#tron is on the other side watching him and for a moment they look like reflections of one another

[cheriladycl01]

Why are you an Uber Driver? - Liam Lawson x Teammate! Reader

Plot: Liam Lawson finally gets a seat in F1 signing with Audi Formula Racing in 2026 along with you the fiery new rookie, when you get a sponsor with Uber and have to shoot promos what happens?

A/N: I have taken some of these moments from Darren Levy, some of them are just random crap i've thought off! This is supposed to be short and silly and feel like your almost watching the video or like watching a tiktok compellation!

Credit to umflowers for the GIF

In a YouTube Video:

"Hey guys so today Liam and I are here with Audi and we are happy to announce one of our new sponsors is Uber!" you say looking at the camera a massive smile on your face.

"Today we are partnered with Uber to get you guys to your destinations" Liam adds swinging an arm around your shoulder.

"We've kindly been gifted an Audi RS E-tron GT to use as our Uber car. Its one of the fastest models in Audi and all electric its a beauty" you explain as you walk over to the car with Liam following behind you.

"Black car" Liam says pointing to the car jokingly after your detailed explanation.

"Whose driving first! Me or you?" you ask turning to him.

"Mmmm definitely you" he says before running round to the passenger side of the car and hopping in.

"Okay, so Audi have been very kind an set up a profile for us called Li/N (Liam and your name mixed) and used this awesome picture of Y/N and I" he says showing off the Uber profile that was on the phone.

"Okay, lets pick up our first person" you smile working out how to accept a ride.

"Bobby Knight, we are coming from you!" Y/N giggles excitedly pulling out the large overhead carpark they were in. She had one hand on the wheel and one hand on the gear stick. She follows the directions and eventually pulls into a quiet side street.

"Hello, for Bobby?" the man asks getting into the car flinging his briefcase the the other seat of the car.

"Oh i thought the guy was the driver. I guess you do it together ... cute" he says briefly looking up from his work phone. You took it a little slower just testing the waters, making sure before you pulled out that you knew where the destination was.

"Look, I'm going to a business meeting. Can you just make this a quick job" he sighs looking over at you. Before he can blink, your driving the car how it was built for, obviously safely and within the speed limits but still driving quicker than most Uber's would.

"Jheezus, you can drive" he says laughing a little making a chuckle come from Liam beside you.

"I mean, its my career. You'd expect me to be" she says smugly knowing that if he wasn't a fan he wouldn't actually know what she was going on about.

"Here you go sir" you say pulling up outside the building you requested and he thanked you before hopping out quickly.

"Okay lets switch" you say before it cuts to you and Liam in the opposite places in the car.

"Okay next ride we are picking up Abbey" Liam says having accepted another ride. He quickly drives there while you mess about with the radio finally connecting your phone to the Car Play. Ladbroke Grove by AJ Tracey started playing and you and Liam both started rapping and you drove through the busy streets with the window rolled down.

"Hey babes, got some mates with me yeah? Going to the Xidao Bar?" she says as she comes up to the window the was rolled down. Her and the two mates clamber into the back all squishing in.

"I love you dress, looking like fire girl" you say swinging round looking over the brunette in the middle. She blushed lightly, thanking you before both her friends start to tease her in the back.

"So you girls got a good night ahead?" you ask looking at them in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah, going pub crawling!" the blonde exclaims before whipping out a mirror and lipstick.

"Oh my gosh" the brunette in the middle exclaims her head shooting up.

"You guys are F1 drivers right?" she says looking at the both of them.

"You drive for Audi"

"Yeah!" you laugh. She asks for a picture and you offer her one once you pull up to the club, she gives you a hug and leaves with her equally confused friends.

"Switch"

"Oh my lord and jheez is that two people shaking up in that car? In the middle of the day?" Liam exclaims looking out the drivers side window, past your concentrated head. You look onwards to see what he is exactly looking at.

"Holy shit my eyes!" you cry looking at the intrusion.

"Damn that wild, he is going at it" Liam observes making you slap your hand over his eyes.

"Don't look Liam!"

"It's the middle of the god damn day Y/N its hard to miss"

"No awareness of their surroundings at all" you complain laughing along with Liam.

You reverse out the space, putting your arm round the back of Liam's seat turning the steering wheel with one hand.

"Oh for fuck sake that's going to be in one of your edits, all over tik-tok" he laughs, looking at the position you were in currently driving.

"Okay we have another ride"

"Corey?"

"This is far too nice to be an Uber car" he says getting in the back carefully as you look at the destination which was a 12 minute ride away.

"Yeah, its a company car mate, wish she was mine" you offer, while keeping your eyes on the road.

"Y/N you don't need a company car you're rich, you have an R8 and a vintage Audi at home" Liam laughs before the guys gives you both a strange look.

"Oh my god, your both F1 drivers!" he exclaims.

"That we are sir" you beam looking in the rearview at him.

"Nice race in Spain by the way!" he smiles.

"Thanks! We are both very excited!" you exclaim happy that you were having a conversation with a fan.

"So why are you guys Uber driving?" he asks.

"Well, we have a sponsor with Uber and we thought this would be a funny promo video!"

"That's pretty cool, I'll actually be in Silverstone actually" he says showing Liam his tickets.

"Ohhh, well on behalf of Audi, ill get you a paddock pass for being a 5 star customer today!" you offer and he gasps in shock.

"Thank you so much!" he exclaims before you hand him contact details for where he can get his pass from on the day of the race.

"Your welcome have a nice day" he exclaims and before you know it you and Liam have switched again and he's back to driving.

"I'm getting kind of hungry, Maccas drive through on the company card?" Liam grins cheekily making you nod vigorously. You were starving having not eaten since the morning and it was now rounding late afternoon.

You pull up to the drive threw and the voice sounds out.

"Hello, what can i get for you today" the bored yet youthful voice says behind the order board.

"Hi so I'm going to get a Medium Bic Mac meal, with chips and ermmmm I'll get a coke" he advises before looking at you. You just shove your phone in his face, asking him to say it for you.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, erm A Garlic Mayo Wrap meal with Carrot sticks? Carrot sticks really? Who the fuck goes to a McDonalds and gets Carrot Sticks, erm and an Oasis please" Liam finishes shaking his head at you in disagreement.

"Anything else"

"Yeah a medium chips and a nugget sharebox" he informs and you look at him in shock, he just shrugs his shoulder pulling forward to the next window.

"What I'm hungry, the nuggets are to share and the chips are for you" he smiles.

You both make a little tray in the middle of the car so you can eat without being messy.

"So, on a scale of one-ten how strict are you parents" you ask after biting into your wrap and chewing the contents.

"Hmmm, well my parents have always been pretty chill! They push me when it comes to racing but other than that they are supportive but in a good way" he smiles.

"So answer the question" you comment looking at him with an 'are you fr?' attitude.

"Oh so like a two, no really that strict at all"

"What's been the best meal of you life"

"This right here with you" he smiles genuinely and you cant be sure if the cameras pick up the light blush that is grazing across your cheeks.

"This crappy McDonalds, in an expensive Audi is your best meal?" you tease back, taking a sip of your drink.

"Mmmhhh" he mumbles smiling.

"Okay, what about your favorite place in the world?"

"See this one is hard, because I move around so much as a driver. You know for most of the year I'm going from country to country driving in one of the most competitive sports. New Zealand has a special place in my heart, but at the same time England has become extremely special to me" he smiles again.

You guys finish up the food, and you end on a group of fan boys who all asked to get pictures with the both of you and the car. Liam drove down the motorway and they were all squealing like little girls by the time you dropped them outside of Stamford Bridge Stadium.

"Enjoy the match boys" you shout.

"Have you ever been to a English Premier League game? We should go. I know Mason Mount, he could get us in" you wiggle your eyebrows.

And that's how you and Liam Lawson ending up watching a Chelsea FC match very very last minute.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover

#f1 imagine #f1 x reader #formula 1 x you #formula 1 #formula one #formula one fanfiction #liam lawson #liam lawson x reader #liam lawson imagine #liam lawson x y/n #liam lawson f1

[harlowcomehome]

can i ask for you to write something where jack and the reader are sitting courtside yk being cutesy and all and during the game a player is hurtling straight toward them and jack gets up and blocks the reader with his body facing her like a shield then they all laugh it off and kiss making a cute jumbo tron moment?

“I got you, always.”

You were attending your first basketball game with Jack, you were super self conscious because you had just went public and this would be your first public appearance together. You weren’t sure what to expect, considering Jack had never been in a serious public relationship before.

You were trying to put on a brave face but it was undeniably scary. Jack on the other hand was all smiles, he felt good finally being able to be honest with his fans and not having to hide his relationship anymore. You both had moved in together about a month ago so this was obviously serious to the both of you.

You were putting the finishing touches on your makeup when he came up behind you. “You look beautiful” he smiled and you looked at him through the mirror “you’re not bad yourself” you smirked.

“Do you like the jersey?” He showed you the back of it it said “Harlow” in blinged out crystals. “OOOH, I want one!” You said excitedly.

“I thought you’d say that” he smirked, holding up a jersey for you. “Baby!” You hugged him, looking up at him and standing on your tiptoes to kiss him.

“I know, I know. I’m the best boyfriend ever” he smirked and you giggled.

“You don’t think it’s too much for our first public thingy?” You said nervously.

He knew you had been worried about it all day, he understood why. “Baby, people are always going to have something to say but as long as you’re with me I’ll protect you as much as I can” he smiled down at you, and you nodded. You knew he was right, so you nodded taking the jersey from him and looked for some shoes to wear.

You grabbed some black and white dunks and looked over at him “wait, should I wear new balance? Does that kind of thing matter?” He could tell you were overthinking everything now. He laughed a little at that, sitting next to you on the bed “wear whatever you want, it’s fine babe.”

You sat down next to him and he motioned for you to put your legs in his lap so he could tie your shoes for you. You blushed at the interaction, you always loved “acts of service” as a love language.

On the way to the basketball game you watched as the man you loved became incredibly overprotective of your energy. He handed you some sunglasses as the two of you got out of the car and walked into the venue, he held your hand walking in front of you and guiding you to your court side seats. You were incredibly attracted to the energy he was exuding.

You knew there would be a lot of eyes on the two of you but Jack did his best to keep you distracted. He was making little jokes and poking fun at you, trying to get you to loosen up and relax. You started to feel the worry lift off of you, “thanks for this babe” you smiled and he did too “for what?”

“Always making sure I’m comfortable I guess” you wanted to kiss him but didn’t know if you were allowed to, so you eyed his lips and he took the hint. He leaned in giving you a lingering kiss. “You can kiss me babe” he laughed, “you worry too much.”

“Better than not worrying enough” you laughed and he smirked at that “that’s true.”

When the game started and you got more into it, Jack couldn’t help but keep all eyes on you. He loved how into the game you were getting, it was in a split second that you both realized a player hurling toward the two of you, falling backward. Jack stood up, his back facing the court and his front facing you. The player hitting the back of Jack and apologizing. Luckily they were both relatively the same build and height so Jack wasn’t affected much. “Are you okay?” He asked and you smiled, your eyes glistening at how attracted to him you were in this moment. “Yeah, are you?” He sat back down next to you.

“I’m fine” he smiled, grabbing your hand. “That was almost bad” you confessed and Jack nodded “I told you, I got you always.” He leaned in giving you a kiss, it was then that you heard the stadium cheer and tons of “AWWWS” coming from the crowd. You both pulled away and saw yourselves on the jumbotron, the both of you turning bright red and you covering your face. Jack just laughed and waved as his name showed up across the jumbotron.

When you left for the evening, you and Jack walked hand in hand as you left the court. “Thanks for tonight” you hummed and he smiled at you “nobody I’d rather wear matching jerseys with.”

#jack harlow #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow blurb #jack harlow imagines #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow fanfic

[radiantlyrey]

TRON fic "Safer" & continuation sketches

So six years ago, I wrote a TRON fic called "Safer", which you can read by following this finely-crafted link. It posits a "what if?" situation: What if Kevin Flynn brought Sam to the Grid the night of Clu's coup?

I've had thoughts about expanding/continuing this fic for a long time now, and in 2019, I wrote some sketchy little scenes from various parts of the possible story. So here are those little scenes!

[First up. Brief mostly dialogue scene from sometime after Tron and Sam leave Flynn behind and escape Clu.]

"Tron?"

He doesn't answer.

"Tron, where are we going?"

"The only safe place I can think of," he replies after a short silence.

"Where's that?"

"The Isomorph annex. It's not too much farther. We'll be safe there, at least for a little while."

He can tell Sam is bristling with questions, so he continues. "The Isos are... Flynn calls them 'biodigital organisms.' Clu hates them, and none of them are fond of him. We'll be safe there, unless he comes looking."

"So they're on our side?"

"It's… complicated. But the Isos are no friends to Clu, at least. Come on."

~~~

[Second scene. Much later, Tron and Sam have made it to the Portal, but they are closely pursued by Clu and his followers.]

He carries Sam up the steps and across the bridge to the brilliant column of light that is the Portal. They both can hear the shouts of Clu and his men behind them. Tron sets Sam on his feet, then unhooks the boy’s disc and hands it to him. “Step into the light and hold up your disc,” he says. “I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.”

Sam shakes. “You’re not coming with me?” His eyes are glassy with tears.

“You can go by yourself,” Tron replies, glancing over his shoulder. The voices are louder, closer. “I have to stop Clu, and save your father.”

Sam nods slowly. “Okay. I’ll—I’ll get Uncle Alan. We’ll come back for Dad.”

“Sounds good.” Tron claps Sam on the shoulder. “Now get going.”

Sam steps into the light, holds up his disc. It pulls out of his hands and begins to ascend. Tron watches for a moment, satisfied, then pulls out his own disc and readies himself for a fight.

He doesn’t see Clu and his men, though. He just sees a disc, thrown in a wide arc that will miss Tron—and strike Sam. Without thinking, Tron throws himself at Sam, ready to take a derezzing blow if it means the boy will survive.

But instead of the pain of a disc strike, what Tron experiences instead is warmth washing over him, and a sensation like being pulled up by his shoulders.

And then he’s tackled Sam to the ground, and he realizes with an awful lurch that they’re not on the Grid anymore.

They’re in the Users’ world.

~~~

[Third scene. Tron is... not acclimating well to the User world.]

Every moment that passes here, Tron is aware of time ticking away on the Grid. Clu could have gained access to Flynn’s disc. He could be waiting for the Portal to open again. Or he could be wreaking some other havoc on the Grid, without Tron there to defend it.

Flynn had explained time dilation to Clu and Tron both, cycles ago. Clu had been growing more irritated with Flynn’s lengthy absences, and demanded explanation. So Flynn had explained: one cycle on the Grid was but a fraction of that time in the Users’ world. Time moved more swiftly on the Grid, so Flynn could spend time there without being missed in his world. But the longer Flynn spent with the Users, the longer the Grid went without his guidance.

So now Tron understands why Flynn was so torn between two worlds, and understands in turn Clu’s frustration.

He gets up from the bed where Sam told him to wait and begins to pace around the room. The room is a little small and cramped for the job, but he paces anyway. He doesn’t want to stare at the walls anymore, covered in papers he doesn’t understand. So he paces.

He feels vulnerable without his disc. He’s fair at hand-to-hand combat, which should be enough to protect Sam here, but he misses the security of his disc in his hand. And he’s been here for a handful of micros, at most.

Pacing loses its appeal after a while. Tron sits back down on the bed with a sigh. He shouldn’t be here, he thinks again. He should have—done what, exactly? Sam was in danger. He did what he thought was best. And look where that landed you.

He hears voices from outside the door. Sam’s voice at first, and then—oh no. He recognizes the other voice, though he hasn’t heard it in many cycles. He could never forget that voice.

It’s the voice of Alan_1. His User. Tron freezes in place as the door opens, suddenly unsure if he should stand or remain seated. He’s in the middle of getting to his feet when Sam comes around the open door, Alan_1 just behind him. Tron freezes again, and Alan_1 stops where he stands, staring.

“I know this is really weird,” Sam says apologetically, “but this is Tron.”

~~~

[Fourth scene. Immediately follows the previous scene, but with a POV change.]

It’s like looking in a mirror.

The clone—or robot, or something—averts his gaze from Alan’s, instead looking to Sam. Who, Alan realizes, is still holding onto his sleeve. He tears his eyes away from the impossible copy of himself and turns his attention to Sam.

“Sam,” he says as gently as he can manage, “what—who is that?”

“It’s Tron,” Sam replies.

“I don’t—Sam, your dad calls me Tron sometimes, because I wrote a program with that name years ago—“

“Yeah, I know,” Sam says. He points at the copy. “That’s him. I think Dad gets you mixed up sometimes.”

“How would he—Sam, you’re not making sense—“

“Alan_1.”

Alan looks at—Tron.

“Sam is telling the truth. Flynn found a way to enter the system and interact with us programs. I... don’t think he anticipated programs being able to leave the system, though. I apologize for the confusion.”

Alan blinks, then looks around the room, taking it in for the first time. There is a top-of-the-line Encom tabletop console in the back of the room, and just behind the chair is...

“The laser.” He walks up to the replica of Lora’s laser. The laser she and Walter had used to digitize matter. The laser Encom under Flynn had worked to miniaturize as much as possible. The laser Flynn himself had killed, saying there was no way it could be profitable.

“Lora’s gonna kill you, Flynn,” he murmurs.

~~~

[Fifth scene. Some time later. Alan has called in Lora, and together with Tron they're trying to strategize.]

“Something I don’t understand,” Alan_1 said. “What was Flynn trying to do with this? He told me he’d discovered something that would change everything, but what was it?”

“I’m not sure,” Tron replied. “Initially our goal was to build the perfect system, but that changed. I suspect Flynn might have been referring to the Isomorphs when he spoke to you.”

“And what are they?” asked Lora. “Sam tried to explain, but I don’t think he had all the pieces, so to speak.”

“Flynn called—calls them a miracle. They are like programs, but they have no Users. Their code is more like a User’s than any program’s. Flynn knows more about this, of course, but I suspect... well.” He frowned. “He also told us—Clu and myself—that he was going to change everything on his next visit. It’s probably what drove Clu to attack. But I think Flynn planned to bring an Isomorph to this world.”

Alan_1 and Lora stared.

“Good god,” said Alan_1 after a long silence. “That would have changed everything.”

“He considers them precious,” Tron went on. “They’re... I don’t know. He’d taken to calling them the reason for the system. Clu didn’t like that, either.”

“I’m getting the sense Clu doesn’t like a lot of things,” Lora remarked dryly.

“Well, you wouldn’t be wrong.” He smiled a little, and they smiled back.

“Seriously though,” Lora said, “what do we need to do to save Flynn? We need to get you back home, obviously, and get Flynn back here to Sam, but what is that going to entail?”

Tron sobered at once. “We’ll need a plan before we do anything, and given the difference in time between here and the Grid, we’ll have to come up with it quickly. Clu will certainly be watching the Portal output in the city, and the Portal itself. One of you will have to reconfigure the output to somewhere else, maybe in the Outlands. I don’t know. I don’t know what Clu is planning. He may have captured Flynn by now. He may be ready to exit the Portal as soon as we open it again—all he needs is Flynn’s disc.”

“Do you—is Flynn still alive, do you think?” Alan_1 asked.

Tron met his gaze, but couldn’t hold it. “I don’t know,” he said at last.

#tron #tron fic #fanfiction #please enjoy!!!!!!! #my fanfic

[masschase]

for the ask meme: matt and casey, 55. tracing the lines on the other’s hand :]

This got so long... but then it is me we're talking about 😅

'Touching' prompts list (will accept more!)

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

Heart Line

It really should have been Nyte Blayde night.

It was Friday, after all, and they weren't all the way through their second watch of it yet. However, the moment the Boss had confided in her partner that she'd actually never seen Tron: Legacy, there'd pretty much been no doubt how they were going to be spending their evening. She'd suggested they cuddle up in bed to watch it, mostly so if she got bored it wouldn't be so hard to distract him toward something else, but so far, the movie didn't seem too terrible.

“So this is the guy that made you decide to start puttin’ blue lights on everythin’, huh?” Casey commented matter-of-factly as they watched the protagonist.

“And made it evident I like men.” Matt pointed out with a smirk.

“What made it evident you also like women?” she asked offhandedly. He raised his eyebrows and nodded at the other figure on screen. “Oh yeah.” she chuckled, remembering. “Well... thank you Quorra, I guess.” she said, faux saluting her.

Matt let out a slight chuckle too and took her left hand in his since his right was already around her shoulders. Rather than just holding it though, he began to sweep his thumb along her palm, inevitably catching the lines on it and starting to trace across them one by one. Her hand began to tingle slightly at the touch.

“Mmm.” she purred, glancing down at what he was doing. “That feels nice baby.”

“Yeah?” he replied, smiling and continuing to make his way along them. After a moment he stopped and began to stroke back and forth in the same spot.“I like this line.” he mused. “Sounds a little ridiculous but it's on this top bit of your palm so it’s all... squishy.”. He demonstrated by giving that part of her hand a little squeeze.

