✍️ Write based on the line prompt above

          “I- I don’t wanna imagine what’s gonna happen when Tula turns up and hears THIS.”

          From the quay near the biggest water body which divided Russia’s gigantic nautical industrial complex by the name Sevmash, stood two conversing figures. One was just a ‘temporary resident’, the other was not only a permanent resident but also ‘born’ here. Gripping their immediate attention was the news of their another friend’s return. Podmoskovye was a name alien to them. In their older days, this friend was widely referred to as ‘K-64’. Since 1999, he had been absent from their awareness, entering a stretched period of repair and modification combo.

          At last, after 16 years, Ustinov and Severstal met this missing friend again. Except…

          “You probably know the likely outcome better than I do, Stasik. At least, you have a strong sibling tie.” Despite his body was more robust, the submarine android with lighter hair muttered in a weaker voice than his older surface ship colleague. That was never a secret. If anyone wanted a proof of how bonding between siblings failed beyond repair, the navy would direct them to the project 941 clan. 

          “Trust me, Seva. It’s going to be terrible. You and I saw how close they were back in the 90s. Tula will have a hard time accepting it.” Not only his facial expression conveyed concern, his deep, masculine voice shaken by the predicament calculated using all data the second Atlant gathered year after year in the Northern Fleet. “Growing far apart because of age and being separated by fleet’s location like my case is one thing, being downright told to just cut the sibling tie because of a change of duty is much different. Especially since Tula looks forward to his return!”

          Stretching his aging, repair-void frame due to the untimely retirement, TK-20 shifted his gaze westward to the White Sea. “So? Are we going to try convincing him it’s more harm than good?” asked the submarine who lacked experience with brotherly relationship.

          “We should,” confirmed the unit in white kosovorotka. “I can’t bear to see them fall apart. And not when K-64 has no idea what’s coming at him for that declaration.”

          “Will he let Tula punch him one-sided?” 

          “One-sided or both sides, it’s equally unacceptable.” Even though he possessed no authority by now as the secretary position transferred to Kulakov, the social-loving cruiser despised the thought of his friends fighting. “Seriously, Petya doesn’t need any m-”

          With a gesture of putting his finger against his lips, Ustinov cut his speech in an abrupt awkwardness on the cue given by Severstal. Out of the corner of his blue-green eyes, the larger android caught a movement. A figure black from head-to-toe composed a rare percentage within the warfare android troops, even for submarine division, whose uniforms often comprised dark colors. Other than that first Borey brat who left a couple of years ago, there was virtually no other unit with such an appearance. Until his reappearance a few weeks ago.

          Almost as if rising back from death, Podmoskovye found himself disoriented by a tsunami of changes occurred while his system deactivated. Not just to the surroundings, but on his body as well. The approaching frame with unfamiliar long, silky black hair strolled at a tardy pace to take in details of improvement and reconstruction took place around his home. Inevitably, the barely reactivated unit came close to the chatting duo on his ‘sightseeing’ route.

          Something caught the pair’s interest at once. They should have seen it sooner, if only they engaged the zoom in mode from their eyes. Among the locks of jet black hair were… a number of unbelonging material, stripes after stripes of them forcing the falling bangs off that almost groggy-like face. Why on earth did Podmoskovye…?

          “Hey, nice to see you again!” Taking a quick initiative, the sole unit not built in Sevmash greeted the third entity of their own kind. “So, uh... what’s with all the tape?”

          “To keep these darn bangs off my field of vision, of course!” Oh… that much the other two could figure out. But why loads of black adhesive tape stripes instead of hair band???

          The slight tantrum continued when asked. Not that Severstal and Ustinov mind; it was an evidence their friend kept his original personality and a colossal relief for them. “Tell me, are any of us androids taught how to use hair bands? I don’t suddenly earn a skill to tie my hair behind my head the instance I woke up and found out not only my hair got straightened but also longer!” 

          “I guess you have a point there…” conceded the unit with ‘TK-20’ tattoo on his neck. Meanwhile, the one ‘born’ in where’s now Ukraine was busy attempting to mimic hair tying motion behind his own head with no success. Androids serving in the military sphere like them always spotted short, medium length at most, hair from the first day they ‘awakened’. Tying excess hair with a hair band deemed to be an unnecessary skill, thus never considered teaching to them.

          “Still,” Ustinov hesitated to voice his honest opinion, “Don’t you think using tape is… a bit illogical? The glue will come off the minute you dive.”

          To reinforce the reasoning on his side, the ‘shark’ with platinum blond hair also butted in, “Definitely gonna happen. My bandaid peeled off every time I got under the water.” Poking his own cheek for the current bandaid he had on his right. “This one only stays for a long time because it’s been ages since I last dove or even swam.”

          An intangible sound slipped from the frustrated former SSBN unit. “Seriously, I’m amazed humans don’t laugh at you when you pass them on the way here?” That remark from the youngest member in project 941 earned Podmoskov’ye’s fist on his thick shoulder. Not like it could actually hurt him.

