#<- But that's also the main reason why I don't have time to work on 14DWY T_T

[wandixx]

I'm not much for naming things but: Danny's associated with green and M'gann's a White Martian, so... Spearmint (like the green and white mint candies)? Just a thought.

Prompt: Magic removed Amity Park from the map. JL didn't notice, but in an Alderaan type moment (Star Wars ref. yay!) The martian on Watchtower monitoring duty heard the residents get silent unanimously.

Of course they need to be investigated! So M'gann gets her watch partner to take over and flies there, discovering an odd green rift of death energy doing a black hole effect and it sucks her in. Danny gets landed on/ flown into when she tumbles through the rift. She tried getting a message through to JL when she felt herself getting sucked in, but the message was not received due to ectoplasmic interference.

So Danny has to figure out how to get her AND Amity Park back home!

(Just a thought. I'm curious how you flesh it out if you do!)

This is such an interesting idea, and it definitely deserves much more story than I can write in single prompt, so this here is just a beginning and I will continue. I hope it's up to your expectations

Also, I really love the Spearmint idea

*****

M’gann understood the importance of monitor duty in Watchtower, she really did. She also understood why they were taught it while still in this gray area between fully dependent sidekicks and fully independent heroes, that was the main reason the Young Justice Team even existed.

It didn’t make it any less boring. Even when she had a decent duty partner. Don't get her wrong, Green Arrow was a much better option than Batman or Superman, it was just awkward. At least he seemed equally done with it and didn't scold her for jumping between satellite cameras just a bit too fast to actually ‘monitor’ anything.

And it was only twenty minutes into the two hour shift.

One of the sixty (or so) screens, the one directly in front of her, blinked to the view of the American Midwest. She was about to skip further, when a sudden movement caught her attention. She clicked a few keys to review the footage and asked, still unsure if her eyes weren't deceiving her.

“Did the entire city… just disappear?“

Green Arrow nodded, equally stunned.

“I'm going to check this out” she spluttered, already flying out of the room and doing her best to get Zeta to send her as close as possible. It was a bit tricky when she couldn't see the keyboard. She managed though, so before the adult hero even finished yelling that it was above her skill level, she was out.

From there, getting to the disappeared city was a piece of cake.

She stopped right in tracks when the thing came in view. M'gann had no idea how to describe it. It was a green and white and black storm but not, glass, see-through dome but not, deep space but also decidedly not. It made her want to run away but also come closer, almost like it was tugging at her. Like some pseudo, mental in nature, gravitation.

Oh, wait, no. It was an actual, physical force that after a quick test turned out to be inescapable for her.

Green Arrow, perhaps, maybe probably was kinda right. It was so high above her skill level that a balled napkin from this height would cause serious damage. Thank Batman for comms that she could use to call a backup!

The comms, that, of course, didn't work the one time she needed them.

She sent the message anyway, describing everything to the best of her ability, even though it was only a tip of the iceberg. Just in case, if the magical storm thing just made her comm one way communication only. It was highly unlikely, but who was she, if not an optimist.

She barely closed her mouth, when she was jerked sideways before the whole world became blurred.

She later would have a hard time telling anyone how it felt, to be inside the thing. She was basically powerless, thrown around randomly despite clearly keeping all of her abilities. She couldn't see, couldn't tell which way was up and down, couldn't change direction even a little bit. The rumble of the thing was so loud she couldn't hear her thoughts, throwing her brain so off the loop she forgot what her name was. She was crying probably, almost puking, her limbs hitting any and every part of her body.

At first, she didn't even realize she was out, so dazed from the ride. She didn't even see the flying boy until a while after she crashed into him, throwing them both off the sky. Neither of them caught them before they slammed into the ground. Somehow she ended up cushioning the boy's fall. M’gann couldn’t breathe for a moment. She kinda deserved it for ramming into him in the first place though.

By the time she could use her lungs and behave like a social creature again, the boy scrambled off her and just crouched, intensely staring, anxious and awestruck at the same time. She sat up and gave him once over herself.

He was around her physical age, but much skinnier than her or anybofnher teammates, build like a twig. He had fluffy, white, almost glowing hair, caucasian complexion, and wore a black and white jumpsuit with a tool belt. Big ‘P’ on his chest indicated he was someone from a hero/villain scene, and from general vibes she got, M’gann was leaning towards a hero. He was kinda cute. She coughed awkwardly when she realized how long they just sat in silence.

“Hi?”

Apparently it was enough to release an incoherent babbling from the boy.

“Hi, um… Miss Martian, ma'am? I'm Phantom. What are you doing here? Is the rest of your Team going to fall off the sky too? Justice League?”

