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fuckyeahgoodomens · 11 days

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Good Omens graphic novel update: May 2024

Happy 34th birthday to Good Omens - published in May 1990. We don't need any extra reasons to celebrate Aziraphale and Crowley, but we're always happy to find some.

Admin

Thank you to everyone who has completed the PledgeManager so far; as mentioned, this will be open through 2024 into early 2025 to complete. A few key queries that have arisen in the past month:

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I need to change my address. How do I do that? We have left the option to update your shipping address open on PledgeManager and will do so for as long as possible. Per PledgeManager, here is a step-by-step on how to change your address: Return to your survey (which you can also do by visiting my.pledgemanager.com and using the ‘Forgotten Password’ option if needed) and scroll down on the receipt page. There, you will see the below button. After clicking that, you will be taken to the first page of the survey and will just need to click through to the shipping page. On the shipping page, you can use the ‘Create New Address’ button to enter their updated address.

If you have any further issues or queries, visit the central FAQ page as your first port of call.

Good Omens items...

The desk at Good Omens HQ is slowly filling up with prototypes, the latest of which appears to be as popular as Aziraphale and Crowley, and for good reason. We are, of course, talking about the ducks. Here's an early version of the duck mug:

We've got some early prototype designs of the trading cards too. Illustrator Steve Gregson has begun work on the base card deck illustrations, to be unveiled in future, and designs for some of the variants are fully underway. Here are some early samples of graphic novel variant cards from Colleen Doran, and Rachael Stott's Crowley:

The base packs (Hellhound+) currently include 80 cards, and have caused quite heated games with those who have test-played it so far on their attempts to thwart (or indeed cause) the apocalypse. Hellhound+ backers will also get a booster pack alongside the main game. Rarities for sharing at random in these orders are shaping up nicely too. Hoping to share some of the base pack design imminently.

If you've been wondering what your other alternative cover choice is, alongside Rachael Stott's (Serpent+), then wonder no more: here is Frank Quitely's take on Aziraphale and Crowley, ready to shine on your shelves.

Update from Colleen

We often end with an update from Colleen, whether that's her art, or her shots from her studio. However, we thought it was about time we invite Colleen to update you herself, so we are handing the rest of this month's over to your ineffable artist for a glimpse inside the process of making Good Omens. Enjoy.

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As you may imagine, I’m having a wonderful time working on the Good Omens graphic novel. The Dunmanifestin team asked me to pop in and give you a look at my process.

The task of adapting a beloved novel into graphic novel format is a complex, wonderful sort of pressure cooker. Even without the well-publicized complications I got smacked with over the last year, it promised to be an intense, time-consuming project.

The graphic novel is about the book and not the show. Getting Michael Sheen and David Tennant out of my head was quite a task. I’ve seen it dozens of times and I adore it, but I to had devote a lot of time to re-reading the novel and listening to the audiobook to clear my head of them.

The few times I allowed myself to watch the show again screwed me up a bit. So, I won’t watch it again until I am completely finished with every drawing. Maybe a view-a-thon will be my reward for finishing the book.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s still a lot to do, so let me show you it.

Before we knew the Kickstarter fundraiser would do well, the graphic novel was to clock in at 164 pages. After the good news of the Kickstarter success, I got permission to take the story to 200 pages. That meant a major rewrite and redraw on some dozens of thumbnails and layouts.

And you guys are getting a much longer book.

Not complaining one bit. I was so happy to get more space to give breathing room to the ending.

Anyway, here's a look at my workspace.

To the left is my laptop computer with the script. The laptop is connected to my graphics computer via ethernet, and all my reference is on the main system, from which I share files.

On my older projects, I dutifully printed out every bit of reference. I think this is the first project where I’ve done all reference and organizing on my MAC.

As you can see, I draw comics the old-fashioned way – by hand – and there is my script on the computer.

But I do all the coloring on this project on the MAC. I know some people hate Photoshop, but even if I wanted to switch, I don’t have the time to dive into a new system.

That entire box with all the narrow drawers in it you see there contain Good Omens pages in varying degrees of completion. Finished pages are at the bottom with layouts, pencils, and partial inks toward the top. The middle drawer contains templates, French curves, and a ruler.

The box isn’t fancy art studio equipment. It’s just a Childcraft brand puzzle storage rack. I realized a long time ago the heavy wooden bookcases, puzzle racks, and construction paper storage made for children’s classrooms made great modular storage for professional art spaces. It’s solid as a rock, heavy so little children can’t tip it, and I can move it and rearrange my space however I like.

The final art is drawn on 11”X14” Strathmore 500 acid free Bristol.

I do all my prelims as tiny “thumbnail” sketches, some in ink, some in very loose pencil. I keep them organized in this Levenger notebook. The thumbnail paper is both Canson brand, and Blue Line Pro, and both are acid free. Blue Line Pro is good for ink, but Canson is better for pencil because it has more tooth. I usually use Canson.

Using the Levenger hole puncher, I perforate my pages and keep them organized in a Levenger Circa system. It’s pricey, but I love it. There are other brands far less expensive, however.

The ruler shows how tiny the thumbnails are.

If the storytelling is clear at this small size, then it will be clear in the final.

I redo quite a bit as I go along, as you can see from the sequence below.

From thumbnail:

To pencils:

Since I did multiple rewrites, adding a large section at the end and popping in earlier scenes I originally had to skip, this meant redoing almost all the page numbers about 4 times.

Nearly went barmy.

I use the construction method of drawing, as you see. This is an old-school technique. Some people seem to assume that artists always use computers and tracing for their drawings, but most cartoonists of my generation work extemporaneously. There’s quite a bit of noodling around and searching in the sketches. Using too much reference often results in stiff, dead work.

In comics, it’s very important to make sure you’ve considered word balloon placement when designing a page. The script for Good Omens is more copy-heavy than most modern comic book scripts because I want to preserve as much of the clever original language as I can.

Here I scramble about working out the word balloon space allowance.

Here’s a deeper look at the process for page 2 from thumbnails to final color.

Now here is where things get a little weird. What you’re about to see is a process called flatting.

If you color a comic without first flatting the art, you are consigning yourself to many extra hours of labor and frustration.

Flatting is a way to tell the computer to select areas inside the black lines so that whenever you click on that particular color, you can paint inside that area perfectly. Since the computer only understands 1 and 2 - or on and off - when you tell that computer to stick to that area, that is what it will do.

There are computer programs that you can use to create your flats. I use Multi-Fill. The results are uniquely ugly, but they get the job done. Here is what that looks like.

Absolutely hideous.

But pretty much all I have to do from this point on is click each block of color and change it to whatever I like. The result is this:

I also experimented with selecting areas of the line work as color holds, but I’m getting into more complicated color technique than we may have time for at this point. But from here, I can start painting.

And the painting stage looks like this.

Since I wasn’t entirely sure exactly how I wanted to approach this color style, I took screen shots of some of the changes I made as I went along. In the shot at the left, I’ve given Aziraphale’s heavenly self a golden glow by using a color hold on the line. But I found it needed more contrast to make his figure pop, so I darkened it in the next shot.

I use the computer to create the initial flats, but I either do the final flats myself, or I have help from Julmae Kristoff and/or Dee Cunniffe.

The flats are (usually) not intended to be part of the final work. They are a technical tool.

For example, here are the original, computer-generated flats for one scene in Good Omens.

And here are the secondary flats by Julmae Kristoff.

And here is my final color work.

Since I’m running behind on the book, I’ve brought in Dee Cunniffe to do some extra color work. He is a wonderful colorist, as well as an excellent flatter. I’m not sure to what extent I’ll be handing pages to Dee at this point, because I’m very controlling, and I want to make absolutely certain there are no stylistic anomalies in the art, and I want all the Crowley and Aziraphale pages for myself, is that too much to ask?

I use Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens for my inking. I sometimes use an old-fashioned crowquill as well, but Faber Castells are easier to control, and the ink uses real pigment instead of dye like many markers. All of my originals are created with longevity in mind: acid-free and lightfast. I want the drawings to be fade-proof.

And that is a quick tour of the work so far.

A thousand thanks to Neil Gaiman and the Dunmanifestin team for their incredible kindness and patience, and that goes double for all Good Omens supporters out there. Your indulgence is appreciated more than I can adequately express. I am truly sorry to have been the cause of the delay in the book, but I can only make it up to you by doing my very best.

And that is what I am doing.

BTW, many years ago, I found a little yellow duckling who was getting beaten up by the other ducks, so I saved him and took him to my home to live until my parents adopted him, since they had a nice yard and a pond, and I didn’t.

He had a birth defect and could not fly, which is probably why the other ducks were pecking at him.

He got to stay in the family house, and eat goldfish crackers, and swim in the tub. Eventually they built him his own house. We called it the Duck Majal.

He lived for ten years.

I named him Fred because I’d been watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s when I heard him quacking for help that day we met, and Holly Golightly’s brother was named Fred.

So, here’s to you Fred.

Until next time.

#good omens #graphic novel #good omens graphic novel #graphic novel kickstarter #colleen doran #fred

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hairstevington · 9 months

Text

Do I wanna know?

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Somewhere in the multiverse, there is a world where everyone has a choice - If you had the option of reading a list of everyone who's ever been in love with you, would you do it?

Word Count: 2.6K

Warnings: Modern day AU sort of?? It's not based in realism, just go with it. Best friends to lovers, Robin & Steve & Eddie all live together because I said so, mutual pining, fluff, confession of feelings, lots of denial but they figure it out eventually

A/N: This idea came to me during my stats class, and then it became very difficult to continue focusing on my stats class. (I wrote it as soon as we were dismissed lol). Enjoy this cute little Steddie one shot! Ao3 link here :)

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“Dude, did you see what they just announced?” Steve asked as he played video games with Eddie.

“Yeah, it’s some wild shit,” Eddie replied. “How is it even possible?”

“I think it’s fake,” Robin called from the kitchen as she made them all pizza rolls.

“Not fake,” Steve insisted. “I was reading about it on the internet and a bunch of people are saying it’s legit.”

“Well, if you read it on the internet, it must be true,” Robin remarked sarcastically.

“Whatever,” Steve said. “I’m gonna get mine and find out.”

The deal was that, somehow, everyone had the option of getting a list of statistics about their lives. It was advertised with a variety of categories to look through - some of them could have been retrieved through bank statements and background checks, like the number of countries visited, money spent, etc. Other categories (let’s be real, the most intriguing categories), were far more mysterious.

Number of near-death experiences. Every book you’ve read, with a total word count. And, the most exciting of the bunch - How many people have been in love with you, and who.

“Don’t waste your money or your time,” Eddie said with a roll of his eyes. “It’s bullshit. Probably just another way for the government to squeeze more money out of us.”

“Come on, it’s not some conspiracy, Eds,” Steve replied. “I’m just curious, that's all.”

“Oh, I bet,” Robin chimed in. “Just be honest and admit you want to know about the love thing. You and your ego, Dingus.” Steve smiled. He couldn’t argue with her.

“As if you’re not also dying to read yours,” he countered.

“I’m pretty sure mine would just hurt my feelings,” Robin said with a sigh. “Robin Buckley - loved by her platonic soulmate Steve Harrington and Creepy Carl from band camp.” Eddie snickered.

“Carl wasn’t that creepy,” he said.

“You’re only saying that because you were also kind of creepy in high school,” she replied. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Eddie responded with a shrug. “But I think I speak for all former creeps when I say we were just socially stunted and awkward. Most of us grew up to be half-decent people.”

“Way to humble brag,” Steve teased.

“I’m bragging by saying I’m half-decent?” Eddie replied. Steve laughed and nodded. Meanwhile, Robin quickly scrolled through her phone until she stumbled across what she was looking for with a gasp.

“Oh my god,” she said. “Creepy Carl’s most recent post is about how the patriarchy is a myth.” Steve laughed again and pushed Eddie playfully. Eddie flopped over on the couch and groaned.

“Dammit, Carl, I was rooting for you!” he joked.

“We were all rooting for you, how dare you!” the three of them shouted in unison.

That was, of course, a reference to America’s Next Top Model, which Robin showed the boys clips of one night during a rant about the toxicity and absolute batshit nature of early 2000s reality TV. That quote, for whatever reason, stuck. They had a lot of inside jokes like that.

This is how life had been for the three of them the last few years. They’d become best friends straight out of high school, then all moved in together. Life was comfortable and nice.

Steve somehow convinced Robin that they would both get their lists together. Eddie, on the other hand, downright refused.

“I don’t need any of that shit,” he insisted. “It’s not gonna do me any good, and I’m perfectly fine staying in the dark.”

“Okay, I get it,” Steve said, holding his hands up. “You’re scared and lame, that’s totally okay.” Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, dickhead,” he replied. “This whole thing is stupid anyway. And - and it’s not like we can seriously trust whatever it says. It’s probably just…all lies, anyway.”

“Yeah, but they’re fun lies,” Robin countered. “It’s like hearing gossip about your own life.”

“Exactly!” Steve agreed. “It’s just for fun.”

“Have your fun, then,” Eddie said devilishly. “I’ll be in my room, not being an idiot.”

Robin and Steve put their names and date of birth into a search engine and, within five minutes, each had their respective documents in their inboxes. Steve opened his immediately and eagerly, skipping past all the boring shit until he found the good stuff.

Number of people who have had crushes on Steve Harrington: 436.

Number of people who have been in love with Steve Harrington: 85.

“Holy shit,” he muttered, looking at the long list of names. He looked up from his phone to see Robin staring at the wall. “Why aren’t you reading?”

“I don’t think I can do it,” she said. “I’m chickening out.” Steve scoffed.

“What? Robs, come on. You already ordered the damn thing.”

“Yeah, but -” She sighed. “But now it’s, like, real.”

“Do you want me to read yours for you?” he asked. She shook her head.

“No, I think I’m just going to keep it unread for now,” she decided. Steve shrugged.

“Okay, if that’s what you want.” Robin scooted herself over on the couch so she could look at Steve’s phone screen.

“Wait, they even have crushes on there?” she asked, her eyes wide. “Jeez, Harrington. That’s quite the list.” Steve smirked, realizing it very much did give him an ego boost. He continued scrolling to see even more categories.

Number of people Steve Harrington has had a crush on: 63.

Jesus, Steve thought to himself. That’s kind of embarrassing. In his defense, some of them were celebrities. He continued reading.

Number of people Steve Harrington has been in love with: 3.

Steve didn’t even have to read the list to know who was on it. He quickly clicked his phone off before Robin could see.

“Hey!” she said. “What was that for? It’s not like there are any secrets between us.”

“No, I just - I’ll read it later,” Steve said.

Robin would usually be right. She was almost completely right. It’s just that Steve had one secret. And it wasn’t even really a secret, it was just something he kept to himself, because it didn��t really matter.

Nancy Wheeler

Robin Buckley

Eddie Munson

He had barely admitted it to himself, honestly. It’s not like anything would happen. Him and Eddie were best friends, and if something was going to happen between them, it would have already happened. Now, they were too close, and living together. It was different. It didn’t matter. Besides, Robin was on his list, and he wasn’t running off to date her.

Steve put his phone away and didn’t check the list again for a couple days.

“So, how’s the list?” Eddie asked one morning as he made a pot of coffee. “You haven’t said anything about it.” Steve shrugged.

“It’s like a million pages long,” Robin chimed in. Eddie clicked his tongue against his teeth.

“That’s not surprising,” he said. “It’s a shame Harrington isn’t much of a reader. It might take him years to get through.” Steve glared at Eddie, who grinned in response.

“Are you ever going to stop poking fun at me about that?” he wondered.

“Aaaaabsolutely not,” Eddie replied. “Steve, The Hobbit is 310 pages. 310. Even one page a day you would have been done in a year, and you’re still not done.”

“Okay, listen,” Steve responded defensively. “It’s not my kind of book, alright?”

“He likes the ones with the pictures,” Robin teased. Eddie laughed and high-fived her.

“Wooow, okay,” Steve replied. “I see how it is. I’m just gonna grab my cereal and go, then.”

“Nooo, don’t leave on our behalf,” Eddie said.

“We’re soorrrryyyyyy,” Robin added. Steve chuckled and shook his head.

“Whatever,” he resigned. “I haven’t read the damn list. Not all of it, anyway.” Robin’s ears perked up.

“But you’ve read some of it, right?” she asked. “Spill!”

“Just the first ten names or so,” Steve said. He had gotten a glimpse when he skimmed over it the first time. “I think it’s in chronological order.”

“Anyone surprising?” Eddie wondered. Steve shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Although it did confirm my suspicion that Katie Crystal was into me, after all.”

“I’m thinking maybe I should read mine,” Robin said quietly.

“Yeah, well duh,” Eddie replied. “You paid for it.”

“It’s just - it’s not a big deal, right?” Steve looked at Eddie to survey his reaction. Eddie just shrugged. “It’s like you said, Eds. We don’t even know if it’s accurate.”

Steve didn’t really know if all of it was accurate, but some of it sure as shit was.

“Exactly,” Eddie agreed. “So, Steve, there’s a chance that Katie Crystal actually hated your guts. Who’s to say?”

Steve rolled his eyes. Another few days passed.

Robin flip-flopped between whether or not she wanted to read her list every few hours or so. Steve and Eddie placed their bets on how long it would take her to crack.

Meanwhile, Steve counted his lucky stars that Eddie decided not to buy his list. It was clear that they were bros and nothing more, so Eddie finding out would have made everything incredibly weird.

This was for the best.

Things carried on as they usually did, until one day Steve was so bored, he decided to revisit the godforsaken document. Plus, he’d been on a few dates that ended in disaster, and reading about the hundreds of people that were into him was bound to put him in good spirits.

He had no idea just how right he was.

The names were all relatively normal. Steve tended to know when girls had a thing for him, especially back in high school. There were some names he didn’t recognize, which meant that there were total strangers crushing on him. He wondered how that was even possible. Like, at that point, they were just basing it on looks and vibes alone.

Eh. Steve had crushes on people in the past over less. He kept reading.

He made his way down the list until he reached Eddie’s name. He read it again and again to make sure he was seeing it right.

Eddie had said repeatedly that this thing could be total bullshit, though. Steve had to take it all with a grain of salt. Besides, crushes meant nothing. Hell, Steve was pretty sure Eddie had mentioned once that he thought Steve was hot when they first became friends.

Steve made his way to the list of people who’d loved him. None of the names mattered except one.

Eddie Munson.

“Oh, shit,” Steve muttered. “Oh, shit!” He jumped up out of bed and paced the floor. He had no idea what to do with this information.

It could be bullshit. It could be nothing.

Or maybe, Eddie had kept saying it was bullshit because he knew what Steve would find.

“OH MY GOD.”

Robin came bursting into Steve’s room a few moments later.

“What? What’s going on?” she said. She looked to see his phone on the floor and his hands in his hair. “Oh my god, you read it! What was it? What’s got you all freaked out?”

“I gotta - uhh - I gotta -” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence with Robin in the room. He had to find Eddie - that’s what he had to do. But his head was spinning too much to do so.

“That’s it. I’m gonna read mine right now,” Robin decided. She swiftly left to go back to her room while Steve continued to pace.

“Holy shit,” he said to himself. He thought about it for a few minutes, scrawled something on a piece of paper, and then walked down the hall to Eddie’s room.

Eddie opened the door a few inches, still wearing his sweatpants. He hadn’t left his room yet that day, but his guitar was lying on his bed, which meant he’d been practicing.

“What’s up?” Eddie asked.

“I finished the list,” Steve replied. Eddie’s jaw clenched just enough for Steve to notice, and then he shrugged.

“And?” Steve continued to look at Eddie until he broke his composure. He sighed, then opened his door wider. “Come in,” he said.

Steve had been in Eddie’s bedroom a million times. They’d watched movies in there and stayed up all night talking and smoked together and dear sweet lord I am so dumb for never noticing.

“Is it bullshit?” Steve asked. Eddie started spinning the ring on his middle finger anxiously, refusing to make eye contact.

“Uhh, is what bullshit?” Eddie replied. Steve put his hands on his hips and cocked his head.

“Come on, you know what I’m talking about,” he said. “I just - is it bullshit? Tell me the truth.”

Eddie stared at him for a few long moments before gently shaking his head.

“It’s not bullshit.”

Steve’s hands fell back to his sides, and he felt himself get lightheaded.

“It’s -” he began, struggling to find the words. He cleared his throat. “Wow, I uh -”

“It doesn’t matter, though,” Eddie interjected. “Just so you know. I like what we have. We’re, ya know, we’re friends. Roommates.”

“Do you still -?” Steve started to ask. He noticed Eddie’s eyes flooded with fear, a sight he rarely saw. “I mean, do you still?”

“Steve, I -” Eddie began, his voice tired. “I really, uh. I don’t know what to say.”

Steve dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper he’d ripped from his notebook. He held it out for Eddie to take, and when Eddie didn’t reach for it, Steve stepped closer and stuffed the page right into Eddie’s hand.

“Read it,” Steve encouraged.

“What is it?”

“It’s your list.” Eddie’s faced scrunched with confusion. “Yeah, I made it myself.”

“I told you, I don’t wanna know,” he said, trying to give the paper back to Steve.

“Trust me, you do.”

Eddie sighed, then unfolded the paper and read it.

People who are in love with Eddie Munson:

-Me

-(Steve Harrington)

Steve waited and watched Eddie’s eyes travel up and down the page, similar to the way Steve’s had when he read Eddie’s name on his own list. Finally, Eddie looked up.

“Really?” he asked, his voice soft. Steve smiled and nodded.

“Really.”

In that moment, they both knew this changed everything, and yet it changed nothing at all. They’d just skipped a bunch of steps of dating - blown past the getting-to-know-you stage straight into living together and doing all the domestic shit.

Eddie and Steve each stepped toward the other until their hands met.

“OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!”

Robin’s voice pierced through their intimate moment and completely obliterated it. The boys glanced at each other in confusion and then ran out to see what Robin was yelling about.

She was already out the front door by the time they got to the kitchen. If this were a cartoon, she would have left behind a cloud of smoke.

“What do you think that’s about?” Steve asked. Eddie felt his phone buzz and checked it to find Robin had texted a screenshot to the household group chat. He smirked.

“Vicki’s on her list,” Eddie said. Steve chuckled, happy that everyone managed to find their happy ending.

“You know what that means?” Steve asked.

“That you owe me 20 bucks?” Eddie teased.

“Well, that," Steve replied. "But is also means we’re alone in the apartment for a while." Eddie grinned and took Steve by the hand.

“I like the way you think.”

They ran to Steve’s room together, and if the confession of love hadn’t already changed everything, sleeping together certainly did.

It was the good kind of change, though. The kind that moved mountains and cleared all the clouds from the sky.

At last, the idiots were together. All it took was years of denial and one payment of $44.49.

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Check out my Masterlist!

@paintballkid711 @abraca-fxckyou @allbimyself26 @jellybabiesforall @allbymyselfexceptformycactus @justaloadofgarbage-blog @alliemunsonsstuff @undreamingnscatworld @hobbitnarwhal @calivanus @wreckmyplans-thatsmyman @antheia @goodolefashionedloverboi @lillemilly @missmagillicuddy @gamerdano @menamesniall @eyeslikewildflowers111 @callmesirkay @stringischeese @eds-trashmouth @mnl-enuh @redfreckledwolf @itsanarrum @soulsofstarsliveinyourveins @stevesbipanic @momotonescreaming @aryakanojiaa @wrenisflying @comicmadlover @lilacrobin @itch-my-b0nez @anonymousbandgirl @disastardly @dangdirtydemons @daisyellsong @val-from-lawrence @starryeyedpoet17 @taikawaiteatea @clumsiluni @hollysimone @swimmingbirdrunningrock @witchofhawkins @steddiegarbage @suddenlyinlove @ricekristytreaty @eddielives1986 @bunnyweasley23 @thefailcollection @ppunkpuppyy @bestwifehaver @httpsphynx @skjachukson @deadfromtheneckdown

#eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #stranger things #robin buckley #stranger things fanfiction #steddie fic #platonic stobin #best friends to lovers #modern day au #writing #eddie munson x steve harrington #eddie and steve

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actualbird · 9 months

Note

pardon me! I wanted to try the game tears of thermos, but I’m a little nervous since I don’t play these type of games. Do you have any advice on how to best enjoy myself and invest in its world/characters?

hi anon!!! im so glad you wanna try out tot!!! i do have some tips, but before i go there i must inform you that autocorrect mustve done something to your message because you said tears of thermos and i cldnt rest until i edited a meme of that

sjfhavkkHJVKJHJKSD OKAY ANYWAY, TIPS!!!!

im particularly interested in how you worded this ask!! ive had a lot of people ask me tips on how to start tot (and the relevant ones, i'll link in this ask too) but never on a narrative investment/immersion angle. so my tips for this will be a bit different

but before that, here are my past tips from my tot tips tag

general tips for a newbie (gameplay tips and story tips)

how to "predict" upcoming events

tot stories in chronological order (only updated til july 2022)

now for your question i guess my biggest tip would really just be to treat tears of themis like a visual novel that just so happens to update with more stories.

idk how much of a newbie you are to this genre, but when i got into this game i had NEVER played any other otome before in my life. so it was all new to me!! and i basically treated it like an updating visual novel, this is My Method, and that got me quite invested (as is obvious from my entire blog). so when i say "treat it like a visual novel" i mean:

im personally not particularly a card completionist or a gacha enthusiast. which, hell yeah, this game wont bankrupt me LOL. but also, since cards are the main way where new nxx boy stories are released through, for any card i dont have, i just watch it on youtube. because basically every card, event plot, minigame, etc gets uploaded by someone a little bit after its release. so if youre bummed you missed an event card but you dont really Want the card, you just want its story, just search it on youtube!! search [card name/event name] + [whichever language dub you prefer] + tears of themis and voila! new story for you to read!!!

if you want plot = read Main Story. this is where all the heavy main plot happens and it is SO GRIPPING AND RIVETING.

if you want character development and relationship development between mc and each boy = read Personal Story Bloom Chapter, and then the respective nxx boy's Anniversary 1 card, Personal Story Sweet Chapter 1 and 2, and then the respective nxx boy's Anniversary 2 card. the personal story routes (aka the routes where mc eventually ends up with the boy romantically) are where a BULK of characterization and character development happens, imo

if you want romance and oneshot dates = explore the available cards!!! the tot wiki has an archive of all the available cards per boy on each of the characters' main pages. for example, here's luke's page. scroll down to the cards section and Behold. Luke Stories As Far As The Eye Can See

these pages dont have the story transcribed in them, but theyre great to use as a directory or a map of cards. so if any of the cards catch your eye, then take urself to youtube to find the card and voila (again)! new story for u to experience!

(note: SSRs always have a full 6 act story. SRs either have a 6 act story that is unvoiced, OR 2 voice messages. MRs always have 2 voice messages. R cards have no story and no voice messages)

if you want nxx team dynamics = read and/or play the events!!!! this is my favorite thing, the tot events are a treasure trove of fun cases and awesome team dynamics. in the game itself, some of the big events are available as DLC for anybody to play themselves at any time. to get there, X-NOTE Story -> lower and rightmost button Event -> upper and rightmost button Past.

if theres anything i would reccommend the MOST, itd be to download and pllay the event Mysteries of the Lost Gold. it's so good. it's my favorite event story. trust me on this

i hope these tips can help!!! happy playing :DDD

#asks #anon #luke voice: tears of thermos!#HAHA SORRY THE THERMOS THING JUST MADE ME SMILE A LOT SJFHSVKFDJH #tottips

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ben243s-transformation-stories · 2 months

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A harmless prank

Ah, you’ve got to love our educational system. School was canceled because of a teachers strike. They claimed they were striking for better pay, or training or some other such nonsense that was supposed to make out lives as students better. Of course, most of the time actually being in school and learning would have been better than sitting around at home goofing off. But it’s all for the kids. Yeah right.

