#I used to have the same robodog

[thisischeri]

cheri.png

[marshmallowprotection]

I felt kinda sad after seeing no V in the new CG. But then I saw the robodog & Vandy with the mint sock and felt like I got stabbed in the heart.

Maybe... maybe it's just Seven trying to catch Santa with the dog? But the dog catches Vandy instead?

At least I can try to imagine V being with Jumin and Zen somewhere drinking vine since the other two aren't there also.

Being a V fan sucks.

Last year's New Year photo had V in it with the rest of the RFA. So, I think it's safe to assume V is out there with Jumin and Zen instead of assuming that V isn't there at all. After all, these holiday photos aren't based on reality. They're more like wishful thinking. Honestly, the dog was probably just a callback to the event Saeyoung described before where the dog chased down Vanderwood. Since they're willing to add in Vanderwood, they have to use materials that exist in the game.

We know that they're just poking fun at Vanderwood and Saeyoung's dynamic. I really don't think it's an honest-to-God dig at V. I just think he got left out the same way Zen and Jumin did. I'm manifesting some happier V content for y'all.

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU [Book 4]

Catch up here! 1 2 3

Chapter 8: That’s Not How You Eat a Banana

Hanaka’s freak out caused a whole lot of hassle for her and Tensei. The staff had to go all hands-on deck to keep things peaceful to appease the mother of the twins (aka the school’s biggest donor and contributor). It’s not looking too good for the twins.

-Lunchtime, at school-

“Hey, you girls go ahead” said Hanaka to her friends “I’m just gonna-”

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?” asked Petti “You always want to have lunch.”

“Yeah! I even brought those strawberry Koalas Nya!” Kyanka presented the colorful box of snacks in her paws “Your favorite!”

Hanaka eyed the snacks “Thanks but I’m just not feeling myself today.”

Twinkle gasped “What did that school counselor tell you?!” she furrowed her brow “Because if he said something bad, I’m going to-”

“Guys it’s not what the school counselor said” Hanaka waved her arms to dismiss any escalation of anger “I’ve just doing too much talking to people this week. I need some quiet time with no talking.”

The girls looked at each other with worry, Hanaka was usually the high energy one and seeing her so worn down like this was concerning.

“Okay, you go have your alone time” assured Petti “We’ll see you later.”

The other two nodded, making Hanaka feel a little better.

“Thanks guys” sighed Hanaka in relief “see you later.”

The girls waited for Hanaka to turn the corner that led to the stairs for them to scurry off to the roof top. They sorta had the same idea to spy from afar to make sure their friend was okay. The girls have been worried about Hanaka since the freak out a few days ago and wished they could do more to help. 

“Nya! Good thing I got my multi-use googles today!” Kyanka said as they pulled out her support tool out of her bag “Could use the practice before the license exam.”

“Girl isn’t that after the training camp?” Twinkle asked as she tried to scope out Hanaka in the courtyard.

“Wait, didn’t sensei say that was pushed for after the licensing?” Petti was trying to recall “No wait, that doesn’t make sense.”

The girls were trying to remember meanwhile Hanaka strolled near the mindfulness garden. She really hasn’t had the chance to see what it was all about other than that her mom got this built when she made her first big donation many years before she had kids. 

“Mindfulness Garden, built to give students a place to reflect and heal mentally. Bulit in honor of Intelligence alumni Agent 19, CEO of Robodog Inc and Inner Circle agent of the Emperor’s Coup.” Hanaka read the plaque at the entrance of the garden “Huh, I forget that mom is an agent. What a girlboss!”

She makes her way into the garden and sits under the willow tree that’s tucked in a more secluded part of the garden. Bringing her knees up to her chest, lunch bag set next to them, they give a large inhale and exhale into a heaving sob. God, they were so mentally exhausted! They didn’t want to talk about their feelings or performance in school to teachers or counselors anymore! And they don’t want to burden their friends with their feelings. With things at home being limited to basically talking to their dad that doesn’t know the meaning of being so mentally tired, Hanaka feels so alone. She could wait until their mom is done with her company stuff, but she wants her now, not a week from now! Her boiling hot tears flow out of her tired, little eyes. Tears so hot that they sizzle upon contact. 

“What do you see?” asked Petti to Kyanka, trying to toggle the settings

“Nya hold on! I’m trying to find the right setting, but the buttons are too small!”

“Just use your nail Kya” suggested Twinkle.

Kyanka groaned “My daddy made me file them down because I was snagging on everything in the house” she flexed her paw to show the other two “I can’t do shit with just my beans!”

“Yeesh! Here I’ll click through for you” Petti grunted “Tell me when.”

“Okay!.....NYAH!” Kyanka signaled “Where did you lose her Twinkle?”

Twinkle pointed toward the garden “Over there, she went under those trees and I’m not sure where she went after.”

“How are you going to see through the trees?” asked Petti

“These googles come with a heat seeking setting” Kyanka looked toward the area “And since Hanaka radiates high heat, she’ll show up as bright white on my thing.”

“Wow look at you kitty girl! Having the braincell today!” praised Twinkle 

“FOUND HER! Wait, nya?”

“What is it?” asked Petti and Twinkle

“Well I found her but theres another thing I’m picking up, nya” Kyanka was trying to explain “Another, person? Thing? Person shaped thing?”

“What’s got you confused?” Petti was trying to piece what Kyanka was seeing.

Kyanka pursed her lips in concentration “Like, why is this thing pitch black? Like it’s made out of the coldest ice ever. And it’s...moving around? So it’s not an ice sculpture, nya.”

Twinkle gasped “Hanaka’s direct opposite?! What are the chances!”

Meanwhile, Hanaka wasn’t aware that she wasn’t alone until she hears a very soft but close by “Damn!”

That startled her out of her thoughts, looking around to see who was there. But she didn’t see anyone next to her, maybe somebody was behind the tree? She crawled to peer behind the trunk of the tree, at first there was nobody there but in a blink of an eye, suddenly appeared a male uniform with a presumably invisible person in it. Hanaka flinched in fear but didn’t want to look away out of curiosity, she’s never met an invisible person before! Even though she couldn’t see their face, she felt their eyes on them.

“I- um, I-I-I” the invisible person stammered, like they just got caught.

Hanaka wasn’t sure why they were acting like that but then noticed the spilt soy sauce on the knee of their pants.

“Ah! Here, I have a detergent stick” Hanaka reached into her bag to pull out a pen detergent stick “I eat really messy too, don’t worry.”

The person was hesitant to reach for the pen she offered but slowly leaned over to grab it “Th-thank you” they said in the same soft voice.

Hanaka looked on as they removed their stain “Oh uhhh, I’m-”

“You’re Hanaka R. Iida, Hero course student in 1A” the person finished her sentence “I know who you are.”

“Whoa, how do you know my name and class?”

“I um, I studied you closely- NOT IN A PERVY WAY!” they clarified in a panic “I mean, I’m a business student here. I’m Tenten Chuubei, class 1A. The business course has us predict trends on things like top students or who’s more likely to be a top hero or sidekick.”

“Oh, cool! I didn’t know the business course did that” Hanaka was even more intrigued now “Say, I’ve never met anyone with your quirk! How does it work?”

“Huh? You’re curious about me?”

Hanaka nodded eagerly.

“Well, I have three quirks, according to the registry here” the person explained “I have invisibility, clairvoyance and sheer cold.”

Hanaka gasped “Cold?! I’m a fire user!”

“I was kind of hoping we’d never cross paths for you to see me like this” Tenten sighed as they recapped the pen “Don’t think you can-”

“Can I shake your hand with my hand at max heat?”

“Huh?” Tenten was confused as hell

“I’ve never experienced the cold before, and it doesn’t snow where I’ve lived my entire life” Hanaka stuck her hand out “I’d love to see how it feels.”

Tenten looked Hanaka’s hand and gulped hard “Now that I think about it, I’ve never felt warmth” he reached out his hand slowly “I’m curious too.”

Even though Hanaka can’t see his hand, she certainly felt it when his fingertips touched her palm. Their hands fell into the handshake position, but they didn’t do the shaking part because they were too focused on the new sensation. They didn’t know how long they were holding hands or how the other was feeling, all that Hanaka could do is give a big dumb grin and wide eyes. 

“Why the hell are they just holding hands?” Petti squawked “I just know she convinced them to hold hands, Hanaka always wants to touch things with they’re quirk related.”

“Hm? I didn’t take Hanaka for the curious type” commented Twinkle as they munched on the abandoned Koala snacks “How do you know?”

“Nya, she asked me what I was hiding my mittens when I was the new kid in preschool” Kyanka clapped her paws “She said my paws were cool and would poke my beans. And we were friends since!”

Petti groaned “When we were babies, Hanaka would collect my feathers when I was preening or molted” she lifted the back of her feathers on the base of her neck “She burned me on the neck when we were toddlers when she tried to put my feathers back on when I molted. I like to say she branded me as her friend at that point.”

“Nya, I have mine too on my wrist!”

Twinkle gasped excitedly “Wow! When will I get my friendship branding?!”

The two branded friends looked at each other, then at their unbranded friend.

“You don’t wanna, those burns were painful as hell!”

“Humph! I just want a friendship thing!” whined Twinkle, crossing their arms “Bracelets are so cliche! I want to get branded!”

Back to Hanaka, only 5 minutes has passed in the hand holding position, but the boy was starting to feel a bit weirded out.

“Alright, erm” he spoke as he loosened his grip.

“Hm? OH!” Hanaka quickly let go at his hint “That was nice! So that’s how being cold feels like.”

The boy was looking at his hand “Yea, nice...Like I was going to, melt? Turn into water?”

“Do you have lunch here every day?” blurted Hanaka “Can I join you again?”

“Erm, I come here to hide” said the boy meekly, making himself invisible again “I gotta go.”

“WAIT!” Hanaka bolted up but it was for nothing, he ran off and she couldn’t see him. 

Now Hanaka wants to get to know Tenten and become friends. She was excited to tell her friends that she experienced cold for the first time. But the others already had an idea of what happened.

After School, walking to the nurse’s office

“YOU WHAT?!” yelled Hanaka

The girls winced at the outburst.

“We were concerned for you!” Petti defended “We gave you the space.”

“Nya! I didn’t say that we knew who that was or what was said” Kyanka crossed her arms “It was just predictable and surprising that the one time you want to be alone is the time you find your direct opposite.”

Twinkle was pouty and slowly inching their hand toward Hanaka “If you’re mad, you can take it out on me.”

Petti and Kyanka slowly lowered their friend’s hand away, making them more pouty. 

“ANYWAYS! Who was the person?” asked Petti “are they nice? Bitchy?”

“Are they pretty?! What class are they in?” asked Kyanka “I don’t think there’s an ice user in the B class next to us.”

Hanaka raised an eyebrow and recalled “Hm, actually. They’re an invisible quirk user with 2 other quirks. And they’re a boy in the Business course.”

The three girls gasped and eyes widened.

“A boy?! You held hands with a boy?!” screamed Twinkle before Kyanka shoved a paw in her mouth to silence her.

Hanaka looked at her hand and fully processed what she said to Tenten earlier. Once it clicked she turned red and set the top of her head on fire. 

“Oh my god why did I do that?!” panicked Hanaka, hands on her cheeks “I’ve never talked to a boy that wasn’t my siblings’ friends! I was just curious! Oh geez what if he thinks I was flirting with him?!”