“Not right now probably”

She was ignored. Phantom just kept panicking.

“Is this some of your villain's schemes? Are you alright? You crashed pretty hard, sorry I landed on top of you by the way, do you–?”

“I'm fine, don't worry I got worse”

“Sure…”

“Sorry I threw you off the sky”

“Not your fault, really, it's fi–”

“You asked what I'm doing here. I went on my own to investigate when I saw the city blink out of existence and got sucked in. I'm not sure if my report from site made it through, but they know where I went, so they'll soon come to help, don't worry”

Phantom did not stop worrying.

“Alright, cool, cool” he ran his hand through his hair, tugging at them “The Justice League knows you mysteriously disappeared along with an entire city. This is fine, totally fine, absolutely–”

“You're panicking”

“No shit Sherlock. Someone kidnapped my city again and I have no idea how to fix it because my usual tactic is ‘punch the cause of the problem into submission’ and this time I can't punch the storm. Now you're here so if something happens, I’ll have pissed of Justice League to worry about because, of course, it will be my fault. You could be overshadowed and I have no clue what's going on but I have to fix it as soon as–”

“Breathe Phantom“ she interrupted again, projecting what the Team called ‘calming vibes’. Since it didn't involve outright entering someone's brain and humans almost didn't react to it, it was an okay thing to do without asking even on non-villains. “Remember, I'm a hero, not a damsel in the distress you have to protect non stop”

“Of course, you're not. You're Miss Martian. You're amazing, but it doesn't give me any more of an idea on what's going on nor what to do with Justice League when they come, obviously furious because everyone in Amity and their mother will testify that it was somehow my fault, especially if–”

“Hey, hey, none of that. I know you're a good guy and they’ll too. I will vouch for you if for some reason they get misled”

Phantom looked her in the eyes as if he was trying to read her mind himself without even an ounce of psychic powers. She could tell if he used it.

“I could be a bad guy,” he said seriously after a moment of silence.

“I know you're not”

“You don't know me”

“You spent almost all of our interaction agonizing over how to save your city. It's not typical bad guy behavior”

“I could be acting”

M’gann didn't even dignify it with her response other than an incredulous stare.

“ Alright, if I've been acting, I would be a lot cooler but still… I could be acting!”

“I'm a literal psychic, remember? I didn't read your thoughts, don't worry, I know it's invasive for humans. But I got a general overview of who you are, and your vibes matched pretty well with the vibes of good guys”

“Sure, of course, why not,” he muttered, taking a moment to reboot “Why is this my life now?”

M’gann decided it wasn't to her and well… Phantom wasn't wrong, she didn't know him, so however she'd try to answer it was pretty much hit or miss. But from what she'd seen of him, she was curious to learn more.

“Nevermind, let's get you a Specter Deflector before anyone tries to use you as a meatsuit” he said, catching her wrist to drag her somewhere.

She let him lead her. He still didn’t have any nefarious reasoning, and hey! Maybe she'll finish this adventure with a new teammate!

[Sure M’gann. Just a teammate. Don't worry, Danny won't be a panicked mess all of the time here]

[salt216000]

I saw a post today that made me quite upset. Normally I'd just ignore, but I read some of the tags and they upset me quite a bit too.

Username is cropped out because I don't want to make it seem like I'm putting 'em on blast, I just want to give my opinion on this.

Transfem headcanons of Gabriel are absolutely fine. Awesome, even. But not while putting down transmasc headcanons at the same time.

The post makes a really interesting and good point! Transfem Gabriel does work well with his narrative of growth and discovery of his own identity, especially as someone cast out of Heaven for not achieving the ridiculous standards they set. That is a really good notion that, yes, being entirely honest, I don't see as frequently from that angle.

But you do NOT have to say it is a 'failure of the fandom' and pin the blame on more people headcanoning him as transmasc. If you want transfem Gabriel content then you can make it: art, writing, musings, anything, but you don't have to put down other creators for projecting their own ideas and potentially their own experiences onto a character they like and relate to.

I'm going to preface this next part with: I am NOT disparaging against transfem Gabriel headcanons, or giving reasons as to why they shouldn't exist. All I am doing here is clarifying why people tend to headcanon him as transmasc. Francis Xie was hired by Hakita to draw concept art, and he is known for drawing a lot of artwork of Gabriel (some NSFW in nature, as a warning in case you decide to look for yourself), and in said artwork he depicts his headcanon of Gabriel being transmasc. Of course, this is not gospel, it is not officially canon and even if it was people are allowed to headcanon him as whatever they want, I only bring this up to help explain why the headcanon may be so popular.

