#Me at train station nowhere near but at the platform in the general direction of Lokeren: let's see if I can spot some louies on the way

[icyll]

Some Thoughts About Sam Yang's Art

First of all, as I'm going to be mostly critical of his work, I would like to make it clear that I'm not saying these as an artist, as I'm obviously nowhere near as good or skillful as him, but as an observer. Also, as a big part of the online art community and Sam's audience are young people who might be passionate or even sensitive about the subject, I would like to point out that nothing I say means anything about Sam, and to take that further it might not even proof anything about the art made by Sam neither! It is simply my impression of it, and me, if anything, is what you will learn the most about!

So you probably know Sam! If not, he usually goes by SamDoesArt on most platforms, so you can look it up and check his art out. He has an interesting style, cool forms, a few OCs that he likes to draw, nice colors and all! He is also active on Youtube where he makes reaction videos and pretty decent tutorials, which as someone that's trying to learn art I can't say I haven't learned a few things from.

Now while writing this and reflecting on the subject, I came to realize that my issue with his art is not rooted in something solely related to the art, but also a certain approach to art in general! So the next two paragraphs deal with that.

I sometimes see artists treating art in a way that I would describe as too "technical." It is as if their emphasis and efforts in art are focused on and revolve around a lot of theory, technique, structure, and know-how. And this, in my opinion, is not the best approach to have. To my mind, this is an extension of the process of making art into a craft, and by that I don't just mean trying to make money out of your art, but rather turning it into a profession, a thing that you can do, which at the end would add up to a bunch of procedures and skillsets.

This sort of attitude, this treatment that has such an industrial and production-oriented view of art, does not seem right. Sure, technique is required. For the expression of one's artistic ingenium an efficient instrument is needed, and that would be the properly trained and developed mind and body of the artist person. But currently that doesn't seem to be the reason the majority of artistic activity is focused on this aspect.

Now as for Sam's art, traces of the same tradition can be found. Everything is good. Things look nice, art is well done, but then what?! What's the substance, the value, the meaning behind it all? What does it add up to? What is pointed at by the art? Sure, there are multiple answers to these questions that I too can think about.

Not all art has to be meaningful, as not all art has to look nice. But, here's a thing, wouldn't you prefer that the art both were meaningful and looked nice?! Also, to compare art to a person, most people would agree that they have met good looking people that quickly became no more fun to be around because of how shallow or indifferent in their personality they were at least once! It's the same with Sam's art : It's NICE, then it's nice, then it's alright. Now what do I mean by meaning in art and how do I not perceive it in Sam's art?

First, I want to direct your attention to the backgrounds. They're usually the most ordinary, not at all out of this world backgrounds. Store, road, train-station, sky, etc. Now the problem with that is it does not tell a story at all; it only shows us what we already know about! Everyone has seen cities and the sky. Lack of any clue to anything beyond keeps the art from separating itself from the world of our experience and telling the story of something else. It is on the same level as anything that we see in our daily life.

To clarify this point, think of any movie or story that happens in the same world as ours. Now if that movie shows us a few hours of strictly the same things that we always encounter in our daily lives, we won't walk away from it thinking it was a good one. There is something about realistic movies that separates them from the 'real,' and that is what I'm saying is lacking in the art of the guy we're talking about.

There is so little other than a person (who is again most ordinary and typical, to add to the previous point) in a piece of his work that each piece feels more like a pose, a gesture, than a work of art. Rather than feeling like a captured moment of a dynamic world, it comes off more as an image of a statue somewhere. It ends in itself, there and then, and is done.

Moreover, I don't know if he is of the type to sometimes use photos for objects in the environment or all of the background, but often the environments are way more realistic in their style than the characters. This itself sticks out as a symptom of a lack of imagination in creating the backgrounds and on a deeper level the whole piece itself. The contrast between the realistic environments and the cartoony characters gives the art a commercial look, and is reminiscent of the cartoon face filter that would transform the person but keep the background. Is it meant to appeal to the same audience that liked that?!

So why does any of that matter? Because I think it matters what we call art! I do really think that there is a duality of what we may call productivity and creativity, of craft and art. I may talk about that more later, but here I just want to say that at this point, other than maybe the style which may be a bit creative, although I don't know how much of it is original, this is production, not art.

Additionally, I would also like to make it clear why I wrote this… article?! and why I thought this should be talked about. I think it is good for things to be known for what they are, and so in the same way it is good that people be known to do what they do, and not what they don't. Sam does draw, but does Sam art?! Not as much.

Finally, as a sort of disclaimer, I want to add that I do realize that Sam is not the only artist that I think these things are true about, and that there are artworks done by him that are not how I described. It's just that those are few, and I know Sam somewhat more so there's also that. Plus I like the guy :D❤

[bluewinnerangel]

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[allegra-writes]

“Once in twenty lifetimes”

Tom Holland x Reader

General audiences

Warnings: Implied character death.

“In a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I’d find you”

The chaos of stars - Kiersten White

Just a little one shot inspired by the song “Cardigan” and this lovely past life reading by Adora’s light.

MY MASTERLIST

You cursed as your high heel got stuck on the cobblestone, making your ankle twist painfully. It would be just like you to be late, and injured, on your first day. But no, you still had about half an hour to spare, and the building was literally across the street. 

You tried to slow down your pace, and the beating of your heart, it would do you no good to arrive early, shaky and exuding nervousness like the inexperienced rookie you were. A smile broke through your face as you saw the coffee shop. Yeah, an herbal tea would do you worlds of good.

Your bare feet hit the stone tiles of the castle floor, running. People were running in all directions, screaming in terror: the enemy was inside already, the fires raging in the citadel nothing but a mere distraction. You heard the cries of your maiden inside your own bedchamber being beaten for information, you knew what the enemy wanted: You. 

“Meri Rani!” That voice. You knew that voice. “Meri Rani, this way!”

A strong, rough hand wrapped around your dainty one, guiding you behind a tapestry, to the hidden pathways and you could have cried in relief. 

Your brave knight. Your faithful guardian.

You were safe.

You were always safe in his arms.

The music hit you with a wave of melancholy as soon as you opened the door of the shop. That old Elvis’ song always made you strangely nostalgic. You smiled at the bittersweet feeling, stepping in line to order.

You didn’t want to fall into the “I was born in the wrong era” cliche, you really didn’t. And you knew a lot of people thought you were boring, too old fashioned, sometimes even snobbish because of it. But truth was, modern music just didn’t hit the same. The fast rhymes, oversaturated and monotone beats didn’t move you. You sounded like your grandmother, but they just didn’t make good music anymore. Not that good at least. 

“Wise meeeen say” You watched your boyfriend stumble under the streetlights, torn between exasperation and fondness. Drunk. He was drunk. Unbelievable. “Only fooools ruuuuusshh in”

As unbelievable as how nicely those Levi’s hugged his hips, as he twirled around the pole… and somehow managed to slip, face planting on it. 

“Ouch!”

“Yeah, you’re a fool alright, Thomas" 

You rushed to his side, prying his hands away from his face to check his nose.

"It’s all your fault, doll. I’m a fool for you” He winked, but the effect was somehow dampered by the blood falling freely over his lips. “We should go to that Elvis concert next month" 

His warm brown eyes lit up with enthusiasm at his own new idea.

"Hmmm I’m not sure we should” You feigned concern, “I could fall in love with him… he is very handsome”

Your boyfriend snorted,

“No way. You dig me way more than you dig Elvis" 

"Not when you’re all bloody and bruised like this…”

“Ow”

“Sorry!” You apologized, trying to be gentler as you finished wiping at his blood with your handkerchief. 

His arm snaked around your waist, cold fingers sneaking under your sweater, making you jump slightly.

“Is ok, love” he whispered against your lips, “I’ll let you kiss it better.”

“Hi, hun!” Chloe, the cashier, greeted. “Your usual?”

“Oh, no, I’m jumpy enough today!” You chuckled, perusing the tea menu, “I think I’ll have… some lavender tea today. Good for first day anxiety.”

“Wouldn’t lime flower be better for that?” The blonde teen frowned in confusion.

“Lavender is just as good, plus it won’t make me drowsy”

Chloe rang your order, taking a mental note of your words.

“I’ll try to remember that for the next customer that asks for lime flower. How do you even know so much about herbs?”

You simply shrugged, accepting your change,

“I don’t know, I guess I just have a memory for this kinda thing”

“Mama!" 

You raised your head from where you were harvesting berries of bittersweet nightshade, and felt your heart skip a beat. The image of your husband walking to you with your little girl in his arms still managed to take your breath away and fill your whole being with warmth and joy even after three years. 

You stood up, wiping your dirty hands on your skirts.

"See, bumblebee? I told you mama was just outside” You heard Tom’s soft words soothing the crying infant. “She doesn’t like it when she wakes up and you’re not there…” He added to you, the corners of his mouth belying his amusement.

“Is that true, sweetie?” You inquired, extending your arms toward the toddler, who practically leaped into them. Your daughter only nodded in response, hiding her face on your chest, fisting her tiny hands on the top of your dress, holding on as if she was afraid you were gonna disappear any minute. 

“Aye… I think she misses you almost as much as I do when you’re gone” Tom declared, wrapping his arms around both his girls, trying to squish down the uneasiness that had taken over him ever since he had heard…

“Is that so?”

Both your husband and your daughter nodded, making you chuckle. 

“What if mama makes some marzipan cakes tonight? Would that cheer you up? We could go to the village in the afternoon to get some flour”

Your husband’s stomach made a flip, the sound of your daughter’s enthusiastic approval drowned by his own worries and fears.

“Or we could just let your daddy make some of his honey candies. No need to go to the village…" 

You finished stirring the honey in your tea, and hurried to put the lid back to the cup, eager to leave. As much as you loved the little cafe, you couldn’t quite stand it in the mornings. You hated the fact that they served american breakfast. The smell of bacon and sausages, actually the smell of any meat being cooked, never failed to make your stomach churn. That was actually the main reason for your vegetarianism, even stronger than your convictions, your compassion and love for animals. Even stronger than your concerns or your wish for a healthier lifestyle, was your dislike. While most people found that smell mouthwatering and delicious, to you, it only ever smelled of burnt flesh.

Your beloved husband’s face was the only one you could make out in the crowd. His pale, tear streaked face, looking almost blue in the twilight. But no, it wasn’t twilight yet, it couldn’t be with the sun still so high in the sky. 

… Then why was everything so blue? 

The executioner tightened the ropes around you, but you couldn’t feel them. You were numb all over. 

"I’m sorry” He murmured, “but I will have to hurry up. Your husband gave me the tea but I think I used too much. If they realize what I did, they will burn me too" 

You understood then: wolfsbane. He couldn’t save your life, there was no way he could have, the archbishop had watched you like a hawk all the time they had kept you in the tower. But he wanted to spare you the pain. And not even the man of the church could find it in himself to deny you your last wish: a single cup of tea… that you hadn’t requested. 

"Why?” You managed to let out, “Why are you helping me?" 

"You helped me once. Or rather, my girlfriend. Well, my wife now”

You tried to remember. Yes, you were sure that was her, the blacksmith’s daughter. She was supposed to be a maiden, back then. If her father found out, he would have beaten her to death, but with a little pennyroyal you had put an end to her predicament. 

You could see the regret in his eyes as he let the torch fall into the pyre. You searched your husband’s face through the smoke. His agonized eyes met yours one last time.

No. Not the last. Only the last in that lifetime. 

“I love you” You didn’t open your mouth but you knew he had heard you, “forever" 

You tried to shake away the morbid thought, as you stepped into the busy street again. It wasn’t all that hard, as you immediately got swept away by it’s fast paced rhythm. There was something about the city, some hidden beauty in it’s chaos, a siren song, a presence. Almost as if somewhere in its darkest alley, there was a heartbeat calling for you. And in a way, you guessed there was, all of them were always crowded, teeming with life. Yet, unlike in any other city, here you weren’t shoved or pushed around. Here, if someone as much as bumped your arm, you would get a quick and embarrassed "sorry”. And you didn’t quite know why you found that so endearing, but you did. 

