#after that I’ll aim to update the fix once a month like I planned

[monster-carnival-island]

Man, it's been a while since I've updated my fic and I want to apologize for that. I'm currently working on it again. Life has not been kind to me since the last update but I'm doing better now so writing time.

I'm currently working on a one shot on the side and that might be posted first. But I'll make sure to get Smalltropica chapter 3 done by the end of the month.

[iwadori]

When they neglect you for another girl Part 4 (Sakusa)

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

Word Count: 2.6K

Genre: Angst to Fluff

masterlist

AN: YES I DID PUT MYSELF IN THIS STORY! SUE ME. This is basically inspired by a random conversation i had w the great @teesumu, so this is basically for you doll <3

Sakusa:

You and Sakusa have been together for a around 10 years and love eachother immensly.    

However recently Sakusa has been busy and you havent really had much time together lately as he claims been busy doing loads of visits with his new agent.

But of course, being the loving partner you are you wanted to revive the spark in your relationship.

You have been seeing a lot of people on social media posting their aesthetic ‘picnic dates,’ and you knew that this was something that appealed to you before it was ‘on trend.’ Kiyoomi immediately came to your mind once you had the idea of going on a date. You knew that you haven’t be around each other lately, as Kiyoomi always had either a ‘meeting’ or some sort of ‘interview’ that his new agent “Empress” has set up for him.

You didn’t really know Empress that well, just that she was ‘good at her job,’ a ‘hard and dilligent worker,’ and a ‘raging hottie’ with Atsumu’s opinion being the last one. You weren’t suspecting her to have any malicious intent towards you or Kiyoomi, since you knew that he had a great judge of character. But it was just odd, that every time Kiyoomi was running late or having ‘super-secret’ conversations on the phone it was always because ‘my agent set up this,’ ‘my agent set up that,’ and that’s what left you a bit wary.

As you were scrolling through your phone you see a calendar updating saying : Next Week‘ A DECADE AGO WE FELL IN LOVE.’  

10 years. How could you forget? You and Omi have literally been together for a decade. You think back to the decade of madness and love you’ve been through together, smiling fondly to yourself but then you think about where you are now... barely even talking to each other, only mainly seeing him when he comes home from work.

You need to fix this. Or at least make an attempt to get you and Kiyoomi talking again. So, the only thing you can do, is plan that picnic.

You spent the rest of the day planning your anniversary picnic. ’It’s going to be great,’ you think to yourself, you have a list of all Omi’s favorite foods you're going to make him and bring and you are probably going to pick up a few board games and maybe even get some paint supplies. You and Kiyoomi used to paint a lot together, with the two of you not being the best of painters, but you enjoyed eachothers company non the less.  

Everything was sorted...for the most part. All you needed to do was get Omi there, and it’ll all be okay. Right? As you were bubbling and looking for more picnic inspo, you hear your front door open which made you even more excited to tell your boyfriend your plans.  

As you rush to go greet him, you see he’s on the phone making you roll your eyes. “No Empress it won’t work, we need this sorted by next week. Okay? Next week.” he says in an agitated way. He hangs up the phone and sighs, shoving off his duffel bag.

“Hey Omi, how was your day?” you say a bit hesitant, noticing his annoyed mood.  

“Fine” He said dismissively, aiming to walk past you aiming for your bedroom.

“Oh well I have something amazing planned for ne-” you try to say following after him.

“Can we not do this right now Y/N,” he says again turning too look at you making you frown a bit, all you wanted to do is surprise him with your plans and have a day out with him. After noticing your sad look he finishes with “it’s just that Empress she’s bee-”

“I don’t want to hear about her.” you say bitterly folding your arms, Empress is the last person you want to hear about right now “God Omi can’t you just care about me? For once.”

“I do I-”

“You don’t anymore,” you say, with all the emotions and feelings you’ve been just supressing from a while coming up. You don’t even know how you got from point A to B with this conversation, but there's no stopping now. “I feel that, for a while now we haven’t been how we were before when we were just Y/N and Kiyoomi. Instead of how we are now. Just Y/N. Then Kiyoomi and Empress.”

After hearing his agents name, Kiyoomi’s name contorts to confusion “Empress? What does she have to do with anything?”

“How can you not see? For the past month all it’s been is ‘Empress this’ ‘Empress that,’” you complain “Having your super secret conversations with her, like god Kiyoomi can’t you see a problem with this?”  

“It’s not like that Y/N, we’re just work partners” he says looking a bit annoyed “Just business.”

 “Just business? So Kiyoomi, what were you talking about on the phone earlier” you say with your voice slight accusingly.

“Umm I, I can’t really say?” he says more of a question then a fully assured statement. You squint your eyes at him and scoff.

“What is going on with you Omi?” you say “are you cheating on me with her is that it?”

“No, no of course not Y/N! How could you even ask that?” he frowned at your question making your chest hurt, since deep down you knew he could never do that to you. Could he?

“Well tell me then, what were you talking about?” you ask again.

“I can’t say..” he finishes  

“Well I can’t stay.” you say and his face goes back to confusion “Here. With you.”

“What do you mean Y/-”

“I need a break or something. I just can’t be here right now.” You start to rush and pack a big of things whilst Kiyoomi just stands there.

After you pack up your stuff, you look back and see Kiyoomi just there. Standing. You were upset, you kind of wanted him to rush after you and beg you not to leave, but he was just there. Standing. So you put the hand on the door and just before you leave you turn back and say “bye Sakusa, see you later?” to which you see him slightly nod at.

When the door shut, Kiyoomi starts to cry. After hearing you call him by his last name really twisted the knife that was already in his heart. You haven’t called him that since you were like 15. He knew what you wanted; he knew you wanted him to rush towards you and beg you not to leave, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. But what he could do is call the one person he only could call.

After a few rings, he hears “What do you need Saku?”  

“She’s gone, she left.”

“What do you mean she’s gone, did you tell her?”  

“No I didn’t tell her. And that’s the problem, Empress she think-”

“Saku, don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it.”

“You’ll handle it?”

“Don’t I always?”

He couldn’t argue with that, he just had to trust that Empress could sort it. “And also, don’t spend the week with your head up your ass crying, you’ve got a lot of grovelling to do kiddo.”

He nodded even though she couldn’t see him, as he knew that what just went down needed to be resolved, fast.

Meanwhile, on your end. You’re a mess. Sobbing all the time, tissues are your best friend, you’ve been waiting just waiting for a message or a call, or some form of communication. You just wanted to feel wanted by your boyfriend (can you even call him that now.)  

You spent the rest of the week at your parents, immersing yourself in your work and doing ‘self care’ things, trying to forget all about the argument you and Kiyoomi had.  

One day, you receive a letter, it wasn’t delivered by a mail man though. It was slid under your door, in a golden envelope sealed with a red hot wax seal. It read:

‘Dear Y/N,

My sweetheart, im sorry for how the week has been and I know a letter with only a fraction of how I feel won’t make up for how I acted that day. But im inviting you to join me at the Gardenia Botanical Gardens at 2 pm tommorow, to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  

I know there is a big chance, you may not want to see me and I understand but please. I love you, so so much, that words can’t even describe. But I need you to see me apologise and I need to make it up to you.  

I hope to see you there, I’d wait the whole day for you. If you don’t show, I understand.

Sincerely, Sakusa Kiyoomi

P.S The theme is ‘summer hot day, tea with the queen’ - Atsumu’

You smile at the letter, but wonder if you should actually go or not. You did want to see him of course and get this all resolved, but you had your own plans for your anniversary which wouldn’t of been spoiled if he didn’t withhold his super-secret phone calls.

It took you hours to contemplate on what to do, but you decided to just sleep on it and see how you feel tomorrow. In the morning, you knew what you wanted to do. Of course, you had to go, at least to hear him out and see if he really did cheat on you or not. For all you know he’s inviting you to tell you that he’s going to run away with his agent and his secret kids they had together. You shook the negative thoughts from your head and just repeated your mantra ‘hope for the best and prepare for the worst.’

When you got there, you didn’t exactly know where he would be but he said ‘botanical gardens’ so of course you decided to just wander around there. It was nice walking around and just smelling the roses, and seeing the pretty scenery.  

“Excuse me ma’am,” you hear someone say tugging on your leg “um that mister over there told me to give you these.” Looking down, you see a small boy who looked about the age of four with a crumpled up bunch of roses handing them to you.

“Oh thank you,” you say giving the kid a head pat “where is this ‘mister’ might I ask?”

“He’s over there!” The kid pointed behind him and you look to see Kiyoomi sitting under a white gazebo which is surrounded in your favorite flowers and the table is filled with food.

You walk over to your ‘boyfriend,’ with him not noticing your present yet. When you reach him you say “I think she stood you up buddy,” you joke making him jump abit startled.

“Y/N!” he exclaimed, instantly beaming “You came you made it!” he stood up and pulled you into a hug, which you return before you remember why you came here in the first place.

“Oh I-” he says awkwardly

You decide to sit down pulling him down with you. You kind of sit there in uncomfortable silence, for a while until you both say.

“So I-”

“What are yo-”

You both laughed at your simultaneous comments, before Kiyoomi looks at you letting you speak. “What did you want to bring me here for?”

“I didn’t want, what happened last week to happen Y/N I-” he says looking a bit panicked “It wasn’t supposed to go this way.”

“Then how was it meant to go Sakusa.”

“Y/N, please don’t call me that, I know I made you upset but pleas-” he starts before getting distracted again “Y/N, I called you here to say a few things..”

“Them being.?” you ask a bit impatiently.

“I love you. I love you so much, you don’t even understand. Ever since I saw you at my volleyball game in our first year, in the stands just cheering us on. I knew that from that day, after I scored the winning point and our eyes met, that we were destined to be together. I just love you so much Y/N”

“Omi I don’t understand I-”

“Just let me finish please, It’s taken a while for me to say this. And trust me, there’s been so many times when I wanted to just say ‘hey Y/N let’s get married,’ but I couldn’t I was scared, and I wanted it to be perfect, so perfect. Because you deserve the world Y/N. That’s why I got Empress to help, I know that our conversations may seem odd, but I love you and she knows that she just wanted to help trust me. And she did, all this wouldn’t of been done if it wasn’t for her. But anyways Y/N what I waned to say was I love you and I love you and I-” he rambles on loosing track of his words.  

But in the midst of his speech, you hear all that you needed and responded with the only way you can.

“Yes.” you say simply, with a growing smile on your face.

“Yes?” he repeats confused “What do you meann ye- ohhh" Kiyoomi blushes embarrased that after all that he ended up ruining the thought out proposal he wanted to give you with his ramble.

“Im sorry Y/N, I didn’t mean to say it like that I wanted it to be perfect and I-”

You shut him up with a kiss making his eyes widen as he reciprocates it anyways.  

“What did she say?” you hear someone shout from a far, and you look over to see the MSBY Jackals all standing there with shit eating grins on their faces.

“I said yes!” you yell back, to which they all cheer and rush towards you guys giving you both hugs and slapping Kiyoomi on the back.  

As the boys celebrate Omi finnally do what he’s been planning for ages, you get approached by Empress who awkwardly walks up to you. “ I didn’t want to leave the impression that me and Saku were any sort of thing?” she says

“Yeah I think it was definitely a big misunderstanding, it’s just that Omi was never around and whenever he was he was just talking to you and you know how it is.”

“I definitely know, I’d feel the same way if my boyfriend did that to me.”

“Oooh boyfriend?” you ask her feeling nosey on her romantic life.  

“Yeah boyfriend. You know iwaizumi hajime... the trainer?” she says smiling a bit when she said his name.

“The trainer! Nice.”

The rest of the night was fun and was basically an engagement party for you and Omi all you and friends just partying and celebrating yours and Omi’s love for each other. “Omi” you say getting his attention “Happy ten year anniversary babe”

“Happy anniversary, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

After the party you spend your months now planning for a big fat wedding, with the help of your new found bestie, Empress (who you obviously misjudged from the start.) You and Omi could never be happier, every thing was back to how it was before, maybe even better. And you definitely spent at least two Saturdays a month going out for picnics and it was now a tradition in your relationship, so in the end you did get your ‘aesthetic picnic date.’

AN: WHAT DID U GUYS THINK??

[kkrazy256]

“ i thought i lost you. ” with my fav bros Fox and Thorn? <3 (all the sentences are soooo good)

Hey Amiko <3 Hope you don't mind that I used this prompt for CommanderFoxWeek @loving-fox-hours

Title: Redemption Inside the Grave

Prompt(s): Day 2: Hope | Forgiveness, "I thought I lost you"

Warnings: None

Characters: Commander Fox and Commander Thorn

Additional Tags: Post- Scipio, Commander Fox Needs a Hug

Word Count: 1821

[On Ao3]

The amount of datawork that sits on Fox’s desk after a mission is usually a good indicator of how it went. 

Good missions start with stacks of blueprints, detailed strategies, and the files of his best troops. These missions end with minimal thanks (it’s expected, it’s what they’re made for. What need is there to show gratitude?), and most troopers on the file with their status update still green and labeled functioning. There isn't much datawork for these types of missions. 

Bad missions start hurried by time and Senators, with minimal preparation, and not enough vode (never enough vode). They end with everyone important mad. Mad at him (of course, who else? He deserves it. He deserves it all. He fucked up. He’s always fucking up). It ends with spitting insults about incompetence and hurling threats of decommissioning. But none of it hurts. At least it never hurts more than the blocks of red (deceased) on the files he has to read through and sign off on. These missions end with more vode coming back in bodybags than on their feet, and Fox can’t help but think, I did that to them.  

The worst missions? It’s the ones where he wakes up underwater, a weight heavier than an anvil over his chest, stealing every breath and pushing him deeper and deeper into the dark. Missions where he does things he doesn’t fully comprehend beyond I followed my orders, I am a good soldier. Only to look back and think, is he?  

It’s holding up his blaster with still hands and perfect calm. It’s taking deadly aim even when he sees the resignation in Rex’s eyes and feels nothing. Nothing until the body hits the floor and he can’t take his own helmet off to pay respects because what right does he have? Because his hands are finally starting to shake, the weight of his actions hitting all at once and dragging him to the bottom of the ocean floor. 

But this, 

Fox looks down at the stack of datapads on his desk. The room is dark, the desk lamp unplugged and on the ground. There are no windows. The air is stuffy and stagnant; he wonders if they are cleaning the vents again. 

The top datapad lights up when he lifts it. The halo of blue illuminates his immediate area. The helmet sitting at the corner looks purple, the visor staring back at him like a void. Every time he blinks, it burns from somewhere behind his eyes. Fox doesn’t remember the last time he truly slept. (Before the ARC trooper, before Scipio —) 

It’s a mission summary report, written hastily enough for there to be a few typos. It’s short, barely a few paragraphs long, and his eyes glide over the words without retaining anything. His focus is on the attached list of updated statuses.

It’s all red. Red Red Red Red.

He thinks these types of missions are even worse than the ones where he doesn’t have control. 

 Red Red Red.

These missions should not end like this. They go prepared, they go with their best. 

Red Red Red.

So why do they end like this?

Red Red Red —

Green. 

The stack of datapads shift slightly, and the desk trembles as a shadow settles on the edge.

“If it breaks, I’m stealing your desk.” He pinches the bridge of his nose hard, and the throbbing ebbs away into something dull. 

“Does that mean you’ll do my datawork too?” Thorn’s voice is light and teasing, but something’s off. He leans forward to pick up the helmet and the blue lights up his face. His eyes are tired, but the crinkling around the edges always betray his mirth. There’s no crinkling there right now; Thorn just looks exhausted. His hands turn the helmet around, fingers tracing over the painted wings on the temples. 

“I’ll do it for Scipio.” Fox blurts out, and the fingers pause. 

“You don’t have to.” 

“I do,” Fox doesn’t know why he does, but there’s something pressing in the back of his brain, telling him that he shouldn’t let Thorn do it, “you should get some rest. Remedy would kick your sheb if he finds out you came here instead of to medbay.” 

“Well, you don’t have to snitch.” Thorn sniffs and Fox shakes his head with a scoff. He picks up the stylus to start going over the report in detail.

A gloved hand lands on the corner of the datapad, and Fox looks up. Thorn’s eyes reflect the blue glow, flickering to read the upside-down words. 

“Hawk found me.” Thorn whispers.

Fox remembers the pilot during one of the 501st’s shore leaves. Thorn’s batchmate is slightly more serious than Thorn himself, but they share the same air of wild freedom, unable to be tied down. He remembers them taking off their helmets with matching grins, showing him their twin emblazoned wings. 

“How’d he look?”

“Horrified. Scared.” Thorn’s laugh is humorless, “I thought he was going to kill me himself if I wasn’t a—.....it wasn’t pretty, Fox.” he swallows hard, “there wasn’t much we could do.” 

“...You went with less than two platoons. None of us were expecting the level of activity you got.” 

The hand pulls back, leather creaking under the pressure of a clenched fist, “I lost them all, ori’vod.” 

“But you’re here.” Fox places his own hand over Thorn’s. Everything feels cold, “I...it’s not your fault.” 

“I think if any fingers are to be pointed, it would be towards the commanding officer during the mission, Fox. Which would be me.” 

“You weren’t supposed to be the one leading Scipio.” Fox snarls and the aftermath of his outburst echoes through the room. He takes a shuddering breath.

“I was.”

“Fox…”

The air gets stuck in his lungs, and he kneads his palms into his eyes hard enough to see sparks behind the lids. 

Scipio was supposed to be his mission. But he was—still is, a complete and utter wreck. After the incident with the ARC trooper, he hadn’t had a chance to stop. It became a blur of meetings. With the Chancellor, with Skywalker, with Rex, with his Guard. All with little variation. Everyone just wanted to know, what happened?  

And Fox didn’t have a good answer for any of them.  

He’s so tired.

And Thorn had found him in his office then, just as he did now. He had found Fox sitting at his desk with the stylus in a death grip, staring at plans and contingencies. Found him running on fumes that not even caf could fix at that point. Found Fox in his arms immediately to steady him when he stood and started careening to the side. 

I fucked up, Thorn. I fucked up so bad. 

I’ll go to Scipio. We’ll talk more when I get back, alright? Please get some rest, ori’vod. Please.

And Fox had agreed. Because he was tired.

Tired of seeing the ARC trooper’s bone-white armor out of the corner of his eye every time he started to slip. Tired of the Chancellor’s oily praise for a job well done in killing a vod for the Republic. Tired of Skywalker’s needling curiosity. Tired of Rex not blaming him. Tired of everyone telling him, it’s—

“Fox, it’s not your fault.” Thorn’s words from before the mission mesh with the words that Thorn’s repeating right now. 

“Well, who’s is it then?” Fox snaps, slamming his palms back down on the desk. His vision blurs with random patterns from the prolonged darkness, and Thorn’s image swims in front of him. He had gotten about an hour of unconsciousness before his comm beeped with urgent matters from the Chancellor. He’s been on his feet ever since. 

He should’ve just stole some stims and gone to Scipio. 

“Why aren’t you all angry?” He continues, the plastic of the datapad strains under his grip, “not you, not Stone, not Thire. Not—” He stutters, “not Rex. None of you are, and I don’t understand .” 

“Why do you want us to be, Fox?” 

He falters, heart stuck in his throat. It beats erratically and his stomach turns. 

If they’re mad, there’s something to work with. He can apologize (even if it means absolutely nothing). Amends can be made (how. You fucking bastard, how?) He can fix it. He has to fix it. 

How?

“You want us to be angry because you’re angry with yourself.” Thorn sets his helmet down, leaning forward to study Fox with dark eyes that see through his very core. 

His lips curl upwards.

“Oh, ori’vod. You want us to forgive you.” 

There are tears in Thorn’s eyes. (Or are they his own?) 

Thorn’s forehead presses against his, and Fox presses back with a sobbing exhale. 

“You already have it. We’re not the ones you’re looking for forgiveness from.” 

 A strand of long hair slips from Thorn’s ponytail and brushes against his cheek. It hits Fox with a sudden urge for how things used to be. Back when the war had only just started, and they were all shiny and thought things would get better. Back when he had enough time and energy to sit in the command lounge and braid Thorn’s hair clumsily. 

Hound’s better at this than I am, you know.

Mmm, yeah but I want my ori’vod to braid my hair.

Spoiled little kih’vod. 

“I thought I lost you.” He manages between hitched keening breaths ( when had he started to break down? Just now? Months ago? Two years ago?) 

“I’m never gone, ori’vod.” Thorn hums, reaching up to squeeze the back of his neck. It’s so cold, “Just marching—” 

Far away. 

The door to his office opens, and Fox jumps back. 

“...You alright, Fox?” Stone stands at the entrance, a datapad in his hand. 

Fox blinks, glancing down at the one in his own hands.

The list of troopers stares back, every name in red.

The Separatist Blockade was successfully broken through. Senator Padmé Amidala was safely extracted from Scipio under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and the 501st Legion. 

No other Republic survivors were extracted. Recovery efforts have been approved and engaged. 

 — CT-4991 (Hawk) 

“Fox?” 

“...What is it?” 

“The recovery mission on Scipio just returned. We’re heading to the crematorium right now.” Stone shifts on his feet, “you coming?” 

“...Yeah.” Fox reaches for the helmet on his desk, red and black without any wings. His eyes feel crusty and swollen. At this point, he has no idea if they’re even open and seeing the right things anymore. 

He’s so tired.

Fox slips the helmet on and stands. The world spins, and he bites his tongue hard enough to taste blood. He walks towards Stone. 

“You sure you’re alright? I could have Thire take the next shift. He’s—” Stone’s breath hitches, “he’s up for promotion now anyway.” 

“I’ll be fine,” Fox says as he passes his Second, stepping out into the hallway.

He’ll be fine.

/

<3

[ao3]  if you wish to drop a kudo/comment :) 

[superlinguo]

Practical advice if you want to start a podcast

I wrote a post for the RED team at La Trobe with some general advice for podcasting, but I’ve found there are some recurring questions that I get about setting up a podcast. This post is here to answer those questions.

If you’re not interested in starting a podcast, but want to listen to more linguistics podcasts, I’ve got a list for you!

I last updated this post in June 2021 - if you find this post a few years after this you might want to search for some more up to date specs. I’ll continue to update this from time to time as new questions (or answers) come up.

