#And we also got them to fry the last one so. While it isnt much and it amounts to absolutely nothing we did get them to do something at lea

[eudico-my-beloved]

I fucking hate my culinary class table group soooo bad i should be allowed to hit them with carrots i think

[crystalninjaphoenix]

One Short Day

A JSE Fanfic

Yay, I wrote something that isn’t connected to pain for once in my life! Or at least, the most you get are hints and maybe a moment. I was planning on working on something else, but...I don’t know, I just felt like I needed something softer, and I’m sure there are people who need that too. So behold, an attempt at mostly-fluff! I just wanted to write the boys having fun out on the town, simple enough ^-^

It was rare that there was a full day they could all be together. A day where Schneep wasn’t working, Chase wasn’t recording, Marvin didn’t have a show, and Jackie didn’t have to bolt off at the last minute to do heroic vigilantism. A day where they could just do whatever they wanted, all of them, together.

They met up at Jackie’s apartment building. Naturally, JJ arrived first, then Schneep and Chase at about the same time. Just when they were starting to get worried, Marvin showed up, sprinting up to the group and skidding to a halt beside them.

“Late again, I see?” Jackie said when Marvin finally caught his breath. “Maybe we should just tell you we’re meeting thirty minutes earlier than we actually are.”

“Gimme a break.” Marvin rolled his eyes. “My phone was out of battery so I couldn’t check the time, then I got distracted.”

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “With what?”

“Um...” Marvin looked away, embarrassed. “I may have started playing Plague Inc...for an hour...or more.”

“Dude. Set a timer next time or something,” Chase said. “Ask JJ if you can borrow one of his watches if you have to, I dunno, anything.”

“Enough of this, we are wasting minutes,” Schneep said, checking his own watch. “Jackie decided what to do, what is it?”

Jackie immediately brightened. “Okay, so, we all know JJ hasn’t seen much of the town.” Everyone nodded. “So I thought we could give him the grand tour! Get lunch, go to the park, and I think the fair is open tonight so we can finish with that. That good with everyone?”

“So we’re just gonna walk all over town?” Chase asked. “Only two of us can drive, and none of us have a car right now.”

“Toughen up, Chase, walking’s good for you!” Marvin teased. “Right? Schneep, you’re a doctor, tell him I’m right.”

“He’s right,” Schneep said.

“See?!”

JJ snapped his fingers for attention. I thought we were wasting time? I certainly can’t lead the way, so I’ll ask one of you to.

“Right!” Jackie started off. “C’mon guys, lunch is waiting for us!”

They ended up at a local restaurant near the center of town called Kassie’s. It was a quaint little place, and since it was a warm day they decided to sit at a table outside. The chipper waitress gave them a plate of free fries, then took their order, and headed back inside.

“Is it just me, or is it kind of hot today?” Chase asked, fanning himself with some of the napkins.

“No, it’s not just you. God, I’m dying,” Jackie agreed.

“Jackie, you are not only wearing long sleeves, you are wearing two layers of them,” Schneep pointed out with a smile.

“Oh, you’re one to talk, Mr. Sweater-all-the-time!” Jackie rolled his eyes. “What about Jays? He’s got that vest/dress shirt on.”

JJ looked aghast. You four can run around and show your arms all you like, but I’ll have you know it isn’t proper for a gentleman!

“Are you implying we aren’t gentlemen?” Marvin asked, right before tossing a fry into the air and catching it in his mouth.

JJ raised an eyebrow. Indeed.

“I don’t care, it’s hot. I’m taking this off.” With a few flailing arms, Jackie pulled his hoodie over his head and tugged it off, revealing a Marvel-themed T-shirt underneath. “Ah. That’s better.” He looked around to see the others staring at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“Holy shit, Jackie!” Chase yelled. “Your arm!”

“Wh—oh fuck I forgot I was wearing short sleeves today.” Jackie looked down at his left arm. “Yeah, okay, I got scars, you can look all you want.”

“So that’s why I’ve never seen you in T-shirts,” Marvin realized. “Jackie, what the fuck happened?”

Jackie frowned, then coughed awkwardly. “Y’know...I’d rather not talk about it right now. Maybe later. Besides, Schneep already knows the story. ‘S how we met.”

“Honestly, you three are making mountains out of mole hills,” Schneep said. “Is fine now. You should see his torso, now those are scars.”

That only made the other three look more worried. Jackie sighed. “Look, guys, we’re having a fun day. We’re gonna have fun, and not gonna get all concerned, though I do appreciate it. And you—” he glared at Schneep “—need to stop saying that, ‘cause it makes it sound like I lost some epic battle instead of just having top surgery.”

Chase and Marvin relaxed in unison. “I’m still convinced you have, I dunno, fucking bullet scars or something,” Marvin muttered as Chase pulled the remains of the fries towards him.

“Oh yeah, but Schneep’s talking about the surgery. He’s done this before, and it’s no longer funny!” Jackie looked pointedly at Schneep when saying that last part, who just responded with a massive grin.

JJ was the only one who still looked concerned, but now that was paired with confusion. He looked around at the others. What is top surgery?

You could almost hear the hiss as the others all inhaled sharply in unison. They’d all forgotten for a moment that JJ didn’t know. Schneep cleared his throat. “Jackie, would you like to explain?”

“Right yeah. God, where do I start with this?” There was a slight pause in the conversation as the waitress returned with their food. The moment she was out of earshot, Jackie started up again. “Alright, so...” he leaned forward, hands clasped together, eyes wide and nervous. “You know how I call myself Jackieboy Man, right?”

JJ nodded. A moniker I never understood, but yes.

“Well, I didn’t always call myself that. Neither did anyone else. Because, well, they all thought that...I was a, uh, girl. Even I did. For the longest time I just sort of...accepted it. I only started to figure it out in high school. I got my first job, and one of the customers called me ‘that nice lady,’ and hearing it...just sort of surprised me. Like someone gave the wrong answer to a really easy test question. So...I started thinking, and eventually I realized that I wasn’t...actually a girl. That was when I renamed myself.”

JJ didn’t look any less confused. Why would they not understand that? Wouldn’t they be able to...see that you are not?

Jackie winced. “Well, no...you see, I...fuck.” Jackie put his head in his hands, took a deep breath, then looked up again. “I was born...in the wrong body. Top surgery is...it’s to get rid of the parts I didn’t want. Are you...are you getting this now?”

After a moment, JJ’s eyes widened. He nodded hesitantly.

“Okay. Good. Great.” Jackie sighed. “I don’t know if this word existed in the twenties, but nowadays we have ‘transgender’ as...a thing. When someone is something other than what their body is born as. I’m still a he. Or, just, anything but she, really. Literally call me anything but a girl. And please, don’t ask about what my name was before. Or what’s...down there. Those questions make me...really uncomfortable.”

My good man! JJ signed. Why would I do such a rude thing? And to my dear friend, nonetheless. 

Jackie’s shoulders slumped. He leaned back in his chair and exhaled in relief. He’d been dreading this conversation, but better to rip the bandaid off now. “Thanks, man. I...appreciate your understanding.”

JJ smiled. No trouble at all, Jackie! I may not fully grasp the concept, but that’s no reason to disrespect your wishes.

“If you want, I can answer questions. Just...later. And as long as you get I don’t represent everyone who’s trans.”

JJ nodded and gave a thumbs-up. There was silence for a moment, before Chase broke it by saying “Hey, guys, I made a Jenga tower out of fries.”

Schneep rolled his eyes, and immediately knocked over Chase’s tower.

“Aw you bitch!” Chase gasped. “You didn’t even play the game right!”

“Fuck your games. Actually eat the food like it’s supposed to be.”

“You’re just jealous cause you got a salad instead.”

“Maybe I am! Did you think of that?!”

“Dude, I just said I did!”

The rest of lunch was covered in the blanket of familiar banter. Jackie smiled to himself. God, he was so glad nothing changed.

About two hours later, the boys had made their way to the southern part of the city. That was where the park was. It had an official name, but everyone just called it “the park” because there was only one of them and it was shorter. The park itself was pretty big, with trees, paths, flowerbeds, and two playgrounds at either end.

Since it was the middle of the afternoon, there were quite a few families with young children hanging around, parents watching their kids climb all over the jungle gyms and pushing them on the swings. While Marvin and Jackie walked ahead, pulling JJ with them and talking his ears off, Chase and Schneep hung back a bit. Chase was staring at the families on the playground.

“Chase? Are you okay?” Schneep asked gently. 

“Yeah...yeah, I’m fine. It’s not a down day.” Schneep gave him a Look. “No, really! It’s just...y’know, seeing all the kids kinda bums me out. You know?”

“Of course I do, Chase,” Schneep said. He was probably the only one of the boys who did. “If you are feeling upset, you can go home.”

“No! God, no, that’s not what I meant at all. This has been good so far. I don’t want it to end.” Chase frowned. “Now I’m just...man. I’m starting to lose it.”

“Chase.” Schneep grabbed his hand. “If you are not enjoying yourself, we can always go do something more quiet. We would hate to push you to do something you are not up to.”

Chase considered it for a moment, then shook his head. “Nah, it’s not too bad. It helps that you guys are here, I think. But I’ll let you know...if it gets too much.”

