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#quadratic forms
seekergkfan · 1 year
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The standard form of the quadratic equation is:
The standard form of the quadratic equation is: A. y = a(x – h)2 + k B. y = a(x + h)2 + k C. y = x2 + bx + c D. y = x2 + k (more…) “”
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I will finish answering asks tomorrow <3 ty for sending them :D
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A More Enjoyable Assignment (tickle fic)
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Fandom: Heartstopper
Summary: Nick loves to tickle Charlie, but he never lets Charlie tickle him back. Charlie would never admit it to anyone, but all he wanted to do was hear his boyfriend squirm and giggle and it was starting to drive him up the wall.
Forget homework - this Nick-related assignment was way more fun.
My first ever tickle fic! Quite nervous about posting this, so all (kind) feedback very much appreciated.
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Nick loved to tickle Charlie. This was common knowledge at this point. Charlie could barely make it through an hour in Nick's company before he was pounced on and his high-pitched babbling and squeals filled the air. Charlie would put up a dramatic fuss every time but honestly, he really didn't mind. And he could see from Nick's shit-eating grin just how much joy it brought him.
However, the main issue was that whenever Charlie reached out a retaliating hand to tickle Nick's side, or grabbed his knee to squeeze it, Nick would immediately employ Strong Rugby Arms and intercept his movements, never giving him the chance to properly get his revenge. He'd never admit it to anyone, but all Charlie wanted to do was hear his boyfriend squirm and giggle and it was starting to drive him up the wall.
One Sunday afternoon, they were studying on Nick's bedroom floor, music playing softly in the background. They lay on their stomachs alongside each other, hips and shoulders touching. Charlie had sunk so deep into quadratic equations that he was barely aware of his surroundings, until he felt the familiar sensation of fingers digging expertly, but gently, into his armpit. It took a few seconds for his brain to catch up and then he gasped and squirmed away.
“Nick!” he all but squawked. “You're such a menace.”
When he turned to look at him, Nick was scribbling on his own Geography paper, his face schooled into an unconvincing expression of concentration. Charlie scoffed.
“You're fooling literally no one at this point,” he said, rolling his eyes affectionately and tapping Nick gently on the forehead with his pen.
A smile spread slowly across Nick's face, and he suddenly grabbed for Charlie's hips with both hands and squeezed. This was one of his worst spots – which Nick knew, the arsehole – and Charlie immediately crumbled, attempting to curl into the foetal position on the floor while high-pitched squeals poured out of him.
“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” he cried, trying to wriggle away. Nick just chuckled and ignored him, spidering his fingers up his sides. “Ah fu – fuck, Nick, that tickles so m-much – please...” His arms were flailing wildly, trying to grab Nick's hands and slow his movements.
Nick grinned but paused for a second, clearly winding down so as not to completely overwhelm him, and Charlie saw his chance. He lunged for Nick's thigh but before he could get any leverage, Nick casually plonked his entire body across Charlie's on the floor, leaving him unable to move.
“Nah, I don't think so,” Nick said calmly.
“Oh, for god sake.”
They lay there for a few moments, Charlie catching his breath after the attack. Nick's pinning was clever in stopping him being able to move much, whilst carefully avoiding actually hurting him. Eventually, Nick lifted his weight off Charlie and they rolled onto their sides to face each other.
“You good?” Nick asked, giving him his trademark lopsided smile.
“Yeah,” Charlie said, returning the grin with ease. They just drank each other in for a few seconds. “But you always -” He started, but then faltered, embarrassed.
“Hmm?” Nick was suddenly frowning slightly, always able to read him like a bloody book. He reached for Charlie's hand, linking their fingers together.
“You don't -” Charlie blew out a breath, frustrated at his inability to form words. “You never let me tickle you back.”
“Oh!” Nick's face softened with understanding, and then he grinned. “I know.”
“But why?”
“It's just funny,” Nick shrugged. “And because you're cute when you're annoyed. And in general.”
Charlie would never get used to Nick's unabashed compliments. He felt his face heat up as a rush of warmth spread through his body. “Shut up.”
“And when you're flustered.” The lopsided smile of pure sunshine was back.
“Nick, stop it! It's not fair when I don't get to fluster you back.” Nick's grin just grew wider. “Are you even ticklish?” Charlie asked, his eyes roaming around the parts of Nick's body that he knew were his own worst spots. He leaned in to poke his stomach but as usual Nick was too quick for him, grabbing his wrist.
“Ah now, that would be telling,” Nick replied in a gentle tone.
Charlie groaned, and Nick laughed brightly. “Do you giggle? I bet you're a giggler.”
“Absolutely not.”
A thought occurred to Charlie, and he had a sudden flash of anxiety. “If you really hate being tickled then it's fine, I won't tickle you. I just thought -”
“Charlie,” Nick interrupted softly, running his thumb over Charlie's knuckles. “It's okay. I don't hate it. I just happen to be very very good at stopping you.”
“Well, I think it's mean of you to use Muscle 1 and Muscle 2 against me,” Charlie said sternly, poking each of them in turn with a finger.
Nick snorted. “Ah, but we both know that you like the arms.”
“Not in this context! Anyway, forget homework because this is my new assignment.”
Nick said nothing, just looked at him affectionately for a moment and then leaned across to kiss him. Charlie sank into it, but pulled back after a few moments to appraise him. “You scared?”
Nick pretended to mull it over. “Hmm... nope. But you should be.”
Charlie rolled his eyes, but then burst into surprised laughter a moment later as Nick dived for his knees.
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Charlie took this assignment very seriously – it was in his geeky nature, after all – and work began the very next day. He figured that the best tactic was to catch Nick off guard when he might not be able to react quickly enough to stop him. It was hardly the most well-thought-out plan but he didn't really have many other options.
His first attempt was first thing on Monday morning, in form room. Mr Lange was about to take the register and Nick was hastily completing his Geography homework that was (of course) due first thing.
“If only you'd finished this yesterday like a good student, instead of distracting us both with those magic fingers of yours,” Charlie whispered.
Nick just turned to him, raising an eyebrow at his inadvertent choice of words.
“Tickling fingers, I mean,” Charlie added, hastily and unnecessarily.
“I know,” Nick replied, entirely too innocently. “What else would you mean?”
Charlie gave him a look, but couldn't stop the grin that took over his face a moment later. Nick was winding him up, and it was on. When Nick turned back to his work, Charlie bit his lip in concentration, looking him up and down. The problem was that he didn't know where Nick's weak spots were, but the idea of finding out was more exciting than he'd care to admit.
Knees were normally a weak spot, right? And they were hidden under the desk where no one else could see what was going on. Probably a good place to start.
Charlie shuffled a bit closer to Nick on his chair – not unusual, so Nick didn't bat an eyelid, just continued writing. He reached out his left hand as surreptitiously as he could, shifting it under the desk towards Nick's right leg. Before he could overthink it and chicken out, Charlie reached for the fleshy part just above Nick's knee and squeezed.
He heard Nick's sharp intake of breath and felt his hand instantly shoot out and close around Charlie's hand.
“Excuse me!” Nick muttered, chuckling in surprise. “What do you think you're doing?”
“My new homework assignment,” Charlie answered, unable to keep the grin off his face. “Finding Nick's giggle.”
“Oh, I see how it is. Well, I'm pretty certain there was no giggle there, so good luck with that.”
“Well, that was just phase one. Plenty more to come.”
Nick just smirked. “Has anyone ever told you that you're weird?”
Charlie ignored him. “So, knees, seemingly ticklish – noted.”
Nick's expression changed then, to something that Charlie didn't like the look of. “Do you know who else has ticklish knees? My very weird boyfriend.” Before Charlie could blink, Nick's hand shot out to his knee and squeezed back, getting more leverage than Charlie had managed. The sudden and intense ticklish sensation shooting up Charlie's thigh produced a startled giggle in the mostly silent classroom that he couldn't stifle in time. He clapped a hand over his mouth, blushing.
“Charlie, Nick! Quiet down, please,” called Mr Lange.
When they caught each other's eye a second later, they both leant over their desks in silent laughter.
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The next day, they were studying in a quiet corner of the library during a free period, with their backs against the shelves and textbooks spread around them. Charlie had already finished his work but he was always happy to keep Nick company.
And if the opportunity arose, perhaps continue with his separate Nick-related assignment.
Twenty minutes in, Nick was on the final page of his history essay, with Charlie mostly watching him work, and chipping in with helpful information when he could. He started absent-mindedly trailing his finger along Nick's forearm, stroking back and forth. After a few minutes, Nick paused.
“You're being quite distracting, you know,” he smiled.
Charlie immediately withdrew, sheepishly. “Oh um, sorry.”
“No no, it's okay, it's, um – it's a nice type of distraction,” Nick said, flushing slightly. “You don't need to stop.”
Charlie looked at his feet, smiling shyly, and continued the soothing motions on Nick's arm. He felt Nick's relaxed exhale a moment later.
After a couple more minutes, Charlie was getting a little restless, and a slightly dangerous thought entered his mind. He looked down at Nick's side, perfectly exposed as his arms were raised to write in his book which was balanced on his bent knees.
He couldn't, could he?
Charlie took a look around – there was no one within sight, but the library wasn't empty. It was as quiet as you'd expect from such an environment. He slowly shifted his hand that was caressing Nick's arm, and casually moved it down to trail his fingers lightly over Nick's side instead. Nick immediately jerked away in surprise, but still no giggle – dammit.
Nick turned to look at him. “Don't you dare,” he said warningly, but Charlie could easily spot the amused glint in his eye.
“Don't what?” Charlie asked innocently. “Finish your homework.”
And surprisingly, Nick did. Bless his trusting soul. However, it was as he was writing the very last paragraph that Charlie just couldn't resist a second attempt. This time, he was determined to produce some sort of audible reaction from him. He knew he'd have to be quick because Nick would surely be expecting it at this point, and the rugby player had lightning-quick reactions. So Charlie waited until Nick was deep in concentration, scribbling away, before he reached for his side again and dug his fingers into the flesh more firmly. Nick didn't manage to move away quite as quickly this time and Charlie got a few good squeezes in - Nick's gasp and slight yelp were music to his ears.
“Oh I'm sorry, what was that?” Charlie asked, far too pleased with himself.
“You're ridiculous,” Nick retorted, but he was grinning widely. He'd only shifted to the left slightly, hadn't blocked Charlie's hand as he usually would, so Charlie decided to try his luck and moved up a little higher, feathering fingers over his ribs through his shirt. Nick's nose scrunched up adorably and a second later he was actually laughing – admittedly quietly, and it wasn't quite the uncontrollable giggle he was aiming for, but Charlie's heart still clenched at the adorableness of it as he watched Nick's eyes clench shut and felt him squirm against the sensations. He also noted that Nick could easily get away if he really wanted to, but he hadn't moved. Definitely not torture, then.
A few moments later, just as Charlie became bolder and travelled towards his armpit, Nick's hand finally came down to block him. “Ch – Charlie,” he managed around a soft gasp. “Stop.”
“Sorry, I didn't quite catch that?”
Nick rolled his eyes, breathing slightly heavily. “God, that was intense – I had to stop you before I really started cackling. We're in a library, you maniac.”
Charlie pouted dramatically. “But I wanted to hear you giggle.”
“Tough,” Nick replied, smiling. “Also, why do you keep doing this in places where we need to be quiet?”
“It's more fun that way.”
“I'm not sure if I like this new, rebellious Charlie.” The lingering kiss Nick gave him a second later was a pretty strong argument to the contrary.
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After his recent success, Charlie abandoned his mission for a few days. The plan was to lull Nick into a false sense of security, but based on the way he put up almost no resistance in the library, Charlie probably didn't have much to worry about. The memory gave him a little thrill whenever he thought about it. However, he still hadn't fully scratched that itch and he was nothing if not determined.
On Friday night, Nick was round at Charlie's house and they were sitting on the edge of his bed, mostly making out and occasionally playing Mario Kart. Charlie won every time, of course. After his third loss, Nick was so worked up that he thwacked Charlie in the face with a pillow and Charlie couldn't stop cackling.
“I'm really never gonna let you win, you know,” Charlie said firmly, after he'd calmed down.
Nick sighed. “Yeah, I know.” He flopped backwards onto the bed dramatically. “Maybe we need to find a game I'm good at.”
“Sorry, not sorry.” He looked at Nick out of the corner of his eye. “I feel like you need some stress relief.”
Nick raised his head from his lying position. “Are you going to give me a massage?” he asked, all hopeful puppy dog eyes.
Charlie giggled, shaking his head. “Maybe later. I've got a better idea.” He deftly climbed onto the bed and sat himself on Nick's calves, facing him. “A cliche once told me that laughter is the best medicine, so I think we should test that theory.”
Nick just frowned as he watched him. “Charlie...”
“Are you seeing where I'm going with this?” Charlie asked, smirking at Nick's adorably confused expression.
“I'm not sure, but it definitely doesn't seem like I'm about to get a massage.”
A thought struck Charlie. “Okay, fine, I'll give you a massage. How about a... foot massage?”
Nick's eyes widened. “Um, no, I'm – I'm good actually.”
Bingo. “Oh really? Why's that, then?”
“Um...” Nick sat up slightly and tried to move his legs, but they barely budged with Charlie's full body weight on top of them. His fate seemed to fully dawn on him then and he flopped backwards, hands covering his face and a nervous laugh bubbling out of him. “Shit.”
“So first thing's first – socks. You won't be needing those.” Charlie reached behind him and, with some skill considering he couldn't see what he was doing, slowly peeled off Nick's socks one at a time. Even just these simple movements caused Nick's feet to twitch slightly, and Charlie bit back a smile. He'd surely hit the jackpot here.
“Would you mind telling me what you're doing?” Nick asked, clearly attempting to give him the stink eye through the gaps in the hands covering his face.
Charlie thought about it. “Homework,” he said simply, before reaching back to run a single finger gently along the arch of Nick's bare foot. The reaction was immediate and delicious – the scrunching of the toes, the panicked gasp of “Charlie!”. Charlie chuckled and brought his hand back in front of him.
“This is so unfair,” Nick whined, trying again to shift his feet but with absolutely no success.
“Consider it payback for the many times you've reduced me to a squealing mess.” He leaned closer, to whisper in Nick's ear. “You're about to get wrecked, Nelson.”
“I – no – come on, please -”
“Begging already, are we?”
“Will it make you stop?”
“Definitely not. We have to find that giggle.” He paused, struck with a sudden thought. “Oh and by the way, your safeword is bubblegum.”
“I – okay – but Charlie -” Nick screwed his eyes shut. The anticipatory giggles were already starting to sneak their way out of him, and Charlie's heart melted at the sound. He leaned forward again to press a kiss to the tip of Nick's nose.
“You're so fucking cute – I haven't even started yet,” Charlie smiled.
“Yeah, but -” Nick ran his fingers through his hair anxiously. “My feet are so ticklish, I might actually die.”
“Well, the ticklish truth is finally coming out. Also, you definitely won't die. Now stop distracting me.” He reached behind him again with his right hand, hovering close to Nick's foot for a few moments for dramatic effect. Nick groaned loudly as the seconds passed.
“Such a tease...” he muttered.
When Charlie could hold back no longer, he went straight for Nick's arch with purpose, scribbling his fingers vigorously over the soft skin. To his delight, Nick fell to pieces instantly, emitting a high-pitched squeal that Charlie had definitely never heard him make before. It was immediately followed by chuckles which quickly turned into desperate, breathy giggles as Charlie moved up to scratch at the back of his toes.
“No no no no no, Charlie ple - hease -” Nick spat out through giggles, his face scrunched up in a beautiful combination of euphoria and torture. His hands gripped the pillow behind his head. Charlie didn't let up, focusing in on the base of his big toe that was evidently incredibly ticklish based on the strangled cry he let out, and in a moment of pure evil, Charlie reached behind him with his other hand and attacked both big toes at once, producing a new bout of uncontrollable laughter. He didn't turn around as he didn't want to miss a second of Nick's helpless reactions.
“Yep, this is how I d-die,” Nick managed to get out, writhing from side to side in ticklish desperation.
“How does it feel, Nick? Do you promise never to tickle me again?” Charlie knew he didn't actually want this, but he also knew Nick would never agree to it either.
“I can never p-promise that – oh god, stohohop -” Charlie had moved back down to the arches of his feet in just the right spot, and Nick's hips bucked as the giggles poured out in a constant stream. Charlie wished he could bottle the sound. He focused on the killer spots of Nick's feet for a solid few minutes, often giggling along with him as he worked his magic, but listening carefully for any utterances of the safe word. It was only when Nick's laughter turned completely silent that he let up. He pulled his hands back to his front but stayed perched on Nick's legs, watching him recover fondly.
“I hate you,” Nick said weakly, a few moments later. “I also love you, but I hate you. Just so you know.”
Charlie just grinned and leaned forward to lie gently on top of him, resting his chin on Nick's chest. “I love you too,” he said, suddenly feeling bashful and overwhelmed with affection. “I can't really deal with how cute you are.”
Nick just rolled his eyes and smiled at him. “Do you know who else is cute? My very ticklish boyfriend.” And Charlie should have predicted what would happen next as Nick's hands reached greedily for his sides.
He wasn't really complaining.
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outofgloom · 3 months
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[This story is the last in my previously-posted anthology of Bionicle short fiction, to which it lends its name]
AIKURU
We arrived at the site before sunrise. It was in a place north of the ridge called Sakerra in the language of our Skrall guides. The discovery had been made only five days ago, and as we made our way down from the wind-worn crags, there were no apparent signs of raiding. 
