Onliafaze's Tumblr

Early 30s weeaboo trash

[onliafaze]

Flock Together Masterlist

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

[tired-biscuit]

you know that trope where it’s princess + knight, but they’ve both been captured by the bad guys and the princess is now gripped by the jaw by the villain, receiving a thin cut to her cheek while remaining completely still with a defiant look in her eyes even as a droplet of blood begins to trickle out of the wound, all while 3 people AT THE VERY LEAST need to have their hands locked on the knight because he’s thrashing around like a wild animal, trying so so so desperately, violently, to get to her?

yeah, that’s porn to me.

[depsidase]

[unicorncryptid]

"my life isn't a crime, I'm not one of those people -"

"you sure? new parameters for Those People just dropped. check again."

[mephisto-reporting]

Stumbled across this template on X and I thought it was cute. The blank template is below the cut. But here are my girl's versions.

Nymeria is my MC and self insert.

Myyrin is my OC.

The blank template as promised:

I am tagging a few moots because I want to see their MCs and OCs but there's no pressure whatsoever to do it.

And feel free to add your muse even if you aren't tagged in the post. 💖💓

Tagging: @luli-lads @starmocha @xaviersknight @xavissky @deepspacenova @pathogenic (I am looking at Oliver here hehehe) @void-keeper @lemurianmaster @inkblotgalaxies @leighsartworks216 @cherimoyatea @luminaryorbit @thechaoticarchivist

[cherimoyatea]

Thank you for the tag, Lina! Everyone's MC looks so gorgeous 🥹🩷

Took me a while (I hate canva!) but I figured it out somehow, haha. Here is mine:

Show yours, Lovelies 🩷

@irandial @munnmolads @farspacedreamer @onliafaze @totallytaurus4

[onliafaze]

This one was a little more complicated for me to make properly, but I finally got it done, even after so long.

@beneathashadytree @always-just-red @earthsrirshaart

@alfredosaws

[onliafaze]

Flock Together Chapter 6

Summary: While Sylus is a man who death avoids, she's a woman who has accepted that death could take her at any moment.

Sylus x nonmc, reader has a cynical and nihilistic personality, may not suit all readers.

Rated T for language, crime, and sad themes

Slow burn, strangers/enemies-to-lovers

Shout out to a friend who beta-read for me <3

Rough draft, subject to change

Chapter 6

In a moment of futile, desperate hope, Y/N thought to herself, ‘Maybe he’s not here for me’.

That possibility was instantly dashed when Sylus turned his face to gaze directly at her.

‘He must be that eager for my report,’ she concluded. Y/N slipped her hand into her inner jacket and tugged out her notepad–

“Save it.”

… Y/N stopped pulling and pushed the notepad back into the pocket. She looked at Sylus’ face and was surprised; she had never seen such a stern expression on his face.

The only conclusion she could come to was that he came here to reprimand her. But the mission was a success; the spy was removed, and she even managed to pull some secrets from him. So what could he be so angry about?

Y/N couldn’t think of any other reason. So she caved to her curiosity and asked,  “Then why are you here?”

Without breaking eye contact with her, Sylus stood up, walked to her, and held out a helmet. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“… That’s what this is about?”

“I’m offended you didn’t think that would be my next move. My ride to Agnodice is waiting for me, so don’t bother yourself with such menial labor.”

Y/N turned to leave, only to be stopped when his hand grabbed her upper arm. His grip was strong, but didn’t hurt unless she tried to pull away from him. Escape through brute force or careful maneuvering wasn’t an option here and she began to feel nervous.

“And how long do you expect your ride to take? Ten minutes? Treating poison is a race against time. I’m not letting you take a slower option when I know I can get you there faster. Don’t forget, you’re an investment.”

Y/N stopped breathing for a moment. Of course, that’s what it all came down to. He couldn’t have his useful tools fall apart. Even worse, she couldn’t deny the merit of a faster ride to the hospital. Sylus may be insufferably cocky, but he wasn’t stupid enough to boast a skill he couldn’t prove. Cooperating with him was to be the best option to deal with this situation swiftly and peacefully.

“If I don’t call off my ride, we risk him pursuing you for attempted kidnapping. I’ll tell him plans have changed before I accept your offer.”

Sylus seemed satisfied with that compromise. He settled onto his bike and strapped his helmet on while Y/N sent her message to her original driver. Once sent, she displayed her phone screen to Sylus to prove she had done what she said she would. His eyes kept flickering back and forth between her eyes and her phone in confusion.

… Oh, right. The only thing she sent her friend was a chicken emoji.

“That– It means I’ve returned home to roost,” she stuttered.

With his helmet in place, Y/N could only see his eyes. But judging by the way they crinkled the way they usually did when he smiled, Sylus seemed to have accepted her explanation.

Their eye contact broke when he shifted to hand her the extra helmet he brought. Y/N took it, settled it on her head, and buckled it into place. From the corner of her eye, Sylus could be seen waving away the twins, who then slipped away through the alleys.

Gritting her teeth, Y/N sat on the motorcycle behind Sylus. With a quick inhale, she wrapped her arms around his torso and gripped her hands onto her forearms. The forced proximity annoyed her, but a loose grip on him would risk her falling off, getting injured, and the drive taking longer.

“I’m pleased you can set aside your disgust and focus on the task at hand,” Sylus murmured.

Without further delay, Sylus revved up his engine and rode out onto the streets.

The ride was surprisingly peaceful.

She was being rushed to a hospital on a motorcycle while clinging to the man who’d been plaguing her life as of late. But the ride itself was peaceful in spite of it all.

Perhaps it was the fact Sylus was too busy driving to talk to her that made their closeness more bearable. Or maybe it was because his ability lived up to his talk. Or it could have been the fact that, for the first time in so long, Y/N wasn’t the one having to steer the bike; she could relax and watch the scenery as they were speeding past.

She had seen the N109 Zone cityscape before, before the catastrophe struck fourteen years and how it pieced itself back together gradually since then. While the lights blocked out true starlight, they were a good substitute when viewed from up high. And now, riding through them all at such high speed felt like flying through the galaxy itself. A sight she never had the chance to appreciate before.

In the middle of a race to a hospital on a speeding motorcycle driven by the head of Onychinus, Y/N felt tranquil for the first time in weeks. The irony wasn’t lost on her.

It was over too quickly, brought to a stop that would have been screeching in less experienced hands. Once the bike was still and parked, Y/N stepped off and set the helmet down on the seat. Wasting no time, she walked straight towards the entrance to Agnodice with Sylus right behind her.

The woman at the front desk seemed to have expected Y/N, but took a second glance at Sylus. “Did something happen to Roscoe?”

“Last minute change of driver, pay him no mind. He’ll be gone once his business here is done.” Y/N explained. “So please, let’s just proceed with the check in and check up.”

With a nod, she reached over her desk to her console to press a button. “Then head over to the usual room.”

With that, their walk continued further to the elevator in the center of the building.

The entire time felt maddening to Sylus. Ever since they arrived in the parking lot, Y/N hadn’t looked at him, let alone spoke to him. She kept her gaze focused on the doors of the elevator, and kept her eyes forward while it ascended . Then once they left the elevator, she just kept walking toward the ‘usual room’.

He had expected her to start explaining herself to him. Her actions tonight left him feeling angry. Even though he restrained himself to being curt with her, he had made his displeasure clear.

