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atamascolily · 4 years

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more CotJ meta, because apparently I cannot be stopped

I don't understand how essence transfer works in Children of the Jedi. It seems... wildly inconsistent depending on what is narratively convenient at the time.

I don’t know why Callista is able to make the jump from her original body to the Eye of Palpatine’s gunnery computers and then from the computers to Cray’s body without (much) issue, while poor Nichos couldn’t. Maybe it's because Callista had received secret Jedi training from her master that Nichos didn’t have access to? Or because it would interfere with Hambly’s plot to give Callista Cray’s body?

(I think we all know the answer to this, but I’m gonna go through all the arguments anyway.)

Luke does float the idea of Cray creating a droid-body for Callista to inhabit, which Cray and Callista both reject, but for wildly different reasons.

“You said Djinn Altis showed you—taught you—to transfer your self, your consciousness, your … your reality—to another object. You’ve done it with this ship, Callista. You’re really here, I know you are …”

“I am,” she said softly. “There’s enough circuitry, enough size, enough power in the central core. But a thing of metal, a thing programmed and digitalized, isn’t human, and can’t be human, Luke. Not the way I’m human now.”

So Callista’s argument is basically that a giant ship is big enough to contain her spirit, but a droid wouldn't be? How did Exar Kun manage this, then? I mean, granted, he was evil, and had low standards for ethics, but still... I don’t get it.

I get her main point here: she believes she's more "human" as a ghost than she would be as a droid, or with her spirit somehow “translated” as a series of zeros and ones, as Cray was somehow able to do with Nichos. And I can see why she wouldn’t want that kind of existence for herself. But I still don’t get how consciousness works in this novel, and why Callista can’t transfer herself--her real self--into a different object, the way she did before, instead of being “translated” by Cray into a digital copy.

This also begs the question of how much Callista's HUMAN spirit is influenced by thirty years in the computer core, which the novel doesn't address, but fics like Deaka's "Blue Screen" on FFN are fortunately there to fill the gap.

Here’s Cray’s take on Luke’s request to “fix” Callista:

“To turn her into what Nichos is? To cannibalize parts from the computers, wire together enough memory to digitalize her, so you can have the metal illusion around to remind you what isn’t yours—and can’t be yours? I can do that … if that’s what you want.”

...“Not the way you and I are human.” Cray came over to them, her blond hair catching fire glints in the greasy light. “Not the way Nichos was human. I should never have done it, Luke,” she went on. “Never have … tried to go up against what had to be. My motto was always ‘If it doesn’t work, get a bigger hammer.’ Or a smaller chip. Nichos …”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t remember dying, Luke. He doesn’t remember a switchover of any kind. And as much as I love … Nichos … as much as he loves me … I keep coming back to that. It isn’t Nichos. He isn’t human. He tries to be, and he wants to be, but flesh and bone have a logic of their own, Luke, and machinery just doesn’t think the same way.”

Her mouth twisted, her dark eyes chill and bitter as the vacuum of space. “If you want me to, I’ll make you something that’ll hold a digitalized version of her memories, her consciousness … But it won’t be the consciousness that’s alive on this vessel. And you’ll know it, and I’ll know it. And that digitalized version will know it, too.”

So Cray rejects it because she doesn’t want Luke to make the same mistake she did: of seeing a replica as the original. And she makes a point of calling herself out on her attachment to Nichos, so much so that she warped and twisted her life to try and hold onto to him when she couldn’t. And she’s telling Luke not to do the same thing with his own life--which he will of course ignore.

I'm used to thinking of identical digital files as interchangeable, but that's not the case here when you're downloading human consciousness. There's also this idea that the droid/digital versions isn't "real," which is also worth chewing on, but a whole 'nother philosophical debate in and of itself.

But Cray's other point is also worth considering: the body we inhabit has qualities of its own that are impossible to deny; they shape our experiences of the world. This is why I'm absolutely floored that nobody ever follows up on Callista's experiences in Cray's body--how she's able to just smoothly take over, and the only issue ("software bug"?) is that she can't access the Force. This is... probably not how it works. I wrote a fic about this, but it only scratched the surface of the story possibilities for dysphoria and "body-as-a-character".

(I solve this problem of essence transfer in other fics by arguing that it only works smoothly--i.e., with minimal dysphoria and a complete transfer of Force powers--if your spirit jumps to a physical clone of your original body. This explains why clone!Palpatine can access the Force, while Callista can't, because Cray's body 'recognizes' Callista's spirit as foreign to itself and is continually fighting her, so much so that all her Force abilities are tied up in holding her in that body--which is also Force-sensitive.)

Also, re: robot bodies and human consciousness, I’m reminded of a passage in Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium” here:

Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing, But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make Of hammered gold and gold enamelling To keep a drowsy Emperor awake...

"Sailing to Byzantium" is all about what it means to be old in a failing body, right from the opening line--"That is no country for old men". And while it's poetry and there are a lot of ways to interpret, one valid take is that it's about shedding your bodily form to become a robot/artificial construct so you can live forever, and I have a lot of Feels about that in relationship to Star Wars. (Paging Anakin Skywalker!) But I digress.

Going back to CotJ. an additional problem is that any physical components will be carrying the malvirus of the Will:

“Thank you, Cray. And don’t think I’m not tempted. I love you, Luke, and I want … I want not to have to leave you, even if it means … being what I am now, forever. Or being what Nichos is now, forever. But we don’t have the choice. We don’t have time. And any components, any computers, you take from this ship, Cray, will have the Will in them as well.

I don’t know why she can’t jump to an object unconnected with the Will--like, say, her lightsaber. Isn’t Exar Kun using a big statue of himself as an anchor? I mean, it’s kinda of impractical compared to being inside a computer, but maybe it could be a temporary thing until Luke is able to build her a ship of her own??

(A lightsaber would be a really good choice as an anchor because of the kyber crystal inside, which Callista may or may not have a working relationship with if you hold them to be sentient or partially sentient beings...? There's fic potential there, that's all I'm saying.)

(As a further aside, in my Star Wars/Portal crossover “Testing Limits,” I postulate that the Will is a GLaDOs-like uploading of a human consciousness into digital form. I still believe that holds true for canon, even though there’s not much supporting evidence other than that the Will is set up as foil to Callista and it adds to the incredibly Gothic atmosphere. Either the Will is human consciousness, or it’s modeled after human consciousness for maximum Uncanny Valley effect because Luke is always describing it as having a presence and malevolent intentions, and Callista is always fighting it.)

So Barbara Hambly spends a lot of time establishing that Cray's body is the only viable (hah!) option for Callista, which will be important later on. But let's get back to Nichos for a minute, and his failure with essence transfer.

It's weird because at the beginning of CotJ, Cray talks about Nichos transferring his SPIRIT to the droid body using the Force and Ssi-ruuk entechment--which sounds eerily identical to what Callista did thirty years earlier--but they know something's wrong right away when Nichos can't use the Force. Cray's all "I can fix that, it's a technical difficulty!" but Luke knows better. Everyone knows, except for Cray.

I think THAT is the moment where Luke and Cray should have had a Talk, when it was absolutely clear to everyone that whatever Cray was doing hadn't worked--that she'd succeeded in making a digital copy, and the original Nichos was actually dead.

Instead, Cray buries all her considerable energy into "fixing" Nichos mechanically. She believes with enough research, she can shape the droid Nichos into a human being... which doesn't solve the fundamental problem and misses the point entirely.

He heard her voice, its usual brisk sharpness honed to the brittleness he’d heard in it more and more in the past six months...

“It’s really just a matter of finding a way to quadruple the sensitivity of the chips to achieve a pattern, instead of a linear, generator. ... Hayvlin Vesell of the Technomic Research Foundation spoke in an article of going back to the old xylen-based chips, because of the finer divisibility of information possible. When I return to the Institute—”

“That’s what I’m trying to impress on you, Dr. Mingla—Cray.” Tomla El’s voice was a murmuring concert of woodwinds. “This may not be possible no matter how finely you partition the information. The answer may be that there is no answer. Nichos may simply not be capable of human affect.”

“Oh, I think you’re wrong about that.” She’d gained back the smooth control in her voice. She might have been speaking to a professional colleague about programmatic languages. “Certainly a great deal more work needs to be done before we can dismiss the possibility. I’m told also that in experiments with accelerated learning, at a certain number of multiples of human learning capacity, tremendous breakthroughs can occur. I’ve signed up for another accelerator course, this one in informational patterning dynamics …”

Her voice faded down the corridor. A great deal more work, thought Luke, hurting for her, pressing his hand to his brow. It was Cray’s answer to everything. With sufficient effort, sufficient maneuvering, any problem could be surmounted, no matter what the cost to herself.

And the cost to herself, he knew, had been devastating.

I actually really like Cray's arc in this novel--that she's forced to drop the perfectionism and workaholism she uses to block her considerable pain, and comes to accept the situation as it is, and finds peace in doing so. I just wish this realization didn't culminate in assisted suicide, that's all.

(That said, this scenario gets 100% creepier if you imagine flipping the genders here--if “Dr. Mingla” was a male scientist resurrecting his female lover in a droid body. I wonder if Luke would have intervened sooner in that case, instead of just assuming Cray had everything under control because she was an expert?)

While we're on the subject of "by any means necessary" and "avoiding one's problems": in contrast to Cray, Callista's original decision to transfer her spirit to gunnery computer to watch over it is framed as laudable. But even there, there are hints all is not well:

“It wasn’t … so bad, after a time. Djinn had taught us, had theoretically walked us through, the techniques of projecting the mind into something else, something that would be receptive, to hold the intelligence as well as the consciousness, but he seemed to regard it as cowardly. As being afraid or unwilling to go on to the next step, to cross over to the other side. Once I was in the computer …”

I.e., there's a reason why essence transfer is mostly practiced by the Sith--because it's a kind of clinging to life, or a version of life, rather than embracing what is and moving on...

Also, I don't see anything in this explanation that requires computing capacity, as Callista will claim later, so... *shrugs* I don't know what's happening there. CotJ has this weird relationship between the Force and tech, where Luke can physically manipulate objects with his mind, even though the Force is only generated by "life", but Irek remote-starting the Eye of Palpatine or controlling Artoo-Detoo is seen as "impossible" and novel. And yes, Irek does have special training and tech augments to help him, and I like the implication this is a specialized skill, but...like I said at the beginning, I don't get how this all works except for “narrative convenience” and “authorial fiat”.

Anyway, CotJ strongly implies that Cray was misguided to cling to Nichos and to pursue "life" for him at all costs, for both Nichos and herself. Yet somehow when Callista does it, it's okay, because Luke loves her... even though Callista herself is way more ambivalent about what she's done, and her acknowledgment that

“Everything has to be paid for... I should have known there would be a risk... I might have guessed there would be a price.”

And I think that's one reason I like Children of the Jedi so much: that there IS a cost, that there ARE consequences, and not even magic space wizardry can fix or solve every problem. I like that Callista pays a price for the ethically dubious act she does--somewhat, but not entirely mitigated by circumstances, and by Cray's eagerness to participate in this (unprecedented?) experiment.

Also, you want more nightmare fuel? I just realized last night we only have Callista's word for what went down on the ship in its last moments--that, and it seems 100% in keeping with Cray's state of mind leading up to this, to the point where Luke was afraid to leave her alone because he was worried she was going to hurt herself. It gets even creepier when you realize Callista's ghost immediately volunteers to sit with Cray after Luke realizes this, and I can't help but wonder what happened between the two women when Luke isn't around to witness it.

Callista's account at the end makes it sound like Cray realized at the last minute that she wanted to follow him--that it was an impulsive decision, somewhere in between stunning Luke and stuffing him into the shuttle and the destruction of the Eye of Palpatine--but I wonder. I really wonder. Cray and Callista clearly had time to plan a "what if Luke doesn't cooperate?" scenario and leave a recording for him to find in the shuttle, so I wonder how exactly the whole "you can have my body, I don't want it" conversation went down. There's a fic in there for sure.

But even taking Callista 100% at her word, I like the irony that she chooses to go along with Cray's scheme in part because she's so in love with/emotionally attached to Luke (just as Cray can't let go of Nichos and Luke can't let go of Callista)--only to eventually realize that there's something she values more than her relationship with him, namely her own life, and her own relationship to the Force, which has always been a part of her life and is now "missing". Cray chooses to die for love, Callista chooses to live for love... only to set it aside, because LIFE is more important to her than her love for one specific human being... just like she sacrificed her own life to destroy the Eye, and left her first lover in the process... PARALLELS, Y'ALL. I LOVE ME SOME NARRATIVE FOILS, YO.

Anyway, this got long and rambling, but I believe my initial thesis that essence transfer is wildly inconsistent and the results depend almost entirely on narrative convenience still stands.

#star wars #Children of the Jedi #eu fuckery #SW meta #star war legends

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jaemtens · 6 years

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The Canned Genie

monsta x| kihyuk | side jookyun | 11.5k | ao3

summary: Lee Minhyuk was just making dinner when he ends up with a genie that he didn’t ask for. Yoo Kihyun was just chilling in his “lamp” when he ends up with several headaches that he didn’t ask for.

☆ The First Wish ☆

Minhyuk dropped his backpack on the ground and dramatically collapsed on his rickety bed.

He should eat, he thought to himself.

Long ago, he was sure that the bed frame would iminently give out, folding on itself while he was sleeping on it. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do if that happened -- sleep on the floor? That’s not the worst, right? A few days passed, and he was pretty sure he was in the clear. His bed was just rickety and old, even if it was comfy and, um, well-used. He could definitely fall asleep right now. Minhyuk rolled to his side, hugging his blanket and burying his face into it. It was so warm; yup, he could fall asleep right now if he wanted to.

He really should eat, he thought again.

Minhyuk was so tired. Beyond tired. Exhausted? Yeah, exhausted was the word. Today, he had to work the early-morning shift at the convenience store before heading to his night lecture for Quantitative Chemistry aka Quant aka Hell On Earth. Yeah, yeah, he knew that choosing chemistry as his major was definitely not the easy way out. He knew that every waking moment of his four-year degree was going to be hard. But, even if your average Biology or Pre-Medical major Suffered (yes, Suffered, not suffered. Just ask a biology major about organic chemistry and you’ll know why) through every chemistry class, Minhyuk took most of them in stride. Quant was a whole ‘nother level, and his brain ached just thinking about the class. He didn’t know how he made it through today’s lecture, and he certainly didn’t remember dragging himself through the dark streets back to his apartment building.

Just get up and eat, you lard! he chided himself.

He finally acquiesced to his conscience. With a prolonged groan, Minhyuk rolled off his bed, his gangly limbs steadying the sleep-deprived college student. His eyes were barely open, the light streaming from the incandescent bulb above him too much to handle right now. Minhyuk dragged himself to the kitchen, nearly tripping on his bag along the way. God, he was a mess.

Look, he wasn’t usually a mess, okay? Just after Quant. And Inorganic. And -- never mind.

Just how was Minhyuk so perpetually tired?

Well, first, he was a college student. An unhealthy dose of exhaustion was the name of the game. Bonus tired points because he was a chemistry major, a department in which the professors literally did not care if you slept or not. Suffering (yes, Suffering!) was widespread in his major. And Minhyuk? Well, he was basically an academic masochist. Just ask the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrographs scattered all over his desk.

Second, he worked. It wasn’t a good job. It wasn’t even a job he liked. It was a dead-end retail job at a convenience store. But, let’s face it. Who’s going to hire a broke underclassmen chemistry major with literally no work experience? A convenience store, that’s who. Unfortunately, that wiped out most of Minhyuk’s free time.

Third, Minhyuk was the type of person to sleep whenever he could. His sleep schedule oscillated wildly between consecutive all-nighters to, like, 36 hours of sleep straight. Okay, not quite straight, but laying in bed and hiding under your covers while technically awake is not really awake, right? Minhyuk took naps everywhere and anywhere. Altogether, he was pretty sure his sleep schedule was screwed up beyond saving.

Fortunately for sleepy Minhyuk, his kitchen was really close to his bed. The upside to a closet-sized apartment? Is his studio even a real apartment? Still half-awake, Minhyuk opened one of the cupboards and sighed at how hopelessly empty it was. He really needed to get more stuff from the convenience store... Or steal more free food from campus. Grocery stores were too expensive. Who has money for fruit in this economy? Minhyuk reached for his last can of chicken noodle soup and fished out his hand-me-down can opener from one of the drawers. He latched the can opener’s teeth on the can of soup and clenched down hard on the handles, perforating the can on one edge.

Without any further warning, the top of the can practically exploded off, and a plume of lavender-white smoke swirled up from the can. The smoke enveloped his small kitchen, but it left as soon as it had appeared. In its place was an empty can of ‘soup,’ and a boy who looked like he couldn’t be much older than him.

Oh, and the boy was floating.

“I must be hallucinating,” Minhyuk murmured, rubbing his eyes. That was the only reasonable explanation; he was so tired that he was hallucinating. God, he really should’ve just stayed in bed. This is what happens when you shun sleep. Never give up on sleep, kids.

The floating boy rolled his eyes. “No, you’re not,” he emphatically replied. “Name’s Kihyun, I’m a genie, and you get five wishes.”

“What?”

Kihyun sighed. “My name is Yoo Kihyun. I’m a genie, and I grant wishes... Anything you want, really. You get five wishes.”

The hallucination -- Kihyun, his tripped-out brain corrected -- seemed pretty serious for being, you know, completely fake.

“I wish I had another can of soup,” Minhyuk deadpanned, rubbing his eyes again. What a weird dream.

Kihyun rolled his eyes again. Minhyuk swore he heard the boy mutter something under his breath, but, without missing a beat, Kihyun snapped his fingers. Another puff of lavender smoke appeared on his kitchen counter, quickly dissipating to reveal an exact replica of the empty can of chicken noodle soup that Kihyun came from. This new one was sealed, unlike the empty one next to it. Minhyuk looked back over at Kihyun, who acted like this was totally and completely normal.

“Four wishes,” Kihyun dryly said.

Okay, this was a little much for a hallucination… maybe he was dreaming? Minhyuk tried to wake himself up a little, studying all of Kihyun’s features. Even though he was hovering a few inches off the ground, Minhyuk could tell that Kihyun was a few inches shorter than him. He had light brown hair that was boyishly combed down over his forehead. His features were remarkably sharp with strong cheekbones and a strong jawline. His eyes were small and narrow, but his lips and nose were larger. He had small unremarkable earrings in each ear and a blinged-out ring on his right hand, but otherwise he was dressed in plain business casual: a white collared shirt and black pants.

This was oddly specific for a dream. Minhyuk was really tired, though -- maybe he had actually passed out? Kihyun was starting to look impatient. Would he really have dreamed this up? He remembered reading somewhere that your most vivid dreams occurred when you were the most tired. And, well, he was really tired when he got home.

