#guess it's time to learn how to hack my switch and be done with this shit forever | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aeonchangeling · 6 months ago

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I wanna throw my two cents into this because I love Rockoon and this gives me a reason to write down some thoughts that I never got around to. I'm gonna try avoiding going over what was already said above because that's already wonderful enough as is! I apologize for any weird wording I might use, it's eleven PM right now. XP

The first and most obvious one, at least for me, is that Rocky is so obviously a theater kid, and I'm legitimately surprised that I haven't seen anyone else mention it yet. For a good part of the series, he's putting on some sort of theatrics, and I can't just write it up as being pure due to his cartoony persona. He's wild, funny and goofy sure, but he also switches changes dialects more times than I can count! That kind of thing takes practice and knowledge about how things are said between regions, and here Rockoon is doing it without missing a beat! Plus when he goes to the quest giver in episode 4 he literally says: "Bare with me, it's been a while." He then proceeds to out dramatic even Nyelock, which is saying something. Reading into his choice of wording, he's actively put on the roleplaying dramatics like that in the past. Be it him actually participating in theater, DND, larping, whichever one you wanna say it was, the point to focus on is that the statement is it was in the past tense. Former. Whatever it was, he stopped doing it, probably due to the bullying. We also see Rocky is incredibly smart, the hacking alone proves that, but he also seems very knowledgeable about raccoons. Going back to episode four, he corrects the quest giver on raccoons not being rodents and are more closely related to bears, and given that he made his avatar one, it's easy to guess they're his favorite animal and personal favorite topic. This all adds up to a super smart, dramatic kid who probably got bullied for being "weird" in the best case scenario. Once he got into hacking, he was able to make money off his skills and take his issues out on people in a way that wouldn't come back to bite him. Until it did with the whole Skeight incident, and I just wanna add, he straight up said "I don't give a damn!" near the end of episode 13's confrontation. The one and only time we hear him swear in the series. In episode 1 he specifically said he took an issue with foul language, driving home the point that Rocky was at a limit, but rather than go further into being a bad person, when the consequences of what just happened hits him... he just breaks down crying... Jumping forward to episode 15. He was faced between Oddball, his behavior at his worst/what he might become, and Archy, the bullied kid he's been/is. He had a choice, and he chose to be the person he needed when his bullying started, literally blowing up the worst possible version of himself (and good for him, we're all so proud). After that, Rocky stopped putting up a persona and is so much more genuine and sincere in Hard Reset. He goes full on big brother/dad friend with Archy, helping him get better at the game, hanging out with him almost every day for two months, using dumb jokes to keep Archy from going down bad mental rabbit holes, just reaching a whole new level of wholesome we haven't seen from him to this point (and I love it). For me, the cherry on top is the "What did I tell you last Friday?" bit, where it's made clear Rocky has been giving Archy legitimate mental health advice. Meaning in the last two months, Rocky either has been going to therapy himself and has been bringing what he's learned into the game to help his new friend, or has done his own research for the sole purpose of being a better support for Archy. Again, this emphasizes that in real life, Rodney is incredibly smart and able to apply what he's learned/experienced into situations he's facing. He still hasn't forgiven himself for the things he's done in the past, obviously, but he'll do his best for Archy now. Now none of this says if Rocky's own bullying situation has been resolved or if he's just graduated and moved onto a different part of his life or maybe even changed schools entirely. That's for future speculation if we ever get any more material to go off of. Also, if Archy ever does find out about Rocky's past as a hacker, I choose to believe it doesn't bother him at all because he knows who Rocky is now as a person and not who he was in the past.

I’ve been rewatching tome and I really enjoy Doubling and Rockoon as characters and their conflict with each other. This is long and a bit messy, I am still not entirely happy with it and probably try to rewrite it again but here we go.

I’ve tried analyzing Doubling in the past before but had troubles with it - I realized I went on about it in a way that prevented me from seeing the different angles.

Back then I judged from the perspective of “so who was his true self? Doubling or Skeight?“

I got stuck because the answer is a bit more complex than that. Because I was forgetting another person:

The person who created Doubling and Skeight.

Both Doubling and Skeight can reveal us a lot about the person that hides behind the screen.

Doubling was quite frustrated when he first started the game. He is only here for the job and he presses the matter that he is in need of some cash. Not out of greed, but think about what he said in regards to Splat:

“I usually don’t do this because it gives her more work than I can get.“

From what it sounds like, Splat and Doubling seem close and he doesn’t want to trouble her more than necessary. They feel like the kind of siblings that are still living together and struggle to pay the rent. He doesn’t want Splat to overwork herself and takes care of their financial troubles, all while struggling to find or even maintain a job, so they are both hackers for a living.

His frustration is taken out on Rockoon because neither know what they are looking for, they are on a wild goose chase and it wastes time. Doubling is not here for friendship. He just wants to do his job and then he is gone.

But what was it that made him actually enjoy the game and have fun with the looney tuney raccoon?

After taken his frustration out on Rockoon, the raccoon doesn’t even try to hide his hurt, but also quickly collects himself and figures out a solution for Doubling.

He needs variety in his life. Implying that Doubling is someone who sticks with routine.

They were told to blow up graphics, so Rockoon advices to blow up people. Rockoon switches things up and thinks outside the box.

It works and Doubling mentions it is refreshing. In that case, bullying others is used to deal with his own frustrations and whatever irl might be going on. Doubling seems to think he can do whatever he wants on the internet without facing the consequences.

I don’t think he was fully roleplaying as Skeight either. Actions like the ones he pulled usually come from a low self esteem, fear of rejection and a fear of confrontation.

Skeight exists because of Doubling‘s discomfort with confrontation.

But I also think there are other reasons why Skeight was created.

As a fresh start. Doubling is terrified of the forbidden power so he wanted to play it safe in case he encounters Alpha again, feeling safer when he won’t be recognized easily.

Doubling felt bad about leaving Rockoon behind and likely how he treated him, but he was not ready to confront that feeling yet. Mostly because he didn’t know how.

One thing I realized upon rewatching is just how passive aggressive Doubling actually is about the situation.

Passive aggressiveness often comes from an individual’s discomfort with direct communication and conflict, nor can they always articulate their point of view - as we also see later in their conflict in episode 3.

People who have that kind of behavior often have troubles with expressing themselves, low self esteem and a lack of assertiveness.

Stressful circumstances such as a challenging job or a strained relationship may also result in passive aggressive behavior.

Expressing feelings is not always an easy task. It requires feeling safe, okay with being vulnerable and a high level of self awareness to understand what is going on in the first place.

Expressing feelings can also be intimidating to people who don’t have much practice in doing so, especially if someone has not worked on their self awareness and self expression skills.

Doubling is not attuned with his emotions and has troubles to self regulate, causing him to act inappropriately. If he has a fear of confrontation, he is easily someone who jumps to conclusion too quickly and fears the worst.

I think Skeight was an impulse decision through that.

Doubling was here for the job - Skeight was created for fun. Because Rockoon made him enjoy the game.

But there is a certain pride and stubbornness preventing him from admitting that - especially since he made such a big fuss over it before.

What was it that Skeight said?

“And you always do what you do! And that’s what I like about you! I just admire the way you handle your business!“

Note how he is more open as Skeight to tell him that. Doubling took on a different persona to try and be more open. It’s why I assume that Skeight was partly created so he can also practice his people skills.

Doubling is generally someone unable to leave his comfort zone and needs the extra push. Rockoon is running around and does his own thing - Doubling can respect that.

Doubling likely thinks that Rodney goes through life without feeling judged, not realizing that Rodney might have other issues in going. To him, Rodney just feels like that carefree guy who keeps doing his thing no matter what.

I think he already realizes that this is not the case in Rockoon‘s modern strife and episode 13.

Unfortunately, in his attempt to connect with Rockoon, he comes on too strong. Skeight is pushing himself onto Rockoon, copying him. It clearly makes Rockoon uncomfortable too. Keep in mind, he already has trust issues here.

Rockoon, at first glance can be viewed as coming off too strong in trying to connect with Doubling, but not really. Rocky never forced Doubling to do anything.

He gave him advice on how to get out of his comfort zone but that’s it. The rest was on Doubling.

Doubling appears insecure about himself - it matters a lot what people perceive him as, maybe even sensitive to criticism. The “lucky shot“ sure touched a nerve and getting referred as a “clingy nobody“ hit a nerve too. If he already reacts to these things like that, returning as Doubling made him nervous because of what Rockoon will perceive him as now.

He feels bad about ditching him when Rockoon tells the story and perhaps that should have been his cue to admit something at least and be upfront - but he realized that Rockoon was hurt by his actions and didn’t want to make it worse.

Doubling‘a fear of confrontation and lack of communication skills becomes clear in episode 13.

It’s no longer Skeight or Doubling talking - that is the person behind the screen now.

The one who took the persona as Doubling and Skeight is struggling to find the right words, stuttering and uncertain on how to go on about his - his body language also shows his discomfort.

Skeight: I just wanted to make sure you are okay. Rockoon: WHAT?! Skeight: What?!

Note how he becomes a tad frustrated because he doesn’t understand how that is a bad thing.

“I mean, that was kinda whack but I had some time to think about it, it means no biggie.”

He was obviously upset over what happened at the tournament, otherwise he would not have mentioned the whack part. It clearly bothered him considering that he was thinking about it for a while.

But he has no idea how to communicate that right now and doesn’t want to make the situation worse than it already is.

“Not why I’m here either.“

Something is troubling him and it he has struggles expressing that - did he already wanted to come clear that he is Doubling? He wants to say something, but doesn’t know how.

I do believe that the motherscratcher hint was intentional. Mostly because that was not the only hint:

“With this forbidden power thing and all …“

How would Skeight know about the forbidden power? All the raccoon told him that they ran into some freaky stuff. In fact - Skeight quickly corrects himself and talks about the other players instead. Almost like he realizes he almost slipped up.

“I came back ‘cause I cared.“

Comes clean right here - unfortunately it comes from the wrong player.

“Maybe you are better off on your own.“

During the whole conflict, Rockoon never mentioned that. It was something Rockoon brought up when he told Skeight about Doubling.

I don’t think the other hints were intentional, but the motherscratcher hint feels too convienent here.

Rockoon is the quirky online persona of a lonely and reserved kid that gets bullied in school.

Rodney is a smart kid and it was cartoons that gave him a reason to smile and spark his creativity. Slipping into a different character to roleplay, Rockoon is everything that Rodney is not.

Just like Doubling, Rodney is afraid of the forbidden power. His first move when messing with the main group is to take out the biggest threat: Alpha.

Once he returns, Rodney becomes afraid. Stuttering and shaking - I don’t think it was Rockoon and Rodney partly breaking the facade.

His cartoon persona acts on impulse and treats everything as a joke, confident and more assertive, a wise cracking goofy toony character who views the internet as his personal playground where he thinks he can get away without facing the consequences of his actions. The joy that he felt as Rockoon usually came at the expense of others.

Doubling leaving him behind and then never returning genuinely hurt him. Rockoon mentioned to Kirbopher that he missed him and my guess is that Rodney kept returning to this game in hopes of eventually coming across him again.

It certainly left him with a bitter feeling - as we can see in Rockoon‘s modern strife. He is starting to push people away from him, but he is also uncomfortable with how much Skeight wants to push himself onto him.

Something feels already off to him - it feels like a factor of trust issues.

Rockoon has built walls around himself so that nobody can get close to hurt him.

“I don’t play this game to make friends. I don’t need or want to make any friends. ‘Cause if you think anyone is worth getting actually attached to … you are kidding yourself. I forgot that once. That was a mistake.“

This whole line of dialogue doesn’t just come from Doubling ditching him.

He says: I forgot that once.

That sort of mindset has been with him for a while but he allowed himself to get attached to Doubling, he left and he got remembered about that mentality.

Rodney is a troubled individual who is also bullied in school - it wouldn’t surprise me if he had been used by someone before or they just pretended to like him - because he certainly has a discomfort with Skeight.

He has convinced himself that he doesn’t need anyone. That he is better off on his own - that he doesn’t care anymore that Doubling is gone but it obviously bothers him.

“I ditched him. Forever.“

Rockoon claims that it was him who ditched Doubling instead the other way around. He is trying to remain in control of the situation so that it doesn’t sting as much.

But he allows his walls down towards Skeight for a bit - as an advice but also he has internalized that whole thing for a while now and needs someone to talk about it.

Rockoon is clearly hurt over what happened.

“But you know what? I don’t even care anymore. Sure, I missed him at first but I’m better off without him. I didn’t need him. I don’t need friends.“

Note how he keeps repeating it like saying it will make it true.

Doubling feels obviously guilt over it. His expression, asking what happened and when Rockoon finishes he goes:

“Aw, man. I-„

Even with Rockoon interrupting him, you can tell he has no idea how to get his feelings across. He realized right there how much he actually had hurt Rockoon.

Should he have dropped the Skeight persona here and come clear? Probably, but he also takes Rockoon‘s words at face value and assumes that Rockoon hates him now.

“We ran into some trouble. Of course he did what anyone else would do: Looked out for himself. He ditched me.“

Oddly specific, is it not? It seems more that he talking from general experience rather than Doubling. Did his bullies throw him under the bus? It sounds that way.

“I will be happy when this stupid game gets shut down for good. No point looking for me because after today I ain’t coming back. Everyone’s stupid and there is nothing left for me here.”

You can hear the bitterness and pain he is feeling. After Doubling was gone, Rockoon was nothing but humiliated by others. Nobody really took him serious without that “big green slime guy backing him up“ and thought it makes things easier for them.

Rockoon genuinely tried to help, but his reputation as a hacker at the expense of others did not help his cause.

One thing to note is how timid he becomes when people start ganging up on him.

Bullied irl and online, Rockoon sees no point in staying. He is lonely and all the joy he had from playing the game is no longer there. He says it himself:

“Everyone is stupid and there is nothing left for me here.“

The only person that mattered to him is gone. He mostly came back in hopes that Doubling might return. The worst part is that Rockoon does not know if the feeling was Mutual between them, likely feeling like it was just an one sided friendship.

Then, we have episode 13.

I don’t think Rockoon in the short or episode 13 had any malicious intentions. He is genuinely trying to help because he got a taste of the forbidden power as well once.

He instantly becomes timid when the others start teasing him - his Rodney is showing. He is feeling entirely humiliated and he has no idea what to do.

“Oh, no. Why didn’t you tell me?“

His instant reaction is everything to me once he connects the dots. It’s the instant regret because he realized that this was his former friend. His reaction implies that while he was hurt, Rockoon would not have been mad if Doubling returned and talked it out properly - Doubling left him with more question than answers and that stings.

He blames himself, but that whole thing is not entirely his fault. It was Doubling who acted out in passive aggressive ways while Rockoon would have preferred direct communication.

“Hey, look. I wanted to say how sorry I am for how things went down. It’s frustrating that you were not upfront with me but you still deserved better. And I can be better. I dunno if you see this in time, but I’ll try to hang around in Lavendera for most of the day, just in case. I hope and pray that somehow, someway we can just talk. Rock - Rodney.”

I do love the message he tries to send. He apologized for his behavior but also voiced his own hurt that Doubling was not upfront with him.

He wants to sign as Rockoon but changes it to Rodney. In using his actual name, Rodney is trying to make it more personal. More sincere in a way.

But then he deleted the whole thing again and honestly? Valid. I could imagine he was rewriting it a few times to find the proper wording before and still was not happy with it but the wounds are also still fresh.

Both of them need the space for now. It’s a hurt on both sides with wounds that are still fresh. Neither of them are ready for it yet.

Rodney needs the space to figure himself out. Dealing with an identity crisis and self loathing. Knowing just how much you hurt others and the kind of person you have become, hurting his only friend, getting left with more questions than answers does wonders for one‘s psyche.

But not just for Rodney - he needs to figure out where Rockoon is going from here too.

Rodney knows he has done and said hurtful things. Watching Odball brings out certain feelings because he sees himself in him in that moment.

I think with time both of them will be able to talk again. They both need the closure.

It would require honest communication, putting the walls they have around themselves down and dropping the online persona they have created. No Doubling, no Skeight, no Rockoon.

One mention I would like to make is Kirbopher who watched the whole conflict. I don’t think that scene was put there without a reason. Kirbopher has two accounts too - did he relate to Doubling in that moment?

“Sorry I was not around. I had some stuff to handle.“

What does that refer to? Was he comforting Rockoon? Or trying to reach Doubling? He hired him so he would likely have his contacts. Kirb being the one who tried to talk to Doubling regarding that would be interesting.

I do enjoy the journey with Archy. Mostly because that dynamic is just as complicated and based on secrets and assumptions but it was also nice to see just how much Rockoon has grown since then and trying to become a better person. I definitely enjoy the patience he shows with Archy.

Archy does not know anything about Rockoon or that he was the guy who blow him up in the tournament. Rockoon is keeping that part of him a secret to protect himself both and Archy (though I feel it’s more Archy).

Archy is bound to find out eventually. Rockoon is a known hacker - if Archy finds out through a third party rather than Rockoon it is gonna be so much worse.

But it is not just on Rockoon.

“Sometimes I think this is all a joke.”

Archy takes out his anxiety on Rockoon.

When I say this I am not speaking for everyone that has anxiety, I am only expressing my experience with it and as someone with anxiety as well.

Anxious people spend a lot of time overthinking and hyper focusing on the little details. Anxiety can bring about strong feelings of fear, frustration and anguish and this can lead to misunderstandings.

Rockoon mentions it himself - that Archy needs to recognize when his anxiety clouds his judgemet and logic. Which is such a good advice because that is something Archy needs to learn, otherwise he might end up using Rockoon as an outlet for it. The "it's all just a joke" certainly stung given that he raised his voice there. On Archy's end, their dynamic is a bit on assumptions so far.

Rockoon is always helping others in some way. Told Doubling he needs variety and actually made him enjoy tome. Tried to give advice to Skeight not to get attached to someone, was trying to help in the whole situation with Alpha and then later when the game was about to get shut down. Now? He is trying to help Archy grow as a person.

If there is one thing I would describe Rockoon with, it would be loyalty. If he does take a liking to you, he is someone who pays close attention to his friends and wants to support them and actually manages to push them out of their comfort zone.

But here is the thing. He always tries to help others, yet he ignores his own issues. The only ones aware of how vulnerable he actually is are Skeight and Kirbopher - and Skeight even more so.

Sometimes it is easier to deal with someone else’s issues than our own. It requires reflecting on ourselves and that is sometimes not an easy task.

When helping others, you can view the problem from an outsider perspective, making it easy to identify the solutions. When lt comes to our own issues, emotional involvement can cloud judgement and make it difficult to see the situation clearly.

Sometimes people are harsher on themselves than they are on others, creating a cycle of doubt and negativity.

I think what Rockoon needs to learn is to forgive himself and practice self compassion.

#tome #terrain of magical expertise #rockoon

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witchynyx · 5 years ago

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Disabled Witchery

So for reference: I'm autistic, have ADHD/depression/anxiety/insomnia, and have mobility issues, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia.

My witchcraft is more recent than all of these (about 3yrs now), so I've not really adapted a practice to my limitations, but I've created my own practice which thus works around them. It's hard to know what qualifies as a 'hack' when you've never really known anything different, but I'm going to see what I come up with.

Timing is Flexible

I guess one of the things that makes the biggest difference for me is being flexible about time. Wanna do a full moon ritual but you just don't have the capacity to do so in the hour closest to its peak illumination? Anywhere within a few days is cool - I know considering 3 days as full (ie the night closest to 100% and the night either side, but some also consider 5 days (at which it's still 98%+ illumination), or even 7 (still over 95%)!

Likewise with your seasonal celebrations, it doesn't have to be on *the* date! Nature doesn't flick sudden switches between seasons, so the energy of a certain celebration or event doesn't suddenly appear and then disappear after 24 hours. There's often up to a week between the traditional and astronomical dates of the sabbats, and honestly, I'll do whatever I'm planning within up to a week either side of that. If there's a few things I want to do, they they don't all need to be done on the same day, either. You don't need to do everything at once, and you don't need to do them at the exact time/day.

You don't have to do All The Things!

I especially see the stress of this from younger and newer witches, but you really don't have to do everything. Sure, it might be nice to do an elaborate ritual every new moon, full moon, and sabbat, but that's a LOT! And that's even a lot for someone young, in good health, with lots of energy and minimal external commitments! Maybe you still want to observe all these, but all you can manage is 5min meditating near your window or lighting a candle to acknowledge these - that's rad, and totally counts!

Magic + Self Care = Win

Honestly there are so many books on how to inject magic into your self-care routine*, but witchcraft has literally been the best thing for my self-care game. Learning to connect with myself and the natural world around me has been the best thing I've ever done for my mental health. Plus it's an easy way to implement the things you're learning! I incorporate colour magic into my clothes/makeup selection, medical and magical herbalism both inform my tea selections, perfume and bath salt blends, and charm my food/drinks.

* My fave book on the topic so far is Light Magic for Dark Times by Lisa Marie Basile (she's also chronically ill).

Nature is Everywhere

I literally live in the very centre of my city - I can't drive, how much I can walk is pretty limited, and even spending much time on public transport wipes me out - but nature is still EVERYWHERE! Even excluding the herbs growing in pots on my balcony and and the pothos in my bookshelves, an urban space still has nature. Without leaving my apartment I can still see a few pigeons/crows/etc flying past occasionally, and a few paperbark trees, plus the roses and crepe myrtle in the garden of the old building across the road.

If you don't have 4 different species of street trees growing on your block or any parks/gardens nearby, what plants grow in abandoned spaces, or force their way through cracks in the concrete? What birds are around? Is anyone nearby growing plants in window boxes or balconies? Even on a terrible day, walking past the paperbark tree across the road when it's covered in flowers brings me a moment of joy.

Meditation Isn't That Hard...

... But it still kinda is. Literally the main purpose most folks are using meditation for is to train their focus. All that needs to be is picking a focal point (the breath is a common one, because it's always available) and focusing on it - your brain will absolutely wander from that, that's just when you gently nudge it back to your focal point. That's literally it! Over time, your brain will wander less often, and return back where you want it more easily. It's not supposed to be easy straight-up, otherwise there wouldn't be any benefit to it - it's a skill you practice to get better at, like any skill.

You don't need to sit any particular way - if you have pain/fatigue, you can lie down (just ideally somewhere you're not at risk of falling asleep), if you have ADHD or are otherwise hyperactive/easily bored, you can combine it with movement (stretching, walking, running, you can honestly meditate while smashing out your cardio at the gym). There's lots of ways you can adapt the basic premise, and it's totally fine to use guided meditations if you get caught up in your own mind and need external reminders to prompt you back to your focus.

ADHD Note: Meditation is literally THE most effective non-medication way to improve our focus! The down-side is that our brains are dopamine-deprived/seeking and meditation doesn't tend to give us that dopamine hit it wants, which can make the executive dysfunction a massive block to actually doing the thing. I'm pretty stuck here myself, particularly with my physical health stuff ruling out anything particularly physical/active.. I might need to see if I can find something high-dopamine to do afterwards as a bribe?

It's Okay to do Your Own Thing

Throw out any idea of what your practice "should" look like or include and just roll with what works. If you're physically disabled and struggle to leave the house, feeling like you need to do you rituals in a remote forest is probably going to mean you don't get to do many and then feel crap about yourself - craft a ritual you can do sitting in bed! If you're asthmatic, perhaps using candles, sprays, or bells would work better to cleanse your space than burning incense or herbs. If you have poor fine motor control or impaired vision, maybe you find it easier to record your journey digitally! Doing something "differently" and being able to do it is far better than doing something "properly" and just.. literally never being able to do it.