Schneep gave him a long look, before finally judging that everything was alright. “Okay. You have to do that, or I am going to break into your home at night and yell at you for lying.”

“Okay, okay, I get the idea,” Chase laughed. He looked down at their clasped hands. “You’re not worried people are gonna think we’re a couple, then?”

“What? Oh. Is there no such thing as regular hand-holding in this country?! Besides, it should not fucking matter. Also you are not my type anyway.”

“Yeah, you’re not mine, either. You’re a guy.” Chase and Schneep both had a good laugh at that.

Marvin looked over his shoulder at the two of them. “Are you two gonna walk fast or what?”

“Or what,” Chase said with a smirk.

“Oh, you’re hilarious. A fucking comedic genius. Hey guys!” he said that last part to Jackie and JJ. “We’re gonna slow down so these two assholes can join us.”

“Marvin, how dare you,” Schneep said, mock-offended. “At least be more creative in your insulting us.”

“No.” The two mini-groups merged together to form the main group once again. “So what’re you two talking about?”

“Chase is worried that hand-holding makes a couple,” Schneep tattled.

“Bullshit,” Marvin stated. Jackie went “yeah!” in the background. JJ frowned at the use of language, but nodded. “What makes a couple is the kissing. And romantic interest in each other, which leads to the former.”

“You say, having not been on a date in at least five months,” Jackie muttered.

“Shut your stupid face, you...lovely person.” Marvin pulled his wand out of his pocket and twirled it, like he did when he was nervous. “We’ve all been kinda busy lately.”

“Yeah...that’s true,” Jackie sighed. “But maybe if you went out more, you could find someone you could go out with. Just once, if a commitment isn’t your thing right now.”

Marvin frowned. “Why in the wide world of wingmen would I go on a date once deliberately?”

“A night of fun?” Schneep suggested.

“With a complete stranger that I have no interest in? No. I need to have some intrigue in whoever they end up being.”

“None of you are gonna get anywhere with him,” Chase said. “He doesn’t get one-night stands.”

“Damn right I don’t! There’s no point!”

And it just seems improper, JJ signed. If you aren’t going to court someone, don’t approach them at all.

“Marvin! You have an ally!” Jackie gasped. 

“Good. Finally, someone who agrees with me.” Marvin held up his hand and, after a moment of figuring out, JJ high-fived it. “Yeah! There we go, you got it!”

Jackie checked the time on his phone. “Alright, it’s starting to get a bit late. If we want to get enough time at the fair, we’re gonna have to book it to the eastern side.”

They didn’t actually run the whole way there, despite Jackie wanting to. By the time they got to the fair the sun was starting to set. They bought tickets and headed inside, where the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster towered over the smaller rides and the carnival games. It was a weekday, but it was one of the first days the fair was open, so the fairgrounds were crowded but not packed.

Chase gasped. “Games. We can do the games first.”

You do realized they’re all rigged, right? JJ asked.

“Who cares? They’re fun! Games now.”

Soon, the others started to suspect that the reason Chase was so eager to play games was because he knew he would win every time. The dude was scarily good. A combination of sheer luck, skill, and fuck-it-let’s-take-a-chance-ness led to many more victories than the others, something Marvin and Schneep immediately called him out for.

“You are cheating, I am sure of it!” Schneep huffed, folding his arms.

“Nah, just have a knack for it. And, in this case, practice.” Chase tossed one of the wooden balls back and forth while he waited for the carnival worker to hand him his prize. “Ya gotta aim for a bit above the spot where the third jug sits on top of the other two, then throw hard. It’s a bit of an arc.”

“No, you’re a cheater,” Marvin asserted, muttering darkly.

“Aw, c’mon! Here, will this make you less salty?” Chase accepted his stuffed prize from the worker, then handed it right over to Marvin. “I got it for you! You like cats.”

Marvin glared down at the plushie. “You’re lucky it has a cute face,” he said.

“See?!” Chase smiled. He was actually having a good time. It was a good change of pace from the park.

Eventually, everyone had a prize except for JJ. They were running out of games to play, but then Jackie spotted one of those ‘find the ball under the shuffling cups.’ “Hey guys, you up for that one?”

JJ brightened. I’m actually quite skilled at those!

“Well, then, let’s go!” Jackie pulled him over, the others in tow.

The carnival worker was calling out the rules of the game. “You get one, you win one of these lovely roses, you get two in a row, you win one of these tiny fellows here, and you get three in a row, you win one of these adorable penguins! Step right up, step right up!”

“Hey!” Jackie waved to get the worker’s attention. “We want to play!”

“Well then, young sirs, the rules are simple. Keep your eye on the ball, see right here, right here, it’s under the middle cup. Now watch as I take the cup this way, then that, then this and oh look at that! It’s goin’ fast, it’s goin’ fast don’t lose it don’t lose it! Now, which one is the ball under?”

Jackie was fairly sure he knew where it was, but he turned to JJ anyway. “So, which one?” he asked.

JJ bit his lip, then reached forward to point at one of the cups...only for the worker to slap his hand away. “I’m sorry sir, please don’t touch the cups. To prevent tamperin’, see? Just tell me.”

JJ looked a bit stunned at the worker’s aggressive tone. But he signed It’s under the left one.

“Excuse me?”

“He says it’s under the left one,” Marvin jumped in.

“...ah, I see.” The worker lifted up the cup to reveal the ball. “Seems you were right. Do you want to try again?”

The boys glanced uneasily between each other. The worker’s tone had dropped from the polite-carnival talk to one that was a bit...short. She was also talking much slower than she was before, drawing out the vowel sounds. “He can hear you perfectly fine,” Chase said. “He just can’t talk.”

“Mmm...I see...” The worker pursed her lips. “Do you want to try again?”

They all nodded. The worker was silent this time as she shuffled the cups, faster than before. When she stopped, she looked at Jackie. “Which one is the ball under?”

Jackie had a vague idea where, but he wasn’t sure. “JJ, do you know?”

The left one again, JJ signed, less enthusiastically.

“The left,” Jackie translated.

The worker frowned as she revealed the ball under the left cup. “You boys aren’t cheating, are you? Those weird gestures seem like symbols.”

Marvin laughed bitterly. “Yeah, they’re symbols alright. They stand for words. Do you not know how sign language fucking works? He’s telling us the answers ‘cause he’s the best one at it. Now let’s do this one more time.”

The worker shuffled the cups impossibly fast. Once more, she asked Jackie where the ball was. This time, he had no idea, and just looked at JJ. JJ, in turn, stiffened a bit, eyes hardening. It’s under the right one, though I wouldn’t put it past her to sneak it up her sleeve.

“Right,” all the boys said in unison.

The worker reluctantly lifted up the rightmost cup to show the ball sitting underneath. “Congratulations,” she said dully. “You win one of the big prizes. What color do you want?”

Turquoise, JJ signed. “Turquoise,” Jackie translated.

They walked away from the booth in silence. After a few moments of walking, Marvin said, “I could totally put a curse on her.”

“No,” Jackie said firmly.

“Just one little spell. She can lose her voice for a week.”

JJ shook his head, then tucked his prize under his arm so he could use his hands to sign. Revenge is never the best answer. 

“It’s what she deserves!” Marvin snarled. “She was making that difficult on purpose. I saw her, she was going much slower with the customers before us. JJ, I’m so absolutely sorry on her behalf, cause god knows she’s not gonna fucking apologize.”

It’s okay, JJ insisted. Believe it or not, I’ve faced worse, especially in my day. They were much less friendly back then.

“I am sure you are not using that word in the correct meaning,” Schneep mumbled.

Marvin shoved his hand into the pocket containing his wand. “One hex. Come on. Just one. I won’t even make her ears fall off or anything.”

Everyone refused to let Marvin curse the carnival worker, and he reluctantly relented. At this point, they’d finished with the games, and all that was left were the rides. They took turns, one or two of them sitting out to watch the accumulated prizes while the others spun and flew and then stumbled off the rides. After trying most of the rides out, they took a snack break for ice cream and cotton candy.

“I think the Ferris wheel is the only one left,” Jackie said. “Unless we want to catch that sideshow thing. There’s supposed to be magicians—”

“Fake,” Marvin interrupted.

“—clowns, animals, and they advertised a knife-thrower—”

Schneep nearly choked on his ice cream. “No.”

“Okay, got it. No show then.” Jackie nodded. “But I’m not too sure about the Ferris wheel. I know at least one of us is afraid of heights.”

“Yeah, uh, me.” Chase bit his lip. “But I think I’ll be fine if I don’t look over the edge. Unless someone else doesn’t want to go on it, then I’ll stay off with them.”

“I’m good,” Jackie said. “Schneep? Marv? Either of you scared of heights?” Both of them shook their heads. “Alright. JJ?”

JJ signed, A bit, but after all these dizzy rides, I’ll take something calm like the Ferris wheel, if you please.

“Alright. Guess we’re going on the wheel, then!”

Night had truly fallen by this point. The Ferris wheel wasn’t exceptionally tall, but it still rose above everything else in the fair, providing a fantastic view of the colored lights below. Instead of having the traditional two-person seats, this wheel had booths that could fit up to eight people, so all the boys fit into one just fine. The wheel turned, and the booth turned with it. Chase squirmed, resolutely not looking over the side. Jackie and Marvin did the exact opposite, practically leaning out of the booth to look down below.