“So…” Minhyuk slowly started. “You’re a genie?”

“That’s what I said, didn’t I?” Kihyun retorted. He seemed disinterested, like Minhyuk was probably the most boring thing in his genie-life right now.

“And you grant wishes?”

“Yup,” Kihyun dismissively answered. “If you wish for anything, I’ll make it come true.”

“And you just wasted your first wish on a can of soup,” he added, disdain evident in his voice. Compared to Minhyuk’s low, nasally voice, Kihyun had a high-pitched tone that sounded like a cross between a sassy gay boy and an annoyed younger sibling. It was almost endearing?

“Well, can I get a do-over on that wish?”

“There aren’t any do-overs for wishes,” Kihyun harshly replied.

“Can I wish for more wishes then?”

“No!”

“Oh.”

So, turns out that you can’t wish for more wishes. What a joke. Kihyun said he could wish for anything, doesn’t that mean he can wish for more wishes?

Minhyuk looked back over at the can of soup on his counter. “Why… why were you in a can of soup? I thought genies came in lamps?”

Kihyun sighed. “Look, how many magic lamps have you seen, like, ever?”

“Mmm,” Minhyuk paused, thinking out loud. “None?”

“Exactly. So we have to get creative.”

“But… a can of soup?”

“Okay, first off, it’s a lot bigger than it looks. Quite roomy, actually. But you wouldn’t know since you’re just a boring old human.”

“And… you’re a genie.”

“Ohmygod, yes! Yes, I’m a genie! How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Okay, okay, you’re a genie,” Minhyuk tacitly agreed. “And you do genie things like grant wishes.”

“Yes.”

“And live in soup cans.”

“Listen here, you little shit,” Kihyun threatened, his eyes fierce and staring directly at Minhyuk’s eyes now; Kihyun definitely had a temper. “With a snap of my fingers I can banish you to another dimension. Or I can shrink you down to the size of an ant. Or I can turn you into an actual ant. Point is, I have more magic in one finger than you can even dream up in your wildest nightmares.”

Kihyun sure was awfully angry. Or annoyed. He couldn’t tell for sure, but Kihyun seemed upset for someone who had just been released from, well, a can of soup.

“Isn’t it, like, against the genie rules to hurt the person who summoned you?”

Kihyun sighed again. He seemed to do that a lot? He was clearly still annoyed.

“Yes,” he belatedly admitted. “But that doesn’t mean that the second you finish your fifth wish--”

“--Don’t you just go back into the soup can?”

“Why are you so annoying!”

“Because this is definitely a dream,” Minhyuk argued. “Or a nightmare, I guess.”

“No, I can assure you that this is very much real, that you’re awake. If anyone’s having a nightmare, it’s me.”

“Oh come on, I’m not that bad,” Minhyuk protested. Just then, his stomach growled in hunger. He blushed a little -- he still hadn’t eaten.

“Anyways, you don’t get hungry in dreams.”

“Uh huh,” Minhyuk dismissed. Kihyun did have a point: you don’t usually get hungry in dreams. And they usually aren’t this… realistic. He was really hungry. And Kihyun seemed really… real. “You don’t mind if I, uh…” he added, motioning toward the can of soup that Kihyun had conjured up for him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Kihyun replied, rolling his eyes again. Minhyuk just smiled in response as he cracked open the new can and poured it into a bowl. He threw it in the microwave and let it cook.

“I hope you, like, made this correctly.”

“I can assure you that it’s just as salty, preservative-filled, and unhealthy as every other can of chicken noodle soup.”

“Great,” Minhyuk feigned. “Just the way I like it.”

“You still haven’t told me your name.”

“Oh.” Minhyuk was too sleepy to be embarrassed. “That’s because I thought you weren’t real.”

“GENIES ARE REAL!”

Minhyuk just laughed in response. “My name’s Lee Minhyuk.”

“Well, okay, Minhyuk,” Kihyun started, “You live in a dump. These kitchen appliances look like they’re from 1962. Your cupboards? 1942. There’s no furniture in this place except for your desk, which, by the way, is covered in crap so you can’t even see the desk. Your walls and ceiling are peeling in at least five places, and I can only imagine what your bedroom looks like. Not to mention that you have no food, no tableware, and no proper cutlery.”

“Um,” Minhyuk demurred, sheepishly scratching his neck while looking around his place. “First, I don’t have a bedroom. Studio and all. Second, I wasn’t exactly planning on having visitors tonight, you know?”

Kihyun didn’t really seem satisfied with that answer, but at this hour? That was the best he was going to get.

“You can, uh, make yourself at home, I guess?” he added.

“Trust me, there’s nothing that you can do to this apartment to make it more homey.”

“You’re right, I can’t make it look like the inside of a soup can,” Minhyuk replied, giggling as he watched Kihyun’s expression sour.

“Why you little--”

The microwave beeped, signaling that his soup was done. Minhyuk stopped giggling and grabbed his tupperware bowl from the microwave with a hand-towel. He cradled the soup in one hand with the towel whilst using his free hand to find a plastic spork for slurping the noodles.

“You were saying?”

Kihyun sighed and rolled his eyes at the same time. Minhyuk wondered if that was an improvement?

“Aren’t you going to make another wish?”

Oh, yeah, the whole genie bit.

“Hmm, well I think I need some time to think about it,” Minhyuk countered before blowing on a sporkful of noodles and stuffing it in his mouth.

“Did me listing all the things that were wrong about your apartment not help?”

“Nope~” Minhyuk replied with a smile.

☆ The Second Wish ☆

Minhyuk’s eyes fluttered open when the sunlight just started to assault his eyes through his apartment’s lone window. Everything was really freaking bright, so he barely cracked his eyes open; he shuffled in his bed, rolling around to face the rest of the room. Everything looked normal? Normal-ish, at least. He lifted his upper body up and sitting -- well, float-sitting (is that the right word for that?) -- near the foot of his bed and looking totally unamused was none other than Yoo Kihyun. He was unchanged from last night, except he had an unimpressed look and a hand on his chin like he had been watching Minhyuk sleeping for… hours? Hours. Minhyuk’s eyes got real wide and he pulled his covers up over his bare chest.

“What are you doing in here?” he groggily stammered out, still in shock that Kihyun would desecrate the sanctimony of his bedroom-slash-living room. And surely he knew that Kihyun was going to say something about the state of his room soon enough.

“The genie equivalent of watching grass grow,” Kihyun deadpanned, still not moving his hand from his face. “Except for us it’s watching humans sleep.”

“Wait, what?” Minhyuk complained. “Don’t you have, like, genie things to go do?”

“Oh, I would love to be doing literally anything else right now, Minhyuk. But, unfortunately for me, I’m stuck with you until you use all of your wishes. And, even more unfortunately for me, you are a very boring person who doesn’t wish for things quickly. So here I am, watching grass grow.”

Minhyuk let his covers fall back down after realizing that, no, Kihyun was not going to kill him. Though, he still had at least one question nagging at him.

“Couldn’t you, like, do something? Anything? Other than watch me.”

Kihyun sighed. “I would do literally anything else, but, again, you’re a boring person who has literally nothing of interest in this shoebox of an apartment.”

“Right.” Minhyuk feigned agreement, still trying to wake up. “Sorry, I’m still really tired.”

“Well, it’s not like you’ve got a genie who could instantly solve that problem for you,” Kihyun wryly commented, perking up a little. “You could wish for a comfier bed? Fluffier pillows? Warmer covers? Or how about a fully-furnished apartment? Or a larger apartment? Or you could skip the whole apartment and wish to be fully-rested every day?”

Kihyun seemed really excited about the prospect of Minhyuk using up another wish. But why would he want to? He just got up; shouldn’t he, like, fully think this through? Kihyun probably just wanted him to wish for stuff so that he could go back in his soup can and do whatever genies do. Yeah, Minhyuk was pretty sure that whatever Kihyun wanted to do was probably more important than granting his wishes, but honestly? Kihyun was pretty cute and he wasn’t gonna pass up the opportunity to have a cute magical boy follow him around for a few days, even if it came at Kihyun’s expense.

“I want -- not wish for -- some privacy while I shower and get ready,” Minhyuk calmly said, walking to his micro-sized bathroom wearing nothing but sweats. Kihyun’s expression darkened when he realized that, no, Minhyuk was not going to get this over with quickly.

“Trust me, I do not want to see you naked.”

“Nope, you just want to watch me sleep,” Minhyuk joked with a smile before shutting the door to the bathroom. He wanted nothing more than to see Kihyun’s facial expression change in response to that comment, but he needed to get ready; his first class started in an hour, and it took him twenty minutes to get to campus. He started the shower and looked at himself in the mirror. His black hair was messy and all over the place, but he didn’t really care. Bedhead was pretty normal for him. You know, a common side effect of excessive sleeping. While the shower was warming up, he brushed his teeth and picked out a towel to sling over the shower rod. Minhyuk undressed and stepped into the nearly-scalding water.

What did he want to wish for? Every time his mind turned to his remaining four wishes, everything just went… blank? Like, sure his life wasn’t perfect. Kihyun was right, his apartment was kind of a dump, and he didn’t have much food in his kitchen, and he was always tired. But he couldn’t imagine his life any other way. If he just wished away one of his problems -- or even most of them -- new problems would just take their place. Minhyuk wanted things, sure, but he wanted things that you couldn’t just put into words, that you couldn’t just conjure up, that you couldn’t just wish for. It wasn’t that simple.

He just had to figure those things out.

After lathering himself and throwing some shampoo in his unwieldy hair, Minhyuk rinsed himself off, stopped the water, and dried himself with his towel. He tied his towel around his waist and stepped back into the bedroom to put together an outfit and to find out what sassmaster-genie Kihyun had prepared in past five minutes.

“You know, you really should be nice to your genie. I can pervert all of your wishes to their worst possible meaning.”

“Uh huh,” Minhyuk dismissed, searching his closet for something to wear.

“Aren’t you going to wish for something? I’m sure you thought of something in the shower. Lots of shower thoughts, right?”

“Were you imagining me in the shower?” Minhyuk asked.

“No,” Kihyun flatly replied.

“Do you want me to wish that you were thinking about that?”

“Look--”

“--Besides, how would genies even, like, know what goes on in the shower? Do genies even shower?”

Kihyun didn’t have an answer for that one. He licked his lips while his eyes darted around shiftily; Minhyuk was satisfied.

“I didn’t sign up for this,” he finally complained.

“I didn’t either,” Minhyuk added before disappearing back in the bathroom to change.

“So are you going to come with me to class today?” he shouted through the door.

“Unfortunately,” Kihyun replied, also shouting.

“Okay, well I have--”

“--Organic chemistry lab, I know.”

What? How did Kihyun--

“You had your class schedule on your desk,” Kihyun mentioned. “And your lab. You screwed up #4, by the way. You’re welcome.”

“You fixed it!?”

“I wasn’t gonna leave it wrong, Minhyuk.”

“H-how do you even know organic chemistry?”

“Minhyuk, I’ve been doing this genie thing since before organic chemistry was even a thing.”

He threw on his hoodie and exited the bathroom.

“Why would anyone even willingly learn organic chemistry,” he mused in full earshot of Kihyun. He went straight to kitchen, and he could feel Kihyun’s floaty presence follow him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Kihyun replied. “Don’t you wanna wish for, like, a nice breakfast? A stack full of pancakes perhaps?”

“Mmm, pancakes sound, like, really good right now. But maybe I should wish for you to stop asking me about my wishes?” Minhyuk deadpanned before pulling out an Eggo waffle from his freezer. He threw it in the microwave and turned to face Kihyun. “Are you really going out like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like that!” Minhyuk repeated, gesturing at Kihyun’s whole body.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve kept up with current fashion trends,” Kihyun started, “Besides, a collared shirt and pants will never go out of style.”

“Not that... That,”he corrected, motioning more toward Kihyun’s feet, where he was most definitely still floating. Kihyun seemed to take even more offense to Minhyuk’s insinuation, his eyes widening and then narrowing before the microwave decided to interrupt his reaction. Minhyuk tossed the waffle in his mouth, holding it with his teeth, and moved over to his desk, grabbing all the stuff he needed for lab.

“Uh, no, I am not going to walk,” Kihyun protested. “I haven’t walked in over fifty years, and I’m not going to start today. It’s disgraceful for a genie to walk. We can float for a reason -- so we don’t have to walk. Walking is for humans.”

“Well, I would really prefer it if you walked if you’re going to follow me around. Besides, like, aren’t people gonna ask?”

“No, they’re not. You’re the only one who can see me.”

Minhyuk frowned. “Maybe I’ll wish for things faster if I’m not distracted by a floating genie.”

He finished shoving notebooks into his backpack, zipping up the pockets one-by-one until his homework and labs and class notes were all stuffed in his completely-disorganized bag. He finished off his waffle and turned to face Kihyun, who, to his disbelief, looked even more ticked off than before. But! He wasn’t floating. Small victories.

“Do you remember how to walk after fifty years?”

“I wish I didn’t,” Kihyun sassed back.

Minhyuk laughed. “For being hundreds of years old, you don’t look a day over twenty-five.”

“I’m actually twenty-two in genie years, you asshole.”

He laughed again, motioning Kihyun toward the door. “Let’s go,” he announced. Kihyun sighed, marching out of his apartment with a gait and facial expression that told Minhyuk he’d rather be doing basically anything other than this.

“You know, I bet you look older because of the soup can thing.”

“I’m going to kill you, Minhyuk.”

“Are you sure you’re supposed to add that chemical next?”

“For the love of God,” Minhyuk whispered under his breath. He had quickly learned that perhaps having his cute genie follow him around all day was not the best thing to happen to him. For instance, the cons of no one else noticing Kihyun became readily apparent:

First, if Minhyuk tried to talk to him in public, everybody looked at him weird, like Minhyuk was talking to himself. To be fair, that’s exactly what it looked like to everyone else. And there was no feasible way for Minhyuk to explain that, no, I’m not crazy, I’m just talking to my personal genie whom you can’t see. This relegated Minhyuk to whispering, subtly gesturing, and, to steal a page from Kihyun’s book, rolling his eyes.

Second, because Minhyuk couldn’t really respond to Kihyun, this gave Kihyun ample time to be even sassier than he was before. Minhyuk couldn’t shut him down like he usually did, which made Kihyun extra smug. It wasn’t as bad as it sounded -- even if Kihyun liked to slip little comments about wishing for this and wishing for that, he usually chimed in when Minhyuk was about to do something stupid. Like add the wrong solid to his chemical reaction.

Third -- and Minhyuk hated to admit this -- Kihyun was starting to look really cute.

He didn’t dare tell his genie that, though.

“Look, I really think you should double-check the protocol, Minhyuk,” his genie insisted, his butt plopped on the empty bench space next to him. He wasn’t floating per se, but his feet didn’t reach the ground and if that wasn’t the most adorable thing ever --

“No, not that one,” Kihyun interjected as Minhyuk went to grab a different solid.

“Which one,” Minhyuk whispered, slightly exhausted by the constant badgering. Honestly, Kihyun was the only reason he was still working on the lab. Usually he had screwed up so badly that there was no way for him to recover, forcing him to leave early.

Kihyun pointed at a yellow solid, rolling his eyes in the process. “Did you even read the protocol?”

“I was going to, but then my plans got kinda screwed up by an unexpected visitor.”

“Sure, blame it on the genie who you could easily get rid of in four wishes.”

“Shut up,” Minhyuk toothlessly warned. It was an empty threat -- like there was anything Minhyuk could do to actually get Kihyun to stop talking. Meanwhile, Kihyun played with the ring on his right hand’s ring finger, spinning it around aimlessly. Minhyuk really was boring to him.

“Um, what?”

Minhyuk looked to his right.

Crap.

“Hyungwon, I’m sorry, I was talking to myself.”

His hood buddy -- the other student who he shared the fume hood with -- made a face, like Minhyuk had three heads. Hyungwon made that face at him a lot. Kihyun snickered in amusement.

Hyungwon, unlike Minhyuk, usually knew what he was doing. He was a straight-A student who knew chemistry inside and out. Quiet, bookish, and the type to actually study regularly instead of cramming like literally everybody else, Hyungwon was the star of the program. Hyungwon usually didn’t bother to grace Minhyuk with any words throughout their three-hour lab; he was methodical, laser-focused, and, honestly? Too good for the frenetic and unorganized Minhyuk. Hyungwon actually knew what he was doing while Minhyuk was usually just guessing.

“Yo! Minhyuk, pay attention!” Kihyun hollered, leaning forward a bit.

Minhyuk looked over at the reaction he had been carefully stirring.

“Dude!” Kihyun started, peering into the fume hood from his position perched on the lab bench. “You were supposed to stop stirring when it turned white again!”

Minhyuk looked down at his definitely not-white liquid. It was more like a salmon pink color, the reaction having gone past completion. It was also sticky, like silly putty. Minhyuk sighed. This always happened. He wasn’t good at organic chemistry.

Without missing a beat, Minhyuk started cleaning up after himself. He was used to it by now -- the shameful dance of cleaning up your station far before you were supposed to be done. Everybody knew what happened: Minhyuk screwed up. Again. Minhyuk glanced over at the TA, who just shook his head. His TA did that last week too.

He tossed his toxic reagents in the waste container, washed his glassware with distilled water, packed up his belongings, and started taking off his lab coat.

His grade was still salvageable. Yeah, it wasn’t going to be perfect, but Minhyuk just needed to pass the class. You could still get a C on the lab report even if the reaction didn’t work.

Surprisingly, Kihyun was silent throughout the whole ordeal, like he could tell Minhyuk was genuinely upset about the whole thing. He tried his best -- he really did! He just wasn’t the best at labwork. He wasn’t Hyungwon.

“Oh no.”

Just as Minhyuk was about to leave, he heard Hyungwon start to panic. He glanced over at his hood buddy’s reaction, which had started to turn pink, too.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Hyungwon repeated, trying to load the paste-like mixture into his funnel. It seemed like it was too late, though; the mixture wasn’t falling out of his beaker into the funnel at all. Instead, it was like glue, sticking to the bottom of his glassware.

Minhyuk had never, ever seen Hyungwon screw up before. And watching the scene unfold before him -- it was heartbreaking. It sucked when things didn’t work, but Hyungwon was beyond that. His perpetually-pouty face was upset, his eyes starting to gloss up. He was completely distraught, desperately trying to save his reaction, trying to help the rapidly-solidifying mixture into his funnel with his mixing spatula. Nothing was working, and Hyungwon could see his A in the class slipping away as the reaction refused to leave his beaker.

Minhyuk could too.