You're Not Alone

There are honestly SO many disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and mentally ill witches out there. We're really often drawn to witchcraft, and there are some folks putting out some great resources on how they adapt their practice - like @heatherwitch's "Bedridden Witchcraft" series. Quite a few popular witchy authors are chronically ill as well, like Lisa Marie Basile, Juliet Diaz, and Arin Murphy-Hiscock. Don't let anyone tell you that your can't practice witchcraft unless you're physically and mentally well, it's bullshit, and we're all living proof.

#witchcraft #original content #witchynyx #disabled witch #chronically ill witch #neurodivergent witch #spoonie witch

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slade-neko · 3 years ago

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Time Travel? Now in Sims!

Playing my Sims game. Editing a house for a good while. Notice something about a sim. Shift-click and load him up in CAS. Come back and magically the clock has rewound and my house is back to before I edited it? When I said I wanted to go back to the past when things were better, this isn't exactly what I meant!

Apparently this is a new bug from the High School pack. Reported by mod users/ non-mod users/ and console players alike. Obviously there could be several culprits here, but I have a few good hunches to what is happening...

1. Life IS Strange! My Max sim learned how to use her powers and is having a ball rewinding time, screwing with me.

2. Aku's Treachery Unlikely, as I think Aku prefers to throw people into the future where his evil is law, but I'm not completely ruling him out cause he is a sneaky shape-shifting evil figure.

3. "Return to the past NOW!" Could be Xana's on a hack attack, did some bad things, the Code Lyoko kids had to save the day, and of course flip the switch and return to the past before Xana screwed up whatever it is he did.

4. Mario found a Time Machine I know, this one's a bit out there. Call it a wild guess or call me crazy, but hear me out now, what if... what IF Mario ACTUALLY found a time machine? Just sayin'...

5. Link's playing The Song of Time I'm backing this theory the most since I was playing my Zelda household when this crap went down. Thanks, Link. Thanks a lot making me lose all that house building progress. Couldn't even let me bank my rupees first.

6. Maxis done effed up... again. I'd consider this one highly unlikely, if not impossible. Thought I'd give it a mention it as I've seen a lot of people go with this one, but really? Hmm... I just don't see it.

#The Sims 4 #TS4 #dumb #this is why I don't update #brings more good than bad #at least lightsabers are fixed #EDIT I forgot to mention Doctor Strange #very valid theory there

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hoardcloneheadcanons · 4 years ago

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Rhack Story P5-Meet Angel

Moxxi's eye's leveled with Rhys's, scanning him.

"So…. let me get this straight. Jack and Nisha were dating,”

"U-huh."

“Then you and Jack were dating.”

“Sure.”

“Then you get closer to him and... Jack introduced you to his daughter?”

Rhys let out a low unnerving chuckle.

It wasn’t a laugh, so much as what a laugh might sound like if you left it in the dark for months on end and it started scratching designs on the cell walls.

“Oooh No… Good Guess, I guess? Like I can see how you would see think that. Like, it gets serious then you introduce your significant other to the kids. Right? That’d be Normal? That’d be sane?

As if Jack could ever be normal.

So Nooo.”

He made some mouth-clicking noises on his cheek as he tried to form his words

“She was in a satellite.”

“There’s no other way to start that, he was keeping her in a fucking SATTELITE!

OH God. Um. As you’ve noticed, she is a siren. And Jack couldn’t control her. And he hates that, but he still loves his little girl, or he thinks he does. So he couldn’t kill her, because he still loves her, but he couldn’t control her so he had to lock her away. In a satellite.

I know I already said that, but it just keeps getting to me that he put her in a prison that wasn’t even on any natural land. It was way out in the middle of space. It was inescapable, she’d have to make her own pod to get out. If that thing blew up she’d have no way of getting out because he wouldn’t leave that amount of escape for her.

I cannot emphasize how much No ONE was supposed to know about her, meeting her was a fluke.

Jack gave me a mission where I was supposed to go inside a pod with a mechanic, and that mechanic was supposed to fix one of our satellites… uh Krios, specifically.

We were taking a weird path to it, it was longer than it should have been, more… arcs. The official reason was that it was supposed to avoid meteor clusters, but that didn’t track. We send our cargo pilots through meteor clusters all the time.

And all we were supposed to do was follow the autopilot to the satellite, fix it up and go back.

And he said that he knew how mechanics liked to cut corners, and he didn’t want the mechanic trying to take a faster path. He wanted us to stay directly on the charted course. If the mechanic tried to take a different path, I was to shoot them in the head.

He gave me an upgrade specifically for the task. It was a gun hidden in my arm. They’d have no way of knowing it was coming.

And at that point I wasn’t sure if he was giving me the task because he trusted me or because I was disposable. I was in a weird place with Jack at the time, It was after the first time I tortured a guy for him. I knew I was a terrible person. And I couldn’t tell if he saw me as competent or disposable.

Because on one hand, I just beat up a guy for him. so maybe he wanted to see if I’d be willing to kill someone for him. On the other, maybe whatever was important enough to kill a mechanic for was important enough to kill me for.

It went great for a bit. The ship moved itself, and I didn’t have to do anything.

It was awkward. The shuttle was about the size of a small room, and the mechanic and I were just sitting on opposing benches across from each other, trying not to make eye contact.

She didn’t like to talk, and I was just staring at a corner. I was trying not to get attached just in case I had to kill her, so I wasn’t very chatty either. It was just a job to her. It was just a job to me too.

But half-way through the autopilot shuts off. Debris is creating a magnetic interference and it’s making the system glitch out.

And the mechanic- she said something like “fine, I guess we’re going to have to go manual."

And I told her “No we have to wait it out. I don’t know the route and the autopilots off."

She told me she knew the route to Krios, that she’s done this repair job before

And I ask her “Do you know the route we were using, or do you know the old faster route? Because we’re only allowed to use the current edition. It’s company policy.”

And as soon as I say that she looked ready to punch me in the face.

“Are you serious? I’m losing money while we sit here. I don’t get paid by the hour I get paid by the job, and I got other jobs to do. My company’s going to be down my throat.”

Hyperion is a client of her company’s. She was an out-of-house contractor.

Anyway, while we’re having that discussion the debris comes flying at us. You know, the debris causing the interference? It’s a trash shuttle, a big one, about the size of the shuttle we’re on. And the lid is pointy. I don’t know why they design them like that but it’s terrifying. and it was partially opening so that robot limbs are leaked through.

I froze. All I could think about was that after spending so much time terrified of Jack, I was going to be killed by a flying trash can.

While I was distracted, the mechanic, whose name I was specifically did not learn, shoved me out of the way, got to the controls, and steered us out of the way of impact.

Trash compactor collided with a meteor that was behind us. Parts flew everywhere and she continued to steer the ship until we were out of the field of scrap.

Then we get a moment to breath, and the auto-pilot turns back on and kilometers off course.

So based on my mission directive, I had to kill her.

And I got as far as readying the gun on my arm before I realize that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be the guy who killed someone after they saved his life. I’d already done things I regretted for Hyperion, this wasn’t going to be one of them.

Instead, I started panicking. And the mechanic thought I was just freaking out from our near-death experience with the debris.”

Rhys mimicked her dry gravel the best he could.

……

“Dude, we’re out of the debris field. We’re alive, calm down.”

“No you don’t get it, we’re both fucked, we’re both dead. I’m suppose- We’re supposed to be killed if we go off path. Hyperion has too many secrets and they don’t like orders being disobeyed, even dumb ones.”

I remember she took a moment to look at my face to realize my panic was real. That I wasn’t lying.

“Fuck, I can’t change my identity again. My sister just adjusted to her school, we just got stable. I can’t do this again.”

I remember her inhale, how quickly she changed from frustration and fear to solid resolve. I remember her looking into my cybernetic eye with hatred, and I didn’t blame her.

“Fine. Fine. We’ll leave. I guess that’s the only option. I’ll take this shuttle as far as it can go, drop you off on some unknown planet, take my sister, and try to get somewhere safe. It’ll suck to restart again but it’s my only option, so lets go.”

Once she said it I realized that the nearby planet she’d probably drop me on would be here, Pandora. And I had to visualize what it would be like to build a life here. And I had a moment of cold fear where I just considered my options before I realized there was a way where neither of us had to give up our lives.

I put my left hand on her shoulder.

“Wait, maybe there’s another option. The data from the mission logs from the shuttle and my eye are probably going to give us away, but it’s going to have to go through a communication’s satellite first.

I’m going to jam the signal and hopefully the magnetic interference is causing a delay. If I can get to a communication satellite, I can alter the data a little bit to make it look like nothing happened. No one needs to know we got off course. No one needs to lose their job. Your sister doesn’t have to switch schools.”

She looked skeptical, but she was as desperate as I was.

….

So, we drove over to the nearest communication satellite.

or what we thought was the nearest communication satellite.

When we were… six clicks away? 400 meters? I noticed that we were arcing away from the dock we were trying to land on and the mechanic told me she lost control of the shuttle.

She lifted her hands up, and the steering wheel kept turning, no human control, and no autopilot engaged. The control panel was glowing a faint blue, so light you could swear it was some odd reflection from the stars.

And suddenly I got this splitting migraine.

Right now, all I have is glass and this eyepatch. But all the circuitry relating to my old Hyperion-tech eye was tied into my nervous system, all too close to my brain. I’d been getting mild headaches and buzzing in the brain since the start of the magnetic field interference. But when we got close to the satellite it felt like something was drilling into my head.

I keeled over in pain and got dark spots in my vision.

Then, while I was on the floor I heard a female, robotic voice say to me,

“I’m sorry I had to take control of your shuttle. There are turrets attached to the outside of this satellite that I cannot control. They will shoot you if you come closer.

I am sorry for your predicament. I am partially responsible. I am doing my best effort to make amends. I am currently erasing your shuttle’s data systems and your eye’s memory banks to make it look like you were never here. Jack will not find you. It is fine. You need to turn around.”

Do not tell Rita Greene I am here. Knowledge of my existence will only bring harm to the people who possess it. I am sorry I had to contact you, but it was the only way to communicate.”

I didn’t know what I was hearing at the time. The best I could guess was a highly advanced surveillance A.I. that Jack was hiding, and who had power over my tech. I was afraid to disobey her, and eager to believe something had saved me from needing to rebuild my life on Pandora.

Rita was the mechanic whose name I was trying to avoid learning. I verified that the data was altered, and then I lied to her. Told her I was in pain because I was hacking from a distance. She asked me why we lost control, and I said the autopilot must still be glitching. I’m not sure if she believed me. She believed me enough to see if my plan work, I think she trusted I wouldn’t put my own life at risk.

We turned around, fixed the Krios satellite. Went back to Helios, and no one killed us. No one mentioned us breaking any rules.

I waited for days for someone to kill me, to realize I didn’t follow orders and gut me, but it never came. Jack never found out.

That was the first time I met Angel. I thought it would be the last.

I was wrong.

#Tales From the Borderlands #Rhys #Angel #OC #Handsome Jack #Thoughts of Murder #Fanfiction #Borderlands #Why Angel Gets to Live

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bh7theseriesblog · 4 years ago

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The Origins of Big Hero 7

Big Hero 7: The Series

Origins

*A flicker of black and white starts up for a while, static noises barely blocks out a voice*

Umm…Hello? Can you hear me?

*the flickering and static stops as it shows a 14 year old girl with dyed blue hair and purple eye contacts*

Can you hear me? Oh it's working!

*The girl sits on the chair in front of the camera. She smooths out her sea green skirt as she clears her throat*

Hi! So…after some thinking I decided to make a video diary so I can remember what I said. After all, who knows when it'll come in handy right? Oh right! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Cora Mizichio.

*Cora chuckles slightly before continuing*

So I guess I should start with my life and such. Let me warn you though, it's kind of a long and wild story.

*she pulls out a phone and starts showing pictures*

I have lived in San Fransokyo for my whole life with my Dad, Mizuchi and Grandmama, Kaguya. My mom, Akemi passed away when I was a baby.

*image of a blonde hair woman smiled warmly before switching to Cora and her family. Her father being Goliath in stature and her grandmother dressed in a kimono with a cane*

Then my family found out that I'm incredibly intelligent for my age. I suppose hacking into your father's computer to send a birthday card at the age of 4 does that. My Dad is very sweet and an old softie, but is very protective of me and wasn't sure that I should go to school. So I was homeschooled, it was fun being taught by Grandmama and such about Marine biology, but…I felt kind of lonely…

After all my studies, I actually made a habit of bot fighting disguised as an unknown cat-masked competitor under the name 'Nekodomo'. It earned good money since at the time Dad hadn't gotten any luck with jobs due to his height. But it was my very first night of bot fighting that I met him…Hiro Hamada

*she flips the photo to a young Asian boy her age, with messy raven hair, large almond brown eyes and a tooth gap in his smile.*

I've never had very much luck when it came to making or having friends, so if I someone told me that I would end up dating this guy I would had laughed. But yeah we did. I was paired up with Hiro in one of those special bot fighting events like the duo duel. We won, but than the cops were coming and I was so scared of getting caught that I couldn't move. But then the next thing I know Hiro grabs my hand and we were running like crazy before the cops even spot us! I have no idea how long we had been running, but to be honest I didn't really care because I was still awe-struck by the fact that Hiro had save me from getting arrested and we didn't even know each other at the time. But that was all about to change, because as we were finally approaching a safe distance from the cops, it was at that moment where I tripped and fell flat on my face, and at the same time broke my mask. Thankfully Hiro picked me back up and we started running again, with me leaving my broken mask behind. Once we finally stopped and knew we were safe, that was when Hiro and I actually first met face-to-face. Now I have to be honest with you, I've never really known if the whole 'Love at first sight' thing was actually real or not, but it's the only thing I can describe how I felt when I first looked into Hiro's eyes. It was there when we properly introduced ourselves to each other and after that, we started seeing each other more. And it was only after 4 months of hanging out together, that I finally got to meet his family, and he got to meet mine.

*The picture now showed Hiro with a woman holding a calico japanese bobtail cat and a young man on either side of him.*

The woman on his left is his Aunt Cass, she runs a coffee shop called the Lucky Cat Cafe. The young man on his right is his older brother Tadashi. And the adorably cute kitty-cat Aunt Cass is holding is Mochi, their family pet. They are really cool people, and they always asked how I was doing and such, and Mochi is such a sweet kitty that he always tries to cuddle up to me whenever I come over. Hiro and I actually became an official thing one night when I saved his butt from Yama's minions. And boy were they surprised! Aunt Cass actually bounced when Hiro told them that I'm his girlfriend! Dad and Grandmama met them that night too, while dad wasn't too happy at first about me dating, Grandmama convinced him…after hitting him on the head with her cane.

*Cora giggled at the memory*

Anyway, After a slight misadventure where Hiro and Tadashi landed in jail and Cass had to bail them out, Tadashi actually took Hiro to SFIT, San Fransokyo institute of Technology that same night. Hiro told me that he met Tadashi's friends. There's Gogo: the cool biker chick, Honey Lemon: the stylish Chem genius, Wasabi: Laser neat freak, and Fred: the secret Billionaire super hero geek. Afterwards Hiro and I actually applied to SFIT by entering the showcase! Hiro made these miniature robots he called Microbots which he can control via head transmitter, I on the other hand did super strength suction cup shoes that can stick on any surface. We both won and we…were gonna celebrate until…a huge fire broke out in the showcase building and Tadashi ran back inside to help Callaghan, a teacher at the school….he didn't make it…

*Cora turned quiet, looking at her hands as she takes a deep breath*

Hiro wasn't himself for a while. I visited him a lot since the fire, and I mostly talked and tried to comfort and be there for him. Then came the day Hiro stubbed his toe and Baymax came along.

*A picture of a white inflated figure came to the picture*

Baymax was Tadashi's project, a robotic nurse to be more specific. He heard Hiro say ow and activated to help him. Then one of Hiro's microbots started acting weird, and Baymax followed the direction it went! It was then we found a guy in a kabuki mask controlling the Microbots. But they were destroyed at the fire right? Once Hiro pieced together that it was the kabuki-masked man that started the fire to steal them, which in turned killed Tadashi…Hiro decided to build Baymax some armor which…well

*the next picture showed Baymax in protective gear*

We traveled down to the port where we saw him take some type of machine out of the ocean. But then it turns out Baymax called the gang to help us, but sadly the guy in the mask saw us. We barely escaped with our lives that night! Thankfully Baymax being a walking marshmallow, also makes him an inflatable raft too. Afterwards we got to Fred's mansion and discussed over what to do next. Side note: it was weird to see that Fred is a billionaire.

*shows portrait of a young Fred and his parents in classy attire*

Hiro and I then built ourselves armor to fight the guy in the mask. Honey lemon got this cute chemistry purse to pull out what she needed, Gogo got some sick skates to zoom past us, Fred got a killer Kaiju costume that breaths fire, Wasabi got awesome laser blades on the backs of his hands, and I got my aquatic camouflage suit with squid strength suction cup shoes! And learning back from his previous work, Hiro turned Baymax from a stay puff marshmallow with bicycle gear to an awesome superhero!

*the next photo shows Baymax in his red armor*

After training and flying around the city we got down to business. We flew to Akuma island where the masked guy was, and it was there we learned something interesting. Krei and some government officials had something called 'Project Silent Sparrow'. It backfired when the portal sucked everything in, and the pilot was stuck. But then the masked guy attacked us! We tried to fight back but….

*a small clip showed Fred jumping only to be punched away *

We bombed, big time.

Hiro and I got lucky to get the mask…but the person was not who we thought….

Turns out Callaghan grabbed the transmitter and used it and the Microbots to protect himself in the fire…leaving Tadashi to die….

It was then that Hiro took out Baymax's health care chip and ordered him to kill Callaghan…

*Cora took a deep breathe before standing up and leaving the room, she returned back with a glass of water and started drinking it. Once she was done She then continued.*

Thankfully the gang got Baymax back to normal but Hiro was furious. He just left with Baymax…but we eventually met up with Hiro at his place, with a video of Tadashi…it was also when we showed him what we discovered. The pilot was no random person Krei hired. She was Callaghan's daughter, and Callaghan was out for blood.

We got to Krei Tech where Callaghan got his portal running. Hiro then learned what we needed to do to beat him; instead of the mask, we take out the Microbots, then he'd be powerless. But despite that, the portal was still open, and ready to tear itself to pieces. Then Baymax dropped the biggest bomb on us, Callaghan's daughter was still alive in there.

Hiro and I got on Baymax to rescue her. We found her pod but Baymax's thrusters were wrecked from the debris…

Baymax…he got us out by rocket punch…but stayed behind in the portal…

It's been weeks since then…

Krei agreed to keep our identities a secret, Callaghan is in prison, and his daughter is making a steady recovery at the hospital. And the news had been exploding over 'the mysterious group of heroes' that saved the city.

Hiro and I had been doing good, we talked to the gang a lot and we actually reapplied to SFIT again.

*Cora then looks at the clock beside her and gasped*

Oh man it's almost midnight! And first day of class is tomorrow! Anyway, thank you for listening! And…Baymax…I don't know if you can hear me..but Hiro has been doing good. We all miss you…especially me and Hiro...wish us good luck, cause who knows what happens tomorrow.

*Cora smiles at the camera before turning it off.*

A.N: This is an updated look for the prolouge chapter of Big Hero 7: The Series!

Liking the new visuals? ;3

This chapter has been edited by WolfWitchHuntress1318 at Fanfiction.net! Thank you for being my patient editor! Thank you for following and reading Big Hero 7! Love ya!

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majorshiraharu · 4 years ago

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Echoes In My Mind; Chapter 8 - Concerned Commander - Echo x Reader Fic

Previous Chapter

————————————————- Content Rating: Mature+ (18+)

Warnings: Kissing

If there are any warning labels I’m missing, please inform me.

Rendezvousing = meeting up with someone at a location Notes: Y/O/N = Your character's original name (before they went into hiding) ————————————————-

A/N: I’m so sorry this took so long, I’ve had this sitting in my drafts for forever, my notes pad deleted most of this chapter and I was struggling with remember what I had written and then I had a bunch of health problems so I’ve neglected this fic :( So I’m just going to go ahead and post this chapter so you’re not waiting 3 more months. Sorry <3

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Rendezvousing with your bounty hunter friend, you catch them up on the plan as they join you walking onboard the ship; you introduce the bad batch to them. They're unsure of if your plan will work but Echo and the others assure them that it will work out, that everyone just needed to stay focused and get in and out as fast as possible, knowing the longer everyone was there the more dangerous it would become. Stealing away Echo for a moment you slid into your room with him, wrapping your arms around his neck as the door closed behind him, running your fingers through his curly black hair. It had grown a lot since you first met him; it was long enough that you could actually pull on it. Your nails brushing against his scalp makes him hum with delight, you ran your fingers around some of the metallic numbs that partly stuck out of his head; you knew he felt pretty insecure about a lot of his mechanical parts. He appreciated you making him feel loved no matter how he looked or what his body was made of. His eyes were closed as he enjoyed you massaging his scalp, your warm breath tickling his skin, a beautiful smile on his face. You press a smiley kiss against his mouth. His hands run along the curve of your spine making you giggle, "Echo," you whispered kissing him, the smiling makes it hard to hold your lips together, opening your eyes to look at him seeing him looking at you. "Do you always watch me when I kiss you?" You laughed, watching a grin spread across his face. "Sometimes, it's hard to take my eyes off of you." "Stop it," you joked, kissing him more passionately, this time he closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling. "I love you," he said as you pulled away, Tech's voice came on over the comm system saying they were getting ready to land. "We should get going, lover boy." He takes your hand in his, opening the door walking back out to the rest of the crew, "Oh, I love you too," you said turning him around to kiss him one last time before both of you walked into the main area. "Getting in some action before our little mission," your friend jokes, making you and Echo get defensive and flustered. "I'm just teasing you," they said, cutting you both off in your nonsensical babbling. "I hate you," you joked, hitting their arm. "Oh, well, I hate you too, that's why I came along on this mission," they teased back making you roll your eyes as you shook your head, trying to hide a grin. "Also, since we need to steel uniforms from the Empire, shouldn't we take off ours?" They asked, looking at the armor everyone was wearing. "Well, take out whom we need and then bring them back here so we can switch," Hunter explained. "I guess that makes sense," they said, tapping a finger against their chin as they thought it over. "We'll be landing on the outskirts, make sure you don't get spotted by any patrols," Tech said landing the ship, "Call me if there's anything you need, Echo should be able to handle any panels you encounter but in case there's one he can hack patch me through and I'll get it." "I'll do my best," Echo said with a weary smile. "You'll be fine, Echo," you say, placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, his smile growing as he looked at you. "Crosshair, Wrecker, if we need an extraction, be ready, okay? We might not have much time to escape if something goes wrong," Hunter ordered as he walked to depart the ship. "Understood," they both say, wishing you guy's luck as the rest of you followed Hunter out of the ship, putting on your helmet and drawing your weapons as the four of you snuck through the forest area leading to the base. Avoiding the patrols you radio Tech to be careful, hoping they wouldn't notice the rather large ship between the thick line of trees. — Echo stuck by your side until Hunter ordered Echo to come with him and your bounty hunter friend to go with you, since you and your friend would be stealing uniforms from officers it was best that you go together. Meanwhile, Echo and Hunter got some Stormtrooper armor. Luckily it was easy to find some on their own, quickly taking them out and dragging them back to the ship where they awaiting your arrival. Sadly, things were going as smoothly for you and your friend. The only officers you spotted were hanging out in a group, no way of splitting them up that you could find. It took a while of waiting and a rather uncomfortable conversation between you and your friend, "So you dating that guy or what, I know we haven't talked in a while but I feel like that's some worthwhile news you could have sent me," they teased. "Oh shut it, we're not dating.... besides you could have contacted me at any point and never did." "Geez, no need to get snippy, also you may not realize it, but he's totally got a thing for you, like the way he looked at you." "Yes, I noticed, why do you care." "Ohhh, so you've learned, good to know my teaching stuck with you. I care because you're both adorable and I enjoy teasing you," they replied putting a hand on your shoulder. "Sorry I'm just stressed with this mission and I'm not in a good mood, I don't mean to be snippy..." "I know... so this Commander Cody used to be your friend... any idea why he joined the Empire?" "He didn't choose to join them, he's a clone, they don't give them much choice sadly..." "Oh, I see... Well, he's lucky to have you as a friend, willing to get him out of there." "I don't know, I'm worried he won't come with us." "Why?" "When I spoke to him last, he just wanted me to be safe and take care of the others, I'm just concerned he'll reject our offer so we don't get in trouble." "Well, if it comes to it, I'll happily knock the guy out and take him with us." "What?! You can't just do that!" "Yes I can, just watch me," they teased, quietly giggling to themselves. "Ugh, if you do, he won't be happy." "I honestly don't care I'm just here to help you and get him out of here no matter the means." "I won't let you knock him out, besides there are perfectly good Imperials all around us, have fun knocking them out but not Cody." "But this Cody guy is an Imperial dear..." "I swear I can't win with you." "You did once, and that's why I'm here, and that's also why you're one of my only friends." "You call that winning," you snapped back being sarcastic. "Ah, you're learning young Padawan," they said, showing their admiration for your quick comeback. "Now can we please deal with these guys, the others are waiting for us," you said pointing out two Imperial Officers who just spit off from the group. "Ready when you are, just lead the way," they said, sneaking to closer cover with you. After following them for a bit, they end up in just the perfect place for a quick takedown, knocking them out and dragging them quickly and quietly back to the ship.