          Stepping away, Severstal pulled out his mobile phone, to the quizzical look of unit with ‘BS-64’ as code number. To him, such an invention had no place in androids’ daily life the last time he was conscious. Where did his 'shark' colleague get it from…?

          “Mother?” A frown descended on those thin, black eyebrows the instance it dawned to him who was the person on the other end of the communication. Unfortunately, Ustinov was quick to intercept his fleeing attempt.

          “Do you have a few minutes? I’m on the quay opposite to Commander Kirov… Podmoskovye did something stupid with his hair, he needs your help.”

          Alas, Zinaida felt like she obtained a daughter for a day. Never had she ever taught any of her submarine children to tie their hair with a hair band, although she chose not to tie all the fallen locks behind. Only the heavy ones gathered by a dark gray elastic band into a ponytail, then those around the ear level were left down creating an illusion that the android with longer dark hair could be a beautiful woman… if one only chose to ignore the rest of his masculine physique.

(takes place in 2011)

Augustin lay on the couch in his main living room, trying to figure out how his new smartphone worked. He had just bought it yesterday, as he had heard good things about this particular brand. However, this was the first time he'd ever used a touch-screen device before. It was a strange feeling, no longer having to rely purely on buttons to control what happened on the screen. No matter how difficult the learning curve would prove to be, though, he would just have to keep trying if he wanted to maintain his status as a respectable hacker. He had no choice but to get with the times.

A loud crash echoed through his whole mansion, almost making him jump. His initial shock quickly switched to anger as he reluctantly stood up and tried to locate the source of the noise. 

Augustin passed by the kitchen, where he found his answer.

A red panda was on the floor, surrounded by various pots and pans. 

This was the new bodyguard that he had hired a few days ago. What was his name again? Something along the lines of "Marko?" It was hard to tell whether Augustin had genuinely forgotten, or purposefully chose not to pay attention due to his inflated ego. Augustin had been wary of him from the start, due to his young age - 17, in fact - and because he came all the way from Estonia. It wasn't that he had any preconceived notions about the country - quite the opposite, actually. He had no idea what to expect from there, and in this line of work you were either a pessimist or just asking to be arrested. This little mishap led Augustin to think even less of Marko than he already did. 

Augustin raised a paw to his forehead in disappointment. He sighed, and then bluntly asked,

"What the hell happened?"

He decided against getting excessively angry at the kid. Yes, it would put him in his place, but he didn't want to waste his breath on someone as insignificant as Marko.

"I...I'm sorry...I noticed that the pans weren't in order, so I tried to grab all of them at once...and then I looked out the window and...I s-saw a cop car...and I dropped all the pans..."

Augustin was silently enjoying the sight of Marko sitting pathetically on the kitchen floor. The aura of fear and weakness that he gave off made the situation ever more entertaining. But Augustin managed to keep his face stoic. 

"What did this 'cop car' look like?" he asked.

"It was white and driving pretty fast..."

"Did it have flashing lights on top?"

"No, but-"

"Then it's not a god damn cop car. Don't get yourself so worked up."

Augustin understood where Marko was coming from. His whole operation was illegal, and he would likely be spending life in prison if he was ever caught. It made sense to be alert about any law enforcement vehicles that were passing by. But there was a lot of common knowledge that Marko lacked. The most important being that there was absolutely nothing within at least 5 miles from Augustin's mansion in any given direction. Additionally, the street he lived on was a rather obscure one. Both facts combined meant that the chances of any police cars showing up randomly were slim to none. 

However, the road that led to his mansion was a single, thin lane that stretched for a few miles, therefore the only way Marko could've seen any cars at all was if one was parked right outside.

The paranoia spread to Augustin like a virus. Who could that have been? And Marko said that they were "driving pretty fast?" 

"Get up," Augustin commanded, even offering a paw to help him stand. "We're going to find out who that was."

in spoiler for cussing though this turned out REALLY fluffy. extra characters are mondo owada (her bf) and kiyotaka ishimaru (her best friend.) why? cause i'd die for these two tbh

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this zoo only hired her, the super high-school level animalkeeper, on this job. so why did she bring along some super high-school level idiots?

“gotdamn it! i told ya to look at the map, taka! now, look what the hell ya did. shit, this is nowhere fuckin' near where we’re supposed to be!” mondo growled, ripping a map out of the other boy's hands and almost shredding it in half. his brute harshness caused the other teenaged male to yelp in surprise, though he quickly regained his composure.

"give that back, mondo!" kirotaka tried a couple frantic times to take the zoo map back from the older adolescent delinquent, who took full advantage of the 4" height difference to keep the large sheet of paper from taka's grasp. just above his soft, dainty fingers. "maybe if you listened half the time, i'd let you have something like a map every once in a while!"