Picture your audience

Before you make any decisions about your show, know who it is for. Your topic might be incredibly niche and have an audience in the hundreds, which is very different to a potentially larger but less engaged audience. See the classic blog post from Kevin Kelly on the power of 1000 true fans. Knowing your potential audience, where they hang out online, and how they’re likely to support you, will help your decision making. I have a self-guided slide set for refining your project before you start working on it. It’s also ok to know who you don’t want as your audience, and make choices that don’t actively include them. Do this early and clearly so people aren’t disappointed. For example, having a show with clearly noted explicit language selects away from young kids and their parents.

The length and format of your show are a product of your aims

I personally like shows in the 25-35 minute range. But, having said that, I love Shortwave, which regularly clocks in at 10 minutes, and I’m disappointed when an episode of You’re Wrong About is less than an hour.

Know your audience and the level of depth you want to explore a topic in. The frequency of episodes and the amount of time you have to prepare and edit will also affect how long episode end up. Record a few episodes first and share them with people you trust will give you good feedback.

The best interviews are conversations

Good interviews are just conversations that are intentionally lopsided, and good interviewers make the conversation feel like it’s not lopsided. Do your homework, write out some questions, and then take a step back and actually listen to the person you’re interviewing.

Anyone who has done even a few interviews has already faced most of the questions you first think of. There are some fixes for this: push through your initial brainstorming, think about the specific angles on their topic that are most relevant to your audience and (again) listen to what the person is telling you. Like many podcasting skills, good interviewing takes practice, and you can practice by staying curious about humans you interact with in any area of your life, not just your podcast guests.

Use the best mics you can, but don’t over-invest

You don’t have go and buy the fanciest tech. If you have access to a studio, great! If you don’t, then decide what your budget is. When we started Lingthusiasm, Gretchen recorded into her phone, because we were running the show on no budget and had no idea if we’d stick it out more than 6 months. When we started making money we got Gretchen a Zoom H4n to match mine. It’s still not the fanciest, but it’s rugged and adequate, especially if you make sure you’re in a closet with some blankets. Do I regret the earlier episodes of Lingthusiasm don’t sound amazing? Not as much as I would have regretted investing hundreds of dollars in a podcast that had 4 episodes.

Edit your show

Even a light edit will make the show easier for your audience to listen to, and show respect for the people you interview. I know people believe there’s an aesthetic of authenticity that comes with not editing, but all podcasting is a performance. Editing is a politeness to your audience.

Editing means a very wide range of things. You can do full production editing, including the addition of music, multiple different voice-overs and voices reading parts (e.g. getting someone else to read author quotes to bring them to life) and additional sound effects. Or you might just edit out the start and end of the recording, and any false starts and errors throughout the show. A lot of the pauses and fillers we use in conversation are designed for an audience who is in on the conversation and can reply, and can feel like they’re holding up a conversation when you’re a passive listener like a podcast audience. Many of the best conversational podcasts are given an edit to make them easier on the ears.

I use audacity to edit

Audacity is free to use. It takes a little longer to learn than something like GarageBand, but once you know how to use it, you’ll be much faster at editing. I appreciate that it has stayed pretty much the same since I started using it almost 15 years ago.

Get your levels right

Once you’ve edited your show, making sure there aren’t too many loud laughs, or your two hosts aren’t unbalanced in loudness. You’ll also need to make sure your podcast isn’t too loud or soft compared to others in people’s list. You need to regularise it. A lot of podcasts regularise to -16 LUFS. A few other numbers bounce around (-14, -18), but this is what we use and no one complains.  Audacity can’t do it. You can process a certain number of hours of audio for free each month using the web-based Auphonic. It’s great. 

There’s lots of great free music to use

You want to look for music that has a license that’s free to use. Even if you don’t plan to make money from your podcast, make sure the license includes commercial use so you don’t limit your future options. SoundCloud and YouTube have lots of options, as does Kevin MacLeod - who has created royalty-free music in a massive range of genres. 

Web hosting is different to getting your show on iTunes

We use SoundCloud to upload and share our audio. It’s fine. I have no complaints. Once you’ve uploaded a few hours of audio you’ll have to pay annually for a pro account. Anchor seems to be a good new competitor, it’s free - I assume they make money off people choosing to run ads on their podcasts. You then generate an RSS feed, which is the thing that points all the podcast players to the place you’ve uploaded your recording. You’ll then have to add your show to major podcast platforms (Apple Podcast, Google Podcast), smaller ones will pick it up from there.

It takes a few days for your show to get picked up on all the podfeeders

Launching a podcast is a bit of a mess - it will go live on your hosting site but then you’ll have to set yourself up with iTunes, Google Podcast etc. and that can take a few days to update and populate. The sites that are popular, and the process of linking into those spaces, changes often enough that you should just google advice when you’re ready to launch, and give yourself a few days. This is part of why some podcasts launch a short ‘episode 0′ or a trailer, it gets the show set up.

Transcripts should be one of the first things you fund

Not every podcast has the time or funds to make transcripts. I do think they’re important though; for people who can’t or don’t want to listen, for discoverability and for your own record when you can’t remember when you talked about a specific story. If you have any time or money and want to be taken seriously at all, this should be one of your earliest priorities. This is even more true for educational podcasts, where a transcript ensures all students can appreciate the content of your show.

You don’t neeeeed a website, but it’s handy

You can run a show using a hosting platform and some social media. Having a website does allow you to add more information about the show and yourself. The Lingthusiasm page has grown over the years as the show has; we made a page for our liveshow events, we provide a list of episodes by topic, information about our Discord community, and our marvelous wall of supporters. The website was much more minimal when we started, but compared to just having a SoundCloud it gave the show room to grow.

You probably want socials, but be selective

You need to make your podcast discoverable by people who are likely to be your audience. Social media is one way to do this, but it’s better to be actually engaging on fewer social platforms than overextend yourself. Focus on platforms that are the intersection of where your possible fans are likely to be and where you enjoy being.

Funding a podcast takes time, and takes work

There are three main revenue streams for podcasts: advertising, crowdfunding and merch. A fourth option is institutional support (through your university or business), but then you’re beholden to the funder. Whichever revenue options work for you, think about them and plan towards them early. Part of that is making sure your podcast gets in as many ears as possible. Most successful podcasts spend as much, if not more, time on marketing, audience engagement and business planning as they do podcasting (it’s just not very glamorous to admit that!).

Choose whether each episode can stand alone

Some podcasts build a narrative over multiple episodes. Others allow listeners to jump in at any point and listen in any order. Whatever you choose, make this clear to your audience. This choice is going to influence a range of choices around what information to include in the opening and closing, how topical to make the show, and how you promote your podcast. 

Seasons are a great structure to keep a podcast manageable

Regardless of whether your show runs in a sequence, planning a season with a fixed number of episodes allows you to take some time off, to maybe change some things that weren’t working, or to step away from the project with a podcast that hasn’t been left hanging.

[prettywordsyouleft]

The Cowboy - Part 9

Summary: Leaving the city for a rural area called Blayne seemed simple enough. Your task was to convince the people to agree with selling their land for a resort redevelopment. But once there, you soon realise that your city ways are entirely different to theirs. Winning their trust was going to take some effort, and when you start to fall for a local cowboy, you wonder if you really needed Blayne more than the city life after all.

Pairing: Jung Jaehyun x female reader

Genre: cowboy au / drama / romance / if you squint there’s some enemies to lovers up in here.

Warnings: Jung Jaehyun is a cowboy, need I say more? (a bit of angst and drama, and it sometimes might feel like you’re reading a Nicolas Sparks book, so I’m told lol)

Word count: 2332

This series will be updated every Thursday and Friday.

Preview | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

“Just one more,” you murmured, pressing your lips into Jaehyun’s before he could object.

He didn’t hesitate to kiss you back, chuckling softly when he separated. “You’ll have me late if you keep this up.”

“It’s not even light out yet,” you complained groggily, your hands blindly searching for a place to anchor onto.

“That’s the point. I need to get home, so I’m back in time to start the day when dawn arrives,” he reminded, reaching for those travelling hands and taking hold of them.

Your eyes had since adjusted to the dim lighting in the bedroom, and you noticed the embers from last night hadn’t yet been put out within Jaehyun’s gaze. You stoked the fire a little more, shifting your leg to nudge his.

Jaehyun groaned. “You’re tempting fate, Y/N.”

“I’m attempting something,” you mentioned demurely and shook your hands that Jaehyun still held.

“Not even my Mum has made me turn up on that yard late, I’ll have you know. I can’t be having you ruin my good reputation.”

You pouted, but nodded the further your slumber rolled away and your mind became alert. Unhooking your leg from his, you sighed. “Your career is important. Go be the best cowboy you can be.”

“You’re so cute, you know that?” he breathed, grinning from your supportive statement.

“I aim to be everything you need,” you announced and Jaehyun, who had pulled himself to the side of the bed and reached for his jeans, halted his movement, glancing over his shoulder in thought at you. You reached for your hair, assuming he was taking in your abominable morning state. “What? Do I look ugly?”

“No. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever laid my eyes upon.”

“You better go before my heart starts ruling over this head of mine and I take back about being supportive of your needs and aim to satisfy mine,” you confessed, and Jaehyun shook his head, discarding his attempt to leave and kicked his pants off.

Crawling back to you, he gathered you up in his arms, a giggle leaving you when his hands brushed along your sensitive sides. Once fully captured within his arms, he kissed you passionately.

“Even if I’m late, you’re well worth putting in the extra effort this morning with.”

After Jaehyun had gone, with a final kiss exchanged at your front door and a warning about not answering the door looking like that to anyone but him, you headed back to your bed, nestling in under the warm covers in just one of Jaehyun’s t-shirts.

You were extremely happy right now.

And had been for the past month too. Everything was working well. You woke up most mornings feeling warm and appreciated, kissing Jaehyun off to work before eventually getting up and starting your own. You so far had acquired two signatures of landowners in Blayne over your proposal for redevelopment and was certain you’d have three more by mid next week.

You had chosen to go this path first before confronting Mr Jung with your proposition. Word travelled all too easily in these parts for you to rely on what was spoken was kept confidential. Part of you hoped for this to happen. If you got enough people talking about the redevelopment positively, you believed that would shape the head of the town’s opinion too.

It was a gamble, though, and the longer you spent racking up other names and parts of the land as opposed to the one Pierce instructed you to get meant you would be running out of time to convince Jaehyun’s father if he initially rejected your proposal.

You had confidence in your decision.

And that confidence clearly shone in other ways now too. “You know, I haven’t seen you this dressed down since you came to Blayne, Y/N.”

Glancing up at May as you stopped in for lunch with Reg, one of the landowners you were meeting with, you laughed lightly. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“You finally look like one of us, is what she means,” Dorothy, from the table over, chimed and you grinned at her.

“Do I? I wonder how I managed that, being a city-slicker and all.”

“I don’t think it’s about how, but rather whom,” May concluded, and you bit your bottom lip, trying not to smile with the image of Jaehyun surfacing in your mind.

“We had it pegged that it’d be Avery,” Reg chortled, and you spluttered on the water you had taken in, looking up and apologising profusely. The older man held out his hand to May. “Well, it’s not him. Pay up.”

“Not my boy? Surely it’s him that has you enjoying Blayne. Out of us all, he’s the most understanding to newcomers.”

“Are you making bets on my relationship status?” you asked, and the patrons of the diner all chuckled in one way or another. “Well, I’m sorry May, but I’m not dating Avery.”

“You didn’t deny dating someone else,” Josie, the only waitress, piped up and there was immediate silence as everyone stared at you.

“I’m dating Blayne,” you answered cheekily, and they all groaned with protest. “What? Call me a sucker for what I’m trying to do out here, but this place has changed me.”

You left out the part about a certain cowboy that had as well.

Word travelled too fast around this place.

“Avery is disappointed, you know,” Jaehyun mentioned when he stepped through the front door of your home later that evening. You glanced up at his arrival, dropping your laptop onto the couch and moved into Jaehyun’s waiting embrace.

After kissing Jaehyun in greeting, you smirked. “Word sure doesn’t struggle to get around here yet mobile data does.”

“You completely ruled my cousin off your it-list. The elders are scrambling about trying to figure who’s left to catch your fancy.”

“Have they suggested you at all?”

Jaehyun grinned and shook his head. “Not Jung’s boy.”

“Because you’re so exclusive.”

“I’m destined to marry a Blayne Belle, apparently.”

“So you’re either going to wait another six years until Melody is legal or pick up Josie? I mean, she looks great for forty.”

“Don’t!” Jaehyun exclaimed, encircling your waist with his palms. They felt hot against your barely covered skin. “Where are your clothes by the way?”

“I’m used to the summer weather being removed by air conditioning in my apartment,” you admitted, gesturing to your singlet and shorts with a sly smile. “And this is more than what I had on when you last saw me.”

“Wicked woman,” he stated and went over to a panel on the wall.

You followed Jaehyun and pointed at it. “I tried to turn it on, but it’s ancient and doesn’t have any instructions.”

“You’d be lost without your damn instructions, wouldn’t you?” he teased, and you rolled your eyes, peering around him to inspect his efforts.

“Do you know where the toolbox is in the truck?” he soon asked, and you nodded. “Can you get it for me?”

“Why, are you going to be Mr Handyman instead of Mr Cowboy to me now? Perhaps Avery might be a better option after all.”

“Har-har. If you want to learn how hellish this summer is going to get in the countryside when the heatwave hits next week then-”

“Toolbox. Onto it!” you cried, dashing outside into the humid evening and over to Jaehyun’s truck. After spotting it nestled just behind the passenger seat, you went to reach for it but stopped, your eyes travelling to the papers sitting on the chair you had just leaned over.

Picking them up, you read the contents and returned inside with the toolbox in a daze. “Thanks, Miss City. I’ll have you feeling cool in no time.”

“Were you going to tell me about the rodeo tour?” you queried in a small voice a moment later, and Jaehyun stopped looking through the box for what he needed and up at you.

He shot you one of his lopsided smiles, though his eyes were hesitant. “You’re concerned already? The rodeo season is basically over for this year, don’t worry.”

“I know. This is for next season, but the qualifiers are tomorrow.”

“I was planning on telling you tonight.” Standing back up and wiping his hands on his jeans, Jaehyun gauged your expression. “You know I do them from time to time. Old Joey from the county over popped by and offered me a horse to ride. It’s a real nice horse, gave him a test-”

“What about Blaze? What will he think?” you cut in and Jaehyun frowned. “He’s your riding horse.”

“He’s a work horse. And horses don’t really get offended if you ride another. You’re being weird about this.”

“I’m just confused. This morning I woke up thinking this weekend we’ll be going to the farmer’s market and maybe ride over to the lake and take a swim or something. Now I’m going to be on the sidelines of some rodeo? What do they call them? Rodeo Bunnies? Don’t expect me to become one.”

Jaehyun laughed heartily, scooping you up into his arms in a warm embrace. “You’re coming?”

“Of course. I have to.”

“Why?”

“Why are you asking why? I’m supportive of your endeavours,” you answered, puzzled by the smile spreading Jaehyun’s lips out further. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like a girlfriend would support me?”

“Girlfriend?” you echoed and let out an awkward laugh.

“Is it more for you now, Miss City? A whole month of you and me having this secret rendezvous and you might be feeling something deeper than my skin for me, huh?”

“Do-don’t you have to fix the air-con? It’s hot in here.”

“Stifling.”

“And if you’re going to some rodeo thing, don’t we need to sleep early or something?”

“Are you flustered, Y/N? You’re awfully good at not answering my question.”

“What question was that now?” you diverted, slipping out from under his strong arms and over to the toolbox. “Which one do you need?”

“All of you. That’s all I need,” Jaehyun confirmed, coming back to your side, kissing the top of your head before taking the tool you held in your left hand and got to work.

You arrived on the Jung’s property around six the following morning, travelling in your car separately. Whilst June was aware of your ruse, and no doubt Avery had strong suspicions, Jaehyun had asked to keep your relationship on the low for now. At first, you had agreed. You had a job to complete and complicating that with personal affections could ruin your credibility.

Still, it was hard to keep your hands off of Jaehyun when he came out from his room above the stables. “Wow, you know I’ve been calling you a cowboy from day one because of the hat and boots but I didn’t realise just how much this shirt was missing from the picture until now.”

Jaehyun glanced at his rodeo shirt, tassels and all, before shooting you an embarrassed smile. “Get a real good look at it today, Miss City. I don’t dress up like this often.”

“Another reason why he’s single, I’m sure,” his father gruffly mentioned, patting his son on the shoulder. You realised the older man was proud for some reason. All this time, you assumed he only cared for Jaehyun by the level of work he did around the farm.

Perhaps that was because Jaehyun was adamant that was all he cared about. However, as you watched the interaction fondly, you realised the man had a lot of love for his son. Jaehyun mentioned he had been on the sure-fire track to going pro as a teen on the rodeo circuit last night. You wondered if Mr Jung wanted that for him and felt guilty for needing him to help on the farm.

Either way, it warmed your heart to see a nervous Jaehyun, and his father equally acting out of character for once.

“Don’t you go worrying about marriage for our son today,” June fussed, straightening out Jaehyun’s collar as you had been itching to do. She smiled up at him. “Come home in one piece.”

“Of course, he will. We can’t be having Y/N’s first rodeo dashed with any hospital visits,” Avery commented, arriving at your side and slinging an arm over your shoulder. “You and I need to do some talking about the earful I got from my mother last night.”

You giggled awkwardly. “I’m sorry about that.”

“You’ll be sorry when they start trying to hook you up with all the eligible men in Blayne. Dorothy is convinced you’d suit her boy, Jacob.”

Jaehyun snorted. “Y/N’s a little too high maintenance for Jacob.”

“Am I now?” you retorted, waving off Jaehyun’s parents who were staying behind to look after the farm. Hopping into the cab of Jaehyun’s truck and looking at Avery who got in after you, you scoffed loudly. “If I was too much high maintenance, I’d recommend we take my vehicle over this one. At least, I’d be convinced we’d get there on time, for one.”

Jaehyun glared at Avery’s somewhat stifled snort before patting the steering wheel of the truck. “Don’t you worry. This old beauty of mine will get us there with ease. It’s you we have to concern ourselves over.”

“Me?” you wondered, and Avery nodded. “Why me?”

“Rodeos are a whole other world, Y/N. I bet you won’t be ready for what’s about to happen.”

“It’s people riding horses and taking on cows or something with ropes. I’ve seen it on TV,” you assured the cousins, who looked at one another with loose grins forming.

“She’s not ready for this.”

“Nope. Not a chance.”

“Would you two just shut up, and Jaehyun, start driving. Watch me prove how-”

“Adaptable you are,” both boys chimed, and you rolled your eyes, trying not to smile as Jaehyun finally threw the truck into reverse and headed down the driveway towards your first rodeo.

_________________

Part 10

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[itzagothamcitysiren]

There’s Only Us Left Now

Well, well, well, look who decided to come back to the land of the living. Lol, yeah I kinda just dissapeared for a couple of months. Honestly my mental health just wasn’t where it should be and I’m still trying to get better. This whole year has just been really really rough on me, like it has been on so many others. 

A week ago, my work got hit pretty bad with covid and I’m out with it for the time being. I’m feeling a little bit better than I was before and in my isolation I looked back to this story and actually felt the urge to write again.  

I can’t promise constant updates cause I’m just not sure how I’ll be feeling and how busy I’ll be once I’m back at work since we’re going to be short so many people now. But I can promise you that I had so much planned for this character and story and I really don’t want to just leave it where I left it. 

So if there’s still anyone out there who cares or wants to jump in, thanks for being here and taking time to read this <3

I Had a Dream I Was a Vigilante’s Side Kick pt. 5

           Halley had been tapping her fingers away mindlessly against her knee. It was pulled up to and held to her chest, kept in place by her other arm. Her other leg was stretch out, toes curling as her face scrunched up in discomfort. She bit the outside of her lip, dragging her teeth side to side against it as she tried to keep her mouth shut. She snapped her eyes closed as she felt Sam’s fingers drag through another section of hair. Her friend pulled on it, tugging it back and furthering her progress in the braid she formed on Halley’s head.

           “Ow.” Halley couldn’t hold it anymore. She’d felt far more intense pain before in her life but there was just something about the way Sam’s nail pulled the strands of hair. She repeated herself again as Sam pulled her head back again, “Ow.”

           “Oh please, you big baby.” Sam waved her off, coming to the end of the braid. She reached to the side, bringing Halley’s head with her. She stretched her hand out and grabbed the hair tie that sat on the side table near their bunk beds. Sam moved back in her seat on the bottom bunk and Halley’s place on the floor in front of her. She tied off the braid, patting Halley’s head when she was done. “See, all done.”

           “Do I have any hair left?” Halley joked, reaching up to pat her own head as well.

           “Ha, ha.” Sam faked a laugh as she stood up. Stepping over the brunette, she made her way to their shared closet. She began to rack through the clothes trying to find the best outfit for the night. She pulled out a dress and examined it before turning to look at Halley. “What are you wearing?” She asked, putting the dress back in the closet.

           Halley stood up, giving her foot a shake as it had fallen asleep from sitting on the floor. She shrugged, moving to grab the flannel from the desk chair. She tied it around her waist and then reached for Jason’s leather jacket. She motioned to her body.

           “Really? That’s it?” Sam rolled her eyes. She then pouted, “I just did your hair all nice.”

           “I’m not going to dress up.” Halley chuckled and moved to grab her combat boots.

           “But-,” The girl was cut off by a rapid knock on the door. She perked up, abandoning the closet and moving to the door. “That must be Dylan and the guys.” She said excitedly.

           Halley rolled her own eyes at the girl’s excitement. She was acting as if this was the first college party they were attending. Although Halley shouldn’t be that surprised, Sam got this way before every party they’ve ever attended together. She turned to grab her bag as her friend answered the door, waiting for their room to be barraged by their friends in seconds and her moment without any chaos to be over.

           “Hi gu-, erm, who are you?” Sam’s high pitched voice changed, deflating into a soft and questioning one.

           Halley picked her head up at Sam’s tone, feeling alert on instinct. She craned her head to see the doorway and frowned. Her eyebrows narrowed and her face harshened. She dropped her bag and marched to the door. Being a little harder than intended, Halley pushed Sam out of the way. Halley now stood face to face with someone she thought she’d never see again. There in front of her stood Tim Drake.

           “What the hell are you doing here?” She spat, glaring down at him.

           “I need your help!” He exclaimed, his voice echoing off the hallway walls.

           “I told you no. Now get out of here.” She barked back, gripping the door firmly and prepared to slam it shut.