"What took you guys so long?" Hunter teased, crossing his arms as he shook his head, Echo bashfully smiling behind him as he finished putting on the Stormtrooper armor. "Got these guys," your friend said, kicking the unconscious Imperials, "They kept hanging out with their little friends so we had to wait till they split off." "Now let's get these disguises on, I'd rather not be here longer than is necessary," you said, helping your friend remove the uniforms, tying up the Imperials before all of you set off. "This armor sucks, I can hardly see anything," Echo scoffed, trying to adjust the helmet. "Yeah, not the idea armor for my kind of fighting," Hunter said. "Ha, we got lucky these uniforms are pretty comfy," your friend boasted. "Just try not to act suspicious," you told them with a grin, earning a laugh from them. As they get to a locked door, the three of you keep watch while Echo works, seeing some Imperials walking straight for you guys everyone begins to panic. "Echo any time now," Hunter said. "He's working on it," you scoffed while trying to keep an eye on those headed towards you. "Even if he gets it, what do we do?" Your friend asked, positioning themselves to be ready for a fight. "Calm down, they haven't done anything yet, just wait," you say looking over at them. "Excuse us, we require your assistance," one of the Imperials says to you and your friend. Both of you look at each other confused, still using your bodies to hide Echo behind you. Luckily they hadn't noticed him yet and were instead focused on the two of you, awaiting your response. "Yes sir, how can we help you," your friend finally replied after looking at their badges. - "Come with us please, there's an error with one of the terminals and we haven't been able to fix it." "Why do you think we can fix it?" Your friend hissed, annoyed that they're bothering you with something a mechanic could easily fix. Suddenly you remember the scans Tech had gotten off the base. If they were talking about the terminal in the main building it would put you close the where Cody was. It would be risky to get to him going that way, hence why the lot of you were sneaking in from a less watched corner, but if they were willing to just let you walk in the front door, why not go? Jabbing your friend with your elbow, you apologize to the Imperials for their behavior, "What terminal requires fixing, and what's wrong with it? I have some experience with those things and can take a crack at it." They look at each other, almost like they were nervous or ashamed, "It's the main terminal, don't tell anyone, but we spilled some caf on it and not it won't start back up." "If you tell anyone you'll regret it, got it!?" The other one said sternly, staring the both of you down, still somehow not noticing Echo who was kneeled down on the ground. - Your friend snickers some before you jab them with your elbow again, glaring at them like your eyes could kill. "We'd be happy to help, and I promise we won't tell anyone," you say saluting them. Turning in their heels, they motioned for you to follow them, talking to each other as you and your friend stayed silent, looking back at Echo and Hunter who were now on their own. "What do we do now?" Echo asked, knowing without the both of you they had no business being in this building and would easily get spotted. "We'll have to just try to get through, you're an arc trooper after all, as long as we can at least find his location we could contact them," Hunter says, looking down at Echo as he finally got the door unlocked. Standing up he realizes something, the Imperials said the main terminal, that was closer to Cody's office, "Hunter, the terminal they're going to is close to Cody's office, if one of them can slip away they could bring him out this way as long as we keep a lookout." "Echo, that's a good idea, now just to figure out how to get one of them out of there." "We could fake it, I know Cody I could easily comm them and order them to his office." Patting Echo on the shoulder for his quick thinking and excellent plan, he agrees. Both of them sneak inside, hiding at the end of one of the halls behind some crates. - After a little meddling Echo finds out how to contact you guys, but instead of calling you your friend is the one who received the call instead. At first, they tried to ignore the beeping and blinking coming from their wrist. The two Imperials quickly look over to both of you, "Aren't you going to answer that?" One of them asked them. "Uh yeah, excuse me a moment." Damn them, they left you here with these two watching over you, making sure you actually were fixing it. Walking out into the hall but still within ear range of the snooping Imperials, your friend answered the call.

"Hello? Who is this?" They asked. "This is Commander Cody, I require you in my office now to discuss some information." "Oh um sir, I'm currently assisting someone with repairs, could it ---" "I said now, get a mechanic to fix the problems unless you've suddenly become one." Good thing the terminal obstructed your face, you could tell it wasn't Cody, assuming it was Echo impersonating him made it hard for you not to laugh. The two Imperials quickly walk out to your friend, with terrified expressions they told them to go, that you could handle the repairs, and it was wise not to upset the commander. "I'll be right there, sir," your friend said before turning off the comm device. "Yeah, best not upset the commander or keep him waiting. Go," one of the men said, almost pushing your friend down the hall. Setting a quick pace, they walk through the halls. They didn't know Cody or Echo well enough to know it wasn't actually Cody. Knocking on the door yields no response from inside, "Kriff, where is he?! This is his office...man, I better not be at the wrong place," they say studying the area, confirming that they were in fact in the right place. "This is my office, are you looking for something?" Cody said, startling your friend. "Blast, did you have to scare me like that?? Oh, um, Commander Sir!" They said, quickly saluting. "What do you want, and who are you? I've never seen you on this base before," he replied. "I'm Y/N's friend, I'm here with a rescue team to get you out!" "I already told her I won't be going, there's no reason for everyone to put their life at risk for mine." He coldly replied, unlocking his office and walking inside. Following him your friend continues to try to talk sense into him, "Look, I don't know you, but Y/N is my friend and I would do anything for her especially since I owe her for saving my life. So can you give me a break and just come with me, there's a ship waiting for you not too far from here." "I'm not going and nothing you say will change my mind, Y/N was - is my friend and I won't needlessly put her life at risk," Cody said in an angry tone crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. "Well then, I guess you give me no choice..." They said huffing. "What do you --" before he gets a chance to finish they pull out the hidden blaster and stun him, "You better not be heavy," they grumbled, walking over to drag his body with them. "Echo, Hunter, come in I completed my task," they said over the comlink. "Oh, good work, is Y/N with you, we're covering the hallway here by the exit but not sure how long we can keep this up," Hunter replied. "No, she's still off helping those knuckleheads. Maybe try to contact her, pretend to be the Commander and order her over here, I could use help to drag him out of here." "Wait WHAT — what did you do??" They heard Echo shout. "Please tell me you only stunned him..." Hunter added. "Of course, what did you think I did, I might be a bounty hunter but I'm not going to shoot this guy." "I mean, technically you did shoot him," Echo said sarcastically. "Listen here you, I just stunned him, he'll be waking up in a bit so get Y/N over here to help me." "Copy that," the comm cut out. It had been a few minutes, and still no response, and you were nowhere in sight. Assuming their attempt didn't work, your friend tried getting Cody out of there on their own. Damit he was heavy, good thing they were strong enough to still lift him, draping his arm over their shoulder and grabbing his waist. It took a while, but slowly they got down the hallway, having to duck into cover a few times to avoid the patrols and random Imperials walking about. Luckily, the exit wasn’t far away.

#echoes in my mind #finally updated this lmao #echo x reader #arc trooper echo x reader #clone trooper echo x reader #the bad batch #female reader #use of y/n #chapter 8 #i'm sorry this took so long to post #star wars #the clone wars #the clone wars fic #clone force 99 #clone trooper hunter #clone trooper tech #clone trooper crosshair #clone trooper wrecker

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seriousfic · 5 years ago

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Terminator: Dark Fate

I have no idea how TSCC came up with two seasons’ worth of innovative scenarios about Terminators and these cinematic universe motherfuckers can only redo T2 with more CGI.

This movie is plotless. It has no real plot. It’s like Now That’s What I Call A Terminator Movie! There are so many callbacks and borrowings from all the other Terminator movies that it passes the point of homage and just becomes plagiarism. The bad Terminator is the same as the T-X, metal endoskeleton with a T-1000 shell. They kill him with a Terminator power core. They say Come With Me If You Want To Live and I’ll Be Back (twice! It’s the first thing Sarah Connor says and it makes no sense in context, it’s just something people say in Terminator movies). In fact, it has anti-plot, since it undoes a lot of the story developments in Terminator and T2.

The premise is basically just we’re going to remake Terminator 1, but people don’t like reboots, so we’re going to bring back Linda Hamilton and make it a technically kinda sorta sequel (sure, Skynet was wiped from existence, but another, completely different, yet exactly the same AI called Legion was created and did the exact same thing. Which also happened in T3, but they had the decency to still call it Skynet). But otherwise, it’s entirely people being chased by an evil robot from the future and trying to destroy it.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. T2 had the whole thing about preventing Judgment Day before it happened. T3 had Judgment Day actually happen. This one, nothing. There is nothing going on under the surface other than a bunch of action sequences and explosions. Even T3 got some mileage out of the idea that Judgment Day was inevitable. Here, our cast learns that Judgment Day was already ‘averted’ once slash that it’s destined to be repeated and they basically go “Eh. Figures.” I’m not kidding.

Wait, that’s not fair. Let’s count out the TWEEESTS.

1. In a very contrived way, the script waits an hour and a half to actually explain why heroine Dani has been targeted for termination--you know, the thing Kyle Reese explained to Sarah Connor the moment they were out of danger--all to set up this big ‘reveal’ that Dani isn’t the NuSarah, she’s the NuJohn (yes, they actually say this aloud, just so you soup sandwich motherfuckers in the audience get it). Hear that, neckbeards, John Connor is now a woman! And Mexican! And she’s got a bit of a gay vibe, because it’s 2019 and God forbid we have a heroine that isn’t a bit bicurious. If she has a cock and balls, my bingo card will be a winner.

2. Months after killing John Connor and thus completing his mission, an Arnold-model Terminator started a family (wow, that was quick) and learned the value of human life and eventually switched sides. This is a crazy new idea that also happened in Terminator: Genebissss, so it’s done and dusted in ten minutes, even though Arnold is the most engaging character. (He’s saddled with a lot of yuk lines about how he’s a comically serious Terminator, yet (teehee) works as an interior decorator, but at least he has a personality.)

3. The other good Terminator is Grace, who needs meds to keep up her cyborg strength or she’ll crash (this never affects the plot) (it’s like they read something about Rey Palpatine having no flaws and so they decided to give Grace the ‘flaw’ of literally having her own Kryptonite). She’s not a Terminator, she’s an augmented human, which means she can make MCU-style wisecracks every five minutes. (”I didn’t hear anything.” “That’s because you’re not a cybernetic super soldier from the future.” Actual dialogue.)

4. Linda Hamilton is back, baby! Yes, that’s right, they dragged her away from doing guest spots on Lost Girl! Can you believe???? She’s become a Terminator hunter that ambushes Terminators as they come back from the future and destroys them, because Skynet was both able to send back an infinite number of Terminators AND because now they can easily be destroyed by one five-hundred-year-old woman.

This makes it a bit confusing why they have so much trouble taking out Ghost Rider, given that he’s a T-1000 skin with a creamy T-800 center. It seems like if you hammer him enough, he’s got no endoskeleton, and that’s all she wrote. That’s what happened to the T-X. Can his liquid metal skin just walk around without the other half of him? If so, what’s the point of the endoskeleton? The T-1000 managed without it and that seemed a lot harder to kill. At one point, Sarah hits the bare endoskeleton with a bazooka, which seems like it should’ve been a mortal blow, but it’s the first act, so I guess not.

And is it supposed to be funny that the opening takes place in a car factory where (in 2019!) the human workers are losing their assembly line jobs to machines? Because they’re all Mexicans? None of them ever look at a Terminator and go THEY TOOK OUR JOBS, but man, that one is all teed up for the Rifftrax boys.

For a movie with, as I said, no plot, it’s very rushed. They seem to be saying “yeah, it’s a dumb Terminator movie, you know the score,” (even tho it’s halfway aimed at people who aren’t Terminator fans; more on that in a minute) because it seems to take all of ten minutes for both good guys and bad guys to find Dani and start getting into CGI stunt double fights, which means the story has very little time to breathe and we have very little time to get to know any of the characters. The bad guy spawns practically at Dani’s front door! And pretty much does everything by massacring a bunch of people and then hacking a computer. The T-1000 had some intelligence, some charisma. This guy’s a big nothing.

And the Dani character is useless. She starts the story already super assertive, is barely traumatized at all by her loved ones being killed and her own life being endangered. There’s none of that relatable feel of an everyman suddenly being told they have a grand destiny and an incredible responsibility, because right from the start she’s standing up to her mean boss and doing the Nevertheless She Persisted thing. And all this while being literally five feet tall and looking all of twelve years old.

I love these Spy Kids movies.

And at least the original two movies were smart enough to leave the future John Connor mostly to the imagination. This one actually shows us Dani as grizzled military badass, beating up guys and delivering inspiring speeches (would it surprise you to know that humans fighting among each other “is exactly what Legion wants”?), and it’s just--oh man. If ever a political leader is enough to make people think back to the good old days of Trump and Biden...

And if we’re going to talk shit (rightfully) about Jai Courtney’s Kyle Reese not being at all scruffy or traumatized or feral, it should be noted that Grace seems pretty well-adjusted for a post-apocalyptic guerrilla fighter (who all wear Starship Trooper uniforms). Aside from a tendency to smash the face in of everyone she comes across, whether they’ve done anything to deserve it or not (Sample dialogue, to a doctor who is looking at her X-rays after performing life-saving surgery on her: “Did I give you permission to look at my private parts?” SMASH. No, really!)

They really go all in on this cringey, woke af “You’re not the mother of some MAN, Dani. YOU ARE THE FUTURE!” And yet, there’s a hilarious amount of toxic masculinity in this movie, just without the dongs. About every other line Sarah and Grace have is generic tough guy bullshit about how they’re going to kick someone’s ass, how they’re suspicious of someone, how they’re hostile towards someone. If they had dongs, you would think they were the smallest dongs possible, because they are compensating for something, BIG TIME. Between the T-800 and Sarah and Grace, everyone in this movie seems to outright hate each other, to the point that Arnold’s killer cyborg is one of the more pleasant characters. It gets to where you just want someone to order a fucking decaf. Does the fact that Sarah Connor has a vagina keep it from being ridiculously over the top how she spends all her time either blowing up robots or drinking herself into a stupor? C’mon. You can’t complain about male characters having ‘man-pain’ then give Bad Grandma a pass over her ovaries.

And that’s it. It’s a Brundlefly shit between yet another dumb girlpower reboot for the people who’ve never seen a Terminator movie and a sequel with Sarah and Uncle Bob to try and get that last drop of blood outta this stone. They’re trying to make something that appeals to both people for whom this is their first Terminator and people for whom this is their latest Terminator and it just doesn’t work. The newbies don’t have any emotional investment in these characters and the Terminator fans don’t like it that all the old movies were rendered meaningless to prop up Grace and Dani.

Hilariously enough, I actually played Terminator: Resistance recently, which is a fun little mid-tier shooter that was meant to tie in to this movie... and it completely ignores all the Dani/Grace/Legion BS to take place in John Connor’s future war and tie in to the first two movies. That’s how forgettable this movie is. Its own damn video game adaptation pretends it doesn’t exist. Fuuuck.

Oh! Oh! Oh! And in that big, bad, sexist original Terminator, which was so unwoke and problematic, Sarah saved herself and finished off the Terminator herself. Here, Dani has to be saved by Arnold at the climax. The 35-year-old movie is more feminist than this one. Fuck you very much.

#terminator

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timexistsnow · 4 years ago

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my baby (oh my pup)

Chapter 5: a flower (for us)

Techno and Tasha go on a walk and have a pleasant couple of days.

Techno’s hands were ruined for the time being. A while back, maybe two hours ago, he had made the wise choice to wrap them but even that hadn't saved him from a day of hoeing. This was not what he had planned to do in retirement, becoming a farmer, but then again, he never really had a plan. The whole idea was to escape L’Manburg and their governmental control, so farming was close enough.

When he wiped the sweat from his brow he hissed. Even in a biome like this, he was still getting sunburnt. Later he would have to rub some magma cream on it. Either it soothed or burned, he would find out.

Tasha was lying by the fire, leg muscles destroyed from all of the crouching. Techno grumbled, he could relate.

He helped her up, ignoring the tingling in his fingers. The bandages were useless by now and would infect his wounds if he didn’t change them. Just as he had with the potatoes, Techno switched had off of hoeing to planting, cacking his pants, hands, and fingernails in dirt. And Tasha… was not much better off.

Her already clumsy movement coupled with the unsteady ground led to many spills. She got the job done, but it wasn’t a very clean job.

Bath time.

He warmed the water in the fireplace and brought the buckets back upstairs. He needed a better system for bathing and water if this was to happen often. He did have a spare room now, the bathroom could go down by where the dining table used to reside. The purpose of the small cabin was to use every space, and the little alcove was just a place to put a tall bookshelf right now.

Techno… shelved that thought and helped Tasha into the bath. The few inches of water were already turning brown with the clumps of dirt falling from Tasha’s fur. The soap came out, lathered all over the pup. She scooped up a handful of bubbles, watched them pop, and shoved them into her mouth. “Gross.”

“No kidding,” Techno laughed. He couldn’t blame her, when he was a kid he had taken a bite out of the first bar of soap he had come across. And then the next. And the one after that. Okay, it took a while for Techno to figure out that the reason why soap tasted so bad was because it wasn't food. So what if he was dumb, sue him for being new to the world.

Techno… he needed to know, “Did you have fun?”

“Soap? No.”

Techno rolled his eyes, “The potatoes, Tasha.”

“Oh. With. You. Yes.” She averted her eyes, clapping bubbles into the air.

Techno watched the bubbles float around the room, his scrubs paused. “You don’t- We can stop next time. Tasha, you can always tell me if you get bored,” Tasha still didn’t bring her gaze back up to Techno, “I won’t get mad.”

She caught a bubble in a soapy hand and brought it to her face, blowing it off, “Together. Make. Worth. It.”

Techno- he supposed that made sense. He just didn’t think that Tasha would have the same idea. His scrubs resumed, focused on her fingers. The other hand continued to play with the bubbles.

“Missed. Together. In. Nether.”

Swallowing, he tried to say lightly: “You had a together? I… assumed your family-”

“You. Killed. Family.” She said family like it had hurt her. Hmm, maybe not the best simile.

“Oh,” he said. Was he supposed to say sorry? He wasn’t, not even a tiny bit.

In the silence, Tasha chose to barrel on, “Me. Had. Friend,” she tugged on her ears and tusks, a piglin then. “Run. Around. Ride. Hoglin.” Her hands mined two pairs of legs scampering along the lip of the bath. “Miss. Them.��

That… was not good, “Do you want to go back and visit them?” How: he wasn’t sure, but for Tasha, he’d make do.

“Dead.” One of the hands fell off of the lip and into the water, splashing around.

Oh. “What was their na- their word?” There had to be a way to save the conversation. Neither of them needed to deal with all of this angst.

“Never. Told.” The clean hand was put into her mouth but she continued to talk around it, “Scared. Them,” a hand fell into the water, “Warned. Them. In…” she waved at Techno, “Speak.”

“You said something in English. Kiddo, that wasn’t your fault.”

She protested, hand falling, getting back up, and falling again and again. “Should. Known.”

Techno grabbed both of her hands, “No, Tasha, the piglins- they don’t deserve your time. You are so different from them, so much more,” she tried to wiggle her way out, so Techno switched gears, “It was just a mindless mob. Sure, for a moment it might have felt pain but not like you did-” Techno slammed his mouth shut, Tasha clearly being able to pick up what he was referring to and flinching away. He tried for a third time, “You are better than them.”

That was enough, Techno guessed, and Tasha wiped away the stray tear that had escaped. He helped her out and dried her off with a soft blue towel. When she stood awkwardly, he patted her on the head, “Try to not let it bog you down. You don’t want things like that to ruin your fun.”

He let her walk off and refilled the bath with clean water. He always figured that Tasha would have her own trauma, but he never got around how he would fix it. His methods were proven to be… lacking, at the very least.

Spending nowhere near as long as Tasha had, Techno scrubbed himself raw. He might be a pig but he did not like being dirty. With dirt. The blood of the people who had wronged him- he might be able to compromise.

Stepping out of the lukewarm water and into the frigid room, he grabbed the other towel on the rack and dried himself off. He didn’t have any clothes so he opened the door a crack and strained his arm to grab something out of the chest of clothes next to it. It was one of his less frilly white button-downs and a pair of thick pants. Techno was always tempted to get some thigh-high leather boots to complete his outfit, but his hoofs would never allow it.

Leaving the bathroom, Techno realized that in his vanity he had caused the chest to spill out. Tasha, who was seen wiping her snout and eyes in a hurry, sat down at the foot of the mess and started sifting through it. She ended up settling on some of his spare blue wool and fabric.

“Favorite. Color?” All of it was blue, so perhaps…

“No, I like pink.” He sat with her and studied the weight and feel of it. Thankfully it wasn’t all one shade but an array of hues ranging from baby to royal blue. From wool to cotton to silk, from thick yarn to thread, he had quite the collection.

Techno chose the yarn, digging further through the pile for some needles. He had a book hidden somewhere in his library, ah, there it was. The bounty was dropped down in between the two. Tasha flipped through the pages, letting out an oink at the pictures.

She stopped at the first set of instructions and did her best to replicate the hands displayed on the pages. Techno… had no idea what the book was talking about, even as he read the captions. Sewing, he could manage. Knitting? Making something out of almost nothing? Unless it was a war effort, it was far out of his grasp.

