Template:Featured Articles/15-2022

Moment of Awesome - Darcy Lewis: At the culmination of Laurie's schemes to get back her arm, Darcy realises she's been used. Too late.. Laurie’s words were laced with concern and worry, her gaze direct on Darcy as she continued to push out pheromones, coating the room around her with each passing moment, a silent but powerful compulsion to trust and believe. To go along. To comply. In the moment, Darcy thought she could almost feel her brain trying to go into that soft, compliant space that she'd reached a few times under the hands of someone with a lot of experience. But here, with the pain in her hand burning a counterpoint to the pounding in her brain it was more like being drenched in ice-filled water. She let her eyes drift closed, a memory of Kevin saying 'you need to see five, ten steps ahead along that path or you're going to find things get very bad very quickly' flashing across her mind as she tried to figure out how over her head she was, and wanting to kick herself for not sending him a heads up. She sent a silent apology to him and to Doug for not sharing her concerns, and then flew by the seat of her pants. Her eyes opened, mostly steady and alert through the pain and the conflicting feelings. "The thing about pheromones," Darcy said almost casually, "is that eventually you need to give more. Pump out more, and do it more frequently. And you, babe.." she shook her head slowly. "You've been neglecting your best, most loyal toy for the shiny new model." Her grin at Laurie was all teeth, and she was vaguely aware of something wet dripping down her face. “Oh Darcy. You were only ever a convenient tool. Please don’t try to pretend I ever saw you as more important than that.” Laurie replied, dropping all pretense as she reached out whip quick and grabbed Darcy’s wrist, pushing her power beyond the point she normally pushed. It was dangerous given the damage she’d suffered, and she could feel the shudder that rippled through her body in reaction. “You would have woken up and remembered nothing but calmness, and I would have let you go slowly. You’d have been sad but with Doug right there for me to direct you to, it would have been easy. Now? We do this the hard way. I’d say I was sorry but we both know I’m not, and you won’t remember any of this anyway.” Her mug shattered on the floor between them as Laurie grabbed her wrist.