A structure was there in the valley, just as the flyover had reported. It was of the same gray, stonelike material from which all Their architecture is made—so old now that it no longer gleams in the light, but somehow still smooth to the touch.
As soon as we reached the lower steppes, our rangers set about the task of making provision for departure. Four days were allotted to us, and then the existence of the site would be announced to the Quadrate at large. After that, the System Adherents would claim their rights, and the site would be swallowed up in pilgrimage.
The structure was immediately familiar to me as we approached: a broad circle, rounded at the edges, raised from the ground by perhaps two spans to form a low column or stage. Half of the structure was covered beneath a berm of sediment, probably deposited by one flash-flood and then partly washed away by another. We immediately began the process of excavation, except for Neisa, who took up a position on the west side of the structure with her tools for assessing angles and spans, ready to note the position at which the red dawnlight would fall. It was a typical measurement, given the theory that such shrines were oriented in a significant way.
First with shovels and then with small brushes of fine wire, we cleared away the dust and caked mud until the entire circumference was revealed. As I had suspected, the entryway was already opened, and it too was filled with earth. Most of the first day was spent this way: in turns, we sifted through each layer, revealing step by narrow step the spiraling staircase that characterized shrines of this type. They were an original icon: the prototype for the modern chapels of the System Adherents. 
I was halfway down the second bend of the staircase, carefully cleaning dirt from the lip of the next step, when Osphos summoned me from above. I emerged with my bucket and saw that he was crouched over the shrine’s far edge. I stepped across the rolls of harak-cloth that had been laid down for the protection of the exterior and made my way over. 
“Lytus!” he said, seeing me approach. “Look here.” He pointed at the stone surface before him. 
We had already noted the usual markings on top of the shrine: the eighteen-fold division of the broad circle, the components of which descended into a staircase when the shrine was opened. That was nothing new, but here there was something else. Small symbols were carved around the outer edge of the circle; very worn, but still visible.
“They showed up once we cleared off enough sediment,” Osphos said.
“Are they makoki-symbols?”
“Herem’s Eye, that’s the word I was thinking of! Makoki-symbols, yes,” Osphos said. “Ever seen them on a structure like this?”
“No, never. Are we sure they’re original?” I crouched, put an eye close to the surface. “There’s graffiti sometimes, bone-hunter codes, the Matan inscriptions on the eastern sites... These are new to me.”
“Any guess as to what they might signify?”
“Well...” I sat back on my heels, rubbed my eyes. “Makokori are early period, and we don’t find them past Second or Third Myriad—not in the tablets or kini-ruins. Prior to that, they’re inscribed on doorways, and some of the Machines. There are theories that they signify keystones, or some kind of locking mechanism.”
“Fortunate that this shrine is already unlocked for us, then.”
“Yeah... I suppose these symbols might help date the shrine. If they’re original, this might be one of the earliest sites we’ve found. We should do an analysis of the sediment back at Naqua.”
“Already collected some samples. I’ll take a rubbing as well,” Osphos said. “How’s progress on the interior?”
I brushed off my hands. “We’re close. Another turn and we should be at the bottom. I could use more help.”
Osphos snapped his fingers to the other workers who were combing the field-grid for artifacts.
“Double-time on the stairs for the next few hours,” he called. “I want to see the bottom before Solis is down. Let’s move it!”
*  *  *
We did not reach the bottom. Normally, shrines of this kind exhibit two or three turns of stairs and then level out in a circular chamber. Not this one. Solis had set an hour ago, and still we were digging, our work illuminated only by pale quartz-lanterns. Stair after stair we exhumed, always expecting the next to be the last. But after six turns, descending fully twelve thori—or about six of Their bio—into the earth, still there was no end.
Osphos finally gave the command to stop, frustrating though it was, and we began to pack up the tools. I was at the bottom of the excavation at that point. The air was thick, and my back hurt from crouching for so long. I began to gather the various shovels and brushes that had accumulated around me, handing them up to Neisa on the stair above me. 
“Can you handle the rest?” Neisa nodded to the remaining implements.
“Right behind you.” I stood and stretched my limbs in the cramped space, then reached for my tool-bundle and bucket.
Something caught my eye—a glint in the quartzlight, a fragment of something sticking out of the mass of earth before me. I rubbed my tired eyes, blinked away the settling dust. It was still there. 
Wordlessly, I snatched up a brush and began to sweep away more dirt. It was metallic—a shaped metal object. There was a corner and a round sweep and...
“Lytus?” Osphos’s voice filtered down from above. He was annoyed. “Pack it in. We’ll get back to it first thing in the—”
“I’ve found something!” I called back. “It’s an object. I’m not sure...”
Eyeholes. A facelike shape. My heart thudded.
“It’s a mask,” I said excitedly. “One of Theirs.”
“What?!” Neisa had come back down the staircase. Light from her lantern spilled into the space. “What condition?”
“Intact, I think.”
She knelt down beside me with a brush of her own. Together we worked to carefully expose the surface of the mask. The sediment here was dry and loose, spilling away in small showers of particulate. All at once, the object came free, along with a mass of unpacked earth. Out of instinct, I put out a hand to catch it.
“Watch it,” Neisa said. “Careful not to—”
I was standing on the stairs, alone. Light was coming from somewhere—not quartzlight, from somewhere below me. Coming up out of the stone itself. I was descending... or had I been ascending? My mind was kuru, and... What? Dark. Foggy. My mind was foggy. What was happening? Where was—
Suddenly the ground lurched, and there was a roaring noise above. I staggered against the smooth poha... no, stone. Against the stone, and the avo flickered below me. The light flickered, rather. Then another tremor knocked me sideways, and stars broke out in my aku as my head struck the poha hard. The avo went out, and the roaring was all around, and it was kuru, ai kuru, ai kuru ai—
“...touch it,” Neisa finished. The metal of the mask was cold against my fingers. The stairs spun, and I felt sick for a moment. Then it was over. I quickly transferred the mask to a strip of harak-cloth, handling it gingerly.
“What was... What did you say?” I shook my head. “Don’t touch it?”
“Yeah... uh, you alright? You look pale.”
I grinned. “I’m fine. Could use some fresh air though. You feeling superstitious or something?”
She scoffed. “I don’t know why I said that. It was silly.”
“You know they say these masks trap the souls of their wearers...”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” Neisa bent down to examine the artifact. “Amazing. I’ve only seen them behind glass, or in the sterile rooms at Naqua.”
“Yeah, this is... It’s a find,” I said. The mask felt heavy and solid in my hands.
There was a murmur on the stairs, and I could hear Osphos’s grumbling voice descending toward us. He turned the corner.
“What now?” he said. “Tell me you’ve found something to make this worthwhile.”
“Think so,” I said, holding up the mask.
“What’s that?”
“Are you blind?” Neisa laughed. “It’s a Kanochus Mat—”
“No,” Osphos said, pointing past us. “That.”
There was a cavity in the wall of earth before us. It must have opened up when we removed the mask. 
“The bottom!” Neisa said excitedly. She moved forward, shining her light through the gap. 
She stopped. It wasn’t the bottom. I could already see. My heart was still thudding. It was dark. It was roaring in my ears. There was a smell, strangely metallic... and another shape sticking out of the dirt. Not a mask.
Fingers. A hand. An arm.
A face. Flat, blank eyes. A circular, wedge-like mouth. Open.
One of Them.
*  *  *
We stood around the examination table with its harak-draped contents—Osphos, Neisa, and myself. It was afternoon, and Solis was already falling toward the horizon, casting red shadows through the fabric of the tent.
Osphos broke the silence: “I don’t need to impress upon either of you how significant a find this is. Maybe the most significant I’ve overseen.”
“That’s for sure,” Neisa said. “The protobiologists back at the Institute would lose it if they knew...”
“They would, and hopefully they still will.” 
We had worked to remove the body from the shrine over the course of the day—Osphos, Neisa, and myself, in shifts. It had been difficult work, but uneventful. Bit by bit we’d brushed away the packed earth and ancient sediment, revealing more and more of the remains. Now extricated from its tomb, the body lay on the large table before us, still wrapped, ready to be examined.
Before today, I’d only ever seen bits and pieces, partial casts of exoskeletons, mock-ups of skull-like faces... But this was different. It was completely intact, as far as we could tell: head, torso, limbs. A monumental find. The first complete specimen of what we called Matorus Matans. 
“Before we start, there’s the matter of our timetable,” Osphos continued. “We obviously weren’t expecting a development like this, and that means priorities have changed.” He looked at me: “We might not get back to the shrine. I’m sorry, Lytus.”
My heart sank. “You’re sure? The shrine is pretty significant on its own, and we still haven’t reached the base layer.”
“It’s not going anywhere. The Adherents can have their Node if they want, and we’ll work something out via the Institute later if necessary. These... remains... have to be our focus now. I want them cataloged and prepared for transport offsite.”
“Offsite?” Neisa raised her eyebrows. “That’s pretty drastic.”
“There’s good reason,” Osphos said. “The Adherents have some odd notions when it comes to remains of this kind.”
“I mean, they’ll want them interred I suppose, but...”
“Maybe. It’s complicated—”
The tent-flap opened, and someone else entered carrying a bundle of implements. It was one of the junior researchers—Cyrcia.
“Yes?” Osphos said flatly.
“I told her that she could observe,” I said, beckoning her in. “Neisa and I thought we could use an extra set of hands.”
“You’ve done catalog before?” Osphos asked.
“Yes, I have,” Cyrcia replied. Her eyes passed over the table and its contents, then back up. “It’s a real honor, I’ve gotta say—”
“I’m sure it is. Grab a tablet, and get ready to make notes.” Osphos turned to the table, cracked his knuckles. 
“The light’s a bit better now. Neisa, will you do the honors?”
Neisa began to carefully pull back the cloth that covered the body while I unrolled a bundle of fine tools. The limbs and lower torso were still encrusted with sediment. I’d start with that while Neisa took her measurements. We each began to call out observations in turn for Cyrcia to transcribe. We moved quickly, notating and tagging the legs and the squared-off feet, then the lower torso with its segments, then the upper torso.
“One and a half thori across the chest,” Neisa called out, “and we’ll say ten sub-thori for the arms...”
“Primary exoskeleton is of common morphology,” Osphos said. “Similar format to those recovered from the Galian Sea. Connective tissues are mostly decayed...” 
“Some surface corrosion around the joining plates,” I added. “Centerline and upper shoulders. Only 1-2 ditori of penetration. Make note for dating purposes, mark upper-left buckle for cross-sectioning...”
“Twelve sub-thori across the lower mid-section. Five sub-thori for each of the radial pistons...”
“Tissue residue along the clavicle struts. Mark for lab-sampling. Limbs and neck will need to be secured for transport...”
Finally, we reached the head. I tugged the cloth upward and pulled it off. Cyrcia gasped and put a hand to her mouth.
“First time?” Neisa said, smiling.
“Yes, but... shouldn’t it be... shouldn’t it stay covered?”
“It’s a corpse,” Osphos said. “Just a body, like yours or mine. Several ten-myriads older, but nothing to be afraid of, despite all the superstitions.”
“Right... sorry.”
“Can you handle it?”
“I can.”
“Good. Let’s keep going then. And remember—no souvenirs. We’re not bone hunters here.”
Neisa rolled her eyes. The practice of fashioning talismans from Their relics and remains had fortunately been curbed in recent centuries, though you could still find them in the odd back-alley market. 
We finished primary cataloging, and Osphos stepped to one of the crates, removing a bundle he had stored there. He moved back to the table and unwrapped it. Smooth metal glinted in the tent. Two eyeholes stared up at the tent-roof. Cyrcia’s eyes goggled at the ancient mask.
“Shall we do a match-up?” Neisa asked, nodding to the exposed face. “This would have been the specimen’s personal Kanochus. It must have been separated during whatever flood or mudslide buried the shrine.”
There was a noise in my ears. Roaring noise, and a memory of a dark place... I shook it off as Osphos moved to the head of the table after double-checking the mask’s interior. He lowered the mask gingerly over the face, lining up the mouth-apertures. There was a faint click. Neisa leaned over to see how it fit over the side-vents—
Dark eyes glowed, and a light winked on in the center of the chest. Pistons hissed. Joints creaked. The body sat up suddenly in a shower of dust, limbs convulsing, fingers clenching and unclenching. I stumbled backward in shock, tripping over the low crates that lined the tent-wall. The masked face swiveled mechanically in my direction, and there was a noise. Not a noise—a voice. The rounded wedge-mouth was grinding out syllables at me. Alien sounds. Alien words. I put up my hands to ward it off, and—
Everyone was standing still. The eyes were dark. The body had not moved. I was sitting on a crate, my ears ringing. Neisa was looking down at me with a concerned expression. 
“You okay, Lytus?”
“I... I got dizzy,” I lied.
“How much sleep did you get last night?” Osphos asked. He had removed the mask and was wrapping it up again. 
“A few hours at least. I’m fine, really.” I stood up, looking at the motionless body warily, trying to compose myself. No one else had seen what I had seen. It hadn’t really happened. Neisa was still looking at me. 
“Are you sure? You look a little unsettled. First in the shrine, and then this. Maybe you should see a medic.”
Before I could reply, the tent-flap opened and another worker poked his head in. He was out of breath.
“Sorry, to bother you, boss, but there’s, uh... Someone’s here to talk to you.”
“Someone?” Osphos frowned.
“There was an airship, not two minutes ago. It landed beyond the ridge, and someone’s approaching from the trail.”
“Herem’s Eye,” Osphos swore.
*  *  *
The rangers escorted the strangers—there were two of them, actually—down to the edge of the camp. 
One was tall—clearly an Athori—and as he approached, it was plain that he was fully armored; head to toe, like the Glatorian of old. The other was much shorter, bent over, leaning on a staff. It was a Skrall—an ancient one, by the head-crest. 
Both of them wore metal masks. Only their eyes were visible.
The tall one planted himself just ahead, his squared-off, armored feet crunching in the gravel. The Skrall settled himself on a low metal stool beside him.
Osphos stepped forward. “Welcome,” he said politely. “I am Osphos, the overseer of this excavation. And you are?”
“My designation is Tasius,” the tall one said. His voice rang harsh behind the mask. “I am a Toa of the Adherency, of the Ackarian line. This...” he gestured to the Skrall, “...is Tura Shozu, elder of the Adherent Node at New Tellu. We have been sent to make claim upon this site.
“You’ve lost no time, it seems,” Osphos said dryly. “I wasn’t aware the Quadrate had opened the site at this time.”
“The site and its contents must be turned over at once. We—” Tasius stopped suddenly. The Skrall had raised a wizened hand.
“You are aware,” the elder said in a thin voice, “that the Adherency is granted right of access to all sites attributed to the System of Mata, are you not?”
“Well aware, yes. That is what we aim to determine: the provenance of the site, and the proper methods of its excavation and preservation, according to our charter.”
“Preservation or contamination?” The Skrall’s glance flicked to the tents behind us. “Our intelligence has indicated that this site is of particular significance to the Adherency.”
“You can follow the proper channels to make your claims, like everyone else.”
The Skrall continued undeterred:
“We have been made aware of certain... remains... left at this site. What is their nature, and how have they been contained?”
I could see the muscles in Osphos’s jaw flexing.
“Our excavation is less than two days old. May I ask the source of your ‘intelligence’?”
“The System is knowledge. Through Unity, knowledge is shared.”
“Fascinating,” Osphos said. “Well, regardless of your sources, I can’t give you access to the site at this time. By charter, the Quadrate has—”
“Animal remains, yes? Within the structure. I was led to believe that it was a beast.”
“I’m not at liberty to make that assessment.”
“May I see the remains?”
“All materials found at this site will be made publicly available.”
“I demand to see the remains.”
“No.”
The Skrall smiled. “Thank you for your candor. We have a truth-saying, amongst the Nodes: ‘The people of the world are of one nature or the other: Look into their hearts, and you will see that they are either Builders or Destroyers.”
“With respect, I believe it may be more complicated than that.”
“Then I have looked into your heart.”
“Uh…thank you. Is that all, Tura? We have a lot of work still to do.”
“I shall take word of our conversation to the Node Hierarchy and return later.”
“Fine by me.”
The Skrall put out a crooked hand and closed it into a fist in the manner of the Adherents. He inclined his head, waiting. After a moment, Osphos stepped forward and pressed his own fist against the elder’s. Then it was over. The Athori helped the Skrall to stand, and the two of them departed back up the slope, accompanied by the rangers. Osphos stood and watched, tapping his foot. He spoke quietly, keeping his face fixed in a smile.
“So much for offsite transport,” he growled after a few minutes. “They’ll have eyes on the camp now. By Angon, if we’d been just a bit quicker...” He swore again. Then, satisfied that the rangers had escorted the Toa far enough, he turned back to the camp. 
“Nothing for it now. Let’s clean up and get things packed away. Oh, and Lytus—”
“Yeah?”
“Get some sleep—for real this time. I can’t have you falling over again during sensitive work.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
*  *  *
I didn’t sleep well that night after all. Instead, I dreamed. 
Long, complicated dreams. Dreams that didn’t make any sense. I was in the stairwell of the shrine again. I was on a bright, open plain. I was speaking words and sentences that meant nothing to me. I was running from a dark, crashing wave that rolled over me and pressed on my face, on my mouth. 
I was walking on the open plain again, and two suns were shining down on me. My face was still covered though, somehow. I reached up to claw at whatever was there. It came away in my hands. 