The squak were in hysterics right outside the nurse’s office, thankfully nurse Eri put a stop to it before anything caught on fire. The girls calmed down and got the band aid for Twinkle before leaving. Hanaka was very bothered by this realization but didn’t really know how to express it or explain it. She just went straight to her room once she got home, no words exchanged to her twin or dad. She even forgot to lock her door! That’s how bothered she was.

“Hanaka? You want a snack?” her dad asked carefully before opening her door a bit wider “We just got our shipment of hot chips, mom got your favorites.”

She looked over to her dad in the doorway with a bag of Exxtra Hot Cheetos. No words were spoken, just her holding her hands out with the grabby hands.

Her dad sat at the foot of the bed and waited to see if Hanaka wanted to talk about what’s bothering her as she popped the chip bag open. Hanaka just crunched, unable to find the words but just a singular sigh.

“Ah, so you talked to the opposite sex and your friends/classmates are teasing/shocked about it and you’re not sure how to feel about it because you’ve never talked like that and wonder if they took it the wrong way but you just wanted to make a friend.”

Hanaka stopped mid crunch “What the- how did you?”

Their dad chuckled “That’s what happened to me when I held your mom’s hands for the first time when they told me their secret” he reminisced “I told my brother when I got home and my classmates saw me from the third floor window hold her hands. I was embarrassed and unsure about my feelings, because I wanted to be friends with her. But at the same time I developed feelings that never truly went away.”

Hanaka turned red again, as bright as the cheetos she was snacking on.

“It’s okay to feel like this, you don’t need to figure it out right away” their dad opened his arms for a hug “take your time, you just met this boy right? Who knows! He might make a really good friend.”

Hanaka threw herself into her dad's arms for the hug “Thanks dad.”

He embraced her “Anytime Hanaka. Just take my advice, if you do find yourself that you like this boy: Don’t wait, just tell him you like him. You might regret it if you don’t say anything.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

“Yes and if I wasn’t just a denier of my feelings, I would’ve confessed 2nd year and married the day we were 20 years old.” he sighed and held his daughter tighter “But then you and your siblings wouldn’t exist! And I very much love you all.” 

“Dad, are you crying?”

“....yes” he croaked “I just really love my little family and all my children are growing up so fast! It’s like last week you were crawling for the first time and now you’re talking to boys! I’ll blink and you’ll be married!”

“Dad! I don’t know if I even like this boy!” Hanaka tried to squirm herself out of her dad’s embrace “let me go you big sappy fool!”

“No, because if I let you go” her father didn’t budge “you’ll grow up! Stay little just a bit longer please.”

Hanaka stopped resisting and pondered on what her father said, almost in defeat. 

“Fine, no promises that I won’t be a little taller tomorrow tho!”

-Later that night, before bedtime-

There was a knock on Tensei’s door

“Go away Rosa”

“STUPIDO TENSEI YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I WANT!”

Tensei sighed and unlocked the door anyways “Que quieres?”

Hanaka barged in and front flipped onto her twin’s bed, almost missing the edge of the mattress. She turns to properly face Tensei.

“I have to tell you many things twin brother.”

“Uh huh? That’s why you come in to stand higher than me?” Tensei smirked as he sat at his desk chair “Pues? What do you need to tell me gemela?”

Hanaka takes a deep breath “Okay, first off! I’m sorry for letting my rage get the best of me at school.” She did a tiny hop on the bed “Secondly, I know I’ve been a shitty twin and dragging you into all my drama but I know it’s because I depend too much on you fixing things.” She did a slightly bigger hop, just enough to get the bounce back of the mattress “Thirdly, but not leastly-”

“Those aren’t words”

“Shut up! I’m trying to made amends with you!” Hanaka huffed as she did another hop “What I mean is that, I need your help with something not school related.”

“Oh? You’ve piqued my interest!” Tensei leaned in with his elbows on his knees, holding his chin “Continue.”

Hanaka carefully sat down on bed, leaning toward her twin “I uhhhh, I need help talking to this person I just met today.”

“Who are they?”

Hanaka gets shy “It’s a boy in the business class. BEFORE YOU TEASE ME! I want your help with talking with boys.”

Tensei gives his twin a look “You need help talking to this boy? Why, you like him or something?”

“I don’t know!” she threw herself back, laying perfectly on Tensei’s freshly fluffed pillow “I talked to him and since the only non-family boys I’ve talked to are your friends and the children of our parents’ friends, I literally don’t know if I said something that sounds like I’m flirting with him or it’s friendly.” 

“Ay Rosa, talking to boys is so simple” sighed Tensei, folding his arms “Boys wear their emotions on their face.”

“Okay but what if he has an invisibility quirk and he doesn’t show his face in the first place?”

Tensei blinked and put a hand on his chin “Damn, I didn’t consider that, what the fuck Rosa?!”

“You see why I’m freaking out?!” Hanaka groaned “Help me Tensei! I promise to help you out with talking to girls!”

“Fine I’ll help, the offer won’t be needed” Tensei gave in “tell me about your interactions and I’ll say if that was friendly or not.”

“Yay! You’re the best twin ever!” Hanaka sat up quickly with her arms out “The offer will be on the table, just in case.”

Before Tensei could say anything, the robo-dog trotted into the room.

“Children, it’s 10:11pm on a school night” the robo-dog displayed a count down “You have T-minus 90 seconds to get to bed with lights off before I alert your mother.”

The timer starts ticking down

“Run Hanaka! Mama is letting dad chose the punishment this time!” cried out Tensei.

“Aw FUCK!” Hanaka ran with no quirk at high speed to her room. Not wanting to fuck around and find out this time.

The robo turns to Tensei, making him yelp and jump into bed “Goodnight doggy!”

“Goodnight Tensei” The robo starts trotting out the room, turning off the light “Sweet dreams, your mother returns tomorrow in the afternoon.”

Tensei waited until the door closed to breathe out “God that thing scares me! Why the fuck is that thing the reason for my family’s wealth?”

-Chapter 8 End-

<Previous - Next>

[fruitysoupy]

Lenny!! because I'm annoying and I love random facts I'll send you 6 words <3

Drinks

Holiday

Snow

Clothes

Movies

Writing

Myle you don't even know how much I love you right now

Drinks

Funfact! Chris' favorite (alcoholic) drink is a frozen strawberry margarita (hope I spelled that right)

During the snixxmas livestream he was actually drinking three separate drinks at the same time. Diet coke from a standard glass, red wine from an appropriate wine glass, and mulled wine (made by Will) from a mug.

In 2011 when he was nominated for his Golden Globe he was so sure he wouldn't win that he had planned to use the announcement as a distraction to sneakily drink some champagne.

Holiday

His favorite holiday is Halloween, he calls it gay Christmas. We're all familiar with his Halloween costumes that he handmakes every year.

During his periscope livestream he jokingly said that his favorite part of Thanksgiving with his family is arguing about politics.

During the snixxmas livestream he mentioned having 6 Christmas trees in his house, one of which he showed on his Instagram. It was decorated with a variety of Broadway playbills, printed and laminated (shows such as Kinky Boots, Dear Evan Hansen, Annie, Wicked, and more) and in place of a star was an Elphaba figurine on a broomstick.

Snow

This one was a little trickier, but the first thing I thought of was the Snow Queen, one of the villains from his Land of Stories series. When he got asked (on periscope) which villain he'd spent a day in our world with he said he wouldn't choose the Snow Queen because she would melt. He also doesn't seem to like the Snow Queen adaptation in form of Disney's Frozen a lot, based on his comment during an online quiz thing ("What fairytale is the Disney Hit Frozen based on?" "The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. Which I'm still mad about.")

Clothes

After Struck by Lightning was filmed he kept all of Carson's clothes because they're the type that he'd wear at home.

He often pokes fun at the clothes he had to wear as Kurt, saying that the pants were so tight his legs turned blue.

He was very uncomfortable with the gold lamé pants he had to wear for Not The Boy Next Door. He had two fittings for them and they were altered a lot. He was very proud of the number and his performance until he saw on film just how tight and revealing those pants were.

In an interview in 2009 during season 1 he said that he would never wear skinny jeans outside of the show. Oh how things have changed.

Also in an early interview he said his favorite Kurt outfit so far was the see-through raincoat.

In 2010 while watching the Pilot with some of the cast for an extra on the DVD set he mentioned that one of the questions he got asked the most during that time (by relatives and friends) was what he was wearing in the scene towards the end, when Finn comes back with Artie to get the group back together (that weird blue crochet thing). He himself doesn't even know what to call it.

On the show he regularly needed help putting on his costumes for the day, simply because of the layers and confusingly complicated design elements.

Movies

Here's the obvious one: Struck By Lightning came out in 2012, written by him and he also starred in it as the main character Carson Phillips. The original script he wrote in 7th grade, the idea came to him one day when he was walking to his car after school. It looked like it was about to rain and for some reason he thought that if he got struck by lightning right now it would take a few days until anyone found him, since it was a Friday and his parents were out of town for the weekend.

He was supposed to play Noel Coward in an independent Biopic, but production got delayed due to funding issues and he unfortunately aged out of the role.

He was supposed to voice two characters in two separate animated movies. No one knows what happened to the projects. In Robodog he was the main character, and in an animated Musical called the Potters he was the main character's brother (with NINE SONGS!!!!!!!!!). @ the producers and creative teams of those movies: please come back, we need this.

The Land of Stories movie is currently in production. The script is written, all we're waiting for is Ms Rona allowing us to have fun again.

Writing

Obvious answer: he's been writing since he was 8. He used to write one page chapters and bring them to his grandmother to read and spell check. If she liked it she'd keep it in a pile, if she didn't she'd crumble it up in front of him and tell him he could do better. One day he cried about it and she told him he should wait until he finished elementary school before he called himself a failed writer. The first Land of Stories book follows the exact same plot he came up with when he was little.

When he got asked for his autograph for the first time he was so nervous he spelled his own name wrong, so he crossed it out and wrote it again.

He holds the pen weird when he writes. He holds it with three fingers, resting it between his middle finger and ring finger. When signing books he puts a bandaid on his ring finger to prevent blisters.

The Land of Stories the Wishing Spell was written on the set of Glee and underneath the stage of the Glee Live Tour. Post Glee Chris wrote the remaining books in what he calls his nerd room. A room filled with superhero figurines and whatnot, and also a batman leg lamp as mentioned on a radio/podcast interview.