JJ tapped Schneep, signing something real quick. Schneep nodded, then yelled “Can you two stop that?! You are going to fall out of the fucking side, and you are making Jamie nervous.”

“Oh, sorry.” Jackie sat back down.

“Aww,” Marvin groaned, but pulled back into his seat. “I hope you know I do this for you, JJ.”

JJ smiled. Thank you, it’s appreciated. And I’m sure your body feels the same way, having narrowly avoided a fall to great injury.

“Nah, I would’ve been fine.”

The wheel stopped. Their booth was right at the top. “Oh, fuck,” Chase muttered, covering his eyes with his hands.

“You know, you didn’t have to come,” Jackie said quietly. “We would’ve been alright letting you stay down on the ground.”

Chase peeked between his hands. “I know. But...it’s really nice up here. Quiet. And with just you guys. As long as I ignore the distance from the ground, I’m good. You’re my friends, you know, and you make everything better.”

“Oh, Chase,” Marvin gasped. “That’s...really sweet!”

“What? Didn’t think we where friends?”

“It’s...always nice to be reminded.” Marvin smiled softly.

Well then consider this your reminder, Marvin! JJ wiggled his mustache happily. I consider you all my friends, maybe even family. You are all wonderful people and I love having you in my life!

“Nooo, stop.” It was hard to see in the dark, only lit up by the lightbulbs on the Ferris wheel, but it was possible that Marvin was actually blushing.

“You know what? I love you guys.” Jackie grinned. “Not afraid to admit it! Best friends I’ve ever had.”

Schneep cleared his throat. “Yes, I feel the same. You are all great people, and I am fortunate to have met you. I...love you as well.”

“Aaaahck!” Marvin appeared to be trying to fold into himself. “Too much love! Fatality!”

Chase chuckled. “Marvin! Accept our love!”

We love you, Marvin! JJ signed eagerly. Now you have to say it back!

Marvin made a strange sort of groaning exhale before inhaling deeply, calming down. “Yeah...I—I love you guys too. God, I love you guys so much. You should all know that.”

“There we go!” Jackie said, triumphant. “Marvin, you are, truly, the emotionally constipated one. And I thought Schneep was the worst.”

“Excuse me?!” Schneep gasped. “I assure you I am very love-sharing. I just do not use words too much because they are complicated.”

“Understandable,” Chase shrugged. “I can barely speak half the time, and I was born in English.”

I thought you were born in Ireland, JJ signed, amused.

“Oh, you know what I mean!”

The Ferris wheel started lowering, stopping and starting as it let passengers off. The boys stepped out of the booth and onto land once again.

JJ yawned. I must say that I’m rather tired after all this. I think it’s time we go home.

“Yeah, I’m starting to feel it,” Jackie agreed.

“You all are weak!” Marvin countered. “I’m good for another couple hours.”

“Watch you crash immediately upon entering your room,” Chase laughed.

“Oh, shut up.”

“I think JJ is right,” Jackie said. “It’s time to go home.”

Schneep nodded. “Yes, I could stay up longer, but I have morning shift tomorrow so I should not push my luck. I will see you all later?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Course, dude!”

“Definitely.”

Count on it!

With that, they left the fair. Eventually they split up, each heading their own separate ways until they eventually got to wherever they were staying that night. Some went to sleep immediately, some stayed up a bit later, but eventually they all went to bed.

And when they decided to do it, none of them had trouble for once.

[stainedinlavenderblood]

Question thing tagged by @euthymiclurker

I tag @horse-boy @cinder-valestera @llunaruna @dieeisenkaiserin @pink-catnip

theres like 50 of them so im sticking them in the read more

1. What takes up too much of your time? being on Tumblr

2. What makes your day better?  when my friends get in call

3. What’s the best thing that happened to you today?  i went to a job fair and then got food at the burger king at my university for the first time and felt like i was adulting so good

4. What fictional place would you like to go to?  wherever i can find a real Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and use it to go anywhere in the universe

5. Are you good at giving advice? i don’t know, i like to think so but sometimes i feel like i’m not approaching the problem people want advice on in any correct manner 

6. Do you have a mental illness? many 

7. Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? nope

8. What musician inspires you the most? Tally Hall, i really like the variety in the way their music sounds and the way they can make nonsense lyrics sound so compelling and catchy

9. Have you ever fallen in love? many times, and every time i break up with someone my brain does its damnedest to fall in love again asap

10. What’s your dream date? getting food at somewhere we both like or showing one of us a place the other likes and then going home to play video games or watch something n fall asleep while cuddling

11. What do others notice about you? my sarcastic and/or straight-up rude shirts (i have one that says “not shy, just don’t like you” and the like dean of my university or something saw it and let me tell you i wanted to die.)

12. What’s an annoying habit you have? i don’t like to talk on voice calls for various reasons (most of which are out of my control but its also largely because i just don’t like talking in general) so everyone who calls me has to put up with me typing

13. Do you still talk to your first love? i have dated or had a crush on so many people i don’t even know who to call my first love. i had a crush on some girl when i was in preschool, i shouldve been thinking about legos and when the next time mom was making mac n cheese was

14. How many exes do you have? uh like 5

15. How many songs are in your playlist? which one. i have like so many. one playlist has over 1,500 songs in it

16. What instruments can you play? none of them. i tried trumpet once but i was no good at it

17. What do you have the most pictures of? anime girl reaction pics

18. Where would you like to go before you die? to my bed

19. What’s your zodiac? scorpio

20. Do you relate to it? sometimes

21. What is happiness to you? having no pressing responsibilities

22. Are you going through anything right now? adjusting to living in a college dorm

23. What’s the worst decision you ever made? being a gifted child and believing any of the shit they told me

24. What’s your favorite store? i don’t shop much but i guess fry’s grocery store??

25. What’s your opinion about abortion? life is not nearly as sacred as people make it out to be. i think some people need to accept that life is not as nice as they think it is and sometimes shit happens. if a woman doesnt want her baby for any reason i don’t care, especially because its not even born yet, its in no way taking an innocent life cause that thing isnt even fully formed yet anyways. there are a lot of steps matter has to take to become life and things can go wrong on literally all of them

26. Do you keep a bucket list? nope

27. Do you have a favorite album? the crypt of the necrodancer soundtrack is a fuckin banger

28. What do you want for your birthday? money

29. What are people’s first impressions of you? probably that i’m very quiet or i look like i really don’t want to be there

30. What age do you seem according to most people? people usually think im a few years younger than i am for some reason

31. Where do you keep your phone while you’re sleeping? on my desk or sometimes i fall asleep and wake up to find i was laying on it

32. What word do you say the most? ye

33. What’s the oldest age you would date? 20

34. What’s the youngest you would date? 17

35. What job/career do most people say would suit you? people don’t usually give me suggestions but they agree when i say what i want to do

36. What’s your favorite music genre? i don’t know i like a lot of kinds of music. i like some weird obscure genres like speedcore or gabber or something but i usually don’t say that. i just say i like “experimental” music most of the time

37. If you could live in any country in the world, where would it be? nowhere is safe as long as the US is still a world power

38. What is your current favorite song? The Correspondents - INEXPLICABLE

39. How long have you had this blog for? since September 21st, 2013. so, way too long

40. What are you excited for? the next time i get a lot of money so i can blow it all on video games for me n my friends

41. Are you a better talker or listener? im not bad at talking but i dont like to do it so i mostly listen

42. What was the last productive thing you did? worked on problems for an initial knowledge check for my math class thats starting on friday

43. What do you want for Christmas? to go home

44. What class do you get the best grades in? usually english

45. On a scale of 1-10, how are you feeling right now? ???

46. What can you see yourself doing in ten years? laying in bed and fighting off the ever-present feeling of wanting to just give up no matter how good things get

47. When did you get your first heartbreak? in like 4th grade

48. What age do you want to get married? it doesn’t matter to me much as long as we don’t like have a kid

49. What career did you want to have as a child? astronaut... i still really want to but i know that commercial space travel the way i want it will never become a reality in my lifetime and nor will we meet aliens

50. What do you crave right now? a more comfortable chair. the one they gave me in my dorm is not comfortable at all

[avtrbee]

Late Night Therapy

I had the urge to write something really quick soooo...i mean its not the best but enjoy anyway. also english isnt my second language and its unedited so if you spot any grammar mistakes, feel free to correct me

Imagine: You being training Natasha in the Red Room with Bucky and feeling very guilty about what you turned her into.

This fic includes you being a mother figure to Nat and Bucky x Reader if you really squint.

Natasha shot out of bed drenched in sweat, struggling against the deathly grip of her blankets. She scanned the room around her and found it reliving that she saw the familiar room she owned in the Avengers facility in New York. She closed her eyes and forced herself to realize that she was not in the room where 24 other girls were, cramped in a long room with too many bed in. Unconsciously, Natasha rubbed her wrists to feel if a metal handcuff was cuffed to her arm and to the bed post.

Opening her eyes once more, she made herself do one of those breathing exercises Sam taught the team a while back and forced herself to remember what more things he advised them to do if an episode or a nightmare plagues them.

“Find five things you can see…” she remembered him say.

