#I can finally draw geno pretty well now!!

[dynjay]

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN

[nukenai]

Well it’s 1am but I absolutely have to finally write one of these posts, don’t read if you don’t wanna be teleported to a sad 1am post of mine from 5 years ago or be consumed by gigacringe (this post is not sad but cw for some as-expected negative mental health stuff/actions I’ll be mentioning, from my past.)

I really don’t think I can even begin to articulate how important Super Mario RPG is to me. When I was a kid - like I’m talking 2006-ish - my Thing(tm) was Earthbound. We didn’t say “fandom” back then. Besides Pokemon and Zelda, it became my THING and I fell so in love with it. A weird part of internet Earthbound culture back then was that you were mad at Super Mario RPG for making Earthbound sell poorly. I know, it’s insane, I was 15 cut me a fucking break.

So yeah that was all intrinsically linked with Smash, obviously. I was online during the pre-release of Brawl days, browsing places like /v/, and there was all this talk of this guy Geno. I didn’t know who Geno was! One time I did a Deviantart Journal “quiz” thing, and one question was, “Who is a video game character you hate?” My response was “I dunno, that Geno guy”. A friend of mine at the time was like “??? Like SMRPG Geno? How could you hate him?” and me being a teenager, I was like well, I’m annoyed that everyone talks about him.

Stuff got weird pretty quickly. An artist I had a goofy little crush on drew Geno. And I went, huh. Okay.

Then Brawl came out. I won’t even get into all of that because this is about SMRPG, but people ripped data off the disks and found unused stuff. Like unused music. I was mad about the unused Earthbound music, and the Ballad of the Wind Fish. Boo!

But then someone made a fun little album, called “Brawl - The Lost Tracks”. They got together “as official as possible” versions of the songs that had gone unused and only existed as text files on the disk. This included Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms (I’ve made angry posts before about how wrong the Cutting Room Floor page is about this track NOT being BTFM - ask me about it sometime and I’ll start screaming)

So one day I downloaded this little album. And I remember exactly where I was sitting, I listened to a couple of the EB songs like yeah, alright. Then there was a nice remix of the ballad of the wind fish. Then I saw beware the forest’s mushrooms and I thought, well. Why not. It’s a song. I like music.

It was the official arrange from the arrangement album. Until Memoria it was 100% the most beautiful rendition of the song to ever exist. And I lost my goddamn mind. I had never heard a song so gorgeous and I was instantly so upset with myself for being such a stubborn dork about SMRPG for so long (imagine that, me, stubborn!!)

So it all kinda hit me like a truck. I remember the day I first saved a piece of Geno fanart, like a day after I heard the song, and I was GOT. I thought oh, maybe he’s kinda cute, and it all just spiraled into hell. When I was a kid I was all into people drawing him as a Cool Anime Bishounen, but now I’m extremely cool and am like “Doll only, please!” unless it’s the goofy cute human design I have for him. But really I prefer doll. ANYWAYS.

During my high school years my life was... uh, rough. I was dealing with domestic violence in my home and we were more than once kicked out of our house and had to scramble to find a place to stay temporarily. While I was still just going to classes. I wound up failing my 11th grade English class because I often didn’t have access to a computer with internet or a printer and couldn’t do my assignments. My teacher didn’t ask why I was suddenly not finishing assignments, she just failed me. I went to summer school and it wound up being one of the best experiences of my life though. So, you know.

Throughout all this bullshit I like, had Geno. I had a reason to look up at the starry sky and make wishes and track meteor showers. It was something to like, keep my going again. Unsurprisingly I was DEEPLY struggling with my mental health. I was self-harming, and was just in general doing Very Fucking Not Great and felt like I had nowhere to turn. To this day my family like, doesn’t let me talk about this situation, and I received no help or support from any of them during this. Things are better now, but holy fuck, man. It was just my mom and I dealing with domestic violence and homelessness and no one was helping us.

But I had him. I had the “will he be in Smash someday?” shit. I had the Smash speculation community. I had SMRPG fans who were all like-minded cool people who loved how much I loved Geno, because they loved him too! He was like a fucking life raft for me in one of the worst periods of my whole existence and always felt like an anchor when things were spiraling out of control.

And it feels so corny to talk about it, because oh Nuke, you’re always dramatic about characters. But damn, did it fucking hurt when “friends” were just straight up fucking mean to me about Smash stuff for years on end. Damn did it hurt when I tried to express how important this shit was to me, and it was written off as me being ridiculous about a Video Game, you know? Would therapy have been good? Maybe. I tried it as an adult after being pressured into it by my ex and it was an actual nightmare because the only therapist in my area with hours compatible with my job who took my insurance was like 24 years old and told me straight to my face she didn’t want to talk about things I liked because she didn’t understand them. So maybe not! But I had this something, something so important to me, and it felt like everyone around me was so fucking Tired of me caring so much about something. It felt like everyone was tired of ME. And I was tiring of myself too, and it fucking sucked! It really did.

A couple years ago I finally let go of all the rage and sorrow in my heart and I’ve been doing so, so well. I found myself so suddenly surrounded by people who fucking care about me, and who are like “Oh, I don’t know that character, tell me about them! You love them so much!”, and people who invite me over to their house to just sit and watch Transformers or build model kits. People tell me to my face “I don’t think you’re annoying” when I compare myself to Rodimus, and I get actively invited to things. Wow! It’s been so fucking NICE. It sucks to have such nightmares in my past to compare this all to, but man, the difference is insane.

So it’s like. I wanted this to happen years ago. I wanted them to announce a SMRPG remake, or something, a few years ago when I was at my worst, when people were treating me like shit, when friends of my SO were being huge assholes to me only for my SO to say “hmm I think you’re making that up because you’re dramatic”.

But it didn’t. And I got through everything with my own strength. And now I’m at my absolute best, and I get this now. I get it once I’ve moved past all those miserable negative people who treated me like garbage. I don’t have to rub it in their faces and be like “Look, I got this far, I’ve made it and I won over all the SHIT”. Because none of them are here anymore and they don’t matter to me.

I got so many messages across all my social medias, even from people who I haven’t actually spoken to in some time (but still exist in internet circles with, you know how online friendships are), so many people saying oh my god, Nuke, I’m so happy for you, holy shit congratulations, this is amazing I can’t believe it.

I love you all so fucking much, I love Super Mario RPG so fucking much, all of you and this game are so important to me I don’t even know if 4k more words of rambling nonsense can express it. I am at such a good place in my life now, I want to spread that positivity and do my best to be good to people and to the world that has been so good to me these past few years. Despite how this year started, it hasn’t felt like a negative shroud over me. Just another challenge to overcome, and I’ve overcome literally everything put in front of me so far. Nothing is phasing me anymore and I’m doing so GREAT.

I’m so happy the remake is happening at a time when I’m at my best. I didn’t need anyone to save me before, and now this will just lift me higher. And I can truly enjoy it, as a joyful gift, as opposed to hoping it will be a life raft getting me out of a flood. I can truly enjoy it for what it is and what it’s meant to be.

A beautiful, delightful, very funny little video game, about Mario and all his weird little friends.

I don’t think I’ll even mind having to say goodbye to Geno at the end, again. Because I know now, there’s nothing stopping him from coming back.

And hey, SMRPG’s not a very long game. I can always replay it. And Geno will always be there.

Always.

[aforrestofstuff]

Chapter 149 Expert Review Time

Hey gamers what’s up time for another CHAPTER 👏 REVIEW 👏

It was looking kinda bleak last time for pretty much everyone so I’m hoping things improved this time around, but it seems Murata and ONE are kinda going through their “I’m going to put my characters through the MOST” phase so… that feels unlikely. But nevertheless… still excited to see my favorite boys.

The 10000th Psychic Sister cover. Murata, I’m begging you. There’s literally like 30 other characters to choose from. I know you like drawing boobs but imma need you to put the pencil down for a minute and take a walk because this just ain’t IT.

“Summer is coming” it is July. Summer has been here for ten years. I’m so fucking hot all the time. Everything has been evaporated out of me and I’m literally a raisin.

The Psychic Sisters covers are just so devoid of life a lot of the time… I wouldn’t mind if it was them fighting or engaging in everyday activities but when they’re posed for the camera and deliberately placed there to look sexy it just sucks all the human out of them. The cover/splash page is a great chance to show characters in a new light!!! It’s mostly set away from the story so you can do whatever you want! Choosing to make 80 fanservice covers is just wasted opportunity for what could be additional character development. It’s gotten to a point where even the smegma-slinging bitchboys on Reddit are complaining about the excessive sexy covers…. When PussySlayer384756 complains that there’s too much tittage being shown, that’s how you KNOW we’ve got a problem. Now, idk how the fan climate is in Japan but I can’t imagine they’re feeling much different over there either.

Also, her anatomy is… janky. Her tit is bigger than her head, her belly is too long, and she’s got like 4 spare ribs. Like, I’m by no means an art expert but it doesn’t take a chef to know the soup is shit, you know what I mean? I feel like page after page of Murata drawing obscene muscle men has made him rusty on what should be (somewhat) normal-looking people.

Darkshine learns what TRUE peak male performance looks like.

You’ve gotta wonder how Darkshine even got to the S-Class to begin with when he pussies out of nearly every single fight… except the one where the opponent was literal water. Everyone says that he just joined the association for additional validation, and I believe it… this boy is not cut out for actual hero-ing. 99% Of the time HE’S the one who needs a hero.

It kinda bothers me how useless he’s been post-Garou fight, especially when we spent like an entire chapter trying to console his ass. I get that’s part of his character and development… but it’s begun to slow things down. We get it. We don’t need to see him be insecure every time a new enemy pops up. One was enough. We would’ve gotten the same effect if he just sat out the entire time post-consolation, because everything that’s happened to him on the surface has been kinda redundant.

Here comes the boooyyy 🎶🎶

Nice callback. I’m glad Metal Bat is finally here. Bitch runs slow as fuck.

It’s nice to see him act on his own agency instead of orders from the hero association. He’s clearly much happier when helping out on his own accord, and has a ton of initiative too. The chapter he got with just he and King meeting up and slingshotting themselves to the fight was really a breath of fresh air from all of the fighting. It’s moments like these where ONE remembers that people like OPM for the characters, and not necessarily the pretty action sequences. I really like this duo. I like Metal Bat. I like it when they’re given time to be themselves and not just vessels for the next fight scene.

I know I said I wanted the heroes to die but Murata I’m begging you please don’t kill the child. You can kill Puri, though. I hate that fucker.

Child Emperor regularly visiting and eating with Bofoi even despite being his lab assistant would be a lot cuter if Bofoi wasn’t the human equivalent to a dog turd. I might’ve overstated that… seems like Bofoi is just using him as an errand boy. The clear lack of respect he has for CE is very indicative of his character and is not necessarily a bad thing plot-wise, but I would still like to beat him with a cane. Additionally, it’s clear that he’s not going to help the heroes here. At least, I don’t think so. His “fuck them kids” attitude seems to be a pretty big pillar in the building of his character and I doubt ONE would jeopardize that just because he’s written himself into a corner. Oh, well. We’ll see.

It’s very sweet that even when near death, CE still thinks of Zombieman. Aaaaghh it’s so GOOD when the characters actually LIKE each other. I know realistically not everyone is gonna be friends but man… it would be a lot cooler if we got more insight on their chemistry. Pleaz have more Metal Bat-and-King-esque chapters. I wanna see how everyone gets along.

Also, the concept of Puri just manifesting drilling powers and carving through solid rock with nothing else but pure strength and determination is so funny. A little convenient, sure, but I really don’t care because it’s actually done well. Their reunion scene is hilarious. More stuff like this pleaz….

I don’t even know what to say about Genos here. Dude, I know you made an oath to protect Tatsumaki or whatever, but there’s no shame in a good bail. You can’t even bail anymore because your damn legs are gone. See, this is what happens when you make promises. The secret to keeping your legs intact is doing the bare minimum. Hope this helps ❤️

He’s making a valiant effort but… I’m afraid he just ain’t gonna do much while roleplaying as a worm. Maybe he’ll make a chrysalis and come out as a butterfly. Wait, that’s caterpillars. Fuck. TATSUMAKI IS A GONER, BRO. WE NEED YOU TO BE THE DEUTERAGONIST!! IF YOU DIE WE LOSE 70% OF MERCH SALES NOOOOOOOO

Local man has a heart attack in front of thousands of little monsters and somehow saves the world, more at 5.

King I’m begging you please get that shit checked out that’s not NORMAL.

Yeah, I like this conclusion. Very tasteful cliffhanger. I mean we know King ain’t gonna do shit but SOMEHOW black sperm is gonna get punted like the little cumstain he is. Can’t wait to see the events that unfold next chapter… it seems like every scene that involves King turns out to be really funny and I’m super looking forward to black sperm seeing Jesus.

Also, a little off-topic but I just really like the way Murata inked his pants. Got a real comic book feel to it. I mean, he’s just really good at drawing clothes overall (save for Fubuki’s body-tight dress that is 100% not how women’s clothing works but I digress). Fucker understands fabric physics like I understand how to make a bomb ass chicken parm. I respect it.

In conclusion, lower everyone’s expectations of you and you might get to keep your arms and legs. This has been Life Lessons from Forrest. You now owe me 50$.

[spectacles-blog]

Chapter 1 of a fanfic without a name yet. (Ink x Geno/Error)

“Who would’ve thought Fate had such a terrible sense of humor?!” -Error

Reblog over like

Silent sobbing filled the white void. Despite it being so soft, it could be heard everywhere around him. But there was no one to notice his pain, his sadness, his loneliness. There was no one to reach, no place to go to. Just a white, empty, endless void. No visible floor, ceiling or walls. All that existed was him and a few sketches of what was supposed to become his family and friends, his home.

Geno/Error - @/loverofpiggies

Word counter: 1570

~

Ink - @/comyet/mye-bi

A black void, the Save Screen as one had apparently named it, with only one inhabitant. He could see everyone, but no one could see him. He watched the happiness and terror of what was once his world. He watched them live and watched them die. Someone had taken his place and he couldn’t go back. The world lived on without him. Such a terrible thought. 

“Being forced to watch over a world in which you don’t exist…

Thinking about that terrifies me.

What about you?

Do you really exist? Do you really belong here?

...You can’t go back.

He thought of it as a joke back then, some insane people.

While you’re in here, do you still exist out there?

Which reality matters more to you?

You should start thinking about that.”

No matter what he thought about the dialogues himself, the loneliness and sight of other’s happiness was killing him. He couldn’t interact with them, only watch. The skeleton sat on the ground with his legs close to his chest. He just wanted someone to talk to, someone who understood the loneliness and boredom, the suffering of being imprisoned without a way to escape.

Do you believe it is possible to exist in two realities at once?

The skeleton stood up and opened a white screen. He put his left hand on it while he held onto his precious red scarf. “Just someone..” He whispered. “Anyone.. to talk to.” 

The white screen began to flicker like a tv. The skeleton took a step back, his eye sockets and eye lights widening. He didn’t think he would actually have any control of it like that. But, after a few minutes of staring at the screen, it went black to white as if nothing had happened. He sighed. It was dumb to think it would do something. He had no control, nothing.

“H-Hello..?” A soft, quiet voice came from the white void. A skeleton with rough edges, small white eyelights. Desperate. He was right there, his hands on the invisible screen. His eye sockets widened in shock when he saw the skeleton with white clothes and red scarf. A black void with one person. A place similar to his own. The other skeleton had his back turned towards him however and didn’t seem to hear him. “Hello?!” He said louder, slamming his fists on the screen.

New tears appeared in his eyes. This was his chance to meet someone! Someone could talk! Someone.. Possibly similar to him?

The other finally looked up, shocked at the sound. Like him, he stared with confused and surprised eyes at the screen. He ran towards the drawn skeleton, putting his hands on the screen. Someone to talk to, just as he asked.. Begged for. Something both of them asked for.

They stared at each other for a while until the skeleton with the red scarf spoke. “..Are you alright?” He asked.

A voice, something he had never heard before next to his own. Someone with feelings. “I-I..” The drawn skeleton whispered. A small genuine smile appeared on his face. “I am okay..” He released his fists and put his hands flat on the invisible wall, trying to push through. But the window didn’t move, not an inch. But at least, they had someone to talk to.

It was the first time the smaller skeleton had a conversation and it was such a nice one too! Well, he was mostly listening to the other skeleton with the red scarf. He told him about his old home. A nice wooden house with an amazing brother. About his friends and the people around him. While the backstory was sad, the present he seemed to talk about was very nice. Though, the scarf skeleton didn’t tell him why he was stuck in a void just like him. The drawn skeleton didn’t want to push it, so he kept quiet and didn’t ask about it.

Geno, was his name, the skeleton with the red scarf. He told the roughly drawn skeleton he had changed his name once, related to some unfortunate events, but that didn’t matter anymore. It also didn’t matter to the nameless skeleton. If that was what he wanted to call himself, then that would be just fine!

“What’s your name?”

The smaller skeleton snapped out of his thoughts and looked confused and puzzled at Geno. “..Sorry?” He replied quietly, tilting his head.

 “Your name?”

It took him a while to think of a fitting answer. Though, there was no answer. He didn’t have a name. Nothing in his world had a name. Everything was unfinished, a thrown away idea. “I don’t have a name.” The drawn skeleton eventually replied. “Nothing has a name here.” He said, looking over his shoulder at his unfinished family, friends and home. He wondered what his name would’ve been if his creator had continued working on his world. But that didn’t happen, those thoughts were just broken hopes and dreams.

“Then we will just make up a name for you.” Geno said and stood up. “One second, I got an idea.” He gave the drawn skeleton a quick wave and walked away. There wasn’t much to walk to but he happened to pick something up from the floor, before he returned and sat down again. He crossed his legs and used them as a support for the sketchbook. “I am going to draw you, okay? There are no mirrors, so I bet you don’t know what you look like..” He had an ordinary pencil in his hand and an eraser next to him on the ground.

“Draw?”

Geno nodded as he started to draw. “It’s.. a secret hobby I got. It clears my mind. I believe no one knows I draw. It’s like.. You can make whatever you want. You just got to put a little thought into it. The pencil makes the lines but you’re the one in control.” He hummed a bit as he drew. “You have to tell it what to do and if you practice enough.. Something beautiful will happen.”

He noticed the skeleton’s curious eyes and grinned. He shoved a bit closer to the screen and turned around so the smaller skeleton could watch him draw. The skeleton didn’t completely understand what was happening but it sure was interesting. Slowly, a picture appeared. 

It was him. A skeleton, rough edges, big eye sockets with small white dots as eyes. He was smiling. A genuine smile. 

Geno smiled satisfied when he heard the other giggle at the picture. Once he was finished, he wrote “Sketch” above the skeleton and held the paper against the screen. “How about I call you Sketch?” He suggested. “You look like you’re a living drawing, it’s pretty unique. I wanted to draw you just as you look!” He turned around so he could face Sketch again.. who was smiling brightly at the drawing.

 “Yes! Yes! That’s the best name ever!” The smaller skeleton called out with the biggest smile Geno had ever seen. “I love it.. Thank you!” It had only been a few days.. Maybe just a couple of hours, time was hard to tell in their voids, but the skeleton had built up such a fascinating personality. He was smart, curious and cheerful. Cheerful.. the opposite of Geno, though it was definitely cheering him up. At least he had something to do while they both spent their time in their separate voids.

“Can I draw too??” Sketch asked after a while of silence.

“... Sorry bud, I don’t think I can give you the sketchbook.” Geno said and put his hand on the screen. “It’s still as solid as a rock.” The other nodded and sighed. “Yeah.. Okay.” It looked so interesting. Maybe he could finish his own world like that! It would be nice, but probably impossible.

“Can you draw some more?” Sketch asked. “Can you draw your world for me?” 

It was saddening, how this skeleton longed for a world of his own. Geno knew his buddy would never get one though. The system wasn’t fair. He had learned a few things from Sketch though. He seemed to know a bit more about alternate universes or at least how they started. It was pretty interesting. He was aware, just like Geno.

“Of course.” Geno flipped over the page for a new one but didn’t start just yet. He looked at his illustration of Sketch and then at the actual skeleton. He put down the sketchbook and turned towards his friend. The skeleton with the scarf stood up with the drawing in his hands. He pushed the drawing against the screen and summoned a bone in his other hand, pushing it against the paper. He looked surprised at the result. It actually worked, it was pinned against the screen… Now his friend could actually look at the drawing, and many other drawings  would follow.

[First!] [Next soon maybe!]

[scary-senpai]

Saw this on reddit and sorta thought of you, I kinda want to hear your thoughts on this theory because I think it's pretty neat:

Ooh! Thank you so much for sharing this with me, Thoughtful & Cherished Internet Stranger! That’s an interesting theory, for sure, and I had some fun thinking about it... haha, I’ll be honest, you did inspire a headcanon where Saitama, Garou, and Genos are all kids on the playground acting out the most amazing fight they can come up with and Saitama tells Genos he has to play dead for the whole scene because “you already got to fight Garou, now it’s my turn, and you keep interrupting my imagination with your stupid facts!” Anyway, it was the bit of levity I needed before getting my heart ripped to bits again. So, thank you for that--you were an unexpected muse!

While I am holding out that we’ll get a cheeky, in-canon explanation for the re-draws (it’s on my bingo sheet!)--or maybe Murata/ONE will eventually spill the tea on what exactly happened with this panel--I’m hesitant to say that the past few chapters have taken place in Garou’s imagination. If Garou happens to be thinking aloud, he’s painting an awfully specific picture full of characters that definitely exist outside his imagination (like God and Blast) , even though Garou hasn’t met them yet. Garou would also be telling a story that relies on information he doesn’t have (the way God operations, and that Genos is Saitama’s disciple). It’s implied that in Garou’s heart of hearts, he understands that his quest for ultimate evil is destined to fail (and possibly a thinly-veiled suicide mission), but the last couple of chapters portray an exceedingly specific type of failure through a series of complicated & unfortunate events. I realize this ask came in before the latest chapter dropped, but if all this were happening in Garou’s imagination, then I’d also expect him to be less surprised to suddenly find himself in outer space.