More personally, I find it really gender affirming to have a character in the ballpark of masculine in frame and voice, but to see him wear more feminine clothing in official artwork without it being degrading. It's very nice to see a depiction of this to help push back against the reinforcement that masculine presenting people must conform to certain standards, and that's why I personally enjoy the headcanon too.

There are also a decent few characters that DO get more transfem rep: Mirage, the mindflayers, mannequins, V2, so I don't understand why it's a problem that it is the minority with Gabriel. I wasn't originally going to post this publically, but these tags pushed me to do so:

Username once again cropped out for the same reason as above. To be clear, these are NOT OP's tags.

I don't care what the original tone OP meant was, if it was joking or playful or whatever else, because the sentiment that that post gathered is absolutely wretched. I don't have much else to say about it without getting deeper into gender stuff that I don't want to extend this post with, but I'll reiterate my main point.

You can be upset that there aren't headcanons that represent a certain idea you prefer, but DO NOT put down others who have contrasting ideas in the same breath. If you want to make a post about Gabriel being transfem being a great narrative, go for it, no one will stop you, but do not fucking wrap in a 'transmasc headcanons are wrong and don't get it, and my headcanon is more correct', and at those tags in particular, do NOT treat transmasc headcanons like this, 'transmasc pandemic' is such an awful way to put it and makes me feel as though a line in the sand is being further drawn between transmascs and others who are not.

[iz-star]

My thoughts and guesses / theories about Zayne's upcoming main story branch.

Like I've said in previous posts, I've been hella busy with work and most of all, exhausted so I haven't been able to come here and scream about the game updates (let alone draw something) but I still want to summarize my reactions from the past few days.

About the main story update, I'm really excited to see what's going to happen! I love the Dawnbreaker references but I have to be honest, I don't really think this is Dawnbreaker, he's still Dr Zayne (they both are part of each other somehow, but you understand what I mean).

Here's why:

At first, I genuinely thought this time we really would get the chance to interact with Dawnbreaker since Zayne is wearing DB's outfit and not a jumpscare outfit like in Snowy Serenity but the more I watched the trailer, the more I realized that this is still Dr Zayne which both makes me feel alleviated (cause if it were to be Dawnbreaker, it would leave us wondering where Dr Zayne is) and scared cause if he gets to suffer/ sacrifice himself in this time line like he did as Foreseer and MoF, I don't know well how I'll handle it.

He's a male lead so I don't think they will kill him off (? but somehow with Zayne one never knows, he's honestly always surprising us. In any case, my wildest theory is that if something happens to Dr Zayne, then we'll continue his branch with Dawnbreaker... idk? Anyway, don't really pay too much attention to this since it's most unlikely that something like this happens.

The impression I got after watching the trailer so many times is that this is actually Dr Zayne in the process of becoming 'Dawnbreaker' (maybe not exactly his other self but the concept) which has been one of his biggest fears; the reason? Because the Xander Sciences experiments, the severe cases of Protocore Syndrome and Metaflux anomalies are probably speeding the process of humanity to get doomed since in Dawnbreaker's world, humans turning into wanderers is something pretty recurrent and the very reason Zayne is a killer and his world is apocalyptic. Dr Zayne knows of this, he knows using protocores in human hearts is dangerous (the very reason he gave up his research in university), he also knows that to be exposed to big quantities of metaflux is what turns humans into Wanderers, he knows it because when he and William fought side by side in Mt Eternal, it was in order to destroy a Protofield that got out of hand and the Metaflux anomalies there were bringing to land more Wanderers. It was until they destroyed the protofield when William started to turn into an Abomination and then, a Wanderer.

In the trailer, Dr Zayne says something like 'We have no choice but to destroy this place" so my guess is that there is another big Metaflux anomaly like in Mt Eternal but this time in a place where there is a lot of ppl and due to being exposed to it, they're turning into Wanderers, something that Zayne as a Doctor can't cure: "Aren't you a Doctor. You should've save me!"

In fact, this is something he can only cure as Dawnbreaker:

I'm really interested to know who was the guy who asked Zayne to kill him. My guesses are:

William (and this probably a flashback).

Carter

Greyson (most unlikely since the voice didn't mach but goshh could you imagine the angst if it was him??)

So if there is another Metaflux anomaly it means that there's a Protofield that got out of hand and it probably was in either Akso Hospital or Xander Sciences company cause they had a special patient that accoring to what they say in the trailer, had a fragil heart that would've stopped long ago.