So anyway, I had nothing better to do with my day than hang out with my friends and get into mischief. Everyone should know it’s never a good idea to leave teenagers unattended for long periods, but my parents didn’t have the luxury of taking off every time the teachers decided to go out on strike

I had just spent the morning with my friends, and was feeling kind of amped up and was in the mood to see what kinds of things I could get away with.

The area of town I lived in was fairly quiet and rural. There weren’t really any good places to go, or even a mall to hang out in, so I found myself lying on my bed tossing a ball in the air while i tried to come up with some kind of plan.

I was never one to get into too much trouble, and generally stuck to the rules. Today, though, something must have been in the air because I was especially restless and ready to see how far I could push my luck.

I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I decided to have a little fun online and started searching for interesting websites. I scrolled for nearly half an hour before one finally caught my eye.

I’m not entirely sure what drew me to it, but I landed on my city’s government website. I had never really had cause to browse it before, and I was amazed by how many options it had, and the array of things that you could do totally online. Most would have taken the full day to do in person, but could be completed in minuets on the new site.

I couldn’t help but be amazed as I scrolled through the options. I stared to get a seed of an idea forming in my head. I should pick something and fill out the form and see what I could get to happen. At the very least I would waste some bureaucrats time, At best I could maybe cause some huge scene with the police or fire department. A grin spread across my face.

I browsed the site for a while longer, but nothing really met my requirements for my masterplan to cause havoc. Most of the options were fairly mundane and boring. Nothing worthy of my time. Except………

I clicked on the link for their new online pet registration page. Something felt right. This was the page I had been looking for. I decided to set my plan into action, Granted it wasn’t well thought out, but hey what do you expect from a bored 14 year old boy?

I brought up and read through the forms. Nothing too complicated just basic details. it looked straight forward enough. I started entering my real details in the fields, age, height, weight, etc. I even listing my parents as my owners, and uploaded my recent school photo. Under species I checked canine, and chose yellow lab for breed. I decided to list my name as the nickname my parents used for me “Sammy”.

I looked over the completed form and smiled. No way they would accept it, and at least it would waste some poor bureaucrats time reading and deleting it. Oh boy, I am such a reprobate now.

Satisfied that I had done something awesome, I clicked submit. A few seconds later I got an email confirmation that the form had been received. I waited a while to see if I would get some error notice, but nothing came. Oh well, maybe they have a lot of submissions to go through.

I gave up and decided to boot up my playstation and catch up on my games. Before I knew it it was time for dinner. After a good meal and little conversation with my parents I headed to my room to watch tv. Before I knew it, I was drifting off and decided to head to bed.

I forgot all about the form until about a week later. My mom had grabbed the mail and brought it into the dining room to read. I noticed the envelope for the one she was reading was from the city, but I didn’t think anything of it until she looked over at me.

“Samuel Benjamin Waldorf?!?!?! What have you done?” She asked me. You know you’re in trouble when they use your full name. I gave her a quizzical look, not exactly sure what she was talking about.

She turned to my father and started to read the letter out loud. “Thank you for submitting your registration for your dog “Sammy”. It has been approved and ….” She read on for some time and rattled of a bunch of legal jargon I had no hope of understanding. The bottom line was that I was now fully registered and classified as a dog in their system.

And to make matters worse,The letter said my “owners” had Just 72 hours to get me the required vaccines and license or there would be fines and penalties. My parents spent a number of those 72 hours yelling at me for being stupid, and how could I do something like that, all the typical parental things.

Once they had calmed down, they found a customer service number, and celled. The person they talked to tried to be patient and polite with them, but had to keep telling my parents that all registrations were final. Defeated my parents discussed what they should do next.

Since the deadline was looming, and there didn’t seem to be any way to resolve the issue quickly, they decided that I should comply with the mandate.

My mom called the vet, and explained what had happened. After a fairly awkward conversation, on both sides I’m sure, I had an appointment for an exam and shots in the morning. I always hated going to the real doctor, and this wasn’t anymore appealing to me. I tried to get some rest, but I kept tossing and turning.

I must have fallen asleep for at least a few hours, because my mom came into my room, shaking me to wake me up and make sure I was ready in time for the appointment. I was still half in a daze, but I managed to throw some clothes on and make it to the car.

My mom drove me to the vet hospital, which we hadn’t been to since our last cat passed away a few years ago. We went inside, and mom told me to grab a seat while she checked me it.

Mom talked to the receptionist, pointed at me a few times, and was given a clipboard with a stack of forms to fill out. She brought them over to where I was sitting, and sat in the chair next to me.

It seemed like it took her hours to fill out the forms. Every once in a while she would ask me for some detail or other she needed for the form. While she worked I idly look around the office. It hadn’t changed much from the last time we had been here.

When she was finally done, mom took the forms back to the desk and we were led back to an exam room. I was told to disrobe and sit on the examining table. I looked at my mother, and she gave me that look that every kid knows means “don’t you dare argue- just do it.” So i quickly stripped out of my clothes and sat on the table. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything as cold as that exam table in my life.

A few minuets later, the vet came in a greeted us. He looked at me as said “this must be Sammy.” The vet spent a few minuets looking over the forms and talking to my mother. it felt a little strange to have my medical history talked about like I wasn’t in the room, but I guess that was standard practice for a Vet. Most of their patients didn’t talk back.

It wasn’t long before he stared the exam. He poked me and prodded me all over. He examined my ears, eyes, and mouth. I tried to keep my privates covered and maintain some modesty, but it was no use. He drew several vials of blood for tests, and even used a rectal thermometer to get a temperature. I never felt so humiliated in all my life.

Remember when I said the table was the coldest thing I’d ever felt? Well it was nothing compared to the stethoscope. He most have kept that thing in a liquid nitrogen freezer. I drew in a sharp breath when he put it on my skin and could barely handle it while he listened to my breathing and heart beat. He even reached down and palpated my testicles.

When he was done, he told my mother everything looked good, and he would let her know when the blood work came back. He, jokingly i hoped, suggested neutering me.

He then proceeded to fill several large syringes full of various vaccines. When he was done, my mother, worrying about me as she always does, asked the vet to include a microchip. I never liked needles and almost fainted at the sight of them.

Luckily the Vet was skilled, and I barely noticed as he plunged each one into my skin and injected the liquid. The vet grabbed the microchip and inserted it under my skin between my shoulder blades.

The Vet filled in all the forms and gave them to his tech, who took them to be entered into the computer. He told my mom we could head up front in a few minuets and his receptionist would have the proof of vaccinations and microchip forms ready for us. She thanked him, and he left so I could get dressed.

When we got to the front, everything was ready for us. My mom paid the bill and received a stack of forms i would need for my license. They event threw in a puppy kit with some food, treats and other essentials for me.

Mom took me back to the car, and had me sit in the back. Something I hadn’t done since i was little. She said it was where dogs belonged.I was still sore and embarrassed by the whole thing, so I didn’t feel like arguing. I hopped into the back seat and just enjoyed the ride home.

Once we got home, I gave my parents the passwords and login I had used on the city website, and they sat down to submit the forms and paperwork to get my license. I will give the site this, it may have its flaws, but it sure made the process easy. It only took them about 15 minuets to get everything entered.

They were even able to print out a temporary confirmation until the official form and tags arrived.

I was now officially licensed and registered as my parents pet dog. I thought the worst of my problems were over. Even if we couldn’t get the registration reversed, what harm could it do? Just renew the license every few years, and i would be good right?

It turns out it could do a lot of harm. What had started out as a joke was having serious consequences. My dad had gotten a call from the school district while I was at the vet. They informed it that since I was no longer classified as a human, I was not eligible to be enrolled in school.

Apparently my registration had spread through the other databases connected to the city system. Now all of my official records, even my birth certificate listed me as a canine. Not only was I licensed and registered as a dog, I was legally classified as one as well.

We sat around the table and had lunch, then my parents sent me to my room while they had a little “talk”. We all know what that means. I was in some serious trouble. I sat in my room trying to overhear what they were saying, but it was no use.

They talked for quite a while before I heard one of them leave. I glanced out my window and saw Mom heading to her car. I wondered where she might be going. I didn’t want to make my Dad angry, so I sat on my bed and watched tv until he called me down.

“Sammy”, he said, “Seems like you have gotten yourself into quite a predicament. Since you seem to want to be a dog, and now thanks to your little prank, you are one legally, your mother and I have decided that your role in the family should shift to that of the family pet.”

I couldn’t believe what i was hearing. Did he actually expect me to live as a dog? Sure I was one. legally, for now anyway. We could have that fixed right? this seemed a little extreme.

I took a look at my father. Every kid knows when it’s not worth arguing because your just going to lose and make things so much worse for yourself. Begrudgingly I gave in and said “OK, if you think thats best.”

Dad looked pleased and said “Good boy. Now lets get you out of those silly clothes” I started removing my clothes slowly, but Dad came over and pulled them off a little roughly. Then my Mom stepped over carrying a few bags. I recognized them from our local pet store. She pulled out a collar and fastened it around my neck. She then attached an Id tag that read “Sammy” with our address and their names as my owners.

My mom produced a dog bed from the bags and placed it in a corner of the living room. She then pulled out a pair of metal dog bowls, showing me that she had engraved my name on them. She took those into the kitchen and told me I would be fed there as long as I was a dog.

She had also purchased a few other things every dog needs, Some toys, and a variety of flavors of food, along with a few other essentials. I could tell they were serious about this and I would be filing the role of family pet for the foreseeable future.

I spent the next few days getting used to walking on all fours, being naked, using the bathroom outside, and being taken for walks. They even used some youtube videos to help them teach me basic tricks.

I wasn’t allowed to see my friends, play video games, or watch tv. I spent a lot of my time outside exploring the back yard and the little wooded area behind it. I was never one to spend a lot of time outside before, but I was oddly fascinated by every little thing I found.

After about a week, I decided that maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. My parents were spending more time with me, and I enjoyed the attention, and much to my surprise I enjoyed being petted. It was certainly better than going to school.

The more time I spent in the role, the more comfortable I became as a dog. I hardly noticed as my thoughts and behaviors started shifting and becoming more dog like. If my parents noticed, they didn’t say anything.

After about a month, I had fully integrated myself into the role of family pet. I was thinking and acting just like another dog most of the time. This role felt so natural to me now and i decided I wanted to remain my parents dog.

One evening I told my parents that they could stop trying to reverse the registration. Little did I know they had given up weeks ago, and had agreed that they were enjoying having me as a dog, and could see how happy it made me. It was settled. I was now permanently the family pet.

My parents packed up all my human belongings and put them into storage, and hey converted my old bedroom into an office. I was kind of sad about that, but I hadn’t been using it. I had been sleeping exclusively on the dog bed in the living room for weeks now.

Over the next few weeks, something amazing happened. I’m not sure how to explain it, but my body started to change. I began to notice my fingernails turning black and getting longer. My fingers started to shorten, and I developed pads on my hands and feet.

I showed my parents what was happening to me, but they didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. They said I was being silly and told me to go play.

The changes made it so much easier for me to walk around on all four. Soon instead of using my knees I was on my hands and feet. Each night I was eager to head to bed so I could see what changes would happen over night.

The next morning I noticed some new changes. I had started to grow in some yellow fuzz over my body, and my ears seemed to be getting longer. My privates changed shape and attached them selves to my stomach in some kind of sheath.

Over the next couple of days, my fur grew in fully to cover my body, and my ears were long enough to flop over, and had moved up a little on my head. Next I noticed a nub of a tail protruding from my spine. My nose also started turning black.

It wasn’t long before I had a full tail that I could swish around when I was happy. I also developed a full muzzle. I caught a glimpse of my self in the mirror, and marveled at how much I looked like a dog. Some of the proportions were wrong, but It was unmistakable. I was becoming the yellow lab I had registered myself as.

One night I tried to sleep but I couldn’t get comfortable. I kept tossing and turning all night, until finally I felt kind of a snap as my ribcage and other bones shifted and made their final changes.

When I awoke in the morning, I made my way to the mirror only to see a fully transformed yellow lab where a human boy had been not that long ago. I stared at my reflection just long enough to watch my eyes fade from blue to brown and the transformation ended.

I was now fully a dog. I was so happy that i raced to find my parents. It wasn’t hard, my new nose was flooding me with all kinds of information. When I walked into the kitchen, my parents stopped what they were doing and looked me up and down. They looked very happy, and said “Good boy, Sammy”

They seemed to think all this was normal, and that I had always been their dog. Hadn’t i though? I was having trouble remembering that i used to be anything other than their pet.

Oh well, it didn’t matter. I was a good boy. I could feel the memories and thoughts of my former life slowly fading away like melting icebergs, but I didn’t care. I knew I was their faithful dog and that was all that was important.

A little later, my former parents attached a leash to my collar and took me for a walk. I loved the explosion of input from my new senses and the feeling of the grass on my feet.

We spent the day playing fetch and going to the dog park. I was loving life. Of course it wasn’t all fun and games. I still had to go to school. Obedience school that is. I was top of the class and learned each new trick quickly.

The other downside is that my former parents decided to neuter me. Oh well. I wasn’t going to be out dating much anyway. And it was for my own good they told me. Sure I believe that one. It wasn’t so bad except for that cone I had to wear. I swear the other dogs were laughing at me.

I never did find out exactly why I transformed, or even why I registered in the first place. Maybe it was the universe trying to fix a mistake. Maybe it was a sinister AI the city has that can somehow manipulate people. Now I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy theory.

Ah well it really doesn’t matter, I am much happier this way than I ever was as a teenage boy, and my parents seem really happy to have me as their pet.

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goldenbituin · 4 months

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Professor Egghead's Snow Day (Fanmade Creepypasta)

A new episode of the beloved show The Adventures of Professor Egghead has been discovered in the depths of the Internet! What zany hijinks will our favorite scientist encounter today???

Based on the Professor Egghead stories by Mike J. Langer

Narrator uses feminine pronouns idk

⚠ TW: violence, gore, blood, horror, murder

The past few months have been dragging along. I’ve been working day in and day out to make ends meet, helping out my family in the morning and getting my stuff done around the grocery store at night. Anything to keep my body moving and the cash flowing, I say to myself. All this leaves me almost no time to relax and renew my mind for the next day. The only thing I have the energy to do when I get back home is to surf the web.

I tend to gravitate towards the creepy and disturbing; who doesn’t like a little scare once in a while? All those hours cleaning the house sometimes made way for learning about obscure true crime or cursed video game secrets. One night I was on my laptop, scrolling through a list of supposed “Disturbing Things Found on the Internet”. Most of the articles had edgy and spooky names that I didn’t pay much attention to. That is, until I came across something that stood out like a sore thumb.

Professor Egghead’s Snow Day. Was that a cartoon of some sort? I clicked on the link that would lead me to it, but instead got a notification saying “Download complete: professor_eggheads_snow_day.mp4”

“Are you kidding me…” I sighed at the thought of this being malware that I unknowingly received. In response, I ran it through a quick antivirus scan, which came back with no issues. To me this was a sign that I should go ahead and watch the file, so I opened it in a video player. That decision was something I’d come to regret for a long time.

—

The scene opened to a beautiful view of a snow-covered park. A staticky filter gave me the impression this show must be from the 2000s, but as it didn’t even give an intro, I could be wrong. I could hear children laughing, dogs barking, and people chattering far and wide in the open space. Couples held hands as they walked down the paved sidewalks, and some people were building snowmen. This could be a Christmas special for all I know.

Just then I heard something unusual. Like the crescendo of an approaching rainfall. Strange, I thought. The sky is blue with not a cloud in sight. However, the more I listened, the more I realized it wasn’t rainfall, but applause. As the clapping grew louder, the people in view moved slower and slower, and their bright faces melted into blankness.

The uproar hit its peak as the main character walked in. A short, stout man in a brown wool coat and red scarf walked into the scene. The shape of his body reflected as a shadow on the stark white ground, giving the impression of an egg on legs. Only a tuft of black hair adorned his head, and between his small ears was a wide, frog-like mouth. His eyes, although bloodshot and droopy, pierced like daggers at whoever dared to look his way. The cast felt rather unnerved by his sudden introduction, but he paid no mind.

“I AM PROFESSOR EGGHEAD!” he announced suddenly. “MASTER OF ALL THE SCIENCES! EXPLORER OF EVERYTHING IN THIS NATURAL WORLD!” He shot up his gloved pointer finger as he made his speech, causing some people to flinch. His voice is not what I expected from someone of his appearance. It was loud and shrill, almost like a man doing an impression of an old lady, but with five times the force put into each syllable.

“TODAY I TAKE A BRIEF RESPITE FROM MY NEVER-ENDING STUDY, " he continued. “FROM MY SLEEPLESS, JOYLESS DAYS OF PURSUING ENLIGHTENMENT. MY PASSION REMAINS STRONG BUT MY SOUL CALLS OUT FOR A RELEASE FROM THE CONSTRAINTS OF RESEARCH,”

Wow, I thought, he just needs a break, kinda like me I guess.

“THIS FRIGID WEATHER BECKONS ME TO VENTURE OUTSIDE AND OBSERVE THE COMMON FOLK. I HAVE COME TO JOIN IN THEIR SEASONAL REVELRY!” he threw his arms wide, as if making an exciting announcement.

“YOU AND YOUR SNOW ANGLES, SNOW SLEDDING, AND MOST NOTABLY, SNOW FIGHTING. HOW YOUR GAMES OF ICE AND FROST INTRIGUE ME! I SHALL TAKE PART AT ONCE!” He took something out of his pocket, but it was hard to tell what it was exactly. Then he crouched down and gathered a handful of snow, patting it into a ball. “WHOEVER WANTS TO PROVE THEMSELVES WORTHY OF CHALLENGING THE GREAT PROFESSOR, HAVE AT YOU!!” He turned to a couple standing near a snowman they put together, winded his arm back like a baseball pitcher, and threw his snowball as hard as he could at them.

It hit the man in the mouth, causing him to cry out in pain. He doubled over, covering his face while his girlfriend braced onto him, trying to provide support. The camera zoomed in on him, revealing a bloodied face and a broken tooth. The man shakily picked up the snowball and dusted off the snow, and the camera zoomed in closer to show that there was a rock underneath. Laughter poured in from an unseen audience. I was taken aback, did that professor guy really have to do that?

The injured man tried his best to chuckle. “P-Professor Egghead… that’s not how you have a snowball fight.” The laugh track played once more at his attempt to quell the situation.

Professor Egghead looked indignant. “YOU DARE TELL ME HOW TO PLAY MY GAME? YOU DARE TELL ME HOW TO SPEND MY DAY OFF? IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT PROFESSOR EGGHEAD, IT IS THAT HE DOES NOT GO EASY! HE NEVER HAS!” He stomped his foot into the snow. “IF I WANT A CHALLENGE, I WILL HAVE IT! IT IS SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST NOW!”

Out of nowhere, he acquired several more snow-covered rocks and hurled them at the scared couple. The woman tried to hide behind her snowman but the barrage of “snowballs” demolished it at once, leaving her exposed to be impacted as well. The professor did not stop until the two people lay on the snow, staining it red.

This has gotta be special effects, right? I thought to myself. It must be one of those sitcoms with a horror twist. I’m a fan of those, at least, so I kept watching with anticipation and apprehension.

The professor did not stop his attack. He continued to hurl the snowballs indiscriminately, and the people began screaming and running around the park. Some fell over with a crack to the skull, also falling into the snow and painting it red with blood. Even then, the audience roared with laughter and applause. Whatever Egghead’s goal was, they were cheering him on as he laughed at the terrified crowd.

“COWARDS! FOOLS! LOSERS!” He taunted the fleeing park patrons as he kept tossing his ammo at full force. “YOU ARE TOO SCARED TO CHALLENGE SUCH ABUNDANCE OF WITS AND STRENGTH! YOU WILL NEVER BE AS GREAT AS ME! NEVER! NEVER!” He kept chanting that last word like a mantra every time he threw a new snowball. That was when his gaze snapped towards the camera, causing me to jump.

“NEVERRRRRRRR!!!!” He reeled back once more and threw a snowball at the camera, shattering its lens and causing the cameraman behind it to fall over. The view pointed at the clear blue sky, interrupted by a trickle of red blood sliding down the side.

I closed the video player. That was enough of the funny egg man for me. I sat at my desk for a few minutes, my head bowed and my mind trying to process what just went down. I’ve had this reaction to many weird and disturbing videos on YouTube before, but this was just… indescribable. How did this even get aired? How many people saw this on live television?

I spent the last hour before bed drawing in my sketchbook instead. At first it started out as various doodles and sketches, but thoughts of the egg-shaped man began taking over. I drew a goofy cartoon of him, with various poses and expressions, and eventually drew myself hurling snowballs at him as he ran away crying. I gave a sly chuckle. Who did that guy think he was? I could beat him at a snowball fight any time. After a few more minutes of drawing I fell asleep without a care in the world.

—

The next day was as occupied as any other. I was back in the grocery store, trying to retrieve a box high upon a shelf in the freezer. How they expect a short woman like me to be able to access those heights is beyond me, but there were tasks to be done and I wasted no time. Growing more frustrated, I tried climbing the lower shelves and reaching out with one arm to get the box. One rule I missed about these freezers: there’s a chance surfaces may be slippery. This oversight caused me to slip off a platform, and I fell backwards off the shelves. My head first hit a box stacked on a cart, toppling it over and spilling its contents. Then it hit the concrete floor with a loud thud.

……

I stood in a snowy field, lined with benches and frosted pine trees. No longer did I wear my work shirt and hat, but instead donned a long black winter coat, my hand-crocheted scarf, and winter boots. My breathing turned deep and steady as I took in my new surroundings. The people walking by me were familiar; they looked just like the passerby in the show I watched last night. My heart sank lower with each new thing I noticed.

Before I could get too deep into my thoughts, the audience made their presence known with applause. An applause that would introduce Professor Egghead, who sauntered his way across the park. He’s… real? Or… am I… where am I? Am I actually in the show? My chest felt heavier with each question that ran through my head.

“I AM PROFESSOR EGGHEAD! I HAVE COME TO JOIN YOUR MERRYMAKING IN THE ICE!” He tossed a snowball in his hand, causing me to shudder. “WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO RECEIVE MY INVITATION?”

His eyes fixated on the same couple he mercilessly tore down in the episode. “HOW ABOUT YOU TWO?” He hurled one projectile after another until he managed to knock both of them out cold. That was much quicker than what I remember, but it gave me another reason to fear what he would do next.

“HMPH, THEY COULD NOT HANDLE THE IMMENSE POWER OF THE PROFESSOR, I SEE.” He let out a disappointed sigh and kept looking around. With each turn the people hid their faces away, refusing to meet his gaze. Soon enough, he zeroed in on me. I was confused at first, but I looked down and to my horror, I was also holding a handful of snow.

“YOU, MADAM! ARE YOU CHALLENGING ME TO A DUEL OF SNOW?” He shot out his finger at me, and I began shaking in my boots.

“N… no…” I always felt scared when singled out like that, but this man, this mad scientist, really made me feel small and helpless without even trying.

“ARE YOU TURNING DOWN MY INVITATION TO DUEL? IS THAT HOW IT WILL BE?” His ragged face turned red with anger at my rejection. “I TAKE PRECIOUS TIME OUT OF MY DAY, AWAY FROM MY LABORATORY AND MY QUEST TO BENEFIT HUMANITY, AND THIS IS HOW I’M REPAID? YOU WILL ENTERTAIN ME WITH A PROPER FIGHT! YOU WILL NOT BACK DOWN! YOU WILL NOT KEEP WASTING MY HOURS ON THIS EARTH!”

I glanced around and saw the equally terrified people looking at me. They seemed shocked that I actually denied the egghead what he wants: a new victim to torment.

“NOW,” he bellowed. “LET THE GAME OF SNOW THROWING BEGIN.” He marched his way towards me, and without a second thought I dropped my snowball and ran the other direction. Underneath the pounding of my heart, I could hear the booing of a disappointed crowd. Not long after, that booing was overpowered by the rapid pitter-patter of feet in the snow.

“DO NOT RUN FROM ME!” He called out from far behind. “I DEMAND A FIGHT, AND I WILL GET IT!” I kept on my mad dash across the park, desperate to avoid him. If anyone was watching this like I did on my laptop, it would be less of a comedy skit and more of a harrowing chase scene. It was only when I couldn’t hear him running anymore that I stopped and leaned against a tree. Between my heaving and gasping for air I choked out a few sobs. Why was this happening?

My thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain at the back of my head. He was right behind me, managing to get the first hit. “THIS IS SO WONDERFUL, OH SO WONDERFUL!” He laughed as he continued throwing rocks at me. “USING THE POWER OF MOMENTUM AND VELOCITY IN REAL TIME! MEASURING HOW MANY PROJECTILES THESE FEEBLE TARGETS CAN HANDLE! I’M HAVING FUN! SO MUCH FUN!” He danced in his place, hyper and overjoyed by the new world that has opened up to him. It was a world of science and amusement rolled into one for him, but pain and suffering for everyone else. I sucked in my breath and kept running, not waiting for him to do the same.

This went on for another five awful minutes, with me running for my life in a twisted, horrible excuse for a sitcom, and Professor Egghead bombarding me, giggling like a mischievous youngster while the invisible crowd laughed along. I tried doing several twists and sharp turns, changing direction like a rabbit trying to confuse its pursuer, but he was just as agile, making the same turns and growing ever so closer. I even jumped over an exposed root in the ground, hoping he would miss it and trip. To my dismay, he lunged over it like an Olympian in an egg body and began catching up. With every moment that passed by I was hit with more and more rocks disguised as snowballs, so hard in fact that I’m sure it must have left some bruises.

“Someone help me! Please! Anyone!” I screamed out to the rest of the people in the park, and even headed toward some of them. They all jumped or stepped out of my way, their scared looks still painted on their faces.

“Get this man away from me!” I pleaded once more. “I’m gonna die!!!” Still they avoided me every time. They wanted no part in the professor’s sick idea of a snowball fight, and have collectively decided it would be me who would take the fall for denying him in the first place.

Soon the fatigue caught up to me. I collapsed on my hands and knees, my lungs failing to function and my face burning hot in the cold, sharp air. I closed my eyes as I tried to steady my wild breathing, not knowing or caring that he was right there. With one swift kick to the ribcage I fell onto my side, and with another shove I was sprawled out on my back into the inches of snow under me. I couldn’t feel my arms or legs; I was a toy that had run out of battery, and I lay useless.

Once my vision cleared I finally saw him. The evil professor loomed over me, and with one stubby leg standing on either side of my torso, he had me boxed in. Over his head, he held yet another rock, but it dawned on me that this was no ordinary rock. It was a freaking boulder. He found it necessary to just pick up the biggest thing he could find to finish off the helpless little rabbit he had been chasing, and didn’t even bother to cover it in snow. He didn’t care about putting up his charade, he just wanted to achieve his victory.

“YOU LOST, WEAKLING,” he snickered, his grin growing wide. “NOW YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE.” This was not a show about a grumpy old scientist wanting to have fun in the snow. It was a peek into the antics of a heartless, insane monster who takes pleasure in the fear and agony he causes to everyone around him.