He immediately turned to Kihyun, who looked surprised by Minhyuk’s reaction to Hyungwon.

“Kihyun, I wish that Hyungwon’s reaction worked.”

Kihyun seemed genuinely shocked. Minhyuk hadn’t wished for anything in over a day, and now he was wishing for someone else’s reaction to work? Even after his own reaction had already failed? Kihyun had no choice though, so he reluctantly snapped his fingers.

Minhyuk ignored Kihyun’s reluctance and threw his backpack’s strap over his shoulder, slowly walking away with Kihyun in tow. They could both hear as Hyungwon’s started whispering incredulously as his reaction liquefied, falling out of his beaker and into the filter-funnel that he had been trying to scrape it into for the past few minutes. Hyungwon was beyond happy, moving wildly to keep his reaction going and his A alive.

Once they were out of earshot of the rest of the lab, Kihyun piped up:

“You don’t wish for anything all day, and then you wish for someone else’s lab to work?” the genie questioned. “Why?”

“I had to,” Minhyuk bluntly replied. “I had to.”

☆ The Third Wish ☆

Saturday.

Finally, it was Saturday.

And if you -- yes, you, random person following Minhyuk’s so-called boring life -- thought Saturday was gonna be any easier than Friday… ha. What a terrible joke. No, Saturday was the day Minhyuk had to go work his meaningless convenience store job. At 7. Yes, as in, 7 in the morning. Not that 7 pm would be any better.

Minhyuk expected that he would tired. He was always tired during this shift. He could sleep all day Friday (yes, he had slept all day Friday before) and still be tired during this shift. It just was a fact of life. Like how Kihyun following him around was also a fact of life.

What he did not expect was that Kihyun would also be tired.

Which led to them walking to the convenience store together in silence.

Maybe Kihyun wasn’t like the physical version of tired, but Kihyun was surely tired of him. Of course, Minhyuk couldn’t read Kihyun’s mind, but if he had to guess? Well…

Kihyun was probably tired of how bubbly Minhyuk was all the time, how he never knew what was going on, how little Minhyuk prepared for his classes, how he slept forever when he didn’t have classes, and, most of all,

How many wishes Minhyuk still had left.

It had now been several days since Minhyuk tried to have soup that one fateful night, and he still had three wishes left. Three whole wishes! Some people would have wished for five things in five minutes. But Minhyuk? Well, he could hardly think of one good thing to wish for. Every idea that popped into his head was something that he didn’t actually want. No, he didn’t want to just graduate. No, he didn’t want a nicer apartment. No, he didn’t want a better job. Minhyuk wanted to earn those things through his own hard work, even if required him to grind through college to get his degree. Kihyun kept suggesting all these material things for Minhyuk to wish for, but he didn’t want any of it.

So that left him with abstract things. You know, love, happiness, et cetera. Things that money couldn’t buy, but Minhyuk could surely wish for… the problem was Minhyuk didn’t want to wish for any of those things either! He could wish for happiness, but, like, what’s happiness without sadness or love without heartbreak? Yeah yeah yeah, you can fault Minhyuk for being a sappy romantic, but those things had to be earned as well. Wishing to find the boyfriend of his dreams would just cheapen the whole thing, right? And, yeah, there were other un-wishable things -- who doesn’t want to be a few inches taller, right? -- but Minhyuk was happy with himself as a person. Maybe it’d be nice to have abs again, but, hey, some boys didn’t like abs.

Did Kihyun like abs?

Did Kihyun have abs?

Did genies work out? Could genies work out?

It was, what, like four days into this… this arrangement and Minhyuk hardly knew anything about Kihyun.

Where he was from, how old he actually was, why he dyed his hair brown, what his favorite color was…

Kihyun was surely fed up with him now… but…

“Kihyunnie!”

When Minhyuk didn’t hear an immediate response, he stopped and looked back at his genie, who had already stopped in the middle of the empty sidewalk. They were the only losers out and about on a Saturday morning, so Minhyuk could speak to Kihyun with a normal-ish voice instead of a whisper. If Kihyun wanted to talk, that is.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“What… what did you call me?”

“Um,” Minhyuk demurred, “I called you ‘Kihyunnie.’ Is--Is that not okay?”

Kihyun shook his head and looked down at the ground, a small smile breaking across his face. “No, it’s fine,” he replied. “It’s just… no one’s called me that in hundreds of years. Not since I was a kid.”

Oh.

“I… I, uh, missed it,” the brown-haired genie added, looking up at him. There was something childish about his expression -- he didn’t look so sullen and annoyed anymore, the contours of his sharp jawline and cheekbones softening ever-so-slightly. It was cute, and Minhyuk couldn’t help but smiling back.

“I was actually wondering about that… what’s it like being a kid-genie? How… how do genies even have kids?”

“Heh, well it’s a little different from being a human, right? Like, um, there’s no intimacy involved. There’s actually a set number of genies in the universe at any one point in time, and whenever a genie is needed, a new one is ‘born’ from the aether. It’s actually a rare event? There weren’t any other genies ‘born’ within one hundred human years of me.”

“Really?” Minhyuk incredulously replied. “That sounds so… lonely?”

“It wasn’t that bad. My moms were wonderful to me.”

“Moms?”

“Yeah, moms. New genies are raised by a genie pair. There’s a list? It’s weird.”

“That’s not too weird. Where do genies even, like, live?”

“Um, shouldn’t we keep walking, Minhyuk? You’ll be late.”

“Oh, right,” he answered, pivoting on his feet. He started walking toward the store again, but Kihyun jogged up next to him. Apparently he was okay with walking now.

“So, how can I describe this in human terms? Genies live in a dimension parallel to this one. We’re connected to this world by mundane objects.”

“Like cans of soup?”

Kihyun sighed. “Yes, like cans of soup.”

“Did you even pick the can of soup?”

“I mean, in the same way that you ‘picked’ your apartment?”

Minhyuk cocked his head at Kihyun. What?

“It wasn’t really a choice. It was the only place that I could ‘afford’ based on my seniority if that makes sense? Don’t get me wrong, it’s still infinitely better than your apartment--”

“--Hey!”

Kihyun chuckled. Minhyuk liked how Kihyun’s nose scrunched up when he laughed -- it was cute. He had one thought nagging his brain, though.

“Wait, so if you were ‘born’ or whatever, does that mean another genie died?”

“Not necessarily,” Kihyun absentmindedly replied. Minhyuk noticed that Kihyun was playing with the ring on his finger again. “There are a few ways for us to lose a genie.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you. Genie secrets,” Kihyun explained, his smile turning into a bit of a smirk. “Besides, I think we’re here?”

Minhyuk broke his pouting face and looked up at the storefront. They were here! How did Kihyun know…?

“Right on time, too.”

He was a little shocked, to be honest. Minhyuk was never on-time for this shift -- he was always late. He fumbled through his pocket, finding his key for the sliding front door. Kihyun waited patiently while Minhyuk pried the door open, sliding inside. Before he could even make it past the front, his manager called out from behind the register.

“You’re late.”

“Um, actually--”

“--It doesn’t matter,” his manager nonchalantly interrupted. “You’re in charge of re-stocking.”

Minhyuk just sighed and nodded in response. Making his way to the storeroom in the back, he knew Kihyun was following him. They were going to be out of earshot of his manager, and he knew Kihyun was going to say something.

“You’re just going to let her treat you like that?” Kihyun asked. “You’re gonna let her walk all over you?”

“It’s okay, really,” he explained. “This, um, happens every week.”

“And you don’t do anything about it!” Kihyun answered, his voice getting louder. “You don’t tell her to help you?”

“Kihyun, I--”

“You need to stand up for yourself!”

“It’s not that simple, I--”

“Why don’t you just wish you had a better job? Or a better manager?”

Minhyuk looked down and away this time. Kihyun was basically glaring at him -- glaring at him like he was the biggest idiot in the world. But he wasn’t. He just didn’t care what his manager said anymore.

“Because I’m okay with it not being perfect.”

Minhyuk made it through his shift. It was still light outside -- after all, it was only 3pm -- but he wanted nothing more than to get home and collapse on his bed.

The manager, as per usual, did jack-shit. When it was busy, she escaped to the back, hiding from all of the customers. When it wasn’t busy, she manned the register, refusing to lift a finger to help Minhyuk re-stock the store for the rest of the week. It was a lose-lose situation for him; he was always working, and, because of that, he was exhausted after his shift. He was like a ghost, limping along the street, dragging himself to his apartment building.

Kihyun, meanwhile, refused to talk to him for the rest of the shift. Something about “not standing up for yourself” or whatever. Minhyuk was sure that Kihyun thought he was a ditzy wimp, unwilling to fight to be treated better. Even during their walk back, Kihyun kept his distance, a perpetual glare fixed on his face. It made Minhyuk feel all dejected on the inside, like he disappointed Kihyun. He didn’t want to make Kihyun’s life miserable, but he didn’t want to rock the boat at his job. And he wasn’t going to wish for it to get better -- the second his job gets better is the second another part of his life (like Organic Chemistry Lab) becomes the shitty part of his week.

Yet, even with how mad Kihyun seemed to be… something seemed off. There were a few times Minhyuk was ferrying items from the storeroom to the front of the store, and, well, it seemed like he finished way faster than he should have. Like he’d make a few trips and suddenly in between trips there’d be a few more items stocked than he remembered doing.

Kihyun never fessed up to doing anything, though.

Sometimes Minhyuk wished he could float up the stairs like Kihyun -- magically will himself up to his apartment on the third floor. It would make these stairs so much easier, like they didn’t even exist.

By the time he keyed into his apartment and closed the door, he was ready to die on his bed. Apparently someone had other plans.

Before his face could even reach his pillow, he heard three loud knocks at his door. Minhyuk froze where he was standing, listening to the door to see if he could hear anything. He caught Kihyun out of the corner of his eyes; he was shaking his head, instructing Minhyuk not to answer.

“Minhyuk?” he heard from the other side of the door. “It’s Hoseok. Your neighbor.”

Minhyuk just shrugged at Kihyun, turning around to go to the door. He caught Kihyun starting to roll his eyes, but he ignored the genie. Minhyuk unlocked the front door, and he opened it up about 30 degrees. As expected, Hoseok was waiting for him on the other side.

“Hey Minhyuk,” Hoseok murmured.

Minhyuk immediately thought something was off. Hoseok was the type of person to envelope him in a bear hug as soon as he saw him; instead, he was quiet now. Nothing like the normal Hoseok.

“Hey,” Minhyuk replied. “What’s up?”

Hoseok perked up and looked back at his apartment. They stood there for a few moments in silence before Hoseok decided to turn his attention back to Minhyuk.

“I’m, uh, sorry to bother you, I know you just got home. I was just wondering you had seen a cat?”

“A cat?”

“My cat,” Hoseok corrected himself. “Calico. Fluffy. Meows a lot. Have you seen her?”

Minhyuk didn’t even know Hoseok had a cat.

He looked back at Kihyun, who shook his head. Apparently Kihyun hadn’t seen her either. Or he disapproved of this whole thing. Either way, Kihyun wasn’t helpful.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t seen her.”

“Oh,” Hoseok mumbled, his voice deflated.

“How long have you been looking?”

“S-since I got home an hour ago,” Hoseok replied, his voice trembling. “I, uh, I don’t know where she could have gone.”

“Do you want me to help look?” Minhyuk asked. He could hear Kihyun facepalming behind him, but Minhyuk didn’t pay any attention to him.

“No, uh, it’s okay, I’ve already taken up too much of your time. I’ve gotta keep looking,” Hoseok hurriedly replied, turning around and heading for his apartment. Minhyuk didn’t say anything afterwards, instead shutting his door and turning around to face Kihyun.

“Why did you even offer to help?” Kihyun dryly asked. “You’re so tired that you probably don’t even know what day it is.”

“It’s Saturday,” Minhyuk quietly answered. “And I wanted to help because I’ve never seen Hoseok so upset before…”

Kihyun sighed.

“Kihyun, I wish that Hoseok would find his cat.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Minhyuk asserted.

“I’m just -- why?” Kihyun snapped his fingers, a small plume of purple smoke appearing near his hand. Moments later, Minhyuk faintly heard Hoseok yelling excitedly through the wall they shared. He had been reunited with his calico.

“That’s why.”

☆ The Fourth Wish ☆

Day #8 with Minhyuk.

Eight days of pure, uninterrupted monotony.

Eight days of watching Minhyuk struggle to… well, everything. The kid had an unnerving mixture of unintentional aloofness, perpetual sleepiness, and intentional laziness. He ambled from one disaster to the next, barely skinning by each and every day. It was like watching a slow-motion trainwreck… but a boring one.

Kihyun’s first thought was that Minhyuk was basically one-dimensional. He was motivated by one thing: sleep. How did that jive with the kid picking one of the hardest majors in his college? A good job gets him more time to sleep. Working on the side? He needed to pay for rent so he could sleep somewhere. Eating? Can’t sleep if you’re dead. Honestly, it made Minhyuk a remarkably boring person. Sure, he had a lot going on between class and work and trying (and failing) to be a functional adult. But it was all very routine -- nothing Kihyun hadn’t already seen in his hundreds of years being a genie.

But then…

Some days, Minhyuk surprised him.

Some days, Minhyuk would get up early and make pancakes for himself from two month old box mix that he “only used sparingly,” according the smiley boy. Some days, Minhyuk would go out of his way to help a complete stranger, saying “it’s the right thing to do” when Kihyun interrogated him. Some days, Minhyuk would use the most valuable thing he owned right now -- his five, now two, wishes -- to make someone else’s day better. Some days, Minhyuk would forget about himself and his own needs.

It was infuriating. Absolutely infuriating.

That confused Kihyun. It scared him. A lot. Because, honestly, it meant he cared about Minhyuk. This was the longest amount of time he had spent with any one person in the human world -- besides that one time his human got too careless after his first wish, got hit by a car, and was in a coma for a week. But that doesn’t count. No, he had spent seven waking days with Minhyuk, and he was barely half-done with Minhyuk’s wishes.

“Kihyun?”

“Hmm,” he replied, looking over his shoulder to find Minhyuk cheekily smiling at him. His black hair was shooting out all over the place, still wearing pajamas and sitting up on his bed. It was cute, that little shit. He must have been napping for a while now.

“I invited my friend Jooheon over. He needed to talk about something.”

“You have friends?” he quipped.

Minhyuk’s smile immediately disappeared. “Why are you always so mean to me, Yoo Kihyun?”

Kihyun smirked. “It’s a genie thing.”

The other boy made a face. “I can’t tell if you’re telling the truth or not.”

“I’ve had 500 years to practice my lying -- you can barely read your textbook, what makes you think you can read me?”

“I can read that you don’t totally hate me.”

Kihyun paused. He knew it was a joke, but had he really been that obvious? Had his stupid feelings seeped through to how he acted around Minhyuk? Had he really changed after spending a week with Minhyuk?

No, he answered himself.

“Uh huh,” he finally replied, rolling his eyes. He crossed his arms, impatiently rotating his ring around his ring finger. He had only started doing it in the past few days with Minhyuk, but now it was basically his nervous tick.

“Are you blushing, Kihyun?” Minhyuk teased.

“Keep dreaming,” Kihyun fired back without missing a beat. Minhyuk giggled, letting his head fall back onto his bed. Kihyun knew he wasn’t blushing. He would never blush around Minhyuk -- maybe he’d smack him, but he certainly wouldn’t blush.

He’d make sure not to smack him too hard. Besides, Minhyuk’s pretty face is one of the few assets he’s got going for him... aside from his endearingly boring life and half-witted brain, both of which had their moments.

“When’s Jooheon getting here anyways,” Kihyun absentmindedly asked.

“Oh, in five minutes.”

“And you’re just telling me now!?”

Minhyuk shot him a confused look. “You’re upset?”

“Clearly,” he flatly replied.

“Why? It’s not like Jooheon can see you.”

“I -- I know that!” Kihyun asserted. “I just, uh, need to mentally prepare to deal with more people.”

Minhyuk laughed, his nasally giggles loud and boisterous from his laying-down position. “More like you need more time to come up with ways to torture me when I have to pretend you don’t exist.”

“Er, right.”

“Do you have friends, Kihyunnie?”

“Of course I have friends, you twat.”

“... For some reason, I feel like that’s a lie,” Minhyuk rambled, “... Like, you’re pretty mean to me.”

“Untrue.”

“Um, you definitely just called me a twat,” Minhyuk retorted, sitting up again.

“No, I meant that I’m not mean to most people.”

“Aww, so I’m special?” Minhyuk put on his best puppy-dog eyes, clasped his hands together, and looked at Kihyun expectantly. It was too cute, even for Minhyuk.

“Sure, Minhyuk.”

“Ouch,” Minhyuk replied, feigning the gayest hurt face Kihyun had ever seen.

That was “gay” as in gay, not stupid, by the way.

Just how did Kihyun know Minhyuk was gay?

You mean other than the endless flirting and Minhyuk’s sassy-gay tendencies?

Well, there was that one time when he was mind-numbingly bored when Minhyuk was asleep, so he pulled out Minhyuk’s laptop and decided to get on the Internet. One thing led to another, and, well…

Let’s just say Minhyuk has an interesting browsing history.

“Tell me about your friends, Kihyunnie,” Minhyuk piped up.

“Oh, um, well,” he mumbled.

“-- So your friends aren’t real!” Minhyuk interjected.

“Shut up,” Kihyun harmlessly threatened. “I’m just not used to humans asking about my life, okay? Anyways, so my best friend is named Hyunwoo. He’s only 75 human years older than me, but he acts like he’s 400 years older than me. Wise and worldly and cares about all that genie crap that I, uh, ignore.”

Kihyun paused, but Minhyuk didn’t say anything immediately.

“And your other friends?”

“Uh, well, actually…” he started, nervously running a hand through his hair. “So I don’t really have any friends besides Hyunwoo.”

“I’m sorry,” Minhyuk immediately replied. “I kinda know what that’s like. Jooheon’s basically my only friend.”

“Really?” Kihyun was sure Minhyuk was the type of human to have 100 friends. Outgoing, sociable, loud -- he had all the makings of an extrovert who just clicked with everyone.

“Yeah, most people think I’m annoying? At least that’s what I think.”

Oh.

“Well, um, if it’s any consolation, Minhyuk…” Kihyun began before a knock at Minhyuk’s door cut him off. Minhyuk was still looking at him, though; he was waiting for him to finish.

“I don’t think you’re that annoying.”

Minhyuk smiled. “Thanks.”

The other boy made his way for the door to let his best friend into his apartment.

“It’ll all work out, Jooheon. I promise.”