If I'm not mistaken (and since I'm currently sleepy and feeling lazy) in the World Underneath anecdotes Carter and Xander Sciences tried to keep some patients alive or to revive them using protocores and keeping him in pods but it didn't work? However, long before these anecdotes were released, we knew that there were already organizations doing research about immortality:

It seems that 'A special energy field' is necesary in order to reach better conditions to regenerate the human heart. What if this 'special energy field' is something similar to a Protofield? If we remember correctly, in both Rafayel and Xavier's myths MC's heart was necessary for them to live immortal lifes? In Rafayel's case, she seemed to give ppl some kind of energy? But at the same time she couldn't leave their city neither. In Xavier's case, her heart was like an unending source of energy for Philos core and they wanted to feed Philos core with her so they would stop to sending humans and then Philos core would stop crearing wanderers.

In both cases, it seems that MC is the source of energy of a Protofield that both gives it enough quantities of energy to keep it balanced and making ppl within this field to be immortal (like her) without the risk of becoming wanderers. In Rafayel's myth, she was already the source of this field, so there are actually no wanderers in this myth. In Xavier's myth, she wasn't the source of it so they were creating wanderers bc of it.

What if in this case, Xander Sciences discovers that the key to reach immortality lies in creating a Protofield with enough energy to create the needed conditions to regenerate human hearts for indefinite amount of time and that the KEY to achieve this lies in MC's aether core??

What if what Zayne is trying to protect here is MC's heart so they won't use her to reach immortality, EVEN if he knows that this most likely will avoid tons of deaths and will stop the creation of wanderers and ALSO will avoid his future as Dawnbreaker but even so he chooses to save her, just like he did as Foreseer and Master of Fate.

And lastly, he mentions "When that day comes... When I can't wake up" my only guesses are:

His nightmare of becoming "The Grim Reaper" will become true.

By destroying the Protofield that is creating the anomaly, he also freezes himself?

Maybe he steals part of MC's power or even he takes the creatio protocore he gave to her as Foreseer and uses it on himself so instead of using her as the source of energy for this Protofield, he offers himself as this unending source of energy? (This one is quite wild and seems unlikely to happen but I still wanted to mention it ahaha).

Anyway these are all my thoughts for now. Please take this with a grain of salt, since these are only silly theories and nothing official. We'll have to wait some days more to discover the truth.

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

As much as the 'haha Takemichi went to save his husband after saving his wife, bisexual much?' joke is funny, people who seriously thinks Tokyo Revengers should've stopped when Hinata was finally safe and sound missed an important component to the plot.

Yes, it all started with Hinata - but since when was it all about Hinata?

Takemichi, kind-hearted Takemichi, should've just stopped everything after saving her? He got into Toman for this reason, yes, to get closer to Mikey and stop him - and Kisaki - from killing her, but he also sincerely got closer to Mikey. And everyone else. And he's supposed to simply leave them be when 'mission: save Hinata' is complete? As if the number of people he wanted to save didn't get longer with each timeline? Those are his friends why would he throw them all away.

To protect Hinata he decided to stick close to Mikey since he failed to prevent Mikey and Kisaki meeting each other - and he got attached to Mikey during that, as well as all of Toman. Each steps to save Hinata was also a step to save Mikey from corruption and self-destruction. It was all linked from the start.

There was a shift after Bonten, okay, whatever, the only thing that truly changed was Hinata's importance in it. New enemy? That happens in each arc (right, sure, there wasn't Kisaki anymore). Mikey being more and more violent? Again, each arc featured a moment of Mikey showing signs of being mentally unwell - and now it was aggravated because it was two years earlier than what Takemichi got used to go back to. Etc, etc. Toman may be disbanded, but its (at least main) members still meet and interact and they all kept in touch - Mikey aside. That just a change of mood, a mix of the present/future timelines with a more serious setting and of the past timelines with how young they are, despite not being as young as before. And future timelines have never been a problem - there's a lot of love for Manila and Bonten. If Wakui had had time and energy, Kanto Manji, all 70 and so last chapters of TR could've worked with its fanbase. For some reasons it didn't, and I don't get why by myself

[witchdisk]

Skin Removal Sep 17 Postmortem

A few days ago I performed another skin removal procedure. (See #skin removal for more) Here's a writeup of some of the things we learned this time.

The #10 scalpel blade is useful for long+thin removals because the blade is longer. This lets us do the sort of "long, loving cuts" while pulling up the skin, under tension, using the full length of the blade. This is faster than the #15, but you still want that one for precision at the beginning and end.