It was my face, staring up at me. 
I was lying in my cot, and the tent was dark. The desert night was cold outside. I shivered and turned over. There was a noise at the tent-flap, something scraping in the dirt. The dull ring of metal on poha... on stone. 
The flaps shook. It was trying to get in. It was grinding, grinding words and syllables at me, words that meant nothing. It was roaring, roaring noise and darkness, darker than the night. It was kuru, ai kuru, roaring over the camp, crashing through the walls of my tent in a wave and sweeping me down into dark, into kuru, ai kuru, ai kuru ai—
“Lytus?” Neisa’s voice brought me fully awake. It was morning. My bleary eyes focused, and I could see her silhouette through the side of the tent. “Lytus, you awake?”
“I’m up, sorry. What’s going on?”
“The emissary from the Adherents is back. Osphos is speaking with them.”
“Oh. What should we do?”
“Osphos said to stay put. Probably wouldn’t look good to have everyone out at the shrine right now.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Yeah I’m heading over to one of the storage tents to help with tagging. Want to help?”
“Sure, I’ll follow you over in a bit.”
After a few minutes, I stepped outside into the pale red sunlight. I could see Osphos and a couple of the rangers on the far side of the circle of tents. The Athori and the Skrall were there as well. Their voices echoed faintly in the morning air, and I found myself walking closer. I stepped behind one of the taller tents nearby.
“...does not accord with our canons,” the Skrall was saying. 
“I confess, Shozu—can I call you Shozu?”
“The correct title is ‘Tura’,” another voice said brusquely—the armored Athori.
“Sorry... Tura,” Osphos continued. “I’m not as familiar with the canons of Adherency as I should be, but I can assure you—”
“It is of utmost importance that we examine the site. The Kanohi in particular must be handed over.”
They knew about the mask somehow. Had they been spying on the camp?
“As I’ve said, that is something to take up with the Quadrate.”
“It is already in process, but the matter is urgent.”
“I must adhere to my charter and await further orders. Until then, we’ll continue our work.”
“We must be allowed to supervise. My companion here is trained in the handling of such objects. They must be treated with utmost care.”
“Yes, and—”
“And these remains—they must be verified. Some hapless bone hunter or a beast, I’m sure.”
“As I’ve told you, it is clearly a specimen of Matorus Matans, good Tura. There’s no mistaking it.”
“And as I have said, this is not in accord with our canons. Such things only lead to greater kuru.”
“Pardon?”
“Greater obscurity—my apologies. The Children of Mata are not some extinct automaton race. We ourselves are the heirs to the Great System Hierarchy. You must understand—”
“Your beliefs are your own.”
“...The Kanohi are precious. They connect us to the spirit of Mata, and to the spirits of those from the Before Time...” 
My mind was racing, an avalanche of thoughts, fragments of dreams. A roaring noise, and dark, and kuru... What was happening to me? The Kanohi are precious... They connect us to the spirit of Mata...
What if...?
“Only then can we hope to repair the Shattering,” the elder was saying.
“With respect,” Osphos replied, “the Shattering is ancient history. It was repaired, at least five myriads ago.”
“A common myth, but it is a great untruth.”
I could tell Osphos was short on patience by now: “I can literally point it out to you in the strata. You see that ridge there? The Sakerran Ridge? It’s the tail end of a subduction zone where the Botan and Baran plates met—”
The Skrall laughed dryly: “A fantastical narrative, I admit, that a planet could be broken in pieces. But the reality is much more abstract. We ourselves live within the Shattering, my friend: the decay of the Great System Hierarchy of the Great Beings, which they called Mata Nui...” 
“I do not—”
“We the Matoran,” the Skrall continued, ignoring him, “the Children of Mata, work now to rebuild and restore the Great System, in accordance with our canon. To connect all things together, till the scattered elements are made whole. Only then will the Great Beings return and truly heal this world.”
A long moment passed. The air was thick with tension.
“Ahem... I do not believe this conversation is productive,” Osphos said at last. “I’m not granting you access to the site at this time—no matter what your canons say. You’ll just have to wait for your request to be approved by the Quadrate, and that’s that, by Angon.”
Something happened. There was a scuffling noise, and the clank of armor.
“Hold it! That’s enough, you—”
I peeked over the top of the tent. The Athori—the one who had called himself a ‘Toa’—was standing between Osphos and the Skrall now, fists clenched. For a moment, I thought... I thought the air around him was shimmering with heat, like high noon on the desert. Then it was gone. There were rangers standing all around, and I noticed that they had weapons at the ready. One of them swung a bolas lazily.
“Control your guard, Shozu,” Osphos spat. “My reports go directly to the Quadrate. They’ll hear of this.”
“Take not the names of the Great Beings in vain!” the Skrall said indignantly, pointing a crooked finger from his stool. “The canon shall not be denied, nor shall it be mocked.”
“I’ve said all I have to say, by Angon.” He emphasized the expletive. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Tura, I’m on a timetable—”
“Such things lead only to kuru and ukuru worse! We must strive for clarity...!”
I had heard enough. Quietly I crept away between the tents, back toward the other side of the camp. The Skrall’s words spun in my mind as I walked. Kuru and ukuru worse. Something was wrong—ever since I had touched that mask... was that when it started? What did the Skrall know? I wanted to tell someone, but who would believe it? I was tired, that was all. It had been a long few days, full of strangeness and excitement. That must be it. I hoped so...
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. We didn’t get much work done—mostly tagging and storing various artifacts found around the site. I was itching to get back to the shrine, but Osphos was wary. He had sent couriers south to apprise our Quadrate contacts of the situation, but they wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Until then, we were stuck.
In the evening, Osphos sought me out. He had a bundle under one arm.
“Here, Lytus. I’d like you to keep this in your tent.”
It was the mask. My mouth was suddenly very dry.
“Is that, uh, necessary?”
“Maybe not, but I’m taking no chances. The Adherents aren’t getting any more patient. Neisa’s keeping some other artifacts, and I think I’ll sleep in the examination tent tonight, just in case.”
“You mean... with the body?”
“Don’t make it sound creepier than it is.”
“Sorry.”
He offered the mask. I took it. My fingers felt numb.
“Tell you what, we’ll take another pass at excavating the shrine in the morning, try to get to the bottom.” 
“That’s great! I’ll have my gear ready.”
“Only one day left to go, so what have we got to lose, right?”
The mask felt heavier than I remembered.
*  *  *
I had the dream again that night, or something like it. A stairwell, a bright plain with two suns. A dark roaring... Then... Then something else. A dim enclosure. Fabric walls. A tent? I was lying on my back, and my limbs were bound tight. My face was covered, but not with heavy suffocating darkness like before. It was lightweight, like cloth. I struggled, I yelled. My words were meaningless again. 
The tent-flap shook, like last time. I could hear it, the scraping, the grinding. It was trying to get in, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything. The entrance parted, and there was darkness outside. Darkness on the ground, and in the darkness... now there was a crawling thing. Crawling, dragging itself through the dust, right up to the place where I lay. I could feel it. See it, even though my face was covered. Its flat eyes glowed, and its mouth was open. Grasping hands rose up toward me and searched, reached, searched—
I was standing in front of myself, seeing myself. I was stretched out beneath the covering, on the table. I was walking under stars, and my hands were full of something. I looked down and saw that I was holding my face. It looked up at me, up at the stars. I tried to put it back on, but it wasn’t my face anymore. It was glowing eyes and grasping hands, and a mouth grinding syllables and words. It was a shape under fabric, stretched out on a table in the dark, and I stood before it, holding its face... my face. 
I clawed at the covering, trying to pull it off, but the noise was approaching again. The roaring, rolling noise, and my face... its face... my face was grinding alien sounds and alien words, and it was so dark in the stairwell, in the cold, heavy earth. So dark under the cloying wrap of fabric, so kuru it was, and ukuru worse, ai kuru, ai ukuru—
I awakened in a cold sweat and rolled over. My hands slid in sand, and a stinging thornbush brought me fully awake. I wasn’t in my cot. Wasn’t in my tent. How...? It was still nighttime, but there were lights in the encampment, and the sound of people running. I could hear voices. What was happening? I stumbled up, brushing dust from my face, and realized that I was in the space next to my own tent. I went to the entrance and looked inside. No one there. Then I looked out toward the center of the camp, trying to get my bearings.
A figure came out of the darkness, and I flinched as it grabbed my arm. It was Osphos. He was out of breath.
“Where is it, Lytus?” he hissed. “The body—it’s gone!”
“What, from the examination tent?”
“Yes that body, by Angon. Did you do something? I didn’t even hear...”
“N-no, of course not!”
“What about Neisa? Have you seen her?”
“I haven’t.”
“Have you seen anyone?!”
“No, I just woke up!”
“Adherents...” He ground his teeth. “Ah, the Quadrate will hear of this...”
“Wait—Are you sure?”
“Who else? It’s gone from the tent, but nothing else has been taken. I came right here once I realized. Where’s the mask? Has anyone been in your tent?” He pushed past me, through the entrance.
A crawling thing, a thing with glowing eyes, reaching out... but that wasn’t my tent, was it?
“N-no, no one,” I stammered. 
“Where did you put it? I have to be sure.”
I moved to the back of the tent and opened my personal crate. The hinges creaked. “It’s right here, see?”
The mask was gone, wrapping and all. Osphos saw.
“Acta!” he cursed, and then let fly a string of imprecations, invoking the dream-eater and the death-mind, among others. “What, were you drugged or something?!”
“I don’t know... Osphos, I—” I tried to get it out. “I had a dream, or I thought it was a dream. I keep seeing things...”
“Spare me.” He stormed out of the tent, and I followed, feeling absolutely bewildered. There was too much happening, too fast. 
“Go find Neisa,” Osphos ordered. “I’m heading back to the examination tent. Can you handle that?”
“Yes, boss.”
I snatched up a quartz-lantern and made my way across the encampment toward Neisa’s tent. Hers was the last tent on the outer ring of the camp. My lantern cast a pale glow over the ground as I went, and I could see that there were lights in the hills now, figures moving up and down the steppe. The rangers were likely combing the perimeter. I stopped for a moment to watch, then realized that I had stupidly lost track of which tent was which. Was Neisa on the east or the west side?
I backtracked. The tents all looked the same in the quartzlight. I took a different turn... and now found myself standing on the path that led out to the open part of the valley. Out toward the shrine.
There were footprints in the dirt. Very fresh. Hard-edged, square toe. Where had I seen that before? I looked up the path, raising the lantern. There was something else. I stepped forward to investigate. It was a heap of cloth, harak-cloth, in small strips. Further up the path, there was another bundle cast to the side.
I kept walking, quickening my pace. More bits of cloth here and there. More footprints. Soon, the edge of the shrine loomed ahead. I moved toward it, stepping gingerly through the rope-grids that were stretched over the ground. I made a circuit of the shrine, then I climbed up on top. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. I shed quartzlight all around, then I stooped to look into the stairwell. The dust on the stairs had recently been disturbed—
“Get down from there,” a voice said, and I whirled to see the towering figure of the Athori Tasius standing on the trail.
“You—” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“I have every right,” the Athori said, stepping forward. “Remove yourself from the sacred Amaja!”
I put up my hands appeasingly and complied, climbing back down to the ground and taking a few steps toward him.
“I saw footprints on the trail up here,” I said. “Were they yours?”
“On the trail? No. I came from the hills. I have been charged to keep watch over the Amaja, to make sure no one further contaminates the site.” 
“Did you see anyone come here ahead of me?”
“No.”
“There’s been a theft in the camp,” I said. “Do you have anything to do with that?” I immediately regretted asking so directly.
“Theft?” The Athori’s eyes widened. “Theft of what?” He took another step toward me.
“Uh...”
“Tell me!”
“The mask! The... the Kanohi, you call it. Someone took it tonight.”
“What else?”
“Nothing,” I lied.
The Athori said a word that was foreign to me. Probably a curse. He looked back toward the camp. His hands were clenched.
“Listen,” I said, “it looks like someone has entered the shrine. It wasn’t you, was it?”
“I am forbidden, without the Tura,” he said.
“Well, I’ll need to check inside.” I took a step back toward the shrine. “It will only take a second. If you’ll just wait here—”
A heavy, armored grip fell on my shoulder and I was forcefully turned back around. The Athori was fast, and very strong.
“The Amaja will not be touched again,” his voice said, deadly serious. I could feel hot breath through the mouth-piece of his mask. “You and your people have brought rahi upon this place, but no more. Now, I—”
He stopped suddenly, and I felt his fingers seize. He was looking past me, up at the shrine. I turned slowly.
Glowing eyes. An ancient mask. A small figure stood upon the top of the shrine, unmoving. I could see it. The Athori could see it. It was no hallucination this time. Not a dream.
“M-manas!” the Athori croaked. “Get back!”
He shoved me to the side before I could say a word.
And then he burst into flame.
Real flame, like the elementals of old who had been devoured by the Great Beings’ wrath. I didn’t even have time to register shock or surprise before the heat washed over me. Instinctively I threw up my arms to protect myself.
“Stop!” I shouted, scrambling away. “You’ll damage the site! Stop it!”
The fire whirled up and resolved into a glowing nimbus around the Athori’s hands and head. He drew a strange tool from a slot in his armor, and aimed it at the figure atop the shrine.
“No!”
Something flew out of the dark—a whirling rope-like thing—and wrapped itself around Tasius’s burning face and neck. The ends of the bolas whirled for a split second before they snapped tight, and the loud clack of the weights meeting their target made my teeth hurt. The fire went out suddenly, and the scene plunged into darkness. I heard the tramp of feet on the path, and voices shouting. Quartzlight bobbed in the distance. 
I was already up and over the top of the shrine before I knew what I was doing. The figure was gone. The opening of the stairwell yawned before me—cool dark after the furnace heat—and I was scrambling down the stairs, two at a time.
“Wait!” I shouted, but my voice was blunted on the stone. “Come back!” 
Turn after turn I went. I wasn’t thinking straight. It was pitch-black. I should have grabbed my lantern, but I had dropped it. I realized my hands were burned. They stung when I touched the wall, feeling my way along. I stumbled, picked myself up, and then felt earth against my fingers. The wall of earth where we had stopped excavating. No one was here... Had I been mistaken? Had the figure not gone back into the shrine? Maybe it had run off... 
There was light, I realized. It wasn’t pitch-black here. My eyes adjusted, and I saw with a shock that the earth wall wasn’t a wall anymore. It had been dug through, shoveled back and shored up into the walls of a narrow tunnel. When had the others done this? Why hadn’t they notified me? There were handprints in the dust, I noticed. Squared-off palm, five fingers.
Heedless, I push on, squeezing through the tunnel, wriggling on my chest. For a moment I thought I was stuck, and panic surged, but then I was through, and there was no more earth. No more dirt or sediment. The stairs on the other side were clear, pristine. We had been so close, after all. 
The light was stronger here, filtering up from somewhere below me. Coming up out of the stone itself. I had been here before, hadn’t I? No, not possible. I had just come through the tunnel... and I was descending... or had I been ascending? My mind was... my mind was kuru, and... foggy... What was I doing here again? I was waiting for something, wasn’t I? Waiting for a roaring sound... a darkness to come and cover me. I had been here many times, in my dreams.
No, that had been before, long ago. This time it was different. I was descending, and the light was getting stronger. Another bend of the stairs, and then the stairs ended.
It was a round, level, circular room—just like the many others I had seen before. The first thing I noticed was the Pedestal. In shrines of this kind, there was usually a square pedestal at one end, surmounted by a face-like image. In later types, the image was the skull of an animal, usually a Spikit or an Ironwolf.
On this one, there was a mask. It was the mask. It was glowing, and the light was coming out of every surface. My heart was thudding. 
I was not alone. The body lay in a heap on the ground before the pedestal. I could see scorch marks on its back and upper arms. I came closer and saw that it was moving slightly. Slow breaths. The eyes glowed faintly.
I touched it, gently, almost reverently. It was strange how my mind resisted the idea that this was no longer... remains... It was living, somehow. After all these eons, it was alive. The dim eyes shifted, fixed on me. The mouth moved, and the wedge-like shapes ground out their halting syllables and words, but I still could not understand. 
How had it gotten the mask?
A crawling thing, with glowing eyes, searching, reaching. 
A shape under fabric, stretched out on a table in the dark. 
What was happening to me?
I was walking under stars. I was crawling, dragging through the dust. I was standing in front of myself, looking down at myself. I was holding my face in my hands. I was touching an ancient mask in a small, cramped space, and sparks were leaping into me. Its metal was cold against my fingers. The Kanohi are precious, I remembered. They connect us to the spirit of Mata...
It was dark all around. It was roaring. It was kuru, ai kuru, ai kuru ai—
A metal hand touched me weakly and brought me back to reality. The finger pointed up at the glowing mask atop the pedestal, and I understood. It needed the mask—its personal Kanochus.The mask had activated the shrine, but the circuit was incomplete. It needed the mask back, in order to accomplish whatever purpose it intended. Whatever purpose it had been kept from all those eons ago.
There was a noise on the stairs. Voices murmuring. The thud of metal on stone. How much time had passed? I had lost track. They would be looking for me. Hopefully the rangers had done their work.
“I’m here!” I shouted up. The voices continued. The hand gripped my arm again. The mouth ground out more words.
“I know,” I said. 
I stood and pulled the mask off the pedestal. It sparked in my hands, and I felt a charge go through me... or maybe that feeling had already been there, ever since I touched the mask, days ago. Something had been clinging to me. I felt it now. Something intangible, something in my thoughts and my dreams. I had joked about trapped souls to Neisa, but now I wasn’t so sure...