[asimovsideburns]

dnd session summary one... but for a NEW CAMPAIGN 😎

this time it’s “Hunt for Dragonshards,” a mystery campaign in a slightly homebrewed eberron

one player had to miss the session last minute, so there were fewer of us, but I’m excited to meet their character in session 2

(and yes, same group as city of teucri, minus one player whose schedule did not align with a new campaign right now)

okay, without any further ado, I present: the summary!

we are first introduced to Roux, a changeling whispers bard (currently in the guise of an elf), who is searching for a missing teacher at the school they used to attend. He hasn’t been seen in two days, but when they sneak into his office, they find an unpunched ticket for a train that left earlier tonight.

next, we meet Smidge, a half-elf bounty hunter shadow sorcerer with the mark of finding (I did say slightly homebrewed), who is tracking down some seriously dangerous (and probably seriously expensive) stolen property. He gets the info he needs and then makes everybody in the room not look at him while he casts Locate Object to start tracking down the item he needs. Or rather, the item that was stolen here that the thieves need to make the item he’s actually looking for usable.

then, it’s me time. I’m playing Vendetta, a khoravar (half-elf) mastermind rogue. I’m tracking down a piece a jewelry, and getting some information from a dragonborn in a seedy alley at the moment. Unfortunately, I roll a nat 1 for insight on my very first roll of the campaign, so I end up getting a little more aggressive than I needed to. I collect the information, and toss the guy a silver for his trouble, and to show there’s no hard feelings. I’ve gotten a general description of a person who had said piece of jewelry and a train ticket picked from the same pocket it was in... an unpunched ticked for a train that left earlier tonight, in fact.

last, there’s a person with no name, no memory, and no friends. A warforged battle smith artificer (using the reborn lineage).They’re hanging around the train station when they are approached by a short but wide warforged named Jackson, She gets a read on their whole Very Sad Deal and invites them to stay inside the train station for the night, rather than out in the rain, even though it’s technically against the rules

unfortunately for this very sad person--and everyone else at the table but me--the DM keeps referring to them as Unnamed Wandering Warforged, which abbreviates to UWW, which I decide to turn into UWU. Their name (out of character) is uwu now.

we all variously make our ways to the closing train station--uwu is already there, Roux and I following our train tickets, and Smidge following some footsteps.

uwu is just chilling, hanging out with Jackson. Roux walks in and goes straight to the vending machine for snacks as their cover, aggressive (pretended) obliviousness and unwanted (very bad) pickup lines to get the station cashier to leave her alone. Smidge minor illusions himself a VIP ticket that gets him access to the back room waiting area, and Vendetta climbs into the same through a window, at which point we have a Ten and Donna moment (you know the one, in the adipose episode, through the windows)

we had worked out some details previously on how our two characters knew each other, and we have a very fun character dynamic going on (friendly sometimes-allies, sometimes-rivals is one of the PEAK dynamics of all time)

at this point, the lights suddenly go out, and the enemies appear

FIRST SESSION COMBAT, BAYBEEEEE!!! Roll initiative!

Vendetta: nat 20 for a 24 total

Smidge: nat 20 for a 22 total

first turn, I slight of hand to light one of the lamps that just went out, spot a robodog next to Smidge, and nat 20 throw the dagger already in my hand for 41 damage. Instakill. then I duck bethind some barrells

next, Smidge banishes the FUCKING BOMB that was in the box right next to him, which became visible when the robodogs burst out of the crates

also the braziers in the front room turn into little fire guys and start attacking everybody else

a different bomb does go off, unfortunately, but none of us are hurt

next turn comes around, I pull out my silenced glock and blast the other robodog in the room. No crit, but I do get sneak attack and I do one-hit-kill it. I am having a BLAST.

then I BA dash to go grab my dagger, run through the train car separating the front room from the back, spot another bomb in here, yell “SMIDGE! BOMB!” and book it into the front room. I mean, I’m not going to try and defuse the bomb.

Smidge goes immediately after me, defuses the bomb, and the asks the DM if he can pocket it. DM says, “SIGH, I should have expected this, yes you can pocket the bomb, write ‘bomb’ in your inventory.”

Defusing the bomb also makes one of the little fire guys go away

also there’s some kind of shield guardian (idk if that’s what it actually is but it has bigass pillar hands that look kind of like shields on the token) that showed up I think between my two turns, it’s hard to keep track, but it’s been trying to hit Jackson, who has already been hit with a burning hands. Uwu also has a gun, and shot at the fire thing last turn, but this turn moves over to a desk and discovers: a bomb! They panic and throw it into the train, at which point I yell, “Smidge! Another one over there!”

uwu then moves away to a new safe place and discovers: another bomb!

Jackson is like, “oh fuck another bomb!” and decides to try and go defuse it, but gets fucking obliterated by the shield guardian thing’s opportunity attack

this is very distressing for all of us, who have bonded with Jackson immediately

Luckily, Roux has healing word, so Jackson gets revived before needing to make any death saves

on Smidge’s turn, he’s able to Dispel Magic on the thrown bomb and

uwu’s turn rolls around, and they defuse the bomb instead of throwing it this time, which is good

we’ve got one robodog and the shield guardian thing left to fight, and it seems like there might be at least one more bomb still out there, but we unfortunately have to end the session

but that’s okay, because now I have time to think about my incredibly wild move that I am planning to take after combat ends (or at least, wild for me)

I am a mastermind rogue, after all

[unitato722]

BNHA OC Form, Destiny

Alright imma finally post some of my BNHA stuff I’ve been working on. I know that this OC sheet was made by someone but I’m not sure who because my little sister is the one who sent it to me, so if you know please tell me <3 

|Basic Info|

Name: Destiny Makino

Nicknames/Aliases: Dessy, D

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Birthday: 7/12

Sexuality: Pan

Height: 5’3”

Weight: 130 lbs

Hair Color: Metallic grey at roots that fades to white at the tips

Eye Color: Right eye - Black/dark grey , Left eye - Lavender. Wears grey contacts to hide her prominent eye colors

Skin Color: White 

Looks: wears glasses. She can see fine without them, but it helps her focus.

Occupation: UA student

|Relationships|

Parent(s): Disowned her and her sister at a young age. Refuse to have children who ruin their image

Sibling(s): Octavia Robel - Twin sister

Relative(s): N/A

Friend(s): Her sister (?...)

Romantic Interest(s): Denki Kaminari  

Pet(s): Robodog

|Hero/Villain Details|

Hero/Villain Name: Ganroda

Costume: Short skirt with shorts underneath. Tanktop. Hair in a ponytail. Utility belt. Barefoot.

Motivations: Her parents suck in general and she wants to prove to everyone that her and her sister that two is better than one, and that the world could be better if people used their quirks in harmony rather than fighting for their own singular glory. She also wants to keep tabs on Octavia seeing as she is more reckless. 

Quirk: Weaponize

Abilities: She can transform any part of her body into any weapon.

Weaknesses: The bigger the weapon is, the more pain she is in. Pain usually comes in the form of migraines, but if she really overworks herself, her arm that was the weapon will become paralized

Other Abilities: Has always been able to perform a telekinetic connection with her sister. Can merge abilities with her twin sister. Has a secondary quirk that only her sister knows about; when making skin to skin contact with another person she can see flashes of their future.

|Statistics|

Power: 5/5

Speed: 1/5

Technique: 4/5

Intelligence: 6/5

Cooperativeness: 3/5

|Backstory|

Her and her sister are the children of a very wealthy family and were disowned as children. When they were born not only identical, but with every cell the same their parents became scared of what it could mean. When they finally manifested not one but two quirks each, both parents cursed them as bad luck and refused to have either child if they weren't perfect. Ever since they have lived under new names on their own. They both stay away from using their combined power so they wont reveal who they are.

|Quote|

Knife hands, because now you can mince a bitch before you saute her

[abra-goddamn-cadabra]

first timer plays new vegas: part deuce

remember when I complained about Caravan before? I AM NOW THE CARAVAN GOD

I stumbled into a big NCR camp on the river and agreed to take new secret codes to a bunch of NCR outposts. Gotta say, handing your secret codes to a random mailperson seems like very bad security

I went up Black Mountain and met a super mutant named Neil. It’s so refreshing to talk to a mutant who doesn’t have that annoying as hell mutant voice. Bethany take notes.

I stealthed and ambushed my way up Black Mountain, read some terminals, killed Tabitha, proceeded to loot everything in the vicinity, and found a Mr Handy. Used my beefed up science skills to restart it and.....it’s Rhonda! Shit!

so I’ve reloaded my save now and reunited Rhonda and Tabitha. they walked away into the sunset. have a nice trip ladies, please don’t kidnap more ghouls

speaking of ghouls, Raul is great but I miss Boone shooting stuff before it ever got near me. I keep running into cazadores and dying

so anyway I went back for Boone

is there really no option to help the deathclaw mom move her babies elsewhere?? I keep looking for an angle but I haven’t found that option yet. I don’t want to hurt her. she’s doing her best.

since I can’t find the option that lets me keep the deathclaw alive (I know it’s there, I’m gonna find it dammit), I’ve decided to avoid Sloan and go really far east to come at Vegas. I found the lake and have now been killed by the Creature From 20,000 Fathoms. Twice. 

I also found a lake cave that I drowned in and a sunken plane, which I couldn’t find anything to do with so I got reallllly curious and pulled up the wiki and found out that it’s based on an actual converted B-29 that crashed into Lake Mead in ‘48 and is still chilling down there on the bottom irl. awesome!

I got into the REPCONN headquarters and scored a sweet plasma rifle, which is nice since I’ve been stacking energy weapons from the start. I can’t pick a lock worth a damn though, so I couldn’t get into that solar system room

found Arcade. I’ve seen discussions on here about Arcade, but I always thought he was a woman for some reason? Can’t remember what his deal is at the moment though.

I helped Elvis settle a problem with the NCR and he likes me now but he won’t let me join his Elvis club. Maybe it’s because Aster’s a lady? Don’t be sexist Elvis

feeling bad for Elvis’s robodog. I need to remember to help him out once I find Benny

I also stood guard in front of the Silver Rush for a while. I was hoping I could work for them and get a deal on energy weapons but I really don’t like their vibe. I’m pretty sure I talked to a Legionary in the desert and now this guy is demanding I bring him Cass? No? Fuck off? we have a rapport, we same hatted over liking girls

thanks Caravan for helping me roll into Vegas with a cool 15,000 caps. credit check what? passport who?

managed to convince a guy named Swank that Benny was scheming behind his back so I snuck into Benny’s room and found Yes Man. I love this robot.

I don’t love this robot enough to make all robots into him unfortunately

House’s casino is SO CREEPY I HATE IT. the presidential suite isn’t too shabby though, wish it had some windows

NEVERMIND FUCK ULTRA LUXE IS THE CREEPIEST CASINO ON THE STRIP

but it’s definitely the nicest architecturally, no arguing that

so anyway my bisexual ass took both Cherchez le Femme and Black Widow while I was wandering the Mojave so Aster could be bi too and in what is probably some of the most hilarious dialogue I’ve been privy to in a long time I pretended I wanted to sleep with Benny then gooified him once I got him alone in his room

I felt kinda bad about killing him like that at first and thought about reloading to try again but like. He literally buried Aster alive in a grave in the desert for no reason whatsoever so I feel like it’s justified

anyway I now have the platinum chip back and everybody suddenly wants to talk to me including Caesar(!) so we’ll see where this goes

tbh though I don’t see a reason not to just give it back to House? I mean I get it, the robots are kinda creepy, his brain’s in a jar somewhere plugged into a supercomputer so can we even be sure he’s still human, he’s a capitalist (his greatest sin). But he also kept Vegas from being immediately steamrollered by the NCR and it seems like he’s attached enough to his casinos that I could convince him to hold the dam against the Legion.

I mean not that the NCR even seems that bad. I’m definitely a big fan of the rangers so far. They get bogged down in bureaucracy though, and they don’t seem to defend folks if they’re not strategically important enough, which I don’t like.

But as far as House goes, I don’t see a downside to Aster just finishing her delivery. Especially since the guy did help save her life.

[coopdigitalnewsletter]

10 August 2020: Is Covid-proof a marketing strategy?

Hello, this is the Co-op Digital newsletter - it looks at what's happening in the internet/digital world and how it's relevant to the Co-op, to retail businesses, and most importantly to people, communities and society. Thank you for reading - send ideas and feedback to @rod on Twitter. Please tell a friend about it!

[Image: Beeple - see events, below]

Is “Covid-proof” a marketing strategy?

Will store safety end up being an essential “hygiene factor”? Will it be a marketing strategy in future? If a shop or a supply chain can be assured as “Covid-proof”, are you more likely to shop there? Or will you go back to shopping everywhere when everything “returns to normal”? 

