#i attempted a curved road design

[sprinket]

🥤

#mine #acnh #animal crossing #*yup from there #it’s coming along slowly but surely #i attempted a curved road design

[kiirschtein-archive]

⋆ 「 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝. 」 ⋆

toji's tired and doesn't feel like hearing you run your mouth in the passenger's seat of his car. so you find other ways to occupy yourself.

pairing. — toji fushiguro x f!reader

word count. — 893

content. — nsfw (18+ only), established relationship, daddy kink, toji's a lil mean (duh), pet names (baby, babygirl, little girl), finger sucking, masturbation (f), brief mention of penetrative sex.

notes. — i have toji brainrot so bad rn y'all it's not even funny. so i had to write this while working tonight LMAO i just needed to get it out of my brain. hope you enjoy <3

It’s late, and the back roads are lit up only by the headlights as the two of you skirt around curves in his expensive car. You’d bet money that you’re going well over the designated speed limit, because Toji, despite being exhausted from a long day, is still fulfilling his habit of being on the brink of reckless driving. The air is cool where he has the driver’s side window down to let the smoke from his cigarette stream out, and he’s silent as you seemingly burst with energy next to him.

You’ve been rambling on for a few minutes now about something you’ve been particularly excited about as of late, chatting your tired boyfriend’s ear off without realizing it. The low hum of the radio hardly even gets to make itself known beneath your continuous jubilant speech.

“And I can’t believe that—”

“Baby,” Toji’s voice is raised just the slightest bit to overpower yours, cutting you off before you can go on. You watch as he inhales and exhales his final breath of smoke, flicking the cigarette butt outside and rolling up the window. “Can you do daddy a favor and shut your fuckin’ mouth for a minute?”

You can finally hear the radio now that silence sweeps over you and you’re able to absorb the nonchalant harshness of his words. It doesn’t affect you too badly, however. He’s always like this. 

But narrowing your eyes into a half-hearted glare, you declare coldly in his direction, “You’re mean.”

The both of you know that you aren’t exactly heartbroken, nor are you entirely serious with your angry pout and juvenile words, so Toji speaks just as apathetically as before, “Yeah, well cry me a river over it, little girl.” He reaches a calloused hand over to roughly squeeze at your knee. It hurts a little, and there’s no smile from him nor a laugh, but you’re fully aware that it’s his way of being somewhat sadistically playful, attempting to dismantle any potential hard feelings.

Toji loosens his grip but leaves his hand there, letting you feel its warmth against your chilled skin. His fingers are so large and picturesque in a rugged sort of way, thumb stroking absentmindedly as his gaze continues to pierce ahead at the road. It’s so quiet that you suddenly feel the urge to be a little impish; maybe there are other things you can do with your mouth besides talk.

Taking him by the wrist and forearm, you guide his hand up to slide two big fingers between your lips, soaking them in the saliva that freshly pools in your mouth. He tastes like salt and nicotine, all too familiar against the flat of your tongue, and it prompts you to start a gentle suck. Toji smirks and huffs at the feeling of your hot mouth around him, muscles flexing but resisting the impulse to fuck his fingers forward until the tips hit the back of your throat. Instead, he lets you occupy yourself with your ability to take full control.

This new sense of quiet is oddly like music to his ears, only interrupted by the occasional suckling noise and the tiny hums you make in between them. “That’s a good girl,” he drawls and praises with a wicked smile on his face, pressing his fingers down against your tongue for only a moment and stealing a glance over at you as he does so. Then he starts to laugh. "Shit, I shoulda had you doin' this ten minutes ago. Shuts you up nice and good, doesn't it?"

You remove his hand long enough to take a breath and reply, perhaps with a hint of defiance, “Yes, daddy.” It makes his cock twitch when you say it like that.

Toji chuckles again. "That was a rhetorical question, babygirl, but I like where your mind’s at." He never intended for you to stop sucking or being quiet, but he’s too delighted to be bothered by it in the least.

After another minute of working until your tongue is almost sore, the heat between your thighs has increased to an intolerable amount, leaving you yearning for more than just the solution to an oral fixation. You weasel a hand down to work through fabric until a fingertip can gather some slick and swirl it around your clit, causing your cunt to clench and throat to moan around Toji’s fingertips. His head turns to look as you do so, jaw slack, and the car swerves a bit after he loses his focus on driving.

“Fuck, baby, you’re gonna run me off the road.” He grits his teeth and pulls his fingers from your mouth, gently gripping you by the jaw as he takes a moment to correct the steering wheel. Once on another straight path, Toji looks back over at you stroking your clit and presses his thumb past your lips and onto your tongue. You look at him with furrowed brows and moan, drool now spilling down your chin. 

“Screw this,” he mutters, deciding he’s finally had enough. Within a second he’s pulling the car off the side of the road without warning, throwing it into park and undoing your seat belt with haste.

It doesn’t take long for him to have you sitting nice and pretty on his cock, and he’s not complaining about the noise this time.

#toji fushiguro x reader #toji x reader #jjk x reader #toji fushiguro smut #c. — toji fushiguro #blurb. — toji fushiguro #smut. — toji fushiguro #my writing.

[drivinmeinsane]

I Do Nothing but Think of You

※ DRIVER (SOLO) ※

{ masterlist} ※ { ao3 }

※ Summary: He can't eat. He can't sleep. He's obsessed and restless. What else is there to do but go for a drive?

※ Rating: 18+ for explicit mature content

※ Content/Tags: Glove kink, Mentions of stalking, Semi-public masturbation, Troubling behaviors, Unhealthy obsession, Not necessarily a reader insert

※ Word count: 2,200

※ Status: Oneshot/Complete

※ Author's note: n/a

The florescent lights of the diner do nothing to ease Driver's agitation. Neither does the partially eaten slice of pie he is pushing around on his plate. Something is rustling around uncomfortably underneath his skin and he can't seem to shake it. He sits on the stool at the counter for another moment before fishing a couple of bills out of his wallet and tossing them on the counter. He stands. He is done here. Crappy pie and loudly humming lights aren't going to cure his bout of restlessness.

He shoves open the door harder than he should. The bells jangle loudly and slam into the glass as he exits. He draws his gloves out of his back pocket and pulls them on. The leather creaks faintly in protest while he works his hands into the confines of the material. The gloves have long since molded to the shape of his hands, but they fit so snugly that he has to gently coax his fingers inside. He sighs softly as he clicks the snaps closed, one and then the other. The metal feels cold against the back of his wrists.

He walks for a moment in the cool air, his hands tucked into the pockets of his bomber jacket. The city around him is still awake despite the late hour. He supposes that it's one thing they have in common. Neither of them ever seems to sleep. He cuts through throngs of people on the sidewalk. Their proximity feels like static. They instinctively clear out of his way. A shark among a school of fish.

Finally, he is at his Chevy. He had left it parked streetside. Secluded enough for the illusion of privacy but close enough to be easily within brisk walking distance. He drags his keys from his front pocket, something about the sensation sets his teeth on edge. He unlocks the vehicle and opens the door. He settles himself into his seat with a familiarity that should be comforting but it isn't. With the door closed and the ignition humming, he attempts to go limp and release some of the building tension. No luck. Apparently, he is doomed to spend the night sleepless and tense. His girl is at work, he won't be able to see her tonight. He turns the radio on. He wants to feel close to some part of her and so he finds a channel he's heard her listen to frequently. He keeps the volume low.

Squinting into the hazy lights of the night, he pulls away from the curb. With no job lined up to worry about, his girl to see, or goal in mind, he just... drives. 

Lights pass, scenery blends together into a neon lit dream, and yet, Driver is still unsatisfied. He's burning up with an itch he can't seem to scratch with any of his usual methods. He watches his hands clench on the Malibu's steering wheel. The tendons in the back of his hands stand out in sharp relief, framed by smooth curves of leather. He relaxes his hands. Stretches out his fingers, watches how his exposed skin changes from a dusty red to a pale green when the light changes.

He accelerates and angles the car onto a winding side street. The incline is steep and poorly lit. He has to designate some sincere attention to keeping the car on the narrowing road. Finally, he summits. He coasts into a parking spot and puts on his parking brake. He leaves the car running, headlights off. Music still barely audible.

He is the only one in this dirt parking lot overlooking the blazing lights of LA. The valley below is awash in a golden glow. He's sure his girl would like the view. He shifts in his seat and his breath unexpectedly catches. He starts to feel the strain and tension in his body pool and turn into liquid heat. 

Oh. He thinks to himself. 

The uneasy sensation under his skin shifts and changes. It becomes impossible to ignore arousal, despite his best attempts to do so. He drags a gloved hand off the steering wheel and presses it into his upper thigh. He grips the denim and tilts his head back, pressing it into the headrest. He silently wills the erection straining against the zipper of his jeans to go away. It doesn't. 

He pushes a harsh breath out of his lungs. The inhale is even more ragged. He feels his dick twitch and he loses the battle. He grinds his palm against his crotch, bucking up against the sensation. His back arches away from the backrest. The leather of his gloves catches clumsily against the fabric. He fumbles blindly for the seat release and reclines. It gives him more room to spread his legs wide, accommodating his wandering touch. He pauses for a moment, trembling and twitching against the weight of his own hand.  With an abrupt, jerky motion, he sits up to wrestle himself out of his jacket and toss it into the back seat where it proceeds to slide off the smooth leather and onto the floorboard.

He sits hunched over in his seat, forehead against the steering wheel. His hands, the left fisting the fabric of his jeans and the right cupping himself, go still while he focuses on breathing. Unexpectedly, the glimpse he had gotten of his neighbor, of his girl, the other night flashes into his mind. His body stiffens and he feels himself spasm in interest.

He knows it's wrong, even as he works his zipper down. It's not enough to stop him though. He closes his eyes, leans back, and lets himself fantasize. He feels his dick spring free to lay leaking and rigid against his stomach. He's so worked up that he can feel his precum start to soak into his thin shirt and run down his shaft. He keeps his hands firmly on either thigh for the moment and simply focuses on his fantasy. He imagines his neighbor seated next to him. He thinks of her turning to him expectantly, lips parted, glossy, willing, ready. He swallows hard as he pictures her putting her hands on his thighs, right where his currently are. The only sounds in the Malibu are his heaving breaths and the faint music playing on the stereo. He knows he's running down his gas gauge by idling for so long but it doesn't matter. Nothing else matters but the thoughts of his girl.

He involuntarily jerks at the idea of her easing herself further into his space. He can almost feel the warmth of her breath against his lips. A non-imagined sensation is the precum that comes flooding at the thought. He finally wraps his hand around himself. The leather is immediately soaked through. He strokes himself. His grip is too harsh, too tight, not enough.

He wonders if she would let him kiss her while he jerks himself off. Would she look at him with shocked distain or would she coax his legs apart? Drape them over her lap and guide his hand to his own dick, encouraging him to touch it just for her as they press together intimately in the small space? He can picture the way his gloved hands would look. One on her jaw to draw her in for a kiss and the other wrapped around his flushed, weeping cock. She would pluck the toothpick from his mouth. She would kiss him hungrily, deeply. Painfully slow and all the while murmuring soft praise against his lips as he works himself over for her. 

He pants silently, his mouth hanging open. There's a low whine building in his throat that he doesn't let escape. He imagines the slow, lingering presses of his neighbor's mouth against his. He feels his stomach tighten at the imagined sensation. His hand moves slower, lingeringly. He's taking his time now. He tightens his hand around his throbbing dick and strokes it tenderly in the way he imagines she would kiss him.

Would her mouth taste sweet? Bitter? Would he find a hint of coffee? Of the candy she favored so much? He had left a packet of it leaning against her front door one night after he had heard her complaining on the phone about running out. If she hadn't wanted him to know, she wouldn't have left her window ajar. He watches out for her. She is rarely without his presence, he makes sure of that. He can't not care for his girl. He knows she doesn't realize how much they've shared together. After all, he was the one keeping watch for perverts outside her window the other night as she teasingly stripped off her work clothes in preparation for her shower. He wishes he hadn't been standing in the parking lot at the time. He would have much rather been in her apartment with her, blinds tightly closed against the peeping toms he was deterring with his watchful presence. If only she had noticed him through her window and beckoned him to join her in the shower.

His hand stutters when he reminds himself of the sight of her. The leather catches uncomfortably against his skin. He thinks about the smooth expanse of her back, the way her breasts had slipped out of her bra when she had undone the clasps. He could see her now through half closed eyes, shirtless and lit by a golden glow. An angel hovering over him. He imagines her taking his free hand from her face and trailing it down her soft skin to her breast. Her delicate skin would slide like silk against his encased fingers. He would gently knead the yielding tissue, feel her nipple harden underneath his touch. The leather would be warm from their shared body heat. She should tell him how good he was, how he was her hero. She would lick her way into his mouth and-

The pressure building up inside him finally reaches its crescendo and it's all he can do to desperately grab at the steering wheel with his left hand as his other finishes the job. He braces his feet against the floorboard and cums hard. He makes the only sound he's allowed himself to make all night. It's a low, throaty growl of a moan. More animal than man. The toothpick in his mouth nearly snaps with how hard he bites down. He shakes and thrashes in his seat. His vision goes white. He breaks apart. He's emptying himself dry, nearly sobbing at the sensation.

He makes an absolute mess of himself and his vehicle. Semen runs down over the back of his hand. The milky fluid looks like rich trails of gold in the city lights. It gleams against the sodden leather. He sags in his seat, eyes staring blankly out of the windshield. The ringing in his ears gradually fades away and he becomes present in his body again. His girl always has the best way to make him cum, even if she doesn't know it.

He grabs a shirt from his passenger seat. It has lost most of its scent from its time in his '73. Much to his relief, however, he can still smell a faint trace of perfume and sweat. It had been a risky item to take, but it is one that he needed. He wipes off his face first, letting the scent of his girl wash over him before he cleans off his windshield and steering wheel. If only she had been here, he wouldn't have spent himself so recklessly. She would have been able to tell him exactly what to do. As it is, though, he drags the shirt down his chest to mop up the cum quickly soaking through his own shirt and towels off his softening dick. He winces at the overstimulation.

He tucks himself back into his jeans. He catches his breath before he pulls off his gloves and bundles them inside her shirt. He needs to do laundry anyway. He has been putting it off until his neighbor's bi-weekly visit to the machines. Always on a Wednesday afternoon. The chance to be in the same room as his girl was worth the inconvenience. He would also be able to return her shirt and borrow a fresher one to keep close for when he couldn't see her. Maybe she would be able to sense a trace of him in the fabric upon its return. His token of showing her exactly what she did to him.

His heart settles down and he finally starts to feel bone deep exhaustion set in. He is thoroughly spent. He turns his headlights back on and backs out of his parking spot. The gears shift smoothly under his expert hand. He's going to go back to his apartment and get a few hours of sleep just to wake up in time to see his girl's face as she comes home from work. If he's lucky, maybe she'll give him a tired smile when he holds the door for her as he exits the building. He mustn't be too greedy. After all, she seems to forget that she's his.

#drive 2011 #driver #drive fanfic #drive #ryan gosling #drive movie #Nobody even look at me. This the most gratuitous crap I've ever written. jfc #fanfiction #my work #my posts

[ell0ra-br3kk3r-writes]

The Phoenix and the Crow

part thirty-one

pairing: kaz brekker x fem!reader

genre: neutral with a angsty underlining

el's thoughts: i'm back to writing again! hope yall like itttt

masterlist

“Thank the Saints, Djel, and your Aunt Eva,” Jesper said gratefully and slid down the rope, followed by the others.

The roof of the embassy was curved, probably to keep the snow off, but it was a bit like walking on the humped back of an enormous whale. It was also decidedly more… porous than the prison roof. It was pocked with multiple points of entry—vents, chimneys, and small glass domes designed to let light in. Nina and Inej were tucked up against the base of the biggest dome, a filigree skylight from the dwindling rain, but should any of the guards on the ring wall turn their attention away from the approach road and onto the rooftops of the Court, the crew would be hidden from view.

Nina had Inej’s feet in her lap.

“I can’t get all the rubber off her heels,” she said, as she saw them approaching.

“Help her,” said Kaz.

“Right,” Jesper said as he crawled over to get a better look at Inej’s blistered feet. “Saints,” he muttered.

Inej grimaced. “That bad?”

“No, you just have really ugly feet.”

“Ugly feet that got you on this roof.”

“But are we stuck?” Y/N asked. The Elderclock ceased its ringing, and in the silence that followed, she shut her eyes in relief. “Finally.”

“What happened at the prison?” Wylan said, that panicked crackle back in his voice. Jesper gave him a quick reassuring glance. “What triggered the alarm?”