All Techno did from there on in an attempt to help her was getting her to a page that told of a simple child’s sweater. She patted his face and set off to work.

That left him to his own devices.

The pile of blue was tempting Techno. “I never planned on getting this much stuff in the beginning,” Tasha nodded absently, “Uh, I guess my… interest in fashion started back when I began fighting.” He ran a finger over his cloak, a staple he had taken from his first win in the Area. “When I would win, I got the first pick of the losers' loot- including their clothes. It was just supposed to be a gag, something stupid I could do to make fun of them, but the pile grew and I wasn’t doing anything with it.

“Throwing it all out felt wrong, like I wasn’t winning for a reason. Eventually, I figured out that I could take the things I liked about each piece and put them together into something decent.” The cloak was a cape an opponent had dropped and the fur came from someone dressed as a sheep. Strange, but look at him now.

Tasha was trying her best to pay attention, but her pace had crawled to almost a stop, so Techno let her work in peace.

Instead, he took out the dress he had taken for Tasha and started hacking at the seams. He had learned a trick where you trace the different pieces of cloth, improve the design, and cut new ones. Techno was relieved to be getting rid of the old villager clothing, and the dress wasn’t that pretty to start with, so Techno got to have some fun.

Out came the ink and light blue cotton, Techno added a waistline and some frills to the bottom edge. A couple of times, Techno stabbed himself with the needle, but he made sure to not get any blood on the new dress.

He must have spent hours on it, because when he looked up, Tasha was done with a sleeve. There were a few stitches that looked a little wonky, but, “That looks really good!” Tasha startled and smiled back at Techno. Her smile was a little lackluster, her eyes drooping. “Come on, it’s bedtime for us.” Techno didn’t bother with staying up, his eyes were starting to itch and the strain the farming had put him through made him almost weep at the thought of staying up any longer.

When he woke, the day started just as the last had, Tasha tucked against his side.

Gathering up his gear, the flower resting on his journal wasn’t abandoned any longer, Techno couldn’t bear to let himself lose it. Into the ender chest it went, filling up the last slot.

“More?” Tasha asked upon seeing him put the dandelion away.

Techno sighed and smiled, “Sure.”

“Get. More. Today.” she decided, nodding to herself.

They did need more wool if Techno wanted to keep making clothes, so, “Whatever you say.” A walk would be a good way to spend outside time without doing labor.

He grabbed his armor after a second of thought. There was a good chance that it was unnecessary, but not a one hundred percent chance.

The food was handed out, Tasha getting the last potato in the chest. Her carrot- Techno paused: did she need gold? He wasn’t planning on taking it away from her, don’t get him wrong, but she was progressively getting more and more aggressive with her chomping as the days went on. Maybe it would be a good idea to get her something more permanent. Something she couldn’t eat.

The first option was a crown- Techno scratched that off immediately, he had earned it. Perhaps a trinket or jewelry of some kind?

As Techno helped Tasha into a clean coat over her new dress (which she liked very much) and got her down the porch steps, he kept thinking it over.

“Techno. Okay?” Tasha pulled on his cloak. She was having to rush to keep up with Techno’s pace. He slowed, allowing her to match his strides with less of hers.

He ruffled the fur on her head, “Yeah, just thinking,” at another tug: “What do you like?”

Tasha grabbed a bundle of his cloak but stopped her tugging. “Techno. Snow. Yellow… Flower?” He supplied her with dandelion and she nodded. Hmm, those were pretty generic things- the voices started screaming at him in rage, appalled at the mere suggestion. Okay! Not generic. If they made Tasha happy, that was all he needed.

Techno… wasn’t used to such simple needs. As different as Tasha was, she was still just a child.

He wasn’t exactly feeling snow or potato, which left yellow flower. Yellow: that was convenient. A little gold dandelion. It could be a pendant on a necklace or bracelet. Techno looked down at her, she was stumbling through the snow, scanning the horizon for a flower patch.

“Up you go,” he warned, scooping her into his arms. After a moment, he put her on his shoulders. Her hands tugged on his ears like they were reigns on a horse.

The needles on the spruce trees were already imposing on Techno’s personal space, so when Tasha was added to his height, she got a mouthful of pine. She sputtered and Techno chewed on his lip, he would try to avoid the overhanging branches. Mostly.

A sharp tug and Techno was about to scold her, even more so when she tugged again. “There!” Tasha squealed. Oh, she was treating him like a horse, steering him to the right. He grumbled but followed her directions.

Through the forest they went, Techno still not knowing how Tasha could see. Of course, she did have the height advantage, but she was only a block tall, if that. Even combined, they weren’t impressive.

Or, just possibly, Techno realized, it could be the fact that he broke his glasses in the process of destroying L’Manburg. Huh. That… could be it.

“Stop! No. Step. On. Dandelion.” Techno halted, seeing a patch of yellow spread out around him. Yup, it was time to fix his glasses.

Tasha shimmied down from his shoulder once Techno crouched down low enough. Nearby, a baah echoed through the forest. “Tasha, find yourself a good flower, I’m going to find the sheep. I’ll be back, I promise.” Tasha scrambled back to Techno from the flower patch. Techno smiled, “Pinky promise, no one can break those,” he held out his finger and waited for Tasha.

A piggy finger wrapped itself around his.

Tasha turned back to the flowers. Techno wandered off.

There were only three sheep when Techno found them. They were hiding around some bushy fur trees and grazing on the exposed grass protected from the wind and snow. Trying not to startle them, Techno placed his ender chest a ways away from the three and brought out his lapis lazuli and iron. A second later and he had dye and shears.

Techno didn’t want to leave Tasha for long, so he only waited around enough for the sheep's wool to grow and be sheared three times each. The blue was a little conspicuous, Techo gnawed at his lip. As long as Tasha didn’t see him killing them, he figured.

He brandished his axe, one mighty swing taking out the first. Then the second. Then-

“Techno!”

Techno abandoned the last sheep and sprinted through the forest, Tasha coming into sight around the branches and trunks. She was- not fine, but alive. “What’s wrong, Tash?” he grabbed her up. She struggled, trying to get out of his grip, “Tash!”

A hiss.

Techno twisted around, shielding Tasha with his body. He held her tight and the explosion blasted snow and pine needles onto his back. His ears rang. After a moment of piercing silence, Techno rolled to his side, still curled around Tasha.

“Came. Back,” Tasha whispered.

Techno scooped her up. It was home time, their walk was over. “The pinky promise never fails.” She stayed in his arms, Techno didn’t want to risk another creeper or an arrow from a skeleton hiding in the foliage.

She shouldn’t have gotten hurt.

Techno shouldn’t have left her, actually.

But, still, piglins were supposed to be neutral with hostile and other neutral mobs. Hoglins were an exception, but creepers? Tasha should- Tasha was different. With it being so soon after Techno had insisted it, he should have listened to his own advice. Even Tasha looked a little… skeptical when he made the claim, he supposed.

They hurried- or rather, Techno hurried- over the roots and fallen tree branches. The forest thinned and the clearing their cabin resided in stuck out over the horizon. Up the stairs, and they were safe.

Tasha’s dress had picked up a bit of snow, so Tasha batted it off before entering. Both of them wiped their hoofs off on the rug and set themselves up at the table. The flower, Techno thought she had dropped it, was set in the middle.

Techno brought down Tasha’s knitting and his notebook and ink. When he came back downstairs, Tasha greeted him with a rumbling stomach. Out came her food: two carrots, as the potatoes were still growing. Just as he had expected, she gorged herself on them.

Into his notebook, Techno went. The page titled with Tasha’s Needs was in need of some updating. Food was checked off, they had finished the farm, all they had to do was regular maintenance and weeding. Clothes for Tasha were not yet completed, but he did want to add a new idea: ,i>matching/blue for Techno. Yes, it would add extra work, but imagine the absolute adorableness… or style that would seep from their very beings. A quick gold dandelion pendant was scratched in at the bottom, almost forgotten. He ignored the rest of the list.

Across the table, Tasha was getting through the second sleeve of the sweater. Her face was screwed up, tongue sticking out and flickering around her tusks.

Techno put a hand to his own tusks, an extra set growing out of his upper jaw. They had always been a point of embarrassment for him, clearly belonging to a feral wild pig rather than the preferred barnyard pig. People always looked between him and the pigs they had in pens, comparing the two and trying to find similarities. The tusks had been a saving grace in those scenarios, functioning as a barrier from him being mocked.

The two tusks poking out of Tasha’s mouth had come from her ancestors, though piglins now used crossbows and swords instead of tusks and hoofs for fighting.

Techno shifted in his seat, running a hand over his list and the matching/blue for Techno. They weren’t that different, he supposed.

Tasha was an innocent version of Techno.

Techno would keep her that way.

#technodad au #c!techno #technoblade #timexistsnow #my writing #ao3 #dream smp #myct #my baby (oh my pup)

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seungminity · 5 years ago

Text

Cold Lips | Kim Seungmin

↠ Pairing: Kim Seungmin x Reader (Gender Neutral)

↠ Word Count: 1.8k

↠ Genre: Fluff, Suggestive, Established Relationship Au, hints of College Seungmin

↠ Warnings: Suggestive. Cursing. Mentions of shoving an ice cube down someone's throat, but like, lovingly? There’s a boner in there somewhere.

↠ A/N: i honestly don’t even know what the fonk this is. this is literally just an excuse to write making out with seungmin bc uhmmmmmm, making out with seungmin??? yeah u get it.

The clock reads 2:34 a.m. the third time you glance at it, which gets under your nerves because time seems to move too quickly considering you’re not yet even halfway done with the 6th out of 10 paragraphs you need to write for this philosophy paper. It’s still due two days from now, but you wanted to finish it by tonight (morning) because when in college, you’ve learned that putting aside an assignment will only lead to piles and piles of paperwork, which will lead to nights and nights of breakdowns and acne. Fun.

Your spine cracks when you lean back to stretch, relieving a bit of the tension, but the stingy pain doesn’t fade away when you retreat back to your original position. Your neck and back hurt, and your bum feels numb from how long you’ve been sitting down.

The words glaring back at you seem to blur together, and a wave of sleepiness washes over you. You mentally scold yourself for putting this off, but at the time, you were too busy binging another k-drama series that your boyfriend, Seungmin, pulled you into. Letting out a big yawn, you reach across the piles of notes for your mug.

It seems to be mysteriously empty, which isn’t all that mysterious considering you’ve been chugging its contents like water for the past 3 hours, but you digress.

“Min-ah, I’m out of coffee!” The e’s drag out, and despite all your huffing and puffing, your boyfriend doesn’t look up from his own laptop. He too procrastinated writing this essay and has decided to spend the night at your apartment so the two of you could work on it together.

“Minnie,” You coo, resting your head on his leg from your spot on the floor. Seungmin instinctively runs his fingers through your hair lovingly before he resumes his typing, not once looking away from his screen.

You call out to him again in hopes that he’ll get the message and walk to the kitchen to make you some more of your precious—what he calls—hot bean water, but he ignores you and continues typing. How dare he?

“I need coffee.” You huff, but he still doesn’t move from his position. You’re feeling cranky and sleepy, and this stupid paper is not magically writing itself, which is just offensive, really. Flopping down on the table, you release a drawn-out whine of coffeeeeeeeeee.

“Baby, just get up and make some,” He seems to contemplate before reaching over for his own mug and placing it in front of you. “Make me some too.”

Technically, it’s his turn to refill your mugs since you both have been alternating back and forth to the kitchen for your coffee fills, so what gives? You voice this to him as a complaint, and his answer does nothing to relieve the dull ache in your eyes. God, do you need coffee.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

Its silent while you wait for him to elaborate. Because, because what? You slap his outstretched thigh in annoyance and he yelps out, finally looking up from his essay to frown at you.

“What was that for?” He complains.

“It’s your turn, Minnie!”

“I’ll go twice in the next rounds.” He proposes, before leaning over and pressing a kiss to your head. He resumes his typing, which is a good thing because then, he can’t see the heat that spreads across your face.

You get up with both of your mugs, giving up on arguing because you’re whipped for Kim Seungmin and will probably do anything he asks of you as long as he repays it with a forehead kiss.

“Seungmin, we’re fucked.”

The boy looks up from his laptop to see you pouting and holding the two mugs like shopping bags, both empty of his hot bean water—he learned the term from Jisung—which concludes that you either broke the coffee machine again, or you really just wanted him to be the one to fill your coffee mugs, which would make no sense because he already said he’d go twice so-

“Were out of coffee!” You announce it like it’s the most horrible thing, and it startles him a bit. Regaining composure, Seungmin assures you that you guys don’t need coffee anyway, you’ve both already consumed about 4 mugs separately.

“It’s easy for you to stay awake without coffee Minnie, you already stay up late playing with Felix, its why your eye bags have grown—hey don’t look at me like that—but I need coffee! My body isn’t used to staying up without caffeine!”

He decides to ignore your comment about his eye bags, you’ll probably force him to wear some kind of face mask anyway, and proceeds to take the mugs out of your hands before you start crankily swinging them around and breaking all of your furniture.

“Just do what you can tonight and finish up tomorrow morning, babe.” He advises, leading you back to your seat on the floor. He never really understood why you preferred doing all your work on the cold tiles rather than the couch, but you once said something about the coldness keeping you awake.

“But I need to finish this essay.” You whine.

Seungmin only smiles knowingly at you before placing another kiss on the space between your eyebrows.

“Google how to stay awake then.”

This prompts you to do just that, and you scroll through different websites of 5 tips on how to stay awake to even a wikiHow guide with pictures.

You finally stumble on a trick that you think might work, and move to venture back into the kitchen.

When you return to your seat, it’s with a cup that holds bits of crushed ice. Piece by piece, you put a small shard in your mouth and chew. Immediately, you feel more awake than when you were just drinking coffee. With this newfound energy, you continue working on your paper, stopping occasionally to plop another piece into your mouth.

crunch crunch crunch

And it is because of this spec-

crunch crunch crunch

specific factor in Kant’s-

crunch crunch crunch

theory are we able to conclude that-

crunch crunch crunch

oh my fhckign god iuwech fvoiumacxiahscmv

Seungmin stares at the keyboard smash on his screen. It’s been about fifteen minutes since you’ve realized this new hack of yours, and now every five seconds, you loudly chew another ice cube.

He doesn’t usually mind loud chewing, and it doesn’t annoy him as much as it annoys you, but ironically, the situation seems to have switched because now all he wants to do is grab another ice cube and shove it down your throat—lovingly of course, because you are the love of his life, but still-

crunch crunch crunch

Oh my god, he cannot do this anymore. Seungmin rips his laptop off of him, scrambling to get up. It’s almost 3 a.m. at this point, and he just wants to finish this stupid essay without the sound of your obnoxious chewing.

He freezes when his eyes settle on you.

Pouring another cube into your mouth from the cup, Seungmin watches as the ice has formed a permanent layer of sheen over your lips. You don’t notice him staring, which is a good thing because now he can’t seem to take his eyes off your mouth. Over time, the hue of your lips has changed into a brighter shade of red due to the coldness of the ice.

Seungmin knows you don’t have sensitive teeth, because you bite your ice cream and he always judges you for it, but the lack of feeling you have in response to the cold in your mouth has enabled you to eat ice cube after ice cube.

With your impatience, he watches as you reach for the cup and put two more pieces into your mouth, and the sight of your cheeks full and the small drips of water spilling from the corner of your lips has Seungmin shifting in his seat to fix the sudden southwards rush of his blood.

Shit.

You don’t notice the predicament you’ve unknowingly placed your boyfriend in. You’re too busy scanning over the ninth paragraph of your essay and looking for any spelling or grammar mistakes. The ice has worked wonders with keeping you awake.

You pour another ice from the cup and start chewing. From the corner of your eyes, you see Seungmin scramble off his seat and settle beside you, but you don’t think too much of it.

Which is why it comes as a surprise when you feel his hand snake around your jaw and turn your head towards him.

There are no words that can accurately describe the sudden rush of butterflies in your stomach at the sight of your boyfriend staring at your mouth with extreme concentration. The only fitting words seem to be oh fuck, but that doesn't seem romantic enough.

You’re about to ask him what he’s doing when he tilts your head the slightest bit and slants his lips against your own. There’s an overwhelming sensation of warmth that floods your mouth in contrast to the cold bits of chewed up ice. Seungmins hands snake across your jaw to angle your head, while the other one wraps around your thigh and tugs one leg over his lap.

His teeth nip against your lips, causing you to release a sudden whimper that he just swallows. Your hands smooth over his chest before finding home at the nape of his neck, tugging and pulling at the hairs. His tongue maneuvers into the crevices of your mouth, and you seem to forget the melted ice that gathered below your tongue because before you know you it, drips of water spill from the corners of your lips.

Seungmin grunts at the feeling of water dripping out of your mouth and into his, before pressing you closer, chest to chest and thighs wrapped around him. The pressure of your hips against the stiffness in his sweats makes him grip your jaw tighter.

He lets out a low moan that has your stomach twisting at the sound, and just like every other time you’ve made out with your boyfriend, you conclude that Kim Seungmin will definitely be the death of you.

When he pulls away, his eyes are dark and filled with lust. You’re guessing it mirrors your own.

“Fuck.” He groans.

Your lips are dark and bruised, and confusion of where the hell this all came from fly out the window when he grips your hips down to grind on him. The whine that you let out would embarrass you if you weren’t so preoccupied with the way your nails dig into his shoulders.

Seungmin reaches behind you to take another ice cube. The shuffle of movement allows you to breathe, which isn’t enough (it’s never enough when it comes to him) before he’s back in his original place with you straddling him, centered over his hips. He wipes his thumb over your lips with one hand, and he pulls your mouth apart to shove the ice cube in.

“Bite, baby.”

His voice is low and raspy, and it does things to your insides. You chew a few times, enough for the ice to shatter into tiny bits across your mouth. And then he’s angling your head to roughly connect your lips again.

You never do finish your essay that night.

notes♡: ahah so uhmm... yeah 👉👈 also im pretty sure chewing ice is actually bad for your health so probably ᵈᵒⁿᵗ ᵈᵒ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵃʰᵃʰ

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woozibby · 5 years ago

Text

Control | Jihoon | Part 1

a.n. originally posted on my shared blog, but moving everything here to my main blog.

// unedited

1 | Next

The static of the radio echoed throughout the room as the blinking computer lights filled your eyesight. Typing away at your computer, the exaggerated sigh left Mingyu’s lips.

“Are you even smart enough to do this?” You scoffed.

You? Smart enough to hack into the opposing mafia’s database to secretly download their mission plan for the next two months. Of fucking course, you were smart enough. You were Jeon Wonwoo’s younger sibling for god sake.

It had been a thing since you were younger that, whatever Wonwoo did, you followed. So you learnt a lot of stuff whilst growing up, but once you found out more about computers and their systems you did everything you could, to learn everything you could.

“Shut Up Mingeww and let me focus” you sniggered, you knew the use of that nickname would just piss him off more.

“I swear to god if you weren’t Wonwoo’s younger siblings I would have decked you by now” Mingyu stresses, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his foot against the floor. Rolling your eyes, you let the comment pass over your head as you knew Mingyu never would do that, especially not to someone on his own side as well.

“I have to find a backdoor in their systems, make sure if they do even notice that someone’s hacked in that it jumps to at least a 1000 different IP address very ten minutes or so, so it can’t be tracked back to us” You explained, you threw a look over your shoulder at Mingyu and raised an eyebrow. “And let me guess, you want me to try and put some sort of spyware into their system too”

Mingyu blinked for a moment, he almost looked confused- before snapping out of it and nodding his head.

“If you can do it without getting caught then sure” You let out a sigh, before linking your fingers and cracking them in front of you.

“It ain’t going to be easy, but trust me, I’m the one for the job” Mingyu clicked his tongue as he ruffled your hair.

“You really are Wonwoo’s sibling aren’t you?”

“Without a doubt my dude, without a doubt”

“Minghao will probably be by later to check up, Wonwoo is still out with DK checking things out” you hummed, waving your hand up.

That was his queue to leave. To leave you to do what you do best. Hack the shit out of the rival mafia’s database. Mingyu rolled his eyes at you but leaves quietly anyways. Shutting the door behind him, he lets out a small sigh.

“You better get this right kid”

You had spent your whole life in the mafia, yours and Wonwoo’s father was the leader of the South Side Mafia, but when an argument between your father and his right-hand man caused your father to get shot and killed, the mafia got split into two. The side that supported your father and the side that supported his right-hand man.

Wonwoo quickly took over your father’s position, growing up quickly considering he was still only 18 at the time, whereas you were 16 at the time. Wonwoo, for the most part, tried to hide you well from people outside the Mafia. It was safer for you to stay secrete than to be in harm’s way.

You understood that, if anything, staying secrete helped you with your job of hacker/computer expert.

The other side, on the other hand, got taken over by Choi Seungcheol, the too cocky for his own good son of your father’s right-hand man. Seungcheol was handsome, he knew that too well. He had an ego the size of a double-decker bus. Even though it had been three years since the initial split of the Mafia, the war- if you could even call it that- was still ongoing.

After a few hours, you managed to bypass their firewall and not long after that, you bypassed all their sensors. You raised an eyebrow to yourself as you clicked through some of the files. You bite your lip as you continued, the whole process seems too easy.

You loved an easy job, but this? This was too easy and too easy was risky.

You continued on, cautiously of course. Clicking through files and going through walls of security, you start to locate the file of their plans for the next few months.

The door opens behind you, which doesn’t surprise you and Minghao appears beside you with two large cups of coffee.

“Thought you need this” He chuckles, placing a coffee next to you and moving to the small couch of coffee table that was in the room. Humming, you send him a smile and quickly pick up the large cup and sip at it.

“Thanks, Hao” After you place it back down and go back to work. Letting out a sigh, you turn your head to Minghao and send him a look. “Hao, I think there’s something off about this”

He raises an eyebrow and pulls up a chair to sit next to you.

“What do you mean?”

“This was so easy to hack into, this was more than easy, it was easy and quick and for hacking that isn’t always a good thing,” Minghao chuckles slightly, sending you a look.

“You have a way with words don’t you” With a blank you stare at him.

“This really isn’t the time Hao” Chuckling again, he motions you to continue. “Most big organisations, have their things to the most part un-hackable, but your favourite person here isn’t just anyone, so normally things like this can take at the least a day or two to hack into, because of their firewalls and their systems, but do you know how long this took to hack into?” You asked, pointing at him. He raised an eyebrow.

“Half a day?”

“No! Three hours!” You hold up three fingers to exaggerate.

“Maybe you’re just too good at hacking” You laughed, flicking some hair over your shoulder.

“I may be good, but I’m not that good” Minghao keeps silent and I soon continue to talk. “Anyways, this is way too quick to be able to hack in a big organisation like this, especially a mafia”

“Yeah, I understand what you’re saying”

“I think something’s up, I can upgrade the amount of IP address it switches to so it never gets back to us, but I still think something’s fishy about this” Minghao nods, agreeing.

“Upgrade the amount of IP addresses, if you can get what you came for and get out of it, make sure there’s no way to trace back to us” You nod at what Minghao was staying and quickly get on it.

“I’ll get it done before you can say My I”

“Okay then, M-” You cut Minghao off with a laugh and lean back in your chair.

“Done!” Minghao looks at you with a shocked expression and you send him another blank look. “What? You think I couldn’t really do it?” Chuckling, he shakes his head.

“You amaze me every time”

“Well you amaze me too” Turning back to your computer, you finishing doing your final things and kept the machine next to your computer that changed the IP address on. Once you had successfully shut everything off, you turned back to Minghao and smiled at him. “Now where’s my brother?”