...I could imagine Saitama telling this story to Garou, though. Like, perhaps he’s eaten the weird pickled egg things in the upper left and he’s just spent the last couple of chapters tripping balls as Garou morphs into his Final Form, which is Mom Friend :-/

In any case, Garou doesn’t look like he’s ready to talk in this panel. There’s no indication that you asked me this question because I majored in feelings Social Work/Psych, but I’m going to get up on my little mental health soapbox anyway, because if I’m out here voluntarily writing entire thesis statements for serotonin Fanciful Internet Points, I may as well slip in something that is actually true and helpful so I feel better when my predictions go horribly wrong.... anyway, what we’re learning now is that talk-therapy is actually counter-indicated for some folks, particularly people that have experienced trauma (like Garou has). This is because when you recall a painful / unpleasant memory, the same neurological channels activate as when you initially experienced that thing, meaning that you’re literally reliving that moment--in which case, you tend to trigger a fight-or-flight response, or shut down.

That’s what I see when I look at this panel--a person who is so overwhelmed their body has shut down to protect them from the pain that’s coming. I think Saitama might have had better luck just lying down beside Garou in the water as a silent-but-comforting presence rather than planting him on one side of a table and asking him to share. I understand the rationale (visually being equal, the metaphor of coming together and seeing each other face to face) but that setup of having someone staring at you while you try to bare your soul can actually be super uncomfortable/intimidating. There’s a reason “this character turned their face away” or “they turned aside” is such a powerful and significant action when you encounter this in a story/stage direction/shot. It’s a moment when a character hides/shields themselves or their companion from an unpleasant truth. For better or worse, there’s some agency in having the freedom to move your body that way. And if you notice Garou’s posture from the start of his interactions with Saitama, Garou almost never faces Saitama directly—Saitama stands wide open but Garou keeps his body angles to the side (like he’s halfway towards a fighting stance)—essentially making himself smaller, ostensibly so there’s less of him to hit, even early on in the scene when he dismisses Saitama as a non threatening, low ranking hero.

All that being said, I do understand the appeal of this theory. I want everybody to come home in one piece after having learned a valuable lesson about friendship/teamwork/etc. But that’s kind of the rub, and one of the reasons why these sort of plot twists are inadvisable: when something happens in a character’s imagination, there are no stakes and no risk. It’s hard for a general audience to get invested in the journey when a narrative is framed that way--and it’s also harder for a character to learn from scenarios they’ve independently fabricated… because if they had that kind of foresight, they generally have all the knowledge they need to be successful, and since plots usually hinge heavily on character growth, a character knowing all there is to know about their situation usually signals the end of the story.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are exceptions to everything—I, for one, would love to know how much forethought Garou put into this whole ultimate evil thing, but I’d be content to know what he daydreams about, and since you planted that idea in my brain I’ve had a little fun imagining how one might implement that. But while there are no hard-set rules to storytelling--only tools--this kind of plot twist feels like something that would get nixed by an editor/producer/other commercial stakeholders because it is generally regarded as heavy-handed, if not cliché.

BUT. I do think we’ll get some sort of battle that takes place in Garou’s mindscape--a bit like Mob Psycho (Mob vs. Minori)--confirming his demons and making better choices to come through to the end. I suspect that’s separate from the Saitama battle. While I’m sure Blast has a cure for Garou (assuming Saitama doesn’t punch the Devil out of him, first), it seems like part of Garou’s battle needs to come from harnessing his own willpower and fully committing to his “true self” (if there even is such a thing--as humans, we’re all just a mess of ever-changing electrified brain meat)... since temptation (to inflict pain on others, to obtain power) got him into this mess, it follows that resisting temptation would get him out of it.

So, thank you so much for the ask! I really enjoyed thinking about this, and I hope that doesn’t come across as disheartening or anything :-/ I have been very, very wrong about things before, especially the Magnus Archives! I am actually a fan of stories that frame low-stakes situations in high-stakes ways while still encouraging character growth! I’m thinking of Community, where the episodes lovingly and expertly spoof things Mad Max or Spaghetti Westerns through a campus-wide game of “The Floor is Lava” or “Paintball,” respectively. Even if the setup is clown-shoes, the character’s emotions are usually real and that’s what really carries the plot through. In “The Floor is Lava” episode, Abed tries to prolong the game forever because he knows that when it ends, his best friend Troy will be leaving community college to go on his next adventure. The ending is Abed and Troy coming to terms with that, and it does actually make me tear up when I watch it... or here’s another classic Troy and Abed moment where the writers mash up the traditional zombie movie (“Troy! Be the first Black man to make it to the end!”) and splice it with a heartfelt star wars moment (“Abed, I love you.” “I know”) and even though (in theory) it’s a moment of life-or-death self-sacrifice, we just know and trust that everything will turn out okay.

so yeah, if we did have this as a plot twist, then I think ONE/Murata are one of the few folks I’d trust to pull it off in a satisfying way. ONE, in particular, is a breaker of tropes and for sure, this arc has taken us to some wild and unexpected places, so, who knows?

[prettyboyjackhughes]

-Little Crosby- |D. Cozens| [Part 1]

It’s finally here! @workhorsefromwhitehorse24​ and I have been working on this for a while now and I can honestly say that this is probably my favorite thing we’ve collaborated on! This was a little outside my comfort zone but I enjoyed writing it so much! Hope you enjoy! Let us know what you think!!

“Ava Grace I’m home!” Dad calls from downstairs. I sit up and grab my sweatshirt off of the floor. 

“Coming!” I say as I pull it over my head and run out into the hall. I attempt to make it down the stairs without dying but almost fail as I get to the bottom step. “Whoops! Sorry!” I yell as I knock one of the pictures off the wall. He stands in the kitchen doorway and watches me, amused, as I fix the picture then turn to face him, a grin on my face. He had been gone for 2 weeks on a 5 game road trip, resulting in the Penguins going 4-1. Dad scored a pair of goals in the first two games. But sadly, it wasn’t enough of a push to get them to the playoffs. 

“Hi Daddy!” I say, running to hug him. He lifts me off the ground and kisses the top of my head. Dad and I have always been super close. It’s been just him and I for years. Ever since I was born, it’s just been Dad and I. Grandma and Grandpa were always in the picture too, along with Aunt Taylor. The 4 of them have been my entire world and my family for the past 17 years. My mom has never been in the picture since she and Dad had me when they were super young, before Dad was in the NHL. Dad had moved from Nova Scotia by himself when he was 15, down to Faribault, Minnesota. Mom and Dad met within his first week of school. Dad tells me I look just like her but from what I can tell, the older I get, the more I look like Dad. But basically one thing turned to another, Dad had his first taste of freedom, being away from his parents and all, and 9 months later, I was born. As soon as Grandma and Grandpa found out, they moved Taylor and everything else down to be with my dad and help out with me. But one Saturday, Mom dropped me off with Dad and told him she had decided she wanted more than raising a baby and my dad so she left me with Dad and left. I’ve never heard from her, except for one birthday card when I turned 6. Grandma and Grandpa raised me alongside Taylor until Dad’s first season in the NHL. That’s when he moved me to Pittsburgh with him. I mean, before he was in the NHL, he made sure that he was a part of my life and made sure I knew that I was his little girl. But it hasn’t really been that big of a deal that Mom hasn’t been in the picture since I’ve had Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Taylor, plus all of Dad’s teammates through the years. It’s been a ride, having a dad like I do. I mean, he’s pretty much the face of the NHL and one of the greatest players to ever play hockey, being Sidney Crosby and all. Everywhere we go, he gets recognized so it was always hard for him to come to my things as I was growing up. But he always made sure that someone was there for me, whether it was one of my grandparents or Aunt Taylor. But even through all of that, my dad is my best friend. I’ve never needed anyone else. 

“I missed you so much!” He says, setting me down and looking at me. I smile and nod.

“I missed you too! Nice set of goals by the way. Sorry about the playoffs...” I say, smiling as he walks into the kitchen. He shrugs as I follow him into the kitchen and sit down at the table, watching him wander around the kitchen, making one of his shakes he always drinks.

“It was a long two weeks for sure, but I’m glad I have you to come home too.” I nod and smile.

“Oh Sweetheart, before I forget, we’re going up to Toronto next weekend for the Leafs’ first playoff game, for your birthday. We’ll spend two weeks up in Toronto.” The Penguins missed out on the playoffs, ending their season early. But my Leafs made it to the first round of the playoffs. He smiles as my face lights up. The Toronto Maple Leafs are my favorite team. As disappointed as Dad was in me when he found out, he still supports it, just happy that I like hockey. My favorite player is Mitch Marner, which is a player Dad approves of. He raised me on the ice, around his team and made sure I loved hockey as much as he does. I played for 6 years but I decided I liked watching hockey better than playing. 

“Really? We are?” I say, giddy. 

“Yep, I think Tanger and Geno are going to come with us. I invited Taylor too, figured we could make a whole vacation of the trip. We can go out to dinner, shopping, all the fun, girly stuff you love. Oh and there’s a surprise flying out to see you too.” Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin are Dad’s alternate captains and my honorary uncles. Up until about 4 years ago, I had 3 honorary uncles. Marc-André Fleury, the Penguins' goalie and now the Vegas Golden Knights’ goalie was the third. He and Dad are still close which means he still claims the third honorary uncle spot. When he got married in 2012, I was the flower girl. I’ve actually been in all 3 of my “uncle’s” weddings. They’ve been a huge part of my life since I was little, even when Dad was trying to keep me out of the spotlight.  I smile, pushing my hair out of my face. I think the thing that everyone always finds so interesting about Dad and I, is that he did such a good job keeping me out of the spotlight up until I was old enough to understand what was going on. But as soon as I started going to events with him, everyone knew I was his daughter. I mean, I look and act like a female version of Dad so it makes perfect sense that I’m his daughter.

“Ava girl, do you want to see if one of your friends wants to come with us? Might be a little boring to spend your birthday weekend with a bunch of old people.” Dad says, finally sitting down with his gross shake. I nod and laugh, thinking of who I could invite. I go to Shady Side Academy in downtown Pittsburgh, which is a big, fancy private school. There’s a little over 1,100 kids that go to my school, but only about 70 of them are in my grade. 

“Oh, I’ll invite Carter. Let me text her and see if she can go.” Carter James has been my best friend since 2nd grade. She’s my total opposite and somehow, it works. 

“Okay Honey. I’m going to go lay down for a little bit. Our flight left pretty early this morning so I’m pretty tired. Go ahead and order something for dinner. Anything but pizza please.” I pout a little, my bottom lip jutting out. He smiles and drops a kiss on the top of my head as he walks out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I walk out to the living room and flop on the couch, getting on my phone to watch Tik Tok for a while. Suddenly, the door to the house flies open and my Aunt Taylor waltzes in.

“Hello my absolute favorite niece in the entire world!” She calls, dumping her purse and everything in her hands onto the bench by the door. Grandma decorated the entire house. Dad was going to hire a decorator but Grandma insisted and somehow, Dad ended up liking what she did with the place. 

“I’m your only niece so I hope I’m your favorite. But hey Aunt Tay. What’s up?” I asked, sitting up.

“Nothing much. Just came home to drive my big brother crazy and talk about your birthday trip with you. How excited are you? Hey wait, isn’t it your 18th birthday?” I smile and nod again. Aunt Tay is a little scatterbrained and once forgot how old I was turning and bought me a 13th birthday card. I was turning 11. But of course, she always means well and loves me a ton. 

“Carter is coming with us. Do you know what the surprise is? Dad just told me there is one but didn’t say anything else.” Taylor grins as she nods.

“I’m not telling you but just know this, you’re gonna be really really excited.” She says, sitting down on the couch by my feet. 

“So how’s things at school? Still thinking about going to UPenn?” She asks, tapping her thumb against my knee. I sigh.

“Ugh I don’t know anymore. I fell in love with UPenn when I visited there with Grandma last fall but I don’t know if I want to be that far away from everyone. I mean, it’s only 4 hours but going from how things are now to that? That’s a lot to process.” She nods, watching me. 

“Well Honey, you know your dad would make sure you had a car on campus and everything. So you can always come back home and visit. But I mean, it’s been you and your dad since you were a baby. Maybe it’s time to go out on your own a little?” I cringe a little at the thought.

“I don’t wanna leave!” I say, falling into Taylor’s lap and drawing out the end of the word. She laughs and smooths my hair down. 

“We’ll figure something out. You’ve still got time, Ava Grace.” She says and somehow, those words make all the anxiety I have about college and everything else coming up in my future fade to a dull roar instead of the screams it has been for the past couple weeks. I’ve always been able to talk to Dad about anything which is why he and I have such a good relationship now. But the one thing I haven’t been able to talk to him about is college. Dad went straight from high school into the NHL. He always claims to understand but I’m pretty sure it just confuses him sometimes. 

“Okay you two, it’s very hard to sleep when all I can hear is laughing and carrying on.” Dad says, coming back downstairs. 

“Yeah yeah, keep it down, Patrick.” Taylor says, looking up at Dad. Dad hates being called by his middle name which is why Taylor calls him that. He rolls his eyes and bats her hand away as she reaches up to poke him. When the two of them are together, Grandma always says they act like they did when they were little. 

“Have you girls figured out everything for us leaving on Thursday? Ava, is Carter going with us?” I grab my phone off the arm of the couch and turn it on, quickly reading the notifications on the screen.

“Yeah she’s going. And she’s gonna be here in 3, 2, 1!” I count down as the door bursts open again. Carter and my Aunt Taylor are two peas in a pod. They’re practically the same person which is why I love them both so much.

 “Hello Crosby family!” She shouts, sliding across the floor and landing on top of me.

“Oh this is going to be a long two weeks.” Dad says, laughing and rubbing his forehead. 

“So we’re going to Toronto for your 18th birthday? And to see the love of your life? Hell yeah this is going to be a great trip.” Carter says, looking up at me. 

“Okay, Carter James, slow down please.” I say, patting her head. 

“Wait, isn’t the legal drinking age in Canada, 18?” Carter asks, sitting up and looking at Dad.

“Oh my God Sidney Patrick. You’re taking your daughter to Canada to drink for her 18th birthday?” Taylor says, looking over at Dad with a smirk on her face. 

“Taylor Jane, you’d better cut it out or you’re not going anymore.” He says, shaking his finger at her. Carter and I laugh and Taylor rolls her eyes.

“She’s responsible enough to handle this. You two are the ones I have to worry about.” Dad says, pointing at Carter and Aunt Taylor. 

“Tanger and Geno are going too? Oh this is going to be a blast!” Taylor says, rubbing her hands together and grinning evilly. Dad’s head drops into his hands and the 3 of us burst out laughing. Carter and I spend the rest of the evening planning our trip out while Dad and Aunt Taylor watch the St. Cloud game. The week leading up to our trip to Toronto flies by, but my excitement for the game only builds. It’s not the first time I’ve been to a Leafs game, nor is it the first time I’ve gotten to watch my favorite player play. But it’s happening on my 18th birthday and that makes it even more exciting. 

Thursday morning, two days before my birthday, Carter wakes me up by bouncing on my bed. 

“We’re leaving today!” She sings, bouncing more. I roll over and groan. 

“Carter James, it’s too early!” I say, shoving her. She laughs at me and I sit up.

“Come on, we’re going to dinner with the love of your life tonight!” She says. I jump out of bed and look at her, eyes wide. I’m 100% a Mitch Marner fan girl. Carter thinks it’s hilarious but she’s the exact same way for Patrick Kane. We ran into him at the Stanley Cup Finals one year and she was speechless. 

“What are you talking about? Dinner with who?” I ask. Dad walks in and is now standing in my doorway.

“I called in a few favors and we’re going to dinner with Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly tonight. How does that sound?” He says, as my mouth drops open.

“Oh my God thank you thank you Daddy!” I say, running over to hug him. He smiles and Carter laughs. 

“She’s gonna faint as soon as she sees him. Total freak out.” Carter says, crossing her arms and laughing. 

“I am not! I’ll be perfectly fine. It’s just another hockey player. Not like I’m in love with him or anything.” I say, pointing at her. She rolls her eyes and we both laugh.

“Where my favorite birthday girl?” I hear a deep voice call from downstairs.

“Geno, it’s too early for you to be this loud. Shut up.” I hear Taylor say.

“I take it G and Tanger just got here?” Dad calls and Taylor groans in response. 

“Alright girls get ready and we’ll leave in a little over an hour. Go down and say hi to everyone first though.” I nod and follow Dad downstairs, Carter tagging along behind me. 

“Hi Uncle Geno, Uncle Kris!” I say, running to hug both of them as they stand up from where they were sitting on the couch. Taylor is taking up the other end of the couch, facedown in a pillow. “Are you excited for your birthday trip?” Kris asks, patting my back as he hugs me.

“I’m so excited. Do you know what my surprise is? Dad still won’t tell me.” Geno laughs, still too loud for Taylor apparently because a pillow goes flying across the room and just misses his head.

“Tay, go drink some coffee please, you’re being a brat right now.” Dad says, patting her head.

“I know surprise. You like a lot.” Geno says, crossing his arms and looking down at me. I raise an eyebrow. I’ve been the victim of one of Dad’s surprises before and let’s just say he doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to surprises. 

“Is it bad that I’ve been your best friend for 12 years and I still can’t understand what he’s saying?” Carter asks, leaning over to me. I laugh and Geno looks between the two of us.

“Who you? You Ava’s best friend?” Carter rolls her eyes and nudges Geno, who laughs again and hugs her. “Alright, Little Crosby, let’s get this show on the road.” Kris says, pointing towards the stairs. I smile and rush upstairs to get dressed and grab my bags. I pick out a pair of black leggings and a peach colored Adidas sweatshirt. I change into the clothes and put my pajamas in the dirty clothes. I put on mascara quickly, finishing everything off with some lip gloss. I grab my Birkenstocks and slip them on. 

“Okay, I’m ready!” I call as I drag my bag down the stairs behind me. I again attempt not to die on my way down the stairs. But yet again, I fail.

 “Oh God, Little Crosby.” Kris says, somehow managing to catch me as I trip down the last 3 steps. 

“Your daughter is a human wrecking ball. You know that, right Sid?” Dad laughs and nods.

“I haven’t killed myself yet. So far, we’re safe.” Everyone laughs and I smile. All these people filling this house are my entire family. They’ve raised me and I wouldn’t be who I am without all of them. 

“Okay, let’s get going! Our flight leaves in 45 minutes!” Dad calls, attempting to herd us all towards the door. Taylor has finally had her coffee and returned to the world of the living. 

“Toronto here we come!” She calls as we all get out the door and into the two cars we’re taking. Dad locks the door behind us and turns to look at me.

“You excited, Ava Grace?” I nod and he hugs me to his side.“I hope this lives up to your idea of the perfect 18th birthday.” I laugh and nod again as we head to his car. 

The drive to the airport and the flight to Toronto are pretty boring but Kris and Taylor keep everyone entertained the whole trip. Carter finally crashed after the Red Bulls she had while we were waiting for our flight to get called in the airport, leaving me to my own thoughts pretty much the entire flight. When we land in Toronto, everyone is pretty excited for the next two weeks. 

“Little Crosby surprise time!” Geno calls from the back of our group.

“Geno, we’re still in an airport. Keep it down a little please?” Carter says, patting his arm. Dad scoffs and looks between me and Carter.

“He’s right though, your surprise is right through those doors.” Dad says, pointing towards the exit of the airport. I see Taylor pull her phone out of her pocket and start recording me. I hand my bag to Kris and look over at Geno who motions me towards the door. I walk towards the doors, which slide open. I glanced around then back at Dad and Taylor who followed me out.   

“Little Crosby!” I hear a very familiar voice yell over the buzz of the airport.

“Oh my God! Uncle Flower!” I shout, rushing towards my uncle Marc and hugging him.

“Surprise!” Dad calls, smiling as I hug Marc.

 “So you were my surprise?” I say, stepping back and looking at him.

“Yep, I was the big wonderful surprise. Hope you weren’t too disappointed.” He says, smiling as his arm rests around my shoulders.

“I figured you’d want all of your uncles here for your big 18th birthday. So we worked it out and got him here for you.” I smile, quickly hugging Dad before returning to hug Marc again. 

“Alright well, it’s time to get heading to the hotel. We’re going to dinner at 6:30 tonight. Geno, Flower and Kris are taking Tay to something that I know nothing about. And you’re okay with Carter going with us?” I nod as Marc leads us and the rest of our group to the waiting van. 

“I’m taking a nap when we get to the hotel. You woke me up too early this morning.” I say, nudging Carter as she slides into the van next to me. 

“Sounds like a plan. The Red Bull ran out.” She says, laying her head on my shoulder. The two of us manage to fall asleep on the 20 minute drive to the hotel. Geno shakes us both awake when we get to the hotel. We sleepily wander into the hotel and wait in the lobby while Dad and Tay get everything figured out. The adults herd us all over to the elevator and into it, somehow managing to get us all to the conjoined rooms we have for the next two weeks. As soon as we make it into the rooms, Carter and I collapse onto the bed we’ll be sharing and fall asleep. 

About 2 and a half hours later, Dad comes in and wakes us up.

“Girls, we have about an hour before we have to leave for dinner. Go ahead and start getting ready.” He calls as he closes the door behind him. I sit up and stretch, the excitement building in my chest all over again.

“Okay, I think I’m gonna curl my hair and wear that frilly, layered red skirt with the white sweater and my little brown boots. What about you, Carter?” I ask, looking back at her who is still laying in bed. 

