#'holy shit there's another hedgehog out there that can go super AND is on my side??? THANK GOD'

[catiecat1320]

Chapter 3 of 11!! [MasterPost]

I will soon be making a masterpost for this fic, stay tuned!

Read Below🔽

Shadow fidgeted with the strap of his bag, eyeing the door in front of him as if it were the Gates of Hell. He looked at the now crumpled card sitting in his palm again, now covered in both his scribbles and Sonic’s, just to be sure this was the right place, right time.

Why was it so damn hard to knock?

Anxiety crawled like ants up his esophagus, making him want to hurl. What if he messed things up? What if the email he sent was missing something important or gave Sonic a weird impression and now he didn’t want to see him anymore? What if, what if…

Calm down. Breathe. Inhale. Count to three. Exhale. Count to three. Repeat.

Attempting to ground himself, he rubbed the lapel of his coat furiously, that single spot so warm from friction it might as well catch fire at this point. Focus, focus. 

This place wasn’t super imposing to look at. He’d passed this place by when he was picking up Cream, in fact. The door looked nearly identical to the one he’d stood before just a couple days prior. Labeled on a silver plaque just beside the door frame as “Music Room,” he assumed this was where Amy kept instruments for her dance classes. She must’ve lent this place to Sonic for the time being.

Taking another deep breath, Shadow inched closer, shoving the anxiety down with the the intent to just knock—

And then a blue blur slid past his peripheral, tapping him on the shoulder and nearly giving him a heart attack. 

“HOLY SHIT— I-I mean, shoot—” he choked as he whipped around in a panic, all thoughts flushed out in favor of shock as his mind struggled to realign itself with what was happening. What was happening?

Shadow’s surprise attacker doubled over, wheezing so hard tears beaded at the corners of his eyes. His hood had succumbed to gravity and flipped over his quills, but it wasn’t hard to tell who this was. 

“I. can’t breathe, oh my Chaos, you should’ve seen the look on your face— I, you—” Sonic trailed off in another fit of laughter, interrupted only to gasp for breath. Shadow did not find it amusing at all, however, embarrassment pulling a blush out, not helped by how fast his heart was already pumping from the scare.

But glee was contagious, and the pianist smiled beneath his burning cheeks despite himself. 

Several moments and unsuccessful attempts to stop later, Sonic’s face was almost as red as Shadow’s from sheer lack of air. Making a futile attempt to compose himself, he coughed, inhaled obnoxiously loudly, then put a hand to the wall to stabilize himself. “Fuck,” he gasped, rubbing his face and letting out a puff of air. “Sorry, eh? Got mobbed by some fans on the way here and needed that laugh. Fame is annoying sometimes. I hope I haven’t kept ya waiting for too long.” He fished in his pocket, pulling out a keychain that probably weighed a pound, stuck full of decorations and mini fidgets more than anything. Flipping through the part that actually had keys, Sonic picked the wrong one twice before actually unlocking the door.

“Hey. Y’know you can cuss around me, right?” The dancer giggled, flashing a toothy grin. He combed his free hand through his quills, the hood stuck there flopping against his back. “No need to censor yourself, you’re going to make me feel improper.”

Shadow just nodded, unsure how to respond as he trailed into the room. The last thing he wanted to do was make a bigger fool of himself. He couldn’t deny, though, Sonic’s silly antics had eased the anxiety of meeting the idol one-on-one.

…at least for now.

………………………………

Shadow had expected… well he wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this. A more formal setting, perhaps? With the mirror and barre lining one wall, it was clear that this was originally a dance studio, repurposed to store the instruments that were now callously shoved in one corner. He could see what looked like a violin or viola, an electric keyboard (they should cover that), among a couple other things. But what caught his attention most was the grand piano that sat nearer to the center.

Sonic yanked open the blinds on the window, letting the sun illuminate everything in a healthy dose of natural light. Shadow couldn’t help but notice the way he moved, footwork unnecessarily fancy as he flitted around the room, almost as if he were still on stage, dancing for an imaginary audience.

A voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Well?”

Blush resurfaced in tan cheeks as he realized he’d been staring. Making a half-hearted gesture at the dancer, he gave up on the idea of trying to save face and just sat down at the piano. Sonic subsequently bounced over and made himself at home on top of the closed lid, which made for an awkward experience. Well, awkward for Shadow, seeing as he would be left trying to look everywhere but the famous face right in front of him… 

At least the dancer was nice about it, assuring that he would get off if necessary.

It was fine. Ignorance can’t possibly be that hard. He could just focus on the blank music rack. Focus, focus. Just start. 

Flexing his fingers, he closes his eyes and envisions the music score. 

Playing by memory wasn’t hard for him. He had always been good at it, and having to teach little kids how to play things over and over had effectively ingrained even the toughest of classics into his head perfectly. But still, he couldn’t help the worry that his mind would suddenly fail him— to blank now would be a nightmare.

Thankfully, he seemed to be fine on that aspect, music flowing easily as water from a faucet. The more notes he hit, the more he relaxed, the steady familiarity soothing his nerves. This piano was bigger than the one he had at home, he noted absentmindedly, which made sense as there was a lot more space here. It only contributed to improving the sound quality, but since this wasn’t a specially built room, it wasn’t as ideal as the ones he performed in when he was in college. But the disadvantage was slight, at least as far as he remembered.

His eyes wandered over to the mirror. It was the first time he’d ever seen himself play in real time, and he couldn’t help but smile at his reflection, straightening a little to capture that perfect posture. And of course, there was the hedgehog perched on the lid. From this angle, the pianist could only see a glimpse of his face, the mirror more prominently displaying royal blue quills, sprinkled with a few strays that stuck out unbeknownst to the idol. 

Then Sonic turned his head. Oh, Chaos. Despite it being only a reflection, despite not even seeing the idol’s full face, Shadow’s heart skipped a beat. He could practically feel the burn of emerald eyes on him, not daring to turn directly at them.

Sonic looked the most serious he’d ever seen him, a sharp contrast from the giggling mess he’d been moments prior. His furrowed brow and faint frown only served to heighten Shadow’s rapidly resurfacing anxiety.

Was he doing something wrong?

Tension broke through when the dancer shifted, turning to the mirror and motioning for him to pause. That sharp gaze bounced off like a laser, and Shadow immediately yanked his eyes away from the wall. 

They sat in unnerving quiet, the only sound coming from Sonic’s gloved fingers tapping idly against his knee and the tight breaths of the pianist that he did not speak to. He’d folded his legs up onto the piano lid, criss-crossed, and it would’ve seemed like he was meditating had it not been for the constant movement.

That did not help Shadow’s panic at all. Something had to have gone awry. He couldn’t think of a reason for Sonic to have stopped him otherwise. What was it? He didn’t catch anything out of the ordinary. Had it been a big mistake? He would’ve noticed that himself, right? 

This was bad, this was bad… out of habit, he bit his lip, hard, ears pinning against his head as he fidgeted with his fingers.

He must have looked pretty pathetic, because when Sonic finally got out of his head and looked over, he scoffed and said, “Calm down, it’s not that serious. You played it perfectly, as far as i can tell, but it’s missing something.”

“W-what?” Shadow stressed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” If he hadn’t made any mistakes, then what was wrong? He felt like he was going to combust. Subconsciously, he tapped on the keys with fleeting fingers, ghosts of sounds drifting from the piano in a flickering melody. It was a little trick that he liked to use to calm down quietly, without harming anything or smashing the keys at 10 PM and accidentally receiving three noise complaints. 

(Yes, that’s happened before— he got really frustrated, okay?)

It was so instinctive for him at this point that he hadn’t even realized he was doing it until Sonic perked up in interest and he stopped at the movement.

“Wait… do that again.”

Shadow frowned. “This?” He rapidly ghosted the keys again, anxiety shifting to confusion, thoroughly lost on what was happening. Why focus on his quirky stress relief of all things? He wanted to know what went wrong.

Sonic must have sensed his inner turmoil, huffing and getting up on his haunches before rethinking his position on the sensitive piano and hopping to the floor. “It’s… a thing,” he said, absentmindedly twirling his foot, which evolved into a quick 360 spin. “It’s stupidly hard to explain, but at the same time, it’s really simple. But, like, I can feel things, y’know?”

Shadow did not know. He scrunched the fabric of his pants in his fists, mirroring the feeling in his gut, his confusion going in increasingly tighter circles. What?

Despite having said that it was hard to explain, Sonic looked disappointed at his perplexed expression. “I was hoping you’d get me… not that it’s your fault that you don’t, of course,” he reassured quickly. He popped his lips at his reflection, pacing idly as he spoke. “It’s just, you seem to do it. Without realizing. It’s like… a form of communication, almost. But through actions, and in your case, music. Yeah, uh… I probably sound insane, which may be a little true.”

He glanced back over at Shadow, who hadn’t moved an inch, still utterly fixated on trying to interpret the meaning of his words. “Hey. You alright?”

“I… don’t understand,” the pianist mumbled, staring numbly at a spot on the floor as he tried to force the puzzle together in his head.

“Hm. No need to look so devastated, mister.” Sonic assured, pressing the piano key closest to him. A high pitched ring sounded, echoing throughout the largely empty room. “Many have tried, and all have failed. And I suppose on a level, not even I truly understand what’s going on. It’s something you have to experience to really know.”

“Well… how am I supposed to do that if I don’t know what I’m feeling for?” Shadow returned, pressing a second note to balance the first. 

If there was one thing he hated the most, it was the unknown, uncertain. He had to know every nook and cranny before feeling comfortable with a task. The mystery Sonic set in front of him only served for unceasing frustration. Not only did he accept the idol’s offer of partnership without understanding all the details, but also this? He needed to understand.

Sadly, Sonic gave him no satisfaction. “You’ll know,” he replied cryptically, “it’s a special feeling.”

Shadow groaned involuntarily, clapping his hands over his mouth as soon as it escaped. Wide eyes snapped to the dancer, who only laughed breathily. “You’re one of those people who need to know everything, aren’t you? Hmhm, you and Tails would hit it off.” He patted Shadow’s shoulder sympathetically. “You’ll have to make do with not knowing. Because if I tried to explain it, we’d be here all year. Believe me.”

“Anyway, I… well, I shouldn’t take all the credit, but for simplicity’s sake, I’ve found that the best way to evoke that connection in music is through improvisation. You know how to do that?”

At the pianist’s reluctant headshake, Sonic flashed him one of his famous smiles, said by one of the many articles he sifted through to be bright enough to rival sunshine. Faced with it, Shadow could see where that comparison came from. 

“Well! That’s your assignment. Learn about it! Because…” As if on cue, his watch rang in the familiar song of an incoming call. “I may have forgotten that I have somewhere to be. Like right now. Important things for my charity performance tomorrow, hm? Last contracted performance with my previous pianist and her boyfriend, the violinist you heard on stage when we first met. Oh yeah! Papers, papers.” Sonic looked around frantically, letting the call die out as his eyes land on the duffel bag stowed away in the corner, blending in seamlessly with the instrument cases. He hopped over and retrieved a folder from it. “Tails, my lil’ brother, by the way, yelled at me two days ago after I told him about you and what I said— or didn’t say. Which, he was right, but don’t tell him I said that.”

Shadow took the folder, very clearly labeled Give to Shadow on the front. It was different handwriting from the one on the business card, so he figured it was Tails’ doing. 

“I’m very… unorthodox. With a dash of unorganized. But you understood me, right? Everything went fine, so no worries there. But in that folder is… stuff. Like official contract shenanigans. Don’t ask me to explain it, because I don’t know what most of it is. You probably know better than me! If you do have any questions, Tails’ contact info is in there. My number is in there, too, and you still have my private email, right? Don’t give those to anyone, by the way, because I have enough people spamming me. No need to fuel the stalkers, yeah? And… oh, I need your number—”

His watch rang again, effectively ending his ramble. Sonic puffed out his cheeks in exasperation. “Alright, alright, I get it,” he muttered to no one in particular. “Just. Call me, or text me, or whatever— contact me, okay, Shadow? Later. Bye!” 

He dashed out, door swinging wildly in his wake, before Shadow could get another word in. Not that he had recovered from everything that just got dumped on him in the first place, but he was getting a little annoyed at the suddenness of the things Sonic constantly pulled.

Amy was right. He was difficult.

Sighing, the musician tucked the precious folder into his bag. Closing the fallboard on the piano keys, he organized the room a bit to calm his nerves, taking care to stack the instruments neatly (he may have tuned all of them as well). Pulling the blinds down before he left, he began rearranging his schedule in his mind on the drive home.

This was going to take a lot of commitment.

[nonbinary-sticks-the-badger]

i was only gonna do the first verse but i summarised most of sonic up to generations to the tune of jaws by lemon demon

sonic the hedgehog, lurking in the (wedgehog) in the depths of the hills, one day on a lark, decides to free birdies, feels real sad-niks takes a spin dash into several badniks

sulphur, carbon, blocking the sun. flickies get freedom! eggy better run! cause its crazy how free this hedgehog is! he'll go on adventures, he'll take little kids, oh no!

but the one thing keeping the plan stay assembled is a guy named knuckles and his giant fucking emerald. knuckles don't know that he's stealing that thing, he just wants to keep the ol' angel floating, geddit? get it?

the egg won't care for simple pity. he just wants chaos to flood the city, he's like "have another emerald, you can go for a swim." but holy shit, here comes that spin!

singing, "sonic is here. here is sonic." he is the guy without a cause. he was in a game, you should play it, it's called sonic. sonic is here. here is sonic. he is a hog who fights the law. he was in a movie that everyone saw.

long story short, there's a weapon down low. eggy's like, "i wanna find project shadow." suddenly, sonic's got the cops on his tail, but amy's gonna make sure he gets bailed. it was shadow all along! now he's pissed, shadow just shot to the top of his list. they reconsile and fight his big sis and shadow's then lost to the eternal abyss! Golly.

doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, scoo-doo-be-doo doo, doo-be-doo, doo!

shadow's not dead but his memory's gone! they split into teams and work on their own goals. but metal sonic's already chose: i don't really know, haven't finished heroes! don't spoil it!

shadow's new dad is a space starfish, who conditions him to make him do his every last wish, cause he helped make shadow back in '51 to make a new weapon for a thing called "G.U.N." woah!

sonic is here. here is sonic. he is the guy without a cause. he was in a game. a game called sonic! sonic is here. here is sonic. he is a hog who fights the law. he was in a movie that everyone saw.

sonic must die, the iblis trigger. silver's gotta kill him or the fire grows bigger. silver finds out that he's on the wrong page and mee-philes shows up in a full on rage! he tears up sonic like paper in a shredder while elise's cheeks grow wetter and wetter. sonic gets smooched and the fans get mad and sonic is now unbelievably "bad"

the team's like, "sonic's now a werehog," so in the new game, he's a werehog. the were-est hog that's ever provailed! gonna make furry ass - or i guess, furry tail? yeah, tail. but OH MY SHIT! dark gaia's gone, but chip got hit! fading away like a child star. now he's a bracelet sonic doesnt wear [pronounced "wahr"]

now for colours. i dont know. there are whisps there.

eggy's angry, he's all like, "fuck it." he splits apart time, making modern meet classic. classic's last words are "____, _______." then they go super and its a pretty good effect, yeah!

sonic's there. long live sonic. he is a guy without a cause. he was in a game, you should play it, it's called "sonic". sonic's there! long live sonic! he is a hog who fights the law. he was in a movie that everyone saw.

he was in a movie that everyone saw!

he was in a movie that everyone saw.

sonic's there. long live sonic. he is a guy without a cause! he is in a game. called sonic!

sonic's there

at the '22 awards

long live sonic

he was robbed!

he is a guy without a cause!

hedgehogs exist in real life. wooh!

he was in a movie that everyone saw!

sonic's there. long live sonic.

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

line that didnt get in for the unleashed recap:

[timewontwait]

🌀 @boku-no-terios​ said: ★ (generic shadow is fine since we haven't really interacted)        — send me a ★ and I’ll bold what applies to your muse. ( accepting ! )

I like you / I hate you / I dislike you/ I love you / You are family / I would take a bullet for you / I would shoot you / I would lie to your face / I would say something cruel to you on purpose / I would say something cruel to you accidentally / I would cheat on you / I would physically hurt you / You annoy me / You amuse me / I’d laugh at you / I’d laugh with you / I’d manipulate you / You scare me / You confuse me / I wish I knew you better / I trust you / I don’t trust you / You inspire me / I consider you an equal / You are beneath me / You’re better than me / I would trust you with my life / I think you’re mean / I think you’re petty / I think you’re childish / I think you’re smart / I think you’re stupid / I think you’re a bad person / I think you’re a good person / I’m not sure what kind of person you are / I wish you would listen to me / I want to make you proud / I wish you would notice me / I want to impress you / I would hurt other people for you / I’m not sure how to make you happy / I’m a bad influence on you / You deserve better than me / We make a great team / I’d have a one night stand with you / I’d have a relationship with you / I would marry you / I fantasize about our life together / I would trust you with my most treasured belonging / I would tell you my darkest secrets / You disgust me / You intimidate me / I hope I intimidate you / I’d hug you / I’d let you hug me / I’m scared of losing you / I don’t think you like me / I want to be better for you / I respect you / I don’t respect you / You’re my mentor / You’re my friend / You’re my best friend / I have a crush on you / I could easily watch you die / I’d get drunk with you / I’d party with you / I’d comfort you / I’d prank you / I’d spike your drink / I’d act behind your back / I’d abandon you / I’d hurt you to get what I want / I would choose my happiness over yours / I would choose your happiness over mine / I despise how much I care for you / I need you / I’m dependent on you / I don’t know what I’d do without you / I’m scared of you leaving me / I’d give my life for you / You frustrate me / I’d call for you in a time of need / I would protect you / I’d visit you in hospital / I’d carry you if you were hurt / I’d feel guilty if I hurt you / I’d let you be near me when I am vulnerable / I’d ignore a phone call from you / I’d call you at 3am / I’d break you out of jail / I’d get angry at you / I would shout at you / You’re too loud / You’re too quiet / You’re too sensitive / You can’t take a joke / You embarrass me / I feel nothing for you / You’re reckless / You’re bossy / You bore me / I would ask your advice / I would blame you for something I did / I would cry in your arms / You have the power to hurt me more than anyone else /

[officiallyashley]

—about me!

Heya! Welcome to my blog! My name is Ashley, but I mostly go by Ash or Ashkele (that’s ash-kee-lee btw). I write fanfics for a multitude of fandoms, and I have been writing stories for 10 years now (can’t believe it’s been that long holy shit). I reblog stuff, as well! You’re welcome to send in asks about my ocs or other stuff, if you want. I’m down to chat. Keep in mind that I’m in school, so uploads may not be super consistent. Also, this is a chill, judgment-free zone where we can all vibe and hang out, so let’s not have any negativity here, kk? With that being said, I hope you enjoy my content on my blog!

Random Facts About Ash;

My first fandoms were vocaloid, creepypasta, and sonic the hedgehog! I’m still in those fandoms to this day!

I am a part of the lgbt+ community and I’m proud of it! I go by multiple terms, so I’ll just condense it a bit: I identify with greyromantic, panromantic, demiflux, and polyamorous to name a few. I mainly use she/her or they/them pronouns, but tbh, as long as I’m being addressed with feminine leaning or gender-neutral pronouns idc.

With my writing, I aim to add in topics that need more awareness around them. I like to write about topics that challenge some of the social norms of today and even from the past.

Outside of writing, my hobbies are singing, writing songs, making book covers/aesthetics/banners for my fanfics, true crime, watching anime, reading, and hanging out with my friends.

My aesthetics that represents my fashion would be grunge, goth, skater girl, and emo.

My favorite artists I would say are Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Black Veil Brides, Evanescence, Icon For Hire, The Pretty Reckless to name a few. I'm not gonna lie, I also really like Britney Spears and Aaliyah— I'm a total early 2000s kid!

I'm an INFJ :)

My favorite shows outside of anime are Steven Universe, SonicSATAM, Thundercats OG & 2011, Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Regular Show. I could list more, since I grew up on shows that were on the EARLY DAYS of Cartoon Network (you know, when CN was known as Boomerang. yeah.), but then we'd be here all day, so I'll leave it at that.

I have a Wattpad, Fanfiction.net, Quotev, and an AO3 account. I have multiple Wattpad accounts, and I have been on the app for a very very long time, but the main one I am utilizing currently is called AshuraElaineDragneel. My Quotev account is officiallyashley. Here is my AO3 account, AshleighVioletLouise248, and here is my Fanfiction.net account, polyforluffyzoroandsanji. I have been on all of these websites for a very long time, and I am in the process of transferring my stories onto these platforms, so not everything will be on there (and there will be more content on some sites than others). I have written a shit ton, and I'm adding my works from 2020-present day onto my profiles on these sites, so it's going to be a while until everything is on there because I'm going through years of content (so please be patient knowing that, and, ya know, life gets busy, as well.) If these links don't work, please message me and I'll try and have it fixed as quickly as possible.

I just made a Twitter account as of 03-21-23! It’s called @officiallyash24. You’ll know it’s me bc I have the same profile pic and background pic as I do here on tumblr.

If I need to or if I feel like I need to add something, then I will. I'm not trying to make this simple "about me" post something so complicated and shit like that. I just wanted to put something here that gives everyone some more knowledge of who I am. The Masterlist is currently being constructed. Also, since I reblog a shit ton of stuff, search up the tag #ashwrites if you’re interested in my fanfictions!

also, don’t interact with this blog if you’re homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, and all that other shit. i won’t hesitate to block your ass from my blog if i discover that someone is one of those things. another thing — please credit me if you take inspiration from one of my fanfics (also, i would love to see what you would do with that inspiration). if you’re someone that’s reading fanfics on YouTube and you want to read one of my works, all you have to do is ask me! as always, just credit me and leave a link to my tumblr page. please notify me if you realize that someone has stolen any of my stories. seriously, don’t steal people’s stuff, it’s not that hard to credit the original creator.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 286: VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “what’s the record for most consecutive bone breaks within the span of a single minute” and, without waiting for an answer, proceeded to unleash roughly 17 Smashes onto Tomura. Kacchan was all “THAT DOES IT, I’M TAKING THE REINS OF THIS SHITSHOW” and carried Endeavor and Shouto up to where the action was so Endeavor could hit Tomura with a Prominence Burn. AFO was all “Tomura would you rather burn to death or let me take over your body” and Tomura was all “...” and so AFO TOOK OVER and was all “STABBITY STABBITY” and used his Stabbing Quirk to do some Good Old Fashioned STABBIN’. First he stabbed Endeavor, and then he was all “hee and now I’m gonna stab Deku”, but Kacchan was all “SIR THAT’S MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT RIVAL” and so he rushed on in AND GOT HIMSELF STABBED INSTEAD. And so basically THIS PAST WHOLE WEEK HAS BEEN A RIDE, LET ME TELL YOU.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “sup Deku lemme just downplay how I totally took this fatal blow for you just now” before he dramatically passes out and is caught by Todoroki “BTDUBS I CAN FLY NOW” Shouto, who is also carrying his dad because the kids really are just doing it all, here. AllForRaki Tomura For One is all “HAHA BAKUGOU IS PRETTY DUMB”, at which point Deku just LOSES IT ENTIRELY and ASCENDS INTO A NEW PLANE OF FURY LIKE A LITTLE GREEN RAGE BUDDHA. But then like two seconds later Tomura is all “ANYWAY, SO” and FUCKING TOUCHES DEKU’S FACE, CAUSING THE TWO OF THEM TO ASTROPROJECT INTO THE FREAKY OFA/AFO MINDSCAPE BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER IS BANANAS. Vestige!AFO is all “reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated but aren’t you glad I saved your life though, Tomura”, while Tomura is all “!!” because he’s hopefully starting to get A Clue, and meanwhile Deku just stands there watching all “what the fuck.” The chapter ends with SHIMURA MCFUCKING NANA showing up all, “HI, I HEARD SOME BITCHES WERE TRYING TO HAVE A GIRL POWER ARC, AND THEY DIDN’T INVITE ME.” Go on, Nana. Give ‘em hell.

you guys. I’m not normally one to take pleasure in another human being’s misfortune. BUT THAT SAID, there are exceptions to every rule, and so let’s just say certain events have transpired early this morning which have PUT ME IN A VERY, LET’S JUST SAY, NOT-TERRIBLE MOOD which this chapter will hopefully improve upon!!

oh my god Deku’s one non-fucked-up eye that he still has control over is SO WIDE YOU GUYS

hmm I know I shouldn’t be all (゜▽゜) while the two of them are all (； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) ... and yet here we are. btw I’m worried tumblr’s formatting will ruin those two emojis which I worked so hard to get just right so I’m gonna repost them on another line here just in case

(； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) that’s them. Kacchan and Deku. my boys 

HERE COMES THE CHEESY “JUST GOT STABBED BETTER PLAY IT OFF ALL COOL!!!” ONE LINER OH MY GOD

(ETA: really love how my son, with what for all he knows could be his dying breaths, decides that the absolute most important thing is to preserve his selfish asshole facade so as not to fuck up his status quo with his rival. “LOOKEE HERE I GOT MYSELF ALL STABBED AND SHIT FOR YOU, BUT I TOTALLY JUST DID IT BECAUSE I WAS TIRED OF YOU GETTING ALL THE COOL HERO MOMENTS” yeah, that’s right! SELFLESS MOTIVATIONS, WHAT ARE THOSE sob.

also tbh I’m glad they didn’t delve any further into their feelings right here and now because this really isn’t the place or time for it sadly. WE WILL JUST PUT THOSE ON HOLD UNTIL AFTER THE ARC ENDS, when they are all recovering from their various wounds and traumas and have time to catch up and have some long-overdue heart-to-hearts. it deserves its own chapter or two or three. maybe time to head back to Ground Beta once they’re healthy? “healthy” perhaps being a relative term given their current condition fjsdjkf.)

by the way it looks from here like only the ones through his torso and shoulder actually hit, so that’s something at least. WE’VE LOST ENOUGH LEGS TODAY. I need to conserve my remaining puns

MEANWHILE TOMURA IS HAVING A CRISIS

ARE YOU MAD AT YOUR EVIL DAD TOMURA. HE JUST WON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER WILL HE, THAT GUY

anyway so it looks like Kacchan might have caught a break here because AFO/Tomura is pulling the stabby quirk activation tendril things back out! rip, “Kacchan vs. Deku part 3″ theories

p.s. I got ALL CAUGHT UP IN THE DRAMA and thus glossed over the chapter title which is “one among us”! hmmm this is definitely AFO/OFA related, calling it now. ooh lord I am excited

NOW MY SON IS DRAMATICALLY FALLING

THE BLOOD FROM THE MOUTH OOF NOT GOOD AHHHH. DEKU’S FACE AHHHH. HIS BODY JUST WENT TOTALLY LIMP DID HE PASS OUT AHHHH. SOMEONE CATCH HIM!!

BY HIS FOOT, SHOUTO?!

well NOT EXACTLY THE MOST GRACEFUL THING I’VE EVER SEEN, but we’ll allow it because HOLY SHIT BOY. ARE YOU ALREADY CARRYING YOUR DAD ON TOP OF THAT?? HORIKOSHI PLEASE CONFIRM, IS TODOROKI MOTHERFUCKING SHOUTO FUCKING FLYING AROUND UNBALANCED AF ON HIS ONE FLAMEY LEG, CARRYING HIS 500 LB POP AND NOW HIS FLOPPY PASSED OUT BEST FRIEND AS WELL?!? HOLY SHIT TODO?!?!

LADIES AND GENTLEFRIENDS OF THE VILLAIN STANDOM, FEAR NOT, TOMURA’S HAIR IS THE FIRST THING THAT GREW BACK LOL

even before his eyeballs kfldkakjk. which, btw, how does he even know what’s going on right now? “this fight has shed a lot of useless blood” sdkmkjl okay well (1) WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT, AGAIN??, (2) SERIOUSLY THOUGH, HOW DOES HE EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO YOU STABBED?? ARE YOU EFFECTIVELY BLIND FOR THE NEXT FEW SECONDS HERE, WHAT’S GOING ON, and lastly (3) I seriously can’t tell if this is AFO or Tomura talking right now. or are they going back and forth?? help this is so confusing

HEY

THE DISRESPECT. I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW KACCHAN ANGST IS NEVER USELESS!!

AND NOW HE’S BACK TO THE STABBING JFKJLKJLF I AM NOT TOO HAPPY WITH YOU RIGHT NOW MISTER

okay and now we’re cutting to some quick panels of the unconscious Aizawa, Gran, and Ryuukyuu, along with the “still conscious but in a very real sense might as well not be counted” Manual who is really having a day, that poor guy

anyway but then there’s also some dialogue boxes being all “if you act out of rage your power will respond accordingly, the most important part is to keep your head clear.” which I’m like 90% sure is Deku/OFA related, but honestly NOTHING ABOUT THIS CHAPTER IS CLEAR SO FAR YOU GUYS. except for the Shouto-is-a-badass part anyway

HMM YEP I’M GONNA GO WITH DEKU-RELATED

it must be a callback to some line I’m forgetting. maybe Lariat explaining Blackwhip to him that one time. probably should have been in italics if it was a flashback quote, but hey. anyways the point is Deku is absolutely, 100% following this advice to the letter (/s)

(ETA: yep I’m almost positive this is the same quote from chapter 213. “listen, when you use this power out of anger, it’ll really start working for you. what really matters is controlling your heart.” which is still one of the weirdest pieces of advice in the entire series, but basically I think he was just trying to tell him it’s okay to get mad, so long as it’s calmly mad. like, controlled fury, as opposed to this white-hot berserker nonsense he’s been running on as of late. anyways I do still love me some shounen rage all the same but Lariat has a point.)

...

it took me a minute to realize THOSE WERE DEKU’S EYES. holy --

AND ANOTHER MINUTE TO REALIZE THAT DEKU FUCKING GRABBED THE ACTIVATION TENDRIL WITH HIS BUSTED UP OFA HANDS AND BIT INTO IT WITH HIS RABID OFA JAWS AND SNAPPED THAT SHIT LIKE A FUCKING KITKAT KLJLKSJDLKJFLK WOOOOOOOO I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING BUT GODDAMN. POWER MOVE

(ETA: this is a two-page spread omg. I didn’t even realize at first. this scan ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT DO THIS BADASS PAGE ANY KIND OF JUSTICE but I can’t wait to see the real deal on Sunday holy shit.)

LMAO

DEKU RAGED SO HARD HE TURNED INTO AN ANGRY GHOST SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FKLSKG

(ETA: he actually looks a bit like the Vestiges/Kurogiri tbh.)

meanwhile Tomura basically has the exact same face I would have had in his position. yeah for real man. I don’t even know

p.s. WHEN will people learn to STOP INSULTING KACCHAN IN DEKU’S PRESENCE. WHEN, I ASK!!

WHAT IN THE CINNAMON TOAST FUCK

if this was a physical page I was holding I would have FLUNG THAT SHIT AWAY LIKE THERE WAS A SPIDER CRAWLING ON IT. WHAT THE FUCK

HOT DAMN. well uh. so that’s SUPER DISTURBING, what a lovely panel of Tomura’s melted face slowly growing back while his ears lag behind, and meanwhile that little scar that had been growing and growing and which at one point certain people (ME) thought might turn him into a BEAUTIFUL BUTTERLY instead RIPS HIS FACE IN HALF to reveal the KINDER EGG AFO SURPRISE UNDERNEATH AHHHHH TAKE IT BACK

THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T LET MAD SCIENTISTS PERFORM EXPERIMENTS ON YOU, KIDS. PSA. JUST SAY NO

-- NO!!!

HORIKOSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fuck

oh my god. I almost would have rather cut away right after the Kacchan incident than freaking cut away NOW of all times, jesus. THAT’S JUST A BITCH MOVE, IS WHAT THAT IS. if we don’t cut back within the next three pages I SWEAR TO GOD

anyway so GUESS WHAT GIGANTOMACHIA’S DOING YOU GUYS. if you guessed “the exact same thing he was doing last time we saw him” then you are absolutely right, because it was actually PRETTY EASY TO GUESS

anyway but he says he detects “master’s scent”, except that there’s apparently two of them. interesting! one in Tartarus and one in Jakku, right? lol Horikoshi has burned me so many times already with his excruciatingly slow reveal of this that I’m not gonna hold my breath just yet, but I’ll get the hype train warmed up JUST IN CASE

okay so meanwhile in downtown Jakku, the heroes are handing off the civilians over to the police and rescue forces while they prepare to engage with “the villain”, by which I assume they mean Gigantomachia. does this mean Iida and Ochako are gonna fight Machia you guys omg

OOH!!!

“PLEASE INFORM THEM ON FOOT” well I know a certain SPEEDY BOI who would be PERFECT for that job oh my. make haste, Tenyar FastmLeggy

WAIT WHICH WAY ARE THEY HEADING

ARE THEY HEADING TOWARDS MACHIA OR TOWARDS DEKU AND AFO

so rather than answering my VERY PERTINENT question, Ochako is instead spending an entire page thinking about how their complete clusterfuck of a life keeps getting exponentially worse all the time! well but she’s not wrong though

NOW SHE’S ALL “GUYS...!” and, rather than explaining ANYTHING AT ALL, Horikoshi is again cutting back to THIS, OMG AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: good thing Kacchan wasn’t awake to see his dramatic “I’ll just get myself impaled for Deku’s sake” plan result in this outcome ALL OF TWENTY SECONDS LATER smdh.)

I ACTUALLY PREFER MY DEKUS NON-CRUMBLED, THANKS. ALSO JUST ON A SIDE NOTE, POOR SHOUTO THOUGH. THE LAST NINETY SECONDS OR SO HAVE BEEN ENOUGH NIGHTMARE FUEL FOR A LIFETIME HAVEN’T THEY

so now he’s all “MIDORIYA!!!” because OF COURSE HE IS. his best friend just got impaled, and his dad too, and now he fully expects to see his other best friend crumble to dust right before his eyes holy shit. T R A U M A ™

-- !!!

somehow in the excitement of the moment I forgot his actual goal for a sec lol. meaning I instantaneously switched from HORRIFIED to GRINNING LIKE A MANIAC :D :D :D come on OFA time to show him what’s what

AND NOW WE’RE SWITCHING OVER TO EVERYONE’S FAVORITE TRIPPY DREAM LANDSCAPE FOR ADDITIONAL DRAMA, WELL OKAY

I’M ON BOARD WITH THIS, WHATEVER. also it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Deku is in fact nekkid underneath that mystical cloud bs, so let’s hope one of his remaining yet-to-be-unlocked quirks is a pants-conjuring quirk lulz

“this place...” yeah we all fucking know what this place is son, let’s get on with this. by my count we’ve only got four pages left so PLEASE BUDGET THEM WISELY

OH MY

holy shit. I have so many screaming thoughts about this lol but I just want to keep on reading lkjlkjlkjl okay I’ll come back later and edit them in, how’s that

OR MAYBE I’LL JUST RANT ABOUT THEM NOW GODDAMMIT

shit. okay let me just try and sum this up as quick as I can

so just in case it wasn’t already crystal clear, AFO’s soul being roommates with Tomura’s seems to be just about 100% confirmed now. good for you, All For One For All theory!! the “Kacchan loses his quirk” theory died so that you might live on in glory

AFO does seem to have almost fully taken control now. it looks like Tomura’s still fighting back, but AFO clearly has the upper hand now if their body language is any indication. Tomura on his knees with AFO calmly holding him down and ignoring his struggles... not looking too good for him at the moment

people seem to have somewhat lost sight of this in the midst of the great “heroes vs. villains Who Is Right Who Is Wrong What Are Morals” debate of 2020, but just a friendly reminder that AFO is in fact responsible for 100% of all of Tomura’s suffering from pretty much the moment he was born up till this very moment we’re now witnessing!! like, you can go ahead and blame Nana and Gran and The Complacent Apathy Of Hero Society and whatever the fuck else from here till Sunday, but All for One is the reason Kotarou was orphaned. All for One is almost certainly the reason why the seemingly quirkless Tenko suddenly just magically developed THE MOST FUCKED UP QUIRK OF ALL TIME at the worst possible moment. All for One is probably the reason why no one helped Traumatized Baby Tenko in the immediate aftermath (I can and likely will write a separate post about this in the near future). All for One is definitely the reason why no one helped Tenko at any point after that. All for One is the reason why Tenko grew up all fucked in the head (“HERE’S YOUR DEAD FAMILY’S HANDS, MERRY CHRISTMAS”), and the reason why he grew up blaming Heroes and Society rather than the sole person who was actually responsible who was literally standing right in front of him the entire time. and lastly, All for One is the reason why Tomura has now been manipulated into unknowingly sacrificing his own body and possibly even his mind. so THANKS A LOT FOR THAT. more like jerk for one amiright

basically what I’m trying to say is that Deku and Tomura are not actually enemies here, and they never have been. the two of them have a common enemy, and I’m convinced Tomura’s story is about him eventually coming to realize this. and this looks to be the first step towards that, for two reasons. one, because AFO is finally starting to out himself to Tomura as the rat bastard he has always been. and two, because Deku is catching a glimpse of this now for the very first time. up until now he didn’t have a damn clue lol. but this is now something for him to file away in the back of his mind, and perhaps follow up on at a later date, once all of this craziness finally subsides and he has some time to process

anyway, so that’s basically it! tl;dr AFO is the final villain and unless I’m very much mistaken, this scene is going to finally start to set that up. let’s read on!