💥  Why this matters: the virus won’t be “solved” quickly and has sufficiently accelerated change, so there’s no longer a “normal before” to return to. So safety will remain an important consideration.

Two good quotes from that article:

"Cleanliness has moved from a compliance responsibility to something that is part of the customer experience."

“Previous to COVID, you would try to do a lot of cleanliness and janitorial practices out of sight of customers. Now you want them to be visible, because you want to send a message to customers that things are safer”

Managing queues inside and outside Co-op stores during the pandemic. That’s a great read about how the Co-op pulled a team together, researched remotely, planned, tested, iterated and ultimately improved ways to give shoppers useful information and to manage queues at shops.

There has been encouraging news on vaccines, but even so it looks like the coronavirus is a "around a long time, live with it" thing. So beyond the current social distancing and hand sanitation measures what might a COVID-proof shop look like, materially? Unfortunately, fears about the virus have driven shoppers back to single use plastic shopping bags, which sounds bad for everyone except the plastics industry. Similarly, delivered grocery uses a *lot* of single-use plastic bags. So perhaps there will be reusable bags and containers with anti-viral coatings. 

Refitting is a longer-term option. You can imagine today’s self-serve sanitation stations becoming automated and permanently built into store thresholds and shelf displays. Perhaps some shops will refit for infection control, replacing plastic and steel door handles and work surfaces with copper, or refitting fabrics and materials impregnated with silver? There are some small-scale architecture ideas and set ups for outdoor eating (like Arup, Rockwell).

Amazon Go in the UK

Amazon will launch 10 or more checkoutless Go stores in UK by the end of the year, the first of them in London.

Sainsbury’s piloted a checkoutless store in London in 2019, but ended the pilot because the need to download and register on a dedicated mobile app discouraged passing trade.

💥  Why this matters: Amazon continues to experiment with retail formats. Go stores are a marketing beachhead for selling the technology to other retailers.

Also Amazon: 

The 16% investment in Deliveroo is approved.

UK drone deliveries team grows.

Uber: moving meals not people

Ridehailing giant Uber has always looked like a next generation taxi service, with some incremental businesses (delivery) tacked on. But Uber’s second financial quarter results just saw food delivery revenue overtake ridehail revenue! Ride bookings were down 73%, food delivery orders (Uber Eats) were up 113%. This doesn’t mean that Uber’s main business is over: Uber will expand to 170 locations in the UK by buying Autocab. But the main thing and the side gig are swapping places. Or more accurately: Uber’s core business is moving vehicles around, not moving people around.

💥  Why this matters: the virus turns industries upside down and forces organisations to reinvent. Reinvention often looks like digital transformation but it feels scary if your organisation is really optimised for doing the thing that *used* to work. 

Can machine learning write like humans write?

GPT-3 is a machine learning system which doesn’t understand language but does write it. It’s 

“an auto-complete tool that is a skilled predictor of which word comes next. And yet it’s capable, to varying degrees, of writing music; playing chess; telling jokes; and talking about philosophy. This is surprising, since we think our own ability to do all these things is due to capacities that GPT-3 lacks - understanding, perception, agency.”

💥  Why this matters: When machines can generate content that is plausibly written by humans, and when the internet gives you infinite ways to publish that content (and even attribute it to others), there will be a crisis in trust. So you’d expect to see a lot of work in future on how content could be provably authenticated as “authored by this human”. 

GPT-3 is sufficiently good at predicting the next word that you can make search engines with it. It had a clunky predecessor called GPT-2, which you can try out on the internet. If you give it the first sentence of this story, GPT-2 will write things like this:

“GPT-3 is a machine learning system which doesn’t understand language but does write it. This post explains what this machine learning system is, how it can be used and how it is going to help me to understand better how I ’ve been taught to write. Let me explain. There are some things that machine learning can't do. One of them is understanding how you write. We need to learn how to write something. This is the goal of machine learning. We need to learn to write something , so we will write about a system that can write that . What I will show you is a model which can make an accurate estimate of how you write”

If you were a human that made a living writing, you might find that reassuring, threatening and critical all at the same time. It’s not great writing, but GPT-3 is apparently much better. The “try GPT-3 out” websites aren’t often online because it costs the creators a lot of money just to let newsletter writers see if they’ve still got jobs. However there is a “friendly competition” online to see whether humans or GPT-3 can write the better performing headlines (further reinforcing the dispiriting view that click through rates should be the critical measure of online content quality! :( ) 

Signals/numbers

Procter & Gamble sales rise 4% as consumers buy more cleaning products.

WH Smith may cut 1,500 jobs after sales plummet.

'Staggering' levels of plastic pollution by 2040 - 1.3 billion tonnes.

UK electrical waste mountain growing - 1.45 million tonnes a year.

Various things

Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91 - “In an experiment, the pair asked users to try out the mouse alongside other pointing devices such as a light pen or joystick - and found that the mouse was the clear favourite.”

Neobank Monzo’s annual report makes its community nervous - though accounting rules make expected losses look extra painful. 

Entrepreneur's 'free rice ATMs' for Vietnam's poor.

After those poor Boston Robotics robodogs get rescued by the RSPCA from the people that used to kick them, they get jobs where they are loved. Like Fluffy, who now works at Ford, laser scanning its factories, and being loved by its manager. You could imagine that being used for gap scanning the aisles of a supermarket. 

Co-op Digital news and events

 Federation - free events: 

Andy’s Man Club – Gentleman's Peer to Peer Mental Health Meet Up – Mondays 7pm

Self Care – Online Workshops – Various dates/times in July

Virtual Data Expedition – Online Workshop – 11 Aug – 10am

NW Drupal User Group – Meet Up – 11 Aug – 7pm

Beginners Guide to Retrofit – Webinar – 12 Aug – 6pm

Women in Tech – Networking – 13 Aug – 8.30am

Motion North – Animation & design Showcase – 13 Aug - 7pm. Motion North is an animation & motion design enterprise at Federation House. Their online event features not one but two stateside speakers! First up is GMUNK. A designer and director who uses a fusion of science-fiction themes and psychedelic palettes to produce enigmatic and atmospheric work. Following on is Beeple Crap, renowned for his “everydays” producing a piece of work every day with the purpose of developing and getting “better at different things”. 

Meteoric Meters – Acoustic & Spoken Word Open Mic Night – 20 Aug – 6pm

LGBTQIA – Hackathon – 28-30 Aug

Paid for events:

Invisible Cities - Online Tours of Manchester or Edinburgh – Various Dates & Times

Mandala Yoga – Online Yoga Sessions - Various Dates & Times

Tech Ethics – Meet Up – Various Dates & Times

More detail on Federation House’s events. You can also see how The Federation is planning for a safe return to the co-working floor.

Thank you for reading

Thank you, beloved readers and contributors. Please continue to send ideas, questions, corrections, improvements, etc to @rod on Twitter. If you have enjoyed reading, please tell a friend! If you want to find out more about Co-op Digital, follow us @CoopDigital on Twitter and read the Co-op Digital Blog. Previous newsletters.

[flowercoasts]

1-99 😘

1: 6 of the songs you listen to most?“Subway Car” by Marc E. Bassy, “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’” from Teen Beach Movie, “Gotta Go my Own Way” from High School Musical 2, “Til I Forget About You” by Big Time Rush, “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love)” from Hercules, and “Honeymoon Avenue” by Ariana Grande2: If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?i wanna meet the robodog3: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.“I hope no fish will come along so great that he will prove us wrong.”4: What do you think about most?my girlfriend5: What does your latest text message from someone else say?welcome to an episode of worth it6: Do you sleep with or without clothes on?with7: What’s your strangest talent?i can wiggle my eyebrows like wavy caterpillars dancing on my forehead8: Girls… are amazing wonderful stunning showstopping gorgeoust 11/10; Boys… some of them are cute sometimes9: Ever had a poem or song written about you?not that i know of10: When is the last time you played the air guitar?…earlier today11: Do you have any strange phobias?not really12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose?no but one time i had a marble in my mouth and i was choking on it but dont worry i swallowed it down with water13: What’s your religion?none at the moment14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?hanging out with my friends or cousins15: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?depends but mostly in front of it16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?Big Time Rush. Beatles whom?17: What was the last lie you told?“im totally nOt GAy”18: Do you believe in karma?not really :/19: What does your URL mean?my psn was flowercoast but the url here was taken so i added the s20: What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength?- cannot start conversations with new people for the life of me- im p easy going i guess21: Who is your celebrity crush?i started getting back into glee recently so.. Dianna Agron22: Have you ever gone skinny dipping?nope23: How do you vent your anger?i either rant online or to my friends24: Do you have a collection of anything?stuffed animals! (an accidental collection)25: Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?depends on my mood but usually video chatting bc i like to see the other person and also i talk more with my actions than my words26: Are you happy with the person you’ve become?somewhat27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?i absolutely hate multiple sounds including, but not limited to: nails scratching on chalkboards, the sound of utensils making the horrible scraping sound i love the sound of the ocean breaking, the early morning (5am - 7/8 am), the woods in the morning28: What’s your biggest “what if”?what if i had went to the same schools as my friends29: Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?yes and yes30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm.my window and my phone31: Smell the air. What do you smell?my window is open and someone is cooking barbecue down the street32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to?marin33: Choose: East Coast or West Coast?west coast. i really liked east coast the times i went but west coast is still the best coast :)))34: Most attractive singer of your opposite gender?zayn 35: To you, what is the meaning of life?live life to the fullest bois36: Define Art.as long as it expresses feeling37: Do you believe in luck?sort of38: What’s the weather like right now?foggy and a little cold but not too cold by sf standards39: What time is it?4:1940: Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?no and no41: What was the last book you read?Romeo and Juliet for my english class42: Do you like the smell of gasoline?no43: Do you have any nicknames?flower, sunnisides, eggs, nana (banana)44: What was the last film you saw?Guardians of the Galaxy 2 i think45: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?walking pneumonia. WORST46: Have you ever caught a butterfly?nope47: Do you have any obsessions right now?not really tbh48: What’s your sexual orientation?bi babe bean49: Ever had a rumour spread about you?in middle school there was a rumour i had a foot fetish which i DO NOT SMH… even though i kind of started it but i was joking i s2g50: Do you believe in magic?sure!51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?depends tbh52: What is your astrological sign?aries/pisces but i relate to aries more53: Do you save money or spend it?…spend it…54: What’s the last thing you purchased?besides food, i bought my girlfriend an umbreon pillow55: Love or lust?love56: In a relationship?ohohoh heck ye57: How many relationships have you had?one 58: Can you touch your nose with your tongue?i did it yesterday on facetime, my gf can confirm59: Where were you yesterday?at school bc finals ugh60: Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?yes, my perfume and my brush61: Are you wearing socks right now?nope my feet are finally free62: What’s your favourite animal?it changes but i really like the Bigg Cats like jaguars and cheetahs63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?charm the socks off of them by extreme flirting64: Where is your best friend?doin somethin wild probably65: Give me your top 5 favourite blogs on Tumblr.idk man soz66: What is your heritage?my grandma on my mom’s side is half spanish, and she grew up in a spanish household but otherwise i’m pretty filipino67: What were you doing last night at 12AM?facetiming my wonderful gf68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya de la Rosa Ramírez69: Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off?……….. n…o……. REST IN PIECES PATRICIA70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?maybe? probably. idk71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?im saving the dog no second thoughts as soon like as i see that dog - i’m FUCKIN NYOOM72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid?i would tell most everyone, i would do everything i’ve wanted to do, and i would be very afraid 73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love.why can’t we have both? :’( 74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?any disney song ever, any song from BTR’s first album75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?991776: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?the memes77: How can I win your heart?you gotta be a Ukrainian horse goblin sorry i don’t make the rules78: Can insanity bring on more creativity?? idk79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?i have never made any good decision in my life ever… except dating my gf80: What size shoes do you wear?7 and a half81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?gg82: What is your favourite word?thrussy83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart.being passionate about something84: What is a saying you say a lot?“why are you like this” or “i hate you all”85: What’s the last song you listened to?“Slide” by Calvin Harris, Frank Ocean, and Migos86: Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours?yellow and pink :)87: What is your current desktop picture?my dog n cat together 88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?there are. too many people89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?OHOHOHO why dont yall ask n guess. you wONT90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?i find toilet paper and wrap myself in it bc i don’t wanna feel excluded, my n my mummy bois are havin fun tonight goodbye forever parents91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power?shapeshifting as hell92: You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?my entire fifth grade year :’)93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?aahahahahha…. too many whomst94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?my girlfriend95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?i love New Orleans96: Do you have any relatives in jail?i don’t think so97: Have you ever thrown up in the car?nope!98: Ever been on a plane?multiple times now99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say?this thrussy pops severely

[stephenfouts]

And now the robots have taken up jogging

Proving that robots even exercise better than you, Boston Dynamics released a new video today demonstrating its Atlas bot going for what looks to be an afternoon jog. 