“So I have to dress nice right? I think the army green pants romper thing with my jean jacket, Vans and straight hair. Sound good?” She asks, finally sitting up. I nod and get started curling my hair. She gets started on doing her makeup while I work on my hair. Somehow, we both end up being done with plenty of time left to spare. So we do what typical teenagers do and spend the extra 15 minutes we have, on our phones. Dad comes in and the two of us follow him down to the elevator and out to the car. It’s some super nice, fancy car; just like the one that lives in our garage except on home game days. Dad lets Carter play music which automatically, I can tell, he regrets as Cotton Eye Joe plays for the third time. Carter is having the time of her life and I can’t help but laugh along with her. When we get to the restaurant, it’s one Dad and I came to, back when we came to Toronto for some charity event a few years ago.

“Alright, how excited are you?” Dad asks, as he parks the car and we climb out. I squeal a little and Carter laughs. Dad smiles, draping his arm around my shoulders as I link arms with Carter. The 3 of us waltz into the restaurant and walk up to the hostess.

“Hello, Mr. Crosby. Your two guests are already seated.” I squeeze Carter’s arm and we squeal a little together. As we follow the hostess to our table, back in the back, we pass a table with two teenage boys. One looks Carter up and down, obviously checking her out, while the other locks eyes with me. I smile, forcing myself to look away as we disappear into the back, private room Dad reserved for us. 

“Holy crap, did you see those guys?” Carter whisper-yells into my ear. I nod, trying to focus on the fact that Mitch Marner is standing a few feet away from me, a grin on his face, instead of the guy I just saw.

“Hey Sid. This must be Ava and Carter. Nice to meet you girls.” Mitch says, reaching his hand out. I shake it, the smile on my face impossibly large. Morgan Rielly stands next to him and shakes our hands as well. As we all sit down, I happen to glance around the room and see that both of the boys are looking into the room. As much as I want to pay attention to what Mitch, Mo and Dad are talking about, I can’t. I’m too distracted by the boy I saw. Carter, apparently can’t either. 

“Ava, they were literally so hot. Can I please go get their numbers?” She asks, nudging me when she catches me staring again.

 “No! Dad will kill me if he catches me talking to a boy!” I whisper-yell, glancing up at Dad and Mitch. 

“Ava Grace, that could be your freaking soulmate and you’ll never know because you won’t let me go get their numbers!” I roll my eyes and glance over my shoulder at the boys’ table. Sadly, they’re gone and I sigh, looking over at Carter.

“They’re gone anyway. Not like we’re ever gonna see them again anyways.” I say, glumly, resting my chin on my hand. She shakes her head. “There went your soulmate.” I sigh, knowing she won’t let me live this down. Dad clears his throat, pulling Carter and I back to the conversation happening at the table.

“So Ava, I hear you’re a pretty big fan of mine.” Mitch says, leaning on his elbows against the table. I smile, taking in all of his features.

“Yeah, you’ve been my favorite since you came into the league. Dad’s always a little disappointed when I don’t tell people he’s my favorite player.” Mitch and Mo laugh. The rest of the evening, conversation flows easily and Carter and I both have a blast. As I glance at my Apple watch and see the time, Carter nudges me again. 

“Your dad is looking at you funny.” She says, nodding her head towards Dad. I look up, my eyes meeting my dad’s gaze.

“It’s getting late, are you girls ready to head back to the hotel? Your aunt and uncles should be getting back soon too.” Carter and I nod and I turn to look at Mitch.

“I’ll be wearing your jersey on Saturday night. Don’t disappoint me. Also it’s my birthday so a goal or two would be nice.” Mitch and Mo laugh as Dad smiles down at me. 

“I will try my hardest. Glad we could spend the evening with you lovely ladies. See you on Saturday after the game? There’ll be passes for your whole group at the ticket desk.” My face lights up and I know Carter’s does too.“Okay great! See you then! Good luck!” I say, standing and hugging Mitch. Mo shakes Dad’s hand and then the two of them head out. 

“You two seemed very distracted all during dinner. Was everything okay?” Dad asks as the 3 of us head back out to the car after he pays.“Yeah everything was fine. Dinner was super good and fun. Carter just saw some cute boy and wouldn’t shut up about him.” Dad laughs and rolls his eyes.

“Hey, in my defense, your daughter was looking too so it wasn’t just me.” Carter says, crossing her arms. Dad’s head whips around as we climb in the car.

“A boy? What?” I groan internally and elbow Carter. I’ve never been that into boys. I mean, I’ve thought plenty of boys were cute and had quite a few guy friends but I’ve never had the time or the effort that comes with having a relationship. So it’s never been a topic of conversation for Dad and I. 

“Nothing, it was nothing. Don’t worry about it, Dad.” I say, trying to avoid the topic. 

“It’s interesting though. I was just talking to your uncle Kris about how you’ve never had a boyfriend or anything like that. Which is fine with me because I know what boys are like.” Dad says as we drive back to the hotel. Carter is dying sitting next to me, her hand pressed against her mouth to avoid laughing out loud.

“I-I know...I’ve just never had the time or wanted one.” I say, burying my head in my hands. 

“Well you don’t need one. You have all the guys you need in your life. Me, your Uncle Geno, Uncle Kris, Uncle Marc, and Grandpa.” Carter finally bursts out laughing and Dad looks in the rearview mirror at me. 

“I’m serious, Ava Grace. Why do you need a boyfriend?” Dad has never really been the overprotective dad. He’s protective for sure but he kind of lets me do my own thing most of the time. He knows if I need to, I’ll come to him or one of the other main adults in my life. But he lets me make my own decisions and figure life out by myself. This whole ‘no boyfriend’ thing that he’s doing right now is new. 

“I guess I don’t. You’re right.” I say, putting an end to the conversation by turning and looking out the window. Thankfully, Dad doesn’t push any farther. The 3 of us ride in silence, the radio off, the rest of the way back to the hotel. Once we get into the hotel and up to our rooms, I tell Dad goodnight, give him a hug and a kiss then follow Carter into our room. Carter distracts me from the disaster of a conversation that was with Dad and forces me to watch some cheesy rom-com with her. I fall asleep midway through and sleep in late the next day. Taylor takes Carter and I out shopping all day on Friday while my dad and the uncles do who knows what. The topic of boys is avoided all day, All night at dinner on Friday, we catch up with everyone. I fill Marc in on what Dad’s latest old person moment was, even though he’s only 33. Everything seems so perfect and happy but I keep replaying the conversation with Dad over and over again in my head. 

Saturday morning, my birthday morning, Carter wakes me up with cake in bed. It’s a tradition we started when we were 12. Every year on our birthday, the other girl brings the birthday girl cake in bed. It’s one of my favorite birthday traditions. 

“Happy birthday Little Crosby! You are adult now!” Geno calls, leading the rest of my family into my room. Dad brings up the end of the line and walks over to the bed. He hugs me, pressing a kiss to my forehead.“Happy birthday my sweet girl.” He says, smoothing my hair down and getting all teary-eyed. 

“I can’t believe the young lady you’ve grown into. You are beautiful, strong, independent and so responsible. I...I didn’t think things would end up this way, especially with your mom not being in the picture. But I look around you and I see all these people who helped raise you and I know, you’ve turned out more than okay. I love you Ava Grace and will always love you. Happy birthday.” Dad says. I take another bite of the cake Carter brought me and smile up at him.

“I love you so much, Daddy. Thank you for everything. Thank you everyone for everything you’ve done for me. I love all of you.” They all share a sappy smile and I keep eating my cake. The rest of the day, we hang out at the hotel, lounging around before the game tonight at 7. Marc and Geno see how many pieces of pizza they can eat while Dad keeps score. Taylor paints Carter’s nails and I pick at mine. Kris sneaks out to buy me ice cream and comes back with at least 10 different kinds, all of them my favorite in one way or another. 

Carter and I start getting ready around 4:30 so we’re ready to leave by 5. I straighten my hair and do just light makeup. I dig my Mitch Marner jersey out of my bag and put it on with some black leggings. Carter wears the jersey of the only Leaf she likes, Frederik Andersen. She opted for black ripped jeans instead of leggings. Everyone else is just dressed casual. Marc did wear a Leafs hat just to please me. The drive to the arena, Carter gets to play music again. She plays our ‘Hockey Game Hype Up’ playlist, something we made a few years ago. Even though I’m the music person, she’s much better at putting playlists together. I’m only really good at finding one or two songs I love and just playing them over and over again. As the songs ‘Auston Matthews’ by Svdvm and ‘Toronto Maple Leafs Anthem’ by JDME play back to back, we pull into the arena parking lot. No matter how many times I’ve been to Scotiabank Arena, it never ceases to amaze me. I think I’ve been here a grand total of like 15 times in the last 10 years, solidifying it as my favorite arena. 

“Come on Ava, let’s go watch your boy play.” Carter says, linking her arm through mine. She leads me and the rest of our group into the arena. Everyone else heads to the box but I decide to stay down in the main area and wander around a bit, making sure I get the full experience again. All around me, Leafs fans are hurrying to one place or another. I take everything, wanting to remember this for the rest of my life. As I’m walking down a small set of stairs, I collide with a pretty solid body. And of course, with my human wrecking ball abilities, I manage to take both of us down, all the way to the ground. “Shit! I’m so sorry, are you okay?” I ask, sitting up and looking at the boy I collided with. He sits up, looks at me, down at the ground, then back up at me. His eyes are huge.

“I-Oh my God. Yeah-Yeah I’m okay! Are you?” He asks, jumping to his feet and reaching his hand out to help me up. I take his hand and he pulls me to my feet. “Yeah I’m all good. Sorry for taking you out. I’m known for being clumsy. Like the jersey by the way.” I say, pointing to where the number 16 is stitched into the arm of his jersey. The same number sprawled across my back.

“Hey, I like yours too. Marner your favorite player?” I nod, pushing my hair back out of my face.

“Yeah, I grew up a Penguins fan because of my dad but the Leafs are my favorite team.” He smiles and nods. He looks so familiar but I can��t place where I know him from. Talking to him comes so naturally and it seems like the world just goes on around us while we stand there and talk. Before I know it, they’re starting the lineup announcements.

“Oh shoot, I gotta get going. Enjoy the game!” I call over my shoulder as I run back towards the box we’re all sitting in. Of course, I trip up the steps and almost fall. As I glance over my shoulder, I see the boy with a smirk on his face. I blush and mentally kick myself for first off accidentally tackling a cute boy then tripping and almost falling in front of him. As I rush back into the box, Dad eyes me with a raised eyebrow. I huff and flop into my seat next to Marc and Carter. Carter glances at me out of the corner of her eye and smirks.

“Why are you all red and bothered about?” I bite my lip and Marc looks over at me.“I accidentally tackled a cute boy…” I say, burying my head in my hands. Carter and Marc laugh and Marc pats my back.

“There there, Little Crosby. I did much worse to your aunt Véronique.” I laugh and lean my head on his shoulder. Geno and Kris are behind us, teasing Taylor as Dad watches what’s going on down on the ice. His hand is resting on my shoulder, absentmindedly squeezing and releasing in a protective way. As I sit there, watching the game, all I can think about is the boy. But as I do, I think about the conversation Dad and I had last night in the car. Did he really mean what he said? Would he really get upset if I did ever decide to have a boyfriend?

[onebizarrekai]

Meme Waker: That Final Thing

okay aight here we go here’s the big idea compilation you’ve all been waiting for or something like that

since I’ve finally accepted meme waker’s inevitable fate, I’ll share what I’ve had laying around about it. prepare yourself for a wild ride.

first of all, what existed of the planned character key:

Nightmare = Link Dream = Aryll Cross = Tetra Ink = The Entire Pirate Crew Granny Gertrude = Grandma Horror = Quill Killer = Medli Color = Komali Dust = Makar XGaster = Tingle (yes, you read that right) Fresh = Fado (?) Geno = Laruto Blueberry = Niko Error = Ganondorf Giant Flying Chicken = Helmaroc King Core Frisk = The King XChara = Zelda

So XChara was going to fill the role of Zelda–basically, what was going to happen was that when Cross and Nightmare reached sunken Hyrule, which was replaced by the Omega Timeline, they encountered Core Frisk and with their magical Core Frisk powers that apparently exist, separated XChara from Cross’s body. Because Error was hunting him down for whatever villainous reasons (I dunno, maybe he wanted to find Overwrite or something), XChara was going to spend the near remainder of the comic hiding in the Omega Timeline from Error. It was a pretty neat reference to the fact that Error doesn’t know where the OT is.

Unsurprisingly, considering when I was working on this, Nightmare and Cross may have eventually started dating. They were going to kiss during a fight that involved them accidentally rolling down a hill and then likely spend the remainder of the comic referring to each other as boyfriends, with no further indication of romance between them. I never really mentally decided whether I was actually going to incorporate this or not.

In moments where someone needed to present a musical instrument, Cross was going to play a keytar.

There is a very high chance that the entire comic was going to end up being an elaborate prank set up by Ink and Error.

After being rescued from the Forsaken Fortress, Dream was going to get crossbows and… I dunno, maybe be useful with them sometimes. One consideration was that he was going to complain about being stuck in a glorified retirement home and request joining the party.

Nightmare was going to have a fake ID with the name “Nathaniel Meyer” on it.

When Nightmare eventually pulled up the Gaster Sword, he was basically going to do a magical girl transformation and get a new outfit. I was considering holding a contest where people would submit new designs for Nightmare before I realized that I may have wanted to do it myself. Meanwhile, Cross’s design change at the same time was going to pertain to the fact that he had such a hard time with his uniform that he just wanted to start wearing normal clothes.

When XChara was separated from Cross, it would indicate that Cross can’t use the hack knife anymore, so I had to think of a new weapon for him. I considered giving him arm mounts with knives in them for no reason other than being extra, but I was probably just going to end up going with a regular sword.

Nightmare and Cross were going to be mistaken for missionaries at some point due to Nightmare introducing Cross as his ‘companion’.

Nightmare’s fake ID is actually a driver’s license. Cross questions how he could get one when he’s only fifteen, and Nightmare responds with “what can I say? I live in the country.”

The Giant Flying Chicken was going to evolve into the Cyborg Giant Flying Chicken before Nightmare and Cross fought it. It was already a robot, but someone decided it would be fun to make it look more robotic for some reason. Maybe too many people tried to eat it.

Because Blueberry was going to replace Niko, that meant there was going to be a form of challenge that he would present to Nightmare and/or Cross. They were probably just going to play Dance Dance Revolution.

The dress that Granny Gertrude gave Nightmare was actually going to be infused with magical powers. Either Nightmare could only access the power of the Triforce when he’s wearing the dress, or it was going to be a piece of equipment that turned his sword into a fire sword.

Nightmare was going to come back to the Village of Old People to see that his grandmother had conquered it with capitalism.

Dragon Roost Cavern was going to be replaced with a Pokemon gym.

When Nightmare supposedly kicked Error’s ass at the end of the story, he was going to say something along the lines of “Because fuck you!” and it would be the first and only f-bomb in the whole comic. Nightmare would proceed to say that it was the first time he’d ever said fuck and that he felt dirty.

The Triforce of Courage was just going to be called the Triforce of Porridge for exactly zero reason.

Some incarnation of Buffmare was going to exist in the comic, but only in a sequence taking place in Nightmare’s imagination.

When Cross realized his backpack was missing, it was because I realized his backpack was missing. I forgot to draw it. I decided that the backpack actually fused with him to create a Zelda-style magic pocket.

Nightmare was going to try to control a seagull with the command melody, but he was accidentally going to start controlling Cross instead and make him run into a tree.

The Tree Spirit was going to hold official interviews for placeholder guardians in Dream and Nightmare’s absence. These placeholder guardians were going to be Neil, the overenthusiastic French furry, and Ccino, the local emo kid who is absolutely done with everyone’s bullshit, and exclusively because they were the only ones who applied for the job. Neil was going to have an ulterior motive of becoming Gaston’s successor.

Neil and Ccino were eventually going to ‘get together’, if you can even call it that, and for no other reason than shitpost reasons.

Nightmare may have had a showdown with the Giant Flying Chicken while riding the Great Charizard from Dragon Roost.

Another possible concept for whole story was that it was a bad self insert fic written by a younger version of Nightmare, but it’s really unlikely that I would’ve gone through with that.

Nightmare and Cross may have needed to go on a fetch quest to find Ink’s brush in the ocean because they accidentally lost it, but honestly that would’ve served nothing for the progression of the story. Because XGaster put a tracker on Ink’s brush, they were going to have to enlist his help.

and that about wraps up my notes, now let me throw what I had sitting around of a script draft–reading this was a trip because I forgot that literally 60% of it existed:

(inside the mountain)

Cross: holy shoe, EVERYONE has wings? how is this a thing??

Cross: I’m frickin jealous

Chief: Oh. You must be. Those guys.

Horror: yeah man, I enlisted their help to capture the Chicken Terror, but then they were all like yo, it’s a robot!


Chief: horror robot or not I told you that we weren’t going to capture the chicken terror for food because we’re not cannibals we don’t eat birds

Horror: but

Horror: we’re hardly even birds!

Chief: you know your job Horror. now get back to work. your actual work.

Horror: But… being the mailman sucks!


Chief: Do I need to confiscate your axe again?


Horror: OKAY FINE. I’M GOING. (flies away in a huff)

Chief: AND DO YOUR GODFORSAKEN LAUNDRY!

Chief: I apologize for that… so, how can I help you two today?


Nightmare: You guys have like, some pearl thing or something? We need to like, collect three of them in order to… save the multiverse… or something like that.

(Camera dramatically darkens.)

Chief: It’s just as the prophecy foretold…

Nightmare: oh god what

Chief: You see, young whippersnappers… legend tells of a great hero that would rise up and save a bunch of people in times of desperation that they don’t even realize are desperate. the great hero would travel far and wide in search of the Pearls of Shiny to finally retrieve a great weapon that he would use to strike down the evil that few knew existed. also the hero would have a sidekick wearing stupid clothes.

Cross: EXCUSE ME

Chief: THAT’S JUST WHAT THE PROPHECY SAID

Nightmare: okay, y’know, I’m just gonna roll with it. where can I get the pearl?

Chief: Well… that’s where the hard part comes in. You see, the pearl belongs to my son… but he’s been acting like an edgy teenager lately.

Nightmare: Great…

Cross: Is there a reason he’s being edgy? Maybe there’s something we can do to appease his hormones.

Cross: Free food works like a charm for me.

Chief: No, it’s more complicated than that. When one of our people becomes of age, they climb to the top of Charizard Island to receive a scale from the Great Charizard that will allow them to grow wings.

Nightmare: the… great charizard.

Chief: But lately, the Great Charizard has been throwing inexplicable temper tantrums. No one can get close to him anymore. And with my son being of age, he’s decently pissed off about this.

Chief: We’re thinking that the Great Charizard is displeased about something, and it is also causing our shortage of food.

Nightmare: Wait, you worship something named after a Pokemon?


Chief: Anyway, perhaps you two will be able to talk some sense into my son. Maybe he just wants to talk to someone his age that isn’t Horror or Killer.

Nightmare: What kind of names are those?


Chief: There’s a letter that I wanted my son to read, and I’ve given it to Killer to hold onto. You can go get it from him upstairs in the first room near the stairs, just tell him I sent you. He’s the little guy in the short shorts, you’ll probably recognize him when you see him.

Nightmare: Can’t you just call him here?


Chief: No, it is of upmost importance that you experience a basic fetch quest in order to become a great hero, because those fetch quests will become needlessly complicated before you even realize it.

Nightmare: ?????

Nightmare: I can’t even tell if you’re joking or not–

Cross: dude let’s just go get the letter

(scene transition)

(Killer dramatically turns around and it zooms in and says his name SSB style)

Nightmare: Wait, why do you get a dramatic introduction?


Killer: Dayum. New faces.

Nightmare: Why is everyone ignoring my questions??

Killer: (needlessly sensual voice) So, what brings you here? (walking closer)


Nightmare: (backs into wall) NO BUENO

Cross: You have a letter or something?


Killer: Oh. Yeah. Chief gave it to me for some reason. Yo, catch.

(He chucks it like a ninja star. Cross catches it between his hands in front of his face.)


Killer: Ey! You actually caught it!


Cross: I’m a trained ninja.

Killer: So like, who are you guys?

Cross: I’m Cross. He’s Larry.

Nightmare: NIGHTMARE. MY NAME IS NIGHTMARE.

Killer: Aw man, I know the feel of having a really lame name and wanting one that’s cooler.

Nightmare: No. Like. My name is actually Nightmare. My senile grandma called me Larry earlier today and this loser picked up on it.

Killer: There’s no need to lie. I understand.

Nightmare: I’M NOT LYING!

Killer: anyway make sure you get that letter to Color there’s something I have to do–

(Killer zips out the door behind them.)


Cross: what even the frick?


Nightmare: that guy freaks me the frick out.

Nightmare: literally. I felt like he was coming onto me.

Cross: you’re imagining things.

(SCENE TRANSITION)
 Cross: all right Nightmare I literally do not trust your ability to communicate with another person in a way that will make them feel inclined to give us something so just let me handle this okay

Cross: okay better yet wait outside the room

(Nightmare makes a less than amused face.)


Cross: it’s for the greater good

(Cross walks into the room.)

Cross: hi my name is Cross and

Color: LEAVE

(Cross immediately exits the room.)

Cross: this is a lost causeNightmare: what

Cross: go make him bleed with your words

Nightmare: dude isn’t this the part where we give him the frickin letter

Cross: (pauses) :o

Cross: OH RIGHT

(Cross takes the letter and goes back into the room, leaving the door open)

Cross: oh yeah this letter is for you it’s from your dad or something

Color: Oh, wow. Can’t even be bothered to talk to me in person.

