes flicker with mischievousness. It’s so bloody sexy. ‘Are you okay? You look a little shaky.’ He reaches out, softly running his finger down my bare arm. ‘Is something affecting you?’

I jerk away. ‘Not at all,’ I need to get off this line of conversation. ‘Did you want a tour?’

‘I would love a tour.’ He looks pleased with himself.

On a huff, I lead him out of the kitchen and into the massive living space. ‘Lounge,’ I wave my hand about in the general space around us. ‘You’ve seen the kitchen,’ I say over my shoulder as I walk through the open space and onto the terrace. ‘View,’ I maintain my tired tone, hearing him laugh lightly behind me.

I lead him back through the lounge to the workout room, not saying a word as we trek through the penthouse. Justin shakes hands, greeting various people on our travels, but I don’t pause to allow him time to stop and chat. I march on in a bid to get this over with as soon as possible. Damn this place for being so big.

‘Gym,’ I state, walking in and abruptly leaving again when he enters. I head for the stairs, hearing him laugh behind me. I take the back-lit, onyx staircase, proceeding to open and shut doors, one at a time, while declaring what lies beyond. We reach the pièce de résistance, the master suite, and I wave my hand round at the dressing room and en-suite bathroom. The place really does deserve more passion and time than I’m devoting.

‘You’re an expert tour guide, Selena.’ he teases, regarding one of my favourite pieces of art. ‘Care to enlighten me on the artist?’

‘Guiseppe Cavalli,’ I toss the name at him, folding my arms over my chest.

‘It’s good. Is there any particular reason why you chose this artist?’ He’s blatantly trying to temp me into conversation.

I stare at his broad, suit covered back, his hands resting lightly in his trouser pockets, his lean legs slightly spread. My eyes are very pleased, but my brain is in a jumbled mess. I sigh and decide, wisely or not, to indulge him. Guiseppe Cavalli most definitely deserves my time and enthusiasm. I drop my arms and walk over to join him in front of the piece.

‘He was known as the master of light,’ I say, and he looks at me with genuine interest. ‘He didn’t think that the subject was of any importance. It didn’t matter what he photographed. To him, the subject was always the light. He concentrated on controlling it. See?’ I point to the reflections on the water. ‘These rowing boats, as lovely as they are, are just boats, but see how he manipulates the light? He didn’t care for the boats. He cared for the light surrounding the boats. He makes inanimate objects interesting, makes you look at the photograph in a different…well, a different light, I suppose.’ I tilt my head and observe the picture. I never tire of it. As simple as it seems, the more you look at it, the more you get it.

After a few moments silence, I rip my eyes away from the canvas, finding Justin staring at me.

Our eyes meet. He’s chewing his bottom lip. I know I won’t be able to say no again if he pushes this. I’m all out of willpower. I’ve never felt so desired than when I’m with him, and I keep trying to fool myself that the feeling is unwanted.

‘Please don’t.’ My voice is barely audible.

‘Don’t what?’

‘You know what. You said I wouldn’t have to see you again.’

‘I lied,’ He’s not ashamed. ‘I can’t stay away from you, so you do have to see me again…and again…and again.’ He finishes the last part of his declaration slowly and clearly, leaving no room for misunderstanding.

I gasp, instinctively backing away from him.

‘You persistently fighting this is only making me more determined to prove that you want me.’ He starts slowly pursuing me, taking slow, cautious steps forward, maintaining his deep eye contact as he does. ‘I’m making it my mission objective. I’ll do anything.’

I stop my retreat when I feel the bed at the back of my knees. In two more strides, he’ll be upon me, and the thought of imminent contact in enough to snap me out of the trance he sends me into.

‘Stop,’ I hold my hand up in front of me, halting him in his tracks. ‘You don’t even know me.’ I blurt, in a desperate attempt to make him see how crazy this is.

‘I know you’re impossibly beautiful,’ He starts towards me again. ‘I know what I feel, and I know that you’re feeling it too.’ We’re body to body now, and my heart is hammering in my throat. ‘So, tell me, Selena. What have I missed?’

I try to control my rushed breaths, but with my chest heaving and my body physically shaking, I’m struggling. I drop my head, ashamed at the tears gathering in my eyes. Why am I crying? Is he enjoying reducing me to tears? This is hideous. He’s so desperate to bed me, he’s resorting to stalking me, and I’m crying because I’m so weak. He makes me weak, and he has no right to.