Seungcheol raised the cigarette to his lips and took a long drag. He sat with his feet up on his desk and a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. To most, this would seem unprofessional, but to the rest of the mafia, this was just your typical Tuesday lunchtime.

Seungcheol was professional when needs are, but on days like today, when he had no meetings some time to himself in the office, well he was going to do it his way.

Jihoon sat across from him, a blood stain on his collar and his gun holstered on his hip. He had unbuttoned his waistcoat once he had gotten back to Seungcheol’s office and leant his head back to look at the ceiling.

Seungcheol leant forward, offering Jihoon a drag from his cigarette with Jihoon declined. Seungcheol scoffed slightly as he chuckled.

“You can kill people, but smoking is what you say no to” Jihoon raises his head to look at him.

“Because you’re letting the stick kill you and you know I only go for the people who deserve it" Seungcheol takes a long drag again and releases it slowly.

”But my younger assassin friend, who can you tell who deserves it or not?“ This time Jihoon scoffs, sending a judging look to Seungcheol.

”Like you’re one to talk, you know I get most of my jobs from you right?“ Seungcheol waves him off as he takes another drag.

”Let’s not think about that right now and let’s just contemplate the meaning of life or something“ Jihoon raised an eyebrow.

”What drugs are in your cigarette?“ He asked, making Seungcheol laugh.

”Nothing is in there, I promise“ He hands out the cigarette ”you can even try it yourself to see" Jihoon just rolled his eyes and denied.

“Yeah, no thanks"

”Your loss“ Seungcheol mutters, leaning back in his chair.

The door swings open and Soonyoung pops his head through the gap in the door. His usual large smile covered his face and his brown hair fell to just above his eyes. Seungcheol moved his feet from off of his desk and turned to Soonyoung’s direction.

”What do you want?“ Soonyoung’s smile for bigger as he laughed.

"I hate to break the party, but you’ll never guess what our software just picked up” Seungcheol gasped, putting out his cigarette in the ashtray on his desk.

“You haven’t"

”Oh, but Boss, we have“ Soonyoung smirked.

”We caught the fly in the trap“ Seungcheol’s smile dropped and he hissed throwing a hand up in Soonyoung’s direction.

”Come on Hosh, what have I told you about using those codes“ Soonyoung sighed, looking away.

”Not to use them“

”And what do you keep doing?“ Seungcheol asks, pushing his lips into a straight line. Soonyoung just sighs as he replies.

”Using them“ Jihoon covers his mouth as he coughs, looking between the two.

”You were on about Hosh?“ Soonyoung’s eyes widen and he nods his head dramatically.

”Ah yes!! Our systems picked up something earlier and I think you’ll want to see what“ Seungcheol picked himself up out of his chair and raises his hands to the roof.

”Then let’s get going shall we?“ He turned his head to Jihoon. ”Ji, you come with"

Jihoon doesn’t bother to argue and just stands up. Running a hand through his dyed red hair, he waits for Seungcheol’s orders.

“Boys, this might be our day!” Seungcheol cries happily, slapping Jihoon on the back and they follow Soonyoung out of the room.

“Isn’t every day our day though?” Soonyoung asks confused and Seungcheol just sighs.

“That it is Hosh, that it is”

They quickly made their way to their tech room, where Soonyoung was normally centred. Soonyoung was their tech guy, their number one hacker. He could spot a bug from a mile away and decode it and send it back in less than ten minutes. Jumping into his chair and crossing his legs, Soonyoung turns himself to his computers. He started to click on some files before a large black document with a bunch of long different codes in red appears on the screen.

“What’s this?” Jihoon asks, leaning against the back of Soonyoung’s chair.

“Well this you see my assassin best friend is a map"

”A map?“ Jihoon asks, unconvinced. Soonyoung hums.

”Well you see, a few days ago I created and set up this trap, which I call the fly trap by the way, and basically what it does is it makes it seem easier to hack into our systems when in actual fact it’s all false!“ Soonyoung explained, ”from what I heard about their hacker, they should have noticed this straight away, but for some reason they didn’t, maybe they weren’t as smart as I thought they were“ Soonyoung pouted.

”Just get on with it Soonyoung“ Seungcheol panned and Soonyoung nodded his head.

”On it boss, anyways I basically set up a fake system to trick them and I set up all fake documents for them to take and tada!“ Soonyoung cries, clicking on a few buttons and the screen changes into a large map. ”We are in the process of knowing where they are“ Seungcheol clicks his finger and pats Soonyoung on the shoulder.

”God Soonyoung you’re amazing“ Soonyoung smiles, proud of himself.

”They set up so many IP addresses to bounce around, but so it might take a while to directly locate their main source of tech“

”Damn Hosh, you’ve really outdone yourself“ Jihoon compliments.

”It’s all in a day’s work of Hoshi Prince“ Seungcheol and Jihoon just stare at him.

”You know no one calls you that but you right?“ Seungcheol asks, to which Soonyoung nods his head.

”That’s what makes it even more awesome“ Seungcheol shook his head, before turning to Jihoon.

”If anything comes of this-…” Soonyoung cuts him off with a whine.

“This will work!” Seungcheol sighs, rolling his eyes before continuing to talk.

“Soonyoung here will call you with the address, I expect you to take care of this” Jihoon stays silent, just watching Seungcheol as he thinks.

“I’ll get back to you on it,” Jihoon says, waving him off and turning to walk away. After a few steps, Seungcheol calls after him.

“You know if you don’t do this I’ll just get someone else to” Jihoon sent a look over his shoulder.

“And I said I’d get back to you on it, so see you later”

“So you know what you’re doing?” Wonwoo asks, you simply reply by nodding your head and sipping an ice tea.

“I know what I’m doing brother, don’t worry about it” Wonwoo looked blankly at you. You noticed his fist tightened slightly.

“You know I worry about you and you can’t stop me from worrying” You sighed quietly, placing the ice tea down on his desk. You moved slightly so you were sitting on the edge of your seat and placed a hand on his.

“Won, I’m 19 now, I’m not a child you can trust me"

”I know I can trust you, but I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you“ You smiled as you gently squeezed his hand.

”I’m strong, I can fight off anything“ you giggle, releasing his hand and bringing up your fists in a fighting stance. ”They’re going to wish they never tried to go against me“ Wonwoo laughed, shaking his head before running a hand through his hair.

”You really are our father’s daughter“ Wonwoo chuckles, sending you a smile which you return.

”And you are our mother’s son“ Wonwoo sighs, standing up from his chair and motioning to the door.

”You should get back now and start working“ you nodded your head and stood up too.

”Okay Won“ Pulling your big brother into a hug, you both stand there for a moment before pulling away. ”I’ll get right on it“ He patted your head and smiled down at you.

”I’ll come to see you later okay,“ He says. ”I’ll have Mingyu drive you home“ You roll your eyes and huff slightly.

”Mingyu seriously? Why him?“ Suddenly the door opens and Mingyu enters the room.

”Hey! It’s not like I want to drive you back either, so shut up pip-squeak“ You make a face, sending him a look.

”It’s not like I’m short, you’re just freakishly too tall" Mingyu let’s out a whine, rolling his eyes and looking to Wonwoo.

“Why are you asking me to do this?” Wonwoo laughs, as he watches you both.

“Because you’re my best friend and their my younger sibling, who else would I want to look after them?” Mingyu rolled his eyes again, before muttering a reply.

“I’m only doing this because you said I’m your best friend” Mingyu grabbed onto your wrist before dragging you out of the room. “See you later Won"

”Bye guys“ he laughs, waving you off and going back to sit in his seat.

”Ow! Ow! Ow!“ You repeat, tugging at your wrist. ”Oh wait,“ you ask, getting Mingyu to sigh and stop, also making him let go of your wrist. ”Can we go to McDonald’s on the way back?“

”Oh my god,“ Mingyu says, it was evident in his tone he wasn’t the slightest bit impressed. Happy that your wrist had freedom again, you skip next to him with a large smile on your face.

”Well can we? Can we? Can we?“

”Maybe if you shut up“

You silently giggle to yourself and link your fingers together behind your back. You and Mingyu silently walk until you reach the main elevator and he clicks the call to buttons. For the next few moments, silence continues until the pleasant ding of the elevator arriving is heard.

The doors part and your mouth drops slightly at the sight.

A young looking man, with seemingly dyed red hair and he, had a pair of large sunglasses that covered his eyes. He had on a white button-down shirt, and black trousers with a black waistcoat to match.

You blinked as he nodded his head to Mingyu and looked at you for a single moment before walking past and heading down the hallway. Your mouth dropped more as you gaze followed him. Mingyu just rolled his eyes and grabbed onto your wrist again.

”Oh come on“ You opened and closed your mouth a few times before turning to Mingyu. He leant over and clicked the ground floor.

”Who was he?!“ You felt your cheeks blush. Mingyu shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest.

”I don’t know, probably just someone to see Wonwoo, why?“

”Because, he was the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen“ you gasp, looking at Mingyu with wide eyes. He scoffs, motioning to himself.

”Sorry, but you must be blind as I’m the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen“ You clicked your tongue and sent him a look.

”Oh hunny, I think you’re going blind“ you patted him on the shoulder. ”I think you need to go get your eyes checked“ He forcefully moved his shoulder and your hand fell.

”No, I think you’re the one who needs their eyes checked“

Wonwoo raised his head at the sound of a powerful knock at his office door. Clearing his throat, he spoke.

“Come in” The redhead pops his head through the gap in the door and cracked a smile. Closing the door behind him, he sat in the seat across from Wonwoo. “Ah, Jihoon, what are you here for?”

Jihoon didn’t say anything for a moment, he just silently undid his waistcoat and leant his head back and let out a deep sigh. Wonwoo raised an eyebrow, but knowing his friend, he didn’t think too much of it.

“So, what’s going on now?” Picking his head back up, Jihoon stared at Wonwoo letting out another sigh.

“Soonyoung’s a lot smarter than he seems” Jihoon chuckles, “He’s designed this new tech that fakes a software to make it seems like its easier to hack and with that, he can get passes the IP scrambler” Wonwoo gulped as Jihoon continued. “And you know what that means? He can get original IP addresses and could you take a wild guess at who their first target is?”

“(Y/N)” Jihoon clicks his fingers and points at Wonwoo.

“Bingo” Wonwoo sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I’m lucky they haven’t even noticed that I know you”

“Wait,” Wonwoo says, looking up at Jihoon. “Do they know it’s them, or who they are?” Jihoon shakes his head.

“Not yet, they don’t know it’s them yet and I doubt any of them remember you have a sibling” Wonwoo becomes silent, he had a thousand thoughts rushing through his head at a mile a minute.

“Why are you telling me this?” Jihoon didn’t reply instantly, he just fiddled with his fingers until he found the words.

“Because when Soonyoung finds out their location Seungcheol wants me to do whats in my job description” Jihoon explains. Wonwoo’s hands turn to fists on his desk table.

“Would you, would you do it?” Wonwoo asks, sending a look to his friend.

“You know if I don’t do it, Seungcheol will just send someone else” Jihoon responds, his voice showing all of his emotions.

“You know that doesn’t answer my question” Jihoon stays silent again, a frown covering his face which matched Wonwoo’s. “Jihoon…”

“If there’s a way to get out of it then sure, I would get out of it, but you know how thorough Seungcheol makes everything and how he checks everything, it wouldn’t be easy to get past him” Wonwoo’s face changes from a frown to a smirk.

“But it’s not impossible” Jihoon’s mouth opens slightly in shock, he blinks for a moment.

“Wonwoo, what are you planning in your head?”

“A full fi-...” Wonwoo got cut off by the sudden bang of the door slamming open and Mingyu panting as he stands there. Both suddenly both standing, they turn to him. “Mingyu, what’s going on?”

“(Y-Y/N),” He gasps for breath, “They’re hacking their computer” Wonwoo’s eyes go to Jihoon and he shrugs in response.

“That’s probably Soonyoung, once he has their address he’s meant to call me with the details” Mingyu scoffs, now with his breath back.

“See this is the problem with you and being on both sides, you’ll do whatever you’re told” Jihoon scoffs too, rolling his eyes before spitting an answer.

“I’m here to warn your fucking asses about them so shut your face” Mingyu scoffed again, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. Wonwoo hissed.

“This isn’t the time for you two to be arguing right now, we’re going to them and we are finding a way to get away with fooling Seungcheol any way we can” Wonwoo explains, picking up his gun from the drawer and putting it into the holster on his back. “And if either of you tries to argue I’m shooting you myself”

You typed at lightning speed as you did whatever you could to keep whoever was trying to hack you from hacking you. You chewed on your lip as you concentrated and didn’t try to move an inch in case you lost focus.

“Whoever you are you fucking piece of shit-…” You mumbled to yourself until you got cut off.

“Watch your language” You hadn’t noticed the door open and Wonwoo, Mingyu and Jihoon appear.

“Well if this piece of shit didn’t try and hack my computer I wouldn’t have to call them a piece of shit now would I?!” You spat. It was easy to tell you were annoyed- more than annoyed, extremely pissed off. Jihoon chuckled and you raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar chuckle. Only moving your eyes you saw the head of red hair and gasped. “Mingyu, you fucking asshole, why did you bring the hot guy, do you want me to lose focus?!”

Jihoon covered his mouth to try and cover up his laughter as Mingyu rolled his eyes and sent a glare to the back of your head.

“I’m sorry that I make you lose focus” Jihoon laughs, this time making you roll your eyes.

“Not the time hot guy” Jihoon tried not to laugh again and Wonwoo just sighed, facepalming.

“This really isn’t the time for this” Wonwoo says.

“Hate to break it to you big brother, but I pretty much just said the same thing,” you shrugged. “Just different phrasing”

“Anyways,” Wonwoo starts, “Can you stop Soonyoung from hacking you?” You ran your tongue over your teeth in annoyance as you spoke.

“So this bastard is called Soonyoung then huh” A smirk covered your face and you started typing quicker than the pace you were typing before. “You want a fucking show Soonyoung, I’ll give you one”

“Don’t do anything too stupid now” Wonwoo says, making you laugh.

“When have I ever done anything stupid?” Wonwoo raised an eyebrow and sent you a look.

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” You took in a deep breath but responded.

“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t”

The room went silent- well as silent as it could go with how fast you were typing away and you giggled to yourself as you repeatedly hit a few buttons. Mingyu sent a look to the back of your head and looked to Jihoon and Wonwoo, with both of them shrugging in responses, he spoke.

“What are you giggling at?”

“He wanted a show, so I sent him a bunch of jumpscare clips to try and slow him down” Mingyu gave you a stank glare, judging you completely.

“Couldn’t you think of something better than jumpscares?”

“Mingyu,” You started, your tone evident for him to be wary of what he said next. “Shut the fuck up before I spread your internet history online”

“Better do what they say” Jihoon laughs and Mingyu only sends him a glare.

After another few minutes of silence, you hit your keyboard, but still, continue to type.

“No! No! No!” You yell as large black box appears on your screen. You gasp, moving away from your computer. “H-He hacked in, h-how did he?” You stuttered, before trying to do whatever you could to get your computer working again. “I have no control”

You turn to the three boys and see they mirror the same expression you’re wearing. Wonwoo’s eyebrows furrowed together and he let out a sigh. Quickly turning to Jihoon, Wonwoo grabbed his arm.

“How long will it be until he calls you?” You didn’t understand what Wonwoo was going on about and just like how he had grabbed Jihoon’s arm, you grabbed his.

“What are you on about?” Wonwoo turned to you and moved his arm so you’d release it.

“Not now (Y/N)” He then turned back to Jihoon. “Well?”

“I don’t know, it could be anytime now” Your eye flicked between the two as your brain raced to try and put together the puzzle of what could be going on.

“We need to do something now” Wonwoo responds

“It’s not going to be easy, you have to know that”

“What’s going on?!” You yell sending your brother the worst look you could muster. “I swear to god if you don’t tell me right fucking now” Wonwoo went pale as he turned to you, you raised both of your eyes and let out a sigh. “Just tell me please”

“Soonyoung, who’s apart of the other side made a new software and that was to catch us- you- in a trap to be able to locate you and to try and overtake us” Wonwoo explained and it left like all the air left your lungs. “They’re planning on killing whoever is behind the screen”

“W-What?”

With that, Jihoon’s phone rang, the loud music blared through the deafening silence. Jihoon took the phone from his pocket and stared at it for a moment before nodding to Wonwoo.

Incoming call; Hoshi Answer Decline

”Who is that? Why is this happening?“ You rushed, but before you could say any more, Mingyu rushed to your side and covered your mouth with his hand. Your cried became muffled against Mingyu’s hand and Wonwoo placed his hands on your shoulders to try and calm you down.

”You need to stay silent, you need to trust me" You went silent, no matter what happened, no matter what your brother said or did you always trusted him. He turned to Jihoon and nodded. Jihoon picked up the phone and placed it next to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Woozi! Dude! I think this has been the most fun time hacking I’ve had in a while!” Jihoon sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Hosh, just get to the point already”

“Oh yeah yeah sure okay, anyways I hacked in and got the address for you, make sure to get it done by the end of the day, you know what Cheol’s like,” Soonyoung said.

“Sure, just send it here”

“Will do, talk to you later” Soonyoung cheered before clicking off the call. Making sure the call had ended, it wasn’t a second later until Jihoon’s phone beeped again and the text from Soonyoung appeared.

“By the end of the day” Jihoon looked at Wonwoo "that doesn’t give us much time“ Running a hand through his hair, Wonwoo starts to mutter to himself.

”We have to find a way,“ Wonwoo says, before repeating it. ”We have to find a way“

With Mingyu’s hand still covering your mouth, you blinked rapidly as you felt your eyes begin to well up. You hated seeing your brother so frantic, especially over you. Especially now over what might be the lead up to your death. Feeling the tears run down your cheeks and onto his hand. Mingyu turns you around and sends you a look.

”Nothing is going to happen to you, don’t worry so much pip-squeak“ Mingyu chuckles to try and brighten your mood, but you just nod.

You already knew who Jihoon was, who he is. It didn’t take long for it to click into your brain after he got the phone call, you knew he was the one they were planning on sending to kill you, but he was here, he had been all this time so sure he wasn’t going to… right?

Everything was going to work out like Mingyu had said. Everything was going to be fine. Wonwoo clicked his fingers and looked at Jihoon with a smile.

”I think I figured it out, I think I know a way this could work“ Jihoon blinks and motions for him to continue. ”Seungcheol will never realise a thing“

Jihoon waited for the elevator to ding once it reached the top floor and let out a silent breath of air as it did. Looking up to the camera in the corner of the elevator he winked, knowing Soonyoung would probably be watching.

Exiting the elevator, he swiftly makes his way to Seungcheol’s office, knowing twice before entering.

Seungcheol was sat like he usually was, his feet up on his desk and a cigarette in between his fingers.”Ah! Jihoon! My assassin friend!“ Jihoon chuckled, raising an eyebrow as he sat down in the chair across from him.

”What are you on now?“ Seungcheol smiled, taking a long drag before puffing out the smoke quickly.”Its new in from out west, it’s beautiful stuff“ Seungcheol laughed, before holding his hand out for Jihoon to take. ”Want some?“

”No thank you“ Jihoon declines, making Seungcheol roll his eyes.

”Always the same old Jihoon“ Another drag. Another puff of smoke released. Sitting up and moving his position, he stares at Jihoon for a moment. ”I notice you’ve dyed your hair again“ Jihoon nods, running his free hand through his hair.

”You know my routine,“ He says simply.

Dying his hair after every kill.

”So that means you’ve done it?“ Seungcheol asks and Jihoon responds by throwing a file onto his desk. Seungcheol chuckled, picking up the folder and flicking through it.

”That what you mean?“

”You’re simply amazing, Ji, this is why you’re the best in the business,“ Seungcheol said, picking up one of the photos and holding up as he examined it. ”Your work is honestly perfect“

”Well, I do what I know best“ Jihoon laughs. ”And this is what I know best“

”It certainly is“

Jihoon silently unbuttoned his waistcoat and leant his head back as he let out a sigh. He sat like that for some time, just thinking. It wasn’t too much time before Seungcheol coughed, making Jihoon lift his head.

”Jihoon, you can go now, I have a new business meeting to attend about the new drugs from out west“ Seungcheol explained, he sent a smirk Jihoon’s way. ”If you want any, all you gotta do is ask“Jihoon rolled his eyes, which Seungcheol accepted. He declined anyways.

”Seriously no thanks, I don’t care how good the stuff is, you know I don’t do any of it“ Seungcheol hummed, nodding his head.

”I know, I was just testing you“ Jihoon raised an eyebrow.

”Testing me? For what?“ Seungcheol shrugged, getting up from out of his seat.

”Oh Nothing, just nothing“ Getting up, Jihoon stayed silent. He seemed like he should just go by what Seungcheol was saying and take this as his queue to leave.

”Okay then, I guess I best be going…“ Jihoon starts, ”Call me if you need or want anything, you know that dude“ Seungcheol smiles

.”Same back“

Once he shut the door behind him, he walked quickly, without seeming to look suspicious to the elevators and waited for it to arrive. Entering it and clicking the ground floor, Jihoon let out a sigh.

The ground floor soon arrived and Jihoon exited the elevator and left the building, this time running to his dark car that was parked in the car park outside. Getting in and turning on the engine, he let out another sigh and clicked on the fourth-speed dial number on his car phone system.

”Jihoon?“ Your voice called out from through the speaker.

”Pack your things, I’ll be there soon"

24 notes · View notes

scurpmun · 5 years ago

Text

My Monster Hunter Story

I guess you could call it my beginnings or my journey but either way.

I started with 4U back in July of 2015. Yeah. 5 years ago. Still shocks me. I had gotten into it because two of my fav YouTubers at the time did a video together playing and I wanted to try it out. Needless to say I feel in love with it almost instantly. I started with the switch axe cause i thought it looked cool... i mean come on. It's a giant axe. I worked my way through the story. Eventually learned of the sword mode on switch axe... still never used it. And got to Gore Magala.

He was my first wall that had me stuck for awhile. He was to fast for me and I felt like I wasn't doing good damage. I said I'd never play it again... but then I found out his weakness. Thunder... I then made the leap and became a SnS main. And in one attempt took him down. I was so happy! I was then doing online hunts every once and awhile and right before High Rank I player said I need a full set of something. So I made my choice. Gore was my first full set armor. I learned his patterns, his tells, everything. I had him down to a science and continued through the online and the story.

Eventually changing armor and weapons to the dah ren ex set along with ex poise SnS and went through the rest of the story and the online before G Rank. I remember getting to Shagaru Magala. My hands shaking, heart pounding, breathing just a bit quicker then normal. I was nervous... but pumped and excited. Our stare down in the cutscene. Then walking somewhat following each other. He became my rival. And it felt like it had respect for me having made it this far. And the fight. I had the volume as loud as I could letting the music fill my resolve, my passion, and my desire to come out on top. 35 minutes in that hunt. Trading blow for blow. Conquering the frenzy over and over, running so low on healing items, and I had won. I was so happy. Finally I thought I was done... but no. There was the Ultimate side of the story. Seregios, Rusted Kushala, etc. Very fond memories but also... there was still the online. With my new found confidence i started back going through the online. Taking down Dalamadur, Ukanlos, and entering G1. This continued until I hit G2. But as some of you may know. 4U was filled with hackers making hunts and shit... and I was in a hunt. Got shit I shouldn't have so people didn't want to hunt with me anymore so in G2 I stayed.