Just another one in the long list of things you loved about London. 

You collided with someone, hard, but you couldn’t afford to stop and apologize, so you kept on moving, advancing as fast as you could through the sea of bodies crowding the station. It was almost time, he was stepping into the last train and only god knew if you were ever going to see him again. He had asked you not to come, but you couldn’t, you wouldn’t let him leave without saying goodbye.

You heard him before you saw him. You almost didn’t recognize him from behind, the lush dark curls you loved so much all but gone, the strands shaved around the ears and cut close to the scalp on the back and sides.

“Thomas!”

He turned around just in time for you to jump into his arms, wrapping yours around his neck, hiding your face against his uniformed chest.

“I told you not to come” He breathed against your hair, undone from your race, holding onto you just as hard, “I told you I wouldn’t be able to leave this platform if you did…”

“Then don’t” You countered, “Stay with me. Let’s run away to the countryside, just… just stay" 

You felt his choked sob against your cheek.

"If we don’t stop the Germans now, there will be nowhere left to run. And I rather die before letting them anywhere near you”

“Don’t say that” You admonished, breaking your embrace to get a look at his coffee eyes, “Don’t ever say that!" 

He shook his head,

"It’s the truth, my love. Of all the beauty in this world, yours is the most breathtaking. Of all the kindness, yours is the most honest.” He took your hands in his, placing soft, reverent kisses on your knuckles “You are everything that’s good and pure in this world. You are everything that’s worth fighting for" 

"All aboard!" 

The tears were clouding your vision, when Tom’s brave facade fell.

"If anything happens to me at war…”

“Hush! Don’t say-”

“I must, my love” He interrupted you, urgently, “If anything happens to me, my family will take care of you. Listen-”

“No, you listen” You cut him off, “Whatever you were going to say, it won’t be necessary. Because you are going to come back to me, did you hear me?”

His reply died in his throat. He wanted so bad to be able to promise you what you wanted.

“Come back to me, Thomas. Say you’ll come back…" 

"Yes, ma'am” He finally vowed, before stealing one last kiss.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!" 

His apology reached your ears even before you felt the hot liquid dripping down your chest, before your distracted mind could process what was happening. 

"I was walking too fast and I wasn’t looking where I was going and neither were you and when I realized, I couldn’t stop on time- Not, not that I’m blaming you for this, no, of course not! I mean, that looks hot” He gesticulated to your chest, talking with his hands almost as fast as he was rambling with his mind. You watched his eyes go big and his cheeks turn red as he realized exactly where he was pointing at, “The tea! I meant the tea not your… your- not you! I mean, not that you’re not… I should shut up now, right?" 

You tried to stifle your amused smile, but you failed, the brunet man in front of you simply too adorable in his awkward babbling for you to be mad. Even if both your favorite vintage tee and brand new phone were ruined now. 

"Probably, yeah.” You confirmed, “You need to stop and breathe, otherwise you might pass out from lack of oxygen. And I don't  think I can deal with that on top of” You pointed at your soaked self, “this" 

Relief washed over him at the realization you weren’t mad. The truth was, the only reason he had crashed into you was that he had been too busy staring at you to realize you were coming right his way. 

"Yeah, that would be just too rude” He let himself smile a little too, “crashing with you, making you spill your tea and passing out on you? So crossing the line…" 

You snorted inelegantly at that. 

And he thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen in his life.

"Let me replace your t-shirt” He offered, hoping to buy himself a few more minutes with you, “and your tea, of course" 

You were about to refuse, when your eyes found his, the entire world shifting, tilting on its axis, as your irises met his warm coffee ones. 

You knew those eyes.

"I- ok” You cleared your throat, as if that would be able to conceal your shameless staring. “I have…” You checked your watch, “about 20 minutes before work”

“Right. Better make them count then” His boyish smile turned bigger, brighter, “I’m Tom, by the way. And I promise I’m usually smoother than this”

You took the hand he was offering, and it felt like deja vu.

“Y/n. And I hate smooth." 

He laughed,

"Great, cause that was a lie…" 

You walked back inside the coffee shop together, never noticing it was the hand of fate, the one opening the doors for you, all over again. 

[soukokuwu]

DAZAI OSAMU

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈 𝐌𝐄𝐓 𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍

》 angst, unfortunately (dazai x reader)

》 trigger warnings! suicide themes, death

》 word count: 2.3k

》 notes: you saw him for the exact opposite of what he was. he did you a favour, but everything has a price. and now he has come to collect.

》 a story where Dazai is an angel

The ring of the shopkeeper’s bell. The smooth wood of the door. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee. The taste of baked ham. The sun illuminating the alley right outside the cafe.

There he appeared again. After ten years.

He looked just as you remembered. He didn’t age. Bandage over his right eye. Black hair a mess, covering one half of his face. Deep brown eyes as alluring as ever, piercing into your very soul. Black tailored suit, black tie, white dress shirt, same as the last time.

Although, there was one thing different about him.

Black feathered wings that used to be almost miniscule compared to his person— no, could you even call him that? Body. The wings that used to be diminutive compared to his body were now thicker and wider, standing even taller than his frame.

You were painfully aware that only you could see his beauty. Everyone else walked past him without regard. You strolled over to the figure, aware that he saw himself far from what you made him out to be in your head. That wouldn’t deter you from believing that of him though.

Your guardian angel.

»»-------------¤-------------««

Scribbling.

Sound of pen against paper had been all you could hear.

The pen had been discarded and you felt a pat on your head. You had looked up into his eyes. Empty. Vacant. Hopeless.

He had grabbed your hand and led the way. Something had been weird about the route he took that day. That had not been the usual way the two of you took to your school.

A left instead of a right. A bookshop instead of a cafe. The hustle and bustle of people instead of the usual seclusion. Yet you never questioned him. He had been the adult after all. Maybe there was a special event today that you had forgotten about. Yes, that could be why he hadn’t taken you straight to school.

The two of you had finally reached the train station. It had only been on rare occasions that you would step foot there, given that your family hardly ever went out. Even at twelve years old you could tell that your parents were struggling financially. In spite of that, though, you were all happy together. As long as you had each other, your mom would always say.

It had been a windy day. The sky turned a darker shade of grey. It had not been too crowded for a weekday morning in the subway station, so you could see the sky clearly even though you had been a short little child back then.

An announcement played, saying the train would be delayed and it would take a while longer. You looked around, trying to find the display screen that estimated the next train’s arrival.

However, something moved past you and caught your eye. A single black feather fell in front of your face and you eyed it until it touched the ground. You gripped your father’s hand tighter out of fear, but it barely registered in your father’s head. He was much too preoccupied with his own thoughts. Scared as you had been, curiosity got the better of you and you looked around for the source. It could not have been a crow, so where could the feather have come from?

Just as you were looking, you spotted him there, near the front of the platform, facing your direction. A general disinterested look, blank chocolate eyes looking straight ahead at absolutely nothing, dark brown hair and small black wings floating in the breeze. Even all those years ago, he looked breathtaking to you. Something that was supposed to instill fear intrigued you instead. He spoke of something in a soft murmur, in a voice low enough you couldn’t make out what it was.

A pair of watchful eyes followed him as he walked toward you, looking around at everyone on the platform. As the creature passed by you, he stopped in his tracks. His body stiffened and he slowly turned to look at you, who had been blinking up at him skeptically.

“This human is creeping me out,” he had murmured to himself, gulping and then bending his knees to get leveled with you. His eyes had then seemed alive for that split second, filled with intrigue. “It’s as if she can see me.”

“But I can,” you said, almost causing him to stumble over.

The creature blinked in succession as he tried to register what you had just said.

“You can... see me?”

You nodded, attention completely focused on the peculiar being in front of you. He had ominous black wings, but you didn’t feel scared of him at all. You then proceeded to question him about why it was that nobody else could see him. But everything he had shared with you about the different dimensions and how it worked were too complicated for you to remember. Being the inquisitive child you were, you kept interacting with the being. Banter and jokes were all you remembered sharing with him that day.

“You’re funny,” you had told him, laughing at the stupid joke he shared.

The creature had laughed too, before his expression shifted slowly into that of hesitance. You had asked what was wrong, but he shook his head, claiming it had been nothing. He was seemingly looking at something past you, but he hogged your attention by asking if you wanted to see a magic trick. Excited, you had given him all your focus, and by the time you clapped for him and noticed the absence of your father’s hand, you realised you were someplace else.

It was a peaceful place. The both of you were situated in a meadow, surrounded by a sea of colourful flowers. The skies there were a dark grey too. The only sound you could hear was that of the wind blowing. You were alone there with him, your father nowhere in sight. Despite having been teleported to a foreign dimension with someone you barely knew, all you had been thinking of was how much you wanted to explore this place.

“I can’t see the station anymore,” you had casually remarked.

“Sometimes it’s better to see what isn’t there instead of what is,” the creature had replied, an ache in his tone you didn’t miss.

Before you could ask him what he meant, warm droplets of rain started falling onto your face. The creature used his wings to shelter you from the rain, letting himself get drenched. His wings were too small to cover the both of you at the time. Feeling bad, you had asked if he could take you to his home so that you both would get shelter. The flash of melancholy that took over his face you could not have missed.

“Not now, you have to get back home,” he murmured gently, patting you on the head. You nodded in resigned compliance, catching a glimpse of the words imprinted on his wings.

Osamu Dazai.

The world around you began to shimmer and flow together, the colours of the flowers mixing together in circles. It was all making you sick, and so you chose to close your eyes. Everything was spinning. But as you felt a few raindrops fall onto your face, it stopped.

When you opened your eyes next, you found your mother sat next to you on your bed, crying over your body, hugging you when she realised you had come to.

The creature was nowhere in sight.

And neither was your father.

»»-------------¤-------------««

No one told you what really happened that day until a few years ago, when your mother was on her deathbed. Initially, she had just claimed that your father had to move to another city and wouldn’t come back. You were twelve but you weren’t that stupid. You didn’t believe her, but you thought better than to press her about it.

However as she was dying, she told you the real story of how your father disappeared. She recounted to you his suicide note, word for word. He had had enough of his life. Apparently the happiness you saw in your family as a kid was all a facade. Your father was far from a joyful man. He was beyond depressed, with a shit job and a shittier financial situation. His wife had lost interest in him as a man and his only solace had been you. Which was why he wanted to bring you with him. To die with him.

His plan that day was to jump in front of a moving train with you. But that creature had saved you at the last minute. According to witness accounts, they saw you let go of your father’s hand just as he was about to jump off the platform before you fainted on the spot. There was a small boy who swore he saw a man with brown hair and black wings who pried you away from your father, but of course the authorities didn’t take him seriously.

»»-------------¤-------------««

The city looked so much better from way up high. It had been a while since you were here. The wind blowing reminded you of that day when you were teleported to another dimension. You shifted your gaze from the scenery to the figure beside you. He had followed you here all the way from the cafe. He looked even more mesmerising now with a soft smile plastered on his face.

“Dazai?” You called out hesitantly.

The being nodded in acknowledgement. However, you found you couldn’t quite find the right words to say now that he was here, in the flesh.

“Ask me.”

His statement stunned you. It was a gentle kind of prodding, indicating he understood the situation. You were almost a hundred percent sure by now of his answer, and as much as you would like to confirm it, you decided against it.

“You’re my guardian angel, Dazai.”

It was not what he really was, but it was true all the same. He had saved you as a child even though he had absolutely no reason to. Osamu Dazai saved you even though he had been, and was still, the embodiment of death.