I feel his hand slide under my chin, and the warmth would be welcome, if I didn’t think he was such an arsehole right now. He tugs at my jaw to raise my head. When our eyes meet, he winces at my tears.

‘I’m sorry.’ he whispers softly, sliding his hand around to cup my cheek, slowly stroking the rolling tears away with his thumb. His expression is pure torment. Good. It should be.

I find my voice. ‘You said you would leave me alone.’ I look at him questioningly as he continues to smooth his thumb over my face. Why is he chasing me like this? He’s clearly unhappy in his relationship, but it doesn’t make this right.

‘I lied, I’m sorry. I told you, I can’t stay away.’

‘You already said that you’re sorry, but here you are again. Am I to expect flowers tomorrow?’ I don’t hide my sarcasm.

His thumb pauses and he drops his head. Now he’s ashamed. But then his head lifts, our eyes connect and his gaze drops to my lips. Oh, no. Please, no. I’ll never be able to stop this. He begins searching my eyes, looking for any sign that I’m going to block him. Am I? I know I should, but I don’t think I can. His lips part and they slowly start lowering to mine. I hold my breath. As our lips brush, only very lightly, my body gives way, prompting my hands to fly up and bunch his jacket in my fists. He growls his approval as he moves his hands to the base on my spine and pushes my body closer to him, our lips hovering over each other, our breaths mingling. We both shake uncontrollably.

‘Have you ever felt like this?’ he breathes, running his lips across my cheek to my ear.

‘Never,’ I answer honestly. My short, gasping breath is unrecognisable.

He grips the lobe of my ear between his teeth and tugs gently, letting the flesh drag through his bite. ‘Are you ready to stop fighting it now?’ he whispers, tracing down the edge of my ear with the tip of his tongue, working his way back up and brushing his lips lightly over the sensitive flesh under my ear. His hot breath causes a rush of heat to crash between my thighs. I can’t fight this anymore.

‘Oh God,’ I breathe, and his lips return to mine to hush me. He takes them gently, and I accept it, letting our tongues roll and lap together at a steady, non-urgent pace. It’s too good. My whole body is on fire, and I realise my hands are aching from gripping his jacket too hard. I release them, moving them to the back of his neck to stroke the dark blonde hair on his nape.

He moans, releasing my mouth. ‘Is that a yes?’ He fixes me with his sludgy eyes.

I know I’m supposed to answer here. ‘Yes.’

Nodding his head, only very slightly, he kisses my nose, my cheek, my forehead and returns to my mouth. ‘I need to have all of you, Selena. Say I can have all of you.’

All of me? What does he mean by all of me? Mind? Soul? But he doesn’t mean that, does he? No, he wants all of my body. And right now, my conscience has completely failed me. I need to get this man out of my system. He needs to get me out of his system.

‘Take me.’ I say quietly against his lips.

‘Oh, I will.’

Keeping his lips firmly against mine, he wraps one arm around my waist and splays the other across the back of my head. Lifting me from my feet, he deepens his kiss and walks me across the room until my back is against a wall. Our tongues dance together wildly, my hands moving down his back. I want closer contact. I grab the front of his jacket and start pushing it off of his shoulders, forcing him to release his hold of me. He keeps our lips locked, stepping back slightly to give me space to rid him of the obstruction to his body. I toss it on the floor, grab his shirt and yank him towards me, all my previous battling of conscious long forgotten. I have to have him.

Our bodies smash together and he pushes me up the wall, devouring my mouth.

‘Fucking hell, Selena.’ he pants through strangled breaths. ‘You make me crazy.’

He rolls his hips, pushing his erection into me, milking a small cry from my lips. I fist my hands in his hair, moaning in invitation. This is way past stoppable now. My body has gone into cruise control, the stop button lost somewhere in the land of lust. I feel his palms rest on the front of my thighs, my dress bunched in his fists and pulled up over my waist in one swift tug. His h*ps roll again and I whimper. I need more. Christ, I don’t know how I’ve resisted this. He bites my bottom lip and releases me, pulling his face away and looking me straight in the eyes. He rolls his h*ps again, grinding hard against my core. My head falls back on a deep moan, giving him open access to my throat, which he takes full advantage of, licking, sucking and lapping at the hollow. I could weep with pleasure. But then I hear voices coming from outside of the room and reality comes crashing down around me. What am I doing? I’m in the master suite of the penthouse, with my dress around my waist and Justin at my throat. There are hundreds of people milling about down stairs. Someone could walk in at any moment. Someone will walk in at any moment.