And Y/N was all too content to let him stew in it. As if she saw no issues with her conduct tonight – perhaps that she didn’t even care. Either possibility was infuriating.

Sylus only came to a halt when Y/N finally reached her destination. He considered barging into the room with her to get the results of the examination as soon as they were ready. But that idea was abandoned when noticed someone else was approaching: Agnodice Hospital Director Tina Wu.

Once she noticed Sylus, she stopped just before entering the room, putting herself between him and the door. And she didn’t look happy to see him at all.

“Mr. Sylus. If you need a doctor, we have a few available.”

He could only respond to that with an exasperated sigh.

“I’m perfectly fine. I’m here to make sure a certain informant survives her mission, so I can collect her intel, and review her performance.”

“I’ll determine whether our patient is in any shape to keep working tonight. You can wait right out here for her examination to finish.” With that, Director Wu turned, swiftly slipping through and closing the door.

He was left with no choice but to take a seat on one of the hallway benches.

Sylus had to stop and convince himself that sitting and waiting was the best course of action.

Agnodice wasn’t only the finest hospital under Onychinus’ control; Along with treating injured members, it was also the best-equipped drug lab that produced all manner of substances. This was most certainly where Y/N acquired the poison and antidote she used earlier. And the director herself was going to make sure Y/Ns’ health was in no danger.

So he sat and kept thinking. He reviewed everything that happened tonight and considered which questions were worth asking. Even if Y/Ns’ health was clear, he still wanted to give her a chance to rest after putting her life on the line.

When Director Wu and two other nurses finally exited, he wasn’t certain if he was given too much or too little time to think. While the nurses walked away, Director Wu stayed outside the door and faced Sylus.

“Her condition is stable, but we’ll keep her overnight for observation. You’re allowed to ask what you need to ask. But she stays at the hospital until we discharge her in the morning. I hope you can understand, Mr. Sylus.” She spoke as if she were offering a compromise, but her stern face made it clear these were orders. It was the face she only showed Sylus when the situation was serious.

Did this situation really warrant that gaze?

“Good work, Director.”

Satisfied with his answer, Director Wu walked away while Sylus finally stepped through the door.

Y/N was sitting comfortably upright in her reclining hospital bed, changed into pajamas the hospital provided. While Sylus entered the room looking right at her, she wouldn’t look his way until he approached her bedside. Her face was calm, neutral as ever, cleaned of make-up and her hair let down. And in her hands was her little notebook and a page torn out.

Without a word, she folded the paper and handed it to Sylus.

Exasperated, he took the paper and put it in his jacket pocket. “Yes, you did a very good job, mission accomplished. But your mission has left me with more questions than answers now.”

Her brow twitched in confusion. What more did he need from her?

“Why did you feel the need to hide details of your plan from us?”

Her neutral expression nearly gave way to confusion. Since when did these little hows and whys ever matter to the top brass? But if answering his questions would get him to leave her alone for the rest of the night, she would be happy to cooperate.

“I felt no need to share details that weren’t asked for. The goal was to extract information from the mole before killing him off, and I was allowed to use any means necessary. What better way to get someone talking than make their life depend on it? And poison only works when you can get it into your target. Even if that bait had to be me.”

Sylus placed a hand on the rail surrounding the bed. “But was it truly necessary for you to administer the poison the way you did? Even with the antidote taken beforehand, you put yourself in danger.”

Y/N propped up her arm and let her cheek rest on her knuckles.

“This could have gone any way. Every woman from Onychinus present in Alseid knew the mission: if the mark approached her, she would poison and interrogate him. ‘How’ was up to them. As it so happened, he approached me-”

“You danced in his line of sight. You ENTICED him to choose you, didn’t you?” Sylus interrupted.

‘Such a rude interruption, even if it’s true.’

“... I learned a lot when you shared your in-depth report on Caldwell. I saw his internet history and noticed his... preferences. And a lot of his favored features are ones I have too. So yes, I set this trap knowing how likely it was he’d pursue me.”

Hearing the truth didn’t help calm him down, much to Y/Ns’ annoyance. Was her boss failing to see the bigger picture? Then she would remind him.

“It’s normal for us small fry to risk our lives so you upper ranks can do your bigger, more important jobs. That’s how it goes: Either put your life on the line to get results or get killed for being useless.”

Sylus’ face grew more grim at those words. They both knew he couldn’t outright refute them. Because she said nothing untrue; this was how things were for every faction in the N109 Zone. Even if Sylus wasn’t the most ruthless leader Onychinus ever had, no one was foolish enough to test his leniency.

Finally, he spoke again. “You executed your trap flawlessly tonight. But did you anticipate what would happen if this ended up killing you?”

Y/N sighed, annoyed that he still wasn’t done. “That’s a difficult hypothetical situation to describe. Ideally, there would have been intel to collect along with my corpse. But I know for certain I have a replacement lined up to take over my job. Also, you’d have to find someone new to harass– evaluate.”

For the briefest moment, Sylus’ nostrils flared. “... You do dislike me. No, you outright hate me.”

That was the breaking point that shattered Y/Ns’ calm indifference to be replaced with a scornful glare as she turned to face him. “Of course I don’t like you! Could you honestly say you’d like me if our roles were reversed? And if you say ‘yes’, you’re either lying or you hate yourself! If you weren’t THE boss, I’d have nothing to do with you!” 

Sylus stepped closer to Y/N. “Do you want to die? Do I have to keep you here on suicide watch?”

His movement broke Y/N’s glare and she let out a huff as she collected herself. “No. But I’ve long since made peace with the inevitability of death and that the life of crime I lead to survive may well be what gets me killed in the end. Also, I’m not naive enough to think death is the worst thing that can happen to anyone living in this city.”

With that question answered, Y/N turned to face forward again and braced herself for more questions.

“What do you want most out of life?”

… Now that was a question she never could have been ready for. But even if she told him, what could he do about it?

“Nothing you can give me.”

Sylus didn’t like that answer at all. “Look at me”

She only scoffed at him.

It was the first time he ever laid a hand on her; Sylus placed his hand on her neck and used his thumb to tilt her chin up to look at him while his remaining fingers applied pressure to keep her still. This violation shocked Y/N into gazing at him with wide eyes. Her fear rose as his right eye began to glow. Her vision went red and blurry while her subconscious thoughts were pulled to the front of her mind.

Her minds’ voice sounded like a sob. ‘If I can’t have a life worth living, let my death come sooner.’

Once Sylus relaxed his grip, Y/N pulled herself out of his grasp and pressed the call button, breathing heavier out of panic.

Finally, it was her turn to ask a question. “What the hell was that?”

It was equally frustrating and unsurprising that he said nothing. Sylus only kept looking at her with an expression she could only describe as pained and regretful. He stayed that way for an uncomfortable number of seconds. At one point, he opened his mouth to speak, only to release a breath and close it again.

A few more seconds passed before he formed a sentence. “Let yourself recover properly before you return to work, Miss Detective. It’ll take me some time, but I will contact you again.”

With that, he dismissed himself. Outside the room, he could see the two nurses from before rush towards him… rather, towards the room he was leaving. However, they saw Sylus and paused.

“The source of the patients’ distress is leaving now. But don’t let me stop you both from doing your jobs.”

Once he was halfway to the elevator, the nurses rushed into the room.

