#Maybe with future updates we'll finally get some answers

[descendant-of-truth]

Losing my mind over the fact the Possession Event is described as a painful experience for Klug, because to my knowledge, it had kinda just been a widespread headcanon that he was particularly bothered by it until this game came out.

Yes, his little spirit looks very sad and scared when trapped in the book, but narratively, he just goes "ahem, that was a totally controlled experiement" and it's never shown to be anything more dramatic than that. Now, we're not only being given an idea of how he felt about it at the time, but also finally some insight into why he still carries the book around; he wants to control its power for himself.

Which is an INSANE reaction to have to being possessed, by the way. "A demon sealed my spirit inside a book and used my body to attack my classmates, better keep it with me at all times until I can pull a Reverse Uno Card on it"

If I didn't know better, I'd say it seems like he's trying to protect everyone by keeping the book from falling into the wrong hands... but maybe he just wants the power all to himself. A little of both, perhaps?

I also can't help but notice the fact that the only times Klug has reportedly talked to the book out loud has been inside a dream world of some sort. In PPT, Schezo's chapter takes place in a dream, as does the entirety of Puzzle Pop. Does this suggest that Ayashii can only communicate with him in his dreams, or is it just a coincidence? "Lately" is a pretty vague timeframe, after all.

(We've also only heard of them talking to each other when Sig passes by, and both times an argument has ensued... I wonder if they're arguing about him)

[plushii-gutz]

Part 2! I'll admit, these are a bit shorter than I prefer, but I guess a mixture of things would lead to that.

☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆

"I see you're doing well, Furnoss."

Ghazt spoke with the same teasing voice they always had, though the extent of it had lowered over the years. Furnoss had matured, and they had not, but they knew there was a time and place for jokes and pranks.

"I have been," Furnoss nodded, returing the same tone. "How about you?"

"Ah, you win some, you lose some. Alright, ready to go home?"

Ethereal Island hadn't changed at all since Furnoss's last visit, which admittedly wasn't too long ago, but still around a year. The trees hardly grew, and the path never appeared to be worn down. It was a world outside of time. The monsters here were forever young. Most of them, that is.

Furnoss only ever visited to be updated on Loodvigg's progress, as well as to give his own small updates on how the rest of the Celestials were doing. The shadow monster's improvement was undeniable, and they seemed to be doing better with every passing year after keeping its promise. Of course, it had long since decided to make the otherworldly island its home and had no intentions of returning to Plant Island. However, Furnoss had offered the idea of perhaps meeting somewhere - away from the rest, of course. They didn't hesitate to take up the offer, but they did ask for at least a couple of days to prepare.

"Oh? Are you getting your nails done for me?" Furnoss would joke.

"Perhaps I will," Loodvigg chuckled.

But that was for the future. Ghazt opened their interdimensional portal, allowing the Celestial of fire to return home. He had definitely overstayed his visit, losing track of time a while ago.

Midday arrive rather quickly. Galvana had spent most of their time inside their room, making sure everything they needed for the coming days would have precise accuracy. They planned out the simple breakfasts and snacks they would have, cleaning up their old worn-down staff handle, making a schedule of it all. Scaratar had checked in, only to be ignored and told to leave. Again, she chose not to fight back. Maybe Galvana needed to handle something on their own, and she was willing to give them that space.

She ran into Blasoom, who in turn ran into Furnoss at the front door. He stumbled back, apologizing with a lighthearted laugh and asking what they were up to. It seemed they had the same question. He noted her backpack, handed down to her by Scaratar.

"I'm going out to the Valley of No Songs again," she answered, turning to the side and showing off the many packets of seeds, gardening tools - just about anything you would need to bring plant life back - in her bag. "Sage and I haven't worked on it for a while, but I finally got the supplies! Well, G'joob did, but I picked it up!"

Reviving the Valley was a long-term goal Blasoom was working on, alongside Sage and G'joob, of course. They began working on it a few years back, making good progress in the passing days with new trees finally beginning to rise from the ashes. There was still a lot to be done, but anything was better than nothing. A few critters had begun to move into the area and make a foundation of the future life to come in their own restoration of the world.

"Oh, that's right. Well, don't stay out too long. Strombonin should be visiting us soon."

Strombonin. That name brought Galvana back to reality, reminding them of their end of the deal. It wouldn't be hard to simply lie to Sage, but it would be easy to get caught. Maybe they'll try - just this once.

"I won't," Blasoom assured. "After today, we'll probably wait until it starts to warm up."

Furnoss nodded, keeping the information in mind. Blasoom bid farewell, meeting up with the aforementioned monsters and continuing their work. Scaratar offered to brew coffee for her and Furnoss, knowing damn well he isn't very energized. He agreed, joining her within the kitchen.

The warm, almost sweet scent began to twirl in the air as the coffee brewed. Furnoss wiped down the table of crumbs left from the other monsters' lunches, making it suitable for laters visitor.

"Time passes so quickly," he sighed, taking a seat. Scaratar offered Furnoss his mug, which he cupped in his hands and took occasional sips from. "A month has already passed since Syncopite left. A week for Attmoz and Glaishur. Can you believe it?"

"Not any more than you do," Scaratar answered, sitting across from him. "But honestly, I'm more surprised at how long they waited. Most monsters on Plant Island leave to start on their own within their early 20s."

"Ah, well, you know how they were. Glaishur was always too scared to accept change, and Attmoz was content with almost anything. I'm surprised they left at all, really. I never thought we would separate from one another, especially under the conditions we live in. Life is unpredictable it seems."

"You do have a point. However.. I have been considering moving out as well."

Furnoss choked on his drink, spitting it out onto the table and making a mess. Scaratar was quick to his aid, bringing a clean rag as well.

"Sorry! Sorry - I should have told you a different time," she apologized.

"No, it's alright! I promise. it's..it's just a little soon, don't you think? Right after the others left."

"I know it's not really a convenient time, if that's the right word. You never thought anyone would leave - no one did! But.. I have my own list in life. Just like they do."

Furnoss gave a slow nod. Scaratar could tell he was saddened, but a smidge of silver pride glistened behind the sorrow.

"Are you sure you're ready for such a big step?"

"I'm still debating it. If I do choose to leave, I don't want to go outside of Plant Island. There's a lot to see and do, so many tall cities and places I never could have imagined visiting as a child."

The poison monster softened her tone, thinking back on her past and her present.

"A lot of big changes have happened recently. Most of them have been kind of sudden, too. We never thought there would be a day where Celestials could be like any other monster. With certain precautions, that is."

"I know, I know," Furnoss sighed. "I just don't want to run out of friends. This castle isn't meant to be lived in by only one monster."

"As far apart as we get, we're always connected one way or another."

A blessing or a curse? They furthered the conversation of visitation and keeping in contact. They agreed to discuss this with Strombonin once they arrived to make a proper plan. Would that be another hour or so? They'll find out. For now, they prepare a small lunch to chat over something more lighthearted.

Blasoom was still gone by the time Strombonin made his journey to the castle. Most everyone resided within the living room, Vhamp allowing itself to be present for a bit. Their appearance was enough to spark Galvana's interest, and for once, they didn't need to be forced out of their room. The group played music in the background, joking with one another over whatever their current interests were or their plans for the afternoon.

Strombonin started off the sort of meeting by checking in with everyone, primarily asking about their thoughts on the recent movings. There wasn't much to comment on, other than missing the three who left and feeling the expected empty spaces. Scaratar spoke up with her own plans of moving out, taking the rest by surprise. Galvana even perked up.

"Where do you plan on going?" Plixie asked, their attention pulled in.

"Somewhere on Plant Island," she shrugged. "I might wander for a while like Syncopite had. This place is huge, and there's always more to see. I'm actually most interested in the busy cities - there's always something happening in them!"

"Humbug would be an amazing companion for that," the mythical said with a nod.

"Does that mean you'll come back?" Torrt added.

"Maybe. I can't say for sure, though."

Scaratar pulled the earth celestial aside, letting him know that they're in charge while she's away. She doesn't trust anyone else. He nodded, knowing damn well she wasn't joking.

Strombonin gave his own update. Attmoz and Glaishur settled well into their homes, and the island itself was recovering from the strange weather. The Mythicals had been doing just as good and their Dreamythical counterparts as well. The Dreamythicals had only been introduced to the celestials mere years ago, and it admittedly didn't have much of an impact on them. They weren't able to survive outside of the Dreamscape very long, and they had a low chance of ever meeting the reborn monsters.

Lighthearted conversation carried on. Galvana tapped their foot, waiting for a chance to have Strombonin step aside. They were going to hold up on their end of the promise, but they needed everyone else gone. Thankfully, Furnoss picked up on the frustration.

"Scaratar?" He called.

"Yes?"

"Remember how Attmoz and Glaishur remade that old board game? Would you mind fetching it for me? Perhaps we could play a few games while we're all here."

The poison monster nodded, having Torrt help her hunt it down. She knew well what Furnoss was trying to do, and it always worked. With the group now distracted, Galvana pulled Strombonin aside. The kitchen should do.

"Yes, Galvana?" The Mythical asked, taking a seat. "How can I help?"

He didn't get an immediate response. Of course, he didn't expect one. Galvana wasn't known for their talkative nature.

"I was told to talk to you."

"And the topic is..?"

"Attmoz and Glaishur."

Strombonin stood a little taller, listening.

"What about them? I told you they were doing well within their new home. Do you miss them?"

"It's not really about them now. It's more about how things were before."

"Oh. What do you mean?"

"I mean like.. like how Glaishur was coddled a lot, and Attmoz was seen as a hero for bringing him back. He was, but.."

Strombonins fur began to rise, settling as he picked his next words.

"Attmoz revived a dear friend, had he not? As for Glaishur, you know how sensitive he can be."

"He did, but that's not really - I mean, it kind of is? When Attmoz brought Glaishur back, he hurt me. A lot. I haven't been able to forget it, either. I thought at some point he would apologize, and he never did! As for Glaishur, he admitted to being annoyed by how over-the-top the babying was. He didn't mind being accommodated, but it became too much at times."

The cold monster's claw tapped against the table.

"Well, I don't see what Attmoz has to apologize for. He did what he had to in order to bring back the celestial of cold, and his actions restored the element. You noticed the imbalances it had on the monster world, had you? Glaishur had been through more than anyone, and the excessive care was solely for his own good."

Galvana felt their eye twitch. This - exactly this - is what they dreaded. A Mythical's loyalty could never be broken, even at the cost of others. Why couldn't Viola just come back?

"He still hurt me. He still took away the one thing that made me a celestial. He still lied to me."

"Of course you are still a celestial, Galvana. You were the strongest one at that. As much as I don't approve of Glaishur being with a monster like.. him.. Attmoz is still justified. I sympathize with your injury, however, and I am willing to adjust to your liking."