Color: Give me that thing.

(Color stares at the letter. It’s actually a letter from Killer filled with really bad pickup lines and other really creepy compliments.)

Color: What the hell, you said this was from my dad!

Cross: We thought it was–??

(Killer teleports in behind them, scaring the shit out of Nightmare)


Killer: Suuuup~

Color: Killer I swear to god.

Killer: Here’s the actual letter, though you might not be happy with it.

(He flings it at Color and it lands in front of him. He reads it over, rolls his eyes and throws it in the trash.)

Cross: So uh… I don’t know what the letter says but apparently we’re prophesied heroes collecting a bunch of pearls to save the multiverse and the pearl you have is–


Color: Can everyone just get out of my room already?

(everyone just leaves)

Nightmare: What even was the point of that stupid fetch quest?

Killer: Oh yeah, can you guys help me with something? Just a smalllll favor. And I can’t ask anyone else because I’m not supposed to do it.

Killer: I need some strong, reliable people…

Nightmare: Don’t touch me.

Killer: It’s just a small favor! And I mean actually small, it’ll take like two minutes.

Nightmare: I have doubts about this.

Killer: Great! Meet me out back by the spring.

Nightmare: Wait which side is the back–

(Killer is gone)

Nightmare: Cross which side is the back.

Cross: I don’t know??

(after spending twenty minutes going through the various exits trying to figure out how to get there)

Killer: What the hell took you so long.

Nightmare: Directions would’ve been helpful. There wasn’t even a freaking map anywhere in there!

Killer: The hollow is like the size of a middle class house! How difficult could it be to find out where to go?!

Nightmare: IT’S A DOME THERE IS NO BACK

Cross: OKAY, what matters is that we’re here, what the heck do we do now.

Killer: Okay, okay. (steps backwards) Look, if you look around here, it’s all a dried up spring. The Great Charizard was throwing a tantrum, a boulder fell down and it coincidentally plugged up the spring for the third time this week, which is literally our main source of fresh water. I’m honestly getting sick of this so I’m going to climb the mountain and see what’s going on because everyone else is too scared to do it.

Nightmare: God. You’re not gonna make us go with you, are you?


Killer: Oh, no way. I just need you to throw me up that cliff over there so I can get into the cavern that leads up the mountain.

Nightmare: Can’t you fly?

Killer: Not thirty feet straight up. Do these noodle arms look like they can manage that?


Nightmare: Whatever. But quick question. How the hell does one throw a person.

Killer: I weigh like fifty pounds. It shouldn’t be that hard. Also, if you’ve noticed, the wind is rapidly changing directions, so you’ll probably have the best effect throwing me when the wind is blowing that way.

Nightmare: Mhmm. Sure. Let’s just get this over with.

(Nightmare crouches down and Killer fuckin walks onto his shoulders)

Nightmare: Hey! Watch it!

(some way or another he throws Killer and Killer barely makes it to the cliff, face planting into the ground)

Nightmare: Well I guess that worked.

Killer: THAT WAS TERRIBLE!

Nightmare: YOU’RE WELCOME! COULD’VE JUST USED A DAMN LADDER!

Killer: NOBODY OWNS A LADDER HERE BECAUSE EVERYONE CAN FLY!

Nightmare: Then how the frick do people get up this cliff?!

Killer: THERE’S NORMALLY A BRIDGE BUT IT BROKE AND PROBLEMS LIKE THESE ARE PRECISELY WHY I’M CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN TO BEGIN WITH! ALSO I’M LEAVING BYE. (turns and leaves)

(cricket cricket)

Cross: Nightmare we should probably follow him.

Nightmare: No.

Cross: What else do we have to do. We solve their problem, Color can get his wings and then he stops being emo and gives us the pearl out of the goodness of his heart.

Nightmare: I’m not risking my life for this! If that guy is willing to do it himself I’m going to let him do it!

Cross: Dude, look at that guy. He looks about at capable fixing whatever the problem is as Ink is at providing emotional support. If this happens to be anything like a video game, we’re the only ones capable of solving anything. Besides, what else are we supposed to do? Hang around and wait for something to happen?

Nightmare: All right, fine. But how are we supposed to do something? It’s not like we can climb up a thirty foot cliff.

Cross: No, but we can swim, right?Nightmare: What?

(Cross draws a line around the rock covering the spring. It dematerializes into red squares and water starts to spew out of the spring. They both run back towards the side and climb up the cliff they came from)

Nightmare: Dude, what the hell was that?

Cross: I can draw lines around things with my sword and they do that and go away.

Nightmare: … do they go somewhere?


Cross: I dunno.

(Meanwhile in Xtale, a boulder slams into the floor and almost crushes Fresh because of course he’s there)

(The spring fills up)


Nightmare: You know I’m starting to have second thoughts about this swimming thing seeing as how I’ve never actually–(Cross kicks him into the water)


(LATER)


Nightmare: YOU ASSHOLE I ALMOST DROWNED

Cross: You’re exaggerating.

Random Dude: STOP RIGHT THERE!


Nightmare: who.

Random Dude: YOU AREN’T GOIN ONE STEP PAST THIS POINT! YOU’RE LIGHT YEARS FROM FACING BROCK!

(nightmare squints)

(comic suddenly goes into a battle sequence)

Nightmare: whoa whoa what the hell is happening

Cross: oh my god it’s pokemon NIGHTMARE IT’S POKEMON

Nightmare: I DON’T HAVE ANY POKEMON CROSS THREATEN HIM

(Random Dude sent out MEWTWO)

Cross: DEAR GOD

Cross: LISTEN THERE’S A HUGE MISUNDERSTANDING WE’RE NOT TRAINERS WE DON’T HAVE POKEMON

Random Dude: tHEN WHY ARE YOU IN A POKEMON GYM HUH

Cross: Uh… touring?

Random Dude: OH

Random Dude: I SEE

(The Random Dude returns his Mewtwo.)

Random Dude: THERE HAS BEEN AN UNFORTUNATE MISUNDERSTANDING

Cross: Say uh, you didn’t happen to see a scrawny dude with wings pass through here, did you?

Random Dude: Oh yeah, he went into the next room and took the elevator to the top.

(silence)


Nightmare: Why are there always elevators.

(two seconds later, they reach the elevator and there’s a dude standing in front of it)


Nightmare: um excuse me we need to use the elevator

Dude: oh man I can’t find my glasses anywhere what do I do

Nightmare: excuse me I said move

Dude: oh man I can’t find my glasses anywhere what do I do

Nightmare: HELLO

Dude: oh man I can’t find my glasses anywhere what do I do

Nightmare: MOVE ASSHOLE

Cross: I think it’s a preprogrammed NPC.

Nightmare: UAGGGGHHHHH

(Nightmare throws himself into the person, but he slams into the STEEL WALL OF NPC)

Nightmare: CROSS TELEPORT HIM AWAY

Cross: wait are you serious what if that freakin kills him I don’t know where these things go

Nightmare: YOU SAID IT YOURSELF HE’S AN NPC

(Cross shrugs. He draws a line around the NPC and the NPC disappears)

(one elevator ride later)

Nightmare: (chokes) oh god

Nightmare: the altitude

Cross: nightmare this island is still lower than ink’s house.

Nightmare: PSYCHOLOGICAL ALTITUDE

(fwip)

Cross: Oh look, it’s that guy from earlier.

Nightmare: Got captured somehow. Why am I not surprised?

Killer: YOU KNOW WHAT SCREW YOU GUYS

(A really buff guy abruptly slams into the ground)

Buff Guy: FEAR MY WRATH, FOR I AM BROCK! LEADER OF ALL THINGS ROCK HARD

Nightmare: Look man, we really don’t have time for this, just let the shota hoe go, we’re just checking up on the huge-ass Charizard up there.

Killer: excuse me

Brock: I AM THE LOYAL GUARDIAN OF THE GREAT CHARIZARD! You can only pass if you defeat me!


Cross: what the hell is even happening anymore

(Loud gym battle music as the gate at the entrance of the clearing slams shut)

Nightmare: LOOK WE’VE BEEN OVER THIS WE DON’T HAVE ANY POKEMON

(Brock war cries as he sends out a very anime geodude)

Nightmare: can someone please tell me I’m hallucinating all of this

Brock: WELL, IF YOU DON’T HAVE POKEMON, YOU’LL HAVE TO USE A RENTAL

Cross: What? But rental pokemon always suck.

Brock: YOU MUST PROVE YOUR WORTH SOMEHOW! AND BECAUSE YOU’RE SMALL CHILDREN YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN’T PROVE IT THROUGH SUMO WRESTLING.

Nightmare: I’m fifteen!

Cross: Nightmare I think you’re missing the point.

Killer: Good god, just let them through and let me out of here, they’re the heroes of prophecy.

Brock: PROPHECY

Brock: GOODNESS ME I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT

(Brock returns his geodude)

Brock: YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING

Nightmare: That would have worked?

Brock: BUT! IF YOU WANT TO FREE THIS TINY FELLOW HERE, YOU MUST COMPLETE A DIFFERENT CHALLENGE! FOR YOU SEE, HE TRIED TO PASS THROUGH HERE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION!


(Killer rolls his eyes. Nightmare squints, literally pulling a notebook out of his shirt. He writes something in it, walking up to Brock and holding it up. It says “Let the guy out of jail you dick”)

Brock: AHA

Brock: WELL

Brock: I CAN’T ARGUE WITH THAT

(He stomps his foot on the ground and the bars in front of Killer go up)

Brock: DON’T BE CAUSING TROUBLE NOW KIDS


(He ascends back into the sky)


Cross: I’m not even going to ask. That entire conversation felt like a drug trip.

(Killer dramatically throws himself onto Nightmare)


Killer: I knew you would come around, my knight in–

Nightmare: Why did I assume that you had become any less creepy in the last ten minutes. Why did I even do that?


Killer: Because your heart told you to.

Nightmare: Dear god stop touching me or I will literally pick you up and slam you into the floor.

Killer: Feisty. Anyway, I figured out why the Great Charizard is freaking out all the time. His tail is hanging down into the room below him and something is chewing on it like all the time.

Cross: What? Then why doesn’t it just, I dunno, pull its freaking tail out of the room like a reasonable creature? Or maybe take care of the problem on its own?

Killer: The Great Charizard is like a five year-old. It’s self aware, but it expects all of its problems to be solved by everyone else and throws tantrums when that doesn’t happen.

Nightmare: Well that’s stupid. Why does everyone act like it’s some holy being then?

Killer: Because it’s a massive, terrifying dragon that can breathe fire?

ok unfortunately this is where the script ends but I hope you enjoyed that

oh yeah, and some extremely old art that I found:

as well as a brief consideration to make the characters human before deciding that I just didn’t want to work on the comic anymore.

basically you will notice that most of this doesn’t have a solid outline, and you’d be right: I never actually planned it that meticulously. I mostly just winged it and threw stuff in over the course of time and never even really planned anything close to a definitive ending beyond “maybe it was a prank”. sorry if this is like… anticlimactic, but it’s all I could find!

[71tenseventeen]

Into That Bad Night-Timestamp 2

Warnings for dark Geno, implied violence, fear of violence, sex, flashbacks and trauma. (Geno is not violent towards Sidney, theirs is not an abusive relationship.) If you’re looking for a law-abiding Geno and a non-problematic, fluffy relationship, this is not the fic for you.

This work is not fully beta’d yet. I’ll clean it up before I post on ao3. 

Thanks to @cakemakethme​ for the amazing banner and to @queen-alia​, @ljummen​ for the read-throughs! 

Evgeni and Sidney’s very first meeting below the cut.

Sid stares at the heavy wooden door, opening and closing as patrons go in and out. None of them leave alone. He sucks in a deep breath. He’s counting on the reliability of it, the fact that he always finds someone here. He doesn’t want to but work has been short and he wants to be hungry or homeless even less so he squares his shoulders. If Nate had taught him anything it’s that one rich jerk who pays well is far better than dealing with two or three sketchy low-end clients. 

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Cros. You’re worth a lot more than what you can get in that dump. Come with me to Black Steel.” 

“There’s no way they’ll even let me in the door.” 

Nate had turned Sid to face the mirror then. “Don’t be stupid. Look at you. Those lips? Trust me, you’ll make money tonight. We gotta live, Sid. If you’re going to do it anyway you might as well make it worth your time.” 

Sid sighed. “Yeah, okay. I’ll try.” 

Sid’s thinking about it when he crosses the street and steps into the bar. Nate was right—he’d made $600 that night and when he paid his rent the next day, he didn’t care much anymore about what he’d done to earn it. 

Since then Sid comes here when the budget gets too tight—more and more often, despite his best efforts. He misses having a friend come here with him but Nate’s been gone for months. Sid wants to be happy for him—at least he got out, even if it had only been because the hospital had called his relatives when he overdosed. He’s in Toronto with family now but they haven’t spoken since that night in the dim hospital room. Sid hopes he’s doing well. 

He slides into a spot at the polished wooden bar and orders a drink, trying to focus on the task at hand—it’s easier when he puts everything else out of his mind—and lets himself sink into the role he needs to play. 

–

Evgeni spots him almost immediately. He’s beautiful. 

He leans forward slightly, watching as the man makes his way from the door to the bar. He’s clearly trying to look cool and confident but not quite succeeding, though he doubts anyone else looks close enough to notice any signs of nervousness. Evgeni has always been good at reading people. 

He cocks his head when the man orders a drink and then darts his eyes around, not quite making eye contact with anyone. But he’s here for a reason, that’s obvious in the way he tries to make himself look available and well, Evgeni’s always been good at making snap decisions, too.  

–

Sidney feels him before he hears him, a big body sliding in very close to his side. But when he turns to try to put some space between them, the words die in his throat. Sidney’s heard his name but he never imagined they’d come face to face. His heart gives a little thump when the man smiles at him, slow and sure, voice warm when he leans in a little to say. “You here alone this evening?” 

He gets it together enough to nod then curses internally. He should have said no, should have made an excuse because this man is powerful and dangerous. He’s also gorgeous, could clearly have any man or woman he wants and Sidney can’t understand what he’s done to capture his attention. 

The man’s smile softens a little and he lets himself sit on the edge of the barstool next to Sid, extending his hand. “I am Evgeni.” 

Sid shakes his hand and wonders if Evgeni can feel him trembling. “Sidney,” he replies quietly. 

“Sidney,” Evgeni repeats it and it sounds different on his tongue than Sid has ever heard before. “I like. What bring you here tonight, Sidney?” 

“I—” Sid can feel his cheeks getting hot, not sure what to say. It doesn’t seem likely that Evgeni would be interested in what he’s offering so that means he’s probably somewhere he shouldn’t be. He feels a little sick. This is not a man he should piss off. 

But Evgeni just smiles reassuringly, leaning a little closer to ask quietly, “You looking for client, yes?” 

Sid swallows hard, unable to look away as he nods again. He jumps, just a little, when he feels a big, warm hand slide over his. “Would you consider allow me to be your client tonight Sidney?” 

Fuck. Fuck. He shouldn’t do this but no doesn’t feel like a great option and he—he needs the money. Before he can think too much about it he finds his voice. “Yes.” 

“Of course, I want to compensate well for your company. You have suggestion?” 

“Two hundred an hour,” Sidney’s voice is trembling. Is he really going to do this? 

Evgeni nods. “And how many hours you available?” 

Sid sits back a little, confused by the question. “You want more than one?” 

“Would like to have overnight, if you accept.” 

Holy. Shit. 

But. 

“I don’t—I only take one client at a time.” If he wants Sid for a whole night there has to be more to it. 

But Evgeni shakes his head. “Understand. Only me, Sidney.”

“You can’t—there are rules. You can’t hurt me.” 

Evgeni draws back, looking almost offended. “Would never. Will only do what make you feel good, have no desire to hurt or scare you. Is very simple. I’m just look for company tonight and want it to be you.” 

Sidney is stunned. “Why?” 

Evgeni doesn’t answer at first, instead reaches out and runs gentle fingers down Sid’s jawline and across his bottom lip. “Because you beautiful.” 

–

Sid sits quietly next to Evgeni in the car, wondering if he should be doing something already but Evgeni seems focused on telling the driver where to go and then he’s on the phone, making a last minute reservation. 

–

Things move faster after Sid’s clothes are off. He’s not used to being very interested when he does this but it’s clear from the very first touch that things are going to be very different with Evgeni. He touches Sid like he’s trying to learn every inch of him, hands strong and confident and everywhere. 

Then he’s cupping Sid’s face, kissing him deep and slow and it’s overwhelmingly good,  Evgeni kisses like he wants to possess him and Sid doesn’t usually kiss clients but he’d rather do just about anything than stop right now. 

“Undress me,” he says between kisses so Sid does and jesus, he’s big everywhere. Sid hopes he can handle this. Before he can think about it more Evgeni is kissing him again, fingers running over his skin, tweaking one nipple before moving to the other. 

“What do you want?” Sid’s already a little breathless. 

“What you offer?" 

Sid thinks about that for a moment. "I’ll suck your cock. And you can fuck me. If you want to." 

Evgeni’s eyes seem impossibly darker when he says, "I want." 

–

Sid is good with his mouth and he knows it. He usually uses it to his advantage when he wants to speed things along with clients. It’s very effective. 

But Evgeni wants him for a whole night. 

He drags his tongue along the underside of Evgeni’s dick, listening to the sounds escaping him, and lets himself slow down, get a little bit lost in it. He pushes himself, bobbing a little further each time before he stops and flutters his eyes open to meet Evgeni’s heavy, focused gaze. 

At first glance he seems as composed as ever but Sidney can see it in his eyes, pupils blown wide with want. He can hear it in the little hitches of Evgeni’s breath and feel it in the way his fingers tighten carefully in Sid’s hair. Every touch, every sound is like a spark of electricity. Maybe it’s the thrill of making someone so powerful and foreboding groan and pant or maybe it’s just the prospect of getting paid a lot of money for what he suspects is going to be really good sex which so rarely happens. Either way, he doesn’t want to stop. 

He wants more. 

He works Evgeni over with his mouth as well as he knows how, losing himself in it until he feels the careful but urgent tug of fingers in his hair. He’s panting when he pops off, leaning back to meet Evgeni’s eyes. 

“Fuck,” is what comes out when he finally speaks. “You keep like that I’m not last much longer.” 

“You have me all night.” 

Evgeni’s eyes darken and his lips curve into a slow, almost predatory smile. He runs his fingers through Sid’s hair slowly, never breaking their gaze as he says quietly, “You let me come in your pretty mouth?” 

Sid hesitates, breath hitching a little. He should say no. He’s never—not with a client but this isn’t a normal client. “Are you—” His voice falters as he tries to find the words. 

Evgeni’s reply comes quickly, calm and serious. “Clean, yes.”

Sid’s not sure why but he believes him. “I’ve never—not with a client.” 

Evgeni nods slowly. “Is your choice. If you say no, I make sure give you enough warning. If you say yes, maybe I’m pay you little extra for make very special exception for me.” 

He knows he shouldn’t. “Yes.” 

Evgeni relaxes back on his free hand, tugging Sid closer with his other, guiding him right where he wants him to be. He tips his head back with a groan the second Sid’s mouth is on him again and fuck Sid really shouldn’t be so into this but he is. 

It doesn’t take long, despite Sid’s efforts to drag out every moment of pleasure for Evgeni. His dick gets impossibly harder against Sid’s tongue, fingers tightening in his hair and then he’s coming and Sid tries to keep up. He swallows as much as he can but he can feel it trickling out of his mouth and down his chin. He opens his mouth wider, letting Evgeni guide him now as he keeps moving until he finally slows to a stop. 

He pulls his dick away and immediately replaces it with his thumb, swiping it through the mess on Sid’s bottom lip and then pushing in. “Look at you,” he grumbles, voice raw, even deeper than normal. “You so good, know how to use don’t you?” 

Sid doesn’t reply, instead swiping his tongue around Evgeni’s thumb and sucking a little harder. 

Evgeni smiles again and Sid’s not sure what to expect but it certainly isn’t being drawn up and then pressed down onto the mattress while Evgeni kisses the underside of his jaw. He pauses only to murmur, “Now I’m take good care of you,” before he wraps deft fingers around Sid’s cock. 

He isn’t used to clients caring about his pleasure. He almost never gets off when he does this and none of them ever seems to give that a second thought.  But Evgeni is unlike any client he’s ever had and takes his time, drawing it out until he finally brings Sid over with a smug look. 

He disappears for a few moments and returns with a warm, wet washcloth, first wiping carefully at Sid’s face and then works his way down, gently pushing Sid’s hand away when he tries to take over. He doesn’t know what to make of this—a client taking care of his needs but it seems to be what Evgeni wants so he doesn’t argue. 

–

Evgeni fucks him twice that night and Sid thinks it’s the best sex he’s ever had in his life. After, when he’s fighting the urge to fall asleep Evgeni chuckles. “Sleep Sidney. I have you all night not mean you have to stay awake whole time.” 

His eyes are already fluttering shut but he can feel Evgeni sitting next to him on the bed. “What about you?” He murmurs, nearly asleep already. 

“Not worry about me. Just rest.” 

That’s the last thing Sid remembers until hours later when he wakes up sluggishly disoriented, trying to blink his eyes open. He gets a glimpse of the room and scrambles up in a panic. He doesn’t know this room, doesn’t know this bed and— 

There’s a rapid, fluid motion next to him and then—

Sid freezes, breath caught in his throat. He’s staring down the barrel of a gun that Evgeni is holding, looking a little sleepy but gaze sharp as ever. 

Sid winces hard and squeezes his eyes shut as his whole body starts to shake. All he can do is wonder why, he remembers everything about the night before now and he thought he did everything right, he thought—

Evgeni curses softly and there’s a shuffling sound and the soft click of something being laid on the table. Then strong hands are wrapping gently around his wrists and tugging carefully. “Look at me,” he says, tone sober and serious.  

