#He's just canonically her brother everywhere - Even if he's not actually PRESENT in the verse for whatever reason

[fireflowerpom]

Of course, Sera ALSO got herself a Genshin Impact verse! A snow leopard hailing from Snezhnaya, she's fled from her birthplace and gotten tangled up in the life of Zack, a Fatuus who later breaks away and runs with her to settle in Mondstadt. Not much changes about Sera between her usual info and GI aside from the fact she's a snow leopard here, and just in a whole new setting, with her ice magic now in the form of a cryo vision <3

Her network of contacts is greatly expanded here, and she's got a hand in more than even she's aware of at any given point in time. Inazuma, Snezhnaya, Fontaine, Liyue, Sumeru... She's made friends and even gained found family in each of the nations, and in Inazuma specifically, discovered her eldest brother, Thoma, is alive and well (and is her brother, not her cousin - A discovery of a 'gift' given to her and Thoma by Childe at her wedding ceremony). The harbinger that had been sent to hunt her down has even turned on his eployer for the job and sided with her, and Sera's not sure how she's gotten herself in the middle of this awkward little found family, but hey - She's not complaining! <3

Weapon: Bow

Vision: Cryo

Constellation: Pardus Caeli (Sky Leopard)

[iamartemisday]

Merry Christmas, Miss Foster! Part One

A/N: For Lokane Week, I am resurrecting the Miss Foster series!

Well sort of. The next official part of the series has been half written for... some time now. I’m working on it, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on. You know how it goes.

For those unfamiliar, the Miss Foster series is an all human AU in which Jane is a second grade teacher who ends up with Loki’s three children in his class. Said kids are a bit too smart for their ages and decide Jane is exactly the kind of person their billionaire single father needs. And since there are LOKI’S children we’re talking about, they get into some wacky hijinks along the way.

This story is honestly in kind of a grey area in terms of continuity. It’s sort of like an anime movie where the timeline isn’t clear and it’s kind of just contained within itself. Semi-canon so to speak.

Regardless, whether you know this verse or not, I hope you all enjoy and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

**

The Odinson family had a log cabin nestled on a hilltop in the heart of Lake Placid. The only thing that shocked Jane was that it wasn’t three stories. 

Snow was freshly fallen, just in time for the holidays. The sky was bright white, clouds masking the sun in preparation of another wintery onslaught. Riding in the back of a limousine, Jane flipped through several hundred stations, almost all of which were playing the same old Christmas music she knew by heart. Some of them were her favorite songs of all time. Many others she’d happily tear her eardrums out before she listened to them again.

At least the roads were clear, at least for now. The forecast called for clear skies until the 20th, when Jack Frost descended to unleash the full force of his icy fury upon the unsuspecting New York populace. Or so the weatherman rather hammily declared.

Which begged the question: why did Loki want to spend Christmas in the middle of the woods?

Another question: why did Jane agree to go with them?

It was the kids. She needed to face facts and admit to herself that for all her posturing and assertion of authority as their teacher, those three little angels wielded the power of the puppy dog eyes, and they were not afraid to use it.

“We bought this cabin from an old man who used it as a hunting lodge,” said Jormungandr. He flipped through the book in his lap. As always, it was roughly the size of his entire body. “He used to come out here with his two sons during deer season. Then one of them moved away and the other decided to be a vegan. Now he’s in Florida with his wife. He said the weather would do wonders for his aching joints.”

“I’m surprised you remember all that,” Jane mumbled. 

“Dad’s offer nearly gave him a heart attack,” said Fenrir, stretching out in his seat like he was desperate to move. “His asking price was way lower.”

“But it was worth the money,” Hela proclaimed, beaming so hard her entire face glowed. Even the scars were less apparent. “And we fixed it up real nice. We go out and chop down a giant tree, and we decorate it and we put up lights and-”

“We don’t need a play-by-play,” Fenrir snapped, shoving his sister. “And quit yelling in my ear.”

“I wasn’t yelling!” Hela yelled. “Maybe you just need to clean your ears out.”

“Maybe you do!”

“Do not.”

“Do too!”

“See?” Jormungandr smiled. “Not even any hair-pulling. They’re already in the holiday spirit.”

“They most certainly are,” said Loki. 