Minhyuk closed the door to the front of his apartment and looked over at Kihyun. They were finally alone again; Jooheon left to catch the last bus to his own apartment complex. Kihyun, meanwhile, was putting on his best unimpressed face for Minhyuk, but it was mostly a front to hide total and utter disdain Kihyun had been harboring for the past four hours.

“So, what did you think of Jooheon?”

“Charming,” Kihyun dismissively replied, leaning over Minhyuk’s kitchen counter and planting his chin in his left palm. “Absolutely charming.”

“What? So you didn’t like Jooheon?”

“Honestly, I didn’t get to know him too well,” Kihyun replied, keeping his voice monotone and disinterested.

“He was here for four hours!”

“Yeah, two of which were spent watching a movie while basically sitting on your lap. The other two hours were him crying about his crush, Changbin.”

“Changkyun.”

“Whatever.”

“Look,” Minhyuk answered. “Jooheonie’s going through a really tough time. And him and Changkyun would make a great couple. But Jooheon’s too shy to say anything, and Changkyun’s definitely too shy to say anything either, so we’re stuck in this predicament. Which reminds me…”

“What?”

“I wish Jooheon would finally have the courage to ask Changkyun out. Let’s say, tomorrow.”

“You’re serious?” Kihyun couldn’t believe that Minhyuk would wish for something so--

“Yes.”

--asinine. Again.

He was compelled to snap his fingers once more, zapping some confidence into Minhyuk’s best friend. At the very least, he gave the boy enough confidence to ask his crush out without stammering for fifteen minutes like he ordinarily would. Kihyun then quickly turned his attention back to Minhyuk, who was smiling triumphantly, like he had solved world peace. Kihyun finally snapped, this time in a different way.

“Why,” he bitingly demanded.

“Why what?” Minhyuk was so oblivious that it just made Kihyun angrier. He could feel his blood pressure rising, after it had already been building over the past few hours of Jooheon and Minhyuk bro-time.

“Why do you keep on wishing for stupid things?” he spat out.

“Stupid?”

“Yes, stupid! Why do you wish for such stupid things!”

Minhyuk looked even more confused, which fueled Kihyun to continue berating him.

“I’m a genie, Minhyuk. I’m not here for your entertainment. I’m not here to grant stupid wishes. I’m not here to do something that a stupid fairy could do. I grant important wishes, wishes that no human could fathom achieving. But you! You little… You waste my powers on wishing for things that don’t matter. Things that don’t matter, Minhyuk!”

Minhyuk now looked more hurt than confused. But Kihyun didn’t care. He wanted Minhyuk to realize that his wishes were the stupidest wishes Kihyun had granted in hundreds of years.

“Why, Minhyuk? Why do you waste your wishes?”

Minhyuk shook his head. “Do -- do you really think that my wishes are stupid?”

“Yes!”

“T-that Hyungwon’s grades don’t matter to him?”

Kihyun didn’t answer that one.

“That Hoseok’s cat doesn’t matter to him?”

No -- that’s not what he meant.

“That Jooheon’s happiness doesn’t matter to him? Or matter to me?”

“No, I --”

“You what? Think you’re better than that?”

“No!”

Minhyuk looked directly at him now. His facial features were strained, like he was in pain having to say these things. Having to confront Kihyun like this.

“No?”

“No, I -- I, uh…”

“You what?”

Kihyun was mute. He couldn’t say anything. For once, he didn’t know what to say. He was usually four steps ahead of Minhyuk.

Minhyuk shook his head again.

“Could you please leave me alone tonight? I’m going to bed.”

With that, Minhyuk disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Kihyun alone in Minhyuk’s tiny kitchen. He wasn’t supposed to leave, but he did. Everything in the genie rule book told him he had to stay, to be around in case his human wanted to wish anything. But something told him that Minhyuk didn’t want to use his fifth wish. At least, not now.

Kihyun walked out, his brain still numb.

He walked. He hated to admit it, but it felt nice to walk. It forced him to focus on something, to help the numbness go away.

Eventually, one thought percolated to the front of Kihyun’s mind: that he cared too much. He wanted nothing more than for Minhyuk to wish for something for himself. He wanted Minhyuk to care about himself. To think about himself. To live in a better apartment, to have a better job, to be able to afford some actual groceries. Minhyuk deserved better.

Just then, he had a thought that scared him even more. That made him even more upset.

If Minhyuk deserved better, then why did he just scream at him for being stupid?

☆ The Fifth Wish ☆

A big part of Minhyuk wanted nothing more than to make his final wish right then and there. To get this all over with, to make Kihyun disappear from his life forever. But as soon as Kihyun left, a wave of relief swept over him: he didn’t do something stupid. Again, Kihyun would have added, that bitingly cynical thought creeping into his mind. He was becoming as cynical as Kihyun now.

But an even bigger part of Minhyuk won out. The part of him that loved Kihyun’s dimples, his sassiness, his hair, their banter -- it won out. The part of him that only became obvious over the past few days.

When Kihyun first popped into Minhyuk’s life in a plume of lavender smoke (a shade of lavender that Minhyuk now found more endearing than ever before), he didn’t think much of him. Minhyuk flirted, sure, but that’s just who he was. Naturally flirty, making quips about seeing each other naked, and so on. He didn’t expect Kihyun to play along, to take his flirting in stride and throw it right back at him with sassiness. It piqued his interest.

But what sealed the deal, what made Minhyuk really fall for Kihyun, was something else. No, it wasn’t Kihyun’s angelic giggling (but that did help). Minhyuk loved that Kihyun seemed to care. Kihyun did little things that made his life easier, like fixing his homework, coaching him through a difficult lab, helping restock the convenience store -- mini “wishes” that he wouldn’t, that he couldn’t make for himself. Underneath all his biting sardonicism and cynicism was a Kihyun who genuinely cared. Minhyuk didn’t know a whole lot about genies, but he sure didn’t think it was normal for a genie to go out of their way to make their human’s life easier unless they wished for it. That definitely sounded like something that would be against the rules if Kihyun’s friend Hyunwoo ever found out. And yet, Kihyun risked it.

For Minhyuk.

So why did Kihyun snap at him like that? What would compel Kihyun to be so hurtful? What would make Kihyun, who went out of his way to make Minhyuk’s life easier even while pretending like he wouldn’t, try to break Minhyuk down? Where did this Kihyun come from? Who replaced the Kihyun that Minhyuk had been secretly falling for?

Part of him needed to know.

Minhyuk didn’t sleep much that night.

The next day was a big studying day for Minhyuk. He had a P-Chem exam this week, and, God, he sucked at P-Chem. It was his weakest subject, and the perfect mix of chemistry and physics to make him wonder if he hated himself. Y’know, choosing this major and all.

No sign of Kihyun, though. Minhyuk was starting to worry. He had already gotten up, showered, thrown on some clothes -- all before 9am on a day when he didn’t have work or class. So, basically a miracle. Aka Thursday. He was currently in the process of shoving his heavy P-Chem textbook into his poor backpack, which seemed to resist his ‘desire’ to study even more than internal Minhyuk did. Finally, he managed to guide the 900-page behemoth down into the right pocket, zipping up the pockets and moving his backpack in front of the door.

Now for breakfast.

Minhyuk moved to his kitchenette, expecting to face a Major Breakfast Problem: he had no breakfast. He had used the last of his precious pancake mix the other day. Eggo waffles were long gone. And he certainly couldn’t afford to buy breakfast out this morning. He hopelessly searched his cupboards, debating whether instant ramen would be better than soup for breakfast. Screw it; he decided that skipping breakfast altogether was easiest.

Turning around, he noticed a large pile of piping hot pancakes with syrup drizzling down the sides of the pancake tower sitting on his kitchen counter.

“Kihyun?” he called out.

Instead of digging in to the pancakes -- why are you such an idiot, his stomach protested -- Minhyuk decided to search his studio apartment. Kihyun had to be around here somewhere. That’s how genies worked, right?. They have to be like, you know, nearby. Like Wi-Fi networks: their powers have a range. Right?

Minhyuk searched his living room. Nothing. The bathroom? Nope. Behind the shower curtain? No. Under his bed sheets? He wished, but nada. In the kitchen cupboards? Zilch. Just then, Minhyuk turned around to face his mysterious pancakes again. This time, there was a handwritten note sitting next to the pancakes that he swore wasn’t there before.

“Just eat them,” it read.

It had to be Kihyun, right?

Kihyun’s handwriting was pretty.

Where was he?

Minhyuk decided that he might as well eat the pancakes while they were here, cutting off a large portion with the accompanying knife and fork. It was like Kihyun was there, insisting that Minhyuk use actual silverware instead of the plastic stuff he jacked from Starbucks. Minhyuk committed to absolutely demolishing these pancakes, stuffing huge pieces into his mouth without thinking. Well, he was thinking. Just not about pancakes. He was thinking about Kihyun, and if this was his apology for last night. But where was he?

Before he knew it, Minhyuk had cleared his plate, his mind preoccupied by considering all the ways today could play out. Like, was Kihyun going to avoid him all day? Yeah, those types of thoughts. Not much healthier than the pancakes he apparently just inhaled.

There wasn’t much he could do to make Kihyun re-appear, so he slung his backpack over his shoulders and walked to the library. At the very least, he could try to study for P-Chem.

You know those walks where you kinda just… forget everything? And walk? That’s what today’s walk to campus was. He just walked. One foot in front of the other, stopping at crosswalks, ignoring everything but focusing on nothing -- he was on auto-pilot. Minhyuk wandered into the library, which was surprisingly empty. He’d never been up this early before, so he had no baseline for library crowdedness at 9:30am. He was able to nab a self-study room, the studying equivalent of a booth table at a restaurant, with ease.

He shut the door to the room, and dropped his bag on an empty chair. He unzipped the pockets, but, before he could coax his textbook out of his bag, he heard the door click back open.

“Oh, I’m sorry this room is ta--”

Minhyuk stopped mid-sentence when he looked up and saw who it was.

“Hey,” the shorter boy said, shutting the door again.

Minhyuk just stood there, hand half in his bag, mouth slack-jawed, and completely speechless.

Kihyun looked like he always did: beautiful. The same sharp facial features, narrow eyes, wide nose, soft brown hair. He looked… sad. Minhyuk had never seen so much emotion in Kihyun, except for last night.

“Studying?” Kihyun finally piped up, breaking the long awkward silence between them.

“Look, if you’re here to tell me to wish to just pass the exam…” Minhyuk replied, his voice a bit hoarse and dramatic. He didn’t know where that thought came from, but it was the first thing that popped into his mind. It was like his mind was wandering around Kihyun’s plump lips but his mouth was vocalizing all the pent-up pain that had accumulated in the last twelve hours.

Kihyun seemed to expect something along these lines, looking down toward the carpet, his expression unchanged. He couldn’t look Minhyuk in the eyes while Minhyuk was outwardly angry with him.

The shorter boy stared at the ground for a few more moments before gathering the courage to look back up at him. “I want to help you study.”

Minhyuk paused. Kihyun seemed earnest, like he meant ‘help’ in the human way and not in the I’m-going-to-use-magic-to-solve-this-problem genie way.

“Okay,” he responded.

“Okay?”

“Yes, okay,” he confirmed, yanking his textbook out of his bag. “I have my P-Chem exam on--”

“--Tuesday,” Kihyun interrupted, cutting him off. He had moved toward the table in the middle of the study room, taking a seat opposite of Minhyuk. It deflated him a bit -- he wished Kihyun had decided to sit next to him.

“Yeah, Tuesday.” Minhyuk pulled out his textbook and sat down.

“So what’s it on?”

“Umm,” Minhyuk demurred.

Kihyun gave him a look.

“Look, I'm just trying to go over all the material today, and then I’ll study the stuff I really suck at tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan… ish,” Kihyun replied. Minhyuk giggled -- he forgot how much he missed Kihyun’s sass.

He pulled out his syllabus, placing it next to the open textbook. There was kind of a problem, though.

“Kihyun.”

“Yeah.”

“It would be easier if you were, um…” he started. “Sitting next to me? That way it’s easier to show you stuff.”

“Oh. Right,” Kihyun replied. “Actually, how about I go grab some reference textbooks and study material from the stacks outside while you figure out what your test is on?”

“Okay.”

“Oh my god, I’m so tired,” Minhyuk dramatically complained, letting his head fall onto the table with a thud. One of his hands was holding his throbbing head while his other arm was stretched out, reaching across the table. He rolled his head over to look at his tutor-genie, Kihyun.

“I can go get some more snacks?” Kihyun suggested. Minhyuk could see his eyes darting around at all the empty wrappers scattered around the table, though -- he knew Kihyun was secretly judging just how much ‘brain food,’ aka junk food, Minhyuk needed to stay motivated and awake. They’d been at this for hours, and Minhyuk was just about brain dead. Delirious, or whatever.

He wasn’t sure if it was the exhaustion or the fact that Kihyun must have tried to push his brown hair back like fourteen times in the past thirty minutes when explaining basic P-Chem concepts to Minhyuk, but Kihyun looked even prettier right now. Especially looking up at his jawline from the side. His side profile was stunning.

“Minhyuk? Snacks?”

Oh, right. Words. But, instead of vocalizing his needs like an adult, he just groaned dramatically, earning another look from Kihyun.

“Okay, no snacks.”

“I don’t know anything,” he whined.

“That’s a lie!” Kihyun reassured him. “You know some things!”

Minhyuk groaned again.

“Look,” Kihyun started. “And I really don’t want you to take this the wrong way? But I’m going to suggest it because you’ve tried really hard and because I really want you to pass this exam. But… you could… just… wish to pass the exam?”

Minhyuk was squealing inside. Maybe it was from the delirium, but he loved how Kihyun tip-toed around asking him to wish for it this time. It was so cute. The Kihyun that he knew cared about him deeply finally appeared, and it made him ridiculously happy.

“But that’s not what I want~” Minhyuk teased, looking directly into Kihyun’s eyes while sing-songing his response.

“Oh?” Kihyun replied, dramatically splaying his own arm out like Minhyuk and resting his head on the table. They were now at eye-level, both staring at each other. “Do you want... another stack of pancakes, o lazy one?”

“Nope~”

“What do you want then, Minhyuk?”

Without missing a beat, he replied: “I wish” -- dramatically letting that word fall off his lips -- “that the boy I was looking at right now would kiss me.”

Kihyun’s eyes widened, a light shade of pink instantly creeping across his face.

“You -- You didn’t have to use one of your wishes on that,” he murmured. Kihyun looked away briefly, then focused back on Minhyuk. Hesitantly, the shorter boy leaned closer and closer before softly planting his lips on Minhyuk’s. It was quick -- chaste almost -- because Kihyun recoiled almost as soon as he naturally could. Minhyuk couldn’t get over how insanely pink Kihyun’s cheeks looked, how bashfully cute his genie was.

“Gotta save the best wish for last?” Minhyuk choked out, the humor mixing with the pain to form a lump in his throat. Kihyun had to leave now, right? That’s how this worked. That’s how it worked in Aladdin. Oh god.

“It… It wasn’t your last wish, Minhyuk,” Kihyun softly replied. Minhyuk watched as Kihyun, who still had his planted on the table like Minhyuk, brought his hands together. Using his right hand, he removed the large blingy-looking ring that adorned his right ring finger -- the ring that he liked to play with when he was nervous. Kihyun then reached for Minhyuk’s right hand, gently pulling it close so that it was positioned between the two of them. Kihyun was lazy but deliberate; he slid the ring down Minhyuk’s dainty ring finger.

“You… you know how you asked how we could ‘lose’ a genie?” Kihyun started. “Well, uh, I may not know the genie rules that well, but I know that this is the way that I say that I want to spend some more time with a human.”

More time?

“Y--you mean you’re not a genie anymore?”

“Not anymore,” Kihyun confirmed, a shy smile creeping across his face.

“You can’t grant wishes anymore?”

“I can, actually,” he answered. “But only yours.”

☆ Epilogue: The Eleventh (?) Wish ☆

Minhyuk actually lost track of how many wishes it had been now.

It had been about a week since Kihyun committed to him. A week since Kihyun and him became ‘real,’ since Minhyuk had to explain to Jooheon (and Changkyun) that he had a new boyfriend. A side-effect of committing to Minhyuk? Everybody could see Kihyun now. It made Minhyuk’s life much easier, to be honest.

Their relationship improved dramatically without the constant pressure of wishes hanging over them. Kihyun was relaxed. He was still sassy, of course, and Minhyuk loved him for that. But Kihyun also was fiercely protective -- fiery when someone so much as threatened to hurt Minhyuk’s feelings. It was nice to see that fire directed at someone else, to be honest, even if Minhyuk could more than handle himself.

There were problems of course.

One day, Minhyuk came home from class to a fully-stocked kitchen. New pots, new pans, new appliances, tons of food. Fruit -- even in this economy! And lots of pancake mix. All the pancake mix.

And while Minhyuk truly loved that Kihyun cared, he had to set ground rules for wishing. No amazing, life-changing wishes, no surprising him with tons of new worldly possessions, no making his life so easy that one of his problems became irrelevant, no more than one “wish” per day, et cetera.

“-- Only one a day?” Kihyun complained.

“Yeah, and it has to be small.”

“Why?” Kihyun protested. “I love you and I want to show that I love you, Minhyukie.”

“I love too too, babe. But, like, wishes are the easy way out. I love you because you’re you, not because you’re a genie who can grant any wish.”

The next day was slightly better -- he ‘only’ got a new laptop from Kihyun. They had to sit down and have a talk about what “small” meant. You know, flowers and chocolates and a home-made dinner. Not a new car.

Minhyuk also insisted that Kihyun find something to do during the day. Like enroll in some classes. In a different major, he emphasized. Kihyun acquiesced, got a perfect score on the college entrance exam, and became a philosophy major. Apparently he had a soft spot for the Enlightenment. Something about his youth.

But other than those few problems -- and what relationship doesn’t have problems? -- Minhyuk couldn’t be happier. Besides, it was a nice day out today, and he could watch Kihyun try (and fail) to eat his ice cream for at least a few hours. The park was lovely, but his date was lovelier.

Minhyuk was glad he canned his genie.

#monsta x #kihyuk #kihyuk fic #monsta x fic #kihyun #minhyuk #my writing

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picturesmadewords-blog · 6 years

Text

We can fly - a Teddy & Billy ficlet

Hello, fellow Young Avengers fans! This is my very first non-reblog post on my all-new tumblr that I decided to create for my writings - if and when I get to write more, that is. The thing is, I used to write a lot until a few years ago. I was very active in my country’s Harry Potter fandom and wrote tons of Remus x Sirius stories. But, as I got older, I abandoned writing more and more… until this summer, when I couldn’t take it anymore: I had too many scenes and characters in my mind to let them sleep there forever, so I decided to start writing again. We’ll see how this goes.