Sid’s breath hitches as he slowly blinks his eyes open to find Evgeni looking right back at him. The gun is back on the bedside table. He still doesn’t move. 

"I apologize. You startle me, I react. Never intend to hurt you. Am very sorry to have scare you like this.” 

Sid lets out a breath, trying hard to bite back tears as Evgeni rubs gentle hands up and down his arms. “Know you’re not have reason to believe but I’m promise will not hurt you.” 

Sid nods but he’s still shaking all over, his breath coming in short, shallow bursts. Evgeni grips his face gently, making sure to keep eye contact. “Want you to breathe with me, Sidney.” He takes a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. “You try. Can you do for me?” 

Sid blinks hard but he tries. 

“Good, you do so good. Do again.” 

He doesn’t take his eyes off of Evgeni’s as they breathe together until Sid can manage on his own, some of the tension draining from his body. 

Evgeni nods approvingly. “Keep breathe. I’m be right back.” 

He crosses the room quickly and returns with a bottle of water. “Take sip.” 

Sid does it. Then he takes another drink and another until half the bottle is gone. Evgeni watches him intently the whole time. “Is a little better now?” 

Sid nods again. “Y-yeah.” He still feels shaky but at least he’s not on the verge of panicking anymore. 

“Good. Feel terrible, Sidney. Hope you can forgive.” 

Sid doesn’t know what to say but Evgeni doesn’t seem to need a reply. He’s already picking up his phone and dialing. He speaks briefly to whoever is on the other end and then ends the call abruptly. “Breakfast is come.”

Sid swallows hard. “Do—do you want…?” He has no idea what to do. This stopped being a normal situation the moment Evgeni sat down next to him at the bar. He’s not sure if he can manage sex right now though. 

Evgeni raises an eyebrow but shakes his head. “Don’t think now a good time.” He reaches over to squeeze Sid’s shoulder. “Besides, you wear me out.” There’s a twinkle in his eye as he says it and Sid finds himself strangely comforted, at least a little bit, by the conversation. 

“Hungry. Need to eat and go to work.” 

“Oh. Right.” Sid starts to slide out of the bed. “I should go.” 

“No.” 

Sid freezes and looks up. “No?”

“No. You eat first, least I can do.”

–

Evgeni is on the phone when the food arrives. He pauses long enough to direct the server to lay out the spread on the table before going back to his call while Sid perches awkwardly in an armchair, fighting the urge to help. When the attendant is finished, Evgeni drops his phone long enough to tip and dismiss him before glancing at Sid. “Eat.” 

He still feels awkward but the food smells decent and he knows he needs to eat so he settles at the table and puts a few things on his plate. He cautiously puts a small pool of syrup next to his french toast but scrunches his nose when he tries it. He’s not surprised—he almost never finds real maple syrup. 

Evgeni’s been chattering in rapid Russian on his phone and Sid really didn’t think he was paying any attention but suddenly he’s pulling the phone from his ear and asking, “Not taste good?”

Sid freezes. “I—it’s fine.” 

“You wrinkle nose. Something taste bad?” 

“Oh. No! No it’s good.” 

Evgeni stares at him, clearly still waiting for an explanation. Sid feels his cheeks heat and he drops his eyes before he mutters. “I, uh, I’m from Canada. I’m just used to different, um, syrup.” 

He wonders if that will piss Evgeni off. This meal can’t be cheap and Sid really isn’t in a position to be complaining about something as petty as syrup. But then he hears a loud, booming laugh and looks up in time to catch Evgeni’s wide grin. “Cute.” 

He’s still too shaken up to manage much but he eats as much as he can. Evgeni walks him to the door afterwards, sliding a simple white envelope into his hands. “This should cover everything.” 

As intimidating as Evgeni is, Sid knows he has to check, he has to be paid for his services. It only takes a quick peek to know that there’s more than he expected in the envelope. “Thanks. I—Thank you.” 

Evgeni chuckles. “Should be thanking you, no?” He leans in then, brushing a kiss under his ear before murmuring, “May I request your services again, Sidney?” 

Sid’s cheeks burn but he nods. “Yeah, yes. Of course.” 

“Good. I’ll be in touch.” 

–

A private car drives him home and Sid doesn’t dare take out the envelope. He’s shaking again, the adrenaline of the night draining away, leaving behind the dregs of all the anxiety he held back all night long. 

Evgeni wants to see him again. Fuck.  

By the time he gets into his apartment and locks the door behind him he feels like he’s on the verge of a panic attack. Picking someone up is always risky but going to bed, spending the night with a man who is by all accounts a very seasoned criminal, a murderer even, was reckless beyond reason. That was proven when he came nose to nose with the barrel of a gun and now he’s agreed to see Evgeni again. 

He slides down, sinking to the floor as he tries to pace his breathing. Letting his head fall back and eyes close, he breathes deeply through his nose, out slowly through his mouth. His mind immediately goes back to doing this exact thing with Evgeni. Despite everything he’d seemed genuinely concerned and apologetic. 

Sid keeps breathing. 

Evgeni had treated him gently, he’d been kind and made sure Sid agreed to anything they did. He’d been concerned the entire time about Sid’s pleasure and comfort. He never hurt Sid, didn’t even try to push past his verbal boundaries, not even once. 

When his breathing evens out again he opens his eyes. They immediately land on the envelope that he’d dropped to his side and he picks it up, finally dumping the money out to count. 

He’d known that Evgeni overpaid him, just from the quick glance and the weight of the envelope. He’d expected to have a good payout for spending an entire night, for the things he did. Eight hours plus a little bonus should have meant close to two thousand dollars. But when he pulls the money out and starts counting his breath threatens to hitch again. 

And then he knows for sure, knows that despite everything, if Evgeni contacts him, he’ll say yes. He’ll do it again because now he’s holding five thousand dollars in his hands and he didn’t have to do anything that hurt to earn it. 

[the-nysh]

Ah, so Viz’s vol19 is finally out, and I had a few notes flipping through it!

First up, there’s no special extended dust jacket cover or insert art to make up for it like in the Japanese one. Even Murata’s beginning author note has the diagram explaining how it works for the 3 volumes, but it’s also lampshaded by saying ‘the Japanese covers are special.’ So welp, that’s Viz for ya by simplifying and cutting out features... There’s also no new original art for the character page (it’s the same reused panels and only slightly modified from vol18’s) or the fictional disclaimer page (previous vol had a cute one with Tareo holding the sign but now it’s blank with only text…)

The vol begins where the last Hot Pot chapter split off last volume (ending at Garou), resuming back at the HA for their raid strategies (excluding Genos and Bang) and soon returning back to Saitama’s apartment for the actual hot pot shenanigans. The split chapter (and vol) have been retitled: “All My Cabbage.”

Highlights from the hot pot scene include: how Murata draws everyone’s hands with different ink styles, so each one is distinct. :O The familiar competitive carnage over ‘Master’s Meat.’ Kuseno happy he gets to see different sides of Genos, and Bang asking Saitama where he went wrong with his philosophy for training pupils at his dojo. :’) And of course, Genos being so high-strung and stressed, he snaps at everyone (especially Fubuki) who mildly inconveniences Kuseno or Saitama, to the point he accidentally snaps at Saitama too! Damn, Genos. :’D

Omg that’s 3 times he directs his ire towards Fubuki here; he can’t stand her.

Next major highlight resumes back to Garou with his textbook BIG DAMN HEROES moment busting thru walls to Tareo’s cries for help and annihilating monstrous child predators on the spot! Wooo! 8D He even took a stab wound to the gut just to go for the kill for that, oh my.

Oh? This panel removed the gray toning and now has different bolder inking.

We also get the 4 redrawn Garou pages with some new classic Murata shots of him like this:

But my fav is finally seeing this redrawn page translated:

“(Because) I’m a monster.” :’)) Ohh that sullen mantra where he keeps having to tell himself that... (Very different from Royal Ripper’s delivery of the line.) But I also like it particularly for how Tareo’s question’s worded, because that’s just…🥺

...Wait Viz, what. For mowing down some hallway monsters and when he’s about to literally eat an arm, what does that even mean. It’s such an odd fluffy choice of words for him to say here.

Whoa Viz, WHAT?! I mean, I’ve seen translations where it’s to replenish his blood or put meat on his bones, but saying it like that (flesh hungry) just makes him sound like...a zombie or something. D: Welp that’s some tonal whiplash and he’s certainly disturbing the kid without trying.

Ah, and here’s how they worded the tsundere scene. Where he clearly reacts, but denies how he cares and awkwardly deflects why he even came there in the first place. (Claiming it’s just for revenge huh...) When (yes he does care, and lol yes he did help Tareo) all other evidence proves otherwise. :P Also hilariously, Garou then immediately proceeds to help/escort/protect him in the scenes right after this, despite all his attempts to avoid/deny it. Garou pls. 

Yaaay. :D (Also another fun tidbit, but for the character page and back cover story summaries, Tareo’s described as not simply the boy who likes heroes, but rather, ‘the boy who admires Garou’ instead. Ahh cute. :’3) 

Course, further shit hits the fan once Rover (lit. translated as Pochi) intervenes.

And whew;; that’s some pretty harsh tact. It’s the same ‘what do I care’ wording as the previous tsundere scene from before (oh and hey, now he admits he saved Tareo’s life too), but this time, Garou’s gotta be purposely mean so Tareo runs away from him with the chance to escape, all while Garou jumps in leeroy jenkins style to distract Rover as the SACRIFICIAL DECOOOOY!!! (Even yelling at Rover like, ‘Nuh-uh! Keep your eyes on me!’) 

Ahh! The cola line’s still immortalized! 8′D (Same deal for him, as he thinks it’s the end among his final thoughts, but he still pops back with the will to go on~)

His ‘sit’ command to Rover has an additional ‘sit, doggy’ to it...which is another case of Viz somehow wording things fluffier for him again... (Similarly of note, but every time shit happens they’d have Garou exclaim a rather vague/mild ‘uh-oh..’ Just let him say shit like the dub would have done!)

Soon he drops in to meet Psykos Gyoro-Gyoro, and...

Nice. It’s been several times now the MA’s tried to butt in, assuming they know what he wants or what’s best for him. His NO should be resoundingly clear!

*reels back* Whoaaoa yikes! D8 Oh god, it’s practically the same thing that Royal Ripper said to Tareo! Oh my god, Psykos is a predator too! Abort abort!!! (Immediately before this she also admitted to abusing many humans/monsters.)

Meanwhile, Viz can hit some lines well, but other times they’ll loosely translate things like this (brace for it):

....scchhh;; Ugh yeah, no. That’s a miss. I knew they’d shoot themselves in the foot for over-simplifying Metal Bat’s fighting spirit concept before, cause now for the actual call-back it just sounds lame calling it that. Anyway, Garou’s got his own strength of will/fighting spirit here for resisting Psykos’ psychic powers.

Also, the badass ‘spiderman’ pose is translated as “so it’s hunting time!” which is...not bad. (Could be cooler like ‘the hunt is on’ versions I’ve seen.)

Ah, and these panels were redrawn. Now she snaps her fingers and the ceiling’s eye patterns glow to transform the room for Orochi.

The battle vs Orochi proceeds (Garou calls it facing first a dog monster now a ‘worm boss’) and ooh, this page is good! :D

...But this panel’s another lol for a random literal ‘gasp.’

...OHHHHHH!!! She calls Garou pure of heart! 8′D Omigosh yes, I was waiting to see how this would be translated! Also calling out those internal contradictions of his (which are quite apparent) and eyuauah, her sinister plans to brainwash him;;;

The volume ends here where Saitama opens the manhole, and parking Garou for now until he awakens next time!

For the bonus chapter, we hilariously get a Saitama going meta with his head stuck in fiction while ignoring reality~

(Some interesting things he says about the protagonist and antagonist tho, oho!)

[hoodie-lover]

My Multiverse Ask Event! #3

“UT sans why do you refuse to fight the human until they are level 19 in genocide route?”

“Because it is the only time it matters. Any other time I don’t have to worry about the world ending. If you were trapped in a world where nothing, almost nothing, you do matters, why do something that doesn’t matter? And I must say, the look on their face when I launched my first attack, and their faces afterwards, were worth it.” Sans said, smiling at the memory of their shocked face.

“Flowey if the human genocides you are aware they won't hesitate to kill you right? ps why not just pop up from the ground in the room with the human souls and take them?”

“I know. But I like watching everyone die, it’s funny as they try to stop an unstoppable threat, how they sacrifice themselves and whatnot. And if the human can beat Sans, Undyne, and slaughter almost every monster of all, why would the souls be able to do anything? Sure I could flee, but I am the Prince of the Underground, I’m going down with my ship.” Flowey said, his face appearing to be a mix of Asriel and his own before morphing back as he chuckled a sinister giggle.

“Frisk so your saying that your next reset will be a genocide if so is it because your possesses by chara or because your a bad person. ps if your possesed by chara during genocide why kill flowey knowing he is asriel? pps do you even make it to the surface after genocide?” “Chara is only there to make me remember my crimes, kill Asgore, and Flowey. And I’m not really a bad person per say, I’m just a kid having fun! And why would I return to the surface? The Underground is more fun. Asriel is dead, Flowey is someone new, and Flowey is pathetic.” Frisk said, smiling. “To all skeletons when you eat food where does it go? do you even have a stomach?” “We only eat magic-based foods so it is instantly absorbed. It just disperses and helps heal and stuff.” Papyrus said, making hand gestures to help explain it. “Error, when are you guys going to start looking for who Error once was? We can help! We know multiple versions of Error and many versions of his backstory to draw reference from. I'd start with G̵͈͇̙͖̰͇̠̥̱͍̅̿͌̀̋̄͛̇̽̒̄̿̄̑̈́̾͊̔̉̄͒̕ȩ̸̛̠̗͓̗̃̈́̏́͆̓̃̅̎͊̾̃̐͐̍̍͘͜n̸̢̢̛̲̬͎̱̘͍͎̗̯̘̭͉̦̓͗̓̓͂̀̈́̀͜͠͝͝ơ̵̢̗̼̳̥̞̱̺̭̠̅̐̐̾̽͋̋͐́̍͊̈́̈́͘͠. Trust me.” “What? We didn’t hear what you said.” Error stated, sipping some hot chocolate. Mini marshmallows danced on the surface. “Well, since you apparently can’t say who to start with, I guess we have no where to start from.” “How about we look at the timelines? Talk to the voices and see how long Error was there and what timelines had separated before and after then.” Horror said and Nightmare shrugged. “Sure.” In the Creator Realm, Maxie, Zack, Beatrice, Jana, and Jack were listening. “We all know it’s Geno right?” Maxie said and they nodded. “How about we drag this out? Make them suffer!” Jack said, and for once, Zack agreed. “It would be funny, just as long as they learn the truth eventually.” Zack said, earning a sadistic grin from Maxie. “Yay! I wonder if we can get some help in leading them astray?” Maxie said, calling over to the group asking the questions. “Wanna help us drag this out?” She asked. “UT sans when are you going to tell papyrus about resets?” “I already know. Though I have asked Sans the same question many many times.” Papyrus said, giving Sans a dirty look. Sans had come back from his sentry station for lunch. “You’d forget! Just because you know doesn’t mean you’ll remember. I’d figured out it was possible while looking through scans and other old work I look through every day. Plus knowledge of the multiverse helps.” Sans said, “I actually did tell you once, but it crushed your spirit. I didn’t want you to lose what made you, you. and I had a support group so I wasn’t handling it alone like I used to.” Sans said, Papyrus sighed in response. “UT sans how do you manage to put 29 hot dogs on a person's head and why not 30 hot dogs?” “Why not 28?” Sans said, and Papyrus groaned. “Ok ok I think we have embarrassed the boys enough, for now.... Dream any stories from your brothers past he would rather his boys not know about?” “YES!” Dream cried out and Nightmare tried to silence his brother, but he was tackled, bound, and gagged on the ground before he could make a sound. Everyone listened to Dream intently. “Nightmare, in the early days of our village’s founding, had a girlfriend.” Dream said, Nightmare thrashed on the ground as everyone gasped “Who?” Cross asked, eyes wide as he heard Chara snicker and make faces at Nightmare. “I don’t remember her, we didn’t really talk all that much, but what I do know is that,” Dream donned the smuggest and most evil smirk as he gave his brother a wicked glance, a twisted smile on his face. “Nightmare, lost his virginity to her.” Dream said and everyone went nuts. “Did he top?” Horror asked, and Killer laughed. “Was she a virgin too?” Dust cried out, looking at his struggling father. “She wasn’t, and I think he bottomed based on what he told me.” Dream said, genuinely puzzled. “So, how old were you?” Error asked, Dream thought about it. “We didn’t know at the time, as far as we’re aware, right now, we’re about 1200 years old, and the village was around for about 1,000 years, but she was about a young adult, maybe 20 or so.” Dream said, looking at his brother for confirmation. Tears were streaming down Nightmare’s face and Dream took pity on his sibling. “There, there, I only have one more to tell.” Dream said, picking up Nightmare and placing him on his lap as he cuddled him. “What’s the story?” Fresh asked, he was mostly silent but he was curious. “Nightmare’s first time drunk.” Dream said, and Nightmare froze as he tried to run away. “Nope.” Dream said, keeping Nightmare in place easily. “One day, I was given a present by someone, I don’t remember who they were. Nightmare girlfriend, Lily was her name, had long passed away by this point. They broke up but remained friends. It was a bottle of whisky, hardcore whisky.” Dream said, “Like Blue’s signature drink spiker.” Dream said and Blue gasped. “I do not spike drinks!” Blue said, huffing. “Sure.” Dream said, rolling his eyes as he continued. “Anyway, I wanted to share the gift with Nightmare, as I always did. I even broke apart, remade and regifted presents I recieved to Nightmare to make him feel better. So we drank the entire thing, Nightmare having most of it.” Dream said, clearly embarrassed. “If we had known, that night would have ended differently.” Dream told them. “Nightmare ended up singing a random song at the top of his lungs at the top of the tree. I was about to pass out most of the time. We never got drunk again, the hangover was bad.” “Ok back to embarrassing the boys, on a scale of 1 to 10 how cute is Error? this is for anyone that wants to weigh in on the Error cuteness scale. Also does he have glasses in this multi-verse and do they up his cuteness? Sorry Error you are my favorite!” “10.” Everyone said they had by this point released Nightmare. “I do have glasses, Nightmare gave them to me soon after they learned how bad my eyesight was, but I began to wear contacts when I started fighting with them.” Error said. “They were bigger and red versions of Harry Potter’s glasses, and they increase his cuteness to a solid twenty-six out of ten.” Cross said, smiling as Error blushed. “Oh I saw someone else mention how we know of many different Errors. I gotta say most of the Errors I have seen have been tortured horribly and are left in a pretty bad state. Are you sure you want to know where you came from? You can't ever go back to what you were before, and I don't want you to get hurt Error.” “I know. But, I want to know my story, I know I can’t go back, I know I have a Papyrus, Toriel, Alphys, Undyne, and all. But I never thought about it, and with the revelation that I’m an alternate timeline, I can dive a bit deeper. I know these people, and Killer, Horror, and Dust can help me. They know what it’s like.” Error said, “And I’m not asking to know about what you have put other me’s through, I can infer what you’ve done to them.” Error said, glaring. “Frisk, what do you think about the humans from other AU?s” “AUs? Do you mean, alternate universes? I was involved with many fandoms, so I know the term. Papyrus broke script last time, and Sans was acting odd a few years ago. Interesting. I must thank you, if I’m right, then I might be able to see my own handiwork again.” Frisk said. “Frisk, have you encountered Gaster yet? ps do you even know who Gaster is?” “I know who he is. Though he always disappears before I can say a word to him.” “Stretch, my tall orange jerk. How did you take the news that not only did Ink lie when he said the dark sanses took blue, but Ink was actually the one to take him and do some pretty bad things to our sweet little blueberry? What about when Ink had Dream hurt blue to keep him crashing? And how are taking Blue being more like Error now?” “I was mad, I wanted to kill him with my own hands. I let myself be fooled, and I can’t even blame myself half the time! I was just so powerless. I’m glad he’s dead.” Stretch said, grumbling as he blew out a puff of smoke. “I was ready to dust Dream right then and there, but Blue held me back. And the yellow squirt’s apology was overwhelming. I could barely go a day without a text or in-person apology, and when he finally earned my lack of distrust, we haven’t talked since aside from the occasional ‘hello’. And Blue had it worse.” “It took awhile for me to get used to Blue’s glitching. Sometimes he crashed and rebooted, those were scary and they still are. Error helped Blue and I adjust, helping us figure out Blue’s glitching triggers. Stress being a big one. I’m grateful for his help, though I may not like him.” Stretch said, lighting another cigarette. “And now the most important question ever asked... Who wants to join the Error protection squad? I'll make badges!” “ME!” Blue cried out, eyes glowing big and blue as he smiled. “Don’t forget about us!” Cross said and Error sighed as he buried himself in his outfit as everyone announced how they would join. “It’s ok Error. I’d defend you, but I don’t need a badge.” Dream said and Error smiled, he was glad his family would defend him. He felt safe, and he felt loved. “What is the worst timeline or version of this universe any of you have ever experienced? I mean, this is a multiverse. What are the darkest reaches of it?” “Aside from our own personal trauma, I think it was one of those torture AUs.” Nightmare said, and Cross snapped his fingers, realizing what Nightmare meant. “Yeah, where the people exist only to be beaten and broken, no hope, no dreams, no reason and will to live. There’s also HorrorLustFell.” Cross said and everyone shuddered. “‘Nough said.” Dust announced and everyone nodded. “Frisk you know a genocide is technically impossible because you never kill annoying dog ps what do you think of annoying dog?” “The annoying dog doesn’t count, and I never get to Alphys or the people she evacuated either. And the dog is cute, I want to cuddle them.” Frisk said, their face looking like an innocent child’s instead of a mass murderer.

