#Humpty Dumpty was pretty good

[dr-hops-thechronomadic-rabbit]

Who had the most badass suicide:

A.) Humpy Dumpty in Puss & Boots

B.) Batman in Superman: Red Son

C.) Icarus from Ancient Greece

D.) Oily Josh from Ancient Palestine

[hanafubukki]

Can be seen as a part 2 to this fic (after some time has passed that is) or can be read as a stand-alone.

“Leave me alone human!”

“For someone who is chained to the ground and gravely injured, you’re pretty loud.”

“I’ll rip you from limb to limb.”

“Why don’t you get better first before we get there hmm?”

General Lilia Vanrouge screeched at you in the fae language, some of which you knew were curses. Ah yes, you can’t wait to make fun of your Lilia when you get back to your time. His cursing while playing video games had you easily recognizing some of them now.

Luckily for you and your ears, the General wore himself out. The wounds from the iron and those of the battles weakened him.

It didn’t help that he also had a fever as a result. You were put in this cell to help him recover. Humpty Dumpty- well, King Henrik, implied it was the least you could do.

A random human that was pick up by his men, who was using valuable resources that could go to his soldiers instead. Never mind the fact that you helped treat said soldiers and gather said resources.

The Knight of Dawn had clenched his fist, about to speak up on your behalf. But you simply grabbed his hand and shook your head. It wasn’t worth it. King Henrik would just make his life harder for talking back, and you didn’t want that. The Knight of Dawn dealt with enough, you didn’t want to add onto his troubles.

…But you also didn’t realize that meant staying locked up in this cell with General Lilia Vanrouge either.

The General wasn’t exactly happy when he first met you, and you couldn’t blame him. You just weren’t used to the open hatred from familiar eyes you would see everyday. Eyes that were always friendly to you, now burned you.

The first time you tried to provide him treatment, he had fought back until his wounds weakened him to an unconscious state. You had silently treated him then. Not a soul a witness to your tears.

As the weeks passed, the General gradually stopped fighting back, probably due to his weakening state…it didn’t shut his mouth though funny enough.

You were only let out for a change of clothes, a bath, a proper meal, and a bed to sleep in every few days. Even then, King Henrik made it seem as if that was too good for you.

You later found out it was due to the Knight of Dawn’s request that you were even allowed such accommodations. Your heart ached at the idea of what he must have gone through to get you this, as you knew King Henrik did not treat him well.

You breathed softly, you wished you could return home soon.

You were dressing a wound on Lilia when you felt him stir.

“Melea…Le…B…”

You took a wet cloth and wiped his forehead.

He must be dreaming about his family.

You knew all would be well in the future, but that didn’t mean current events didn’t affect you.

It hurt you to see so many struggle in a useless war, due to greed from one man.

Lilia clutched at his stomach, his sharp claw like nails reopening the wounds you had painstakingly bandaged.

You quickly grabbed his hands and sucked in a breath of pain. His nails dug into your skin, drawing blood. His grip could break your bones to tiny, incomprehensible pieces, but you held on.

You knew he wanted to be free and return home, to protect his loved ones. You were determined to heal him for that very reason.

“Damn it Lilia Vanrouge! You will get through this! You have so much to look forward to. So many people who love you! Now, stop being a prick and let me go so I can treat you!”

Surprisingly, he let you go. You ignored your bleeding, aching hands in order to reseal his wound.

“…will you be in that future?”

You froze, turning and looking into feverish eyes.

“Yes.”

General Lilia Vanrouge fell into a deep sleep for the next 10 days.

You were returning to Lilia’s cell when a knife was held to your neck.

“Human, where is the fae you captured?”

Ah, it seems rescue finally arrived for Lilia. It took them long enough.

You looked up into hardened, familiar eyes. Baul Zigvolt would have been a sight for sore eyes if he didn’t, you know, have a knife to your throat.

“I would gladly show you if you take that knife away.”

“You-”

“Besides, I was heading right in that direction. If you don’t want to be caught, you better hurry.”

You continued walking, listening to Baul grumble about frustrating humans. You couldn’t help the slight smile on your face as you remembered similar words said by his grandson.

You led Baul quickly and quietly to the cell that practically became a second home to you. No one in sight. You had noticed, unlike the men that the Knight of Dawn commanded, the men directly under King Henrik were…well, just like him: sleazy and lazy.

They let their guards down thinking The Right General of the Fae was too weak and couldn’t take any of them on. They even implied you were nothing but a sacrificial lamb should said Fae get angry, but of course, they would rescue you at a price.

It took you all you could not to spit in their faces or smash their heads on the wall. The self defense lessons Silver and Sebek taught you provided security that you would forever be grateful for.

It was due to this fatal thinking that Baul was able to infiltrate the base, as the men went to seek entertainment elsewhere.

When you arrived, you opened the cell door quietly so as to not hurt sensitive ears. The sun was high enough for the cell to be well lit.

You heard Baul hiss in anger before rushing to his general’s side. Lilia didn’t seem surprised to see him, telling you how he must have always known rescue would come for him.

“General!”

“Careful! You’ll-”

Baul recoiled from the burns the iron chains struck at him.

“I tried to warn you.” You shook your head. You sat next to Lilia, taking his hand in yours. From the corner of your eye, you could see Baul tense but Lilia motioned for him to remain calm.

You picked at the lock. Another thing to be thankful for, your lock picking skills, which you learned quickly from days you were locked outside of Ramshackle Dorm because Grim forgot the key or the door just wouldn’t open.

“You got it in one go this time.”

“I told you I had surprises up my sleeves. I just needed the right tools.”

“Hmm, so you say.”

Baul looked at both of you as if you both at grown two heads each. Lilia noticed his look and waved towards his feet. Where chains that should have been locked were open.

“Any longer, Baul, and I would have rescued myself.”

Baul stammered before apologizing. You turned away to hide your smile.

Within moments, the atmosphere changed. General Lilia Vanrouge had to escape and return to his men.

“Leave.”

“What?”

“You have to leave. You need to return to your troops."

Lilia clenched his jaw, looking at you. You couldn't return with him; you both knew that. It didn't stop him from trying, but you shook your head before he could even open his mouth.

"I can't go with you."

A human amongst the fae would not last long, at least not now. There was too much hatred.

You took the cuffs that had been his tormentor for so long and locked them around your hands. You chose to ignore the angry growl Lilia tried to hide at the sight of the cuffs now imprisoning you.

"I'll make it look like you escaped, now go."

"They'll hurt you."

You shook your head.

"The Knight of Dawn would never let that happen."

He knew you were right. The Knight of Dawn had visited several times, helping you treat his wounds and restrain him when the fever would have him lash out at you.

The Knight of Dawn had honor, as a fellow general and soldier, Lilia respected him for it. Lilia pulled one of his magic stones off his belt before offering it to you.

"Take this. Smash it to the ground if you need help, I'll find you."

You agreed and watched the two soldiers turn to leave. General Lilia Vanrouge hesitated before speaking, "You told me you would be in my future."

"I will be."

"You better keep that promise, YN."

"I will."

General Lilia Vanrouge and Baul Zigvolt vanished from your sight.

I'll see you both soon.

Part 3 (each part takes place after some time has passed) or can be read as a stand-alone.

Author’s Notes: I can’t believe this became a 1.5k fic, the way this bat fae drives me crazy. 😂💞🌺

[five-rivers]

Cracked Clay Cup

for @greatbigolhampuckjustforme

“Are you awake?”

Until he heard that question, the answer to it would have been a resounding no.  However, he was awake now, so he pried his eyes open to squint at whoever had interrupted his sleep.  

“Maybe,” he mumbled into a fluffy pillow.  

“Excellent.  Then we can start the questionnaire.”

In his opinion, it was far too early for a questionnaire.  On the other hand, the creeping feeling that something wasn't quite right was creeping its way up his spine.  He levered himself out of his blanket cocoon and into a sitting position.  Then he retrieved his blanket, wrapping it around his shoulders.  He wanted to be cozy.  

“Questionnaire?” he asked.  

“Indeed.  It’s not long.”

“Um, okay.  What are you doing in, um…”  This… wasn’t his bedroom.  He was pretty sure this wasn’t his bedroom.  Or any place he’d seen before.  

He also didn’t think he’d seen the ghost before, which added an air of surrealism to the whole situation.  

“Who are you?” he asked, looking the ghost up and down.  He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in purple, with a hooded cloak thrown around his shoulders.  There was a rectangular hole in his chest, and in the hole was a pendulum and clock face.

“That is, in fact, one of the questions I have to ask you.”  The ghost showed him the back of a clipboard and produced a pen from thin air.

“Um, that, um.”  He frowned.  “Who am I, or who are you?”

“Yes,” said the ghost.  “But let us start at the beginning.  Do you know who you are?”

“Well, yeah, sure, I’m… Um.  I’m.  I…”  It should have been an easy question.  It should have been a question he didn’t even have to think about, which is why he didn’t.  But he didn’t even have the echo of an answer.

“I will mark that down as a no.”

“Wait, wait,” he said, “what’s going on, who am I?”

“I have to go through the whole questionnaire before I answer your questions, I’m afraid.  Those are the rules.”

“I… okay?”

“Do you recognize me in any capacity?”

“Nope.  Am I supposed to?”

“Excellent.  Next question, do you know where you are?”

He shook his head.  “Somewhere in the Ghost Zone, I think.”

“Do you know what year it is?”

“Um.  Two thousand five?  Or, uh, six?”  He shrugged.  Something like that.  It was a little blurry.  

“How old are you?”

“Teenage?”

“Can you describe yourself?”

“Um…  Forgetful?”

“Physically,” clarified the ghost.

He looked down.  He was covered in blankets and therefore unable to see so much as an inch of skin.  He crossed his eyes to look at his nose.  “White,” he said, finally.  “Probably.  And a guy.  Is that a physical thing?”

The ghost made a note on the clipboard.  “And how would you describe your parents?  Your family?”

“Uh.  They probably… exist.”

“Very good.  Favorite band?”

“Dumpty Humpty.  Why do I know that and not my name?”

“Please hold your questions until the end.  Favorite food?”

“Milkshake.  Kiwi fudge.  That’s weird.  That’s weird, isn’t it?”

“No weirder than a cheese puff and bacon milkshake.”

“Huh.  Is it weird that I want to try that now?”

“Somewhat, but not horribly so.”

He gazed at the ghost silently for several long seconds.  The ghost gazed back.  This was already an awkward situation, but it was getting worse by the second.  

“So… what’s the next question?”

“That was the last question. As you can doubtlessly tell, I am now answering your questions.”

He probably should have noticed that, actually.  He leaned forward, eager.  “Great, so, uh, what’s going on?  Why don’t I remember anything?”

“Your memory was removed in preparation for legal proceedings.”  Was it just him, or did the ghost seem… displeased about that?

“Uh… that seems sort of backwards, doesn’t it?  If I’m supposed to testify or defend myself, shouldn’t I at least remember what it is I’m doing?”

“That would be true if you were testifying or defending yourself.”

“Okay…  So…  What am I doing?”

“You are the subject of an extensive custody dispute.”

“And… that means I need to get my memory erased why?”

“We ghosts have a different method of settling custody disputes.  We prefer it if the child in question decides who to be with.”

“I kind of feel as if that’d also be easier with my memories.”

“On the contrary, memories can often lead to people choosing to stay in unpleasant situations.  For example, memories might create a sense of debt, sentiment, or honor that would prevent an objective decision based on current reality.”  The ghost said this as if he was reciting the phrase from rote memory.  

“That seems… wrong, somehow.  Like, there’s a missed assumption or something.”

“Be that as it may be, it is how we do things.”

“‘We’ being ghosts.”

“Correct.”

“Am I a ghost?”  This felt like another of those things he should just know, but, as before, he just didn't. 

“An unusual kind, but yes.”

“I'm dead?”  

“You died, yes.  Whether or not ghosts count as dead is a matter of scholarly debate.”

Well.  Okay, then.  He didn’t know what to say to that.  He sort of thought being dead would have more impact, but maybe it was hard to mourn for a life he didn't remember.  Or maybe he'd been dead for long enough that he'd already processed all the implications, and that had stuck around subconsciously.  Like the name of his favorite band.  

That was still weird.  

“So… What happens now?  Do you lead me out into the courtroom, see who I run to?  Do some kind of genetic test?  What are the rules here?”

“On the contrary, we have taken measures to keep your biological family from having an unfair advantage based on resemblance.  No.  What will happen is that, as a trial, you will spend a few days with each group that put themselves forward as potential guardians.  They have acquired housing appropriate for a young ghost, and have been… reviewed… to prevent abuses or other troubles.  You may leave their temporary guardianship whenever you choose.  However, once you leave, you will not be able to return to them until and unless you choose them at the end of these trials.  Between the potential guardians, you will stay here with me.”

There were so many troubling things in that explanation that he didn’t even know where to start.  

“So… the courtroom thing, but drawn out.”

“I suppose so, if you choose to look at it that way.”

“Right.  So, um.  What’s my name?”

“It’s Daniel.”

“Great.  Okay.  Cool.”  Daniel rubbed his eyes.  Despite all the heart-attack inducing things he was learning about today, he was still half-asleep.  Maybe it was a memory-wipe side-effect.  “You know, this is kind of messed up.  Some kind of weird reverse fairy tale kind of thing.  Like that story where someone has to pick the right girl when she’s been turned into a flower and there are two other flowers.  Why do I know that?”

“Unfortunately, I am not allowed to give you that information.  I am here to tell you the rules and make sure you are… able to do this.”

“To make sure you guys didn’t nuke my brain, you mean?”

“To some degree, yes.  But this is also frequently rather emotional, at least that is my understanding.  You are handling it remarkably well.”

“Oh, I’m just delaying my breakdown until after I see what I look like.  Better to have some idea of what my body is capable of in terms of punching walls and all that.”

“Wise,” said the ghost, with a small smile.  “There is a bathroom just through that door if you wish to examine yourself physically.”

“I’ll do that, in a bit.  But, first, um.  You keep saying we and us.  Who is that?  Who’s doing this?  I mean, ghosts, sure, but more specifically?”

“The legal system of the Ghost Zone.”

“Which is… Who?  Exactly?  The Observants?”

“You remember that.  Interesting.  But, yes, they are, for better or worse.”

“And you?  What's your position?”

“I am merely a neutral monitor selected by the Observants.”

“Monitor, huh?”

“I feel as though it would be misleading of me to call myself an observer under these circumstances.”

Daniel nodded.  “I can understand that.  I guess.  Is that, um, your usual job?  Taking care of kids like this?”

“I’m afraid not.  I work for the Observants in another capacity.”

“What capacity?”

“That would be one of the things I am not permitted to tell you.”

“Okay, and what’s up with that?  Why can’t you tell me things?”

“I am not allowed to give you information regarding your own past, including contextual information.”

Daniel frowned at the ghost.  “That sort of implies that I knew you, though, doesn’t it?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

“Cool,” said Daniel.  “That’s helpful.  You’re not in the running for my… whatever I should call this.  My guardianship?”

The ghost nodded.  “That is an acceptable term, but I must remind you that I am a neutral monitor.”

“Sure.  Right.”  There were other questions he could ask, other questions he should ask, but his brain felt fried.  Did he have a brain, being a ghost and all?  Or was he just, like… goo?

Yeah, no, he wasn’t going to ask that.  He was going to go do something more… concrete.  Bathroom time.  He was sure it would be just as harrowing, especially with the implication that his appearance had been changed somehow, but he could be brave.

He shuffled to the edge of the bed and swung his legs over.  He frowned at the cold floor and decided to take the blankets with him.  Then, he realized one of his questions had gone unanswered.

“Hey, um.  What’s your name? You never did say.”

“You can call me Clockwork.  And when you are done in the bathroom, I have breakfast waiting downstairs.”

Daniel heaved himself up and went to the bathroom, looking over his shoulder at Clockwork as he went.  

This was just… really weird.  Should he try to escape?  Like, even if Clockwork was telling the truth about everything, this wasn’t exactly what he would call a good situation.  But if this was the lie, then what was the truth?  The truth was always worse, when people were lying like that.

… Not that Daniel could come up with any specific examples of that.  It was more of a feeling.  

Soft lights came on in the bathroom as he stepped in.  It was… a bathroom.  He was sure he’d been in other bathrooms before.  This one had a purple-on-lavender color scheme and a large bathtub.  The fixtures were brass.  In other words, it resembled Clockwork to a surprisingly high degree.  Daniel wondered if he lived here normally, or if he’d just been the one to decorate.  Or if someone with a sense of irony had decorated it for him.  

Whichever.  Maybe he’d ask Clockwork about it and see if he answered.  It was harmless enough, compared to some of the questions he could ask.  

There was also a mirror.  He stared at it.  

His skin was a sort of tan pink, awash with freckles.  His hair was white.  His eyes were glowing and green.  His ears were long and pointed, curving up around the sides of his face to sit on the top of his head.  The blankets were also purple, funnily enough.  Huh.  

He leaned closer, squinting.  What kind of ears were those, anyway?  He had to assume he didn’t have them when he was alive and human.  Cat?  Dog?  Fox?  It wasn’t an automatic ghost thing, either, since Clockwork didn’t seem to have them, although that hood could likely hide a lot.  

If he had animal ears, did he have anything else?  Maybe some cool slit pupils?  He leaned even closer, over the counter.  Maybe?  They might be slitted?  He alternately blinked and widened his eyes, trying to make his pupils change sizes.  

Yes!  They were slitted!  Cool!

Which put better odds on this being a fox or cat thing than a dog thing.  Dogs had round pupils.  

Next question: did he have a tail?

He swung the blankets off his shoulders and folded them up so he could set them on the counter.  He was, surprise surprise, wearing purple pajamas.  But he also had a large, fluffy tail.  He petted it.  It was very fluffy.  

Excellent.  He’d always wanted a tail.  Well, he’d wanted one for the few minutes he’d been aware there was a possibility he could have one.  Very nice.  Good feeling.  Soft.  

It also seemed very unfamiliar.

Precautions.  

Right.  

The smile slid off his face.  Well.  On reflection, he didn’t think Clockwork was lying to him, but he really needed to know more about him to make a real determination.  Just like he needed to make a determination about his potential ‘guardians.’  

This was giving him real adoption scam vibes.  Which was weird, because he’d’ve thought that’d be one of the memories they’d erase if they wanted to do that.  Maybe memory erasure was just… really inexact.  That sounded like a possibility.  Maybe there was some other weird scam going on.  

Only one way to find out.  He washed up, then left the bathroom and navigated towards the stairs.  

The stairs were also purple.  