OMG

NANA?!?

lKDSJFLKSHGLISHDOGIHOLRKL

NOOOOOO I can’t believe it fucking ended there I can’t fucking believe it, fuck everything

smdh. what a place to end it. didn’t confirm a damn thing. not even whose mental landscape all of this is actually taking place in! like, don’t mind me though Horikoshi, it’s not like THE FATE OF THE WORLD HINGES ON THIS QUESTION OR ANYTHING except oh wait it really kind of does. kljkj

but seriously. because if it’s Deku’s mind, it means that Tomura’s attempt to take his quirk wasn’t successful. but if it’s Tomura’s mind, though... well... hhhhhhkhfff

or it could be both, I guess. more of that “AFO and OFA are the same quirk and thus linked” goodness. oh man. anyways stay tuned for next week when Nana presumably helps Deku out with the rest of that black fog and also hopefully finds him some pants. or maybe Nana can just go fight AFO herself. a little payback for everything he’s done to her protege and to her grandson. either way I CAN’T WAIT omg. VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

[tanakavox]

A look into the multiverse chapter 6.

Aka the worst written chapter I've ever done. I hate the reacts for this one, feels... weak. Hope you guys enjoy it.

The theater screen lights up and carama begins to pan over a city during night time Citizens mingle down the sidewalks on evening strolls. Above them, a helicopter flies low between the buildings heading for something. A red orb of light appears to chase after it. Shortly thereafter, a flash of gray bounced between the building at high speeds landing on the roof of one. The gray blur was a young Mercury Black, a grin on his face as he looked over the city. He looked to be around 11-12 and his hair was spiker then normal. He had a pair of ears on his head and short tails.

"Ah,yeah! This is happening!" Mercury exclaimed smiling.

"Mercury? Oh no."Emerald said shaking her head afraid of the ego trip her panter might get from this universe.

"He's fast, and… so young." Ruby pointed out.

"What's happening and why is he a fanaus?" Yang asked.

"He's not. He has two traits." Blake pointed. "He looks like a hedgehog though.

The young boy turned to sounds of sirens, looked down to see four police cars rushing to an emergency with screeching tires. He jumps down just in time to see them disappear around the corner.

"What's going down there?'' he mutters to himself. He curls into a ball and rockets after the cars, rolling like a bowling ball.

"That's actually a cool move." Mercury pointed out with a grin.

The police cars have formed a perimeter in front of a large building. Two helicopters hover overhead with their searchlights on as an odd watery figure lands on a police car and stand in place without moving or making a sound.

"That's a interesting creature…" Salem gave a little smile cross her legs thinking of a grimm similar to it.

"You are completely surrounded! Surrender yourself!" officer yelled as the squad aim their guns at figure. It hop over the police squad and they take aim and fire. The bullets only drop to the ground after colliding with it, the aqua figure giving off a low growl.

"Oh, no! Our weapons are useless! Retreat! All personnel, fall back!" The officer cried, him and the rest of the squad running away, a few firing a few more rounds as they ran.

"So it's bulletproof as well? This creature gets more and more interesting." Salem's smile grew larger as she watched the creature in action.

Mercury lands on the car and grins, looking at the being in excitement.

"This could be fun!" He stated he jumps into the air and attacks the monster with a kick, hitting it in what seem to be it's faces knocking it into a car, denting it. Mercury smirks a bit and immediately gets hit by the car that he had sent it into. The boy lifts the car off himself, not seeing to care that he got hit by a car. He cruels into a ball and rams into the creature and soon after the creature starts to run away. Mercury had a look of disappointment of how easy the fight was and chased after the creature.

Come on, ya big drip! Where ya goin'?"

"Yeah Mini me. That was an easy and boring fight." Mercury said with a shake of his head..

"Such a disappointing creature." Salem mutters while uncrossing her legs."

"That 12 year old got hit by a freaking car, and his only reaction was to pick it up and throw it back." Weiss pointed out. "Does nothing think that's amazing for a 12 year without AURA?" When one no answered she just looked back at the screen and muttered to herself: "I guess not."

The creature falls through a drain getting away, Mercury snaps his fingers in frustration as the camera pans into the air and shows smirking, evilly as he looks down at the hedgehog.

"Foolish child. That was Chaos, God of Destruction! And soon my plans will be realized! Watts begins to cackle madly.

Salem raises an eyebrow at the sight of Watts and Chaos. "God of destruction? An unfitting name for such a weak creature."

The scene cuts to Mercury lounging near a pool, sleeping as he hears a noise of a plane. He turns to see a younger Oscar flying out of control.

"Hey look another tiny Oscar!" Nora cooed at the sight of the farmboy." Oscar blush a bit in embarrassment.

"Why is he flying a biplane?" Ren asked.

"Tails?" He asked no one in confusion. His eye widen as he watch out Oscar's plan begans to pummel toward the ground. "Watch out! You're gonna crash! AHHH!" Oscar's plane crashs on the beach and Mercury facepalms groaning a bit. "Oh Tails. What am I gonna do with you?" Mercury curl into a ball again in a blink of an eyes rockets towards where Oscar had crash landed. He sees two legs poking out of the ground and grabs one, yanking the boy out of the sand and giving a closer look at Oscar. He was a fox, but a fox with two tails instead of one and he looked to be around 8.

Blake's stares a bit a Oscar's tails. "That's…. New. "

"Yeah a 8 year old flying a biplane is new right Blake?" Ruby said.

"I think she meant the fact the Oscars had two tails Ruby." Jaune replied.

Oscar blinks a few times and grins at the sight of his friend.

"Oh hey Sonic! Long Time no see huh?" He said casually.

"A child his age surviving a plane crash and only casually reacting to it. He must be very durable." Winter mused to herself.

"Hey Tails." Mercury greeted back, placing Oscar on his feet. "What happened there? You're too good of a pilot to make such a sloppy landing.

Oscar rubs his head. "That was a test run using a new prototype propulsion system. It's got a few bugs to iron out." Mercury raises an eyebrow. "Okay…... A Lot of bugs."

"No shit kid." Mercury snarks

" Why not just use my plane, the Tornado?"

"Thanks, but you gotta check out my newest power supply! Ta dahhh!" Oscar pulls a purple looking gem.

"WHOA! A Chaos Emerald!" Mercury looked it over in astosment.

"Oscar smiles a bit. "Yep! I just happened to find one of the 7 Emeralds during one of my test flights. This thing has unlimited powers, ya know... So I figured, why not use it to power my plane. Super charged! You gotta come over my workshop, Sonic! I've got something I've gotta show you! It's in the Mystic Ruins. The fastest way is by train. Let's go!"

The scene cuts to Mercury and Oscar running in a field when a voice stops them in their place.

"Ha ha ha ha! If it isn't !" Watts descended down in an egg shaped pod grinning maniacally. Oscar's tails stiffen in fear and he hides behind Mercury. Mercury however just looks at Watts with a grin.

Look! It's a giant talking egg!

Yang begins to laugh hard. "He does look like an egg!"

Salem didn't say anything but quietly laugh to herself, not seeing Ozpin catching her laugh with a bit of shock before quickly turning back to the show.

"Silence! I am , the greatest scientific genius in the world!" Watts growled

"Whatever you say, Eggman!" Mercury replied with a roll of his eyes and a dismal wave of his hand.

"Damn. Kid's got balls." Qrow said.

"Hell yeah I do. I'm always badass." Mercury boosted.

"Enough! I've got big plans and now I'm gonna put them to work!"

"You're always up to no good. Now what d'ya want?" Oscar piped up from behind Mercury. Watts glared at Oscar, causing the fox cub to to flinch and hide behind Mercury. Watts begins to rise higher in his pod.

"Awww. He scared little fox Oscar." Nora cooed again.

"I want all the Chaos Emeralds. Better not interfere! Or else!" Watts said looking down at the two.

"Or else what wimp?" Mercury taunted.

"Or else I'll take them from you by force... the hard way!" Watts goes behind the cliff and raise with his pod turning into a hornet like form.

It flies after the two firing missile that Mercury and Oscar dodge without any problems. Watts snarls as he attempts to ram into Mercury, the boy hopping over the machine, causing it to get stuck in the ground. Mercury land on his feet and curls into a ball, rocketing into Watts' machine knocking it loose from the ground. Watts flies around again firing more missiles at Mercury, But he plays hopscotch on each missile, About to reach the Egg hornet before Watts smiles as Mercury falls for his trap.

"Felt for it fool!" Watts cried and he powered the machine up for another ram attack. Before he made contact with Mercury's body, in a quick blur Oscar grabbed Mercury's hand and flew away from the attack, using his two tails as like helicopter blades to fly.

"Holy shit, he can fly?" Yang asked in surprised."

"Why the hell does he need a plane then?" Qrow asked being surprised as well.

Watts screamed in rage as he got stuck in the ground again. Mercury look up at Oscar and smiled.

"Nice job Tails now throw me so we can end this!"

Oscar smiled and threw Mercury as hard as he could. Mercury curls into a ball again and rams into Watts machine breaking it down. Oscar lands next to Mercury and they look over their work.

"Well, that wasn't so hard!" Mercury turned and ruffled Oscar's hair. Good work Tails!"

Watts fake being unconscious for a time and then let out a :Aha!" as giant claw came out of his machine and grabbed the chaos emerald Oscar's person. TThe two look in horror as Watts laughed himself silly. "Come on Chaos, time to eat!" The same creature Mercury fought last night appears and Watts give it the Chaos emerald, The creature name Chaos growing bigger. Watts look over the creature in glee. " Ooooh, yes! It's just as the stone tablets predicted. Ha ha ha ha ha! His strength increases every time I feed him a Chaos Emerald! With all 7 Emeralds in him, he'll be invincible! And work for me! Together, we'll destroy Station Square! And on its ruins, I will build Wattsland, the ultimate city! Where I will rule it all! Come on Chaos! Let's find another Emerald, shall we?" And with that Watts teleported away with Chaos." And with that, Watts and Chaos teleport away.

"So if he eats more of those gems he gets stronger? That doesn't sound good!"

Salem's interest in the creature was back and she was excited to see more of it.

The end!

.

See? This is the weakest I've done by myself.

[sally-mun]

OKAY BITCHES ON TO PART 2!

Also don’t forget to check out Part 1 if you haven’t yet!

British

Okay so maybe it’s in poor taste to start the British section with dolls I’m not actually sure are British, but fuck it. The one on the left is a doll I’m reasonably sure I got from a British seller, and the one on the right seems to just be a scaled-up version of it, SO. That’s what I’m going with.

No joke, the left doll is my favorite Sonic plushie EVER. It’s so incredibly fluffy and the proportions are just right and it’s really well-made and AUUGHH I LOVE HIM. Interestingly the doll on the right is made of the same uber-fuzzy material, but it doesn’t have as much of a fluffy effect because of the larger scale. Also the shoe stripes are ribbons for some reason, which makes them stand out from all the other dolls.

So this is from a line of dolls that, as far as I’ve ever seen, are simply known as “Europe prize” plushies. I don’t know if they were actual prizes for some sort of game or claw machine or whatnot, but that’s how I tend to see them listed. These dolls are REALLY nicely made and incredibly cute, like way more than usual. I also have the Knuckles from this set, but he doesn’t live in this net so he’s not pictured here.

I know this line also included Sonic (obviously), Amy, and Shadow, but I’m not sure who else. I’d REALLY like to get the others someday, but I don’t have much hope for that, since they’re long since out of production and prices just keep going up as everyone cashes in on nerd collector culture.

This doll is fine enough on its own (if a bit fearful in the eyes), but what’s really odd about it is that it’s like literally twice as tall as the other dolls in its line, for some reason. I have the Sonic and Tails from this set, and their sizes both match each other, but for some reason Knuckles is a tall boi?? Oh well.

I believe this set also includes an Eggman doll, but I’ve never seen it before.

I wish I’d thought to showcase it better in this photo, but the tag on the bottom of Sonic’s right foot here is the real spotlight of this doll. I don’t know much about the background of this doll, but i know that tag on his foot is what distinguishes him from other Sonic dolls, and collectors go NUTS for this guy. I remember missing out on one years ago because the shipping was too costly (it’s always been rough importing from Britain, but it used to be a lot harder), and for a while I thought I’d never get one. Oddly this one that I did eventually nab is the only one I’ve ever seen with suction cups. I’d like to hope that one day I could get the one that doesn’t have them, but I’m not holding my breath.

Following the last doll, I’m sure a lot of you are immediately noticing that this Tails also has the tag on his foot, albeit a very faded one. This doll is also super odd, because EVERY other time I’ve ever seen this doll before, it has NOT had the foot tag! This one is the only one I’ve encountered with the tag, and I didn’t even know it had it until it arrived in the mail. This doll is also about 50% bigger than the Sonic doll with the foot tag, maybe he goes with the non-suction cup’d Sonic plushie? I don’t know off the top of my head how big that Sonic is supposed to be, so it’s possible! Or maybe these dolls have nothing to do with each other, and I bought some weird anomaly. Definitely one of the weirder Tails plushies in my collection.

Australian

EASILY the ugliest doll I will ever own, short of maybe obtaining the Tails that matches this set. (Trust me, the Tails is REALLY FUCKING UGLY.) I have such mixed feelings on this lil guy because, as many of you already know, this is one of the elusive Sega World Sydney dolls, which means it’s EXTREMELY rare and thus meant to be treasured... and yet holy shit guys how did you fail so hard on this doll. I mean FOR FUCK’S SAKE HE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE SOCKS! OR FINGERS!! There were plenty of Sonic plushies in the world by the time this doll was created, and they all socks and fingers, let alone better designed faces. I dunno man, I don’t know how to reconcile how ugly this doll is.

And then there were two.

Those of you that’ve been following me for years have probably already seen these before, but fuck it, here they are again. The Sega World Sydney plushies are the ONLY official Sally plushies to exist, and like the Sonic one, it’s really difficult to reconcile how incredibly ugly they are. I mean I can at least cut them some slack with the faces I guess, because the one on the left isn’t terrible I suppose. I think the fact that she doesn’t have hands is really stupid, but I mean, if Sonic didn’t get fingers I guess I’m not surprised Sally didn’t either. No, the thing that really gets me about these Sally dolls is the hair. It’s hard to tell from this angle but it’s.... bad. Oh my god it’s so fucking bad. It looks like she had a bad incident with a weedwacker. WHO THE FUCK DID THEY HIRE TO DESIGN THESE PLUSHIES?!

Whatever, I don’t turn away official Sally merch. Vests exist for these dolls, but as you can see I don’t own them for either of these two. I do have a third, smaller Sally that DOES have her vest, but she doesn’t live in this net. Maybe another time!

More bad Sally hair, this time without legs because she’s a hand puppet. She probably has the worst hair of all of the Sally dolls I personally own, it’s very clumpy and matted. The others’ hair is at least still fluffy.

I’ll let the fact that she doesn’t have hands slide here, being a puppet at all, but even then it’s only because I’m feeling generous. There’s no reason she shouldn’t have had them.

SOOOO not technically a plushie, but it was in the net and I’m doing Sally items right now anyway, so fuck it. This is a mini-backpack, but the fabric is so furry that it’s pretty much impossible to get a clear picture. I left the strap there sticking out just to help give some idea of what shape you’re even looking at.

I can’t remember what I paid for this, and honestly I don’t care, because it’s so unique and I’ve never seen another one since.

Bootlegs

A friend of mine sent me this as a surprise a few years ago because he thought it was cute, and I definitely have to say it’s one of the more fascinating items in my collection. Most of the time bootleg merch is trying to imitate something official to confuse the buyer, but so far as I know this is completely original! I love it because it’s what I imagine Sonic would look like if he were an Animal Crossing character. The most bizarre detail of all, though, is that the tush tag has the logo for Detective Conan instead of Sonic the Hedgehog. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.

This is a fake version of the Fang/Nack doll from Sonic the Fighters, but honestly, I don’t mind at all that it’s a bootleg because holy shit this doll is higher quality than some of my official ones! (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, SEGA WORLD.) According to the pictures I’ve seen, I think he’s actually even better quality than the original he’s copying!

It’s hard to describe just how nice this doll is, because the picture seriously does not do him justice. The stitching is perfectly clean, the proportions are absolutely perfect, the fabric is soft and high-quality, and oh my god the HAT!! The hat is AMAZING, it’s actually solid and holds its shape VERY well! The same goes for his tail too, on that note. Plushies with long tails tend to have trouble maintaining their shape, but this doll’s tail is really well done. He also has a much longer muzzle than most dolls of this time were willing to use, which again helps his proportion and overall accuracy. I don’t give one single shit that this doll isn’t official, I love him so fucking much! <3 <3 <3

Other Dolls

What can I say, I fucking LOVE Nick Wilde from Zootopia, and this is one of the best dolls of him I’ve ever seen. It’s actually really nicely made (they put a LOT of work into his shirt), and he’s very soft and huggable. Also, bless that smarmy expression, they got it just right.

Jumbo Tom Nook! This is the only jumbo plushie of him I’ve ever seen, so I’m glad I was able to nab it. The fabric is oddly shiny though, and I have no idea why?? I have several Tom Nook plushies from different doll lines, and I’ve never seen another one that’s shiny like this.

Decided to picture these guys together because why the fuck not. I apologize for the lack of clarity, but I’ve never been willing to open their bags. I want them pristine~

One thing I think is cool about the Undertale dolls is that there’s so much uniqueness put into each one. They all have differently shaped tags to reflect their individual personalities, and the plastic bags they come in have different patterns as well. The fabric patterns all completely unique to each one as well, so they’re not all clones of each other (especially with Papyrus).

You can actually still buy all of these guys right now on the Fangamer website! They’re pricey, but you get a quality that makes the price worth it, and you get a discount if you buy them together!

Vault Boy from Fallout, and for some reason I’m just now realizing that I don’t know what vault number is on his back. I feel like a terrible fan, FORGIVE ME. He has also never come out of his bag, so sorry for viewing difficulties here as well.

Companion cube ‘fuzzy dice’ for the car. This is one instance in which I have actually not used the car-related plushie in my car, as at the time I got this it was VERY difficult to get companion cube merch of any kind (these dice were actually a compromise with myself because I still couldn’t afford a regular cube), and after the work I put in to find these I definitely wasn’t going to risk them in my car! Just as well anyway, because they’re awfully big and would’ve been pretty cumbersome to look past.

...I did, however, put these in my car for a while. These are fuzzy D20 dice, because come on, if you’re going to hang dice in your car and have the option to use these, how can you not?? It definitely got a lot of compliments, even from people that simply saw them through the window. I didn’t even play tabletop games yet at the time, I just really liked them~

AAAAND THAT’S IT~ At least, that’s it for this net! Maybe I’ll do this again with the other nets sometime, if you guys would like to see more. I do have another one that also very much needs a dusting, so we’ll see!

Thanks for tuning in!!

[the-nysh]

Murata updated chapter 172! (and somehow it's even thirstier + garou became sonic the hedgehog + his demon tan is starting to show)

!?!!?!! 👀 Hold on, I just got online and you’re unloading all this new goodness to me; I gotta see this shit for myself!

Chapter 173 of the manga was corrected, the changes being that Garou got his shoulders dislocated, then relocated with the power of Junji Ito, kicked Darkshine in the solar plexus(Murata definitely now had a preference for his drawing his, uh, lower areas), and became Sonic. Bonus him gritting his teeth from the pain being changed to steamy panting, which I’m sure you’ll appreciate.

(Oh, also Garou’s scar was added back (I wonder how Murata keeps forgetting to draw that one?) and there was a small, but nice change to Darkshine’s posture after Garou hits the ground; now Darkshine’s palm is open as if he was about to reach out to Garou as soon as he saw him fall. Gah, the S-class demonstrating the goodness of their heart in the manga is getting to me, Garou look like a true monster during the showdown.)

WHAT WHATTATA?!? Going thru update 172 (ch129, didn’t see any changes made to update 173 tho, so looks like Murata only edited Garou’s chapter this week, heh nice), here’s some differences! :O

(Original left, updated right) Zoomed in a bit more, no more knees showing but now there’s extra leg hatching, and a new Darkshine expression!

Whoa!!! :O This part is brand new! After the ‘gigantic fear’ double spread, omg Darkshine reacts with a double bazooka attack, and holy shit, Garou just tanks them in the shoulders! D8 Pushed back, lul more leg, and healed with the power of dark Junji Ito vortexes~ But omg yeah, it’s that same spiral pattern for the injuries just like on his abdomen from Orochi’s stab wound. Interesting. I feel like with too many of these on him though, his design may get overly busy, but if it helps explain the growing ‘darkness’ enveloping/healing his body, then…👀

Ooooh!! A new kick counter! :O (With the added spirals on the shoulders in the left panels too.) Actually this better explains how he was able to knock Darkshine off guard + down from before (compared to him yelling into just nailing him down by the throat.) Now there’s all these extra counter moves in between! Also lul, the literal Sonic hedgehog spin, and a new backside shot, Murata pls! X’D But you know what these two new panels remind me of?! These two previous moves he’s done before, vs the A Class heroes and Metal Bat:

Oho! Even the similar way he goes from the spin into another kick counter at the head/throat. That time Metal Bat held his ground and the move didn’t work, but this time, whoop, there Darkshine goes~ (Yup Garou’s gained some significant power compared to back then.)

^More shoulder spirals consistently added to these panels too.

(First version left, updated right) Ah! Yep, Murata added back the scar (that he somehow often forgets to draw, maybe he just defaults to clean Garou~) But yes, there’s several more changes here, including the shoulder spirals (where now it looks like the ‘crack’ sound effect is coming from them, plus the other sound effect covering his leg is removed Murata pls), more creeping black stuff on his face in the lower panel, and Darkshine’s new concerned hand gesture reaching out to him, aww. :’) It seems all of Darkshine was redrawn there too.

ALSO THIS!?!? (Dang, I didn’t save a copy of the lower panel from before to compare the change to his expression. EDIT: found it!) What the, holy shit Murata, control your thirst! X’D  His face is darkened, there’s more of that black vortex stuff spreading bigger over his shoulders and it explains how it creeps up both sides of his face now (not just one side anymore, eep;;), but also….WHY IS IT NOW ALL STEAMY!!??! Buahaha oh my god!! Murata, you just had to do it to him, didn’t you. ;D Instead of just gritting his teeth in pain from before, he’s uhhh…doing that instead, geez. Also noteworthy cause Garou’s tanked and endured a lot of pain/punishment from before, and he’s always managed to ignore/grit through it and stand back up again. But this looks like the first time it’s ever forcefully made him actually double over on his knees. D: That’s pretty !!! significant compared to just how much (the level/pain tolerance) he can usually take. (Holy fuck, why is all of this so super suggestive now, esp with the added panting, guahaha Murata you fiend!) It’s testing his limits for sure, and if Garou can manage to overcome and get thru this (and survive the collapsing room) then…..only Murata knows how much more this will affect/change his appearance from here on out!

Aha, and so I love how when it’s a week later from the last ch, and on a usual Thurs/Fri update day too, Murata decides to go back and update the previous Garou content instead (which was actually the second most recent ch he could have worked on) because of course he would. :P If Murata thinks of new Garou stuff he can add, then he’s gonna go right ahead to jump on that and do it, ahaha. 8D Thanks anon for informing me of the new updates!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 187

Is this the best episode?    It might be.   Unfortunately, Larry’s camera doesn’t work, so most of Dragon World can’t witness it.  

Nice shot of the squad to start us off.   

So last time, Cell tried to fight Super Saiyan 2 Gohan and it didn’t go well.   He only landed one punch, and only after he used his maximum power, and it didn’t do anything.   Then Gohan hit him twice and left him reeling.    By now, it’s clear which one of them is stronger and faster, but what can Cell do?    Surrender?  This whole stupid tournament was his idea.   Apologize?   We’re way past that.  Run away?  Where can he go?  

Besides, Cell’s too pissed to consider his situation.   All along, he’s put his faith in Dr. Gero’s design.   He’s supposed to be the ultimate life form, despite looking nothing like Shadow the Hedgehog.   All he had to do was follow Gero’s posthumous instructions and he’d become invincible, but now he’s done all of that and he’s still found himself backed into a corner.   He can either deny it and keep fighting, or he can accept that his entire existence is based on an empty promise.  

What’s amazing to me here is how Cell keeps  throwing the same kick, even after Gohan blocks it, and then he screams “stop mocking me!” I mean, yeah, I guess what Gohan is doing counts as mockery, but he’s also just clearly superior to Cell.   

As if in response to Cell, Gohan grabs Cell’s leg, charges up, and kicks him in the face.   If you’re watching the original Funimation dub, this is where “Gohan Fights Frieza” plays again, and it’s awesome.

Cell gets up, but all he can do is wonder how it came to this.   The first time I saw this episode, I started to think about what he did the last time he was in this sort of pinch, and he absorbed an android to leapfrog his opponents’ power level.   Only there are no more androids to absorb.   Cell is complete.   There’s no miracle power-ups waiting for him.    He’s completely on his own now.  

So Cell tries.... Destructo Discs.   Really?  Pretty sure this is filler again, but it’s kind of silly for Cell to whip out his genetically inherited techniques now.    Those gimcracks didn’t work on Goku, and they didn’t work on Gohan when the Cell Juniors tried them.

This time, Gohan just stops the discs in mid-flight and disperses them with his power.   In a way, we’ve come full circle.    When Cell first became Perfect, Krillin hit him with a Destructo Disc and it was completely ineffective.    Now Cell’s the one using the same move, and with the same result.  

Next, Cell fires a Special Beam Cannon, and asks what Gohan’s going to do this time.   

Well, Gohan just deflects it, same way Piccolo did back when Imperfect Cell used it on him way back when.   I mean, there’s a reason Piccolo doesn’t use this much after the Saiyans Saga.   

Then Cell uses.... I guess that rapid-fire attack Frieza used on Piccolo in his Third Form?    It doesn’t look quite the same, but I don’t know anyone else who does it like this.   None of it works.   In the dub, Cell observes that the blasts passed right through Gohan, but I’m pretty sure they sort of slipped around him instead.   Either way, no dice.

Over where Mr. Satan is, he announces that he’s so impressed with Gohan’s performance that he plans to make him his apprentice.    Piroshki and Caroni aren’t keen about this, since they’re Satan’s star pupils, but Satan tells them they’re expelled.   Geez.   Anyway, Jimmy Firecracker finally breaks kayfabe and tells Mr. Satan that Gohan clearly has far more impressive powers than any of them, but Satan insists that he could teach the boy to become even greater.  

This part here’s super awesome.    Cell was so busy being pissed that he forgot that Gohan’s still trying to kill him.    When all his attacks fail, Gohan starts walking towards him, and his frustation gives way to fear.

The narration of Cell’s emotional state is truly terrific, but I’m also fond of the dub version of this scene, where Gohan speaks to him, and essentially describes Cell’s thoughts aloud.   

“What are you so afraid of, Cell?   Isn’t this what you wanted?   I warned you!  I told you what would happen if you pushed me too far!   But you didn’t listen!   You forced me to awaken my hidden power.    And now that you’ve seen it, you’re afraid, because you know that I’m going to destroy you!”

And then Cell makes this priceless face.    This is what I love so much about the character.   Throughout his run as the main villain, Cell’s been a lot of things.  He’s mostly known for being this brick wall that the other characters can’t overcome.   But he’s also been a hideous horror-movie creature, and a smarmy wise-ass.   He’s also been known to play mindgames with the heroes, like when he tempted Vegeta to let him become perfect, and when he invited Goku to eat a senzu bean during their fight.     There’s layers to Cell.    He can do more than just eat people and kick ass.    And now, we come to the final phase of Cell’s character, when he’s completely outmatched, and he becomes a panicky coward.   

Desperate, Cell jumps into the air and fires a Kamehameha wave down below.   Essentially, this is the same thing Vegeta did back in the Saiyans Saga.   If Gohan dodges the blast, it’ll destroy the planet, so he has to take this head on.  

But Gohan just fires back an even bigger Kamehameha to put an end to that dilemma.   Cell ends up getting overwhelmed and engulfed in the blast.

Everyone thinks that’s the end of Cell, because those big energy blasts usually do the trick in the movies, but Cell’s still alive!    He’s lost part of his legs, most o his left arm, his wings, and those things on his head, but he’s still alive.

And that doesn’t bother Gohan at all.  

As Goku watches this, he flashes back to the day he learned Gohan had this kind of potential.    They were in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and Goku wanted to call it a day after a 20-hour training session, when....

... Gohan stood up and asked to keep going a while longer.

Then he made that same face he’s making at Cell right now...

... and then he turned SSJ2, but only for a moment.    This flashback is filler, but it makes some sense.   Goku must have seen some hint of Gohan’s true ability in the Chamber, or why else would have come out of the Chamber early?  

The only thing missing here is the part where Cell actually dies.    Piccolo reminds them that Cell will just regenerate if they leave him alone long enough, and Goku calls out to Gohan to put a bow on this thing already.

But Gohan refuses.    He wants Cell to suffer a while longer first.   And this is where things take a turn for the worse.    As badly as Gohan is beating Cell here, it’s all for nothing if Gohan won’t actually kill the guy.    I think the most popular interpretation of this is that Gohan is so angry at Cell that he’s just not thinking clearly.   He wants to punish Cell for everything he’s done, to the point where he’s lost sight of his original objective.  There’s also some youthful inexperience at play here.   

That’s probably all true, but I think there’s another side to this.   Despite his rage, I think Gohan still can’t quite bring himself to kill Cell.     Maybe I’m way off, since he killed the Cell Juniors, and he killed some of Frieza’s men back on Namek, but those were sudden, impulsive kills.    Cell may not be strong enough to beat Gohan, but he’s still powerful enough that Gohan will have to work a little to kill him, which means he’s got to make a conscious decision to end Cell’s life.   That may be a road he just can’t bring himself to cross, even after everything that’s happened.  

In the manga, Goku pleads for Gohan to take Cell out now, pointing out that there’s no telling what Cell might do if he gets desperate.    The dub and the Japanese script of the anime don’t put it that way, which is kind of a shame, because I liked that wording.    There’s really no telling what Cell might do if he’s completely cornered.     By torturing him this way, Gohan is only giving Cell time to think of what he can stoop to.

First, Cell just starts swearing, which is pretty understandable.

Then he gets huuuuuuuge!    That’s right, it’s time for Perfect Cell (Dummy Thicc).  

I love this visual, because Cell keeps getting bigger and meaner and louder, and it looks like Gohan’s this plucky little kid being terrorized by a horrible monster, but Cell’s the one’s who’s scared right now.    All he knows to do now is to try to frighten Gohan back, and it just ain’t working.

As Trunks points out, Cell’s making the same mistake that Trunks did back when Trunks and Cell fought.   I’m not even sure Cell realizes it.   He’s just so upset that he started powering up, until his body got super bulky and slow.    So now he’s still no match for Gohan and he’s a bigger target.  And this is probably why Gohan didn’t listen when Goku warned him to finish Cell off quickly.    Yeah, we don’t know what Cell might do, but what can he do?  If this is all he has left to try, what difference does it make?

Gohan just kicks the shit out of his face, and that calms him down a bit.  

My favorite line from the dub version of this episode happens here, when Cell exclaims: “You’re not a boy!   You’re a monster!”

Then Gohan follows up with a kick to the gut before Cell can even finish reacting to the last hit.    For those of you keeping score, SSJ2 Gohan has only hit Cell six times so far.   Two punches in the previous episode, then that kick to the face, the big Kamehameha, another kick to the face, and now this kick to the gut. 

Then this happens.    GPOY.  

See?   Cell was coughing up green fluid in the last episode, but this time it’s purple.   What’s up with this guy?  

That kick to the stomach fucked Cell uuuuup.    He can’t stand, and he keeps drooling.

Oh, and he’s still trapped in an endless war against a Super Saiyan 2.    Not a great place to take a sick day.

Then this.    Holy shit, what is he doing now?

Piccolo calls it.   By now, he figures Cell has become so weak that he can’t remain in his perfect form.   Not quite sure how Piccolo picked up on this, unless he noticed Cell’s ki dropping below the level he was at in his Semiperfect form.   

Okay, but why is he doing this, exactly? He looks like he’s about to throw up--

OH SHIT!    HOLY SHIT!    HOLY SHIT HE JUST BARFED UP 18!   

Gohan’s just watching this and smiling like a sick li’l bastard.    There’s no way he knew this would happen, but he looks pretty pleased about it.  

Okay, so the implication is that Cell sucked 18 up into his torso and just left her in tact?   Like she was balled up in his abdomen somewhere?   And maybe 17 too?   Only that doesn’t make any sense.    It looks plausible here, but that’s because Cell expanded himself to three times his normal size.    In his usual self, he wouldn’t be big enough to contain 17 or 18 whole.   

Also, we’ve seen big chunks of Cell get blown away since he became perfect.   Between Vegeta’s Final Flash, Goku’s Warp Kamehameha, and Gohan’s Kamehameha in this episode, most of the Cell we’re looking at is not the original.  I think his knees, thighs, pelvis, and the left half of his chest are about the only parts of him where 17 or 18 could have been stowed away.   

Past a point, you just have to say “It’s a cartoon” and move on, but my guess is Cell’s body dismantled 17 and 18 and assimilated their bodies into his own.    But the process was reversible, so if Cell ever got hurt badly enough, his body would reject one or both androids and he’d regurgitate them.   Shouldn’t 18 have come out of his tail, though?    That’s how she went in.     It’s just a cartoon.  An awesome, awesome cartoon.

I’m just going to leave this here without comment.

So yeah, Cell’s totally screwed, but the thing is, he was totally screwed in the last episode.   How much worse can it get for him?   How much more is Gohan going to do to this guy before he finally pulls the plug?   

[veryangryhedgehog]

“Holy Shit the Climax is so Long I had to Split it into Multiple Parts: Part III,” an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

Now that Cindy finally got a good look at him, she could see that yes, Nihil was in fact her brother. His hair was longer and darker, his skin paler and cheeks gaunt. But the eyes didn’t lie. The look in them was different, they were harder, unrecognizing. Yet they were still his. What had the Director done to him?

“I don’t think I’d trust him,” Niko warned. “He’s clearly not your brother anymore. He’s probably lying.”

Cindy hesitated, the flames dancing in the doorway between them. Nihil stared back at her, and Cindy was shocked to realize that the gaze was nearly impenetrable. His mind, it was… hardly human anymore.

Still, there was that small thought at the back of her mind. She hoped he was telling the truth. Cindy took a deep breath and let out the flames. Then she stepped past the threshold and into the classroom. “Tommy,” she called back over her shoulder. “Miller family meeting.”

Tommy seemed nearly surprised to be included, but after a second followed after her.

Marcell frowned. “The moment this goes south—”

“You’re gonna tear his throat out, I know,” Cindy nodded, before she and her brothers disappeared into the classroom.

Cindy had imagined this reunion numerous times, but it had never been like this in her head. She sat at a desk, and Tommy followed suit a second later. Nihil hesitated, as if unsure of what to do, before Cindy grabbed his hand to lead him to the desk next to her. He flinched at the touch, and Cindy’s heart nearly broke.

“So you want to know about Mike?” she asked, mostly to Nihil, but also for Tommy’s benefit as well. “Mike was—is,” she corrected, he wasn’t gone yet. “Mike is…”

But she stopped. How could she tell this complete stranger just who her brother was? How could she verbally explain the essence of a whole person, what made him Mike, in a way that this person would understand?