Not to be confused with the robodogs likely plotting something nefarious at this very moment, Atlas is the same biped that seriously freaked out the internet when it did a backflip in November of last year.

So, to recap: Boston Dynamics robots are opening doors, doing flips, and running across an uneven terrain. 

I guess there's no need to violently overthrow the humans when you can just embarrass us into going back to the gym.  Read more...

More about Robots, Boston Dynamics, Tech, and Other And now the robots have taken up jogging published first on https://eooke.tumblr.com/

[twilightpony4]

Ola Americano... Turtle?: 13. Robotics

The moon casted a blue hue to one side of the building, shining on both it and the sea that crashed beside it. There was a single warehouse on the plot of land with a chain-link fence surrounding it. Scattered along the lot were industrial accessories such as stacked crates, a shed, and a crane by the sea to pick up the exclusive shipments. “If you're gonna have your stuff shipped by sea, might as well keep your warehouse too.” Michelangelo commented. As first one to make it to the top of the hill, he was the only one who could make sense of his remark. The rest of the team followed closely behind out of reserving energy from their constant climbing (man, did they really miss flat land). Internally, there was a collective sigh once they got to the very point of the hill and saw what the youngest turtle did. “Smart.” Mikey nodded, putting his hands on his hips while feeling the ocean’s breeze brush past him. It was also a great feeling to know that his own intuition led them out of the darkness and on some type of track by revisiting their old pal, Ruffington. Donatello slipped his goggles over his eyes and began to toy with the toggles. The group did their own once over from the distance as he did what he could. “Nothing's picking up on my thermoscan.” He twisted the base of one of his lenses and then flipped it back over his head. “Let's roll.” Leonardo commanded. Quickly, the clan swiftly jumped onto it and took off for the seemingly empty warehouse.

Entering it was like old times. The doors of the place worked like a garage, so it had to be intruded from above. The building had multiple ledges by design, making itself a step ladder to the urban ninjas as they made way for the roof. Security cameras were a no for none were present on the outside. How could it get any better? No alarms. The family was on the roof and were now pushing the glass window from above open for their bodies to fit through. Thankfully, there were beams directly below to catch them and lead them to jump onto the high stacked crates. One by one took a leap down, easily infiltrating and getting to the ground where the main floor was. Venus was the first of them to enter.

“Whoa!” Venus gasped. The glimmer in her eye was filled with the large piles of robotic parts that filled the floors of the specific yet large portion of the warehouse. They were assorted by their specific piece, thus making it an over-the-top organization of the sea of metal. “Check out the product!” Raphael tapped a piece that had gone rogue and kicked it beside its desired pile. “That's a lot of robots.” Leonardo spoke in monotone as he caught up with the discovery (He was still on the last of the crates when he said so). Raphael took a piece from the very top of the pile and examined it with a careful eye. “Is this a leg?” He inquired as he turned it over for inspection. The piece was made up of two thick bars of metal that was able to bend when you wave it back and forth. On one side, there was another bar but it was thicker and shorter in comparison. It could move as well, but it was not as flexible as the others. “You guys might want to take a look at this.” Mona Lisa called. During their awe, the lizard girl was already doing her own investigation. In seconds, the mass of green caught up to her and stopped abruptly in their tracks. Before them were rows upon rows of the parts being fully assembled. They were so neat and straight that they maintained a militaristic atmosphere. “Hey!” Mikey exclaimed while pointing. “Those are those RoboDogs! Remember when these were shella popular in like 2003?” Mona and Venus had no idea what he was talking about. However, the brothers knew very well, but barely acknowledged it. “We used to make one out of rocks and sticks ‘cause we could never get one.” Ah, yes. It was like The Little House on the Prairie growing up. One had to make their own toys with whatever they got. Seeing them on TV was so cool but they could never find on available because no one would throw them out. Now, they could get as many as they wanted, but it just wasn’t the same. “Just what the world needs.: Mona picked on up. “Puppy robots.” Raphael stood closely over her shoulder as they investigated the creature. The head of it was smooth, rounded at the crown and the muzzle that shaped jagged ‘teeth’. Where the forehead was, a single red ‘eye’ that represented more of a camera or scanner resided. The rest of its body was generic with a rectangle body, cylinder legs, and clunky feet. Its stance was much more like a rabbit because its haunches were lower than its front end. Raphael shook his head. “First question is ‘Why’? Second, ‘Why so many’?”

“Donnie. Think you can decipher these hieroglyphics?” Said turtle had his attention diverted to the far left. He followed the voice of the female turtle hidden behind the aisle of crates. Coming around the corner, what he found was Venus standing before a board with her back turned and her arms across her body. Donatello approached with an arm of curious mutants. Coming closer, his glasses were able to sharpen the appearance of what was written on the board. It was all numbers and equations, no foreign language he could not understand (thankfully). The female turtle did not turn her attention to him when he came to her side. She was very much into the board; her eyes darted back and forth as she scanned them. He humored her for a second for trying, but when she scrunched her nose, he knew it was time for him to get down to business. Mona approached close as well. Donnie may be the designated smart one but one cannot forget that this girl was a physics genius. “This is the type of mechanics used for robotics.” Donatello concluded. He looked at the two beside him. Venus didn’t have a clue. Mona continued reading but nodded her head in agreement. She knew nothing about robotics, but with the equations on movement, she had that one in the bag. “No kidding.” Raphael muttered under his breath, turning only his upper body to glance back at the room of dismembered robot parts.

“It’s very impressive that they got these things moving on four legs. The dynamics of a four-legged walking robot is not something to take lightly but there are also protrusions on the bottom of their ‘feet’.” He demonstrated what would be the ‘spikes’ on their feet by putting a curved finger beside his hand to give the illusion of it coming out of his palm. He left it to their own memory to remember the dainty detail while investigating the parts earlier. “It could be a climber too. The ‘head’” Donnie’s finger outlined the outside of the drawing where the head was located. “of it is very smooth in design. It could be just for looks or of ease. Typically, the rounding off” he brushed his finger repeatedly over the very top of the head. “is meant for ease of travel, which is what I think it is meant to be because of the camera. See the optics?” Donnie pointed to the single ‘eye’ in the middle of its head. “It’s meant to scan and see in infra red. Of course, there could be a matter of quantum mechanics put into it...” “Yeah, but we don't know what that means.” Leonardo considerably interrupted. Donatello turned around fully to explain. “It means ‘no good’.” His tone was worried for good reason. Just when he said so, Venus had a bad feeling once again. What it was from, she couldn’t tell. For the time being, she checked out of what was at hand to find an explanation for her feeling by channeling her chi. Nobody paid particular mind to the meditating terrapin for a nuisance was on its way. “Look at this!” Shoved in Leo’s personal space, the head of a robot was used as a puppet because the young turtle had slipped away from their grasp to go retrieve it. Michelangelo opened its maw accordingly next to the side of his face as he played. “WOOT WOOT! That's da sound of da police! WOOT WOOT! It's the sound of a beast!” He chanted until he succumbed to a hearty laugh. “Quit screwing around!” Leonardo’s yell was held back between his teeth. The surprise made Michelangelo lose his grip on the toy. Fumbling, he tried to catch it but it fell to the ground, clanking as it went. The young turtle rubbed his head and smiled to a point where you could no longer see his eyes. His laugh was nervous, trying to pull off his own embarrassment. The purple clad turtle shook his head and sighed briefly. “The way that these bots are designed,” Donnie resumed. “it is most certainly that they are less of a weapon and more of a tool.” “And that's what they're using to uncover the statue?” Leonardo approached, taking a good eyeful of the board he could not understand. “Looks like they are.” Donatello nodded. “The suitability is for climbing, walking,” He paused to think and adjust his glasses. “could be used for digging. The optics could be a camera for scoping. It’s an all around tool. A villainous rover.”

“Mona, above!” Venus screamed; her eyes bugged out as she looked up. Mona Lisa immediately looked up but it was too late. Before she could react, she was already shoved to the ground by a being in black who fell directly on top of her. The person was concealed completely. They wore a black, turtleneck longsleeve along with a hooded, bulletproof vest and pants. The most haunting was the mask that shielded their identity. The only scripture on it was a faint, silver outline of a skeleton. Withdrawing a sword from their side, Leonardo was quick to counter by pulling one of his own out and blocking it. The assailant jumped back for they did not know that the turtle would be so quick. Seeing another coming for her, she threw three shuriken from her side. Donatello’s back bended like no other to avoid them, but it did stop his momentum. Briefly after throwing them, the person was overwhelmed by the rapid fire chain that wrapped around them. It was tight, squeezing their flesh against the metal mercilessly. Their waist was pulled sharply in reverse, making them run backwards and go unbalanced. Before they could see where it was coming from, the momentum of their own and the red clad turtle made an epic clash. The one in black was completely KO'd. “What?!” Michelangelo bellowed. His arms curled over his head until he slammed them around a lifted knee that penetrated its own opening. The crew looked on, making sure they were still breathing. Raphael jostled his shoulders while Mona stepped forth to regain some of the extra chain in her hand. The fallen was secured with her surujin. Even with their arms free they deemed it safe to come close.

With his toe, Raphael turned the perpetrator over. A feminine face was uncovered when the shaken black mask popped off of it. Skin of brown with black hair in bantu knots revealed the attacker. Mona Lisa crouched down beside her. Her hand grasped the edge of her cloak and pulled it back, searching her. “Black clothing. Concealed weapons.” Her chin went over her shoulder to take a look at the mutants standing above her. She was very smug. “I think we were just sent an assassin.” “That's one heck of a security system.” Raphael commented. “Make sure that’s good and tight.” The leader twirled his finger and straightened himself up. “When she comes to we will question her.”

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU [Book 2]

Beginning of Book 2 Read here to catch up!

Chapter 14: Quien Comió Mi Torta?!

I’m enjoying my last few days in my parent’s house before I leave for Versailles. In between cramming French lessons, I hang out with Hoshi and others from our circle. Today is a little different, grandpa Hakamada invited me for some tea, and of course I said yes! I haven’t seen him since 3 months before my graduation.