Casey glanced down. “Ah see, that is my heart line." she told him. "If you look, it's actually really splintered cause I have y'know... like a shitload of emotional trauma.”. Matt looked over at her, a mixture of confused by the relevance and sympathetic, but she honestly didn't feel the need to talk it through right now, so she shrugged it off and finished her explanation. “And it's up real close to my fingers because I usually suppress my emotions, find it hard to express ‘em, all that shit?”. He knew it better than anyone, if the time they spent dancing around each other before they got together was any indication.

“Love, I don’t want to be an arsehole, but I genuinely don’t know what you’re talking about.” Matt admitted in an amused tone, letting go of her hand and pulling her closer to plant a gentle kiss into the side of her hair.

She sighed, knowing it was stupid but she’d started the tangent now so she might as well get into it. “Look, there used to be this little uh... psychic place back in Stilwater.” she explained. “I didn’t have any money but the lady in there read my palm a little anyway.”. She paused. “She also...said I had poor circulation ‘cause my hands were so cold.” she muttered absent-mindedly.

Matt scoffed slightly. “OK, I’ll give her the last part.” he conceded. “But you know I think that sort of thing’s bollocks.”

“Hey, so do I.” Casey insisted a little defensively, but her eyes did flick over to some of the little good luck charms she’d accumulated over the years that were pinned to a board on their wall, aware that maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

“Right, so all those arguments about ghosts we had were, what, foreplay?” he asked, drawing back a little with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Matt, I swear to god, I’m time jumpin’ us to Old Stilwater some time and this whole damn thing's bein’ put to rest.” she replied.

“Well I look forward to that.” he replied calmly, but there was definitely a tiny hint of smugness to it.

She rolled her eyes slightly. There was a lot of shit she wouldn't have believed had it not directly happened to her, so she didn't feel the need to convince him right this second. But she knew what she’d fucking seen. At least she... was pretty sure. Maybe. Either way, it wasn’t really the point right now. “Look, I don’t believe in all this palm shit now.” she clarified. “But uh... I was 12 so... I may have gotten a little into it after that. I... took the book out from the library, started copying out all the pages and shit...”

“Oh my god.” Matt replied, bringing the knuckle of his index finger to his mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m lame.” she replied. “Remind me what you were doin’ at 12 again?” she asked sarcastically, nodding at the screen.

“Trying to hack into The Pentagon, mostly.” Matt pointed out. He paused for a moment. “Go on then, trainee palm reader lady.” he suggested teasingly, offering her his free hand. “Tell me what mine says.”

She took it in both of hers and began to run her fingers over his palm, but she couldn’t resist getting him back. “Huh...” she mused. “Interesting. Says here you were a little bitch when you were a teenager.”

“Oi!” Matt responded, pulling his hand back faux defensively, although he was laughing slightly. “Sorry for trying to indulge your highly scientific pastime.”

Casey laughed along with him. “Baby, c’mon, I couldn’t waste that opportunity.” she laughed. “OK, imma do it for real.” she assured, reaching for his hand once more.

"Real...?" Matt replied sceptically, but he let her take it. She traced the lines more thoughtfully this time. She watched out of the corner of her eye as it made him smile and shift his shoulders a little, obviously finding the sensation rather pleasant. “Well, your head line’s super long.” she explained. “Means you’re smart but like... you overthink shit sometimes.”

“Are you actually reading this or do you just so happen to have met me before?” Matt joked.

She gave him an amused look before glancing back down. “But look, see, you’re also super creative because it curves down a lot.”

“Oh yes, I’m quite the artist in my spare time.” he continued sarcastically, leaning his head back against the headboard, looking entertained.

“I meant with your simulations and shit.” she pointed out. “Although one could argue your fanfic also-“

“Yes, I think you’ve made quite enough jokes about my fanfic, thank you very much.” Matt muttered quickly. He was blushing a little but was comfortable enough with her at this point that he didn’t seem as embarrassed as he once was about it. “Let me see; saliva isn’t lube, don’t use “raven-haired” so much, and you think I need to get some dick.”

Casey bit at her lip, smirking a little. “Well I mean, I was just gonna say the whole setup for Nyte Blayde and Ryder, the character who has the greatest resemblance to you in the entire show by the way, to fuck in the secret lair was pretty creative.” she pointed out. “But good to see you were listenin’ I guess.” She smirked over at him, then returned to looking at the lines before he could further protest. “Ooh, OK, so, your heart line starts in the middle of your palm, that means you fall in love pretty easily.”

“Well... that’s not... entirely untrue.” he admitted.

“Matt that’s probably gonna be the most accurate thing on here.” she teased. “Oh, but it also touches your life line, so you also get your heart broken pretty easily.”

“I can’t tell if you’re supposedly reading it, making it up, or just taking the piss now.” Matt admitted.

“Sweetie, if I was makin’ it up I’d be waaaay more flattering.” Casey admitted, repositioning her head on his shoulder.

“Isn’t that the whole point of these sorts of things?” he pointed out. “Telling people what they want to hear?”

“Well...” she relented. “Maybe if you were paying me.”

“Could be using it to get into my pants.” he teased in a slightly flirty tone, glancing across at her.

“You aren’t wearing pants.” she pointed out.

“Yeah I am.” he replied, releasing his hand from hers and snapping at the waistband of his boxers to prove the point. “I’m not wearing trousers.”

“Not this bullshit again...” she chuckled, squishing the area of his palm just under his index finger. “Hmm, well this says you’ve got a bit of an ego?" she said, raising her brows a little to feign suprise as she looked back to him. She caught the rather intense blue of his eyes and suddenly wasn't so focused on looking at his hand anymore. “But you’re also... real easy to talk to...” she continued. “Sweet... loyal... funny...”. She reached over and pushed his hair back off his face with her free hand before continuing. “You’re all... passionate about your special interests and shit.”. She looked over at him with a fond smile. “You’re just really fuckin’ cool, Matt.”

Matt looked genuinely touched, a far softer smile lighting up his features in return than the chuckles and smirks they'd been enticing from each other. “Well.” he said gently. “I suppose, coming from the Emperor herself, that means a lot.”. He paused and moved his hand to interlink his fingers with hers. “I love you, Cass.”

“I love you too, Matty.” she replied.

He used the arm around her shoulders to pull her towards him and towards him for a soft, slow kiss. That genuine smile was still present when they parted. “You know sometimes I still find it hard to believe you do.” he admitted. “After how long it took to get us here and everything.”

“Yeah, well...” she replied, stroking the hand along his face and catching sight of the little line that had started this whole discussion, then catching his gaze again and smiling. “You make it real easy.”

#not fully edited #wrote this in bits and pieces throughout the day it was fun! #i want to start writing more for them again #thanks for the prompt! :3 #matt: *is british* casey: really? again? #writing #matt x casey #sr boss: casey clark #matt miller #post-sriv #saints row #saints row boss

[borreloadsavagedragon]

Of course I have to ask for Kaito, but also, the Arclights :3c

Oh boy........ I did mr Tenjo already, so it's time for the drama club family

First impression: Honestly... I was a little bit terrified! I knew how beloved all of them were and I was waiting for one of them to ruin my life lowkey, so definitely a little terrified

Impression now III: My favorite Arclight, I want to protect him and also let him throw swords at my enemies for the rest of my life and his, I love that's he's the definition "call an ambulance! but not for me!!!!" IV: I hope Thomas IV Arclight is very pissed that Kaito's my favorite Zexal character; surprisingly, even tho he's my kind of crazy, I'm not rly a huge fan of him in canon, but more the idea of him? If that makes sense, like I like him but he ranks surprisingly low compared to most of the cast because I wasn't too big on how his character was handled, sweats nervously V: I love you and I think you’re very a interesting character, but I really want to pull hard on your long beautiful hair sometimes because you have no right, please wear your hair in a braid again though, that was a LOOK Tron: A Yugioh Dad tm, no real feelings one way or another, but I'm glad he came around for his boys, compared to other token parents in this franchise he ranks surprisingly high! I imagine he destroys all three of them in Mario Kart

Favorite moment III: Throwing a whole ass sword at Mr Heartland omfg, WHY DID IT MISS!!!! WE COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED!!!!!!!!! He also was never leaving Yuma's side after Astral sacrificed himself and that's gjdsklagjklgjdsklga IV: I’m torn between his duel with Nasch because he’s just such a freak how he talks sometimes, and I also love how he just… goes all out against a pair of middle schoolers, like there was never a hinge on him to begin with💀 I also love that Thomas is introduced as this celebrity, champion duelist but NEVER wins against a named character that isn't one of Yuma's background friends or in a tag with someone else gjdaskljgdklsaj, accidental cringe king V: I really like the arctic moments, specifically when he makes this face

Tron: Being an absolute menace at the WDC second round party fjdhdhdh, you can just tell he’s the father of the other three

Idea for a story: I have no idea honestly fjehdjje, they’re usually just recurring characters or background in the drafts I have But I do love writing my friends’ oc and canon pairs so they’ll usually get the focus in those, which I gotta finish the Vkou one soon 👁👁👁👁

Unpopular opinion: SWEATS I've never been shy about this fact, but I am not a huge fan of how quickly some of the Arclights' conflicts with the main cast get resolved and that really impacts how I view the Arclights' relationships with the cast gdjsaklg Like it's yugioh and cards/character popularity will always do all of the talking, there's no way you watch yugioh for great character and story writing, but like Rio could have fucking died from her duel with Thomas lmao It makes for some BANGING fanon content and like we get all of the context for why everything happens and for Thomas' motivation and guilt in general, but... if you put someone's sister into a coma in intensive care, I feel like canon should probably do a little bit more than some bickering and dueling with her brother, you know-

Favorite relationship: I do love their family dynamic and how they’re trying to patch it back up, it’s very touching and Michael’s original anguish and resentment towards Yuma’s family is very touching 🥹 III - Michael was in love with Yuma even though he knew it was unrequited, send TWEET IV - What do you mean Momoya isn't canon, she's canon to ME; I'm disgustingly biased but I love how much IV and Kaito just hate each other lmfao Also love what could have been his turbulent friendship with Ryouga, you know they subtweet each other on the daily V - Kousei ofc, what do you mean he's also not canon; I always affectionately refer to Kaito and Chris as divorced I REALLY wish we saw them go through more of the hurdles to get back to ~before~, we only saw a little in the arctic but you know these two are bickering Tron - I need a post canon one shot of how him and Faker work together, I want to be a fly on the wall of the first day

Favorite headcanon: They ALWAYS host dinner parties for the squad, Thomas and Tron need to show off how much better their estate is than the Kamishiro's so they always offer to host

#THANK YOU CONI #this one took a while gjdsklaj #asks #answered

[saratogaroadwrites]

Tron: Liberation (13/15)

Tron: Liberation | saratogaroad rating: T total wordcount: 106,965 characters: Tron, Beck, Mara, Zed, Paige, Pavel, Tesler, Clu 2, Dyson, Yori, Quorra, Original Siren Character relationships: Tron & Beck, Beck & Mara & Zed, Tron/Yori other tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Continuation, For Want of A Nail warnings: none

The Game has changed. The Revolution has begun. With Tron healed and once more in the fight for the Grid, the war has begun. But Clu will not give up so easily, and this is a war that will be fought in the streets. But it is a war that Beck and Tron intend to win, so long as they can do one thing first:

Survive.

[AU: Fanmade Season 2]

=

“Don’t try to be gentle about this, Eniac,” Tron said, sitting on the medical table in the Undercity’s small medical station. Yori sat at his side, holding his hand as Beck kept watch, leaning against the wall by the door. Programs ran about just outside, scrambling to deconstruct the entire base in the short time they had left before the Occupation came down on them. Beck had known Tron long enough to see through his almost easy posture, to see his free hand clutching at his knee, the lines around his eyes, and knew that he wasn’t the only one in the room worried about this. “Did any Viral get into my code?”

“No. Your firewall was clearly well coded,” Eniac said in her quiet voice, scrolling through Tron’s source code with a practiced hand. Beck watched, core in his throat, as Eniac continued: “I’m not seeing a hint of Viral code having gotten through it.” She handed Tron back his disk, though rather than dock it he held it in one hand. Her eyes softened. “Thank your User, I suppose, because we’re going to need you to get through this intact.”

“Yes, we are.” Yori sighed as Eniac left the room, long dark braid swinging behind her, to aid in clearing the space. “But there is one thing I need to know.” She leaned back enough to look Tron in the eyes and asked, “How sure are we that Cyrus is gone?” Tron and Beck exchanged a glance for a moment, but before either could speak both looked up as Paige entered the room, Zed and Mara at her heels.

“Unless he could survive a blast that made a three meter wide crater?” Zed sighed, “He’s gone. Long gone.”

“Like we should be,” Paige grumbled as she came to stand beside Beck, arms crossed over her chest. She gave him a sideways look and then turned to Yori, “If we don’t move up that timetable, we’re going to get caught down here. I can’t tell you how many programs will derezz if Ion gets his hands on them.”

“Is he that bad?” Mara asked softly, tugging on her fingers. Like Beck, she hadn’t been hurt by Cyrus or his blast. Like Beck, she was also still more than a little rattled by the milli’s events. Zed put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close.

“Worse,” Paige and Yori said in unison. The pair shared a look, before Yori shook her head. A distant look came into her eyes as she stared at the floor. Tron squeezed her hand, but it seemed to Beck no one could find the words and actually give the order. The room went silent for nearly half a micro, the only sounds their breathing and the rush in the halls outside. For a moment, if he ignored that, Beck could pretend they hadn’t almost been blown to bits and bytes. If he tried, he could convince himself that the distance coming into Tron’s eyes was that of remembering better times, not of a near-Viral scare that had made him pull away from Beck and Mara so quickly he’d almost fallen right over again.

“Then,” Mara’s voice broke into Beck’s thoughts, pulling him back to the present moment, “Paige is right,” She said firmly as all eyes came to rest on her, “We may not be entirely ready, but when are we going to get a better chance?” She pulled away from Zed, walking towards Tron and Yori. Beck could see the tense line of her shoulders, her fists clenched at her sides, and the concern in the frown on Yori’s face as she continued, “We have to take the shot.”

Yori looked at Mara for a handful of nanos, then looked to Tron. For a handful of nanos, neither said a word. They looked at each other with ancient eyes, saying things he’d never begin to understand in just that one glance, before Yori nodded. Tron’s shoulders slumped as she hopped off the table.

“We leave within the next sixteenth.” Yori said. She squeezed Tron’s hand again, then strode away from her partner. She headed to the door into the rush, shoulders straight and head held high. “Mara, Paige, with me. Zed, head to the garage and cobble together whatever you can with Avery; I want every program with a baton by the end of the sixteenth.”

Zed hissed through his teeth but turned on his heel, muttering about how there wasn’t enough code in the building for that kind of task even as he headed out the door a pace ahead of Yori. Paige squeezed Beck’s arm, then headed out with Mara at Yori’s heels. The door whooshed quietly shut behind them, leaving Beck alone with Tron still seated on the medical table, staring at his disk resting on his lap. Beck shifted his weight.

“You okay?” He asked, then grimaced to himself. That was a stupid question; they both knew what Virals meant to Tron. Beck was honestly a little surprised he was still actively functional. Or, at least, appeared to be so. Tron was silent for a few nanos longer before he took in a deep breath and finally docked his disk.

“Fine,” He said in a voice that was not fine at all. “But we need to talk about that stunt you pulled up there.”

Stunt? Beck frowned, confused.

“What are you talking about?” He asked as Tron looked up, “That thing with the truck?”

“Yes, that thing with the truck,” Tron hissed. Beck stiffened. “The next time I tell you to go, you go.” Tron’s eyes were hard as he continued, “This isn’t Argon anymore, Beck. You can’t expect to disobey orders and get away intact.”

“And leave you without back-up?” Beck raised an eyebrow, trying not to back down in the face of that stern look, “In case you missed it, Cyrus almost had your head back there. And don’t—” He raised a hand, “Say you would have been fine. You were on the ground. If we didn’t get involved, you’d have been derezzed.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Tron replied. Beck’s core lurched hard.

“Well it’s one that I’m not.” He shot back, startling Tron into silence. Beck took a deep breath, trying to ignore how it shuddered. Tron could handle himself. He knew that. They both knew that. But even with the triples behind them, Beck couldn’t quite shake off the image of Tron’s collapsing form in the Spire, and to see him at Cyrus’ mercy…the image stuck in his processor, Beck shook his head. “Besides, I’m not some helpless Beta fresh off his rez.” Beck frowned, “I can usually handle myself.”

“Dyson.”

“Usually,” Beck stressed with a narrow-eyed look. He swallowed a comment about how Tron hadn’t fared so well against Dyson, either, and instead lowered his hands to his sides. “You trained me to handle things like this, to take down soldiers, to protect others.” He pushed off from the wall, taking a step closer, “And that hasn’t changed. Even with all of this—” He waved a hand towards the doorway, where the rush of programs had become a white noise hum beyond the closed door, “We’re still a team. I’m not going to abandon you, even if you tell me to.”

“And if ends up with you derezzed?” Tron asked in a small voice. Beck drew up short, a realization shocking his core. They were the same. Tron wasn’t angry, he was afraid. Afraid of losing Beck the same way he must have lost nearly everyone else, the same way he could still lose Yori. Beck had lost Bodhi and Able, not to mention Argon, but Tron had lost all his old friends, his old team, a large chunk of his runtime to his unhealing injuries…Beck couldn’t blame him for being afraid, even if the thought of Tron so very scared made him want to quake in his boots right then and there.

But he couldn’t. Taking a deep breath, Beck closed the gap between them.

“Hey,” Beck hopped up onto the medical table, nudging Tron’s arm with his elbow, “Whatever happens, I chose to come back and fight, remember? However this ends, it’s still my choice.” He smiled, just a little, as Tron looked sideways at him. “Seriously, it’s not like you dragged me kicking and screaming.”

Tron snorted, hands clutching at his knees.

“I should have let Able drag you kicking and screaming away from all of this.” He shook his head, staring distantly at something for a moment before turning back to look Beck in the eye. “You might regret that choice, you know. I can’t see this ending well.”

A hundred programs against Clu and his army? Beck couldn’t either. Even so…

“Still my choice,” He said firmly as the pair of them hopped off the table. He reached up to clasp Tron’s shoulder for a moment, pinging a [calm] down his arm before letting go. “Come on. Before Yori comes back and asks what the hold up is about.”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of her.”

“She’s scarier than you are!”

Tron just laughed, through the sound was tired. Still Beck smiled to himself as they stepped out into the hall, but then there was no time to talk and barely any time to think. Programs had no choice but to flee the Undercity in droves, head into the Outlands and the Capitol beyond. Screens were shattered, terminals destroyed so no data could be recovered from them. The makeshift Garage was emptied of all vehicles, and the Resistance, with Yori and Quorra at its head, left Lithium for the Outlands before the sixteenth was over. Red bled into the Dark Side on their heels, the Occupation forces having finally reached their mark, but no one was around to be found. By then they were already riding hard over dark stone and through storms so fierce the wind nearly blew them off their bikes. For a hard triple they rode, crossing kilometers and barely stopping for sips from a communal energy canister to keep riding. Some programs, too exhausted to continue, had to ride double and enter sleep mode on the back of a trusted partner.

Beck couldn’t blame them; even the ride to Gallium had never been this long, this tiring, this stressful. But then, nothing so important had ever hinged on a ride to Gallium. If they failed here, if they were derezzed, then the Grid would never be free.

They had to make it, somehow.

Tron City appearing over the horizon late in the downcycle roused everyone’s mood, the Resistance coming to a halt in a deep canyon not too far from the city’s western entrance. Other cells were already there, the milling crowd of black-suited renegades and rebels pockmarked with the gleaming white suits of their guiding Sirens. Yori slipped into the crowd like she belonged there, Quorra at her side, while Tron remained on the edge with Beck. He stared over the crowd; there must have been over a thousand there already, with more appearing over the hills and rises from every direction across the Outlands.

“Mara! Zed! Beck!” A familiar voice suddenly shouted. Crouched by her bike, Mara shot to her feet and turned on her heel.

“Ray!” Mara shouted. She took off at a run up a nearby hill, then laughed as their old friend tossed herself forward, the two of them meeting in a tangle of limbs and breathless joy. Beck watched for a moment, then looked up to see the rest of his former coworkers all piling over the hill. It was hard to count at first, the mass of helmeted heads blending together, but a micro or two later Beck heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

They’d all made it here in one piece. They were all still functional.

He looked up as Zed shouted, nearly knocked right over as Bartik and Hopper went at him with gusto, and had to swallow a laugh. He looked over the crowd a micro longer before tilting his head as he noticed a small detail he hadn’t seen while counting them before.