Exiting the building, he passed another young man rushing into the hospital. Sylus recognized him as an Onychinus member, so he paid him no mind. Back on his motorcycle, he secured the extra helmet and buckled on his own.

With the engine ready, he sped onto the road, free to go even faster without his earlier passenger. However, the ride was also colder with the increased wind chill… and without her.

Throughout the ride, Sylus’ thoughts were completely preoccupied with everything that happened tonight, Y/Ns’ answers to his questions, and how he was supposed to handle her from now on.

Chapter 5 |

@cherimoyatea @always-just-red @beneathashadytree

[onliafaze]

Flock Together

Summary: While Sylus is a man who death avoids, she's a woman who has accepted that death could take her at any moment.

Sylus x nonmc, reader has a cynical and nihilistic personality, may not suit all readers.

Rated T for language, crime, and sad themes

Slow burn, strangers/enemies-to-lovers

Shout out to a friend who beta-read for me <3

Rough draft, subject to change

Chapter 5

Sylus was truly happy to have met Y/N. She had all the qualities he expected from the finest members of Onychinus: competence, loyalty, determination, and merciless efficiency. Such a valuable asset deserved to be utilized to its fullest potential, not wasted on basic work any gopher could handle.

And the perks that came with a higher rank were nothing to be scoffed at. Not only were pay, time off, and benefits more generous, but proving yourself worthy of trust gave you access to better equipment and privileges to get your job done with less stress.

So why was she so reluctant to accept it?

After nearly two months of meeting with her in person, treating her almost as an equal, she still had her guard up around him every time they met in person. And her attitude made it clear every time that she would rather never meet him again.

Though he was irritated to admit it, his right-hand men had an easier time interacting with her than he did. But with the walls she kept up among them too, their better-by-technicality results were still nothing worth bragging about.

In the years since Sylus took control of Onychinus, he built himself to become the man everyone in the N109 Zone most wanted to make a deal with. And now here he was trying to make one with someone who clearly wanted nothing to do with him. As far as he could tell, she didn’t even want anything from him, even though he had the most to offer out of everyone in the entire city.

But he wouldn’t give up pursuing what she could provide. Question is, what would it take to convince Y/N to stop holding back all she had to offer?

“Boss, our honored guest has arrived.”

For now it was best to set aside problems that could afford to wait and focus on the task at hand.

‘Miss Spider set a fine parlor for her fly.’

Sylus was informed by his tech specialists that Caldwell was looking for a place to blow off some steam, after they hacked into the man's inadequately hidden browser history.. It seemed he was growing tired of laying low while maintaining his facade. Naturally, he passed that tidbit along to Y/N.

So tonight, in the middle of the deadline he gave her, Sylus watched through his surveillance system of the nightclub Alseid where she set the stage. As the owner, it was no trouble for Sylus to rearrange tonight’s workers with management. Along with the staff, plenty of the attendants were also Onychinus members. And Y/N was one of them.

She had truly gone above and beyond with her set up.

Her attire tonight consisted of an alluring crimson cocktail dress with red heels to match. Her styled hair was adorned with a pink rose. Sensual, yet tasteful. She looked so lovely, it nearly angered Sylus; if she was indeed capable of dressing nicer, there was no need for her to squirm in discomfort when he took her out before.

Then a memory suddenly came to mind.

“Boss is partly right: I hate to play around with him.”

… She didn’t want to play with him or dress up for him. Again, it came back to how she wanted nothing to do with him. Sylus rubbed his temples and returned to surveillance. 

No matter how much disdain she held for him, he was still her boss and she would simply have to deal with the role he held in her life. Besides, Sylus held the power to see and contact her whenever he wished. In fact, he was doing just fine both keeping tabs on the target and evaluating her actions. 

Caldwell had taken a seat at the bar and ordered a drink. He seemed content to enjoy his iced scotch while checking out the crowd. Until he decided to move to a stool close to the dance floor. Did something there catch his eye? … Indeed. Y/N had stepped onto the dancefloor. Her movements were smooth and graceful, sensual and elegant. In his mind, he bet five million she practiced ballet. Sylus couldn’t fault Caldwell for wanting a better view. Even he lost track of time as he watched her sway.

Not only were the roll of her hips and delicate steps striking, but he was further intrigued by the way she was careful to make no contact with anyone else on the floor. It seemed she made a habit of avoiding touch. While it relieved Sylus to see it was in her nature to avoid people, it quickly faded when he realized it also meant he was lumped in with a group of strangers with nothing but his authority to give her reason to acknowledge him.

Pulling himself away from that disheartening thought, he returned his attention to Y/N. By the time he regained focus, she had stopped dancing and hurried towards two ladies at the bar. Sylus recognized them both as Onychinus members: the shorter, honey-blonde lady is a low leveled informant and delivery agent while the taller, black-curled woman serves as a textile specialist and stylist for the working ladies at Hetaira. It seemed these two were the ‘backup’ Y/N mentioned she would have in the club. Given the way they had blended in as a trio enjoying a girls’ night out, he had to respect her choice.

Y/N joined them at the bar, speaking merrily with them as their ordered drinks arrived. So this was what she acted like when she enjoyed someone' s company. If they hadn’t sat close to Caldwell, Sylus would nearly have forgotten she was here on a mission. And it seemed Caldwell had noticed how close she was to him as well.

When her friends decided they were ready to play on the dance floor, Y/N saw them off with a smile and wave before returning to her Lemon Drop. She was able to finish it before Caldwell approached her to offer to buy her another. After all, she must have been thirsty after her beautiful dance.

Sylus hated situations where all he could do was watch and wait. Even when it was part of the plan for Mephisto to take over surveillance when Caldwell was invited to the ‘apartment’ of any of the female agents planted at Alseid. Even though it was Y/N who ended up being the plant who caught his eye. 

But he couldn’t waste any chance to watch her work and evaluate her abilities. This was the stage that was unscripted; it would be up to the woman who picked up Caldwell to handle intel extraction. This situation was as fascinating as it was undesired.

It was disgusting to watch her charm a rat who didn’t deserve a fraction of her attention. She kept her cool as she giggled along with his jokes in between swigs from the flask she kept in her purse. Touches that would normally have been avoided were welcomed with a coy smile. That was all it took to convince him to “stay the night at her place”.

And Sylus had no choice but to let it all happen. Because Y/Ns’ plan demanded bait, even if she ended up taking that role. So Sylus crossed his arms and held his tongue, ignoring the disgust he felt as she took a moment to have a mint before things “heated up”. It surprised him how much he had to force himself to keep watching when they started making out on the couch.

How many minutes had passed? Three? Five? Either amount seemed too great. But the relief when it finally came to an end was undeniable. Though Sylus didn’t anticipate this farce ending due to the target becoming sluggish.

“Finally. I was getting tired of entertaining you.”

Y/N shoved Caldwell off her and onto the floor. He began to pull himself up, but was unable to get up off his hands and knees. And while he struggled to move, Y/N had moved on to dig through a hall closet. She slipped on a black leather jacket, nimbly stepped into black tights, and exchanged her heels for some black boots before returning to the living room and standing in front of her victim.

“Anthony Caldwell. What you’re suffering from is a delightful drug developed by Onychinus. It gradually paralyzes the victim before shutting down internal organs, leaving them to suffocate to death. You’ll answer all of my questions if you want the antidote.”