He drove over a rough patch in the road, the tires grinding through the rocks and making the inside jostle. Jane held tight to the dashboard until the road smoothed out. As expected, Loki had no reaction to it at all. He guided the car along the dirt path like he’d been doing it all his life. Like maybe he came out every summer to hunt deer now.  Jane tried to picture him in a plaid shirt with a vest over it and a hunter’s cap. She wished she could laugh at the ridiculous idea, but like everything else the asshole wore, the idea just made her cheeks warm.

The mountains were lovely, she couldn’t deny that. Swathes of fir trees and a pure white sky gave the jagged cliff sides that picturesque quality Thomas Kinkade painting were made for. In fact, Jane was pretty sure she had seen these mountains in one of his greeting cards. Maybe Loki owned land around the cabin and licensed it out. For all she knew, they filmed Hallmark movies out here. Hell, maybe she was about to star in her own Hallmark movie. 

Rich, handsome single father locked in a cabin for a week with his children’s second grade teacher. It practically wrote itself.

“What’s funny?” Loki asked.

Jane started. “Huh? I wasn’t laughing.”

“But you were smiling.” 

“Smiling doesn’t mean something is funny,” Jane sat up straighter in her seat, “I might just like to smile.”

“Like Buddy the Elf?”

“Yes, exactly. Thank you, Hela.”

The little girl beamed, her lips lined with chocolate as she reached for the bowl of M&Ms. “Maybe we can watch it tomorrow. Tonight is The Muppet Christmas Carol.”

“Since when do you get to decide what movie we watch?” Fenrir snatched the M&Ms away. “I want to watch Die Hard.”

“Die Hard is for the 26th, Fenrir,” Hela retorted. 

“Guys, come on,” Jane said, adjusting the rear view mirror to see them better. “We can decide when we get there what to watch. And don’t eat all of those. You’re going to get sick.”

“Don’t worry, they’re sugar free,” said Fenrir. “Otherwise, we’d have Jormungandr tied up in the trunk so he can’t get at them.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Jormungandr said, slamming his book shut.

“Welcome to the Odinson family Christmas,” he muttered in her ear. “Are you happy you said yes?”

Jane stared out the window as another pile of rocks whizzed by. “I’ll let you know.”

The car crawled higher and higher up the hillside. Every time Jane thought she saw a wooden roof in the distance, Loki turned a new corner. The town below had long since vanished. She wondered if they’d ever see it again. Someone had turned the radio on. The children sang along to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, their off-key but passionate interpretation earning applause from Jane and a smile from Loki.

By the time the shadow of a slanted roof came into view, they’d gone through Christmastime Is Here and that Alvin and the Chipmunks song. Now the music faded into the background as Jane beheld a palace of a cabin in the woods. Polished wood with a stone chimney. A covered patio and an observation deck overlooking the trees. In the back was a small structure, possibly a shed or even an indoor jacuzzi. Jane had learned never to assume with this family, and always expect the unexpected.

“By the way, our basement pool is currently closed,” Loki said as they pulled into the driveway. “We’re having issues with the heating system, but someone will be out to fix it shortly.”

“Great. I didn’t even pack a suit…” 

The cold smacked Jane in the face as soon as she was out of the car. Looking around, there were ice patches everywhere. Some had been dissolved with rocksalt, but what remained made the front lawn resemble a minefield. It was a sentiment not shared by the kids, who raced to the front porch, cheering all the way.

“We’re going to have so much fun!” Jormungandr hopped in place. “We’re going to put up the tree and sing Christmas carols and bake cookies and wrap presents and build snowmen and-”

“Are you sure those M&Ms were sugar free?” Fenrir asked Hela, who shrugged.

“Now now, children,” Loki chided them, “remember we’re not alone this year. Grandmother, Grandfather, Uncle Thor, and Aunt Sif will be along in just a few days. We want to kept this place clean and presentable for them, don’t we?”

“Yes, Dad,” the triplets said. They walked up the stairs, speaking softly, and didn’t start screaming again until they were safely inside. 

“A whole week out here,” Jane said, taking in the crisp mountain air. “Here I thought I’d just spend Christmas with a bowl of cereal again.”

“It won’t be that much of a change of scenery,” Loki said as the second car trailing behind them finally caught up. Out stepped a man glaring daggers at Loki. Luckily, Jane had convinced him not to actually bring any weapons. “I was nice enough to invite your dear brother along.”

“Yeah, you’re a saint, pal,” Bucky said, pushing past him. He managed to smile at Jane. Not even Loki’s presence could completely dampen his mood. 