Every single one of them were in their blacks, but each and every one of them bore Tron’s mark on their chests. Their assignment accents were the same as ever, but the emblem was repeated nearly sixty times over. Tron was stiff beside Beck, staring at each of them in turn. He looked as Beck shifted his weight, boot scuffing against the stone as he gestured to the milling crowd in the distance.

“Think they’re all wearing that?”

Tron snapped his head to look over the larger crowd in the canyon, shoulders tense. It was impossible to read his face through his darkened visor, but his voice was thready, unsteady.

“I hope not…” He almost whispered, then seemed to shake himself, “They’ll get noticed in a nano if they keep it.”

“It does have that effect on programs,” Beck snarked, earning himself a wry snort from Tron. Calling it a win he turned around to stare at the city for a long moment. The lights of the Capitol, the city that shared Tron’s name, gleamed in the dark of the downcycle, just waiting for them to finally make a move. Beck shifted his weight.

“What’s it feel like?” He asked, “Coming home after so long away?”

“To be honest?” Tron said quietly, “I’d rather be anywhere but here. This feels like a trap.”

Beck sat up straight. So, Tron had that same feeling? He looked back out over the city, took in what he could see of its mazelike streets and sharp corners. If they got turned around down there they’d get lost, be easy pickings for any Occupation forces. Oddly enough, though, the city wasn’t red like most others he’d seen. Other than the yellow edged tower in the center of the city, there was no sign of the Occupation around.

In short, it felt very much like a trap. Beck shook his head.

“Not the first one we’ve dealt with.” He rolled his shoulders back, trying to work out the tension there. “We’ll manage somehow. Then you’ll be in charge and everything will be fine.”

Grid, he hoped so.

"You're taking this idea remarkably well," Tron said quietly, arms over his chest. Beck snorted in amusement.

"What, the idea of you being System Admin?" He smirked. "I don’t see how it’s going to change much. You'll still be telling me what to do, and I'll still choose to go about doing things my way."

"And needing someone to fish your disk out of trouble because of that," Tron groused, lightly shoving Becks head with the palm of one hand. Beck just laughed, easily catching his balance.

"That, too," he said before sobering. He reached up, clasping Trons shoulder. "But seriously, you'll be fine. Being at the top of command doesn't make you Clu."

Tron looked at him sharply. Beck shrugged, and the old program groaned softly.

"When did you get so good at reading me?"

"Lucky guess."

“And he’s been around you long enough,” Yori said from behind them. They both turned to see her walking up, Quorra and Paige trailing in her wake. She smiled at her partner, but her eyes were cold as she looked over the city. It had been their home once, Beck knew; to see it and know that it wasn’t home anymore…he wondered how they were taking that. “You’re not as hard to read as you think.”

Tron was silent, doubtlessly rolling his eyes beneath his helmet. Rather than justify that with a reply he instead asked, “How many are going in?”

“Just the five of us,” Yori said, hands on her hips. “Even if we go in in squads or groups, there’s too many programs entering at once. We’d get noticed by the border guards in a nano.”

“Which throws off the entire plan of lying in wait,” Paige said before Beck could open his mouth. “But why just the five of us?”

“Because a pair of partnered units being escorted in would be almost normal,” Quorra said with a sidelong look at Beck and Paige. They shared a look with one another, then looked back at her.

“He’s not—”

“She isn’t—”

Tron failed to swallow all of his laughter, prompting Beck to turn and give him a hard look even as Quorra broke out into giggles. The old program didn’t even seem phased, looking instead to Yori as she smiled and cracked open her baton. Why did everyone think they were a partnered unit?! Beck liked her, yes, but—

“The rest will all wait here.” Yori rezzed her helmet with a few quiet clicks, bending over her bike’s controls. “I’ll send a signal when we’re ready for them to come in.”

She shot forward in a blaze of light. A pace behind her, Quorra’s bike roared down the hill. Tron looked back at Beck with amusement dancing in his pale eyes before he too was gone, and then it was just them. Paige looked at Beck for a moment before her lips curved upwards.

“Come on,” She said with a knowing look on her face, “We don’t want to be late for the show…Partner.”

She was gone before Beck could reply, leaving him sputtering on the hill overlooking the city. Slowly, he shook his head.

Partners. Somehow that didn’t sound so bad.

--

Storms stretched out for kilometers ahead of what was left of the Convoy Clu had taken to Argon. What had been hundreds of ships was now less than a single hundred, his contingent cut in half and limping home like the loss of Argon was the loss of a limb.

Dyson was lucky Clu had him out tracking their rogue asset, Clu thought, or he’d have been the one chained up in a hold somewhere. Thunder rumbled outside as Clu rolled his shoulders, trying to keep his breathing even. The storms were getting stronger as more and more of the Grid began to fail and collapse around them, the signs unseen by most programs. They’d have to move some of the outlying cities population inward again. Of all the times to be dealing with a rebellion!

The door behind him swung open quietly. Without a word or fanfare, one of Clu’s remaining Honor Guard stepped into the room. A tablet glowed blue under his arm as he came to a halt several paces behind Clu.

“Word from General Dyson, sir,” his guard said. Clu gestured for him to continue and he said, “The rogue sentry has been derezzed. Tron and the beta are moving on the capitol, assisted by Yori and a force a hundred strong and should be there just ahead of you.”

Yori. Clu almost shuddered. Of all the luck that he’d found her in this disaster…

“Is that all?” He asked instead. His guard was silent for a nano, doubtlessly checking the tablet.

“Yes sir.” A shift in movement and then: “Should I send word to Jarvis?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Clu sighed, staring out at the storm clouds. “Send word to Castor instead. Have him prepare to meet our…guests. And—” He continued, “Send a message to Dyson: If he wants a chance at Tron, he has until we arrive to do it.”

“Yes sir,” Said his guard once more. Clu watched his reflection in the window as he turned on his heel and marched out to do his bidding. It was only when the door closed that Clu sighed more heavily, bending at the waist and putting his hands on his knees. He’d hoped, almost beyond all logic and reason, that the reformat of Argon City would have taken Tron out somehow. But it hadn’t, and both Tron and Beck were still functional. Worse still, they’d managed to find Yori and her makeshift army.

Tron and Yori had been legendary in the Old System, the tales he’d heard from older programs and Flynn both had said, instrumental in the destruction of the MCP of their old home. They were a bundle, not offshoots or part of the same code, but complimentary. Where one would step the other would follow with ease and grace. For the two of them to be together again, and headed for the Capitol…Clu had half a processor to stay in the air and never land again. At least then he’d see them coming!

He was breathing too quickly. Forcing himself to take a deep breath to cool his intakes, Clu stood up straight. He raked a hand through his hair, staring out into the storm. So what if Tron and Yori had reunited? So what if Beck had managed to stay functional. They were three programs with the help of maybe a hundred, and he knew where they were headed. Dyson would catch them and that would be the end of it.

Wouldn’t it?

Lightning struck a rock formation outside the ship. The Grid buzzed beneath his heels, as angry as always. He took another deep breath and pushed it out of his processor.

It wouldn’t be long now. Soon, Tron would be under his control.

Soon, all of this would be over.

--

The Capitol hadn’t changed in the past five hundred cycles. Tall buildings still reached up into the storm clouds, programs dressed in rain gear or holding transparent umbrellas filled the streets, heedless of the storm spitting rain down on their heads. Though their little group of five earned some odd looks, no one bothered to try and speak to them or slow them down as Quorra, helmet rezzed to hide her face, led them through the mazelike streets of the Capitol. Yori walked at his side, their hands brushing with every step. A step behind, Beck and Paige walked with their heads practically on swivels, small-town programs seemingly overwhelmed by the big city.

He knew better, of course. They were impressed, sure, but there was a solidity to their gazes that spoke more of watching the perimeter than being lost or out of place. It made a bit of proud warmth uncurl in his core, to know how very far Beck had come in so short a time. He could only hope to guide the young program a little bit further.

“Here—” Quorra said suddenly, coming to a halt in front of a non-descript building. Overhead, neon buzzed through a large sign that cast the entire street in blue light. She pushed open a set of double doors, revealing a repurposed cargo lift on a track. “Zuse runs the club and bar on the top floor. If anyone knows how to get to the Admin Tower, it’ll be him.”

Beneath his helmet, Tron frowned. Beck leaned back and almost fell with how far he had to go to read the sign blazing over their heads. He caught his footing and said,

“End of Line Club?” He looked to Tron, “Do you know the place?”

“I did, once,” He replied, stepping in and shutting the door to the lift behind them. It rose with a core lurching jolt. He looked to Quorra as she derezzed her helmet. “Wasn’t this further uptown before?”

“It was,” Yori said, derezzing her helmet and raking a hand through her hair, “Before Clu blew it up as payback for Zuse being an Iso sympathizer.” She turned to Quorra. “How did he survive that?”

The young Iso shrugged her shoulders up to her ears, hands laced behind her back. Paige turned to watch her instead of at the rapidly disappearing landscape out the dark glass that went from street to penthouse.

“I’m not sure,” Quorra said finally, “I guess if you survive as long as Zuse has, you learn a few tricks.”

Tron turned in time to catch Beck’s eyes. Slowly, Beck shook his head. So, he thought this was a trap, too. Tron frowned beneath his helmet as the lift began to slow, the pulsing beat of music beginning to shake the elevator. The late system time did nothing to deter programs desperate for a good time, and as the lift stopped the doors opened to the club packed full. Programs with all manner of designations and assignments bobbed and weaved, dances Tron didn’t quite recognize or could rightly call dances taking up every bit and byte of their attention. Paige made a disgusted noise behind him, but when he turned enough to look at her her helmet was still up, clean surface reflecting the flickering lights within the club.

With ease borne from many a trip through a crowd like this, Quorra stepped into the club and began to beat a path towards the bar. Yori was a pace behind her, holding onto the Iso’s elbow as they walked, Tron just behind her and Beck at the rear. The clang of the lift doors closing behind them was lost to a heavy bass note, one that made Tron’s entire frame vibrate and audio inputs ring. How anyone could stand this long enough to have fun, he just didn’t know. There were enough programs half-drunk on energy at the bar he really did have to wonder about the stability of their code, but as he watched the white-suited, pale-haired bartender turn around and freeze as he caught sight of Quorra, maybe that was the point.

Maybe no one around here wanted to be stable enough to think.

“Well—” The bartender said in a too-tight voice, “What strikes your fancy, hmm? Bit of High Rise?” He asked, never taking his eyes off of Quorra’s stern face, “Or maybe a little of Five Milli Fire? You look like the type who needs a bit of relaxation—”

“Cut the act, Zuse,” Quorra hissed, barely audible over the thumping music and laughing programs, “I know you.”

“Zuse, hmm?” The program almost whimpered, drawing the attention of a Siren nearby, “No, no, can’t say I know the name. My name is Castor, my dear, and I—”

“Very funny,” Quorra said flatly, “but I think I’d recognize my old friend a kilometer away.”

Silence. Then he sighed. “…Yes,” the Program said with an oddly tight smile across his face, “I suppose you would, my dear. Ah, well,” He sighed again, and his smile became a hint more genuine. “It is quite good to see you in one piece, my dear Quorra—after the Purge, I assumed you derezzed in Arjia City.”

Quorra grimaced. “Not quite,” She said, “but it was close. I had help, and now I need yours.” She gestured with one hand at Yori, and at Tron standing behind her with every circuit on his suit turned off. Zuse blinked, before his eyes went wide.

“Goodness,” Zuse said, looking the two of them over, “I never thought that you’d find—” He put a finger to his own lips, stopping himself from saying another word. He smiled beneath his finger, then cleared his throat. “Well, this is certainly a momentous occasion! Come, come—” He moved to step out, gesturing to the Siren with a single hand. She watched them with pale eyes even as Zuse said, "Gem, my dear," He gestured to Quorra with his chin, "Watch the place for a bit? Something calls my attention."

"Of course," Gem replied with a look at Tron and Yori. She raised a hand and the music changed, the heavy notes and synth covering Zuse's footsteps as he came out from behind the bar to slip an arm around Quorra's shoulders.

"This way, my dear," He said with a tight smile that set Tron's shoulders to tense, "best to have this conversation in private."

He led Quorra away from the bar with that guiding arm. Yori glared at Zuse’s back, quickly falling into step behind him. Tron turned over his shoulder for just long enough to gesture for Beck and Paige to fall in, the pair somehow already used to moving together. He smiled, unseen, beneath his visor. They could say whatever they wanted, but he’d know a partner-bundle when he saw one. If they survived all of this, they’d be good for one another.

Though that was still a very big if. Tron stepped through the door to Zuse’s office and looked around as Beck and Paige stepped inside, the door closing behind them. There was a small bar across the room, glowing canisters and carafes of energy just waiting to be consumed. The music was muffled here, quieted by the couches and curtains. A sleep-bunk was carved into the back wall, no doubt Zuse’s or perhaps meant for two, but it saw no use as Zuse let go of Quorra, turned on his heel and once again stared at Yori and Tron.

“I’d heard the rumors,” He said, “we all had, but to think…Tron and Yori, both alive and functional?” He shook his head, render desaturating as he rested his hands on the head of his cane. “Clu must be roiling like a storm right about now.”

“I’ll count us all lucky if he is,” Yori said firmly, “But we’re not here to talk, Zuse. The Admin Building.” She watched as he lowered himself to sit in an overstuffed, over-designed chair. “We need access. Quorra says you can get us in there.”

“I most certainly can,” Zuse replied, leaning back in his chair, “But what would be in it for me? If you fail, Clu will know I helped you and then…” He spread his fingers in a mimicry of an explosion, “Once again I must crawl my way back to the top.” He cocked his head to the side. “What do I gain from this little arrangement, hrm?”

“A free Grid doesn’t count for enough?” Beck said, arms crossed over his chest, “You’ve obviously managed to rebuild before.”

“Not with any measure of joy, my young friend,” Zuse sighed, buffing his nails on the front of his coat. He pondered them a moment, then closed his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. “But I see your point. I certainly would rather enjoy not having Clu breathing down my neck all the time.”

“So you’ll help us?” Paige asked. Zuse looked to her, at his reflection in her helmet, before he rose to his feet.

“I’ll do better than that, my dear program,” He said with a grin, holding his cane tight in one hand, “I’ll take you to the top of the building myself.” He gestured with two fingers for the five of them to follow before heading to the back wall. Without a word he reached up to a light fixture bolted just above his bunk, turned it counter clockwise, and then stepped back as a wall panel slid upwards to reveal a smaller lift. Beck whistled softly as the lights clicked on. Zuse grinned.

“Straight into the tunnels for us.” He turned to glance back at them, “I do hope none of you are afraid of tight spaces.”

��We’ll manage,” Tron said flatly, the last to step onto the lift. Zuse used his cane to shift between Quorra and Paige’s arms to press a button near the doorway, sending them down at speed. There was no way to monitor their depth, but Tron’s internal clock told him this descent took longer than the ascent to the club from the street. It made sense: the tunnels beneath the Capitol were deeper than the ones beneath Argon, having never been used for drainage or races. Flynn had built the ones here much like the ones in Lithium: for storage and extra living space if it had been needed. In the past programs had used them, but now…Tron frowned as they stepped off the lift and into the dimly lit tunnels.

Now, no one seemed to use them. Yori frowned, rezzing her helmet as they passed through stale air.

“When’s the last time anyone was down here,” She asked softly. Zuse shrugged.

“Before the Purge, I’d say,” He said as he began to guide them down the long stretch of tunnel, “Now there’s quite a bit more space up in the city, so programs see no need to come and stay here.”

Quorra flinched back away from him. Yori put an arm around her shoulders, her spine straight as a staff as she stared at the back of Zuse’s head, doubtlessly glaring at him for his unkind commentary. Tron brushed a hand across her shoulder as they walked, transmitting a gentle [calm] through to her. She sighed, looking at him, but didn’t release Quorra. From his other side, Beck shook his head.

“Not even Clu’s soldiers have been down here?”

“Oh, they don’t quite see the need,” Zuse waved a hand in the air, “And they’ve been ever so busy squashing rebellions and resistances since word of Tron’s continuing survival got out, you see.” He swung his cane as they walked, back and forth like a pendulum. Tron frowned. “All those little rebellions have certainly been giving Clu some real trouble. Nearly a million programs all up in arms against him? It’s really a surprise we haven’t had more reformats yet!”

Beck made an oddly pained noise in the back of his throat. Paige took his hand as they walked, but remained silent. Barely a micro later, Zuse stopped them at a doorway. It was locked with a keypad, but four presses and quiet chimes later, it swung open. Still unseen, Tron’s frown deepened. How had Zuse known the access code to the Admin Tower? Another of his tricks of survival? Or perhaps something more.

There was no time to think on it. Zuse led the little group into the maintenance hatches of the Tower, straight down the corridor and one right turn into the elevator. There, another code sent it up at such a pace the ground seemed to lurch beneath them. Tron caught his balance, looking out as glass reappeared. They were headed up, up, up, high into the airspace around the Capitol. Higher than most Lightjets dared to fly, the only ships up here would be Clu’s convoy. He looked around for the yellow-lined command ship, set to arrive within the milli, but it was hidden from sight at this angle. It must have been on the other side of the building.

“Why do you have the access keys for this building?” Beck piped up from behind Tron. Zuse blinked, then turned that same smile back over his shoulder. Everyone stared at him, the edge to his smile tighter now, before he turned away.

“When you survive as long as I have, you learn a few…tricks,” Zuse said as the elevator dinged their arrival. He stepped out as the doors opened, his white-suited back quickly darting off down the golden lit hall before Quorra could grab him. Tron looked at Yori, who looked back at him with pursed lips and a furrowed brow. It was obvious now that this was a trap, but what choice was there? They had to strike now. If they didn’t, if Clu had a chance to mount a proper defense of the tower or offense against the Resistance, what chance would they ever have again?

The thought caught in his processor, Tron stepped off the elevator and after Zuse. This high up they were above the storm clouds, and he could make out the other towers through breaks in the clouds. He could also see that Zuse had come to a halt in the center of the half-lit room, looking out at the storm brewing around them, and at Clu’s convoy just now visible over the Outlands on its way home. Frowning, Tron held out an arm to keep Quorra from walking over to him. Zuse took a breath, nodded once to himself, and then began to speak.

“You see,” Zuse clasped the head of his cane in both hands, “The reason Clu was breathing down my neck most recently? I knew where you were, my dear,” He strode backwards past Quorra, who’d gone stiff as she finally realized what they walked into. “And hadn’t told him a word. But,” Zuse smiled, “My dear Gem passed word to his command staff the micro you came with me.” Everyone turned. Paige snarled and reached for her disk. “So, I suspect you’ll see Clu quite soon indeed.” Zuse stepped back through the doorway. “I am rather sorry it’s come to this, my dear Quorra, but…such is the way the disk has fallen.”

“Zuse, you—” Quorra screamed, charging for him with circuits overload bright. The white-suited program gave a jaunty little wave as the door closed and locked with a harsh click. Alongside Quorra Paige threw herself at the doorway but it wouldn’t budge. Beck grabbed the bypasser wrench off his hip and slammed it to the wall, watching the code stream past.

“It’s locked,” He said after a nano, emitter glowing a soft blue-green as he tried to work, “It’ll take a sixteenth to get through all this encryption!”

Tron opened his mouth, then stopped. Footsteps echoed through the room. He reached back for his disk.

“We don’t have that kind of time,” He said. Everyone turned around, watching as, from the shadows, strode a red-lined program. There was a sneering smile on that old familiar face, hands clasped at the small of his spine.

“Well,” Dyson said in a falsely warm voice, “this is certainly a surprise.” He looked over the little group with knowing eyes, gaze lingering on Beck before Tron stepped in front of him. “Tron, Beck, our former Commander Paige, and—oh my.” He paused, eyes going wide as he finally saw Yori standing beside Tron. Her circuits were flaring overload bright, shoulders rising and falling in a forcibly steady rhythm. She glared at Dyson as he continued, “Yori. What a pleasant surprise! And look—” He turned his gaze on Quorra, her disk still in hand. “You brought us an Iso.” His eyes narrowed and all trace of amusement dropped from his tone. “The last Iso.”

Quorra drew in a sharp breath. Her render went pale; she stepped back behind Yori as Dyson’s eyes narrowed with unhidden hatred.

“Clu will be very pleased to see you again, I’m sure,” He finally sneered, taking a step forward towards them. Tron shifted his weight, hearing two disks kick on behind him as Beck and Paige took their stances. Paige then gasped softly in alarm, before Beck hissed something that Tron just couldn’t make out. He didn’t dare take his eyes off of Dyson but then Beck stepped up beside him and took his stance despite a fine tremble to his frame. Dyson just cocked his head. Then he opened his mouth--

“Quorra!” Tron shouted, “Get out of here! Go!”

“But—” She started to protest, only for Paige to shoot forward, grab her by the wrist and forcibly pull her along. She stumbled, reaching out for them, “Tron!”