While she got to work dragging answers out of a desperate man. Sylus was at a loss. When did she manage to slip poison into him? He had to stop and reconsider every action she had taken up to this point. There was only one substance she introduced to his system: the mint she consumed before kissing him. But here she stands healthy, interrogating him without issue while he was fighting for his life. If the mint was actually poison, wasn’t she-

The flask she kept drinking from.

She could consume and pass on poison orally with much less risk if she had consumed the antidote ahead of time.

Sylus severely underestimated the lengths she would go to get the job done.

After spilling everything worth saying, Y/N injected the promised cure. However, that too was a lie; inside the vial was a numbing, sleep-inducing substance that would keep him still and quiet while the poison finished killing him. Once administered, she stood over him and watched until died.

Her task was done: She got some intel, the target was dead, and it was time to leave the body for a cleaner to dispose of.

After sneaking down the emergency stairs and slipping out the rear entrance of the complex, Y/N moved quickly and quietly through the back alley. It was time to retreat and hide away for the night. As she kept walking, she could hear a set of footsteps growing louder… No, two of them. Stopping and turning her back to the wall, she checked the direction of the sounds and waited.

Seconds passed before Luke and Kieran caught up to her. Why were they here? They weren’t supposed to get involved unless things went wrong. Annoyed, she muttered in a low voice, “Your back-up won’t be needed, my job is done, and I’ll have my report ready-”

“Your job is the least of your problems right now.” “You need to get to the hospital ASAP.”

Ah. So they had seen the stunt she pulled and came to offer assistance she neither asked for nor wanted.

Y/N scoffed, “I don’t need you two to tell me that. It was always the plan to go straight there when the mission was complete… assuming it was successful.”

Any other concerns or reprimands they had went ignored as she kept walking through the alleyways to the street her getaway ride was parked. The driver was a trusted friend and Y/N was looking forward to enjoying his company on the way to Agnodice.

But her meticulously planned evening suddenly threw her an obstacle she never could have prepared for. She could see it, parked by the sidewalk she stepped onto:

Sylus was leaning against a parked motorcycle with two helmets set on the seat.

Chapter 4 | Chapter 6

@cherimoyatea @always-just-red @beneathashadytree

[silverofthunder]

my lock/home screen + current music

• i was tagged by @sippuli, thank you ♡

i'm honestly so lazy and haven't changed the backgrounds since getting this phone. 🙈 but i also like those simple things and hey, it's at least purple! 😄

tagging (no pressure obviously): @circle--of--confusion, @lobobathory, @krakintakin,

[lobobathory]

Thank you for tagging me! I'm tagging @sparrowfleet and @negatywka

[negatywka]

Thank you for the tag (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ here's my little fuckery, altho I don't have a separate lock screen oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ stickers are clickable! („• ֊ •„)

Tagging without pressure @heartofafiend and @janekburza ❤️

[heartofafiend]

Thank you for the tag @negatywka (⁠~⁠￣⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠~

I don't have a separate lock/home screen wallpaper 😂 but here you go :

And the song that is currently playing haha (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠) album completely not on repeat

Shall soft tag @dissociativewriter @starryeyed-apple ~ or anyone who wants 😂

[dissociativewriter]

AHH this is so cute 🫶 @heartofafiend thanks for the tag pumpkin!! I love your lads theming omg that sylus is GORGEOUS 😭

my lock screen is specifically for halloween rn 🥰

phantom of the opera my beloved 😍 (michael crawford sounds SO GOOD in this—)

soft tags: @abyssyby @blessdunrest + whoever else would like to join <3

[blessdunrest-deactivated2026042]

Oooooo so fun!!! Thanks @dissociativewriter your peanuts theme is so adorable 💕

I just have one wallpaper (lock screen, home is plain default). Current song on repeat is anything from Vanbur but especially this one:

Soft tags: @theivorybones @thechaoticarchivist @unknown-ends @darkeskye andddddd whoever wants to join! :)

[darkeskye]

Oh HEYYYYYL yes. Thank you for tagging me lovey!!! @blessdunrest

Scoutersssssss!!! That’s a hard lock screen to beat 🥰😍🥰😍

Soft tags: @sillylittledaydreamer @shyfty @deepspacenova @hachisenshi and anyone else!!! Cmon… you know you wanna 😏😘

[hachisenshi]

Thanks for including me @darkeskye @irandial

[irandial]

Thank you for the tag @hachisenshi 🩷

Here are mine (I don’t use Spotify 🫣)

Tagging @cherimoyatea @homurasturtle @deepspacenova @starmocha @colonelkaboom @heartofafiend

(only if you want of course 😍)

[cherimoyatea]

Thank you for the tag @irandial 🩷

My lock/home screen are a Rafayel fanart I found somewhere. And I've been addicted to Ex Habit's music lately... adds some spice to my otherwise non-existent love life, hah! 😮‍💨😂

(Also sorry for not replying to everyone's tags, I'll go through my notifs and reply to them today 🩷)

Tagging: @onliafaze @totallytaurus4 @sleepypenz and everyone that would like to join ☺️

[onliafaze]

Whee, it's been a while sinse i played a tumblr game.

The lockscreen is my husband and one of our cats who curled up under the blanket with him while he was napping. I censored his face to protect his privacy.

There's a piece of art I want to make inspired by this song. I can't tell if i've been listening to it extra lately because i'm thinking of that project or because i love it that much.

@beneathashadytree @aeyumicore @salemrph

[the-forest-library]

kill the imposter syndrome in your head because not only is there someone out there doing it worse than you, they’re also using chat gpt to do it

[smokinghotpastorswife]

I so desperately want to be able to convince Trump supporters with facts and logic and empathy, but it’s so important to remember that their ignorance is INTENTIONAL. my mom didn’t let us watch Sleeping Beauty growing up. I asked her why recently and she said, “it was evil.” when I pointed out other movies had similar themes and depictions of evil, and asked what the difference was, she couldn’t. I pressed one more time and she just said, “it felt evil to me. I didn’t like it”. same thing with dune 2: she said it was “dark”, and I was, “literally, like the movie’s lighting? Or the themes?” and she said “I don’t know” and didn’t want to talk about it more. many conservatives genuinely cannot tell the difference between “I don’t like it” and “this is evil” and they do not care to learn despite many chances

[smokinghotpastorswife]

and while I’m at, this can also be true of left-leaning people!!!! please think about things. you are not necessarily smarter than conservatives and you are not immune to propaganda

[onliafaze]

Flock Together

Summary: While Sylus is a man who death avoids, she's a woman who has accepted that death could take her at any moment.

Sylus x nonmc, reader has a cynical and nihilistic personality, may not suit all readers.

Rated T for language, crime, and sad themes

Slow burn, strangers/enemies-to-lovers

Shout out to a friend who beta-read for me <3

Rough draft, subject to change

Chapter 4

The next visit to Sylus’ mansion felt no less intimidating than the first to Y/N. Though she was a little more familiar with the area and building, there was also the pressure of presenting her findings to the boss. She was summoned only two days after their last meeting this time, the shortest break from him she had since meeting him. Y/N made the most of those days, even rearranging her patrol and sleep schedule, all while plagued with the paranoid sensation of being watched. But would her results be enough for the boss? Well even if it wasn’t, then his hopes for her were misplaced and he could leave her be … that was the worst case scenario, right?

Either way, there was no point in delaying the inevitable. So she opened the door and stepped inside before she was late.

“You’re late!” “What slowed you down this time?” “Caw! Caw!”