‘I see an empty blue vase on my dresser,’ Natasha mused, looking around. She probably bought it somewhere in a flea market- Nat doesn’t care. ‘I see my bathroom door, and my closet.’ Natasha’s green eyes darted to her left. ‘I see a beanbag,’ Nat remembered the goofy grin in Wanda’s face when she handed her a large box last Christmas. “Your back complaints were getting annoying.” She said sheepishly after Natasha opened it. ‘…and books.’ It was Wanda’s books, technically, but once she realized that she has a soft spot on romantic novels, the younger girl hasn’t stopped dragging her to bookstores and has taken it upon herself to let Natasha read her favorites.

“Four things you can feel,”

Natasha can feel her bed crease around her (“It’s memory foam,” said Tony with a proud smirk. “It remembers you.”) and her comforter. Nat reached under her pillow to feel the familiar rough edges of her gun to add to her list. She looked down to her wrists and quietly rubbed them, once, twice- just to make the familiar feeling of the handcuffs disappear. ‘Bed. Blanket. Gun. Wrists.’

“Three things you can hear,”

Natasha could feel her heart thrumming through her chest. She took several deep breaths- “Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.”- as an attempt to calm it down. It her heart several minutes for her heart to slow down, and another minute before Natasha decided to continue.   ‘I can hear the quiet hum of air conditioning,’ she mused to herself. It was a barely audible sound but Natasha can hear it if she listened. She remembered Tony telling her he liked it that way so he made it as quiet as he can. He couldn’t sleep with too much noise, she remembered. ‘I hear my heart thumping and…’ On occasions like this, she had Clint to hug her and put sweaty kisses on her forehead and temple to tell her it’s okay. He would pull her to his chest and then Natasha could hear his heartbeat and she’ll add that to her list too. But Clint wasn’t here. He was somewhere in Southeast Asia for a mission. Natasha closed her eyes and listened closely again. She blocked the quiet hum of air conditioning in her mind to find something else. Then she heard quiet thuds- footsteps probably, prodding behind her door. ‘…and footsteps off…?’

Natasha tried to analyze the footsteps to calm herself down. It was too light and quiet to be both Thor and Steve, she thought. It wasn’t Bruce or Tony either, their quarters were below hers and they wouldn’t be up on her floor anyway. They were most likely in their laboratory doing things they do and pulling the fourth all-nighter in a row. The more Nat thought, the more her head ached so she stopped before she could even suffer from a killer headache. ‘…footsteps. I hear footsteps.’ Nat settled on that before she would make herself overthink again.

 “Two things you smell,”

Nat tried to sniff around the room. She smelled nothing. Clint often told Nat that her room smelled like a hospital as a joke but she never did smell that. She sat on her bed, trying hard so sniff something- anything, because she was too lazy to go to the kitchen and smell some honey or something.

With a sigh, Nat got out of her bed anyway and headed to the kitchen. She could hear Sam say ‘And then you go find something you can eat or taste. Like a cookie.’ She needed to eat something for the next step of the exercise anyway.

As soon as Nat stepped out of the door, she was immdietly greeted by the familiar scent of alcohol lingering somewhere in the air. Tony probably went out of his lab to take a swig of whatever he has then retreated back down to his cave. ‘I can smell alcohol and…’

Nat squinted in disbelief. Did…did she just smell bacon?

As she walked closer to the kitchen, she slowly heard the sizzling boiling. From her position, she could see a figure covering the frying pan. Y/N, Natasha thought. мама

She watched as Y/N shaked the pan slightly. The girl turned off the stove and went to the opposite side of the kitchen to get a plate. Y/N then proceeded to put the bacon on the plate then pulled out orange juice from Tony’s fridge and two glasses and put them on the counter.

“I know you’re there, Natalia.” She said in a raspy voice. “Can’t sleep?”

Natasha stepped out of the shadows. “Neither can you, probably.”

Y/N said nothing and poured Natasha a glass of orange juice.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” Natasha stated, ignoring the glass of juice.

Y/N shrugged and took a short sip of her juice. “Good. You still notice things. I have taught you well.”

“Where’s Bucky?”

Y/N looked anywhere but her. “Sleeping. He hasn’t slept in a while. How selfish of me to burden him with my problems.” Natasha noticed Y/N’s sad eyes. It was different from the eyes she grew up with. It always looked sad, so full of sorrow and guilt for things she couldn’t control.. Sometimes, Natasha thinks that she prefers the cold and calculating E/C eyes that trained her back in the Red Room.

Pregnant silence filled the room.

Finally, Natasha watched as Y/N lower her head, her H/C hair covering her face. She was gripping her almost finished glass of orange juice tightly. Natasha thought she saw cracks in the glass. “I’m so sorry, Natalia.”

Natasha found herself squeezing her eyes and taking deep breaths. “No. Don’t start. Please.”

Y/N lifted her head and stared at her. “You couldn’t sleep because you see their faces can’t you? The people you’ve killed,” Y/N’s voice cracked. “Sometimes, in your dreams you still see them don’t you? The other girls; Lyuda, Misha, Tatiana…I’m sorry.”

“No.” Natasha stood up to leave, fully intending to leave the Winter Soldier alone with her thoughts before she plagues hers. She doesn’t want to remember. She will not. She must not. She-

“I made you this way,” she said softly. “I… I remember. I remember you, sweet little Natalia, eager to survive and to please. I taught you well. I brought you to this life…this, everything, everything is my fault.” Natasha stopped her tracks. Y/N saw this as an opportunity to continue. “You were so young, Natalia. You only reached my elbow and you were so confused. I made you who you are, I taught you how to kill-“

“It wasn’t your fault. We were both held against our will, Y/N.”

“I made you kill children,” Y/N whispered softly. “I don’t even understand how you can stand the sight of me.”

Her eyes softened. She found herself going to the infamous assassin and her hands lifting her face up, wiping the hair off her face. Y/N’s face was eyes were red and puffy and they just look so, so tired. Natasha could only imagine what Y/N has gone through.

She, like almost everyone, has heard stories of the Winter Soldiers. How they never failed a mission, how precise they both were, how they almost never missed a shot. Natasha could see the mountains of bodies both Y/N and Bucky has created because of HYDRA.

Natasha wiped a stray tear that has fallen from Y/N’s eye gently. “It wasn’t you. It never was.”

Y.N was notorious, but right now Nat didn’t see a half of the Winter Soldier. Y/N looked like a child, so traumatized with her past, so exhausted and so scared. She paused and looked around the compound before continuing. “I forgive you, anyway. You claim to have brought me my troubles, but along with it came the happy times too. I would have never found the courage to join SHIELD without you, мама.”

“The last time you called me that, I slapped your face.” Y/N sniffed. “Headmistress-“

“I know,” Natasha cut off. “When Headmistress found out, she reported this to your handler. They probably gave you orders to eliminate any attachments you’ve established.”

Y/N smiled. Natasha pulled her up from her chair and put the forgotten food aside. Placing a soft kiss on her cheek she said, “Go get some sleep. You need it.”

The other assassin weakly nodded and walked silently back to her room.

Y/N may have nurtured Natasha when she was little, but maybe it’s Natasha’s turn to take care of her in return.

[ts-indonesia]

Episode 8: “the proof is in the parchments” - Olivia

After Lorelei was voted out, there was an immediate witch hunt- who voted Lorelei and who voted Matt? Owen/Stoner and Anabel/Trent both accused each other, but aided by Olivia’s parchment comparison theory, Stoner & Owen were exposed.

In a shooty shooty gun challenge, Olivia won having not received a single shot all challenge, while Owen/Anabel publicly had a disagreement that they worked out quite nicely in the tribe chat during the challenge.

In the build up to tribal, Owen quickly emerged as a potential vote for being as clearly big brained as he is, with Stoner thrown out as the misdirect vote, which Owen got on board with, in an attempt to save himself.

At tribal, Owen tragically decided to hold onto his idol and was sent out holding onto it, leaving Chris,Chris & Leigh squarely in the minority, and a king joining the two legendary previous jurors.

OLIVIA

I’m assuming anabel played her idol because the newbies had a little chit chat and concluded that because of jess’s rumor all the vets would be voting against her so she played it and they dumped their votes on Matt, completely going against NuCahaya. I assume they thought we were lying when we said we’re voting Lorelei LMAO but jokes on them. We WERE lying but not about that hehe. So now they’re gonna feel bad because we were honest. Which is funny because like what a way to psyche someone out- tell them the real vote lmao. So all I know is that a newbie ain’t winning this challenge

OWEN

THAT WAS SO BAD THAT WAS SOOOOO BAD OMFG KJASDFHKSJD FUCK TRENT AND ANABEL FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART ESPECIALLY FUCKING TRENT WHY WOULD HE DO THAT TO ME???? LITERALLY WHY??? I WANT HIS ASS OUT OF THIS GAME RN THERE'S NO WAY HE GETS ALL THE FUCKING POWER AND THE SWING VOTE LITERALLY FUCK MEEEEE!!!! straight men deserve to burn in this fucking game and i'm gonna make it happen i got my idol and my thots to back me up so FUCK ALL THIIIIS literally nobody is saying anything to me now it's so freaking awkward i feel like a dead body nnnn olivia and jess like are acting like that didnt just happen and I bet trent ratted me the fuck out on the off chance they think i voted with them happy halloween

ok on second though maybe trent isnt so bad because he just apologized and told me it was last minute. do i believe him??? a little bit because im a whore for a good straight man but also like...he's still sketchy lmao maybe im bein dumb