“The… the mail,” she finally stuttered out. “Mike always got the mail. Our mother works so hard for us, and she’s usually so tired when she gets home that she forgets. So Mike always got the mail for her on his way in from soccer.”

Tommy and Nihil stared at her, the former wondering where she could be going with this but the latter looking thoughtful. She took this as a good sign.

“He was always the thoughtful one, in a way I never could be. I’ve always been a little jealous of that, the way he could just care about people. Like he never had to put any effort into it, he never had to think about it, it just happened.

“Not that he couldn’t be a little shit. He was always forgetting his stuff in the weirdest places and begging me to go get them for him. But in the end, I guess that turned out for the best.

“I doubt he knew, of course, but I think somehow he knew that getting that lunchbox would change everything. He’s smart like that. I’ve been trying to pick up the slack since he’s been gone, but I can’t be there for mom like he could.”

“Carol,” Nihil said suddenly, and Cindy and Tommy nearly jumped. “Her name. It’s Carol, isn’t it?”

Blinking, Cindy had to bite her lip to keep from letting out a sob. “Y-yes,” she said.

“And you’re…” he seemed very confused, shaking his head. “You’re Cindy. Why do I know that? I don’t know anything. I’m nothing.”

“Did she tell you that?” Tommy asked.

Nihil was blinking rapidly. “No. It did.”

“It?” Cindy asked, but Nihil refused to say more. “You’re not nothing,” she continued instead, gazing into his eyes. “You’re my brother. You’ve been singlehandedly keeping our house together for years. You are amazing!”

“I… I don’t…” he looked over to Tommy suddenly. “I don’t know you.”

Cindy looked down. “You would have been too young to remember. Mom and I should have talked about it more.”

“I’m Tommy,” he cut in. “I’m your older brother.”

At this, Nihil’s eyes widened. “We didn’t have a father. Growing up we never had a father, I always wondered why. You and mom never said anything about it. I didn’t even know I had had a brother until I dug up an old newspaper clipping in the attic.”

“You… found that?” Cindy asked.

Nihil shrugged. “Neither of you were going to tell me anything about it. I didn’t want to make you sad… that’s… who is this?” he seemed nearly horrified at the words coming out of his mouth.

“That’s Mike,” Cindy smiled. “That’s you. I don’t know what the Director did to you, but nothing will ever change that fact.”

“No, I… I don’t understand,” he clutched at his head. “All these… these things. My head doesn’t make sense, my chest is tight.”

Tommy patted him on the head, and he suddenly looked more his age. Less edges. Mike had no edges at all. “Those are called feelings, my man. They’re kind of a bitch, but we’ve all gotta deal with ‘em one way or another.”

“I remember this. It’s terrible.”

Laughing, Tommy just shook his head. “That it is.”

“I’m so confused,” Nihil rubbed his temple. “Who am I?”

“I don’t know,” Cindy said. “You were Mike, now maybe you’re not.”

“There’s so much I can’t remember. Some of it’s beginning to come back, but… can you help me?” he looked at Cindy, pleading with his eyes, and she couldn’t help seeing her pudgy-faced little brother asking her to play with him. “Can you help me find Mike again?”

“You don’t need to find him, he’s still in there, I know it. But yes,” she grinned, “I’ll help you as much as you need.” She wrapped her arms around him. Tommy hesitated, not sure if he could join in, but Cindy winked and his arms were in turn around her.

They sat there like that for a long time, just listening to each other breathe. Finally, for the first time in thirteen years, they were all together.

“I hate to break up this touching family reunion,” came Niko’s voice from the doorway, “but it looks like we’ve got problems.”

The three of them broke apart, and looked at each other for a moment, before following Niko from the classroom. Out in the hall, Mike looked around at the assembled crowd, all the familiar and unfamiliar faces. It seemed that Muirne and Gil had joined the group while the three had been having their feelings jam.

Mike blinked at the two of them in recognition, but a second later, his eyes drifted over to Marcell. “Wait,” he said, all edges again. “You’re Mik—uh, my old history teacher. What are you doing here?”

Marcell looked over to Cindy helplessly. “It’s a long story,” she said simply.

“One you can tell later,” Niko interrupted. “You’re not gonna murder us, right?” he turned to Mike.

“Only if you try first.”

“Fair enough,” Niko replied, nodding. “These two just got here,” he gestured to Muirne and Gil. “It looks like it’s your lucky day, Marcell. We might get to find your Truth after all.”

Gil took a step forward. “The army of mechanics have been dealt with, and the angels of battle are helping the last of the children to safety. I’m sorry about your eye, by the way,” he added to Niko.

“You’re not forgiven yet, but give me a little while,” Niko gave him.

“That doesn’t matter now,” Muirne interjected. “The Director got away from us in the heat of battle. I believe she’s in league with the Truth. I can feel it. It is here. It will use her, and then it will destroy her. And who knows what will happen then. We can’t let this stand.”

“First and foremost,” Niko regained the floor, “this is a rescue mission. It looks like we were successful in that regard. Cindy, Tommy, Mike—Nihil, whatever the hell, if you guys wanna go back, feel free. You’ve been through a lot.”

The three of them looked at each other. Then Cindy looked over at Marcell. He’d helped her so much with finding Mike. Now it was time to help him with his mission. “I’m staying,” she said, looking specifically at Marcell. “You’re gonna need all the firepower you can get.”

“She’s right,” Mike said. “I… I think I’ve seen it, the thing down there. That Thing should never see the light of day.”

“Well shit,” Tommy blinked. “If you guys are staying, I guess I will too. I uh, don’t suppose we could talk this thing to death, huh?”

“Probably not,” Marcell grimaced.

“In that case, I hope I don’t drag you all down.”

“So we’re decided,” Niko said, and everyone nodded. “Then down into the depths we go.”

“That room that the Director was having… Nihil guard,” Mike seemed to struggle with the name. “That’s the main entrance. If there’s any place it will be, it’s down there.”

“Lead the way,” Niko said, and as a group, they all followed Mike back down the hallway and to the door that Servus had been previously leading them to. Cindy now saw with a pit growing in her stomach that the plaque on the door was engraved with the words “the Director”. Of course it was. At this point, she shouldn’t even have been surprised.

They all hesitated at the door, and Niko rolled his eyes before twisting the handle, muttering something about having to do everything around here. The door opened near silently, and the eight of them stepped inside.

The office was surprisingly barren, as if it was rarely used. In fact, nothing much was in there at all except an empty desk and a few bookshelves towards the back.

Cindy opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a harsh crackle as unseen speakers came to muffled life. “My, there are a lot of you, aren’t there?” asked a voice, which Cindy vaguely recognized.

“Isn’t that—”

“Abigail Hodge is the Director we’ve already established this yes,” Gil sighed. “Far too many times.”

“Hmm, I see you’ve undone my hard work on Paragon Beta. A shame, but not unexpected,” the voice continued. “A necessary sacrifice. He knows the way down. I’ll be waiting.”

With a click the speaker went dead once more. Cindy glanced back and forth between them all. What did they have to work with? A vampire, a Mafioso in training, her gypsy brother, an automaton, a super-powered human experiment, and two ancient heroes. It seemed like a lot, it’s true, but up against an evil so great that its very nature could only be described by the highly undescriptive words “the Truth”? It may have not been enough. There was, however, only one way to find out.

Mike flipped the switch on the wall on and off in quick succession, and without much fanfare the bookshelves on the far end of the room swung open to reveal an elevator behind.

“Of course,” Niko shook his head. “I don’t know what else I expected.”

Inside, the elevator was large, with enough room for all of them, plus some extra space to spare. It slid downwards, as smooth as water, so much so that it hardly felt like they were moving at all. They were all silent, glancing between each other with worried looks. Gil and Muirne locked eyes, while Marcell grabbed Cindy’s hand. Among them, only Mike looked unaffected by the approaching atmosphere. He simply stared straight ahead, waiting.

After what seemed like a long time, the elevator came to a halt, but in the second before it opened, they all froze. For from the other side of the door, something was banging.

Cindy raised a hand, Muirne gripped Brandubh. Everyone held their breath as slowly, the doors slid open.

“Of course,” slurred a voice from the other side. “Of fucking course. Come on, I don’t wanna die down h—”

It seemed to take the kid a second to realize that the door had opened. His white hair bobbed as he swayed on his feet, and his whole body was affected by what appeared to be spasms. He twitched uncontrollably, except for his hands, which endured a constant shaking.

He blinked once or twice, then grinned stupidly as he caught sight of Mike. “Oh hey, Mike. What’cha doin down here with us sinners… wait, Mike?”

Mike concentrated. It seemed to cause his head a great deal of pain. “You’re… my roommate, right? D… Doug?”

“You’re not all angst-angst-murdery anymore? Jesus she really did a number on you too, huh?” Doug spasmed again and half-slid, half-fell against the wall.

“This kid needs to get to a hospital,” Tommy said. “People aren’t suppose to shake like that.”

Niko glanced up at him, unamused. “Thank you, Captain Obvious. Who can we spare?” He glanced around at the assembled group of witches, heroes, and science experiments. “You’re not gonna go for leaving Cindy, are you, Tommy?”

“Not a chance.”

“Welp,” Niko sighed. “I guess that leaves me. Besides, this ‘Truth’ thing is your guys’ schtick. I’ll head back up with this guy, and you all keep going.”

Cindy blinked gratefully. “We’ll do our best.”

The group trouped out of the elevator, and Niko stepped back inside, Doug’s arm braced against his shoulders. “Just don’t do anything stupid,” he said before the elevator doors closed.

They all paused, as if waiting for something. Niko had been the one who made the decisions. But someone was going to have to step forward. Cindy sighed. “Alright everyone,” she said. “Let’s start looking.”

She placed a foot forward, one in front of the other, and slowly, the others began to follow her, down into the abyss.

~~ o ~~

The elevator ascended in silence, Doug shaking and Niko trying to keep the taller man upright. Niko was worried about the others, it was true. Cindy would step forward to lead them, he knew that, but that lingering doubt about what they would face down there below the earth stuck with him.

Either way, it made sense for him to come back up. His planning was done, he couldn’t possibly prepare for a formless horror from the nameless eons of history. He wasn’t particularly powerful, at least compared to the others. What he had was his mouth, and his head. And his head, right now was telling him to get this kid out of Hodge’s kinky torture dungeon.

So lost in thought was he that he didn’t even realize Doug was staring at him, blinking blearily in confusion.

“Do I… know you?” Doug slurred.

Niko paused. “I was one of the people who broke into St. Adelaide’s the first time.”

“No, no, I remember that,” Doug attempted to wave him off, but only managed a rather pathetic shake. “I mean from somewhere else, I’m sure of it…”

“We’ve never met before. Whatever she did to you fucked up your brain.”

“Hm… I was sur—how did you lose your eye?” Doug’s eyes were wide and unfocused as he stared down at the eyepatch.

Caught off guard by the question, Niko stuttered. “I-I…”

“Did you give it for knowledge and hang from the world tree for nine days?”

“…What? Nine—” That’s how many days he’d been in the hospital.

Doug laughed. “I’m just kidding,” he grinned lopsidedly. “Norse myth, Odin lost his right eye… never mind,” he concluded hastily at Niko’s frown. “I remember. Gil’s handiwork, right?”

“You think you’re a pretty funny guy, huh?” Niko asked.

“Me?” Doug shook his head. “I have to be to cover the crippling self-loathing.”

“I can’t tell if this is the drugs or whatever the hell, or if you’re always like this.”

A sudden spasm almost brought Doug to his knees, and Niko too under his weight. “I may never be the same again. I’m insane. Mercury poisoning right to the brain.”

“Is that what she did to you? Jesus Christ. We’ve gotta get you to the hospital, stat.”

“I’m sure the Bifrost can get us there lickety—” Doug began, before passing out, his head falling downwards like a deflated balloon.

Something didn’t sit right with Niko. The elevator opened, but even as he dragged Doug through the doors, Niko couldn’t help feeling that he’d been here before…

~~ o ~~

This corridor was dark, the metal walls a rusted, corroded something, it was hard to tell, and the air tasted of blood and suffering. The only noise was the hard breathing the seven of them made as they slowly moved forward.

Mike froze a few steps in, clutching his temples.

“What’s wrong?” Cindy asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He blinked several times. “She… she took me down here, in the dark, so… cold, pain, only It.”

“It?”

“The cold, hard, objective Truth.”

“I can feel it too,” Muirne nodded. “It’s close.”

“So that is what you’re after.” Abigail’s voice crackled suddenly from the walls, everywhere. “You want my little parasite. You can try, you might even think you’ve succeeded, but you’ll never be able to truly get rid of it for me.”

They ignored her, and kept walking forward.

“Oh? Are you still going to try?” she laughed. “Wonderful. I can see you’re all struck with the very same curiosity that I am. Just keep walking straight ahead. Big old doors, you can’t miss ‘em.”

Her voice echoed in the sudden silence. The seven paused for a second, each suddenly uneasy.

“I don’t think we want to go in there,” Mike said. “You haven’t seen it. You should spare your minds, and your sanity.”

“But we’ve come so far,” Marcell interjected. “Do you know how many years I’ve been searching for this?”

“Why would you look for it?”

“Because I need to know, I—”

Cindy put her hand in his. She understood his drive, what he hoped the Truth could give him.

“You won’t be able to see for very long,” Gil stepped forward. “That thing needs to be destroyed once and for all.”

“As long as I can get my answer first.”

“Hey guys, normally I would say ‘let’s go for it,’” Tommy said suddenly. “But uh, Servus is shaking.”

They all looked down at the automaton, only to see that Tommy was right. Servus’ eyes were wide, darting back and forth wildly as his whole body shook. “No…” he mumbled. “Don’t… go back… don’t want to… go back.”

“Don’t want to go back?” Cindy asked. “What does he mean?”

Marcell sighed, and turned to her. “The first time we were here, when Servus wandered off, he did so because Aurum was having him follow Abigail. He tailed her down here and we think he… saw the Truth. But we don’t know because that’s right when we lost connection.”

“And after that is when he started acting strange…” Cindy concluded. “Do you think something… happened to him?”

“Don’t go!” Servus blurted out, very loudly.

Tommy patted him on the head. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We won’t let anything happen to you. But right now we need your help.”

Servus gulped, but his shaking began to subside.

“Then we’re agreed?” Cindy asked. “We go in there, kick Abigail’s ass, and destroy the son of a bitch?”

The group nodded, and started walking again.

A minute later, they reached the door at the end of the hallway, just like Abigail said, and with only a second’s hesitation, Cindy took a deep breath and pushed it open.

The room inside was large, and round. Instruments of science were set willy-nilly around the exterior, but the thing that drew all eyes was the enormous possibly-tank in the center of the room, its sides shuttered with huge slabs of metal. The seven of them filed in silently, each preparing in their own way. Marcell’s eyes widened, Muirne drew her sword. Cindy could see Mike practically jumping out of his skin.

“So here we are, finally,” said an unmistakable voice, and the party glanced up to a balcony behind the tank to see Abigail Hodge grinning down at them, the harsh lights shining off her glasses. “I can’t say that I didn’t plan for this,” she continued. “The minute I saw you outside of the gates I knew you would be the ones. Oh, but where’s the short one with the insufferable smirk?”

“He’s getting your experiment to a hospital,” Cindy glowered upwards.

Abigail blinked. “Doug? He’s still not dead? Of course he’s not. At this point, I’m pretty sure that skinny, sickly-looking fuck is nigh immortal. But we’re not here to talk about Doug. Would you like to see my parasite?”

She grabbed a button on a cord that dangled from the ceiling, but hesitated in pressing it.

“You know, it feels almost… anticlimactic to end it like this. I mean, without this thing I would never have been able to finish my project, and here I am, feeding it to a bunch of cannon fodder. I mean, to be fair it will probably just kill you all and it won’t be a climax at all, but on the off-chance…”

She shrugged. “Ah, well, that won’t happen. I admit I kind of feel bad, killing you all like this,” she continued, sighing. “You all had such potential, such character. It feels like such a waste to end it here. Some of you have hardly had any time to develop properly.”

“What are you even talking about?” Tommy asked, narrowing his eyes in annoyance.

Mike leaned closer to Cindy. “I’m going to go after her. There’s a corridor behind that balcony. As soon as she hits that button, she’s going to dash.”

She nodded as imperceptively as she could manage.

“Enough monologuing,” Marcell interjected.

“You’re right, I have done plenty of that, haven’t I?” Abigail’s grin widened. “Alright, suit yourselves. A pleasure to meet you all. Goodbye.”

She hit the button, and immediately a cloud of fog obscured her balcony, covering her escape, and slowly, the metal shutters began to open…

~~ o ~~

Abigail ran. She wasn’t used to running, it wasn’t really her style. She was more of the ‘sit in a high-backed chair while stroking a white cat’ sort of person. But sometimes to get what you wanted you had to take the more difficult option. Besides, Paragon Beta was inevitably already behind her.

The fog would slow him down. All of the water molecules would confuse him and make her harder to see. A little trick she’d learned from all those years she’d had Paragon Alpha locked up in the basement. And she needed him to be slow, because in her head was screaming.

Betrayer.

Forsaker.

You disregard the Truth.

That’s right, parasite. You’ve outlived your usefulness. These pawns back there will either die or tear you apart, and now all she’ll have to do is find a way to get rid of this little hanger-on in her head.

Beta was getting closer. Abigail could hear his frustrated breath near her ear as he chased her upwards through the darkened tunnel. Now was the moment of truth, the light was up ahead. She’s be more visible to him now, a shadow against the light reflecting off the mist. A second later she felt a hand brush her shoulder. Too close.

“You don’t want me dead, Nihil,” she called back to him.

“Give me one reason why not.” His voice was different now. Monotone, lacking all the boyish nervousness that it had once possessed. She had broken him. God, it made her horny.

She paused. He wouldn’t kill her until he got an answer. But she couldn’t die, not yet. “Because I’m the only one who can fix that scrambled head of yours.”

Don’t call her bluff, don’t call her bluff. If he couldn’t see her face he couldn’t call her bluff.

“I should kill you anyway.”

“But you won’t,” Abigail began moving away. “I’ll see you again, Paragon Beta.”

She took off, dashing towards the mouth of the tunnel, to the loading dock where Victor had already hot-wired the truck that those idiots had conveniently left behind.

Abigail threw herself into the passenger’s seat, leaned over and wrapped her arms around Victor as she felt his tongue enter her mouth. After just a second, however, she pulled away, grinned at him, and simply said: “Drive.”

~~ o ~~

Meaningless.

Everything is meaningless.

You don’t matter.

The Truth was in front of them, glaring at them from the confines of its glass tank. But they didn’t really see it. They were lost, blind, seeing it but not, seeing the endless abyss, the void of eternity.

Tommy saw Remus dying, he saw Kei diving into a rift, all the people over the years he couldn’t save, that after everything he’d done, all the people he’d helped, there was nothing he could do. Helpless, still that eight-year-old kid at the mercy of the man who was in no way his father.

Gilveidan saw his sister, corrupted, dead, not herself. He had to choke her, strangle the life out of her, the one person he held dear. We all die, nothing matters, nothing lasts. We all end, just like that. Eyes blank, skin cold. Dead.

Muirne saw her mother, lost in delirium, not able to bear the death of her son, denial, abomination, the thing that had his skin, his eyes, but not him. Could not ever be him. This is what happens when you defy the Truth, insanity, horror, pain. Endless suffering.

If Servus saw something, no one could guess what it could be. Perhaps just a flash, of sunlight, of breath, of things that some part of him might have known once, such a very, very long time ago. The flesh was not real, fleeting, pointless.

Marcell saw all these things, and more. He’d had enough pain to last many lifetimes. But he took a deep breath, focused as hard as he could, through the images of Aurelia crushed, Julia coughing... Gaius’ lifeless body, his blood in Marcell’s mouth and on his hands, and asked his question.

And there it was, the knowledge he sought, the humanity he craved. And the Truth simply stared at him. And laughed.

It doesn’t exist, the Truth told him, if it did, what would be the point? You aren’t human, you are so far removed from the humanity you emulate that I’m surprised you’ve hid yourself this long. You’re not human, and you can’t ever be. You are a monster, alone denied the one pleasure that humanity receives: you will never die.

He shook. “No,” he said. “No, nonononononono...” over and over. He fell to his knees. He was falling, back to that deep, dark place he’d found himself in so many times over the centuries. When he gave in to the hunger, and the want. Humans were worthless, their lives short and meaningless, just as the Truth said. All they were good for was to sustain him. All these people around him? He should just put them out of their misery now. He’d start with the one he cared for the most.

Marcell grabbed Cindy’s shoulder. He felt the hunger rising, she would taste the best of all. He could tell. That’s why he’d been attracted to her in the first place, he knew that deep down. The greatest meal. What are you waiting for? Isn’t this what you’ve really wanted all along? It would be a mercy to end her life now, release her from the pain of the living.

But then she looked at him, perfectly calm, perfectly fine.

“Why are you listening to it?” she asked simply.

He froze in place, and at that moment the reality of what he’d just been about to do came crashing down upon him. Letting her go abruptly, he fell back down to the ground. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled to the dirt, “I’m so sorry.”

Cindy put a hand on his head, and turned back towards the Truth. Because she’d seen all of it, the helplessness, the ends, the fighting in vain, the loss, the uselessness, all of it. And yes, it was the Truth, entropy, meaninglessness, that was all true. But so what?

She’d known this Truth for years, her rose-tinted glasses had been removed long ago. Looking back on it now, maybe she’d never really had them in the first place, feigning them so long she’d nearly forgotten how to take them off again.

“You’re right,” she said to it. “That is the Truth, it’s all entropy and void and nothing. Sure, everything is pointless. But it’s not about that. Yeah, everything is going to end, but it’s here right now. You’re here right now.”

The others began to look at her, first as if she was insane, and then more seriously as she kept speaking.

“The point isn’t the Truth. Fuck the Truth. The point is what you make with the time you’ve got, and the people you share it with. It’s... it’s taken me a long time to learn that.”

She paused as suddenly, Servus was beside her, slipping his hand into her own. He nodded.

The Truth merely laughed at them, the sound reverberating around the inside of their skulls. Fools, fools. But then Tommy was there behind her, and Gil, and Muirne. And finally, Cindy reached down and grabbed Marcell’s hand.

“You picked me out of the dirt,” she sighed as he resisted. “Brought me out of the lowest of the low. Now let me do the same for you.”

Slowly, he allowed her to help him to his feet. His eyes were still a bright shade of crimson, his features sharp and pointy. But she wasn’t afraid. She wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could so that nothing else could hurt him, not even himself, and whispered: “I love you.”

She pulled away as she felt a tap on her shoulder. Muirne smiled at her, and placed the sword Brandubh in her hands. “I believe you’ll need this,” she said.

But Cindy shook her head. “Together,” she insisted.

All six of them grabbed onto the hilt of the sword now clutched in Cindy’s hands.

Do you really think this will change anything? The Truth asked.

“Maybe not,” Cindy said. “But like you’ve been saying: ‘Does it really matter’?”

And there, feeling her friends that were there around her, Tommy, Servus, Gil, Muirne, Marcell, and those that weren’t, Niko, Mike, Aurum, Cowell… Lila, Cindy plunged the glowing sword into the heart of the beast. An ear-shattering scream filled her head, and Cindy promptly blacked out.

[nyalisa-landale]

in which i accidentally 2000 words about goddamn phantasy star

i ended up pulling up the phantasy star page on wikipedia to win a discussion with my brother wrt video game prices, and ended up finding out that

1) you can unlock it on the ps3 sega’s ultimate genesis collection (super easily, too) and

2) apparently it’s actually considered an Important Game and shit, ranking at 26 on a “top 200 videogames of all time” list as recently as 2006 - and i’m talking specifically phantasy star 1 the master system game, not the series as a whole. like, being one of the first, if not the first, rpgs to not be a dungeons and dragons clone and/or take place in a generic fantasy setting; “event scenes” which are basically the precursor to cutscenes; actual characters with, like, names and backstories and motivation and shit; and, also, one of the first games with a female protagonist. metroid did it first, technically, having come out two years earlier, but while everyone knows samus is a girl now, back in 1986 you only found out if you beat the game fast enough and got to see her out of her suit (in a bikini, because 8-bit graphics); in phantasy star you knew right up front and center that you were playing as alis, younger sister of nero, whose tragic death the game literally opens with. also pseudo-3d dungeons, animated monster battles, and three fucking planets you could travel between. 

(there’s a read-more after this; apparently i have a lot of feelings about phantasy star. rip anyone on mobile... including myself.)

don’t even get me started on phantasy star 2. you know what came out (in america) two months before final fantasy? this fucking shit. you know what pulled an aeris nine years before final fantasy 7 ever existed? this fucking shit. final fantasy was busy pulling a fifty shades on dungeons and dragons while phantasy star 2 was throwing characterisation and introspection and self-discovery and fantastic fucking worldbuilding and reversing the usual “humans vs aliens” plot (spoiler: we’re the invaders here) and just generally being amazing, well before final fantasy would start even thinking about it. did the sega genesis have a killer app? yes, and it wasn’t fucking sonic the hedgehog.

it’s not even fair to compare phantasy star 2 to final fantasy, what with them being from two different console generations and phantasy star 2 also being the largest game ever released at the time on any console (six megabits!), although for american audiences that’s the comparison they’d be making, since final fantasy came out so goddamn late here. ps1 vs ff1 is a fairer comparison, except that it isn’t, because everything i just said about ps2 vs ff1 still applies. (also - in japan, at least - ps1 came out literally two days after ff1.) 

the worst goddamn thing i can say about this series is that it is, afaik, super obscure now. if you look up phantasy star stuff now, most of what you’ll find is probably going to be phantasy star online-related (let me get to that in a bit). much like everything else about sega, phantasy star was too goddamn ahead of its time and ambitious. EXAMPLE: fucking phantasy star 3, widely regarded as the worst game in the series - so much so that when sega was attempting an updated ps2 rerelease it was a phantasy star trilogy consisting of 1, 2, and 4 - had multiple generations, branching storylines, and four different endings. IN 1990. it was a gaiden (side story) game before the actual phantasy star: gaiden came out, let alone fire emblem: gaiden (although not, i don’t think, before the phantasy star 2 gaiden games, of which there were several; i could be wrong on that but it’s within the same series so it doesn’t really matter). i was going to call zelda 2 a gaiden game as well - fe2 apparently got compared to it a lot, both of them being the second game in a series and both of them taking a decidedly different approach to gameplay than the first had - but zelda 2 is actually literally a direct sequel, so it’s not gaiden in the slightest.

ANYWAY, ps3 appears at first entirely unrelated to anything in the previous two phantasy stars - dark force, the series Big Bad, gets referenced near the beginning but i don’t know if they actually call him by name until much later - and appears to be a fairly basic fantasy romp, except then you get a fucking robot party member (followed shortly thereafter by a second) and the “passages” to different “worlds” are inexplicably mechanical-looking, and then in the second generation you GO TO THE FUCKING MOON (which moon depends on which 2nd gen character you’re playing) and find out that actually, your home with its tiny “worlds” and weird fucking “passages”? IS A GODDAMN SPACESHIP. 

you know what other game starts out super fantasy but, in the end, you go to the goddamn moon? final fantasy 4. a year later. my knowledge of super famicom games doesn’t extend that much farther than final fantasy and fire emblem with a side order of zelda, so i might be entirely off the mark on this one, but as far as i know the next game of that era to do a multiple generation thing was fe4, genealogy of the holy war, in 1996. six fucking years later.

unfortunately phantasy star 3 spent a bit too much effort being super innovative, because it literally is objectively the worst of the quadrilogy, but it is by no means a bad game? phantasy star 2 set a high fucking bar and phantasy star 4 picked up where ps2 left off (only not really, because it’s 1000 years later); 3, with its barely-there tie to phantasy star 2 (in an entirely optional town, at that) and weird-ass mechanics that only it has, gets forgotten pretty easily in the middle of that. you know. like a fucking gaiden game.

and speaking of phantasy star 4, it expands even more on the “event scenes” of previous games, as well as the script, and guess what? it did combination attacks two years before chrono trigger did. (or a few months, for us americans. still.) this is the phantasy star i have the least experience with, so i can’t comment as much on it, but i do know that it is a long fucking game, and not because it’s grindy as hell. because plot. STORY! (also apparently, in the us at least, it retailed for ~$100. yikes.)

also, i lied, because ps4 is not the phantasy star i have the least experience with; that would be everything that came after.* i, personally, love the quadrilogy to pieces and pretend that nothing else came after it, ever (which is really easy to do, because none of it is fucking related to the quadrilogy except for set dressing), but I CAN’T NOT MENTION PHANTASY STAR ONLINE, not if i’m talking about sega being tragically too ahead of its fucking time. it was literally the second online console game - i think the first mmo - and the first online console game - chu-chu rocket! - was made literally so that sega could figure out how the fuck to make pso work. chu-chu rocket! came out for the dreamcast in 1999; phantasy star online followed in 2000. ps2 online multiplayer wasn’t a thing until the year after that; followed another year later by the xbox. (final fantasy xi also came out in 2002.) attempts at online console capabilities were made as early as - i want to say as early as the snes and the genesis, with stuff like downloadable games, and a whole host of companies attempted to produce consoles with online capabilities, to compete with the pc market, but nothing actually took off until the dreamcast.

( * actually it’s gaiden and adventure, the two game gear titles. i have literally never touched anything related to them at all, ever, and i actually forgot they existed until i started looking shit up for this post. i do at least own a copy of phantasy star universe; i missed the bandwagon on pso, though as i understand it, if i were to emulate it, i could still play online with other people.)

hey, guess what phantasy star online was a direct inspiration for? the .hack series. SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKERS.

unfortunately sega seems pretty content to forget that this franchise even exists; the most recent release was the japan-only phantasy star portable 2 infinity in 2011 (phantasy star portable 2, regular version, hit english-speaking audiences in 2010), but is part of the phantasy star universe line, a... spin-off, i guess? of phantasy star online, but for ps2 and 360, well after sega dropped out of the console race for good. the original quadrilogy? well, 2-4 get included on basically every genesis collection sega shits out for any console whatsoever, but ps1, having been for master system, usually gets left out - sonic’s ultimate genesis collection, mentioned way back at the top, is the outlier here, but even then you have to unlock it. (by... beating the first boss of sonic 2 with two active controllers - that is, with a second player joined but not actually in two-player mode. so two controllers. it’s not hard to unlock; you can do it in like five minutes. you still have to do it, though.) there were attempts to remaster them - i mentioned the updated ps2 rereleases, and ps1 and ps2 were actually released in japan; ps4′s never happened, though¸ and so neither of the first two were ever localised, though there are translation patches. (as i understand it, ps2′s is still kind of a work in progress.) apparently these new versions ended up scrapped in favor of a ps2 port of phantasy star collection for the saturn, both of which were released in japan only. the saturn version (1998) had all four games (and a few unrelated ones); the ps2 version (2008), phantasy star complete collection was... uh, exactly what the name implies: all four main games, all of the ps2 gaiden games (text adventures, apparently, previously exclusive to the sega meganet network service and also japan-only), and both game gear entries (gaiden and adventure); it also added the ability to make the games even harder, if you wanted to, as well as several different graphical filters you could use or not use as you preferred. this compilation was apparently also released over psn for ps3 in 2012. have i said “japan-only” enough times yet? it was japan-only.

there was also a phantasy star collection for the gba, in 2001/2; this consisted of the first three games - but not the fourth, as it wouldn’t fit on the cartridge - and no extras or improvements other than what was required to make them run on the gba. this version is notable for being the only goddamn one released outside japan. i have two cartridge copies and it is consistently the first game i play on any given gba emulator.

...and that’s how i ended up spending two goddamn hours writing way the fuck more about the phantasy star series, and specifically the original quadrilogy that is older the fuck than i am, than i ever actually intended to. idk, maybe there’s a huge active cult following for these somewhere on the internet that i haven’t found yet - yes, i’m aware of most of the fansites, they’re old as fuck and afaik mostly inactive, so they don’t count - but it sure as hell feels to me like everybody’s sleeping on these. what do people remember from the genesis? sonic and fucking ecco the dolphin. sega could totally pull a square enix and ff7-remake the shit out of these (except for real), but they could barely do it for the playstation 2; they’re sure as hell not going to do it for the playstation 4. so instead, all i can do is dream of what we could have had. (and, uh. play phantasy star generations 1 with the translation patch, the closest there is to “what we could have had”.)

i guess when sega saddled ps4 with the subtitle “the end of the millennium” they fucking meant it. 

[queenofbraces]

WIP Meme (Super long post)

List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or as little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on.

This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, fanwork, or original work!

Okay, so since @the-ghost-of-keith-kogane tagged me for the WIP meme (First of all: how dare u call me out like this D:< ) let me tell you about all my 2 dozen WIPs. (Almst none of which have any real writing *sob*)

VOLTRON

-Initial Exposure: Keith gets exposed to some funky Druid magic and gets turned into a shapeshifter of the body horror kind. Klance, maaaaybe Klunk depending on my mood. Angsty but also a happy ending planned

-Real!Shiro AU. Pretty much another story dealing with the fact that the Shiro we're seeing isn't the real Shiro. Gotta fix it so it’s not just another rehash. Kinda whumpy. Shatt probably. Angsty

-Steven Universe Crossover: What it says on the tin. A wormhole leads the Castle and its crew to the Steven Universe world. They all chat and relax. Silly and without much plot. Just wanted to see the two half-alien boys with a sword and a lion meet.

HARLOCK/ COSMO WARRIOR ZERO/ GUN FRONTIER

-Eyes of the Arcadia: Harlock gets badly injured  and Tochiro/The Arcadia takes over his body until Harlock can be healed. Tochiro gets to interact with the crew properly for the first time in years.

-Eldritch Abomination Harlock: CWZ. Short Zero/Harlock story where Harlock wants to date Zero and decides to give Zero a quick peek of what he looks like.

-Too Many Harlocks: Started out as a semi-serious idea, but I like the OOC/cracky direction it's headed in instead. An accident with the nearly-complete Arcadia sends CWZ!Zero and CWZ!Harlock to the Gun Frontier where they meet that universe's Harlock and Tochiro, as well as Shinunora. Then they go to the Endless Odyssey universe slightly post-series. CWZ!Harlock hates everyone and pretty much complains the whole time. (Let the man just shoot his other selves, please.) Having a lot of fun imagining this one. Not really familiar enough with any other Harlock series to include them, and those I am vaguely familiar with aren't distinctive enough to include

BLACK JACK

-Two-toned Demon: Magic AU where Black Jack is thought to be some demon or other monster. Not sure yet if it's more Medieval or Modern fantasy. KuroKei. Started because Pinoko would pretty much be a homunculus of some kind and it kind of spiraled off from there. Still also have to work up a full magic system. Will include some of Black Jack's family.

-Autistic!KuroKei fics: What it says on the tin. I was in need of autistic interpretations of these two so I'm working on some. Pretty self-indulgent and yeah, their being autistic is the main point of the stories but sometimes you just want that. (Message me and I will talk for hours about this topic no joke)

-From One Surgeon to Another: Crossover with Franken Fran. Black Jack and Pinoko run into one of Fran's creatures she made for a client. Pinoko's fine but Black Jack is injured badly enough to require emergency treatment. Fran includes some free "upgrades" and Black Jack must deal with the emotional consequences of them. Maaaaybe KuroKei, dunno yet.

-Story where Yabu, Okamoto, and Kei decide to catch up with Black Jack. Okamoto brings Konomi (because apparently I ship them now???). Yabu got clean, got married, and has two kids. Okamoto and Konomi are engaged. Kei is still single and Okamoto tries to set him up with Black Jack in part because Okamoto knew Kei in school and knows how much he still likes Black Jack. It works. Kind of a 'California Café' type of fic but eh. Can't all be exciting. :P (though in one version Black Jack gets shot because 'Black Jack gets injured' is a favorite trope of Tezuka's and quite frankly mine too)

-Story where Black Jack is unknowingly sent to treat Kei's mother. Kei comes after his father finally sends for him (Kei's parents didn't want to worry him) and finds out Black Jack is treating his mother. Black Jack and Kei reveal their relationship, much to the surprise and delight of Kei’s parents. Kei's mother is cured. Black Jack and Kei get engaged. Possible sequel where Black Jack saves Shoren's newborn, and the two start to reconcile. (This would be a fix-it of sorts of BJ21.)