"You aren't willing!" Galvana snapped back. "You didn't listen to a thing I said! Why do you care about those two so much? Attmoz is a selfish asshole and Glaishur acts like a child! They aren't here anymore, and yet you still feel the need to defend them. They're adults now, yet they don't understand nor admit to what they did! How do I see their wrong if it isn't there?"

"That is enough, Galvana."

"Is it, Strombonin? Or is this the bare minimum you're willing to give to someone who can see through the idiotic monsters you call kings?"

Strombonin rose from their spot, nearly knocking over the table. He was angered by the insults toward their celestial counterpart, brow furrowed and shrinking eyes. Galvana followed his motions, no longer intimidated by his size or strength.

"I have offered you all I can. What I have heard from you is that you would rather have a dead friend than no powers. Perhaps it was for the better you have none at all."

Galvana yelled inaudible words in return, the only sound making through being the shattering of light bulbs as the energy inside grew to be far too much for their fragile glass. The downstairs flickered, a shadow casting over every monster inside. Furnoss was the first to check the kitchen, Scaratar trailing behind.

"Galvana!" He began to scold. The fire monster was shoved aside, Galvana leaving the kitchen and soon the castle altogether. No one tried to stop them.

"Are you ok?" Scaratar asked, worried for Strombonin's health. Other than a few minor cuts, he was alright. The power outage may be a slight issue.

"I can fetch Jest or G'joob," They offered, "But I likely will not return myself."

Scaratar nodded, leading the injured monster outside while Furnoss cleaned the mess with a bit of help from Vhamp.

"What has gotten into them? They get worse with every passing day! I've tried to give them space, I've tried to talk to them - nothing is enough for that damn kid! I don't know what to do anymore!"

Vhamp turned its head away. He didn't want to be part of the conversation, and Furnoss was able to sense this. He gave a small apology, finishing the task at hand. Hornacle stuck their head into the room.

"What happened?" He asked, Torrt looking over their shoulder.

"I'm not too sure. That's a question for Strombonin."

"I think 'Vana ran outside..will they come back?" Torrt added the question.

"More than likely."

Plixie snuck in with the final question: Are they ok?

"I.. I don't know," Furnoss answered honestly with a heavy breath. He looked over the shattered glass and blackened ceiling light, wondering what could possibly be infecting the late Celestial's mind.

"I don't know."

[usagiverse]

Am I? Wow thanks for the welcome, and for that I noticed my username, was little weird read the name lol, but is fine call me Nerish.

I think you have a very adorable and cool drawing style, I really like how they all look so fluffy, and I think the expressions are really good. I want a Yuichi axolotl plush.

About the timeline, the antagonist make me feel curious if it's focused on the turtles enemies in which case it might refer more to Big Mama or Draxum, if it's Usagi Yojimbo I just think of Jei, if it's Space Usagi I think of Akira, losing that hand must have been a more satisfying scene than it actually was.

But, yes I meant more like Princess Miya (lovely name), the magical girls gave me Madoka Magica vibes, just me? I just can't with the designs are so pretty.

For the Usagis I hope they can fix their things, I understand the Miyamoto's POV, but how feels Yuichi? i'm just curious, for now I stop here, also goodluck with your anon doesn't eat the other user, your last update of princess Miya was most adorable, I think like Raph I want to put myself on the waitlist.

Nerish.. of course you're one of my earliest followers... (everyone is!)

Oh yes, an Axolotl Yuichi plush would be so good! And very sensory appealing, with his fin-like ears and cheeks. Yes. I want one too... For the timeline, I did just answer an ask about potential characters which do include potential villains! I have not yet read Space Usagi, but that might be an interesting one.. yes.. -takes notes- We'll see Neko Ninjas, Big Mama, (I don't think Draxum would fit well into the story, since he's a Yokai extremist-- he would have no reason to attack or prey on the people he swears to protect), the Krang will make an appearance in terms of the bad future from the movie (What are the Usagis up to in that time? How did they handle the Krang?) and yeah, you know, some of the feudal lords like Hebi and Hikiji, Jei, and some other stuff. It might be cool. Final Question : How Does Yuichi Feel? Well, at first, it seemed fine. Miyamoto (8) asks Yuichi (30) if he will be his sensei. Mizuki and Shuji are supportive, after all it's the Usagi way, so they tell their kid to ask Yuichi. Shuji thinks his brother is a much better samurai anyway. Miyamoto looks up to his uncle because of this fact (he adores his father as well) and this is when the two of them are the closest.

-- Miyamoto (9) watches Yuichi and Shuji (31) leave one day before scheduled training. Miyamoto is a little less than a year into his training, but he still isn't allowed to go on these particular errand runs with the twins. They are usually quick about it, but also extremely careful. Maybe when Miyamoto has more training, he can join them.

-- Some time has passed, and Yuichi (33) seems.. different. Maybe it's the bandage over his eye. The now open wound. The warm blood dripping down his face. Maybe it's the faces that Miyamoto (11) makes. Maybe it's the fabric on his skin, making him feel clammy. Claustrophobic. Annoyed. Panicked. Something is wrong. A voice in his head echoes the thoughts he relayed to his nephew. Miyamoto is doing his best, working as hard as he can, trying to get better, trying to please his Uncle. Why is he so different now? Miyamoto doesn't understand. He's in disbelief, he's angry and frustrated.

Being the oldest is hard. The weight of the world sits on your shoulders, and it's a task that even the strongest Samurai can't handle. But he has to. He has to protect his family, but he needs to teach Miyamoto. If he fails as a Sensei, then he's failed as an Uncle. A Brother. A Son. A Samurai. With Miyamoto's sudden disappearing habits, Yuichi is scared of what will happen if Miyamoto doesn't come back. Would he be the reason his brother no longer has a son? He would fail his family. He would have no honor. It's a crushing thought.

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Hi Kiko! I'm glad to hear you'll be starting your new job soon! So exciting!!

And thank you for the update on Atlas🥺! I'm happy to see him doing so much better!! (And that picture of him as a kitten??🥺🥺🥺omgg so cutee). Also you mentioned he is part Maine Coon, is he a big boy then? Because I know Maine Coon cats can grow pretty big.

I hope the new year hass been good so far for you! For me its been a bit hectic with university but not too bad so far. I'm also taking driving lessons to hopefully finally get my license in the summer!

And I have another fun random question about Goinko for you. What do you think their icks would be about one another? (I feel like Gojo seriously wouldn't be able to find any because he's just that whipped for Rinko haha)

HELLO. I AM ALSO EXCITED, AND TERRIFIED. It's completely in-office, which I haven't done in years. My old job was hybrid, and my most recent job was fully remote. I have to wear real pants for this new job 😭😭😂

Atlas IS a big boy. He's already bigger than Arli, who is just a domestic shorthair. She's going on... seven(?) years old now, and Atlas is already about three or four pounds heavier than she is at just over a year old. But the vet says he's at a healthy weight! He also looks bigger sometimes because he's SO FLOOFY. SO FUCKING FLOOFY. But he's long, too. Like, very long. But his tail is kinda short. (hehe. i'm a child for laughing at all the euphemisms that can be made 😂)

The new year has been mostly uneventful so far! I've been trying to spend the time before I start my new job relaxing and catching up on some chores I let fall flat because of my extreme depression 🫠

Good luck with this semester of school! And with your driving lessons! If you don't mind my asking, are you in the states or somewhere else? And do you have a specific reason for not getting your license until now? I know the driving age is different in a few countries, but some people also just choose not to get their license if they don't want/need!

As for your Goinko question: What are their 'icks' about each other?

BRUH. I'VE NEVER REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT THIS. I also don't have a super good understanding of what this means... DOES THIS MEAN I'M OLD? 😭 google only kinda helped 🥲

We'll just do Another Level for now, but maybe in the future, I'll do Physical Paradox, too! (when i have a better understanding for what this actually means)

Gojo with Rinko:

Whenever she does something that reminds him of the Zenins too much. I think her sneer is one, oddly enough. Like, her really mean sneer that literally matches Naobito or Naoya perfectly.

When she speaks poorly of herself or tries to run from a situation when they have a disagreement. As their relationship develops now that they're together, I can see her avoidant personality really bothering him.

Little ones I think could include silly things like how much detergent she uses when washing clothes, how she hangs her shirts in the closet once they've moved in together completely... I'll probably think of more as time goes on?? maybe??

Rinko with Gojo:

him drinking is for sure one. but idk if that counts?

when he refused to take teaching seriously

when/if he keeps up the facade of overconfidence when they're alone instead of being honest with her...

-

there are definitely more, but I AM STRUGGLING, AND I WANT TO ANSWER THIS INSTEAD OF LETTING IT SIT FOR WEEKS.

but in reality, they're so whipped for each other that most things they can just talk through or get over?? like idk if that matters for icks?? WHAT EVEN IS AN ICK. I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND.

I WILL DO A BETTER VERSION OF THIS IN THE FUTURE ONCE I HAVE A BETTER HANDLE ON IT. IT'S ADDED TO MY LIST OF THINGS TO WRITE 😬

[vilyae]

hi! do not feel obliged to answer this if it's too much hassle. but basically i was v into men's figure skating until covid hit. i would love to get back into it next season but i feel i lost track of all that's going on! i know my (our) darling shoma has gotten GOOD!! and yuzuru did not manage a 3 time gold at the olympics but that's about it. would you, or any of your followers, maybe want to give me a highlights/recap from the big comps? who are the big names now? any new world records? how are the axels faring? and what would be the best of shoma performances to watch? (again. only if you feel like it!)

Hi anon! Welcome back! I can give you an update of the current field, and if my followers want to please do help anon out and add things in replies!!

(This was actually supposed to be short and brief at first, but things got a bit out of hand...)

As you know Yuzu and Nathan were quite dominant in the men's field until recently, and as Yuzu retired and Nathan went back to school we got quite a few names fighting for the podium placements atm. Shoma has been doing amazing especially after the Olympics, and went undefeated the entire season - he's now a 2 time back to back World Champion! He withdrew from WTT just recently because of an ankle injury though which still seems to be bothering him, so we're all keeping our fingers crossed that it won't hinder him next season.

Actually, the most anticipated rivalry after the Olympics was probably thought to be between Ilia Malinin and Yuma Kagiyama. Yuma was doing great, he was quite consistent and was getting very high scores, and ended up with silver at both the Olympics and Worlds 2022 - but unfortunately, he got a quite serious injury during the off-season (if I remember correctly, a stress fracture in his leg) and had to withdraw from 22-23 GP series. He competed at JNats 2022, but as he wasn't fully recovered yet he placed 8th and didn't compete the rest of the season. He's now back in full training I believe and his return is highly anticipated next season!