OLIVIA

Chris O, Trent, and now stoner... another one bites the dust DA DA DUN DUN DUN

MICHAEL

https://youtu.be/EjX8G1aj8M8 (for before Merge TC)

OLIVIA (these are six confessionals in a row)

I WON IMMUNITYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I had a feeling from the jump I’d win idk like I just couldn’t picture anyone shooting me and no one did? Now if that’s good or bad for next round we’ll see 😂

So this morning I could see how it was gonna play out and knew it would come down to Jess or I and I knew it would be Matt or Leigh, Matt I knew would shoot jess and not me and so I spent this morning talking Leigh up (plus she’s cool to talk to so I was just enjoying talking to her) and whaddaya know, it came down to Leigh and she shot jess not me! Also a factor was Jess won last time so I’m sure they didn’t want her to win again but imma just pretend it was all my social skills 😂 So stoner is saying he never threw matt’s name around and Owen is mad at anabel for spreading rumors apparently. So they’re def trying to make it seem like they voted Lorelei and Trent and anabel are lying and Trent and anabel are tryna make it seem like stoner and Owen are lying. Maybe my new buddy Leigh can help me figure out what really happened

I am worried because now there’s like fighting between anabel and Owen apparently. I fear this is the round I’ll have to turn on one of my alliances. Unless we miraculously get like Chris o out I just don’t see how it can happen where I don’t turn on one of them

Leigh, absolute queen of strategy, refuses to call anyone to bond and when she comes to me asking to be saved this round and I asked her for some info, quid pro quo, she refused to give anything away! Super smart babe, super smart

Dear anabel, STOP SAYING IM POPULAR AND PEOPLE LIKE ME OR I WILL GET YOU OUT. AINT NOBODY SUPPOSED TO CATCH ONTO THAT! Thank you kindly, Olivia

SO TRENT’S THROWIN AROUND MY MOTHERFUCKIN NAME HUH? WELL FUUUUUCK YOU BUDDY

Me Owen and Matt: in a secret alliance Trent: there’s no way Matt and Owen would EVER work together Me: SWEATING

JESS

So I just took a melatonin pill so it's time for another late night rant. So to start off.. I'm really regretting the whole "I DON'T WANT IMMUNITY" thought I had earlier today. These will be my famous last words if I go tomorrow so that blows. I think for the FIRST time in this game I'm actually really nervous for a vote. This vote is GOING TO BE HUGE. I honestly think this vote is going to be the deciding factor in what direction this game is going to go....A HUGE player like Stoner or Owen will go making the path to the end a little more clearer for people OR I GO. I see no in-between here. Here is a little bit of background........ After the vote Chris O approached me begging to give him at the very best 7th. The way he broke down the alliances was extremely accurate and it really spooked me. However, I think he is smart enough to want to put a dent in it. Based on my conversations with everyone else..... I have guess I have the worst connection with him and Leigh. So by default that would leave me as a big juicy option for them to want to take out. I've tried SO HARD to try and connect with Leigh. I just feel like she's incredibly smart and knows how to redirect a conversation into a place which won't incriminate her. She constantly does this with me but I also can't blame her.. We haven't found ourselves on the same side and we haven't been able to build trust in past votes. It just blows because I honestly thought she was going to be someone I would have so much in common with so... I'm majorly disappointed. I won't burn the bridge JUST YET but god damn. I'm getting to my point.. I swear.. This leaves the whole "GET OUT OWEN PLAN". I'm all for it. I'm just scared of snitches, advantages, and idols. The snitches part is simple. If someone leaks the plan then I can see Stoner and Owen realizing the vets is over and taking a shot at a vet. Seeing as they'd want to appeal to their buddies Leigh and Chris O.... that would be me. I'm going to try and talk more with Stoner and Owen and make them feel REALLY comfortable but... rip. Then there's idols and advantages. Can't do anything about fucking that. Can I? I don't have any because I have no luck and the hosts hate me. I doubt anyone would play an idol on me so there's that............ I'm just incredibly paranoid right now. I can accept that. I should have the votes to AT LEAST tie and hopefully to sink this... BUT idols and advantages might be the end of me. I guess my goal for tomorrow is to try and reach out to as many people as possible. Make myself visible, make myself a part of a POSITIVE dialog, and make sure bitches know I'm on their sides enough to NOT want to take me out. Hopefully people realize I'M NOT A BIG MOVE. Sure I have connections but I really haven't done much in this game? There's way bigger fish to fry and I want to keep it this way. I mean sure.. I've kept Trent/Anabel safe and may have been a MAJOR reason why Lorelei went? BUT nothing WORTHY of getting a shot taken at me RIGHT NOW. 10th won't look good on me. My lucky number is 9. I just don't want to be a casualty of a war that isn't mine.

TRENT

This past round was unnecessarily messy. For about 47.99 hours everybody was completely silent about the vote. And at the literal last second, people started to scramble. Half (Chris O, Leigh, Lorelei, Owen, Stoner) wanted Matt out, then the other half (Jess, Olivia, Matt, Michael) wanted lorelei out. Which left me and anabel to have to make a choice. Our newbie alliance or our Nuchaya alliance. Now also add a little extra drama, Anabel with ahead and told Chris O that she wanted stoner out, and Chris O immediately told Owen who immediately told Stoner. I finally convinced Anabel to drop the stoner idea. We decided to vote lorelei out with our Nuchaya tribe. BUT i told Owen i was voting Matt. When the votes were read, both sides except myself were shocked. Owen and his side thought for sure that Matt was gone, and Nuchaya thought for sure it would be a wider margin because Stoner and Owen agreed to vote with the returnees. So then scrambling happened. I had to tell Owen that I was lied to and I thought he knew the vote and that I was told majority would be on Lorelei. I then told Leigh I was completely played and lied to and I felt so horrible. I THINK both people believe me because both keep talking about the future vote with me. So either they are now lying to my face because they caught on, or they truly believe me . I actually think it's the second one, because Leigh right this second is trying to convince me to vote with her, Stoner, Owen, Chris O. Now for tonight's vote. I'm about 80% sure Stoner or Owen have an idol.  and we (NuChaya) want one of them out before they slip through the cracks and make it to the end. So i came up with the plan that we use the returnees connection with matt, and my connection with leigh and leak that they want stoner out, knowing full and well leigh will tell Chris O and Chris will tell everyone else out. NuChaya then votes owen. Our plan is that they use and idol to try to save Stoner but in fact just waste it and we get owen out. I'm using Matt as a shield though and going to be telling everyone that he's the one who said Stoners name. So i need to have a conversation with him and make sure he says that.  This is an incredibly risk move because if anyone on Nuchaya leaks the real plan, then I will be going home tonight.

STONER

https://youtu.be/6zQsyt71aVM

JESS

So my plan for this vote is a rather.... unique one? Actually it isn't. But...... I'm going to try and act paranoid enough to where people might think i'll use an idol on myself OR enough so people want to see if I'll be a crackhead and flip. This could backfire against me. People might think "Let's get rid of the paranoid bitch" but... I can't just sit here and die.

OWEN

Hehe I popped off on anabel yesterday then she called and cleared the air..,,, I didn’t rlly believe her tho shen she said she wasn’t coming for me. It’s been hella fucking quiet. I’m kind of mad this comp came at this time because I wanted a shot to win. The vets aren’t confronting me about last vote and I’ve been lying and saying I voted lorelei and that maybe stoner voted matt lol Either way nothing concrete is being said other than stoner tossing out anabel’s name. Idek what to do I feel like honestly I used all my energy last round for literally no result so maybe tonight I play my idol and move on and pick up the pieces next round I don’t want to give up but lookin around rn I can’t be making a big scene by campaisgbing

I have an idol and I ODN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT.... I talked to Matt and Olivia for a while and it seemed a good conversation. I'm playing like I'm not sure whether or not Stoner or Anabel voted Matt, but I really don't think these people will believe that I voted Lorelei, especially after Michael and I took each other out in the challenge... But like, here's the thing. If I play the idol now and cancel votes against me at least I guarantee myself another round to make something happen + win immunity. And I think since this comp was basically whoever is in the majority wins, and the first one was fl*g m*king, the next one can be something I potentially pop tf off at... But if I do idol this round and don't need it, I don't think I'll make it much further in the game without that idol :((((( ppl are gonna be like wtf why'd u play that... so idk. It's like, am I playing for ninth or playing for first? And right now I can't tell. I put myself in a good position premerge and a bad one this round. Unless Jess/Olivia/Matt really believe me and not Anabel/Trent.... god. I don't know what I should do. Part of me says use it and give yourself a chance to keep playing. Part of me says gamble, save it, and if I survive I have a chance of surviving longer.

OLIVIA

Owen, Matt, and I had a call in our alliance chat today and it was so sad bc it was so comfortable and like fun and it’s sad knowing he’s just playing us and he voted Matt last time and he’s just playing us again this time. Hopefully Owen goes bye bye this time and Matt and I can form an even stronger bond.