“Whoo! That was a hell of a ride!” Bucky’s passenger proclaimed, stumbling out of the car.

Loki sniffed. “And your… Darcy.” 

Jane nodded. “Yeah, that was real nice of you.”

“You guys are lucky I couldn’t afford to go home this year,” Darcy said, flashing them a thumbs up. “By the way, I brought my own Menorah. Any place in there I can put it up?”

“The mantle should do nicely,” Loki said. “Just don’t touch anything.”

“I will do my best to respect your humble abode, Major Moneybags!” Darcy skipped along, leaving the pair, finally, completely alone.

“She needs to think up some more creative nicknames,” Loki observed, hand on his chin. “Why does she follow you everywhere?”

“Well, when I first moved into my apartment, she came over to ask if I had one of those whipped cream makers,” Jane sighed, “and then she just kind of never left.”

Loki hummed, and with that, they started for the porch. Luck, as it turned out, was on Jane’s side. She made it a full three steps before she slipped. With a yelp, she grabbed blindly for the nearest sturdy object. She hung on tight as her eyes unclouded and her mind reoriented itself. It was only then that rough leathery material in her hand shifted. Loki raised his arm, pulling Jane with him. She continued to cling to him, blinking stupidly at his chiselled features. It hit her all too late that they probably shouldn’t be doing this. 

“Uh…” Jane said, stepping away and almost slipping again. “Thanks. Sorry.”

Loki pocketed his hands and glided across the ice patches, like he controlled them as much as he did everything else in his life. “Do be more careful next time.”

“Right.” Jane shuffled after her, head bowed, face boiling. 

This was going to be a long Christmas.

[killthebxy]

          i decided a bit of writing about this topic would be a good idea, considering it’s one i talk more and more often about in this blog. so... why am i so openly opposed to the idea of Jon sitting the Iron Throne? as a starting point, for this to be viable, the show went for the theory that Jon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark --- fair enough. it is not my favorite theory for Jon’s parentage, but it doesn’t bug me and i can live with it. especially because it has some advantages, such as making it possible that Jon becomes the one who rides Rhaegal, which is always super interesting to explore in my writing and my headcanons. the actual problem, as turns out to be the case with pretty much everything D&D do, is not the content but the way in which it is presented.

          first, and from my perspective, it’s cliché writing that clearly aims for a happy ending --- Jon Snow is our lord and savior and never did anything wrong in his life, therefore deserves to be king and rule for 76 years and live happily ever after. i’m speaking for myself here, but i’m sure 99.8% of the ASOIAF rp community will agree when i say that this series (the books, at least) are NOT meant to have a happy ending. bittersweet, at most. because that’s the world GRRM has built and, hey, it’s real life. it is very unrealistic to expect that this story can have a simplistic ending, where the good guys win and the bad guys lose and everything is linear and easy. so what did D&D do? they clearly wanted Jon to become the main protagonist, because Kit Harington is hot and has nice hair and the audience loves him, so they needed a motive to make him the heir to the throne --- so let’s just find a way to make him a Targaryen because Targaryens are the royal people! let’s go for the easiest way possible and say that he’s Rhaegar’s son even though there was barely any foreshadowing for this before (friendly reminder that GRRM is quality trash for symbolism and foreshadowing) and let’s do it because we can and for the heck of it! who cares if it’s commercial writing and cliché people love this!!!!! lol who cares for realistic characters and storylines anyway we have CGI dragons!!!!

          which immediately raises a question: what about Aegon Targaryen? and by Aegon Targaryen i mean Egg, Young Griff, the son of Rhaegar and Elia and younger brother to Rhaenys --- the only Aegon Targaryen i will ever acknowledge in this blog. for argument’s sake, i’ll assume that in the books Young Griff is not an impostor and Jon Connington is actually doing the realm a service --- which means this is the actual heir to the Iron Throne, if we also go by a logic that a rebellion is a non-valid way to claim a throne and that Robert was indeed a usurper. even if Jon is Rhaegar’s son, Egg is older than Jon --- therefore, HE comes first in the line for succession. and here let me be fair --- this isn’t solely a GOT problem, it is very difficult, if not impossible, for a show to ever capture the depth of the books it is based on. the ASOIAF series has hundreds of characters, i do not completely fault the show for not including all of them and i can understand this. what i cannot understand is thinking that Aegon is the only Targaryen name that ever existed and therefore LET’S NAME EVERYONE AEGON!!!!!!!! seriously. even if the guy does not exist in the show (or, well, never survived the sack of King’s Landing) --- why would you do this. literally you could just use Google and search “popular kingly Targaryen names”. can you be any lazier than this.