… Right, Sylus wasn’t the only person in this building to get used to. There was also a pair of twins and a mechanical crow to keep up with. Better to play along in times like this.

“Traffic was a pain,” she shrugged.

… “Boo, boring!” “Come up with something more fun next time,” they heckled.

Y/N just sighed and walked past the two towards the parlor until a hand grabbed her elbow; not rough, but enough to halt her.

“Not the parlor today, Miss Detective. Boss told us today's meeting is in the first floor office.” “So you’ll have to follow us again.” Y/N swiftly and gracefully freed her arm before waiting for them to lead the way. Once more, she committed the route to memory. This trip, the twins were rather quiet the whole time. Not that she would ever complain. Once the right door was reached, Luke opened it. Mephisto flew in to perch on the open door. Kieran waited for Y/N to enter. But before she did, she turned to face him. Leaning towards his ear, she spoke louder than a whisper.

“Words are enough. I despise unnecessary touch. Make sure your twin understands that too.” With that said, she walked into the room. Kieran eventually followed and waited for Mephisto to fly off before he closed the door and took his place near Luke.

Y/N saw Sylus sitting comfy in a fine seat yet again. This time, an opulent desk helped keep some distance between the two of them, giving her some comfort. And she would take any she could get to face her boss when he seemed to be annoyed at the moment.

‘Please, sir, have the grace to not take your anger out on someone who had nothing to do with it.’

She must have accidentally expressed her discomfort. Because he was quick to release the tension in his shoulders and calm his expression.

“Good evening.”

“... Are you sure it’s a good evening? You seemed… irritated.” ‘Dammit, Y/N, you don’t ask the boss questions!’

Sylus looked away as he sighed and messaged a temple. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just wondering if you and my men would ever learn to get along.”

Y/N looked towards the two, who each gave her a little wave.

“They count as ‘men’?”

Their waving came to a sudden stop while Sylus let out a brief chuckle. “Legally, yes”

Y/N nodded. “Still mentally children, got it.” Sylus let another little laugh slip at that.

If Luke and Kieran had any issue with those words, they kept it to themselves. Or expressed it on their faces, hidden by their masks.

Now that the tension had been settled, Y/N was ready to get to business. She reached into an inner pocket to pull out a flash drive, set it on the desk, and flicked it towards Sylus. Black and red whips appeared to catch it and drop in his hand, ready to plug it into the port. She stayed quiet as he used his computers’ touch screen to open the file, she assumed.

His eyes met hers briefly. “I appreciated the way you kept your cool when Mephisto delivered this USB to you. He wasn’t supposed to bother you in the middle of a break, but I hope you can forgive him; he was eager to get it to you.”

Y/N had to hold back her frown as he casually brought up how Mephisto startled her, dropping that USB on her head when she finally took a chance to catch her breath in the midst of her investigation. With the 128 gb storage, she assumed Sylus wanted a more thorough report than what she usually condensed to a single small notebook page.

She shrugged, “As far as things falling on your head goes, this wasn’t so bad. No point in getting angry.” Sylus acknowledged her response with a nod before finishing what he was doing on the computer. When he stepped aside and looked towards Y/N, she had to brace herself. He clearly wanted her to come around and see what was on the screen. Mustering her nerve, she walked over to take a look, making sure she was a couple of meters between her and Sylus.

The screen displayed two open documents. One she recognized as her own report. The other seemed to be a similar document.

‘He was actually serious about comparing notes.’

“This is quite the dossier you’ve compiled,” Sylus praised. But Y/N didn’t feel like accepting his compliment when she noticed his own work needed a smaller scroll box than hers. “Still not as much intel as you’ve managed to dig up,” she felt compelled to admit.

Sylus just gave her a gentle little smile. “I’d still say it’s impressive, considering the differences in our experience and resources.”

Once more, Y/N couldn’t figure him out. She wanted to shrug off his response as mockery; so why were her first feelings at those words comfort and encouraging? … No point in lingering on that unsettling question. Better to focus on the job in front of her. She lifted her hand toward the touch screen.

“May I compare our reports? I’d like to see what I missed.”

“Go right ahead.” His little smile grew.

With his blessing, Y/N stepped closer to the computer and began to check what she missed. The interloper was Anthony Caldwell and his true allegiance was with the faction Pyr. Really, it shouldn’t be a surprise that her file was so lacking, compared to his. Digging up dirt on people outside of Onychinus territory took extra steps and precautions. Ones that she was certain Sylus was able to skip over with his own set of tools and skills.

Y/N paused and glanced towards Mephisto. Mechanical animals were a tool only groups with a generous treasury could afford to implement. But even those were limited to rodents or scrawny stray cats. Ones that could fly were rare, and this one could even project videos.

‘A remarkable tool and status symbol all rolled into one sleek and cute mecha-crow’

She must have stared at Mephisto longer than he liked or with an expression that unsettled him. Because he suddenly decided to come fly down to an empty spot on the desk and stare up at her. Confused, Y/N turned to Sylus, now on his phone.

“Sir, I think your machine made an error, accessing me as some sort of threat. Would you give the order to stand down?”

Unbothered, Sylus kept scrolling on his phone. “He simply flew down to accept your challenge to a staring contest.”

“That’s what it thought I was doing?”

Sylus looked up at her to answer that question. “That’s what he thought you were doing, yes.”

“... You’re unexpectedly strict about pronouns for a machine,” Y/N couldn’t help but let her observation slip.

Sylus sighed as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Because Mephisto is Mephisto, not a mere machine nor a pet. So I implore you to show him some respect and care too.”

Y/N turned to look at Mephisto again. She had kept her own fondness for animals in check when she addressed this artificial avian, lest she be accused of being unserious or immature on the job. Knowing now that there was no need to discipline her speech so strictly gave her some relief.

With a brief close of her eyes and nod of her head, she returned her attention to the computer.

“Ca-caw, caw!”

“Yes yes, congratulations on your well-earned victory.”

‘... Can he actually understand that? Ugh, don’t worry about it, he may well be joking around.’

With his business finished, Mephisto flew back to his perch. Once he had settled, Luke began to snicker. “She lost a staring contest to a crow.”

‘Oh, not this shit.’

Y/N once again maintained her position while her eyes looked in the twins’ direction. “Mechanical bodies don’t need to blink. I don’t pick fights I have no chance of winning. I’ll bet you wasted an embarrassing amount of time playing with him before you finally blinked.”

That last comment, she threw out under her breath. But then she heard Sylus quietly snickering to himself. It seemed her jestful accusation was actually close to the truth.

‘... Ugh. It’s not like me to get distracted by banter on the job.’

With her mind cleared, Y/N focused back on checking details she missed.

“Now tell me, sweetie, what would you say is the next action to take?” Sylus inquired.

Y/N carefully thought through her answer. “Ideally, I want to find out how much Caldwell learned and passed on to who, before killing him off.”

“How ruthless,” Sylus remarked with a tone that made it hard to tell if that was praise or critique.

“He killed one of our own and ‘eye for an eye’ is the standard response,” Y/N explained.

“Indeed,” he confirmed. “Well, you have your next job then. The details are yours to plan and execute. Any tools or locations you’d like to implement are also at your disposal. You only need to say the word. You have three days.”

Y/N didn’t expect her idea to receive this much support. And while she wasn’t surprised Sylus would test her leadership skills, this felt a bit sudden. Still, the order was given and she was in no position to refuse. So she gathered her resolve and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

With only three days to work with, she turned to walk out the building.