OWEN

Continuing to be the messiest bitch in the game. Fucking shook rn. I voted for Stoner which will probably bite me later but right now its what I have to do to build trust with a majority again. Maybe he won’t even leave and I will. I don’t k ow. I really feel like if I play this idol at least it’s a guarantee I’m here but I don’t want to make people think I don’t trust them. I don’t want to seem like an idiot. God idk what to do I have fifteen minutes to play this idol or not :))))))$ who knows what could happen!!! I’m having like my third meltdown of the game

CHRIS O

if they let me stay they’ll regret it I’m gonna win every non-social non-creative challenge WATCH THIS SPACE

OWEN

Saving my idol. Worst that happens is I get to reunite with queen Lorelei and I get drunk either way xoxoxo. See y’all on the flip side.

[comicteaparty]

January 21st-January 27th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from January 21st, 2019 to January 27th, 2019.  The chat focused on Helsirvente by khkddn.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Helsirvente by khkddn~! (http://helsirvente.webcomic.ws/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PST), so keep checking back for more! You have until January 27th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 3. Who do you think Helsirvente is? For that matter, what do you think Helsirvente is? Ultimately, what theories do you have on Helsirvente’s goals considering they involve a lot of murder that has specific signs on the body?

QUESTION 4. How exactly do you think the red ghost from the first arc knows Helsirvente and what does that have to do with their rage? Additionally, who was the ominous green ghost who helped save Edith?

QUESTION 5. Given its continual mentions, how might Edith’s possession in the first chapter continue to affect their future ghost hunting? Do you believe Edith is dealing with it, or are there going to be long-term emotional effects for a long time to come?

snuffysam

1. For me, it'd have to be the end of chapter 2. Figuring out Roswell's power and discovering the baby boy that he is (except not really) was just real fun.

snuffysam

2. For the main characters... I'm gonna say Edith. I like how she's the risk taker of the group (particularly when it comes to impressing Sadie). for minor characters... Trash Reaper over Jacques.

3. Helsirvente eats ghosts, according to the last couple pages

due to... hunger, i guess

Not sure what's up with the specific body signs though. Helsirvente poking metaphorical holes in their victims so that their spirits don't blow up in the proverbial microwave?(edited)

Red Ghost was probably killed by Helsirvente

though if that's the case, what's up with Helsirvente killing someone, then leaving their ghost in an abandoned spot for years? Seems like you wouldn't get a great dinner that way

khkddn

I mean we've all forgotten stuff in the microwave before, right, maybe that's what happened

Or she doesn't taste good

snuffysam

i suppose we wouldn't be able to meet both red ghost and roswell if they tasted good

or the hound

or i guess trash reaper and jacques?

khkddn

Who would have thought, a ghost going by the name of Trash, would taste bad

snuffysam

jacques probably tastes like snails

khkddn

That's what he RP's he is, but he's more like a cheeseburger(edited)

Delphina

Just caught up on the comic! Reminds me a lot of Paranatural in its subject matter and banter! XDDD

Edith is pretty decisive and definitely stands out as the most memorable protagonist to me of the four. I like that Sadie is taking a more proactive interest in the "hitting stuff with crowbars" department, though, since the guys just seem to take more passive roles of standing back and/or sassing.

Of the ghosts, Trash Ghost is definitely a very lovable kind of delusional. I also like Green Ghost. It seemed so happy about seeing people!

I think my favorite scene so far is the one where they defeat Roswell's illusions with bird puns. Can't go wrong with bird puns.

khkddn

ah thanks, paranatural was one of my inspirations for the comic hah

RebelVampire

QUESTION 6. Do you think Sadie is a murderer as her fear-induced illusion accused her of being? If so, how did it happen and who do you think the illusion entity was supposed to be?

RebelVampire

1) Any of the scenes where Edith is interacting with the red ghost whether real or illusion. THey are creepy af in the most excellent way between their visuals and pacing. And I like in general just how dangerous the situation feels whenever the red ghost is about. 2) Theo. I like the idea that their supposed ghost expert in the group is also the most cowardly. And I also how comically he tries to play off his cowardice but then at other times flat out acknowledge it. And inevitability I'm really interested in seeing his character growth and how he overcomes these things. 3) I'm gonna take the implication to be that Helsirvente is a spirit of some sort. Maybe the spirit of a serial killer who was like "Hey I can kill ever more ppl when dead cause they can't hurt me." Although I think Helsirvente is actually killing people hoping to steal ppl's ghost powers. And the more traumatic the death, the more power they get or something like that. I think this fits in well why some ghosts aren't eaten as Roswell implies Helsirvente does. That or the ghosts have to take time to marinate to be good enough to eat.

4) Red ghost I assumed was killed by Helsirvente but then Helsirvente mehed and moved on. So red ghost basically died for nothing thus her unending rage. As for the green ghost...no one good. I do not trust the green ghost at all. There's being happy to interact with people and then there's being a massive creeper about it. I would not be surprised if the green ghost turned out to be helsirvente. 5) I do not think Edith is dealing with the posession at all. I think emotionally she's trying to live in denial and move on rather than confronting how scared she was even after the fact. I think once she does come to terms shes not invulnerable, she's gonna learn to be less reckless during their adventures. 6) im gonna ballpark guess: the illusion entity was meant to be her father that she killed in self defense when he was being abusive. although even if not her dead, im sitting firm that i think she totally definitely killed him and that it was a self defense sort of situation

Delphina

Yah, I could see it being Sadie's father or older brother figure and she's got some strong trauma that's being interpreted as "I killed him" through the guilt lens. Perhaps that's why she was so excited to join Edith's ghost group in the first place.

"Maybe I can talk to him/explain things/apologize if I can see him again."

snuffysam

or maybe she was little and that guy was driving a car that swerved from hitting her

khkddn

Oh interesting theories :o

Delphina

Is "Helsirvente" supposed to be pronounced like "Hell Servant"?(edited)

khkddn

It's "hell sir ventay"

Or "hell sir vahnt" but I think I'm the only person in the world who's thought to pronounce it that way, so the other one is how the characters say it

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. The story emphasizes Roswell’s illusions can be future fears, so which fears (if any) do you think were those future fears? What do you think they predict for the story?

RebelVampire

(the archive for the chat on sunstrike and bluemist is now available~! @ShaRose49 https://comicteaparty.com/post/182287769955/january-14th-january-20th-2019-ctp-archive)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 8. Do you think when all is said and done that Mariel will come to trust Edith and company? Will Roswell get to move into the diner as well? Lastly, why was Mariel so freaked out upon learning they knew about a Helsirvente corpse?

RebelVampire

7) comically i hope its this clown http://helsirvente.webcomic.ws/comics/102/ that was a future fear. cause always gotta take the opportunities to make clowns terrifying. also mothman. cause mothman illusion was adorable. but more seriously i think the red ghost illusion thing had an aura of both. like thats a fear thatll just keep on giving cause of all the illusions that one seemed the most ominous. but either way i definitely think they arent done with getting into more ghost trouble 8) i think mariel might have been freaked out cause perhaps the corpses somehow attract helsirvente? cause that sounds like a logical reason to be terrified of them and be suspicious of anyone who might have contact with helsirvente. i dont think mariel will trust so much as just tolerate. assume that there are bigger fish to fry and that murdering human children isnt productive. so yeah, i think theyll let roswell move in. roswell can learn to dramatically roleplay and gain some confidence.

Delphina

Roswell: I'm gonna be a LARPer like the cool kids! =D Zander: Oh buddy we gotta have a talk about the cool kids...

khkddn

lol, Roswell would be a great larper

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. How do you believe the increasing danger of the ghost hunts will affect all the characters? Specifically, how might their relationship dynamics be effected?

Delphina

That's an interesting question because it feels like we already started on a pretty high note of danger/life-threatening in the first chapter. It's only really Zander and Theo's conversations with Sadie that we got any indication this level of danger in ghost hunts was atypical for them. So I wonder if Zander and Theo are going to reconsider their role in this and want to back away from all this (I don't have a strong sense of their characters/motivations at this point, so really not sure). I suspect with the possession and Edith's strong-headed nature, she's just gonna get in over her head more and more but be too stubborn to admit it because she's always felt like the one in control. Sadie is sorta in the middle because this is new to her and she doesn't have a sense of normal yet, and it seems like she might be seeking closure for the dude she "killed" in all this, so I expect that to be a further motivation for her and hope to see more details about her past as we go.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 10. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

snuffysam

the thing I'm looking forward to most is seeing these characters grow. I fell in love with all four of these idiots through the first few chapters, and now I want to see how they develop over the rest of the comic.

khkddn

they're gonna change, but still prolly be idiots unfortunately

overall it's been neat hearing what people think will happen next!

Delphina

I really like the episodic nature and how each part reveals a little more about the big secret stuff at the core. The balance of snark and horrific is also fun. I hope we see a little more about the human characters' lives, both in and outside of ghost hunting.

khkddn

im glad you like the balance of silly and scary. sometimes i think it's veering a bit too much on the silly side tbh

Delphina

Oh yeah, I get that. Specifically comparing it to Paranatural, I feel like the silliness is less... dense, which still gives room for a lot of creepy ambiance, where Paranatural feels like a comedy story first and a dramatic horror distant second.

