#Definitely going to see if I can recover some of that data now

[starryficsfinishwen]

── .✦ doomsday game ; xiangli yao x reader

if the world was ending, would you love me for the hell of it? syn. if, theoretically, the world were to end today, what would you do? if you ask xiangli yao, he wouldn't mind spending the last days on earth with you.

*inspired by 4* zayne card with the same name (love and deepspace)

a.n. - oh god he corrupts me I love him. HAPPY RELEASE DAY XIANGLI YAO!!! As an honor for getting his weap, for now being guaranteed (my S1 Xiangli Yao is glacio and short??), I GIVE THIS FIC AS MY THANK YOU. ALSOHAHSHSHSHS I ACCIDENTALLY POSTED THE WRONG FIC IM SORRY BUT HERE IT IS

pairing - xiangli yao x f!rover

words - will edit when I switch to lappy

content warnings - none!! major fluff!! also pre-established relationship

dividers by @/saradika-graphics

Potent rumors often plant seeds of disbelief.

It often came as a small white lie, an utterance between two consenting parties. When it reaches the leeching tongue of the birds, they fall to the ground, sprouting things that are weeds to the truth. If left alone, they would deter nature's course.

For example, the rumors somewhat turned into some prophecy— “the world is ending soon”.

How does it end? They say it's a global snowstorm. Maybe another global flood. A supernova collision. No, they definitely said it was an onslaught of active volcanoes erupting to create a flood of lava. Or maybe, some Sentinel wished for immense havoc, with its god-like power awakening to slaughter everything in its path.

However, for scientists like Xiangli Yao, all those claims seem comical.

“The world is ending soon?” A fellow scientist slaps his own knee, “That's complete bull!”

In the middle of the long table of the Academy, what was once a flickering 3D map of Jinzhou was temporarily dimmed; instead, a couple of scientists had gathered, playing cards for their breaktime.

“I know, right? It's too funny; they really think the world is ending so soon.”

One of them throws the card, a chorus of laughter.

“My findings say otherwise,” said a cocky researcher, “The fluctuations isn't very severe. We can live to see another millennia here in our world!”

“The plants and people are still alive and well.” The glimmer of a card catches everyone else's attention, “Very far from the truth indeed.”

One scientist lets out an indignant huff, “But how did they even reach that conclusion? Do they have the data?”

The group pauses for a bit. Some bit their lip, another shuffled their cards, and the other couldn't help but sigh. “Um, proof or not, I think they are still sprouting nonsense.” Muttered the first scientist.

Another eerie silence envelops them. Until one of them throws a card at the center. “The tacet marks have been spreading nonstop...”

They throw another. “TD's are also unstable, giving a major interference to the once-natural resonance cords.”

And when he throws the last trump card, almost all of the players had a grim look on their face. “We are merely just a few months recovering from the Retroact Rain. Our soldiers cannot handle another catastrophe!!”

With a trembling shout from the scientist, everyone else near the group stopped on their tracks. Noticing that the attention was on him, the poor scientist slides back to his chair, embarrassed. Even the ones he was playing with had a gloomy face.

“...Not to diminish our pride but...who knows...what happens to Jinzhou...not to mention our Sentinel and Magistrate...”

“That's understandable. The evidences speak for themselves.”

All eyes are on the man who spoke after a long while. Between the dim lights of the Academy's hall and his slow steps, his versicolored eyes glimmers brightly than ever.

“I understand your concerns, Ray,” Xiangli Yao reaches out to pat the forlorn scientist by his shoulder, “We are merely at the recovery stage for Jinzhou, yet our nation has been going through too many things already.”

Amethyst eyes wander among the resonance cords on the screen. They catch a familiar face of a person, one that made his own heart skip a beat.

“However, Jinzhou still stands until today. We cannot say the exact date for the end of the world—it could be today, tomorrow, or another millennium—but as long as we are still here to see the flowers blooming or the children laughing, then why should we stop today?”

A roar of cheers erupts throughout the hall. The lamenting scientist sniffles in joy. Yet the Principal Investigator couldn't look away from the certain figure of a girl.

“But if the world were to end soon,” muttered a nearby scientist, causing Xiangli Yao to glance at him, “Hmm...I wonder where I'll go.”

Without a clear future in mind, and you, the Rover, who only woke up just now—the thought is scary. If, indeed, the world was ending soon, then what happens next? What happens to you?

The cats have been meowing nonstop.

As if sensing the air, they were pawing at your ankles, as if trying to catch your attention. One, two, three- maybe even five- cats trying to catch your attention.

Picking the white one, who was the one visibly stressed, you coo her as you scratched the back of her ear.

“What's wrong, hm?” You playfully kissed the cat's cheek, “Was the food not enough for you? If I overfeed you, Mr. Investigator will have to put you on another diet.”

Somehow understanding you, the cat gently pushes you off of their face with their paws, meowing.

“Hey, I'm telling the truth! As much as it hurts my poor heart, I can't feed you again today...”

“...I suppose you can allow them,” pipped a familiar voice, “They do look awfully thin.”

Nearly spilling the cat off of your arms, you squeak as you turn to meet a smiling Xiangli Yao. “M-Mr. Investigator?!”

“It's the first time you've addressed me by my title, Ms. Rover,” He teases, opting to carry the black cat on your feet, “I suppose our relationship is back to being professional?”

“The cats seem to know you more like that,” you emphasized, “Mr. Principal Investigator.”

He laughs—a tender laugh, it makes your heart squeeze—that it makes you pout. “I suppose that is right. Consider it a working place, then.”

Xiangli Yao stands next to you, holding out the black cat as it meows. With a funny thought, you ask, “Did you even know why they approached you in the first place?”

“Is it because I feed them?”

“No,” You playfully stuck out your tongue at him, “They say it's because it's to ward off bad spirits.”

Xiangli Yao goes silent, before looking at the cat, then back to you. “Hmm. I suppose I should stay away from you?”

Ultimately backfired. The joke goes back to you. With a dramatic gasp, you shrug. “Seeing as the cats was the one who approached me today, I think it's you who should go away for now.”

Freely laughing onto the summer air, the cats' meows intertwine with the yours. It's like any other workday— Xiangli Yao leaves mid-afternoon from work to meet and feed the cats, walking elsewhere until he's comfortable enough to go and finish his work.

It's only been a few weeks since a new addition to his itinerary: you. Now, every afternoon, the cats would find themselves carried by the warm sunlight; and you, taking care of them before him, drenched in sunset glow.

Like now, Xiangli Yao notes. But the thoughts were far too tempting. He takes a dive in them.

“So, Mr. Investigator,” you asked as you found yourselves by the stalls, nudging him softly, “where to next?”

The cats slowly left as soon as your walks stretched farther than usual. You were too nice to disturb Xiangli Yao, when he was far too absorbed in his thoughts.

“...Ah,” He purses his lips, slowly stopping in his steps, “I'm sorry, Rover. I hadn't realized we've gone this far.”

The streets decorated with the loud and bursting stalls sound in the background. Yet in the midst of it all, Xiangli Yao is silent as ever, his robotic hand over his lips, eyebrows furrowed. You think it's cute, from the curve of his pout, but you quickly shake it off.

“No worries at all. But you look like you have a lot on your mind, maybe you want to share them?”

Xiangli Yao looks at you. Behind you, the sun in Jinzhou has never set—bathing you in its reverberating halo, casting an ethereal glow. With his heart skipping a beat, he looks away with a sigh.

“...[Y/N],” every syllable of your name sounds too foreign for him, yet too holy, “Would you...like to come and stay with me for now?”

“Of course,” You smile, “Where do you want to go, Xiangli?”

His face remains serious as he speaks. “My house.”

“...I'm sorry?”

Going to Xiangli Yao's house was something you've never expected.

Sure, you often get invitations to visit your friends' houses once in a while. But it seems different when someone like Xiangli Yao asks you to go home with me.

Wait. With a mental slap, you scold yourself. Why do you feel different when it's with Xiangli Yao? Was there something about him? Watching unfocused amethyst eyes seems to make you worry. You were definitely not feeling something, right?

Unless?

“Is there anything else you'd like?” Xiangli Yao pops up from his kitchen, carrying a plate full of snacks in one arm and drinks in another, “I'm sorry, these are some of the food I could make.”

“It's okay, I'm more than happy to already taste what you make!” You said as you rush to help him.

But as you are about to take the plates, you couldn't help but gasp.

“Oh, does my hand scare you?”

Instead of the usual robotic hand you've grown accustomed to, it had morphed into a larger metal plate, to fit the two plates.

“No!” You shake your head with a laugh, “It's just the first time I've seen it like this. Does it change back?”

By the time the plates are on the table, Xiangli Yao twists his robotic hand (plate?), popping it out of the socket. “It does. Let me get it.”

“Do you...” Watching him scurry, you pick up a chip from the plate, “...need a hand?”

A resounding clang! echoes back to you. It takes a while before he returns to the room, rolling his hand as he grins. “I believe it's back in its proper place.”

Still the same stupid jokes that make you cackle. Eventually, you both settle down. The afternoon telenovela plays on the TV. Finally settled to sit on the ground instead of the chair, you end up picking the savory chips, munching as you devotedly watch the scenes in front of you. You don't even bat an eye even as you feel Xiangli Yao sits next to you. Silence. But a good kind.

How long have you known Xiangli Yao again? Whatever you both do, you're still content with each other's company. From the corner of your eye, you notice his gaze firmly on the TV, empty hands hair's breadth away.

“The Moonlit Fair,” you said slowly after a comfortable silence, “now that it's over, are you back to your usual work?”

He hums. “Depends how you define "usual work".”

“Metalwork and other groundbreaking discoveries.”

You bring your knees close to your face, resting your head so you could comfortably turn to see Xiangli Yao's face. Chromatic colors paint the neutral look on his face. Yet when he turns, a pretty smile replaces it.

“The field of science is only a curiosity away,” he pipes, mimicking your pose, “That's always something I've been doing, even before the start of the Moonlit Fair.”

This goody-two-shoes prodigy has always been the talk of the town. Even in Huaxu Academy, even from Mortefi's mouth, he is long lauded as someone who easily creates breakthroughs.

“I'm jealous.” You admit, sighing, “You can easily create new things.”

“That's not true.”

“Ah, I guess I can say with pride that I often help people, too.”

“However you may say it, it doesn't erase the fact that you are doing so much more than you think.” He said, “You're the mysterious Rover. You have lost memories related to this city. And from what I've heard, you hold so much history.”

He reaches out, human hand hesitating to touch your face. With a fleeting downcast gaze, he ends up booping your cheek. It makes you flinch from surprise.

“...I should be the one jealous of you, if that's the case, [Y/N].” His smile causes his eyes to close, a genuine look on his face, “You've done many incredible things that are worthy rather than simple praises.”

Did Xiangli Yao ever look this pretty before? Soft skin and amethyst irises through fluttering lashes. You wish you could brush away the hair that covers his eyes. Carefree, kissable lips. Wait—you cough, looking awau to hide the blush tinting your cheeks.

“Please, stop flattering me. I might end up bursting a hole in your roof.”

“I'll be sure to let Xiang-LEE and Patty fix that.”

A ticklish giggle escapes your lips as you turn back to see him. “Please leave my kids alone, you have overworked them during the festival.”

“...Please don't worry,” he shrugs, chuckling, “They'll be granted a paid vacation anyways.”

Seeing as the telenovela has lost its charm, and the poor food in front of you could go to waste, and maybe not wanting to end the fun yet, you decide to test your waters.

“Xiangli,” you said, noticing how he perked his head at the mention of his name, “I want to play a game.”

“An electronic one again?”

“No,” you shake your head, “Truth or Dare.”

Xiangli Yao laughs. “Oh, I didn't know you were into childish games like that.”

“I'm curious about you, and I'm sure you feel the same way.” You point out, “What's a better way than to play a game?”

“You could have asked and I wouldn't mind answering, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you sit up straight, grinning, “Truth or Dare?”

Xiangli Yao mirrors you. “Already?”

“Pick already, or I might change my mind.”

“Hmm...Dare.”

Suppose your afternoon would be so different. A few chugs of the drinks, greedy hoarding of chips, spent markers, and random doodles later, you find yourself dressed in one of his lab coats with a clip of some of his IDs, and him in the flashiest shirt. The laughter has long strained your lips but it still ends up being the sweetest you've ever tasted. Apart from that, the glow in Xiangli Yao's face is also different, one that makes your heart skip faster.

“You've what?”

Xiangli Yao laughs a little too loudly. “A mini mouse that would greet anyone who opens the door. Mortefi was the first victim, because I didn't know he was deathly afraid of mice.”

The mental image of Mortefi from Xiangli Yao's prank comes abruptly that it causes you to match the latter's laughter—hollering until your back finds the sofa, slapping the carpet.

“Oh my God,” you wheeze, “It's not even a surprise why he hates you even more!”

Xiangli Yao wipes a tear from his eye, sparkly eyeshadow slightly staining his cheeks, “I bought him some coffee to apologize, but the joke hadn't died down for weeks.”