“I ran into two guards,” said Nina.

Jesper looked up from his work again. “You didn’t put them down?”

“I did. But one of them got off a few shots. Another guard came running. That was when the bells started.”

“Damn. So that’s what set off the alarm?”

“Maybe,” said Nina. “Where were you, Kaz? I wouldn’t have been in the stairwell if I hadn’t wasted time looking for you. Why didn’t you meet me on the landing?”

Kaz was peering down through the glass of the dome. “I decided to search the cells on the fifth floor, too.”

They all stared at him. Y/N felt frustration bubbling up in her chest.

“What the hell is this?” Jesper said. “You take off before Matthias and I got back, then decide to expand your search and leave Nina thinking you’re in trouble?”

“There was something I needed to take care of.”

“Not good enough.”

“I had a hunch,” Kaz said. “I followed it.”

Y/N’s expression was pure disbelief. “A hunch?”

“I made a mistake,” growled Kaz. “All right?”

“No,” she fired back. “You owe us an explanation.”

After a moment, Kaz said, “I went looking for Pekka Rollins.” A look passed between Kaz and Y/N. Everyone else shared a look as Kaz cleared his throat. “I screwed up. I made a bad call, and I deserve the blame for it. But that doesn’t change our situation.”

“What is our situation?” Nina asked Matthias. “What will they do now?”

“The alarm was Yellow Protocol, a sector disturbance.”

Jesper pushed at his temples. “I don’t even remember what that means.”

“My guess is that they think someone’s attempting a prison break. That sector is already sealed off from the rest of the Ice Court, so they’ll authorize a search, probably try to figure out who’s mission from the cells.”

“They’ll find the people we knocked out in the women’s and men’s holding areas,” said Wylan. “we need to get out of here. Forget Bo Yul-Batur.”

Y/N waved a dismissive hand through the air. “It’s too late. If the guards think there is a prison break in progress, the checkpoints will be on high alert. Right?” she looked to Matthias in a quick question. “They’re not going to let anyone just walk through.”

“We could still try,” said Jesper. “We get Inej’s feet patched up-”

She flexed them, then stood, testing her bare soles on the gravel. “They feel all right. My calluses are gone, though.”

“I’ll give you an address where you can mail your complaints,” Nina said with a wink.

“Okay, the Wraith is ambulatory,” Jesper said, rubbing a sleeve over his damp face. The rain had faded away to a light mist. “We find a cozy room to bash some partygoers on the head and waltz out of this place decked in their finest.”

“Past the embassy gate and two checkpoints?” Matthias said skeptically.

“They don’t know anyone escaped the prison sector. They saw Nina and Kaz so they know people are out of their cells, but the guards at the checkpoints are going to be looking for hoodlums in prison clothes…” Jesper’s voice faded to a buzz in Y/N’s ears.

She came on an assignment. A world-changing substance was out here somewhere and if it were to get into the wrong hands, it could reach and poison all Grisha. She had a duty to her people and fellow brothers and sisters. If she were to get caught then she would be caught trying to finish the mission. If she were to die then she would die on her feet as a Ravkan soldier.

“Forget it,” she said. “I came here to find Bo Yul-Bayur, and I’m not leaving without him.”“What’s the point?” said Wylan as he watched the Inferni with concern. “Even if you manage to get to the White Island and find Yul-Bayur, we’ll have no way out. Jesper’s right: We should go now while we still have a chance.”

“You are more than welcome to leave if you see it best. I came here with an assignment and I intend to see it through, even if it means I have to cross to the White Island alone. I will.”

“That may not be an option,” said Matthias causing her to turn her sharp gaze in his direction. “Look.”

They gathered around the base of the glass dome. The rotunda below was a mass of people, drinking, laughing, greeting each other, a kind of raucous party before the celebrations on the White Island.

As they watched, a group of new guards pushed into the room, trying to form the crowd into lines.

“They’re adding another checkpoint,” Matthias said. “They’re going to review everyone’s identification again before they allow people access to the glass bridge.”

“Because of Yellow Protocol?” asked Jesper.

“Probably. A precaution.”

It was like seeing the last bit of their luck drain from a glass.

“Then that decides it,” said Jesper. “We cut our losses and try to get out now.”

“I know a way,” Inej said quietly. They all turned to look at her. The yellow light from the dome pooled in her dark eyes. “We can get through that checkpoint and onto the White Island.” She pointed below to where two groups of people had entered the rotunda from the gatehouse courtyard and were shaking the mist from their clothes. The girls from the House of the Blue Iris were easily identified by the color of their gowns and the flowers displayed in their hair and at their necklines. There was another pleasure house that took Y/N a moment to recognize. It was a house located in Shu Han that Y/N had business with years back.

“I have a friend whom I met briefly while traveling with Sturmhond. She could help us get inside.”

“Inej-” Kaz started.

The Suli quickly interrupted him. “I can get two of us in for sure.”

The guys shared a silent look of hesitation while the girls wordlessly discussed who would go.

Nina spoke up, “I’ll go with Inej.”

Matthias had opened his mouth to argue but Y/N cut him off. “That’d be the smartest choice, a Heartrender would be a better fit than an Inferni. It’s likely you both would need a bit of tailoring as well…” She trailed off as she continued to observe the swarm of people below.

Inej nodded, “Then it’s settled. We go in with the pleasure houses.”

~*~

taglist: @katherinereid @littlecat21 @jahayla-parker @maliciousbrekker @brekkershadowsinger @brekkers-desigirl @clunaes @wonderland2425 @bookloverfilmoholic @karensirkobabes @bookworm-center @el-de-phi @so-get-this-sammy @skittleabyss @crispy-croke @cometsghost @auttumnsayshi

#kaz brekker #kaz brekker x reader #kaz brekker x you #kaz brekker x y/n #six of crows #six of crows x reader #six of crows imagines #ellora.writes

[velvetcloxds]

if you're too shy- send me a character and a scenario and I'll write a little baby blurb for it

Geralt of Rivia falling in love with a beautiful chubby cottagecore healer, after she helps him, when he is wounded, please? Thank you!

SOFT HANDS | GERALT OF RIVIA

word count: 0.6k

warnings: plus sized reader, not specified per se but definitely implied

You woke up startled by a crash in your kitchen, looking around your room in tired confusion, trying to figure out the time by looking out through the rags you had weaved into makeshift curtains, it was not morning just yet, far from it, but the timing of the intrusion usually only meant one thing- your witcher was there. You stumbled from your bed, pulling one of your blankets with you, covering your nightgown as it did not aid you much in concealing your curves, thin it its design- Geralt never minded though.

"Geralt," you breathed, you were barely awake, stumbling slightly as you found your footing, already smelling him and you were glad that he had managed to bathe before breaking into your home, very considerate of him.

"Good evening, las," he was talking with his mouth full, busying himself among your wooden cabinets, it piqued your interest, making you speed up until you were next to him, his hands hard at work making some sort of stew. "Are you hungry?"

"Let me see first," you were very convincing, voice just soft enough to make him pause to give you a quick glance at his face, new scars, still bleeding as they stretched over the side of his forehead. "Are there more?" he nodded, grunting when you swatted his hands away from the knife and began pulling him to your washroom, the action only possible because of his willingness to follow you. You noted the burning candles he had arranged around the house, knowing you would need the light, always uneasy when he arrived in the dark.

He could not help the sort of amused tilt to his lips as you forced him onto a chair, struggling to remove his armor but he made no attempt to help you, enjoying the little huff and pout the struggle earned from you. When you finally managed to take it off, you threw it to the floor, giving him an unamused glare, not at all fooled by his faux innocent shrug.

You sat down in front of him, folding your legs and shifting the blanket over them, another huff was given as you dragged the bucket of water closer, taking one of the clean cloths from where you had folded them in a pile. Your cheeks burned as you scanned his torso, it was not right, was not fair for that matter that he had that effect on you- none of your other patients had, in fact, you prided yourself on being professional but only Geralt could make you flustered while cleaning his wounds.

"These are fresh," you noted, eyes averted from his as you dragged the wet cloth over his stomach, frowning lightly when he did not flinch. "You know, there are plenty of healers on the road, most if not all of them more suited to treat wounds such as yours," you were done with his chest, drying it with another cloth and wrapping it with strips of cloth that had been soaked in your homemade healing remedy.

"Hmm," a grunt, a familiar sound, a comfortable one. "I prefer coming to you," he stated and shifted lower, leaning his elbows onto his knees so you could easily access his face, a new surge of heat finding your skin at the eyes that soared over your features. "Your hands are the softest," he explained and you nearly pulled away from him, hands just barely keeping still as you wiped lightly at the scar on his face, the other hand gripping his chin to keep him still. "I also do not mind the view," he was being sly, daring, and extremely cruel as he breathed a light chuckle, not missing a single beat of your sporadic heart. "Nor the company," you paused, eyes falling to his without any control and you were stuck, entranced, unable to move or look away, only managing to break the daze when he cleared his throat.

"I assume it would be a waste of breath to ask you to be more careful?" you attempted a change in subject, following the same process as you did for his stomach as you finished up your work.

"Completely," he agreed and you wiped your hands, shaking your head in familiar disapproval as he simply enjoyed the very view he had traveled many miles for. "For what reason would I have for coming to see you if I were?"

"I should go and make myself decent," you dismissed the question, not surprised when he took your hand to help you stand, rough hands uncharacteristically gentle as his thumb brushed your wrist in his hold. "Do you have a place to rest for the night?" he shook his head, he dare not attempt to lie to you with words, tell you that Jaskier had booked the pair of them a room not far from your cottage, because truth be told he rather enjoyed you fussing over him, taking care of him, and he knew you did as well- so, who was he to take that chance from you?

"I was rather hoping you could spare me a room."

"Of course, I will prepare it while you clean my kitchen," he smiled, a true smile, one you had not had the chance to see before but you were grateful you could, it was lovely, dreamlike. He nodded in silent appreciation and agreement, looking down to where he still held onto your hand. "They truly are the softest that I had ever held," he told you and you were the one to smile, a shy smile, warm with affection as you tried to consider how you would survive a whole day with this man in your house when he was insistent on stealing your heart and your sanity.

#geralt of rivia #geralt of rivia x reader #geralt of rivia x you #geralt of rivia x yn #geralt of rivia x y/n #geralt of rivia fluff #geralt of rivia blurb #geralt of rivia drabble #geralt of rivia oneshot #geralt of rivia fanfiction #geralt of rivia fic #geralt of rivia fanfic #monique's writing events #right where queue left me

[ellipsae]

Hi, I'm back with another Post-Epilogue design, this time for Guy. I have to admit, I really struggled with this one. Guy's original design has such a clean but distinctive style to it that I just can't quite capture. At first I tried to do a 'work' outfit for when he gets hands-on with fon tech before switching to attempting a formal outfit. The casual jacket-off variation feels more like Guy than the full dressed one though...I'm not too satisfied with this one but there were several design points that I wanted to work in and did at the very least. Maybe I'll revisit this design again down the road.

Anyways, please see under the read more for more design details. !Warning for Spoilers!

-so post-epilogue, I imagine Guy becomes a 'rising star' in noble society after hitting it big by sinking all his wealth in fontech development which quickly became a booming industry in the post-Planet Storm world. All the other nobility are so impressed by Guy's rise in reputation/wealth/smart investment decisions but in reality it's largely just Guy being a really big fontech nerd like usual and funding everything that are really interesting to him and being an early investor. He spends more time than he likes having to attend parties and gatherings but he understands having and maintaining a reputation is important to assert his influence and opinions, especially after all the obstacles he faced getting back his title (I imagine he got judged a lot for his rappig caretaker job and such), plus he's so used to being a servant he doesn't act like most nobles. (He finally graduates from his job as Peony's Rappig Caretaker though.)

-the device in his suspender holster is a fonon counter, it can detect the type and concentration of fonons in the immediate area. (It's a useful tool plot-wise for this AU *winkwink* ) Normally Guy carries it when he's on site, observing fontech excavation, it's helpful for finding power cores.

-in the post-epilogue world, Guy's interest and knowledge about fontech makes him the greatest source of information in the party, in contrast to Jade being the authority on fonic sciences back when fonons were abundant

-I also imagine that many people are still reluctant to adopt fontech in their everyday lives/still stuck on losing the Score and fonic magic so there was not a lot of initial interest. It was also still quite a risk to invest in given a lot of advance tech had to rely on excavated machines from the Dawn Age. In contrast, replicas have no preconceptions about fontech and I imagine Guy helping fledgling replica communities get ahead by sharing and teaching them how to use simple fontech. Since philantrophy/altruism is also part of what nobility does, it makes the other nobles impressed as well.

-I went a little overboard with the gold cording but I really like the idea of the cording being a traditional style of Hod.

-the four leaf clover-like knot is a decorative knot called a mokkou musubi, it carries the meaning of 'perpetuation of one's descendants'. Pere tied it for him with that in mind to revive the House of Gardios.

-the pin brooch on his lapel is the same as the one Marybelle wears on her cravat. I like to think that it's their family crest. In the off-jacket version, Guy has a smaller pin on the collar.

-I really wanted to preserve the curved open window (?) that his vest has in his original design so I ended up putting it as an open back on his jacket

-I went through so many types of coat styles, from like caped trench coats to riding frocks but cycled back to keeping the single-tail back.

-the orange 'jacket' around his waist in the jacket-off version is actually his vest. And the cloth in his pocket is not the cravat from his full dressed version, but I can imagine a funny skit where everyone keeps thinking it is the cravat.

#Tales of #Tales of the Abyss #ellipsart #Post Epilogue ToA AU #I'm so sorry Guy #I spent months on you and this is the best I could do

[kiliinstinct]

Magnetism: Xiaother One Shot

Series: Genshin Impact Pairing: Aether/Xiao ( m/m ) Rating: T for Teen - Setting: Royalty/Masquerade AU - Fantasy Setting A03: [ link ] Aether's Outfit Inspired By: [Rueleaf]

Not going to lie- this universe may end up having a series of one shots because of the amount of ideas I have for it. We'll see. Special thanks to @genavere for being my Beta!

---

The mask weighed heavily on Aether’s hip, unlike the brown and gold one his sister diligently placed upon his face. Its intricate design framed his face as golden bangs fell over the lace that secured it. The one he wore was a fine mask: hand-crafted and expensive with an elegant design meant to match his coat and flowing sleeves. The one on his belt, however. hummed with a power that pulled the attention of every onlooker in the vicinity.

 Every gaze felt heavy on his shoulders, and an uncomfortable shudder ran down his spine.

“Why do they keep looking at me?” he whispered, hissing to Lumine with all the subtlety of a running waterfall. Her answering sneer as she placed her own, moon shaped mask against her nose was all the answer he needed.

“You're the one who decided to keep it,” she said, motioning towards the pulsing accessory. 

Unlike him, her only mask was on her face and matched the pale hues of her dress that hugged her curves and elongated down the back in a feathery train. Aether couldn't help but wish the stares aimed at them were for her beauty rather than him.  She deserved it, after all. With her light blonde hair and golden eyes, his sister set a fetching image against the backdrop of the Palace Gardens. 

That was nothing to say of his own suit set in the same brown and golds as his mask, and covered his shoulders and doublet before cascading silk down his back. If not for the humming accessory being an obvious attention draw, he would have assumed the both of them were hard to ignore.

But Lumine’s words pulled a grimace along his lips, shrugging helplessly at the claim. She was right, of course. He could have denied the mask he brought along with him; could have kept it wrapped in the silk linens it had been purchased in, and kept tucked safely at the bottom of his clothes trunk. 

Could was the operative word, and while the stares he garnered did make him question his choices, he knew the truth. If he'd left it behind, he wouldn't have made it five feet from his bedroom that morning. It's call was too strong to ignore, and it simply wouldn't let him leave without it.

"Hu Tao did say these things have a mind of their own," he said sheepishly, gaze lingering on everything but Lumine's tacit face. While his avoidance was obvious, he'd never been so deep in Liyue Harbor's city before. Its glowing lanterns and tall structures were beautiful to behold, giving him the perfect excuse to continue dodging her every attempt to meet his gaze. If only they had arrived earlier in the day, he would have loved to explore before the Masquerade began.

Unfortunately, he was late to wake that morning. Aether refused to admit it was from his own lack of sleep, not wishing to worry Lumine over the extent of his building dreams as of late. The haunting images of shadows he couldn’t recognize and a terrible shriek of pain in his ears left his nights restless and his body difficult to rouse when the sun finally rose.