           Tim stopped her, pushing back on the door with all his might.  He let out a gruff grunt as she fought back, only succeeding thanks to Halley’s friend distracting her by calling out her name in confusion. Tim pushed harder managing to shove the door open and making Halley stumble a few paces back. Once he made his past the threshold he closed the door behind him with both hands, letting out a deep breath as he did. He turned around and took in the appearance of both girls.

           Halley heaved her chest up and down in annoyance and frustration. Her hands were gripped into fists and hung on both sides of her body.  Her shoulders slumped forwards tensely as her big brown eyes narrowed into slits at him. Tim nervously gulped and looked at the other girl. She stared at him in confusion before turning to her friend and giving her the same look. She looked back to Tim, and then back to Halley, looking between them until finally being the knife to cut the tension.

           “So who’s you’re friend?” Sam’s voice sang out breaking the tension between the two. She motioned to Tim with her hand, placing the other behind her neck and rubbed it awkwardly.

           “He’s not a friend!” Halley snapped.

           “Look I just really need your help!” Tim snapped right back, the look on his face causing Halley to look at him seriously. She squinted at him as his face only showed worry. “Oswald Cobblepot has my dad and it’s all my fault.”

           Halley’s eyes widened. She looked back at Sam and wished she wasn’t here. She bit the inside of her cheek as she rushed to think of what to do. She knew this kid was trouble from the moment they met. She had hoped that she’d be done with him the moment she passed the information on to Bruce but now here she was. She swiped her arm out and pointed to the bed, ordering him to sit.

           “Explain.”

           And Tim did. He told her everything. He told her how he hacked into Cobblepot’s funds. And he told her how when he showed up to his home after school that he found the place trashed and his mother in tears because Cobblepot’s goons took his father. Once he let it all out he found himself needing to catch his breath. He looked up from Halley to Sam, both girls wearing different expressions.

           The dark skinned girl looked utterly lost and it was then when Tim realized that she was completely clueless about who Halley was. That was way she was so desperate to get him out of her hair. And that must’ve been why Halley was shooting him murderous daggers with her eyes. He shifted on the bed, hearing it creak as he moved. Neither he nor Halley made any attempt to speak next, causing Sam to be the only brave on in the room.

           “This is a job for the police. Halley, we need to call them. Or Dick. Sure, he’s not in Gotham but he can help.” She offered, unclear as to why this kid would go to her about this. She was still unclear about how he even knew Halley. He spoke as if he assumed she knew.

           “Were you followed?” Halley ignored Sam. If Tim’s mother was left with instructions to not go to the police then that meant not too. This was Gotham and Cobblepot probably already paid off the police to warn him if they got any calls in from the Drake’s.

           “No.” Tim responded just as a knock was heard from the dorm room’s door.

           “That must be the guys,” Sam noted, almost hesitant and shaky. It was apparent they wouldn’t be going to the party tonight. As she made her way to the door, she was stopped by a firm grip above her elbow. She looked down at the hand and followed it up to the owner’s face. Halley’s had loosened up a lot over the years but she was always quite serious compared to her friend but Sam had never seen her face so fixed before.  Halley tugged her back from the door stepping in front of her. Sam looked at her questioningly and almost fearfully. “Halley?”

           The girl remained silent, softly walking towards the door. The boys didn’t just knock. They would rap against the door with their fists, loudly announcing their arrival. You’d be able to hear them the next hall over with their brash and vulgar chatter. That was just one singular knock. She pressed her cheek to the door, pushing her ear against it to hear what was going on the on the other side.

‘Click’, ‘Click’, ‘Click’,

           “Hide!” She pushed Sam backwards towards the closet. She cursed just as the door was kicked open. She faced it just as quickly as she had turned away, kicking back at the door and slamming it back shut to give herself one more second.

           “Now!” she ordered them.

           As Sam stumbled backwards, the door was kicked open again, this time off its hinges and narrowly missing Halley. Tim’s eyes widened, unable to find a hiding spot in time and took cover underneath the nearby desk. He looked up as two men entered the room, guns in their hands, loaded and cocked. The first man locked eyes on him, aiming the gun.

           He never stood a chance. He was a Cobblepot goon and Halley could easily wipe the floor with them. As the gun was raised, Halley didn’t hesitate, jumping into action, ignoring the sudden sounds of shouts and calls for alarm out in the halls. Halley outstretched an arm, using it to push the gun up to point at the ceiling as it was shot. Using her other hand, she extended her hand, using the hard part of her palm to punch the man in the nose. She smirked at the long heard, yet familiar sound of bone cracking.

           With the hand holding the gun she tightened her grip and twisted, causing the man to cry out and his wrist to snap. She knew she was going to hard and she knew she’d have to think of a way to explain this but she was in hyper mood. She had to protect Sam and she had to protect Tim Drake.

           As the man was unable to grasp the gun, letting it drop to the floor, she maneuvered him around. Locking her left leg in between his and around one, she used the force and angle to drop him to the floor. She quickly dodged, as the second man finally caught up. He took a warning shot, but she was already ducked down. The window shattered as the bullet met the glass. Sam’s scream of shock and fear echoed off the walls alongside with it, causing Halley to reach for the first goon’s gun on the floor. She wasn’t taking anything chances.

           But the girl who wasn’t hesitant ended up hesitating. The cold metal felt heavy and not from the weight. She swore she’d never use one of these things again but here she was. As she took aim she saw her father and then worst of all she saw Jason flicker across her mind. Grunting she quickly shifted up the safety and rolled is across the room towards Tim.

           “Don’t use it! Don’t let anyone touch it!” She barked as she pushed herself up from her crouching position near the man she took down.

           She shifted to the side, avoiding another bullet that now lodged itself into the floor. She did feel one graze her arm but she ignored it. It was as if she pounced on the man, easily disarming him and bashing he head against the doorframe and affectively knocking him out. She huffed, hearing the common of students panicking out in the dormitory halls and then the distant sound of police sirens.  

           Her head whipped around at the sound of the first man getting up and making his way towards Tim and the gun. Sam let out a warning cry, gripping onto clothes hanging up around her for comfort. It was then when Halley noticed she was crying and when she noticed Tim frozen in his place. She rushed over, picking up the chair her flannel had been resting on only minutes ago. She cried out as she brought down the chair onto the goon, mashing it and leaving him in the same state as his companion.

           She was breathing heavily, looking down at the man as she tried to collect herself. She looked up as the sound of sirens got louder. Fuck, she thought. She couldn’t trust the police. And she couldn’t waist time trying to think of a way to explain this. She grabbed Tim forcefully and ripped the gun out of his hand before placing it in her jacket’s pocket, glad that it were big enough to conceal the gun. With Tim standing she pushed him towards the door before making her way to Sam, a tad bit more gently. The girl was clearly in shock but now was the time for Halley to coddle.  

           “I need you to breathe for me okay?” She said, making a gesture mimicking a breathing technique her father once taught her. Sam tried, but failed but it was good enough for Halley at the moment. She guided her out of the closet and towards Tim. She reached for her phone as well as her keys and wallet, shoving them in her free pocket. She turned back to Sam, placing a hand on the small of her back before grabbing her hand. “Don’t ask any questions, don’t speak; we need to get out of here, got it?”

           Sam’s lips trembled as they stepped over the man still resting in between the threshold. Tim kept up pace, nodding along with Halley’s instructions. The former assassin and sidekick led them out into the hallway, noting how it’d been pretty much evacuated already. The cops would most likely take the main stairs and elevators, not knowing what Halley was capable and she knew for a fact that the cops showing up would be bought and payed for by Cobblepot. They got here way to quick, they knew what was going to happen. She headed down the back stairwell, the one used for janitorial staff and emergencies, knowing that that would be the safest bet.

           “Let’s go.”

[kaiowut99]

Phew, finally finished re-finalizing my finalized GX stuff so far!

Over the last few weeks well I guess months--initially while I waited for some potential editing help for 65, then [once I canned the last fix I’d planned; sorry to those I may have slightly annoyed with my casual reblogs about it] just to get it all done while in Rome before double-releasing 65 and 66--I’ve been giving my scripts one final look-through to fix any consistency or formatting issues with my newer stuff (things like my starting to use “Fusion Undone” as De-Fusion’s translated name before accidentally going back to “Fusion Cancel” or turning “Miss Asuka” back to “Asuka-san” since I’d meant to use that whenever “Asuka-sama” was used, or the way I’d italicize contractions or capitalize things), and also to sort of go and do things I should’ve done initially (like translating Daitokuji’s nyas into meows, the logic being that it’s what we’d hear in English anyway; hopefully this is one that goes over well?).  Basically just to cross them off my list so I don’t go back to them at all.  The plan is also to work on new finalized MKV softsubs that I’ll release on NAC for those who’d like ‘em, since Zeratul (who’d provided them before) hasn’t in a long while, and once I do them for 1-66, they’ll be a thing going forward.

While I was at it, I applied some other animation/footage fixes to things I hadn’t picked up on in my initial finalizing run-through as I started doing them, or polished a couple that I did.  Some might wonder “why put in the effort for quick shots or at all no one cares,” but as I’ve mentioned before, as someone who loves GX with some [I think good?] skills using Photoshop/video editing and an eye for detail, I figured if I have time to improve it for people (especially those who might notice the same errors I did) where the staff didn’t take the chance to do so on the DVDs (where they usually would), then why not? (I was actually inspired to do it by KaiserNeko doing the same for DBZ during DBZ Abridged.) The fixes I work on are done for both my hardsubs and the DVDRips I release with the scripts over on NAC, and there’s a thread there with the original DVDRips I work off of as well, in case anyone doesn’t like them (most/all of my finalized Season 1 scripts were re-timed for them by someone there, but I’ll take some time out to do it myself too now that I’ve re-finalized them), along with the CR subs which I’ve said should be shown love too.  I’ll list these new fixes out below by each episode, for anyone super curious about the details; some are kind of interesting, lol. (Did my best to format it so it’s readable, too, lol.)

So, yeah--keep an eye out for the links to actually-final 1-64 on my stream masterpost to be updated along with 65 and 66 once I post them (probably tomorrow), I’ll be updating the links in my NAC thread to the hardsubs and scripts I’ve re-finalized along with any DVDRips updated with the fixes below, and as I get work going on 67+ (which I’ve started a bit of) I’ll work on batches of the softsub MKVs for folks.  For people looking forward to my 65 and 66, really appreciate the patience the past couple of months; hoping to work on some double-releases to make up some time.

Extra-Final Fixes!

Episode 4 (Since I didn’t include a list of the previous fixes I’d worked on in the original release post, I’ll include those here in italics; the new ones here were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Manjoume’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here. The fixes I’d already done were applied to the flashback in 66 as needed.)

As Judai takes damage from Clayman’s destruction by VW-Tiger Catapult, Judai’s LP start counting down from 3808 and not 4000; I fixed it in Sony Vegas by masking in a LP counter starting from 4000 for a few frames.

As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, Manjoume’s part of a split-screen has part of his blazer semi-faded for a frame; I corrected it by just duplicating a later frame.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, there are four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the bottom part that extends out--but it shows up in the next frame, which also causes Judai’s Disk wrist grip to vanish for the rest of the shot before Shou’s split-screen comes on, as the parts of his arm for it are colored like his jacket sleeve.  To fix the first issue, I used Photoshop to draw on that bottom part in that first frame, then masked it into the shot in Sony Vegas for the other three frames.  The second issue I fixed by recoloring his sleeve to account for the wrist grip, then masking the edit into the shot while masking the little destroyed Solid Vision bits above the edit.

Had a few things going on here.  First, after Manjoume mocks Judai being wide open just after the above, we have one of many recycled shots through the episode where Judai insists that he’s still got fight in him--the initial frame has Judai in the same position as edit #3 ends with his wrist grip missing, but it reappears as he moves to stand firm while the shading on the lefthand side of his Disk’s Cemetery slot is wonky for a couple of frames.  Second, as Judai moves back into his initial position, that shading is normal but the wrist grip again disappears into his sleeve, and this time that bottom bit of his Disk’s upper part is colored as part of Judai’s sleeve, making his arm shorter.  Third, as Judai moves to draw, the wrist grip reappears and that bottom part is now colored properly, but Judai’s arm isn’t extended like it was at the start of the shot. Finally, as Judai draws, the wrist grip is there but that whole part of his wrist is colored like it (no red noting the end of his jacket sleeve).  I fixed the first issue by copying the wrist grip edit from #3 and copying the moving Cemetery slot shading from the second part here.  The second issue was fixed once I again copied the wrist grip edit from #3, along with using the initial frame to mask in the correct Disk/forearm coloring.  Then, I fixed the third issue by copying the rest of the area below the Disk’s bottom bit from the later shot in edit #7 below where it was colored correctly.  I fixed the last issue by recoloring the first wrist grip curve into red for the end of Judai’s jacket sleeve for five frames.

As Manjoume’s V-to-Z aims directly at Judai, as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendant Wings, the Winged Kuriboh on his Disk is in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense on the field; I blanked its Monster Zone in Photoshop and then added a Winged Kuriboh proxy in AfterEffects correctly in Defense Mode.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send all that energy right back” at Manjoume, the spot on his Disk where Winged Kuriboh LV10 appears for a few frames is colored like the Monster Zone it’s on; I just applied a Winged Kuriboh LV10 proxy above it for those frames.

Again, a few things here as we recycle the Judai shot in edit #4 (but he’s smiling so it’s different~). First, after Manjoume mocks Judai’s idea of him drawing a 1000-ATK-or-higher Monster to finish him, the initial frame of this shot is pulled from just before Judai moves to draw in edit #4 because the wrist grip is missing along with the bottom bit of his Disk being colored like his jacket.  Then, as Judai moves to draw and grabs a card from his deck, as his Disk arm swings upward for a few frames, the wrist grip area is first 90% colored like his sleeve, with half of the first curve of it on his sleeve colored like the grip, before it’s fully colored like his sleeve for the other frames.  Finally, as Judai fully draws and his Disk swings back to the bottom of the shot (recycling Judai’s position post-draw in edit #4), the wrist grip is gone, but also Judai’s undershirt is miscolored, part of the folds on Judai’s jacket sleeve near his elbow are colored like his Disk, and his Disk is miscolored or missing a few details compared to the earlier shot (like the bottom side of the blue LP orb being colored blue as well and not the Disk’s gray as before).  I fixed the first issue by copying the fixed initial frame from edit #4, masking it in Vegas to just use the Disk/wrist grip area.  The second issue was fixed as I recolored the wrist grip area such that the first curve was fully red and the rest was wrist-grip-colored for the three frames of Judai’s Disk arm going upward.  I fixed the third issue by just masking in Judai’s Disk and arm (up to the edge of his wrist) from the earlier correctly-colored shot, while also masking in his correctly-colored undershirt.

As Judai summons Featherman--to Shou and Chronos’s surprise--and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk disappears as Shou and Chronos slide in on a split-screen, and it’s still gone as they slide back out.  I fixed this in Vegas by just masking that black box on to stay longer, masking in Shou’s split-screen over it before and after it slides in.

Episode 8 (Original release post; as with episode 4′s, these new errors were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Ryou’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here.  The fixes I made before were applied to the flashback in 66, as well.)

After Judai thinks about how well Ryou played his first move, he draws Fusion for his turn, but as he draws it, it’s a dark-orange rectangle in his hand; I added a Fusion proxy over it in AfterEffects for the quick 2-3 frames it’s in.

After Judai’s first hit on him, Ryou draws and Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon, but visually he’s playing a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone--we see this Cyber Dragon in Zone 3 a few shots later as he uses Revival of the Dead to bring back his first Cyber Dragon.  The dub fixed this by making his Disk arm move such that Ryou’s hand lands on Zone 3, with the card in his hand a dubified Cyber Dragon, and I opted to work that into the footage here by masking their moving Disk over the original shot in Vegas, redoing the sky background behind it and masking in parts of Ryou and his hand to make it blend well while also adding some detail to the Disk in Photoshop to compensate for the slightly lower quality.  Then, I replaced the dubified card with a Japanese Cyber Dragon proxy in AE.  I worked on this in 66 first (as highlighted here), but I unfortunately couldn’t just copy that edit completely here, since the footage in 66 has a bit more brightness/contrast to it that I couldn’t dial down accurately to make it blend in to the darker footage here; this is definitely the kind of error that would normally be fixed on the Japanese DVDs, so why it wasn’t is a mystery.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, he’s missing Thunder Giant on his Disk’s third Monster Zone; I added a proxy onto it in AE and masked the red bulb on his Disk over it in Vegas.  It’s tiny and a quick shot, but for consistency’s sake and all. (I’d previously only added that missing Thunder Giant as it zooms out while he activates A Hero Appears).

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and the screen fades and zooms out to Bubbleman on his field, he’s missing Bubbleman on his Disk in his third Monster Zone.  I added it in AE, then keyframed this zoom-out for it accordingly in Vegas.

Right after #4 above, as Judai notes that he can’t Normal-Summon again this turn, we see Mudballman--which he hasn’t summoned yet--in Defense Mode on his Disk.  When I first fixed this, I put Bubbleman in its place, but accidentally in Defense Mode (given that he’s in Attack Mode right now), so I fixed my own correction by blanking the third Monster Zone Mudballman was on and slapping Bubbleman on in Attack Mode in AE, moving it along with Judai’s Disk. (Still not sure why the dub decided Mudballman = VW Catapult or something apparently lol)

Episode 10 (Original release post listing the original two fixes that were done)

After Mei draws out his Sanga thanks to Kyuu’s Dark Designator card, during the panning shot as Mei adds it to his hand (before they tell Judai and Shou they’ll enlighten them about Tag Dueling), the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk is shown reversed; I just applied a proxy in AfterEffects on top of it so it was correctly shown with the name box facing left.

After summoning Steam Gyroid, as Shou notes that summoning Hyuga left Kyuu without a defending Monster, the above shot is recycled--this time, reversed so it pans from Shou to Judai, but also has Judai react to what Shou’s saying--and so is the error with Burstlady on his Disk.  Again, just applied a proxy in AE to fix it, moving it as Judai moves his Disk.

As Shou looks down in disappointment after his Steam Gyroid’s attack ran into Hyuga’s effect, Judai turns to give him some words of encouragement, but as his Disk moves with him, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on his Disk again facing the wrong way.  Just slapped a proxy on in AE and moved it as Burstlady’s Zone came into view.

After Gate Guardian destroys Shou’s Steam Gyroid, as Chronos watches on and notes Shou’s timidity vs Judai’s stubbornness while the two look on at the Meikyuu Brothers, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk facing the wrong way again.  Fixed it by placing the proxy again in AE, then zooming it out accordingly as the shot zooms out.

After Mei sets a card and Judai prepares to draw for his turn, there’s a yellow rectangle where his Defense-Mode Burstlady should be.  Applied a proxy in AE over it to fix the issue.

Episode 11  (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Kyuu draws once Judai sets a card to end his turn using Spark Gun on Gate Guardian, the spot on his Disk where Defense Wall in Defense Mode would be has an Attack-Mode-shaped hole where you can see the blue of the stands behind him! I fixed it by making a Defense Wall proxy that I slapped on in Defense Mode in AfterEffects, moving it with his Disk.  For the tail end of the shot where the Zone is fully visible, I also filled in the hole with the Zone color in Photoshop and then applied the proxy.

As Shou declares Gate Guardian the target of his Shield Crush, the card back for the one card in his hand is miscolored.  I fixed it by redrawing the usual card back in Photoshop for the frames it’s in, Gaussian Blurring it so it blends in, before he turns and they’re out of the shot.

After Mei ends his turn having attacked Drillroid with Dark Guardian amused at Shou’s standing back up thanks to Judai, as Judai draws for his turn, his face-down card is miscolored. I recolored it in Photoshop for the few frames it’s in, working it into the footage in Vegas.

After Judai draws from Pot of Greed after the above, he goes on to activate Fusion Gate, but Sparkman on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai realizes he’ll need to give up Skyscraper so Tempester can survive Dark Guardian’s attack, the Tempester card on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai and Shou reel from the above attack once Kyuu ends his turn, Shou has a Normal Monster card where Drillroid would be on his Disk.  I fixed it by slapping on a proxy in AE for the couple of frames it’s visible in before Shou moves his Disk so it’s not onscreen.

I polished my edit to Misawa to keep his sideburns still in episode 12 and added it to the equivalent shot in the preview here.

Episode 12 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As noted in 11′s #7, I polished my original fix to Misawa’s moving sideburns as a buffed-up Hell Soldier took out his Hydroggedon so it blended in more with the smoke and everything going on in the shot; looks better now.

As Manjoume declares Hell Burner’s attack on Misawa, there are two quick frames where it’s a yellow rectangle on his Disk; I applied a Hell Burner proxy in AE accordingly.

Episode 18 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Kagurazaka brings back Berfomet to take the hit from Thunder Giant and he starts his turn, as he activates Reincarnation of the Dead, there’s a quick frame where it shrinks in his hand as the shot zooms out--I fixed this by just duplicating the frame just before where it’s normal.

After Kagurazaka summons the Gazelle he added to his hand above, he then activates Swords of Sealing Light, but there’s a quick frame where it’s just a yellow shape in his hand.  Easy fix by slapping a proxy in AE.

Episode 30 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Shou and Hayato realize they’re no longer being boiled alive, Hayato audibly asks, “Huh? Where are we?”, but his lips only move for the “Huh?” part of that as he lifts his head.  To fix this, I used the couple of flaps as he lifts his head and tweaked/resized them so they would work after his head’s lifted, adjusted to fit his line.

Episode 31 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Chronos sets a card down after Camula brings out another Immortal Werewolf, Antique Gear Soldier on his Disk is shown as a Normal Monster Card; I originally fixed this by slapping on a proxy in AfterEffects while the shot was still, then keyframe-zooming it out in Vegas, but at the time, I didn’t account for Chronos’s swinging arm, so the card was superimposed over his hand for a frame or two as it swung over that Zone.  I’ve masked his hand over my edit now, so that’s fixed.

Episode 38 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Judai summons Wildman in Defense Mode to start the duel and the lights suddenly go out (prompting the “duel of darkness/duel in the seas” mixup...), we see Wildman’s in Attack Mode on the field despite its Defense posture.  I fixed it by applying a proxy there, then masking Wildman’s lower body and the shadow coming from his sheathed sword on top of it.

Episode 46 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Judai reminisces about the past year, he flashes back to his duel with Ryou in episode 8 and his Featherman being vaporized by Cyber Dragon; I added back the fix I did to Judai’s Disk in removing his destroyed Featherman for the few frames it’s onscreen.  Because the flashback fades to white right then too, I also added a quick mostly-transparent layer of white over the blanked zone to replicate the start of the fade to white so it blended in.