Daniel was definitely leaning towards this place being decorated by someone with a weird sense of humor.  A non-Clockwork someone.  There weren’t nearly enough clocks for this place to have been designed by someone named Clockwork.  You had to be really into clocks to name yourself Clockwork.  

“Welcome,” said Clockwork, smiling at Daniel from the center of the purple kitchen.  “There are pancakes.”  He gestured to the table.  “And the file next to them has the names of your potential guardians.  Why don’t you read through them and see who you might like to stay with first.”

“You want me gone so soon?” asked Daniel, sliding into his seat.  

“You are welcome to stay here for as long as you want, but then you won’t get your memories back.”

“I can get my memories back?” asked Daniel, looking up sharply.  

“Yes, they will be returned after you make your choice,” said Clockwork.  He turned back to the stove.  “Hashbrowns?  Eggs?  Sausage?”

“Um,” said Daniel, who was gradually realizing how hungry he was.  “All of them?”

“Of course.”

Daniel turned his attention back to the file folder, then flipped it open.  Time to see who he was being… adopted by?  Was that the right term here?  

The first page had seven groups of names, bullet pointed.  It was also done in calligraphy, which was certainly a contrast to the plain manila folder it was stored in.  

“Anyone catch your eye?” asked Clockwork, setting down a plate with eggs and sausage on it.  

“Does it matter which order I do this in?”

“Not at all.”

“So I could start at the end.”

“Indeed.”

“Great,” said Daniel.  “Then let’s start there.  After breakfast.”

[enmi-land]

#OO2. DOWN WITH THE DEMOCRACY !

𝓘. ──── . . . 𝑀𝗂𝗅𝖺 𝖽𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖽𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗏𝗈𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗒𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗆 𝗌𝗎𝖼𝗄𝗌.

🥚 𝓲-LAND EPiSODE 2 𓈀 4.8k ꗃ ❛ KOR, ENG, JP, CHi ❜ ✖ NO WARNiNGS! `⎚⩊⎚´ NEXT::PREV

shall we go 𝓲NTO THE NEW WORLD ?

Mila’s first impression of I-Land is that it has a pretty unique concept—and by that, she means it’s pretty frigging weird.

The place itself is actually quite impressive as it reminds her a lot of those mansions in Kdramas where the main male leads typically live, so that’s five stars for accommodation. But she has to take away two-and-a-half stars because the elevator lift in the lobby is a literal egg.

It seems like a pretty random choice of decor at first, and could easily be brushed off as a nouveau riche’s poor attempt at avant-gardism. But Mila makes a very detailed analysis of it, like the certified Overthinker that she is, and starts to see a morbid symbolism in the creative direction of the entire show.

The whole theme of I-Land centres around the egg—and what do people do to eggs?

They break them.

Mila doesn’t want to be an egg! Even thinking about possibly becoming the next Humpty Dumpty—who, mind you, couldn’t be put back together again—would make her arm hairs stand on attention if she had any. (The strongly recommended ‘Idol Package’ at the BigHit-endorsed beauty salon robbed her of any and all body hair.) She does get a whole lot of goosebumps—but those are more so because someone just said that there’s a graveyard a few kilometres away from here.

Shiitake mushrooms.

“Stop thinking so hard and eat.” Kiara’s voice brings Mila back to Earth.

The older female is currently piling her plate with food from the platters that were laid out in a totally non-suspicious manner on the island bench when the I-Land trainees first walked into the kitchen. Mila looks down at her own hands and finds herself holding a plate that she doesn’t even remember grabbing. Weird. But she doesn’t think much about it—mainly because she’s too hungry to—and chomps on a chicken strip as she looks around her.

The other trainees are chowing down like this is a schoolyard potluck, and that would be a pretty wholesome sight aside from a few things: Firstly, most of them are teenage boys who don’t know how to use utensils. Secondly, four of the currently nineteen trainees in the room will be evicted from I-Land in a few hours.

Mila doesn’t really know who thought it was a good idea to let the trainees vote for who gets eliminated, when most of them aren’t even old enough to vote in the presidential elections and this decision seems just as life-changing. But whoever it was, they must not know teenagers that well. Most of the people here are more likely to vote for people they don’t really like, rather than people who don’t have skills.

That’s probably why Seon keeps hovering so much—but hey, no one heard it from Mila.

Mila has nothing against Seon. Everyone is doing what they must in order to survive; she can’t fault him for wanting to get on people’s good sides. The thing is, he has a pretty obvious bias towards Kiara—which is fair, considering she’s one of the strongest in this competition so far, but it forces Mila to awkwardly third-wheel in what was once her conversation with her friend. It gets to the point where Mila decides to just let the adults talk, and wanders around the place aimlessly like a child waiting for her mother to finish gossiping with their neighbours.

And just like a child, she manages to get lost.

Oop—

“Mila-noona!”

The sound of her name being called from behind her and approaching footsteps is the only warning Mila gets before she is attacked by the sight of Yang Jungwon’s lethally cute dimples.

“Ah, you scared me!” she says before she can really think, only to then beam in excitement when the initial shock fades. “Oh—Jungwonie! It’s good to see you!”

Jungwon smiles, fiddling with the hem of his sweatshirt. She notices that he always does it when talking to her—a nervous tick, perhaps? How adorable.

Mila gives two thumbs up. “You did a really good job today with your performance!”

“Thank you,” he replies, “Noona also did a good job.”

Mila giggles bashfully. “Thanks! Anyway, I’m glad I ran into you. We didn’t get to talk much earlier— Ah, but are you heading anywhere in particular?”

Jungwon shakes his head, his fluffy hair following his movement. “I was just walking around. What about you?”

“Same here.” Mila scratches the back of her earlobe bashfully and tilts her head. Her eyes avoid Jungwon’s and land on a random spot on the wall next to her out of embarrassment of her admission: “But then I got lost.”

Jungwon blinks and Mila laughs awkwardly. They don’t get to say anything because they’re interrupted by the sound of voices down the hall which get increasingly rowdy. Mila easily recognises it as the sound of teenage boys egging each other on. It seems like something is going down…

Hm, curiouser and curiouser.

“Some of the Hyungs said they wanted to check out the gym,” Jungwon explains. “That must be them.”

“Oh, really? Did Jay-oppa and Sunghoonie-oppa say they would be there, too?” Mila asks. When Jungwon confirms her assumption (it makes sense that those two would be in the gym), she makes up her mind. “Ah, in that case, I’ll go find one of them to bother. Thanks, Jungwonie! I’ll let you go now.”

She’d hate to pester Jungwon when he’s her dongsaeng—and not a particularly close one, at that. Every time they’ve come across each other, she seems to always be the one chatting his ear off, so she thought he might be glad to see her go. That must not be the case, though, since Jungwon frowns and volunteers to escort Mila to the gym himself.

Mila is surprised, to say the least—but in a good way. It’s a relief he doesn’t secretly hate her guts or something.

The two walk in a comfortable silence that’s eventually broken as they arrive at the gym. Mila isn’t surprised to see Jay and Sunghoon participating in some sort of fitness competition with the other male trainees, however she now feels a bit nervous because she realises she doesn’t know any of them. She may be a social butterfly, but that’s only in settings where everyone is equally as unacquainted as she is, or when she isn’t the only owner of a double-X chromosome in the room. Thankfully, she isn’t alone and Jungwon is right next to her—

Nevermind, he’s walking away…

Mila contemplates leaving and just trying her luck with her nonexistent sense of direction, when Jungwon looks over his shoulder and blinks in confusion after realising she’s not following him. “Noona, aren’t you coming?”

Even though Mila knows that he isn’t trying to put her on the spot, he still kinda does. Everyone in the room hears his voice, so they all turn to face Jungwon and greet him—which causes them to notice her at the door. There is a brief silence where they all just stare at her like she’s the cow that jumped over the moon. But then Jay—thank goodness—pokes his head out from the centre of the boy’s club gathering and locks eyes with her.

Mila blurts out a relieved, “Oppa!”

“Mimi-yah?” She’s never been so glad to hear that nickname before. “Did you come to take a look at the gym?”

Jay walks over to her and she immediately feels better now that she has someone to hide behind. She can still feel some of the looks from the other trainees, so she shuffles closer to Jay. Mila briefly catches sight of Sunghoon in the background, putting a pair of dumbbells down, before she focuses back on Jay’s face.

“Not really—I was just looking for you and Sunghoonie-oppa,” Mila responds to his earlier question. 

“What for?” Sunghoon asks, appearing behind Jay. He stands shoulder to shoulder with his partner, and while it might seem intimidating to anyone else, she’s honestly comforted having them both so close. Not that she’ll admit that—least of all to Sunghoon. “I thought you said you wanted to meet new people.”

Sheesh. Is that pettiness Mila hears? 

…He’s not wrong, though.

Mila pouts. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I just wanted to see what you were up to—I was going to leave, anyway.”

And then she does her best impression of a puppy being left out in the rain—wide eyes, quivering bottom lip, and all—before turning on her heels to leave. Or tries to, anyway.

There’s a slight tug on her ponytail that has her stopping in her tracks. She turns to face Sunghoon with questioning eyes. He has a little smirk on his face, looking way too pleased with himself—like a cat that caught the cream. He totally has her figured out.

“Where are you going? You’ll just get lost.”

Again, he’s not wrong.

“Come on,” Jay says with a smile, before Mila can retort to Sunghoon’s taunt and they start bickering like they always do when they’re around each other. He places a gentle palm on her head. “We’ll introduce you to the others.”

The figurative rain clouds clear from above Mila’s head and she happily latches onto his free arm, earning a chuckle. Sunghoon, not one to be left out, snatches her other wrist and tugs it towards him. She lets him, savouring the warmth of his larger hand as it circles around her smaller one. (She does, however, make a show of keeping her hand in a fist she can’t hold his hand in return—not that he particularly cares.)

It's funny to think about how comfortable she is around them now, compared to when they first met two years ago. At that time, she had always been just a bit more hesitant to get to know the two of them, simply because she was intimidated. But they are softies underneath their tough guy exteriors—a pair of human teddy bears, really. It just took Sunghoon winning a penguin plushie for her at an arcade and Jay walking her to school one day for her to see that.

When they turn to face the other trainees, they all put on their best show of pretending they weren’t peeking at the three of them like curious housewives just moments ago. Jungwon looks the most curious of all of them, though Mila spots some concern—probably because of how she retreated into her shell like a hermit crab not long ago—which makes her want to ‘awww’. But he looks assured enough when she shoots him a genuine smile.

With Jay and Sunghoon acting as her moral support, Mila feels a lot more at ease and introduces herself confidently. The other trainees do the same and the small talk starts from there. It’s obvious that they’re being courteous of her since she’s the only girl in the room right now, as they aren't nearly as rowdy as they were when Mila heard them from down the hall earlier—but honestly, it’s kinda sweet. They’re all kinda sweet, actually.

It doesn’t even take her five minutes to warm up to them, and she finds herself demonstrating a pistol squat to officially inaugurate herself into their group of gym junkees. (It’s a good ego boost when she realises that most of them can’t actually do a pistol squat.)

Mila barely notices the two-hour waiting period pass her by. There’s only five minutes left when Mila finds her way back to Kiara. This time, the older female is with Heeseung and the Crown unit consisting of Hwayoung, Sunoo and Jaeyun. She doesn’t know how to feel about that, though, since Jaeyun hasn’t managed to get any less attractive in the past few hours. And, yeah, that’s a problem.

How long did it take her before she got used to Sunghoon’s visuals again? Ah, right…

She’s so screwed.

“Oppa!” Mila calls as she takes a seat next to Heeseung. “I was looking for you, but I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

She spent around half an hour in the gym with Sunghoon and Jay before she decided to embark on a journey of Finding Heeseung™, only to find everyone except for him. No, really. She managed to bump into literally every other trainee in the place before she finally saw him—and only because she was looking for Kiara, who happened to be with him.

Well, at least she knows her way around I-Land pretty well now.

“Ah, really? Sorry.” Heeseung softly strokes her hair—it’s basically a reflex for him by now—and she relaxes in her chair. “Did you need me for something?”

Mila shakes her head, before resting her cheek on his shoulder. “Not really. I just didn’t get to talk to you earlier…”

(She pointedly makes sure she doesn’t say, ‘I missed you,’ because contrary to popular opinion, she isn’t clingy, thank you very much.)

Heeseung smiles at this and his eyes do that thing that they do, where they look like honey is dripping from them. Before she can say anything, he playfully pinches her cheek. “Cute.”

The Crown unit across from Mila looks a little taken aback by the causal display of affection—which is fair enough. She was the same way at first, too.

When Heeseung first did it, Mila thought that he was possessed by the spirit of someone’s late aunt and almost doused him with a salt shower. But after two years of knowing him, she’s gotten used to the cheek pinches, head pats and his altogether treatment of her like she’s a particularly cute and small animal that he wants to put in his pocket and carry everywhere with him—even if she’s not particularly cute or small. 

Mila just learnt to accept Heeseung’s doting. It definitely has nothing to do with the fact that she’s a lonely, touch-starved only child with parental issues, and soaks up all forms of affection that she receives like a desperate sponge. No siree.

Kiara passes Mila a pillow, which she takes gratefully. She rests her chin on it, her cheek still on Heeseung's shoulder, while her eyes start gazing into the distance. She can smell Heeseung’s cologne really well from here—which isn’t at all a weird thing to say about her guy friend—and it feels oddly comforting. (And, again, not weird at all.)

Sunoo suddenly taps Mila’s foot with his own. “You shouldn’t fall asleep,” he teases with a smile, causing her to giggle.

“Not like I could if I wanted to,” she replies. “I’m still not sure about what I’ll do with the vote.”

“Ah, don’t remind me!” Jaeyun aggressively runs a hand through his hair, and tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I’m nervous!”

“Don’t be, you guys did good,” Heeseung assures kindly.

“Right.” Kiara takes a seat on one of the beds, as the seats are currently occupied by the Mila, Heeseung and the Crown unit. “For people that didn’t have much training or even know each other for long, your performance and chemistry as a group was really solid.”

Sunoo covers his mouth with his hands, eyes crinkling with delight. “Really?” 

Mila nodded vigorously. “Even if anyone votes you out, it will be because they’re threatened by you, or just don’t want to vote out their friends. You all deserve a spot in I-Land as much as anyone else in here!”

Jaeyun tilts his head and looks at Mila like he’s in thought. She ignores him in favour of Hwayoung, who musters a smile, visibly less shaken than before. “Thank you. That means a lot.”

Sunoo puckers his lips and nods. “I guess I won’t feel too bad then if I get voted out.”

Mila doesn’t get the chance to say anything in return. The alarms blare, much like they did for the Entrance Test, and the announcement is made for Niki—who Mila remembers from the SuperM unit—to enter the voting room. Alone.

Well, then…

If the anxiety of the elimination itself wasn’t already stifling enough, the anticipation of waiting for their turn to vote is enough to figuratively choke someone out. By the time it’s Mila’s turn, she can’t even bring herself to have both her eyes open as she presses the screen. Someone would think she murdered someone when she finally walks out of the voting room with a face that screams ‘Guilty, your honour!’ and Kiara even jokingly asks whether she left any evidence behind.

Mila considers making the older girl carry her to the lobby—where the trainees must gather for the announcement of eliminees—since Kiara is so Unbothered by the whole thing. But then Mila remembers that she’s too tall to be carried by her significantly shorter unnie (“You’re only five centimetres taller, you brat!”), and unfortunately has to drag herself there.

Mila finds a random place to sit herself down and resists the urge to cover her eyes and ears like she’s watching a horror movie and awaiting a jumpscare. She’s not sure whether or not she will be the one to leave, or one of her friends; she just hopes it’s neither.

She jinxes it.

The first eliminee is announced. It’s Kim Sunoo.

Mila hasn’t known him for long, but she feels slighted on his behalf. He definitely doesn’t deserve to leave—and not as the trainee with the most votes against him. She already knew that some bias would be present in the voting, but it doesn’t alleviate the disappointment she feels to see him go. Mila actually brings Sunoo into a hug when she says her goodbyes, which is something she doesn’t do much with people she just met—men especially—yet feels oddly comfortable initiating with the boy. He seems to appreciate it, too, and even rubs her back a bit in a comforting manner.

As if Mila is the one who needs it right now.

“Come back again, okay?” Mila says as they separate. “You’re my only 03-liner friend, remember? I’ll be lonely without you.”

“Ay, you’ll probably meet more here anyway.” Sunoo laughs when she protests with the fact that he’s her first, which holds significant importance. And Mila is just grateful that he can be so bright in a situation like this. “Okay. I’ll make sure to come back just for you.”

Mila can’t help but smile. (Her cheeks feel a little warmer, too, but that’s not the point.) He’s awfully bold to be saying stuff like that to a girl he met not long ago, although she supposes she’s no better in the department of shamelessness.

She steps aside to let the Crown unit walk him to The Egg while she says her well-wishes to Taki, EJ, and Sunghchul. Then they’re on their way.

Ground, huh? Mila hopes it treats them well.

As for her, she’s left in the I-Land lobby with the remaining fifteen trainees, who celebrate their newly gained status as the top dogs in this food chain. But then the events of the day eventually catch up to them and night time doesn’t come soon enough.

Mila unfortunately can’t sleep well in unfamiliar environments (when she first moved to Seoul, it took her a few months to adjust to the BigHit dorms) and ends up tossing and turning until she decides to stumble around in the dark to sneak into Kiara’s bed. Not her idea of a good night's sleep. It doesn’t help when the reason she wakes up the next morning is the buzz of activity that comes from the other rooms down the hall because of everyone who is already up and about.

Mila is hoping this won’t be a regular thing, but knowing her luck, it probably will. And that’s crazy to her—because who on earth wakes up this early in the morning anyway?

Oh— Wait. Is that the time?

Nevermind then, Mila just woke up really late.

“Hey there sleepyhead,” Yumeko—one of the four only female trainees in I-Land—greets as she walks into their shared room. (The girls ended up together since everyone agreed it would be too awkward to share rooms with the opposite sex so early on—which kinda implies it will happen eventually, but that’s a future problem.) “How did you sleep?”

Mila hums, rubbing her eyes. “Not long enough.”

Yumeko laughs.

Mila knew of the older girl (a 00-liner, making her the eldest female in the competition) because, aside from being a fellow BigHit trainee, she also happened to always be the top of the girls’ rankings in dance—a title that Mila always missed out on by one rank in the past. She just never got to meet her properly until yesterday.

Mila wants to consider the Japanese female a rival, but she’s never been particularly competitive (it’s a wonder she did competitive cheerleading, or that she’s even on this show at all) and it’s not really her style. Besides, Yumeko is just that good; Mila knows she probably won’t stand any chance, anyway. Her cover of NCT U’s Cherry Bomb during the Entrance Test yesterday blew any delusions of stealing that number one rank from her out of the water.