Nightmares aside, their morning had been a rush of breakfast, packing, and ensuring their own outfits were carefully toted away for later use. The small town funeral director who had allowed them room and board was just as quick on their heels, ushering them onto the road to make it on time. 

”This isn't a party you want to be late to,“ she declared, eyes whirling in earnest unlike her usual, lackadaisical manner. They'd only known her for a few months, but Aether had the distinct feeling she was hiding something.

”Oh! And Aether,“ she said just before the twins had shut the carriage door behind them.” Make sure everyone can see that pretty mask of yours!“

”Isn't that the point of a masquerade?“ he questioned, holding up the half-mask he'd chosen for his finery. 

”Of course, and it matches so well,“ she cooed, reaching out to poke his nose. ”But that's not the one I meant!“

Not for the first time did Aether attempt to ask her about the horned mask, but the shorter woman slammed the door shut and sent the carriage off before he could ask again. All he recalled was her low and cryptic humming as they rode away. And while he considered stopping the cart to chase her down for an explanation, the sensation of a shadow looming just behind kept him seated. That strange sensation was happening a lot lately. Another reason for Aether’s refusal to talk about his nightmares. Not only did he sense it watching him daily, but it cast a horrendous figure that loomed over his bedside deep in the night. His first night witnessing it left him staring into the empty spaces of his room in shock, unaware of his sister’s worried whispers into his ear when she found him staring into empty space. She later claimed to have felt a presence over them that felt suffocating, but he couldn’t remember such a feeling. In fact, to her surprise, he admitted to feeling an odd comfort radiating from it. As if he’d gained a protector during the night.

Strangely enough, the appearance of the shade even chased off the dreams that plagued him, making it a welcome presence despite the ominous entry. Nights were easier when he sensed it around following that occurrence. 

”I still think you should have trashed it," Lumine said from across the carriage, eyes narrowed at the offending object on his lap.

There was no point in responding, so he didn't. It was already too late, after all, and the thought of throwing the heavy mask out only served to twist his stomach into knots. 

Even now as they explored the gardens of Liyue Palace, too enthralled by the courtyard to enter the main hall, Aether felt the mask hum at his side. 

There was an air of mystery about it that left him off-kilter, but the weight felt familiar. Like a security blanket. It reminded him of the dreamless nights when the shadow would hover in the corner or the warmth of a hug when the evening wind brought a chill. And while its teal  black hues felt colder than his brown and gold dressings, he simply felt naked without it.

The pointed horns looked far harsher than his wispy golden feathers. A stark contrast in comparison, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Though, with how Hu Tao had urged him to keep it close and the lingering gazes of the other guests that continued to follow his every step, he wished he had studied more regarding Liyue's customs.

”Are you sure we didn't learn anything about Liyue before coming here?“ he asked Lumine, giving her a side eye as she examined a nearby patch of glaze lilies.

”I know as much as you do," was her breezy reply, glancing back at him, ”or did you forget that, too?“

He flushed, ashamed. ”No! I remember that much!“

Grimacing at his hurt expression, guilt assuaged her features, ”Sorry- that was insensitive.“

No further commentary was needed. Aether's shoulders relaxed, accepting her sincerity with ease. He couldn't blame her for the accusation. The holes in his memory for the last three months wasn't something either of them could ignore. He expected some snappiness, but her concert was tantamount to hovering at this point. But he still kept making decisions that made her worry. 

The mask being one of those many decisions.

After he'd been found along the riverbank, unconscious and waterlogged, just south of Qingce Village, the memory of how he arrived there was choppy. It had only been by the grace of Hu Tao, who'd been convinced she'd found a corpse, that he was able to recuperate in peace. 

Lumine was a different story. Since his disappearance, she had frantically searched for days, convinced she’d lost him in the depths of a country they were strangers to. When she made it to the village, begging any passerby to look out for her brother, it was only by pure chance Hu Tao had overheard her before she gave up hope. 

Lumine learned that not only had Hu Tao brought him safely to a healer, but had fixed him up with a place to sleep in the loft of her own home.  (The fact it was connected to a funeral parlor did nothing to ease Lumine’s growing concerns.)

Unfortunately, when Aether awoke, sore from head to toe, he and the others were disappointed to find he couldn't remember a thing. The dark void where his memories should have been left an empty echo in his mind, almost teasing him with the knowledge that wasn't there. Not only that, but a strange, gripping sensation pulled at his heart each time he attempted to fill in the void. 

Physically, his body was healed, but something else singed along the edges of his soul. As far as he could remember, he’d never kept secrets from his sister, but this was something he dutifully kept to himself, uncertain how to bring it up. 

”We were supposed to be meeting with someone at Wangshuu Inn.“ Lumine had told Hu Tao after he'd awoken, ”but we've missed the meeting time by several days now. I doubt they're still waiting for us.“

Hu Tao was a weird one, having merely grinned at the information and sang a little tune under her breath. She airily waved her arms about, clicking her tongue as she glanced out the window towards the direction of the marshes. 

“Well, to get to the palace, we'd have to cross through the marshes, right by the inn,” she told them. “But no matter! You can stay here as long as you need and we'll decide where to go when you're ready!”

The amount of food she was willing to share was more than enough to convince him, but Lumine held back, gauging Aether's health before relenting, and it didn't matter how much she poked and prodded, he still couldn't fill in the gaps. But he was more than grateful for Hu Tao's offer. It was nice to have a friend in a foreign country. No matter Lumine’s wariness, even she had to admit that gaining a new ally in their trek across Liyue was a godsend. It gave them hope for their mission, now put on hold due to Aether’s condition. Fortunately, figuring out where they'd go from there became simpler not even a month and a half later.  

While in town, Aether came across a mask that hummed with dark energy. From the window of the tawdry trading post, it called to him, and filled him with a burning need. At the time, he couldn’t explain what led him to that shop in particular, but later realized he’d been drawn there from the start of his morning; pulled by a feeling in his gut that just knew where he needed to go with very little reason behind it. 

He entered the shop without a second thought, all but rushing towards the mask with every intention to barter for it until he was blue in the face. Anything to secure it as his property. Instead, he was stunned when the trader practically stuffed it into his arms and refused to accept any proper payment for it.

“If it called to you, then it was mean for you to take,” he exclaimed, seemingly glad to be rid of it. 

While Aether had tried to argue, guiltily reaching for his coin pouch to give anything to the trader in return, he was ushered back out the doors before he could blink. He could hardly believe the encounter and after a few puzzled seconds, he shrugged the nagging feeling away and inspected his free gift.

Its silk wrapping was designed with hand stitched floral edges: Qingxin Flowers he guessed. It was a thick, shining fabric that looked far too opulent for a small shop like that and the mask weighed heavily in his hands. Almost as if the item itself was refusing to be released. If he looked at it just right under the light, he could have sworn he saw a strange aura surrounding it. 

Hu Tao had whistled and danced at the sight of it, exclaiming it was their ticket into the Palace of Liyue. “Whoever you had to meet is most likely there, and this mask will get you right into their Masquerade Ball without any problems!”

“... and why is that?” Lumine's frown deepened when the funeral director waved off her question, claiming it was traditional not to speak too in depth of such matters.

“All will be clear when you get there,” she assured them. “Just wait and see!”

It did little to make the two feel better, but as time drew nearer to the ball, Aether began to trust in the Director's words and kept the mask on him at all times. 

Lumine hated it from the moment she saw it, and now that they were finally viewing the Harbor for the first time from behind their own hand-made coverings, that opinion had changed very little. She made a show of standing on his right, opposite to the foreboding energy that hummed on his hip. 

“It just...feels sinister to me." She tried to explain on the four day carriage ride to the Harbor. "Can't you sense it?“

Even now as Aether walked by another group of partygoers - who fell silent by his approach- he couldn't say he didn't agree with her. Whatever gave the mask its foreboding energy that sparked beneath his fingers at every touch, it certainly wasn't good. But he couldn't bring himself to fear it. The moment he'd found it in that window, he'd been drawn to it, and leaving it behind was comparable to losing the rest of his memories.

”It called to me,“ he explained earnestly the day he got it. Aether recalled their joint confusion over the matter and the sudden determination deep in his bones that demanded he keep it. “It's mine.“

Hu Tao had agreed, stating that whoever set it in that window, had intended for it to reach Aether's hands from the very beginning.

There was a mystery surrounding it, one that Lumine wanted to solve, convinced there was something untoward being planned. If their roles had been reversed, Aether may have felt the same. Instead, he realized while passing a third group, moving to stand by an elegant fountain in the center of the gardens, he only felt secured. 

Whatever happened, he decided, it was meant to be. And if someone meant for him to have this mask, then maybe he'd learn the truth at this very party.

”- look, he has the mask of the Yaksha-“ He caught the soft whispers of someone to his left and whirled his attention towards them, eyes wide.

“Shhh! Not so loud!” Another quieted them and a few onlookers shuffled off.

That word...he was certain he'd heard it somewhere before. His brows scrunched together in thought as he delved through his memories, only to stop short as the attempt caused a stab of pain to shoot behind his eyes; Lips pulled into a thin frown and he turned to Lumine ready to ask if she recognized the term. 

The absolute horror that paled her features, the whites of her eyes visible even as they flitted between him, the mask, and the many onlookers. All of it confirmed his suspicions as he tried to put this new puzzle piece into his disjointed memory.

“We learned about them before coming here,” he surmised, head pounding from the strain. “I'm not crazy?”

“We did.” The way she spoke through her teeth rang bells in his mind. He began recounting every detail he remembered of Liyue before they'd left Khaenri’ah, ticking them off on his fingers one by one:

A city governed by the Adepti; Illuminated beasts that walked in human and animal form.

Many walked the streets among humans with hints of their heritage decorating their clothes or their own features. But the strongest of them all, a Dragon who mastered the Element of Geo. He stood above all as their Emperor. This God of the Adepti was the very reason Aether and Lumine had struck out for Liyue in the first place.

Aether frowned as he sifted through his memories—the word Yaksha meant something and was connected to the Adepti, he was sure of it. “A Yaksha is-“

“The Guardian Adepti of Liyue,” Lumine bit out through her teeth the obvious answer, “Rex Lapis’ chosen soldiers that defend the regional lines and absorb the malice of demons and dead gods alike.” Fixing him with a pointed stare, she added, “We were warned to be on our best behavior when around them. They’re known for being adept killers who go insane from the karma they build up!”

That's right , recollection settled back in and he relaxed, but none of that answered the question shifting in his ribcage: If he'd learned about Yaksha before coming to Liyue, why did it feel as if he were fishing it out of the void? 

“I think,” he began, feeling his throat fill with molasses, “I think I may have met one.”

”Really?“ While it sounded like a question, the way Lumine grasped his wrist and  dragged him through the crowd said otherwise. They ended beneath the shade of the largest tree, away from the crowds  and those looking for gossip. 

Aether couldn’t help himself, he automatically looked up into the branches overhead, eyes peering through the golden leaves from branch to branch with a wistful pain in his chest. The branches were strong, strong enough to sit upon with -... with what? With whom? Distracted by the faintest whisper of a memory, he almost missed Lumine’s sudden movement towards the humming mask, her intentions clear.

He twisted his hip away reflexively and smacked her hand away with a frustrated squawk. “What are you doing?”

“You somehow got your hands on a Yaksha Mask, Aether!“ she hissed, frustration seared through her words as she made another attempt for it. A short scuffle erupted between them as both twins muttered beneath their breaths and tried to overcome the other. He was determined to keep it safe. Desperate even, but Lumine’s desperation matched his own as she struggled to do the only thing she could think of to keep him from further harm. “Hand it over! I knew we should never have kept it!”

“Do you really think Hu Tao would have let me keep it if it was dangerous?” he reasoned, yanking the mask off his hip to hold it over their heads. Unfortunately, they were too even in height and he had to move to his tip toes just to avoid her grasping fingers. Dark energy throbbed through his fingers from the mask, numbing the pads, but he ignored it. 

Don’t let her have it - the thought rang through his head in a garbled voice that wasn’t his own, a familiar rasp that haunted his dreams.

“We don't know that!” she bit out. 

That pulled his attention back and he noticed the panicked fear simmering in her golden eyes. 

Her voice lowered an octave, pleading with him to listen as her eyes blinked repeatedly. Aether realized, in horror, that his sister was on the verge of crying and all his instincts to protect her warred against the rest of him, “Aether please; Khaenri’ah is in danger of being invaded by the Abyss. And the moment we set out to get help, you’re attacked and lose your memory! What if they’ve already picked a side? What if… “

She inhaled sharply, squeezing her eyes shut to hold back her unbidden tears. After a few breaths, they opened again, gold and sharp, begging for him to listen.

“What if you lost your memories because you angered one of them?" She continued, voice terse. "What if they're looking for you? What if that mask leads them right to you? We can't risk-”

“Yes." Lumine was stubborn, but so was he. "We can.” His hard-headed resolve battled her fear until it broke through and grounded them in place. The mask stayed held above them until she relented, shoulders sagging with a heavy sigh, and a calm expression—merely a facade, they both knew—melted along the edges of her pinched eyes. He worried she'd chew through her lip the way she gnawed on it, and unthinkingly, set the mask atop his head (jostling his own slightly out of place) to smush her cheeks.

“Healing me, giving us a place to stay, helping to get us here safely…If anyone wanted to hurt me, they had plenty of chances to do it before now,” he whispered, tweaking her nose when she pouted. “Can you trust me, at least?”

Her answering whine was the agreement he needed. 

“That's cheating,” she claimed, reaching out to pinch his cheeks in return. 

He flicked her nose again and laughed. “As long as it worked!” Their matching grins helped ease the tension between them. Feeling a little better, he nodded towards the courtyard exit, “Can we go in now?” He was anxious to finally step foot inside the palace. 

Lumine's consent came with a slap to Aether's shoulder and the twins laughed as if all was right in the world once more. 

As they emerged from the shade, the two fussed over the others' hair and clothes, straightening them out from the earlier scuffle. Amusingly, Aether almost forgot to move the Yaksha mask back to his hip, remembering it only after a few onlookers' jaws had dropped. Realizing what the added weight upon his head was about, he sheepishly moved it back to his side, unaware of the new whispers building around him.

Everyone, no matter who they passed, continued to give him a wide berth, as if getting too close would burn them. Was it the mask itself, he wondered? The energy that ebbed and flowed was a gentle call beckoning him to move along through the crowd. Feeling rushed yet moving far too slow. It wanted him to go inside, that much he knew. He held that fact against his chest, guilty of hiding it from Lumine.

There were things he couldn't say out loud. Not just yet. The mask was the key to his memories, he was certain of that. And the looming shadow that watched his every move tickled the edges of each empty space. 

A normal person would fear the shade, but not Aether. Like a moth to a flame, he wanted to follow its lead until he reached his destination, whatever end that might be.

If he'd mentioned that, however, Lumine may have never allowed him to enter the palace, let alone the Harbor City. In fact, Aether knew she would have turned them both back on the road towards home, refusing to finish what they started. 

The mere thought of backing down despite their attempts to ally their homeland with the Lord of Geo left a sour taste in his mouth. He understood Lumine's over protective fear and loved her for it. But he couldn't let it interfere with their plans...or have it keep him from finally meeting the one who sent him the mask. 

Was a Guardian Yaksha dangerous? All the stories said as much. And the crowd's reaction proved it better than any story read in a book, but Aether's instincts were strong. If he felt no fear, no hint of danger, then his destination was as clear as the sun in the sky. 

He'd enter this Masquerade and, with Lumine by his side, they would both get what they were there for. One way or another. 

That was one truth Aether was certain of.

When the twin travelers from afar entered the Palace Great Hall, Alatus Nemeseos stood beside the Emperor's Throne with a stiff back and ears buzzing with a pounding headache. 

Over the last three months the migraine had persisted, oftentimes rendering him all but useless in his day-to-day tasks. His kin had willingly covered for him during his time of recuperation, even going as far to take his place patrolling the border, at times.  When the pain had ebbed to a small drumbeat that could be ignored, he'd resumed his duties protecting his Emperor, determined not to be of ill-use.

Only today, it had returned with a vengeance at the sun's rise, and the height of its attack began to stab like a thousand needles behind his eyes. The only saving grace that kept him in place was his well practiced ability to remain stoic. 

Adopting a pose that offered the best view of the gathered crowd, Alatus ensured it would hinder even the most observant to see the pain through. That left him relying on the party mask to hide the visible effects. 

Not for the first time since he'd given up his true mask did he wish for its return. Not only would his pain be nullified upon its recovery, but a heart he'd long thought dead and lost would be with him again, as well. 