“Go!” He and Yori shouted in unison, Beck’s voice echoing a nano later. Dyson shifted his weight, made to charge after the two female-designates, only to have to leap back as Yori’s disk nearly carved his head off his shoulders. He landed with a snarl, glaring at the her. With a breathy sob Quorra turned away; she and Paige took a running leap out the window, glass shattering and batons cracking open. Two light-jets flew out of the city, blue-white and green trails bright in the darkening sky. Dyson sneered as he rose to his feet.

“That won’t protect them, you know,” He said, pacing a wide circle around the three of them, “Clu will be here any micro. He’ll find the Iso and finally be done with the threat to the Grid.”

“The only threat around here is you,” Yori hissed, staff extending from her baton, “And we’re going to be done with you!”

Dyson smirked.

“I’d like to see you try,” He said with a huff of laughter, reaching back to grab his disk, “But then…you never were very good at fighting, Yori.”

“We’ll see about that.”

And then they moved. Tron and Yori charged forward in the same nano, side by side, while Beck went around to flank Dyson. Dyson pivoted on his heel, moved to throw his disk at Beck, only to find Tron there to clash with instead. Beck went low as Yori went high, the two of them aiming for Dyson’s port as if they’d trained together for cycles. Dyson snarled, forced to drop the clash and drop to his knees, spinning out a whirling kick to force the three of them to jump back or lose their footing. He popped back to his feet and charged at Tron again, only to have to jump back as Yori swung her staff wide. He almost slipped as the Tower rattled. Tron looked up, snarling as he saw the yellow-lined command ship of Clu’s convoy docking at the top. Clu had arrived, and they were still here dealing with Dyson? There wasn’t time for this! He stepped sideways, towards the steps that would lead up to the highest level of the Tower.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Dyson shouted, taking a run at Tron again. Tron braced his stance, brought his disk up—but then Yori was there, staff in hand. Dyson leapt back rather than be skewered, a frown creasing his brow as he landed and stared them down.

“You two go,” Yori said firmly, holding Dyson back at the end of her staff, “I’ll deal with him.” She turned her head enough to meet Tron’s gaze, “Stop Clu.”

“Yori—” He reached out, but she reached back with one hand and shoved him back. He stumbled, eyes wide as she turned to face down Dyson. He couldn’t leave her to fight him! Five hundred cycles of skill or otherwise he’d derezz her! He reached out to her, “Yori, no!”

“Go!” She shouted. Dyson’s frown became a sneering little smirk. He looked at Tron over Yori’s shoulder, eyes gleaming with malice. There was a promise in there, too, Tron knew: Dyson intended to derezz Yori, and then come for him. He needed to stay, to end this threat once and for all, but—

“Tron,” Beck shouted from the stairs at the other end of the room, “Come on! We have to go now!”

For a nano, Tron hesitated. He looked from Yori to Dyson, then to Beck halfway bent over the rail of the stairs. Core lurching in his chest, he turned away.

“We’ll come back!” He shouted to Yori as he hit the stairs. Ahead of him, Beck was taking them two at a time. Tron looked down for only a nano, then forced himself to turn his eyes forward.

They had to stop Clu. That was all that mattered.

Soon, one way or another, this would all be over.

#tron #tron: uprising #tron fic #!fic #fic: tron liberation

[faded-neon]

"Leo."

"...Don." He swiveled towards his brother, his tone neutral. "What's up."

"I, uh.....this is. Probably stupid, but.....I." Donnie tapped his claws together nervously as Leo watched him, flinching slightly at some unknown stimuli before speaking again. "Are we sure there's no lingering side effects from the Technodrome."

Well, didn't that sentence just chill his blood. Fighting down the surge of anxiety that tried to sweep through him at that moment, Leo stood to close the distance between the two of them, his voice soft. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Why?"

"I just....something is. Wrong. I can feel it, Leo. I.....my skin feels like it's on too tight, sometimes. Like something's crawling underneath it. And my thoughts feel all....static-y, almost. Like they're not entirely mine anymore. The other day I tried to make a construct out of my ninpo and it was glitching and it looked like Krang tech, almost, I just-" Donnie's eyes had snapped open so wide that they were almost all whites as Leo watched, his breathing coming out in stuttered pants. "And sometimes I want to go back to the Technodrome so fucking badly and I don't know what that--"

"Hey, hey, Don. Breathe with me for a sec, okay?" Leo was sure to keep his breathing slow and calm, waiting until he could see his twin imitating it. "Okay. Let's just look at this for a second. It's only been, what, like a week or so since that mission? And all the medical scans have come up clean, right?"

"Yes, but--"

"And you have been getting more than about three to four hours of sleep every night, right?"

"Leo. Be serious."

"I am, I am. Look, it could be a number of things, okay? Could be sleep deprivation or PTSD or some weird combo of the two....the point is, you've been totally fine medically. Physically, anyway. So don't worry your pretty little egghead--"

"I will cram your stupid scarf down your throat."

"Ah, there he is. Seriously, Don, trust me. You're fine, okay? I've only been, in your own words, "hovering around you like a hummingbird all week", and you've been totally normal. Maybe a little jumpy, but who wouldn't be after all of that?" He clapped a hand on his twin's shoulder then, ignoring the offended squawk that the action was met with. "Seriously. I promised you'd be fine and that I'd look out for you, okay? I'm keeping that promise. You'll be okay. Don't worry about it."

"....alright. If you say so."

"I'm the older twin, you have to listen to me."

"Please. I listen to you out of pity." A wry chuckle. "....right. Classic Donnie overthink, right? I....goodnight, Leo. I'll try to get some rest. See if that helps."

"Night, Don-tron."

And if Donnie walked away from him a bit more unsteadily than usual, Leo either didn't notice or pretended not to.

If he didn't look at it, everything was fine, right?

***

He woke up to screaming. Screaming like someone was being torn apart from the inside, screaming like they were in more pain than they'd ever been in in their entire life, and Leo found himself surging upright and reaching for his katanas before he could even determine the source of the noise--

Oh. Oh shit. That was Donnie's voice.

Leo didn't think he'd ever sprinted so fast in his entire life. Donnie's room was practically halfway across the lair from his--his twin was barely leaving his lab for anything except for the most basic of meals these days, too wrapped up in trying to provide the Resistance vital technology to attend to social gatherings most days--but he seemed to cross that distance in mere seconds, flinging the door to Donnie's room open and surging to his convulsing brother's side.

"Don, what's wrong. What's wrong, hey, talk to me-"

"IT BURNS IT BURNS LEO IT BURNS IT BURNS HELP ME HELP ME--" Donnie was practically CLAWING at him then, eyes wide and terrified, and it was all Leo could do to try and hold him upright as his body writhed so violently Leo was halfway worried that his brother was going to wriggle right out of his own skin.

"I know, I know, I know it hurts, okay? I've got you, I've got you, I'm not letting you go, we'll get you to the medbay and....shit, what happened, you were fine, you--"

He broke off in horror as Donnie's screams hit a new and frantic pitch, as his twin lurched away from him, because something--

Something was happening.

Donnie's eyes were fogging over with a sickly reddish-pink color, and his muscles were bulging and a black and almost leathery texture was spreading across his scales, and there were nauseating cracking and twisting sounds coming from his twin's body as his bones twisted and contorted and grew and even poked through the skin in some areas--

--and his hands were shifting and cracking open and forming jagged-looking claws--

--and the skin of his face was tearing apart to form a muzzle and his screams of pain were becoming choked off and warping into hissing growls--

--and then Leo could only stare in horror as a Krang hound was left to stand where Donnie had been a moment before, shrieking and slipping in a pool of its own blood as it turned and surged towards him.

"DON-" He didn't even think. He brought his katanas up in a defensive posture, wincing as those teeth that were suddenly so jagged snapped in front of his face. Leo shoved the thing that had been his brother away a moment later, backing up against the wall with both of his swords raised. "Don, hey, can you still hear me? Come on, snap out of it--"

There was another warbling hiss as the creature came for him again. Another block with his swords. "Don, please. I don't want to fight you. I don't want to hurt you. I should have listened, I...."

The creature didn't seem to comprehend his words. Didn't even seem to hear them. Where there had once been brotherly affection and intelligence and love, now there was only focused hatred, a mind only concentrating on wanting the being in front of them dead. And it was all Leo could do to keep blocking the relentless attacks, all he could do to try and turn towards the doorway and yell out for help.

"MIKEY! SOMEONE, GET IN HERE AND HOLD HIM, WE NEED---MIKEY, WE NEED YOU TO TRY AND FIX THIS---"

The creature lunged for him, then, and Leo didn't even think, he instinctively brought one katana up in a stabbing motion and--

Oh. Oh god. No no no no no--

He'd shoved his sword through the beast's gut, and out through its back.

No.

He'd shoved his sword into DONNIE'S back.

Even as he hurriedly pulled it out, the Donnie beast collapsed in a pool of its own blood, making horrid choking noises as Leo dropped to all fours and crawled towards it, laying its wicked-looking head in his lap in spite of everything---

"No. No no no no no no, I didn't mean to, I'm sorry--"

Donnie looked up at him then, his new set of eyes wide. Panicked. Almost as if he was looking at Leo, pleading him, asking him why his beloved twin had tried to hurt him. And that made Leo sob even harder, his whole frame shaking with it as he curled around the beast's form.

"Please god I didn't mean it I'm SORRY I'm SORRY stay with me stay with me PLEASE Don please we can FIX THIS I'm SORRY---"

But it was too late. The beast's eyes were sliding closed, and the breath was leaving its body, and all Leo could do was huddle there with its prone form and scream until his voice finally gave out.

***

A week later, he walked into the wasteland on his own, burying the katana that now felt permanently stained with Donnie's blood and never looking back.

He had killed his brother. His twin. His better half. His hands would never be clean again.

And Leo could never forgive himself for that.

#rottmnt rp #future!leo #roleplay blog #(no replies please!) #tw: body horror

[solar-siren]

Angstpril Day Twenty-Nine: Cast Away

[Able found it in the Outlands,] Yori says. Cyrus drives beside her, the headlights of their bikes cutting through the snow. [‘Got diverted by a storm on his way to Gallium. It’s a good thing.]

[A weapon?] Cyrus suggests.

[He’s not sure. Tron’s already there, but Able wants us to look at it too. Whatever it is, he thinks Tron will try to blow it up before we can learn anything.]

The beta snorts. [He’s probably right.] 

There’s that derision again. In the moment, though, Yori can’t help but share it. 

Her core clenches as Cyrus speeds up, eager to get where they’re going.

You don’t know what you’re running towards, she thinks, miserable. But she follows him anyway. 

 “What do you think?” Able asks. Tron hovers beside him, stoic as ever.

Yori can hardly stand to look at either of them. She gives the programs a quick glance, glaring out of the corner of her eye.  

“It doesn’t look dangerous,” she says. Only the older programs register the bitterness in her voice. 

The prison Able designed is deceptively innocent, as is its purpose. It’s as thin as a wireframe, as sleek as a mirror. Her reflection looks back at her, grim, as she paces around it in a slow circle. 

“It isn’t,” Tron says. “At least, not that my scans indicate.”

Yori keeps her hands clasped behind her back. Able warned her ahead of time not to touch the gateway.

But Cyrus doesn’t know any better. And she can’t warn him.

The beta draws closer to the mirror, curiosity winning out over caution. He doesn’t see the way Tron watches him.

“It’s like… a doorway of some kind,” Cyrus says. No one breathes as he lays a hand on its surface. For a brief nano, nothing happens. 

Then his hand slips through the barrier. 

He yelps in surprise, tries to rear back, but it’s too late. The rest of his arm has been devoured by the time he calls for help. 

Not long after that he realizes no one is going to help him. The others are just standing there, watching. Yori looks sick. Able takes a few steps backward. But Tron meets his eyes, unmoving, cold in a way Cyrus will never forget. 

“No!” 

This was a trap, set by the handful of programs he still trusted, and he  fell for it  . How could he have been betrayed like this  again?  Fury engulfs him rather than grief. He screams as he’s swallowed by darkness. 

 Silence rings through the Outlands. 

Just before he disappears, Cyrus’ hand catches on the edge of the mirror. Yori watches, petrified, as he uses the leverage to pull himself back out.

“He shouldn’t be able to do that,” Able says, equally awed and terrified. “It’s like he’s messing with the  code . No one can do that, except—”

“Yori —” Tron starts, but it’s too late. 

There are so many things she’ll never say to him. So many things they’ll never understand. [ I'm sorry ,] she pings, and it is the last thing she’ll ever say to him.

She takes Cyrus’ hand, pries it free, and as he falls he pulls her through to the other side. 

Someone screams her name as the mirror shatters behind her.

#angstpril2023 #tron #tron uprising #fanfiction #day29 #cast away #cyrus #yori #able #ren writes

[youvebeenlivingfictional]

The Long Con Part Five

Previous Part | Masterlist | Next Part Pairing: Marcus Pike x Reader Rating: T Notes: I hope y’all had a good week! 💕 Warnings: This is almost purely fluff. There’s some angst in there, but it’s just, like...A speck. And it’s covered over by fluff. Also I’ve never been to Austin, I did a lot of Googling for this bit, so if any of it is inaccurate, I’m sorry!! It seems like such a cool town and I don’t wanna do it a disservice! Lastly, I linked the museum and the art pieces mentioned in the chapter at the end of the chapter, under the tags. Summary: You’d stayed behind to get ready— but you didn’t know what exactly what you were be getting ready for.

While you and Marcus would be helping Marnie and the family out with wedding prep during the week, they didn’t have anything in particular scheduled for that day. After he’d had his breakfast, Marcus had showered, gotten dressed, and left to get the car that he’d rented for two of you to use that week. You’d stayed behind to get ready— but you didn’t know what exactly what you were be getting ready for. “I wanna show you around while we’ve got some time,” Marcus had told you between stealing sips of your coffee (which were solely permitted because the two of you were pretending to be together - if this had been under any other circumstance, he would not have gotten away with a single sip. His parents had found it adorable. You had found it a loss of coffee).

You dressed in casual clothing, things that you knew you’d have no trouble walking around in for the day. Marcus honked twice once he was outside in the rental, and you bid quick goodbyes to his family. 

-- “So,” Marcus glanced over at you from behind the dark lenses of his aviator sunglasses, “We have a few options-- well, we’ve got a ton, but, I was thinking we could take a tour of the Capitol building, and check out the Harry Ransom Center -- it’s this massive archive and library. There are a few places we could hit for lunch, and then… I don’t know, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center? And I thought we could finish with the Blanton Museum of Art?... Or is that, like, a no, since we’re both kinda around art all the time?” You watched him for a few moments, stunned. He’d clearly gone out of his way to think about what you’d like to do -- places that he knew and that you would like. He wanted you to have fun, and time out of the house - away from his family. Marcus was taking you out and about like… Like he probably would a real girlfriend. “That all sounds really awesome,” You admitted softly. Marcus grinned at you, and you settled back in your seat, facing forward again. -- Conversation came as easily as it had when you were in D.C. Marcus dropped the odd fact about Austin now and again (though it was nothing near his panicked post-flight info-dump), pointed out his old haunts, told you about his and Marnie’s childhoods. Even without his family around, you found that the two of you kept close. You reached for one another’s hands; Marcus drew you into his side when you were in crowded places; even when there was plenty of room, Marcus’ hand was on your shoulder, or your back. The contact was comforting; it didn’t feel forced.  You found yourselves strolling through the Blanton with your fingers intertwined, speaking in hushed tones so as not to disturb the patrons around you. It was where the two of you wound up spending most of your day, discussing Fogel’s Conflict and Kern’s The Adoration of the Magi and Dorigny’s Diana of the Hunt. When you drifted into the Klimt pieces on loan from the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, and the two of you stopped in front of The Kiss, Marcus cupped your chin and leaned down, pecking the corner of your lips. You couldn’t help the stupid grin that took over your face, and you leaned into him, turning your head and hiding your face in his shoulder. 

He just curled an arm around you, smoothing a thumb along your side as you let your sheepishness run its course. You turned your head as it ebbed away, finally, taking in the intertwined lovers, robed in gold and adorned with flowers. 

--

“Okay, this… Is stupidly cool,” You admitted, looking around. “I was a little worried that you were going to stop at ‘stupid’.” “No!” You laughed, “I’ve never been anywhere like this.” Marcus had brought you to a bar with an arcade in Southern Congress for dinner. The two of you had ordered dinner and were looking for a few games to play before the food arrived. “They’ve got a little bit of everything. Pinball, Pac-man, Tron, Skeeball,” Marcus listed off. “Galaga?” “They’ve got Galaga.” “Perfect.” Marcus was exceptional at Pac-man and pinball, but you learned that you had the upper hand when it came to air hockey. You managed to play two games of it (both of which you won) before the food came. “Today has all been insanely awesome,” You told him after you’d polished off your pizza, “Thank you. I mean-- Seriously, you didn’t have to do this.” “I didn’t want you feeling like we were stuck at my family’s place all week, and...I mean I know we’re down here for Marnie, but you said you’d never been to Austin. I didn’t want you to miss out on seeing the city.” You and Marcus shared a smile before he added, “The whole day has been insanely awesome, huh?” “Yeah.” “Even in the kitchen?” “You mean when you were drinking my coffee? ‘Cause that put you on thin ice, mister.” “Right before that,” He corrected. The smile he was giving you was two parts bashfulness and one part coy. You folded one arm on the table, pillowing your chin on your other hand. “...Yeah, I’d include that. As first kisses go, it was…” You nodded a little, eyeing Marcus from under your lashes, “It was very...Very nice.” “‘Very nice’?” Marcus repeated, “I guess that’s not the worst review I’ve ever gotten.” “Don’t get all huffy,” You chuckled, ”I mean it, it was… I forgot what being kissed like that even felt like.” “What do you mean?” “I mean that...Was my first kiss in two years.” “Two-- How is that possible?” Marcus’ brow furrowed. You rolled your eyes a little bit, glancing away from Marcus as embarrassment swirled in your stomach. “The last person was my ex-fiancé. After that fell apart…” You shrugged, “I haven’t dated since.” You felt Marcus lean a little closer to get a better look at you. “Did you give up on finding someone?” “Not on purpose. I think I just...Built up some walls that I had torn down really quickly with them. And I built those walls up double. I prioritized work-- the devil I knew, you know.” “No dates, nothing?” “Nope.” “How many people did you turn down?” “What makes you think I turned anyone down?” Marcus tipped his head to the side, giving you a slight once-over as he muttered, “C’mon.” You shook your head, letting out a quiet, embarrassed laugh. “Well, how long after your engagement broke did you wait to date?” You asked. Marcus’ lips pressed into a thin, contemplative line before he admitted, “Five months.” “What made you get back out there? I mean… How’d you know you were ready?” “I wasn’t, but I was worried that if I waited until I was, the woman that had asked me out wouldn’t be available when I got there. I took a leap. It wasn’t a good leap, but it was a leap,” he chuckled, “And it made me remember that dating can suck and putting myself out there could be scary, but… Ultimately, it’s worth it.” You and Marcus regarded one another quietly for a moment. You couldn't even imagine what he was thinking. You couldn't understand how he was still so open to finding love when he'd been hurt the way he had. That sort of loss had only made you want to recede; it seemed to make Marcus even more determined to find love. Frankly, it was a wonder that he hadn't yet— he was the kindest man you'd ever met. You lowered your eyes to your empty plate as you realized that you were staring. It was easy to get caught up in his warm eyes; you’d found it happening more often lately, and it certainly suited the purposes of the lie you were playing up around his family. But there was something about all of it— his gaze, his smile, everything that the two of you had done today — it stirred up twinges or remorse. Lately you’d found yourself wondering if there ever could’ve been something real between the two of you, if you’d met under different circumstances. That was a very dangerous line of thought.

“If you’re finished with your food, we can go play some more air hockey.” You smiled at the offer, glancing back up at him as you asked, “I didn’t kick your ass enough the first time?” “Oh-- I was just warming up.” “Clocking all of my moves?” “Exactly.” “We’ll see about that.” (You beat him three more times.) (You let him win once.)