Ilia has been a new star in the men's field with his amazing quad jump arsenal - and most obviously, the historical 4A that he has landed multiple times in competition this season. His consistency hasn't been quite there yet, but he's able to put out massive scores with his technical content on a good day. He finished 3rd in both GP Final and Worlds in the 22-23 season.

Junhwan Cha has been on a fantastic upward trajectory especially towards the end of the last season and is definitely one of the top men right now. He put out 2 amazing performances at Worlds and got silver, only a few points from Shoma. He skated well at WTT as well. He had some troubles during the GP series so he wasn't at the GP Final, but I'm quite sure that we'll see him there next season.

The depth in Japanese men continues to be incomparable. Sota Yamamoto had the absolute best season of his senior career so far in 22-23 and got his ticket to the GP Final, where he got silver! He was selected to the Worlds team where he had some hiccups and ended up 15th, but overall his season was fantastic and he should be a podium contender in the future as well. Kazuki Tomono continues to be a fan favorite with his amazing steps and choreo sequences, and he is definitely able to score very well and finish among the top placements when he's on. Last season he finished 3rd and 4th at his GP assignments, thus didn't make it to the Final, but won the bronze medal at JNats and was assigned to Worlds where he was 6th. The Japanese nationals silver medalist last season, Koshiro Shimada, didn't get assigned to Worlds, but went to 4CC instead where he ended up 11th. It will be exciting to see how he's going to do next season!

Of the Japanese men, other notable current stars are definitely Kao Miura and Shun Sato. Both have fantastic qualities in skating skills and jump technique, and I could see either one on the top of the Worlds podium in the future. They were at the GP Final in Turin last season as well, Kao ending up 5th and Shun 4th. Their struggles at Japanese Nationals prevented them from getting to the Worlds team, but they both are able to get climb up to the top placements in any competition on a good day.

Italy has a few notable senior men right now, like Matteo Rizzo and Daniel Grassl. They both skated at Worlds, finishing 9th and 12th respectively. Matteo has been on a good upward trajectory lately, getting silver at the European Championships and being one of the very few men attempting 4Lo in his programs currently. There has been some controversy surrounding Daniel when he, after changing his training base a couple of times, ended up choosing Eteri as his new coach and moving to train to Moscow last season. He actually made it to the GP Final but seemed troubled there and finished last, and has since been very inconsistent and struggled quite a lot, maybe looking a bit more stable in the most recent competitions, but time will tell how his new training environment will work out for him...

From France we have Adam Siao Him Fa and Kevin Aymoz. Adam has been popular among fans with his expressive programs, he won gold in his first GP event last season and was fifth in the second. He won the French nationals and continued to become the European Champion. Some struggles at Worlds afterwards and he was 10th there, but overall a very good season for him. Kevin had trouble with injuries at the start of the season, but finished on a very high note with a 4th place finish at Worlds (only a few points behind Malinin) and looking more stable with his quads than ever, in my opinion. Both will be podium contenders and candidates for the GP Final next season.

Jason Brown didn't take part in the GP series last season, but returned for the US Nats and Worlds + WTT, and did not disappoint! He's been very consistent and provided some Jason-quality programs, getting the silver medal at nationals, earning a new PB in the free skate at Worlds and finishing 5th, and continuing to perform well at WTT. I don't know about his plans for the future, but I'm sure the skating world would love to see him continue competing.

Keegan Messing has been carrying the Canadian men for some time and retired after Worlds and WTT this year. The rest of the Canadian men... Well, we will see what happens.

For the others, Deniss Vasiljevs of Latvia is another fan favorite and was able to get silver on his second GP event last season, and has been working hard to get his quad salchow more consistent. Even if the quad doesn't work out, his artistry is amazing and he has wonderful programs that you definitely should look forward to seeing. Boyang Jin really hasn't been able to compete much during covid but has been making some comeback under Tracy and Brian this season, and I look forward to seeing his development in his new environment. Morisi Kvitelashvili has struggled a Lot and has put out some disaster level skates last season, and time will tell if he'll continue competing.

Whew, that's all I can think of now! Please do add things in the comments if I got something wrong or forgot something.

You also asked for Shoma performance recommendations! I would definitely check out both his SP and FS from 2022 Worlds, FS at the GPF 2022 and SP at Worlds 2023. His EX last season, "Padam Padam" (by Mihoko Higuchi!) is gorgeous as well!

Hopefully this helped! 😁

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨WEEKLY PROGRESS 2023 #5 & #6✨

I swear biweekly updates won't become a trend. 😥

Weekly Progress 2023 #5

Finished programing SYVNH Demo 2.0!

Finished first draft of EKL script

Updated CG Gallery

Went through lint failures and fixed those

Sent to playtesters, did some fixes

Drafted announcements and tweets

Weekly Progress 2023 #6

Updated screenshots

Released Demo 2.0

Scheduled a month of tweets

Advertised on discord/reddit

Added release to Yan Jam 2023

Answered a few comments

Whee~ I reached the lighted station in the middle of the tunnel 😌 I'll be taking a break here before moving on.

So what's next?

For Stuck in a Yandere Visual Novel... HELP!!:

First things first, I think there are a few things in Demo 2.0 that I want to update as soon as I can (which may be mid to late March, earliest). Things currently on my list is:

Updating the smaller sprites by the textbox to be on the right layer 😅 Have any of you tried to save when one of those were on screen? Don't, please lol The issue with fixing that is that I hardcoded that in and it's spread throughout the script so I'll have to manually go in and fix that.

Updating a new voice channel to separate the SFX and the Voice sounds. This one was a result of myself having a brainfart as I started coding and mixed up the channels. I also misunderstood how the built in voice channel is normally used so I'll have to do a bit more research/testing to make sure everything works right.

Adding in a quick way for the player to delete certain persistents.

Finishing that last BG that you didn't see updated compared to Demo 1.0. No not the one on the date.

Maybe a few art updates

And then after that, I'll make a plan for the release of the final part of the game. Or I might do that first next week since I like making guides. The general ending(s) for the full story had long been decided since I first came up with the idea for the game. However, the details and path to that has changed slightly. I did not think certain things through until I started writing the script in Demo 1.0 and Demo 2.0 so some details need to be ironed out.

I also might need to find an editor for the full story. I'm not sure yet. I'm actually not very confident in my ideas and Smoke really helped me out during the release of Demo 1.0. During Demo 2.0, Mamep was gracious enough to take time out to do proofreading, but no in depth editing was performed. So I don't know yet how that'll proceed for the full game.

For everything else:

It's still early in 2023, but I'm told myself NO GAME JAMS. Yeah, guess who was prepared to break that back in mid-January and finished writing a whole new script for a game? EKL (Exorcist Killing Lie) mentioned above in Weekly Progress #5 might be a project submitted for Battle Action Fantasy VN Jam, which I am also helping hosting! Let's get lots more shounen-esque battle VNs out there!

I also have a pre-existing project which I will be doing the programming for. We're hoping to work on that once again for Otome Jam. That will likely take precedence over any other VN jams I participate in.

Of course, alongside that are some paused projects I had on-going prior to working on SYVNH: Pre-Make and There's a Clown in my Attic!! All the sprite art for these two projects are already finished so I do hope to finish both games this year.

And like every good indie vndev out there, I have a 20 page list of games I want to make. Of those, I've two where writing has started. I don't plan on announcing anything for that until the scripts have finished. (One of them are already at 9k words... 😥)

...And for the far, far off future. I have two more ideas that would be the same genre as SYVNH (BL + transmigration/isekai). Though I haven't a clue yet if they'd be better as VNs, KNs, or even as a light novel. 2023 is still a long time. We'll see soon~

[syubub]

Yoongi birthday reading/energy check!!

It's sweet sweet tangerine bois birthday!!

I wanted to do a cute little energy check up to see what's up and ask some fun little questions!!

I'm excited so let's just do this shit!!

Disclaimer: this is for entertainment purposes and not to be taken as fact!!

---

I want to apologize for the absolute shit pictures but what's new lol

So, let's start with the platform. First thing I noticed was the blue was brighter but the platform was darker? It was like someone cranked up the contrast to 100. Ngl it looked pretty cool. Yoongis platform doesn't typically have a barrier like some of the others do so I just kinda walked in and did the whole, "happy birthday, I have questions" His energy seemed a lot more... vibrant? And playful I guess? It was really nice. Now. The actual connection was intresting because the cord was blue again and like, real thick. (I don't think my perceived thickness of the cord has and real correlation with how strong the connection is. It was just thicc) this time though, the cord was connected at the chest instead of the third eye. So i was like, ??? But my guide didn't give my any sort of helpful input (my guide likes to watch me suffer in my confusion. I'm sure of it)

Anyway, cord like that and then yoobi gave me a headbutt to connect at the third eye. Idk why he gotta be like that :( istg next time he's gonna flick my forehead or something.

I was like "cool cool cool. I want to do the reading now pls" and idk how to explain the energy other than sassy. You know? Blah blah blah I'm thinking, "I don't remember him being so cheeky but maybe I've been gone long enough for him to level up into his final sass monster form"

Anywho, this was intresting because after the little strings were connected and stuff, we plopped down on the floor. And it was like everything I was doing irl was being mimicked infront of yoons energy? So we were sitting facing eachother and I was putting the cards down between us?? Usually that doesn't happen but it was kinda fun!!

Moving right along. I first asked if there was anything he wanted to say or needed to get across and it was 11. Now, 11 has come up before and I'm still not to sure what it's in reference to? My best guess is possibly he's been seeing 11:11 or that it's 2? Idk let me know if you have any clues lol. Other stuff was just kinda banter and stuff.

So so so.

The reading. First thing I asked was how he was doing. And I shuffled his preticular way (when I ask a question I always ask for the energy to tell me how much to shuffle or when to stop. For yoongi it's always 2-2-2. So 2 bridge shuffles, 2 hand shuffles and then split the pile in 2. That's why I think 11 might be 2 to him?)

The cards we got are ace of swords rev, justice,the heirophant rev, the empress.

So based off this I was like okay. I want to pull clarity cards for the two rev cards to get a better picture so I pulled the emperor rev for ace or swords rev and strength rev and wheel of fortune rev for the heirophant rev.

Starting with the ace of swords rev, and the emperor reverse. It seems like yoongi has been re thinking his relationship to control in his life. That's he's possibly noticing any unhealthy needs to control his life and the situation around him. It could also refer to his judgment being clouded by a rigid approach.

With the justice card it makes me think that he's possibly considering a big choice in his life or that he's really doing some deconstructing of his own views. This second idea fits in well with him getting clarity on some possibly unhealthy control issues in his life.