I wanted to try something with my absolute favorite Marvel characters, Teddy Altman and Billy Kaplan. Being a gay man who was a teenager when these two first came bursting into comics, I owe a lot to them. And I have tons of little scenes and snippets with them floating around in my head, so here we are. My first post is a ficlet set during the events of Young Avengers v1, specifically right after Teddy’s mom’s death. On the day of her funeral, to be more precise. I’m sure this has been done before, but I really wanted to give shape to my version of it. It’s not much, but there’s a lot of heart in it and all the fluff I need to survive the horrible world we’re currently living in.

As I said, this is my first real piece of writing in years, so any kind of comment is welcome. I just want to see if I still have something worthy to say with my writing. It’s also my first piece of writing about Marvel characters AND my first piece of fiction in English. English is not my first language, so ANY kind of comment about style/form/possible grammar mistakes is highly appreciated.

Now, onto the fic!

Title: We can fly

Fandom: Young Avengers (Marvel comics)

Characters: Billy Kaplan, Teddy Altman, Jeff Kaplan, Rebecca Kaplan, Eli Bradley

Rating: G

POV: Billy (first section), Teddy (second and third sections)

“Call me, man. Whenever you want. Don’t ride this out alone. Neither of you should.”

Billy nodded. He stared deeply into Eli’s eyes and saw something unexpected there. He hadn’t seen Eli cry at the funeral, he didn’t think so. But the boy’s eyes were now shiny. If he hadn’t cried, he looked like he was about to. That wasn’t something Billy was used to. That look of defeat in his teammate’s eyes. In his friend’s eyes. Those eyes said so much more than “I’m sad because my friend’s mom died.” Those eyes seemed to say that now it was real. Not that Billy thought Eli hadn’t taken it seriously from the first moment Nate appeared in his life, but what they had gone through, the terrible, scary things they had gone through, weren't enough to prepare them for this. Losing someone, actually losing someone. Billy saw Eli's love for his grandparents in those eyes. He had seen the fear of losing his own parents in his own eyes that morning, when he had briefly looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.

And then, something else wholly unexpected. Eli hugged him. He pulled him close and hugged him and hugged him. When he let go, Billy had no idea how to react. He smiled faintly. The kind of gratitude he was feeling for Eli couldn’t be expressed in words.

They were on the doorsteps of his house. The sky was grey and there was a chill in the air. “Like in the movies,” Billy thought. “There’s always bad weather at funerals.”

Eli looked at Kate, who was waiting for him outside. He gave one last friendly smile and left. Kate waved at Billy and, once they were out of sight, the boy closed the door.

He turned to the living room. He was facing the back of the sofa, which was placed right in the middle of the room. The sight of the messy blonde hair visible just above the back cushions made his heart jump a little. “Man up, Kaplan. Man up,” he kept thinking. He closed his eyes, took a heavy breath and walked towards the sofa.

“Hey.” Billy tried to put on his best comforting smile. Teddy was sort of slouching on the sofa, his head low, his hands dangling between his legs, his black tie loosened. The plate Billy had prepared for him still lay untouched on the coffee table – a sandwich, some chips, a small portion of some sort of casserole one of his aunts must’ve brought. Glancing at it, Billy suddenly recoiled at the smell of food lingering in the house, as if he had only noticed it now that everyone had gone.

He sat on the sofa next to Teddy. The boy looked like he was somewhere else, somewhere far away, where hopefully he was still a happy teenager with a beautiful boyfriend and a loving mother, and not an alien prince with a dead parent who had lied to him his whole life.

Billy leaned on his shoulder. He enclosed Teddy’s huge frame with one arm, or tried to. And then the most exquisite, the most heartwarming thing happened. Billy had feared anger, tears, coldness, all things that would have been natural and that he would have faced with strength and perseverance for his boyfriend’s sake. He had not expected Teddy to melt into his embrace, his lovely face burrowed into Billy’s neck, his arms tight around Billy’s waist.

Teddy was big, much bigger than Billy’s slender figure, and yet he looked so small and fragile in Billy’s arms. All the boy could do was to rest his head on Teddy’s shoulders, feeling Teddy’s breath close to his chest, so warm, so soft through his white shirt.

They stayed like that for several minutes, in complete silence. There were no tears, no words of comfort, just two boys tangled together, Teddy safely hidden in Billy’s arms, Billy slowly stroking Teddy’s back.

A sound coming from the kitchen. And, a few seconds later, Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan standing in the doorway, both looking tired and much older than Billy ever remembered. Billy didn’t even try to let go of Teddy, he had no intention of letting go, parents or no parents. If anything, he held Teddy even closer, a sudden, overpowering sense of protectiveness washing over him. He’s mine and he needs me and I will hold him for the rest of my life if that’s what he needs.

“Billy, son, we’re going to your aunt’s to bring the hellions home,” Jeff said with a sweet smile. “But before we go, your mother and I need to speak to you boys.”

At that, Teddy jerked up. He didn’t let go of Billy’s waist, though, as he looked at Billy’s parents. “Mr. Kaplan, Mrs. Kaplan… I am so grateful, I will leave as soon as…”

“Hush, dear,” Rebecca said warmly, as she approached the sofa. Her hand reached Teddy’s forehead and she half-stroked, half-brushed his hair. Teddy smiled as Billy felt a sudden surge of love for his mom.

“That’s what we wanted to talk about,” Jeff said, stepping forward himself. His wife put a loving hand on his chest, and he put an arm around her shoulders. Billy smiled at the gesture.

“Billy told us that you have no living relatives,” Rebecca said tentatively, careful not to hurt the boy any further. “Now, mind you, we don’t want to force anything onto you, but…” she paused and sighed. Billy felt his heart skip several beats. He also felt Teddy slightly trembe in his arms. “We don’t, and as soon as you’re eighteen,” the woman continued “you will be able to choose what is best for yourself. But right now, if you want, Jeff and I were thinking that it would be our pleasure to have you with us.”

Billy was beaming. Teddy looked at the couple with wide, shimmering eyes. “We’re sure that there will be some legal stuff to take care of, which we will do once we’re all a little rested,” Jeff said, sitting next to his son. “For now, though, consider yourself our guest. Tomorrow we’ll fix the guest bedroom for you, and Billy here will help you make it your own with a few Pokémon posters or whatever you kids like nowadays. I really hope you will come to consider this your home, in time.”

Billy couldn’t keep it all in any longer. He let go of Teddy, turned to his father and hugged him, whispering “Thank you,” in his ear. Teddy sat motionless, incredulous.

“As for tonight,” Rebecca started, with a voice that exuded both motherly affection and practicality “we thought you could… sleep in Billy’s room.”

Teddy’s eyes widened even more. Billy, having let go of his father, jumped up to embrace his mother. Rebecca put a hand forward, making her son wait for his thankful hug. “This is a one-time thing, young men. Don’t make a habit of it. It’s only because the guest bedroom needs airing and,” she sighed. “And I guess we could all use a little affection and caring tonight.” She let Billy briefly hug her, then tightened her wool cardigan, as if a sudden shiver had passed over her.

“Your mother can’t wait to get the boys back from your aunt. Imagine being that desperate for affection,” Jeff said, getting up from the sofa and walking towards the front door to get his car keys.

Billy chuckled. So did Teddy, through teary eyes. He had met Billy’s bothers and both he and Billy knew that wanting those pests back was the act of a woman desperate to bring life back to what was, at that moment, a very grim house. They both couldn’t wait.

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

Hours later, as if in a dream where you wander from place to place without any rational reason, Teddy found himself sitting on his boyfriend’s bed. A stylized cartoonish Captain America was staring at him from the heavy bed cover. He looked up, admiring Billy’s model replicas of all the major spaceships from Star Wars, hanging from the ceiling, while a glance at Billy’s desk revealed several action figures and statues of Thor and the Scarlet Witch, all of different sizes and some of them sporting costumes that Teddy recognized from an era of the Avengers that went back to before either he or Billy were even born. Taped to the wall behind the desk, he saw some pencil drawings, mostly of Billy’s winged headgear.

Teddy never thought he would ever find someone who was as big a nerd as he was. Billy couldn’t quite name every single Doctor Who companion from the 1950s onward, not yet, so he felt his nerd crown was safe for now. But still, Billy was a threat.

A wonderful, wonderful threat. He started fantasizing about spending entire afternoons playing computer games and swapping comics with Billy in the comforting space of the room he was now in. Watching their favorite shows together, while holding hands or spooning on that bed, which was thankfully big enough for the both of them. Stealing kisses when they were alone, stealing more than kisses whenever possible. And maybe, one day, building a life of their own, together.

His mind was full of all those incredible thoughts. He forced himself to focus on them. He willed them into his mind, fearing that he would soon wander back into the darkness. He knew that there would come a time when he needed to go back there. To mourn, to cope. But not tonight.

Tonight, he felt like he was given a second chance at life. And he wanted to take it and make it his own.

“I don’t think my PJs will fit you.” Billy’s voice, coming from the walk-in closet, startled him out of his haze. “But maybe this old jersey… it will be a snug fit.”

Billy came into the room holding a faded football jersey and a pair of shorts. “Not that I will complain.”

“I could make myself a little smaller,” Teddy said, taking the clothes from Billy’s hands.

“Oh, right. Please don’t. I really don’t mind the bulging muscles.”

Teddy laughed. He knew what Billy was doing. He was playing right along his little fantasy of “this is just a sleepover with your boyfriend, it’s not like your mom is dead and not even your real mom.” He loved him even more for that.

Teddy took off what remained of his funeral suit. He had tossed the jacket over the desk chair as soon as he had entered Billy’s room, and the tie was dangling from his neck, completely loose. Billy had turned around to get the spare pillow from the closet and, when he turned back, he found Teddy wearing only the Bionic Woman boxers he had bought for him on eBay.

“Oh come on now,” Billy half-whined, admiring his boyfriend’s sculpted chest and incredible legs. Not to mention Lindsay Wagner’s cotton face hugging Teddy in all the right places. God, that was wrong. What was he thinking when he bought those boxers. “Put that shirt on before I decide to completely destroy my mother’s trust in the both of us.”

Teddy smiled, putting on the shorts first, then the jersey. It was a snug fit and he had to shrink just a little to even put his muscular arms through the sleeves, but not so much as to avoid the tight effect that Billy had hoped for. He loved teasing Billy like that.

Billy was flushed. He swallowed and playfully threw the pillow (now fitted with a fresh Lion King pillowcase) at Teddy, who caught it and held it close to his chest.

“Oh, can you feel the love tonight, baby,” Teddy commented in the most suave voice he was capable of.

“You are such a dork.” Billy went back to the closet, while Teddy jumped on the bed, resting his messy golden hair on his new pillow.

“You know,” Billy’s voice came from the closet “if you feel up to it, if you’re not too tired or anything, the brats have this junior league soccer game tomorrow, I don’t think mom had time to pull them out of it. It will most likely be a total bore, but it might do you good to get out and OH MY GOD NO.”

Teddy jumped up, scared half to death. Billy’s screaming had felt like a well-placed punch in his guts. His mind immediately went to the worst possible scenarios, which flashed in his mind one after the other in a matter of milliseconds. Something had fallen on Billy’s head and he was injured. He had slipped and fallen and had really hurt himself. The Skrulls were back for him. Kang the freaking Conqueror was hiding in Billy’s walk-in closet.

“Billy! B, what’s wrong?” he yelled, worried. The Kaplans still hadn’t come back from Billy’s aunt, what could he do now? The thought that both he and his boyfriend were superheroes never even crossed his mind. That night, he felt like a kid who was in desperate need for somebody to look out for him.

“Nothing, nothing.”

Billy’s apparently calm voice made Teddy calm, too. Still confused, but calm.

“It’s nothing but oh my God this can’t be happening.”

“B?”

“Okay, so, apparently,” Billy’s voice, still coming from the closet, had assumed that tone that Teddy had come to recognize as bitchy Billy. “Apparently…” Billy continued “I only have three pairs of PJs. And the one I wanted to wear tonight, the one I wanted you to see me in, a nice, simple, elegant light grey thing that my grandmother gave me for Hanukkah, well, it’s in the wash. Which leaves me with two unspeakable options.”

Teddy half-smiled, still puzzled. “Okay?”

“Yeah, not okay. Not really. But here goes nothing.” Billy came out of the closet and Teddy had to blink a few times to fully understand what he was seeing.

Billy, all messy dark curls and hot red cheeks, was wearing a pair of light blue PJs. The shirt was a little too tight and the pants, which, Teddy assumed, were supposed to come to his ankles, were a couple of inches short of reaching them. And the pattern. Oh, the pattern.

It was small cartoon cowboys.

And cowboy hats and little white clouds and bright green cacti. Teddy was suddenly reminded of Andy’s room in Toy Story, before the arrival of Buzz Lightyear.

“Oh my God,” Teddy cried, grinning like a maniac. “That is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.” He jumped from the bed, covering his smiling mouth with a hand. “You are the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”

Billy blushed furiously. “The thing is, I haven’t really grown that much since I was twelve so I still have these old things lying around and…”

Teddy shut him up with a kiss. He cupped Billy’s face and kissed him and kissed him, Billy standing on his toes, his thin arms embracing Teddy’s waist.

“I love you and I have to take a picture,” Teddy said, coming up for air.

Billy’s eyes became two enormous saucers. “You… wouldn’t dare…” he said slowly, stepping back from his boyfriend.

“Please please please I have to immortalize the unthinkable cuteness right before my eyes,” pleaded Teddy, already grabbing his phone.

“No way! No way!” Billy laughed.

“I promise I won’t show it to anyone! It’ll be just for me!” Teddy wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Would you really deny me this, tonight of all nights?” He looked at Billy with his best beaten puppy stare.

“Oh, that’s low,” Billy sighed. He opened his arms, defeated, and gave Teddy the sweetest of smiles as Teddy took as many pictures as possible. Yes, he was going to keep them for himself. Well, maybe one could find its way to Kate and Cassie. Maybe.

Of course Teddy knew that Billy could’ve just worn a T-shirt or something. He didn’t know if the adorable pajamas were chosen intentionally or not. But he did know that his boyfriend was the most incredible boy to ever walk (or, occasionally, fly) the earth and he had, once again, made him smile on one of the worst days of his life. He knew, right then and there, that anyone who could make him laugh on a day like that was someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

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

“Tired?” Billy asked, when the excitement over the PJs was over. They were lying on Billy’s bed, side by side. Teddy was staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. Billy was staring at Teddy.

“Exhausted,” Teddy replied. He turned his head towards Billy, a faint smile on his lips. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here. For being you,” Teddy whispered. He had tried to avoid it, but he felt the darkness getting closer and closer. He reached a hand and stroked Billy’s cheek.

Billy closed his eyes, enjoying his boyfriend’s loving touch. He leaned closer to Teddy and rested his head on Teddy’s chest, listening to his heart, getting drunk on his scent. “Is this okay?” he asked.

Teddy snorted. “Are you kidding? This is perfection.”

Silence fell over them. The room was mostly dark, only an old Mickey Mouse lamp illuminating the desk with all its action figures. Teddy closed his eyes and listened to the soft hum of Billy’s breathing.

“B?” he asked, with a wavering voice. “Am I going to be alright?”

Billy frowned, but didn’t look up. “Give yourself some time, babe.”

“But I mean…” Teddy continued, slightly hesitant. “When we get older. If… when we get to be adults together. My life’s so fucked-up. How can I… what kind of… man could I be? What kind of… father could I be…”

Billy’s head jerked up at those words. “You’re going to the most amazing dad. You are selfless and caring and goofy and you can shape-shift into all sorts of funny animals! Are you kidding, our kids will love you.” Billy paused, realizing what he had just said. “Yes, I did say our kids because I’m not going anywhere, T. Oh, and I want a small army of brats and I hope each and every one of them is as impossible as my brothers so we don’t get lazy in our old age.”

“Oh, God,” Teddy chuckled. After a silent pause, he added “I hope you are right. I just want to be free from this… this fear of failing and… and falling into dark thoughts. Dark places.” He wiped a tear that had made its way across his cheek.

Billy had rested his head on Teddy’s chest again. “Don’t be afraid of falling, T. It’s natural. It’s human. Neither of us might exactly be human human, but you get my point. Don’t be afraid. Because, if you fall, I will pick you up. Always. I will always be there to pick you up and lift you up, just as I’m sure you will be there for me.” Billy felt Teddy’s arms tighten around his shoulders, and he burrowed his face into Teddy’s chest. “We can both fly, if we can’t lift each other up, who can?”

Teddy smiled.

There was a long pause, which Teddy interrupted just to whisper “Goodnight, my sweet cowboy.”

“Goodnight,” Billy replied, grinning. He paused for a couple of seconds, then added “Hey, can I sleep like this?” holding Teddy even tighter for emphasis.

“You have to sleep like that,” Teddy replied, then placed a delicate kiss on Billy’s curly head.

Silence fell into the room once again. Both boys were half-asleep, when Teddy spoke up again. “Hey, what was on the other pair of PJs that was so terrible you went with cartoon cowboys?”

Billy snorted and hid his face in Teddy’s chest even further.

“Smurfs.”

Teddy grinned.

He definitely had something to look forward to.

#young avengers #billy kaplan #teddy altman #wiccan #hulkling #fanfic

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 4 years

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Say no to this

Here's the excerpt from Mick's POVS during the beginning of his and Claire's "relationship." (Claire and the beginning of their relationship can be read in my Fics, Just like Fire and Hot and Bothered. Yes, I shamelessly self promote, I don't care.) Takes place after season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow. Song from Hamilton. There's nothing like summer in the city Someone under boredom meets someone looking pretty There's trouble in the air, You can smell it And Mick's by himself I'll let him tell it Mick was incredible bored. It was one of the few days when the team had a break and everyone had their own way of relaxing, especially after the clean-upon Sara seducing the Queen of France. Normally Mick would have gone out with Leonard or Sara but Leonard was dead.

Despite Rip's favor to let him see Leonard via time machine. He didn't feel like it. He would already know all the heists and what happened. He needed something new.

Sara on the other hand was dealing with the death of her sister and Len. She had gone back to her hometown for the funeral and stuff. So he decided he would go back too, in 2016 of course. I hadn't slept in a week I was weak, I was awake You never seen a bastard orphan More in need of a break Longing for Leonard Missing action It was almost 10:30 at night in Central when he arrived. Mick went back to one of the old safe-houses, half-expecting Lisa to be there, looking over Leonard's belongings like she did after he gave her the news. She took it hard, wailing and crying and locked in Leonard's old room.

The safe house was empty, he figured Lisa was out or something, probably with that skinny, engineering kid that helped the Flash. He still didn't get what she saw in him.

