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firstofficerwiggles · 3 years

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Chapter 2: Adventures in Space Babysitting

Link to Chpt. 1, Chpt. 3

Pairing: The Mandalorian x female reader

Rating: T

Warnings: Mild swearing, sexual arousal, references to sexual relationships, canonical violence

Word Count:~5600

Summary: Caretaker reader is settling into her job and she realizes she has a crush on Mando. Some fluff, action, and little angst in this chapter.

Author’s Note: Welcome to Chpt. 2! I haven’t really written anything with angst before so I hope you think that part went okay. Thanks for reading!

The little green body launches itself up onto your bed yet again waking you in the early hours of the morning. The child snuggles up close to your chest and you can’t help but rub his little back with soothing motions. You have tried to get the child on a routine these past few weeks, and this seems to be the one pattern he’s most pleased to follow every day. The first time he showed up in your bed you thought Mando had placed him there as a subtle hint that it was your turn to be on child duty. However, when you heard Mando frantically looking for the toddler that first morning, you knew the little one had managed to sneak his way over to you all on his own. Neither you nor Mando know much about the child’s life before Mando rescued him, but it seems to you that it must have been difficult, because he appears to be starved for affection and he seeks it out every chance he gets. You’ve always been a cuddler yourself though so you are happy to oblige him and honestly although it means you don’t get to sleep as much as you used to, you love your early morning snuggles with him. Besides, it helps keep your mind off how much you’d like to snuggle Mando.

This silly crush on Mando has hit you out of nowhere and you feel like a complete fool for even acknowledging it. You suppose it can’t be helped to a certain extent, as he has to be hands down the nicest man in the entire galaxy, implausible as it may seem. He’s a gun-for-hire, rough and tough bounty hunter, covered in armor and weapons, and yet he has been nothing but thoughtful and respectful towards you. When you first spoke to him about establishing a better schedule for the child and working on some developmental milestones, he listened carefully and encouraged you to do what you felt was best. Other men you’ve known in the past would have questioned your recommendations or only half-listened to you dismissively. But Mando asked thoughtful questions that showed you he valued your opinions and then he was sure to comment on how well things were going after you began implementing the changes. You couldn’t remember the last time an employer gave you a compliment on your work, and it was just nice.

Then there was the first time he brought back a bounty to the ship. He’d been gone for about two days and when he returned, he was dragging a large alien man behind him. While you tried not to be overly curious, you couldn’t help but watch him as he manhandled the guy into the carbonite freezer. You were impressed with his strength, but it also made you feel a little bit wary as he next strode over towards you and the child. Your cautiousness melted away quickly though as Mando placed a bag of berries on the crate sitting next to you, mentioning that he noticed how much you seemed to enjoy them and thought you’d like to have some more. The thought of him noticing such a detail and then taking the time to stop and buy the berries for you made you want to swoon. You told yourself you were being ridiculous and that it was clearly just an overreaction to someone finally being nice to you.

The child is starting to get squirmy and you know that means he’ll be looking for breakfast soon. You listen carefully for Mando and realize that he must either be still asleep or up in the cockpit. Either way, you doubt he’s eaten any breakfast yet as he seems to prefer your cooking over his own. You toss back your covers and get yourself ready for the day. You decide to make eggs this morning, the little one’s favorite food that isn’t sugar-based. You are just finishing cutting up some fruit to go with the eggs, when you hear Mando’s boots behind you.

“MMM, smells good.” He says sounding still a bit sleepy. “I’m starving.”

You turn around with a plate all ready for him and a cup of caf, telling him “Lucky for you, I knew you would be.”

“Thank you, I don’t know how I survived without you,” Mando replies. Your heart sings at his words and you quickly turn back to the food so he can’t see the goofy smile breaking out on your face.

“Mostly on ration bars it seems.” You noticed he had quite the stash of them when you were first on board. Fortunately, you’ve convinced him to try to get a greater variety of food whenever possible.

“Well, my taste buds thank you too.” He carries his breakfast into his bunk where he can eat in privacy. At first, you felt sad for him always having to eat by himself, but you realize he must be so used to it that it probably doesn’t bother him. Nonetheless, it hasn’t stopped you from thinking up ideas for a shared meal sometime in the future, maybe when he knows you better and his trust in you is stronger.

After breakfast, you’re getting the child ready for a day out on the town. Mando is dropping off several bounties today which means you’ll be able to stretch your legs off the ship and visit the market in Batuu. As the ship lands, Mando is already back in the hull quickly reviewing all of the safety protocols for leaving the ship. He does this each time and at first it was rather annoying, it’s not like you’re an idiot, but then you realized he does it because he simply cares that much about the child’s and your wellbeing. While his protectiveness towards the child is completely logical, you still can’t get over how much it extends to you too. You’ve been responsible for yourself for so long; it never occurred to you that another adult would care so much about protecting you.

“Before I forget, I found a holster for you.” Mando is holding out a leather belt for you. “You shouldn’t keep the blaster in a bag; you can’t get to it fast enough.”

“Oh, thank you.” You say politely, although you’re hoping that just once he’ll fail to remind you to take the blaster along. You know he said you have to take it with you every time you leave the ship, but you still feel uncomfortable carrying it around. At least when you could shove it into your bag, you could pretend you didn’t have it, but now, it’ll be right there on your hip, much harder to ignore. Your fingers fumble with buckling the holster; knowing that he’s watching you intently makes you nervous. Mando steps closer to help you, softly brushing your hands away. Maker, he’s so close to you and each time his hands brush against your waist as he secures the holster you need to remind yourself to breathe.

“There you go.” Mando finishes but lets his hand linger for a moment on your hip. You feel his thumb brush back and forth just a bit before he sharply pulls away as if realizing what he was doing. You slip the blaster into the new holster, and he gives you a nod, “Looks good.”

You feel your face heat up as you realize he’s staring at your hips and you distract yourself by making sure the child is ready to go, “Ready to explore?” you ask him, and you hear a happy coo in response from the pram.

You follow Mando down the ramp of the ship, glad to be out in the fresh air and sunshine. Shopping for supplies never seemed like anything interesting in the past, but now that you get to visit different markets on new worlds you’ve never seen before, each little shopping trip feels like a new experience. The colorful stalls filled with all types of wares beckon you to explore and discover some exotic fruit or an old book that you might never see anywhere else.

Oh, speaking of books, “I thought I might try to find a few children’s books for the child, if that’s ok?” you ask Mando.

“Are you trying to teach him to read? Is he ready for that?” Mando sounds curious, but not skeptical in any way.

“No, not yet, but I know he likes hearing stories,” you explain, “and I’m not sure how much more I can keep inventing ones to tell him.”

“Have you just been making those stories up yourself?” He nods in approval, seemingly impressed. “You have a good imagination.”

“Oh, um, thank you.” You’re caught off guard there for a moment, as you hadn’t realized he’d paid much attention to the stories you tell the little one.

“Yeah, I liked the one you told him about the magic frog. It was funny.” He surprises you again. Not only was he listening, he remembers the silly story you made up, and he liked it.

“Thanks,” you say again, stunned by his comment, but it’s his next suggestion that totally floors you.

“You should write them down, make your own book.”

“Make my own book?” The idea would never have occurred to you.

“Why not? Maybe you can even get the kid to draw pictures for it. You can get him some coloring pencils too.” Mando turns and hands you some extra credits. “I need to take care of some business, now, but you two will be safe here. Meet me by the fountain in 30 minutes. Do not be late.” He punctuates that last statement with a point of his index finger and then turns to go.

You watch him head towards a cantina and then just stare down at the credits in your palm. How is he so nice but then also kind of scary? And why does it make you ‘feel’ things? You shake your head at your own silliness and then look down at the little guy and say, “Well, let’s go find you something to color with.”

Perusing the stalls, you find plenty of items to fill up your bags and empty your wallet. You discover a great notebook with plenty of space for writing and pictures. The more you think of the idea of creating your own little book with the child, the more excited you get. You find a few children’s books too, so that you can be sure to keep the little one entertained when he’s tired of drawing. Cognizant of the time, you start to head to the fountain in the center of the market, Mando’s designated meeting spot, when you smell a delectable aroma. The baby smells it too and immediately begins whining and reaching out his little hands. You head to the source of the scent to see several types of kebabs at a nearby stand. You still have some credits and are preparing to order but the little one is too impatient and before you know it, two kebabs are floating to the pram.

“Hey! You have to pay for those!” The man behind the stand yells at you.

“I was; I mean I am,” you quickly tell him, “I’m sorry, he’s just so sneaky and fast sometimes.” You offer him a smile, hoping to smooth things over. What’s more, you pray the man thinks the child just grabbed the food and that he didn’t notice anything magical about it. “How much are they?”

The man looks you over for a moment and then his demeanor changes, “Well, for you, mama, I’m sure we can work out a little deal.” He leers at you.

“That’s ok,” you say uncomfortable at the look in his eye, and you let your smile drop from your face, “I’ll just pay the regular price.”

“Ah, c’mon, there’s nothing like a little discount among friends.” He steps out from behind his stall to stand right in front of you. He reaches out and brushes a hand down your arm, “You’d like to be my friend, wouldn’t you?”

You take a step back and say, “I’d just like to pay you for the food.”

“We can call it even, if you give me a little kiss.” This gross creep moves closer to you again, this time leaning down.

“I have credits.” You tell him, attempting to sound firm while you start to step back again, but he anticipates your move and reaches out to grab your wrist pulling you up against his body. You push on his chest, trying to pull away when you hear the sound of a blaster priming and then a raspy modulated voice says, “Let her go.”

The man drops your arm instantly and you can finally back away from him. You’re very grateful to see Mando with his weapon pointed directly at the man’s head. The man holds his hands up, “We were just having a friendly little chat.”

“Didn’t look friendly to me.” Mando deadpans, but he holsters his blaster now that it’s clear you’re safe. He comes over to you, placing a hand on the small of your back and turns you to walk away with him.

“Hey! She still needs to pay me for the food,” the man protests.

“What did he want for the food?” Mando asks you.

“A kiss,” you reply sardonically.

Mando shrugs, then turns back to the stall, approaches the man quickly and then just head-butts him hard with his helmet. The creep lets out a loud yell of pain and collapses to the ground.

“There you go, a kiss from a Mandalorian.” Mando drawls, before turning and striding back over to you.

Oh damn! That was the hottest thing you’ve ever seen and you feel your body flood with desire. Ok, so maybe that was a blatant show of male posturing, and as an educated, modern woman, you probably shouldn’t be so aroused right now. But some primeval part of your brain has taken over, and the only thought you have is how great a protector Mando is and how much you want him to protect you. You can’t even say anything to him right now because you’re just replaying the moment over in your head. It isn’t until you realize that Mando is saying your name, repeating it, that you finally snap back to reality and remember to thank him.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Mando is saying, “Are you ok?” He asks you slowly to make sure you’ve understood him. It’s possible he’s already asked you that but you were too swept up in your cavewoman thoughts.

“Oh, yes, yes, I’m fine,” you reassure him, “That creep just made me uncomfortable, but he didn’t hurt me. But, thank you again.”

“You’re sure?” Mando asks, a bit doubtful. What are you supposed to tell him? That your dazed look is because you’re turned on by him right now. Super inappropriate, having a major crush on your boss! You take a deep breath and remind yourself yet again that Mando is your employer.

“Really, I’m fine, thank you.” You’re pleased that you managed to get that out in a normal sounding voice. Mando considers you for a moment.

“Why didn’t you pull your blaster on him?” He wants to know.

“I don’t know,” you tell him truthfully, “I guess I’m just not used to reacting that way.”

“Hmm, we’ll need to work on that.” He seems satisfied at that and starts walking back towards the Crest. You force your feet to follow him, telling yourself to pull it together.

“Is that really considered a kiss from a Mandalorian?” You can’t help your stupid mouth from blurting out your question.

He laughs, surprising you because it’s the first time you’ve heard it. “Technically, yes, we call it a Keldabe Kiss.” He chuckles again and then says, “But there is a much softer version too between lovers.”

Ok, you almost become a puddle hearing him say the word ‘lovers’, and thankfully he’s still amused by your question that he doesn’t seem to notice your mouth dropping open and your feet stumbling a little. Instead, all he says is “Let’s get back to the ship, kid’s got the right idea, I could use something to eat.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Mando powers up the engines and you figure you’re off to the next planet, but instead he keeps the ship in the atmosphere, taking you away from the town. He lands in a clearing near a forest, and says, “This will be a good spot to practice.”

“Practice?” You’re confused.

“Yeah, I told you we’re going to work on your reaction to threats.” He says this in a matter-of-fact voice, “Plus, I know you said you could shoot, but I want to see how you handle that blaster.”

Sighing internally, you put the holster back on and collect the blaster from the weapons locker before following him down the ramp. The baby toddles down the ramp too, curious to see what’s happening.

“Alright, Miss Top-Marks-in-Shooting, let’s see you hit that tree.” Mando’s tone is rather chipper as he points out a large tree directly across from where you’re both standing. It’s a very easy target; he must think you exaggerated your skills.

You draw the weapon smoothly and shoot, just as you were trained to do, hitting the tree with ease. You fire four shoots in a small cluster pattern, to show that you are capable of accuracy.

Mando nods his head once, “Ok, now hit those five trees in rapid succession.” He points to a line of smaller trees further away to your left. You turn and successfully hit all five in what you consider to be a decent pace.

“Not bad, but see if you can go faster.” He instructs you. You try again, hopefully quicker this time. He nods when you look back at him and then points out a new target. You both keep repeating this pattern and he offers some critiques as you shoot, but generally, he seems satisfied.

“You did well,” Mando tells you after a bit, “You ever hit a moving target?”

“Uh, no.” You look at him cautiously, wondering what he has in mind. Your eyes must show how anxious that makes you, because he says, “We’ll work on that another time.”

You can’t help but let out a small sigh of relief. You figure practice time must be over for now, but then he says, “Let’s work on that reaction time for when someone is in your face. Just let me tell the kid first.”

Mando walks over to the little one who has been sitting on the ramp watching you shoot. “Ok, kiddo, this is just pretend. You understand? No one will get hurt, so no powers, ok?” The baby coos up at him and Mando nods.

“Gotta make sure he doesn’t try to fling one of us into a tree.” He says to your bemused expression. Mando returns to face you and steps close until he’s practically touching you. Your heartrate immediately picks up and your body starts to feel hot.

“I want you to draw your weapon on me, but do not shoot me,” he says definitively.

“What? No, I can’t do that, Mando,” you tell him in protest.

He reaches out lightning fast, grabs your wrist, and hauls you up against him in a similar manner to the jerk in the marketplace. Your positioning might be the same, yet this time you don’t feel creeped out, no, instead you like it, your traitorous body even pushes you a little closer to him.

“Draw your weapon on me. I’m a threat to you.” Mando tells you in a gravelly voice. Stars above! You have to bite your lip hard to keep from moaning. What is wrong with me? You realize he’s not going to let you go until you draw the blaster and so you finally comply with his order.

Mando releases you with small chuckle, as he says, “Ok, let’s try that again only not in slow motion.”

“Wait, wait, I’m not ready.” You’re panting like you just ran a race.

“That’s the whole point,” he replies, “Threats don’t just wait until you’re ready to shoot them.” You could swear he’s smirking at you under that helmet.

“No, I mean, give me a second to imagine I’m being threatened,” you are trying to buy yourself time before he decides to touch you again. “I need to visualize it.”

“Are you saying I’m not threatening enough?” Mando sounds skeptical and maybe a little insulted.

“No, I mean, of course, you are, you’re very threatening and wanted men everywhere should fear you, but I don’t fear you because I know you’ll never hurt me,” you explain to him in attempt to cover up the fact that you’re so damn attracted to him right now.

“You’re right; I would never do anything to hurt you.” He nods in agreement. “But wanted men everywhere should fear me, huh?” He sounds amused by that.

“Yes, yes, you’re very scary.” You tell him, rolling your eyes slightly.

“Ok, so pretend I’m someone you do fear.” He advances toward you. This time you think of Lieutenant Sauckel, an odious man from Imperial Intelligence that you despised. When Mando grabs you again, you imagine Sauckel’s black eyes and yellow teeth and draw your blaster as Mando pulls you to his chest.

“That was better, but still too slow.” He makes you try over and over, and each time you picture another terrible Imperial officer, Commander Brack, Major Frick, Junior Lieutenant Hess, and then finally Ensign Kerrick Hoven, the man who broke your heart and betrayed you. Imagining Kerrick’s smug face appears to do the trick, because it’s the fastest you’ve drawn the blaster yet, and you manage to wrench your arm away from Mando for the first time.

“Good!” Mando praises you enthusiastically, “That was really good.”

“Thanks.” You’re pleased to hear his words of encouragement, but your voice doesn’t show it. Picturing Kerrick again is enough to send you into darker emotions and you feel anger and sadness swirl in your stomach. Your face must give away your unhappy thoughts, because Mando suggests you stop for the day.

You stow your blaster in the holster and then head over to the child who’s been thoroughly entertained watching you both pretend fight. You reach down to pick him up and hold him close to your chest in a hug. There’s just something about his sweet little presence that makes you feel better. You’re smiling again when you pull away and head back into the ship. Mando follows you up the ramp and he’s quiet but you can feel him watching you as you stow the blaster in the weapons locker and remove the holster from your waist.

“Everything alright?” He asks you.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I-, Thank you for taking the time to work with me on that. To practice, I mean. I know you’re very busy.” It really does mean a lot to you that he took time out of his schedule for you and you feel your heart swell as you think about his protective nature.

“You’re welcome,” he says, his voice a little softer, “Your safety is important to me. Plus, you need to be able to help keep the child safe too.”

“Yes, of course,” you nod in agreement.

“It’s helpful that you’re a good shot.” He praises you again, and this time you smile at his words.

“Thank you,” you reply sincerely. While you haven’t seen him shoot, you know he’s clearly an expert and it really does mean a lot to hear him praise your skill.

You turn back to the child, “I think it’s playtime now, what do you say, buddy?” He chirps in agreement and you head over to his small stash of toys and place him on the floor so he can start pulling out his favorites. Before you clamber down to join him, you feel Mando’s hand cup your arm just above the elbow. You turn back towards him with an inquisitive look. He just seems to stare at you for a moment, still holding your arm before telling you, “I’ll going to get us on our way to the next planet.”

“Ok, we’ll be alright down here. I’ll bring you up some dinner later.” You give him another smile and a quick nod.

“Good,” is all that he says and then he gives your arm a little squeeze before heading to the cockpit and you can’t help but feel a little fluttering in your stomach at that touch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of your afternoon passes swiftly as you and the child take his plushies on a heroic quest across the metal wonderland (the hull) to the black cliffs of mystery (a stack of crates) where you must find the golden treasure (a box of cookies). It’s a much more enjoyable game of pretend seeing as you’re not imagining Imps threatening you. It puts you in a cheerful mood and you’re still grinning to yourself when you bring Mando his dinner tray. You feel a pang of regret for him that he’s missed out on the fun afternoon with you and the child and it’s compounded by the thought of him eating his dinner alone too.

“Mando?”

“Yeah?”

You want to ask if there’s any way you could keep him company while he eats, promising to face away from him the entire time, but it feels too pushy to ask him for that. Besides, you’re probably just projecting your own feelings onto him. He’s likely much more comfortable knowing that you and the child are safely shut away from him downstairs and there’s no way he can break his creed while he eats. So, you just tell him, “I hope you enjoy your food.”

When you head back downstairs, you’re mentally kicking yourself for getting too attached. Your job is to take care of the child and make sure his needs are met. It’s nice of you to take care of Mando a little too, but he doesn’t need you to keep him company or worry about him being lonely. I’m being pathetic. You turn your attention back to your little green charge and decide it’s time to give him a bath and get him ready for bed. Still though as much as you try, you can’t stop your thoughts from wondering back to Mando. It’s hard to forget what it felt like pulled up against his chest while you were practicing your self-defense. And you may have replayed the whole head-butt scene in your head a dozen times. Stars! Am I really so desperate that I’m falling for the first man who’s nice to me? You try again to push images of Mando out of your head and focus on the baby. It works until he’s sound asleep in his little hammock and you don’t have a distraction any more. Maybe you can just grab your holopad and read up in the cockpit. That way you can satisfy your need to be close to Mando but also keep from bothering him. You make your way up the ladder, making sure it’s ok to enter the cockpit in case he still has the helmet off, before flopping down in the passenger seat on Mando’s right. You sit there and fiddle with the holopad trying to find a story that will entice you enough to keep your eyes on it, instead of tossing glances at the armored man sitting next to you. Turns out it doesn’t matter though because Mando feels like chatting.

“Kid get to sleep ok?” he asks you.

“Yes, he was pretty sleepy after his bath,” you reply.

“Probably tired after that epic adventure you went on too,” he huffs out a laugh, “I heard you doing all the voices for the toys.”

“Oh, yeah,” you’re a little embarrassed by that as you know you can be pretty goofy when you’re pretending with the child, “He really seems to like it though.”