Now. The heirophant rev, strength rev and wheel of fortune reverse. This was intresting to me bc they are all major arcana. The heirophant rev can really talk about no longer needing outside approval and making your own way in your own time bc you are your own teacher. Strength in rev I kinda read as self doubt and feeling down in this case. Like a lack of confidence in himself and his abilities. And the wheel of fortune in reverse I took to mean as his breaking cycles. All together these cards kinda paint a picture about wanting and trying to break a cycle of self doubt and self limiting beliefs and learning more about himself and why he think what he does about himself and searching through everything for truth. It's really good!! In short he's doing some nice soul searching and trusting himself to guide his own way through this self discovery!

The empress! This card seems to pop up for yoobi a lot and I think it really speaks to the abundance that surrounds him! Not just money but the abundance of creativity, love, friends ect.

Now now now. I asked him if there was anything that he wanted to tell us about himself or bts or what's happening in the near future. For that I got 2 of cups, king of wands and 3 of coins.

So the 2 of cups is partnership. Usually romantic. Could be pertaining to the may 13th thing that is ever present lol but I'll get to that later. With the 3 of coins talking about teamwork, this could definitely hint at collaborations coming up!! That's the vibe I get. No one crush my dreams. And for the king of wands it could be talking about taking the reigns on a new project and starting to get it done. Like a new opportunity. This could be a new bts project like starting a new campaign or new venture or maybe personal like the a mixtape or doing more songs for other groups ect.

I had to ask him how he was feeling about the grammys. I had to. Had to. The cards were ace of wands, 2 of wands and death reverse. When these came flying out I could help but smile. Yoongis energy was almost giddy too!

Witht he ace of wands

It's that spark of creativity and inspiration. It's that feeling when you get super excited over some new thing. I think this is the perfect example for feeling reinvigorated. The 2 of wands takes that spark from the ace and tries to funnel that excitement and newness into something directional. Using that burst of creativity to start planning for future progress!! Its so nice to see that! If they don't win (IF) you bet we're gonna get some bangers about a corrupt system. If (WHEN) they do win we'll get bangers about how thankful they are to have gotten where they are in spite of a corrupt system. I just want to hear an uncensored version of yoongi being like, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WE DID IT BITCHES. FUCK ALL YOU BASTARDS THAT SAID WE COULDN'T."

I can dream....

What a nice dream.

Now I asked if there was anything yoobi wanted to say to us as in advice or comfort or anything like that and I got, Clearing negativity, make time for self care, when I'm tuned into the energy of abundance I become abundant. when I'm in a state of appreciation im in vibrational alignment with my true love nature. The world rev, 2 of swords rev and that project, that person, that idea is waiting.

Awe. Take care of yourselves!! Make sure to take time to enjoy what you like and try not to let any negativity get in the way of you enjoying your days. The world rev to me seems to be talking about seeking closure on the things in your life that have been impacting you. Tie up those loose ends so you can move foward without triping over yourself and 2 of swords rev I think talks about information overload and being kinda indecisive bc of that. Take a sep back to evaluate the situation at hand because sometimes it's so close you can't see what you're looking for. Those of you who are studying and getting frustrated because you just can't seem to get it, try taking a step back and doing something to take care of yourself and come back to it so you can approach with a clearer mind. Try not to get stuck or paralyzed by choice but if you do get stuck, take some time to detach yourself from the situation and come back later!

A fair few people wanted an update on yoobis soulmate as well. If you need a refresher here's the run down. Yoongis soulmate is impossible for me to read, yoongi is a smug ass and I'm nosy and probably a little dumb.

Now that that's cleared up

I asked, "am I missing something?" (As to why I can't connect and why yoongi won't give me answers.)

I got queen of cups, magician and the high priestess. I read this as him being like, "yeah dude, you aren't woke enough"

YOONGI just give me answers pls. The high priestess is intuition and sacred knowledge, the magician is manifestation and the queen of cups is also intuition.

At this point I was like, okay you little shit, can you at least tell me how your soulmate is doing? Can you do that for me?

2 of cups, 2 of pentacles, 9 of wands and knight of wands. 2 of cups is partnership usually romantic, 2 of pentacles is priorities and managing them, 9 of wands persistence, knight of wands motivation for a new thing. His soulmate last time was in the process of going through some shit and figuring it out and it seems like now they've got a better clue of how to move foward and are currently heading towards good things/ important things in their life (possibly like working towards dream career or had an idea for a business the want to start or field they want to go in.)

I was thinking about the next question when this popped into my head, "if you know about your akashic book, do you know about your soulmates? Have you read it?" I used my pendulum. No movement at all. What so ever. "Are you listening to me?" Yes. "So answer my question please" No. "Do you like to watch me suffer?" Maybe. "Do you know the answer to the question" yes.

YOONGI WHY

This cheeky son of a bitch.

Now I was like, fuck it. Imma ask him the big boi question.

"Is your soulmate present when I do these readings?" Yes.

WHY THE FUCK CAN I NIT PICK UP ON IT???

I had to take a deep breath dude. Yoobi is testing my nerves.

"Are they hiding their energy?" No.

I was actually gonna combust. This makes no sense.

I asked yoongi if he would tell me what I'm not getting. Silence. So i ask my guide.

"lol ur dumb"

Watch me Google "how to fire your spirit guide"

Istg this feels like some dumb prank. Maybe I'm just genuinely oblivious to his soulmates energy or maybe I'm just doing something.

What do you want to bet that his soulmate is just hiding under the platform and I'm too stupid to notice or some dumb thing like that.

yoobi, sir, why must you do this?

I decided to continue.

"What message or thing have you learned from your soulmate recently that could be valuable to us?" I got healthy communication in relationships and deep replenishment.

Good to know you can have a nice communicative relationship with your soulmate bc I CAN'T.

I'm petty about it, sue me.

The message does stand though. Good communication and taking proper rest to replenish yourself.

Now I had to ask yoongi directly what he thought of may 13th.

I got the lovers, 7 of swords, the magician and judgement. The seven of swords was intresting and it makes me think there's some extra stuff at play here too. 7 of swords is about getting away with something and deceit. The clarifier was the magician.... this could mean a lot honestly. It could be that maybe yoongi will have his relationship exposed or possibly that maybe him and his soulmate meet but yoongi is disguised? Idk how that would work at all but I'm stumped. There's a lot of variations that this could be. The magician is about manifesting and having everything you need to create what you want. This could possibly mean that maybe he gets a sudden idea that's like, "oh I have to go here right now. Its super important" eventhough he has practice scheduled. So that would let down his team but he would be following his path and it might lead to him meeting his soulmate? Maybe vice versa? Idk let me know what you think??

With the judgement its about inner calling and kinda like the peak. Like shit has been leading up to this moment. With the lovers too it does seem like a union?

I asked him, "but like what's gonna happen on the 13th thought and I got the 10 of cups. Divine love, bliss, alignment, happy mushy gushy shit. This is why I'm so inclined to think that they'll meet on the 13th or things will get serious or their paths finally cross. The cards seem to heavily suggest that.

My dude. Yoongi is really sappy, pass it on.

For the last question I asked yoomgi if there was messages/ advice he had given to his soulmate that we might benefit from.

First step, open your third eye, open your heart, sign from heaven, open your arms to receiving.

A lot of opening lol.

It's good advice though learning to be open and receptive and taking that first step in tackling life or any situation.

Oki. Now for the disconnecting. It was not nearly as strange as it has been in the past. I was just like thanks dude. Again, happy birthday blah blah and I got up to leave. I noticed it looked like we were in sitting in one of those old plastic hoola hoops? Like the pink and yellow ones lol. As I was looking at and and like??? Off to the side the numbers 13, 28, 54. Obvi 54 isn't a date and then I the last yoongi check up there was book pages and I feel like 54 and 28 were the pages?? I'm not actually sure as I'm writing this so I'm gonna check.

Yep I checked. They are the page #s.

So that's intresting.

Other than that though I just kinda left and he was like, "bye" and that's all.

Not as cool as other yoongi adventures but equally as frustrating.

TLDR

Yoongis doing pretty okay and he's a cheeky little shit. My guide like to watch me suffer and yoobi is mushy gushy squishy.

Happy day of birth Syub!!

[ladylynse]

Hello 👋🏻👋🏻, I guess I'm answering all the questions in one go :) :) Hopefully, I don't make it confusing. Well, I guess now that's tumblr for us. It just got really tricky to send questions, but that's something I had said before. (It's an aventure that's for sure). Good to know that I haven't done any explanation so far confusing. Well, the rest of my week wasn't that bad, it went a bit slower than expected, or I think, it felt like that, you know? I got you, that feeling when you know the worst is coming isn't that nice. Let's hope that everything goes well and smooth as it can be. (Good luck with what you know is going to be the busiest time). Mmmm... yeah, that's true where someone use or not excel, normally depends or not in the type of job and if it is necessary. So, having those times where you are like, wait is it right or not? and then check again it can be normal. So, I think that it's good you do so, ask someone to check it over, you know? Time can and would mess up with memories, so it's all right :) :) (Obviously, the topic of memory is something else and more complex and well, not everyone does the same with it, if you know what I mean :) :)). I think that I just went from a to z in a blink XD XD Let's just leave it there, before I finally manage to made it confusing... I know, right? Saying that so quickly and first thing doesn't came that naturally. It would be funny, I think if that was the case. But who knows, maybe in the future? XD XD Wellllll... yes, it's a good sign. Enjoyment is always good. That's why I finally did it, I did sign with my username, as you can see :) :) (Although, I'm more like using @arisu-artnfics for communication and such but tumblr isn't allow me that- loooooong ago, I managed to send questions using my other blog in this case @arisu-artnfics to do that, now not possible). About your tags on the long question, that is the one I started... if that wasn't clear 😅😅 I just hope you are doing better and are all good with that snowfall warning. I only get thunderstorm warnings and floods... but that's getting better. Good luck with work again, it is painful being under staff because covid or stuff (We just got out of lot of lot of rain, some parts got bad in flood so... yeah, it wasn't pretty, but everything should go back to normal on Monday). I really hope that isn't that bad over there with the snow. Now, the shortest one, the news about ML. Sorry that it looked that bad, I was on the phone and extra spaces are a thing there. I hate it. Anyway, well you do as you do. Either way, the idea is to have fun :) :) I'll try to watch it, not life because that's in a working time for me, so not lifestream fun there. Normally subs (fans subs) appear in a couple of hours. The longest, would be next day, but still US was going to air it 2 days after, so the English version would be up not that long after anyway. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Let's have fun at the end, with it :) :) And that's it, I had wait until you are free to reply the long one to well, reveal myself and here it is. (oh btw, I'll keep waiting until your free to reply, I don't mind, I know the meaning of being busy, you know?) Nice to meet you :) :) As always have a nice day, take care and hopefully we'll talk soon :) :) -Le Fantôme anon, no more ;) ;)

(re: this ask and this ask)

Hello! Nice to officially meet you! *grins*

True enough! Tumblr updates tend to be fairly hit and miss on how much I like them/can ignore them/can't do anything but fervently hope the bugs are fixed quickly. Showing tags in the notifications list is probably one of my favourites for changes I like.