Formatting is off because of glitching in my word processor. I have it fixed.

Next

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[knifeshoeoreofight]

He keeps dreaming of snow. 

It’s July. The weather is warm and sticky, and the sun has been blazing hot for weeks. And he dreams about snow.

It’s the same every time. A lake fringed with dark trees, the ice covered in a flawless expanse of white. Blank and perfect. In the dream, he has a pair of skates slung over his shoulder by the laces. When he swings them down to untie the knots and get them on his feet, they’re always a different pair he recognizes.

The first pair of good skates he’d received as a child, still able to fit him in the boundless logic of dreaming. He’d fallen asleep clutching them to his chest when he’d gotten them that Christmas. Stuffed dog under one arm, skates under the other. 

The beat up pair he hid in Rimouski, so that he could practice even after they took away his regular skates. The same ones he’d take to play shinny in the park, just to feel a little normal. Free.

The pair he wore to win gold in Vancouver, gleaming and perfect. 

In the dream he sits on a snowbank and pulls the skates on, and then he’s on the ice. You can’t skate on snow-covered ice, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Dream logic again.

The dark trees around the lake never grow closer, no matter how hard he skates for the opposite shore. Always, he ends up standing in the middle of that blank, unsettling expanse of white, frustrated. When he looks behind him, there’s never a mark in the featureless snow to show where he’s been. Nothing.

And he wakes up then, usually, disturbed and wondering why the fuck he’s dreaming that dream again. 

***

He’s busy enough.The flurry of early summer weddings has petered out, finally. He loves his friends’ happiness, but the annual glut gets…old. Exhausting.

He has a few media obligations, some pre-planned get togethers with Nate and any of the boys who happen to be in town. He’s ramping up the training. But he still has too much damn time to brood in between it all. You’d think he’d be able to get the bad taste of last season out of his mouth by now, but it lingers, their ignominious playoff exit following him like a shadow.

He fishes, he paddleboards. He golfs. He trains some more. He tries going to the farmer’s market and has to leave after fifteen minutes because of the commotion his appearance causes. He teaches himself how to make gluten free parmesan chicken from the Internet.

He checks social media, liking pictures of babies and dogs and summertime shenanigans on Instagram. He uploads a photo of his dock at sunrise to his private one, to a flurry of likes and chirping about being a boring old man, fishing all day. 

It’s a little funny but it stings a bit too. He doesn’t like to think of himself as old. He’s not, by ordinary standards. But he is in hockey years, and it terrifies him sometimes. 

He should post more often, then maybe he’d get less shit from the guys. He’d only made his account in the first place so that he could follow the people that mattered to him. 

He wakes up early to find that Geno commented a string of parentheses and a couple incomprehensible emojis. 

He’s given up trying to interpret what Geno means by them; he’s 90% sure he just picks the weirdest ones possible just to fuck with people. 

Sid ponders what to respond, and finally settles on turtle, Brazillian flag, paperclip. There, let him have a taste of his own medicine. 

i dont get it, jake posts underneath. Probably sex stuff, replies Flower. better not to ask. 

Asshole, Sid replies, and feels his face flush. It’s all meant as a joke, but thinking of sex and Geno too close together is always a problem, and he buries the well-worn thing he doesn’t acknowledge like he always does. 

***

The next time he has the dream, there’s someone else there. He doesn’t see them, but their presence behind him lies on him like a weight.

He stops in the middle of the lake like he always does. The presence behind him stops too.

“Hey,” Sid says, more as an inquiry than a greeting.

Some small bit of dream-awareness slots into place, and he knows that it’s Geno, behind him.

“Three years Superleague, huh?” Sid says. It’s good, and right, Geno standing behind him.

***

More training. A podcast recording with Biz and Whit that actually ends up being a lot of fun. Just shooting the shit and swapping stories. 

They ask him about Geno, of course, angling for some dirt, some “ha ha he’s so Russian” and “what a bully” kind of shit. Sid doesn’t give them anything.

Geno, Sid has always thought, is more just like an enormous cat. A little moody and opinionated, liking things to be just so. Affectionate and friendly only on his own terms. He’s always wondered if that was mostly due to the language barrier, or if it’s just how Geno is. He used to watch whenever Geno spoke to Gonch, or his friends on other teams. Listen to the faster cadence of his voice, the expansive movements of his hands, the expressiveness of his face. Trying to figure out who Geno really was when he was comfortable and at ease.

He used to watch Geno way too much in those days.

It’s still a problem sometimes.

Geno always treated Sid a little differently. All of his brash pushiness is tempered a little. He always looks into Sid’s eyes when Sid is trying to tell him something, leaning in and listening with his whole body. Sid has never taken that deference and respect for granted, treating Geno’s fierce loyalty as the precious honor it is.Geno gives zero consequence to people he’s decided he doesn’t like or respect. He isn’t like Sid, he doesn’t bother to reign in his colossal emotions or attempt a veneer of politeness or charm. If he’s done with you he’s done with you. 

Geno is Geno, and Sid, god help him, has always loved him for it.

***

He has the dream again, and it’s accompanied by a creeping sense of dread. He and the Geno-presence take to the ice. In the middle of the lake, instead of smooth white, the snow is broken by a series of jagged cracks, dark water sloshing malevolently inches from Sid’s skates. 

“Fuck, look out–” he tells Dream-Geno, but Dream-Geno steps past him, for the first time.

“Geno!” Sid tries to scream, but he doesn’t have the air. In the disjointed way of dreams, Sid just knows that Dream-Geno is in the water now, even if he didn’t see anything happen. 

He drops to his knees, and reaches out. The water looks liquid, but his fingers scrabble along it like it’s ice. He claws at it, horror and desperation cresting over him. He’s trying to scream Geno’s name, but he can’t- he just can’t- 

When he wakes up, he’s gasping, heart trying to pound its way out of his chest. He’s disoriented for a split second, grief crushing, until he wakes up further and realizes he was dreaming. 

He sits up with a groan, shreds of the dream and its dread slowly fading around him. Fuck. He hasn’t had a nightmare like that in years. 

He checks the time on his phone, curses to see that it’s three thirty in the morning. He drags himself up, flinching as he flips the bathroom light on. He takes a piss, and splashes water on his face as if he can wash away the lingering awfulness of the dream.

So weird. He hadn’t really seen anything, but the emotions themselves had felt so real. 

Back in bed, he almost doesn’t want to go back to sleep. He feels wide awake anyway. What he wants to do, is. 

Incredibly stupid.

Good for a lifetime of shit-talking if Geno tells anyone.

He does it anyway. 

You up? He texts Geno. It’s nine-something am in Moscow, so who knows. Geno’s not exactly a morning person.

There’s no answer, for long enough that he starts to feel even more colossally lame than he already did. 

Then his phone rings, making him jump. Fuck.

“Sid?” Geno says when he picks up. “What’s happen? It’s night for you.”

God, his voice. Deep and rumbling right in his ear. Accent thick like it always gets over the summer when he doesn’t use his English for months. Sid feels something in him let go, soothed by a living, breathing Geno at the other end of the line. But, then, he realizes that he now has to come up with an explanation that isn’t just, “hey bud, just had a real bad dream, wish you were here to fucking tuck me in, eh?” 

“Uh. I’m okay it’s just… I was thinking.”

There’s a judgmental silence on the other end of the line. Sid pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

“You’re gonna chirp me forever, man. I, uh. I’ve been having this dream.” 

“Whaat?” Geno draws the word out, somehow conveying both amusement and disbelief. 

“I know, I know. But I’ve been having this stupid dream about skating on a lake, yeah? Just over and over. It’s fucking weird. And you were there? I think. The last few times, anyway. And this time there were these cracks in the ice, and you fell in. You know how even if it doesn’t make sense, for a second in a dream your brain doesn’t know the difference? Well. You, you were dead.” 

He pauses, realizing he’s babbling, how stupid this is. Shame washes over him. 

“Okay…” Geno says, clearly trying to take all of that in. “Sorry for dream?”

“Not your fault,” Sid says automatically. “So, yeah. Pretty much I just wanted to hear your voice.”

Geno huffs out a laugh. “Okay. I’m doing good, so.” There’s a pause, like he’s considering something. 

“It’s little bit cute, you know? Call me for scared.” His tone is amused but not as teasing as Sid would expect.

Still. Cute.

“Oh my god,” Sid groans, and flops back into his pillows.

“So stupid,” he says, more to himself then to Geno.

“No, no,” Geno says, and he’s definitely laughing now. “It’s fine, most cute. Can call me, I can give you some story, for sleep. Maybe some song.”

“Fuck off,” Sidney gripes, but he’s kind of smiling at the ceiling now, like a dweeb. 

Geno yawns, then audibly settles back into the bed or couch he’s probably lounging on. “So, keep having dream?”

“Yeah, over and over. No idea why.”

“Stress?”

Sid is quiet for a moment, wondering how to answer. “Maybe. My birthday, the season coming up. You know.”

“You captain,” Geno says. “Lots things for worry.” The matter of fact way he says it is comforting, somehow. “You need come here. Have fun in Russia.”

“Naw. The visa would take too long to get,” Sid says, wondering if Geno means it, if he’d really like to show Sid around Moscow.

“You know how long it’s take?” Geno sounds amused again, like he’s smiling. “You think about?” 

“Oh, off and on,” Sid answers. “Over the years, you know.”

“Should do, Russia best.”

Sid laughs. “Oh, for sure.”

“You do, you come. We go to banya, we eat Russian food. You can go to some museum, so boring.”

It sounds… really good. It makes an old ache start up behind Sid’s ribcage to think about it, but it sounds good. Especially if…

There’s always been an expiration date on Geno’s time in the US. And if this season is as bad as the last–

Sid tamps down the urge to surrender to the loss he can sense hovering on the horizon. 

“That sounds amazing, G. I want to, I really do. What about next summer? I can make sure the paperwork is all set up ahead of time.” Something to look forward to in that summer, no matter what. A way to delay Geno from slipping through his fingers if Geno decides he’s finally had it.

He’s being irrational, he knows. Geno has a contract. And yet.

“Yes, we do,” Geno says, with finality. “You come.”

They’re both quiet for a moment. Then there’s a bit of rustling on Geno’s end, like he’s sitting up. He sounds more awake when he speaks again.

“I can come early, now. Go to Canada first.”

Sid blinks, his lips parting in surprise. “Come here? To Nova Scotia? You’d want to?”

“No more bad dream,” Geno coos mockingly, and Sid has to laugh.

“You gonna tuck me in at night, eh?” Fuck, no, what is he doing. That sounds like he’s trying to flirt, or something. He needs to backpedal. 

“For real though. I’d always love to have you visit, you know that. I just thought, it’s a little quiet, maybe. Boring.” His voice, damn it, is a lot softer than he meant it to sound. Maybe revealing a little too much. He hopes Geno isn’t paying attention.

“Mooost boring,” Geno drawls. Then, firmly: “I come. You can show me fishing. No golf.” 

Something stupid and anticipatory flutters in Sidney’s gut. “Sure, okay. Let’s uh, work out the details.” Fuck.

***

Geno plans to go to Miami for a week, then to Sid’s, then to fly together down to Pittsburgh for training camp. He grouses a little at needing to be early because Sid is the captain and always shows up in town first. 

He grumbles but then he’s there in a week and a half, tanned and insolent with a backwards SnapBack on his head, rolling a lollipop stick between his teeth and disturbing Sid’s whole universe.

He pulls Sid in for a one armed hug and a backslap, right there in the terminal. He smells like airplane and very nice cologne, and Sid wonders why the hell he allowed this to happen.

He’s exhausted but looks around avidly as they take the 102 down to Dartmouth.

“Flat,” he says thoughtfully. “Big sky. Like Russia.”

Sid feels disproportionately pleased about that. 

It’s so strange, looking at home through Geno’s eyes, or trying to. He wants him to like it. 

“Halifax is across the harbor from where we are now,” Sid explains. “We can take a look around tomorrow.”

“I’m look Google Earth,” Geno says. “Little bit. Pretty.”

“It is,” Sid agrees. 

There’s a strange little smile playing around Geno’s lips as he takes in his surroundings. Sid isn’t quite sure what it means.

When they get to Sid’s place, Geno unfolds his long legs from the car and shoves his sunglasses up on his head. He just stands there for a minute, looking at the house, the sliver of lake visible through the trees. 

Then he looks at Sid, like he’s fitting Sid into this place in his mind. That wry little smile is back.

“Looks like you,” he says, and Sid isn’t quite sure what he means. 

***

Sid takes Geno out on the lake to fish. He takes him to the rink for training, where Geno imperiously nods once at Nate and then proceeds to ignore him for the rest of the drills. He stands in the lobby for a long time, looking at the display of Sid’s jerseys and photos. He takes a picture of one of Sid’s Timbits photos with his phone. 

Sid takes him around Halifax, as promised, then to his parent’s house, where Geno is all charm and bashful politeness, helping Sid’s mom in the kitchen and talking hockey with Sid’s dad. 

In every place, it’s a strange collision of worlds. Sid has to stop himself from just, staring all the time. Geno, here in his life. Lying on the floor of his parents’ living room to fuss over Sam. Rifling through Sid’s cabinets to judge his lack of acceptable tea. Strapping on his pads in the locker room of the rink where Sid learned to skate. 

He fits easier than Sid had imagined, and that ache seems to sit in his chest all the time now.

***

Geno’s been there nearly a week when Sid has the dream again. Same thing, with Geno disappearing into the dark water. 

Sid wakes up drenched in sweat, and swears before stumbling as quietly as he can to his kitchen for cold water from the Brita in the fridge. 

“Sid?”

Sid yelps, sloshing water all over the counter. “Fuck!” 

Geno’s lying on the couch in the living room, awash in the blue light of the muted television. 

“What are you doing up? Did I wake you?” 

“Still little bit jet lag. What’s happen? Dream, again?” 

Sid takes his glass of water and stands pointedly by the couch until Geno pulls up his knees and frees a space for Sid to sit. 

“Yeah.” Sid sighs. “So stupid.” He rubs at his eyes. 

“I’m die?” 

Sid stares ahead at the silent TV. It’s showing an ad for Canadian Tire. He’s not sure how he feels about talking about this, least of all talking about it with Geno. “Uh huh.” 

Geno scoots partially upright, and regards Sid with a surprising amount of gravity. 

“What you worry about, Sid?” he says, and it’s quiet, his voice low. 

Sid can’t look at him. He takes a long swallow of water and sets his glass carefully on the coffee table, trying to decide how honest to be. 

He’s too tired, on too many levels, to say anything other than the truth. 

“That if we have another season like we did, you’ll decide you’re done.” 

Geno whole face seems to go soft, his mouth dropping open a little. 

“I know,” Sid says quickly. “I know, this is so stupid, but I just—” 

Geno swings his feet to the floor, and suddenly he’s right there next to him, so close their thighs are almost touching. 

“Sid,” Geno says, and waits to continue until Sid looks over at him. 

“Until I’m hurt or you leave, I’m not leave Penguins.” 

His voice is softer and more reassuring than Sid has ever heard it before. What is happening. 

He can’t speak for a moment. 

“I, uh. Fuck, G.” 

Geno is just. Sitting there so close Sid can feel the heat of his body, looking at Sid with dark, serious eyes. 

Sid wants to kiss him. Wants to push him back onto the couch and mark him up. Something must have shown in his face because Geno tilts his head, brows drawing together in puzzlement. 

“Sid?”

Sid shakes his head. He has to get It together, in so many ways. 

“No, yeah, sorry I just.” He sighs. “Thank you, G. I can’t tell you how much that means.” 

Geno makes a hum of agreement, and stands, extending a hand to Sid. Sid shouldn’t take it but he does, let’s Geno haul him to his feet, and lets Geno…pull him in for a hug apparently. Oh no. 

This time Geno smells like the body wash Sid keeps in the guest bedroom, and his worn t shirt is soft against Sid’s cheek. 

It’s a curiously long embrace, and when Geno’s arms tighten Sid allows himself the indulgence of relaxing, letting himself melt into it. 

Geno raises one hand and lays it heavily on the nape of Sid’s neck. He eases back so he can look into Sid’s face. 

Sid can’t tell what he’s thinking. And he himself can’t think at all, not with Geno’s hand pressing onto his neck and his everything so, so close. 

He realizes, slowly, that Geno’s hands are shaking. 

“G?”

“Sid,” Geno says, husky and so low. 

Sid feels outside of his body, incredulous that this is really, actually happening as Geno, very slowly, leans in, pausing just a hairsbreadth from Sid’s lips. 

“Sid?”

“Yeah,” he sighs, and tilts his head up to cross that final bit of separation. 

Geno’s kiss is soft lips and hot mouth, gasped breaths and possessive sweeps of those huge hands. 

Sid shudders in his arms as Geno moves to his neck, trailing kisses across his jaw and down to the skin bared by the vee of his sleep shirt. 

Sid tugs them backwards, folding when the couch hits the back of his legs and pulling Geno down over him. 

He’s greedy, he’s starving. He can’t touch enough skin, he can’t get Geno close enough. He sets his teeth where Geno’s neck meets his shoulder and nearly keens when Geno moans and responds with a slow, devastating roll of his hips. 

“Geno, is this— are you—“

Geno pushes himself upright enough to look Sid in the eyes. 

“Won’t leave, Sid. Can’t.”

“I’ve wanted this,” Sid confesses. “I’ve wanted this for a really long time.”

“Good,” Geno says, and rolls his hips again. 

“I can’t just do a, a one time fuck or—“ 

“No,” Geno says sharply. “No.” He leans on one elbow so that he can lay a hand on Sid’s cheek. “We’re like this, you know? Mine.” 

Sid feels too bright and expansive for his skin. He fists a hand in Geno’s t-shirt and tugs him closer. 

“Mine,” he echoes, and Geno groans, responding to another tug and taking Sid’s mouth in a deep, demanding kiss. 

Hands and mouths and the greedy rocking of their bodies bring them to completion within moments of each other. 

Sid lies there after, stroking his hand over Geno’s head where he’s laid it on Sid’s chest. He’s sprawled over Sid like a gigantic, clingy octopus, and Sid is feeling the kind of incredulous elation he normally associates with Cups and Olympic gold. 

“Thanks for coming, G,” he says, and although he meant “coming to Canada,” 

Geno snorts. 

“You know what I mean, dickhead,” Sid says, laughing. 

“I mean it,” he says a few minutes later. “I’m just, yeah.” 

Geno smiles at him like that made perfect sense, and doesn’t protest when Sid prods him upright and tugs him along into Sid’s bedroom. 

***

Jet lag or not, Geno falls asleep with Sid spooned up behind him, and is still asleep when Sid wakes up to the mid-morning sun streaming in the windows. Heart impossibly full, the old ache released and gone, Sid presses a kiss to the sun-gilded skin of Geno’s shoulder. 

He had dreamt of the lake again, but this time, as happened for him only rarely, he’d lucid-dreamed. 

“No,” he’d told Dream-Geno, and turned his back on the lake. Which suddenly was a completely frozen Monongahela River. 

He points up the bank, towards the arena. “We’ve got a game to get to.” 

Dream-Geno put his hand in Sid’s, and leaned down to kiss his hair. 

“Let’s go,” he tells Sid, and they walk up the bank together.

[talesofdivergence]

WAIT

Now that I have a blog for this stuff I can finally start talking about my Bendy and the Ink Machine/Undertale crossover(?)!!!!

Alright, so the WIP title is Flowey and the Ink Machine. I don’t have the whole BG story mapped out yet, but I wanna talk about the basics!!

Alright! So.

The story/game starts with a kid (Frisk), who wonders into an abandoned animation studio on the seedy outskirts of their city. It’s rumored those who go never return, but for whatever reasons draw Frisk to the Underground in UT, they decide to go.

The first level is nearly identical to BatIM, except instead of the Dancing Devil Darling, the cartoon was about a Flower. Flowey the Dancing Flower. And his misadventures with his friends, Chara, an Angel, and Asriel, a goat boy. The “antagonists” of the show are two skeleton pilots, Sans and Papyrus, and their militaristic boss/fish person, Undyne. (Bear in mind, the names would all be changed to period appropriate).

Complete with creepy cardboard cut outs and everything, the child explores and eventually restarts the ink machine using the tokens from the six fallen children (in this case, employees I suppose? Maybe the employees children?), then gets startled by some sort of goat looking demon and falls (Asriel’s human soul form but ink demon-ified).

Now. There would be five (maybe six) levels. They’d wouldn’t be named as such, but they’d represent The Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland, and I haven’t decided if New Home and The Barrier should be one or two levels (but I’m leaning toward two).

The searchers, lost ones, and butcher gang members would be the side character monsters you meet throughout Undertale. You don’t have to kill them.

In the Ruins level, aka the first one after you fall, it plays out similarly to BatIM, except Toriel replaces Sammy, and instead of trying to sacrifice you, she’s trying to prevent you from going further. She knows what happens to those who continue, and wants to protect you.

After you inevitably convince her, she lets you continue on to level two, Snowdin. Sans replaces Boris, and in a very odd way, Papyrus replaces Alice. Instead of tasks, you have to complete difficult and convoluted puzzles, with the, well, lack of aid from Sans. They both mean well, they do. But the characters are almost more like their Horrortale counterparts in their levels of sanity. They’re, you know, bizarre ink-cartoon amalgamations. Obviously they’re not “okay”.

After you solve all of the puzzles, the brothers admit going forward is a death sentence, and you wind up hanging out with them for a little before resolving to continue. They warn you of the Ink Demon.