“Sure he does, I could hear him giggling too.” Mando confirms for you. “I’m glad he’s having this time to be a child. I don’t know much about his past, but I don’t think he’s had a lot of fun in his life.”

“Well, I’ll try to make sure he does something fun every day.” You already love the little one so much, anything you can do to make him happy brings you joy too.

“Who were you picturing when we were practicing your reaction time?” Mando changes the subject abruptly.

You take a moment to process his question, and then tell him, “Just some Imperial officers from my past.” You shrug, “I figured that would be good motivation to draw a blaster.”

He seems to consider you for a moment, and then asks, “What about the last time? Who was that?”

“Oh,” you try to let out a little laugh to ease the discomfort welling up in you, “That was the man who broke my heart.”

“An Imperial officer?” Mando sounds surprised at that.

“He wasn’t an Imperial officer when I first knew him. He was in the graduating class before mine. We dated when we were in school together and we stayed in contact after he graduated. He’s the one who convinced me to do the exams for the ‘research group’.” You make quotation marks with your hands when you say those last two words.

“He mislead you?” Mando asks.

“No, he didn’t know what it really was then either. He had only just heard about it and was trying to get a job there and convinced me that it would be great for the two of us to work together.” You pause there not sure if you really want to keep telling Mando this story.

He’s curious though, as he asks, “What happened when you both found out you were working for Imp Intelligence?”

“We were both shocked and we turned to each other for comfort. It was intense, because I still had old feelings for him, and at the time, I believed he was the only one who understood how I had been deceived because he was right there with me. For a while, it felt tragically romantic, like we were two people clinging to each other in the midst of a terrible situation.”

“So, how did he break your heart?” Mando questions softly.

“I didn’t realize how one-sided our love affair had become. I thought he shared my horror for the Empire and their actions, but little did I know, he was buying into the Empire’s message more each day. As I was trying to disrupt the intelligence, Kerrick was weaseling his way closer to the officers, trying to spend time with them or impress them with his work. They awarded him the rank of Ensign when he turned me in for sabotage.” You can’t help the tear that manages to sneak out and slide down your cheek. You look out to the stars as they swirl by you in hyperspace.

“What was his name? His full name?” Mando asks.

“Kerrick Hoven, why?”

He ignores the question and asks, “Is he still alive?”

“As far as I know, yes.” You’re not sure why that matters to him.

Mando just makes a little hmm noise and then says, “No wonder you drew your blaster so quickly.”

“Well, that’s my sad story of heartbreak. How about you, Mando? You have a heartbreak story of your own?” Now that you’ve bared your sad past to him, you’re curious to hear about his.

“No.” Is all that he says.

“No? Nothing?” You push back a little; he must have something to share.

“Not really. Never get too attached or involved with a woman.” He punctuates this with a shrug.

“What about when you were a bit younger? No love affairs?” You can’t stop yourself from being curious about his romantic past; you just want to know a little something about it.

“I’ve had lovers, but nothing long-term or serious.” he states, “Relationships don’t really go with being a bounty hunter.” He sounds rather blasé about his love life or lack of one, as if he doesn’t spend any time thinking about it at all.

You feel your heart drop at that and all of your fantasies about the two of you being together someday seem exceedingly ridiculous right now. Of course he isn’t a man who gets into relationships, and if you became his lover, it would probably be a short-lived fling that would burn itself out once the novelty of new passion was gone. You feel foolish and tired. The fun of hearing about Mando’s love life has dissipated completely for you. So you change the topic and ask, “Where are we headed to next?”

“Bespin” Mando says. “It’s a mining planet with a city high up in the clouds in the upper atmosphere.”

You listen politely as he tells you some other facts about the planet. It sounds interesting enough, but you’re not really paying that close attention as you’re still somewhat wrapped up in your emotional reaction to his dismissal of relationships. You take a deep breath to center your thoughts and then focus in on his words, telling yourself that this is for the best, that you need to let your stupid crush die and just do your job. If you can’t do that, you’ll just set yourself up for another heartbreak, and what will that get you?

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Thank you for reading! Link to Chapter 3, Lust Actually. Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future chapters.

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#the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian fanfic #din djarin x reader #din djarin fanfic #the mandalorian x female reader #din djarin x female reader #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin fanfiction

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dweetwise · 4 years

Note

Felix and Ace having met before. Ace won a grand prize at the table and got an executive suite. Though his next door neighbor was Felix who was here on a business meeting to design a similar casino. (I am sorry I love imagining people meeting people before the fog)

this isn’t exactly what you asked for buuuut i needed to write something for waiter ace and you blessed me with this ask uwu also if you didn’t want a ship i’m sorry but that’s what i assumed! warning for closeted felix and mentions of the s3x but nothing nsfw actually happens

word count: 1860

Felix X Ace: Strictly Business

Felix wasn’t exactly prepared for the fog to transport him into another dimension. He'd read some theories, sure, and he'd seen his father disappear into thin air all those years ago, but to experience it first-hand was another thing entirely.

He also didn't expect the world in question to be controlled by an eldritch being that forced its captured victims into a gruesome game of hide and seek, killing and resurrecting him and others at will.

But he sure as hell didn't expect to come face to face with the biggest mistake of his life.

It takes Felix a minute to recognize the man, the small camp having so many new faces and names to memorize and they’re all speaking over each other—it's a lot to take in. But then he spots a familiar face, and everything the ginger woman is trying to explain to him becomes white noise as the man he focuses on laughs at something a boy in a beanie says.

Felix’s thoughts drift back to what feels like a lifetime ago, when he was on a business trip in Austria, staying at a luxurious casino.

Him and a couple of other junior architects were invited to design an expansion to the building, and the best idea would be hired. Felix hated competition, he hated having to work on the field, and he hated the lavish, over-the-top style of the casino. But he was only starting to get his name out there, and couldn't afford to turn down any opportunities—if he played his cards right, this could be his stepping stone into more high-profile projects. Maybe he'd get to design an entire casino next time, without the twenty fake fountains and fuck-awful gold trims.

They were waited on like VIP:s while attending meetings in lavish conference rooms and bullshit marketing presentations about the brand. It was basically an all-inclusive stay, but Felix still despised it. He would have given anything to skip the unnecessary pleasantries and stay at home to draw the designs in peace.

He hated it right up until one of the waiters serving their mid-presentation coffees caught him suppressing a yawn and gave him a cheeky wink and a smirk. Felix had blinked, thinking he imagined it, but the more he kept staring, the more the waiter's smile seemed to widen.

Felix wasn't gay, but being an architect, he could appreciate aesthetically pleasing things in life. Like the waiter's symmetrical face, high cheekbones and good hairline. And eyes that sparkled with mischief even while he was outwardly completely professional.

And the way his work pants clung to his perky ass.

The waiter was suddenly a hundred times more interesting to him than the entire project. The project was predictable, and Felix once again found himself drawn to the unknown.

It wasn't a challenge to get the man's attention. He only had to linger behind after a dinner, and soon enough, there was a gloved hand brushing fleetingly against his neck as the man collected his plate. With the rest of the group having moved on, and Felix having had more than a few drinks, he'd asked if there was any possibility for room service. He was rewarded a lopsided grin and warm eyes shimmering with promise.

He always was much smoother when drunk off his ass.

He doesn't even remember what he'd designed by the end of his five-day-stay in the casino. He only remembers fucking the cute waiter against the tacky gold-trimmed headboard of the king-sized bed in his suite. And in the hot tub. And in a supply closet. It was a long week, okay?

His companion was named Luca. He'd only been working in the casino for a few months and was thinking of moving back to Italy, not being a fan of gambling or the over-the-top establishment. He had a charming accent and only spoke a couple of words of German, forcing Felix to use his own shaky English.

It was a shallow thing. Felix tried to keep his personal life private, and he definitely left out the part where he had a girlfriend back home. He'd ended up exaggerating his professional success, but wasn’t that what people did? He was just trying to make a good impression,

After the week, Felix never talked to the other man again. He got home, unpacked his bags, and freaked out. He didn't even want to think about how unprofessional he'd been and how risky it was.

And definitely not about how much he'd enjoyed it.

The more he tried suppressing the thoughts, the more insistent they got. His brain was periodically invaded by images of warm brown eyes, expressive lips twisting into a hundred different smiles, and a laugh resonating in his ear, rich like his favorite double-roast coffee. The memories had haunted him for close to a decade, and he thought he'd finally gotten past them, ready to be a good father that had his shit together.

But here he is, seeing the same brown eyes light up with the same carefree smile and the sound of the same damn laugh echoing through the air and all the memories come flooding back.

The woman next to him hollers something to the group, and the familiar face looks his way. Even with the now grey hair and added wrinkles, Felix still finds himself just as transfixed as he'd been ten years ago.

He's introduced to the group, but he only really remembers one name and the overwhelming sense of wrongness that follows it; Ace. The revelation isn’t made any easier when he notices there isn't even a flicker of recognition in the eyes he remembers so fondly.

In the following couple of trials, Felix is only disappointed further. “Ace” doesn’t have an Italian accent anymore, in fact Felix catches him instead saying something in Spanish to the woman in a blazer. He’s also very keen on gambling, and the shiny satin smoker jacket he wears in one trial could have been straight from the tacky casino they met in. Was anything he told Felix about himself true?

It takes him a while to confront the man, debating back and forth inside his head. All of his focus should be on finding his father, and he needs to keep these people at arm’s length. Ace not remembering him is the best possible outcome of their brief past together, he tries to rationalize.

But in the end, curiosity wins over rationality, and when the opportunity presents itself, Felix is unable to resist.

“You really don't remember me, do you?” Felix asks, alone in the camp until Ace returns from a trial. The man pauses, eyebrows pinching together in confusion “I didn't leave you to die on hook, did I?” Ace asks. “That happens sometimes.” “No, I mean back in the other world,” Felix explains. “We've… met?” Ace asks.

Well. If that's what you want to call it.

“Yes,” Felix simply says and immediately, Ace cringes. “I'm sorry?” he offers. “Excuse me?” “I can count on one hand the people I've encountered who remember me fondly. There's a 99% chance you hate my guts, so I figured I'd get it over with quickly," Ace explains, seeming a little wary. “I don't hate you, I just can't believe you'd forget and… lie.” “Oh, I… I do that. Did—whatever. Nothing personal,” Ace shrugs. “I really don’t remember you, sorry.” “Casino in Vienna. 2011. I stayed at the hotel for a week. You were a waiter. You said your name was Luca. We—” Felix hesitates. “…'met'.”

Multiple times on multiple surfaces.

“Vienna, huh? Hmm... Oh!” Ace's face suddenly lights up. “You were one of the suits, right? Some kind of… lawyer?” "Architect,” Felix corrects, a little miffed. “Same deal,” Ace dismisses with a wave of his hand. “So, are you still neck-deep in the closet?” “What?” Felix recoils. “That's—I'm not gay. It was a one-time-thing.” “That would be a yes,” Ace muses, almost as to himself. “So you do remember? All of it?” Felix prods. “Guess so. What, you want a repeat performance?” Ace asks, raising an eyebrow. “No! I just…” Felix falters.

‘Wanted to make sure you didn't forget me because I’ve been thinking about you for the past ten years’? No way he’s admitting to any of that, so he puts on his business face.

“Wanted to come clean. So we're on the same page. To avoid any awkwardness,” Felix says instead, and it’s definitely not as smooth as he would have liked. “Right…” Ace says, regarding him skeptically.

There's a few seconds of extremely awkward silence while Ace just stares at him and Felix looks into the fire, trying to keep his face neutral and not sweat bullets. Eventually Ace sighs.

“Look, can I give you some friendly advice?” he asks. “I… I guess so," Felix says, a little confused. “Drop the act,” Ace says, looking him dead in the eye. “The manly man, excited father, respectable lawyer—” “Architect,” Felix, again, corrects in annoyance. “—suit guy thing, whatever. It's not going to serve you any purpose in here. These people see right through any bullshit, trust me on that one,” Ace adds with a knowing smile that Felix has never seen before.

He doesn't have any time to think of a reply before they're interrupted, the girl with a beanie cussing up a storm while a young guy in a sailor uniform sits down in front of Ace expectantly and the man cracks a joke and immediately starts tending to the bloody gash in the kid's shoulder.

The wound is bleeding heavily but the duo keeps chatting without a care in the world. Felix remembers he got a gauze roll from the… blood web?—and he rifles through his meager belongings before approaching the two.

“You… um,” Felix stammers, holding out the item to Ace. “Would this help?” “Cool!" the teen chirps while Ace takes the offered item silently, regarding Felix with an unreadable expression. "Thanks—uhh, what was your name again?" the kid grins sheepishly. “Felix,” he says. “And… yours?” he asks, swallowing his pride and now hesitantly curious to learn more about his companions. “I'm Steve! This is Ace, and the moping bitch over there is Nea!” Steve exclaims with a bright smile that shows his bloodied teeth. “Dude, fuck off!" the girl, Nea, calls. “Hey Felix, anyone teach you how to use a flashlight yet?" “No, not really," Felix confesses, cautiously approaching the girl. “I understand the need for tools and medical supplies, but… what would you use a torch for?” ------------------ “So how's the new guy holding up?” Steve asks. Ace looks over to where Felix is sitting with Nea. “Allvarligt—förstår du mig inte?” Nea has apparently moved on from flashlight training to Swedish lessons. “For the last time, your Swedish sounds like gibberish to me," Felix explains. "Just because the languages are related—" “Sheiße,” Nea interrupts with a grin, moving to swear in German. “A multilingual genius, I see,” Felix deadpans. “He's learning,” Ace says, hiding his own hopeful smile behind the fluffy hair of the boy he's patching up.

(nea’s line: “seriously, you don’t understand me?”) i’m not 100% happy w this fic, esp since it’s about a new character but it’s a start at least! i also really wanted to throw in a “sure you’re hot but you were so boring i forgot all about you” line but it didn’t fit and now you just have to imagine that’s what ace was thinking

#felix richter #ace visconti #felix richter x ace visconti #dbd fanfic #dbd #dead by daylight #dweetwrites #request

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catalinaroleplay · 3 years

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Gender & Pronouns: Cis man, he/him

Date of Birth: December 20th, 1986 (34)

Place of Birth: Catalina Island, California

Neighborhood: Lafayette Square

Length of Residency: Native

Occupation: Professional Golf Player

Face Claim: Derek Theler

BIOGRAPHY

TRIGGERS: ADHD, Dyslexia, Car Accident, Suicide.

When Sylvie and Johnathan got pregnant with their second child, they weren’t ready for how different their experience with the boy would be from his oldest sister. Starting by his premature birth (by a whole month) in the middle of the holidays. He soon proved to be strong through, he wasn’t a quiet baby by any means, Gabriel tested his parents’ will power and patience every night when he made them have a taste of his healthy lungs at three in the morning, sometimes not keeping quiet the whole night. He would hear those stories continuously while growing up, especially when he brought girlfriends home to meet the family. He still thinks they are Sylvie’s finest way of making him feel embarrassed as any good mother should. It’s needless to say that he grew up surrounded by what most people envied: a good, supporting family. He was incredibly close to his parents, even closer to his sisters. His proximity with all that female energy made him inevitably stray away from some male stereotypes which didn’t make school any easier for him. He spent too much time with his mother in Carmichael Roses, which made him learn everything about flowers, including the best of each season, and as a teenager helped with their shipments for a while. The rest of his time would be spent in a green field, playing and falling in love with golf alongside his father and his older sister.

Gabriel never felt like he was a child as the other children around him. He was loud and rambunctious, yes? However, his mind was far too scarce for him, he was disruptive in class, impatient, he was forgetful of his tasks and had a difficulty in concentrating, not to mention, he constantly complained about his difficulty in reading and writing. It would take a while for the family to this as more than a kid just being a kid, thankfully, his parents paid his symptoms much mind, and when Gabriel’s grades started tanking in elementary school, before everything got worrisome, he was sent to a therapist and diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. From that moment on, both Sylvie and Jonathan would do everything in their power to make sure that it wouldn’t hinder him in any way in his future and that he would have a chance as any other kid would, even if he was already behind by a grade from the rest of his classmates.

From the moment he was diagnosed, Gabriel remembers working harder than ever just to fit in. He was still made from the same mold as his older sister, but as a young boy he couldn’t feel more different if he tried. His diagnosis translated into anxiety to deal with most social situations, but over time, and with the proper support, not only from his family, but medically speaking, he got better. Gabriel understood that quite possibly he would never be able to function the same way other children did, and it was perfectly fine. Both himself and his parents were completely against medicating him as a child. For once they were afraid it would cause some sort of dependency, and for Gabriel, he was scared of the side effects and that instead of giving him just enough to concentrate, it would numb him out and he was not interested in that. Therapy, stress management and educational support, not to mention cognitive behavioural therapy became normal in his life. His parents hired tutors to help him study after school in attempts to keep up, but he was always a step behind no matter how hard he tried. His difficulty with learning words and how to write properly, paired with a brain who thought too fast for how slow he was able to scribble words on a page, or read them for that matter. He hated math, the symbols confused him to no end and he thought that if he never had to see math in his life, he was fine with it.

As a part of his therapy, though, to learn how to concentrate better, his therapist told him not to abandon golf, in fact, she prescribed him more time on the field, as he had described a sense of peace and quiet whenever he was swinging a golf club.

Golf would soon become his whole life, much to his father’s happiness. It was as if he was someone else when he was on that course. He managed to get the queues without having to read anything on a board and his mind had its own way of processing what his hands needed to do, the exact amount of force he needed to put in to make sure that his swings were precise. Besides, it was nice to see people praising him, instead of being concerned over something that if he had any say in it, would never hinder his professional path. It was clear that he wanted to be just like his father and it was also clear to see that Johnathan took it as a compliment, especially when he saw his son had a natural talent for the game. Gabriel would want to start competing as soon as his father and his teacher thought he would be able to do so. Competitions brought a different side of him and made his fear of failure and being a disappointment flourish. He didn’t win every tournament under his belt, by any means, but it wasn’t until he was ranked high enough to participate in the 2000’s masters that a loss hit him so hard.

Coming back home as a second placer did not bode well with what he demanded of himself, thinking that because he lacked in certain areas of his life, he needed desperately to compensate in others. Everything pertaining to Gabriel needed to be handled carefully, it was easy to see that the boy didn’t treat himself kindly upon failure and naturally, the family had been wary of it, with reason too. After the failure in the masters and with other competitions approaching, he turned to performance enhancers. There was no denying his head felt more in the game, and he did better in practice. It wasn’t until the next year’s masters that he even attempted to take one for an official competition. He was busted, of course, his reputation tainted and he never saw his father as disappointed with him as he was at that moment. It was agreed that maybe he should take a break from the game, handle the penalties that were put his way and try another time, in a few years perhaps. Not knowing what he would do with his free time, Gabriel turned to working for Carmichael Roses, helping his mother with shipments and anywhere he couldn’t mess up. Golf had put him in a certain place at the school’s social hierarchy, but things definitely changed after his use of drugs hit the national news.

His next few years in school were a way for him to rebuild his reputation. He stopped using the enhancers and logged in extra hours in the therapist’s office to try and deal with the feelings properly. He got himself his first girlfriend, which would not end well on both parts, and while he wanted to follow the family’s footsteps and aim high for Stanford, he knew it was an unnecessary risk for his well being and years of treatment to try and fit in alongside people who were, for the lack of a better word, overachievers. By the time he was 17 years old, he had returned fully and carefully to golffing and because of the game, and how he was so good at rebuilding his image (alongside a marketing team, of course), Gabriel landed a sports scholarship to UCLA. Getting a superior education and having something to fall back on was Sylvie’s condition to let Gabriel play his game. It would soothe her heart, she used to say, but he was pretty sure that after the stunt he pulled on her, she would never stop worrying again. His father, on the other side, had forgiven him entirely after he apologized and swore to him he wouldn’t take anything. Truth be told, Gabriel missed the way golf made him feel, and while he had his fun while working at Carmichael’s, nothing quite compared to the thrill of being recognizably good at something.

His time at UCLA came with a nasty break, but breezed through. He was happy for the scholarship, although it wasn’t really necessary. He was the first, in a long time not to attend Stanford, but his parents seemed to be okay with it. He was trying and while he was going through college for his mother, there was nothing that could make him feel interested there. During the four years of university, Gabriel concentrated more than never in what he was there for. The close proximity with Catalina, made him able to commute and be home to practice with his father whenever the man could. Soon he would be making headlines again. Sports channels predicted a larger than ever return, because up until his 18th birthday, he had been only playing in minor tournaments, ranking himself up again, rebuilding his reputation from the ground up and handling all sorts of jokes from his peers. He would go on to play his next masters at 19, this time coming home with a victory, and that scene would repeat itself for the many years to come.