‘Justin,’ I pant, trying to get his attention. ‘Justin, people are coming, you have to stop.’ I wriggle a little, causing his erection to hit me in just the right spot. I bang my head against the wall to try and halt the stab of pleasure it causes.

He groans, long and low. ‘I’m not letting you go, not now.’

‘We need to stop.’

‘No.’ he growls.

Oh, flipping heck. Anyone could walk through that door. ‘We’ll do this later.’ I try and pacify him. I need to get him off of me.

‘That leaves you too much time to change your mind.’ He nibbles my neck.

‘I won’t change my mind,’ I grip his jaw, pulling his face to mine so we’re nose to nose. I look him squarely in his sludgy pools of green. ‘I will not change my mind.’

He scans my eyes, looking for the reassurance he needs, but I couldn’t be any more resolute. I want this. Yes, I might have time to evaluate the situation, but right now, I’m certain I’ll see this through. He’s just way too tempting to resist, and God I’ve tried.

He kisses me hard on the lips and pulls away. ‘Sorry, I can’t risk it.’ He scoops me up into his arms and stalks towards the bathroom.

‘What? They’ll want to see in there too.’ He can’t be serious?

‘I’ll lock the door. No screaming.’ He looks at me on a small smirk.

I’m shocked, but I laugh. ‘You have no shame.’

‘No. My c**k has been aching since last Friday, I finally have you in my arms and you’ve seen sense. I’m going nowhere and neither are you.’

Chapter 9

He kicks the door shut behind him, placing me between the sinks on the marble vanity unit before returning to lock the door. My dress is still bunched around my waist, my legs and knickers completely exposed.

I gaze around the vast room that I’m so familiar with, my eyes falling on the gigantic, cream, marble bath dominating the centre of the room. I smile, remembering the trauma of having to organise a crane to lift it in through the windows. It was a nightmare, but it does look spectacular. The double, open ended shower on the back wall is made up of a floor to ceiling sheeted glass and beige Travertine tiles, and the vanity unit that I’ve been placed on is cream, Italian marble, with two sunken sinks and large waterfall taps. A thick, gold framed, intricately carved mirror spans the entire width of the unit, and a chaise lounge sits at an angle in the window. It really is luxury embodied.

I hear the lock click into place, snapping me from admiring my work and pulling my eyes to the door, where Justin is watching me closely. As he saunters towards me, he slowly starts unbuttoning his shirt. I watch him gain on me, his mouth lax, his eyes hooded. Anticipation has my stomach churning and my thighs clenching shut. This man is absolutely stunning.

With his final button unfastened, he stands before me with his shirt draped open. I can’t resist reaching up and running my finger down the centre of his hard, tanned chest. He looks down to follow my trail, placing his hands on either side of my hips, nudging his way between my thighs. As he looks at me, his lips tip at the edges and his eyes sparkle, the slight creases at the corner softening the usual intensiveness of them.

‘You can’t escape now.’ he teases.

‘I don’t want to.’

‘Good.’ he mouths, dragging my eyes to his lovely lips.

I trail my finger back up his chest, working my way past his throat until my finger rests on his bottom lip. He opens his mouth, biting my finger playfully. I smile, continuing upwards and running my hand through his hair.

‘I like your dress.’ He drags his eyes down my front.

I follow his stare to the bunched up material around my waist. ‘Thank you.’

‘It’s a bit restrictive.’ He tugs at a piece of material.

‘It is.’ I agree. The anticipation is killing me. Rip off the dress!

‘Shall we remove it?’ He cocks a brow at me, the corners of his mouth twitching.

I smile. ‘If you like,’

‘Or maybe, we leave it on?’ He breaks into a full on smile as he holds his hands up.

I melt all over the vanity unit.