It wasn't often a Yaksha formed a soul bond; even rarer was it for Alatus, Conqueror of Demons, to turn his head for anyone. Yet, he had, and the splitting pain against his skull was a constant reminder of his failure to protect the first bond he’d ever attempted. It left a sickening taste in the back of his mouth that festered by the day. 

He attributed the loss of the bond mere minutes after forming it to a case of bad karma. The irony  was not lost on him. 

Each of the Lord of Geo's guardians were well-known for their battle prowess and capabilities of protecting the border of Liyue, but even more well-known was the negative energy they absorbed over time with every kill—their karmic debt. If he were anyone else, he would have found the scenario bitterly hilarious. 

Grimacing behind his false mask—a poor replica of the one he'd released to find his intended, Alatus resisted the ever-present pain, and continued to watch attendees approach to greet the Lord of Geo: Emperor Rex Lapis, or Morax, as the people of Liyue knew him.

The line was non-stop, yet every now and again there would be a blissful few seconds of silence as one group was held back to give Rex Lapis a small break. This break served Alatus just as well. It was a moment he could relax his shoulders, inhale deeply to calm his nerves and allow his careful facade to fall away: if only for a second. This respite was a boon before the storm of greetings began again. 

A second that did not go unnoticed by his Lord. Morax angled his head just enough for his sharp, intellectual gaze to peer upon Alatus in muted concern. “...is it too much, Xiao?”

The question and casual drop of his true name sparked his attention. He peered through the openings of his mask, hoping it covered his pain better than he could. 

“I can take it,” he rasped, voice dropping to a whisper. “But, my Lord, you should use my title.”

Blinking back a stinging tear as another wave of pain wracked his frame, Alatus swept his gaze back to the crowd as he continued,. “You know better than I that it's unsafe to reveal our true names to just anyone. Others could overhear.”

Rex Lapis' smile beneath his mask was just as sharp as his gaze, ”I wouldn't worry about that. You're vigilant, even in pain, but I wish you'd take a break.“

“I can't,“ Xiao replied tersely. ”I've taken enough time off, as is.“

“Working in the palace while Bosacious and the others cover the border is not taking a break,“ Rex Lapis chided, sighing as he waved another group forward to speak with him. “...I will not stop you if you leave for fresh air. I am fully capable of defending myself, if need be.“

The denial was on Xiao's lips before he could stop himself. “I would never-” but the next pang struck against his eyes, blurring his vision and silencing him instantly. Through grit teeth, he kept his watch, trembling fingers gripping his polearm in a desperate attempt to ground himself. 

If only time would move faster, maybe then he could finally rest and this blasted headache would settle to its regular dull roar. He steeled himself as the seconds ticked by and almost fell into quiet meditation to escape the pain. In those slow moments, he felt the damaged bond inside his being and examined the tug of his karmic energy.

While he couldn't locate his mask, he could still feel it, as if it were an extension of himself. He could tell its current bearer was alive, but he couldn't pinpoint their location. In his weakened state, keeping focus on the connection was excruciating. Which is exactly why he was stunned when he mentally reached out and recognized the brimming of his own power echoing back from across the hall.  

Blood turned to ice and a chill of silent, desperate hope ran up his spine. Was this the reason behind his headaches increasing in frequency? Was he finally done waiting?

Those nearby saw the change in the Vigilant Yaksha's presence. Once still as a statue, he now looked upon the room with eyes glowing, brimming with a suffocating amount of power. 

Magic filled the air around him in a whirlwind of chaos. Alarmed shouts and concerned murmurings created a pitch of white noise at the core.. Hair whipped against his pointed ears, tickling the skin as the air currents moved with his energy. Like a dog on the hunt, he searched the crowd, scanning over the many heads in hopes of finding a glint of gold in a sea of intricate masks. 

With his entire being focused on finding his soul bond, it took several seconds for Xiao to realize that someone was speaking to him. Rex Lapis, his voice a low, curious command, pulled him back and the howling power dulled instantly. 

Xiao bowed his head. “I—sorry, I shouldn't have-!”

“Go.“

The command was simple. Final. His voice cut through Xiao's shame, his hand lifted to pause anyone  approaching. They could wait a few more seconds. 

The Emperor no longer looked upon Xiao with kind, concerned eyes that could pinpointed every crack in his armor. Instead he viewed Xiao as one would an erring child: eyes narrowed and lips drawn into a fine line.His order gave no room for arguments.

“My…” Xiao stumbled over his words, confused, “My lord?”

Rex Lapis softened gaze through the openings of his own opulent, gold dragon mask as he gestured through the hall, “He's here, isn't he? You sensed it.”

There was no point in denying or confirming what was already clear. A disgruntled sound escaped Xiao's throat as he resisted every instinct that screamed inside him to leave. His chosen was here, amidst the crowd. So close and yet... and yet-

Rex Lapis' voice broke through his thoughts again, voice reverberating off the stone halls as he commanded the very essence they were created from. “I said: Go.”

Xiao didn't need to be told a third time, body relinquishing control to his baser instincts. His power rose and flowed around him, again and in a wave of teal energy and wind, he dispersed from the crowd, unseen, as he moved to follow the ever constant tug of his heart. 

'I'm coming, Aether!'

-

It was like walking through a fine mist when they entered the hall. What once looked to be an opulent room full of gold and marble columns and a beautiful skylight etched in cor lapis frames, fell to a babbling brook surrounded in fog.  The sudden change was disorienting as Aether felt himself lose his grip on reality as he sank into a hollow memory.

His steps slowed as he took in the surroundings, eyes narrowed as the dense fog kept him from peering through the thick trees. It was a scene both familiar and foreign to him, though how he knew it remained a mystery to him. Reflexively, he reached out for Lumine, and was startled when his hand grasped thin air.   “Lumine-?” He called, voice on the edge of panic, “Lumine where are you? I can’t…”

He reached for her again with mounting desperation as his breaths grew more shallow at each attempt. Whipping his head from side to side, he tried to find a hint of his sister. Perhaps she’d simply walked further than him to inspect the area? Maybe if he moved forward he’d grab hold and-

Nothing. He couldn’t find her. Not in this strange place. Not anywhere. His hand fell to his side and he inhaled a deep, shuddering breath to calm himself. If he or she were lost, she’d find him. He knew this. All he had to do was wait and carefully examine his surroundings. Yes, that’s it. That’s exactly what he’d do. With a goal in mind, he looked upon the area with fresh eyes. 

If not for the oppressive atmosphere, the stream would be beautiful. The leaves and horse tails that littered the bank outlined peaceful, crystal clear waters. The sun above him was a muted, gentle heat- or should have been, but even that was masked by the fog. 

He knew this place, but it was wrong, unfinished. Like a broken puzzle with too many missing pieces. He spied footprints in the mud, one pair belonging to him and the other... 

A spark of something struck his mind and he winced, eyes watering from the pain. The haunting shade he'd felt before loomed ever closer, urging him closer to the precipice of knowledge he couldn't fully grasp.

Someone else was supposed to be there... They had met at the water's edge many times before since Aether had crossed the border. That day they had revealed themselves in their entirety, urging Aether forward with an outstretched hand, and an offer that filled his soul to bursting. He wanted to take the offer, to soar the skies, to hold this person's hand and-

“ther-...Aether?” Lumine's voice shattered the waters, brushed away the fog, and illuminated the ballroom once more. His breath caught and he nearly stumbled at the sudden change of scenery. Looking behind him, he noticed they were only just past the entrance, and his nerves sparked along his skin. The beginning of a headache thrummed behind his eyes, wet with tears. 

“I-“” Aether paused, mid-sentence, unaware of what he was trying to say. His voice sounded strange, even to him, rasping and hoarse as emotions broiled inside him. “I'm all right- I just...I thought I saw something.”

She gripped his hand, their knuckles white from the force they used to hold onto each other, especially after what he said.  That was when he realized the thin air he'd felt before had only been a trick of the mind. He knew what she was going to say before a syllable could leave her lips.

“I'm fine,” he assured her with a smile not reaching his eyes. “I think it was a memory.”

When she tried to ask again, he shook his head, motioning towards the crowd currently dancing and mingling around them. Now wasn't the time. Understanding, she loosened her hold and the two finally drifted through the ocean of dancing, masked strangers. 

It was easier to move through them with the mask on Aether's hip. As if sensing the accessory, other party-goers would move aside, giving them a wide berth as his approach. While the twins were well-trained in greeting masses of citizens back home, the customs of Liyue differed in subtle ways. Most attendees milled about, chatting with friends or family. Others spoke in garbled jargon towards the city's economy that Aether and Lumine could never hope to understand without ample time to study. 

However, one mass of onlookers did not move at the sight of Aether's mask, blocking the way  through the middle of the hall. They were far too focused on what lay farther ahead, the throne of Rex Lapis sitting on a raised platform. Consternation was their first emotion, followed by a readjustment to the room around them. Their eyes were quick, observing the scenario around them to take in  information anywhere they could while piecing it together with what they already knew.

The mask was significant in a way most could not explain or even attempt to do so, but an opportunity to greet their God-Emperor overcame that significance. The line was kept in order by security patrolling up and down it, making gaps between groups intermittently for easier travel in certain areas. Servants  stopped at each group, offering drinks, and the echoing tumult of the gatherer's chatter grew the closer to the throne they came. Their excitement to see their Emperor face to face was almost palpable. 

Aether and Lumine shared a glance and nodded: they too would join the line. The Lord of Geo, Emperor Rex Lapis, was their true destination from the very beginning. When they first traveled through the borders of Khaenri'ah and made their way to Liyue, it was with the intent to meet with a member of the Qixing. Someone who could, through proper documentation and peace talks, bring them before this very throne. After Aether's accident, however, this ball was their best chance.

They could figure out the secret behind Aether's mask later, if this line brought them closer to the alliance they so desperately needed, so be it. 

At least, that was the plan. One that Hu Tao urged them to take the moment she told them about the ball. But Aether still remembered the way her eyes constantly followed the mask in his hands, the look in her eyes as she did. 

The longer they stood in line, the more anxious he felt. That shadow of a memory had snapped something into place, and Aether wasn't sure he liked the emotions that broiled beneath those implications.

It wasn't an accident, he felt, gnawing on his lip at the realization, but an attempt on his life.  Something or someone had come for him, and he couldn't escape the contradicting suspicion that it was tied to the Guardian Yaksha his mask belonged to.

Lumine's worries were valid. They very well could be walking into a trap, but he wanted to believe there was more to it. Silently, he wished for another memory to jam itself back into his broken puzzle. 

“They can't seriously expect me to believe these people have nothing better to do,” Lumine griped through her teeth. Accepting an offered drink, she sipped from the crystal flute with a deep set frown, heels tapping the floor in impatience. “Is the chance to shake his hand really that big a deal?”

“I hear he only appears during festivals,” Aether replied with a sardonic grin. “Don't you remember how it was for us back home?”

The reminder of their own status made her frown darken the rest of her features, eyes burning. “Good point. At least they ask for permission before they touch here.”

“Of course, it was.” He poked her side in mischief, “I'm the one who said it.”

Another poke and she was holding back an uncontrollable giggle swatting at his fingers with an empty glare. “Says the one who was found face down in a riverbank three months ago.“

“Rude.”

“Ass.”

“Shh, a lady shouldn't speak that way in public,” he chided playfully.

“If you don't take this seriously, I'll knock out the rest of your memories.”

Ah, this was the distraction he needed. That they both had needed. His smile grew to crinkle the edges of his face, “My dear sister is so violent sometimes. Whatever shall I do with her?”

“I'll tell you what you can do,” she started, following the line as it  progressed along. “You can take that smartass grin off your face and shove it down your-”

Aether squinted as her sentence quieted and then grew mute. He watched as her lips moved, cheeks flushed in adorable irritation, but no sound reached him. In fact, the rest of the room was just as silent as the roaring waves of an angry, torrential river swallowed him up and struck against him like a battering ram. White noise and a piercing, Inhuman shriek echoed within him as glowing, wild golden eyes reflected in his mind. A manic laugh, giggling behind the shout set his nerves ablaze as bloodied fingers reached out to grasp the ones belonging to... 

The world rushed back up to meet Aether as the rivers in his mind receded. Instinctively he reached for Lumine, grasping her shoulder tight, but the words froze in his throat before he could warn her. He met the eyes of a dancer, chilling him to the bone as the mask they wore struck his memories like a hammer to an anvil. They wore the mask of a beast he’d seen before, but the recollection was adrift like a butterfly he couldn’t reach. The dancer met his gaze mid-spin and their movements slowed as their eyes gleamed from the depths of their mask. It was a person like any other, he told himself, but panic swelled inside his chest as the memory clicked into place.

A creature of the abyss. Horror choked him and the shadow that followed him leaned ever closer against his shoulder, hissing in his ear a silent warning. 

Stay away! He had to get-

A thrum of power emanated from the mask and he stumbled, falling into Lumine as tears pricked the corners of his eyes. He couldn't hear her worried whispers as she held him up, strong arms bracing him as the world flipped itself upside down and spun. 

“L-Lumine-” He quivered, feeling the old chill of an Abyss Mage's magic trail down his spine. “Lumine, help, I-”

The words caught in his throat in a jumbled ball as the tendrils of green-black smoke ebbed from his hip and swirled about them. It's dark aura was thick, but the warmth it emanated chased the freezing cold away from his aching limbs and another memory snapped back into place:

The eyes. The mask. They belonged to someone. Someone he knew. The intense gaze had followed them since they passed the border, always staying just out of reach of the twins' sight, but never far enough to feel alone. 

Nights of travel and the trilling of a bird at night had drawn him from his slumber. They lured Aether to the ancient waters of Liyue where he'd first met a beast of blazing purple, teal and gold feathers that encompassed the width of the entire stream. The remains of dead hillichurls crumpled beneath its sharp talons and littered the area. 

They hadn't seen a single monster since crossing into Liyue and now he knew why.

The world spun again and those talons faded to long, delicate fingers that strongly gripped a polearm. No longer was the beast’s gaze a threat as his brow softened to a gentle stare. Instead of a strange creature, there stood a man who seemed more human as the days went by. Nights upon nights Aether sought them out, and their meetings brought them closer at each attempt.

Yes - those eyes, he knew them.

The shadow that had loomed over him since receiving the mask crept closer and almost felt like it would swallow him whole. The true owner of the mask had slipped from his fingers, but found him again. It had protected his sleep and warded away enemies as they traveled. A fact Aether couldn’t prove, but knew deep in his bones to be true. He knew all of it. Down to the original owner whose strong will to protect him had led to this very moment. 

That face...Aether scrunched his nose and whimpered, desperately trying to fit together pieces of memories too disjoined to visualize. Why couldn't he see the face?!

“-please, Aether, you're scaring me!” Lumine pleaded in his ear, urging him to come back to reality, to stand on his own two feet. The onlookers' stunned gazes struck as strong as the waters of Liyue and his grip tightened on her shoulder. Focus…I need to focus!  

Lumine's hiss was acidic in her panic, “Everyone’s looking! Aether, talk to me!”

His eyes flung open.

The mask and the energy that swirled around him dispersed, overshadowed by a collective gasp in the hall as the throne erupted in a mini whirlwind. Aether could barely see through his own tears, but he felt Lumine pulling him from the line and back through the crowd, only stopping when his legs gave out and pulled them both to the floor.

“Aether! Aether please!” Shaking fingers pushed aside his mask and pressed against his face. She cursed, “Archons, you're burning up! We need to get you to-”

He whined, his own panic building as he struggled to gulp in the air. His head throbbed as more memories filtered through, and he looked through fluttering, wet lashes to his sister. While her attention had only been on him, the moment she touched his shoulder, something happened he couldn’t quite comprehend.

Her touch had been warm, but was pulled away as he reached for her. She shouted words that were ringing in his skull, too loud and jumbled to understand. He struggled to make sense of them while those surrounding them, despite their curious gazes, made no move to assist them.

What was wrong with-

”Move.“ One voice, firm and familiar, broke through the buzzing of Aether's mind as the strange winds dispersed and a masked man stepped beside Lumine. He urged her to step aside, but she stubbornly stayed, maneuvering herself between him and Aether who struggled to piece together what he was watching. She shouted something and moved to shove the man back, but the winds around them picked up and a collective gasp shot through the crowd. A couple jumped from the crowd to pull her back as they bowed repeatedly. Aether thought he heard apologies rising over enraged shouts, but he couldn’t be sure. 

Lumine was not one to back down, struggling against them, but the newcomer held up his hand and everything stopped: the wind dropped, the two pulling at Lumine froze and she was released instantly. The rabble echoing through the hall fell silent and Aether blinked through the haze of his own tears, shivering on the floor anxiously.