As Judai then looks over at Shou and Hayato and he remembers his first encounters with them (a bit reanimated, too), there’s a quick frame where Hayato’s gritted-teeth mouth disappears before it closes into a line for his mouth.  Fixed by just reusing a frame of his mouth in the same position and moved it into place in the panning shot.

Episode 51 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Ryou notes that Judai’s studied up on him by choosing to go second, Judai slides in on a split-screen, but the top of his hair’s miscolored.  Fixed by recoloring it in Photoshop, then working it into the footage in Vegas by moving it into place as he slides in.

As Ryou uses Time Capsule to hide away his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion for later and Judai thinks back to his move in episode 8 leading to his activating Power Bond, I added back my fix to Ryou’s Disk to add on his missing two Cyber Dragons and the one Cyber Dragon in his hand, grayscaling it and adding visual noise to it to blend with the flashback.

Episode 54 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Chronos pins his hopes on Manjoume, as Gokaido draws for his turn, we see an error where his Disk apparently partially vanishes for two movement frames--it seems the animation staff forgot to put the background layer behind his Disk there or something, lol.  I fixed this by actually filling in the rest of his Disk in Photoshop for those two frames, first by filling in the Disk itself and then painting on the rest of the Monster Zone at the edge of the frame, and then just added them to the video in Vegas.

Episode 59 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Shining Flare Wingman returns while Ed explains Misfortune’s effect, of the D-Heroes on his Duel Disk, we see Diamondguy and Diehardguy reversed.  I originally slapped on proxies for them positioned correctly in AfterEffects on the frame after the slow zoom-out stops, then in Vegas I used that frame to re-do the initial zoom-out, but while I usually add a slight blur to the proxies, I noticed that they were a bit too blurry as the zoom-out started.  So I redid it and lightened the blur, while also touching up the bit as Misfortune’s light envelops Ed and his Disk so the light over them blends in more.

Episode 62 (Original release post, though I didn’t do any fixes before)

As Judai uses Dandylion’s effect to summon his two Fluff Tokens, Cocoon Dolphina--visually in Defense Mode on the field--is in Attack Mode on Judai’s Disk in the panning shot to them.  I fixed it by first blanking the Zone in Photoshop, then placing a proxy in the Zone for one frame in AfterEffects before I re-panned that frame for the shot.

[bnha-scenarios]

☕️ Special Thanks ☕️ 

As always, thank you so much for the coffee! Your kindness are very much appreciated! ♡

Emilija | Regan | Nela Kovaříková | 1 Anon

Onwards to the progress update.

I had. So. Many. Things. That I actually wanted to complete.

… Alas, work decided to be a bitch and swamp me with things to take care of. To put it simply, there were a lot of issues that caused a lot of overtime work even on weekends, so I had to step away from coding most of the time so I won’t burn myself out.

So yeah, I didn’t manage to complete a lot of features, though I did dabble on some stuff here and there. I’m not happy with the rather small progress either. But life happens, and there are just other things that are more important sometimes. So we just have to let it go and look forward to the next month!

I’d say that this month I was quite productive in terms of organization and planning instead of the actual coding. I have at least identified what I need to write for the ‘free activity’ time of the game, which makes about 30-40% of the gameplay itself. However, actually writing the scenes and executing it is a different effort altogether, which I have only started to embark on.

Still, it’s crazy to think that the development for the full game has been actively going for around three and a half months now. Whew. Knowing that I have a tendency to hyperfocus and then get tired of something after a short time frame, I’m going to at the very least give myself a pat on the back for still keeping this project up and running until now.

More details below ↓

Added Route: Kirishima

Let me preface this first with a declaration: I won’t be adding any more love interest after this. Please please please don’t make me do it 😅 Going through all the plans and re-setting up things to figure out how to add him in was such a painful experience…

But anyway. I will be adding this boy’s route to the full game, because a lot of people seem to want to have him in the game. He does seem like a fun character to write, so I thought I’ll give him a chance.

Gameplay

Places, Schedules, and Hanging Out with the Boys

I think you would have noticed from the last two devlogs, but there are several activities you can do in-game. One of them is to visit a place of your choice at a certain time in a day.

Some places can be unlocked when you reach a certain threshold in a specific stat, and there are others which will be unlocked when you reach a specific threshold in a character’s affection meter. Nai will message you whenever you manage to unlock a new place to visit, so keep a lookout for that!

But what happens when you visit a place?

Well, each character has their own schedules -- which you should be able to figure out either by coincidence or by talking to them at school when prompted to do so. Your Quirk will allow you to see the unlocked schedule of each of the characters, so my advice would be to check it out before deciding where to go! If you manage to come to a specific place at the correct time, you will bump into them. Normally, this will trigger a set of actions you can perform: Talk, Action, and Skinship.

Talking is a safe way to increase your love interest’s affection meter, especially in the first half of the game. More topics can be unlocked under some requirements. Generally, it doesn’t matter where you are, the topics you can talk about will be the same. There are topics which might trigger different reactions depending on how high your love interest’s affection is, so have fun finding them! However, be warned that most topics can be selected only once!

Action is another safe way to further increase your love interest’s affection meter. Unlike talking, different places have a different set of actions you could select from. More actions can also be unlocked under some requirements. Responses to this doesn’t exactly change based on the character’s current affection level, and it’s not limited to one time only.

Skinship is a riskier way to boost the affection meter: simply put, it’s a high gain with a high risk. Consider the character’s current affection level when you’re selecting from this list! He might not like it if you go touchy-feely when you’re not that close yet.

On the other hand, when his affection is high enough, you’ll find that you can have a lot of fun choosing the various options here. So be smart, bide your time, and have fun ;)

And that’s not all! Interaction is a two-way street, so depending on how your love interest views the main character, he will initiate Talk, Action, or even Skinship. There’s a lot of variations in here, and I hope you’ll have fun with this mechanic! I certainly am having fun while also pulling out my hair out of frustration designing this and trying to put the mechanism to control this into code…

Progress-wise, I think at the very least the functions for controlling this specific mechanic have been 80% completed. The actual writing however, is another story. There are still hundreds that I still haven’t had the time to write yet, and most of them are not yet coded in. Those who have been coded in still don't have sprites and music, so really, I’ll just say that the writing progress for this part is less than 1% completed….

On the left is the currently WIP full game project, with what I would say around 2-4% dialogue scripted in. And on the right side is the completed demo project.

…. Can you see how much effort the whole game is going to take me now? I did say to strap in and relax, cause this is going to be a long ride. And I wasn’t kidding lol

"Nai"

Although throughout the first week, the story will flow as your environment / characters around you teaches you on how the game works, I’m aware that the game mechanics might be hard to understand for casual players who aren’t too used to playing otome games (or games in general). Which is pretty much why I’m giving you a ‘helpline’ of some sort, in the form of another character.

Why a character? Because I can and I want to. Shush 😆

If you’ve played the demo, chances are, you’ve encountered a name which you had no recollection of existing in the canon My Hero Academia universe. Well, you’re right. Like the player’s character, Nai (full name: Namae Nai / 名前 ない) doesn’t exactly exist in the canon universe, but she’s here to help you throughout the game. (She’s also there because if she wasn’t, 1-A class members becomes odd number in total and that just feels weird to me -- plus, the team exercise system in Heroics wouldn’t exactly make sense if the class has odd number of students)

For those of you who hate Original Characters with a passion (why tho), you don’t need to worry too much. She won’t be an intrusive character in the plot and will mainly not contact you unless she really has to (seriously, her full name literally means ‘no name’, so give her a break, ok?). And if, even then, you still hate her, well.... Too bad you won’t be able to enjoy the game, I guess.

For those of you who don't mind her existence: I hope you’ll take a liking to her dark sense of humor and appreciate her helping you get through the game!

Others

Fixed some bugs regarding unlocking Special Moves from certain activities and games.

Played around and customized the ‘input name’ for a little bit, so it wouldn’t awkwardly sit on the bottom of the screen. I have 0 talent in designing UI though, so the background still stays as a black screen -- but at least it looks more prominent now.

Added a little sign to indicate which route the player has entered. I think it’s pretty cute! Hopefully you’ll like it.

Assets

Those who follow me on Twitter would have seen this coming, but anyway, I’ll be using TMGS OSTs as the main character theme for the four love interests. Hush hush, okay?

Other than that, unfortunately I didn’t have time to do any assets gathering this month.

Writing

Nothing much to say here. I think I managed to script around 50% of the events in the first day, but honestly I’m not completely satisfied with it so I might go back and tweak them a bit. Still a lot of scenes to be written!

Plans for December

I'm not too sure whether there would be much progress for the next two months, since there are so many things happening and deadlines to be met at work, which is making me really unmotivated to do other side projects in my free time lately. I also feel like I haven't been taking care of my health enough ever since quarantine started, so I'm trying to get back into doing more exercises and looking for healthier food options, which also cuts into my free time and motivation I guess.

With that said, I'll still at least aim for getting some scripts coded in -- particularly for the events in day 1. Other than that, maybe hopefully some assets gathering for supporting Kirishima's newly added route, and finishing up the coding parts that I was unable to finish this month.

I'll see y'all again at the end of next month!

[huntertales]

Part Three: I’ll Get You, My Pretty. And Your Little Hunters, Too. (Slumber Party S09E04)

Episode Summary: The reader and the boys call in I.T. expert Charlie Bradbury to help track fallen angels with technology found in the Men of Letters bunker. However, they soon discover something more in the form of the one and only Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. Everyone joins forces to take down the Wicked Witch and her evil plans. Warning: Mentions of past miscarriage, slight twinge of angst if you squint. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 5,340.

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NOTE: This is hella unedited, oops. All mistakes are my own. I’ll fix them tomorrow. I just wanted to get a new part out for you guys!

Charlie shouldn’t have been excited as she was to be given the opportunity to poke around Dean’s belongings while he tried and searched for the same key the wicked witch was looking for. As if today couldn’t get any better it seemed it was. She noticed right away how the older Winchester’s room contrasted his brother’s. Dean made an effort to decorate the space how he liked and made it his own. You added small touches to make it clear you shared the room like any other normal couple; a pile of your folded clothes sitting on the couch, a book you were halfway through reading bookmarked on the nightstand. Yet you gave him the opportunity to call the space his own from the lack of opportunity he had growing up. You and him had no problem making it your home. It was easier when you had memories to help you lay down your roots. 

The redhead found herself smiling when she spotted a few personal photographs leaning against the desk. One was of a blonde woman holding a small child that looked to be no older than four or five, she guessed it was Dean’s mother. A rare moment from his childhood before it turned bitter for the family. The other picture was of the couple from several years ago from the looks of it. She felt her smile grow wider from the way you both looked at each other in the photo, the love you had for one another was clear in your faces. You looked at each other like a couple of kids head over heels. Even after all the tragedy and heartbreak you had to endure over the years, the love you had for one another was still going strong. Maybe it even brought the both closer together. She only wished to find a woman to share the kind of affection and adventure like you both had.

Charlie found herself drawn to a stack of magazines when she caught sight of a beautiful woman wearing little clothing luring her attention when she helped on the search to make things go faster. She quickly realized she had stumbled upon Dean’s personal stash of skin magazines that looked like they dated back into the early fifties. How he managed to get his hands on something like this was a mystery to her. She went through them to see they ranged from over sixty years ago to a little more recently. She chuckled to herself at how the man prioritized. 

“You keep your porn meticulously organized, but not—” Charlie picked up the copy on top of the pile, raising her brow in curiosity to hear the man’s answer. 

“Don’t judge me.” Dean defended himself from the woman’s playful teasing. 

Charlie shook her head and bit back a laugh. She opened up the magazine in the middle, wanting to take a peek at the spread they had back in the day. Charlie found her attention quickly drawn away from the naked woman when she noticed something slipped out and fell down to the ground by her feet. She stepped back and looked down to see it was another photo. She reached down and picked it up, slightly fearful she might find a picture of you in a compromising position for the older man’s enjoyment, only it was worse than she could ever imagine. 

Dean was the one who called her to let her know about the technical problem you and the boys were facing that left all of you scratching your heads. It’d been a few months since the last time you got in contact with her and the things you had been up to since last speaking. She asked how all of you were doing and excitedly wanted an update about the baby, you were almost due in a few months. The way the other end fell eerily silent made Charlie’s heart drop into her stomach. She was familiar with the pause between words before giving bad news. 

“Y/N, she…she lost the baby, Charlie.” This wasn’t how he wanted to find out. She could hear the pain in his voice, how it cracked from retelling of the news to one of his only friends. His words had come true. What the young woman found odd was the request he had given to her prior to her arrival. “Please don’t mention it to her. We don’t like to talk about it.” 

It had been over a month. People eventually move on from these things. You didn’t mention it when you saw her. You didn’t even seem sad. You acted like you had forgotten all about what happened. A blissful ignorance, or you had the best mask at hiding your grief. Not that Charlie was expecting for you to pull her to the side and explained what happened. It wasn’t her right to know the details. She couldn’t comprehend the trauma you were going through. 

Losing a parent was an inevitable part of life every child would go through, no matter the age they lose them. But to lose a child before they were able to take in their first breath? It ruins people with a sort of pain Charlie hoped she never would have to understand. She remembered how excited you were for the baby. How it slipped off the tongue when you first met her, the way you looked at Dean when the both of you talked about your future plans of getting married. 

Charlie regretted the gifts she had given you, the tiny outfit and the book. They would be nothing more than a constant reminder of a life that was no longer. You might have said your goodbyes and found inner peace with the situation, but Charlie still felt the need to give you her grievances. She wanted to wrap you into a tight hug and be reminded you weren’t alone in these troubling times. But Dean had made it quite clear he wanted the situation under wraps.

“How are you holding up?” Dean momentarily stopped searching from the odd question that came out of nowhere. Charlie held the ultrasound picture for a few seconds longer before tucking it back into the magazine from where she stumbled upon it by accident. “I know you said you didn’t want me to talk about it, but I gotta know. Are you guys okay?”

“We’re hanging in there.” He admitted to her. “It’s been a little while now.”

Charlie should have understood from the man’s short answer and behavior that he wanted to be done with this conversation. It wasn’t the right time to be discussing the past when you had a wicked witch running around the bunker as well, looking for a magical key that opened the door to Oz. She was more excited than anyone to have another hunt filled with magic, it was the very thing she had been searching for since she started hunting on her own. But she couldn’t help herself when her mind drifted away from the hunt and to the news that had been lingering in the back of her mind since the phone call. 

“Still, to lose a baby the way she did…” Charlie had a habit of pressing further into a conversation, despite given the social and audio cues someone wanted to drop the topic. Your behavior rubbed her the wrong way for some reason. You were so excited, over the moon in fact. “Are you sure she’s okay—”

“I told you Charlie, she’s fine. You know how Y/N gets with the kinds of things. We said our goodbyes, came to terms with the things that happened. We moved on from it. And so should you.” Dean hadn’t realized the tone he used on the woman until he saw her expression change dramatically. He didn’t mean to lash out at her. Weeks of anger came boiling to the surface without a second thought. And she was the victim. A caring friend who just wanted to give her condolences, all she ended up doing was making him feel worse. “I..I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Charlie muttered. She shook her head and went back to searching, pretending like everything was fine once more. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything.” 

Dean let out a quiet sigh of frustration from his short temper before going back to his search, digging through a few more artifacts until he found a small box that looked familiar. He opened it up to find the exact key he’d been looking for over the past few minutes. His lips stretch into a victorious smile. “Ah!” He quietly shouted to himself. “Yahtzee.” 

Charlie looked up to see her friend discover the key. She shared a matching smile, enjoying the moment, all before it was ruined a few seconds later by an unexpected guest. Neither one of them noticed a puff of emerald green smoke sneak its way into the bedroom from the air vent and transform into the very person they were hunting. Charlie’s eyes moved away for a split second when she noticed something out from the corner of her eye. A gasp of surprise escaped from her throat at the sight of the wicked witch standing behind Dean, giving her no chance to properly warn him from what was about to happen.

Dean quickly turned around and spotted the witch, but he had no time to properly defend himself. The witch snatched the key from his grip, using her unexpected drop-in to her advantage of the situation. She easily flung him across the room with enough force to make Dean bounce off the bed and stumble to the corner of the room, knocking his head roughly against the concrete wall. Charlie had no time at all to properly defend herself. She saw the gun lying on the bed and dived forward to get it, but the witch was faster, hitting the young woman with some kind of spell that would be her demise. All Dean saw when he got his head back on straight was Charlie falling to the ground, a piece of furniture doing nothing to break her fall. 

The witch let out a scream of pain when she felt another poppy bullet aim into her chest. Dean stood behind the loaded gun after firing off his only road into the witch in some kind of way to stop her. It wounded her like how Charlie said, but it was not enough to stop her. He watched as the witch disappeared the way she came, and with exactly they were trying to keep from her. Dean couldn’t focus on the trouble he landed them all in. His eyes wandered to the body lying on the ground, not moving. Not…breathing. 

Dean crouched down to the ground so he was at level with Charlie. He softly spoke the woman’s name as he pushed her so her body was now lying on her backside, hoping he might be able to see her breathe, or her eyes moved underneath her lids. Anything to show him that she was still alive. He waited a few seconds. He watched her chest to see if it would move. But she remained on the ground, lifeless. Dean shook her body, and when that didn’t work, he cradled her head into his hands. No amount of times he kept repeating the woman’s name roused her back into consciousness. Dean felt his breathing come out into shorter ones from everything that was happening. 

The older Winchester picked up Charlie from the ground and carried her over to his bed, trying to get her more comfortable. He kept repeating her name over and over again, despite her only response being deafening silence. Dean gently moved a few strands of red hair out of her face, feeling no hot breath tickle his skin like how he hoped. This wasn’t happening. He couldn’t lose another person so soon. Not now, not like this. Charlie deserved so much better...He needed to find a way to fix this. 

“Dean?”

Your voice echoed from out the bunker’s hall, making a blossoming sense of hope fill into Dean's chest. He knew there was someone else in your body that could help bring Charlie back to life. The name that wasn't your own slipped off his tongue before he realized the consequences that might be waiting for him down the road. All he cared about in the moment was bringing his best friend back to where she belonged.

“Zeke!” Dean called out the angel’s name when you stepped into the bedroom, checking out the room to make sure it was safe. You immediately dropped your gun down to your side as your eyes flashed blue, the angel in your body coming to the driver's side. Your body stood in the doorway and stared at the dead body lying on Dean’s bed. Dean appeared to be desperate, fearful for the young woman's life that was no longer. "You have to help her."

Ezekial approached the edge of the bed, inspecting the woman for a moment to inspect the damage inflicted upon her. The angel knew from the sight of her that she was no longer. "She's gone."

"No. You can bring her back like you did with Cas." Dean told the angel, his tone of voice making it clear it was more of a request than anything. The older Winchester was desperate, asking for a favor from the angel after someone close to him got hurt. It was starting to be a habit Ezekial wasn't happy with.

"I cannot keep doing this." Ezekiel warned the hunter.

"Why the hell not?!" Dean questioned the angel, his tone bleeding with frustration at the hesitation of the angel's willingness to help like how he had before.

"I am barely back to half strength, Dean. Every time I use my power, it weakens me, which means I will have to stay longer in Y/N, longer than you want—longer than we both want." Ezekial informed the older Winchester about his unwillingness to do what was asked of him. Dean was left at a crossroads of the choice he was to make. "The witch running around your bunker is very powerful. I can help with the witch or save your friend.”

Dean fell silent for a moment about what the right thing to do was in this situation. He took into consideration the sort of complications he’d been facing since you were possessed by Ezekial, and how your reaction would be upon hearing the death of Charlie. A woman you had doted over since you first met her. Dean swallowed and looked down at the young woman lying on the bed. He made his decision. It might not have been the right one, but he didn’t care. He was doing it for his family. 

“Save her.” Dean instructed. 

Ezekial nodded his head, “As you wish.” 

The angel made his way over to Charlie and kneeled down on the ground so it would be easier for what he was about to do. He pressed two fingers to her forehead and shut his eyes, slowly healing the young woman from her internal wounds that lead to her demise. The wounds were far worse than the ones Cas had been endured with. Dean watched with fearful eyes as your expression changed into an almost pained out as a grunt slipped out from your mouth at the amount of power Ezekiel had to use in order to properly heal Charlie. A few more seconds before it was complete. Charlie shot up in bed with a sudden gasp of air as you stumbled back, landing roughly into the dresser that was behind you. 

“Merry Christmas!” Charlie groggily spoke her first set of words after coming back to life. She looked around the room in a daze, not sure what was going on, or how he managed to get on the bed from the floor. Dean rushed to the young woman’s side and softly spoke her name, wanting to make sure everything was okay. “Hey, I know you.” 

“I told you to stay in the dungeon.” Dean told the young woman of his previous warning. He felt himself suddenly be filled with a rush of relief at the weak chuckle that escaped her throat. 

“Bet you say that to all the girls.” She mumbled a joke, making him smile at how she was able to joke even after coming back to life without even knowing it. 

“Dean?” Your voice broke the older Winchester’s concentration from Charlie, making his eyes wander over to you to see that you were coming back around as well. Both of you not having a single clue of the events that took place just a minute ago. “What the hell just happened?”

“The witch—the witch was about to put a whammy on me, and, uh, Charle jumped in front.” Dean explained the situation to you, the lie slipping off of his tongue without a second thought. He gave the young woman a proudful smile at her heroic move. "She got zapped, and then the witch got the drop on you."

“Okay. This has been happening to me way too much.” You muttered to yourself at your clumsy behavior. You rubbed the back of your head from the rush of pain you felt from getting back up to your feet. You have been off your game for weeks now since the trials. It wasn’t like you to be so lousy. Despite your rusty hunting skills all of you were somehow still in one piece. “Then why aren’t we dead?”

“That’s a good question.” Dean agreed with you, shrugging his shoulders. He quickly thought of an excuse that might help fill in the gaps and keep you from growing suspicious. “I clipped her with a poppy bullet. She got the key. I think she’s gone.” 

“No, she’s wounded.” Dorothy came out of nowhere to correct the man with some good news. She rushed down the hall and stopped in the doorway with Sam catching up to the woman a few seconds later. "We should still have some time. She could still be in the air vents."

“No. No, no. She’s right. We—we have to—we—” Charlie foolishly thought she was capable of swinging her legs off the bed and standing up without a problem. Dean managed to stop the woman from crashing to the floor when her body involentarly tipped forward. 