“I’m the angel of death,” he uttered, completely monotone. Dazai looked puzzled now, his lips pressed into a firm line. He shifted his gaze and looked out at the view of the city from his spot on the skyscraper. The streets surrounding this building were somewhat secluded, save for two or three pedestrians walking below. You caught a look of understanding that seemed to wash over him, as though a sudden realisation of your intentions, and why he even appeared before you in the first place.

You thought back to all those years ago, when you tried to convince people you weren’t crazy. In hindsight, telling people about a heavenly creature that saved you from death’s grip wasn’t the brightest idea. It had resulted in years of bullying, several counts of physical abuse and a consequent depression that you wished would go away.

Where you would normally be shut in at home, today you were out and about. You had taken work leave. All your colleagues were stunned into silence yesterday when you offered everyone cupcakes. They should; you usually didn’t even respond much even when spoken to. But the day before, everyone found you pleasant to be around, and you could see the looks of relief on all of their faces. They all spoke of not being able to wait to see you the next day.

Everyone who thought they knew you took it as a sign of you getting better. But no. To you it was a sign of clarity. You felt more upbeat today than any other day. It was because you knew exactly what waited for you at the end of the day: oblivion.

Before you knew it, you were standing at the edge of the building. Your legs trembled slightly when you realised just how high up you were. The fear was taken over by confusion when you felt warmth envelop your right hand.

Dazai’s fingers were intertwined with yours and he offered you the most comforting smile you’d seen in a long while. You were completely perplexed by the words he uttered next.

“I’ve always wanted to commit a double suicide with a beautiful lady when I was human.”

You had expected that he was the angel of death, but you never thought he had been human before. How it worked you would never find out, but there was something you wanted to know.

“Aren’t angels like you immortal?”

“My death was set in stone the moment I saved you from myself.”

Dazai did not need to explicitly tell you, but you deciphered it anyway. It was a simple message: your death would spell his. That’s all there was to it. A curse of some sort, because he had failed his duties all those years back. He forcefully saved a soul bound to death by his own hands. This was his punishment. But he did not look the least bit unhappy.

If anything, he radiated pure bliss. It was a bittersweet moment. The person you had dreamt of countless times in your life, the one you had fantasised finding again and again— he finally appeared but it was on an ominous condition. It only meant one thing: you would not change your mind today.

Your legs stopped trembling. Your heart started pounding faster in your chest. The warmth of the noon sun was getting uncomfortable. Yet you found the warmth of his hand relaxing.

Without warning, you felt your hand being yanked toward him, your body covered in his warm embrace. This time, his wings were big enough to shield both you and him from the outside world. You could see nothing but his face. You were pressed against his chest, foreheads touching and eyes glued to each other’s. You felt any fear you had dissipate into the void.

“Will you meet me in another life?”

You couldn’t help but ask. It was something you were wishing for, no matter how impossible it may seem: to get to know Osamu Dazai as a person. You hoped to find him in that other life, if it was possible at all. You wanted to get to know him, to understand his soul, preferably as equals.

Dazai’s unbandaged eye was clouded with a certain bewilderment before it reverted back to a gentle kindness, one you had seen many years before.

“I promise.”

Deep down you knew it was bullshit. You could sense his uncertainty. But as you both plunged to your death, the words were the only comfort you found, aside from the tenderness of his hug.

You opened your eyes to look into his once more, and then everything went black.

A scream.

And then nothing.

tags: @yokelish

[dragonrajafanfiction]

First Day of School

This is just something that came to my head and I figured I’d write it down before I got it... Ru’Yi’s first day at Cassell College. Please enjoy.

======================

Ru’Yi pulled her shoulder bag a bit higher and she took a deep breath. Her parents stood side by side in the doorway of the cozy Chicago Townhouse.

“Okay... I ... guess I’ll see you on spring break?” Ru’Yi said, shrugging.

“Call us when you get there.” Her mother gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

It was January 10th, the official start of Spring 2020 semester. Her father, Chu Zihang, and mother, Bai Meixiu, had enrolled her this year even though her dragonblood had been awakened all her life and she already knew her Soul Skill. She wasn’t going there to learn Dragonslaying or to become the hero of the world. It was just that her father and mother wanted her to have the best possible education among people like her. 

Hybrids.

Unlike most hybrids, she didn’t grow up feeling the Blood Cry. She knew exactly who she was. Her father, Chu Zihang, was an A-rank powerhouse who had mastered the notoriously uncontrollable Jun-Yan - Royal Fire. He could summon flames so hot they could melt glass and metal. 

Not only that, he knew the secret technique of Blood Rage, that could forcibly increase his purity to dangerous levels. He was a near unstoppable force. Not only that, he was peerless in martial arts and hacking. He was also very handsome, with dark hair, pale skin, and mysteriously golden eyes.

Her mother, Bai Meixiu, was even higher, Rank-S with three Souls Skills under her belt. She could Teleport anywhere she could visualize, summon blades of light and control them with a thought. But most terrifyingly, she could control the dragonblood purity of other hybrids. No Hybrid could ever stand before Ru’Yi’s mother without express permission. But looking at her, she was a petite black woman, well dressed and polite, who loved to dance.

To Ru’Yi, they were just mom and dad.

“One more thing...” Chu Zihang looked at his daughter, his expression serious.

“Yes, Dad?”

“If you ever meet a boy...” His eyes seem to glow behind the dark glasses. “I need you to tell me right away.”

“Zihang!” Meixiu protested. “Can you not! She’s old enough to make her own decisions!”

“It’s not that I want to influence your decisions... I just want to know about him. What’s his name? Where is he from! I want to know everything about this boy!” Zihang looked into her eyes with a sense of near desperation.

Ru’Yi gave a nervous laugh. “Don’t worry, Dad, I don’t think boys will be a big issue...”

Ru’Yi sighed to herself. Her father and mother were quite famous. Even while they toured the campus, most of the boys took on a ‘look and don’t touch’ posture, practically saluting in reverence to her father and not even looking at her. Who wants to date Chu Zihang’s daughter?

“Anyway, I’ll call you when I get there!”

The cab blew the horn, signaling his arrival. She gave her parents one last wave before heading away.

She got into the cab and looked up at the driver. “Subway station please!”

She put in her earbuds and started listening to her favorite song. She looked out the window. Her parents were waving her good bye. They kept waving.

She smiled, chest filling with excitement, she started to bounce and sing, giving finger guns to people out on the street. For the first half of her life, she lived isolated in Thailand. Her family lived far away because they wanted to get away from the life they had before, full of conflict and violence. Her father and mother only told her a little about how her life began, in chaos, filled with evil people who pursued them.

But things were different now. The evil was vanquished and the people running the school were their friends. They could finally live in peace. 

But once Ru’Yi turned 14, they realized that living on an isolated island wasn’t good for her so they returned to the city.

Ru’Yi loved it. She could go shopping every day, there was a neighborhood of kids her age instead of just a few. And there were burritos and sushi and ramen! So much good food! She never wanted to go back to living on an island again.

The cab stopped across from the entrance to the station and she paid the fare and got out, still humming to herself. She waited for the light to turn and stepped off the curb to cross.

The sudden sound of screeching tires made her turn and look. Her vision was full of the radiator and bright headlights of a truck. It was too late to get out of the way. The driver looked into her eyes and realized what was about to happen.

Ru’Yi closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.

But the impact never came. She opened her eyes and she was off her feet, in the embrace of a stranger.

She looked up into a pair of brown eyes who looked down at her.

 “Oh my gosh! That was close! Thank you so much!” She gasped.

“No need to thank me.” His voice was deep. He was taller, with brown hair and was wearing a camel colored coat. “Are you alright?”

“Yes... thanks to you.” 

He set her down safely on the sidewalk and quickly started to walk away.

“Wait! What’s your name!” She ran after him as he descended the stairs to the subway. When she reached the stairs, he was gone.

She kept looking for him, scanning her fare card and wandering the platform. But he was nowhere to be found.

She had to catch her train.

She turned and made her way back to the platform to wait. She sat down on the bench, feeling her heart rate return to normal. She could have died! He must have been really fast to get her out of the way of the truck. She had frozen like a... well... like a deer in the headlights!

She heard the squeal of a train’s brakes. A short train, sleek like a bullet and displaying the World Tree symbol of Cassell pulled into the station in front of her. A man in a corduroy green uniform and formal top hat stepped out and bowed deeply. “Miss Chu. Your train has arrived.”

“My train?”

“Yes. You have been ruled a preliminary S-Rank hybrid. Therefore, the S-rank train has come to pick you up.” 

She looked at it. It looked to only have two cars, the engine and the passenger car. People were staring at her, wondering who she had to be to get her own train.

Ru’Yi stood up, stunned. She carried herself and her luggage, following the man in the uniform. She stepped into plush surroundings. The train was wood paneled on the interior, full of fresh flowers and potpourri. There was even a bottle of wine waiting for her in the cooler.

She sat down in the red velvet seat, her mind still reeling from her close call and the mysterious man who saved her.

“Can I get you anything else?” The man asked.

“Oh... are there any other hybrids coming today?” She asked.

“Oh, quite a few! But you’re the only S among them.” He gave her a kind smile.

She nodded. “Okay...”

The train took off silently increasing to incredible speed out of  the station. They disappeared into the tunnel, blazing down the usual route all trains took until it split off into its own track, aiming directly for a dense forest specially planted as cover for the route to Cassel College.

The trees were a blur of brown, black and green. She gathered her bags to herself. Her dad and mom had taken this same route and now she was going too. Like generations of Hybrids before her, Ru’Yi would be taking her own journey.

She burst into blinding light and the campus came into view, stately buildings up an artificial hillside split by canals and bridges. She was finally here!

The train squealed to a halt and the doors slid open.

Ru’Yi stood in confusion as hundreds of students milled everywhere, looking down at applications and up at signs pointing them where to go.

She patted her pockets. Right, she would need her application! She pulled the white sheet of paper out. “Please report to professor Miranis in room AB5 of the Hall of Valor...” She said to herself. She turned to walk and look for a sign for the sign of the Hall of Valor. 

She immediately collided with someone, falling backwards.

“Ah! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” came a distraught voice.

Ru’Yi gathered herself up, “It’s okay! Are you okay?” 

The dark haired young man was patting around the ground. His sunglasses were resting nearby him. She quickly gathered them up before someone could step on them.

“Here. Here you are.” She handed them to him. 

He reached out blindly. His eyes were a gorgeous violet hue that Ru’Yi had never seen before, the color of lavender. But they stared blankly into the distance.

He was blind.

She quickly got him to his feet. “Are you looking for Valor Hall?” She asked him.

“Yes. Actually. Can you help me find it?” He laughed a bit nervous. “Sorry for the trouble.”

“Not at all.” She put the glasses in his hand. 

“Someone said it was this way.” 

She looked in the direction he was facing and saw the sign.  “They were right. Are you here by yourself? Shouldn’t someone be with you?” She took his elbow and walked slowly but steadily.

He stammered, panting with exertion. “Well... I mean, yes but... like... it wouldn’t matter really. I have to get used to being blind on my own. It’s... kind of a long story, but ... my Soul Skill allows me to see. Without it, I can’t. They don’t let you use Soul Skills here so.. it’s kinda hopeless.”

“Wait... you could see before you got here?”

“Yes. Well... yes...” He frowned a bit. “I knew my vision would be affected but not this much. “

“Then you can’t read braille or anything? How are you going to study?”

“Books on tape?”

“Oh my goodness.” She put her hand on her face.

“My name’s Tom by the way. Thomas Allman. And you?”

“Chu... Chu Ru’yi.”

“Chu...” He suddenly stopped. “Wait. Chu Ru’Yi? Is your dad Chu Zihang?” His eyes widened.

“Yes...” Ru’Yi sighed. 