Slower than expected isn't bad! You're still happy when the work week ends but slower tends to mean that at least it wasn't stressful and possibly less tiring, depending on the nature of your work.

Things might be tight for us at work since we're down four people from last year, but it will not be worse than 2020; we will not be as severely cut back as we were when everything first shut down except for the handful of us allowed to go in. It'll be stressful, but I will not be so exhausted that I get home and go straight to bed. (You probably know how slow I am at writing in the first place, but I barely wrote a word for three months, and editing the little backlog I had at the time still took me ages.)

That's really weird that you can't send messages from that blog anymore. I wonder what bug that is. You might be able to get it fixed if you report the issue if you haven't already? I have no idea. (I don't have a secondary blog because I don't think I could keep it straight, so you all have to suffer with me putting absolutely everything on this one.)

It's all good! Your messages were clear. And for me, the snow stopped a couple of hours ago and now the sun is out. It's still cold, but the sun is out! (Temporarily; more snow is coming.) And it's a light snow. Fluffy and easy to shovel, not heavy and wet. It wasn't bad at all. We only got maybe 15 cm? It drifts in spots so it's hard to tell. I brushed a good 5-7 cm off my car after work yesterday, and it didn't stop till mid-afternoon today. We did not have the wind like we did the last time we were under a snowfall warning; that created whiteout conditions and you could not see very far to drive in the city, and it was impossible in the country. A flood warning being a more common thing would be scary, though. I'll take snowfall warnings any day. You can at least dig out from snow; with flooding, it's already spilling into your basement, ruining stuff, and bringing potential future issues with it.

That's a fair point re: subbing. The trailer looks good, though!!!

Thank you! It's appreciated.

[seyaryminamoto]

I must be the first person who has read two chapters in the wrong order and only realized it after -_-... Anyways, I already kinda know the answer, but after yesterday's chapters the question popped up in my mind again and I had to drop to your askbox. "Hey, now! If I were going all out on you, you'd be toast, Fire Lord!" "Implying you would ever go all out on me…" So they will fight seriously one day right? And there is also that thing with "going for the kill" but there is also a Sokka who will give his everything to save Azula and go back to her, a Sokka who would give her his life and refused to end a fight with her (Ch96) and thought he would rather let her finish the job and would never dare, bring it on him to ever hurt her like that. Are these scenes implictions? Will he like REALLY go for the kill??

Tbh I have no idea if you're the only one who's mixed up chapters that way xD I know that's a risk with double updates, for sure. Might be another compelling argument to switch to weekly ones instead.

Aaanyway, as for the question you ask, ummm...

My typical phrase is in order: it's complicated xD

You're right, the many implications of how insanely powerful Sokka has become aren't there for no reason, let alone this late in the game. Part 2 is indeed coming to a close, and Sokka is by far at the most powerful we've seen him, atm. The final arc of Part 2 will also showcase his strength further, in two fights that I hope will really drive across how incredibly strong he's become. So... when Azula reflects on how strong he is and how he might actually be able to beat her if there were any reasons for him to fight her, well... it does have some bearing on certain events in the future, yeah.

Like I've been saying all along, Part 3 will bring in a lot of game-changing elements, and part of my work as a writer will be holding up the balance between those elements so that the complex storytelling I'm trying to achieve doesn't fall short of the mark. Sokka does have his heart set on fighting for Azula, to the very end... but this is what we'll know through his POV, exclusively. What of Azula? Does she want him to fight for her in this way? Will she want the same things he wants, at this point?

Each character will have their own motivations and driving forces by the time things in Part 3 reach the heights of their complications. I think Azula's position will be the more difficult one to embrace for most readers, rather than Sokka's. She is going to be caught between a rock and a hard place, figuratively, and she has to make a lot of difficult, perhaps even questionable choices, going forward. I've already written a fair share of Part 3 as I am... and while things with Azula did get a lot better over time (like... 7 arcs in xD), she still will hit a kind of rock-bottom that she never has faced before in all of Gladiator... I dare even say a kind of rock-bottom she never faced in canon. It's heartbreaking that she was betrayed by her friends and family, that all her dreams fell apart, in the show... but what if she finds herself being the one who's forced to betray THEM, in order to "keep them safe", to a fault? What if she's the one who has no choice but to relinquish her dreams in the hopes that someone else, someday, will be able to fulfill them in her stead? What if her only available choice is to commit sacrifice upon sacrifice in the hopes that maybe, eventually, things will be better for everyone other than herself?

It's really complicated, as you may be able to tell already. Things are going to be really hard for Azula, and this huge, world-ending confrontation will only happen as the consequences of her many, many hard choices. Sokka has his own share of struggles to deal with, of course, and has to make a few decisions he knows may not be the finest... but compared to Azula, his path is probably much more straightforward, if plagued with a fair share of complications anyway. So it's not that Sokka will WANT to fight Azula... it's that, perhaps, he may not be given any choice on the matter by, uh...

... by Azula herself? :')

... Yep, I think I've said enough @_@

[gimblegamble]

Hello o/ a lil note, sorry if I don't answer questions on the tags of my stuff, I genuinely don't know if people want me to answer or not lol, best bet would be to ask in the replies or in the ask box. Thank you kindly!

Fixed my tags and made a little directory for myself as a pinned post... maybe? Let's see if this works lol.

Gim gabs = answering asks and general rambles

Gim's stuff = general content I've made

Gim's drawy bits = drawings and such

Gim's wordy bits = writings and such

Gim's gify bits = for stuff that moves (videos go here too)

Hermitship/Hermitshipping = our bread and butter

That's all for now! My ask box (and dms) are open to any questions.

Edit 5: fixed hyperlinks and post clean up! Swept previous edit notes under the keep reading rug.

Ask meme! = some ask memes I've taken a part in (and also still technically doing if you want to send me questions/prompts (≧▽≦))

Wip windows = sneak peaks of some drawy bits

Mac n Cheese Royalty au = a Mumskall royalty AU with an entry on ao3

Summon One Get One au = a Grumdoc summoner AU with uhh... something? in the works?

Edit: It didn't work as well on mobile (which is what I mainly use lol) so I just added the tags below too!

Edit 2: More clean up! Funnily enough on the tags of this post itself. Mobile tumblr is strange and difficult so the old unecessary tags are now banished into a read more realm.

Edit 3: added the gify bits tag! solely for the GIFs and videos because I didn't realize that we've done quite a bit of those

#theres actually a reason why my name is in every tag lol #so my stuff doesn't appear if someone would search for the tag fanart or fanfiction #although I am open to people reblogging all my stuff #I love reading the tags #(≧▽≦) #anyways this thing's subject to change in the future #but its a start #this thing's finally done lol #I can't believe I made this during the destiel takedown of 2020

Edit 4: the hyperlinks broke because of the recent Tumblr update lol (^～^;)ゞI guess we'll just go with the tags at the bottom until I can fix them.

Edit 5: cleaned it up again, don't you love that innocent optimism of early stage fandom?

[blueberryrock]

Here is the Prologue to my newest story! It's not a fanfic, it is an original story im writing! I hope y'all like it!

(Also I might change the name in the future)

"Momma" a small five-year-old girl with long brown hair tugs on the bottom of her tired mom's pants "when will daddy come home?" Her big bright brown eyes meet her mom's dull brown eyes.

The tired mom glances at her watch, which reads nine pm. She pulls a curtain back from the window in front of her and sighs "any minute".

She turns her head to look at the little girl "Why don't you go put your jammies on, grab your sister, and we'll play a little game" she warmly smiles. The little girl squeals and runs to her room.

The mom smiles as she runs down the long hallway, she glances back outside to the empty street. "C'mon Rick, where are you" she mutters. She fiddles with her gold wedding ring that has a single, gorgeous, red jewel on it. A "blood-red diamond" as her gemologist cousin calls it.

"Mom, please tell Karlene that I don't want to play some stupid game" The five-year-old, Karlene's, older sister complains. She tucks a strand of her long dirty blonde hair behind her ear.

"Now Sierra, you promised to play a game with her earlier, and as soon as your dad returns from work. You can go back to your room" Sierra's mom finally turns away from the window.

"Ugh, fine, but just one round" Sierra huffs "what game are we playing anyway."

"Cops and robbers!" Shrieks Karlene.

"No. No way am I going to play that stupid game" Sierra angrily crosses her arms.

"How bout a card game?" Their mom suggests.

"Ooh let's play gold fish!" Karlene happily said.

"Sounds good to me" Sierra finally agrees "and it's Go Fish."

"I'll grab a deck of cards, you two clear off the coffee table" their mom dashes out of the room to look for a deck.

"Where do you think dad's at," Sierra asked her little sister as she moves a stack of paper to the ground.

"Maybe he's fighting super villains!" Karlene enthusiastically hits a remote on the ground "oops" she mutters to herself.

Sierra can't help but giggle at her little sister's sheer happiness. "He could be" Sierra puts the last object onto the lower level of the coffee table.

"Really?" Karlene squeals.

Sierra smiles and messes with Karlene's crazy brown hair, she looks around and gets ear level with her sister. "You know dad does have superpowers" Sierra whispers and smirks.

Karlene's blue eyes go wide and her jaw drops "No. Way." Sierra only grins "umm, yes way, he told me"

And as soon as Sierra said that, the girl's mom walks into the large living room, hold a bowl of pretzels, and a deck of black cards.

Before she can set anything down, Karlene leaps to her feet and runs at her mom. "Does daddy really have powers?" She asks excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"Ah, well, I wanted to wait till you were older" their mom sends an upset glare at Sierra, which she ducks behind the glass coffee table.

Their mom walks around the bouncing Karlene and sets the bowl and deck on the table. "But yes, your father has...er..powers"

And at that Karlene lets out the loudest squeal on the planet. "Do you think he can show me his?" Karlene runs up to Sierra.

Sierra only shrugs "don't ask me," she says

Karlene then turns to her tired mom "do you think I'll have powers?" She jumps up and down on the carpet.

"Well, there is about a fifty-fifty chance of you two to get them, but let's play our card game" she pulls Karlene by the hand to sit "please? And once your father comes home, you can berate him with any and all questions"

Karlene grins again. "So six cards?" Their mom asks as she deals out five cards to everyone.

"I'm pretty sure it's seven" Sierra corrects her. They continue to play round after round until the big, old, grandfather clock strikes twelve.