He finds himself sitting closely with you now, head against the sofa. With a little of your mingling laughter in the air, he couldn't help but watch as your fits of laughter continued, albeit a little softer. Through your literal rose-colored lenses, did you see the world like that, too?

“It's my turn now, right?” You ask, your shoulders an aftershock from your laughter.

“Mm,” he nods, “Have you run out already?”

“No, never!”

“Alright, since I've been picking dares for a while. I'll go with truth.”

“Have you ever heard of the rumors?” You begin, laughter dying down, as you take a bite from the chip. “That the world is "ending soon"?”

Xiangli Yao freezes. So you've heard. It's no surprise as it already made a turmoil between the scientists in Huaxu Academy. Yet the dread somehow comes creeping back to him.

“If, theoretically, the world were to end today,” you slowly speak, carefully choosing the words, “In a few hours or so. What would you do?”

What would he do? A tricky question. But a calid one at that. “The end of the world wouldn't happen so abruptly.”

“Mm, yeah, but I am curious about your answer.”

What would Xiangli Yao do? And somehow, the dimming living room feels so small, the only light source was a forgotten TV color palette. When he looks at you, your doe eyes sparkle in the darkness. The closeness of your bodies, the fleeting smell of spring on your shoulder, with a hint of him.

“Well...” He slides down to the floor, patting the space beside him, “I'll let you know if you lay here with me.”

“Are you sure there are no pranks here?”

“I'm honest.”

You eventually follow his words, so you could meet the level of his eyes. Watching the glow of his inspiration-filled eyes, they somehow make you smile.

“I heard all about it when my colleagues were playing a game during break time.” Xiangli Yao begins, “Some claim it's not true, but there have been others who believe it's so soon.”

“What do you think?”

He looks away, opting to stare at the ceiling above. You follow his sight, unaware of what was next.

“I don't know.” He says truthfully, robotic hand pointing upward, “With everything that has happened, no one else can predict it.”

“Even a knowledgeable scientist like you?”

He glances at you. “Even a knowledgeable scientist like me.”

He looks back to where his hand points. Casting a power, a small purple cube dances in his robotic hand, knowing that you were watching so intently.

“But if the world were to end today, then I wouldn't mind spending the day with the cats I feed.”

The cube glows brightly, floating so freely in his hand. A flash of scenes play through its squares, too fast to see, yet too slow to be noticed.

“I wouldn't mind having the TV on, sitting on the floor with snacks all over, even though there's a perfectly good sofa.”

He hears your small laugh, which makes him smile. The cube falls to his chest, where it travels all the way to you.

“I wouldn't mind spending the last hours playing Truth or Dare, with someone who's extraordinary.”

This time, Xiangli Yao looks at you. Wide-eyed and speechless, from the way the cube touches your outstretched hand, watching the faint glow of the halo on your own body. If the world were to end, he wouldn't get tired of watching this view; watching the rise and fall of your chest as you stare in awe, calloused hands tenderly watching over his own work of art, knowing that there'll never be another you if the world were to end.

Knowing that he's long been blessed to exist in the world where you are in it.

“I think I wouldn't mind spending the last hours on Solaris-3 with you, [Y/N].”

The cube pops, a sprinkle of glitter all over your body. Glancing, your heart throbs loudly in your chest, as you heard his confession.

How did this happen again? You were merely friends with the scientist. After the successful Moonlit Fair, you often find yourself bumping into him, simple errands and impromptu hang outs when you do. Watching Xiangli Yao in his humble abode, the telenovela a white noise, and the shade of colors lighting his face—have you ever seen him more than a friend?

“Xiangli Yao,” you breathe, which made him freeze, “you...”

He smiles. “I'm not rushing to know your answer. I am merely stating the facts.”

A good friend. But now you figured out why that rubs you off the wrong way. You have always known the answer to your feelings.

“[Y/N],” Even the way Xiangli Yao speaks your name, a softer one, where in the world they called you "Rover", he calls you differently.

“[Y/N],” Reaching out, his human hand finds a strand of your hair, gently pulling it to his lips. “[Y/N],”

Xiangli Yao calls your name, one that makes you throb.

“If, theoretically,” he repeats the question you asked before, “the world does end today, what will you do?”

In a world where your memories are lost in the ripples of time and reverberation. You had the same answer.

“...I wouldn't mind spending it with a certain scientist.” You smile, watching him mirror yours, “I wouldn't mind spending it with you, Xiangli Yao.”

“[Y/N]...”

“Xiangli,” you reach out to cup his cheek, to which he closes his eyes to snuggle to the warmth, “Xiangli, you're like the cats.”

“Then will you ever mind if I could hold on to you?”

Weary arms find themselves asking for yours. And like you, touch-starved for his own touch, lean onto him, the smell of spring and that you could forget the world.

“...I would,” you said, and you do mean it, “I'll hold onto you, Xiangli.”

Oh god pls let me have him irl too

don't forget to like, comment, share, and reblog!!

— starry

[bm571158]

Free Now LN4 (Part 47)

The media attention after he had reclaimed the lead in the championship had been intense. It was a mixture of people hyping him up, saying that this year was definitely going to be his year, and a series of more critical articles that were focused on analysing every mistake he'd made over the course of the season and pointing out how he could've had it all wrapped up long before now if he'd been a little bit more consistent.

They'd hadn't gone out to celebrate in Vegas, although a lot of the team had. Lando had said he wanted to save it, didn't want to go out and celebrate prematurely when he still had work to do. There would be one big celebration when he took the title he'd told her, but he wasn't going to celebrate until it was done.

The use of the word 'when' had caught Lottie's attention. He'd always said 'if' when he'd spoken about it, that lingering doubt in his mind that made him question whether he could really do it seemed to have faded though and he was now speaking about it like everyone else was- like it was actually going to happen. For the first time he looked like he actually believed it too.

He'd been quietly focused once they landed in Qatar, spending a lot of time with his trainer and the team as they began to look at the race ahead. Lottie had spent her time by the pool at the hotel, enjoying the winter sun and relaxing while he worked. When he was done the two of them would head out together in the evening, sight seeing and just doing something to take his mind off it all so that he could unwind.

On the Friday, Flo had arrived along with Cisca, the rest of the family due to meet them in Abu Dhabi the following week. Lando had rolled his eyes, complaining his hearing may never recover, at the squeal Flo had let out as she wrapped Lottie up in a hug.

He hadn't had too much time to complain, having to head off to get in the car anyway. It was a much more intense weekend this time, with it being a sprint weekend. There was a lot less time available for the team to gather their data and make any tweaks that were needed to improve the performance.

It didn't seem to have got to Lando though, even if the rest of the team did look a lot less relaxed than they had the weekend before in Vegas. He'd wandered off to the garage laughing far too loudly about something that Oscar had said. The sound of his laughter could still be heard long after he'd disappeared out of sight.

"He seems like he's doing really well?" Flo asked, turning to look at Lottie.

Lottie nodded. "I think so. I keep waiting for it to really get to him, but he does genuinely seem to be coping really well. I don't know if it's because the team seem to be really on it this time, or maybe he's just finally realised that he really can do it... either way, it's nice to see him looking so happy."

"I can't believe he might finally be about to do it." Flo admitted. "He's wanted this quite literally forever."

"I know." Cisca agreed, joining the two of them. "I can't really believe it either."

"He can do it." Lottie smiled. "He knows it."

"It's good to see the two of you back together as well." Cisca smiled, and Lottie felt herself blush. "I was getting a bit worried for a while there that we might have to stage some kind of intervention to sort the pair of you out."

"I pretty much did." Flo laughed. "But yeah, I know I really hated it to start with, but the two of you are really good together."

"It's nice to see him so happy." Cisca smiled. "It's nice that he's got something else going on that doesn't hinge solely on what kind of result he gets every weekend. It's good for him."

"And... more importantly." Flo grinned. "You're going to end up being my sister in law... that like makes it official."

"Jesus..." Lottie blushed. "Let's just calm down there shall we? We've not been back together that long and we've got plenty of other stuff going on."

Flo laughed as she watched how red her friend was going, Cisca nodding along in agreement with Flo. "I'm not saying right now, but this is so going to happen... I'm just letting you know now that if I don't get to be made of honour I will be incredibly offended and quite possibly never speak to you again."

"Let's just go to the garage, shall we?" Lottie laughed, shaking her head at Flo. "That's enough of this conversation for now."

Flo did thankfully drop the subject once they headed down to the garage, and Lottie was relieved. The last thing she needed was Flo putting ideas like that in Lando's head just before he was about to head out on the track. It was bad enough that Flo had put the idea in her own head. Once she'd said it then it was all Lottie could think about.

It wasn't as much of a terrifying prospect as she had expected it to be, as she thought about it. She loved Lando, and she knew she wanted to be with him. That short time that they'd spent together had more than proven to her that being with him was well worth all the not so great things that went along with it. The idea of spending the rest of her life with him? Well, it was actually something that she was quite looking forward to.

The first practice session had gone well, Lottie watching while listening to Flo update her on everything that had happened while she had been away with Lando. The quiet sense of focus that had taken over the garage in vegas was back, and Lottie found it reassuring. Everyone well and truly had their eyes on the prize. He'd come out of the practice session determined and quietly optimistic, hoping to repeat the win from the previous week.

Sprint qualifying had perhaps not gone quite as well as he had hoped. In an ideal world he'd have been P1 in everything across the whole weekend, a dominant performance to prove to everyone who still doubted him exactly why they were wrong. But, he'd hit some traffic on his SQ3 lap, and not had time to go again. It had landed him down in P8, one of his lowest starting positions in a long time.

Everyone in the garage had already started trying to remind themselves that it was just the sprint race, in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter. Yes, the extra points from a win would be nice thing to have going into the race on Sunday but they weren't essential. As long as he did well on Sunday they'd still go into Abu Dhabi with him in the lead, and one hand already on that trophy.

Lottie had been ready to give Lando the same kind of motivational speech that night, to remind him that it didn't necessarily mean it was all going to be absolutely disaster, but he'd been surprisingly upbeat when he made it back to the hotel. She'd left the track with Flo, leaving him pouring over the data with the team as they discussed strategy for the sprint race and what they may need to change before qualifying for the main race the next day. She'd been fully expecting him to be there hours, and as a result she was already curled up in bed in the hotel when he came back.

"You look cosy." He chuckled, kicking his shoes off, changing his clothes and crawling into bed beside her.

"I thought you were going to be a lot later than this." She smiled, shifting closer to him as he settled himself into a comfy position beside her. "How are you feeling, about tomorrow?"

"It'll be alright." He shrugged. "It's only the sprint race. Consider it overtaking practice in case I need it for the race I guess?"

She looked at him for a long moment, trying to work out if he was being serious or just telling her what he thought that she wanted to hear. But he did genuinely look perfectly relaxed about the whole thing, like the championship wasn't hanging in the balance of this weekends result.

"I'm fine, I promise." He reassured her, leaning in to kiss her.

"Okay." She agreed, because she was actually convinced that he was telling her the truth. "You'll be fine tomorrow, I know you will."

"I'm gonna win from P8z." He joked. "Just to shut everyone up."

"That's the spirit." She laughed. "Maybe I need to give you a little incentive to go out there and win?" She suggested, hands sliding down his chest.

He caught up to her train of thought very quickly, a smirk spreading across his face. "I think that might be a very good idea actually."

****

He might have been quietly confident going into the sprint race, joking to Oscar who was starting on pole that he'd see him in a couple of laps as they got into their cars, but the plan hadn't quite worked out like that.

The trouble with starting where he was, was the amount of traffic around him. As they'd all gone scrambling down into turn one he'd been hit from the side, the car spinning off into the run off area. It was still drivable, but the team had been quick to tell him to bring it back and retire so they could make sure any damage was repaired ahead of qualifying. Lando had agreed, and after one very slow lap of the track, he was back in the pits and climbing out of the car.

Lottie watched on as he climbed out of the car, slamming his helmet down on the counter in frustration. The whole garage seemed to stop for a moment, no one really sure if they should try and offer him some words of comfort or just get on with their jobs. They all seemed to choose the second option, and so Lottie got to her feet, heading over to where he was standing.

She was aware in the back of her mind of the cameras on them, as she stood beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. She could see the pair of them on the tv screen out of the corner of her eye.

"Come on." She said softly, grasping his arm. "Let's get out of here."

It took a minute for him to lift his head and look at her, but when he did look up she could see written all over his face that the stress of the weekend was really starting to catch up with him. He hesitated for a moment and then took her hand, leading her out of the garage and through the paddock to go back to his drivers room without a word.

Once they were inside Lottie closed the door behind them, and before she could even lock the door he was pacing back and forth in the small space at a rate that made her dizzy.

"I can't do this." He shook his head. "I can't do it, I was trying to convince myself that it was all going to be alright and I'd go out there today and get the sprint in and prove I could do it, but I can't. I can't do it."