For this design, there were certain cuts which we wanted to be along the same line, like the edges of the eyelashes:

When doing the procedure, I did each of the eyelashes separately, so I did these cuts at different times. I should have used the sterile ruler that comes packaged with the surgical skin pens and made these cuts all at the same time. This would have helped make sure they're in line.

This time I used sterile dermal curettes to even out the depth after removing the skin. This was a great idea and it made this step so much easier. I used the 4mm curette for this procedure, and I only needed one. I will be recommending this going forward. Here's the tool and me using it:

Have multiple sets of splinter forceps!! (Or whatever your main forceps are.) I had backup adson and hemostatic forceps, but I was acutely aware the procedure would get a lot harder if I dropped my tools. This isn't relevant if you have a flash sterilizer, but those are kind of expensive.

Ask your subject what kind of communication they want from you! This time, xe said "if you had told me [we're halfway done] I don't think I would have been able to finish." Good thing I didn't do that!

EMLA cream (lidocaine 2.5%/prilocaine 2.5%) is quite useful to help those with a lower pain tolerance. It pretty much eliminated the pain from the cutting, but not all the sensations (e.g. skin being pulled up, felt sense of something wrong ("felt like something i could not perceive but my body was reacting to"). I have some prescribed because I've been scared of needles, and the numbing helps with getting blood drawn.

We already know this, but just to reiterate: it's important to get the correct depth on the guiding lines. The skin should separate, like this:

Using sterile bordered gauze + hydrogel for the wound dressing did not work this time. It dried on the wound, and removing the bandage to clean resulted in mechanical debridement. This hurt a lot and irritated the wound in ways that we hadn't planned for. Using tegaderm initially, like we did two times ago, was also not ideal because it resulted in a big gross bubble of exudate. Something in-between these is required, but I'm not sure what. It should stay moist, but still be relatively absorbent. Tegaderm+pad, for the occlusiveness? Recs here appreciated. Pigeon reported it used a bunch of saline to soak the area to help with this, but there were still some issues.

The lines ended up thicker than in the design. We think this is mainly because skin tension pulled the cuts open. This may be mitigated by wound contraction during healing; we will measure how it ends up vs the desired width to determine that. See this video of me removing a full section to see what I mean.

The loupe glasses!! As seen below. These were some cheap ones I got off amazon, but were actually super helpful. They didn't really improve my posture, and my back still hurts >.< However, they did help me see details a lot better. If I keep doing this I will consider getting a better pair. They gave me a headache after about 30 minutes while practicing, but were totally fine during the procedure. Unsure why!

I need to work on my aseptic technique. I was not adequately monitoring for reaching over the sterile field. My gloves should have covered my sleeves, but there was bare skin exposed. My gown was not sterile (haven't found sterile ones for a reasonable price) and it probably touched the drape a few times. The sterilization pouches I used were difficult to use for the bowls I had - difficult to get them out easily, difficult to load in the pressure cooker. I should really look into getting a secondhand rigid sterilization container. Last I remember, the difficulty was finding filters for these. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, or maybe I could make my own (tyvek? like the mushroom growers use...).

My informed consent notes mention the risk of keloid scarring, with a note this is 15x more likely on darker skin. I don't have a source cited for this, and so I don't know how this applies to black vs brown skin. This would have been useful to know!

Needed to print/laminate the handwash/handrub posters.

Re-affirmed a lot of things we already learned. Full-depth removal is the way to go. Ensure guiding lines are deep enough. #11 blade for short/straight lines, #15 for removal, and having separate scalpel handles for each is good.

Dumb one, but having a bunch of tiny individually wrapped gauze pads is annoying as hell. I picked up some bigger ones, we will see if those are what is needed or if I need to find packs of multiple smaller ones.

I'm gonna give it one more go, but I don't actually think pig skin is ideal to practice on, mostly due to the lack of blood/lack of elasticity. Much more difficult to determine the appropriate layer to separate skin at, compared to live human skin. Would appreciate other recommendations here for practice materials...

Okay, I think that's about all the thoughts I want to write out now! I will meld these notes with my existing ones soon, and get those published. As always pls hmu if you want to talk about this, especially if you have experience.

[hinamie]

10 years later

[14dayswithyou]

are you a compsci major :0

✦゜ANSWERED: I wish I had the brains and dedication for that ^^; If anything, Ren would be the compsci major (if he chose to go to university with you)!! As for me though?? I'm currently double majoring in digital media and social working ;v;

[pyrriax]

ANYWHO goodnight tumblr i'll be back on the art grind tomorrow i think 🙏

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

thinking about dream daddy again and god brian makes me so mad

[c0rpsedemon]

going from "i like ayaka but i'm going to pull for her brother instead bc i already have a cryo sword user + i want to replace my barbara w a 5*" to ayaka's biggest wanter and a ride or die barbara stan who doesn't even use ayato. every day i regret my decisions made during 3.5

[fearandhatred]

.