Karlene is passed out in her room while Sierra is reading and her mom is currently pacing back and forth in front of the door.

"Mom" Sierra puts her large book down, "I'm sure dad's fine, he's probably just held up somewhere" her mom stops pacing and shoots her a worried glance.

"Oh, umm, I meant in...like...traffic or something" Sierra quickly corrects herself. But her mom continues to pace.

"But he's never been this late" Sierra's mom throws herself on the nearest piece of furniture, which was a very comfortable armchair.

"I'm sure he's fi–" Sierra cuts herself off with a big yawn "ine" she rubs her eyes.

"You should go to bed, he'll (hopefully) be back here tomorrow" Sierra's mom gets up to plant a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"R-right" Sierra picks up her book and walks down the hallway to her room. As soon as her door closes, Sierra's mom pulls out her phone to dial her husband's phone.

But on the second to last ring, a sobbing woman picks up. "R-Rose," she sobbing woman says "h-he's go-o-one"

"What! Tina calm down, who's gone?" Rose calmly asks. "R-ri-ick" Tina barely finishes.

The phone nearly slips out of her hand, Rose slides into one of the chairs and readjusts the phone. "M-my Rick?" Is all that she can muster.

Rose slides from the chair to the hardwood floor. "N-no!" She sobs "i-it ca-a-an't be t-r-r-rue." Rose drops her phone and continues to sob hysterically.

After maybe a few minutes or a few hours, Rose's sobs turn into loud whimpers. She shakily picks up her phone, Tina has hung up ages ago.

She tiredly wipes her eyes and looks at the time, one and a half hours have passed. That means she spent one and a half hours sobbing when she wanted to be with her husband.

She shakily pushes herself to her feet. Waves of nausea washes over her as she sits back into the armchair. She decides that she is too tired to walk down the same hallway her girls went.

She instead pulls her knees as close as she can into her chest and wraps her arms around them. She lays her head on them and looks around them empty room.

Memories of her family come flooding in, she glances at the coffee table she and the girls were at, and a memory of them with their dad play a board game makes her smile as more tears form.

She continues to softly cry as she remembers the last time she spoke to her husband. It was before he had to leave for his job.

They were talking about his they were planning on taking their girls out of the country for a vacation. But that idea is now long gone.

Rose continues to softly cry until she falls asleep. She dreams about talking to her husband in a little cafe.

She is rudely awakened by her youngest daughter. "Mommy" she happily says. Rose's bloodshot eyes meet her daughter's beautiful brown eyes.

"Yes, sweetheart?" She croaks, her throat begging for any water.

"Where is daddy?" Karlene asks with a small grin. Tears form in Rose's eyes as the thoughts of last night come flooding back. Perhaps it was a dream?

No. Rose couldn't remember a dream to save her life. "Y-your d-dad's g" she stops herself as her oldest daughter tiredly walks into the room.

She yawns "Karlene, let mom wake up first" Sierra rubs her tired eyes and unceremoniously throws herself onto the couch next to them.

Rose wipes her eyes and sits up straight. "G-girls" she announces "I have something very important to tell you about your father." Both girls sit down and pay attention.

"Your father...he's..." Rose sighs, she takes a deep breath in "he's gone"

"W-what do you mean gone?" Sierra asks.

"I mean your dad is gone, dead, he was...I believe that he was murdered" tears form in her and Sierra's eyes.

Rose looks down at Karlene, half expecting her to be full-on crying and half expecting her to be confused.

But she is the later one. "Daddy isn't coming here?" She furrows her brows as she tries to think "did he leave us?" She looks up at her now crying mom.

"Yes, he left us" she tries to explain, but Karlene starts sobbing "d-di-d he n-not l-o-ove u-s" she cries.

"Oh no baby" her mom says, she gently scoops her up and sits onto the couch next to the sobbing Sierra. "He love-ed us w-with all h-h-is heart" Rose tries not to cry, but she's failing miserably.

"W-will I-I get t-to see h-hi-m aga-ain?" Karlene wails. "Of c-course" Rose reassures her wailing daughter " y-you'll s-see hi-m aga-ain" Rose chokes on a sob.

BANG. BANG. BANG. Rose unwraps her arms that are around Karlene and sets her gently where she was sitting. She quickly walks towards the large dark oak front door. Rose takes a deep breath in, wipes her tears away, and opens the door.

"Hello, Ms. Winster." A tall police officer says in his deep voice. He nervously shifts on his feet. "My name is Dean Sanchez" he holds up his police badge, "and this" he points to his partner. His partner is slightly smaller, with blonde hair and brown eyes. "Is my partner."

"James Riddle" he introduces himself. He politely holds out his hand and shakes Rose's cold hand.

"We've umm...come here to inform you that your husband has be-" Sanchez tries to say but Riddle jabs him in the side.

Rose raises one of her eyebrows "has been what?" She asks, already knowing the answer.

"He's dead," Riddle says bluntly. "James! Be sensitive" Sanchez says. After hours of crying, more tears stream down Rose's face.

"H-how d-id it hap-pen" she sobs.

"We don't really know, it could've been an accident or a murder. We're still looking into it" Riddle explains "but we'll update you on any new information we get."

"O-okay" she sputters out. Sanchez pulls out a tissue from his vest and hands it to Rose. She says a quiet thank you and blows her nose.

The policemen bow their heads and start to walk away. Rose slowly closes the door, leaving a crack to watch them, making sure they left.

Something was off about them, but Rose didn't care enough to question them. She crumbles up the used tissue and places it on the coffee table.

She looks at her two still crying daughters. "How 'bout we get some ice cream?" She offers.

Sierra sneezes and weakly says "okay". Karlene only nods, she does her red and wet face on her soft PJ shirt.

"Go get dressed then we'll leave" Rose calmly says. Both girls get up and head for their bedrooms "and brush your hair Karlene" she calls after the youngest.

Rose looks down at her owns clothes. Pj pants and a hoodie. She sighs and rubs her tired face, she heads for her own room to change.

After five minutes of staring at her husband's clothes, she finally meets the girls in the living room.

"You ready?" She sadly smiles at the girls. Sierra lets out a hiccup and puts her flip flops on. Rose looks at her youngest daughter "did you brush your hair?"

Karlene only nods. Rose sighs and grabs her black leather purse "alright lets go."

Well thanks for reading, I hope y'all like what I do with it annnnd yeah...Oh! Also, I won't be updating this every week as I did with my other fic, the updates will be random

[chocolatemillkk]

Call me Out (CM)

"Soo what are we doing again?" I ask for the fifth time, hugging my arms to my chest. It was an unusually cool evening in LA and although my bottom half was covered appropriately in a pair of jeans, I had on only a tube top leaving my bare arms covered in goosebumps.

"Well Rick forgot his ID and so did Omar and Anth's still on the damn phone." My friend sighs. "So I don't know!"

"Just go to the club without us!" Rick says for the millionth time and I seriously wonder why we didn't do just that. "We'll come next time."

"The whole point was to go together since we've all finally got fake IDs." Omar pouts. "They can go if they want. But-"

"We could go to one of those all-age clubs-"

"No! No, those suck-"

"I have an idea." My friends all pause at the new voice. It was Anth's friend Conor who he introduced us to earlier that evening. We'd all said hello and included him in the group without a question even though he was obviously British and not from around here. Which we all secretly thought was really cool...but were just too LA to admit. But Conor hadn't gone unnoticed for me-catching my eye and sending my heart racing. Not only because he had the same accent as my favourite movie ever made at the time (Bridget Jone's Diary) but he was cute in a way that wasn't intimidating. "Those of us with ID can get the beer and we can find some place to hang out." Conor licks his lips. "We can still make the most of the night that way."

All eyes are on the group newbie until Omar speaks up, obviously relieved from his fomo: "You're genius. Let's do that."

"Okay, my basement's empty we can head there. So how about Y/N goes and..." Malia stares at our newcomer for an uncomfortable second as she blanks on his name.

"Conor." I cut in. "Conor and I will go."

At the sound of his name, Conor looks up sharply at who said it. I feel myself blushing clumsily as I try not to look as excited as I felt but I couldn't help it! I would finally get some time alone to get to know my sudden new crush.

Since the closest liquor store was right up the street, Conor and I head off and tell the gang we would meet them at Malia's. As we walk, I'm nervous. I fold my arms into myself, and then unfold them, and fold them again before Conor offers his leather jacket.

"Oh I'm fine," I say politely. Damn. I wasn't fine in any way. But I couldn't just accept his-

"No take it. I'm warm." Conor begins stripping the jacket off before I could politely decline again. "I've got a jumper underneath anyway."

"A jumper?" I ask, looking at the sweatshirt he wore underneath and back up at his face.

"Yeah," he picks the fabric up to show me. "A jumper?"

I take the jacket from him and eagerly drape it over my shoulders; its leftover warmth blankets my body. "Is that like, a British thing?" I ask, intrigued and still staring at him, forgetting we should be continuing our walk instead of standing under the street lamp.

"I don't know...I guess?" Conor seems just as nervous as me as he shoves his hands into his pocket. I tug the jacket closer around my body which catches his attention, his eyes roaming all over me. I sense a shift in him, almost unnoticeable except in the way that he finally meets my gaze.

"You've got really nice eyes," he says and then immediately looks away.

"Thanks," I laugh nervously. "You've got a really toasty jacket."

He looks back up, his cheeks a slight pink under the sodium lights, and his tensed face melts into a smile that warms me up from the inside. He has a playful glint as he tugs at the jacket's lapel, "I'm a hot guy-didn't I already say?"

He was hot. But I don't stroke his ego. I turn away instead, continuing again on our trek to the store, calling out behind me. "If I remember correctly the only thing you said was you were warm!"

He laug loudly into the night and the ice between us. We begin talking and asking about the other, greedily tearing up the rare time alone, wanting to know each other as well as we could before we had to return to our group. By the time we get into the liquor store I've told him about growing up in LA, how I hated school, and how my brother drove me crazy and he's told me about the town he's from, his younger brother and sister, and why he was in LA--to work on music. And I was impressed, he was only my age.

"So are you any good?" I ask him as we track down the aisle with the cheaper beer. We're the only ones inside so we try not to draw too much attention.

"No. Not yet," he laughs and his face does the squinty thing I'd started to find adorable. I stare at him as he leans down and picks up two cases.

"Well will you let me hear it? When it is good?" I ask seriously.

He straightens up and turns to me, nodding his head vigorously. "Yeah," he answers, his voice suddenly serious. "I will."

Two Years Later: "I've heard it then," I'm on the phone with Conor as I look out the taxi window into the crowds of tourists. I was on my way to my boyfriend's place and the radio surprised me with a familiar voice. "Your song just came on the radio and I've finally heard it!"