"Alright, just stop for a minute." She suggested, stepping into his path and capturing his arms firmly to stop him from pacing any more. "Take a breath. I know it feels like the end of the world now, but it could have been worse. They've got plenty of time to fix the car before qualifying, and tomorrow is a new day. Yes, the points from today would have been good, but you can still do it without them."

"You know when they did all the calculations on all the scenarios that could happen and how many points I'd need to still win, they worked this out." He told her with a sigh. "It means I absolutely have to finish in front of Max here and Abu Dhabi or he's going to take the title if we assume he's going to score points today, which he will because he's Max."

"Just because this one didn't go well, it doesn't mean that qualifying will be bad, or that you won't have a good race tomorrow." She reminded him. "It's not over yet."

"It might be, after this." He sighed, dropping his face to hide it in her neck as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Even if it is, I still love you. No matter what." She reminded him.

****

The team had done an excellent job of repairing the car, and by the time it was time for qualifying you couldn't even tell that it had been involved in a collision a couple of hours ago.

Lando's mood however, had not been quite so easy to repair.

He'd stayed hidden in his drivers room with Lottie, staying there until it really was time to go and he couldn't avoid it anymore. Once they'd reached the garage the team had rallied around trying to convince him that it was still all to play for, but he didn't want to hear it. He'd put his helmet on and walked off before Zak and Andrea could even get to the end of their pep talk that they were trying to give him.

He made it through to Q3, which for everyone except Lando had never even been in doubt. As he went out for his lap in Q3 ready to set a time Flo was gripping on to Lottie's hand so tight she was fairly sure that she might break it before the lap was finished. Cisca sat the other side unable to even bring herself to look at the screen.

It felt like everyone in the garage was collectively holding their breath. Everyone knew what was hinging on a good result, and everyone knew just how much pressure Lando had put himself under to deliver.

The seconds on the timer ticked down, indicating the end of the session. This lap was going to be make or break, there wasn't going to be time for him to get another one in.

There was a quiet groan from the garage as the timing screen flashed up and Lando was in P2, but a little more relief as they then processed that it was actually Oscar that was in front of him. As far as the championship went, it was the next best outcome to Lando being on pole himself. Max was in P4, Charles separating him and Lando.

It really was still all to play for as they headed into race day on Sunday.

It had been a sleepless night ahead of the race, and one that Lottie had been expecting. She'd had dinner with Flo, Lando coming back to the hotel late after an incredibly long meeting with the entire team and Oscar about how they were going to play it the next day.

She'd been half asleep when he came back, only waking up a little as he climbed into bed beside her, but she'd woken during the night to find the bed beside her empty. She'd sat up, rubbing her eyes and trying to work out where he'd gone. The sheets beside her were cold, so he'd been gone a while.

The dim light visible from the balcony through the curtains was a clue to where he might be, and she climbed out of bed, padding quietly across the floor to go and find him.

"Come on, come back to bed." She yawned sleepily, peering round the door.

He looked almost confused to see her there, but then despite his sour mood and nerves a smile spread across his face that he couldn't help as he looked at her. She was standing there in nothing but an oversized McLaren shirt that fell to the middle of her thighs, her hair an absolute mess from where she'd been tossing around asleep, and she looked like she was barely awake as she stood there in front of him.

He held his hand out to her, and she took it, he pulled her in towards him and she ended up sitting across his lap on the small sofa he was sat on.

"You okay?" She mumbled, hands running through his hair.

"I'm worried about tomorrow." He mumbled, resting his head against the back of her shoulder.

"It's going to be okay." She reassured him, fingertips sliding over the tense muscles of his neck. "You know the car is fast enough, we know that you can do it. You have a plan with the team and Oscar. It's going to be okay."

"You have no idea how glad I will be when this season is over." He sighed.

"Once it's over you'll wish you could go back and live it all again." She reminded him. "You'll be lying on the beach next to me watching the clips back on your phone and wishing you were back in the car."

"We'll see how tomorrow goes." He sighs. "If this doesn't work out... god I don't even know... I just... it has to work, doesn't it? I haven't come this far to miss out right at the end again."

"It's going to work out." She repeated. "You're going to be fine, that trophy is coming home with you. But first... you're going to come to bed with me and actually get some sleep."

[ao3scrapesearch]

Im a little confused. So the ... thing that our data was being used for was permanently disabled right? Does that mean we still need to issue copyright take downs and stuff? Or lock our fics still? I'm not sure what the disabled thing means. There's a lot of technical jargon and I'm not familiar with ai stuff at all but I definitely dont want my work stolen::(( all 10 of my little fics were on the scraped list already so I'm a bit anxious. Thank u for all the work you've all already done for us!!

To my knowledge, no! You shouldn't need to issue take downs now. The main source is permanently disabled (meaning no one can use that data unless they happened to download it before the guy was flagged for copyright violations), and I don't think we have a safe contact to report on the other site.

Locking fics seemed to offer some protection from this. Overall, when people have told me specifics, I've heard from users with mostly public fics that most or all of their works were taken. For users with mostly locked fics, I've mostly heard that a large fraction of their works were taken, but a lower amount than those who had everything public.

Horrible advice, I fear, but the best thing I think you can do for now is try not to be anxious about it and let yourself accept that there's nothing you could've really done differently. I will update if and when I get more information on anything else we should be doing as a group, but the way I see it, you have a few personal options right now.

Choose to continue sharing works the way you always have. If the joy you get from sharing your work is great enough, it can be worth it to you to take the risk of having your work scraped again.

Continue sharing, but take steps to reduce the risk you get scraped again. This is stuff like locking your fics to users only, using invite-only collections to control who has access to read your fics, or going to another host entirely if you're worried AO3 can't support your privacy needs.

Choose not to share your work at all. If the positives you get out of sharing your writing don't feel worth the negatives of it potentially being scraped again, you don't have to share your works.

You don't have to pick one of these and stick with it forever. Maybe for a bit, you feel that option 3 is the best for you, but you can always change your mind later and go to option 1 or 2. If this has upset you enough and you need time to mentally recover from it, take that time.

Personally, I fall somewhere between a 1 and a 2 at the moment. I've accepted that my works may get scraped, but I also think there's got to be a better way to protect them a little more, which is why I'm still looking into all of this even though that main dataset has been disabled. I'd like to be more prepared for the next time this happens because AO3 will continue to be an attractive target for AI scrapers, and I'm sure attempts will happen again.

[thepartyponies]

"they’re doing that with humans and Kandahar/Gilgamesh dna" what does this Mean

I had a whole long thing all typed out but the app refreshed and I lost it all. Let’s see how much I can redo.

It’s a pretty fun rabbit hole to go down.

The fact that the technology exists to take an extant species like a wolf and successfully splice in genes from an extinct genetically similar but physically superior species to bring out those traits in a living organism, would create the possibility that the process could be applied to humans, if tissue samples from such a physically superior humanoid species could be acquired.

The US military has reportedly recovered the bodies of at least two superhumans. The first being the body of the legendary GiIgamesh from his tomb that was discovered in Iraq shortly before the invasion (coincidence?), and the second being the body of the polydactyl giant from the Kandahar province of Afghanistan who was killed after attacking American soldiers who approached his mountain cave looking for TaIiban. I’ve heard of at least two more demigod bodies, of RomuIus and 0siris iirc, but without as many corroborating accounts.

During the whole Hilary email server fiasco an email was discovered that mentioned GiIgamesh by name. Putin once said he was more worried about supersoldiers than nukes. Other Russian officials have claimed to have captured genetically augmented enemy soldiers in Ukr aine. Grains of salt etc etc but those data points exist.

If you want to bring in eschatoIogical speculation, the figure described in Revelation 17:8,11 who “once was, now is not, and yet will come” could be Gilgamesh, who some identify as the biblical Nimrod, who is described as having “began to be a gibborim(mighty man) on the earth” That italicized term is first used in reference to the half-human/angel hybrid nephilim race from Genesis 6 and the conquest of Canaan, which is presumably where a demigod giant like Gilgamesh would have somehow inherited such traits from.

Then there’s the possible interpretation/implication of Matthew 24:37 “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Some take the angle that these two most severe instances of divine judgment on earth are both precipitated by genetic manipulation to corrupt the human genome and turn humanity into something other. That would circle back around to the very first temptation, to “be like the gods” and would give some pretty interesting implications/context for Revelation 9:6, “During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.” It could be that the Mark includes a genetic enhancement of angelic/hybrid dna. In a perverse counterfeit of the Gospel, the son of the Dragon gives his blood(gene therapy) to supposedly save/elevate humanity, but really he’s just trying to steal the human birthright of dominion over the earth and turn people into weapons to fight the armies of heaven with at the last battle.

Wacky crazy stuff that could definitely be way off in any number of areas, but it’s one way to fit some of these breadcrumbs together.

[coimbrabertone]

Injuries, Job Security, and How MotoGP and Indycar Differ...Or Don't.

In the last two years, two racers I support have been seriously injured. One was Enea Bastianini, rider of the #23 Ducati in MotoGP, and the other was David Malukas, who never actually got to drive the #6 NTT Data Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet Indycar.

So, just to go over what happened to them: Enea Bastianini was injured in the opening sprint race of the 2023 MotoGP season, the Portuguese GP at Portimao. Luca Marini went up his inside into turn five (Torre VIP), lost it, and his bike slid into Enea's bike. Enea broke his collarbone in this crash, wound up missing the opening five races, came back, injured himself again at Catalunya, and missed another three races.

Enea would return for the Indonesian Grand Prix and would then win the Malaysian Grand Prix towards the end of the season. That win, combined with Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati failing to beat Francesco Bagnaia for the championship, secured Enea's seat for 2024.

So, while Enea was enjoying a secure offseason, David Malukas was preparing for his switch from Dale Coyne Racing to a frontrunning team in the form of Arrow McLaren...except, he never actually made his debut for the team.

David Malukas was mountain biking in California, riding an easy trail, when, trying to slow himself, pulled the front brake too hard, went up and over the handlebars, and landed on his hands. He would break his left wrist and it was announced he would miss St. Pete and probably Thermal.

St. Pete and probably Thermal soon became St. Pete and definitely Thermal, missing those two races. Callum Ilott would fill in.

Malukas missed Long Beach next, with Theo Pourchaire in the car now.

Then Theo Pourchaire raced Long Beach as well.

Around this time, various rumors started flying about Malukas getting replaced. This only grew as Nathan Brown reported that Malukas had traveled to Panama in order to receive stem cell shots to speed up his recovery, and only then did he get the pins in his wrist removed.

Then, after Barber - the fourth race of the season, Malukas blacked out his twitter page. I was sat in a discord debating what exactly this meant with some other Indycar fans, with news picking up that he had been dropped. With the story pretty much out there, Arrow McLaren made the announcement early in the morning, David Malukas had been released after failing to meet his contractual obligations.

By now, it's been announced that Ilott will do the Indy 500, and then Theo Pourchaire will fill out the rest of the season in the #6. The Malukas at McLaren story ended before it could even begin.

Meanwhile, in MotoGPland, Enea Bastianini continued with the factory Ducati team. However, with Jorge Martin now building up an annoyingly large championship lead and Marc Marquez on the Ducati stealing all the attention, the whole world seems to think it's between the two of them to get the Ducati factory seat for 2025.

For the record, Enea is tied on points with Marquez, just two behind his teammate, and spent this weekend's race - the French Grand Prix at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit - starting tenth, getting a penalty, recovering to fourth, setting fastest lap, and finishing just 2.2 seconds off the lead.

Enea is an immense talent, he's the rider I chose to support when I decided to become a MotoGP fan ahead of the 2023 season, and it's so rotten to see his career falling apart because of factors outside of his control.

As for Malukas, he's a young, popular kid and has proven so talented on the ovals in a Dale Coyne Racing car. I was so eager to see what he could do with an Arrow McLaren, particularly at tracks like Iowa, Gateway, and Nashville which seemed like they'd suit him. Now, we're not going to get the chance, and it's unclear where he might land if he were to try and return to Indycar.

So, in theory, MotoGP gives more time to injured racers, but no matter what series you're in, motorsports can be a cutthroat business. Bastianini and Malukas certainly aren't the first racers to lose top rides after an injury, and they certainly won't be the last. It's not exactly an industry known for job security.

If I could manifest a happy resolution to both, I'd have Enea Bastianini go to factory Aprilia to join Maverick VInales, while David Malukas could join Meyer Shank Racing (perhaps with Tom Blomqvist returning to IMSA with the same team) to reinforce their oval program the same way Felix Rosenqvist has revitalized that team on the road and street circuits.

For now though, we wait to see what happens to them.

To end on a happier note, Brad Keselowski won the Darlington Goodyear 400 NASCAR race last night running a throwback scheme in honor of the TOM's Castrol Supra. That is an awesome motorsports word randomizer and the fact that it's real is why NASCAR is really cool in 2024.

One day I'll write a blogpost where talking about current NASCAR is actually the point instead of just spending the final paragraph gushing about last weekend's cool race.