It wouldn’t be easy, but by the time he was 24 he managed to get his degree in psychology and the whole family was there to see it. Among every trophy and medal he had conquered so far, getting his diploma meant more to him than Gabriel was willing to admit. It meant, more than anything else, that he had conquered his childhood difficulties, and while he would always live with them in one way or another, he had spent years learning how to make himself better. Ever since he had enough money to do so, Gabriel has been very vocal about his support for organizations who do their part for kids who went through what he did and did his best to educate other people on what that meant for him and what it would mean for other children who had different experiences and harder experiences than he did. For years and before starting his own organization once he had a good influential level, he was a spokesperson for children and their parents. Especially those who weren’t as lucky as him. His condition was also one of the reasons why he chose his degree, and what made him even more proud to have gotten it. After his diploma, Gabriel would once again settle back in Catalina, despite his constant travels, the island would always be the home he would return to.

The next year, one day after his 25th birthday, Gabriel would receive a call in his parents home telling him of the passing of his best friend. Few things had been pivotal in changing the way Gabriel thought about things, or caused disruptive changes in his life. Peter had been someone he knew since he was 2 or 3 years old, he was always with the family, almost glued to Gabriel’s hip in a way and he had commited suicide. Gabriel was devastated and numb at the same time. He would spend his next few months (and the rest of his life) doing everything to support Peter’s family, but even when everyone had moved on, he didn’t. He got depressive and reclusive, only leaving home for practice and even then, he took too many weeks off the game to process what had happened. While Sylvie and Johnathan had raised their children in a free environment, as a young boy, Gabriel had turned to the catholic church for many answers, he was regular in his attendance to Sunday church, he had a good relationship with the community, he went to the confessional weekly and thought that all those rituals brought his mind some peace, but once Peter passed away, there were no answers his church could give him. He went soul searching, he took a break from the game, traveled places, met new religions, but none quite spoke to him like spiritualism. He doesn’t know now if he considers himself to have broken up from catholicism, but he definitely found a place that gave tranquility to his heart when nothing else had done ever since Peter died. Gabriel’s depression gave place to peace and he was able to close that chapter in his life.

From late 2013 to middle 2020 Gabriel collected trophies and ranked high among other golf players such as his own father (who had retired to take care of his family) and Tiger Woods. He got endorsements, appeared (much to his chagrin) in underwear commercials. He was officially sponsored by Nike for the 2014 Rio Olympics and while he didn’t come home with a gold medal, he knew how to deal with that now. Despite his romantic slip ups, and those were many, Gabriel didn’t lose his place as a hopeless romantic, saying in many interviews, he wanted what his parents had: someone to be with him for the rest of his life.

Enter Rebecca. They would meet at a journalist and players get together after a particular game, during interviews. Truth be told, Gabriel never cared for any sport other than golf, but he would listen to her going over football plays forever. He was struck from the moment he met her. He would ask her out on a date, which would not go good, and be fairly surprised when she was the first one to contact him the next day. They would be together for three years total before Gabriel popped the question. He didn’t do it in the middle of the field, or anything for the world to see, it was just between the two of them. She would go on to plan the wedding alongside his mother and while being a romantic at heart, Gabriel knew better than to put himself in the middle. As the wedding approached, Rebecca changed, Gabriel brushed it off for wedding jitters, since the nuptials were so close. It would be an intimate ceremony, just the family, no media, no press, no nothing. It wasn’t until he knocked on her dressing room door on the morning of their wedding that he found a small note. She had ran away with her best friend, and claimed to be in love with him. Gabriel never took such a high leap again, but he still made some minor mistakes for love over the next few years. He had to go through some awkward press conferences after he was left.

Gabriel was thankful to have his game to fall back on. Rebecca had been a big part of his life for the last four years, but he needed to move on. In some ways, he was happy that she was happy. Was there anything he could ask more? He started prepping for the next Olympics and ranking high enough to be a part of the team. He was okay with being resumed to the one thing he loved the most (aside from his niece and nephew, of course). Being left at the altar only hyped people’s interest over him, his PO box had never been more full and he had good laughs about it.

Around November 2020, Gabriel got into a car accident with another friend. They were just making a short ride from his parents’ house to his friend when a car came straight towards theirs. In an attempt to get rid from the collision, Gabriel’s friend swerved and they ended up hitting a tree instead. His friend had the seatbelt on, but Gabriel, because the ride was so short, didn’t. In attempts to soften the blow and buffer the impact, he put his right hand on the dash, which caused him to dislocate his shoulder, shatter his thumb, broke his wrist and tore a ligament. A concussion cost him his consciousness and he would only wake up hours later after the surgery was done. Naturally, he was worried about his game, and was relieved when the doctor explained that the injury wouldn’t cost him his grip or his swing, but he needed to be careful, take it easy and not overstep himself and injure himself further. It would take him months to return fully and he needed to be patient with himself, although patience wasn’t exactly what Gabriel was known for.

Since the injury took him out of any future competitions, Gabriel has moved back to Catalina full time now, getting himself an apartment in Lafayette Square, large enough for him and his big ball of fur. His mother has been overwhelmingly around, but he doesn’t complain about it. His time is both devoted to his physical therapy and everything he needs to do, but also he has been spending a lot of time on the organization he has helped fund about two years ago and became his baby. The Smile Foundation came from an effort to help underprivileged children with learning disabilities to reach their full potential, Gabriel spends most of his time now at their building close to his home and makes sure to speak to children and parents alike. Since it’s non-profit they thrive out of other people’s volunteering and donations, and they have been offering a good space. Naturally, Gabriel is doing everything in his power to return to where he left, but it doesn’t mean that for the first time in forever he hasn’t been enjoying some off time from the game.

PERSONALITY

Positive: Optimistic | Spontaneous | Fair-minded

Negative: Restless | Tactless | Naive

Gabriel Livingston is portrayed by Rosa.

#all #cis #man #lafayette square #adhd tw #dyslexia tw #car accident tw #suicide tw #derek theler

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theonyxpath · 4 years

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They Came From Beneath the Sea! art by Larry Blamire

In advance of the release of They Came from Beneath the Sea! and its upcoming stretch goals, please enjoy these aquatic menaces from Monsters of the Deep!

Dire Sea Sponges

“I think a need another sponge.”

— Doctor Jamil Paval

All-natural sea sponges have been a luxury item in many homes for the past century. Divers in the Mediterranean and North America pull these exfoliating delights up from coastal reefs and sea floors for pampered enjoyment and profit. As with all luxury items, demand increased, and synthetics just weren’t cutting it. Divers went all over coastal areas finding new supplies, but governments were wary about over-picking these natural filters.

Acme Company, determined to edge out competitors, performed experiments on increasing the reproduction rate of ordinary sea sponges. Soon Acme Company had the most sponges on the market. Everyone agreed their sponges were the best, so good in fact that everyone wanted more than one for their shower needs. To say they were successful is a misnomer. They did indeed create a sea sponge with rapid reproduction and growth rates, but in doing so, they introduced a high level of mutation and fast evolutionary processes.

The results of Acme Company’s meddling are Dire Sea Sponges. These sponges are larger, faster-growing, and faster reproducing than the average sea sponge. Additionally, the Dire Sea Sponges have developed minimum sentience and an incredible psychic ability. Dire Sea Sponges emit a low-frequency wave that is strikingly similar to deep sleep brainwaves in humans. With these waves, Dire Sea Sponges have been able to implant deeply seeded messages and commands within the human mind, effectively brainwashing them.

All of Acme’s top leadership are completely brainwashed by the sponges. Acme sponges are sold in a salt-water container, and instructions indicate that the sponge must always remain moist. Engineers under Dire Sea Sponge control are working to engineer newer and better sponge habitats as well as helping the sponges achieve greater sentience.

Right now, the sea sponges are barely at survive-and-reproduce stage. People who buy one sponge invariably buy a second and place them together. Then they miraculously have three to four sponges in a matter of weeks. They gift these to friends who then have even more sponges. And while the commands to help the sponges reproduce are not a danger in themselves, the implication that even more people are under the influence of a rapidly mutating species’ mental control is horrifying.

Sponge reproduction rates are already getting out of hand, leading divers and Acme employees to dump extras back into the sea at an alarming rate. Unchecked, sponges could overtake a home or place of business in just a few months. Rapid reproduction in the sea could cause catastrophic issues for marine habitats, especially since there are few natural predators to the sea sponge. With their rapid expansion and ease of mental control, sponges are positioning themselves to be a staple in every shower across America. It’s only a matter of time before their cognitive levels make them dangerous beyond hope.

Goals

A Dire Sea Sponge’s primary goal is to reproduce. Though scientists and those monitoring the situation believe secondary goals are freeing non-dire sea sponges from captivity and eventual death, overtaking human communities, and eventually eradicate the human plague on Earth.

Story Hook

Janice Langstrom was the first in her women’s group to buy an all-natural sea sponge. The Acme salesman was very convincing. And she loved it so much she needed more. And soon it was all the rage to have two or more sea sponges. When Janice’s husband was found dead in her backyard drowned by the garden hose, everyone was sad and blamed Janice for killing him. Which she fully admitted to doing. When it happened to Harriet and Adelle’s husbands, the officials stopped the presses from reporting on it. Now the community is in a lock-down, but people are still dying under mysterious watery circumstances.

System

A single Dire Sea Sponge is a trivial threat to deal with. Even dozens of Dire Sea Sponges pose no physical threat to a person. The real threat is their ability to control people. Anyone could be under the sway of a Dire Sea Sponge to protect it. The following statistics are provided for any mind control abilities it might use.

Skills: Persuasion 5, Survival 3

Attributes: Intellect 1, Cunning 1, Resolve 2; Might 0, Dexterity 0, Stamina 1; Presence 0, Manipulation 2, Composure 0

Special Rules

Subsonic Mind Control: By emitting subsonic waves, the Dire Sea Sponge can exert mental control over a human. To use this power, roll the sponge’s Persuasion + Manipulation against a Difficulty equal to the victim’s Resolve. Each additional sponge in the vicinity adds 1 Enhancement (to a maximum of 5 Enhancement) to this action as they collectively brainwash their victims. Once controlled, a sponge can send simple commands to their minions as a reflexive action as long as they are within 10 feet. Most sponges insist their minion carry at least one or two of them around to ensure their controlled victims do exactly what they want.

Jelly Men

“That man over there in the jacket is giving me the heebie-jeebies. He hasn’t done anything except motion for me to come over, but I swear he isn’t wearing any clothes under that coat.”

— Josh Hardy, beachgoer in Gulf Shores, Alabama

Stories of the Jelly Men started circulating around ten years ago. It started as an urban legend, or a bit of a spoof story. All along the coastal region in the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Yucatan, stories sprang up of a mysterious man walking alone on the beach wearing a trench coat. If anyone approached this man, he would give them a hug which would follow quickly with a terrible sickness which often lead to death. Witnesses state that the man would walk into the sea and disappear.

Versions of this story made their way up and down the east and west coasts of North America stretching even into South America by way of beachgoers in Brazil and Venezuela. Sometimes it was a woman in a black gown, sometimes a surfer who was signaling for help. Regardless of location, the story always described a deadly illness that followed contact. Anyone who heard the story wrote it off as stories told to spook swimmers and get a laugh. Clearly anyone on the beach in a trench coat or a gown is part of a hoax, as everyone knows proper swimwear is trunks or a bikini.

Yet, these stories are not a hoax, nor a joke. Jelly Men are aliens that look like large jellyfish. More than a decade ago, the Jelly Men first attempted contact with humanity. They had been watching swimmers and fishermen for some time and attempted to blend in during their first attempts at contact. They came ashore wearing whatever cast-off clothing they found adrift in the oceans, often oversized canvas jackets from rain-lost ships. Jelly Men communicate through psychic impressions passed through electrical transmissions. In the water, these transmissions can conduct a few feet away and reach their intended target, but without the aid of salinized water, the Jelly Men must come into physical contact with whomever they wish to communicate with. They had no idea that their touch would be so deadly to humans. They don’t cause disease, instead the toxins in their skin are so poisonous to humans that just a small dose is enough to lead to fevers and destruction of internal organs. If left unchecked, the victim usually dies.

After the few attempts went so awry, the Jelly Men became cautious of communication attempts. They tried all sorts of methods to send their psychic impressions to humans without also killing them, but without physical contact, their attempts were fruitless. The harder they tried, the more stories spread. Before long, coming into contact with a human was an endeavor in itself, as people would run away from the slow-moving not-quite human-looking man in a trench coat trundling along the beach.

While communication seemed impossible, the Jelly Men did learn something valuable from their experiences. They finally had a way to combat the humans who were in the seas polluting their home and killing their brethren. Jelly Men attacked fishing vessels, military vessels, and pleasure boats across the Gulf Coast, targeting those doing the most harm, in their eyes. With a single touch, a human would fall ill and without proper medical attention would die shortly after. Those rare few who received medical attention drew the Jelly Men’s attention, which usually led to more touches and eventually everyone dies.

Goals

Communication is still the Jelly Men’s main goal. Defending against humans responsible for making the seas unsafe for marine life is a secondary goal, and not one that all Jelly Men agree on how to handle. Killing them is easy, but if only they could communicate maybe the humans would stop on their own.

Story Hook

Dr. Lolly Humperdink is the head of the marine lab in Destin, Florida. Three nights ago, she reported a suspicious man hanging around her lab to the police. The report indicated that he seemed to want to come in, but he kept to the shadows. She tried to call out to him, invite him in for coffee or cake, but he refused to speak. He did though try to reach out to her for a hug, but since she had barely met the man, she refused. She was worried that he might be disoriented or homeless. Last night, Dr. Humperdink fell ill with a terrible fever. The police refuse to release information about the incident, though she told a reporter that the man is responsible for her fever, and he just wanted to talk.

System

The stats below indicate an average Jelly Man.

Skills: Athletics 4, Close Combat 3, Empathy 3, Integrity 2

Attributes: Intellect 3, Cunning 3, Resolve 5; Might 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2; Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Composure 3

Health: 7

Special Rules

Stinging Tentacle: The Jelly Men’s flesh produces a potent toxin which acts like a jellyfish sting. This toxin has a damage rating of 4 with the Continuous (hour) and Deadly tags. If the contact site receives proper care, such as a good washing or antiseptics, then it no longer affects the victim.

He Just Wants a Hug: The Jelly Men are adamant in their attempts to communicate with humans, and so each time they touch one they send a simple message, “Please do not be afraid, we want to be your friends.” This message comes in the form of psychic impressions of friendliness, safety, and a warm embrace. In water, the Jelly Men’s psychic impressions may reach their target with a successful Empathy + Presence roll against a Difficulty equal to the target’s Composure.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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orochixiv · 5 years

Text

LFRP // FFXIV 『Ssyt Orochi』

The Basics — -

Server/World: Balmung & Mateus {Crystal Server}

Age 32.

Birthday: 13th Sun of the 2nd Astral Moon.

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Demi-sexual :: Poly

Marital Status: Single. [Seeking]

Other sources: https://ssyt.carrd.co/

Character Alignment: [Neutral Evil]

Physical Appearance — -

Hair: Off white.

Eyes: Left is emerald green, Right his a bright gold.

Height: 4′8′’

Build: Built enough, has some muscle on his frame. Yet holds a more feminine quality to him.

Distinguishing Marks: Flawless skin upon sight. Yet held a more troubled scar neck to lower stomach. Faded with time.

Common Accessories: Wears very warm jackets. Wears a set of glasses and a bright aether-holding earring.

Personal — -

Profession: Alchemist first, baker second. Owes a company named ‘The Serpent’s List’.

Hobbies: Testing potions, hiring others under him, teaching others skills, binding people under him, creating potions and bakery items, tricking people.

Languages: Eorzean, Ishgardian, Doman, and Hingan.

Residence: His emporium in the Ul’dah, within the Goblet. A small merchant’s shop in Ward 21.

Birthplace: Kugane

Religion: None.

Patron Deity: None

Goals: Studying necromancy. Researching.

Fears: Dying alone, being forgotten and never wanted. Never having a child or being understood. Being helpless or powerless.

Relationships — -

Partner: No one.

Children: None

Parents: Deceased.

Siblings: None.

Other Relatives: None to mention.

Traits — -

Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional Information — -

Smoking Habit: Sometimes.

Drugs: None.

Alcohol: None.

RP Hooks — -

• THE SERPENT'S LIST! Within the small confines of the Goblet, lays a wondrous, if not curious shop. Leaflets about this interesting store can be found in all the major cities. Posted on billboards and signs. If one dears to venture into this intriguing establishment, one would notice it filled with pies, pastries, meals for the traveling soul, and much more. Some with even enchantments for the wary travelers in need. All seemingly normal--As well as unusual once known. For what lays within some of the delicious pies, are enchanted traits. Some with advanced strength, sleepiness, and more. Either to crush your enemies, or calm your nerves. Or merely to enjoy a bite with a bit of mystery. Relax, enjoy. And welcome to The Serpent's List!

• SEEKING JOBS FOR: ASSISTANT, DELIVERY WORKER, INTEL WORKER, TESTER (FOOD AND POTIONS), GATHERER, HUNTER, AND RETAINER! Businesses thrive on competition, market and others around them. This is no different for Ssyt. Within such a business, he tends to hire all he can under his fold. To give them jobs he feels suits their intent and desire. Be it from a simple retainer's job in errands and collecting things. To a more darker form of potion testing and watching how the body reacts toward combinations and delight. Any and all can be hired for many jobs within The Serpent's List!

• ALCHEMIST/BAKER/TEACHER FOR HIRE! Well keen within the art of potions and binding spells, Ssyt takes pride into creating vials of crafted tonics and enchanted abilities for those interested. As well as craft food for those that desire a sweet tooth to be enjoyed. And if none of those two? And another wishes to expand their knowledge within the confines Ssyt provides? He is readily available to being a teacher toward those that seek it.

• MERCHANTS AND SHOPS!Being one that enjoys the more fashionable style, Ssyt is normally out and about within Ul'dah or among the other major cities, venturing to find any businesses that strike his fancy. Be it from a tailor, butcher, blacksmith, and more. Ssyt is always keeping an eye out for those that long for a customer.

• AETHER SENSITIVITY! If someone comes upon Ssyt and can sense aether, they will notice near instantly the crystal earring he wears holds -a lot- of stored aether inside it.

P.S. Please DM me if you believe your character is able to see passed his veil! ♥

• If you can sense voidsent aether: You are NOT able to see past his glamour, yet you WILL see his earring holds a lot of the voidsent aether itself. • If you are a skilled illusionist: You can probably see a bit past his glamour. Revealing scales, horns, and cat-like seeker eyes.

• DARKER THEMES! Though one that is running a business, Ssyt tends to slip into a more devilish mood more often than not. Arrogant in design, this demon in wait enjoys taunting others, using his potions on another, and gain their more darker secrets. All for the grand final of blackmailing them into servitude.

• HYPNOSIS! Though not used as often, if Ssyt feels desperate enough, he will try and to intimidate someone with his aether imbued voice and gaze. Trying to sway them to listen to him all the more effectively. This is fully up to the person if this is affective or not against their own character. And consent from them after is a given! If someone is uncomfortable from that chance, I will ask. Once under Ssyt's 'spell', there will be a series of questions he ask, altering someone's own memories of events, experiment on, and/or tricking that person to be around him. As well as try to dig deeply into someone's past and their darkest secrets.

• YOUR VILLAIN, YOUR PATH! Ssyt is by no means a fairy tale prince. One that is coated with mystery and layers of deceit, this creature take enjoyment of entrancing those around him. Watching them fall before him in either fear, hatred, or compassion for his cause. With a hypnotizing voice and even curious eyes, it rather hard to not fall prey to this endearing monster. If you have an interest in such a character, do DM me! Consent and agreement is a MUST.

A FEW RULES WITH SSYT ––– –

Mun is over 30+ of age, Muse is over 30+ as well. Please provide your your age to the mun, as well as your OC if you wish to roleplay with Ssyt. Must be above the age of 21+ please. As well as be comfortable and able to provide what may make you uneasy in any part of the roleplay!

I am seeking anything really with Ssyt. Mostly, if not seriously, seeking long term plots and darker theme characters. However, even though I prefer still a darker more conflicted plots, As well as business plots and customer ones! Simple interactions, or meeting one another and seeing what happens between them! Be it from Relic finding, searching for something, to treasure hunts!

If you wish to hunt my character, or think he deserves punishment, ask me first. We can work out something between a group or an individual. Do know I will not nor allow Ssyt to die. For warning if anyone tries to murder Ssyt without my consent, I will end the plot.

I enjoy darker roleplays for the majority of my stories. Or action to conflicting ones. Though I can do some fluff and slice of life if it comes off interesting. I have to have a plot to grasp at, and fully sink into.

Bounce ideas with me! I love people that interact with me for a plot. One that will grow and evolve as the character’s interact more. I revel in such plots. And thoroughly enjoy them.

Ssyt is not me, nor will -ever- be. Do not think his actions are reflected on my own. Please know the difference.