DOCTOR WHO

-Eldritch Abomination Doctor/Doctor Nyarlathotep stories: I have a bunch of different ideas for this, so I'm not sure which direction it's going currently. Definitely includes one where Jenny is half-meatsuit/lower plane being, half Eldritch Abomination.

-The adventures of Spoonie!Doctor and Spoonie!Clara. Fairly self-indulgent fic where the Doctor has arthritis and Clara has fibromyalgia. Pretty much for getting out my frustrations and feelings about being Chronically Ill.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

-Dead Sonic!AU. Sonic Forces AU where Sonic dies at Eggmkan's hands and effectively becomes a Phantom Ruby- and Chaos Emerald-powered ghost. One version involves him being aware he's dead but he keeps it a secret until Infinite is defeated and he destoys his Phantom Ruby shard. The second version involves Sonic finding out he's dead much later. Overall angsty and sad.

-Mephiles!Infinite AU. Sonic Forces AU where Mephiles has broken away from one universe where Iblis was destroyed, and into the Forces universe, where he wasn't. Infinite the Jackal is actually Finn, a normal Jackal and head of the Jackal Squad, a band of mercenaries. Finn is friends with Gadget. Mephiles takes on Shadow's form and fights Infinite, later taking on Finn's form and bonding with the Phantom Ruby to become Infinite. Possible Infidget once I figure out their relationship better lol.

-Sonic Unleashed/Sonic X crossover. Sonic attempts a Chaos Control at night using a drained Chaos Emerald. He ends up in the Sonic X universe amd tries to get home. Ultimately silly and light-hearted. Seriously tempted to place this a tad before the Shadow Saga. SU!Sonic takes one look at the TV where footage of Shadow is being shown, and says, "Hey guys, I'm gonna be back in a bit. Gonna save Sonic some jail time and the rest of you like 2 weeks of time and effort." And then he just solves the entire damn thing by talking to Shadow lol.

-Silent Chronos: Started life as a Sonic '06/Silent Hill crossover, hece the working title which hasn't chaged in like...10 years. Pretty much, when Shadow and Silver go to the past and encounter Mephiles and Iblis' birth, Mephiles' power alters and corrupts the Soleannan labratory. Most everyone is turned into monster, with the exclusion of Shadow and Silver. The monsters started out largely symbolic,  but all need to be redesigned something awful. Still haven't figured out much of the plot which is why it's been on the backburner for forever.

ORIGINAL WORKS

-Farron Base: If John Campbell's 'The Thing' were nice. A group of scientists go to explore an abandoned military base and research how the flora and fauna have settled in. They find the base in remarkable condition, with a huge variety of mutated, monstrous creatures. Most are fairly friendly and some are even intelligent. The base's protectors are Nigel and Jay-Myalia (names changed later), who are intelligent, benevolent shapeshifters of the body horror kind. Again, see John Campbell's 'The Thing'. Features actual scientists (!), none of whom are cishet, and one of whom is explicitly autistic. Still not much of a plot yet :///

-Shalkrei: This started back in middle school, so at least 14 years ago, as a Sonic AU. It was my SpIn for a while, and it got huge and complex. Currently doing some pruning. It involved 'demons', magic, ancient civilizations, and furries. Also had at least one parallel universe with different species and rules.

Holy shit this got long, sorry

Tagging @Elumish, @chocolatcoffees, @Sonic-the-tumblog,  and anybody else who wants to do it since I don’t follow that many writers

[therainroguefanfiction]

🔥 ℝise Ⱥbove I̾t ◈ Chapter 016 [A Hard Lesson]

📑 Table of Contents | ◂Backward

Word Count: 2,938

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

〈“There’s a moment in your bones, When the fire takes over. Blood is running, Heart is pumping, as the battle gets closer.” The Score, “Unstoppable”〉

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

I stifled a yawn as I walked to school. Man, why did I stay up so fucking late playing with that angry chihuahua? I had only planned on playing for a few hours, but his trash-talking got under my skin and I refused to let him win bragging rights. Our match-up didn’t end until three in the morning when his mom came in and screamed at him to go to bed.

“You look like shit,”

“Fuck off, Bakugo.”

He grunted, yawning loudly from beside me. “You didn’t win,”

“Neither did you,”

“I would have if not for the old hag!”

I hummed, not really having the energy to argue with him. He got the same amount of sleep that I did, so how can he have the energy to be so loud? Kids these days are nuts. The classroom was full of energy too, but it died down a bit when we entered. Guess they remembered our little spat the day before.

My eyes landed on Midoriya, who was chatting happily with Ochako and Iida. Now that I know for certain that he’s Toshi’s successor, I feel this strong need to protect him and look out for him. Toshi can’t be with this kid at all times, but I’m his classmate, I can.

I stepped over to his desk, readjusting my bad. “Izuku Midoriya, right?”

His cheeks grew red. “Y-Yes. Did you need something, W-Winchester?”

“Hm, you can drop the last name. Let’s be friends.”

“Hah?!” Bakugo grabbed the back of my shirt, attempting to yank me back and away from the greenette. “Why the fuck are you tryin’ to befriend that nerd?!”

I scowled and whipped around, slamming my foot into his stomach. “Will you shut the fuck up? It’s too damn early for your issues!”

“Woah, she just attacked Bakugo!”

“They fought after class yesterday, too.”

“Yeah, what was that about?”

“Oh my god, what if they’re dating?!”

Oh for fuck’s sake. I ran my hand down my face, turning to look at the green-haired boy, my glare softening when he jumped. “Oi, Izuku.”

“I-I don’t mind being your f-friend, Winche – ah, Jen!”

“Oi, you damn bitch,” Bakugo growled, throwing at punch toward my head. I kneeled down, swiping his legs out from under him with my own. He jumped up quicker than I anticipated, explosions going off in his palms. I stepped back, fixing my stance as my hands started to heat up, fire licking the skin of my palms.

“K-Kacchan! W-Winchester!” Izuku looked between the two of us, his expression full of worry.

“Stop this immediately!” Iida demanded.

Bakugo smirked. “Fuck video games, I’ll beat your ass in real life instead!”

I grunted. “You can try. No guarantees I can control myself.”

“Enough,” Aizawa slid the door open, narrowed eyes going between the two of us. “Sit down,”

We stared each other down for a moment before I stood up straight, closing my palms to extinguish the flames. Smoke rose from my hands as I headed to my seat.

“This ain’t over, bitch!”

“Yeah, whatever.” I sighed, falling onto my seat. What is it about this brat that brings the worst out in me? He makes me wanna punch shit. He’s gotta have a second quirk that lets him push people’s buttons. And look, Peppermint is glaring at me again. Does he have a hard-on for Bakugo or some shit?

“Today’s training will be a little different. You’ll have three instructors – me, All Might, and another faculty member will be keeping tabs on you.”

Three teachers? Is this because of the break-in yesterday?

“Sir! What kind of training is this?”

Aizawa held out a card, the word ‘rescue’ written in big, bold letters. “Rescue. You’ll be dealing with natural disasters – shipwrecks, stuff like that.”

Gee, what a nice selection we have. Just shipwrecks, huh? I rolled my eyes. This sounds like it’s gonna be a pain.

“Disasters, huh? Sounds like we’re in for a big workout…”

“Totally!”

“Real hero stuff… This is what separates the men from the boys. I’m shaking with excitement!”

“Finally, I’ll get to show off how good I am in water, ribbit.”

“Guys, I’m not finished yet,” Aizawa said, annoyance lacing his voice. “What you wear in this exercise is up to you, I know you’re excited about costumes.” He clicked a remote and the shelves extended from the wall carrying the metal cases. “But keep in mind, you haven’t gotten used to them yet and they might limit your abilities. This special training is at an off-campus facility so we’ll be taking a bus to get there. That’s all. Start getting ready.”

Rescue training… I wonder what kinda shit we’re gonna be doing. I stifled a yawn as I grabbed my case and followed the girls to the locker room. Man, my stomach is killing me, I shoulda ate breakfast, but if I had, I woulda been late for class. I sluggishly pulled my costume on, ending up being one of the last girls to leave the room. The group was gathered outside, waiting for Aizawa to give them the order to get on the bus.

A whistle filled the air. “Gather ’round, class 1-A! Using your student numbers, form two lines so we can load the bus efficiently!” Iida ordered, blowing the whistle again.

Man, that shit’s fucking loud. He takes this shit way too seriously, what is with him? I ignored the group, stepping onto the bus and making a beeline for the backseat so I could get some peace and quiet. Iida was the last person on the bus, falling into his seat with his head in his hands.

“The bus’ open layout ruined my boarding strategy…”

“Iida, you really need to chill.”

“If we’re pointing out the obvious, then there’s something I wanna say. About you, actually.” Frog turned to Izuku, whose cheeks flushed at the sudden attention.

“About me? What is it, Asui?” His voice reflected the nervousness he was suddenly feeling.

“I told you to call me Tsu.”

“Oh yeah… right…”

“That power of yours…” she continued. “Isn’t it a lot like All Might’s?”

My body tensed and I leaned forward in my seat, making Tape Boy glance at me curiously from my right. Damn, this girl is really perceptive, ain’t she? And she doesn’t seem to have much of a filter, either. I mean, it’s hella obvious, but that’s beside the point. Shit, what do I do? Should I step in and change the subject? What if I start a fight with Bakugo? That always gets people’s attention. Can this kid handle it himself?

“W-What? Really? You think so, huh? I never really thought about that. I guess it’s kinda -” He started to ramble on as his panic built and I deadpanned. This kid is a fucking disaster.

“Wait, hold on, Tsu. You’re forgetting All Might doesn’t hurt himself, that makes a huge difference.” Red commented, making Izuku let out a sigh of relief. “Still, I bet it’s cool to have a simple augmenting type of quirk. You can do a lot of flashy stuff with it. My hardening is super strong and can destroy bad guys in a fight,” He held out his arm, skin hardening like rock. “But it doesn’t look all that impressive.”

“Ah, no way! I think it’s really awesome looking! You’re definitely pro material with a quirk like that!” Izuku is starting to fanboy again.

I sighed, leaning back in my seat and folding my arms behind my head. I wonder if I can get in a nap before we get there.

“You really think so? Seems like it’d be easier to be a popular hero if I had something flashier!”

Popularity ain’t everything, kid.

“My naval laser has the perfect combination of panache and strength.”

“But it’s way lame if it gives you a stomachache, sweety.”

“Well, if any of our classmates have pro quirks, it’s Todoroki, Bakugo, and Winchester.”

Wait, what? Why me? I barely even used my quirk.

“Sure, but Bakugo is always angry and Winchester is really anti-social so they’ll never be that popular.”

“What did you say?! I’ll kick your ass!”

I leaned forward, eyes narrowed at her. “Don’t fucking lump me in with this dumbass. I don’t want to be popular, people are dickbags.”

“Who the fuck are you calling dumbass, bitch?!”

“Would you prefer dipshit? Donkey? Angry hedgehog? Edgelord? Murder? There’s plenty to choose from for your ass.”

“I’ll kill you!”

“See?” Frog stuck her tongue out, pointing at us.

“You know, we basically just met you two, so it’s kinda telling that we all know your personalities are flaming crap mixed with garbage.”

“Is that the best insult you could come up with, brat?” I glared at Sparky, my eyes flashing as my hands started to burn a bit. “Maybe stop having your kid brother write your lines for you.”

His face flushed.

“You’re gonna regret the day you applied to this damn school, you loser! I’ll kill you!”

“Enough! Classmates are supposed to encourage each other!” Iida intervened.

“I’m going to encourage this dumbass to explode!”

“Wait, what did you just say? Phrasing, dude.”

I scoffed. “It’s easy to talk shit, especially when there’s a teacher around. Try doing it when we’re alone and see what happens.” I stared Sparky down and he swallowed, turning his face away.

“Alright, just apologize, all of you!”

“Sure, if they go first.”

“Like hell I will!”

“Hey, hey, we’re here!” Aizawa rose his voice as the bus pulled up to a stop. “Stop messing around.”

“Yes, sir!”

Everyone filed off the bus. Someone was standing outside waiting for us. Is that… the fucking Michelin man? The fuck, they really let anyone teach at this school, don’t they?

“Hello, everyone! I’ve been waiting for you!”

The group stared in awe and started going wild over this guy. Apparently, his name is Thirteen, the space hero. Honestly, I’m not too interested. I moved closer to Aizawa, putting him between myself and the group, lowering my voice. “Yo, teach. Can I skip this? I didn’t get much sleep last night, see and I -”

“No,”

“At least let me fin -”

“No,”

“Son of a -”

“I can’t wait to show you what’s inside!”

I followed Aizawa as the two teachers led us into the large, dome-shaped building. From the vantage point that the stairs offered, I could see the inside sectioned off into different zones.

“Holy crap. It looks like some kind of amusement park!”

“A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm, etc.” Thirteen began. “I created this training facility to prepare you to deal with different types of disasters. I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, but you can call it the USJ!”

I resisted the urge to facepalm. What is with that shitty ass name? This guy has zero creativity.

“Hey, shouldn’t All Might be here already?” Aizawa moved closer to Thirteen. “Let me guess, he booked an interview instead.”

Thirteen moved closer, lowering his voice. I was close enough to hear them, but I don’t think the others were. “Actually, it’s something else.”

“Hm?”

“Apparently, he did too much hero work on the way to school this morning and used up all of his power.” He held up three fingers. “He’s resting in the teacher’s lounge.”

I scoffed, shoving my hands into my pockets, moving to stand against the pillar nearby. “Dumbass,”

Aizawa sent me a look. “That man is the height of irresponsibility. The clock’s ticking, we should get started.” He moved to lean against the pillar beside me, folding his arms.

“Excellent! Before we begin, let me just say one thing! Well, maybe two things, possibly three, four, or five.”

Oh my tap dancing fucking Satan. I facepalmed, ignoring the weird look from Aizawa.

“Listen carefully! I’m sure you’re aware that I have a powerful quirk.”

Nope, I ain’t.

“It’s called ‘black hole’.”

How edgy.

“I can use it to suck up anything and turn it to dust.”

“Yeah! You’ve used black hole to save people from all kinds of disasters before, haven’t you?” Izuku asked, excitedly, his eyes sparkling.

“That’s true, but my quirk could also very easily be used to kill.”

My body tensed up and I let out a sharp breath. That’s a lesson I had to learn on my own, the hard way. In a way, I’m relieved this guy is laying it all out on the table like that, I just hope these brats take it to heart and actually listen. I glanced at Bakugo.

“Some of you also have powers that can be dangerous.” He tilted his head just a bit in my direction and I could feel his eyes on me through that damn helmet. “In our superhuman society, all quirks are certified and strictly regulated, so we often over-look how unsafe it can actually be. Please don’t forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can be deadly.”

I lowered my head and crossed my arms, nails digging into the fabric of my overshirt. This guilt, this overwhelming remorse that I have to deal with… it will never go away. Never. I… I don’t want these brats to experience this, not even the ones that piss me off. Taking a deep breath, I pushed away from the pillar, moving to stand beside Thirteen, well aware of all the eyes now staring at me, including the two teachers.

I stared at the ground, shoving a hand into my pocket. “You’re probably thinking that it’ll never happen to you, right? That you’re strong enough, that you have enough control, but you’re fucking stupid if you think that. You could have all the fucking control in the world until you meet that one person, that one fight, that one decision that pushes you over the edge. You can feel your control slipping but no matter how fucking hard you try to pull it back, it’s just out of reach. It’s your body, your power and yet… you can only sit back and watch as it destroys shit.”

My hands clenched harder, nails digging into my skin as I looked up, narrowed eyes scanning the shocked expressions of my classmates. Bakugo’s accusing gaze, Peppermint’s guarded gaze, Fumi’s worried gaze.

I took a breath. “But that’ll never happen to me! Your arrogance, over-confidence, ignorance… None of it matters when you’re staring at the face of the life your power just claimed. The eyes that will never shine again. The lips that will never take another breath. What then? It’s far too late, then. Too late for your realizations. Too late for, ‘I should have listened!’. You can never take it back. All you’re left with is this overwhelming feeling of guilt, remorse, and even a little hatred toward yourself. Every human being has this… innocence within their heart. Think of it as a white rose – untainted, pure. When you take a life, whether accidentally or on purpose, that rose becomes tainted by their blood. You can never go back to how it was, you can never reclaim that innocence, you can never…”

I released a shaky breath when Thirteen placed his hand on the small of my back. God, get your shit together, Jen. I shook my head and forced a grin. “Well, that’s what I read in an Agatha Christie novel, anyway. Brilliant writer, that one.” I walked back over to Aizawa, refusing to meet his worried gaze. “Sorry for interrupting, sensei. Just felt like a good time to promote an author I love.”

The tense air dispersed, a couple of students laughing as they believed the act I put on. I’ve always been a damned good liar, maybe I shoulda been an actress. Still, I could feel Bakugo, Izuku, and Peppermint staring at me, but I didn’t let my grin falter.

Thirteen cleared his throat. “Thank you for your insightful… reading, Winchester. Please refrain from interrupting in the future.”

“Sure~”

“She’s absolutely right about everything she said, though. Even if you’re trying to do something virtuous, like rescue someone. Thanks to Aizawa’s fitness tests, you have a solid idea of your quirk’s potential and because of All Might’s combat training, you likely experienced how dangerous your powers can be when used against other people. Carry those lessons over to this class. Today, you’re going to learn how to use your quirks to save people’s lives! You won’t be using your powers to attack enemies or each other, only to help. After all, that’s what being a hero is all about – ensuring the safety of others.” He bowed. “That’s all I have to say, thank you so much for listening!”

The group cheered, hyped up by Thirteen’s speech.

“Right, now that that’s over.” Aizawa pushed away from the wall.

That feeling of crushing dread suddenly fell upon my shoulders, ten times stronger than it had been yesterday. My stomach turned, my legs shaking. What the hell… is this fucking overwhelming feeling? I… I feel like I’m fucking drowning…

The lights started to flicker and my attention snapped to the source of the crushing aura, right at the center of the dome where a fountain sat. A black and purple portal started to open. No… it can’t be him. I swallowed hard as people started to emerge from the shadowy gate.

I instantly recognized that Golem looking mother fucker from Gramp’s study and I started to have flashbacks of that night, of his lifeless body, of the blood, smeared all over that bastard. It’s them… the fuckers that turned my life upside down.

The fuckers that killed my Gramps in cold blood.

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

▸ Forward

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[geek-gem]

My Continuation And Talk After The Sonic Movie Post

So I forgot to put Tikal's tag below it and I just did. But also it reminded me of that I guess when a friend of mine messaged me when I put talk. Because I was making this then she replied of how I was doing again. Which means this is my second time.

But okay major spoilers for anything yet just my last post. I just took a shower and the last post I discovered theirs a length of how much you can write.

Yet holy crap guys. Seriously what the fuck. I actually wrote all of that and when I was in the shower remembered it's the 10 anniversary of Sonic Rush Adventure and the official Sonic Tumblr blog made a post referencing that. I feel like mentioning that because I mentioned Blaze in the last post and tagged her too. So in a way some what of a celebration sorry yet just....

That was my fan fiction and I was gonna talk about how the fuck could you put the stories of both Sonic Adventure games into one.

Including my huge liking towards BVS Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice and just...

It's basically Sonic Dawn Of Justice. Including Shadow is basically a mixture of Batman's character and Superman's character a bit. Because the whole concept of his character.

Along with I just....I was listening to some songs mainly some other versions of, "This Is My World" from BVS and how that film is basically the reason why I came up with the idea imagine putting well mixing the stories of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 into one and just....

Even the death of Shadow and I call it that normal to smile only a little stop it just a little.

Yet I wanted to share that because with my mindset is off of Sonic right now. Including the last story trailer the Japanese one for Sonic Forces really put me off I have not listened Infinite's theme since that day I've seen the trailer. Including I've been thinking about other games such as Injustice and the DC universe, the Mortal Kombat franchise and Killzone 1 and 2 been playing those two games and how I've gotten really better with those games.

Despite mentioning I've finally took out the Sonic OVA DVD out of my PS4 so I can play Mortal Kombat XL.

Really just...I honestly wanna see so many of my favorite characters on the big screen. Also the exuse of Sega and Sonic Team would quickly put Shadow in the sequel Sega has learned their lesson of rushing shit out. I'm sorry to sound stupid yet...just the idea of so much shit going on in one movie. Because even I feel like I don't want to wait for Shadow's appearance in a movie so how about we risk this shit and combine the story of Sonic Adventure 2 with Sonic Adventure 1 and that is fucking insane.

But also because the themes and some other things I noticed in both games are similar. Such as Shadow and Chaos of how their characters are in a way.

Also this mixture of an idea of Chaos's first appearance in Station Square mix it with Shadow's first meeting in some what San Francisco well Shadow's first meeting with Sonic did mention that to a friend okay to smile.

But just no it doesn't suck my head says random shit.....just the idea is insane. Along with.....it's basically my fan fiction such as the idea of Super Sonic, Super Shadow, Metal Sonic, and Perfect Chaos fighting the Biolizard and the death of Shadow is such a big moment that I wanted it to have a lasting effect and how it goes with the movie.

Also I think I'll just mention the death of Shadow seriously as a joke despite like BVS very much imagine Superman before his again major spoilers but his death in that movie and Photoshop Shadow's head whether Super Shadow yet keep imagining the head of Shadow from pointing pose from Sonic Adventure 2 let me look.

http://en.sonicscanf.org/gallery/shadow-the-hedgehog-5/sonic-adventure-2-3/ okay so it's his running pose I was getting confused. It's mainly that I guess. Maybe I'm imagining things but I don't know I just wanna make this.

Including the idea for the sequel is mixing Sonic Rush and Sonic Lost World and adding Marine The Raccoon but maybe some elements of Sonic Rush Adventure in there with the rebirth of Shadow.

Where it's a visual reference of his return where's he standing on some pole with two Chaos Emeralds in Sonic X and how he can't remember who he was yet everyone tells him who he is he even see's the memorial and other stuff. It's better then the Deadly Six take advantage of his amnesia. He doesn't know if he should even try to defend the Earth and people question his existence now.

Because they find out in a way Shadow did die. Yet he was in some death like coma where his damage was so brutal it took a long time before he could break out of his grave. Basically he was slowly healing and the damage was just much it took a long time. Along with using all four of his inhibitor rings he used so much power he needed to recharge.

Including trying to and with help from others remember that he made a promise to Maria yet because of his amnesia can't have much of an emotional connection or just...he wants to help yet his other side such as his dislike for the planet comes back.

But because of others and including with the Chaos Emeralds he remembers everything now. Which he then realizes it's not just a promise he made to Maria anymore still he's keeping the promise to Maria. Yet he's basically found a new family and a new home to protect including when he meets Zavok who represents everything Shadow despises and this awesome fight scene between Super Shadow and Zavok and Zavok being very powerful on his own.

Basically even a reference to I never read the comic it was a old Sonic Universe one focusing on Shadow dealing with a new type of Black Arms such as one called Black Death yet not based upon it but... basically going a bit quick and what should of happened in the games in a way. This development of Shadow where the others tell him what happened yet he wonders about his place now and trying to remember despite having help and then remembers what he's supposed to do now.

On a silly note Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow The Hedgehog are kind of like a Shadow trilogy.

Yet I honestly had a problem like other people have mentioned about how the games treat Shadow when he returns. I will say I don't mind and like the Black Arms. But I just really don't like the...maybe they didn't have to be fully deep in his origin and really I hardly have plans for them but easter egg references are always nice. Maybe such as Gerald found a dead Black Arm and put it into Shadow's blood making him in a way related to the Black Arms. Instead of the idea Black Doom helped Gerald create Shadow. Well I meant mixed the dead Black Arm's blood with Shadow's blood is what I meant because their was some things that could help Shadow.

This is very weird. Including just...will say Red's, "The Ever" was a song I listened to. It's been a while along with, "A Beautiful Lie" and, "Fight Night" before I started writing that last post which were tracks from BVS.

Think I'll leave the tags like that ohhh

Well I remembered when getting the tags down of having the Deadly Six in the third movie because to build up to Sonic Forces as a two parter with a Sonic Unleashed movie as the fourth movie. From what just...yeah first movie is Metal Sonic Jesus I'm rushing shit I'm sounding...okay another friend of mine messaged me. But I'm sounding hypocritical.

Including people like Blaze and I put her in the third movie. Okay no offense don't put me in charge of these Sonic movies. Oh my random head no it can't suck just...meh and yeah build up to Infinite oh yeah mentioned his theme lol it's okay to smile. Got tags done lol just...I wanted to share this lol

Just chill out is okay to smile sorry other shit I forgot or just if that is all I don't know again o wanted to share this

[worrisomeme]

tagged by the super awesome @sororising!<3 Thanks babe! :)</p>

Name: Hailli

Nicknames: I really don’t have any, which is weird. One of my friends used to call me his little owl because I used to stay up all night but becoming an adult has kind of ruined that XD

Gender: cis girl

Star Sign: Cancer. 100% cancer. So tooootally cancer!

Height: 5′4″

Sexual Orientation: On the asexual spectrum, panromantic

Favorite Color: Pink! :D

Favorite Animal: Cats! But then there’s also bunnies, and hamsters, and hedgehogs, and and and… man you can’t just ask a girl like me a question like that XD Cats, I guess<3</p>

Average Hours of Sleep: 7 or 8 I guess? Usually somewhere between like 6 and 9. How good of sleep that is varies, but, eh, I take what I can get

Cat or dog person: Cat!!!!

Favorite Fictional Characters: Luna Lovegood, Tonks, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Kate Bishop, Kamala Khan, Bobbi Morse, shit idk man, you really don’t want me to keep going. It’ll never fuckin end

Number of Blankets I Sleep With: Usually just my one comforter, but I got this really soft, fluffy throw blanket from my grandma for Christmas this year and I’ve been using that when I get really cold.

Favorite Singer/Band: This is another one that I could straight up go on forever about so I’m just gonna name a few. My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, The Academy Is…, I See Stars, Sleeping with Sirens, Something Corporate, man most of these are broken up now holy shit I feel old I’m gonna stop

Dream Job: Writer. In almost any fiction context. Comics, TV, movies, books, podcasts, whatever.

When was this blog created: Uhhh *goes and checks* Well my first ever reblog was August of 2009 but I lurked and just liked posts for a long while without actually ever reblogging anything so it had to be somewhere before then lol 

Current number of followers: Uhhh *goes and checks again* 455?! Holy shit guys! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3</p>

When did your blog reach its peak?: I guess we’ll never really know until I stop blogging, huh? I could think my peak was a year ago or whenever but it could only just be the beginning. *nods matter-of-factly*

ignore me guys, I’m half asleep over here XD I’m not tagging anyone in particular because i’ve seriously gotta go to bed or I’m going to pass out on my laptop. Everyone who wants to, I tag you. I mean it. None of y’all ever do it when I leave it open like this and I really really really want you guys to! Go do iiiiiit! Tag me as the person who tagged you! I love you all and goodnight!<3</p>

[burndownthehousetonight]

((You know, I have certain twists I like to pull out if I wanna spice up a story and thing they’ve been built up to well enough. And recently, I’ve been using one specific one a few too many times for my liking. This was not planned like this, I just thought it would be a good end point for this RP with @oxidethehedgehog​. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know. What happened but here we are.

I also didn’t quite realize some of these band names were real bands so it may be best to pretend either all these characters are human or these are weird sonic counterparts :P))