Then Gen came out. I was so excited for a new experience and I had some friends I had tried to get into monster hunter. We had agreed we'd all get the game together and play... well it came out... and I was alone. They wanted to hack quests so they refused to buy it. So my time playing it was short... then I made some friends who played Gen and I asked if they would play with me and help me do the online... worse mistake of my life... the leader dictated my gear... my weapons, my playstyle... I grew to hate the series... i grew to hate myself as a hunter cause i "wasn't playing support as a SnS main/ wasn't a good sns main"

Then world was announced. We agreed we'd play it together and in was in world my love for it started to come back just slightly... my armor and weapons were still being dictated but then... Vaal Hazak appeared. I saw it's armor and I finally broke from his control and went after it. I then fell in love with Pukei Pukei weapons cause of the feathers so I went after pukei things... then there was a long break... then Gen Ult came... I was again the only one playing but that was fixed when my friend Alex aka Night Lily started playing with me. And it was with playing it with her that the sadness and hatred I had for gen was turned it into a love. I could enjoy myself again! I was starting to feel happy hunting the monsters of Gen and when we finally got to the Gen Ult content I was super excited! I'm now happily a G4 hunter and somewhere in the late 100s in HR.

Iceborne came out and I had a fun experience so far. Not much to say cause it's still going. But it's through this bullshittery that Scurpway exists.

But from a 17 year old newbie (still calling BS on that) to the 22 year old 3ds veteran I am today... I've changed a lot and accomplished more then I ever thought I could in MH.

I even have a friend willing to play 4u with me to finally become G4 and play Tri Ult with me too...

My true friends... the ones I play GU, World, and 4U with... they brought my love back for monster hunter... and I love them so much.

@pal1947 @eti-mun @parkzarts @the-shy-artisan @lily-the-night-flower and @liyuanne and another who doesn't have a tumblr are the ones I talk with almost on the daily about this stuff. And I want to tell you guys. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you for making me love this series again and more then ever before. You guys mean more to me then you know. Thanks

And thank you. For sitting here and reading this extremely long post. To all the hunters out there... Happy Hunting, Stay Safe, and never... EVER... let someone tell you how to play the game you love.

#scurp talks #Monster Hunter #actually writing this i started to cry #the memories that flooded back to me #the good and the bad #it felt great to share this story of what is apparently 5 years #still saying thats BS google and twitter #could swear that i was younger #but all in all #one more time #thank you

35 notes · View notes

punkscowardschampions · 4 years ago

Text

Edie & Liam

aleeunayzhun: anyone else think the ‘monster’ addition was totally unnecessary and has taken away from what was a mildly intriguing ARG concept beforehand?

aleeunayzhun: 🙄 back on the trail for a new rabbithole to fall down

level26: Yeah, axed it for me

aleeunayzhun: the paranormal route can be alright if it’s done right but usually it ain’t and then it’s a cop-out, PM definitely didn’t think where they were going with this

aleeunayzhun: the ones that rely on the real world but twist it are always scarier to me, no one ever has the balls to stick with it, to not throw in some bullshit ghost jumpscares to get the idiots with

level26: creepypasta is where it ends up with barely no exceptions

aleeunayzhun: mhmm

aleeunayzhun: and no one has shanked their mate over anything on there in time

level26: got a few I’ll volunteer if the next 🐇 is more of this or promo again

aleeunayzhun: If one more shitty band thinks throwing out some binary or morse code makes them any less shit, I’ll join you

level26: dednah tfel neve t'nia ylbaborp yeht

aleeunayzhun: imij erew yeht hsiw yeht

level26: 👅💔🍆💔🎸💔

aleeunayzhun: 💔 they reckon hot groupies hang about on reddit

level26: trolls are their groupies, they can only be fuelled by edgy r/hate 🤘

aleeunayzhun: awh, r/hate is only a degree away from r/love after-all

level26: just like that, a plotline that’d be less crap than [whatever this ARG we’re slagging off is called]

aleeunayzhun: not gonna start my annoying beg promo in here quite yet but how hard was that, really

level26: us both being spam bots is still a better twist than the monster did it

aleeunayzhun: Привет, дорогая, хочешь увидеть мои сексуальные фотки? Hажмите ссылку СЕЙЧАС! [‘Hello dear, do you want to see my sexy pictures? Click the link NOW!’ And a link to god knows what lmao]

level26: NO soundcloud rapper link?! 💀 what an r/cockblock

aleeunayzhun: how’d you guess 😏

level26: my paranormal powers kicked in, clicking that link must’ve leveled me up

aleeunayzhun: advert for communism? 🤔🤫

level26: find me and my sick beats on r/motherrussia

aleeunayzhun: MK Ultra is definitely taken by about 1000 other shit DJs

aleeunayzhun: and is the poorly executed plot of several other ARGs I’ve also given up on

level26: KM Extra is my personal fave shit DJ, really doing something

aleeunayzhun: the fact I genuinely know who that is 😷😷

level26: I noclipped into his set at [somewhere she would have heard of even if she’s not been] talk about an eldritch location

aleeunayzhun: you must’ve felt like the only player in a crowd of NPCs 🧟‍♀️🧠💀🧟‍♂

level26: close enough to the review I would’ve left

aleeunayzhun: I’ll leave it

aleeunayzhun: I know the coordinates

level26: I’ll 👀 out for it

level26: you on moscow standard time or one of the other 10?

aleeunayzhun: I’m the Russian spy, I hack you, comrade

level26: ❤️ tôi cũng cam kết với chính nghĩa cộng sản ❤️ [with some link to the Communist Party of Vietnam because we’re saying we’re as committed to communism]

aleeunayzhun: [links to the Communist Party of Ireland to be like obvs we have both worked out we’re actually from here

level26: cracked the code, like, full props to KM Extra

aleeunayzhun: Only in Dubo would that shit fly

level26: they’d eat his head off outside the pale, yeah, galway’d be having none of it

aleeunayzhun: what they got but a bunch of rocks though

level26: easy pick for the murder weapon

aleeunayzhun: you’d never get far enough in the guinness factory to drown someone in a vat 💔

level26: could do if you got a job as manager and closed for essential maintenance

aleeunayzhun: 💡

aleeunayzhun: won’t do no harm to the taste

level26: iron boost if he’s bleeding heavily when he goes in

aleeunayzhun: delicious and nutritious

level26: ARG coming soon from guinness

aleeunayzhun: bastards better give credit

level26: they can have it, we’re not short of ideas

aleeunayzhun: and you ain’t heard nothing yet

aleeunayzhun: not making it that easy for the wannabe PMs with none of their own

aleeunayzhun: 🔐the real ones

level26: fair play, given enough freebies out in this thread

aleeunayzhun: 🤐

aleeunayzhun: [later on though definitely some way to contact her privately but in a way that you’ve got to work it out of course]

level26: [at least then we can switch to y’all’s names ‘cause I can’t think of a username for the life of me lol]

Edie: [You can add it later and change it, it’s fine lol]

Liam: 🔓

Edie: 1 🔑 for 1 💎

Edie: Suitably impressed

Liam: if I knew anywhere that loaded a 💎 into the gun I’d be off but what’s impressive about a swollen and green ear

Edie: Impressive, no; but good footage for the game? Absolutely

Liam: I’d do it here to have time to mess about with all the lighting and angles

Edie: you’re 🎥

Edie: not enough have actual artistic merit so fair play

Liam: but thinking about it, recording the conveyor belt of a trainee stabbing holes in screaming babies ears all day could have some merit to it, maybe I should get myself up

Edie: you can buy anything and everything from bezos

Edie: live your dreams

Liam: putting my dreams on tape would be worse than the monster reveal

Liam: cheapest jumpscares and effects

Edie: not to mention outing yourself to the whole thread, not just me

Liam: how many teachers would crawl out the woodwork if there was a mass reveal

Edie: to offer you the school’s stellar mental health services

Edie: the one nurse phoning it in

Liam: find my dad lurking on the thread too, that’d be a trip

Edie: unexpectedly wholesome

Edie: I’ll start hiding caches where my dad hides his stashes

Edie: unintentional rhyme

Liam: bars 🎼

Edie: @ KM Extra

Liam: Fachtna to his ma who thinks he’s a saint

Edie: Oof

Edie: ARG concept no. ? the horror of the Irish language

Liam: my ma would be 😱 if I went and hugged her for not doing me that wrong

Edie: not the audience we aim to 😱 really

Liam: too easy

Edie: almost as easy as your name to spell and say

Edie: you even from here 👽

Liam: wouldn’t take enough working out to set you as a test, records are basically lying about

Edie: nothing relating to school is a challenge

Liam: just getting that nurse to give a shit

Edie: if she reckons she’s 👀 it all…

Liam: front row of our intended audience

Edie: splash zone

Liam: she’s never off her phone, spy like you won’t have no problem hacking it

Edie: her nudes = actual monstrosity

Liam: dunno what Mr Doyle sees in her

Edie: yeah, he’s such a looker himself, like

Liam: his wife used to be pretty fit

Edie: don’t matter when she explains how and why people cheat

Edie: psychobabble gets ‘em off every time

Liam: if they taught psychology nobody’d be off each other or learning anything then

Edie: sounds like any other standard schoolday

Liam: that's what they’re getting up to in your class, is it

Edie: as cliche as the monster, yeah

Liam: 🔥🏫

Edie: hear hear

Edie: got to make the endless fire drills worth it one day

Liam: can’t miss me standing in line or not

Edie: then I won’t

Liam: next false alarm I pull

Edie: + 💎

Liam: + 👀

Liam: dont have to hate every cliche

Edie: not the good ones

Edie: all about how you use or misuse them

Liam: can you overuse eye contact

Edie: I can

Liam: I can make a kubrick stare work however many takes you wanna do

Edie: you don’t think I’m a one-take 🌟

Liam: I’ve not shot you

Edie: 🤯🔫

Liam: I’m not a one-take 📷📹

Edie: is that a brag for not suffering from premature ejaculation?

Liam: do you need that reassurance

Edie: I don’t know

Liam: I’ll think about other unsexy shit if your eyes start getting to me too much

Edie: Ha, yeah right

Edie: just don’t think about the 🔥

Liam: 🚒 buzzkill

Edie: 🚓 cockblock

Liam: 🚑 scene stealers

Edie: 🛸 out of here

Liam: before you can get stuck there as a 👻

Edie: Purgatory is preferable to that place forever

Liam: stay alive and it’s simple to get out of 🏫

Edie: I’ll leave my bag behind

Edie: 1st rule and only, really

Liam: don’t really need a pile of textbooks

Edie: I doubt that’s what you carry

Edie: I know I don’t

Liam: I can get more of what I do and I bet you could too

Edie: Bars

Liam: 😏

Edie: You’ve promo’d him a lot if you ain’t him

Edie: KM, like

Edie: bit sus

Liam: you said you know who he is, you know I ain’t

Liam: maybe I love him or some gay shit

Edie: none of his tracks sound like love songs

Liam: guess he don’t love me back

Edie: Oh honey

Edie: lock him in when you set the fire

Liam: he can keep spitting out those fuck yous til the end

Edie: dedication ✊

Liam: and +++ for morale

Edie: what a lad

Liam: love triangle is a cliche too far, take a deep breath or something

Edie: bit possessive

Liam: directors are dicks

Edie: and the heartbroken

Liam: yeah, couldn’t be kind to you if I wanted

Edie: I’ll survive

Edie: you’ve given me the heads up, I’ll give you the 👀

Liam: respect killing me with your 👀 and taking him for yourself

Edie: who could blame me

Liam: my ma as I’m dead, like

Edie: true

Edie: i’ll avoid her at the tescos

Liam: 🛒 dash

Edie: got a selection of my own

Edie: [picture because the random crap you would have in the barns lmao]

Liam: [a picture of one he stole at some point that’s on fire or been blown up or whatever]

Edie: 👏

Edie: what else can we 💥

Liam: got any barns you don’t use

Liam: or 🚜 stuff

Edie: loads

Edie: if you’re lucky, I’ll leave another 🔑

Liam: got another ear to put a 💎 in, luck’s gonna run out beyond it

Edie: sounds like some gay shit, you should

Liam: 👌

Liam: [pics when we’ve done this because of course we have, casually raiding either your mother or sister’s jewellery stashes here like]

Edie: Oh

Edie: actually looks kinda sick

Edie: you’re welcome then

Liam: I’ll send the footage when I’ve edited it

Edie: I look forward to it

Edie: I can’t give you any clues

Liam: what makes you think I need em

Edie: [idk how to differentiate but clearly the clue to where you live needs to be much harder to find and then decode lmao]

Liam: [awkward when he blatantly already knows where you live]

Edie: [do not even need to do the work, whoops]

Liam: [convincingly pretend you are though please]

Edie: [thank god he’s not a murderer even if he is a stalker, just giving out this info willynilly]

Liam: [not your stalker, it’s FINE]

Edie: [oh dear oh dear]

Edie: I’ll know when you work it out

Liam: yeah, I’ll show up 📷📹🌾

Liam: or send a 📦💣 if you wanna take things slow

Edie: you decide

Edie: I’ll shake all the packages extra hard

Liam: cancel the real 🐇 I thought about

Edie: animal cruelty is lamer than bed wetting

Liam: never even tipped a 🐄

Edie: they’ll appreciate it

Edie: anyway, if you did, punishment is letting them kick you in the face so you lose in the end

Liam: head injury’s a win if I get caught for the 🔥🏫 or being seen staring in your window

Edie: 😍🤤 just serial killer things

Liam: pretend I didn’t say KM’s gonna be my 1st victim

Edie: I’ll never feel special otherwise

Liam: you don’t feel special knowing I cracked your code

Edie: if anything, it makes you look smart and me not smart enough

Liam: you’re smart enough that I wanted to

Edie: I’m not going to ruin it with a cliche jumpscare now

Liam: me either, you’re smart enough too to see me coming

Edie: and you’re tall, so I hear

Liam: dunno where from, my dad’s not

Edie: he’s definitely your dad?

Edie: I may as well accuse your ma because I’m already avoiding her for the whole killing you thing

Liam: don't act like it which probably means he is

Edie: ha, real talk

Edie: I think you might be taller than mine

Edie: he’s 6’2

Liam: ha, I am

Edie: you’re the tallest person in school, possibly town

Edie: definite 👽

Liam: taking their time parking the ufo and picking me up, typical dad

Edie: did they forget ET or leave him here on purpose

Edie: he was fucking annoying

Liam: if I looked that much like a ballsack I’d understand

Edie: 😂

Edie: least you’d get to get fucked up with baby Drew Barrymore

Liam: baileys on cereal does taste sick, always down for that

Edie: yum

Edie: what do your fingers look like

Liam: [a video of his hands from lots of angles like hello]

Edie: hot

Edie: you can call me Elliot

Liam: or just call you instead of home

Edie: 😎 so smooth

Liam: what’s my ma gonna say, get back, talking to you is smarter

Edie: I’ve got time to set up the voice distorter so you’re not disappointed by the lack of crEEEEeeeEPpPPpyyyyYy vibes

Liam: and I’ll have loads of time to hear how you sound without it when I stake your house out

Edie: I’ll be sure to be loud

Edie: and not chat total inane shit with my family

Liam: you got your own room

Edie: technically not

Edie: but there are other rooms and places to crash in, when I wanna be alone

Liam: there’s my excuse to zoom in creeEEPpILY close 👀 when you’re not

Edie: very awkward and even ruder if you confused me for my sister

Edie: no one’s done that for ages

Liam: how were they ever doing it

Edie: we’re both the white ones, they just didn’t know which was which

Liam: can’t be a hard code to crack, not gonna be confusing you for anyone

Edie: good

Edie: it was pretty annoying

Edie: and I’m already your second victim as it is

Liam: partner in crime, or groupie to mine if you’re not getting actively involved, but still standing at the end

Edie: hope you’re writing some of these down

Edie: ‘cos I’m not gonna be your groupie

Edie: got my own scores to settle, own havoc to wreak

Liam: don’t need to write down I don’t want you to die, I’ll remember

Edie: it rhymed though

Edie: I’ll steal your lines then

Liam: write as many songs about me as you want, be your groupie til I get 🛸✌️

Edie: [send your music links because you ain’t]

Edie: give me a sec to do yours but pretend any of these are about you

Liam: this is you

Liam: serious

Edie: yeah

Edie: if I was gonna lie I’d have done that a few steps ago

Liam: I’m gonna lie they’re all about me

Edie: that’s what serious meant

Liam: it meant I’m impressed and you’re downplaying how smart you are

Edie: you can be my hypeman and overplay it

Liam: [does by uploading this edited ear piercing escapade with whatever song of hers we like and fits the vibe playing in it, giving her credit because we’re not a heathen and also putting on his stories that he’s listening to these tracks and hyping them how you can]

Edie: [so 😍 over this but trying to be chill somehow and somewhat even though we’re extra af anyway]

Edie: maybe I do wanna be your groupie

Edie: what do you want from me

Edie: like, I owe you and I want to give you something too, ‘cos

Edie: talking to you IS interesting

Edie: and not just because I could be talking to my ma or someone else really boring instead just ‘cos you are

Liam: [for real though her views would definitely go up cos the vibe is he knows loads of people through his sister but also through his weird vids and the raves and stuff he goes to now too so]

Liam: all I want’s to keep talking to you, for as long as you’re into it

Liam: people don’t unless we’re off our faces, like

Edie: my notifications are popping off rn

Edie: I know what you mean though, everyone’s too scared to say or do anything when they don’t have something to blame it on, like being stupid or weird or whatever the fuck actually matters

Edie: more than being bored and alone

Liam: dunno what they’re more scared of, what they wanna ask or how I’m gonna answer, least I know what the topic’ll be

Liam: every convo I have is a loop

Edie: all anyone ever cares about and knows is the headlines

Edie: as if there aren’t countless hours minutes seconds before and after the big events they all 👀 and 👂

Liam: work out sweet for you as a headliner

Edie: Getting them to talk about what I’m doing instead of whatever my parents and the rest of the fucking fam did or do is the goal

Liam: with me hyping you up, no bother, keep knocking out hits and I’ll promo em with no trace of binary or morse code

Edie: and you make films

Edie: I wasn’t sure if you were pissing about at first

Edie: every other person in that thread is an aspiring filmmaker so

Liam: did put me off for a while

Edie: Yours aren’t going to be bad Blair Witch ripoffs though

Edie: I can say that much without seeing

Edie: even the stuff you’ve sent today is dope

Liam: do you wanna see

Edie: yes

Liam: [link her cos I doubt all the weird shit is just there chilling on your insta or whatever]

Edie: [just casually watching all of this nbd]

Liam: siht ekil kool annog weiver ruoy

Liam: или, может быть, это

Edie: hoặc tôi có thể làm như thế này [‘or I could do it like this’]

Edie: si ffuts ruoy kniht i looc woh edih annaw tnod i tub

Liam: ba mhó an spraoi é a cheilt agus a lorg go pearsanta [hide and seek would be more fun in person]

Edie: If you’ve worked out where I live like you say

Edie: be fair and count to 100

Liam: you reckon you made it that easy do you

Liam: be cool if you added some 00s to that and gave me a fair chance

Edie: no, you could still be anyone

Liam: someone to be scared of, yeah I probably am

Edie: Do you want me to be scared of you

Liam: nah

Edie: Good because I’m not and I never promised I was a 🌟 so

Liam: 🤩 with or without promises

Edie: How have I never spoke to you before

Edie: so weird

Liam: I wouldn’t have known what to say to a girl like you

Edie: You seem like you’re coping fine to me

Liam: from behind a keyboard I can cope with anything

Edie: You’re not afraid of me either

Liam: not yet

Edie: What do you think I’m like?

Liam: smart, creative, nice to talk to and look at

Edie: then you’ve got nothing to be afraid of

Liam: I’ve got nothing, that’s bang on

Edie: I’m not trying to take anything from you

Edie: but I could throw those compliments back to you x 10000

Liam: you don’t like possessive, I ain’t gonna tell you what to do

Edie: I didn’t say that

Edie: you could claim better than a soundcloud DJ though

Liam: been waiting to hear that compliment specifically

Edie: 😏

Edie: You look like you’d be a fuckboy

Edie: that’s what I thought

Edie: you’re that good-looking

Liam: if I was the game’d be making you think I wasn’t, which is kinda where we are

Edie: True

Edie: so I’m that dumb or you’re that good, what are we going for?

Liam: you’re smart enough to play dumb, I don’t think I can aim for god tier puppet mastery of anyone’s emotions

Edie: I can see the appeal of that

Edie: closing you eyes to thing you don’t wanna see, to see the things you do

Edie: but mine are wide open

Liam: I ain’t mad, there’d be no appeal to yours being closed, unless you drop bars in your sleep too

Edie: you’re gonna find which window is mine and find out, yeah

Liam: wake you up before you name drop KM as it’s MY thing

Edie: that’s your man, I can respect it

Liam: exclusivity is a + for you then, I’m taking notes

Edie: I don’t really know

Edie: everyone’s lame

Liam: I’ve been there, yeah

Edie: I can’t fake enthusiasm for the sake of it

Liam: it’s a shite idea, doable or not

Edie: I don’t intend to

Edie: 🤞

Liam: can’t think why you’d have to

Edie: I won’t make you promise

Liam: what’ll you make me do

Edie: I want you to show

Edie: and be real and not just go ghost after this

Edie: but I don’t know if you will and I know you might

Liam: be a short afterlife, we don’t get american summers

Edie: we both got the capabilities, but I can promise not to stalk you if you like

Edie: if you want to stick to usernames and anonymity

Liam: not working out where you are to prove I can and a face in the window haunting wouldn’t even impress any dads lurking on the thread

Edie: Alright but I’d be more inclined to keep a secret if you asked opposed to all the dads

Liam: I wouldn’t wanna keep anything we do secret

Edie: Yeah?

Liam: if this is a scam I’m falling for everyone’ll see why and if it’s not I’m gonna document everything

Edie: I won’t ask for your credit card details even once

Edie: This is… different

Edie: isn’t it

Liam: you can have my ma’s, you’re avoiding her and the big tescos

Liam: I don’t know what this is, I wasn’t expecting you at the end of any of those links

Edie: It IS the least she could do

Edie: If I had a guess, you weren’t it

Edie: Even though you mentioned Dubo, it isn’t that small of a town

Liam: ha, how livid you’d be if I was another american coming here for the culture

Edie: not close enough to st patrick’s that I was worried

Liam: how did you feel

Edie: I thought no way it was you at first

Edie: and then I couldn’t believe it was you

Edie: and then that I should’ve known you sooner

Edie: what about you?

Liam: I still can’t believe it’s you, I would’ve tried to chat to you sooner if I knew this is how it’d go

Edie: I’m glad we are now

Edie: and I’ve not fucked it up

Liam: if the small world’s not fucked it up, you won’t

Edie: like you said, be shit if you were in America

Liam: be crap if you were anyone else from school, like you said

Edie: If it was anyone else from school

Edie: this convo would be well over by now

Liam: it’s the longest I’ve had for years

Edie: It’s all so surface level, right

Edie: fuck that

Edie: I wanna know more about you, I don’t care if I shouldn’t just say that

Liam: what do you wanna know

Edie: Hmm

Edie: Do I only get the one question?

Edie: Because I’ll think more carefully if so

Liam: nah, there’s no limit on it

Edie: Cool

Edie: so how was your day, and what were you doing just before you went on the forum?