          anyway. on the other hand, and even assuming Egg does not exist anymore in the show --- then what about Dany’s claim? true, in this scenario, Jon’s claim would come first --- because he’s older, and because he’s a man. much as it IS sexist and misogynist and unfair, this is the way Westeros works save for Dorne. thing is... the only way for this to make sense would be if Jon is Rhaegar’s legitimate son AND THIS IS THE “DETAIL” THAT MAKES ME SEETHE AND SPIT SALT EVERYWHERE. let me address this step by step... i already wrote a meta about Jon’s bastard nature (CLICK) and the impact it has. being a bastard is the central pillar in Jon’s identity and his psychological functioning, and you do not erase 20+ years (in show canon) of living with this mindset in a day or two. you do not. it’s not realistic, it’s not humanly possible. Jon has internalized that stigma, he sees himself the way almost everyone in Westeros sees bastard children, and he feels the constant need to compensate for it --- to prove that he’s not of bad blood and not a cunning, treacherous, ambitious person who’d do anything to have a real name and real power. you don’t just push a button in your brain and suddenly none of this matters anymore.

          which comes laced with another huge problem, to say it very mildly: the annulment of Rhaegar’s and Elia’s marriage. i am honestly not even going to detail how much of a complete disrespect this is, to Elia Martell in particular and to Dorne in general --- my lovely friends who write Dornish muses can do this much more brilliantly than me. but. can i just state how much of a dick move this is? how racist and xenophobic? let’s just grab this poor woman who was already humiliated, raped, harassed, butchered by Gregor Clegane and shit on her even more by saying almighty beautiful noble Prince Rhaegar didn’t care for her to the point of getting a divorce for the sake of marrying another woman. because according to robot-Bran HE LOVED HER AND SHE LOVED HIM!!!!!! ROBERT’S REBELLION WAS BUILT ON A LIE!!!!!!!!! WHO CARES IF AERYS II LITERALLY ROASTED BRANDON AND RICKARD STARK ALIVE!!!!!!! IT WAS ALL FOR EPIC ROMANTIC LOVE!!!!!!!!! ...like. what do you even say to this. i, as someone who loves Jon Snow with every cell of my entire being, am ASHAMED that Elia Martell was portrayed as no more than meat for slaughter and a plot device so that my muse could become a legitimate heir to an ugly iron chair. not to mention --- what does this whole thing mean in the end? that a bastard is not fit to be king, therefore he must first be legitimated by any excuses possible no matter how low and vile. BASICALLY D&D CONFIRM EVERY SINGLE STEREOTYPE ABOUT BASTARDS. THEY’RE ONLY GOOD AND PROPER IF THEY HAVE ACTUAL PURE BLOOD. CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW STUPID THIS WHOLE THING IS, I FEEL MY SOUL LEAVING MY BODY EVERY TIME I EVEN THINK ABOUT THIS.

          ...in conclusion. these are the reasons why i absolutely loathe the idea of Jon as the heir to the Iron Throne. continuity errors and cliché/lazy writing that i can live with to a degree but, above everything else, the disrespect to Elia and the disrespect to Jon himself. and this is why, in this blog, i will never ever acknowledge Jon as a legitimate Targaryen. in this blog, he’s always bastard-born, no matter who his father or mother are. and this is also why the only verse where i’ll write Jon as heir to the throne and king is my mad king verse (CLICK) --- because it comes with consequences and at a heavy price, and even in this verse he’s bastard-born. in every other verse and thread and plot i write, he’s king regent/king consort because he married the rightful queen. and he’s a Snow. Jon Snow doesn’t need to have legitimate birth for me to love & adore him fiercely and for me to want to die a thousand deaths for him, and he certainly does not need to be heir to a chair. and, no matter what s08 brings, i’ll be here to rewrite it because D&D are gonna ruin this boy’s essence and nature over my cold dead body turned to a wight with black hands and blue eyes.

[dracula-in-purple-story]

Pride Month 2/3 [BONUS]

Pride Race is here!