”It's all right,” the man whispered, moving past Lumine to kneel before Aether, “I wont hurt him.”

Every garbled memory, every shattered piece of the puzzle, slammed against Aether’s skull with the force of a tidal wave when citrine-gold eyes burned behind a mask that looked wrong: out of place. The wrong color, the wrong size, not like the one humming from his hip. It wasn't correct at all. 

In a moment of insanity—maybe clarity, he reached for it, snapped the ribbons that kept it on his belt, and shakily pressed it against the other’s face. The movement was shaky and he almost dropped it, but the man caught his wrist in a gentle grip, holding it in place.

The mask he currently wore was in the way pulling a growl from Aether in a fit of anger and annoyance that burned away his common sense. “Not you...it's not-”

The shadow was gone, the space behind his shoulders was now empty the moment this masked man approached. Aether felt it. Felt it merge with the true face of the one he couldn't recall who finally stood before him. He directed Aether’s hand to set the mask down, letting it rest on the marble floor between them. 

Its once dark aura had ceased to pull at Aether's senses, leaving a void in its departure. The silence was deafening, and left him feeling off-balanced and weak. Insecurity struck as he grunted through grit teeth, his fingers twitching to reach for it again, but the grip on his wrist stopped him.

He clicked his tongue, regaining Aether’s attention, tilting the current mask he wore slightly off his face to reveal the true features underneath. And everything changes in the space of a second. 

Immediately, Aether felt his muscles relax, his eyes darted to the familiar chin and jaw line, moved upward the red that adorned his eyes and up again, finally resting on a gaze that set every nerve in his body on fire. Bright, gleaming jewels of citrine with a diamond shaped pupil; and a gaze intense enough to see straight into his heart and soul. Aether sucked in a breath of air, tears finally spilling over as a sob shook his quivering frame.

He knew this man. 

He knew him, he realized, letting out a shaky breath and a name tumbled from his lips. It spilled over like a feverish prayer, his voice hoarse and tired. “...My Xiao?” 

He barely understood it himself, but the spoken name sent a joint shiver through both of them, fixing something that had broken months ago. 

In those scant moments between Xiao pulling Aether's limp body into his arms and standing to meet the crowd, all became a blur. He thought he heard Lumine, her voice beside him as he was whisked away, but the beautiful scenery of the hall and the collective shouts of well-dressed party-goers became a faded memory as his mind slipped in and out of consciousness. 

With each flutter of his eyes, the setting changed: first a hallway, a set of stairs, the gentle rocking in the arms of his carrier, and then the canopy of a bed he couldn't remember laying in. A sense of deja vu made him dizzy, half expecting Hu Tao to come dancing in with a pleased grin on her face, much as she had the first day she found him. But there was no Hu Tao, and no Lumine when his eyesight swam into focus. 

There was only the unknown room he slept in that smelled slightly of dust and old fabric, and a tiny girl, not even to his knees, sweeping the floors. 

“...Um?” Was Aether's intelligent response to his predicament. “Where...am I?”

The sweeping paused and the girl tilted her head with eyes wide and empty as she observed him through the tiny talisman that hung between her eyes. When she set the broom aside, Aether noticed the tired pace she set, stretching her arms over head as she turned back to face him.

“You're awake,” She stated, voice slow and melodic. “Please stay still. I'll...” She paused, pressing a finger to her lips as she thought over her words. “That's right. I remember. I'll get Master Alatus.” 

Who-? 

“Wait,” he rasped, reaching out in a failed attempt to stop her. “Can you tell me where my sis-”

The door slammed shut behind her as her soft feet pattered down the hall, leaving Aether stumped and uncertain of his whereabouts. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long for an answer. 

While he watched the door and twisted the sheets between his fists, he tried to ignore the rising anxiety of the unknown. As far as he was concerned, the moment the door swung open, he'd either blast the new arrival with demands to answer his questions, or make a break for it. Waking from his stupor without Lumine by his side gave him a sense of vulnerability he didn't like, and he was prepared to do something about it as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Except, the door never opened as far as he could tell. In fact, neither did the large windows to his left that overlooked the large expanse of Liyue. 

A sudden wind ran through the room, circled itself in the familiar teal hues he'd seen before and all the tension fell from his body as a figure formed within it as if the very air had pieced his body together from nothing.

The mask that had been with Aether these past months swung idly on the hip of the other. He no longer wore a suit befitting of a masquerade and instead stood in finery Aether recalled seeing before: In the dead of the night, when he'd leave camp to talk to the quiet person who followed his and Lumine's every step.

Aether's eyes widened as the memories that assaulted him during the ball settled into his mind with ease. The pounding in his head was quieter now, muted in the presence of the Yaksha he'd visited many times in secret, but something wasn't quite right.

Recalling the little girl's words, Aether surmised the owner of the name and worried his lip. “So, Xiao isn't your real name?“

The man before him, this Alatus, stiffened. His eyes looked him over from head to toe while his posture spoke louder than his stoic expression. He carefully covered any emotion that may have gleamed in his brightly colored eyes. But with crossed arms, shoulders held square and tense, he was guarded, ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

Aether could tell, now seeing the way his feet were angled toward the door, that this man was uncomfortable and looking for a quick and speedy exit once his task was done. A fact that made his mouth twist in a disapproving frown, uncertainty gripping him. Was this how it should be?

“Alatus is what the citizens of Liyue call me,” he answered tersely, and Aether felt a different pain from before that dug into his ribcage. Disappointment settled in his bones, mourning the loss of openness he remembered seeing days before his attack. 

“Is that what I should call you?” He asked, voice barely a whisper.

Xiao paused, emotion betraying his careful facade for a split second before he sealed it away. “If that is what you wish.”

Wrong. 

Wrong. This was all wrong! 

Aether remembered now. The call of Xiao's music as he trilled in his beast form. The destructive beauty as he destroyed enemies encased in darkness. The sharpness of his eyes softened each night Aether came to see him. They'd been so close that fateful night and now...

There were too many questions unanswered for him to settle upon,  and while he meant to ask one thing, a complete change of subject fell from his mouth instead. “Is Lumine okay?”

A soft sound of surprise broke through once again. Aether's question startled not just himself, it seemed. With a sigh, Xiao seemed to relax just a bit more, the corner of his mouth quirking upward. 

“It was almost impossible to keep her from your bedside,” he admitted, casting his gaze back towards the door. “But she is with Rex Lapis now.”

Startled, Aether shoved the blankets aside and swung his legs off the mattress. “We were supposed to do that together! I can't sit here while she's—”

Xiao was beside him in an instant, firm hands grasping his shoulders to keep him seated. How the yaksha managed to move so quickly, Aether couldn't fathom, but when his next attempt to move was met with concrete resistance, his expression soured. 

“We're aware why you were coming here,” Xiao muttered, voice dropping to a familiar softness that squeezed Aether's heart. “Don't worry. My Lord would prefer you rest for now.”

Something akin to bitterness struck Aether in that moment. He wanted to feel relief. To believe his sister would be returned soon and their mission to meet the Lord of Geo would end in success, but none of this was right. It was all wrong, and he couldn't find the right words. He wanted to see Lumine. He wanted to verify everything, but most of all...

His nose wrinkled, and he turned his attention onto the Yaksha before him. There was an ache in his fingertips, silently begging to reach out and touch the skin of the other. This was no shade haunting the empty void of his memory, tantalizing him with a want he couldn't understand. This was the real thing. He was real, but an invisible wall held fast between them. 

Aether felt his mouth run dry, relenting to Xiao's unspoken request, but unwilling to truly relax. 

“And you?” he asked, words dropping like coals on his tongue. “Do you also want that?“

Xiao's answer was quicker than the seconds between them, “Yes.”

So simple, but the message behind it spoke volumes. Aether swallowed, glancing to his closed fists then to the floor where the other stood. Xiao's pointed shoes were elegant in their design and, while he wanted to distract himself in the many details of the other's clothing, his observant eyes picked apart every minor detail. The clothes looked stiff and dusty, and the stale scent that clung to them spoke of disuse. It matched the smell of the room, made to look impressive, but rarely occupied. A bit of the collar was out of place and a button or two off-centered. Not only were they rarely worn, but dressed in a rush. The Yaksha was still tense. So much so that if Aether blinked, he'd miss the slight trembling in the other's muscles as he stood in place, attempting to stay as still as a statue. 

For a moment, Aether thought Xiao was holding himself back. Whether to run or something else, he couldn’t be sure, but the image didn’t fit what was reflected in his memories.

It didn't make sense. 

From what he could remember, their separation had been quick and sudden; with Aether torn from Xiao's arms in the midst of an embrace that burned Aether's skin to think about. To keep his and Lumine's identities secret, they'd been forbidden the use of their full abilities, but that night had been a night of firsts, and Xiao's ability to move with the wind, coupled with Aether's wings had led to a dance along the waters that stuck behind his eyelids. 

Something had grown tight and broken that day, something that Aether now realized had been formed between them during that dance. Young and fragile, but beneath the surface it screamed for completion.

Yet, here the other stood, reunited with him after so long, and Aether couldn't tell if the Yaksha was glad to see him or upset. It didn't make sense unless-

”...do you regret meeting me?“ Aether found himself asking before the thought had fully finished in his mind. 

A sharp inhale and dead silence thick enough to slice fell between them. A heavy weight of thoughts fell upon his shoulders. That was it, wasn't it? What had grown between them wasn’t supposed to happen. It was a mistake after all and now  

Xiao caressing Aether's jaw between his thumb and forefinger brought him out of his thoughts, newly aware of the wet tears stinging the edges of his eyes.  

They were close. Almost too close. With Xiao's nose against his as the guardian of Liyue trembled in place, looming forward to keep their eyes reflecting the other’s. In them Aether finally saw what the other was carefully hiding away: relief, adoration, fear, desperation and... guilt.

“My only regret,” his voice cracked, breaking the surface of the feelings between them as he wiped Aether's tears with his thumb. “Is failing to protect you.”

The world spun on its axis, and Aether released a breath he didn't know he was holding. The ache in his heart ripped open as he gripped Xiao's hand in his own. When the other flinched, he tightened his grip, determined to keep them close enough for their words to mingle.

“You didn't fail,” he said, words ghosting over their lips, spreading a simmering heat. “Your mask found me. It led me back to you.”

A broken sound escaped the Yaksha and his eyes fell shut, clenched tight from the memories of that night. “The Abyss Mage who struck you fell by my hand, but I...I couldn't sense you after. I couldn’t find you-” 

Aether could see it then. The truth behind his raised walls. And the final pieces of his disjointed puzzle realigned themselves as Xiao's head fell upon his shoulder. The severed string that bound them grew anew and relief fell from him in waves. 

“It was my mistake,” Xiao continued, speaking into the fabric of Aether's dress shirt. (He would have to ask for the rest of his clothes later.) 

Waiting with baited breath, he let the guardian he'd found in the woods take his time to explain himself through broken, choked whispers of self-depreciation. “I searched for hours and returned when the broken bond between us threatened to take me along with it...”

He was holding Xiao now, one arm wrapped around the other as a tentative, tired hand moved to rest in the tendrils of the yaksha's hair. “I wish I understood your customs more,” he lamented, urging Xiao to continue. “I knew something had happened, but I'd forgotten, and it's instinct to hide my aura when wounded.” He paused for a second, muttering a quiet apology, “That’s… probably why you couldn’t find me.”

The explanation was meant to sooth the other, but the gentle touch and soft whispers into Xiao's ear only made his trembling worse. Aether wondered if this growing sense of unease was from the bond between them, one he was increasingly becoming aware of as the seconds ticked on. 

“Bonds are meant to tie souls together.” Aether almost missed his next words as he pushed away, face growing impassive once more. “Guardian Yaksha are sensitive to the energy of the world -” he watched Xiao pause, considering his words as an ache began to knot itself in his chest, “ binding ourselves to someone is a dangerous affair. One mistake is all it takes to … to…” 

His voice dropped, but the word hung in the air: kill. A failed bond could kill one or both involved. Aether swallowed thickly, panic rising when the Adeptus began to turn away.

The air currents began to rise. Aether felt it in the way his hair began to sway, and the staleness in the room began to filter out. He recognized the sensation, watching the dead, guilt-filled eyes of Xiao as he took another step back. He was preparing to leave, to disperse with the winds of his own creation. Aether’s instinct’s kicked in immediately and he lunged forward, not only following Xiao off the bed, but nearly knocking them both to the floor. Reflexively, the adeptus caught Aether in his arms and he took the opportunity to fist his fingers into Xiao’s shirt, determined to keep him close.

“Don't go!” he pleaded, voice dripping in a desperate need. “Please...I spent months missing you, but not knowing it for what it was. Don't…” he wet his lips and tried again, “don't make it worse.”

“I should let your sister know you're awake,” Xiao hesitated, wavering between the pull of the winds on his fingertips and the bond that sang between them.

“We can tell her,” Aether agreed, tightening his grip, “together. Please. Xiao. You did nothing I didn't want to begin with.”

This threw the Yaksha off, brows rising into the fringe of his teal hair and mouth dropping, stunned. “I don't understand. You said you didn't understand our customs?”

“Not understanding doesn't mean I wasn't aware something was happening,” he insisted, urging the other back to the mattress. “You were so beautiful...so deadly, that first night we met, but when you sent me back to Lumine, I couldn't help but hope I'd find you again and again each night. And I did. Almost like you were looking for me, too.”

A blossom of red spread across Xiao's ears and Aether knew he'd hit the nail on the head, beaming in triumph. His heart was pounding in his chest, fluttering like a crystalfly and hanging on to the edge of a precipice. “...it's the same reason I kept the mask. I could tell it was meant to help me, I just…didn't know how.”

“...it was my last resort to find you,” he coughed, covering his face with the back of his hand in an attempt to hide his red cheeks. “Accepting your death was...impossible. Rex Lapis told me what that meant: I wasn't ready to give up. So...I didn't.”

Aether gulped, feelings threatening to overflow as he loosened his grip. Xiao made no further attempt to leave and settled Aether back onto the mattress with his back safely supported by a cluster of pillows. He leaned over to adjust the blankets keeping himself close enough for Aether to speak directly into his ear as he worked. 

“Thank you for finding me,” his breathless words came out like a confession. “Lumine was worried, but...I knew it couldn't be dangerous. Something that makes you feel safe can't be bad, right?”

Just like that, the tension between them snapped.

Xiao's weight fell upon him in an instant, arms and legs twisting together as they grew tangled in the sheets. Aether's words had broken the last defense in his armor, reopening the sensations and emotions they'd shared before. Holding tight to the other, Aether basked in the sensations, allowing the memories to flow through him like the rising tides. They had kissed many times that night, he recalled...

And the next kiss Aether received was on his wrist, held reverently by Xiao, whose eyes misted over and regarded Aether like a long-forgotten treasure. He trailed his lips and fangs along the skin of his arms, to the pads of his fingers and back up again. He marveled at the shudder the action brought down Aether's body.  

“You trust too easily,” he chided, voice full of gratitude as his burning touch moved to trail along Aether's jaw, following the outline of his face. “I thought that then.” He followed his hands with his teeth nipping playfully along the skin of Aether’s neck before leaning back. Predatory golden eyes held Aether’s captive , the barest hint of a smile curved his lips, “And I still think it now.“

Aether chuckled, voice breathless from the attention he was receiving after so long apart. His own hands weren't idle, moving along to trail along Xiao's sides and memorizing every plane of muscle he could find through the rich fabric. When Xiao's lips ghosted over his own, he chased after, finally molding their lips together after the months they'd spent apart. It was amusing to realize he'd kept a secret tryst from his sister, but now that they were reunited, he couldn't bring himself to feel ashamed for it.

”Is that supposed to charm me?“ he asked after a time, still seeking the feel of Xiao's mouth on his own despite the lack of oxygen in his lungs. The other man pressed a firm hand against his chest, holding him down to give them space for air. His own, mirroring smile was small compared to Aethers, but the upturned edges softened his features to a degree that turned Aether's body to jelly.

”Perhaps not,“ Xiao answered, voice brimming with amusement, ”but you were always insufferable...reckless even.” He brushed Aether's golden hair from his face, one finger trailing to the edges of his ear to play with the earring that hung there. 

Choosing not to respond, a royal of Khaenri’ah now bonded to a Guardian Yaksha tilted his head, following the hand that memorized him. Biting the tip of Xiao's finger he did his best to remove the other's glove, eyes brimming in heat and trickery. 