"I was on the radio?" Conor asks from the other side of the world. I wished he was here to hear it with me so I could see his reaction myself. "You heard me in LA?"

"I'm in a taxi," I say. "And I'd recognise your stupid voice anywhere."

"And?" Conor asks, not hiding his excitement at all.

"It's still not good-I told you to only show me when-"

"Shut up!" Conor shouts and I have to move the phone away slightly as his belly-laugh emenates from the phone. "You're a little shit!"

"No!" I insist. "You're shit!"

"Don't say that," Conor's humour is slowly leaking out of his voice and I decide I'd taken the joke far enough.

"It’s-as you would call it-bloody amazing! I was totally kidding. The song. Is. Amazing."

"Really?" Conor asks, his excitement apparent again.

"Yes!" I shout. "You should be so proud of yourself! Soon you'll be as big as Beiber!"

We go back and forth as he shies from the compliments and finally accepts them. We move onto the cliffnotes version of life updates before I reach my destination and tell him I had to go. This was the way it had been with Conor and I over the two years we'd known the other. After an intense first time hanging out, we'd eased up and stuck to the safe option of being good friends. The constant distance between us and the fact that we shared a mutual friend group, prevented us from hooking up-if things went south, it would be very awkward. Plus, we were both busy figuring out our own futures. Mine, currently, was going to school so I could get into acting.

But I still couldn't control my erratic heartbeat whenever I spotted Conor in LA. There was an undeniable attraction, made stronger with the easy chemistry we had. He had a pull on me none of my other crushes or boyfriends ever had. But after a few weeks every time, I had to let Conor go back home to London and as painful as it was each time, it would be made more painful if we were anything more than friends. So I simply chalked it up to a juvenile crush and forced myself onwards.

One Year Later: "Y/N..." Conor pulls his pants onto his hips and secures it with a belt. "I don't know what to-"

"It's fine," I laugh like I thought everything that had happened over the last 10 hours was all one big joke. But my hands shake under the covers and I have a hard time looking him in the eye.

I had turned 21 yesterday and my boyfriend dumped me the morning of because I was being too "clingy”. He was leaving in the afternoon, flying out across the country for some modelling jobs he'd landed and I was mildly upset he had to leave on my birthday. Meanwhile, Conor suprised me at my apartment, completely oblivious, with birthday champagne and a balloon he'd stuck a picture of his face on. It was his only free night because he had to fly out the next morning.

But he'd found me: mascara on my cheeks, crumpled pyjamas, and a fistful of tissues. He sat and listened so patiently before helping me clean up. Once I'd cried it out however, the inevitable happened. We popped the champagne, swore at my ex, drank the bottle between us, and then reached for each other. Because of loneliness or our long history, we ended up in bed. My bed. And I wish I hadn't drank so much so I could remember even half of it but as soon as I woke up I knew I fucked up. I was simultaneously heartbroken over my ex and absolutely gutted that my first time with Conor was under circumstances like this.

"You were comforting me. We're both adults now and we made an adult decision right? It's fine." I sit up, making sure the blankets were wrapped tight around my torso. Conor looks at me hesitantly, his hands dropping to the side and he looks just as gutted. We weren't supposed to let this happen. Not like this. We knew eventually we would sleep together with all the sexual tension we had between us-but never ever like this. This felt cheap...we could barely even remember it.

"So you're okay I have to go again?" Conor asks slowly.

"I'm fine. You have a life to go back to." I say more confidently than I felt-I didn't want to be clingy again. And what would I even say if I wasn't okay? It was a stupid question to ask. "And my shift starts in a couple hours anyway-acting doesn't pay the bills!"

Conor throws his shirt on before sitting beside me. He looks down at my hands clasped around the covers and then my collar where the pendant I always wore rests. He picks it up and rubs it like I usually did when I was nervous. It was hard to reconcile the person Conor put on in public to this gentler version of him in my bedroom. "Don't be so hard on yourself. I'll see you on the big screen soon enough."

"You'll only see me when I'm good enough," I give him a wry smile, calling him out. He drops the necklace, his hand curving around the back of my neck. For a split second I think he was maybe going to kiss me again but he kisses my forehead instead. I close my eyes, stretching the brief millisecond into an hour, or two, or five. I create some alternate timeline where I can do this all over, so that when Conor kisses my forehead it doesn't feel cheap with regret and stink of pity.

Fourteen Months Later: "It's nothing!" I pull my hand out of Malia's grip but she grabs my hand again.

"You call that a promise ring?" She asks skeptically of the diamond ring my boyfriend had gifted me yesterday evening.

"Promise ring?" Anth asks as he comes back with Conor who'd arrived late-a bad habit we'd all gotten used to. I try to stuff my hand back into my hoodie but Conor catches the light glinting off the diamond. I don't want to see his expression but I can't help but watch as it falls, a look of betrayal settling in. It wasn't my fault-not really. Conor and I kept up a false pretense of being friendly after the last time we saw each other but we unravelled quickly the longer we went without addressing it. How could we be the same when we suddenly carried so much baggage?

Our relationship suffered. Meanwhile, my boyfriend came back to LA on his knees begging for forgiveness. He had been stressed out about his shoots and he regretted our breakup as soon as he'd landed at JFK. So I kept my own regret from that night to myself and taken him back. A month in and we'd moved to New York for the year where he modelled and I miraculously landed a very small Broadway part. When we moved back, he'd given me the promise ring. That was last night. Malia messaged me this morning to tell me the gang was in town and we were meeting up again. I didn't realise Conor would be there too. Our conversations had fizzled out once he realised I’d moved to New York with my boyfriend.

"Y/N's settling down," Anth teases. "Y/B/N is making a wife out of you!"

"It's not an engagement ring guys!" I insist but it sounds false even to me. It was supposed to be one. But the look of horror on my face when my boyfriend got on one knee at the beach had him stuttering and then insisting it was just a promise ring. So I had accepted like the coward I was because I was too scared to be on my own again. Three years of our relationship and Anth was right-I was settling.

"That's a big ass diamond," Conor jokes but it has a sharp edge to it. "Good for you. So uh-I'm getting a drink."

When I track Conor down, away from the group, he's stony faced.

"It's been a while." I say, feeling like that first night we met when I didn't know how to talk to him.

"Yeah," his eyes flick down to my hand. "A lot's happened it seems."

"Con-" I try.

"I'm alright." Conor cuts me off.

"No. You're not." I call him out.

He clenches his jaw, glancing at me and then sighing. "I know we fucked up Y/N but why did we just stop talking? You're bloody engaged and why am I only finding out now? I've never even met your boyfriend!"

"It-I know-it's complicated. We...complicated things!"

"It shouldn't be complicated! It was just sex!" Conor shouts. "It wasn't complicated! I'm still your friend!"

"Right..." I look down and try to blink away the sudden tears. That all it was to him? "Right. Yeah of course...obviously-duh! It was! I just got...I was unsure! I didn't know what you thought about it. But I'm cool if you are. We're still friends?"

"Yes we're still fucking friends!" Conor is instantly a ball of sunshine as we slip off our past like an oversized, stuffy jacket. I grab his hand and intertwine our fingers, trying to toss out the confused emotions I was feeling. Conor squeezes my hand and I snap out of my thoughts to his smiling face and when he looks at me it feels like that night, I first saw him smiling under sodium lights. When we wouldn't even know this was how we would turn out. I wish I could go back then. Maybe tell Y/N to keep things simple.

As his mouth moves to tell me something, I can’t focus as my head buzzes with the words he'd said earlier. But maybe it's better this way, I think. I didn't want to end up hating Conor, or be hurt by him, when I cared for him this much. I would just have to see it his way, I decide. Just sex. Only friends. "-always your friend."

One Year Later: "Happy birthday!" I shout at Conor. He was in LA for his 24th and the party was massive. Like this-many-people-could-never-fit-in-my-house massive. "Look at you! You're so spoiled now!"

Conor crushes me against him-it had been a good six months since I'd seen him. I was travelling all over for a movie I'd gotten a small role in and barely had time to see friends let alone Conor. I missed his energy. And he was super famous now too. Somewhere between seeing him last on New Year's, breaking up with my boyfriend and moving out, auditioning like crazy, and finding a role-Conor had blown up online and my heart swelled every time I saw his ad or his music somewhere. Despite our messy mishap, I'd realigned myself to realise Conor and I could only ever be friends.

"I love your jumper," I say-the term an inside joke by now.

"This is actually a hoodie." Conor teases.

"Fuck I can never get the terminology right!" I laugh and wrap my arms around him again, his "hoodie" a snug fabric to rest my head on.

"Y/N." Conor says seriously so I look at him again, concerned. "Y/N I-I think I'm finally good!" Conor shouts in my ear and when I give him a questioning look he explains. "My music! I think it's finally good enough!"

"Oh Conor," I can't help but grab his face between my hands and squish his cheeks. "It was always good enough!"

Conor laughs causing his face between my hands to morph oddly so I let go. "You're not as much of a bitch as you used to be!"

"Watch your mouth!" I pull his hood over his head and continue tugging it over his face until he apologizes between laughter. When I let go, he takes off the hood and wraps his arm around my shoulder. We stay that way for the rest of the night as he introduces me to everyone we meet. They all assume I'm his girlfriend, joking with me that I should watch out. And I didn't blame them with the way Conor's hand was always on my shoulder or my waist, my hips, touching my hair, leaning in to say something in my ear. I crave his touch every time I don't have it and by the end of the night, I feel drunk on desire more than any of the cocktails I'd had. So when Conor looks at me with a question in his eyes at the end of the night, I don’t call him out. I simply take his hand and go back home with him. Just sex. Only friends. Always friends.

Eighteen Months Later: Since Conor's 24th, we'd made a routine. Unless one of us were in a relationship, every time Conor was in LA, he would stop by. We'd catch up on life and then end up in bed for however long he was here for.

"I'm only in LA for two week." He would say. Or "I go to New York next week." Or "I have a flight on Thursday for Dubai."

It wasn't permanent, he meant to remind me. It wasn't a relationship. It was just sex. And we were just friends. And this was just a bad habit. Or a good habit-was there such a thing? I always looked forward to it. It felt like we were each other's safe space, a secret the other held close to their chest. Minus the emotional attachments of course. It happened so often like this that I'd forgotten I ever wanted more. Being like this actually gave us more time to catch up on every detail of each other’s lives. We opened up about our insecurities, our goals, and all our shared memories. When Conor was staying longer he would work on things in the same room I was in or he would help me practice lines and we created small bubbles in time where everything was blissful between us as long as we were together. It was harder some days than others like when I wanted to kiss him in public or gush to my friends about him-but it was worth it to be close again.

Months Later: I had my first anxiety attack that morning. I didn't even realise I was having it until my knees hit the carpet and I tried to look up at the time.