"This- This looks ridiculous, dude." Years had passed since some dinky band had formed in a poor Eurish city. But they had access to just one local club, and that was all they needed. As time went on and they played more and more, they fine-tuned their sound. Lyrics and instrumentation got tighter, their performances got showier, and as a result, their fan base grew. And grew. Punk was still a relatively small subculture, but there were more than enough loyal fans to help them on their way. At the core of everything, everything was changing for the better. Except appearances. Yes, punk fashion had changed considerable as the eighties rolled around, and Manic couldn't think of what to say. Scourge, an old friend of theirs and a long-time fan, could pull off leather jackets no problem. Manic wasn't sure he liked how he looked in a similar pitch-black jacket gifted to him by the same hedgehog. "And you, kid." Scourge said, motioning to Oxide to hand over what looked like bits of... fake hair? They were in a whole mess of blinding neon colors, and had little attachments on the bottom. "You put 'em in your hair. Thought it'd make you fit in a little better." "Dude, no, I ain't gonna put hair attachments into my hair, or whatever this shite is mate....." Oxide said, giving them back to Scourge and turning away. "Come on guys, lets do this...." Oxide said, downing the rest of a 40oz before getting on stage. This wasn't the only club that was around either. The Roxy, The Rat, Gallery East, The paradise, Media Centre and many more clubs were opening up to punk rock. There were also alternative clubs they played once before being banned. Churches, dance halls, community centres, all of that, and house parties. Can't forget about them either. And that would have been fine. Punk was a tight knit community. But things were starting to change in the punk world, whether of not they noticed how quickly fashions were changing. Not just fashions, but even sounds to an extent, and they weren't up to date. Their shows were good sizes, they were energized, angsty, everything they could hope for. Yet as their music got better, the crowds began to change. If they were only judging on their own shows, they would have thought punk was dying. But instead... "Damnit!" Manic hurled his drumsticks at the wall of their band van. Not Scourge's van anymore, a dumpy vehicle they were able to get on the cheap and fix up. "They keep- Why do these new dudes keep stealing our crowds?! This is like half of what we were playing last year!" "Punk rock is getting faster, harder, and more powerful. The sex pistols are dead, The Clash have sold out, and bands like Discharge, UK subs, Chaos UK and The exploited are coming in. They all play like bands such as Black flag, Circle jerks and Dead Kennedys. They're hardcore punk, we might as well be pop rock now, its no longer 1976, its 1980......" Oxide told Manic. "We gotta play like the rest of them...." "I know!" Manic said, pushing his hair back. More of that stress was coming through. He pushed his hair back and breathed in, before acting calm. "I know, dude," he said more apologetically. "It's like we just got these songs as tight as we want 'em... and then this crap happens." Manic sat down on the edge of the open van entrance, reaching for that leather jacket Scourge gifted him. "And then we're gonna have to get dressed up in this stuff, right? I don't know about it- Feels kinds like selling out, y'know?"  He sighed. "But I mean, it's expanding out sound..." He motioned for their bass guitarist, Napalm. "Hey, dude, toss me my tabs?" Drugs were big in the punk scene, and Manic wasn't big on drugs. Cigarettes were the furthest he was willing to go. "We don't have to dress up in anything Manic, so don't worry about that love~" He said, giving him a kiss. "We just get these songs, and make them faster." "You calling me 'love' now? You trying to be a British stereotype, or something?" Manic teased. He draped an arm around Oxide and started puffing away. Smoke flowing in... and right back out. Smooth and crisp. "So, how're we gonna fix this stuff?" He asked, turning more broadly to the other band members. "We've got a whole set list that needs to change, where the hell are we gonna start?" Scourge could be heard laughing from out of nowhere. He walked around from the side of the van, but by how surprised Manic was to see him, it wouldn't have been more shocking if he popped out of a garbage can. "I know some guys," Scourge said. "If you think you're up to that kinda speed." Oxide was inside, waiting for Manic to come back in with a 40oz in his hand. "We should deffinetly pick up the speed in our songs, everyone else sounds like the Ramones. I found out about this band called "The SS", while I was visiting Japan. I went to one of their shows, where there were about 15 people, and they played ridiculously fast. Like holy shit, it wasn't even funny. And their songs were like 30 seconds to a minute long, I got some footage of them while I was borrowing me mums super 8mm camera." Oxide said, showing him the footage. It looked intense, a huge wall of the sound and the band was going crazy. It lasted for 2 minutes. "We gotta play like them." Napalm said. "That's some really intense shit," Manic added. He could barely even follow the hand motions, how were they supposed to play anything like that? They could go fast, sure. But that wasn't fast. That was supersonic. Sonic... "You thought of it too, then?" Scourge added, noticing the grimace on Manic's face. "Your brother can train you, can't he? Then no one's gonna play faster than you." "That is such a bad idea, I can't begin to explain exactly how much of a bad idea it is." Manic added. Sonic wasn't too cool with Manic giving up education for his band. And they both knew how he felt about them both hanging out with Scourge. "Dude, I can easily play that fast, and Manic, I also thought of a way that you can keep up." He said, going over to the drum kit. He started wailing against the snare and hi hat, in a 'snare-hi hat-snare-hi hat-snare-hi hat' sort of fashion. He watched as he made the pattern, nodding his head to the beat. Manic jumped into the van, towards where Oxide was playing. "Like, yes, that could work, but- damn, that'd get rough after a while. You guys sure you're up for that?" Napalm and Jason certainly didn't seem to mind. It was just tightening up their songs, they could do this, right? Scourge laughed again. "You're too uptight," he bluntly shot at Manic. "Come on, ain't punk supposed to be about being loose? When do you let yourself loose without practicing for five hours first? Don't gotta figure it all out now." "Yah, now come on, lets get to the practice space and 'Let loose'.........That was not meant in a sexual way just so you know.......unless......you want it to be......" Manic started chuckling to himself. "You're blunt as a fucking brick, dude." Manic teased back. "You could just ask. Come on, jump in, guys, y'all know where we're headed." He'd relaxed a bit, he was ready. As soon as everyone was in the van, they were already off, shooting down the streets to that old, decrepit building Manic lived out of. But as time passed, Manic started to take better care of it. Not that it was pretty, but there were some makeshift lights through it, and he kept it mostly free of mold and junk. It almost felt habitable. The layers of dust and dirt on the floor were covered in the footprints of the four as they made their way in and out to and from practice, setting up amps and instruments. It was almost muscle memory at this point as they put Manic's drums back together and plugged everyone in. Manic started with that riff Oxide showed him. At a slower speed than he played it. "Let's see if we can get melodies down before we get to those kinda speeds." "Ha, melodies? Lets just create a wall of sound." Oxide said, cranking the volume on his amp. "1, 2, 3, 4!" He shouted really loudly into the mic as he began strumming as fast as he could. It was the same 2 chords going back and forth through the song, with the rest of the band following. Their first attempt was cacophonous and terrible. They were all playing at their tempos... just not exactly the same tempo. Everyone was slightly off, slightly fumbled at these new speeds. Even Manic was having trouble keeping up as they produced a disaster of sound. They all started looking back and forth at one another, before slowly backing off and taking in the nonsense they just made. "Alright... maybe let's try that again a little slower," Manic said, almost embarrassed at the train wreck their passion lead to. "Lead us off, Oxi." Oxide's riff was simple, it carried what could loosely be called the melody. He joined in, testing out the quick pattern Oxide had tried to show him. Yes... Alright, yeah, he was getting into it. Napalm and Jason were going to be the real tests of their power, but now that they were taking a bit more time to learn what they were doing, they were starting to get better. It wasn't the same kind of sound at all, but something was starting to form. Something that needed a lot of touch ups, but still a start. "Alright, now as fast as we can." WRBFSNFIFWSAFAWGNSDO A wall of sound came from the band again, this time a little better, but still kind of off in some places. Commands were starting to be thrown around. "Tighten this up" or "change that to a major" and all kinds of directions. There was a lot more artistry to making a wall of sound that sounded good. "Alright, hold up." Manic said as they got to another point where they felt the need to break. "I think y'all had the right idea the first time. How about we just... we just choose some song we've played forever, and try speeding it up faster and faster, yeh? We know how it's supposed to sound, let's just focus on timing and that crap." Another call off. It was a familiar drum line, but played much faster than usual. Manic just hoped this was going to show some kind of progress. "Oh yah, you can also do the traditional stuff we were doing before this practise, instead of blast beats." Oxide said. "Blast beats? What?" Napalm asked, his head tilting a little. "I made it up." Oxide shrugged, Jason laughed. "I like it, has a nice ring to it, now come on, lets do this." Jason said, turning on his amp. Oh, a wall of sound was right. Their playing was plenty loud without their amps on and with Manic holding back. But the moment they started actually playing, they knew that they were getting somewhere. They were using some melodies that they'd messed around with before, but this sounded completely different. It barely registered as playing, mroe like some animal beating down on their instruments with their music being their desperate, dying pleas for mercy. Manic loved it. He felt like they barely even started some sped up practice section by the time it was finished, two minutes passed by instantaneously. He wiped a few beads of sweat off of his forehead. "Is- What was that?" He said, a little breathless from what just occurred. "That was about 2 songs.......alright, let's do this. 1 2 3 4!" Oxide called out and once again, a wall of noise for 10-15 minutes. The first two minutes were easy. The first ten minutes were easy. In fact, the vast majority of this strange session flowed naturally for Manic, like he was giving up conciousness for raw talent as they played. But this wasn't the intensity he was used to. He never fumbled because they were playing at slower speeds, but these were getting too fast for him. Everyone fumbled somewhat, but they were learning such an extremely different style. The other three didn't fall from the stool and smash their head on the rim of their bass. "Ah-! Shit!" Manic shouted, stumbling up to his feet at the sudden small scar. "That's- Whoo!" He let out a laugh through his exhaustion. He held his hand over his small scratch, nothing that wouldn't clot up in a minute tops. "That's gonna take a hell of a lot of work to get down." "y-Yah.....*Drops*" Oxide ended up falling down, knocking his marshall stacks down as well. He seemed pretty tired. Jason pulled Oxide away while Napalm put the amplifiers back up. "Jesus...I'm so tired...." Oxi complained, panting heavily. It was clear from how everyone was panting that none of them were quite up to trying that again so soon after starting. "Alright, l think that's enough practice for like... the month." He joked, standing up and heading over to help Napalm with the amps. "How about we grab summat to drink and meet up in like an hour?" Manic said, reaching for some old mug and turning on the rusty sink near the back. He turned to face Jason and Napalm, who were at least still standing. "You guys're holding up, right?" "Yep....we're fine." Jason assured him, visibly panting. "We can walk." Napalm smiled. "Yah, lets go grab a drink and a bite to eat.........anyone got any money?" Oxi asked. "Nah, I'm kinda broke," Manic said, as though he ever lived any other way. He'd have to wait for his paystuff from some part-time job. Jason and Napalm didn't seem too urgent to pay, either. "Hm... I mean, we can ask- Nah, him and Fiona don't got the cash to spare, either." He scratched his head. "You guys fine if we just lift some money offa people or summat?" "I can do that. Be right back in about 10 minutes." Oxide said. He then left, disappearing down the street. 10 minutes pass and he showed up. He then threw down a stack of bills. "Robbed a liqour store." Oxide said, there was about 100 bucks on the ground. "A liquor store?" Manic sassed at him. "Don't you remember the LAST time we robbed a liquor store?" He clearly didn't mind, this was more cash than he'd ever earned from one paystub. "Nah, man, this is ace. Come on, guys, let's just figure out... let's figure out what the hell that was." He grabbed a few sheets of paper and some pencils, hoping they could spout some ideas while they went to buy food. "Where're we gonna go, anyways?" Manic added. "Who's even open this late?" "We can go to that burger joint, and we really should, its closing down this week." Oxide said, walking down the street. "I wonder why they're closing...." Napalm wondered. "They're a tiny business, no one knows who they are. Everyone just goes to McDonalds or Subway now..." Jason said. "Damn... You know, I actually met the owner once," Manic said. "She's real nice. This shouldn't be happening to em." He let out a sigh. There weren't many places like this one. The walk wasn't too long, it never was. But Manic was still reeling from their performance, and it felt faster than usual. "I'm not sure if this is the good kinda daze or not," he added out of nowhere. "Anyone else's ears still ringing?" "Mine are too, meh, oh well. We had everything cranked anyway...." Oxide said, they pushed the door open, walking up to the counter. Good, cheap food and a location that wasn't crap. It was a nice place that didn't deserve to be shut down. But they had tonight to enjoy it, at least. Hell, no where else had more than one type of veggie burger for sale, and the rest of the band seemed to love those. It wasn't gonna be an easy place to replace. But soon, they were all down with their sodas and burgers - Manic, as usual, being the only one to buy something with meat in it. "Okay, tell you what." Manic said, laughing between bites. "I'm gonna practice like hell tonight, and make sure I don't smash my head open- god DAMN, I forgot how good this thing was!" Manic had to add that last bit. "I know....." Oxide then peered over. There was a stage, last time they were here, there was no stage. Oxide got up and went to the counter. "Hey, whats with the stage?" Oxide asked. "Oh, we tried to get some customers in with karaoke and such, but it didn't work...." The rooster sighed. "....Well.....I'm in a band....and we could probably bring in some people here....." Oxide told him. "Well....I could talk to the manager...." He said, disappearing into the back room. A fast-food joint gig? It seemed low bar, but if there was even a chance of them getting one of these burgers for free out of it, Manic was all about it. "So what're you guys thinking?" Manic spoke to Napalm and Jason as Oxide waited at the front. "I wanna play here, but I mean, we'd probably have to find a song that's not twenty kinds of ear splitting. Unless you want Flaming Onions to be some kinda punk hangout? Though we might have to get someone else to play, too. Our crowds ain't doing too good..." "A gig....well, alright.... if you can bring 100 people here, then go for it...." The manager told Oxide. "Ok, we need to bring 100 people, which is the amount we usually draw anyway. I think we can do this...." Oxide smirked. "Alright!" Manic said, clapping his hands together. "We've got a new show!" He motioned for Oxide and the owner to walk over to the table. "Hey, dude, love this place!" Manic said, smarming it up to the owner. "Most of these clubs charge, like, two or three bucks entry to a show? We'll get this guy we know to help us get an even bigger crowd than usual." I.E. Scourge would go around removing any sign he could of different bands performing at the same times. "When is our set, anyways?" The goat woman smiled sweetly. "If we want to save the restaurant, tomorrow night." "Alright, well, I know a few bands that are popping up, saw this band called The Exploited that were doing really fast punk rock like us." Jason said, finishing his meal. Manic scribbled down the name 'The Exploited' in his usual scrawl legibile to himself and few others. "Good... Okay, how many bands can you handle for one night?" "Four would be a stretch," The woman admitted. "Alright, so four people are playing. Us, Exploited, two other dudes... Get some names out," Manic said, handing it over. "If we're gonna get this place saved, I'm getting these out tonight." Posters. Manic was all about printing technicolor leaflets and stabling them to poles and storefronts around the city. "Think we can play like that again tomorrow?" He challenged the three. Manic scribbled down the name 'The Exploited' in his usual scrawl legibile to himself and few others. "Good... Okay, how many bands can you handle for one night?" "Four would be a stretch," The woman admitted. "Alright, so four people are playing. Us, Exploited, two other dudes... Get some names out," Manic said, handing it over. "If we're gonna get this place saved, I'm getting these out tonight." Posters. Manic was all about printing technicolor leaflets and stabling them to poles and storefronts around the city. "Think we can play like that again tomorrow?" He challenged the three. "aw hell yah, 30 minute set no problem. There's the UK subs, and Discharge...." Oxide listed off, that's all he could really remember. There were probably other bands, but that's all he could remember. Oxide just made simple black and white posters, using mainly sharpie and a little bit of collage as well. He wrote down; Amphetamines UK subs The Exploited Discharge "Now we gotta call 'em." Jason said. Luckily he knew practically all of them. A few phone calls later, they all said they could make it, though they had to wire The Exploited some money so they could travel from Scotland to there. By the time they'd managed to get the wire through, they realized just how late it was when even the burger joint was closing down. "Damn, is it past midnight, already?" Manic added. "Alright, I'mma get home before I pass out in the streets. Peace!" Manic and Oxide started their tired walk back to their houses while the other two disappeared down some street together. "So..." Manic started. "Will we ever tell 'em we know they're gay for each other?" "Huh?" Oxide asked, looking at Manic with a confused look on his face. "Are you talking about telling the bands we're gay for each other?" He continued "Or are Jason and Napalm gay for each other? Wait, are they? Cause I had no idea....." "They made out in front of us that one time, dude!" Manic said, nudging him and reminding him of one drunk night years back. "But I mean, he was still like, fourteen or summat then. Seriously, you think they're just always ditching practice together and being straight together? You ever see how they look at each other? Those two are almost half as gay as us." "....oh yah, that's right. I was so wasted I barely remembered that!" He laughed. "Oh yah, I've seen them make out before. I once saw them in the bathroom of one of the venues that we've played, Napalm had his pants down to his ankles and Jason was bl-" "Seriously?!" Manic cut him off, his laughs loud and bellowing. "Wow, in a public- And they think they're even a little subtle about it?! I thought Napalm'd be the one-" It was late at night, no one was gonna see them. Manic wrapped his arm around Oxide's shoulder, smiling. "I almost wanna bring it up and see how they react. ...Nah, we'll just pretend we didn't see nothing." He gave Oxide that knowing smile. "Besides, we can't have any gay guys in our band. Fags only~" "Isn't fag and gay the same thing though?" Oxide asked, looking at him funny before pulling him close, tonguing him. He would have tried to say something about Oxide calling him out on his stupid joke, but their mouths were occupied at the moment. Manic eventually pulled away, grinning. "You're lucky I'm too tired to say being gay in public's an awful idea," he teased at him. "Thought it doesn't seem like Napalm or Jason mind, either~" "Yah, so let's be gay together~" He said before going back to french kissing him, his tongue slipping about in Manic's mouth as he moaned loudly. It was a private, passionate moment shared in the middle of a public sidewalk. Manic had to eventually pull away and grin. "Hey, your parents ain't gonna mind if you have to stay at my place again, right?" He grinned and poked his nose. "It's on the other side of the city, after all." Their usual excuse for him staying over, of course. "Yah they stopped carrying, I rarely go over there besides to eat...." Oxide giggled. "Now come on, lets go and be gay privately~" Oxide cooed, arm wrapped around his waist as they walked back. Manic was always happy to wake up next to Oxide. Oxide would almost always end up sleeping against Manic's chest, but the occasional night where Manic would sleep against Oxide's own was always more than welcome. He didn't care how they were sleeping anyways. Time with Oxide was always more than alright. By the time Oxide started to wake up, Manic was still laying against him, half conscious and comfortable. "How do you stay this fluffy, dude?" Manic teased. "I thought I was usually your pillow." "Meh, I like being your pillow as well hun~" He smiled, petting him. "Alright, so The Exploited are flying all the way from Scotland as we speak, UK Subs will be driving here and Discharge will need a lift here, so we should probably go pick them up, they're all the way in Stoke-on-Trent." Oxide said, getting up and getting his clothes on as he was naked at the moment. "No problem," Manic said, stretching before he stood up and reached around for his clothes. He accidentally threw on that jacket Scourge gave him instead of one of his usual bright red or orange vests. "Hm... Ah, fuck it, it's the image, right?" Manic joked. He put in his usual two earrings. "How perfect do I look?" "Pretty good mate." Oxide said, before throwing on a pair of leather bondage pants, and then threw on a Sex Pistols shirt along with his converse shoes. They got into the van and drove off to Stoke-on-Trent. It wasn't tpo long, just under a 2 hours drive. They picked up the band, they hauled in their gear and they then drove back. Another 2 hours. It was now 5PM. After they picked up their gear and the rest of the band, it was pretty packed. They drove to the burger joint, were people were waiting outside, hanging about. Eating, drinking and smoking. The Exploited and UK Subs were there. The lead singer for The Exploited a small red mohawk, while the drummer for UK subs had spiky blond hair dyed red on one side "You know, I've thought about doing something like that with my hair," Manic said. "But what's a better color than that, huh? Maybe bright orange, or blond?" The owner woman was standing further inside the club, relieved at the number of visitors but clearly taken back by their appearances. But with two dollars a ticket to get inside and see the show, she was making more than enough money to keep their place running for a little longer. "Yo..." Manic was starting to look more and more at the fashions of these punks. Their style was nothing compared to how bold some of these styles were. "Holy shit... how far've we fallen behind? This stuff's awesome!" "Eh, thats why I have this." Napalm said, putting on a red leather jacket covered in studs with one sleeve ripped off halfway and the other was dyed red. He also had a buttflap hanging from his jeans, which read Kill Your Self "Ain't what I would've gone with... but hell, you pull it off." Manic said pulling him by the waist. thankfully, the punk scene didn't seem even half as homophobic as the rest of the city did, so they could be a little more affectionate here. "Hey, I'mma grab a smoke outside real quick. Don't get fucked up without me." Manic left Oxide inside alone, around a web of good food, loud music, and subtle but blatant drug use "So, how do you like this?" Oxide asked the manager, who was startled and looked at him. "It's great! Like, the look kinda creeps me out, but I may be able to make this months payments! Just from the money I'm getting from people coming in, I'll be able to pay the electricity and water bill!" She said excitedly. "And everyone's getting food, it's just amazing!" She looked like she was about to cry from the amount of joy. "Oh yah, can we move a few of those tables away from the stage, some kids may wanna pogo. It's just like a dance that a lot of punks do when at a concert." Oxide informed the manager. "Uhh, sure. Hey Mike, could you move some of those chairs and tables please? Thank you." She called out to one of the employees. He sighed but did it anyway. Manic strolled back while some of the tables were being moved around. He couldn't say he was all about the drugs being passed around, but as long as they weren't the real awful ones, he couldn't judge them. So he kept his mouth shut, and went to helping with setting up the stage. Fifteen minutes to showtime. Manic was ready, but... "Hey, you guys know where Oxide is?" Napalm and Jason didn't seem to have a good idea, either. In fact, Oxide was in the mens room of the restaurant. Not that it was being used much as a men's room exclusively, having turned into a kind of makeshift smoke room. Scourge was in here, puffing on some kind of a strange pipe Oxide wasn't sure he'd seen before. "What, you wanna try?" He offered the pipe to Oxide. "Yah sure man." Oxide said, happily taking the pipe so he could hit whatever's in it. He coughed out his lungs after, it was strong stuff and he had taken a huge hit. "Fuck.....*COUGH HACK GAG!!!*" Oxide stumbled out the bathroom. "Shit......is this crystal meth?" He asked himself, now with a till of this energy all of the sudden. He could barely hear Scourge shout something as he left. "Careful, that's heavy shit!" He said, before laughing at the usual response to a first hit. There was a weird energy in Oxide. A strange happiness, much different from what he was expecting. Somehow oddly relaxed through a burst of sudden energy and pep. All of a sudden those harsh chords they played yesterday didn't seem half as imposing. Actually, they seemed downright easy in his mind. Yeah... Yeah, he could rock the hell out of these kids. "There he is," Manic said, half-assedly waving towards where Oxide was. "Alright, I'mma grab a water and get prepped. Oxi, you ready?" He didn't seem like his normal self, now that he started to take a closer look. "Babe?" "Hell yah man. But wait.....don't we have to wait for the other bands to play though? We're the head lining act." Oxide wasn't sure if it was the huge hit that made him forget that the other bands HAVE played or if the other bands really haven't played yet and Manic was being a doof. Manic gave him a concerned glare... and went back to his laughing. "Damnit!" Manic said, clearly not oo broken up over whatever he was angry about. "I thought it'd work!" He handed two dollars over to Napalm, clearly as a result of some bet. "But yeah," he said, stretching his arms over his head. "Let's get this mess going!" He was just casually strolling for a water glass, but there was clearly something wrong. Oxide was acting strange, and not in his normal drug stupor kind of way. He kept a close eye on his other band members from the drinks machine, wondering just what was going on with him... Oxide ordered a soda, putting down the right amount of money before walking over to the soda machine and filling the cup with pepsi. He tried to act normal, but a certain vibe was resonating from him. He didn't act like he was on drugs, but he certainly did look it. Maybe it was just one of his normal highs? Manic couldn't tell entirely. Drugs were a whole area he didn't wanna bother with, so he had no idea what a normal high looked or felt like. He took a few long drinks of water to help keep his vocal chords ready. "Alright, so, we just going with our normal set, but sped up?" He asked. Oxide was functioning fine, they weren't gonna have to call off the set or anything. "Yah......" Oxide did seem a little tweaked out. After Discharge, Exploited and UK Subs played their set, it was time for The Amphetamines. The four got onstage. The place was packed. "Hello everyone were the Amphetamines! 1 2 3 4!!!" They didn't waste a second. They knew these familiars songs in and out, the sheer power they were forcing themselves to play with was just another fun twist on their playing. Their songs were already starting to speed past, but they didn't care. They knew that thirty minute set would likely end this them all passing out on stage in sheer elated exhaustion. Of course, they sung at these speeds plenty of times before. Manic glanced at Oxide whenever he could, wondering how he'd play through whatever high he was enjoying this time. Oxide was singing near gibberish he was so out of breath, he was playing as fast as he could. In fact, his hand was beginning to bleed after he slashed his open. The crowd digged it, though the sheep manager looked visibly worried. Was Manic worried? Hell yes, he was worried, but there was something almost exciting about the sight of the blood. He was more worried about the way his words were coming up... but of course they weren't legible. Hell, the lyrical content wasn't the biggest driving factor, it was the sound. The raw, piercing, gorgeously flawed sound. He'd drummed like this very few times before, and it was giving him a rush that he'd never really felt before. But it was his turn at bat for vocals. And even through the grueling exhaustion of the intense drumming, he was still able to belt out some of his own lyrics. "You ain't sorry, don't you hide that shit behavior Say your prayers, cause you're gonna meet your savior Was your life worth one night of wasted trust? Your skin'll leather up real nice for a jacket of your lust" They bellowed through the small building, bellowing his angst over something through the many patrons's high and energized minds. Oxide was going at 150 MPH at all times. Jumping about, flinging his guitar around as he sang to the best of his ability. After the set was over. The crowd cheered, Oxide fell back and crashed into the drum kit. The drugs had begun to wear off before they even went onstage. Oxide had simply done what all the others wanted to do. If they were ever going to get used to these kinds of intense speeds, it was going to be a long time before they could finish a set like that wihtout wanting to pass out on the spot. But Manic still stood and raised both drumsticks in the air with that satisfied, energized grin. Jason and Napalm followed with their instruments, as a send off to the crowd. And THEN they fell. Napalm got off stage, but Jason and Manic decided to both fall where they were, Manic by the drums and Jason near the edge of the stage, with Napalm helping him to a seat. Manic just sat exhausted on the floor as the cheering continued, now punctuated with a bit of laughing for the showy falls everyone had. The crowd seemed far louder than usual, and even seemed to cheer for longer. Even in their tired dazes, they knew this was a good sign. "You think they liked it?" Manic joked, facing Oxide while they sat on the stage floor. Jason crawled off the stage and fell down onto the floor, he was dead tired, and if he had to play anymore, then he would end up dead. An hour later, everyone began to trickle out of the venue. Going back to their flats, alleyways and abandoned houses they live in. Seemed like the manager was one happy sheep, who had a ton of money on the counter and in the register. "Thank you so much boys!" she laughed. "I was worried after you ripped your hand open, but that was awesome!" She said happily, handing Oxide 50 dollars "I made 300 bucks off that, and that was the entrance fee alone!" She bubbled with excitement. "Thank you again, if you want to come play here with your friends. Then please do." "Ah man, We've love to!" Manic added, having recovered from his exhaustion with plenty of fries and soda since the show ended. "Yeah, you guys think you'd be up for that- Ah, of course we are!"   Their tired bodies almost made the intense set even more enjoyable. Maybe that was just Manic enjoying the mild pain, but it felt like they'd put everything they could into their show. It felt like they were recovering from blasting their audience with everything they could. It felt like raw power. "We'll play again tomorrow, I guess?" Oxide asked, still breathing pretty heavily just from how tired his was, in between his mouthfuls of burger that were stuffed into his face and soda slurped down. "Why not?" Manic added, smiling ear to ear. We've got the time, we've got... Well, we don't got the energy, but we can probably by tomorrow!" He laughed out. "Great!" The owner added. "I'm looking forward to your set!" Not entirely a lie, but it wasn't quite the music she was looking forward to. Their tired meals continued, with a few people bumping into them here and there or just giving them some kind of shoutout on the show. "Guess this kinda speed's really working out," Manic added. "Sonic's gonna be real jealous." "Hahaha!" Oxide laughed, wrapping an arm around Manic as he gave him a kiss. "Bet he is~" he said, before taking taking a bite of his veggie burger. Manic was always looking for excuses to segue away from any mentions of Sonic, even if he did bring him up. Thankfully, one was coming their way right now. "Didn't think you'd pull it off that well," Scourge said, sitting down at the end of the table. "You think Sonic's gonna be jealous?" "Oh my god, right?!" Manic added, motioning to Scourge as though he'd proven him right. "We're tricking him to coming to our next show and seeing him get all jealous, that's gotta happen." "Aw hell yah man. Have him real close to the stage. Though is it cheating if you're on speed?" Oxide asked. "Speed?" Manic said, not quite knowing what that even meant. "Come on, you're gonna need all the speed you can get to make him jealous. Not that you need help." He punctuated his point by booping Oxide on the nose. "But if we're gonna pull this off, we've gotta get him to come to a punk show on his own..." Manic smirked. "He likes most rock stuff, maybe if we just leave out the fact we're playing... He's still got it bad for Fiona, right? Maybe she can call him down for a 'date?'"   "That might be hard to pull off..." Scourge admitted. "They'll be down there, you four just stay outta sight 'til your set." "Alright. Sounds good. I know a guy that could sell us all cocaine in case we need that extra 'Boost,'" Oxide smirked. He went up to order a glass bottle soda  o go. They then went off. Oxide would then sleep with Manic again, his hand going up and down his body. They followed the usual patterns of the day, even if their patterns were anything but normal. Waking up late in the morning against each other, having very little to eat before a short but intense band practice. They were starting to get the hang of these faster speeds, and even if Manic didn't know where they were going to go, he knew it was going to be even more exciting. But these usual patterns broke up after practice had ended. Instead of heading out for their usual meals... "...And she's gonna be there." Scourge said, as though there was any doubt. "Now come on, we got some shit to discuss." He motioned Manic closer, him turning around to face the others. "We're just grabbing some extra picks and some kinda food." Manic said. "Those fifty bucks are on the amp, grab whatever you need." And with another wave, Manic and Scourge left the three behind in his home. Oxide, Napalm and Jason hung out around the house, waiting for Manic to get back. "Fuck, I'm bored...." Jason complained, sitting on his amp. "Tell me about it, nothing to go in this shit city....." Oxide couldn't agree more, there really wasn't much else to do. Manic's leaves with Scourge had gotten longer as of late. And they knew that with how these conversations with him were going, they probably wouldn't see him until showtime. "Twenty five pounds?" Manic was a bit surprised at the amount. "Dude, we can't afford to pay that much. Like, hell yeah, I wanna make him jealous-" "So do I." Scourge said, rocketing into the parking lot of some small jewelry store. "'N we'll get the money. You ready for this?" There were many reasons Manic would do this stuff. This was not one he would have preferred. But his disguise was already set, and him and Scourge were unrecognizable. He sighed, pulling out one of two pistols loaded only with blanks. "Yeah. Let's shake 'em down." But they didn't know. All they knew was that Manic and Scourge definitely weren't just grabbing some guitar picks, wherever they were. The rest of the band waited and waited. Waiting for Manic and Scourge to come back so they could stop waiting, because they were getting tired of waiting. The sound of the van rocketing down the street was like an angelic choir to the three bored band mates. But they wouldn't know about their disguises or their theft, as everything was stashed away back in the van. To their knowledge, they actually took three hours to buy one set of guitar pics and a back with some loose sodas and chips. "What, you guys were just hanging out?" Manic said when he walked in. "I ain't your mom or nothing, you don't have to wait around when I'm gone." "HOW CAN SOMEONE TAKE 3 FUCKING HOURS TO GET STRINGS?!?!?!? WHAT DID YOU DO? ROB A JEWELRY STORE OR SOMETHING??!?!" Oxide screamed at the two. He was obviously hopped up on another drug. "AND YES, I AM ON PCP!!!" That would explain it. "Hey, if I knew y'all were waiting around I wouldn't've been gone for so long." Manic said, walking up to Oxide and hugging him. "I won't be gone so long next time. Now come on, you guys need these picks or not?" He gave a quick underhand toss towards Jason, pulling out the packaged strings Oxide asked for. "And here y'are. Sorry about that, you guys wanna head out and leave me alone in a room for three hours to make up for it?" He was mostly joking, but knowing Oxide, it might not have been too bold of an idea. "I would say yes, but we got soundcheck, let's put on these new strings and get going." He said, putting the strings on in 5 minutes before piling into the van. "Well, look at it this way," Manic said as he plopped down in the driver's seat of his own van. "We get to see Sonic get really embarrassed. That'll make up for it, right?" Probably not, but whatever worked. Scourge pulled away in his own van, probably to pick up some friends and drive them to the venue. They didn't have the time to look for a full show again, it was just them and some local band tonight. But they knew their set was going to be awesome. Even if everyone else booed them offstage, seeing Sonic getting pissy would make it all worth it. "Alright, get outta here!" Manic joked as they pulled up to the restaurant. "So what, you guys just wanna hang around for like, two hours before the show or head out somewhere when we're set up?" "Yah sure, also we got the Exploited to play again tonight!" Napalm said happily, wrapping an arm around Jason who did the same. "So the local band will go on first, then Exploited, then us." Oxide said. "We also didn't do nothing the entire time, we did write about 20 more songs. Just play the same drum beats and everything will work out." Napalm said. "Twenty songs," Manic said, exasperated. That was a lot more songs than he expected them to write in that time. Exactly twenty more songs than he expected, in fact. But then again, these new songs were usually about a minute long. "Alright," Manic added, laughing mostly at himself but partially in worry he'd screw them up. "Guess I'm gonna have to bullshit through them at the show? Fair enough." He did leave them alone for that long, after all. Soundcheck didn't take too long, though it was slightly strange to do so in a mildly quiet fast-food restaurant. And some of Scourge's friends were starting to hang around now, even with how early it was before the show. All they had to do now was wait and plan the best way to pull off their little jealousy scheme. "2 burgers, please." Oxide held up two fingers while smiling. He didn't act like the stereotypical punk at all. He didn't cut himself, stab others for fun, drink snake venom, he did do some punker stuff but not in a family restaurant. Of course, the 'family' aspect would likely change in a couple of hours, but for the time being, they were just a band of vaguely threatening animals having food in a decidedly nonthreatening way. "...seriously, 2500 pounds." Manic said, going off on some kind of weird, geeky tangent again as they chomped away. "Like, computers are all kinds of cool, but who has that much cash to throw around?" A handful worth of fries was crammed into his mouth. "If I wasn't pretty much living out of the dumpster, I still wouldn't pay that much." "Yah, however, I have a feeling that's gonna change soon." "It's gotta, right?" Manic joked. "We only have ugly neon green, but in the future?" He waved his hand in the air like he was imaging a grand, glorious future. "Someday, we'll get to have both ugly neon green and ugly darkish brownish green." "Oh yeah, speaking of ugly dark greens," Manic said as Scourge approached them. He chucked over the key to their van. "Yeah, you can borrow our van for a bit. Just don't wreck it or anything. You go buy your weird pills or whatever." He delivered it all very quickly, like he knew what Scourge was going to ask. Because he did. Just a simple way to sell off that jewelry without them knowing. They'd already discussed it on the drive back. It seemed like a simple enough plan to them. "Can't wait to get super tweaked out," Oxide said excitedly. "Same here," Jason and Napalm said simultaneously. Oxide and everyone else looked at them like they were insane, but Oxi then shrugged his shoulders. "Better get some for these two as well...." Oxide said. "Alright... you got the cash?" Scourge said, leaning over and glaring him down. And then he laughed. "Kidding, you're good." He was going to have more than enough to pay, anyways. He strolled out the door casually, thinking it was going to be a fun night. They were left to lounge around on their own time, eventually splitting up into their normal pairs. "So what, you think Napalm and Jason are gonna find another room to wait around awkwardly in for three hours?" Manic joked as him and Oxide stolled through the area a bit. "Ain't my business, anyways." "Actually, uh, I keep forgetting." He looked down at his hands. "That slice last night was pretty nasty, your hand still fucked or nah?" "I'll be alright, and I bet the two are fucking in the bathroom stalls as we speak." He laughed, he was half joking, half serious. "So The Exploited are doing soundcheck now, and the other band will do the same soon after, and we still got an hour to kill before the doors open for people to come in....." Oxide sucked at conversation. "Let's leave 'em both to whatever totally straight things they're doing," Manic said while the two strolled around a corner, towards another stretch of buildings filled with small stores and abandoned clumps of brick. He draped one arm around Oxide. "Who cares what we're doing? I just wanna hang with you." But that was all they seemed to do anymore. "Hey, dude... I hate this place." Manic admitted. "Like, everything about this city. Sonic's got a job and all that, he's go a way outta here. Feels kinda like we're trapped." "I fuckin know mate. Fuck all to do in this fucked up city we call our fuckin home, like what the fuck man? This place is fucked up beyond fuckin belief and it's fuckin pissing me off, I wanna fuckin kill somebody." He just wanted to see how many times he could say the word fuck in a sentence. "Watch your fucking language, Oxi." Manic shot back as he finished his little tiraid. All these shops were small and musty, nothing worth their time. Manic sat on the windowsill of some foreclosed store that, judging by the sign, must have once been a laundromat. "You ever think about, like... getting rid of everything? Like, cutting off all your ties and just running? I've got a lot of friends, I just-" He held his elbows in his hands. "At least hell'd have some kind of spice to it. This place is purgatory." "I know....it sucks, but we got a band, and playing in the band is fun....in fact the band is the only thing that's kept me from swallowing cyanide for the 2 years........" Oxide admitted, he always did act like he was depressed at times, though many thought he was just trying to be really dark and edgy, but no, he was most of the time, really depressed. "Really? It's that bad?" Manic said, looking to him with some concern. He gave another sigh. "Thought I was alone." There was a long pause. Manic kept opening his mouth like he wanted to say something, but decided not to last second. "What about Napalm or Jason? Do you think they're like that, too? I don't wanna see any of you guys mess yourselves up." "I don't know. To be honest...I'm just glad I met you hun~" He said as he looked into Manic's eyes, before he stuck his tongue down his throat, making out with him. As the years went by, nothing really changed with the random pedestrians who would sometimes come by and get pissy with them for being gay. Bu their skins grew thicker to it, until they didn't care one bit. Those early days where they were nervous to be gay in public were gone, and Manic had no problems reciprocating the kiss anywhere. Of course, this area was so run down, there weren't likely to be any pedestrians to egg them on. Manic was almost disappointing, that was usually their excuse to act even gayer in front of them. He pulled away after a couple minutes of intense kissing. "Don't fuck yourself up too badly," Manic said as though it were any other flirt. "That's my job~" "Especially in bed~" He cooed, trying to be as seductive as possible. He really did wanna get to home base, they've known each other for years, why haven't they fucked yet? Because Manic always tried to go further... and chickened out. It was always creeping closer towards going all the way, with Manic moving away last second and settling on kisses. It seemed he had a lot of problems with sex for some reason or another. And recently, those problems got worse. Manic wasn't comfortable even taking off his shirt near Oxide any more... what happened? Manic could see that same lust in his eyes. "Hey... hey, dude, I kinda want to talk about something." Manic said. "Uh, I'm not- You mind if we wait til after the show is over? I'll probably be drunk enough then to tell you." Despite the humor of the moment, there was a clear terror in Manic's mind. "Tell me now, cause there's no doubt I'm gonna get wasted as well and not remember." He said, this was true, he would get abosultely shitfaced, have Manic tell him, fall asleep and wake up not remembering a single fucking thing. "I made out with Scourge." It looked like Manic was pained as the words fell out. "He said him and Fiona are real open, and I tried to tell him no. But he kept flirting me up, and he kissed me, and-" That anxiety he would feel was starting to seep through. It took a lot for Manic to actually act on his disorder. "I didn't want to stop him 'til he started grabbing my ass, I wasn't letting him take my virginity. I think- I'm so goddamn sorry, dude." His head hung in shame, visibly terrified at Oxide's response and ashamed of himself. "Do you wanna punch me, dude? Like, kick me or cut me? I deserve it. I fucked you over big time." "Dude, its alright. If anything, i'm gonna break a bottle over Scourge's head for forcing you into that kind of situation.....then stab him......then shoot him......then get rid of the remains...." "It's NOT 'alright'!" Manic shouted out, backing away in a fit of frustrated anger. "He didn't FORCE me into it, I AGREED to it! He stopped when I told him to stop groping me, I didn't-" He covered his mouth, tears starting to stream down his face as he fought to find the right words. "It was a month ago, who the hell cares about what HE did?! Just- Don't you fucking tell me this was alright!" The claws of his right hand scratched against his neck as his anger got louder and louder, yet more and more inward. "I didn't cut him off cause I didn't want to say no, don't you dare- I said fuck me up for doing that, now do it! Stab ME, shoot ME, get rid of MY remains!" He commanded, pointing at himself as he angrily begged Oxide to hurt him. Oxide looked at him, he was more disappointed for Manic causing such a scene. "Manic.........Shut the fuck up right now....or I WILL hurt you......" He had a look in his eye that showed that he wasn't kidding. "To be honest, I don't fucking care, as long as you didn't fuck....." He said, taking out a cigarette and taking a long drag from it. Manic's anger subsided, then roared back in his mind, and kept swirling. "He doesn't care?" He thought again and again. It kept calming his fury at himself, only to rekindle it again, back and forth again and again. He had no idea what to think of this, and kept trying to find the right words. "What do you mean, you don't?" Manic said, most of the anger gone from his voice, yet audibly extremely confused. "I- I cheated on you! You should care, I betrayed you!" Oxide had enough. "Will you SHUT THE FUCK UP!?!?!?" He screamed as loudly as he could in Manic's face. Oxide calmed down enough so he could continue. "This is who I am now, I don't care, the only time I would get angry is if you got hurt......." There was a level of care to his anger Manic couldn't ignore. The two had nothing to do but stand in the aftermath of their fight, wondering what they could possibly say. Oxide wasn't expecting Manic to make a dissatisfied grin. "You know, that's at least something." Manic said, leaning back. "At least a fight isn't totally boring. But I'm tired of the only excitement in this city being fights and garbage." He sighed loudly for them both. "I fucking hate myself. I don't deserve someone like you..." He kept thinking. And then a thought crossed his mind. "How about this?" Manic said, holding Oxide's shoulders so they faced each other. "When this set's over, we get our band stuff in the van and get the hell outta here. Jason and Napalm, they can come if they want, but we drive. We forget about Scourge and Sonic and this bullshit city, and we live outta our van. There's nothing left for us here, let's have a real adventure. Together, baby." ".....Sure....I like that idea....." Oxide had thought about it and to be honest, what did they have to lose? If Jason and Napalm joined, they could go on a non stop tour, maybe even go to America. But for now, they had one last show to play in their city. Not to mention all their clothes and any crap like that to pick up... "There we go," Manic added pulling him in. "That'll be my apology, showing you the world." He started at him once again, pulling him into another passionate kiss. They had no idea what they were going to do, and that was perfect for him. As long as he had Oxide and music, he was going to be happy. "Let's see if Scourge brought the van back," Manic said, smiling. "I'll pick up my crap from our places... maybe you can stay behind and fuck up Scourge if you want?" "Wait.....what about the restaurant?" He had totally forgotten about the restaurant. "If we go, the restaurant probably won't make it for very long....." He didn't wanna see that place shut down. Manic hadn't even thought of that. But then he remembered just where him and Scourge had gone. "You know how we make most of our money. We don't have to keep all of it, y'know... maybe we could stop by from time to time and give 'em some compensation? Maybe even give them their first bundle of cash tonight? Whaddya say, maybe we can Bonnie and Clyde it?" He held Oxide close to himself, getting more excited for their little plan as he spoke. "This plan is terrible~" he said, not at all deterred by that fact. "No......I don't wanna leave.....cause honestly....I'm scared of doing something like that......" Oxide really didn't wanna do this after he thought about it more and more. "I care too much about my mom, at least she knows I'm still in the city, but she would probably have a heart attack if she found out I left for good....." This level of care for his family wasn't what he expected to hear. The more they spoke, the more their plan fell apart, and Oxide was taking it pretty rough. Manic didn't want him to struggle like this, but there was nothing he felt he could say to help him. "Hey, Oxi." Manic said, taking off some of that flirting and getting strangely serious. "We can always leave for good some other time. Maybe we could start figuring out how we wanna get out of this city eventually?" He hated seeing Oxide so tense, but seeing him this scared was a first. "We don't have to go tonight, I just wanna see you smile. We'll figure out out lives some other time, alright?" "Alright......" Oxide wanted to relieve some of the tension, he pushed Manic onto his back and began to madly make out with him, tongue going into his mouth. And Manic let him do what he wanted. Running his hands under his vest and going as intensely as he wanted, even though they were making out on the sidewalk of some shitty part of down. The stress melted away. Everything melted away, as the two shamelessly enjoyed one another's mouths right where they were. A long series of intense, loving kisses and holds- There was a distant ringing in the background. The bells of some nearby church. Once, twice, until nine chimes had rung. "Crap!" Manic said, shifting his vest closed and moving away from Oxide. "Our set's in half an hour, we've gotta jet back!" "Fuck, and it was getting good too...." Oxide whined, putting his shirt and jacket back on as they sprinted back to the restaurant, they made it back with 15 minutes to spare, and out of breath. Manic stopped Oxide short of entering the building. They could see through the window that the normal family crowd had fazed out in lieu of the same kind of crowd they were used to. Larger than usual, too. Sonic was sitting close to the stage, like he'd hoped. Fiona was next to him, flirting with him in a way that clearly made him uncomfortable somehow. He hated admitting he had a thing for her, this must have just been making it worse. Their van was back, but Scourge was nowhere to be seen. "We'll sneak in... through the back... Make sure the first time he sees us is when we start playing" Manic panted, leading him through a staff entrance. "I'll grab something from the van real quick, you get ready." In Oxide's case, that meant doing some kind of drugs to help him play better. And like that, Manic was out of the building, gone to check in on the goodies in his van. Of course, sold off for Scourge's sake. At least he wasn't lugging stolen goods around anymore. Oxide popped a couple of pills in his mouth, which were speed. He then ran over and did a bunch of coke as well. After that, he was going 10000 miles an hour at all times, he sprinted onstage and made sure everything was set up. Of course, he just peeked from the stage, didn't wanna show his face to Sonic. Perfect, just as planned. With mere minutes to spare, the four band members had met up behind the stage, Oxide visibly strung out. "Alright, when Sonic sees we're playing, he's probably gonna get angry and leave. You mind if we start off with "Those Hips are Mine" to make sure he hears it? That one's gonna make him REAL pissy." "Nah man, and we should actually take that off the set list, or change the name, I hate the sound of it." Oxide showed visible disgust. "Sounds like something they'd play on the fucking radio." "Come oooon," Manic teased. "Alright, we'll make a different name late. Let's just pretend it doesn't have a name and see what happens." "Oh, and Oxi?" Manic said, putting back on that face that just challenged Oxide. "Go all out on those intro chords. Make him real jealous for me, alright, babe?" "Alright hun~" He gave him a kiss before they all ran onstage, all high on coke or speed, or both. "Hi, we're the amphetamines, this song doesn't have a name but who the fuck cares right? Anyway, ONETWOTHREEFOUR!" He screeched out the 1 2 3 4 part, and began to chunk away at the guitar. The sight of Manic's band should have been enough to piss Sonic off enough to leave, and then Oxide started playing. His fingers danced across the strings and decorated the sound in constant, almost baroque levels of ornamentation. It was a smug show of talent he had every right to be showing off, and Sonic ascended past pissed enough to leave. He was pissed enough that he HAD to stay and watch. And then Manic started singing, instead of Jason, who would usually perform this piece. The songs was originally longer, but this shorter version cut to the chase, and straight to the lines he wanted Sonic to hear. "I'll never be your green-eyes concubine I'd kill you, but those muscles look divine Those hips are mine" There was a layer of meaning only shared between Manic and Sonic, and he could be seen boiling with rage. The first thing that caught Oxide's attention was how Fiona was sitting on Sonic's lap. It was clear that when she wanted Sonic to buy into her fake flirting to keep him in the building. The second thing he noticed was that she wasn't grinning at the show or laying off the flirting once their plan was in effect. Actually, it looked like they were still cooing and toying with one another. The third thing he noticed was that they suddenly kissed, and passionately. This wasn't a casual flirting kiss, either, it was clear Fiona and Sonic were both enjoying it. Fiona was actually cheating on Scourge. It was Oxide's turn to sing now. The first and third verse were sung slower, and played slower as well, the 2nd and 4th verse were played as fast as possible, the chorus was an inbetween of the 2 speeds. "Strung out on speed and coke! You think i'm a fucking joke! This is something I already know! My own vomit I will choke! Doing speed, snorting blow! Am I alive, I'll never know! Get fucked up, go to a show Pogo, with bottles thrown! I'm fucked up! I know I am! Do some Meth, and then we slam! Huff some glue, Drink with you Hands are yellow, face is blue! I'm fucked up on all this speed Too much coke, my nose bleeds I'm naked, in this tree I am higher than I've ever been! The police then fuck me up Kick to the stomach, I throw up The paddy wagon, they throw me in Puke on my shirt, blood on my chin!" There were several things Sonic wanted to say, but he didn't even bother. The glares he gave the stage were enough to know they had made Sonic very, very jealous. But him and Fiona stayed, in spite of Sonic hating the music, and kissed. Manic MIGHT have been jealous, if he wasn't performing this with a lover of his own. And they kept getting faster. Their set for tonight was specifically planned around making them play faster and faster as the show went, and seeing what it would take for Sonic to snap. If he wasn't making out with a girl he hated that he liked, he would have likely stormed away by this point. And right near the end of the set, almost as their final song, someone did storm through the room. Right as they were ending their second-to-last number, Scourge stormed in from god knows where, also visibly high on something. Right up to Sonic, punching him out of Fiona's lap. One of his sharp teeth flung out of his mouth as he violently tumbled to the floor, landing on stage. It looked like there was a full-on fight breaking out between the two. The punks tried to break it up, pulling Scourge back and tending to Sonic. The Sheep manager was scared, she didn't want her restaurant to become a fight club, so she and some of the employees tried to stop the fight. Oxide threw down his guitar and started dragging Sonic away from Scourge while Napalm and Jason pushed Scourge back. "Get the- Ah!" Scourge screamed as he was pulled back by the two. Manic hopped off the stage, and right up to Scourge as Fiona tended to Sonic. "The fuck are you thinking?!" Scourge screamed at Fiona. "You said you wouldn't touch him!" "You said you wouldn't touch Manic, either." Fiona shot back. "You said you'd drop that open relationship bullshit." Manic seemed surprised at all this information. But then he started to laugh, realizing exactly what a fuckboy Scourge had been. And exactly what he could say to mess with Sonic. "Hey, while we're digging up shit on Scourge..." Manic turned towards Sonic grinning a mischievous grin. "You wanna tell us what that first song was about, or should I? Actually, Oxi," Manic said, trying to find his lover in the crowd. "You wanna take a guess?" Oxide was gone, he went to do more speed and coke in the bathroom along with other punkers, that kind just won't settle down. "Oxide's in the bathroom doing blow and speed...." Napalm said, pointing to the mens bathroom