I screamed at the top of my lungs as he sent the boulder crashing down onto my head. The last thing I heard was the sound of my skull getting crushed with a sickening crack and a splatter.

……

In the cold freezer I could feel a warm pair of hands shaking me awake. The pain immediately rushed into my head, along with some dizziness. I struggled to open my eyes and sit up, finding myself covered in frozen bagels. The manager crouched beside me, and her usually stern expression was replaced with a hint of worry. I had been gone for ten minutes, she told me, and she wanted to check on me after I said I’d start retrieving the frozen pastries. I thanked her for her concern as she helped me on my feet. Stumbling and tripping over myself, she seated me on a chair in the hallway while another coworker opened a first aid kit.

—

I was given some time off to recover after that. When news got to my parents, they understood and let me stay in my room for the day. The pain was strong for hours, and I only had ice packs from the store to counter it. I took the time to get the rest I’ve been longing for, watching comforting videos of cats, and even playing video games when my headache died down. Before I could get to any of that, however, I made it a point to delete “professor_eggheads_snow_day.mp4” from my hard drive immediately. Some time later I opened my sketchbook, and was disgusted to find those doodles of the professor in there. I ripped out these reminders of my hubris and put my book back in my bag, resolving to take a nap instead.

Once I recovered, my days didn’t change much from there. I still worked hard but decided to take in healthier, more positive forms of entertainment. I can’t say the same about my nights. Each night once I go to bed, I feel a sense of dread wash over me. I don’t have dreams very often, but every time I do now, it’s at the park. The same dreadful egg creature, the same frenzied chase, the same gruesome final blow to the head. It’s happened three times already, and I have yet to tell my therapist about it, as the increasing insomnia isn’t good for productivity, let alone overall wellbeing. For now though, every night as I drift off to sleep I wish I didn’t have to, because that always meant the possibility of being taken back to Professor Egghead’s icy little corner of hell, where he will always be waiting, ready to play.

#professor egghead #the adventures of professor egghead #adventures of professor egghead #professor egghead creepypasta #creepypasta #fanfic #fanfiction #writing #horror #tw violence #tw murder #tw gore #tw death

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hookaroo · 11 months

Text

Laden of the Torn (9 of 25)

AO3 link Catch up on tumblr: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Tagging @priscilla9993 @cocohook38 <3 Chapter 9 warning: Discussions of death & the fear of losing loved ones

***

9 months ago…

Stashed among the countless books and scrolls that made up the tower’s extensive library, one folded piece of parchment contained a hand-sketched map of Neverland.

Not the real thing, of course: Killian had burned that wretched rag stained with far too much blood, filth, and despair the moment he’d managed to finally free himself of that cursed place. Its successor--a much-censored, overly positive version created more from imagination than memory--served as a visual backdrop to the fanciful tales he would concoct whenever Alice asked of his history there. She knew vaguely of the island’s dangers, and the tribe of feral children posing the greatest of its threats, but this map and its accompanying adventure stories painted more a vision of a tropical paradise than the jungles of Hell that it truly was.

Alice sat perusing that map now, idly outlining wave shapes in a blue far more bright and beautiful than any the moonlit, eternal night could ever produce. Nearby, Killian was attempting to mend a beloved doll that had fallen victim to an excessively enthusiastic game of Alice’s own creation. The seams had been stitched so many times through the years that it seemed to be composed more of leftover threads of all types than the fabric of its origin. Alice still played with it though, and any source of comfort was worth preserving for as long as possible.

“Papa?” Alice began.

“Mmhmm?” Killian replied, mentally preparing for a trip to Fantasy-Neverland that hopefully wouldn’t include a detour through Memory-Neverland on the way out.

“Do you think that Captain Smee would ever return to Neverland, if he could find the way there again?”

Killian hid a smirk and pulled on a carefully placed thread to tighten the knot. “I very much doubt it, Starfish. Captain Smee has always been… rather a timid man at heart. I think he prefers to stick to the familiar tides of this land, and keep the wilds of Neverland safely tucked away in memory.”

“But… didn’t you once say that the reason he snuck aboard the Jolly Roger in the first place was to steal a magic bean so that he could trade it for immortality?”

Raising an eyebrow, Killian looked up in surprise. “You have a very good memory, love.”

“And you told me that no living thing in Neverland ever grows old.”

“True…”

“So if he truly wants to live forever, all he needs to do is to go back! I hope he does. Then when we get out of this tower, maybe you and I could go there too, Papa!”

She could not know the icy terror that gripped his soul at the thought, nor of the visions that sometimes haunted his hours both waking and sleeping… his exact worst nightmare, innocently longed for in such a casual manner. Heart suddenly pounding, Killian swallowed the sickening dread constricting his throat and presented as calm a demeanor as he could muster.

“Aren’t you forgetting one not-so-small detail?”

“Am I?”

“Surely I must have mentioned a certain horrid little boy who makes Neverland his home. An eternity in his domain is hardly the paradise you’re imagining it to be.”

“Oh.” Alice looked crestfallen, and though Killian always hated disappointing her, he could not stop the wave of relief from coursing through him when it seemed she had accepted his objection. Adding one final stitch to the doll’s ragged seam, he was quick to assure her,

“There are dozens of other beautiful places I’ll take you one day, Alice, where we’ll have adventures much more exciting than we could ever find on that godsforsaken refuse heap. Remember? The Sea of Glass, and Rainbow Falls, and the purple cliffs where the goats climb right up the vertical rock faces…”

He trailed off when he heard a miserable sniffle from his little girl. She was staring down at the tabletop, obviously not seeing the map laid out before her as she quietly wiped away tears. Hastily, he severed the thread and laid it aside, then moved to kneel at her side. He placed the doll in her lap and reached up to stroke the hair back from her face.

“Alice? What is it, love?

She sniffed again, met his eyes briefly, then looked away.

There were periods of time when her circumstances got the better of her, and understandably so. Killian had always done his best to console her, but it would never truly be all right until he could free her from this damned tower. And the more she grew up, the heavier the burden was for both of them.

“I’m sorry, Starfish; it must be frustrating to hear of wondrous places without the ability to see them yet. But I promise you will someday; you’ve just got to keep--”

“You’re going to die one day, aren’t you?”

The tiny voice took Killian by surprise, and he fell silent. This wasn’t at all where he had thought the conversation was heading. It made sense in hindsight, though. She wasn’t asking about Neverland for the adventures, or for immortality for Smee… it was all about Killian’s mortality.

“Oh, Alice…” He pulled her into his chest, wrapping her tightly in his arms. Gently, he murmured, “I don’t want you to be worrying about that, love. Not for a long, long time. You have enough to think about.”

Alice squeezed him back, shaking with sobs and saying,

“I don’t want you to die, Papa, not ever! I love you so much I think I would die too!” She pulled away and scrubbed at her face, continuing in one long, hysterical breath. “I couldn’t bear to live without you--I don’t care about Pan; if we went to Neverland, then we could be together forever!”

Killian watched her for a beat, unconsciously stroking her hair as his heart broke. He understood exactly how she felt; he would give anything to ensure he’d never be separated from her, as well. But there was an additional element to her anticipatory grief. Once he was gone, if she were still trapped here, she would be completely alone, probably for the rest of her life. It was too horrible to even imagine. And here he was, pretending like he didn’t constantly think about what would become of her if something should happen to him.

Tenderly, Killian covered her hands with his, willing her to feel how overwhelmingly powerful his love was for her.

“It isn’t easy,” he admitted quietly, “thinking about losing someone you care for. I feel much the same way about you. And sadly, part of what makes life so special is its brevity. But you can’t let that overshadow or take away from the time that you do have with your loved ones.”

He reached up to wipe a tear from her cheek, feeling his own eyes brimming. “I hold on to a piece of everyone I’ve loved: my mother, my brother… Milah… after each loss, there were days when I felt like I couldn’t go on. But you know what? I’m so very glad I did. Because that brought me to the greatest joy in my life.”

Killian waited until Alice tentatively met his gaze, and he confirmed her unasked question with a watery, adoring grin. She could not resist a shaky half-smile in response. Killian embraced her again, planted a soft kiss on the top of her head, then rested back into his crouch, watching her compose herself. After one final hand across her eyes, Alice mumbled,

“Thank you, Papa.”

“I love you, Alice.”

He got slowly to his feet, stifling any outward sign that his joints were not quite as young as they used to be, then added,

“Try to stop worrying, love. I plan to be around for quite a long time yet.”

***

Less than a month later,

“I plan to be around…” echoed through his head as ten paces were marked and two bullets flew.

“Quite a long time yet…” rang in his ears as he collided with the tower wall, a new and deadly pain coursing through the center of his chest.

“A long time…” mocked him as melancholy rain drenched him, body and spirit, and evil laughter gave way to devastated wailing from on high.

“A long time…” continued to destroy him now with its meaningless, endless promise, as hope and resources dwindled.

What a fool he had been.

***

Present Day…

Killian woke with an ache in his throat and chest: a common occurrence these days. Apparently, despite his resolution to make use of the alone time, he had fallen asleep instead. He rubbed his eyes and scoured the clearing for any sign of Blackbeard, but the other man had not yet returned.

He should conserve his strength, try and rest some more and prepare for whatever ordeals lay ahead. But there was only one thing that could begin to soothe the pain of the familiar nightmare-flashback he’d just experienced, and he knew he owed it to Alice to make the attempt as well. This was the longest he’d gone without connecting ever since he’d acquired the mirror, and the worry would be eating her alive. So, despite the danger and the various pains afflicting him, Killian finished freeing himself from the ropes and forced himself up to retrieve Blackbeard’s unattended satchel.

No hook, of course; no weapons of any kind, or even any food. Killian was immensely relieved to find his black rook near the bottom, which he stashed in an inside pocket closest his heart. But Blackbeard had taken everything else of value, leaving only a few first aid supplies and other odds and ends… one of which was Killian’s mirror, blessedly intact despite its careless treatment. With mild surprise, he noted that the ceremonial cloth once containing bread remnants now protected the mirror’s glass face, somehow counted amongst his possessions recovered from the quarry transport guards. Maybe the rumors of its mystical powers were indeed true… and he was finally about to put it all to the test.

After stashing the dusty cloth back into the satchel, Killian grasped the mirror’s handle and drew a few calming breaths.

“Alice?” he called quietly. “Are you there, love?”

Her likeness materialized almost immediately, as if she’d been expecting him to call.

“Papa!” she cried in tremulous delight. “Are you all right? I’ve been so worried!”

The cursed tingle in his heart told him all he needed to know. That sickening mold residue, another failure of a lead--this one costing him dearly, its total sum yet to be determined. Killian tried not to let his disappointment show as he gave her a reassuring smile.

“I’m okay, but I haven’t got long. I just wanted to make sure--”

A distant oath sounded from somewhere beyond the twist in the canyon, and Killian froze for an instant. Then, hastily, he hissed,

“I’m sorry, Starfish; I need to go, but I’ll try again as soon as I’m able.”

“Hook? Who is that you’re talking to?”

Killian still could not see Blackbeard, but that villain had to be close. He lunged for the satchel and, over Alice’s muffled protests, he thrust the mirror back into its hiding place just as his red-clad captor sauntered into view.

Then he remembered what the sorcerer had told him about the enchantment: both parties had to agree to the connection being severed. And, judging by the continuing prickle beneath his breastbone and the quiet sounds emanating from the satchel, Alice had not been willing to let her father go so quickly.

“What the devil are you up to?” sneered Blackbeard. He tossed the waterskins carelessly on the ground and stumbled over to menace Killian.

“It’s nothing, mate; only searching for a bit of food is all. I’m completely famished.”

Blackbeard snorted. “Well, that makes a change. No more heaving your guts out, then?”

He cocked his head, listening, and Killian answered quickly and too loudly.

“It looks as if you were at least successful at locating water? If you want me to make it to the genie monkeys, you’ll have to be a bit more generous than you're accustomed to--”

“Shhh!” hissed Blackbeard, holding up a hand. Without pause, Killian said,

“What are you listening to? I don’t hear anything, and we should probably get a move on if we’re to make any progress before sundown--”

It didn’t work. Blackbeard lunged for the satchel, and though Killian made a feeble attempt to keep it from him, the bigger man easily tore it from his grasp. Killian clambered to his feet, desperate to stop what he knew was coming.

Blackbeard immediately zeroed in on the noise-making mirror, and he let the satchel and the rest of its contents fall to the ground.

“Papa?” squeaked Alice, and Blackbeard leered.

“What’s this? That the child you abandoned?”

Killian took a step forward, hand outstretched, feeling like he was moving through mud. “Blackbeard… please…”

“Oops.”

Blackbeard laughed loudly. The mirror “slipped” from his fingers. Killian dove for it. Alice’s frightened image flipped around and around in midair. The ball and chain hampered Killian’s lunge. His fingertips just brushed glass before it shattered on the razor stones. Alice’s voice cut abruptly to silence.

Breathing heavily, Killian sat on his knees and stared at the remnants of his only link with his daughter. Even if he managed to escape and find his way back to the sorcerer who had arranged the enchantment, he could not afford to pay the exorbitant price a second time, not without considerable effort… or risking additional imprisonment by doing something illicit. “Blackbeard… you… bastard!”

Unconcerned, Blackbeard chided,

“You may want to be careful throwing that term around, considering…”

Killian seethed, still watching the shimmering halo of glass shards as if they could somehow reassemble themselves on their own. “That was her only connection to the outside world!”

“And whose fault is that, really? I’m not the one who trapped her there, nor the father foolish enough to go and get his heart cursed so she’s left with no one. Frankly, I’m surprised you’ve managed to live with the guilt for this long.”

Blackbeard bent down and scooped the few scattered supplies back into his satchel, then flung the strap over his shoulder. “Taking you to the monkeys is a kindness. They’ll quickly put you out of your misery.”

None-too-gently, he draped one of the waterskins over his captive’s shoulder and dragged him to his feet. Then he reached for the mirror’s empty frame. Killian glared daggers at him as he turned it over once in his hand.

“Glue in a bit of cheap, ordinary glass and it will fetch a copper or two,” said Blackbeard. He stuffed the frame in with the rest of his belongings, then hauled up the remaining skin of water and took a large swig. Noting the hatred in Killian’s stare, he rolled his eyes and waved at the waterskin Killian was holding, encouraging him to drink.

“The girl has my sympathies,” he remarked mildly. “But not my allegiance. And a broken mirror won’t matter in the slightest once you become the monkeys’ main course.”

In truth, Killian was nearly as angry at himself for being so reckless as he was at Blackbeard for callously destroying the enchanted mirror. But even so, the wanton cruelty of the act filled him with loathing.

“You will regret making an enemy of me,” he snarled. Blackbeard only scoffed.

“Empty threats. Never heard those before.” He once again pointed to Killian’s water. “Now drink up. We’ve a long way to go before nightfall.”

#ouat fanfiction #laden of the torn #wish hook #alice jones #knightrook #ouat blackbeard #angst #mirror magic #cw: death #or at least thinking about death #existentialism #?#not sure how to tag this #fear of losing loved ones #blackbeard being a bastard

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themurphyzone · 2 years

Text

Pinky Unleashed Ch 1

Summary: Due to a tip-off from Snowball, the mice investigate a powerful energy source that can power Braintopia, a gigantic dream city that will span the entire American continent. But they find themselves in over their heads when the repercussions turn out to be...world shattering. Neither of them knew just how far Snowball was willing to go to achieve world domination until it was too late.

Now an ancient planet-destroying entity residing within Earth has been unleashed, and one of its energy fragments has forcefully tethered itself to Pinky. Now Pinky must hold onto himself at night, when the dark energy painfully transforms him into a monster.

And Brain, horrified at Snowball's actions, vows to reunite the world for Pinky's sake, no matter how impossible it seems.

There are many obstacles to overcome in their quest to unite the world. But with Pinky's companionship to comfort Brain, Brain's willingness to stay by Pinky's side no matter what, and a little help from a strange amnesiac fairy, they won't give up the fight just yet.

AN: So this story is going to be an unusual one. I got the inspiration from watching the opening cutscene of Sonic Unleashed.

This story will use the real continents and not the ones in the game of Sonic Unleashed, and I’ll only be using three NPC characters that are exclusive to that particular game.

AO3 Link

Sonic Unleashed Opening Cutscene

New World Symphony Song Link

Ch 1: Prologue: New World Symphony Part 1

"And there's a narfty chance of sunshine, sunshine, and more positively beautiful sunshine, with highs of poit and lows of-ack, Brain!"

A sharp, tingly feeling traveled through Pinky as a hand yanked on his snout. He dropped the toothpick he was using as a makeshift microphone, a pair of pretty rose-pink eyes glaring at him.

"Cease with the meteorologist act, Pinky," Brain said, releasing Pinky's muzzle with a sharp tug. "I don't wish to be reminded of tonight's failure."

"Oh, but manipulating the sky to make it look like Mars was in the twelfth house was so fun, Brain! Especially when you set off that gorgeous firework display!" Pinky exclaimed.

It had been such a fun fun silly-willy plan! Well, they were always fun, but last night had been even sillier-willier than usual.

Shame the thunderstorm blocked out the pretty sight before Dwayne Johnson could see it though.

Brain rubbed his head, his singed fur still carrying a faint whiff of smoke from being electrocuted after a sudden bolt of lightning. He plopped himself in front of the television with a sigh and audible crack in his spine. “We were moving Pluto to the twelfth house, not Mars,” he corrected as he hit the on button for the television remote. “Get your planets right, Pinky.”

“But Brain, Pluto isn’t a-”

Brain glared at him, and Pinky quickly zipped his mouth as best as he could without a zipper.

“Those NASA hacks wouldn’t know a planet if one crashed into their building,” Brain muttered. The fur on his head stood up in wispy tufts, but when Pinky tried to reach over and smooth it down, Brain batted his hand away. It wasn’t unusual for Brain to push him away, sometimes literally, but Pinky still wished Brain would at least allow himself to have the tiniest bit of intimacy. “Now quiet, Pinky. I’m going to watch a relaxing program to take my mind off tonight’s failure before I go to bed, and you will not interrupt. Understand?”

Pinky nodded.

Unfortunately, one of the scientists had left the channel on Faux News, which wasn’t helpful in getting Brain to relax at all.

“-and after we come back from commercial, join me and this dead opossum I found on the side of the road for a discussion on why climate change isn’t real!”

Brain slammed his fist on the mute button. “I said relaxing, not mind-numbing,” he growled as he pulled up the guide and scrolled through the channels for something else to watch.

“Troz! He’s seen better days.” Pinky rocked back and forth, holding his feet so he could feel just like a wobbly toy.

“Agreed. The roadkill is much more photogenic,” Brain replied, and after several minutes of scrolling, he selected a nature documentary from the National Geographic channel. Tuck Buckerson was immediately replaced by a penguin waddling on the ice.

Pinky rolled onto his stomach, legs kicking lazily behind him. He just adored penguins and their adorable waddle. And his heart melted at the sight of a fluffy penguin chick standing on its parent’s feet, flapping its wings as it squawked for food.

“Aren’t they the cutest little things?” Pinky cooed. Brain scoffed, but his nose twitched, like he found them cute too but refused to say so. “Brain, can we go to the Arctic sometime? I wanna know if penguin chicks are really as fluffy as they look.”

“The Antarctic, Pinky. Penguins don’t live that far north,” Brain replied. “And there are many complications when visiting that particular continent. Weather, supplies, and the fact that neither of us are built to handle subzero temperatures. While I’ve considered a plan that would involve harvesting the local krill in that area, it ultimately proved unviable and I was forced to scrap it.”

If Brain said they couldn’t go, then he wasn’t going to budge on the issue.

But it would be really nice to see a penguin….

“However, I do have a roughdraft of a plan that will take us to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They have a penguin exhibit there,” Brain continued. “I suppose I could account for a…slight detour.”

A detour?

“You mean…an aquarium date?” Pinky gasped, clapping his hands to his mouth in surprise.

With all the fishes swirling around and around in their huge tanks and waddling, honking penguins?

“It’s not a date. Merely business with a little leisure time thrown in,” Brain corrected.

So it was definitely a date then!

Pinky scooped Brain up and twirled him through the air. Brain squirmed in his arms, but Pinky didn’t let go. “Oh, this is gonna be the best date ever, Brain! Even better than that fancy restaurant we got kicked out of! Do you think they have good mac and cheese in Monterey?”

“You can have your mac and cheese with lobster if you choose, but you have to release me first!” Brain shouted, placing both hands on Pinky’s snout and his legs on Pinky’s chest in an effort to get away. Pinky just laughed as Brain’s feet dug into his ribs. What could he say, he was ticklish!

Then a voice sounded nothing like David Attenborough, David Tennant, or any other David came from the TV.

“-afraid Bill couldn’t make it today. He’s dealing with some, ah, personal matters with Melinda. Naturally, he asked me to represent Microsponge in his absence for today’s press conference. Of course, I obliged.”

The mice froze and stared at the TV.

An amber-furred hamster stood on a high podium, surrounded by an entire security team, countless cameras, and microphones. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he wore a black suit with a red tie for the occasion.

Snowball.

“Pinky, you stepped on the remote!” Brain snapped, breaking out of Pinky’s hug and hurrying over to the remote. But Pinky didn’t recall stepping on it. The remote hadn’t done anything to him, except run out of batteries every once in a while. Brain smacked the back button so the TV would return to National Geographic, and although the channel number in the corner changed, Snowball and the press conference remained onscreen.

Confused, Brain flicked through every channel and turned the TV on and off several times, but nothing changed. Snowball’s smug, self-assured grin was on every network.

“Brain, what’s going on? Where are the penguins?” Pinky asked. The penguin parents were about to reunite after not seeing each other in months! He wanted to see the chick meet her father for the first time!

“He must’ve hacked into the airwaves,” Brain growled, his fur bristling as he glared at Snowball on the big screen. “Whatever he’s planning, he wants everybody in the entire world to see it.”

Brain’s fists clenched against his sides, his entire body tense. He got either really angry or really sad whenever Snowball was involved, so Pinky rested his tail over Brain’s to keep him calm in case he wanted to concentrate on whatever Snowball had to say.

Slowly, Brain relaxed. A hand patted Pinky’s back, and Pinky accepted it as a silent thanks.

“Mr. Snowball, rumor has it that Microsponge has partnered with the US military to produce a satellite-based defense system for the entire world. Is this true?” a CNN reporter asked.

“Not quite, Dan,” Snowball replied. “But I understand that my plan is rather complex for the vast majority of minds, so I hope this press conference will clarify things. You see, the satellite defenses work in conjunction with a new line of bioengineered robots, which I have aptly named Microbots. The US military was merely funding the project. Everything else is the product of my brilliant mind.”

“And what can your Microbots do, exactly?” a female reporter called.

Snowball smiled, but it wasn’t a genuine smile. Pinky had fallen for it once, when Snowball had convinced him that Brain didn’t care for him at all.

“The Microbots will serve as the primary defense system for a grand city, one far larger in area than Tokyo, Shanghai, and New York combined. A city that will serve as Microsponge’s new headquarters, house all people and cultures in a diverse melting pot, and become the world’s foremost technological center and leading energy producer. Where no crime will be tolerated and everyone can have bread on the table,” Snowball continued.

The reporters murmured among themselves.

“That’s impossible!” Brain spat. “How will you hope to sustain a city that large?”

The reporter named Dan stood up, microphone in hand. “Where will you find the energy for such a city?” he asked.

Snowball paused to consider his words. It was several minutes before he spoke again. “There is an energy source out there, which will not run out like fossil fuels. It will be more cost effective than solar, nor is it radioactive.”

Everyone waited with bated breath, but Snowball did not elaborate further.

“If you aren’t using fossil fuels or renewable energy sources-”

But Snowball interrupted her. “It’s still a work in progress. I can’t risk any of my…competitors finding out more information or stealing my resources.”

“Competitors like Pineapple?” somebody asked, and she quickly covered the pineapple logo on the back of her phone.

But Snowball made a face at that, and though he said ‘yes’ to her question, it was clear that Pineapple was not who he had in mind.

Brain inched closer to the screen, and Pinky pulled him back before he could hurt his eyes.

“How much progress has Microsponge made in this project so far?”

“Progress has been swift, courtesy of the energy cannon I’ve recently launched into orbit,” Snowball replied. “And I believe the fruits of my labor will pay off in the near future.”

Though reporters shouted more questions and their crew waved cameras in Snowball’s face, the interview nowhere near over, Brain shut off the TV. He faced his reflection in the black screen for just a moment, his ears pinning back as he stared at the spot where Snowball had once been. Then he crept off to bed without another word.

“Brain?” Pinky called.

But the smaller mouse only faced the cage bars, and only his head poked out from the blanket.

“I know you’re still awake,” Pinky said quietly as he slipped into bed next to him. He reached over and poked Brain on the back.

Brain slapped Pinky’s hand away with pinpoint accuracy, even though he wasn’t looking.

So Pinky poked him again, and again, and again. He didn’t care how many times he had to do this. He knew from experience that if Brain went to bed all huffy, he’d be cranky in the morning.

Well, Brain was always cranky. But even crankier and grumpier and stompier than normal.

“Cease, Pinky!” Brain yelled. He furiously sat up and threw his pillow into Pinky’s face. “Sleep in the straw if you’re going to be this aggravating!”

“You go sleep in the straw if you’re going to be a little crankypants!” Pinky argued, his tail lashing underneath the covers as he sat up alongside Brain, tossing the pillow back onto his side. “I just want to know what’s wrong!”

Brain drew his knees up to his chest, ears pinned back in frustration. “Nothing’s wrong!”

But Pinky knew Brain had been just fine before Snowball cut into their regularly scheduled penguin programming.

“It’s Snowball, isn’t it?” Pinky asked.

Brain remained silent, burying his head into his knees and refusing to look up. Pinky hadn’t even known Brain had a childhood friend for a long time, and Brain had only explained their history when the hamster had unexpectedly stolen Brain’s chain letter plan and showed up to the lab to drive a wedge between them. That was back when Snowball had first taken over Microsponge, and he’d been running the megacorporation ever since. Nobody except for him and Brain were aware that the official CEO, Bill Grates, was being puppeted by a hamster.

It wasn’t like anyone would believe them if they tried, so they just moved on and let Snowball live his own life. Occasionally, Snowball would show up again, try to toy with them or kill them, sometimes both, but he’d always fail.

“...he has press conferences, Pinky,” Brain said quietly. “Money. Luxury cars. A team of lawyers and secretaries at his beck and call, no trouble getting away with tax evasion…”

“You don’t pay taxes either,” Pinky replied, nudging him.

Brain sighed. “It’s still a hassle to forward all those letters and calls to ACME’s legal department. But I digress. Snowball keeps inserting himself where he doesn’t belong, and it’s tiresome.”

So that was the problem then. Brain was jealous of Snowball’s success, and how Snowball kept returning to rub that success in Brain’s face.

Pinky wrapped an arm around Brain’s shoulders, and Brain didn’t fight him off this time. He only rested his cheek against Pinky’s chest.

“You remember when Snowball gave me a theme park and I left you?” Pinky asked, though Brain’s grip around Pinky’s wrist tightened in warning, like he’d rather forget. But Pinky didn’t want to stop talking, not until he got this off his chest. “Which is kinda creepy that he had all that ready, now that I think about it, but anyway, it wasn’t the same. The rides were fun, yeah, but I didn’t have anyone to share them with. There was a Tunnel of Love, and Tunnels of Love aren’t meant to be ridden alone! And if I tried talking to Snowball, he wouldn’t tell me anything! At least you’d let me talk before bopping me on the head, and you actually explained your plans in a way that I could understand, and you’d act like you’re in a cool mecha anime fight to save me and the entire world!”