The light increased. I bent toward the body... not just a body—toward the Matoran... and—
A wave of heat rushed down the stairwell, and a burning smell filled the chamber. I froze, and fear surged in my chest as I turned my head to look.
It was the old Skrall. He was standing on the stairs, leaning on his staff. His eyes were sharp behind his mask, and somewhere in the back of my mind it clicked, that although the masks of the Adherents were clearly forged like the one I now held, they were subtly different, like a picture whose original reference had been lost. A copy of a copy of a copy...
“Hold a moment,” the Skrall said urgently. “You stand on sacred ground. Disturb not the machines of the Great Beings.”
“I don’t know what that means.” I stood up and turned around slowly. The Skrall’s eyes widened as he saw what I was holding... and what was slumped behind me.
“That Kanohi...” he hissed, descending another step. “It is meant for the Children of Mata alone. You must give it to me—it is not for you to touch!”
“I’ve already touched it. It has... shown me things. Things I don’t understand.”
The Skrall’s breath hissed in his mask.
“Give it to me, and all shall be restored to unity.”
“It’s not yours. It belongs to... to this one.” I pointed at the Matoran. The dim eyes looked at the wizened elder, but the Skrall averted his gaze.
“This is not in accord with our canons,” he intoned. 
“I don’t—”
“Such things only lead to greater kuru.”
I was on a stairway. I was on a great open plain, beneath two suns. My face was covered, but it was not my face. Not anymore. It belonged to someone else.
“You’re wrong.” I held the mask close.
“The canon shall not be denied, nor shall it be mocked. Give me the mask.”
The Skrall was not alone now. Another figure moved into the stairwell behind him. A cracked and broken mask, a bruised and bloodied face. More heat poured into the chamber as the Athori Tasius descended, eyes still glowing with fire.
I shrank back to the pedestal, and the lights of the shrine brightened further. The Matoran moved pitifully. We were trapped. The pedestal was humming. Waiting. 
Waiting.
The Athori was moving, hindered by the small opening. His armored hand reached out at me, white-hot.
But I had already placed the mask on the Matoran’s face, and the charge that I had felt in my body went out of me... back into the mask, into the Matoran.
And the shrine was blazing white with light, and the pedestal was retracting into the wall. And the Skrall was staggering back onto the stairs, eyes raving. And the Athori was still moving forward, overbalanced, tipping forward into suddenly empty space.
The walls were pulled back and then were gone as the bottom of the shrine became a circular platform and dropped down, down into pitch-black. The stairwell shrank into the distance above us, and I saw the Athori hang for a moment, glowing with heat. Then he fell, whirling like a fiery meteor, right past the edge of the descending platform and away into the greater dark. 
Gone.
A few moments passed, maybe longer. I sank down on the platform, exhausted and spent. The Matoran was sitting next to me. It reached out and gripped my shoulder with its metal hand. Its eyes were glowing bright again, and the light in its chest blinked steadily, despite the corrosion and scorch-marks that covered the rest of its body. It looked at me, and its mouth shifted into a different configuration. 
I think it was smiling. 
Cold air rushed past us as we fell onward, onward into unknown. I don’t know how long we spent in that smooth descent. I looked up and saw nothing above, and nothing on either side. I wondered if I would ever see the surface again, if I would ever have a chance to tell someone. I wondered what was happened or had happened in the camp. I wondered if anyone else but the two Adherents knew what had happened to me, to the mask, to the Matoran...
Except for the light of the platform beneath us, it was dark all around. Featureless, unbroken dark. 
“Kuru,” I said aloud, unbidden, remembering the word.
“Ha te ai kuru,” my companion replied, nodding.
I shivered and rubbed my arms. 
“Ukuru,” I said.
“Ru,” it replied, standing up. “Ru te aikuru. Akuya.”
The Matoran went to the edge of the platform—too close for my comfort—and pointed out into the surrounding dark. 
“Akuya,” it said, and gestured at my... my eyes. My aku. Look. It beckoned me and pointed again. And hesitating, shivering, I rose and went to where it stood, and looked out. And I saw:
Rising up over us, ascending as we descended into the depths of Spherus Magna... Deeper than any excavation could reach, deeper than the catacombs of lost Atero, or the mass tombs of the Glatori hosts, farther and deeper than the silo-vaults of the Great Beings, or the maze-labyrinths of Old Skralla, or the vast mutated seabeds of Old Spherus... Far beyond the reach of Quadrates or Adherencies, of charters or canons...
Past the unknown dark, the aikuru...
There were stars, and two suns rising.
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be-co-me · 9 months
Text
Anonymous
Miya Atsumu
1.9k Words
Summary: Homework help proves to be more useful with a cute tutor.
...
Some days college was hard, but the first week of the semester, you didn't think you would be struggling as much as you were. You sat at your desk, nearly at the sixth hour of trying to figure out physics. A lot of it was math. Your worst subject. You struggled with even some of the simplest parts of it.
You decided to take a small break, grabbing your phone and leaning back in your desk chair. You opened ChitChat, an app that many college students around you and the world used. It essentially allowed you to talk and post with people anonymously within a five mile radius of you. You scrolled the usual content that others posted before posting about your struggles with physics.
This physics class is going to be the death of me.
Once it was posted, you scrolled a bit longer, reading some of the threads about the drama going on around the school. There was always something with one of the fraternities or sororities going on, or more like a person in them.
Eventually, your focus returned to your homework, until you heard your phone ding.
New comment on your post, view now!
You sat back once more, picking up your phone and opening the app.
Anon: Which physics course are you in? 
You: The first one :'( I'm struggling hard. 
Anon: Wait till you take the second one. The end is rough.
You: Sounds like I'll be crying a lot next semester then lol
Anon: Well, let me help. Which part are you having trouble with?
You: We're going over trig right now.
Anon: The math is the hardest part. Give me an example problem and I'll see if I can help you understand how to solve it.
You eyed your homework for the problem that you least understood. Maybe if you could understand how to do the hardest problem you could understand the easiest parts, which most of the other problems seemed to be.
You: The hypotenuse is 6 and the adjacent is 5, find the cosine.
Anon: Remember SOHCAHTOA? Sin= Opposite over Hypotenuse and so on so forth?
You didn't know what he was talking about. What was this abbreviation? You remembered a lot of weird ones or songs you learned to remember things, like the quadratic formula and pythagorean theorem, but never one for trigonometry. 
You: I do not. Never learned it. Please elaborate.
Anon: Okay, so the CAH is Cosine= Adjacent over Hypotenuse and the TOA is Tangent= Opposite over Adjacent. Remember that, it's crucial.
You: Got it.
Anon: Now, you need to find the cosine, so you need the CAH part. Your cosine equals your adjacent over the hypotenuse, so 5 over 6. Which is 0.83 in decimal form. Take your calculator and press the cos-1 button and enter 0.83 in the parentheses and close it, then press enter. What'd you get?
You did as he said, eyeing the problem one more time to make sure you told him what it was correctly. 
You: 33.56 was my answer.
Anon: And it's the correct one. Congrats, now you know the basics of trigonometry. Those rules are so important to knowing what to do. If you need more help add me on Snap. My username is    tsumu_rice_&_volley.
You instantly changed to Snap and added him. You had an idea as to who it was and when he added you back and sent you a picture composed with a selfie of him holding his own homework reading "Miya Atsumu", you instantly knew you were correct.
The volleyball team captain. And one of the most well known fraternity members of the school. All the girls sought after him. You never imagined he'd be good at school, but then again how would he stay in it if he wasn't? And volleyball too.
You viewed yourself in the camera, making sure you looked decent, sending a selfie back with your own homework. He responded with one back, the caption reading,
Need help with anymore of those questions?
You could only laugh. At yourself and maybe at how kinda cute the setter was. Your brain wandered off to if there was a chance he would ever like you. There were so many other people he had the option of dating if he wanted to.
Is all of them an acceptable answer?
You sent back. You eyed the paper, none of the answers becoming any easier to you. You wished your professor would explain things a little better, and the online platform you did lessons and homework on wasn't helpful even one bit. He sent a picture back and you opened it.
Could you meet in the library? Maybe I can explain it better in person.
You pondered on if you wanted to go or not. It was very cold outside and you were holed away in warmth of your dorm room. On the other hand this homework was due the next day and you had 49 other problems to get through that you couldn't begin to understand on your own, therefore you opted to meet with him. You snapped a quick picture.
If it's not too much trouble then sure! But I'm buying you a coffee at the cafe. No questions asked.
You got up from the warmth of your desk and the heater pushed into the corner of the floor underneath it, turning it off and putting on a cozy outfit. You packed your backpack up and began your trek to the library/cafe.
You received a Snap from him as you walked, opening it.
I'm here in the corner. It's void of people in here, so I should be pretty easy to find.
His pictures were cute. You were glad he sent his Snap and not some other generic messaging app to talk on. You got to see him along with it. It made your heart leap a little bit when you saw the picture.
Almost there!
You responded, shoving your phone into your jacket pocket as you opened the door to go inside. You wiped the snow off of yourself and walked into the main study area. You looked around for him and met his eyes, him waving you down. You walked towards him.
"Well, I guess I should introduce myself properly. Hi Anon, I'm Atsumu." he said, sticking his hand out.
"And I'm (Y/N)." you responded, shaking his hand with your gloved one. You set your bag down and shrugged your winter attire off.
"So coffee? My treat for you helping me." you said. He nodded, standing up. You walked over to the cafe with him, pulling your wallet out. You eyed the menu for a little while before deciding on a brown sugar oat milk cold brew. He chose an iced matcha latte. You paid for the drinks and stood to the side, waiting for them to be made.
"It sure is dead in here. I didn't expect it to be with the first week of school and all." he said, breaking the ice and starting up a conversation.
"I know what you mean. Maybe everyone thinks it's too cold to go out. I don't have many friends here or I'd be in here studying with them all the time, I just don't wanna be alone in here. It would be kind of awkward." you responded, the barista handing the drinks to you. You handed him his own.
"I get that. I don't have wifi at my dorm yet. I'm in the new building so they haven't set it up. I've got no choice so I kinda got past the awkward part." he chuckled. You made your way back to the table and sat down.
"We even get this huge whiteboard all to ourselves to do as much trigonometry as we desire." he said, pointing out the whiteboard in the corner. Almost all study areas in the school had a whiteboard or, new as of that semester, a large tablet to do work on.
He began to explain the next homework problem you had, eyeing all of the erased pencil and light evidence of wrong answers on the paper. He stood and drew a problem on the whiteboard, prompting you to answer as he wrote down what you responded to his questions. You took your calculator and entered what you had come up with, the correct answer popping up. You smiled as you finally began to understand.
"Alright, I'm gonna take a problem for sine, cosine, and tangent each and put them up here. I want you to solve them on your own." he said, picking up your homework packet and rummaging through the pages to find one of each problem.
Once he was done, he sat back down, working on what seemed to be a literature essay. You took a while trying to make sure every detail was correct, typing into your calculator to get an answer occasionally. Once you were confident your answers and your work underneath each triangular model was correct, you turned around.
"Alright, finished." you said. He looked up from his laptop, setting down his latte and standing to review your work. You sat down, watching him as he carefully reviewed your writing. He leaned over the table and took your calculator, typing in what you hoped was your correct work on each problem. You sipped on your coffee as he reviewed.
"All correct! Good job! Do you think you're okay to finish them up on your own?" he asked. You nodded.
"Ask me if you have any questions." he said, sitting back down across from you. You nodded once more, beginning to work on the packet once more.
After thirty minutes of doing problems and typing into your calculator, you finally finished. You set the calculator down and stretched your arms, eyeing your now empty coffee cup.
"Finished?" he asked, looking up. You nodded, your eyes looking up to meet his own.
"Let me see it." he said, motioning with his hand for you to give it to him. He eyed the packet over, typing in a few problems from each page to make sure they were right.
"You did good! All the ones I put in are correct so I'm sure you did well on everything else." he said, handing the packet back to you. You packed it into it's respectful folder where it would sit until your class the following day.
"How about you? What have you been typing up over there?" you asked.
"Just reviewing this essay. Can you believe we had to do an essay the first week of school? Unbelievable." he said, shaking his head in disapointment. You chuckled in response. That was a little much of the teacher. You'd take note so you knew not to take that teacher's class in the future.
The two of you talked until the library hours were over. You packed your things and put your winter attire back on, ready to walk out. 
"I printed a paper off. Can you grab it for me please?" he asked you nodded, walking across the library to grab it. You stood in front of the printer, grabbing the slightly warm paper off of it. You turned around to wave it at him, but he was gone.
You frowned slightly, turning the paper over.
Let's make this a weekly thing so you don't have to study alone. Here's my number. You better text me! :P  XX-XXXX-XXXX. -Anonymous
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kitorin · 9 months
Text
OUR SPRING
009. flowers
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"Just do it" It's good advice from Yoichi, but unfortunately it doesn't help when you're nervous beyond words and could ruin someone's entire life and career if this charade of yours fails.
It's not like you were uncomfortable around Chigiri, in fact it was the complete opposite. He's a lot more than a play pretend partner for you, a genuine friend you feel like you could rely on, someone who you felt safe around.
His plan had worked on your behalf, you've been free of sex jokes since you and Chigiri walked out of that janitor's closet, no more rizz comments every time Kira approached you. Sure, strangers still approached you, but they did it out of curiosity and congratulated both of you.
The media wasn't responding negatively, fans around the world were begging to see who you were, buzzing with interest.
Now, all you had to do was entrust the rest of the deal to Chigiri.
"y/n, over here."
The red head calls out to you, as you're about to walk into the library. Unlike how it typically is at school, his hair was done messily, instead of the usual intricate braid. It's also the first time seeing him out of school uniform (photo shoots don't count), white collar of a button up shirt peeking out of his wool jumper. A shoulder bag was slung over his left shoulder, one of his arms wrapped around a bouquet of flowers, the pastel shades of pink, purple complementing the white flowers and the sage green leaves. A black mask concealed the lower half his face.
"Chi- Hyoma, hey."
You were awkward. Really awkward. What are people supposed to say when they great their boyfriend, who technically isn't their boyfriend? All you could do was hope that anyone nearby didn't care enough about celebrity dating or simply didn't know who Chigiri was.
He doesn't seem to find though, as a grin spreads on his face. With his dimples and the way his eyes disappeared, made it contagious it was hard not to smile too.
"For you, my love." Chigiri hands you the bouquet of flowers, you accept shyly. Not only it was your first time receiving flowers, but you'd never expected your first to be from an idol you were fake dating. His romantic action slowly gains attention, a few girls walking past and whispering enviously how they wish it was them, and a group of boys calling out "w rizz'.
"Thank you darling." You cringe a bit at the pet name, it wasn't even that bad, it just felt wrong calling a friend that. "I love them!" Unlike the attempt at using a pet name, your exclamation was truthful, making it a lot easier for you.
"Let's go inside, shall we?" Chigiri reaches out a hand, and by now the strangers nearby were swooning, regardless of whether they knew who he was or not.
You accept, fingers intertwining with his, as you go to your designated room.
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"y/n, this literally doesn't make sense."
What was initially a 'study date' became a confused tuition session, with Chigiri staring in disbelief how you're able to do math well with ease.
"Okay, all you have to do in sub in the values into quadratic formula, it'll work as long as it's in standard form, which is ax squared plus bx plus c." You write down the process with your explanation, but it doesn't seem to help.
"But the answer comes out as a long decimal, doesn't that mean it's wrong?" Gosh he wasn't lying when he said he struggles with math.
"Hyou, I hate to break it to you, but we've reached the age where annoying numbers doesn't guarantee that it's wrong."
But he completely dismisses your clarification, now grinning like an idiot.
"You called me Hyou. Not Chigiri. We're not on last name terms now."
"That's lovely, but that will not make you pass this exam, Chigiri Hyoma."
"No- Go back to Hyou, please? If Rin finds out you called me by my full name I don't think I'll ever see the light of day again."
"Then, Chigiri Hyoma, I advise you at least attempt the first question to avoid that." You continue with the formal tone, finding his reaction to his full name hilarious. "Why are you studying though? You're successful enough without academics and college." You had assumed the same for Rin, but it turns out he was actually considering a change to sports psychology instead of entertainment.
"Hmmm, I guess it's just interesting to have goals outside of work. It'd be cool for my image if I perform well and do well in school."
Right, of course to someone like Chigiri grades are just a form of bragging.
Contradicting your thoughts, you smile. "For that to happen you've got to understand someone as simple as this." Your mechanical pencil taps at the worksheet. "I assure you, decimals and surds aren't that scary."
"What were surds again?"
Oh my god.
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"Am I really that bad at math?"
Together, you walk out of the library and it's already dark, with buildings illuminating the night sky and the moon greeting the world hello. You're exhausted, you've studied for a lot longer before but tutoring someone who rarely pays attention in class was a lot worse.
"Yeah, you are." The blunt and dry answer has him gasping with forged shock.
"How could you... I'm better than Rin though, right?"
"No." Another honest answer, this time he's genuinely shocked.
"Surely not...?"
"Rin knows what the asymptote is."
"So do I, they only touch a line once."
"... The asymptote doesn't touch anything at all. The whole point of it is that the line approaches it but never touches it."
"I was close enough."