"You shouldn't hang out with that kid," Sonic said to Manic in response. "I don't want you to get messed up." "You also don't want me to have a lover whose gonna fuck me up, huh?" MAnic said, squatting down, staring him right in the eyes. "You're just as much of a fuckboy as him, you know." There was a long series of murmurs and exclamations until Oxide came stumbling out of the bathroom. "Oxi, come here! Lemme tell you what that first song's all about." Sonic just looked uncomfortable as Manic spoke, holding the tooth in the hole it was punched out of. "You know how this one never wanted me anywhere near Scourge cause he was dangerous? Turns out he didn't have the same problems, cause I ran into them hanging out once. Turns out Sonic has a think for guys in leather jackets, who knew?" He leaned closer to him, his amused expression fading among a sea of 'oohs' from the punks watching. "Don't tell me not to hang out with someone cause you want them." "And you..." He stood away, his glare shooting to Scourge. "Is there anyone you haven't been fucking?!" Scourge said nothing, now with three previous love interests staring at him with different levels and varieties of anger. Oxide just laughed his ass off, he was too tweaked out on cocaine and amphetamines that he was, at this point, in an uncontrollable state of laughter. He was kind of killing the mode. Jason and Napalm just looked at the orange hedgie, rolling around on the floor, laughing himself into stitches. After a while, he finally got back up and saw Scourge, Manic, Fiona, Sonic and everyone else. Now everyone was looking at him. "The fuck are you all looking at?....." he asked, puzzled. "Nothing," Manic said, taking the strange happiness Oxide carried and rolling with it. "We're just talking about how we've all got lovers and Scourge is kind of shitty to all of us." Manic took the chance and pulled Oxide close, kissing him passionately. There was a moments hesitation as Sonic and Fiona looked to them, then to Scourge, before Sonic grabbed her hand and the two left together. Jason and Napalm just stood around and awkwardly pretended they weren't boyfriends. When Manic finally pulled away, he only looked to Scourge for a moment. "You wanna date me? Hell, if you want my help ever again? Try again when I don't have someone better than you in every way~" A sudden chorus of boos and insults hurled at Scourge trailed him until he left the restaurant. Even if Oxide might not have heard everything he said, the screams of 'cheating bastard' and similar were enough to tell him what he needed to know. "OH SHIT!" Oxide laughed his ass off after Manic roasted Scourge's ass with that line. "OH MY GOD!" He was laughing his ass off yet again. "Jesus christ, oh man.....alright....wanna finish up that song?" Oxide asked. Napalm and Jason nodded, and since everyone else was kissing, they decided to make out for a brief second, showing that they were indeed very gay for each other. And as an end to a set that was entirely build around going faster and faster, this last song required every ounce of their strength and attention. But they'd practiced these chords many times over, they had this. They knew they had this, these songs were virtually muscle memory to them. There was a boil of emotions in Manic's mind that kept fueling his speed, keeping him running on pure fury or ecstasy depending on what moment it was. But something changed. He knew Oxide was better than Scourge in every single way, and the song drew on. As the final song began to creep towards it's final chords, Manic gave in, and started watching Oxide play. Watching the way he passionately belted out the lyrics and danced around the stage, the way his hips were swaying... Oxide finished the song, smashing his guitar in the process, which caused the audience to go crazy. Oxide picked up the pieces and thew them into the crowd. The band walked off stage and the sheep had a mix of emotions ranging from happy, to frightened. "That was awesome Manic, oh, and I totally saw you staring at my ass~" He teased, kissing him. "I know," Manic shot right back, giving him another kiss. The manager watched on, not trying to be rude or mean, but clearly not quite knowing what to think of the gay band members. "Hey, sorry about all that nonsense," Manic apologized to the manager. "That guy won't be back, trust me." "W-Well, thank you for the show again, this will be great for us." She responded, pulling out fifty pounds for the band to spend. "Spend it wisely!" "We wont!" Manic assured her, giving her a handshake and handing the money over to Oxide. "Come on, let's get this stuff loaded in the van." They knew packing up their gear wasn't going to be normal after everything that happened. There was a bit of smugness to the way Manic spoke, and a more general excitement. Eventually, Manic broke the awkward tension between their other band mates and them by bringing up the obvious point. "You know we already knew you were gay, right? We've seen you guys kissing before." "Yah we know, can you drop the both of us off at my house?" Napalm asked, arm wrapped around Jason's waist. "We can do that." Oxide answered for Manic, arm around his waist as well. Manic didn't want to stop standing next to Oxide like this, but they were going to have to go eventually. "Come on, let's get moving." The four piled into the van, Manic driving and everyone sitting next to their partner. It wasn't a long drive to Napalm's nouse, yet Oxide couldn't help but notice a few things as they drove. Manic seemed weirdly tense, extremely uncomfortable as he drove. There was clearly still something on his mind. And of course, Jason and Napalm were starting to kiss again in the backseat, and Manic just wanted to make sure they didn't go too far in his van. His driving was faster than usual, but nowhere near Scourge's speeds, and they found themselves in Napalm's driveway sooner than expected. "See ya," Manic said, waving the two off as they walked into his house hand in hand. Manic drove out, but not to his home. Instead, stopping in some alley. "Hey, Oxi." He was trying to hide his nervousness over something as he climbed into the back seat, and further into the back of the van where they kept their instruments. "Hey, when I was with Scourge earlier... he got me a gift. I thought maybe you'd like to see it?" Manic said. "Can you get outta the van for a moment, I just- trust me, dude." He creaked the back door open, and motioned for him to leave. "Uhm....sure..." Oxide was a little worried, confused, all of that. He stepped out of the van, 40oz in his hand as he went over to Manic. "What is it that you wanna show me?" He asked. "Just a second, dude, lemme get it ready." Manic closed the door on the van quietly. The only windows on the old panel van were the ones on front an a back window that was so dark, it may as well have been a one-way mirror. Oxide couldn't see a thing, so he was left to drink and wonder what was taking him so long. The door was quietly pushed open, inviting Oxide to open the doors. There were gifts Oxide had expected. He wasn't so much surprised that the gear had been neatly packed and move to leave a lot of space for Manic as he sat in the back of the van. He wasn't expecting Manic to have put in hairpins, either, pulling his long quills into a more spiked style, with a few sticking up in the air. And he wasn't expecting Manic to be wearing a very nice leather jacket. One he picked out himself that Scourge insisted on stealing for him, lined with zippers and a few bright red or bright gold patches. The sight of Manic dressed as some of the newer crowd of punks was new to him. But these weren't what surprised Oxide most. What surprised him was that the jacket was all he was wearing. "I'm sick of chickening out... get in here, Oxi." He motioned Oxide to come closer, clearly nervous but anxious to let him have his way. This kiss was different for Oxide. Normally, Manic's tongue felt tense and fumbled when they tried going this far. But Manic was getting into a rhythm. Actually, he was being more passionate than most times they kissed. As though something had snapped in his mind, and he knew exactly what buttons to push on Oxide. And for the first time, Manic let his desires take over. They had no idea how long it had been, where the hell they were parked, anything. All they knew was they were passed out and sweaty, completely and totally satisfied in the intense afterglow. There was no blanket or anything around, the two happy to lay around with nothing to cover them. At once, everything was over, and the two were hit with an intense exhaustion. "I never thought this..." Manic was panting heavily, worn out and visibly satisfied. "Would feel that good... Why'd I keep chickening out...?" He clutched at Oxide while he laid on his chest. "I love you so fucking much..." he mewed at him, lust and love meshing together. "I love you so fucking much too......" Oxide said as he rolled over to kiss him again. The sun rose again as Oxide and Manic slept in the car, just snoring away, holding each other in their arms. Once more, Manic would have up before Oxide. He usually did, but this gave him a chance to take in what happened. Of course he'd done that before. He'd done it the first night they slept together, but that was just sharing a bed with Oxide. Letting him take Manic's virginity... that was completely different. Even more than that, it was intense. It was just as wild as he'd expect from Oxide, but somehow even more intense than he'd ever thought. There were no regrets in his mind, and his hold on Oxide was getting tighter the more he thought about what they'd done He looked over Oxide's body again, loving every curve he saw. He knew he was lucky to have someone like Oxide cuddling against his chest. "You cute fucker..." Manic said quietly, knowing he couldn't hear. He just wrapped his arms and encouraged the cuddling, not wanting to ever get up and break his subconscious hold. Minutes and minutes of nothing but gentle holds and Manic's thoughts. Oxide smirked, and sat up, inches away from Manic's face. "I heard that~ but if you insist~" He then tackled Manic again, wanting to fuck some more like last night. He let Oxide hold his tired limbs down as the two started kissing again, exhausted and passionate. "Thanks for waiting so long," Manic said. "Most people'd give up asking by the first year together... You earned it, babe." He looked down at himself when they pulled away. Oxide's claw marks had already damaged the jacket pretty deeply, but he liked how it looked all cut up. "Guess I can't say this is Scourge's gift, can I? After you made it look so much better~" He laughed a little. "Guess not babe......you wanna fuck some more?" he asked, with a very blank face on him, he was so blunt and such a derp too. And that's why Manic loved him. "Yes. Absolutely. God... I'm gonna be super sore, aren't I?" He pulled in Oxide to kiss him more intensely, hoping to keep going, but he couldn't. He couldn't explain why, it wasn't fear or anything. In fact... he was actually loving the kissing. He didn't just want to lust after Oxide, he wanted to love him. And as much fun as that night had been, this kiss was perfect for him right now. He held it, far longer than they expected him to, but they weren't complaining. No joking, no groping, only love. Oxi moaned a little when Manic wouldn't fuck anymore, but it didn't bother him too much, the kiss was just enough to keep him happy, more than that actually. They pulled away and Oxide threw on some pants and stepped out, taking in where they were, the door was open and Manic's near naked body was visible. They were far down some alleyway, but not so far he couldn't get a vague idea of where they were. Actually... Now that they looked at it, he could see the run-down sign of that closed laundromat from the previous day, where they'd had their argument. At least they had a good memory to associate with it now. "Maybe give me some privacy?" Manic said, although he was clearly not concerned. He reached over to the pile of their discarded clothes, putting on his pants and shoes before standing out of the car. Oxide seemed surprised he was still wearing the leather jacket. "What? You seemed to love it, and I wanna wear your scratches." Manic reached into his pocket, and pulled out that old pendant he'd sometimes wear. A drum shape on a silver necklace chain. "I'm thinking I'm gonna keep my quills like this," Manic said, motioning towards the more ruffled version of his hair from their night together. "Whaddya think?" "Yah man, I think I'm gonna dye my hair like Sid vicious, hear he's in New York right now. Really fucked up too......we should go to New York." Oxide said blatantly, he did wanna get out of the British Isles, and go to America. "What do you think? Should we go on tour and play around in Europe and America?" He asked Manic. "Not forever, but y'know, like 10 day tour...." Manic just smiled and grinned. "Maybe we can figure something out. We can go wherever the hell you want. Of course, we'd gotta promote ourselves to get some gigs, find a place we can play, get ready... ..." Now that their plan was to go so temporarily, he realized how much work had to be done. "And then we've gotta figure out what you've gotta take... This is more than I thought." He ran his hand to his head like he wag going to run it through his quills, temporarily forgetting his new style. "Or we can just wing it. Jason and Napalm'll probably be cool with it, right?" Of course, Manic only smoked cigarettes. They were all more extreme than him. "You think you'd wanna buy stuff in the states, or just go to your dealer here?" "Well, we should also find a place to record........which of course I know no places that would wanna record us....." Oxide laughed a little. "Yeah, we've kinda screwed, aren't we?" Manic admitted. "I mean, we can always... Nah, that wouldn't work..." He scratched his head. "Holy shit, I have no idea what we're doing." Manic admitted. "I mean, we ain't gonna find anyone if we don't try, right? Plus, we've gotta find people who'd be willing to sell 'em." Manic broke another silence  by putting his arm around Oxide. "We can probably figure it out, right?" "Yah....." There was a pause, a few seconds of silence before Oxi broke it. "Mmm, I'm still really horny dude..." Oxide whined. "You butthead~" Manic teased, giving him a joking smooch. "We can't just fuck all day, we've gotta practice and figure out how the hell we're getting records out. Save it for tonight, dude." He could see Oxide didn't want to back down, so he met midway, coming out of nowhere with a strong, almost violent kiss against the bricks. A minute of bold, shameless kissing with Oxide's limbs being almost forced to the wall. Manic pulled away the moment he thought he could leave Oxide breathless. "Now how about you use that kinda force on your guitar, show me what you've got?" Manic said. "Speaking of... When are you getting a new guitar, anyways?" "Shit, that's right, well, I could just become the singer for now, until I get a new one, since Jason and I play the exact same parts almost." Oxide shrugged, wrapping both arms around him to kiss him after becoming free again. Manic let it happen. It was natural, even if it was more gentle than they usually kissed. "Eeeeh, I guess we could go without for now? Maybe after practice, we'll go out looking for a new guitar." Another kiss. "Hell, vocals are hard work, too, you'll be fine. Come on, let's get to my place." Just driving the car felt slightly different, the two knowing exactly what had just happened between them. Manic tried to brush it off, but still seemed like he was thinking about it. "Any places you wanna stop and look after practice? Maybe stop at that real snobby music place downtown and see what kinds of guitars fancy musicians play?" "Yah, actually, we could just break into one at night..." He said, knowing Manic would join him, or, if anything, not stop Oxide from breaking in. "Sweet," Manic added. "Let's not try that place nearby, you remember the last time we tried breaking in there..." Good memories kept flowing back to Manic as the drive went on, the familiar surroundings now seemingly tainted by the previous night. He was almost sad when they pulled up to his own home, but they had practice to get to. That didn't mean he didn't take a chance to almost pull Oxide closer by his jacket collar and give him another kiss as soon as they were parked. "Things are gonna be real different for us, ain't they?" And judging by his delivery, he clearly didn't mind the thought of that. "Hell yah, lots of making out, fucking, and speed and cocaine. Sounds awesome." He smirked. "I cannot WAIT, for the future ahead of us~" He then flat out tackled Manic, not wanting him to go as he began to kiss him some more. Manic didn't stop him. Actually, he got pretty comfortable in the front seat, letting Oxide sit on his lap as the two kept kissing. Got damn, he didn't want to stop. So he didn't, even though he knew they should have been practicing. His hands began playing with the edge of Oxide's pants- Manic was temporarily distracted by the sound of a door opening. They could see Napalm and Jason standing inside the back entrance to his home, not shocked or amused as to why the two were left waiting for so long. Manic looked at the car radio. "Oops... looks like we're a half hour late," he said with no remorse for that fact. "Y'know, you shouldn't look at us like that, I saw the 2 of you sucking each other off at the Roxy 3 months ago~" Oxide laughed. Napalm and Jason grumbled. "Fuck, I told you someone would see Jason...." Napalm hissed at him. "Shut up...." Jason fired back, too pissed to care. "Now come on, stop fucking each other and let's practice." Jason and Napalm then went inside. Manic finally got out of the car, adjusting his jacket a bit as they went inside. "We're getting a guitar after practice, so maybe you two can switch between who's playing," Manic said, motioning towards Jason's guitar. "Hey, we've been thinking about getting out of the city for a tour or something. You guys know any recording studios, or people from outta the city, or... I dunno, anything that'd help?" "I have a friend that can help us record....." Jason spoke up. "Though he lives all the way in Wales....." He added. "Well, we got a van, but the question is....will he do it for free? Or do we have to pay up?" Oxide asked. "First time recording are for free...." Jason responded with. "Dude, that's awesome!" Manic said excitedly, twirling his drumsticks around his fingers. "We can head over whenever you're ready, this band's all I've really got going on in my life. Don't worry about cash, Oxi, you know we can always get some more. Just you, me, and..." Manic stopped short of finishing his sentence. "I guess after last night, Scourge probably wouldn't help us." Oxide was better than Scourge in Manic's mind... except when it came to thievery. He was even better than Manic himself. He had to think for a moment at what that little rant had cost them. Especially after all the times he'd saved Oxi and Manic from the cops after bungled jobs... "Man fuck Scourge, only things he helped us out with were running from the cops, and nearly everytime we could've gotten away ourselves....." Oxide said, still a little pissed off at Scourge. "Fuck that cunt...." Napalm added. "HEY!" Manic even seemed to catch himself off-guard with how out-of-nowhere that exclamation was, but shook it off. "Look, he's an ass, but he's an ass who got us a ton of cash." He sat down at his drums, still visibly angry with everyone involved in the situation, himself included. He sighed. "Sorry... Sorry, you know we were friends for a while. Lots of mixed feelings there," Manic said, deflating in his seat and dropping seemingly all of the anger. Oxide sighed. "Lets drop the subject and practice....." Oxide said, grabbing the microphone off the stand. There was a bit of confusion as the four looked between themselves, silently asking who was going to start. It was Napalm, starting off with a simple bass riff. Originally drafted as a guitar line, but too smooth to pass up giving to him. Manic was quick to join in, followed by Jason. It was one of those many songs they wrote when Scourge and him had run off the previous day. Manic wasn't too happy with the simply drum patterns, so he tried flourishing it a bit... but it kept coming back to the usual patterns that worked best. He didn't write it, he didn't complain, but he was a bit disappointed. In fact, most of the songs they'd come up with were pretty good, and he was happy to try and find ways to personalize them a little more in practice... even if all of the focus was on lead vocals. "Jocks are here, they surround Me and my friends are beaten down Feel their kicks against my head Look around my friends are dead! Gang fight gang fight Blood will be drawn Gang fight gang fight From dusk till dawn Gang fight Gang fight Guns and knives Feet and fists, begin to fly!" Oxide's vocals were sung at 150MPH it seemed, yet his singing didn't sound sloppy either. Simple, clean, blunt. Manic knew punctuating the way every instance of 'gang fight' was delivered with high hat hits worked... but he wan't completely happy with it just yet. It was good emphasis, but it needed... second guitar, of course. That's why Jason joined in the first place. They'd figure it out, they'd just need to work through it. In fact, the longer the session went on, the more it was hammered home that it wasn't an identical part. Without lead guitar, it was too smooth. Without rhythm guitar, too cacophonous, even for them. Oxide and Jason kept switching between who was playing and who was taking over as vocalist. Without two guitars, practice wasn't exactly smooth sailing. "Meh, let's throw the lead out the window for now, we can't keep switching between the two for now, it just doesn't seem right." Oxi said, looking around. Another few hours past and it had gotten dark at this point. "Alright, I'll be right back." Oxide then ran out of the room and came back an hour later, guitar in hand and out of breath. "New guitar guys!" He said, gasping heavily before setting it down and dropping to the floor. "Dude, you could've taken my keys!" Manic said, running up and helping him to his feet. "You didn't have to run downtown!" He was laughing the whole time he helped him up, clearly amused by just how silly his little tumble was. Once he was standing,  Manic picked up the guitar, looking it over for just a few moments. "Niiiice choice." "Th-tha-...." Thud, hit the ground again, only this time he was out, snoring away. He didn't knock himself out, he's just a tired hedge hedge. Manic's words, of course. "Yo, Napalm, help me with his legs," Manic said. The two carried Oxide up the stair, laying him down on the mattress. "Come on, I'll drive you guys home." It wasn't long before they were all loaded in the van, driving down to Jason's house. "And you said the first song you record's free?" Manic asked. "I can get the money for a few more, you guys think you'd be up for a road trip sometime?" "Nah, hes cool, and yah sure, I need a reason to escape this fuckin' town for a bit...." Jason said, lighting a cigarette inside the van. "Oh, can we stop off at the McDonalds that recently opened up? Heard their fries are awesome!" Napalm asked. "Sure, ain't too far from here," Manic agreed, turning around the first chance they got and town towards some fast food giant that had spread over here, like some kind of virus. The drive gave him time to think, and the more he let his thoughts roam, the more his feelings for Oxide seemed to shift. Not that he stopped caring for him, more that he was starting to feel concerned for him. He described what he wanted from their relationship, adventure, intimacy, cocaine and... "Guys, you know what speed is, anyways?" Manic asked them. "I know it's out of nowhere, but like, I don't know drugs that well, is that one of those nasty ones?" "Amphetamine. It's an upper drug, meaning it makes you happy, energized, alert, that sort of thing." Napalm said, drinking from a 40oz. "It can be addictive, but recently, I haven't seen Oxide act any odder than he usually is, meaning I don't think hes addicted, if that's what you're worried about......" Jason added. Manic just smiled. "Didn't even have to say it was about him," he added. "Well, I guess if you say so. Thanks, guys." It was an easy restaurant to see, with the bright yellow signs and everything. But Manic didn't seem to care about the place. "You guys run in, I'll just wait out here," he added, watching them wander into the new restaurant. He kept watching the clock, his foot tapping getting more and more anxious. Was he gonna be late? They ran back out. "GOGOGO!" Napalm laughed, food in his hand. Jason jumped in as well, food in his hand too. They had beaten up some Nazi bonehead inside the club, and a cop was inside as well. Manic didn't need to be told twice. Withing seconds, the car was pulling out at top speed and dashing down the streets, winding through turns and back roads at top speed. It was convenient, giving him an easy excuse to drive around as fast as he could. They screeched to a stop in front of Jason's house quicker than they really should have. "Alright, see ya, guys. Oh, and Jason, you got an address for that recording studio? Or a name, or something? Just wanna know where we'll be driving." "I'll give it to you tomorrow..." Jason said, walking with Napalm into his house. Meanwhile, Oxide was waiting for Manic, ready to pounce onto him. But he would have to keep waiting, as Manic didn't immediately drive back. Actually, he drove quite a way away from his abandoned home, thinking Oxide was still asleep. Okay... Okay, their quick driving have him a time boost. He couldn't be late tonight. Not tonight...! The van pulled up into a church parking lot, where a few others had converged. A frog, a lynx, a gorilla... and of course, Scourge, who didn't exactly seem jazzed to see Manic. "The fuck do you want?" He almost screamed at the sight of him. "You knwo you can't afford to get rid of me," Manic added. "We've got a hell of a lot to talk about, and if you don't want me to tell them everything you've been doing, you're giving me answers. In private." Oxide would keep waiting... but the night was long for Manic. Very long. So long, he wasn't going to return to his place until five that next morning, leaving Oxide all alone. Oxide was confused, why wasn't he coming back? Hen the sulked his way back to the bed, sleeping without his pillow, or, sleeping without being used as one. When the sun did finally rise, Oxi woke up and went downstairs, no Manic. Thankfully, Manic was finally coming back. This time, with Scourge in tow. "I'm serious, I don't care if we bitched each other out." Manic said to his passenger. "Don't fuck yourself up." "Mmm." Scourge grumbled, pulling out a cigarette. Manic held out two fingers, Scourge giving him one and lighting it for him. Manic took a long drag. "Lemme get my payment now," Manic said, "We all need the cash." Scourge reached into his jacket and pulled out a large number of bills, handing them over to Manic while they pulled up to his home. They sat where they were, smoking. "Offer's still on the table." Scourge said. "Oxide said he didn't care, right?" "Said he didn't care if we kissed. Not if we date." "Hm." Scourge said, pulling Manic closer with one hand. "Then I guess we can't try going out..." Scourge moved in to kiss Manic again... and he didn't do anything to stop it. He actually enjoyed the kiss for a moment, and was thankful Scourge finally seemed to stop trying to push it past that. But the moment it was over, so was any affection on Manic's part. "Don't think he'd wanna see you," Manic said, motioning towards the sidewalk. "Go." Manic only entered and saw Oxide when Scourge was too far out of sight. "Morning, baby." Manic said on seeing him. "Sorry, got up early and went out to do some crap. What's up?" "Jesus christ, where the fuck were you man?!" Oxide whined, tackling Manic and giving him a kiss, tongue first. Manic was more or less expecting that, and let Oxide have his little kiss as the two stumbled back a bit. "Sorry, I was just out this morning doing some work." I.E., looking for anyone who needed any thefts done. He would have whipped the cash out... but he knew amphetamines ran pricy. He wanted Oxide to have his fun, but he had a van to take care of, food to buy, Scourge to worry about... "Guess it was a bust," He said, shrugging. "So what're you thinking about getting a record made? Any songs you wanna be sure get on disc?" "Well, I got 6 songs that I think are our best ones." He handed Manic the setlist, which read; Facist Pigs Strung out Kill all authority Government hates you Nuclear Horizon Destroy Society. "We could add more songs to the list if you want, all of them are a minute long, except for Government Hates you, that one is 55 seconds." "Hell, seems pretty good to me," Manic admitted. "Everyone get's a chance to sing, some good emphasis - yeah, this is a real solid mix." He folded the paper up, and put it into his coat pocket. Good, he wasn't gonna suspect a thing. "Yeah, while I'm thinking about it..." Manic starting walking towards the large, open room they used as their practice space, specifically towards where Oxide's guitar was propped. "So who'd you rob yesterday? Did you actually run all the way downtown?" "Yah, awesome guitar store. I just stole the first guitar I saw, luckily the first guitar I saw sounds awesome. I tried it out while you were gone and it is fucking awesome." He said with delight, checking out the green 1968 Flying V guitar with a white pickguard and a whammy bar. "It looks, sounds, and feels awesome." "Interesting..." Manic said, looking over the strangely familiar shade of lime green. Nah, with how much he'd go on about his taste in guitars, it must have been a coincidence that it matched his quills a little. But still something he could be smarmy about. "What, you want me to paint my drums neon orange now? Or this just supposed to mean you love playing with me?" "Hahaha, very funny, but you hit those drums hard, don't wanna mess with this body~" He cooed, putting down the guitar and taking off his shirt, wrapping both arms around Manic and nuzzling his chest. He was slightly smaller than Manic. "I thought you would've been flattered. Thought you loved it when I pounded you~" He teased letting his jacket slip off. And so they stood, shirtless and making out in their practice space. For about three minutes. Before they could even go much farther, they could hear the lock on the backdoor being fiddled with. "Ah, crap, practice exists," Manic said, not breaking the hold yet. "Hope this ain't gonna be a pattern~" "Don't worry, I'm gonna make sure we'll have some fun time after~" He cooed before opening the door, not bothering to put his jacket or shirt on. Napalm and Jason walked in and got setup. "Alright, these are the 6 songs we're gonna record...." Oxide said, looking over at Manic, who had the setlist. Manic reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out the paper and handing it to them. "Oxide came up with them. Any other ones you guys wanna throw on there? I thought it was a good mix, that's pretty much solid." There was a moment's pause. "Oh yeah, when do you guys wanna head down and get this thing done? I'm never doing anything, we can really go whenever." "I'll call him up, and see when we can do this...." Jason said. They practiced the setlist a few times before Jason left to call up the guy. He came back about 30 minutes later. "Says we can do it today." Jason said as he walked through the door. "Alright, I'll go grab a map." Oxi then left, going upstairs. He came back 5 minutes later. "Alright, found the perfect route from here to Wales." Oxide said excitedly, showing everyone the map. It was a weathered tourist map of England Manic kept upstairs. An old template they used to try and plan a roadtrip, before scrapping the idea. Roadtrips weren't about making a careful plan, they were about letting loose and wailing down the highway to wherever. Someday, they'd finally take that roadtrip and see the world outside the city. Not just a recording trip, but a real roadtrip. "Yeah, seems pretty ace to me," Manic added from behind Jason as he looked over the circles and crosses drawn on the map in marker, old places they wanted to try and see someday. "How do you know this guy, anyways?" "I just know the guy, stop asking questions. He came to one of our shows in 1977, asked if we wanted to record, I was the only one he pulled aside to ask so I said sure, just forgot to tell you guys...." He said, seemed reasonable. "I'm fine with it if he is...." Oxi shrugged. "Didn't mean to be rude or nothing, I was just wondering. Yeah, this is great! Free is free, right? That's like, my whole budget." Manic clapped his hands together. "Perfect, this is like... actually professional. That's-" Manic laughed and pushed his quills back. "I love this band, I just never thought of it as like, a real job. This is wild- Like, the good wild, but-" His nerves were back, it seemed. But for once, he wasn't letting them cripple him. "This is amazing! God damn, this is perfect, Jace!" He let out a nervous laugh, but a longer and more genuinely happy nervous laugh. It was all too surreal that he couldn't help but enjoy it. Oxide smirked, watching him laugh made him look so damn cute. He got up and took off his guitar, resting it against his amp before taking Manic's hand. "Come on babe, since practice is over, lets go upstairs~" He chuckled, leading him up the steps. Manic waved off the other two, before following Oxide as he lead the way to their bed... ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ "So that's what I'm thinking. We drop 'em off, make a whole bunch of copies and some album art, get 'em sent out... and take the channel tunnel outta here." They were worn out. Oxide was laying with with Manic as his back, one arm wrapped around his torso and murmuring words into his neck. "I don't just wanna see England, I wanna see everything we can. The US, Europe, everywhere else..." He murmured into his neck, putting on his flirting voice. "I wanna see the world with you." "I wanna see the world with you too babe~" he cooed, panting heavily, sweating from their 'fun' from not too long ago. He turned to his other side, in a way that now he was ontop of Manic again, just like he was a few minutes ago. "I fuckin' love you Manic~" He said, kissing him. Manic melted in his arms, holding him with just as much passion. The two were comfortable against their other's chest, warm fur brushing against warm fur. Soft and sweet. When the kiss was broken, Manic just looked at his eyes. The moment held for longer than he thought, trying to think of something to say. "We're gonna make it big together," Manic said to him. "We're gonna be the biggest, gayest fucks alive, and rub it in the faces of every asshole around here." He kept looking into his eyes. "I don't even wanna move... I just love being with you." "We don't have to move, not until tomorrow babe~ In the mean time.....where were we~?" He asked, going back to kissing. They laid down and kissed. And kissed. They would take breaks to just cuddle and flirt with each other, take breaks to tease one another, but they didn't leave each other's side. They could feel the time passing by and embrace every fleeting second. Manic would turn on a small plastic radio at some point, fidgeting around for a station... "This is Radio MLX, it's nine thirty, and were... ..." "Already?" Manic said, how propped up on the pile of clothes he used as a pillow and letting Oxide lay on his chest. "We've spent hours up here doing nothing... I love it. Any stations you wanna hear?" "The only thing I wanna hear at this point is our sloppy kissing, and moans of pleasure baby~" He, of course, wanted to fuck again. It gave him a total rush of excitement, it was like a drug, it was like speed or cocaine. "Mmmm..." Manic pulled him closer. "If we had neighbors, they'd hate us so much...~" Manic had his reasons for turning on the radio, of course. He actually did have SOME plans, just plans he didn't want Oxide to know about. As as they got lost in their partner's body once again, Manic forgot all about time. All he felt were intense love and lust... They didn't get to spend more than a few minutes of afterglow together before being interrupted by some kind of a loud banging noise from the... front entrance? "Uh... You think one of 'em just left something here?" Manic said. "I'll go down and grab it for them, Oxi, you just wait here~" He kissed him on the forehead as he went to grab his pants. But just from the sound and location of the noise, it was abundantly clear it wasn't either of their band mates... Oxide was somewhat worried, but he was tired so he fell back asleep, he needed some sleep before they went to record. "zzz zzz zzz" The sounds of the snoring was welcome to Manic as he went up to the door, knowing exactly who to expect as he undid the deadbolt... ...and seeing the wrong hedgehog. "Scourge, what're you doing here?" He said quietly, more than pissed. "Look, I know-" Scourge was tapping his foot impatiently. "I need that cash back, aight?" "Wh- You know I'm trying to help you, Scourge." Manic said, the words dripping with venom. "I ain't giving you cash for drugs." "I NEED the cash," Scourge reiterated. They stared for a moment, uncomfortable. Manic only broke the pause when he realized Scourge was checking him out. "When I said 'don't fuck yourself up,' that didn't mean 'continue fucking yourself up.' Get some help, mate." Manic closed the door on Scourge, more than tired of Scourge pressuring him like this... even in spite of circumstances. He pulled out the wad of bills and leaned against the door, deep in thought. Oxide got up and went downstairs after about an hour, he saw Manic leaning against the door way, thinking about something. "Manic?.....You alright sweetie~?" He asked, lifting his chin up and looking him into his eyes, before giving him a kiss. "Yeah, dude, I'm- Actually, really, I ain't that good." Manic said, laughing. "Sorry, I'm waiting on someone to drop by, I-" Another knock. This time at the back door and not the front. The moment Oxide's head was turned, Manic stashed the bills away, hoping he didn't notice them. "Uh... Well, I guess I can just show you." Manic said as he lead the way to the entrance. The door swung open, but it wasn't Napalm, or Jason, or even Scourge. There were two hedgehogs there, Sonic and Sonia. And by the looks of it, they had some kind of paper bags for food. "..." Sonic didn't say anything. "Oh, Manic, is this your...?" Sonic didn't quite know if it was polite to say 'boyfriend.' "Yeah, he is." Manic pulled him closer by his arm. "Mmm... Oxi, they've kind of- Their adoptive parents kind of banned me from their houses, so they-" "It's the least we could do to help." Sonic reached out and handed Manic the two bags, which appeared to be filled with various foods. "You have family, you shouldn't have to live in a place like this." "Better than living with someone who hates gay people." Manic shrugged. "Ooohhh.....so.....Manic's parents are homophobic?" Oxide asked. Well that would explain why he's never met Manics parents. And now he's glad he hasn't. "Uh, when she said I have-" He swallowed. "They're my family, dude." He pointed his thumb behind him at their two visitors. Sonic was still looking away. "Yeah, our mom dropped us all off at different orphanages, and we got picked up by different people. My dad was cool with it, but he's..." Sonic knew he wouldn't want to finish. "And our paren't keep saying then can stay at a different house," Sonia explained. "Really, we can help you more, if you want!" The bags of food looked oddly familiar. The brands of bread, snack foods, fruits... it seemed Manic was lying about buying all his food. Odd, for such a small lie, he seemed very embarrassed. Oxide then just flung his arms around Manic, he felt like cuddling him for no reason other than cuddling. Manic's body felt warm, basically all the time, and Oxi liked that. Manic seemed surprised by the sudden hold. "Woah, Oxi, you don't have to be THAT sorry! It's just food, we're getting by! I like this life, don't..." Wait, there wasn't obvious sadness to him. "Are you- you just wanna cuddle, don't you." Manic said, a bit amused. "You dork." Sonic was already gone at this point. Sonia was standing at the door still, a bit confused as to where he'd gone off to. "Goodbye, Manic." She said, smiling at the sight of him having someone he could trust. Manic gave her a two finger salute and waved her off, going back to holding Oxide. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to know- I mean, it's Sonic, right? He's just too... GOOD about everything, y'know? Didn't think you'd want to know." This wasn't entirely true, either. But as long as he didn't realize that this meant Manic was never going out and buying groceries, and that he was using that money for whatever, they were going to be fine. "Why did you lie to me dude?.....You don't have to lie to me......" He said, looking up as he had his face buried in Manic's chest, a little flustered at that as well. "I just didn't tell you we were related, dude." Manic sighed. "I don't know. We all hate Sonic here... I didn't know if it would hurt you." "Mmm........well.....we should probably now call up Jason and Napalm so we can go and record......" Oxide said. "Which means I need to pull away and put on some clothes......which means I'll have to stop holding onto you......" Oxide then let out an exaggerated sigh. He was such a drama queen at times, though he eventually pulled away and went upstairs to put on a shirt, since he wasn't wearing one when he went downstairs. "What, you mean drive over night?" Manic said, following him upstairs. "Uh, sure, if you're cool with all four of us sleeping in the van. Four people get kinda cramped in that thing, but I ain't paying for a hotel." Manic just stood around as Oxide got dressed. "And we've gotta carry all of that equipment down, so we ain't gonna have too much space... but I guess we could pull that off, sure. You know when our session's supposed to be? Like, the time?" "It's a 3 hour drive there, and he says we can come by anytime between 12 PM and 5 PM. It's 10 AM now so we got plenty if time. " Jason said, already picking up his amps. "Ah, right, the time!" Manic said, slapping his head. "I'm sorry, I'm still, like... You get someone else to drive, I need ten days of sleep." The amps weren't hard to carry in. Manic spent most of his time getting his drums packed up while Oxide carried in the various guitars. "Oh yeah, you usually play all zonked out at shows, you think you're gonna take something before the session starts? Grab what you need, I'll be in the car." Manic certainly was in the car when he got there. He was in the passenger seat and already asleep, but he certainly was in the car. Oxide brought a pill bottle of speed and 2 bags of cocaine. They finished loading everything in and Oxide got into the drivers seat. He waited for Napalm and Jason to get in so they could drive to Wales. The car pulled up to Napalm's house, the two loading in as Oxide started leading the way down the long path to Wales. Manic slept quietly in the front seat, subconsciously shifting his position from time to time as their drive carried on. But as they reached the end of their trip, Manic started to come to with the sound of some small radio station, mumbling the lyrics as he regained consciousness. Oxide slammed on the brakes. "This the place?" Oxi asked Jason, looking over his shoulder. "Yah, come on, lets do this." Jason said, getting out of the van and unloading the gear. Oxide went to knock on the door. A red and black wolf answered the door. "Oh hey, are you Jason?" The wolf asked, in a russian accent. "Nah, Ii'm Oxide, that's Jason over there." He said, pointing to Jason wheeling over his marshall stacks. "Ah yes, good to see you guys, you guys are the Amphetamines yes?" He asked, with a big smile. "Yep." Oxi answered. "Good good, first recording is free, now lets do this." He held the door open so the band could bring in their gear and place it in the basement, were they would be recording. The exterior of the building might have seemed dingy, but the basement recording area was clearly a serious operation. Manic would have nerded out over hte massive switchboard and many types of tech around him, but he had some songs to record. Manic mostly carried his own drums and assembled them, finding most of the band members waiting as he finished setting up. "Alright," Manic said as he sat down. "So how're we doing this?" "You play live, no need to play seperate," The russian wolf said, giving them the thumbs up. "Alright, Manic! Count us in." Oxide shouted into the mic, the familiar clacking of the sticks before they launched into their set. The look of shock on the wolf's face probably showed that he was not expecting such a different sound. After they finished playing all the songs, the wolf laughed. "My god, you guys changed your sound so much, you sound like the, oh which band is it, the Exploited?" he wondered. "Yah, The Exploited." Oxide smirked, setting his guitar down. "You gotta give these three all the credit for the style change, I'm just some drummer guy who went along with it..." Manic was peering over the switchboard in the tech room, clearly fascinated by the many, many sliders and knobs and speakers and...! When Manic swiveled his head back around, he could tell he was getting a few funny looks. "Dude, this setup is awesome!" Manic eagerly shouted. "Damn... This stuff can't be standard, right? I ain't even heard of this brand before..." "It is standard setup, though I do have very expensive stuff as well." He said. "So, first recording is free, if you ever wanna come by again and record, I'd love to, but you would have to pay." He added. "Sweet, how much per hour?" Oxi asked. "Well, I would say 10 pounds per hour." The wolf then went to a big machine farther away from the soundboard. "Alright, here are the tapes. Nice working with you guys. What are you gonna do with these tapes? Send them to record companies?" He asked with a chuckle. "Nah, we're gonna try to go on tour." Oxi said with a smile. "Oh, well, there is a place not too far from here that is looking for bands to play, would you like to perform?" The wolf asked. "Hell yah!" Napalm cheered. "Oh, by the way, whats your name anyway?" The wolf had not given his name yet. "Just call me Dimitri" "Alright, Dimitri, thanks a TON." Manic said, every ounce of emphasis on that last word sincere, even if it was a little hammy. They actually had a recording of their music, an honest professional recording. They had some kind of merch, a way to spread their sound, their name! Now that it was happening, Manic was suddenly questioning why the hell they hadn't done this earlier. This was going to change so many things for their band. But now they had one very familiar thing to do - another live show. "Alright, guys, let's make sure this thing doesn't get messed up." Manic carried the tapes back himself, careful to make sure the case for it wasn't so much as scratched. He gently placed it into a floor compartment of the van... perfect. He closed the top, it wasn't going to get damaged there. Manic's attention turned to the baggies of drugs Oxide had nearby. The cocaine was one thing, that wasn't anything he didn't expect. What was more concerning was just how little speed was left, given how much he'd taken with him... He didn't seem that buzzed during recording. "Alright, thanks again, Dimitri!" Oxide said after he carried out his guitar. All the stuff was put away, now it was time to go to the club that was previously mentioned. "Hey Manic, you mind driving?" Oxi asked. "Nope," He said, pushing aside all his negative thoughts and hopping over the passenger seat to the driver's side. He didn't mention the fact that Oxide had left drugs in plain sight on the seats, that just happened from time to time. No biggie. As soon as the car was loaded up, Manic turned it on and started driving. "Alright, that was awesome!" Manic said as he pulled out, and started the search for a club they hadn't heard of on a street they hadn't heard of in a city they only knew the name of. "Hey, so what're you thinking for getting this baby out there, guys? Cassettes'd be easier to get with an electronic master, but vinyl'd be great quality... Thought we'd need art for either. I'd say Sonia, but her stuff's all that art nouveau crap." He put on the most mockingly posh accent be could as he announced her style. "Haha, nah, we can just send the tapes to club owners and see if they send them back or not." Oxi smiled. He wanted to pounce onto Manic, but he didn't wanna cause the car to barrel roll 15 times so he'd have to wait. They pulled up to the club and Oxide and Manic went in to talk to the Owner. They came back out smiling. "Alright, we got 3 hours to flyer this entire city........wait, I think...." he dug through the guitar case and found some paper and a marker. "Sweet." Oxide wrote down the name, location, time and amount you have to pay on the paper and then their band name. "Alright, lets find a photo copier and flyer the fuck outta this place." The two in the back cheered. Manic just gave a thumbs up and went right back to the driver's seat of the car. "Think I saw an office kinda store a few miles away? Let's check it out." It was a massive, clunky machine that made grainy black-and-white copies that were absolutely perfect. Blindingly neon pink, two rolls of heavy-duty tape and they were ready to go. There was little time to waste. It was almost an assembly line, with Manic and Napalm getting tape over the flyers and handing them off so their partners could hang them without having to waste time. What started as a quick walk was quickly speeding up for both pairs circling the blocks by foot as the got more and more frantic to get word out. The city clocks were just cruel reminders of how little time they actually had to get a show together. Oxide was dipping a key into a baggie of cocaine and snorting it, just to get a small boost as he sprinted down the streets, plastering 5 flyers on one building before moving to the next, rinse and repeat. They all made it back, Oxi was deffinetly out of breath. "Alright, hold on lemme check something....*GASP!*" Oxide went into the back and found the Speed bottle, he popped 2 in his mouth. "Alright, I'm fuckin' ready." They began to haul gear onstage, ready to play. When the concert was about to start, 30 punks showed up, along with 40 curiosity seekers, wondering what this band sounded like. Manic quickly sized up the crowd. Punks? Thirty or so there who would likely stay. Mild to moderate grunge? A little over twenty, All of them would probably leave. Most standard rock fans? Maybe less than ten, but maybe they'd stay. The others? Strange meshes who could have gone any way. Much smaller than their previous crowds, but it was a small club with three hours of set up. They had this. The moment Oxide finished his little introduction to the crowd. Manic starting hitting his sticks together. "One two three four!" Boom, after the first song which lasted 30 seconds, all that was left was the 30 punks and a couple of the other groups. "Jesus Christ" Oxide laughed, looking over at the other band members that were just as shocked. Even napalm was laughing a little. "We suck just that bad don't we?" Napalm asked, in between his fits of laughter. "Alright, next song, Kill all authority. 1234!" Even though he didn't get many chances to watch the crowds through the intense drumming, they were always the most interesting parts of the show to him. Almost anyone who would have heard their music was going to hate it, or at least stop listening. But these tiny, straggling groups that enjoyed their work were going to absolutely love it. A tiny crowd couldn't deter Manic, of course. He knew he was great. If a crowd couldn't appreciate that, that was their problem. As Manic started to grow used to these intense speeds, it actually made the shows feel longer than they were. He could remember every song they played, and to fill a set list, that was a large number of songs. As soon as one was over, it was right into the next. Constant, consistent. These speeds were getting exceptionally natural for him now. And when the shows finally ended, his arms would always beg to keep playing, no matter how tired he was. It was a curse he never wanted to stop plaguing him. After the set was finished, the crowd cheered, the band hauled the equipment offstage and set off back to Manchester. Oxide drove again, he was hopped up on enough cocaine and speed to keep him awake for a day now so he could do this easily. After about 3 hours of driving, they pulled up to Napalm's house, dropping both Jason and Napalm off before Oxi raced back to his and Manic's place. Manic wasn't quite as energized as Oxide was. Actually, he was quite tired, after running on so little sleep and doing so much intense playing in one day. Sitting cramped in a car didn't help, either. so when they pulled up to their home, he was happy to take a few things into the practice space and crash down on the mattress. "Hey, Oxi." Manic said, letting exhaustion take over as his mind reached out for sleep. "How much of that stuff are you on, anyways? Even you don't usually get this high." "Yah, I was worn out as all hell from sprinting across the city, putting up hundreds of flyers, so I did a couple a lines of coke and took 2 speed pills." He said. "I'll be right back, I'll put everything away, you go get some sleep." he smiled, giving him a kiss before running downstairs and hauling everything in. He then came upstairs and got underneath the covers with Manic, but not before taking off his clothing. They used one another as their pillow during the night, letting dreams tumble by. Mostly. If Oxide had woken up sometime around three in the morning, he would have heard Manic leaving once again, heading out for yet another meeting with Scourge. But as far as Oxide was aware, nothing at all had happened. He didn't know Manic poured some bitter liquid all over those pills to make them taste terrible, either. All he knew was he was waking up with his lover once again, this time resting on his chest as he stared at the dusty skylight and thought to himself. Oxide, even though he was on speed and cocaine, managed to sleep quite well that night, maybe it was from Manic being next to him. The morning sun rose and Oxide was sleeping soundly with his gay boyfriend, Manic the gayhog, who liked being gay with his equally gay boyfriend Oxide the gayhog. Both of them were gay. Shamelessly, shamelessly gay. And more than shamelessly gay, Manic was shamelessly excited about this recording. By the time Oxide woke up, Manic was leafing through a copy of the yellow pages, looking through address after address and making large, ugly corner folds on all of the pages he would want to look at again. "Morning," Manic said, closing the page he was on and petting Oxide's back. "Looking through some people, who can use this kind of reel-to-reel junk, and there are some guys who could make us casettes from it. It'd be kinda pricy, but like... we could make more money off of it. Like, have a merch table and everything." "Now we just need T-shirts," he smiled, getting up and burying his face into Manics chest. It was gay. "Thanks for being just as gay as me, Manic." Oxide said, kissing him. "Thanks for sticking with me," Manic said, giving him a slightly goofy kiss on his forehead. "Ain't often I find anyone whose gay... or at least puts up with me." He punctuated his tease by holding tighter onto Oxide for a few moments. "Shirts'll be easy. Just a sponge, some plastic sheets, some of this weird paint for clothes and stuff, I can probably stencil some out. Not like we got anything in here we can screw up." He sat up, looking at Oxide as he shifted him off of his chest. "So, what, we're really doing this? Getting band stuff together and actually planning a tour?" "If the Sex Pistols could do it, we can do it too babe~" He gave Manic another kiss, only now it was more towards making out than a kiss on the lips. Manic certainly wasn't going to complain. That high was long gone, leaving him not with his drugged out, excited partner, but the kind of excitement he loved in the first place. He certainly loved Oxide when he was strung out, but the original was always his favorite. "Alright, so how're we making something messed up for a logo?" Manic said, starting to get out of the mattress and throw on some new clothes for the day. "You know anyone who could make something weird and disturbing? Or just wanna put some of Sonia's pretty art stuff next to something real ugly?" "Don't worry babe~ I'll figure out a logo, I actually think my father does logo stuff. I could ask him." Oxide scratched his head. "Nah, I think he gave that up when he was 20, around the time when I was born, he's 38 now." He them thought, maybe having kids forced his dad to work a straight job so he could put food on the table. Manic didn't ignore this implication, either. "Hey, that'd be perfect. I think if I asked Sonia, she'd go off for twenty minutes about why she wouldn't do it," Manic admitted. There was an odd somberness to his next question, one that didn't escape his mind much. "So like... he's cool with this. He's cool with you just fronting a band and living with your boyfriend? You're real lucky, dude." "All he knows is I'm crashing at a friend's place. He doesn't know I have a boyfriend, which is why he keeps grilling me on getting a girlfriend. I AM pan, but I'm already in a relationship dad, a very very VERY gay one at that." "Well, tell him he's getting back into logos and crap." Manic said, slipping his pendant back on. "Alright, let's split up. I'll drive those tapes all around and see if anyone doesn't kick me out, you go to your dad and get that logo designed. Let's get this mess going!" Manic was running down the stairs, knowing those master tapes were already safely tucked away in the van. He threw open the door...! And to both his surprise and complete lack of surprised, Napalm and Jason were waiting outside. The four stood in a loose circle. "Alright, we're gonna get band stuff ready. Oxide can get a logo done, I'm seeing if I can get cassettes. You guys think you can go looking for T shirt stuff? Like, some blank shirts and shirt paint and all that?" "Yah sure." They both said in union before splitting down the road. Oxide had taken the last of his speed with him, he popped 2 pills in his mouth, 3 more left. 2 hours later, he was back from his parents house, with a logo. "Hey Manic, I'm back with the logo!!" Oxi called out for his gay af boyfriend. But Manic wasn't back yet. Half of the places he visited wouldn't even listen to the recording, and he was starting to go towards the edges of the city looking for a recording studio. There were all of the makeshift screen printing supplies manic had asked for on what must have been a restaurant service window at some point, but Napalm and Jason were long gone themselves, leaving Oxide all alone with his logo design. The knock at the front door was confusing in and of itself, but the person at the door was even moreso. "Manic here?" Scourge said, seemingly ashamed of something. "Dude still owes me some money." "No, he isn't, don't know where he is, bye bye." And shut out, Oxi didn't feel like talking to Scourge, he still kinda hated him. Another knock at the door, Oxi opened it and it was Scourge again. The door closed once again. Scourge started banging on the door, but no one replied. He was seriously considering barging through the locked door, even if he knew Manic wasn't there. He was starting to get anxious for Manic to return, so he hung around outside the building. Waited and waited. When Manic would eventually drive down the street, Scourge was going to try and walk up to him. "You can't be serious, dude." Manic shouted before he walked up to him. "I told you, no!" "Listen to me!" Scourge would keep screaming something at him, but Manic just entered through the back and used the padlock on the inside of the door, before sighing heavily. "Hey, dude." Manic said as Scourge's screaming slowly drew to a stop. "They asked for a partial payment and said it would take a day, we'll pick 'em up tomorrow. Went out and got the cash for tomorrow's half of it." Manic threw the wad of bills he'd gotten from Scourge some days ago onto the part of the counter they usually saved for keys, cash, and whatever other nonsense they didn't want to bother keeping on hand. The incoherent yelling slowly stopped. "Did the logo get finished?" "What the hell is up with Scourge?" Oxide asked, looking over Manics shoulder as the banging and screaming slowly stopped and footsteps could be heard getting quieter and quieter. "Uhh.....yah, I got a couple actually......" He laid them out on the counter. "I dunno, he's just always looking for cash," Manic lied entirely, looking over the designs. "Let's see... I dunno, I can't read these ones... this one kind of looks like an explosion- Actually, I like this lieele dude down here." Manic said, pointing towards a simple logo near the bottom of the page with jagged lettering and stylized capitalization. "It's simple, it works. I'd go with this guy." Manic looked over at the piles of clothes supplies. "So what, they just got this stuff, dropped it off, and left?" He said. Plain black tees with some white paint and- gold paint? "The hell...? Why'd they pick this up?" Manic said, looking at the slight metallic coloring. "We ain't... I dunno, 'glam punk' or whatever that'd be called." Mind you, Manic absolutely loved shiny things, and was litely going to do something terrible with that at some point. "Hm... We don't have to go black and white with the logo, I guess, maybe a bit of red? Or orange, since you're frontman?" "We can do just white. I've seen a lot of bands just use Sharpie on white t shirts and sell them at concerts." Oxide said, looking at the paint. "But yah, I think we're set. But did seriously not a single place accept the cassette?" Oxi was only somewhat astonished, because he knew they sucked, but this was a big city.