[sarcasrnspasrn]

second day in a row now where my computer's tint has shifted to orange at 10pm on the dot. this sure would be normal if it was night light. night light hasn't worked on my computer for over a year (among other things about my computer that don't work). this morning it didn't turn off unless i restarted my computer. i think it's haunted

[veone]

I don’t like you and you have me blocked, I don’t own you anything at all.

[officiallycake-blog]

Am I an unreasonable and self-centered pc? Or are my brothers argumentative for no good reason?

[kemlyn]

UEFA was responsible for the Champions League final fiasco in Paris last May, while Liverpool supporters were ‘instrumental’ in saving lives on the night, an official inquiry commissioned by the European football governing body has found.

A panel of experts including politicians, academics and lawyers was set up by UEFA itself last summer to investigate the chaotic scenes at the Stade de France, where Liverpool fans including women, children and the disabled were tear gassed by riot police, mugged by armed gangs of local youths, and kettled into dangerous crushes as they tried to enter the stadium to access European football’s showpiece fixture.

The group has now finalised it conclusions which lay the blame firmly at UEFA’s door, with its report saying that the organisation’s pre-match planning was based on an ‘absence of overall control or oversight of safety and security.’

The findings of the 158-page report reveal that senior figures at UEFA were aware that the organisation was ignoring its own safety and security policies in the build-up to the match, but did not act to rectify the situation, throwing into serious doubt the positions of key members of its hierarchy including President Aleksander Ceferin.

Furthermore, there was ‘no evidence’ to support the ‘reprehensible’ claims made by UEFA and the French authorities in the aftermath that masses of ticketless Liverpool fans attempting to gain illegal entry to the match were at fault. ‘Assertions regarding huge numbers of ticketless supporters, and those with fake tickets, have been wrongly inflated and have been stated as fact, to deflect responsibility for the planning and operational failures,’ the report reads.

Instead, the panel’s findings heap praise on fans who attended the game, saying that their behaviour significantly contributed to the narrow avoidance of a ‘mass fatality catastrophe.’

‘The collective actions of Liverpool FC supporters were probably instrumental in protecting vulnerable people and averting what might well have been more serious injuries and deaths,’ the panel found. ‘It is remarkable that no one lost their life.’

[kakusu-shipping]

Lost Time

This was going to be a short comic but everything has to be hard to draw tonight apparently so y’all get another Self Insert fanfic, but this time it’s for Pokemon Scarlet

In which I’ve been missing for weeks

“Emile? Where are you?”

Penny’s voice came through with heavy static, the video of her on the other side of the Rotom phone just as broken up.

“The crater” Emile answered flatly, taking a glance to his floating phone as he removed his glasses to clean them.

“the WHAT-” Director Clavell’s voice broke in the background. Penny flinched at the noise, glancing back as the director pushed himself around his desk and swiped the phone, holding it entirely too close to his face, “Emile you get back to the Academy this INSTANT! The crater is strictly Off Limits!”

“Hi gramps..” Emile sat himself on a rock, calling Koridon to his side, “I’m just doing some training with Koridon, it’s not a big deal. I’ll be back before sundown, promise.”

“Absolutely not! You will call a Taxi right now and return to the Academy at ONCE.”

“Training?” Nemona stepped in, easily pushing Clavell out of the way to steal Penny’s Rotom phone for herself, “With Koridon??? No fair why didn’t you invite me your Best Friend Rivals for Life Pal??”

Emile chuckled, “Next time, Nemona. I needed one on one time with Koridon today.”

“There will be no next time-” Clavell reached for the phone, just for it to float over to Arven.

“Why the crater? Couldn’t you have just gone into the woods or up the mountain like a normal person?”

“No way this is special! The crater is Koridon’s territory now, I have to help him keep it safe! It’s just for a few hours a week, no big deal.”

“Majorly big deal!-”

“Wait, a couple hours...?” Penny slid in between Clavell and the phone one more time, tilting her head a bit, “Emile, how long do you think you’ve been in the crater?”

“Like an hour or so, right? I’m surprised you noticed I was gone so fast.”

Before the crew could say anything more, the feather’s on Koridon’s head raised as he stood on his hind legs, glaring at something off camera. A low growl coming from the Pokemon’s throat.