He slides his hands around my back. ‘But then again, I have firsthand knowledge of what’s under this lovely dress,’ He reaches up, grasping the zipper, breathing into my ear as he does. ‘And it’s far superior to the dress.’ he whispers, pulling it down slowly, teasingly. I’m panting hard and desperate. ‘I think we’ll get rid of it.’ He lifts me off of the counter, placing me on my feet before pulling my dress away from my body and letting it drop to the floor. He kicks it to the side without taking his eyes off of me.

I frown at him. ‘I like that dress.’ I couldn’t give a toss about the dress. He could have ripped it off and cleaned the windows with it, for all I care.

‘I’ll buy you a new one.’ He shrugs as he places me back on the counter, resuming position between my thighs. He presses his body up against me and grabs my bum, pulling me in towards him so we’re locked tight together. He grinds his h*ps while staring at me.

The throb at my core is bordering on painful, and I’m at serious risk of falling apart if he continues with that alone. I want to tell him to hurry up; I’m struggling to control myself here.

Reaching behind me, he unclasps my bra, pulling the straps down my arms and flinging it behind him. I lean back on my hands, exposing my br**sts to him.

Looking into my eyes, he lifts his hand and places it, palm down, under my throat. ‘I can feel your heart hammering.’ he says quietly. ‘You’re so affected by me.’

I’m not going to challenge him on that statement. He’s right, and I’m not even bothering to try and fight it anymore.

He glides his palm down between my br**sts until it rests on my stomach, as he looks at me – all smoldering and delicious.

‘You’re too f**king beautiful, lady’ he grinds firmly. ‘I think I’ll keep you.’

I arch my back, thrusting my chest forward, and he smiles before lowering his mouth and taking my nipple deep, sucking hard. When he brings his hand up to massage my other breast, I moan, letting my head fall back against the mirror. Oh, good God. The man is a genius. His arousal is as hard as lead, pressing between my thighs, causing me to roll my h*ps to ease the throb on a long, drawn out moan. I don’t know what to do with myself. I want to soak up the pleasure because it’s so good, but the need to have him is getting the better of me, the pressure in my groin near exploding point. As if reading my mind, he skates his hand up the inside of my thigh, finding the edge of my knickers. One finger breaches the barrier, lightly brushing the tip of my clit.

‘Shit!’ I cry, throwing myself up to grab his shoulders, digging my nails into his strained muscles.

‘Language, lady.’ he tusks, then slams his lips against mine, plunging two fingers into me.

My muscles grab onto him as he works them in and out. I might, literally, die of pleasure. I feel the fast buildup of an impending orgasm, and I know it’s going to blow me apart. Holding onto his shoulders for dear life, I moan into his mouth as he continues his assault on me.

Oh, here it is.

‘Come.’ he commands, applying more pressure to the top of my clit.

I fall apart in an explosion of stars, releasing his mouth and tossing my head back in a complete frenzy. I cry out. He grabs my head, yanking it forward to tackle my mouth, catching the tail end of my cries. I’m in pieces. I’m panting, shaking and boneless as I disintegrate all over him, completely inhibited and unashamed of what he does to me. I’m delirious with pleasure.

His kiss softens and his thrusts slow, easing me gradually down as he scatters tender kisses all over my damp, warm face. Too good, just too, too good.

I feel him brush a stray tendril of hair from my face and I open my eyes, meeting a sludgy green, satisfied stare. He plants a soft kiss on my lips. I sigh. I feel like a life’s time of pent up pressure has been extinguished, just like that. I’m relaxed and sated.

‘Better?’ he asks, sliding his fingers out of me.

‘Hmmm.’ I hum. I have no energy for speech.

His fingers drag across my bottom lip and he leans into me, watching me closely as he runs his tongue across my mouth, licking the remnants of my orgasm away. His eyes burn straight through me as we gaze at each other in silence. My hands, instinctively, reach up to cup his face, smoothing down his freshly shaven face. This man is beautiful, intense and passionate. And he could break my heart.

He smiles lightly, turning his face to kiss my palm before returning his eyes to mine. Oh Lord, I’m in trouble.

We’re both cruelly snatched from the intensity of the moment when the door handle of the bathroom is jiggled from the other side. I gasp and Justin slaps his palm over my mouth, looking at me in amusement. He finds this funny?

‘I can’t hear anything.’ A strange voice comes through the door, followed by another rattle of the handle. My eyes bulge in horror.

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