[blueiscoool]

Have Researchers Found Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane?

A new sonar image shows an airplane-shaped object resting on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, not far from where Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, went missing in 1937.

On July 2, 1937, pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart vanished somewhere over the Pacific Ocean near the end of her historic around-the-world flight. For decades, her mysterious disappearance has perplexed explorers, who have spent millions of dollars trying to find her missing Lockheed 10-E Electra plane.

Now, a possible new clue has emerged in the case: A sonar image captured during an expedition last fall shows an airplane-shaped object sitting on the ocean floor, not far from where experts believe Earhart likely crashed, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Nidhi Subbaraman.

The blurred object is far from definitive proof, but Dorothy Cochrane, an aeronautics curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, tells Smithsonian magazine it’s “an intriguing image” that warrants a second look.

The expedition was led by Tony Romeo, who is a former intelligence officer with the U.S. Air Force, a pilot and a commercial real estate investor from South Carolina. In 2021, he sold his real estate properties and spent $11 million to fund the trip, including buying high-tech equipment to aid in the search.

“This has been a story that’s always intrigued me, and all the things in my life kind of collided at the right moment,” Romeo tells Business Insider’s Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert and Rebecca Rommen. “I was getting out of real estate and looking for a new project, so even though I really started about 18 months ago, this was something I’ve been thinking and researching for a long time.”

Last September, a team from the exploration company Deep Sea Vision, which Romeo founded, departed from Tarawa, Kiribati, in the South Pacific aboard a research vessel. Working in 36-hour shifts, the 16-person crew used an underwater autonomous vehicle equipped with sonar to scour the sea floor, scanning roughly 5,200 total square miles.

About 90 days into the trip, the team was reviewing sonar images and noticed something unusual in the data from some 60 days prior. The mysterious object looked to be about the same shape and size as an aircraft, and it was identified roughly 100 miles from Howland Island, which is within the region where experts think Earhart’s plane went down. The object is around 16,400 feet below the water’s surface.

By then, however, the crew had determined it was too late to return to the site for a closer look. The camera on the underwater vehicle was also broken, which meant they wouldn’t be able to see anything if they did circle back, reports the Post and Courier’s Tony Bartelme.

But Romeo is undeterred and hopes to revisit the area in the future.

“This is maybe the most exciting thing I’ll ever do in my life,” he tells the Wall Street Journal. “I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt.”

In the meantime, the sonar image is not detailed enough for experts to draw any definitive conclusions.

“It definitely appears to be an aircraft of some sort,” David Jourdan, who has searched three times for Earhart’s missing plane and is the co-founder and president of the ocean exploration company Nauticos, tells the Post and Courier. “It has aircraft-like features. But sound is funny. It can mislead you. We can’t say it’s her plane until you put a camera on it.”

To truly identify the object, future missions would ideally capture detailed images that contain the registration number of the plane, says Cochrane. Or, at the very least, they might more clearly show the submerged object’s dimensions and shape to see if it matches the model of Earhart’s vehicle.

“It really requires further research,” says Cochrane. “Finding something that’s really worth investigating further is step one. Verifying it’s the actual craft is step two. And step three becomes: Is it possible to recover this or not, or should it just be left where it is?”

At the time of her disappearance, Earhart was a global celebrity—speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Romeo likens her to Taylor Swift today. In June 1928, Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (as a passenger of pilots Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon), a feat that propelled her to international stardom.

Nearly four years later, in May 1932, she made history again by becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Later that year, she became the first woman to fly solo across North America and back. And in 1935, she became the first person, regardless of gender, to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California.

In the summer of 1936, the renowned pilot began to plan her most ambitious trip yet: a circumnavigation of the globe. On May 20, 1937, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, departed from Oakland for the first leg of the trip. They flew nearly 22,000 miles, making stops in Miami, South America, Africa and India along their eastward route.

By late June, they had made it to Lae, Papua New Guinea. After a few days’ rest, they departed for Howland Island, a small, uninhabited outcrop in the Pacific where a refueling station had been built for their journey. The U.S. Coast Guard had a vessel, the Itasca, stationed nearby to help with the landing.

Operators aboard the Itasca heard Earhart’s radio messages as she got closer and closer to the island. But eventually, they lost contact. Earhart and Noonan were never seen or heard from again.

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard spent 16 days searching for the missing duo without success. About one and a half years later, on January 5, 1939, Earhart was declared dead.

Theories abound about her mysterious disappearance—some onlookers have speculated that she was a spy or that she was captured by a foreign military. But Cochrane believes the simplest explanation is the most plausible: that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel near Howland Island.

“She’s got to be around there somewhere,” she adds.

By Sarah Kuta.

[sp1c3-r4ck-synd1c4t3]

Eldrazi will be the next major antagonist

This is just my own called shot. I will be looking back at this in ~a year and a half to see if I'm right, but I have evidence. I have. Some evidence.

Part 1: Data

I am going to use War of the Spark and March of the Machine as examples, and will assume their models are accurate to Ziplining, the climax event-set of the current arc.

Let's start with War of the Spark. This set had 31 months of "Foreshadow-time", which starts when the first Macguffin is loaded. Kaladesh set this in place with Tezzeret's presence, and the Planar Bridge he stole. I believe Tezzeret's presence was intentional, not just as "an" antagonist, but specifically Bolas' pawn. After that plot beat, it would take almost another year to see the true next step, in Bolas' army of Eternals. 31 months from first contact, 21 months from phase 2. Moving onto the Phyrexian arc, now that we know what we're looking for, we can find the first two teasers of Phyrexia's presence. The first is obvious, with Vorinclex on Kaldhiem, 27 months before MOM, similar to the number gained from the first examination. It would take a full year for this beat to be continued, with Jin-Gitaxis on Kamigawa, giving us 15 months pre-climax, which is definitely a much smaller time-frame, but hey, data is data.

With this information, we can make some reasonable estimations. Ziplining wants between 31-27 months of heads-up between its first foreshadow and its release. Its slotted to come out in Spring 2026, meaning that its first mention should have been during....... March of the Machine.

Hm. If we all rack our brains, maybe we can come up with something that happened in the Phyrexia arc that might've disturbed something that lives in the Blind Eternities...

Part 2: Story

This section starts my more outlandish speculations that will make me look truly foolish in 2 years time.

So, if we continue the pattern of first foreshadow->followup a year later, we would need something that tells the audience what's going on.

You remember Modern Horizons back in 2019? Well its funny, that set was built from the ground up! There was barely any thematic consistency between the cards except for draft archetypes. There were only a few premium Slivers, there just to spice up a limited deck. And the same holds true for Modern Horizons 2, there's even less consistency, each deck is going to feature cards with vastly different flavours!

And then came Modern Horizons 3, themed not around generically powerful cards, but around Eldrazi. Not new Eldrazi mind you, but

Time for crazy theory #1: What if the focus on Eldrazi in MH3 was in order to show the old kind of Eldrazi, so that we would be wowed by the new kind showing up 2 years later?

Now, this sets up some serious expectations! After the second story beat, every set had to do with Wank of the Spank or Mommy! Well that's what I'm predicting.

CRAZY THEORY #2 EVERY SET MENTIONED ALREADY RELATES TO THE ELDRAZI!!!

Part 3: Pepe Silvia

The Death Race set is... well I don't know what planes it takes place on yet, so I won't be making any specific claims. I like Corocojo's theory that it will be taking place on the wasteland plane of Gastal though, so... maybe it was razed by Eldrazi in the past? That one's weak but the next ones are a lot stronger.

Tarkir is pretty clear. Ugin spent a thousand years recovering on that plane, giving it... some connection to Colourless mana? Okay I'll be real this one also sucks

BUT THEN ITS SPACE OPERA TIME! People tend to view planes as one planet, with others just near enough to travel to, but with the deadly void of space/the Blind Eternities between them, and with horrible monsters potentially living Out There! Eldrazi have always been compared to aliens, so it'd make some sense to draw the distinction. Maybe in a plane all about outer space, we could learn more about the origin of Eldrazi. Maybe something that lives in the In-Betweens of reality started in the In-Betweens of planets!

Lorwyn is easily my weakest link. Nissa made contact with Emrakul on Zendikar, then planeswalked to Lorwyn? I'll be honest, not sure what I'm cooking with that one.

But then we get to the real reason I'm making this post. A return to Arcavios, the final plane before the climax. And let me ask you a question. Do we know of any colourless creatures that live on Arcavios?

That's right. Why else would they make the penultimate set a Strixhaven sequel? Because it's been the home of an entirely different kind of titan this whole time.

Part 4: A list of the many reasons I'm probably wrong

Here's a non-comprehensive list of the many reasons I'm probably wrong.

Loot is related to the Fomori, whom have nothing to do with Eldrazi

Kellan has nothing to do with Eldrazi

It probably has to do with dragons cause Tarkir and Arcavios both have extant Elder Dragons and Bolas' probably escaped his meditation realm in the Invasion

Jace already did the whole Eldrazi thing a decade prior why would he be showing up so much if they just want to make him Do It Again

Emrakul is still in the silver moon and its not very likely that she'll escape off-screen

MH3's Eldrazi could just be a way to appease fans who won't get another chance to see them in a long time

We JUST defeated Phyrexia forever, why on earth would the other big bad of the multiverse be next, instead of being saved for 2033 with a smaller big bad in-between

Tezerret has nothing to do with the Eldrazi

Why the fuck would the first "Macguffin foreshadow" be something that happened DURING the last climax

Why the fuck would the second story beat take place in a set WITHOUT A STORY

Mark Rosewater said about Ziplining "I can't even say who the antagonist is". If it was Eldrazi he might've said 'what the antagonist is'

You've never once made a correct magic theory

But hear me out on that last one. There's a first time for everything :)

[absolutely-normal-about-x]

“Volnutt Identity crisis cause woah oh Trigger has a body count! Also him having the WORST TIME OF HIS LIFE”

Thank you so much because I don’t see people talking about Trigger canonically having a body count (which is probably in the thousands). Like he’s called “1st class Purifier Unit” and straight up called PURGING officer in Japan and was made to eliminate Aberrant Units who tried going against Elysium- who were probably other units who just wanted to live their life on Terra like he is right now and didn’t like what they were doing to Carbons and Trigger snuffed them out. Like…..A 14 year old with THOSE types of memory??? Yeah it’s probably going to haunt him for a very long time and he’s definitely going to try to atone for his actions back then. Because what if one of those units survived and tried coming back for revenge against him- like what is he supposed to do???

FINALLY SOMEONE GETTING IT LIKE NO ONE IN THIS FANDOM NEED TO TALK MORE ABOUT THIS.

I love the idea that Trigger CHOSE to die rather than survive his fight with Sera. Because of the guilt and regrets he has for his actions as a purifier unit and believes he doesn’t deserve to live in that world especially that X doesn’t deserve the heartbreak that his youngest son committed many MANY deaths (Oh trigger if you knew…)

He gave Data explicit orders to only show Volnutt the most relevant memories while the other more “Personal” ones would be locked away. And only recovered if it’s important

It wouldn’t be surprising that Trigger corrupted some memories without Data’s knowledge ensuring that HE won’t be brought back only his current iteration. Meaning that individual of Trigger is DEAD and only Volnutt remains (Trigger’s memories are the only things left to him since it’s mostly safeguarded by Data) regardless what the mother units can do they can’t bring him back.

So yeah when Yuna restore volnutt she may or may not recovered a few of those corrupted memories. Unfortunately meaning that Volnutt will be cursed to witness those deaths…and he’s HAUNTED his time on Elysium wasn’t pretty pleasant to say the least…being constantly compared to Trigger by a lot of Units.

And also it’s funny that you asked cause there’s gonna be a couple of surviving units that want his blood…and some unfinished business that Trigger left behind.

But thankfully he won’t be doing it alone but holy shit is it gonna be awful for everyone :3

[pinkpoweredpunk]

[ Bzzzzt! While User Blake is erm, having a bit of a moment- you can rely on me, their wonderful trusty Rotom, to fill you in on everything that’s been happened! Bzzbzzt! ]

[ Alllright, so where do I start, bzz? Well, last you all probably saw from the videos I’ve been sharing with you all in our adventures, User Blake got into another battle with Mr. N! Both fought super duper hard, bzzt, but trust me- had things not gone the way they did, Blake definitely woulda won! But um, bzzt, King may have hit the ground too hard with a slam attack… and caused the floor below us to cave in. We fell waaaaay waaaay waaaaay deep down into the darkest depths of Chargestone Cave! ]

[ I wasn’t sure we’d make it, but a friendly Eelectross family pulled Blake and Mr. N out of the rubble and let them both recover in their den for a while! Then, once Blake’s broken legs were healed, we all set off together to look for a way out! It, bzzzt, was definitely an experience… one that mostly involved Blake and Mr. N arguing half of the time. ]

[ Bzzzt! But THEN! We came across this super strange temple place, one that I had no information on in my location data on Chargestone Cave! We went deeper in, and we had to complete a lotta puzzles to get through all the doors. Wellll, N did, Blake isn’t very good at that kinda stuff and I don’t have hands. ]

[ Then, we found our way to the finally chamber, bzzzt, and found nothing but a dead end and fountain with a weird rock sitting on top of it… ]

[ And you wouldn’t BELIEVE what happened next, bzzzt! There’s this big shockwave that knocks me out, and all of a sudden the guardian of the ruins comes out and captures all of us!! It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, bzzbzzt!!! ]

———

[IMAGE: A slightly blurry photo of an absolutely massive Galvantula, at least ten times the size of a normal one. It has glowing, blue runic patterns engraved on its exoskeleton, and behind its legs you can see a gemstone core on its stomach.]