“Sorry to disturb your beauty sleep, then,” Yumeko teases. She throws on a hoodie over the tank top she is wearing and Mila can’t help but notice she’s really toned. Damn. “The bathroom should be free if you want to wash your face and brush your teeth.”

Mila nods, feeling as gross she must seem, and also throws a hoodie over her head. She slept with a bra last night because she remembered the cameras in all the bedrooms (which would be pretty weird in any other setting—not that it isn’t still weird, anyway), so she isn’t worried about accidentally flashing anyone. But her hair is probably a bird’s nest right now, so the hood is there to cover her head as she pads towards the bathroom.

Yumeko is right about it being free, thankfully, so she doesn’t worry about taking her time to fix her appearance. She is just leaving when Geonu walks in, and she immediately beams. “Good morning!”

Geonu jolts in surprise. It’s kinda understandable, since Mila did just appear like a wild Pokémon jumping out of a bush. To his credit, though, he doesn’t scream or anything embarrassing like that and returns her greeting rather calmly. “Did you sleep well?”

Mila makes a seesaw motion with her hand. “So-so. I’m not really a morning person, though. And Oppa?”

“Same here,” he replies. “But you’re really energetic for someone who isn’t a morning person.”

Mila tilts her head and scrunches her nose. “Really? I guess that’s just how I am…”

Geonu, for some reason, laughs. It lacks any mockery in it, but has something there that makes Mila wonder if she said something funny. “Has anyone told you that you remind them of a bunny?”

Mila blinks. Because yes, actually, people do. “How did you know?”

Geonu shakes his head with an amused huff. “Just a feeling.”

Mila doesn’t really know what to say to that, so she shrugs instead. Oh well—as long as it’s nothing bad. “Well, I’ll let you wash up in peace. See you around!”

Geonu hums and bids her farewell.

Mila skips towards the kitchen, feeling much better now that she doesn’t look like she came off the set of Train to Busan. She’s in the middle of pouring herself a bowl of cereal when those alarms from hell start blaring and she flinches so strongly that cereal ends up flying out of the box in her hand and onto the floor.

Krabby patties.

Mila curses, bending down behind the counter to pick some of the flakes off the floor. Then a group of trainees bulldoze through the kitchen like a mob of fangirls when they spot their idols, and she decides that she’s not moving fast enough. She unlocks her inner janitor and sweeps up the remaining cereal—or as much as she can, anyway—and tosses them in the bin in record time.

She decides to wisely uses the ten minutes she’s given until she needs to be at the lobby to shovel as many spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth (she doesn’t know what she’s in for or how it will take, so stocking up energy is a priority) and take a quick toilet break. Then she’s going full Naruto ninja-speed and zooms towards the lobby, completely forgetting that she’s wearing slippers—a huge mistake, really, since she stubs her toe on a step. Ouch. But at least she isn’t late for the announcement of the show’s next stage.

The Signal Song Test begins in earnest with the reveal of the show’s theme song, Into the I-Land. Once again, it’s up to the trainees to make the big decisions—including who gets which part.

Well, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the number of lines were equal for all parts. But it looks like the producers of the show are aiming to make this whole survival show experience as accurate to the life of a real idol as possible, as there’s a huge disproportionality in the line distribution.

Mila doesn’t have any ambitions of getting the first part, so she naturally agrees with Sunghoon to throw Heeseung’s hat in the ring for it instead. As for the rest of the parts, they will be allocated by—surprise, surprise—a vote.

Mila does some mental gymnastics to come up with a strategy to bag the part she wants, and finally settles with the tried and true approach of Just Do It™. It seems to work pretty well, actually. She manages to get a part that appears in the centre twice, so she has some decent ‘look at me!’ time compared to the other parts.

The same can’t be said for others.

Jay has been rejected for every part so far, and seems like he’s ready to give up, but raises his hand again for the next part—and the part after that, and the part after that…

There’s now only one part left that has more than one line, and Mila knows if he doesn’t get it, it might do some serious damage to his confidence. It’s already taking a toll on him, as he has his head lowered so the bill of his cap covers his expression from her place across from him. And honestly, it hurts her heart to see it.

Jay has always been the epitome of tenacity, and he’s proven it already with his ability to keep raising his hand. Mila would have given up after the second rejection—maybe even the first. She just wishes she could do something to lift his spirits a little, even if it’s just enough so he can raise his head.

Mila ponders it for a moment, before she feels a lightbulb switch on inside her head. She raises her hand just as Heeseung prepares to move onto the auditions for the next part. “Oppa, I have a question!”

“Hm?” Heeseung immediately looks up from his tablet at the sound of her voice. “What is it?”

“I was just thinking…” Heeseung nods encouragingly at Mila. “Even if we give out the parts now, it's only based on vocals. What do we do if we get to dance practice and realise that someone can’t keep up with the choreography for their part?”

There are some nods from the other trainees, so Mila knows she’s not being completely outlandish.

“You’re right,” Heeseung agrees. “That’s why should consider every skill when we’re voting—dance and vocals are equally important. It’s better to vote for someone who you think can do both well.”

Mila nods sagely, pretending to think deeply about Heeseung’s words. “Ah, okay… So, if there's two people and they’re both pretty equal in vocals, but one happens to be much better at dancing, we should vote for that person?”

“Right.”

Mila smiles, satisfied with the answer and it’s intended result, as she notices Jay’s shoulders straighten a bit. “Okay, I get it now! Thanks.”

Everyone knows Jay is one of the best dancers in I-Land at this point, and Mila is more than confident that he’ll be able to sing the next part fairly well. There’s no reason for him not to have the part. It’s just that Mila gave everyone a little bit of a nudge in his direction by reminding them to keep an open mind.

It works like a charm.

“Okay,” Heeseung says after counting the votes, “this part is Jay’s.”

If Mila cheers a little too loudly at the announcement, that’s her business alone. But also, not really. From the smile that Jay sends her before mouthing, “Thank you,” she knows that he figured out her little trick. She can’t seem to feel guilty about it though—well, not right now at least.

But of course, in a survival show like I-Land, nothing good ever lasts forever.

taglist⠀( OPEN ! ) ⦂ @em1ejiee @menichoi @dracoslovergirl @rosas-in-the-garden @blossominghunnie @lovelypham @cornenhapovs @nee-issaire @jwnstars @tommina @queenriki7

© ENMI-LAND, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT COPY, TRANSLATE, REPOST

[thebat-musicman]

The Playlist™

My 12 hour Batfam playlist (with repeating songs!)

The repeating version has 200 songs and is 12 hours. Non repeating has 167 songs and is 9 hours and 54 minutes.

I am so sorry to whatever poor souls are reading this just trying to find good songs for their faves

@batfambrainrotbeloved it’s done

The bat-playlist from hell is under the cut

Alfred

Be our guest

Let it be

Sweet caroline

You are my sunshine

God is really real

Istanbul (not Constantinople)

50 ways to say goodbye (him faking Bruce’s death when he went training)

What was I made for

No time to die

James Bond theme

I got you

Child of Mine

Little Lion man

You’ll be in my heart

Never grow up

Edelweiss

Baby mine

Friend like me

My heart will go on

Bruce

Never grow up

Everything has changed

I hate it here

I look in people’s windows

imgonnagetyouback

Karma (AJR)

Humpty Dumpty

Inertia

Two birds

Cat’s in the cradle

Song for Orphans

Tears in heaven

Heart of stone

Robin

Whatever it takes

ocean eyes

Migraine

I’ll make a man out of you

Under the Sea

Beautiful Boy (darling boy)

Babs

The story of us

Just a girl

Clara Bow

Role Models

Break my face

The DJ is crying for help

Little miss perfect

She used to be mine

Mastermind

Pretty distraction

So high school

How did it end

Fight song

You should see me in a crown

The man

Runs the world (girls)

I bet you think about me

Inertia

Ours

Part of your world

Dick

I can do it with a broken heart

Touchy feely fool

Never grow up

The Bolter

Surface Pressure

You’re on your own, kid

Because of you

Karma (AJR)

Way less sad

Perfect (simple plan)

Father of mine

This is me trying

Count on me

The Greatest Show

No way

Mr. Perfectly fine

Dancing Queen

Show and Tell

How far I’ll go

Used to be young

Cass

Who’s afraid of little old me

Cassandra

The Albatross

Father of mine

You’re on your own, kid

Heart of stone

Fight song

Everybody wants to rule the world

She used to be mine

Family Line

Because of you

Roar

You should see me in a crown

I won’t

When will my life begin

The prophecy

I hate it here

Speechless

I’ve got a dream

Blackbird

Jason

The Prophecy

Mr. Perfectly fine

Better than Revenge

I did something bad

My tears ricochet

Vigilante shit

You’re gonna go far, kid

Time of dying

Deja vu

good 4 u

Because of you

Father of mine

These boots were made for walking

Fuck you

One way or another

Bang! Pow! Boom!

Be prepared

One jump ahead

Vampire

I think I’m gonna like it here (baby jason needs a song)

Steph

Record Player

Turning out Pt. II

The Dumb Song

Just a girl

Cardigan

The Man

But daddy I love him

the manuscript

Guilty as Sin?

Father of mine

Dead!

Teenagers

You’re on your own, kid

Mr. Perfectly Fine

High school sweethearts

Drama Club

My Play

Devil Town

This is love (air traffic controller)

I won’t say (I’m in love)

Tim

Ur gonna wish u believed me

Yes I’m a mess

Karma (AJR)

Mastermind

Don’t blame me

Fool

Wow, I’m not crazy

Humpty Dumpty

Good 4 u

Pretender (Acoustic)

Mister Cellophane

Come hang out

Let the games begin

Heart of stone

brutal

Deja vu

Every breath you take

The sound of silence

Go the distance

Viva La Vida

Duke

Here comes the sun

Walking on sunshine

I see the light

How do I say goodbye

The Prophecy

Turning out

Sunshine lollipops and rainbows

Teenagers

Our song

Demons

I’m still standing

Waiting on a miracle

I’m not famous

Paper rings

We didn’t start the fire

Everybody dies

What was I made for

I’ll follow the sun

Sunflower

Into the Unknown

Damian

Insane

Oh no!

Surface Pressure

Control

The good part

Role models

Mother knows best

Bad guy

What else can I do

Devil Town

Bones

Rät

Maniac

Losing my religion

(Don’t fear) The Reaper

Heathens

Pumped up kicks

Go the distance

A whole new world

I just can’t wait to be king

[putaposyinyourhair]

Slowly but Also Like All at Once

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7

noah diaz x mirage (they’re… y’know 💅)

warnings: mirage keeps flirting like an asshole and noah’s still in his feels but it gets tender

arcee shows up (and you know she should come with her own caution label)

“So, um…” Noah pauses for a second, to think on his words before he says them aloud. “You look good.”

He physically flinches away from his own words— from his own stupidity— and squeezes his eyes shut, not able to stop himself from reaching up with both hands to dig his knuckles into his eye sockets.

Fuckin’ idiot.

But Mirage just chuckles at his expense and Noah forces the embarrassment away with a deep breath.

“I meant like— you look… new,” he tries to correct, even though it still sounds wrong. “How’d that happen?”

“Oh, you mean how’d they get humpty dumpty back together again?” Mirage drawls.

Noah shifts in the sand, pulling away from Mirage’s side— where he’s been resting for a while now— and turns to sit cross-legged in the sand, staring up at the bot.

Mirage is looking up at the sky. The stars are starting to disappear behind dark clouds but the moon is still shining brightly over the water, its light reflecting off of Mirage’s silver face plating.

“Yeah,” Noah alludes, curiously.

Mirage glances down at him, frowning softly for a moment— such a quick little moment that Noah barely catches it— before he shrugs.

“OP spent like ten weeks in the Mojave looking for one of our medics who crash-landed there,” the mech reveals. “Ratchet. Dude’s usually such a buzzkill but… he’s good at what he does. I’ll give him that.”

Noah’s brows arch.

A medic? A new autobot?

“How many of you are there?” he asks before he can stop himself. “On Earth, I mean.”

One side of Mirage’s mouth tugs up into a sly smirk and Noah rolls his eyes before the bot can even reply.

“I told you already, boo, there’s none like me,” he declares pompously.

Noah reaches out and attempts to shove at Mirage’s thigh guard, uselessly because it does absolutely nothing.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Noah tells him. “You’re one of a kind.”

Mirage sits up, grinning.

“You better recognize!”

Noah barks out a short laugh.

“You a one of a kind dumbass,” he snickers softly.

Mirage reaches out to poke at his chest playfully and Noah tries to bat the digit away fruitlessly.

“Yeah, but you missed me,” the mech teases. “You already admitted it. No take backs.”

Noah doesn’t know why the words pull such a visceral reaction out of him, but they do. The happy smile drops from his face and he swallows drily.

“I did, man,” he concedes, fisting the material of his jeans in his hands. “I really fuckin’ did.”

Mirage moves so fast, it almost scares the shit out of Noah. The mech reaches out and suddenly Noah finds himself settled on top of the bot’s lap, pressed against his chest plates with one of Mirage’s servos cradling his back— well, the backpack strapped to his back anyway— whilst the other gently presses Noah’s face into the junction between his helm and his shoulderpad.

They’re… hugging?

Noah feels kind of frozen solid for a minute, unsure of what to do in this strange new situation. Sure, he’s been… inside— for lack of a better word— of Mirage before, in different modes of him too. And Noah doesn’t think either of them are strangers to physical proximity, after all they’d stuck pretty close to each other the whole time in Peru.

But this is something else. Something… more.

It’s nice though. Really nice.

So he relaxes into it.

It’s warm. And he can feel that same hum emanating from underneath the bot’s plating, like a low-frequency vibration that seems to soothe and calm something deep inside of Noah— he’s almost tempted to call it his soul, as corny as that fucking sounds.

Noah’s face feels more heated than usual.

“You a hugger, huh?” he mumbles, reaching up to run a few fingers against the glossy metal edge of that baseball cap-esque piece that rounds the back of Mirage’s helm.

This close, Mirage smells faintly of motor oil and something else Noah suspects must be alien in origin because he decides there’s no earthly scent he can compare it to. Not any that do it justice anyway.

Mirage’s digits move against the back of his head, digging into his curls as the mech’s chest plate’s rise and fall with a small stutter.

“For you?” he sighs. “Always.”

Noah’s eyes widen, his jaw clenching.

And his heart is fucking… fluttering. He really hopes his friend can’t feel it.

Something’s wrong. With him. Or with Mirage.

Noah doesn’t know what it is. But this is…

It is weird. Or, maybe not weird. Weird isn’t the right word for it.

“Mirage.”

Noah pulls away from the mech so fast, a yelp bursting out of him as he nearly tumbles off of the bot’s lap— he’s sure he would’ve gone sprawling into the sand between his friends’ outstretched legs had it not been for Mirage’s servos keeping him upright. He reaches out and grabs onto one of the bot’s gauntlets.

And before he can look away— to locate the source of the newcomer’s voice, a newcomer Noah is pretty sure is Arcee— he looks up at Mirage.

Oh.

Mirage’s face is doing… something. The mech’s optics are darker than usual— not glowing as bright a blue— and the silver metal just beneath his optics is tinged with a bluish hue, something Noah’s never seen it do before.

Noah doesn’t want to assume but it almost looks like a—

“Aww, Arcee, why you scarin’ my boy like that?” Mirage whines out, throwing his helm back like an unruly child who’s been told he has to eat all the vegetables on his plate. “His heart’s beating so fast!”

Okay, so Mirage can feel his heartbeat when they’re this close.

Wonderful.

Noah huffs— mortified but unwilling to admit it, even though his cheeks feel so flushed he probably looks like he could be doing an impression of a tomato— and reaches back to gently push away the servo Mirage has at his back.

“I wasn’t scared,” he grumbles, grunting as he steps down from Mirage’s lap and back onto the sand. “Jus’ surprised… that’s all.”

Arcee steps closer, smiling softly as she glances between them for a moment.

“Sorry, Noah,” she has the decency to apologize. “I really didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Noah waves her apology off.

“Nah, seriously,” he stresses, reaching up to grab onto the straps of his backpack. “I wasn’t scared or nothin’.”

Yeah, he kind of was. But he was mostly embarrassed.

Was it normal for cybertronians to hug humans? To hold humans the way Mirage was holding him?

Arcee isn’t giving him any indication. So maybe it’s not as big of a deal as it feels to Noah.

The femme fixes her gaze on Mirage, one optical ridge arching as both servos rest at her skirt plates. Her lower body cocking to one side as she watches the blue and silver bot rise off of the ground, raining sand down all over Noah who groans and steps away, reaching up to sweep it off of his head.

He’s definitely going to need a good, long shower later to get all that sand out of his curls.

“I said I’d cover for you for a couple of hours, Mirage,” Arcee points out, then mimics glancing down at a watch on her gauntlet in a very human-like way. “It’s been six.”

Noah’s eyes widen, glancing down at his own watch quickly.

Six hours? Oh, he definitely missed dinner. His ma’s gonna kill him.

It’s nearing sunrise already.

“It’s time,” Arcee emphasizes. "Optimus will not be pleased."

A sharp wave of what can only be panic rushes through Noah. It’s so quick, engulfing him from head to toe. He feels exactly the same way he’d felt when he’d had to stand there and watch Mirage be taken away. He thinks he makes some kind of tiny strangled noise.

The overwhelming sensation leaves him blanched and breathless.

“Arcee!” Mirage chastises, dropping to one knee beside Noah. “You’re not helping.”

Noah feels a couple of his friend’s digits slip underneath his chin and he lets the mech tenderly lift his face so he’s looking up into Mirage’s now bright blue optics.

“W-what is she talkin’ about?” he manages to squeak out, despite the dread that feels like it’s got a physical hold of his heart in his chest.

“It's nothing bad!” Mirage swears, holding his other servo up, palm out. “I promise.”

Noah swallows the lump in his throat and exhales shakily.

“Okay,” he yields. “Okay, sorry.”

He feels kind of stupid about his reaction, childish, and pulls his chin away from the mech's digits. But he doesn’t look away.

Mirage gives him a look that Noah thinks translates as sheepish, before he stands, optics flickering about for a moment like he’s struggling to make himself meet Noah’s unwavering gaze.

“Okay, so, uh,” Mirage stammers, reaching up to rub at the back of his helm with one slightly twitchy servo. “Well, you see, what had happened was—”

Arcee huffs.

“Ratchet has yet to give him the all clear so Optimus expressly forbid him from leaving," she reveals. "So of course he snuck out of the medbay without permission to come see you tonight, Noah.”

Oh. Yeah, sure.