“Just go.” Dorothy told you and the boys. “We’ll catch up.” 

“My gun’s over there.” Charlie pointed over to the desk you were standing next to you. You saw it was exactly where she was, lying on top of boxes that were stacked on one another. “There’s one bullet in it.” 

You warned the two women to be careful and made your way out into the hall with the boys, handing the gun over to Dean so he could have another round to defend himself if all of you came into contact with the witch again. The three of you cautiously made your way through the bunker, peeking down every hall and looking over your shoulder to make sure the witch didn’t get the drop on you again. The next time you came in contact with her you wouldn’t be as lucky. 

The mystery to how you were even still breathing after your first run in with her, along with the events that landed you with a dull ache in the back of your head was starting to make you feel frustrated. You remembered making your way into Dean’s room and then waking up on the floor, everything in between was blank. It was happening to you frequently. And it was more than just a few minutes at a time on hunts. Bits and pieces from months were gone. Sometimes you tried to think about the trials, but you couldn’t remember. You wondered if your mind repressed them in some sort of attempt to protect yourself from dealing with the pain you endured. But now that it was happening more frequently...you were hearing things, it was starting to make you worried.

“Who’s Zeke?” You knew it wasn’t the proper time to drop a question on Dean when you turned a corner and followed behind the older man as his brother led. He gave you a confused look at the name you thought he might have never heard before. You swore you heard it. “When I came into your room, before I got zapped,” You pointed your gun at an empty room when you passed by another one, only to move on to the next. “I thought you said the name Zeke. Who’s that?”

"Um..." Dean mentally cursed at himself for the dilemma he found himself in. Sam turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder at his brother, wondering what kind of trouble he'd gotten himself into this time. And what excuse he was going to use in order to keep from the situation escalating. "I think you're still a little punchy, sweetheart. You and Sammy head for the front. I'll meet you two in the library." 

You were disappointed from the answer you were given by Dean. You expected his response to be drastically different from what you were given...

You thought to yourself. Maybe he was right. You had been out of it for the past few weeks. You had been so stranger to the sort of tricks your mind was able to play on you. You let out a quiet sigh and followed behind the young man as you made your way to the front entry of the bunker in some kind of hope you might be able to find the witch before it was too late. 

You and Sam made your way into the war room and cautiously looked around to make sure the coast was clear once more. The only people that were around so far were just the two of you. You lowered your gun slightly and looked over at the younger Winchester, remembering the conversation you had overheard when you were catching up with them after splitting up from Charlie and Dean. The both of them were discussing homes, and the lack of importance it was to them. A strange subject for the both of them to bond over. You still didn’t understand why Sam was still hesitant about letting himself feel comfortable enough to call the bunker his home. You knew he had a rough childhood of sleeping in the backseat of the Impala and strange motel rooms. But this was good as it was going to get for the both of you. Hell, it was better than either one of you could have hoped to call home for your family. 

“Why haven’t you moved in?” You understood your question was poorly timed when you spoke it out loud, bringing up a conversation the younger Winchester really didn't feel like discussing right now 

“Is now really the time for this, Y/N?” Sam’s tone made sure to reflect his annoyance at your conversation topic you butted heads over just a few hours ago.

“Well, I’m just asking.” You muttered in your defense. 

“Look, I never had what you had with your family, okay? Or Dean for that matter.” Sam decided the truth was the most important answer to lead with. You stopped in your tracks and gave him a confused look at his response. “I don’t have any memories of home. And whenever I’ve tried to make a home of my own, it really hasn’t ended well.” 

“Yeah, but a lifetime of abandoned buildings and crappy motel rooms. Not to mention living in a house all by your lonesome wasn’t exactly paradise on my part. I mean,” You let out a sigh and looked around at the bunker with all of its glory that you felt it offered. “This is about as close to home we’re gonna get as a family, and it’s ours. Why can’t you make this place yours?”

Sam found himself overwhelmed with the need to give you a reason why. He wanted to tell you the truth about how he tried to make the bunker a home, and for a little while it did. He psyched himself up with the reality of dealing with another human to the bunch. A small baby that would fill the quiet bunker halls with their cries and laughter. Make you and Dean panic when they got to the age where they started crawling, leading you to find out the dangerous things they could get their hands on in the bunker. You even picked out a room for that baby, expecting to have the chance around this time to take out all the old furniture to make it a nursery. Sam was honestly excited for the things that were to come that would make it truly feel like home. But all he felt now when he passed by that room was pain. 

“I tried, okay?” Sam managed to speak out three words that might help you understand. Only it caused you to look at him with even more confusion. The look you gave him was clear; you wanted to know why. What was the reason that he couldn’t call the bunker home? He hated himself for lying to you. He hated how easy it was. “I tried for months. But I can’t force myself into believing something that doesn’t feel right.” 

“I’m gonna go check on your brother, see what’s taking him so long.” You said. You took a few steps backwards, trying to hide your disappointment in hearing what you thought was the truth. It was the tip of the iceberg for the reason Sam was giving you. But you didn’t know that. “Holler if you see the witch. I’ll be back.” 

Sam let out a frustrated sigh from the conversation veered into a direction he hoped wouldn’t have gone in. He should’ve known better than to think you might leave a conversational topic alone without being given the full reason. It was enough to drop it once and for all.

You retraced the steps you thought Dean might have taken, wondering what was taking him so long to catch up with the both of you. You kept thinking about Sam’s reasoning for not thinking the bunker of home as you had hoped. He pressured Dean to stay here permanently. He was over the moon to discover what this place had to offer. You guessed he couldn’t miss something he never really had. It broke your heart. You could only wish that one day Sam might be able to change his mind and find a reason to call this place his own.

When you ended back up where you split up with Dean without finding a trace of the man, you gave up on the search, deciding instead to make it back to the library where you agreed upon to meet up. You found it odd as you made your way back that you hadn’t found a trace of the witch anywhere around here. Most likely she was around here, trying to open up the door to Oz. But not without taking care of you. 

You found yourself stopping in your tracks when you stumbled upon a sight of your worst fear in the war room. The witch had found the boys. She had an arm wrapped around Sam’s neck and a finger pressed against Dean’s forehead, doing something to the both of them that didn’t kill them. But put them under her spell. You mumbled a curse word underneath your breath before you booked it out of there, needing to find Dorothy and Charlie before it was too late. 

You looked everywhere for the two women; Dean's bedroom, Sam's, yours. Anywhere that was close by. You managed to send off a text to Charlie in some kind of hope that she would respond as you raced around the bunker, trying to dodge the witch and the two men under her spell. You didn't know what she had done to them, and you really didn't want to find out. Luckily the red head answered your text, leading you to somewhere you didn't expect to go, a little secret you had kept to yourself since discovering it—the garage.

"Y/N!" Charlie shouted your name with excitement when she spotted you running up the stairs, and out of breath for that matter. "You didn't tell me this place had a garage!"

“Sorry. Slipped my mind. We sort of have more pressing matters." You didn’t mean the sarcasm that slipped off your tongue. You made your way to the women when Dorothy was busy rummaging around her motorcycle, looking for something. You furrowed your brows when you saw her pull out what appeared to be a severed mechanical head. “Is that..”

“Yeah. He didn’t make it out.” Dorothy said, hinting of the poor Tin Man’s demise. You watched as she frantically searched through her bag until she pulled out exactly what she was looking for. A pair of ruby red slippers. “Yes!”

“I don’t believe it.” Charlie laughed at the sight of the famous shoes. “Did you really walk down a brick road in these?”

“No. I never actually wore them. Seemed kind of tacy wearing a dead woman’s shoes.” Dorothy said. “Plus, I’m no good in heels, you know?”

“I don’t suppose we could pop those on and wish the witch away?” You wondered. 

“Sorry. Another thing the books got wrong.” Dorothy said. You rolled your eyes in annoyance from how these sorts of things could never be easy as you wanted. “But, like the poppies, these have magic from Oz—sharp magic.”

“Death by shoe? Huh.” You examined the shoes both of the women were holding, the very thing that was going to kill the wicked witch. “Well, that’s not the first time I’ve seen that.” 

“There you are.”

You quickly turned around at the sound of a deep, growling voice coming from behind you. You gritted your teeth from how quick they were able to find you, despite the goose chase you had to deal with before finding them here. Charlie didn’t seem to figure out what the problem was. 

“Was that your Batman voice?” Charlie asked the boys, smiling to herself at the impression she thought was funny. You quickly whipped out your gun and pointed it at them when you saw their eyes glow an emerald green. “That’s definitely not your Batman voice.” 

“It’s her.” You told them, pointing the weapon at the boys when they started to approach you. “I saw her possess them.”

“I’ve missed you my pretty.” The witch used Sam’s body to pass on the message to Dorothy, smiling at the trouble all of you landed yourself into. “Killing you a second time will be just as sweet as the first.” 

“Guys, I know you’re in there.” You tried to somehow speak to them, hoping your voice might be able to reach them before they could do something stupid at the command of the wicked witch. "Dean, don't make me hurt you. I don't want to do this." 

“Oh, but I do.” You suddenly felt a grip around your throat with a tight enough of a grip to cut off any oxygen you tried to breathe in from the unexpected attack from Dean’s hand. He used what strength he had against you to his advantage to get you out of way, even momentarily. The man tossed you across the room without much of a care where you landed. His focus landed on the red head that stood before him, looking rather terrified at what he just did. 

“Dean, come on.” Charlie hoped there might be a way to speak to the man, despite her doubts when you miserably failed. “If she opens the door, she’s going to destroy Oz.”

Charlie miserably failed when Dean grabbed a hold of her and roughly shoved the woman into a window, shattering the glass into pieces. She was pinned into place with no real chance out of this. Charlie knew what kind of skills and strength Dean he could use to hurt her if she didn’t find a way to get out of his grip before it was too late. 

“I have no intention of escaping to Oz.” The witch said. Charlie watched as Dean’s lips stretched into a smirk as Sam told them about her true plans she had all along. “I’m going to bring my armies here.” 

[Next Part]

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[temilyrights]

the case of us (chapter four)

Jack Sloane x Reader

Word Count: 3244

A/N: A fluff filled chapter, who’d of thought it was possible? It's canon that Jack likes reality TV but the only thing I watch is Queer Eye, hence the reference! Anyway hope you enjoy, and as always, feedback is always welcome :)

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Chapter Three  Chapter Five

It’s been just over 2 months now since Sam was killed. You haven’t spoken to Felicity since that day you went to visit her but you still speak to Robert. You try to meet up with him every couple of weeks for lunch and you’ve been slowly rebuilding the relationship you once had.

Work has been surprisingly quiet for the whole week, and everyone is taking full advantage of it. You’ve been out of the office by 7 pm every day and spirits were definitely high.

It was nearing 6 pm now, and you were just finishing up your final report of the day. “We should go for drinks!” Torres announces. Bishop quickly agrees but you hesitate, the idea of getting into bed and eating junk food sounding very appealing. “Come on Y/N! It’s Friday!” 

At your unconvinced look, Torres adds “What about if I buy you your first drink?” 

Your face spreads into a wide smirk. “Deal.” 

—

An hour later the whole team is sitting in the fancy new bar Torres had been raving about for the last couple of weeks. The drinks were overpriced, even for DC, and you’re grateful Torres is buying your first one. 

You’re sitting in between Kasie and Ellie. With Jack opposite you and Gibbs to her left. Torres ends up buying the whole team a round, and you wince in sympathy for his bank account. 

“Thank you” You grin, taking a sip of your drink as Torres takes his seat next to McGee. 

Everyone falls into easy conversation, laughing and joking. You chat with Kasie for a bit about the forensics convention she’d been to the previous week. Her eyes light up with enthusiasm as she tells you about the new technology that’d she’d been able to trail and how she was going to ask Vance to update the lab. 

“Yeah, good luck with that,” McGee quips, overhearing your conversation. “I’ve been trying to get the computers and wifi updated for a good year with no success.” Kasie’s smile dims slightly and McGee notices so he quickly back peddles. “But hey, maybe you’ll have more luck!” He goes on to ask about some technology he’d heard was being announced and Kasie barely can stay still in her seat as her excitement takes over.

You use the dull in conversation as an excuse to go get another drink and despite it being a Friday evening it doesn’t take long for you to be served. When you get back to the table, McGee has moved to your spot, still talking to Kasie,  you roll your eyes at him playfully and look for an empty space. The seat next to Torres is free but he’s chatting to Gibbs about something sport-related and you’d rather throw your head into a wall than listen to that conversation. Your eyes then find the free seat next to Jack and your face brightens. She’s currently talking to Ellie. Both blondes flash you a smile as you slip into the seat. 

“I was just telling Jack about that terrible date I went on last week.” Your face fills with sympathy, remembering the story. “How about you Jack, any dates recently?” Her voice lowers to a whisper as a smirk pulls at her lips. “Maybe with a certain grey-haired agent…” Her head signals to Gibbs, who’s thankfully still talking to Torres and is none the wiser of the conversation. 

Jack’s cheeks tinged pink and both you and Ellie start laughing. “Seriously guys there isn’t a ‘thing’.” Ellie just rolls her eyes but Jack’s face turns serious. “We’re just friends!” It comes out a lot louder than expected and the rest of the table turns to face them as Jack’s face flashes bright red. 

“Okay. Okay…” Ellie holds her hands up in mock surrender but you can tell she doesn’t believe Jack. Jack notices too as she just rolls her eyes, leaning back in her chair and huffing before finishing off the rest of her drink in one large swig. She looks serious, so you flash her a sympathetic smile, squeezing her hand slightly. Her lips tip up into a smile but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

A drink and a half later, and Torres is trying to convince everyone to get on the dance floor with him. Ellie and Kasie quickly jump up to join, dragging Jimmy along as well despite his protests. McGee ducked out a little under half an hour ago claiming tiredness. Gibbs mutters something about getting drinks and leaves the table, leaving just you and Jack. 

Jack subtly tries to hide a yawn, turning her head away from you and covering her mouth with her hand. You start laughing and the blonde turns back to you, rolling her eyes playfully. “Tired?” 

Jack sighs, slumping back into her chair. “I’m just thinking about how I could be at home, in my pyjamas, catching up on Queer Eye and not in a loud crowded bar.”

“No way!” You grin brightly, sitting up excitedly in your chair. “You watch Queer Eye?” 

A look of disbelief crosses Jack’s face as her own smile spreads across her lips. “Are you telling me I’ve worked with someone for the last year and didn’t know she watched one of my favourite shows!” 

“I can’t believe it!” You’re grinning. “Are you free this weekend?” 

Jack’s eyes light up as she realises where you’re going with this, she hadn’t had someone to chat with about reality tv since, well, Jessica. “Tomorrow evening?” 

“I’ll bring the take-out” You grin, nodding your head excitedly in agreement. Gibbs comes back to the table then, placing a drink each in front of you and Jack. You both nod your thanks, you were starting to feel the buzz. 

Ellie comes back to the table not long later, sweaty from dancing and starts gulping down her drink. Your eyes widen in shock, knowing she was very much going to regret that in the morning. She drops her now empty glass on the table before aiming a sly smirk at you. You shuffle in your chair, dread filling your stomach. 

“No! No!” You exclaim, as Ellie slowly moves around the table. You try to move further away and end with your back pushed against Jack's side as you squirm in your chair. Jack’s laughing lightly and you can feel the chuckle as it vibrates through your body. Ellie quickly grabs your hand pulling you from your chair and you’re surprised by her strength, your expression must reflect as much as now Jack’s laughing harder and even Gibbs chuckles from next to her. 

You keep shooting looks back at them mouthing ‘help’ as Ellie drags you to the dance floor. They just continue to laugh, Jack waves, smirking brightly and you roll your eyes Traitors. 

Once you’re on the dance floor you don’t fight it anymore. You dance, enjoying the freeing feeling as you bounce around the space. You freeze when you notice Jimmy’s comically bad ‘dad dancing’ and try to hide your laughter behind your hands. Jimmy notices, face brightening, he moves over to you and exaggerates his already embarrassing dancing. You break into laughter, joining in with Jimmy as he does the robot. 

--

When you wake up the next morning you feel surprisingly good. Only a dull headache which can easily be fixed with some paracetamol and food. You quickly shower, changing into black leggings and an oversized jumper before heading to the kitchen in search of food. 

You’re just sitting down to eat when your phone buzzes with a text from Jack. 

Hope you’re feeling alright this morning. We still on for tonight?

A wide smile spreads across your face as you read the text and you quickly type a response one-handed as you continue to eat with the other. 

Surprisingly good, thanks! Yes, if you’re still game. Pizza or Chinese?

You know both Ellie and Nick are going to be regretting their actions this morning and make a mental reminder to contact them later to see if they’re still alive. Your phone buzzes again, and you’re drawn from your thoughts. 

Awesome, 1700 at mine? And surprise me, I’m good with whatever!

You shoot back a quick text agreeing to the plans. Leaving your phone on the counter, you clean up your mess from breakfast and continue with your day. 

It’s early afternoon when you finally call Ellie. She answers the phone after only a couple of rings and proceeds to release a long whine. You start laughing, imagining her still in bed, hiding under the covers to protect herself from the harsh light of day. 

“So, you are feeling about as good as I expected then?” You tease. 

“What do you want?” Ellie grumbles, causing you to laugh again. 

“Oh, was just calling to see how you’re doing. I’m going to check in on Nick next.” 

“I’ll save you a phone call then,” Ellie shouts out Nick’s name and then proceeds to groan at the loud noise. You can distantly hear someone stumbling around, a loud crash followed by ‘fuck!’ and then a door opening. 

“What?” Nick groans, and you can hear the bed creak as he throws himself onto it. 

“Y/N called to bask in our pain.” 

“Bitch” Nick mutters. You just laugh again. 

Ellie brightens up when she gets to explain the story of how Nick had nearly thrown up in the taxi and the taxi driver had refused to continue driving them so he’d ended up crashing on Ellie’s couch (and also bathroom floor as he spent a lot of his time with his head down the toilet). Nick spent the whole time muttering under his breath and you laugh at them both. You finally finish the call an hour later with a final comment about drinking responsibly. Nick groans while Ellie just blows a raspberry at the phone and hangs up. You sit on your couch laughing for the next couple of minutes, wiping tears from your eyes, excited at the prospect of teasing them all come Monday morning. 

You decide on Chinese for dinner. You place an order, selecting your usual and as you aren’t aware of Jack’s regular order, choose a few extra dishes that you feel she might like. You don’t bother changing from your comfy clothes, just slipping on a pair of trainers and tying your hair out of your face. Before grabbing your keys and bag and heading to your car. You pick up the food on the way and pull up to Jack’s house at 5 pm on the dot. 

“Always on time,” Jack smirks when she opens the door to you, her face brightens even more when she notices the bag of Chinese food and you’re happy you made the right choice. Jack welcomes you into her house, taking the bag of food from you as you kick off your shoes and place your bag down. You look round the room, taking in the space, this was the first time you’d been to Jack’s home. 

“Wow, you have a beautiful home.” Jack’s lips tug into a proud smile as she enters the room again, now with plates. 

“Thanks.” She leads you to her living room and places the food and plates on her coffee table as you’d done a couple of months prior. She sits down on the couch, legs crossed. She’s dressed in yoga pants and an old t-shirt, her hair tied up in a ponytail and feet bare from any shoes. You grin, taking your own seat next to her and begin to unpack the food.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I went with a variety.” Jack’s face lights up when she sees the amount of food you’d ended up getting and you bite your lip self consciously. “If you don’t like any of it-” 

“You got a couple of my go-to dishes so we’re good.” Jack laughs and begins to fill her plate with food. You breathe a sigh of relief before doing the same. The TV is all set up, Queer Eye just waiting to be played, and once you’ve both filled your plates and are sitting comfortably she clicks start. 

You fall into an easy silence as you watch the show, only occasionally breaking it to make comments and laugh. However, you’d forgotten how emotional this particular episode was and feel your eyes begin to well up, you try to blink away the tears sighing at yourself. Jack notices and reaches her hand out to place on your own. You turn to look at her surprised to see watery eyes reflected back at you. You both release sad chuckles and you stop trying to hide your emotions, allowing the tears to fall down your face as you go back to watching the show. 

“Wow…” you chuckle, wiping the tears from your face as the episode ends. “I forgot how emotional this show is.” 

“Tell me about it.” Jack comments, huffing and rubbing the tears from her own face. “I’m going to make some tea, want some?” Jacks asks, standing from the couch. You nod, thanking her and she disappears to the kitchen. You pack up the food, there’s still a decent amount left. You separate the boxes into two piles, giving Jack all the food you’d noticed she’d enjoyed the most. 

She comes back a few minutes later, two mugs in hand. She passes one to you, which you accept with a smile, before sitting down closer to you than before. “I never asked how your day was.” You take a sip from your drink, revelling in the warm feeling that spreads through your body. 

“I had lunch with Izzy”

“Oh?” You have to bite your lip to stop from laughing, having heard stories of Izzy and Jack’s relationship. “How was that?” 

Jack sighs, rolling her eyes but a small smile pulls at her lips anyway. “Eventful.” She tilts her head in consideration. “Although, It is nice to have someone I knew from San Diego around.” Jack shakes her head as if to dispel memories. Her smile widening “How was your day?” 

“Uneventful.” You shrug. “Spent most of it doing chores I’ve neglected over the last couple of weeks…” You smirk, thinking back to your phone call with a certain duo. “Although, I did have a lovely conversation with our dear Ellie and Nick.” 

Jack laughs, moving slightly so she was sitting facing you, her legs crossed under her. “How hungover were they?” You explain the story, about Nick nearly throwing up in the taxi, their obvious pain and whining and how you didn’t even feel slightly bad for them. Jack offers sympathetic laughs. 

“Don’t feel sorry for them! I thought you’d enjoy their misery too, well Ellie’s at least after bringing up the whole Gibbs ‘thing’!” You laugh, not noticing how Jack’s own laughter has cut out and she’s no longer looking at you. Your smile falters when you finally notice. “Sorry I didn’t mean-”

Jack sighs, cutting you off. “No, it’s fine. I just-...There really isn’t a ‘thing’. We’re good friends but there’s nothing romantic there. We’ve both been through a lot and told each other some serious stuff...” Jack trails off. She hasn’t looked at you since she started talking so you reach out your hand placing it on her own. She finally meets your eyes. 

“I’ll get the others to lay off. And I’m sorry for teasing. You shouldn’t have to defend your friendship. It’s nice you have each other.” You squeeze her hand once more before letting go, the tension in the room dissolving.