Brain’s face turned red, and he ducked his head to try and hide it.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that even if you’re a poor lab mouse, I still wanna hang around you more than a life of luxembourg with Snowball,” Pinky said, smiling in reassurance as Brain finally turned to look at him with those pretty rose-pink eyes.

Brain squeezed Pinky’s hand. “You mean luxury, Pinky. Luxembourg is a country. And…even if I can’t give you a theme park…yet…I, well, I need you here.”

Pinky’s heart fluttered. “You mean that, Brain?”

“Need you to block the draft from the AC so it won’t reach my side of the bed. So don’t move to the straw tonight, capiche?” Brain said, and he laid down, facing Pinky this time.

“Ca-peachy,” Pinky giggled as he laid down, curling around Brain to protect him from the AC. Pinky didn’t mind the breeze as much, but Brain’s ears were more sensitive. Pinky relaxed against Brain’s warm fur. It was like hugging a grumpy life-sized plushie. “And besides, I bet you could build an even bigger and better city than Snowball ever could.”

Pinky let out an ‘oomph’ as Brain’s knee suddenly came down on his chest as he pushed himself up. But he let it slide, because Brain’s excited grin was completely worth it.

“Brilliant, Pinky!” he exclaimed. “We’ll build an enormous city to span the entire American continent, from the tundras of Northern Canada to the pampas of Argentina! With enormous skyscrapers, parks to preserve the greenery, an effective public transportation system, affordable universities, and more! And we shall call it…Braintopia!”

“Egad, that’s a wonderful name!” Pinky clapped his hands in appreciation. “Braintopia’s gonna be the place everyone in the world wants to live in for sure! But can I have a teeny weensy block for myself, Brain? Please?”

“It was your idea, Pinky,” Brain admitted. “For that, you can have…the Pink Light District that you can prepare as you see fit.”

Pinky hummed in satisfaction. He was gonna need a ton of pretty pink lights to line the streets!

But then he remembered what Brain said earlier, about Snowball’s own city needing a ton of energy to keep running.

“Wait, no, no…also, your knee is digging into my spleen,” Pinky said, and he exhaled in relief once Brain moved his knee. Brain frowned at him. “You said it would be impossible for Snowball to find enough energy for his city, and ours is going to be even bigger than his! And besides, I played enough Sam’s City to know that a working city costs a whole lotta money and resources!”

Brain’s excitement waned, and he put a hand on his chin in thought. “You better not be handing the EA our entire domination budget.”

Pinky shook his head. “Oh, I’m not. I’m using the money from my How To series to pay for it.”

Just a small amount though. He was happy to use the majority to help Brain with world domination. Every little bit helped.

“Well, Snowball did mention an energy source in his broadcast. Everything else he needs is of little consequence to him,” Brain mused, pacing back and forth across the bed, which bounced with every step. “But he’s deliberately withholding the type. If it’s not fossil fuels, nuclear, or green energy, then how…of course!”

He pounded his fist emphatically.

“If we investigate the energy cannon he launched into orbit, we can find out what he intends to use and harness that power ourselves!”

“Yes!” Pinky exclaimed, and his leg accidentally thumped Brain’s side, knocking him off the bed. He smacked the underside of his chin against the floor. Brain groaned, rubbing his head as he sat up. Pinky peered over the side of the bed, so that Brain’s face was upside down and their noses were touching. “Sorry, Brain. Poit.”

They stared into each other’s eyes for several seconds.

“NYAH!” Brain screamed, and his forehead collided with Pinky’s as he tried to get away.

Pinky dizzily swayed and fell right off the bed, landing next to Brain. The stars were so pretty and swirly tonight…

o-o-o-o-o

The scientists weren’t around for the weekend, which gave Brain enough time to plan their route and build a plane to get them up to the energy cannon. And since Brain didn’t like being disturbed while working, it gave Pinky plenty of time to play Sam’s City while he waited.

While he’d opened the game intending to create his own virtual Pink Light District so he could have practice for the real district in Braintopia, he’d gotten a little sidetracked with pushing Samuel and Samantha into a relationship.

“Narf! Stop trying to go back to your ex, Samuel! She’s not good for you!” Pinky shouted as Samuel ignored Samantha in favor of Sami yet again. And Samantha was wearing her best red dress too!

Now Samantha was thinking of giving up on Samuel entirely!

“No!” Pinky screamed, and he quickly exited out of the game to erase his progress. He wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, glad that he’d saved Samuel from getting back together with Sami. She cheated on him twice! How could he possibly get back together with her when Samantha was giving him all those hints?

Pinky fell onto his back, feet up in the air as he let out a frustrated huff. He’d learned how to make that noise from Brain, after all.

Alright, twentieth’s time the charm. But before he could sit up and try again, a shadow fell over him.

“Having fun?” Brain asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Samuel still won’t notice her!” Pinky complained. “I don’t get it, Brain! What am I doing wrong?”

Brain brought a hand to his forehead and looked up at the ceiling before his eyes flicked down to Pinky. “You’re too invested in fictional relationships at the cost of your health and questionable sanity?”

“I’m not too invested. I’ll have you know that I only spent six entire months trying to get my Sams together using every Youtuber guide and wiki on the Internet!” Pinky crossed his arms defiantly, only lowering them when he realized that maybe Brain would consider that ‘too invested’. “Okay, maybe just a tiny amount of invested…” he admitted sheepishly.

“My point stands. Now come, I’ve finished our preparations so that we can get up to the energy cannon.” Brain grabbed Pinky’s wrist and dragged him out of the room while Pinky laid on his back. Pinky giggled, enjoying the ride while it lasted. It was so fun fun silly-willy to mop the floor with his back!

Brain released Pinky’s wrist halfway down the hall, snapping at him to keep up and not dilly-dally, which was just as fun as silly-willy to say. He just adored rhyming words!

They didn’t have to hide in the shadows or pause to listen for footsteps this time. Once Brain ruled the world, they wouldn’t ever have to worry about being caught again. It was going to be so nice.

The back doors of ACME Labs were propped open, revealing a purplish-orange sky dotted with the first stars of the night. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking, and Pinky leaned over Brain’s head, admiring all the pretty colors.

“Twilight is such a beautiful time of day,” Pinky hummed. “Don’t you think so, Brain?”

But Brain moved towards a large, lumpy tarp sitting just outside the doors, and Pinky almost lost his balance.

“It’s just the sunset, Pinky,” Brain said, waving his hand dismissively. “It happens everyday. There’s nothing special about it.”

Well, Brain may not have thought so, but the colors were always shifting, no two twilights ever looking the same. Sometimes Pinky wished Brain would stop and look, because he was missing out on so many wonderful sights.

Still, Pinky pushed that thought aside. Brain’s plan mattered more.

“It’s time you experienced a real sight, Pinky. Behold my latest creation!” Brain announced, yanking off the tarp to expose the lump underneath. Except it wasn’t a lump at all, it was a plane!

The nose of the plane was long and cone-shaped, and the body was sleek with two sharp, long wings extending out on both sides. There were small windows along the side, and a tinted dome covered the cockpit. The metallic panels were a mixture of white and gray, and a coat of red paint streaked the wings, back, and tail.

“Narrrrf!” Pinky exclaimed, walking underneath the plane to admire its belly. “The red is a very nice touch, Brain!”

“Thank you, Pinky,” Brain said proudly. He stood up a little straighter and puffed out his chest. “There was plenty of paint leftover from the kitchen remodeling last month. Now if you’ll direct your eyes to the left-”

Brain launched into a technical explanation of every cool science-y feature he’d added to the plane, which Pinky tried to follow, but either Brain was saying ‘the aerodynamic shape will maximize our speed’ or ‘the pterodactyl ape named Max needs to be fed’.

It could be either one, really.

Wait, did Brain ever name his creation? They couldn’t just call it ‘The Plane’! That was too…well, just too plain!

“We can’t just let your plane go unnamed! Otherwise she’d just be a plain plane, Brain!” Pinky cried, grabbing Brain by the shoulders and shaking him.

Brain’s eyes swirled dizzily before he shook his head and came back to his senses. He broke Pinky’s hold, stumbling a little before regaining his balance.

“Now where did I put that book of baby names…” Pinky murmured, trying to recall if he’d left it under the sink or the closet of his Barbie dollhouse.

“No, Pinky,” Brain said, squinting up at the plane. “What we need is a name befitting of this vehicle’s swiftness and agility. In other words, something fast.”

It didn’t take long before Pinky came up with something.

“Speedy Gonzalez?” he suggested.

“Too controversial.”

“Millenium Falcon?”

“Good try, if only it wasn’t owned by Disney now.”

Pinky shrugged. “I don’t have anything else, Brain.”

So Brain walked around the plane, looking over every feature to see if there was anything striking he could use.

“Something fast, but intimidating too,” Brain said to himself. Then his eyes widened in realization. “Yes! We shall call it…the Hurricane! The combination of swift-moving wind and water is terrifying for anyone caught in its path. It’s perfect!”

Pinky bounced on his toes in anticipation as Brain hit a button on a small remote, and a hatch opened on the underside of the Hurricane. Then a ramp slid down, landing at their feet.

Oh, he couldn’t wait anymore! Pinky hurried up the ramp to get a good look at the interior, while Brain plodded along behind him. It was roomy with enough space for a human to stand in, but there wasn’t much going for it. The walls only had two mouse-sized orange spacesuits hanging on the hooks besides the windows, along with several chairs lying haphazardly along the floor. There was a small refrigerator in the corner, and when Pinky opened it, he found it was stocked with several varieties of cheese, two fruit trays, boxes of apple juice, and tiny water bottles from the lab kitchen. A pack of bagels sat atop the refrigerator, which was firmly bolted to the floor, though there was no toaster.

"The exterior is lovely, Brain. The red really adds a lot of character. But if you were trying to go for a minimalist design for the inside, I think you went a bit overboard," Pinky said. "Also, there is zero feng shui."

"The Hurricane's purpose is to transport us to the energy cannon. You are not to use it for one of your ridiculous interior design shows," Brain replied.

He stopped by the refrigerator, popped a few cheese cubes into his mouth, then gestured for Pinky to follow him into the cockpit. Pinky quickly grabbed a bagel and juice box, hurrying after Brain.

The cockpit had much more going for it than the back did. There were countless gauges, dials, levers, and buttons, all waiting to be pushed and pulled and spinned! There were two cushioned seats, just large enough for a mouse to be comfortable.

The glass offered a panoramic view of the twilight sky, and Pinky excitedly bounced on his seat, ready for takeoff.

Brain took his own seat in the pilot’s chair, unfurling a blueprint of a large satellite-like object. Except it didn’t have those panel thingies of a regular satellite. The most striking feature was an extremely long cannon that extended far beyond the main body.

“The schematics of the energy cannon were easily accessible through the Internet. Microsponge’s security was no trouble for me to bypass,” Brain said. He pointed to a part on the back of the main body. “We shall enter through this compartment here. After I enable the cloaking device on the plane, we will exit and make our way to the topmost level, which hosts the controls of the energy cannon in addition to a computer that controls the mainframe. I’ll download all the relevant information about the energy cannon into a flash drive, and then we’ll take our leave so I can analyze the data in the relative safety of the lab. And once I find that energy source, Braintopia is certain to become reality!”

“And the Pink Light District too?” Pinky asked. A street filled with romantic pink lights and cherry blossom trees and restaurants that served mac and cheese…he couldn’t wait for it to come true!

“And the Pink Light District too,” Brain confirmed as he stored the blueprints under his seat, to Pinky’s delight. “Now, the energy cannon is hovering just above Earth’s exosphere layer, so we won’t have to travel too far into space. Are you ready, Pinky?”

Pinky saluted. “Aye-aye, Captain Brain!”

“I will never tire of hearing that,” Brain smirked.

With that, he turned the keys in the ignition. The engine thrummed, rumbling the entire plane. Pinky sank back into his seat. He’d always wanted his own massage chair, but it was so hard to find one in his size.

Brain yanked on the throttle, and a deafening boom filled Pinky’s ears. He only had enough time to grip the x-shaped seat belt that crossed his chest before he was thrown far back into the cushion. His stomach flip-flopped, and all those squishy organs inside him scrambled themselves like an omelet as the world outside the plane became one enormous blur.

Someone was screaming, but Pinky didn’t know if that was him, Brain, or both of them.

Pinky usually had a strong stomach, but even he started to regret that bagel now.

The sensations lasted seconds, minutes, maybe an hour or two, only lasting until Pinky was thrown forward in his chair, and the seat belt was the only thing that prevented him from slamming against the window.

And finally, the plane leveled out. The long nose was still pointing up to the darkening sky, but they were moving at a slower pace now.

With the rollercoaster ride over, Pinky figured it was safe to unbuckle himself and check on Brain. There was only a few inches’ distance between their seats, so Pinky kept hold of what he could as he climbed over the control panel to Brain’s chair, careful not to touch the colorful buttons though he really wanted to press them more than anything.

There was plenty of room on the main pilot’s seat for both of them, though Pinky had to lean on Brain a little so he didn’t fall off the arm. Brain barely noticed, his face slightly green and his eyes unfocused. He was clutching a small plastic bag with a death grip in one hand, trying not to vomit up the cheese cubes he’d eaten just before takeoff. His other hand was white-knuckled against the throttle.

Pinky gently rubbed Brain’s back, and the green slowly disappeared from the smaller mouse’s face. His grip on the throttle and bag slackened, the tension leaking out of his body.

“...thanks,” Brain said, his voice still shaky.

The ground was far beneath them now, hidden under a thick cloud layer. Here, the sky was a mix of black and navy, the stars twinkling far away.

“I wonder what it’d be like to touch a shooting star…” Pinky murmured. Would touching one help his wishes come true? He hoped so.

“Pinky, shooting stars are just meteorites hurtling through Earth’s atmosphere at terminal velocity,” Brain said, nudging Pinky away from him. “You might be resilient, but you would still be burned to a crisp if you tried to touch one. Now return to your seat and let me concentrate. We still need to cross two more layers before we reach the energy cannon.”

But Pinky just perched on the armrest, not really wanting to go back to his own seat just yet. Brain didn’t protest the compromise too much. Pinky knew that as long as he didn’t jostle the seat too much, Brain would let him stay where he was. The tip of Pinky’s long tail rested close to Brain, occasionally brushing against his fur when he moved the steering wheel.

Pinky hummed all the songs he knew to pass the time, and a low hum occasionally joined in. He was pretty sure it wasn’t the engine harmonizing with him.

He’d just gotten through Yakko’s World, with added commentary from Brain about all its inaccuracies, when the radar on the dashboard started to beep.

Several red dots appeared on the blinking radar, followed by a much larger red one.

“How much longer ‘til we-"

A sudden gasp from Brain cut him off.

"BRACE YOURSELF, PINKY!"

That was all the warning Pinky had before he was flung right off the armrest and into the wall next to the door of the cockpit, the entire plane tilting up at an extremely steep angle. Brain yanked the steering wheel to the left, and Pinky was thrown against another wall.

After a few seconds of being stuck against a metal pane, the plane stabilized and Pinky was able to crawl back to his own seat and buckle himself in.

"Sorry," Brain said, not taking his eyes off the window. "The radar didn't pick up on our proximity to the energy cannon. I had to maneuver quickly or we would've smashed into the barrel."

He pointed at a massive cylindrical shape outside, and Pinky did a double take when he realized just how enormous the barrel of the energy cannon was. It must've been the size of a a gazillion football fields! The main body was on the distant end, and though it wasn't as ginormous, it loomed ominously over them.

"Narrrrf," Pinky said in awe.

"Narf indeed," Brain whispered. And the energy cannon must've been really impressive if Brain said narf.

Halfway up the barrel, the radar beeped rapidly as a dozen fast-moving red dots rocketed towards the plane-shaped sprite. And when Pinky looked through the window, there were a dozen metallic spheres hurtling towards them. They were dull gray and tiny with metallic bits sticking out all over the place. Three of them smacked against the windshield, though the glass thankfully held. Annoyed, Brain flicked a lever on the side of the steering wheel, wiping the half-broken spheres off like they were bugs.

Several more bounced off the ceiling with loud pings, bits of lens chipping off the cameras set in the center.

"What were those things?" Pinky asked as Brain steered the plane away from the cannon barrel and towards the backside of the body.

Brain gritted his teeth, his eyes flicking back and forth between the radar and the windshield. "Microbots," he said tersely. "I researched them extensively after Snowball mentioned them in his broadcast. The ones we encountered are likely a surveillance team composed of individual units. But they are capable of combining into countless forms for defensive purposes. Snowball wasn't shy about demonstrating how powerful his Microbots can be to the Silicon Valley executives during his last tech demonstration. There's no telling what the Microbots are capable of, especially when Snowball spearheaded their development. I can only hope I threw them off our trail in case any defensive measures are taken."

But the Microbots didn't follow them. Maybe they couldn't keep up with the Hurricane's speed.

Though Brain wasn't relaxed by any means, he gradually became less tense once the Microbots were left to eat the Hurricane's stardust.

They circled towards the back of the main body, which thankfully didn't have any patrolling Microbots.

Brain pointed to an open panel at the bottom of the structure. “A weak point,” he said. “We’ll enter through there. Deploying landing gear now. Prepare for landing, Pinky.”

He lined the Hurricane with the open slot, and they slowed down considerably as they passed through the entrance. The plane’s wheels made contact with the metal, and Pinky jolted from the impact, ears pinned back at the loud, nails-on-chalkboard screech.

“Brain, we’re gonna hit the wall!” Pinky yelped, hanging onto the armrests. They’d slowed down, but not nearly enough! The wall was gonna smash them into mousey pancakes, and not the good kind with maple syrup and butter!

“Hold on!” Brain shouted back. His foot slammed against the brake, and the entire plane screeched to a halt.

Pinky nearly choked from being thrown forward in his seat belt, while Brain smashed into the wheel.

“Narf…” Pinky said, undoing his seat belt and taking a moment to just relax and catch his breath now that the turbulent ride was over.

Brain groaned, unclipping his own belt and sinking back into the cushion. “I hope the return journey will be smoother…” he muttered, rubbing his temple.

With some difficulty, Pinky climbed out of his seat, grabbing onto the armrest to support himself since his legs were still shaky. Brain fell out of his chair more than he climbed down, his legs buckling as he landed. But he recovered quickly, eager to find out more information about the mysterious energy source.

There was a loud creak, and the panel where they entered started to close like a giant space garage door. With a final bang, the Hurricane was shut in completely.

Several lights on the ceiling flickered on, illuminating a stairwell that led to the upper floors.

“The Level Three entrance is now closed. Activating airlock. Please standby,” a pleasant woman’s voice announced over the intercom.

Pinky covered his ears as a deafening hiss filled the room, only letting go of his ears once the noise died down.

“Airlock activated successfully. Oxygen levels are sufficient for life. Have a nice day.”

“We won’t need the suits then,” Brain said with relief. “Good. The orange color isn’t flattering on me.”

Though Pinky thought Brain could pull off orange just fine, he was glad they wouldn’t need the suits after all. He didn’t want to say anything since those were the only mouse-sized spacesuits available in Target’s doll section, but he didn’t like how they restricted his tail movement.

Brain opened a small compartment between their seats, revealing a small red flash drive with a black strap. He pulled the strap over his head, securing the flash drive to his back.

“Come, Pinky. Let’s begin our ascension at once,” Brain said, and Pinky followed him out of the plane.

The ramp retracted once they were out of the plane, and the Hurricane shut off entirely. It sat in the middle of the chamber, quiet and unassuming.

Except for their footsteps, it was quiet aboard the energy cannon. A little too quiet.

Pinky hummed a song to fill in the silence, though even his happy little song about all his favorite things wasn’t doing much to stop the fur on the back of his neck from rising.

Maybe it was the corridor’s dimness, providing just enough light to see by yet lacking any warmth. Or how enormous and empty the energy cannon was. Pinky hoped they’d run into an astronaut or two, but if any humans were here, they didn’t show themselves.

“I’m getting all these weird tingles, Brain,” Pinky said, clutching his tail just so he’d have something to hold onto. “Th-this place doesn’t feel right.”

“You always have weird tingles, Pinky. I don’t need a newsflash every time they happen,” Brain snapped, and he continued down the hall without looking back. Pinky quickly caught up to him, grabbing his shoulders and stopping him in his tracks. Brain scowled and flung his hands out, shaking Pinky off. “You’re only reacting like this because you aren’t familiar with the layout. We’ll get out of here much sooner if you quit impeding our progress.”

Pinky’s tail drooped. He didn’t mean to impale…impala…whatever Brain just said.

"Poit," he whispered. "S-sorry…"

Brain stared up at Pinky, his expression carefully neutral. Sometimes it was just impossible to tell what Brain was pondering, no matter how hard Pinky tried to ponder the same thing.

Then he sighed, gingerly taking Pinky's hand in his own. After a few seconds, his grip became firmer.

"But…you may be onto something, Pinky. For once. Forgive me," Brain stammered, shifting side to side nervously. Pinky just smiled and squeezed Brain's hand, accepting his awkward apology. Then Brain led Pinky down the hallway, never letting go of his hand. "We haven't run into any Microbots past that first encounter. I assumed there would be some guarding the interior as well."

"Maybe they're playing hide and seek?" Pinky asked. "Plenty of places for a cute little bot to hide. You think they'll let us play too?"

They paused at a T-shaped intersection, and Brain's ears flicked as he listened for any sounds in both directions. Then he led Pinky down the right fork.

"They're watching from the shadows," Brain said, pointing to a tiny red light in the corner of the ceiling. "I'd need to capture one and disassemble it to determine the specifics of their programming, which we don't have time for. Perhaps they aren't programmed to attack until the facility itself is in trouble."

So Brain didn't know either, and he was using big words to hide it. But that was okay. Brain was a smartypants, but he didn't have to know everything.

"I wish we had a map," Pinky said, remembering how that trick worked in that really hard maze the ACME scientists had once trapped them in.

To his disappointment, no holographic map popped up to help them find their way.

"A directory would be convenient," Brain agreed.

"And a food court," Pinky added. "With a nacho line and soda fountain."

Brain raised an eyebrow. "How can you possibly think of food at a time like this?"

"I'm hungry," Pinky shrugged.

His stomach finally settled down after that bumpy ride, and he was craving cheese and jalapenos.

Brain just sighed and led Pinky through a short hallway. At the end, there was a stairwell that was marked with an arrow pointing up and the number two next to it.

"Yes!" Brain exclaimed, and Pinky grinned back at him. It was so nice to see Brain excited. His pink eyes always glittered so beautifully when that happened.

They hurried up the stairs to the second level, boosting each other up since the stairs were designed for humans and not mice.

Pinky boosted Brain up to the top landing, and Brain grabbed onto the ledge, hauling himself up the rest of the way.

"One more level, Pinky. It won't be long until Braintopia becomes reality," Brain declared, adjusting the flash drive on his back. "Let's hurry and…hurry and-"

He didn't finish his sentence, staring off into the distance instead.

Pinky stood on his tiptoes, trying to see what Brain was looking at. But the stairs were in his way! All he saw was dull gray!

"Brain!" Pinky shouted, leaping as high as he could and waving his arms to catch Brain's attention. "I! Can't! See! Must! Stop! Talking! Like! Shatner!"

Brain started to walk away, mesmerized by whatever he saw. But Pinky shouted his name, over and over again, and Brain broke out of his trance at the sound of Pinky's voice.

"Sorry," Brain said as he hauled Pinky up to the top step. "I…I don't know what came over me. It's just…a sight to behold. Where to begin? I don’t know how to describe it…that’s what it is, Pinky. Indescribable.”

Brain wasn’t even saying his usual big words. Did he suddenly lose them?

Pinky tapped his chin, trying to think of anything that might help Brain describe whatever he saw. “Maybe narf?”

“Maybe,” Brain murmured. “Now toss in all of your other nonsensical words.”

So it was narf with poit and zort and troz and egad all mixed together like a delicious cake? With a little fjord as the cherry on top of course.

Brain’s arm swept out to the area around them. “See for yourself, Pinky.”

And Pinky’s jaw dropped.

Swirling blue. Solid green. Drifting white.

All of those colors made up the planet Earth.

It was the most beautiful sight Pinky had ever seen in his entire life.

End AN: Special shout out to @wimsiecal for all their wonderful work in the PatB fandom, especially the werewolf Pinky art that was an inspiration for this fic. Pinky playing a knockoff version of the Sims is dedicated to you.

No corporations were harmed in the making of this chapter, save for their pride maybe.

New Brainfels and Braintropolis were working names for Braintopia.

The plane in this story will be named the Hurricane cause Sonic and Tails’ plane is called the Tornado.

The chapter title went through a lot of working titles. I was originally gonna go with the overture for Sonic Unleashed itself, but it has a more adventurous vibe and the New World Symphony has more of that incoming danger aura.

Moral of the story: Microsoft is evil and Bill Gates is a hamster.

#pinky unleashed #pinky and the brain #patb snowball #patb fanfiction

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geniequestria · 2 years

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Starlight finishes her breather, she had just managed to avoid Discord ruining all her plans due to defending her position in a sort of mock trial in front of the draconequus, and she also very much has Fluttershy's close relationdship with Discord to thank. After one more deep breath, her smug confidence slowly returns as she starts lightly chuckling once more

“Well, I’ll admit Princess… you surely scared me with that last try… To think... if anypony else other than Fluttershy had been genified in that musical chairs game... you might have managed to pull it off... but now that not even the Lord of Chaos will stand in my way… you must know that you truly are running out of options~” Starlight’s smug smirk has fully returned, a sight that Twilight was hoping to never see again.

Twilight sighed before defiantly speaking “I… still have one more wish I’d like to try… I… don’t exactly have as much confidence in them actually stopping you in the way Discord could have… but at the very least… perhaps whatever wise and experienced advice they have may give me what I need to stop you… as they were the ones who first encountered your lamp originally… the Pillars of Equestria themselves…”

Starlight thinks for a moment before nodding “Ah yes, I actually wouldn’t mind seeing them myself, While I was filled in with the power of the genie, I wasn’t like… instantly filled in with the history of the lamp too. So I’m actually quite curious”

Twilight tilts her head in confusion “But… you know when they get here… they’re going to more likely want to stop you first before they ever speak up…”

Starlight raspberries “Please... even if they’re supposedly these legendary ponies. That’s the thing, they’re just ponies. Realistically, they are going to wonder what's going on the moment they're back, giving me plenty of time to assess whether I should retreat or not. The reason I was so worried about Discord is because he would have been a lot more difficult to escape from. But whatever the pillars have can’t be anymore difficult to avoid then what you girls had. If I need to go invisible again, so be it. To be honest, I welcome the return of the pillars. It’s six more ponies for us to transform eventually~. Maybe I should just throw caution to the wind and just genify the six of them mere moments after they get here!”

Twilight grimaces, that’s probably something she should have considered. “Wait! Starlight, before I bring the pillars here… can we make some sort of deal on them… can… maybe we link them to your game?”