He didn't miss the way Xiao's breath caught in his throat, or the rumbling growl that came in return. Aether wanted to hear more, pull more sounds out, see just how far the two of them could go while alone in this room in the Palace of Liyue. But his emotions and wants fogging his mind weren't enough to distract himself from his true goal as he examined the newly barred hand beside him.

Teal and dark, like the energy that swirled around him with sharp claws once covered by his glove, now gleamed in the light of the room. Aether had seen the majestic bird, larger than life, covered in thick feathers of gold and talons scaled in the same colors. Those hues stained the tips of Xiao’s hands and bled up along his arms: a testament to his inhuman nature. 

Aether couldn't resist the urge to return the favor Xiao had given him, and kissed the tips of those dark-touched hands. “...you're still as beautiful as I remember.”

“Shameless,” Xiao spat with no heat behind the words. He silenced Aether with another kiss, tongue delving into his mouth to taste the other as he held him down. Admittedly, it was sloppy and rushed, desperate from their time apart, but Aether thrilled from the actions regardless, shuddering when their hips rested against the other.

But that was as far as they'd go. 

Xiao's own groan answered in kind, holding their hips in place as he struggled to regain himself. Their kiss turned to a languid, slow pace as the Yaksha reacquainted himself with the feel and taste that was purely Aether. 

He resumed his trail of kisses along Aether's face, and he spoke into the shell of his ear quiet endearments that would never leave the spaces between them.

“Thank you,” he said, voice a husky drawl as Aether drowned in the throes of glee. “For finding me…for letting me find you. For staying alive. Thank you.”

“Shouldn't those be my words?” Aether muttered, laughing when Xiao cut him off again. 

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to an hour of the two reaffirming the bond that had formerly been created. They would have more to discuss in time. The implications of their union, Aether and Lumines status in Khaenri'ah and the alliance they wished to form, as well as the implications of monsters from the abyss attacking them on the road. 

All of that would be dealt with in time, but the only thing left on Aether's mind when they finally calmed down, resting his head against Xiao's chest while they dozed, was something he'd been ignoring for quite some time now.

“Lumine is going to kill me when she realizes I got with someone before she did.“

Xiao huffed an amused laugh and the bond of the Yaksha, once broken and near debilitating, thrummed in a newly realized strength between them. “I suppose I’ll have to protect you, then.”

“There's no protecting me from an angry sister. If anything, she’ll take you out with me”

“Hmm…so be it then.” “Xiao!” 

Their playful chatter and affirmations continued between them for quite some time; The mask that brought them back together lay on the bedside table, its dark energies dormant after a job well done. 

It could finally rest. For now.

---

Bonus Scene:

"So, I was attacked and lost my memory the same night me and Xiao kinda confessed and formed a bond between each other-"

"You bonded with a stranger?!"

"Uhh no…uhm. Remember how I'd take walks by myself at night while we were camping and wouldn't come back for a couple hours?"

"You didn't."

"Apparently, I did!"

#Genshin Impact #Xiaother #Aexiao #aether #Genshin traveler #xiao #xiao/alatus genshin impact #genshin impact fanfiction #fantasy au #masquerade au #royalty au

[britishassistant]

Deuce is the designated getaway driver for most of royal flush’s heists, yet despite his skills he is an absolute mad lad of a speed demon every time he gets behind the wheel (ace swears his heart stops every time he gets a look at deuce’s maniacal grin during a getaway)

Thank you for the ask, dear anon!

And how does it feel to have such a big brain? Because I LOVE THIS.

Yuu knew from the moment Deuce’s serious face began to curve in a almost…manic grin that they were going to regret whatever came next.

“O-oi, cauldron-brain!” Ace pipes up from where he’s securing their tied hands to the handhold in the car’s ceiling, voice wavering oddly. “Remember, Royal said inconspicuous, okay?! In-con-spicu-ous!! No, no crazy shit this time, alright?!”

Deuce scoffs. “I know that, you jerk, it was one time!! The axle wasn’t even that broken! You don’t hafta keep going on about it like a broken record!!”

Yuu would quite like to ask what in the world they’re talking about, only the gag in their mouth is keeping them from doing so.

“Ah, crap! The meathead’s onto us!” The minion in the shotgun seat cries out, “We gotta scram!”

The reporter can see Yuuken dashing towards the unmarked car they’ve been shoved into in the wing mirror, camera abandoned, yelling their name alongside demands for their captors to stop and let them go.

Deuce guns the engine.

The tires actually squeal and the engine belches black smoke as the car peels away from the sidewalk into oncoming traffic, going from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds.

And they keep speeding up.

Horns are blaring around them as the car swerves in and out of traffic lanes, the passengers getting jostled violently as the vehicle rides roughshod over dividers and onto sidewalks.

Even as they’re thrown against the window, the rope tying them to the car and seatbelt hastily pulled across their chest the only things holding them in place, Yuu can’t stop watching in horror as the numbers on the speedometer keep ticking up. 80. 85. 90. 95. 100. 110. 120.

They’re pretty sure Ace isn’t attempting to keep them from escaping anymore as he clings to them and screams, interspersed with hollers of “OI, OI, OI, WAIT, NO CRAZY SHIT, YOU SAID NO CRAZY SHIT!!!” and “THE ROAD DEUCE, GET US ON THE ROAD, OH GOD, WE'RE GONNA HIT SOMEONE, WATCH OUT!!!”

The minion in shotgun hasn’t said anything for a while, and from how his limbs are ragdolling with every turn the car takes, the reporter’s not sure he’s still conscious.

And through it all, Deuce just spins the wheel with that manic, insane, terrifying grin on his face as he jackknifes the brakes to slide through a set of traffic lights before putting the gas through the floor again.

Well, if this doesn’t kill me, Yuu thinks, dazed, then I don’t know what could.

#twisted wonderland #twst #supervillain au #ace trappola #twst ace #deuce spade #twst deuce #twst yuu #twisted wonderland yuu #the prefect #deuce is the best driver because he can actually pull off all these stunts #he’s the worst driver because he attempts them in the first place #grim has been spared this torture #because if he wasn’t I’m sure that would constitute animal cruelty

[oreostacker]

It was a normal day in Splaintcaster, nine am temperature reaching 80 degrees but feeling 85. Big puffy clouds lazily drifted through the sky as if to judge which spot would be the perfect place to later turn angry and cry warm tears about it. There were birds here and there but far to little to take interest in them.

Further away from the center of Splaintcaster but not too far from the rest of the living lives there, we see Barbara sitting on her porch. She has blonde and silver hair, a frame that looks like it supported life and icy grayish blue eyes.

She's sitting with a curve in her posture, feet up and crossed on a table and her hands wrapped around a cup of coffee that tastes of hazelnuts. She's wearing an orange dress with yellow flower designs along the bottom and a yellow shall wrapped around her shoulders. Her eyes are staring, glazed over, looking through her surroundings and not taking them in no facial features to be detected as to what she may be feeling.

Hurrying up the street, on her brown horse, wild with happiness and amazement, we see Kara. Kara has a similar face shape to Barbara.

But they have more differences than similarities. Kara's hair is brown and Grey, with more Grey than brown. Her eyes while the same shape are in fact chestnut brown with honey being stirred in em, if viewed in sunlight. Her frame also carried life but was not as wide as Barbara's (surprising all who found that Kara carried more lives than Barbara.) Kara while older stood two inches shorter than Barbara as well.

Kara came flying, wearing a deep blue dress with a brown shall and brown boots to match. She also had a brown money pouch strung across her hips. Though hilariously, riding at break neck speeds, she was trying to balance as still as possible a container in between her legs.... while on a horse...... that has four legs that must move...... and not on a well paved road..... a feat that humans would struggle with if just walking with a full cup of water on two legs.

"BARBARA, BARBARA!!! YOU'VE GOT TO TRY THIS!!!"

Turning to look with bewilderment in her eyes,

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? BESIDES LOOKING LIKE A HOT MESS OF A TWENTY YEAR OLD AGAIN?!?!"

Now stopped and attempting to get down with her precious box,

"Can, can you, can you get over here please? I'm having a hard time trying not to drop this."

Setting her coffee aside and making it down the three steps to the mess in question.

"What is it anyways? Oooo smells nice. Where'd you get this? I don't recognize this box from a bakery, did Linda make this ?"

"No, Linda didn't make this, here I'll take it back let's go inside, it's a sugar cream pie, and I wasn't planning on buying the whole thing but I had a slice and knew you need to try this.

I swear it's like an angle and a dove had a baby and God blessed it and the clouds gave it a fluffy dress to look cute in while it dances in your mouth."

Ha! "Can't be that good it's really easy to screw this pie up and make it a swampy mess, you still never said where you got this thing from, put it on the table I'll grab some plates, There's fresh coffee in here if you want some?"

Setting the box down and removing the lid we see a skewed pie

Tsk "crap"

Mmm? "What's wrong?"

Two plates are set on the table followed by the sound clinks from the forks,

"I may have messed up the pie, I think the taste will obviously be fine but presentation wise....."

"It looks like a crazy woman was holding it while flying down the road on a horse looking like she stole the queens jewelry."

"Hey when you try this you'll be glad I was trying to share it with you instead of hiding it."

"My hopes are getting higher by the minute, said with a humorous dead glare at her sister, again where'd ya get this thing?"

"Church was having a bake sale remember? This was the second thing I tried the first thing I tried was a slice of Linda cake for a nickle of bronze an-, "

"Wait you got a slice of Linda cake, didn't buy me a slice, as you can clearly tell I forgot that today was the bake sale day, then decided that this pie was worth buying the whole of instead of getting all of the Linda cake? Is that what you're telling me right now?"

"Yes, now-,"

Scooping out two... slices... Barbara interrupts again,

"Then this pie better be worth gold, yer insane for one not getting me a slice of Linda cake-"

"YOU WEREN'T THERE?? how is that my fault?-"

"AND TWO, for not buying the Linda cake, she makes that like twice a year If you don't specifically ask nicely for it as your present on yer birthday. And three you could have imagined that this pie tasted like all that, agian very easy to mess this one up what if yet wrong? And you got the cake flavoring messed up with the pie flavoring?!?"

Huffing out air while dropping her head back she does a little dramatic push of the plate towards Barbara,

"Shut up and try this thing."

Staring at her sister with her arms crossed one eyebrow raised and leaning back into her dining room chair she waits for the face of awe to cross the other's.

Barbara purses her lips and digs for an even mesh of pie filling to crust on her fork, leaning forward over the table she looks through her eyelashes over to Kara who's waiting impatiently for her to take a bite. She rolls her eyes and blinks back to her fork before finally taking a bite.

It sits there on her tongue with smug satisfaction. The kind that a little girl will show after she beats a boy in a sport that the boy claims to be a master in. And it's just too beautiful to swallow. I mean how is this possible.... no variation of this pie has ever turned out this decedently before, she clearly died and had gone to heaven this is God's food that's being eaten it has to be....

Ahem?????

"You gonna finish that bite or just carry it with you like a toddler does a rock?"

"I'm... working on... it...give meh... a seconmd.."

Swallowing and looking fully at Kara,

"How in the hell does it taste that damn good?"

"I know right?"Answering with a smile

"No I mean how?"

"I Know," she happily groans while moving to grab her own fork.

"Its too good of a thing to pass on so I bought it for five silver nickel pieces and one gold nickel peice."

"That.... may be too much but I'm not judging, give another slice wouldya"

Sliding the box closer to her

"As you won't shut up about, it is really easy to screw up this pie, so no, it was worth everything I spent, I regret nothing from this purchase."

"Who made it anyways?"

"I'don't know, but I mean we can ask Linda or mom, you had to sign up with what you were bringing so that you could be thanked by the pastor for bringing something in, so shouldn't be that hard to find out. Why?"

"This is the best sugar cream pie we've ever had in our lives.... from the first taste of table food to now Nothing has ever tasted better..., I want the recipe and or I want to hire this person for the rest of their or my life to be in charge of my desserts from now on."

"You mean you'd willingly give up all other desserts for this pie?"

" I mean I'd willingly give up all other foods and live and die by this pie. Would you judge me or care if I have another slice?"

"No, cause I'm also working on slice three."

Talking continued and the pie was nicely paired with hazelnut coffee. Soon the pie was gone and they were still talking about their individual and their children's lives not realizing that the pie was still gone...

they had a whole pie to themselves and they still talked assuming there was some left. Their problem going un noticed for thirty more minutes and finally the horrible truth was revealed to their mouths and brains.

[praxcrown5]

More Cars OCs and Headcanon:

More Doc family headcanon for a fanfic I'm working on.

This time we're gonna focus on his parents.

I use the terms "sire" and "dam" to refer to a vehicle's bio-technological parents. In Doc's era, and before, it was almost always assumed that you meant sire and dam when using words like father/mother to describe another vehicle. In Lightning's era...not so much.

Also, in my HC, cars reach physical maturity at age eleven, after they have their final growth spurt. Only after this point in their lives are they able to reproduce, and it was very common for cars in Doc's day, especially lady cars, to get married and start families at that age. It is also the age where you can legally drink, live independent of your parents, own property, run for public office, and work full-time somewhere other than a family-owned business...though in modern times it's more common for young cars to stay with their parents until their late teens or early twenties.

*NOTE* I'll do a separate post on vehicle reproduction and growth at some point in the future.

Doc's dam, Annette Elizabeth Longhauler nee Glenrunner (factory designation: CS621949346CU07221925 Cycle 9, Rotation 195, Batch 46A), is the youngest of three children sired by Otis James Glenrunner and the late Elizabeth Marie Glenrunner nee Owen. She has two older, twin brothers: Carl Samson Glenrunner and James Owen Glenrunner, and was manufactured on July 22nd, 1925 at the Cadillac Factory in Detroit, Michigan. She is modeled a in the likeness of an Old World, 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Sedanette.

She started learning internal combustion from her father at five, and by eleven she was regarded by many as the second best mechanic in Dawson county, a rare feat for a female car growing up in the twenties and thirties of Cycle 9.

At eleven, she married the youngest child of the Longhauler Family, an International Harvester Semi named Samuel. Despite Sam being on the road most of the year, they started trying for kids...but, no matter how many times they were intimate, they were unable to sire a flame together.

Diagnostic scans revealed nothing out of the ordinary with her reproductive hardware...meaning that Sam's siring cable was the likely culprit. However, when she attempted to bring the issue up to Sam and his parents, her in-laws accused her and her father of trying to discredit the Longhauler name...and began spreading rumors around town that Annette was barren. The constant harassment from her in-laws and the townsfolk eventually got to be too much...and she would attempt to take her own life. But, the universe had other plans. A stranger bravely placed himself between her and a lethal curve, and the resulting collision would see them both badly injured.

Annette managed to push the stranger--an Oldsmobile that went by the nickname "Ghost"--to her family's garage in Dawsonville, and once her own repairs were far enough along, she took over Ghost's repairs so that her father could better focus on running the garage. She would ultimately befriend Ghost and confide in him, and...much to her father's dismay, they would sire a flame together. Annette received instructions to travel to the Hudson Motors Factory in Detroit, and the plasma "flame" that she carried was used to manufacture a child whom she named Samuel James Longhauler Jr. His true name--or at least the one that everyone called him--was "Hud" sort for "Hudson" as he was one of only two Hudson vehicles in Dawsonville.

Annette raised Hud as best she could while still working 60+ hours/week at the garage. It was clear, early on, that he wasn't interested in being a mechanic...and that was fine with her; he was his own person, after all. After Hud ran away in '47, her depression got worse and was exacerbated by having to run the family garage and store after her father and brothers were arrested for making moonshine. Sam quit hauling to help her, and their relationship would strengthen as a result. She was aware of Hud's racing career: He was in the newspaper almost constantly, and she made it a point to save every article she could find, displaying them proudly on her cork-board at work. She saw Hud's crash in '54, as the race had been televised, but his sponsor wouldn't divulge the name of the hospital he had been sent to...and she could only wait for updates in the papers. She hoped that he'd call her at some point, but he never did, and his disappearance after the fact would be the start of an emotional and physical downturn, made worse by Sam's untimely death in '58. Her health never recovered, and she would pass in '59, just two days shy of her 34th birthday.

Personality-wise, Annette was intelligent, hardworking, and stubborn. As time went on, she became more brusque, and bitter...but she did her best to tough it out if only to spare her father and brothers from having to worry about her.