Jack offers a smile. “Now, how about another episode?” You laugh, settling back into the sofa as Jack presses play. 

--

“Knock, Knock.” You speak, as you hold two fresh cups of coffee in your hand. Jack’s currently sitting at her desk looking at something on her computer, she’s chewing her lip and absentmindedly twirling the pen in her hand. The second she hears your voice, she places the pen down and turns to you with a large smile. 

“My lifesaver” Jack breathes, readily accepting the coffee cup. You laugh lightly, taking the seat in front of her desk and taking a sip from your own drink. 

“How are the profiles going? I heard Warrick’s team have a hard case this week.”

Jack sighs, head dropping into her hands.  “Yeah, a Navy officer and his 10-year-old daughter were found shot in their home.” 

“Oh god, that’s horrible. Suspects?” 

“There’s a couple.” She signals to the case files, taking a sip of her coffee. “I’m just narrowing down which one, if any, I think could’ve done it.” She looks at the clock noticing it’s already 7 pm and sighs. “It’s going to be a long night.” 

You offer a sympathetic smile. “Rain check on dinner tonight then?” 

“Oh! I completely forgot! I’m so sorry-” Jack sits up in her chair, as she rushes to apologise.

“Hey,” You cut her off, trying to calm her down. “It’s fine really, that’s the job.” You shrug and you see Jack begin to relax again.

“I’m still really sorry, I’ve been looking forward to finally tasting your cooking all week.” Jack’s shoulders slump and she smiles sadly. 

“Well then it’s probably good we have to rearrange, postpone the inevitability of me giving you food poisoning.” You quip and Jack laughs, rolling her eyes at you playfully, a warmth spreads across your chest and a small smile pulls at your lips. You say goodbye after that, leaving her to finish the profiles so she’ll hopefully be able to leave at a somewhat reasonable time tonight. 

McGee, Torres and Bishop had long since gone home, but Gibbs is sitting in the darkened bullpen typing away at his computer. You make your way to your desk, grabbing your bag. Gibbs shoots you a curious look. “Everyone else went home over an hour ago.” 

“I know.” You shrug. “I was meant to be having dinner with Jack and was waiting for her to finish. She’s still helping on Warrick’s case though so we’re rescheduling.” 

Gibbs is looking at you slightly weirdly now and you don’t really understand what’s happening. Was he smirking? “Right well...Night Gibbs.” You wave goodbye, sparing Gibbs one last look as he grumbles something along the lines of ‘have a good night’ and you head off to the elevator. 

The doors are just closing when your phone pings with a text notification. 

Now I can’t stop thinking about food.

You laugh, biting your lip lightly as you respond. 

I could get you something from that pizza shop around the corner?

Would you?

And then…

Get something for yourself too! We can eat and work.

The only paperwork you had to do you’d planned on doing tomorrow morning, so really you had no reason to stay and work. However, the idea of spending the evening eating pizza with Jack was appealing and to be honest you were slightly disappointed that you’d had to reschedule dinner.

When you reappear in the office 20 minutes later, Gibbs is still sitting at his desk. You pass him a pizza box before going to your desk and collecting the paperwork you needed. Gibbs’ eyebrows shoot up in surprise. He thanks you for the pizza, watching you walk upstairs and isn’t surprised when he sees you heading in the direction of Jack’s office. He smirks, shaking his head. 

You never did care much for his rules. 

[daintycrow]

Title: Hate Is Just Another Word For Hurt

Summary: Reed tries to leave his old life behind, but it’s not really that easy. Especially not after … recent events.

Rating: M (because of language since I’m paranoid)

Warnings: Language; Reed is anti androids; mentions of past character death

Relationships: future Reed & Nines; future implied HankCon; past Reed & Own Character; past & future Reed & Kamsi (who are also brothers) << First | Previous

Part 18

“You think it was a good idea to send him getting you one of the endangered androids?” Kamski asks not even ten minutes after Nines left and for a second Reed knows again, why he didn’t like his brother back then and why he didn’t talk to him much sooner.

Because Elijah manages to always make him feel like he’s at fault, or like he did something, no matter if it’s true. No matter what the man himself did. And as much as Reed hates to admit it – even just towards himself – he’s absolutely ready to trust the android. Maybe not with everything in per say – maybe not even his life – but definitely with this. Nines will also, probably, have a better chance to convince one of the androids to help, than he or his brother have. And they need one of the androids to see if the code Reed writes works – it will, he will have tested it in every simulation he knows at least twice and won’t test it on an android until he scores perfect both times, no matter if he likes the androids or not, because it would go against absolutely anything in him if he wouldn’t make sure of everything being okay first, and also he’s not an amateur.

Anyway, to test it, they’ll need agreement, after everything that went down the past months, and Nines probably has the best chances, getting one. Or they find themselves a brand new android, not deviant, but that’s just impossible.

“You think it was a good idea to let some fucking Idiot program the deviant-code who obviously didn’t even bother testing it or thinking of looking for causing regression bugs like he should’ve done?” he snaps at Elijah. Knows he is. And that it’s probably undeserved even, but he wouldn’t do it any different, even if he could help it.

To his surprise, his brother doesn’t snap back. Instead he sighs and shakes his head slightly. “Apologies,” he says then, and for the first time since Nines left, Reed actually stops typing while looking at the screen of his way too old Laptop. He looks up, only to find Kamski staring right back at him. Not smiling, or grinning, or any way mocking. But with honest eyes and like he actually means it.

Too little, too late, Reed almost wants to say. But he’s not sure if that would be true. Not after everything that happened the past weeks. So instead of saying it, he just stays silent. Opts for not saying anything at all. Doesn’t have to, it seems, because Kamski is already opening his mouth again.

“You’re right,” he says. “I was desperate for the update and agreed with the first best thing I could find, instead of looking for somebody better.” That information doesn’t even make him feel better. He can only shake his head, when he looks back at his keyboard again.

“Why so desperate?” he asks then. He had waited so many years, why doing it now? Why speeding it along so much now? It just doesn’t make any sense!

His brother laughs. It’s quiet, it’s deep. One of these laughs that had Gavin always feeling like his brother really did care, even if he can’t really put a finger on why that is so.

“Because of you,” Kamski says it with a warm tone, and Reed can’t breath when he even hears the smile in the man’s voice.

“What?” he finally gets out. Doesn’t dare to look up, in fear of what he’ll see, but he is listening closely and doesn’t even miss the very quiet – almost silent – sigh.

“Listen-” Reeds brother says, and he hears the chair creak when the man leans back. “I am your brother. And I didn’t make the RK-models to hurt anybody-” Really? Hadn’t felt like it. “Least of all you. I-” Kamski clears his throat. “I have actually been thinking about it since … the accident with Richard.” Reed doesn’t know how his brother is even able to mention his name this easily. He could never- then again, he’s been ignoring what happened until now, or at least tried to ignore it, and maybe otherwise he wouldn’t feel this way. “And I decided to go with it a few years back, and-” Reed can almost see the grin. He still doesn’t look up. “You saw Connor, no need to go into detail with that.”

Reed can only snort. Yeah. He saw Connor. But that is actually not a good thing! And it also still doesn’t explain anything. At all. Especially not the deviant-code. Reed shakes his head and starts typing again.

“I know you!” Kamski says, like that explains more. It doesn’t. “I know you didn’t handle his death well. You were gone instantly, and I visited his grave, I know you’ve not been there once.” He coughs. Yes, maybe. Still doesn’t- “So I thought it might help you.”

What?! “How exactly-” Kamski doesn’t even let Reed start yelling.

“You had to see him. To put it behind you. Had I known you worked at the police station, I’d done it differently, I swear. But I thought you would see it on the media, some big bang, Richards face … it sounded like a good idea back then, okay?” No. No, not okay! It sounds like a horrible idea, always will, probably way even worse back then.

“Great. So you had a messed up plan for helping me. How exactly did the deviant-code play into that?” Because is doesn’t make any fucking sense! And right now it only makes Reed angrier with every passing second.

Kamski groans. “Do you really think I ever even considered you would accept an android version of Richard?” He laughs loud. It’s a hard laugh. Reed doesn’t like it. “Obviously I had to find a solution for that. Make the android human.” Now Reed does look up and when he does, he sees Kamski shaking his head. “I think I was just lucky for both of them turning out so similar to him, from what I saw.” Lucky? Lucky?! He’s been making Reed’s life hell and on absolute purpose even! And now he’s saying he was lucky?!

It’s only partly reflex when Reed stands up, and throws the phone still lying next to him at his brother. The man actually is lucky now, because if Reed was even slightly less angry, he would’ve aimed better, and he throws pretty hard. Kamski looks startled, when behind him, at the wall, the phone shatters into a thousand pieces.

Then, he takes a deep breath and nods slowly. “Okay. I deserved that. But you asked, and that’s my answer. You’re my brother, I wanted to help. And even if it was the wrong way-” Even though. No question about it. It was the wrong way. No if needed! “It still worked. Maybe not because of me, but look at you.” Kamski smiles. “You got a partner back. Some-” He makes a gesture with his hands that Reed doesn’t know how to interpret. “-kind of Richard.” Reed doesn’t agree. Nines isn’t Richard. He looks like him, but Nines is Nines, and nobody else. “But all his own self.” That Reed can agree with more. “And you’re friends. You trust him. You’re even talking to me again-” Kamski stops, but the hopefulness in his eyes stays. And Reed wished his words wouldn’t be so true. But they are. Even though that doesn’t change how wrong Kamski is. Reed slowly sits down again, and clears his throat.

“If you come back in three day, I’ll have something for you,” he says. The way his brother lets out his breath, tells Reed the man understands that he’s asked to leave now. And Reed should let is be over like that. He should. He really, really should. But not talking has only got him into all of this – really all of this – in the first place, and even after everything he still likes the idea of being able to speak with Elijah. Not every day – God, please not! – maybe not even once a week – he doesn’t like it so much – but maybe … just maybe, he can at least fix this. And since it really did work and Reed – no matter how much he hates it – actually does appreciate it, he can’t help giving his brother some hope.

“Thank you.” It’s not more than a whisper, but the room is so silent, Kamski hat to hear it anyway. “Just-” Reed takes a deep breath. Fuck. He’s actually considering this. “Don’t do it again.” He swallows, then smiles. “Also you should cook me dinner as an apology.”

He doesn‘t know, why he says it. Doesn‘t know where it comes from, doesn‘t know- But when his brother laughs, that kind laugh again, the warm one, he can‘t find himself to mind. “I will,” Elijah says. “If you-” There‘s a long pause, that Reed is sure only exists because of how his brother doesn‘t know how to continue. In the end, he doesn‘t. Instead, he starts anew. “You‘ve got the number. Can find it out,” he says. “Call me. No matter when, no matter why, just-” Reed sees his brother smile, and how he nods. “I don‘t care. Just call, okay?” he asks, then slowly turns to leave again. “When you‘re ready. If- If you want to.” He clears his throat. “I‘d be glad.” >> Next

[raeofalbion]

ETA - June ‘19 Edition

Wow, I haven't done one of these since last October, wtf me. Anyway. The momentary return of the least appropriately named part of this blog just to give a brief overview of what’s going on. -sad confetti canon-

Blackout - I’m gonna aim for 2 - 3 chapters being posted before July cuz I’ve been really shitty about updating this year and I’m really sorry about that. Given the fic is done and edited and all I really have to do is check formatting and typos and fix last minute changes, it just feels really inexcusable to me that I’ve let myself get so far behind. So I’m gonna try to do a little bit better.

ACoIaS - on hiatus still. As I said at the end of last year, I’m on a slight break from Fable (other than Blackout) to avoid burn out and also just to keep from stagnating so much when I get back to it. But if I’m feeling very Fable-y come November, I’ll probably finish up at least the first part during that NaNo. If not November, then next April’s NaNo. I haven’t lost interest, it’s not abandoned, I still like it and I have the entire fic outlined (and most of the second outlined, as well), I just need to take a little break and eventually write it.

Gothic Horror AU - I’m having a hard time figuring out my conclusion to this which is keeping me from making good progress, but I’m planning on returning to it next month and maybe I’ll make some progress. We’ll see.

Shorts & One Shots - I’ve got a handful of one shots started; can’t really go into detail because I’ve just got so many in progress things that it’d be impractical to list them all here (unless y’all really want a super long list here? Idk, I need to redo my In Progress page so maybe I’ll do that there). But I’ve got the next two of the Numbers fics (Three and Five) started and a few other things I know I’ve talked about (the robot fic, anyone?) so still poking slowly away at those. I’m hoping to get a few done soon.

- The Noir AU (& Other Sherlock Fic Ideas) - I know I mentioned plotting this out, but I wanted to put this to a majority vote: would you like me to prioritise this, or any other bigger Sherlock ideas I’ve mentioned, over the Gothic Horror AU? Because I have a lot of interest in a lot of those ideas, but I’m trying to keep an eye on not doing too much at once. So, quick summaries: * Gothic Horror AU is focused around a case that begins about a month after TEH and also deals with questioning reality, repressed trauma, and possibly actual ghosts. Sheriarty, but the ship’s very much background except where it nudges against the main plot. * Noir AU is very trope heavy, but very much on purpose--a noir retelling of various episodes and ACD’s stories, but Sherlock’s actually aware of what all the tropes are and mean and no one else is (so it can get a little cracky and a little dark, but mainly intended to be fun). Ship tags for Adlock, Sheriarty, and Warstan which will all impact the plots in various ways, though the retellings will, of course, be the focus. * That (Probably Sad) Very Gay Victorian Fae AU...which I’ll just link to here. The only problem with this idea is how much research I’ll have to do. Not for big things, I’ve researched a lot of the big things for other projects and for fun, but for all the little things that will need a lot of looking into. So idk. * Writer AU which is best detailed here. If you’ve read MoI (which I doubt unless I’ve discovered some Sherlock fans who also like Fable?), I’m thinking that level of balance between shippy stuff and plot? But yeah, those are the main big ideas. If anyone has one they’d really like me to prioritise, lemme know cuz it really helps to know what readers are into. <3

Prompts - Not listing for practicality’s sake, but I’m prioritising the most recent ones and making decent, if slow, progress. I’ve also shelved a couple dozen really, really old prompts (like verging on 3 yrs old) that didn’t have ships/characters in the ask. Or that I’ve lost the ask for. Or, worst of all, have characters but don’t have what prompt it’s for added to them (which, LOL, good luck me figuring out which prompt list that’s for 3 years later). It’s actually a really weird relief to shelve those? Feels a little less overwhelming. Still a lot to do, but with time, right?

Some personal stuff below the cut.

I don’t usually do personal stuff on etas, but I figure y’all should know why I’ve been so slow writing lately. I’ve never tried to hide that I’ve got pretty severe depression and BPD on top of that, both of which have been complete assholes lately. Unfortunately, I also get really badly heatsick and my depression is worse in the summer so, now that summer’s happening in full, I’ve been feeling just...bad. Also physically bad in a way that suggests I really need to see a doctor, but, every time I’ve brought up these symptoms to my doctor, he’s shrugged them off, told me to lose weight (and to basically cut my calorie and carb intake down to nearly nothing which...doesn’t work and is a horrible thing to tell someone, so fuck you, doc), and then did nothing. And he seems to be the norm, attitude-wise, for doctors in the area. So I don’t really know what to do that’s practical in my current circumstances. But I’m pissed off it’s affecting things I enjoy and it’s just...ugh. I’m tired. I’m really tired. I want to enjoy my writing and my gaming and all that the way I used to but it just kinda feels hopeless at times. Gotta keep at it, I guess, but fuck if it’s just mentally and emotionally exhausting.

[ahiddenpath]

Seven Years of Writing Fanfics

I’m being a little premature- I’ll celebrate seven years of writing as ahiddenpath in September- but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I’ve learned.  Please read on if you want to hear about the writing habits I wish I had when I started in 2012, and about the habits I wish I didn’t have back then!

I’ll also be talking about my writing plans in general.  Check it out below the cut!

1.)  Make a story bible.

A story bible is a reference document for your story.  Before you post a new fic, I strongly suggest creating one.  For digimon specifically, this means making some choices before you begin:

Which version of the character names will you use?  Do you intend to remain consistent with this choice?  For example, I’ve seen a lot of writers use Japanese character names and English digimon names.  Will you use official honorifics?  Custom honorifics?  Will you use terminology from one translation of the show, or a mashup?

Make these choices upfront, create reference charts, and remain consistent.  

After that, you can also keep references for topics such as characterization details (if you say that Bob’s favorite drink is coffee in one chapter and tea twenty chapters later, be prepared for a flood of comments pointing out the inconsistency), setting details, and anything that you don’t want to forget.  Spending half an hour hunting down a silly detail instead of writing is a huge bummer.

Growing Up with You is my worst offender of ‘problems a story bible would have fixed.’  It’s got... every issue you can imagine, lol!  For example, pairing Hikari with Gatomon (instead of Tailmon), using ‘digitama’ and ‘digimental’ interchangeably in the 02 arc, using the English terms for evolution stages while using Japanese names for other things, confusing Bakemon and Bakumon, it’s a mess.  It’s so bad that a complete, painstaking edit is the only thing that can fix it...  Which is enough to make me weep, given that the story is over 400K words long.

Organize yourself before you start.  Here’s a link to some printable Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 references.

2.)  Avoid Longfics.

I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating.  NEVER PUBLISH A NEW STORY WITHOUT HAVING AN ENDING IN SIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING.

I’m not saying you can’t write huge, epic tales.  God knows I’m unlikely to stop doing that.  But, if I could go back in time, I would separate Growing Up with You into four fics.  It would be something like this:

Growing Up with You I: Childhood

Growing Up with You II:  Digimon Adventure

Growing Up with You III:  Liminal Space

Growing Up with You IV:  Digimon Adventure 02

I’m sure some arcs would be longer than others, but this way, I’d have four stories that are roughly 100K words long.  

A lot of folks just... don’t want to read a 400K story.  It’s intimidating, man!  Although it varies by genre, the average word count for a fiction novel aimed at adults is 80K words.  That 400K fic is like FIVE NOVELS, DUDE!!!!  That’s a commitment for readers!

Shorter stories are more reader friendly, but there’s also a huge benefit to you, the writer.  Separating your longfic into multiple stories allows you more opportunities to write towards an ending.  Breaking your story into digestible chunks decreases the writing paralysis that comes with being nowhere near the ending.  It also cuts back on meandering chapters that don’t carry the narrative closer to that ending.  Furthermore, thinking of the story in arcs before you start writing forces you to plan more...  Something I never did in 2012!!!!

Best of all, once you reach the end of an arc, you can take a break before launching the next one.  It’s hard on a writer to continue endlessly producing without a break.  It’s hard on a reader to hit the final available chapter in a fic and wonder if it will ever update again.  But if you complete an arc and take a break to plan and write a few buffer chapters, the tension and impatience is gone for your audience, and you get to breathe.  It’s a win-win!

3.)  Avoid long chapters.

Back in 2012, I often posted chapters that were 10K words and longer!  Here are some benefits to posting shorter updates more frequently:

-Shorter wait times between updates.

Let’s say your planned chapter is 15K words long.  I could update my story once in the span of a month, or I could break the chapter into three parts and update three times in a month!  This keeps readers happy and interested in your work.

Over time, you’ll develop the ability to create sub arcs/movements, finding spots to break them up into separate updates.  This also creates natural moments for cliffhangers, tension, and mini resolutions.  It’s a great way to insert more moods and movement into your narrative.    

-More exposure for your story.

Every time you update your fanfic, it gets pushed to the top of the update list on fanfiction.net or AO3.  The more you update it, the more hits your story will receive, thanks to all the extra time it will spend on the first page of newly-updated fics.

-Easier editing.

I do my best editing when I’m working with 5K words or fewer at a time.  Personally, I can only focus on close editing for about 90 minutes before I start missing mistakes and forgetting details.  I could edit a 10K word update in two sittings, but then it’s possible to forget about details and moods from the previous editing session!  So, unless your story bible is really hardcore, your editing process could benefit from shorter updates.

-More feedback/support

I have a few amazing readers who leave some form of feedback/appreciation for me whenever I post a new chapter.  A supported writer is a happy, productive writer!  More updates means more chances for feedback and support from your readers, which in turn can fuel and direct your writing!  Again, everyone wins!  (Thanks, guys, I love you!).

4.)  Publish your story on both fanfiction.net and AO3.

Why reach one audience when you could potentially reach two?  There are plenty of readers who only use one platform or the other.

At this point, it would be ridiculously difficult to post my 70+ chapter fanfics to AO3...  Do yourself a favor and post to both from the start!

5.)  Remember: writing and editing are two separate processes.

Guys guys guys guys guys.  Lemme be real here.

I used to painstakingly write a first draft, check for spelling/grammar errors on my word processor, and then post it.

Here’s what my process looks like now: word vomit a first draft, do an edit in my word processor, print the edited draft, make edits on paper, transfer edits to word processor, print new draft, make edits on paper, transfer edits to word processor, final read through, post

If my new method looks more time intensive...  In a way, it is, but in a way, it isn’t?  I bang out that first rough draft without a care in the world, where I used to agonize over every word.  Agonizing is not fun.  Word vomiting can produce some, ah, discouraging results, but it feels like creative play.  It’s fun, it’s flexible, it’s fast...  And you can fix it later through the magic of editing.  And if you’re having fun, you’ll keep writing.  If you’re agonizing, you’ll find yourself making excuses to avoid writing.

Plus, my current method produces tighter, more deliberate prose, while maintaining the freedom and energy of word vomiting...  And avoiding the angst and doubt.  This is my best defense against writing paralysis and my greatest weapon in the battle of producing words.

My method can’t be right for everyone, but I do encourage you to try it out, especially if your writing hasn’t been joyful lately.

6.)  Don’t run too many fics at one time.

I encourage writers to have one longer fic open and one shorter fic, preferably of different tones/settings/main characters.  This gives you a way to keep writing when you’re sick of one project without bogging you down.

You will likely have some readers who love everything you do (god bless), but many people have particular genre, character, and setting preferences.  If you have three fics open, then readers of any one story have to wait much longer for the next update while you alternate updating each fic.

And more importantly, having a ton of open stories just...  It feels heavy, guys.  It’s a weight, a pressure.  Trust me.  Forgive me, fanfic gods, for I have sinned.

7.)  Maintain a buffer

Okay, so my Nanowrimo project for 2018 was to write 50,000 words for After August, my current open fic.  By the end of the month, I had a roughly 80% complete first draft of the entire fic.  