Starlight puts a hoof on her chin to think this over, and gets an idea in her head. She nods in approval. “Sure, why not? Might be fun to include a few more ponies to the game, allow me to just write up a little… contract... shall we say... to amend the game a little…”

Starlight poofs up some glasses for herself, along with a scroll and a quill. She writes down an amendment to the current game she’s putting Twilight and her friends through. A few moments later, she’s written down everything, and levitates the scroll to give to Twilight. “There, now all you need to do is sign on the dotted line, and the addition to the game will be complete”

Twilight carefully takes the scroll “Before I do that… I need to carefully read every detail of this… I’m not signing onto this if there’s some little catch you added onto this contract…”

“Fair, go ahead and read every last letter on it until you're satisfied~” Starlight slightly smirked.

Twilight opens up the scroll and slowly goes over the document, making absolutely sure there wasn’t a detail written by Starlight that would inconvenience her, the pillars, or any of her friends. Nothing seems out of place so far, there’s even a detail that seems actually quite unusually generous of Starlight. About how the Pillars would not be allowed to be genified by any other pony other than their respective Element of Harmony counterpart. Twilight’s actually shocked that a clause like that was in there at all, if she acts quickly before Starlight realizes a potentially big mistake, she and the others might be able to take advantage of this by wishing that the same be done for anypony else not a genie yet.

The end of the scroll ends with the statement “I wish this scroll was certified as a part of Starlight’s game” with the word sincerely next to a dotted line where Twilight can sign her name. She gets right to levitating the quill and writes down her name in cursive. As soon as Twilight’s name is fully written down, the contract glows and floats toward Starlight who happily accepts the terms.

Starlight rears on her hindlegs briefly and claps her hooves once “Now that we’re in agreement, let’s bring the pillars back from limbo… you want to make the wish, Twilight?”

Twilight nods “I wish the Pillars of Equestria were brought out of Limbo, and brought here to Ponyville!”

Starlight gracefully poses, floating herself into the air as she spins with magic swirling around her. She’s closed her eyes as she focuses on bringing the legendary heroes of Equestria out of limbo, where they put themselves in permanent stasis in order to seal the Pony of Shadows. Starlight manages to pull the heroes without also bringing the evil shadow into Equestria, perhaps Starlight’s magic made it possible for the Pony of Shadows to remain in stasis despite the now missing heroes. In mere moments, all 6 of the legendary ponies each popped in not far from where the Elements were standing.

Everyone of them is a bit dazed as they all hit the ground prone, whether it’s from the sudden teleport and/or the more then a thousand years of stasis is hard to tell. In time though, they all slowly get up and look around them. They’re most certainly in a place unfamiliar to them, as Ponyville did not exist 1000 years ago.

“W-w-where are we?” Mage Meadowbrook speaks up first, a bit scared to be in a place unfamiliar to her and the others.

“Nevermind that! If we’re out… where in Equestria is the Pony of Shadows?!” Starswirl immediately makes all the rest gasp, and worried that if they’re out then surely who they were sealing was on the loose too.

“There’s no need to worry yourselves, oh legendary heroes from more than a millennium ago~” The pillars hear an unfamiliar and rather sinisterly confident voice..

“A MILLENNIUM AGO?!” Rockhoof reacted in shock.. though he stops himself “Wait, how long is that again, Starswirl? I swear some o’ me brain cells are still frozen…”

The wizard sighs “A millennium is 1000 years ago, what this unfamiliar pony… or well, all these faces are unfamiliar to be frank… means is that we’ve been gone for at least that long”

The rest of the pillars just about gasp, and what that means is noticed all too sadly by Flash Magnus “Then… our friends… our family… my squadmates… they’ve all long been deceased…” That realization hits hard for the pillars. They’ll be surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and at best, they’ll only find descendants of those they knew.

Starswirl himself lowers his head in a moment of silence for the many friends he likely lost over the time he’s been gone, but he determinedly puts his head back up. “We did what we had to do, thanks to us… It seems Equestria has survived for this long. Also, don’t forget… we won’t be entirely without familiar faces. Princesses Celestia and Luna must be still around” The other pillars nod, and are thankful there is indeed someone from their day and age that is still here to talk to.

The wizard then turns his attention to the pony who spoke to them first. He looks at Starlight, obviously noting her attire... though he at first thinks nothing of it. Perhaps that’s just the current fashion trend, at least in this part of this “future” Equestria. He also notices they are surrounded by many other ponies with similar such attire. Although, Starswirl knows this isn’t exactly an entirely new form of fashion. As he’s seen garments and rings for hooves like it in places such as Saddle Arabia, and even occasionally from Somnambula’s homeland.

Though, the group does notice that not everyone around them is wearing such attire. There’s another group of 5 ponies who are entirely clothes-less. Even in the Pillar’s time, this was a pretty common norm, though each of the pillars have their own sets of clothing to help identify them further. Starswirl can’t help but see what he first believes is a normal unicorn who looks nervous but also excited at the same time in Starswirl’s presence.

Starswirl raises an eyebrow at the pony staring at him awkwardly “May I… help you?”

Twilight’s pupils and irises shrink, in her sheer glee that one of the most renowned wizards in all of Equestrian history is speaking even one word to her. Even just the fact he said as little as four words to her is almost enough to make her feel like fainting like Rarity. But she tries her best to keep up any sort of composure she can muster. Even as she’s fangirling to unbelievable levels inside her mind.

She takes a deep breath before finally addressing the legendary wizard. “Uh… h-h-hi… Starswirl… my name is… t-t-Tw-Twilight Sparkle… I… or well… we... summoned you and the other pillars back because we have a really dire situation… that we hope you have some kind of secret solution to… especially since this is one that you’ve dealt with before.”

Starswirl nods “I see… and what is th-“ Starswirl then finally realizes something about the lavender mare in front of him. He gasps as he sees a pair of large wings on her side. Twilight sheepishly grins as she flaps them open briefly. This mare wasn’t just some unicorn, she was a young Alicorn. “Wait… you wouldn’t happen to be a family member of Princesses Celestia and Luna in anyway would you?”

Twilight raises an eyebrow “Well… no… why do you ask?”

“Then how in the world, are you an alicorn if you aren’t a direct descendent of them?” Starswirl stood there confused

“It’s… a bit of a funny story…” Twilight’s about to get into telling Starswirl about how she ascended after completing an unfinished spell of his before Somnambula nudges Starswirl.

“Explanations can come later, I think we should stop this “dire situation” that Ms. Sparkle mentioned.” Starswirl is obviously still curious about Twilight’s alicorn status, but he realizes his fellow pillar is right. From the sounds of it, the pillars were their last hope. So it was appropriate that the very bearer of hope gets them back on track. “You’re quite right, Somnambula. Apologies, if you went so far to summon us from Limbo... then Equestria must really be in dire straits”

“Oh you bet it is! The problem happens to be surrounding us right now…” Twilight pointing a hoof then going in a circle to get Starswirl paying attention to the group of ponies all around them

Though the old wizard seems rather skeptical. “These aren’t just regular ponies in fancy desert dancer wear?”

Starlight just shrugs and chuckles “I guess it isn’t too obvious without a little proof that me and the others in this attire aren’t anything more then costumes… but since you are the pillars of legend… perhaps I should help remind you of what I really am~”

Starlight poofs up her dark-colored lamp to her hoof and smirks “Does this look familiar?~” The moment the Pillars see the lamp they all collectively gasp, and each of their faces go a little pale.

“Oh no… no no no no no NO! Who dared to even so much as TOUCH the cursed Lamp of Catrina?! Was it you?! How did you even infiltrate the archives?!” He points to Starlight, while at the same time Twilight just lowers her head and backs away. Knowing full well she was the one who activated the lamp.

“Believe it or not, Starswirl the Bearded… while I did infiltrate the archives when all the royal guards, Celestia, and Luna were all… occupied. It was none other than your #1 fan here who was so desperate that she used it on me~” Starlight devilishly smirks as she metaphorically twists the knife of Twilight getting the ire of her historic idol.

Immediately, Starswirl turns around and has a very stern face as he stares down Twilight. “How… how could you have done this?! Do you have ANY idea what you’ve just done?! We put a VERY strict message that the lamp should not be used again under ANY circumstances! Can you not read?!”

Twilight’s eyes water as she struggles to respond “I… I… I…”

“HEY!” Rainbow flies up to the stern wizard to defend Twilight’s honor “Twilight’s the readiest pony you’ll ever know! She was just looking for a solution to defeat Starlight while at the same time the Princesses were kidnapped by the Storm King!”

“She activated an artifact that could very well place Equestria in a far WORSE position than whatever this Storm King was about! The real life genie that Catrina became was no joke!” Starswirl gritted his teeth responding to Rainbow. “I’d tell the story about Catrina, but I’m not even sure this genie will even let us have the time to…”

Starlight shrugs “Oh… go on ahead, I’m as curious as any pony else about the origins of my lovely lamp~”

“Even if you will let me tell it, why should we let you listen in on this, you wench!” Starswirl fired back

Starlight laughs some more “Well, if you’re not going to tell me. Maybe I SHOULD just overwhelm you with my power~” Starswirl grimaces, it’s either tell the story while the… “successor” of Catrina hears it or they’ll be fighting her straight on without any of their items.

“Fine… you can listen on in…” Starswirl taking a deep breath before explaining the past he and the pillars had with Catrina.

“Ahem… to get the obvious out of the way. Catrina was an evil sorcerer that was a menace to her home nation of Abyssinia, a nation home to this world's anthropomorphic cats. She used her magic for all sorts of misdeeds, Catrina wasn’t the strongest magic user in the nation, but she knew enough to be quite slippery from evading justice. Besides magical prowess, she was pretty nimble with her paws. A real jack-of-all-trades that was frustrating to contain regardless what kind of law enforcement came for her. Though her deepest desire was to break far past her limitations in use of magic. As she was quite jealous of any magic user stronger than her. She had dreams of becoming the most powerful sorcerer/sorceress in the world.

One day she used her skills to sneak into the forbidden section of the largest library in Abyssinia. Where she’d find information about a magic that was considered ancient by thousands of years even as far as back then. The source of this power was supposedly in a large temple in the middle of the Abyssinian desert. Though everyone in that nation knew how treacherous such a trek would be, enough to give even the normally daring sorceress pause about even trying. There wasn’t even too much evidence yet of this ancient magic being real either, so for a time, even Catrina wouldn’t risk her life for something that might not even exist.

She would soon however face perhaps one of her most humiliating defeats, she narrowly escaped an ambush by the authorities that was complemented with the nation's top sorcerers that would have most certainly brought her to justice once and for all. She had decided she had no other choice. For if she didn’t find a way to break her limits as a sorceress, she was soon going to find herself in prison. The sorceress determined she’d rather die trying to be something, then rot away in prison for the rest of her days having never achieved her dreams.

So she went along with the trek, the journey there being about as tough as she could expect. There’d be skeletal remains that became all too common the closer she got to where this temple purportedly was. While those corpses could have been there for any other reason. Inside her mind she was certainly thinking that many of these victims were others seeking the same ancient power she’s looking for.

Somehow she managed to reach the temple with plenty of energy and determination left. But what she found in the temple was a more harrowing sight than any dangers the desert brought. As the temple quite literally was filled with the smell of death. Inside the temple, she already saw more skeletal remains than she did throughout her entire trip to the desert. It seemed a majority of those that seeked the power did indeed get to the fabled temple. But with most of them likely having been exhausted by the trek through the desert. They were either not prepared, ill-equipped, or just unable to avoid the many deadly traps, and architecture that’d require a world-class parkour athlete to traverse across. Many areas in the temple had such perilous design that a single misstep would lead to falling down into inescapable spike pits.

Strangely however, the fact this all existed actually gave the sorceress more determination. As this power must really exist if so many had tried. Not to mention the civilization that built this place must know what kind of magic they sealed within the temple if they went this far to protect it. And luckily for Catrina, not only was she nimble enough to maneuver through the temple. She was smart enough to get an idea of how each of the temple's victims failed, and adjusted accordingly to avoid making the same mistake.

The sorceress eventually managed to find what everyone else that perished was trying to get. It was, of course, the very lamp that Starlight is currently holding. However, all those acrobatics left Catrina exhausted. She knew that if she tried trekking through the desert to take the lamp back with her. She was most certainly going to die, Catrina cursed the ancients who thought so far ahead that even if someone eventually got the prize inside... they might still not be spared from death. Up until after an apparent accidental rub, where magic smoke swirled around her, a voice within her mind asked her for a desire. At that point, Catrina’s strongest desire was getting back home safely.

Within a blink of the eye, she and the lamp together were transported to her secret hideout all the way from where the lamp was in the temple. Shocking not just Catrina herself, but her assistant. Who had thought that Catrina was certain to be dead by now, as they too were very aware that no one ever returned from seeking the artifact Catrina was after. Once Catrina replenished her energy with some food and a drink, the sorceress laughed maniacally as she triumphantly found her way to prove herself. She and her assistant slept that night, just itching for tomorrow for when the sorceress would begin her conquest.

Upon the next morning, events happened that the sorceress was not prepared for. When she rubbed the lamp to begin her conquest the next morning, the lamp’s magic swirled around her again to seek her deepest desire. That of course was to be the most powerful magic being possible. The lamp obliged, by sucking her completely inside. The sorceress purportedly scared for her life as it brought her slowly in, though some purportedly a really strange mind change happend as soon as her what was her feet was siphoned in that only got more and more intense until she was fully inside the lamp. Her assistant frantically went to get her out, which was done with yet another rub.

When she came out, she was no longer the mischievous sorcereress she was before. She was something far more monstrous, a genie bent on putting everyone standing in her way under an iron claw. As she desired, she was most definitely the strongest magic user in her nation, and quite possibly the world. The Abyssinians trying to resist Catrina had to reach out for outside help. And that’s where me and the rest of the Pillars came in. At the time.. our Elements of Harmony were renowned as world savers, though the magic of the elements were relatively new. Not even we knew the limits of it's power yet. We knew however that if Catrina took over all of Abyssinia she’d seek to expand ever further, so we agreed to make the long journey to deal with her before she could ever get to Equestria. We also had to be extra careful, as with the kind of power Catrina had. It was going to be difficult to find a good spot to hit her with the elements.

Though thankfully, Catrina proved too cocky for her own good. We weren’t able to sneak up on her as we hoped. But instead of seeking right away to stop us. She laughed us all off, and dared us to blast her. Admittedly, we weren’t sure if it’d even work. It was as much of a shock to her as it was us that we successfully broke off her connection with the lamp. Flash Magnus used his speed to make sure Catrina couldn’t genify herself again. Though she certainly still lunged at him trying to get it back through whatever means. She went absolutely bonkers once she was mortal again. She even begged us to please let her be a genie again, and tried to bargain with us by promising she wouldn’t try to take over the world again if we allowed her to get the lamp back. We called her bluff and refused. It wouldn’t be long til’ local forces arrested Catrina, having to put her in a strait jacket as she persisted to try to get the lamp from Flash Magnus’s hooves in continuously desperate measures.

After which, we were thanked by the leaders of Abyssinia for subduing Catrina. We don’t know what became of Catrina afterward, though from what I hear, she was never the same again. Serves her right however, for her evil deeds…

As for the lamp, the Abyssinians felt the lamp would be best under our protection. Aside from what happened with Catrina, too many living beings have died on their soil in pursuit of this one lamp. We worked together to cover up as much as we could about the lamp, the Abyssinians destroying any mere mention of either the lamp or the temple it was in from any remaining sources. And while we put warning labels for the lamp for the archive, we kept the name of Catrina a secret. It didn’t really have an official name beforehand, but for those allowed to be in the know. We called it the Lamp of Catrina, but the hope was we’d never have to actually explain this ever again…

Which is why I’m so disappointed in our newest… “princess” that she allowed this to happen…”

Twilight lowers her head again in shame, as Applejack pats her on the back and sternly looks at Starswirl for knocking Twilight down while she’s already feeling awful enough for how things have escalated. Starlight chuckles a little after hearing the story of her 'predecessor'. “So... the previous occupant of the lamp before me was a literal catwoman, huh? I guess that explains all that cat food in the kitchen~”

As miffed Applejack is with Starswirl, she sighs and knows they kind of have to depend on him on some level to reverse all this. “So… uh… Starswirl, Ah don’t suppose y’all have the secret t' defeating these genies?”

“Well it’s as simple as… wait a moment, did you say… genies… as in PLURAL?!” Starswirl and the pillars once again all go wide eyed.

“Uh… duh! What did you think the other oddly dressed ponies were? Backup dancers?” Rainbow responded in an annoyed tone.

“Oh this is bad… this is really bad… this isn’t something Catrina did at all… she kept all that power for herself…” Starswirl frowned. One genie was bad enough, waking up to a scenario where there's more starts to wash the color from the wizard's face.

“Hehe… it seems Catrina was not as forward thinking as I~. Sure, I get having all this power on your lonesome would allow you control over everything… but I think giving every pony the same benefits I enjoy is far more beneficial~. I’m not putting ponies under an iron hoof, I’m only allowing them to achieve all of their desires and more… is that really so wrong?~” Starlight smugly grinned

Starswirl grinded his teeth “How many have you transformed, you demon!”

“Oh just a few friends & allies here and there… but also the entirety of the Crystal Empire, I assume the bulk of the Royal Guard in Cloudsdale, at least some of Manehattan, and I even got Princesses Celestia and Luna taking their fair share of orders from me~” Starlight smirks deviously once more

“WHAT?! NO!” Starswirl is shocked that even the alicorns he knew have fallen to Starlight’s notorious genie plan. “Curse you, Starlight… no… not just you actually… curses to you too for letting it get this far!” He points a judgmental hoof right at Twilight

That's where Rainbow swoops down in defense of Twilight once more “That’s enough out of you, I don’t care if you’re some legendary wizard of the past. Twilight’s our friend, and we’re not going to take you disparaging her lightly!”

“Ah concur with Rainbow, our enemy is Starlight… not each other. Whether Twilight played ah role in the current situation is irrelevant, so long as Twilight’s actively tryin' her best t’ fix her mistake. Frankly, ah’m not sure y’all would have been able t’ do much better” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“I’d beg to differ… but fine, I suppose accountability can wait until this situation is dealt with…” The stern wizard gives Twilight a not-so-subtle cold shoulder.

Rainbow growls “Screw you and your accountability! If it weren’t for Twilight, you six would already be getting consumed by genie bottles this very moment! She made a deal so that Starlight would not transform you all shortly after bringing you here!”

Starswirl admittedly had glossed over the fact that they could have simply been transformed into genies this very moment. “Is… that… so… well… I’ll at least tip my hat in gratitude for your thoughts to protect us… though I must ask if there was a catch to this… there’s always a catch to making deals with villains like these…”

“Well… just to get some of the context… Starlight’s forcefully putting us through some kind of game. Where she’s letting us have any wish from her and her alone, with some notable restrictions… the problem of course being that if said wish can be at all interpreted into a genification… that will be the default interpretation by Starlight. But uh… we reached a deal where as long as one of us is not a genie, our counterpart of the Pillars can not be genified”

“I see, well... that should give us plenty of time to seek out each of our mystical items then and begin reversing all the genifications. As long as you and your 4 other friends don’t make any foolish wishes that is. But regardless, come on my friends. We must retrieve our items from our homelands!” The pillars start walking together to go on their long journey of seeking out their items.

Though one of them is suddenly distracted by an interesting sight. Meadowbrook is startled as she comes across what seems to be a flash bee. Though it looked different from any flash bees she’s ever seen. The bee was of a paler yellow then usual, and the stripes that were normally an electric blue were now a light pink. Not to mention it had a more lion-esque mane that was also colored pink.

“Oh hello there, little flash bee! Ah suppose y’all don’t know that ah’ve taken good care o’ y’all ancestors t’ make mah medicine. Y’all stings surely hurt, but y’all really helped out with healthcare fo’ all pony kind and ah can’t thank y’all enough!” Meadowbrook smiled, while the little flash bee seemed to… chuckle?

As Starswirl walks away he notes something to the other 4 that weren’t being confronted by a flash bee. “We should be slightly thankful that Starlight can’t count it seems, there’s only 5 of Twilight and her friends and 6 of us. So even in the worst case scenario where they’re all genified, there will be at least one of us to try to set things right!”

Though Twilight just manages to hear Starswirl confidently saying that, while grimacing knowing where all of a sudden this was going. She turns over to Meadowbrook’s position and gasps as she sees the flash bee of an oddly familiar color scheme. “MEADOWBROOK, LOOK OUT! THAT’S NO ORDINARY FLASH BEE!”

“Huh?” Meadow brook turned to react to Twilight’s words. Then the flash bee quickly zipped around the mage, flying beneath Meadowbrook’s green dress and stinging her twice, once on each of her hindlegs. Meadowbrook yelps in pain and jumps backward landing on her back. As she winces from the pain, she instantly lifts her dress to inspect the pain of the stings. Strangely, she saw no inflammation, nor was there any electrical shock that was normal for flash bee stings. Though Meadowbrook still didn’t feel right, she begins to feel woozy before she focuses and shakes her head, it takes a minute before the mage of legend begins to fear the worst.

“Oh no no no… was that some sort o’ new poisonous, even mo’ aggressive type o’ flash bee that’s evolved in the past 1,000 years?! Quickly! Get me t’ the nearest hospital, who knows how potent the venom is!” Meadowbrook pleaded to everypony nearby, scared for her very life. Although her body’s reaction is actually rather inconsistent with cases of deadly venom she’s had to treat before. But she couldn’t exactly discount the possibility that the venom itself has evolved itself in the time she's been trapped in Limbo.

Then a voice unfamiliar to her, but comfortably soft replies to the mage’s pleas for help. “Don’t you worry Ms. Meadowbrook! Your life is in no danger, in fact, soon nothing will ever endanger your life ever again.”

“W-w-w-who said t-that?” Meadowbrook turned her head from side to side quickly looking for the pony who just spoke to her. The only living thing in her sight that could have been close enough to speak to her from where she could hear the voice from was the same flash bee that had just stung her. But the bee couldn’t have talked… right? Now she was afraid that maybe her life isn’t in danger, but somehow this new flash bee is capable of a type of venom that puts her into some sort of high, and she’s now suffering some pretty heavy hallucinations.

Then the flash bee popped into a puff of smoke that got larger, startling the mage. The smoke then started taking the shape of a pony, as the smoke condenses and color fades in. The true identity of the flash bee is revealed, it was Fluttershy who had transformed herself into a flash bee.

Starswirl turned to Twilight. “Who is this pony? You seem like you know them…”

Twilight just frowned and lowered her head “That is Fluttershy… she… is the friend who was genified not too long ago. She is the Element of Kindness. But now that she’s a genie, she doesn’t want to bring things back to normal… as somehow she loves it too much… and judging by the process of comparing each of our elements with those of you and the other pillars… she’s also Meadowbrook’s counterpart”

Starswirl’s face goes pale “Please… tell me that your friend isn’t counted as part of this “game” is she?! We can’t reverse things as easily without Meadowbrook!”

“I can ask… but… I have a feeling you won’t like the answer” Twilight approaches Starlight “Hey! Starlight, you genified Fluttershy before you even started this game. Wouldn’t it not be fair if you allowed her to genify Meadowbrook when this game didn’t even apply to Fluttershy’s genification?”

Starlight devilishly smirked before giving her blunt answer. “Nope! This. is. fair. game~”

Starswirl acted quickly “Then I wish for an amended rule to give us another chance! if we’re as much as part of the game as the others then you’re bound to grant our wishes too!”

Starlight just chuckles “Not necessarily~”

“WHAT?! What do you mean?!” The wizard frantically replied.

“I’m afraid there’s some fine print that Twilight missed upon SIGNING OUR CONTRACT herself!” Starlight grinned

“WHAAAAAT?! Fine print?! I didn’t see any fine print, Starlight!” Twilight insisted that she saw nothing of the sort that indicated the Pillars did not apply to the “cannot refuse wishes”.

Starlight poofs up a pair of glasses and floats them onto Twilight’s eyes. “Take a look through these, they’re microscopic glasses. You’ll find the related text just below your signature~”

Twilight takes a look at the area of the contract, she ignored it the first time because from appearences it just liiked like 3 lines and figured that was just Starlight testing if her quill was working. But as she looks with the microscopic glasses, ehr face goes pale as she sees there was indeed more text that she had missed.

There were 3 things listed:

The first being that the Pillars are not participants on the same level as Twilight with the rest of her friends. They are linked to their counterparts for when it’s time to genify them. But they are by no means given the same rights to ask for wishes. They may give suggestions to the 5 actual players, but only through those said players will the wish be granted for

The 2nd was while Fluttershy’s genification took place before the game was settled. She’s still as much retroactively a player as the rest, meaning her counterpart in the pillars is allowed to be genified by Fluttershy mere moments after their arrival, if she so chose to.

And the last one which sank Twilight’s heart more than anything. She and the others aren’t allowed to give the same sort of protection offered to the pillars to anypony else. Starlight was aware of the potential loophole all along, Twilight fell for her trap hook, line, and sinker. Thinking that Starlight had made a mistake, when in fact she was only giving Twilight that hope, only to secretly hide the detail closing such a loophole. And Twilight had already signed off on it.

Twilight just took the glasses off, sat down, and lowered her head in despair.

Meanwhile, Starswirl acts quickly knowing full well Twilight’s expression means Meadowbrook is in the sights of being genified. “Come on! We must save Meadowbrook before it’s too late!” Much like how Twilight and her friends acted to try to save Fluttershy, the Pillars quickly ran up to try to help Meadowbrook. Though this time something very different took place. As they get close to where Meadowbrook is, a magical shield pops around them, created by Starlight. Resulting in all of them bumping into the sudden magical wall that now surrounded them. They don’t give up however, Starswirl and Mistmane try to break through with their magic. Somnambula and Flash try many repeated kicks using however much speed they can muster with flight within the small space. But given not even Rockhoof’s fabled strength is making any sort of crack. It seems unlikely they will be able to even get the chance to try to save Meadowbrook.

Meadowbrook herself became distraught seeing her friends unable to help her. She whimpers in fear of whatever Fluttershy has in store for her. “W-w-w-wh-what are y-y’all going t’ do t-t’ me?”

Fluttershy gently smiles “Nothing you should concern yourself over, I promise you. Just the permanent empowering cure for everything that plaques a mortal life. Certainly as a legendary icon of healthcare, you might be curious what it might be…”

“W-w-w-wh-whatever this is… t-this has t’ come at a t-tremendous p-p-price!” Meadowbrook interjected

“I not too long ago thought the same, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised~” Fluttershy lifts a hoof up, charging some magic, soon poofing a rather different item than expected. Instead of the typical vessel that Starlight’s used for most ponies, what Fluttershy has in mind for this famed pony of healthcare, is connected to her most well-known story.

She had poofed up something resembling a flash bee hive. It’s a little smaller than most hives are, as many grow about to be as huge as a pony could be. But as a vessel it serves just fine with the opening serving as the entrance.

“A… a… a… flash bee hive?! Ah thought y’all said this is something not t’ be concerned over! Even normal flash bees can be deadly if too many sting ya at once!” Meadowbrook was suddenly scared that Fluttershy intended to kill her.

“Sure, it looks like a Flash Bee hive. But I promise you there are no flash bees inside! It’s not the bees that’ll be the main occupant of this little hive anyway~” Fluttershy smirked

The mage was confused “H-h-huh? What else w-w-would occupy a b-b-bee hive other than… w-well… b-bees?”

“I’m glad you asked~, because… it’ll be none other then… YOU!” As if on cue, Meadowbrook’s pony tail started to wave and stretch towards the nest’s entrance.