He froze, he smelled the oh-so familiar and intoxicating smell of smoke. He scanned the room when he spotted her. Leaning lazily against the stairs, long, red hair trailing down to her feet and a smirk playing on her black lips as her hands played around with a fireball. That's when Miss Claire Selton walked into my life

“You're back? Uh, Lisa's out with her little engineer toy. She said she'd be back by morning." Claire smiled casually, looking at her nails as the fire flicked between her fingers. Mick had met her a few times before. First when he had broke the news about Leonard. Lisa had apparently gone to the same Earth he had went to with Flash and friends and also met Supergirl and had to fight a CEO, Luthor -something. (He had no idea why a CEO was such a problem for heroes, but he hadn' t been there). Claire had been pulling heists which Lisa helped and then brought her back to Central for more robberies with Shawna and Axel. He hadn't really noticed her then, but then he visited a few times after that.....Claire and he, they ended up sleeping together almost every time.

Looks were defiantly a big part of it, her costume was a tight dark reddish/black leather pants and crop top with window's peak. It emphasized all the right places.

But her powers was an even bigger turn on. She was a pyro-telekinetic, able to create fires and she was fascinated by her powers. She completely understood the magnificence that was the flame revealing the truth behind the covers.

No one in Mick's life really understood that, much less relish in burning things. She was the only one that had not ran away when he suggested his fire gun in the bedroom instead of the small, fragrant candles that his other girls seemed to prefer. In fact she even made it a pretty fun sex toy. She said: I know you are no man of honor I'm so sorry to bother you at home "I'll wait,” he muttered gruffly, settling into the beat up couch he had pulled to the middle of the room years ago. Claire took that as a cue to explain what she was doing.

"Lisa and I had this idea to take over the Smithsonian exhibit for the Egyptian jewelry. But then she got a call from Cissie, what's his name so I'm trying to figure out how the hell we're going to pull it off." But I don't know how to go, and I'm doing this all alone "Plus all the police are being really careful because of the last few times I set fire to the places. So I figure, it would be extra-fun if we were able to pick the pocket from one of them, probably their wallet, just to pay off my bet with Axel." "After all,” she mock-pouted. The police are doin' me wrong Beatin' me, cheatin' me, mistreatin' me... Suddenly the jewels are locked and gone I don't have the means to go on Mick considered, he did come here for action, and who knew better than he at stealing priceless exhibits? So I offered her a favor, I offered to do the deal, she said You're too kind, sir Claire smiled, "Well I'm sure Lisa won't mind if we do it for her." She flopped on the couch seat next to him as her hand sneaked down to squeeze his ass.

Mick remembered the deal of their one night flings. Victory sex only.

It had been his idea. Mick had absolutely no interest into turning whatever this was into a relationship. He didn't need anyone, it only brought sharp pain. Leonard choosing the Legends over him, betraying him and then dying would be prime examples.

He didn't want to get close. It was so worthless to care about people, it made everything too complicated. Even when he tried, he couldn't believe that the fact he cared about the team was enough for him NOT to succumb being Chronus again. That was when he had to draw the line. He would stop caring for people after the Legends. Nothing more, nothing less. He had a reputation.

Though it was not a relationship, friends with benefits didn't fit either. They had to be friends and actually know about each other which he refused to do.

So victory sex. If they get this heist right, they could have sex.

Which didn't seem like a bad way to spend his down time.

Once he got downtown, it went uphill from there. It was actually quite an easy job. Since Central City hadn't seen him for the past couple of months, he made a distraction in the lobby with his heat gun, prompting all of the cops to go stop him while Claire sneaked in to melt the glass and steal whatever she wanted.

As they raced back to the safe house on the motorcycle, Claire complained, “Ugh I really wished I could have gotten the Srgt.'s wallet.”

"Look at my pocket," Mick said gruffly, "Took it when he tried to tackle me.” I gave her the wallet that I had socked away We were a block away she said: “I know how to repay this, sir Then I said, "well, I should head back home,"

She turned red, she led me to the bed "I'll do the work tonight" she said, and turned her body into flames.

Another one of her powers, fire shaped like a woman, the chest and all. Mick grabbed his gun and dropped his pants. ---------------------------------------------------------—————————— 12 rounds later, the room smelt of burnt leather, and sheets as the two started to get redressed. Mick motioned to the door when she stopped him. Let her legs spread and said: Stay? Mick froze.

What!! Stay! That wasn't their deal. It was just drink, burn stuff and have sex. Not in that order or sometimes all at once. There was NO HANGING OUT. No STAYING.

"It isn't even 2 yet. I was gonna go clubbing, do you want to?" Claire asked Hey… Hey…

Mick couldn't believe he was even considering this. It was going against his self-imposed rule not to hang out with her......

But he didn't have anything else to do. He was too pumped up with adrenaline to sleep and he didn't know how much time he had to go stealing again before getting called away by Rip. That's when I began to pray Lord, show me how to Say no to this I don't know how to Say no to this. But my God, she looks so gorgeous And her body's saying, "hell, yes" Nooo, show me how to Say no to this I don't know how to Say no to this In my mind, I'm tryin' to go Go! Go! Go! Claire leaned closer, "There's alcohol...” Then her mouth is on mine, and I don't say… "Fine! only ONE club don't have anything better to do" No! No! Say no to this! No! No! Say no to this! No! No! Say no to this! No! No! Say no to this! "Move faster. This one's my favorite,” Claire dragged Mick's arm to another club. The sixth one he had gone with her this morning. I wish I could say that was the last time I said that last time. It became a pastime Mick settled into a easy chair and nursed his gin. If one thing he regret at the Vanishing Point besides the torture and abuse he received as Chronus, it would be his lost days as a hard drinker. He had know it was bad after losing in a drinking contest with Sara but after his seventh drink of the night, he felt like he was about to fall out of his chair.

Claire on the other hand was dancing on bar's counter. He guessed she was trying to be sexy with the swaying hips and bouncing boobs coming out of her red halter but it reminded him more of a drunk bellydancer

Finally after 2 more minutes, they got kicked out when Claire discreetly used her powers, pretending to be a fire breather and made the light bulbs explode. Mick thought it would be a great time to start a bar fight but when he fell down after standing up, he decided to just let Claire drag him out, chattering excitedly. "That was amazing! I felt like Azula, damn I was half-expecting the fire to turn blue. I wanted it to be blue." "Zulwho?" Mick slurred.

"Fictional character. Look up the Last Airbender., Azula. She is like my role model,” She stumbled under his weight. "Woah, you are not a drinker, big guy?" Claire asked as she finally dumped him on a shady spot by the road and collapsed next to him.

"Not me fault, time travel..” Mick mumbled.

"That sucks.” Claire commented as she readjusted her bun under a white headscarf. She claimed, she would be too recognizable without it. Then her phone beeped, and she checked it.

"Say are you doing anything on Saturday. There's a Pompeii lecture and I need to steal the medium size replica with real volcanic magma and ash,” Claire grinned.

"Stealing magma is not really my thing. Why would you want that?" Mick's shook his head trying to get the fog to lift. "My powers. My name is Volcana, I wanna see if I can manipulate the magma or something. Make something erupt.”

"Why did you even choose that name, if you don't know if you can control volcanos?" He asked. "I didn't choose it. These scientists at CADMUS did. I was their little weapon and experiment project,” Claire growled at the name Cadmus. "What kind of experiments?"

"I won't go into it, but putting 3 shots of heroine in me at the same to see if that improves my ruthlessness in killing and combustion powers. Hint, it doesn't. I had to get my stomach pumped for two hours." Claire rolled her eyes. Mick lay down, staring at the sky. Cadmus sounded like the Vanishing Point, the brainwashing. The years and years of brainwashing.

"How long were you with them?"

"Since I was 13 until two years ago. So 16 years of hell, wondering if I would ever leave and do something worthwhile than be a mindless pawn. If I could actually be a human than a weapon. Now here I am, life is sorta good, but Lisa says I really need to get use to social cues. And go beyond a a 2nd grade level education."

"Second? Wouldn't you be in eighth at 13?"

"The drugs made me forget stuff." Claire answered. "I haven't been in school since I was 14. Juvie then jail." Mick said.

"Juvie? Wait, are the stuff they say about it true? Do they beat you up on your first day? Do they really electrocute you? What did you do?" Claire interrogated eagerly. "I killed my parents," Mick sighed "It had been my fault. I had been playing with a lighter...." He trailed off, thinking.

A minutes into this question I received a message From inner Conscious, Mick Rory, even better, he said Dear Sir, I hope this message finds you in sober health And in a thoughtful enough position to realize What you're doing: down on your luck You see, your spilling your life story to a stranger you Fuuuu— What the hell was he doing? He was telling about his parents to her! No one knew about his parents exempting Leonard and he knew only the bare facts. Nor he didn't tell anyone of his conversation between him and his younger self. It was enough that he cared about the Legends who were all probably going to die just like Leonard did.

He was telling his personal life to a girl he didn't care about. He will not care about. Uh-oh! You will be the wrong sucker a cuckold Do you want to pay the piper for the pants you unbuckled And hey, you can keep seein' the whore girl If the price is right: if yes she'll end up ruining your life Oh god, and if they start sleeping with someone else? If she turned out to betray him and use this information against him. No!

Mick Rory was a lone wolf and he was staying that way. I got up and pinned her to her place "This is not our deal! It was just victory sex, victory sex! You manipulative bitch, you're trying to drug me and bond. No, that was not the plan. I don't give a shit about you. What the hell did you think you're doing?" Mick yelled. Screamed "How could you?!" in her face She said: No, sir! Half dressed, pissed. A hot mess, this is Pathetic, she cried: What the hell, sir! "What are you talking about?" Claire screeched, shoving him off her, “Got YOU drunk? You did that all by yourself. And I don't give a shit about you either. What is wrong with you, I just asked you a question.”

But Mick was on a roll. So was your whole story a setup? I don't know what you're talking about? "You asked me about clubbing. You were the one that wanted to hang out,” Mick protested.

"You could have said no. I don't want to marry you, what sorta of commitment issue freak are you?" Claire stammered. Mick could see her confusion but the haziness of the alchohol inly made his blood pump harder and all the stress piling up from Leonard's death, and the disrespect he had been getting from EVERYONE and kind, friendly emotions made him want to explode.

"Not that! You what be friends. We have stuff in common and I don't want that!" Mick gestured angrily to her.

"I swear if we were by a public road, I would cremate a very special part of your anatomy.." Claire hissed, her hand sparking dangerously. Stop yelling Goddamnit, shut up! If I didn't know any better "And another thing Mr. You're a manipulative bitch. If you didn't want to be friends and know about each other, you wouldn't have kept asking about me?" I am ruined... "Shut up, I don't need anyone."

"If you want to be victory sex and drink fine. And we end up friends whatever! Just think, Rory before I do something you will regret.” Claire's voice calmed to a lower level as she saw him wince from the volume of his own yelling. Please just leave me helpless If that's what you want and you can have me Whatever you want, I am helpless How could I do this? Mick's head pounded with the same thoughts going in a frantic drumming rhythm. I don't want you I don't want you Mick's mind was on overdrive. One part was telling him it was all wrong to start trusting someone else in his life. To actually care about someone else besides himself. Too complicated and too sharing. He didn't need the extra work.

But he also thought about how it would be nice to have sex more often, with someone who didn't mock his love of flame nor his intelligence.

Really where would he meet someone else he liked fire like he did? And every time they were together not once had he heard he say "idiot" to him. If you pay You can stay Tonight Helpless Whoa! How can you Say no to this? "What is it?" Claire's voice seemed to cut through his thoughts like a knife. Lord, show me how to Say no to this I don't know how to Say no to this Cuz the situation's helpless And her body's screaming, "Hell, yes" No, show me how to Say no to this How can I Say no to this? When her body's on mine I do not say… Yes! Say no to this

Be with a girl who actually saw beyond the need for fire, but took the time to listen to his thoughts about it. To relish it. Yes! Say no to this

To be with a girl who went through the pain and nightmares of torture, thinking to be all alone in the world. That no one would ever actually care about her. That every day it would be the same pain pounding into their body like a clockwork. Yes! Say no to this

To be with a girl that saw his effort on heists, saw his odd ideas as good ones. Yes! Say no to this

To be with someone who not only understood that, but as I thought she was truely content with what was happening to her life right now. She was always so energetic and never minced words. He could read her easily. And damn it, if it wasn't a turn on to see her bringing a policeman to his needs. Go! Go! Go! No! Say no to this! No! Say no to this! No! Say no to this! No! Say no to this! "I...I freaked," Mick sat down again, head hanging. "It's hard for me talk about things...Plus I'm drunk." Say no to this… I don't say no to this There is nowhere I can go. "I'll tell you that story another time." Mick finished lamely, his eyes flicked up to see her staring at him with what seemed to be concern. How rare for someone to look at him that way. So? "Can we go to another club?" He asked.

"Sure," Claire looked at him questioningly, "You're fine?"

"Yes, I think I will go with whatever happens," Mick said and he felt a little shiver up his back as he saw her small smile changed quickly to a smirk.

"But we cannot talk about this, I have a reputation." Mick finished, glaring at her.

Claire smiled again, "Of course, I get it..." Nobody needs to know

#say no to this #claire selton #volcana #mick rory #heatwave #dc’s legends of tomorrow #my fanfic #my fanfiction

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katrinawritesthings · 7 years

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Jonghyun/Taemin; skree; PG

when you’re a skeleton necromancer and you’re also easily swayed into bad ideas by the slightest amount of convincing

“Fine, fine,” Taemin grins. He lifts his hands again and hovers them carefully over the fossil that looks the cutest. “But only just to show you that it won’t work,” he adds.

ao3

“Hey, uh, quick question,” Jonghyun says. Taemin doesn’t glance up from his morning comics as he hums in reply. “How many, exactly, of these little reanimated skeleton creatures do you have wandering around your house?” Tiny little taps of bone on wood follow his sentence and Taemin does look up this time to see Jonghyun gently placing a skeleton lizard on the table next to his coffee. Taemin watches Elizabeth jump right back onto his hand and scuttle up his arm to rest on his shoulder. Jonghyun scrunches his nose at her and Taemin grins.

“Fifty-seven, I think,” he says. “Ish. I’m not too good with numbers.” He shrugs, reaching over to gently pick Elizabeth up and place her on his own shoulder. She nuzzles him with her nose and he gently gives the top of her skull a little kiss. “I can make them stop bothering you if you want,” he says, smothering his widening smile when Vani starts slithering up and around the back of Jonghyun’s chair.

“No, it’s… fine,” Jonghyun says. He turns to watch the little snakey skeleton when she pokes her head around his ear. “Just wondering how long it’ll take me to learn all of their names and shit,” he says. He holds his hand up and lets Vani wiggle her way on and around his wrist. Taemin smiles fondly as he watches.

“You will,” he says encouragingly. “I wouldn’t have agreed to be your physical study assignment if I thought you wouldn’t care about my little pals.” He’d never had one of those stuffy academic types from the university come to him and ask for his help in a class, but he’s already glad that Jonghyun did. Jonghyun is gentle and sweet and Taemin is happy to teach him about his little forest house of plants and skeletal necromancy. The sweet paycheck he’s getting from the school to let Jonghyun live with him for a few months doesn’t hurt either. Jonghyun hums a little noise of thanks, running the fingers of one hand gently over its spine.

“All reptiles?” he asks, looking back to Taemin curiously.

“Mmhmm,” Taemin hums. “Or, almost all. Some are birds.” He shrugs, gestures vaguely to the little perches he has dangling from his doorways. “And there’s an opossum somewhere but she’s usually hiding under the back porch because she’s shy. But yeah, reptiles are just easier for some reason.” He shrugs again, lifting a finger to boop Elizabeth’s nose away from his neck. One was enough for him to never want to try reanimating a mammal skeleton again. They’re complicated little shits.

“What about a dinosaur?” Jonghyun asks. Taemin snorts.

“Yeah, let me go out and find a pet-sized dinosaur skeleton just lying around in the woods behind the house,” he says sarcastically. “That’ll be super easy.” Jonghyun huffs, rolling his eyes.

“There’s a paleontology museum in the city,” he says. Taemin opens his mouth to reply, then closes it. Hmm.

“Honestly, this isn’t going to work,” Taemin mumbles as they walk through the wide hallways of the museum. This seemed like a good idea on the way here, but now that they’re actually here, he’s realizing what a not great idea it was.

“Have you tried before?” Jonghyun asks, glancing at him over his shoulder. He glances at his little brochure map of the place after and leads Taemin down a right turn into the smaller dinosaur exhibit. Taemin rubs his nose awkwardly.

“I mean, no,” he says. “But it’s harder when they’re older,” he says. “And what if dinosaurs were actually birds and not reptiles?” he asks. Science is advancing towards the former and he’s not so good with skeletons of the aviary variety.

“You have some birds, you can do them,” Jonghyun shrugs. He pauses to smile at a little diorama of herbivores before continuing on to wherever it is that he’s going. “And if you can't do it then you can’t do it.” He throws Taemin another little smile over his shoulder. “At least you’ll have tried,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong with trying.”

Taemin doesn’t know how some peppy, soft-spoken college kid he took on as an apprentice two days ago wound up being the one to encourage away his insecurities, but he can’t say that he doesn’t like the little boost of confidence that gave him. He likes that Jonghyun believes in him.

Still, as Jonghyun comes to a stop in front of a display of a little group of dinosaur skeletons, Taemin is highly doubtful that this is going to work. They look small and manageable enough; the plaque in front of them labels them as--

“Com--cosm--compson--Cops--I’m too fucking dyslexic for this shit,” Jonghyun mutters as he squints at the label. Taemin muffles a snort at that blatant complaint and shakes his head.

“I don’t think I can pronounce that either, if it makes you feel better,” he says. “Just call them cosmos.”

“Aw, that’s cute,” Jonghyun grins. He wiggles his knees so the rest of him wiggles as well. “Little space dinos.” He reaches over gently to boop one’s nose. “Anyway,” he says, stepping back and looking at Taemin expectantly. “Go ahead,” he says. Taemin puffs up his lips, staring down at the little skeleton. She looks cute, yeah, around chicken sized with a long wiggly tail. He lifts his hands, but hesitates, biting his lip.

“Jonghyun, I really don’t think this is going to work,” he sighs. “These might not even be real fossils,” he says. “A lot of museums just use, like, plaster replicas.” And he’s not good with birds, and they’re really old, and bigger than what he’s used to, and he doesn’t want to look like a loser in front of his new apprentice before the first week has even finished passing, and and and. He pouts, clenching his hands back into little fists.

“Yeah, well,” Jonghyun shrugs. “If it doesn’t work then we’ll know that it’s a fake fossil. Either way we’ll learn something new,” he says, and that is just… such a fucking genuinely interested university scholar thing to say that Taemin has to laugh softly. He can’t say no to that. He won’t deny Jonghyun in his pursuit of knowledge.