“Oh wow! I... I’m so sorry I ran into you but... I’m so happy I ran into you! I’m a big fan!” An excited grin wreathed his face. “I’ve admired him ever since I was little. The unquenchable Golden Pupils!”

Yes, the golden light never left her father’s eyes. It was more of a burden than an asset though. Many people found his eyes terrifying, and for hybrids especially, those eyes had the effect of recalling to their minds the sacred words of the Dark King, Imperium, which gave people the urge to kneel before him. It was an unsettling feeling. Chu Zihang wore sunglasses and contacts to prevent people from feeling discomfort around him.

“See I kind of have the same problem.” Thomas explained.

“What do you mean? Your eyes aren’t yellow.”

“They are when I use my Soul Skill and I use my Soul Skill to see!” He explained.

“Oh... that’s right!”

“I have to wear contacts and sunglasses and things but... the contacts dry my eyes out so bad! Can you ask your dad what he wears? … Which brand?”

“Sure, I can do that.”

He started to blush bright red. “I still can’t believe I met you on my first day. I’m really super lucky!”

Ru’Yi gave a little laugh, unsure of what to say.

[kpopfanfictrash]

Three Certainties

Pairing: You / Jinyoung

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 3,577

Summary: “in awe, the first time you realised it” + time traveler!AU

There are only a few things you’re certain of being true in this life.

The first, is never to ride the subway past 10:00 PM.

The second, is that everything in life can be explained through science and reason.

And third – this one most important of all – is that falling in love is the absolute worst kind of injury one can self-inflict and (more often than not), it’s entirely unreal.

These are the three, simple certainties you live your life by. At least; until the events of your twenty-fourth birthday, on which everything changes. To put things bluntly, your twenty-fourth birthday sucks. From the minute you roll out of bed to the moment midnight passes, it seems the universe has conspired to send a giant, ‘fuck you,’ your way.

First, there’s the fact that you wake up late. Scrambling madly through your halls and your bathroom, you struggle to get ready to make it to work on time. Then, as you walk up the stairs, you trip – falling and skinning your knee on the pavement. You spill hot coffee during lunch and the store across the street is out of your size pants and just in general, work is crap – such, total crap! – which means you don’t end up leaving the office until after 10:00 PM.

Stepping onto the street, you heave a sigh of relief. The breeze is quiet, warm in the mildness of summer and when you peer down the sidewalk, you see there’s no cabs to be found. Exhaling loudly, you press a hand to your forehead and glance down at your phone. This time of night, it will take at least ten minutes to get an Uber – which means you might as well head for the subway, but there’s the existence of your certainty. Certainty number one, which advises against public transportation this late an hour.

This is due to a horrific past incident where a guy nearly peed on you within the confines of car # 7 – it led to a ban of the subway but now, faced with the day you’ve just had, you just want to be at home under the covers. Heaving another sigh, you slip on your headphones and begin the short trudge to the station.

Descending the steps, fluorescent lights flicker above you, the draftiness of the subway soon replacing the humidity of outside. Wrapping your cardigan tightly, you step onto the platform and peer down the tracks. Two minutes until the next train, the sign says above and you frown, stepping away from the rails. When you first moved to the city, your mom sent you this article about how a crazy man was sneaking up behind pedestrians to push them onto the train tracks. The idea terrified you, of course, and ever since, you’ve been painfully aware of the possibility.

In fact, it’s hard to think of anything else – despite the rest of the platform being mostly empty, just you and this lone guy smoking a cigarette down at the end. Squinting suspiciously in his direction, you’re certain this isn’t allowed but there’s no one to stop him – and you certainly aren’t. Facing forward, you chew on the inside of your lip and try to distract yourself.

Fingers tapping your thigh, headphones blasting music, this is how you’re standing when Jinyoung first comes into your life. He appears out of nowhere, popped into being like whack-a-mole and while you stare, open-mouthed, he teeters at the edge of the platform. Arms flailing, his foot nearly slips in his haste to move away and you react purely on instinct, jumping forward to reach him.

When your hand finds his wrist, you tug – hard – away from the rails. In the tunnel before you, an express train whizzes past and the man’s face turns a rather sickly shade of green, realizing what could’ve just happened. You also stare at the tracks, shaken until your gaze returns to the man – and you shriek, realizing what he’s wearing.

Or rather, what he’s not wearing.

“Clothes!” you blurt, pointing (rather unnecessarily) at his crotch. “You’re – you aren’t… where are your clothes?!”

Wincing, the man doesn’t look – instead he laces his hands gently, covering up his most private parts. “Ah, yes – right.” He nods, cheeks a faint shade of pink. “This is rather inconvenient. You wouldn’t,” the man pauses, glancing at the gym bag you carry, “happen to have an extra pair of pants, or something?”

Opening your mouth, you’re about to reply no, when you stop. You do have a spare set of pants. Before you left work, you changed into the coffee pants from earlier which means you have one, much-too-big set of pants in your bag. Frowning suspiciously at the unlikeliness of these events, you eye the man quickly and think. It would be strange, for him to wear women’s clothing but then, you suppose it’s better than being naked.

As the rest of your shock disappears, you realize what you just saw.

“Where did you… where did you come from?” you ask, whirling to look at the stairs. Though you squint, you see no other entrance – which makes it impossible, how this man appeared out of nowhere. If he came from the stairs, you would have seen him walk past but you didn’t. “How did you get here?” you repeat, spinning around. “Also, why are you naked?!”

The man’s eyebrows furrow. He’s handsome, you see, putting aside the small fact that he’s crazy. His brow is high, full lips parted slightly and he has the kind of eyes which seem bottomless and real. His lips are scowling now though, as if frustrated by your response.

“I promise I’ll explain,” he insists, shifting to conceal his balls further. “I swear! It’s just,” he falters, glancing around and you see the other man staring, cigarette dangling between the tips of his fingers. “I really would like to wear pants when I explain.”

You pause, seconds ticking by until at last, you nod, unzipping the side of your bag.

“Thank you,” he exhales, lowering his head in a bow.

That’s when you notice the cut on the side of his neck. “You’re bleeding,” you blink, fingers freezing in place.

His head jerks back up. “Pants, woman!” he insists, sounding increasingly desperate. “Please, the pants!”

Rolling your eyes, you continue unzipping. “Here,” you scowl, thrusting them forward. “Put on my pants and then – I don’t know. Buy me a drink, I feel like I need one.”

The man nods, pushing a leg into your baggy bottoms – at least, they were baggy on you. On him, they stretch rather tight across his thighs and you force yourself to look down, swallowing. This man is crazy, meaning it’s entirely inappropriate to think that he’s hot. When he’s finished, the man taps you on your shoulder and you turn, holding your purse tight to your chest.

Noticing this, the guy arches a brow.

You shrug, beginning to walk towards the exit. “Listen,” you explain, stepping on the escalator. “You seem fucking crazy. I’m intrigued enough to listen, but not to trust you anywhere near my purse.”

A half-laugh escapes, seeming surprised. “Touché,” he murmurs, stepping onto the escalator behind you.

At the top, you turn to survey him. “Ah,” you exhale, scanning his frame. Attempting to be objective, you consider what you would think were you the owner of a bar and this man walked in, dressed only in women’s sweatpants. Likely, you would kick the both of you out. Flipping over your keys in your hand, you make an abrupt decision. 

“Right,” you nod, spotting the yellow hull of a cab (where were they earlier?) and waving a hand. “Where’s your apartment? You can change, get your wallet and then buy me a drink. Assuming,” you pause, fixing him with a stare, “you’re not homeless?”

The guy rolls his eyes, as the cab stops before you. “I have a place,” he grumbles, opening the door. “480 Peach Street,” he instructs the driver, before looking at you. Dark hair falls into his gaze and he seems oddly serious. “Although… thank you. I appreciate this more than I can say.”

“Sure.” Crossing to the other side, your stomach flips considering what in the hell you’re doing. Typically, you’re a by-the-numbers kind of person. The normal extent of courtesy for this man would have been giving him the sweatpants. This, though – to leave with him, get in a cab to his place and wait around for what he has to say… it’s all very unusual, especially for you.

Slipping into the backseat, you glance over. There’s something about him you find curious, a mystery you can’t understand and the scientist in you – that raging, asshole-ish force to be reckoned with – can’t help but want to know what. You have no logical explanation for how he appeared from thin air – a fact which violates the second of your certainties. This man should explain that.

Feeling the weight of your gaze, the man turns. “I’m Jinyoung,” he offers. His hands lie flat on his knees, absently scrunching the material of your pants. “I’m very sorry about tonight.”

For some reason, you feel yourself smile. “It’s okay,” you nod, facing forward. “I’m Y/N.”

The rest of the car ride is spent in silence because each question you want to ask, Jinyoung requires more clothing to answer. He keeps glancing out the window, staring at the skyscrapers above and you wonder what he’s looking for when he turns to face you.

“I’m sorry,” he exhales, seeming frustrated. “What’s today’s date?”

Blinking, you feel yourself thrown. Curiouser and curiouser. “May 8th,” you respond, lifting a brow. “Why?”

“Oh,” Jinyoung nods, settling back. “Okay, that’s good.”

He doesn’t explain more than that though, and it takes until you reach a plain, brick apartment building before the cab slows to a stop. Realizing Jinyoung doesn’t have his wallet, you lean up to pay. He sighs, thanking again and you wave him off. When he disappears to change, you decide to wait on the curb; shifting your weight side to side, you tell yourself if he’s not out in ten minutes, you’ll leave.

It only takes five, before the door re-opens and he’s stepping outside. Jinyoung finishes buttoning his shirt, smoothing hair away from his face and your jaw drops, because while he was beautiful without clothes, it seems he’s one of those rare people who can pull off anything. Catching your stare, his gaze brightens considerably.

“You stayed,” Jinyoung breathes, regaining his senses and hurrying over. “I wasn’t sure that you would.”

“Well.” Trying to conceal how fast your heart is beating, you shrug. “I came all the way uptown for a drink. Why leave without one?”

Smiling, Jinyoung pats the front pocket of his jacket. “A drink it is,” he nods, leading the way.

You settle in at a table, order two glasses of wine and listen, slack-jawed, while Jinyoung proceeds to dissolve the next of your certainties. He’s a time-traveler, he explains. The cut on his neck came from a mobster during the 1920’s, who thought he was trying to steal his wallet. He was, Jinyoung allows – but just because he was naked.

While he’s saying this, you freeze, water held halfway to your lips. Jinyoung continues to talk, explaining much more than is necessary. Time travel is a tricky business, it’s never quite precise – which means Jinyoung can never be certain if he’s reached the right time period or not. Leaving the current timeline, only the molecules in his body travel with, making it rather convenient to find clothing and money. He can travel to any time, but only those which have occurred and only locations he’s visited.

Listening to this, your thoughts start to spin and – grabbing your wine – you take a large, hasty gulp. He’s pulling your leg, that must be it. No sane person could believe in time travel, no logical reason exists to explain it and yet – you saw him appear. You saw Jinyoung pop straight onto being on the platform. One second you stared at blank space, the next moment he was there and if time travel doesn’t exist – how else to explain?

Jinyoung falls silent, realizing you haven’t responded. “I,” he exhales, pushing a hand into his hair. “I’m sorry, I’m babbling. It’s just that I’ve told so few people – and never a stranger, never like this.”

“Then,” you blink at him, frowning. There are a million questions rushing through your brain, each more important than the one you pick out. “Why me?”

He stares as well, the question echoed in his eyes. “I don’t know,” he responds softly. “Why did you come with me in the cab? Why were you standing there in the subway, tonight?”

These are all excellent questions. Many facts aligned to bring you together and yet, none are typical, all are unusual. You never ride the subway this late. You never believe in things this fantastical. And yet.

Sliding your fingers closer on the table, you meet Jinyoung’s gaze with your own. “I don’t believe in magic,” you tell him.