———

[ I was so scared, bzzt! When that thing tied us up in its web I thought we were goners for sure!! But we ended up fine thanks to Professor Juniper coming to the rescue, and the friends she brought with her, bzzzt!!! ]

———

[IMAGE: A photo taken from a ceiling perspective of Professor Juniper battling against the Galvantula with an Exacdrill. Fighting alongside her, you can see three others- Stasia, Ian, and Lucil.]

———

[ Um… things got pretty intense after that and honestly I don’t remember what happened that much? Oh, also, the Galvantula got so mad it turned itself into a DRAGON type!! And used Draco Meteor!! It was crazy!! ]

[ Thankfully, King woke up and managed to tear everyone out of the web, so User Blake joined the fight and helped hold the Galvantula down!! But I guess while no one was looking Mr. N ran to protect that stone on the fountain from falling rocks, idk why but he ended up getting really hurt ;^; But at least he got the Galvantula to stop attacking!! He also knew its name, um, I think it was Bronte? ]

[ Well, anyways, Bronte was super calm after that and helped show us a way out! Bzzt, I think Stasia and Ian stayed behind to try and find Composure in the rubble, I hope they’re ok. So when User Blake, N and I got out of the cave we finally arrived in Mistralton City!! Also apparently things have been going off the rails since we were gone- our friends teamed up with Clay and Team Plasma of all people to help get us out of the cave or something?? And Cheren and Bianca had a fight and now I think Bianca is off somewhere else by herself. ]

[ Er, anyways, N got super mad when Prof. Juniper tried to take the stone from him so his ninja guys came and helped him retreat. According to the professor that stone has some kinda importance in the ritual that’s supposed to summon the Legendary Dragon, Zekrom, so we gotta get it back bzzbzzt! ]

[ But first Blake’s gotta go get their next badge from Skyla, bzzt! Which ummm, could be difficult, we don’t have any Flying-type coverage on the team… B-besides me, of course, but my battling days are LOOONG over!!! ]

[ Bzzt, okay, recap over. This Rotom Phone needs its battery recharged, bzzz… zzz 😴 ]

[player-1]

Sorry in advance for the sudden jumpscare in the Nexomon fanbase (or my dash rn), but I really needed to get this brainworm out of my head here:

The teaser for Nexomon 3 already came out a while ago, but I was giddy enough to know that the theme of old characters/concepts from the previous games returning is still going strong here. Especially with the importance of witches and seers from the Abyssals DLC; since they were supposed to help predict when the Abyssals will strike back and share knowledge on their behaviors and weaknesses to future generations...And now in a undisclosed amount of time, the bloodline was being destroyed until there's barely anything left.

Of course, it's not like the Abyssals picked them off, but something or someone that is completely unknown to the people of Aurelian/Aurelia(?) (and congrats on VEWO for finally making a region name) both past and present. And I know that it's way too early to speculate on who that might be, but given the current track record in bringing back old characters for some much-needed vengeance is a definite must for the series. You know...like Metta and Leah?

Major rant/theory dump below cause I have no way to explain this normally.

Metta's a obvious pick since, as far as Nexomon 1 is aware, he should be dead after his Omnicron revival stunt, but he's not. He wasn't in the Netherworld when the MC went through their Doom arc and revisited Omnicron's kids in their Nightmares, you only got to see his Nexomon form post-dlc, his real name only mentioned once, and he even has a joke headstone in Extinction playing with the idea that he might still be around somewhere in the world (so 1 million post-Ulzar and N1, 1 thousand-ish years old N:E + however long until N3 starts). I mean, Omnicron's kids are effectively immortal (and Solus too), so who's to say he's been playing the extremely long game in gaining the upper hand? They have a legitimate reason to take the reins as Omnicron's heir, after all, and he would've been incredibly pissed if he was completely overshadowed by his surprise niece/nephew instead of following a typical hierarchy.

As for Leah, it's a bit iffy on her part since she might've Digi-died before the MC battles Vaithe/Vados (and Malk mercing the entire program in a blaze of glory), but data can still be recovered, right? Like sure, 95% of the Micromon database was destroyed in Extinction from the Drakes (as mentioned by Amelie and Logan in the dlc), and only the Chaos Quartet were left over...But that's not the case. 29 Nexomon from N1 were somehow revived on Precursor Island (6 of them being Micromon related), yet there's no real answer on how that was possible. Not to mention the possible hint that Leah's the only one who can control all four Chaos 'mon, even with the possible upgrades, so it wouldn't be more of a coincidence that she comes back somehow to complete the set (and possibly be Metta's confidant/overseer since she definitely has the look, mask or no mask).

And circling back to the step up with Nexomon 3 being 3D like Pokemon Arceus or Breath of the Wild (crossing my fingers on it still being different from them), I'm kinda curious if they're going to show the Omnicron fam transform into their Nexomon forms, Solus and Omnisun included. It will definitely be a pain in the butt to animate, sure, but it also got me thinking about how Metta works with a human form since he's just a glass ball and a bunch of ribbons. I'm personally hammering in the idea that he just a bag of air in the shape of a human (minus the head for his main body) and possibly circulates element-based energy though it to fake it till he makes it (Fire for body heat, Mineral for "bones", Water for "blood", Wind for circulation, Electric/Nature for a passable heartbeat, and Normal...well, to look normal). And methinks that when he finally does the big reveal that it's not with a giant flash of light or a massive wave of energy, but it's slow and unnerving as his body just unravels apart. Skin slowly peeling away to show nothing underneath, ribbons pale white but the ends colored with attributes of long past, and the only thing physical about him is the glass sphere where his skull should be, just staring with chiseled-on eyes at his soon-to-be enemies...And then the real nightmare starts trying to fight something so small but so so powerful that will definitely put his siblings to shame. -Oh yeah, and Byeol. They definitely need to come back, but they're the one that does the flashy introductions and stuff. They have that kind of energy to me.

But if that isn't final boss material (or second to final), than I have no idea what is. Anyway, rant over. Thank you for your patience and stuff :)

[roskapanda]

I love that people are learning about the value of owning things but while buying or ripping something to mp3 is super easy, I do think physical media is the better option. I think this because I have had the double whammy of both my computer harddrive and my backup drive die at the same time. My backup drive was even less than a year old so I didn't initially have that much concern when, after I recovered my computer, I booted the backup to restore my backed up files and music and only thing it said was "khk khk whhhrrrrr khk khk". I thought popping that thing in the freezer would work. It usually does when the disk is just struggling to start spinning. But nope.

What I finally had to do was to take apart the casing and get the drive itself and put it in a dock and then Linux managed to see the data and get it bulk downloaded. And I have it. But it's all unnamed, anonymous files that I can only sort by filetype. It's still mostly like that bc it's a lot to sort through manually and it was definitely somehow too much for tag autofetching, that kept stuck on a loop of fetching tags for the exact same 1000 songs, over and over. So like, I have 1000 first songs, alphabetically. The rest is just a random mass of mp3, ogg, and flac files.

It is the world's luckiest thing I had not given in to the pressure to "clean and get rid of" my physical CDs so I was not left with 0 music. It is also probably why I now have such a hard time to let go of Spotify streaming and go back to files on a hard drive. It gives me anxiety to trust all that to something that can break so randomly.

Also, my solution to storage taking a lot of space was to just get rid of the jewel cases. I store the disks in a disk archive box and the sleeves in a folder. The cases I donated to the local library. They go through a lot of those bc customers break the cases all the time.

Also, some people do always bring up the data rot or CD rot and a lifespan of like 10-15 years or whatever. My oldest CDs are from like 1995 and still work. I haven't lost a single one to any kind of rot. My LPs are doing even better.

[3dpe]

Update for 2024

Lads, ladettes, misceladious, time to lay out The Plan.

As 3dPE discord members know, I spent most of 2023 building up the battle systems; I was aiming towards releasing a new demo game, to test serverlessish multiplayer. However, something was nagging at me about it: how to make a game like that worth replaying?

I think the discord threeple might have organised some battles with one another, and I was planning a Friday Night Fight kind of event to encourage getting people together - but the problem with multiplayer is always finding opponents. Also, it's not any kind of brand new type of battles, and has quite a limited roster of mons and moves. I thought if I expanded the scope with a single-player story mode, it might boost engagement, but it increased dev requirements way more than it did the likelihood of people playing regularly. This had all been bothering me towards the end of the year, and along with burnout from work and personal things, I was finding it hard to move forward with the project.

However, I don't want to give up on that, because I'll definitely need multiplayer testing, and I like the stupid story and other stuff that I came up with for the demo game. So for this year, I'm going to rearrange the schedule a bit.

My primary focus now is to get the engine beta running. I'll drop battles for now, get the map editor stable, and get the core app to a place where it can self-update. We'll run it through more alpha tests, then start a semi-private beta where anyone in the discord will have access to it without me building it for them. Discord is a requirement for now, so that I can get feedback directly - but if you're interested in helping with alpha testing, join up now and ask about it!

With a healthy beta core, I'll have plenty of test subjects willing participants for multiplayer battles - because I'll be able to distribute it to beta testers as an editable project, where they can add custom mons and moves! That has a lot more replayability than 9 mons. I'm looking forward to seeing the first person work out how to rickroll with it. With a demo game release too, so non-beta-testers can battle threeple with crazy custom data, it should be some glorious chaos.

As always, thank you for your support and encouragement. I'm still recovering from burnout so progress will stay slow for a while. But I'm feeling better about this direction, so watch this space.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

I'm gonna GET THEM BACK. {8D

My first RPs!

My first several... dozen... HUNDRED RPs!

Long story short, I spilled soup on my external hard drive like 8 years ago, I quickly unplugged it from the computer, wiped off as much as I could reach, and let it dry out for a week, buuut... when I plugged it back in, it made kind of a clicking sound and wouldn't even display in File Explorer.

So fast-forward to Saturday. When I picked up my laptop, I took it to the computer repair place to see if they could recover its data.

Well, they called today and told me it's not just recovering data they can do, they can RESTORE ITS FUNCTION! Which means I'll have access to everything on it without buying a new one!

(I'm still buying a new one because refurbished items simply don't last as long as new ones. I don't want to get it back and lose 200GB of data AGAIN because I didn't back it up. :P)

...I WILL have to buy another microUSB-to-USB data cord because I've long lost the one the EHD came with, but that's a universal port type and easy to find. Also helluva lot cheaper than a whole new drive.

So the reason I'm actually so excited about this isn't accessing my shitty old photography or my entire music library from ~2017 or a tenth of a terabyte of saved videos, but my old writings!

My external hard drive had like a DECADE worth of Early Zira RPs on them. And I RPed a LOT in those years! The vast majority of them are between me and people from an OC group on deviantArt. Some of the other people I don't even like anymore (if you're reading this and you have to wonder, it's definitely not you-- they know who they are), but damn if the RPs weren't interesting!

I was especially mourning the one where Dove Freaks Out and Gets a Nemesis, because that hasn't happened in fanfic or RP since. It was SPECIAL and RARE and SOOO deliciously angsty! X)

But I also had RPs with Srentha and Kary, and even some with Leyla! "Muse" for Srentha and Kary is exceedingly rare. I think I've written more about them in those RPs than I have in my own stories!

(Srentha is just SO energetic and positive and charismatic, he requires me to have a high level of energy to keep up with him. And Kary is wildly emotional, distrustful, and just so ANGRY, so I have to have a "loose" enough mind that I can fit her Constant Overreactions in my head, and then into words.)

Now, unfortunately the RP with Srentha and a dear friend writing another Azarathean didn't survive because that one was on Skype and it deleted the conversation during an update 10+ years ago. I'll never get that one back. But now that will be the only one I've lost. TTwTT

When I got that call today, I smiled SO hard. I've been afraid I could never get those writings back. I've been resigned to losing it for YEARS, because it's genuinely literally actually been about 8 years since it stopped working, and as time went on I feared more and more parts would degrade and when I finally had the money to take it in, it would be Too Late.

BUT IT'S NOT TOO LATE!

Oh thank the gods, thank the stars, thank Azar, I'm finally going to get them all BACK! ~<3333

I'll be watching my email like a HAWK for the message that I can come pick it up.

[legendarywindowtrash]

Messing Windows Up Then Attempting To Fixing It, Part 1

I know, this is very much unrelated to this entire blog, but I am trying an experiment.