“Fine, fine,” he grins. He lifts his hands again and hovers them carefully over the fossil that looks the cutest. “But only just to show you that it won’t work,” he adds.

“Mmhmm,” Jonghyun hums. He leans up against the wall next to the display, eagerly watching Taemin’s hands. Taemin shakes his head fondly before he really starts to focus. At least when this doesn’t work, the next time he does it on an actual forest lizard or whatever will be extra amazing to Jonghyun.

He takes a deep breath, fumbles in his jacket for his little pin to prick his finger with, winces at the sight of blood like usual, touches it gently to the fossil’s skull, closes his eyes, and starts whispering the spell he wrote and tweaked and perfected years ago.

Magic grows inside of him, warms him up, feels familiarly sticky all in his veins, and then, all at once, to his extreme alarm, it all flows out and directly into the fossil.

The skeleton twitches, wiggles, and opens its jaw wide in a silent yawn.

Taemin blinks down at it, fucking astounded.

“Shit,” he whispers.

“Oh my god,” Jonghyun says. “You did it, Taem, that’s great!” He’s smiling wide, beaming, as he looks down at the little skeleton in wonder, but Taemin just feels regret and anxiety filling him up where just a second ago there was magic.

“What the fuck,” he says loudly, taking a step back. The dinosaur cocks her head and takes a step towards him, tail swishing pleasantly behind her. “This is not great, what the fuck,” he tells Jonghyun. He’s realizing all very suddenly that this was an awful, awful, terrible idea. “This is illegal, fuck,” he says. Jonghyun’s smile falters; with one hand, he gently holds the fossil in place.

“Small animal necromancy is legal with a license,” he says slowly, like Taemin needs to be reminded of the law he’s known his whole life. Taemin huffs, clenching his hands back to his chest so he doesn’t accidentally fuck anything else up.

“I meant stealing,” he snaps. “Stealing a fucking fossil from a museum is illegal.” Fuck, they are so fucked. Jonghyun just frowns, cocking his head in confusion.

“Who said anything about stealing?” he asks. “We weren’t gonna take her. Just make her dead again.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal but Taemin groans, putting his face in his hands.

“I don’t know how to make her dead again, Jonghyun,” he says. Jonghyun’s eyes widen; he looks back and forth between Taemin and the fossil quickly. Then he looks around the rest of the exhibit for anyone else that Taemin fucking hopes isn’t around.

“What do you mean you don’t know how to make her dead again,” he hisses. He leans close to say it as quietly as possible, but it still sounds way too loud in the silence of the room. Taemin shrugs his shoulders wildly, looking back down at the skeleton with despair.

“I’m not a murderer, I don’t know,” he whines. “I could never make myself learn how to kill something a second time.” He could never kill something, even if it was already dead in the first place.

“Oh my fucking god,” Jonghyun whispers. “You play with the forbidden laws of the sacred cycle of life and death on a regular basis but putting an undead pet down is too hardcore for you?” he asks.

“This was your idea, oh my god,” Taemin whispers back. The dinosaur scoots closer to him and nips playfully at his fingers with her rough teeth. Taemin grimaces, but lets her. “What the fuck do we do now?” he hisses at Jonghyun.

Cosmo hops over the kitchen counters, lopsided on her one leg but still happy to be able to explore. She peeps out the window, noses at the fruit basket, clickety-clacks her way on top of the microwave.

Taemin sits at the table, staring at his hands and contemplating what he’s done.

“I don’t believe it,” he says quietly. “Two days as my apprentice and you’ve already turned me into a criminal.” He taps his fingertips together, twists his wrists to look at the backs of his hands. Hands of sin. That’s what they are. He should be in the slammer.

“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” Jonghyun says. He walks to the microwave, picks Cosmo up, and cradles her in his arm, careful of the gaps in her tail where the museum put fake plaster bones to replace missing ones. “You’ve been a criminal for almost a decade,” he says. “Animal necromancy has only been legal for, like, two years.”

“PICKING--” Taemin starts loudly, looking up to throw Jonghyun a sharp glare. He cuts himself off and huffs lightly. He hates being loud. He shakes his head, then tries again, quieter this time. “Picking up a dead lizard off of the ground in the forest is different from smuggling a fucking ancient fossil out of a museum,” he says steadily. Very different. Extremely different. No one ever even came to visit him much before, when he just moved here out in the middle of the forest and was experimenting with his first little lizard skeleton friends. Now it’s common knowledge that there’s a recluse necromancer living in the woods and the missing skeleton will be all over the papers tomorrow, probably. He’s amazed that the police haven’t kicked down his door yet.

“Yeah, well,” Jonghyun mutters. He’s scritching the top of Cosmo’s skull gently as he speaks. “At least we learned you could do it,” he shrugs. Taemin sighs loudly, slouching back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. Fucking fuck.

“You are not writing about this in any of your essays,” he says. When he looks at Jonghyun again, his mouth is open, eyebrows furrowed in angry disbelief, but Taemin shakes his head. “I am not being arrested just so you can write about your little dinosaur bff,” he says. Jonghyun puffs all up and looks like he’s going to argue, but then sighs and deflates to lean against the wall.

“Fine,” he grumbles. Cosmo nuzzles his head, rubbing up against his cheek and mussing around his hair. Her long tail coils around his forearm and hand, the tip ending up in his palm so he can hold it. Despite his low mood Taemin finds himself smiling at the image.

“At least she’s cute,” he says.

#jongtae #jonghyun #taemin #pg #brotp #oneshot #listen..... good content #taem just ???? has a lil dino pet now #shes a compsognathus and okay Technically maybe there are only two fossils in the world in france and germany #but u kno whatever #she lovs jong and is always nuzzling all over him and tbh taem gets a lil jelly #and its like... he has fifty-seven... other lil skeletons... but hes still jelly #i lov lil forest skeletal necromancer taem #goes on lil walks and smiles at the leaves and picks up dead lizards on the ground and reanimates their skeletons #he also grows many many lil plants #his home is full of life And death #nd jong is fascinated by all of it nd is always taking notes and writing things down #hes gonan learn So Much #he wants to learn about necromancy so he can be a lwyer for ghosts ad whatnot #and he has to do half a year of physical study #and all the other necromancers are like dark lords trying to raise zombie armies or w/e #so he went to the cute lil forest necromancer instead uwu

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zerochanges · 7 years

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Ushio & Tora Blu-ray and DVD Limited Edition Box Set Unboxing

Today marks the day I finally got my hands on my Ushio & Tora Limited Edition set, and oh was the wait so long, but so worth it.

For those that weren’t following the release this set was originally scheduled to come out in late August alongside the standard edition blu-ray (which will now be referred to as ‘BD’ for the rest of this article) and DVD sets, however Sentai Filmworks delayed this Limited Edition box set until late September, and then moved it to early October. Much to my dismay this box set seemed to take forever to come.

Despite these minor setbacks I am truly over-the-moon about this set, no amount of delays can sour this for me. I didn’t plan to really write another unboxing post so I apologize if this may be a little off-the-cuff, but this particular box set just blew me away and I can’t help but to share. So without farther ado, let’s take a look!

The first thing to notice is with how huge the outer case is, and how elaborate the opening mechanism of said case is--this is something that has become increasingly normal for Sentai box sets which instead of a semi-standard size set that can easily fit on your shelf like a lot of Funimation’s and Viz’s BD sets, Sentai aims to create complete showpieces. Make no mistake, if you have limited room this box set is not for you. This set is meant to be proudly displayed, and boldly draws eyes towards it.

As alluded to above, the box set does not open traditionally but is instead kept together through fabric straps on the side, undoing said straps folds out the set. Unfolding the left side you can see some more artwork, and unfolding the right (completely opening it) you can now see all the yokai crawling around the ground--a very cool effect that is reminiscent of the cellar that Tora was trapped in for 500 years.

Now the contents of the box set are all visible, at the very top is yet another box that holds most of the goodies (the fun stuff), underneath that is the art/guide book, and finally the show itself: separated into 3 standard DVD sized cases--2 cases for all the DVDs and 1 for all the BDs. This is another thing that has become the norm for Sentai with these box sets; for better or worse they include their BDs in standard sized DVD cases. I like to be an optimist and think this is most likely done to maximize the nice artwork on said case and conform 1 size since DVDs and BDs are both included, but this may be a bit annoying to anyone who prefers the smaller blue BD cases over DVD cases.

Moving along let’s examine the box with the goodies in it. Despite just being locked away in the larger outer box, this box itself is pretty darn nice looking with different art on both sides and even the title in foil on the spine. Perhaps you can put this on your shelf if you don’t want the giant showpiece that is the entire box set taking up shelf space. Opening up the box reveals all the physical extras included in this set. There’s the art cards, poster, and Beast Spear replica. Let’s start off with the art cards.

Included in the set are 4 art cards that yes, are reversible, giving you 8 works of art to admire, although still only 4 to display (unless you live in some alternate dimension that can view fronts and backs at the same time!). Only the first card is glossy, and it’s a noticeable difference, being much brighter and all together prettier than the other 3, however these 3 aren't total losses either. Said cards are nice and firm, not flimsy, and feel like they were made of pretty thick paper-stock. Overall you have your self a small yet beautiful set of cards.

Next is the poster which regrettably is probably the weakest part of this set. Unlike the art cards the paper for the poster does feel flimsy, and I only looked at it once and I can already see creases and fold marks just from being shoved into the box it came in. The whole thing feels very cheap and kinda disappointing, but I could have let that slide if the poster was actually big! Instead it’s pretty small, not much bigger than two standard BD cases turned on their side (see here). I’ll probably still find use out of it but this is really one of the few missteps in an absolutely incredible box set.

And finally, the last piece in this box we have the Beast Spear replica. This tiny little guy is actually made with real metal (or at least it feels like it is) and believe it or not is kinda heavy. There’s honestly a good amount of weight to it that just feels right. This is no pen or pencil, it’s a real weapon--that just so happens to be about the size of a pen or pencil.

While the spear itself is great, the cloth tide around it really doesn't look like the cloth in the show, instead it obviously looks like the ribbon it is. Seems like something my mother would use in her crafting instead of a mighty seal that prevents the spear from going berserk. The box itself is kinda a dud too. Don’t be fooled by the nice interior the spear is stored in, the rest of the box is pretty much just flimsy cardboard. All that said, I still love the spear replica itself, and it’s a fun display piece, especially with figures.

No longer satisfied with hunting Moblins all day, Link’s traded in his Master Sword for the Beast Spear and is ready to fight some yokai! (I really need the Ushio & Tora figures don’t I?)

So now that we have everything in that goodies box out of the way let’s examine what was next in this box set: the art/guide book. This book is hefty, also having a good weight to it. Hard cover and solid like a rock, boasting over 150 pages of information and art. This is by far the nicest book I have gotten in an anime box set, and puts most of the stuff in Funimation sets to shame. The book comes in at pretty much the same size of a standard manga volume (see here) and is formated for western reading (left-to-right).

Honestly this book is the biggest winner for me in the entire box set. I didn’t have any expectations for it but, boy, oh boy! There’s just so much information in this little book and it’s all displayed beautifully.

There’s descriptions of every episode which include screenshots and bios for each character in said episode (and even more interesting is that they didn’t just copy+paste these, each bio on the characters explains what they are doing in the episode and is wholly unique), information and art on the yokai featured in the episode, and best of all the descriptions even list the script writer, storyboard artist, episode director, and animation director for the episode; info that I wish more companies would make as easily available in these kinds of books.

Besides the episode descriptions we have your standard section dedicated to the art of the characters showing off the multiple appearances they had over the course of the show, and a section dedicated to all the background art featured in the series. This is a tome of information on the entire process of making the show from start to finish and really makes you appreciate how much work goes into anime. I ended up taking a lot more photos of this book than I should have, so if you want to take a peak: check out some more pics here.

I do not recommend diving into the book right away however if you haven’t seen the show yet because it is full of spoilers.

Last but not least is the actual show itself. As I stated in the beginning it is separated into 3 unique DVD sized cases that do not resemble the standard edition set for this show. The cases each feature different artwork on both the exterior and interior, and house around 13 discs in total: 8 DVDs and 5 BDs. The episode breakdown results in about 4-5 episodes a DVD and about 9 episodes a BD, pretty much a standard amount for most anime nowadays.

Below I will post the interior art for all 3 cases.

So that is the Ushio & Tora Limited Edition BD & DVD box set from Sentai Filmworks! A huge set full of a lot of great content. If you love the show like I do and want to have a great display piece then I definitely cannot recommend it enough. I also look forward to my rewatch of it with the brand new dub Sentai has made.

I hope this unboxing has helped anyone on the fence about getting this, as I know I absolutely love looking at it on my shelf now!

#Ushio & Tora #Ushio to Tora #Ushio and Tora #Sentai Filmworks #anime #unboxing #images

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ichimatsutrash04-blog · 8 years

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Corpse Party: Osomatsu-san - Chapter One

It was Osomatsu who suggested they use the charm. Of course, at the time, nobody thought anything of it. It was just a paper doll that couldn’t hurt them in any way besides maybe giving someone a paper cut. Right? They had all agreed to it under the impression that nothing would happen. It was only symbolic, something that was supposed to keep them together forever. Everyone knew that Osomatsu couldn’t stand the thought of being separated from his brothers, even though he wouldn’t ever admit it aloud. So they would play along, if only to make their older brother feel better. Because that’s what this charm would do. Right? They tore the carefully cut out paper into six pieces, lightning racing across the inky sky outside the window. Silence filled the room, save for the rain pounding on the roof. And when the floor opened beneath them and they were swallowed into a darkness blacker than the night, their horrified screams filling the air as they desperately tried to cling to one another, the same thoughts swirled through their minds. This wasn’t happening. This was only a nightmare from which they would wake from in a moment and be able to huddle closer to whichever brother was beside them for comfort. Right?

Choromatsu struggled to open his eyes, now aware that he was laying on an uneven wooden floor, loose nails digging into his back. It took a minute for him to recall what events had led up to this point after which he sat bolt upright and clutched his head as he was hit with a wave of nausea. Knees drawn to his chest, Choromatsu breathed heavily as he tried to process what exactly had happened. Eventually, he regained control and started to examine his surroundings from where he sat on the floor, eyes widening due to the lack of light. He determined that he was in a classroom, elementary school, most likely, but one that had been abandoned and fallen into disrepair decades ago. Small chairs and desks lay scattered around the room, some overturned, others broken in pieces and the floorboards appeared to vanish in some places, revealing a seemingly bottomless pit below. On the other side of the room, Choromatsu spotted a motionless figure wearing a familiar red hoodie.

“Oso – ah!” Choromatsu yelled out in pain as his leg gave out from under him and he fell back to the floor. He held his throbbing ankle, but was too concerned about his unconscious brother to really care. He slowly got back on his feet and limped over to Osomatsu, falling to his knees beside him. The boy lay sprawled on the ground, eyes closed and breathing so shallow that for a few heart-stopping moments, Choromatsu thought he was dead. “Osomatsu-niisan?” Choromatsu gently tugged on his brother’s sleeve. “Come on, you gotta wake up, we have to find everyone else.” No response. “Come on, wake up!” Choromatsu began shaking Osomatsu by the shoulders, becoming increasingly desperate as time passed and the eldest Matsuno remained unresponsive. Biting back tears, Choromatsu turned his back on his older brother, hiding his face behind his knees in order to block out the complete darkness and silence that was eating away at his sanity.

After what Choromatsu deemed officially too long, Osomatsu groaned and rolled over onto his side. Choromatsu whipped around and threw himself onto his brother, hugging him tightly. “Choro, what the…? Where are…we…?” Osomatsu wondered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and pushing himself off the ground.

Choromatsu quickly wiped the tears from his face and sat back down next to his brother. “I don’t know, but I didn’t know when you were gonna wake up and I thought you were gonna leave me here by myself and oh god-“

“Hey, don’t worry,” Osomatsu said with a smile, stepping into the big brother role after having seen his panicked younger sibling. “I’m not going anywhere. Seriously though, where are we?”

Finally calmed down, or at least as calm as one can be in such a situation, Choromatsu glanced around. “An elementary school, I think. Doesn’t look like one I’ve ever seen though.” He stood and walked over to inspect one of the windows, his injured foot causing him to wince with every step.

“Are you hurt?” Osomatsu asked with a hint of concern in his voice. As the eldest son, it was, after all, his responsibility to make sure his brothers were okay.

Choromatsu was staring out the dirty glass. “Sprained ankle, hurts like hell, but I think we’ve got bigger problems. The only thing I can see out here is a forest that I don’t recognize at all. I can’t even tell what time of day it is either, it’s too cloudy…” His breathing quickened as he realized that they were trapped in this creepy, old building with no knowledge of where they were, how to get home, or how long they had been gone. Had their parents noticed they were missing? Was anyone even looking for them?

Osomatsu hurried over to his little brother and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, turning him away from the window. “We’ll be fine! We always are, aren’t we? We’ll just go find Totty, he’s gotta be around here somewhere, and use his cell to figure out where we are and how to get home. We’ll be out of here in no time! Okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Choromatsu agreed quietly, staring intently at his green shoes. He tentatively stepped forward, hissing in pain at his ankle. “Shit that hurts!”

“Umm…maybe you can rest here,” Osomatsu suggested, “and I’ll find the others then bring them back.”

Now, Choromatsu was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. If there was a single thing that he’d learn from watching horror movies, it’s that you don’t split up if you don’t want to get yourself killed. Ever.

“No way. I’m coming with you,” Choromatsu said defiantly. “I’m fine, it doesn’t actually hurt that bad.” He grimaced at what a terrible liar he was and hoped his brother was too oblivious to argue.

Osomatsu looked skeptical, but nodded his head anyways. “Alright, but you can lean on me if you need to. Just let me know.”

Together, they exited the classroom and found themselves in an eerie hallway that seemed to extend endlessly on either side. It was so dark that it was nearly impossible to distinguish where the floor dropped off into nothingness. Choromatsu made a mental note to pay careful attention to where he was walking.

“So, right or left?” Osomatsu asked, giving his brother a sideways glance.

Choromatsu peered down the hallway, attempting to find some sort of sign indicating which way would lead to their brothers. “I don’t – right, I guess,” he said after a moment of hesitation. And so, the pair walked off in the chosen direction, Osomatsu leading the way, Choromatsu gripping his brother’s sleeve from behind.

It was when they had finally found a staircase leading to what they assumed was the ground floor that they first encountered a decaying corpse. It was a high school girl, judging by the size and uniform, with maggots falling from her open mouth and empty eye sockets. The surrounding wall and floor was stained with blood, implying that this girl had suffered a violent death.