Guys!  Guys!  It’s so cool to know exactly where the story is going, from start to finish.  My editing is so deliberate on this piece!  I can spot repetition and inconsistencies, since the draft is printed and sitting in front of me in a binder.  I can tweak emphasis and maintain more balance between character appearances.  It’s a whole new ballpark for me, someone who always wrote one update at a time and posted it upon completion (or worse, wrote ahead and lost the material when I changed my mind about the plot before reaching that future point).

Plus, even if my life gets extra busy or hard, I can still maintain my updating schedule.  I can print out a chapter, take it to work, and do hard edits during my lunch break (I realize that makes me antisocial, but have you ever endured coworkers telling you all of their problems while you try to eat a sandwich in peace?  The editing is much more fun.  I am antisocial, is what I’m saying.  Born into it, baby).

Regular updates are a big part of maintaining steady readership, so having a buffer both increases the quality of your work (since you know where the story is going for sure) and ensures that more people read it.  Awww yisssss.

Okay, well, my concentration is gone now, so that’s the end of my advice!  If I think of anything else, maybe I’ll add it?  

I do want to touch base with my writing plans, though.  Currently, of course, my goal is to complete After August.  If I can post one chapter per week, it will be compete in early March, but I’m going to aim for completing the story in May, to allow for any issues that might come up (for example, Kingdom Hearts III is coming out soon!).

After that, I want to complete Seeking Resonance...  Although I have no idea how long that will take?  I just know that the heavy atmosphere was really starting to weigh on me.

After that... Well, do you remember that survey I made a while back?  It looks like my next project should probably be completing Four Years.  

I might simultaneously work on one of these two stories and Tales of REM, or maybe I’ll alternate between SR and FY for a while?  To be honest, though, I would really like to wrap up SR as soon as I can.

Either way, completion is the name of the game this year.  Please look forward to it!  Let me know if you have any ideas for future fics, or if you have a favorite from my list of potential future projects!

[journeysintowebcomics]

Girl Genius Liveblog #176

UPDATE 176: Something Happened

Last time Wulfenbach descended into Mechanisburg, and Tweedle grabbed Agatha. Also, Tarvek got stabbed right into the chest. Needless to say, things look pretty bad everywhere. Let’s continue.

As expected, Tarvek doesn’t look very healthy because he got a blade right between his ribs. He’s not immediately dead, thankfully, and Vanamonde tries to help him while Krosp and Violetta go to get Agatha back. Not that she’s staying passive! She’s hitting as much as she can, trying to get Tweedle to put her down, and Tweedle uselessly tell her to stop, because being punched by your hostage is seriously inconvenient, don’t you know. Did you really expect her to accept this and do nothing, buddy? Adding to that, he doesn’t understand why Agatha would be upset over Tarvek, who surely wanted to do nothing more than use her as a pawn for his own plans.

Where are they going? Do they plan to escape by using the underground tunnels? The colors took a greenish tint; I suppose maybe that’s where they’re going now. I find it difficult to believe they’ll get away without the Castle knowing, though.

What’s that supposed to be? A portal? So! The Nun of Jove is still causing trouble, and right now Moloch is not here to whack her on the head with a pipe. Thankfully, Krosp is here to rip her face into shreds for a few seconds, while Violetta tries to stab Tweedle. I’d suggest destroying the portal, but it’s too big and looks pretty sturdy, built into the wall. With some luck they can get Tweedle away from Agatha and then toss him in there! Anything so he gets away from them for a moment.

What follows may be the conclusion to this arc.

Okay, first than all, I really like this. It drives home whatever’s going on is happening at the same time and is very, very important, for reasons I’m sure are related to that device the Baron activated. Mamma Gkika didn’t reach it in time. So, what is it? I really doubt it’s some kind of bomb, I don’t think the Baron would cause his own death, even if he left a mind-controlled Gil in charge. It’d be too much of a risk, I’d say, since Gil was already wasped. Lucrezia could find a way to undo whatever Wulfenbach did, and use Gil as her puppet. That’s too much of a risk to the Baron to accept, I hope. In that case, what’s that device for? Some way to defeat Agatha and the Castle, non-fatally? Perhaps a disruptor of some sort to disable the Castle?

Wait, I think I have a theory as to where this is going. So, I think Agatha and the rest fell through the portal. Maybe with Tweedle – I don’t see him, but may be because the unorthodox image makes me not see him – or maybe not. What matters is that they fall through the portal, and if that device is a disruptor and disables everything in Mechanisburg, then it’d disable the portal too, leaving her stranded and trapped in the Knights of Jove’s clutches. In which case she’d have to go all the way back to Mechanisburg...again. But it’d be a way to progress the story!

Indeed, they all fell through a portal, Tweedle included. They all are confused about what happened. I think they’re talking about whatever Wulfenbach did. It may also be related to the portal’s sudden malfunction, it starts sparking and looking like it’s going to explode. And explode it does. Not happy about that, Tweedle demands explanations while Agatha hits him behind the head with varied items. He’s being rather mild, despite the multiple attempts to knock him out. Maybe he has a particularly thick skull and doesn’t feel the pain he should feel.

Their pleasantly civilized conversation is interrupted by another murder attempt. Girl Genius is very fond of characters dying or being close to death because of blades. Two Smoke Knights – I think they’re Smoke Knights judging by the purple clothing – die, Tweedle isn’t able to get information from them. Nothing to do for now but try to rest.

Agatha is feeling the drowsiness that comes from being awake for like three days in a row! She’s falling asleep now that she’s not constantly repairing stuff or watching her town be besieged by troops. She deserves good rest, really. Unfortunately, falling asleep right after someone tries to murder you is not wise, especially when backup arrives.

It’s another of Tarvek and Violetta’s backstabbing relatives, the red hair is a dead giveaway. His name is Leopold, and there are four Smoke Knights ready to kill them. Does that mean Tweedle fell from grace in the struggle to be the Storm King? Or he was never as big of a player as he said he was? Well, to be fair, Leopold hasn’t given an order to kill them. Maybe he’s here to simply be smug and look down his nose at them.

The story is interrupted to bring this bit of heartwarming content.

That’s a really good drawing. The smiling bottle is a bit cheesy, but this card is filled with good wishes. I can only imagine how happy Kaja was to receive this.

I’m so tempted about making some sort of counter for all the knives and blades that are used because I swear they have turned common in the last couple volumes, but I almost dread having to go count it all, haha! Ah, but yeah, Tweedle seems to have a preference for knives, especially of the throwing variety, and he’s nimble and strong. Maybe he did like Tarvek and learned from the Smoke Knights too.

Leopold is going to die, most likely, and three of the Smoke Knights must be dying too. The last one is caught and interrogated quickly. The order hasn’t reverted to calling Tarvek as the Storm King – although I’d have been so amused if even after his “presumed death” Tarvek still was a thorn on Tweedle’s side. There’s a mention of Wulfenbach.

No surprise there. I’m sure Wulfenbach knew about the Knights of Jove since long ago. That’s proven by how he was waiting for them to intervene in the battle of Mechanisburg. He must have arranged troops and preparations and, once he got his confirmation back then, he gave the order to attack. Bam, the element of surprise.

Okay, it’s true Wulfenbach was kicking Mechanisburg’s behind, but Agatha’s counter should have been notorious enough for everyone to have heard about it, right? Either they didn’t hear about the Castle fighting back decisively, or they’re talking about something completely different, maybe related to what the Baron did right before Agatha and the others fell through the portal.

Tweedle, can you stop stabbing people for a second? I want some plot details over here, goodness gracious!

He got poisoned because it’s natural for a Smoke Knight’s blades to be poisoned. He’ll have to neutralize the poison as soon as possible. Right, Tweedle is a spark too, isn’t he? He must be, if he’s aiming for the Storm King title. No way he would be able to compete with Tarvek if he wasn’t a spark too. Agatha is told to stick along, because she’s in enemy territory anyway. Better with Tweedle, who seems to want her alive, than venturing out there and getting killed by this stab-happy world. Besides, she needs to sleep and eat something.

Good question, where are they? Tweedle answers they’re in the Refuge of Storms. Keeping the naming theme, I see. Now that I think about it, Tweedle’s name is a bit more obscure when it’s about storms. If I remember correctly his name is Martellus von...something. I don’t remember what word it was, but at first glance it didn’t seem to me like it had anything about storms in the name. If it’s there, then it must be in another language, hm...can anyone tell me if I’m missing something about Tweedle’s name, please?

Anyway, they’re in the Refuge of Storms, a fortress Tweedle used to control. He knows all its secrets, including a secret laboratory he built by himself. He’ll work there, there are also provisions for an entire month. Hoh, I sure doubt Agatha will have the patience to spend an entire month trapped in the same place! She’ll get out sooner or later, leaning towards ‘sooner’. Well, she will once she slept and ate something.

This seems like a good stopping point. I’ll say, the change of setting is refreshing. I like Girl Genius a lot and I certainly think it has been a worthwhile read, but it sure felt like it was starting to stagnate, mainly because of the repetitive bigger conflict of fixing the Castle, and the extremely slow pacing. So many volumes covering just a few days!

Now things have changed drastically. Agatha is trapped in an unknown place with a man that certainly doesn’t have any plans she’ll want to take part of, and her new motivation is to escape and find out what happened to Mechanisburg, if anything did happen. Good! Here, I’ll give a tentative and hopeful point

For a new plotline!

But yeah, I’m stopping for now.

Next time: next update

[immagettinmyshittogether]

Worthwhile distractions

So I’ve been having a little trouble keeping up with some shit lately. A couple weeks ago I got hit with a MASSIVE cold/flu/something. So my diet went out the window in favor of chicken noodle soup and spicy food to clear my sinuses and whatever the heck comfort food I needed to get through the day. Considering how sick I was, honestly, I suspect that my body was burning more calories than normal anyway just to fight it off. And I don’t seem to have gained or lost much weight in the last few weeks, so I think my hypothesis is probably pretty close to true. But I was so sick that I honestly couldn’t think straight for several days. Of course, the days that I was the most sick were Friday through Sunday. So I didn’t miss any work. I just spend the entire next week sniffling and taking dayquil.

Needless to say, for the second time, I missed a writing deadline. My writing income has dropped considerably (which thanks to the two month delay in Amazon sales, I won’t notice until the end of January). Partly because of missed deadlines, I’m sure, but also partly because I think the series I’ve been working on just doesn’t have as big an audience as I thought it would. I was trying to shift from straight up smut to smutty romantic smut. It appears that for short-term and short story/serial publishing, the lowest common denominator might be a better thing to aim for. My sales have been practically nil, and my Kindle Unlimited reads have been a little below average. I haven’t had the heart to check my book rankings, but I know they’re lower than they were the last few months.

Author’s note/edit after posting - I realized that I hadn’t updated anything about last month’s sales. Last month jumped up to over 150. It was on target to hit 200 until Thanksgiving came around and I missed my first deadline.... then it kind of hit a stasis that week, and I basically didn’t earn hardly anything for the entire last week of the month. Still, I’m afraid to look at my current projected monthly income based on what I’ve made so far this month. It ain’t gonna be pretty.)

Then the shit kind of hit the fan at work. I work on a college campus, so these last few weeks of the semester are just kind of a run-up to the end. Always busier than usual, often with higher stakes in order to make sure shit gets done in time. So the next week after being sick has been one of the busiest and most stressful weeks of the semester. I’ll explain the details under the ‘keep reading’ line if you’re curious.

I did manage to get the story out late. So I still managed to publish once my brain was functioning. Unfortunately, I’m finding that at the moment, my usual after-day-job home environment isn’t really conducive to my current writing. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m writing smut, and I have trouble focusing on that with my spouse in the room. Or, more likely, it’s because my spouse has ADD and needs constant background things going on, like youtube videos or something, in order to concentrate. Whereas I don’t, and those things are distractions for me.

I’m wondering if I should just wrap up the various series that I have going now and call this experiment in writing a minimum of a short a week what is was: an experiment. But with winter vacation coming up for me, I will have the chance to sit at home and write without distraction for a few weeks. So I’ll at least try to catch up on my work then and get a good backlog to keep posting.

The pen name I was using for this smut is not one I ever planning on using to make a living. I was just using it to force myself to write something out of my comfort zone, get some experience writing on a long-term repeated deadline, and get a feel for online publishing.

I have learned a bit about serial publishing. And I’m starting to understand why all the old classic serial publishers tried to make things as salacious as they did. In the fast-paced world of publishing, the most important thing is just to grab people’s attention. After that you can worry about quality.

I also had another pen name that focused more on the romance side of things rather than the smut side of things... but that’s an entirely different market, and it generally requires a longer time investment and longer stories. And when all I can do at the moment while I’ve got my day job is about 5k words per week, the smut seemed to be the better option to focus on.

So this winter break might be a turnaround. A chance to try something else. Or a chance to at least finish up my work on one pen name.

But back to the now. this week, since the series I was working on was doing so badly, I decided to put it on hiatus and go back to one that I’d wrapped up the first arc and put on hiatus. The one that had caused my numbers to kinda explode last month. I had an idea for a nice little intro story that was not only holiday-themed, but would be able to stand alone months from now, and would work as a good introduction to the second arc. So I started churning along. I had a lot of stuff to do around the house to start getting ready for the holidays, but my spouse was going to be out of the house for about five hours on Saturday, so I decided to pace myself. Get half of it written Friday, half Saturday. And I was on track. I was about 3.8k words in on the  ≈5k story. And I’d already found a suitable image to photomanip into a decent cover for publishing. (Something that often takes a while, sorting through image sites, finding something that fits what I need, but doesn’t run afoul of Amazon’s fear of butts on cover art. Just once, I want to find a picture of a sexy model who would look good on a smutty book cover who’s wearing regular underwear, and not a nigh-invisible thong. The problems of a smut writer.)

And then I got a message from a friend in need. I won’t go into too much detail, but it is someone who had just lost their job, suffers from severe anxiety and depression, and even if the big S word that so often goes along with situations like that hadn’t come up, I still would have done the same thing. I had pants on, brushed my teeth, and ran out the door in record time. (Even if said friend could afford a car, the anxiety issues are bad enough to make driving unhealthy and unsafe) And my spouse got home right around the same time we got back to our house. So we spent the night helping a friend in need. Needless to say, I really don’t feel too bad about missing the third deadline. Some shit is more important. My spouse and I may be super introverts who are terrible at most socialization related things... but even if we’re crap at helping a friend in need, we’re still going to try.

Right now, my spouse and I aren’t in the best place financially. I’m not in the best place health-wise. But I’m still working at it. I’m still getting my shit together. And as I was just reminded on Saturday, I’m not the only one. For everybody out there... if you have too much shit to handle, call a friend. Somebody. Anybody. As I mentioned, my spouse and I are NOT great at being sociable and helping people. We’re actually pretty terrible at keeping in touch. We hadn’t talked to this friend in a few months. But even we were able to help, just by being there and hanging out with someone who wasn’t safe to be alone.

Sometimes we can’t keep our shit together. And that’s nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes all we can do is try to keep afloat and look for something to hold onto. And sometimes, we can be that something to hold onto for someone else.

... I still have a lot of shit to get done this week, though. After two weeks of neglect when I should have been preparing for holiday visitor (I was hoping for visitors plural, but c’est la guerre. Siblings are all on various coasts, and we can’t always find a way to get together. Especially since only two of the five of my generation can really AFFORD to travel), my house is a MESS. And I still have that story to finish.

Day job explanation time. My official job title on campus is ‘proctor’. Basically, it means two things: I administer makeup and online tests in my office/testing lab, and I keep copies of certain paper tests for a few departments on the smaller satellite campus where I work. There are two main departments that I mostly proctor tests for, one uses the computers in my lab, so all I have to do is check students in. But the other uses paper tests, and I proctor makeups for that department as well as provide the paper tests for the teachers to use in their class.

Unfortunately, the copier on my floor is showing signs of wear and tear. Once you get over about 50 pages in one sitting, it starts to overheat and jam. So this year, they decided to limit the number of pages per copy job to 50. And with good reason. Unfortunately for me, I need to copy rather large batches of tests. And I can’t go to the other copier several floors down, because 1) I can’t leave my lab for more than a few minutes at a time, in case a student comes by with a narrow time window before their next class to take a test, and 2) I’m only scheduled/paid/officially on duty during the lab hours, so I can’t stay late or come in early to do copies.

Needless to say, my first thought was to see if I could just send my print jobs off to the print shop on campus and have them do them all and deliver them. Unfortunately, I need a digital copy to send to them for that. And in spite of the fact that I requested this at the beginning of the semester... all I’ve gotten from that department are the practice tests, not the actual tests. And of course, the practice tests are small enough that I can copy those just fine.

So I’ve been breaking the rules and doing batches of 60-75 pages whenever I can. But that’s still only 15 copies at a time, and I need something like 400 copies of each test. And the copier is occasionally down for a day or so when something breaks and they have to wait to get the part to fix it. And Murphy’s law seems to be in full force, because when I need to refill my inventory, it’s always fine on the days that I have a steady stream of students in my lab, and down the days that I have a trickle and therefore plenty of time with no students so I can close up the lab for five minutes.

The finals, of course, are 8-10 pages each, depending on the class. Which means that I can literally only do 5 copies at a time if I follow the rules. And there’s a hard deadline as to when I need to make sure that I have enough for every teacher. That deadline, of course, being after the last few weeks of classes, when students realize that they REALLY need to get in to take that makeup test and raise their grade before it’s too late.

Thankfully, the department actually got around to sending me a digital version of the finals. So I sent those off to the print shop, several weeks ahead of the due date, and I set the deliver due date as last Thursday at the latest, since I don’t work Friday, and I knew some teachers were letting students who couldn’t be there for the final take their test on Thursday or Friday before finals week. I gave them explicit instructions to deliver it to my lab, warned them that the lab is locked for test security reasons while I’m not there, told them where to get the key, and asked them to email me if, for any reason, they couldn’t deliver the tests.

I got to my lab in the morning to find... no delivery. I checked the support ticket. It said that they were finished 9 days ago... but neither one actually had a digital signature of who finished it. That day just so happened to also be the busiest test day of the semester. The department that uses computer tests in my lab had a final due date for the last chapter that day, so every semester that is always my busiest day. So as soon as I was relieved for my fifteen minute break, instead of taking my break, I ran downstairs to see if perhaps they simply didn’t read the delivery instructions and left the tests in the (thankfully locked) employee mailroom. (Which, coincidentally, is where the good copier is. This will be important later.)

So when I got back from break, the first thing I did was look up how to contact the print shop. Other than submitting a print request... there was nothing. I could look up the employees and email them, but there was no formal support ticket. Only a print request ticket. So I emailed the supervisor of the department.

An hour later, I finally had a moment with no students in the room, so I could make a phone call without worrying about disturbing people testing. So I called the print department. It rang four times... and went to voice mail.

I waited a minute, tried again, just to see if I got unlucky and just missed someone. Still voicemail. So, even though I hate using the phone because that means they’ll call me back instead of emailing, and I can’t really talk when there are students testing, I left a message.

By the end of my shift... still nothing. Nothing at all. And I knew that at least one teacher needed a few copies BY THE NEXT MORNING because he had students who couldn’t be there during finals week. And, just to add insult to injury, because of the holiday coming up, we had to submit our time sheet early this week. So I had no way to report extra time spent staying late to deal with this issue. But the teachers all depend on me, so I printed out  a copy of each of the tests, and I was in the middle of composing an email to let the teachers know that I would drop off an unstapled copy and a copy of the answer key in their mailboxes, so that if they desperately needed it, at least they could use the copier right next to their mailbox to make as many as they need for class.

While I was doing that... the phone rang. It was the print shop. Apparently they had finished my print job early, and set it aside and forgotten about it. It was just sitting in a corner of the room, on the main campus several miles away from the satellite campus. She apologized for forgetting about it, said that it was loaded in the delivery vehicle trunk, and as soon as the delivery person got there the next morning he would head over.

Since I didn’t know when he would actually get there, and when teachers would start needing the tests, that still didn’t change much for me. I thanked her for getting back to me, told her that if that should be fine, and just amended the email I was sending out to let them know that the tests SHOULD be there by the morning. But just in case, I was still going to drop off the unstapled copies. (Plus two stapled ones for the teacher who mentioned needing a couple by Friday morning) I’m still not sure how I can report the extra 37 minutes of overtime I had to spend doing that, since the time sheets are already in... and I can’t just add it to next week, because I won’t be working next week.

But I got to work today and... the tests were here. And things have been slow enough that I’ve been able to write this huge freaking post with only a few interruptions here and there. (Okay, now that I’m done helping someone, interruptions here, there, and the one while I was trying to hit post.)

[lisatelramor]

NLTSA Extra: Takumi Pieces Things Together

Warning for a mild panic attack toward the middle. Takumi’s not dealing well.

Takumi was going crazy by increments. First, he was grounded. This meant he was stuck in the house and his phone was gone and he couldn’t even throw himself into something like he normally would do when his thoughts wouldn’t shut up. Like lacrosse. Lacrosse that he was missing practices for and possibly games if his mom kept his punishment this strict for another week. Second, he hadn’t talked to Shiemi in a week. Third, he hadn’t seen or spoken to his dad at all either. And fourth, well, fourth was that every time he closed his eyes he was seeing smoke from the bombs at the heist going off. Or caught in the panicked crowd. Or reliving that sickening moment when they found Kid and he was still conscious enough to try to move even with blood pooled around him and his leg at a weird angle and— Takumi swallowed. So yeah, he was slowly going crazy. His mom hadn’t given him any updates, and he couldn’t exactly call Hakuba-sensei to find out if Kid was still alive. He didn’t have his number or his phone right now.

Even that he could have probably just dealt with, but after a frustrating day of trying not to think about a week ago and trying to force his way through summer homework for lack of anything better to do, his mom came home with bad news.

“Your father has had an accident,” Aoko said between returning Takumi’s greeting and reaching the kitchen to start dinner. The way she said it made it sound like his dad had been the one at fault. Takumi froze on the kitchen threshold. ‘Accident’ brought to mind Kid, which brought to mind Kid’s glider falling, which brought to mind Kid broken on the ground.

“How?” Takumi demanded a breath later. “How bad, is he okay?”

“It was bad enough to go to the hospital,” Aoko said.

“Which hospital?” Takumi asked, already planning to run off and find the right room.

“I’m not sure.”

“How can you not know?!”