The corner of his mouth lifts. “I don’t think I’m magical.”

“Good.” You nod. “I also don’t believe in love.”

At this, Jinyoung seems confused. “And how is that related to magic?”

“Is it not?”

“Not to me,” he responds, gaze curious. “To me, love is as natural and simple as breathing.”

“Hm,” you return, settling back in your seat. “We can agree to disagree, then.”

He smiles.

That night isn’t the last time you see him. At first, you tell yourself you’re merely curious – you just want to catch him in the act to disprove him. Eventually though, he ends up disproving you. You see him disappear – several times –but each time it proves his certainty, not yours. Jinyoung is a time-traveler, it seems, and you are his friend.

Even this though, isn’t entirely certain.

One night, Jinyoung shows up at your place unannounced, knocking loud on your door to interrupt you and your date on the couch. It’s the first time you’ve been on a date in a month – a blind one, set up by a co-worker and despite inviting the man upstairs for coffee, despite currently kissing him, it just feels empty. His hands are mechanical, stroking over you strangely and you frown into his mouth, unsure what is missing.

Jinyoung’s knock is the perfect interruption and springing up from the couch, you wipe the back of your mouth with one hand. Apologizing quickly, you turn away to fairly sprint towards the entryway. “Hello?” you gasp, throwing open the door – only to see Jinyoung, standing butt-naked on your doorstep.

“Hey,” he waves.

“Shit!” you yelp, moving to cover but it’s too late – your date gasps from the couch.

“Is that,” he blinks, pushing himself upwards. “Are you – what in the hell is going on? Are you already dating someone, Y/N?”

Jinyoung’s expression turns stormy, realizing you have company and that’s when you turn to block him hastily from view. “I – uh, sorry,” you stammer, trying to think. “No, I’m not dating anyone. This is just my friend, um, Jinyoung and he –”

“Okay, no,” your blind date grumbles, already grabbing his coat from the table. “I’m not down for a threesome, okay? God,” he exhales, scooting past you into the hall. “It’s always the ones who seem normal, isn’t it?”

Watching him leave, your jaw drops – he thinks you’re a freak – until you realize Jinyoung is still standing there, awkwardly clearing his throat. 

“Uh, can I come in?”

Coming to your senses, you punch him hard in the arm. “Jinyoung!” you complain, turning – you leave the door open behind you though, so he can cross over the threshold.

It’s been a long time, since Jinyoung started leaving his things at your place – a change of clothing here, supplies to clean up there, that kind of thing. It makes things easier for him because, when Jinyoung pops into being, now he has two safe houses to go to –  right now, though, this fact leaves you scowling due to the inconvenience. Uncorking the bottle of wine left untouched on your counter, you roughly pour red liquid into a glass.

When you look up, Jinyoung is clothed – this, you expected. What you didn’t expect is his scowl. Walking briskly towards you, Jinyoung pulls out a chair and sits, crossing both arms. His expression remains fiercely stormy.

Not understanding why, you lift the wine to your lips. “What’s with you?” you declare, arching a brow. “Why are you upset?”

“Nothing,” comes his answer, stubbornly sullen. “I’m not.”

Finishing the sip, you lower your glass to hold it aloft in one hand. “Okay,” you shrug. “Then allow me to explain why I’m currently upset.”

Jinyoung looks up at you, lips parted, and you try to push away the thoughts of him kissing you. It’s been a long time since those thoughts began. Thoughts of him kissing you, holding you, having him do… other things, with those lips. Forcing your gaze upwards, you look Jinyoung in the eyes.

“I was on a date,” you accuse, pointing a finger. “A very nice date, with a very nice guy and you scared him away by showing up naked! How do I explain that?”

“Tell him I’m your boyfriend,” Jinyoung shrugs, his words coming out in a rush.

Somewhat thrown by his suggestion, you blink. The air between you feels taut, pulled by something neither will say. “I – but… what? That doesn’t solve the problem. The guy would still leave.”

“I know,” Jinyoung demands, rising from your chair. His hands are tight at his sides, gaze stark and concerned. “I want them to leave – I don’t want you sitting on that couch, kissing another guy, Y/N.”

“Another,” you repeat, still caught by his expression. You’ve never seen Jinyoung so tortured, so helpless. “You don’t want me to kiss another guy?”

“Yes,” he exhales, crossing the kitchen. Jinyoung takes the glass from your hand, setting this down. “I don’t want you to kiss anyone,” he explains, “but me.”

Before you can react to this extraordinary statement, before you can utter a word, Jinyoung slides both his hands into your hair and kisses you. His lips leave you helpless, trembling and weak – things you loathe when connected to yourself but can’t help but feel, in relation to him. Unbidden, your arms rise to wrap around his neck. Jinyoung’s free hand finds the counter, pressing you backwards and then he’s in between your thighs, leaving you gasping when his lips curve your neck.

“Oh,” you moan, a broken exclamation.

Jinyoung sighs in response, touching you everywhere he can while his lips return to your mouth. “Oh,” he agrees, his breath hot and enticing.

And then he disappears.

Jinyoung insists later it was an accident, he momentarily lost control and just – left. This doesn’t keep you from teasing him, mercilessly for weeks. Whenever you start to kiss, you pause to ask him if this time he’ll concede to stay until first base. Jinyoung inevitably scowls, petulant as ever and you just grin in response, kisses increasingly pliant until you coax him back to your mouth.

It’s after four months, everything changes again.

You’re lying in bed, resting your head on his stomach while Jinyoung reads his book and plays with the strands of your hair. He flips a page with his teeth, not wanting to let go and you laugh at this, flipping over to see him. Jinyoung smiles, rewarding you with your favorite expression – a mess of crinkled eye whiskers and laugh lines.

“Hi,” you whisper.

“Hey.”

Tracing a line over his hip, you consider what to say next. This keeps happening to you, lately. You look at Jinyoung and want to say more but have no idea what, exactly. The words continue to disappear and it’s a source of endless frustration to you.

Jinyoung’s hand slips under your chin, tilting you upwards. “You know I love you, right?” he says quietly, while your lips part in shock.

He loves you. Jinyoung loves you and suddenly, one certainty is erased, and another begins. The third certainty, the one you’ve clung to since your last, horrible relationship – it no longer is real. Love is real, love exists and you – you love Jinyoung, as well.

“I love you, too,” you whisper, eyes shining – which is annoying. Your eyes never shine.

Jinyoung seems shocked by your admission, staring until, regaining his senses, he pulls you into his lap. “You love me,” he repeats, molding his mouth to yours.

You nod, trying and failing to remove his t-shirt. “Yes,” you agree, bumping noses to giggle. “Yes, I love you.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in that,” Jinyoung teases, hands just as frantic on you.

“Well,” you pause, looking at him. Jinyoung’s lashes are dark, gaze heated and raw – you’re aware that, seeing him, there’s never been a more beautiful picture. “I didn’t believe in magic, either – and now I’m in love with a time-traveler.”

Then the kissing resumes, and you realize everything is uncertain once more.

You also find you don’t care.

[ ily drabble game ]

[olympusintelligence]

Part 3 Chapter 9 (Full)

26/11/2018 22:00 ( San Francisco Time)  San Francisco International Airport

“Welcome to San Francisco.”  

A female Filipino immigration officer welcomed Kyle with a smile, who had queued for a hour and half at the port of entry.

His clear-cut appearance and unyielding eyes are rare to be found among the Asian men in the United States. They attracted her to stare at him for a bit longer. He finally crossed the border after she gave him back his passport.

Many dreamers from around the world hope to  build their startups or successful tech careers in Silicon Valley. Fortunately many international hackathons and startup conferences would be held in these months, which helped him create a credible story to get close to his target. At first he thought of notifying Christian that he had arrived in the country, but soon  he dropped this idea. It would be better to contact him when he found any substantial evidence.

After the tiring long-haul flight he really just hoped to get some rest at the hotel. He took d Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to Millbrae, so that he could get on board a Caltrain to Palo Alto. With just a thin jacket, he embraced cold winds during late night while waiting for the Caltrain. Transportation is inconvenient in California at night, so it ended up taking him four hours to reach the small hotel near Palo Alto train station. Transport to Palo Alto is truly a mess unless one has a private jet or a car. The accommodating hotel staff took note of his severe fatigue when he checked in, so he briskly led him to his room. He fell asleep after he was in.

His sleep last for twelve hours. He is not a deep sleeper, but perhaps due to the accumulated stress and fatigue, he enjoyed a long slumber.  

The hotel does not serve lunch, so after freshening himself up, he just headed outside to buy a burger. He was not in the mood to walk along the University Avenue or admire the chic downtown view. He just hoped to return to the hotel to get his props ready. VidChat Hackathon would start on the next day. He did not plan to stay at the hotel for one more day as the site was in East Palo Alto and participants could enjoy free accommodation during the hackathon period. 

He met three aspiring tech talents who would also take part in the same hackathon, and they had rented a car, so the next morning he had a free ride to the hotel venue, otherwise he may have had to leave the hotel one day much earlier. These three dreamers were computer science undergrads from Russia, and they considered Palo Alto a place that gathers the geniuses, geeks and big shots in technology. There is a higher chance to get spotted in a hackathon by senior management of large tech corporations, which means they might be able to stay in the US to develop their careers. Even though they may not have any progress in Vid’s hackathon, they would still join hackathons in downtown San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Clara. To keep his motives secret, he only mentioned to them that he just wished to learn more about Silicon Valley’s current development and he was planning to move to California to start a business. Those students just thought he might be a rich investor based on his Asian appearance, so they all showed interest in his potential startup tale.

Students are really gullible, he thought. Certainly he would not create a startup in California. His main objectives are to gather intelligence about the previous bombing in Jakarta and Helen’s location from Andrew and investigate his possible involvement  in the terrorist attack, but this tech tycoon must be a real hard nut to crack.

About an hour later, they arrived at a five-star luxury hotel. As Vid’s offices could not accommodate hundreds of participants like the other tech giants did, it rented a large hotel instead, and it generously arranged accommodation for most participants who struggled with it, but the staff of the hotel and Vid had to be busy with the logistics involved.

Kyle did not mingle with the three students any longer. After signing up at the registration counter, he entered the restaurant to enjoy a complimentary buffet breakfast. At the same time, he used his MacBook and iPad to organize the information he had gathered regarding the target. Outsiders may only get the impression that he was just preparing for the hackathon, as other competitors were preoccupied with checking their devices as well.

Andrew Hector and a few directors’ unexpectedly arrived at the same restaurant. It caused an uproar among the participants, so he had to shut down his devices to avoid drawing anyone’s attention to him. Similar to most tech tycoons in Silicon Valley, Andrew seemed casual, friendly and easygoing. Having had a clear undercut styled haircut, he just wore a long-sleeved V-neck white tee, jeans and a pair of Nike sneakers. The directors’ dress style was mainly smart casual. They parted with Andrew and went to have their own breakfast first, while Andrew mingled with the participants with a smiley face under the protection of two bodyguards and his assistant. Some participants requested taking selfies with him and he welcomed it.

This time he would not only attract the eyeballs of his fans and the press. The tech world would soon go abuzz about his company’s new product, the sharp black V10 Spectacles he was currently wearing. They were not only waterproof, but capable of shooting longer videos and livestreaming what the wearer saw onto VidChat. The large screens at the scene were showing a high-resolution footage of what he was seeing, and it was at the same time being livestreamed to his own fans on his official account.  

He may be a secretive introvert, but it did not mean he did not know how to pitch and sell his product. Some reporters anticipating  the news immediately captured the scene. He was the target of their cameras’ limelights. He did answer some of their questions, but an assistant intervened and asked them to interview him instead after the opening of the hackathon. Then they were directed to the press seats.