"You really weren't-" By then, both of you were bursting into laughter. You'll admit you didn't get as much done as you wanted, but it was fun. More importantly, the awkwardness and tense you felt around him died down after spending hours convincing him that it isn't the end of the world if the answer isn't an integer.
"You're catching the bus here, right?" You nod in response. "I'll wait for it, I can walk home from here."
"Hyou, it's really fine. The bus app says only 5 more minutes."
"I insist, and," He takes out his phone, "Photo, remember? Like I said I'll keep your face out of it. Lift up the flowers a bit."
With the help of Chigiri's instructions you're able to position the bouquet perfectly, it conceals your face entirely but the photo still looks pretty.
"Is this good?" He confirms with you, posting it after you approve of how the photo turned out. "I'll see you at school." The bus is approaching now.
"Yeah, thanks for today." The flowers are held tight in your arms, against your chest.
"I should be saying that, you've helped a lot."
And you've done a lot more. "It's really fine, let me know if you need more help with math another time."
Chigiri nods, accepting your offer. "Text me when you get home, yeah?" You promise him you will, as you get onto the bus and stare at him through the window until he disappears from your view. The flowers remain hugged to your chest, with a smile refusing to leave your face.
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EIGHT | TEN | MASTERLIST
PAIRING. chigiri hyoma x reader
SYNOPSIS. school gets overwhelming with constant rumours and accusations, thankfully someone is willing to help. but what happens when this mutually beneficial agreement escalates into something more?
GENRE. social media au, fake dating, idol / actor au
TAGLIST. @izzylovestnbhd, @angelchigiri, @punkhazardlaw, @silly-ez, @y-sabell-a, @mellozhi, @luvlunazx, @oldest-dream-pdf, @misfits1a, @hoshithinker
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© kitorin : do not repost, plagiarize, change, or translate
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Photo
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“Hey Guys! Look What I drew! It’s older me!”
________________________________________________________________
An AU that I call “Truly Techno-Organic Sari” 
So basically, it always bugged me that there wasn’t really anything done with the fact Sari wasn’t truly human in the earlier part of the show. So, I made up stuff because I could and here we are. 
Sari was always meant to be a vessel for the AllSpark. That’s why she looked so vastly different than other protoforms. But given Cyberton’s unstable political climate even prior to the war, she was sent away for her own protection. 
Her stasis pod crash landed on Earth and remained hidden until a mining operation outside of Detroit found it millennia later. Now let’s put a pin in that for a minute. 
After the war on Cyberton and being thrown through a Spacebridge, the AllSpark starts to use its energy to search for its lost protoform. It takes a long time, but it finally senses the protoform on a planet across the galaxy. That’s when it, in Ratchet’s words, “Found Us!” and powered on the Spacebridge with its location being Earth. It was going to go to its protoform and see to it that the little one was raised with love and care. What it didn’t account for was the Autobots crashing into Lake Eerie and going into stasis for 50 years. And it definitely didn’t count on humans getting to the pod first. 
Fast forward to Sumdac finding a pod that he that he vaguely remembered asking to be brought to his lab after he was contacted by a mining company and discovering the little protoform inside. 
As a defense mechanism, Sari’s systems used Sumdac’s DNA in reformatting her body to better blend in with the planet’s natives. It even went as far as to hide her spark signature from other Cybertronians. 
After all that, the story continues largely the same in terms of plot (for Season 1 and 2), except with some changes.
Number one: Sari is a literal child both in human and Cybertronian terms and she stays a child. No age up. But she does occasionally get dreams about herself when she’s older in place she doesn’t recognize. 
The AllSpark still gives a fraction of its power to Sari in the form of the AllSpark Key. However, in this AU, whenever Sari abuses the power of the AllSpark Key, it either goes in a locked mode for a short time or its power is greatly reduced. It's the AllSpark’s way of grounding her and teaching her: With Great Power...
Now for more headcanons for this AU.
Sari is smart (which I believe is kind of canon because if I remember correctly, in one episode she’s learning the quadratic formula from Tutorbot, and that’s middle school math...and she’s eight. Also, Sumdac asks if she’s tinkered with the pocketbot which leads me to believe that even prior to the Key, Sari might have reformatted her dad’s robots). So, building from that, Sari finds her school subjects too easy, and she gets bored from not having a challenge. Que her reformatting her dad’s robots so that she can sneak away to go exploring around the city. 
When the Autobots come into her life, Sari asks Optimus if he wouldn’t mind teaching her Cybertronian subjects, like history or language. 
Having a been a data clerk in the Iacon Archives prior to joining the Autobot Academy, Optimus has a wealth of knowledge to share, and he was more than happy to teach her. 
Sari eagerly awaited Optimus’s lessons. There was finally something to challenge her mind.
Ratchet figured if the kid wanted to keep hanging around them, then he better look into human health. He started monitoring Sari’s diet and would get stressed seeing how much ‘junk’ food she ate. He started to replace all her junk food with fruits and vegetables. 
Occasionally, when Ratchet would run a check-up on her, he would pick up Sari’s actual spark beat on his equipment. At first, he thought it was a glitch because how could Sari have a spark beat? She’s organic. But the more Sari spent time around the Autobots, the more the ‘glitch’ keep happening, and Ratchet started suspecting that kid wasn’t all organic after all. 
When Prowl meditated, he sometimes felt the electromagnetic field of a newly activated protoform when Sari was nearby. For a while, he thought it was a form of his guilt manifesting. Then one day, he saw Ratchet’s equipment experiencing a “glitch”, and the cyber-ninja knew in his spark that Sari wasn’t fully human.
Prowl felt that regardless of what she was, Sari needed to be taught how to defend herself should she even need to, especially with all the trouble she seemed to get into. So, he started giving her the basics of cyber-ninja training, including their philosophies about respecting all forms of life, cybernetic or organic. 
Bulkhead and Bumblebee didn’t pay attention to Sari’s inhuman quirks. (Well, Bulkhead noticed some things, but chose not to say anything.) The two youngest of Prime’s team acted as big brothers to Sari, with Bulkhead trying to keep the other two out of trouble.
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dragonthunders01 · 8 months
Text
Spec Evo Vault, Gourmand
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In the world of "The New Dinosaurs", Tyrannosaurs in general managed to stay for a while as the dominant predatory "Carnosaurs" in the north regions until they slowly were replaced, but on the Neotropical regions (South America) of earth, on the grasslands of the far south, a relict survived from a branch that split out and leaked through a early land bridge across the continent around 55 million years ago.
From there the Gourmand evolved, it followed the trend of larger, even heavier big head tyrannosaurs, which lost their arms in the totality of the structure, neither atrophied bones of the shoulder girdle remained, meanwhile its legs and pelvis have adjusted to hold the even more massive body, as it not longer possess the tall more gracile bulk form that helped it to maintain a long distance gape, but a very robust and short leg form that allows it to sustain and balance the elongated form.
The early account of this titanic theropod remark that due to their massive size they Gourmand is incapable to hunt down large prey so they rely on feed on dead carcasses an digest them in long periods of time resting in the grass, having its long armor that protect it against any other predatos.
Is capable to unhinge the mandibles being capable to gobble up any potential meal, which for the lack of any shoulder bone it allows it to properly take large prey like a deep water fish.
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In the manga though, from what I have hear (haven't been able to see the content for myself) there is the reference the Gourmand actually being more active and responsive towards any other predator capable to take down Cutlasstooth like in the cover, unlike the implication of the original book which depicted it as a very slow creature.
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Comments and notes -I guess is interesting how this almost looks like a idealization of the "Scavenger tyrannosaur" hypothesis that have been existing for a century and went more popular around paleocircles in the late 90s and early 2000s for Horner, is not like Dixon was defending this idea maybe more like it was considered plausible if theropods became even bigger they would become slower animals that couldn't hunt its prey but go for an easy meal like a corpse, and so, depend more of scavenging.
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-The way his jaw disarticulates from the skull always seemed strange to me, almost as if the jaw doesn't have an extra bone that allows it to extend, sort of like a quadrate snake that offers that extension, it just falls off and is hold by pure muscle. As well for a group characterized for the lowest kinetic skulls ever, would be odd they reverse this specialization only to become gobblers, would be likely a strong mandible could offer more opportunities to consume a prey. Even with the chance a tyrannosaur skull could become more kinetic, it likely would depend on expand the jaw structure around without detaching the lower jaw, like is inferred some theropods would have do, and specifically how it was found in spinosaurs.
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-I think is interesting there might be more tyrannosaurs living in the new dinosaurs book with a mildly success, the gourmand is the only described species of the group and for the the width of the lineage in the table it really imply they are doing something decent with the number of species, where exactly are living is unknown
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Text
Brother pt.2
Pairing- Spider x sister!reader
Summary- Not giving up any information about the Sully's the recoms use you and your brother as personal navigators throughout Pandora.
Pt.1 Pt.2
Italics mean speaking in na'vi (mostly cause I'm to lazy to look it up rn)
A/N- also we are going to pretend like Quadritch didn't burn entire villages and is just focused on killing Jake cause I'm a lazy gal 🤭 and like I was thinking about making a pt.3 where like the recoms don't wanna do the plan anymore and like run with y/n and spider and the Meykayina clan takes them in and stuff and Jake is there giving Quartrich a side eye it's just a thought tho.
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Two male Avatars through you and Spider into a helicopter ending with a loud 'thud'. "Wow such gentlemen." You say rolling your sore shoulder. The men tsk at you but you could care less. Quaritch steps into the helicopter sitting down in front of you and Spider.
Spider who only looked terrified but you, you were angry at Jake Sully for leaving you two behind, at the soldiers who kidnapped you and tortured your brother, and mostly angry at yourself for letting it happen. Spider hit your shoulder pulling you from you thoughts and look at him and his eyes avert to Quadritch you look at him and clench you jaw. "You two do anything, and I mean anything stupid and will have you back here in exactly two minutes and I will give you an old school ass whippin' understood." You try to pull from the grasp he had on your shoulder and he only shakes your arm. "Understood?" He asked once more. "Yes sir." You spit out hatred in your tone.
The pilot dropped all of you off into the forest. There were a few other avatars and you hopped up on a tree stump so you looked over them to listen into there conversation as Spider did the same.
"We are in their territory now, their home so that means we have to get inside their heads so that means, We go full Na'vi." Quadratic began and you only shook your head. "We eat Na'vi, we ride Na'vi," he began. "We speak Na'vi." The older man spoke his accent made the language sound broken as if he forced it out and you laughed along with Spider the team of fake Na'vi turned to the two of you, some giving you a glare. "Three year olds speak better than you." You say in your common tongue with ease.
Quadritch tilts his head and smirks, "Well miss Smarty pants since you two are so good guess you just bumped up from prisoner to our personal pandorian navigators." You cursed yourself as you clicked your tongue at the man and crossed your arms. Spider let out a huff as he shook his head.
And now the helicopter you were on was now taking you farther up the Hallelujah Mountains and you could only think of one reason were they going to try and tame and ikran, idiots.
And before you knew it you were being shoved off of the helicopter once again and onto the mountain surrounded by the team so you couldn't run. You look at the to familiar mountain and you feel at home that was until you saw Quadritch crouching towards and ikran fist formed. You look at Spider who had a smile on his face but your face was creased what the hell was he doing?
A loud screech came from the ikran and as you seen many younger, stupid Na'vi do he hissed back, his was much more demanding it would send shivers down your back if you were fighting him. And then he punched the ikran, punched sending the creature downward. The older people surrounding you were cheering him on but you were to focused on if he was going to be able to do it.
He trapped the animal with his thighs but that wouldn't be enough, he was fighting back Quadritch grabbed his braid but the ikran flipped off of the edge and you smiled. But that smile quickly went away.
He emerged in the back of the banshee fist in the air. You bit the side of your cheek as Spider turns and looks at the ground, just as disappointed as you. You turn around and walk with the team. Oh how you wish you could be back at the lab, the lab that stunk of hand sanitizer, where you couldn't touch almost anything, where you had a small bed that your feet hund from, and your room filled with decorations to distract yourself from everything. That lab you hated for so long you wished you had it.
Quadritch saw your faces and for some odd reason his heart tugged in his chest.
"Hey you two, dumb and dumber your coming with me."
You and Spider turn around confused walking to the man who was still on the ikran.
"What?" You ask.
"You heard me last time I wasn't around you tased one of my men and knocked the other one out so I wouldn't put it past you to do anything else, now get on the banshee." He said and all you did was roll your eyes. As Spider hops in front of him Quadritch and he secures him as you jump on behind him holding onto him. "So who's dumb and who's dumber?" You joke and you could have sworn you could hear a faint chuckle come from the man before he took off.
The flying was amazing you almost forgot you were a prisoner. And you began to fly over water you quickly questioned where you were going to yourself. And then he landed Spider and you hoped off and Quadritch walked down to a short man. You and Spider jumped onto a pole next to them. "So yours the asshole condemning my ship." The man said with a thick Australian accent. He smiles "That would me."
And soon it didn't feel like you were a prisoner you had your own room as did Spider. And they let you walk around anywhere you wanted, do almost anything you wanted. And as days went on you grew closer with the team, even thought they kidnapped you, they were cool. Z-dog and you talked shit about the men, Lyle and you spared, Mansk you and Spider stole a few of his glasses he didn't mind though, Prager the one you tased finally made up, and Lopez taught you how to do tattoos, and Fike and you play pranks on the others all the time. And you two seed to get closer with Quartrich but it was different you didn't know what it was just different.
And sometimes he let you two sit in on meetings like today you were reading a book that was on the ship called Macbeth by Shakespeare. You closed it as it was getting boring and a little confusing. You looked up at some weird hologram thing they had coming from the table, and then you feel a yank at your tail. Turning around at lightning speed and see Spider snickering. "What did I say about pulling my tail?" You hiss and then he starts to run away, ducking under Quaritch.
Quadritch looks at Spider as he ducks and smiles. You push behind him and he chuckles at the childish tactics you two are doing. You chase after him and then his side hits the side of a table spilling some vile. Some look over and one man rushes over, "Oop sorry sorry." You say grabbing a napkin from a bin wiping it up before he swats and pops your hand making you pull away pulling from your hand. Quadritch's eyes follow as he seea the guy pop your hand. "You messed it up god I hate kids-" he said wiping the table the rest of the way. "Leave em alone."
Quadritch'a deep voice was enough to shut the man up and then you and Spider snuck out of the room running up and down the halls looking for something to do. "Hey Mansk!" You tell stopping in front of the man as he lifts a weight. "Hey! Have you guys seen my red glasses I've been looking for the-" "Nope sorry!" Spider yells before he grabs your hand dragging you along.
It was eclipse and you and Spider were on your bedroom floor his hair was spayed out as was yours it was so boring. "Wanna go sit on the roof?" You ask as you sit up him not far behind. "Sure nothing else to do." He huffs as he gets up a long with helping you up.
You peak your head out of the door, no one. "Coast is clear." You whisper to him as you sneak out first him behind you closing the door not to loud. Spider out his mask on as you cracked the door open cringing at the 'whoosh' sound it made as it opened. He stepped out first climbing to the room trying not to disturb the people under it. You closed the door leaving a small crack in it. You followed him and sat next to him looking up at the sky and the ocean you floated on.
It was quiet, comfortable silence.
Spider took a sharp breath before letting it out. "They are nice, you know everyone here." He said and you blinked a few times. "They are." You reply.
Silence once again.
"I just don't know why they want to kill Jake, I bet if we try and talk them out of it and teach them our ways they will like live freely." Spider was throwing suggestion after suggestion out and you just didn't know what to do. "I don't know Spider, I don't know what to do." You confessed. He sighed once again before laying his head on your shoulder. "I know." He replied.
For one of the first times in your life you didn't have a funny comment or thought to soothe the stress in the atmosphere. You didn't know what to do.
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juliearchery107 · 9 months
Text
Some Wonderbat because it's best ship:
Diana: It's actually frightening how both smart and stupid Bruce is. Don't believe me? Watch this.
Disna: B, what is the quadratic equation?
Bruce: Quadratic equations are second-degree algebraic expressions and are of the form ax2 + bx + c = 0. The term "quadratic" comes from the Latin word "quadratus" meaning square, which refers to the fact that the variable x is squared in the equation. In other words, a quadratic equation is an “equation of degree 2.”.
Diana: Now what do you do when someone's shooting at you?
Bruce: Run at the bullet.
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joe--bro · 8 months
Note
I love your works! I was wondering if you could do a Kyle Broflovski x Reader preferably a gender neutral reader that's kind of a nerd and that has been friends with the main four since 3rd grade? Aged up characters of course. Thank you>_< ♡♡♡
Why yes of course I can, I hope you enjoy it!
(don't fucking read this if you somehow come across it please.)
Nerds
[Kyle Broflovski x Nerdy! Reader]
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[Summary; Y/n's been friends with the boys since early primary school. Their best friend was Kyle and being that the two of them were the brains of the friend group, they were able to connect easily because of it.]
[Warnings; Some swearing, also the fact that its kinda really bad]
[Notes; All characters are aged up, Y/n and the rest are 16-17 years old in their Junior Year. Also, I wrote Kyle as a major overthhinker and I have no clue if it was right to do so💀]
"God why on earth do they make this shit so hard. Y/n, Kyle, can you help me with this?" Stan groans, putting his pencil down as he tiredly looks to the two of you.
You, Stan, and Kyle were all at Stan's house to study and do homework, but mostly so you and Kyle could help Stan if he needed it. Kenny had to work at his job and Cartman complained about not wanting to spend precious afterschool time just doing extra work, so it was just you three.