The mage screams “NO! NOOOO! NOOOOOOOO! LEMME GO!” She quickly tries to drag herself away from the hive, though her hindlegs are still a little numb from the stings Fluttershy did while she was still a flash bee, so she can only manage some crawling with her forelegs. Soon her movements slow ever further as gradually she has no hindlegs to drag anymore, they and the bottom of her green dress start moving towards the nest vessel’s entrance. She is even lifted up in the air, where all she can do is flail her hooves and whimper as nothing will block her inevitable slide into the beehive.

As the Pillars still try their hardest to try to break through Starlight’s shield, they notice that Twilight and the others are not surrounded by the shield. Yet all they’re doing is comforting the distraught Twilight while just behind them, Meadowbrook is being brought into the vessel. This makes Starswirl nearly pop a blood vessel in his head. “What are you 5 doing?! You’re not behind this shield! There’s still time to save Meadowbrook! DO SOMETHING!”

Twilight sheds tears from her eyes “I’m sorry Starswirl, but no… there is no time…”

“What are you talking about?! She’s right there! There’s still hope in all of you to save her!” Somnambula insisted

Pinkie turns toward the bearer of hope “I’m afraid Twilight’s right… we tried our best to do the same for Fluttershy when she was being genified… even if all 10 of us were to work together… it’d be futile… there is no hope...”

“You can’t possibly know that for sure!” Rockhoof replied

Applejack takes off her hat and puts it on her chest to signify sincerity “No… ah’m afraid we do… no feat o' strength, magic, or any other kind o' effort t' will work… Ah’m still ah little sore from exerting so much o’ my might trying t’ save Fluttershy… but it was still all fo’ naught…”

“You could at least still try anyway! Show us that you care about saving the world!” Flash Magnus commanded

Rainbow snapped back “Fluttershy was my friend since childhood! If you don’t think I didn’t try my very hardest to prevent this, then you don’t know me or my friends at all!”

Mistmane and Rarity don’t even say a word to each other, Rarity had been the one to resign to Fluttershy’s fate just as she and Twilight were the last line of defense. Mistmane is the first to realize that these ponies probably did try their very best, but with it being so recent. And how they likely know more about the power of these genies more than even the pillars do at this point. She sighs and stops herself, too.

Meadowbrook continues to try to struggle, but there’s nothing to hang onto, nor is there any pony trying to slow her descent. Her full tail is already in the vessel as now her hind legs and green dress merged into a curvy, smoky tail just inches from the nest’s entrance. For poor Meadowbrook, it was like a less dirty slow descent into a murky bog from the bayous she lived in.

“p-p-p-pl-Please! Somepony h-h-help m-m-m-me… a-a-AAAAH!” Her extending lower half finally reaches the opening of the beehive she was slowly being dragged into. Upon that moment. Meadowbrook could only compare her feeling to a miracle cure beyond anything else she’s ever had.

Within just seconds, her fear and apprehension is replaced with a more calming and relaxed feeling. While an ebbing flow of sheer pleasure flows through her body. She still felt like she was sinking, but she wasn’t reacting like she was sinking into cold, deep mud that would drown her. More so a type of mud that’s more controlled, warm, and more therapeutic. She felt much safer under this sort of embrace, Her cheeks were blushing as her eyes went half-lidded and she managed a smile.

Even the other pillars from behind the shield could see a drastic shift in Meadowbrook’s reaction. “Huh? What in Equestria’s come over her?! She was fearing for her life just moments ago… why does she seem… happy now?” Somnambula asked in her confusion

Star swirl shakes his head. “This must be strongly influencing poor Meadowbrook’s mind… there can be no other explanation for this… we’re losing her…”

“NOOOO! Brook! You have to fight it! You’re stronger than this!” Rockhoof yelled out

The viking’s words however fall on deaf ears, as she doesn’t respond. She just coos and moans as more of her body enters the hive.

"There, that's not so bad is it? Genification is truly the cure-all for everything... you're the Element of Healing, you must truly feel the true nature of this magic. Nothing hurts right? And how about your mental health? Tell Dr. Fluttershy what's on your mind~" Fluttershy softly talks to Meadowbrook, who may as well now be a really relaxed patient right now.

"a-a-a-ah f-feel... a-a-am-amazing... h-How... i-is this p-possible... Ah'm being fitted into this h-hive... b-but... it doesn't h-h-hurt... and mentally... ah'm not sure... as ah've never ever f-f-felt quite like this b-before... but somehow, ah mean that in a g-g-g-go-good way... Whatever y'all doin' t' me... p-please... don't s-stop..." Meadowbrook sighs in deep pleasure, she puts her hooves to her sides so they go in faster.

By now her hips have entered, her dress fully within the hive. She sighs deeply some more as her moans get louder and more intense as she’s whittled down to her neck, then the rest of her head waves and shrinks to fit into the hive, one more long moan is heard that echoes throughout the area, that becomes muffled, and then silent as the rest of the mage is brought fully into the vessel.

The rest of the pillars just about cry out in despair. Though Starswirl quickly turns his sadness into utter anger at Twilight and her friends for doing absolutely nothing during the mage's slow transformation..

“I hope you’re proud of yourselves… you ruined everything with your apathy! Now our most effective way of defeating these genies is gone! What kind of princess are you that just lets this happen… whoever you are, you are no leader… especially since this was ALL. YOUR. FAULT!” Starswirl banging on the shield to put emphasis on how much he’s blaming her now.

The princess' eyes well up in tears in seconds, already having seen so much happen in so little time. Before this genie crisis even started, she and Equestria had been on edge with the Storm King's abduction of Princesses Celestia and Luna. Her very desperate move to use the lamp as a quick fix to deal with Starlight so she could focus on the Storm King, many of her closest friends including some very important figures such as her brother, Princess Cadence, and Princess Celestia already genified by the time she met again with Starlight, Fluttershy's genification in which her and the others were powerless to stop, all three of her ideas for wishes countered by the genies in one way or another. And to top it all off. now her longtime historic idol is tearing her a new one.

She runs away, heading towards her castle, sobs and whimpers are heard from the lavender princess as she seeks to get herself some space from this terrible situation Equestria is now in. As Twilight runs away, Starlight deactivates the shield separating the Pillars from the Elements.

“TWILIGHT!” All of her friends call out to her as she runs away. The rest of her friends sternly turn towards the famous wizard. Rainbow Dash just about sets up to pummel the wizard for daring to make Twilight upset, before a cloud of yellow smoke stops her. Followed by a yellow hoof that boops Rainbow on the nose. “Let me deal with him…”

“Fluttershy…?!” Rainbow still is not quite used to her childhood friend taking charge more often. Though this attitude from her childhood friend was somewhat familiar, having remembered when she stared down a giant dragon. And with Fluttershy being far more confident, she probably should have expected her to more quickly turn her ire towards Starswirl for his attitude towards Twilight. Not to mention Starswirl’s no dragon, and Fluttershy’s genie abilities means she outmatches any sort of magic that even this legendary wizard could perform. Rainbow nods to let Fluttershy give Starswirl a piece of her mind.

Fluttershy teleports once more, straight in front of the wizard with a determined and focused angry stare. The wizard just slowly lowers her head to look eye-to-eye with the genie pegasus. “What do YOU want? Genie scum…”

Fluttershy spit takes to the side while still keeping an eye on Starswirl. “You know, Twilight had so much high praise for you… she’d tell almost every story there was about your heroic exploits and talent in magic. She made you seem like one of the most righteous ponies that has ever lived… but clearly you’re the kind of pony that gives credence to the 'Never meet your idols' phrase. You have no idea how stressed Twilight’s been this past week, not to mention she already knows full well that she bears some responsibility for what’s happened. She doesn’t need a snob like you in her face about it!”

“Why do you care?! You’re not even on her side anymore!” Starswirl snapped back.

“You’re not as wise as you look if you think this is about ‘sides’. Sure, we now disagree about this whole genie thing, but I am still her friend. And as long as that is the case, I shall stick up for her from stubborn ponies like you!”

“Baaaah! I refuse to take your word for it, you crammed Mage Meadowbrook into that beehive and have turned her into one of you. Why should I believe what you say?!” Starswirl raised a skeptical eyebrow

“Well, perhaps you should see how she herself feels about all this then...” Fluttershy lifts up a hoof and floats the hive that had not long ago sealed Meadowbrook inside. She gently rubs the hive, beginning a magical reaction. The hive shakes almost as if hundreds of flash bees were about to come out and overwhelm the wizard. Initially, the Wizard actually raises up a magical shield in case flash bees are in fact going to rise out and attack him. But there’s no buzzing from the hive, the hive simply spins around and pulses as the genified mage is bound to make her dramatic re-entrance. The hive compresses briefly before…

FWOOOOOOOOSH!

A cerulean column of smoke pours out of the hive’s opening, with light red and green sparks popping around it swirling all above the hive, coming to a stop a few feet above the hive, where the end of the smoke condenses into the silhouette of the legendary Mage. She fully fades in, her green dress and brown bracelet and necklace are gone. But she now has a green veil and leggings on her forehooves.

A relaxed and extended sigh could be heard from the newly refreshed and awakened genie.

“Ooooh~. Mah gosh, is this how Catrina felt? All o’ a sudden ah understand why she was so desperate t’ get this power back… it’s absolutely intoxicating! Ah don’t want t’ part with this feeling ever…” Meadow brook puts hooves on her cheeks with stars in her eyes. She then flies gleefully to approach Starswirl.

“Starswirl! You have no idea how wonder-“ Starswirl cuts the genified mage off, as he backs away “SHUSH! Get away from me! You’re not Meadowbrook!”

The mage genie gasps “h-h-h-Huh? What do ya mean? Ah’m still very much mah self! And ah’m still ya friend!”

“No, we’re not friends. Not anymore...” Gasps are heard from the rest of the pillars, as well as the currently still present members of the Elements.

Meadowbrook herself just about looks heartbroken “y-y-Y’all are abandoning our friendship… all cuz o’ something that wasn’t mah fault?!”

Starswirl doesn’t budge and drives the point bluntly. “Yes, because I told you… YOU. ARE. NOT. MEADOWBROOK!” Starswirl turns to the rest of the pillars “And I urge you all to avoid speaking to her, she’s just another enemy right now… anything she tries is purposfully trying to prey on our empathy for Meadowbrook...”

In a desperate move, Meadowbrook floats closer to the other pillars, she knows how stubborn Starswirl is when he gets a certain way but she tries to get through to the others. “Please! Listen t’ me! Ah’m still myself, and your friend! Rockhoof and Flash, ah’ve healed your combat wounds, Somnambula... ah’ve made your favorite tea that ya drink before every meditation, and Mistmane… the many plants from your homeland have been essential t’ some o’ mah best medicines”. To her credit, the rest of the pillars don’t react as coldly to her as Starswirl just did. But they either lower their heads, or just look off to the side to avoid eye contact. They want to believe that this genie Meadowbrook is still her, but a combination of not knowing quite enough about how much the transformation affected her mind, plus Starswirl is certain to be very stern with any one of them that tries to communicate. They just stand there, not saying a word.

Meadowbrook’s lips quivers, and her eyes flow with tears at the response from her friends. She sniffs and sobs. “f-f-f-f-fi-fine t-t-then… a-a-a-ah g-guess ah’ll j-just go back into the b-b-beehive…” The newly genified mage whines and whimpers before flying back into her vessel, muffled cries still being heard as her face enters.

Just seeing Meadowbrook cry like that makes most of the pillars worry about her, at least one or two of them think about rubbing Meadowbrook’s hive to get her out to apologize. But Starswirl speaks up first “C’mon, we’re leaving this place. We’re going to look for our magical items even without Meadowbrook, and maybe see if there’s some other solutions we can count on. Because it’s clear that our so-called ‘successors’ aren’t going to do anything about it…” Growls could be heard from Rainbow Dash and Applejack as he trailed off on the last sentence.

The Pillars walk off together, some of them take brief moments to look at the hive vessel Meadowbrook went back into. But nonetheless, they follow Starswirl’s lead to leave the area. Some of the Crystal Ponies talk to Starlight on whether they should do something about them. But Starlight tells them to let them through, as they are of little-to-no threat to Geniequestria in her view.

“Girls, I think I’m beginning to understand why that spell book that Twilight completed before she become an Alicorn wasn't complete in the first place…” Rarity notes once the Pillars are far enough away to not hear her.

Fluttershy then returns to face the group. “The four of you should head to Twilight’s castle to comfort her, she needs all of you right about now.”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Rarity concur. “Yeah, what Starswirl said t’ her was uncalled fo’.”

“Though what will you do, Fluttershy?” Rainbow curiously asked.

“I think I’m going to speak to Meadowbrook and cheer her up, I was the one that genified her, so I’m ultimately responsible. She herself got a rough tongue lashing from Starswirl too. She just got abandoned by her friends. She deserves to know that she shouldn’t feel ashamed for feeling great about becoming a genie. Even if I know you girls probably don’t want more genies to deal with…”

“Eh, honestly the way Starswirl treated Twilight and his supposed friend, I think this is a case where I’m actually rooting for you to help her out. Even if it means another genie is on the loose, because frankly I’m starting to feel like I’d rather not owe that jerk any favors should he somehow save Equestria without us…” Rainbow pouted

“Now Dash, if he turns out t’ find the solution t’ all our problems... we’ll have no choice but t’ have him help. Starswirl’s definitely not the type o’ pony Twilight builded him up t’ be. But if he’s anything like the legendary wizard that Twilight’s said, he may very well be one o’ our last means o’ returning Equestria t’ normal. Even if ah would not look forward t’ him lording that over us either…” Applejack clearly still a bit irritated with Starswirl.

“Let’s go see Twilight as Fluttershy suggested. I may still blame myself a little for what’s happened… but Twilight should know that we still stand behind her!” Pinkie said in determination

“Right! Let’s go!” Rainbow starts flying to the castle. Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity begin to follow. Though then a yellow poof suddenly appears in front of Rarity.

“Rarity, could you stop for a moment?” It was from Fluttershy

“Yes…? Fluttershy, darling?” Rarity is quite curious what Fluttershy specifically stopped her for.

“Once I’ve cheered up Meadowbrook, I’m probably going to go transform some ponies I personally know for a little bit. But when I get the chance, I’d like to speak to you privately, if that’s ok with you” Fluttershy whispered

“I… suppose that’d be alright… where do you want to meet up?” Rarity asked

“Just come to my cottage when you’re ready to speak with me. I’ll soon take my vessel there, chances are I’ll be inside when you decide to come by. You’ll just need to lift the top open. Deal?” Fluttershy gently smiled

Rarity nodded “Deal, I’ll see you later then!” Rarity waves as she leaves to trail the others that went to comfort an upset Twilight. That only left Fluttershy, Starlight, and the crystal pony genie army. Starlight admittedly can do nothing but blink having just seen what happened.

“Well uh… that was a thing… huh…” Starlight certainly scored her victory over Ponyville today. Though there were certainly a few parts of this she wasn't expecting to see or feel. Such as a little pity for Twilight the way Starswirl berated her.

“Starlight, tell me. What did you think of Starswirl’s treatment of Twilight and Meadowbrook just now? Just warning you now,this is very important to me…” Fluttershy sternly asked

“Well… I would be lying if I said I didn’t find it a little funny at first the one pony Twilight historically looked up to was taking her down a peg… but even I’m feeling like maybe he went a little far there at the end… of course… don’t expect me to go with your other friends and cheer her up myself…” Starlight lifts an eyebrow and crosses her hooves. "But the way he spoke to Meadowbrook, rubbed me the wrong way more... his accusation of brainwashing is WORSE then Twilight's. He thinks we're not even the same pony we are once genified! UGGGGH, I almost regret letting the Pillars only be genified by their counterparts... the moment he said that, I felt like slamming down a vessel straight on his head..."

Fluttershy just smiles “That’s good enough for me, you’re proving you still have some form of morality despite that crystal of corruption in you. And if you still have morality, you can be taught some things. Hey, do you want to join me to go see Meadowbrook in her vessel? Could be some solid experience for you!”

Starlight rolls her eyes on the subject of being taught “No, I have some things to do. I’m curious to see see how much of Canterlot, Manehattan, and Cloudsdale is currently genified. And then I'll return to Ponyville, maybe get pampered by this town's spa, and genify a few other select ponies here and there. Which reminds me…” Starlight turns toward her genie army.

“You all may disperse and do whatever you want now, I mainly brought you all as a way to make things difficult as Twilight and the others still had the elements at their disposal. Now that the elements are no longer a problem, we can relax and do whatever we want. Have some friends here and there from outside the Crystal Empire you’d like to genify? Go for it, or if you’d like to simply go back up north to the Crystal Empire or at least in your respective vessels to relax. That’s just fine too, there’s no rush to genify every pony right this second, or even by the rest of today. What you do with your genie powers is your choice, I’ll at least recommend keeping away from some ponies that are known to have strong association with any of Twilight and her friends as I would like to leave them something left to genify themselves once they’re genies. But otherwise, go nuts~” The entire army bows and proceeds to either disperse around town, head into their vessels, or teleport far away.

“Ok Starlight, I’ll catch you later.” Fluttershy gently smiled once more

“Heh, I’ve already caught you remember… in a manner of speaking~. That phrase may apply more to your friends.” Both Starlight and Fluttershy chuckle a little

“On that subject though, I do really sincerely thank you for turning me into a genie. There’s still some things I want to work with you as we get to know each other better. But I will proudly tell you that you were right, my genification was certainly one of the best moments of my life. And I have a feeling much of what else you said to me during my transformation won’t be too far off the mark either” Fluttershy nods her head in thankfulness

“Heh, you’re too kind, Fluttershy. You surprised me when you denied my order to spy on your friends,, but I’m at least happy to have you as a somewhat willing ally when it comes to genifications. Speaking of which, how did your first one feel when you were transforming Meadowbrook? I’m quite curious about your opinion~” Starlight raised an eyebrow curious how the kind pony might take forcefully transforming some pony.

“I’ll admit a small part of me was kind of concerned at the beginning with how ponies aren’t normally willing to such a process, but it does get better as the transformation gets further along. I’ll admit being on the other side of a genification feels sort of exhilarating… I felt like I was in charge for once in my life while transforming Meadowbrook… while at the same time I know I’m helping ponies by giving them the kindest gift I know I can give them! I can’t wait to show my family and a few friends I know the way of the genie~” Fluttershy grins proudly

Starlight claps her hooves “Very nice~. Maybe I’ll pop in a few times to see a few more of your genifications if I can”

“I’d be more than happy to have you around for some of my own genifications, for now though. I need to go comfort Meadowbrook, I’ll get her in a much better mood. And soon you’ll have none other than a legend of healthcare to spread the word of Geniequestria!” Fluttershy does a flip to start flying in the air with her wings and then she zooms and shapes herself to enter the hive.

With that Starlight smirked, and expressed a deep, and long satisfied sigh. This trip to Ponyville went about as well as she could have hoped for, even if there were a few scares or unexpected moments here and there. With the Elements of Harmony out of the way, and not even Discord or the Pillars to be much in getting in the way of the spread of Geniequestria. Starlight could now afford to take things at her own pace and let things fall as they go. Now every subsequent minute, day, week, and month brings Starlight’s dreams of a genie utopia closer to fruition.

_____________________________________________________________

MAIN STORY

START FROM THE BEGINNING

NEXT (TO TWILIGHT’S CASTLE)

SIDE STORIES

FOLLOW FLUTTERSHY INTO MEADOWBROOK’S VESSEL

FOLLOW STARLIGHT TO THE PONYVILLE DAY SPA

11 notes · View notes

absolute-fandom-trash · 2 years

Text

Welcome to the convoluted (crack) theory about how John Watson is actually Moriarty.

Before you scroll, this kind of makes sense a bit but you’ll have to go with me.

It is commonly agreed that it is likely that Watson changes the names and revealing information about their clients when he publishes his stories. But what if, he changes details behind those of his clients?

In the Conan Doyle story “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” Doyle makes a major error at the beginning by having Mary Watson (Morstan) call her husband James instead of John. First of all, we must remember that this is Watson telling and narrating the story. If we are to assume that he is aware of his own name (which I really hope he is) then is it possible that “John” is also a false name. Since the name “James” only occurs once in reference to Watson, it is possible that his name is actually James and John is his pseudonym, as it were.

Now you’re probably wondering how exactly I’m going to tie this in with Moriarty (or you’re a step ahead of me, in which case, you have a brain that runs as oddly as mine). Well, as most people know Moriarty’s first name is none other than James. Yes, I know that this is a bit of a stretch but I have some good reason to think that this is possible.

Turn your attention now to BBC Sherlock. We meet John in episode one. He is a depressed soldier back from the war in search of some form of action and adventure. He does some research on Sherlock after their initial meeting and determines that Sherlock is odd but interesting. He begins by testing his new acquaintance with Jefferson Hope, a man who supposedly works under Moriarty. This information is not revealed to us until after we learn that John Watson has the phone number and a line of communication to Hope. So is it too much to suppose given the nature of this show that somewhere off camera, John calls Hope and encourages him, threatens him even, to say that he works for Moriarty, a man who is entirely unknown to Sherlock at this point. The end of this episode has John shoot Jefferson Hope. He and Hope had never laid eyes upon one another and John makes sure that Hope will not be able to identify him even by voice. In killing Hope, he secures himself a position as trustworthy companion to Sherlock and also leaves nobody to know of his involvement.

In Blind Banker, we learn of Moriarty’s connection to the smuggling group. If John had this access to the group, it’s not difficult to make the leap that this is a further test of Sherlock Holmes as well as being a good chance for him to make some money, something we see he is in want of. He is also sure that he is in Sherlock’s ring of trust and has proof enough in the form of Sherlock’s credit card. Is it not also odd that when John is being “mistaken” for Sherlock that it is not his life that is aimed for but his girlfriend’s? Earlier in this same episode, he learns the level of trust that Sherlock has in Molly Hooper which he will use to his advantage in the next episode. Sherlock comes in to save the day we learn that “M” (Moriarty) has eliminated the remaining link between himself and the smugglers.

By the time The Great Game Rolls around, John has all the knowledge he needs about Sherlock to make a formal attack. John knows that Molly is someone that Sherlock can trust so he sets up an actor, paid for with Sherlock’s own credit card (so it would be under his name), to play as James Moriarty. He put a strain of sorts on the relationship between Sherlock and Molly, making it so he was certain that Sherlock’s attention would be left to his cases/the game and to John himself. The plot happens how it happens but we see that John is, once again, being used by this “Moriarty” as a target, he’s the victim. But how much danger was he really in? The lasers upon him behaved far more like ordinary laser pointers, the sheer number of them made little sense in the context of the scene. The bomb vest on John never exploded so we don’t even know if they were real. Only one of the earlier victims died and she was arguably the most feeble so it’s possible that this was a tactic to scare Sherlock more. Make it all seem more real.

Moriarty’s presence in season two is similar (sort of) to season one. John had access to the phone and may very well have known that some important information was on it and he needed to be close to Sherlock in order to get at it. So he found a way to get himself close. In The Hounds of the Baskervilles we don’t get much of Moriarty so I’m not going to go into too much depth there.

Now we get to The Reichenbach Fall; where all the information so far gets to shine. Remember how this “Richard Brook” claims that he was hired by Sherlock? Well, remember that in The Blind Banker, John had access to Sherlock’s credit card. He hired this man in Sherlock’s name with the intention as was shown to prove himself innocent and to get Sherlock out of the way. With the information gained from Richard Brook about Sherlock’s family (when Mycroft tells him everything and grants him access to Eurus), John is able to set up The Final Problem.

We know that by the point The Final Problem happens, John has lashed out at Sherlock a LOT. He has no outlet in order to fight Sherlock and without those restraints, we get moments like what happened in the case of Culverton Smith. Where he lashes out unrestrained. In The Final Problem, he knows that he has to find a way to get Mycroft out of the way, he needs to be able to get back to Sherlock, he wants a game. So he sets up a time where he knows Sherlock will shoot Mycroft. Eliminate one brother, save one for himself, and the sister will be in the palm of his hand. In order to have this moment, he had to prevent Sherlock’s true death after Magnussen and so he pressed the button and released the video.

John lets himself stop being in control of his every move and ends up being extremely dangerous and violent toward everyone, especially Sherlock. He uses manipulation techniques during that time also to make it so everyone around him feels bad for him even though he’s just as much at fault, if not more so, as Sherlock. He also makes it so all of Sherlock’s friends start to side more with him than with Sherlock. During the incident in the Lying Detective, we see that he doesn’t believe or doesn’t want to believe that Sherlock was with someone and then everyone else believes him too.

He has Sherlock wrapped around his finger so much that he blames him for Mary and convinces other people that that Sherlock is to blame for Mary even though he could do nothing. He reminds Sherlock at every turn that he made a promise and that he made a vow.

And there we have it. The manipulation of Sherlock Holmes by none other than John Hamish Watson, the true evil mastermind of BBC Sherlock.

#sherlock holmes #bbc sherlock #sherlock meta #john watson #‘james’ watson #sherlock #crack meta #i don’t exactly fully believe in this but it was actually fun to consider and write #if there are fics of this please send them my way it seems like an interesting twist #evil john watson theory #my post

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simsbymyr · 2 years

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Sims 4 Mod Guide: Vicky Sims (chingyu1023)'s traits

Allright, so someone has recomended you the 100 trait pack but you are a little confuse about how to get everything. Don't worry, because here I will explain everything you need to know about this traits.

Fantastic Traits and Where To Find Them

Vicky/chingyu's traits are a few trait bundles that have become pretty well known in the sims community, due to the amount, diversity and quality they have. And they are for free!

The trait bundles are:

100 Base Game Traits Pack (V2)

100 Base Game Traits Pack (V1)

Absent Emotion Traits

Arsonist Trait

Faithfulness (Romance Autonomy + Faithfulness Traits

Long-Lived Traits

Metabolism Reward Traits

Mute Trait

Seasons Traits Pack

Supernatural Traits V2

Toddler Traits Pack V2

Wicked Traits Pack (sfw/nsfw available)

Vicky/chingyu also has other mods related to traits:

Add Traits Menu

All Traits In Reward Store

Brave Trait in CAS

Custom Traits in Club Filter

EA Traits As Reward V2 (clones)

Greater Bonus Traits

Lifetime Traits

Mass Traits Remover

More CAS Traits for Sims and/or Pets

Sorted Traits Picker

Traits Overhaul

Traits Remade In CAS

Unhidden Traits & In store

And many more mods, make sure to check their website or patreon to see all their amazing work.

However, for this guide I will focus on some traits and related mods and how to make them work in-game.

How to download Vicki/chingyu's mods

The easiest way is go to their patreon. The About section has the full list of mods and links to their posts.

Once you are in the post, scroll down to the bottom, and you'll see the downloads.

Click on each of them and the download will start. Then you just need to drop them on your mods folder and you are good to go!

There is a lot of files. Do I need to get all of them?

It depends on the mod and your preferences. Vicki/chingyu has fairly detailed download instructions, however I will give some details I hope might make things even easier.

100 Base Game Traits Pack

This has V1 and V2. The best version (in my opinion at least) is V2, however some traits are not availible yet, so if you want them, you must get them from V1.

V2 has two options: CAS version and Reward version.

CAS version will show up in CAS and in trait selector when your sims grow up.

Reward version will show up in the Reward Store.

Personally, I like the CAS version better and I don't use the reward version at all, but as far as I know both are compatible with each other.