“Hold it.”

Y/N stopped midstride while Luke and Kieran stepped closer to the door to block it. Staying in her spot, she turned to face Sylus.

“I wasn’t clear enough with you. You have three days, after you get eight hours of sleep.”

Where did that come from? But she certainly wasn’t going to object to that order.

“Right. I’ll head straight home then.”

“No,” Sylus ordered. “You’ll borrow one of my spare bedrooms. Since I called you here at an unorthodox hour, the least I can do is make sure you’re well rested before you go.” 

And with that, her gratitude turned to discomfort. Y/N protested, “That won’t be necessary, I know a place I can sleep that’s less far from here. I can rest up just fine there.”

“Haven’t you traveled enough while running on four hours of sleep today?” Luke suddenly chimed in.

Her left eye twitched in annoyance. “I see… so it was you who’s been following me these past couple of days.”

“Aw, you caught on to that?” He whined.

Y/N rolled her eyes. “I’m usually the one doing the stalking. It’d be shameful if I couldn’t recognize when I’m being followed.”

“It seems I have to make this an order,” Sylus interrupted as he walked around his desk. “Y/N, I need you working at your best. Get some proper sleep here before you begin your next mission.”

Any arguments Y/N could have made were nullified with his command. Especially when he used her name like that. What choice was left but to accept? “Understood.”

The twins led her to her quarters for her rest. For a room that was called a ‘spare’, it was still more luxurious than anything Y/N was used to: elegant wall lamps, sleek, black marble floor with burgundy rugs at the feet of two leather couches and a king size bed, and the bed itself had silk pillows and sheets with a thick blanket folded at the foot of the mattress. There was also a door that led to a small bathroom and a mahogany dresser.

Atop the dresser was a set of grey sweat clothes. They seemed to be unused. She checked the tag and found they were a one-size-fits-most set. That was a relief; she would have been disgusted if Sylus had gone out of his way to know her size without her knowing.

‘... No, I would have been disgusted even if he did ask.’

She changed and got into the bed. Though she got comfy on her side, Y/N’s mind was far from settled. Rest didn’t sound so pleasant when it was an order. Sylus spoke like he was looking out for her well-being, albeit as a means to an end. But her paranoia couldn’t shake more sinister motives that he could have been hiding. He took pride in his surveillance system; surely his own mansion wouldn’t be an exception? How certain could she be that this room didn’t hide cameras and microphones that recorded her changing? Did she have any reason to believe that Sylus was better than that?

And then Y/N yawned. It was only a matter of time before her exhaustion would catch up to her while she was in a safer environment. Frustrated, Y/N let out a deep sigh.

“Pointless.”

In the end, did those fears even matter? No. She had more important things to focus on. And the sooner she got her much-needed sleep, the sooner she could leave this cozy cage.

@beneathashadytree @comatosebunny09 @cherimoyatea @always-just-red

Chapter 3 | Chapter 5

[pal-the-professional-fool]

Everyone introduce yourself and the first fact that comes to mind about yourself.

Hi, I'm Pal and I eat the paper on straws.

@i-eat-rusty-nails @alocalpizzadruid @punkeropercyjackson @f3lixthecatboy @stup1d-k1llj0y @bunny-and-the-ink-machine @averydeadshootingstar @meicherienewsies @yourl0calqueer @demigod-jack-hearth

@purple-dinosaur17 @idkimgayasf @cowboisposts @perfection-official @mr-tellmeafuckingsecret @sicko-with-a-bat @justabunchofcrowsinatrenchcoat @mimilove2003

[yourl0calqueer]

Hi I'm Vin and I have advanced mobility in my thumbs

@not-really-a-conjunction @kerokerrrokerroppi @dearlyadoredfashion @thevalkyrieflies @deedeethedevil @luckybeansy @aroacegirlsworld @cr0wxo @kingofkaumidy @fluidlee @/rest of moots

[fluidlee]

hi I’m lee and I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing

@duckinatruck, @bydofox, @idontexist734, @kaytaythegay, @seraph1mtears, anyone else

[idontexist734]

hi im rhya and im questioning life

@a-mbr0sia @i-need-a-user @bibliophile4ever

[bibliophile4ever]

hi im len and apparently I scare a lot of people w/ my stare™

@freak-went-void @enitnelavenna @rocketwolf08 @the-existent-entity-2 @thedragonetcat + anyone else :)

[thedragonetcat]

hi i'm bird or luna or whatever

and i like jeans

@danger-gayss @freaky-always @infectiouspiss @theowlishlibrarian @fr3r4rd-n4t10n

[gay-draag-path]

hi im Nox and i'm a singer!

@here-and-queer312 @alexluvsskittlez @murtvets @iridescentcrow @justanotherknockoffmothman @sparklingpurplewaffles @theduke-2 @cruorcrave @system-of-an-up @lunaqstar

[cruorcrave]

hey I'm Ferrum and I love numetal

@evry1h8s-me @asadstatue @sugarhues @ftm-will-graham @zombi-teeth // open tags

[ftm-will-graham]

hi i'm ceres and in 2019 i held the (unofficial) title of having read every single (official) garfield comic ever produced

i'm scared to tag so um. uh. @thegroundhogdidit @milfwillgrahamsblog @ceaselesswatchersspecialboy @charleemoon @challengers @bowill and open tags. hop on meow

[challengers]

hi i'm vivi and i drink 5 shots of espresso a day (minimum)

lesseeeeee i tag @cannibalings @t3acupz @unimatrixzero1 @vaativakulaya @salt-and-vinny @scarl3tt-wallace @horrorknife @butchghostbird @thedeathofthelamb and anyone else who wants to do it

[horrorknife]

hi i’m jonah and i’m a radioactive cat who loves film and art =^w^=

i taaaag :3 @neonlifeform @old-stoneface @merlinmerlot @ersatzdellarte @silenthillmutual @cannibalings

[neonlifeform]

hi i’m zim and i’m god :)

i will tag @a-sirens-melody

[a-sirens-melody]

Hi!! I’m Melody, I’m a writer currently obsessed with making furniture kiss SKXJSKXJS

I tag @quiverwingquack @peachpuddl3 @dragon-monarch @crystal-stick @muppetears-stuff

[quiverwingquack]

Hi!! I'm Jay and I like birds XD

Tagging @miss-bvnny @snartled @bloonfroot @imawake-butatwhatcost @violetganache42

[violetganache42]

Hi! I'm Cailin, and I was an assistant coach in my high school's volleyball team.

Tagging: @real-life-pine-tree @deweydipper625 @amvaprentice @knuckles-junior @dreamsofanomaly @writebackatya @foxymc @puffyducks @tokuvivor @tealottie @hueberryshortcake @kismets-barista @birdinahoodie

[tokuvivor]

Hi, I’m Ian, and I’ve been running since I was 14.

Tagging @pennykinz @alex31624 @shychick-52 @queer-in-a-cornfield @kaitosduckmania @secret-tester @thechaseofspades @godfrey-the-chaos-duck @justaboot @abcleverun @edwardelricsleg and anyone else who wants to join!

[pennykinz-deactivated20250905]

Hi, I’m Penny, and I like drinking lemon ginger tea!