"You're really having trouble with that? Its simple algebra." Kyle looks at Stan, chuckling lightly.
"Oh come on, lay it easy on him, Kyle. His brain doesn't have the capacity to understand as quickly, its not his fault," you say jokingly.
"Just because you two nerds are in calculus already doesn't mean you get to talk all this shit." Stan groans once more.
"We're just kidding dude, of course we'll help," You get up from your spot on the bed next to Kyle and walk over to Stan's at the desk table. "Okay, what is it exactly that you need help with?"
"Uh, problems 8, 12, and 16. The rest of them I've already done but these three are hard," Stan points at the questions he's having trouble with and leans back into the chair.
"Okay, let's start with 16, that one is easier to do then the other ones. Alright, 'Write 2⁵= 32 in logarithmic form,' okay the 5 in the exponent itself is the logarithm, so you write that 5 down and then you should have 5 equals to log, bringing that 2 down to the base, and then putting the 32 right next to it. So after that you should get 5=log(2)32, did that make sense?" You explain as simply as you can.
"That makes so much more sense now! Is that how it is with 12 as well?" Stan exclaims happily.
As you continued helping Stan with his work, Kyle just watched. He felt a twinge of hurt and jealousy in his chest. 'They're so close to him, why can't they ever be that close to me? Do they like him? There's no way they like him, he has a girlfriend,' Kyle thoughts ran rampant as he zoned out staring at the two before being snapped out of his thoughts by Stan and you shaking him by the shoulder.
"Yo dude you okay? You spaced out for like 2 minutes, we've been trying to get your attention for ages now dude," Stan says taking his hand off of Kyle.
"Oh, um yeah I'm fine. Sorry about that I was thinking about something." Kyle turns red from embarrassment and looks to his side to try and hide his face.
"Alright man, but we need your help on the last thing. Y/n didn't understand it either so we figured you probably would," Stan said looking down at Kyle as he was standing up and Kyle was still on the bed.
"Yeah sure, what is it?" Kyle says walking to the desk to look at the problem on the worksheet that Stan is pointing to with his pencil. "Alright, let's see, 'write a quadratic equation that has the roots 2±4i ,' jeez dude, you sure you didn't sign up for an honors course in this class?" Kyle looks at Stan with his brows knitted together.
"I think we should just cheat and look it up on the internet, man." Stan says in defeat.
"No, no. We're not doing that we'll figure it out." You say taking a pencil and a spare piece of paper.
"Y/n, as much as I don't want to cheat either, I have no fucking clue what the answer to that could possibly be and neither do you, I think we should just look it up." Kyle puts a hand on your shoulder, a look of defeat on his face.
"No way, where's the fun in that? I'll figure it out just give me a bit." You turn away and begin writing the problem down on the other piece of blank paper.
Kyle admired your dedication to not stoop as low as to cheat but he knows your stubbornness wouldn't allow you to do anything else until you figured it out. He loved that about you but worried for your well-being because of it too.
"Can I at least help?" Kyle asks, leaning into your side as to get your attention a little better.
"Totally, but if you fall asleep or get bored I'm not going to urge you to help." You scooch over to make room for Kyle do he could sit in the chair with you to help.
"I'm gonna go get something to eat and watch tv, you two nerds can figure that out." Stan then exited his room and left the two of you alone.
You continued to work on it for the next 2 hours, you were almost done with the equation until you felt a weight on top of your head and heard light snores. You look at the clock on the desk to see its around 12 am now, Kyle had either fallen asleep from the work or the time.
Honestly, you were freaking out. You'd liked Kyle since you were a kid and the two of you had never been this close before, and you two were practically attached to the hip as kids.
You continued to finally finish the equation with Kyle literally sleeping on top of you without waking him but he evidently did as you shot up from your slumped position in happiness of finishing it.
Kyle shot up along with you, nearly falling off the shared seat.
You excitedly grab Kyle by the shoulders shaking him to be more awake, "Kyle I finished it! (x-2)^2+16=0 is the final answer!" You exclaim.
"Really? Holy shit you're righ, you finished it Y/n!" Kyle says as he looks at the now full piece of paper, filled with all the proper formulas.
"God can you guys be any louder? You're so lucky my parents aren't here right now, they would kick your guys' ass if they caught you being this loud at this time. You're lucky Shelly is out of the house too." Stan groggily says as he re-enters his room, walking towards the two of you.
"We figured it out, Stan!" You exclaimed as you shot up from the seat.
"You guys get excited over the stupidest shit. I'm assuming you two are staying tonight?" Stan plops down onto his bed in a tired manner.
"Yeah, if that's cool with you of course." Kyle gets up from the seat at Stan's desk and gets his phone which was still sitting on the bed.
"Yeah that's chill with me. You staying too Y/n?"
"Yeah sure, don't know the point of going home at this time around. Want me to get the blankets from downstairs while you get the extra mattress?" You ask Stan.
"Yeah, Kyle help me out with the mattress man," Stan gets up from his spot, motioning for the redhead to follow him.
[Pov change because this is important! Kyle's Pov;]
I follow Stan to his parents bedroom to get the extra mattress, once we're in there he suddenly stops me.
"So when are you finally going to tell Y/n you like them." Stan says in a sort of hushed voice.
"Soon, its just that, I mean I don't know dude what if I end up ruining our whole friendship by telling them? I don't want to risk that dude." I groan.
"You've been saying soon for 2 years now, I think you need to finally grow a pair and say something to them about it. Y/n isn't the type of person to completely cut you out of their life just because you told them you liked them." Stan says, getting the mattress out from under his parents bed as I help him.
"How about I make a deal with you, I'll tell Y/n if you tell Wendy you want her back so you can finally stop bugging me about it, hmm?"
I was just slightly annoyed, Stan can't say anything to rush me and about being a "pussy," because when he first told Wendy he liked her, he threw up on her.
"Fine. Tell them tonight and I'll do the same, unless you're gonna chicken out."
Tonight? He wants me to tell them tonight?
"What the fuck do you mean tell them tonight? Are you insane dude?" I look at Stan wide-eyed, helping him carry the mattress to his room.
Stan simply smirks at me in reply as he sees Y/n sitting on his bed.
I freeze for a second, hoping that they hadn't heard our conversation.
"You gonna just stand there man? Help me,"
"Shit, sorry dude I zoned out for a sec there. Yeah let me just,"
'That was embarrassing, did I just freeze up like that right there? God I feel like an idiot.'
I finish helping Stan put the mattress in his room and onto the floor right by his bed, Y/n then gets the blankets and pillows and places them down on the mattress nicely.
"Alright, I'm gonna go downstairs to the living room and finish up what I was watching before I was interrupted by you guys nerding out," Stan says, in a jokingly rude tone, as he gives me a wink as he walks out the room.
Shit, he wants me to tell them now? If all goes wrong I can just disappear forever, easy, right?
"So... Uh, what have you been up to lately?" I say dryly.
God why did I say that? I sound like an idiot.
"Nothing really, I think you forget I'm kind of a loser and the only people and interesting things I have going on in my life are you and the other boys, though mostly you to be honest," Y/n says, letting out a chuckle.
"I get that. Not too popular myself either,"
"Pshh, you? The Kyle Broflovski? Any kid would kill to be able to hang out with you. And the amount of chicks that like you is insane! Yet you turn them down everytime man, I don't know how you do it." Y/n jokingly says, nudging my shoulder playfully.
"All of those girls are practically all the same, plus I already have someone I'm interested in,"
Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why would you say it like that? You're terrible at dropping hints!
"Oh you do? Who is this lucky person?" Y/n sounded somewhat upset whilst saying it, why were they upset?
Shit, I screwed up, what if I just tell them now, or explain exactly them, maybe I could fix it.
"Well, they're smart, an absolute genius really, then they've got these beautiful e/c eyes and this h/c hair. But I've been friends with them for a while now so I'm a bit scared to say anything to them really." Am I being obvious enough? What if they don't catch on?
"Wow they sound amazing, I think you should definitely tell them, you're a real charmer so no doubt they'll feel the same for you man,"
I take a deep breath, am I really going to follow through with this? I'm in too deep now and it'd be easier to just do it now. "Y'know, I think you're right. Y/n, I really like you. Have for a while now, its eating me up inside everytime to think that if I don't say something anytime sooner someone else might beat me to you." I say keeping eye contact with them.
Y/n simply stayed quiet, I definitely fucked it up now, why the hell did I listen to Stan?
As I'm caught in my own thoughts rushing through my head, a pair of lips attaches themselves to mine suddenly.
I freeze for a second but almost instantly melt into the kiss, taking my shaky hand to caress Y/n's cheek, pulling them closer to me.
"Fucking finally, Jesus guys. But it would be great if you could not do that on my bed right now, I have plans with Wendy later tomorrow and I don't wanna be reminded of this mid hangout." Stan groans.
Me and Y/n immediately pull away and look at Stan standing at the doorway. I could feel the heat quickly rushing to my face and glance to see Y/n's is just as red as mine.
"But I am happy for you two really, glad you finally got the balls to tell them man." Stan says, shooing me and Y/n to get off of his bed.
"Alright, go to bed and don't do gross shit, I'll make you pressure wash that shit." Stan closes the light and me and Y/n lay on the spare mattress together.
This wasn't the first time me and Y/n had shared a bed but this time it felt more nerve wracking. Do I ask them if I can hold them? Should I hold them? Why do I want to hold them? I need to stop overthinking like this man.
You've already told them, they like you back too, just go for it.
I slowly wrap my arms around Y/n and they do the same.
"Goodnight, Kyle," Y/n says, their voice barely above a whisper.
"Goodnight, Y/n," I quietly reply back, placing a soft kiss on their head before drifting off to sleep.
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I think this took me a good week or two to get to and I highly apologize for it, I'll admit that I lost a slight interest towards the end of it because it felt like this would've went on for ages. Anyways, again apologies for it taking so terribly long, I hope you enjoyed reading it though!
Send in your requests for stories! Look at my introduction to see if anything you like is something I'll write, and DM me for further questions!
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prkwook · 6 months
Text
CUPID 💌🏹
IN WHICH our cast plays cupid for their loser (endearingly) friends who can’t seem to take their own relationship advice.
CHAPTER 002. sneaky little tax evader (smau + written) 🎧
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“HI!” you greet the boy that you’ve been not-so-secretly eyeing for the past hour and a half.
“Hi!” he smiles. you internally melt and almost don’t notice the hands belonging to the boy in front of you that are giving you a book to check out. He doesn’t break eye contact once. Usually, that would be a little odd and would kind of sketch you out but there’s just something about his big brown eyes that makes you feel safe.
“Will that be all for you today?” you ask. You’re the one to finally break eye contact, but only to quickly look down so you can locate the barcode and scan it. Your eyes graze over the cover, “The Crisis of the 3rd Century? Interesting choice…” You must have a quizzical look on your face because he laughs and it’s the most beautiful sound you think you’ve ever heard. 
“I know. It's one of my favorite things to whip out at trivia night. No one ever sees it coming! First, it’s the Quadratic Formula … easy peasy … and then Boom! It’s the near collapse of Ancient Rome! Well, that and the fact that Henry David Thoreau committed tax evasion. Multiple times.” 
“Oh my gosh, no way… no one ever knows about that! Every time I reference it, my friends think I'm some sort of nerd. Not that you’re a nerd or anything.” you could’ve rambled on and on but a thought pops up and stops you in your tracks. “I'm sorry, I just have to ask. Exactly how often do you think about the Roman Empire, and I’m not talking about The Gladiator (2000) with Russell Crowe all oiled up Roman Empire. I’m talking like actual Roman Empire?”
“Trust me … you don’t want to know. “ the pretty, brown haired boy replies while trying his best to look serious. It doesn’t work though because a few seconds later, he bursts into the same laughter as before and you swear your world stops for a second. All you can do is pray that he doesn’t hear your heart about to beat right out of your chest. In an attempt to hide your rosy cheeks, you look away from him and towards the register which now displays his total. 
“Your total is going to be $15.89 today, cash or card?”
He pulls out a $20 from what seems to be an off-brand Lightning McQueen wallet and hands it to you. You take it, put it in the register, and give him back his change. He takes it from you with a smile that you’re convinced could bring world peace and drops all $4.11 into the tip jar sitting on the counter in front of you. He says “Have a good evening.” to which you reply “you too.” and watch him walk out the door, bag and cup in hand.
“Woah, your cheeks are redder than a tomato. Be honest, on a scale of 1 to 10, how down bad are you?” Taerae, your best friend, questions as he walks over from his post at Bluebird, the in-store cafe that sits right by the checkout and also happens to give him the perfect view of what just went down.
You sigh and dramatically place a hand to your forehead as if you’re swooning. “I fear I’m in love and I don’t even know his name.”
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🔭 ★ mlist. previous. next.
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☆★ TAGLIST:  @annoyingbitch83 @vernonburger @doiedecimal @taekwondoes @imthisclosetokms @kaynunu (bold can't be tagged ; pls check your settings + make sure u can be tagged ... ty ^_^)
want to join? -> taglist form . 🫀
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arminreindl · 7 months
Text
Ultrastenos: Narrow Snouted Mekosuchine?
So this one comes with a pretty big disclaimer. Ultrastenos, evenmoreso than any other mekosuchine, is incomplete and enigmatic. Whereas animals like Mekosuchus at least bolster a long research history or at least somewhat complete remains of specific body parts, Ultrastenos is both new and fragmentary. This, combined with ongoing research, means that this reconstruction is just a preliminary one based on current publications and should not be taken as gospel.
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Ultrastenos is best known through assorted skull fragments and crania, notably part of the quadrate and quadratojugal, the occiput (back of the skull), an incomplete lower jaw, misc. postcrania like a tibia and vertebrae and some referred skull tables.
Already we enter some weirdness as the type material all stems from the Low Lion Site of the Riversleigh WHA, while the skull tables are from the White Hunter Site (also Riversleigh). Tho they are roughly of the same age, both being late Oligocene, but they are still different localities.
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As is apparent both from my recon and the mandible, the lower jaw of Ultrastenos constricted weirdly rapidly, broad at the back and yet narrow towards the front (thus its name, which just means "extremly narrow").
A key issue here is that we don't know how long the rostrum was. We only have it up to the fourth-last tooth, so how long the snout would have continued we don't know. The idea that the snout was short has been entertained, but is deemed unlikely given that the mandible is very shallow. This would instead be more in line with long-snouted animals like gharials.
Size is another point of question. The type material is very small, only about two meters is what I recovered and the paper notes it's "only about as big as a freshwater crocodile", which matches fairly well I'd say. But it is not known whether or not the specimen was actually an adult, so we may find larger individuals in the future.
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Which brings us to the disclaimer.
In 2023's "Migrations, diversifications and extinctions: the evolutionary history of crocodyliforms in Australasia", the confusion and uncertainty of Ultrastenos is once more brought up. Some of what is written is what you'd expect, which is that it's enigmatic and the interpretations of Stein et. al. need more research. Logical so far, its undeniably fragmentary and the interpretation is undeniably speculative. The fact that its phylogenetic placement among mekosuchines is a mess is likewise not a surprise. The original tree differs A LOT from more recent results, while the only other tree that included Ultrastenos is that of Rio and Mannion, which I generally avoid personally.
But the interesting nugget is that apparently, a close relative has been found since then which might have a big impact. But this research is still in prep courtesy of Adam Yates (who I've been told will publish the description of the Alcoota Baru soon enough). So will my recon become obsolete? Probably. But I'll update it accordingly once the time comes.
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But lets briefly let go of safety and scepticism and consider the possibility that it really was a long-snouted mekosuchine. Aside from some of the anatomical clues like the shallow mandible, sameish teeth and narrow snout, a longirostrine croc would be expected, from the region, would it not? After all, long snouts evolved many times separately in crocs and despite having an incredibly diverse croc fauna, Australia is shockingly lacking in those. The only examples currently known are the Miocene Harpacochampsa, the Pliocene to Pleistocene Gunggamarandu and the current freshwater crocodile. The former two are gharials the later a crocodylid.
Furthermore, the White Hunter Site, if you remember prior posts, was positively teeming with mekosuchines of all different niches. Large semi-aquatic predators like Baru, small semi-aquatic ones like "Baru" huberi and terrestrial forms like Mekosuchus and Quinkana. So to fit in, Ultrastenos must have done something differently, and conveniently a longirostrine nische is still open. So why not.
Illustrations by Joschua Knüppe and Ashley Patch
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So that's it. Ultrastenos, the enigmatic, possibly longirostrine mekosuchine of the Riversleigh. Will this post age badly? Maybe, maybe not, we'll see. Wikipedia: Ultrastenos - Wikipedia Primary sources: Stein, Michael; Hand, Suzanne J.; Archer, Michael (26 May 2016). "A new crocodile displaying extreme constriction of the mandible, from the late Oligocene of Riversleigh, Australia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (5): e1179041. doi:10.1080/02724634.2016.1179041 Ristevski, J.; Willis, P.M.A.; Yates, A.M.; White, M.A.; Hart, L.J.; Stein, M.D.; Price, G.J.; Salisbury, S.W. (2023). "Migrations, diversifications and extinctions: the evolutionary history of crocodyliforms in Australasia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology: 1–46. doi:10.1080/03115518.2023.2201319. S2CID 258878554
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inkareds · 9 months
Text
Love You Like A Cat
1610 Miles Morales x Reader
nav // marvel m.list // ko-fi
✧.* word count: 2.6k
✧.* genre: Fluff
✧.* warnings: The reader is coded to disassociate but not really
When things get too tiring, you can't help but lash out to your boyfriend, reminding him of a certain feline animal
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“Alright class, today we’ll be starting our topic on quadratic functions, I’d like all of you to open your…”
As the teacher droned on you couldn’t help but lose focus. It had been a long day, no, long week. A long week of nothing going your way. From your biology research essay given back for revision to someone cheating off of you on your English test leading your teacher to accuse YOU of plagiarising their work. This week has not been your week if the eyebags slowly forming underneath your eyes weren’t a sign of that. 