Just right after the reporters left him, he noticed Kyle. ‘I hope you like my new Spectacles. A friend of mine has just come to visit me. See you again at the opening,’ he casually said goodbye to his fans and logged out. He then took away his Spectacles and made sure both his smartphone and the spectacles were offline. He came to sit opposite Kyle at his table without regard of the other people turning their eyes to them. ‘Kyle, can’t believe you’re here. How’s it going?’ he just greeted him warmly, as though he saw him as a very good friend. 

Lucky me. I was quick enough. Otherwise all people on the spot know I’m here to dig up his dirt. He secretly sighed with relief. As his target had just come into his way, he seized this valuable chance to get into contact with him. ‘I’m doing ok. I’ve just quit my job, and the development in my hometown’s tech scene is too slow, so I am seeking opportunities overseas. That’s why I’m here.’

‘That sounds great. It’s better to leave the sad place for a while, isn’t it?’ Andrew’s dark blue eyes are as tranquil as the quiet ocean, and they seem to wield the power to soothe people’s worries. His voice was quite captivating. ‘As this is your first time to come to Silicon Valley, I should invite you to my home for a meal.’

‘I’m afraid this might disturb you. Would it be better to meet at a restaurant near your office?’

‘Sorry to tell you that it might not be a good idea. We’ve moved most of our offices to Venice. That’s where Zap’s headquarters is. It’s good to be its neighbour and enjoy its prettier seaview.’ The cutthroat competition between VidChat and Zapchat was too well-known in the  global tech scene. They struggled hard to persuade companies to place social ads and entertainment content on their platforms. Competing head-to-head for speed in updates on camera functions, their apps’ interface, camera filters, AR effects to attract users and production of the latest VR goggles and other compatible hardware is just their usual business. Not long after Zap Inc.’s IPO, Vid rose as if out of nowhere. The two companies’ founders were below thirty, and they shared bitter rivalry. When Andrew finally moved to Venice, sparks of enmity would surely erupt.  ‘Palo Alto’s office is now just the place to organize hackathons here. I ‘ll not work there. After the opening I’ll first return to Venice.’

Venice…..This means LA? If his Palo Alto office is only a place for running their hackathons, then why was it the origin of the virus? Is he trying me to bar me from investigating it there?

Kyle was a bit disappointed with this answer, but as the target was right in front of him, he did not wish to give up. And it seemed God listened to him.  ‘But well, I’ll still be here when the hackathon ends. That means we’ll have more time to meet.’ Andrew seemed quite enthusiastic about more contact with Kyle. ‘How about coming over to my house for lunch? Is 12pm on November 30 ok with you? I ‘ll still have to stay in Palo Alto to pack my stuff before moving to Venice, so it’s still ok for me to have a lunch with you and take you around Palo Alto.’

‘It’s very nice of you. Thank you.’  Kyle decided to wait and observe as Andrew appeared to welcome his visit. If he had any intelligence and was even a member of Olympus, he may give away some leads.

‘Andrew, sorry to interrupt.  The time for the opening speech will come soon. You still haven’t had anything, ’ Andrew’s assistant had been waiting for them for some time and he finally intervened.

‘Sorry, I have to go. I hope you’ll enjoy the hackathon.’ Before leaving both men shared their contact details  and VidChat’s accounts.

Kyle had a hard time as the hackathon progressed, as it requires participants to innovate within a very short time frame. The organizer only revealed the hackathon’s theme during the opening speech: new application of VR/AR. Kyle was paired with three steadfast Indian postgraduates who apparently knew nothing about fatigue. And they decided to create an AR exchange platform based on VidChat’s interface. This really just tested Kyle’s limited coding and hardware engineering knowledge and his ability to stay awake. They just worked on this project non-stop. When the hackathon finally ended, they celebrated and bade farewell to each other at a nearby pub. Even though he disliked alcohol, he still sipped two glasses of tequila before returning to his suite.

He had a shower and got dressed after a sound sleep. After having another big breakfast, he took a cab to Andrew’s home on Palo Alto Hills.

This meeting won’t be that simple. He shouldn’t have been so passionate about inviting a mere acquaintance to his home.

@writing-and-snark @requiemesque @ill-write-when-im-dead @adie-dee @thingswaitingtobewritten

[satireknight]

TMNT S02E13 - Return of the Technodrome

It’s been a whole season - not a long one, but a season - since the Technodrome went sailing into Dimension X, and Shredder had to spend several episodes trying desperately to impress Krang into helping him.

So whatcha say that giant white ball cause more trouble?

It’s a slow day at Channel 6, which basically means that there hasn’t been a world-threatening crisis in the past six hours, and Burne Thompson is probably threatening to fire everything in the building, including his potted plant. You know, the staff at this building must have pure Valium running through their veins, or they’d constantly be on the verge of nervous collapse.

Burne demands that April go out and “make” news, whatever that means. Should she somehow produce a natural disaster? Commit a crime?

Irma reeeeeaaally wants to see the Turtles again, implicitly because they’re male and didn’t run at the sight of her. April tries to brush her off despite Irma having actually collaborated with them in the last episode. “Irma, the Turtles are NOT the most exciting thing in my life!” Yes, they are. 

Meanwhile, Splinter is going off on a retreat, and Donatello is wearing pink for some reason.

April pops in to ask if there’s anything interesting happening that she can exploit, and she’s so desperate that she even asks if Splinter leaving is something newsworthy.

Meanwhile, Krang has finally had enough of Shredder’s screwups, and is preparing to invade Earth. Wait, why does he want to invade Earth? I thought his priority at the end of last season was to conquer Dimension X, and it was SHREDDER who wanted to conquer Earth. Did Krang already do that, and now he wants a fresh challenge?

He sends Shredder a gadget intended to direct Niagara Falls’ energy towards opening a dimensional portal. And despite whining for one more chance to kill the Turtles a few minutes ago, Shredder is now ecstatic about the Technodrome’s return.

Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady all arrive at the power station, and the portal starts opening in the sky.

Meanwhile, the Turtles say goodbye to Master Splinter for the next few days, and it’s hard not to notice something odd about Donatello.

Yep, for most of this episode he doesn’t have his wristbands on. No reason is ever given, and it’s more consistent than just an occasional animation error; it’s almost all the time. So we should just assume that he’s shamelessly flaunting his naked wrists at us.

But just as they’re about to head home, two things happen: April calls, and Leonardo gains fifty pounds in his gut.

They immediately deduce that the massive power outage in New York is actually the work of Shredder... which really doesn’t take much effort, since he is the main villain of the series. 

The Technodrome is rapidly charging up, and Krang decides to be uncharacteristically nice and send Shredder some Foot Soldiers and Rock Soldiers. Did someone slip him some antidepressants?

Meanwhile, Donatello apparently hacks into Shredder’s communicator at long-distance with one little knob. If you need proof of technical genius, this is it. Also, no wristbands.

And despite saying he can’t make out the transmission, he manages to hear EVERYTHING they say. They charge out of there on the Turtle Blimp, and Leonardo argues that they shouldn’t disturb Splinter because he’s been training them for this sort of crisis. True, but considering the importance of what’s going on, methinks he wouldn’t mind THAT much.

And it’s all moot anyway, as Splinter senses the whole mess and sets out to investigate.

And since the Turtles use the stealthiest of means to sneak in - a blimp with their name on it - Bebop spots them and shoots down the glider. 

They land right near the falls and are about to go over when Donatello uses a remote control function to lower the blimp towards them.

They manage to grab the one rope dangling from it, and be deposited on the shore. Bebop and the Foot Soldiers are completely missing from the shore now, which is a little weird. But that’s so Splinter can pop out of nowhere and greet them, and point out the giant glowy portal in mid-air.

Donatello comes up with a plan to cut off the power from the river/falls, and April’s idea for distracting the rock/Foot soldiers is... the sexy lady gambit. I’m not even kidding.

Even they look baffled by the idea. Donatello and Michelangelo attack and almost get squelched, but April manages to distract the easily redirected enemies. Again. For the second time in a minute.

Meanwhile, Leonardo and Raphael take on Rocksteady and yet more Foot/Rock Soldiers,

And this is Leonardo in full “you’re my bitch now” mode. Rocksteady throws him off and charges at the two Turtles, only to get a faceful of insta-sleep-stuff from Splinter.

And a layering issue too.

Donatello somehow manages to shut down the entire river... don’t ask me how... which cuts off the power to the portal. Krang has to compensate with extra power from his end, and the Technodrome heads right through towards Earth.

Krang immediately deploys more soldiers and vehicles to attack and surround the Turtles, who don’t have the faintest idea what they can do to save themselves.

Krang decides he wants to shoot the Turtles himself, using the Technodrome’s weaponry, and aims a giant laser at them... only for it to putter out without firing. While Krang swears that this has never happened before and he definitely doesn’t need pills, it turns out that he’s drained the Technodrome to the point where the weapons don’t work.

Also, that army there a few minutes ago? Gone now.

As they’re chased down by Bebop and Co, Leonardo (or Donatello, it’s hard to tell when the voices get switched) summons the blimp yet again.

And remember how earlier Bebop was able to bring down the glider with one shot? Now he and the Foot Soldiers can’t shoot the ENTIRE BLIMP with multiple shots.

“They’ve escaped again! Oh, this is getting VERY monotonous!” Shredder really calmed down fast there. Krang sucks in more of that sweet hydroelectric power, and reveals that he’s planning to create seismic events that will lead to New York being evacuated, then taking over it when everyone is gone and using it as a base of operations to conquer everything else.

He broadcasts a message commanding everyone to leave the city, and threatens a stronger quake that will level every building. As the Turtles rush out, Splinter says portentously, “And so begins the final battle.” Oh, you wish, Splinter. This show has six more seasons of battling these guys, plus a vacation side-season.

The Turtles track down the Technodrome once again, and we get an idea of just how huge it is.

Donatello blasts a hole in the Technodrome’s armor (after another I-swear-this-has-never-happened-before moment) and they head inside. Donatello is focused on stopping the earthquakes, but Splinter is busy having a Jedi moment.

Shredder also senses Splinter, and the two of them head off to fight. 

Donatello finds the control center and starts rewiring everything in it, while the other Turtles have to fight Rocksteady, Bebop and a bunch of Foot Soldiers.

“Hamato Yoshi is no longer. There is only Splinter.” I love consistent characterization. That wasn’t sarcasm; I love this moment. 

Back in the control room, the lights go out and there’s a bunch of fighting in the dark, and Donatello isn’t entirely sure he managed to fix the problem. Of course, he should have had plenty of time based on what happened to their foes.

Why did they tie up the Foot Soldiers? They’re robots. Just smash ‘em.

The city hasn’t been evacuated, so Krang tries to set off another earthquake. All that happens is that a giant laser blasts the bridge that Splinter and Shredder are standing on... 

... which forces Splinter to crawl up the platform vertically, and leaves Shredder hanging by his cape. That is the worst place for a laser EVER.

The Turtles have just escaped from the Technodrome when they realize that Splinter is still inside... how do they keep forgetting that?... just as their master comes springing out.

It turns out that Donatello’s rewiring has led to the Technodrome sinking right through the Earth’s crust, and Krang has no way to actually stop it.

I’m pretty sure landing in lava would melt it, but who cares? Krang is busy screaming that this is all Shredder’s fault (though I’m not sure how) as they float downstream on the magma.

VERDICT:

This is a nice solid episode with a heavy emphasis on action. It basically does what its title promises, returning the Technodrome while focusing on the Turtles’ efforts to stop it from conquering the Earth. So there’s a good failure/success balance for the Turtles here, with them encountering obstacles along the way that they aren’t entirely successful in dealing with - they don’t stop the Technodrome’s return, but they do manage to keep it from conquering the world.