Only Part 1 and Part 4 traits from V1 have been updated to V2. This is important to know if you want all the traits.

As for V1, you must choose between CAS version or Reward version, because they are NOT compatible with each other. Also remember to remove Part 1 and Part 4 folders if you downloaded V2 traits.

I highly recomend you get the whole set and versions.

Do I need any other mods to make these traits work?

Nope. Just drop them in your mods folder and load the game.

However, I would recomend some other mods to make the experience even better:

Add Traits Menu: This mod adds a Add/Remove trait option in the Actions menu when you click on a sim. It's handy to view and edit any sim's traits. It works for contrable and non-controllable sims. Custom Traits in Club Filter: This mod adds the custom traits as club filter options. Please be aware that it works also for some traits not from Vicki/chingyu but not for all custom traits out there.

More CAS Traits for Sims and/or Pets: This mod gives more traits to your sims. It comes in several versions, each with a different number of traits. You can only have one version. I play with Option 6, but you might want to try some other options to find the one that suits you better. Unhidden Traits & In store: This mod makes some hidden traits visible and also adds them to the Reward Store, so you can add them to your sims.

Genetic Rewards: With this mod, your in-game born sims will get store satisfaction rewards from their parents. There are several versions. The explanation of how it works is long and a bit complicated, so I suggest you check Vicki/chingyu's website. I play with the Genetics by Personality version. Inborn Personality: With this mod, your in-game born sims will inherit traits from their parents. Inherited Aspiration Bonus: With this mod, your in-game born sims will get aspiration bonus traits according to their parents' aspirations and personalities

Do you recomend other traits bundles?

Yes! Besides the 100 Base Game packs I highly recomend:

Toddler traits

Faithfulness traits

Wicked traits

And I think that's all! If you have further questions feel free to ask.

Dag-dag!

#sims 4 #sims 4 mod guide

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mattel-is-nobody · 7 months

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Hey so did any of you guys know that there is actually a 1/10,000 chance that when you die in the original FNAF the death screen redirects you to the Golden Freddy jumpscare instead of the title screen? i know that sounds like the opening to a bad trollpasta but it's actually true. Go decompile the code yourself, it's in there, pretty easy to find too (unsurprisingly, because games made in Clickteam are very easliy decompiled but that's not what this post is about). The more common way to see Golden Freddy is one you probably know if you didn't scroll past after reading the first line. You camp out on Cam 2B, open and close the cameras every second, and you're pretty much guaranteed to get the rare screen. But what's funny to me is that that trigger is actually a 1/100,000 chance, meaning the chance of it occurring every time you look at cams is 10 times LESS than it occurring upon your death. Yeah, statistically you're more likely to get the jumpscare from Cam2B because you're going to be clicking on that far more often than you're going to be dying if you're any good at the game, but it's TEN (10) TIMES more likely in the code to get it from just dying.

And despite that I can't think of a single streamer or YouTuber that I've ever watched who DIDN'T get the Golden Freddy jumpscare by the Camera 2B method. I know Mark and Sean didn't, I watch their old series every year in much the same way Potterheads read the HP series every year. I'm also fairly certain Cory and Dawko didn't, and DanTDM didn't even play FNAF 1 and if he did he didn't record it, so that eliminates most of the early-age FNAF players who we would have recordings of.

I read a couple thousand youtube comments on the only two videos I found that talk about it. Nothing. I combed through some old twitch stream archives and VODs of several creators, not a damn thing. I looked at Golden Freddy's article on the fandom wiki, and while it does MENTION the possibility, it just says "it is confirmed that this happens on the mobile version" and provides no links or anything. It's feels kinda surreal to me. Looking for something that you know MUST exist somewhere and yet apparently it just doesn't. Or maybe it's a "if it'd been a snake it'd'a bit me" situation and I'm an idiot and there's a twitch highlight somewhere of someone getting it.

#five nights at freddy's

0 notes

bananaterra · 2 years

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Fortnite mac executable file location

#Fortnite mac executable file location how to#

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In the Task Manager window, take a look at what’s hogging all the processing power or memory, select the unnecessary program and right-click it to choose End task.Īfter that, restart the Fortnite game and check whether its performance has been boosted.So, in this situation, you need to disable background programs.

#Fortnite mac executable file location how to#

Disable Background ProgramsĪs for how to run Fortnite faster on PC, you also need to need to end some unnecessary programs since they consume the CPU resources.

Then turn off them and click Apply to execute the changes.Īfter that, restart your Fortnite game and check whether its performance has been improved.

Scroll down to find the replay options.

Open Fortnite and click the main menu icon in the top right corner of your screen.

So, in order to improve the Fortnite performance, you can also try disabling the replays. If the replay mode is enabled when playing Fortnite, you will face big FPS drops. View Distance: Far or Epic (Optional) Shadows: Off In the Video settings window, tweak the following settings:ĭisplay Resolution: Set it the same as your computer screen Launch Fortnite and click the main menu icon in the top right corner of your screen.Ģ. Now, you can adjust the following settings on Game.ġ. Adjust Game SettingsĪs for how to make Fortnite run smoother, you can try adjusting game settings firstly. In this part, we will show how to make Fortnite run smoother on PC. You can try the following reliable tricks to make Fortnite run better on PC. If your computer meets the minimum system requirements, you still can’t enjoy a good game experience.

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OS: Windows 10/8/7 64-bit or Mac OSX Sierra Hence, we will list the minimum system requirements of Fortnite. But before proceeding, you need to make sure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements. So, in this post, we will show you how to make Fortnite faster. Then how to make Fortnite run better on PC? But some users reported that the Fortnite runs slow, so they want to optimize the game performance. Many users would like to play it on their PCs. What Are the Minimum System Requirements of Fortnite?įortnite is one of the most popular games developed by Epic Games and released in 2017.

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How to Make Fortnite Run Better on PC FAQ.What Are the Minimum System Requirements of Fortnite?.

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I had to go through a bit of trial and error phase to get this correct. You will now go back to the Preferences windows and you can press ok as the problem has now been resolved. You can enter anything in the Name, I have called it MAMP as it is more convenient I guess. Press the open button and the path will be automatically displayed for the ini file.įor the Executable Path go to the bin folder (as shown on above image) also located in the php5.5.14 folder and select the PHP executable file program. One you locate WAMP click the program and you will see a various versions of Php5 folders click the php folder → php5.5.14 → conf and then select the php ini To locate ini file you will need to browse the folders in the WAMP application , click Browse for the Executable Path and find the MAMP program (usually found in Application on your MAC).

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You can go to this link to download MAMP. To add the correct Executable path and PHP ini file you will need to download MAMP program as the Aptana Studio 3 recognises the MAMP files. Now you will see the Add New PHP Executable window, this is the part where you must make sure that the Name, Executable file and PHP ini file must have correct paths otherwise it will not allow you to click the finish button and you will keep getting error messages. So you will need to link the PHP file to a server that the file and you Aptana Studio 3 Program will recognise and your webpage can then be successfully displayed.Ĭlick the ok and the Preference window will automatically pop up, this is Preferences for the PHP Interpreters as shown on the left panel under PHP drop down menu options. The is because is Aptana is trying to execute the file on a web server. When you try to run a PHP webpage to preview the content and look of your webpage you will get this message: So this is for all the Mac users who are using Aptana Studio 3 for website development. I had been spending quite some time figuring out how I could load a PHP web wage using Aptana Studio 3 and I finally managed to come up with a solution. Hello all web surfers! I am writing my first blog and in my first blog I would like to share a solution to a problem on Aptana Studio 3 a free and effective website design program.

#Fortnite mac executable file location

0 notes

monsterenergysimp · 4 years

Text

Permanence

corpse husband x fem!reader

summary: you meet corpse on a stream and you’re surprised when he reaches out to you

warnings: cursing, mentions of tattooing

word count: 1.9k

notes: This is proof read but could have missed some stuff. This is my first corpse fic and my first time writing fanfic since I posted that super cringey book on wattpad when I was like 12 or something. I’d appreciate feed back so please reach out to me :)

main blog @itsmysleepover

read part 2 here!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You were cleaning up your station so you can get home and stream. You loved your day job as a tattoo artist but you also really enjoyed streaming. It started as a way to promote yourself as an artist and the shop you worked at but it eventually became a really fun way to destress at the end of the week (or day if you were really itching to stream). “Hey Y/N was that your last client?” your boss, KC, asked as she walked to the front of the shop and put new flash drawings on the walls.

“Yes ma’am!” You said back excitedly. You finished cleaning your station and tossed your black gloves in the trash. “And you can’t trick me into staying and taking walk-ins,” you joked with her. She rolled her eyes and walked back into her office “It was one time,” she said as you slid on your jacket. As you walked out your phone buzzed in your pocket and you checked to see who had texted you. It was a message from Sean asking if you were free to play Among Us with him and some other streamers. You replied that you were on your way home right now and totally down. You were excited to see who was playing this time around since their Among Us streams are super entertaining and have gotten really popular.

On your way back you tweeted and posted to your Instagram story that you’d be streaming soon and set up all your stuff once you made it home. After a few minutes, you had a couple of thousand people watching. You entered the discord chat and Sean spoke up. “Everyone this is Y/N she’s sensitive so be gentle.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you guys and I’m not gentle, I'm ruthless,” You say into your mic and notice the chat calling you a liar. Everyone was in the lobby waiting for the game to start. “You sound way too sweet to be ruthless,” Corpse said. The countdown started and you were imposter with Charlie.

“This should be fun,” you told the stream. Yout tried playing strategically but after such a long shift your brain was mush. You saw Poki in nav and killed her then vented into shields. Not long after the body was reported and you were sure you were going to get voted out or at least sussed.

“Where was the body?” Felix asked. “Nav and I didn’t see anyone near there so whoever is imposter must have vented,” Corpse responded. Felix spoke up again. “I think I saw Y/N walk that way and I haven’t seen her since.”

Shit, shit, shit shit. “I’m in shield right now so-” you said trying to defend yourself but Charlie spoke up. “I was doing tasks with her earlier and I saw her walk into shields so she’s safe but I’m still not sure about Rae.” Everyone discussed a bit more and some people, including Corpse, voted for you but Rae got the majority vote and was ejected. You released your breath and kept playing being extra careful.

“Okay, guys that was super close. Corpse knows and is out to get me,” you said to the chat. You were eventually voted off but one round later victory was written across your screen with your ghost and Charlie’s avatar. “Good game guys,” Corpse said.

“I told you guys I was ruthless!”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You sat at your station doing nothing because a client had canceled a four-hour session. You were listening to music and sketching some stuff but you were bored out of your mind and you didn’t want to leave in case you got a walk-in. The music got quiet as you received a twitter notification saying someone had messaged you. You reached for your phone and saw you had gotten a dm from Corpse.

C: hey :)

You didn’t know what to respond. You were mostly confused as to why he decided to message you out of the blue. Did he want something? But what would he want?

Y: Hii! This is sudden

C: was i bothering you?

shit sorry!

Y: Youre fine I wasn’t doing anything rn

C: how has your day been

i dont usually do stuff like this

Y: Im glad you did im doing better now I was so bored

C: what were you doing that was so terrible

Y: NOTHING! thats the problem :(

C: im sure youll find something to do

You stared at his message. Unsure what to respond.

Y: Im gonna give myself a tattoo

C: what?

NO!

You tossed the needles you used for your tattoo into the sharps box. “Oh my god you didn’t,” KC said. She noticed the wrap on your calve from the tattoo you just gave yourself out of boredom. “It’s not my fault I didn’t have anything else to do!” You said trying to defend yourself. She sighed and just shook her head. “Just go home business is slow today.” It was raining so the shop probably wasn’t going to get a walk-in anyway and you didn’t have any more clients for the day. It was only 2 pm but you drove home and after making lunch for yourself decided to stream. You weren’t expecting too many people so it was bound to be super chill. Your leg felt sore reminding you of the tattoo. You snapped a quick pic of the fresh jack-o-lantern on the side of your calve and messaged it to Corpse.

Y: [image] it came out nice!

C: thats super cool actually

i was concerned why you would just give yourself a tattoo but i found your instagram and youre super talented

Y: Thank you!

For some reason, it felt strange to just have that be the end of your response.

Y: Im about to start streaming if you wanted to watch

[link]

C: ill be watching ;)

What’s that supposed to mean?

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You sat in your apartment watching tv, hand lost in a bag of Doritos, and scrolling through twitter. You had stopped paying attention to the anime playing on the screen since you’ve watched it a hundred times and knew you wouldn’t miss anything. It was Saturday and you usually take those days off. Take the time to do chores or meet up with some friends but today you felt like not doing any of those things. As you continue your endless scroll (not helping the twitter addiction you told yourself you’d try to get a handle on) you got a message from Corpse.

C: wanna talk?

You looked down at the message unsure of how to answer. It was a simple yes or no and the obvious answer was yes. You and Corpse had started talking more regularly. You still didn’t have each other’s phone numbers but it was fine. Your conversations weren’t too big-- just you sending him memes, tiktoks, and telling him how much you liked the songs he would drop. Or him complimenting a tattoo you did. Sometimes he’d message you during streams telling you funny stuff his fans would say in the chat and you’d do the same. You learned a bit about each other but nothing too deep or serious. Like how you two lived a few cities away and you both really liked Donnie Darko. When Sean first invited you to that game out of everyone else there you were most excited to meet Corpse. He’s just so sweet and funny. Of course, you’d love to talk to him but you were also itching to talk to him and the last thing you’d ever want to do was make him uncomfortable.

Y: Yeah id love to talk

Here goes nothing.

Y: Wanna facetime or something?

No pressure or anything it could even be a regular call

I think facetime is just my default lol

You sent those last two messages quickly after you had sent the first. You wished you could know what he was thinking. It was killing you to think you had turned him off from talking to you completely. You put your phone down on the couch and went to wash your hand of Dorito dust. When you got back from the kitchen you turned off the tv and tossed yourself onto the couch.

Still no message.

Why am I so fucking stupid?

Just as you were standing up to stretch from sitting on the couch all day your phone buzzed. You reached for it fast and looked to see that it was him. You became super excited still not even knowing what the message said. It could have told you to never talk to him again for all you knew.

C: sure lets facetime

xxx-xxx-xxxx

You had his phone number. You added him to your small but growing contact list and called. You sat on your couch waiting for a response when he finally picked up the screen was black. It didn’t upset you; you kind of expected it and didn’t care what he had to do to make himself more comfortable during this call.

“Hey,” he said. His voice was raspier than usual.

“Did you just wake up?” You asked and looked at the time. It was about a little past noon and you had only eaten Doritos all day. Shit, you should probably make a decent meal.

“Not that long ago but yeah,” he responded and giggled. That giggle.

“Well, I’ve eaten nothing but Doritos all day while rewatching Ouran High School Host Club, so you’re welcome to join me as I make myself something to eat.”

“Sounds like fun; what are we eating?”

“I don’t know yet,” You said as you stood up and made your way to the kitchen. You opened the pantry and looked. You noticed a can of diced tomatoes and reached for it then checked the expiration date. It was still good. On your counter were some onions and garlic. “How about some tomato soup?”

“Sounds delicious.” you smiled at Corpse and your phone screen not knowing if he was also looking at his screen or not. “You’re really pretty-- you know that?”

“Thanks, but you don’t have to--”

“I’ve already told you what an incredible artist you are so many times I bet you’re tired of hearing it, but you already know what a talented artist you are.”

“That is very kind of you Corpse,” you said to him bashfully as you chopped the onion and opened the can of tomatoes. “But once again you don’t have to reach so far to compliment me.”

“I’m not reaching you are talented and beautiful and--”

“I thought I was pretty.” You could hear him chuckle with a smile on his face. “You’re both,” he said. You could feel your face getting warm from blushing.

“Fuck you you’re making me blush. My face is all hot and stuff.”

He laughed at how flustered you got. “That’s the cutest thing ever.”

You didn’t know how to respond so you just put some olive oil in a pot and tossed in your onions. It became silent but it was a comfortable silence. You turned the stove on and watched the flame for a few seconds. “If it was dark we could pretend we were together and having a bonfire or something,” you said to the phone as you turned the camera to show him the flame (still not 100 percent sure if he was looking at you or not).

“I’ll put it on the list of things to do when you visit me someday.”

#corpse husband #corpse husband x reader #corpse husband imagine #corpse husband imagines #corpse husband x y/n #youtubers #caffeinated ramblings

1K notes · View notes

kpopxx · 3 years

Text

Spy Games [Chapter 1] : More Than It Seems

Characters: Twice Momo, Male Reader

4579 words

Authors Note: This is literally the first fiction writing I have done since I was a little kid writing stories about a town full of hamburgers. I was inspired to try my hand at writing by the plethora of amazing kpop smut writers out there right now, but by @lockefanfic, @nsfwtwicecatcher, @nsfwflint, and @ggidolsmuts in particular. If there are any similarities between my writing and theirs, please forgive me as I’ve spent more hours than I’d care to admit “researching” their work.

One thing that amazes me is how the hell everyone cranks out thousands of words with such frequency, as this post isn’t even 5k and it took forever to write. I can’t begin to explain how much respect I have for all the authors out there who can write so much and maintain such high levels of quality.

As a new writer, I welcome any and all feedback! Feel free to drop me a line if you have any critiques, or if you just want to chat!

***

“Coming up on the target now.”

“Roger that, remember the office is on the top floor. Let us know when you’re inside. And remember, no elevators...” teases your handler, Choa.

“Thanks for the reminder,” you reply sarcastically.

You survey the skyscraper against the night sky--it would be impressive if it weren’t one of a hundred just like it downtown Seoul--and wonder what you had done to deserve getting the short end of the stick. Of course, you knew there was a reason to avoid the elevators: they sat directly in front of the building’s concierge and the cameras in the lobby, while the stairwell lay in a remote part of the first floor. The logic behind your impending hike didn’t make the reality any less abhorrent.

“Meanwhile, Seolhyun gets to infiltrate an organization in the Caymans. Just my fucking luck.” you grumble to yourself.

“Oh, stop whining, you big baby,” says Choa, reminding you to keep your thoughts to yourself.

You sneak past the lobby and towards the back of the floor you find the entrance to the stairwell in a poorly lit area.

“Beginning my climb.” you report, shaking out your legs as you prepare to go up.

“Sir, I-I’m getting some interference over comms,” chimes in the timid voice of the girl you knew to be your newest team member, Yoo Jeongyeon. “It could just be local chatter, but I want to make sure it’s not someone trying to listen in.”

“Probably nothing to worry about, but we’ll let you know if there’s anything you need to worry about.” Choa assures you.

As you climb up the stairs, you wonder why anyone would want to listen in on this particular mission. This was a run-of-the-mill operation to investigate money laundering at an accounting firm. You’d infiltrated foreign governments, broken into and bugged the offices of billionaire CEOs, and tailed enemy agents. You could understand people wanting to hear those comms, but this? Either someone wanted something to listen to as a sleep aid, or this mission was more interesting than it looked.

A tip had come in through one of the new girls at the Intel Desk reporting that there was some fishy activity related to organized crime going on at the accounting firm. This was routine and you’d gone on dozens of similar recon missions before: break in, find suspicious intel, get out. But if someone wanted so badly to hear what was going on, the new girl may have stumbled onto something worthy of a promotion. Hayoung, you think her name was. Her chestnut, shoulder-length hair along with her well-endowed physique reminded you of a young mother, but her mature beauty belied her young age. You had caught yourself more than a few times fantasizing about her in your off hours…

You stop mid-way in the stairwell, scolding yourself for losing focus. Too often over the course of the last year you found yourself fantasizing about the women in your life. Sure, before the incident with Eunha you had sexual thoughts about your coworkers--you were surrounded by beautiful women, after all. But recently you noticed that your life was increasingly preoccupied with sex: both in your thoughts and the real-life exploits you carried out.

Much longer than a few minutes later, you reach the 63rd floor out of breath and sweating, wishing more than ever that it was you and not Seolhyun lounging on the beach. You take a moment to compose yourself before peeking out into the office floor to see if the coast is clear.

“We may have a problem, boss. Jeongyeon looked into the comms disturbance and someone much more sophisticated than the average joe is definitely trying to tap in,” Choa says. “Jeongyeon’s kicking their ass right now blocking their access, but there’s only so much she can do alone. Eventually we’re going to lose control of this channel.”

“Dammit. I knew something was off with this op,” you grumble. “If they want to listen in to whatever I find, it must be important. We’ll go dark. Recon says this should be a quick in and out anyways. I’ll tag you once I’m out.”

“Be careful. Signal us if anything goes wrong. Just don’t do anything stupid.” replies Choa.

“What do you think they pay me all this money for?” you tease, wanting to put her nerves at ease. “See you on the other side. Over and out.”

You could hear the concern in her voice. Even though keeping you safe was part of her job, you knew she cared about you. You also knew as well as she did that anything could go wrong even in the five minutes it would take you to break in, especially when it appeared that someone knew exactly what you were doing.

You switch off your comms link and head out the door and into the office.

It looked exactly as you expected--rows and rows of non-descript cubicles, with a princely office lined with glass walls occupying the far corner. Jeongyeon had retrieved the floor plan by hacking into the building’s security database earlier in the week, and you knew after her effort tonight in detecting and fending off the comms interference that Choa would want you to acknowledge the work the new girl had been putting in. She certainly was more skilled than the five previous team members you’d fired after Eunha, but you found it difficult to bring yourself to praise her. The Ops Officer position she occupied was a sore point for you, after all.

You deftly pick the lock on the corner office door and immediately sit down in front of the terminal on the desk, logging in with the security bypass Jeongyeon drew up.

Again your thoughts drift to Eunha. Eunha was your longtime Ops Officer--highly skilled, you trusted her more than anyone. It also helped that she was your fiance. It made you sad to think about her; about what could have been, what should have been. Over the past year, you were constantly reminded of her absence by the utter incompetence of her replacements. You suppose it was nice that at the very least, Jeongyeon didn’t give you many opportunities to bemoan her performance in the same way--to remind you of Eunha.

You shake your head, compelling yourself to rise out of your funk and get on with the mission.

As you scroll through files, you stop on one with a familiar signature. Reading its contents, your eyes open wider--suddenly you understand why someone would be interested to listen in to your communications. You quickly save the file to your flash drive and stand up to leave, only to be startled by a figure in the doorway.

“Care to tell me what’s on that?” comes a familiar voice from the darkness that you knew to be Hirai Momo’s. Momo was an agent for a foreign espionage agency--you had as friendly a rivalry as you could have when working for different governments.

“What was the point of trying to hack our comms if you were just going to show up and ask me that?”

“I had no intention of coming until you decided to ghost your girlfriends,” teases Momo. “Besides, I like showing you how much better I am at sneaking around.”

Momo flicks on the light and she comes into focus. The Japanese government made a good decision when they hired her, you think. She was built for the job of a seductive spy. Her perfectly toned legs had a lovely sheen all the way up to her short skirt, while her cleavage suggested that her tits were ready to burst out of her tight, patterned blouse. Where most of your attention was drawn, however, was her lustrous blue hair, which fell to her shoulders.

“I may actually need your help with this, once you see what’s on it,” you say, nodding your head at the flash drive.

“Oh, so you’re willing to give it to me? I thought I was going to have to fuck you for it,” she says sarcastically. You knew behind the humor was more than a nugget of truth, though. Sex had been the primary vehicle for information trading with Momo over the years. You decide to test your reading of the situation.

“Just because I need your help doesn’t mean I’m giving it for free…”

Momo brings her thumb to her mouth and bites gently as she ponders your not-so-subtle proposition. She takes her turn to look you up and down, making you feel more than a little self conscious in her gaze of judgment. After so many years in the dangerous world of espionage, there were only a handful women who could make you feel so small. Then again, Momo was no regular girl.

Once she’s satisfied she has properly appraised your worth, Momo lets go of her thumb and straightens her blouse.

“Fine,” she says matter-of-factly, “let’s get to it,” unbuttoning her blouse as she walks towards you.

You are surprised by the lack of fight she put up, but you thought it best to keep that to yourself. Her tone reminds you of a business meeting--that is, if you hadn’t seen her pull her top off as she approached you. She sits in your lap on the chair, wrapping her arms around your neck as you meet her lips for a kiss. Momo’s mouth was familiar to you, introduced to you many times throughout your career. It seemed like every time you ran across her you had sex. One thing you adored about your relationship with her was that it was absolutely without strings attached. You fucked for work, but just because it was part of the job didn’t mean you both didn’t enjoy it.

Momo, however, was loath to admit the pleasure she got out of her liaisons with you. Call it pride, call it being professional, whatever--Momo refused to act like sex with you was anything other than work, no different than working in a spreadsheet.

You feel her reach down to your pants, quickly unbuttoning them as she sinks to her knees in front of you. You smirk--her eagerness to please you betrayed her air of ambivalence.

Momo wastes no time getting down to business. You are certain the Japanese trained her very well in tender foreplay, but it seems she doesn’t care much for subtlety at the moment. Instead, she utilizes a more direct method to extract your pleasure--one that must have required its own fair share of training--as she spits on your cock before immediately forcing it as deeply in her mouth as she can take it. One, two, three bobs is all it takes for her to reach the base of your cock, her nose buried in your pelvis.

“Fuuuck me, that’s good,” you groan as you hold her head in place for several seconds, and Momo replies in turn with a cough that spits a healthy serving of saliva on to your cock. You release your grip on the back of her head to give her a chance to breathe, but she surprises you when she simply continues to work her mouth on your increasingly saliva-drenched cock, swirling her tongue around your base. Most of the other women you had slept with in recent months would be gasping for air by now, but Momo’s demeanor was cool, calm, and collected. Almost as if she was reading your mind, Momo paused her slurping and pulled her mouth off your shaft--but not forgetting to continue stroking it with achingly deft corkscrew motions.

“What’s the matter? Girls in your department not able to take care of your cock like a real woman?” Momo clicks her tongue and grins. “I’ve told you for years, you’d never be treated so poorly if you came to work for a professional outfit like ours.”

“Shut up and suck my cock.”

Momo shrugs, and gets back to the task at hand. Slobbering even more as she takes you into your mouth again, you pause to thank your lucky stars that you had a job that paid you in part to fuck women like Momo. You gaze upon her face, which has become just as messy as your cock. Momo’s sloppy blowjob has not only left liberal amounts of spit on your cock, but on her face as well--with strands of her blue hair plastered to her cheeks. Even though you thought it impossible, you feel your cock get harder at the sight of Momo’s messy face.

For several minutes, Momo continues inhaling your cock as you find yourself nearing the point of no return, you yank Momo’s head off your throbbing cock in order to prolong your session. A bit too forcefully, it seems, as Momo falls over onto her side.

“What the fuck!” yelps Momo as she picks herself back up, glaring at you. “I suck your cock and you thank me by throwing me on the ground?

“I didn’t mean to, I’m just not ready to cum yet. We both know you would’ve ignored me if I had asked you to stop.”

“I guess you’re right about that,” Momo replies sheepishly. You knew from previous run-ins with her that she loved nothing more than swallowing cum. Even though you had just denied her that favor, you were already thinking about how to make it up to her in a few minutes.

“How about I repay your kindness? Get up on the table and let me eat you.”

“Let’s skip the pleasantries. I’ll get up on the table, but you’re going to fuck me.”

“Someone’s eager to see what’s in this thumb drive,” you tease, inadvertently reminding yourself that this was a transactional liaison. You suspected that Momo’s interest in you extended beyond her desire for the information at hand, and part of you yearned to take her outside of the confines of work. You’re skeptical such a day would ever come, however, given how ambitious Momo was.