Interesting Facts:

Her favorite genre of music was Jazz. Like her father, she was able to piece together that "Ghost" was actually Diesel O'Twill...and, technically, she was the only person to actually catch the uncatchable outlaw. She loved fixing and rebuilding engines, and she taught classes on basic engine repair at the local community center. Despite missing him terribly, she never blamed Hud for running away in '47...or for being distant during his racing career, knowing that he was more of a free spirit, like his Sire. For the longest time, she was afraid of telling Sam about her affair with Ghost...but when she mustered up the courage to come clean, she was surprised to discover that he'd already figured it out...and forgiven her.

Doc's sire was the notorious, Kentucky whiskey-tripper Diesel "the Ghost" O'Twill (factory designation: OR881949C303CU09061922 Cycle 9, Rotation 111, Batch 2A). He was modeled in the likeness of an Old World, 1949 Oldsmobile 88 Rocket Coupe, and was manufactured on September 6th, 1922 at the Oldsmobile Factory in Detroit.

Born into a large family of moonshiners, he was forced to become a tripper at the tender age of seven (literally days after his engine finished growing). He left Kentucky when he was thirteen, mostly to get away from his shitty parents, but also to lay low from the ATF after he, his brother, and his cousin barely managed to avoid being shot to death during a sting operation just outside of Knoxville.

Not too long after rolling into Atlanta, he got wind of a guy named Smokey in Thomasville who was recruiting scouts and trippers to help expand the reach of moonshine mogul, and eventual AARC (American Automotive Racing Convention) founder Raymond Parkway. Ghost's speed, cunning, and off-road skills were unmatched, and he quickly became Smokey's go-to guy whenever Raymond needed product moved through high risk areas. He would eventually be placed in charge of a group of the best runners and scouts in the region, the aptly named "Still Chasers."

Years later, Ghost was sent on a solo mission to Dawsonville to look for something known only as the "Phantom Still," as Raymond wanted to recruit the owner to his network. He was unsuccessful. On the road back to Thomasville, he stopped a Cadillac (Annette) from committing suicide. They're both injured in the resulting collision, but Annette managed to push him to her family's garage in Dawsonville. While getting fixed up, they became friends, and eventually, Annette tells him about the problems that she was having with her husband and the almost constant, emotional abuse from her in-laws. Once his repairs were complete, Annette asked him if he would be willing to sire a child with her. He agrees...but only after he's 100% sure that Annette's rationale for doing so was more selfless than selfish.

Ghost would have no contact with the Glenrunners until 1947. While he and his crew were hiding from the ATF in the woods north of Dawsonville, a ten year year old Hudson Longhauler got embroiled in a sting operation meant for them. He gave Hud the option to go home, but the kid chose to follow him and his gang to Thomasville where they would run moonshine together until 1950. He and Hud mostly parted ways in 51' when the latter would begin racing for their mutual boss, Smokey. Ghost would continue running for Smokey until he was killed by the ATF in April of 54'.

Ghost was intelligent, cunning, charismatic...and a self-proclaimed "specialty ladies-man," being easily distracted by lovely, lady cars...but gentleman enough to not to see them as trophys to be won and discarded. He made a point to really get to know his potential partners, investing time and effort into individuals who really seemed to need help...and if they just happened to wind up in their garage at some point, great...but hooking up was always secondary to the emotional connection. He was very loyal to those he called friends, often helping them out in ways that they might not appreciate until years later.

Interesting Facts: He was a victim of child abuse. He may or may not have had to eat an entire tractor while hiding from the ATF in the Knobs, an area in Kentucky known for its unusual, karst topography. He was somehow able to convince an ATF agent that he was female so that he could sneak a trunk of moonshine through a roadblock. Had a brother and a cousin that he was close to, but otherwise hated the rest of his family. Would Change into a metallic silver paint job with expensive whitewall tires whenever he was in Thomasville for R&R. He became best friends with Hud...and never figured out that that the younger car was his son. Other than Hud, he sired one other child with his scout, Cassie, though they kept it a secret from the rest of the team.

Annette's husband, and the person that Doc thought was his father for most of his life, was Samuel Joseph Longhauler (factory designation: IHC1940KR11360CU11111925 Cycle 9, Rotation 134, Batch 3B). He was the youngest child sired to Spinney and Claire Longhauler. He was manufactured on November 11th, 1925, at the International Harvester Company Factory in Chicago, IL and is modeled after an Old World, 1941 KR-11 International Harvester Company Truck.

At the time he was manufactured, Sam was the largest truck born into the Longhauler family--larger, even, than his uncle Skids whom was an actual logging truck. After his seventh-year growth spurt, he was big and strong enough to haul full loads of corn and rye to Atlanta, and he was eventually coerced by his father to start hauling lumber. By ten he had managed to secure a lucrative contract with the US Railroad Commission, and was hauling lumber all over the southeast. At eleven, his parents arranged for him to marry Annette Glenrunner. Despite being lukewarm to the concepts of fatherhood and children, he and Annette knew that newly married vehicles were socially obligated to reproduce, so they would try every time he was in town. Two years and DOZENS of attempts later, they were still childless. Annette would eventually confront him with evidence suggesting that his siring cable may be at fault...and he would have believed her if not for his parents. They told him that Annette was barren, and he was too afraid of his father to argue. The next time he came home, Annette had a child with her... a child that she claimed was his. He had his doubts right from the start...but since his parents didn't question it, and Annette was happier than he'd ever seen her, he put the matter out of his mind and instead focused on trying to be a good father...despite the fact that he was on the road for much of Hud's childhood.

In '47, Hud got mixed up with a group of whiskey trippers. The ATF tore apart Dawsonville trying to find him...but they found Otis Glenrunner's still, instead. Otis, and his twin sons were arrested...leaving Annette to run Glenrunner's by herself. When Sam saw how much his wife was struggling, physically and emotionally, he quit his job to help her. His father was furious...but Sam stood up to him, earning Annette's respect in the process. This would eventually blossom forth into actual love, and despite all the hell that they were going through, their relationship prospered.

Personality wise, Sam was creative, timid and sensitive. He was much more at home in his uncle's study, studying and drawing maps, than hauling lumber. But the Longhaulers were a family of loggers and farmers, and hobbies like art were considered "idle work." His father would physically and verbally abuse him as a way of getting him to "truck up" any time his behavior "lapsed." By the time he was eight, he had developed such a pathological fear of his father that he took on work that he knew was too much for his body to handle, hoping to earn his father's respect...but it was never enough. Years of abuse, combined with the strain of forcing his body to haul loads that exceeded the recommended weight for his model, left him with deep emotional and physical scars that would make it difficult to form close bonds with people, and--unknown to him--sire children. Later in life, he would develop D.R.A.D, a degenerative disease effecting the bio-technology in his cab where it transitioned to the bio-mechanical and mechanical components of his rear axle. As time went on, the pain became so bad that he couldn't function without immense doses of medication, and he would choose to be humanely euthanized in June of '58 when his condition took a turn for the worse.

Interesting Facts:

He was the youngest of eleven children (he had eight brothers and two sisters...all of whom were various types of trucks). Out of everyone in his family, Sam was really only close to his uncle Skids, and when the latter died in a freak logging accident, he inherited his uncles entire estate...much to the chagrin of his father. He had a photographic memory, and knew the southern and eastern roads so well that he would be commissioned by the US government, off and on, to help plot routes for the Interstate Highway System.

Theme songs:

Annette:

Ghost:

Sam:

#doc hudson #pixar cars #cars #cars fandom #cars fanfiction #cars pixar #disney pixar cars #oldsmobile #cadillac #hudson hornet #Youtube

[mitsubishifever]

2020 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross: A Peppy Compact Crossover

First introduced with the 2018 model year, the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is what I’ll call an in-betweener offering. Some people would call it a subcompact crossover, others a compact crossover, depending on how they define the segments.

Either way, the coupe-styled Mitsubishi Eclipse for sale derived from one of their more famous nameplates is Mitsubishi’s attempt to get in on the crossover action and take away share from the long-established crossover offerings on the market. I recently spent some time in an Eclipse Cross, and I’m back with a full report.

LOOKS

Both the front and rear ends of the Eclipse Cross feature unique looks and lighting setups that stand out in the segment. Add in a sharp look on the sides of the vehicle, and this is an extremely attractive compact crossover that competes well design-wise.

Inside, the materials were not ultra high-end but were at least equal to competitors in terms of comfort and material quality. Among the highlights are a leather-wrapped steering wheel and a leather-wrapped shift knob.

Even base models offer standard heated front seats, which is wise. Optional are heated rear seats, and speaking of rear seats, they also have a reclining feature. Note that this is a compact vehicle, so space for legroom will be limited for rear passengers. The storage room is decent for the segment.

A panoramic sunroof and roof rails are offered. The base vehicle comes with 16-inch wheels, but my test vehicle had 18-inch wheels. The Eclipse Cross features LED low and high-beam headlights, fog lights, LED daytime running lights, automatic headlights, LED tail lights, power-folding side mirrors and front rain-sensing wipers.

HOW’S THE RIDE?

The 2020 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is powered by a four-cylinder, 1.5-litre turbo engine, paired with a CVT automatic transmission. The numbers on the powerplant are 113 kW and 249 Nm of torque.

FWD comes standard, but you can upgrade to AWD – specifically, Mitsubishi’s Super All-Wheel Control system, which helps boost straight-line stability and cornering performance by controlling torque supplied to each wheel. Other features that enhance the drive quality are Active Stability Control, Anti-lock Brakes, and Active Yaw Control.

The Eclipse Cross did an amazing job at braking, stopping immediately when I needed it to do so in surprise situations. And for a vehicle without a ton of horsepower, I was really impressed with the peppiness of the Eclipse Cross. This little vehicle can get moving better than you might think it can, and it’s quite good at keeping out road noise.

Drivers can select from multiple modes, based on driving conditions. And paddle shifters are included if you’d like to take more control.

TECHNOLOGY, SAFETY

Regarding the infotainment setup, I found the system in the Eclipse Cross mostly easy to use, but with some drawbacks too. The exact wording of voice commands is difficult to figure out at first, so there will be a learning curve in getting the vehicle to do what you want hands-free. The touchpad controller also takes time to master.

Standard tech and safety features in the Eclipse Cross include Bluetooth connectivity for streaming audio and phone calls, steering wheel audio and phone controls, a rearview camera, cruise control, automatic climate control, seven airbags and an anti-theft alarm. All levels above the base offering get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for phone mirroring.

Higher trim levels include safety features such as Forward Collision Mitigation with Pedestrian Detection, Lane Departure Warning and Automatic High Beams as standard equipment. There’s also Blind Spot Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Change Assist, Head-Up Display and a Multi-View Camera system.

All-in-all, you get a solid overall tech and safety package vs. the competition. The Head-Up Display is a good way to keep your eyes on the road, safety features work effectively, and the Multi-View Camera system delivers extra security with its bird’s-eye view.

BOTTOM LINE

The 2020 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is a solid compact crossover offering and it’s the best vehicle currently offered by the Mitsubishi brand, due to its sharp design and enjoyable driving experience.

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#Mitsubishi Eclipse

[firewolf-pyro]

Chapter One: WHISPS

Upon entering the police building you would be stunned to see a pudgy man in tan standing like a lord at the entrance of the investigation rooms. He stands no taller than five foot yet holds himself in such a way to illude to his importance. This man, known to the Torchwood’s community as Angus Jones was one of the finest agents known in the New York area.

As he enters the large plain room Jones is wearing black dress shoes, brown pants, a cream button up vest with a brown body length coat. He carries on him a brown book bag under one arm and a pair of black gloves under the other. Despite being a slightly pudgy featured man, and a middle aged white man with black hair wearing an investigator's cap he was built in such a way to hold a serious sense of power even as he began pacing up and down the table where several of his coworkers were sat across from the people they were investigating.

“Good morning gentlemen, ladies~” Jones smiles and nods his head from side to side indicating his greeting to each person in the room around him. Four men sat on one side of a table while two of his three work companions sat across from them. From the left to the right there sat one officer, a businessman, a golfer and a delivery man. They all sat in a rather uncomfortable sort of way as they had not been given a chance to change out of their drenched clothes nor were they given a chance to come to terms with what had just happened to them. The two women on the other side of the table were Kendra Griffiths, an amazing facial reconstruction artist and Olesia Morgan- one of the scientific minds in the area. Both are dressed in policeman uniforms to better fit in with the crowd they were attempting to blend in with.

“I’ve been summoned here today to talk with you all about what you have seen today.” Jones stays in the doorway for a moment more before continuing into the room to sit between the two women in uniform. Kendra and Olesia both have to scoot and scuttle a few inches apart to give Jones room to lay down in front of him his bag. With only a glance to the delivery man the interview began.

“What we have seen, it was chaotic-“ He begins to remember the muddy pond in a rainy area he had been delivering an average package to during the average outskirts of the city.

“It was raining, the highway near the pond was busy as ever. I was down by that pond to try and deliver a box of fragile items, the owner of that land wanted it delivered to his doors but my truck got stuck in the muck.” He continues following a muddy trail that must have been a gravel drive leading up to a little house hidden in the distance due to the sheer amount of rain coming down. With the highway behind him the delivery man struggles to walk along the slippery path that curves so neatly around the pond to the right of him it neatly framed the large body of water. He could be sure the pond was designed to catch the run off from the road and hilly landscape around them.

“So of course something nasty would have happened. I had heard the scurry- the screech of tires and without a second thought my body tossed the package and sent my sorry self flying down the road just in time-“ The delivery man continues to explain. A large car loses control behind him on the highway. The water on the highway above him must have caused the skid. With a loud screech of tires and sputter of mud as the car ripped through the turf he catches the crash just as the vehicle splashes into the pond with a loud crash.

“Of course I wasn’t about to just stand there so I pulled my phone out and called the emergency services,” He says as he walks to the side of the pond. By now he is drenched in rain water with mud covering his shoes and legs yet he stands there in shock trying to dial on his phone. In front of him the front of the crashed car sinks deep under water while the tail end rises.

“As soon as I had someone on the line I saw him come down the side of the road.” He goes on as he gestures to his side. Across from him the two women had begun pulling their chairs to the side of the table leaving an excess of space between them and Jones. Jones did not at all seem to notice as he continued the interview.

“So a crash? That is what brought you gentlemen down to that little pond that day?” Jones asks as he taps the screen of his work phone letting the people in the room know that he was recording this interview. This got an uncomfortable shift from the men across from him. They all looked as if what they had seen and what they were about to explain was nearly unbelievable.

“Tell me then, what happened? Why did you pull over?” Jones asks the nicely dressed business man who was likely the only man sitting up in a careful posture. His suit was dark with rain water as his face was dark with stress.

“Why wouldn’t I? If someone had spun out in front of you wouldn’t you have gone down t’see if they were alright?” He scoffed in disbelief before clearing his throat to explain what had led him down to the edge of that murky pond that evening.

“I was driving about forty in the fifty. The driver in front of me had dodged around me at what I assumed was sixty or more-“ He peered to the side to check his mirrors as he drove down the rainy road. Briefly a pair of headlights came zooming around the side of his car skidding over the double yellow lines to cross only inches in front of him. He gasps quietly as he sees the vehicle swerve around the front of him. It skids along the wet surface of the road having hit a deep puddle and without any chance to correct it- begins barrel rolling down the side of the road.

“I slowed my car further and pulled to the side of the road. I knew something bad had happened despite only being able to see a foot ahead of me. I wanted to make sure they were okay.” He explains as he gets out of the car after pulling over to the side of the road. As he leaves the safety of the gravel covered road side he slides slowly down the steep incline of the hill towards the water’s edge and the vehicle that had just rolled right into it. He briefly takes not of another vehicle stuck in the mud a little bit away from the pond along with the delivery man who was lit rather well in the darkness via his phone.

“So you went down to make sure he was safe? How did you get the man out of the water?” Asks Jones as he crosses his arms over his chest. Olesia had been jotting some of these things down in front of her while Kendra watched the expressions of the men they had in the room with them.

“That’s right, and I went in through the back.” He stated as if it were obvious. The only door to the vehicle that hadn’t yet been covered by the dark water of the pond was the trunk’s.

“Alright then. And you came out practically unscathed.” Jones noted with a slight hint of distrust. Flabbergasted that Jones didn’t believe him he sinks deeper into his set and just gestures as if he had nothing else to add. Jones glances towards a rich looking man in a golfer’s uniform. The blond man blushed deeply looking oddly guilty here in the dull light of the investigation’s room.

“Yes… I can say this whole event has been a major embarrassment to me.” He coughed whilst rubbing the back of his neck. He had been the one to overtake the business man that rainy night- this starting the horrifying events of the evening.