“Fuck…” Osomatsu said, unable to tear his gaze away from the horrific site. Choromatsu, on the other hand, immediately turned away, hand over his mouth, trying not to vomit. He had always had a weak stomach. “I’m sure it’s not real,” Osomatsu assured his sibling. Whether he was comforting himself or his brother, he couldn’t say. “It’s gotta be a replica…a really, really good replica. Just, don’t look at it. Come on.” Choromatsu squeezed his eyes shut and continued trailing after Osomatsu.

Now if Osomatsu hadn’t been frightened before, seeing a dead body had left him downright terrified. He had to find his other brothers and fast. There was no telling what else was in this school with them and Osomatsu had a sneaking suspicion that only bad things happened here. He couldn’t stop his mind from drifting to his missing siblings and how they were dealing with this situation. What if any of them had woken up only to find that they’re all by themselves? What if they had regained consciousness in this other-worldly place with nothing familiar to ground them or anyone to offer words of comfort? What if one of them had been injured even worse than Choromatsu and couldn’t walk, stuck in a strange room, scared and alone, or worse, dying? Osomatsu pictured Todomatsu, who couldn’t even walk down the hall to the toilet at night without holding someone’s hand, inching his way down a dark corridor, hugging the wall with tears in his eyes. He imagined Jyushimatsu struggling to keep that stupid, yet heart-warming grin on his face as he flung doors open, trying unsuccessfully to locate his brothers. He saw Ichimatsu, hair more disheveled than usual, his normally nonchalant façade giving way to panic as he huddled in a corner, surrounded by death and without his family to make sure he didn’t lose it. And he saw Karamatsu, who cared about his brothers more than anyone in the whole world, and was probably having more of a breakdown than Osomatsu was, wondering if they were okay. Speaking of whether his brother was okay:

“Hey Choromatsu, you doing alright back there?”

Choromatsu kept his gaze fixed on his feet, but still managed to glimpse every rotting corpse, bloodied body part and unidentifiable stain they passed. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You look a little pale. Are you sure you don’t want to sit down somewhere while I get everyone else?”

“I said I’m fine.” Choromatsu paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Actually, how are you doing, Osomatsu-niisan?”

Osomatsu laughed. “Don’t worry about me, it’s not your job.”

“Not my job? Osomatsu, just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you don’t need someone to care about you. I know you’re scared.”

“I am not scared.”

“You can’t hide it. I can see your hands shaking.”

Osomatsu quickly shoved his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. “So what?”

“So, it’s okay to be afraid. In fact, you’ll probably feel better if you just admit it. You can trust me.”

Choromatsu waited patiently for his older brother to respond, unaware that he was waiting for something he would never receive. Osomatsu suddenly froze, fixated on something in the distance.

“Is that…?” Osomatsu muttered. Only a split second later, the eldest Matsuno had taken off, sprinting down the corridor. “I think I found the exit!” he called back to Choromatsu who watched his brother disappear into the darkness.

“Wait for me!” he yelled, limping as fast as his injured ankle would allow him to. He was almost to what he assumed was the main entrance when

THUMP

Choromatsu felt his stomach drop. “Osomatsu?” He cautiously stepped over the threshold, holding his breath in nervous anticipation. He walked past a row of lockers, careful not to trip over the small shoes scattered on the floor, and found his brother who had fallen to his knees before a large wooden door that could only lead to the outside. In his trembling hands, he held a torn, blood-stained, purple hoodie.

#anime #fanfiction #horror #corpse party #osomatsu san #osomatsu matsuno #osomatsu #karamatsu matsuno #karamatsu #choromatsu matsuno #choromatsu #ichimatsu matsuno #ichimatsu #jyushimatsu matsuno #jyushimatsu #todomatsu matsuno #todomatsu

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jurassicparkpodcast · 5 years

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The Science of Jurassic Park & More: Part Three

In today’s article, we will be continuing the final part of our deep-dive into the world of palaeontology with Doctor David Button from London’s Natural History Museum.

In Part Two, David talked about his favourite dinosaurs, whether we are still discovering new dinosaurs, and much more. If you missed it, click here to take a read.

Many of the images in the article ahead are also courtesy of our friends at Jurassic Vault – so go show them some love if you haven’t already!

Without any further ado, let’s kick off our final part to this series by talking about the accuracy of the fan favourite Spinosaurus!

Image from Jurassic Park Wiki.

How accurate was the Spinosaurus we saw in Jurassic Park 3 (2001) at the time of release?

The Spinosaurus of Jurassic Park III was actually reasonably accurate at the time of release, as it was not well known at the time. Its main problem was the orientation of the hands – as with most of the other theropods in the franchise, it was depicted with permanently pronated “bunny hands”, even though theropods were unable to pronate their hands into such a position.

How do you see/research intelligence of extinct animals that died millions of years ago?

We can get an idea of the cognition of an extinct animal by taking a cast of the interior surfaces of the braincase – producing what is known as an endocast. This used to be performed by injecting latex into a dinosaur braincase and then cutting it open. Fortunately, however, these days we are able to produce these digitally by CT-scanning dinosaur braincases. The endocast gives us a replica of the shape of the brain and surround soft tissues.

From this, we can examine the shape of the brain and its constituent lobes to get an idea of the sensory abilities of an animal, and from the dimensions of the inner ear we can even calculate the range of sounds an animal could hear. The overall size and shape of the brain also give us a rough idea of the animal’s intelligence relative to that of other creatures. We can then also compare this with other evidence of dinosaur behaviours, such as associations of skeletons and footprints, to get an idea of their cognition and behavioural complexity. However, it should be stated that brain size does not necessarily correlate tightly with intelligence, and certainly many animals with small brains are still capable of complex cognition and behaviours. Consequently, we can only get a vague impression of just how smart dinosaurs may have been.

Would a Mosasaurus have slept in the same way a Whale sleeps?

Sleeping poses a problem for marine animals that need to come up for air, but cannot haul out onto land. Whales have solved this by only putting part of the brain to sleep at a time, still allowing them to surface. Sea turtles, however, have different solutions. Sometimes they sleep floating at the surface. Otherwise, however, sea turtles are able to exploit their low metabolisms. They slow their metabolic rate and oxygen use so as to not require another breath for hours, allowing them to sleep for that time under the surface.

It is difficult to say for sure Mosasaurs would have slept. However, there is evidence that Mosasaurs were warm-blooded, with a relatively high metabolic rate. Consequently, I think they would have been more likely to sleep like a whale than like a turtle.

Stiggy.....is it a growth phase of the pachycephalosaur?

Stygimoloch, Dacrorex and Pachycephalosaurus are differently-sized genera of pachycephalosaur, all known from the same time and place. Work on the bone histology of the animals has shown that the known specimen of Dacrorex is an infant, Stygimoloch a juvenile, and Pachycephalosaurus an adult. This suggests that they may all be growth phases in the life of a single animal. However, it may equally mean that they are three different animals that just happen to be known from different life stages. Unfortunately, pachycephalosaur remains are generally rare, and with such small sample sizes it is difficult to satisfactorily prove this problem one way or the other.

However, that being said, it seems more likely to me that these dinosaurs are all different life stages of the same animal than that there were three very similar pachycephalosaurs living in the same time and place. Hence, I think it is best to assume this option, until more specimens let us test this more thoroughly. I do admit that this is disappointing, though, as Stygimoloch was one of my favourite dinosaurs.

Is it true that we don’t know what Carnotaurus’ feet look like? And it’s tail?

It is true that specimens of Carnotaurus that we do have do not preserve these parts of the skeleton, so we do not know exactly what they looked like. However, Carnotaurus was an Abelisaurid, and these parts of the skeleton are known from other Abelisaurs, such as Majungasaurus, allowing us to fill them in with a reasonable degree of accuracy. This suggests that the tail of Carnotaurus would have been rather unremarkable. The hind legs would have been quite stocky, but what we do have from Carnotaurus indicates that its legs would have been relatively longer than those of Majungasaurus, and so Carnotaurus would have been a more competent pursuit predator.

The question I always wanted to ask is. How come they decided to go for reptiles instead of birds for their Jurassic Park films and why are the raptors are bigger than their real-life counterpart?

Jurassic Park originally used reptiles as a model for dinosaurs partially as this was the prevailing view when the book was first written, and also as that was the public expectation of dinosaurs. Nonetheless, the book and first movie movie did draw heavily on birds for some of the depicted behaviours, so that each were quite radical when they came out. Since then, however, the Jurassic Park franchise has stuck with more reptilian dinosaurs despite the science leaving that far behind. This is probably partially to preserve continuity, and partially because the public still, unfortunately, expects and prefers their dinosaurs to be as reptilian as possible when watching movies.

Velociraptor was originally scaled-up to more resemble the size of Deinonychus by Michael Crichton when he was writing Jurassic Park. This partially followed the unusual classification of Dromaeosaurids by the palaeontologist Greg Paul, who considered Velociraptor mongoliensis and Deinonychus antirrhopus to both belong to the same genus. Jurassic Park followed this, featuring Deinonychus, but calling it Velociraptor Antirrhopus. This also explains why the featured Velociraptor skeleton was discovered by Grant in the USA, as opposed to Mongolia, where Velociraptor actually lived. However, no other palaeontologists agree with this classification, not the least because the two animals lived on separate continents, 30 million years apart! Nonetheless, Crichton decided to stick with the name Velociraptor, because he considered it more dramatic.

When it came to adapting Jurassic Park for film, the raptors were increased in size again. This was due partially to Spielberg, reportedly, being unimpressed with the size of Deinonychus. However, it was also due to the discovery of Utahraptor at around the same time – it had not yet been described and named, but there were reports of large raptor bones being found at the time that inspired the production crew of the movie.

If an eccentric millionaire was able to bring back dinosaurs and make a Jurassic Park, what is the probability of them breaking out and creating all the chaos seen in the films?

That’s a big if! However, if they did, I am sure that dinosaurs would break out every so often. How much chaos were then able to cause would be directly down to how well-prepared the millionaire had been. If they had stringent systems in place, an escaped dinosaur should be quickly containable – although their large size and strength would pose significant challenges, they would not be any more vicious or intelligent than other zoo animals. However, if they had under prepared with inadequate staff, and over reliance on untested automated systems and untrustworthy employees, then, well…

Considering how obvious this is, and I've asked this before, does the don't move thing for Tyrannosaurus sound ridiculous and is 12.5 meters the plausible maximum for the king of the Cretaceous? If a Rex went 32 mph, would it trip over?

You are correct in that vision-based eyesight for a large predator like Tyrannosaurus makes no sense at all. I am glad the series has been downplaying this since Jurassic Park.

How quickly Tyrannosaurus could run remains a strong point of contention within palaeontology. Still, most estimates do hover around the region of a running speed of 11-13 metres per second (~25 mph) – this seems sensible to me. At higher speeds the problem is not that Tyrannosaurus would necessarily fall over, but that if it did happen to trip, the head would hit the ground with such momentum that it would be fatal. Hence, it is possible that it could have briefly used such a burst of speed when closing in on prey, but it would not have used such speeds during normal locomotion or pursuit.

Are Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus considered Allosaurid or Allosauroid? And if suddenly someone brings dinosaurs to life through their original DNA, would you use frog or bird DNA, to make them as accurate as possible? And is the Jurassic Park T-Rex a bit shoehorned and shrinkwrapped?

Carcharodontosaurids such as Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus itself are Allosauroids. However, they are not also Allosaurids, but are instead more closely related to Neovenatorids: these two groups together form the Carcharodontosauria.

Were it possible to extract DNA from dinosaur fossils to revive them, I would certainly use bird DNA to plug the gaps. This would both make the resulting dinosaurs more accurate and also, due to using a more closely related animal, make it more likely that the created embryos would be viable in the first place. Unfortunately, though, it does not appear possible for DNA to survive for that long in fossils.

‘Shrink-wrapping’ is a term used to describe palaeoart that does not put enough flesh and other soft tissues on a dinosaur’s bones. As you say, the Tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park has suffered a little bit of shrinkwrapping – the spine, shoulder blade, ribs and hips are very obvious, as are some of the edges of the skull. However, overall, most of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are not too bad for shrinkwrapping – the Tyrannosaurus, for example, just looks underfed – this may be as the need to create a moving 3D model means the animators will get some kind of feel for the volumes of muscle that should be present. Still, most of the dinosaurs should have lips, and the Pterosaurs in Jurassic World were shrinkwrapped to a horrifying degree, as were the heads of the Apatosaurs in the same movie.

And which parts of the Jurassic Park T-Rex would you rather fix to give nod to accuracy?

I would draw upon evidence of the integument of tyrannosaurs to make it both more accurate, but also more visually interesting. Although we know that Tyrannosaurus was mostly covered in scales, we also know that it had some regions of naked skin (and, possibly, some feathers). Furthermore, we know that Tyrannosaurus’ face was armoured by large, overlapping scales – it would be nice to include these. Despite this, I do also think that Theropods such as Tyrannosaurus would have had lips, and so would include those. The ridges on Tyrannosaurus’ head were probably for display, and it would have had good colour vision, so brightly colouring those seems both plausible and visually interesting.

In addition, drawing on the above discussion about ‘shrinkwrapping’, I would beef Tyrannosaurus up a bit, especially around the legs and tail (both related to the leg muscles, but also likely fat stores in the tail as seen in modern reptiles). I tend to like my dinosaurs to be bulky, as we tend to estimate volumes of soft tissue in animals in general from their skeletons.

How much can you rely on fused bone sutures to understand a dinosaur’s growth stage? For example, why does a juvenile T. rex have fused sutures but appears to be young when looking at its histology?

The degree of sutural fusion in a dinosaur is often used to get a rough idea of life stage although, as you say, there are many caveats. In tyrannosaurs, for example, sutures in the axial and appendicular regions of the skeleton fused very early during growth, whereas many of those in the skull never fused, even in adulthood. The fusion of sutures between bones is governed, in part, on the forces acting upon them. Consequently, the stresses place on the tyrannosaur’s back and limbs could cause them to fuse early. By contrast, the open sutures between tyrannosaur facial bones served to help absorb and redistribute shocks encountered during feeding.

With those caveats in mind, bone histology remains the best tool to understand whether a dinosaur had reached adulthood. Still, unfused sutures in certain bones are still useful in showing us whether a dinosaur was still a juvenile, even if their fusion may not necessarily indicate that they were yet an adult. For example, the unfused scapulacoracoid of the mounted skeleton of Giraffatitan means that we know it was still growing, and was not fully adult.

Even though modern evidence suggests that adult tyrannosaurs probably had no feathers, does evidence suggest that young ones may have had feathers — possibly to help regulate heat?

We know that ancestral Tyrannosauroids – such as Dilong and Yutyrannus had feathers, and so they were secondarily lost in Tyrannosaurids, perhaps due to their large size obviating the need for insulation (which, indeed, would have caused heat stress in such large animals). Consequently, I think it is very plausible that tyrannosaur chicks would have had some kind of down-like coat to help keep them warm, especially in more northerly regions of tyrannosaur habitat. Indeed, it seems probable that the small, polar Tyrannosaurid Nanuqsaurus would have retained a feathery coat in adulthood, to help it last the cold winters.

It should also be noted that, although preserved skin impressions show that Tyrannosaurids such as Tyrannosaurus and Albertosaurus were predominately scaly, we still cannot rule out the presence of small regions of feathers, whether they were relicts of their evolutionary history or growth, or even for display.

What do we know of the lifespan of dinosaurs? Elephants have a gestational period of two years. Do we know anything about length of egg carrying or incubating time? Massive dinosaurs (Titanosaurs: how long until they reach adulthood? Would it be safe to assume they lived a long time?

We can get an idea of the age of a dinosaur specimen from looking at sections of its bones, especially the long bones of the limbs. In many cases, the bones of dinosaurs bones show growth rings – like those of trees – which can be counted to establish an age. Unfortunately, some dinosaurs – especially whilst young – grew too quickly to leave rings. In other cases, remodeling of bone structure after reaching adulthood also overpinted the rings. However, even then, the texture of bone indicates how rapidly the animal was growing when it died. Comparing these between differently-sized individuals of a dinosaur species allows us to establish growth curves. This, in turn, helps to establish when a dinosaur reached sexual maturity – as indicated by a slowdown in growth as resources are diverted for reproduction – and also the age at which maximum body size was achieved.

These results show that most dinosaurs grew fast – even large dinosaurs reached sexual maturity in their teens, and maximum body size in their twenties. Maximum lifespan is harder to establish, though, as it is impossible to verify whether any particular dinosaur died of old age. However, we know of some individuals that were at least 38 years old. However, it should be noted that very few dinosaurs would have reached old age, or even full body size – most would have died relatively young, due to their violent lifestyles. Once reaching full body size, however, they would be relatively safe from attack, and maximum lifespans of 50 years or more for large dinosaurs would seem likely.

Incubation times of dinosaur eggs can be calculated by counting growth rings in the teeth of dinosaur embryos. These indicate that incubation times in dinosaurs were variable. Most dinosaur eggs probably incubated for similar timescales to those seen in modern reptiles, taking from between 3-6 months to hatch. However, those of more birdlike dinosaurs, such as Troodon, hatched more quickly (but still more slowly than in modern birds), after only ~70 days.

Even though this means Titanosaur eggs may have taken several months of burial to hatch, the low investment a mother would have to put into each egg means that she would be able to lay multiple clutches per year, each containing as many as 30 eggs, for an annual total of perhaps as many as 200 eggs in the largest species. This is a much higher reproductive rate than a modern elephant, which has to invest 22 months of pregnancy, followed by 3-5 years of devoted parental care in a single calf. The lesser pressures of egg-laying relative to pregnancy are one reason why dinosaurs were able to reach much larger sizes than mammals such as elephants.

If the Baryonyx was around today would we see them in the swamps of Florida and or Louisiana?

Evidence from the isotopic composition of the bones of Spinosaurids such as Baryonyx, as well as from fish scales preserved in the animal’s stomach, indicate that it mostly ate fish and spent a large amount of its time in or around water. The warm, swampy environment of the Everglades would seem like ideal habitat for Baryonyx – and, indeed, is not too far from the wet environment of the Wealden Formation from which it is known. No Spinosaurids are currently known from North America, but that does not mean that Baryonyx would not be able to thrive were it somehow introduced there!

We really hope you found this three-piece series interesting! Make sure you also check out Part One and Part Two.

A massive thank you, again, to David for working on this series with us. We’ve found it incredibly interesting – and we hope you have too! Make sure to follow David on Twitter if you aren’t already, and stay tuned to The Jurassic Park Podcast for all the latest Jurassic Park news!

Written by: Tom Fishenden

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