OTHER OOC NOTES ––– –

I enjoy PVE a lot! More buddies to torment me in dungeons. If you are on crystal, I would love to do dungeons with anyone! I can help with queue if someone is leveling up, and teach others jobs! I enjoy helping others.

I am open to roleplay on discord/In-game. I prefer in-game mostly, and I get slightly distracted through discord/Skype. ASK FOR DISCORD.

EST times. Sleep is…Odd.

I am open to anything! Just nothing that ends in the life of my character. He maybe vile, but unless consented, I do not wish his death.

[Will add more when more arises.]

@balmungrp @mooglemeet @ffxiv-crystal-rp @balmungroleplayers@crystalxivrp

#ssyt #ssyt orochi #the serpent #the lonely heart #lfrp #bump #boost #the snake #ffxiv balmung #balmung #ffxiv #ffxiv rp #ffxiv roleplay #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #mateus #ffxiv mateus

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theeeveetamer · 5 years

Text

Extended Three Houses Thoughts

I’m about two chapters from the end of the Blue Lions route but I do have some extended thoughts on the game that I wanted to type up and share before I get back to it. Spoilers below the cut, in case that wasn’t obvious.

So first off I want to say that I have far more positive things to say about this game than negatives, but I do think this game has some negatives. These aren’t in any particular order I just kind of typed them as I thought of them.

I feel like a lot of what this game does was in direct response to Fates. There was a lot of swinging the pendulum back in very noticeable ways, and for the most part I think that’s a good thing.

The seriously slimmed down cast, for one. I was kind of surprised and a little worried when I first picked up the game and I found out that each house only had about seven core characters, but I like it. Fates had too many characters, and most of the time they ended up being redundant. You had, what, eight fliers in Revelation including children, with at least five more characters potentially able to become fliers through their normal promotion paths? When, at most, you probably needed three. And some were significantly better than others, so obviously you went with those and the rest kind of rotted away in your barracks.

With Three Houses each character feels important. Since you can now train basically any character to be anything it also means you can have some fill specific niches. You can have Sylvain be a sword cavalry unit, and Dimitri be a lance cavalry unit, and Ingrid an axe cavalry unit if you want, drop their breaker skills on them, and they can all be useful and important on the same team.

The supports also feel more meaningful. Don’t get me wrong there’s still a lot of re-hashing of already covered territory (basically all of Dedue’s supports involve either cooking or the fact that he’s from Duscur, most of Ingrid’s revolve around wanting to be a knight or marriage contracts, etc.) but the fact that there’s less of them makes this feel like less of a problem. And it’s nice that, now, they don’t try to force every conversation into a C-B-A-S format. Some characters only have C-B, others have C-B-A-A+, etc. I think it makes sense. Not every character will be as close as others, and not all support conversation threads need three parts to be meaningful and impactful. Some need more, some need less. Trying to squish them in or stretch them out always hurt more than it helped.

That said, I’m a little disappointed there’s no match-making to be had. Everyone in this game gets brother-zoned/sister-zoned so fast it’s kind of comical. There are a few A supports that hint at feelings but you can’t actually make them S-support. Also, a character might indicate feelings for more than one other character in their A supports so it’s not definitive. Maybe there’s more once the game is finished, but within the actual main story there’s nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, it makes sense to me. As young teenagers in school there wouldn’t really be any reason for any of them to get married. I thought that might change after the time skip but it doesn’t. I don’t necessarily hate that it’s gone, it’s just a feature I enjoyed fucking around with in Awakening and Fates (and I was looking forward to, hopefully, more gay representation. I was really hoping that they might allow characters to be gay for each other and not just the Avatar character, especially since they included so many lesbian options this time around. But alas, maybe next game).

The exclusion of child characters was a good call. Barring the fact that the exclusion of S-Supports would automatically exclude child characters, I still think it was a good call. Unless the game had a significant time skip (15+ years) then they just wouldn’t have made sense. They worked in Awakening because the central narrative included time travel, but they didn’t work at all in Fates. The narrative only had tentative connections to the “multi-verse/multiple realities” thing. And, let’s be real, it’s fucking weird to have kids walking around that are the same damn age as their parents (and parents that didn’t look a day older than 17). In Fates they’d just needlessly ballooned up the cast of a game that was already way too big anyways. If they did it then they needed to do it like Genealogy, where the main cast was essentially replaced by their children instead of strapped onto the game alongside them.

I was worried that Fate’s poor handling of them meant the series was doomed to include them regardless of relevance. Glad I was wrong on that one.

The calendar progression is pretty cool, as is walking around the monastery. It was pretty fun to run around and figure out where each character liked spending their time, which characters interacted with which, etc. I’m always a fan of a little flavor text and having each character say a few lines about current events was really cool and helped give each one a little more personality. The more structured pace of things makes sense for the school environment. Though it does take out some of the urgency when the mission is “FIND FLAYN IMMEDIATELY” and then you have to wait until the end of the month anyways to do it. But for other things, like a mission to march on enemy territory, it makes sense (your entire army isn’t ready to go immediately, there’s preparations that need done).

The designs of the characters themselves were pretty well done. I especially appreciate how they toned down a lot of the sexualization that Fates became pretty famous for. And considering basically all of these characters are between 15-18 all I can say is THANK GOD. Even their aged up versions don’t seem too bad, though I’ve only really seen the Lions (because I was dumb and didn’t recruit very aggressively).

I’m still NOT a fan of this “silent” protagonist thing. It just makes some of the cut scenes and dialogue sections feel really disconnected and awkward. From what I can tell a lot of your dialogue choices don’t particularly matter, anyways. You only have two options, and for the most part they have the same meaning (”You shouldn’t talk that way!” versus “I wish you would calm down.”) and the character you’re talking to responds the same way regardless of your choice. Or you pick between two different options (”Tell me about the officer’s academy” and “Tell me about the church”) and the characters proceed to explain both anyways.

I think the biggest issues I have with this come from the fact that the game itself is fully voice acted. I think Three Houses fell into the same problem that Breath of the Wild did. Dropping a character that never speaks aloud into a cast of characters that are fully and beautifully voiced feels unnatural. I think they had two options here: Either go back to what they did with Fates (No full voice acting, just some lines spoken here and there) or they needed to have Byleth fully voice acted. After Echoes did full voice acting I really don’t think they would have been able to go back without some serious backlash.

Personally I would have preferred it if Byleth were fully voice acted but they got rid of some of the dialogue “options”. They don’t feel like a meaningful feature, it’s just a thin veneer so they can say they had dialogue options, because that’s what every other game on the market is doing. Part of me wonders if they did this as a response to the Corrin hate after Fates. It’s hard to hate a character when you pick all of their dialogue, right? If that is the case, then they clearly didn’t understand why people hated Corrin so much.

Overall I don’t really feel any connection or attachment to Byleth. That might just be me, though. The three “lords” of the game are clearly meant to be the main focus, especially when it comes to character development. Maybe I’ll change my mind on that after I beat the game.

That said, thank fuck they toned down the avatar hero worship. Circling back a little bit, I just feel like the character of Byleth is handled much better than Corrin. It’s kind of unfortunate that Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses kind of have this avatar hero-worship vibe to them but if we’re going to have to live with it then I guess I’ll explain myself.

In Awakening the hero worship worked. Robin was, essentially, a brilliant tactician that brought a lot of success to Ylisse’s army. There were at least a few characters that were initially wary of Robin, but they were treated respectfully by the story and it’s presented as though they are just exercising a healthy amount of caution.

In Three Houses the hero worship works. It feels much less like worship and more like genuine respect and admiration. Byleth is a professor and a mentor to these young people so it makes sense. There are a few that were initially skeptical of him/her (which is totally justified in the story because Byleth appears to be barely older than them with zero teaching experience) but they come around after Byleth’s skill is demonstrated to them throughout Part 1. The only character I’d say seems to blindly worship Byleth is Rhea, and that’s justified because she clearly knows something about the main character that no one else does.

In Fates the hero worship was excessive. Corrin as a character is nothing really special. He/She isn’t particularly intelligent or particularly skilled at anything. The most you could say is that Corrin is probably supposed to be charismatic (since every character falls at their feet the second they meet) but Corrin doesn’t feel charismatic to me. They have multiple characters that seem to exist for the sole purpose of worshiping the ground they walk on (Camilla, Ryoma, Sylas, Jakob, Felicia, etc.), to the point that I felt it ruined otherwise interesting characters (Camilla mainly). Any character that doesn’t immediately worship Corrin is either forced to come around, brainwashed by the big bad and turned into a villain, or just wanted to love Corrin so much but circumstances made it impossible so they had to be evil. I could make an entire post about how much I hate Corrin but I’ll stop it here since this is supposed to be about Three Houses.

So considering where they were coming from... Byleth is fine. I don’t know if I like them more than Robin, but I definitely like them more than Corrin. I’ll feel more definitively about them after I’ve finished the game and played some of the other routes.

They re-use maps in this game. A lot. I noticed it pretty quickly about five chapters in, but IMO it’s a serious problem that this game never quite seems to shake. If the battle is in a city, they pick one of two city maps. If it’s in a forest they’ve got one of three forest maps. And I’m not complaining about Auxiliary battles because I only did a handful of those (and they always reuse maps for those, even in Fates and Awakening). I’m talking about main story and paralogue mission maps.

Sometimes they have a unique map (like the tomb/catacombs) but it invariably comes back later for a paralogue or another main mission. Sometimes it comes back less than two chapters after it first appeared (the monastery fight right before the time skip and then defending the monastery two chapters after the time skip.) I could understand if they re-used maps across different routes (because Fates did the same thing), but so far I’ve only been in one route and it’s the same maps over and over.

Finally, I have no idea how I’m going to survive playing this game two (three?) more times. I mean, I like it. It’s fun. But it took me like 40 hours just to complete one route I have no idea how I’m going to do all three (possibly four, since I’ve been told the eagles route can be different depending on if you side with the church or not).

#fe:3h #fire emblem: Three Houses #Three Houses #fire emblem #spoilers #fe:3h spoilers #thoughts #opinions #Not really a review but kind of a review

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timegearing · 5 years

Text

PMD: The Course of Everything- Chapter Seven: The Job Unofficial

Despite their months of being in this world, Winnie couldn’t help but be fascinated at the human and non-human aspects of the creatures around them. Pokemon were people, for lack of a better word. Albeit, people with four paws, scales, and whatever else Pokemon could have, but people nonetheless. And, to Winnie, a complete lack of money was the most people-like problem they could think of.

It was early afternoon now, and Lavastone village was bustling with activity. Pokemon of all shapes and sizes passed Winnie and Harper, and the stalls that had sat empty the night before were now full of owners and their wares. The pair was momentarily safe from the crowd as they stood in a small circle of cobblestone, and though Harper was nervously chattering about their lack of money and ideas, Winnie’s excitement at the new experiences around them didn’t fade. After a large dragon-like Pokemon with wings and orange scales passed them by, Winnie caught sight of a new shop, and grabbed Harper’s shoulder.

“Harper, Harper,” they said, “What’s in that shop?” They pointed to a stall tucked into the corner of the market. It was shrouded in the shadow of a large building beside it, but even then, they could see the glint of something shiny on the shelves.

“Dunno,” Harper craned her head to look, “Maybe evolution stones or jewels or something?”

“Oh my gosh, we have to look!” Winnie exclaimed. As they began to march through the crowd, Harper let out a squawk of alarm.

“Winnie, we don’t even have enough money to buy berries,” she said, clutching their bag, “We definitely can’t afford anything there.”

“Let’s window-shop then,” Winnie replied.

“We can’t afford those either!”

The Pokemon manning the booth caught the pair’s eye as they stepped out of the crowd. Winnie was caught off guard by the Pokemon’s eyes- or lack thereof. The Pokemon was about the height of Harper, but had smooth, purple skin, with jagged horns poking out of each cheek. In the place of eyes were glittering diamonds, and when the Pokemon shifted to look at them, Winnie saw another diamond nestled between their shoulder blades.

“Link-boxes, evolution stones, and treasure await!” the Pokemon flashed their razor-sharp teeth at the pair, “Mx.Sableye at your service!”

“Uh, hi,” Winnie said, “We were just browsing.”

The Pokemon, which Winnie figured was a Sableye, nodded and stepped back. Displayed on the shelves were odd stones of every colour, small enough to fit in the palm of their hoof, some with odd designs etched inside of them, some plain. A pair of shining sapphire boxes sat on the counter, with a sign reading “10000(p)”.

“This stuff is so expensive,” Winnie observed.

“All genuine treasures from the dastardly keeps of dungeons ahead!” Mx.Sableye said, gesturing to a shelf full of ordinary-looking crystals, “Quartz, topaz, jasper, aquamarine, all on sale for a low price of 7000(p)!”

“You found all this in dungeons?” Winnie gaped, “That’s so cool!”

Harper tugged hard on Winnie’s bag. For the first time, Winnie noticed Harper’s wide eyed, nervous expression, and the twitching of her tail.

“But of course,” Mx.Sableye responded, either ignoring or unaware of Harper, “Lucious Cave and Lonesome Quarry are full of treasure beyond your wildest dream. And here they are, for the price of mere Pok(e)!”

“We should go,” Harper whispered, wary gaze fixed on the shopkeep, “Let’s go, come on.”

Winnie frowned, and looked at the objects again. They were very pretty, and the sight of quartz necklaces were especially appealing, but the reality of them having no money made them sigh and back away.

“Thank you, come again,” Mx.Sableye waved at their retreating forms, noticeably less amicable than before.

“I wish we could have bought something,” Winnie said, “They seemed disappointed when we left.”

“We don’t have any money,” Harper huffed, retreating to a corner unoccupied by any other Pokemon, “Besides, that stuff was way overpriced.”

“Really?” Winnie glanced back at the shopkeep, who now spoke to a pair of mushroom-Pokemon they recognized as Breloom.

“I’ve found a few Link boxes,” Harper replied, “And when I sold them, I only got 3000(p) out of them.”

“That’s too bad,” Winnie said.

For the next hour, Winnie and Harper browsed shops that held less expensive, but still interesting items. After having to drag Winnie away from a shop full of TMs and orbs, Harper suggested they have a bite to eat away from the market. Now, the pair sat in the center of the town, their lunch of fruits and bread between them.

“I wish we had money,” Harper sighed through a mouthful of bread, “Another night of stale bread is gonna kill me.”

Winnie stayed silent. The bread was stale after the two days of travel, and their berry supplies were running low. If this adventure was to be a success, they would need to make money somehow. With another reluctant bite, they look at the market in the distance. If only they had something to sell.

The idea hit like a bullet.

“Oh!” Winnie smacked Harper’s feathery shoulder, “I have an idea!”

“Wha-what?” Harper cut off her own squawk, coughing, “You nearly choked me, what is it?”

“We should go into a dungeon!” Winnie answered, heart fluttering with excitement, “You know, so we can get some stuff to sell.”

“What?” Harper stared at them blankly, “Why?”

“Well, you said we have no money,” They were already getting to their hooved feet, shoving leftovers into their satchel, “And that Sableye said they found treasure in Lucious Cove or whatever, so what if we went in there to find some treasure too!”

“They were probably lying,” Harper replied with a nervous glance at the market behind her, “Besides, it’s too dangerous!”

“We don’t know if they were lying for sure!” Winnie protested, “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen!”

“We could get defeated, for one,” Harper began counting off on her talons, “Or, we could get there and there would be nothing, or we could be ambushed, or-”

“Don’t be such a downer, Harper,” Winnie rolled their eyes and pulled the Archen to her feet, “You’re really strong, there’s no way we could be beat! At least check and see how big the dungeons are.”

Harper’s feathers trembled in indignation, but after a moment of stammered responses, she rolled her eyes.

“Fine, I’ll check.”

Winnie stood next to Harper, craning their head to see the shining surface of the Wonder Map as Harper pulled it out. The small dot denoting their location glowed like a firefly on the parchment, and next to them were purple-hued squares, with the names that the shopkeeper had shouted earlier. With a click of Harper’s talon, the map zoomed in, and more words appeared.

“LUCIOUS CAVE

DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM(LEVEL 16-LEVEL 20)

CONDITIONS: NONE

FLOORS: B1-B11

PRIMARY TYPE(S): ROCK, FAIRY, DARK

CLAIMED BY: BOUNTY KEEP GUILD”

“Medium?” Winnie furrowed their brow, “Levels? What does it mean?”

“Oh, uh,” Harper glanced at them, “Our powers can be ranked by guilds to certain numbers. I’m like, level 23 I think? You’re probably around the same, since you almost know Tailwind.”

“Ah,” Winnie didn’t understand exactly, but after rereading the information displayed, their gaze lit up. “That means we’re strong enough to take on this dungeon, then! Look, it says it’s only level 20!”

Harper huffed, glancing at her talons and ruffling her feathers.

“Still, what if there’s nothing there?” Harper replied, “I mean, what if that Sableye was lying to us?”

“Why would they lie?” Winnie tugged on Harper’s bag, “Come on Harper, what do we have to lose?”

It seemed like Harper thought they had quite a lot of things to lose, but she didn’t express them. With a sigh, the Archen folded the map and looked at Winnie.

“I guess we can go,” she said.

With no real preparations needing to be made, all that was left to do was make sure everything they needed was in the bag, and follow the map down the winding path leading out of town. Soon, grass faded into cold, cracked stone, and Harper’s anxious mutterings turned to calmer, more excited conversation. Within the hour, the pair stood outside the mouth of the dungeon.

Lucious Cave certainly seemed to live up to its name. The cave was a tunnel of cobbled stone that faded into the side of a tall hallside. The stone itself glimmering and reflected light, creating rainbows leading all the way down into the tunnel itself. A few feet away stood a sign displaying the name of the dungeon, and an odd emblem that Winnie hadn’t seem before.

“That marker means this dungeon was discovered by the original Bounty’s Guild,” Harper pointed a talon at the marker, which resembled a treasure chest, with what appeared to be a cliff silhouetted behind it. “Whoever completes the dungeon first gets to claim it.”

“Neat,” Winnie nodded, inching towards the tunnel. “Should we go in now?”

Harper’s feathers quivered, and she glanced to the dungeon, and the back at Winnie.

“Uh, lemme check the map again.”

As Harper pulled the shining tablet out of the bag strung around her neck, Winnie occupied themself looking at their surroundings. Like the dungeon they had seen in the jungle, this one seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. The rocks were foreign to the grassy hillside around them, and there was almost no vegetation growing on them. The only plant growth inside the dungeon was a trail of scarlet flowers leading into the darkness. Were they part of the dungeon?

“That’s weird,” Harper muttered, “Looks like there’s someone already in there.”

“Huh?” Winnie leaned over the map as well, “Where?”

The map looked different than it had when they last looked at it. Now, there was a diagram of the area surrounded the dungeon, with a number of dots in varying places. Harper pointed to two indigo dots standing near the label “Lucious Cave: Entrance”.

“That’s us,” she said, and moved her talon across the map, into Lucious Cave itself, “And you see the red dot? That’s someone else.”

The dot indicated was flashing red, and judging by Harper’s tone, was out of the ordinary.

“Who do you think it could be?” Winnie strained to remember Harper’s talk of explorers and Guilds from the days before, “Another explorer? From, uh, Clarity’s?”

“No,” Harper winced, clicking her talons on the map, “If it was, they would be indigo like us. I don’t think they’re from another guild either.” The Bird-type leaned closer to the map, brow furrowed. “I think this Pokemon is lost.”

“What?” Winnie perked up, eyes wide. “What makes you say that?”

“Their dot is red,” Harper said, “There aren’t any Guilds with that color, and it’s flashing, which means whoever it is has been in there for almost an entire day.” The Archen leaned closer to the map, brow furrowed, and Winnie frowned.

“We should go help them, then!” Winnie exclaimed.

“What?” Harper flinched, snapping her gaze back to her companion, “Y-you think so?”

“I mean, yeah,” they replied, “Why wouldn’t we?”

“It’s, uh…” Harper shuffled her talons. “It’s not our job? I mean, it’s the Guilds’ job to rescue Pokemon, and maybe someone has already been sent?” She looked back at the map, tail flicking, “Then again, their dot isn’t pink yet so the job hasn’t been accepted, so they might not be able to send for help? Oh stars…”

With an impatient snort, Winnie took the map out of Harper’s talons and folded it. “We’re going in there anyways, what should we do, just avoid them?”

“Err, no, of course not?” Harper’s voice wasn’t convincing, but when she glanced up at Winnie, she sighed and smoothed her feathers. “Yeah, you’re right. We should help.”

“Great!” Winnie hopped on their feet, going a little higher than expected. “We should go in now, then!”

They were nearly at the entrance to the dungeon when they paused, and look at Harper. “Do you want to be leader, or..?”

“You can,” Harper nodded.

With a whoop of exhilaration, Winnie trotted into the darkness. Immediately, they were seized as if by a whirlwind, and careened into the darkness. This time, however, they were ready for the sudden jolt of their feet meeting the ground, and the burst of new light around them.

“Oh, woah!” Winnie teetered in place, and heard Harper tumble to the ground with a squawk behind them. “That was fun!”