Level three would be Waterfall. Undyne replaces Norman at this point, as far as mechanics go, and you try to sneak through to the safer part of the level. If you succeed, you do not have to fight her and you can get to Hotland. Otherwise, you have to fight and abscond to continue. You are still being occasionally harassed by the other monsters and the Ink Demon.

At this point, you’ve reached not just Hotland’s level, but the cores as well, (the old ink machine), which replaces Bendyland (including all of the puzzles and whatnot). Mettaton would replace Bertrum, while the Amalgamates replace Brute Boris. They are much more ever present, and Alphys does not sick them on you as Alice does, she cannot soothe them until they are tired out from chasing or fighting you. She replaces Allison, in that regard, by saving you and guiding you to the next level. New Home. The Ink Demon is almost ever present by this point.

Sans judges/warns you in the administration office type area, and then you head the rest of the way to the Machine.

Asgore is there, claiming he will use your soul to complete the machine and save all the souls of those trapped inside it. But before you can fight him, the Ink Demon reappears, and absorbs the souls of all of the other ink creatures to become The God of Hyperdeath. You fight, blah blah blah, and he turns out to be Asriel, and he returns all of the souls to the ink beings and lets you go.

Here’s where things get grim folks.

After you spend time with everyone, the only way to save them, is to turn off the machine. They know this. And they let you. You can escape while the building is collapsing, and that, is the end of the game. Everyone is free now. Not as heartwarming as Undertale, but I’d argue it’s kinder than BatIM.

There’d be a lot more in the game to reveal the back story, but since I haven’t settled on that yet, it will remain unspecified for now lol.

And there is a geno version, but I figured I’d make a separate post for that!

So yeah!! I doubt I’ll ever get around to writing out an actual fic for this, now that I think about it. Oof. But I definitely wanna flesh out more of the story, and finalize some character designs!! (I wanna change Papyrus and Sans’ already lmao)

I’d really like for Joey and Henry at least to still play some role in this, I’m just not sure how to tie it all together yet!! But I’ll figure something out!! Eventually...

Also @maulan-reverie I figured I’d tag you in this since you’re pretty much the one responsible for it’s creation!!

[fanforthefics]

#40, either tyson/gabe or sid/geno would be lovely (all of your fics are so good with big conflict that ends with a happy ending)

exes meeting again after not speaking for years au

“Oh shit,” Tyson says, loudly, grabbing Colin’s arm. “Oh shit oh shit oh shit.” 

Colin looks down at Tyson’s sudden death grip on his forearm. Putting aside the fact that Tysons’ strong enough that it hurts, up until right now he’d thought Tyson was having a good time at this party. He’d been having a good time at the party--he likes house parties, like the easy, casual intimacy. Tyson likes house parties too, but Tyson likes all parties. 

“What’s up?” Colin asks. Tyson does not appear to have spilled his drink or injured himself, which is a minor miracle in itself. But his face is very white, in a way that makes Colin think this might actually be serious, not one of Tyson’s antics. “Are you okay?” 

“No.” Tyson takes a gulp of the brightly colored drink in his glass. “No, I’m--that.” He jerks his head across the room, at where a bunch of people are standing in conversation, including a tall blonde man. “That’s Gabe.” 

“Gabe?” Colin echoes. “Your Gabe?” 

Tyson’s face, always so expressive, twists. “Not my Gabe, but. That Gabe.” 

Colin manages to keep his mouth shut only by great effort of will. He wasn’t here for Gabe, but even though he met Tyson a good six months after Gabe broke up with Tyson and went back to Sweden,  he still feels like he was there for the aftermath. At least Nate said it was the aftermath--Tyson’s reckless rebounding, his throwing himself into relationship after relationship like he was trying to prove something, the way his laugh went too loud and thin. Even now, two years later, there are still times when Tyson gets drunk and starts muttering things about how could he just leave like that, without even thinking about whether their relationship was worth staying for. 

Colin is probably staring. “I thought he was in Sweden?” he asks. 

“So did fucking I,” Tyson spits. He takes another drink. “Fuck, we can--I can’t do this, Willy, why the fuck is he here?” 

“We’ll leave,” Colin decides. If Tyson can’t do this, they’ll go home. 

Except then-- “Tyson!” someone yells, and Tyson looks up to see who it is, and Colin can see Gabe jerk and turn too, and then he sees Gabe’s eyes widen sa he sees Tyson. 

“Who was--” 

“He’s coming over,” Colin warns, cutting Tyson off. Tyson goes even paler. 

“Fuck, he--of course he fucking is. How’s my hair? No, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. I--” 

“Hi, Tyson.” Gabe’s voice is softer than Colin had expected, somehow. But he is just as handsome as Tyson said. Colin had always assumed Tyson was just exaggerating, as he tended to, when he waxed drunkenly on about him, but no, that was real. 

“Gabe.” Tyson nods. He’s clearly trying to sound dignified, but his voice is higher-pitched than normal. “Fancy seeing you here.” 

“Yeah, well. It is EJ’s party, so--” 

“I meant in North America,” Tyson snaps, cutting him off. “How long are you visiting for? A quick fly by just to remind all of us mere mortals that you’re still more handsome than anyone else and that we can’t dream of reaching those heights?”

A smile flickers on Gabe’s lips. He’s still staring at Tyson, and Colin would be wondering about that look a lot more if Tyson’s knuckles weren’t worryingly white on his cup. “Um, actually. I’ve moved back.” 

Tyson actually rocks back on his heels. Colin reaches out to steady him--knowing Tyson he’d manage to injure himself here. Gabe’s eyes dart down to Colin’s hand on Tyson’s arm. Colin doesn’t move it--Tyson needs someone in his corner. 

“You’ve moved back?” Tyson echoes. He’s getting louder. “You just--you moved back?” 

“Yeah.” Gabe nods. He glances at Colin again. “Are you going to introduce me?” he asks, teasing, a little chiding. Colin knows his friend well enough to know it’s the kind of thing Tyson would be into, if it wasn’t from this man. Or maybe especially because it’s this man. 

Tyson must know it too, because he leans a little closer to Colin. “Yes. Colin, this is Gabe. Gabe, this is Colin.” Tyson glances up at Colin, and he has that look in his eyes--the reckless, self-deprecating thing he gets when he does something entirely stupid with himself, because Tyson is careful with everyone but himself. “My boyfriend.” 

Gabe visibly startles. Colin hopes he doesn’t too, looking back at Tyson--Tyson just looks at him. It is undeniably a horrible idea. But--Colin likes to think he’s a good friend, and Tyson in the right mood is impossible to say no too. Nate calls it a super power, sometimes. And Colin really doesn’t like how startled Gabe looks, like he hadn’t considered that Tyson might find someone else. 

And mostly--Tyson’s hurting. Colin doesn’t like his friends to hurt. So, 

“Hi,” he says, holding out the hand not on Tyson’s arm to Gabe. “Colin Wilson. Nice to meet you.”  

“Gabe Landeskog.” Gabe holds out a hand, shakes. It’s...definitely more forceful a shake than someone meeting at a party would need to give. “So how long has this been going on?” he asks. He doesn’t say it was nice to meet Colin, Colin can’t help but tell. 

“I--” Colin starts, trying to figure out a believable lie, but Tyson takes over. 

“Don’t see how that’s any of your business,” he finishes, and defiantly leans against Colin’s shoulder. “You made it very clear that it wasn’t.” 

“Tys--” Gabe reaches out a hand, then stops it. Glances at Colin. “Tyson. That’s not what I--” 

“If you say anything along the lines of it wasn’t you, it was me, I’m going to start screaming,” Tyson warns. “I know that you like scenes, but you won’t like this one. You know how loudly I can scream.” 

Colin bites back his smile. Gabe’s face goes through a number of contortions between hurt and smiling. Tyson hears it, then shrugs and doesn’t react. 

Gabe lands on a weak smile. “Noted,” he says. He rocks onto his heels, then back. “I--it was good to see you, Tys. You’re looking good.” 

He says it earnestly, honestly. Tyson goes red, glances away. “Yes, you’re looking good too, you always somehow manage to look better, we know.” He’s hanging on to Colin for dear life now, and Colin wraps an arm around his shoulders. Gabe’s gaze narrows in on it. “Um. But you know, I’ve traded up with blonde bombshells, so.” 

Gabe’s offended face would be pretty funny in another circumstance. Colin would even feel flattered, in another circumstance. 

As it is, though, Gabe draws himself up. “Right,” he says, stiffly. “I, um. I’ll let you get back to it, then. You and your boyfriend.” He makes a motion at jerking his head in Colin’s direction, then gives Tyson a very different kind of smile, then backs away. 

As soon as he’s out of sight, Tyson slumps over. “Fuck,” he mutters into his hands. “Fuck, he fucking--he just came back? After giving up--fuck,” he says again, and lifts up his head. He’s biting hard at his lip. “I--thanks, bud. You’re a lifesaver, I know it’s such a move, but I couldn’t--you saw him, I needed something to win, and like, going out with you would be a winner move, so I made a play.” 

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t any skin off of Colin’s back. “But--do you want to leave?” 

“I don’t want him to drive me away,” Tyson retorts. “I--this is my friends’ party too. I should get to stay. I shouldn’t--god, I shouldn’t care so much, it’s been two years, I shouldn’t...” he shakes his head. “I don’t want to still be in love with him,” he mutters, still plaintive, too honest in the way Tyson can be, in the way that always makes Colin want to hug him. 

So he does, because Tyson looks like he needs a hug. He acts like it too, leaning into Colin’s arms. From over Tyson’s shoulder, Colin can see Gabe eying them, his brows furrowed. 

Finally, Tyson wiggles like he needs to be let go, because he loves physical contact until he doesn’t, and Colin does. Tyson’s eyes are a little red, but he looks okay. “Thanks,” he says, too his hands, because there are other things Tyson can’t be honest about. 

Colin shrugs. “Whatever you need, bud.” 

“Dangerous,” Tyson replies, with a weak try at his usual flirtatious grin. It fades quickly. “I--I need to call Nate. I’ll just be...” he gestures at the door out to the patio. Colin nods, and hugs him again quickly before letting him go. Being good friends with Tyson means accepting that Nate will always be better friends with him, but it’s fine. Him going means Colin doesn’t feel entirely guilty chatting with other friends, though he keeps an eye on the door Tyson went out of, where he can still see him on the phone, and one on Gabe, to make sure he doesn’t go out after him. 

Half an hour later, Colin needs another drink, and figures he should probably make sure Tyson’s okay. Getting him more drunk is probably the wrong choice, but he still goes to the kitchen to mix him another drink. 

He’s gotten himself a beer, and is surveying the alcohol to decide what to make Tyson, when behind him comes a very snippy, “Tyson doesn’t like tequila.” 

“Hm?” Colin turns. Gabe is standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his slightly puffed-out chest. 

“Tyson doesn’t like tequila. He says he does but it gives him a headache. He’d rather have vodka.” 

Colin honestly doesn’t remember that, but he doesn’t have any reason to think Gabe is wrong, other than the way Gabe’s glaring. It’s rather a lot. “Okay,” Colin agrees, and reaches for the vodka. 

“He likes vodka cranberries,” Gabe informs him. He sounds smug, like knowing that when Colin doesn’t means he won. “Or vodka tonics in a pinch, but he’d rather the cranberries. Not a coke.” 

“Okay,” Colin says again. He mixes a vodka cranberry, Gabe eying him the whole time. 

“And why isn’t he here?” Gabe demands. “Did you just leave him alone? He doesn’t like being alone.” 

“I know that,” Colin chuckles. He thinks everyone knows that. 

Gabe clearly doesn’t take the chuckle well. “Then why aren’t you outside with him?” he demands again. 

“Because he’s on the phone with Nate,” Colin tells Gabe. He can’t imagine that friendship was different before. And Gabe’s lips do twitch. “I know better than to try to get in between that.” 

“Good.” Gabe’s still glaring. Colin waits. He doesn’t owe Gabe anything. And the longer Gabe’s in here, the longer he’s not outside making Tyson go pale.

It takes a few minutes, but finally, Gabe takes a step forward. They’re about the same height, which Gabe doesn’t seem pleased by; he’s got the air of someone who’s good at talking down to people. Colin keeps waiting. 

Gabe lets out a sharp, angry breath. “You better treat him well,” he spits at him. “Not just well. You better keep him--incandescently happy.”

Colin raises his eyebrows. “I thought Tyson made it clear that you didn’t get a say in that,” he points out. 

“I don’t care. I know I don’t get a say, because I was an idiot two years ago and gave up the best thing--” he cuts himself off, but Colin has the time to see his face now. To see the pain across it, pain he recognizes, from too many nights of Tyson staring into a glass, seeing someone else. “But I still--if you fuck this up, if you fuck him up, I’m going to--I know I missed my chance, and that’s--it is what it is, but I’ll still fuck you up if he’s not happy.” 

Colin’s tolerance for dramatics has gone up since befriending Tyson, but it will never be that high. And this is stupid. 

“I’m not his boyfriend,” he says. Gabe freezes. A bright, painful looking hope flickers into his eyes. 

“You aren’t?” he asks, quiet. 

“No.” Colin shakes his head. “Now go say that to Tyson.” 

“What? But--” They’re too old for the three years between them to feel long, but Gabe looks young, in that moment. “I cant. I messed up, and I thought maybe--but he’s moved on, and--” 

“Go say that to Tyson,” Colin repeats. He’s a practical sort of guy, he likes to think. Gabe clearly hasn’t gotten over Tyson. Tyson definitely never got over Gabe. Maybe Gabe messed up, but Tyson still needs to hear this. “You’ll never know until you try.” 

“But--” 

“Next time, he really will be dating someone,” Colin points out. “Do you want to hear that?” 

That hardens Gabe’s jaw. “No,” he decides, and stalks out, towards the patio. 

Colin considers not following, but he thinks he deserves to hear some of this. And if he made the wrong call, Tyson might need him as backup. 

Tyson’s still alone on the patio, though he’s off the phone, and is just looking out into the backyard. He turns when he hears the door open, though--and his face clearly doesn’t know what to do to see Gabe there. 

“What are you doing, Gabe?” he asks, and this time he sounds tired. 

“I wanted to talk.” Gabe takes a step out onto the patio. 

“I don’t think my boyfriend will like that,” Tyson retorts, glancing over Gabe’s shoulder at Colin. 

Colin can hear the smile in Gabe’s voice. “I know you’re not dating.” 

“You know, how? I mean,” Tyson corrects quickly. “We are, you’re wrong.” 

“He told me.” 

“Seriously?” Tyson’s attention is momentarily diverted. “You couldn’t even hold out an hour, Willy? Some kind of friend you are, I’m trading you in.” 

Colin knows Tyson’s empty threats, and shrugs. “It was a ridiculous plan anyway.” 

“Yeah, it’s me, what did you expect?” 

“Tyson.” Gabe’s voice is rough, and all of Tyson’s attention clearly disappears to look at Gabe, who’s halfway out on the patio now, a few feet from Tyson. “Tys, I--can we talk?” 

“Why? You said everything you needed to say,” Tyson informs him. HIs hands are wrapped around the alternate wrists now, clenching hard. “You said it two years ago, when you just--took that job without even thinking about me, without wanting to figure things out at all, and now you’re just back and so it clearly wasn’t the job it was just that I wasn’t enough and--”

“I was an idiot,” Gabe cuts Tyson off. He’s leaning in towards Tyson, like he’d be touching him if he could. “Two years ago I was an idiot and I thought that I should go back to Sweden because it was what I’d always planned to do and I couldn’t let a boy get in the way of that, and I shouldn’t have. I should have been flexible, but you know me.” He tries for a smile. “I’m not good at flexible. And by the time I realized why nothing in Sweden seemed as bright...you had blocked my number.“ 

Tyson swallows. “That’s what you do, when someone dumps you and you don’t want to risk pathetically drunk dialing them.” 

“Well it’s very inconvenient when someone wants to pathetically drunk dial you,” Gabe says, and Tyson shudders. Colin takes a drink. He should maybe go inside, but he’s still not 100% convinced this is ending well. 

“So, what,” Tyson asks, clearing his throat. He can’t quite look at Gabe. “You thought you’d come back and find me and we’d just--pick up where we left off, like you hadn’t dumped me?” 

“I--not that simple, but I hoped.” Gabe takes a step forward. “Or we could find a way to move forward.” 

Tyson’s breath catches, and he looks down at his hands. Colin is considering breaking this up when, “You broke my heart, Gabe,” Tyson says, quiet and sincere and heartbreaking in itself. 

Gabe’s face looks like someone stabbed him. “I broke mine too, if that helps.” 

Tyson smiles, real but like it hurts. “It sort of does, honestly.” He breathes in, rough. “But I just--I don’t know what to do with this.” 

“Give me a chance?” Gabe takes another careful step forward. His voice is soft, almost gentle. “I know I don’t deserve it, but--I want to try to.” 

Tyson is just staring, his eyes huge, his whole body tight. Everything’s right there on his face, like it always is, how he’s still so obviously in love with Gabe, all his self-preservation instincts. How much he wants and doesn’t trust, either Gabe or himself. 

His gaze flicks over Gabe’s shoulder, to Colin--and it’s panicked and a question, a plea. Colin--he’s not sure he trust Gabe, but he trusts that Tyson’s unhappy now and he’d be happier with Gabe. He trusts the ache in Gabe’s voice when he called Tyson the best thing that happened to him.  

And really, he trusts Tyson, even when Tyson doesn’t. 

He shrugs. Tyson makes a quick face, then looks back at Gabe, who’s still just waiting, and Colin can see when he starts to smile, his big unapologetic smile, and he sees Gabe light up. “Well, my boyfriend said it’s okay,” Tyson says, and Gabe spares a laugh before he jerks forward, catches himself. 

“Tys, can I--” 

“We’re taking it slow,” Tyson warns, but then, “But first, if you aren’t kissing me in the next ten seconds I’m going to--” he doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before Gabe’s kissing him, all desperate, aching need that has Tyson clinging back. 

Of course Tyson would be this dramatic, Colin thinks, sparing them a smile before he goes back inside. Maybe this will decrease the average level of drama, if--

“Where are you going?” Colin looks over ins surprise. Tyson’s appeared next to him, looking messy and shamelessly kissed. Gabe, next to him, his hand firmly around Tyson’s waist, doesn’t look any better. 

“I thought you would be busy,” Colin points out, giving Tyson’s hair a pointed look. “I was going to--” 

“Nah, we’ve got a party to enjoy, right Gabe?” Tyson asks, adding the last bit pointedly. In a voice that is definitely not a whisper, he adds, “Taking it slow means he has to wait. So. Party.” 

“I’m not the one who enjoys waiting,” Gabe observes, a little biting, which makes Tyson snicker, and flush.

“Well, learn to. We’re going to enjoy this party with Willy and you are going to play nice, and I am going to get drunk and probably make out with you a little, and then you are going to drive me home and be a gentleman and drop me off.” 

“Oh I am?” Gabe asks, grinning. He’s looking at Tyson fondly enough that it makes Colin a little uncomfortable, honestly. 

“You are,” Tyson confirms. “I’m going to hold this over you forever.” 

Gabe’s face lights up again, a sort of undisguised happiness that is as sweet as it is overwhelming to even catch the edges of it. Colin’s a little surprised that Tyson’s this into someone as full on as Gabe, but he guesses that maybe they’re well matched in that. “I can’t wait,” Gabe says, and Tyson makes a strangled noise. 

“Stop,” he mutters, then turns to Colin. “Okay. So I need a drink--Gabe, that’s you--and then we need to find EJ because I have a lot of shit to give him about his Instagram.” 

It’s nice to see Tyson like this, so brightly happy. “Sounds good,” Colin says, and means it. 

[sevenfists]

drawerfic #1: Remiges coda

I’m going to post some of my drawerfic in an attempt to get over my perfectionism -- stuff that I’m not happy with for whatever reason and have been grumpily hoarding. This one is a prompt ficlet I wrote last fall for the prompts “Remiges coda” and “de-aging.” 1.5k, fluff (both literal and figurative).

Geno was late for a lot of things, but he wasn’t ever late for practice. He took it seriously: he was there to work. But he wasn’t in the lounge beforehand, and he wasn’t in the locker room, and Sid was pretty worried by the time Gonch poked his head in and beckoned Sid with a sharp jerk of his chin.

They went out into the hallway. “Where is Zhenya?” Gonch asked in an undertone.

“I don’t know,” Sid said tightly. “I saw him this morning. He went back to his place to change, and then he was gonna come right here. He seemed fine.”

“Okay,” Gonch said. “I’ll go to his house. Let me speak with Mike.” He squeezed Sid’s shoulder. “I’ll text you. Try not to worry.”

Of course Sid was incredibly fucking worried all through practice. He kept his phone on the bench and checked it at intervals, ignoring the looks he got from Sully. Finally there was a message from Gonch: I have him. He’s unhurt. Come here after practice.

That—wasn’t incredibly reassuring, but there was nothing Sid could do about it until practice was over. He did the bare minimum of press, took the world’s fastest shower, and broke the speed limit all the way to Geno’s house.

He let himself in through the front door. There were voices in the kitchen: Gonch, and a smaller, higher voice that sounded like a child.

Where had Gonch found a kid?

He went into the kitchen. Gonch was seated at the table with a familiar beleaguered expression on his face. Seated beside him was a little kid, maybe six or seven, with a sandwich on a plate in front of him. The kid wasn’t wearing a shirt, and two small, fuzzy, pale gray wings sprouted from between his shoulder blades.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sid said.

Gonch and the kid both looked over. Fuck, that was definitely Geno. Sid had seen enough pictures of him as a kid to recognize him, even if the wings weren’t a dead giveaway.

“Surprise,” Gonch said dryly.

Sid edged into the room. Geno watched him warily, holding half of the sandwich in one hand.

“Who’s that?” Geno said to Gonch in Russian.