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" Manic said, laughing. "Nah, they said they had to take time to print them all, since we've only got one master, and make sure there weren't any bumps, they'll be done tomorrow." Manic was busy sketching out some kind of a loose grid over the logo in light pencil. He took a sheet of paper and started scribbling out a similar grid, drawing the small logo design at a bigger size. Starting with basic shapes, and constantly shifting details around his his sub-par sketching style. "Besides, we don't suck THAT badly. We can sometimes play a chord, or perhaps a drum."   Manic was slightly distracted by the sound of some faint music outside. "Wh- Oh god, Scourge is still handing around," Manic said as he started details on the top half of the first "A" in the logo. "How long until he leaves, do you think?" "If he doesn't leave, no, I'm gonna trash his van." Oxide was starting to grow agitated, why couldn't the fucker leave?! "Eh, whatever, we'll just wait it out." Manic was already running upstairs, and grabbing his radio. He didn't have the time to worry about this. He worried about Scourge constantly, he didn't have to devote his time and energy to feeling worse for him than he already did. The volume was turned up. Nowhere near as loud or as fast as their strange, fast genre, but decent enough. Something slow enough that Manic could focus on his work, carefully trying to make every detail just the same as it was on the smaller size. It might have been intended to look more clean lined, but the slightly rough edges gave it character, and Manic wanted it to have as much logo as they could give it. Every step was careful and just a little stressful. The details were more or less copied down, the plastic sheet layered over it taped down as Manic started to cut out the many small details by hand with the tip of a pocketknife. He had to make sure every detail was just right...! And that stress was finalized as he poured paint onto the sponge, pressing it onto one of the black tees through the plastic stencil. How was it going to look? Splotchy and handmade in a good way. The details were crisp, and it looked like it was cheaply made. It was clear that there was always going to be a little bleed in places and some spots of lighter paint, but it looked rough and genuine. "Whaddya think?" "Awesome, let's do it for.....1 2 3 4......5.....6.......all 50 tees." He smiled, how the hell were they gonna do that? Stencil to the rescue! Save these gay hedgies from their situation that they are in! They had plenty of floor space, they had the room to lay out all of these shirts. A few pieces of old newspaper inside each shirt to stop paint from leaking through, a few bad folds on each shirt... it was a long process, but it saved money. And from a couple living in an abandoned building, that meant more than time they already had to waste. A simple process. The stencil was put in the center of the shirt, and one of the two would soak the sponge and press out the pattern. Of course there were screw ups. A few shirts got a bit too much pain, a few a bit too little, but they found their pattern. What they couldn't find was much patience for what they were doing, giving the pure tedium of every movement. But getting to see the floor covered in shirts slowly get more and more finished was satisfying in its own way. "Oh my gooooood." Manic exaggerated his tiredness and sat down against the wall as soon as that last shirt was pressed out. "We're getting Jason and Napalm to do the next... all of the rest of the shirts we make." "Yah. Now, how about some...'us' time now hmm~?" He was getting all seductive again, seems like he was in the mood for a nice fuck between the two of them. Manic let him make his move as they sat against the wall. "You just want Scourge to hear what we're doing, don't you?" But they soon realized they wouldn't have to worry about that. Scourge was finally pulling out of the alley near the building, off to do whatever. Wherever he was going, it wasn't anywhere Manic or Oxide were. And it certainly wasn't going to be anywhere he could find Sonic or Fiona. Scourge was left to think. He wasn't like Oxide or Manic, who had been happy together for a while publicly. He wasn't like those two band mates they had, who were more quiet with their affection, but still happy. And he didn't have the passionate relationship Sonic and Fiona were sharing that was likely going to burn out. He only had himself to blame for his lot, and parked out in a random alley to listen to music and try and calm his nerves somehow. By the time that afternoon the rest of the band had bothered to show up at the building, Manic and Oxide had gotten redressed, but were laying up against each other on the floor where they were. The two didn't even get the door, laying where they were next to each other and just calling out, "Door's open!" Napalm and Jason walked in, to find Oxide and Manic cuddling up to each other. "Hey sweethearts, got those shirts goin'?" Napalm asked, holding Jason's hand. "Started? We got 'em all finished without you." Manic put on an exaggerated pout, before laughing off the fake tensity. "They're all over here, if you wanna check 'em out." Now that they'd dried up, the logos were more crisp, simple white against the plain black tees. A look that fit the fashion of the developing scene, even if it was going to be cliche in due time. "Like the logo... sweethearts?" Manic teased right back at them. Napalm and Jason looked at each other, wrapped their arms around each other and made out, cause hey, might as well go along with the joke. "This bands full of faggots, I'm leaving." Oxide then left out the door, only to come back in again. "And you're the gayest of us all," Manic joked, pulling him in for his own goofy smooch. Nothing as serious as the one Napalm and Jason were sharing, but he certainly wasn't complaining. "So we've got a logo, we've got all this stuff made... All we've gotta do is find another show, and we'll almost be like a real band, or something!" Manic joked, not letting go of Oxide. "So hell, where're we gonna start looking? And how are we gonna get shows in the US?" "We gotta start off here, tour the British Isles and Ireland, start off small before going overseas." Oxi said. "We should also send tapes to the club owners so they know what we got going on." Oxide continued, this was true, they couldn't just throw themselves at North America, they gotta tour Britannia, Ireland, Scotland, places close by. Oxide pulled out a map. "Alright, I'm gonna call a bunch of club owners and see if they will allow us to play, we also need to bring some others with us. We could get Exploited, and some other bands too." Oxide explained. "You and your Exploited." Manic teased at the constant mention of them. "Yeah, they're a solid act, they should get us some kind of crowd. We'll pick up all those cassettes and get a bunch sent out soonish, get some stuff ready. Yeah, this is coming together... Awesome!" Excitement sparkled through Manic's eyes. "Yeah, we've got an actual plan!" He didn't care that they'd have to put off their piles of pointless roadtrip plans yet again, they were doing something promising, something real. And Manic was pumped to get moving. "Man... When's the last time we've all gone out together?" Manic said, smiling. "Like, just hang out as a band? Come on, we've gotta go out somewhere and celebrate, right?" "Alright, oh and Napalm, Jason? Don't fuck in the bathroom again this time...." Oxi acted like he didn't like seeing that. They all piled into the van and went off to the burger joint. It wasn't a show night or anything fancy, so Flaming Onions's manager wasn't there. But they didn't need any fanfare for playing to help the restaurant, just getting to try more of those delicious burgers was enough to keep them happy. "...Seriously, I don't even know- Is it shiny, or colorful, or- Iridescent, that's the word!" The four were chomping through their burgers, catching up and mostly making stupid jokes about random people they'd seen at their show in Wales. "I could have sworn that one guy's hair was iridescent, or metallic, or something. Like- You say him too, right, Jason? He was the one who was gobbing at you and spat out his tongue ring?" "I don't know, I got really stoned before going on so I can't remember specific details like that. Hell, Can't even remember if I was playing at all." Jason laughed. "You were playing, just really badly, and you were down tuned a half step from Oxi." Napalm pointed out, this probably only added to their 'amazing' sound. "Wh-?! You don't remember someone spitting a spiky point at you and stepping on it." Manic said, a bit on shock at his answer. "Well, I mean... I guess I'm the only one who doesn't get stoned all the time." He laughed, taking another bit. "Come on, Napalm, do you remember that guys hair? Oxide? Anyone?" Wait, if he was too stoned to realize how he was playing. "Uuuuh... Jason? You made sure you didn't walk off with it stuck in your shoe, right?" "I did have a pain in my foot when I woke up, but then I fell asleep again and when I woke back up, I felt alright." "That's because I took it out...." Napalm sighed, Jason was an idiot at times. "Jason.....you're a total doof.....and that's why I wuv you~" Napalm chuckled, giving him a nose kiss. "Please, not in public!" Manic feigned disgust. "At least do that in the bathroom, or something!" But he let them have their moment. Manic leaned over and gave Oxide a kiss on the cheek, nothing too serious. He sure didn't mind. There were two healthy relationships coming together and making one awesome band. The shows were fun, but the closeness was what Manic was really crazy for. Now that they were taking their band more seriously, they were going to be a little busier, but it was totally worth it. Nothing was going to ruin these four. Manic knew that was a lie. Scourge could, if he dug up too much raw emotion. Sonic could, if he let his pride get to him. But if something was going to happen, it was going to happen in the future, and he wanted to enjoy these fun nights with them all. Even if things were going to take a nosedive sooner rather than later... Oxide excused himself to the bathroom, he walked in and popped the last remaining pills in his mouth, feeling an instant rush of adrenaline as he walked back out. He sat at the table, but before that, ordered a large fountain drink. He filled the drink up with pepsi and went back to the group, sitting down and sipping at his drink, acting like he was on speed. None of the others seemed at all surprised by this. He was always disappearing and coming back high, nothing new there. "...Yeah, but it was always just a normal road trip," Manic was midway through telling the others. "Never, like, an actual tour or something, just getting in the car and driving." He turned to the newly energized Oxide. "Why haven't we gone on any road trips, anyways?" "I...I don't know, you tell me. You're the driver!" he laughed. "Seriously though, I don't know why we don't go on road trips. You know? I don't know!" He seemed pretty tweaked out on speed. "I was always waiting for-" Manic just laughed and smiled. "I've been waiting for YOU to give ME the word! Oh my god, we've been wanting to do something like that forever, and we never did!" He smiled louder and laughed along with Oxide, his energy fueling Manic's own. "I'd ask if you guys wanted to come along, but I guess we're already planning that," Manic admitted. "So what, we spend like tomorrow phoning around and looking for clubs that'd let us play, get some bands on board, and get this mess going as soon as we can? Cause I wanna see more of the world than just this one city." "Hell yah. I'm down for that." Napalm liked the idea, good excuse to get him out of school. Same could be said for Jason, who was just as excited. "I'm up for that too, I hate school, so I'm totally wanting to do that." "Hella." Manic said, giving a thumbs up to no one in particular. "So what, one day of sending out cassettes and calling up clubs, another day to see who actually wants us to play, and we head out... That's two days, so Wednesday night?" "I guess, they may or may not send the tapes back so we'll keep one tape so we can copy it just in case no one sends back the tapes we send them." Oxi said in a rapid fashion, but not too quickly so that he was talking total gibberish. "We also gotta map out the best route to take to all the gigs, how many flyers to take and such. How we're gonna bring the other bands. Whether or not they're gonna bring their own car or they need a lift. There are many things that we gotta take into consideration when we're planning this" Speed seemed to make Oxi talk quite a bit. Not only talk quite a bit, but think quite a bit. Many of these things were things Manic hadn't considered himself. "We'll still have the master and enough cassettes to sell off. Uh... We can figure out flyers and stuff when we know how many clubs we'll be playing and who's coming alone. If we can get The Exploited, that'd be ace. How many other people could we call up... Crap." Manic scratched his head again. "Fuck it, let's leave Thursday evening and try and sort it out. And if we can't... we just make it up as we go, right?" "Sure, sounds like a terrible plan but everything we've done in this band has been that. Terrible, terrible songs, terrible band members who can't play their instruments, terrible lyrics.......man, we suck." Oxide laughed, he found this funny, though it was pretty depressing just how truthful everything he said was. "Oh well, cause to be be a punk band, it's all about the AESTHETIC!" He cheered loudly. "Woo!" Manic said, proudly raising his soda in the air. "Yeah, congratulations, we're all crappy!" There was a round of joking cheers. They were all fully aware of just how bad their sound was, but repressed it in their own ways. Some wouldn't let it get to them, and some of them... "At least if we're playing crappy music, I'm playing it with you." Manic said, giving him a playful slap on the back and looping his arm around Oxide's shoulder. "You guys even gonna bother with school, or just wanna ditch this week and help us with this stuff?" "We still go to school. but yah, I'm up for ditching a week of school." Napalm said, Jason nodded, showing interest in doing the same. "Sweet. Hey Manic....you wanna go back to your place~?" he asked, nipping his ear. Manic could almost hear Napalm and Jason rolling their eyes. "Yeah, sure, dude. We deserve a reward for actually doing something today." ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ That next morning, they were quick to drive down to some large electronics store downtown. Given the signs proclaiming 'fast, overnight cassettes,' there was little question what they were going in for. "Just a second," the spider woman behind a counter crammed near the back of the store would say, before returning with a thin box that opened up to reveal four rows of neatly aligned clear cassettes, 52 in all. The master tape was on top, kept in the same generic case they'd gotten the previous day. The payment would have been quick and nondescript, but... "Hey, you got a tape player we can test these on?" Manic said out of nowhere. "We test all our cassettes before giving them to customers," the woman started, "we can assure you our printing is top quality." "...So what did you think of our music?" The woman gave them an almost frightened glare. "I don't want to lose my job," she said bluntly. Oxide laughed, high on speed yet again. It's a wonder where he gets all of it, but it didn't matter at the moment. "Yah we suck." He chuckled, He took all the cassettes except one, where he put it into a cassette player to see how it sounded. It sounded like polished garbage, is what it sounded like. "Awesome" He smiled with glee, listening to it before taking it out after 30 seconds of listening. They set the money on the counter and thanked the spider lady before walking out again. "This is awesome dude!!!" He said, holding the cassette box in he hand. "Hell yeah!" Manic said with a slightly mischievous grin. "We've just gotta scribble some labels and we're set to send them out. You've still got names for all those clubs you wanted to call up, right?" The cassettes were loaded into the back of the van. "So let's go to your house and hit 'em up, see if any other bands are up to do a last-second tour...get as much crap done today as we can?" "Sure." 3 weeks later, finally did Oxi and Manic and the band have not only: 2 bands to tour with them Enough cassettes to sell at the shows Clubs to play A working van (And Napalm's parents permission for him to go on the tour now that summer is here.) "Fucking finally!" Oxide cussed out. "Alright, first we're gonna hit up London, then we're gonna drive to Wales, then take a boat to Ireland and play Waterford, Carlow, Dublin and Dundalk, we will then cross the border to Northern Ireland and play Belfast and Ballymena. Then we'll boat back to the United Kingdom and play Ayr, Glasgow, Edinburgh, then go to Leeds and finish the tour there." Oxide said, marking the map with a sharpie and drawing lines along the roads they will take and making X marks on the places to visit. "Hey, that's awesome." Some of Manic's usual enthusiasm was gone. Much of it seemed to have been sapped away in those few short weeks, but maybe this was what he was like when he got serious on a project. "They said they'd be down tomorrow, right? So what, we planning on getting on the road them?" Manic shared a concerned glare with Napalm, but neither of them said anything. "Hey, I'm really thrilled we're finally doing this." Manic's tone was strangely serious, fitting his odd lack of energy. "It feels... awesome. You're all awesome." Manic leaned over and hugged Oxide, only getting serious for a few moments. "Well, it's an hour drive with no stops, so we should leave at 8AM in the morning since we gotta get there at 2PM for soundcheck before playing at 9PM." Oxide said. "It'll then be another 4 hour drive from London to Wales so we should leave at the same time after the london show." Oxide pointed at the map, and started writing how long the drives would be if they didn't stop once. "We also, like I said before, gotta take into account of where we stop, how long we stop, and how many stops we make. As well as traffic, accidents, mechanical shit, y'know. Basically everything that can go wrong." Oxi shrugged, high on speed wasn't helping him keep everybody's nerves down on the fact they could fuck up at any point. "Hey, dude!" Manic said, patting Oxide on the back. "How about you lay off the speed for a little bit, you're actually getting serious!" Manic laughed and smiled to keep it mood. "We're never supposed to be serious!" The numbers seemed good, although the strict tour schedule wasn't really calming anyone. "Alright, we can do this easy. We're all taking our own vans, we just have one person drive and everyone else can sleep the whole way. Won't even have to stop or nothing, just go to parking lots and rest up. Food'll be easy, I'll get a bit of extra cash today, no biggie." The sun was still looming in the sky. It wasn't even noon yet. "I'm just gonna run out and get some crap done, I'll be back in like, a few hours or whenever. You guys cool with that?" "Yah sure, go and have fun, I'll just be here taking speed and snorting coke." He laughed, he wasn't TOTALLY serious, as he'd only do a little......maaaaybe......yah just a little....... If he can help himself, which he probably couldn't. After Manic left, Jason and Napalm left shortly after. So Oxi was alone, able to snort cocaine, drink, smoke pot and do speed. Man he was really fucking himself up, wasn't he? And Oxide wasn't the only one likely going to be fucked up... bang bang bang Manic was hammering his hand on the side of his old van. Their 'new' one was nice, he wasn't trying to get it back or anything. He didn't mind driving a car without hubcaps, and the recipient just wanted a van with a radio. He was just waiting... Scourge opened the back door of the van, groggy and uninterested in talking. "Why're you here? Ain't you got a show..." "It didn't work," Manic said bluntly. "I thought if he hated you, he'd try to stop when he saw you doing this stuff, but he's not stopping. He's more fucked up than ever." Scourge glared back and took a few moments to let it sink in. "'N why should I keep helping...? My life's over now, ain't it?" Manic's pity for Scourge was greater than any anger he felt. "You need to get help, dude. You already sold the car radio and the hubcaps, what's left? You can't live like this." Scourge didn't want to deign that with a response. "Just lemme fall asleep and die over here," Scourge mumbled, not quite serious. It was a horrible thing to say, but Manic didn't feel like he had a choice. The words were stumbled out in quick succession. "If you help and it works, I'll finally let you fuck me. However, wherever, just help me out, man!" Manic had eventually gotten an approval out of Scourge, though if that was a good thing, Manic wasn't sure yet. He drove away in total anxiety. He had nothing else to do, just go back to his home and check in on Oxide. Oxide was in the room, chunking away at his guitar. He hadn't stopped for however long Manic was gone, minus the time it took to do all the speed, coke, smoke pot and get drunk. He was hammering away at his guitar, trying to think of new songs and lyrics. And from outside, even to Manic's ears, it was clear he wasn't playing to the best of his abilities. "Oxi, are you drunk already?" Manic said, half joking as he stepped in through the back entrance. "What, you still trying to come up with something new? You're real devoted, ain't you." Manic sat down on what was once a service counter, watching Oxide as he played. "Hey, I was out talking to Fiona." Manic said. Not entirely false, he did check in on where she was staying. Sonic's home, of course, though he left out the details of the two getting into an argument about stealing. "She said she couldn't tour along, but she was gonna tell some of her friends. We might even get a groupie for the tour." The more he could pretend he didn't ask Scourge to agree to follow them along on the tour, the better, he hoped. Oxi looked at Manic funny, a 'what the fuck mate' look. "Don't use the word 'groupie' dude, makes us sound like we're a bunch of 50 year old millionaire prog rock cuntholes who play 15 minute long songs with 2 minute long drum solos. She can come along, but no groupies." Oxide seemed to hate that word, but then again, the punk scene in general was very much anti groupie, as it reminded them too much of the prog rockers and millionaires they're trying to get rid of. Oxide took a drink from a 40oz and switched to bass, writing some bass tab and playing along, constantly throwing out or scribbling out bass tabs he didn't like after playing them a couple of times. "Alright, we'll just call em... You know?" Manic said, already laughing at himself. "Why don't we just call them fans, and cut the bullshit? It'll probably just be her, but yeah, glad you're cool with it." It didn't take long for Manic to start sitting down with Oxide and start drumming along, trying to come up with harmonies outside of normal drum patterns and occasionally shooting lyric suggestions at him. A simple back and forth. "Hey, Oxi." Manic said quietly. "Turns out Sonic's actually got a job. Like, a real job. He's training to be... an agent of some kind, actually. And Sonia's off to college in the fall." He said during a short break. "Like... what if we're too crappy to take off? What's next for us?" "Who the fuck cares? I don't think about the future, I think about whats happening now, the future stresses me the fuck out, so I don't like thinking about it. Think about now, and enjoy it while you can, cause everything can fuck up very quickly. So don't think about it to much, and just enjoy yourself with what time you have." He smiled, he seemed pretty chill, then again, he was drunk, stoned, and tweaked out of his mind. Manic just laughed and smiled. "I know, dude. I need to stop stressing." Manic knew he wouldn't stop stressing, and he wouldn't stop being worried. At least he had someone to remind him to stop letting him screw himself over about those things. "Besides, who cares where they're going?" Manic said, caring very deeply himself. "Sonic and Fiona are probably gonna break up by the end of the week. You and me though..." He grinned at Oxide. "They can't even pretend to compare." "Oh come on dude, don't you want your brother to be happy?" He asked, sitting against the wall, pulling Manics arm, signifying that he wanted to cuddle. "Don't you remember the last time he dated Fiona?" Manic said. "Or the time before that? He'll find someone, it sure as hell ain't gonna be her, though." Manic sat down next to Oxide, leaning against him. Oxide was always in the mood to cuddle, and Manic couldn't really bring himself to say no when he asked. They looked over the decayed room they'd been living from for a couple of years. Manic had many things running around his mind, and he had to think of some way to say them without being patronizing. "How much have you snorted already?" Manic said, playing his concern as a joke. "Where're you getting all this stuff so cheap, anyways?" "Well, it's cheap cocaine, I'll walk into some disco club and steal a few bags before security kicks me out." He chuckled. "And the pills I just steal from hospitals and pharmacies," Oxi explained, seems he had all of this sorted out, steal cocaine from disco club and steal speed from pharmacies and hospitals, perfect. Nothing could go wrong. "Allllright, cause I could've sworn we had more cash on hand," Manic said, pulling out a cigarette and flicking a cheap lighter in his hand. "Maybe I'm just crap with money." He took a few short drags as his arm was draped over Oxide's shoulder. "I'm nervous as hell," he admitted. "You sure you're up for this?" He knew Oxide was more than ready, they all were. It was more a challenge, or maybe even just a joke. "Don't worry, I ain't gonna blow all our money of speed and....well blow as well," He snickered. "I'll have money for drugs and I'll have money for anything, other than drugs." He assured Manic he wouldn't blow all their money on drugs, only time could tell whether he would live up to his promise on that or he's just trying to divert Manic's attention But Manic was trusting enough, and that was all he needed to hear. "Alright, forget I said it," he said, giving Oxide a slightly derpy kiss before going back to his cigarette. The two sat close and did pretty much nothing. Manic had plenty to worry about, but company and a smoke would always help with that. Their first show was tomorrow evening, and the others were only getting in that night. But it wasn't night yet, and they were as prepared as they would get. "Sonic hates me," Manic would eventually mumble. "Think he's still not over that show he hooked up with Fiona at..." "Don't worry, soon, everyone will hate us when we go on tour." He laughed, not really helping the situation but hey, every situation needs humor. "But seriously, stop worrying about that shit man, just relax, do some coke. Actually, when you do coke, the latest thing you CAN DO is relax," Oxi realized, even in his fried state he knows that coke will do anything but make you relax. Manic just had to laugh at the request. "You think?!" He sassed back at him, slapping his arm playfully. Manic put out the cigarette on the floor. "I don't wanna relax. We're here to play loud and rough, you can't shred through a sappy ballad." Manic rolled over, sitting on Oxide's legs. "Not that you have problems playing rough," he flirted, before moving in for another kiss. Relaxing didn't always make him feel better, but kissing never hurt. Oxide threw his arms around him and began to french kiss him, tongue and all as he wanted to make it as passionate as possible. They didn't need too much flirting between them. Sure, they both liked it, but one of them could just kiss the other and they'd both be fine with it. So manic held onto Oxide's shoulders, Oxide held his waist, and the two forgot their troubles. They forgot about any beef with Sonic or Scourge, and worries about their show, any worries about the future... ...and also forgot to lock the door. They were so busy kissing, they didn't even hear Napalm and Jason open the back door again. Oxide did though, he whipped his head around. "Guys what the fuck are you doing here?! Get the fuck out, I'm trying to fuck Manic over here!" That caused them to slowly back out the door again and leave. Manic's immediate response to seeing them was surprise. The moment Oxide finished talking, he laughed. "You ain't big on subtlety, are you?" Manic said, as though he'd ever been subtle those years they'd known each other. He gave him a quick kiss and pulled back. "Who knows what they were gonna tell us?" Another kiss. "Maybe the van blew up." And once more. "Maybe we'll never know. Maybe we'll never care." It seemed like they were the only pleasures Oxide wanted. Intense, strong pleasure... but simple pleasures. And as much as Manic wanted to help him with some of them, he couldn't say he didn't enjoy sharing some of them, either. "Well, where were we~?" After their fun, the hedgehogs could be see sleeping, cuddling up to one another. Yeah, they were laying together on the dusty floor of their practice space, but they certainly weren't complaining. They were happy together. Manic couldn't tell if it was the exhaustion or the high wearing off, but Oxide was acting more calm, like his normal self as they sat together. Through the boarded up windows, bits of sunlight were starting to fade as day turned to night. They could hear a car pulling into the alley next to the building. "Think that's one of those other bands?" Manic said, one arm around Oxide's back. "We probably should get that. We couldn't just lay here and do nothing... That would be rude... To just enjoy sitting here comfortable and happy..." Oxi chuckled. "Yah, lemme get the door hun." He got up and it was the Exploited. "Hey guys, Come on in." He greeted with a smile. They were all visible confused at the lack of pretty much anything in the room, save for the band's equipment. Manic just smiled and shrugged it off. "Yeah, we've got the route all planned out." He handed over Oxide's map marked with the various club locations. "So we're starting by... and then there's some... gas stops at... and finally..." "Right, wait." Manic went to grab something off of the counter. "There's this girl I know who might be coming along, she'd be in her own car. Uh, here's just that infodump again." He handed over a paper with the gas stops and other minor details scrawled out in Manic's handwriting. "That look solid?" "It does," the lead singer said before handing it back to the drummer of the Amphetamines. The exploited stayed in their van while Oxi and manic slept together upstairs. Manic didn't sleep well, but he slept, at least. Oxide's presence was comforting, but his nerves were racked at the thought of this tour, and what Oxide would think that next day... ...when he would be loading the van with all their equipment. Napalm had stumbled across some other band, Breakneck, who was able to come along. Seemed like it was fronted by a mongoose of some kind and her friends? Manic had only heard a few songs of theirs briefly, but they were more than alright in his opinion. Manic was finished, sitting in the driver's seat and watching the rest of the street impatiently. He wasn't backing out, was he? Their old van drove up down the street, the one they traded to Fiona and Scourge. The windows were tinted to hell, so they couldn't see Scourge in the seat. To Oxide's knowledge, it was Fiona in there, and Manic hoped it stayed that way. "Alright, we good to go?" "Yah, lets fucking go mate." Napalm said, putting his bass guitar in before shutting the van doors. The car started and the band were on their way. First stop, London. Pulled up, did soundcheck, then bummed around the city. Manic had been to London maybe once before, when he took a wrong train some years back. He didn't know too much, but there wasn't all that much he wanted to see. So he ran things through with Scourge one more time, in the front seat of Scourge's van. "I want you to do it tomorrow," Manic said. "I don't care if you go home after that or whatever, I just need this to work." Manic did everything shy of pleading. Scourge thought for a moment. "Your offer still up?" "I haven't told Oxide." "A'course you haven't, this is for his good. But that's still the reason I started doin' this, kid." Scourge said. "You offered." Manic kept tapping his fingers, thinking. "Fine," Manic eventually grumbled. "But only if it works, got it?" Scourge grunted in approval. "You gonna actually show up tonight?" Manic asked. Another grunt of approval. "Good." Manic said, before leaving without a goodbye. Every one of the four had gone their own way, promising to meet at the club an hour before. Even if the circumstances were kind of shitty, Manic had a tour to start. And even if everything went for the worst, he was gonna make sure he was putting on a hell of a show. The show finally came around. The Exploited came on first, they were good. Pretty sloppy, but fast. Next it was Breakneck. Crowd seemed to like them. Then there was The Amphetamines, which the crowd went crazy for. Like always, Manic was going crazy for their performance, too. A chance to forget his troubles and drum his heart out. Even if it was a short set, there was a new gravity to it, a new dynamic. Even if these people didn't like their show, they would be gone in ther morning. There wasn't as much pressure to perform well... not that Manic was concerned. And of course, not that Manic ever played less than his best. "...Their stuff's still kind of pop-ish, y'know?" Manic was saying well after the show, talking to Oxide about the mongoose girl who fronted Breakneck as they sat at their makeshift merch table. "I guess she said they're trying punk rock to expand their sound? Like, that's cool, but who goes to punk rock from pop music?" "She's trying to imitate Blondie, who's a pretty popular new wave act from America," Oxi said, giving someone a cassette and taking a buck from them. "This is awesome dude. How can it get any better for a punk act?" Oxi asked, giving him a noogie. "Hey, stop that!" Manic said, laughing and pulling away as soon as he got a chance. "Yeah, it's pretty good. We've got good music, friends... A cute boyfriend..." He leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling back. They sold more cassettes and shirts than expected, but with how few they were hoping to sell at a show, that wasn't saying much. The people still hanging around the club, drinking and talking and getting into all kinds of trouble were constantly moving around, but Oxide was sure that among them- No, he was back home. Was he? No, that definitely had to be Scourge. Oxi thought he saw Scourge, but he was on a lot of coke, so that could just be his imagination. Soon, the band was asleep, Napalm cuddling Jason, and Manic cuddling Oxi. Manic was going to have to break that cuddle eventually as the bands started driving yet again, this time up towards Wales. But he was still courteous enough to prop up Oxide in the passenger seat so he could lean on Manic as he drove. Oxide would eventually wake up midway through the four hour drive, as the four cards were all pulled up at a gas station. The only conscious people in each car were currently filling their tanks. And while he couldn't see TOO clearly under the dark sky, the dim glow of some roadside convenience store was enough to show that it wasn't just a cocaine high. Scourge was actually coming along for the tour... for some reason. "You awake?" Manic only noticed Oxide was awake when he opened the drivers side door. "You wanna grab a snack, or hit the road again?" "Yah sure." Oxi got up and noticed Scourge's van. "Why's sir deadbeat here?" Oxide asked, pointing to Scourge's van. "I guess Fiona must've told him," Manic admitted, walking straight past him and his car as they wandered towards the building. "Said she might tell some of her friends, but I guess a fan's a fan..." After nabbing a few snacks and drinks, the two were back in the van, slightly wary of Scourge for completely different reasons. "So when'd he get his title?" Manic asked as he twisted the key and let Oxide lean on him again. "Is he a royal deadbeat now? Did he get knighted by lord mediocrity?" Oxi laughed, finding what Manic said funny. "Yep, kinda like that, I guess." He hugged Manic, wanting to fuck but the others probably wouldn't want that. They traveled all over Ireland and the United Kingdom. Soon they were back in Manchester. Most of their shirts and cassettes sold, getting more exhausted as the days drew on... and with Scourge never leaving. Manic was clearly warming up to having a fan, just a bit uncomfortable with who that fan was. But they were in their home city. Not just with the fan, but with how Oxide was. He always worried, but he was tripping more and more on their tour, and Manic was starting to get truly concerned. But after their first few attempts, and after several days of tour, Scourge finally found a way to lure Oxide into his plan. Manic had split into yet another club to hang out with the other bands, and Napalm and Jason were still off loitering around the city. There were only two people in the parking lot of the club. Oxide, who was out alone, and whoever was in the back of their old van, letting smoke dissipate out of the back doors left swung open. "Hey Scourge, I thought I told you at the restaurant to fuck off," Oxide called out to Scourge. He still wasn't planning on trying to make friends with the guy, he was just a cheating, drugged out asshole. Kinda like Oxide, minus the cheating part. "Hm?" Was all Scourge grunted out. Maybe he couldn't have heard Oxide from that distance. As Oxide got closer to the van, he could see Scourge sitting near the back of the van, smoking out of that same pipe he'd given Oxide weeks before. Smoking the stuff pretty heavily, too. The van was even more messed up than when they traded it to him. Hubcaps were gone, the radio was gone, everything of real value. A blanket and some clothes were his only belonging in the van. Scourge just sat there, energized but not looking at Oxide with too much malice. "Manic said I could come alone," Scourge said blunty, "so I came along." He took a long smoke again, before holding the pipe out. "You wanna hit?" "No actually, I don't, the hell happened to your van? Pawn it off to get fucked up?" He sneered. Yah he got fucked up too, but he never pawned anything off. Only pocket money he set aside for drugs was what he spent on his addiction. But just how long would that last? "Pretty much." Scourge just shrugged, and eventually stopped heating the pipe. He didn't move to get out of the van, dangling his legs off the side and looking up towards the sky. "Don't got too much left to give, either. You know anywhere hiring? Anyone who'd want an asshole like me?" There was a self reflection to his last line that echoed sleepless nights of self loathing and general angst. "Could just whore yourself off to some sleazy asshole like yourself, make an easy 10 bucks." He cackled, walking away back to the van before cracking open a pepsi. Crap...! The plan was to get some kind of change out of Oxide, not let him leave like that! He needed to rope Oxide back in somehow! Scourge stood up to walk with him and let out a few loud, exaggerated coughs to see if he couldn't grab his attention. The coughing seemed to trigger something in his body and his coughs grew out of control, until he was on all fours at the edge of the parking lot and vomiting into the metal fence. "Fuck..." he grumbled, looking down at his newly-stained jacket. He took it off and walked back towards his van. The muscles he once had weren't there anymore, leaving him weak and thin. Malnourished, even. "You got any jackets or whatever?" He shouted from across the parking lot. The sudden frailty would have seemed like comeuppance if it wasn't so entirely pathetic. "FUCK OFF!" Oxide yelled from the van, wanting nothing to do with Scourge. The more he thought about it, the more he realized just how fucked up Scourge had become. No muscles, looked as if he hadn't eaten in a few days. He noticed a bag of chips near the doors, he took that and a pepsi and brought them over to Scourge, putting them in his van before leaving. Scourge seemed surprised by the gesture. He wanted to stick with the plan, but he clearly didn't want to listen to Scourge talk... "Thanks." He mumbled, barely loud enough for Oxide to hear. An hour before their set. Manic had had a little to drink, not enough that it would affect his player. He was lounging near the back of the club, deep in thought and waiting for Oxide to come back. Oxi came in, cigarette between his lips. He looked at Manic and took the cigarette out. "Tell me....what's happening to Scourge? He looks like a crackhead dude, as well as someone who hasn't eaten in a couple of days......" He wasn't worried about him, just curious. There was a desperate relief to Manic when he heard him finally, FINALLY say something about Scourge. "He looks like a crackhead cause he is a crackhead," Manic would admit, motioning for Oxide to pass him a cigarette. "I didn't just get into theft cause I wanted to, Scourge was always in a shitty spot. So I... helped him get cash, and he couldn't get better." Manic took a long drag as he thought how to deliver the news. "It's been getting really rough on him lately. Turns out... Fiona played us, dude. They had an open relationship, she was just pissy with Scourge and wanted to see him get humiliated. Dude took it hard." He looked down at the ground, forlorn. "I think she finally broke up with him for good. All his crew's just trying to leech off of his thefts, I'm pretty much the closest thing to a friend he's got left." Oxide heard this, but felt no remorse for him. He wanted to laugh, but he wasn't that sadistic. "Hmm....." was all that Oxi muttered. "......oh well, I couldn't care less." Manic didn't really respond to that. I was clear he still cared about Scourge. Even if he was a lying asshole. "Scourge didn't start off on as much of the stuff as you're taking," Manic said, speaking strangely seriously and not even facing Oxide. "How much of that stuff do you think you're taking?" "About 3 a day," he answered truthfully. "Least I don't pawn off my stuff like Scourge does...." Oxi fired back at Manic. Though how long that would stay like that was unclear. "Seven." Manic said one word, looking pained as he kept forcing words out. "You take at least seven a day, dude. You always say you're taking this stuff well, and then you just guzzle it down and don't even- You don't even realize how much you're taking? That's not even talking about cocaine or- ANYTHING else you take!" Another drag. Manic took the time to savor the feeling. "Of course you don't pawn stuff off... you've got me to help you get cash. We can make money." He held the cigarette down, watching the smoke as it wafted upwards. "But you're just as addicted as him, dude." "I'm doing just fine Manic.....and no, I'm not taking 7, that was one time." Oxi shot back, though he was Manics lover, and he loved Manic very much, but he was on the verge to just walk out and quit the band. "I AIN'T A FUCKING ADDICT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "LOOK AT YOURSELF!" Manic immediately screamed back, wildly flailing his arms to motion towards Oxide's chest. Neither of them would notice the small number of club goers watching from all the way down the back hallway. Oxide looked down. Even though he was wearing a shirt, his ribs were visible. His stomach jutted inwards. Scourge looked malnourished. Oxide looked like he was on the brink of starvation. "You're just as fucked up as him, man!" Manic yelled, his voice cracking at he went. "How many times have we gone out to eat, grab snacks, whatever?! You aren't eating! You aren't doing anything, and if I wasn't forcing you... What about that burger place you said you wanted to save, when was the last time we went there? We haven't been since I dragged us all there a MONTH ago! When's the last time you even ate?!" Manic placed both hands on Oxide's shoulders, tears visible at the corners of his eyes. "I'm not watching Scourge end up a drugged-out loser without anyone, and I'm definitely not watching it happen to you! You are taking that much, you're taking that much regularly, how aren't you noticing?! Stop killing yourself-! I LOVE YOU, OXIDE, STOP THIS SHIT!" Manic screamed through tears, pulling Oxide close for a passionate kiss overflowing with a tangled web of emotions Manic couldn't begin to comprehend. Hate and sorrow seethed over and forced him to do the only thing he knew how to at least help one of them. Oxide was about to one punch knock-out Manic, that was till Manic kissed him. After the kiss, he just stared at him, not even saying anything. All he did was go to the stage. "Time to play." He said before walking towards the stage again. He strapped on his guitar, didn't say anything, didn't act goofy, he had no energy and didn't wanna do this. but he kinda had to, Manic counted them in...... 4 songs in, Oxi's guitar was smashed and he was walking out of the club, too pissed off to play. Their was a confusion among the crowd as soon as Oxide was leaving. The mongoose girl's band was quickly ushered on as the others tried to follow Oxide through the crowd, to no avail. They couldn't tell where the hell he'd gone. Outside, all he would hear was some bizarre, primal scream from Scourge's wrecked van. Too pissed off at himself to say anything else. Oxide didn't seem to care. "Oxi, what the hell?!" Manic yelled as he exited the club, finally having found some route. "Dude, are you still pissed off, I was trying to help you! What're you even doing?!" "I DON'T KNOW!" He screamed, crossing the street without looking, not caring if something hit him. He didn't know why he was acting like this either, he was just confused and pissed off. He walked back all the way to the practice space, slamming the door and locking it. He then curled up in the corner, not wanting anyone near him. Manic would have followed him, but the way he dashed away was almost erratic. Probably back to his own home. Manic didn't know what to say, and he wouldn't have even had a chance. He turned around, and noticed that the doors to Scourge's van were still open. Sure enough, he was back there, clearly having a similar episode. The sight of Manic seemed to promise Scourge's reward... even if it wasn't likely. "The fuck do you want..." "Oxi booked it," Manic said, climbing into the van and sitting in the one space in the back he always would. He was facing Scourge indirectly. "He got too angry to play, smashed his guitar and ran." He sighed heavily, visibly deflating. "He loved that guitar... this wasn't normal, dude. I think he hates me." Scourge wanted to ask, and Manic knew he wanted to ask. But they didn't let it affect them. "Leave him," Scourge suggested. "Give him space, and see him tomorrow. Drive your band home, they're waiting." Manic looked out the front windows. Near the employee exit, Napalm and Jason were standing around and looking for either of the others. "'N tell him thanks for me," Scourge mumbled, almost shooing Manic out of the van. Manic hesitated, before grabbing Scourge's jacket. "I'll get this vom out." He said, closing the doors on Scourge's van and walking up to the two others. "You guys know what that was about?" Manic asked bluntly. "You just wanna forget about this and head back to your places?" "Yah, I've seen this before. When me and Oxi were much younger, like grade school young, he had these episodes a lot, haven't seen them since 8th grade, looks like all that speed brought them back. He'd just run and run and run away till hes found a safe place to stay, it doesn't last too too long...." Napalm explained. Seemed like this wasn't the first time this had happened. Back at the house, Oxi had gotten rid of the pills. He was doing acid, A LOT of it, wanting to get lost in a psychedelic world, away from all of his problems. The three were operating quickly as that local band played. They were disassembling instruments almost subconsciously, trying to get out of that wreck of a performance as quickly as possible. Bath and forth in the blink of an eye as they tried to let it sink in that this had actually happened. And shortly, they were back at the van, instruments and Scourge's jacket left in the trunk space. "God damn... when do you think it'll be safe?" Manic was driving towards Jason's house. It was further away, it would force him to give Oxide more time alone. "He needs a ton of help." Jason didn't say anything, he just wanted to get home at this point. Once Jason was dropped off, he just walked into his home, and went to bed. Oxide was tripping hard, hallucinations that looked, sounded and felt VERY real. But unfortunately for him, they didn't know. Manic just did what he had to. Napalm was dropped off at his house. The jacket was handed over to some laundromat. But Oxide? When could he go back? How long was long enough, he didn't know. So as he finished up one errand for Oxide, he pulled up to a parking lot with a familiar beat-up van. "You're back," Scourge said to him. "Oxide needs space," Manic said. "And you need company. I need to talk with him before we can go any further, but..." He sighed, tears welling up again in his eyes. "I just need to lay down with someone, and you're the loneliest asshole I know." Manic couldn't fight back the tears convincingly. Scourge patted the floor he was laying on, one Manic had slept on many times before. He huddled up against Scourge, sad but at least not alone. The night wasn't easy for any of them. Manic finally felt he'd let enough time pass when he woke up, and by ten o'clock, he slowly unlocked the door to his old, abandoned house. "Oxi?" He said, cautiously. "Are you here?" Oxide looked up at Manic, his lover. Tears began to well up in his eyes, he remembered everything that had happened last night, all the trouble he had caused, everything he did, he felt so terrible. He began to sob uncontrollably. "I'm sorry" was what he said over and over again inbetween sobs. Manic ran up to him, leaning something against the wall near the door and ignoring the unused blotters abandoned around him. All he did was sit down on the cold floor next to Oxide and hold him close. They cuddled close as Oxide cried onto Manic's chest, Manic's hands brushing at Oxide's bony back. "It's done," Manic said quietly. "We'll forget about it and move on. I called up Scourge to follow us on tour, of course you were gonna get angry." He genuinely didn't seem to realized how unhealthy he had been getting. And honestly, neither had Manic for a while. "I meant what I said. I love you, Oxide." Manic was now sitting against the wall, kissing Ozide's forehead. "You're talented. You're cute. You're fun. Nothing's gonna change that. I'm here for you, okay, babe?" Another series of long pets to his back, letting him sob and apologize as much as he felt he needed to. "It's all been handled... all of it." Manic said strangely softly. "I even picked something up for you." Manic motioned towards the door, tilting Oxide to turn his attention. It seemed that he didn't get a chance to show what he stole for Oxide - a green 68 Flying V. With a white pickguard, and a whammy bar. "I found a store that had the same one." "Oh my god....oh my god....oh my goooOOOD THANK YOU SO MUCH!" he looked about as excited as if Manic had just proposed to him, he hugged Manic even more, kissing him up and down his body. After making out, Oxi pulled away. Just now realizing how hungry he was. "Hey dude, let's play a show at that burger joint," Oxi said, smiling. Manic laughed and smiled. "What, now? We've just played like, almost two weeks of shows. And I'm pretty sure Jason and Napalm are still clonked out after last night." Whoops. He didn't want to say that. "How about we go down to get a set time there... and get you something to eat?" Another kiss, before helping Oxide to his feet. The walk to the car was reliving in how excited and energized Oxide was, even if Manic felt horribly awkward the whole time. He was going to have to confess to Oxide eventually just why Scourge had come along. "I'm sorry I kept crowding you about that stuff, dude." Manic admitted, slightly nervous. "I'd be pissed, too." "It's alright....The question I have is....why did you bring Scourge?" Oxi asked, starting the car and driving to the burger place. Manic smiled and sighed. "He's been addicted to the same stuff. I thought if you saw where he ended up..." He scratched his head. "I know you hate him. I thought you'd want to not be anything like him, and try and help yourself get over these problems... ..." His words kept trailing off. Eventually, he swallowed hard. "Oxi?" He barely said. He was forcing himself to keep talking. "Can I talk about... Scourge? For a second? I've.. I've really screwed you over, babe." "Lemme guess, you wanted to give me space so you and Scourge fucked through the night?" Oxide turned back to face Manic at a red light. "Honestly......go ahead, if I'm being a total asshole, and you wanna give me some space, but you wanna cuddle/fuck, go to Scourge if you really want to." He didn't wanna fight Manic anymore, maybe he'd grill him a month from now, but not right this second. The words coming out of his mouth were more than surprising to him. He just stared back, clearly in shock. "Oxi..." He said, clearly relieved. "I was trying to get Scourge to come along, and I promised... I said he could fuck me if it worked." He rubbed his hands together nervously. "I just said it on the spot, I didn't even think about it. I thought I was gonna have to-" He leaned over and hugged Oxide as he drove. "Thank you, Oxi. We didn't yet, but I promised him, and I'm not going back on it... I still love you, dude. You're too good for me." "Thanks hun, though, if Scourge does get into better shape, I'd think that would be pretty hot if you 2 fucked. Cause lets face it, Scourge with his muscles is hot as hell~" Oxi admitted that yes, while Scourge wasn't lookin' too hot right then, back when he was in better shape, he looked hot as fuck. Manic just laughed and smiled. "Yeah, maybe let's keep that stuff between us. He kind of hates himself right now - just tell him he's hot and move on," Manic said, only half joking. Manic shot up in his seat as they pulling into the parking lot, putting his excitement back on. "Come on, don't you know what this means? We've actually finished out first tour, we've done it!" Manic said, more than a little thrilled at the thought. "People know our music! We're actually doing this, babe!" "I know, I would say we should fuck to celebrate, but lets wait till we get to the bathroom to do that~" He said seductively. They pulled up, and both went to the counter to order food. They noticed a lot of punks around here, it was becoming a punk haven now. "Guess we ain't just changing music for the better," Manic mused as they stood in wait for their food. One arm was wrapped around Oxide's shoulder while they leaned against one of the walls in wait. "Your music's making a lot of things around here a lot better..." The front door swung open. If it was another punk or two, they wouldn't have given it a second thought. But it wasn't. It was a dark blue hedgehog, in a red letterman jacket. Manic was clearly surprised to see him. He wasn't half as surprised, as he immediately started walking towards the couple. "Don't look now, it's Sonic," he whispered as Sonic got closer. Oxi ignored him, he just waited for the food to arrive, which for some reason took way longer than expected, though it could be due to the fact that everything felt like it was in slow motion with Sonic walking towards them. The closer he got, the more they realized that he seemed just as awkward about seeing them. "Hey, guys." He said. "...Sonic?" Manic asked, mildly annoyed but curious. "What're you doing?" "You're talented." Sonic had to admit. "Both of you. You're a good guitarist- Oxi, right?" An employee walked up to the service counter. Their orders were ready. Oxi looked over. Sonic said that? Whaaaaaaaaat? He smiled, chuckling. "Thanks, though you should probably get your ears checked, including your brain if you think our music's good." Oxide laughed. He got his food, and Manic and Oxi sat down. There was a moment between Oxide and Sonic before they split up again, just staring at each other. Maybe Manic had misjudged him. "Don't tell anyone about... Scourge, okay?" Sonic said severely. Manic just patted his shoulder and grinned. "I might." He joked, before splitting off. It was going to take much, much more to fix the two of them... but there was at least a start. And as they started to eat, Manic took breaks from their usual savoring. Oxide was eating, and he definitely seemed to be enjoying it. "Hey, I'm gonna be here to help you work through this, alright? I get addiction's real shitty, but I'm your boyfriend." Another bite, before smirking. "And I won't be too momish about it this time~" "Oh shit, you're gonna go full on dad now aren't you?" He laughed, throwing a fry at him which got caught in his hair, sticking out a little among the strands of unwashed spikes. Manic laughed along with how it landed, reaching up and dropping the fry down onto the tray of food. "Probably not," Manic said, not quite saying no. "I'm just gonna go all awesome boyfriend on you." Oxide's bites were smaller than usual, but that wasn't saying much. Either way, he was still making an effort again. Progress was progress. "Hey, if you want, dude... Scourge is still dealing with a lot of similar shit. You think he could help, or nah?" "Nah, but still....we still could have an orgy~" Manic just smiled and laughed. "Maybe when they're a little older, dude." Manic just smiled and kept chomping away at his food. "I mean, two years younger than us? That's like, a whole two years difference." He reached over the table, and held Oxide's hand. "Well, if we're gonna go on tour sometime or crash and burn or whatever - or run though with one of your weird sex fantasies - we'll be doing it together, babe." Manic said, smiling and leaning over to kiss him. "I think I'm the luckiest dude in the world." "Thanks babe, and I wasn't talking about Napalm or Jason, I was talking about Scourge~" He whispered into Manics ear, nipping it a little. "Maybe when he's a bit less of a dick." Manic smarmed back. Scourge was not becoming less of a dick. They both knew that. That certainly wasn't going to change Manic's taste in guys. "Honestly, I just wanna hang out with you for a while. You're a real interesting guy, Oxi. Other guys can make things more fun, but I'm still gonna be loyal to you." Manic snorted and laughed. "Damn, that's super gay, isn't it?" "It does sound super gay, it also sounds like very gay fun~" Oxi said back, pulling Manic into a deep and passionate kiss, seems like they've stopped caring if these people didn't like it. The punks didn't seem to mind. And Manic didn't mind the attention, either. "Come on, we've got a lot to figure out, babe. Let's go home and figure out none of it~" They were right, Manic did have a lot to figure out. A hell of a lot. He'd planned this trip with one goal in mind, with one big act planned for the end of their final show. But things had gotten more serious than he intended, and he knew he was going to have to put off his plans until Oxide was more healthy. And as they left the building, he stashed the engagement ring back into his back pocket...