Tagging: @e0sphorus @fluffycyclops @itsyourstarboy @annahxredaxted @capitalisticveins

[e0sphorus]

Hi, I’m Aelius and back when I was 14 a group of 9-12 year olds decided to bully me off of instagram and accused me of being a homophobic, transphobic, racist, incest shipper :D (that’s the only fun fact I can come up with sorry)

Tagging uhhh,,, @ap-pren-tice, @animelovingmultistan, @emmaoftoomanyfandoms and whoever else wants to join I’m not good at tagging 😔

[emmaoftoomanyfandoms]

Hi I'm Emma and my student advisor made me coasters from roof slate for my high school graduation!

I'll tag @ideasarestuckinmyhead @p0pp3t @blissful-clown @flutterpawzz @cherimoyatea (ik we haven't interacted much so i hope it's alright to tag you in this if not let me know/gen) and anyone else who wants to join!

[cherimoyatea]

Hi, I'm Cheri and I'm currently wearing four-inch heels in office and my feet are dying (help!) 😄

(Also it's totally fine to tag me, Emma 🩷)

What's on your mind moots?

@irandial @m00nchildwrites @totallytaurus4 @onliafaze

[onliafaze]

Hi I'm Lia (or Faith if you must know)

And I'm trying to make as much fan art as i can while my current hyperfixation lasts!

@comatosebunny09 @beneathashadytree @salemrph @peachsayshi @aeyumicore

[aphantimes]

🫵 YOU. STOP WHERE YOU ARE

say something nice about prev!!! find something cool about them!! give their blog a skim!!

compliments are FREE TO GIVE so GIVE THEM OUT. pls. thamnk. (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)

[onliafaze]

Writes good and nice to me

[wackom]

Bothering the beast

[onliafaze]

Flock Together

Summary: While Sylus is a man who death avoids, she's a woman who has accepted that death could take her at any moment.

Sylus x nonmc, reader has a cynical and nihilistic personality, may not suit all readers.

Rated T for language, crime, and sad themes

Slow burn, strangers/enemies-to-lovers

Shout out to a friend who beta-read for me <3

Rough draft, subject to change

Chapter 3

Life taught Y/N many things. But the lesson she had the most trouble following was letting go of regrets; to accept when failure happened, learn from them, and move forward.

It’s not that she couldn’t do it at all. But it was most difficult to do the moment you realize you did something regrettable. Like this very instance: the new regular meeting spot with Sylus was a mansion. Probably his own mansion… which she was staring at.

‘I should have pressed for more details when he said he would change our meeting spots… I told him I didn’t want to meet him at all, but was this really the best compromise he could give me?’

Y/N couldn’t push her luck in refusing an order from the boss. She already felt herself on thin ice after losing her temper at him at their last meeting. So she had to take extra care to behave around him for a while, but she wasn’t going to try and impress him beyond her paygrade either. So she watched the time to enter the building right at the scheduled hour.

The first thing that caught her attention was the opulent hallway. The next two things were a pair of men with identical black leather clothing and beaked masks, leaning against opposite walls. Spotting them immediately sparked a memory. ‘Sylus has a pair of young men as his right hand, Luke and Kieran. Their uniform is mostly black with bits of red. And they always wear bird masks and a hood with little red horns sticking out. They’re a goofy pair, but he wouldn’t give them a spot at his side if they were incapable.’

“You’re late, miss,” said the one on the left.

Y/N didn’t appreciate being greeted with such a blatant lie.

“I arrived at the scheduled time,” she calmly corrected.

“Even so, you kept us waiting. That counts as ‘late’ for us,” the other retorted. By this point, they had both stood up straight and faced her. The one who spoke first stepped closer to her. “So you better have a good reason for being late.”

‘Did the boss not tell these two I’d be here for work? Or is this how they always treat people beneath them? Dammit, he’s bad enough himself without sending his left and right hands to harass me.’

Appearing unfazed, Y/N looked right at the boys and said, “Because I didn’t want to be here. Now, why don’t you just lead me to the boss so I can finish my business and leave you all be.”

After a pause, the two broke into snickers.

“Damn, bossman wasn’t kidding when he said you’re blunt and hate to play.”

“You talk to the boss like that? He must really like you to let you-”

“CAW”

Everyone's attention went to a certain, familiar, mechanical crow perched on one of the wall lights in the hallway ahead. “Right, right, we’ll lead her over, boss,” said the one with the numbers 07 on the right side of his hood. 06 turned to face Y/N. “Follow us, we’ll take you to the parlor.”

The pair led the way while Y/N followed, keeping roughly two meters away. As they walked through the building, Mephisto continued to follow and monitor the group. Y/N kept quiet as Luke and Kieran kept walking. They whispered among themselves here and there along the way. Not that Y/N minded, she was in no mood to spend her energy and patience entertaining them.

Several minutes later, they would reach the parlor. The boys held the doors open and closed them once Y/N had entered. At the end of the dimly lit room sat Sylus, in a fine, red leather chair.

‘He’s looking as pompous as ever. I get it, you’re a big fucking deal.’ She held her usual indifferent gaze as she walked towards him, choosing a distance to stand that would allow them to hear each other without being unnecessarily close.

He greeted her with his usual smug smile. “Nice to see you had no trouble finding this place, even when I made a puzzle out of my directions.” Which was, no doubt, an attempt to test her, tease her, or both.

Y/N pulled her little notebook out and tore out the right page. No sooner than it was out of the book and in her hand, it was snatched out by Mephisto who carried it in his beak over to Sylus. While Y/N didn’t appreciate being startled, she got over it quickly with the fact that she wouldn’t have to waste her breath relaying her report.

Once Sylus finished reading, a red and black mist appeared from his hand and withered the note away to fine dust. Y/N took in the scene with her jaw clenching.

‘AND he has an Evol. No wonder he took control of Onychinus.’

Looking over to his guest, Sylus noticed her tension. He opened his home to her, yet she still looked no more comfortable than when he escorted her to his favorite places. “I agreed to change our meeting spot, and yet you seem to still be unsatisfied. Such a spoiled kitten.”

Y/N looked away and let out a sigh at Sylus’ words. “Clearly I didn’t think through my Faustian bargain. This place only invites a different type of oppressive atmosphere.” He massaged his temples as he processed this situation. “You’re not making it easy for me to create a proper meeting space for us, sweetie. How am I supposed to evaluate your capabilities when you can’t be satisfied with every venue I choose?”

This time, Y/N closed her eyes to hide her rolling them. “Anyone would be tense when they’re invited to their boss’ home. But if this is a place you plan to invite me to regularly, I’ll get used to it. Orders are orders.” Sylus let out a small huff, but ultimately accepted her response. After shifting in his seat, he moved onto the next topic he had in mind. “There’s a task I want you to handle. Lately, I have doubts about the activities of one of our associates: Steven Decker. You should know him, he also works as an information broker.”

It wasn’t often Y/N let her mouth run, but Sylus’ words struck a chord with her. “You suspect him too?”

A moment of silence passed before Sylus inquired, “ ‘Too’? When did you start to doubt him?” Y/N cleared her throat before she elaborated. “Sir, keep in mind suspicion is all I have right now. I can’t prove anything to you, not yet anyway.”

“That’s fine. I’d still like you to explain how you came to the same conclusion as me.” Sylus’ sincere curiosity took Y/N by surprise. These moments where he acted like a boss worth working for gave her a much needed break from the discomfort she usually felt when she had to talk to him. She started her explanation with a question. “Do you recall that botched drug run on the 16th?” Sylus nodded, “The same one where Steven crashed his car and required medical leave before he got back to work four days ago.”