I think also there's a difference between wisecracks/goofs (which come from the teenage humans being teenage humans) and other kinds of humor (like the Diner Ghosts), and feeling out that balance so that both don't detract from the "whoa heck murdered people" vibe is tricky.

khkddn

My main worry in that respect is a reader gets to the murder parts and is like "what? this is a violent story??? where are the goofs" haha so if there's a noticeable creepy vibe that's good

RebelVampire

9) I think for now the supposed increased danger is fine, but I think that just means it's gonna build up. THey're gonna keep trying to go back to normal, only to have to finally blow up emotionally and accept maybe what they thought was normal wasnt normal. or that normal has changed. I think this is gonna put strain on all their relationships. Everyone will be frustrated with Theo's cowardice, Edith's strong headedness, and so forth. And I think at the end its gonna make them question all their friendships but inevitably strengthen it as they learn to bond over the danger and that working together is better than being alone. 10) like Delphina, im kind of hoping to see more of their lives outside of ghost hunting. i think itll be an interesting contrast that shows how their ghost hunting adventures are kind of crazy and such. but overall i think itll just reveal interesting stuff about the charas that may add context to stuff as their ghost hunting adventures continue.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Helsirvente this week! Please also give a special thank you to khkddn for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Helsirvente, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://helsirvente.webcomic.ws/

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[isaacathom]

honestly im torn on whether a gym leader should actually be removed during the course of the game. like that sounds dope???? and 8 is the clear candidate, mostly because 5 hasnt done anything (which is in itself part of the problem) and 7 has also done absolutely nothing to deserve it, but 8 has. and it would actually be kinda interesting.

theres 3 options for removing 8 - before you get there, WHILE youre there, and after. like, while youre on the road, you hear that a gym leader was arrested. you arrive in that town a while later to find a decadent, gaudy gym with an apologetic Gym Man out the front, explaining there is no gym leader due to the arrest, and that standard practice is to shut down the gym until the matter is resolved. the matter would then either be resolved following the City thing (meaning you do the 8th gym AFTER the story climax), or right then, with the Champion or some other Elite arriving with a new gym leader. a candidate for this position would be Bronwyn, Jun’s wife. im kinda into that. shes a good candidate regardless.

thats option a. option b is During. and by that i mean, you challenge the 8th gym leader, this absolutely guadily dressed man, completely insufferable. you fight him, you wipe the floor, and as hes handing you your prize tm, the door bursts open. its the Org. theyre here for him. you watch as he’s taken away, screeching. when you leave, Zeke/Elliot greets you re: that and also the base thing. here, the reason for you going to the base would e to find out whats up. so Zeke sending you makes sense. so Zeke’s like ‘hey [Player], did you get your badge from him? you didnt? shit, maybe you should go catch up to those Org folk. theyre in [the base].’ and you go and walk in and it looks fairly normal, but theres noone there. you explore, you find a secret entrance (think like in Mahogany Town except more obvious), you go in. then you go through and thats when you end up finding Felicity, who is doing some last minute prep with the grunts who are going to the City (Dante is, at that point, with a separate team of grunts - the forward scouts for the area where the legendary is. Small Fry, we recall, has already been arrested by you previously), and when she locks you up after you beat her. the way you get out, in the end, is Elliot, who was tipped off by Zeke. see, Zeke saw you enter, and Zeke waited for a bit, but you never showed. he peeked in and found the secret entrance and got fucking spooked, so he’s called Elliot. noone has exited the building (theyre all leaving by another exit). so finally Elliot arrives, Zeke explains whats happened, and Elliot goes in, finds an empty ass base, a dropped 8th gym badge, and eventually you. yay! gives you the badge and then you both leave. and then shit happens. i kinda like this, though then the question is where the 8th gym leader ended up going. and also why the org would choose to arrest 8 THEN, right as theyre about to go head to head with the Team? unless Rhia is fucking with them. since shes sorta head of police. it would be kinda fun if Rhia decided that if she’s about to fuck up the org, she may as well use its power while its still there to be used, and arrests 8 as a last act before shit goes tits. idk. the timing doesnt REALLY work, i think. the zeke bit works, though.

option c is after. after the other stuff. once the Org/Team shit is settled, and basically after you beat the elite 4, the International Police arrive en masse to sort this absolute mess out. its during this sweep (and the seizure of Org property for the investigations) that 8′s theft is discovered, and hes promptly arrested and replaced. however, if this is the case, id suggest that the 8th gym remains closed for the duration of the post game missions w/ Lyndelle, and that once that questline is resolved, the 8th gym reopen with Bronwyn as its leader. i dont think youd be able to battle her, but she’d give you dialogue and an item (for rescuing Lyndelle, mostly) and itd just be chatter. whether she’d still be poison type? i dont think so. i dont think that type suits her. hmmm....... maybe Dragon? that’d be kinda kickass. idk.

but yea. hmm. b is interesting because it feeds into the plot, but it doesnt really make a lot of sense UNLESS 8 is actually a Team member? which would then make him a perfect fall guy for Dante and Felicity. you remove him from the gym in the guise of arrest, tell him you’ll pretend it was a mistake later, send him off to do his job, he goes to the legendary, and is promptly arrested as the head of the Team. and because he IS actually a Team member, and DOESNT know Dante (its assumed) then it would actually succeed. but on that front, i kinda prefer people being assholes without having to be in the evil team. and if hes NOT a team member, his arrest no longer makes sense in terms of the timing. unless the intent is to send a few Org members away so that they can then Arrive in the city to drive back the team? like reinforcements? could be interesting. but then, still, where did 8 go? if hes team, he’s gone to the legendary to help back up the Squad. if he’s not, where the fuck did he go? does Elliot free him on his way through? there aren’t actually cells in the base though, you were actually locked in the Office (where you met felicity, and which she teleported out of before disabling the teleporter). so where would they have put 8?? it just seems contrived to me

a is boring and would result in somewhat awkward pacing. i find the idea of having to fight the 8th gym after the story climax to be...... awkward...... which might seem strange given i like heartgold but i never said it was my favourite pokemon game, huh. it also happens in xy, funnily enough. did it happen in bw2? i think it did. wait fuck of course it did, fucking marlon. god i keep forgetting about fucking marlon. god i really did not like marlon at all. but yea. idk. it feels like a drop on tension if you go from the evil team climax to the 8th gym, because the 8th gym isnt climactic. but if you go from team climax to gameplay climax w/ victory road and the elite 4, THAT has some tension and release. that feels like better pacing, to me? idk. my only real examples areeee gen 3 and gen 7, actually........ hmm.... HMMN actually hold on what the fuck am i saying. oh, bw1, ofc, my bad. but like, the pokemon games i dislike the most (dppt and xy) both do it and it feels stupid in both cases. ‘theres a blackout’ fuck off. yall heard of battery power? fuck. actually wow fuck both blackouts in those games are stupid. it all makes sense. it all clicks. anyway what im saying is C is probably my preferred option, so long as it IS built up to at some point. like, some dialogue somewhere mentions the growing discontent with 8, so that when you wake up after beating the e4 and the news is going ‘breaking news: 8 has been arrested for siphoning funds into his personal bank account to fund his extravagant lifestyle’ the player doesnt go ‘what the fuck’. though i guess the fact he’s dressed like a prince in a manor-esque gym surrounded b sorta dingy streets shoooullldd clue the player in that something aint right about that mans finances. something aint adding up. someones added a few zeroes.

anyway back to bronwyn. what type she would be doesssss wholly depend on the e4. 1 member of the e4 is confirmed, and thats Rhia/Elliot, who are multi type trainers. so thats that specialisation taken care of. Bronwyn would not be a poison type trainer, because shes supposed to turn this city the fuck around. uh. OOH!!! FAIRY!!!! fuck!!! of course!!!!! she should a fairy type gym leader. fuck. though, oooo, what if the Champion is the fairy type? shit. shit shit. nn.

hmm. well, ok. one of these 5 trainers (3 e4, champ, Bronwyn) needs to be fighting. one should be ice, perhaps a foreigner (sinnoh? which discounts Bronwyn, who is from Unova.... though......... lotta ice. got a vanniluxe and everything...... HMMMMMMMM) Electric might be good, since that isnt represented at all in the gyms uh. fairy, of course. and... hmm. steel? that was sorta Elliots thing but id be fine with an actual steel expert. though that would be sorta weird since the implication with the e4 is that they’ve basically been unchanged since Elliot retired, until the OTHER guy also retired. so there being another steel expert doesnt make much sense, and i dont think it super fits Bronwyn. uh. tit. graaass? grass might be a good fit for Bronwyn actually, if its all about like, regrowth. thats a nice idea.

ok, Bronywn is grass type. so then the 4 e4c members are fighting, ice, electric and fairy. which ones the chaaaampion???? fairy?? fairy is probably best. nice.

i like that. i also think that maybe you SHOULD be able to challenge bronwyn at some point. maybe you can fight her, to ‘christen’ her gym. she wouldnt be difficult, i wouldnt think, but it’d be a nice fun thing. would she give you a badge, though? hmm... maybe she gives you multiple items instead. idk. that’s up in the air.

i do like that idea though. it WOULD be important to highlight that 8 wasn’t a member of the Team, though. idk how to really provide that distinction, and i suppose it doesnt matter much? plus, if you look at it, 8 has allowed the Team to build a base on town without batting an eyelid because 8 doesnt care, so, yknow, facilitation. gj, git.