“It’s your friend Sid,” Gonch said. “Remember? Like your mother said.”

“Okay,” Geno said. He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed slowly as Sid dragged out one of the chairs and took a seat at the table.

“How does he know who you are?” Sid asked Gonch.

“He doesn’t,” Gonch said. “I called his mother.”

“Is this, like—a thing?” Sid asked. “Is this a thing he does?” Life with Geno was always pretty weird, but this was an entirely new level of weird that Sid wasn’t really sure how to process.

Gonch shrugged. “She said it happened once before, when he was a teenager. He went back to normal after a few hours.”

“What are you saying?” Geno asked plaintively.

Gonch said something to him that was too fast for Sid to catch, and then added to Sid, “Obviously he speaks no English.”

“Obviously,” Sid said. Geno was staring at him openly, his fingers squishing down into the bread. Sid wondered what Natalia had told him. “Maybe he should, uh. Do you want to take him home with you?”

Gonch laughed. “Not a chance. He’s your problem now. You can text me if you have trouble. I told him to speak to you like you’re very stupid. You’ll do fine.”

“Thanks a lot,” Sid said.

Gonch laughed again and patted Sid on the shoulder as he rose to his feet. “Zhenya, I’m going home now.” He said some stuff Sid didn’t totally follow, about Geno’s mother and something about Sid’s house, and then in English he said, “He cried a lot before you got here. He was pretty scared. His mother calmed him down, but try to keep him distracted.”

Sid felt his chest squeeze tight. Well, of course Geno was scared, if he didn’t remember anything, and didn’t even know Gonch. “I’ll do my best,” Sid said, and then it was just the two of them, him and a small, tow-headed Geno.

Geno took another bite of his sandwich. He was still staring at Sid. He was cute, with his little round face and his fluffy, downy wings. Sid was pretty good with kids, but he was being thrown for a loop by this child-sized version of his boyfriend. What was he supposed to do with Geno? How long would it take before he changed back?

“Uh, do you like drink?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” Geno said, very slowly and simply, clearly taking Gonch’s instructions to heart. “I would like milk.”

Milk. Okay. Sid got up and went to rummage around in the fridge. Geno was a little bit lactose intolerant and didn’t usually keep milk in the house. There was orange juice, though. “Juice is okay?” he asked Geno, and Geno shrugged and said, “Yeah, I’ll drink juice.”

Sid grabbed the baby carrots, too, on a whim, and brought them over to the table along with a glass of juice. He set the bag down beside Geno’s plate.

“Those are my favorite,” Geno said.

“I know,” Sid said.

Geno fished a carrot from the bag and bit it in half. He crunched away for a few moments, and then he said, “My mom said you live with me.”

“Live—together?” Sid wondered if he had misunderstood. His Russian wasn’t the greatest.

“Yeah,” Geno said. “She said you love me, and you’ll take care of me.”

Sid felt his face heating up. Of course Geno’s parents knew about them, but—knowing was one thing, and it was another thing to tell your frightened, inexplicably de-aged son that he would be cared for by his male teammate.

He cleared his throat. “I—yes. I take care.”

“Okay,” Geno said, apparently finding nothing weird about that. He ate the rest of the carrot.

When Geno was finished with his lunch, they went into the den and Sid turned on the TV. He recorded all of the team’s home games, and he pulled one up now and said, “Watch you play hockey, okay?”

“That’s me?” Geno said dubiously, when Sid pointed him out on the screen.

“Yes,” Sid said. He dug a blanket out of the storage ottoman and shook it out, and offered it to Geno. Grown-up Geno never wore a shirt at home, and instead spent most of his time with a blanket draped over him.

Geno accepted the blanket and snuggled underneath it, tucked into one corner of the couch. He watched the game in silence for a few minutes, staring intently at the screen. Then he said, “I’m tall.”

Sid laughed. “Yes, very tall.”

“Where are you?” Geno asked, leaning forward on the couch.

“Eighty-seven,” Sid said, “but. Not on ice now.”

“Oh,” Geno said. His wings unfolded. “Do I still have my wings?”

“Yes,” Sid said gently. “I think, maybe always.”

Geno scowled at the TV. “I don’t like them.”

Sid’s heart split open. Geno seemed to have made peace with his wings over the years, but Sid knew firsthand that it had been a long and painful process. “Well, I like. If you—” He sighed. This was too complicated to say in Russian. “No wings, then you’re not you.”

Geno scowled harder. “Maybe I’d be better.”

“No,” Sid said. “Good now. I like wings.”

“Well,” Geno said, and snuggled deeper beneath the blanket. His wings lifted and spread.

They finished watching that game and started another. A few minutes in, Geno sat up and said, “I feel funny,” and shoved the blanket away. He frowned, his eyebrows drawing together, and then he kind of—twisted, and stretched, his body distorting nauseatingly. Sid glanced away, wincing, and when he glanced back, his Geno was there: grown up, himself.

“Oh thank God,” Sid said, and lunged for him.

He bowled Geno over on the couch. Geno landed on his back, laughing, and wrapped his arms around Sid’s shoulders. “You miss me?”

“I can’t deal with this shit,” Sid said. He buried his face in Geno’s neck. “This had better be a one-time thing.”

“Only happen twice,” Geno said. “That’s not so much.”

“Fuck,” Sid said. He sat up and look down at Geno. “You remember what happened?”

“Yes, very strange,” Geno said. “Like I’m kid again. But you nice to me.”

“Your mom, uh,” Sid said.

Geno rolled his eyes. “Of course she know you take best care of me. She tells me long time ago, she doesn’t worry now because you here and you do best for me, always.”

“Oh,” Sid said.

“Stupid,” Geno said fondly. “Come here, keep me warm,” and Sid lay down on top of him, and they finished watching the game.

.

For the record, this is what baby flamingos look like.

[eggoreviews]

Smash Bros. Ultimate  FINAL ROSTER PREDICTIONS (Redux)

I already did this, but loadsss of stuff changed since then. As release day draws closer, I thought I’d sift through my predictions for characters. Have a read if u want, then if you disagree lemme know bc my hype hasn’t died down since it was announced i need help (and hey if u look at my old prediction post, I already predicted Simon, K. Rool and Dark Samus so I can’t be the worst, right?)

Okay so my predictions have changed A LOT since I started this blog a few months ago and I think I’ve narrowed it down a lil now. So to put it simply, I think we’re definitely getting one more Smash based direct in October/November. Considering the fact that they’ve got the Mystery Mode™, online play and a whole load of other modes/assists/a few characters we aren’t aware of yet, I reckon they’ll have plenty to talk about in it. My other prediction is that we’re getting 2 newcomers and 1 more echo MINIMUM. Could get maybe a couple more echoes or 1 or 2 standalone character reveals as a stretch but I think we can at least expect that much.

Characters (Base Roster)

Geno (Super Mario RPG)

This wooden eggo has been the only character that’s been a constant in my predictions since the get go, despite the fact that I know basically nothing about him. But he’s the character I’m most confident about getting in.

This newcomer cycle has had a big ol focus on fan appeal this time, most likely stemming from the ballot. This was kind of clear from the Ridley reveal, but the addition of King K. Rool kind of made this a lot more likely. And I would go as far as to say that Geno is probably the most highly requested Smash character since ever.

Sakurai has stated multiple times that he wanted Geno in Brawl and then in Smash 4, but the best he could get was a mii costume. But yeah, not a lot of characters can say that they not only have long standing fan demand, but also are wanted by Sakurai himself.

Considering that Square Enix were previously unwilling to play ball with Nintendo on Geno, but then they went and put arguably their most lucrative character in Cloud as DLC for Smash 4, I don’t think Square’s gonna be too bothered about handing over this character, especially since it’s a character they’re never going to do anything with (Don’t know about you but I’m not seeing a Mario RPG sequel in the pipeline)

And as much as I hate to allude to leakers in my predictions, you can’t deny the fact that Vergeben has not gotten a single thing wrong regarding Smash so far. And he has mentioned a new Square rep and I honestly don’t know who else that could be. Chrono? Lara Croft? But then there’s no way either of those beat Geno in the ballot.

Incineroar (Pokemon)

We’ve yet to receive a Pokemon in this game and really that’s reason enough in itself. Considering that we’ve had at least one new Pokemon rep in every game, I v much doubt they’ll break that tradition now

The two Big Guesses that everyone has been throwing out since day 1 have been Incineroar and Decidueye, both from Gen 7, as we know from Smash 4′s Greninja inclusion that Pokemon is the only franchise with the power to get a rep in before their game releases. And because of this, Pokemon reps are the only ones that are exceptions of my usual rule to discount any characters that released after the time Sakurai has stated he locked in the roster for this game in 2015/16 (looking at Spring Man and Rex & Pyra here, but I’m almost certain they will be DLC)

Yet again, calling on Vergeben here. He has explicitly said Incineroar is in over Decidueye. But hey, he’s not god so he could be wrong eventually. I’m still fairly convinced of Incineroar’s inclusion tho (as much as I’d prefer Decidueye)

Ken as a Ryu echo (Street Fighter)

Ken is the only echo I’m convinced is getting in. A lot of this is honestly, again, down to Vergeben’s leaks and a screenshot of Ken in a Smash Ultimate stage that has yet to be debunked. I don’t have a lot to say on this character purely because I don’t think there are many more people that need convincing.

Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic series)

Shadow’s assist is missing and has been replaced out of nowhere with Knuckles, as you probably know. This is a huge notch in his favour, especially if you consider that Isabelle’s assist was replaced with Kapp’n in the August direct and now ta dah here she is. Honestly, with Shadow I think it’s only a matter of time, whether they release him as an echo alongside Ken in the final direct in the same way they did with Dark Samus and Chrom or they save him for DLC as a unique fighter (if Isabelle can be unique, Shadow definitely can).

These four are my picks for the most likely characters left to be revealed, but hey there’s some Hot Picks™  that I left out that u may be curious about so here’s why they’re not here. I guess you could call these my back ups, but they all have too much doubt around them for me to place them in my main predictions (a lot of this is pure speculation so I’m probably wrong but what the hell):

Isaac (Golden Sun) - Now don’t get me wrong, I know Isaac has his fans and he genuinely has a good shot of getting in to Ultimate, especially if you consider that the only new first party franchise we’ve had so far is Splatoon. But what’s holding him back in my mind is that the likes of Ridley and K. Rool are in, villains from huge franchises that have had endless support since forever. And while Isaac has some sense of seniority, I don’t think his place on the ballot matched that of those particular characters. And if the likes of Ashley and Shovel Knight have been assist’d, I can’t see Isaac placing any higher than them if you think about how niche Golden Sun is (but u know, look how ‘niche’ Mario RPG is and Geno’s way up on my list so don’t listen to me). The other thing is that, in the E3 presentation, it was revealed that there are ‘over 50′ assist trophies in this game. We’re currently aware of 40, a fair majority of which have returned from previous games. That doesn’t look good for characters like Isaac if we’re looking at another 12-15 assists to pop up in the next direct. So all I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if that happens. But I definitely think he’ll pop up in some form, whether that be assist or playable.

Skull Kid (Zelda series) - This is one I was uncertain about for a long while, as the fact that his assist is missing and replaced with the Moon from Majora’s Mask is a notch in his favour but I think I’ve settled on the idea that they may be saving Skull Kid for something else: Boss character. We’re all pretty much thinking that mysterious mode is probably gonna be a story mode by now and Ultimate is already filling its boots with iconic characters fitting in as bosses with the likes of Dracula and Rathalos being announced. And as much as I want Skull Kid in, I would say that he is the most iconic Zelda villain besides Ganondorf, which places him in a weird position where he would be v much suited to a character slot but would also make for a viable boss addition. So yeah, could go either way but for me, there’s too much doubt around him to count him as a dead cert for the roster.

Bandana Waddle Dee (Kirby series) - Another very very likely candidate for the roster, this cute lil squishball would complete the Kirby set™ and he’s v popular in Japan. But he’s in the same position as Isaac where I’m not sure he got as much attention as peeps like Ridley and K. Rool. But hey, with Kirby and this character being Sakurai’s babies, this could sway him otherwise (I rlly hope so, can u tell I want him in)

Chorus Kids (Rhythm Heaven) - As my final back up/unsure pick, the Chorus Kids take their spot alongside Isaac in the ‘first party franchises that really need Smash attention’ category. The other things that make me pick the Chorus Kids over others is the fact that people doin’ some digging a while back revealed that the Chorus Kids were a scrapped character from Smash 4 so it isn’t a stretch to say that Sakurai could’ve gone back to that idea and make it work. Plus, the Chorus Kids would tick another box we’ve yet to account for; this game’s ‘weird’ rep. Much like Pokemon, it’s pretty much tradition at this point for each Smash game to contain a newcomer or two from odd franchises that not many would expect (Ice Climbers and Game & Watch in Melee, R.O.B. in Brawl, Wii Fit Trainer and Duck Hunt in Smash 4) and this is yet another tradition I don’t see them abandoning for Ultimate. As well as ticking this box, Chorus Kids are also a v popular pick so I have them in mind as the most likely pick if Sakurai is keeping the usual ‘weird’ rep tradition alive. But really what’s keeping Chorus Kids out of my main predictions is the fact that we have no idea if we’ll even get a rep in that vein this time, especially since competition for roster slots is so intense this time around.

OKAY so that’s all my dudes. If u happened to read my last post, you will notice that my number 1 fave pick ever Rayman is now gone from my predictions. But that’s bc I think he’ll be DLC now. So there you go. Tune in at some point when I’ll probably do a DLC posty boi. Have a good day.

[breegullbeakreviews]

My hopes and dreams may have been dashed by the Jim Carrey who stole Christmas and a Tony the Tiger’s luchador cousin, but we still have DLC to look forward to. Here are my out there and not so out there ideas on who should join the roster in the Smash Pass.

Rules: No echos. The announcement claimed these types of new fighters won’t be a part of the pass. This doesn’t mean a new fighter may not come bundled with an echo of themselves, but these types of fighters won’t be a part of this list.

Also no Assist trophies. As much as I want Spring man and Ribbon girl to punch in I don’t see them replacing or removing an existing assist trophy to add a character in.

Fighter: Banjo & Kazooie

I am still holding onto the dream. The duo of bear and bird are tied to the Nintendo 64 despite no longer being owned by the big N. Phil Spencer is down to get Banjo in the game so the only real question is if Sakurai thinks they are worth adding. As far as Nintendo wanting them, it would only be if some deal was worked out for the N64 classic. I’d assume both announcements would be near one another.

I’ve gone over their endless potential for moves before and that hasn’t changed. Grant Kirkhope killed it on the soundtrack for these games so there are plenty of tracks to choose from. The only real question is what the stage will be. Smash is usually inspired by stages more often than it copies a direct area, so in that regard I think Spiral Mountain would probably make the most sense. I think the Rusty Bucket has a lot of potential as well, but if the idea is to go for something iconic I think you have to go Spiral Mountain.

Fighter: Doom Slayer

Not giving up on this one either. Odds probably aren’t great though. Doom is a very western franchise and not one super linked to Nintendo, and let’s not even get into the violence and religious aspects. The one thing it has going for it is that it is a very important franchise to the history of gaming and Bethesda seems to be on good terms with Nintendo. Doom Eternal is coming to the Nintendo Switch so it could be a cool marketing move to drop this fighter in to build up hype.

Just because he wouldn’t be a Snake echo anymore doesn’t mean he doesn’t have potential. The Doom Marine has plenty of weapons to pull from in his past games and it wouldn’t be too hard to pull some from the upcoming Doom Eternal. I also don’t think it’d be much of a stretch to give the Doom Marine an echo fighter in the form of B.J. Blazkowicz. He is equally important to the history of first person shooters. Doom Marine would certainly get the stage though as Nazi Germany isn’t something I see getting shown off in Smash. A space station on Mars with maybe a transition to hell seems perfect for a stage.

Fighter: Lara Croft

Odds are if we get another Square Enix representative it would be Geno, but Lara Croft is another major gaming icon, just again more western focused. She has appeared on Nintendo consoles so the only issue is coming up with her moves, and I don’t have many ideas for this. Her combat style is very weapons heavy, but she doesn’t have much that would work for close range at least from my experience with the franchise. Like Doom Slayer, I only see Nintendo green lighting this if we are getting some Tomb Raider title on the platform before February 2020.

Stage wise Lara Croft has tons of crazy set pieces to draw from. I assume the stage would be a tomb of some kind with plenty of hazards and maybe even a guest appearance by the iconic T-rex. Lara has plenty of costumes to pull from. If one major thing keeps Lara out it’ll be her moves.

Fighter: Geno

People want Geno. I am not one of those people. I have never played Super Mario RPG, and unless it comes to Nintendo Switch I probably never will. I really have nothing else to say except that I think he is rather likely to be in the game as DLC. Geno could be tied into a remaster or rerelease of the game on Switch, but it is possible Nintendo will just bring him in because fans want him.

Fighter: Shantae

Being a spirt does not preclude one from being a fighter. Despite having yet to review it, I was a backer of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero despite having zero history with the franchise. Shantae has history with Nintendo. Debuting on the Gameboy Color Shantae is a mix of traditional platforming and some metroidvania mechanics. Now I’m sure plenty of people would be pissed if she got in over Shovel Knight, but I think she has a lot more to offer.

For one thing we don’t have another fighter who uses their hair. That alone will give her some interesting standard attacks. She also has a plethora of magic and transformations that could make for an interesting set of special and smash attacks. As far as a stage goes I think the central town would be the best representation of the series as a whole. Maybe have part of the stage feature a dock so that Risky Boots can dock.

The music in the latest game is fantastic. You could bring everything over unchanged and it’d fit in. Every track has a beat that makes you want to get up and dance while still getting across the mood. Overall I don’t think Shantae’s chances are great. Mostly because she is an indie character and she’d be pretty obscure for Nintendo to pick for one of five DLC fighters. Let’s just say I’m not holding my breath on this one.

Fighter: Dixie (& Kiddy?) Kong

Another much more likely fighter with a ponytail. I have not played a Donkey Kong game featuring Dixie. I also don’t like the Donkey Kong Country games, though I do like DK64. That all being said I understand people want Dixie in. She is one of two playable characters in DKC2 which is regarded as the best of the trilogy.

Now why did I say Dixie and Kiddy? Well I think there is potential to make Dixie unique by having her nephew help out in some way. One thing that neither DK nor Diddy get across is the weird health system of the old games. If a Kong is hit you switch to the other one who was running alongside. I think using that relationship between the two could make Dixie really stand out. That being said I could also see her coming in on her own. Potential have it be a Zelda/Sheik style swap.

Now I also think there is echo potential with Tiny and Chunky, though I think it’d be more likely to have s singular Dixie have Tiny as an echo than getting all four. Dixie’s single ponytail versus Tiny’s two could change the range and speed. People talk about Tiny as Dixie’s replacement so I don’t think it’s a stretch. I have no idea what sort of announcement this could tie into. Maybe another DKC game or a DK64 remaster.

Fighter: Gen 3, 5, or 8 Pokémon

I expect this would be a gen 8 Pokémon over a gen 3 or 5 one if only because outside gen 1 additions new fighters have been from the latest generation. Melee added Mewtwo and Pichu. Brawl added Pokémon trainer and Lucario. 4 added Greninja and Ultimate is adding Incenaroar. Who knows what Pokémon it’ll be, but I’m for a grass type.

If we do roll back to gen 3 I’d hope for Sceptile or Grovyle. We need a fully evolved Grass starter in the battle. As far as gen 5 goes Emolga would be a third electric type but it’d be interesting to have in there with its flight and thunder. Outside that maybe Krookodile. I’d also not be opposed to a new Pokémon Trainer as long as the Fire starter isn’t the third stage. Ideally it’d be Tepig, Dewott, Serpirior or any combination if the Hoenn starters without Blaziken.

If the stage is gen 8 I don’t know where it’d be obviously. As for gen 3 the Sky Pillar could work, but I would not be opposed to a plethora of locals. Fortree city, and Mt. Chimney come to mind. I think Shoal cave could be interesting using the games internal clock to change the stage with the tide. Gen 5 I’m not picky. Mostly because I hated gen 5 and forget almost everything about it.

Fighter: Fire Emblem: Three Houses character

I actively do not want this, but knowing Sakurai it’s possible that we will see another anime sword boy or girl. With Nintendo selecting odds are lowered, but it is still a possibility.

Fighter: Tetris Block

Yes I watch GameXplain. I think this might be a bit far outside the box for Nintendo to pick, but if a Gameboy Classic is in the works this is some easy cross promotion with the system’s killer app. Music is obvious. Having the stage be a game of Tetris seems to be obvious. If the Tetris block is a fighter the stage would need a different art style than the character. Don’t ask me how it’d fight. Only Sakurai truly knows.

Fighter: Steve & Alex (Minecraft)

Most people know Steve’s name, but less know Alex. This is again Microsoft owned, and outside getting representation from the second bestselling game of all time, I don’t know what would compel Nintendo to select them as fighters. Stage wise the possibilities are endless. In a world of blocks and biomes it is hard to pick just one. I could see a stage divided into multiple areas like Delfino Plaza. I could also see a destructible stage that rebuilds like Luigi’s Mansion, though maybe not always the same way.

Move wise the two have a lot of tools, potions, and blocks to pull from. If a Creeper doesn’t show up here or as a stage hazard, than it needs to be an assist trophy. Music may be an issue. The music doesn’t seem like it’d transition well to battle music.

Fighter: Tails

I have never owned a Sonic game. I am not a Sonic fan. That being said with Shadow out of the picture I think Tails could be a great addition. From what I know of the character he seems to be more about verticality than speed. He also has gadgets that could make up his final smash.

As for a new stage maybe pull something from Mania or Forces. I assume most of the music is already going to be in the game so that might be an issue.