I call myself good with technology. I can program some stuff. If you remember from this post, I am a minor (under 18 where I live). I will give you a more precise age range without doxxing myself: 13-16. So, yeah, I am gifted.

Before we continue,

THIS ENTIRE EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN CONDUCTED IN A VIRTUAL MACHINE, SAFE FROM PHYSICAL HARDWARE, AND PREVENTIONS HAVE BEEN TAKEN, LIKE SNAPSHOTS.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER, EVER, EVER TRY THIS AT HOME. EVER. YOU CAN AND WILL LOSE DATA. CLICK THE READ MORE BELOW TO EXPAND THE WHOLE ARTICLE.

Still interested? Ok. Lets go.

Im running Windows 10 Pro 22H2 in VirtualBox 7.0.14, on an old laptop, activated on a home license. The laptop I have has 8GB of DDR3 ram, and an Intel i5-2520m. Virtualization IS enabled. 4GB of ram and 2 of my threads are dedicated to the virtual machine. Windows is unactivated, but this is legal, although against the Windows TOS.

(please forgive me Microsoft i am just doing an experiment)

Lets begin.

So, Attempt 1: the classic "Delete System 32".

The age old fable: "DELETE SYSTEM32 TO SPEED UP SYSTEM"

NEVER DO THIS!

Anyway, I'm doing it.

Once again, I'm in a virtual machine made specifically for this purpose, so my hardware is safe.

As you can see, I put a file there, so I can see if I can fix the mess I will make without deleting data.

Here we go. I'm just running a couple of commands i found to delete it...

And i have been denied. Anyway, time to take ownership of the directory with

TAKEOWN /F C:\Windows\System32

Time to delete system32 again.

AND I'm denied again.

But... it actually started deleting stuff.

Then it denied me again.

Lets reboot, and assess the damage.

and it blue-screened. 3 times. Yep, I definitely messed Windows up. Afterwards, it prepared an automatic repair.

I assume it failed, since I was thrown into the recovery menu.

Ok. Now, lets try to recover this.

Whelp I had to pause for a while so I accidentally shut it down lol. Anyway, now lets recover this for real. Well, here's another automatic repair screen:

(Also, please forgive me for the small screen size,I am running this on my old laptop with a 1366x768 screen lol)

Now, I will try recovery locally, then if all else fails, recover from the ISO. Resetting will be done last for the local recovery (after snapshotting of course).

Recovery Attempt 1: Startup Repair

I clicked "More Advanced Options", then "Startup Repair". I signed in, then it began diagnosing my PC.

And it failed.

Whelp, it failed. I can't uninstall updates, and there is no way in heck I trust myself to fix it with the command prompt, but there is a system restore. Lets try that, and revert it back TO before Virtualbox Guest Additions.

(Note here, a system restore is not the same as recovering a snapshot. Recovering a snapshot is only done via Virtualbox, and system restore is available on any PC. Look it up, it is real.)

Recovery Attempt 2: System Restore

And no restore points. That failed fast.

There are no system images I manually made, so that's out of the question. Lets try startup settings.

Recovery Attempt 3: Startup Settings.

There are 10 of them.

Debugging won't do anything, boot logging is useless since windows cant boot, low-resolution is unusable since windows cant boot. Lets try Safe Mode.

Recovery Attempt 3A: Safe Mode

The VM froze before I was able to select it. Lets try again.

I waited for the Recovery Environment to boot, then

And it auto-repaired again.

That failed. Whelp, Windows is royally done for. Time to reset it! (I made a snapshot before doing this).

Recovery Attempt 4: Reset (The Final Local Resort)

Ok, a cloud download, at least to me, would be considered cheating since it downloads Windows again, but if all else fails (including USB), I will do that. Doubt it will work.

Lets do this.

We are now resetting. Sit back and relax, this will take a bit.

And a while. 20 minutes and its only gone up 36%. I might need to revert to right before the reset, save state, and try again tomorrow, since its late.

And I did that.

4/24/2024

Its tomorrow now, so lets try again. Its resetting for real this time. this time (still locally reinstalling)

And it failed... again. Well, that's all for local attempts, time to boot into the Windows 10 ISO and try recovery from there.

Welcome back to the Windows 10 22H2 ISO. I will begin the same steps from the ISO.

It looks the exact same, right? Well, time to do steps 1-4 again, although this time FROM the ISO.

ISO Recovery Attempt 1: Startup Repair

First step, Startup Repair. From the ISO, targeting Windows 10, not the Recovery Environment that was created during the reset.

Now its diagnosing... again.

Congrats me, it failed.

System Restore, System Image, and Safe Mode won't work, and Reset isn't there, so...

Windows 10 is done for.

Time to reset with a cloud download. I can't do anything else, so a cloud download reset, like I said I would, has to be done.

First, I enter into the recovery environment (with the "Exit and Continue to Windows Recovery Environment" option), then troubleshoot, then "Reset This PC." "Keep my files", of course, then I log into my user. I then select "Cloud Download", and it got my "Ethernet" (aka the Network Address Translation network) up and running. It failed the first time,

it failed the second,

And it failed the third. Well, time to cut my losses. It's over.

Moral of the story?

DON'T DELETE SYSTEM32!!!

Time to restore the snapshot for the next breaking of windows.

Thanks for reading this fancy thing I decided to do lol

I might do more, I might not. See all of you soon.

[mplsuggestions]

Do some research, learn something new about yourself

[tangledinink]

Chapter Ten of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? is up! :0 Betraying my system and posting one chapter early because it was one of my favorites to write and I'm excited... the boys return to school for the first time in a while, and, of course, it goes VERY well... read it on ao3 or below the cut!

[ prev ]

(cw: depictions of panic attacks, a lil bit of blood and fighting)

Oh god. He could not do this. What was he thinking? What were any of them thinking?! This was going to be a complete disaster. 

Leo's sneakers were still pointed in the direction of the school, and he was walking towards it, but he wanted oh so desperately to turn tail and run. He wouldn't. He wasn't gonna back out or ditch his family... but oh pizza supreme in the sky did he want to. 

He really, really hoped that this was worth it.

They had all agreed to the plan days ago, discussing it at length and reviewing the pros and cons. And when they had that original conversation, Leo had been all for it! It seemed like a good idea when Donnie pitched it... at the time. 

"Right. So. As you all know, I've been doing some research on the mystic artifacts that we recovered from Dad's room. There's not a ton I can find online, which I was expecting, but I've been doing some analysis on the actual items themselves and some of the readings they're giving, and--"

"You found something?" Raph interrupted, his eyes widening. Donnie had hesitated.

"Well. Not exactly," they had explained, wincing a bit. "There is definitely a pattern in what I'm seeing, and it seems like most mystic energy has a particular molecular build, if you will, so to speak. I mean, it's really not quite as simple as that, it sort of is less molecular and more next-to-molecular... It's pretty fascinating, actually, I mean, I can't imagine that anyone would notice these kinds of signatures unless they were actively looking for them, it’s really on detectable via--"

"Donnie!"

"Right. Sorry. The point is, I have a foundation. I have the buildings of an equation here, but I don't have any values to input into it yet, so I can't do anything with it. And that," they swiveled in their desk chair to point, grinning big. "Is where Mikey comes in."

They had all turned to look at their youngest brother, who absolutely beamed in response, oozing sunshine in a way Leo hadn't seen in nearly two weeks. 

"Did you guys know he can see auras?"

"I'm sorry, he can what?" Raph echoed.

"Well, 'aura' is the placeholder term I'm using for ease of communication at the moment. I'll label it with a proper term later. Mikey likes to call them ‘life colors.’ But the point is, according to Mikey, at least from what he can tell, pretty much everyone in the world has a unique 'life color.' I wasn’t really sure if I was gonna be able to go anywhere with this at first, but after discussing it at length and running a few tests, I’m fairly certain it is, in fact, a measurable mystic quality that I could figure out how to sample. So, in other words, a unique signature. In other other words..."

 Donnie had paused, expecting someone to finish the sentence. His family stared at him blankly. Donnie huffed a bit in annoyance, rolling his eyes.

"In other words, gentleman, (and April,) we have our values. If we know that everyone has a unique 'life color' signature associated with them, in addition to knowing that mystical energy itself has a unique signature associated with it, and if I’m able to detect and read both these signatures with my tech, I can, theoretically, generate a tracking algorithm capable of sweeping and zeroing in on these specific data points, and--"

"And you can find Dad!" Raph finished the sentence this time, his eyes absolutely alight. Wait, really!? They had a lead? They had a lead! Leo had all but jumped up from his seat on Donnie’s bed, bounding over to join his twin at their computer. 

"Alright, Dee! I knew you could do it!" He cheered. "So what are we waiting for!? Let's go get Dad already!"

"Well," Donnie held up his hands, and Leo paused. Wait, well? What was the problem?

"I can generate a tracking algorithm and software with a margin of error. And right now, the data pool we're working with is not especially impressive," Donnie muttered, turning back to the monitors and gesturing to a bunch of charts and numbers that none of them understood. They had all gathered and leaned in to look anyway. "As it stands, anything I build will likely not be especially accurate, if it works at all. I've already spent some time with it, and it turns out that there are... a lot of people in New York City," he said dryly. "Which makes this difficult."

 "Then... what do we do?" April questioned, frowning.

 Mikey had grinned, puffing out his chest. "We get more data!"

Leo had originally suggested that they just go camp in Times Square and people-watch, and collect a shit-ton of data that way, but as Donnie had explained it, it wasn't quite so simple. Just inputting the life colors of random people from off the street wasn't really going to train the AI he was coding to do much of anything. The software he was hoping to build wasn't going to have the same 'gift' as Mikey, and wouldn't be able to just 'see' people's life colors. They'd have to teach it how to do so by associating 'colors' with other data points, such as blood type, birthdays, thermo-magnetic signatures, and a bunch of other fancy words Leo didn't recognize, in order to try to find a pattern that could be used to identify and track such things. So it could learn to ‘see’ life colors on its own. In other words, they could only use the 'life colors' of people who they could find again and collect further data on. People who they could reliably locate over a period of time. People who they were able to access other records for...

And Donnie could hack into the school's database in his sleep. So.

Here they were.

At the time, it had seemed like a reasonable plan. Go to school, Mikey can collect a list of kids and their life colors, Donnie pulls data from the school's records, and the rest of them fill in the blanks with whatever weird tests Donnie said they needed. They were all sneaky enough that they could scan a kid's magnetic energy or whatever incognito. It was a good plan. They had even managed to convince Carol that they were ready to go back to school after several long conversations, insisting that staying home and not seeing any of their friends were just making things worse, etc etc.

But oh my god. Now they were here, walking up to the building, and all Leo could think was this is a horrible idea. He kept trying to tell himself maybe it wouldn't be so bad, maybe not that many kids knew, maybe no one was gonna say anything, but who was he kidding? He was sure the whole ass school had taken notice of their two-week absence and knew perfectly well by now that their dad was missing. It had only been circulating through the news and every social media platform that had ever existed on repeat since it happened. 

Everyone was gonna be looking at him with those sad, sorry-for-you eyes that he couldn't stand. It was gonna be awkward. And he was not even a little bit excited about it.  Dammit, he had had his phone on 'do not disturb' for the past two weeks for exactly this reason. 

But he had said he would do it. So. 

Here they were.

"Alright," Raph said, turning to face the rest of the group, just outside of the front doors. Leo could already feel other kids watching them. He thought back to his and Mikey's conversation that one time when they went to gymnastics. How things were normal, but also weren't at all, and just let them all in the lurch in this uncanny-valley sort of space. "We all know the game plan?"

"Yes sir," they all responded, though not with quite enthusiasm or coordination as they usually did. Leo could tell that everyone was nervous. I mean, jesus. He couldn't blame them.

"Alright," Raph bit the insides of his cheeks. Also nervous. "Everyone keep your phones on. And text the group chat if anything happens. We can always leave if we gotta, I mean, if you guys wanna go home--"

"Oh-ho-ho!" Leo remarked with a grin. "What happened to ‘no skipping class?’"

"Leo--"

"This is a great change of pace," he continued, desperate to break the tension. "But don't worry! We're gonna be fine-- we got this! And if anything happens, we'll just ninja our way out of here, no problem."

"No, if anything happens, we call April's mom to pick us up--"

"Same thing! We've got this one-thousand percent until control. Right, Magic Mike?" Leo teased, nudging his brother, who forced a half-hearted grin in response. "See? He's all over it. Okay, now what's that thing Raph always says? Don’t do anything Raph wouldn’t do? Don't be late to class? That thing! Everyone go do that!" He said, grabbing Donnie by the hand and promptly marching off. 

Oh, he could feel the eyes on the back of his head. But soooo worth it to end the awkward, anxious air. If this was what the entire day was gonna be like, he wasn't gonna make it. He could tell you that right now.

He wasn't sure Donnie was, either. Was he, like, legit shaking? Crap. Okay, come on. We can fix this.