Noah’s heart doesn’t feel like it’s swelling with joy and about to burst out of his chest or anything.

He’s totally like… chill about it.

[malleusarcanum]

⚠️: Wordy Game

Grim: Me next!! *Picked a paper from a random box* *read it* Everyone must say a word with more than four letters that ends with a y.

Grim: Easy peasy lemon squeezy, fishy!

Everyone: ......

Ace: You lost

Grim: Wha?? But I said Fishy!!!!

Ruggie: Dummy, Only First word counts

Epel: Easy is no more than 4 letter. You're weak.

Idia: noob~~~~~~~

*Grim went irritated and made an attack jump ready to scratch Idia's face but Ortho shielded him*

*Grim hit at the metallic tummy of Ortho*

*grim cried in front of Mc*

Mc: Let's just move on to the game

Grim: Hench man is mean!!

*the game went on, at last*

Floyd: Shrimpy!!

Mc: damn of all words?!

Jade: hmm........ Misery!

Azul: *positioned his glasses* chylophyllously

Mc: Psycho wha??

Epel: pretty?

Rook: Magnificently! *Strikes a pose*

Vil: dearly *winked at Mc*

Mc:......

Leona: sleepy *yawned, went to sleep again but on MC's lap*

Mc: hey?!!!

Ruggie: Furry!

Jack: manly *showed his biceps*

Ortho: Brotherly!!

Mc: cute!

Grim: hmp

Idia: quietly

Kalim: Lampy!!

Mc: Is that even a word?

Kalim: then what'cha call it?

Mc: nevermind

Jamil: slavery

Kalim: That's a good one * patted Jamil's back*

Riddle: politically

Cater: Selfy!

Mc: it doesn't end with y

Cater: I have my own dictionary

Mc: *bumped her head at the table*

Trey: Friendly...

Ace: Awesomely!

Deuce: humpty Dumpty!

Silver: peacefully

Lilia: family

Sebek: crocodiley!

Mc: they're making up words....

Ace: you're turn mc!

Mc:?!

Grim: Hah! My henchman lost!

Mc: *smashed the table, got everyone's attention* STU•PI•DI•TY

Everyone: ........

Jade: Boo!!!!!!!

Kalim: Most boring word~~~~

Ace: Bruh, that's so last year

Mc: can't you let Malleus answer!

Ruggie: wait?! Malleus is here?

Malleus:......

Sebek: young master!!! *Hugged malleus*

Lilia: You can do it Malleus.....

Grim: Hah he lost!

Silver: Ow let him talk first!!

Malleus: ahhhhh.......

*Everyone looks at him waiting*

Mc: come on hornton!

Malleus: ummmm *felt nervous, never been played a group game before*

Malleus: ah! h..

Everyone: what?!

Malleus: Ho....

Sebek: Continue Young master...

Malleus: Horny!

*Everyone dumbstruck* *then turned eyes on Lilia*

Mc: You lack parenting skills

Everyone : mhm

Lilia: I can't explain such things!!

*Malleus clueless*

[superphantom]

Danielle: Model Human

“So what if Dani met Cas and decided to teach him how to be human?” 

So here’s this! 1,421 words, oneshot. Hope you enjoy!

Castiel took his place in line behind a small girl who was standing on her tip-toes to reach the counter. She was engaged in a heated argument with the ticket broker, though the anger was pretty one-sided. The man running the counter looked more tired than anything as he reminded her in a monotone voice,

“I’m sorry, miss, I can’t sell you a ticket without a parent’s permission. Company policy.”

The girl huffed and turned around, starting when she looked at Castiel. She tilted her head back to look him in the face and her pissed expression went to a mischievous grin. She winked at him. 

“Dad! There you are, can you tell this chump I’m allowed to ride the bus alone?” She winked again. 

Castiel tilted his head to the side, squinting. He’d never seen this girl before. Had Jimmy had other children he didn’t know about? 

“I’m no-” 

The girl kicked him in the shin and gave him what Sam would refer to as ‘puppy-dog eyes’. Ah, she was asking him to lie for her. That he could do. 

“I am here to accompany my daughter on the bus.” A flicker of nervousness jolted through his body. He tried to disguise it with a friendly smile. 

The ticket seller looked to him, then down at the girl, then back to him, sighed, and held out his hand. “That’ll be $40.65.”

Castiel patted his pockets. They were just as empty as they were 5 minutes ago. The girl shoved a handful of bills onto the counter before he could say anything, snapped up the two tickets that were given, then grabbed onto his hand and pulled him towards the benches in front of the loading station. She was strong for her size, not enough that he couldn’t stop her if needed but enough that it might actually be somewhat of a challenge. When she sat she drew one of her knees to her chest, letting the other one swing down. Castiel took the seat next to her. 

“Thanks for vouching for me back there,” She said. Her cheek was resting on her knee as she spoke. “What’s your name?”

“My name is C-” He paused. His name was unique, which was never good when trying to blend in. Plus, Sam and Dean usually used aliases when talking to strangers. It couldn’t hurt. He cleared his throat. “My name is…”

He scanned the room for any ideas. On the muted television a man boasted his real estate company. The caption identified him as Daniel Patterson. 

“Daniel.” he finished. “I’m Daniel.” 

“Hey, no way! I’m Dani. With an ‘i’.” she thought for a moment, “Actually, do you know a guy called Vlad?”

“No,” he answered. Neither of them spoke for a few moments. He remembered that humans tend to engage in small talk. “Do you?”

“Yeah, he’s my dad, and a real jerk too. I was worried ‘cuz you kinda look like this other Danny I know except old and way taller,” Dani informed him.

“I understand,” Castiel said. He did not understand.

“Danny’s my cousin,” she continued, “Why don’t you have a bag?”

Castiel looked down then back at her. “I lost it.”

“I lost my bag one time too, ‘cuz Cujo- he’s kinda Danny’s dog- ran off with it ‘cuz I left a sandwich in there. I got it back though,” She twisted in her seat to show off her backpack. A logo of a cracked egg with purple text written across it decorated the small zipper pocket of her bag. 

“Dumpty Humpty?” Castiel read. The name was familiar, but not in a way he could place. Perhaps a football team? 

Dani’s eyes sparkled when she turned around to look at him again, an even broader smile climbing onto her face. “I can’t believe you know them, you’re so old!” 

His lack of reaction must’ve been a reaction, as Dani paused after saying that. “Uh, no offense or anything.” 

“I don’t follow sports, sorry.” For all his time with the Winchesters, there was still much of humanity that he did not understand. Sports of all kinds fell in that category. 

She giggled. “Dude, they’re a band. I don’t think I like sports. I mean, I’ve never played or anything, but…”

“Neither have I.” He pulled his lips tight with a smile. Facial expressions were still confusing, but he felt he was getting the hang of it. “Though I have listened to music before. I like Led Zeppelin.”

“Never heard of ‘em. Hey, what’s your birthday?” 

He jolted at the sudden change of topic. She blinked at him, innocent as a lamb. He blinked back. In the back of his mind, he scrambled to come up with a date, any date. Jimmy must’ve had a birthday, right? He cursed his human mind for its shortcomings. “Thursday.”

Dani responded with a raised eyebrow, her short ponytail brushed her shoulder when she tilted her head in question. 

“What are you?”

Castiel blinked. Dani blinked back. 

“Human.” It was the truth, not all of it perhaps, but he was human. 

“And?” She prompted, gesturing at him to keep talking. How this girl had detected his lie of omission he didn’t know. There was never a time he wished he could at least see souls, or demon's true faces, or have any intuition to somethings nature or intentions or, hell, even the ability to read a damn social cue more. 

“And what? I’m human.” 

“It’s okay, man, I know. I think everyone knows, ‘cuz you’re being real clumsy right now, I understand it's hard to get the hang of but seriously, whoever made you is probably looking for you ‘cuz there is no way you passed training like that.” She spoke with complete confidence, still swinging her leg back and forth. She was so small the toe of her shoe barely brushed the ground. “I’m gonna offer you a deal. If you pretend to be in charge of me, like you did at the counter there, I’ll teach you how to blend in. I escaped from my dad three months ago and he hasn’t found me and he’s got spies everywhere. You can’t be more than a week out of the tube.”

There had to be something he was missing. That or he was having a stroke. Individually, the words she spoke made sense. Together, though? The only logical explanation he could construct was that someone, for some reason was messing with him. “Who do you work for?”

“See, that’s the best part! I don’t have to work for anybody but myself. That’s what freedom’s all about, doin’ whatever you want whenever you want. I know it seems weird at first but, trust me, it’s great.” 

“What are you?”

Dani shrugged, “I’m a clone.”

“And you think I’m a clone?” Against all logic, his gut wanted to trust her. Outside the bus pulled over, spilling people out into the station. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the workers began refueling the vehicle. 

“Or something close. Take it from someone who spent most of their seven-month existence in a lab, growing out of a test tube makes you act weird.” Her smile was perfect and white, although a gap-toothed grin would’ve suited her much better. “It’s up to you, I can take care of myself, but I guess I’m a little more like my original than I thought. Free human tip for you, the back of the bus is the best place to ride. I’m gonna go get a spot before all the good ones get taken. Want me to save you a seat?” 

He stared at her for a moment, looking up because she was just a smidge taller than him when he was sitting down. He tried to study the look on her face, but that just led where it always did, to nothing. Was he really that obvious? Could everyone tell he was just pretending to be human? Dani’s foot began to tap, Castiel recognized this as the sign of impatience it was. She was right. As far as normal went, he was lost. He didn’t know how much a bus ticket was or how to make small talk or to carry a bag. Without the Winchesters, he was lost. It would be nice to have some of that confidence back in his life. It would be nice to be needed again, even if it were just to vouch for Dani at ticket counters. 

“That would be nice.” 

[rowanrowlandridley]

Haii!! :3

Do you have any headcanons or stuff like that for your Deathboots beauty and the beast au?? :3

Hiii~ I almost forgot that au omg ahjajdj

Well, let's see 👀

Death isn't under a magic spell/curse actually, he is just that way (a wolf) and is super grumpy and angry and all that, but he deep inside of his heart he's kind.

He let Perrito live with him because our little fellow almost d*ie drowned in a lake, and Death saved him. He also let Kitty stayed when she arrived wounded when she left her home when her former family cut off her claws.

Puss lives with Dulcinea and Humpty Dumpty in San Ricardo, the little town next to Death's castle (?) They were raised as siblings and care a lot for each other (even when Humpty says or does weird things)

The other people of San Ricardo thinks about them as freaks, not a bunch of fans if you ask them, but they (puss, dulci and Humpty doesn't care at all.

Dulcinea helps with the orphanage, and she's constantly traveling to different towns or cities to get things to help the children. One day she has an accident and was chased by wild wolves and ended up in Death's castle.

Death is constantly visited by the Blue Fairy, who thinks that death should change his manners and his way to be with others, she as well as Perrito thinks that death is actually a good person, and she gives him a magic rose to keep in his garden just to make it look pretty. Dulcinea wanted one of the roses but death gone mad when he caught her picking one.

And well, they're not headcanons or so, but anyway ajsjs.

Maybe I'll draw a little more of that au when I have free time 🙌

[spinaroos-47]

God, the last wish was so good

The story and characters were so interesting! All the little references and implications were SO GOOD, everything felt very in character for puss and kitty, this was a really great sequel. I like the previous movie, even though i don't really like quite a bit of the humpty dumpty bits, but this movie i loved everything (MINUS THE FUCKING SWORDS GOING INTO NAILS. WHY)

The reason why Puss did everything because of fear was very understandeable (though still very much not right, in the case of leaving Kitty at the altar. But he recognizes and tries to do better which is very nice), and death following him making it seem hard to know if it is him or Puss' mind making stuff up, so good. Honestly all the scenes with death were really good, especially with his voice, god, that was such a nice voice

(also i did scream a bit when i saw that Wagner Moura voiced him. It is still a bit surreal that he has been on a lot of big stuff outside of Brazil)

The reveal that he was death was really chilling. The space with all the past lives (which is really cool for another bit but that's another tangent for another time) was a perfect setting for this reveal, since he died so carelessly because of not fearing death and laughing in the face of it, the marks on the scythes (which were a pretty on the nose but hard to guess detail, love that), amazing scene

The animation is another bit that i really loved. I mean, what can i say that hasnt been said already? It looks like a painting, its energetic and fun, the colors are gorgeous, Ive been loving what has been done recently

The music was also really nice, i loved the details of how in every fight, the hits would match the music. Very nice

I really enjoyed how this movie bridged the gap between the first movie, and the Shrek universe. Because of how PIB is set up, theres not much of the magical aspect like the Shrek movies had, but PIB:TLW really did

All the little references for the old movie were really funny and well implemented, especially the "ooooh" cat and puss and kitty's gravity defying dance

Not to mention the whole Goldie and the bears stuff. I love that they chose Goldie because the original tale is about finding the "just right", so it was really fitting to extrapolate that there never would be a just right for her. But Im happy that she realized that she already had the just right. Theyre not a perfect family but you can see the love and care. Im sure they'll get better

The puns were really funny jfsjdjfkf hasta la muerte is my favorite

I feel like i could write an essay for a bunch of the small things in this movie, theres was so much that i could talk about and im having to contain myself a little to not make this 2k words long fnsndnfnd

[offbookkeeping]

my thoughts on humpty dumpty (as i'm watching it)

•i'm really loving sexual egg zach

• jess's reaction to Come Out of My Shell is genuinely my favorite thing ever her smile is adorable

• i wish off book had a violin

• it's really nice being able to see jess do her timid british boy voice on video, even though it was only for a moment

• jiavani is stunning and also i kind of want to be her version of mother goose. the voice is pretty gender

• zach and jess's reactions to being yelled at by mother good are perfect

•they really can't keep zach off the set pieces

• EARNEST YOUNG BOY JESS !!!!

•but it's cancl-E'd !!!

• jess as jack makes me so happy oh my god she's so proud of herself every time she comes up with a new meaning for jack

• DONT TALK ABOUT MY FRIEND THAT WAY

• "i want a rap dance in which my guards are executed!"

•zach could write hamilton but lin manuel miranda could never write Hack Hack Hack The Head Comes Off

• ashley ward is incredible

•"how will i know myself if i don't get out of this town" I NEED THIS ON SPOTIFY HOLY SHIT

•jess mckenna is the most beautiful human to exist on this planet and i am normal about her

•i'm furious at the amount of talent i'm witnessing right now. i'm so extremely jealous. this is making my parasocial relationship with zach and jess worse

•zach is a single mom who works too jobs

• i love that georgie porgy understands what consent is

• THE WICKED AH AHH AHH AHHHHOH MY GOD

[jinkoh]

pentagon x gn!reader

summary: you unexpectedly fall into a strange world and quickly find yourself entangled with its peculiar people—as well as their problems.

tags: alice in wonderland au, multiple routes for several members, a little madness; warnings: non-graphic descriptions of violence, mentions of blood and weapons, cruel characters (but also very sweet and fun ones—this au is less dark than it sounds...probably)

wordcount: ~13,8k

a/n: okay so this kinda became a really really huge project that i've been working on for a while and that i am very attached to so ofc i'd be really excited if you gave it a try hehe i didn't stick very close to the original material so don't be too surprised. in case you want to know who is who from the get go you can check out the character introduction, but they also all get introduced bit by bit~ do heed the warnings before reading!

series masterlist // character introduction // ptg masterlist

The weather had been weird for days now, heavy clouds hanging in the purplish sky and a constant drizzle making puddles form in the streets. The Uncle from the car shop on the first floor said it was an omen; that something bad was approaching. Your landlady called him crazy and said it just needed a proper thunderstorm and the sunny weather would be back. But she didn’t like him much to begin with and if he wasn’t such a good tenant, for whatever that meant, she would have thrown him out long ago. You didn’t really care much for her idle talk. You were somewhat fond of the Uncle, even more so since your cat Humpty Dumpty seemed to have taken a liking to him too, visiting him in his shop, whenever he managed to sneak out of your third floor apartment.

So, when the Uncle told you to be careful in this weird weather and to keep an extra watchful eye on Humpty for the time being, you’d meant to heed his advice. 

You must have had a moment of inattention though, because when you came home after getting groceries you found your small flat to be empty. You’d forgotten to close the bathroom window and he must’ve snuck out from there. With a sigh you set the groceries down in the kitchen area before stepping out again, hoping that maybe he was just in the car shop downstairs. 

You were lucky, finding the brown animal curled up on the roof of a beige vintage car, while the Uncle himself was working beneath the car, only his legs poking out.

“Here to pick up your cat?” He asked, without coming out.

“He slipped out again,” you replied while picking Humpty up from his spot that must have been incredibly comfortable if his unsatisfied meowing was anything to go by. “Thanks for keeping an eye on him.”

The man laughed. “Felt more like he was keeping an eye on me, honestly.”

You nodded even though he couldn’t see you, watching a little longer. 

“That’s a nice car,” you commented, more to make polite conversation than anything else. You didn’t actually know anything about cars, but you did think it was a pretty one with the little hood ornament resembling the shape of an M.

“Yeah, it’s a nice one. A Ford Mercury Monarch, though I doubt you’ve suddenly taken a big interest in cars, have you?”

“Not really.” You chuckled, feeling caught. Of course he’d know that you were just being polite. “Still, it’s kinda pretty.”

“Mhm,” he hummed. 

Humpty started to fidget in your arms and you knew it was time to head upstairs if you didn’t want him to scratch you.

“I better go back.”

“Mhm,” he hummed again and you were about to leave, when he pushed himself out from under the car and eyed you seriously.

“Remember to be careful, y/n,” he reminded you once more. “I think there’ll be a storm tonight.”

Somehow the way he said it felt insinuating and sent a weird shiver down your spine. 

You swallowed around the lump in your throat.

“I’ll remember it.”

With a weary feeling in your stomach you left his shop, slipping back out into the rain. The building you lived in was an old factory that had been turned into several loft apartments and the commercial property downstairs. A bunch of the complexes in your neighborhood were like that which gave the area a certain charme when the sun was shining onto the red brickstones and reflecting from the big, old windows. When it rained like now though, the sky above dark and grey, the tall buildings almost looked intimidating.

Just when you wanted to turn towards the entrance door next to the shop to head upstairs, you saw a white shadow rushing through your peripheral vision. Your head instinctively snapped around, and you clearly hadn’t been the only one to notice. Humpty all but leaped out of your arms, chasing the white shadow down the street which seemed to be—a rabbit?

For a moment you were frozen in place, watching your beloved fur ball disappear down the street. But then you snapped out of it, running after him as fast as you could.

Sadly, it wasn’t fast enough to catch up to him and to make things worse the Uncle had been right about the storm. The rain was picking up and you heard thunder rumbling in the distance.