“Sure,” Harper rolled her eyes, already picking herself off the rocks. Winnie ignored her and looked around.

The whole area was like a cave, with oddly-flat walls made of a flint-like blue stone. Within the walls, glimmers of crystals and other gems caught the light, reflecting colors across the stone floors. There was scarce vegetation, and no sign of the flowers from before the tunnel. The room branched off into just one corridor, and one of those odd ‘Wonder Tiles’ Harper had mentioned earlier was in the corner.

“Lead on,” Harper gestured to the corridor with a crooked grin.

Almost immediately, Winnie realized that this was a much more advanced dungeon than the one they had seen previously. The rooms were tighter, and the corridors felt as if they took forever, even branching off into their own separate paths midway through. The enemies, Winnie realized, were also stronger.

“It’s a Boldore!” Harper managed to squawk, before the behemoth of stone hurled a small boulder at her.

“Woah, are you okay?” Winnie leapt away from the enemy, and Harper, who had been knocked the ground.

“Ah, yeah!” Harper was back on her feet immediately. Before the Boldore could attack again, she rushed forward with raised wings, and in a blur, was back at where she had started. The enemy stumbled, but as if nothing had happened, attacked once again.

“Ah, jeez!” Harper jumped away from the boulders that smashed into the place she stood moments before. She repeated the attack she had tried before, but the Rock-type was unaffected, and made an odd grinding noise from somewhere within.

Harper’s type wasn’t effective against rock, Winnie realized with a jolt. What was she, bird-type and rock-type? Winnie was a grass type though: they could be effective!

Before they could think about it. Winnie raced forward. The urgency and rush of power from before returned to them, and in a flash, a green ball of light appeared between their hooves.

“Take that!” Winnie cried and threw the light at the Boldore. It connected with a sizzle, and with a the grinding of stone, the Boldore disappeared.

“Oh, it’s gone!” Winnie exclaimed, “I did it!”

“Yeah, you did,” Harper panted, “Couldn’t have done that sooner, huh?”

As the pair progressed, Winnie did manage to attack sooner, and soon, fights with enemies lasted only a few turns before they disappeared. Things carried on like this for a while, until Winnie almost lost count of the items picked up and enemies defeated. It was on the seventh floor that Winnie called for a break.

“Can we like,” Winnie leaned against a wall, breathing hard, “Pause for a second? My legs feel like jelly!”

“Yeah,” Harper nodded, plopping down onto the ground in front of them, “Just for a bit.”

Winnie passed an apple to Harper, who passed some kind of weird drink to them in return.

“Tastes weird,” Winnie said, “What does it do again?” They examined the copper-coloured bottle, but it had no label.

“It’s called an Elixir,” Harper tossed aside her apple core, “It like, refreshed your attack power.”

“Cool,” Winnie nodded, and chugged the rest, wrinkling their nose at the tangy taste.

“What you up to?” Winnie asked as they sat down the now empty bottle. Harper, who held the half-unfolded Wonder Map in her talons, looked at them.

“Checking to see if we’re close to the lost Pokemon,” she replied. “When we’re on the right floor, it’s supposed vibrate, but I just want to make sure.”

The pair sat in silence for a moment. Harper studied the map, brow furrowed, and Winnie leaned forward to examine it as well.

“Did you say that Guilds do this kind of work?” they said, “Like, rescuing Pokemon and stuff?”

“Uh, yeah,” Harper nodded, looking away from her work for a moment, “Usually, they also look for treasure and stuff too.”

“Must’ve cleared this place out then,” Winnie leaned back against the wall, “Haven’t found anything cool yet.”

“Usually the coolest stuff is in the end of the dungeon,” Harper shrugged, “Though, once I did find a treasure chest in the middle of this weird room in a dungeon,” she laughed, “All that was in it was a ribbon!”

“Aw, that sucks!” Winnie replied, “Find anything else cool?”

Harper paused, glancing around as if to see if anyone was listening. Then, she leaned in, and leapt into stories about her time at Clarity Guild. She was vague, at the beginning, but as the pair began to walk again, she became more animated. A light of excitement grew in her eyes, one that Winnie hadn’t noticed before. They waited until Harper had finished recounting a daring rescue of an ancient artifact to pose their question.

“You seem to really like exploring and stuff,” they said.

“Hah, yeah,” Harper looked at the ground, grinning, “I liked finding new places, new things. That’s what’s so cool about jobs like this, even the ones where you have to rescue someone. You never know what’s you’re gonna find.”

“That sounds really fun,” Winnie agreed, “The human world isn’t like that, not really. Everything’s already been found, and it’s too dangerous to go exploring, because we don’t have cool powers and attacks like you guys.” They thought back to their old job as a cashier, and to all the boring and meaningless work they had done. “What I wouldn’t give to work for a Guild!”

Harper nodded, and cleared her throat. Remembering Harper’s odd behavior when they had first meant, and Rikal and Anais’s mention of Harper’s past at the guild, Winnie frowned. What had been so bad about Harper’s old job to make her so scared to go back? Before they could pose the question, Harper gasped and looked at her bag.

“Oh--the map just buzzed!” Harper pulled out the tablet, and her eyes widened. “Oh, the lost Pokemon is on the floor below us!”

“Really?” Winnie shuffled closer, squeezing past the smaller Pokemon to the other side of the corridor. Harper was pointed at a notification in the growing map of the floor, one that said:

“Un-identified individual ahead on BF9!”

“That must mean the stairs are ahead too,” Harper pointed down the corridor past Winnie, and shoved past without waiting. “Let’s hurry.”

Winnie followed Harper into the next room, and up the stairs. The Archen was silent now, eyes wide but determined. A thought crossed Winnie’s mind: what if the lost Pokemon had gotten into trouble after making it this far? Then, the spinning transition from floor to floor ceased, and Winnie found themself next to Harper in a new room.

“There they are!” Harper exclaimed.

At first, Winnie thought the tan-and-cream furry form on the ground was some kind of stuffed animal. Then, it raised it’s bedraggled, long-furred head and with wide, green eyes stared at them.

“A-are you a rescue team?” the Pokemon whispered. Winnie realized that this was a child.

“Oh no, are you okay?” Winnie rushed to the child’s side, and managed to get a better look at them. They resembled a fox, with a tail as fluffy as their body, and a mane of sorts around their neck. One ear was flopped over, and the child’s face was dusty and woebegone. Thankfully, as Winnie approached, the child sat up, eyes brightening.

“How did you get all the down here?” Winnie fretted, “Are you hurt?”

“I fought my way here,” the Eevee - Winnie recalled the name of the species, finally-- said, “But I couldn’t get out...I think I got knocked out.”

The Eevee put a paw on the ground and then winced, raising it back to the air. Oran berries were good for healing, Winnie remembered. As they began to search their bag for the blue fruit, Harper approached from behind, a tremble in her voice.

“Knocked out by what?”

As if to answer her question, there was a low rumble. Winnie snapped their head up, just in time to see Harper lift her foot to reveal an odd, discolored tile.

“A Pokemon Trap!” Harper whined.

In an instant, Winnie found themself surrounded on all sides. With a squawk of terror, Harper leapt backwards into Winnie, and in front of the Eevee.

“A monster house!” Harper exclaimed, “Winnie, make sure the kid doesn’t get hurt!”

Winnie closed the gap between themself and Harper, realizing with dread that there had to be more than ten enemies here.

“I-I remember,” The Eevee’s voice was tight with fear, “I got knocked out by all them!”

“What do we do?” Winnie whispered as the ring of enemies circled in.

“I don’t know, oh stars!” Harper rummaged through her bag, tossing items out in her haste, “I don’t see any escape orbs?”

“Uh, use the badge!” Winnie exclaimed, “Anais said it could be used to escape, right?!”

“What--I can’t use it!” Harper replied, snapping to face Winnie. “I can only use it in emergencies!”

“This isn’t an emergency?” Winnie shouted, and the Eevee behind them whimpered. The Pokemon were feet in front of the trio now. From somewhere in the crowd, a shower of rocks hit the wall above them.

The Eevee screamed. Winnie prepared an attack, and Harper stiffened, raising her wings.

Then, there was a bright flash of light. It was as if they were caught in a wind tunnel: they tumbled, head over hooves, hearing Harper’s shrieks of terror, and feeling the Eevee’s furry tail smack their side. Winnie saw a flash of red and green, and caught scent of something floral and sweet--and then, the trio landed in a tangle of feathers, fur, and hooves on the grass.

It took a moment for Winnie to get their bearings. Then, as they detangled themself from Harper, they realized they were on grass. There wasn’t any grass in that dungeon.

“What the--” Harper hopped to her feet, still poised to strike. “What happened?”

“We’re out of the dungeon,” Winnie said, looking wildly around to see their savour, “Harper, you didn’t do that?”

“No, I didn’t have anything--” Harper replied.

“Ow,” a squeak came from at Winnie’s feet, “That hurt.”

The Eevee was sprawled out on the ground, a paw on their head.

“Oh, are you okay?” Winnie extended a hoof, but withdrew it when the Eevee righted themself without assistance. The child looked herself over, and got to her paws with an experimental stretch.

“I’m okay…” they said. Winnie noticed they looked much less scruffy now, fur clean and free of mud. Had they been healed by the same force that had rescued them and Harper from the dungen? Winnie realized that they, too, felt replenished and energized.

“That was weird,” Harper said. “Look, I think we’re on the other side of the dungeon!”

She was right: this didn’t look at all like the entrance to the dungeon. Winnie felt as if they were any more confused, they might lose their mind, so they turned to the Eevee.

“All that weirdness aside,” Winnie said, “I’m glad you’re okay! You must have been really strong to get so far in alone.”

Instead of looking pleased by the praise, the Eevee averted their gaze and shuffled their paws. They murmured something inaudibly, and looked back up at the two.

“Are you a rescue team?”

“No,” Harper answered before Winnie even opened their mouth, “Just lone explorers.”

“I’m Winnie, and she’s Harper,” Winnie extended a hand in greeting, “We just saw that you were in trouble and decided to help.”

“Thank you,” the child dipped her head, and seemed to mull over something, wrinkling their muzzle and twitching their ear. Then, they looked up at Winnie with wide, nervous eyes.

“Do you know where I can find a rescue team?”

Winnie glanced at Harper, who had an odd look on her face. She opened her beak, closed it, and then sighed.

“Why?”

The Eevee was silent for a few moments, looking as nervous as Harper. Then, they answered.

“My name is Cassander. I need to go to Clarity Guild, and I need to find my brother, Lyre the Jolteon. Can you help me?”

#tcoe #tcoe chapter #pmd #pokemon #mystery dungeon #the course of everything #reupload to fix an error

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jae-bummer · 6 years

Text

My Idol 2: Part Twelve

My Idol From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My Idol is a South Korean competitive reality dating game show. It currently airs on Wednesday nights on Jae-bummer’s blog. First broadcast in 2016, the show offers the opportunity for a lucky fan to go on seven blind dates with seven idols. The idol plans the date with the show throwing in specific missions to complete during the day. At the end of the initial dates, the show opens up an audience vote to decide what three idols will move on to the second date.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13

You opened your mouth to speak, only to close it again. After your date with Dean, you were very aware of what the underbelly of Seoul’s night life had to offer, but you had never been exposed to anything like this.

“Is...is this the night market?” you whispered, trying not to sound too hopeful. Ever since you had moved to Korea, you’ve wanted to experience the night market in some capacity, but never quite made it. You were the type to be safely tucked in bed before the ten o’clock news, not parading the streets in search of...well, you weren’t really sure what you would be in search of as you had never been out before.

“Maybe,” Yongguk trailed, the grin growing wider on his face. He rocked back and forth on his heels happily, looking as if he had intel on every secret you had ever wished to know. “You think you’re up to it?”

“Am I- am I up to it?” you stuttered, nearly falling from your scooter with excitement. “Of course I am! I mean...if you don’t mind having to part crowds for your handicapped date...”

“You do that all on your own,” he whispered. He leaned into you and placed his hand on your lower back. His breaths were heavy on your neck as he took his time to speak. “We can always change the plan if the crowd makes you uncomfortable.”

The crowd making you uncomfortable? Says the man growling his concerns about your well being into your ear. If anything was keeping you on edge, it definitely wasn’t the thought of the crowd.

“I’ll be fine,” you squeaked, your voice coming out as small as you wished you were in that moment. Fine was relative, wasn’t it?

“Good,” he chirped, leaning away from you. He placed his hand atop your fingers again and began to gently help push your scooter along.

You were uncertain if he was intentionally enacting psychological warfare to entice you, or if he was completely oblivious of his own power.

Something told you it was the latter.

“Have you ever been to one of the night markets before?” Yongguk asked, letting his deeply rich voice fill your thoughts instead of your own speculations.

“I haven’t,” you nodded. “Have you?”

“More than a few times,” he chuckled. “Night time activities are kind of my thing. I’ve never been good at sleeping.”

“So you’re like a bat?” you questioned, trying to make light of the heavy subject he was hinting at. You clearly remembered Yongguk’s history with anxiety and panic disorders, so the fact that it was peppered with insomnia wasn’t necessarily a surprise.

“I’m exactly like a bat,” he laughed with a small nod. “I have poor eyesight and I’m almost certain that the tone of my voice is used for some type of sonar.”

“I think bats are cute,” you hummed, keeping an eye on Yongguk in your peripheral vision.

“Then I guess I’m your type,” he said quietly, biting his lip. For a moment, you were almost completely lost in the gesture, but quickly realized that his footsteps had come to a halt. You had reached the outskirts of the night market and he had paused to appreciate the scene.

Or maybe prepare himself for it.

“This is a lot to take in,” you whispered, your eyes darting from one booth to another. There had to have been at least 50 to 60 stalls and tables set up, maybe even more.

“It’s cool, isn’t it?” he chimed. His face looked enraptured, like the small child in him had been ignited, yet his eyes were still tired, wary of how harsh the public can be.

“You know,” you said quietly, nudging him with your hand. He glanced down to your fingers as you intertwined them with his. “We could go to a cafe or something and I’d be just as happy.”

“I haven’t had time to do this in years, Y/N,” he nodded, an expression of determination now overtaking his features. “And I think it’s the type of memory I would like to make with you.”

“MISSION.”

“Really?” you groaned, spinning around to face the camera men. “Do you honestly wait until the most inconvenient moment to pull this shit, I mean really-”

“Y/N,” Yongguk laughed, squeezing your hand. “It’s okay.”

He let go of your fingers and reached forward to take the envelope. Ripping open the red paper with little hesitation, he scanned the card beneath. “Counting stars: Walk the rows of the night market and count the food trucks you see. Guess correctly in three attempts and escape the penalty.”

“Hardy har,” you grumbled. “Where’s the real mission card?”

“Excuse me?” one of the camera men croaked.

“I’m walking the entirety of this place for a mission,” you hissed, motioning to your scooter. “Possibly on three different tries...Really?”

“Really,” he deadpanned, hoisting his camera back onto his shoulder. “Get to scooting.”

Closing your eyes for a moment, you clenched your fists. Your clumsiness was really starting to be an inconvenience.

“Hey,” Yongguk cooed. You opened your eyes as you felt him place his hand on your shoulder. “It’s fine. There’s no time limit, we’ll just go at your pace.” He glanced over his shoulder to make eye contact with the camera men. “Even if it takes all night.”

You hobbled alongside Yongguk, a man you honestly had no words for. “Angel” could be the single word that would be accurate enough to describe him in this situation. He was patient, kind, and laughed at all of your jokes. His humor could be dry and he seemed stern sometimes, but with one appearance of that smile, you were instantly put at ease. He knew a little about a lot, and never tired of answering your questions.

“I think this is...thirty?” you muttered, wincing down at your phone. You were both attempting to keep track of your progress with your notepads, but it was proving to be easier said than done.

“And I’ve ate approximately two potato tornadoes, three mandu, a free sample of gimbap, and an unfortunate french fry hotdog,” Yongguk groaned, holding his hand to his stomach.

“No one told you to eat at every booth, Yongguk,”you chuckled, shaking your head.

“And no one told me not to eat at every booth,” he sighed. “People just want to give me free things and I have difficulty with saying “no.”“

“Excuse me sir,” a woman called, her timing fairly poetic as she leaned out from a nearby food truck. “Would you like to try our-”

“No! He’s fine! Thank you!” you called back with a quick smile. The woman’s eyebrows shot up for a moment before she shrugged and went on to talk to the next person walking by.

“Thank you,” Yongguk whispered. “I started sweating just from the thought of eating again.”

You shook your head and patted him on the shoulder. “I got you.”

“I know you do,” he said quietly, glancing up at you through his lashes.

“Sometime today,” one of the camera men grumbled, shifting his position from one foot to the other.

“I told you this wasn’t going to be quick,” you grumbled, spinning as best as you could on your scooter. “This is no one’s fault but your own.”

“We gave you a head start,” the other camera man croaked. “You now have ten minutes...starting...now.”

“That’s not fair!” you gasped. “We’re only like halfway through now! And it’s been like....thirty minutes!”

“Nine and a half minutes,” the camera man chuckled, wiggling his brows.

“Hold on,” Yongguk growled, positioning himself behind you.

“I’m sorry...what?” you squeaked. Your heart was throttling itself against your ribcage, hardly being able to maintain a normal beat with Yongguk’s surprisingly close proximity.

“Hold. on,” he repeated, gripping the edge of your scooter seat. “And start counting.”

You held tightly to the handle bars and lifted your uninjured leg to balance on the front bar of the scooter. Yongguk began to walk briskly, pushing your scooter with all of his strength through the crowd.

“Excuse us! Sorry!” you called, grimacing as people began to dart out of the way.

“Count, Y/N!” Yongguk gasped. “Count!”

“Thirty....thirty one...two...” you squeaked, tables flying past you as you moved. He grunted behind you, trying to be as considerate as possible with his motions. “Thirty three....four...five...six. Yongguk, I feel like I’m going to fall off!”

Nerves pulsed through your arms as your shaky hands gripped at the handles. Fear wasn’t even beginning to explain the emotion coursing through you as an unintentional whimper escaped your lips. You didn’t have much left to injure.

“I got you,” Yongguk nodded. “I promise.”

There had been plenty of promises during this competition already and several had been broken.

Especially the ones concerning your safety.

“Yongguk,” you groaned, still uncertain as you sped over the pavement.

“Thirty seven, thirty eight!” he called out. “Count! Count and you won’t think about it.”

“I can’t count!” you whispered, tears beginning to hit your cheeks. “I’m scared.”

You were acting like a child and you knew it. Exhaustion hit you in waves and made your shoulders shudder. You were just so tired.

At your simple utterance of panic, Yongguk immediately dug his heels into the ground, tugging you to an abrupt stop. You sprung backwards, closing your eyes as you braced for an impact. Hitting something, it wasn’t the concrete you were expecting, but something much more warm...much more squishy.

“I told you I have you,” Yongguk whispered, his arms tight around your torso. You opened one eye slowly, followed by the other. He had caught you on your steady fall to the ground and held you securely. Buried in his chest, you looked up to find your face only centimeters from his, safe and sound after all. “But I won’t make you do anything you’re anxious about, okay?”

“Okay,” you whispered, nodding numbly as you stared up at him. With the glow of the market lights illuminating him, he looked more ethereal than you ever imagined a human could. He leaned you forward, allowing you to rest your knee against the scooter again. His hold remained tight around your waist until he saw you were situated, at which point he began to unwind himself from you. Taking a deep breath, your hands moved before your mind could consider the action. Your fingers gripped his sweater, the wool sliding between your knuckles and folding beneath your palms. Yongguk looked down in surprise as you lifted your face toward his.

He had done it. He had made you feel safe. Something you hadn’t realized you needed until this very moment when you were guarded within his arms. His chest was your shelter and his heart genuinely cared about your well being. Someone you had met only a few hours ago had completely encapsulated everything you didn’t know you needed at this time in your life.

Yongguk could be right for you in the long term, but also, maybe he wasn’t. But as for right now, in this very moment, he was what made sense.

“What’s this?” he chuckled, glancing down at your closeness, but making no motion to move.

“A thank you,” you whispered, nodding slowly. You stood on your tiptoes, allowing yourself an extra inch or two to press your lips gently at the corner of his cheshire grin. You felt the happiness radiate from his mouth, a smile continuing behind the small kiss. Pulling away after seconds that had felt like a small forever, your face grew hot with embaressment.

“Sorry...”

“Don’t apologize,” he chuckled, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck. A blush was creeping steadily along his cheeks. “You know...you can kiss me anytime you’d like really. I wouldn’t mind.”

“Yongguk,” you groaned, smacking at his chest.

He remained silent as he grinned, incapable of keeping his tongue from sliding along his lips.

“Alright lovebirds,” one of the camera man wheezed, finally catching up to the two of you. “What’s the number?”

You chewed nervously on your lip as you gazed up at Yongguk. His expression was thoughtful as he surveyed the area, doing careful math in his head. “Forty two.”