She confirmed, “That one. While Decker recovered, he stayed in contact in the informants’ network. But from the time of his accident, there were small changes in the way he spoke- rather, the way he typed. He used to be more consistent in applying capitalization."

“Have you shared this with anyone else?” Sylus inquired. Y/N nodded. “I mentioned it to a couple of colleagues, but they figured he stopped caring while he had more pressing concerns: recovery. Still, couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong, so I’ve been trying to track him down to settle my doubts.”

“I can certainly appreciate your caution and willingness to put in the extra effort,” Sylus praised with his usual smile.

One of the boys scoffed. “So Miss Detective still hasn’t found him yet?” The other chimed in, “Four whole days of investigation, but nothing to show for it.”

‘Oh, so now you want to make me look bad? Assholes.’

Y/N kept facing Sylus while side-eying the pair, though they probably wouldn’t see from their distance. “My priority in my work is to follow the orders I was given. This was a suspicion I was following with no proof that anything was actually wrong, something I chose to investigate in my free time when I had no other pressing issues or assigned tasks. And in that spare time, I’ve confirmed Decker is in contact with his usual circle while there’s no record of him receiving any treatment from an Onychinus medical facility. If you want to shame me for a poor performance, at least criticize a job I was actually given.”

Neither Luke or Kieran could come up with a rebuttal to that. When she focused back to Sylus, still sitting in his chair, she noticed his grin had grown bigger. “I must commend your professionalism and what you managed to find in that limited span of time.” His expression turned less jovial as he turned to address his men. “There’s no need to give her a hard time. It’s no easy feat to find someone when you start your investigation under the impression your target’s still alive.”

Y/Ns’ eyes widened in shock at such a casual drop of vital information. “You know that for certain?” Sylus got up and walked forward, halving the distance between him and her, looking calm yet serious.

“Steven is dead. His body was found in an industrial incinerator. I had an autopsy performed and confirmed he was killed after his car accident… And yet you’ve read messages posted by him?”

Silence filled the room as Y/N processed everything she heard. She took a step toward Sylus as the conclusion hit her. “The Steven we’ve seen messages from is an intruder who’s infiltrated our intelligence network. Damn it, how far has he gotten, who has he spoken to-”

“All very good questions, sweetie. And now your highest priority is to track him down and find those answers. As soon as you can, if you please,” Sylus declared with a satisfied smile. “And once you do, I’d love to compare our notes and see how much our findings match up.”

Y/N calmed down and stepped back. “Yes, sir. Though I doubt my abilities will exceed yours.”  Sylus seemed oddly bothered, but by her movement or her statement? “I’ve said it before, I’m eager to see what you’re capable of. And considering you’ve already picked up on a problem before I could ask you to solve it, I’m looking forward to what you can do when I give you a clear target.”

‘Are you encouraging or threatening me? I really can’t tell with you.’

Y/N straightened her posture and told Sylus, “If that’s all you have for me today, I should get to work.” Sylus nodded, holding back a sigh. “The twins will see you out. ‘Til next time, kitten.”

All she did was give him a nod before leaving, following the path she was lead down earlier. She vaguely acknowledged Luke and Kieran walking behind her, rambling about a variety of things.

“Oh nice, you learned the way with one trip.”

“It’s so weird; I can see you walking in front of us, but I can’t hear your steps. So creepy”

Were they… trying to make small talk? Y/N guessed they would try to get to know someone if Sylus expected them to work together in the future. How optimistic of them. Still, she had no desire to get friendlier with people who were technically superiors. They don’t need to be friends, they just need to be able to work together.

… Speaking of friends…

While the walk continued, she pulled out her phone. Pulling up the usual group chat, she let them know that she wouldn’t be able to make band practice this week because of an urgent task she was assigned.

“How rude! Here we are, trying to be nice, and you just pull out your phone?”

“Take it easy, Luke, she’s probably just getting started on her assignment already. Cuz she’s a workaholic.”

With the door in sight. Y/N decided she should say something to them. Heaven forbid they become more insufferable, trying to get her to talk to them. “Work isn’t my life, just a means to keep living.” She paused to open up the right door. “I was letting my friends know I’ll be too busy to play for a while.”

As she stepped out the door, the twins rushed over. One kept the right door open while the other pushed the left door to make more room for himself.

 “Wait, you have friends?!” “Boss said you hate to play around!”

Y/N just rolled her eyes and faced forward as she kept walking away. “Yes, even I have friends. Boss is partly right: I hate to play around with him.” Once she was off the grounds, she picked up her pace to get away. Not just for personal reasons, but to keep her connection to Sylus hidden. It was bad enough having Sylus’ attention, she didn’t need any more from his enemies and sycophants.

All things considered, that wasn’t such a bad meeting. Y/N didn’t expect she’d meet anyone else today. But in hindsight, it made sense that Sylus would introduce her to his inner circle if he was considering adding her to it. Luke and Kieran didn’t seem terribly unbearable so long as she never let her guard down.

Still, Y/N was gradually encountering more changes that she wasn’t certain she could handle. Times like these, she calmed herself by remembering all she’s survived and endured to this point. She’s done it before, she’ll do it again, one way or another. She could get through this, right?

Once she reached the car she rented for the day, parked a reasonable distance away, she drove off to start this new investigation. Pausing at a red light, she looked over to see the mansion. One way or another, she would have to learn to navigate Sylus, his people, and his spaces.

‘I’m calling that place ‘Wonderland’. Everyone’s mad there… including me.’

Chapter 2 | Chapter 4

@comatosebunny09 @cherimoyatea @beneathashadytree

[mcromwell]

FINALLY got around to dumping Spotify after their CEO continued to prove he's a fresh turd. (As if being a billionaire, not paying musicians, shoving AI garbage at us, and having an atrocious carbon footprint wasn't bad enough, he's now the chair of a AI-based weapons manufacturing company.)

I used TuneMyMusic ($24 annual fee you can cancel immediately, effectively paying only once) to transfer almost every single song from our Spotify account to Tidal. Tidal already has much better sound quality and they pay their artists much better. It migrated over 99% of our music, too, so there wasn't a huge loss.

[chainslobber]

I did this over in November when they gave Trump $100,000.

Tidal is incredible. Not only is it MUCH cheaper than Spotify, but the audio quality is much better. Artists DO get paid more, and their algorithm is actually coded by humans (did you wonder why Spotify Wrapped has been sucking, it's the AI).

You can download your Spotify playlists as .CSV files and then use a program to 'covert' them to Tidal. I used Exportify. It cost me $2 to transfer over 35 playlists and a total of 4,300+ songs. Two dollars.

Tidal's UI is similar to Spotify so you can jump right in and do the same stuff you've always done. You can make playlists, edit playlist covers, you have a discover daily, the mixes make more sense and are based on YOUR tastes, and to top it all off, did I mention it's cheaper?

And for those who drive a lot, it takes a lot less room on your phone and barely any data. I HIGHLY recommend making the jump!

[nevver]

Word on the street, Felix Gonzalez-Torres

[unravelingwhy]

my fave writing reminder

honestly, this phrase has been on my mind more times than i can count. i've kidnapped it, taken it as a hostage with no ransom money because i need it to live permanently in my head.