[isaacathom]

ok ive decided stuff about the admins

theres 4 of them. theres YT, a Doctor guy, the Ceo, and a small fry who is the ‘fodder’ admin. think like..... proton??? the green guy from team rocket in gen 2/4. that guy.

cause i think that gives a good spread. cause in ‘marketing’, youd only know about the doctor and the small fry. you know YT exists, and you might assume theyre part of team whatsit, but its unconfirmed. you dont know the CEO exists at all. and in terms of team admins, two seems fair, not super unnatural. no worries.

it also gives a good spread of how these admins feel about what theyre doing and what they specifically support. YT, she hates this, but she supports the ‘goal’ of defaming the gym leaders/e4/champ. hence, she heads up that division. its not a separate goal, but any time the team wants to fuck with their reputation, YT is the one they call.

the Doc is for public safety. why is he part of a gang? thats my real problem with him but im gonna work on that later. but hes in to keep the people safe and sees the rest as a means to that end, an unfortunate stepping stone on the way to like, security n shit. hes a bit oblivious to just hoooowwww bad the leader is

the CEO is all about control. control freak. its why they were placed as the ceo of the facade company, they run shit, fastidious, they want the world just so. they dont care about the e4 or about public safety, but think that if dealing with those will lead to their perfect lil sphere of influence, theyll make pretend.

the small fry is basically just leader lite. they totally idolise the leader of team whatsit, and as such they just PARROT it. they emulate the leader in every way, minus tact and like, general competence. so theyre just like, cult like, its kinda fucked if you think about it. the reason theyre an admin is basically just as a fall guy.

the idea here is that soon, soooooon, team whatsit’s facade company is gonna do a MASSIVE raid on a team whatsit warehouse, and they will capture small fry. hand them over to the police. because small fry is actually an admin, they can act convincingly to the police, but because the other admins arent actually divulging secrets to small fry, they are at noo risk of being uncovered through this. as a result of this, to ensure small fry doesnt know too much, theyve only heard fake names of the other admins, fake locations and shit about them, and theyve ONLY met the leader face to face. their news comes to them through letters exclusively. they dont know anything more than they should.

and itd be fun because when YOU meet small fry, which is before the Big Raid, they tell you all this super innacurate information. like, you already know who the Doc is (because he does have a name i just havent made it up yet), but this small fry tells you a completely incorrect name. like everything he says in incorrect. and youre like, what the fuck is happening??? why is this admin so out of loop?

and the thing is, its pretty fucked up, because if the small fry realises that theyve been tricked, that the leader betrayed them and is getting them genuinely sent to jail (because to break them out would be to put the whole peace facade at risk), they cant actually tattle. because they dont know ANYTHING. theyre fucked, basically. the only way that admin gets off is if the leader admits everything, or if you (the player) found something that proved their ‘innocence’ and lack of evil intent. you probably wouldnt, though. cause the idea is, this admin is REALLY small fry. you encounter them maybe twice, once separately in a small town where they attempt to orchestrate smth, like a rbbery of a family business, something petty. and then once during the raid, which you take part in, i think. cause you ran errands for the CEO, and they call on you for another favour because youre oh so talented, to help them raid the warehouse and capture small fry. and you do! you get to small fry and theyre captured. CEO congratulates you with a nice sum of money, and tells you that if you ever wants a job with the company when youre older, that the door is always open. thats the laaaast time you see small fry (they might be mentioned on tv occasionally thereafter because of the story trigger), and its the last time you mandatorily see the CEO before theyre revealed to be Big Ol Bad.

idk. i think its fun? like it sucks for small fry because i imagine theyre young, possibly a similar age to YT (who is, AT MOST, 25, and much more likely to be around 20 years old), or a lil younger, say 18. naive, enamoured. poor kid.

i think small fry is the only admin you cant actually rescue, unless theyres a post game story (side story, because in my Dream of Dreams theres like 5 post game subplots because fuck you god i live my life) in which you visit them in the police center and help em clear their name. dunno how THAT’d manifest. maybe its part of a YT story. like, post game, you do a bunch of YT missions to help the tie up loose ends. free small fry. help the doctor. punch the ceo in the face. that sort of thing. i mean thats incredibly vague.

i mean, you cant rescue the CEO or the Leader either. the doctor is probably fine. YT is either captured voluntarily or disappears into the ether only to reappear to roundhouse kick elito and leave again. possibly a combob. idk. thatd be an interesting idea for post game. or, ooh, something to do with the gym leaders. helping them sorta rebuild the city, that sorta shit. cause like, the city (Melbourne, fuckeeeeerrrrssss) got straight up fucked. not as bad as like, opelucid that one time, though that was also JUST some ice and it maybe caused some minor flooding. this shit was like rage on the streets, or something. lot of damage. bunch of broken windows. worker and police npcs everywhere. yknow.

and you help them fix that up, maybe while hunting down the CEO, perhaps, or the leader if they made a getaway. im thinking the CEO, because if the leader got away itd be a kind of cop out (see at least with ghetsis he broke out BETWEEN games. thats a difference), but the CEO being out in the wild isnt hyper unusual.

idk. thats some far future shit.

as far as encounters with the admins goes???? or with the team in general. so first you meet grunts, and then you meet small fry (1). meet more grunts, and perhaps thats how you meet CEO (-1), through being witnessed. idk. whoo. then you meet more grunts, and then im thinking you meet Doc (1). then you meet CEO (0) again, after you run the errand, and then you go off to the next town without incident before the raid, where you ruin small frys (2) life. then im thinking you keep going and thats when you meet YT (1) as an admin for the first time, when you decide to keep dishing out vigilante justice and go after them in another place. after you, you encounter CEO (1) as admin as well. this is JUST before chaos city shit, in which you will fight CEO (2) DOC (2) and YT (2) again. its also where youll meet leader (1). and im thinking you might fight them twice. the first time solo, and the second time after the summoning of the legendaries, in which its a double fight with leader (2) and CEO/YT (3?), depending. then you win, congrats. you only fight doc twice. after you beat him in the city he exits the building to go help people on the street, and he is not present at the whatsit climax.

not sure if the double battle is with YT or CEO. might depend on in what order you fight them in the city. you do see YT before you get to the building, as YT is in the pokemon center and tells you to leave for your own safety. also with the double battle, not sure if you and your friend have the legendarie or they do. both make sense. i like both. also why is your friend there? mans powerful.

problem with that rundown is it DOES possibly remove the whole ‘elito fucking flees’ scenario but that could easily be slotted into the skyscraper thing and serve to remove YT from the climax of it, thus leaving the double battle as Leader/CEO. Besides, youve fought YT BEFORE that as well. theres the optional fight that lets you skip doing like the 3rd gym until way later, and theres a fight i think befor and after that one. one really early, not when she first meets you in like the first town that isnt your home, maybe the one after that. and then theres another in between like. the doc fight and the small fry battle. maybe yt tries to prevent you from joining the raid (UNDERSTANDABLY given what happened to her). thatd be fun. and thatd be the last time you see her before the admin reveal. yea, thatd work ok.

ofc the problem is pacing. aside from the fact that Fuck Me I cant Pace Worth a Shit, the towns need to be placed good. the last thing i want is a repeat of west kalos which was the MOST BORING THING THAT EVER HAPPENED. god fuck west kalos. west kalos is ass. cause you beat viola, right, and then you go to lumiose, go to the useless town, go to the manor up the road, go to another useless town, go to a cave, THEN you get to the next town and fight grant and its like what the fuck was that about. god that shit was stupid. you didnt even get to fight an admin at the end of that cave shit. god that was dumb. god fuck west kalos.

but yea. you dont wanna repeat it. and one way we do that is by not arbitrarily shutting off half of a fucking city. mostly because pokeMelbourne would be more uh, city on melemele than Lumiose Cuck Fuck. Hold on, i need to do a quick comparison in sizes, hold up.

well. melbourne certainly is bigger than paris. but i think, oooh, OOOOOOHHHH, ooooooooh no ive got an idea. cause like, /i/ live in the city of melbourne right, despite being a solid hour from the cbd, im like half way from the city to the east beaches. (ok more like a third but bare with me)

so. you could have a biiiig sprawling city that is actually divided into 3 ‘places’. like, its a big urban sprawl. and youve got the cbd, which is ‘the city proper’, which is where the chaos takes place. and then there are two outer suburbs of the city!!!! which means you could have multiple gyms within the same ‘city’, because the city by square kms is Fucking Giganto like, guys, Paris is like 100sq kms and melbourne is 9900sq kms, get the Fuck out of here, oh my god. shit, even new york (castelia) is like, 800sq kms. buddy. buddy we’re in. oh buddy that sounds so cool. cause then it means, ooh, if we /wanted/ to do something akin to skipping the gym in lumiose the first time, it wouldnt be an issue, because there are still two other gyms. you dont feel like its a useless detour. like oh no, a power outage, cant even walk the fucking streets, wow. not like backup generators exist.

but like, youd have home town, then next town with the first gym (and your first YT encounter, sans fight because she doesnt fight you), THEN you enter the city outskirts and its a second gym, then the city proper and you skip that gym because thats like the 5th gym, then you head out the western outskirts and fight the 3rd gym. something like that! and the connecting routes would be city streets slowly getting more and more urban the closer you get to the city proper. ooooooOOOOOOHHH yea i like that, i like that a lot.

see this is fun. i love this