So it’s a good episode for lots of fighting, lots of confrontations with Rocksteady and Bebop (who are actually pretty intimidating here), and Donatello doing techie stuff. I felt a little let down by the lack of a real fight between Splinter and Shredder at the end, but I guess there wasn’t really time for that.

It also establishes the new status quo for the series. After Shredder being on his own and the Technodrome and Krang being safely off in another dimension, now it’s immobilized down in the depths of the Earth, and Shredder has Krang in the same general area... you know, despite Krang not being very happy with him, but what else is new? From now on, these two are a package deal, wherever the Technodrome happens to be located (and it’s going to get complicated). 

One thing that was a little distracting was the animation flubs. I only touched on those, but certain scenes made the Turtles look either tubby or kinda childish. I’m still not sure why Donatello’s frequently-missing wristbands are an issue too, since this is rarely an issue in other episodes. Let’s just assume he accidentally splashed tomato sauce on them, and they’re in the wash.

Grade: B+

[ciathyzareposts]

The Journeyman Project – Meeting on the Planet

Written by Reiko

Agent 5 Journal #3: “That Elliot Sinclair really seems to have gone nuts! I’ve now neutralized two of his assassin robots and retrieved more evidence that Sinclair is the one behind them. Meeting the second robot face to face was rather alarming, but once we left the planet behind, it was just a matter of time before it was in my crosshairs. The Morimoto Colony is now safe again.” Last time, I successfully saved the life of speaker Enrique Castillo in the year 2310, thwarting one-third of the malevolent plan to derail the Cyrollan offer to join the alien Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings. I also uncovered a video that appears to point to Elliot Sinclair, the inventor of the time machine, as the one behind this effort. I have two more time periods to investigate. Let’s find out if the Morimoto Colony on Mars in 2185 is as dangerous a time as the other two. As I activate the time machine, I brace myself for another attack.

I guess it isn’t enough of an emergency yet.

To my relief, nothing happens. I materialize at the end of a long corridor facing an emergency exit. I can’t go through the exit, so I turn around and start moving down the corridor. Along the right side are three shuttle exits. I’m not allowed to open numbers two and three (“Shuttle launch not authorized”), and number one won’t open either because there’s no shuttle there.

Near the end of the corridor as I approach an intersection, I halt because I hear something coming. There’s nothing to do except watch as another robot travels along the crossing corridor, pauses in the middle, turns to look at me, then continues on its way. I’m pretty sure it saw me, but it doesn’t do anything. I cautiously step out into the intersection and look around, but the robot is nowhere to be seen now.

Cameras are also forbidden, according to the Japanese text.

Side note here: I already knew by the name “Morimoto” that the Japanese would be involved with this colony, but it’s made very clear by the way some of the signs are in both English and Japanese. The screenshot above is the only time I noticed any additional information in Japanese only, though. Later, all the signs are in English only.

Now I have three choices. I can see the end of the corridor ahead of me, so I go that way first. There’s a welcome sign for the colony on the door, but then I hear voices and get a warning that interacting with humans is forbidden, so I guess that’s the way into the main areas. (If I step forward, I’ll get caught by security again.)

A useless airlock.

I turn around and take one of the cross-corridors, the direction that the robot came from. A few steps down the corridor, I find with a number 4, the “Ore Processing Machine Room.” There’s also a small side area that seems to just be a lookout point for the colony, with a large window. The door opens on a small airlock, but when I step in, I get a warning: “Atmosphere in this environment is not breathable.” Well, that’s bound to be a problem. I can click the Pressurize button and it lights up, but it doesn’t seem to help. If I press Spin at this point, the airlock will turn around and I will die due to lack of oxygen.

The transport promised by the door.

Next I follow the robot’s path down the cross-corridor the other way and, after a short turn, find another door labeled “Maintenance Transport”. This one also has a 4 on it. Maybe the whole area is considered area 4. The other side of the door doesn’t have a 4, but does have the Japanese characters for “exit”. Through the door, I find what looks like a tiny train platform with a sort of open transport shuttle on the adjacent track.

Still no sign of the robot, but I suppose it could have taken the shuttle before me and sent it back. I step onto the shuttle. Nothing happens, but I look around and find some equipment in the back: wire cutters and a maintenance key. Hmm, those could be very useful. I grab the wire cutters first but almost miss the maintenance key as they are both near the bottom edge of the viewing screen.

Wire Cutters inventory item

Maintenance Key inventory item

I turn around and face the front of the transport. There’s some kind of poster (“Queen of Outer Space”) and a photograph of a boy taped up on one side of the narrow viewport. I wonder if that means that normally there’s some sort of maintenance worker that operates this vehicle. When I trigger the handle, the transport starts making its way through a maintenance tunnel to a second platform.

We meet again��

Cautiously, I step into a T-shaped maintenance room with two visible panels of interest. I am right to be wary, because as I step further into the room and turn to see the body of the T, I’m alarmed to see the robot at the end of the corridor. This time it doesn’t ignore me. It moves toward me and says, “Out of my way, human, or DIE.” Yeah, that isn’t threatening at all, right? I turn and continue further into the room to get out of its way.

I can’t turn around while it’s moving, but I can hear it clanking away. By the time I can move again, it’s gone. It seems to have taken the maintenance transport, so I’m going to have to find another way if I need to get back to the original area. There’s a button by the platform to summon it, but it says “Maintenance Transport Disabled”. I guess the robot didn’t realize I’d come after it, but now that I did once, it doesn’t want me following it again.

How quickly would this be a health hazard without a shield?

I turn my attention to the door that was behind where the robot was standing. It’s labeled “Shield Generator”. When I open it and step in, I get a warning: “Excessive levels of radiation detected. BioSupport Suit attempting to compensate.” I didn’t notice initially, but later I realized that the Shield BioChip is automatically enabled here. I’m not sure whether this sequence can even be done without it, or whether the game just imposes a time limit on you before you keel over from radiation. The BioChip screen says “Energy Conserved,” so maybe the suit’s energy just drains faster while you’re in the generator area, which would then impose a tighter time limit on the whole time period.

I check out the screen in front of me. It says: “Shield Generator Diagnostic/Repair, Platform 4” with a selectable link that says “Return to Last Position”. When I touch that, the whole platform moves forward to a central pillar labeled “Shield Generator Panel 5”.

Now the screen informs me: “Access panel cover must be unlocked before diagnostics can be initiated”. I have the choice to lower the diagnostic screen or retract the platform, so I lower the screen, and then I can see that there’s a sort of keyhole. I try the maintenance key that I found in the transport, and it fits perfectly.

Now the screen comes back up with an operational menu: “General Shield Evaluation”, “Measure Output Levels”, or “Run Diagnostics”. The first two just tell me this: “Atmospheric Energy Shield Generator is fully operational at this time.” But when I try to run diagnostics, the screen says “Insert Access Card” (which I don’t have) and then “Foreign Object Detected…”

That can’t be good.

The screen shifts to what looks almost like an x-ray image of the inside of the panel, highlighting the foreign device inside. Then it informs me: “Analysis reveals timed detonation device wired to explosive charge”. That must have been what the robot was up to back there. If it can trigger a bomb to destroy the atmospheric shield generator, then the whole colony will end up destroyed.

My options are to “Attempt Circuit Link to Detonator” or “Cancel”. You can guess which one I picked. The screen informs me: “Circuit link reveals multi-level disarm code. To deactivate, complete the electrosynaptic connections by filling them in with the appropriate color nodes.”

I win level 3 on the fifth guess.

I find my second mini-game here. It’s a simple variant on Mastermind (or Codebreaker, depending on how you know it). I get up to five or maybe six guesses per level and must guess the correct sequence of three colors. For each guess, it will tell me how many of the three are correct. In regular Mastermind, each slot can be any of the colors, even if that means the same color is used more than once, but here each color can be used only once.

There’s also a countdown timer on the far right side that counts down from seven minutes, so I have to be fairly quick. Level 1 offers only three colors, so it’s trivial to determine the correct sequence. Level 2 offers four colors, and I get it on the third guess. Level 3 offers five colors, so it’s a bit trickier, but I get it still with over four minutes on the timer. The screen assures me: “It is now safe to remove the explosive device”.

Access Card Bomb inventory item

I grab the device from the open panel, retract the platform, and get out of the shield generator room. I seem to have thwarted this part of the plan, but I haven’t fixed the temporal rip yet. There must be more to it than this. Maybe there’s another bomb somewhere else, or maybe I have to chase down the robot and stop it somewhere else? I’d better keep looking around.

The label on that station is really hard to read.

Oxygen Mask inventory item

On the far side of the maintenance room, I find something labeled “Air Mask Station”. There’s also some sort of tank in a rack below some tubes. When I drag the tank thing to the gap between the tubes, the tank fills with oxygen, and then I get an oxygen mask. Oh hey, I’ll be able to use the airlocks if I have this. And what do you know, there’s another airlock on the wall behind me, just like the one in the first area. I wonder if they connect.

The description of the oxygen mask says it only holds 8 minutes worth of oxygen, but it also has a fully functional air filtration system. That might also be useful for me to withstand the sleeping gas I encountered in the first time period.

The ore basket is the only way out.

I trigger the oxygen mask and immediately pressurize and spin the airlock. On the other side, I find a maze of identical red corridors. I switch to the Mapping chip and systematically work my way through the maze until I find something unusual: a set of large baskets moving up a sturdy chain. This seems to be my ticket out of here. As soon as a new level comes into view, however, I have to be quick and move forward out of the basket, or I’ll get crushed in the ore crusher. Apparently that was a maze of mining tunnels, and those baskets are how the Mars miners get ore up from the tunnels.

My earlier hunch is confirmed when the ore crusher exit takes me through another airlock, and I find myself back in the original area. (I also remove the oxygen mask.) When I move forward, I hear and see the robot cross my path again, heading back toward the shuttles. I follow it and hear an announcement about an unauthorized shuttle launch from shuttle bay 2.

Sunset over the canyons of Mars? Except we’re facing south…

The only thing I can do now is head to shuttle bay 3. For some reason, this time the door opens and I can access the shuttle. Apparently the security systems are down in this region of the colony, so I can manually open the door. I hop in the shuttle and it automatically turns on and runs a startup sequence, then starts moving through the Martian canyons. It’s on autopilot, heading to a launch tube to leave the surface of the planet. I also get some more chatter (over some kind of radio, maybe?) about the unauthorized launches of the two shuttles, and how they can’t override or stop the launches due to the security breach.

Targeting shuttle 2.

I watch as the ship is launched through the launch tube into space. The planet must be behind me now, as all I see is a field of stars. The shuttle’s computer announces that it detects the autopilot target. It also gives me an explanation of each of the available weapons. What follows is another minigame where I have to destroy or capture the robot’s shuttle by shooting at it enough times before it gets to the alien ship.

The time limit on this is pretty generous. I’m told that shuttle 2 has targeted the alien ship and will reach it in five minutes. The real-time limit is even a bit more than that. What’s really interesting is that, if you run out of time here, shuttle 2 will destroy the alien ship with no warning, and then the suit will warp you back to the present automatically. It’s not a death or outright failure.

When I was waiting for it, this explosion startled me every time.

Instead, you can jump back to the colony a second time, follow the robot and go through the ore tunnels, trigger the shuttle launch, and try the minigame again. There’s no apparent penalty except that it’s a second visit to the same time period, so there will be some kind of score penalty at the end. It seems like a paradox to be able to redo the time period when I already have the access card bomb and everything, but time travel is inherently paradoxical, so I’ll ignore that for now.

The minigame is kind of fun and not too difficult, although I never did figure out exactly when I could hit the target with the beam weapon and when I couldn’t. Sometimes I appeared to be aiming correctly, and the line of fire would appear to go right through the ship, but it wouldn’t be a hit. I figure at this point the graphics just aren’t quite good enough to properly represent a 3D targeting problem on a 2D screen. The easiest and fastest way to win the game is to use the graviton cannon, which doesn’t have to be targeted so precisely anyway. Just three shots of that will quickly destroy shuttle 2 and resolve the time rip.