"I mean it, you know," he said, slowing his pace slightly and releasing his grip, shifting into an easy stride next to his twin rather than dragging them along behind him. "You've got this, Dee. If anyone can figure out this whole mess, it's you, right? Once Mikey has all that data stuff, we'll be all set."

"Yeah..." Donnie said, not sounding anywhere near as confident as Leo was used to, staring down at his boots. Aw, man. 

"Oh, come on. Where's your enthusiasm? Where's the brother I know and love?" Leo bade, elbowing him slightly, but failing to make any actual physical contact with him. He had already pushed it by grabbing his hand, no need to pile on top of that... "Where's your... your thing! Your emotionless passion!"

"Here," Donnie mumbled in a tone just barely one step above a whine, hunching his shoulders slightly. "It's fine. I do have this. Today is just gonna suck." 

Leo sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. 

 "... Yeah. I know. We just gotta... get through it. Keep our heads down, muscle through, and once today is over, it's over. No biggie!"

Even he didn't believe it. Regardless, the pair made their way to homeroom-- though at an admittedly much slower pace than usual, with no racing, jumping, leaping, or flipping. It almost felt foreign, and Leo was half tempted to tag his brother and take off running. Muscle memory begged him to. But he knew that neither of them really felt up for it, and besides, the last thing they needed were even more eyes on them. Leo tried to emit his very best, 'do not look at me, talk to me, or fuck with me,' vibes as they entered the classroom, sticking close to his twin. That wasn't usually his forte-- it was more Donnie's, if anything-- but it was at least enough to ward off the masses until the first official bell of the day rang.

Leo's stomach was in absolute fucking knots. 'Cause he knew that he had geometry first period in the upper east wing of the school... and Donnie had history in the west. 

For a moment, he felt like a second grader again, terrified of his twin brother moving on without him and leaving him behind to go to school all by himself. He swallowed hard, lingering in the hallway just long enough to give Donnie a grin and sign a reassurance that he could text him if anything happened. Donnie had frowned, nodded, and they had parted. 

It did not feel good. 

He was trying to talk himself down from the ledge, resisting the urge to run after his brother and tackle him and cling to him, like, no, don't leave me alone!, when he rounded the corner and caught sight of a face across the hall that made him freeze.

"Leo!" Chase immediately called out when they made eye contact.

Dammit. He knew he was forgetting something. Actually, you know what? Fuck geometry. Who needs geometry? Leo made an immediate about-face, spinning on his heels and going exactly back the way he just came. Opting out of this conversation, thank you very much. 

"Leo!" He heard his despite-not-talking-in-literally-two-weeks-technically-still-boyfriend shout from behind him again, no doubt in pursuit, and Leo cursed in every language that he knew, picking up the pace. No no no no. He was so not in the mood for this. This was the last thing he needed. He barely even liked Chase that much on, like, a good day, he was just kinda cute and had decent taste in music! He had no intention of discussing any bit of, like, this whole situation with him. 

Gymnastics lessons, don't fail me now. Leo ducked and weaved past students as fast as he dared, dancing around, over, and occasionally through them, not really caring that much if he bumped or elbowed anyone. Sorry, he had priorities! A quick glance over his shoulder told him that, no, somehow, he still had not lost Chase, who was, in fact, living up to his name at the moment, and oh my god, was he panicking? He was pretty sure he was panicking, great, cool, no problem! Let's run with it! Mikey said that feeling emotions was healthy or whatever, and wow, was he feeling it!

 He nearly wiped out a couple of freshmen as he flung himself around a corner and down a side hall, his sneakers sliding noisily against the linoleum as he all but smacked into the nearest door he could find. Okay, running wasn't working, how about hiding? Just had to duck away somewhere for a minute and lay low, and it'd all be fine, and he wouldn't have to deal with this or talk about any of this or talk to him--

 He blanched when the door failed to budge. What?! No, no, no, come on! Open, you've gotta open! He glanced around frantically for an alternative exit plan, but there was nothing around that he'd be able to get to before Chase caught up.

 "Come on. Come on. Open, open, open, move, dammit, move--" He hissed under his breath, rearing back before shoving against the door with his entire weight.

 He yelped in surprise when he fell flat on his face, gravel stinging his cheeks and shifting beneath him, a shocking blast of icy cold wind cutting through him like a knife. What the--? Leo sat up quickly, brushing the dirt and pebbles from himself with a splutter as he glanced around at his surroundings.

"Oh, for fuck's sake..."

The good news was that he had lost Chase. 

Bad news was that he was on the roof. 

Okay... so we can definitely rule out sleepwalking.

---

Donnie had learned years ago, though admittedly a bit later than most, that the internet couldn't always be trusted. He knew by now that it wasn't reasonable to always expect things to go the way they were described on online forums or in web articles, and understood the concept of 'expectations VS reality...'

But that didn't make the reality any better.

Because he had come prepared, right? They knew that this was going to suck, and they did what any good scholar would do in such a situation-- research. They had Googled it, had looked up 'what to expect when returning to work/school after a personal tragedy,' (because Googling 'after your Dad gets kidnapped' hadn't yielded any good results and Donnie figured it must have been too specific,) and he had read the WikiHow, the reddit forums, the Quora threads, and all the other articles in between. He had prepped!

But jesus christ. None of them had mentioned how much touching there was going to be.

So far he had been subject to no less than four overly emotional hugs that he had not consented to, (what were they emotional about, anyway?) eleven hand grabs-slash-squeezes, and so many shoulder rubs and gentle arm touches that he had lost count. And every single time, he had to resist the urge to shove them away. And every single time, the touch absolutely lingered, sticking to him like tree sap and covering him up like mushrooms and spores and burning him.

God. They hated this. Hated this, hated this, hated this. They were trying so hard to keep their mind focused, to concentrate on the task in front of them and the reason they were here, but their head was already all fuzzy and thick, feeling as though it had been stuffed full of fountain grass. Everyone kept coming up to them to talk to them, to say that they were so sorry to hear about their dad and if there was anything they can do and they hope things work out soon and blah blah blah, all these stupid, pointless, unpleasant emotions that they just kept dumping over his head until he was soaked and shivering and freezing cold, drenched down to his bones. The entire school was getting louder and louder by the second. Had the teacher's heels always clicked like that? And had the lights in the classroom always been so goddamn bright?

The kid behind him in his third period class popped their gum and Donnie stood up, grabbed his stuff, and walked out. 

He was pretty sure his teacher said something, but he was not even listening to her a little bit. Sorry, nope, nu-uh, not today, they were leaving, or else they were absolutely going to vomit. They had no idea where they were going but they just-- they had to be-- not here. 

 Please, just somewhere else. 

They quickened their pace through the hallways, eyes darting around, looking desperately for a place to just hide for a little bit, just somewhere else, because they were about to lose their mind. Their tongue was all thick and swollen and stuck to the roof of their mouth and their head was buzzing like it was filled up with wasps and their joints were all tight, like they had just run a marathon, like they were being chased-- they knew there was somewhere to go. He knew this. Come on, Donatello, think. You've studied the blueprints of the school. Calm down, focus-- where are you going?

One left and a right, third door from the left. Supply closet. This is where he’s going.

Donnie practically threw himself into the closet, yanking the door shut behind him, flicking off the lights, and sinking down to the ground, curling up into the littlest ball he could become and burying his head between his knees, because no, no, he’s not having a panic attack. Not right now. Not before he even makes it halfway through the day, goddammit, no, he’s fine. Everything is fine. 

It's... it's fine. Donnie swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes shut and wiggling his wrists back and forth, anxious and jittery, just barely tapping his knuckles against the sides of his head as he tried to focus on breathing. Yeah. No. Things were totally fine. He was not freaking out. He was not sitting here, absolutely fucking terrified that someone was going to burst in through the door looking for him any second now.

Nope. Not him. He was... all good.

Please, for the love of the known, observable universe-- and even the unknown, unobservable parts!-- just leave me alone. Just let it be quiet for a while.

He swallowed thickly, biting the edges of his tongue, fighting to settle. He pressed his shoulders up against the cold, hard metal door behind him, trying desperately to ground himself, to be here, in reality, and not float off and spiral. The sound of approaching footsteps just barely breached the protective net of his headphones, and he bristled, every muscle in his body tensing, poised to run-- only for his hackles to lower again when the sound passed on, walking past the closet without disturbing him. 

They’re gonna look for you, an unwelcome little voice in his head warned. Donnie frowned.

No, they’re not. It’s fine.

They are. You ran right out of class. Everyone already thinks you’re crazy even on a good day-- let alone today. They’re looking for you. They’ll find you.

People don’t think I’m crazy. They’re not looking for me. It’s fine. We-- we have time. We just need to calm down, and we’ll go back. They’re not gonna find us.

They will. They’re gonna show up any second.

They’re not. You don’t know that.

You don’t know that they won’t.

They won’t. It’s fine.

You don’t know. How could you know? There’s no way of knowing.

Things could still get worse!

They could be here any second!

You don’t know!

The click and clatter of metal-on-metal cut through Donnie the same way he imagined being stabbed would be like, and he absolutely froze. But to his surprise, the door didn’t fall away behind him. No harsh light or chiding voice invaded the space. Everything remained… just as it was.

So what was that noise?

After taking a moment to build up enough courage and clarity to give in to curiosity, he slowly unwound all his muscles, sitting up properly and looking around. And, in fact, it took almost no time at all for him to identify the source.

Looped firmly around the door handle was a small padlock that had most certainly not been there before, constructed entirely, it seemed, of violet light in a very familiar shade.

Fascinating... Did I make this?

Donnie leaned in to examine the item, running his fingers along the edges of it, investigating, testing it a few times and tugging at it lightly. It was a fairly primitive thing, from what he could tell, but it was most certainly doing its job, keeping the door firmly shut and not giving way when he pulled. Well. He supposed he was going to be in here for a while. Not that he really minded. Sighing deeply, he sat back down, pulling his bag off of his back and quickly retrieving his laptop.

Thank god. Data collection.

---

It wasn't that people weren't being nice. They were. Everyone was being super nice! Several of Raph’s teachers had taken him aside to tell him not to worry about any missed work or his grades right now. In every single class, classmates took the time to offer hugs and words of encouragement. Members of the football team and basketball team alike sought him out in the halls to present him with a Build-A-Bear gift card that they had all pitched in to get with a promise that they could all go out together whenever he was down for it. He had, admittedly, teared up a tiny bit.

It was really, really lovely. It was wonderful to know that so many people cared about him and were concerned about him.

So why did he still feel so awful?

Raph felt almost ungrateful, plodding through the school with this big weight on his shoulders, his entire frame feeling like it was rotting rapidly beneath his skin. He was absolutely surrounded by people; swaths and seas of them, and half of them knew him, half of them were concerned about him. So why did he feel like he was all by himself in a big empty cavern?

I wonder if the others are okay, he had thought.

Are people being cool with them, too?

But what if they are? Leo might not like it. He loves attention, but not that kind. It might freak him out. Donnie too.

What if people are giving Donnie hugs? He hates that. He'll be miserable. 

Are all their teachers telling them not to worry about their grades, either? Are Mikey's teachers letting him get off without make-up work? He already tries so hard with school as it is. What if he ends up having to do a bunch of extra on top of it all? 

And what if their grades slip? That's really important to Donnie. They're gonna be devastated if their GPA gets tanked.

Is April good? Is she getting overwhelmed? Are people asking her lots of questions? People aren’t pestering me so far for details, but what if they think it’s okay to pester April like that because she wasn't, technically speaking, a Hamato? She was. It wasn't okay. What if people were looking to her for answers?

What if this was a horrible plan?

Well, technically, it wasn't even your plan. It was Donnie's plan.

But it was your plan to use Donnie's plan! And you're the biggest brother. You're responsible.

Man, why the hell are you here right now?! You should be with them! You should be taking care of them!

Why? You've been with them all week, and the week before that, and ain't helped at all! 

Raph could feel a twitch developing in his eye, much to his annoyance. It did very little to soothe him as he moved through the day, and every five minutes, Mind-Raph asked, 'is it time to panic yet?'

He got through to nearly fourth period before the answer was yes, it is, in fact, time to panic. Not the ideal answer.

He wasn't even sure what set it off, actually. He only did about half the time, which was by far the most frustrating part, because when he didn't know he just felt like he was floundering blindly at nothing for no good reason. He had been in the hallway, moving between classes, a raindrop in the ocean of other students all doing the same thing, and some younger kid had darted past him, seemingly in a rush, sort of knocking into his arm-- maybe that was what did it. He wasn't exactly sure, because usually, that wouldn't bother him at all. 

It did today.

This didn't happen often, really, but every time it did, it was like, oh, great, here we go again, and he'd brace himself for the coming ride. Because it fucking sucked. The room was spinning and his legs were going out from under him and his chest was compressing and his throat was closing up and his eyes were fucking deteriorating in his head.