Eventually you found yourself in a side street, no trace of either the cat nor the rabbit. Humpty had never been one to come back when called, but you tried anyway, shouting out his name, the brick-lined house walls echoing it back to you.

You knew Humpty would be able to find his way back home, but you didn’t like the idea of him outside in this weather by himself. So, you kept going, even when the rain got so strong you could barely see what was in front of you.

Feeling somewhat resigned, you turned into another side street, just to be met with the rabbit sitting right in the middle of the road, his bright white fur standing out against the gray surroundings. Humpty on the other hand was nowhere to be seen. But something inside of you told you that if you caught the rabbit, you would surely find him too.

The white animal watched you with calm eyes as you approached, and you almost thought you’d be able to grab it, when it bolted, disappearing behind a corner. You rushed after it, turning into the dead end just to find it deserted and almost completely flooded. The giant puddle seemed to reflect the sky above impossibly sharp, despite the raindrops rippling the surface. In the reflection it didn’t even look all that dark and cloudy, but before you could wonder about it more or bemoan the water drenching your shoes, you suddenly felt yourself stepping into a void, the floor beneath your feet simply disappearing. In a weird epiphany you realized it must have been a missing duct cover, but it wasn’t like that would help you now. You were already falling, dark water swallowing you whole.

When you came to, the first thing you realized was that you were cold and wet. You blinked your eyes open and pushed your damp hair out of your face. It didn’t make sense, you were sure you’d fallen down into the sewer, but you found yourself in the same dead end again, sitting in the middle of the giant puddle, completely drenched. At least the rain had let off and the sky was dyed in shades of pink and purple. 

You felt for the opening in the ground that you’d fallen into with your hand, but the duct cover was right there. Confused, you tried to squeeze some water out of your clothes which was only so effective considering that you were still sitting in the puddle. 

Just then, your eyes fell onto the white rabbit at the street corner he’d come from, looking at you almost thoughtfully. But then, as if he snapped himself out of a trance, his eyes widened. 

“Oh no, oh no,” he mumbled, or you would have thought he did if it wasn’t impossible for a rabbit to speak. “Go back, quickly!”

“What?” you asked anyway, but the rabbit just turned and bolted off again.

“Time is running out.”

For a brief second you stared at the spot where he’d still sat a moment ago, but then you quickly stumbled to your feet and ran after him. You turned the corner just in time to see a man, not a rabbit, scurrying down the street. He had snow white hair, just like the bright fur of the rabbit, and it felt a bit too odd to be a coincidence. Especially with the pair of rabbit ears sitting right there on his head.

“Oh no, oh no,” you heard him again from the distance and even though none of this made any sense, you kept going after him.

Despite running until your lungs burned, you couldn't catch up to him. Maybe that was your sign to call it a day, you thought. Surely, Humpty had already made his way back home to your apartment by himself to escape the bad weather.

When you looked around though, you noticed that something about your neighborhood felt off. On first glance it was the same, but on second glance everything was different. All kinds of weird plants were overgrowing the pavement and crawling up the brick walls. There were no lights on behind the windows, no matter where you looked, nor was there any other trace of people. 

Overcome with an eerie feeling you slowly made your way down the street in the direction of your home. The light of the street lamps looked colder than usual and they flickered in irregular intervals. 

“I think you’re going the wrong way,” a voice behind you suddenly said matter of factly.

Startled, you turned around, looking right into the face of a young man with bright blue hair. He smiled and it was undeniably pretty, but it didn’t look entirely genuine.

“What do you mean?”

Instead of a reply he just shrugged and then seemed to disappear into thin air. You looked around, trying to understand where he’d gone, but he was nowhere to be found.

“What do you mean?” you repeated, your voice a little shaky.

“That the direction you’re going in is wrong.” He suddenly replied from right next to you.

“But I’m going home.”

“If you say so.” He giggled and it almost sounded childlike.

You felt yourself growing a little annoyed. “Then where am I supposed to go if not this way?”

“I won’t tell you.” With that he disappeared into thin air once more and you didn’t have it in you to feel surprised about it again.

“Fine,” you snapped in no direction in particular. “Then don’t tell me.”

You continued your way, but from time to time you still heard his giggles and little comments.

“So wrong,” he would say with a chuckle, his voice coming from one direction first and then another next.

“If you’re not going to tell me, then at least leave me alone!”

“But it’s funny,” he argued, suddenly appearing right in front of you, a wide smile plastered on his face. “It’s funny to see you run right into their fangs.”

“Whose fangs?” 

“The Queen’s servants,” he whispered right into your left ear, before reappearing on your other side. “The heartlings.”

You frowned in confusion, all of this giving you a headache. None of it made any sense. You just wanted to go home, curl up in your bed and cuddle your cat. But you couldn’t help the weary feeling in your guts, telling you that there was at least some truth to the weird guy’s words.

“So, where would you go?”

“Oh, I can go anywhere,” he replied with a giggle. “They can’t catch me if they can’t see me, right?”

“And if you couldn’t turn invisible?”

“Hm,” he seemed to think for a moment. “Maybe I’d get myself a snack from the gas station?”

You looked at his vanishing form in utter disbelief. “A snack?”

“Or a coke, maybe.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Well, I’m not saying you should do that. But you asked me what I would do. And I gave you an answer.”

You felt so unbearably frustrated with whoever this guy was, and yet you still turned around and headed into the direction of the gas station. Maybe you’d get some answers there and if you didn’t you could at least buy a snack and a coke before going home.

When you reached the gas station it too wasn’t quite looking the way you remembered it to. Instead of the brand logo you were so familiar with, the pink neon sign showed an abstract symbol next to letters that you couldn’t read. Just like the rest of the neighborhood it seemed to be completely deserted, but at least the lights in the shop were on.

“Are you sure I can go in?” You asked, convinced the blue haired guy was still around.

“If the door isn’t locked you can,” he replied, his voice coming from further away than you’d expected.

You turned around to spot him sitting in the branches of a tree near the edge of the parking lot.

“Are you not coming along?”

“I doubt my presence would be appreciated.”

You frowned in confusion. “Why?”

“Because I don’t like to pick sides. Besides,” he hopped off the branches but disappeared before his feet hit the ground, just to stand in front of you a second later. “Cats aren’t welcome.”

He pointed towards a sticker on the glass door, a pictogram of a cat crossed out with a thick red line.

“But you’re not a cat,” you argued, following the gesture with your eyes before your gaze settled on him again.

“Am I not?” He tilted his head and a pair of grayish blue cat ears was sitting right there, poking out of his hair. 

You stared at him flabbergasted. You knew for sure they hadn’t been there before. You would have noticed such a detail, wouldn’t you? 

“Wha—how?”

“Because I’m a cat,” he replied as if it was common knowledge. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” 

With that, he vanished into thin air once more, the last thing you saw of him the bright white of his toothy smile.

“Wait! Am I supposed to go alone?”

“Weren’t you alone from the start?” sounded his reply, but he didn’t turn visible again.

“But what if I need help?”

“I’m sure you will.”

“So how will I know how to find you?”

He giggled. “Find me? You won’t. But should I ever be in the mood to help, I will certainly know how to find you.”

“Wait!” you tried to stop him once more, but it stayed quiet and you were sure he was gone for good this time.

You sighed, focusing your attention on the shop in front of you instead. Even on closer inspection you couldn’t spot anyone, but the staff door behind the cash desk was cracked open, so you assumed that someone was in the back.

With a deep breath you opened the glass door and stepped inside. It felt cramped with how closely the aisles stood together, maybe a little more so than usual. You looked around, hoping that the cashier would come out if you just waited a bit. You picked up a coke and a chocolate bar from the shelves, not because you were in the mood for either, but because the cat guy had mentioned it.

By the time you stepped to the counter and sat down the products on top there was still no sign of anyone coming out anytime soon, nor was there a bell to ring.

“Hello?” You timidly shouted in the direction of the door. “Hellooo?”

“Hello?” It suddenly echoed back from beyond. “Hellooo?”

You rolled your eyes at the staff’s humor. “I’d like to pay.”

“They’d like to pay,” it sounded back, but this time it didn’t seem to be addressed to you.

Before you could say anything else, the door opened and a guy with tousled red hair stepped out. For a moment he just eyed you thoughtfully but then he broke into a goofy smile that made a dimple form on his cheek.

“Welcome.”

“Uh, hi,” you replied awkwardly. “Do you work here?”

He wasn’t quite what you’d expected. Instead of the off-white t-shirts the staff here usually wore, he wore a sheer turtleneck in bright orange and a colorful silk shirt on top that he kept open. He absolutely didn’t look as if he was working here. Nevertheless, you couldn’t help but think that in some peculiar way, you found him attractive.

“Work here?” he repeated, sounding almost a little confused. “No, I don’t work.”

“Uh, then, is someone here who does?”

“Is anyone here who does?” he shouted towards the staff door, passing your question on.

“No, no one,” came the reply shortly after.

“The hare says no one is here.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard.” You pinched the bridge of your nose slowly losing patience with whatever was going on today. “So, how do I pay?”

“Oh, with money.”

“With—forget it.” 

“All forgotten.” He nodded with a bright smile. “Anything else I can help you with?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I was just looking for my cat and then got into this whole,” you gestured vaguely at your surroundings, “mess.”

“A cat?” His face crinkled with disgust. “Not a blue one, is it? That scoundrel is not allowed in here.”

“Blue? No, Humpty Dumpty is brown.”

“Humpty Dumpty is an egg.”

“What?”

“What?”

You shook your head in exasperation. “Anyway, so I was looking for my cat and then there was this rab—man?” It sounded more like a question. 

“You’re looking for a man?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Hm,” he looked around the store as if he could find him between the aisles if he just searched hard enough. Then he turned to the door once more.

“Changgu, do we have a man?”

“A man? No, no, we don’t have that.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have any in store,” he said apologetically.

“I’m not—I don’t want to buy one. I’m—he was running away. He had white hair and—rabbit ears? And he seemed to be in a hurry. Have you seen him?”

“Ah, you met Hui. Terrible workaholic, really.”

“Do you know where to find him? I think he knows where my cat is….maybe?”

At the word cat his face scrunched up once more, but he didn’t comment on it this time. 

“I might know.”

“So, will you show me?”

“Now? I can’t. It’s tea time. In fact, maybe you should come in and have tea with us.”

You frowned in confusion. “But you don’t even know me?”

“Right,” he nodded. “Who are you?”

“Y/n.”

“Y/n. That is certainly a name,” he nodded once more. “I’m Shinwon. The Hatter.”

“A hatter?” You weren’t aware that it was a job that still existed. You’d assumed that the fast fashion industry had more or less let that handicraft die out. Furthermore, “You’re not even wearing a hat.”

“Not a hatter. The Hatter. And my hat—” for a moment he stared into the distance, a deep sadness in his eyes but then he snapped out of it, smiling like nothing happened. “That’s a story for another day.”

The sudden change in mood had piqued your interest, but you decided to respect his privacy and not pry into it further.

“And what is the Hatter doing in a gas station?”

“A gas station? I’ve never been to one.” He didn’t give you the time to question his words, already turning towards the door. “Now, let’s have some tea.”

Maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to follow this guy to the back. He didn’t seem to be right in the head, though to be fair, you weren’t sure about your own sanity either. After all, you’d chased down a talking rabbit and then shared a walk with a man who seemed to be able to vanish into thin air. Perhaps, a mad hatter in a gas station was on the normal side of things in comparison.

The backroom didn’t look the way you’d expected, though at this point you weren’t sure what you were expecting anymore. The space was completely cluttered with chests and boxes, and all kinds of fabrics and curtains were draped throughout the room. In the middle of it all was a long table which was decked out with way too much dinnerware. In fact, the tea cups were stacked up so high, you almost didn’t notice the guy sitting in one of the mismatched chairs near the end of the table. 

“I brought a guest,” Shinwon declared, pointing at you.

“A guest!” The guy jumped up from his chair with a dazzling smile. 

Only now did you see the floppy ears that sat on his head, reaching down all the way to his shoulders. They were a light brown, the same shade as his wavy hair, and they looked so soft and fuzzy you kinda wanted to try petting them. 

“Hi,” you awkwardly greeted, raising your hand in a small wave. “I’m y/n.”

“That is certainly a name,” the man replied with a nod and Shinwon next to you clapped excitedly.

“Right? That’s what I said.”

You didn’t know what to make of the comment so you decided to just ignore it. “And you are Changgu I assume?”

 “Ah, where are my manners?” He rushed over, accidentally knocking some cups off the table that shattered on the floor.

“Yes, Hare, where are your manners?” Shinwon echoed.

“I’m Changgu. The March Hare,” he introduced himself, reaching out his hand to you, that barely poked out from underneath the sleeves of his plaid coat.

“The March Hare?”

He nodded, before leaning in closer as if he was about to share a secret. 

“It’s because I’m as mad as one,” he whispered. “I don’t have both ears in the water.”

As if to prove his point he raised one of his ears and let it flop down again.

“It’s oars, Hare. You don’t have both oars in the water,” Shinwon corrected, before ushering you further into the room. “Now, let’s have some tea?”

He pulled back one of the chairs for you while he took the seat at the head of the table. You sat down and stared at the mess before you, unsure how to behave. It didn’t exactly look as if it was set for a tea party (or set at all, for that matter). You felt out of place and it didn’t help that your clothes were still wet. It had almost slipped your mind, but now that you were sitting you felt the damp fabric sticking to your skin again, leaving you with an itchy feeling.

“Tea?” Changgu, who’d taken the seat across from you interrupted your thoughts. He pushed a cup he’d poured in your direction. The other porcelain on the table got shoved out of the way on his quest but he didn’t seem to mind, not even when one of the higher stacks started to sway dangerously.

Unable to watch what was clearly going to end in disaster, you quickly took the cup with a “Thank you” and promptly received a bright smile in return.

Before you could take a sip of the steaming liquid though, Shinwon held out a plate with muffins to you, each one decorated with a small candle.

“Dessert? We also have cake,” he pointed at a ring cake somewhere in the mess. “And biscuits.”

“Then, a biscuit, perhaps?” You agreed reluctantly.

“A biscuit, Hare, quick, a biscuit for the biscuit!”

Changgu nodded eagerly, holding out another plate to you, and you took one of the cookies from it.

But you didn’t get to try that either, because all of a sudden the door was pushed open with so much force, it made you flinch and drop the cookie into your tea cup.

“Ah, not in the middle of tea time,” Shinwon complained, clearly annoyed but not surprised. “What does the Queen want now, Paul?”

For a moment you weren’t sure who he was talking to, but then you spotted the frog that was standing upright in the doorway, dressed in an outfit that resembled a Victorian newspaper boy.

“An invitation,” he croaked, taking a big leap right onto the table, porcelain clinking at the sudden impact. He fished out a piece of paper and handed it to Changgu who took it from his green fingers.

“We got it. Now, shoo, we’re having tea.” Shinwon gestured for the frog to leave with a wave of his hand. “Unless you fancy to join us for a cup?”

“Not particularly,” the frog replied, hopping off the table and disappearing to where he’d come from. 

Changgu passed the paper onto Shinwon who took it with the tips of his fingers as if it was something disgusting. 

“What is it?” You’d managed to catch a glimpse of the writing and once again had to realize that whatever alphabet it was, you couldn’t read it.

“A party invitation,” Shinwon replied, almost spitting out the words.

"Do you not like parties?"

At your question he broke into a laughter so intense as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

“Do I not like parties?” He turned to his friend in amusement "Did you hear that, Changgu?"

“Do you not like parties?” Changgu repeated, shaking from laughter himself, his ears flopping up and down at the movement. 

You felt awkward and maybe a little upset that you once again weren't in on whatever the joke was.

“Well, do you?” You interrupted their laughter, light annoyance in your voice.

Shinwon's eyes were gleaming when he replied. “I love parties, Biscuit. I love them so much I celebrate all my unbirthdays every year.”

Changgu nodded hastily to support his point. “Every single one!”

“We’re celebrating one right this second.”

You didn't bother asking what an unbirthday was. “Then what’s so bad about this?”

Immediately, Shinwon's face turned dark again. “It's the Queen's party.”

“Then don't go.”

“Don't go, you say,” he repeated with another giggle. “No, we have to go. It's the Queen's party."

After a brief glance at a clearly broken cuckoo clock on the wall he sprung up with so much vigor, his poor chair fell over backwards and clattered to the floor. “In fact, we should go right now!” 

Then his eyes got stuck on you. 

“You're wet,” he commented as if he only just now noticed the sorry state of your clothes.

“I fell into a puddle.”

“Why would you do that?”

You frowned. “It’s not like it was on purpose.”

The side eye he exchanged with Changgu told you that he still considered it to be weird, but he let it rest. 

“Either way you can't wear that to the party. The Queen hates bad fashion.”

“Oh, I won't go to the party, I wasn’t invited.”

Another rush of laughter overcame the two of them. 

“It's the Queen's party,” Shinwon repeated yet another time. “Everyone is invited. Hare, don't we have some clothes for the child?”

“I'm not a child,” you argued but neither of them minded you.

“Maybe we have some in the dairy section.”

“Mhm-mhm,” Shinwon nodded thoughtfully and then disappeared into the shop only to show up a minute later with an odd looking suit that he handed to you. The fabric felt cold, as if it'd just come out of the refrigerator and the combination of colors and patterns seemed a little random. But it was still better than the damp clothes that were sticking to your skin uncomfortably, so you took the suit and changed into it while Shinwon and Changgu waited outside.

When you came out again, the two of them seemed to have cleaned up for the occasion as well: Shinwon had buttoned up his shirt and tamed his red hair while Changgu had added a black tie with red dots to his outfit. He hadn’t bothered to tuck it under the collar of his shirt though so it made him look more disheveled than before, but you didn’t point that out. 

Shinwon eyed you intently, his brows furrowed as he took in every inch of you. Then he broke into a happy smile. “Oh, it suits you! Isn’t that right, Hare?”

“Exquisitely so!”

You weren’t sure about their assessment but their compliments still made you feel a little better in your skin.

The three of you stepped outside and you would have thought the sky would be pitch black by now, but it still had the same purplish pink colors as before. 

“So, where is this party?” You asked as you walked down the street.

“The Red Castle,” Changgu supplied an answer that made you none the smarter.

“Of course,” you mumbled. “Where else would it be?”

Even though Shinwon had been less than ecstatic to go to the Queen’s party, he didn’t dwell on the bad mood. Him and Changgu giggled and goofed around on the way, most of their jokes going past you. 

“I’d much rather go home,” you let out a small sigh, barely even noticing that you’d said it out loud.