--

You flicked off the light before getting into bed, tucking yourself in beside Marcus. He yawned and mumbled, “G’night.” “Goodnight, what?” Marcus let out an exaggerated sigh, “Goodnight, supreme air hockey winner.” “Thank you.” “Mhm.” “I don’t ask for much.” “I know.” “Just that you steer clear of my coffee—” “Uh huh.” “And address me by my proper title.” You glanced over as you felt Marcus shift in the bed. Your breath caught in your throat as his arm wound around your middle, his hand dangling against your side as he rested his forehead against your shoulder. “Sleep,” He urged in a mumble, “Oh supreme one.” You settled down, resting one of your hands atop Marcus’ arm. It was a warm, comforting weight; a sweet touch that you could, if you weren’t careful, find yourself getting used to. “‘Oh supreme one’,” You repeated quietly, peering up at the ceiling, “I could get used to that.” Tag list: @hufflepuffing-all-day-long​ ; @spideysimpossiblegirl​ ; @blueeyesatnight​ ; @elen-aranel​ ; @yespolkadotkitty​ ; @artsymaddie​ ; @phoenixhalliwell​ ; @lunaserenade​ ; @winniedaboo​  ; @empress-palpat1ne​ ; @randomness501​ ; @nutmeg-20​ ; @leonieb​ ; @the-feckless-wonder​ ; @lou-la-lou​ ; @captain-jebi​ ; @supernaturalgirl​ ; @naturenebula21​ ; @evelynseventyr​ ; @giselatropicana​ ; @heatherbel​ ; @marydjarin​ ; @annathewitch​ ; @absurdthirst​​ ; @hnt-escape​ ; @writingletterstothefire​​ ; @misswriter​​ ; @bison-writes​​

Museums & Art Work

The Blanton Museum of Art

Fogel’s Conflict

Kern’s The Adoration of the Magi

 Dorigny’s Diana of the Hunt The Belvedere Museum

Klimt’s The Kiss

#The Long Con #marcus pike imagine #marcus pike x reader #Marcus Pike x You #Marcus Pike/Reader #Marcus Pike/You #Marcus Pike fic

[notgalaxii]

How about... how do the brothers act around their crush?

This one was super sweet to write I- I love them 👉👈. Thank you for the ask! I hope you enjoy 🤞💕✨

Pride

Lucifers crush is the absolute hardest to tell

To the untrained eyes and ears, it seems like he's just being himself, but to those who are close to him, it's a little obvious

Lucifer tends to be more caring in a loving way than in a strict, "do what I say" manner

It's less of "Go to bed so you can go to school and not disappoint Diavolo" and more of "Get some rest, it's not healthy for you to stay up so late."

He also tends to be a little more expressive near his crush

Lucifer's signature knowing smirk twists up a little higher, and his eyes glimmer with not only pride but a bit of satisfaction and compassion around them.

He makes sure to give them small compliments

Typically his pride wouldn't allow him to endorse others, but with them, oooh boy

He will let them know how they look ravishing in such a nonchalant way; it seems like it's nothing

But to him, it could be everything

Bonus: He stood up to Diavolo once for his crush. Sort of.

Diavolo had given them a list of tasks to do and Lucifer felt like it was a bit much

"My lord, do you really believe that some of these are the best idea?"

It wasn't much but lets just say that Satan and Mammon were near by and their jaws hit the floor.

Greed

A mess. He acts like an absolute MESS around them

When he's just walking down the hall, he's composed. All of a sudden, his crush walks by him and awakens this sense of "I must embarrass myself at all times around this person and then punch myself about it later."

He hypes himself up around his crush

"Hah, of course the GREAT MAMMON can open this jar for you! Bow down, little human. Revel in my strength!!" he struggles to open it a little as well

In more serious and personal moments, Mammon is very sweet

As sweet as he can get when he's still trying to aggressively deny ANY sort of feelings

"Don't ever doubt yourself. You're my human, which means you kick ass. I wouldn't pick a human that WASN'T a total badass. N-not that I particularly picked you out of a crowd- YOU FORCED ME INTO THIS."

Bonus: If Mammon has a touchy crush, he would absolutely melt into their hands as he aggressively blushes at them

They'd get close enough to play with his hair and he'd be jelly on the floor

Would get super sad if they left and forgot their hug because he got used to oh how soft they were

Envy

Leviathan tries the absolute hardest to hide it

Unless you count Mammon but come on, is he really trying?

Leviathan's biggest tell would be that he tries to share his otaku passions with his crush

Because if he likes them, they've gotta be into that kinda stuff, right!? They're definitely not a normie and would absolutely LOVE his Manga collection

Would play it off nearly as tsundere-esque as Mammon

"I've decided that you're really nice to me, so I'm going to let you come over today and play video games with me. I have a super special raid spot saved for the two of us!!"

He tries pretty hard to impress them with his vast knowledge on obscure animes and idols

Levi would be at his crush's beck and call

"I saw you called me, I was in a dungeon but I tried to finish it as fast as I could!! What did you need~?"

Definitely a blush-a-tron 3000

All of his crushes are anime characters! How does he deal with someone he likes IN REAL LIFE!?

I'll tell you how, he sticks his hand over his face and tries to freeze time with his super secret power that he has yet to unlock and probably never will.

Bonus: Leviathan tells Henry 2.0 about his crush every time he spends time with them

"They touched my hand Henry, they touched my hand!!" blushes just thinking about it.

Wrath

Satan is ✨gentle✨ with his crush.

He's pretty insecure about how intense his anger can be when it comes to people he doesn't want to hurt, especially if it's a human.

Satan will try to show them his softest side in hopes that when they meet his wrath, they can anchor onto the fact that he's not that bad

That being saaaaid, if he senses their discomfort whatsoever, he tries to put out the flames of rage that are constantly brewing inside of him

And then offer to take them to somewhere to hopefully make them feel better.

"You seem to be tense. How would you like to join me on a little excursion? We could go see the new art exhibit that just opened up."

If that doesn't work, he invites them to his room to drink tea and maybe just chat

If they're into reading, he'll offer to let them look at his collection and maybe even pick something to borrow.

Satan is also pretty playful with his crush

Sometimes he'll say something a little mean just to get a reaction out of them, then immediately reassure them to the max that he was messing around.

"And I should be seen in public with a human because?"

"Hey-!"

"I was kidding!" He'd chuckle, bringing a mischievous finger to rest on his lips, "I only wanted to see how you'd react. I'd love to go somewhere with you."

Bonus: Satan's best pranks are with his crush.

Satan would definitely catch feelings with someone that challenge his brain and make him think bigger. He'd fall for someone bold, adventurous, and smart.

So combining the two of them makes for some of the most CREATIVE pranks

"So you guys are telling me that you switched the body of Mammon and a random woman on the street and then made a bet with Asmo that he couldn't seduce said woman... who had Mammon in her body."

"Absolutely."

Lust

Asmodeus would make his crush so obvious that everyone just thought he was messing around

He'd shower his crush in praise all the time

"Look at you! So beautiful!"

"Tell me, doll, have I ever let you know that your face is so symmetrical? Oh and your nose is so cute!~"

But oh, he gets f l u s t e r e d by them

If they compliment him back, he'll have a brief moment to blush and try to recover immediately

I feel like Asmodeus isn't as narcissistic as he leads on, like part of it is an act. Honestly, he might even be a little bit insecure about a few things so he buffs up his narcissism to distract from it.

That being said, he probably doesn't buff his narcissism around his crush that often

He puts the focus on them

Tries his best to listen to absolutely everything they have to say

Will make sure that they know he's always going to be there

Bonus: Asmodeus will always dress up his crush when he gets the chance to be absolutely stunning, but then gets really jealous when they go out and people start staring.

"Ah! It seems like they're admiring my work a little too much! I think if these dogs aren't put on leashes anytime soon, I might just have to take you back home. You wouldn't mind some alone time with Asmo, would you?~" The last sentence slips his lips in a very smooth and almost sultry tone.

Gluttony

Beel is so fucking precious please lord save me from this puppy

He would talk a lot around his crush

Boy has so much to say, I'm telling you

He's just never found the person to listen

His crush would be THAT person

The rest of the brothers would watch like "What drugs did this guy take? He usually only opens his mouth to eat something or say he wants to eat something."

Beel would also be VERY protective around his crush. Nobody would say anything to them ever because Beel would be looming over their shoulder like "Say it and I eat you."

Bonus: Everyone talks about Beels s/o being an amazing chef but just imagine him falling for someone who can't cook?

Like even though the food is bad he will sit there and eat absolutely eVERYTHING THEY MAKE

Because hes supportive and just wants to make them smile

Sloth

A weird combination of flirty and shy

Sometimes Belphie will tease his crush a little like Satan would, making comments just to see their reaction

But Belphie would see how long it would take for them to catch it instead of immediately reassuring them

He would crush on someone who doesn't mind his lifestyle of napping a lot, taking things slow, and not really caring so he'd be comfortable with them

Sometimes if his crush was sweet to him he'd get a little blushy and shy

Bonus: Imagine Belphie with an insomniac crush who can't sleep at night and takes random naps during the day

They get really tired cause they couldnt sleep the night before and Belphie asks them to come nap with him

He'll get them a pillow and everything to help them sleep at night

#obey me satan #obey me lucifer #obey me shall we date #obey me belphagor #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #obey me leviathan #obey me levi #obey me mammon #obey me asmodeus #obey me headcanons #obey me

[invincibleinck]

Rose Thorns

More Beclawed!Rinzler. Fic below the break. AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31470140

Rinzler dragged himself to shore, waterlogged and shivering. He slumped into the sand, left hand twitching, claws plunging through the grains. For a while he just laid in the surf, wheezing on water and on the verge of shut down mode. His helmet split open and he gasped his first free breath in cycles.

When he'd finally mustered the strength to lift his head, he saw the portal looming above him, half floating in the gloom. It was dimmed, indicating that the gateway was closed. He could only hope that the other User had made it out beforehand.

It was too late for the older Flynn.

With a great, trembling effort, he heaved himself to his feet, his one hand leaving deep gashes in the ground. He looked at the shape in the pixels, then at the hand that'd caused it, and finally, at the deadened portal. Though the surrounding Grid had been decimated by the explosion, the island itself remained relatively intact. Flawed, somehow, but intact. Like someone had clumsily copied it, atomized it, and then reassembled everything from the pieces.

It struck him that this was a monument to a bygone era. Never again would Users grace the Grid with their presence. Or, at least, not in the same way. Certainly not Flynn. He'd felt the force of Reintegration beneath the waves, had known in an instant that his friend was gone.

How fitting that he'd end up here, too late to help him.

...

Cycles passed without incident. Rinzler settled near the portal, camping in caves and ranging the island during the day-cycle. He nursed his wounds and suckled energy in quiet corners. It was a monotonous, lonely existence.

Still, there were worse locations to land.

The islet had a little spring of energy and plenty of places to shelter. It was a pretty place, with sweeping structures, graceful arches, and shimmering walkways. There were flying buttresses, twisting colonnades, and hollow, hexagonal facades, all lined with light. Best of all, it was isolated from the rest of the Grid, ideal for avoiding his fellow programs.

The only downside was the memories.

It was a problem with which Rinzler frequently grappled. The portal was both his sanctuary and his hell. Every light line evoked Flynn's voice, whether that be witty remarks or sincere farewells. He was plagued by memories that were not entirely his. It felt like it'd all happened to some other person, like his life was divided into two halves—pre-rectification and post-rectification, Tron and Rinzler.

But which half was he in now? Who was he now?

More often than not, he found himself in the shadow of a crumbling edifice, cradling his claws in contemplation.

Perhaps it was for the best that Flynn couldn't see him now. Not like this.

...

A beam of blinding light broke his solitude.

In defiance of all expectations, the portal was lit once more. He'd been huddling in an antre at the time, but upon seeing it, he scrambled to the top shelf of the alcove.

Two figures emerged from its rays. Usually Flynn rezzed at the Arcade entrance in the city, but not these two. They must've found him from the Outside, then reprogrammed the portal to send them here, where he was closest.

He recognized them immediately.

"I'm Quorra, and this is Sam," said the first figure.

"We've met," Sam-Flynn said tersely.

Guarding his expression, Tron regarded the two visitants. Sam still bore his father's face and still carried the wounds from their last encounter. Tron's eyes traced the deep nicks along his cheek and jaw, like a mirror to the scars on Tron's left. An uncomfortable guilt began to claw at his insides.

The woman, on the other hand, was more puzzling. He'd seen her once before, but she was different now. Her shorn hair was a little longer, though no less uneven. Her light lines seemed brighter and her face shone with newfound confidence. There was something else as well, something that Tron couldn't quite classify.

User? ISO? His scans kept sending back conflicting information.

She approached him with an arm stretched out, not to ward him away, but in invitation. The act threw him completely off-kilter. No one ever wanted to touch him, and when they did, it was usually because he'd done something wrong. Touch meant pain.

A horrible growl tore from Rinzler's ruined throat. At the same time, his circuits flashed crimson. His eyes measured the distance between them and he took two steps back to compensate for the loss. The distance made him feel safer, if only slightly.

"Quorra-" Fast as sparks, Sam put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's just go. It's not worth it."

Reluctantly, Quorra rolled back on her heels, and Rinzler's snarls died down. Her eyes softened but Rinzler balked at the sadness inside them. He didn't need anyone's sympathy, nor did he want it.

"Another time, maybe," she ventured, allowing Sam to steer her away.

"Another time," Sam agreed.

Neither one of them turned their backs until they were almost directly under the code stream. Tron watched as each loosened their discs and held them into the beam.

Over her shoulder, Quorra said, "I'm sorry if I startled you-!" The words were only half out of her mouth before she was swept up through the funnel. One nano there was a body, and the next there was nothing. Only light was left behind.

Sam-Flynn also paused just before passing into the portal's light. The relief building in Tron at their departure stuttered in his chest. Unbidden, he felt the hackles rising along his neck. Sam seemed to sense his unease, because his gaze never quite moved above Tron's neck and his heels scuffed against the plateau.

"For the record, that thing I said earlier- it didn't come out right." Eyes flashing, he drew himself up and set his shoulders. In that moment, he'd never looked more like a Flynn. "You are worth it... Maybe not the scratches, though. Those hurt like a bitch."

...

The second time Sam-Flynn and Quorra visited, they brought gifts.

"It's called a rose," said Quorra, extending the flower like it was a peace offering. "They grow in the User world, and Users keep them around because they're pretty.

Tron stood like a statue, flummoxed by this otherworldly bloom. Despite his attempts at aloofness, a prickle of interest coursed through his code. He cocked his head to the side but did not approach. Quorra took the gesture as an invitation and moved boldly forward, heedless to Sam sputtering behind her. Step by step, she closed the expanse between them.

At last, Tron's curiosity got the better of him. He met Quorra halfway and stretched forth his dominant hand. Out of reflex, the claws came out, and he held back for fear of cutting her. He swallowed, counting the nanos until the prongs retracted, hyper-aware of the woman's patient scrutiny.

He gripped the 'rose' by its stem, just under the bud, and balanced it precariously between the pads of two fingers. Somewhere in the background Sam made a noise and Rinzler reacted without thinking. He tore back his hand like it'd been scalded, taking the rose with him. Quorra didn't flinch.

Gently, Tron examined his new prize. He brushed the bulb with an index claw before plucking a single petal, marvelling at its colour. Red, like his old circuits. Red, like the blood shed by Sam-Flynn in that arena.

His finger moved downward, dislodging the petal in the process. It fluttered to the floor as he caressed the spiked stalk. Every movement was met with a bump as his nail travelled over tiny thorns embedded in the stem. Barbs, so much like the talons gracing his left hand. Next to the rose, they almost looked... elegant, more like an adornment than a disfigurement.

So many pretty things in the User World...

Over time his growl softened into a sort of chirring. He cradled the small sprig to his chest, oblivious to the thorns plucking at his circuits or the stares from his guests. Sam's forced verve vanished in the face of a genuine smile, which was mirrored tenfold by his companion.

Quorra spoke softly, "If you'd like, we can come back and bring some more...? Would you like that?"

Rinzler's silence was all the assent she needed.

#Tron #Tron Legacy #Fanfiction #Fanfic #Tronfic #Fan art #Beclawed!Rinzler #Clawed Tronzler

[prose-for-hire]

Me and You

Pairing: Faith x fem!slayer!reader

Request: Hi, could you write a faith x female reader (maybe also a slayer) story where the reader is like Faiths opposite, really responsible and serious (sorta like Kendra) and her and Faith keep squabbling but end up falling for each other? If not I completely understand, its your call, thanks :)

Requested by: Anon

A/N: I absolutely love Faith, I want her to hold me lol 💖🖤

As soon as you had been called, your life had completely slotted into place. You were a Slayer. One of the chosen ones. You had perfectly crafted a ten-point plan and highlighted all of the goals you wished to reach now that you were on this path.

You took studying very seriously, you read more than the watcher that you had been assigned. He was actually pretty hopeless, you wondered why he had been assigned to you.

But, you did respect those in authority. So, you assisted him and somehow the correct tome made its way to his desk as if by magic. You respected the status quo for the most part. The way that everyone had their place and yours was to fight vampires and other kinds of demons.

You had arrived in Sunnydale, having been told there were already two slayers there. You weren’t really used to friends and so you didn’t know what to make of them. Faith had taken one look at you and decided she knew everything she needed to know about you.

“Slayer?”

“Yes! Isn’t it a gift?”

“Yeah, the kind you return” She had rolled her eyes at you and dipped. Not needing to hear you recite the entire Slayer manual to her backwards.

As time went on, you got on with Buffy although you felt she wished you would switch off as well. But you had a duty, it was what you had trained for. You couldn’t relax for a moment, you didn’t want to.

However, you entirely didn’t get along with Faith. You were always squabbling. You infuriated each other. You never agreed. Especially not on slaying. But it ended up bleeding through into all parts of you lives.

You just couldn’t stop arguing. Sometime sit was heated and one of you had your hand curled into a fist. Other times it was stupid and petty and you both knew it, but it didn’t mean you would stop.

However, as this continued, you began to find yourself becoming increasingly attracted to her. It confused you and you hadn’t understood at first. But soon you were watching her lips as she spoke. Imagining kissing her. Having those toned arms wrapped around you.

You only snapped more at her when you realised. Didn’t want anyone to notice, much less her, the way that you felt. You had never even considered that she felt the same. And she really did.

Buffy had said you needed to patrol. There was a nest of vamps and she needed you to take the west and you would meet your patrol partner there.

She had chosen to have her actual friends with her so that she wasn’t bored and decided to pair you and Faith up on the far side from where she would be. 

“You?!” You squeaked, your voice higher in pitch than you had expected it to be.

“Yep. Just me and you” She grinned at your expression walking past you her stake in hand. You exhaled, sighing audibly in frustration as you stalked after her to catch up.

You were going to be alone together. You didn’t know if you were annoyed or elated. You couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to be her girlfriend.

It took about three steps before you began to squabble again. As you usually would. Your voices had carried across the cemetery you had been walking through. It wasn’t your usual stealth. Because of how much attention you were paying each other and how engrossed in the interaction you were, no matter how heated it was getting, it meant you hadn’t noticed the vampires that were beginning to surround you.

You walked for a while until you made a left turn and suddenly found yourself surrounded. A nest of vampires were apparently a whole army of vampires.

But they had a mastermind behind them. They had rushed you, you managed to thin the herd slightly but not by enough. You and Faith retreated into an old tunnel system. You fought hard, but it was no use. You were strong but there was too many.

You had began fighting in-sync but you had soon ended up as if you were fighting your own battle. Getting in each other’s ways. You shouted at each other but it was no use.

Suddenly as more vampires could be heard running to join the fight overhead, there was a loud cracking sound above your heads. The foundations weren’t solid in this area. The ground above had caved in and left the concrete crumbling into the tunnels.

Luckily, you and Faith had been left in one half and the vampires in the other. Unluckily, you had hit a dead end and had been sealed in.

Now you were trapped. Together. Because you had been paying more attention to each other rather than the threat.

“Well, that’s one threat gone” She shrugged as you just stared incredulously. You hadn’t taken out the nest and now you were trapped. There was no good side.

“Oh yeah, well done. I could have handled it”

“You and what army, huh? You’re kiddin’ yourself” Faith shook her head at you. At the way you were so self-assured you were giving her a run for her money.

But despite her faults, of which you had pointed out many to her as she had to you, she was perceptive. She noticed something about you. She wished she could pretend she hadn’t been taking notice of you on purpose. Because of that guilty affection she harboure for you. The one she couldn’t dare name. She didn’t want to get hurt, she would rather stick to relationships with guys she didn’t care about. She only had to pretend to care for a night.

With you, it was different. To be vulnerable with you and to have you reject her. To not be affectionate with her the way she was embarrassed to admit she had dreamed about.

She didn’t usually do this. Let you see that she took notice of you, but she couldn’t help saying it.

“Not everything is you havin’ the whole world on your shoulders y’know?” she asked, her tone had changed. Almost… softened. You didn’t take care of yourself at times, she had noticed. Sacrificing yourself for your duty.

“Yeah you wouldn’t know” You snapped back at her despite the tone you had thought you caught from her. But your voice was wavering. Every second you spent trapped you began feeling worse and worse.

Faith didn’t take your snapping personally, she never did. In fact, she found herself enjoying it. Finding herself noticing the absence if you hadn’t interacted that day. Even if it was just you at each other’s throats.

It had been hours. You had both barely spoken since. You had to take your jackets off as the room began to heat up. You were beginning to sweat. Your breathing irregular. You were pacing.

“I-I can’t do this!” You suddenly shouted, “I need to get out of here!”

“Hey, y/n/n-”

“Help!” You screamed, pounding on the wall. Hoping that someone, anyone would hear you. But Faith, as you usually would, knew that this could bring threat. You were panicking so Faith clasped a hand over your mouth, muffling your shouts. You missed the way her other hand lingered on your shoulder in your panic.