-Downtown Taito, Late afternoon-

“Thanks again grandpa” I chirped as he poured me tea “How’s work?”

“You’re welcome Lili, and work has been good” he chuckled “I flew back here from Europe actually! It’s very nice around this time of year.”

“Is it? That’s making even more excited to go” I take a sip of tea “Why did you go this time?”

“I went for a few reasons, usually I stay for weeks at a time for inspiration on new pieces and I work on fashion shows” he explained “the cloth market is my favorite place to get cashmere and chiffon. And I went to the lavender fields.”

“Oh, that’s in France” I stop my bite of mochi “is it worth the countryside trip?”

“It is! Just breathtaking and surreal with the windmill contrasting the purple hued field” He gushed, then gathered himself “speaking of which! I got you a graduation/going way gift.”

“Aww you didn’t have too!”

“But it’s useful to this new part of your journey” He stopped my modesty “Here, open it.”

He hands me a small box, small enough to maybe hold a watch. I open it and look inside.

“It’s a key?” I was confused.

“Read the note” he said as he took a sip of tea.

I read the note aloud:

Lili,

Congratulations on seeing it through your time in UA. I am very proud of you and honored to have had you under my wing. Though the journey ahead may seem equally filled with excitement and anxiety of the unknown, know that your family and I are here for you when you come back. As a little appreciation, I bestow to you the key to my Versailles townhouse. For you to stay in for as long as you want and to come back to whenever. You don’t have to ever worry about not having family near you, because we’re family.

Never stop, you’re doing amazing things! - Grandpa Hakamada

I start to tear up “You didn’t! A townhouse?”

“Yes, I bought the property back when I quit being a hero to lay low there. In that year and a half, I got into the fashion industry. And I stay there when I travel for work” a smile spread on his face “You’ll love it, I fixed it up a little when I was there so you’d be comfortable. You just have to buy food and move into your bedroom.”

I get up to hug him “Thank you so much! How lucky am I to have such a generous grandpa?!”

“Stop your crying and all this affection!” he hugged back “I don’t split my time evenly enough to really have a place in Europe, figured you’ll have better use of the place now that you’re heading there.”

“I’ll cherish it! I’m so happy you trust me enough to give me a key.”

“I may drop in for my annual stay for work but for the rest of the time, it’s your place.”

We talk more about the place. He tells me it’s a short walk from the institute and it’s in a convenient part of town. Not too busy of a street and the home is cozy. All this talk was making me more excited to go! When I got home, mom and dad were just as shocked as I was. To be honest, I thought he communicated with them about handing over his townhouse to me. My siblings were jealous that I got a free house in France as a gift and all Iwa got was new glasses. Reflecting more on my time left with my family, I know I’m going to miss them badly. I might cry because this is truly my departure from my family. I can’t be home in less than an hour when they need me and they can’t come for me when things get tough. Can’t imagine how mom felt when she left home!

Time passes too fast for my liking...it’s the day before I have to leave home. It’s an overcast day and my mom had to do some work at her company, Iwa went to his friend’s house, Rosa sped off to hang out with her friends and Oro warped off to the music store. So it’s just my dad and I until everyone comes home.

“Oh! It slipped my mind” my dad exclaimed as he turned off the sink “your uncle Tensei is coming over!”

“Tio Tensei?! When?!” I squealed, Tensei is my favorite uncle.

“Today in about an hour” dad glanced at the clock “ooh, actually in about 20 minutes. My only brother, whom I adore and look up to, and yet I forget when he’s visiting!”

I giggle “It’s not very often both of you are off at the same time! What’s the occasion?”

“He wanted to see you before you leave of course!” he chopped “You’re his oldest niece! He loves you and your siblings very much.”

“I suppose that’s a good enough reason” I chuckle, then I got an intrusive thought “Hey dad, how was it like...being away from mom after graduation?”

“Hm? Well, it was tough” He sighed and leaned his back on the counter “She didn’t know I had these tender feelings for her. We parted ways under the impression that I didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. Trust me when I say that I came home and regretted my words. I wanted to fix things immediately, if your uncle didn’t stop me, I would’ve ran myself exhausted to your mother’s place to apologize and confess.”

“Why did he stop you? What did you do!”

“I was being reckless, I made my decision to make a run for it when I was a few minutes away from presenting myself at my own graduation party at the family estate” he scoffed and smiled “Never did I think I’d ditch my own party to chase after a girl that got away. It was so out of character for me, so of course Tensei was on high alert when I snuck out of the estate with my dress pants rolled up to my knees!” He gave a hearty laugh “He rolled himself in front of me with his arms crossed and said ‘Tenya Iida! Are you sneaking out?! Are you feeling well? The Tenya I know wouldn’t sneak out at all!’ oh Lili, you should’ve seen how red I got when I got caught!”

“Oof you didn’t even make it past the front fountain!” I cringed “Did that guilt you into staying?”

“No, it was the advice he gave me” He fixed his glasses “I told him why I was sneaking out and he said that I should give her space to process her post graduation life. Imagine being sad because your friend hates you then the same friend comes knocking at your door confessing their love for you? All in the same day! I wouldn’t believe them. So I waited around for her to send me a text or call.”

“So what happened in those years of giving her space?”

“I lived my life, all of it was what I wanted, but I was still missing something. I came to terms that I can’t be happy until I fix my friendship with her.” Dad put water to boil in the kettle “I was angry at Mr. Hitoshi for knowing I was in love with her and still asking her to be his girlfriend. But I was being a sore loser in this triangle, she can’t be my girlfriend if I don’t ask or confess, and he asked before I had the guts to. Then the days turned into weeks, then months, then years... and my heart still had those tender feelings for her. I’d cry sometimes because a bouquet of flowers in a store window would remind me of her or I stumbled across a picture of us hanging out in the dorms.”

That made me think “Wait, then how did you-” the alert that somebody was coming interrupted me.

“Oh! That must be your uncle” Dad went to open the door “Tensei! Was the drive over alright?”

“Surprisingly, no traffic this time!” responded Tensei “now, where’s my little pretty girl?!”

“I’m not little! I’m a big girl now” I giggled as he rolled into view “Hi uncle! Hi Pongo!”

The robo Dalmatian bowed it’s head for me to aggressively pet them “It’s very nice to see you Lili, your uncle was counting down the days to see you.”

“Oh si?” I looked at my uncle as I pet his robo.

“Pongo! You didn’t have to share that” Tensei blushed “But I don’t get to see you very often! Look, I even got you a gift.” He handed me a neatly wrapped gift “Bet nobody can top this one!”

“Mr. Hakamada gave me the key to his Versailles town house for me to move into” I said before opening the gift.

“Oh...damn now I feel like the shitty gift-giver” Tensei said to himself.

“If it makes you feel better brother” Dad responded “I gave her a pearl necklace.”

“Oh, you got me a session with the family portrait painter” I said with some surprise “I thought only important family members get their portraits done?”

“You are an important family remember! You’re the first one in our family to go to college” Tensei explained “It’s so exciting to see someone I know to go up on that main hall! Yours will go right next to your dad’s.”

“What’s dad known for?”

“Saving the lineage” Tensei snickered “if only everyone understood that you married out of love.”

“Hey we were just talking about that!” dad refocused “what were you going to say Lili?”

“Oh! I was asking how you reunited with mom?”

“I can answer this one!” Tensei cleared his throat “Your dad always talk about her every-time something reminds him of your mom. When your dad found the courage to talk to her, he bought a bouquet of flowers and spent time to craft a good text. All just to see the text not go through, he called and the number was no longer in service. He asked his friends that might still be in contact and they said that she changed phone numbers and she was unreachable unless you played League of Legends and talked to her in the chat.” He sighed “It was hard to see your dad that depressed. But lo and behold, a week later her face popped up in the papers and magazines as the rookie tech mogul for her company RoboDog Inc. And skip a year and a half to when I ran into them at a networking event at Daggers, she saved me, I accidentally called them gorgeous and they were flattered but she couldn’t finish her pitch to me because your dad was running through her mind. But I could tell they were in love with him, just as much as he was with her. So I brought your dad to the private consult at her office.” He started laughing “The face when your dad laid eyes on her, it was so out of character for him that I knew things were going to be alright between them.”

“All that?! You just wanted to stir the pot!” I joked “But wow, that’s quite the reunion. And dad just let her go like that for no reason other than he was jealous of another man!”

“You don’t have to reopen my wound like that” dad spoke up as he handed his brother some tea “but you’re going to be okay Lili.”

“Huh?”

“You asked me because you’re worried about being separated from Hoshi right?” 

“Well....yeah...” I admitted “It’s just that, this mirrors a little too much from what mom did and wanted to know if it was as bad as she described it.”

“Hey as long as you have contact with them and love them, you don’t have to worry about them running off or feeling hurt.”

That was a nice moment between my dad and I...until uncle Tensei ruined it with “So when’s the wedding?!”

“Shut up Tensei!” my dad and I groaned.

We spent that last day together as family and I was feeling less scared about leaving. I did one last luggage check before bed, it was unnecessary but I couldn’t go to sleep if I didn’t....I woke up at 7:30 am for the last breakfast in a very long time. Everyone was there, Hoshi and my uncle Jin with aunty Mimi. The whole time I couldn’t let go of Hoshi’s hand and he squeezed tight too. Even right up to when I had to go wait to board, I didn’t want to let go.

“So, this is it huh?” I uttered, looking at our clamped hands.

“Yeah, your gate is right there heh” Hoshi gulped “I’m going to miss you like crazy Lili.”

I glanced behind me to see the rest of my family, waiting patiently and giving us space “Me too, I didn’t think I’d get this far” I turn to Hoshi “I’m scared that things will be different when I come back.”

“They might, 3 years is a long time to be away anywhere” Hoshi responded “But the one thing that won’t is my love for you, I waited years to be reunited with you and I can wait 3 more.”

“Promise?”

“I promise”

I jump on him to hug him and he squeezed back. I don’t know how long we stood there but they announced boarding for my gate. I broke the hug and gave him a final kiss before going to my gate. Everyone waved me off as boarded and I felt ready to face this new leg of my journey. It was my first time on a plane, first class at that! I took so many pictures of the plane wing above the clouds and couldn’t wait to send them to my mom. As I stared off outside my window, looking at the sea below, I wondered what my mom was thinking about when she came to Japan. Did she hope to make friends? To love again? To get stronger? Because I’m very sure that I’ll at least fall in love with dance all over again. And that’ll get stronger so when I come back, I can do anything I put my mind to...Whatever that’ll be!

I arrive in the evening and there was a taxi waiting for me that was associated with the school I’m attending. A very nice lady representative escorted me to my townhouse and even helped bring my luggage in. She said that she’ll be helping me transition settle for the first few months and I can call on her for anything. I thanked her and closed the door after she left. Now it was just me, in my own place! I turned the lights on to see the what grandpa meant by cozy. Everything was made of wood but the furnishing was very posh and had that old world aesthetic. It was a two story with an open kitchen, two bathrooms and high ceilings. The backyard looked like it needed some work but otherwise, I loved the place! There was a note on the fridge addressed to me:

Lili,

Welcome to your new home! Happy that you made it out here safely. There’s not much here to eat that isn’t perishable. Make sure to go to the open air market the next street over to food shop before 12pm! You can use my sewing room to your heart’s desire, I left a little gift for you there. Your room is on the second floor, the one with the painted door. The neighbors are pleasant and polite, don’t be too loud after 10pm. First aid kit is in the bathroom, cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink and have fun fixing the backyard (I don’t do yard work). Sleep well, don’t forget to text me and your family that you made it safely to the townhouse.