Author’s Note : All of this is ENTIRELY NON-CANON. I’m still working on my writing skills. Thank You and Enjoy, hopefully.

It’s the second week of Pride Month, and the first day of Pride Race! People of all species are mixing their crowd to group up before twelve o’clock strike. Some are changing their colours constantly, some are stretching their bodies out, some are puzzling with excitement, some are waxing their spikes or tentacles and much more species are doing warm up or just talked around to ease their own tension.

The Pride Race are something to be excited as it is the only tournament that can be set and create by winners of the last Pride Race. It’s even more exciting since this is the first Pride Race that the underground citizens get to join. The stands and Audience Area is overfilled with both residents and visitors but they really didn’t mind as the games is starting.

Team CephaHook have the biggest noise around them as they consisted of two mega pop stars and half of the members in the strongest League Team. Hachi is too immersed into clips of some previous Pride Race, Huit is doing work outs with Tres while Off the Hook are just waiting for the race to began. “It’s great to have you guys in the team! Me and Pearlie can’t find other friends to substitute for Sashimori. They have to take care of Paul while cheering on the stands there.”

Huit grinned at Marina after Tres pulled her up, “Don’t worry, Marina. We are going to try our best!” Pearl snorted as she looked up the girl in the eye. “Try? Pfft, we are going to win! If we win, we get to choose some event for those try-hards!”

“But, we are going to have fun, right?”

“Yeah, but our main priority is to win, yo! It’s like the most challenging League that is custom made!”

“I agree with Pearl, sister.” Hachi looked up from his OctoPhone, “Those clips Fior downloaded for me are totally nuts! Not as crazy as the test but it’s crazy enough to know they are a one-time thing!”

“One... time?” Huit jaw-dropped as she tried to see if her brother is lying. “You mean, we only get to play those fancy games... once?”

He nodded. And the clock strikes to twelve.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Welcome to this year’s Pride Race! We were the winners from the previous Pride Race, the Squid Agents!” Callie shouted, “I see a lot of familiar faces that is ready to face their challenges again! But would they win this time? Because this year, we got a lot of visiting players from the underground!”

“It would make our games much more interesting, Cal.” Marie smirked, “In the meantime, we would state the usual good old rules for the newbies. One, respect your opponent. Two, don’t physically or mentally hurt people. Three, don’t glorify your sexuality or gender.”

“We also add a specific rule for people with spiky hair.” Sei added, “Especially Team Roadies, please don’t use your spike on chairs-related games, sincerely from the participants of the Musical Chairs from the previous Pride Race.” a group of Aromantic Urchins laugh uncontrollably as they high five at each other.

“Before we start the games, let us explain how the Race work. I would like some silence please, so the people without the speakers around could hear me.” Erek started as soon as the crowd quieten, “For the first day of the Race, we would have some elimination round to determine the sixteen groups that are going to be in the next round. As the days goes on, the system would tally the results for us to announce at the final day. The team with the most points wins and would be able to decide the games for the next Pride Race!”

Excitement cheers and roars are everywhere. Some people are doing their own battlecries, some are inkstagramming or doing live in their phones and some are being annoyed about the noises and wished it could start already. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The first game is Egg Hunt. People who found a coloured egg would proceed to the next game. At first, finding them is easy enough but-

“Sorry, Team Fruit Jam. Not the egg we wanted. DISQUALIFIED!”

Many groups were disqualified one after another. Some group who are lucky enough got into the next round. This game took quite long as the sun began to set.

“I knew this is too easy to proceed...” Marina pouted as she heard the announcement that another team are disqualified. Pearl and Tres grunted while the octoling twins are still analysing between the five eggs they have collected. They need to be quick because Fior just announced the fifteen group had just qualified, making the remaining teams to scatter around like crazy. Hachi thought for a while, “Tres?”

“Yes, Hachi?”

“Can you check those eggs that the qualified teams brought up to stage?”

Tres shrugged before running to the stage. She returned with a photo and she pass it to Hachi. He looked between the pictures and the five eggs they got. “PfftHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Hachi suddenly got up, “Why we didn’t think of that?” It’s just right in front of us!” He exclaimed as he quickly picked up the egg from the far right and before anyone could react, he ran to the stage and present to them.