She expected you to push her off but you just sort of let her hold you there. The proximity to you was agonising and your breathing was heavy. From the fear. From the way her skin felt against you.

But rather than argue, you just stopped. She moved her hands away and you moved against the wall, sliding down it to sit at the bottom on the floor.

You put your head in your hands. You didn’t like this. You were truly scared. She had never seen you this way. You were always cool. Taking everything as it came at you. You took on every duty that was expected of you.

But now you just couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t follow protocol. You didn’t want to be stuck here. Didn’t want to have to wait it out. To possibly never see the light of day.

She saw that you were scared. Genuinely scared in a way you would never usually let her see. She presumed you were so cool all of the time. A robot. Y/n the slayer-tron.

You were visibly worried. Expecting the end. She watched you for a moment, debating whether to comfort you. Before her mouth decided for her.

“Hey, don’t freak okay? B knows where we are. Her and the others’ll come” She shrugged, sitting down beside you on the floor.

But she wasn’t as sure of herself as she came across. She was being strong. For you. She had never seen you be this vulnerable before. You would never admit you were scared. But being confined here it made you rethink everything. Your very purpose.

“What if we die down here?”

“Hey, don’t sweat it, huh? It’ll be cool” she said firmly.

She looked at you for a moment, wanting to put her arms around your shoulder. Provide some kind of comfort. She couldn’t explain it. She cared about you, she had just never known how to show it. Arguing and working up a lot of sexual tension was so much easier.

“B-but it’s real, isn’t it? That we could die. That we will die… sooner than later” You never allowed yourself to think of it, much less discuss it. But this situation had gotten to you somehow. Had made you question your resolve. Your duties. How you just listened to the rules without questioning them.

This also made you incredibly guilty. You prided yourself on how seriously you took your duty. On the way you were a watcher’s dream. How you had saved the world.

It shocked her, that you would include her in your thoughts. Gave her this strange feeling. Hope. Or, a feeling that you trusted her in some sense. Could rely on her in the way she wished you would sometimes.

“Look, I don’t know about you but I’m here for the long haul. We’re good at this, we’re survivors” She offered, talking of you both as a unit. As something that appeared to meant she was by your side. That you weren’t alone in how you felt.

“Yeah, when we’re not getting ourselves trapped” You berated yourself more than her. You didn’t want to be stuck here, but you would be lying if you hadn’t imagined having her to yourself this way. In a conversation that was kind.

“Accidents happen. Me and you, we’re, uh, the ultimate team. We’re- we’re gonna get through this, right?”

“Me and you” you repeated and she nodded, smiling. As if telling you ‘that’s the spirit’. But her smile dropped a little when she saw the look you were giving her. Your lips were parted slightly and she couldn’t help scanning your face. You were so close she could map out every feature so clearly. She was making a mental picture so that she could submit it to memory.

The temperature had been rising the entire time you had been stuck there. The proximity of the way that you were sitting made those words feel intimate. You had wordlessly shifted closer as you spoke.

The meaning growing as you both leaned in. Agonisingly slowly. Heat rising around you, but you still reached for her weaving your fingers through her shiny brunette hair. She felt so good under your hands it propelled your forwards her lips were waiting. She had waited so long for this moment.

Driven herself wild with want. With the lust she had, the thoughts she had drove her crazy. That she wanted all sides of you. Even your stick-by-the-rules nature. She was fond of you. She had such deep feelings.

Your lips met. Crashing against each other in your haste. In your innate need to connect with her. Through the arguing. Through the frustration. Focusing only on her lips, the way her tongue entered your mouth urgently.

You couldn’t get over how good she tasted. How you never wanted to stop. You were addicted to her touch. To her.

But of course, you knew this already. You were only confirming it. And this was no mere kiss. Not to either of you. This was Earth-shifting. Ground breaking.

You had kissed her. She was surprised at the way you had initiated this. She didn’t expect you to actually feel the tension the way she did. But she fucking loved it.

You were hungry for more. For her. In that moment, you were willing to forget your situation. Hell, you were ready to forget every responsibility. Your very destiny. Just to keep her lips on yours. To have her reciprocate your feelings even if it was only physical for her. But it wasn’t just physical to her. This meant something.

Suddenly you heard something. A spell had broken through the barriers that had blocked you in. A flash of light and you had sprung apart. Both breathing heavily, trying to catch your breath. Chests heaving. Eyes glancing towards the other, making sure it wasn’t dream.

Some guilty secret. Somehow, you both knew that wasn’t the last kiss you would share.

Your rescuers all pretended they hadn’t seen anything. But your friends were all as relieved as you, it had been about time.

#Faith lehane #Faith lehane x reader #Faith x reader #Faith x you #Faith imagine #Faith lehane x you #Faith lehane imagine #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #buffy the vampire slayer imagines #btvs #btvs x reader #btvs imagine #btvs x you #buffyverse #slayer #slayer reader #female #female reader

[moonflower-31]

I Won’t Forget You - Spencer Reid x Reader

Masterlist 

Part 9 

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader 

Warnings: Just some self doubt. 

Tags: @dra-reid, @eevee0722, @ceeellewrites, @anotherr-fine-mess, @ssahoodrathotchner 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

If you were honest, you didn't sleep much that night. Too much was on your mind. Namely a specific Doctor. 

You stared up at the terrible, obnoxious, and stupidly carpeted ceiling. It was a silly pattern you'd expect to be in a cheap motel that most likely had bed-bugs. Not one that was considered 'decent'. 

You had tossed and you had turned over and over for the past hour. The way Spencer had completely ignored you after the interrogation irked you. You kept getting mixed signals from him. Was he just jealous? Did he just not want to see his friend sexualize herself? Or was it just embarrassment that you were his coworker? No matter how much logic you applied to the situation, the latter seemed to be the truth. And that hurt you to no end.  

Were you really so much in the wrong for Spencer to think badly of you? You'd think he'd be one to understand that people make mistakes. Or that you have to do some things to get to the end goal. And that not all of those things are pretty or something a 'lady' should do. 

But then the other portion of your cerebrum began to ponder whether or not you were just overthinking this. That you had only known each other for two months. Over that even. And you remembered every waking moment. 

After staring into the void that was the ugly ceiling, you sat up with a huff. This was ridiculous. You weren't going to be able to sleep whatsoever if you didn't resolve this. At the very least put the self-doubting part of your mind at ease. 

You stood up from the terribly hard mattress and grabbed your phone. You adjusted your shirt and the way your pajama pants looked before you exited your room on a mission. 

You brought up the memory of Emily giving you your room number and overhearing Spencers. Room 206. 

You locked the motel door behind you and headed towards the door in question. Thankfully his room wasn't too far away from yours. 

You finally reached the door and without fully thinking about the time and whether or not knocking on someone's door at fucking 3 in the morning was going to piss them off, you knocked three times. 

And then that's when the doubt set in. Immediately you began debating on what was the safest escape route. The side of the building was closer to Spencer’s room than your room was. Maybe you could just ditch the doorbell and hide behind a bush like a child. 

But of course, as soon as you had made up your mind, the knob miraculously turned. And a few moments of nervous panting later, he opened the door, giving you a curious, but genuine smile. 

"Hey, (L/N). You need something?" He asks. You narrow your eyes at him. He was asking something so off the obvious elephant of a topic that you knew he was avoiding it. 

"Yeah, I'd think coming to your door at 3:02 am means I need something, Spencer." You tease. He chuckled back and smiled a little easier. 

"I'm listening." He promises, his gaze focused seemingly on your eyes. 

"Heh. Well… first off, why are you even up? And don't give me the excuse that I woke you up. Because you are a dead heavy sleeper." 

"Guess you caught me." He says. His body language was completely different than what his eyes and words were telling you. He was looking at you warmly and greeting you kindly like a friend. But his body language was more hesitant, almost like he was trying to keep himself from doing something. 

"Guess I did." You trailed as you pondered over your newfound observations of the tired Doctor. "So? Why are you up?" 

"I...can't sleep." He admits with a heavy sigh. 

"Really? Well, I guess we're both insomniacs." 

Spencer lets out a gentle laugh and looks down towards the floor. "I suppose we are."

You laugh gently with him for a few more moments, before you both fall back into silence. You look away from him after a build-up of embarrassment just as he turns to look you in the eye. You were both so damn awkward. 

After a couple of seconds, you didn't know where it came from but a strong surge of confidence pushed through your veins. 

"Look… Spencer…" you begin, looking up at him. His ears seem to perk up at your starting tone, finally looking you in the eyes. As you stare into his hazel eyes, you feel the nervousness of talking to him melt just a little. You could do this. 

You take a deep breath and continue. "I don't know what I did, exactly to warrant you ignoring me yesterday. I get that seeing someone you're close to doing something like what I did, probably was as embarrassing as it was for me to do it knowing you all were watching." The blush on your cheeks brightened and you could feel how warm they were. 

Spencer turned his head slightly to the side, his eyes narrowing as he began to try and understand what you were saying. Before he could say anything in response, you continue your statement. 

"But I don't want our job to drive us apart. Cause… I kind of like this dynamic we have. I like being your friend and I like talking statistics and facts. Especially when we both know that the rest of the team won't understand. It's the best way to mess with them." You begin to laugh as you continue, your eyes never leaving his. 

"I-I do too…" he admits, smiling down at you. He wanted to say so much. So much was on his mind that he wanted to tell you, but he knew you had to say your peace first. Otherwise he'd be talking over you.

"I don't want to lose this. So… let me make it up to you. Let me bring you over to my place this time. I'll let my roommates know not to bother us and I'll show you Voltron or something." You suggest, sighing through the last few words. "Please. Don't push me away. You're the one person I've met in the last five years I haven't wanted to push away so they didn't get too close." 

You immediately realize what you said, causing your rapid inhale to stutter. You desperately hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way. Even with as much as you wanted to tell him here and now how you truly felt, you knew you couldn't until you dealt with your mother. She had ways of torturing you and the people around you that you didn't want to be used on your newfound family. So for now… you had to keep it on the down low. 

Spencer's gaze got as soft as it could get and he smiled his brightest. "People with abandonment issues, whether being abandoned or doing it themselves tend to have a harder time choosing and keeping friends. So… I'm glad to have made that cut, for you." He expressed. "And… I would gladly have a vol...tron marathon with you. With or without your other friends." He assured you. 

And in that instant you felt as if the entire world was lifted off your shoulders. You had been so nervous that he was going to reject your attempt at making up. Guess that was what you got for assuming of people. 

You smiled and pressed a hand to your chest. "Thank you…" 

Spencer nodded slightly, his smile still present on his lips. After a few moments he widened his eyes and looked around. "Do-" he started, watching as your bare shoulders shivered a bit. "Do you wanna come in? I made coffee." He asks, an extra chipper tone in his voice as he began to prioritize your health. 

You chuckled. "Sure, Spence. I'll come in and have some coffee. As long as you don't start going crazy and bouncing off the walls when you're slap-happy." You couldn't help but tease, nudging his shoulder as he let you in. He grabbed a nearby blanket and wrapped it around you as you did, chuckling to himself as you teased. 

"I never got the idea of 'slap-happy'. The dictionary definition is 'casual or flippant in a cheerful, almost inappropriate way' but in recent years it's been used to describe a lethargic person unwilling to sleep." He asks, pushing the door behind the two of you closed. 

"I dunno where I even got it. I just kept hearing it used like that in my childhood. Guess it stuck." You pondered, taking a seat on the motel sofa. "So, where is this coffee you speak of?" You ask, putting on your most childish smile. Spencer’s gaze never left you, bringing him to a bright smile as he watched you. 

"Heh, I'll go get you a cup. Sugar?" He asks. 

"Three whopping spoonfuls, Spence. No more, definitely no less." You insist in a fake posh voice you definitely didn't make up just now. 

Spencer couldn't help the loud laugh that echoed out his mouth as he went over to the kitchen counter with the coffee maker. "Sure thing my lady." He played along with a chuckle, taking out the coffee pot and a cup to pour it into. 

He couldn't ignore you in hopes these feelings would go away. They weren't going to. He couldn't even get through 6 hours, 37 minutes and 43 seconds without talking to you. Or at least being near you. He couldn't sleep without knowing you were okay. Without seeing you before he went to bed. There was no use in ignoring these feelings. They were there, no matter how much he wished they weren't, for your sake. 

He was glad you took it as him being uncomfortable with what you had to do to get information from the unsub. Sure, it had caused a fire-like jealousy that burned in his chest. But that wasn't why he left. He left because a part of him imagined it was him getting to flirt with you. Getting to see under your skirt if he leaned back in his chair enough. It was perverted, and you didn't deserve that. 

He let out a gentle sigh and added the creamer and the three spoonfuls of sugar to your cup, letting his worries wash away. He had feelings. And sometimes those feelings lead him to the bathroom in hopes he wouldn't give it all away to you when you returned from interrogation. 

"One extra sugar-y coffee for her highness." He says, chuckling as he gave you your cup. You giggle from his own fake-posh voice, taking the cup as he hands it to you. 

"Thank you, Spencer." 

Spencer’s heart could have stopped right in this moment and he wouldn't be happier to see you smile as happily as you were. You trusted him. You wanted to be friends with him. If that's what he could have for now, it's what he would take. 

○●♡●○ 

You were groggy that next day when you got onto the plane and got home. The time you spent filling out the report for the case was mostly full of you and Spencer sending each other psychology memes through email when no one was watching, and waiting for the other's reaction. One you ended up sending him made him laugh so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. So despite feeling groggy, you felt victorious.  

"So… you wanna tell us what happened between you and boy-wonder?" Morgan asked, leaning against the counter in the lounge area of the bullpen as he drank his second coffee of the day. 

"Nothing! We just… talked. And now we're good." You answered vaguely, knowing the hell that would break loose if Morgan or Garcia even knew what you felt last night. Even if it was most definitely platonic, (at least that's what you keep telling yourself.) You couldn't deny how many times you actually thought about kissing him. 

"Nuh-uh, mama. You ain't gonna get away with just a touch and go." He teases. You rolled your eyes playfully, a smile pulling harder onto your face. Morgan grinned. 

"Kid, that face alone tells me something happened. Spill. Or I'll go talk to pretty boy and get my answers from him." He playfully observes and threatens. 

You widen your eyes and gently push against Morgan’s shoulder. "Hush. Nothing happened. We just had a chat at like 3 am over the coffee he made. And I fell asleep on the couch in his motel room, alright?" You giggle as you remember the night. Miraculously, you didn't fall asleep on his shoulder and trap him. You were glad for that. 

"Uhh uh… and I'm a superstar wrestler." Derek teased, taking another sip. 

"Who's a wrestler?" Emily asked, walking into the lounge with an empty coffee cup. 

"Apparently Derek is because he keeps insisting that something happened last night when nothing did. Spencer and I just had a chat. Nothing more, alright?" You insist, hoping Emily would be more on your side. 

"Alright, whatever you say kid." Morgan gave up, drinking the last bit of his coffee before washing it. "Have a good night, (Y/N). See you tomorrow." He bids you farewell. You roll your eyes again and wave him goodbye. 

Soon after Morgan left the doorway, Spencer replaced him, obviously looking for you. Emily looked at you once she realized who you were looking at. She smirked and nudged your shoulder.

"What?" You ask, seeing Spencer coming towards you. 

"You got it bad." She comments, immediately sending your cheeks into a bright red fury. 

"Who's got it bad? Is it allergies?" Spencer asks, making you sigh with relief that he was so innocent in those departments. 

"U-uh…" you start, seeing Emily watch your misery with a smirk on her face. You make a mental note to get back at her for this later. "Yeah, talking about u-uh… allergies. I get them bad." You finally answer, feeling stupid for taking the low-hanging fruit. 

Spencer, thankfully, didn't say anything and instead shrugged. "Well, I hear the over the counter medication Aleeve can help with that." He offers, clutching at the strap of his bag. You smile at how cute he was in his cardigan and tie. Always formal. 

"Yeah, I need to try it. A-anyway… you ready to go?" You ask him, walking away from Emily. You already knew she was giving you a teasing look from behind you. It was best Spencer didn't.  

"Y-yeah, I uh… was coming to get you actually." He says, looking into your eyes with the widest and most adorable fucking smile you'd ever seen. You felt a bit of yourself melt and flashed him a smile in return. 

"Really? Okay then, let's get going to my car. Unless you don't want me to drive to my own place." You tease, reminding him of how insistent he had been when he had offered to take you home. He chuckled, obviously remembering the memory. 

"I think it would be better if you drove. I haven't visited just yet." He answers, beginning to walk with you out of the lounge and out of the bullpen. 

"Good, so at least this time I don't have to worry about rain in my car cause I always keep a small part of my driver side window open for air. " you tease again, walking beside him to the elevator. 

"That… is a terrible idea. There are more opportunities open to people to steal your car than for your car to stay cool from an open window." Spencer expressed, giving you a look of disbelief. 

"Hey, it's a habit." You say, pressing the down button on the elevator. 

After a few minutes, you begin to feel a nervousness build up in your belly. The last time you left together, your mother had greeted you with her fake face and fake cleavage. You couldn't help but feel a little deja vu. 

Spencer looked over to you, having found something else to say. He noticed the gentle indent in your cheek, making him slightly smile at how cute it was. He reached out his hand and rested it on your back once he made sure you knew what he was doing. 

"I doubt she'll be here, (Y/N). The probability of her being here after two months, 1 week and 3 days is very unlikely. If she does, the office has been notified to arrest her on sight." Spencer assured, rubbing your back gently. You sighed again, a smile forming on your face again. You felt strangely assured as you felt the warmth of his hand against your back. It was even better knowing he didn't do this for everyone. This was going to be okay. You were going to be okay. Even if your mother decided to be a bitch and try and come back for you. 

"Thanks Spence." 

Spencer nodded as the elevator doors opened, prompting the two of you to begin your walk to your car. 

"So… tell me about this 'Voltron'..." Spencer prompted as you both entered the parking lot. You giggle and wrap your arms around your sides. 

"Man, you are so behind on the times." You commented, unlocking your car and climbing into the driver's seat. 

Spencer joined you in the car, promptly bumping his head against the ceiling of the car. You gasp softly and fight off the urge to laugh. 

"What are you, a gnome?" He groans, rubbing his head. You finally laugh, leaning over your steering wheel. 

"Try lowering the seat. It's one of the notches on the side." You tease in a mixture of laughter and giggles. 

Spencer smiled at your reaction, putting the seat down and putting his seatbelt on. You pushed through the rest of your giggles and started the car. 

"Oh… uh, just as a fair warning, my roommates they… can be a little much." You turned towards him and warned. He shrugged. 

"I'm sure they aren't that bad, (Y/N). I mean, we hang out with Morgan and Garcia all the time. How much more weird can they be?" He asks. "Considering the probability, not very likely." 

You shook your head and laughed. "Alright, let's see if your theory is correct, Doctor." 

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x reader fic #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x reader fanfiction #spencer reid x y/n #spencer x you #spencer x reader #spencer x y/n #spencer x reader fanfic #spencer #Criminal Minds #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #criminal minds fandom #criminal minds fanfic

[radiantlyrey]

Thoughts on Uprising ep16 “Welcome Home”

- (sorry for no post yesterday; spent an exhausting day at the zoo in a group of TWENTY PEOPLE—and by the end of the day I was overstimulated and too tired to do anything but sleep, so.)

- also there’s only three eps after this!!! FUCK. I WANT SIX SEASONS AND A MOVIE OF THIS, HOLY SHIT.

- cold open time!: we pick up pretty much right where we left off, with Keller evading capture in a train station (the Black Guard go after someone else and don’t even fucking apologize for the mixup, because of course not) and after a brief eek moment with the ticket takers, she’s seemingly in the clear—until fucking BECK?!?! SHOWS UP!?!?!

- it makes total sense that he’s not in his Renegade disguise, since the Renegade is more wanted than Keller is at the moment, but STILL. INTERESTING. I wonder if Tron put him up to this (not that we find out because Tron is not in this episode!) anyway, he’s largely being honest with Keller and his desire to have her defect to the resistance’s side in Argon, but Keller’s not hearing any of it and then Paige is there!!! FUCK!!!!

- Beck gets Keller out of sight, at least, and he flirts terribly with Paige in an attempt to buy Keller some time, including a terrible lie about being an architect. Keller juuuuuuust barely squeaks out of there in a moment when Paige is distracted, because it turns out Pavel is here in a chopper!!

- and why is Pavel here? well, he is here Specifically To Be An Asshole!!! BECAUSE OF COURSE HE IS!!! Keller almost gets away on a wing chute (almost; tho I imagine if she’d opened it in front of the chopper she would have become bits VERY QUICKLY), then hides when the chopper opens fire and Beck kind of tries to make things better but may have just made things worse??? I’d have to watch again, but I think his disc hitting the chopper is what causes the engine damage? anyway.