So as you dozed off your eyes started to wander over towards the class around you. The ticking of the clock as seconds as if it rolled by much slower than it did just a few hours ago becoming a constant reminder of the amount of time you still have to spend in school. Before you can rest your weary head you still must go through this math class which had just started. 
When the teacher asked a question you couldn’t even comprehend, a few students rose their hands. The teacher picked one and the student, your classmate who you have identified to be one of the smartest kids in the room, answered with practice poise and elegance. The noise of their agonising voice, which was no fault of their own, pounded against your head as you feel a headache slowly coming. 
You furrowed your eyebrows as you counted the seconds from the ticking clock just so you can focus on anything but the dizziness your head decided to put your eyes to. 
The long-sleeved uniform felt almost foreign against your skin in this moment of overstimulation. The fabric feels scratchy and the weight feels uncomfortable. You wished you could just go invisible right now and disappear back into your bed. To rid of the usually comfortable uniform which now feels like a constricting carpet around your body and go back to wearing your soft and familiar pyjamas. 
Your train of thought was brutally cut off when a paper ball lands on your table, the sudden crinkling noise of the paper hitting the table somehow louder than it should be. Perhaps it was because everything else has become white noise at this point in time and that the paper’s noise was far too foreign for your brain to block out. Thus the sound of mere paper hitting your wooden table sounds like a hammer against your skull. 
You glanced around to see who threw the crumpled-up paper ball at your table only for your eyes to meet with your boyfriend’s at the table next to you. You shook your head of any malicious thoughts that were originally directed at whoever threw the paper at you. Realising the sensitive state you were in. 
Miles stared intently at you while every now and then he looks back to the front so that he could still pay attention to whatever the math teacher was spewing. You realised he was waiting for you to open his little letter. When you did so it wrote in messy handwriting. 
“You ok?”
For an artist, it was quite humorous how bad his handwriting was. When he wasn’t making graffiti on the walls or writing in a stylised manner, his ‘neat’ handwriting for school and paperwork teetered on the edge of intelligible and unintelligible.  
But frankly, you didn’t have the energy in you to find it as entertaining as you usually would. So, putting on the best smile you could, you turned to your right and nodded at him before mouthing the words. 
“I’m fine.”
Though from the furrow of his brows, you knew he wasn’t convinced. Of course, he wasn’t. Though the rest of your face could be faked to look rejuvenated and not at all as exhausted as you were feeling now, your eyes do not lie. And Miles, from the long time the two of you have been friends and now partners, he could read your eyes like a book. 
But he couldn’t contest your statement, because now the teacher has moved on to the next subtopic and he had to actually pay attention. 
As the lesson dragged on the only thing good to come out of it was the fact that the teacher didn’t call out your name to answer a question. A single reprieve from a solemn week. The moment you heard the loud bell, you were the first to leave the classroom. 
You tried your best to ignore the sounds of students chattering, their noisy footsteps, and the loud bangs of doors and lockers opening. It was all too loud and too bright. 
The cherry on top? Your well-intentioned boyfriend suddenly puts his arm around your shoulder and pulls you close to him so that the two of you could walk side by side without getting dragged or bumping into any other students in the crowded hallway. 
“I know you said you were alright, but are you really sure you’re alright?” Miles started, “I mean you can always talk to me if there’s something wrong, you know?” 
You closed your eyes as you let muscle memory take you to your dorm room, you know he had the best intentions. You know that, but god if he wasn’t the most annoying person in the world right now. 
You stepped slightly to the side, shrugging Miles’ arm off of you. “I’m fine, Miles, I’m just a little bit tired.” 
You didn’t dare look in his direction knowing he’d have a slightly dejected expression on his face. 
“Cool, cool, I’ll be here if you want to talk about it.” He said as he stuffed his hands in his pocket, observing you while trying to be subtle about it. 
“I don’t want to talk about it, I just want to sleep.” Miles furrowed his brows at your dismissal before nodding to himself. 
He knew something was off with how you’ve been acting lately, but he didn’t really want to say anything, just in case it had to do with something personal. But the fact that you barely could stay awake the entire day worried him. And now, with the way you were acting, he knew something was wrong. 
But he didn’t want to push you, knowing if he tried too hard you’ll only push him away. So he hovered beside you in silence as you quickly weaved through the crowd of people trying to get to your dorm room as quickly as possible. 
When the two of you got there, it was no surprise that you immediately collapsed on your bed, for once not caring about the fact that you were wearing the uniform you were wearing the entire day. Though you did take off your shoes, you weren’t a complete heathen. 
Miles only stared at you and sighed, taking a seat on your desk chair. See, your dorm room was slightly bigger than his was, and with no roommate to share the space with, you practically had a bigger space to make yours. 
Silence enveloped the two of you as you lay flat on your bed, relishing in the comfort of your covers but also still feeling the weight of all that you had to do. The fact that you were barely paying attention to any of your classes today meant that you had a lot to catch up on before the weekend was over. That single realisation made you grit your teeth. 
And somehow, Miles had the worst timing ever to speak, “Are you feeling any better? We can go down the street to that ice cream place you like a lot?” 
You didn’t answer. Afraid that if you were to speak you’d say something too harsh, something that’ll hurt his feelings. And Miles, in response to your silence, stayed silent as well. 
He wanted to help, wanted to do anything that could alleviate the stress from you. Take some of your pain to him, maybe this was the Spiderman in him talking, making him want to burden your exhaustion rather than let you take it. Yeah, maybe it was the superhero ideology in him. But you were his partner, how could he not feel that way?
But despite his best efforts, it became increasingly clear that you wouldn’t let him do it. You were going through this alone and maybe that’s just what you needed. Some space and some time alone. And though it hurt him to stand up and leave, he thought it was the best thing he could do. 
“I’m going to do some of my homework.” He dejectedly stated, mostly to himself to make up an excuse to walk away. 
When you didn’t answer or try to stop him again he took it as the last sign for him to leave. A deep-set frown made its way to his face before he finally left. 
The moment the door closed, you felt even more weight on your shoulders. Why were you acting like such an asshole? To him of all people! He didn’t do anything except try to help. Miles was just there asking what you needed and you didn’t even say anything back to him. 
You shouldn’t have acted in such a way and you knew it, but at the time, right now, you don’t think you have the energy to do anything else. Tears started to well up in your eyes. Were they tears from the guilt that was currently eating you alive due to the way you treated your kind-hearted boyfriend or were they tears from all the pent-up rage and exhaustion that’s been building up for the past few days? 
Maybe all of them or maybe neither of them, perhaps you just needed to cry. 
Whatever it was, once the first few droplets left your eyes, it was like you had opened the dam gates. You simply couldn’t stop crying. 
Everything just hit you at that very moment. 
The biology paper that you have yet to revise with a thousand comments written by your teacher and how you could improve it. The English test that you’ll have to retake to prove you were skilled enough to do the test you were accused of plagiarising. The math and other myriad subjects you hadn’t been paying attention to for the entire week and all the things you need to catch up on. Not to mention the guilt at how you just treated your boyfriend. 
All of it pressed against you like a snake coiling against your body, tightening and constricting until you feel like you could barely breathe. 
You just wanted him here. You just wanted Miles here. 
Not to say anything, not to comfort you, not to even try and help you. Just him being here would be enough. Maybe a hug, but just Miles being around you was enough. You just needed to know he was there. But he wasn’t. Not now at least, and you were sure not for a while until you could properly apologise to him.
Or so you thought, as suddenly the door opened and an apprehensive Miles Morales spoke. 
“I- uh- I forgot my phone.” He chuckled awkwardly before going over towards his phone. 
This time though, right before he left, you spoke, softly and just above a whisper, “You can do homework here.”
Miles didn’t quite hear what you said, your voice muffled by the number of pillows and comforters around you. 
“Huh?”
“I said,” you lifted your head slightly above the pillows, “You can do homework here.” You sniffled. 
Normally, Miles would be quite confused why you were going the roundabout way of asking him to stay. But hearing your sniffles, Miles understood. 
“You’re right.” He nodded and sat back on your table, opening his bag to begin working on his homework. 
As he heard shuffling in the background, indicating that you were getting more comfortable in your bed, he smiled to himself. Maybe this was his way to help. 
~
When you woke up from your miniature nap, the first thing you noticed was the mood you were in. You were definitely feeling better, not by a lot, but you were feeling like a real person again. And a real person who can feel disgusted and the way they were dressed to sleep. 
You quickly got off your bed and were just about to go to the bathroom to change to notice Miles on your desk. His head lay on his arms as he slept. In a single second, your heart broke. You shouldn’t have gotten Miles to do his homework here, he probably just wanted to rest like you did and used the homework as an excuse to go to his bed. 
You figured he must’ve felt uninvited in your space to ask if the two of you could have a nap together, something you did quite often these days with finals coming up. 
So, you went to the bathroom to change and went over towards him. Fully intending to wake him up and either get him to his own dorm or get him to sleep with you in your dorm. It is the weekends anyways, no one really cares. 
But when you leaned down to wake him up you realised what he was doing. He wasn’t doing any kind of homework. He was drawing you. On both the open sketchbook pages, were sketches of you from different angles and techniques. 
Some were sketched out with colourful markers, some were just of your eyes with a pen, and others were just your top half with your smiling face. How he could draw your smiling face when you’ve been nothing but sour to him the entire day was beyond you. 
So, you picked up a red pencil and began sketching in an empty part of the spread. 
When you were satisfied with your work, well as satisfied as you can get when your little doodle as a non-artist was surrounded by actual works of art. You lightly shook Miles awake. Miles jumped in shock when he opened his eyes and realised the proximity you were suddenly in. 
“Wanna just sleep in my bed tonight?” You asked tiredly. Your eyes at this point had begun drooping again and you were a minute away from succumbing to sleep. 
Once Miles agreed after a bit of confusion due to the fact that he had just woken up from a nap, the two of you cuddled on your bed. Him in your embrace he kissed the top of your head. 
“I love you.”
You grumbled, tired and lazy to say anything. Which caused Miles to chuckle to himself. There was silence after that. 
“I love you too.” Your words were a mess of grumbling and muffled noises due to you putting your face near your pillows and Miles. “And I’m sorry.”
Miles smiled, “Don’t worry about it. I knew you were havin’ a tough day.”
“Mhm.” you murmured, eyes already closed causing Miles to stifle a chuckle that was threatening to leave at how cute you were being. 
“You’re just like a cat.” He whispered, softly caressing your head. 
“Mhm.” He raised an eyebrow at your response. 
“And you’re already half asleep so you don’t even know what I’m saying.”
“Mhm.” 
His smile grew bigger at that and finally, just like you, he decided to succumb to the dark embrace of sleep while in the embrace of the person he loved. 
~
When the next day came and he woke earlier to clean up his stuff and bring it back to his dorm, he noticed his opened sketchbook. He must’ve left it open when he fell asleep. But when he looked closely he saw a doodle at the corner of the page he definitely didn’t leave. 
Upon closer inspection, he realised what the doodle is. His spider logo in a big red heart. With lots of tinier hearts all around it and the words. 
“Thank you.” On the bottom of it. 
Miles took a glance behind him at your still sleeping figure and softly smiled. 
26 notes · View notes
fruityyamenrunner · 4 months
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watching the richard borcherd number theory lecturee, i didn't realise exactly how much of number theory was modular arithmetic. it's a lot. i have been treading water a little and have come a little unstuck now he is talking about quadratic forms because of how much there is with modular arithmetic which I have previously thought little about past counting periods of time. i suppose i thought it was more about unmodulated ℕ.
13 notes · View notes
goodlucksnez · 1 year
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In sickness and health
So glommy and I voice this freelance but we liked it so much we decided to write it out
Fandom: BNHA
Words: 4622
Summary: Hito//shi has always done things on their own. Never needed anyone, never wanted anyone, until he found his forever family. This is uncharted waters, he doesn’t know how to act or behave. This becomes even more unclear when he gets sick for the first time with his new family.
All characters are adults and in their twenties! This takes place in a headcanon pro-hero timeline where Sh//outa and M//ic are married and are are employed at a hero agency, and living together. They adopted shin//sou and e//ri .Shin//sou is over 18 the class 1a and class 1b is in a college age so everyone is 18+
MINORS DO NOT INTERACT
IN FACT GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!
Both Shota and Hizashi have been out on a war meeting and case for the past week. Hitoshi was given 3 jobs, to make sure Eri is safe, the cats are fed and the house doesn't burn down. They left on Sunday and today is Friday. On Sunday when saying goodbye Hitoshi swore he would do his best on catching up with classes and training even without Eraserhead teaching him. The week itself hadn’t been exactly hard in retrospect. Make sure every morning Eri ate breakfast as well as the cats. Then it was a quick drop at daycare and then a 5-mile jog to UA. Rinse and repeat.
 During the week it wasn’t like Hitoshi had time in the morning to make lunch so he mostly adopted the opportunity to work on classwork before he got home. After class picks up Eri, cooks dinner, and makes sure she and he does their homework and goes to bed on time, well for Eri he stayed up late working. The first few days they were working out the holes in the master plan but by Tuesday they got it down to a science. Wednesday a tickle started forming in the eldest throat, but that was fine some water or a hot drink and he would be good as new. As the days went on he grew worse and worse until the parents finally got home.
When Mic and Eraserhead walked in through the front door happily. 
“We’re home!” Sure the mission was tiring but all they wanted was to see their kids and be home with them. Eri got up from her spot on the floor giving her attention away to her parents instead of the current cartoon Hitoshi had put on for her. Hurrying over to the pair, Hizashi bends down and picks her up, and kisses her cheek.
“Hey, there sweetheart, nice to see ya again!” Eri giggles and smiles brightly at them, Eraser giving her some attention as well for a bit. Then they heard Hitoshi sneeze.
“Hep-Knngk! Welbcome home.” The congested eldest said from his spot on the couch. He had taken a small nap but when the front door opened, he tried to seem conscious. He smiled before sniffing back a thick strand of mucus. He picked up the book he was attempting to study and flipped to a normal page trying to seem normal. Unannounced to him the book was upside down, of course, the Pro’s saw through this weak excuse in a second or less!
“Hello, Hitoshi, what are you reading there?” The black-haired Pro asked before taking a few steps closer. The first thing that struck him was the completion of the adopted son. He was always a little pale but this was an absence of color. The bags under his eye are more prominent. His nose is a tinged pink and his eyes are watery. To put it simply, he didn’t look well and Shota had no problem pointing it out. 
 “Hitoshi, you don’t look well.” Of course, he wasn’t mean or harsh about it, actually quite gentle. This didn’t make Hitoshi drop his guard. He shrugged, brushed it off, and answered the previous question.
“It's the history textbook” Aizawa tried not to laugh at his teenager after he noticed the paper in his lap which was for his math class and questioned a little further to prove a point.
“So you need your history textbook for your math homework?” Hitoshi looked at his book, then his paper, back to his book, and came up with his best excuse.
“I needed to kndow the history of the quadratic forbmula” He ended his words with a wet yet thick-sounding snuffle and cough. He knew had been caught but still, something was there denying the fact he was unwell.
The Pro pointed at the book, “Even upside down?”. He went to say something before coughing wetly into his fist and Shouta could swear he heard a small whine from the student in front of him. “Alright kid, how about we keep talking in your bedroom, come on.” The purple hair kid drew in a breath from his mouth before swinging his legs over the side and standing up. The color seemed to drain more from his face and he swayed on his feet before taking the next steps down the carpeted floor to his bedroom.
Once they get to the door of the eldest Shouta places a hand on Hitoshi's shoulder. “Really what is going on, are you okay?” Shinsou takes a seat on the edge of the bead before running a finger under his redding nose.
 “As I said I am fide.”
Shouta takes a few steps to close the distance before sitting on the quilted fabric of the bed
 “Kid you don’t have to lie and act tough” he points at the door where a concerned long haired leather wearing pro is leaning, “we are here no need to be so tough.”
The kid sinks into himself more and musters a reply after a few more desperate sniffs. “Well you kndow the foster systeb,” he continued after coughing harshly, “if they see you as weak they take advadtage so you learn to hide weakdess pretty quickly.” He finishes the statement and then looks down at the carpet.
“I know I grew up in the foster system as well, but you have a family now and we all love you. Right now- '' he pauses when the kid sneezes harshly, “bless you, are worried, are you sick?”
Hitoshi recovering from the unexpected sneezes shakes his head admittedly, “d’No of course d’not it is probably just allergies or sobethig all I ne-hih sniff ugh sobe tea or sobething.” Shouta pushes further, “In the middle of winter?”
Hitoshi could see that he wasn’t fooling anyone but still didn’t want his fathers to think poorly of him. This time he couldn’t think of much to say other than.
“I dod’t wadt you guys to be dissapoidted, I’b already behind the others so I’b trying to do as bmuch as I cad.” Aizawa shook his head and folds his arms, he was not mad more so saddened.