“Oh- Sorry guys I gotta go! I’ll see you all when I get back!”

With that, Penny’s phone screen went black and returned itself to her pocket. The room stood still for only a moment, before Penny put her fist to her forehead, staring at the carpet as she mutterer, “A couple hours...”

--------------------------

“Alright Koridon! Good job!” Emile cheered, scratching the space behind Koridon’s eyes before planting a little kiss on his nose, “You’re such a good boy, Koridon, so strong and cool~” He cooed. Koridon chirped happily in response.

A loud, recognizable voice broke the moment.

“EMILE!!!!” Nemona came sliding down a slant of rock before sprinting to her fellow champion and scooping him into a hug.

“Nemona??” Emile gasped as Nemona plowed into him like a truck, only catching his breath again when she released him, “Wh-What are you doing here??”

“We’re here to bring you home, though honestly I personally would love to stay and train in here instead!”

“We????”

“Nemona, slow down, please” Penny gasped, running after Nemona after having carfulyl inched her way down the rocky slope. Behind them Arven was helping Director Clavell down as well.

“Penny? Arven?? And Gramps??” Emile’s voice squeaked, “Guys, I said I’d be back by Sundown, you didn’t have to come GET me.”

“It IS sundown.” Arven said when his feet finally hit flat ground, “It’s actually almost dark.”

Emile blinked and looked around at the bright, sunny day around him, “Uhm?? No??”

“Well not in here, but out there, it’s like past dinner time.” Penny added, pulling out her phone to show the clock, “See?”

Emile stared at the clock on Penny’s phone for a solid minute before looking up at the sky again, “Wha- Th-Then why-”

“Time works different in the crater..” Clavell spoke, adjusting his glasses as he approached, “The sun never sets, and time appears to pass much slower than on the surface.”

“So... your saying I’ve been in here all day?” Emile asked. The group shared a glance.

“Emile,” Penny pushed her glasses up, “You’ve... Been in here for almost two weeks already..”

---------------------

The taxi ride home was quiet. Emile stared out the window the entire time, holding Koridon’s pokeball securely in one hand, the other locked with his Grandfather’s, their fingers laced tightly together.

The next day he spent Training his main team with Nemona, and the day after that he spent traversing ruins in search of Gimmighoul with Arven, and the day after that he revisited all of Team Star’s bases, and the day after that his friends all gathered in his room to help him catch up with two weeks worth of missed school work, and time marched on as usual.

And then he went missing again.

--------------------

“Emile?” Penny was surprised the call was answered, though only as a call, not a face time like she attempted, “Where are you?”

She was met with silence.

“I’m not in the Director’s office, if you’re worried about getting in trouble with your Gramps again. It’s just me, Nemona, and Arven this time.”

Still nothing.

“Emile? Hey, it’s your Best Rival For Life. We haven’t battled in a whole month, man. I gotta make sure you’re not slipping.” Nemona chimed, bouncing on Penny’s bed.

Silence.

“Little buddy. Hey, uh, Mabostiff misses you, man. So just- Tell us where you are so he can see you again.” To emphasis Arven’s argument, Mabostiff woofed from his spot on the floor besides the older student.

. . .

“Emile...” Penny pulled her knees to her chest, “It’s been three weeks...”

“...Three weeks...?” Emile finally answered, his voice hoarse, only made worse by the static of an unstable call, “Really... It’s felt like only a few hours... two and a half at most..”

“You’re in the crater again?!” Arven stood, raising his voice and making Penny flinch. She silently motioned for him to calm down, which he didn’t do, but he did retake his spot on the floor.

“Yeah, sorry..” Emile admitted, “I wanted to see... How the time warp works.”

“How it.. works...?” Nemona asked, moving to sit on Penny’s desk to be closer to the phone.

“Yeah. Like, if I didn’t eat the entire time I was in the crater, would I starve faster? Would starvation only hit me when I left the crater? Or would it be like I just haven’t eaten in 3 hours?”

Arven made a move like he was going to yell again, but Mabostiff placed a paw on his thigh to stop him.

“You haven’t eaten anything for 3 weeks?” Penny asked, gripping her knees.

“Or drank anything. I’m a little thirsty, I guess 3 hours is a long time to go without some water. “ Emile coughed, “Don’t worry, I left all my Pokemon other than Koridon in the PC, so they’re all fine, and Koridon knows this place like the back of his paw now, so he can find himself food and water just fine.”

“So... You’re coming back now, right? Part of the experiment is seeing if leaving the crater makes time catch up with you, right?” Penny shifted.