- Pavel, being an asshole, peaces the fuck out when it looks like the train is going to just…. crash horribly, and it’s here again that we see Paige’s empathy towards other programs on display. I love that Pavel calls it “predictable” in her; I guess there’s a good possibility that he knows she used to be a medical program? maybe not, that seems like something he would leverage against her almost immediately, so. maybe not.

- meanwhile (and I note here again that this is the third episode in a row with no B plot!), Beck catches up with Keller and kind of convinces her not to just jump out the train and make it to Bismuth on foot or whatever so she can start over? like, you can tell she’s kind of half convinced, but obviously she still needs to hide.

- and then it’s time for more flirting!!! to keep Paige distracted!!!! hoo boy. like. Beck has already been flirting with Paige as the Renegade, but it’s weird to see his face when he’s doing it. and because she doesn’t actually think/know he’s a threat, Paige is kind of receptive to the flirting. (also I love that Beck said he was an architect and has to walk that back because the train needs his mechanic skills)

- meanwhile, those two ticket takers have hatched a plan to use the train’s escape pod to get out of what seems like imminent fiery death! I’m sure this won’t cause any problems, especially since Keller overheard them plotting!!! and indeed, Keller accidentally gets one of them derezzed, and perhaps rightfully gets denied by the other one when they reach the escape pod! so there’s that!!!! ugh.

- Beck and Paige end up making a pretty good team, all things considered. like, they are definitely on opposite sides, which sucks, but you can kind of tell that the creators were angling for Paige to switch sides at some point in the show (if we had gotten six seasons and a movie……), because they would not be setting this relationship up otherwise. (speaking of ships that are gonna KILL ME……………)

- so Beck and Paige get the train decoupled from the engine, saving all the passengers, but then it turns out—the bridge just outside of Bismuth is fucking BROKEN. like, there ain’t no bridge there, it’s GONE, and anyone still on the engine part of the train (Keller, Paige, Beck) is gonna die a horrible death if they don’t get off or stop the engine!!!! FUCK.

- (also I just gotta say the whole bit in the Bismuth station where the Argon Express is announced as arriving and departing within like five seconds: genuinely hilarious)

- Beck manages to save the day by jamming up the engine with lightcycle parts?? I guess???? anyway, it works, and Beck very nearly dies for it!!! OOF. and then Keller decides that Paige’s heartfelt offer of Tesler’s leniency is too good to pass up and un-defects, and decides at the last possible fucking moment NOT to hand Beck over as a member of the resistance and THANK FUCK FOR THAT. and then Paige reveals her secret—that she’s a medical program—and asks? Beck out?? on a DATE?!?!?!?! OKAY THEN.

- coda: see, I knew the moment Paige offered it that Tesler was not going to quietly let Keller back into the fold. the ONLY reason he spared Paige’s life and started mentoring her after the whole thing with Quorra was capricious fucking whim. no more, no less. he’s a liar and a cold-hearted murderer, and he knows he has Paige’s trust, so he knows he can quietly abuse that trust. so seriously? FUCK HIM. that scene where he derezzed Keller was HORRIFYING and also the darkest fucking Title Drop I’ve seen in this show. FUCK.

- all in all: good episode, A++, would watch Beck flirt again.

#tronblr #tron #tron: uprising #skye liveblogs things

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Summerslam 2021 - Initial Reaction and Review

It's been a big week for wrestling in general, and now we have the Biggest Party of the Summer in the books, uncharacteristically airing on a Saturday.

It's been a while since I've run down a WWE PPV, time and apathy does have a bit to do with it, but since this is a big 4 and given what happened in Chicago there's definitely curiosity over how WWE would respond

Spoilers for Summerslam 2021 Below, I will be discussing the winners and moments so watch the PPV first

As usual I will indicate in the title who was the person I expected to win before the match started, but instead of Bold this time I'll put them in Italics with the whole match card being in bold

Kick-off

A long-ass kickoff was majority promo and interviews, not any contrarion drabble this time which was good. It was kinda sad to see Asuka on the packages but nowhere to be seen on the card.

I did like the sign guy of 'McAfee = Ratings' because he's kinda right, he has been great on commentary. I did not miss that dude in the Fiend Mask though, or the Lily Doll.

I will reiterate though that Sonya Deville is wasted right now, let her back in the goddamn ring, SD's Women's Division does need it and they make her look like a goof as Assistant GM.

Also apparently the Mysterios vs Usos aren't good enough for a promo package, not like it's a title match or anything... plus the disrespect still there, 'I wouldn't wanna work with my dad' they say like Rey isn't a multi time world champion with a huge wealth of experience.

The Miz and Morrison came in with a water truck to a mixed pop of cheers and boos, this moist gimmick ain't great but props for both guys being dedicated to it, it was short enough not to overstay its welcome too.

Ugh, Logan Paul is here...

Big E def. Baron Corbin (Pinfall via Big Ending) We had a new announcer from a Tiktok competition winner called Raine, and you know she was really good at it.

Corbin entered to boos hugging the MITB briefcase he stole, unable to afford entrance music it seems even though he's getting a PPV paycheck. To his credit he looks ultra disheveled, and when the ref had to pry the briefcase from him he looked super forlorn. I dunno why he's wrestling in a shirt though wouldn't that make it dirtier?

When the bell rings E does basically go right at Corbin, Corbin got a shoulder block in but then got caught in a belly to belly - despite protests - then a belly to backp. E missing the apron splash as Corbin senses a countout win, at 7 he leaves the ring to hit E against the ring post to try and eke out more time, demanding that the timekeeper keep the briefcase in his sights. E does return to the ring but his spear goes right is sidestepped into the ringpost, then thrown into them two more times, but only gets 2.

Corbin continues with some momentum with a sidewalk slam for 2, but his chokeslam is reversed into a rollup for 2 then a stretch muffler. He escapes and hits the Deep Six for 2, then 1.8, Corbin then stumbles to the briefcase, considering an exit before being hit with a lariat. E throws Corbin into the ring, but Corbin rolls right out, grabs the briefcase and tries to run around the ring only to be pounced into the barricade by Big E. The cat and mouse chase comes to an end, Corbin elbows E to get some room to roll to the other side of the ring but E catches him with that suicide spear he does, the briefcase is dropped and the straps are off: Big Ending for 3.

Shots of Logan Paul are hilariously met with huge boos as Big E finally reclaims his briefcase to a pop.

It was a nice little match, good palette cleanser and a nice and clean competition, Corbin had no chance in winning but it was a solid way to warm up the crowd for the main ppv.

Our final bit of the kick-off was discussing the UNI main event, though I feel like losing your job is a higher stake than winning your 17th world title. Also they had to force in the shucky ducky which was dumb.

Main Show

Raw Tag Team Championship: RK-Bro [Randy Orton & Riddle] def AJ Styles & Omos (c) [TITLE CHANGE] (Pinfall on Styles by Orton via RKO) Starting the night with some fun as Riddle comes out in a garish snake print outfit with a cerise pink lining, Orton didn't get the fashion memo thankfully but his hologram snake was cheesy. Riddle interacted with the crowd and had the multicoloured holo-doves while Orton mainly kept to himself. AJ and Omos came out together, though Omos had no theatrics, looking like a bouncer being invited to dinner still.

Orton and AJ started the match, Orton with the early advantage and tagging Riddle in for an assisted backflip for a 1 count, AJ rolls out the ring frustrated then tags in Omos, who just ragdolls Riddle; Shoulder Block, big clubbing blow then a delayed powerslam - an interesting glance over to Orton as well as they smile at each other, almost like Orton approved. Omos tries to deadlift Riddle with a wristlock but Riddle scrambles into a sleeper, but is flipped off then flattened in the corner. AJ tags in, platforming Omos for a Tornado DDT for 2, Riddle tries to fight out but runs into a backbreaker as AJ tells Orton 'you're next'.

During the rest hold, the crowd rallies Riddle back into the fight, AJ looks to have reclaimed an advantage and throws Riddle to his corner, but Riddle turns it into a dropkick on Omos, then dumps AJ out the ring. Riddle tries to tag Orton but AJ grabs him, enzugiri by Riddle allows Orton to make the hot tag. Clotheslines on AJ, a forearm to Omos - but it only stuns him, doesn't even fall to the floor, backdrop and another forearm to Omos that again fails to drop him. Clothesline to corner and a powerslam, this time Orton drops Omos out the ring by dropkicking the knees, draping DDT gets Orton feeling the RKO, but Omos drags AJ out the ring, then catches Riddle's dive to chokeslam him onto the apron. AJ stuns Orton with a jawbreaker on the ropes and gestures Omos to finish Riddle, but Riddle escapes the lawn dart and pushes Omos into the ring post. AJ though catches Riddle with his backflip reverse DDT on the outside, he misses the Phenomenal Forearm, but stands his ground against the RKO attempt, he rolls up for 2 and then lands into an RKO for 3.

It didn't last long but it was a fun opener, it was time for a title change and RK-Bro was a good choice. It's a shame Styles has to be the weak link but you can't be surprised that WWE continue to protect Omos.

Alexa Bliss (w/Lily) def. Eva Marie (w/ Doudrop) (Pinfall via DDT) The Lily hologram was fucking horrifying as Bliss carries the doll and puts it on the corner turnbuckle. Bliss weaves Eva effortlessly, she tries a waistlock but gets elbowed off. Eva gets a punch and a hair yank then...poses. She grabs Lily and starts slapping the doll, then slapping Alexa with the doll. Alexa then goes on the attack, clotheslines then a senton for 2, she puts Lily back as Eva argues with Doudrop. Alexa misses the Twisted Bliss and Eva gets 2 twice, a kick to the gut and a DDT finishes off Eva.

Post-match, Doudrop only looks smugly at Eva and grabs a microphone, announcing Eva as the loser, stealing her gown and walking away as Eva insists she made Doudrop.

This match didn't need to happen, in fact it could've just been a segment, but at least WWE were sensible in not having Eva Marie win against a former women's champion. They also didn't do any spooky shit and put the narrative mainly on Doudrop being free to hopefully be Piper Niven again, once again it didn't overstay its welcome.

Mario Lopez (who?) interviews RK-Bro on their title win, Orton cuts his normal promo but gets stumbled by trying to fit 'Bro' into his '3 most deadly letters in wrestling' catchphrase.

US Championship: Damian Priest def. Sheamus (c) [TITLE CHANGE] (Pinfall via Recknoning) Immediately after the interview Priest was already on the ramp, in blue gear with the USA and Puerto Rico flag on his tights, he did his archer pose to set off his tron. The Tron had a bit of an issue with Sheamus' opening, Sheamus wandered in with his face guard and coat. Sidebar, I still don't like the US Title design, it's better than the old one but not by much.

The two start by locking up, some solid chain wrestling shows that Sheamus has the power but Priest has the agility. After a pump kick, Priest hits a Falcon Arrow for 1, he has a bit of a nasty landing with his mid-rope flip senton out the ring, his heel clipped Sheamus' head but Priest's back had a hard landing on the floor, not easy to get distance when you step off the middle rope. Despite a flurry of kicks, Sheamus focuses on the back by throwing him into the ring post, belly to back and also an Irish Curse lead to a Camel Clutch, but Priest escapes that, Sheamus picks him up but Priest elbows out, so then he tries to powerbomb and Priest rana's out of that. Momentum is short though as Sheamus gets a powerslam for 2, a Dublin Smile and a Beats of the Bodhrán but he cuts the count short to slight the crowd's chant. His timewasting is punished by a Tornado DDT from Priest, they trade blows and a lariat floors Sheamus, a spinning leg lariat from the top rope only gets him 2.

Priest sets up the Reckoning, but is picked up for a rolling fireman's carry slam, Sheamus slowly climbs the turnbuckle, giving Priest time to look for a chokeslam, but Sheamus shimmies along the ropes and gets a massive rope-assisted jawbreaker, top turnbuckle clothesline and an Alabama Slam only gets 2. Sheamus angrily talks shit at Priest, Priest slaps him but Sheamus headbutts him back. He sets up the Brogue Kick but Priest gets the Big Boot and the South of Heaven, but it only gets 2. Priest tries the Reckoning but his back won't handle the weight, he tries a Disaster Kick but runs into a knee to the face, it's only a 2. After being furious with the ref Sheamus tries the Cloverleaf, but gets rolled up for 2, he catches Priest in a heel hook in the middle of the ring, with no ropes to reach, Priest reaches for the face guard, ripping it off of Sheamus. Madness in his eyes, Priest unloads on Sheamus' face, causing Sheamus to cover up and release the hold, a flapjack into the top turnbuckle stuns Sheamus for another spinning Leg Lariat and then a Recknoning for 3.

A nice technical match, had some creative spots in there and Priest winning was nice to see after the Miz/Morrison feud lasted forever. I do dislike that they said it was his first title 'in WWE' though, because he was NA Champion in NXT, which is still WWE Cole. I don't think I liked that the face guard is what undid Sheamus, the dude who likes to fight shouldn't really lose to insecurity. But third time's the charm with the Reckoning.

Afterwards we had a promo for NXT TakeOver. We got a backstage talk between Rey and Dom, Dom apologizing to Rey for the SD incident and Rey forgiving it immediately, noting to stay focused on the match right now.

SD Tag Championship: The Usos (c) def. The Mysterios (Pinfall on Rey by Jey via Splash) Immediately after the promo they left the curtain to their entrance, the yellow, white and pink was...a choice, kinda miss the comic book attires. The Usos came out with the Leis and their regular gear.

Rey and Jimmy started lightning quick, Rey setting up a 619 with a rana but Jimmy rolling out of the ring, eating a basement dropkick. Jey's intervening is stopped by Dom who drops him sluggishly into his brother before he's tagged in, Rey hits the baseball slide splash and Dom the crossbody. In the ring Dom's second crossbody gets 2, three amigos by Dom but he shifted Jimmy too close to Jey, who managed to tag a leg, meaning that Jey throws Dom off the turnbuckle when he tries a Frog Splash. Jey taunts Dom after hitting him into the ring post (who has had a lot of mileage already), gesturing him to try and tag his father before cinching a headlock, Dom tries to fight back but is thrown to the other corner, Jimmy is tagged in and they hit a Backbreaker/Ax Handle combo. Jimmy taunts Dom the same way, diving headbutt for 2, the Usos spend too much time taunting Dom in their corner as the younger Mysterio staggers the twins with elbows, his rush for his father is cut off by a very nonchalant uppercut by Jey (McAfee literally yelling HADOUKEN was amazing). Jey continues to posture after suplexes and more taunting, they look for the third suplex but Dom hooks his leg, reversing it into a twisting neckbeaker.

Rey gets the hot tag as Jey tags Jimmy, planting the Uso with a tornado DDT for 2. Seated Senton and a forearm to Jey on the Apron leads to Rey walking into a Superkick for 2. Both Usos stalk Rey, looking to do a pop-up Powerbomb, but Rey ranas Jimmy out the ring, Jey gets him with a superkick to the gut, then a superkick to counter Rey's springboard crossbody, he hits the Splash but it only gets 2. Jey looks frustrated and tags Jimmy to set up the double splash, but Dom cuts Jey off, he tries to suplex Jey onto the apron but Jey drops him with a front-facing suplex instead. The delay is sufficient though since Rey rolls away from Jimmy's splash, headscissors setup, 619 for a big pop, he goes for the Frog Splash but Jimmy gets the knees up. Superkick by Jimmy, tags in Jey, double Superkick, splash by Jey and 3.

*sigh* Can Rey stop being pinned? It's not like Dom doesn't know how to take a pin. It's, it's sucky really, I've said it enough times but Rey deserves more than this given his popularity and past title wins, WWE would not do this to the likes of Edge or Cena, Angle or Goldberg, hell they wouldn't even do this to Eddie and yet Rey gets this treatment as thanks for being full time. Granted, it took like 3 finishers to down him but come on, compare the light pop this match got when everyone knew the Usos were winning with the pop Rey's hot tag and his 619 got, he still has it and they won over the crowd, with more time and narrative to their match it could've been a classic. I'm just sick of seeing one of my faves lose so much you know, if the story is Dom's inexperience then surely he would be the reason for defeat, rather than Rey being ganged up on.

Tiffany Haddish (who??) interviews Priest on his title win, apparently Priest hates bullies and he's happy...not as cool as his NA title win in the hot tub though. Summerslam could've fit in a hot tub

Rick Boogs then shreds the guitar as he welcomes King Nakamura. McAfee is dancing like a goof again on the table and Nakamura's crown falls off, but he makes up for it by playing the IC title like a guitar with Pat. He's disappeared after the Belair/Sasha package though...kinda confusing why that was there.

SD Women's Championship: Bianca BelAir (c) vs Sasha Banks CANCELLED As Bianca enters with SD Women's Title prints on her gear, the announcer says that Sasha is unable to compete, so Carmella is fighting in her stead. A shame but obviously not intended.

Bianca BelAir (c) vs Carmella INTERRUPTED Props to McAfee for noting the collective disappointment. BelAir looks disappointed too and tells Carmella that she's gonna dish out her frustration on Carmella. The title is aloft but then

Becky Lynch is here

Cameras are not showing enough of her on her return as Bianca buzzes, the crowd is on their feet. Becky's got a thicker mane than I remember, maybe it's the curls, a new shirt of 'The Man's back in Vegas' is worn by Becky too as she soaks in her pop. When the cameras stop long enough to focus on Becky she is looking extra lean. She attacks Carmella and dumps her out of the ring, she tells Bianca she'll be right back and throws Carmella into the steps, before standing off with Bianca. She grabs a microphone and asks for a title match, BelAir mulls it, but eventually accepts.

Becky Lynch def. Bianca BelAir (c) [TITLE CHANGE] (Pinfall via Manhandle Slam) Both women are amped up, Lynch offers a handshake but the moment they touch, she socks Bianca, Manhandle Slam and 3. Becky celebrates as BelAir looks stunned and a little shafted, Becky does gesture no hard feelings but, BelAir does have hard feelings.

It's a big pop for Becky's return, though I would've rather seen you know, a match. I love Becky, she's been one of my favourite women's wrestlers in WWE before she was even The Man, and I am psyched she's back, but BelAir vs Becky could've been a good match. we didn't need the Carmella stuff either just have BelAir call an open challenge in Sasha's absence. Also as thin as the SD Women's Division was Becky probably would've fit more for the Raw Women's Title situation, since we last saw her vacating it and that shit's on heavy life support, plus I was kinda hoping that Bianca could beat Sasha but Sasha would win later down the line so we could build Liv Morgan for a title win, I guess October's draft could still open it up. But yeah, happy to see Becky back.

Wrestling Olympic Gold Medalists Tamyra Mensah-Stock and Gable Stevenson come out next, I know WWE have been hot on Gable but after the scripts' comments on Simone Biles it feels forced. Tamyra was at least happy to be here.

Extreme Rules promo is next.

Drew McIntyre def. Jinder Mahal (Pinfall via Claymore) Jinder comes out first, Veer and Shanky only able to stand at the ramp and go to the back. Drew comes with his sword to summon...smoke? You can see how dull that sword is too.

Drew starts the match strong by throwing Jinder in the corner, kicks and chops followed by throws, he motions for Claymore but Jinder rolls out the ring, cutting him at the legs. Jinder's attempt to regain momentum is countered with a belly to belly, so next he tries to appeal to their past friendship but Drew isn't having it. He tries the Futureshock but Jinder kicks him in the face, stunning him for 2. Knee drops and knee chokes are followed by clubs to Drew's head and a choke, but Drew powers out and hits a Glasgow Kiss (which they called a Glaz-gao kiss, it's not that hard to say Glasgow), some more Belly to Bellies leads to a Futureshock and a kip up, 3, 2, 1, Claymore, 1, 2, 3.

McIntyre stepped over Jinder as he celebrated, Veer and Shanky tended to Jinder and then Drew grabbed his sword and started swinging...like the face he is trying to murder these dudes for tending to their boss.

Okay. Easy pop having squashed Jinder, did this need to be on PPV? Probably not, this and Bliss/Eva could've been done on Raw, rather than steal time from Usos/Mysterios and a potential Becky/BelAir banger. Nobody really got over or elevated with this.

Raw Women's Championship: Charlotte Flair def. Nikki A.S.H. (c) and Rhea Ripley [TITLE CHANGE] (Submission on Nikki by Charlotte via Figure Eight) Uncharacteristically, Nikki came out first to nothing, not a pop or a boo, it kinda sounded like fake crowd noises when we had one pop. Rhea got a mini pop next, but loud woos for Charlotte? Don't buy that especially given how she's meant to be the heel. She's in kinda Thanos gear too. The pops were louder for Rhea when her name was announced, Nikki's was mixed and Charlotte had some boos.