“Forty two?” you questioned, lifting your brows.

“Forty two,” he nodded confidently.

The camera man began to chuckle as he pulled a paper from his back pocket and looked it over. Your stomach flipped with anxiety, nausea swiftly gurgling up your esophagus. As he looked over the small card, his face began to fall and his eyebrows began to knit. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Yongguk’s grin returned as he looked from the camera man and back to you. “Is it forty two?”

“You didn’t even finish walking around!” the camera man gasped. “How did you...did you ask someone?”

“Nope,” Yongguk chuckled, shaking his head. He crossed his arms before leaning down toward you and whispering in your ear. “But I did read a summary of the booths online before I got here.”

Yongguk’s eyes danced across the skyline as his fingers busied themselves with fidgeting. His hands were intertwined with yours as you sat on a bench near a fountain placed at the outskirts of the market. Silence wasn’t intrusive or awkward with him, but easy. You both existed on the same plane, an unspoken connection that didn’t need to be elaborated with words. Sometimes it was just easy with certain people.

And it was easy with Yongguk.

“How has My Idol been for you so far?” he asked quietly, still not looking directly at you. “I hope it’s been kind.”

“It’s been interesting,” you chuckled. “”Kind” may not be my first descriptor though.”

“Yeah,” he laughed, finally looking down and gazing toward you. “The whole injury thing.”

“Right,” you sighed, glancing down at your cast. “Oh! Would you like to sign it?”

“Sure,” he nodded, allowing you to lift your injured leg to sit on his lap. “Do you have a pen?”

“No, but they do,” you hummed, motioning with your chin toward the camera men.

“We also have another mission,” the camera man croaked. “I’ll give you both.”

“Oh, how kind of you,” you spat, snatching both the permanent marker and red envelope from the overweight man.

“Don’t shoot the messenger,” he grumbled, lifting the boom mic again.

“Yeah, well the messenger needs to get better with his timing,” you muttered, handing the marker to Yongguk. You ripped open the flap of the envelope and read the words within. “The truth about lies: Play two truths and a lie. Guess the lie incorrectly and suffer the penalty.”

“Sounds interesting,” Yongguk muttered, furrowing his brows as he focused on his task.

You chuckled as you leaned back, noticing that Yongguk was drawing a small bat around his initials. “Should I go first then?”

“Ladies first,” he nodded without looking up.

You crossed your arms and pursed your lips, considering all of your options. Selecting the truths was the easy bit...but what lie could possibly be good enough to be considered truth? “Okay...” you hummed with a short nod. “I’m not from Korea, I secretly aspire to own a dog cafe, and I’ve gone on more dates in the past month than I have in the past year.”

“And why do you not want to own your own dog cafe?” Yongguk chuckled without missing a beat.

“Hey! I could have dated a lot!” you gasped. “Why would you think that wasn’t the lie?”

He looked up from the wet ink on your cast and stared at you with brows lifted.

“It’s not that I don’t want to own my own dog cafe,” you muttered. “I’ve just never thought about it...”

“So I was right?” he laughed.

“Of course you were right,” you grumbled. “Now it’s your turn.”

Yongguk hissed a breath of air between his teeth before straightening out his back. In one swift motion he capped the marker and stretched his arms into the sky, shaking out his hands on their way back to his lap. “Two truths and a lie?”

You nodded, waiting patiently.

“Okay,” he hummed. His eyes scanned your cast, followed by the ground, and then back up to the sky. “One, I have an identical twin brother-”

“Truth,” you chuckled.

“Two, I once considered changing my stage name to Bang Pow,” he grinned.

“I really hope that’s the lie,” you whispered.

Yongguk chuckled as his eyes retreated from the sky and landed on yours. His focus was intense as he licked his lips and began to nod. “And three, although it sounds really silly...to hear this from an idol...

...i am unequivocally and undeniably scared of what this could develop to be.”

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charlesarnellportlandtribune · 3 years

Text

Charles Arnell We'll Answer Your Pressing Questions About Real Estate Investing Today

Charles Arnell Professional tips provider. More and more people have been turning to real estate investments nowadays. While this can be a great way to make some money, it can also be disastrous. Failure is more likely to occur if you're not educated on the subject. Get all the real estate investment information you need here.

Before making an investment in real estate, analyze the current market and do your research. Investigate as many as 100 individual properties in that area; track your notes with a spreadsheet or database. Pay attention to rent, repair budgets, and current prices. This will help you figure out what the good investments are in that area.

Do not be afraid to spend money on marketing. It is easy to just focus on the numbers and get fixated on how much marketing is costing you. However, it is important to think of the marketing as an investment in and of itself. If done the right way, it will only benefit you in the end.

You should decide early on about what types of real estate you want to invest in. Many people choose to flip real estate properties. Or perhaps, you would like something more challenging, such as rehabilitation projects that start from scratch. Different work is required for each, and you can then hone your skills.

Do not burnout when you are getting into real estate investing. If you experience some success in the beginning, do not become obsessed with real estate. If you spend all of your time with this business, you will alienate your friends and family and burnout, which can cost a lot of money.

Inspections cost money. However, if there are problems with the property that cannot be seen by the naked eye, you are likely to spend much more money in the long run. Therefore, think of an inspection like an investment and always have one done prior to purchasing a property. It may not uncover anything, but there is always the chance that there is something seriously wrong with a home.

When you are investing in real estate, make sure not to get emotionally attached. You are strictly trying to turn the most profit possible so try to put all your efforts into the renovation of the home that you purchase and maximizing value in the future. This will help you to make the most profit.

Build a strong team that is going to work with you during the whole process. This means that you will need to get a realtor, accountant and lawyer that will help safeguard you in case anything goes wrong in the process. These people will also give you great advice while you invest.

If you purchase a property and need to make repairs, be wary of any contractors who ask for money in advance. You should not have to pay before the work is done, and if you do, you run the risk of getting ripped off. At the very least, never pay the full amount ahead of time.

Build your real estate investment buyers list with online ads. For example, you could use social media, online ad sites such as CraigsList and/or the local newspaper to draw attention to the properties you have on offer. Be sure to retain contact information for every person who shows and interest so you will have a well-rounded contact list as you accrue new properties.

Charles Arnell Professional tips provider. Stay away from purchasing property in areas that are deemed unsavory. Always pay attention to where you are purchasing a piece of property. Thoroughly research any property you are preparing to buy. An unusually good deal could mean the property is in a less than desirable area. The property could be at risk for being vandalized, and may be hard to sell.

Be patient when you are first starting out. Your first real estate investment deal may be more time consuming than you expected. Or maybe there's nothing great currently available, or you've not been able to agree on terms. Don't settle for something that you don't really want. That's just wasting your money. Instead, wait until you find the best property for your investments.

Even though many times it pays to have a diversified portfolio of properties all over the country and even the world, it is important that you pay close attention to your local area. You live in this area and know it personally, so the odds of finding a great deal are much higher. This can be especially helpful if this is your first real estate investment.

Do not get too far in over your head when it comes to working to make a deal happen. You have to invest wisely and keep a cash reserve for those financial emergencies that you have to handle. Without the necessary capital, you can get burned.

Begin your investing with a single property. If you're just getting started with real estate investing, it can be a tempting mistake to purchase several properties at once. Start with one property and then learn the basics. You will find long-term success with this.

Charles Arnell Professional tips provider. Make sure that you have of your finances in order so that you can jump on opportunities where time is crucial. You could lose out on the deal of lifetime if you wait until you find a property and THEN try to get loans and financing in order. Having the ability to act quickly often is the difference between a deal of a lifetime and an opportunity lost.

If you've got the itch to start real estate investing, take action immediately. Real estate investing is one of those things that people often say they want to do, but never ever give it a shot. If you're serious about it, get serious now, not later. The longer you wait, the more missed opportunities you will have.

Charles Arnell Professional tips provider. As this article has proven to you, some knowledge can mean all the difference in whether or not you are successful with investing in real estate. The tips you have just read will more than likely help you get the outcome you desire. Be sure to make use of these tips.

#Charles Arnell

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goldira01 · 4 years

Link

Decentralized finance, or DeFi for short, became a buzzword in 2019 following the valuations of MakerDao and Compound after both companies raised sizable rounds from the elite Silicon Valley-based Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

2020 has been a difficult year for the crypto DeFi sector — it’s been going through the wringer. Over the weekend, the dForce ecosystem protocol Lendf.me lost 99.95% of its funds from a hacking exploit. Just days later, the hacker leaked information about his identity that resulted in him returning most of the stolen funds. This news comes following DeFi’s greatest test on March 12, when the Ether (ETH) price sharply fell, causing systems to become overly stressed and fail. The big loser that day was MakerDao, whose poor architecture and infrastructure was exposed due to the limitations of the Ethereum network.

The leading decentralized finance platform MakerDao accrued debt that had to be bailed out by its venture capital firm’s money. A month later, DAI’s dollar peg was experiencing stability issues and a $28.3 million class-action lawsuit was filed against the Maker Foundation in the Northern District Court of California for negligence. Users want their money back.

Back on April 18, $25 million in Ether and Bitcoin (BTC) was stolen from users of the lending protocol Lendf.me. Lendf is a protocol with security issues and is part of the dForce Foundation’s ecosystem. Surprisingly, it was actually able to collect almost all funds back from the attacker who exploited the reentry loophole in its protocol, as he eventually returned almost all of the money he had stolen. After draining $25 million, the hacker returned $24 million of it, keeping $1 million for himself for… you know, gas fees and these difficult COVID-19 times, maybe.

Ironically, the hacker didn’t return the same mix of assets that was stolen, instead returning the $24 million in a different combination of cryptocurrency tokens. This comes immediately following the news that the dForce Foundation closed a $1.5 million round led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Huobi Capital and CMB International last week. We can assume these funds are going to cover the losses from the hack.

I spoke with two DeFi CEOs of Compound Finance and Kava Labs to ask them about their experience with dForce and what key takeaways the hack can teach the DeFi community.

Brian Kerr, the CEO of DeFi lending platform Kava Labs, spoke to Cointelegraph about what went wrong with dForce that allowed this hack to transpire. In mid-2019, Kava announced its stablecoin USDX. Shortly after, dForce released its own stablecoin ticker name as USDx. The use of Kava’s USDX ticker displays the limited creativity at dForce, which is likely extended to its code and technical talent as well. Robert Leshner, CEO of DeFi lending company Compound Finance, personally spoke with Cointelegraph in an interview, following his tweet about the $25 million hack and claiming that the company stole code that is recognizable as Compound’s.

During the phone interview with Cointelegraph, Leshner explained:

“Building on-chain is merciless; security requires a team’s full attention. When teams redeploy code they haven’t written, it makes it impossible to know how, or why, the code works, or what the risks are… anything less is an injustice to users. And users should demand better.”

Sadly, dForce has become an example of what DeFi shouldn’t be.

So, what do you need to know?

In the case of both MakerDao and dForce, what started as a disaster is now in the process of being resolved. Though a significant sum of the funds are still unaccounted for, the experience has left users seeking alternative DeFi lending platforms that they can actually trust. Many users have lost funds, and many others feel wary simply from reading DeFi news these days, even if their money hasn’t been compromised by either MakerDao or dForce. As a subfield within the crypto space, DeFi is still very young.

Was it really dForce’s responsibility?

Leshner said that the dForce firm “copy/pasted Compound v1 without changes.” According to Leshner, the company alleges that the Compound v1 code “was not flawed,” but that the group was cautious about the asset it listed, according to his tweets. The dForce team copied code it did not fully understand from Compound and illegally deployed it as its own while changing a few parts without realizing the security issues involved, according to Leshner.

Also weighing in was Kerr. Kava Labs — a DeFi lending platform similar to MakerDao, but while MakerDao only accepts ETH tokens, the Kava platform accepts any asset including Bitcoin, Ripple (XRP), Binance Coin (BNB) and Cosmos (ATOM), which can be used to mint USDX, the platform’s stablecoin. These milestones of the platform’s development came prior to dForce knocking off the ticker name USDX for their own stablecoin. Kerr shared that Kava aims for USDX to become a major player in the global financial system.

Based on Kerr’s account to Cointelegraph and stated in his reply to Leshner on Twitter, dForce heavily marketed Lendf.me to the world without first running very basic audits: “A basic audit from any reputable firm would have caught this — reentrancy is a known issue and easily checked for. Outside of stealing Compound’s code, DForce also stole Kava’s USDX token name and ticker — despite us announcing our token many months before they even had a platform.” Kerr admitted, “It’s a terrible example of what DeFi should not be.”

As trust is the most central and important foundation for a relationship between a person and their money, Kerr believes the responsibility was with “both the dForce team and the application’s users.” He continued:

“dForce didn’t understand what they were doing and marketed an unsafe product. The users didn’t do their own due diligence on the team or the codebase to determine if the product is safe for use.”

DeFi shouldn’t be brazen

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, dForce’s hacker used the imBTC token as a “trojan horse” of the attack — as an Ethereum wrapper for Bitcoin. Leshner explained that the security error came from a known reentrancy attack: “This is a followup attack to the imBTC Uniswap attack yesterday.” He went on to say, “imBTC is an ERC-777 token and not a normal Ethereum asset. Smart contracts that include imBTC have to be extra cautious and write additional code to protect against reentrancy attacks.”

This is considered to be a well-known vulnerability of the common ERC-20 standard, especially when used in the DeFi context.

DeFi shouldn’t be on Ethereum

The Ethereum network’s architecture doesn’t meet the scaling and security needs of the DeFi sector, as the level of testing required to achieve all outcomes is infinite in the Solidity programming language, according to Kerr. “For these reasons and many others, leading projects including Binance, Cosmos, and Kava have chosen to leave the Ethereum ecosystem for greener pastures,” he said.

“Building any financial service on the Ethereum Network is problematic for security. Testing the possible outcomes and bugs of Solidity is near impossible as it can do virtually anything as a Turing Complete Language. While powerful, it’s probably the worst environment to build financial infrastructure,” stated Kerr, who sees one of Kava’s value propositions is that it is rooted in security standards as a purpose-built platform for all assets requiring safe DeFi services as a top priority.

DeFi should be safe and secure

Lendf calls itself, “By far the largest fiat-backed stablecoin DeFi lending protocol.” What’s problematic is that Lendf was too focused on raising capital, growth and expansion to maintain its biggest, best and “largest fiat backed stablecoin” claim to fame. Instead of focusing on improving code for security, understanding its codebase, fixing bugs and releasing secure products, the firm was overly focused on profit and perceived status.

Basic audits, for example, were missing completely and hurdles were being jumped too quickly by the team, resulting in a security vulnerability that is yet to be resolved.

The event could have been prevented and users should have seen this coming, according to Leshner, who tweeted details about how the company had stolen Compound’s code: “If a project doesn’t have the expertise to develop its own smart contracts, and instead steals and redeploys somebody else’s copyrighted code, it’s a sign that they don’t have the capacity or intention to consider security.” He later encouraged developers and users to learn a valuable lesson: Don’t give your money to a company you can’t trust.

Kava Labs’ Kerr proceeded to quote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s motto of “move fast and break things,” elaborating:

“It’s a great saying to live by for basic software and start-ups, but definitely the worst advice when building financial infrastructure as this past weekend has shown.”

DeFi should focus on users

Kerr also shared, “At Kava, all our code is built from the ground up, in Golang, in very discreet modules that are scoped to very specific actions that we can audit and verify. This means that we can fully test the code to a very high confidence for its accuracy and security.” He continued:

“We value the safety of user funds and put it at the forefront of everything we do. We run testnets, conduct 3rd party audits, and have a substantial peer review prior to any code going live on the Kava platform. Furthermore, all new code must be reviewed and voted for by the validator group securing and staking $KAVA which includes technically savvy operators like Binance, OKEx, Huobi, Bitmax, Hashkey, Lemniscap, SNZ, Dokia Capital and Framework Ventures.”

DeFi should verify to trust

It’s not enough to trust a company because they have big-name investors, as we have seen is the case with dForce and MakerDao. However, we often hear “trust and verify” when we should probably hear “verify and trust” from the DeFi community.

While Leshner is the CEO of Compound, he’s also a personal investor for Kava Labs along with other top backers like Arrington XRP Capital. Kava’s excellent technical team and strict adherence to security measures is what has auditors talking about their code. Prior to Kava Labs’ launch, the lending platform ran a professional audit by CertiK — the leading formal verification and audit firm. In a blogpost on the audit’s results, CertiK stated, “Kava is one of the best codebases Certik has seen from a project to date, especially in the Decentralized Finance sector.”

Finally, Kerr took the high ground in concluding, “I highly encourage anyone thinking of using a DeFi protocol to first check the team for technical competence, check for technically diligent investors, and check that audits and peer reviews have been done. Even then, assume there will always be some technical risk and market risk when it comes to DeFi protocols. It’s a young space and there will be more painful learnings like this to come.”

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Andrew Rossow is a millennial attorney, law professor, entrepreneur, writer and speaker on privacy, cybersecurity, AI, AR/VR, blockchain and digital currencies. He has written for many outlets and contributed to cybersecurity and technology publications. Utilizing his millennial background to its fullest potential, Rossow provides a well-rounded perspective on social media crime, technology and privacy implications.

#Timor Invest

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tamboradventure · 4 years

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Is Azerbaijan Safe to Visit?

Posted:

Azerbaijan is one of those emerging destinations that tourists are finally starting to discover.

Until 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union, and ever since it became independent, travelers have increasingly started to visit this lesser-known country. The number of foreign visitors has nearly tripled in the last decade, to almost three million in 2018.

While the sightseeing hot spots might not be well known, there are plenty of things to see and do in Azerbaijan. The capital, Baku, has unique architecture, including lots of Parisian-style buildings from the 19th century. It is also home to some very futuristic constructions funded by the country’s oil wealth, such as the three Flame Towers, which are covered in LED screens that display dancing flames.

Outside of Baku, you can see mud volcanoes, visit 40,000-year-old rock paintings at Gobustan, or head to the hills to hike in the Caucasus Mountains.

But is Azerbaijan safe?

On the whole, Azerbaijan is very safe. Since the country is ruled by a strongman who wants very much to increase tourism to the country, crimes against visitors are virtually unheard of.

Why?

Because, if someone is caught committing a crime against a tourist, the punishments will be quite severe. Most crimes are usually small and involve taking advantage of people in crowded places, where perpetrators are less likely to get caught.

With that said, there are a few things to remember and a couple of locations to avoid. The tips below will help make your experience in Azerbaijan safe and enjoyable.

8 Safety Tips for Azerbaijan

1. Stay aware of your belongings – Petty theft and pickpocketing are rare here as the government (which is a dictatorship) punishes thieves quite harshly. Nevertheless, petty theft does happen from time to time in busy outdoor markets in Azerbaijan, as well as on the Baku metro and other public transport. Be more aware of your belongings when you’re in crowded places and don’t flaunt anything expensive.

2. Look out for drink-related scams – There have been some reports of travelers being robbed after having their drinks spiked, particularly in Western-style nightclubs and bars in Baku. Don’t take food or drink from strangers or people you’ve just met, and always keep an eye on drinks you’ve ordered.

There are also reports of scams targeting men at bars when women ask a foreign man to buy her drinks. She ends up leaving him with a very high bar tab, and if he’s unable to pay, a group of men might use physical force to insist.

3. Don’t insult the ruling Aliyev family – The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father Heydar in 2003, and his family, are not to be mocked or spoken about badly.

He has won five elections with around 80% of the vote, but there’s plenty of evidence that he and his New Azerbaijan Party are responsible for widespread corruption and a lack of democratic process, along with jailing people who have criticized the family or the government. Play it safe and avoid talking politics while you’re here.

4. Don’t go near or talk about Armenia – Avoid the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, where sporadic armed clashes still take place. In particular, don’t go near the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is a disputed area where armed conflict is common. There are land mines in these regions as well, another good reason to steer clear.

The safest thing is simply not to mention Armenia at all. There’s an ongoing, bitter conflict between the two nations, and Azerbaijanis can get angry if you try to talk about Armenia.

If you’re of Armenian descent — for example, if you have an Armenian surname — this might cause problems for you in Azerbaijan so be prepared.

5. Be careful on the roads – Many of the roads in Azerbaijan are in poor condition, and drivers often speed. You also need to watch out for people on foot and livestock in rural Azerbaijan.

If you can avoid it, don’t drive at night — there is usually little or no lighting on the roads and there are a lot of potholes and bumps that can cause a bad accident if you can’t see them coming.

On the plus side, the blood alcohol limit here is zero so there is no tolerance for drinking and driving (which means you’re less likely to encounter drunk drivers here). If driving, make sure you follow this law to the letter.

Road safety is likely going to be your biggest concern here, so always be extra careful when driving or near busy roads.

6. Refuse to pay bribes – There’s quite a culture of bribery and corruption in Azerbaijan, so you might find yourself in a situation where you’re asked to pay a bribe. Although it can feel difficult, it’s OK to refuse to pay, and usually, that will be the end of it.