You knew her story--she applied for a job in the Japanese spy agency several years ago, making it all the way through the process before being cut at the very end. She ended up receiving an offer shortly after one of the other finalists died in a ‘training accident’, but Momo lived with a chip on her shoulder ever since. She lived and worked with a pathological drive to prove the agency wrong in their original decision to cut her. Already the youngest lead operative in her country’s history, she had an eye on the directorship and seemed destined for it. So, you supposed, it was nice to be able to fuck her before she became famous.

Momo hops on up on the desk, hiking up her skirt to reveal a delicious-looking blue thong that matches her hair. She looks behind towards you with lust heavy in her eyes as she pulls her thong to the side, revealing her glistening pussy--already dripping, you noted.

“I don’t have all night.”

More than happy to oblige, you line your painfully throbbing cock up with her pussy and you can feel the warmth radiating from it. You take a second to appreciate Momo’s incredible physique as your hands graze downward from her upper back, to her hips, and finally to her ass. As you rub it, you cannot help but appreciate how sublimely taut it is.

“Jeeze, you act like this is the first time you’ve seen a woman naked,” Momo jabs, interrupting your reverie.

You are starting to get annoyed with Momo’s demeanor. It was nothing new, really--she always carried an air of superiority--but it nonetheless grates on your nerves to see her be so dismissive. You are mature enough to understand that at least a part of this aggravation had to do with the fact that you knew Momo slept with plenty of men for work. Not so mature, however, to be able to stifle the primal urge deep inside of you that wanted Momo to see you as the best of all her lovers. More than ever, it seemed that sexual vanity mattered a great deal to your self-confidence.

With a renewed sense of purpose and your cock in hand, you enter Momo slowly with a long stroke until you fill her to the hilt. In unison with your initial insertion, Momo lets out a whine that crescendos as you bottom out.

As you begin to thrust in and out Momo settles in and widens her stance ever so little, which has the added benefit of allowing you to go even deeper into her warm, wet pussy. Momo was not a girl of surprises. Her face was gorgeous, capable of angelic beauty and fiery lust. Her body reflected the many hours she spent in the gym with ample breasts, insanely tight abs, and a toned ass to match. Her pussy feels exactly as sublime as her beautiful face and incredible body suggested. The perfect combination for a woman who used her body to seduce and take advantage of brainless men. You decide to push out your mind the realization that at this very moment, you are in fact one of those men.

You wanted to make sure Momo felt each and every drive into her hot flesh. Momo continued to moan quietly, each breath punctuated with a new thrust and the sound of your skin meeting hers.

“Looks like someone’s gotten real quiet all of a sudden,” you say, noticing her haughty attitude had subsided as pleasure took you both over.

“Oh, get over yourself,” Momo says, looking back at you with rekindled determination in her eyes, “you’re no better than half the guys I’ve been with. I’m here for the file, not for whatever you call this.” She cooly turns her head to face front again, leaving you seething.

Your twinge of annoyance was now a bubbling boil.

You slow down before withdrawing your cock from her warmth--Momo lets out the faintest whine of disappointment, betraying her dissatisfied front.

Just as Momo turns her head again to complain, you quickly slam your cock deep inside her. Momo yelps, and you notice her eyes bulge as you move your hips in a circular motion with your cock filled to the hilt, scraping deep inside her pussy. After several seconds of this you grab a makeshift ponytail out of her hair and yank backwards, causing her to gasp and arch her back instinctively. As much as she bothered you with her air of indifference, you had to admit that the image in front of you was the stuff of dreams.

Taking advantage of the highly erotic sight before you and the increased leverage offered by your grasp of her hair, you began to truly fuck her with quick and powerful strokes.

“Take it, Momo,” you grunted, beads of sweat beginning to form on your forehead.

Momo said nothing, emitting only breathless gasps from her open mouth. You noticed that their intensity was gradually increasing, so you increased the speed of your shaft penetrating her young, sinful body. You knew she was enjoying this, but you wouldn’t be satisfied until you broke her facade. You wanted her to lose herself to you.

You speed up even more, and the volume of your skin slapping together increases as her pussy drips wetter and wetter, mixing with your leaking precum. You are slamming your cock into her now, and Momo has to grab on to the table to steady herself. Slowly but surely her pretense was crumbling.

“You want it, don’t you Momo? You want more?”

“Fuck yeah,” Momo gasps hoarsely, struggling to speak with her hair being pulled, “Give it to me...o-oh...fuck, give it to me!”

Satisfied that she had succumbed to her pleasure, you relax your grip on her hair slightly and lean over to growl in her ear.

“I’ll give it to you. I’m gonna make sure you remember this, make sure every time you’re with another man you wish it was me.”

Momo acknowledges your promise with a deep groan, giving you great pleasure as you resumed fucking her gorgeous body.

Your eyes drift downward to her glorious ass, now shining with sweat and jiggling violently with each crash of your cock inside her. Inspired by the sight, you release her hair and put one hand on her hip and begin striking her ass with your other. Momo shrieks in surprise, but quickly looks back at you with lidded eyes while biting her lip to tell you she wanted more.

Again you oblige, and it was quickly becoming clear that lust and pleasure were staging a coup of Momo’s senses. She’s making lots of noise, but nothing intelligible. Nothing but guttural moans interspersed with high-pitched squeals. You continue spanking her ass, alternating cheeks--noticing a deep pink beginning to form on both. She’d most likely be dealing with soreness for several days after this, you think.

“You wanna cum, Momo? Cum for me, I know you want to.”

“Mmmmm...Ah, ah, AH! Unggghh,” comes Momo’s response.

“Come on Momo, fucking cum baby...cum all over this cock,” you shout, sincerely hoping there was no one working in an adjacent floor to hear.

“FUUUUCK!” Momo screams eloquently, suddenly dropping her head as her body begins convulsing. You knew what to expect having slept with her before, but you are nonetheless surprised to see how completely overtaken her body was by pleasure. Her upper body jerks spastically as her legs tremble with your cock plunged deep inside her pussy, all the while letting out a high-pitched whine that turns into a soft whimper. Just a few minutes before she was defiant and happy to throw insults at you...now she was a mewling, writhing mess incapable of speaking. The dark, primal part of you is satisfied by her tacit recognition of your talent.

After a short while, Momo begins to compose herself and lifts her upper body from the table. You take it as a sign to slowly resume taking your cock in and out of her. You decide to give her now glowing pink ass a rest and caress her back, tracing long lines with your nails.

“Mmmmm, that feels good,” Momo says, her eyes still closed, “you fuck me so good.”

You slowly begin ramping up the pace, rolling your hips with each stroke. You want to make sure your cock pleases every inch of Momo’s pussy, and make sure it craves you when she’s alone at night.

After several minutes of this tender, softer version of lovemaking, Momo comes back to her senses. She arches her back again and turns her head to gaze in your eyes as you continue to take her. She begins to move her ass back and forth on your cock in unison with your own strokes.

“Oh my god, you feel so good in my fucking pussy! Every...fucking...stroke!” Momo gasps, the final words punctuated by the force of her majestic ass crashing against your cock.

“You’re a bad girl, Momo,” you tease, “you like being taken and shown who’s boss, don’t you? You like me grabbing your hair and slapping your ass?”

“Yes!” she gasps, “Yes I love it! Mmmmm...I want you to fuck me until you cum. Fuck me until you cum!”

There was no command in the world easier to follow.

Satisfied that you had fulfilled your vain, immature desire to see her acknowledge your skill as a lover, you now focus yourself on extracting pleasure from the young woman beneath you. You settle into a pace with rough strokes, fiercely pounding her over and over. Your pleasure rises with each thrust, aided not only by the mindblowing caress of her pussy, but by the incredible sight of Momo on all fours before you moaning with each strike of your cock inside her.

“Fuck Momo...I don’t think I have much longer, I’m gonna fucking cum so hard!”

“Yes,” comes the response from Momo, “Yes, yes! Fucking cum baby, I want your cum so bad!”

A few more thrusts and you can feel the point of no return coming. For a brief moment you contemplate cumming inside Momo, to truly claim her. You quickly reconsider, wanting to give her what she truly wanted--to swallow your load.

And so, you quickly withdraw your cock from Momo’s now sopping wet pussy and she instinctively turns around and drops to her knees on the floor. Stroking your cock with great fervor, her mouth wide open begging for what was to come.

“Please give me your cum, please, please! I want it...I need it! Cum for me!”

Your head tilts backward as a long groan escapes your lips. Your cum explodes from your shaft, shooting long, thick ropes of semen into her mouth and onto her cheeks and nose. Over and over, your cum splashes on her beautiful face until you finally reach the end of your orgasm, panting and exhausted. Momo’s face is a pornographic picture of lust, her eyes rolled back in pleasure as she swallows the mass of cum you deposited in her mouth.

“I fucking love your cum,” Momo says as she wipes the remaining cum off her face with her finger and promptly brings it to her tongue before swallowing it down as well.

“I’m glad we were both able to get what we wanted,” you say, struggling to catch your breath.

“Speaking of getting what I wanted…” Momo says, nodding her head to the part of the floor where the USB drive now sits, evidently thrown from the table during the session that had just taken place.

“Right,” you say, suddenly remembering you’re here for work, “make a copy and let’s get out of here.”

“Great,” says Momo, still on the floor with a satisfied smile of content on her face, “Hey, I meant what I said about having you join our team. As much shit as I give you, we could really use someone with your talent.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m better off staying put. Don’t think the Korean government would let me live if I tried defecting.”

“Probably true,” says Momo as she begins picking up her clothes, “Never hurts to ask, though.”

***

A few minutes later, you and Momo had both gotten dressed and copied the file onto a drive for her. Momo disappeared into an adjoining hallway and you set off to traverse the stairwell again. As you prepare yourself for the descent, you also steel yourself for the repercussions of giving the intel to a foreign spy agency. With the information you saw in the file, you knew the Japanese would have to be looped in sooner or later. If it was going to happen eventually, you thought it made the most sense to entrust that intel to the agent on the other side you knew would make sure things got done correctly. As logical as it seemed to you, however, you knew it wouldn’t be taken well back at the office.

You click on your comms link, now knowing there’s nothing to fear.

“Hey Choa, I’m on my way back to the rendezvous.”

“Oh thank god! That took forever, I was about to call for a tac team!” Choa sighs with audible relief, “I take it you got everything you needed?”

“Got more than I needed, actually,” you say, nervous about Choa’s reaction to what you say next, “Listen, there’s one small thing you should know...”

“You did WHAT?!”

#momo #twice smut #momo smut #male reader #b/g #kpop smut #kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction

446 notes · View notes

izzyfandoms · 3 years

Text

A Sleep So Sweet - Chapter One

(This is not the first chapter. There is a prologue, linked in the A Sleep So Sweet masterpost)

When Emile discovered he was the soulmate of the prince of a magical species known as Beings, he did not know how to react. Beings were terrifying, powerful creatures, who often did not care for humanity, and, in their first meeting, his soulmate, the sleep prince, seemed to be no different.

Will Emile fall in love with his soulmate, or are they simply not meant to be?

SHIPS: Remile, Date (Janus x Nate)

WARNINGS: N/A

GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @aj-draws @phantomofthesanderssides @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game @because-were-fam-ily @imtryingthisout @a-creepycookie @littlestr @spooky-scary-virgil @fuyel @mimsidoodles @soupgremlin @aroaceagenderfluid @birdsbookshiddeninrealbirdsskin @quirkalurk @gingers-trashy-stuff @iinyxtello @justaqueercactus @melodiread @mrbubbajones @pun-master-logan @gayturtlez @k1ngtok1 @yourneighborhooddisaster @alexxander-the-gay @full-of-roman-angst-trash @selfcarejanus

A SLEEP SO SWEET TAGLIST: @spellingwillbethedeathofme

Masterpost

A Sleep So Sweet Masterpost

Emile stared at the soulmark on his wrist, not daring to take his eyes off of it just in case it somehow disappeared. When it had appeared in the middle of the night – waking him up from his sleep – he had been shocked, of course, but he had also been tired, half-convinced it was only a dream.

But now he was completely awake, and the tiny crescent moon and stars were still there, like a small silver tattoo, but just a little bit shinier.

It didn’t even feel real, like he was still just dreaming. He ran his thumb over his wrist, like he was trying to smudge paint, but the soulmark didn’t even budge.

It finally hit him. This was real.

Oh, wow, he had a soulmate.

He had a soulmate!

Emile raised his hand to his mouth, finally letting out a delighted giggle.

“Oh my gosh,” he said to himself. “I have a soulmate!”

Wow. He needed to tell his dads.

He finally took his eyes off of his soulmark, looking around for his phone. He picked it up, turning it on and immediately opening the group chat he had with his two fathers: Nate and Janus Picani. They weren’t soulmates – soulmates were a rare thing, after all – but they were still deeply in love, and Emile had always hoped he’d get a love like that someday.

Now that he knew he had a soulmate, maybe that love wouldn’t be so far away.

Emile couldn’t help but let out another delighted laugh, almost bouncing up and down on the spot.

He began to type out a message to his dads.

Emile

Guess what!!!!

He then waited, his eyes flicking between his phone and his soulmark, checking that it hadn’t somehow disappeared in the last few seconds, which it had not, before he got a response from one of his dads: Nate.

Dad

What?

Emile

I got a soulmark!!!!

Nate immediately started typing again.

Dad

Woah really?

Emile

Yes!!!

Dad

Hold on lemme grab your other dad

Emile waited, practically vibrating with excitement. He lowered his phone, taking another look at the soulmark on his wrist. It was shiny, almost reflecting the light, and he could not help but smile just taking a look at it.

It almost didn’t feel real, like he was having a very pleasant dream, but when he reached over and pinched a bit of skin below the soulmark, he definitely felt it. It was real.

He smiled.

Father

Congratulations!

Dad

Can we see the soulmark?

Emile opened the camera on his phone, taking a quick picture of his soulmark and sending it to his parents immediately.

He then waited for their responses, seeing that both of them had started typing. Then, they both stopped typing at about the same time, and Emile blinked at his phone.

Why had they stopped typing?

He waited, but they did not start typing again.

He blinked, confused, and began to type out another message.

Emile

Hello?

Then Janus started typing again.

Father

Have you seen the news?

Emile

What news?

Dad

The news about the being prince

Emile stared at his phone, wondering what on earth this had to do with his soulmark.

Beings were powerful creatures – abstract things come to life, like fear or memory – and the Being royalty were especially so. Humanity was lucky that Beings were rare and tended to avoid them, as they were dangerous and often did not care much for them.

They were rarely in the news – often ignored by humanity, as if ignoring them meant that their danger was lesser.

Emile

What news?

He waited, staring at his phone, before he received a link from Janus. He clicked on it, and saw that it was a news article, titled: Being prince has a soulmate?

Emile stared at the headline for a few seconds.

How was that relevant to his own soulmark?

A pit began to form inside of Emile’s stomach, but he pushed down the immediate uncomfortable feelings.

No. This was just a coincidence. So many people had soulmates, though they rarely had Beings for soulmates.

This was just a coincidence.

He scrolled through the article, skimming over the information.

The Being prince – a magical being: sleep come to life – had found a soulmark on his body. This meant that he had a human soulmate, and he wanted to find them. He had made the announcement public, in the hopes that he would find his soulmate as quickly as possible.

Emile scrolled all the way to the bottom, and his heart stopped when he saw the image at the end of the article.

It was a single image of an eye – pitch black and surrounded by silver skin, with black hair peeking out from the top of the picture – and right in the centre of it was the now-familiar crescent moon and three stars.

Emile gasped, and his phone slipped out of his hand, clattering to the floor.

He almost wanted to swear, but he bit his tongue before he could.

This couldn’t be real. Now he was certain that he must have been dreaming. This... this was impossible.

His soulmate wasn’t a Being. They couldn’t be.

Immediately, there was a pang of guilt inside of Emile.

Beings might have been powerful, terrifying creatures, but who was Emile to judge them? Sure, some of them hurt people, but most of them never did, as far as Emile knew. Who was he to decide that all of them must be cruel and evil and dangerous?

If the universe had decided that a Being was his soulmate, then that Being, at the very least, had to be a good person.

Well, perhaps person was the wrong word, but they had to be good. The universe wouldn’t have paired him up with someone bad. They were meant to be!

Okay. Emile’s soulmate was a Being – a prince of Beings – and that was... not bad. Maybe it was even good! Maybe his soulmate was wonderful – the soulmate of his dreams! Maybe they would be perfect together.

No, not maybe, definitely. His soulmate was his soulmate. They had to be perfect.

Emile nodded to himself. Okay. This wasn’t bad. This was good! He didn’t need to continue his quest for true love: it was being given to him, right in the palm of his hand.

He took a deep breath, and then bent down and picked his phone back up.

He checked his group chat with his dads.

Dad

Thats your soulmark right?

Father

Are you alright?

Emile wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Was he alright?

He was excited about having a soulmate. He was terrified that his soulmate would be terrifying and cruel. He was guilty that that was the assumption he’d made about his soulmate. He was just conflicted.

He thought about it for a moment, but before he could respond, his phone lit up with an incoming call from Janus. He blinked, before he answered the call and lifted it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Did you read the article?” came Janus’s voice from through the phone.

Emile paused. “Yes.”

There was another pause, before he heard his other dad’s voice through the phone.

“Is that your soulmark?”

“I think so.”

“Okay,” Nate said, his voice calm despite what was going on. “How do you feel about that?”

“I... don’t know.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Nate said.

“You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to,” Janus said seriously. “You don’t even have to meet him if you don’t want to.”

“I know,” Emile said. “But...”

“But?” Nate prompted.

“I don’t know. I mean- I mean he’s my soulmate, right? I know Beings are... scary. But... he’s my soulmate.”

“He’s a Being,” Janus said.

Nate sighed. “Jan.”

Emile frowned. “I mean, I know, but... he’s my soulmate. He can’t... he won’t be bad.” He took a deep breath. “I mean, how much do we really know about Beings? I know the stories, but they can’t all be bad! My soulmate... he could be good.”

“He is your soulmate,” Nate said. “And you’re the kindest person I know. I doubt you’d be saddled with a shitty soulmate.”

“Still, if he is bad, we need to keep him as far away from you as possible,” Janus said.

"I appreciate it, but I’m an adult now, dads,” Emile said. “I can take care of myself.”

Janus hummed like he wasn’t sure whether or not he believed him. Nate let out a laugh, and Emile heard a sound that sounded like he was clapping Janus on the shoulder.

“He’s right, babe. He’s an adult. We can’t protect him anymore,” he said. Emile could practically hear the amused smile on his face. “Just make sure to introduce your soulmate to us once you meet him. I just can’t promise that Jan won’t go all overprotective father on him.”

He laughed, and Emile laughed, too.

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he said.

In his mind, he imagined what it would be like to introduce his soulmate to his fathers. Hopefully it would go well. Hopefully his soulmate would get along well with his parents.

Would his soulmate be polite and serious? Or would he be funny and entertaining? Would they get along well? Emile certainly hoped so.

But maybe he was getting a little ahead of himself. First, he actually had to meet his soulmate.

Emile paused. How was he even going to do that?

“Gosh, how am I even going to meet him?” Emile said aloud.

Nate hummed in thought.

“I don’t know. Get yourself in the news?”

Emile’s nose wrinkled. “I would rather not.”

“Uh...” Nate said. “I have no idea then. But I know you’ll figure it out!”

Emile smiled. “Thanks, dad.”

“I need to get to work,” Janus said. “Let us know how finding your soulmate goes.”

“I will.”

“Love you!” Nate said.

“I also love you,” Janus said

Emile smiled again. “I love you both, too. Bye!”

“Bye!”

“Goodbye.”

Then, they hung up, and Emile was alone again.

His gaze was immediately drawn back to his soulmark. His eyes traced the curving shape of the crescent moon, and the three small stars that were underneath it.

The sleep prince was somewhere out there with that exact same soulmark just on his eye instead of his wrist. Emile wondered what he was thinking about in that exact moment. Was he thinking about Emile, like how Emile was thinking about him?

Emile could not help but smile at the thought.

Gosh, he couldn’t wait to meet his soulmate.

But first, he had to find out how to.

***

Emile had been on his computer for ages, searching for a way to find his soulmate, but the internet was mostly unhelpful.

There was a ton of research done on Beings, but it was difficult to tell what was reliable and what was useless. Beings were such a wide variety of creatures – some appeared out of thin air, some were once other things – research about one was unlike research about another. And most of the research was about what they were and how they worked, not about how to find them.

Emile sighed, reaching up and massaging the bridge of his nose. This was impossible: it was starting to seem like the only way to find his soulmate was to go through the same methods his soulmate had used to get the information public. And he really, really didn’t want it to come to that.

He was lucky that it was his day off today, so he had plenty of time to research.

Emile clicked on a new article, one labelled ‘Whispering Beings’, that he wasn’t too hopeful would actually be helpful. But he was still going to look, just in case.

His eyes skimmed the first few lines. Whispering Beings were a type of Being that could hear every whisper ever spoken. In fact, they existed in whispers; sometimes they didn’t even have a physical form, they switched between a human-like body to a whisper taken form at a whim. They could be summoned through whispers and used to send messages. Their physical forms looked cloud-like, not entirely physical and they were often benevolent towards humans.

Wait.

Emile suddenly straightened up, his eyes going back a few lines.

They could be summoned through whispers and used to send messages.

There. That was it.

That was how he was going to find his soulmate!

Emile let out a laugh. Finally, he was going to be able to find his soulmate!

Okay. Okay. Now, he just needed to figure out how to summon a Whispering Being.

His eyes returned to the article.

Whispering Beings could be summoned through whispers. Apparently, you could whisper something into the night sky, and – very occasionally – they would hear you. They would appear in front of you, and they would take your message and bring it to whoever you requested.

But they were rare. Your message needed to be interesting to them, or they would simply ignore you.

Well, Emile thought that his message was interesting enough. He was the soulmate of one of the princes of beings, surely that would catch the attention of anyone.

Okay. He could do that.

All he had to do was wait for it to become night, and then he would whisper into the sky. He would get his message to his soulmate; he was sure of that.

***

Emile had been waiting impatiently all day for night to come, and when it finally did, he was practically vibrating with anticipation. He couldn’t sit still, tapping his foot against the floor and his hand against his leg.

Was now the right time to do it? The sun had set, the sky was black, but what if he needed to wait until midnight? The article had been unclear, and every other source he had found had been, too.

What if it needed to be at a specific time? Midnight or 1am or 2am, something like that? Emile had no idea. He didn’t want to do it wrong.

After a moment of thought, he stood up. Okay, he might as well try now. If it didn’t work, he could always try again later. He could try as many times as it took for it to work. He would try all night if he had to.

He walked over to his window, opening it and feeling the cool night air wash over him.

The sky was black, speckled with stars, and the moon was full. Maybe that meant something. Maybe the full moon was something special and would mean that the Whispering Beings were more likely to hear him. Emile had no idea. He was really out of his depth here.

He was a simple therapist! He watched cartoons and documentaries for fun. He knew nothing about magic, and yet the universe had dropped a magical soulmate into his hands.

This was his life now.

Emile took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. He could do this.

Then, he opened his eyes. Okay, he could do this.

All he had to do was figure out what exactly to say. His brow creased in thought. What did he even say in this situation? What was the right thing to say to summon a Whispering Being? The article hadn’t exactly given instructions on how to summon one.

Well, apparently Whispering Beings heard every whisper, so maybe all he had to do was say who he was and they’d listen.

Okay. He’d give that a try.

He took another deep breath, before he began to whisper.

“My name is Emile Picani, and I’m the soulmate of the sleep prince,” he whispered into the wind. “I want to find him. Can you help me?”

He then waited. He waited and waited and waited, but nothing happened.

Okay. That was okay. He could just try again.

“My name is Emile Picani, and I’m the soulmate of the sleep prince,” he whispered again. “I want to find him. Can you help me?”

“I heard you the first time,” came a voice from behind him. It sounded like a whisper, but was somehow also loud and clear.

Emile jumped, spinning around so quickly that his glasses fell from his face.

Standing there, in the middle of his living room, was a blurry figure, that Emile couldn’t quite make out the details of him without his glasses. All he could tell was that it was white and vaguely human-shaped.

He bent down quickly, picking up his glasses and sliding them back onto his face. He stood up, and saw that the human-shaped figure was almost as blurry as they had been before he had put his glasses back on. They looked like someone had taken a cloud and pressed a man-shaped cookie cutter into them, but the clouds had seeped through the edges a little bit. They didn’t even have eyes or a mouth, despite the fact that words had come from somewhere.

“H- hello,” Emile blurted out, just a little bit terrified of the obviously-inhuman Being.

“Hello,” said the Whispering Being.

“What... what’s your name?”

The Whispering Being just stared at him for a few seconds.

“Beings don’t have names.”

“Oh. Right.”

There were a few seconds of silence.

“So, you're the prince’s soulmate?” The Whispering Being said.

Emile straightened up. “I... think so. The soulmarks match, so... yes.”

The Whispering Being tilted their head.

“Would you like me to bring a message to him?”

“Yes, please.”

“Alright.” The Whispering Being nodded. “I shall. What would you like me to say?”

Emile... hadn’t really thought about that. In his excitement to send a message to his soulmate – and his daydreams about what would happen when they first met – he hadn’t thought about exactly what he wanted to say.

“Um...” Emile said, fidgeting with his hands. “Tell him... tell him about me and tell me that I want to meet him.”

The Whispering Being watched him for a few moments, before they nodded.

“Alright. I shall do that. Is there anything else you need?”

Emile thought about it for a moment, before he shook his head.

“Thank you,” he said.

The Whispering Being nodded again. Then, they began to lose their form, becoming more cloud-like and less human-shaped, until the fog that was their body began to fade. They became translucent and then transparent and soon they were gone, and Emile was alone.

He stared at the spot they had been for a few seconds, before he let out a deep breath.

Okay. This Being was going to bring the message to his soulmate. Then, his soulmate would come and they would meet.

Emile could not help but smile just a little bit at the thought. Oh, gosh, he was going to meet his soulmate soon! He didn’t know exactly when, but if his soulmate had been so quick to put the soulmark in the news, then surely he wanted to meet Emile as much as Emile wanted to meet him.

They were going to meet each other for the first time soon.

Emile let out a little laugh, and practically bounced up and down on the spot, doing an excited little wiggle. He clapped his hands together.

Oh, Emile was so, so excited.

He wondered what exactly would happen next. Would the prince send the Whispering Being back to Emile, with information about a meeting place? Yes, that made the most sense.

But when exactly would the Whispering Being return? Emile had no idea. Maybe they would return again tonight; maybe they were busy and wouldn’t return for another few days. There was no way to know.

Perhaps he should have asked.

Emile shook his head. Well, there was no point in thinking about that now.

A cool wind came through the open window, and a shiver ran down Emile’s spine. He turned around, reaching out and shutting the window.

Then, when he turned back around, he yelped and leapt backwards when he saw that there was a new figure standing in the centre of his living room.

He was tall and thin – quite a bit taller than Emile, though that wasn’t difficult – with silver skin, black hair and solid black eyes. In the centre of his left eye was the now-familiar symbol: a silver crescent moon with three stars underneath it.

Emile gasped.

“You’re-”

The Being smiled, crossing his arms.

“I am,” he said. “Hello.”

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