Liam: [send her a video of some rave or whatever you were at because it’s summer bitches]

Liam: + 3-4 hours sleeping

Edie: Lucky

Edie: where’d you sleep and where’s the weirdest place you’ve got + 3-4 hours sleep before?

Liam: [send her some of the blooper-esque stuff you cut out to make it look more fun than it is, cos we know you’re usually bored]

Liam: home, I can’t 💤 in random xD places but I could call your dad short and maybe have him in a fight

Edie: that’s hot

Edie: he could’ve been there and you coulda tested that theory

Edie: but I wanna be there when you do

Liam: you’d have a shite view from the stage with lights blinding you, can’t let on how talented you are while we’re there

Edie: 😶

Edie: he’s not old so it’s not on a par with animal abuse lameness

Liam: and if I get carried away you can stop me

Edie: can I

Edie: + skill points

Liam: 🎶 works on monsters

Edie: have to find a way to get you home before the 💤 hits

Edie: so cute 🥺

Liam: mine or yours

Edie: 😳

Edie: I’ll protect you while you sleep, see if you can at mine

Liam: I can’t if you’re 👀

Edie: that might be a problem

Liam: how long can you not blink for

Edie: [send a vid of an attempt]

Liam: can I keep this

Edie: ‘course

Edie: use it if you can

Liam: when you write a song about me it’ll need a vid

Edie: I’ve started

Edie: I think by the time you find me, it’ll be done

Liam: people who don’t know you are gonna think I edited your eyes that colour

Edie: hashtag they’re real 😏

Liam: the girl who said she had an operation as a kid’s the real you

Edie: 😂

Edie: they were going rouge and I’ve repressed those memories

Liam: what were you doing before you logged on

Edie: not at a rave, sadly

Edie: I was masterminding a sabotage though, trying to anyway

Liam: don’t leave it there giving me no details

Edie: it isn’t even bad ARG plot worthy

Edie: but my sister has her gross boyfriend over and I need to ruin their fun, obviously, because they are unbearable

Edie: easiest way to do that is make them babysit the twins because there’s nothing fun about 9 year olds

Edie: so I convinced ma to go out on a date, but I still need to get my brother out the way and he’s a massive nerd who never goes anywhere so I’m stumped

Liam: we could have fun with it, gotta be a route to go down that’s not just ripping off the shining again

Liam: a nerd how, he’s on mastermind and his subject is _

Edie: 🪓 is just a prop, honest

Edie: bones, not in a cool way

Edie: History, all that old shit

Liam: [obviously find some kind of obscure af exhibit or book signing or something that he’d potentially be interested in and send her the deets because sleuthing is what you do boy]

Edie: OMG but genuinely

Edie: you are too good at this, I’ll have to keep you around

Liam: stashed with the 🪓

Edie: if you fit

Edie: He’ll actually go to this, for sure

Edie: 🐓🚫

Liam: keep what you figure’s useful and chop off the rest 🧩🧟

Edie: 😋

Edie: what an offer

Edie: and I do need to keep busy so I can’t be asked to step in

Edie: not that I’d say yes

Liam: busy like with a 🧭

Edie: go on

Liam: [god knows what scavenger hunt he’s sending you on gal that he apparently just has ready at the drop of a hat but here we are]

Edie: [live your best nerd lives]

Liam: [really hope these clues aren’t something he was gonna torment your sister with, because no thank you]

Edie: [lmao i hope it wouldn’t translate so easy ‘cos imagine]

Liam: [it definitely wouldn’t but a hardcore blag happening here regardless, I like to think you were actually coming up with this for her while you were pretending to work out her address that you already know]

Edie: [that’s a solid shout ‘cos yeah that is a thing lol]

Edie: [definitely sending you the demo of this song at the end as a prize because we’re beyond 😍 now]

Liam: [likewise even though he’s trying to downplay how 😍 he is to himself rn because it’s so weird that she’s Rio’s sister and that he actually also likes her in her own right so we’re fully !?]

Liam: [nevertheless trying to think of something creepy but cool he could send to her house so she knows he knows where it is and that we think this demo is amazing obviously, maybe it’s lots of other people’s shit musical endeavours like KM that we’ve set on fire and otherwise destroyed in creative ways like you’ve slayed the competition gal since cds and tapes are back baby idk]

Edie: [I wonder if I can find something like that to post hmm to pinterest I go]

Liam: [love the visual of you just sneakily dropping off a massive box of melted plastic without anyone seeing you]

Edie: [you’re clearly good lmao, I was thinking we could do a convo with Billie between this and the next one though]

Liam: [good idea boo, I’m up for that]

1 note · View note

justanalto · 4 years ago

Note

SAUCE JAIL FOR 1000 YEARS

oooh, another wheel spin!!!! if i pull milippa again i may cry tho

OH HELL YEAH TIME TO SWITCH GEARS (tw for biphobia, we rly do not appreciate the extended may family in this)

“Oh no,” Piper said almost immediately when she saw the tired look on Melinda’s face. “Already? It’s that time of year again? I swore it just happened!” She squinted across the crowded dining room. “Why do they want to come visit the Dragon every year, anyways?”

Melinda sighed, nimble fingers already flipping open her checkbook and scribbling out a well-practiced set of numbers. “Because apparently, the Dragon is the most successful out of all of the restaurants our family ended up owning.” She slid Piper the check, the other woman pocketing it without so much as even blinking. “Do me a favor and actually go on a vacation this time, yeah?”

Piper rolled her eyes; she hadn’t taken up Melinda’s suggestion of a vacation since their little tradition had begun. “Is she going to be okay this year?” Both of their gazes drifted over to Skye, who was serving tables with her usual cheery aplomb. “Does she know?”

Another sigh. “Honestly, I’m surprised the rest of them managed to keep it in so long. Lord knows Anna was insufferable in ‘15.” Piper barely held back a wince -- perhaps a May family reunion on the heels of a momentous Supreme Court decision hadn’t been the best idea, but her aunt Lucille had all but insisted on coming at the end of June.

(Melinda had never truly understood the implication that Pride truly was a monthlong event until she’d had to pick up the entire Wu family from a holding cell in the 1st Precinct for heckling a pair of drag queens on the subway.)

“I think we should tell her,” Piper murmured, still watching Skye. “Just so -- just so that she’s prepared.” She turned to Melinda then, her expression grim. “I’ve done the whole passive-aggressive homophobia in family settings, and trust me, it’s not fun.”

It’ll be less fun for Skye when she finds out her favorite relative is the biggest homophobe of them all. “Bobbi, Skye.” Both May daughters gravitated towards the back bar almost immediately upon being summoned, identical looks of confusion on their faces. It would’ve been cute if they’d been nine. Or if Melinda wasn’t about to shatter her daughters’ perceptions of their entire extended family. Love really was blind sometimes, unfortunately. “I need to talk to you about the reunion.”

Skye, much to Melinda’s chagrin, perked up almost immediately. “That’s coming up already?“ she asked, eyes alight. “I haven’t seen great-aunt Teddy in months!”

“That’s...actually what I want to talk to you about, honey.” Had they not been in the middle of a lunch rush, Melinda would’ve at least taken Skye aside to deliver the news. Her daughter deserved that much. But, as they were all learning, what you wanted wasn’t always what you got. Sighing, Melinda reached for Skye’s elbows, holding them gently. “You know...you know your great-aunt Teddy leans pretty conservatively, right?”

“I...” Watching the light go out of Skye’s eyes crumpled Melinda’s heart in four and shoved it into a tin box. “How many of...is she...” Skye’s jaw muscles jumped back and forth for a long period of silence; Melinda could only guess what numbers her daughter was working out in her head. “Are all of them --?”

Melinda could only nod, and she watched Skye’s eyes close in absolute defeat. Woe had it been anyone else -- Skye had adored Melinda’s aunt Teddy since they’d first met, one chatterbox to another immediately hitting it off and becoming inseparable ever since. Teddy had been the one to show up to every single one of Skye’s performances, be they recitals or makeshift art shows, woven her way so tightly into the young woman’s life Melinda doubted Skye could ever separate such a thread from the richly woven tapestry that was her upbringing.

Except now there was a new thread, one so intricate and crucial to the landscape that made up Skye May, and it was blue-pink-purple and tied around Jade Wong (even if she didn’t know that part yet, it was practically inevitable) and delicate to every pair of scissors that tried to cut it out of her.

Given the chance, Melinda knew not only would Teddy Liu snip the newly-woven thread just revealed in Skye’s life, she would hack away at it with drippingly-poisonous insincerity and mind games until it finally broke. And hell if she would let that happen on her watch.

In her arms, Skye let out a gargantuan sigh, nestling so that she was better aligned with the crook of Melinda’s arms. “Who am I supposed to tell now?” she asked shakily, and the trepidation behind it was definitely not a conversation meant for a dining room during the dinner rush. “Who’ll -- what if I --”

Who’ll be my extended branches? Who will be left to stand by me? Would all of their admiration turn to disgust? Would I be a betrayal to their years of emotional investment? All these years they’ve been my bleachers, and I take a bat and smash their investment to smithereens. These are people I’ve known all my life, and they’re about to be gone, about to sneer and shun me for who I am, for who I --

If I married a woman, would anyone even be there?

skye you’re wonderful and i love you and i’m sorry the extended may clan sucks ass

#re and kat cause tumblr chaos #may's golden dragon #aleksandrachaev #ask things

3 notes · View notes

takonei · 5 years ago

Text

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 5, daily life (Part 2)

Note of the author: Exams are a bitch but I’m bitcher

Also, please expect the AU to get a new chapter every two weeks from now on.

Chapter 5: An oath to one’s lost humanity - Daily life

...

"What am I, really?"

...

"My mind feels like it's going to shatter into pieces."

...

"It hurts."

...

Day 18 since the beginning of the game.

6:30 AM.

Shuichi woke up to the sound of his alarm. He had put it on so he would be ready by 7:00 AM- the time everyone chose to reunite and finally go through the tunnels.

With newfound energy, he made his daily routine.

He had packed a few things he wanted to take with him in bags they had found at the warehouse.

Tsumugi and Kiyo's notebooks, some of the items the others gave to him as a souvenir, but he preferred not to pack too much stuff as he would have to take both Ryoma's weapons and a part of the foods and drinks for outside.

Once ready, he pushed the door of his room. Kirumi and Miu were already there. There were a few packages at their feet.

"Good morning, Shuichi! Ready to go?" the street artist called.

"Good morning!" he approached them. "What are those for?" he asked, pointing the objects.

Kirumi handed him one. "Those are the food packs with a bottle of water. Make sure to take one."

He opened his bag and did as told.

Shuichi had just noticed that Miu didn't put on her leather jacket, and Kirumi had put her whole uniform back on.

"Oh... Did you two decide to switch back to the usual uniform?"

Miu shrugged. "I kept the jacket in my bag. If we go through the tunnels that ain't going to be the most practical thing to wear."

"As for me, this is a similar situation. Besides, I asked Rantaro to reinforce the bandages, and this is also in case we have to brave the cold outside."

It's true that they had no idea what was waiting for them. Sure, if nature managed to grow trees inside the academy, then outside shouldn't be that bad.

But if they were in the middle of nowhere and had to walk days to find even one person alive, then surely they would need enough clothing.

However...

He kept thinking back at what they learned from the flashback lights. The meteorites. The ultimate hunt. The funerals. The people claiming mankind deserved damnation.

The academy is the only place they know is safe from potential dangers. But considering the current situation, to get out was better than to kill each other for a time limit.

For now, they had to focus on their main objective.

To get out of here.

The others were ready, but...

"Where are Rantaro and Ryoma?"

The two soldiers hadn't shown up yet.

Kirumi had her monopad out. "They are both in Ryoma's lab. I'm supposing they're doing the final touches to the equipment."

The monopads...

"Shouldn't we leave the monopads here? Monokuma can track us if we keep them..." Kokichi noted.

Good point.

"The rules say the monopads mustn't be damaged. They don't say anything about being left here." Kirumi explained.

What was the point of following the rules anymore? Were they even going to be chased by the exisals?

Only Monodam and Monokuma could control them, but if they were outside the academy, could they really do something to them?

Perhaps with Ryoma's weapons, they could work things out.

Shuichi found strange the fact that Monokuma didn't try to stop them, though.

Maybe it was because they hadn't broken a rule yet. But they would break the first rule once they step outside the academy.

... He really hoped Ryoma was indeed living up to his talent.

They took care of the last details and before they knew it, Rantaro opened the door, everyone suddenly turning to him.

He looked even more tired than yesterday, somehow. Had he even slept?

"... The weapons are waiting in Ryoma's lab. We can't bring them all at once here."

The group went to the fifth floor. Shuichi had this uncomfortable feeling in his chest, like he knew things would go wrong, but he repressed it. This was their only chance, and they had no choice but to do it.

Ryoma was waiting in front of the lab. There were several machines that looked like guns, and two heavy weapons behind.

"Is everyone here?" he asked.

"Yup. No one's missing."

"Good." he took the smaller guns and gave one to each. They were black and dark blue with a symbol resembling the one on Ryoma's beanie on them. They were lighter than Shuichi expected. "Let me explain how these guns work."

"They aren't normal guns. I guess you could call them hacking guns. You put the ammo in, you aim for a machine and it's done for. That's what we're going to use for the traps."

He distributed several sets of tiny blue bullets.

"Let me give you a demonstration."

He took his gun, opened a small chamber on the side, inserted a bullet, and closed it. He aimed at one of the Monokuma statues near the stairs that were usually moving somehow and pulled the trigger.

The wings of the bear replica started vibrating, then completely froze. The statue wobbled and fell onto the floor with a loud crash.

"Woah..."

He put the gun back in his bag. "I'll give you enough ammo for you guys to be safe, but don't use them too much. We have limited resources."

Ryoma gave them about ten bullets each. "Each bullet gives you 50 shots. There's an indicator on the gun showing how many are left. You can only insert one bullet at a time."

"As for the heavy weapons, they will be for Rantaro and I, so you don't have to worry about them."

The mercenary raised an eyebrow. "What are these for?"

He took one of them and put the strap around him. "Heavier weapons for heavier targets. You should know what I mean."

... The exisals.

Those weapons looked dangerous. Surely they would be enough to resist Monokuma's mechas. Especially if there were only two of them.

Rantaro took the second one without a complaint.

These looked really heavy though. Was their training enough to help them carry such bulky weaponry?

It looked like it, and that was a terrifying thought.

Kaito looked at Ryoma. "You managed to do all of these in one night?"

He shrugged. "That's kind of my talent. Besides, I only had to do the hacking guns from scratch. The heavy weaponry had already built-in pieces in the boxes."

Did he even sleep? That still must have taken a huge amount of time.

"Is everyone ready?" Rantaro asked, putting his backpack on.

The violinist observed his gun for a moment.

"... Yes."

They all made their way to the death road of despair.

It was tough for the two soldiers to fit their giant weaponry into the manhole, but that was not a huge problem in the end.

"This is it..." Miu muttered. "We're leaving."

"No regrets. The others wanted this for us. We cannot fail." Rantaro took a step forward, facing the tunnel. "We got an opportunity to escape and we cannot afford to miss it."

He turned to them. "I understand the doubt, but if we all want to survive, that's what we have to do."

"So no going back. Got it?"

Shuichi nodded.

He still had doubts about everything. About the outside world. About Monokuma. And...

Was there really a traitor among them? If so, they hadn't even tried to stop them- they let them do whatever they wanted.

Surely, they would have a way to stop them, right?

Unless...

Would it put their identity in danger? If they even tried to suggest this was a bad idea, they would be suspicious in the eyes of everyone.

... Or it was because they knew they couldn't escape?

So many questions ran through his head, but for now, he had to follow Rantaro and the rest of them.

They entered the tunnels, Shuichi firmly gripping his hacking gun. He checked the indicator. 50 shots left to use wisely.

He was ready.

He could hear their footsteps echoing through the dark tunnels as they walked in silence.

Shuichi heard a strange noise from behind him, and not even a second later, Kirumi turned around and shot the origin of it.

The bomb that was flying towards them fell to the ground, surprisingly not exploding.

"These guns work wonders!" Kaito exclaimed.

"Kirumi, I thought you didn't use guns for your missions... I didn't think you would have such a precise aim." Shuichi turned to the mercenary.

"Because I don't use them doesn't mean I don't know how to. They simply are not my first choice of weapons."

"Please try not to rely on one person too much, we're going to waste time unnecessarily if we have to give ammo to her over and over again." Ryoma advised.

"Got it!"

The walk through the tunnels was surprisingly easy thanks to their new weapons. Whenever a trap activated, they shot a bullet at it and it was done for. It almost felt like a video game.

Sometimes several of them had to shoot at once because of the number of traps, but what was an impossible challenge for them two weeks ago was now more than doable.

It felt good to have a sense of control. To be superior to the robotic bear forcing them to do all this.

... Could they even use the hacking guns on Monokuma? Of course, that would be against the rules but... Once outside and thus breaking one of the rules, they could deactivate him, right?

Or even if the plan doesn't work for some reason, they could still try to defeat Monokuma and end the game.

Even if the supposed mastermind made more copies of him, they still had plenty of ammo and weaponry to deal with an army of them.

But for now, he had to focus on what was ahead.

Some of the traps, unfortunately, couldn't be deactivated, so sometimes they still had to run as fast as they could.

None of them ended up getting injured though.

After what felt like an eternity of running and trap deactivation, they stopped in their tracks. He looked up to see...

... The door. The end of the tunnel, right in front of them.

"We... We made it..."

"Is that the exit?" Miu approached the thing.

"There's a shutter, though..." Kokichi noted.

Perhaps they could disable it with the guns.

Shuichi couldn't help but smile. "We did it... We can finally get out..."

"Are we sure this is the outside world, though?" Kaito asked.

Ryoma approached the panel in front of the door. "I doubt it would be a dead end. As strange as this academy is, there has to be a way out, somehow."

But... He could still feel the unsettling feeling he had prior to the trip here.

Why wasn't Monokuma here trying to stop them? Was it because they had weapons?

Was it because he had changed his strategy?

"Let's finish this."

Ryoma took out his gun and...

*Bang!*

He shot the control panel.

The electric shutter turned off, and the light turned green.

Lock disabled.

"It's... over?" Miu's eyes widened.

"Then let's go!" Kaito exclaimed.

"Hold on, we still have to be careful. We do not know what's outside." Kirumi took out her gun, changing the bullet inside it.

Rantaro and Ryoma put their own aside to take the heavy weaponry they had carried all the way here.

They were ready.

They pushed the door.

But the moment they thought they would feel the fresh breeze of the outside...

They saw it.

A city in ruins, a red sky looming over them, and not a single trace of humanity beyond that door. It was the apocalypse.

A scene full of despair.

With the harsh wind blowing on them, Shuichi suddenly felt unable to breathe, like everyone else.

He saw some of them falling to the ground, and it wasn't long before he himself fainted.

The last thing he saw before drifting into unconsciousness was Kirumi heading towards the panel with difficulty.

Trying to... close the...

... door...

...

After an unknown amount of time, he woke up.

Shuichi slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurry around him.

He sat up, trying to make out the scene before him.

The door was closed, and everyone was on the ground, slowly waking up as well.

"What... What is this?"

He tried to stand up, taking deep breaths.

"What the hell was that??" Kaito yelled.

"Why is everything in ruin?? What the hell happened?" Miu exclaimed, hands on her head.

"That was definitely the outside world, but... How did it end up like this?" Ryoma stared at the door.

Kirumi slowly sat up from the control panel.

"We didn't get to see much but I think that was enough to say the outside world isn't a solution anymore."

"B-B-But how d-did this happen?? W-What... What happened?" Kokichi couldn't even form a sentence.

Shuichi tried to apprehend what he just saw. "The outside world... Is in ruins...?"

"Then... If the outside world is in ruin..." Miu muttered. She suddenly put both of her hands on her mouth. "Kaz-"

The violinist's eyes widened. If everything was in ruin then... Where were their loved ones?

Were they-

"No... Nonononononono-"

"Then..." Ryoma looked at the door with concern. "Was this game of 'kill to get outside' a lie?"

They all wanted to leave but this... This was the outside world?

Was everyone dead? Were they the only people alive? Was the entire outside world like this?

"So! You finally learned your lesson?"

A robotic voice called. Monokuma appeared in front of the door.

"This is the outside world you all have been trying to achieve! Isn't it splendid?"

...

He couldn't believe this.

"If you thought I would let any of you leave, then that's wrong! I didn't stop you *because* I knew you couldn't leave! Did any of you think your lovely headmaster wouldn't be more careful?"

...

No one was able to mutter a single word. Everyone was dead. The outside world was no more. They were fighting for a world that didn't exist anymore.

"This is where I shall give you the second motive!"

...

He wasn't even listening anymore.

"Although... Now isn't exactly a good time, is it?"

...

Huh?

"It would be better if every one of you was awake for the motive announcement!"

Everyone... Awake?

"Rantaro...?"

He heard Ryoma's voice from behind.

Rantaro was still unconscious on the floor.

"Rantaro!!"

The weapons maker put a knee down next to him. He placed a hand on his chest and let out a sigh of relief.

"... He's breathing. Only unconscious."

But... Why...? Why was he the only one still unconscious?

Miu ran up to him as well. "What should we do? What happened to him? Why isn't he awake?"

"I don't know, Miu. I don't know."

"Wake up! Please!" she cried. "Please..."

But her tears couldn't bring miracles.

The medic was sleeping. And nothing on his face indicated a peaceful sleep. He looked terrified, like the rest of them right now.

The others approached him as well, ignoring the bear.

"Hey! Pay attention to your headmaster!"

...

No one did.

"Give him some space. He needs to breathe."

"How are we even going to get back to the academy? Do we wait for him to wake up?"

"No! He needs more than just resting! He needs to be taken care of!"

"What, you can carry him?"

"W-We also have his stuff to carry..."

Kirumi put a knee on the floor. "... I'll carry him. Someone will need to transport my equipment and Rantaro's, but I can try to carry him."

"Really? You have the strength?"

"I don't see anyone else volunteering. I can give it a try. He doesn't look too heavy."

"HEY!"

The bear yelled from behind.

"I said, I have the motive to show you guys!"

"Shut your fucking mouth! No one needs you to-

*Bang!*

Before Shuichi could think, a gunshot was heard.

But it missed its target.

And the one who tried to shoot...

... Was none other than Ryoma, who had just stood up, gun in hand.

He glared at the bear with frightening blue eyes. The glare similar to Rantaro's.

"... None of you learn their lessons. It is quite sad."

"Shut it. If you think you're going to get away with this entire game of yours, you are sorely mistaken."

He wrapped his finger around the trigger.

"I missed on purpose just now as a warning. Leave us alone or I'll make sure to use each and every one of your pieces as I please."

"So now, do yourself a favor and get out of here."

There was a long silence.

"... If you think a single toy will make me comply, then you did not learn a single thing from this game. I feel sorry for you."

"The rules are quite clear. Any violence against the headmaster is prohibited."

Ryoma didn't move.

"Oh well, since one of you is still out, I can't exactly give you the second motive, so for now... Buh-bye!~"

Finally, Monokuma left.

And silence settled in the room once more.

Ryoma lowered the gun and put it back into his bag.

"... We're going to have to think of a new strategy. But for now it's useless to stay here any longer."

Shuichi tried to push his worries away. "W-What do you suggest?"

The weapons maker pondered for a moment.

"There's nothing left to see here. So we can go back to the academy. That's our priority for now."