“Oh Toshi, you won’t disappoint us, you’re doing the best that you can but. You can’t run yourself into the ground to catch up. You’ll just get worse and be even more behind. You need to take care of yourself. You are not a machine.” Hitoshi couldn’t look at his parents as he felt ashamed of himself for even getting sick in the first place.
“Hitoshi” Hizashi gently called out as he wanders over towards the bed, he sat down on the opposite side still giving Hitoshi enough room to stretch out. But he didn’t, Hitoshi sat in a rather curled-up and hunched-over position. Hearing his name, Hitoshi looked over at the green-eyed blond.
“We love you, okay, and as your parents, it's our job to take care of you. I know it's hard for you because you’re used to guarding yourself and being isolated-”
“But…I failed, I am barely passing classes 1-B let alone class1-A. I will never pass at this rate, I keep trying and everything I do, I do wrong.” He pauses to cough and regain a panicked breath. “ I push myself so hard and everyone is improving except me…am I that broken…if I am what did you see in me!!” He curls tighter into his ball and buries his head in his hands.
 Hizashi and Shouta hated to see their son like this. It truly hurt them knowing that all he wanted to do was prove himself worthy of being in the heroes course. With this, they got closer to Hitoshi and sandwiched him between them in a hug.  Wrapping their arms around his curled-up frame, both kissing him on the temple and softly reassuring him of his insecurities.
“You are not a failure Hitoshi, we will never view you as a failure.” “Yes, you are a very strong and capable guy, and you’re doing your best. You are not broken.” “What we see is a strong-willed, compassionate young man who’s willing to train his hardest to get to where he wants to go.” Rubbing his back soothingly in hopes of calming a teenager down. It broke their hearts to see Hitoshi so panicked. It reminded them of when he was younger and would have breakdowns because of the bullying.
The kind words and gentle affection did help Hitoshi calm down. He wiped his eyes on the back of his shirt before curling into himself and coughing harshly. He looked up into the loving and supportive eye of his adopted dads and finally admitted in a whisper. “Dad, I do d’not feel good.”
Shouta smiled and gave a reassuring shoulder squeeze. “It's okay kid, are you sick?”
With his eyes in a faraway gaze, he simply nods before directing a few half-sneezes into his shirt. 
“Hep-Knngk! Hih-hih Hep-Knngk!!”
“Bless you, I think you might have a cold, kiddo…so under the covers with you.” Shouta directs standing at the end of the bed. Hitoshi wobbles and then directs a cough into his arm before sliding under the patchwork fabric. “I’bm sick?” He looks heartbroken. 
Shouta nods. “Looks like it, kid, it could be just a bad cold.” He directs Hizashi to go get the thermometer from the hall closet. He turns on his heel and standing behind him is a wide-eyed white hair Eri. 
“Is big brother okay?” She asks with a voice pure and as soft as the first snow of the year. 
Shouta nods before adding “he is just has a cold.”
She tilts her head almost too far before she falls. Then asks “He has a cold, he looks hot.”
Shouta laughs before turning to face her. “No a cold, it is an illness.” Hizashi, who has returned with the thermometer, blocks her way. “Make sure to not play too closely with him.” 
Hitoshi pipes up “Hey Sunstar, can you do me a favor?” He pipes up and his voice is rough with congestion. She nods eagerly to help. “Great you are the man of the house now you need to make sure, the cats get fed, you get fed and you eat a green thing for me at every meal, can you do that for me superstar?” 
Hizashi gave Aizawa the thermometer while he gently ushered their little girl out of the room. Leaving Aizawa and Shinsou alone. He walked around the bed and held it out. Hitoshi looked down at the device confused before looking up at Aizawa. He sighed before saying ”Under the tongue for 3 minutes.” He nods and puts it under his tongue and leans against the backboard.
After a minute he starts to stir and mumbles, “sniff dad hih-”. 
“Yes, keep it under your tongue.” He turns back to his son and sees his eyes are closed and his nose is red and twitching…On no!
Hitoshi stammers out “hih- sneeze!!!”  Shouta grabs the tissue box on the nightstand and hands it out to him. “Can you hold it?”
He shakes his head before turning to grab 4 tissues and sneezes three times.
“excT'chEHHH! hii–excT'chEHHH!hih-hi excT'chEHHH!"
“Bless you! That should be enough time for the thermometer, let's see.” The screen flashed a red 99.9. “A small fever but with medicine, it should be okay.” He glances at the purple-haired kid in bed. Poor guy, he doesn’t look well.
Shouta hands him a small cupful of the dark liquid. “Okay kiddo, normally we would have DayQuill but right now we only have Nightquil, however, it should help with that fever of yours.” The shaking kid takes the capful but just looks at it as if wondering what to do.
“Have you ever taken medicine before?”  
“No,” Hitoshi sniffled after answering. “Okay, this is some medicine it should make everything a little better. I will get some soup in the meantime you just get some rest.” 
Again the kid looks confused before managing a strained “Soup? Why?” 
Eraser sighed before standing and heading to the light switch. “It is a good way to regain fluid as well as get you to eat.” The teen nodded before turning and stifling a set of sneezes.
The poor kid he’s going to give himself a headache or a sinus infection if he keeps doing that.
“Hey Hitoshi does not do that, you are going to make yourself worse.” Aizawa then gave the other a soft smile before saying. “Get some rest, I will be back later with some soup.”
Hitoshi laid down his eyelids, getting very heavy before darkness overtook him.
What seemed like hours passed in the blink of an eye and the next thing Hitoshi knew he was waking up feeling worse than before. The light was still on in the hall, so it could not be nighttime. What was he doing? Why was he in his room? With a sharp cough he remembered. Oh right he was sick at least that's what his adoptive father told him. He groaned as he got out of bed and slowly with a shiver touched his feet on the carpeted floor. ‘but he was stronger than this he could get through it he said to himself in a hushed manner, his voice congested and gravy. He stretched quickly ignoring the sharp pain that tickled his nose and throat before heading to the door gradually. 
As he entered the brightly-lit hallway the tickle manifested in his nose he quickly brought his hands to his face to try to combat it, but it was too late. As he breached the entryway of the living room he doubled over with some harsh sneezes that tore his throat and made him cough.
“excT'chEHHH!hih-hi excT'chEHHH!”
The dark-haired man who was sitting on the couch quickly turned before offering a rushed blessing. “What are you doing out of bed?” 
“Can't sleep anymore,'' he pointed at his face before sniffling wetly “congested.”The older man sighed before standing up with a groan and heading over to the swaying son. “I'm sorry buddy come on let's get you to the couch before you fall.” Eraser helps the oldest walk to the couch before sitting him down and grabbing another blanket off of the coffee table and putting it around the kid.
The kid looked miserable, his nose was red and chapped, his eyes dull and glazed over and his complexion was that of a very ill person. Shouta felt his heart twinge a small moment of regret and pain. He thought to himself ‘how can I help then’ , he remembered on some of his bad allergy days what Mic had done for him and I thought it sprang to his head. 
“I know buddy this sucks hey I have an idea that might help I want to go get a few things okay,” He says as the kids slowly nod he wasn't a hundred percent sure he actually heard him but he went up anyway to the medicine cabinet grabbing both a Neti Pot another box of tissue as well as some Vaseline.
When he returned he sent the items he carried on the coffee table and Hitoshi just looked at him confused. “What the hell is that,” he replied, his voice congested. Eraser replied by filling the Neti Pot with saline solution. “This is a Neti Pot. I am going to try to help your congestion. Tilt head completely over to one side. This relies on gravity to work.  While breathing through your mouth, I’m going to gently pour water into one nostril.  The solution will then begin to drain out the other nostril.” 
The kid looks at him dumbfounded. “I know this sounds scary but it should help.” He points at his face.” I use this during allergy season when my sinuses are all clogged but don't worry it is sterile. It should help clear you out a bit.”
The kid replies with a wet sniff before wiping his nose on his hand. The poor thing looked so worn out. 
Shouta grabbed the small bucket to catch the water and told the kid to turn his head to the left. “Now this is going to feel uncomfortable but you will be fine just keep breathing.” 
He tips the neti pot up so that the water begins to flow into his nose. Hitoshi begins to feel the water moving through his sinuses, which is a strange sensation for him. He thinks to himself “Don’t panic. Focus on breathing through your mouth.” Eraser keeps reassuring him. “That's right, great job, almost done.” As he finishes with the right side he hands a few tissues to Hitoshi. “Blow” he commands. He does it with a wet disgusting sound. They repeat this on the other side which ends with Hitoshi coughing a little of the salt water up which he spits out quickly before turning to Eraser with pleading eyes as if to say not to do this again.
Eraser pats him on the back “you did so well we don't have to do that again. One more thing then you can rest before the soup is down in an hour.” He takes a small Q-Tip and the vaseline and holds them out to him. This is like lotion. It should help with the soreness as well as any chappedness. I am going to put this around your nose okay.” Hitoshi nods before wiggling his nose and sniffling. Eraser opens the scent-free bottle and dips in the Q-Tip before exiting with a Big glob of Vaseline on the end he starts around the corners of Hitoshi’s nostrils which are slowly becoming redder and redder by the second before slowly going around the nostril and the septum. Almost immediately his nose reacts and he takes a few hitching breaths before stammering out, “Dad…Himbguh hhhdahh…HDTSSCHH! Hehhkisshhhue! HxxSCHHhiew! Hehh…hihhdtSSHHh! Ihdtshh! Hehh…HEHSHHHhih!”
He pants before covering his face with his hands. “I’mb Sorry I did- Hih didn’t mean to, Oh…oh fuhh- fuck. It hehh-ehhH…EhhhtSHHhue! HghhhSCHhiew! KSSSHh! Hh-hehhh…hehhdtCHHiew! guhh…it… heh… it tickles so mbuhhh…hahh…HihhhTSSCHhiew! Isshiu! Hehishhhu!” 
Eraser grabs a handful of tissues before wiping Hitoshi's nose. “Bless you sorry I didn't know you were so sensitive”, he paused when Hitoshi started hitching again, “got any more in there?”
ihh’IHHSHH! Hehh…Fugk…HEH dtx SCHhu!” He finishes with a stifle and covers his face before blowing his leaking nose with the tissues Shouta is handing him. “I have never sneezed so b’much in’d b’my life dad, sorry.”
Shouta feels his heart break “No, need to apologize you are sick it happens, you feel any better?” He asks while putting the vaseline down. He rubs his nose which is going to become raw at this rate, he replies with a very congested no before continuing, “Can you put the lotion on, it feels better.”
Shouta nods before asking, “Are you sure that was a pretty intense reaction?”
Hitoshi nods so Shouta takes the Q-Tip gently as he can quickly go around the poor inflamed nose. It does twitch but Hitoshi does not sneeze. ‘Thank god’ Shouta thought to himself before helping the both of them stand and walking back to his room. “I will wake you for some soup but just rest. That was a lot and I'm sure you are tired”. He nods his eyes already closed, Eraser can hear a small snore by the time he shuts the door. 
The next time Hitoshi wakes up is by Shouta carrying a bowl of steaming liquid on a tray. Hitoshi feels himself tense up as Shouta comes over with the soup. Maybe he’s gotten hungry enough to eat or he is worried after he does Shouta will realize what a pain he is and want to get rid of him. He nods and slowly moves to start eating it. The hot broth is soothing on his throat. He can feel his nose threaten to run again and he’s sniffling even more as he continues to eat.
  “When’s the last time you ate kid?” This question made Hitoshi think for a second and that made Shouta sad. 
“I think like Tuesday” Now the raven-haired man was rather shocked, it was Friday! 
“Toshi it's Friday” “I d’know” Sighing, the teacher shook his head knowing the other didn’t truly need to be lectured. So he let him eat the soup without fuss. 
“It's good,” Hitoshi commented, Shouta smiles before continuing.
 "'It's homemade soup. After dealing with All Might and his immune system you pick up a few things." 
Hitoshi nods again, finishing about half the bowl before setting it down on the tray. The heat and steam feel good, but it’s started to have another undesired effect. He sniffles hard against the back of his hand before the tickle becomes too much. And it’s going to be a mess. Fuck. He pinches his nose shut as he succumbs to a sneezing fit. “ihh…gXT…huh. ndh…hh…H’gt…nXt’shh huhh…” He lets out a shaky breath, ears popped and congestion crackling behind them. “Ow”
When he opens his eyes Shouta is handing him some tissues. “Bless you, you shouldn’t do that, it will make you worse. Let them out, no one here is going to be upset with you. In fact”, he continued while pulling out a purple half piece of cardstock, “you already have some mail” He winks and Hitoshi looks at the child drawing of him and Eri holding hands.
In the Foster home he never got along with other stereotypical males but he never had a younger sister before, this was something entirely new when he came to this household. Very quickly he realized he would do anything to protect her.  As tears came to his eyes and he sniffed back congestion he looked at the picture of the two of them. It was a poorly drawn stick figure messy with crayons and glitter but still, this was the nicest thing anyone had done for him in a long time and he fought back tears. When he opened the folded card, what could only be described as a mountain of glitter spilled out all over his lap and the tray of soup. 
The inside is covered in glitter, ‘Eri must have used a whole tube’ He thinks as he runs his hand absentmindedly across his face. The card reads ‘my big brother, I feed the cats, and daddy and papa brushed my hair, they did not do it the way you do it, so get better so you can brush my hair again. Love Eri’. He smiles and wipes his nose again. He smiles and looks up at Shouta before a strong tickle overtakes him and he finds himself being thrown forward by the force of the sneeze. 
“HehhISHHhue!! Hrshh'Hhuu!” He did not have time to cover so the pile of glitter from the card in front of him exploded out not only onto the bed covering not only him but the man who adopted him. He looks up bracing for a slew of curse words and maybe some pain but is met with laughter. Shouta Aizawa is laughing. It takes a second for him to realize that he is staring. The image in front of him is pretty unbelievable.
Shouta Aizawa, who can disarm a classroom with one glance, and can erase the quirks of anyone he sees, is covered in a fine layer of pink glitter covering his face, beard, and half his torso. And who is now laughing softly at his son of course with no mal intent more so he just found it funny. 
“Bless you that one snuck up didn't it.” He says laughing. Hitoshi can't help but smile. Shouta begins wiping his shirt and then he pauses and a blank stare crosses his face. His hand comes up to his nose and tries to wipe away the glitter that is plastered to him. His eyes blink a few times before he quickly takes his shirt and directs a harsh fit of sneezing into it. 
“HiHH! Hig’xxshHIEEW! h-hUuh huusshhhTCHuu! HiiihHDShooo! Mnng bless, snFFF!” Shouta lets out a set of strong, wet sneezes, quickly soaking the top of his shirt before he grabs tissues and tries to blow his nose while speaking. “Whew sorry, Hitoshi I'm okay.”
Hitoshi feels his stomach drop. Did he get his dad sick? Surely that had to be the case in all the years of knowing Aizawa he had only heard him sneeze a handful of times mostly due to allergies or Hizashi playing too rough. Hitoshi finds his voice after another set of harsh sneezes from Shouta arrives. “HiHH! Hig’xxshHIEEW! h-hUuh huusshhhTCHuu! HiiihHDShooo!”
 “Bless you dad... Did I get you sick?”
Shouta pauses, his eyes watering, and quickly shakes his head causing more pink glitter to fall. “No, no .no I am fine, some glitter caused this, you did not get me sick.” He notices the frightened expression on his son. “Even if you did, I would never blame you, don’t beat yourself up.” standing up he shakes off a good handful of glitter onto the ground before yelling to Hizashi to get the vacuum. “You did nothing wrong kiddo, your only job right now is to–Hih -hi-hold on,” he turns and directs a few sneezes over his shoulder. “Hihh KSSHH! Mnnff~ Hidsshhhhiiiew! Issh- itshh- hisshhh! Hnnn~ H-huhhh hiiizZZDSHhh!” He sniffs before continuing “Ugh sorry I will have a word with Eri about the glitter next time, your only job right now is to rest, we do not want you to get worse and we have to go to a doctor.”
Hitoshi’s blood runs cold. He stammers out “Doctor?” Shouta nods
“If it gets worse  we might have to.” Hitoshi shakes his head vehemently. “d’No d’no doctors, please d’no.” “Woah kiddo calm down, breathe.” 
He did everything in his power to keep himself grounded, but every time he tried to grip the blankets or pillows, his body suddenly felt weak and the shaking got worse every minute. He hated the audible whines that came from his mouth when he tried to keep himself from panicking, but he couldn't help it. He knew that, yet he hated it anyway. 
“Easy, breathe I’m not going anywhere.” Hitoshi struggled but took a breath. Over the next few minutes, they sat together and eventually he calmed down. And sank against his pillow exhausted. 
“Good job kid that’s it, rest. I won’t leave till you're asleep. Okay”
He went to move and Hitoshi asked: “Can Mic come in, I’bm sniff okay but I have a question for him.” Eraser nodded before grabbing Mic, filling him in quickly as they walked back to the room.
Hizashi walked into the room. “Hey little listener, not feeling too great. He said as he sat down and rubbed his arm. “Can you sing to me?” Hitoshi asked in the softest voice. Mic sat up straighter “Oh course little listener at least someone appreciates the arts in this house. Ahem…” he begins to sing softly. As big of a personality as he has he knows what the situation calls for and begins to sing a lullaby from one of Eri’s TV shows. 
Calma, Calma,
Calma mi nino,
Everything's alright,
The thing you fear is no longer near,
No need to be so frightened!
Calma, Calma,
Calma, ¡Calma!
With that Hitoshi fell back to sleep with ease. Snoring softly from the congestion in his nose.
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