Shinwon interrupted his laughter to turn to you. “Oh, that’s just the right mindset for attending this party. I too would much rather go home. But,” he playfully nudged your shoulder with his own, “when we all want to go home, it’s almost the same as actually going home.”

You didn’t a hundred percent get the point he was trying to make there, but his words felt comforting nevertheless. Perhaps it wasn’t his words per se, but the consoling smile on his lips and the genuine expression in his eyes.

You shook your head in amusement. “Let’s go home then.”

“Let’s go home!” he repeated with a wide grin, raising his fist into the air and making you giggle.

As you kept walking, you slowly realized though, that maybe that was quite literally where you were headed. You were only a block away from your house now, and the closer you came, the more lively it got on the streets that had still been empty a few hours ago. Approaching your home should have filled you with a sense of relief, but instead it just made you feel queasy. 

Your bad feeling about it all proved to be there for a reason. When you turned into your street, you could barely recognize what used to be so known to you. The streetlights were decorated with a weird assortment of red flowers and warning tape, and the whole area was jammed with people (though you weren’t sure if people was the right word for the diverse assembly of beings, some more human than others but none that were human through and through) and at the center of it all seemed to be the tall factory building with its brick walls and the car shop on the first floor. It looked vastly different, the entire front of the building covered by a huge mural painting depicting roses that crawled up the walls, their stems carrying sharp thorns. Still, there was no mistaking it:

“That’s—that’s my house.”

“Oh, how fortunate,” Shinwon exclaimed gleefully. “You wanted to go home!”

“No, but—,” you interrupted yourself, not even sure what to say. Maybe it’d been a little delusional to believe your home would still be your home if nothing else seemed to have remained the same.

“You didn’t want to go home after all?” Shinwon nodded understandingly. “Then this is indeed unfortunate.”

“Very unfortunate,” Changgu agreed.

“I’m just so confused. Why is nothing the same as before?”

“Maybe that’s a question for a caterpillar,” Changgu replied seriously. “They are experts on things that do not stay the same.”

Before you could inquire how you were supposed to discuss this with a caterpillar of all things, you spotted a familiar pair of snow white ears in the middle of the crowd that disappeared as suddenly as they’d shown up. 

Without thinking you chased after the white rabbit. You weren’t sure why you were still so keen on catching him. It didn’t seem very likely anymore that he knew where Humpty was. But he was the only one who had already been there when the world was still normal, so maybe he’d also know how to turn it back.

“Why are we running?” Shinwon asked behind you, sounding out of breath. You hadn’t noticed he’d come along.

“The rabbit!” You explained. “I saw the rabbit.”

“Why are we running?” Changgu shouted from behind Shinwon, following as you rushed through the crowd.

“The rabbit, they saw the rabbit,” Shinwon explained in your stead.

You almost expected to lose the rabbit in question again, but then he was suddenly standing right there, throwing a worried glance onto his wrist watch. You abruptly stopped in order not to run him over, causing Shinwon to bump into you. In your relief to have finally caught on, you didn’t pay it any mind though.

“Thank God,” you pressed out, catching your breath. 

The man with the white rabbit ears turned to you, seemingly only noticing you now.

“Oh. Oh, no,” he looked a little distressed at your presence before his eyes wandered to your company in surprise. “And the Hatter?”

“And the Hare,” Shinwon added, pointing at Changgu who’d come to a stop behind him.

“So, what do you want?” The man asked, his eyes darting to his watch once more. “I’m in a hurry.”

Shinwon chuckled. “It’s good to take a break from time to time, Hui.”

“Of course, you would say that.”

“My cat,” you interrupted before their discussion could drag on. “Did you see my cat?”

“A cat?” He sighed. “I don’t have time for Yanan’s shenanigans."

“No, no,” Shinwon chimed in. “This cat is brown.”

“I don’t have time for a brown cat either,” Hui shook his head. “In fact, I don’t even have time for this party.”

With that he took off, quickly disappearing into the crowd again.

“Wait,” you shouted after him. You still hadn’t asked him about whatever was going on with the world around you, and he was probably the only person who could know something (and also the most sane one you’d met so far, despite his constant haste and his rather cold demeanor).

“Don’t take it to heart,” Changgu reassured. “In fact, he already lingered longer than usual. Sometimes we don’t hear from him for months. And he doesn’t even spare the time to celebrate his unbirthdays.”

You sighed in resignation. “Still, I had so many questions.”

“Even if he knows the answers, I doubt he has the time to give them,” Shinwon replied comfortingly, though it didn’t feel very comforting at all. “Caterpillars on the other hand have a lot of time.”

You didn’t get why Shinwon too was bringing up caterpillars now, but the two of them had been talking nonsense from the moment you’d met them so it was a little late to start overthinking it now.

Suddenly, the sound of a fanfare cut through the noise of the crowd.

“Oh, it’s beginning,” Shinwon exclaimed, grabbing your hand and pulling you further towards the front, until you were standing in the second or third row with a direct view on what used to be your home and was now something else entirely. "From here you can take a good look so you know whom to avoid."

"The Queen?" you asked for clarification.

"That too. But the Heartlings and Knave as well."

You remembered the former from when the blue cat had mentioned it before, but the knave was new. You didn't get to ask though, because the fanfare sounded again.

A frog, just like the one that had brought the invitation, was standing on a stack of tires in front of the garage door, a scroll in his hands that he unrolled solemnly. He cleared his throat twice before finally addressing the crowd.

“Your Majesty, the Queen of Hearts,” he announced, his voice way louder than you would have expected from a frog of his size.

The crowd cheered more or less enthusiastically and he hopped from the stack of tires. A pack of ferrets came to the scene, quickly pushing the tires to the side. The last one had barely scurried away, when the roller shutter of the garage started to open, slowly disclosing the shop beyond. For a while, all you got to see was the car that was parked right in the center. You recognized the vintage car immediately with its beige finish and the M shaped hood ornament. As the shutter had almost rolled all the way up, it finally revealed a person sitting on top of the car, in just the same spot that Humpty had taken a nap in earlier today. (At least you thought it was still today—with the sky not changing color at all, you were a little confused about the passage of time.)

To your surprise though, it wasn’t a Queen at all. Instead it was a guy with choppy blonde hair wearing a velvet tracksuit. His gaze was fierce and there was something captivating albeit intimidating about his aura. Still—

“Where’s the Queen?”

Instantly, the whole crowd fell silent.

The man in the velvet suit cocked his head, his eyes narrowing in on the guests. “Who asked that?”

Everyone around you took a step away, trying to gain some distance from you. Solely Shinwon and Changgu stuck to your side, but even they seemed a little uneasy. From your peripheral vision you spotted a man with wavy hair next to the garage door straightening out his posture. You hadn’t noticed him before, but he must have been there all along. He pushed back the fabric of his jacket a bit to reveal the grip of a gun that was tucked into the waistband of his pants. You didn’t understand what was happening, but you were smart enough to realize it wasn’t anything good. Your stomach was filled with dread and you instinctively reached out to Shinwon, your fingers clasping onto the hem of his shirt.

“Uh, oh, Biscuit,” he whispered close to your ear. “You’ve really done it now.”

“I said,” the man in the velvet suit started again, this time with more emphasis, as he leaped off the car roof in one smooth movement. “Who. Asked. That?” 

The crowd seemed to budge even further away from you, leaving you easily exposed to the man who approached with striding steps.

“You?” His gaze landed on you, making you feel small and helpless. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

He took another step closer, close enough for you to spot the beauty marks on his face, close enough to notice the glow of his skin. “Tell me your name, dear.”

“Y/n,” you pressed out, your voice barely hearable.

“Y/n,” he repeated with a hum, almost as if he was tasting the sound of it on his tongue. “So, y/n, what were you thinking? What made you believe that I’m not worthy of being the Queen?”

The thoughts started circling in your mind. It was clearly a trick question; no matter what reply you presented him with, it would be wrong.

Thankfully though, you didn’t have to give one at all. Before you could even think of saying anything, you felt Shinwon leaning in close to your ear again. 

“I’ve got this,” he whispered, stepping in front of you with confidence.

Anxiously, you glanced over to Changgu, who gently took your hand in his, mouthing a reassuring Don’t worry. 

“Your Distinctiveness,” Shinwon greeted overly friendly, taking an exaggerated bow.

“Hatter,” the Queen replied, his face contorted in disgust.

“You see, my dear friend is new here,” he explained. “And to make matters worse, they have terrible vision, don’t you, Biscuit?”

You felt frozen, even more so now that the Queen's attention was back on you. It wasn’t until Changgu squeezed your hand, that you hurriedly nodded.

“Very terrible vision,” Shinwon repeated, his voice sounding pitying this time. “Can’t even tell right from wrong.”

“Is that so?” 

The Queen didn’t seem convinced as he gave you another once over. You instinctively held your breath, as if that could protect you from his piercing gaze.

“Consider this a warning,” he eventually said, finally taking his eyes off you.

“And you, Hatter,” he turned to Shinwon, “educate your guests right. Wouldn’t want to lose any, hm?”

“Of course, your Noteworthiness; by no means, your Exquisiteness,” Shinwon nodded meaningfully.

“Good!” The Queen’s mood suddenly shifted. He clapped his hands and a grin spread on his lips. “Now, let’s celebrate, shall we?”

He strode back to the car, using stacked up tires to take a seat on the roof again like a Queen on her throne.

You let out the breath you’d been holding, relieved that you’d evaded whatever storm would have awaited you if Shinwon hadn’t been there. You gently tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. 

“Thank you. You really saved me there.”

“Oh, yes, Biscuit, that would not have ended well,” he replied with a giggle before his expression grew more serious. “But I have your back.”

You weren’t sure why he’d helped you, after all he barely knew you at all. But you didn't dwell on it for too long. Of everyone you’d met today, if you had to choose just one person to trust, it would surely be him. In all his madness and with all his nonsense, you decided to trust him. 

The party proceeded, though it hardly resembled your understanding of the term. There was music, sure, but the mood felt strained. The Queen however didn’t seem to notice or perhaps he simply didn’t care.

“It’s a party,” he drawled. “So, entertain me.”

“Of course, your Highness,” the frog from before hurried to assure. “The dancers, get the dancers!”

A group of dancers stepped forward, wiry figures with white wings on their backs just like those of a swan. Music started to play and they moved to the melody. It was a beautiful choreography but you couldn’t help but notice the way their arms seemed to tremble with nerves. And you weren’t the only one.

“What a pity for them,” Shinwon whispered next to you. 

“A tragedy, even,” Changgu agreed.

“He won’t like that.”

“He’ll despise it.”

You looked between the two of them, before your gaze wandered back to the Queen. He looked onto the spectacle with contempt.

“Boring. Show something else.”

Immediately the music got interrupted and a different song played, the dancers changing position and starting anew. The Queen watched for a moment, his lips pursed thoughtfully.

“If only I could make this more fun,” he complained with a big sigh but then his eyes widened as if he’d had a brilliant idea. “Ah! I know! Jack! Get me some firecrackers!”

The frog nodded, relaying the task onto the ferrets who disappeared and showed up seconds later with a red box. The Queen clapped joyfully before he took the box and fished a lighter out of his pocket. 

“What is he doing?” You asked Shinwon, your voice barely a whisper.

“Playing a game, it seems. He loves games.”

An uneasy feeling took root in your stomach. “What kind of game?”

“Dodge.”

The game was exactly what it sounded like. While the performance continued, the Queen lit up the firecrackers and threw them at the dancers’ feet, watching in delight as they tried to evade the small explosions.

You felt sick to your stomach and for the first time since you’d fallen into the sewer you truly wished to wake up from what clearly had to be a nightmare. With shaky fingers, you pinched the skin of your inner arm, hard enough to make tears spring to your eyes. But nothing happened. You didn’t wake up and this wasn’t a dream. The dancers were still hopping from one foot to the other, the Queen’s manic laughter drowning out the music they were dancing to. And you just stood there, frozen in place, averting your gaze instead of stepping in.

“That’s insane. How can he be so cruel?”

“He’s the Queen of Hearts, what did you expect?” Shinwon scoffed. “Of course, it was different when—no, I shouldn’t say. Not here.”

The rest of the party continued in the same vein. The Queen had a very different idea of how to stay entertained, it seemed. His games hardly qualified as games at all. If anything they were torture, for those who had to watch and even more so for those who had to play. But he was sitting on his makeshift throne enjoying the show.

“Oh, what a delight!” The Queen eventually addressed the crowd. “I had feared for this party to become a disaster. After all, it was off to a miserable start, isn’t that true?”

Maybe it was just your imagination, but you felt as if his eyes were looking right at you, giving you a warning glare as if to say I remember you. Don’t mess up again.

Panic rushed through your body and you were shaking like a leaf as you tried to withstand his gaze. When he looked away at last, announcing it was time for the grand finale, you felt all strength leaving your body and your knees would have given in if Shinwon hadn’t immediately reached out to steady you. Even when you’d found your balance again, he stayed closely behind you, resting his hands on your shoulders.

“Are you okay, Biscuit?”

You didn’t even bother pretending and shook your head. 

“When is this over? When is it finally over?”

“Soon. We only have to make it through the fireworks now. You can hold out, right?”

You nodded weakly and watched with something akin to relief as the ferrets set up fireworks that for once seemed to really be just that—fireworks.

“No one’s going to get hurt, right?” you asked, to be sure.

Shinwon gave your shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “No one’s going to get hurt.”

And his words proved true. The ferrets lit the fuse and you watched with tired eyes as the flame crawled over the bloodstained floor until it reached the fireworks. They shot up with a bang and exploded into sparkling pink hearts filling the sky above you that had at last started to darken. It was a beautiful spectacle and for a brief moment you could almost trick yourself into thinking that it’d been a regular party after all. Almost. While everyone’s eyes were glued to the sparkling sky, your own fell to the Queen again. He was watching the fireworks too, in awe of its beauty, while the traces of his cruel games were scattered all around him. It seemed he was the only winner today.

After a moment he lowered his head to look at you. It was a slow, deliberate shift as if he’d been aware of your gaze all along. His eyes briefly flicked over his surroundings before they landed on you again, a small smile on his lips. Despite the distance you knew exactly what he was mouthing at you.

Beautiful, isn’t it?

When it was finally over you couldn’t even manage to be relieved. You’d seen too much and you despised yourself for watching all of it in silence.

“Why is everyone just accepting this?” You asked, once the crowd had dissipated and you’d gained some distance to the Red Castle.

“Because there’s nothing else we can do,” Shinwon explained matter-of-factly. “Not yet.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that it’s not time yet.”

“Not yet,” Changgu echoed. “But soon.”

It wasn’t a very satisfactory reply, but who were you to talk? You’d only been here for a day and it wasn’t as if you’d been brave enough to say anything either. No, you’d looked away much the same as everyone else.

You sighed and followed behind them, slowly realizing that you had no idea where you were headed. It definitely wasn’t the way back to the gas station unless the streets had suddenly swapped places which wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen that day.

When you asked, Shinwon looked at you in confusion. “To the caterpillar, of course.”

“The caterpillar?”

“You want answers and he has a lot of them. And if you’re lucky a few of them might just match your questions.”

“Is it far?”

“Oh, very much,” Shinwon nodded but then he added, “we’re almost there.”

Eventually you turned into the street with the old theater and realized that that must be where you were headed. You’d always loved it there and had many fond memories of musicals and theater pieces you’d watched there. It was a charming building with a pretty front that you remembered to be adorned with big illuminated signs announcing the shows that were currently running. Now though, it looked sad and abandoned as it laid in complete darkness at the end of the street. 

“What happened here?”

“The Queen doesn’t fancy theaters, I’m afraid. He’d rather the only shows that happen are the ones he holds in the castle. Of course it was different when—” Shinwon interrupted himself once more, but then he seemed to remember that you weren’t at the party anymore and that no one was around to hear. Still, he whispered when he continued, just to be safe. “It was different when Hongseok was still king.”

“Very different,” Changgu agreed. “Hongseok loved the theater.”

“He also loved cookies,” Shinwon added.

“And fun rides.”

“And coffee.”

Changgu nodded excitedly. “He handed out free coffee on all 23rd unbirthdays.”

“He did. Every 23rd.”

“The 23rd unbirthdays are always the best,” Changgu explained.

You looked at him in confusion. “Why?”

Now Changgu was the one looking confused. “Because they are the 23rd, of course.”

“Right,” you nodded slowly even though his explanation didn’t actually explain anything. Still, even if it didn’t make much sense, what you did understand was how fondly they thought of Hongseok. You didn’t know if he’d been a capable king, but he must have been a beloved one.

“Why isn’t he ruling anymore?”

Shinwon laughed, as if it’d been a particularly stupid question. “Because now we have the Queen, dummy. There can’t be a king and a queen.”

You wanted to argue that in fact there usually was both, but you doubted that anything would come of it.

The three of you walked towards the entrance of the dark building when Shinwon suddenly stopped in his tracks and swiveled around to Changgu.

“Do you have cash on you?”

“No, no,” Changgu shook his head, turning his pockets inside out as if to prove his point. A single button fell out and clattered to the floor.

“Oh, no. I am afraid they don't take credit card.” Shinwon sighed with a wistful glance at the dark and empty ticket booth before turning to you. “You don’t happen to have any?”

Your gaze wandered between him and the abandoned theater. “What do you need cash for?”

“To buy a ticket, dummy,” he said with a giggle. “Hare, she doesn’t know you need a ticket to go to a theater.”

“You can’t just go in without a ticket,” Changgu nodded.

"No, I—agh, nevermind."

“You’re so funny, Biscuit.”

You didn’t consider yourself a particularly humorous person, but as long as it made them laugh you supposed it was fine. Still, you didn’t get why you would have to pay to go into an abandoned building where there clearly were no shows running. You checked your pockets anyway, but you had nothing except for an old bubble gum wrapper.

“Hm,” Shinwon looked thoughtful. “Well, I guess it will have to do.”

He took the wrapper from your hand, picked up the button from the street and fished a safety pin out of his own pocket. The random assortment of things was then shoved through the hatch of the ticket booth that was meant for paying. Meanwhile Changgu opened the entrance door to the right of the booth which was barely hanging in its hinges. 

“After you,” he said with a grin and an exaggerated bow.

“Very kind,” Shinwon replied with a nod and a tip of an invisible hat as he stepped past him into the dark lobby of the theater. You followed suit, giving Changgu a quick thanks.

Somehow the building made you feel weary. It was distressing how it looked as if it’d been abandoned from one second to another. There were coats hanging in the cloakroom and a half eaten bucket of popcorn was laying tipped over on the floor, popcorn scattered around it. The whole atmosphere gave you chills.

Shinwon and Changgu didn’t seem to have any such concerns though. The Hatter went straight for the snack counter, starting to rummage through the fridge that was clearly turned off.