"Kirumi, you'll carry Rantaro since he doesn't look like he'll wake up anytime soon. Kaito, I'm going to ask you to take his weapon since you're probably the second strongest here-

"I'll do it."

They turned to Miu. "... I'll take the gun. I'm a bit stronger than I look, you know?"

Her voice was low, almost shaking. She must still be in shock.

Shuichi remembered the day Kokichi and her were locked up in the lab. When she carried him back to the dorms.

Perhaps she was indeed the stronger of the two.

"... Alright. I know better than to underestimate people by their physical appearance."

"I'll take Kirumi's bag and one of you take Rantaro's. Then we're out."

Kaito was the one to take it this time.

"We'll think about what we just saw once we're out. For now, there's more urgent."

Shuichi nodded.

They took everything they had and walked back to the entrance.

He realized Ryoma managed to take the lead rather quickly. But right now, it was not a bad thing, considering their mental state.

The walk felt long, as the silence and the shock was making the atmosphere heavier and heavier.

The violinist looked at Kirumi, who had Rantaro on her back. She didn't look like she was struggling much carrying him.

He had no idea how the medic was holding up. What was the deal with him?

He asked himself that question so many times already, and yet he never got the answer.

Everyone was exhausted. Good thing they didn't have to deal with traps on the way back.

They had prepared themselves just to see the outside world is nothing but ruins?

This felt so wrong.

The group arrived at the entrance, but a problem immediately surfaced.

There was no way Kirumi could climb the ladder with Rantaro on her back.

"... Shit. I forgot about that part." Ryoma muttered.

"W-What do we do, then?" Kokichi asked.

There was a long silence.

"I can still try to climb the ladder, but we will need to find a way to make sure Rantaro doesn't slip off."

"Too dangerous. We can't risk his life for this."

"So what do you suggest?"

Ryoma looked at the manhole, then back at the group.

"One of you stays here while we bring back the weapons to my lab. I'll come back after to watch over him."

"Why not just leaving us the weapons? We know where your lab is." Kaito raised an eyebrow.

"I want to make sure the weapons are safe. I'm not leaving any of them in the hands of that stupid bear."

Good point.

"Then... Who stays?"

Miu crossed her arms, looking away. "Well... Kirumi carried Rantaro the entire way back, so... Perhaps we should give her a break from carrying weapons. Her back must hurt like hell."

... She still didn't know, did she?

Ryoma stared at her for a moment. "Fair enough. Kirumi, does it bother you to stay here?"

"Not at all. We have the resources in the bags, I can give them to him if he needs to in case he wakes up."

She gently put the medic on the ground with the help of Miu and Ryoma, and a half-emptied bag behind his head as a pillow.

He hadn't moved a single inch ever since they opened the door to the outside world.

The others took the rest of the equipment and Kirumi's hacking gun and started climbing the ladder.

Shuichi shot one last glance at her. She was sitting back to the wall, keeping a close eye on Rantaro.

For now, they had to take back the weapons to Ryoma's lab.

On the way here, he tried to think about what they just saw. The crimson scenery, the destroyed buildings, and the howling wind that knocked them all out.

If the entire world was nothing but ruins... Then what were they fighting for?

Why did Tenko give them more time to find a way out to a deceased world?

Why did Maki go so far as to kill someone at random if her family was decimated?

Why giving them reasons to go back to a world that doesn't exist?

Why did everyone make those sacrifices?

Why were they the only ones still alive?

These questions kept echoing in Shuichi's head. And no one had an answer to them.

They arrived at the weapons maker's lab.

"... I'll take care of these. We'll discuss important matters once Rantaro wakes up. Besides, you guys probably need to free your minds right now."

Kaito frowned. "'You guys'? Don't you include yourself in this?"

He paused for a moment. "... I'll go back to watch over Rantaro soon enough and let Kirumi go back to the academy. Also, I don't think I can rest without thinking about what we saw outside."

Shuichi glanced away for a moment, then looked back at him. "But-

His gaze was enough to tell he wasn't taking no for an answer.

The four left the lab upon Ryoma's request.

But even after closing the door behind them, he would see the uneasiness on their faces.

Miu looked like she was holding back tears. Kaito looked distressed as well, but was either less touched or was hiding it better.

As for Kokichi, it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

They went to the dining hall. Perhaps grabbing a snack would make them feel a little better.

But the moment they stepped foot in the dining hall...

... They saw a flashback light on the table.

"... Huh?" Miu blinked.

Kaito approached the thing. "Why is it here? It's unused, but... Couldn't Monokuma have given it to us yesterday?"

That was indeed strange.

"We can only wait for the others, then..." Shuichi muttered.

They sat around the table. None of them were even hungry. The violinist had just taken a glass of water.

He crossed his arms and put his face in them. The others were not in the mood either.

Kaito had stayed right outside the room to tell Ryoma about the flashback light.

After some time, he went back to the dining hall. "We're good. Now I guess Kirumi will come back soon enough."

They sat in silence. Sure, they could try to do something productive in the meantime, but... Everyone wordlessly agreed to stay here.

Some time after, the door reopened, revealing the mercenary.

She sat with the others without a word. She didn't look as shocked and worried, though. It was hard to tell how she was feeling.

...

"... What a silence." Kirumi noted after a long period of time.

"Well, do you have something to say?" Kaito asked. He noticed a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Not really. I simply wish to understand what we witnessed."

"What's the point?" Kokichi muttered, voice muffled by his arms. "We can't get out of here anyway. We're going to die by the time limit. None of us have anything to go back to."

He was right. Either they die in the outside world, or they die executed by Monokuma when the time limit arrives.

There was no other choice.

"Not to be too blunt, but you all disappoint me."

Shuichi perked up. "Huh?"

"Look. Perhaps I am the only one in this case. I don't have anything to go back to in the outside world, in shambles or not. But I've dedicated my whole life to survival even when I knew nothing was waiting for me. This is no different and I'm not going to give up on everything I've done until now because of it."

"Excuse me?" Kaito suddenly stood up, approaching Kirumi. "We have families that are probably dead by now! We have something to go back to! But you saw the same thing we saw back there! There's nothing! Everyone is dead!"

The mercenary didn't back down, even though Kaito was mere inches away from her. "I know that as much as you do, thank you. But have you seriously lost your survival instinct and your respect for the dead the second your eyes landed on this hellish landscape? Because it sure looks like it."

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT RESPECTING THE DEAD?? YOU KILL PEOPLE FOR A LIVING, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!"

...

Those words echoed through the room.

Kaito was glaring at her. He was furious.

Kirumi, on the other hand, looked like she was holding back an immense amount of rage. Her cold, green eyes kept staring at the biker.

Without a word, she went back to the door, the eery tapping of her heels being the only sound in the room.

"Where are you going??"

She stopped for a moment.

"I am not welcome here, so I am leaving. Simple as that. I will be in my lab. Call me back when the flashback light is ready to be used."

"Wait-"

She closed the door behind her.

The amount of self-control she had was terrifying.

"Kaito... That was kind of harsh, don't you think?" he muttered.

He scoffed. "She's a freaking mercenary! She wouldn't have this job if she actually cared about peoples' lives!"

"But... She's right on certain points..." Kokichi nervously fidgeted with his sleeves. "If we give up now, then we're giving up everything we've done so far... And everyone would have died for nothing..."

"Because we didn't know there was nothing to go back to. I doubt we would have done something if we knew the world had ended from the start." Miu crossed his arms on the table. She was only muttering those words, an obvious sadness in her eyes.

Would they... Would they really have given up that easily back then? Would they have let themselves die?

"But still... We should at least try to understand the situation before agreeing on such a serious decision..." Shuichi suggested.

They looked at each other for a moment.

Kaito sat back down. "Let's just... Wait for Ryoma and Rantaro to come."

Silence settled upon them once again. But some of Shuichi's thoughts were replaced by guilt.

After some time, he stood up. "I'll... try to talk to Kirumi."

He left before anyone could say anything.

The violinist walked to her lab. Fortunately, it wasn't that far.

He knocked on the door. A few moments later, the mercenary opened. "... Are they back?"

"No, I just... thought I could talk to you."

She paused.

"Come in."

The two sat on the chairs. Kirumi was staring at nothing in particular, the rhythmic tapping of her nails echoing through the room.

"I'm... I'm sure Kaito didn't mean what he said." He broke the silence. But he had no idea if his statement was true or not.

"It's fine."

That would have been a bit more convincing if he hadn't already heard this quote used as a lie over and over again by the remaining survivors.

"But I stand my point. Your lack of survival instinct disgusts me."

"W-What do you mean?" perhaps he could learn a bit more about her ideals. She had always been silent about them.

"I've fought many battles in the past. All of them were for my own survival. I've never fought for anything or anyone but myself. It was survival of the fittest, after all. Never once have I completed a mission with any other intentions than 'if I do not kill my target, I will die'. This is everything I've lived for."

For someone to have such a strong survival instinct... That is probably why she is still alive to this day.

"Do not get me wrong, if another path opened that allowed me to live my life without those missions, I would gladly take it. I do not take pleasure in killing."

That was a bit reassuring, somehow.

"However I do not mind doing so if it means allowing myself to live longer."

He thought for a moment. Asking that question was a bit risky but... He wanted to. "I understand your thought process, but..."

"Why didn't you kill anyone? Considering your talent, you could have gotten away with it."

"Getting away with murder is not an easy task. No matter how strong and smart you are, you cannot escape the killing game rules if you get found out. You have seen it, even the slightest mistakes can be fatal."

"Besides, we have the ultimate karma in our group. To kill someone to escape would be suicide."

"What about the first blood perk? You could have killed someone easily and Monokuma would have let you out."

She paused for a moment. Shuichi could feel his heart pounding in his chest as she stared at him.

"... At this point I do not think saying it would have many consequences, whether you're responsible for this mess or not."

He didn't know what to say. "What do you mean?"

"I never acted because I have the feeling Monokuma would have never kept his promise."

Shuichi blinked. "W-What do you mean?"

"I did not know how Monokuma worked at the time. Would you really trust the bear keeping us trapped here to keep the promise of letting you go free if you kill someone?"

... Not at all.

"I will admit I considered it. But my trust for this bear is lower than anything else, which is why I passed this so-called opportunity." she explained. "I hope I answered your question."

He nodded. A part of him wanted to believe it was because she didn't want to kill, but... Perhaps he had too much faith. Kirumi was a trained killer, after all. It's only normal she would act strategically.

The room was silent for a while. Shuichi couldn't tell if it was tense or peaceful.

"Changing the subject, you are pretty dense, aren't you?" she asked.

"W-What do you mean?"

"When I said I didn't want to talk to anyone yesterday, I was waiting for you in my lab."

... Oh.

"Wait, really?"

She sighed. "It's fine. You said you needed to rest, anyway."

Still.

"W-What did you want to talk about?"

"Rantaro's obvious lie back in the exisal hangar."

His heart skipped a beat. "U-Um... Which part are you talking about?"

"To be honest, I do not know which words that came out of his mouth are lies and which are not, but I am mostly talking about the reason he used a scalpel."

Shuichi frowned. "He said he had to take care of an old scar that reopened, right?"

"And why would you use a scalpel for this?"

He paused. "To... undo the stitches?"

She blinked at him a few times. "And here I thought you had common sense."

"H-Hey!"

"You don't cut stitches with a scalpel when you have scissors. That's basic knowledge, and he is a war medic."

...

"You think... he lied to us?"

"I don't 'think'. I'm certain he lied."

"But if he used that on anyone else, they would have said something-

He brutally stopped.

...

"Do you think... He..."

Shuichi trailed off, growing more worried by the second.

But before he could add anything, there was a knock on the door.

They looked at each other for a second.

Kirumi opened the door, revealing Kokichi. "They're back."

The three made their way to the dining hall.

But before they could enter, Shuichi heard some noise inside- people arguing, most likely. He didn't recognize the voices, unfortunately.

Kokichi opened the door to reveal that the ones arguing were Rantaro and Miu.

"We can't just leave you out of these! They're important for all of us!"

"Please, Miu. My head is killing me. I told you I'll be fine without it."

"What is the ruckus about?" Kirumi asked, everyone suddenly turning to her.

"I said that I'll let you guys use the flashback light without me because I'm tired enough as it is."

"But your memories! We can't use this without you!"

"You'll just tell me what it was about! But right now I feel like shit and I'm going to rest, okay?" he only slightly raised his voice.

He started making his way towards the door.

Shuichi, who was already worried sick about him, put himself in the way. "I know you probably need rest, but... Perhaps you can do that after we use it? Or we can use it after you rested a little?"

... He had no idea what he was doing. Hopefully, this wouldn't go too badly.

Rantaro looked at him with tired, empty eyes. "Please, move. I don't have the energy to confront any of you right now."

The violinist looked past him at Miu, who narrowed her eyes for a moment.

"I'm sorry, but..."

The medic perked up, his expression suddenly changing to a panicked one.

He instantly turned around. "DON'T YOU D-

*clic!*

Miu activated the flashback light.

The memories rushed to his mind.

The meteorites.

The end of the world approaching.

Leaders of every nation wanting to prevent the extinction of the human race. They had created the Gofer Project not to save humanity, but rather to salvage it. And they were the ones chosen for this mission.

They were going to be the ones recreating humanity from the ashes, passing their legacy on, and discover perhaps a new planet to live on.

He remembered saying goodbye to his uncle and cousin as the ones working on the project were waiting for him.

He had left his family, his friends, and everyone behind for the project.

They were humanity's last hope. The 16 chosen ones to carry on Earth's legacy.

...

His vision slowly came back to him.

But his eyes immediately turned to Rantaro, who was struggling to keep himself steady, hands on his head, breathing heavily and shaking slightly.

"A-Are you okay?" He wanted to put his hands on his shoulders but refrained from doing so.

He stayed like this for a moment. Had they seen the same thing with the flashback light?

Ryoma approached him. "You good?"

After a few more shaky deep breaths, he stood back up, a hand still gripping his head.

"I'm... fine."

Shuichi turned back to the others.

Kaito was looking at the ground, processing what just happened.

Kirumi was staring at the three with concern, but it was most likely she was also pondering about the situation.

Kokichi was thinking as well. This was a lot to take in.

But Miu... She had both hands on her mouth, desperately trying to hold back tears.

"K-Kaz... I abandoned him... I..."

They all had to leave their families behind. Their loved ones. Everyone they wanted to live with, they had to abandon them for the Gofer Project.

To salvage humanity.

Miu fell on her knees. "H-He's... He's dead..."

The others stared at her for a moment. No one had comforting words to help.

But to Shuichi's surprise, Rantaro was the first to approach her, kneeling down.

"Hey."

The street artist lifted her head.

"They wanted this for us. They wanted us to live. Even if they're not here anymore, the least we can do is to salvage their memory."

"And it's by staying alive that we can honor them. If we are indeed humanity's last hope..."

"... Then we shall carry on their legacy and fight until the very end. For our siblings. For our friends. For our family. For everyone who believed in us. Whether they were strangers, acquaintances, or much more than that."

"No one would want to see us so soon in the afterlife. So even if it's hard, even if we have challenges to surpass, even if we have enemies in our way, there is only one path to follow if we want to be satisfied with our lives."

"It's to keep living on."

Rantaro's voice was low, but confident. He may have been talking to Miu, but his words pierced Shuichi's heart as well.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, it was like he had regained his will. Although these last few days were harsh, he seemed to be back to the soldier he claimed to be since the very beginning.

Even if they had different ideals, even if they were fighting for drastically different causes, even if they had different visions of life, their objective was the same.

To live.

Miu stared at him for a moment. She glanced away, like she was hesitating.

And without a warning, she wrapped her arms around him. He looked surprised at first, but hugged her back anyway.

The young woman started crying all the tears in her body.

It then felt like a chain reaction.

Shuichi felt warm tears form in his eyes. He put a hand on his mouth and looked at the ground.

A hand landed on his shoulder, he looked up to see Kaito next to him. He looked away for a second. There wasn't a single word spoken, but it was not necessary. The biker pulled him into a hug, letting Shuichi cry on his chest. He doesn't know if Kaito was even doing so as well. But right now, all he was thinking was the same phrase over and over.

Everyone is dead.

Neither Kirumi, Kokichi, nor Ryoma cried. They already had no one to go back to, but stayed silent for the sake of the others.

They could only follow Rantaro's words.

But after a moment, he felt Kaito moving slightly. He looked up to see him looking at Kirumi.

He turned to the mercenary. She pointed at Rantaro and Miu, who were still on the floor, holding onto each other like a lifeline.

At first, he didn't see what was wrong, but on a closer look, Rantaro was staring at the void with wide, fearful eyes. It wasn't the face of a comforting person- but rather someone who was completely terrified.

He glanced back at Kirumi for a second, who gestured that they should be separated as soon as possible.

Kaito approached Miu and tapped on her shoulder.

She opened her eyes, blurry with tears.

The biker pointed at the person she was hugging.

She frowned for a moment, then looked like she had just realized what was happening.

"H-Hey... You're hurting me a little here-"

...

No response.

"Rantaro...?"

He was shaking.

The street artist tried to move her hands to his shoulders to perhaps try and push him away for a moment, but his grip was too strong.

"Rantaro...!"

He suddenly perked up. "Huh?"

Realizing how he was positioned, he instantly let go of her.

"... Sorry, I was out for a moment."

That's not 'being out', but sure.

The two stood back up, Miu looking seriously concerned for him.

There was a heavy silence in the room.

"What... What do we do...?" Kokichi muttered. "I don't even know what to think anymore."

... No one answered. No one had a plan. No one knew what they could do.

What broke the silence first was the sound of the monitor turning on.

"Ahem! This is a school announcement!"

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

"Everyone, please gather at the gym immediately!"

... That must be about the second motive.

Was the time limit not enough? What did he even want?

They made their way to where they were requested to go.

And on the stage was Monokuma, eating what looked like a salmon, next to several huge boxes painted black and white.

There was an awkward moment as everyone stared at the bear.

"Finally! I've waited so very long to announce this motive! If all of could stop fainting each time I try to do something, that could be nice!" he exclaimed as he threw away the half-eaten fish.

For once, no one said anything. Perhaps because they were all done with his games.

"... Could you kids lighten up a little? I will announce you all the next motive! Did you like the last flashback light, by the way?"

"I currently want to gut you of your wires until you're nothing more than a metallic empty shell. Is that the answer you're looking for?" Ryoma sarcastically said, glaring at the bear.

"Puhuhu... Such passion in hatred! I haven't seen it in years!"

"How old even are you?" Kokichi asked, visibly annoyed.

"Those are mere details distracting you from the important!"

Shuichi almost forgot about the motive.

"The motive that I planned to give you from the start..."

The boxes suddenly opened, revealing what looked like military equipment and other objects Shuichi didn't know of.

"... Is the one that I call 'Surviving the No-Man's land!"

That didn't help in the slightest.

"If one of you manages to make their kill before the time limit and get away with it, they will receive all this equipment! Now you may be wondering what it is for, and so, I shall answer!"

"This motive was supposed to be given right after you discovered the truth of the outside world. But due to technical difficulties, I had to postpone the announcement."

Rantaro didn't react to that remark.

"All of this equipment was created by the organizers of the Gofer Project to discover the new horizons from outer space! With this equipment, you can safely travel across even the harshest worlds! And of course, that includes..."

"... The outside of this academy!"

Shuichi perked up. Of course, they had prepared something. But now, it was in Monokuma's hands. The possibility to explore the outside was right in front of their eyes, but they couldn't take it.

This means if someone somehow manages to kill and get away with it, they will be the sole survivor of humanity, free to roam the crimson desert they had barely seen.

But... Who would want that?

Who would want to be the only survivor?

This doesn't make any sense. But with the time limit approaching, it became hopeless.

They now had three days to make a decision. To stay here and die, or to kill someone and have a chance to live.

This felt so absurd.

Monokuma closed the boxes. "Of course, I shall guard these precious objects safe from your clean little hands. Only the one with bloodied hands declared as an angel shall put a finger on it!"

Shuichi couldn't even feel disgusted anymore. He had already seen everything. Corpses. Executions. Mental breakdowns. The horrifying truth. Right now was just another magot in the pile.

"This was the school announcement, brought to you by your favorite headmaster! And now..."

With a slam on the podium, the floor opened beneath the boxes, making them out of reach.

"... I shall let you decide of your fate! Who shall prevail? Who shall die? Let the strongest and smartest thrive! I shall come back when your decision has been made!"

He left without another word.

At least he was gone, for now.

Shuichi glanced at the others. Judging by how everyone acted, no one would even try to do this, right?

He didn't really know. But this time, he felt more confident thinking that.

After all, everyone knew about the truth of the outside world. And to be the single ruler of humanity, to be the ultimate survivor... What was the point?

Ryoma looked at Rantaro for a moment. "I'm guessing you're thinking about the same plan as me?"

After a pause, Rantaro stepped forward. "That should be obvious."

"You... do have a plan?" Miu asked.

"There aren't a million ways to continue. I stick to what I said back in the dining hall. If we want to keep living on, there is only one solution."

"We're going to fight."

Shuichi almost jumped. "To fight Monokuma? But... He can still control the exisals, right?"

"And?"

He paused.

"The time limit is in three days. We have Ryoma's lab open, we have weapons, we have a safe place to live for the rest of our lives in, and right now, we have nothing to lose."

"We're going to fight Monokuma and the exisals. We're going to fight for our lives, even more than we ever did."

"We have among us someone more than capable of creating weapons strong enough for us to stand a chance. So there is only one solution to this."

"Ryoma is going to create those weapons. As for the rest of us, we will both train to fight and find out the rest of the secrets of this entire disaster."

"There is no way I'm going to let us all die here without fighting, and even if we die in the process, at least we will have tried."

"But I believe our victory is possible. I believe we can put an end to this madness once and for all. So..."

He raised his voice.

"Will you fight? Or will you let yourself die meaninglessly??"

... He would never give up in any circumstances, would he?

"Well??"

"I don't even need to say it." Ryoma put his hands in his pockets. "I'm not letting that bear dictate the rest of my days."

"You can count on me as well." Kirumi added. "I'm done with him."

"I'll fight! I said that I would yesterday, so I'll continue now!" Miu yelled.

"Even if... Even we're the sole survivors... I still want to fight." Kokichi muttered. "That's... what I promised to do, after all."

Shuichi took a step forward. "That's what we all promised, right?"

"You bet your ass that's what we promised!" Kaito exclaimed. "Even if I was never the most suited, I want to give that bear a piece of my mind!"

"Then are you guys ready to throw your lives for this? Are you ready to fight and possibly die for this cause?"

It's not like they had a choice.

"Yeah!" they yelled almost in unison.

Everyone parted their ways as nighttime was approaching. This day was long. Way too long. But now they had a plan. And even if the outside world was nothing but ruins, they would still fight.

He went to bed, a new objective in mind. Tomorrow he would train. He would read the notebooks. He would do something. More than he ever did in this game.

They were going to fight Monokuma and finish this, once and for all.

Even if he wasn't fit, even if he never thought about actually fighting Monokuma.

But judging by what Ryoma was capable of, to think they had a chance wasn't that much of a delusion.

He would have to read the notebooks, too. He had put them aside up until now, but they must have valuable information.

... Perhaps that was also a way to honor Tsumugi and Korekiyo.

Even if they lacked the information they had now, they were smart enough to find things on their own.

The end of the killing game was getting closer and closer now.

Soon, they would finally be free.

#ndrv3 #danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 au #beta au #main story

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