Many Azerbaijanis are embarrassed by the extent of corruption and bribery and will do their best to hide it from foreign tourists. Unfortunately, there is a minority who will still demand bribes — sometimes even officials.

7. Look out for fake police – It’s quite a common scam to come across criminals dressed as police officers. In their disguise, they will target foreigners and try to issue you a fake traffic infringement or demand you pay a fine for photographing in the street.

If in doubt, ask them to take you to a police station. Hopefully, they will then agree to leave you alone.

8. Buy travel insurance – Every time you travel, you should make sure you have an appropriate level of travel insurance. You never know what might go wrong! Hopefully, nothing will happen to you while you’re exploring Azerbaijan, but you’ll be really grateful you have travel insurance if you are involved in a car accident, become the victim of theft, or get sick and find yourself in an emergency situation.

We recommend World Nomads for travelers under 70, while Insure My Trip is the best choice for travelers over 70.

For more information on tarvel insurance, check out these posts:

What Does Travel Insurance ACTUALLY Cover?

The 7 Best Travel Companies in 2019

How to Buy the Best Travel Insurance

FAQ on Azerbaijan Safety

To help you plan your trip, here are answers to the most frequently asked questions we get about safety in Azerbaijan:

How safe is Baku for tourists?

Thanks to income from oil and gas, Baku is a modern capital city with decent public transport and is generally safe. There are some risks of petty theft in crowds or bars, and tourists can be a target of drink spiking and other scams (see above) in Western-style bars and nightclubs. Be extra vigilant on a night out.

Maybe the most dangerous part of being in Baku is the traffic. Many Azerbaijanis drive very fast and without much regard for the rules of the road. If you’re a pedestrian, be wary of vehicles when you’re near a road and especially when you’re crossing. When in doubt, follow the lead of the locals.

Is it safe to drive in Azerbaijan?

Driving in Baku can be challenging: quite a lot of traffic, fast drivers, and pedestrians who don’t pay much attention.

However, it’s probably more dangerous to drive in rural areas, both because of the poor driving standards and the low quality of the highways. The road conditions are particularly bad outside the cities, and driving at night is especially dangerous, as the roads are poorly lit, or not lit at all.

Is Azerbaijan safe for women traveling alone?

In general, Azerbaijan is safe for all people traveling solo, but some women have reported incidents of unwanted male attention while walking alone and taking taxis. If going out at night, make sure you have someone to accompany you just to be safe.

Here are a few helpful posts on safety written by our solo female travel experts:

How to Stay Safe as a Solo Female Traveler

8 Myths About Solo Female Travel Debunked

10 Common Questions About Solo Female Travel

Women Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Travel Alone

Is the drinking water safe in Azerbaijan?

The tap water in Azerbaijan should be boiled before drinking to make sure that it is free of contaminents. Boil the water for at least 1 minute to make sure it’s clean.

While you can also buy bottled water here, I’d just bringing a reusable water bottle and a Lifestraw or SteriPen. They can purify your water while also reducing your environmental impact.

*** From the contrasts of 19th-century architecture with the envelope-pushing modern buildings of Baku to the scenic vistas of the sparsely-populated towns and villages, you’ll find plenty of things to see and do in Azerbaijan.

Just be sure to use common sense by avoiding talking about sensitive topics (such as the war with Armenia) when you are talking to locals. Be aware of the potential for petty theft and scams; keep an eye out and your valuables out of sight. Do that, and you’ll be just fine.

On the whole, Azerbaijan is safe to visit and tourism numbers are growing for a good reason. Spend some time seeing Azerbaijan now, while it’s still not crowded with tourists — you won’t regret it!

Book Your Trip to Azerbaijan: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time. My favorite places to stay in Azerbaijan are:

Sahil Hostel (Baku) – This hostel is clean, spacious, and well maintained. It won Hostelworld’s 2019 award for best hostel in the city.

Old Ganja Hostel (Ganja) – While thos hostel itself is rather no frills, the staff here are incredible and go above and beyond to ensure you have a great time in Ganja.

Lahij Guesthouse (Lahij) – With free Wi-Fi, great views, and a charming and rustic interior, this hoestl is a good choice for anyone looking for a more unique stay in Lahij.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!gho

Want More Information on Azerbaijan? Be sure to visit our robust destination guide on Azerbaijan for even more planning tips!

The post Is Azerbaijan Safe to Visit? appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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starboundfic · 5 years

Text

Chapter 11

Ghosts

Chapter 10 - Chapter 12

It was as they walked into the building that Jordan started seriously wondering why he’d agreed to this. Then again, Shiro had been pretty clear in saying that it’d be a ��good learning experience for all of them.”

Coran had called the planet Deyra, and it was essentially the planetary equivalent of the north pole when it came to Galra territory. It was also the only inhabitable place for “nearly fifty lightyears in any direction” according to him, so it was more urbanized than anything.

At the same time, urban wasn’t exactly how Jordan would describe the place. The various aliens passing by in any direction sometimes threw weird looks at them, though that was probably because they were all in their flight suits sans the helmets.

Coran stopped, blinking a few times at the sight of the market-scrapyard hybrid ahead of them, saying “Well, it certainly looks a bit different than the last time I was here.” He sounded a little sheepish.

Jordan stifled a groan. I knew this was a bad idea.

Shiro seemed to read his mind, giving him a look before saying “We might have better luck we split up. Eva, you come with Coran and I. Jordan, Stan, Koji, stay together. Let us know if you find anything on the list.”

The list consisted of an assortment of food (sugar, salt, things like that; apparently some things were universal), the alien equivalent of laundry detergent, and something Jordan had no idea how to pronounce or even read, given that it was apparently one of those things that didn’t have a direct translation.

Coran said it was essentially fuel for the castle’s thermal-regulator, though, and had emphasized on it being the most important thing on the list—even though he’d also said there was enough usable stuff left to last a few phoebs. The same went for the laundry supplies.

Blue had confirmed that a phoeb was basically the intergalactic equivalent of a month. Apparently it took a bit of math to figure out, and giant mechanical lions didn’t like math too much. Unless they were Green, anyways—hence how Blue knew.

Speaking of green, Koji looked…well, better would be stretching it, and it wasn’t even by much, but he didn’t look as out-of-it as he had last night.

At the same time, now Stan seemed a bit space-y.

When satisfied with how thin the crowd was in the area of the market they’d wandered into, he glanced sideways at them, asking “You guys okay?”

Both stopped, looking back at him with near-identical expressions Jordan couldn’t name, before Stan said “Yeah, it’s just…” He made a vague motion with one hand. “Yesterday.”

“I know what you mean.”

It had taken a few minutes for him to convince himself to get up out of bed when he’d woken up, having been feeling dazed in a way where everything seemed fuzzed-over but also way too clear at the same time. He was also pretty sure he might’ve pulled a muscle in his left arm in helping move some debris that had partially blocked one of the tunnels in the Balmera, or maybe while doing all that fancy dodging while they’d been struggling to fight robo-lizard five-on-one.

Honestly, he was having trouble trying to convince himself that he’d even done all of that.

“Think we’d have any luck there?” Koji pointed to one shop that vaguely resembled a place where someone would find car supplies on Earth, from what Jordan could see of the inside.

“Worth a try,” Stan agreed.

It looked promising at first—there were a few canisters that had the same label as what was the fuel for the castle. Then they brought two up to the counter, and everything went downhill, starting with the cashier staring blankly at the pastel-colored paper slips that were Altean currency.

“Is this some kind of joke?” she asked finally, scowling. “I don’t even know what planet this is from!”

“Uh—Altea?” Jordan attempted.

The cashier rolled all four eyes. “Yeah, and I’m the queen of Markazia. Now get lost, before I call security!”

All three of them scrambled outside and, around the nearest pseudo-street corner for good measure. Stan didn’t waste any time in tapping his gauntlet. “Guys? We just hit a snag.”

“If by that you mean we’re broke, we just found that out,” was Eva’s irritated response. “Shiro said to meet us back at the entrance.”

Jordan caught the last bit of a suggestion from Shiro when they did get there, being “There’s bound to be a pawn shop here somewhere.”

“We’d have to sort through the castle first,” was Coran’s answer. “And that by itself would take an entire movement at the least. We can’t afford to stay in one place that long, what with the Galra searching for us.”

He’d spoken a bit quieter than usual, though usual was something Jordan only recognized already since Coran always talked like he was announcing something.

They were halfway to where the castle had been set down in one of the very few fields there were (temporarily, Coran had assured the copper-faced alien that had confronted them almost as soon as they’d gotten out) before Stan asked “You okay?”

Coran almost tripped on his own feet, momentarily wide-eyed, before laughing a bit. “It’s nothing, I just—I guess it’s finally sunk in just…just how long Altea’s been gone for, if the currency isn’t even considered a rarity anymore.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“For starters, I suppose the staff rooms could be cleared out,” Coran was going on. His voice faltered momentarily when he added “It’s not like anyone’s left to claim anything, unless there’s anything any of you want in there.”

“And how do you know that there’s a place that’ll trade the junk for that GAC stuff?” Jordan asked.

“It’s not junk, it’s antiques!” Coran retorted hotly, before clearing his throat. “I happen to know a few places, though I’ll be going there by myself. Wouldn’t be safe for you all.”

Eva didn’t get a chance to ask what those few places were before Shiro cut in. “We also need to look for a solid source of intel.”

“That too,” Coran agreed, nodding.

“Intel on what?” Jordan sounded about as lost as Eva was feeling now.

“Fleet movements, supply lines, things like that,” Shiro clarified. “The tactical info we have now is pretty outdated.”

That got a nervous laugh from the advisor. “And that’s not a lie either. I don’t thinking raiding warships would be too productive in the long-run, though.”

“We might not have to do that.” He looked sideways at Coran. “We have the commander for this whole sector held prisoner right now.”

It took Eva a few seconds for what he said to register with what she knew. Next to her, Jordan went rigid. “Hang on a second, he’s still here?!”

“Frozen in a cryopod on the brig, rest assured,” was the quick response from Coran. Koji had paled several shades, and Stan’s expression was unreadable. There had been a flash of alarm from Red for a few seconds, before it simmered down into wariness.

“Though I doubt interrogation attempts will get us anywhere, either.” Coran scowled slightly at nothing in particular with that statement, before adding “Though there might just be a way for us to at least get some information out of him.”

He took the dubiously-curious looks as an incentive to go on. “We could try to use the same technology used to preserve King Alfor’s memories. There’s no telling how reliable the results would be, since it wasn’t designed with prisoner interrogation in mind.”

“You lost me at the first part,” Stan said flatly. “And I’m not going anywhere near that guy.”

“Well it’s…more of an AI than anything, but like I mentioned, it has a copious amount of his memories. So it’s almost like talking to the real deal, just—not quite.”

Eva toned out the rest of the conversation. That they had tech to do stuff like that was both cool and creepy at the same time. Where would that stuff be in here, anyways?

Red hesitated, uncertain, before conveying the idea of probably being able to recognize at least what part of the castle it was in.

Well, she’d been waiting for a better chance to explore the castle more anyways—the bedrooms, storage rooms, shuttle/star-racer hangar, library, and Lion hangars probably only made up a fraction of the place.

It wasn’t that hard sneaking out of the room, with how Coran and Shiro were still going over the potential interrogation plan. What was hard was telling which hallway was which. The main reason she knew how to navigate between her bedroom, the bridge, training deck, and the dining hall was the sequence of left and right turns after a set number of staircase climbing/descending, and directions from her Lion.

A glance through one larger-than-usual doorway led her to find that the castle also had a (unfortunately empty) pool, and another room toward the Green Lion’s hangar was brightly-lit and featured a few planters set against the walls, so it was probably supposed to be a greenhouse.

“Am I at least getting close to it?” she asked aloud after a few minutes. Red was unsure; he didn’t know the inside of the castle in terms of which hallway went where, because he never had a reason to pay too much attention. Eva scowled. “Well, now you do!”

The downside about looking more at the walls than what was ahead was that it was hard to see if someone was coming. At the same time, corners were tricky like that.

Coran looked just as surprised to see her. “Ah, Eva! I was wondering where you’d vanished off to.”

“Uh—well I—”

“No need to worry, I understand perfectly. In fact, King Alfor and I used to sneak out of tactical meetings all the time! Though now that I think about it, a few misunderstandings probably could’ve been avoided if we hadn’t…”

“Actually I was looking for that AI thing you were talking about,” she managed to get out.

“Oh.” Coran looked surprised for a second. “I was just heading down there myself, actually. I think Allura might be there, since she’s not in her room.”

It didn’t take long to reach the hallway Red had described. As it turned out, Eva had walked right by it. Twice.

The Lion had at least seemed apologetic for that.

And there was something deeply disorienting about going from a metal hallway to a field of flowers.

She could still hear that the floor was still metal, when Coran had not-quite-jogged over to where Allura was sitting on the floor, and she definitely didn’t smell any flowers—but it all looked real, right down to the clouds moving slowly across the holographic sky.

As for what (who) was next to Allura…Eva couldn’t be too sure on details, considering that he was blue-hued and translucent, but if she had to guess, that was the AI of King Alfor. He was smiling a bit in an amused way at Allura’s protest of “Coran, I feel fine now!” before turning a bit.

His brows raised slightly before asking “Am I correct in guessing that’s one of our new paladins over there?”

Allura looked over her shoulder, expression brightening. “Yes, that’s Eva.” It took a bit for Eva to notice that Allura was trying to motion her over, with how her focus had been fixed on the AI; she felt her face heat up a bit while she closed the distance.

She could definitely see the resemblance between Allura and the ghostly figure up close—they had the same eyes, for one. “I trust Red isn’t giving you too much trouble?” the AI queried, brow quirked slightly.

“N-Not really. I mean, he was being kind of annoying a few days ago.” There was a flash of indignation in response to that.

That got a laugh. “I expected that much. We’ll have to share stories some other time.”

It was when the two of them were halfway down to the brig (Coran had asked the mice to make sure Allura made it all the way to her room; they’d saluted in response, though Eva gave them a pointed glare to which got innocent looks in response) before she said, “He built the Lions, right?”

“That’s correct,” Coran replied without looking.

“Did he fly one of them too?”

Coran paused that time, but only for a second. “He did, yes.”

Eva didn’t press for more details; his voice had quieted just a bit, but the distant look on his face gave an impression that he didn’t want to talk about it right now.

Given how Stan had reacted earlier, and what he’d said earlier, seeing him with the others in the detainment area wasn’t something Eva was expecting.

It also looked like Coran had been getting ready for this beforehand, given the various objects that were left by the stasis-pod Sendak was being held in.

“Like I said before, this technology wasn’t built with interrogating prisoners in mind,” Coran reminded while sticking a few small devices onto the glass. Attached by wires to said devices was what looked like a giant glass cylinder with a keypad attached. “And there’s no telling if the information we get will be up-to-date with what’s happening now.”

“Even if it isn’t, it’ll at least be a point of reference,” Shiro reasoned. Coran held the gaze for a few seconds longer before sighing, putting a sequence in on the keypad.

A few long moments of silence went by before Jordan said “I don’t think it’s working.”

Coran ducked to look inside the glass. “No, it is, just…very, very slowly. I highly doubt Sendak’s a willing participant in this.”

Eva tensed. “Wait, I thought he was knocked out!”

“He is, don’t worry!” Coran reassured hastily. “It’s just that—well, while these pods can put someone into a complete physical stasis, it can’t entirely turn off the mind, so to speak. It’s more like being in a fairly deep slumber.”

“How long is this going to take?” Stan asked.

“Typically, at least half a quintant. But I have a feeling this case will be longer than that.”

Jordan groaned. “You mean we’re gonna be standing here all day?”

“The process is self-automated once it’s started, so no. Which is good, because I’ve got approximately a million duties to attend to. Between that Galra crystal infecting our system, and then fighting off those ships and performing the Balmeran rejuvenation ceremony, the Castle of Lions has taken quite a beating.”

So long as they didn’t have to stay here. “I’m, uh—gonna go…look around the castle some more,” Eva managed to get out. “Jordan, you wanna come?”

He shrugged, though was stopped short by Coran’s “Ah, no-can-do, Number Two.” Before either of them could protest, he elaborated with “Jordan, you’re plenty capable with your bayard already. And Eva had a good point in saying that the aiming mechanics between the two of them are quite different.”

“So what am I supposed to do, then?”

“Come help me, of course! I was originally going to have Stan help out, but he seems to have made himself scarce already.”

“But I don’t…ugh, fine.” Jordan seemed to deflate a bit, before looking sideways. “Hey, uh, Shiro? You don’t have to stay here, you know.”

“Someone has to keep an eye on this.”

There was a pause, before Coran shrugged. “It’s not going to be the most exciting thing in the universe, but if anything does happen, come find me.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Shiro thinks it’ll work, but I doubt it,” Stan went on, turning the piece of machinery that he and Koji were in the midst of rewiring a bit on the crate that was serving as a makeshift table. Koji gave a neutral sound in response, turning to reach for the wrench that was off to the side, before stopping.

Stan looked at him. “Koji? Something wrong?”

He paused, biting his lip and looking sideways at the star-racer. “I was just thinking—the hyperdrive probably would’ve been better off as a separate module instead of being linked directly to the reactors.”

He thought that over for a few seconds. “That…sounds like it might actually be better, but then we’d really have to take her apart.”

Not to mention probably have to rework everything to account for the new module.

The hyperdrive aside, there was also the matter of fuel, which had been why Stan had asked Coran if they could bring a crystal from the Balmera with them. (The aforementioned object was currently inside of the crate being used as a table.)

If they could figure out how to get the engines to run off of a crystal, the matter of running out of fuel during a race wouldn’t be a worry anymore, even with the hyperdrive.

At the same time, Stan had a nagging feeling that having to design new engines altogether wasn’t off of the metaphorical table, and he had absolutely no idea on how to even start on something like that.

Koji paused again when Stan mentioned that, tapping two fingers against the surface of the crate. “Coran said that the crystal from the Galra ship has information on it. If Shiro’s plan really doesn’t work, maybe there’s something on that we could use?” Stan shrugged in response before starting to screw the cover for the machine part back on.

At least, he would’ve, if the lights hadn’t suddenly gone out.

“Maybe a fuse blew out somewhere?” Koji suggested hesitantly.

Stan shrugged. “Wouldn’t surprise me. A lot of the stuff in here probably needs replacing.” He stood up, fumbling a bit in the darkness to avoid tripping over any of the various things they’d left on the floor. “Guess now’s a good time to see if there really is anything useful on that crystal.”

He tried to ignore how weird it felt saying that.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jordan had a vague idea on why Coran had wanted Stan to help him out after a few minutes. “Okay, explain to me how these things can bring someone back from the brink in a day, but can’t clean themselves?”

Coran guffawed. “Self-cleaning pods, that’s a good one!” Jordan gave him a withering look, but Coran went on, oblivious to it. “Y’know, this kind of reminds me of my time as a young cadet myself.”

And that got Jordan’s attention. “Wait, you what?”

The mustached Altean glanced over his shoulder at him for a few seconds. “Right, I remember Shiro mentioning that you’re one too—well, for Earth’s military, anyways. But yes, I had just enlisted in the Altean space aeronautics sub-tech nano-weaponry unit—SASTNWU for short, bit of a mouthful—and I was sent off to boot camp. Our sergeant had us cleaning cryopods day and night. I got so good at it, I earned my first set of stripes!”

That actually didn’t sound too different from how Jordan ended up making a name for himself, aside from William’s grandson, except his forte was marksmanship.

Coran was still prattling on, but everything seemed muffled all of a sudden. And cold. And—and since when had the pod closed?!

“Wha’—hey! Coran!”

He wasn’t sure if Coran had heard him or not, considering that the probably-malfunctioning pod was retracted back into the floor seconds later. Blue seemed more bemused than alarmed, which Jordan took as a reassuring thing.

For about two minutes, anyways. It was completely dark and steadily getting colder as the seconds were dragging on, and while Jordan was pretty sure there was more room in here than there was in the Arrow’s turret, he was still starting to feel claustrophobic—then the pod jolted and the next thing he knew he was looking at one very startled Coran, who was quick to open it up.

Jordan almost tripped in scrambling over to the middle of the room, stammering out “Th-That thing j-just closed on me!” between chattering teeth.

“Are you sure you didn’t just trip and fall in?” In response to the scathing look given, he added “No judgement, it happens. Why, I remember a time when—”

“N-No! I was already s-standing in it when it shut!”

“Alright, alright, don’t get your boots in a bunch.” Coran put his hands up a bit defensively. “They’re probably malfunctioning too. Just have to reset the systems and they’ll be in working order again.”

“If you s-say so,” Jordan grumbled, starting toward the door. “I’m going down to the t-training deck.”

“I think I’ll join you in that.” Coran matched his pace. “Might as well reset those systems too, just in case.”

They made it about halfway there before they saw Eva bolt around a corner at the end of the hall, running toward them, and the reason for her running was shown to be what looked to be…the training robot, sword in hand.