Not really. He was okay. He could still breathe, or, well, hyperventilate, at least. He was still on his feet, even if he was shaking.... But it wasn't like he could tell. Fuck. The world was ending, maybe? No, it wasn't. Get it together. Get a grip, Raph, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, except no, it's not, I can't breathe, why can't I get a goddamn breath?! He hated doing this. 

People were still moving around him, and he grabbed the nearest locker he could get to as an anchor, pressing his palm against it as he tried to remember how to breathe. Cold. Smooth. Hard. Grounding, right? Donnie taught you this. He was vaguely aware of a few kids lingering, taking notice of his panic, touching his back and asking if he was okay. Raph didn't have it in him to speak right now, but he wanted so badly to snap at them to leave him alone. Couldn't they tell he was already using all of his energy to not completely lose it, flip out, and punch a hole through the wall? Again?! It had been a nightmare the first time when Dad had to deal with that, he did not want to put that on Mrs. O'Neil's plate.

"Hey, come on, back up, give him some room to breathe, would ya?"

This voice was loud enough that Raph could hear it over his own shuddering, and he shifted slightly, his eyes darting to the side. He knew this guy. Jason-- they skateboarded together sometimes. He was really good. He had a pet leopard gecko he had seen many pictures of. He was Mikey's age; more his friend than Raph's own, but regardless, he had been over to their apartment a few times. They weren't crazy close or anything-- but they were friends.

That was more than enough for him right now.

"You good, dude?" Jason said, softer now, leaning in towards Raph just a tiny bit, but still keeping his distance. "I mean-- do you want me to text your brothers or something?"

Raph squeezed his eyes shut, swallowing hard before giving a short shake of his head.

No. No, he'd be okay. He just needed a minute. He didn't want to make them all worry about this when they had a job to do. 

God, he just hoped that they were all having a better day than he was... and not getting themselves into any kinds of messes.

---

Mikey could feel hot blood splatter across his knuckles as his clenched fist made contact with Zach's nose, a satisfying crunch echoing through his hand, up his wrist, and then bouncing around in his ribs. The martial arts tournaments he competed in were great. He loved them, really. But they felt nothing like this.

Wait. Sorry. We're jumping ahead.

Was the first day back at school after nearly two weeks off stressful? Yeah, of course, it was. Mikey had been pretty jittery when he got to school this morning, dancing on his toes and fidgeting with his spinner ring, fussing with the beads in his hair, and worrying the corners of his lips between his teeth. But it actually hadn't been as bad as he had thought.

They had said they wanted to 'get back into the routine' to Mrs. O'Neil as an excuse to get her to let them come, but honestly, it was almost kind of good? Yeah, things were still weird, and he was still worried and scared, but it wasn't like with gymnastics. When he was at gymnastics, it just felt like they were there to be there-- just as an excuse to ignore what was going on and pretend like it wasn't happening.

But they were at school for a reason. They had a lead. And, more importantly, Mikey had a job to do. 

 He had latched on tight to his assigned task-- dug his fingers in like he was burrowing into clay, pressing in until his entire fist had sunk inside, and then took off running. Really, he liked being occupied. ADHD was a bitch sometimes, but today, the stars must have aligned because it was all systems go. He knew exactly what he was doing, and his brain was completely and utterly focused on this task. Yes, it was genuinely nice to see all his friends and teachers again after so long... but that wasn't the point. None of the fear and anxiety and stress was touching him right now because he had a job.

Because he loved getting to see Rebecca again and discuss how her hamster was doing at home, and because she was this deep, dark, rich turquoise color, ever so slightly bluer than it was green. And because getting to see his favorite teacher, Mr. Ovin, was great, and he was all sweet and reassuring, and he was a deep, warm gray, like fog in the summer. It was great because Timothy was indigo, just edging on violet. It was great because Dale was yellowy-orange like cantaloupe. Because Taylor was hot pink. Because José was golden-brown. Because Mona was midnight blue. 

 His list was already fifty-strong before they even hit lunch period, and Mikey was absolutely giddy. Yeah, baby! If this wasn't enough data to get them started, he swore he'd eat his own watercolor set. Surely this was, if nothing else, a good start, and he was already just chomping on the bit to tell the rest of his family. Donnie was gonna be thrilled, he was sure--

"Mikey!"

It was not the first time that day someone had yelled for his attention. In fact, the day had been absolutely littered with them-- Mikey could hardly take a step without someone looking to speak with him and check in with him now that he was in school. So he paused in his steps, his eyes chasing after the sound of the calling voice until he found Zach, dodging through throngs of students to make his way over.

"Hey, Zach!" Mikey greeted, offering a grin-- a genuine one, too, all wide and toothy. 

"Hey! Hey, Mikey. Uhhh. Good to see you back." 

"Thanks," Mikey replied. Not the first time he heard that today, either, but it was still nice to think that his absence had meant something to people. 

"Yeah, yeah. So, uh, do you have that commission done yet?"

Mikey blinked. 

"Commission?"

"Yeah! Yeah, remember, you were gonna do a portrait of Abby, for her birthday?" Zach laughed nervously. "I was kind of worried you were gonna miss it, you were gone so long, but--"

"No?"

"What?" Zach paused, his eyebrows raising, and Mikey frowned, hesitating a second before he found new words, quickly scrambling, re-evaluating, and re-writing.

"Uh, sorry," he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, I don't have it done yet. I've kind of got commissions on hold right now? So... I dunno when it's gonna get done. Sorry, dude."

"... But her birthday is on Wednesday."

"Sorry," Mikey repeated.

"And I paid you in advance."

Mikey grit his teeth. Oh, yeah, paid him a whole twenty dollars in advance...? 

"Yeah, sorry, but--"

"Well, what am I supposed to give her?"

"I dunno. Figure something out?"

Oh. Oh, actually,

"What do you mean figure something out? I did! I paid you!"

Actually... Maybe the stress,

"Do you want your money back?"

Was still here, actually.

"No, I want my portrait! Do you know how pissed she's gonna be if I don't have anything to give her on Wednesday?"

His head was suddenly remembering how little he had slept over the past two weeks.

"That's really not my problem."

His eyes suddenly remembered how many tears they had shed.

"Dude, are you serious?!"

His throat remembered the ache of howling.

"Are you serious?! I dunno if you've heard, but I'm a little bit busy right now! Your girlfriend's birthday commission isn't really a priority right now!" Mikey snapped, feeling himself bristle.

"You've literally not shown up for school for two weeks, what do you mean busy!?"

"I'm not on vacation, Zach! I've been with my family!"

"For two weeks!?" Zach protested. "Look, dude, I'm really sorry your dad died, but this was really important to--"

Mikey froze.

"Excuse me?" He hissed. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"Come on, Mike, this was really--"

"My dad isn't dead," Mikey whispered. His head felt all hot. He felt like a goddamn candle. The rest of his body was melting, but his head was just heat and nothing else. "He's missing. He's not dead."

"Okay, look, I didn't mean--"

Mikey shoved him. Not hard. But not soft, either.

"Leave me alone," he spat, and even though he was all heat, all bright reds and oranges and yellows, he felt his voice was cold and white like ice, like the month of December. Zach stumbled a bit, his mouth gaping dumbly like a fish, and Mikey watched and waited with absolutely bated breath to see how he would respond. Zach was a junior. He was a lot taller than Mikey was. Bigger, too. And his color was orange, too, Mikey noted in the back of his mind. Bright, dazzling, almost scarlet orange.

He could feel students nearby pausing, lingering, beginning to turn heads and slow their footsteps in order to watch and see what was going to happen.

Zach's face contorted with indignant fury, and he stepped forward to shove Mikey right back. Mikey let his body take the momentum with absolute grace-- let his feet be forced back a few steps, falling into stance once they found the ground again. He lowered his body slightly, squaring his shoulders, finding his center of gravity, and taking it in both hands. Suddenly, he felt very calm.

That was exactly what Mikey was hoping he would do.  

---

Jeez Louise, at this rate, I'm gonna give Taylor Martin a run for her money...

April was rapidly growing annoyed with the number of people who, up until now, didn't want anything to do with her, but were now suddenly quite concerned about both her well-being and the state of her brothers. She had gotten just about as many questions as she had condolences, which she had no idea how to receive. I mean, god, what's the appropriate response to people asking those kinds of things? Were they doing okay? Uh, I dunno, that's sort of a loaded question! 

She was also suddenly becoming uncomfortably aware of how many kids in their grade had a thinly-veiled crush on Raph, which she was not too pleased with. Like, good for him or whatever, (not that she thought he had the slightest clue,) but she didn't need to know all that, thank you! Yes, Melissa, I'll tell him you said hi, but don't you two have bio together!? Jeez! Stupid giant quarterback little brother...

April grumbled as she made her way into chemistry class, making a beeline to her usual seat and immediately laying her head down in her arms with a scowl. Maybe if she was lucky, people would get the hint and not bother her. Not that that had worked out so far...

"Bad day?"

April took a long, deep breath, and then slowly let it back out, picking up her head just enough to watch Sunita take her seat next to hers, offering a weak, sympathetic little smile in her direction. She had almost forgotten there was someone she actually liked in this class.

"Something like that," April said with a wry smile, wrinkling up her nose a bit before laying her head back down. "I know how this sounds, but I am soooo sick of people caring about me and my brothers."

"Uh oh... Kind of a lot, huh?" Sunita mumbled, wincing a bit, and April nodded a little, wrapping her arms around herself and frowning.

"I know people are just trying to be nice or whatever, but it's just... I dunno. Can you just let us breathe?! I hope they're not being this pushy with the guys because it's a lot for me and it's not even technically my dad, I mean, they're a total mess, I just--" She caught herself, biting her tongue. "Sorry. I'm just a little worried about them. And kind of annoyed," she admitted, rolling her eyes. "It's fine."

Sunita didn't respond right away, and when April glanced over at her again, there was this funny sort of expression on her face that April couldn't quite place. She frowned, about to say something, when Sunita nodded, biting the insides of her cheeks.

"Yeah. I get it. I mean. Gob. I can't imagine... I'm sure it must be stressful…"

April hesitated a second before she responded again. "It's a lot. But. You know. We're... handling it," she said, readjusting her glasses quickly. "Sorry. Can we just, like, talk about something else?"

"Oh! Right. Right, sorry, I'm being just as bad as everyone else!" Sunita gasped, her face flushing. "Sorry. Uh. What do you wanna-- uh-- did you… see the new episode of that barbecue show that just came out? I think Mikey would like it, uhm, they made some really bold choices..."

If April was being honest, she wasn't really listening. Sorry, Sunita. But she appreciated the white noise, at least, allowing herself to tune out for a while, scribbling black zig-zags and wriggles aimlessly in the margin of her notebook until class started properly. And, actually, even after class started properly. She was usually pretty focused at school and took her studies seriously. I mean, not as seriously as some people, but she got good grades! She just wasn't really feeling it today. Whatever. Her notes may suck, but at least she had something. She was sure Donnie could teach her whatever this was later. 

Class seemed to last a millennia, dragging along as April doodled and tried to keep her mind off of the rest of her family. God, she really hoped that this plan worked... if it did, it would be worth a million of these shitty school days. 

 She just really hoped that this wasn't for nothing.

She could see Sunita repeatedly giving her anxious, worried looks out of the corner of her eyes, fidgeting with her headband and frowning to herself. Honestly, she knew that their opening conversation had been a bit awkward, but it wasn't worth Sunita stressing over like this. Ugh. Maybe she should apologize or something later... It wasn't like she was mad or anything, she was just... tired.

 She was just really, really tired.

 April wasted no time at all in swiping her books from off the desk when the bell finally, blissfully rang, dismissing her from this class and shuffling the whole school on to the next. She didn't expect that the next class would be any better, but at least she'd be that much closer to the end of the day... Before she could get very far, however, she felt a hand clamp around her wrist.

 "... Sunita?" April questioned, raising a brow. "Uh. Is something wrong?"

"Yes! I mean. No! I mean. Oh..! Hang on, just... just... c'mere!" Sunita bit out, chewing nervously at her fingernails as she yanked April from the classroom, moving with such fervor that April nearly lost her footing, giving a surprised little yelp as she stumbled after the other.

 "Sunita! Whoa, girl, hang on!!! Where the heck are we going?"

 "Somewhere... else! Just, just, hang on! You've just gotta trust me, okay?" Sunita hissed, quickly ducking around a corner, all but shoving April into the first empty classroom that they found, hurriedly shutting the door behind her.

 "Wha-- girl, what is going on!?" April spluttered, looking around frantically. She really liked Sunita, but this had better not be her coming onto her or something, 'cause it was so not the time--

"I just-- oh, gob, I'm going to get in so much trouble. What am I doing?! This is so so so against the rules... Okay. Okay. Buck up, Sunita," the other girl squeaked, seemingly pep-talking herself, pacing out several rapid back-and-forth laps across the linoleum floor before she suddenly whipped around to meet April's eyes, grabbing her firmly by her shoulders.

"I know where Mr. Hamato is."

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