Emile gave a hum, “I think.. I’ll give it a little while longer. Maybe 12 in-crater hours?”

“12 HOURS??” Now it was Nemona’s time to shout, “But every hour in there is like a full WEEK out here, you can’t be gone that long! We miss you!”

Emile laughed, “Sorry. This’ll be the last time I do this, promise. I’ll have a lot of school work when I get out, so I hope you three will be willing to catch me up when I do.”

“Emile, I don’t think-” Arven started to stand.

“-Ah, Sorry Arven. I gotta go. I’ll see you all in a few hours- uh Days? It won’t be long, I promise.”

“Emile-!” Penny’s voice cracked, and the screen went black.

-------------------

“I’m fine, Koridon,” Emile gently pushed the large lizard’s head away from himself, “Yes, I see the steam, and I told you I’m not going to drink anything for the next few hours.”

Koridon gave a whine and looked up to his trainer with his biggest, wettest puppy eyes. Emile quickly looked away.

“You’re not getting me this time. It’s for science, Koridon. I know what I’m doing.” The trainer insisted before turning his back and walking away from the running water.

Koridon followed Emile, glancing back at the stream one more time before galloping a bit to catch up with his trainer. He was worried, of course he was. Humans just seemed so fragile by default, and he could sense his was growing weaker. He wasn’t made for the crater like Koridon was. This flow of time isn’t safe for human minds.

Koridon hoped his human’s friends would come get him again.

-------------------

“Guys-” Emile held his hands up defensively as he found himself faced with his three best friends once again in the crater, “I promise I’m fine, and look, I’m learning so much watching the Paradox Pokemon in their natural habitat, I’m making hourly notes of how I feel, I’m keeping track of everything-” Emile pulled his spiral notebook from his bag, flipping through the pages scribbled with research notes.

Just as quickly as he had it out, Arven smacked it from his hand.

“Wha- H-Hey- Arven-” Emile’s words caught in his throat as the upper class man grabbed him by the upper arms. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he scowled down at the shorter student.

 He shouted, gripping tight enough to bruise, “We haven’t seen you in a MONTH, Emile. A MONTH. A whole MONTH of our time together is GONE because all you care about is this STUPID HOLE.” His voice was cracking, his hands trembling on his friend’s arms, “I don’t care what you’re discovering down here, what breakthroughs you have about the Pokemon down here, what new bonds you form with Koridon down here, I don’t CARE.” He sucked a breath through his teeth, his entire body shook. “I don’t... want to loose anymore family to this... stupid hole...”

Emile stared in shock for a moment. Arven hung his head, sobbing silently as he gripped so desperately onto Emile’s arms.

“I... I’m... sorry... Arven...” Emile muttered, hugging his friend, “Nemona... Penny... Y-You too.. I’m sorry, I-I didn’t..”

Nemona just laughed, and ruffled at Emile’s hair as she joined the hug, “Don’t sweat it too hard. We’ll make up for that lost month in now time.”

Penny, who didn’t like physical contact, especially group hugs, chose instead to give a light punch to Emile’s shoulder, “You know us, we’re a pretty clingy crew. Not even Director Clavell’s lectures about the Dangers of the Crater can keep us from you.”

Emile chuckled as he tangled his hand into Arven’s hair, resting the upper classman’s head on his shoulder, “Thanks... I don’t think I deserve that kind of devotion...”

“Then you’ll just have to earn it.” Nemona wrapped her arms around Emile’s waist, “Lets battle when we get back to school! I wanna see that special training with Koridon in full force!”

Hearing his name, Koridon excitedly lept from his resting spot under a tree and circled the four friends, chirping happily as he forced them even closer together by wrapping himself around them.

“Full force, you sure? He’s gotten pretty strong fighting Paradox Pokemon all this time.” Emile teased.

“For sure!! I want to see him go all out!!” Nemona split herself from the group, jogging in place, “Now I’m pumped!! Come on, let’s get out of this place before I challenge you to a battle right here and now!!”

Emile chuckled, gently shifting Arven to better stand. He looked awful, eyes already puffy, nose running, face scrunched up almost like a Maschiff. He was quiet the ugly crier.

Penny and Emile held back their laughter as he took Arven’s hand in his own and followed after Nemona, who was set on climbing up a rock slide wall rather than taking the long path up. Penny followed close behind, holding loosely to the back of Emile’s suspenders.

The taxi ride home was noisy. The cabin rocket as the four rough housed and laughed. They’d hardly noticed the rising sun out the cab windows, or how tired they were until they’d finally made it back to campus, and immediately all passed out in Emile’s dorm.

And time marched on.