“Wait, yo, Hachi!” Pearl shouted, “We don’t want to get disqualified. This is not what we are here f-”

“WE HAVE OUR LAST LUCKY TEAM WHO WILL ENTER THE NEXT ROUND! CONGRATULATION, TEAM CEPHAHOOK!” Fior shouted as she shook Hachi’s hand enthusiastically. All the remaining teams, including Hachi’s, were shocked. And scream and shout emerged quickly.

“What?! How?!”

“This is outrageous! What is this?!”

“I. Demand. Explanation.”

“Ryan, we talk about this. Don’t threaten with a chair.”

“YES! HACHI, OUR ONLY BOY! WE QUALIFIED! TAKE THAT, SUCKERS!”

“We can play more games now?”

“Yes, Huit dear. Let’s go to the stage to take our qualification letter, shall we?” Marina said gently as she hold Huit’s hand while carrying Pearl like a sack, who doesn’t mind. Tres followed behind with the remaining four eggs with intentions to give it to her younger siblings.

~~~~~~~~~~

New day, new game! All teams are gathered at the bottom of Mount Nantai with flying cameras all around. A big television was positioned at the side of the starting line.

“Okay, brother. You have to tell me about this! How do you found out that that’s our egg we have been searching?” Huit questioned him as she starting to do some stretches with Tres, who stopped to listen. Marina also stopped what she is doing while Pearl is busy making verse for their upcoming album. 

“It’s actually supposed to be easy but our girlfriend confused us.” Hachi smirked a little bit, “She said coloured eggs. Not any colour but specifically, Pride Colours.”

“Pride Colours?” Tres continued her stretching, “She never said to anything about it, didn’t she?” Hachi nodded before took out the SquidPhone his girlfriend used. He pointed at the very picture that portrayed all fifteen eggs, but with something that Hachi said, the three noticed something.

“Why, it is Pride Colours! Why didn’t we thought of that?”

“Knowing that sneaky dwarf, Marina, it’s to make everything much more confusing and time-consuming.” the bitter inkling grumbled as the television is switched on, a clip showing Erek.

“Welcome to Mount Nantai! Today, we are going to have Obstacle Relay Race. This game required 3 team players only. The rest could stay right in front of this television to view their teammates.” Erek grinned widely, “Before we start to teleported your place to the spawn point located at the checkpoints, few warnings would be told. Don’t use any shortcuts even if you venture this place well. Rely on your instinct as you dodged obstacles. Don’t trigger the traps. The fastest one to end up in the finish line would be awarded the most points!”

The clip was closed off. Team Cephahook sent out Tres, Huit and Marina as representatives. As the second and third representatives were teleported off to their checkpoints, the clip was opened again. Erek look apologetic, “Hehe... I forgot to tell you. Avoid getting splatted as you would be respawned to where you started. Good luck!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Screams of team players are displayed on the Audience Area as they got splatted on each direction, causing them to respawned from where they started. Only Tres and Ikkan are still alive and kept on dodging the obstacles.

“Are you sure they are going to be okay?” Erek peek through from his hands that he cover on his eyes. Fior and Marie are eating popcorns while Sei and Callie are so worried they sweat buckets.

“Oh, pwease!” Fior mumbled through her full mouth, “They arr goiee to be fwine!” 

“I hope so. Besides, Rekki add in some harmless stuff, right?” Sei gulped nervously as Tres doing backflips over and over. He know that Tres’ imaginary middle name is Acrobatics Danger but he can���t help feeling nauseous as she keep flipping back and forth.

Erek gasped, “Actually... there is one thing I added in because of my Grandmama’s suggestion...”

“What is it?” Callie fidgeted as Tres and Ikkan passed the baton, “What did you add in?”

“Well...”

~~~~~~~~~~

 “Oh god, Holy Mackerel! Why are these guys spitting bullets at us?!” Warabi shouted as they got pulled behind the tree by Marina. The OctoCommanders stopped as they couldn’t see them. They squinted around before going back into their position as they saw other players are coming. Splatting one after another, sending them back to their Checkpoint Spawn Point.

“Since you are not from the underground, I should tell you to start run quickly because those guys are fast at splatting their foes.” Marina explained as she analysed the situation before them. Three OctoCommanders, aligned in a row with large space between each of them. She looked around to see other Octoling and Octarian players shielded themselves and protecting their clueless friends after they got splatted once. “Luckily, the only sharp sense they have is sight. We need a decoy.”

“A decoy? Better not be me because I ain’t got those military lessons you had, Marina.” 