"i didn't ask, taka!"

rolling her eyes, kelsey watched them from a few feet away, her arms crossed. "why'd you even ask for a map anyway? there are directory panels at the zoo." she said when she got the chance to put a word in. startled from hearing her so suddenly, the two much taller boys turned to look at her. hoo boy, maybe bringing her boyfriend and their favorite thirdwheel (well, one of them) was a mistake? no, it wasn't, they were the world to her and she'd put up with their shit every day of the week. "lower your voices, you're gonna stress the animals out."

"my apologies!" taka saluted her, which made her laugh.

mondo just smiled charmingly and said, "sorry 'bout that, baby," lowering his arms and handing the map to her. hearing him call her baby still made her mind go blank even after almost five years. shit. thankfully, taka brought her back to her senses as he whisked the map away from mondo, making the biker groan irritatedly. "what the fuuuuuck, taka?"

"we have no time to waste, kelsey has a job to do!" taka dusted off the map and adjusted it so it was the right angle. "we can't be here all day, we can leisurely stand around later!"

"yeah, speak for ya damn self," mondo mumbled under his breath. giggling, kelsey moved past the two boys.

marching right up to a directory panel, she called to them, "c'mon, boys, this'll be much easier."

You have connected with ~Bonbon~! Say hi!

Nisei gnawed on the inside of his cheek, waiting for Bonbon to say something. She didn't appear to be paying attention yet. That made him mad, the thought that she was ignoring his chat even after accepting it.

Niseko: listen, Bonbon. this can go two ways. either you take down your callout post of me, or I post one of my own.

That got her attention. Bonbon immediately began typing, the notification bobbing at the bottom of Nisei's phone screen.

Bon2~!<3: why should i lol? you've proven to have a rotten personality no one would believe you anyway. they all know who you are now~~~~~www

Niseko: first of all the post was fake, I was hacked. second I thought we were friends.

First of all, a lie. While it hadn't been his post, he hadn't been hacked either. Second... also a lie, he would never have made the mistake of thinking of Bonbon as a friend.

Bon2~!<3: you thought we were friends? oh... niseko... pathetic

Niseko: we had a photoshoot together!

Bon2~!<3: and i overshadowed you completely. face it nini, you're cancelled.

Why was he getting upset over it? Nisei dropped his phone, rubbing angrily at his eyes. He'd always known Bonbon was twofaced, but something about it now... Maybe it was because he knew she was right. He'd been cancelled. Over. Bye bye.

Bon2~!<3: you werent all bad tho... i'll admit that ur style was impeccable. i'll buy your wigs off you if you want. 1/2 price of course.

Nisei tapped out something angry on his phone screen, then deleted it. It made no sense, giving Bonbon more ammunition against him.

Niseko: ok fine. don't say I didn't warn you.

Bon2~!<3: lol ok whatevs can't wait to see your callout of me! make sure to get my good side wwww

Niseko: bye Bonbon.

Bon2~!<3: bye bye!

"You thought I loved you? Oh, my darling... how could you ever be so stupid?" Merahil chuckled as he gently cupped the elven king's face in his hands. He had spent centuries waiting for a chance to begin recuperating, imagine his surprise when this new slew of people arrived from over the sea. Just a few sweet whispers and he'd lured their leader to the crystallization of his lingering powers, had encouraged enough need and desire to meet him for his body to form anew. This was all their secret, of course...no one could know yet that the king communed with the mysterious gods of the islands they were settling. Merahil had seen to it that the king was ever so reliant on him, devoted. Enamored. The poor king didn't even have the chance to react beyond the mounting horror behind his eyes...there was a bright flash of the sickly, blue light that radiated from the crystalline mass...and the god was nowhere to be seen. Nor was the crystal. Only the king remained, slack-jawed and with tear-filled eyes. He blinked, taking in a breath before bursting into triumphant laughter, "Oh, it worked! You poor, sorry fool, it worked...!" 

Merahil ran a hand through his new form's hair before idly drying the tears. The king's soul was locked away firmly within his own being, trapped to keep it from escaping and telling any undue tales to other gods that might intervene, "Well, darling, you wanted together forever, did you not? Wish granted...now...we have a lot of work to do..." he turned, and swept out of the chamber that would one day become the castle's dungeons to return to the settlers. His pawns, and his keys to revenge.  

“…cute….thats true you are pretty cute” Hina stopped her rampage and mumbled to herself. “BUT! you shouldn't go around stealing strawberries from my bushes you know, I was going to make jam with those” Hina pouted and sighed. “you must have been really hungry huh? oh my you have a scrape on your cheek let me treat you.” Hina ran inside and re emerged after a minute holding a mortar and pestle and a plate of leftover vegetable stew. 

 She placed the plate in front of Grub “sorry its all I can offer you but its yummy I promise! eat up” Hina have Grub a smile and rushed over to a weird looking plant picking a few leaves and grinding them into a fine paste. “look up” Hina said softly angling Grubs head up licking from the now empty plate to apply a generous layer of the herb paste to the scratch on their cheek, She scooped the rest into a small pot and handed it to the strange looking creature who had wrecked havoc on her strawberry bushes “stay safe out there!” Hina gave a smile and a wave.