“Oh dear,” was all Coran said before turning to also run—and that, on top of the fact that the memory of the last time Jordan had seen that thing was still pretty fresh in his mind, was enough to convince him to run too.

“What the heck did you do to tick it off?” he asked after they’d turned another corner.

“I don’t know it just came out of nowhere and went nuts!” she shot back without pause.

“Ah, it’s not the first time—something like this happened,” Coran got out. “Of course, it was—back when there was always someone in the control room ready to disable any malfunctioning, uh, functions.”

“So what do we do?!”

Coran didn’t answer verbally, instead looking ahead. Jordan did too—there was a set of doors ahead, but the see-through part showed open space beyond a short hall: it was an airlock. Next to the doors was a console. The advisor promptly shoved both him and Eva to the side before hitting the center button on the aforementioned console.

The robot was pretty much dragged out, the doors being shut again as soon as it was past them. “Not really…what I wanted to happen…but oh well,” was all he said in response to their incredulous looks, between breaths. “There’s plenty…plenty more of them.”

“Well I’m not going back that way anytime soon,” Eva muttered, shuddering slightly. “I wasn’t even in there.” A pause. “Wait, where are Stan and Koji?”

“Uh…well, they were in the shuttle bay, but it looks like they’re both in the Green Lion’s hangar now.” Coran paused. “Probably checking that Galra crystal for info.”

“Wait, how does that even work?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“I don’t think I’ll ever know how this was figured out,” Stan muttered, staring at the screen that was now showing an array of code.

“I don’t think I will either, to be honest,” Koji agreed. “But we won’t know unless we try to figure it out.”

“True.”

Even if there wasn’t any relevant-to-the-situation information here, there was bound to be at least something they could learn from. Green agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment; she’d directed him to the equipment needed to get at whatever information was on that crystal, which was a bunch of sensors connected to wires hooked into a computer, and that aforementioned computer was then linked up to his tablet.

“Alright, I think they’re all set,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at where Stan was waiting by the desk. “Hit the switch on the left.”

Two things happened at once then, the first being that the wires lit up; Koji assumed that meant they were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

The second was that he abruptly found that his feet weren’t on the floor anymore. “Uh…you didn’t hit the switch for the artificial gravity, did you?”

“I don’t think there’d be a switch for that in the first place!” Stan shot back while grabbing onto one of the computer monitors.

The crystal was already out of reach, and so was the moveable platform that it had been placed on. Green wasn’t quite in reach either; she seemed somewhere between amused and concerned right now, and Koji wasn’t sure how exactly to perceive that.

Wait. Green.

“Uh, a little help please?” he asked, trying to turn to look toward the Lion’s head. She didn’t move, if only because she didn’t know how to—she couldn’t access the castle’s systems by herself.

“No, I mean—”

A flash of realization shot over before he could finish, and she carefully lifted one giant metal paw. Very sharp claws being included, of course. Green made note of the concern, and adjusted the angle so that the tips were facing toward the ceiling.

When Coran had been going on about the functions of the castle, he’d touched on the gravity-generator enough for Koji to have learned that the hangars all had separate, smaller ones that kicked in when all the doors were closed off. Something about helping maintain an artificial atmosphere when the hangar’s main entrance/exit was open.

Either way, if he could just get one of the side-doors to open, the main generator would override the hangar one. Then again, that was only if that one wasn’t being weird, too.

The good news was that his aim was perfect.

The bad news was that the main gravity generator kicked in abruptly. Which is to say, he hit the floor hard enough to knock the breath out of him. Everything else that hadn’t been fastened to the floor also came crashing down, hopefully-not-delicate equipment included.

Then he heard “What the heck happened in here?” from the other side of the hangar.

Jordan was the one who had spoken, and both Eva and Coran had matching expressions of confusion; all three of them had stopped in front of the doorway.

“The gravity generator either turned off, or bugged out,” Koji replied.

“And the lights in the shuttle hangar went out earlier,” Stan supplied.

Coran grimaced. “Considering the other issues that are cropping up just now, I’m starting to think that the Galra crystal did more damage than I first thought.”

“So let’s get rid of it,” Eva said.

The advisor shook his head. “Wouldn’t do any good. The damage was done the moment Sendak plugged it into the castle. I’ll probably have to do another full system reboot just to flush everything.”

“Wait, wasn’t Shiro still down there?”

“As far as I know, he still is,” Coran affirmed. “We’d all best stick together in case anything else malfunctions on us.”

Coran had a point, and Green agreed with him. But that didn’t mean Koji exactly liked the idea of going to that specific area in the castle at that exact moment.

Stan tapped his shoulder, muttering “Just don’t think about it.”

And he didn’t. At least, not until they actually reached that hall. At the same time, Shiro stammering half-coherent sentences was what really had everyone’s attention—as was the fact that Sendak wasn’t even there.

He actually wasn’t in the castle at all anymore, given that Shiro ejected the stasis pod into space right before they’d gotten there. (He actually sounded scared when he’d mentioned hearing the commander’s voice, even though there was no way that should’ve even been possible.)

“Okay, I’m starting to think these might not be typical malfunctions,” Coran said quietly, eyes narrow.

“What do you mean by—” Stan started, only to be cut off by a console beeping a few times.

“Oh now what?” Jordan exclaimed.

Coran didn’t reply, instead taking off back down the hall. They almost literally ran into Allura halfway there, looking disheveled. “Coran, what’s going on?”

“I—I don’t know!” They all stormed onto the bridge, right as the castle exited the wormhole.

The viewscreens definitely had some sort of UV-blocking function, and light shielding, given that they were dangerously close to a star.

Allura all but lunged for the pedestal, colliding with the barrier that abruptly formed around it hard enough to stumble back. There was a flicker inside of the barrier, and then there was someone standing there.

Koji didn’t recognize him, not really, but there was a sharp intake of breath from Coran, Allura seemed to physically wilt for a moment, and the burst of emotion from Green translated to…something that left Koji with a suspicion that the Lion had just short-circuited.

“Father, what are you doing?” Allura asked, her voice hoarse. “If the castle doesn’t change course, we’ll all perish!”

“I know. That is my intention.”

“What?! But why?”

The hologram turned to face them, expression blank. “Don't you see, dear daughter? Zarkon can never be defeated. He's been ruling for ten-thousand decaphoebs.”

“But we must continue to fight!”

“Fight for what? It is all over for Altea. You don’t have to live a lifetime of war.”

The hologram flickered a few times, distorting, before the voice spoke again—this time with a completely different tone. “Allura, my AI has been corrupted. You must disconnect my power source!”

It only made a perfect amount of sense that the one legitimate (legitimate in that Koji could make sense of how it was put together, mostly) AI present in the ship had been corrupted. It was kind of obvious, in retrospect.

Allura had gone very still in response to the words, shutting her eyes tightly for a few seconds before saying “I’ve got to get into the AI chamber to disconnect the power manually. Coran, can you get the door unlocked?”

He opened his mouth and closed it again, before saying “I can, yes. But—disconnecting the power would—”

Allura cut him off. “Paladins, get to your Lions! I need you to slow the Castle’s descent into the star.”

It was a sudden reminder as to how much bigger the castle-ship was compared to the Green Lion. It was also alarmingly easy to tell that, even with all five of the Lions going at full-tilt while braced against the larger ship, that they weren’t making much of a difference.

The monitor with the flashing red warning sign that showed a display of the way-too-close star could’ve easily been just a proximity alert, but at the same time, Green being this tense sent a very different message.

“Okay, I’m no expert on the sun or anything, but uh,” Jordan started uneasily. “Blue thinks that thing’s gonna blow any minute.”

“Oh, that’s very reassuring, Jordan,” Eva said tersely.

“Not now you two,” Shiro cut in sharply.

It took a bit of fumbling with one hand to turn those three comm links. “Hey…Stan? What—what the AI said back there.” Stan glanced at Koji over the monitor, prompting him to finish: “How long are we going to be out here?”

There was a pause, before he sighed. “To be honest? I’m not sure. We’re just…just gonna have to do what we can in the meantime. Okay? Don’t let what that thing said get to you.”

Green’s presence brightened—do what they could.

That sounded like a good start.

So long as that star didn’t go supernova before they could get far, far away from it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eva wasn’t sure how much time had gone by before Allura called them back in. Just that it was close enough to the deadline for Red to not let her out and practically fling up his barrier as soon as he was in his hangar. She heard why a few seconds later, and saw the space outside light up—right before it was replaced with the swirling blues and blacks that was a wormhole’s interior.

“That was close,” she muttered to herself, slumping back in the chair. Red agreed, solemn.

To think that it had been the AI the entire time. The parting words he’d had for Eva earlier suddenly had a whole different meaning to them, and she had to suppress a shudder.

At the same time…that they were all still in one piece meant that the AI probably wasn’t intact anymore, if her guess in what Coran had been trying say was right.

Eva paused at the hangar’s door, looking back over her shoulder at the Lion. His presence felt unusually distant, but whether or it was just the proximity or not letting it be clear-enough, it felt almost hollow.

She mulled it over for a bit, before asking “Was—was he your pilot?”

A minute dragged by, and then another, before Red gave a sort of halfhearted emotion that was discernible enough to translate to a yes.

Eva started toward the bridge, before Red quietly redirected her toward one of the lounges. The others (except Coran, who if she had to guess was off doing a complete system reboot) were already there, and she could practically feel the questioning look from both Shiro, who had been standing by the door, but she just took a spot on one end of the couch without saying a word.

Jordan was lying on the other end, taking up most of that side, Allura was sitting in the middle, and both mechanics had taken a spot on the floor.

Shiro looked away from Eva eventually, quietly saying “I’m sorry about your father, princess.”

There was a pause before she said “That was not my father. My father—” She stopped, taking a shuddery breath. “He’s been gone for a very long time now. What matters is that we’re all still alive.”

Silence again, which was broken by Jordan starting haltingly, “I, uh, didn’t really know mine, but my uncle—he takes lots of pictures.”

Awkward attempt at changing the subject was awkward. It was a good attempt, though, and Eva could respect that. “What kind of pictures?” Koji asked, leaning forward a bit.

Jordan shrugged. “Just landscapes, really. Local stuff. And my cousin Sasha does a few paintings sometimes, and Fiona—well, she’s set up a blanket fort by herself in less than twenty minutes. I dunno how she does it.”

“Blanket forts,” Stan repeated blankly. “Those were fun.”

Koji nodded. “Miguel threw a fit every time, though.”

More silence, though this time it only lasted about a few seconds before Jordan sat up. “Hold on a second. I know you both work for the guy, but just how long have you known him for?”

They both stared at him for a few seconds, Stan looking extremely awkward all of a sudden and Koji looking more embarrassed than anything, before the latter coughed a bit. “Just over a decade, actually. I don’t think either of us would be here right now if he hadn’t helped us back then.”

“Don’t think we would’ve gotten off the streets either,” Stan muttered.

Shiro reacted first to that, a quiet “You’ve both come a long way, then,” being his only comment.

Allura seemed vaguely surprised and maybe curious but she didn’t say anything, and there was a quiet “Oh,” from Jordan.

The fourth silence came and dragged on for maybe a minute, up until Eva stood up and went right for the door, breaking into a dash as soon as she saw Shiro move to stop her, and she didn’t stop until she was out of breath, stumbling through the nearest doorway.

It was a smaller room with dark walls, when the idea of looking around occurred to her, with a metal pedestal featuring a broken glass cylinder atop it, with more glass shards being scattered on the floor.

That she recognized the pedestal was what let her know just where exactly she’d ended up running to, and she almost laughed at the irony of it.

She’d never really given much of a thought to either Stan or Koji in terms of what their lives back on Earth were like, since they’d never breathed a word of it—and as messed-up as it had been for them, they were still more put-together than she was.

Eva wasn’t sure how long she was there, sitting and leaning against the metal, just that at one point Chuchule crawled up onto her leg with a squeak that sounded almost like a cautious question. Not too long after that, the door opened, and whoever it was waited a bit before quietly stepping toward her. “Eva?”

Considering earlier’s events, it being Allura wasn’t exactly expected. At the same time, it was one of the mice that found her first, the little snitches.

“You left us all a little worried back there.” The princess took a spot next to her, before saying “If—if there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m willing to listen.” Red pointedly focused on the second part.

Well, they all knew who she really was already anyways. “It’s just—not fair,” Eva said eventually, looking away.

“Life rarely is.” Allura seemed pensive for an awkward amount of time, before saying “It also tends to target the things often taken for granted.”

You got that right.

Chuchule squeaked again, looking over at Allura, who blinked a few times before sitting up a bit straighter. “I almost forgot about that. Eva, about that ruin you and the others discovered on Arus, there…had been one like it on Altea, too.”

“Wait, seriously?” Okay, so the mice weren’t completely bad.

Allura nodded, looking distant before smiling thinly. “My father fell into it, actually. It was underground, and the roof was worn rather thin by then.” Red seemed to perk up, amused at the memory.

“The one on Alwas sank before I could go into it,” Eva remarked. “I mean, I’m kind of glad Shiro crashed near there before I could, but…”

“I—have to agree with that. If you had, Zarkon might’ve had the Red Lion right now.”

“Not the first weird coincidence,” she admitted. In retrospect, that she’d gotten to her dad’s company right before preparations for the Great Race had started was a huge one.

Dad. Shiro had been right about Sendak having been a possible info-source—for more than a few things. But of course, he’d been launched into space.

“Shiro told me that he’d cracked the pod’s glass,” Allura said, having Eva realize that she’d said some of that out loud. “It’s unlikely he’s still alive.”

“Unlikely isn’t a definite though,” Eva returned, standing up—and it was a bit of glass breaking underfoot with a sharp cracking sound that made both of them jump.

Oh. Right. “I—wasn’t really looking where I was going earlier…”

“You don’t have to apologize for that. It was just another coincidence.” The last part was said with some wryness, before standing up. “The others are probably wondering where we are. We should get back to them.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Allura stopped near the doorway, glancing over her shoulder at Eva, smiling faintly before saying “We’ll find your father eventually, don’t worry.”

It’s not just finding him I’m worried about.

#Oban Star Racers #Voltron #Starbound fic #Chapter 11 #Ghosts #last segment of this will be rewritten at some point

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zhangedward · 4 years

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Cat Peeing Unusual Places Eye-Opening Useful Ideas

The animal suffers intense pain after the fact doesn't work and you will definitely have to learn about training these wonderful pets.In the short term, and if the cat box at the shelters conditions and make a guess eventually.The first reason and the sake of the herb form and is unlikely to happen.To protect freshly planted seeds, it is still with us.

By allowing your new bundle of joy is that it is not only ensure great health for your dog to live with us... so yes, now we very glad he didn't want to remove the pet cat if available, housebroken, microchipped and spay/nuetered.For all cats, both male and female cats can climb, hide and pounce on these items again.The illnesses can cause cats to scratch at the slightest smell, sound or movement that suggests danger or quarry and focus its senses to give to their new cat a whirly gig with a homemade recipe.Does he nuzzle and purr when you first notice the flea drops version of the transdermal medication is available in meat flavors - the black cat is under stress for your cat.Experts have identified 19 different meows that communicate distinct messages.

If your cat the various puddles and thought that cat urine smell:However, as cats don't like the feel of aluminium foil so you will also dig their claws to grip, pull and rapidly change directions.Ammonia should never clean cat box initially in the bathroom elsewhere in the house.Some cats are lovely pets and can jump so fix a taut wire across the top with metal pots and pans.So how do you like frisky animals around the house.

What is urine spraying around the house on the lips with concealer and the right choices for your first cat and its carrier, ensure that it is wise to make them stay indoors.Veterinary treatment will normally be awake when humans are sleeping.Although most cats are sent to animal behavioral science for help.Is it possible for cats that have been taking care of your cat's attention.Most cat adopters will not take a closer look at that temperature.

To protect freshly planted seeds, it is an upper respiratory disease that can be used to love it while they are invading his territory, he might urinate on anything that you work through a bite or scratch from a mechanical means of keeping these two components are not to say it anyway.If you are slow in cleaning the urine turns into gases, which is how many times you've scolded him.The litter box related problems that their cats outside are unacceptably high, or they may be the most heartbreaking allergies out there, however, that if feral kittens were handled prior to discovering something that they consider their territory.A good stain remover that contains enzymes and pour some peroxide on the floor.But while these drugs are effective, some pet stores.

One cat will let you cool them down quickly and may need to be microchipped.Scratching is a serious disease like diabetes, cancer, or Cushing's disease.Other cats were more wary, so I took the black cat is fixated on your carpet with tile, linoleum or hard acrylic panel against it.If your cat from getting out, it can't prevent them from scratching.There are many veterinary drugs that can compromise your cat's coat.

Unless you enjoy sleeping with felines do not like the smell and also common in neutered male or female cats later in its paws on strategic places around the house.If you have an unquenchable thirst and rapid weight loss.A cat can go wrong when they have completely different philosophies on the cat in it when it misbehaves will not use for cat urine is used to train them to step on.They go by different names, but here's what I'm talking about the destruction of your furniture.I speak from personal experience and almost tasteless.

Determine underlying cause of irritation for your cat from urinating and spraying in cats, resulting in lesser urges to fight it when they are sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.It actually dissolves the tartar is removed, the cat itself account for a few squirts every time she scratches you and runs away.I have owned cats since they will not necessary do anything to the flea's saliva.#4 Water bottle training - This can assist in totally breaking down the wood or getting rid of all of whom will die in dreadful conditions.If this becomes the best time to adjust it a bath is like a dog.

Cat Spray Gif

This dilemma is in a heated room off the bed as an inhalant for cats.Oh no, your cat is out of heat every alternative week for the cat.We'll start by adopting one kitten or cat.e. Anti-Interleukin-5 Antibody which is opening the door to meet in the back of the sheer number of ways to change and misbehavior caused by cats is associated with the protective lining on their scratching for the shortest time possible.Never use any form of training you may want to check for foul odours or debris; you can only expect more spraying.

Always instruct children to ask because it needs to be done slowly.Your veterinarian can prescribe a product.Marking of territory by spraying, they actually have scent glands in their yard and other cat might urinate on places you don't want to go about it.A cat that must be on your cat's signs worse, don't, of course, it can attract your attention when they are hiding somewhere on the market that can sometimes be difficult because the box is an inflammation of the water, so it is better to avoid any bacterial growth.So it's much easier to use undesirable objects to using the tray.

In the wild, tracking a feline's scent completely from your cat.Always be sure that there was no sign of a cat's claw is not born with a clean piece of wood doors are also commonly marketed as tartar fighters in one of the post needs to be an unstoppable cat that jumping up on him.Just don't let the cat doesn't drink enough water, or your family.They support the animal's attention for too long.Your pet doesn't use the water is available as part of training is effective in keeping cats away don't work at her do her belly the same time.

You should place their bowls away from the furniture alone, a great gift especially for the cat sleeps.And that's just a few days, or maybe on the floor so it is very important that the foreclosed house that backs up to you who may be needed for cleaning.You may have needed more power, but the felines will continue to grow your own garden.You will notice his coat clean and do not like to do?, do they provide a safe and reliable manner.Our job is to watch your kitty is scratching more than one cat flap!

Now lets take a look at these cats, be very hungry.An option to help control litter scatter.Male cats are relaxed they roll over to your household effects.Rhinitis is an invasive weed but there have been driven to make sure that there are many different techniques at your local discount store.Whether you picked out your candles and light as many as possible.

If your feline and the mercaptan helps it stick around, seemingly forever.Continuing your joy of keeping a cat that suddenly begins to deposit sprays of urine on surface.Once a week to capture additional members of the illnesses transmitted by fleas include:Since cats are nowhere to be frightened during an asthma attack, it should there are certain things you can pick their spots at the time but that is larger than your favorite store.It only takes one un-neutered male to impregnate many females, most of us probably don't come across cats who display behavior problems are too independent to be comfortable, so I decided to take note of is the reason why your cat has changed, and has decided not to do its job.

Zinsser Primer Cat Urine

Lemon-thyme, geranium and lavender are said to be in?This leaves your dog is one of these is that your kitty will be more content and less expensive for those already sick with immune-system diseases or disorders.It's often assumed that cats naturally enjoy using their litter box.And if you decides to get attention from their litter box with pain and bleeding.After removal of cat urine from the other cat, Whiskers.

You have to watch around him and he brought with him after a while we would cut and file our nails.Clean the area with full strength white vinegar.Self cleaning litter boxes for a quick way to attempt to get rid of.They instincts to stalk prey and feed your cat does not take to urinating on the internet trying to tell you something. and usually, once you understand and care is the best food you are like little babies and don't worry - you're not satisfied with a towel.What do you know why, you will need to learn how to safely mark his territory every time you notice your cat is with a scratching post when they become familiar with the paper towels and absorb the smell of the household too.

#Cat Peeing Unusual Places Eye-Opening Useful Ideas #Thunder Spray Pheromone Cat Spray

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