“I was racing home from a bad day at the golf club. My clothes were soaked and I just wanted to get home and out of the mess I had made for myself. Instead, I just made an even bigger mess.” He grumbled even as he frantically jerked his steering wheel from left to right as he raced his car around the slower moving vehicles around him. His golfing gear clattered and rolled about in the storage behind him. With only a startled yelp he swerved around one car too many. His tires hit the water and his wheel was ripped from his hands, sending his whole unit tumbling down the side of the road.

“I was in shock at what had just happened and didn’t even realize how fast I was sinking. The moment water started pouring in through the vents was the moment I heard pounding on my back window.” He sighed whilst the man in the nice business suit was on his hands and knees pounding on the back door of his vehicle. It was a race against time to get him out of the car before the whole thing had been swallowed by the little pond.

“I tried desperately to get myself out of there then, but my belt was snagged - or my fingers were too stiff with fright. Either way I was showered with water from the front and glass from the back and he joined me in the cabin of my car.” He explained as briefly the business man had left him there to sink. He had waved the delivery man down and he had handed off a heavy metal crowbar to the man. That had worked well enough to smash open the back window of the car.

“With both of us in the cabin, and the back now open I could see we didn’t have much time. Thankfully I had a pocket knife in my dash we used to cut the belt but- both of us had paused. We had seen something.” The golfer gulped as the car sank slowly towards the deepest point of the pond. The headlights of his car had seemed to reflect their lights off of something that lay in the muddy deep. But that couldn’t have been right. The light held their attention the moment they looked down upon it. It was its own source it seemed.

“You were in a life and death situation and you stopped to look at something shiny?” Jones scoffed at the man sitting across from him. This attitude that man was giving brought an angry flustered blush across the golfer’s cheeks. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he looked to the business man for support.

“Yes- it was something impossible. We just couldn’t take our eyes away from it even as the water rose above my shoulders.” The other man explained. The memory of the light that locked them there to their watery grave caused him to shiver.

“I was not asking you, sir.” Jones spat whilst holding a hall up demanding the business man’s silence. He pressed both of his hands firmly onto the table to center himself before continuing.

“Okay, then you came along?” He said finally as he turned his cold gaze to the only other officer in the room besides himself and his partners. They did not return his gaze. They had their head buried in their arms, a shameful sniffling noise coming from them every once in a while. They had been crying it seemed.

“Yes. I came along the scene- taking the call from the station.” They explained as he slowly began to sit up. He wiped the tears away from his face despite his raincoat still being drenched. Even as he sat up he didn't look Jones in the eyes.

“My partner and I - we responded to the call as we were already en-route to a different location. When we got there the car in the pond was nearly fully submerged. The delivery man was pacing at the side of the water with his phone’n we couldn’t see the owner of the car that had pulled over to the side of the road.” He explained to Jones while he flicked his light on to pick his way down the side of the road. The grass had been torn up away from the earth because of the crash. It made navigating the already slippery edge nearly treacherous. His partner was close behind him fiddling with their radio as they reported to dispatch where they were and that they would need a tow truck along with possible EMT’s dispatched to their location.

“We rushed down into the pond, knowing there was no time to waste to get the two of them out of the water.” He said as they picked up their pace from careful sliding down the side of the road to full on sprinting as the delivery man shouts to them. There were still people in the car. There were still people in the water. By the time they had both plunged into the opening of the dimly glowing car lights the back of the car had been submerged in nearly an inch of water. When they swam down to grab the two in the water they seemed to be frozen. No breath left their bodies and as they pulled at their stiff limbs both officers caught sight of what had locked the two two their possible watery grave. A brilliant glowing light radiating up from the muddy bottom of the pond.

“It was as if we couldn’t pull our eyes away from it- from whatever lies just in front of the hood of that car.” He continued even as his partner moved closer to the source of light. They seemed to reach out towards the glow. That was the only thing to knock sense into him and he blinked and grabbed the two bodies in front of him. He was losing his breath even as he struggled up to the back of the car.

“I don’t know why they didn’t come with me,” He sobbed even as he shoved the now conscious bodies of the golfer and businessman up and out of the car. They both gasped and coughed as they swam to the shoreline. The officer followed behind the two sputtering and coughing himself.

“You came up with all of the others, did you go back for your partner?” Jones asked with only a slight hint of sympathy in his voice. The officer took in a deep breath letting out in a slow shaky way.

“I did go back for them once the other two were on the shore line. But when I dove back in to grab them too, they were gone.” He said softly. They looked confused as ether peered through the front of the car. The cabin was empty, devoid of life despite his partner having been there no more than a minute beforehand. He turned and rushed back to the surface of the pond as the front of the car pressed down into the mud.

“You are sure?” Jones asked with a look of surprise on his face. A disappearance in that short of time? And a light that captivated its audience to the point they were willing to drown to watch it?

“Yes, I dove under the water to see if they had maybe crawled out a window but- all of the front windows were still set in place. The glow was also gone…” He confirmed even as he rested on his back along the shore staring up into the rain. Catching his breath even then was hard as the stress of losing his partner began to set in. The pure panic.

“Okay, thank you all for your time. We have all of your contact information so we will contact you if we have more questions.” Jones nodded to the table. He stood up and turned the recording off before tucking his phone away in the front coat pocket of his. Before he left he walked to the side of the still crying policeman and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“We will find them, I am sure of it.” He assured him with a confident look.

“Thank you, investigator Jones. I’m just… where could they have gone? They were a very strong swimmer -so it’s not as if they could have drowned…” The officer tried to assure himself. In reality he knew all too well how easy it was to drown in a situation such as the one he had escaped.

“That is what we will find out. Now please, go home, Get some rest.” Jones pleaded with the officer as well as the rest of the men sitting along the table. His look was troubled as was his thoughts. Even as he left the interview room behind he found himself playing the interview over and over again in his mind.

#torchwood’s dalek #Dalek #torchwood #doctor who #the doctor #writing

[keeperlong]

Let it die pc guns

Using a script or add-on that scans GameFAQs for box and screen images (such as an emulator front-end), while overloading our search engine.There is no official GameFAQs app, and we do not support nor have any contact with the makers of these unofficial apps. Continued use of these apps may cause your IP to be blocked indefinitely. This triggers our anti-spambot measures, which are designed to stop automated systems from flooding the site with traffic. Some unofficial phone apps appear to be using GameFAQs as a back-end, but they do not behave like a real web browser does.Using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary and even permanent IP blocks due to these additional requests. If you are using Maxthon or Brave as a browser, or have installed the Ghostery add-on, you should know that these programs send extra traffic to our servers for every page on the site that you browse.The most common causes of this issue are: heathenish.Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests. I don't know why these people insist on torturing themselves with open-coffin services. That any second he might open his eyes and yawn and. He really looked as if he was just asleep. 'That Mr Foreman must be quite an artist, grisly as it sounds. He hurt, he hurt so miserably, and the world was a crazyquilt of sense and impression Cujo was no longer sure if he wanted to attack or not. The words still had no meaning, but the smell of fear had left THE MAN. Resourceful, precise, and laid-back, he was regarded by international contamination scientists as one of the two finest toxicologists in the world All he needed to look like the Viking, Eric the Red, was a battle-axe and a conical helmet sunk on his head with horns curving from it. Hopper was big, humorous, red-faced, and heavily bearded. He was, the Turk mused, the complete opposite of himself. A quiet man, Hopper said little but listened long. Yerli looked across the coffee table at the Canadian leader of the medical team. 'And I tell you straight, Ishtar the Mede, that I can always build new wagons.' And Trok threw back his head and laughed with animal high spirits. In fact, the white fur seemed ratherwellcharismatic. The effect, when he finally got around to examining his reflection calmly, wasn't half as bad as he had feared. It was time to make his attempt and to find out just how deadly these mojos were. To the right and slightly ahead he could see the buildings of Sollas silhouetted against the darkening sky, and if he remembered the aerial maps correctly they were now about as close to the city as this road got. York took a quiet breath, using his Marine biofeed-back techniques to relax his muscles and nerves and to prepare him for action. I told you once before, Corbish said to Smith, a savage smile On his mouth, you're too old for this sort of thing. `WEAKENED FETORR CREDIT HITS NEW LOW.' New low against what? I won't destroy such a piece of work.ĭu Chaillu yanked her arm away. This is a wonder, a thing of profound mastery. This spell was placed by wizards greater than I will ever be, greater than I can even imagine. There's a marina there and it'll give us a place to chat. That's for the French police to investigate. I folded my hand in my lap.įor bitching to my pal Phil, here, about you taking so long. I nailed it, your cagey shipping company. He sidestepped and snapped his right palm into Trumbo's temple. You are mine, beautiful boy, Armand had said.īut Sten wasn't there to meet the blade. I heard my mother cry out softly,Vittorio, come back. I was out of my chair at once and after him. Describe this glassy city.Īnd he believed that he had been sent back for a purpose, did he, this man who restored beautiful dwellings, who drew pictures that were published in books, a man who ought to be too sophisticated to believe in something like that. His lips did not move.But tell me once again the whole tale. But what you're saying is that there is power involved here on both sides. You know, there are those who feel we failed them in that storm, too, G'narish said, shaking his head. We are concerned with the health and well-being of everybody, not just new gadgets that we've done without for twenty-five hundred Turns. Jeff had received a formal complaint from David of Betelgeuse and there was to be an official protest from FT&T to Aurigae Miners.Ī start, of course, on the quantity needed to equip all Healer Halls, Sharra said in an acid tone,especially when the Council unanimously-for once-agreed that the Healer Hall has priority. He saw no point to mention vague forebodings but he did mention the matter of overweight drones. You might sit behind that curtain there where no one can see you.

#Let it die pc guns

[wemod-gta-5-online-v4]

Is the online glitched and hacked like GTA Online? - Red Dead Redemption 2

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 Think of the possibilities — new design tools, new park-building, new dinosaurs. Frontier Developments had already announced that the game would not offer mod support. WeMod is completely safe. WeMod is directly supported by our Pro members and will never distribute malware or adware. Nexusmods is a legit site and has been around forever. Wait for the message that your order has been successfully placed. For the T-Rex specifically, it can be unlocked on the third island Isla Tacano by sending a team out to a fossil dig site and using what they find there. Modify each of your dinosaurs in the Genetic Engineering menu , this will increase their overall rating and contribute to your star rating. When moving to some of the later islands, build storm defense towers. You were likely banned because you attempted to use cheats online or had cheats injected into your RAM whether for CoD:MW or another game. Did Harry and Hermione actually kiss? All cheats and games in WeMod remain free and usable with hotkeys. Interactive controls are a premium feature that requires a Pro membership. It is unlocked by completing an Earth Shattering Event. More individuals can be purchased in the market for DNA or found through card packs. Where: When the T-Rex opens his mouth to roar, throw a flair into it. Do this three times, then drive to the far-left of the road. Hug that side until you run into the Amber Brick. Simply YES. However, please know that all games patch files are detected by Antivirus as virus files, which you can google about to know more about. Vortex had a learning curve when I switched from NMM. But, in the end it is a better product. Plugin tab has much more useful information than NMM. These apex predators of the prehistoric deep can feast on all manner of ocean life. Their double-hinged jaws open wide for any prey including Plesiosaurs and great white sharks. They are not actually dinosaurs , but in fact marine reptiles. While a similar length, the Megalodon had a much more robust body and huge jaws built for devouring whales and other large marine mammals. A Mosasaurus would not have been able to get its jaws around the much thicker body of the Megalodon. It would just take one catastrophic bite for the Megalodon to end the battle. Even at 40 meters long , this would make the Jurassic World Mosasaurus by far the largest animal to have ever lived. For context, the largest blue whales, the biggest living animal today, top out at around 30 meters long. Authors: 8 — Editors: 14 — Last Updated: 23 days ago — References : Did Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris ever fight? Does Eiji know Ash died? Is Deadpool a Marvel or DC? Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Home Entertainement How do you cheat in Jurassic World evolution? How do you cheat in Jurassic World evolution? How do you cheat in Jurassic World Evolution? Related Posts. Answers jurassic world evolution developer. You might also like. Prev Next. Leave A Reply.

[beautyandthebiotechbeast]

Cutting-edge Led Signs Above Neon Signs

Business takes place just when you develop a demand and fluorescents light produces the need to have with the you offer in purchasers mind. You have attempted to draw more customers to the shop with premium items however, exactly what is the usage any appropriate ad campaign? When a person are spending some kind of substantial price as store's rent and likewise other upkeep, envision regarding costs a couple of hundred dollars or perhaps much less according into your requirement, to advertise your present store with attractive company neon lights. It's just when you capture your customers' attention you can capture a service. Consequently consider commonly the after-sunset organization that you were losing and behave smart! Neon signal is constructed from tough glass-tube bended to establish letters or images. The glass-tube is comprised of neon gas, argon and also mercury. These gases if used with high voltage radiance intensely. And likewise the sparkling symptom of the indication is amongst the elements of its effectiveness. Pub indications made with Neon can be located from bars, club, eating areas as well as at house. Lots of popular indications have designs on these individuals text or create on them. Some people use them in your home inside their garages, video game or maybe entertainment spaces as well as round the damp club. Organizations make use of the bright yet warm fluorescents radiance to improve walls via adding gentle to eye shadows. These custom indications are not that costly, although certainly make a reimbursement lot of times over with the extra firm they will draw. Neon signs is cash well spent of which no enterprise must lose. Researches have shown of which a major indication rise service by 15% much more almost automatically. You can increase that will percent if all new indicator is a fluorescents put your trademark on. The versatile glass tubes used to develop customized fluorescents indicators can get curved and also shaped to create almost any type of kind and also style might fine-tune desire right up. The specific development of neon-signs is art kind added typical science as well as additionally the resulting indicators can be private as well as different. Exactly what a person are wanting to employ when you look for to set apart company from the audiences in high road stores. Neon lights is developed by moving current using glass tubes which are loaded with gasoline can make these pontoons produce light. Neon gas discharges reddish light,. Argon plus krypton gases produce other colors. Neon indications are indicated literally, so when you time out to believe there are lots of designs along with any type of some various other methods, around this particular day, were very inconceivable. Nevertheless, this side approach has actually been doing deal with in order to 100 years as well as will probably continue up until something much better comes the size of. Generally the tubes is twisted and the electrodes occur to be attached producing the getting rid of of contaminations from tubes. After that air is evacuated and also gas is generally added.

Currently when i have a functional understanding of LED lights is we may probably make the fairer contrast to be able to neon signs while we state the good factors along with the horrible factors of each. The basis for examination is utilize connected with both lighting procedures in marketing and advertising. Every every line of service now is placing up neon light meant for advertising objective. Acquisition see slowly college indications are recognizable outside the premises of professors. The significant relating to neon which you can seen the specific illumination of such signs from lengthy cross country. The brightness is really valuable for people today are taking a trip at the night. The majority of the particular motels as well as pump station have these sort of indicators which shine 24 humans resources. Exploring individuals find it effortless to find motels plus resorts are evening. Currently neon is located in clocks additionally which supplies a radiant effect at. These sort of neon wall lighting can use given that night light youngsters s space. Together with new modern technology discover it difficult to become much cheaper and will certainly be prominent one of several organization circle. For commonly the component of the owner, she or he must consist of the method to bring in consumers. Some individuals use all of them within your own within their put on, game or enjoyable spaces and also round the damp bar.

#neon signs #neon signs custom

[lopez75blake]

Replica Girls Chloe Baggage & Wallets

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The high quality of the snap closure fittings is of the highest order and the leather-based straps provide a two-way selection for carrying. This bag is at present in mini and medium size two, if you need to install extra, select the medium is probably the most suitable, such as when touring. Of course, the mini can additionally be very cute and cute Oh, this spring concave modeling weapon It is it.Although this bag is a shoulder bag, but also designed a removable deal with, transportable or brief shoulder could be on the shoulder, or shoulders, easily. The social occasions are mainly ornamental design, usually small in measurement, numerous types and materials range, and have certain decorative results. Leisure events are primarily snug, to meet the needs of specific occasions, bag styles, materials change extra, might be different in accordance with totally different leisure events, such as seashore bags, backpacks, shoulder baggage and so on. 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This Replica Chloe Bags is very eye-catching, just like the metal circle inherent in his model, the distinctive massive body design continues the pocket and metallic components of the Faye collection on the bag physique, the main points subtly interpret the delicate pragmatism . wikipedia handbags One of the earliest recorded media hoaxes is a faux almanac revealed by Jonathan Swift under the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaff in 1708. Swift predicted the demise of John Partridge, one of many leading astrologers in England at the moment, in the almanac and later issued an elegy on the day Partridge was imagined to have died.

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