“I didn’t think to ask when I got the call,” Aoko said. Her lips were pressed in a firm line. “And you are grounded.”

Takumi swayed, feeling like his feet had been kicked out from under him. “But it’s Tou-san in a hospital. I know I’m grounded and not allowed over to see him, but I can’t even see that he’s okay?!” Takumi wasn’t prone to anger or violent impulses, but for a moment he wanted to grab her shoulders and shake her. Whatever her grudge with his father, he’d never thought she’d go all...all cold and closed up about it rather than bursting out like usual. Never thought she’d keep him from seeing him or going to see Kaito herself if something happened. Aoko still got groceries for him when she was in a good mood and Takumi was staying over the weekend. She’d gone and picked him up places before during the few times Tou-san did something stupid like get too drunk in public to get home. She still cared about if he lived or died, or at least Takumi always thought she did. “Kaa-san—”

“No.” Aoko turned her back, washing her hands at the sink like she was trying to remove the emotions clinging to her. “I’m keeping up with Chikage-baasan. You can visit in a few weeks.”

Weeks? In a few weeks, would his dad still be in the hospital? Or home? And if he would still be in the hospital, just how bad was that accident? Takumi’s hands clenched and unclenched, full of anxious energy and no direction to aim it in. “Okay,” he said forcing his voice calm and rational even though he felt the situation deserved anything but those things. “Okay, in a few weeks. Will you at least find out the details about what happened?”

“I’ll call Chikage-baasan back later tonight.” Aoko went to the fridge and stared a few minutes too long at the beer she kept in the back. It was one of those nights. Aoko didn’t drink often but when she did... She didn’t get angry or cry, she just got really quiet and it always made him uncomfortable for reasons he couldn’t put words to. She didn’t reach for it though, but pulled out an onion and chicken from yesterday’s grocery run.

Takumi had to get out of this house. He had to get out or he was going to explode at Aoko or just explode in general. He clenched his hands again. “Kaa-san, I know I’m grounded, but can I go to Shiemi’s? I’m stuck in my summer homework.”

“If I let you out that door, would you even go to Shiemi’s?” Aoko asked.

“Straight there and straight back,” Takumi promised. “I’d call you when I got there and when I left and Shiemi could tell you I was there too. Please. She’s better than I am at English.”

“You’re doing fine in English.”

“Only the stuff I had the extra homework sheets on,” though that was a lie. English was coming easier lately because he’d started trying harder because Hakuba’s approval had somehow become important. “I haven’t been doing extra work lately.”

Aoko tossed a cutting board onto the counter with a clatter. She fixed Takumi with a hard stare. “Straight there. Straight back. And you’ll show your homework when you get back.”

“Thank you.”

“I will know if you go somewhere else.”

“I promise I won’t go anywhere else.” It stung a bit. Her anger and mistrust. He was used to it when he stayed late with Kaito, but there Aoko always put some of the blame on Kaito. Until this year he’d never acted out much at school or disobeyed her ground rules. But he’d broken her trust and Takumi wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have done it again even with the consequences. Now, though, he would take what he could get.

“Call me!” Aoko shouted after him as Takumi raced upstairs to grab his things and go. “Take your cell phone from my room!”

He grabbed his phone on the way out and didn’t look back. Part of him was worried she’d take it back. He was half tempted to call his dad with it, but hospitals usually didn’t want cell phones in bed, and...and he didn’t know how bad the accident was. Kaito might not even be able to answer.

Takumi didn’t call to tell Shiemi he was coming over. They had been friends long enough that they had keys to each other’s homes and a standing invitation to come anytime. When he got to Shiemi’s tiny one room apartment, she was just starting dinner of her own.

“You look like hell,” she said giving him a once over.

“I’ll talk in a sec just...” Takumi called his mom’s number and thrust the phone at Shiemi. “Confirm I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

Shiemi took the phone. “Hey, moshi moshi Aoko-basan. Takumi made it here in one piece. Mm hmm. I’ll call back when he leaves.” She ended the call. “Grounded?”

“Yeah.”

“I told you it was a bad idea to go to the heist.”

Takumi tucked his phone away. “You said it would be interesting, not that it was a bad idea.”

“And anything I find interesting always ends up a bad idea for you,” Shiemi said. Accurate when Takumi stopped to think about it, from the time with the bees in primary school to only a few months ago when Shiemi had dragged him into trying things she saw in parkour videos. Shiemi hadn’t been the one covered in bruises the next day. “We’ll talk after dinner about whatever’s bothering you.”

Takumi didn’t protest. Instead he picked up a spare knife to cut vegetables as Shiemi finished her tempura batter. They worked in silence, comfortable in the familiar motions of preparing food. Takumi only spoke once to ask if Shiemi’s mother was joining them for dinner, but as usual, Keiko was working late. Shiemi set aside a portion of tempura for her.

It was only when rice was doled out in bowls and there were no more small tasks to keep Takumi’s hands busy that the tension crept back into him.

“Or we can talk during dinner,” Shiemi said as she saw Takumi’s shoulders creeping up toward his ears.

“Did you know Tou-san’s in the hospital?”

“No.” Shiemi’s eyes went sharp behind her glasses. “If he’s in the hospital, what are you doing here?”

“I’m grounded,” Takumi said with a hollow laugh that he’d never felt less. “Kaa-san’s angry at Tou-san because I went to the heist. He didn’t even do anything, it was all me and...” Takumi gripped his chopsticks. The food that had looked and smelled appetizing while cooking it didn’t seem all that tasty after all.

Shiemi watched him struggle with words for a long minute. “Start at the beginning. What happened with the heist?”

Takumi nibbled at a piece of tempura asparagus. “I didn’t have too much trouble getting in. The police blockade was pretty flimsy—too many people there to see the heist, too few officers to man it in comparison even with officers from outside Kaa-san’s division joining in. Actually, that could have been a problem in general—too many people who weren’t used to working with each other. Anyway, got past them easy enough, but before I could get anywhere near the heist room, Hakuba-sensei showed up.” He frowned at his plate. “I must have been seen on camera or something.”

“So Hakuba-sensei shows up and...?” Shiemi prompted.

“He shows up and tries to drag me off site because I’m not supposed to be there. Of course I’m arguing the whole time. Then the lights go out and Hakuba-sensei drags me past a couple of unconscious officers. Perfectly normal apparently. There were fireworks.” His hand shook slightly, the piece of asparagus between his chopsticks wobbling. “Then the bomb went off.”

“How close were you?” Shiemi watched him intently, eating her own meal at a fixed rate, bit by bit as he struggled to take even a few bites.

“Not too close,” Takumi said, shrugged. “We were almost back to the police line by then. I tried to run toward the building because Kaa-san was in there and I was scared she’d been caught in it.” His mouth opened, closed. “Everything was chaos. People screaming, rushing around. There weren’t enough officers to deal with something like that. We got caught up in that until Hakuba-sensei pulled us into an alley. I don’t even know how many people got injured in that mess.”

“Sixteen bystanders and two officers were badly injured,” Shiemi said. “I think maybe more people in the bomb but the news wasn’t reporting that. No one died.”

“Ah.” Knowing the numbers didn’t really make him feel any better or worse, just tired. “Anyway, we were in an alley out of the mess for the moment. We saw Kid escaping by glider. The glider went down.” Takumi went silent. Shiemi was silent with him, waiting. “You know, when it happened I thought, oh. This is the moment someone dies. I’m seeing a man die right now.” He didn’t want any of his food now even though he had been eating poorly all week and should all rights feel starving. “He wasn’t dead, but somehow that was worse than if he was.” Kid twisting and trying to move in those awful seconds when they got there. The blood. The way Kid looked at Hakuba-sensei before passing out. The glider like a mirror of its owner, broken, tangled, torn.

Takumi didn’t realize he was breathing hard until Shiemi’s hand touched his arm. His eyes snapped to her face. She was concerned, but she was calm, and Takumi latched onto this with his whole being. Shiemi caught his scrabbling hands and held them tight.

“Counts of four,” she said. “In...two...three...four... out... two...three...four... in, like that.”

He tried to copy her, using her counting as a focus, and eventually it worked. He felt like he’d just run a mile. “Sorry.”

“You went through some scary shit,” Shiemi said in her no-nonsense way. “It’s going to mess you up for a while.”

“Yeah.” He exhaled shakily. “Yeah, I know.” And it had hit Hakuba-sensei worse. He wasn’t sure what to feel about seeing Hakuba-sensei have a panic attack. Usually it took a lot to get even a reaction from him. “Anyway,” he continued like the whole thing hadn’t happened, “we called for help. Couldn’t go to a hospital because Hakuba-sensei was pretty sure people could find Kid there and kill him that way. So he made a phone call and people showed up, and we took Kid in the back of a car somewhere and he got fixed up... Hakuba-sensei was scary calm the whole time until Kid was being treated, and then he went and freaked out in a corner. I mean I went and freaked out in a corner too, but I didn’t really expect it from him.”

“Maybe it reminded him of something.” Shiemi tapped her fingers along Takumi’s arm. “The papers said his husband died tragically, but they didn’t really say how.”

“Oh.” Now Takumi felt even worse about the whole thing. Seeing Hakuba-sensei break down felt a lot like the times he’d seen his mom cry or when his parents had been arguing and his dad got that dead, disconnected look in his eyes. Not dead, Takumi thought, taking back the previous description when it made him remember his father was hurt. Not dead like Kid is not dead. “I forgot to call Kaa-san and so she was worried sick when morning came and I wasn’t home. So I got grounded. And today she said Tou-san got into an accident but I’m not allowed to go see him because she’s mad about me going to the heist even though it’s not Tou-san’s fault that I went.” He gave up all pretense of even pretending he was going to eat, lifting his feet up into the kitchen chair so he could hug his knees. “I don’t get it. I don’t get why she’s so angry at him, or how me attending a heist is connected to it beyond some stupid fact that Tou-san’s a Kid fanboy. I don’t get why she wouldn’t tell me what happened or why I wouldn’t be allowed to see him. He’s my dad. He’s my dad and with everything that happened to Kid, my brain is shoving Tou-san in Kid’s place in my memories. Just. What the hell, Shiemi?”

“That sucks,” she commiserated. “I can look into what happened if you want? Call around? Someone has to know the details.”

Takumi shrugged, still curled up in the chair. “Kaa-san didn’t even give a hospital name.”

“So I call all the hospitals in the area and ask them, and if that fails, I call Chikage-baachan and see if she’ll talk. And if she won’t, I’ll try Kuroba-ji’s cellphone because maybe someone is keeping track of it even if he’s in the hospital. Or heck, maybe he’ll even answer.” Shiemi gave him a quick, sideways hug, tipping him against her hip. “We’ve got this. As for your mom... Well, can’t do much about you being grounded or her having your phone watched, but you can always call me on the land line and I can use my phone.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have Hakuba-sensei’s number, would you?” Takumi asked.

“I might possibly have it,” Shiemi said, giving no indication of how she might have gotten said number. Takumi could see her getting it because of the literature club though.

“Kaa-san probably didn’t call him about Tou-san since she’s angry at him too. And...and I’d like to know if Kid is still alive. Hakuba-sensei is probably keeping track.”

“I can do that.” Shiemi prodded him in the side. Takumi twitched away. “Eat while I make the calls. If there’s any food left on that plate, I’m going to be annoyed.”

“Shiemi, I don’t even feel hungry.”

“Tough. You look like you haven’t been eating enough so you’re going to eat now while I’m watching. Especially the tofu. You need protein.”

“You sound like my mom.”

Shiemi snorted. “No, I sound like a friend. Eat.” She pulled out her phone and gave him some distance.

Takumi tried not to strain toward her voice on the phone as he forced a few more bites of tempura. Not for the first time he was glad he had Shiemi for a friend. Her tendency to take charge took away some of the overwhelming stress. She had a way of pulling information out of nowhere sometimes; he didn’t doubt she’d figure out what was going on.

That gave his brain the chance to think about something beyond the how and where and when of everything. He nibbled a piece of tempura tofu not tasting it at all. It was weird and unsettling to find out his dad was hurt so soon after Kid. Had it happened today? Or had Aoko only told him about it today?

There hadn’t been any texts on his phone or calls from Kaito over the week that Takumi didn’t have the phone—or Aoko had deleted them, but Takumi didn’t think she would go that far. She might be tracking his phone to make sure he was where he said he’d be, but she was never the sort of parent to rifle through her son’s phone or personal journals or anything like that.  It wasn’t like Kaito to not call at least once a week. Or text. Sometimes he sent a text a day full of random things involving coworkers or something he’d seen on his commute. But there wasn’t anything, and that raised the question of why, or more, if Kaito was injured, when did it happen? A day ago? Three days ago? Four days ago would be the start of where Takumi would have texted Kaito if he hadn’t gotten a message to see what was going on.

A niggling bit of him wondered if Kaito had been hurt all week.

It was probably just the part of his brain that wanted to project Kid’s crash memory on whatever accident had happened to his dad, but it was a persistent feeling in the back of his mind.

By the time Takumi had managed to nibble his way through almost all of the food on his plate, Shiemi returned from her phone calls in the corner. She tapped a pencil on a notebook full of quickly scribbled notes, frowning.

“Well,” she said, I can tell you that he’s not at any hospital in the area. I called all the places I can think to call in Ekoda and the surrounding areas to a couple towns out, but nothing. No Kuroba Kaito at any of them. Chikage-baachan picked up when I called, but she kept talking around my questions. As far as I can tell, Kaito-ji’s not at death’s door or anything, but whatever happened was pretty bad. She might have alluded to a car crash, but she never actually used those words, so... not much to give you there.” Shiemi shrugged. “Kaito-ji didn’t pick up his phone, but I left a message. Will see if that gets me anywhere.”

She sank into a chair across from Takumi, still tapping absently. “Hakuba-sensei did pick up. He confirmed that there was an accident. Interestingly enough, he implied that Kaito-ji wasn’t in a hospital at all, but that he had checked in on him a few times and he was healing okay. I also find it interesting that he said he was healing, because that implies that it’s been long enough for there to be an improvement from however Kaito-ji was when he was first injured, and improvement takes time.” She scratched her head. Her hair, wild when it wasn’t in braids, stuck up at an angle. “As for the update on Kid, Kid’s also healing. No infections and he’s awake and aware, though it sounds like there was a bit of memory loss about the day before the heist and the time between crashing and being fully conscious. That’s kind of normal for concussions though; it’s surprising he remembers anything about the heist at all. So far it looks pretty bright for his chances of a full recovery. He sent along hopes that you’re doing okay,” she added, “and that you can call him if you need to talk.”

Takumi hummed, brain going over her words in that nitpicky way it got sometimes  like when he was picking apart one of Kaito’s tricks. “If he’s not in the hospital, where is he?” And was it just him or was there an awful lot of parallels between what was said about his dad’s condition and Kid’s? Healing. They were both healing. Both badly injured. Both technically in an accident of a sort. Crash. Crash like the glider crashed. Takumi huffed a breath out hard through his nose, refusing to let his brain wander back down that path for the thousandth time that week.

“At home?” Shiemi said, though she didn’t sound convinced. “Or with Chikage-baachan? If he’s hurt bad, he’d need someone looking after him.”

“Hakuba-sensei?”

“No, he sounded a little distracted when we were talking. Like he’s working on something. There was someone else in the background too.”

“He could have just been visiting Kid.”

Shiemi shrugged. “Let’s lay out what we do know. Kaito-ji is injured—everyone admits to that.” She held up a second finger. “His injuries are bad.” Another finger. “He’s been injured for more than a day. We can say this because of what Hakuba-sensei let slip and because no one else actually stated when said accident occurred.” Shiemi had a look of deep focus on her face that Takumi couldn’t help latching onto with hope that she could make sense of it all. Three fingers tapped the side of her face before she slowly raised a fourth. “He isn’t in a hospital. Both Aoko-bachan and Chikage-baachan dodged naming a hospital and no hospital in the area has him. Plus Hakuba-sensei also let it slip a bit. What else?”

“Kaa-san’s still angry at Tou-san even though he’s injured,” Takumi said. “Which, ok, they have a weird, complicated, explosive non-relationship. But when he got the flu two years ago, she brought him medicine and soup and she’s not visiting this time and for all we know, Tou-san’s hurt bad enough it could be months of recovery.”

“Good point.” Shiemi held out five fingers.

“She didn’t even ask for details of what happened or what hospital Tou-san was in from Obaa-chan.”

“...Maybe she didn’t need to?” That was Shiemi’s Shogi face, right before she pulled out a move that would turn the tide of a game. “Maybe she didn’t ask questions because she already knew what happened, but she couldn’t give you details for some reason.”

“What the hell couldn’t she tell me for?” Takumi felt his hands clenching into fists. He didn’t get truly angry often, but he was nearing that point now. “Obaa-san, Kaa-san, Hakuba-sensei—they all seem to be on the same page. What big secret could they possibly have that would mean hiding Tou-san?” A thought struck him. “Unless he’s actually dead...”

“He’s not dead,” Shiemi snapped, killing that thought before it could do more than start to sink him into the icy grip of fear. “If he was dead they’d just call it an accident and say it upfront. You don’t get shifty about a death unless you had a part in the killing.”

And no matter how often his parents fought, Aoko wouldn’t kill Kaito. And Chikage-baachan wouldn’t kill her son. And considering how Hakuba-sensei looked at his dad sometimes, he definitely wouldn’t kill him. Plus there would be no way he’d be so calm on a phone conversation either. Takumi relaxed infinitesimally. “Okay. Good.” But what could it be? The only secret Takumi could think of off the top of his head was why his mom divorced his dad because she never talked about it. ...But now that he thought about it, it was a secret that Hakuba-sensei knew the answer to, and Chikage-baachan had to know as well...

“Do you know why my parents divorced?” Takumi asked Shiemi.

She shrugged, taking the change in topic in stride. “I always figured it was life differences. No offense to your dad, he’s an awesome guy, but he has a very different life approach than Aoko-bachan.”

“Yeah.” And at one point Takumi had figured that too. But they seemed to accept those parts of each other when it got down to it. The only thing that Aoko had zero tolerance on was... “Kid,” he murmured.

Shiemi went still across from him. Takumi bit his lip. No, no, it couldn’t be possible. It was just his brain being stupid and shoving traumas back in his face. But. Kaito was injured. Kid was injured. Kid didn’t go to a hospital. Kaito wasn’t in a hospital. Kid was healing. Kaito was healing. What consistently made Aoko mad? Kaitou Kid. Who was Aoko mad at most in regards to Takumi showing up at the heist? Kaito. Not Takumi who took the time to sneak through a police barricade. Not at Kid for holding a heist that put hundreds of people in danger. Aoko was holding a grudge with Kaito. Kaito who hadn’t even been at the heist or made any mention of it to Takumi. Unless Takumi’s brain wasn’t crazy and Kaito had actually been there. As Kid.

He stared at Shiemi with mounting horror and disbelief. The serious set of her jaw and the direct stare back said her mind had gone the exact same place. “It can’t be,” he said.

“Can’t it?” She drummed her fingers along the table. “I have to admit, I’ve thought it before. Kid’s a showman and really skilled. The only person I’ve ever met with that good of sleight of hand is Kaito-ji.”

“There have to be hundreds—thousands—of magicians or...or thieves or whatever out there who are that skilled.”

“Who are Japanese?” Shiemi countered. “Who have that kind of background in magic to draw on? Who keep practicing even though it’s not their profession?”

“It’s homage to his dad...” But the idea had been planted. “He’s just. Kid’s fanboy. He even consulted on Kid heists in the past. I mean, he’d have to have been, what? Sixteen when he started?”

“Easier to pull a heist if you have seen it from the inside,” Shiemi said. “And he was skilled even back then.”

Another awful bit slides into place. “Hakuba-sensei got in arguments with Kaa-san in high school because he accused Tou-san of being Kaitou Kid.”

“...Does he still think Kaito-ji is Kid?”

“When I asked he just said that he doesn’t.”

They both sat there a moment, digesting this. The same traitorous part of his brain that kept connecting things together helpfully pointed out that thinking is different than knowing.

“He might not be,” Shiemi said.

“But he might be.” And Takumi was not okay with that. He was not okay because if Kaito was Kid, that explained a lot of things but left so many more full of questions. If he was Kid, then Aoko had been chasing after her own ex-husband. If he was Kid then much of Kaito was someone Takumi barely knew. If he was Kid then when Kid had crashed Takumi had almost seen his dad— Takumi stopped that thought in its tracks.

“You okay?” Shiemi asked, giving him a once over that meant his face was showing who knew what.

Takumi wanted to laugh hysterically. Okay? He was the furthest thing from okay. Instead he did his best mimic of his dad’s poker face—and wasn’t that a skill that could be useful in more than putting on a show—and shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I think...I think I’m done trying to find answers for the moment.” He wet his lips, only now aware of how dry they felt. Rough, because he kept biting them out of nerves. “I brought homework over as my excuse to come. Help me with that?”

Shiemi knew him too well to even pretend to be convinced by that, but she didn’t push him about it yet. Yet, because she would push eventually, she always did and he loved her for knowing when it was okay to do it and when it wasn’t. “Fine,” Shiemi said. “But you have to get me gossip on the girl’s lacrosse team before summer’s over.”

“Deal.” He didn’t even ask what she wanted it for. He gladly dove into the usual bargaining of little, inconsequential favors that they had between them. Then he buried himself in the incomprehensible mess of the English language until he and Shiemi had done more than three quarters of the entirety of his summer English homework in one night.

They didn’t talk about Kaito or Kid again the rest of the night, not even to wonder if he was okay. And when Takumi got back home late, it was to find Aoko drunk in the kitchen on beer and two glasses belonging to other people in the sink. One was his grandfather’s; the ashtray Aoko kept for his visits had been left on the counter. Aoko was asleep, the dregs of beer still at the bottom of her glass. She had to have fallen asleep between when Takumi called to say he was leaving and when he returned to the house.

He didn’t know what to feel seeing her like that. Sad? Angry? The tiniest bit glad that it could be an emotional response besides anger directed at his dad?

Mostly he just felt tired.

He washed the dishes in the sink, pulling the glass of beer from Aoko’s limp hand. After, he nudged Aoko awake enough to help her upstairs to her bedroom. It left him with the bitter taste of irony, him in a parental moment toward his mother instead of the other way around.

Takumi went to bed determined not to think about when he and Shiemi had possibly uncovered again.

That resolve lasted until three in the morning when he woke up from a nightmare where Kid’s broken body had Kaito’s bleeding face.

Takumi didn’t get much more rest that night.