The bell rings as Charlotte shoves Nikki, telling her to get out the ring. Rhea shoves Charlotte but Nikki dumps Rhea out the ring, a Monkey Flip to Charlotte then a Rollup on Rhea for 1. Charlotte dumps Rhea as the two tussle, Nikki coming back to boot Charlotte off the apron as part of a bulldog on Rhea. Rhea keeps trying to keep a hold of Nikki but Nikki keeps rolling her up. Charlotte throws Nikki into Rhea like a spear then lariats Rhea and exploder's Nikki. Rhea and Charlotte trade advantages around the turnbuckle, Charlotte fights off a Nikki crossbody and powerslams Nikki onto Rhea, she tries the moonsault but Rhea gets her feet up, Nikki rolls her up but Rhea pulls her off, tries the Riptide but Nikki shifts her weight to splash her. Nikki headscissors Charlotte but is booted by Rhea, Charlotte then boots Rhea and taunts her, Rhea then starts finding energy, a Northern Lights for 1 but Charlotte then regains momentum, a huge big boot to dump Rhea out the ring, but Nikki then tornado DDTs Charlotte for 2. Basement Dropkick to Rhea gives Charlotte time to catch Nikki but Rhea german's them both, Missile Dropkick to Charlotte by Rhea only gets 2 as Charlotte flees to the outside. The two trade blows on the outside, to be flattened by Nikki's crossbody.

Pulling Charlotte in the ring, Charlotte resists the suplex, but Rhea comes in to double up on Charlotte, only for Charlotte to reverse it to a double DDT, Flair chops are suppressed but Charlotte still manages to fend off Nikki and Rhea, Corkscrew Moonsault on the outside takes the two out. She drags Rhea in but Rhea gets a boot, Nikki tries to roll up Rhea but only gets 2. Rhea's limping a bit but still kicks Nikki and cinches in her Inverted Cloverleaf, she dodges the Big Boot from Charlotte (perhaps inadvertently) and locks it into Charlotte, but she rolls through and gets the Figure 8, which is broken by Nikki's knee drop. Nikki hits a Purge but it's broken up by Rhea, she sets another Riptide but again Nikki counters this time with a Reverse Tornado DDT, dumping Rhea out the ring. Nikki sees Charlotte prone, setting up the Crossbody, but she misses, Charlotte locks the Figure 8 and taps.

Abrupt finish, it was a really well-worked match selling the chaos of the triple threat. But I never felt like Charlotte was in danger of losing, Nikki wasn't working because they rushed her new character without getting her over, so of course WWE were gonna fall back to ye olde Charlotte title win. The narrative didn't help either, she seemed like the babyface and again, didn't feel threatened, I never saw the opening for Charlotte to lose. In a vacuum it was a good match, as a whole though, since Rhea won the title at mania nobody's gotten over, they made an absolute hash of the Charlotte feud to the point where we didn't even feel invested in Rhea getting a win back, then we fast tracked a cash in. The only one who profited here was Charlotte, who got to add 2 more title reigns to her name on paper, had Becky came here to make it a 4-Way and won, it'd probably have been more hopeful because now, who is next? Asuka's AWOL, Shayna's buried, Alexa's on spooky shits, Rhea's broken, Nikki isn't getting over, who can Charlotte face at this point?

Edge def. Seth Rollins (Submission via Crossface) Dressed like some aristocrat, Seth entered first half smug half focused, it may've dragged on a bit long. Edge didn't come out to Metalingus, but instead he came out in the fires of the Brood, with the dark sunglasses, fire and the elevated platform to boot, but then Metalingus came out to give the people what they want.

The bell rings but there's a long pause to soak in the crowd investment. Edge has the early advantage with a swift punch, every time Seth tries to lock in on Edge he hits back, annoying Seth as he mulls outside the ring. He tries the Pedigree but is again dumped out the ring, this time Edge follows and throws him around the barriaces, Rollins returns to the ring but is knee'd out, but gets some advantage by dodging the Baseball Slide and driving Edge into ye olde Ring Post, then against the steps. Neckbreaker only gets 2 as he continues to focus on the neck with chokes, stomps and slingblades, another neckbreaker leads to another 2 as Seth taunts Edge about it.

A diving knee by Rollins gets 2 as Seth kicks around Edge, he tries another neckbreaker but Edge reverses into a backslide for 2, Flapjack and a tackle into the turnbuckle, Seth fends off Edge at the turnbuckle though and hits the Frog Splash for 2 but for the second time Edge rolls into the corner to avoid the stomp. Rollins pulls Edge to the turnbuckle, but Edge hits him with a top turnbuckle spinning neckbreaker, Flapjack onto the top rope, Edgecution for 2, Rollins stuns Edge by driving him into the Turnbuckle, but he misses his knee strike into an Head Yank for 2. Edge goes up top but Rollins turns it into his Superplex/Falcon Arrow combo for 2, he sets up the Stomp but misses, tries the Pedigree but Edge wriggles out, Glam Slam by Edge for 2, nice homage for Beth there. Seth gets back the momentum though, Jawbreaker on the ropes then a neckbreaker on the ropes, Edge dodges the stomp on the apron though and throws Seth into the ring post (not ye olde ringpost though it's a different one) and then a spear through the ropes into the outside. A bulldog into the apron LED only gets 2, but now Edge is setting up the spear, but Rollins counters into a Pedigree (Pat mustn't have watched Roman vs Seth before because he said he has never seen that counter) but it only gets 2.

Rollins climbs up top looking for the Phoenix Splash, he lands on his feet and rolls away but walks into a spear, 1, 2, No. Edge now looking for the Killswitch but Rollins clubs then kicks Edge in the back of the head, he tries the Stomp but Edge rolls and catches the boot, turning it into an Edgecator, Seth reaches for the ropes so Edge tries to pull him back, but in releasing the hold he gets rolled up for 2. Edge then tries the Crossface, rolling to the center of the ring, but Edge slams his head into the mat and reapplies it for the tapout.

A nicely worked match again that managed to showcase a lot of Edge's past bag of tricks. The second I was wrong about too, I expected Seth to get some momentum to try and challenge Roman like he had been teasing before this feud (on that note, where's Cesaro? Miss that dude), but it was definitely something for the fans to cheer about. The narrative of avoiding the Stomp was also good for the storytelling, Seth doesn't lose anything in defeat either, he's took 2 spears, 2 crossfaces, Edgecator and the Edgecution.

MITB 22 is announced on 4th July at the Allegiant Stadium, Vegas (the same venue as tonight). Expect there to be a Murica match in there. In addition attendance today is 51k. We scope back around to Miz and Morrison's kickoff thing, mostly getting a jobber entrance. The moist jokes were worst this time around as they marketed the 'Drip Stick 2000' which neither had. Who did have it? A very wet and long-haired Xavier Woods with a cocktail stick in their mouth and a 'New Day Order' shirt. Woods convinces the crowd to rally into shooting them with a water gun, though it didn't really get a pop in the act, dumb shit really but whatever Woods' new look is I dig it.

WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley (w/MVP) (c) def. Goldberg (via Ref Stoppage) Lashers out first...no sanctity it seems. He's walking into the ring with purpose, his pose has no pyro though, kinda a lukewarm smoke that'd make Revolution 2020's explosion smirk. Goldberg does his usual entrance, lots of quick camera switching again. Dude looks a bit top-heavy tbh, skipping those leg days. Lashley paces across Goldberg's periphery, it doesn't look like there'll be underestimation in this fight.

They lock up first, a bit of strength testing, Goldberg tanks a shoulder block, grounding Lashley with a flying shoulder block, then a body slam. Goldberg is keeping the advantage with corner attacks and clotheslines but Lashley clubs at the back. He sets up a Jackhammer for insult to injury, but Goldberg keeps his leg hooked, he tries to lift Lashley but can't follow through and gets hit with a flatliner. No sympathy from Lashley as he clubs at the back of the head before uncharacteristically going up top, which Goldberg punishes by throwing him down, Goldberg looks for the Spear but MVP yanks Lashley outside, only for Goldberg to spear him on the outside anyway.

Goldberg sets up a second spear, but as the ref focuses on Lashley rolling out the other side, MVP thwacks Goldberg's knee with his cane, distracting Goldberg long enough to be chop blocked. Chokeslam makes Lashley look for the Hurt Lock, but he can't connect the fingers, as Goldberg escapes though he gets chop blocked again, causing Goldberg to leave the ring. Lashley follows, lifting him up and charging him knee first into the ring post twice. Struggling to stand, the Ref throws the match.

The match is over but Lashley continues to attack the leg with a steel chair. Gage Goldberg attempts to jump but gets wrenched with a Hurt Lock. MVP tries to assure that Lashley wouldn't have known that he was attacking Goldberg's son but it means little, Goldberg insisting he's gonna kill Lashley, meaning this feud isn't over.

The heat was right, the delivery was wrong. We've seen people beat Goldberg clean, I don't see why Lashley, who has beaten people who have beaten Goldberg clean, couldn't do that himself? Needing MVP's help flattens the statement made.

Camera work got a bit wonky there when promoting the Main Event

Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) def. John Cena (Pinfall via Spear) Cena's the first to come out, sporting a Super Mario-esque shirt showing his 16 world title reigns, the reigns also shown on the tron, they actually mentioned Ric Flair this time. The Bronze Statue hologram for Roman is still tacky, but he comes out flanked with his cousins and Paul, smoke again instead of pyro - I wonder if they weren't allowed to pyro. Heyman whispers the Usos to leave Roman to walk the ramp. I spotted an 'Anyone but you Roman' sign in the crowd, before McAfee makes me smirk again by calling Roman an 'absolute stud'.

Roman's a little ginger about locking up with Cena, but is goaded into it, winning the shoulder block. A second lock up leads to a Cena roll up for 1, trying to call back to the go home smackdown, another schoolboy for 2 but Roman laughs it off. Roman doesn't lock up again, kicking and clubbing at Cena while mocking the crowd, a lariat is reversed into another rollup for 2 but gets him back with a reverse lariat (he used the back of his arm, like a chop lariat), a Suplex by Roman leads to a 2 count, then the rest hold. Cena tries to break but Roman smacks him, another suplex for 2 then he dumps Cena out the ring, Cena blocks the punch and tries to flurry back, but is whipped into the steel steps. After some posturing Roman smacks Cena headfirst into the steps again, then posing with the belt as he claims that the crowd needs him, he saunters to the ring but walks into another schoolboy for 2, leading to another punch.

Roman insists that Cena can't win like this, but in his gloating Cena almost lifts him for the AA, which Roman counters into a DDT for 2. Roman almost looks bored, telling the hard cam that he's not apologetic about hurting Cena, Cena once again tries the forearms but when he tries the flying shoulder block he runs into an uppercut. Roman mocks Cena for having only five moves, but again it's a rollup for 2, this time Roman counters with a sleeper, Cena tries to fight but Roman puts his body weight on him, he tries again and Roman uses his weight again, only this time Cena launches him into the corner and follows up with a clothesline. Then come the shoulder tackles, the twisting front drop, but as he tiredly goes for the 5 Knuckle Shuffle, Roman snaps in the Guillotine, Cena tries the Jackknife pin for 2, the hold is broken but this time it's a Superman Punch. Roman wastes too much time though and his spear is countered with a kick, this time the 5 Knuckle Shuffle hits, AA, 1, 2, No. Heyman's having heart palpitations ringside but Cena's locked in the STF, Roman makes the rope to break the hold and leaves the ring, but as Cena looks to follow he's hit by a Drive By.

Roman looks to put Cena away with a Spear on the outside, but Cena counters it with an AA through the Announcer's Table, he drags Roman back into the ring but only gets the 2. Cena goes up top, looking for a dropkick maybe, but he's caught into a powerbomb for 2. Roman seems to be prepping his Superman Punch, but Cena rolls for 2, picks up for the AA but can't lift him all the way, allowing Roman to hit the Superman Punch for another 2. Roman is getting irritated now, Cena's been in his head after all, he goes for the Spear but meets ye olde ring post. Cena pulls Roman up for the Avalanche AA, he lands it, 1, 2, No! Cena taunts Roman this time, quoting his entrance theme then mocking the Oooowaaah, the Spear is cut off though, instead they trade blows, one Superman Punch, two Superman Punch, Roman declares he is WWE and lands the Spear, 1, 2, 3.

Roman stands over the prone Cena, but then the noise is heard. Brock Lesnar is in the building, and he still has the hipster look. Cameras lose control again as Heyman finds a conflict in interest, dude is absolutely jacked though. He approaches Roman in a staredown, but Roman just leaves the ring to close the night. Apparently off-air Lesnar then attacked Cena.

You know what would've made this match better? If the conclusion wasn't so forgone after Smackdown. Did anyone actually think that WWE would let Roman quit? At least before Roman's career was at stake there was a 10% chance Cena could leave as the winner, which would've made the nearfalls much more believable.

As for Lesnar, well, Vince always wanted Roman/Brock to be the main level feud and he's always getting his way. It'll draw, but it only puts paper over the submarine window that is the problem.

Conclusion

A good PPV though. I don't think there was any match that was awful. And that's kinda saying something with Eva Marie involved. Some segments and matches were, legless perhaps, stuff you could've be done with or even just put on Raw which is a shame because that took time from matches, as I said I would've liked to actually see Becky and Bianca wrestle and the Mysterios get more time.

The returns were good, I suppose Chicago definitely had nothing to do with that. But I'm not gonna be sad about seeing Becky Lynch again.

My main problem is probably how despite the big card, there was no doubt, I mean I got all but a couple of matches right on this card and it was because the matches were all built so obviously, those two frankly I predicted because I expected a bit more swerve. Part of it could be the fatigue of all the good wrestling we've seen so far but compared to other PPVs where I've felt on the edge of my seat or shaking in my ribs I just felt cosy, like it was a casual watch.

It was certainly not bad, definitely a good outing with good wrestling, but there is room still to improve on the narrative, and camera work like seriously learn to linger, immediate snap cuts throw people off. New directions are ahead to fulfill that so hopefully WWE can find a course to get back on.

#wwe #wwe summerslam #summerslam 2021 #john cena #roman reigns #bobby lashley #goldberg #edge wwe #seth rollins #charlotte flair #nikki ash #rhea ripley #nikki cross #drew mcintyre #jinder mahal #bianca belair #becky lynch #carmella #rey mysterio #dominik mysterio #the usos #sheamus #damian priest #alexa bliss #eva marie #piper niven #randy orton #matt riddle #aj styles #omos

[fandom-necromancer]

It’s over, Gavin, I have the high ground

This was prompted by a lovely anon! Enjoy some shennanigans!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Characters: Elijah and Gavin

Elijah tapped along to the radio of the automatic taxi he had called. He really wanted to take his own for a spin some time, but he knew people would identify it and he would be the centre of attention once again. He also knew Gavin hated attention and wanted to keep their relationship hidden for as long as possible. Elijah grinned. It had been some time since he had visited his brother and he was looking forward to it. The aftermath of the revolution really had him pinned in the office for an inhumanly number of hours, leaving him to fall asleep on the keyboard more often than his back would like.

But for now, everything had been taken care of and he had promptly decided to spend his first free weekend with his brother. Hurrying across the street with a six-pack of beer and slipping through the door into the apartment building he doubted anyone had seen him. He decided to take the stairs not to be crammed into an elevator with people asking for autographs. Gavin lived on the third floor, that wasn’t too far up anyways. He was actually pretty excited as he stood in front of Gavin’s door, even if it was only eating Chinese take-out, drinking beer and watching movies snacking on an ungodly amount of snacks. It would be just like when they were children and their parents were out to work. He smiled at the memory and that smile quickly turned into a grin as Gavin opened the door.

‘Gavin!’, the CEO greeted him with a tight hug and the other man laughed, patting his back. Why Gavin was so averse to hugs he would never know. But he let him inside where it already smelled heavenly. Elijah had the money to go to any fancy restaurant he desired, but it just wasn’t the same. A tiny piece of meat and salad on a plate that was at least two sizes too big for what they decided to call a meal just couldn’t compete with cheap takeout from a corner store, the container filled to the brim. And it tasted just as good, if not better eaten on the old scratched-up sofa of his brother.

He sat down on it after putting all but two of the beers in the fridge. He opened them while Gavin brought over the food and without further ado they started eating. ‘How was your day? Anything interesting on the police front?’ ‘Really? You talking about work?’ ‘Okay, then how’s the motorcycle coming along?’, Elijah changed topics with a smirk. ‘You know what? Let’s talk about work…’ Elijah laughed at that and shook his head. ‘How long are you working on that damn thing already?’ ‘It’s a classic, okay? And some parts are coming from Europe and not everyone is a millionaire! It needs time and a lot of love.’ ‘Then I know what to buy you for your birthday’, Eli commented, grinning when Gavin stared to the ceiling. ‘No. Don’t you dare. That’s my project. You can buy me literally anything else!’ ‘Except for an android.’ ‘Already got two of them at the station, thank you very much.’ A little quieter he added: ‘Also maybe you’ll get your wish in the end. I might have misread something…’ ‘Told you the guy liked you!’, Elijah cheered triumphantly and raised his half empty beer as if to toast.

‘God, I forgot how unsufferable you are’, Gavin chuckled and put away the empty container. He took his bottle and shook it gently, concluding it was already empty. He shrugged and decided to make a trip to the kitchen, putting away their trash and getting himself a new bottle. ‘What are we watching tonight?’, Eli called over from the living room. ‘It’s a surprise!’ ‘More a Dirty Dancing or an Alien 2 kinda surprise?’, Elijah asked and Gavin groaned. ‘A surprise kinda surprise, idiot’, he laughed coming back. ‘I’m not supposed to tell you. And Dirty Dancing wasn’t that bad.’ ‘Because you had the hots for the guy! Sorry for being the only person you know that’s not gay.’ ‘He looks good though, you have to admit at least that.’ ‘Urgh’, Elijah groaned. ‘Can’t we for once see something not absolutely brain rotting?’ ‘Excuse me?’, Gavin asked pushing out his chest. ‘My movies are an excellent selection from-‘ ‘Yeah, yeah, okay. What are we watching then?’ ‘Oh, you will like it, it’s about two scientists!’ ‘Are they gay?’ ‘Not canonically, but like everyone just went with it, even the actors.’

Instead of giving any more hints, Gavin just switched on the TV and handed Elijah a bowl of popcorn to shut up. Elijah indeed ended up liking the movie, although Pacific Rim really wasn’t about the two scientists at all. But he took it as his little brother projecting and huffed in amusement when the man grinned and excitedly told him in all detail why the second part was shit but simultaneously so, so good.

It stopped being funny when they went back to the selection screen and Elijah watched with horror as the curser closed in on a generic looking cover of a white couple staring at each other with a beach in the background. Elijah was able to endure a lot, meetings with angry board members or politicians that hadn’t had a single clue about the tech they were talking about, about the worst of that. But he wasn’t willing to endure that kind of torture once again. Quick thinking he snatched the remote from Gavin’s hand before he could hit enter and jumped from the sofa. ‘What?!’, Gavin revolted and stood up too, reaching for the treasured power in his brother’s hands. But Elijah just laughed holding it up and out of reach of the man.

‘Phck! Why are you so tall?’ ‘Why are you so small?’, Elijah snickered and could barely hold back laughter as he had to take a step back from his angry brother. ‘I’m warning you, I’m ready to scale you, just to get that remote!’ ‘Oh, really? I would love to see that.’ Elijah was briefly concerned, Gavin would actually try, but as the man stormed at him, all he did was snatch his glasses. He blamed it on his confusion about the manoeuvre that he had dropped his hand enough for Gavin to snatch the remote back. ‘Hah! Try to see now!’

Elijah shook his head, blinking at the sudden change. ‘What? I can still see, dipshit, you took my glasses, not my eyes!’ ‘Dipshit?’, Gavin asked, running off and quickly taking position behind the couch to bolt the moment Elijah moved. ‘That’s like my level of insults, you are supposedly intellectual! Step up your game!’ ‘Oh, come here you waste of ape evolution!’, his brother returned and, very agile for an office worker, leapt over the back rest. ‘Pretty sure that’s stolen from Star Trek!’ ‘But still intellectual, now give me the damn remote, I will not watch your stupid rom-coms until you cry again when the girl runs off and the man tries to get her back, what of course will happen! That’s stupidly predictable, boring and a waste of time!’ ‘But I like it! And I won’t watch your weird French-production stuff, okay?’, Gavin shouted back, having the advantage of police training on his side when Elijah already started panting.

Soon the man had to stop running after Gavin around the dinner table and tried to catch his breath. ‘Okay, what about a compromise? Tron?’ ‘The original one?’ ‘No, the one with Daft Punk.’ ‘Okay, deal, that one is awesome.’

#detroit become human #dbh #Gavin Reed #Elijah Kamski #Gavin and Elijah are brothers #Am I funny yet #Honestly thanks for making me write them having a good time I had a good time #I started this one naturally with angst and only then remembered you specifically asked me not to and the story got so much better XD #Also no shit on any movie here except for arte #dunno how many of you know that TV channel but arte what the fuck are you supposed to be I am confusion #watched it a lot when ill back in school and honestly some programs could very well have been a feaver dream #okay back to story I wanna watch tron again because the soundtrack is amazing to write to