“Coke anyone? Or a limo?” He asked, holding up glass bottles, that almost looked like the popular brands you knew, if it wasn’t for the unfamiliar writing.

He didn’t wait for a reply, already setting them onto the counter.

“Do you think we should bring something for Jinho too? You think he'd want a coke? Or something else?”

“Maybe something else.”

Shinwon nodded thoughtfully. “A water? But that's for boring people.”

“Maybe a water,” Changgu agreed anyway.

“Jinho? Are we—are we still talking about a worm here?”

Shinwon bursted into laughter. “A worm! Oh, he would hate that!”

“Wasn’t it a worm?”

He snorted before turning to Changgu. “A worm, Hare! A worm!” He repeated between chuckles, nudging his friend in the side who’d long joined his laughter.

“We shouldn’t ever tell him that.”

“We shouldn’t. He would hate it so much.”

“He would,” Changgu shook himself in delight. “Maybe we should tell him.”

“We should!”

“So, it wasn’t a worm?”

“A caterpillar, Biscuit. He is a caterpillar.”

Jinho was sitting on one of the balconies, watching the empty stage. His head was propped up on one of his hands as he leaned over the balustrade, sipping on a small pouch of red ginseng extract. The dim light in the auditorium gave his dark gray hair a blueish, almost iridescent shimmer that made you want to question if it was real. Still, he was most certainly not a caterpillar.

“A lovely theater, isn’t it?” He mumbled without looking up and you weren’t quite sure who he was talking to.

“Very lovely,” Shinwon was quick to agree but he didn’t sound serious.

“You should have seen it in its heydays,” Jinho continued, turning his head to look at you. “It was truly marvelous.”

He spoke slowly, as if his every word was well considered and it made you nervous. 

You swallowed around the lump in your throat before you replied. “I’m sure it was.”

“Mhm,” he hummed approvingly, then he turned back to the stage. “I’ve been expecting you. You’re late.”

“Oh!” Shinwon chimed in. “Really? I was thinking we should have left a little earlier.”

“Not you, Hatter,” Jinho drawled in response. “Alice.”

“Alice? Which Alice?” Shinwon looked confused. 

Jinho nodded in your direction. “That Alice.”

“I’m not Alice. My name is—”

“Y/n,” he interrupted you with an exasperated sigh. “I know. But you’re also Alice. One does not preclude the other, you foolish rat.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You couldn’t quite choose between feeling distraught by the fact that he knew your name or offended by his tone, so you settled for both.

“It means exactly what I said. You’re Alice.”

While you still didn’t get what he was trying to say, Shinwon and Changgu looked absolutely flabbergasted, their eyes flicking back and forth between you and Jinho.

“Our Biscuit… is Alice?”

“The Alice?”

“How many times do I need to say it?” Jinho shook his head. “Y/n is the new Alice. That’s how it’s written in the script.”

“It’s written in the script,” Shinwon repeated in disbelief.

Changgu nodded. “Y/n is Alice.”

“Would anyone please explain to me what’s going on? How can I be Alice if I’m me?”

“Because the script says you are.” Jinho squeezed out the last bits of ginseng extract, before shoving the empty package back into the box that was sitting on the seat next to him. “The script is never wrong.”

“What script?”

“The one,” Shinwon explained unhelpfully.

“The only,” Changgu added.

Jinho took out a new pouch of ginseng, his whole focus on the packaging as he slowly and carefully ripped it open. Your eyes automatically followed the movement. 

“I can show you. If you wish to see,” he offered without looking up.

“I—I don’t know. I don’t know what any of this means so I don’t know if I want to see it or not.” You instinctively turned to Shinwon for help, searching his eyes for advice. “Do I?”

He didn’t immediately reply and when he did his voice was unusually calm and collected. “I think you should.”

“Okay,” you nodded slowly before turning to Jinho again. “I want to see.”

He didn’t seem to be in a hurry, calmly emptying the rest of his ginseng extract before getting up from the velvet seat. 

“Let’s go to the prop room then.”

“Oh, the prop room!” Changgu looked excited, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I haven’t gone there since our last show. It’s been a while!”

Jinho led the way out of the auditorium to narrow stairs at the far back of the hallway. A chain with a handwritten sign was supposed to keep visitors out, but Jinho nonchalantly pulled it to the side.

“Careful,” he warned before going downstairs and not without reason. Fabrics, props and costumes were scattered all over the steps and the handrail, making it feel like an obstacle course. While you slowly followed Jinho, carefully not to trip on anything, Shinwon and Changgu seemed almost delighted, hopping down the steps as if it was a funny game. Though, after seeing the gas station’s backroom it wasn’t as surprising that they weren’t bothered by the mess, you supposed.

Once you’d reached the bottom of the stairs, Jinho pulled a small key out of his pocket and unlocked the wooden door to reveal a room, cramped with more odds and ends. 

Changgu went right in, purposefully taking a handkerchief from one of the zillion shelves. 

“Was wondering where I’d kept that,” he commented happily before stuffing it into his pocket.

Jinho pushed past him with a sigh. “We haven’t taken out the script in a while, and this is how you act? Some adequacy, if you please.”

“Don’t be such a killjoy, Worm.”

Jinho’s head snapped around to Shinwon, giving him a death glare. “Worm?”

Shinwon just shrugged lightheartedly. “Right, Caterpillar. My bad.”

“These kids,” Jinho shook his head before turning his attention back to you. “Let’s take a look, shall we?”

He took your hand and pulled you along to the far back of the room, where a wooden chest was covered with a bunch of colorful fabrics. Jinho shoved them aside to reveal the little metal lock that he opened with another key from his pocket, before pushing up the lid of the chest. It was empty except for a stitched booklet that looked like a regular manuscript for a musical or a theater piece. Jinho took it out and thumbed through the pages until he abruptly stopped, his finger pointing to one of the lines.

“We’re here.”

You stared at the scripture written in the same unfamiliar letters as everything else in this world.

“I can’t read that.”

“Ah, right.” 

Jinho closed the booklet briefly before opening it again, his fingers still marking the page. When you looked this time, you were surprised to find that it was written in letters you were able to read. Your eyes scanned the lines Jinho was pointing to, and you were overcome with a feeling of disbelief.

Caterpillar: We’re here. Alice: I can’t read that. Caterpillar: Ah, right.

Below that, the sentences seemed to be incomplete, only bits and pieces that were scattered on the paper.

“How is that possible?” you asked and right as you spoke the words started appearing in the script.

“It’s the script,” Jinho explained calmly. “That’s what it does. It documents and it predicts. It assigns roles and it decides the plot.”

“That’s right,” Shinwon nodded meaningfully but your eyes were still glued to the page, watching as everything they said formed on the paper.

“And as you can see, y/n, your role is Alice,” Jinho continued. “At least for now.”

“For now? What does that mean?”

“Well, you’re the replacement,” Changgu stared into the distance with a nostalgic shimmer in his eyes. “The old Alice is no more.”

“Did they…die?”

“Died? No, no, he is fine.” Shinwon pressed out between laughter so hard, he had to hold his stomach. “He would whine so much about this. I can practically hear his voice: ‘Don’t say something like that! Don’t jinx me!’ So funny.”

“Wooseok fulfilled his role,” Jinho explained calmly. “So now he is only Wooseok, in the same way you were only y/n before you became Alice.”

You sighed. “I don’t remember applying for the role, though.”

Jinho rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

“So, what does it mean? Is me being Alice the reason that I’m stuck in this weird parallel universe?”

“What’s a parallel universe?” Changgu whispered, nudging Shinwon in the side.

“Surely the opposite of an unparallel iverse,” Shinwon whispered back.

“Ah.”

Jinho didn’t pay them any attention. “Not exactly. You’re stuck in this weird parallel universe—”

“That’s the opposite of an unparallel iverse,” Changgu interjected.

“—because you followed the rabbit through the Looking Glass. He was supposed to directly bring you here—but well, there’ve been some circumstances.”

“I didn’t follow anyone through a looking glass though.”

“Mhm, not purposely,” Jinho hummed. “You fell right in.”

“The sewer?”

Jinho scrunched his face in disgust. “Not the sewer. The reflection. The mirror image on the water surface.”

“So if I fell in—can I fall out again?”

“Oh, it doesn’t work like that, foolish Alice.”

“Foolish Biscuit,” Shinwon echoed, but his voice had a fond undertone to it.

“You have to fulfill your role first. Then you can go back.”

You nodded slowly. That at least meant there was a way back. “So, what do I have to do?”

“Right, that’s the tricky part, dear Alice. The script never reveals the full plot until it happens.”

“Are you saying I have to fulfill my part without even knowing what that is?!”

Jinho shook his head and skipped to a later page in the script. “We do know some things.”

The page was almost blank, only scraps of a conversation readable.

Queen of Hearts: Alice?!           You betrayed me Queen of Hearts:      What have you done to me?     hurt so much Queen of Hearts:   I'm dying

You stared at the words, an uncomfortable feeling spreading in your stomach. You had an inkling but you still asked anyway.

“What does this mean?”

“You will kill him,” Shinwon whispered. “You will end his reign.”

“No.” You shook your head. “I can’t—I can’t possibly kill anyone. Can’t someone else do it?”

Jinho shook his head. “It has to be you. He won’t die if it isn’t you.”

“But—how would I do it anyway?”

“I'm sure there are plenty of options. The King would know. Poison, maybe.”

Poison. You shuddered at the mere prospect of it; the body cramping up and lips turning purple—a gruesome thought.

“I can’t.”

“You’ve seen his cruelty. He doesn’t deserve any better,” Jinho said calmly. “And it will happen anyway. The plot may not be all written out yet, but that which is written will happen with certainty. Unless, of course, you die before that. Then a different Alice would have to take your place.”

“Unless I die?”

He shrugged. “If you’re careful that shouldn’t happen. So don’t worry about it too much, just follow along.”

Your head was spinning with all of this. Of course you wanted to go home, but could you really kill someone? But what if it was the only chance to go back? And if what Jinho said was true then was there even a use to think about what you wanted? It would happen, whether you resisted it or not. The only way out was dying, so there wasn’t even a decision for you to make, not really.

“Okay, fine,” you pressed out eventually. “I’ll fulfill my role. I’ll be Alice.”

A small smile tugged at the corners of Jinho’s lips. “I knew you would say that.”

“But how would I even get close enough to do it?” You asked Jinho while he locked the booklet in the chest again. “Does the script say anything about that too?”

“Not too much,” he admitted. “But I am convinced a chance will present itself. The Queen has his eyes on you.”

His words had you incredibly worried. You’d seen his cruel games and you’d felt his piercing gaze on you—just the prospect of having to be in his presence again terrified you. 

No, the Queen didn’t seem like the type of person you’d want to have the attention of. You would much rather be invisible than to be seen by him. Yanan surely wouldn’t be afraid of him; he could just turn invisible if things got dicey. You still remembered the cat’s cheeky smile before he’d disappeared on you. In fact, it was ingrained so clearly in your brain, you almost thought you saw it in the corner of the room. But when you blinked nothing was there.

You shook yourself out of it, focusing back on the problem at hand.

“But he doesn’t know, right? That I’m Alice?”

“No one knows,” Jinho reassured. “Only a selected few. The Rabbit. And the people in this room. Though,” he threw a quick glance at Changgu who was playing around with some props on a shelf, “who knows how long the Hare will remember. He tends to be a bit scatter-brained.”

“So, what now?” You asked once the three of you were outside the theater building again.

“Hm, I guess we need to go see Hongseok. I’m sure he’ll have some poison for you,” Shinwon replied and you almost flinched at his words. How could he say it so casually, as if it wasn’t a big deal? As if you weren’t supposed to kill someone with it?

“Off to the White Castle we go,” Changgu agreed. “The King is the best address for anyone seeking leach or lotion or poison or potions.”

“Hare! You can’t call him that. Not here.” Shinwon reprimanded him, his eyes searching the streets around you cautiously.

“Right, right. The Un-King, the Used-To-Be-King, the No-More-King,” Changgu corrected. “Either way, chemistry has always been Hongseok’s strong suit.”

You weren’t sure if brewing lethal poison was really part of regular chemistry, but you’d been curious about Hongseok anyway after everything they’d said and it wasn’t like you had a better idea.

“Wooseok will be there too,” Shinwon looked at you with a small smile. “Maybe you’d feel better after talking to him.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

You walked through the city for a bit. It was deserted again, no traces of all the people who’d still been out a while ago to attend the Queen’s so-called party. As if the sky had decided to match your mood, it had turned all black by now, lit up only by the crescent moon that was hidden behind thin clouds. Time seemed to be a little off here, and you thought you could understand the Rabbit a bit. Who wouldn’t be in a constant hurry if time passed almost randomly?

“Where’s everyone?” You eventually asked when you turned into yet another street that was completely void of people.

“It’s after the curfew,” Shinwon explained.

“Yes, the curfew,” Changgu was quick to nod. “Once the sky turned fully black, it's for the best to hurry back.”

“If the sun has fully set, it is time to go to bed,” Shinwon added.

“If the sky is in the moon, the knave of hearts will get you soon.”

“But Hare, that’s not how it goes. The moon is in the sky.”

“Hm, hm, right, that’s not how it goes,” Changgu repeated thoughtfully before his eyes widened with an epiphany. “Ah! If the moon is in the sky, fear the red Knave’s dreadful eye. For if he spots you in the street, a dire fate is what you’ll meet.”

He looked at you with a proud smile after he was done reciting his little poem, but you couldn’t really share his enthusiasm.

“So, we’re not supposed to be outside right now?”

“You’re so smart, Biscuit!”

“Then shouldn’t we go inside? And who’s the Knave anyway?” you asked, the term feeling a little familiar.

“Of Hearts,” Shinwon replied. “The Knave, that is.”

“The Knave of Hearts?”

“Yes, that’s right. He’s the Queen’s right-hand man.”

“You might have seen him at the party,” Changgu chimed in. “He has a scary look. And his birthday is in January.”

“Why does that matter?” You asked in confusion.

“Oh, it doesn’t. But it means he has an unbirthday today and instead of celebrating he’s surely out on patrol.”

“You must know me very well,” a deep voice suddenly sounded from behind you, making Changgu’s ears perk up in interest.

A man stepped out of the darkness of a house entrance, and the moment the dim light of the street lantern fell onto him, you recognized him as the guy with the wavy hair from the party. You remembered him well—mostly because of the gun that was surely tucked into the waistband of his pants even now.

“If it isn’t the Knave of Hearts himself,” Shinwon exclaimed with a delighted tone. “It’s been so long, Yuto, the last time must have been when—right, you probably wouldn’t want to talk about that. It was a dark day for your Queen after all.”

“Hatter,” Yuto replied with a straight face, his tone void of any emotion. “Always a pleasure.”

Then his eyes fell onto you.

“I see you still have your visitor with you. I would say their little scene today wasn’t a source of amusement for the Queen, but that would be a lie. In fact, Hyunggu was very amused.”

His words made a cold shiver run down your spine and you automatically took a small step back. 

“Oh, yes, our Biscuit is a very humorous person,” Shinwon replied, his voice still light but he held out his arm in front of you protectively.

Yuto huffed a laugh before glancing at the dark sky. “Still, violating the rules isn’t a funny matter. Why aren’t you in your cozy little hideout yet, Hatter?”

“We’re on our way!” Shinwon said.

Changgu nodded over-enthusiastically. “Yes, yes, on our way. Almost home!”

“Better hurry then. I won’t be as kind next time.” With that, Yuto turned around to go his way, leaving you with an anxious feeling in your stomach.

Shinwon let out a small sigh as soon as he was out of sight. “That was a close call. Now, let’s hurry, let’s hurry. I wouldn’t want to run into him twice. Not a very funny fellow.”

Shinwon and Changgu didn’t seem particularly shaken by the encounter. After a few steps they were back to their giddy selves. You on the other hand couldn’t stop yourself from checking each dark corner for a person hiding in the shadows.

When you spotted the ferris wheel towering above the surrounding buildings you started to suspect where you were headed: the amusement park. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been there, but just like the theater it was a place with fond memories to you. 

Once you reached the entrance, Wonderland written on the archway in weathered letters, you had to find that there was none of the usual hustle and bustle. The park laid before you abandoned and still, solely the lights of the castle in the middle of the artificial lake flickered weakly in the distance. What used to be a vibrant, lively place looked washed out now, the fun rides and booths overgrown with patches of moss and their colors bleached out by the sun.

“Aaaand we made it,” Shinwon said as soon as he stepped through the entrance. 

“But we’re still outside?”

“Outside but not really. The curfew isn’t in force here.”

You looked around in confusion. You didn’t really see a reason why anything would be different on the grounds of the amusement park. “Why not?”

“Because the White King’s protective spell takes effect here. It keeps heartlings from entering. Even the Queen can’t enter,” Shinwon explained.

“The Queen isn’t as powerful as he’d like to make everyone believe,” Changgu added with a nod, as he headed straight for the shabby pedal boats in the shape of swans that were floating on the calm surface of the lake. 

He pulled one a little closer to the pier, gesturing for you to get in. When you set foot onto the boat it started to wobble dangerously and Changgu held out his hand to steady you, not letting go until you were safely sitting on the bench in the back. Shinwon got on next, taking one of the two front seats and Changgu hopped on last, after untying the rope from the metal loop on the pier. The two of them set to work, pedaling the little boat towards the small castle. As a child you had always dreamed of going there, but it hadn’t been open to the public, the pretty front just a means of decoration. Now though, there was no fence separating the little island from unwanted visitors, and the two of them easily steered the boat onto the narrow shore.

Changgu got off first, tying the rope around one of the two flagpoles that were positioned left and right of the castle. You remembered them to fly flags with the logo of the amusement park but now they were white, depicting a silver pentagon with a snowflake in the middle. The emblem of the White King, you supposed. The three of you walked the cobblestone path up to the entrance of the castle. Now that you were standing directly in front of it, it seemed way bigger than the decorative fake in your memory. It probably was bigger. 

Shinwon didn’t bother knocking on the double wing door before pushing it open and stepping inside. The lobby was all white, from the marble floor to the chandelier and it almost felt blinding.

“Hello?” Shinwon yelled into the building with the same tone you’d had at the gas station earlier today and you wondered if it was on purpose. “Hellooo?”

“Eh?” A honey blond head of hair appeared on the second floor, leaning over the handrail. “Shinwon? Changgu?”

Changgu raised his hand in a tiny wave, a dorky smile on his lips. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” The guy asked as he walked towards the stairs and made his way down. “And who’s your friend?”

“Y/n,” you introduced yourself before anyone could beat you to it and say Alice or Biscuit.