I’ll be waiting for your response,

Grandpa Hakamada

P.S. Don’t feed the cat, he’s a fat bastard that scams everyone on the strip for their food!

    That last part got me chortling! But I text everyone I’m safely in the townhouse. I go in the sewing room and see what he left me. On the posable mannequin, was a professional grade leotard, leg warmers and pointe shoes in my skin tone! I was in tears, he didn’t have to get me all that but the fact that it was a useful gift was what touched me. I open the painted door to my room and flicked on the light, it was nearly identical to the room I had during my internship with him! There was towels and a bathrobe laid out on the bed for me, on the wardrobe was a note that said ‘open for a surprise’. And inside was warm wear and very pretty satin dresses that he made himself. What really got me was the pink satin dress that was the exact replica of the one I had as a child but for my current size. I wanted to hug him and thank him for all the nice gifts he’s left for me, but the best I could do was text him. Too tired to unpack, I called it a night and took a bath before going to bed. I fell asleep after reading everyone’s texts.   

I woke up in the UNHOLY hours of the early morning, just before the sun came up. Staring up at the ceiling, and remembering it’s 7 hours ahead back home....I wonder what Iwa is doing?

-Book 2 End-

<Previous Book 1 Master Post ~ Book 2 Master Post FAQ 1 * 2   

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU

New to the AU? Start here!

Chapter 33: I’m a Bad Bitch You Can’t Kill Me!

Big time skip: I’m 22 years old and CEO of a highly successful personal and home security robo companion company, aptly named RoboDog INC. I run things with my 2 best friends and a full staff of displaced agents and heroes, a for the people, by the people type company. I also work in a government agent job that deals with international interactions because of my college education. Millions of dollars, highly sought out by the affluent, invited to all the exclusive events....yet I’m not happy. Shinso and I broke up before my 20th birthday, I started the company to cope with the heartbreak, I live alone, I still can’t return home, drinking does nothing for me, nobody catches my interest, life has been just work and even more work, sex is unfulfilling to the point where I fake it so it can end faster...speaking of which, I’m currently getting some on my work desk in my CEO office by my most trusted employee, Beizu Iwa (former side-kick of Best Jeanist, now Head Engineer). He’s put it upon himself to give me sexual fulfillment but... I feel empty, time to end this little session.

“Ah~” I moaned.

“Already? Wow that good?” Beizu said as he did his final thrusts and kissed my neck “same time tomorrow?”

“Actually I wanna lay off the sex” I pulled up my underwear and fixed my pencil skirt “and booze for a while, I’m not feeling very frisky. Well, actually not much at all if I’m being honest.”

“What’s wrong? Is it me?” he buckled his pants.

“NO NO! You’re amazing and generous with your lovemaking!” I disarm the situation “it’s just that, I’m feeling lonely, more so than usual” I sigh as I gather the papers on my desk “I don’t feel that emotion when we do it, those nice soft feelings and I’m just kidding myself if I just have sex with someone that ,no offense, doesn’t love me and I don’t feel the same way back.”

“I can do-”

“Stop, I know you feel like you have to keep me from being pent up” I turn to him “but you don’t love me, you’re in love with Miss Hatsune.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! She’s just a part timer here at the company” he was a bad liar “why bother with her if I’m with the boss lady.”

“Are you forgetting that I went to high school with her?” I laughed “we talk outside of work and you are a little flirt with her and just her.”

“Oh well...um” he turns bright red “guess you caught me.”

“You don’t have to keep doing this” I sit at my desk chair “go claim your lady, I approve.”

He starts heading to the door “I’ll have those reports in before 6pm.”

“Thank you Beizu, take care of things down there!” I said as he closed the door.

I left the office early to start getting ready with Mimi and Jin to go to a networking event. In all honesty, I hate going to them because nobody really wants to hear what you’re trying to sell/do. Everyone goes just to find their next slam-piece or get drunk off free champagne.

“Ugh how does my hair look?” Mimi stressfully asked Jin “does it make me look desperate or menacing?”

“Oof, that hair teasing was a choice” Jin winced at her hair “how does my fit look? Too flashy? Too Slutty?”

“You’re teetering on the ‘gay club on harness night’ vibe to me” She cringed at the amount of straps on his outfit, then turned to me “what about you girl? you haven’t said a thing since you sat down to do your makeup and hair.”

“I don’t want to go, it’s at the freaking club that we frequent” I groaned “and there’s heroes in the mix, I’m going to run into somebody we went to high school with and I’m not down to answer those questions!”

“Oh shit I didn’t think about that” Jin gasped “but maybe this will be our lucky break that we’ve predicted! All we need is a hero endorsement and we can move on to other animal models.”

“I guess I’ll deal with it for the greater good of the company” I finish styling my hair “I’m going to go feral if the ugly dude from the club staff tries to talk to me again!”

We arrive to the place, looking like young CEO and company and serving fashion icon level looks. We do it so we get publicity, otherwise we’re uncomfortable and want to wear literally anything else. As usual, we get to the floor and get swarmed by small fry companies that don’t know how this whole networking thing works. I manage to slip away to have quick chat with the owner of the club to get a scope on the heroes in attendance. Lucky me, nobody I went to school with but also nobody that would be interested in listening to me pitch. I wander a bit and see a gentleman in a wheelchair rolling backwards to some stairs! Just in time, I used my telekinesis to catch him before it was too late.

“Woah gotcha!” I said as I walked up to him “are you alright? The nerve of that chick that bumped you!”

“Yeah I’m alright-” he looked at me like he recognized me “short stature, telekinesis, black and curly hair, kind and gorgeous? Excuse my suddenness, but do you know a boy by the name of Tenya Iida?”

My heart stopped “Um yes, I do” who is this guy! “we went to high school together, why do you ask?”

“He’s my little brother” he smiled as I set him on even flooring “I’m Tensei, I’ve heard so much about you!”

“Oh! Nice to formally meet you!” I go to shake his hand “I’m Itati Palma, CEO of RoboDog Inc, I’ve heard alot about you too!”

“So it is true that you run the company” he shakes my hand vigorously “my brother talks about the days before the fame, is it true that my brother said he didn’t want to be friends with you at the end of your 3rd year?”

“It’s true, unfortunately” he lets go of my hand when I said that “I miss him dearly but I don’t think he’d want to talk to me.” I swirl the last sip of my champagne in my glass “But enough of the past! What brings you to this place?”

“I’m here to find some new system for my agency” he refocused “we have an outdated security system and I want to update to modernize the place.”

“I’d love to have a little sit down time with you about my security systems” I motioned toward a frosted glass booth “my little area is right this way if you’d like to keep things a little private.”

“Yes, lets” he followed me to my area and we got into business talk. After a while of explanation his mind went elsewhere “You know, my brother was right, you are stunningly smart and beautiful.”

“Oh?” I feel his hand on my knee “he tells me the same thing and I never know why he thinks so highly of me.”

“I think he was too shy, I’m not and I’ll tell you point blank” he scooted closer to me “you’re sexy, can I have this kiss?”

“Please do” I feel the heat of his face against mine and the kissing was very soft and considerate, but of course my mind had to pull up these old memories of me and Tenya. The more he kissed me the more memories pop up, to the point to where I imagined it was Tenya that kissed me, not Tensei.

“What’s wrong?” he pulled away from my face when he felt I stopped kissing back.

“I’m...sorry” I sighed and slumped in the seat “it’s just that, I remembered all the memories I had with your brother and I don’t think I can kiss you if I have this closure I need from him.” I look him in the eye “I hate to do this to you, you’re awfully attractive too!” I sat up and took out a business card from my bra “look, I can give you a full consult with all the robo animals we offer anytime during operating hours on the card. Those are the days I’m in and I will clear my schedule to have you, as an apology for being so awkward here” I write something on the card and hand it to him.

“I’ll take you up on that offer” he gets the card and looks over it “it was a pleasure to catch you tonight! Even if it ended like this.”

“No problem! Hope to see you at the office soon!” I waved him off and stayed in my booth until Mimi and Jin came to check up on me.

“There you are! We got worried” Mimi said as she sat next to me, sensing something went wrong “did you goof?”

“Worse, I kissed Tenya’s older brother and couldn’t continue because I was imagining Tenya” I covered my face with my hands “literally, I want to combust because that man was so hot and I’m here like ‘hyuck! I have a big dumb crush on your brother even after he treated me like shit and ghosted me for 3 years now!’”

“Oh man, that’s our cue to hit up the McDonalds” Jin cringed “nothing 2 cones and triple cheeseburger can’t fix.”

“Throw in a sweet tea and another triple cheeseburger and I’m in” I said as Mimi carried me out. Two days later the headlines on the fashion headlines were of us entering the club and leaving the club with me in Mimi’s arms, it was plastered everywhere that I got wasted and my entourage had to help me leave. 

-Ingenium Agency, late morning-

“Brother, you wanted to see me?” in walked in Tenya into his brother’s office.

“Yes! Come and sit” Tensei motioned to the chair with an article in his hand “you’ll never believe who saved me from a certain fate at that networking event I went to.”

“Who? Wait, you were in danger?!” the little brother was in a whirlwind of curious and concerned.

The older brother handed him the article of the 3 friends “She saved me from rolling backwards down a flight of stairs” he pointed at the short one “you were right! She’s absolutely stunning in person! Really nice too.”

“You talked to her?!” Tenya looked at the pictures on the page “what did she talk to you about?”

“Oh just pitching her security systems to me, you know, it’s her reason to be there” he looked at the little brother and saw the sadness in his eyes “she misses you Tenya, just as much as you miss her. So much in fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about you when she was pitching to me that she had to stop.”

“Even if she says that, how am I going to talk to her!” Tenya puts down the article “I can’t just walk in her office and ask for her undivided attention! I’d be shot point blank by the tall one the moment I step foot into the place!”

“I can let you in” he flashes the card she gave him “I’m planning to walk in for my consult tomorrow and I want you to come with me.”

“She’s giving you special treatment?” he eyed the card “some things never change, I’ll go and hope I don’t get attacked by her friends.”

“I really want to know why those two hate you enough to do anything to you” Tensei gave a concerned scowl.

-The next day, CEO office, midday-

“Are we falling behind in production?” I asked the Jin as I reviewed spreadsheets with him.

“Nope, everything is good until next maintenance” Jin clicked his pen “which is in 3 weeks.”

“And are we running low on anything?”

“We got shipments in this morning for all departments” he tucked his pen behind his ear “the AI is working fine and no complaints have been filed.”

Suddenly the panic siren wailed on my desk “Oh shit that’s a code navy blue!” I panicked as I look at the security camera panels “OH FUCK HE’S HERE AND HE BROUGHT HIS BROTHER!”

“OH FUCK! Okay don’t panic” Jin tried to center himself to help me “I’ll portal to the cafe to pick up some tea time things, Mimi will distract them long enough until everything is ready and Beizu will get the robos ready.”

“Okay, alright, I’ll just sit here and breathe” I sit on my chair and lean back a little “Pom Pom? Can you change the music to my panic playlist?”

A golden brown and cream colored Pomeranian scurried to my side “Now playing, Trickery By The Higher Brothers.”

As the music played, I eyed their movements and wondered if today was really happening or I’m just having another nightmare and I’m going to wake up any moment at my desk with drool on my spreadsheets. Like the super people they are, my team got things ready in 10 minutes and ready for our guests. I stand up and walk to my one way window that overviews our work-floor to refocus myself that I’m the boss of this bitch and to keep things professional.