I had a big audition that afternoon for a children's movie. My agent was so sure I was going to get it-she'd talked me up to every friend she had in high places and knew the company hiring so I knew I had it in the bag yet a movie on such a scale was terrifying. Conor had told me he was coming over after auditions to see how it went and I was oddly nervous to see him too-I'd gotten out of a short relationship so it had been a while since Conor and I got together. And then my mom called me worried about my brother who'd been making all the wrong choices in life as of of late which kept running through my mind. So when my agent called to tell me they wanted a Skype interview now, I knew that usually meant it was a courtesy interview and they didn't actually want me. I did the interview with a really bad connection, my anxiety heightening with every scene looking at their impassive expressions. As soon as it ended, I ignored my agen't phone call and suddenly found it hard to breath, my vision narrowing as everything looked off, and the room tilted around me. I fell to my knees and located my phone, calling the only person I knew who'd understand: Conor.

By the time he arrived, I had managed to calm down but I still couldn't take a deep breath nor could I talk in full sentences. Conor squeezed my hands and helped ground me until I could focus and then he'd gathered me in his arms so carefully, so lovingly, that it scared me enough to start crying. He mistook this for being sad about not getting the part and helped me to bed, setting up his laptop beside me. I didn't correct him, falling asleep as I felt exhausted, and awakening to a vibrating hum.

I don't open my eyes, anxiety clutching my chest as I remembered where I was and what had happened. But the humming beside me helped, the dread slowly unravelling it's hold on me. When I do open my eyes Conor's concentrated on the screen as he hums the same few lines again and again. And the tenderness with which I felt towards him sends me tipping into the panic zone so I get up and yank the covers off. I couldn't do this. We said we wouldn't.

"Hey you're up," Conor looks at me. "I'm gonna hum something does it sound like something you've already heard or is it-"

"You have to go." I say abruptly and he stops talking immediately. "I need to be alone Conor please go. Now."

He stays for a heartbeat before closing his screen and getting out of bed. His mouth opens to say something but he looks at me and closes it, bowing his head and moving out the door. I listen as he leaves and take a deep ragged breath. I felt wild, like a frantic ball of confused energy was buzzing within me like a pinball machine. Like a panic attack hangover and as soon as Conor goes I want him back. I make it so far to the front door when I retreat until my back hits the wall. What was I doing? But I craved the comfort of his touch and it urged me to call him back. I couldn’t though. He wasn’t my boyfriend, I couldn’t keep doing this. But the sudden sound of a knock at the door echos my pounding heartbeat.

I carefully open it to Conor, running his fingers through his hair. I barely register what he says; opening the door wider, just wanting him back in. He drops his bag to the floor as he closes the door behind him. In an instant, his hand finds my waist, our foreheads touch, our eyes locked. It felt like we were the center of a volcano of passion and desire, boiling as his hand tightens on my waist, bubbling as my hand slips around the the base of his neck, simmering and leaking as I close my eyes and he crashes his lips into mine.

I can't remember what happens next-not chronologically. We're bumping into walls and shedding the day, as well as our clothes, and as we ease into the sheets the volcano bursts with hot molten lava, destroying anything that was ever left of us before.

I must have nodded off again right after because I wake to Conor in bed facing me. Behind him, my window shows streaks of pinks in the sky as day goes down to dusk. Conor's eyes are watching me carefully, his expression unreadable as he watches me watch him. I trace the bridge of his nose to distract him but he continues staring, something budding in the way he looks at me. It was scaring me and I tell him so.

Yet Conor doesn’t take his eyes off of me, his thumb brushing my cheek and my breath catches as I realise why I was so scared. His eyes hold no trace of its usual playful spark. Instead they're unguarded and clear as day with what he was thinking. Shit. This was it. This was the end. We'd both fallen. Made this something important.

"When are you leaving LA?" I ask, almost begging him to reply with a deadline to our romance for some sort of normalcy. The only way this worked was when he put a time stamp for us to stop waking up in each other's arms. Even if it was one month or one week we would have the most fun as the end date was our safety net.

But when he shrugs and continues to gaze at me, my heart feels like it would burst from my chest. And it practically does as all the hopes I ever ignored of Conor and I as something more than friends, all the fantasies I ever had of Conor wanting more with me, the thoughts I suppressed before they could even manifest-shoving them into a dark corner of my mind-roll forward and flash before me. This was Conor-the first person I think I ever fell in love with. And I can admit it to myself now, looking at him-at us, like this. This was Conor-how could I have ever thought we could be anything but in love in the end? So I remove Conor's hand from my face and hold it to my chest, willingly showing him how much I was feeling in the moment. "I feel it now, can you feel it too?" Conor takes my other hand with his free hand and places it against his own palpitations. My own races faster; was this our demise?

"I feel it too." Conor answers slowly.

"But this is exactly what we said we wouldn't do." I remind him. What he said we wouldn't do. What we weren't.

"What was that exactly?" Conor asks me and his mouth flicks up in a slow smile as the playfulness returns in the blink of an eye. He's weightless as he rolls over me and brings his lips down in a kiss so tender, I never realised he had it in him. When he moves away, he rests his forehead against mine, his lips a hair's breadth away from my own. The look he gives me is a challenge, a dare like we would give when we were younger. His brown eyes looking into mine are daring me just one simple thing:

Call me out.

[ronracer]

Yo,

I have never doubted my feelings towards anyone I have told I love them. And outside of going a little beyond my means to make them smile I've never had to prove how much I truly love them....

But I've been dealing with this company BasicInvite.com

Screwing up our Save the Dates... And watching my fiancee tear up enraged me to a level I never knew... Like I love her so much and on such a primal level that just half tears in her eyes

Let's back up a bit.

Wedding Planning Pt2: invitations

I'm kinda jumping ahead of a bit but im pissed rn so we'll circle back around to the cute fun stuff of this topic. I'm sure by now you all have seen our bomb ass engagement photos. We loved them so much we wanted to use them as our save the dates!

We ordered our save the dates through this company. Being the life-long procrastinators we have chosen to be admittedly we sat on this longer than need be. So we Paid extra for the faster shipping. We get all giddy and excited because it's just one more step towards our new lives. Of course she goes to check on it first ... But the tracking number we received was not working. Called customer service and TREVOR explained that somehow our save the dates were lost!!

Some shit about the post office not scanning the box or something. Now they are a small business, probably have one person taking mail. Part of me felt like they just forgot to put the box in the mail. None of that mattered though. We NEED these save the dates ASAP.

He assured us he was print us new ones and they would be shipped out immediately and they would refund me The extra shipping cost. I lightheartedly tell him The misses will kill me cuz The was my task so don't worried about refunding the money and if we have to pay more to get same day shipping we'll do that. Apparently they can't do same day shipping which makes no damn sense but whateva. The next morning the original package mysteriously  gets an update on the tracking number. Interesting... But regardless Trevor said he would send us a new set. Then we get an email. They TOO have noticed movement on the package and now will WAIT and see before they send a new set.

Um..

..No. We explain to them that we could not afford to wait, which is why we paid extra for the shipping anyway. I asked again for Trevor. He said they understood and would go ahead making the second batch. They were just "letting me know"... Ok... A day goes by and we reach out again because we havent got a tracking number for the second batch. They tell us that the second batch did not pass its quality control inspection and now they have to print a THIRD batch which would take another 3 days!!! They said the good news was that it looked like the original batch would be there the next day anyways. Upon hearing this my sweet little future wife begins tear up off pure frustration. Because honestly, and tell us if we wrong, but it really felt like our original assumptions about them just forgetting to mail the first box was correct. And now they are dragging us along until it shows up so they don't have to make a new box...

Am I wrong?

At this moment my patience had worn out.

I demanded to have this new batch made and shipped the same day because at this point we had wasted too much time to get a refund and go anywhere else. They gave me some b.s. about having a contract with USPS and can't do same day. I demanded to speak to a higher up which i was denied.

Fuck that.

You see the unseen problem small businesses have is that They rely too much on their own social media. So finding the CEO was only a click away.

And I sent him a lengthy FB msg

After that They assured me I would be getting my package that day and give me a full refund. Of course I had heard this three times already. I told them I would NOT get off the phone until my packing is literally in the hands of the postman and I get an email SAYING it was shipped. I'm not kidding you guise. I put the phone on speaker at work at say there with them for 5hours.

They actually sent a picture of the box on the truck and then tried to hang up on me! Hold up. No. I said I needed both the picture AND update on the tracking. Not just being a dick about the situation but if we all remember in the beginning how this all started was them saying "the mail man must have forgotten to scan it..." So you will WAIT with me as I refresh until it says on the way. But I felt bad for the poor girl on the phone, syd I think her name was. So I said this is Trevors fault put his ass on the phone.

There was a strange silence then she says he's out of the office... I really hate when people try and play you like we haven't all worked customer service and managers have given us the I'm not here face

I asked when he would be back and she says she can't give me his schedule. I then tell her if I have to call back for him the civility of this interaction, which was already at a low point, will be null. Further more I have enough sky miles to fly to Utah in the morning if I have to.... By this time the tracking has updated... She tries again to get off the phone. I say where's Trevor.. Oh he has magically reappeared.

Sounding annoyed by having to talk he immediately goes into this bland ingenuine corporate apology. BUT instead of apologizing on behalf of BasicInvite.com this foo says he stands by the quality and service of BasicInvite.com and he apologizes for USPS!?

Bruh...

How you gonna be so self absorbed you gonna blame the Untied States government.

Even if it's true they messed up the first box, which I still don't think they did. What about the 2nd box? Why did I have to curse two poor customer service reps out for you to figure out how to do same day shipping? He then tells me he thought maybe we were trying to get something for free

I went ALL the way off.

I said several times I didn't care about the money for these cheap ass save the dates I wanted the save the dates! I even suggested paying extra. So where in the fuck you get the idea I'm trying to get over?.. He hung up. I called back and got poor syd answers. I say put Trevor on the phone she again says he's not taking calls. I told her I will call everyday for the rest of this year until Trevor or Brock takes my call and gives me a real apology.

They truly had no idea who They just crossed.

I called everyday And only saying hello can I speak to Trevor til They blocked me. I then used the website chat. They blocked my IP from going to their website, then gave me a refund. I went to Starbucks used two pcs and vpns til they had to install a new chat service that could block instantly. Still all I said was hello I need to speak to Trevor. Finally getting a formal cease and desist email I stopped.Trevor you should thank your god that my god put a woman in my life with some sense because I was really prepared to torture you for the rest of my living days.

So now I have double the save the dates and nothing to do with them. If It were up to me I'd burn the whole lot of them post the video on IG and tag BasicInvite.com

Anyone out there listening please do not use these people. I should have known from the name they some basic bitches.