The guy came to a halt in front of you and only now you realized how incredibly tall he was. There was nothing intimidating about him though as he looked at you through big doe eyes. His hair was combed back in neat waves and he was wearing a sweater vest that was loose even on his lanky frame.

“Wooseok,” he introduced himself and held out his hand in a greeting. In comparison to everyone else he seemed surprisingly normal.

“So, what are you doing here?”

“We’re looking for Hongseok,” Shinwon explained, slipping out of his shoes and leaving them by the entrance as if he was visiting someone else’s apartment and not the prop castle of an amusement park. Changgu did the same though and you realized Wooseok was wearing slippers as well, so you too toed out of your shoes. Surprisingly enough, the marble floor didn’t feel very cold beneath your feet at all.

“He’s in the kitchen,” Wooseok nodded towards a corridor to his right.

“Alright!” 

Shinwon sauntered down the hall with the casualty of someone who’d been there a thousand times before and Changgu followed along just as naturally. You were a few steps behind them, Wooseok next to you. He kept glancing over to you curiously but didn’t say anything.

“Hongseok!” Shinwon greeted just a bit too loudly as he threw open a door to reveal a spacious kitchen.

A man with curly brown hair looked up in surprise, his hands covered in flour and a white apron tied around his waist.

“Oh, Hatter. And Hare.” He went over to the sink and rinsed his hands before his gaze fell on you. “And another guest?”

“Yes, this is—”

“Alice!” Changgu interrupted his friend, visibly excited about sharing the news.

“Alice?” Wooseok’s head snapped around to you and he stared at you with wide eyes. “So, you’re—you’re not from here?”

You just looked back at him. You’d already been told that Wooseok was the old Alice, but it hadn’t even occurred to you that maybe he too wasn’t from this universe.

“Now, now,” Hongseok walked over to you, wiping his wet hands on his apron. “We shouldn’t corner our new Alice like that. What’s your name?”

“Y/n.”

“A pretty name,” he smiled and gently squeezed your hand. “I’m Hongseok, the White King, but you might have heard. Wooseok was our last Alice, but his part has already played out.”

“Yes, yes,” Shinwon interrupted. “Biscuit already knows all that. But what we don’t know yet is how to kill the Queen of Hearts.”

“Oh,” Hongseok’s eyes widened in surprise. “Is that your part?”

“Seems like it,” you murmured, not withholding that you weren’t exactly fond of it all.

“Mhm, so it’s that time already. It’s really coming to this.” With a swift movement of his hand he motioned for the others to leave. “Give us a moment, will you?”

They did as they were told, though Wooseok lingered a moment longer before actually stepping out and closing the door behind him. 

“Do you want to drink something? A coffee? A hot chocolate? I have cookies too.”

You were inclined to say no, but when you gave it another thought you realized you hadn’t eaten anything in quite a while and could also really use the comfort of a hot drink. Hongseok prepared a hot chocolate and a plate of cookies for you, while you sat down at the small table in the corner of the room. Once he was done he sat down across from you, his eyes calm and gentle. After how Shinwon and Changgu had talked about him, it shouldn’t have surprised you, but it still amazed you how different his whole aura was compared to the Queen of Hearts. Where the Queen had been intimidating and rash, Hongseok radiated kindness and patience.

“Here,” He mumbled after a moment, nudging the plate of cookies a bit in your direction to encourage you to try some. “They are good, I promise. I only just made them this morning.”

You hesitantly took one and started to nibble on it, only to find that Hongseok had been way too humble—it tasted amazing.

“See? They are good right?” He looked a little proud when you nodded. “So, do you want to tell me about it? About what’s written in the script?”

In all honesty, you didn’t. But it seemed like he wanted to help so you told him about everything that you’d found out at the theater. Through it all, Hongseok listened calmly.

“So now,” you concluded your story, “I have to find a way to actually do it.”

“Well,” Hongseok nodded slowly, “here’s the thing: the Queen of Hearts is not easily harmed. Not just anyone can—it has to be Alice. And even then, there’s only one weakness.” 

“Which?” 

“The heart.”

“The heart?” In a way it seemed plausible for that to be the weakness of someone called the Queen of Hearts, but at the same time it seemed a little too simple.

“Yes.”

“How do I do it then?”

“Mhm,” he got up from his chair and walked towards a glass cabinet with a zillion little bottles and jars inside.

“I know of two ways. One is this,” he held up a little test glass with a dark red liquid in it. You swallowed around the lump in your throat. 

“Poison?” 

“It's the blood of the Jabberwocky to be precise. But poison describes it just fine. Once it gets into your body it will pollute your blood and ultimately make your heart stop.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard. You could just add some to his food. Still, the thought of being able to feel it invading your blood circulation made your skin crawl. “And the other way?” 

“I doubt you’ll like it.” 

“What is it?” 

Hongseok sighed before opening the drawer beneath the glass cabinet. He pulled out a silver dagger so radiant it almost looked white. He held it out to you and you hesitated before you stood up and took it with trembling fingers. It was lighter than you’d expected and ice cold to the touch. 

“If you stab him with that—but it needs to be right in the heart.”

That was definitely worse. You would never be able to actually go through with something like that.

“I couldn’t,” you pressed out, holding it out in your open palm for Hongseok to take it back. 

But he gently closed your hand around the hilt again. 

“You don’t have to use it. But keep it, just in case.” 

“There won’t be a case.” 

“All the better.”

Hongseok had invited all three of you to spend the night in the castle, so you wouldn’t have to go out during the curfew again. The room you’d gotten was fancy and as white and shiny as the rest of the castle’s interior. In the middle of it was a soft bed that smelled like vanilla and fresh snow and just waited for you to slip under the covers, but you felt restless. You paced the room, unable to tune out that there was a dagger and a little heart shaped pendant with poison laying on your nightstand. This definitely wasn’t how you’d expected your day to end. It seemed to have gone downhill from the moment you’d stepped foot to that cursed party, but when Shinwon had talked about the Caterpillar having answers, there’d been a sliver of hope flaring up inside of you. Now, there was nothing left of that.

Even though you’d gotten your answer on how to get back to your world, you didn’t feel relieved in the slightest. All you could think of was the horrifying things you’d have to go through before finally going back. And the worst part was that you didn’t seem to have a choice, not really. Even if you decided it wasn’t worth it and you’d just stay—what was written in the script would happen either way.

series masterlist // character introduction // ptg masterlist

[hanafubukki]

I really like the ressemblance of the Knight of Dawn and Lilia situations. Both orphan, took and raised by royalty, serving as the strongest of their army and devoted to their adopted family.

But the "sibling" relationship between Lilia/Maleanor and Knight of Dawn/Henrick is different. Even if Lilia seems to doubt about the whole family relationship, he's still share his point of view and have a pretty good relationship with Maleanor.

On the other side, Henrick seems to never have considered the knight of dawn as family. Perhaps it's just jalousy and big inferiority complex, but sure thing he clearly don't like the Knight and manipulate him with his feeling for Leia and his "debt" to their father.

I like how Silver's fathers are both similar and yet so different.

Hello Anonie 🌷🌺🌻

YES! ALL OF THIS ANONIE!!

One of the aspects that I adore about this book is the parallels found in it. With the past and the future. Between the fae and the humans. With parents and their children. I just love it so much.

What I really enjoy is the parallel we see with Lilia and the Knight of Dawn (twst give us a name for him). Both have people they want to protect. Both are commanders. Both have loved ones they would do anything for.

But the knight of dawn?? Unlike Lilia’s sister, whom lilia can talk back too 😂😂

The knight of dawn has to listen to this Humpty Dumpty of a king who is using him and guilting him. He has no choice, but! We see his sense of justice when he lets Lilia and the others go free.

And all of these story elements just has me so giddy??? I love stuff like this.

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Puss in Boots

So I remember seeing this movie in theaters, but I remembered fuck all about it until now. Of course, this is a weird case where the sequel in a side series is even more popular and beloved than the first one, and yet... the first Puss in Boots is actually pretty damn solid in its own right!

We focus on the titular Puss here, as he teams up with his estranged old friend Humpty Dumpty, and the alluring thief Kitty Softpaws, to steal the magic beans from Jack and Jill. All this is in the hopes that Puss can set a wrong right in the town he grew up in and clear his name by giving the town golden eggs from the golden goose.

A pretty simple setup, but it works well in the action/adventury tone this movie has. There's a lot of really fun action sequences, sword fights, chase scenes, so on and so forth, and they're all really well paced and flow really well. The plot is also pretty solid on emotions too, with some pretty poignant moments thrown in, especially between Puss and Humpty as we learn about their shared backstory and how things fell apart between them.

The characters are a lot of fun of course. Puss is great here, as usual, and works really well as a main character, with his confident, swashbuckling charm shining through. Kitty Softpaws is a delightful leading lady, spunky and whitty enough to prove a perfect romantic match for Puss. Humpty is also really fun, at first set up as a comic relief before being revealed as the twist villain, and I gotta admit, he's a twist villain done right. The movie actually foreshadows his turn really well and his motivation makes sense. He also ends up ultimately redeeming himself in a satisfying, if not bittersweet sort of way.

The animation is great here too. Maybe not as beautiful or stylish as its sequel is, but it's still very solid in its own right. I love how the world here has a spanish flair to it, something that shines through in the really solid score as well! It helps to set this franchise apart from the rest of the world of Shrek, making it feel like own thing while still paying homage to the fairy tales that world was built upon in the first place.

So yeah, the original Puss in Boots may not be as memorable or as much of a feast to the eyes as The Last Wish is, but I still think it's pretty good! I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through, and I think, while it's not that connected to its sequel, it still feels like a really great way to establish Puss as a main character in his own subseries (the first Dreamworks subseries, surprised it took us this long to get to one). Check it out, if you haven't! It's pretty dang good!

Overall Rating: 7/10

Verdict: Get stalked by Humpty Alexander Dumpty for the rest of your life

Previous Review (Kung Fu Panda 2)

Next Review (Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted)

[seth-burroughs]

The people who made raincode and danganronpa are making another game and you're the most raincode person I know so I'm coming straight to you

It's called "The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy" and it seems really swag and I was wondering if you knew about it, cus it's coming out next year and I'm looking to get it and ik you like raincode, dunno your thoughts on danganronpa but uhhhhhh yeah

I'll be honest I have no idea about any of the games that are coming out currently everything I learn about whatever it is going on in the game sphere has been through mutuals posts. I do not like knowing things. Like I knew about Tribe Nine (but like. just barely a few days ago i found out that's a thing) but this one is new. What's up with that Kodaka. Since WHEN are there two of these now and WHERE are they coming from

I'm not really, uhh, interested? in any of these? So far? (That being said I also wasn't interested at all in Rain Code when it was first coming out either and just wanted to check it out real quick with no intent to succumb to the demons and then return to my normal life, so this statement has the potential to age) Somebody in one of their comment sections said they look like gacha games and honestly yeah they do and I don't trust that. I don't trust them

Basically, uhh thoughts:

Main boy and his fit especially looks suspiciously similiar to Yomi and I think that for that he should be executed

They're reallyyyy pandering to all the Danganronpa fans in the chat aren't they. Aren't they. 16 students locked in an academy with a quirky mascot (who. also looks exactly like is Shinigami Rain Code procreated with Humpty Dumpty) while UDG happens in the background. Like, all these Unknown Assailants are literally just UDG monokumas. Also people die there. Also the style is just. Danganronpa.

What do you mean Kodaka apparently went into debt over this. How and why on earth

Yeahhhh sorry I won't be able to actually play this I think. Even if it did not suspiciously resemble a barely disguised gacha game, I am neither good at nor do I like these sorts of strategy type games. I'm pretty bad at gaming and grinding especially, just give me the story let me read the words on the screen.. I only ever successfully finished ndrv3 because you can't lose at Danganronpa. Thank you dr for being easy I am kissing you on the mouth. If a MDARC sequel ever comes out then I will probably actually buy it too because the first one's gameplay mechanics looked doable for me. But also like. If it's gonna be switch exclusive again then I'm just gonna watch it on yt or something I'm not getting an entire switch just for Rain Code. Basically what I'm saying is that I don't like strategy games cause they're too hard for me

The edgy blue hair girl looks like a middle schooler's deviantart oc no offense to all the middle schoolers on deviantart and their ocs just an observation. She looks so bad. Eyesore. Speaking of the character designs HOW are they so fucking white. They're making Kanai Ward residents look like they actually getting suntan in comparison

I spit on it. Disrespectfully. Why is everybody getting so excited over it yall said NOTHING when Tribe Nine game trailer was out this month too what's special about it. You will never be Danganronpa. I spit on you. I spit on you, disrespectfully

I just watched the... Second trailer apparently and it's looking a liiiiiiiiiiitle better but not enough. I'm still mad over the protag stealing Yomi's fashion. The enemies look so goofy and nobody is hot. Nobody is even hot.

Seth don't care

Similiar feelings on Tribe Nine also (esp. the whole gacha thingy except with this one it's pretty much confirmed lol), however. I am actually interested and will definitely check it out if it comes out (even if it's just to watch like, a few videos and then be done), because of two reasons.

One. The entire premise of the anime, which came out first and I'm pretty sure will influence tha actual game somewhat, is glorious. This is peak fiction. Rain Code wishes it had what Tribe Nine has. Futuristic dystopia where in order to combat the rampant youth gang on youth gang violence the government tells them to do baseball about it. But not normal baseball. EXTREME baseball. Where all of our balls are on the line. In Neo-Tokyo, we live by the ball, we die by the ball... The ball is love, is life itself. Don't you get it, my arch nemesis? This team. This baseball team is my found family, their balls belong to me and my balls are theirs fully, and I will do anything for it, for its honor... No matter how many balls I shall crush for it on my way. Get into position, the time has finally come for us to battle, and only one of us shall come out alive... Also there's robots watching us

Two. This fucking guy. This FUCKING guy they put Makoto in Tribe Nine. I thought they couldn't make Makoto any cuntier, and I was wrong. I believe their name is Zero. And I want them so fucking bad . They will not leave my mind. I swear to god even if I wont be in any way interested in the game after all if it comes out I will literally just obsessively look up videos of every time Zero appears on screen this will be my only exposure to Tribe Nine.

I hope they get an incredibly serious mental breakdown in the middle of losing at baseball with protag team when they monologue about what the ball means to them and without the ball, who are they. Protagonist boy, you must turn back now you do NOT know what you're during right now your ball dreams are meaningless compared to the reason as to why I continue to pursue it. I cannot fail. Failure is forbidden in my family. If I fail my human original whose DNA I have been created from will discard me to the dungeons, the tennis dungeons, to be forgotten. And I yearn to be loved and have abandonment issues and trauma I just have so much trauma mannn and when I was a child they locked me in a washing machine which is why I lost the ability to trust people. Not ever again........ *flies away screaming wildly gripping head and summons giant baseball robot with rocket launchers*

[thebat-musicman]

The Other Playlist™

I was recently asked to make a young justice playlist so here it is!

@automaticsoulharmony it’s for you :)!

The young justice playlist is under the cut with explanations for each song

Tim

Ur gonna wish u believed me (start of brucequest)

Yes I’m a mess (I could see him deleting his identity)

Karma (AJR) (depressed man)

Mastermind (smart Timmy)

Don’t blame me (all his action with the loa)

Fool (him with the Wayne’s)

Wow, I’m not crazy (him when he meets the bats (he is crazy))

Humpty Dumpty (he’s a depressed lil guy)

Good 4 u (to dick about Damian)

Pretender (Acoustic) (Jason canonically calls him pretender I had to)

Mister Cellophane (everyone forgets about him)

Come hang out (he’s a workaholic)

Let the games begin (Tim enjoys power)

Heart of stone (depressionnn)

brutal (it’s just Tim coded)

Deja vu (to dick about Damian)

Every breath you take (stalker)

The sound of silence (he is so fucking depressed)

Go the distance (start of robin training and brucequest)

Viva La Vida (Tim coming back to Gotham)

Bart:

What ifs (him going to past)

2085 (he’s from the future)

Bones (him running)

Everything has changed (him coming back to life)

When will my life begin (him in vr)

We didn’t start the fire (he is from the future)

Go the distance (him going back in time)

Iron man (time travel)

How far I’ll go (look it’s easy to find Disney songs about going back in time)

For the first time in forever (him meeting actual humans after being raised in vr)

Adventure is out there (very adhd coded song very adhd coded character)

Into the unknown (going back in time)

Dead! (he died)

The nights (it gives me his vibes)

Blackbird (finally being in the real world)

Record player (he’s from the future so it would make sense for him to find 2014 old)

Over the rainbow (going to the real world)

Wow, I’m not crazy (meeting the rest of YJ)

The DJ is Crying for Help (him wondering what to do after becoming an adult)

Centuries (from the future so he knows they will be remembered for centuries)

Kon

Father of mine (Clark sucks)

Dead! (he died)

Teenagers (it gives me his vibes)

All you wanna do (he was canonically taken advantage of by several women immediately after being “born”)

Oops! I did it again (player)

Too late (him maturing)

Used to be young (him after the playboy years are over)

Cat’s in the cradle (Clark still sucks)

You’re on your own, kid (horrible father)

When will my life begin (being in CADMUS and wondering when he can leave)

What else can I do (discovering his powers)

Pity party (he was canonically forgotten by everyone he loves after flashpoint)

Rip (by bladee) (I’m still focusing on the being forgotten thing)

Drift away (talking about the other superboy who came to be while he was trapped in another dimension)

Pretty fly (for a white guy) (he’s a player)

Uptown girl (Cassie!)

Rät (finding out CADMUS is evil)

Back to life (I think the name explains it)

Sober up (talking to YJ)

Shake it off (him responding to insults he gets)

Cassie

Just a girl (it’s hard being a female superhero)

Me too (badass woman)

Clara Bow (how it feels being a legacy sidekick)

Thunder (she’s Zeus’s kid)

Emotionless (good Charlotte) (Zeus is not a good father)

Brutal (her Bart and Kon’s deaths meltdown)

Cat’s in the cradle (I really hate Zeus)

Toxic (her about Kon)

I can do it with a broken heart (having to continue being a superhero even though her friends are dead)

How far I’ll go (her first becoming a superhero)

Last kiss (Kon’s death)

She used to be mine (her thinking back to what she was before she became a superhero)

My heart will go on (Kon’s death)

Eleanor rigby (her being alone after everyone died and she betrayed Tim)

Womanizer (Conner before they started dating)

Devil town (it gives me YJ vibes)

Yesterday (missing when things were simple)

No scrubs (not liking Conner before they started dating)

Two birds (her and Tim being the last ones left and her staying on the wire)

Sober up (her and Tim’s mistaken dating after everyone died)

I hope you like this new playlist!