Capturing the shuttle instead of destroying it.

But there’s a better way to do it! I can use just two graviton shots to knock the ship’s energy down, and then whittle down its energy with the energy damping beam. The beam is a lot harder to aim, but even so, the game allows enough time that I was able to destroy the shuttle with nothing but the beam. However, the point isn’t to destroy the shuttle, but to get its energy low enough (the “target ship energy” gauge turns a slightly brighter red) that the tractor beam can capture the shuttle. If its energy is above 10%, it can break free of the tractor beam.

My nemesis, the robot.

Once the shuttle is captured, I can then use the close range transporter to jump over to it. This allows me one last confrontation with the robot, which has now been neutralized since the electrical systems of the shuttle are shutting down.

Trace BioChip item.

As with the one I faced in 2310, this one self-destructs, allowing me access to its chips. It has a duplicate Mapping chip, which I don’t need, and a new Trace BioChip, which I might need. It also has another Optical Memory chip which uploads a new video to mine and also triggers the resolution of the time rip.

New “Poseidon objective” video.

I’m automatically returned to the present, just like the other time, and now only the Norad VI time period in 2112 is still available. The Optical Memory chip now has a new video, addressed to “Poseidon”. What’s really strange, though, is that in this video, Elliot Sinclair tells Poseidon he’s sending him to Norad VI to fire the missile at Gorbastan. He doesn’t mention anything about the Mars colony. Is this another bug? I don’t see how I possibly could have done Norad VI first, so if I face a robot there, will its video tell me about Mars?

Beyond the enigma of its objective, this video is even more chilling than the other one. Sinclair goes on a bit of a rant about how his time machine wasn’t used the way he intended, and then goes on to declare that he’s got a high place on a skyscraper where he plans to assassinate the Cyrollan ambassador, and if anything goes wrong, he’s also got a huge bomb set up that will destroy all of the floating city of Caldoria. What a crazy terrorist. Now I figure there will probably have to be an endgame level where I stop Sinclair directly after neutralizing all three robots. In fact, at least one of the ending screens had a “Finale” score item, which is probably the endgame.

BioChips: Interface, Mapping, Pegasus, Optical Memory, Shield, Trace Other inventory: Transport Card, Journeyman Key, Tranquilizer Dart, Antidote, Stun Gun, Wire Cutters, Maintenance Key, Access Card Bomb, Oxygen Mask Time travel trips: 3 Score: 60560 Session Time: 2 hr 30 min Total Time: 5 hr 45 min

Deaths: 7 (total: 16)

Spinning the airlock makes it the same pressure as the environment on the other side…

#10: If I pressurize and spin the airlock without wearing a working oxygen mask, I die because I can’t breathe, naturally. The ending is called “Suffocation”: “Just a reminder: OXYGEN IS A NECESSARY PART OF LIFE.” Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.

#11: If I move forward past the warning about interacting with humans, I get the “Caught by Security” ending again. So each time period has at least one place that triggers that ending.

“Be careful not to choke on your aspirations.”

#12: Yeah, this one is only going to happen if you’re trying to find silly deaths or if you forget how to move (paralyzed by fear?). The robot meant what it said. If I don’t move aside, after some time, the robot attacks, and I get the “Didn’t Move” ending: “What do you do when a seven-foot-tall robot tells you to get out of it’s [sic] way? Go ahead. Take a wild guess.”

The radiation eats through to my bones.

#13: If I let the bomb’s timer run out, I would have thought the bomb would explode, but instead my shield gets overloaded and I get too much radiation. The ending is “Lethal Dose of Radiation”: “A lethal dose of radiation in this situation would have been about 240 rads. However, the 4,700 rads of radiation eminating [sic] from the radon core of the shield generator had little trouble eating through your energy shield and disintegrating your flesh.”

I probably fall off that maintenance platform, too.

#14: If I try to remove the bomb without analyzing it and doing the minigame to disable it, then the bomb explodes. I would have expected the same ending from letting the timer run out, but that kills me with radiation rather than an explosion. The ending here is called “Explosion” of course: “Had you been able to disable the source of the explosion, you might not have had your atoms scattered all over the martian landscape.”

What a rocky end to my exploration.

#15: The ore crusher’s scoop moves quickly, and if I don’t jump out just at the right time, I’m crushed inside it. The “Ore Crusher” ending says, “He who hesitates is lost. The ore crusher is a not-so-subtle reminder of this fact.” After I encountered this, I always made sure to save at the end of the maze just before jumping in, in case I failed to time the next move correctly.

Just as bad as being crushed.

#16: If you flail while it’s dark inside the ore crusher and jump too early, you either run into the wall or fall out of the scoop and die. This would be an easy death to miss as long as you’re precise about jumping out to safety. This ending is called “Shafted”: “You really should look where you’re walking – you’ve fallen down the shaft! Fortunately the fall didn’t kill you. Unfortunately, the landing did.”

Two time periods done, one to go. Let’s see if I can survive sleeping gas and unravel the third robot’s plans next time!

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There’s a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please…try not to spoil any part of the game for me…unless I really obviously need the help…or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I’ve not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/the-journeyman-project-meeting-on-the-planet/

[travelphilosopher]

As I write this a week later, I am still coughing so I was quite ill, more than I would have liked to admit. The second day was a rest day and relaxing, as I had a large buffet breakfast and despite my friend’s invitation to stay at her house, I opted to stay in the YHA in Bardon Mill near the wall and have access to walks. I didn’t feel so bad, and felt I could handle short walks about 5-6 miles, but not the 15-20 per day that I had previously planned. Even though I had built in a rest day I hadn’t anticipated on using it so soon. I was reluctantly having to admit to myself there was a high probability of my not being physically able to do much walking due to my cough.

Cobbled streets in Old Newcastle

Art Deco Cinema

I rested in my hotel until I had to check out and walked around the city for a while and I visited the Laing Gallery, and the local art deco cinema. I met my my friend who pulled a face when I said I would walk from Bardon Mill station to the Sill saying it was very steep. Google said it was just under 3 miles and did say it was steep too, but what other choice did I have? The train was a Northern one, and by now I was just relieved if the train was running if it was a Northern one. On the train were commuters, tourists, and kids who were on a day out. A small group of lads asked if the train was headed to Newcastle as they got on at the Metrocentre and the conductor told them they’d got on at the wrong side of the platform. It was amusing listening to the boys bantering as to how this could have happened, while the conductor returned and told them where to get the next train. Another passenger urged them to get ready to get off at Blaydon so they didn’t miss the stop as the whole carriage chuckled. It lifted the mood on the train which was a slow one, but scenic.

Bardon Mill is a tiny unmanned station and I had to cross the track to get to the other side. I didn’t copy what the other passenger who got off did, which was to run across the track, but followed the path to the gates. Here, I bumped into a lady walking her dog, and I kept the gate open for her. She asked where I was going and I said the Sill and she asked how I was getting there. I got the same response from her when I said I was walking as my friend, and she quickly decided she was driving me there instead. I was surprised at the kind offer and also quietly glad as I was tired too and knew if I had walked I wouldn’t get to the hostel until after 7 at the earliest.

The lady said she often gave lifts because the transport to the Sill was poor and she’d seen many travelers stranded. As we drove, the roads were indeed not only steep, winding and quite perilous to walk on as there was no pavement either. In addition there were no signposts, so getting lost was highly probable. Lorna, the lady who gave me a lift was very kind as I coughed and struggled for breath, and I felt very fortunate to have bumped into her.

The Sill was very modern, clinical in fact and as soon as I walked in there was an atmosphere of unease. The reception was manned by one person and a man with two teens walked in front of me to order food. They took a while to decide once it was their turn, and more people joined the queue behind me while the lone staff member poured some drinks from the bar. She was very calm though, yet the ten people behind me waiting to check in were probably as annoyed as I was when I arrived. When you’ve travelled a great distance the last thing you want to do is wait to check in. I don’t queue unless I have no choice, and having to wait nearly 10 minutes to check in was really unacceptable despite the apology when it was finally my turn.

With this in mind, my check in was done within minutes as I just wanted to get to my room and freshen up, and see if I had time for a quick walk while it was still light. I was mindful if I had walked, then I wouldn’t have had that option and was grateful to Lorna for that chance. The social area or lounge as they called it was getting noisy and busy with people having dinner and arriving back from their day out. I couldn’t help but feel the set up was less than relaxing and looked like the lobby of a new but cheap hotel.

My room was fine, not too small but hardly spacious either and was on the ground floor. I’m never a fan of these more for security reasons, but the area seemed safe. The bathrooms were a strange set up; a single room with two toilets and two showers, one set for males and one for women. I can imagine if all four are used at the same time it can be noisy and crowded, plus the window didn’t open.

There was nowhere to relax except outside, so I considered walking to Housesteads which was 2.5 miles away. My only concern was coming back as it was getting dark very quickly around 8 p.m. and so I decided to just go for a short walk and see where it would take me as it was already 7 p.m. after the delayed check in. I headed towards Steel Rigg and followed the signs and ended up walking fairly high up by the wall as far as Milecastle 39. It was here I noticed people to my right taking photos in the distance of a tree which I assumed was Sycamore Gap. It was hard to say when you are standing right under it, as there is a smaller more unusual tree to the left of it.

Hadrian’s Wall and path from a distance

On Hadrian’s Wall

The route had been steep and the descent was one with lots of uneven stones and not ideal for walking in twilight conditions so I was relieved to see there were some lower footpaths that a fell runner was on. I crossed over to join that path and made my way back as it was getting dark pretty quickly. I’d seen more of the wall in the last hour than I had done in all the other miles I had walked, and it is fantastically preserved.

The Sill to Sycamore Gap ~ 1.5 miles (40 minutes)

The other tree while standing at Sycamore Gap

Milecastle 39

I can now see why people choose to do the highlights and why some bloggers who choose to do the whole walk miss out simply because they are too exhausted to appreciate the historic relics, or they have to crack on because they need to get to their next stop before it gets dark. It has altered my view on whether to do the ‘quiet’ sectors merely for the sake of it or not.

The path ahead towards Housesteads

The view back on where I had just walked past Milecastle 39

I returned to the hostel and the ‘social areas’ were quiet with the odd person using the wi-fi, or having a snack. It seemed like most of the hostel occupants (who were families) had gone to bed already, and the television screens that no one could control forced me to watch Masterchef while I had a lemsip for the night. The shared bathroom facilities were cramped as I took a shower and stepped straight into the path of tiny hand basin, and I mean it was so tiny in that you could only wash one hand at a time in it! Considering this is newly built, it’s a pretty poor design. I had the chance to peek at some of the en-suite rooms and they were huge in comparison in terms of the bedroom space and also the bathroom space. Sadly, it looked to me that it was all about money; you pay more to get more space.

I had one other bunkmate, a dutch girl who was doing the walk.  I apologized in advance for my coughing and hoped as I had managed to sleep 5 hours the night before I would be okay. Sadly, that was not the case and the room and building in general was stuffy. I got up several times to find some air, but the main doors, front and the back door by the dining area were locked and the lights were not on. I couldn’t find any light switches in the dark and I felt like a trapped bear. I knew it wasn’t fair on the other bunkmate and my coughing so I decided to try and sit up and read and do some writing in the lounge. With no light it made it very difficult, as I searched for a switch and tried to see if there was a salto keypad that would release the door.  It was poor management, I mean what if there was an emergency? I knew there must be a door somewhere, but where and how could I find it in the dark and with directions? Even if I did get out, how could I be sure I could get back in?

  Hadrian’s Wall Walk ~ Stage 2, Day 2 As I write this a week later, I am still coughing so I was quite ill, more than I would have liked to admit.