“Bzzt, Your clients are here for their personal consult Miss.” buzzed in Mimi for permission to come in.

“Bring them in and have my head of design and engineering on stand by please.” I respond back. The door opened and in came the two brothers, Tensei was very happy to see me but Tenya was looking very nervous. “So good to see you again Tensei” I walk over to give a polite but warm hand touch “And I see you brought little brother today” I extend my hand out for a firm and professional hand shake “a pleasant surprise to see you! How time flies when you’re busy!”

He hesitates to shake my hand “Yes, it’s been quite a while” he clears his throat “I have so much to tell.”

“I bet you do, but let’s do some business” I gesture toward the couch set up with refreshments “I know you two are big tea drinkers, please help yourself to our assortment.” They sit and I sat across from them “so as I mentioned at the event, we have the system you’re looking for plus the perfect companion to pair with the system” I clap to summon the robos “We have the dog range in the size you were thinking about and smaller ones for personal tasking...” I give them the run down of the robos and I catch Tenya looking at me and looking away embarrassed. I get that maybe he wants to reconnect but in the inside, I feel scared because what if I’m wrong and he’s just putting up with my presence because his brother is here.

“I like the size of the boxers” Tensei spoke up as he pet the robo “I want those but with a redesign that I have in mind for efficiency in the work-place.”

“Oh of course! We love getting customs done for our clients” I summon Pom Pom “sweet little Pom Pom, will you be a dear and get Mr. Iwa and Mr. Matsui for me?”

The robo yipped in response and scurried away “What happened to Muffin 2.0?” asked Tenya in confusion.

“I’m surprised you remembered him!” I was taken back a bit “he’s my house robo, even though I live in one of those gated communities, Muffin does things like tend my garden, adjust the temperature and get the mail.” I smile and look at him “it gets awfully lonely when you live by yourself, Muffin helps me cope with that too.” Beizu and Jin walk in, interrupting my thought “okay, so these two will design your custom and I’ll be taking a look at our schedule to see how soon we can have you back for prototype viewing.” I get up to walk to my desk to look at the schedule and Tenya gets up a few minutes later.

“So, um” he says as he stands in front of the desk “how are things? Between you and Shinso?”

“Oh um, we broke up a year and a half ago” it was painful to say that “but otherwise I’m doing well after all this time.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you two spit up” he apologized “but I wanted to talk to you...about everything that happened” he took a deep breath “I’m...ashamed of how I treated you, I didn’t mean all those things or to make you cry and worry-”

“Tenya, relax” I interrupted him “that was in the past, I’ve forgiven you years ago. And I’ve been meaning to reach out to you to see how are things but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to ever talk to me again because of what you told me after graduation.”

“I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that I regretted my words later that night” he fixed his glasses “you were my best friend and I treated you like garbage! And like the sweetheart you are, you still said good bye to me like it didn’t hurt.” 

“Friends are allowed to be mad at each other” I saw the regret in his face “we’ve worked it out before, can we start over?”

“You still want to be friends? After all this time?” he was taken back “well then um, what time do you get off work?”

“At around 6pm”

“Oh so do I! Let’s go to that place you frequent that the fashionistas write about your outfits” he awkwardly described.

“You mean the Daggers Club?” I was really hoping this was a dream because this can’t be right “like I’m saying no, but why there?”

“It seems like a cool place and I see you like the place” he smiled “it’ll be like old times when you’d invite me to those intel parties.”

“Well if you put it like that” I laughed “I’d love to go.” We look at each other and it’s like the flame was starting to spark from the glowing ashes that was our friendship. 

“Ahem, Miss CEO” Beizu tried to get her attention “if I may get your attention for just a moment, what is the next available prototype viewing?”

“Oh right, it’s in 2 weeks” I snapped out of it “is that enough time for you two for the custom design?”

“It’s more than enough” Jin responded “we got a full floor to work on things in that time frame.”

“Also one more thing, if it’s not too much trouble” Tensei wheeled over to a robo dog “I love this robo design and I want to have it as my personal tasker.”

“Oh that pans out perfectly actually” Beizu ponders “we can have the Pongo robo done by the time you come in for the prototype viewing, we’ll just add another 30 mins to the viewing block for programing your personal tasker.”

“Oh that’s wonderful to hear” I beamed “I love Pongo’s design too, Dalmatians are known to be assist dogs so it fits your needs.”

The consultation ends and I tell Tenya to meet me there at 8pm. I tell Mimi and Jin, they weren’t too keen on the fact that it’s him but happy that I’m excited to go out again. I don’t dress too flashy to avoid cameras, just flared mini dress with lace sleeves to cover my tattoos but not too covered up to fit in with the scene. My hair done up in a decorative hair comb and tasteful makeup because I’m not trying to impress anybody.

“Baby CEO!” bashfully greeted the club owner when I walked in “back so soon from the last event? You hardly drank and there was talk about you!”

“I know I know” I cringed remembering that night “but today is a leisure visit, my friend and I are trying to have some fun after not seeing each other for years.”

“Is your friend this tall, built like a rectangle, have glasses and does this weird hand chop thing?” the owner makes hand motions to describe this person.

“Yes actually” I was confused on the accuracy.

“Oh my, okay so I might of sent him to the red room” he nervously laughed “please don’t get mad.”

“The red room?! The trashy and cheap room?! GET HIM OUT OF THERE AND SEND HIM TO MY BOOTH!” I demanded.

“YES MA’AM!” saluted the owner before running off to fetch Tenya. 5 minutes later he comes to my booth with a slightly roughed up Tenya “So sorry about that Miss, it won’t happen again!” he bowed at me and Tenya “please enjoy your usual on the house tonight as our apology.”

“Thank you, I appreciate your honesty and swift service” I send him off and motion Tenya to sit next to me “come, sit! I bet the Red Room was a mess to walk into.”

“Oh it was” he sat next to me “what’s this room?”

“This is the Diamond Palace Terrace” I explained “only the wealthy and their guests can come up here. Celebrities beg to get a spot here but it’s a pay membership to have a booth here” I wave hello to my guards for the night “it has the tightest security and the best drinks, the music is okay.”

“It’s so sparkly and luxurious” he said in awe of the place “what an honor to get special treatment from someone in the know.”

“It certainly is a step up from the parties I invited you too” I sneered as my usual arrives at my booth “yay, the drinks are here.”

Tenya oogles at the array of pink champagne, artisan chocolate and roses in sphere ice “This is your usual? That champagne is worth more than what I make in 5 months!” He watches as the server pops the bottle open “you sure have changed your taste in alcohol.”

I hand the server a 10,000 yen bill after he pours it into two glasses “It’s really good champagne!” I hand him a glass “Here, to starting over!” 

“To starting over!” he dinks his glass with mine and takes a careful sip “oh that is pleasant, it doesn’t have that strong alcohol taste.” He drinks more than her and soon gets that wave of tipsiness “You know, can I just tell you something stupid?”

“Sure” I said cool and collected, still nursing on my second glass to his 5th.

“I’ve- I’ve haven’t had a single drop of alcohol since that last party we went to” the drinking glow grew on his face “it’s not fun unless you’re there, so I just stayed away from the stuff. And I feel GREAT now! You’re here, I’m here hic the music is bumping...lets dance!”

“Do you want to drink some water first?” I asked but he took me by the hand to the dance floor. Of course, I followed him to dance and it took me back to the first after-party I invited him too. Like always, he has no rhythm and it makes me laugh and happy to be along side him. At some point he spins me around and my hair goes undone.

“Oh, wow” he touched my hair “it’s just like how I remembered it, curly and soft” he twirled it in his fingers gently “pretty, I always wanted to play with it in class when you sat in front of me.”

“Really?” I said as I felt his hand cradle my face.“Yeah heh” he tucked the comb back onto my hair and leaned in to whisper in my ear “wanna get outta here? And back to my place?”

I didn’t have words, just a head nod. We used my chauffeur to take us to his apartment, which wasn’t too far from the club. All the while I was both nervous and excited to be invited back to his place and the fact that he said it. 

“Nice place” I said nervously “I remember when I invited you back to my apartment in 1st year, but I guess this is a different visit than the last time.”

“Yeah and shhh, my brother is asleep” he said in a low voice “let’s go in my room so we can talk a little louder.” The grip on my hand as he lead me to his room in the semi-dark, it wasn’t a vice nor loose one. It was one of those grips that made you feel wanted. “Here, get comfortable” he motioned me to sit on the bed “I’ll be right back” he stumbles into his bathroom and closes the door behind him. I sat there on his bed, shoes off and legs tucked near me, thinking about my choices. I know what this leads to and I’m nervous to jump ship with him like this but this is what I’ve dreamed of. Just didn’t think it would happen all in one day. “Okay sorry about the wait” he came out of his bathroom with just a maroon robe on.

“Oh that’s fine” I was eyeing him in his robe “it’s more than fine with me.”

He walks up to me and softly pushes me onto my back and gets on top of me “I want to make it all better Ita” his gaze was hazy and spoke softly, like something out of a movie scene “it’s late, cold and you’ll go home alone. Here I welcome you with warm arms and my company, don’t go back to that life when I want you here” he brings his face up to my neck to nuzzle it “softness, warmth and-” this sentence trailed off. 

I laid there in silence, heart pounding in my chest to what’s next. I heard him snore and realized that he fell asleep on top of me. Of course he did, he had 6 glasses of pink champagne with no water! I floated him off me and properly on his bed, glass of water on the night stand and my personal phone number with a note when he wakes up. Kneeling beside him as he sleeps reminds me of all the times I had to tend to his drunk ass. 

“Some things never change, I love you Tenya” I kiss his forehead “sweet dreams, hope to see you soon.” I left quietly to my ride that was waiting for me to take me home. Even though it was only 1am by the time I came back, it was the most fun I had in so long.

-Next day, Intel training grounds-

“Sooo, how was your date?” Jin leaned in like a chismoso “you look really happy today.”

“It wasn’t a date and I did have fun” I huffed as I put on my training top “it was like old times where I had to take care of his drunk ass.”

“Does that mean-” Mimi said with a shocked face.

I sighed in defeat “Yes, I entered his apartment to take him to bed” I closed my locker “forehead kiss and everything.”

“You’re really out here, going back to your old crushes” Mimi judged “as a CEO and a high ranked agent, probably one of the most powerful women in Japan, but you want the attention of that boy?!”    

“Not to be more spicy” Jin butted in with his phone in his hand “but it looks like your simple look was still trendy enough to get the people’s attention.” He showed Mimi and I a fashion tabloid on my club look.

“How the hell? They work fast!” I scrolled through the pictures “they even clocked on the brand of dress I was wearing but why did they say that I was with a mystery man?”

“Huh? Where does it say that?” Jin questioned as he flips his phone back to him.

“Right there in the 3rd paragraph, he’s a pro-hero and it’s not like he’s one of the unpopular ones” I get a little upset “he’s part of the Ingenium legacy!”

“Since the re-ranking, Ingenium has fallen a bit down on the list” one of the other agents in the locker room spoke up “especially now that New Symbol of Peace™️ has been identified, legacy heroes are losing relevancy.”

“Well that’s unfortunate” I sighed and closed my locker “time to get some work done.”

As I go through my day and wait for a response from Tenya, I start to wonder about how things are going to turn out. Are we going to back where things were? Is he going to tell me that he wants to be more? And will he even want to respond after everything he did last night?

-Chapter 33, End-

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