“I know,” Marina smiled dangerously, “that’s why we have to make a fake decoy for them to focus on.”

“Yeah, right. Let’s make a decoy out of dried grass and throw some stones in it.” they exclaimed sarcastically, “As if they are going to work.”

Warabi looked around and saw those Octolings and Octarians are tying some dried grass together and throw rocks in it. They looked in disbelief, “Are you guys freaking serious?”

~~~~~~~~~~

The teams are on the edge of their seats. 

“Well, well! Looks like they decided to cooperate together in order to get past the mighty OctoCommanders! And the Octarians are leading them with some sort of decoy!” Erek’s sound came through the speaker. Teams are either fidgeting around or praying nervously. Only Pearl is looking confident, after all, that’s her girlfriend who leads this operation. Nothing to worry about.

The participating players seems to scoot around trees to trees or bushes to bushes. Three of them got too close for comfort. Before the non-participant even came to their senses-

“Fire in the hole!” the closing three Octoling players suddenly emerged out from their bushes to throw some large packages highly on top of each of the OctoCommanders. After that, two of the Twintacle Octotroopers and Marina came out with their handmade slingshots. “Ready...” Marina commanded as the three of them put a sharp rocks in the slingshot, “Aim... Shoot!”

On the screen, the packages is on fire. It lands on top of each OctoCommanders perfectly on fire. They dropped their splatling gun as they took off their berets, patting aggressively on where the fire lands.

“I don’t want to believe this plan actually work... I refuse to believe it...” Warabi mumbled as they ran through the spaces with the rest. The OctoCommanders saw them as they finally get rid of the fire but before they got their guns ready, all of them had ran far away.

The members scooted closer to the television as they squirmed around. “Count on Mommy Marina to do such dangerous stunts like this...” Hachi grasped both his hands tightly that it looks like it hurt.

Pearl smirked. “Ha! That’s not even come close to what she had been inventing in her room!” she retorted, “You should really see that she turned her room to a mad scientist lab, literally.”

“Is that why she’s been sleeping with you?”

“We are lovers, Chi. Besides, she’s still cute with her pouts and dusts on her face.”

“Whatever you said, Mama.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Please tell me that’s Lady Octivia’s idea, Erek...”

“Actually, that’s Kevin’s one.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“I told you already, you literal seaweed! All of us got teleported to the end of the cliff! What do you want me to do?”

The brawny Transgender Angel fish raised his voice as his teammate kept on telling him to go. He’s right though, there’s no more path for them to run forward. The sun is starting to set and they are starting to get very anxious but excited that they have such difficult challenge. 

Huit, on the other hand, seems to know something. After what happened to Marina and Tres, from what she heard, they got encountered a lot of traps. Somehow, she realized something. “Marina? Tres got lots of traps with ink, right? Are they Octarian technology?”

“Now you said it, they really look familiar. Like those traps for invasion...”

Huit quickly grabbed a handful of dirts and threw it towards the cliff. Most of the dirts fell out like normal but-

“Are those dirts... floating?!” a Skoliosexual Crab yelled in shock. All of them turned to where she pointed and immediately got freak out, except for the underground citizens. 

“Oh, invisible paths and walls... how I absolutely love them!”

“Remember how we always bumped into them? Screw this tech.”

“Good thing I took the second baton, am I right, Rockenberg?”

“Shut it, Etce.”

“Why did our ancestors invent this again?”

“Hello, invisible techs my old nemesis.”

As they get busied themselves into the conversation, Huit had gathered a bag of dirts. She throw it and make a conveniently visible path as she goes on, being very careful on not slipping down. As she get closer to the finish line, where Team Squid Agents are with a few flying camera drones, she heard rustling and shouting behind.

“Get out of the way, sea donkeys! Make way!”

“Don’t push, you seacow!”

“Let me get that guy! He pushed me and I need to avenge for myself!”

Crowds of the third baton players are squeezing themselves in and out. Some even fall and ended up getting splatted. Huit got frightened and hurried her process. She almost reached to the end and realised, she was out of dirt. As the crowd getting closer or a few of them filled one after another, she kneel down and use her baton to locate. She crawled and crawled, with a few missteps, until she finally reached the finish line.

“Are you alright, sweetheart? You look pale.” Sei comforted as he caress her face. She broke their intimate contact before snuggled right into his embrace. “I could tell you this is going to be fun, Sei.”